Why Psychology should be considered STEM.

Aissata Kone

As a psychology major here at Dickinson, I know how sequenced the curriculum is. Currently I am finishing up my 100-levels (four of which are required) and my last 200-level class. 

PSYC 211: Design of psychological research is the second of the two required courses to move further in the major, the first being PSYC 210– an exclusively statistics class. In case you didn’t know, statistics is a math discipline. (Math is the m in STEM).

Besides the math course required for declaring the major, there are other elements of psychology that assert its status as STEM. PSYC 211 focuses on the research element of psychology or in other words, the empirical scientific aspect. Psychology is, after all, a science. 

What does the first letter of STEM stand for? That’s right, science. 

In these 200-level courses, students are expected to learn the ins and outs of SPSS, a statistical software suite. By learning this software, psychology students develop a critical eye for all things stats. We also learn the challenges of technology. Additionally, we use questionnaire systems, such as Qualtrics, which also treat us to the hassle of working with technology. Wait? That word sounds familiar. It starts with a t; The same t that appears in the second letter of the STEM acronym!

Now I’m not going to argue that psych has anything to do with engineering but I’m pretty sure there’s a field called engineering psychology where people study the interactions between people and machines.

Psychology is a misunderstood field, for a multitude of reasons. But most of the confusion lies in the misconception that psychological theories aren’t backed by science. Any theory that falls into the realm of psychology is backed by hundreds, if not, thousands of studies. Just because the studies are focused on things we can’t see like intuitive behaviors, emotions, and development, doesn’t mean they aren’t backed by science. 

Being considered STEM would do wonders for the field. Specifically here at Dickinson, if considered STEM, more students would be more inclined to pursue it. Some international students need to be a STEM major in order to maintain their visas, or scholarships and grants.

By making the switch from “social science” to STEM, psychology would gain a new level of respect that many psych students agree it definitely deserves.