Psychology Society Talks

Upper Sixth Former and President of Psychology Society, Kristina Krasnova, reviews three recent visits from academics and practitioners in the field of Psychology:

In the last couple of months, the Psychology Society has been visited by three different guests who work in both scientific and more applied areas of Psychology.

Dulcie Irving is a Researcher working at the University of Oxford who shared her professional journey and her current work featuring attempts to understand and resolve social issues through the lens of psychological science. It was surprising to learn that her first degree was in History and it was only after completing it that she decided to pursue Psychology by undertaking a conversion course which has led her on the path to become a future professional in the field.

Professor Adam Harris from UCL discussed the complexities, or rather simplicities, of our decision-making and how our rational thinking can be easily compromised by little factors that are often implemented for financial gain. We learnt about the necessity of applying psychological knowledge in financial services and general policy-making decisions. This talk very much focused on real-life applications of Professor Harris’ research in the cognitive field of Psychology.

The final guest speaker was Michael Thomson who shared his extensive and varied roles working as an Educational Psychologist. The presentation focused on the educational side of Psychology discussing the learning difficulties and the political problems of implementing the necessary changes in education and social-support systems.