"I'm kind of a big deal": A qualitative approach to understanding the potential prevalence of elitist attitudes among psychology students and how it could compromise on the quality of psychological practices.

Rasmussen, Ørjan

4. term

Psychology, Master

2014

2014-05-27

69 pages

Over the past couple of decades, psychology has become one of the most popular and desirable study programs to attend across Scandinavian universities according to official listings, making the average grade point needed to enroll in a psychology program record high. As such, it is timely to argue that the exclusive circle of enrolling psychology students constitutes an academic elite with a higher average grade-point from high school than ever before. In the wake of this tendency, the following thesis seeks to address the possible prevalence of elitist attitudes among modern day psychology students and to reflect upon the possible effects this contemporary inclination could have on how psychology is practiced, how psychology is perceived by the public eye and how the discipline will advance. The thesis provides a qualitative approach to the research question at hand by conducting two semi-structured interviews with psychology students at the University of Oslo. The interviews are analyzed by the use of thematic analysis and a theoretical backdrop based on humanistic notions are offered to provide a possible understanding of how elitist attitudes could influence the way psychology is practiced in the 21st century.

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