Informational Interview

Name

Course

Date

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction

Numerous careers have sprouted in our world today. Most students learning today get confused at some point on which career is the best to venture in. However informational interview is one of the utmost effective and powerful ways for learners to initiate networking with professionals and increase their knowledge base in the world of work. The primary mistakes people make when trying to reach their career and education goals is the failure to truly research and explore the career paths they plan to pursue. Some of the questions one ought to ask themselves when deciding on which career to venture in are: would doing this job each day of your life make you happy? How much schooling would you require and the kind of time and cost you are willing to commit to your education? Does the career path rhyme with your personality? And; is the typical salary enough to reach your income goals? (Hoffman, 2014)

In the effort of answering some of these questions, an informational interview was conducted on Elizabeth Loftus, who is a cognitive psychologist and expert on human memory. She is has been ranked among the most influential psychological researchers of our time (Loftus, 1996). When quizzed about the educational background required so as to venture in her field, and some of the motivating factors that made her decide to choose her line of work for a career, she gave a detailed and satisfactory answer.

She made it clear that, for one to cognitive psychologist and expert on human memory or for that matter, a fully chartered psychologist, one must complete a postgraduate training and subsequently study the requirements for the specific field she or he want to venture in, in her case, cognitive psychology and expertise on human memory.  She stressed that, after completion of the postgraduate training, it is vital for one to enroll as a research assistant since this give one abundance of experience in the respective careers they choose.

            One of her motivating factor that made her desire to pursue a career in psychology was her desire to help people. A psychologist studies how humans think, behave and feel from a scientific point of view and consequently applies this knowledge to aid people to understand, explain and change their behavior. Psychologist work may involve groups, individuals, families as well as large organizations in industry and government (Hoffman, 2014). Thus, due to the much-needed help in understanding behavior and the ability to at least explain these behaviors, Loftus got motivated to venture in her field so as to be the one helping people in these kinds of problems.

            When asked about the about what she does mostly daily and the type of skills employed, she stressed that her work as a cognitive scientist is to help mainly people discern whether what they believe happened is the probably the truth or is it far from the truth. These individuals may be people trying to move out of a bad relationship or even eyewitnesses to a crime. She tries to help people to try and understand their human thought process and how they acquire, store and process information. She implied that our human memory works more like a Wikipedia page where a transcription of history is created by multiple people’s perceptions and assumptions that are constantly changing. Thus, a human brain cannot be said to work like a tape recorder and what we perceived to be the right information may turn out to be wrong (Loftus, 1996).

She was then asked whether there are major problems she encounters in her line of work and whether the work affects her lifestyle. The major problem she experiences is in trying to explain to some of her clients about how the human brain works mostly if the client has no basic knowledge concerning the human brain. She majorly deals with eyewitness memory and misinformation effect and in the creation of and nature of false memories inclusive of recovery memories of childhood sexual abuse. Thus, trying to convince clients who have no basic knowledge of the cognitive nature of human brain or even law enforcers for that matter becomes challenging for her. She, however, admitted that she faces no restrictions concerning her life outside work.

            Concerning the potential employers in her field, she gave an array of options. So offered that, a psychologist can be self-employed and commit to research where she can outsource funds from potential donors. Alternatively, she or he can be employed by non-governmental and governmental organizations such as courts where mainly one deals with the analysis of clients and providing rational decisions. One can also decide to venture into the private sector where he or she would major in trying to help mental health patients. She suggested that for those who wish to venture in cognitive psychology, they should mostly try to read medical journals talking about the brain since they give one more information of such a field concerning even the current trends in that field.

Loftus in giving her opinion about the market demand and the expected salary asserted that, over the years, demand for brain science and cognitive psychologists has fluctuated. However, as technology is becoming more advanced and cures to health issues such as Alzheimer’s disease rises, demand for psychologists specializing in brain science and cognition has since risen. She said that the salary of psychologists working in brain science and cognition varied based on experience, position, and level of education. Concerning the students who want to venture in this career, she offered that, while there are some entry-level opportunities with a bachelor’s degree, brain science, and cognitive psychology mostly begin with a doctorate or a master’s degree (Kuther and Morgan, 2012).

A cognitive psychologist is involved with examining of the internal mental processes such as perception, language and learning, memory and are also how people diagnose, understand and solve problems and make decisions. This field favors gathering of empirical data from scientific research methods rather than through clinically based observations so as to draw a conclusion and state your case (Loftus, 1996). Thus for those looking forward to venturing into this field and practice, she urged them to acquire a doctorate. As a requirement before beginning to work on your own, one will be required to work in an internship with a qualified cognitive psychologist. Thus for the aspiring students, she urged them to be patient and vigilant in their studies.

Regarding the interview, it can be concluded that majority of psychologists work in five broad categories that are research, service provision, teaching as university and college professors and lecturers, consulting and in administration. The major weakness of psychology based career is time consumption when serving clients. This is because, some jobs require one to give an elaborate explanation to their patients so as to convince them of their conditions. Such a problem, however, can be solved through public enlightenment on psychological conditions through mostly the social media which is made simple by the technological advancement (Kuther and Morgan, 2012).

 

References

Hoffman, R. (2014) The Psychology of Expertise: Cognitive Research and Empirical Ai.    Psychology Press.

Loftus, E. (1996) Eyewitness Testimony. Harvard University Press.

Kuther, T and Morgan, R. (2012) Careers in Psychology: Opportunities in a Changing      World. Cengage Learning.