Quitting psychology is not an option I’m afraid. Apart from science and rationality, the human mind is the only topic that ever constantly held my interest. Absolutely everything else seems to bore me to shits in no time, because my mind constantly focuses on what it feels to be “important” and my interest nearly hits ground zero as soon as I discover the relative direct unimportance of certain topics on my personal life.
I also have the same problem as you when it comes to making money: Not only do most ways to make some real money feel like a disgrace, I would probably also be slowly dying inside by doing something I hate.
There are however some ways to make some decent cash as a psychologist if you play your cards right… the title of “Dr.Happy” currently belongs to an Australian doctor, but that could be expected to change in a decade from now.
Rationality may also be something you could build a “pop-science-career” on, if the demand for it increases over time. Some rationality is better than none and raising the sanity-waterline probably wouldn’t hurt the future prospects of humanity either. (Not that I would intend to do second-class work in such a field as rationality-education, but since we’re still talking money, pop-science is where it’s at if I stick to psychology.)
There is a lot of useful work that can be done in psychology, largely because it currently is so full of bogus “theories”. You might find this post and web site useful, Theory and Why It’s Time Psychology Got One. Note that I don’t agree with a lot of what the embodied/ecological psychology school is doing, but it gives an interesting perspective on the neuropsych and cognitive schools mostly posted here.
Ah, I see, we are on the same page regarding money...
I also think that raising the sanity-waterline is a quite effective strategy.
You describe yourself as an extrovert and say that you like writing. Maybe a “pop-science-career” is really the right path for you.
Quitting psychology is not an option I’m afraid. Apart from science and rationality, the human mind is the only topic that ever constantly held my interest. Absolutely everything else seems to bore me to shits in no time, because my mind constantly focuses on what it feels to be “important” and my interest nearly hits ground zero as soon as I discover the relative direct unimportance of certain topics on my personal life.
I also have the same problem as you when it comes to making money: Not only do most ways to make some real money feel like a disgrace, I would probably also be slowly dying inside by doing something I hate.
There are however some ways to make some decent cash as a psychologist if you play your cards right… the title of “Dr.Happy” currently belongs to an Australian doctor, but that could be expected to change in a decade from now.
Rationality may also be something you could build a “pop-science-career” on, if the demand for it increases over time. Some rationality is better than none and raising the sanity-waterline probably wouldn’t hurt the future prospects of humanity either. (Not that I would intend to do second-class work in such a field as rationality-education, but since we’re still talking money, pop-science is where it’s at if I stick to psychology.)
There is a lot of useful work that can be done in psychology, largely because it currently is so full of bogus “theories”. You might find this post and web site useful, Theory and Why It’s Time Psychology Got One. Note that I don’t agree with a lot of what the embodied/ecological psychology school is doing, but it gives an interesting perspective on the neuropsych and cognitive schools mostly posted here.
Ah, I see, we are on the same page regarding money...
I also think that raising the sanity-waterline is a quite effective strategy. You describe yourself as an extrovert and say that you like writing. Maybe a “pop-science-career” is really the right path for you.