Link to Audio :
Script of the audio
M: Hi Chloé, how are you?
C: Hello Manuel, I’m fine and you?
M: Could you introduce yourself for the readers of the blog please ?
I’m 21 years old and I’m currently a student in Master 1, doing social psychology. In 2016, I had my Scientific Baccalaureate degree. The year after that, I started a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
C : Could you introduce yourself, by telling us your school background and professional experiences?
M : I’m Manuel, i’m 32 and my university curriculum is diversified. After my baccalaureate degree, i studied german language and German-speaking civilizations for one year in Limoges. Then i changed for computer science and got a two year technical degree. Since 2009, i’m a qualified nursing assistant.
I have worked as a supervisor in high school, as a mushroom picker, as a tent erector, as a french language teacher, as a tourist guide assistant but mostly as a nursing assistant in a varied set of organizations.
I decided to study psychology 5 years ago. I began to study with distance classes in the university Paris 8 of Seine-Saint-Denis. After 3 years, the wind brought me here and I signed up at Nantes’s faculty of Psychology.
M: I would like to know a bit about your background. Do you already have professional experience ?
C: I have been working since I was eighteen, I worked for 2 years in a supermarket. I got also involved in in training days, based on team cohesion, and I was working with a consultant. Moreover, I did some activities and role plays with my colleagues, in a way to get to know each other’s role in the company. During my third year I was an intern at Fongecif, working in the field of career guidance. I participated in individual interviews and learned how to write reports. I discovered some tests, made in a way to help people in their research to find a training and a job, when they want to reorient themselves. I also attended group information meetings.
M: Where did you study until now ?
C: I have been only studying at the University of Nantes.
C : What were your motivations and expectations when choosing this master?
M : Since the begin of my psychology studies, i have a special appetite for social psychology. Most people believe that they think, feel and act like they do because of their values, beliefs, personality… Social psychology studies show the importance of social and contextual factors. Milgram, for example, showed how a great amount (usually around 70%) of the general population can inflict pain to others as a result of obedience to a scientific authority.
By placing the social psychology knowledge in a working context, it is possible to improve the quality of working life. Humans spend a lot of time at work, that’s why it’s so important and why i was motivated in choosing this master.
I expected from this master to deepen my knowledge and skills and to have an insight into what an I/O psychologist actually works on or what could be possible to do as an I/O psychologist.
M : Why did you choose to apply in this master? What are your motivations?
C : I chose this master because social psychology was one of my favorite courses during my three years of bachelor. I was really involved and interested by all the studies and theories I have been studying in this field, as Tajfel’s theory of social identify. It’s kind of hard to explain my motivations, but basically, I just knew that none of the others would interest me more than this one. It’s really the one that I like the most, interests me and fascinates me. At the end of the master, I would love to work in the field of Working Psychosocial Risks.
C : Are you feeling satisfied of your choice? Could you explain why?
M : The choice I made satisfies me. The master’s program is quite diversified. We meet external interveners, most of the time I/O psychologists who come to tell us about what they concretely do in their work. We also continue to study the fundamentals of social and environmental psychology with the teacher-researchers of the faculty of psychology. We had a theater oriented intervention and we also have the opportunity to extend our knowledge with sociology or economy classes. For staying critical with science and avoid too easy or seductive truths or cause-and-effect relationships, we have epistemology courses.
At the same time, of course, they are some courses i like less.
But my feeling is that the program is large. And that satisfies me.
M : What are your expectations from this master ?
C : I would like to learn new models and theories in social psychology and discover the psychology of work and environment. My expectations are also to have a better understanding and vision of the job of psychologist at work. I will be able to learn that through the different internships that I’m going to do, precisely in the field of the risks. I wish to learn how to become a good psychologist at work. I also hope that I will have the theorical background to help the more people I can in my job.
C : Do you have any apprehensions for the current year or for the future?
M : I feel quite confident. I hope i’ll find an internship in accordance with the values I wish to carry as a psychologist. And i have the same hope for my place in the working world.
Otherwise, I have the same fears as in all my years of study: not succeeding. But these fears are pretty insignificant.
C : In which field would you like to work at the end of your master and why?
M : Well, my dream job would be to do psychosocial interventions in humanitarian work. My first objective is to find meaning in the work I do.
Otherwise, i would like to put my environmental psychology knowledge in practice for helping people to handle with the major transformations we will face with the global changes.
M : What are the 5 first words coming in your mind when you hear “I/O psychologist” ?
C : organizationC
management
risks
recruitment
consultant
M : Thank you Chloé!
C : Thank you Manuel.