SOP FOR PHD IN social psychology

“I became passionate about social studies from my school days. During my pre-intermediate schooling, I got admission to Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, a residential schooling system sponsored by the government of India.  The school had a policy called student migration where a select 30% of the students had to reside for a period of two years at another JNV in a different state. My school was linked with the school in the Karnal district of the Haryana state. Thrown into a place with a completely different culture, language and gastronomy opened my young and curious mind. It was amazing how much I could communicate even before I mastered the basics of the native language.

After my school studies, I joined college for a graduate degree in psychology. What drove me to this decision was the desire to understand human interactions that transcended all cultural and language barriers. Somewhere deep inside all of us is the absolute essence of humankind, which binds us together as social animals. And I was curious to explore these innate reflexes that make us humans.

Later, I worked for four years as a student counsellor at a private school. The experience of working with students was as instructional as it was rewarding. After my volunteer stint during the midsummer camp, I returned to academics and undertook diverse courses on mind sciences. I have developed an ardent fascination with how culture can form individuality, cognizance, sentiment, and comportment. Having undergone a similar experience, it was easy for me to relate to various theories on behavioural formation.

During my post-graduate studies, I have acquired research skills that will be valuable in my journey forward. I have volunteered in many psychological experiments both as a subject as part of the test team.  Such associations have made me proficient in conducting methodical research procedures like formulating a hypothesis, gathering data, analyzing the result, and reaching a conclusion.

One of the projects I would like to highlight a study on ‘the Declination of language Acquisition Skills with age’ which was headed by Dr. Abhilash VL at the Delhi University. The trials came out with a surprisingly positive result showing that adults can learn languages effectively provided they have actively exercised their cognitive abilities to their maximum extent. As a psychology student who grew up in a multi-lingual culture, I was intrigued by these results. I wanted to pursue it further in my own capacity. This passion evolved as a desire to pursue my PhD and conduct research on the topic.

I am interested in the Lingua Academy for Psychological Studies for two reasons. Firstly, the university holds the reputation of being the hub of socio-psychological researches. This provides me the perfect atmosphere and mentorship to carry out my own analytical studies. And the second reason is the fair population of international students at the university. I believe that such a multi-cultural environment helps me thrive as a professional and a person.

In the future, I envision myself as a research-oriented psychology professor at one of the top universities in India. I am confident that the social psychology PhD program will give me the career breakthrough that I am hoping for.”