Personal Statement:Psychology 77

Why do you want to study this course or subject?

In the early 70s, Professor Philip Zimbardo conducted an experiment in the basement of Stanford University, California; that experiment changed his life and, somehow, mine as well.

Zimbardo was willing to investigate human behaviour in a society where every member has assigned fixed roles. In the Stanford experiment, some middle class young men were chosen to perform either the role of the guards or that of the prisoners in a fictional jail.

After just one day, the situation degenerated: the guards started to abuse their power and prisoners became internalized their roles and feeling guilty for crimes that have not committed.

Why did I like that experiment that much to be cited in my personal statement?

First, because Zimbardo’s experiment analyses how people are more prone to show their “evil side” when they feel that the context allows and legitimizes it, which I found very often in my everyday experience.

For instance, often people try to justify their wrong behaviour, i.e. throwing litter on the ground in an already dirty street, by saying that everybody does it, hence it is allowed.

I have always wanted to study group dynamics and how peers influence our choices, especially during teenage years, but also in adulthood and childhood.

In our everyday life, we often do not realize how much society affects our individual decisions from what we buy to whom we marry: we think we are free but we are actually not.

For that reason, I think psychology and the study of the human mind can help us recognize our own needs and what we actually want opposed to what society does; indeed, psychology can contrast this overpower that groups and media have in our lives.

Moreover, I have always been interested in group dynamics and how individuals change within a group, how they act differently and how they modify their behaviour according to the group they are part of and according to the specific roles, they hold.

As a teenager, I could observe how young people are influenced by peers and how other people’s judgment influences their own decisions.

Nowadays we often follow directions blindly, without questioning the authority of their source and we prefer play the role and follow the script we have been given rather than thinking and expressing our own ideas.

This is a threat to democracy because it is more dangerous to go against the tide rather than conform to the leading thought, while politics means confronting different ideas giving several perspectives in order to achieve a complete view of the issue.

In my opinion, studying the power of the authority and the mass within groups could help to avoid jeopardizing democracy and it could reduce the influence that mass media and the internet have on us. We need to defend our own way of thinking because that is what is so special about human beings.

I am eager to study more about psychology and its social aspects: I have always been one of those students who never get tired of learning something new, one of those who always want to go deeper and deeper about a topic and one of those who find the human being such a fascinating animal.

I was first introduced to psychology in my year abroad in the U.S; I spent the 4th year of my high school attending the Stillwater Area High School in Stillwater, Minnesota living with an American family. There even if I did not master the English language, I immediately found Psychology an interesting and captivating subject.

Learning about Zimbardo and the Lucifer Effect, getting to know the Milgram’s experiment and his theory about the power of authority, discussing about the contrast “Nature vs Nurture” opened my mind and pushed me to learn more and more about these topics. What I am really looking for is a challenging and stimulating environment where I could cultivate my interests and learn about Psychology and I think your University could be the right place for me.

How have your qualifications and studies helped you to prepare for this course or subject?

What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?

Universities applied to:

• York University
• London School of Economics
• UCL
• Edinburgh University

How personal statements have changed?

The current personal statement format, with three 'scaffolding' questions, was introduced by Ucas in September 2025. This personal statement was submitted before then, using the old essay-style format. It has been carefully edited into the three-question format, with all of the original wording kept.

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