<p>I know I want to major in International Relations, but I am very interested in Psychology as well. I wrote in one of my application essays that I would want to study it in a way that could be applied to the IR field (i.e. knowing/understanding the people you're dealing with).</p>
<p>Is pursuing such an academic program worthwhile?</p>
<p>I presume “the people you’re dealing with” refers to political leaders or other political actors. I doubt very much that what you’d learn in psychology could serve the purpose of “understanding the people you’re dealing with”. Even with graduate training in psychology, it would be a fairly speculative endeavor.</p>
<p>There are some areas of psychological research that are relevant to IR, e.g., social psychology or decision-making. Most directly applicable work on political psychology, however, will be conducted within the fields of political science and IR, rather than psychology.</p>
<p>If psychology interests you, though, go for it. Advances in a discipline often happen at the intersection of different fields.</p>
<p>I agree. You’ll be able to take courses in the Psych department which will be right up your alley as well as Game Theory which is offered in the Econ department. GL</p>