{"id":183246,"date":"2025-11-03T08:14:02","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T07:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/tre-aar-efter-blokaden-psykologistuderende-frygter-at-blive-daarlige-psykologer\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T13:08:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T12:08:23","slug":"fear-of-becoming-bad-psychologists-still-haunts-the-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/fear-of-becoming-bad-psychologists-still-haunts-the-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Fear of becoming \u00bbbad psychologists\u00ab still haunts students"},"content":{"rendered":"

T<\/span>hree years after psychology students at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) blockaded their department in protest against what they saw as a one-sided approach to their subject, the criticism persists.<\/p>\n

It now lives on through the student-led alternative lecture series (DAF) initiative, which continues to maintain that the psychology programme has become too natural science-based \u2014 and lacks humanities and social science approaches.<\/p>\n

Master’s students Aja Skafte and Christine Volck Paulsen were both involved in the 2022 blockade, which ended with an agreement between the department and the students<\/a>. But promised changes have yet to happen, according to the two students: They help organise DAF \u2014 a platform to explore theories outside the official curriculum.<\/p>\n

We should not just understand the brain \u2014 we should understand the human being in the world<\/p>\n

Aja Skafte, master’s student of psychology and DAF member<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u00bbWe\u2019ve seen humanities’ and critical social science perspectives disappear from our curriculum and teaching,\u00ab says Aja Skafte.<\/p>\n

\u00bbIt\u2019s not that we reject the natural sciences. But when the biomedical perspective becomes the dominant one, we lose the complexity that makes us good psychologists. We should not just understand the brain \u2014 we should understand the human being in the world,\u00ab she adds.<\/p>\n

Psychology traditionally rests on three key academic traditions, according to DAF: the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities.<\/p>\n

\u00bbIf one of those traditions becomes too dominant, we lose our balance. We believe that the Department of Psychology at UCPH is leaning too heavily towards the natural sciences,\u00ab says Christine Volck Paulsen.<\/p>\n

The two students say their movement is both a critique of, and a declaration of love for, the discipline.<\/p>\n

\u00bbOur criticism stems from a concern that we\u2019ll become bad psychologists if we don\u2019t learn to see people as social and cultural beings,\u00ab says Christine Volck Paulsen.<\/p>\n

Parallel lectures<\/h3>\n

The alternative lecture series emerged in spring 2022 as part of the same academic critique that culminated in the blockade later that year in December. Since then, DAF has hosted alternative lectures every semester \u2014 typically five to six talks per semester, with researchers from other universities, or former UCPH staff, presenting the perspectives that students feel are missing from the official curriculum.<\/p>\n

\u00bbWe\u2019ve had researchers from other Danish universities, and former staff members who represent humanities and Scandinavian approaches to psychology. These approaches still exist \u2014 they\u2019re just no longer represented in our education,\u00ab says Christine Volck Paulsen.<\/p>\n

According to Aja Skafte and Christine Volck Paulsen, it\u2019s not just about the content of the curriculum\u00a0 \u2014 it\u2019s also about who does the teaching.<\/p>\n

\u00bbThe small group of researchers who work with humanities and social science approaches is getting smaller and smaller. This makes it difficult to maintain academic diversity \u2014 and it makes it hard for those researchers to thrive at the department,\u00ab says Aja Skafte.<\/p>\n

Support from the outside<\/h3>\n

The alternative lecture series emphasises that their critique is not directed at individuals but at what they see as a structural trend in academia.<\/p>\n

\u00bbWe\u2019ve tried to engage in dialogue through every forum available \u2014 through the the psychology student council, the study board, and meetings with management. They have been willing to listen, but we haven\u2019t seen any concrete changes,\u00ab says Christine Volck Paulsen.<\/p>\n

We still want the criticism to be handled through dialogue, not confrontation. But that requires us to be taken seriously<\/p>\n

Christine Volck Paulsen, graduate student of Psychology and DAF member<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The University Post has asked Head of Department Annemarie Olsen to comment on the students\u2019 criticism, but she declined to be interviewed.<\/p>\n

The two students stress that several former staff members share their concerns \u2014 even if they don\u2019t necessarily support the students\u2019 methods.<\/p>\n

\u00bbDuring the blockade, both practising psychologists and researchers from other Danish universities publicly agreed with our position. And some of them have continued to attend our lectures. That means a lot \u2014 it shows that there\u2019s support for us within the academic field,\u00ab says Christine Volck Paulsen.<\/p>\n

Continued scepticism<\/h3>\n

DAF\u2019s most recent lecture took place on 24 October, and according to Aja Skafte, representatives from the department’s management were in attendance.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s pleased that management showed up \u2014 but remains sceptical about whether it will lead to anything concrete.<\/p>\n

\u00bbWe decided to tell the whole story again and explain the basis of our criticism. At the end, the floor was opened for comments, and one of the managers present said it was moving to meet up with students who cared so deeply about their discipline and the curriculum,\u00ab says Aja Skafte.<\/p>\n

READ ALSO:<\/strong> Psychology staff: We strongly disagree with the student blockade<\/em><\/a>
\n
\nAccording to her, the message from management was also that students should reach out directly to lecturers and course coordinators if they have suggestions for course changes.<\/p>\n

\u00bbWe\u2019ve heard that multiple times already, but we\u2019re happy to try again. Of course we hope something will happen this time \u2014 but it\u2019s hard to believe it will,\u00ab says Aja Skafte.<\/p>\n

How close are we to another blockade of the Department of Psychology?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00bbUnfortunately, I think a lot of us have been left disillusioned after the last experience. It was tough to be misunderstood when all we wanted was to improve our education,\u00ab says Christine Volck Paulsen.<\/p>\n

\u00bbThe blockade was a drastic step, but it only came after hundreds of hours of student volunteer work and dialogue with management that led nowhere. We still want our criticism to be handled through dialogue and not confrontation. But this requires that we be taken seriously,\u00ab she says.<\/p>\n

This article was first written in Danish and published on 29 October 2025. It has been translated into English and post-edited by Mike Young.<\/em>
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A group of students say the natural sciences dominate the psychology programme, while critical thinking, and traditions rooted in the humanities, are being pushed aside. Now they\u2019ve launched their own lecture series to take psychology back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":183031,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-183246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","expression-news_article"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nFear of becoming \u00bbbad psychologists\u00ab still haunts students \u2014 University Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/fear-of-becoming-bad-psychologists-still-haunts-the-students\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fear of becoming \u00bbbad psychologists\u00ab still haunts students \u2014 University Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A group of students say the natural sciences dominate the psychology programme, while critical thinking, and traditions rooted in the humanities, are being pushed aside. 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Skafte (left) and Christine Volck Paulsen were unable to get through to management \u2014 so they created their own alternative lecture series within the programme."},{"acf_fc_layout":"Standfirst","subject":"Call for change","text":"This is a story about what will follow","use_post_excerpt":true},{"acf_fc_layout":"Byline","is_author":true,"contributors":false},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p><span class=\"dropcap\">T<\/span>hree years after psychology students at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) blockaded their department in protest against what they saw as a one-sided approach to their subject, the criticism persists.<\/p>\n<p>It now lives on through the student-led alternative lecture series (DAF) initiative, which continues to maintain that the psychology programme has become too natural science-based \u2014 and lacks humanities and social science approaches.<\/p>\n<p>Master’s students Aja Skafte and Christine Volck Paulsen were both involved in the 2022 blockade, <a href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/studerende-har-ophaevet-blokaden-af-institut-for-psykologi\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">which ended with an agreement between the department and the students<\/a>. But promised changes have yet to happen, according to the two students: They help organise DAF \u2014 a platform to explore theories outside the official curriculum.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We should not just understand the brain \u2014 we should understand the human being in the world<\/p>\n<p class=\"quotee\">Aja Skafte, master’s student of psychology and DAF member<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u00bbWe\u2019ve seen humanities’ and critical social science perspectives disappear from our curriculum and teaching,\u00ab says Aja Skafte.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIt\u2019s not that we reject the natural sciences. But when the biomedical perspective becomes the dominant one, we lose the complexity that makes us good psychologists. We should not just understand the brain \u2014 we should understand the human being in the world,\u00ab she adds.<\/p>\n<p>Psychology traditionally rests on three key academic traditions, according to DAF: the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIf one of those traditions becomes too dominant, we lose our balance. We believe that the Department of Psychology at UCPH is leaning too heavily towards the natural sciences,\u00ab says Christine Volck Paulsen.<\/p>\n<p>The two students say their movement is both a critique of, and a declaration of love for, the discipline.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbOur criticism stems from a concern that we\u2019ll become bad psychologists if we don\u2019t learn to see people as social and cultural beings,\u00ab says Christine Volck Paulsen.<\/p>\n<h3>Parallel lectures<\/h3>\n<p>The alternative lecture series emerged in spring 2022 as part of the same academic critique that culminated in the blockade later that year in December. Since then, DAF has hosted alternative lectures every semester \u2014 typically five to six talks per semester, with researchers from other universities, or former UCPH staff, presenting the perspectives that students feel are missing from the official curriculum.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWe\u2019ve had researchers from other Danish universities, and former staff members who represent humanities and Scandinavian approaches to psychology. These approaches still exist \u2014 they\u2019re just no longer represented in our education,\u00ab says Christine Volck Paulsen.<\/p>\n<p>According to Aja Skafte and Christine Volck Paulsen, it\u2019s not just about the content of the curriculum\u00a0 \u2014 it\u2019s also about who does the teaching.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThe small group of researchers who work with humanities and social science approaches is getting smaller and smaller. This makes it difficult to maintain academic diversity \u2014 and it makes it hard for those researchers to thrive at the department,\u00ab says Aja Skafte.<\/p>\n<h3>Support from the outside<\/h3>\n<p>The alternative lecture series emphasises that their critique is not directed at individuals but at what they see as a structural trend in academia.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWe\u2019ve tried to engage in dialogue through every forum available \u2014 through the the psychology student council, the study board, and meetings with management. They have been willing to listen, but we haven\u2019t seen any concrete changes,\u00ab says Christine Volck Paulsen.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We still want the criticism to be handled through dialogue, not confrontation. But that requires us to be taken seriously<\/p>\n<p class=\"quotee\">Christine Volck Paulsen, graduate student of Psychology and DAF member<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The University Post has asked Head of Department Annemarie Olsen to comment on the students\u2019 criticism, but she declined to be interviewed.<\/p>\n<p>The two students stress that several former staff members share their concerns \u2014 even if they don\u2019t necessarily support the students\u2019 methods.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbDuring the blockade, both practising psychologists and researchers from other Danish universities publicly agreed with our position. And some of them have continued to attend our lectures. That means a lot \u2014 it shows that there\u2019s support for us within the academic field,\u00ab says Christine Volck Paulsen.<\/p>\n<h3>Continued scepticism<\/h3>\n<p>DAF\u2019s most recent lecture took place on 24 October, and according to Aja Skafte, representatives from the department’s management were in attendance.<\/p>\n<p>She\u2019s pleased that management showed up \u2014 but remains sceptical about whether it will lead to anything concrete.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWe decided to tell the whole story again and explain the basis of our criticism. At the end, the floor was opened for comments, and one of the managers present said it was moving to meet up with students who cared so deeply about their discipline and the curriculum,\u00ab says Aja Skafte.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ ALSO:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/psychology-staff-we-strongly-disagree-with-the-student-blockade\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Psychology staff: We strongly disagree with the student blockade<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Image","image":{"ID":183052,"id":183052,"title":"DAFFD","filename":"daffd-scaled.jpg","filesize":466859,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/daffd-scaled.jpg","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/tre-aar-efter-blokaden-psykologistuderende-frygter-at-blive-daarlige-psykologer\/daffd\/","alt":"","author":"106","description":"","caption":"","name":"daffd","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":183029,"date":"2025-10-29 09:10:18","modified":"2025-10-29 09:10:29","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":2560,"height":1511,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/daffd-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/daffd-480x283.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":283,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/daffd-768x453.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":453,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/daffd-1280x756.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":756,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/daffd-1536x907.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":907,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/daffd-2048x1209.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1209,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/daffd-290x171.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":171,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/daffd-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/daffd-700x413.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":413,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/daffd-990x584.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":584}},"style":"narrow","text_placement":"metadata-below","image_link_url":"","image_link_title":"","caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":true,"alternative_caption":"Photo from DAF\u2019s most recent event."},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>According to her, the message from management was also that students should reach out directly to lecturers and course coordinators if they have suggestions for course changes.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWe\u2019ve heard that multiple times already, but we\u2019re happy to try again. Of course we hope something will happen this time \u2014 but it\u2019s hard to believe it will,\u00ab says Aja Skafte.<\/p>\n<p><em>How close are we to another blockade of the Department of Psychology?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00bbUnfortunately, I think a lot of us have been left disillusioned after the last experience. It was tough to be misunderstood when all we wanted was to improve our education,\u00ab says Christine Volck Paulsen.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThe blockade was a drastic step, but it only came after hundreds of hours of student volunteer work and dialogue with management that led nowhere. We still want our criticism to be handled through dialogue and not confrontation. But this requires that we be taken seriously,\u00ab she says.<\/p>\n<p><em>This article was first written in Danish and published on 29 October 2025. It has been translated into English and post-edited by Mike Young.<\/em><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"ArticleEnd"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Newsletter","lang_select":"en","identifier":"Newsletter","headline":"Get an email with upcoming events and top University of Copenhagen stories","button_text":"Sign up here","class":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"OtherStories","headline":"","hand_picked_posts":false,"references":false,"category":false,"theme":false,"number_of_posts":"4","style":"default"}]},"taxonomyData":{"category":[{"term_id":42,"name":"Education","slug":"education","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":42,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":661,"filter":"raw"}],"post_tag":[],"post_format":[],"expression":[{"term_id":15,"name":"News Article","slug":"news_article","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15,"taxonomy":"expression","description":"","parent":0,"count":11487,"filter":"raw"}],"translation_priority":[{"term_id":5468,"name":"Optional","slug":"optional-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":5468,"taxonomy":"translation_priority","description":"","parent":0,"count":672,"filter":"raw"}]},"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/daf1-1280x853.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183246"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":183285,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183246\/revisions\/183285"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}