Massive exam study guides and ominous conversations with your peers may understandably overwhelm you as you prepare for your counseling exam. Fear not! I am here to simplify your studying process.
As I prepared for the NCE, my friends and I created an extremely helpful study deck that we called the Father Flashcards. As the field of psychology evolves, it amplifies marginalized voices and perspectives that it previously didn’t. Calling our deck the “Father Flashcards” was my friends’ way of acknowledging the homogenous nature of the identities our field used to listen to and canonize. Over and over in school, we found ourselves memorizing “the father of behaviorism,” “the father of existentialism,” “the father of psychoanalysis,” and so on. Our deck pokes fun at the phrase while still providing a helpful template for memorizing vital exam content. Below, I’ll help you make your own deck.
This deck is designed for rapid-fire use. As you, a psychology student or practitioner, likely know, myriad studies suggest that you are more likely to memorize content that you physically write down with your hand and your pen. I will not dictate the format of your Father Flashcards, but I’ll give you imaginary bonus points for writing this material onto physical index cards. You will feel my approval through time and space. For double bonus points, vary the colors of pens or cards that you use. Your brain will thank you.
On the front of each card, keep it brief. Simply write, “father of ____” (fill in the blank with the modality or school of thought that you are memorizing). Despite my tongue-in-cheek naming of this deck, it will of course contain mothers and founders who are not male. Of the historical minds we study, however, most of your deck will likely contain fathers.
On the back of each card, only write the founder’s name. No extra fluff, no fun facts squeezed between the lines of your card. I will not micromanage other decks that you create in your study journey, but trust me on this one.
As you study the Father Flashcards, blast through them. You should be able to free-associate the founder’s name just from hearing the school of thought. If this information is handy as you take your exam, you will save precious time and labor that you otherwise would use digging through memories of study notes, lectures, and educational videos.
Here are some modalities for which you should create cards:
- Psychology
- Psychoanalysis
- Behaviorism
- Humanism
- Existentialism
- Educational Psychology
- Vocational Guidance
- Cognitive Therapy
- Narrative Therapy
- Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy
- Gestalt Therapy
- Transactional Analysis
- Client Centered Therapy
I recommend you expand your deck from broad modalities to specific need-to-know theories as well, such as:
- Theory of Career Choice and Development
- Stage theory of moral development
- Life-Span Theory
- Trait-and-Factor Theory
- Theory of Circumscription
- Ecological Systems Theory
- Stage theory of psychosocial development
- Attachment Theory
- Stage theory of cognitive development
What creative ways have you found to study historical perspectives? Let me know in the comments!