The benefits of collaborating with others is it helps us learn to work as a team and become more thoughtful towards others.  It’s good to not be so self focused all the time when studying as this prepares us for future employment opportunities. The chances are unless we become self employed psychologists we will all end up working as part of a team.  It is important to be able to understand the needs of others you are working with and be able to complete work within a time frame that suits the whole group.  Being able to work fast on your own is brilliant but there will come a time when you have to work with others who are unable to work that fast and you need to be able to sympathise with their situation and work along side them.  Each person has different methods of completing work so I think it’s a good idea to try and figure out sooner rather than later who does best at what and who doesn’t do so good at certain things.

I’ve learnt that it is important to try to understand each others personal needs as well as professional needs.  I am not saying people have to become best pals but it’s good to be able to spot situations where another member of the group may need support and prompting.  I think this increases trust and respect within the group.  I’ve found that each member of my group all have their cute little quirks about their personalities and I think we have done well getting to know each other, working around each others weaknesses and promoting each others strengths.

Psychology students benefit from working in groups as this helps us become familiar with what is a common occurrence in the field of psychology.  Whether it be teaching, counselling or working in a psych ward the chances are we will all be required to work with others when we graduate.  Working within a time frame as a group also gives us a taste of what it will be like to meet deadlines under pressure within the field.