When people prepare for the Foreign Service Officers Exam, they either turn to a degree in law in order to prepare for the International Law subject in the test, or they opt to pursue a Master's degree in International Relations.
Personally, it was a different path for me and the best part was that it was never intentional.
It was 2011 and the FSOE was the last thing I could think of. I was in the midst of the flurry of my job in a multinational company busy trying to hit each month's targets (which kept getting higher every month!) while balancing it with my part time job as a travel and lifestyle correspondent for one of Cebu's major dailies. In between all that, I'd usually hang out at the mall until it hit me: there's a better way for me to use whatever remained of my spare time instead of simply spending it to go window shopping every day.
That's when I decided to pursue a Master's degree. I did not have any particular course in mind at that time because honestly, I just really wanted to do something more productive after work. I browsed through the website of the University of San Carlos and the first thing that caught my eye was the Master's degree in Psychology. After giving it a good, hard though for the next ten minutes, I made my decision. I am going to take up the program that people would least expect me to take.
The first choice was Industrial/Organizational Psychology but halfway through the first semester, I had made good friends with the Social Psychology people that I opted to make a great migration to Social Psychology instead. That's where the real fun started.
It wasn't until October 2012 when I decided to take my chances in the FSOE that I realized what a huge blessing that was.
Social Psychology doesn't exactly ring a bell to most people which is ironic because everything that happens in our world from the way we choose the products that we want in the supermarket to how we think about an issue to how we make our close relationships work is the concern of this field in psychology.
What is great about social psychology is that it provides you with a meta theory which deepens your level of analyses just when you thought that it was enough to talk about the territorial disputes from a political or economic paradigm. Through evolutionary psychology, social relations, cultural psychology and other sub-fields, you get to dig deeper into the issue where you get to start talking about motivations and tipping points in human emotion. That's only a start as far as social psychology is concerned.
One of our required readings in class
This book is a treasure trove of ideas. Pick out the topics that are of great
interest to you if you don't have time to read everything.
I'd like to give credit to two of my professors from the University of San Carlos who have crucial in preparing me for the Written Exams--without them realizing it.
It was Sir Glenn Glarino who introduced me into the world of Social Relations, a subject that's very useful when one studies International Relations. Broadly, Social Relations talks about how a person constructs his identity in relation to his or her various interactions and ties with other people and groups. One of the theories that we talked about was Relative Deprivation. Loosely, relative deprivation is when a person feels that he or she is unable to get something or experiencing something that he or she believes he or she is entitled to. This theory is able to explain why groups like al Qaeda are able to attract an ever increasing number of followers and this theory basically forms the framework of the NPA's strategy as far as wining the sentiments of the rural poor go.
This is Sir Glenn. I love his class to bits!
More than this, Sir Glenn emphasized almost every meeting that it wasn't just important for social psychologists like us to be aware of what's happening in the social and political scene in our country and in the world. Our role goes beyond that because our responsibility lies in making sense out of these events. Like journalists, social psychologists need to help people understand why these events are taking place, why certain people resort to terrorism, or why some world leaders opt to take what would seem like the irrational route.
One practice that I will forever be grateful for was when Sir Glenn would ask us to explain and process certain issues highlighted by the national and international media using particular theories in Social Relations and Social Psychology in general. I can't thank him enough for this particular discipline especially when I look back to the International Relations part of the exam where we were asked to explain the implications of certain issues.
Another teacher I'm grateful to is Ma'am Delia Belleza. Ma'am Dels, as we fondly call her, was my professor in Social Cognition, Applied Social Psychology, Filipino Psychology, and Cultural Psychology. These four subjects were far more important than studying the theories of international relations because the moment I shifted my attention to international relations and economics, I realized that the analyses offered by both subjects were a little bit wanting. In economics, for example, one can never simply disregard human motivations as mere animal spirits because as far as making decisions go, it all takes root from deep-seated emotions that fuel these motivations.
This is Ma'am Dels and Mallows. I love the way she handles
her classes.
Social Cognition is basically the love child of psychology and cognitive neuroscience and it explains how people make sense of the world around them. This was very useful when I took a second look at China's alleged Middle Kingdom mentality. Applied Social Psychology explained the psychology behind International Relations and International Law--from the study of dictators and terrorists to the conflict between Isreal and Palestine to territorial disputes and even as far as how the justices in international tribunals reach particular decisions. Filipino Psychology was very important in the Filipino culture part of the exam because the subject specifically tackled the roots of utang na loob, hiya, nepotism, political dynasties, and patronage politics--topics that definitely came out during the exam. Finally, cultural psychology was the last piece that helped me understand prejudice, stereotyping, and the role of culture in negotiation and the like. Being a diplomat is playing the game of perception and playing that game well which is why one must never underestimate the role of being able to create strategy from a cultural dimension since diplomats are expected to interact in a very multicultural playing field.
I'd say that if you don't have a lot of time to review, run to Social Psychology as you read up the news. Don't ever forget that states, nations, and international organizations may be super organisms but these groups are still made up of people. You'll realize that when you strip down the issues in our world to their bare essentials, almost all issues boil down to very basic, very common psychological issues and motivations.
If I were given a chance to choose a Master's program again before taking the FSOE, you can bet your bottom I'm going to make the same decision.
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