psychologyespcourse

Self-assesment of ESP learning

2008-12-01T08:34:00.000-08:00

Writing skills
-summaries:I learned how to write different kind of summaries. The template helped me a lot to improve my summary writing.
-ESP vocabulary tests: It became easier to learn definitions, understand them, remember and to tell in my own words.
-Dictations: I improved my listening and writing skills the same time it became easier to write quickly and correctly.
-Contributions to weblogs: I managed to look for the necessary information in the internet and to convey the meaning in my own words and opinion.

Listening skills:
-Listening comprehension in class: I improved my accuracy in finding the right answers.
-Listening to Peers' power point presentations: It was very interesting to listen and also helped me to follow the idea and to make a discussion.

Speaking skills:
-speaking on ESP themes in class: It became easier to speak fluently, to express my opinion not just being ready before, but also to speak on the spot, also i learned to explain definitions to my class friends.

Making power point presentations: I learned how to make interesting presentation, how to look for the necessary information on the internet and to define important material from unnecessary. Also to get ready to speak and answer the questions.

Kleptomania

2008-11-08T09:24:00.000-08:00

Kleptomania is the irresistible urge to steal things that you don't need and that usually have little value. It is considered to be psychological problem. Though, some people think that kleptomania isn’t a disorder or doesn’t cause many trouble, however they should carefully consider what kleptos feel and why can’t they stop stealing, yet they know that their actions can be harmful and cause lots of trouble.
It is very important to distinguish simple shoplifters from those people with kleptomania. Firstly, unlike typical shoplifters, people with kleptomania don't steal for personal gain. They steal simply because of an inexplicable urge. Most people with kleptomania steal from public places, such as stores and supermarkets. Some may steal from friends or acquaintances. Often, the stolen things have no value to the person with kleptomania and afterwards they just stash them away, never to be used. Things can also be donated, given away to family or friends, or even secretly returned to the place from which they were stolen.
There were many researches made to find out why people have kleptomania, however it is still unknown. Some researches evidence suggests that kleptomania may be linked to problems with a naturally occurring brain chemical called serotonin. There's also some evidence that kleptomania may be related to addictive disorders or to obsessive-compulsive disorder. But more research is needed to better understand the possible causes of kleptomania.
Though today there are no confirmed cure for kleptomania, still there are some things that can help person to stop stealing. Firstly, one should try to know more about kleptomania, that they could understand what is happening to them. What is more, they should learn relaxation and stress management exercises. Also they should find healthy outlets, which would help them to rechannel their urges to steal, through exercise and recreational activities.
Many people with kleptomania live lives of secret shame because they're afraid to seek mental health treatment. They should understand that kleptomania is a serious problem and if not coping with it, it can cause a lot of trouble.
References: http://www.mayoclinic, http://www.minddisorders.com/Kau-Nu/Kleptomania.html

Self-assesment of ESP learning

2008-05-09T00:00:00.000-07:00

Writing skills:
-summaries:I managed to learn how to write analytical summaries, also improved my writing in restatement summaries.
-ESP vocabulary tests: I found an efficient technique how to learn psychological definitions and it became easier for me to remember them for a longer time.
-Self-designed tests: I managed to define important information and to ignore details
-Dictations: I managed to concentrate my attention more efficiently and to hear more information at a time, improved my spelling.
-Contributions to weblogs: helped me to broaden my view on some topics, also to express my opinion mo breathly.

Speaking skills:
-participation in class discussions: I managed to express my opinion more clearly, also to evaluate and understand other opinions.
-presentations: It is not so stressful to talk in front of all class as it used to be at first, improved my accuracy.
-speaking in pairs: Learned how to hold over the discussion, also improved listening and evaluating other views.

Listening skills:
-Listening activities in class: Helps to practice and improve my comprehension, however I need more practice.
-Listening to podcasts: It is very useful and interesting helped me to improve not just listening but also other skills.
-Listening outside class: Is easier to understand and usually the comprehension is better because the speech is publicist and not so formal.

Reading skills:
- home reading: I manage to get the gist without translating all the unknown words, however translating them helped me to speak more clearly and extended my vocabulary.
-class reading: Sometimes it is hard to concentrate, but mostly I manage to understand the material efficiently.
-reading comprehension exercises:I made a progress in understanding and distinguishing the information. However, I need to improve my comprehension skills more, because it is hard to distinguish the similar information efficiently.
-computer tasks: Not very hard, I manage to do them quite well, because it is up to me what article to choose and if it is publicist or popular it is easier to understand and involve myself at it.

Body language

2008-03-29T00:12:00.002-07:00

Body language is an important part of communication, which can help you to communicate well and understand other people. For this reason it is very useful to learn body language. Here are some movements, which are the most common.
First, don’t be afraid to take up some space – taking up space, for example, sitting or standing with your legs apart signals self-confidence and that you are comfortable. If you are listening to a person it is recommended to nod, it shows that you are listening to him, but don't overdo it, it can look stupid. And another important thing is not to stand too close to a person when your talking to him, because you are interrupting his private space, which is impolite and may signal rudeness.
It is also important to understand when other person is lying. persons who are laying may be very anxious. Many of us have hidden anxiety signals. For example: Biting the inside of the mouth, patting head, hands in pockets. Anxiety may be displaced into actions such as fidgeting, moving around the place or paying attention to unusual places.
Here are only few movement mentioned, but there are hundreds of movements to understand. However, we have to be critical because, for example if a persons sits with his arms crossed on his chest it could also mean that he is just cold.

Artificial intelligence

2008-03-29T00:12:00.001-07:00

According to http://library.thinkquest.org/2705/, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the area of computer science focusing on creating machines that can engage on behaviors that humans consider intelligent. But some things about this intelligence makes me wonder. What place does it take in our society? Can a computer express emotions? Can a computer have a mind?
Artificial intelligence is created by humans and it's purpose is to help people live easier life and to make daily life activities easier. Computers helps us every day to solve difficult tasks, that would take lots of time to do it for our selves. But however, in my opinion, computers do everything automatically and such point as emotions, or separate mind can't be considered. In addition, off course, there is possibility that many years after the situation will change and then we could talk not only about artificial intelligence, but also about artificial emotions or mind. As professor Floridi said: "We do not know if we are the only intelligent form of life. However, we are now slowly accepting the idea that we might be informational entities and agents among many others, and not so dramatically different from smart, engineered artifacts."
All in all, artificial intelligent couldn't exists without humans. It shows a significant termination or unlimited power of humans capability. And artificial intelligence is created only to help people to live an easier life and to answer of questions and to broaden our knowledge of the world, but not to replace us.

Babies intelligence

2007-12-12T07:08:00.000-08:00

It is believed that babies at the age six months already shows social intelligence and has the foundation for the moral thoughts.
Professor Kiley Hamlin made an experiment, which proved that babies capacity to evaluate individuals are universal and unlearned. Babies intelligence is shown by an ability to figure out lots on their own, learn by watching, learn to communicate with others. However, some preferences babies make by peoples appearance.
At the age 18months babies become a true social creatures and can meaningfully cooperate with others.

Sleep

2007-11-27T08:20:00.000-08:00

Sleep sometimes seems like a big waste of time. Just think about how many things you could do instead of sleeping. Why do we need sleep at all? I think we all have considered about these things. And I also got interested so I started searching for some information.
Sometimes i feel great even if I sleep only 6hours, but sometimes I sleep 10hours and when I awake I still feel tired. It is known that nowadays one needs about 8hours of sleep to feel totally rest. What is more if we wake up at REM faze we feel more relaxed weather on other fazes.
And another interesting thing I find out, would be a great advise for all of you. If you are having an exam and only one night is left for learning you should remember that sleep, especially REM sleep, is very important for memory and learning. But if there is no possibility to learn earlier you should try counting the time and leave the exact time for all 4states of sleep. That you would awake at REM faze.
So as you see sleep is very important for our lives and it is also useful to find out more about sleep, to live a full value life.

influence

2007-11-15T08:48:00.000-08:00

A person who influenced me the most from my very beginning was my sister. She is older than me and always took care of me. For this reason I am very thankful.
Though some time ago when we were children we didn't get on well I still admired her. She was an example for me. My sister is very creative and stubborn, she always was reaching for the best. So for this reason I also had to try very hard to catch up her. And later on when we became great friends it was even better to watch her, how she deals big problems and still stays very calm. Then she helped me to reach my biggest goals in life and always to stay strong.
And know when I think what would I be without her... First I don't think I would know what means to have a real close friend and an example to follow. And what is more I don't think I would be studying here, she helped me to find myself. And even now she is very important to me,she's my support, and I'm her's.

Phobias

2007-11-07T06:31:00.000-08:00

Phobia is an irrational persistent fear of certain situations, objects, activities or persons. The main symptom of this disorder is the excessive unreasonable desire to avoid the feared subject. When the fear is beyond one's control, or if the fear is interfering with daily life we must find ways to cope with it.
Some people who has phobias tries to avoid what they are afraid of. If they cannot, they may experience: panic and fear, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, trembling, a strong desire to get away. There are several ways to cure it. Cognitive behavioral therapy lets the patient understand the cycle of negative thought patterns, and ways to change these thought patterns. Also an important role plays our surrounding: our friends, parents. They can help us by providing a sense of security, self-confidence. In some critical moments people start using drugs, becomes addicted to alcohol. For example famous stars such as Marlin Monroe, Johnny Depp, David Beckham also has fears and those who don't cure them becomes addicted to drug or alcohol.
To sum everything up, it is normal to be afraid of something, though we mustn't let those phobias become fears.

Social psychology

2007-09-26T04:25:00.001-07:00

Psychology covers lots of various subfields: from clinical neuropsychology to sports psychology. The subfield which I would like to study the most is social psychology. For this reason I took deeper interest in it, checked some literature and other information sources and found some pros and cons for this subfield.
In my opinion, the main advantage of the social psychology is to help to understand relationships between people and how they affect each other by their behavior. Nowadays it's very important thing, because for example, violence shown on TV are breaking to the streets. It sadly becomes the main subject in media.
There also exist some disadvantages of studying such subfield of psychology. The main problem is that people and their values change, so it's important to catch up and adapt to them. For example kids during the years spend their time differently, they like different things.
Even though this subfield has it's own cons, I believe that studying it honestly shouldn't seem so hard.

psychology of colours

2007-09-26T03:17:00.000-07:00

Colours play an important role in our lives. They can help us to improve our moods during certain moments of our lives and to feel comfortable in everyday routine.
Everyone is affected by colours in one way or another. Scientific research has proved that rooms decorated in different colours make us to behave differently. For example the room painted in yellow or green could make someone to loose his anger and to improve his mood, help to chill out and relax.
What is more, colours can help us to introduce ourselves. We can tell about our character, temper by simply saying what colour do we like. What's more, many things could be told about ones mood by looking at what colour clothes he's wearing that day. Bright colours could mean that his mood is great, and he wants to attract to himself, black or dark colours could mean sadness, disaster or something like that.
As we can see, colours are very important, they can give us lots of useful things, information and affect mood.

Psychology

2007-09-06T23:07:00.000-07:00

There are lots of important professions nowadays, but I think that psychology should be assigned to the most important ones. This profession deals with various types of mental problems, troubles in families and so on. It simply helps us to solve root problems for almost everything that bothers us thus improving efficiency of other professions.
Being a psychologist is a very interesting, but also responsible job. You need to have special abilities for this job. Such as patience, understanding, caring and objectivity.
Long time ago, I started thinking about my future, what will I be. And then I thought about psychology. I love communicating with people, listening to them, helping to solve their problems. I thought that this job is great because you don't have just to sit in front of a computer all day. The job isn't boring. Most people trust me and I believe that I have necessary abilities required for this profession. Then I started to follow all the news about psychology. I found some interesting magazines, which were a great help for me to know more about this profession.
I surely hope i won't be disappointed.