Psychology Reflection Essay

1. Psychology has contributed to the advancement of social issues in many ways. Psychologists challenged societies way of thinking on many social issues, one being segregation in schools. Psychology was used to show the affects of segregation and that psychologically homosexuals were no different than heterosexuals. Psychology has helped drop stereotypes and stigmas and helped create the way of thinking that most of society now has.

Good afternoon classmates have been excellent to share are experience and the insight of our weekly discussions this semester. I've increased my knowledge this semester on the explanatory material of understanding that everyone in the community is affected society and through open communication of understanding our social surroundings. When I first took this class, I didn't know the difference between psychology which is the study of behavior versus sociology which is the study of people. Next, I would say I learned the importance of critical thinking and following the steps to research because if you don't come up with the question first your research is doomed. Chapter 2 the Zimbardo’s Experiment: The Individual and the Social Role has stuck

Taking a Psychology class has taught me a lot about others and myself. I have learned a lot in this class and the information I retained will stick with me for the rest of my life. The knowledge I have gained will help me in the future by allowing me to be a better actress, CEO, and mother. The most important topics I will need are Lifespan Development and Psychological Disorders. These subjects can be unknowingly important when crossing paths with other people.

Growing up, I never considered myself as truly talented. I would watch my friends as they excelled in sports or received their black belt after playing the hardest song on the recorder. At that age, they probably dreamed of becoming a professional athlete or a musician, but where did I stand in all of this? Everything I did was either subpar or mediocre. There was never a field or an activity that I dominated in (except limboing but that won’t get me anywhere in life). It wasn’t until one day when I saw my friend crying on our first day back from spring break, when I learned that I did have a talent after all. After consoling her, I learned that her grandfather had passed over the break; but I also learned that I have a raw talent for comforting others, talking to them, making them feel just a little bit better about life. As I reflect on this day, I know that my young, psychoanalytic self was born to be a psychologist.

1. What is the nurse's highest priority for a patient experiencing sleep deprivation? What would we teach them about this? What treatment would be expected? Safety would be highest priority; sleep deprivation causes psychomotor deficits. Interventions that can help with sleep deprivation would be avoiding stimulating activities in the hours before bed. Avoid exercise, caffeine, and screen time just before bed. It’s also a good idea to avoid eating a large meal, as this can interfere with healthy sleep. Create a comfortable sleep environment. One medication that the patient can be prescribed on would be Zolpidem is a short-acting hypnotic that will help the patient initiate sleep and awaken without untoward symptoms of drowsiness. Also, Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and galanin are sleep-promoting neurotransmitters that can be used as a treatment.

While reading chapter eight, there were somethings that stood out to me. I noticed that there are many definitions to the term emotionally disturbed. According to the DSM-5 classification depends primarily on the way that people behave or feel. There are two pervasive dimensions of disordered behavior; externalizing behavior, this involves striking out others, and internalizing behavior, this involves mental or emotional conflicts. A child could have both of these.

1. List the three factors that are described in chapter 1 that create a need for screening. Discuss the significance of each one as to why they are key factors. (3 pts)

Psychology has always had a direct impact on my life for many years for example, I myself have had counselling sessions for anxiety. Experiencing this has given me a desire to work with people in understanding their behaviour and how their minds work to be able to empower individuals to lead better lives. My own personal experience with anxiety has also intrigued me into thinking why I think the way I do and what can be put into action to improve my circumstances.

Over the course of this class I have pieced together many things about my own life that before went unnoticed. I am now able to see things in a bit of a different light. Now that I have been introduced to the realm of psychology I understand some of the reasons for behavior around me. I have learned that there is a reason for most everything and a lot of our behaviors and mental processes can be explained through psychology. Studies have been conducted for many years to try and pinpoint the source of our behavior and it is not something that most people think about every day. Having a better understanding of why we operate the way we do will help me to better understand myself and the others around me.

When I started this class this pass September I had a little knowledge of psychology. In my junior year of high school I took Psychology as an elective class. I really enjoy it alot, it amaze me how much there was to know about our brains. This September I came with the feeling that this psychology class was going to be way different from my psychology class from high school. And that my knowledge from my class before wasn’t going to be useful at all. But I was wrong, this class has actually been better than my other class. Because it has help dust off some of the concepted that I had learn before. But it has also made gain more knowledge about psychology that I didn’t knew before. For example the next concepts are the ones that had impacted me the most: critical thinking and the eight essential, implicit learning, short term and long term memories. I chose these concept because they have not only taught me more about psychology, but they have made a big impact on me.

Going into high school as a junior I never really thought about what it would be like to take a psychology course but I realize that I learned a lot that I never knew before and this was a great course and I am really glad that I took it. The things that took from this course that I can compare and relate to my life are the uses of technology in our society, social inequity, race of others, family and culture, gender differences, and personal life problems.

This year, I participated in 20 hours (20 SONA credits) worth of psychology studies, which consisted of experimental, survey/questionnaire, and qualitative methods. In this reflective report, I am going to discuss my experience of participating in psychological studies, as a part of the Psychology in Action module, and demonstrate how this has increased my understanding of both methodological issues in the research. I am also going to evaluate the methodologies that were used, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses in answering the questions under consideration.

Over the course of this semester, I have had the opportunity to learn about educational psychology. I have always enjoyed psychology and was especially interested in how it applied to teaching in the classroom. There were five specific concepts we discussed over the semester that especially interested me. I found that homogenous and heterogeneous grouping, extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, operant conditioning, cooperative learning, and divergent versus convergent thinking are five psychological concepts that every teacher should learn about in preparation for teaching.

Is how aggressive an individual is determined only by his or her genes? Whether psychological and behavioral traits are purely determined by genetics, solely influenced by socialization, or a combination of both has been a highly debated topic within the field of psychology known as the “nature-nurture issue.” Today, although still disputed, a good number of psychologists and other scientists concur that genetics and the environment mutually influence and intermingle with one another (Myers, 2015). We can partially credit this fizzling-out of the nature-nurture debate to the discoveries made in twin studies. Twin studies are used to help delineate the genetic components of behavior and the socially and culturally influenced components (Myers, 2015). This type of study enables researchers to examine the extent to which genetics and environment have an effect on the development of traits and behavior. For example, in lecture, we learned that a common and natural experiment used in twin studies is to examine a set of twins who grew up in the same household and a set twins who grew up in separate households (K.W. Brown, personal communication, August 29, 2017).

The Gestalt psychology movement was fascinating within the time frame in which it started to develop. While other psychological movements strived to boil down psychology in almost simplistic, scientific terms, Gestalt psychology embraced complexities within the consciousness. Gestalt psychologists argued “that when we look out a window we really see trees and sky, not individual sensory elements such as brightness and hue” (Schultz & Schultz, 2011). There is more to what we experience and see that just the simple elements that make these things and experiences up.