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.
The first study I took part in was a brain stimulation, which looked at attention. It took place over 3 consecutive days and took approximately 1 to 1.5 hours per day. I needed to fill out some questionnaires and do some computer tasks, on each day. While doing some of the tasks, a small current was applied to my scalp using a transcutaneous electrical stimulation (TES) machine. This small current is capable of changing the electrical properties of the brain. TES is a harmless procedure which is commonly used in psychological experiments. The after-effects are only temporary, and it was used as part of someone’s Doctoral research, to see how TES affects attention. I was given 5 SONA participation credits. The recruitment process was very simple; I simply had to email the researcher and sign up for the time slots. As soon as I arrived at the cognitive lab on the first day, I was handed a consent form to tell me what
Throughout this semester of Psychology 150 I have learned a great deal about several different concepts that I consciously, and sometimes unconsciously, find myself applying to my life. There are five different psychology topics I found that held the most relevance to my life. Some of these topics do not deal with myself exclusively, but they do affect the people I hold dear to me. The topics range from disorders to personality differences, and they all affect me in some way, both indirectly and directly.
According to the course syllabus we were introduced to the techniques of psychological research. This course was able to provide an understanding of how research is done, and what methods we can use to do so. By having a clear understanding of research and techniques used, it allows us to communicate effectively in regards to ideas behind the research process. In this paper, I will use myself as the case study to examine exactly what I learned about research.
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.
In Psychology 101, you learn about a personal fable; something that I have not lost. I have always wanted to change the world that I was destined for greatness and teaching elementary school students gives me that power. In the words of Nelson Mandela, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
First, children¡¯s acquisition of language is an innate mechanism that enables a child to analyze language and extract the basic rules of grammar, granted by Chomsky. It basically states that humans are born with a language acquisition device that, the ability to learn a language rapidly as children. However, there is one important controversy in language acquisition concerns how we acquire language; since Chomsky fails to adequately explain individual differences. From the behaviorists¡¯ perspectives, the language is learned like other learned behaviors. It is learned through operant
The researchers believed that after the online communication and chat rooms became viral, the adolescents will have no social connectedness and well-being. They then figured out that they were wrong. They found out that online communication helps the adolescents social connectedness and well-being rather than reduces it. The researchers came up with three assumption about online communication and how it affects the adolescents. First, online communication stimulates online self-disclosure, second, online self-disclosure
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.
James was referred to the counselling service for chronic low mood in terms of demonstrating depressed mood, worthless and hopeless feeling, and marked diminished interests or pleasure in university activities and social relationship activities. Based on his background information, it seems that James’ early life experiences and his developed core beliefs of self, world and future have huge impacts on his chronic low mood symptoms.
American Psychological Association is the leading scientific and professional body representing psychology in the United States of America. This paper will discuss the purpose, structure, function, mission, benefits and resources to the members and public at large.
This research article was taken from the Association for Psychological Science (APS) Journal. This specific issue had a total of ten articles, and while they are covering different topics and studies, some of them do focus on similar ideas. Psychology is all about the study of the mind, and how it has different parts intended for unique functions. It seems like a good portion of the articles for this specific journal deal with emotions and how the body interprets them. One article deals with the stress of different generations, while another deals with an individual’s willpower against sugar. There is an article about self-esteem and how that varies during a lifetime, as well as an article on cooperation. The article that will be specifically discussed in this research paper also has to deal with how the body interprets things when it comes to a stressful situation, such as a crime. It looks at how reliable eyewitness testimony is after traumatic events, specifically in regards to lineups.
Just as all psychological tests are categorized, not all tests are applied for the same use and the same users. Each test is done by a trained or professional to determine what is the situation based on the results and to see what treatment is best for the individual. There are four major psychological tests users are clinical, educational,
In this fast paced world we live in it is often hard to find the time to ask ourselves, “Who am I?” To even begin to scratch the surface of this question one must first understand the brain and how experiences shape who we are. These events can either be tragic, uplifting, or redefining. Psychology states that these experiences can affect the outcome of a person's personality (Wood, et. al., 2014). Personality is a multifaceted array of idiosyncrasies that help us understand a person’s behaviors, identity, and characteristics. Inside my mind is a vault filled with nineteen years worth of memories and learned behaviors that have impacted me in some way. In order to gain a better understanding of who I am I must delve deep into my mind and analyze the core components of my personality.
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).
At the beginning of this subterm, I had a limited understanding of the proper research methods used within psychology. Despite having previously completed several psychology courses, two being upper level courses, there was still much I needed to learn pertaining to psychology research methods. While this research class has been on only an introductory