Blog Final

My Psychology Experience


Psychology is one of the most useful tools for understanding the human mind, and the way it all operates. At the start of the year I doubted how important Psychology was, and how important it would be to my life, my career, and even my schooling experience. Throughout this blog I will not only discuss all the things that I learned over this semester, but also how to apply all of this to my life.

One of the first things that stood out to me was the first lecture for module one was the definition for Psychology was the definition that Dr. Pris Selvaraj gave. She said that Psychology as was understanding processes of the human mind, behavior, personality, responses of people, mental processes (cognition and affective understanding of feeling emotions). Psychology Definition Video. This set up the basis for all Psychology and all semester. The reason I feel as this is so important is this makes Psychology far more encompassing, and presents Psychology in a way that it encompasses all aspects of life. Another thing that I picked up on was this is not just a subject to help just understand others, but in all of this  it is a way to understand yourself and how you think also. Psychology can be and is self centered in a sense, but in another sense it is also very much communal. Psychology is a way to be able to help yourself and help others, but it is not just a tool for self help either. The Module 1 task really stood out to me too because it allowed for me to relate a class that has nothing to do with my major to my major. I was able to talk about positive psychology and relate that to ministry. It just goes to show that at some levels psychology penetrates many fields of study. Module 1 Tasks


"Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior"  Introducing Psychology  Another thing that stood out to me was the way in which the brain works. One of the things in which I found to be very interesting and insightful was the fact that the idea or a person being either left brained and or right brained was a myth. This is so fascinating to me because all my life I grew up believing this simple miss conception, which was finally straightened out.  Another thing that in the section stood out to me is the fact that a person can function without the use of either their left brain or their right brain. The thing that is so intriguing about this is people have had portions of their brain removed, and studies have shown that the portion that remains will pick up some of the slack and begin functioning with some of the functions of the portion that was removed. This is so amazing to see that the brain is able to keep functioning evening when there is no function in one side of the Brain. There have been many stories of this, and one of the most common causes of this is with a disease called Rasmussen’s encephalitis which causes one hemisphere of the brain to become inflamed and deteriorate. Real Life Story. This is so stunning to me just because it goes to prove how intricate the brain truly is.  In my research for the module 2 task blog I came across one of the main causes for ADHD. The cause for this malfunctioning of the brain is that the frontal part of the brain works as a filter. This allows people to be able to find and be able to focus on certain tasks without getting distracted, but in people with ADHD this capacity of the brain is no longer there. This is key for the attention of people which is missing in those with this disorder. Ted Talk I was so intrigued by this because I never understood this disorder in the capacity that I do now. I realize that when dealing with people struggling with this I need to have more grace than I would with a person without these struggles.  Another thing that stood out to me was the fact that my brain does not always perceive things in the correct manner. I am merely a human and my brain is not an exception to this. I can see many things and experience many things, but my brain is not always right. The reason for me including this is that it helps me understand that when I am trying to recall certain things I need to bring into consideration the fact that I may not always be recalling things in the correct manner so I need to take short coming into consideration.

        Something that stood out to me was the idea of developmental side of psychology. This is the study of development of behaviors mental processes and stages of growth from conception to death. The reason this stood out to me the most is that because of this things such as ageism were discovered to be a thing. This is the prejudice or discriminating bases on the physical age. Many times it has been proved that older people have better well beings than those of younger generations. This is so important because it goes to show that even as people age they are important and showed be treated as such. In Module 3 we began our student led activities. For my group we were the first to go and we led the group game of Simon Says. In doing this we played the original game but with some twists. The group could only do the tasks we told them when either my name or my other two partner’s names were spoken before the task. If the name Simon was spoken they could not do the task. We chose this for many reason one by changing the rules it forces them to recall the game they knew and then add something new to it. This game tested the auditory and the cognitive abilities of the participants. This taught me that even the littlest things can have an impact on the way in which we understand things. It also went to show that by doing the smallest of tasks great cognitive progress can be gained in the human mind. Sigmund Freud was a psychologist who developed a therapy style called psychoanalysis also came up with certain levels/stages of development. The stages he came up with were oral, anal, phallic/Oedipal, latency, and genital. He said that if these stages were not met it would later lead to them having a problem that was in the unconscious and could come out in the conscious. These stages and his way of thinking is so important to psychology because although not all of his theories are accepted it changed the way in which psychologist would think. These se the foundations and the and the basis for many developmental psychologists even today. Even though that his theories are not accepted they led to people doing more and more research, and causing the field of Psychology to expand. 

One thing that this section taught me is that once something is learned an electrical connection is formed, but this connection is not a forever thing. Once something is learned it can be unlearned. The reason this is so important to know is that because something can be unlearned it is important to always remember to review things that are learned. Also, if you want to remember something longer it is good to always work through it multiple times. There are three theories of learning classical conditioning, operant conditioning, cognitive and social learning. The theory that I used the most for my self is classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is a learning process which occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired; a response that is elicited by the second stimulus and then is eventually caused by the first stimulus. This theory was created by a man of the name Ivan Pavlov. This theory was put into practice through the use of dogs, food, and bells. He recoded the salivation of dogs when a bell rang. He found that this did not increase salivation. He then recorded salivation when food was presented to the dog. He then rang the bell and gave food to the dog. Eventually this led to the bell being rung and that causing salivation to increase even when food was not give to the animal. Thus showing that the dogs have been classically conditioned.The reason this is the most important one to me is because this is what I used to encourage better study habits. When I would study I would reward myself with candy, and eventually it led to me having better study habits because of the reward offered.  Another thing that I learned in this module is many patterns of cognitive distortions. The one I identified with the most is over generalization. This is where you see a negative event as a pattern that has no end to it. The reason this is something I struggled with in the past was that I was in a state of just feeling like I was caring a lot of weight. I was broken up with, and not to mention and it just felt like the harder I tried the more and more and more things would go wrong. However, I have now been set free of that and I would love for people to also have freedom form this. 

 Across all cultures there are many universal expressions of emotions. These include happiness, surprise, fear, disgust, anger, contempt, and sadness. This is so crazy to me. It just goes to show that emotions transcend cultures. It even shows that there are things we all have in common. This is so important because it shows that even though we are in different places for the most part we experience the same emotions as people in other places. Thus showing that many of us desire the same things in life also. This is important because it is another way in which we can learn to treat other humans better than we already do. Also other important thing in which I learned in this module was the importance of something called emotional intelligence. This is so important because it is the ability to identify, assess, and control one’s emotions and the emotions of others and even their group. This is so important because this is what many businesses and many people looking to hire are looking for. They want people who are able to interact and understand people more than they want people who are able to retain information and have vast knowledge of the interworking of tasks not involving people. There are three theories that we learned in this module. Those being James-Langue theory, Cannon-Bard theory, and Scachter’s two factor theory. Each of these are used to explain emotional responses. The Scachter’s two factor theory says that when an emotion is felt a physical arousal occurs, and then use the environment to help respond emotionally one uses cues that are given by the environment. James-Lange theory states that experience of emotions is awareness of physiological responses to emotion arousing stimuli. Finally the Cannon-Bard theory states emotion arousing stimuli simultaneously trigger physiological and cognitive responses. This is so important to know because these are the theories that shape the way in which emotional responses are viewed in Psychology.

One of the most eye opening modules for sure for me simply due to the fact that it deals with Psychological disorders. It was crazy to me to think about this. One of the things that opened my eyes the most, and also astonished me was the fact that 1 out of Americans deal with some form of mental disorders. The reason this I believe is one of the most important things that we learned is due to the fact that the American culture today teaches us that we need to be okay on our own. It shows us that you are considered weak if you cannot handle your own issues, and the reason this is so important is that people need to learn that it is okay to not be okay. Something even more staggering about this is the way in which metal disorder treatment has evolved throughout time. In the stone and Middle Ages mental disorders were perceived as demon possessions where the skull would be bore into to let the demon out or an exorcist would be performed. Then in the renaissance it was seen as witchcraft and the person was thrown into an asylum. Then the idea that these problems had physical causes arose with the medical model. Now there is a multifaceted approach for explaining abnormal behavior. This is so important because now people with these issues are still seen and treated as human beings and nothing less than that. Finally the module 6 blog was extremely eye opening for me. I had always questioned the ability of counselors, but after talking to my sister who is a counselor and speaking with a friend I was able to realize that counselors are in fact amazing outlets for people who have these disorders to go to and just pour all they struggle with out to these people.

   The goal of positive psychology is to not only make a person happier, but to also allow them to learn how to flourish. This is such an important aspect of psychology because happiness is a fleeting emotion. One will not always be happy, but with positive psychology it teaches people even when they are not happy they can find ways of fixing their life. It teaches to find positive things in daily life that one can reflect on and make their day better. PERMA is a new theory of wellbeing. This acronym stands for positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishments. The man who made this theory Martin Seligman believes that all of these things can lead to a fulfilled life. This is so important because each of these things teach people how to chase after a life that is fulfilling. It even goes to show that if something is wrong in their life they can find a way to try and make it better, and more fulfilled.  The module 7 task blog has also showed me a lot. It taught me how to find positive things in my life, and it showed me the strengths that I have, and ways in which I can use them to make my day more positive. Not only did it teach me that my strengths were caution. Kindness and caring, and the showing and receiving love. This taught me that if I put these strengths into play in my life then I am able to help make my day and even someone else’s day better. This is so important because it teaches that each person if they use their strengths can make their own life and the lives of others more joyful and enjoyable.

Throughout this class we wrote a series of blogs and we were also tasked with committing on at least four blogs a module. These comments were meant to help us get more information on our topic we wrote about and also to see what we did well and what we could work on in our blogs for the next module. There were many comments that I read throughout this year but the ones that had the biggest impact on me were the ones for my blog about my interest in positive psychology. The reason this had the biggest impact on me was because Dr. Pris specializes in positive Psychology so it was a real encouragement to see that she had something good to day about what I had to write. It was also an encouragement to receive the comments from Jason and from Austin because it was nice to see that others also see the connection between Jesus and positive psychology.
This was a different experience for me, but it helped and it allowed to see how much psychology could really have an impact that psychology could have on my life. The two blogs that had the most impact on me was the module 7 and also the module 1 blogs. The reason for this is because it allowed me to see aspects of psychology that I was able to add to my daily life. These helped me because I was able to find new ways to make my days positive, and also a way in which I could integrate Psychology into my life plan. I want to be a pastor, and I found that I could use what positive Psychology taught about helping make the lives of people happier, and more joyful. Psychology is so helpful to everyday life. It can help make life more full and more enriched. this is because we see what we have in our lives, and how we function, and because of this it can and should lead us to love deeper chase after friendships and relationships more deeper. This should lead us to be more intentional with friendships. If psychology does anything for use it should teach us that as humans it is our job to make each other feel loved, accepted, appreciated, and welcomed. because one of the smallest signs of acceptance and one act of kindness could completely change the day, week, month, year, or even the life time of another. psychology is something that is multifaceted. It is a field of study that is centered on the idea of not only making a single person better, but also by helping many people. It is a way in which people can be encouraged, built up, and reinforced with way to overcome certain hard ships which cause deep and painful struggles in one’s life. It is also a way in which people can approach learning, loving, and living life in general. It is a way that can help us as humans view each other in a way that is more relational and loving.

Sources:
http://www.wlox.com/story/38099105/jackson-county-boy-has-half-a-brain-but-a-full-life
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/neurology_neurosurgery/centers_clinics/epilepsy/types/rasmussen_syndrome.html
https://www.calibanbooks.com/pictures/medium/0083489.jpg?v=1469048200
file:///C:/Users/kbeal/AppData/Local/Packages/Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe/TempState/Downloads/Week%202%20chapter_Intro_to_Psych.pdf
http://danbeal.blogspot.com/2018/01/about-my-interest-in-psycology.htmlhttps://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=ted+talk+adhd&qpvt=ted+talk+adhd&view=detail&mid=614CB2BD859549518FF3614CB2BD859549518FF3&&FORM=VRDGAR
https://www.gostrengths.com/whatisperma/
http://danbeal.blogspot.com/2018/04/counselorshelp.html
https://www.simplypsychology.org/libido.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv4uKfEPazohQ8mC-rgzNsMkbwBRH8TwiTGJwqW22lvRSk0y32QtLAV1JkyU8EeZPMRP9lKKV81SEwMR4irX3a0cIRBoGFOPtO_aAojCoXokGVrmz6DcjIQqqKWiK-w1zM9xPyM8bdutE/s1600/1+freud.jpg
https://www.simplypsychology.org/classical-conditioning.html
https://nisiandlisi.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/classical-conditioning.jpg