Gen psych Introduction

--Original published at BillardnBlog

Hi everyone! My name is Nicole, I grew up in a small town called Honesdale in Northeast PA. I’ve lived on a farm my entire life and we’ve raised cows, goats, and pigs at various times. I am involved in my County’s 4H program where I enter photography projects and show animals in the Wayne County Fair. Some of my favorite things to do are listen to music, play soccer, and travel.

I am very excited this being my first year at Elizabethtown College and playing for the women’s soccer team! I will be majoring in Biology with a minor in Anthropology. Being a first-year student my classes were chosen for me, but I still look forward to be in psychology as I find it very interesting. I do not have any background with this subject because I was unable to fit it in my schedule in high school. When I hear the word psychology the first thing that I think of is the study of the mind and how it works. Also, reactions of things to their surroundings.

The top three class topics I find most interesting would be Theories of Intelligence, Personality and Culture, and Classifying Mental Illness. I look forward to these topics because I want to learn what differences there are between people. Such as how they learn or their distinct traits. Truly, I don’t find any topics not interesting, I am excited to see what the class brings this semester. Something I want to learn by the end of this class would be to understand different reactions and emotions to certain situations or stimuli. Looking forward to this semester!


Introduction

--Original published at Kevin Psych Blog

My name is Kevin Nix. I am currently a student at the Elizabethtown Area High School, taking this class as a dual enrollment course. As such I’m very anxious about taking on this class but I felt it a necessary challenge to start to bring me out of my comfort zone. I’m not necessarily a quiet and reserved person, but I’m not one for starting conversations so unless I were to be approached I doubt I’ll be getting to know any of you during the next few months.

Like I said before I chose this class because I wanted a newer, more difficult experience than what I’ve been used to thus far. I chose psychology because it’s a topic I’ve been interested in for a long time but aside from taking the high school class last year I have no background in it. That class barely satisfied my desire to delve further into the subject and I decided that if I’m going to take a college level class it might as well be this.

When I hear the word “psychology” I think of the study of the mind, the obvious answer. But beyond that I associate it with behavior. Why we act the way we do. Looking at the syllabus I am looking forward to attachment theory, moral development, and the entirety of mental illnesses. Attachment theory because it looks like it goes into what I previously stated to be interested in; our behavior. It’s a specific part of our behavior but that’s really all the better. Moral Development I’m looking forward to as morality is one of the more fascinating things about humans I think, why and how our morality and ideals grow and how much of it is nature v.s. nurture. Of course I have to be excited for mental illness. It’s just a cliche that someone who loves learning about the mind also loves learning about all the ways it can go wrong. I’m least excited for learning about the brain, the mechanics of sleep, and memory. The brain, while of course being an important aspect of psychology, seems to me to be more about the body. At least when studying the physical structure of the brain, and the body is something I have little interest in. The mechanics of sleep I remember covering in my high school psychology class and I just didn’t care that much about it. I can hardly recall what was even discussed in detail because it was just a boring topic to me. Memory on the other hand is new to me. I don’t think we covered it in the class I took but nonetheless, it doesn’t sound exciting. I have no real reason for this other than my immediate reaction to seeing it listed.

I can’t really say I have a specific question I want to have answered by this class. I just want to expand my overall knowledge of psychology. I guess if I had to choose, I hope this class shows me what aspects I really want to look into more, or if I really want to continue through the subject or look to other studies instead.


First blog post

--Original published at Caitlin's corner

Hello everyone! My name is Caitlin, I’m almost 20 years old and originally from Pittsburgh, PA. My first year at Etown was great, however, I wasn’t completely comfortable in the Early Childhood Education Major, so I switched into the Psychology department and decided to start taking my major related classes in the fall of 2017. I’m really interested in the Social-Emotional approach to teaching, intervention, and counseling. In the future, I would love to still work with children with Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) or trauma in a school or counseling setting. After graduating, I would love to possibly attend Neumann University and earn a Master’s degree in Social Emotional Learning. I work with the program’s Director, Thom Stecher, in many ways. For the past six years, I have attended and participated in the LifeSkills/LifeChangers Conference as a camper and counselor. It is a week long intense leadership conference where you focus on respect, relationships, and responsibility in all aspects. I have also worked at Camp Rainbow in Montgomery County, PA as a lead counselor and behavioral support staff. Thom Stecher & Associates trained each staff member for both camps and provided them with the tools necessary for a successful social-emotional approach to learning and teaching. I also volunteer with and am a member of the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls, which is a Masonic youth service organization for girls between the ages of 11 and 21. I describe it as a mix between the Girl Scouts, a sorority, and a youth group. We volunteer our time at nursing homes, shelters, and raise money for two charities every year, so in that regard we are charitable like the Girl Scouts and care about our communities and other’s as well as our own. We also follow a ritual book during our meetings and closed ceremonies just like how a sorority does, and we also elect our officers for each chapter like a sorority president, vice president, chaplain, treasurer, recorder, and such. We are also like a church youth group in many ways. In order to be a member you have to believe in a Higher power, we have a chaplain, like a pastor but it’s a girl member, and say a prayer and reference God within our Ritual, and we also have a bible in the meeting room. Overall, it teaches the ideas of faith, charity, and hope, along with the lessons of love, religion, nature, immortality, fidelity, patriotism, and service. In between all of this, I love having a radio station on campus with my best friend and attending many concerts while also visiting my boyfriend in Allentown, PA.


PSY 105D, Fall 2017-Introduction

--Original published at Lynsey Wissler's Blog

My name is Lynsey Wissler. I am from a farm in Lancaster Country and am excited to be starting my first year at Elizabethtown College. I am majoring in early childhood education. I am hoping to learn a lot in this course to help me understand more of human behaviors. Understanding these perspectives will hopefully, lead me to preform better in my future in the classroom. I chose to take this class because I really enjoyed my high school psychology class. Which leads me to my next point that I do, have a background in AP Psychology, where I received a 4 on the exam. When I hear the word “psychology” I think of the behavior and how people work mentally…why we do, what we do. The three topics that I think sound interesting are “Theory of Intelligence”, the studies of the brain, and personality discussions. These interest me because you never thoroughly think of the way peoples mind work, or why we behave the way that we do. To be able to study the scientific reasoning behind people and their intelligence, personality, and the brain that controls it all excites me. My question that I hope to be answered by the end of this course is how this all ties into education and how can I use this course to understand the perspectives of children in the classroom. I am looking forward to the rest of the semester.


Blog Creation

--Original published at Site Title

I took this class because I did not take psychology in high school. I do not have any background in psychology. The word “psychology” relates to processes which take place in the brain. The three most interesting topics are The Brain: Micro-level, The Brain: Macro-Level, and Emotion because they cover important aspects of the brain and the unconscious. The three least interesting topics are Why Research Design Matters, Power of Experiments, and Power of the Situation because I find research to be boring. A question I want to answer by the end of this class is “How do unconscious processes work?”


Blog Creation

--Original published at Site Title

Hi! My name is Lauryn. I am a sophomore/ transfer from Northern Virginia. My first year of college I studied Biochemistry but realized that wasn’t my passion and changed my major to psychology with a minor in cognitive science.

I always thought psychology was fascinating but never had the chance to look into it. When I hear the word “psychology,” I think of human behavior. I don’t know if this is just me but, when someone tells me, they are a psychology major I automatically believe that they know everything about me just from one conversation. I am very excited to look at human behavior more closely and use the concepts I learn from this course in the real world. In my opinion, psychology is one of the most important topics to learn. Studying human behavior can help in all aspects of life. No matter what career path you choose, you will always deal with other people. I’m most excited about learning how we make memories because if I know how it works, I can create enhanced study habits to help me retain the information better. I also am very interested in learning why we forget things because if they were memories, why do they just disappear, and in some cases, reappear if you think hard enough? Lastly, I want to know where personality comes from. I am very excited to learn why people behave the way they do in general.

Honestly,  all the topics we will cover in this course are interesting. With the knowledge I obtain from this class, I want to be able to gather information about a person not by what they are saying but by their mannerisms. The biggest question I have is why people act the way they do? Not one person has been able to give me an answer yet, so I hope the class will help me out with that. I look forward to exploring all aspects of psychology.


Introduction

--Original published at Site Title

My name is Scott Kennedy and I am a first-year student at Elizabethtown College. I chose to take General Psychology because I’ve always wanted to take psychology courses at the college level, and perhaps pursue a minor in it. I have not taken a psychology class before, since my high school’s psych class never fit into my schedule. However, I’ve always enjoyed reading books, articles, and studies on psychology in my own free time. When I think of psychology I think of research, quite honestly. As much as I find interest in stories of rare psychological cases and more recent trends involving mental health issues in today’s society, I always remember that at the heart of psychology is thorough research.

The three topics in the course schedule that I find most interesting are improving memory, coping with stress, and mechanics of sleep, since they hold useful and applicable information for me as a busy college student. Three less interesting topics to me would be scientific method, research design, and the power of experiments, since I’m much more interesting in the results and principles of psychological studies than doing the details of doing the research itself. That being said, I do understand the value and importance of effective research to any field, and I hope I gain more exposure to it during the class. My absolute first of many questions about psychology that I’d like to answer by the end of the class is how can I use psychology to make myself more productive and effective in learning and working?


Introduction

--Original published at Site Title

Hi everyone!  My names Kaley and I am currently a sophomore at Elizabethtown College.  I grew up in New Jersey not too far from the beach, where I tend to spend most of my summers.  I am studying Biology-Allied Health in the hopes of being a physicians assistant or a physical therapist.  This summer I had the opportunity to shadow at a dermatology office which was a wonderful experience.  I enjoy going to music festivals and concerts with friends.  If I’m not with my friends, you can always find me with my family.  I am a big homebody and going to college two hours away was very hard for me at first.

I am anxious to dive into this psychology course this year.  This course was required for my major but that doesn’t mean it isn’t something I am very interested in learning about.  I chose this class to learn more about the conscious and unconscious mind.  To study why we think and do certain things.  As well as to grasp the concept of how our brain processes emotions and memory.  I don’t have any formal background in the subject but I am always open to learning.

When I think of the word “psychology” I think of the study of the mind, how it works, and how it affects the body.  One topic in the syllabus that caught my eye was the Personality Theory.  I wonder why everyone’s personalities are different and what makes up an individuals personality? Is it their experiences, how they were raised, or how their mind perceives things, that interoperates their personality?  The brain on a micro-level also caught my eye.  I am very big on breaking things down and I believe to understand things you have to get to the bottom of it.  I’m interested to see how the brain can be pulled apart and understood.  Lastly, coping with stress was a topic that I found intriguing.  College is a stressful place and I am one of those people who get pulled into the wormhole of it all.  I have trouble calming myself down and taking a breath.  Little things get me very on edge and I would like to discover why.

The topics I found least interesting at first glance were Stereotypes& Discrimination, Mechanics of Sleep, and Classifying Mental Illnesses.  In fact none of these looked particularly boring.  They all seem like they would create quite simulating conversations and choosing my three least favorite was hard to do.  However, these were the topics I already knew a little about while the other topics were completely new to me.  I am always drawn towards new things and find enjoyment in learning something different.

I want to be able to understand myself a little more by the end of this course.  To be able to learn about why I behavior a certain way and to see how my brain processes different emotions and how it reacts.  I also want to learn how other people think, and how my mind works differently than others.  By the end of class I hope to be able to grasp the basic concepts of psychology and further expand my knowledge.

 

 

 


Introduction

--Original published at Sarah's Insight

Hello, My name is Sarah Hasenauer and I am a freshman at Elizabethtown College, where I am majoring in Occupational Therapy! I am from Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania, which is about an hour and fifteen minutes away from campus. I am excited to begin learning about psychology because it has always caught my interest and I think it is cool to have a little bit of insight on why some people think and act the way they do. I did not chose this class, I was assigned to it, but I am happy I have it in my schedule this semester. I took an Introduction to Psychology class the first semester of my junior year in high school and I enjoyed it very much, especially the dream portion. When I hear the word “Psychology” I think of the way our brains work and why people are the way they are and why they do the things they do. I hope that this class will take me deeper into the field of psychology and widen my knowledge of the subject.

Looking at the course schedule in our syllabus, it’s easy to pick out a few very exciting topics that I am looking forward to. The first to catch my eye was “how to improve memory” because I have an awful memory! A second interesting topic is “personality and culture” because I have a fascination with personalities and identities and what makes people different and similar. Another topic is “Mood disorder & anxiety” because I know quiet a few people who have anxiety disorder so it’ll be neat to learn about what’s going on in their mind and in their emotions. There are also a few that aren’t so interesting. The “Scientific Method” because we’ve touched on that topic in high school at least once every school year. Two other topics that don’t sound too interesting are “The Brain: Micro-level” and “The Brain: Macro-level” just because I have no idea what that means! hopefully Dr. MacFarlane will be able to make these “boring” topics very interesting! A question that I would like to have answered by the end of my time in Gen Psych would be, what is operant conditioning? I’ve never heard of that and I am very excited to find out what that is.

I am very excited to begin my first year at Elizabethtown College and to begin General Psychology 105!


Introductory Post

--Original published at Site Title

My name is Madison, but I go by Maddie quite often. I chose this class because I had general psychology in High School, and I really loved the material, but not my teacher. I was really interested in how the course would be with a better teacher. I’ve often thought about why people do the things they do, and not just because “they felt like it.” I truly want to know what their brain does during the decision making process and why making a particular choice seems positive in some situations and not others. When I hear the word, “Psychology” I think about why the mind thinks what it does, along with different experiences a person has pertaining to injuries and disabilities that affect the way the brain operates. A few topics interest me such as “Why do we forget?” due to my horrible memory, I’ve always wondered why I could never remember anything. “Coping with stress” also sounds very appealing because we are in college, and everyone around us is learning how to cope with stress in their own ways. Lastly, “Personality and Culture” I will find very much attention holding due to it’s truth of who we are on the inside and out. I hope we will go into my classmate’s personal personalities and cultures because I love learning about where other’s come from. The lessons pertaining to intelligence do not interest me like the other do. “Operant Conditioning”, “Observational Learning”, and “Theories of Intelligence” seem to be topics that aren’t specific to one person, and I like personal details in lessons especially. One question I’m very eager to have an answer to pertaining to psychology would be why people commit suicide. I’ve had to experience suicide with a close friend and their family, and it has always been something the world wonders about and wants an answer to. Death is really interesting to me because I’m not sure on my beliefs on what happens when someone dies, and I believe while psychology focuses on the “Why’s” it might hold some answers for me on why death happens in certain unfortunate situations. I’m excited to start the year, and excited to open my mind up to new ideas and possibilities.

More to come.

– Maddie