--Original published at AlyssaM

Hello,

My name is Alyssa and I am from Hamburg, Pennsylvania. In class I mentioned some people call me Maggie and that I answer to both names, so here is why. During sophomore year of high school, I assisted the librarian with sorting, cleaning out the old, and organizing the magazines in a storage room. After working on the task for several days, the librarian came to calling me Maggie and it stuck.

I chose this psychology class because my intended major is psychology and this is the basic structure to begin on that path. I do not have a lot of background in psychology because my high school hardly offered any course. The course they had was very general and basic lasting only a semester. When I hear the word “psychology” a lot comes to mind, but I often think of my one book character that is a psychologist. Looking at the schedule of events, one I am interested in is improving memory because it makes me curious to see the way memory can be controlled, in a way. Another I look forward to is the unit on sleep because it is so fascinating, especially when it comes to dreams. Lastly, the topic that interests me most is mental illness, for it captivates me learning about the various disorders. On the flip side, there are some I am not as enthusiastic for, but that does not mean not completely interested in. One section is the one on conditioning, only because that is the topic covered most in my education history. The other is stress, for basically the same reason that it has been touched upon multiple times previously. By the end of the semester I want to learn more about the topics within psychology, and do not have a specific question I would like answered.

--Original published at HarrysCollegeBlog

My name is Harry Zhang, the second of 4 children born of Immigrants from China who successfully clawed their way up from nothing to middle class. I was frequently compared to my older sibling on how much better she was than me, leading to my quiet nature, to escape the burden of others’ criticism. If im quiet and not talkative, that is why. not because I hate you.

Why Choose This class?

My background as an aspiring E-sports player for Super Smash Bros. is the main reason. my inability to keep my cool during a tournament has led me to many losses. These looses are not always the fault of my character, but more so myself. In order to understand my own mindset during my play, I decided to study psychology so I can understand whats making me fail during these tournament matches, and how I can solve the problem.

Background?

I am currently inexperienced in psychology, in all aspects, although I do enjoy talking about theories and philosophy on occasion. The Theories I enjoy must be related to things I enjoy, like Video Game lore, Anime Lore, or Mythology/history Lore.

What do I think of when I hear Psychology?

The study of the Mind, of morality, and of why we perform certain actions. When I hear “Psychology” these topics come to mind. Humans are complex creatures of beautifully disgusting actions.

The most Interesting 3 Topics?

The Three most interesting topics in the syllabus are Classical Conditioning, Coping with stress, and Observational learning. These topics seem to be the three most useful to my play as an E-sports player in Super Smash Bros. Conditioning is a topic that relates to the way I trick my opponent. by conditioning them to think I prefer one option they come to expect it, thus making me more able to counter them as i’m countering their counter. Stress is a big part of E-sports, as you’re constantly under pressure to perform well, play the game, remember all the mechanics of the game, the characters, the stage, etc. being able to cope with this stress is a main reason why I took this course. and Finally, we have observational learning. by observing the  best players play, I intend to figure out their mindsets on why they chose these options, and why they play like they did.

--Original published at Carly's College Blog

Hello, My name is Carly Patterson and I am a first year psychology major here at Etown. I am a first generation college student and an only child. I live in the Philadelphia suburbs and graduated from Cardinal O’Hara high school, a small catholic school in my area. My approach to this course is to have an open mind about all of the topics we cover over the semester. I have not yet decided which branch of psychology I want to have a career in, so I am looking forward to learning new things in this course. As a senior I took and intro to psych course, but not at the AP level, so I only have a small understanding of the things we will cover. When I hear the word psychology, I think of the brain and its mental processes. The three topics I am most excited for are how to improve memories, classifying mental illness, and mood disorders. These seem the most interesting to me because my final exam in my high school course was a case study where each student had to diagnose the patient in the study, and write an essay on how and why we came to that conclusion. I thought it was so cool and enjoyed that part of class the most. I am least interested in the scientific method, critiquing experimental design, and conditioning. This is mostly because they were covered the most in my high school course and just did not pique my interest as much. I also do not have a specific question in mind to be answered, but to just have a better understanding of psychology overall.

--Original published at jennacampanellipsych

I am Jenna Campanelli and I am freshman majoring in Early Education. I chose to take this class because understanding psychology helps so much with teaching. Knowing how the brain works and how things that happen to you at a young age effect the person you become later in life. I took a psychology class senior year in high school and it was by far my favorite class from my 4 years there. It was so interesting and you really got to have a deeper understanding because psychology is all around us. When I hear the word “psychology” I think of the mind, behavior, and our conscious/unconscious thoughts effecting our day to day lives. Looking at the syllabus the 3 most interesting topics to me are conditioning, addiction,  and personality. The least interesting to me are the brain, sleep, and medication. One question about psychology that I would like to be answered by the end of this class is- which is more important, nature or nurture?

--Original published at Caroline's Blog

Hi everyone! My name is Caroline Hill,  I am a sophomore Occupational Therapy major and Spanish minor, and I am also a member of the swim team. I chose to take this class because I am required to take it for my major along with neuroscience. My high school did not offer any psychology classes so this is my first time ever taking a psychology class. When I think of the word psychology, I think about the mind and how the mind works and processes information, emotions, etc.  The three topics that look the most interesting to me on the syllabus are Cognitive Development, How to Improve Memory, and Mood Disorders and Anxiety. I think that these three sections can help me with my major and understanding the minds/developing the profiles of some of the people I could be working with. I am the least interested in learning about the Scientific Method, Critiquing Experimental Design, and Theories of Intelligence, because, although it will be a great refresher,  I have talked about the scientific method and experimental design a good amount in other classes and theories of intelligence does not sound like something I will enjoy learning about. Since I do not have any experience with psychology, I do not have any specific questions that I want answered by the end of this class, however I want to understand the main concepts of psychology and the importance of psychology.

--Original published at Makayla Hockenbrock

Hey Everyone! My name is Makayla, and I am from Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. I am here at Etown majoring in Occupational Therapy with a minor in Psychology. Before this class, I also had AP Psychology in high school, so I already know some information that we will be discussing in class. I chose to take this class because it is required for my major and also my minor. However, I enjoyed the material in high school, so it is also an interesting topic for me.

When I hear the word ‘psychology’, I think of the brain and why people do the things they do and why they act in a certain way. After looking at the syllabus, I think my top three interesting topics would be ‘How to Make Memories’, ‘What is Addiction’, and ‘Mood Disorders & Anxiety’. I picked these because some I already have background knowledge in, and I also know people who have mood disorders and anxiety, so learning more would be helpful. My bottom three topics would be ‘Classical Conditioning’, ‘Operant Conditioning’, and ‘Observational Learning’, again just because I have learned about these before and did not enjoy it as much.

By the end of this class, I hope I know more about the brain and why people are the way are. I also hope to answer the question of “how to handle and deal with anxiety?”. Simple, because it is a more common disorder than people may think.

Have a good one!

Makayla

--Original published at Zachs College Blog

Hello my name is Zach Petiet and I am a first year OT student at Elizabethtown College. I graduated from Saucon Valley High School in Hellertown, Pennsylvania. I love playing football and lacrosse as I will be apart of the Blue Jays Lax team. I am a huge fan of the Philadelphia Eagles and Penn State Football. I also enjoy going to the beach and hanging with my friends. I am interested in possibly minoring in Psychology and wanted to get a feel for what it is all about. I took a Psychology class my Junior year of HighSchool and really enjoyed it so I wanted to get a greater feel for it at the college level. When I hear the word “psychology” I think of the study of how the human mind works and functions. I am very interested in learning about The brain because I want to have a good understanding on how the brain works and how it functions. I am also interested in learning about how to improve your memory because the older you get, the more you need to know. Lastly, I am very interested in learning about coping with stress because with college comes tons of stress and I want to have a good understanding on how to cope with it. My 3 least favorite topics are why we forget, what is addiction, and the mechanics of good sleep because they are topics I already have a little understanding of. By the end of this class I hope to have a large understanding of what psychology is and everything that goes into why the brain works the way it does.

--Original published at RachelsCollegeBlog

Hello! My name is Rachel. I am the oldest of 6 kids and I am so excited for the start of this semester. I am going to approach this course with positivity and organizational skills. I am going to take in-depth notes and read the textbook while also taking notes through it as will. I am excited to start this course and get to know more people.

I didn’t choose to take Psychology 105 as I am a first year and was placed into this course. I am however, very excited as I was wanting to take psychology all through high school but was never given the opportunity to be enrolled in the course. That being said, I do not have any background in psychology. When I hear the word psychology I think the brain or just the mind in general, how the mind works and why it works the way that it does.

As I look through the schedule for this class I am most interesting in learning about how to improve memory, mechanics of sleep, and coping with stress. These three topics I feel as though relate to my current life as a college student. I want to be able to improve my memory so I can store all of the new information that I am going to be learning in my classes. I want to learn more about the mechanics of sleep because even though the semester has just started I feel as though I am lacking sleep. Finally, coping with stress because I know as a college student or just a person in this competitive society I will need to learn how to better cope with stress.

Though I am interested in all the topics the three topics that I am the least interested in learning about are classical conditioning, how to choose a therapist, and personality and culture. Classical conditioning is something that I am not interested in more for the fact that I am not someone who does not listen to classical music and I am also not interested in it. The topic of how to choose a therapist, and personality and culture, is something that I am more unsure about what it is going to involve during the course of this topic. Therefore, I am unsure if these three are topics I will enjoy or not so they are the topics that I am least interested in.

The question about  psychology that I would like to be answered before the end of this class is why do some dreams feel so really and sometimes go into reality after waking up?

Can not wait for next class!

Rachel Barnhill

--Original published at Garrettscollegeblog

My name is Garrett Winchilla and I do not have a very strong background in psychology. I took a psych class in high school but it provided an overview of the field rather than detailed analysis of certain experiments and research. I chose to take this class and become a psychology major because I loved the field and wanted to learn more after every class of the high school level course.

What I am looking forward to most in this class after reviewing the syllabus is Moral development, Chemicals & Consciousness, and Coping with stress. Two of these topics were lightly touched in high school but interested me and the third I never learned about before. It is difficult to choose three topics I am least interested in because a vast part of the field fascinates me. However, if I had to choose three topics from the course schedule I would choose Classifying mental illness, psychiatric medication, and How to choose a therapist.

By the end of this class I want to know the most effective way of communication including tone, facial expression, body language, etc. In this generation so much communication happens digitally that some have completely forgot how to communicate, and some never learned at all. By learning this I can help my overall communicative skills and pass that on to others.