Olivia’s Introduction

--Original published at Olivia's College Blog

Hello everyone! My name is Olivia Gerstenbacher and I am a sophomore psychology major. I am taking intro psych out of interest and for fulfilling major requirements. I was a biology major until the start of this semester; my background consists of one social psychology course that sparked my interest last year.

When I hear the word “psychology”, I think of human interactions and reactions. I automatically associate the word with human behaviors and become curious to learn how they are related to our environment.

I am most interested in the topics “How to Make Memories”, “Stereotypes and Discrimination” and “Classifying Mental Illness”. Memory formation interests me because it could be a useful tool for helping my studying strategies. Stereotyping and discrimination seem especially relevant in society today, and will be intriguing to unravel. Learning about mental illness concerns the branch of psychology that I am considering to pursue farther down the road.

I am least interested in “Psychology Then & Now”, “Scientific Method”, and “Why Research Design Matters”. To me, these topics seem the least enticing since they focus more on the history of the field. Although I am looking forward to other concepts more, I understand how crucial it is to have the background information on a subject that we will only be brushing the surface on in this class.

By the end of this class, I would like to know more about our implicit biases and how they influence our daily decisions and assumptions.

I am looking forward to this class and all of the new material that welcomes me to the major.