--Original published at Jessica K's College Blog

Hello, this is Jessica Klinedinst and I am a freshman in Elizabethtown College. Even if I am a major in Professional Writing, I believed that going into the study of Psychology will help me broaden my understanding of the world, with the different quirks and habits that every person will have throughout their life, I hope that it will let me learn how to write in the more realistic side of personalities.

In all honesty, I understand more to psychology than the general mindset of just studying different mental conditions and addictions. It is all about the working of both the biological standpoint and the human standpoint, trying to understand and analyze the way people interact with the world around them.

In this class, everything about human understanding will open up to us, and I am more than interested on learning the later subjects of attachment theory, observational learning, and how to cope with stress. In my opinion, I would like to know more about how people interact on a daily scale based on the audience they have lived with, and how that would shape their personality and view of the world around them.

However, the least interesting subjects that don’t seem to pique my interest for now would be stereotype & discrimination, the medications used for psychiatric disorders, and the study of the subcortical brain. To the classification of the brain and the intertwining functions that come to the development of psychological disorders seem relatively complex if you were to look at it in a distance, including the many tropes that shaped our society in the form of racism and harmful tropes.

By the end of the day, it is only the start on how to create a more simplistic and understandable view of the world and how it has come to function as the way it has. Perhaps it can solve the one question I have on my mind. If more people are able to learn the functions of the brain and human ideology in psychology, can the world change to make everything equal as the way everything perceives it without discrimination, without any backlash on the individual opposition that creates hatred? Perhaps once everything is said and done, and until May comes along to finish another semester, perhaps I will learn the answer I desire.

--Original published at Alex's Thoughts

To whoever is reading this, I feel that it would be best to tell you a little about myself so that you may gain some insight into my experiences and feelings. I have created this blog as an assignment for my introductory psychology class, which I am taking to fulfill a requirement for my Industrial Engineering degree. I do not have any background in psychology beyond what has been popularized in the media and what little I have learned from friends who are interested in the topic. When I hear the word, “psychology,” it makes me think about how deep the human intellect actually is. For all we know around the world around us, there is very little we definitively know about what is actually occurring inside our heads. Three topics I am particularly interested in studying are the development of personalities, the creation of memories, and research design and experimentation. I feel that the personalities unit will teach me a lot about myself, and I am always open to introspection. I have always been interested in memory and how people remember the same occurrence or topic differently, so learning the theories behind it will build my understanding. The final interesting topic to me is purely because I enjoy statistics and scientific experimentation, as they provide answers to questions that previously had none. As for the three I am not particularly interested in, the actual structure of the brain, obedience, and group dynamics do not appeal to me naturally. I am not particularly interested in anatomy, so brain structure does not hold appeal for me. I am not interested in obedience for the simple reason that I am not personally invested in learning the theories behind obedience for any foreseeable reason. As for group dynamics, I am a pretty introverted person. As such, I have little interest in learning about how groups function and more interest in learning about individualistic behaviors. That is not to say that I will not approach these topics with an open mind and willingness to learn, because they may very well apply to me in unforeseen ways. But I currently am not as excited about them as I am with the former three. Finally, I hope to gain a better sense of introspection from this class. I want to be able to answer why I behave the way I do, and why other people behave in ways different from me. What makes each of our cognitive processes unique such that we are individuals instead of a collective consciousness?

--Original published at Phil's College Blog

I chose to take Psychology 105 because I had to find a class that fit the core requirement. However, I do have experience with psychology. I took AP Psychology my senior year of high school. I enjoyed that class and I assume that I will like this one just the same. When I think of the work psychology, I think of how the brain works and how a stimulus can affect our everyday actions in the world. The top the topics that I am interested with in the syllabus are ” How to get a Good Sleep”, “Coping with Stress”, and ” Mood Disorder & Anxiety”. I am interested with these topics because I feel that these are things that could help me with my everyday life. I also believe that learning about all of these things will allow me to function on a higher level on a day to day basis. Three topics during this class that least interest me are ” Stereotypes and Discrimination”, ” Cerebral Cortex,” and ” Chemicals and Consciousness”. I find this topics uninteresting because I feel that these topics have a lot of memorization without having a experiment or procedure that is directly involved with these topics. These topics seem to me as background information and that sometimes can become boring. One question that I want answered by the end of this class is ” Why can behavior be manipulated so easily? “.

--Original published at Ally'sCollegeBlog

How would I start my first blog post? I guess hello will have to do. Hello, my name is Allyson and I am taking the Psychology 105 course. I decided to take this class because I have always been interested in the way the human mind works and the different processes that take place. I like asking the ‘why’,’if’ and ‘how’ questions which psychology touches on quite a bit. Although I am very intrigued by all of this, I do not have any background in the subject area. I do read different articles about studies conducted by psychologists but that does not really classify as background.
When I hear the word psychology, I think of a broad scientific area of study that revolves around the human mind. It is so hard to pinpoint a specific thought about the word but I can imagine high school counselors and therapists as this is the first picture to pop into my mind.

When looking at the course schedule, three topics of study stuck out to me. First, moral development because I have always been interested in when people start developing a sense of right and wrong. Second, classical conditioning because I have read books and different articles about the conditioning of the brain and I want to expand my knowledge on the subject. Lastly, stress because I have experienced different types of stress. The good motivating stress and the type of stress that makes you want to curl up into a ball a cry. I want to understand what our bodies go through and why we respond to stress the way we do. Although I am intrigued by many of the topics of discussion provided in the syllabus, there are a few that I am not interested in. First, ‘what is addiction’ because it is not very prevalent in my life so it will be harder to connect personally to the information. Second, ‘chemicals and consciousness’ because the information just sounds like it will be dry and unexciting. Lastly, ‘the scientific method’ because I have learned this process in every science class I have ever taken since middle school and I am over it. By the end of this semester, after reading, studying, and sitting in class for three days a week, I would like to know the answer to one question. How can the human brain think through situations so quickly without ever experiencing that problem before?

--Original published at Nick's Blog

Q: Why did you take PSY 105?

A: So, I chose to take PSY 105 mainly because I’ve always been interested in psychology and consider it a very important field.

Q: What background do you have in psychology?

A: The only background I have in psychology though is some courses in high school I took for fun that didn’t delve too deep into topics, more skimmed the top.

Q: What do you think of when you hear the word “psychology”?

A: When I hear the word psychology though, I think of being able to delve into the human mind and solve the problems within that cause people problems in their lives.

Q: What 3 topics interest you the most and why? What 3 are the least interesting and why?

A: Well in the course in high school one of the topics was development so I think the cognitive development section will be interesting. We also touched on conditioning in the high school course as well and I really enjoyed that section thoroughly so I think I’ll like that too. I also liked learning about addictions and how those come to be and why, so I think I’ll like that section.

For sections I don’t think I’ll enjoy, I don’t think I’ll like the section on the cerebral cortex as in Human A+P in high school I didn’t enjoy learning about that. I also don’t think psychotherapy will interest me as much just based on the assumption from pop culture I have about it, mainly that it messes people up more. I also don’t think I’ll like the mechanisms of sleep section as my sleeping schedule is so messed up most of the stuff probably won’t apply to me.

Q: What question about psychology do you want to answer by the end of the class?

A: I think the question I’m having the most right now is how does this differ from Human A+P and Sociology. I mean psychology takes a more personal approach that sociology but I don’t see much difference other than that. The scientific aspects like the structures and functions are also touched upon in Human A+P courses so I’m wondering how this will differ.

--Original published at AlexisPattersonBlog

My name is Alexis. I am a freshman here at Etown. I am taking Psychology not only for the sole purpose that it is on my required schedule for Physical Therapy (Biology Major), but I find it interesting. I like to wonder why people do the things they do and I find that this class will help me find those answers. When I think about psychology, I think about the brain and how that functions to make people react a certain way that they do.

Three topics that interest me are Memory, Coping with stress, and the mechanics of sleep. These look interesting to me because they seem like the most interesting topics to learn about as they are the most popular in society as well. The ones that don’t look interesting would be the ones from the theories, observational learning, and emotion. These seem really complex and may be hard to understand.

I don’t have any background in psychology unfortunately, but I’m open for learning and obtaining any information that comes my way. One question that I want answered would be is: does what we dream have some form of meaning to it?

--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.

--Original published at Liam's blog

My name is Liam McCommons and I’m taking psychology 105 because it seemed interesting. When it comes to psychology I don’t really have any kind of background in it. When I hear the word psychology I think of Dr. Sydney Freedman, who was a fictional psychologist on the tv show M*A*S*H. The three topics that interest me most are: Personality and Culture, because I think it’d be interesting to see how our culture shapes our personalities. Group dynamics, because It may show how to better interact with others in a group setting. and finally How to Get Good Sleep, I’m interested in this one because I tend not to sleep very well and would like any advice I can get on how to do it better. The three that interest me the least are: How we make memories, mostly because its not something I’ve ever thought about. Chemicals and Consciousness, I’m honestly not sure what its going to be about so it doesn’t peak my interest. And obedience which just doesn’t sound that exciting. The question I have about psychology is where is it heading.

--Original published at MaddieHinson

Hi, my name is Maddie Hinson. I am a Junior Business Administration major with a double concentration in management and marketing. Honestly, I hadn’t even considered taking psychology until about a week ago. One of my classes had gotten cancelled and I needed a replacement, and this one happened to fit in my schedule. Although it wasn’t my first choice, I think this is something that is going to benefit me in the future. Psychology seems to be embedded in many areas of business, especially with marketing. I had a class last year in marketing, and we would have discussions about why we choose certain products over others, and a lot of it had to do with psychology. I had taken a psychology class in high school and my teacher was phenomenal at giving examples to go along with the concepts and she just made it a positive experience for me.

The first thing I think of when I hear the word “psychology” is the brain. We all have brains but there are parts of them that make us all different, and that is intriguing to me. I think it’s also kind of crazy how if the brain gets injured, the person it belongs to could act completely different than how they did before the injury. Concussions have been a big area in sports, mainly in football, and I think that’s something worth studying and paying more attention to.

Looking over the syllabus, I think the section about memory is something that I am eager to get to. I think it’s weird how there are certain parts of our life that we can never forget no matter how hard we try, and then other things we try so hard to remember and can’t seem to. I also think the coping with stress is a topic that I would be interested in. Everyone has stress, and I think it’s interesting to hear how differently we all deal with it. The third topic that I’m excited to study is personalities. Over the course of my life, I have come to now myself pretty well and how I operate, but I think it is a useful tool to be able to figure out how other people work, especially in the business world.

A topic that I am not thrilled to be studying is, Psychology Then and Now. I do believe it is important to learn about history, I am just not a fan of it. I also am not big on talking about emotions, for the sole reason that I am not great at describing my own ones. Lastly, the subcortical brain section seems like there could be a lot of memorization that goes with it, so I’m not too excited about it.

By the end of this class, I would like to know how we use this knowledge that we have gained about humans to help better ourselves and those around us. To me, learning something isn’t the reason we go to school, it’s what we do with what we have learned that makes it count.

--Original published at WilliamsCollegeBlog

My name is Will Schoener, and I am a sophomore, Industrial Engineering major. Also, I am on the cross country and track teams at E-town. For this class, I’m ready to study certain principles about how the brain and our bodies function.

I chose this class because it is part of the specific kind of engineering at the college. I currently have no background of any kind in psychology. When I here “psychology”, I think of brain functionality and how people behave.

 Three topics that I find most interesting would be “Why do we Forget,” “Personality Theory,” and “Theories of Intelligence”. Personally, these three topics are relatable to me. Based on the title, it would be interesting to learn why I might forget certain ideas. Everyone has different personalities and the topic seems to be based on how people acquire certain personalities. Intelligence is very important, and I would like to learn more about it. My three least interesting topics are “Observational Learning,” “How to get Good Sleep,” and “Coping with Stress”. All three of these just seem to be topics where I have knowledge of already through other kinds of classes.

I would like to answer – What makes people react the way they do to stress/ other stimuli? 6