--Original published at Bogo's Blog

Hello guys, My name is Adam Bogobiri and I go by Bogo. I am a sophomore mechanical engineering major.

I picked Introduction to Psychology because I’ve always had interest in psychology despite having little to no background in it. When I hear the word psychology I think of a therapy room and a patient sitting in a couch telling a therapist what he see’s when he looks at a certain pic.

I am very excited to learn more topics in this class but if I had to choose three they would be Mechanics of Sleep, Personality & Culture, and, Moral development. I picked mechanics of sleep because I have always been curious about dreams and why we dream. I picked the other three because I was born and raised in Ghana, West Africa, so I have different morals and personality from the average american citizen. I don’t think I have a topic I’m not interested in exploring because all the topics in the syllabus seem very interesting.

A question I would want answered by the end of the class would be why people dream when they sleep. It may seem like a simple question but it’s a question I have had since I was around six years old.

--Original published at Grace's College Blog

My name is Grace Cuff and I am a current first year at Elizabethtown College. I am a computer science major with a math minor. I chose to take this course to satisfy my social science credit, but also because I never got the chance to take psychology in high school and my friends who did thoroughly enjoyed it. I have little to no current background in psychology, only from my previous course in foundations of teaching. When I hear “psychology,” I think mostly of studies like the stanford prison experiment or experiments that they do on rats and animals. The three topics that interest me the most are “How to Improve Memory”, “Coping with Stress”, and “Attachment Theory.” I’d like the memory section because my memory tends to be bad and I’d like to see how it works. I also have a horrible time coping with stress so I think that section will be interesting. And I want to know about attachment theory because I think I have an idea of what it is, but I am not sure and would like to know more. The three that do not interest me are “Classical Conditioning”, “Theories of Intelligence”, and “Stereotypes and Discrimination.” I have learned a lot about conditioning in my teaching class. And the other two seemed less interesting than others. I would like to know by the end of this class the reason people have certain personality traits and where those develop from.

1/16/19

--Original published at Zach Nawrocki's Blog

Hi everyone, my name is Zach Nawrocki I am a Biotechnology major. I chose to take this course because I need it for my neuroscience minor and I also find this field very interesting to talk about and have deep conversations about.

I do not have to deep of a background in Psychology. I did not take any Psychology classes in high school. Nevertheless, I have taking Cognitive Science and Neuroscience last semester so I know a little about the brain and how it works and thinking about questions revolving around psychology.

When I hear the word psychology I think about the brain and questions that revolve around the brain and delving deep into the mind and how it works as a whole and in coordination with other parts of the body.

Three topics that interests me are, “How does our brain decide what is long term memory vs. short term memory”, “How do emotions and consciousness relate to one another”, and “Understanding more about how the brain works”. I am interested in these three topics because I find the brain a very complex machine and I want to learn more about how the brain works and does dozens of things in split seconds.

Three topics that I think will not interest me as much are, “Sections on sleep”, “The parts of the brain”, and “psychotherapy”. I do not think that these topics will interest me as much because I like to learn more about how the brain works with the outside world and deep questions about how consciousness works and figuring out if other things have consciousness and what exactly makes something conscious.

Some questions I want answered by the end of the class is how memory works and what is happening when students are studying and why does the brain remember some things while forgetting about others. I also want to learn more about the emotion side of the brain and why do humans show emotions while other animals do not.

--Original published at Robert's Psychology blog

Why you chose to take this class?(It is okay to be honest)

I took this course as my ssc because it’s a topic I’ve not had much experience in, and I’d like to learn more about it.

What background, if any, do you have in psychology?

I have no background with psychology.

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

When I hear the word “psychology” I think of how the minds of people and animals react to various stimulants. By stimulants I mean different chemicals in the body, whether produced by or introduced to, which interact with the brain, as well as emotions and experiences.

Look at the course schedule on the syllabus.

Which three topics look the most interesting to you? Why?

The three topics look the most interesting to me are; Classical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning, and Observational Learning, because these topics relate to learning how the world works around us and adjust ourselves, so we are better able to function in it.

Which three topics look the least interesting to you? Why?

The three topics look the least interesting to me are; Scientific Method, Personality Assessment, and Personality & Culture. I am a physics and engineering major so the section on the scientific method doesn’t interest me because I have gone over it many times. The reason for the other two is because I just don’t find personality information interesting.

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

What practical everyday uses will there be for someone who doesn’t study psychology, with the information learned in this class?

--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?