--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.

--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?

--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.

--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!

--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

--Original published at Casey's Blog Site

Hello, my name is Casey. I am a sophomore majoring in computer science. Before this course I had taken a psychology course in high school so I knew some idea going in what was going to be gone over. The reason I am taking this course is one because the brain and how it operates interests me quite a bit. Also I needed the credits as well so I thought it was a win win situation. When I hear the word psychology I usually think about a person, I think of the nervous system, specifically the brain and brain stem. Then I also think about how a person works and the decisions they make and why they make them. As stated before one topic that will be covered that I have interest in is the brain both on a micro and macro scale. I also look forward to personality disorders/mental illnesses. I always find it intriguing to read and learn about each. What I will not be looking forward to are the topics of chemicals and consciousness, emotions and personality theories. I just genuinely don’t find these helpful/interesting to me. Taking this course I hope to answer the question of why we think the way we do.