ESP for Psychology

FINAL (END OF ESP COURSE) SELF – ASSESSMENT

2011-05-18T13:47:00.001-07:00

My ESP course is ending and I want to share my thoughts about second term, compare with first half of ESP course.

WRITING. I have to admit, that writing summaries come much easier that it was in first term. I learnt from my mistakes and now I know how to write good summary. In this term I had my highest mark from summary writing. Although, in every summary I had some grammar mistakes, but I hope that in future I will be able to write good summaries, without any mistakes.

SPEAKING. My speaking also is better that it was, because I speak a lot with some of my friends in English language to improve speaking skills. Some short talks, that I had made was really good and interesting. My PPP was property done. There were a beautiful slides rich of basic information. The most that I like was a speaking impromptu. However, sometimes my pronunciation is not nice and correct.

LISTENING. I had no problems with listening tasks. I like more listening to online materials, because there are much more interesting themes. Listening to cassettes was a little bit harder, maybe because sound had bad quality and speech sound sometimes like bubble.

ESP VOCABLUARY. In second term we were able to write different kind of formal tests in class and I like it more than old way. Maybe that is why my results were much better. Class tests online were interesting, I like them a lot and I enjoy solving them. Moodle tests that we were able to do at home were easy to me as in the first term also. I am feeling free doing it, because I have a lot of time and no one is disturbing me.

All in all, I have to admit, that I collect many needful information. I improve many skills in speaking, writing summaries that I will need to face with in my future psychology studies.

Scared to Death: The Link Between Stress and Coronary Heart Disease

2011-05-02T12:12:00.000-07:00

Summary

Researches examined coroners records from Los Angeles County and found a jump in cardiovascular deaths few months after huge earthquake struck near that state. Most of people who died had a history of coronary disease, but those people who died were not involved in rescue efforts.

Furthermore, heart specialist found that psychological stress is just as harmful to heart as many sources of physiological stress. Researchers also found out that people who had some psychological problems in their childhood later would have bigger risk of heart disease. What is more, in another study, researches asked many people who had first time heart attack. Many of these people was smokers, had high blood pressure, but also there were many people who had high psychological risk factors.

Moreover, stress hormones causes physiological changes that damage blood vessels over time – including the coronary arteries. Other research suggests that activities that reduce stress may have a protective effect.

All in all, considering that the stresses of modern life aren’t easily avoided, people should be happier. Laughter helps arteries to relax and it has a good influence on blood flow. That helps to avoid heart diseases.

Top 3 happiest countries in the world

2011-04-29T08:08:00.000-07:00

I would speak about Top 3 happiest countries in the world. Happiness can be very subjective. Some people are are happy when it rains, other – when the sun is shining. So it hard to measure. Professor Ruut Veenhoven who runs the World Database of Happiness at Erasmus University Rotterdam make a research. Participants should answer to the following multiple choice question “How happy are you?”. Having all the variables they run it through a computer and get a number from 1 to 10. The bigger the number, the happier the country.

1^st place take

Denmark

with 8.2 points. In this country it is expensive to buy a car, because

Denmark

has world’s highest taxes. So people here more often ride a bike or use public transport. People there are very friendly and helpful.

Second happiest country is

Switzerland

with 8.1 points. This cheese and chocolate producing land is the world’s 10th richest country. Switzerland is also one of the top garbage recyclers in the world. They achieve this by keeping recycling free, but asking money for regular garbage – this giving people a financial incentive to recycle.

And 3d place takes Austria with 8 points. Austria is the home to the popular energy drink Red Bull. Thanks to the wide use of wind, solar and hydropower Austria produces around 80% of its energy from renewable resources. Education is mostly free, so students feel very happy there.

All in all, I think this research can be true. I want to visit those countries, then I would say much more of my opinion.

Biorhythm test

2011-04-29T08:05:00.001-07:00

Biorhythm is an attempt to predict various aspects of a person's life through simple mathematical cycles. Some believe that the idea has no more predictive power than chance, and consider the concept an example of pseudosience.

I had chance to take a biorhythm test. State analysis was based on 31^st of March. On that day we had test from which I got good result. Biorhythm test point is compare if my test results were affected by rhythmic biological cycles which affect ability in various domains, such as mental, physical, and emotional activity.

From emotional cycle I got 100%. This cycle tracks the stability and positive energy of my psyche and outlook on life, as well as my capacity to empathize with and build rapport with other people.

Then from intellectual cycle I got 90%. This cycle tracks my verbal, mathematical, symbolic, and creative abilities, as well as my capacity to apply reason and analysis to the world around me.
And last cycle is physical. Here I got minus 90%. This cycle tracks my strength, health, and raw physical vitality. This on that day was not quite well.

All in all I have to say, that for some reasons biorhythms are relative to my test results. Because on that day I had high intellectual cycle so maybe this is because I got good results from my test, but I was tired and my physical cycle showed minus 90%, which is very low.

Stress

2011-04-29T08:04:00.001-07:00

Hello,

I would like to share my thoughts and results of a stress test that I have done.

Firstly I want to say few words about stress. So what is stress? J

Stress is simply a fact of nature - forces from the inside or outside world affecting the individual. People usually think of stress as a negative experience, but from a biological point of view, stress can be a neutral, negative, or positive experience.

In general, stress is related to both external and internal factors. External factors include the physical environment, including people’s job, relationships with others and all the situations, challenges, difficulties, and expectations they are confronted with on a daily basis. Internal factors which influence your ability to handle stress include people’s nutritional status, overall health and fitness levels, emotional well-being, and the amount of sleep and rest they get.

I was doing my stress test very focused, because I found it very interesting and I wanted that my results were correct.

So after I press DONE I saw that my overall stress score is 4,63. Maximum that people can get in this test is 5, and my result is very high and it shows that my overall emotional well-being is very high.

In Quality of my life section I have 4.3. It shows that I am satisfied with my life. And it is true, I really enjoying to be in this world and I’m feeling happy.

Symptom distress score showed that I have no symptoms of depression. Here I have my highest score - 4.89.

In levels of functioning area my score is 4.75 and it shows how well I am able to get along in community. It is really a true, because I enjoy being with my friends, finding a new relationships. I rather would go to communicate with other people than be alone or go to a party than read a book. I also like to be in a spotlight.

All in all, I have to say, that this stress test results reflected my emotional well-being.

Giving Entire Cultures a Personality Test

2011-04-29T08:03:00.001-07:00

Summary

Today it is easy to distinguish who among known people is extraverted and who is introverted. Most of people are aware of stereotypes of people from their own and other cultures. Researches started searching ways how to assess the reliability of cultural stereotypes.

Researches create short questionnaire that can be used cross-cultures on which respondents could indicate the characteristics of their own culture. The simile of personality profiles allowed researches to be sure whether the actual personalities within a given culture matched beliefs about the national character of people from those cultures.

The results show that participants were able to produce summaries of their national character. More important is that those profiles of national character did not match the actual personality profile of participants. Researches telling that people thoughts about themselves are based on the historical characters. National character show only how people see themselves rather than of how they actually are.

Self-assessment

2010-11-30T12:40:00.000-08:00

ESP vocabulary tests

ESP vocabulary tests are not easy for me, because I feel difficulties in learning new foreign language words. In a future I should pay more attention to it, because new words relative to psychology is basic thing to read and understand literature about psychology.

Writing summaries

At first there was some difficulties for me in writing summaries. But after I saw my mistakes, correct them, write another summaries I feel progress in my summary writing skills. I hope my next summaries would be much better.

Online exercises

Exercises are not difficult for me, but not easy either. While doing these kind of exercises we also learn psychology. I like this kind of learning, because it helps us more think about these new words and encode information in a deep processing which will help us easier recall them.

Moodle tests

I like Moodle test, because doing them at home I have time to think, use dictionary and cousebook. Result was a quite better than doing online exercises, so I like it more. Also there are basic things pull out from our Model texts.

Online listening in class. Traditional listening to cassettes.

I enjoy online listening in a class. Listening exercises are also very exciting. I feeling lucky while listening tasks.

PPP

This was my first Power Point Presentation in english language, so it was something new for me. I think that I was a little nerviuos, so meybe for that reason my pronunciation of some words was not correct. Assessment of all I think that my presentation was interesting. Several collegues said so. I am happy if they enjoy it.

Speaking in prompt

Speaking in prompt is my favorite task. While speaking in prompt we improving our skills, using information from our experience. Everyone has a chance to say their opinion. Sometimes we are laughing, joking by the topic.

Short talks

I have some difficulties speaking short talks, because I was not using English language for over half of a year. All thing where I use this language was some reading in the internet. In a future I would spend much more time to prepare well for short talks.

In conclusion, I want to admit, that I could show better results of my English language skills. At the beginning my English was very poor, because, as I say, I was not using it for over half of a year. Also I feel much of an improvement at my skills since beginning of this term. I can say that I really enjoying English lessons. I wish in a future they would be as good as at this term.

The mystery of memory

2010-11-30T11:30:00.000-08:00

Summary

At first sciences of memory taught us to distinguish short-term from long-term memory. Many things are recalling for a little time before being lost. What is not lost gets transferred into long-term memory, which can last almost for ever.

Remembering helps recover information from long-term memory, replace and keep it in “working memory”.There is a difference between procedural memory – remembering ‘how’ and declarative memory which is less stable.

Other distinctions like recognition versus recall. Recalling information is much more difficult than recognizing it. It is hard to recall more that 15 shown object, but also same people can recognize 10000 or more photos which was shown them one week ago.

Also there is photographic memory – snapshots associated with smells, touches or tastes from early childhood. Most of people lose the ability to remember it as they grow older.

The human brain contains some 100 billion nerve cells, each capable of making up to 100000 connections. Each time a new memory is made, a new pattern of connections is created, which stores new memory. To remember the name of a person the best way is to try to think about things that are relative to that person. In that case it is easy to retrieve missing name. Each of these features is stored in a different region of the brain.

All in all, neuroscientists trying to find out how all these different regions and brain processes relative together to give people coherent conscious experience.

Psychology of internet

2010-11-30T11:22:00.000-08:00

Relationships
Whether you like it or not, cyberspace has become the new frontier in social relationships. People are making friends, colleagues, lovers, and enemies on the Internet. The fervor with which many people have pursued this new social realm is matched by a backlash reaction from the skeptics. Relationships on the Internet aren't really real, some people say - not like relationships in the real world. Socializing in cyberspace is just a cultural fad, a novelty, a phase that people go through. The critics say it can't compare to real relationships - and if some people prefer communicating with others via wires and circuits, there must be something wrong with them. They must be addicted. They must fear the challenging intimacy of real relationships.

Is this true? Is it true that “real” relationships are intrinsically superior to relationships in cyberspace? Or might relationships in cyberspace in fact be better?... Here is the showdown for us to explore.But first, let's first settle on some terms. What exactly should we call relationships in cyberspace and relationships in the “real” world? Right off the bat, I'm going to discard the term “real” because it already biases our discussion in favor of relationships in the physical world. Whether or not those relationships are more “real” is the very issue at hand. The same is true of “virtual relationships” because the word “virtual” implies that those relationships are somehow less-than or not quite up to snuff. Some people like to say “face-to-face relationships” (ftf, f2f). I'm not particularly thrilled by that term either, because video conferencing on the Internet surely allows people to present their faces to each other. We could say “physical relationships,” although that conjures up images of wrestling and sex.

I've already given away my preference for a term, as you have probably guessed - unless you let the title of this article slip right by you. I like “in-person relationships” because it captures the feeling of physical presence without necessarily getting physical. I doubt that even when holographic multimedia communication arrives (many years from now?) we will ever say that we meet our online acquaintances “in-person.” So it seems like a term that safely falls outside the realm of cyberspace. We can even abbreviate it nicely as IP and IPR.

Now we must turn our attention to a term for cyberspace relationships.... How about (surprise again!) “cyberspace relationships” - thus abbreviated CSR? We also might follow current trends by calling it “computer-mediated relationships” (CMR), but I like the word “cyberspace.” It conjures up feelings of place, location, and spatial interaction. People do indeed experience cyberspace as containing places where they go and meet others. Rather than highlighting the fact that cyberspace is controlled by computers, I like to emphasize instead that it is a psychologycal or social place.

With these terms in hand, we're back to the showdown. Which is better? IPR or CSR? The key word here is “relationships.” One approach to understanding that social and very human phenomenon is to examine the various pathways by which people communicate, connect, and bond with each other - by the specific mechanisms for “relating.” On the most fundamental level, we can compare IPR and CSR according to how people connect via the five senses:

hearing the other
seeing the other
touching the other
smelling the other
tasting (!) the other

All in all, cyberspace relationship is very different from real relationship, when people meet each other, see, touch, hear, smells. Those things are important in a feelings between people. Cyberspace relationships can be fake, not exactly real like they would be in real life.

Déjà vu

2010-11-30T11:11:00.000-08:00

Déjà vu is French for "already seen." Déjà vu is an uncanny feelingor illusion of having already seen or experienced something that is being experienced for the first time. If we assume that the experience is actually of a remembered event, then déjà vu probably occurs because an original experience was neither fully attended to nor elaborately encoded in memory. If so, then it would seem most likely that the present situation triggers the recollection of a fragmentfrom one's past. The experience may seem uncanny if the memory is so fragmented that no strong connections can be made between the fragment and other memories.
Thus, the feeling that one has been there before is often due to the fact that one has been there before. One has simply forgotten most of the original experience because one was not paying close attention the first time. The original experience may even have occurred only seconds or minutes earlier.

On the other hand, the déjà vu experience may be due to having seen pictures or heard vivid stories many years earlier. The experience may be part of the dim recollections of childhood.

However, it is possible that the déjà vu feeling is triggered by a neurochemical action in the brain that is not connected to any actual experience in the past. One feels strange and identifies the feelingwith a memory, even though the experience is completely new.
The term was applied by Emile Boirac (1851-1917), who had strong interests in psychic phenomena. Boirac's term directs our attention to the past. However, a little reflection reveals that what is unique about déjà vu is not something from the past but something in thepresent, namely, the strange feeling one has. We often have experiences the novelty of which is unclear. In such cases we may have been led to ask such questions as, "Have I read this book before?" "Is this an episode of Inspector Morse I've seen before?" "This place looks familiar; have I been here before?" Yet, these experiences are not accompanied by an uncanny feeling. We may feel a bit confused, but the feeling associated with the déjà vu experience is not one of confusion; it is one of strangeness. There is nothing strange about not remembering whether you've read a book before, especially if you are fifty years old and have read thousands of books over your lifetime. In the déjà vu experience, however, we feel strange because we don't think we should feel familiar with the present perception. That sense of inappropriateness is not present when one is simply unclear whether one has read a book or seen a film before.

Thus, it is possible that the attempt to explain the déjà vu experience in terms of lost memory, past lives, clairvoyance, and so on may be completely misguided. We should be talking about the déjà vufeeling. That feeling may be caused by a brain state, by neurochemical factors during perception that have nothing to do with memory. It is worth noting that the déjà vu feeling is common among psychiatric patients. The déjà vu feeling also frequently precedes temporal lobe epilepsy attacks. When Wilder Penfield did his famous experiment in 1955 in which he electrically stimulated the temporal lobes, he found about 8% of his subjects experienced "memories." He assumed he elicited actual memories. They could well have been hallucinations and the first examples of artificially stimulated déjà vu.

Dreaming

2010-11-30T10:53:00.000-08:00

Summary

Robert Stickgold was doing research to find out, how human daytime, waking experiences are incorporated into dreams. Volunteer, Yamara Countinho, settled into bed with device used for monitoring sleep.

Stickgold ask participants to play a video game before going to sleep as he wanted to figure out how human dreams may reflect our waking experiences. 50% of all participants who were awakened at night told that they see video game objects in their dreams. Even some participants with psychological disorders who could not remember their day’s activities – dreamed video game pieces.

Psychologist Daniel Wegner says that when people try not to think about someone before they go to sleep, have more chances to dream about that person. Other researches shows that stuff that people see in their dream is not about what they think but also what they want to remove from their consciousness. Dream researcher Deirdre Barrett thinks that people particularly can solve visual problems by dreaming it. She also points out that many artists creativity was inspired by their dreams.

Research in the University of Chicago showed that student who learned task and went to sleep remembered more next day than students who were tested two hours after learning the task, but have no sleep. A good night rest or some extra hours of sleep will help college students have better quality schoolwork and make them less sleepy.

Richard Wiseman

2010-11-30T10:46:00.000-08:00

Professor Richard Wiseman started his working life as an award-winning professional magician, and was one of the youngest members of The Magic Circle. He then obtained a first class honours degree in Psychology from University College London and a doctorate in psychology from the University of Edinburgh.

For the past fifteen years he has been based at the University of Hertfordshire, and in 2002 was awarded Britain's first Professorship in the Public Understanding of Psychology.

Prof Wiseman has established an international reputation for his research into unusual areas of psychology, including deception, luck and the paranormal. He has published over 50 papers in refereed academic journals, including articles in one of the world’s most respected science publications, Nature.

He has given invited addresses and keynote speeches in Britain and abroad, including to The Royal Society, The Royal Society for the Arts, Microsoft, Caltech, and The Royal Institution.

Prof Wiseman’s research has been featured on over 150 television programmes, including Horizon (BBC), Body Shock (Channel 4), 20/20 (ABC), and Dateline (NBC). He is regularly heard on BBC Radio 4, including appearances on ‘Start the Week’, ‘Midweek’ and ‘The Today Programme’. Feature articles about his work have regularly appeared in The Times, The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian, and a recent poll revealed that he was the psychologist most frequently quoted in the British media.

Prof Wiseman has written three best selling books. The Luck Factor presents a comprehensive account of his ten-year research project into the psychology of luck. This book has now been published into 14 languages and published in over 25 countries. Quirkology, examines the curious psychology of everyday life, including laughter, lying, and love. His most recent book, 59 Seconds, investigates the science of self-help and rapid change.A passionate advocate for science, Prof Wiseman is well known for his media appearances, high-profile talks, live performances, and large-scale studies. He has been invited to speak at The Royal Society, Microsoft, Caltech, and The Royal Institution. Over 1 million people have taken part in his mass participation experiments, and his YouTube channel has received over 8 million views. Prof Wiseman also regularly acts as a creative consultant for print, broadcast and new media.

His work has been supported by grants from several prestigious organisations, including The Perrott Warrick Fund (Trinity College Cambridge), The Leverhulme Trust, The Wellcome Trust, and The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA).

Prof Wiseman was the recipient of The CSICOP Public Education In Science Award in 2000 and the Joseph Lister Award For Social Science in 2002. In 2004 he was awarded a NESTA DreamTime Fellowship for his innovative work in science communication, and in 2005 served as President of the General Section of The British Association for the Advancement of Science.

My future profession

2010-11-30T10:34:00.000-08:00

When I was ending a secondary school I was thinking that best profession in early future will be relative to computers and programming. So I decided to learn programming. In next year I joined Vilnius University in which I start studying software engineering. But after first term I recognize that programming is not for me. So I quit studies. I had half of a year to think, were study next and I do not have any ideas. Next month I started working in life insurance as a agent. I had many meetings with clients and I noticed that it is very interesting for me to fallow client when he talking, see his body language, behavior and in that way know what to say next. In a summer time I decided to study psychology, because I like to analyze people thinking and I think that will be interesting to study.

All in all, in a future I think that my profession will be relative to people, not to computers like I was thinking in a past.