Self Evaluation

This semester we did a lot of tasks in our English classes, because this semester is the last semester. We wrote summaries, we had some listening tasks, we had to make power point presentations also we did Moodle tests, ESP test, online exercises and a lot of other tasks. I can truly say that this semester was the hardest and I am going to evaluate my work and efforts this semester.

Like last year, writing summaries were quite interesting for me, but it wasn’t very easy because when you are writing summary you need to know some requirements, but I can say that this year text which were given to us were more interesting than last year and it is the reason why writing summaries were easier.

Listening wasn’t very hard for me because in school we did a lot of listening tasks and also I did listening last year in English classes, so this activity wasn’t new for me. Maybe online listening were harder than simple listening because this task was new for me, but I think I have demonstrated to myself that it isn’t so hard, so doing listening tasks in our English classes I think improved ability to understand English in more ways.

Power point presentations I think is the most interesting and the hardest task in our English classes because you have to read text very carefully and you need to know all presentation requirements, you need to mention the leading points of the text in interesting way because people who listen presentation are very different, and also this work takes a lot of time.

New task this semester was online exercises. It wasn’t hard because quite similar task we had last year and also it wasn’t so hard because all exercises we did not individually, but in group.

Also this semester we did some speaking. I had prepared for two themes. Firs theme was about handwriting and other theme was about personality and behavior. I can say that speaking is the most stressful task for me.

Other type of our work was Moodle and ESP tests which are really important and a little bit difficult when we talk about ESP test. It was difficult to me because you have to know all definitions and say it in your own way and it takes time to prepare for it. Moodle tests weren’t a hard task because you can look in your notes and this year were some novelties in Moodle tests, so it was easy to do because you had abilities to write the answer more than one time if it is incorrect.

To summarize I want to say that activities in our English classes were hard this semester because this semester was the last one and we prepared for our English exam, but nevertheless this semester was interesting for me.


Refrences:
http://skaitykimekartu.blogas.lt/files/2009/11/book-candle.jpg

Personality type versus behavior

People think that personality and behavior are the same things, but it isn’t true. Personality is what you are and behavior is what you do, so sometimes we behave and think different.
Personality type refers to the psychological classification of different types of individuals. Carl Jung categorized people into primary types of psychological functions. He proposed two pairs of cognitive functions: rational (judging) functions: thinking and feeling and irrational (perceiving) functions: sensing and intuition. So he distinguished four basic functions: sensation, intuition, thinking, and feeling. Also Jung distinguished several attitude types: extravert and introvert. Extraverts are action oriented, prefer more frequent interaction, spend time with others, while introverts are thought oriented, and prefer more substantial interaction, like to spend time alone. So Jung distinguished eight psychological types operating functions (thinking, feeling, sensing, and intuition) with attitude types (extravert, introvert). He classified psychological types like: extraverted sensation, introverted sensation, extraverted intuition, introverted intuition, extraverted thinking, introverted thinking, extraverted feeling, and introverted feeling. Then we talk about behavior it can be said that humans evaluate the acceptability of behavior using social norms and regulate behavior by means of social control. So for example, you are tend to be introvert, you like be alone, but you need go to university, sometimes you go to a place where are a lot of people, so you behave different from your attitudes. So like we can see, our behavior differs from our attitudes and our personality because social norms and control influences our behavior.
To summarize it can be said that personality and behavior differs because social norms and environment influence our behavior. So if we are tend to be introverts it doesn’t mean that we won’t act like extraverts.


Refrences:
Jung, C.G. ([1921] 1971). Psychological Types, Collected Works, Volume 6, Princeton,
N.J.: Princeton University
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/behaviour

The psychology of handwriting

Graphology is the pseudoscientific study and analysis of handwriting especially in relation to human psychology. Handwriting involves both emotional and physical energy. Not unlike body language, handwriting can say a lot about a person’s character involving some aspects of a writer’s personality, and even some of their innermost desires. So to analyze a sample of handwriting graphologists use some fundamental features like a pen pressure, style, size, basic lines, the word “I“style, signature.

The first feature is a pen pressure and it analyzes person’s vitality. Heavy pressure belongs to a healthy, athletic individual. A light pen pressure shows that a person is unhealthy, delicate and very sensitive. And finally, medium pressure has no significance. The second feature is a person’s writing style. Everyone has individual writing style, but graphologists mark two leading styles. The first style letters are with wild tails winding on words and have flourishing script and it shows that the writers are likely to be dramatic themselves and to be highly conscious of how others view them. The second writing style letters are neat, tight and it shows that person is more introverted or shy. The third feature is size. It is interesting that large writing often gives a clue to exhibitionism and microscopic writing belongs to hermit or the introvert because most people use a normal-size script. The fourth feature is basic lines. Then lines run uphill it shows that the writer is optimistic and well-rested, but then lines run downhill it shows that the writer is tired, feel depressed or sick. The fifth important feature to analyze a personality is a writing style of word “I”. Person who writes I as a capital letter is mature and have self confidence in his self, but people who write I as i are usually tend to be lacking in self belief. The last feature is a person’s signature and there are two types of signature. First type is a small signature and it shows that the writer is in need of confidence and the second type is large signature usually full of flourishes and it shows that a person have a high degree of confidence in his self.

To summarize I want to say that we should remember that no analysis is perfect because every individual have their own writing style and some of them don’t fit in normal standards.

Refrences:
http://www.helium.com/knowledge/130504-tips-for-analyzing-peoples-handwriting[2010.09.19]

Self Evaluation

This semester we did a lot tasks in our English classes. We wrote some summaries, we had some listening tasks, we had to make power point presentations also we did Moodle tests, ESP test and a lot of other tasks. So today I want to evaluate my work which I did this semester.

Writing summaries was quite interesting for me, but it wasn’t very easy for me because when you are writing summary you need to know some requirements and not all texts which were given to us was easy to read.

Listening wasn’t very hard for me because in school we did a lot of listening tasks and this activity wasn’t new for me and doing it in our English classes I think improved ability to understand English in more ways.

Power point presentations I think is the most interesting task in our English classes and the hardest because you have to read text very carefully and you need to mention the leading points of the text in easy and interesting way and this work takes a lot of time.

Also this semester we did some speaking. First speaking task was short talk and another speaking without preparation and this one was more difficult for me because you don’t have time to prepare for it and it is a little bit stressful.

Other type of our work was Moodle and ESP tests which are really important and a little bit difficult when we talk about ESP test. It was difficult to me because you have to know all definitions and say it in your own way and it takes time to prepare for it. Moodle tests weren’t a hard task because you can look in your notes and etc.

To summarize I want to say that activities in our English classes were quite interesting and hard, but I enjoyed it.

References:
http://englishbyme.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/t_18.jpg

Laughter

First of all when we talk about laughter we should know what it is. Researchers suggest that laughter is an audible expression or the appearance of happiness, or an inward feeling of joy and it may ensue from jokes, tickling or other stimuli. So, like we see people face with laugh every day, but they don't pore over why they are laughing. So, today I am going to talk about why we laugh and about benefits for our health.

The first thing that I want to talk about is what causes our laughter. There are two leading points: biological and psychological. So, when we talk about biological causes I can say that modern neurophysiology states that laughter is linked with the activation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which produces endorphins after a rewarding activity. Research has shown that the limbic system is a primitive part of the brain that is involved in emotions and helps us with basic functions necessary for survival. Two structures in the limbic system are involved in producing laughter: the amygdale and the hippocampus. Talking about psychological causes it can be said that common causes are sensations of joy and humor, but a general theory that explains laughter is called the relief theory in which Sigmund Freud suggest that laughter releases tension and "psychic energy". This theory is one of the justifications of the beliefs that laughter is beneficial for one's health. This theory explains why laughter can be as a coping mechanism for when one is upset, angry or sad.
The second thing that I want to talk about is laughter benefits for our health. Like we know laughter is a powerful antidote to stress, pain, and conflict. Nothing works faster or more dependably to bring your mind and body back into balance than a good laugh. Moreover, laughter is good for our health because it relaxes the whole body, boosts the immune system, protects the heart, decreases pain, eases anxiety and fear, improves mood. So laughter has a lot of benefits for our health and if we want to be healthy what we should do is smile, when we hear laughter, move toward it, spend time with fun, playful people, and bring humor into conversations.

To summarize I want to say that laughter is an integral part of life, we are laughing every day and we should know that there are two leading points of our laughter: biological and psychological. Also we shouldn’t forget that laughter has a lot of benefits for our health and prolongs our life in three seconds, so what we need to do is smile, smile and one more time smile every day for everyone.


References:
http://helpguide.org/life/humor_laughter_health.htm
Divergent effects of laughter and mental stress on arterial stiffness and central hemodynamics. Psychosom Med. May;71(4):446-53.
Miller M, Mangano C, Park Y, Goel R, Plotnick GD, Vogel RA.(2006). Impact of cinematic viewing on endothelial function
The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XXIII

The psychology of obsessions

Like we know nowadays people have a lot of obsessions. Some of them are small obsessions and are lasting for few hours or days, but also some obsessions can last for years and it is called obsessive - compulsive disorder (OCD), which means that the individual may have only the obsessions, compulsions or both. An example of an obsession in OCD is a person who can't stop thinking about dirt or germs that they could come into contact with. In this case, thinking about the dirt and/or germs is the obsession.

So, like I have mentioned obsessive - compulsive disorder (OCD)is a mental disorder and there are two factors which can cause this disorder: psychological and biological. When we talk about psychological causes there are a lot of theories, bus most popular theory is the cognitive–behavioral model which suggests that compulsive behavior is carried out to remove anxiety-provoking intrusive thoughts and when we talk about biological causes is can be said that OCD has been linked to abnormalities with the neurotransmitter serotonin, although it could be either a cause or an effect of these abnormalities. So like we see there are two leading factors: psychological and biological. Also when we talk about obsessions we can think about benefits and drawbacks of obsessions, but there is a one problem there are no benefits when we talk about OCD unless we talk about small obsessions, because when we talk about obsessions which are lasting for few days or few month, for example, obsession of success it can be said that benefit of this obsession is that person will reach his point because he will put all his energy. Talking about drawbacks of obsessions I can say that there a lot of it, but most important I think is permanent anxiety, preoccupation with sexual or aggressive impulses, or with particular religious beliefs, nervous habits, such as opening a door and closing it a certain number of times before one enters or leaves a room and these things can cause severe emotional and economic loss.

Finally I want to say that obsessive - compulsive disorder (OCD) is the fourth-most common mental disorder in the world and factors which cause this disorder are biological and psychological and there a lot of drawbacks of this disorder and all these drawbacks can cause severe emotional and economic loss.

References:
www.psychologytoday.com
www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/articles/disorders/causesofocd.shtml BBC Science and Nature: Human Body and Mind. Causes of OCD. Accessed April 15, 2006.
Barlow, D. H. and V. M. Durand. 'Essentials of Abnormal Psychology'. California: Thomson Wadsworth, 2006.

Psychology studies at MRU and Kingston University

Nowadays there are a huge amount of universities all around the world. You can study in the USA, Italy, Spain, UK, Canada, Poland, Denmark and anywhere else, but it is a one requirement, you should know that country native language and if I have opportunity in my life to study abroad I will choose psychology studies in the UK and it is the reason why I want to compare Psychology studies at MRU and Kingston University.

Primarily I want to start talk about undergraduate Psychology studies at Kingston University. So at Kingston University you are studying three years and each year the Psychology programme consists of different modules, for example, first year programme consists of Psychology Introduction, Research Methods and Classical Social Theory. At second course you are studying about Learning and Behaviour, Biopsychology, Social Psychology, Abnormal Psychology and a lot of other things about human being. And finally, the last course consists of Developmental Psychology, Individual Differences, Psychology Research Project and etc. Also, when you are studying Psychology at Kingston University you have an opportunity to study Psychology with other courses like Biology, Drama, History, Sociology, Media and Cultural Studies and I think it is a huge advantage for students because they can get to know a lot of interesting information and have a practical knowledge. Other good things about Kingston University is that after undergraduate studies you have opportunity to work as a Project worker, Housing assistant, Research Officer, Young Persons Drug and Alcohol Worker and if you want to continue studies you can choose postgraduate studies like Business Psychology, Sociology, Psychology of Education, Clinical Psychology. So, you can see that after postgraduate studies you will have a chance to get a gainful job. Also, talking about Kingston University I can say that there are a lot of other advantages, for example, great environment, voluntary programmes, summer work, but sadly, there are one huge disadvantage and it is expensive study and sustenance in the UK.


I have mentioned some pluses and minuses about Kingston University and it's time to talk about Psychology studies at MRU. At MRU you are studying four years to get Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and each half-year the programme consists of different modules like Logic, Philosophy, Introduction to Psychology, Research Methods, Sensation and Perception, Anatomy, Genetics, Neurology and a lot of other modules which each half-year are different and develop abilities to understand, explain and assess human behaviour, personality and emotional state and to provide psychological assistance which is very important in the future. Sadly, but after undergraduate studies the ability to get a job is low because usually you can get only work as an assistant of an expert psychologist in Lithuania. Moreover, after undergraduate studies you can only choose postgraduate studies of three different courses like Law Psychology, Social Psychology and Business Psychology. So when I compare Psychology studies at MRU and Kingston University I can say that you have more opportunities to get a job after studies at Kingston University and it is a minus for MRU, but irrespective of this minus, studies at MRU have a lot of advantages and some of them are interesting studies, great environment, friendly students, active leisure in MRU clusters. Also, Psychology studies are less expensive than at Kingston University.


To summarize I want to say that both universities have some advantages and disadvantages, but despite some disadvantages Psychology studies at MRU and Kingston University are very interesting and give you an opportunity to develop abilities to understand, explain and assess human behaviour, personality and emotional state, meet new friends, take part in voluntary programmes and get some summer job.







Refrences:
http://www.mruni.eu/lt/
http://www.kingston.ac.uk/