Self evaluation

"Learning is never done without errors and defeat." - Vladimir Lenin. So I could say about our last semester of English classes. We did a lot, we spoke, we wrote and we learned…
ESP vocabulary tests- to my mind it was the most difficult but also the most effective way of learning. For me it wasn't as hard as I imagined, but it took me some time to understand the definitions in order to remember them. All in all I am happy with my ESP results.
Writing summaries – as I knew this task will be give in our exam I was always serious about it. It wasn't long until I finally was able to write a good summary. However, I think I could do better.
Online exercises- it was a new task this semester and to my mind kind of interesting. However I found it very hard. I couldn't remember definitions that good to do the filling in blanks. On the other hand, multiple choices were pretty easy.
Moodle tests- If you want to get a good mark you must spent your time doing it. However I did not always succeeded. Because for me it is pretty hard to remember exactly the same word that was written in the text.
Online listening and traditional listening in class – listening was always been an interesting and easy task for my. So it was also like that with both listening. On the other hand, I noticed that traditional listening requires more attention and more knowledge, or at least I thought so.
Power point presentations – this year my theme wasn't as interesting as last year was. So it was not so enjoyable, however I am happy with my presentation. I think that making presentation is the bet way to deepen you knowledge.
Speaking: short talks and impromptu – I think that speaking is the crucial thing in learning English. However I enjoyed short talks more than speaking impromptu. Because I could prepare more and say more that I want.
All in all, this last semester of English was full of hard work and pleasant outcomes of it.

Disorders versus behavior

What is abnormal behavior? Psychologists have difficulties describing abnormal behavior. Usually they define abnormal behavior as the behavior that causes people to experience distress and prevents them from functioning in their daily lives. In the world there are a lot of psychological disorders that can change or influence one’s behavior. Some make behavior totally different for what it used to be and others change just a small part of person normal behavior. I will try to cover just a small part of psychological disorders that can influence behavior – anxiety disorders.

Anxiety disorders are the occurrence of anxiety without an obvious external cause affecting daily functioning. There are few major anxiety disorders like: Phobic disorder, Panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder.
I will try to cover each of them and explain how each of them influences one’s behavior.
Phobic Disorder- Phobias involve persistent, unrealistic, intense anxiety about and fear of certain situations, circumstances, or objects. People who have a certain phobia avoid situations that trigger their anxiety and fear, or they have to endure them with great distress. So if person has a phobia of height it wouldn’t really influence his/hers behavior. However if one have strangers fear it may influence behavior that much, that person wouldn’t leave his home for years.

Panic disorder- is an anxiety disorder and is characterized by unexpected and repeated episodes of intense fear accompanied by physical symptoms that may include chest pain, heart palpitations, and shortness of breath, dizziness, or abdominal distress. Panic attacks seemingly come out of nowhere and are unconnected to any specific stimulus. Because of that victims of this disorder panic and may become fearful of going places. So before panic disorder has occurred a person would go out with great pleasure, however after disorder he or she most likely will try to avoid going outside. People with this disorder usually avoid doing any kind of activity that could lead to psychical arousal.

Generalized anxiety disorder- the experience of long term persistent anxiety and worry. Sometimes that concern may be work, home, family and ect. People with this disorder feel that something dreadful is about to happen, but can’t identify the reason. So usually people can’t concentrate and put aside the worry. Over the time their lives become centered on their worry. In some cases people can’t even do anything more than sit and worry.

All in all, psychological disorders can influence our behavior, but it is not that they can change everything.

References:
Robert S.Feldman. Understanding Psychology. 8th edition. Module 49.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/panic-disorder/index.shtml
(Found on 9th of November, 2010)
http://merck.com/mmhe/sec07/ch100/ch100e.html
(Found on 9th of November, 2010)

Psychology of Handwriting

Imagine that you have borrowed an exercise book of your friend. But sadly, you forgot witch friend you borrowed from. And there are not name of surname on the book cover. What to do?
As we know, every person has a different handwriting and people just with a little observation power can distinguish whose that handwriting is. Even children can distinguish their friends’ handwritings. So the problem is solved!! Isn’t it?
Psychologists always tries to find ways how to identify persons character and a handwriting analysis, or as it is called graphology, is a tool which can be used to discover aspects of a writer’s personality, inclinations and even some of their innermost desires. I can give some examples: if people write in ascending order it may show that the writer is ambitious, optimistic, initiative but also may be a bit aggressive and detached from reality. If writer writes in descending order it may be that he/she is unintuitive, gloomy or so. If people handwriting is rotational it means that writer may have shifting moods and a tendency to work according to his/ hers emotional state.
Writers’ personality can be also examined by size of letters. Large handwriting shows that writer may have a lack in sense of duty also people with large handwriting usually are not good at observing small details. On the other hand people with small handwriting are known as intelligent. They also can memorize a lot of things really easy.
Nowadays, handwriting analysis is sometimes used in big companies where new personnel are accepted, for example – France.
However there are still a lot of unknown and unexplained things. For example, we know that emotion can influence our writing, so is it really fair to determine character by the handwriting analysis only? I think that graphology has a long way to go, and maybe someday we will ready to discover writer’s personality with it.

References:
http://www.google.com/books?hl=lt&lr=&id=MAi9L2ofmUkC&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=psychology+of+handwriting&ots=LHPWD1Vx9v&sig=s1mp3R-PfP-Hxepq_Ty73JZ9Hdc#v=onepage&q&f=false( taken: 2010.09 20)
http://www.astralis.it/scritto_e.htm (taken: 2010.09.23)
http://jurylaw.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/handwriting_sxc_432054_40119740.jpg (taken: 2010.09.23)

"If you find yourself saying 'But I can't speak English...', try adding the word '...yet' - Jane Revell & Susan Norman.
This semester we did learn a lot, we wrote summaries, listened to some recordings, we spoke... And now we need to evaluate ourselves.
Summary writing. I think it was not the hardest task until you give up some of you free time and get down to it. So, if I concentrate and do the task carefully I am happy with my results. However if I fail do the task in appropriate way, some mistakes occur, like spelling, grammar or the main structure of summary.
Listening. Before entering university I was pleased with my listening results. However now I am not that happy. Also I am not that happy about my dictation results, because I do a lot of small mistakes, like grammar or capital letters. So now I see that there is a long way to go until my listening skills will be as good as I want them to be.
Power point presentation. I think this is one of the most interesting parts. Because you not only have to read a new module or some other material, but you also have to think how to present that information that if would be interesting and not too complicated. And of course you get to take a closer look to one or another theme. I think my presentation wasn‘t as good as others students, but I am pretty happy about it.
Speaking. We had two types of speaking, speaking in class without preparation and short talks. Speaking has never been an issue to me. Of course I make grammar mistakes or pronunciation, but speaking still gives me a great pleasure. So I think this is the part where I can improve the most, because we spent a lot of time speaking.
And to my mind the most important things in our studies was MOODLE and ESP tests.
I found Moodle tests just average, I mean, not too difficult and not to easy. If you want to get a good mark you must spent your time doing it. It was my first time doing some kind of tests at home with a computer so I had a pretty good motivation to do my best, however I did not always succeeded. Because for me it is pretty hard to remember exactly the same word that was written in the text.
And finally, ESP tests. They were not that hard as I expected them to be. I think that the best part is that you don‘t need to learn definition by heart, the most important thing is to understand them and everything will be all-right. Until now I am happy with my ESP results, and I hope I can keep up with it.
To sum-up, I had and hard and pleasant times this semester learning English, but it only gives me more motivation to learn and not to give up.

Quote references:
http://www3.telus.net/linguisticsissues/quotes.HTM
http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumb_251/1206474041drOcLv.jpg

Laughter

Laughter is an audible expression of happiness, or an inward feeling of joy. It may ensue from jokes, tickling or other stimuli. It helps people clarify their intention. Laughter is also used as a signal for being part of a group.
There are different kinds of laughter:

• Etiquette laughter- this laughter usually starts with a smile and then develops. Laughter is good for communication; people rely on it in as a means to get along with others.
• Pigeon laughter- it is laughing without opening your mouth and producing pigeon like sounds.
• Soundless laughter- this type of laughter is used in yoga or therapy. Just smile and let the belly push the air in and out.
• Nervous laughter- this laughter is considered to be a fake laughter. And it is used when people feel nervous.
• Belly laughter- it is called most honest type. It can even make the pain go away.

Laughter also can be sorted by the emotions we feel.
• Snorting- shows disapproval.
• Sniggering- insensitive, immature
• Cackling- laud.
• Chuckling- kind laughter.
• Belly-laughter- open and honest.

Also laughter has a lot of benefits, like Laughter dissolves distressing emotions and helps you relax and sometimes even helps to see the situation in more realistic way.
However there are few drawbacks of laughter, as I said is can clarify the intention, but in the same time it cam mislead other person if laughter is fake. Also laughing at the wrong time can make you feel uncomfortable.
All in all, laughter is part of our everyday life and as it is said, „ If you laugh you will live longer“.

References:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200504/laughter-the-best-medicine
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200011/the-science-laughter
picture:
http://www.rd.ca/cms/images/image/LaughterClub_291_20080402-155719.jpg

Psychology of obsession

It’s normal, on occasion, to go back and double-check that the iron is unplugged or your car is locked but if people do it twenty times a day, it may be a psychical disorder.
A big number of triggering stimuli could create obsessions. Obsessions are defined as unwanted and intrusive thoughts, images or impulses. A person who experiences them finds them repellent, illogical, unacceptable, and hard to get rid of. When an obsession happens, a person feels uncomfortable, anxious and the need to neutralize or put right such obsession. And the compulsion is the action taken to release this accumulated anxiety. This can be demonstrated in activities such as repetetive hand washing, checking and rececking lights and locks and so on. Neutralizing behaviours are often done according to strange "rules".
This Psychological disorder driven by anxiety is usally called obsessiove-compulsive disorder OCD. Often people with OCD actually feel relieved after doing their unique ritual. The action makes them feel safe…until the next disturbing thought or feeling overwhelms them.
Clinically, obsessional-compulsive phenomenon was split to two:
1. Obsessional thoughts which are compulsive behaviour free (Obsessional ruminations).
2. Obsessions plus overt compulsions (Obsessional ritualizing).
Most common obsessions: aggressive impulses (eg: killing somebody), contamination (eg: becoming infected by touching people), doubt (eg: wondering if you turned off the gas stove or not), sex (eg: images of culturally unacceptable sexual practices), concern over health (eg: worrying about the preservatives in your food), need for symmetry (eg: worrying that one's desk is not rigidly organized) perfection(eg: extreme need to have the perfect body, the best job, or the very superior child.) disasters ( eg: constant fear of plane crashes, fires, bombings, and similar tragedies.)
Most common compultions: Picking(eg: scabs, pimples, noses, cuticles, often till the person is bleeding.) Checking ( eg: lights, gas, doors, locks, body parts and looking for robbers, ghosts, monsters, etc.) Counting (eg: calories, stairs, money or doing things an odd or even amount of times.) Washing ( eg: hands, body parts, door knobs, brushing teeth excessively.).
All in all OCD is a psychological disorder and it has to be treated. Till now best way to treat it is cognitive therapy. A big part of cognitive therapy for OCD is teaching you healthy and effective ways of responding to obsessive thoughts, without resorting to compulsive behavior.
References:
http://ccvillage.buffalo.edu/Abpsy/lecture5.html
http://pierre-khazen-psy.blogspot.com/2007/09/obsessions-in-psychology.htm
picture:
http://strengthenedbygrace.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/notobsessive.jpg

Psychology at MRU and Carleton University

Currently I am studying at Mykolo Romerio University, but I am planing to continue my studies abroad. The university I have chosen is Carleton University. It is in North America in the capital of Canada - Ottawa. I was interested in this University because it has Department of psychology where students can choose a lot of interesting lectures. There are similar lectures like we are having in Mykolo Romerio University - Introduction of Psychology, Introduction to Research Methods in Psychology also Introduction to Statistics in Psychology and more. However there are lectures that are different in Carleton University, which is Introduction to Health Psychology, Foundations of Developmental Psychology, Introduction to Cognitive Psychology, Origins to Modern Psychology and a lot of more.

In Carleton University after bachelor degree students can choose Cognitive/perception psychology, Development psychology, Forensic psychology, Human-computers interaction psychology, Neuroscience psychology and Social/ organizational psychology.

I think that there are a lot of advantages in studying psychology at Carleton University.

Firstly, I think that all programs and lectures are really useful and interesting. You don't need to waste your time for unnecessary things.

Secondly, it is really important to me that everything will be in English language. That way English will become like second mother language to me.

And finally, studying abroad you can get to know different culture. And to my mind, Canada is the best place!

However there are few disadvantages in studying at Carleton University.

Firstly, it is pretty far away from my country. And I will not be able to see my family whenever I want to.

Moreover, to get accepted in Carleton University really is hard. Also studying there is hard too. So if you want to graduate you must work as hard as ever.

What is more, you have to spend a lot of money there. Not only studying is expensive but also living in Canada capital Ottawa is expensive too.

All in all, I think that if I decide to study abroad nothing will change my mind. And I think that Carleton University is one of best choices.

References:

http://www.carleton.ca/calendars/ugrad/0910/programs/psychology.html#pbag
http://carleton.ca/cu/global-cu/images/logo.png