Final Blog

Cynthia Shirley

5/6/18

Final Blog

I really enjoyed this Introduction to Psychology online course. This blog will include the highlights what I learned this semester.

Week 1-2: History of Psychology:

This module included information about the earliest psychologist and the first psychology methods and techniques. Functionalism and evolutionary psychology was discussed. Some of the principals of these method still influence psychology practices. Different psychology approaches were also discussed such as the cognitive approach and neuroscience approach.

The field of psychology that interests me is Cognitive Psychology. This field is very significant and there are several different types of sub fields within this branch. Memory, perception and learning are some of the types of mental processes that cognitive psychologist study. Cognitive psychologist wants to understand the human thought process. They also study how humans obtain, process, store information, dreams, problem solving and judgement. Memory is studied because it is involved in an individual learning, speaking and communication. Perception is studied in this field so that certain behaviors of an individual can be predicted. I am interested in Cognitive therapy because I have personally benefited from this type of therapy. I began to struggle with anxiety several years ago when I was going through a very stressful season of my life. My family physician recommended Cognitive therapy for me. The therapist evaluated me and gave me tools to help me deal with the stresses in life that I have continued to use today. I believe learning more about this field and human thought processes would benefit me in caring for patients as a PA.

Week 3-4 Brain and Behavior

In this module I learned about how the brain functions. The lecture and reading on the brain and nervous system made me feel in awe because of the complexity of this great organ and God’s hand in creating every detail of our bodies just perfectly. The nervous system is sending, receiving, and processing signals constantly. There is so much involved in this process including billions of neurons that are used to communicate electrical signals. These neurons are responsible for processing sensory information such as touching something hot. There is also an electrochemical process that the nervous system uses to communicate messages. I was inspired by the Ted talk on how a quadriplegic man named Miguel was able to feel with the advances in technology and a brain-controlled exoskeleton.

Week 5-6 Brain Activity

In this module my assignment was interactive one I did with two young children. I learned about the creativity of a child's brain and how much they enjoy learning when it involves hands on activities. They enjoyed shaping and molding the clay to form the different lobes of the brain. They acted as if they were having fun learning the facts about the brain using online images and play dough. They were excited when I told them I was going to video their response to the activity and seemed to be more interested in learning more of the brain facts.

Week 6-7 Sensory and Perception

This was a very informative module and I learned different ways the brain causes to have sensation and perception. The videos demonstrated synesthesia and cyber senses and examples.
Our senses are an amazing way to experience what is around is. Our brains perceive stimulation by our five senses which are hearing, seeing, feeling and tasting. I think we all take our senses for granted at some point. I have tried to imagine how it would be to not be able to have one of my senses and it makes me really appreciate what I have been blessed with. Experiences like hearing good music or ocean waves would not be possible without sense of hearing. Seeing a beautiful west Texas sunset would not be possible without our sight and tasting a delicious piece of chocolate would not be possible without our sense of taste. It would be sad to not be able to touch and hold the hand of your child or smell a beautiful fragrant rose

Week 7-8 Nurture versus Nature

In this module, I chose the assignment on the debate of nurture versus nature. There is a nurture theory that states that our environment and upbringing influence our intellectual and behavioral traits. Some psychologist such as John Watson believe that children learn from their environments and can be trained to have certain likes and dislikes.

My opinion on this argument is that humans are influenced by both nature and nurture. I believe that life experiences have a lot to do with our behavior and responses. I also believe that we have certain genetic codes that give us our personality traits.

Week 10-11 Motivation and Emotions

 This was a very interesting module and I enjoyed reading the other students blogs. I liked the modern trait personality theory with the five-factor model out of all the theories that I read about. The Big Five personality traits model is based on common language descriptions of personalities. This model demonstrates the relationship between personality and academic behaviors.

There are many different personality tests that one can take. I learned that the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is a very popular personality test that is used all over the world. Millions of employers give it. I think this is a great tool for employers to have. This test does not predict behaviors.

I really enjoyed learning more about personalities in this module.

Classical Conditioning

I really enjoyed learning about classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is important in medicine because of the placebo effect. Medically inactive pills have been given to patients and somehow have a positive effect when the patients believe that the pill have active ingredients. A research study was done with an ointment to treat psoriasis with medically active ingredients and a non-medically reactive ingredient.  The first group had a 78% improvement with the medically active ingredient and the second group with no active ingredient had a 73% improvement. It is fascinating to me how the brain works and how placebo medication caused a response like the medicated ointment.  

Behavior Modification

In this assignment, I chose to begin a new behavior and to log my results daily. This assignment was a great way to have us assess our everyday behaviors. I would like to be more proactive and exercise regularly for the many health benefits and that is why I chose this as my behavior modification. I believe that having balance in life is very important and this includes healthy behaviors such as exercise. Too much exercise is not good either. I noticed that on the days that I made time to walk, I felt better overall and slept better at night. School can be very stressful, so exercising is a great tool to help decrease the stress that we experience.

Week 11-12

Psychological Disorders and Therapy

In this module I learned about a variety of psychological disorders. I watched several videos of individuals talking about how these disorders have affected them or their family. I related to the stories of people that suffered from anxiety and panic disorder since I have personally been affected by this disorder. Anxiety and depression have affected many individuals in my family including my grandmother, many aunts, cousins, my siblings, my niece and myself. I was encouraged by the students that commented on my post. I also was inspired and encouraged by reading other students blogs and how some of them have been affected directly or indirectly by psychological disorders and how they overcame them. 

Week 13-14

The positive psychology module was one of my favorite assignments from all semester. This was because I was able to blog demonstrate in my daily life how positive psychology can benefit me physically and mentally. I continue to journal and thank God each day for the many ways I have been blessed each day. I hope the other students enjoyed this module as much I did.

http://happierhuman.com/positive-psychology-progress-2005-seligman-m-p-steen-t-a-park-n-peterson-c/

I also enjoyed watching these videos about positive psychology and am going to share a link of one of the ones I viewed. This video was titled “Recipe for Happiness”. He talked about the ingredients of what we need to be happy. Having a positive and thankful attitude is a very important ingredient to be happy.

https://youtu.be/7p__TGchbos

Intro to Psychology online was taught in a different style compared to the other online classes I have taken. I enjoyed the tasks that I completed. It also helped me to learn other student’s perspective on an assignment when I read their blog and comments.