End-of-term self-assessment

• Writing (a summary). I have written a few summaries during this term. It was a good exercise to improve my skills in information understanding and sighting the most essential things. I think that my summaries were quite good.
• Performance in ESP vocabulary tests. My performance in ESP vocabulary tests was quite successful. I had higher grades from these tests, so I could say that my achievement was better than last term. It’s really great.
• Performance in class dictations. Speaking about my performance in class dictation, it was the most difficult task for me. Everything happened so fast that I had no time to think what to write and how to write.
• Listening practice in class. Listening tasks was really difficult for me last term and I had some troubles with it. But this term I found listening practice easier and my result was better.
• Listening to peers’ power point presentations. I was really interested in listening to peers’ power point presentations. It was useful to know new things in the themes we are learning about.
• Making power point presentations. Making power point presentations was the most enjoyable task for me. It was great to know more about the body language and the expression of emotions. Furthermore, I had opportunity to improve my speaking skills.
• Short talks on ESP themes in class. Speaking about short talks on ESP themes I could say that I had fount many interesting and useful things while preparing to talk. Also, it was good for improving speaking skills, too.

Phobias

Sometimes people confuse fear and phobia. But these two things are actually different. Fear is a normal and healthy part of life. Fear plays an important role in keeping us from entering harmful situations and helping us decide when to get out of situations that are not necessarily the best. It does not take over our lives or cause us to become irrational. A phobia, however, twists the normal fear response into something that is difficult or impossible to control.

 

A phobia is defined as an irrational and intense fear of a specific object or situation. Phobias vary in severity from person to person. Some people are able to manage their symptoms and face the feared object, albeit with a great sense of terror. Others are motivated by the phobia to avoid the feared situation, sometimes at great personal cost.

 

Phobias can be divided into three types:

·        specific phobia (fear of a specified object or situation)

·        social phobia (fear of social situations)

·        agoraphobia (fear of being tapped in an inescapable place or solution)

Although the symptoms of each type will vary, there are some symptoms common to all phobias. These include:

Terror: A persistent and overwhelming fear of the object or situation. 
Physical Symptoms: Dizziness, shaking, palpitations. 
Obsessive Thoughts: Difficulty thinking about anything other than the fear. 
Desire to Flee: An intense instinct to leave the situation. 
Anticipatory Anxiety: Persistent worrying about upcoming events that involve the phobic object or situation.

I would like to speak about two phobias: arachnophobia and social phobia.

Arachnophobia: An abnormal and persistent fear of spiders. Sufferers from arachnophobia experience undue anxiety even though they realize the risk of encountering a spider and being harmed by it is small or nonexistent. They may avoid going barefoot and may be especially alert when taking showers or getting into and out of bed. This phobia tends to affect women more than men.

Social Phobia is a condition characterized by a marked and persistent fear of social or performance situations in which embarrassment may occur. Exposure to the social or performance situation almost invariably provokes an immediate anxiety response. Most often, the social or performance situation is avoided. In many people, the social phobia is limited to one or more specific social situations, such as public speaking or stage fright.

Researchers are still unclear on exactly what causes phobias. The latest studies show that there is likely a complex interaction of factors including genetics, brain chemistry, environmental triggers and learned behavior.

Speaking about the treatment of phobias, there are currently two major theories on how best to treat phobias, based on differing beliefs about the nature of mental illness. One of them suggest treatment by medication, other one – by therapy.

To sum up, phobia is the thing that really burden people life. It’s a big problem which is necessary to be solved.

Reference: http://psychology.about.com/od/phobias/a/phobialist.htm 

Learning Languages

In our days all of us must learn a foreign language, least one. To learn a foreign language is possible for most people. All it takes is willingness, work and method. If you do it the right way, you can learn a language fluently. So here is a few methods that will help you.

Firstly, most of us find trouble learning new words. There is one way to make it easier. You can write down words on the different sheets of paper and their definitions on the other side. By picking these cards randomly you can master these words more easily.

Secondly, broadening your dictionary and achieving better skills in grammar also is very important. It can be reached by reading books, journals and news papers in a certain foreign language. You can also watch movies and listen to music.

Finally, the most important skill of language is speaking fluently. The best way to achieve it is going abroad. You will be constrained to communicate. There also is more simple and cheaper way by finding a pen-friend or just practicing to speak with your friends.

In conclusion, learning languages is very essential, it opens up new opportunities and gives you perspectives that you might never have encountered otherwise.

The Research of Richard Wiseman

Professor Richard Wiseman is a person, who has established an international reputation for his research into unusual areas of psychology, including deception, humor, luck and the paranormal. He has published over 40 papers in refereed academic journals, including articles in one of the world’s most respected science publications, Nature.

Richard Wiseman has his own website and blog where we can find the information about his biography, research, books, talks, shows and media. Also we can participate in some experiments. So I would like to tell about few of them.

Firstly, it was fun to have a few not-so-serious tests that helped to know more about me. There was given three tests. “The Q Test” provided some insight whether I am ‘self’ or ‘other’ centered. “The Finger Test” analyzed the amount or testosterones and “the sex of the brain”. “The Thumb Test” exhibited what side of mine brain is dominant.

Secondly, I take part in experiment about identifying someone’s personality from their face. There was given two photographs of people each time and I had to choose that one which imaged a particular trait better.

In conclusion, Richard Wiseman has done plenty research, which are really interesting and useful. So, if you want to know more, go to his website and see it for yourself.

Reference: http://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/

Psychology at MRUNI and abroad

There are a lot of universities where you can study psychology, but I would like to compare and contrast psychology program just in two of them: Mykolas Romeris and Aberdeen universities.

Bachelor’s degree in Psychology offered by the Department of Psychology at Mykolas Romeris University is a full-time, four-year undergraduate program that gives students a comprehensive general coverage of the central topics of psychology. Courses provide students with the knowledge of research, theories, and their applications in psychology.

The program in The University of Aberdeen also lasts four years. There is a British Psychological Society (BPS) accredited Honours degree and a Designated degree

in Psychology. Application for entry to Honours occurs at the end of second year, and is based on academic performance achieved during second year. Students not continuing to Honours may complete the Designated degree.

The main psychology program disciplines in both universities are similar. They contain subjects like sensation and perception, social psychology, developmental psychology, health psychology, quantity methods, psychological assessment ant etc. The different is that our university program includes more other subjects, such as logics, philosophy, academic literacy skills. But the main difference, in my opinion, is that students of Aberdeen university have practice training, we not.

To sum up, I would like to say that in learning psychology having only theoretical knowledge is not enough. Very important is to have a chance to do practical training. So, I think that The University of Aberdeen gives an opportunity to know psychology better.

Reference: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/

Happiness

Happiness is a positive, enduring inner state of well being that consists of positive feelings and includes both peace of mind and active pleasures or joy.

Recent studies are revealing an important reason why

happiness is so important to us all. A growing body of research is demonstrating that as we become happier, we become better people. Happy people are more compassionate, creative, energetic, financially successful, emotionally and physically healthy.

Happiness is not only important to our personal and societal lives, it is important to our global community. Unhappiness breeds wars and terrorism. Countries that unjustly attack other countries are doing so because they are not happy with certain international realities. Terrorists who attack individuals and populations are deeply dissatisfied with various social, political, religious or economical realities. Happy countries would not wage unjust wars and commit acts of terror.

As individuals and as societies, happiness is both our highest goal and an extremely effective means of achieving many of our other cherished goals. Happiness is our ultimate reason for living. So don‘t worry and by happy!

Reference: http://thehappinessshow.com/WhyIsHappinessSoImportant.htm

Self-assessment of success in learning ESP

· Writing a summary. While reading a text it's very important

to understand the most essential things and the motif of the text.

So writing a summary was a really good exercise to improve my skills in doing this. I think that my purpose in this task was quite good.
· Writing comprehension tests on modules in psychology. Following test was very good for my vocabulary. I have learnt a lot of new words in psychology that will be needful in the future I think.
· Making power point presentations. This task was the most interesting for me and I really enjoyed doing it. I liked searching information about the theme I’m interested in and after that sharing it with others.
· Impromptu speaking in class. I think it’s the most needful thing in learning ESP. We all should know how to tell our minds, express feelings. I found it slightly difficult at first for me but now I feel better about this.
· Performance in listening practice. Listening gives an opportunity to learn the pronunciation, so it’s a really important part in learning ESP better. Unfortunately it’s quite difficult for me. So maybe I should do some listening practice by my own.
· Writing contributions to e-portfolio (weblog). While writing contributions I improved my writing skills. I wanted that the contributions would be interesting to read so it took a long time for me to write them.