Part 1: Chapter Content
Chapter & Title: Memory
Mnemonic is the concept that touched me in chapter 6 because it focuses on strategies that enhance memory. Remembering is a significant cognitive capability since it helps people perform their daily activities. Various other concepts related to memory were also important, such as memory storage, memory retrieval, and short-term memory, because they relate to information processing and storage for future use. The concepts are critical since they relate to the way people learn and process information to apply them in the future. Therefore, it is necessary to use any means possible to help learners to develop their memory. The concepts are necessary for all careers associated with learning as they apply to information retention and retrieval to help in decision-making or problem-solving. As I pursue a career in psychology related to learning, I need to focus on tools that can enhance learning and memory, especially among individuals with limitations or declining memory. I will use the concepts to help individuals become better learners by using techniques supporting information processing, memory storage, and retrieval. People cannot learn without the ability to process and store information. While the immediate learning process is essential, knowledge development is possible when the learner can retrieve the information in the future and use it in decision-making or problem-solving. Thus, the concepts will help my future career help those who need support to improve their information processing ability and memory for short- and long-term use.
Chapter 8 & Title: Motivation and Emotion
Motivation is one of the concepts from chapter 8 that I found quite intriguing. I was interested in learning how an action can drive a person to change behavior. For example, a compliment about weight loss can motivate a person to develop an eating disorder, such as anorexia nervosa. A related concept is a drive, which is the force behind the tendency to believe in a specific manner, such as skipping meals driven by the need to reduce weight. Emotion is an important concept in understanding motivation because it is the physiological, cognitive, and behavioral components that guide actions. Understanding the concepts in my career will help to understand how to direct behavior through motivation. Motivation is, for instance, the reason why an individual would be willing to learn. The concepts will add value to the career since it will help create a motivating environment for people to learn. For example, when helping someone overcome negative behavior, such as disordered eating, I can use the knowledge to create a motivating environment. Besides, the type of motivation should have a greater emotional appeal than the one that caused the original flawed behavior. I should teach the most appropriate motivators to support behavior changes, especially in children and adolescents. The motivation can either be intrinsic or extrinsic, depending on the one that can generate the best results.
Chapter 8 & Title: Human Development
Developmental psychology is the concept that I found interesting and appealing in chapter nine since it encompasses most of the other concepts. The concept refers to the study of changes in personality and behavior that occur across the lifespan. The chapter’s other vital concepts are attachment and temperament development since they relate to children’s positive or negative development. For example, positive attachment early in life is associated with positive development. Furthermore, a lack of positive attachment can affect development negatively throughout the person’s lifecycle. I find the concepts interesting and valuable since they help understand the positive and negative aspects of development to provide interventions if needed. For example, a neglected child could have behavioral problems later in life due to negative developmental outcomes. Therefore, to help such an individual to overcome the behavioral challenges, a professional should understand developmental psychology and the effects of positive or negative attachment. I will use information from the chapter to build a career in psychology and help individuals to overcome issues that affect their development later in life. I will support young people to learn better by addressing childhood traumas and problems, such as poor attachment.
Chapter 11 & Title: Personality
Personality and how it develops are important and interesting concepts from chapter 11. Personality is an individual’s unique and relatively stable patterns of thinking, emotions, and behavior. Personality develops from early experiences, which makes people different from one another. Personality tests are significant tools to determine a person’s personality and in case of limitations that therapists can address. For example, a person can have problematic behaviors or personality due to early childhood negative experiences, such as child abuse. Thus, psychology should focus on helping affected individuals to overcome problematic behaviors and develop a positive personality. The chapter includes essential information that can help a professional understand different personalities and interact with different people. A professional should also learn to use personality tests, such as the Five-factor model (FFM), to identify the primary characteristics, which define personality differences. The knowledge is necessary and useful in various settings, such as education and the workplace, since personality differences affect personality outcomes in all settings. I will use the chapter’s knowledge to create interventions to help individuals with personality issues overcome them and succeed in their education or work.
Chapter 12 & Title: Social Psychology
Social psychology is one of the concepts that are interesting and appealing to chapter 12. The concept refers to the study of how people think and behave when they are interacting with others. Social norms are another important concept that relates to rules that define acceptable behaviors for members of a social group. Regardless of the expected behavior norms in social situations, people do not always follow them, which creates negative social outcomes and other concepts, such as stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. Another critical concept is groupthink, which is a kind of flawed decision-making. I find the information necessary in my career since it will help to determine how people are likely to behave in social situations, both negatively and positively. The knowledge will help me provide support and interventions in individual problems, such as social anxiety, and groups, such as in family therapy. Social psychology is valuable in my career since many issues that affect people are social in nature, such as social anxiety and the effects of stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. The ideas will help me when creating interventions to help individuals and groups facing psychological and behavioral problems. The interventions will help individuals, including children, to overcome issues that might affect their educational outcomes.
Part 2: Virtual Meeting Activities
Meeting/Topic: Cognitive Development
The cognitive development meeting focused on Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development. During the activity, we completed a worksheet while going through Dr. Bianchi’s posted PowerPoint slides. We also watched videos embedded in the slides, which helped a lot in completing the assignment. The worksheet had six questions, describing how an infant in the Sensorimotor Stage, the characteristics associated with the Preoperational Stage, how an individual in the Concrete Operations Stage, characteristics of the Formal Operations Stage, criticisms against Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development, and examples of how the impact of the knowledge of Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development. The information played a key role in understanding one of the theories that underlie developmental psychology.
Meeting/Topic: Assignment
Meeting 6 was also exciting since it was an assignment to test the current knowledge developed during the course. The assignment was an essay on social psychology, defined as the scientific study of how people construct thoughts, feelings, beliefs, intentions, and goals within the social context. The assignment revealed the impact of the social environment on human psychological functioning and how socialization affects human behavior. Another concept that emerged in the assignment was conformity, which suggests the tendency to adjust an individual’s behavior due to social pressure. The project was included a description of the obedience study, which revealed how people tend to follow the rules from authority without questioning. Another relevant study was the Stanford prison study, which described the influence of roles when people are placed in a specific position, such as the prison. Overall, the assignment focused on the power of social influences on people’s behavior. The social environment affects individuals’ behavioral outcomes since birth, meaning that experts can change behavior through social environment modification.
Part 3: Course Synopsis/Overview
PSY 150 this semester has taught me critical lessons that I can use in my future career and when interacting with others. I have learned the importance of the social environment in the psychological and personality development of individuals. Therefore, to help children develop positively without emotional or behavioral problems, adults should be careful about their social environment. For example, a child who is neglected early in life is most likely to develop personality and behavioral problems, indicating the need to develop positive attachment since birth. The course has also helped me learn about the need for effective interventions to help individuals with negative psychological issues overcome them and develop positively. Psychologists should accommodate children with psychological problems to help them to overcome them and develop positively. Every child can develop positively with a safe and conducive environment. The lessons are necessary presently and in the future, as I study more about psychological development and social psychology.
Understanding behavior and mental processes is useful in my area of study since I want to focus on interventions for mental and behavioral issues that affect positive development. I intend to design and implement interventions to help children at the risk of negative psychological and behavioral items due to negative experiences early in life. For example, I would like to help children who have experienced child abuse or neglect to overcome the negative outcomes and develop well. The interventions are also necessary to protect them from negative outcomes in the future, such as their education performance and future prospects. Therefore, lessons from the course will help prepare for my future career and intervene to help individuals develop positively.
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