Self- assessment of my achievements

Learning psychology in English class is a very beneficial process. This semester we did a lot of tasks in our English classes. We wrote summaries, we had some listening tasks, we had to make power point presentations also we did Moodle tests, ESP test, on line 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.

Test on ESP definitions

These tests were not easy because there were a lot of complicated definitions. However, I have read all the modules carefully and tried to understand the descriptions. Unfortunately it was difficult to briefly and accurately write definition in my own words, so I tried to memorize the scientific ones. But generally, I am satisfied with results I got, because they were adequate and showed that I am able to learn everything if I put enough efforts in learning.

Moodle tests

We had to do Moodle tests of all modules. This task was new for me. Despite the fact that we can do this work at home, I find this task hard to do. But the great thing about it is that you can check your knowledge and get results immediately.

Online listening practice followed by T/F, Synonym Match and Gap Filling exercises

Listening to natural British language is still quite confusing, because they speak fast and it is difficult to follow the speech, note the essentials and write with no grammar mistakes at the same time. Also there are words that I do not understand. But I think it is important that I am able to catch the everything. Synonym Match was quite difficult, Gap Filling exercises were mostly easy, because I was be able to see all text.

Traditional listening to cassettes/CD's

I think this was one of the hardest task of all. Sometimes it is easy to catch a right answer, but all in all, it is hard for me to hear answer correctly and I must improve my listening skills.

Online exercises from R. Feldman's course book

Online exercises from Feldman's book were not so difficult for me, because I prefer individual job and I can easily concentrate. I don't feel like I have gained anything from doing these exercises. I think it was also a task I was rather good at.  

Online exercises from AP Psychology Review

These exercises depends on topic. I think, that my performance on this task is quite good, but I need to focus more on what I am reading so sometimes I found some troubles on that.

Making Power Point Presentations

Despite all fears of public speaking, making the presentation and showing it during lecture power point presentations were good for me . Honestly, I really enjoyed representing it, because in my mind, I done my best: made good slides, without too much text, only with main points, prepared to speak about this subject properly, mentioned not only main, but also an additional information and, to my surprise, even answered to the questions from audience.

I am very glad with the work I done and of course with the mark I got.

Short talks

This task was quite simple. I feel that I did my best and my speaking has improved. We talk a lot in lectures, but the best way to talk for me is short talks, when I can prepare my talk at home. I think I showed my all potential.

Speaking impromptu in class

This task for me is more acceptable than short talks, but on the other hand I speak aloud, just when I have what to say. May be I had to talk more than I really did.


To sum up, I could say that we have to practice our English in our day life. I tend to think more about the knowledge that I gained during this course and how it would be useful in my future in the psychology studies.

Fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence

While many people claim that their intelligence seems to decline as they age, research suggests that while fluid intelligence begins to decrease after adolescence, crystallized intelligence continues to increase throughout adulthood.

In exploring personal and global transformation, it is important to talk about the concept of fluid intelligence in relation to the ability to grow and expand our awareness. Fluid intelligence has little to do with IQ or "book" intelligence. It is rather the ability to step outside of our beliefs and consider information which does not fit into our previously accepted view of reality.

Our deepest beliefs and conceptions about life and the world are to some degree conditioned by our childhood experiences, our education, the mass media, and various other external influences. An individual's level of fluid intelligence can be determined based on the degree to which he or she is able to let go of previously held conceptions on encountering reliable information or experiences which show these conceptions to be mistaken or overly simplistic.

At the other end of the spectrum from fluid intelligence is static intelligence. If an individual is rarely willing to reconsider or challenge their established beliefs, they are said to have a high degree of static intelligence. They aren't much interested in thinking outside of the box.

There is another type of intelligence- crystallized intelligence. It involves knowledge that comes from prior learning and past experiences. Situations that require crystallized intelligence include reading comprehension and vocabulary exams. This type of intelligence is based upon facts and rooted in experiences. As we age and accumulate new knowledge and understanding, crystallized intelligence becomes stronger.

To sum up, both types of intelligence increase throughout childhood and adolescence. Fluid intelligence peaks in adolescence and begins to decline progressively beginning around age 30 or 40, but crystallized intelligence continues to grow throughout adulthood.

References :

http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/a/fluid-crystal.htm

http://mindforums.com/fluid-and-crystallized-intelligence

A day to remember

When I was a child the world seemed to be a place of joy and happiness to me. There was nothing worth worrying about. Whenever I cried somebody picked me up. When I did not like to sit alone, I was always in somebody's army. I was not born in a rich family. So my mother always looked-after me. I was not kept under the care of a hired nurse.

When I was five years old I was sent to a small but nice kindergarten. Soon I made friends with tow or three girls. Even now I clearly remember faces of my kindergarten friends and teachers. When I was a child  I did not like my kindergarten teacher because sometimes he used to annoy me. In the beginning like most girls, I was interested in my games,  I enjoyed going to kindergarten . We used to play various games each day.

One hot summer day I had gone with some girls to a neighboring village on pool.I did not inform my parents. We decided to swim to an island, that was in the middle of the pool. We started to swim, and suddenly I realized that I was not reaching bottom with my feet. I was really scared , because I wasn't good swimmer enough to reach an island. I started to panic and I was running out of energy. Suddenly I saw a man swimming towards me. From that moment some of my memories are gone. What I remember , was the man holding me on the ground. He saved my life. He was my teacher .From that moment I changed my opinion about my teacher and from then I respect him.

Childhood is free from cares. There are no duties and responsibilities on the shoulders of a child. A child eats drinks, sleeps and plays. When he eats a piece of bread, he does not think from where it comes. His father alone knows that. Even when someone dies in the family, a child is not touched. As child lives in a bliss of ignorance and innocence. The memory of those good days makes me happy.

References:  memories

Psychology of Criticism

Psychology of criticism

Firstly , it is important to understand the concept of criticism. It can be verbal, expressed bu verbs or non- verbal, when it is expressed with the help of some kind of behavior or action. Criticism can be from one person to another when point of view, opinion is criticized, or it can be impersonal when some organization, company's policies or views are criticized.  

In the privacy of our hearts, there are only two possible ways to receive criticism: badly or worse. What is criticism? Criticism is the practice of judging the value and faults of something or someone in an intelligible or articulate way.

To criticize does not always means "to find fault", but the word is often taken to mean the simple expression of an objection against harm, or a disapproval. Often criticism involves active disagreement, but it may only mean "taking sides". It could just be an exploration of the different sides of an issue.

Criticism can be used everywhere these days: At home, public places and even in your workplace. People like criticizing each other at work, like one colleague another or senior specialist some junior one. Often we learn to ice over those injured feelings with a smile. And in the space between that private wince and the public smile there is something to be gained. It's called professional growth—if you can get yourself there.

Criticism at home is one of the those that hurts best. Sometimes we rudely criticize our room mates or family members when there is no point of doing that, and later apologize or regret for that. Rude and spontaneous criticism can cause domestic argument, quarrel, disappointment, discomfort. We have to be very careful about the words we use to criticize our partner or a flatmate.

What concerns criticism it is often presented as something unpleasant, but it needs not be. It could be friendly criticism, friendly discussed, and some people find great pleasure in criticism ("keeping people sharp", "providing the critical edge"). Friendly criticism helps to develop personality in several ways: it can result in gaining more knowledge, being more careful, avoiding bad habits, changing life style, improving behavior and manners.

Another meaning of criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature, art work, film, and social trends (see the article links below). The goal of this type of criticism is to understand the possible meanings of cultural phenomena, and the context in which they take shape. In doing so, the attempt is often made to evaluate how cultural productions relate to other cultural productions, and what their place is within a particular genre, or a particular cultural tradition.

All in all criticism can cause harm as well as good things. Criticism can hurt or offend people. Getting negative feedback never feels good, but you can learn to use it to your own advantage. Besides, it's usually a sign that you're moving forward, moving up and gaining something valuable.

References

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200607/criticism-taking-the-hit

http://www.psychoid.net/an-overview-of-criticisms-of-psychology.html

Psychology of a learner

Psychology of a learner

Firstly , when speaking about learning and learner's psychology we have to understand what is meant by learning process and what part a learner plays in it.Learning is a process of gaining or modifying new or existing knowledge, skills, values or behaviors and ,of course, different types of information. People, animals and even some machines have the ability to learn. As we are talking about people we have to mention that learning is a complicated process and does not happen at once, but is built step by step and shaped on the knowledge you have already got.Learner is a person who participates in this process, puts his/her efforts to learn, has motivation, aims to learn,tries to achieve personal development. A learner is educated, trained at school, university or learns by himself using different information sources. A learner gains knowledge, fixes it, memorizes and later puts it in practice and builds practical skills.

Learner's psychology has been developed throughout (per)centuries and a lot of research has been done.There have been established learner- centered psychological principles. These principles are based on what learner undergoes in learning process in real world situations. There are 14 principles.They are understood like an organized group not individual principles . The 14 principles are divided into cognitive and metacognitive, motivational and effective, developmental and social. They are all connected and affect learners, teachers,administration, community workers,parents- all people involved in learning and teaching process.

A successful learner has to create goals for learning, aims for achieving something in life.I think this principle is very important as, we learners, have set our goals, know what speciality we want to have in life and this motivates us to learn.Moreover, short-term goals have to be set.For example, in my first year I have to learn this and this, in my first semester I have to know this and this.Linking new information to existing is also very important.If new knowledge is not integrated into existing it becomes isolated and cannot be used effectively in new tasks.In order to go forward in learning process, fresh and new knowledge must be added to existing already.Moreover, a successful learner must know strategies how to learn- he/she selects or chooses strategies.It could be to repeat, to observe, to check what you learnt already,to get feedback.

Also, there are mental operations like critical thinking, creative thinking that are important in learning process.We all think that thinking is natural processes for us and it is our nature to do so.But critical thinking is an art to evaluate and analyze thinking with the view of improving it. A critical thinker gathers and assesses information, puts relevant, clear questions,comes to well- reasoned conclusions and solutions, communicates effectively. Creative thinking is mostly developed in brain storming situations.

Learning process is held in environment, community,classroom, like groups of students. Learning is also affected by modern technologies,culture. For example, learning in a multicultural group of students you can know more on different backgrounds, you need tolerance to put up with some cultural and behavioral differences.Besides , a learner has to be curious to know and it increases motivation. Curiosity is a need for cognition. Curiosity is connected with personal interests, choice of profession, goals and aims in life. Curiosity helps to know , to learn and it requires put some efforts too. If a person is curious to know it is necessary to put some efforts to achieve it.Putting effort is commitment to learn, our personal determination what to learn and using proper learning strategies to achieve it.

When learning we develop social skills. We put our physical, intellectual, emotional strengths, develop our social factors.We are affected by schooling, home,culture and other environment we are learning in. We are learning among other students with different abilities and skills.We also communicate with others, interact, collaborate, do various tasks together , work in pairs and groups.The best place to learn is in positive and friendly environment where we can develop respect to each other, self-respect, tolerance to different opinions, beliefs. We also develop our relationship, provide support to each other, understanding, help, trust and stability.When learning we share ideas, actively participate in learning process, create our learning community. This is how we become socially active people. However, we are all different individuals and sometimes it is difficult to communicate in learning process. Our social background, religion, beliefs, cultural differences have to be taken into account as well and usually our teachers, professors help us to develop positive social learning environment.We have to remember , that every learning step has to be checked, tested. Without checking what we have learnt there is no progress.The knowledge assessment is an ongoing process in learning- from time to time we write tests,show our results, present our tasks done.We learn from our mistakes and know the progress results. Therefore, we can make decisions what to learn more, what to know better, where our weak points are.

To sum up, a learner has to undergo all mentioned psychological principles in order to learn effectively. Learning is not a day's process it is a long life hard work that brings positive results and satisfaction after we put lots of our effort.

References

http://www.cdl.org/resource-library/articles/learner_centered.php

http://www.jodypaul.com/lct/LCT.PsychPrinc.html

http://people.howstuffworks.com/elearning2.htm

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My psychology studies at Mykolas Romeris University and studies in Anglia Ruskin University

Today I am going to compare two famous universities Mykolas Romeris University and a worldwide known Anglia Ruskin University. From the geographical point of view the first one is located in Vilnius, Lithuania whereas the other one is situated in Cambridge, United Kingdom.Both universities have many similarities and differences that I am going to reveal.

  To start with the University of Law was renamed to the Mykolas Romeris University in 2004,when the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania approved a certain resolution.The University is named after Romer who was a famous Lithuanian lawyer ,scientist and politician.To compare with, Anglia Ruskin University gained its status in 1992, and was named in 2005 after John Ruskin.Prior it was called Angia Polytechnics University that developed from art school ,which was established in 1858. Moreover, Mykolas Romeris University has nearly 22.000 students, whereas Anglia Ruskin University student population is about 31.000 and it is one of the largest in the East of England.Anglia Ruskin University has campuses in Cambridge, Chelmsford, Peterborough, Harlow and Mykolas Romeris University campuses are located in Vilnius and Kaunas.What is more, Anglia Ruskin University has three major faculties: the faculty of science and technology, the faculty of health and education and the faculty of arts and social sciences,each of them has many departments. Mykolas Romeris University has seven faculties : economics, politics, law, social policy, social informatics, public security and informatics.

There are some similiarities between these two Universities. They both are quite young, having modern buildings, the latest equipment. They both have international students, participate in student exchange programmes, have modern libraries, develop research activities. What is important, they both prepare motivated, enthusiastic, qualified specialists , develop their intellect and personality. Both universities provide their best students with free of charge studies, others have to pay tuition fees. In Mykolas Romeris University the tuition fee is 2.700Lt per semester while in Anglia Ruskin tuition fee is about 3000 pounds.

Comparing psychology departments Anglia Ruskin University has very good quality psychology studies as well as Mykolas Romeris University. Furthermore , Anglia Ruskin University was recognised for its outstanding performance in the 2008 UK Research Assessment Exercise, making it the UK’s top-rated Psychology department.

To sum up, from my personal experience I can say that Anglia Ruskin University has better facilities and student accommodation,but looking from the point of view of the quality of studies both universities have good results and create proper conditions for their students to study. Of course,career opportunities are better in UK, but I prefer to study and live in my native country.

References
http://www.anglia.ac.uk/ruskin/en/home.html
http://www.mruni.eu/en/