Self-assessment

I really haven’t noticed how fast this term came to an end. We had a lot of work to do during this semester but I think it was the most exciting and informative of all elapsed semesters we had. Also, I believe I have achieved some good results and I will try to assess them here.
Writing a summary. It still remains one of the most difficult tasks, indeed. But I think I have improved myself in writing it. Even though, it is still hard to summarize text in a good manner, but I make fewer mistakes than I used to do it before.
Performance in ESP vocabulary tests. It wasn’t hard though. The modules were quite easy to read and I believe this was so because of two reasons. Firstly, we have gained some knowledge from our previous studies and it helped us to understand psychological text better. Secondly, we got used to read modules frequently. It is important to understand the text if we want to achieve some good results in vocabulary tests.
Performance in class dictations. My performance in it was the same as during the previous semesters. It is still one of the easiest tasks to do for me and I don’t make many mistakes in it.
Listening practice in class. It is very difficult to assess a performance in that kind of practice. Because every time I do this task in a very different way. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I don’t. It depends on many things: tiredness, rate of speaking, attention and etc.
Listening to peers’ power point presentations. It is always good to listen to presentations made by peers. The themes they choose are really interesting and we can revise old information by listening to it. Also, we can ask some questions and have a discussion.
Making power point presentations. I have done this part quite successfully. I received a lot of questions and gained some good new information while preparing it.
Short talks on ESP themes in class. It was one of the most interesting things we have done. I like to express myself in English and to listen to others, so it wasn’t a difficult task. Also, it is good because it is improving our speaking skills which are very important in learning foreign language.
I believe, I have fulfilled all the requirements quite successfully and hopefully will pass my English exams.

Picture references: http://dive2blue.deviantart.com/art/Swim-28608892

"Your True Colours" Summary

Not many people are aware of how and in what ways colours affect their minds. Still, many organizations influence their customers by using different colours every day.
Researcher John Ott has discovered that colour may affect peoples’ nervous systems and direct them to act in some particular way. This idea was strengthened by the experiment which showed that red surroundings raise blood pleasure and blue surroundings lower it. It was proved that colours do have an influence even to human organism. Moreover, red evokes subjective reactions of increased energy and hunger, while blue evokes relaxation.
The marketing world is highly aware of consumers’ reaction to colours. That is why they dye products which produce appetising. Furthermore, as well as making people hungry, red influence people to feel in a hurry and for that reason many restaurants dye their surroundings in this colour.
On the other hand, there are some cultural differences. It is known, that people from different countries prefer different colour of products. While the British are likely to pick green apple to the Americans’ red.
To sum up, colours influence people in many different ways. Even though, people can make this to work as an advantage.

Picture references: http://meendee.deviantart.com/art/Colour-Wheel-25599665

Self-assessment of Podcasting Skills

The title of the 1st podcast: “Psychology of driving”
The title of the 2nd podcast: “Impact of cat’s purring on their owners”

Online listening practice was new experience to me and both podcast’s topics were really interesting.
It wasn’t very difficult task to do. Even though, text was read in authentic speech I managed to understand it quite good. The rate of speaking was on average and it is a very proper rate for me.
I hadn’t got any problems with the first online listening “Psychology of Driving”, so I listened to it once. Although, the second podcast “Impact of cat’s purring on their owners” was shorter, but much more difficult. Its’ speech was really inarticulate and difficult to understand. For this reason I had to listen it twice.
Speaking about the usefulness of exercises, I believe the most valuable are open-ended questions and multiple choice tasks. It demands a lot of thinking and brainwork.
I believe I would be able to pass a listening exam paper. But to do it better, I should take some practice. I could improve my listening skills by watching English films and listening to podcasts as often as possible. However, I think that the best way to improve language skills is to talk to native speakers.

References:
http://martinmcmorrow.podomatic.com/entry/2008-10-19T23_19_32-07_00
http://martinmcmorrow.podomatic.com/entry/2009-07-15T18_13_22-07_00

http://lovelawlessly.deviantart.com/art/Kitten-Smitten-47263698

Back to University

Picture References: http://vladstudio.deviantart.com/art/The-Tree-of-Books-62984523

Comparison Between MRU and Universities Abroad

I will compare MRU (Mykolas Romeris University), where I study psychology, with University of California Berkeley School of Psychology and Chinese University of Hong Kong Psychology department. It was an interesting task to do, because I found out what things students learn and other information about psychology studies abroad.

To my mind, there are many differences between MRU and University of California Berkeley School of Psychology. Firstly, they have a combined program in clinical, counseling and school psychology. Students are studying more about psychological and educational assets and needs of children and youth then we do. Secondly, as they have laboratories, they do many researches and study more about school problems. Moreover, their graduates are able to design appropriate school programs for all children who are at-risk for school failure and they are prepared to assume leadership roles as school psychologists, researches and university educators.

I should say, I was quite surprised, when I read about Chinese University of Hong Kong Psychology department, because they have a very similar program. They study about personality, Introduction to psychology and Statistics like we do. However, they have some other interesting lectures: Social psychology, Psychology of stress, Health psychology and even Human factors psychology. One of the advantages is that students can choose in what area they would like to specialize. They are given a chance to decide what interests them the most and to study the exact program. They can choose whether to study Cognitive science, Education and Human development, Psychology and health or Social and industrial-organizational psychology.

The main difference between MRU and Universities abroad is that we study more about general psychology, while others have more concrete program. It is a good thing, when you know, what branch of this science you want to study, but if not, then it becomes a problem. Also, it is hard to decide, what University is the best, but the University of Hong Kong has interested me a lot, as they have some very interesting lectures.References: http://www-gse.berkeley.edu/program/sp/sp.htmlhttp://www.psy.cuhk.edu.hk/en/course/index.htmlPicture references: http://dabro.deviantart.com/art/Glasgow-University-Arches-15748816

End-of-Term Self-Assessment

Although, this term has flown away very quickly, but I believe I have achieved better results than before.
Writing a summary. I have written all the summaries and I have noticed that the same mistakes occur in most of them. I have looked through my mistakes and tried to memorized them. Even though, I believe now I am better at writing it, but still it remains the most difficult task.
Performance in ESP vocabulary tests. In my opinion, vocabulary tests were more difficult then before. One of the reasons could be that the modules were more difficult and sometimes we had to write tests from two of the modules at once and it was hard to memorize all definitions in English.
Performance in class dictations. We have written only one dictation and I have performed quite well in it. There were some difficulties with the endings of the words and double letters, but I managed to write most of the sentences correctly.
Listening practice in class. During this term we have done some listening practice and I have performed well in most of them. I find it quite easy to understand the main idea of the discussion or a dialog discussed by speakers. But sometimes it becomes hard to listen when someone is speaking with an accent or very fast.
Listening to peers’ power point presentations. Like most of us, I liked this part the most. It is interesting to listen to presentations made by my colleagues, because they select the most interesting things of their topics, we can ask questions and also, it is good to revise modules once again.
Making power point presentations. I still haven’t made a presentation, because this term was really hard and I had many things to do. I hope, I will manage to do it as soon as possible.
Short talks on ESP themes in class. I believe, speaking on themes in class is the best way to improve the English habits. We can not only speak in front of the class but also say our opinions, ask questions and discuss them. It was one of the most interesting parts and it had provided me the ability to say my thoughts more fluently.
All in all, I think that this term was more difficult but interesting. I have improved both: my speaking and writing habits.

Phobias: Musophobia and Nyctophobia

Phobia is a persistent and irrational fear of a particular type of object, animal, activity, or situation.
Musophobia. Musophobia is a fear of mice and rats. The reason for this fear could appear because of the person’s past traumatic experience with mouse or rat. Examples of this could be having a house or room invaded by them, finding them eating food, being surprised when they jump from a trash can, touching them while getting up as they run from under furniture, smelling them or getting sick from them.
The symptoms of Musophobia vary by person depending on the level of fear. They typically include extreme anxiety, dread and anything associated with panic, such as shortness of breath, rapid breathing, irregular heartbeat, sweating, nausea, inability to articulate words or sentences, dry mouth and shaking. These symptoms can occur just by seeing them on TV or in a room, while someone is joking about them, or smelling them. However, everyone experiences their fears in different ways, such as screaming, running to different rooms, or getting to higher ground.
Even though, there is some medicine for this fear, but they do not cure Musophobia. Medicine can provide a temporary effect. This fear should be treated by counselling, hypnotherapy, psychotherapy and Neuro-Linguistic programming.
Nyctophobia. Rational fear of the dark is good for us, which can produce caution and alertness for the natural danger of darkness. But this fear becomes as a phobia, called Nyctophobia, when a person feels an extreme and irrational anxiety response to darkness even if he knows he is safe, like in his bedroom. However, Nyctophobia is more commonly problem in childhood, because of a little experience. While in adults it can occur because person has not faced that fear before or for some bad darkness experiences in the past.
Symptoms typically include nausea, sweatiness, disorientation, loss of control and even panic attacks. Treatment with anxiety medication is often recommended for cases when frequent panic attacks and lose of sleep occur. However, medicine should be accompanied by psychological therapy. Sometimes a night-lamp can help. Many people have this phobia and even Indian Nationslist Mahatma Gandhi also suffered from it.
References: http://www.musophobia.com/phobia.htm
http://www.way2hope.org/Illnesses/nyctophobia-fear-dark.htm
Picture references: http://anelu.deviantart.com/art/Mouse-99573518

Richard Wiseman's experiments

Richard Wiseman is a psychology Professor at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. He is a very active scientist and has carried out many unusual researches in different areas of psychology.
Professor has gained a considerable reputation for his interesting and urgent topics of researches. He has analyzed many different fields, like luck, deception, humour and the paranormal. Some of this works is widely discussed till today. Moreover, he has written eight books, including the best-selling “The Luck Factor” and “Did You Spot the Gorilla?”. Recently his new work “Quirkology” has appeared in bookshops, where the curious psychology of everyday life is examined.
Richard Wiseman is known as an effective and entertaining speaker at public events. In addition to this, he hosts the popular telecast called “The People Watchers”. It examines various problems that we face every day and gives solutions to them.
Prof. Wiseman is known for his works at psychology science. Not only he has gained popularity in different countries, but also his researches have been featured on over 150 television programmes.
References: http://www.richardwiseman.com/

Learning Languages

I believe, learning languages is one of the most difficult task to do. Even though, teacher plays an important role in this process, but students must make some effort to achieve good results.
There are several ways how teacher can help students to learn language. The most important of which is to give plenty of practice in speaking and to get students to work in pairs or groups. When students work in groups, they can communicate with others fluently and if they don't know a word, they can ask their friends to remind it. Also, practice in different types of writing tasks and pronunciation correction is essential when we start to learn new language.
Speaking about me, I have some learning habits. I improve my foreign language by reading newspapers or magazines and guessing unknown words. As I read, I understand the word from the context and then I can see in which ways it can be used. Also, it is important to ask questions in class because it can be hard to understand foreign language things by your own.
Some people make mistakes in learning languages. The most common mistake is when they translate text from their own language to another. It is bad, because different languages have different grammar and the structure of sentence can be not the same. Also, it is wrong to speak in that language only when you are sure that you don't make mistakes. People should try to speak the way they can.
To sum up, there are many good techniques that can help us to learn language. However, we should remember that the achievements in learning mostly depends from us and we should try hard, revise new things at home and to have plenty of practice.

Picture reference: http://mazjo6.deviantart.com/art/learning-a-language-110643351

Summary of Happiness

Runt Veenhored has made a study based on happiness and ninety-five nations from all continents have attended in this research.
That survey is not about how happy people feel personally but about degrees of happiness in particular country. The study contains questions based on happiness using verbal response, such as 'very happy' and 'fairly happy'. The aim is to estimate what degrees of happiness are denoted by such terms in different languages.
In studies of happiness, researchers often combine slightly different questions. As they try to maximize the number of observations they accept some diversity in the studies they include. This causes several problems like: wording of response, language differences, comparability of happiness and so on. Moreover, there are always differences in interpretations of words and some words give rise to more differences than others. The use of such words must be avoided and therefore it is worth knowing which words cause confusion. For example, English respondents differ more in their ratings of the term ‘rather happy’ than of ‘fairly happy’ while the midpoints are the same, future researchers should better avoid the former term.
The results of study is quite impressive, it has shown that the happiest people live in Iceland and Denmark while the least happy are Zimbabwe and Tanzania people.
References: http://worlddatabaseofhappines.eur.nl/hap_nat/nat_fp.php
Picture references: http://louve87.deviantart.com/art/Happiness-77422205