SELF-ASSESSMENT OF SUCCESS IN LEARNING ESP

Every semester we write summaries of self-assessment as we need critically evaluate our knowledge and achievements in English.
WRITING A SUMMARY. This task is a little bit complicated for me. Despite of the fact that we are practicing at this, I still have some difficulties to write good restatement summary. The main mistakes remain the same in my summaries: some grammar mistakes and content mistakes as well, which involve not appropriate length of the text, too many details instead of concentration on the main facts. So I need to extract the main ideas of a text, consider every sentence in my summary and accurately check every word if I want to write a good summary.
WRITING COMPREHENSION TESTS ON MODULES IN PSYCHOLOGY. This semester tests were different as we were get used to learn definitions and write them. These tests required more efforts and comprehension skills as they included multiple choice questions and applying of learnt definitions in the sentence. The latter one I found the most difficult, because I am not sure I could find the right sentence for each definition.
MAKING POWER POINT PRESENTATIONS. This task is very interesting for me, because I can learn something new and present this to other people. In fact, this semester I was not able to concentrate on this task and prepare to it very well as we had very busy and complicated subjects requiring a lot of time and studies.
IMPROMPTU SPEAKING IN CLASS. I tried to improve my speaking skills this semester. Maybe the result could be better. I am still afraid about my mistakes and pronunciation, so I do not get used to express my ideas impromptu.
PERFORMANCE IN LISTENING PRACTICE. This semester we had quite a lot of practice in this field and I appreciate this, because it was very necessary for improvement of my listening skills. But assessing my skills critically, I know that I need to expand my vocabulary in order to understand everything and also I must to improve my writing skills concerning grammar that I could write down what I hear correctly.
WRITING CONTRIBUTIONS TO E-PORTFOLIO (WEBLOG). Writing contributions is very interesting task for me, because it develops my creativity. Unfortunately, I had not enough time for this task this semester as it was very busy and complicated. So I need to renew my weblog with new articles, photos that my friends, family members or all people using internet could look at it and maybe find something interesting, new and unexpected about psychology.
To sum up, I had some challenges about my English this semester, but this helped to improve some skills. I know some fields as speaking, listening require more efforts, time and further learning.

Self – assessment of podcasting skills

Online listening to podcasts was new challenge for me because we have never done such a task before. I selected two podcasts from the given list: the fist one “Treatment of teenage depression” and the second one “Sleep and memory”.

After listening to both podcasts some remarks concerning self-assessment can be done.

The rate of speaking was average with some moments of quite fast rate of speech. So it was not so difficult to listen to, and three times for each podcast was enough. I noticed that listening to the second podcast was easier because I got some practice during the first one.

Speaking about the exercises I had to do after listening, open-ended questions were more difficult to answer, comparing to exercises of multiple choice. Open – ended questions required more time because I had to consider the answer accurately. Multiple choice questions are more common in listening tasks, so I needed just to overlook the possible answers and to choose the right one.

Listening to the authentic speech I found difficult as my listening skills are just satisfactory, not very good. This fact is the reason I do not think I would be able to pass a listening exam paper today or next week. I need more preparation and listening practice in order to do this.

In my opinion, there are some useful ways for improvement of my listening skills. Firs of all, I need to listen to podcasts as often as possible. Secondly, listening tasks in class are also very important. Finally, I should watch English films or English TV channels in my spare time.

In conclusion, this new listening task was interesting and useful for improvement of my listening skills. It is good method of preparation for English exam paper as well.

Phobias

Everyone is afraid of something—being alone in the dark, mouses or speaking public utterance. Unfortunately, some people have unreasonable fears which influence their daily lives. These people have phobias. A phobia is an intense, unrealistic fear, which can interfere with the ability to socialize, work, or go about everyday life, event or situation. There are various kinds of phobias and several of them are agoraphobia, algophobia.

Agoraphobia is the intense fear of feeling trapped and having a panic attack in a public place. The initial reason for the development of agoraphobia is an episode of spontaneous panic. After first panic attack, the person becomes afraid of experiencing a second one. So, it becomes more difficult because person feels fear of his fear and worries about when and where the next attack may occur. Eventually the person completely avoids public places or situations in which the panic attack can occur. Lastly, person who has agoraphobia stays at home all the time because of the fear of experiencing a panic attack. Regrettably, this phobia have about 3% people of the population.

The other phobia is algophobia. Algophobia is the fear of pain. Algophobics have strong and persistent fear of pain. The fear of pain may cause a person to have anxiety attacks. It can also cause a person to get very upset and lose control. Patients often report feeling intense pains when only the slightest amount of pressure is applied. Algophobia may cause people to cry or even self destruct.

There are treatment options for people who suffer from phobias. Some are treated with anti anxiety medicine. Other patients are treated with therapy. There are some patients that are treated with both treatment options. Some people have even used hypnosis as a treatment.

Interesting fact is that Stalin had phobia of poisoning. He was afraid that someone could poison him and always ordered to check all his food.

In conclusion, phobias are very difficult psychological problems and they have to be treatable because person suffer from this kind of problem and can not live normal life.

Learning languages

Learning languages is very important in our world today. Many cultures in the world are blending especially with the growth of the internet and travel industries. Let's face it, we are interacting more with people of different languages now than ever before. So learning foreign language is useful and ordinary thing. There are various methods of learning other language.
Firstly, teacher is really influential in the learning process. There are a lot of possible ways to help learning language. The most important way in my opinion is setting regular homework, because it helps to remember known information and get a lot of new knowledge. Second one is getting students to work in pairs or groups. It helps to express your opinion with other and better understand themes. Working through past examination papers is also very useful.
Absolutely, you must attempt if you want to learn language and find the way which is the most suitable for you. There are some unhelpful in the long run and some very good language learning habits. For instance, translate every unknown word as you read. Sometimes it is helpful but in the long run it can become useless, because in some situations you can’t look it up in the dictionary - you must understand text from the context. Nevertheless, guess unknown words as you read is also not so advantageous in all situations. Both habits are useful just in some cases. Also, only speaking in class when you are sure you won’t make a mistake is really bad habit. We are learning from our mistakes.
Moreover, there a lot of good learning habits. Very useful habit is to keep a vocabulary notebook and revise new vocabulary regularly. You must do this in order to develop your vocabulary. There are some more important habits. For example, reading newspapers or magazines outside class, watching films, TV shows in other language, speaking only foreign language in class. The last one is very influential, because you get good practice in speaking and this will be very helpful for talking with native speakers.
In conclusion, everyone uses some established methods in order to learn foreign language. But also we develop our own learning habits and skills, which are the most suitable for us and helps us to learn language as good as possible.

Professor Richard Wiseman’s experiments

Professor Richard Wiseman is very famous and licensed psychologist. Professor Wiseman has established international authority and reputation for his research into unusual areas of psychology, including deception, luck and the paranormal. Prof Wiseman’s research has been featured on over 150 television programmes.

One of his television shows is “The People Watchers”. This BBC programme is made by Professor Richard Wiseman and his team. This team comprises of members: Sara Clarke, psychologist; Dr Jack Lewis, neuroscientist; Emma Kenny, psychologist. There are a lot of experiments concerning human behaviour done by this team.

One of experiments is made by Jack Lewis. He tries to show that people like you more when they help to you. There was a situation then the girl helped Jack twice in a few minutes and did his job. After this Richard Wiseman’s team asked her what she thought about Jack. The girl’s answer was surprising: in her opinion Jack was very helpful man. In conclusion, the more you be asked the more you are liked.

Second experiment was made by Emma Kenny. Emma watched what kind of notes were the most suitable for keeping her clients out side the door: a small printed, a large printed or hand written notes. The answer was the hand written notes. For instance, one woman did not want to go inside because note was so informal.

There are more interesting experiments. For example, one experiment shows that people are more likely to help women not for man. One of the girl asked people to use their mobile and most of people gave her to call. Than Jack asked people to help they did not want to help him and did not trust him.

Professor Richard Wiseman is exciting person and deserved in psychology. He did various experiments which are very interesting and useful to read or watch for development of your knowledge in psychology.

Studies of psychology in diffrent universities

       Psychology is very important subject suggested by many universities all over the world. It is worth to compare our university to some other universities in the field of psychology in order to find out some similarities and differences. 

       Firstly, my object of comparison is the Psychology programmes in The American University in Cairo with studies in our university. Unfortunately, I have found just programme of the first course of The American University. So, I am comparing just subjects of the first year studies. As we all know, we need to have forty credits then we finish our first course and the similar amount of credits is required in the American University- there you have to have about thirty-six credits. The strange fact is that all subjects have three credits there and in our university every subject has different number of credits. Some subjects are the same as in our university, for instance, Theories of Personality, Introduction to Psychology. There are some objects which would engage me in the American university, for example, Social Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Psychological Testing and Assessment, but I hope we will have these objects later. There is also Lifespan Development in this university but I think that it is very similar to Positive Thinking that we have possibility to learn in our university. 

        My second case of comparing includes our university and the University of Leeds which is one of the best universities in UK. According to information I have found about the course of psychology in this university I am considering the aspect of all studies of psychology in both universities. The period of studies is different: you have to study psychology for four years in Lithuania and the studies are shorter -three years in UK. On the other hand, the number of credits you have to get during every year of studies is the same: forty credits, 20 per semester. The system of choosing and learning the subjects of psychology during years of studies is quite different. You are required to attend fixed amount of compulsory subjects and you can freely choose some elective subjects according to your interest during every semester in our university. On contrary, you get a list of compulsory subjects for all three years in the University of Leeds and you can make your own individual schedule of studies. In fact, statistics and use of statistical packages is offered to cover at the start of the first semester and original research project, which is worth 40 credits, is recommended to complete during the last year of studies in this university. It is interesting that other subjects have the same amount of credits -10 there and the amount of credits for every subject is different in our university. Also I noticed that students have quite smaller number of subjects during all studies in UK, but they are deeply studying compulsory subjects. I think the areas covered by different subjects are very similar in both universities: cognition, emotion, motivation, visual perception and language, developmental psychology & individual differences, neuropsychology, learning & motivation, social psychology and so on. It was very interesting for me to find out that University of Leeds strongly encourages to attend the programme of Research Seminars, featuring world-leading researchers summarising their recent, often ground-breaking work.

        In the first case I was comparing the programmes of short period of studies in two different universities and found out that the subjects of studying are quite similar. The second case of comparison showed more differences especially in the system of studies. In conclusion, I think that the programme of our university is very good and comprehensive comparing to other universities. 

References:

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/

http://catalog.aucegypt.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=11&poid=1146&bc=1

Happiness

Happiness is very relevant and important feeling. There are a lot of books, articles about it nowadays.
According to psychological researchers, happiness is life experience marked by a preponderance of positive emotion. In my opinion, every person has this feeling inside.

Firstly, people have their biological instincts. We must satisfy our instincts (such as eating, drinking, sleeping and so on), because we can’t think about psychic things without this. 

Secondly, we are a part of society. So, we need communication and close relationships with other people, otherwise we feel inadequate and lonely, we can’t realize ourselves. Of course, money and comfortable life is also significant, but it is important not for all people - it depends on our personal qualities. 

Thirdly, positive mind has great influence on our feeling happy. For example, if a person has some problems, he can feel happy and satisfied if he thinks positively and sees good sides of life. Thought is very powerful: if we believe that our life is terrible, it really becomes terrible. 

In conclusion, almost everything is in our hands, our mind and feelings. So, in my opinion happiness is very individual feeling and every person must find its own way to be happy.  

Restatement summary “The mystery of memory”

Memory is the field of interest and research for a long time. 

Firstly psychologists made distinction between short-term and long-term of memory: information we remember jus for a short time and information which is not lost and stored for a long period of time.

There are many different kinds of memory. There is procedural and declarative memory. Procedural memory is about how we must do a lot of things and use it. Declarative memory is about how we recognize things. Also the difference between recognition and recall is pointed out. Experiments prove this difference. Also we have photographic memory based on tastes, smells or colours in the period of childhood. Memories are made in the way of creating new patterns of connections, consisting of nerve cells. Information we need to remember something is stored in different regions of the brain. 

The memory remains interesting and mysterious, because nowadays neuroscientists are still doing research how these regions and processes are connected and capable to give information called memory.

Francesca Steele I have nomophobia: fear of being without a mobile Summary

A mobile phone is very important and necessary communicative means in the 21st century. A lot of people do not imagine their life without mobile phone, feel stress then do not have it with themselves, so they have nomophobia. Nomophobia is the fear of being out of mobile phone contact. Francesca Steele has performed an experiment about this fear. Francesca Steele decided to live a week without a mobile phone.

 Primarily, she turned off her mobile phone. She felt confused and stressed because she was thinking about it all the time and wanted check her phone on the first day. All week turned out to be a total disaster. Francesca missed trains, she was constantly late on appointments. She could not even meet up with her friends.

On the other hand, this experiment had some positive sides. Francesca spoke with her parents on a landline and chatting on the landline was certainly more relaxing and focused. 

In conclusion, Francesca Steele understood that without mobile phone she could not live her normal and full-rate life. So, she accepts that she has nomophobia and promises to keep her mobile phone always near and never turn it off. 

Analytical summary

Sleep and Dreams

"Sleep and dreams" is the 14th module in Robert S. Feldman's course book "Understanding Psychology". You can get very useful information about sleep and dreams in this module. For instance, we get to know more about different stages of sleep, sleep disturbances, theories of dreams.

Firstly, author sets out four stages of sleep and explains that every of them are necessary for us. The writer broadly describes REM stage. Furthermore, we can deepen one’s knowledge about the importance of sleep and how much sleep is absolutely required.

Secondly, we are introduced with mysterious subject– dreams and meaning of them. Moreover, author represents three major theories, which are very important for the meaning of dreaming. Also, we can read about sleep disturbances. Besides, Robert S. Feldman supplies various tasks and questions for recap. So, we have a possibility to remember all information perfectly.  

In conclusion, the writer gives various and exciting information about sleep and dreams. This knowledge has importance for us – future psychologists.

Psychology of success

Success in general refers to the state or condition of meeting a desirable or intended objective. It may be viewed as the opposite of failure. The criteria for success are heavily dependent on context of use, and may be relative to a particular observer or belief system. There a lot of ways of thinking about success and explaining it. 

Sometimes success seems to be casual. There are such people who are lucky whatever they do. We call them lucky beggars, because they are successful without any attempts and they always avoid troubles.  

But on the other hand, having in mind that people can develop their thoughts and actions seeking for positive goals, so success is no accident. It is a skill, which that can be learned by anyone, at any stage of the game. 

Most of all I personally liked the opinion of psychologists C. Dwerk, which she developed in his book “Mindset: the New Psychology of Success. The main idea she introduces is that people either exercise a growth mindset or a fixed mindset and this determine the success. 
Those with a fixed mindset believe their talents and abilities cannot be improved through any means. They feel that they are born with a certain amount of talent and typically do not wish to challenge their abilities because of possible failure. Challenges are frequently viewed with negativity, instead of as a personal growth opportunity. So success in this way is casual and doesn’ depend on person.  

People that practice a growth mindset believe intelligence, talents, and abilities can be developed over time. They believe abilities, such as athleticism and mathematical capabilities, can be improved through hard work and persistence. Often, people of the growth mindset do not fear failure; instead, they choose to see failure as an opportunity for personal growth. So this group of people believe that they can reach success themselves if they want and develop their personal skills. 

Summing up what was said about success, it can be various attitudes about success. Success lays in the psychology of human-if you think positive and try to reach your goals, you won't just stumble upon success in the dark. 

Psychology of Kleptomania

Kleptomania is defined by a number of features including a consistent tendency to steal items not needed for personal use or monetary value. It was first officially recognized in the US as a mental disorder in the 1960s. Kleptomania is distinguished from shoplifting or ordinary theft, as shoplifters and thieves generally steal in order to get money, while people with kleptomania generally steal things of little or no value, such as pens, paper clips, tape, small toys, or packets of sugar or sachets of honey. 

There are several symptoms of this disorder. Firstly, such people have an irresistible inclination to steal. Also this includes feeling of increased tension before the theft, feeling of pleasure, gratification or relief at the time of the theft. 

Kleptomania is rare overall, but females more often than males have this disorder. This disorder usually begins during childhood and usually lasts until late adulthood. In some cases, it may never stop and lasts throughout the person's life, so it is very difficult to document the real number of people having kleptomania, especially because of the fact that people with kleptomania often have another psychiatric disorder, often a mood disorder such as depression and anxiety or eating disorders. There is indirect evidence linking it with abnormalities in the brain chemical serotonin. 

There are several ways of treatment of kleptomania. Psychological counselling or therapy is usually aimed at dealing with underlying psychological problems that may be contributing to kleptomania. It may also include behaviour modification therapy, family therapy or even drugs, which raise serotonin level in the brain, for example, fluoxetine (Prozac, most commonly used). 

In conclusion, taking into the consideration what was said about kleptomania, it is serious psychiatric disorder which requires psychological treatment. Of course It can be difficult to understand if the person stole something just for money or it is mental disorder. 

Analytical summary

"Understanding Psychology" is the book written by the professor  Robert S. Feldman. The basic information about psychology as a science is introduced in the  first chapter of this book- "Introduction to psychology”, which consists of three modules.

The main idea of the  first module is the description of psychology as a science, for example,  giving its advantages and disadvantages. The author mentions the main fields of this science   such as social, educational and business,  represents some areas of the work of psychologists.

The second module is the overview of the history of psychology involving  the origins of this science, the most famous psychologists and their contribution. In addition to this, the author represents diversity of the psychological perspectives in modern psychology. 

The last module of the chapter mentioned above is most relevant  issues and controversies in psychology. The question,  how culture, ethnicity and race could influence behavior, is also taken into the consideration. Finally, the author takes a look to the future of this science and gives his atttidude.

In conclusion, these three modules are not just the core of the main information about the psychology as the science,  but also they intoduce  a lot of examples, key issues. This is very useful for understanding the subject, having in mind that psychology and the need of it will develop in the future. 

Psychology in my life and future

Mostly the most frequent question at the beginning of my studies in the University of Mykolas Romeris can be in short expressed as: Why Psychology? I also asked myself this before choosing this subject to study.

Already at school I noticed that it was interesting and also difficult to understand the behaviour of people, to predict their thouhts, to interpret their actions, to realize the feelings, especially then they  needed my help or support.  So because of this  I decided to develop my personal skills: communication, understanding, interests concerning behaviour of people.   This was the beginning of my way to psychology as science.

I realized that if I wanted to give qualified help to people, to know reasoned answers to the questhions conserning human beings and their behaviour, I needed to get some intelligence and get professional views and skills about this subject. The best way to do this was the studies of  psychology.

That's why I am planning to connect my future with psychology. I would like to have a job in the field of this science and to be educated psychologist.