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.