Blog 2- First Test

The test today went really well. I studied a lot since Dreier made us freak out so much by saying everyone was going to fail. I went through all of the multiple choice questions in the book and checked my answer with a key I found online to make sure I was understanding everything. This proved to be very helpful because several of the questions on the test were taken directly from those book questions. I know know that I should study them for every test since knowing the answers saved me a lot of time on the test. At the end of the multiple choice test, there were two questions I circled because I was not overly confident in my answers. I ended up getting 2 wrong, but I am really happy with that score considering the harsh warnings. I was most worried for the free response question, however I think I did okay. I feel as though I definitely wrote too much, but I am confident that I had a pretty solid understanding on all of the topics asked about (operational definitions, ethics, validity, etc.) I am concerned that I did not provide good examples, though. I was too scared to stray away from the given topic (since it was already too long.) Overall, I am very satisfied with the outcome of the test (so far) and hope that I can keep my grade up.

Throughout this course, I expect to learn a lot about how the brain works in a physical sense (the structure, biology, chemical mechanisms, etc.) as well as a mental one (thinking, perception, memory, etc.). I hope to end with a better understanding of how the structure and scientific processes in the brain are connected to those mental processes. I feel as though we live our lives without thinking about what drives us to do and think certain things, but that being aware of actions such as these are very important to understanding ourselves. This is why I am hoping that this course will lead to my being more conscious of my thoughts and actions on a daily basis.

The assigned reading gave a very thorough introduction to the basis of psychology. It was very eye-opening to read about all of the different careers in the psychological field. It is a common misunderstanding in our society that all psychologists work in an office with a couch where clients lay all day to spill out all of their feelings, however this vision couldn't be further from the truth (in most cases). While some psychologists work to help patients sort through their feelings and thoughts, they do so much more than that and can work in an endless number of settings. Also, I never realized that statistics play a big role in psychological research. I took AP Statistics last year, so seeing the topics that I learned about in that class connect to another subject (that seems like an entire different world than stats) is compelling. I feel as though I will get to use that previous knowledge and apply it to a more real-world subject- considering it is much easier to personally connect to psychology than statistics. Overall, the reading was already very thought- provoking. I am interested to continue on to learn more about the brain specifically.