My interest in human behavior and the underlying thought processes that motivate behavior began as a young child. My family moved frequently when I was growing up and as a result I attended many different schools. While this was not always an easy process, it provided me the opportunity to not only meet many different types of people, but to witness the complex interplay between unique personalities and varying social contexts that influence an individual’s behavior and thought processes. Despite my lifelong interest in psychology, I began my undergraduate career as an adult student and single parent with the intent of pursuing a degree in business administration. I felt that this path made logical sense considering my work history and background, however in my first semester I was fortunate enough to take an introduction to psychology course that rekindled my passion for the subject. My experience in this course prompted me to change my major to psychology and has allowed me to flourish both personally and academically. It has also lead me to my goal of obtaining a PhD is social psychology with which I …show more content…
Because of this, my research has been in the form of independent studies within my last two semesters of undergraduate coursework, working under the supervision of a faculty mentor. Over the course of the fall 2015 semester I completed a literature review and will extend this research by conducting a study in the spring of 2016. While my lack of research experience in a lab environment may seem problematic, I believe that my past academic success and engagement outside of the classroom provide proof of my high level of conscientiousness and desire for excellence. I am comfortable working independently, but look forward to collaborating with fellow students and faculty during my graduate
Carol Dweck 's piece "Brainology" and Rebecca Cox "The Student Fear Factor" have changed my pursuit towards my academic goals because it changes the mindset on how I approach any aspect in my everyday life, including work, but also how I will be praising the children whom I work with. This is because I am learning new approaches on how I should handle my college life and apply it to my daily life. Both of these pieces seem to have spoken to me because I get severe anxiety and reading what other students went through made me realize that I don’t have college life as bad as many students do. Instead of quitting (like most first time college students do), I will keep pursuing my associate’s degree in child development. I know that reading these
Lloyd, Margaret A., Dana S. Dunn, and Elizabeth Y. Hammer. Psychology Applied to Modern Life: Adjustment in the 21st Century. By Wayne Weiten. 9th ed. Australia: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2009. 75-137. Print.
Weiten, W., Lloyd, Margaret A., Dunn, Dana S., Yost-Hammer, Elizabeth. (2009). Psychology Applied to Modern Life; Adjustment in the 21st Century. (9th ed). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
My interest in pursuing a doctorate degree in counseling psychology has been influenced by a combination of life experiences and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. Though the path which has led me to this destination is complex, the journey has provided me with the clarity and insight necessary to understand human behavior from a holistic perspective. As I approach the completion of my masters degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, I am faced with the unsettling realization that I have more questions than I do answers. This has fueled my innate desire and motivation to continue challenging myself by attaining a doctorate degree from the University of North Texas.
Psychology is the study of the behavior of living organisms. The people that study the behaviors are called psychologists. There have been many studies done by these people to try and figure out why people or animal do the things they do. Psychology's four main goals are to describe what occurred, explain why it occurred, predict what event is likely to occur next, and to change to prevent unwanted outcomes. Psychologists study the process of thinking, learning, cognition, emotions, motivations, and personalities. An example of one study that has been done would be why a dog salivates to the sound of a bell and show. This behavior is due to a conditioned stimulus becoming a conditioned response. Another experiment done was with a baby and a white mouse to see if the baby would be scared if something happened while grabbing for the mouse.
Choosing a career is a very important aspect to people’s lives. One goes to college, usually around the age of eighteen, and by the time they leave they are expected to have decided on the career that they will have for the rest of their lives. Being a psychology and interpersonal communication major, I have always had an interest on relationships between individuals given certain stimuli presented to them. I want to have the ability to touch people’s lives by helping them understand themselves and why they behave the way in which they behave. Relationships are such an important aspect to the process of human growth, and they impact each and every one of us. Due to this assessment of myself, I have decided to go to college to pursue my goals of being a clinical social worker.
It is with great pride and enthusiasm that I write to you today to express my intentions towards my future endeavors once graduating from your humble establishment with a degree in applied behavioral analysis. My intentions are to graduate from Saint Joseph 's University with a degree in applied behavioral analysis, then to proceed onto the next step in my career as a behavior specialist councilor, where I can help families through creating concrete goals and plans and models to measure these goals, as well as to ensure that parents are supplied with the resources required and an efficient team to help them.
My choice of research was in the play behaviors of children as well as aggression. Breaking the topic down more, behavior relates to the psychology and the psyche of each individual. The definition of psychology is “science of mind and behavior” (Clavijo, 2013). After reading the article by Clavijo, I have realized that psychology can be defined in three ways such as the study of the mind, the study of behavior, and the study of the mind and behavior. In the text “The Developing Person” by Berger, behavior is learned through social learning. Children learn different behaviors through the observation of others, others being children and adults. Different people have affects on a child’s life that can affect their behavior. A child’s behavior is heavily influenced by their parents. A son may speak aggressively and without respect towards his mother because this is the way that his father speaks to her therefore he feels that is how to communicate with his mother (Berger, 200, 2012). Moving into play behaviors, children learn from other children in how to play. Most believe cognitive growth relies on child’s play time. Vygotsky and Piaget both believe that when children play it is beneficial, but according to Vygotsky, playing enables a child to think outside the box and create their own meaning from objects, using their imagination. Piaget believes that child benefit from playing together because children and sharing their knowledge and making it more concrete ideas and thoughts. There are four stages of plays, with the fourth stage being the highest most complicated play which consists of rules and guidelines for the game. The lowest level or play would be functional play being infants shaking rattles, clapping their hands, or blow...
Kuther, T. L., & Morgan, R. D. (2013). Careers in Psychology: Opportunities in a Changing World (4th ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection
Interacting with my professors as a teacher's assistant and research assistant gave me a chance to discover at a more personal level what psychology is all about. Although I am seeking a M.A. in General Psychology at this time, I do have specific goals for my future. I hope to continue my education past the M.A. and receive a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology, counseling individuals and eventually acquiring a teaching position with a college or university.
Wegenek, Amira & Buskist, William 2010 The Insiders Guide To The Psychology Major: Everything You Need To Know About The Degree And The Profession APA
My interest in Psychology began in 2012, when I had the opportunity to research on my own about the subject. After I embarked on an introductory course in Psychology to relieve the boredom of working in a call centre, I then was motivated to continue with my studies. After securing my Higher and HNC in Social Science – I continued with the HND.
Public Safety Officials have been battling the difficult question of profiling for quite a while. The question is how do they know the suspected individual fit the category associated with an offense? While it has been proven that many profiling cases are somewhat directed to a racial profile, it can be proven that people, given the discretion, are able to identify explanations for a series of behavioral events by identifying what that behavior accredits to. This theory, identified by Frite Heider, “suggested that we have a tendency to give casual explanations for someone’s behavior, often by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition,” called the attribution theory. Until recently, a study of the like was considered to be a branch of sociology and not a form of psychology. Social psychology essentially became the focus on the individual rather than the group as a whole. Many thoughtful ideas are collected in response to the studies of social psychology. Human cognition is understood to arise from interacting socially; highlighting the importance of socialization. We use social cognition to develop our explanations and our ideas on why a person’s behavior is/does what it is/does.
My motivation is based on two things. Firstly, I really want to help other people as much as I can. The understanding of human behaviour is the key for me to help others improve their well-being. This made me start seeking for information and experiences beyond the university’s classes and books. There was 30 hours of supervised Clinical Child Psychology Practice, where I was shadowing a professional psychologist at an Educational Consultancy. I really liked my time there and I felt like I could not have chosen any other career. In 2014 I joined a foundation where we were developing autistic children’s social skills and perceptions with movements and exercises. In these months I saw different children with different disabilities. It was
I never noticed how much psychology could be incorporated into everyday life. But really, any decision or action you take is related to it. I have personally been extremely interested in social psychology: why people do things because of social norms, what people do in order to look socially acceptable, etc. Others topics I also find interesting are sensation and perception; how past experiences can influence how you perceive the things around you, states of consciousness; how things that have happened in your day can be transferred into a mash of events in your dreams, motivation and emotion; what makes a person do something or what makes a person start or stop procrastination, and lastly: personality; what characteristics and traits stand out the most in a person, what makes a person who they are.