SELF-ASSESSMENT

While studying ESP English course this semester I had to do a variety of exercise including ESP definitions tests, moodle tests, online listening practice, traditional listening, online exercises from Feldman's course book, power point presentations, short talks and speaking impromptu. And now I want to evaluate my performance on each of these tasks, so that I could clearly see what are my achievements. 

ESP definitions tests

There are lots of ESP definitions, and sometimes it is difficult to remember all of the meanings. Some tests were easy to do but some were not. Despite the difficulties I think my performance on these tasks was quite good, even though I might could do it better, I am happy about it.

Moodle tests

In my point of view moodle tests were sometimes confusing but quite easy and my performance was really good. I think it's a good idea to solidify students knowledge by doing these tests after each module. 

Online listening practice and traditional listening

Online listening tasks were much more easier than traditional listening. I think my online listening skills are quite good and I don't face serious difficulties while listening, deciding true or false statement is, matching synonyms and filling gaps. But i still need to improve my traditional listening skills, because for me it's quite difficult to understand.

Online exercises from Feldman's course book

Online exercises from Feldman's course book were almost the same as moodle tests. The main difference was that online exercises was a team work. I think my performance was quite good, but when I was working by my own on moodle tests, my performance was better.

Power point presentations

For me it was the most interesting task. I have made two presentations and one was team work with my colleague. Despite few mistakes I can evaluate myself really good because I enjoy doing this task and I think everyone else also enjoyed watching my presentations.

Short talks

My performance on short talks task was good and I am really happy about it. It was good idea to give not just one topic for all students but give several topics so that students can choose the topic that is most interesting for them to talk about. 

Speaking impromptu

Speaking impromptu probably was the most difficult task for me. Sometimes it was difficult to express myself and recollect the material I had read before also I found it difficult to remember some definitions. I think speaking impromptu is the task in witch I still have to improve my skills a lot.

To sum up, I think that I definitely gained more knowledge that I had before this semester. I am satisfied with my performance, even though at some tasks I could perform better. Over all I think I really improve my English but I still have a lot to learn. 

References:

http://www.dogdetectiveagency.com/ckfinder/userfiles/images/Dog%20Detective%20Royalty%20Free%20Stock%20Photography.jpg (looked at 2012.04.12)

http://www.lessons4living.com/images/penclchk.gif (looked at 2012.04.12)

http://hashtagsocialmedia.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/improve-listening-skills.gif (looked at 2012.04.12)

http://www.lifeset.ca/images/ph_speaking.jpg (looked at 2012.04.12)

Psychology of stress

Stress is a normal part of life and maybe not a completely bad one. For example without stress people will be less motivated to complete the activities they need to accomplish. However it is also known that too much stress can be harmful to people physical and psychological health. But first of all I would like to talk about that what is stress?

So, stress is a person's response to events that are threatening or challenging. It could be family problems, exams, relatives death and so on. Actually, even pleasant events can produce stress. For example planning a party or planning a wedding, even birth of a child. But it is known that negative events causes greater detrimental consequences than do positive ones. Also I should mention that stress is a very personal thing. What causes stress for one person may not be stressful to other at all. And the most important role, in the determination of what is stressful for person, plays interpretation of events.

There are three general types of stressors: cataclysmic events, personal stressors, and background stressors. And now more about all of these types.
Cataclysmic events are strong stressors that occur suddenly and typically affect many people at the same time. For example plane crashes or tornadoes.

Personal stressors include life events such as personal failure, the death of a parent or the loss of one's job.

Background stressors, or daily hassles, could be activity such as standing in a long line at a bank or a shop, getting stuck in traffic jam, even suddenly started rain when person don't have an umbrella could be found as background stressor.

We can identify stress by increase in heart rate and breathing, sweating hands etc. But how people deal with stress? There are several strategies how to cope with stress.
Emotion-focused coping. In emotion-focused coping, people try to change the way they feel about a problem, or how they perceive it. They try to look at the bright side of a situation. 
Another strategy - problem-focused coping. Problem-focused strategies lead to changes in behavior or to a development of a plan of action to deal with stress. 
One more, but least effective strategy - avoidant coping. As example of this strategy imagine situation when student avoid learning for the test and wishfully thinks "Maybe it will snow so hard tomorrow that the test will be canceled".


To sum up, I would like to say that there is no universal solution how to deal with everyday stress. But I think, when people learn to take responsibility for their own lives and adapt easily to life changes, they will experience less stress.

References:

Robert Feldman Course Book, 9th Edition, 2009 (module 43)

http://www.diy-stress-relief.com/images/stresssymptom1.jpg (looked at 2012.04.16)

http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lq6hnqgGkj1r1uog4o1_500.jpg (looked at 2012.04.16)

http://www.great-inspirational-quotes.com/images/i-will-smile-21615644.jpg (looked at 2012.04.16)

The Mystery of Memory

Summary

The sciences of memory are not very old, they appeared about a century ago. There are two types of memory: short-term and long-term. Short-term memory lasts just for few seconds and most of it is lost. However, the bits of short-term memory that we remember gets transferred into long-term memory. Moreover, there is another type of memory called "working memory". It appears in remembering processes and it consists of declarative memory and procedural memory (or just remembering "how"). The latter one is more stable than the declarative memory. In fact, even people who have Alzheimer's disease can use the procedural memory properly. They remember how to ride a bike even if they cannot remember what the bike is. 

Recognition and recall are other memory distinctions. It is always easier to recognize people when you see them, than trying to recall someone's face from your memory. For example, if somebody shows someone a bunch of objects at the same time, it is difficult for him or her to remember what they have seen. In fact, it is complicated for an average person to recall more than 15 objects. However, if somebody shows the same person objects or pictures one after another, weeks later there is a possibility that he or she will recognize 10 000 or even more pictures or objects correctly. Finally, everyone of us has photographic memory. This memory is snapshot - like fragments, usually from our childhood, that are associated with tastes, smells or colors. Children below the age of 8 usually use photographic memory and as we get older, most of us lose the ability to use it. 

A human brain contains approximately 100 billion nerve cells and each of these nerve cells is capable of making up to 100 000 connections with the neighbors. It is though that a new memory is made when a new pattern of connections is created. This is where the memory is stored. When a person tries to remember the name of someone, he or she usually tries to think of the place where they have met, the clothes that the person was wearing or other features. These features that we try to remember are access points to different regions of the brain, where the memory of the missing name is stored. 

Overall, is it still uncertain for neuroscientists how different regions of the brain and the processes of it are bonded together that gives us comprehensible experiences. 

References:

http://s1.favim.com/orig/19/anatomy-brain-fernndo-vicente-luxury-neck-Favim.com-200280.jpg (looked at 2012.03.19)

http://s1.favim.com/orig/20/camera-drawing-memory-Favim.com-203842.jpg (looked at 2012.03.19)

http://s3.favim.com/orig/40/bike-cute-girl-lights-pretty-Favim.com-336298.jpg (looked at 2012.03.19)

Psychology of luck

In our daily living we can see psychology almost everywhere. Psychology is very important part of everyone's life. And today I would like to talk about psychology of luck. Lucky people meet their perfect matches, find great, well paid job, achieve their lifelong plans and ambitions, they just live happy and meaningful lives. But why some people are so lucky while others complain and blame bad luck for their failure?

I found an answer to this question in one of professor Richard Wiseman research. His work reveal that people are not born lucky, they become lucky by using four basic principles to create good fortune in their lives. This means that everyone is responsible for his or her own luck. And now about those four principles.

Principle One: Maximise Chance Opportunities.
Lucky people are very creative, they notice and take every chance and opportunity that appears. They are relaxed and open to new experiences. They are not afraid of changes, because they are prepare for them.
Principle Two: Listening to Lucky Hunches.
Lucky people make decisions by listening to their intuition and good feelings. The important part is that they make effective decisions this way. Also lucky people are trying to do something, as example meditate, to make their intuitive abilities better.
Principle Three: Expect Good Fortune.
Lucky people are ensured that in the future they are gonna succeed and these expectations help lucky people even then when they are failed. Because in that case they will not give up, they will try again, and again, and again, because they know they are gonna succeed in the future in any case. This also leads to a positive interactions with others.
Principle Four: Turn Bad Luck to Good.

Lucky people use various psychological techniques when they fail. For example, they imagine how things could have been much worse. Also lucky people always take control of the situation.

To sum up as I have mentioned before everyone is responsible for his or her own luck. And these four principles of life and way of thinking could help to achieve your luck. Success is not due to working especially hard or being very talented and intelligent instead it is just capability to appear in the right place at the right time and with the right thoughts. Everything begins in human minds, then minds lead to actions, actions lead to habits, habits shape our character and finally, our character determines our destiny. So it is up to us if we will be lucky or not.

References:

http://www.richardwiseman.com/research/moreluck.html (looked at 2012.03.08)

http://s2.favim.com/orig/37/car-city-hipster-indie-luck-Favim.com-302443.jpg (looked at 2012.03.19)

http://favim.com/orig/201105/25/bokeh-clover-cute-four-good-good-luck-Favim.com-54750.jpg (looked at 2012.03.19)

Psychology studies at MRU and University of Essex

There are a lot of universities around the world and sometimes it is difficult to decide which one to choose. I have already chosen Mykolas Romeris University and I am really glad about my decision. But today I would like to talk not only about my psychology studies here, at MRU, I would like to compare it with the same psychology studies at other university, and I chose University of Essex. 

Syllabus for psychology specialization in both universities are quite similar. During the study program of psychology students acquire theoretical and practical knowledge in a different spheres of psychology. They learn how to explain and assess human behavior, personality and emotional state and how to provide psychological assistance. Psychology graduates have high skills in writing, critical thinking, experimental design and statistical analysis. 

Despite similarities there are also some differences. The Psychology Department at Essex is well equipped for both teaching and research and MRU almost only for teaching. University of Essex have more specialist laboratories and modern equipment for psychological research. 


Psychology studies at University of Essex cost 3375£ per year and at MRU you have to pay 5220Lt per year. As you can see studying at University of Essex is more expensive. One more difference between those two universities is term of study. At University of Essex term of study lasts 3 years, while at MRU it lasts 3 and a half year.

And now about hostels. MRU hostels are really cheaper than hostels at University of Essex. But higher price ensure and better conditions. At MRU hostels you have to share your room with one, two or even three other students and at Essex hostels every student have his or her own room. There is a flat with 16 room, one kitchen and 3 or 4 bathrooms. Students don't have to share room they just have to share kitchen and bathrooms. 

In my point of view both universities have their own pluses and minuses. Who knows maybe now, when I have found more information about studies abroad, I will choose University of Essex for my Master degree. 

References:

http://www.essex.ac.uk/depts/psychology.aspx (looked at 2012.02.19)

https://www.mruni.eu/lt/busimiems_studentams/bakalauro_studijos/studiju_programos/psichologija/ (looked at 2012.02.19)

http://socialsciences.universityofessex.org/assets/images/about-essex.jpg (looked at 2012.02.19)