Spring semester in review
I've decided to start a blog to keep you all updated! Email works too, but this seemed the easiest way to keep everyone 'in the know'. Hopefully it's easy enough for you to navigate. You can enter your email in the box on the top right of this page and it will automatically let you know when I post a new entry. You can click on all the pictures in this entry and they'll expand. PLEASE leave comments (at the bottom of the entries) so I'll be encouraged to post more often - I really appreciate your feedback!
This spring was my last semester at SD Mesa, the community college I have been attending for the pa
st couple years. I am so glad that I decided to attend community college before transferring to a University. Mesa has been a blessing- I've had wonderful teachers (who know my name!) and I've gotten a chance to figure out what I want to study. In the fall I will be transferring to UC Santa Cruz, which is a beaaauuutiful little town near San Francisco. The campus is huge and located in the middle of the forest, yet still right on the beach! Isn't California wonderful?! It will take some time to get used to the cooler weather, but I have so much to look forward to... including hiking to my classes.I have become extremely passionate about psychology. This semester I took six classes, five of which were psychology classes: abnormal psych, lifespan development, careers, personality, and research methods. This was my second semester in a row of straight A's, something I've been striving for since high school. My current goal is to teach psychology at a community college, although that may change before I'm done with college! Luckily, the psychology faculty at Mesa have been extremely encouraging and helpful. I've spent countless hours just talking with them in their offices. It's nice to have "doctor" friends.
In my research methods class, two of my classmates (one of which happened to be my best friend, Erica) and I designed
an entire research project studying the Effects of Suggestion on Ideomotor Activity in Pendulum Motion. The ideomotor effect is essentially any unconscious motor movement made by an individual, usually after exposed to some "idea" or suggestion. Dowsing rods, facilitated communication, Ouija boards, and other "paranormal" phenomena are based on this effect. For our study, we had our participants hold pendulums over sheets of metal and told them that the metal should make the pendulum move in a circle. We then gave them a questionnaire that asked them to report what type of movement (if any) they observed. We found there was a difference in the data between those who were given suggestion and those who were not, but it wasn't statistically significant (probably because our sample was pretty small- only 45 people.) I won't go any more into our method now, because I'm a little tired of writing about it (need a break!) but if you're interested, I can send you our APA paper. It was an incredible learning experience and I have a huge respect for researchers... so much work, but also very rewarding.
We were also given the opportunity to present our research at two conferences: an undergrad research fair at CSU San Marcos, and the Western Psychological Association's (WPA) annual convention which was in Los Angeles this year - a big deal. It feels really great to be a sophomore with some research and presentation experience already under my belt. I have my wonderful honors club, Psi Beta, and my excellent teachers to thank for that! WPA was amazing - very student friendly, lots of terrific lectures, and the chance to meet some very prestigious individuals, including Phillip Zimbardo, known for his Stanford prison study in the 1970's. (Yes, I got his autograph and a picture with him!)
I spent a lot of time with my two favorite teachers, one of whom studied Behaviorism, the perspective of psychology which fascinates me most. I took psych of learning with her last semester, and ever since I have been experimenting with behavior modification in my everyday life. Change is a science. She also recently invited me to a lecture at UC San Diego, where I was able to meet her graduate advisor. I'm hoping to get some kind of internship this summer but that may not be possible considering my crazy schedule. I'll keep you posted on that!
This spring I also became very involved with our college's National Honor's Society for commu
nity college students in Psychology, called Psi Beta. It was comprised of a very inspiring group of individuals who motivated me to take advantage of every opportunity and always try my best. I hope to stay in contact with all of them, because they truly are a special group of people. As a club, we attended several events, including the San Diego Science Festival, which is a huge fair for children and families to learn about SCIENCE. Mesa had a full booth of volunteers from the biology, physics, chemistry, anthropology, and (of course) psychology departments. I spent a few hours doing hands-on demonstrations with the children who came by our booth.
To gain some leadership experience, I served as our "Intercampus Club Council Representative," which meant waking up early on Friday mornings to attend a short meeting and discuss events going on at our campus. It was a good experience, but I think I would have preferred the sleep!
School has kept me pretty busy, but I've tried my best to find time for friends and fun! I've been spending a lot of time with my boyfriend, Bryan, and my two research partners, Rigo and Erica. Over spring break Bryan and I went up to Idyllwild for a few days to hike and relax. We met with Erica and her mom while we were there.
I haven't had a lot of time to play piano, but I've tried to squeeze in as much music as I can. Hopefully this summer I can get more into it. I posted some fliers advertising my teaching services, but I only received a few replies. Right now I only have one student, an older man who only has minimal music experience. Even so, I really enjoy teaching him theory and performance and he seems to think I'm a pretty good teacher. It's not a bad way to make some money, either.
This summer is my longest summer yet - I have from now until late September off from school. Because of budget cuts, my community college isn't offering any classes. I'm going to Costa Rica for the month of July to study Spanish. I'll be living in a homestay and going to class four hours a day. The rest of the time I'll be exploring the area and going on some excursions (rainforests, etc.)
Living at home hasn't been bad at all. My mom and I get along really well, and I'm extremely grateful for that. We have regular discussions and she teaches me a lot by example. For those of you that know her, you can probably see our similar interests.
Life is going pretty well! I have a lot of great people in my life and as you can probably tell, I like to keep busy. Thanks for reading! =]
In my research methods class, two of my classmates (one of which happened to be my best friend, Erica) and I designed
an entire research project studying the Effects of Suggestion on Ideomotor Activity in Pendulum Motion. The ideomotor effect is essentially any unconscious motor movement made by an individual, usually after exposed to some "idea" or suggestion. Dowsing rods, facilitated communication, Ouija boards, and other "paranormal" phenomena are based on this effect. For our study, we had our participants hold pendulums over sheets of metal and told them that the metal should make the pendulum move in a circle. We then gave them a questionnaire that asked them to report what type of movement (if any) they observed. We found there was a difference in the data between those who were given suggestion and those who were not, but it wasn't statistically significant (probably because our sample was pretty small- only 45 people.) I won't go any more into our method now, because I'm a little tired of writing about it (need a break!) but if you're interested, I can send you our APA paper. It was an incredible learning experience and I have a huge respect for researchers... so much work, but also very rewarding. 
We were also given the opportunity to present our research at two conferences: an undergrad research fair at CSU San Marcos, and the Western Psychological Association's (WPA) annual convention which was in Los Angeles this year - a big deal. It feels really great to be a sophomore with some research and presentation experience already under my belt. I have my wonderful honors club, Psi Beta, and my excellent teachers to thank for that! WPA was amazing - very student friendly, lots of terrific lectures, and the chance to meet some very prestigious individuals, including Phillip Zimbardo, known for his Stanford prison study in the 1970's. (Yes, I got his autograph and a picture with him!)
I spent a lot of time with my two favorite teachers, one of whom studied Behaviorism, the perspective of psychology which fascinates me most. I took psych of learning with her last semester, and ever since I have been experimenting with behavior modification in my everyday life. Change is a science. She also recently invited me to a lecture at UC San Diego, where I was able to meet her graduate advisor. I'm hoping to get some kind of internship this summer but that may not be possible considering my crazy schedule. I'll keep you posted on that!This spring I also became very involved with our college's National Honor's Society for commu
nity college students in Psychology, called Psi Beta. It was comprised of a very inspiring group of individuals who motivated me to take advantage of every opportunity and always try my best. I hope to stay in contact with all of them, because they truly are a special group of people. As a club, we attended several events, including the San Diego Science Festival, which is a huge fair for children and families to learn about SCIENCE. Mesa had a full booth of volunteers from the biology, physics, chemistry, anthropology, and (of course) psychology departments. I spent a few hours doing hands-on demonstrations with the children who came by our booth.To gain some leadership experience, I served as our "Intercampus Club Council Representative," which meant waking up early on Friday mornings to attend a short meeting and discuss events going on at our campus. It was a good experience, but I think I would have preferred the sleep!
School has kept me pretty busy, but I've tried my best to find time for friends and fun! I've been spending a lot of time with my boyfriend, Bryan, and my two research partners, Rigo and Erica. Over spring break Bryan and I went up to Idyllwild for a few days to hike and relax. We met with Erica and her mom while we were there.
I haven't had a lot of time to play piano, but I've tried to squeeze in as much music as I can. Hopefully this summer I can get more into it. I posted some fliers advertising my teaching services, but I only received a few replies. Right now I only have one student, an older man who only has minimal music experience. Even so, I really enjoy teaching him theory and performance and he seems to think I'm a pretty good teacher. It's not a bad way to make some money, either.
This summer is my longest summer yet - I have from now until late September off from school. Because of budget cuts, my community college isn't offering any classes. I'm going to Costa Rica for the month of July to study Spanish. I'll be living in a homestay and going to class four hours a day. The rest of the time I'll be exploring the area and going on some excursions (rainforests, etc.)
Living at home hasn't been bad at all. My mom and I get along really well, and I'm extremely grateful for that. We have regular discussions and she teaches me a lot by example. For those of you that know her, you can probably see our similar interests.
Life is going pretty well! I have a lot of great people in my life and as you can probably tell, I like to keep busy. Thanks for reading! =]
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