Analytical summary of “Online risks: from cancer to autism?”

Clare Murphy is the author of an article “Online risks: from cancer to autism?” found on the official BBC Internet site http://news.bbc.co.uk. In the article author writes about online networking and what main problems does it cause.

In the article author claims that social networking sites are mainly popular between young people. Clare Murphy states that lack of direct contact with a person may be the cause of serious health diseases. Author emphasizes the fact that online networking helps people who have cancer, autism, ADHD to improve the quality of their life by making with other people online.

In conclusion, this authors article is an introduction of understanding how online networking works and what are the merits and demerits of it.

Average happiness

The word “happiness" has its definition. Happiness is a state of mind or feeling such as contentment, satisfaction, pleasure, or joy. But is it possible to measure happiness? And if it is, what would be average happiness?

Firstly, if happiness could be measured with certain measurements it would be confusing. For example, if a happy person is asked how happy he is, he would probably tell something like “very happy”, “not too happy”. But if you tell that person to measure his happiness, he would be confused. Can you imagine him saying something like I’m 3,8 measurements happy?

Secondly, people individually measure happiness. A poor person may get happy if gets some money, as for a rich one, he would something else to become happier. The individual measurements differ because of our age, sex, cultural and social status, religion and so on.

In conclusion, measurement of happiness is a quite indefinite thing, let alone average happiness which is, in my opinion, an impossible thing to measure.

Self-assessment of success in learning ESP

Writing a summary

I personally never had chance to write summaries before. Although I wrote few summaries I feel that I became better during these practices.

Writing comprehension tests on modules in psychology

At first I didn’t know what tests would be like and how should they be done. But after few tests I got it and I can that I am quite good at it.

Making power point presentations

Well all presentations that I have done during this semester are very similar, they only differ by language or main theme. However, there is a standard applied to all presentation, which I now fully understand.

Impromptu speaking in class

Sometimes I have trouble expressing myself, because I am short on words or jus can’t remember these words, which are related to studies of psychology. But the level of oral English is increasing.

Performance in listening practice

It was always easy to understand what are speakers trying to say. The hardest part for me is trying to hear a certain part of the speech and not concentrating on the gist of the whole speech.

Writing contributions to e-portfolio (weblog)

It is interesting to write contributions on different aspects of psychology. Finding the information, using Internet or books, as material for my contributions was useful for me.

Learning ESP

ESP literally translated means English for Specific Purposes. This means that specific English is learned in specific types of study, for instance - Psychology. Learning ESP is quite easy, when you know how to...
Firstly, the hardest part of ESP is learning and remembering new words. Using a definition dictionary might make it much easier. Also most ESP words are international, so only few letters may differ, but the meaning of the word is still the same.
Next, it is not enough to remember these words, you also must know how to write them, when to use this or that word according to the context of the text. So understanding the whole text is essential.
Lastly, pronunciation may be hard even for well well-spoken people. It is because ESP language is different than simple English that is taught in schools or seen on TV. Easiest way is just to listen to people of that study talk and try to repeat them, for example listening to psychologist's talk at the public lecture.
In conclusion, all these methods of learning ESP can make studies easier. But the only sure solution is to just practice, do assignments related to ESP and so on.

Psychology of kleptomania

Many people know what kleptomania is in general. It is a condition when a person can not resist an urge to steal things, mainly these things have only some value or are ever useless (pens, paper, pencils, pins ect.). But what are main reasons and consequences of being kleptomaniac?

To begin, kleptomania as a disorder was officially discovered in the US in 1960s. As of now kleptomaniacs are sorted from shoplifters (a thief that pretends to a buyer) to ordinary thieves. Statistically, in all shoplifting cases approx. 5 % of these criminals are kleptomaniacs.

Another thing, is that this disorder usually builds up during puberty and may last through whole person’s life (usually kleptomania lasts until late adulthood). Also kleptomania may occur receiving a serious brain injury and inhaling to much (poisoning dose) CO gas.

The last thing is treatment. Usually, this disorder is treated with medication called antidepressants (mood stabilizers, naltrexone, Prozac, Seroxat). Another way of treatment is more likely to have a long-term cure. It’s psychological counseling and it’s main objective is to get to the bottom of the causes of a persons unhappiness. However this way of treatment is more difficult than medical.

To conclude, kleptomania is a disorder that may be caused by psychological of physical injuries. Treating this disorder also leads to physical (medication) or psychological (counseling) cure.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org

Psychology of laughter

Laughter is an expression of happiness or joy. But is this all that there is to it? Psychologists would say no. Moreover, there is a study of laughter and humor called gelotology.

Firstly, laughter may ensue from certain stimuli. Verbal such as jokes, funny stories, ect., physical like tickling and visual stimuli - TV shows, cartoons. However, it may be a combination of all of these stimuli, which leads to higher production of laughter.

Secondly, psychologists that study gelotology came to conclusion that laughter helps to protect the heart. The main reason is that in stress situation a hormone called serum cortical is produced and this hormone damages endothelium (a barrier that prevents cholesterol build in humans heath and arteries). As we laugh serum cortical is decreased and our heath is more protected.

Lastly, there are therapies that helps to produce laugh. One of these therapies is called humor therapy (therapeutic humor). This type of therapy may be done individually or in a group (it’s difficult to people with the same sense of humor) using any sort of humorous materials such as movies, books, stories. However, a trainer clinician has to be involved and not just to observe, but also to participate.

In conclusion, laughter is produced every day and it is important not only to our physical, but also psychological health. Therapies and researches of laugher are becoming more popular these days, so as people say: “Laughter is the best medicine”.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org

Summary: Introduction to psychology

Robert S. Feldmans book Understanding psychology theme called Introduction to psychology, which is divided into three modules. The main purpose of these modules is to introduce readers to psychology as a science.

In the first module called Psychologists at work author introduces readers to psychology and its subfields from a scientific point of view. However, Feldman describes major career choices of psychology and puts psychology as a science to a practical use.

Next module is called A Science Evolves: the Past, the Present, the Future. In this module Robert S. Feldman shows the evolution of science to particular science of psychology. Moreover, differences and points of view of understanding psychology between past and future

The last module is called Key Issues And Controversies of Psychology. In this module author introduces to different fields of psychology and shows what are the main differences between these fields by giving examples. Moreover, author states that in future psychology as a science will be more connected to different social issues. Feldman writes the people should be more critical to commercials related to psychology.

In conclusion, these three modules give reader a basic understanding of what is psychology. In the concrete, the historical, practical and scientific side of psychology.