A generalization is a sort of averaging out and is only partly true in each case.
March 30, 2008
Preparing for an Essay Exam
Freak! How will I remember all the details from the readings? How do I even go about preparing for an essay exam?
These are common comments I hear from students, so I have put together a list of hints that got me through my degree. Hope they help you too:
N.B. It is pointless to try and memorise everything. Examiners do NOT want a regurgitation of what has been written and said by others. They want your interpretation and evidence of your understanding of concepts, theories, models, methods and analysis.
1. Collect your readings set in lectures and tutes and sort them into the order you received them in class. Week 1 readings are first, then Week 2, then Week 3 etc…
Lectures are usually created to build-on previous lectures. By putting your readings in order your knowledge will build on previous understandings, and so the subject as a whole will make more sense to you.
Trust me 
2. Use a Word document to create a study matrix (I use a table table of rows and columns) which you will use to write up your notes. A study matrix is a concise and effective way to summarise texts.
Across the top columns write titles such as:
Author and date.
Psychological approach/School of thought (e.g., psychoanalytic, cognitive, social modeling).
Research question/Aim of the report.
Method; sample; analysis; findings; strengths and weaknesses etc…
Keep your notes BRIEF. Remember that psychological research into memory enhancement supports the “chunking” of information. I try to keep to a maximum of 3 dot points of 3 words each for each cell in my matrix. Sometimes there are more, but 3 is my general rule.
Try using pictures and other visual cues as well; mnemonics are a great way to enhance memory, especially as humans are visual creatures. This technique may take a little longer but it makes your notes yours.
Similar Schools of thought or methods etc can be grouped by colour to aid memory.
4. Read one Row during each of your daily “idle times“. These are times in your day when you are doing nothing much, just idling (e.g., waiting for the kids to come to the car after school, waiting for a kettle to boil, waiting for a bus, etc …).
The study matrix will make it easy to compare and contrast readings.
It provides a timeline of developments in theories, models and research and analysis methods.
The process of studying from the matrix aids you in seeing the relationships between research questions, methods and analysis.
5. Write yourself a glossary of new terms. “Naming the names” and “talking the talk” will show that you understand when to use a term or concept in context. I write my glossary up as flashcards, a definition on one side and the term/concept/phrase on the other. Sometimes I put them on a key ring, so that I can have them on hand for those “idle times”.
Like any language, once you understand some of the general words/phrases you are able to communicate and understand more.
6. Twice a week write an essay from the notes of your matrix (but don’t peek at your notes .
Think of it as a story, with your different readings and their aims or research questions as characters in an adventure (to find Truth!).
JUST WRITE!!!
Don’t judge what you are writing or fret about dates and spelling. Let yourself flow onto the page. Let yourself be surprised by what you DO know already
When you have finished writing you can critique your efforts to identify gaps in knowledge, misunderstandings or confusions. Highlight those areas on your study matrix and focus on learning these- they are the areas you do not know yet.
7. In the exam use your pre-reading time to jot out a sketch of your matrix. Again, don’t fret if details are forgotten, once you start writing you will notice that parts of information remind you of other information stored in your memory.
Ok, so who has used these techniques and found them not useful at all? Or which ones do you find work best? Do you have others to add?
Write well~
Psychology Quote for the Day
the object of psychology is to give us a totally different idea of the things we know best.
- Paul Valery (1943), Tal Quel
March 22, 2008
Psychology Quote of the Day
irreproducible research too often leads to great discoveries.
- Journal of Irreproducible Results
March 21, 2008
Psychology Quote for the Day
the rat is an animal which, killed in sufficient numbers under carefully controlled conditions will produce a Ph.D thesis.
- Journal of Irreproducible Results
Backyard Psychology Observations with the Birds
I love observing the birds in my back yard (a gr8 site to visit to learn more of birding is at Bird Table News with Birdy Trisha). Early hour observations and valuations this early autumn brings sun birds, Torres Strait pigeons, pee-wees, turtle doves, mynas and butcher birds. Their songs are deep and throaty burbles that let me know it is 6 am, the sun is rising over the nearby ocean and it is time to apply those new knoweldge psychology skills.
Bird Psychology: from http://www.hootingyard.org/archive/mar06.htm
Throughout the day immigrant mynas shall play tag with my two dogs in the back yard; passing the baton to a male butcher bird for the afternoon shift of “drive dogs mental”. The weeping fig out back and sandpaper fig out front attract a myriad of natives and their fledglings (there has been a lot of rain so plenty of food for breeding).
My kitties spend their lazy day mewing with relish at the feathered food teasing them with swoops and chitters. Breakfast has finished so I expect soon to see “Shirly” the pee-wee stride through my home (past the cat!) to peck at toast crumbs to feed her kids in the poinsettia trees out front. Maybe later the tiny sunbird couple will hover through on the swallow-tails of butterflies and gem coloured bugs, as they evaluate my window mobiles to spin a hammock for their home.
At least two of the species visiting my yard are considered pests by many- the metallic starling and the myna bird (also a starling tho from India). Sometimes I imagine the world without birds – have you ever been to Guam? (no morning birdsongs L). In India the mynas are kept as house pets and taught to speak. Here they make lots of noise, nest in guttering (we have heavy rains so this is a pain) or air-conditioners (the tropics! again a pain).
Unfortunately also for the myna, they intentionally nest atop native nests, kill their chicks or eat their eggs and are competition for scarce resources. They tend to pick up a lot of litter tho, to make their nests J Our native starlings are just considered noisy- they nest in huge colonies, can be bloody noisy, but are awesome to watch in their aero-acrobatic flight of perfect precision.
Birding offers much insight to the psychology student. There are relationships within a species in the backyard to note, as well as how different species interact-it is very funny watching birds tease dogs and cats! It is also insightful to reflect on how environmental and social issues involving birds come to be (e.g., pests, over breeding, property damage, endangering native birdlife/wildlife), and how such issues can be resolved humanly and economically (e.g., reproduction viruses to curb growth rates, relocation, enhancing habitats and resource opportunities for native birds/wildlife).
I am creating a spreadsheet in Excel to record the type and frequency of birdlife to my yard. I will also note visiting times and interactions with other animals. Methinks this will help me to apply basic stats knowledge and will enhance my observational and critical analysis skills.
If I manage to record some screen captures with Camtasia I will post examples of my research on my blog. If I manage to work my mobile phone to download photos/video to the PC I will again post the information to my blogs.
How fun…!
March 19, 2008
March 10, 2008
March 8, 2008
Back it Up Colleagues!
An introductory note- for those few readers who access my blog (hoping to increase those numbers J), my absence has been due to numerous “spanners in the works”. I think I am on top of things again now…we’ll see…
One of the worst things that can happen to a student and or writer is the loss of their work. Back it up! Became a catch cry at uni and still the message hasn’t sunk home for me. Hopefully it has now…lost 5 years of research, writing and personal items on Wednesday evening and there ain’t no way it is coming back L
As a word of caution for those others, who like me think/thought it’s ok to save the important stuff on desktop –DON’T. I’m kicking myself for overlooking something so obvious, and for not backing up properly, especially as I have several drives available to me.
Surprisingly I am dealing with the loss well…perhaps as I’ve had quite a few lately. And compared to those close to me that I thought were gone and have returned (my dogs!) the loss of all that “time and effort” is really no loss at all.
Instead I have given myself a new perspective as to how I view my research and writing-as evidence. The scientific method asks you (the scientist) to “back up” your argument and conclusions with evidence. This evidence must be accessible to others so that they can verify your claims. You don’t want just anybody reading your computer documents, but the idea of storing your work in more than one place could stretch the analogy to suit, methinks.
Many options are available depending on the size of your data and time constraints (and of course, available resources):
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Print it out – all of it (can be scanned back in if needed at a later date and has been lost)
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Email it to yourself
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USB stick/MP3 recorder/PC card
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CD/DVD
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Online storage (e.g., Data Deposit Box)
I have just signed up with Mozzy Online Backup which comes highly recommended by Consumer Research. With my free account I am entitled to 2GB of online storage space, and the option to upgrade at a later date to the Pro version (US$4.95 p/m).
The home page lists testimonials of happy customers in the left margin. There are clear instructions about how to install the software and to begin using it. Very user friendly. There is also an affiliate program for those looking for a marketing investment.
When this free version is not an option (I have so many documents!) I will use email, USB and DVD at the moment. After I’ve trailed the site for a couple of months I will consider upgrading. Sounds like a good deal, and oh the peace of mind J
December 30, 2007
Psychology and the Concept of Intelligence
I have been writing up support notes for developmental psychology based on questions from students. Here is a sample of what the final pdf/audio/power point will contain. Feeback is appreciated…
Intelligence remains undefined. The North American journalist Walter Lippman (1920) stated that, “We cannot measure intelligence when we have not defined it.”
A solitary definition of intelligence does not seem to exist. Not knowing how to operationalise a concept makes measuring it difficult.
The consensus to date is that intelligence is not unifactor in structure (i.e., a general intelligence).
Rene Descartes (1596-1650) a French philosopher stated that “I think therefore I exist.” To Descartes a person’s intelligence was responsible for creating knowledge and for validating the truth. And although he recognised that intelligence is at least partly responsible for what it is that makes each human unique, he maintained that mind and matter (body) were separate entities.
John Locke (1632-1704) an English philosopher and political theorist said,
“Let us suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper, void of all characters, without any ideas; how comes this to be furnished? . . . whence has it all the materials of reason and knowledge? To this I answer, in a word, from experience.“
Locke believed that a person was born as a blank slate (tabula rosa) and that intelligence was the ability to reason built up over time by interactions with the environment.
In the 19th century the practice of craniometry became highly popular amongst academics. Cranial measurement in the west was used to classify people; intelligence, temperament and morals were thought to be revealed in the shape and size of the cranial cavity. Also known as physiognomy, the method is not to be confused with the Oriental arts of face reading which informs about wellbeing.
The low empirical evidence to support this method of testing intelligence was not realised until early in the 20th with the introduction of psychometric testing.
A multi-factorial structure appears better able to answer pertinent questions about intelligence: What abilities define intelligence? Can these be measured?
A multifactorial structure of intelligence would encompass many of the various types of intelligence; e.g., spatial, visual, auditory, adaptive. However, not all intelligences can be measured, such as creativity, curiosity, vision, charm.
A first step in identifying the factors that make up “intelligence” is to separate the concepts of Achievement and Aptitude;
Achievement: experience leading to knowledge and skills in a specific area; e.g., statistics in psychology
Aptitude: a measure of the capability to learn or become skilled in one or more areas; e.g., obtain psychology degree
Intelligence: ability to adapt in all aspects of life; e.g., fulltime-student with part-time work and two kids
A popular definition of intelligence for the 21st century includes four general factors; skills of logical reasoning, problem solving, critical thinking and adaption.
Across time, the ability to learn and apply new information seems to be a constant factor in the definition of intelligence. How a person navigates the world and their level of resiliency during adversity seems to be a key determinant of intelligence. The ability to cope may be the defining element of intelligence.
Further reading with:
Inventing Intelligence: A Social History of Smart
Intelligent Insights on Intelligence Theories and Test (aka IQ’s Corner)
