Blog #12: Mentorship 10 Hours

1. Where are you doing your mentorship?

I have been getting my hours  at Cal Poly Pomona with their only Social Psychology Professor.

2. Who is your contact?

Dr. Viviane Seyranian

3. How many total hours have you done?

I have accumulated 18 hours total, with my mentor.

4. Summarize the 10 hours of service you did.

 I have sat in on the social psychology course and we all discussed and learned about new theories and shared studies and what they have helped us learn about behavior. Now to focus more on my EQ,  i have been getting the remainder of my hours focusing my learning on the specific types of research and she is giving the outline for how to do successful research on my own, as well letting me get involved in her own research for the LA Zoo that she has started.

Blog #11: Holiday Project Update

1. It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school. What did you do over the break with your senior project?

Honestly, over the Christmas break I really took advantage of the opportunity to wind down from all the high school work studying for college classes. I didn't give any of my time toward working on my senior project. I spent the holidays with loved ones like they should be celebrated. I absolutely understand that its a good idea to work on the project over the break, but I personally thought it was a better idea for me to use it as an actual break and help me refresh and rekindle my energy and drive to actually work on the project when I return to school. Also, my mentor was on holiday break and there wasn't much more I could study without her especially because my EQ and topic are beaded on the academic aspect of researching and studying social psych.

2. What is the most important thing you learned from what you did, and why? What was the source of what you learned?

With nothing to specifically work on, and no research or things to catch up on, I did not further my research for Soc. Psych. because I did not have any resources available over the break. As well as the fact that there hasn't been any other part of the project assigned, I have no where to go from. Do you get me? I feel confident that I have completed all parts of the project, to this point, to the best of my ability. And my mentor was on break just as well as I was, and there was no way for me to work on mentorship hours or anything, any other way.

3. If you were going to do a 10 question interview on questions related to answers for your EQ, who would you talk to and why?

I definitely would love to ask my mentor the questions to help me answer my EQ because I don't know anyone more knowledgable than her on the topic. And because my EQ specifically talks about the research involved, and she is currently teaching a class about the research, I know she will be the best person to go to. 

EQ

1.  I reviewed the rule of three for writing an EQ

2.

a) It does not provide a framework for studies, it doesn't meet the secant point either because its too subjective, but its format makes sense.

b) It provides framework, its too subjective, and its format it a bit complicated but it makes sense

c)It does provide framework, it doesn't take a stance because its answer is too opinion based, and the format doesn't make sense

d) It sets for good framework, it takes a stance, and works well in wording. 

Blog #9: Lesson 1 Reflection

1. Positive statement

What are you most proud of in your Lesson 1 Presentation and why?

Personally, I'm most proud of the fact that people enjoyed my presentation enough to talk about it afterward. I was one of the people who presented in the middle of the day and by then I expected that a lot of people would have lost interest in presentations but I was proud that I was able to bring everyone back and engage them with my presentation. I'm most proud of this because I'm obviously very passionately interested in my topic and when I feel like I did a good job of spreading that interest in the importance and knowledge of social psychology is, I know I'm doing alright. And especially because I want to ultimately teach psychology, having this lesson interest people makes me feel more confident and proud of my teaching skills. 

2. Question to Consider

a. What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 1 Presentation?

I would give myself an AE for the assignment.

b. Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 1 component contract.

I met all the requirements of a P. I had 3 sources, I talked about my mentor and the work she's involved in, I gave experiment examples(3) and related then related them to real world examples (2). I thoroughly explained what my topic was and how it is important in every day lives of everyone. I introduced my working EQ and all the other requirements. But, I also passed the P requirements by not only doing everything expected of me, but doing it well. I demonstrated great knowledge of my topic, the presentation flowed well and I was also able to get others interested in it and that is what a good lesson is all about. 

3. What worked for you in your Lesson 1?

I think what worked for me, not just for this lesson but for this project, is that I am so interested in my topic that I know how a lot about it and I didn't need to even worry about memorizing information or looking at notecards, I was just able to go off of all that I knew about it. Also because I was so interested in it, I knew what aspects of it exactly to talk about to engage others and get them just as excited about it as I am. Another thing would be that the comfortablility with my topic made it a lot easier for me to hide my nerves and make me a good presenter.

4. What didn't work, and how would you have improved your Lesson 1?

Completely honestly, I was nervous enough to not really remember how the presentation went exactly. When I got up, there, I went on autopilot and I just followed the structure that I had set for myself. I think I would have to say that I would definitely have practiced it more because I went up there having only have practiced it once the night before to see if I would make time, but then when I did practice it I met 12 minutes and didn't try to fix it. So I went up there kinda hoping it would go better than I practiced it and that could have added to my nerves. I also would have asked for a lot more help with the lesson plan. There wasn't too much guidance on how we had to do it so I have the bare minimum. I figured all of the content would be in my speech and didn't realize the lesson plan in itself was a grade. That also could have contributed to my nerves before I went up. Other than that, no complaints.

October Blog

Conformity

One of the major ideas of social psychology is conformity. Conformity is defined as "behavior in accordance with socially accepted conventions or standards". These socially accepted behaviors can range from things like shaking hands when you meet someone, making eye contact, flushing the toilet, or even respecting other's personal space. But why we follow these social norms is what social psychology seeks to understand. Following social norms and interacting with those and the world around us it the very base if everything that we do, so understanding and learning about this will give me a better understanding of the world and I personally believe that a better understanding of the world is what life is all about. Thats absolutely why the study of social psychology is so important to me. I also think that this topic is very interesting and fun to talk about because there are very many cool experiments and examples where we are able to observe people's behavior and I will share a few of the clips to these conformity testing experiments so you can enjoy them as I have.

1. The Elevator Experiment

 2. Asch's Conformity Experiment

 3. Smoke Filled Room Study

Blog #8: Research and Working EQ

1. What is your working EQ?

What is the best way to create and conduct social psychology research to test different behavioral patterns?

2. What is a possible answer to your EQ?

The best way to create and conduct a social psychology experiment to test different behavioral patterns is to have a test and control group, and eliminate all possible inconsistencies and variables between the groups.

3.  What is the most important source you have used that has helped you come up with an answer to your working EQ?

Thus far, the most important source in coming up with my answer to my working EQ was the first article in my WB, "How to Conduct a Psychology Experiment" because it gave me a very detailed outline of the requirements for different ways of conducting experiments and what kind of information they collected, the pros and cons to each, etc.

4.  Who is your mentor, or where are you doing mentorship, and how does what you are doing relate to your working EQ?

My mentor is Viviane Seyranian, a social psychology professor at who allows me to talk to her and observe her work in a classroom setting. Her work provides me with examples of different methods of research, that can contribute to my decision for a final answer to my EQ.

Blog 7: Independent Component 1 Approval

1. Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

To meet and exceed the 30 hours required for my independent component, I plan on completing the Mind, Brain, and Behavior: An Integrated View (PSY 210) course at CalPoly Pomona. The class meets once a week, for four hours per session. With this being a ten week program, I will have completed 40 hours by December third. The following is an image of the course syllabus and an outline of what exactly I will be doing and learning about over the next ten weeks. 

2. Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectations of showing 30 hours of evidence. 

To prove that I have met and exceeded the 30 hour requirement, I will have a final class report showing perfect attendance, meaning I was present for all 40 hours of instruction. I also aim to have high exam grades and a high grade on the individual research paper, showing that I was actively learning throughout the class. 

3. And explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth. 

Being that social psychology is the scientific study of human behavior and interaction, taking this course will benefit me and my understanding of social psychology because its focus in the science behind behavior. This course provides me with a classroom environment to learn about my topic directly, while also providing me with a professor as a type of mentor to guide me and assist me with any questions I may have. The fact that this class is also graded as is all of my work and participation, I will be able to measure my growth and understanding in the subject. The professor will also provide me with topics to research and books to read to further my understanding even more.