Studies abroad

University is a place where people come to learn new things and in order to become specialists in their chosen fields. In these days the variety of study subjects is very wide. So here I would like to compare my psychology studies at Mykolas Romeris University (MRU) and at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) (USA).

First of all JHU is one of the most honorable university in the world for its ability to grow very good specialists, especially of medicine (doctors etc…). Dedicated to research, not clinical training, Johns Hopkins has one of the smallest of the top-ranked psychology departments in the United States, and has consistently played a leading role in the evolution and progression of American psychology.



At MRU psychology course consist of many different subjects and lasts 4 years at the first stage but you cannot call yourself a psychologist, because in order to do so, you have to finish second stage of psychology. Now this stage can last from 2 to 6 years and yet this is not necessarily the end. Our government had a discussion involving the questions should psychologists pass a licensing council and should they be acreditated like doctors. Unfortunately there is no decision made to this day.



I haven’t thought a lot where to apply , because of the financial issues and my commitment for my country, so I’m studying here at MRU and I prefer to keep this way.

Self-Assessment (take two)

• WRITING (A SUMMARY)
Writing a summary is still not easy to me. Although I still think that more practice at this subject will make my summary writing skills better.

• PERFORMANCE IN ESP VOCABULARY TESTS
Vocabulary tests are easy because definitions are simple to learn. Especially when definitions are recapped in Lithuanian course of psychology.

• PERFORMANCE IN CLASS DICTATIONS
Dictations were the weirdest activities in the class. First of all it is difficult to perform well because when writing I think about the text not about grammar for example. Second thing is the time wasted by this activity. BUT this is just my opinion.

• LISTENING PRACTICE IN CLASS
Listening was quite interesting and useful to get used to the specifics of the English language.

• LISTENING TO PEERS’ POWER POINT PRESENTATIONS
Some of the PPT’s were interesting and informative, some of them were boring.

• MAIKING POWER POINT PRESENTATION
This is the most important and useful thing. Making presentation helps to build knowledge in some subjects, and talking out loud gives an opportunity to get used to it.

• SHORT TALKS ON ESP THEMES IN CLASS
I like short talks because I do not prepare them. I like doing them on the spot. I think this method is better, at least for me.

Richard Wiseman experiment

Professor Richard Wiseman is a very popular psychologist for his research in unusual areas of psychology. His work has been supported by prestigious organizations and is reported in over 40 academic journal articles, eight books, 10 book chapters.



Recently I have participated one of his experiment. The experiment is called “THE FACE EXPERIMENT”. Its aim is to measure how a face or a facial expression influences our “personality reading” ability.

The experiment is very easy from technical view. Two faces appear and a person has to guess which one is more religious, lucky or even humorous. Result will be sent via email.

So this is another great experiment from Richard Wiseman. Here is the link to the experiment. http://www.facesexperiment.co.uk/

Phobias

Today I will talk about 2 disorders called phobias. Phobia is an irrational, intense, persistent fear of certain situations, activities, things, or people. Also it makes our lifes difficult.

SOCIAL PHOBIA. Social phobia is a persistent fear of situations in which the person is exposed to possible scrutiny by others and fears that the person may do something or act in a way that will be humiliating or embarrassing. It exceeds normal "shyness" as it leads to social avoidance and substantial social or occupational impairment.

Treatment research has provided evidence for the efficiency of two forms of treatment available for social phobia: certain medications and a specific form of short-term psychotherapy called Cognitive-behavioral therapy.



XENOPHOBIA. This word can mean a fear of or aversion to, not only persons from other countries, but other cultures, subcultures, subsets of belief systems. As with all phobias, a xenophobic person is aware of the fear, and therefore has to genuinely think or believe at some level that the target is in fact a foreigner. This arguably separates xenophobia from racism and ordinary prejudice in that someone of a different race does not necessarily have to be of a different nationality.

To conclude I would like to say that some therapists use virtual reality or imagery exercise to desensitize patients to be healed. Everything is progressing for a better life.