Entry #2 -- Day 2

So much fun! xD

Day 1 was entirely about historical approaches. And as much as I like that, I must say that I didn't have the greatest time learning about the different psychiatrists and what they did before.

Needless to say, I approached Chapter 2 today in the textbook with the same attitude as APUSH. Ok, with a worse attitude, because I find American history quite interesting actually =P.

Chapter 2 was about methods -- not much improved in terms of the "content", though in terms of the difficulty of learning, it was easier. What is a mean? What is a mode? And as hard as I've attempted to avoid sarcasm for the past few months...I can't resist it at this moment.

There were some confusing parts though, with new concepts such as sampling and representative data, and well, correlation is an "oldie", but things such as the placebo effect (haha, that's not going to get old) really take things into a new perspective.

It wasn't bad, I must say! Plus, the intriguing examples provided in the Barron's textbook help a lot. And so I took the exam, thinking that I've "got it under control" and "got the hang of it" this time, covering my sad (10/15) score last time.

And as fate would have it, I got a 15/15! NO! I got 10/15! AGAIN. And the mistakes were attributed to the same reason: uncareful reading -- which can be attributed to an attitude that plagues "self studiers" (I say this as if I'm a AP self-study veteran, ha!) as they won't be motivated by "the grade".

Yes, I often find myself muttering in APUSH - I get this! But I'm still getting a ... well I won't complete the sentence there =P. It's for the best ;). But perhaps its the grade that motivates the students to learn, to achieve... and prevent these "non-learnings" or at least "poor intake of knowledge" as shown here.

So next time would be better, I vowed.

And as if the book was pre-made for this kind of a process, I flipped eagerly into Chapter 3, "the biological basics of behavior" ... Ahh, and as the shrewd use of alliteration wasn't enough to welcome me in, the picture ofthe brain sure did (I am usually more comfortable with science).

Did it prove to be as "easy"? Well I did start reading, and did not immediately start taking the notes (which I usually do when going through a chapter). It was dinner time soon, and so with me captivated by the journey of the neurotransmitters through each neuron from the afferent neurons to the brain to the efferent neurons, I took it with me to eat. And finished the chapter, satisfied with the content. For once =P (just kidding, it wasn't that bad, the chapters before).

Perhaps at this stage, I learned something else, in addition to the psychology terms (that I feel like using right now to make me seem smart) and the "lack of motivation" (which quite frankly, I've been aware of looong before) -- okay. I forgot what the 3rd thing was. Oh yes, it isn't exactly a 3rd thing, but more like a 2.5th thing.

It is the knowledge! Not just the "normal" knowledge, but really the new stuff I am learning. It is GREAT! CAT scan = computerized axial tomography ... MRI = magnetic resonance imaging (? -- YES)...all these acronyms, these parts of the brain, it is GREAT, both for myself (as I love learning the most random things...it is my goal, naive or not, to learn a little bit of everything in the world. It's never too late to start =P) as well as the quiz team I am in (but that's a different story for a different day).

I am sure that many other people might see psychology as something that can be easily "taken care of", or "memorized"...perhaps I had thought in that perspective in terms of choosing an "easy AP" to self-study, but not to "get rid of". There's only things to learn and digest, not memorize and regurgitate =).

Of course, there are those who still use the memorize and regurgitate method, and it works for them. It doesn't really work for me. -- I really can't learn unless I enjoy it.

Good thing that I enjoy it then =P.

Did I mention that I got a 12/15 on my 3rd test? (just because I read it once before, then took the notes, or because of the fact that it was more interesting -- ooh, many confounding variables, so I cannot attribute the correlation to a cause and effect -- oh wait, according to what I've learned, I cannot attribute the correlation to be a relationship because my independent variable is not properly defined).

By the way, for someone who knows half of what psychology is about, they should be able to point out the flaws in the above. I guess social science isn't my strongest subject -- but then again, nothing really is. I don't really like how I think that way =P.

OK. Digression (is that a word?) plagues my posts again. Ooh, unconscious alliteration. Ok, total ADD, I better press publish right now before I continue typing. [But I guess I should enjoy the "freedom" part that these "personal experience" posts allow in my blog -- all others is factual factual factual stuff].

Well, hope you enjoyed it. You should have if I somehow kept you reading to here ;).