Personal Reflection In Psychology

The essay demonstrates your ability to write clearly and concisely on a selected topic and helps you distinguish yourself in your own voice. What do you want the readers of your application to know about you apart from courses, grades, and test scores? Choose the option that best helps you answer that question and write an essay of no more than 650 words, using the prompt to inspire and structure your response. Remember: 650 words is your limit, not your goal. Use the full range if you need it, but don't feel obligated to do so. (The application won't accept a response shorter than 250 words.)

This reflection will discuss personal diffidence and how it has influenced my academic studies, including my practice within placement settings. Gibbs reflective cycle (Gibbs, 1998) has been utilised as it illustrates a clear structure for the process of reflection. To conclude this reflection will draw together the themes which have emerged and highlight a clear action for future learning that will be used in order to enhance my future practice.

An example of when I displayed resilience was when I was assigned a unit as a hospital volunteer and took on different roles that what I anticipated. My supervisor was on maternity leave for the duration of my rotation, so I was placed at the nurses’ station to aid them with tasks as needed. The difficulty I had in this role was the ambiguity when I came for my shifts and feelings of being a burden to the staff by not having designated tasks. Rather than continue these negative thoughts, I came up with a new strategy to be of help by reducing the staff’s workloads or prepping paperwork in advance to allow them more time to focus on the patients. Additionally, I sought feedback on areas I could improve on to not only help the unit staff, but also patients and their visitors. These tactics are similar to what we discussed in class pertaining to developing our growth mindset. By enforcing these strategies, I was able to contribute to a more positive and rewarding atmosphere during my shifts with everyone I met.

As this semester is about to come to an end there has been so much enlightening information that I have learned throughout this semester taking psychology. There has been a few chapters that have really stuck with me and have intrigued me to write about.

When interacting in a group setting, I tend to overanalyze everything by cause of being a highly sensitive person (HSP). Consequently, I am usually more aware of subtleties. This in turn, helps me to analyze concepts, behaviors, and needs –accurately. In other words, I tend to focus on finding answers that align with my observations, ethical responsibilities, and commitments -when needed. For instance, I will go above and beyond to accomplish successful outcomes, even if I have to work longer hours; my motivation relies on the organization’s success, helping others, and my personal pleasure of accomplishment. Also, I would demonstrate honesty and keep promises, trust and support, I am understanding/ empathetic, and have respect for all of the group members.

Reflecting back to the first semester of English 5A, I have made progress in my writing abilities but feel that I have more room for improvements. The class discussions and peer review were useful to me because I was able to get a different perspective on my essay and take different idea suggested. My goal for the second semester is to learn more about how to construct a strong thesis and be able to hook the audiences into my essay. After looking the rubric and reflecting on my essay, I could improve on incorporating quotes to help my essay be more effective instead of adding a quote without any explanation about it.

Week two and three were very interesting and eventful. The most impressive part was learning to use and work with the SCM. The system is a state of art and navigating through the system was educative. Any information you need on patient to help you complete your care effectively is precisely, focused and clearly documented in SCM. However, the second week I was still a little nervous and I chose to work with a client with less complex issues but curious enough to want to learn about heart sounds in a client with arterial fibrillation. I also wanted to practice taking pulses manually. My client was very cooperative, optimistic and determined to leave the hospital and go home. At the end of my shift I was so sure that he would be discharged the following day; but to my surprise; when I came back the following day, his countenance had changed, he spoke less and seemed uninterested in everything around him. During my six hours, my client had been moved at least four times from room to hallway then another room and back in the hallway before I finished my shift. This made me really sad and I felt helpless I could not help but wonder if this was the reasoning he was unhappy. I did my best to make him feel cared for and provided as much comfort as I could.

For those of you who know me well, you know that since last November I actively participated in recruiting with the big four accounting firms. My free time throughout the week in the school year was spent going to socials, interviews, case studying and team building exercises. I was learning how to socialize in a business environment and I was learning to like the black pants suit with a nice pair of Tory Burches for comfort neatly packed in my purse. In fact, I even mastered the cocktail social. The cocktail socials were the most difficult for me because I am only 20 years old and thus, I couldn’t drink because I figured using a fake id to buy alcohol in front of a future potential employer was a bad idea. So I had to schmooze recruiters completely sober, which as easy as it sounds is a hard feat to accomplish. However, by the time my final two cocktail socials rolled around I had mastered what I like to call my signature power move to impress employers and that move was packing my own bottle of Stella Artois in my purse and then casually bringing it out once the full social was in swing that way I could drink alongside the seniors from Terry and Franklin college. I felt my recruiting game had instantly improved after making the revolutionary connection that BYOB was my golden ticket to a summer internship with one of the BIG FOUR.

In the fall of 2012, I had to have two brain surgeries to fix a condition I had called Chiari Malformation, which basically meant that my brain was too large for my skull. The months that followed were some of the worst in my life, I can not even begin to describe the pain that came with the surgeries. But in retrospect, my situation truly was not as awful as it felt in that moment. After having my brain surgeries, I was left to sit around and watch TV all day, but in retrospect this time proved to be one of the better events that has happened to me. Sitting in a reclining chair, unable to move with my eyes glued to the TV was the time that I developed an eye for film technique. During this time my life became more than watching movies, but how the lighting framed the actors faces, how the camera panned across the background, even something as simple as how the layout of the scene played into the overarching work. This was when I first began to grasp that I had a passion for work in the computer field in terms of electronic design.

The writing I did this semester for Engl 110c has meant alot to me because I was able to pick a topic that has such a huge impact in my life. I was able to do the topic about Navy Wives, which has a huge impact on me. I recently became a navy wife a year ago and my life has changed drastically. I was able to share everything I wanted to about the life of a military wife through my writings, as well as share to my classmates about my topic. I really enjoyed creating my ePortfolio because I could come out of my shell and be me. I made a ePortfolio website that would be for military wives to read. I believe this website would be perfect for any military wife reading it. I was able to give tips and information on what it’s like to be a military wife, how to prepare for deployments and how to stay strong being a military wife.

As American computer scientist, Emerson Pugh, once said, “If the human brain were so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn’t”. Over the course of sixteen weeks we, the fall of 2017-2018 Psychology 101 class, were able to look in depth into some topics, and only begin to skim the surface on others. Although I may have reached the end of the semester college course, I have not reached the end in wanting to learn more about the topics we were able to explore during this short time. From the phases of classical conditioning, to the hundreds of types of therapies used to treat psychological disorders, the amount of beneficial information you can learn about humans is limitless. In my case, I found the material on Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development, the parts of the brain, and the personality tests the most intriguing and the most advantageous in helping me as I progress through life. To completely understand the brain is simply phenomenal, and a feat that no one has truly accomplished, but to be aware of some of the reasoning for why our brains react the way they do can be just as useful.

Throughout the course of the semester I have learned a variety of things about psychology. I have learned about the founding father of psychology Wilhelm Wundt, various theories and case studies, coping mechanisms, and stressors. After going through each of the sections this semester, I have learned quite a few ways to utilize psychology in my personal life, professional life and academic career, in a way that is beneficial to me and progressive to my future.

When meeting others, the observations I make are immediate. I often assign traits and characteristics to them without being conscious of the fact that I am doing so. How I react to them – and whether or not I desire another interaction with them – is dependent on these assignments. The characteristics I admire in myself, and the attributes that I observe in others form these assessments. The Role Construct Repertory Test allowed me to recognize what traits I value in others, understand my personal constructs, and given me insight into my own cognitions.

“I plan to give members of my committee more control over their initiatives,” I said before the senate body after my appointment as the new Academic Affairs Chair within the Student Government Association. Forever encapsulated into the meeting minutes was my bold idea: the Renaissance of the Academic Affairs Committee.

Every individual’s life – and background – is unique. It is this experience unique to each of us that forms our views of the world. I am incredibly fortunate to have had the upbringing I did. Being a 19-year-old female raised on a ranch in the middle of nowhere with middle-level income, I have been exposed to the most basic of life concepts like the value of hard work, as well as the more complicated concepts like the invaluable interpersonal and interspecies relationships present in the ranching lifestyle. I learned most of my life lessons in a barn, out in a hay field, on the back of a horse, under the truck, or in the show ring. As a result, my political views at least somewhat reflect those of the people around which I was raised, giving me a unique political socialization.