This entire semester I have enjoyed going to my psychology class. There has never been a lecture that I did not enjoy listening to. This paper is going to be very hard to write, as there are so many important topics that we learned about in class. However, I believe I have narrowed it down to three. I believe the most three important topics we learned about are: the multiple perspectives of psychology, the different ways of learning, and nature AND nurture. I believe that six psychological perspectives are most important because without this basis, you would not understand a lot of material later covered in the class. I now see why we learned about this first in class. I am very glad that I learned this as I now have a greater understanding of why different famous psychologists thought the way they did. Also it shows that no one perspective applies to everything in psychology, each bit adding to the overall thought process of psychology. It also taught me to not assume things as there is always another side of the story.
I may think something happens because of the biological perspective, but all of the other perspectives may also play a part in it. I believe without these principles of psychology, then we could never progress in psychological research in today’s world. The second thing I feel is most important is the different ways of learning. We all learn things throughout our life, and it is interesting to see how exactly we learn. My favorite example of this was the classical conditioning and the airsoft gun. I found it hilarious that the guy’s roommate began to flinch even when the “The Was Easy” button was pressed. It also affected me personally several times in my life. I used classical conditioning whenever I was a child and had an outside cat. Every morning at feeding time, we tapped on the top of the can of can food with a spoon.
The cat eventually associated this noise with food, and would run back home every time that it heard the noise. I think it is important to understand all types of learning as it helps you understand psychology better. It also deals with the next topic. The third most important thing that I learned was the nature vs nurture debate is wrong. It is nature AND nurture together. Nature part would be all genetics. You are genetically programed to behave in a specific way. Nurture is being taught a way of behavior. It you are nurtured in a way, then you will become a specific way. Neither of these are one hundred percent correct though. Nature AND nurture affect an individual. This also explains the diathesis-stress model.
One can have a diathesis, a genetic predisposition to something, but this diathesis never shows up unless a specific stress in placed on an individual. This proves that nature AND nurture both affect our personalities, our behavior, and everything about ourselves. My psychology class has been one of my favorite all semester, there was never a lesson that I was not interested in. I really hope that I can fit another psychology class in my schedule in the near future. This may be difficult as I am trying to graduate in three years, but if everything goes in my direction, I may be able to take another class. I have really enjoyed Dr. Jordan’s teachings, and I hope that all the information I learned can help me be successful in the future.
