My thoughts on AP psychology

1. What did you like about the class?

Psychology itself is interesting, but Mrs. Halfen was able to make it more interesting by giving the class more information than we could simply get out of the textbook. I also liked that if you wanted the chance to better your grade, you had the opportunity to do it with the Steeping through the Sections and the Chapters at a Glance.

2. What was your favorite activity or project?

I'd have to say my favorite project was the sensation/perception project. It was a chance for us to learn from our classmates, and the activities after the notes were fun.

3. What didn't you like about the class?

I didn't like that some of the time especially towards the end of this semester, the material on the tests were not covered in the class. For the most part it was up to us to learn from the book. I'm sure Hurricane Ike has made the first semester difficult for many teachers.

4. What do you think I should leave out next year?

Next year I think we should leave the blogging out. Although it is a fun activity, I would have rather spent more time preparing for the semester exam and the AP. I think the blogs could just as easily be completed at home.

5. Do you have any suggestions or ideas for things I could do next year in AP Psych?

I think it would be awesome to bring in a hypnotist when your talking about the different layers of our conscious.

6. Do you have any suggestions or ideas for next semester in AP Econ?

I want to play the stock market game, although it might be about who loses the least money these days.

Why so lonely? : }

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/12/08/loneliness.psychology/

In this CNN article, a group of researchers was able to determine loneliness may be affected by genetics. After 8000 twin and sibling cases, they have found strong evidence to support this case. They explain that much of this is probably caused by evolutionary psychology. Our ancestors stayed in groups to protect each other from predators, therefore we feel lonely when we're isolated from each other as a biological defense mechanism. I agree this could be part of the problem, but it doesn't really account for our varying tolerance for isolation between people. The article goes further to explain that a good way to avoid loneliness is to participate in community service, much like how we do in NHS :D