How To Write in Psychology - Term Paper Example

Reflection on Academic Writing in Psychology Introduction Since I understood the main scope of psychology as being based on the study of human behavior, my interest in writing psychology research papers has grown. I have understood that psychology basically uses empirical inquiry in helping understand the human behavior since it is a social science. I have understood the three main elements needed in completing a psychological research. The three elements include describing, explaining and understanding the psychological concepts from a standpoint of an empirical investigation. As a psychological reader, I have read so widely about the major disciplines in psychology. The disciplines I have read widely about include humanistic, analytical and legal psychology. In reading widely on human psychology, I understand that this discipline typically holds that humans are inherently good creatures. It uses a holistic approach to the existence of humans. This discipline also pays a special attention to phenomena such as human potential, free will and creativity. Basically, I have come to understand this discipline encourages us to view ourselves as “whole people.” It also encourages self exploration and not just the study of behavior in other people. Also, in researching and writing about analytical psychology, I have come to understand that this discipline emphasizes on the main importance of an individual psyche as well as the personal quest for wholeness. The discipline also recognizes the significance of the symbolic in human life. Lastly, in writing legal psychology, I have understood that the discipline involves studying legal institutions, psychological research about the law and those who come in contact with the law. In reasearching widely and writing about the three disciplines, I have seen myself being a better, writer and a researcher in psychology. However, despite my growth in understanding of this field, I have encountered a lot of challenges. For instance, being an interdisciplinary field, it lacks a solid purpose and definition. However, I have done more research and consultation in this field to overcome these challenges (Beech, 2009). Process In the process of reading and writing psychological papers, I have used different materials. Since the materials differ greatly, I have been in a position to gather information from different sources. As noted earlier, I have used the different materials to research widely on various disciplines in psychology. In reading different materials for different disciplines, the information I have gathered greatly differs. Getting this different information from the various readings I have made has helped me in understanding the different psychological disciplines. The wide reading I have made has helped me in comparing, contrasting and synthesizing various academic materials in the field of psychology (Beech, 2009). By using the existing studies as well as other psychological concepts that are currently accepted, I have been able to review different study methods. I have been able to review study methods primarily based on four criteria. The four criteria I have come to learn are student characteristics, materials, learning conditions and criterion tasks. The learning conditions I have learnt through my research include the kind of environment I need to use in the technique. For instance, in case a student can have the ability to learn better while alone or while in group. For student characteristics, I have learnt that it involves ability, age and the prior level of knowledge. For material questions, I have come to learn that different materials are in order to better a psychological research and learning. Lastly, for criterion tasks, I have been able to look different outcome measures. I have been able to learn the student achievement is based on problem solving, memory and comprehension. Generally, students have different perceptions about psychology. In addition, I have been able write and edit APA style. In this style, I have been able to use the correct grammar and make proper citation of the sources I have yused in my research. Rhetoric In my reading from the inner to the outer part, psychology has been highly criticized for creating a flattened picture of a person. It appears like there is no depth of motive or character, just moves in conversational interaction. However, I have seen more going on in the conversational interaction than the speakers are consciously aware of it during the participation moment. Also, I have seen things move too habitually and too fast to be remarked upon or consciously noticed. In so doing, I have seen the possibility in discursive approaching helping in the understanding some psychological issues of unconsciousness (Beech, 2009). In my extensive reading in psychology, I have greatly grown in reading skills. I have greatly developed my reading skills in terms of identifying the main topic, major support and minor support. In my reading, I have been able to get the main idea from any psychological material that I have read. I have been able to identify the main ideas of these psychological materials as the subject of the papers. In addition, I have been able to identify the major and minor support of these psychological materials. For example, in reading the Controversies in European Science by Aristotle, I have been able to identify the three parts. In my readings, I have been able to grasp the main idea through identifying the important information that the author is trying to put across. When writing, the authors always have the main idea in mind which they are trying to pass to the readers. The bigger part of the psychological material is made up of supporting sentences. The supporting sentences are made up of major and minor details. These major and minor details have helped me in explaining or proving the main idea in a psychological research. In identifying the two, I have been able to present facts, examples, reasons, definitions, comparisons, and contrasts among other important details. After identifying these two ideas, I have been able to support the main idea in my written works and argue my points out in the best way possible. Collaboration After receiving the faculty and peer feedback, my writing was greatly influenced. I have been able to influence my audience both through oral and written suggestions. Through their feedback, I have actively used the six principles of persuasion to persuade my audience. The six principles are consistency, reciprocation, social proof, scarcity, liking and authority. In the liking principle, people will exploit this to find ways of making themselves like you. For example, I found that if I like football and my audience also likes it, they will develop a liking for me. Liking in some way is similar in consistency since it brings out the difference. For example, the feedback from my peers made me realize that having more visitors on my blog that they are not necessarily looking for any connection with me. Rather, they are seeking for consistency. In the authority principle, I changed the way I inform my audience before speaking to them. In so doing, it has increased the odds that I will persuade the audience. In reading my peers’ works written by Noah Kagan, he writes how he made his connection with his guest writer all the best credentials of this guest writer. However I did not change the style of delivering my information to my audience. I did not change this part since it would create a negative attitude to my audience. My changing of the way I persuade my audience and peers has helped has helped them to easily grasp my information without a lot of difficulty (Beech, 2009). Research ethics In the process of undertaking psychological research this semester, I discovered that ethics are important in any psychological research. Before undertaking any research, I found it necessary to stick to the ethical code of conduct. Since I knew that I was dealing with people I found it necessary to observe psychology research ethics. As a researcher, I needed to outline to my participants what the research is about. After that, I asked for their permission to take part in my research. However, I found it hard to gain their informed consent. I found this acceptable so long as what happens to the participants is something that easily happens to their life on daily basis. For example, when my research and writing involved observing people in a bus queue, the research could be done by anyone on these people who are on the queue (Beech, 2009). In some cases, there was deception. This situation involved participants of my research being wrongly informed or misled about the objectives of the research. For example, in my research study on obedience, the participants thought that they were giving electric shocks to me when they answered my questions wrongly. In the real sense, I received no shocks. I found this necessary to some extent in order to avoid demand characteristics, that is, the participants having a clue about the research and they think they know what the research needs to answer. To combat these challenges, I deceived my participants as little as possible. The deception I used was one that could not cause distress the consent I had gained from the participants. The participants were not supposed to take part in the research they did not have an idea about even after consenting to the research. I needed the true nature of my research to be discovered possibly at the earliest opportunity or during debriefing. When I found the participants objecting or distressed after discovering the nature of the research during debriefing, I discovered that my research was unacceptable. In the process of mu research writing, I have been able to distinguish between the various scholarly resources. In the the process I have been able distinguish these resourses found on Google Scholar, EBSCOhost and psycINFO. Using these sources has put me in a position to evaluate authors credentials, authority of authorship as well as evaluating the challenges in their works. In writing, I have been able to write reviews about the authors’ works. Craft My research in psychology has greatly improved my vocabulary related to psychology. I have learned the language of psychology as being hard and complex to explain but there is need for humans to communicate. My learning about the definition of cognitive psychology has made implications about my language. I have learnt that lexicon plays a crucial role in psychology vocabulary and language in general. In developing my vocabulary related to psychology, I have learned about cognitive psychology as the study of mental processes. These mental processes involve thinking, perceiving, believing, speaking and reasoning. Through using this psychological language, I have learnt language affects cognitive processes (Beech, 2009). In the process of trying to understand the human language, I have learnt about terms that are important in important in improving how I present my psychological research. I have learnt of terms such as duality, arbitrary, perceptions and phoneme. In human language, arbitrary is based on individual judgment or discretion. The judgment is not based on any type of objective distinction. However, it is random. Duality of patterning involves how a person connects sounds and meaning. Lastly, phoneme is an indivisible unit of sound in a particular language. Basically, it involves an abstraction of the physical speech sounds. In may encompass various different phones. My writing of psychology papers and essays has greatly improved. When writing these papers, I have been able to apply the rules and styles. Through doing a lot of research related to psychology and writing reports, I have been able to improve my grammar and style used in writing a psychology report. The main psychological style that has greatly grown in me is the American Psychological Association (APA) style. In addition, I have been able to improve my grammar as a result of extensive research and writing. References Beech, J. (2009). How To Write in Psychology: A Student Guide. New York : John Wiley & Sons Publishing. Read More