My Goals for Introductory Psychology Essay

It is my hope that this introduction into psychology will open new ways of understanding how our minds work and the impact our mental processes have on our everyday lives. My goal is to learn how to become a more insightful reader and thinker across disciplines so that I can apply this new knowledge to practical issues in a thoughtful and educated manner. My initial goal is to become a critical reader of our course readings. In order to accomplish this I am going to change my reading habits by utilizing an active approach, including highlighting, note-taking, and asking questions when I am not clear. By tracking my reading and keeping the information organized in my notes I will have direct access to my thoughts about a psychological issues. Specifically, I will maintain a detailed bank of information to draw from when I need to study for a paper or an exam. This alone will be immensely helpful in putting a halt to my current procrastination method and will open up new ways of learning about our mental applications. I will be able to track my progress by how well I retain the information I am reading and by how well I am able to implement this knowledge into practical situations, whether settling an argument, planning my future, or developing personal relationships. I am very comfortable accessing and utilizing computer based texts to help me gather information. On-line quizzes are helpful in testing general knowledge and they point out areas that are in need of improvement. I also follow links to study aids and suggested websites because they often provide detailed information about specific topics as opposed to the general information provided in some textbooks. In addition, Wiki pages and hyperlinked text pages can offer many different lines of inquiry. For example, when I am studying about Freud, I can follow through to pages that are specifically oriented to the id, ego, and superego. Furthermore, I can follow these links to pages about the subconscious or to pages about his notions concerning dreams, desires, and impulses. I am hoping that this course will shed light on the way people act as we do. I am interested in discovering some of my root motivations for holding certain attitudes and beliefs, for example what types of pre-conceived ideas I hold about strangers, or how I react to the way people judge me without fully knowing my personality. I feel that the more we can understand our impulses and desires the more we can direct our energy toward our ideal selves; this psychological basis will be a key to this approach. Being a critical thinker will open these pathways to understanding by incorporating various psychological perspectives to complement my knowledge up to this point. Instead of simply taking things at face value, I will be able to apply my critical knowledge to my everyday life in a more nuanced and balanced understanding.