Self assessment in learning ESP

This term was not very successful for my ESP studies. My results in short vocabulary test were not satisfying and the same I can say about all activities. I do not know why this term my results were worse , it may be because of too little efforts. The one activity remained the same, it is speaking in the class. Speaking helped me to consolidate all information about modules and it was good occasion to ask questions if something was unclear. I also do not improve my summary writing skills this term. Also there were only few listening practices this term, I think it would be useful to have more listening practices. One of the activities I liked, was making power point presentation. It was interesting to choose interesting topic for me and share my knowledge with colleges Finally, as I mentioned this term was not successful for me.

"Psychoanalytic theories" Summary

Psychoanalytic theories try to explain human behavior in terms of interaction of various components of personality, but mainly it focuses on unconscious psychological conflicts.
According to Freud there are three components of personality: id- demands immediate gratification of needs, ego- realistically fulfill id needs, according to social norms, superego- moral ideals. Personality well being depends on interactions between these components.
In Freud’s theory two main drives motivates human behavior: Eros and Thanatos. In his theory the pleasurable feeling experienced by human body plays important role. Five psychosexual development stages are based on desire of pleasure.
One of Freud’s associates Alfred Adler believed that birth order have main influence on personality and agree with Freud that first five years are crucial. Another Freud college, Karen Horney made her own personality theory based on Freud’s ideas, the thing which were new in her theory are ‘ideal self’ and ‘real self’.
Psychoanalytic theory developed by Freud was important and served as basement for other theories to emerge.

"Your true colors" summary

According to article “Your True Colors” colors influence our emotions and behavioral patterns. Marketing world know this, and use colors to make sales of production or food consumption better.
There are differences in ways in which same colors affect people from different cultures. Article illustrates this trend with example, that French will eat grey tinned peas, but British will not.
According to John Ott color affect our nervous system, also have influence on our blood pressure, energy level, hunger. McDonald’s use colors to create atmosphere in which people feel hungry but also they feel like being in hurry so they do not stay in restaurant for very long.
Another experiment which proofs that colors affect people nervous system is example with housewives which said that powder in the yellow packet was judged to be more powerful than powder in blue packet.
Article informs about colors influence on people, gives examples of experiments which show how much colors may change people attitude to objects which surround them.

One of the best way to improve our english skills is to do listening practises.In my opinion while listening we can know interesting information in more intereting way,than reading.This time I could choose topics I want listen to,so I have listen podcasts named 'Near-seath experiences'(http://tinyurl.com/6d7fh3) and 'Psychology of cheating'(http://tinyurl.com/68sgjm),the first one was more interesting,but I have enjoyed both.Topics of podcasts were interesting, it was easy to understand speech,probably because of slow speaking rate,words were understandable.
Listening to podcasts is usefull extra activity while preparing for important english listening tests.

Self-Assessment

During my second half-year studies in Mykolas Romeris University I have known a lot of new things in different subjects.Esp Studies was also very useful for me, my english now is reachier in terms and other skills in this subject also went forward.
My summary writing abilities are better, I think I pay more attention to my old mistakes and do not repeat them.

Performance in ESP vocabulary tests to my mind is the same,because we must learn terms by heart, of course my lexics are reachier but memory skills are the same.

Performance in class dictation is not very good, perhaps because we did not very much exercises of this kind.

Listening practise abilities have not improved because we do not do very much of these exercises too.
Listening to peers's power point presentation is always nice and lets to understand subject better.
Making power point presentation is not my favourite activity but it is also useful.

Short talks on esp themes are interesting and useful, because we can exchange our opinions, improve our listening abilities, learn to speak in front of public.

Phobias

A phobia is an irrational, intense, persistent fear of certain situations, activities, things, or people. The main symptom of this disorder is the excessive, unreasonable desire to avoid the feared subject. When the fear is beyond one's control, or if the fear is interfering with daily life, then a diagnosis under one of the anxiety disorders can be made.
It is generally accepted that phobias arise from a combination of external events and internal predispositions. Many specific phobias can be traced back to a specific triggering event, usually a traumatic experience at an early age. Social phobias and agoraphobia have more complex causes that are not entirely known at this time. It is believed that heredity, genetics, and brain chemistry combined with life-experiences to play a major role in the development of anxiety disorders, phobias and panic attacks.
Many famous people have phobias I have chose few celebrities with phobias. Sigmund Freud suffered from Siderodromophobia, a fear of train travel. Marilyn Monroe suffered from Agoraphobia, fear of public or open places. Billie Bob Thorton suffered from Panophobia, fear of antique furniture.
Some therapists use virtual reality or imagery exercise to desensitize patients to the feared entity. These are parts of systematic desensitization therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy can be beneficial. Cognitive behavioral therapy lets the patient understand the cycle of negative thought patterns, and ways to change these thought patterns. Gradual desensitisation treatment and CBT are often successful, provided the patient is willing to endure some discomfort and to make a continuous effort over a long period of time. Hypnotherapy coupled with Neuro-linguistic programming can also be used to help remove the associations that trigger a phobic reaction.
Anti-anxiety or anti-depression medications can be of assistance in many cases. Benzodiazepines could be prescribed for short-term use.
Emotional Freedom Technique, a psychotherapeutic alternative medicine tool, also considered to be pseudoscience by the mainstream medicine, is allegedly useful.
These treatment options are not mutually exclusive. Often a therapist will suggest multiple treatments

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobia
http://www.phobiasonline.com/j0119935.gif

Richard Wiseman's experiments

Richard Wiseman is well known professor of psychology.Before he became interested in psychology he was an amateur magician,now he is explaining all those trics from psychological poiont of view.
His unuasual object of researches makes him original scientist,he explains such phenomenas that other scientists do not pay attention.I like his tricky experiment with cards while the point of experiment were not card but enironment changing around them,I think this experiment shows how we differentiate attention and shows how many information we lose.
In my personal view such scientists as Richard Wiseman makes scientific researches more interesting,unusual and can interest people who even dislike science.Reteating from traditional areas of experiments makes our views broader and open ways to know something that we still do not know.