This past week I got accepted and cleared to work as a research assistant at one of the psychology labs at the university, which I'll mostly be doing once I get back from Scotland since I have such little time left here now. I've been incredibly excited about the opportunity (research experience is a major plus to get into grad school for counseling).
But then today I observed my first weekly lab meeting, and I began to think for the first time that I might be in over my head. The language and atmosphere is so different from what I'm used to.....in my English and Dance major classes, we use abstract, murky concepts. We talk about creativity and beauty and depth, we talk about critical perspectives and what constitutes art. In Psychology Research World, it's all about numbers and data and producing a product, all about end results rather than exploration of a process. As I listened to the assistants give their findings, it was clear that being busy was considered a virtue and producing results was the bottom line. They all kept throwing out terms I didn't know and discussing tests they were running that I didn't understand. I walked out feeling a bit overwhelmed from academic culture shock. As I left the building, a grad student from the meeting walked up beside me in tall high heels, clutching a Prada handbag as she remarked, "I didn't understand anything when I first got here either. You just need to pretend like you know what you're doing for a few weeks and you'll survive." As she waved and walked off, I couldn't help wondering if I would even know how to pretend. I'll give it my best shot....
I love my psychology classes this summer, but sometimes I think I learn more about it while I'm sitting in coffee shops. Confession time: sometimes I pretend to read in a coffee shop just so I can watch and listen to the people sitting around me. People watching is absolutely fascinating to me. Try it sometime and I guarantee you will hear some interesting (often crazy) stuff.
Speaking of summer school classes, a funny story: In Social Psych, we were discussing "self-discrepancy theory," the idea that people get depressed or anxious when their actual self does not equal the self they ought to currently be or the future self they would ideally be. Our professor asked us to list 5 characteristics of our current self, 5 of the self we should be right now, and 5 of the self we would ideally like to be someday. After a long awkward silence in response to his request to share our answers, a girl in the back piped up (her cheeks beet-red): "I am currently single, I should be in a relationship, and I will ideally be married."
Needless to say, we all cracked up laughing. So much for profound insights into the conflicted psyche....but hey, way to be candid.
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currently reading: "The Ragamuffin Gospel," by Brennan Manning, in addition to about 5 other books. I need to stop all this simultaneous reading-- it's a bad habit.
But then today I observed my first weekly lab meeting, and I began to think for the first time that I might be in over my head. The language and atmosphere is so different from what I'm used to.....in my English and Dance major classes, we use abstract, murky concepts. We talk about creativity and beauty and depth, we talk about critical perspectives and what constitutes art. In Psychology Research World, it's all about numbers and data and producing a product, all about end results rather than exploration of a process. As I listened to the assistants give their findings, it was clear that being busy was considered a virtue and producing results was the bottom line. They all kept throwing out terms I didn't know and discussing tests they were running that I didn't understand. I walked out feeling a bit overwhelmed from academic culture shock. As I left the building, a grad student from the meeting walked up beside me in tall high heels, clutching a Prada handbag as she remarked, "I didn't understand anything when I first got here either. You just need to pretend like you know what you're doing for a few weeks and you'll survive." As she waved and walked off, I couldn't help wondering if I would even know how to pretend. I'll give it my best shot....
I love my psychology classes this summer, but sometimes I think I learn more about it while I'm sitting in coffee shops. Confession time: sometimes I pretend to read in a coffee shop just so I can watch and listen to the people sitting around me. People watching is absolutely fascinating to me. Try it sometime and I guarantee you will hear some interesting (often crazy) stuff.
Speaking of summer school classes, a funny story: In Social Psych, we were discussing "self-discrepancy theory," the idea that people get depressed or anxious when their actual self does not equal the self they ought to currently be or the future self they would ideally be. Our professor asked us to list 5 characteristics of our current self, 5 of the self we should be right now, and 5 of the self we would ideally like to be someday. After a long awkward silence in response to his request to share our answers, a girl in the back piped up (her cheeks beet-red): "I am currently single, I should be in a relationship, and I will ideally be married."
Needless to say, we all cracked up laughing. So much for profound insights into the conflicted psyche....but hey, way to be candid.
................................................
currently reading: "The Ragamuffin Gospel," by Brennan Manning, in addition to about 5 other books. I need to stop all this simultaneous reading-- it's a bad habit.
July 14, 2009 at 10:18 PM
I didn't much like that book.
July 15, 2009 at 2:01 PM
yeah, I could take it or leave it. there are good nuggets, but it's a bit meandering and repetitive.