Current Event

Currently in my life, I have been feeling very stressed out and overwhelmed. The majority of my stress comes from schoolwork, grades, ACT scores, college applications, volunteer hours for National Honor Society, and being an officer to National Honor Society, Future Business Leaders of America, Spanish Club, and Senior Class.

I think the reason why this seems so overwhelming to me right now is that I have been procrastinating more than usual. (Which I used to never do. I have no idea why I have fallen into this bad habit.) Also I tend to put a lot of unnecessary pressure on myself which causes me to worry and stress about these minor things all the time. I have problems sleeping at night because I am so worried about my grades and school work. I also have major anxiety issues before taking tests and quizzes. This is something I am currently working on overcoming.

I think that if I could get my stress under control, stop procrastinating, and no longer have test taking anxiety than I would be able to manage things a little bit better.

Chapter One- Thinking Critically

Research in Psychology is important because it is evidence that helps support the theories about behaviors, thought processes, habits, moods, responses, and expressions of people. If the research or the data does not support a theory than it will revised or simply rejected. Without research we would not have knowledge that we do today to make professional diagnoses and evaluations on patients. (Professionalism which we as a society have come to expect and depend upon.)



An example of how research is relevant to my life would be: Within the last year I have had two benign tumors removed. I had several tests and scans done before they could properly diagnosis me. The type of tumors that I had were extremely rare and they had to research through medical books in order to diagnosis me, surgically remove them, and test them for cancer/other diseases. Without research I may not be as healthy as I am today. This is just one simple example out of many as to how research is relevant to my life.


I learned various things in this chapter. I found in particular the research part to be fascinating because I always wondered how psychiatrists knew how to diagnosis patients correctly considering this subject seemed so subjective. Another thing I found to be interesting was the section on wording effects. I never realized how much emphasis people put on words until I read that section. I also learned about the correlations and illusory correlations. I never realized that people are more likely to recall or notice things when they believe a relationship exists.

Prologue Blog

Before reading the prologue I thought that Psychology encompassed the thoughts, behaviors, and emotions of a person. After reading the prologue I found out that differs because Psychology is so much more than that. Psychology encompasses functions off the mind and puts people's actions into seven perspectives. The perspectives are Neuroscience, Evolutionary, Behavior Genetics, Psychodynamic, Behavioral, Cognitive, and Social-Cultural.

Psychology affects my life everyday because based off my genes, information/data, and memory I would not be able to function whatsoever. Psychology explains all my phobias/repulsions of heights, bugs, worms, and fish/seafood. It also explains my emotional responses, perceptions, influences, moods, and habits.

I think what I learned most from reading the prologue was that every thought, perception, response, mood, and/or habit can for the most part be explained. I found this to be intriguing because now I might have an explanation for my responses, habits, and/or moods that I did not have before. I also never knew that there were seven perspectives of Psychology to describe aspects of our day to day life. Overall I found this prologue to be a very insightful look as to what to expect to learn about Psychology.

Sit Up Straight! Be Confident!

I read this article recently on PsychBlog which discussed the results of a study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology about posture when sitting. The study took 71 students and divided them into four groups. The first group was a group of students that were sitting up straight and writing three positive things about themselves. The second group was a group of students that were sitting up straight but writing three negative things about themselves. The third group was a group of students that were slouching and writing three positive things about themselves. The last group of students were slouching and writing three negative things about themselves. The point of the study was to see if your posture had anything to do with self-esteem. The results showed that the students who were sitting up straight were more likely to believe the three positive things that they said about themselves verses the students who were slouching and did not believe the positive things that they wrote down about themselves.

I found this article interesting because I find when I am slouching that I tend to have problems paying attention and tend to think negatively about things I have to get done. However when I am sitting up straight I tend to be more productive. I doubt that this study applies to everyone but I still find it fascinating how the little irrelevant things can impact a person's attitude or whole outlook on the day along with their self-esteem.

About Me

Hello,
My name is Jessica Treml. I am a seventeen year old and a senior at Edgar High School.

I believe my friends and family have helped shape my life and help to make the person I am today. I believe this because if they were not around and different people were there to influence me I may not be the same person I am today.

Studying Psychology is important because it will help me better understand others around me and because it affects every aspect of my life. This will help me be more compassionate towards others and help me not make preconceived notions of others before meeting them first.

I believe Psychology is the study of the thoughts, expressions, and behaviors through human reactions to our environment.