Blog 19- Independent Component 2

Literal:

a) I, Marissa Jasso, affirm that I have completed my independent component which represents 45 hours of work.

b) My main source that helped me complete my independent component was the required text for the class that I took (which was my independent component), titled "Psychology In Your Life" by authors Grison, Heatherton and Gazzaniga.

c) Digital spreadsheet- Uploaded in my Mentorship Log
It can also be found here.

d) Explanation of what I completed: I have completed over thirty hours of working on this component. I decided to take a Psychology class at Citrus Community College. It was titled 'Psychology 101: Introduction to Psychology,' instructed by Dr. Sharon Rizk. Throughout the course of the class, I read the entire Psychology text book which consists of 531 pages.

I was originally inspired to take this course because the topic of psychology had always interested me and now that I'm going to college, I need to start acquiring my general education units. I was planning on taking Psychology 101 due to my need for college credits anyways, but when I found out that we needed another independent component, I was sure that this psychology course was for me. The psychology course was based on the many theories of mental processes, perception and intellectual research.

Interpretive:

Here I would like to explain the significance of my independent component 2 by providing evidence and reasoning for this particular choice of topic. Many would wonder how a Psychology course could interconnect with Immigration Law and to that I would answer with this: Psychology and any type of law work hand and hand. Psychology is the study of mind and behavior, and when working in law that is extremely useful information to know. When working with clients, our office often would like to know what on earth was running through their minds during the time of our interview, or the time they committed their crime, or why their behavior is they way it is. Often times we would like to study their behavior more often then we would like to fix the consequences of it. This is why I found that taking a psychology course is significant. I took it in hopes of better understanding the clients I serve.

Theses are the examples of the notes we had to take outside of the classroom. We were assigned two to three chapters per week of reading which ranged from 85-130 pages. There were also mandatory notes we had to take in class, which the professor would check for at the end of every class, but assured us it was for our own personal benefit. There were also homework worksheets the professor would give to us after every lecture, which were constructed very similarly to my personal notes.

This was an example of the homework given in which we would have to fill in the blank. This was an example of Chapter 3 and the pictures I took covered Chapter 3.1. A typical packet she would have given to us for homework would be 7-8 pages in length of fill in the blanks, because it would have to cover material for Chapter 3. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. The structure of the class was simple. The class was held once a week for 3 hours at a time at night. Every other week was a test on the 2-3 chapters we were assigned the week before. In total, I have completed 45 hours of in class Psychology test/lecture learning time. This 45 hours of documented work on my project hours listed above does not include time for homework outside of the classroom, studying or personal note taking from the book or recorded lectures at home.

Applied:

This class helped my answer my EQ in multiple ways I never would have expected. Besides the fact that I'm not even completed with the full course yet, I have already learned so much that can help me answer my essential question. The best example I could give was that in Chapter 9: Motivation and Emotion, the book discussed the topic of belonging, social development and social attachments. The chapter was enthralling to begin with because it started off with the sentence: 'We often hear that "humans are social animals." This statement is not just a s way of saying that people like parties.' What a chapter hook, am I right? Later in depth, it began to speak about the need to belong, and specifically the Need To Belong Theory which states that the need for social relations is a fundamental motive that has evolved for adaptive reasons. It has been our method of survival since far more primitive times, sticking together has now evolved into what it is today which is people staying together in social groups. The book states that "a lack of human contact causes emptiness and despair." It even mentions the movie Cast Away as an example of how necessary human togetherness is to not only life, but living. This was how I got my answer of having the client maintain consistently involved in the progress of their case. People need human contact with other individuals, it makes them feel safer, more protected and more connected. This human connectedness builds the feeling of confidence and motivation within that one individual. I do not feel that I would have come up with this answer if it were not for all that I have learned throughout the course of this class, as well in the particular chapters of Emotion and Motivation.