Child Psychology

Okay, so before you guys think that History & Philosophy of Psyc is the only subject I took last sem, I also took Child Psychology. It's one of my favourite subjects because we studied an individual's physical, emotional, cognitive and social development from pre-birth to adolescence, and the problems and disorders which can occur at the various stages of development. Plus, my lecturer is a practicing psychologist from Canada, so he made it interesting by giving real-life examples instead of the same stuff which is already in the textbook.

So anyway, here are some of the stuff we learnt:

We learnt so many things about newborns and pregnant mothers and labour that I don't even know where to begin. Newborns are usually assessed using the Apgar Scale, which assesses the newborn's physical condition by measuring the pulse, breathing, muscle tone, general reflex response, colour of skin, etc.

Among an infant's primary emotions are smiling, laughing and crying.

A child's handedness (whether the child is a righty or lefty) can be determined at an early age. You can see in the picture that this girl is a righty.

Educational toys can help children to develop and improve their skills at an early age. Check out her motor skills too, among which is her ability to grip/hold objects.

When talking with babies, adults tend to use "baby language" to elicit a cooing response from the baby.

Language functions as a tool for children to convey their needs. Sometimes children also use it as a form of escapism, such as talking on their own, or while playing with their toys.

Eating disorders: Some children have problems eating - whatever attempt the parents make at forcing them to eat does not work. However, there are also children who overeat, thereby becoming obese/overweight.

Try observing a baby when he is left alone. One second he's looking at something in front of him, the next he's looking on the floor, the next he's looking upwards.

This 1-year-old is in Piaget's sensory motor stage of development. She is exploring the object (it's just a bench) and has discovered that she can climb onto it.

An older sibling can also help in teaching his little brother stuff such as constructing sentences, or opening the water bottle.

Credits to the mini models: Cousins Fawwaz, Zain, Fida and Hanif; "niece" Daania; brothers Zulfadhli and Basyir; and siblings Nusaibah, Rumaisa', Basyir and Hassan.

Credits to the XL model: my father. :-)

Sophie's World

Hey people...once again, sorry for not updating my blog. Yes, it's the usual excuse...so I'm not gonna bother typing it again here. :p

Anyway, one of my assignments for my History & Philosophy of Psychology subject actually required me to read a book, do a book review plus a 3-minute recording of me reading my favourite part. Of course, I could hardly expect stuff like the Twilight Saga or Harry Potter to be in the reading list. Instead, among the titles we got were Confucius's The Analects, Sigmund Freud's Civilization and its Discontent, Ibn Khaldun's Al-Muqaddimah, Hamka's Tasauf Moden, and - oh, joy!! - Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder. It seemed like the most fun book to read, and luckily it did turn out to be fun. Well, it was mostly about Philosophy, but the way the author presented it made Philosophy actually seem quite interesting. He used lots of simple metaphors to describe what a certain philosopher meant and the way that philosopher thought. Plus, the book covers almost all the philosophers to ever exist. The story is set in the 1990s in Norway. So I'm just going to literally copy-and-paste my assignment here...but just the synopsis. Let me know if any of you wants a copy of this book or if you suddenly decide to like philosophy. :D

Sophie’s World is about 14-year-old Sophie Amundsen who receives a mysterious letter in the mailbox when she returns home from school one day. The envelope is addressed to her, and in it is contained just one question: Who are you? The next day, Sophie receives a strange postcard addressed to a “Hilde Moller Knag” From then onwards, Sophie’s life changed forever. Everyday, Sophie would receive an envelope containing “lectures” on philosophy by a mysterious philosopher. In the beginning, the lectures explained the meaning and concept of philosophy using simple terms and metaphors but still managed to make Sophie look at the world around her with a newer and broader perspective. In one of the letters and a “video trip” to Athens, the mysterious philosopher introduces himself as Alberto Knox to Sophie. He teaches her many things about past philosophers, their philosophy project and their method of philosophizing. For example, Socrates was more concerned with man and his place in society compared to the forces of nature. His method of “discussing” philosophical matters with everyone he meets by asking questions and exposing their weaknesses, whether the highest-ranking man in the society or a servant doing odd jobs, aroused the irritation of those being questioned by him. Therefore, the people of Athens found him guilty and sentenced him to death. Other philosophers whom Sophie learned about with Albert Knox are Kierkegaard who suggested that it is more important to find the kind of truths which can make an individual’s life more meaningful, Freud and his psychoanalytic theories, and other philosophers like Marx, Darwin and even the natural philosophers of the pre-Socratic era such as Democritus and Empedocles.

At the same time, Sophie has also been receiving mysterious letters addressed to Hilde Moller Knag sent by her father, Albert Knag. She has also been finding properties of Hilde, such as a red scarf belonging to Hilde under her bed. As Alberto Knox was teaching Sophie about the Renaissance, Descartes and Berkeley, Alberto told Sophie that they are both in the mind of Albert Knag and that they have to find a way to escape. It is at this point that the story changes to Hilde’s point of view. Hilde is given a copy of Sophie’s World in a ring binder by her father on her 15^th birthday as a way of teaching her philosophy. When Hilde starts reading, she is caught up in the story and she is sure that Sophie is a real character who is out there somewhere. Meanwhile, Alberto Knox has a plan to escape from Albert Knag’s mind, and they must carry out the plan during Sophie’s philosophical garden party in honour of her birthday, for that is when Albert will return home from Lebanon. As the party becomes more and more chaotic, the climax of the party being when someone rammed the Mercedes car into the apple tree, Alberto drags Sophie and together they “disappear into thin air”. They now live in the spirit world where they are invisible to everyone except for those who are like them, such as Snow White, Peter Pan and other fictional fairy tale characters. They drive to Hilde’s house where Sophie sits next to Hilde and tries to talk to her – but of course, to no avail. Sophie watches as Hilde’s father returns home and is lovingly embraced by Hilde and her mother. She feels envious of Hilde because Hilde is made of real flesh and blood and has a family, something which Sophie felt that she could never have. But Alberto tells her that since they have cut the “umbilical cord” connecting them to Albert, they can now do anything they wish, including returning to Sophie’s home. The story ends with Albert and Hilde discussing the big bang while Sophie tries various methods of attracting their attention, which she finally succeeds in doing when she manages to set the rowboat adrift.

U Life Resumes...

A new semester - new faces (the naive, innocent juniors), old friends, newly-made friends, old luggage from previous semesters (basically the never-ending society stuff), and best of all...new subjects.

History and Philosophy of Psychology

Yawn. Zzz. Yeah, right. Not with the lecturer I got this sem, thankfully.

The philosophical part:

Lecturer shows a slide with a picture of a big, black circle.

"So, can anyone tell me what colour this is?"

Black, duh.

"Very good. How do you know its black?"

Sheesh. Through experience, learning, bla bla bla...roll eyes at the lecturer.

"Hmm...but how is your definition of black different from your friend's definition of black?" (With a big, wide grin on her face)

Blank stares. WTH?!

Why on earth do philosophers find philosophy interesting??? Do enlighten me.

The historical part:

"Why do we study history?"

Easy. To know our roots, learn lessons from the past so that we won't repeat the same mistakes, bla bla bla...

"Yeah, but the past is past, right? What's the point of learning about all these dead people?"

Tell me about it. I'm sure every single student has asked themselves that question each time they flip open the cover page of their History textbook back in high school.

"Think about it. I'll give you an analogy - when you want to marry someone, you have to know that person's history first, right? How many brothers/sisters he/she has, how many past relationships he/she has been involved in, and the cause of the break-up. And why do you do this? 'Coz you'll be investing your future with this guy/girl, so you have to dig up his/her history."

Hmm. When she put it that way, it does sound logical and pretty interesting.

"So how can we relate that with the history of psychology, or any other science for that matter? Because, although the people are dead, their ideas still live on."

Hence the reason we are all sitting in classrooms and slugging away over our textbooks and assignments - to study the "living" ideas of the dead.

Back in the Blogsphere

OMG. I dunno how long its been since I last updated my blog! I'd like to apologize to everyone, especially for not dropping by your blogs at the very least. Last semester was just crazy with all the research, assignments and the society (Psychology Students' Association - PSYCSTA) work. Sigh. Anyway, its now the holidays. Time to take a deep breath and unwind.

In the Dark of Night

Recently, a friend and I couldn’t seem to sleep, so we just hung out in the corridor chatting about various stuff. I then glanced at the sky and commented on how dark the sky was tonight. My friend said that the moon isn’t showing herself tonight, which led us to remember the bits of science taught to us during primary school – the one about how the earth spins on its axis for 24 hrs (1 day), and how one complete orbit around the sun takes 365 days (1 year).

Then I remembered a lesson I learnt in my Arabic class which discussed verses 3 – 10 of Surah Yunus in the Holy Qur’an. Verse 5 mentions that Allah created the sun and the moon to move in its own orbit so that we (as the slaves of Allah) will know how to count the months and the years. So my Ustaz told us that the Roman calendar (tahun Masihi) is based on the sun and consists of 365 days a year, while the Hijriyah calendar is based on the moon and has 354 days in a year. That means that if we follow the Hijriyah calendar, we’d actually be older than we are now since it has fewer days in a year compared to the Roman calendar. Slight shudder there.

Another fascinating thing which my Ustaz pointed out to us in Verse 5 is the way Allah described the sun and the moon - Allah has created the sun to radiate and the moon to glow. However, I find that the Malay translation of that particular verse is more apt and easier to understand, believe it or not. Dia-lah yang menjadikan matahari bersinar dan bulan bercahaya. The significance of Allah’s usage of the word dhiya’ (which means ‘to radiate’) in describing the sun is because the sun emits light – bersinar. On the other hand, the word nuur is used to describe the moon because nuur means cahaya. In this case, the word cahaya means ‘light’, but in the sense that when the moon catches the light from the sun, it shines because it is reflecting the light from the sun. Of course, you will recall from your primary school science that this is because the moon doesn’t emit or radiate its own light – rather, it reflects the light from the sun (and thus, bulan bercahaya).

The shining sun

The glowing moon

It’s really beautiful and amazing actually the way Allah has paired and suited the perfect adjectives to describe His creations. Even I had to refer to a number of dictionaries and Qur’anic translations while writing this post. But then again, it shows that although we human beings are gifted with ‘aqal (mind), our knowledge will never, ever surpass Allah’s knowledge, unless He wills it to happen.




**Please correct me if there are any mistakes...Thank you.

It's Over!

Alhamdulillah, my exams are finally over and done with. Of course, now that its actually over, I can't help wishing that I spent more time studying instead of sleeping, eating and whatever it is students generally do when they should be studying. And once you've actually started studying, you start to realize that the subject is actually pretty interesting. Then you wonder why on earth didn't you start studying earlier?? You then vow to not study last minute anymore next semester, but you end up going through the same thing again. But never mind...the best thing - and the only thing to do now - is to make du'a to Allah that my results will turn out okay. Sigh.

I'm Still Here..!

First of all, I'm so sorry for not updating my blog in like, 21 and a half years as kindly reminded by my old friend. It's just that I was sick for a whole week during Raya, so I didn't even have the urge to go online, much less find the energy to update my blog. This Raya was quite an uneventful one for my family actually. Sigh...never mind, trials and tribulations are a part of life.

It's now the middle of the final exam season at IIUM (another valid reason to not update my blog), and I've only got one paper left - Islam & Psychology, which pretty tough to score. After that, I'm going home to enjoy my almost-six-weeks-of-vacation!! During which I will update my blog, insha Allah. Exams do not deter me from reading novels!

So anyway...please pray for my exams. Hope all of you have fun doing whatever it is you're doing.

Bz, bz, bzzz!

Oh my God, I have been extremely busy these past few weeks. Even though I'm only taking 15.5 credit hours, the workload is by far the heaviest compared to the previous semesters. Whoever said taking Human Sciences is "easy" can get lost. I mean, a simple article review for a level 1 subject is already a lot of work in itself - we have to find the correct and original article using the online database (which is not very easy since there are like, millions of articles and you're only given the author's name and half of the title), then review and relate the article to the various underlying psychological concepts. And being IIUM, we also have to relate it to Islam. Its interesting if you have plenty of time to do it, but when you have other articles waiting to be reviewed...sigh.

The coolest assignment is probably for my Abnormal class. We watch movies related to psychology and answer the various questions given by the lecturer for individual assignments. Who'd have thought that there were so many psych movies out there? Hannibal, Silence of the Lambs, Benny & Joon (starring Johnny Depp) and Girl Interrupted (starring Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie) are just a few. We even have to do a group presentation on a movie...of course, we have to diagnose the character's psychological disorder first and stuff. Here's a list of psych movies for those who are interested.

Another pretty cool assignment is for my Public Relations class. We have to choose any organization as our client and prepare a comprehensive PR proposal for them, plus add some recommendations on how to solve the client's problems or improve its current state. And the client has to be a real, factual client, so we have to collect some background info on them. My lecturer suggested reading the newspapers to see which companies are currently facing any problems, but I can't seem to find the right company yet. Any suggestions, anyone?

Of course, there are other assignments such as a major research proposal and test administering assignment. But I guess that's student life...better enjoy it while we can. And at least our daily activities vary from day to day. Have you ever thought about animals and what they do during the day? Let's take bees as an example. For those who have seen the Bee movie, I'm sure you can understand. They do the same thing every single day. Imagine doing the same thing every single day of your life until the day you die??? Shudder. So we should be grateful to Allah for creating us as human beings...and I should probably stop groaning and sighing and listing all my assignments and actually start doing them.

Abnormal!

So today I attended my first Abnormal Psychology class. A fellow classmate predicted that our lecturer would be short, fat and bald...but boy, he was totally the opposite of those! Dr. RK's tall, not-so-fat figure, greying hair and sense of humour gave me the impression of somebody's grandfather. Or the type of old-timers who like to spin yarns to the young tourists.

He is the first lecturer who did not brief us on course contents, etc for the first class. Instead, he proceeded to tell us his entire life story, starting when he was born in Thailand up till the moment he stood in our class. And I'm not kidding either. But of course, he did not simply tell his story to entertain us...there must be some value or moral in it. Relating his advices to his story, he told us that that there is no point in being angry with people to the extent of doing something you don't like. For example, my lecturer didn't like Agriculture; but he majored in it just to prove to certain people that he had it in him to excel in that field. And he did succeed, but then he found that he wasn't happy with what he was doing. Hence the second piece of advice - when doing something, make sure you do it for yourself. And you have to decide what it is that you want to do, because if you really do it, then the chances of succeeding is higher. And need I mention that he kept us laughing during the entire time?

I was waiting for him to ask if anybody wanted to ask him anything. This is because in his introductory slide, he wrote "Assoc. Prof & Clinical Psychologist" beneath his name (you may recall that clinical psychology is among the many careers I am thinking of). So as soon as he asked the customary "Any questions?", I immediately raised my hand and asked if he was a practicing clinical psychologist (to which he said was a very good question). He said yes, he has a practice in IIUM (and somewhere else which I can't remember). He is also a consultant for the National Heart Institute (Institut Jantung Negara, IJN) - they call him to do a psychological assessment on a patient before the patient is operated on. This really, really attracted me. I was so excited to get a practicing clinical psych to teach us, because he can share his experiences when teaching us in class. Plus, I can ask him anything should I want to pursue this career.

Alhamdulillah, I have been lucky to get great lecturers so far. However, there is one lecturer this semester who is, umm...rather slow in teaching. But never mind. Looks like we'll just have to adapt to her style. And try not to fall asleep at the same time.

New Semester

It's that time of the year again for us university students - the beginning of the new semester. It might be a bit more exciting for the new students (new place, new friends, etc) or for the temporarily-separated lovers, but for most of us (old) students, its the same old, same old...the packing of bags and lugging them back to campus with heavy hearts, and wondering what exactly did I do during my holidays?? Other than the usual eating, sleeping, eating, surfing the Net, sleeping and eating of course. Although I admit I am one of the ones guilty for doing the mentioned activities, I did help my parents out with the house chores.

The first week of semester is a rush of adding/dropping subjects and making sure your class schedule is just perfect (seeing as you'll have to live with it for one whole sem) in between going to classes. And as is customary for the first week of the first semester, the first few classes are spent with the usual briefing of the course contents and course assessment by the lecturers.

This morning I attended my first Islam and Psychology class, taught by Dr. A who is more well-known for his strictness in marking. A friend had already warned me about him, saying that her CGPA dropped because of the low grade she achieved for that particular course. So I entered the class feeling a wee bit nervous and apprehensive of this really strict lecturer. But when he started briefing us, I found that he has a very good sense of humour (not to mention good English) and managed to turn a what should be boring task into something more interesting to listen to.

Of course, there were several values inserted amid his funny briefing. He was reminding us not to copy each other (in other words, DO NOT CHEAT!) during the mid-semester exam, and especially not to tell the other section the exam questions (since the other section will be sitting for their exam later than us) because life is all about tests. Even the Prophet Adam a.s. was tested by Allah, even though he is the first human being on this earth.

And he encouraged us to think critically in class, which is something that Malay schools in general don't really make students do. But the best part was when he encouraged us to not be shy if we want to ask questions or share our opinion in class. He said that that is the negative aspect of the Malay culture, where we are expected to be senyap and sopan (quiet and polite). So if that hinders us in speaking up, "just forget that you are a Malay and act more like an international student who is never shy to speak up". I was quite impressed by that line, actually. Although I was a bit embarrassed on behalf of the Malays, especially since a foreigner friend was sitting beside me. Nevertheless, I am more determined than ever to score his subject and prove my friend wrong (Amin).

My Research Methodology lecturer, Dr. S, advised us to come to class with an open mind and an open heart, because those are among the important factors which will help us learn and absorb new knowledge. It is also important to have a positive mindset (actually, this is also a psychological concept). I mean, if you come to class feeling that Oh God, this subject is so hard, I'm so gonna fail, it won't exactly help you pass that subject.

She also stressed on the importance of punctuality. According to her, "punctuality is critical because it shows the kind of person you are, what kind of person you'll become, and what kind of person you'll raise when you become parents". Ooppss. That statement kinda hit me because I've been late to class a couple of times (but then, who hasn't been late at least once in their life...right?). And the part about raising someone when you become parents is kinda freaky too. Erm...I don't think I'm gonna go into parenting right now.

So, all things said, here's to a fruitful semester to me and every university student out there!

On Psychos, Psychics and Psychologists

I am a psychology major at IIUM. Prior to this, I was a Sc. Math major since IIUM Matric until the 1st sem of my 1st year at the Gombak main campus. But then the Science Kulliyyah moved to the Kuantan campus, which is new, barren, has incomplete facilities, out-of-the-way, hard to go shopping or anywhere else due to the lack of public transport (unless, of course, you're one of those lucky students who have a car). In short, the Kuantan campus is just not my type of place because there are only three Kulliyyahs there (Medicine, Pharmacy and Science), so just imagine how BORING it will be meeting the same people everyday. Plus it's too quiet...I go crazy in quiet places. Ehh...I know quiet places are supposed to be good environments to study in, but each to his own I guess. Oh, and did I mention that it will be too far for me to go home?? Kuantan-Penang is like, 7 hours I think by bus. Shudder. Check out this picture below. That's IIUM Kuantan for you.

So that's why I decided to change courses. Haha...okay, I'm lying. I also changed courses because I can't stand Math anymore...which is kinda surprising considering the fact that my grandpa Wan is a great math teacher. Heh heh. High School math and Matric math are still tolerable...but majoring in math is insane! Unless you're a fan of math, I'm sure you'd agree. I mean, Algebra used to be a tiny chapter in the text book, but it's now a whole subject. Urgh.


So why change to Psychology?? To tell you the truth, I never knew much about Psychology, Sociology, Mass Comm...basically the arts sector. This is because Malaysians are quite narrow-minded when it comes to the career fields (another disadvantage of the Malaysian education system?). Here, the only "top" courses are Medic, Engineering, Law, and Economics. Try telling someone you take something other than those four courses, and they'll go "Ohh. I see.", like it's not really great and perhaps you're not really that clever to take those top courses. I know this because I was once in the Science field (and I got good results for my SPM), so once upon a time, I was one of those who looked down (just a bit, though) on these art courses. But since I'm now an art student, I've been trying to expose more of these courses to my juniors. And I have to say, their surprise and interest really encourage me.

In foreign countries such as the US, UK and Australia, the arts sector is well-established and is even considered as one of the "top" courses. In fact, the people there will probably say "Wow! I see!" (instead of the "Ohh. I see." you get here) if you tell them you're a psych major. And if I'm not mistaken, psychology is a science subject in certain countries. Among the courses offered in the arts sector other than Psychology are Mass Communication (my minor), Political Science, History, Sociology and Languages. Since I had to take an Introductory subject on each course (except the language), I have been more open-minded towards these courses because they are all useful in their own ways. I mean, if nobody took History, who'd be left to document the history in making?

But no offense to the doctors, engineers, lawyers and accountants out there...you guys are still a big contribution to the world. Luckily though, my family has an interesting mixture of careers - my sister is a Dentistry student, my Ummi's a lecturer, and there are several engineers including my Ayah (I guess you have to have a few of those), a few uncles are in the Syari'ah field (and now have successful careers...not just becoming an ustaz), a pilot, a Cabinet Minister's assistant, and my youngest Aunt is now into Culinary Arts. That's really interesting. Perhaps we can leave the Raya cooking to her and she'll whip up a few gourmet dishes.


Actually, I'm going to talk mainly about Psychology. I chose it because its about the human behaviour, which is something we all do and observe other people doing - unconsciously. Before I go further, I'd like to point out the difference between a psychic and a psychologist as I've noticed that some people are confused between the two terms. A psychic is someone who uses extra-sensory perception (ESP) to perceive things which are hidden from the normal human senses (eg; predicting the future); whereas a psychologist tries to understand why a person acts the way they do and the role these actions play in a person's social behaviour.

Other than studying people's behaviour, psychologists also study a person's cognition (thinking), emotion, perception, personality and interpersonal relationships. Which is why I really like it, because i've always liked observing people (but then again, who doesn't?).


Learning about a person's personality is really cool because you learn about a person's traits & characteristics which make him unique.From there, you can describe a person, explain his behaviour and can even predict his future behaviour. Most companies nowadays rely on personality assessment tests to help them find a suitable candidate for their company. Crime detectives do a case study on their suspects in order to study their profile and behaviour, like the case study done on the serial killer Ted Bundy.

For those of you who are interested in just the human part of biology, but don't want to torture themselves by doing medic should go into Psychology (please click here to learn more about the daily tortures which medic students have to go through. I find this blog interesting, funny yet so true). The neuropsychology branch combines neuroscience and psychology and relates the brain to behaviours. I also had to take a Physiological Psychology subject, and when I compared it to the Physio that my medic friends were taking, they were basically the same stuff. Except the psych students' exams are easier than the medic atudents'. Heh heh. But you still need to memorize facts and theories for exams, so I think the Engineering and Math students are luckier in that aspect. All they have to do is know/understand the formula and just apply it.

Psychology has a very good career prospect...at least in the US. Here, its just "Ohh...so you can be a counsellor!!" like its the most exciting thing to do in the world. Roll eyes. I just hate it when someone says that to me. C'mon la, there're many other careers like clinical psychologist, forensic psychologist, health psychologist, neuro psychologist, engineering psychologist, sports psychologist...please click here or here for more info. Or else, its "Haha...hope you don't become a psycho like your patients!" Argh...! For your info, people, its the psychiatrists who have a bigger chance of becoming psychos as they will be the ones who will actually treat the mental-disorder patients. Psychologists in the abnormal psychology area study the nature of psychopatholgy (the study of mental illness or mental distress) and its causes, which is then applied in clinical psychology to treat patients with psychological disorders. Examples of psychological disorders are anxiety disorders (eg; a specific phobia), psychotic disorders (eg; Schizophrenia) and even personality disorders (Please click here for more info).

In this ever-developing world, I would say that the demand for psychologists and psychiatrists are quite high seeing as the number of people who are on the verge of going crazy because of stress is always increasing.

As for me...I haven't exactly decided yet what I want to be. I'm thinking about child psychology, which deals with dyslexic kids, autistic kids and so on. It would be nice to make a difference in these kids' lives. If I wanted a career for the money, I'd be better off doing industrial/organizational psychology. But my parents always taught us that when we do something, make sure we do it for Islam...not just for the money or worldly status. You know what? I've got like, 2 more years to decide. Hopefully this coming new semester will help me choose the right career. If not, maybe next sem. Or the next sem after that.