Us, and Others

"The Importance of Psychology" Owlcation, 2021

As I am typing this we are wrapping up our first unit in "A Nations Argument." This class was a collage of people declaring their independence on different levels through out the history of America; The beginning, when it was several colonies and groups of native Americans, to the Declaration of Independence, to what it even means to declare independence, and now, where we students have been asked to make our own declaration. A declaration of study to tell our teaches exactly what we want, need, and deserve to learn about. 

School, from kindergarten to high school, seems to be an introduction to our world. Slowly progressing in the intensity and amount of knowledge to be passed on to later generations to secure a future for other generations to come. It's the start of us. There has always been this kind of start, either in an actual school or learning in life. In America, which is mostly where we talked about, we have guided our declarations under three "unalienable rights" listed and explained in the declaration of independence. The unalienable rights, meaning rights that can't be taken, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

Considering all of the above, I declare that, as a student, I should be allowed to have the freedom to study and learn about anything I desire. I should be allowed to serve myself, others, and humanity with what I find and learn. To get to the point, I must be allowed to study human interaction. I am aware of how HUGE this topic is and the definition of human interaction could change based on person but I want to learn about the psychology of  humanity and their interactions with each other. 

Even throughout history ancient people in many parts of the world recognized the importance of the mind and soul. Thousands of years ago the Chinese has their officials take personality/ intelligence  tests. In Bagdad a doctor named Rhazes was already describing mental illness in the 1800s. If they can understand the importance of mental state, then why cant we?     

Now do you remember how I mentioned that our declarations are guided by our need and right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness? This has to do with our pursuit of happiness. We are getting into the minds of people to further our own potential for life. We are “pursuing” a future for ourselves by learning how to be more in our social interactions. “Social” refers to media, peers, superiors, groups, and the public. “More” refers to getting everything you can from an interaction, whether information, connections, friends, and/or allies. The study of the psychology behind our interactions is complicated but these are the literal applications behind it. We study ourselves to find more meaning and understanding, but almost everything that has to do with people will have some real world application. 

We met with a principal of another school system that goes by "Montessori" practices and spoke about how teachers will watch students and their interactions not only with other students but also with themselves to determine how they may be emotionally/ internally. I think this is a great example of how these studies can be useful in a more practical sense rather than "That interesting to think about."

Premise: Teacher doesn't understand why a student is behaving some way.

Premise: Student has trouble understanding their own thoughts and feelings.

Premise: Student wants to help their friend but doesn't know how.

Premise: Student cant properly explain their feelings to others.

Premise: Students and teachers can help parents understand mental health in themselves and their children.  

Premise: As youths start to shift into adulthood it will help to understand social situations.

Premise: Once an adult, it will be important to know who people are to you and you will only know that from an understanding of yourself, them, and how they act around you. 

Premise: There is nothing about learning from yourself that could be a negative. 

Conclusion: Teachers and students should learn about human interactional psychology, even if briefly. 

To use all of this in a class setting and properly pursue a deeper understanding of the psychology of others as well as myself for a proper conduction of actions based on situation (Location, orientation, race, religion, history, mindset, and many others), we need a few things. First we need a guiding question, topics to study in each unit, some history of psychology, and maybe a few guests to talk with us. 

To fill this list, I purpose the following:

GQ: "How will we navigate our relationships, and how will they change us?

Topics: 

• Unit 1: An into to our history with psychology.
• Unit 2: How do we use psychology in modern times?
• Unit 3: How can/do we use psychology in our normal lives?

Main Historical Reference: William James, his book and his contributions to psychology.

Guests To Look Into: Finding someone like a Psychiatrist, Neuropsychologist, or Psychiatric Nurse would be ideal, along with a visit to a psychiatric ward would be a good visit.

And with that I have completed my declaration. This AP was interesting because I would like to learn about this subject so I felt I had a lot to say. Its been cold this term but I felt this was my chance to find an interest to be excited about (Not to say nothing else was exciting). I don't really have anything else to say apart from thank you to everyone who read this, and everyone who critiqued this to help me make it better. Have a good day, night, of whenever your reading this.

-CDH