Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive Psychology is definitely interesting. Be prepared to learn a LOT about the hardware of the brain (like where everything goes) before getting into any psychology. You can focus on different things...I was in A, and we did mostly memory and perception. B, on the other hand, did a lot more research on medical anomilies and mental disorders.
memory and perception in what cog psych is mostly about. medical anomalies and disorders are not actually "Cognitive" psychology, but a much more fun branch
If you are taking this class at Carlisle, in '06 the B class was taught by Eddie (Instructor) and Julie (TA). It was his first year and if he teaches again he will probably be really shy and not open up at all like he was his first session so just try and get him to open up, because he will. Be prepared to see A LOT of Keynote (the Mac version of Power Point) presentations on the overhead. The image on the projector as it is warming up will be ingrained in your memory forever. This was described as being the awesomest class ever by Eddie and you do learn a lot, it just may not be presented extremely well. I have always thought you know a class is sinking in when you can relate everything back to it and even now, months later, I still notice things and say what it is called in Cog Psych and get really weird looks from people. The content of the class is really interesting but you will end up reading the whole textbook if he does the same thing next year (I took this session 1 so he might have changed this for session 2 and subsequent years). The class is a lot of lecture but there are some really good activities. You will feel like you were being bored to death on the first day but it gets better, I promise. You will probably have to do a presentation and a final paper. The class focuses a lot on memory, attention, and perception. We also watched a movie and studied medical problems. Julie was awesome and if you talk to her outside of class you'll find out she is an awesome person. Eddie was frequently mentioned during non-classtime because all of the girls loved him and he knows a lot about the subject. Oh and ask if he can take you to the Quarry towards the end of the session because he probably will. The class content stays pretty true to the catalogue description. I would definitely recommend this class to anyone.
I took this class at Carlisle Session 2 '06. It was my second year at CTY and overall it was a great course, it involves alot of reading and writing, whereas my first year it was mostly discussions. Eddie and Julie were a great teaching team and always had extra input on the thing we were learning. Yes, Eddie was shy as the person above mentioned. It focuses on Perception, Attention, Memory, Language and Problem Solving mainly. All references to Cog Psych. usually involve the study with all the mixed up letters (I won't type it because I am lazy, and you will be tired of it very fast). We saw a couple of interesting movies, and had some good laughs. Overall this course was great, wheather it is your first time at CTY or you are a vetran. (There was a rumor throughout the class (started by a mexican who chooses to remain unnamed) that Eddie had a very small wardrobe consisting of 3 shirts, 2 pairs of jeans, and alot of tighty whiteys.
