Professional Skills for Psychologists

Module & Mahara

When I first started Professional Skills for Psychologists, I realized that it's a special
module because it is about skills and attributes, abilities and talents which are essential
to all other modules and it's not focused only on a certain part of the course. It looked
very organized and structured, the tasks were clear and chronological, the rest depends
on the students to perform them.

At first, Mahara appear to be very complex but I got used to it after looking through the
website and testing different options and editing tools.

Skills & Attributes

Why study psychology?

The main reason for studying psychology is because it's a very broad field with many
working opportunities. I've chosen Single Honours because I wanted focus only on one
subject, learning everything about it, and then following a certain branch of Psychology.

What motivates me?

What really motivates me is very personal but gives me confidence and perseverance.
Like other people that have family problems, I do too and almost lost mine. Only then I
realized how important a family is and from that moment I knew that what I really want
to do is to help families stay together. My desire is to become a Counselling Psychologist
in order to work with children, teenagers, couples, families and individuals

Are my motivations different for different parts of the course?

Introduction to Developmental Psychology: understanding human development

Psychological Research Methods: learning about statistics, hypotheses and methods

Cognition and the Brain: fascination with biopsychology and how the brain works

Professional Skills for Psychologists: learning how to become a good psychologist

Skills & Attributes

Skills I got: patience, listening, critical thinking and analysis, coming up with the best
explanation, experience, summarizing, work ethic skills, creativity and imagination,
linguistic capabilities, visual measuring and estimating, computer skills and fast typing.

Skills I need to improve: language & grammar skills, communication & speech, reading,
writing, essay, organizing skills, time planning/management, team-working, public
speaking,

Skills I need to gain: eye contact, math skills, tone of voice, understanding statistics and
variables, using graphs and tables, report writing and referencing.

Specific & subject related skills

I usually try to use all my skills for each subject, combining my abilities in order to
observe, listen, write down, reformulate and then present my work.

Personal transferable skills

There are some skills that can be transferred from a person, in our case a psychologist,
to another. Mentioning, describing or writing some skills is not enough to transfer them.
They must be observed and evaluated by the one that wishes to learn them. Only then
he can understand how a certain skill works and under what circumstances, for example
watching another person optimizing space in order to save time which will eventually
help him focus attention on his work, assignment or task. Seeing how one skill can
influence another is an excellent method for transferring skills. There are many other
transferable skills such as the ability to listen which can be observed and adapted to
certain situations. Performing mathematical and statistical tests from simple to complex
in order to increase the skill. Working in teams from just a couple of members to a
dozen and more can provide an excellent training.
Learning styles

People learn in different ways, otherwise the education system wouldn't have to come
up with new methods.

How do I learn best?

After reading Introduction to Learning Styles, I can say that I have characteristics from
each learning style described. I enjoy being involved in new things, exploring modern
ideas and constructing innovative methods (Activist). I don't mind being in a
complicated situation and I appreciate the opportunity to question theories or ideas
(Theorist). I work easier when I am guided first by a model that I can follow and when I
can see the advantages of a new technique (Pragmatic). However, these general
descriptions apply for many people, if not for the majority, and cannot determine my
learning style. I consider myself to be a Reflector because I always take a lot of time to
analyze details. My method of understanding something is by looking at it from different
perspectives and gathering the same type of data from multiple sources in order to
correctly evaluate a theory, interpret statistics and present the results. I respect the
rules and ethics and I believe it is polite to listen to others first and then present my
point of view, it is also easier do to this after taking into consideration all other opinions
and probably finding errors in them.

The Online questionnaires about learning styles indicate that I am equally balanced, I
use skills from both sides of the brain, suggesting that I use flexibility, creativity and
organizational skills in my work.

I use visual and kinaesthetic learning being able to combine visual representations with
practical things therefore creating presentations used to demonstrate theories, ideas
and findings to others.

As a reflective learner, I am thoughtful and methodical about my work, sometimes

relying less on the practical approach.
I prefer to work alone and my strength of doing so is my self-motivation and
independent thinking. Although I enjoy working in a team, I prefer relying on myself
and sharing my ideas only after I've finished organizing mine.

Order is very important to me, in my work and life and general however I can adapt to
different situations and a small amount of disorder will not affect me.

Not many people enjoy working in a noisy environment, nor do I, but sometimes a
certain song or type of music can provide inspiration, confidence and a certain rhythm
when performing a written or a practical task.

When working under pressure, my motivation increases significantly, however these are
not directly proportional and stress can easily occur but using other methods I can
overcome it.

During middle and high school, learning was mostly done by writing down information,
reading it from books and not relying too much, sometimes not at all, on visual
representations, let alone practical methods. I believe that when I came in contact with
images and videos, I started to learn in a different way, easier and more interactive.
Continuing this learning style, I began to enjoy it and now it's my best way to learn.

My future learning plan is a combination of watching relevant videos, such as

documentaries, seminaries, lectures and even movies relevant to the discussed topics in
the classroom, and starting to read the essential books for the modules. I found that
associating words, sentences and ideas with pictures, illustrations and graphs facilitates
learning, remembering and using the information afterwards.
Thinking about learning: Reflection

Reflection is a careful thought about something. We use it to analyze, review and

improve our work. Reflection is very important in making decisions from the simple day
to day activities to our jobs and extreme situations. There are two approaches that
people use when reflecting on something.

Unlike the surface learner, I am very meticulous when it comes to new information,
recent research and different or even opposite ideas. I first separate the known facts
from the theory, then comparing old ideas with the new ones and distinguishing the
essential differences between them. This doesn't mean that the deep learner cannot
update, improve or even change his methods, skills or learning styles when he is
required. Flexibility in different situations is also a skill possessed by the deep learner.

The deep learner makes analogies between ideas from different fields of study or even
distinct sciences. He is involved, interested and preoccupied with his work or/and study
whereas the surface learner is more interested in the benefits of his work.

I am a visual/kinaesthetic learner, relying mostly on visual representations, some

practical approaches and less on auditory methods. However, I can adapt my style of
learning depending on the circumstances. This is also called critical reflection. Not
accepting something just because it fits in the gap.

Personally I like to work in a quiet environment, early in the day, and preferably in my
own home. However, when I think about it, sometimes I just needed to hear something
so that I can write, my inspiration being more active during late hours and having new
ideas for a topic while I wasn't in my home. This means that flexibility is present in any
learning style and it's very useful when we make changes in our lives.

Next week - performing the tasks required for each module, directed study, reading.

Finishing my degree and afterwards applying for further education, Master's Degree.
Depending on the circumstances, getting a PhD, if not, looking for a suitable, desirable
and important job.
Filling the gaps

Starting with the title, which must not be too long but relevant to the study, I used my
skills of formulating, rewording and combining grammar and linguistics. Writing the
introduction required a lot more time than estimated. Review of recent literature,
relevant to the study, was essential and I managed to find exactly what I needed to talk
about, in order to justify my hypothesis. I learned that no study is done without a good
reason. Every previous study is a potential reason for conducting a new one in order to
get similar or different results for supporting or disproving a theory. The methods
section containing information about the design of the study, the participants, the
materials used, the procedure and the ethics guidelines provided me with a much better
understanding of how a report is done and then understood by the reader. This part of
the study proved to be fairly simple to write. The results section was indeed the most
difficult of all, but after reading from the Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology
by Hugh Coolican book, I managed to understand how to start this section, how to
conduct the required test for a certain type of data and how to interpret these results.
In addition I learn which results are statistically significant and why. After writing this
section I accumulated a number of skills which I did not posses: math skills,
understanding statistics and variables, report writing and interpreting the results,
working with graphs and tables. Finally in the Discussion section, where we have to say
in plain words what we have found in this study, I used my writing skills to describe the
findings of the limitations of the study. A very important skill achieved during writing
this section is observing limitations and other variables which were not taken into
consideration. I also learned how to reference properly. The last part of the study was
of course the Appendix. This added to my organizational skills and writing skills on how
to present a study, directing the reader to the Appendix which contains the data,
material used and SPSS tests printout.

I believe that writing this study improved most of my skills, if not all, and added new
ones, vital for reading, understanding and writing future reports.

I was happy that I understood the chronology of the report. Organizational skills were
very useful at this stage because I prefer to work or write in a structured way, for
example writing the Abstract of the study was easily done because it contains key
elements from each section of the study, task that improved my skills of understanding
the chronology of the study.

I've chosen this activity because it's the best way of learning the basics of my
Psychology course. I hope that in the future I will be able to write reports faster, easier
and better. These expectations have been met as I feel more confident after the first
assignment, the others were much more easier to write and to understand.

Starting to write the first report of the course has been more difficult than I expected.
Although learning about and understanding variables was simple, how to interpret the
data was not, wa in fact the most complicated task for the assignment. I will begin by
describing what happened and what skills I have acquired during the process. First I
had to gathered data, looking for potential participants for the study. This improved my
people skills and filled the gap for the tone of voice. Selecting participants was not so
difficult but ethics, rules and common sense must be followed during this procedure of
the study. I realized that a psychologist must be as objective, professional and cautious
as possible when performing this part of the study.

During this assignment I learned how to conduct a real study, how to approach
potential participants and how to avoid ethical issues, how to gather the data and how
to interpret it. I've also learned how to use SPSS and how to write the assignment,
particularly the results section, the most difficult. My hope of completing the assignment
and getting a good mark was fulfilled because I did not believe I could manage but
really working on the assignment has helped me.
Evaluating a psychological theory

A very important task for this module is presenting a theory. This type of learning was
unique to the course, at least for this year. In groups of at least 4, we presented a
theory of our choice. It was done using PowerPoint which was easily organized applying
computer skills. The experience of doing the presentation was truly amazing and unique
even though it wasn't the first time I presented a theory in frost of a class.
Communicating with the class this way gave me confidence and increased my level of
trust.

The presentation was also structured into sections, the name of the theory itself, a brief
description, the history, who contributed, its importance, evidence for and against,
similar and competing theories and of course references.

During this time, I, along with the other students in my group, improved our people,
speech and communication skills while presenting the theory to the class, tone of voice
in order to underline key aspects and interact with the viewers, eye contact was also
important to show interest for the other students. Team-working was substantially
improved during this stage of the module.

I enjoyed working together with other students, each contributing with their own part of
the presentation. I noticed that although we have different methods of presenting a
theory, communicating with the others and illustrating essential information, our
knowledge and skills were almost the same.

People skills, speech, language skills, computer skills, rewording, writing skills, and tone
of voice were my contributions to the group and the presentation. I've learned that I
can do a task even if I feel nervous or emotions intervene.
Skills & Attributes Review

I personally think that every skill can be improved and we can never learn too much.
After months of studying, reading, presenting and report writing, I have improved all my
skills and gained new ones.

Skills I got and improved: patience, listening, critical thinking and analysis, coming up
with the best explanation, experience, summarizing, work ethics, creativity and
immagiation, lingusitic capabilities, visual measuring and estimating, computer skills and
fast typing, language and grammar skills, communication and speech, reading, writing,
essay, organizing skills, time planning/management, team-working, public speaking.eye
contact, math skills, tone of voice, understanding statistics, variables, methods, using
graphs, tables and charts, report writing, referencing.

Skills I need to gain, I can't think of any right now but I'm sure there will be plenty next
year and the year after that. However I will keep improving my recent gained skills and
the old ones also.

Along with skills and attributes, I also have strengths and weaknesses

My strengths: playing the piano, very fast typing, writing skills, high grades in school,
learning languages, estimating skills.

My weaknesses: PowerPoint presentation, communication skills, speech, reading, time

planning/management, team-working skills.

Now I can identify my positive human qualities and talents:

Action Plan
What do I want to do?

First I want to pass all my exams, improve my skills and attributes, finish this year and
the following two, then study for a Master's degree in order to become a Counselling
Psychologist. After that, depending on the situation maybe study for a PhD.

How will I know whether I've done it?

Being able to talk, write and critique any topic, theory or idea relevant to the
psychological area studied during the academic years. Having gained almost all the skills
required for a good psychologist.

What am I going to do to achieve this?

Keep on studying, reading textbooks, journals and examples of reports.

What do I need in order to achieve this?

Motivation, keep thinking why am I doing this, why is it important and how it's going to
help me help others in the future.

By when will I do this?

Passing the exams by the correspondent timetable of each year and also improving my
skills after each experience, getting a Master's degree and possibly a PhD in the years to
come.