Moving Back Home

This weekend my wife and I will be moving to a place that feels more like home.

After a year in Sandringham we have realised that we are both North Shore kids at heart.

Farewell Sandringham, you have treated us well.

48 hours

Every year the 48 hour film competition rolls around.
Every year you decide to compete again.
Every year you regret that decision half way through.
Every year... except this one.

This year our team, Half Shell Productions, was made up of the usual suspects:
Brendon Udy
Bradley Patten
Alex Campbell
CJ Withey
Jonathan Stevenson

And a few new members:
Kyle
Emma Roberts

Of particular note were the swing crowd who, in the end, would have a huge impact on the film we were going to create.

As always we started writing on Friday night, shot on Saturday, and edited throughout.
In the end we got in with time to spare and the end result can be viewed here:
Best Foot Forward

Psych Essays - When to Reference

A lot of students ask when they should use APA referencing.

The simple answer is:
AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN

The way I look at it your reader has no reason to believe what you're writing unless you can prove it is true by:
a) Providing a relevant reference
b) Providing relevant results from your own work

References can be used at the start, middle, or end of a sentence.
References should be cited as soon as they are relevant, i.e. not at the end of the paragraph

When I write essays most sentences have at least one reference.
A single sentence can contain more than one reference.

References can also be used to point to related research and ideas.

Below is an example sentence from a write-up:

While the nature and use of these mental images has been debated in the past (Pylyshyn, 1973, 1981) a consistent pattern of results has been established (Borst, Kosslyn, & Denis, 2006; Finke & Pinker, 1982; Kosslyn, Ball, & Reiser, 1978).

Notice how multiple references are included for a single point. This can help demonstrate wide support for or the strength of the idea being presented.

Notice also how the references are used to point to an awareness of alternate viewpoints on the topic without going into them. By citing a prominent theorist and their relevant publications I demonstrate an understanding of the topic (through my choice of reference) and give the reader somewhere to find more information on an alternate viewpoint. However, as this viewpoint will not be a wide part of my write-up, I do not need to go into additional detail.

In the sentence that follows this one I could go on to describe the general pattern of results across the cited studies (Borst, Kosslyn, & Denis, 2006; Finke & Pinker, 1982; Kosslyn, Ball, & Reiser, 1978) with no additional referencing.

Wedding Video - DIY?

Weddings can be an expensive business. As such many people will try and do a lot of things themselves in order to stay within their budget or cut costs. One of those things that many couples consider doing themselves, and something that my wife and I did 'ourselves', is the videography.

Assessing Suitability
The first thing you need to consider if you're looking at doing your own videography is whether or not you will be happy with what comes from the DIY approach.

If you want something that captures the general look, probably from a single angle, and the audio and not much more then this approach is for you.

If you want something more impressive involving smooth camera motion, multiple angles, and cystal clear images throughout you're probably better off spending the money and getting a pro in for the day.

Assessing Your Options
Now that that's out of the way it's time to think about how you can go about getting the video shot. In order to do this you will need to have at least one camera and have it record the action somehow.

In terms of camera operation you could:
1) Set it up on a tripod, have someone press record, and just let the camera run.
2) Have a friend or family member in charge of the camera

Option 1 is likely to give you a steadier shot while option 2 might be able to respond to things as they happen. If you have a steady handed friend or family member with some experience with a video camera option 2 would be my choice. In both cases make sure the person in charge of turning the camera on knows how to do so.

In terms of camera positioning you could:
1) Have multiple Cameras - One giving a wide shot, one giving a shot of the groom, one giving a shot of the bride
2) Have a single Camera - Roaming or stationary

If you're considering having a multi-cam set-up, unless you have experience with video editing software, you may like to reconsider getting in a pro. In either of the above cases you should consider what the camera sees when choosing your location and what in can hear.

The Importance of Vision
While this may seem an obvious point to make there are a few things that should be considered when you think about the position of your camera
1) What can/can't it see?
This will influence your end product. If you choose to have one camera set up on one side of the church chances are the Bride or the groom will not be visible (one will probably have their back to the camera a lot of the time.)
2) Will it be in anyone's way?
The aisle is typically a poor location choice. However so too is a spot right in front of grandma.
3) What happens when people stand up?
Often a spot that works well when people are sitting down works less well when they stand up. Often the aisle will be blocked if you're shooting from the side.


The Importance of Sound
What are the real differences between videography and photography? Essentially there are 2. Motion and sound. Unless you're planning on having a lot of motion during your ceremony (such as a choreographed dance) the key difference there is sound.

More than likely it is the vows, the readings, and the cheer of the crowd at the end of the service that you want to capture.

If so, think about how your camera will hear all of those things.

If you're using a P.A. system to help project your vows then ideally your camera will be able to record from this. If this is not the case position your camera somewhere that it will be able to hear what's happening.

If you;re not using a P.A. system this should be close the front (close wo where you're saying your vows).

If you are using a P.A. system this could be near the front or near a speaker. In this case do a test run to make sure you don't blow out the microphone (make sure that the speakers aren't too loud. If they are too loud you can turn them down or move the camera further away).

Psych Essays - A quick, rough example

I wrote the essay below as an example essay for a psychology course I was tutoring. It is designed to demonstrate structure, an evolving argument, flow and other bits and bobs. While it indicates where references may be useful it is not a correctly, or even fully, referenced essay. It is composed of information gathered from reading the related coursebook, Cervonne and Pervin's Personality: Theory and Research. In many respects it could be considered to be a brief summary of the first chapter on Freud.

If you are a student and you are considering submitting it elsewhere, be warned, it has already made its way into plagiarism checkers such as Turnitin.com


The essay:

Psychodynamic theory is one of the most well recognised theories in personality psychology. Proposed and used by Sigmund Freud it has had a profound impact on psychology as a whole through the decades. This essay will discuss what the psychodynamic theory says about the structure of personality by rebuilding the theory from the ground up. Freud’s view of the mind itself will lead into his view of the creation of a personality through progressive psychosexual stages. Once the structure has been established key strengths and weaknesses of the theory will also be identified.

To understand personality as viewed by psychodynamic theory it is important to first understand how Freud saw the mind. He saw it as being divided into the conscious, pre-conscious, and unconscious (ref). The conscious mind contains the information that we are currently aware of. The preconscious contains information that can easily be brought to mind while the unconscious is where the theory truly focuses.

Unlike current models that see the mind as a computer, largely dormant and simply waiting for user input, Freud saw the unconscious as having a mind of its own (ref). It was a motivated system composed of energy that needed to flow freely. Three subcomponents of the unconscious, the id, ego, and supergo, were responsible for this flow of energy and, in tandem with the 5 psychosexual stages, drove the development of an individual’s personality.

The first subcomponent, the id, is often described as a newborn child (ref) and in the first of the psychosexual stages, the oral stage, the id alone is what creates personality (ref). The Id obeys the gratification principle (ref), it wants what it wants when it wants it. There is no self control. What the id wants is the satisfaction of its two drives, one sexual, one aggressive (ref). These two drives provide the outlet for the energy of the unconscious at this and all subsequent stages of personality development yet it is rare to see them expressed in their pure form. This is because pure expression of sex or aggression is largely unacceptable in society (ref). Freud argues that the id’s relationship with the super ego and the ego are what helps keep the id in check (ref).

The super ego represents the very rules of society (ref). It is the voice in your head that tells you right from wrong. Freud (ref) believed that children ‘learnt’ these rules when they identified with their mother or father during the resolution of the Oedipus/Elektra complex during the phallic stage.

The ego develops earlier and comes to act as the go between (ref). Unlike the id and superego, which seek to satisfy themselves, the ego obeys the reality principle meaning it tries to please the id and superego as much as it can within any given situation (ref). This often involves the use of defence mechanisms which block unpleasant thoughts in the unconscious mind, as in the case of repression, or allow them to escape in more socially acceptable (sublimation) or personally acceptable ways (denial, projection) (ref).

The id, ego, superego, and defence mechanisms combine to create functional personalities at each of the psychosexual stages. Importantly though the stages themselves also play a role in the development and expression of personality.

According to Freud there are five stages of psychosexual development which form a natural progression from oral to anal to phallic to latency to genital (ref). Mentally healthy adults have progressed though all five while less healthy adults may have become stuck or fixated in a certain stage (ref). If this is the case their behaviour and personality will be heavily influenced by the characteristics of this stage of development.

The oral stage is the first stage and, as has already been mentioned, is all id. Individuals who become fixated in this stage are said to be needy, impulsive, and preoccupied with their mouths (ref). They may smoke, eat, or similar (ref).

The anal stage is the second stage and is where the primary focus of stimulation moves to the anus. It is associated with the development of the ego and self control, in particular control over bowel motions. People who become fixated in this stage are said to be anal and tend to be focussed on control and/or may b very tight with money (ref).

The Phallic stage was seen as a crucial stage in the development of personality by Freud (ref). This is the stage where children go through the Oedipus/Elektra complex. Here they desire the love and attention of their opposite sex parent but feel threatened by the same sex parent (the competition) (ref). To overcome this they should identify with the same sex parent alleviating the threat and causing them to take on an appropriate gender role/sexuality (ref). If the Oedipus/Elektra complex is not resolved correctly Freud believed that this could lead to homosexuality (ref). More generally fixation at this stage can lead to a personality typified by reckless, narcissistic personalities who tend to be incapable of or afraid of close love (ref).
Latency follows the phallic stage and is typified by a lack of sexual desire (ref). This stage is typical of pre-teen children (ref). Typically they are very productive in other areas such as sport, music etc (ref). Fixation at this stage is associated with a lack of interest in sex and high productivity in other such areas (ref).

The final stage is the genital stage. Here sexual desires are reawakened (ref).

As has probably become clear psychodynamic theory is very comprehensive. In fact this is often seen as its key strength. It covers the unconscious through to the conscious and our development from infants through to adults in a single, logically interconnected theory. In this regard it is unmatched by any other personality theory in psychology today. While theories such as Trait theory are mere descriptions of personality (ref) psychodynamic theory provides an explanation of what personality is, how it develops, and where it comes from.

Yet psychodynamic theory is not only a theory of personality, it is also a therapy. In fact Psychodynamic theory was designed as therapy first and personality theory second (ref). Despite controversy over the validity of the techniques, and even the theory itself, such therapy does achieve positive results (ref). Such results can be seen in Freud’s own work as well as the work of others around the world over the following years and must be considered as a strength of the theory.

However, psychodynamic theory is not without its limits and it is commonly criticised for its lack of scientific evidence and testability (ref). Unlike later theories psychodynamic theory was developed solely from case studies and theorisation about processes that might be involved (ref). Freud did not personally test his theories and subsequent studies have only had limited success, indicating that we do have a subconscious mind but not really being able to demonstrate that it is motivated. Evidence of the fixated personality types covered earlier, arguably the simplest of Freud’s ideas to demonstrate, is also thin (ref).

Finally the theory itself is inherently untestable. If anyone were to test Freud’s theory and produce a result opposite to what Freud would have predicted the finding could still fit the theory. This is because on the defence mechanisms, reaction formation, which essentially creates the opposite reaction to what would otherwise be expected. This inability to disprove the theory makes it weaker in the eyes of science.

Ironically though these perceived weaknesses could be viewed as strengths in that they helped spur many other great psychology theories into being. In particular Rogers (ref), Beck (ref), and Skinner (ref) all cite psychoanalysis’ unscientific approach as a key factor in the development of their own theory. As such the weakness of psychoanalysis has made psychology as a whole stronger.

Overall then it is clear that, at the very least, psychoanalysis holds an important place in the history of personality psychology. It provided a very comprehensive base for future theorists to expand upon and covered personality and, in its own way, provided a logical structure for personality and its development. Yet while this theory was very comprehensive its lack of modern scientific principles has caused it to fall out of favour over the years. In this way psychodynamic theory moved from simply being a theory of personality to being an anchor point or driving force for the development of better theories in the years that followed.

Psychology Essay Writing Guide 2011

As a psychology tutor I've read a fair few essays.
In doing so I've picked up on a few key ideas that students sometimes miss when writing their essays.

Psychology essays should:
Be Essays
Be interesting
Present a Coherent Argument
Include references
Be readable
Use evidence
Reference at sensible times

Psychology essays can also be written using a bit of maths.

An example essay covering Freud's theory and how it applies to Personality can be found here.

Psych Essays - They should be essays

Psychology essays should be essays. This means they should include:

An Introduction
 This should rephrase the essay question and provide a roadmap for the essay as a whole.
 Ideally it will have a ‘hook’. Something that grabs the reader’s attention.
 The introduction doesn’t have to be, and arguably shouldn’t be, written first.
 Might be ~10% of the word count as a rule of thumb

Body paragraphs
 There should be as many of these as you need.
 Each paragraph should work on developing a single topic/idea
 New idea = new paragraph
 Generally your paragraphs should follow the SEE structure (statement, example, explanation)
 They should follow a logical order
 Each paragraph should flow on from the last
 Your paragraphs should occur in a logical order
o Typically this order involves covering broad questions first and more precise questions later. This is often referred to as the inverted pyramid model
o Often the order/structure will be supplied in the question you are given.
 Your paragraph order should match the roadmap supplied in your
introduction (this is why it can be a good idea to write your
introduction last).

A conclusion
 This should mirror the introduction.
 It should summarise your key points.
 Ideally it will not include any new information.
 Might be ~10% of the word count as a rule of thumb



Also, Psych essays
o Are not Sarcastic
o Are not emotional
o Don’t use informal language
o Avoid generalisations
o Are gender & culturally appropriate/sensitive/inclusive (i.e. they’re not racist/sexist)
o Don’t use exclamation marks to prove their point!
o Answer the question that has been asked.

Back to Contents Page for the Psychology Essay Writing Guide

Psych Essays - They present a coherent argument/story, not a set of fact

Avoid bullet point/list based paragraphs.

Bullet points and lists disrupt flow and typically demonstrate an ability to gather facts rather than create an argument. While gathering information is an important step in writing an essay you usually gain the most marks by demonstrating that you have been able to think about and process the information. This additional step (thinking and developing on the information) is commonly missed and may be best represented by a flow diagram

Basic essays often seem to have been written by following this process:

Better essays often seem to have been written by following this process:

Back to Contents Page for the Psychology Essay Writing Guide

Psych Essays - Paint by numbers

If you like psychology essays can also be written using maths (kind of).

As a rule of thumb you can expect to spend about 10% of your words on the introduction and 10% of your words on the conclusion.

This leaves 80% of your words for the body paragraphs.

Let’s say you have an essay that’s 2000 words long and has 32 marks available. If we assume that
there aren’t really any marks available for the introduction or conclusion (as these just outline and summarise what you will cover/have covered) How many words do you have available to gain 1 mark?

(80% of 2000 = 1600, 1600/32 = 50)

So, roughly every 50 words you should be saying something worthwhile.

Of course this is only a rough rule of thumb. While it may be worth keeping in mind it is not worth obsessing over.

Additionally remember that these numbers are also something of a conservative estimate. We have
assumed that you can’t gain marks in the intro and conclusion (not always true) and we have
assumed that all of the marks are for content only (seldom true). As such you would probably have slightly more words available to make your point.

Back to Contents Page for the Psychology Essay Writing Guide

Psych Essays - Include References in APA Format

References let us know that you know what you’re talking about. They let us know that you’re not
just making things up and are a great way to provide evidence/examples.

As a general rule if you’re unsure whether or not you should use a reference, use a reference. Over referencing is better than under referencing.

References must be in APA format (version 6) because that is the format that is used in Psychology
at this University (the University of Auckland). If you use any other format, regardless of your justification for doing so, you will lose marks. APA formatting guidelines can be found at/by:
http://cite.auckland.ac.nz/
http://www.stylewizard.com
checking the APA referencing manual
checking the APA referencing form on cecil (Psch207->Resources->Referencing Using APA 6 – Some
Notes)
googling APA format

Back to Contents Page for the Psychology Essay Writing Guide

Psych Essays - They should be able to be read and understood by your flatmates, parents, friends...

There are two parts to this one.

First your essay should be readable. It should contain sentences that communicate their intended
message and are grammatically correct.

Secondly it should be understandable. Complex/jargony words should only be included when they
are necessary and should usually be defined when they are first mentioned. Please note that there
are no extra marks awarded for impressive vocabularies or skilful use of a thesaurus.

"In view of the multitudinous articulation the language reference compendium is never your soul
mate. Operate it intermittently or, sophisticated likewise, not under any condition."

Translation:
For the most part the thesaurus is not your friend. Use it sparingly or, better yet, not at all

Back to Contents Page for the Psychology Essay Writing Guide

Psych Essays - Make a case using evidence rather than words or reasoning alone/ Present a coherent argument, not an impressive set of words.

While logical reasoning can be a good way to demonstrate an understanding of the topic or information at hand it should not form the basis of your essay. Instead your essay should be based on research with any additional reasoning ideally being used to tie multiple examples together or suggest extensions to the research (i.e. suggesting directions for future research).

To put it another way the examples in the SEE structure of your paragraphs should usually be research findings rather than anecdotal evidence. If that still doesn’t make sense let’s try some Shakespeare:

Polonius:
Your noble son is mad:
Mad call I it, for to define true madness,
What is't but to be nothing else but mad?
But let that go.

Queen:
More matter with less art.

Hamlet Act 2, scene 2, 92–95

In the example above Polonius has not earned any marks. As the Queen points out while he has said a lot of words while trying to explain why Hamlet is mad he hasn’t actually said anything of substance. Like the Queen we want matter, not art in Psychology.

Back to Contents Page for the Psychology Essay Writing Guide

Psych Essays - They Should be Interesting

You should hook your reader into the essay using the introduction. You should then continue to hold their attention through creating an essay that flows well, gets to the point quickly, and develops its ideas into a consistent story

Back to Contents Page for the Psychology Essay Writing Guide