Psychological Pursuits, Social Gatherings
Feb. 10th, 2023 12:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tcpipA good portion of the past few days has been in exam preparation for the short exam for "The Behaving Brain" at Auckland University. I passed it pretty well and my overall grade for the course was pretty reasonable too. But of all the papers in the degree, this one piqued my interest the least. Effectively a cognitive psychology paper, there was far too much on illusions, an entire week on taste perception for marketing, and not enough on neurology. Still, as the penultimate paper in this degree, I just have "Social Processes" (effectively social psychology) to go, and then I'm done, all in time (with some overlap) for the next degree in climate change science, which is now all sorted - my units for this upcoming trimester are: Physical Basis of Climate Change. Carbon Pricing Mechanisms, Political Ecology of Conservation, and Environmental and Planning Law, which is a good illustration of the multi-disciplinary nature of the degree.
One thing which "The Behaving Brain" did cover, a little, at the end of the paper was "positive psychology", which basically argues that psychology concentrates far too much on the clinical and reparative and not enough on optimal functioning and growth. Yale University offers a ten-week course on "The Science of Well-Being" which I'm currently halfway through, and it isn't too bad at all covering many of the main "miswantings" that people have in their life regarding the pursuit of happiness; I am not terribly surprised to discover that most of them I undertake already, but still it is good to spend structured time checking this myself. Of course, the other side of the story is the realisation that because I'm already engaging in such things, perhaps this is close to as good as it gets for me! The distinction between temperament and character is an important one.
Social engagement is one of those things that positive psychology emphasises and, on that note, I must make mention of an excellent dinner I hosted a few days ago with Perth migrants and visitors; Simon, Erica, Fiona, and Natacha, the latter two visiting Melbourne-town for a bit of an art-tour. I made a hilariously titled "sexy beans" recipe, which is actually quite delicious and quick but the author's write-up does bring a chuckle. It was quite a thing for us to all reminisce of past shenanigans of more than two decades ago in The Western Lands, but this is what you get with old and true friends. Another act of positive social engagement the day was the adventure-retail therapy of op-shopping in Toorak and Hawthorn which I went with Erica (for part) and with Mel S., which is always such an absolute joy to travel in this endeavour. My memento for the day was Dr Seuss' "Star Bellied Sneetch" an excellent piece of social commentary which, of course, reminds people of a particular subculture the second verse of a certain Dead Kennedy's song: "Holiday in Cambodia" - very influential in the days of my angry youth (and still burns within).
One thing which "The Behaving Brain" did cover, a little, at the end of the paper was "positive psychology", which basically argues that psychology concentrates far too much on the clinical and reparative and not enough on optimal functioning and growth. Yale University offers a ten-week course on "The Science of Well-Being" which I'm currently halfway through, and it isn't too bad at all covering many of the main "miswantings" that people have in their life regarding the pursuit of happiness; I am not terribly surprised to discover that most of them I undertake already, but still it is good to spend structured time checking this myself. Of course, the other side of the story is the realisation that because I'm already engaging in such things, perhaps this is close to as good as it gets for me! The distinction between temperament and character is an important one.
Social engagement is one of those things that positive psychology emphasises and, on that note, I must make mention of an excellent dinner I hosted a few days ago with Perth migrants and visitors; Simon, Erica, Fiona, and Natacha, the latter two visiting Melbourne-town for a bit of an art-tour. I made a hilariously titled "sexy beans" recipe, which is actually quite delicious and quick but the author's write-up does bring a chuckle. It was quite a thing for us to all reminisce of past shenanigans of more than two decades ago in The Western Lands, but this is what you get with old and true friends. Another act of positive social engagement the day was the adventure-retail therapy of op-shopping in Toorak and Hawthorn which I went with Erica (for part) and with Mel S., which is always such an absolute joy to travel in this endeavour. My memento for the day was Dr Seuss' "Star Bellied Sneetch" an excellent piece of social commentary which, of course, reminds people of a particular subculture the second verse of a certain Dead Kennedy's song: "Holiday in Cambodia" - very influential in the days of my angry youth (and still burns within).
