Intro To Psychology

Posted on Mon Feb 4th, 2019 @ 5:49pm by Cadet Freshman Grade Jesse Grant & Captain Karyn Dallas R.N. & Cadet Freshman Grade William 'Liam' Pardot & Cadet Freshman Grade Gwen Morgan & Cadet Freshman Grade Shoray sh'Dana & Cadet Freshman Grade Ashley MacGyver & Cadet Freshman Grade Damian Blake & Cadet Freshman Grade Sakar
Edited on on Mon Feb 4th, 2019 @ 5:52pm

Mission: The First Step...
Location: Academic Building/Lecture Hall
Timeline: 2388/08/28 1300 (Thurs. August 28 2388 1:00pm)

Karyn smiled to each cadet as he or she entered and mentally reviewed her agenda for the lecture. It had been a long time since she'd taught, but she was excited to tackle the challenge once again. Teaching provided a back and forth kind of interaction that reminded her a bit of counseling but with an entirely new energy.

The room wasn't small but Dallas had requested it not be cavernous. She'd rather teach more sections if it meant the classes could be less impersonal.

Braden entered the classroom with more trepidation then the others. He moved to the middle and took an aisle seat. He was not sure about this class, he had heard Psych classes were the toughest. He was not a brainiac and he knew that. Still if he could get past the course it was one step closer to being where he wanted to be.

Figuring that he could sit right at the back so that he could hopefully have a nap whilst this borefest was happening, Liam selected the chair furthest away from the woman he'd met at the opening banquet and sat down, extended his legs so that he could place them on the chair in front.

Damian made his way into the classroom and looked over the available seats, then opted to take one toward the front. He'd stopped wondering why he needed to go through introductions of all the classes Starfleet had to offer the day before, but it was still a bit confusing. Then, again, he hadn't chosen a secondary class, so perhaps this would help out.

Gwen slid in and went for an aisle seat near the center. Close enough to easily see what was going on and in a position she felt she could leave if she needed too. Not that she would but she found her sense of being overwhelmed by people was lessened if she felt she had an out. She brought out her PADD and prepared to take alot of notes. Understanding people was not a skill she had top marks in and was happy to learn what she could.

At the last minute a lanky cadet, with the body of a runner, came rushing in. All the back row seats were taken and he quickly looked around until he spotted the nearest empty seat. Sliding in front of and then into a seat next to Gwen, he smiled over at her.

Gwen smiled politely but distractedly as she returned her attention to her PADD and tried to studied the basic information on the Psy program.

On the other side of him was Ashley MacGyver, and she got a good view as the skinny yet cute guy managed to maneuver into his seat. "Here.." she whispered over to him, drawing his attention as she handed over his datapad, "you almost sat on this.."

"Thank you." he whispered back, smiling over at her before turning his attention onto Karyn.

Doing a quick mental head count, Dallas realized everyone had arrived. Moving from the left side of the room to the center so she could more easily make eye contact with everyone, she began with her introduction.

"Hello all. My name is Karyn Dallas, and I'd like to welcome you all to Introduction to Psychology. Feel free to address me as Counselor Dallas, or Professor Dallas. Also, before we get started in earnest, as you can see, I'm confined to a hoverchair, and as such, they'll be times when I'll need to enlist your help to demonstrate certain concepts. For those curious, I was born prematurely and consequently suffered a brain bleed, which led to a condition known as cerebral palsy. Despite what you may see as my disadvantages, I have served in Starfleet for over ten years as a counselor and nurse, including in several supervisory positions. I tell you this not to brag, but to illustrate a theme which will come up repeatedly in this course: All of us have certain expectations and biases with regard to the people and situations we encounter. Understanding psychology and applying its concepts will require you to explore your own biases and to work toward thinking more objectively. Any questions?"

Jesse raised his hand, and smiled as he asked good-naturedly, "I have a couple questions, Ma'am. I heard that if you ask a psychologist a question, you?ll get a question in return. So my first question is, should we be prepared for that here?"

Hearing the question, Liam smirked and sank lower in his chair. Maybe the lecture wasn't going to be as boring as he thought.

Not wanting to miss out on an opportunity to have a little fun, Karyn smiled. "What do you think?" She chuckled and then added after a few moments of allowing the rest of the group to laugh, "If this were a course specifically for future counselors, I would offer more of what you mean, but you bring up a good point in that, when many people think of psychology, they think of counseling and issues related to mental health. That's one area of the psychology field, but you'll soon discover as an academic discipline, psychology encompasses many areas of focus, from understanding how our brains work, to understanding what makes us more productive employees, and even why we buy what we buy."

Dallas continued. "Formally speaking, psychology can be defined as the study of the mind and behavior." She looked to Jesse. "What was your second question?"

"Wow," Jesse nodded, "my second question happens to go with what you just pointed out. I was wondering if we would get the chance to explore the specialty areas within the core courses?"

Karyn nodded. "Yes, we will touch on many areas, but the emphasis in this course will be on those areas which will benefit the vast majority of Starfleet personnel, to include the psychology of various species as well as the psychology of leadership. I realize not all of you want to become therapists or even diplomats, but no matter who you are or what you do in the fleet, you'll be expected to understand the people you work with and to know how to interact with them for the sake of accomplishing your tasks. At the same time, I think it's important to discuss specialty areas, if only to give you an appreciation for your own strengths and challenges and an appreciation of what people trained in those areas bring to the table."

Dallas let that sink in. "When you think of the word 'psychology' what comes to mind for all of you? Is there something about the field you'd be most interested in learning more about?"

"Learning about what makes chicks tick might be good." Liam murmured before snickering to himself, thinking that he was far enough back for Karyn not to hear what he was saying.

"I wouldn't have thought you were a bird man, Cadet," Karyn offered wryly. "Animal behavior will be taught next semester in the medical research lab."

Gwen had been taking detailed notes, completely fascinated, she would take any help to learn more about how to better interact with people, when she was startled into short laugh by the professor. She slapped a hand over her mouth and tried to stifle it but it was a good one though...

As Karyn spoke, Liam made a big show of looking around as if pretending to work out who she was speaking to, after all, it wasn't like she pointed at him or anything was it?

It was at that point Karyn approached Pardot and spoke just a few inches from his face. "Lesson 1: If you're going to insult an entire group of your colleagues by referring to them in crude terms, at least have the courage to own your words. Verbal and non-verbal communication is a big part of understanding any being's psychology, and if you can't own what you put out there, those around you will at best doubt your competence, and at worst, think you're weak."

Gwen's eyes flicked from the professor to Liam and the thought flashed through her mind, "This is now my favorite class besides intel..." She thought, respect for the professor increasing and her mind open trying to memorized every detail of the interaction, "Wish I could think of zingers like that..." She also wished she could be that confident but said nothing as she made notes.

Whooaaa... Jesse thought, and then cleared his throat, "Captain Dallas," he said, having turned in his seat to watch.

Liam looked at Jesse, grateful that he'd attracted Dallas' attention. What was with the woman? She was harsh.

It was true... Damian did think that Psychology was going to be boring and completely uninteresting, but with what was currently going on, he found he rather liked it. That Liam kid was making his job of giving the instructors a hard time so much easier. He grinned and turned his gaze down to the PADD he had in front of him.

Letting her gaze linger on Pardot a moment longer, she moved back and turned to Jesse. "Yes?"

"Well," Jesse started, his eyes going briefly to Liam, and then back to her, "you brought up communication...and that just happens to be what I'm most interested in learning more about."

Dallas nodded. "How we communicate with others, and how they in turn communicate with us, gives us great insight into the psychology of others as well as our ourselves, so yes, much of what we'll discuss will concern communication, whether verbal or non, intrapersonal and well as interpersonal." Karyn smiled at Jesse and then looked to the others. "Any other areas of interest?"

Braden stood "Excuse me would I be allowed a question before we change subjects?"

Karyn nodded. "Of course."

With permission to speak Braden continued. "You said the Cadet might be considered incompetent or maybe weak. I do not see it that way. I might consider him dishonest, but not necessarily incompetent. For instance I imagine there are several successful politicians that would not take claim to all the things they said. I also think he could be seen as untrustworthy rather then weak? I have read of people who risked life and limb in battles but could not stand up to public rebuke." Braden felt sort of small as he pressed forward "So were your comments meant as discipline for poor taste or was there more behind the words used? Like something I should see but am not."

Karyn met the young man's eyes. "Braden is it?" Dallas asked, referring to her roster for a moment to confirm his identity, "While I appreciate your eagerness to offer your opinion and curiosity for our subject matter, your question has nothing to do with the discussion at hand, which concerns the areas of psychology which interest all of you. If you have a question about an area of interest or are unclear about the study of psychology, feel free to ask, but otherwise, I'd like us to stay on topic. Any other questions?" Dallas asked of the group.

Gwen hadn't said a word this whole time, held completely rapt by the idea she could better understand others and communicate more effectively. She did have a question about cultural backgrounds as they related but as she'd already reviewed all the course offerings in this department and knew it to be so. In fact a lot of her questions were answered by the information provided in the departmental packets. She made a mental note to ask the proper persons if double majors were allowed.

Everyone was quiet and there was some head shaking, but there were still some faces that looked quite interested in what the psychology instructor had to say. One of those very interested was Cadet Ashley MacGyver, an Intelligence Major. Psychology played a very large part in the Intelligence field.

Seeing there were no more questions, at least for the moment, Karyn continued, "As you can see just from our brief discussion, psychology encompasses a variety of subjects, and while none of your intro courses are designed to teach you everything about a subject, that is especially true for this intro course.

She continued, "While other intro courses may focus on beginning to teach you specific skills, think of this course as beginning to teach you a new way to look at people and the universe. Your goal here is not to be able to 'do' anything in a specific environment, like fixing a plasma relay, it's more like being able to look at engineering as a whole and being able to explore all aspects of that plasma relay from a variety of perspectives, depending on your area of concern. Are you focused on why the relay is broken? Are you focused on whether the broken relay gets noticed and how long it takes? Or are you focused on finding ways to motivate people to fix that relay sooner? In psychology, it's not about memorizing common catalog of information, it's about figuring out what information you need and applying it correctly to the problem or issue upon which you're focused."

When Dallas was satisfied her ideas had sunk in, she said, "I'd like to end class with an exercise. Each of you should've brought PADDS with you, so for the next two minutes I want you to turn to the person next to you and write down your observations of that person."

Having taken in every word the instructor said, Jesse turned his head to look at Gwen. His eyes roamed over her face as he thought to himself, Very pretty, definitely. Quiet...maybe...I don't know. Maybe one on one, not so much. Focused...or maybe puts up walls...

Gwen had pulled out her PADD and was just wondering which corner of her eye she was going to try for, staring at people to write things about them seemed somehow impolite to her, she noticed a cadet staring over at her. She gave a little embarrassed but genuine smile, she was shy usually not rude, before returning her attention to her PADD. She typed about Jesse it was mostly physical. She was good at remembering what she saw not as good at digging at what a person was like underneath. She glanced at the Instructor. She would learn.

Then Jesse turned to look at Ashley, thinking why not both of them?, who stared back at him with one eyebrow raised. "Bold," he spoke out loud to her, and then smiled, "Definitely confrontational."

Gwen stifled a sound that was between a choke and laugh but stared at her PADD like her life depended on it.

Shaking her head, Ashley smiled too as she looked down to write on her own datapad.

Across the aisle, up a few rows from them, an Andorian female sitting next to Braden had looked over at him. Her antennae were moving forward in interest as she began her observation, Is sort of appealing... for a pink skin... and then looked down to her PADD as she started writing, ..may be less self-assured than he appears to be.

He felt the Andorian's eyes scrutinizing him and sat straighter. She was pretty, but he had never been one to make a good first impression. He felt her assertiveness, she was bold and likely aggressive, a take no prisoner type. Braden made the required notes but felt wrong in doing so.


"William Pardot..." A Vulcan sitting next to Liam starting jotting down on his PADD.

"Liam." Pardot corrected the Vulcan, "The only person to call me William is my grandmother." he added coldly, wondering who this Vulcan was.

The Vulcan's name was Sakar, and he glanced over at him, one eyebrow raised, "That is untrue. I heard it spoken clearly in the Orientation Center when you were issued your orientation packet."

"Yeah well that was just official stuff." Liam replied with a roll of his eyes, "I'm talking socially you know?"

"Something you clearly lack in skills," Sakar replied matter-of-factly.

"Yeah like you know." Liam bit back, "Where do you get off making assumptions about someone you don't even know?"

His eyebrow lifting again, Sakar sat back in his seat, clearly ready for a debate, "I assure you no assumptions were made. Shall I name every example of your lack of social skills I have had the unfortunate opportunity to have observed the past two days?"

"Enlighten me." Liam glowered at the Vulcan, wondering just where he got off observing everything he did.

Suddenly there was a loud "Shhhhh" from behind them, and Sakar stared at Liam for another three seconds before saying, "Clearly, this is neither the time nor the place. Meet me in the messhall for lunch and we can continue this discussion."

"I'll be there with bells on." Liam growled, clearly not a happy bunny.

Up near the front, a female cadet, with chin in hand, leaned on her desk and wistfully stared at Damian.

Damian remained quiet for the most part, taking notes and listening to what the instructor was telling them. Thus far, he didn't have any questions, but that didn't mean he wasn't paying attention. He shifted around a bit, catching sight of the female cadet staring at him. As awkward as it was, he wasn't a bad guy, so he turned toward her and offered her a smile... hoping that would be enough to get her to look away.

She smiled sweetly back before turning back in her seat, and started writing down on her PADD.

When Karyn had given out the assignment, she thought it was obvious it was meant to be done silently and completed in writing. She didn't want to have to silence the group as if they were misbehaving grade school students, and she was pleased when someone finally silenced them. The counselor was intrigued by the group dynamics.

Glancing at her chronometer, Dallas regarded the group. "All right everyone, time's up. I'd like all of you to hear some of your fellow students' observations, but before we do that, let me offer a caveat: think of this as a exercise and not a session of personal attacks. I assure you, there is a lesson to be learned in this exercise that will be lost on you if you focus on what is shared and its truthfulness. When you provide your observations aloud, I don't want to hear any additional comments from anyone else. Clear enough?"

There were several "yes, Sirs" and "Yes, Ma'ams". Sakar raised his hand.

"Yes?" Karyn asked, noticing Sakar with his hand raised.

"I apologise, Captain." Sakar responded stoically, "I realize my conversation with Cadet Pardot may have caused a small level of disruption to the class."

"Apology accepted, Cadet Sakar," Karyn replied with a nod. "You've deduced correctly that I'd rather not have to police the group like a grade school class who'd rather speak out of turn than focus on their future. Would you care to start us off by sharing your observations?"

"I would not," replied Sakar. "Captain..." he paused, "although I had no idea of today's assignment, I have already, inadvertently, observed Mister Pardot on several occasions over the course of the past two days. Having already been placed in the same environment as him, where each time he has been...disruptive, I feel as if I would be...cheating."

"Geez, way to make a guy feel good about himself." Liam grumbled at the Vulcan, the look he gave him murderous.

Karyn was dismayed inwardly, but she kept her outward expression neutral. She had forgotten just how green these cadets were in just how far they had to grow emotionally. To Sakar she offered, "The exercise was designed for you to make current observations, regardless of your prior interactions with the person you're observing, but your point about prior interactions is well taken and will become relevant once you hear the other students observations, as you'll soon see," Karyn added.

To the rest of the class, she said, "Who would like to share their observations?"

Jesse raised his hand, "I'll share mine."

"Sure. Feel free," Karyn replied

"I made my observations..more like guesses," he smiled, and then continued, "on facial expressions and body language." He looked over at Gwen, "I think I should know your name before I begin..."

Gwen had been listening intently, as she had been all along but was surprised at the attention on her. All eyes swung her way and her face flamed. She locked her eyes on his forehead and managed, "Morgan, Gwen Morgan". Her voice soft yet carrying.

"I think..." Jesse smiled more lightly now, looking from Gwen to Karyn, "I wouldn't go as far as self conscious, but I think Gwen may be a little bit shy."

Now Gwen felt as though she really hoped the ground would come and swallow her whole. Her eyes instinctively flicked to the Professor in an attempt to seek aid.

He had asked Gwen to be his friend and if anyone looked like they needed friend at the moment she did. Braden turned his head and made himself sneeze, that caused him to sneeze two more times till the tickle in his nose was appeased. All three sneezes were loud and he stomped his foot with each of the extra sneezes. His eyes watery, he took a hankerchief and blew his nose. Before looking up and seeming abashed stood "Sorry about that." He turned to face the class as he apologized. He bowed slightly to the Professor "I would offer my assessment of the Andorian cadet if you like Ma'am?

Gwen looked relieved to have the attention off of her but somewhat concerned over her friends sneezing fit.

Before Karyn could respond to Jesse and Gwen, discussion was interrupted yet again by Braden's very loud and suspiciously timed sneezing fit, followed by his offer to share his observations.

Turning to MacLeod and the rest of the class, Dallas offered, "I realize this exercise can cause some degree of discomfort for everyone. For the person being discussed aloud, the reason is obvious. We open ourselves up to uncomfortable feelings whenever someone else is given the opportunity to share observations about how they perceive us. As Cadet MacLeod's physiological and verbal interruption indicates, it's also difficult for many of us to witness others undergoing this process without giving into the urge to rescue those we perceive need rescuing. In this case, Cadet MacLeod's body provided the physical interruption, and he followed that up with an offer to deflect attention from Gwen and Jesse onto himself. The impulse to prevent another's discomfort may seem like an admirable intention, but keep in mind, the consequence is often making ourselves feel better at the expense of someone else's learning."

Karyn then added, "I'll allow Cadet MacLeod to share his observations, but," and here she looked at Jesse and Gwen, "I'd like to finish the discussion between Jesse and Gwen at the beginning of the next class." Dallas then indicated Braden should proceed.

Braden nodded "The Lady sitting next to me is Andorian, She has good posture and seems attentive to the class. I think from what I have noticed about her she is intelligent, aggressive in whatever she decides to accomplish. I also believe she does not fail very often in what she feels is important." He nodded to Shoray sh'Dana adding with a confident smile "I hope you are not offended, I would not want you angry with me."

Shoray's antennae turned facing each other and then forward, as she gave him a soft liquid gaze. "On the contrary. I am complimented. Thank you."

He bowed slightly "you are welcome to be sure." Braden turned back to the professor wondering if she was going to shoot him down, he had said what he had been thinking. That normally got him in trouble.

Karyn nodded. "I appreciate your observations, and it was a good start." Dallas looked up at the chronometer and added, "as we are almost out of time, I will leave all of you with these questions to consider. How do you know who is Human, Andorian, Klingon, or otherwise? How would you teach another? What does it mean to have 'good' posture? To be attentive to class? On what do you base the notion any cadet is intelligent, aggressive, and not used to failing? Which of these things can be concluded based on brief observation such as you did today, and which are things that can't? For those things that can't be concluded based on today's observation, ask yourselves how you came to the conclusions you did. Could they reveal your biases?"

Dallas let all of that sink in, then offered, "Dismissed."


~End



Captain Karyn Dallas, R.N.
Chief Counselor/Psychology Instructor
Starfleet Academy: Magellan Campus

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Cadet Braden MacCloud
Flight
SF: Magellan Campus

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Cadet Damian Blake
Intel
Magellan Campus

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Cadet Gwen Morgan
Intel
Magellan Campus

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Cadet Jesse Grant
Pre-Med/Psychology
Magellan Campus

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Cadet Ashley MacGyver
Intel/Engineering
Magellen Campus

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Cadet Liam Pardot
Intel/Flight
Magellen Campus

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Cadet Sakar
Diplomatic Corps
Magellen Campus

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Shoray sh'Dana
Security/Tactical
Magellen Campus