Learning how learning is learnt-study week 7

Howdy people.

What a week it's been!! For some misdemeanor that I may or may not have committed during the progression of my youth, the higher powers decided to inflict the vilest form of gastroenteritis upon both me and my offspring meaning that this weeks study efforts have been strained. However, I somehow managed between bouts of nausea and general fatigue to finish off this weeks study although to be honest I didn't do as thorough a job as usual as this chapter (chapter 3) is an exam chapter and so I will have to go back over it in more detail when the time comes to get stuck into revision. I'm really hoping that it will make more sense to my delicate brain!

And I've only just got over the flu-I must have cocked up big time somewhere!

Anyway-this week was all about learning. As well as all of chapter 3 and the commentary, study week 7 of the workbook had to be completed as part of the core study, with DVD 1 (observation) and the 'Learning Language' clip from the DVD-ROM making up the optional study component.

The chapter concentrated on three perspectives of learning: The comparative approach (or behaviourism), the cognitive perspective and the socialcultural perspective. I shall tackle each one separately, but again i've only briefly skimmed this chapter and as yet haven't made any notes so there may well be huge holes in my knowledge (well, more so than usual!).

Learning: Acquiring new knowledge or skills.
Like evolution, learning allows individuals to adapt in order to cope better with their environment, although this occurs over the lifespan of the individual rather than over the millions of years lifespan of evolution. The different perspectives have different theories which may lead to different questions and ultimately research and methodology. But this does not mean that one is ultimately right and the rest wrong, but that there may be many different types of learning and they perspectives just provide differing insights.

Comparative Approach.

Studying non-human animals and extrapolating the findings to other species-ie humans. Linked to behaviourism, most closely related to John Watson (click name for Wiki link!). Advocates of behaviourism believe that psychology should be a scientific study of behaviour, without making inferences into mental processes as these cannot be scientifically proven. Watson also believed that too much emphasis was placed on innate behaviour and not on the effect of our environments on our behaviour.

Classical conditioning.

Experiment designed by Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936).

1. Dog is given food (unconditional stimulus, UCS) and as a reflex salivates (unconditional response, UCR).
2. A contingency is formed between the UCS and a neutral stimulus (NS), in this case a bell by delivering both at the same time.
3. In time, the dog salivates when the NS is present, even when there is no UCS. The NS now becomes the CS (conditional stimulus) and the reflex evoked by the CS is known as the CR (conditional response).

And this is the bare bones (geddit? dogs, bones? Never mind) of the process known as classical conditioning!

Now our friend Mr Watson liked this approach-the data was measurable and quantifiable and could be wrapped up nicely with a little bow, with no need for second guessing what the dog was thinking. He applied this study to humans, in the case of poor little Albert who Watson conditioned to be petrified of rats-I won't even go into the ethical implications for this!!

These days, people believe that there is more than one type of change going on during the process of conditioning. For example, could the dog not only be mindlessly and unconsciously drooling at the sound of a bell, or could he actively be thinking 'wicked, it's dinner time now', forming an expectancy? Hirsch, 1974; Mishkin et al, 1984; and Toates, 1998 all believed this to be the case.

Operant (instrumental) conditioning.

Where the behaviour of the participant (ie rat) is instrumental to the outcome of the conditioning. Burrhus Frederick Skinner devised the skinner box

A rat is placed in the skinner box and when he presses the lever he is rewarded with a pellet of food. When the frequency of the lever pressing behaviour (or the operant behaviour) increases, the food is positive reinforcement for that behaviour (in other words, it makes the rat more likely to push the lever!). This is also known by behaviourists as the Law of effect, which states that a response which results something favourable (ie, food) will be learned. Also included in instrumental conditioning is negative reinforcement, whereby something negative is prevented by the behaviour-for example, a harsh noise being switched off when the lever is pressed, and also punishment, in the case of the rat we could say that the harsh noise occurred only when the rat pressed the level-this would make the rat less likely to press it. During operant conditioning it is also possible for animals to display discrimination by emitting the operant behaviour in the presence of one stimulus (ie a green light) but not in the presence of another stimulus (ie a red light). Operant conditioning has been used to various ways, including behaviour modification (via positive reinforcement). Skinner, however, was also very adamant that punishment should not be used in this way as it is unethical and ineffective.

Many people believe that it is inaccurate to report human behaviour as merely a consequence of responses controlled by the environment, with no consideration of any other processes of thought which may be occurring. Tolman (1932) created on alternative study whereby a rat was placed in a simple maze with one possible route, the food being placed in goal box which was to the right. The rat was then placed in another map with several different routes, with the straight on route blocked. It was suggested that, without any internal inferences, the rat would just try to go straight on to get to the food as he had done in the first instance. However, the rat would often go through a route that was towards the right, suggesting that the rat was learning to get the food via 'something in the head' as well as just stimuli responses. Goldman et al (1973) also suggested that the animals formed an expectancy for food, as they measured the stress levels of the rats when they did not receive the response that they usually received for their actions (ie no food or less food than normal. The same thing happens to me when I expect there to be chocolate in the fridge and I get there to realise that i've already eaten it. My stress levels go through the roof).

Cognitive Perspective

• Compared to computers due to similar processing of information-received via senses and processed and used to guide behaviours.
• Can describe what occurs in the mind at both a functional (what the mind does) and a process (how the mind does is) level with no need to explain the physical workings of the brain.
• Brain scanning and imaging is increasing being used in cognitive psychology.

Category learning.

Learning that occurs when people are able to categorise entities. Categories enable us to make sense of the world around us, to make plans and predictions.

Bruner et al (1956): Emphasized the importance of hypothesis testing in category learning. Bruner devised a study whereby participants were shown a variety of cards (see pg 192) and were shown one card in particular. They were then asked to pick all the other cards in the same category. The participants developed hypotheses to try to find the right category (ie all cards in this category have three borders) and when each hypothesis was disproved they moved onto another until they found the correct one (known as successive scanning, sort of like a trial and error). However, this method of hypothesis testing was slow and difficult as, although one property may be correct on the card (ie three crosses) it does not mean that the hypothesis was correct. A more successful method is conservative focusing which involves eliminating whole classes of hypotheses by choosing a card which only differed from the previous choice in one way-ie the example in the book states that if the original card had three clear crosses and a single border, and next card chosen may contain three clear crosses and a triple border. If the researcher said that this new card is not in the same category, then all cards with three borders can be discounted. People using conservative focusing learned categories more quickly than those who used successive scanning.

In this study, Bruner used artificial stimuli which had little or prior associations, so that participants' previous knowledge would not interfere with the study. However, the study therefore lacks ecological validity as it does not explain category learning in a more natural setting-natural categories, whose attributes are all linked together for a specific reason and these links and any prior knowledge we have may affect the way we learn categories. Murphy and Allopenna (1994) devised a study whereby participants has to learn categories where each member of the category had lots of attributes in common so could all be linked to the same theme. They found that people did learn categories where the members had lots of attributes in common much quicker due to their prior knowledge.

Jerry Fodor and Noam Chomsky, philosopher and linguist respectively, believed that categories simply cannot be learned because this knowledge is innate (nativism) as opposed to being learned through the senses like Bruner believed (empiricism). They believed that this knowledge most be innate due to the induction problem-basically, although we may think we know something based on our past experience, we have no way of knowing what's going to happen in the future-something may well come along and blow everything that we think we know out of the water, therefore we can not guarantee that the hypotheses that we generate are correct. Any evidence created by empirical studies may later be shown to be wrong. Obviously, many think that this position is extremely far fetched and just plain wrong. One way to balance this situation is to suggest that the type of learning suggested by people in both the nativist and empiricism camp are different-the former suggesting that things are not learned but merely recalled, with no fundamental change to conceptual abilities, and the latter suggesting that there is a complex process going on in the head, involving information processing and changes in behaviour.

Sociocultural perspective

Looks at how our mental processes are influenced and effected by our cultural settings. Suggests that learning involves the use of tools that exist in interpersonal relationships and therefore are embedded in our culture. For example, the use of computers or language that we have available to use are dependant on our cultural setting and affects our learning capabilities. Remember the pen guy from a few weeks back? Yeah, the pen is another tool. Lol.

Saljo (1999) - Tools not only mean physical tools and technologies but also psychological tools such as language. Learning is mediated, or indirect, buffered by the tools that we have at our disposal, and how we 'take up' or appropriate these tools also play a part in how we learn.

The distribution of power within cultures also plays a part-ie access to computers in schools is decided by the powers that be who rule the purse strings and decide how many computers to have etc. Also, the classroom environment in which the children learn also affects learning. See Keogh et all (2000) on pg 205 for an example. Studying learning in this way enables psychologists to help learners to make the most of their skills and surroundings.

Social interactions play a large part in the human experience and, again, language is an important tool in learning, and studies have been conducted to find out which types of interactions are central to learning. These studies can be done in various ways-recording interactions and coding the dialogue and analysing it quantitatively, or analysing it's meaning for themes etc qualitatively (see Mercer pg 207). Language and its meaning is constructed through its origins and the culture in which it is created. For psychologists, how we use language is as important as what the language means.

Enculturation-when people adopt the relevant language in accordance with their cultural context-for example schools and universities may have their own systems and jargon which, in turn, affects how students within these institutions learn. The Jackson quote on page 211 is a good example of this. This is why some children may fail in school-they cannot make sense of the environment and the cultural norms encapsulated within it.

Ok-that's taken me ages and now i'm going cross-eyed lol! Note to self: Read the next chapter properly!! I'm registered to start SD226 in feb but to be honest i'm seriously considering cancelling it because I can't see myself being able to devote enough time to each course to be able to get a decent grade. I think i'm going to stick doing 60 points at a time until my youngest starts preschool, otherwise I simply don't have the time. But at the same time I really want to do it and get it out the way. Decisions decisions!

Until next time!!

Candyflee xxx

Chapter 2, part2.

Howdy! I'm back, and on a saturday too!! Fancy that.

It's raining here so my children have spent the morning running around and beating on each other. Honestly when they don't get to venture into the outdoors their relationship with each other turns from less Karen and Richard to more Jack and Ralph (a la William Golding). Seriously, it can get ugly-and the youngest is only 14 months old.

Anyway-onto the next part of the chapter and we've moved away from asbo chimps to...

Theory of Mind: The ability to see from anothers perspective, to put yourself in someone else's shoes, to be able to predict your own and other people's behaviour and feelings. Also, the ability to be deceptive, based on assumptions. This ability to be able to interact with others is essential in our reproductive success, attracting a suitable mate and forming alliances, therefore ensuring survival.

Studying TOM and it's evolutionary history may point ep's in the direction of why humans developed it as a way of explaning it's contribution to many different psychological characteristics. Looking at chimps for example, who have little or no presence of tom, may suggest that humans developed it after they split from chimps. Archaeological evidence of burial rituals may also suggest a tom present in humans as they may have seen certain rituals as being necessary to enter into the afterlife, indicating an ability to see from the potential perspective of another.

The Maxi Test-

• Wimmer and Perner (1983)-original maxi test (or false belief test). A variation of this was proposed in 1985 by Baron-Cohen et al. called the Sally-Anne test (Gross, 2005).
• In the Sally-Anne experiments, two puppets (called Sally and Anne-just in case you didn't get it lol) were used. Sally had a marble which she puts into a blanket and then leaves the room. While she is not there, Anne moves the marble from the basket and puts it into a box (cheeky sod). Then Sally comes back into the room.
• Participants are then asked where Sally will look for her marble (hopefully not in the same place as my marbles-lost forever I tell you!).
• People with tom are thought to say the basket-they are aware that Sally has her own perspective and will not know what they know as she did not witness it. Participants without tom however will say that the marble is in the box-they don't understand that Sally has a perspective different from their own; they are unable to see someone else's point of view.

When the initial maxi test was done on children it was found that the majority of children 6 years and over had tom, and majority of 3-4 year olds did not. However, it was thought that this initial test was too complex and involved a language barrier, especially for children so young. many variations of the task were carried out, so finding that some children as young as 2 posessed tom (my child does not have this yet-she is still convinced that she is the pivotal point on which the world turns and she wants some chocolate buttons NOW!). Studies have also shown a universal capacity to tom as children across different cultures have been found to possess tom, indicating an evolutionary path. There are lots more figures etc in the book which I won't bother to regurgitate here.

People with autism are also used as participants on the maxi test. Autism is often marked by lack or impairment of social interaction ability. The tests on people with autism showed that they performed 'significantly less well' than the participants without autism.

Non-human primates are also been studied for evidence of tom. Lots of studies have been used, such as the Povinelli (1996) test which wanted to see if an ape would follow the gaze of the researcher, therefore demonstrating that they acknowledged the researchers differing view point. However, it is not known whether this is evidence of tom or simply the ape mimicking behaviour.

Artefacts found by archaeologists are also used to prove the presence of tom, as mentioned above, with burial rituals and art. Baron-Cohen (1999) suggests that tom evolved with the evolution of modern humans, hence the art and burial rituals which emerged at that time. However, with lack of evidence and different evidence and so on, it is difficult to pin point the exact time frame.

I have to leave this here as my youngest is just emerging from her nap-I shall update this entry later!

Ok-I'm back in the land of blog!! And ready to talk about altruism and reciprocity as defined by evolutionary psychology, so here goes...

Altruism according to Wiki is: selfless concern for the welfare of others. According to ep, it is universal as it can be found across cultures, and genetic evidence (as found in green alga) suggests it may be an adapted behaviour. (Obviously one cannot extrapolate from green alga that humans are the same, although my level of brain cells and the levels held by algae are probably about the same right now). The chapter covers three kinds of altruism-

Altruistic behaviour amongst kin:

Although being altruistic suggests a cost to the individuals genes' reproductive success, Hamilton (1964) developed the concept of inclusive fitness, which means that helping your relatives (who will have similar genes to you), will positively effect the reproductive success of your kin, and as reproductive success is about genes and not individuals then this is similar to your own reproductive success. According to Hamilton, the more closely related you are to someone, the more likely you are to behave altruistically towards them.

Reciprocal altruism:

Carrying out an altruistic act for someone not related to you where the altruist repays the favour-'you scratch my back i'll scratch yours'. Requires theory of mind (so that the altruist can make assumptions as to whether or the person in question will repay the favour). However, it is not guaranteed that the favour will by repaid. The prisoner's dilemma game on page 147 shows an example of research into this. It is believed that the person is more likely to reciprocate if they believe they are going to meet the altruist again, and therefore it would be beneficial for both parties to cooperate. A game of tit-for-tat then ensues (known as evolutionary stable theory), which is commonly used by people to decide how to react to others.

Indirect altruism:

Where (and i'll use the example in the book as that's easier!) A will follow out an altruistic act towards B even though B will not reciprocate, then C will behave altruistically towards A, even though C does not benefit at all from the transaction. This kind of behaviour is thought to occur in order to provide individuals with a positive reputation-the more people know about an altruist the more likely they are of wanting to help them out. Therefore being an altruist is a good way for someone to gain resources (is cash) and support from the community, therefore aiding their survival. Altruistic behaviour may also be a way of attracting a sexual partner as it may make them more desirable.

There has also been research into animals and altruism. Research into chimps was carried out which suggested that they sometimes do act altruistically (in this instance, by helping the human researcher to reach something that they couldn't get)-suggesting that the common ancestor of humans and chimps may have had altruistic tendencies. Again, problems with this research occurs as it is done in lab settings and the same behaviour may not be carried out an a more natural setting.

So summerise: Altruism may be a universal evolved response, an adaptation. However, it is difficult to pinpoint when it evolved in humans.

So there you have it-two psychological characteristics as explained by the evolutionary psychology perspective. Phew. I'm very pleased to be able to just move onto the next chapter without having to attempt to concoct something that loosely resembles an assignment! Onto the next chapter....

Good luck folks

Candyflee xx

Chimp sex and digging up dead people: How to be an evolutionary psychologist

Howdy!

And I'm back! I've successfully completed this week's study, after nearly having a heart attack when realising I'd actually have to read the whole of the chapter after the initial ease into the last chapter over two weeks. So, once my heart rate had returned to an acceptable level for an adult homo-sapien (geddit!! Apologies-lame joke!) I was able to crack on with it.

First off I want to say how much I have enjoyed this chapter actually, much more than I thought I was going to. Granted, there are still currently more that a few terms that I'm not entirely sure of at present but hopefully I will be able to wrap my brain around them as time goes by. Although I don't have much time for that, the sterling effort to get ahead was thrown aside due to my major TMA procrastination period, so the next study week actually starts tomorrow. still-I work better under pressure-yeah right!

So the order of business this week:
Chapter 2-Evolutionary psychology
Commentary 2-ABSOLUTELY essential for pulling the chapter together
SPSS CD-ROM installation (already done-i'm a saint lol)
Video clip on chimp behaviour-More on this later!!!

I'm going to start off a bit backwards in this and talk about the themes first (as found in the commentary)-

1) How are humans different/similar to non-human animals and how are they similar to each other across cultures.

2) Change vs Fixity. Although evolution is concerned with change, over long periods of time, there are also fixed aspects-during our lives, we are a product of our fixed genes and DNA.

I think it's important to note the themes first, because most things in the chapter can be related back to the themes.

EVOLUTION PSYCHOLOGY: Human cognition and behaviour occur as the structure of the mind that we inherit is a product of evolutionary process. It is involved predominantly with WHY a phenomenon exists, and it's previous functions, rather than HOW it works, the main function of other psychological perspectives. It uses mainly a scientific approach, uses multiple methods and also draws evidence from other psychological perspectives.

Types of evidence:

• Archaeological-ie fossil evidence and artifacts. These can help to determine lifestyle and biological aspects which may indicate certain psychological characteristics.
• Genetic-characteristics that have evolved must have some genetic component allowing it to be passed down through generations.
• Non-human primates-It is thought that humans split from chimps fairly recently, therefore they are studied as a window into the past and how humans may have been.
• Universality-Evidence of characteristics across cultures may point towards these characteristics being evolved mechanisms.
• Hunter-gatherers-Due to the lengthy period of time spent leading a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, ep's suggest that much of our behaviour originates from this.
• Modern human populations-Studying modern humans give ep's an insight into functions that may have adapted over time and therefore their subsequent functions and possible evolutionary path.

Evolutionary processes: The different selection processes and genetic changes that can be attributed to evolution. They occur over long periods of time and best enable a species to adapt to its changing environment:

• Genetic transmission and diversity-Genes, which are constructed of DNA code instructions for proteins in the body which effect our physiology and therefore out behaviour. Genes are passed through generations via reproduction, and the many different varieties of chromosomes lead to great diversity. Or something like that lol. Oh and there's also mention of mutations but I cannot for the life of me begin to try to talk about that because I simply don't get it.
• Natural selection-'Survival of the fittest'. Where traits (coded by genes) which are most advantageous are passed onto the subsequent generations (reproductive success). This leads to adaptations, the evolved characteristics which increase the 'fitness' of a species. Ep's can use these adaptations to determine their original function.
• Sexual selection-How different traits and characteristics effect the quality of mate that a human attracts, and how these traits are passed down through generations. The higher the quality of the 'mate' then the more likely it is for the offspring to be a high quality mate, therefore the cycle goes on to ensure survival of the species.
• Human evolution-Humans are more closely related to chimps than any other primates. Humans are also homo-sapiens and hominies. This bit was pretty boring so I didn't really take it much of it-must try harder!

Ok-I'll come back to TOM and altruism tomorrow, it's late and I'm missing I'm a celeb! Although I must mention the vid clip first-I was both hysterically amused and intensly grossed out by this lol!! It was very reminiscent of saturday nights in Wolverhampton, what with all the violence and public copulation. Hilarious. I was quite upset when it was revealed that our little trespasser was probably going to shuffle off his current mortal plane though-poor little sod. But it was very interesting to see how they made their own tools and stuff. It was useful to have a more visual explanation of how close humans are to chimps and really weird to see the bonobos monkey walking on his two legs-freaked my out a bit actually, I half expected something from a Pierre Boulle novel to go walking past in the background. *shudder* lol.

Until tommorrow!

Candy flee xx

Free Hit Counters

Hip Hip...

Hooray!! After toiling for many an hour over my personal Everest (aka-TMA01) I have finally finished it-and not only that I have submitted it also. I did intend to hang onto it but the temptation to re-work would be ever present and I thought it best to just say bon voyage and send it on its merry way. Rest assured I shall wake up tonight in a cold sweat in the throws of a nightmare in which I have mis-spelt Marcia or theory or, heaven forbid, the name of the author. Still-what's done is done and I can set about the task of erasing Marcia and Tajfel forever from my mind-an easy task apparently, there are plenty of things I strive desperately to remember yet they still evade me at the crucial moment.

I can now start on the second chapter of the book-but be assured that in between now and then a hefty consumption of pinot shall ensue. All work and no play and all that....

Good luck to everyone struggling over this assignment-I shall drink to your success!

Candyflee xx

Week Four - Back on track!!

*Candy's Recipe for the perfect TMA*

Ingredients:

Far too many course books

1 Head

1 Wall

Method

Beat head and wall together briskly until sense is formed. Consult course books, add newly developed sense and apply to paper. Hey presto.

Ok, maybe not. I have tried this method but sadly it did not work. Foiled again!

I have the worst flu in the history of the world-complete Man Flu (my husband is known to contract this illness on a regular basis). Every sinus track in my head is stuffed up and I feel, well for want of a better phrase. like shit. Yet still I soldier on, the deadline for this TMA looms ever closer, made even more startlingly obvious by the fact that it is now November-therefore the TMA is due THIS MONTH. And not only that, it's due in less that two weeks. Hmm, methinks I need to pull my finger out!!

In fact, I have *kind of* done the second part of the assignment, but my biggest headache with that is referencing-do we have to reference the BPS guidelines? And do we have to write...'according to the BPS guidelines...' everytime we discuss a new ethical implication involved in each scenario?? I need to email my tutor quick sharp lol. I have also done the intro to the essay, but that's as far as i've got, although I have written up a plan (ish). 1000 words don't seem long enough to me!! I don't want to talk about the TMA in too much detail but at the same time I really want to talk about it!!! What are the rules on this-am I allowed to talk about the finer TMA details on here or is that not allowed? Something else I need to find out!

Anyway the focus of this weeks study was chapter one of the research methods book, along with study week 4 of the workbook and the BPS code of Ethics and Conduct (my tip for this is to print it out-it's quite long but it was so much easier to flick through and highlight relevant bits etc. I'm not very good with reading large chunks of info from a computer screen. I like to be able to doodle while I learn!). There's also an additional section of the workbook included under student directed study.

Research Methods Book

This chapter was fairly long and intense (particularly for my phlegmatic brain) so I will try to put some kind of table in here to make it slightly more simple-if I can figure out how to add a table that is lol!!

Ok I can't figure out how to make a table but look, I figured out how to change the colour of my posts! Woohoo, how exciting!

No, i'll go back to black. That colour is far too risque when dealing with a subject so highly interesting as this one (note-that was indeed sarcasm). I'm going to just list some key terms instead of waffling on far ages-here goes:

Objective

Scientific

Generalisable

Experiments

Material data

Behavioural data

Quantitative

Variables

Hypotheses

Tajfel study

Statistics

Sample

Ability to replicate

Outsider viewpoint

Subjective

Hermeneutic

Inner experience

Observation

Interviews

Questionnaires

Symbolic data

Meanings

Themes

Language

Discourse

(Mainly) qualitative

Marcia

Richness of data

(Sometimes) quantitative

Introspection

Is that cheating?? LOL, well it's taken me ages to write that-it probably would have been easier to waffle on about it all!!

There are other terms tackled at the beginning of the chapter which are v. hard to get my head around. So, I shall copy and paste from Wiki-I know, naughty naughty but it's better than my explanations!! They are concerned with the construction of psychological research:

Epistemology or theory of knowledge is the branch of philosophy that studies the nature, methods, limitations, and validity of knowledge and belief.

Methodology is defined as
"the analysis of the principles of methods, rules, and postulates employed by a discipline" or
"the development of methods, to be applied within a discipline"
"a particular procedure or set of procedures".

Methods I can do on my own, methods are research methods, ways of collecting and analysing data.

Data-information that is collected from a research study.

All these terms act as a framework within which research is carried out-Epistomolgy deals with the knowledge side of things-how we can know what we need to know and how we can find out about it. From that stems methodology, the 'overall theoretical rationale', how we figure out what methods are best to use and which data will be collected from within a certain psychological perspective. Which then leads to the method which will be decided from the methodology, and ends in data, decided by the method. And that's how we make research!! Tada!!

The chapter than discusses the cycle of enquiry, important for essay writing etc etc. I even found a copy on 'tinternet!! The cycle of enquiry is covered in more depth in the optional component in the workbook which I err, didn't do yet. But I will!! Or at least I'll try!

Then different methods and data are briefly touched upon, which I have added to my lists (see above!).

The workbook covered essay writing which I read but didn't do any activities as I feel I got plenty of practise during DD100. Time will tell whether that little bit of arrogance shall return to bite me on the ass!!

The BPS Code of Conduct and Ethics is absolutely ESSENTIAL to the TMA so, as I said above, I personally would recommend printing it out if you can, that way you've got it to hand to refer to, plus you can keep it for future reference, as rest assured ethics are bound to come up again later on in the course, especially for TMA03 and 05. I won't bang on about it as I believe I covered it briefly in an earlier post.

Can you believe that this entry has taken me all day!!?? Seriously, ages. In between my illness and my children-one of which is now also becoming ill great-and the need to eat i've been bobbing on all day to do this. Now I need a lemsip, a hot water bottle and a serious dose of Ricky Gervais.

I shall leave you with a piccie of Tom Cruise-keep the faith.

(see, when the work looks like crap, you can trust Tom Cruise to point a smile on your face!).

Until next time!!

(a full of self pity) Candyflee x