Saturday 8 December 2012



Plagiarism and Referencing 
(Who, Where, Why, What, When, How)

As a student it is very essential to understand why we should reference. According to Massey University (2012) there are three important reasons for referencing.


  •  It shows the reader that you can find and use sources to create a solid argument.
  •  It properly credits the originators of ideas, theories, and research findings.
  •   It shows the reader how your argument relates to the big picture.




Above are three important reasons for referencing, as students we are always using other people’s information to back up what we say and think about particular information. Weather it is a Psychology approach to how human’s think or how theorists have shaped Sociology today. Students need to always remember to give the person who said this information credit for their work.


Plagiarism is “using others’ ideas and words without clearly acknowledging the source of that information.” (Indiana University. 2004)
There are many styles of referencing, Harvard Style referencing is widely used around the world to help students back up there information to avoid plagiarism. According to Indiana University (2004) you must always give credit when using other people’s opinions, theories or idea’s.  When using graphs, statistics and anything that is not common knowledge and to quote any written or spoken words of a person. 

Here is a short tutorial to guide new students of how to reference Harvard style. Also remember to familiarise yourself with your student hand book giving to you at the beginning of your college year.  


Reference List
Massey University. (2012) what is referencing? [online] Available from: http://owll.massey.ac.nz/referencing/what-is-referencing.php. Accessed: [08/12/12]
Cape Peninsula University of technology. Writing a report. [online] Available from: http://ixion.cput.ac.za/library_2/infoLit/referencing.htm. Accessed: [08/12/12]
Indiana University Bloomington. (2004) Plagiarism. [online] Available from: http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml. Accessed: [07/12/12]
SAT studys. (2012) VocWorld. [online] Available from: http://vocword.com/2012/01/mastering-words-covert-engender-abrasive-plagiarism-and-tangent-plus-5-words/. Accessed: [07/12/12]

Tuesday 4 December 2012



Which, if any, is more important in your opinion and why: Cognitive
Intelligence (IQ) or Emotional Intelligence (EI). 

When psychologists began to think of intelligence they thought mainly about cognitive aspects like memory and problem solving.

Cognitive intelligence is "The ability to learn new things, recall information, think rationally, apply knowledge and solve problems" (Kaplan and Sadock 1991).

Emotional intelligence is "A form of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and action". (Mayer and Salovey, 1997 p.106)


I feel that both cognitive and emotional intelligence play a huge part in our life's and that you may be required to use each, at different stages of your everyday life.

I think that it is essential to have both emotional and cognitive intelligence in the social care profession. Being able to understand people's emotions and thoughts are the skills needed to work better in this profession.

According to Goleman he explained that it there are five domains in emotional intelligence. These five domains are very essential for people to understand when working with people in a social care setting.




1. Knowing your emotions.
2. Managing your own emotions.
3. Motivating yourself.
4. Recognising and understanding other people's emotions.
5. Managing relationships, i.e. managing the emotions of others

(Goleman 1995 cited in Bocchino 1999,p.13:14)



Although emotional intelligence plays a large part in the social care profession, It is always good to apply your cognitive ability to discuss and solve problems that may occur. Being able to apply knowledge to your job would help you have a better understanding of the achievements you would like to make.





The debate between weather cognitive intelligence or emotional intelligence is more important has left me to feel that I personally think that both are valuable as without having IQ people would feel less experienced about certain circumstances and problems that can occur in your life. Without EI people would find it hard to understand each other, and to make relationships and friendships.






Reference List





Steve Jobs Presentation on the iPhone 

The best presentation I have ever seen was Steve Jobs presentation on the iphone 2007.
I have many reasons for liking this presentation but mainly because of his technique and how he can inspire people when talking about modern technology. 



These are seven steps to a perfect presentation according to  Lundeberg, R. (2009) 

1. Choose your topic 
2. Determine your purpose 
3. Gather information 
4. Develop an outline or write your speech 
5. Select visual aids 
6. Choose a title 
7. Practice 


I believed that Steve Jobs used all seven steps in his presentation because he choose his topic and named it, he repeated the purpose of his topic, used visual and written information, choose his title "iphone 2007" than gave an excellent presentation which he definitely practiced because when I watched this I could not count any flaws.

When you are listening to many presentations they put you to sleep, true? 
The difference with Steve Jobs presentations are he sets a theme that holds people's attention throughout. His presentations each have a theme that connects with his audience. "Today apple is going to re-invent the phone". 
His beginning and end are as strong as each other, using facts to sell his product.
According to Gallo, C. (2009) Jobs used buzz words like "extraordinary" "amazing" and "cool" to gather people's attention and also to excite them into his new productions. 

What attracted me to this presentation was that Steve had the ability to tell a story through images and video and very little text. I became more interested when watching videos and images than reading text throughout a presentation.

His presentations finish with new outcomes and he always gives a show and not just a speech.
He does not make his presentations difficult to understand but more clear and effective. This is why this particular presentation stood out to me.




Reference list

 Steve Jobs. (2007) iphone presentation. [online]  Available from:
http://youtu.be/6uW-E496FXg Accessed:[ 2/12/12].

Roberta Lundeberg (2009) Steps in planning a presentation. [online] Available from:
Accessed: [3/12/12].

 Bnet. (2009) make a presentation like Steve Jobs.  [online] Available from: http://youtu.be/RHX-xnP_G5s . Accessed: [4/12/12].

Computer news report. (2011) Apple co-founder Steve Jobs dies at 56. [online] Available from: http://computernewsreport.com/2011/apple-co-founder-steve-jobs-dies-at-56/. Accessed: [24/11/12]


A brief literature review 


As part of my literature review I will discuss a topic called the humanistic approach in psychology. In order to discuss this topic I will use two books. Simply psychology by Eysenck and psychology for social care by O'Brien.

Humanistic approach was introduced by Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow in the United States around the 1950's. They became a huge influence in the Humanistic approach to psychology. (Spark Notes. 2012)

"Humanist psychologists focused on personal responsibility, free will, and the individual's striving for personal growth". (Eysenck. 2002 p.264)


"Humanism proposed that an individual's ultimate goal was towards growth and potential".
 (O'Brien. 2011p.67)

Maslow put forward a Hierarchy of needs; this would allow people to become motivated and to reach their potential. It stated that our physiological needs like food, water, sleep and shelter, have to be met before we can move up the ladder towards reaching our full potential, this is called self-actualization. 
(Eysenck. 2002 p.264)

According to Maslow he believed that one level of his hierarchy of needs had to be meet to a certain degree, before we can move to the next level. When humans are faced with poverty the needs like esteem and self-actualization are not relevant to the individual because people are trying to meet the physiological needs which are at the base of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
 (O'Brien. 2011. p.69)

After discussing Maslow and his Hierarchy of needs with reference to two books, I
 think that learning about Humanistic approach in psychology is very important when studying to be a social care practitioner. It allows us to come to terms with how people react and think. Having a good knowledge on Maslow and his hierarchy of needs will help us to understand service user's goals and aspirations for their future.


Reference list

SparkNotes. (2012) Spark notes. [online] Available from: http://www.sparknotes.com/psychology/psych101/personality/section4.rhtml.  Accessed: [04/12/12]

O'Brien, E. (Ed) (2012) Psychology for social care. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan.

Eysenck, W, M. (Ed) (2002) Simply psychology. 2nd edition. UK: Psychology press.

Schop, C. (2009) Selfmade miracle. [online] Available from: http://www.selfmademiracle.com/tag/safety-needs/. Accessed: [04/12/12]