Bill Barry

Reflection Paper

Loras offers an array of opportunities that enable the personal growth of all their students,
faculty, and staff. Due to the colleges family atmosphere, favorable student to faculty ratio, and
environment that promotes growth, Loras has been a very favorable place for my journey. Loras
has encouraged me to open my mind to and to reflect on topics in a way that I never wouldve
thought. Because of this I have gained a perspective on life that has allowed me the tools to
become an insightful leader. One particular way Loras College has enabled this is through its
liberal arts approach.
Being a student at a liberal arts college means being challenged to grow in your
education. Not only are liberal arts students expected to perform within their core major courses,
but are also expected to perform in courses that may draw no initial interest from the student.
Within the liberal arts format students can expect to broaden their horizons and to interact with
people who may have different perspectives than themselves. These interactions not only benefit
a students intellect but also provides the opportunity to interconnect with people and ideas
different than your own. Loras prepares students for the interconnected world after college.
Liberal arts educations sharpen students mentally and polishes their abilities moving forward.
The psychology major in particular has expanded how I think beyond my basic realm of
knowledge. Through being a psychology major, I have developed a better understanding of
human behavior as well as how to evaluate it. Because of this I am able to understand myself
and others better. The psychology major has also allowed me to be active in my education,
permitting me to participate in active hands-on experiences. Much like Loras liberal arts

approach, which has expanded my perspectives, psychology has expanded my thinking beyond
what I couldve imagined when I arrived at Loras.
Loras dispositions, the cornerstone of the colleges mission to create active learners,
reflective thinkers, ethical decision makers, and responsible contributors in diverse, professional,
social and religious roles have been extremely prominent in my everyday Loras education. Two
dispositions that I feel I have particularly grown in are my development as an active learner and
a reflective thinker.
Prior to attending Loras, I would describe myself as very narrow-minded. I knew one
concrete way of doing things and that was it. Within college and my liberal arts education, I
have undoubtedly developed this mindset. I had come to Loras as an undecided major and did
not settle on the Psychology major until half-way through my second year. Once I decided on
the psychology major I became engulfed in the culture of the classroom and the type of critical
thinking involved with the discipline. I began spending more time exploring the course materials
and attempting to master the principles of the field of study. I also put noticeably more time into
my own research and began to expand my understanding to evaluate more perspectives.
Whether it was for personal interests, class requirements, or preparation for future study, I
wanted to learn and explore more.
Through my exploration of the study of human behavior I began discovering how
psychology can be represented in multiple facets and professional realms. I worked to gain
experience in a legal setting to better understand the environment. I also worked a childrens
sports camp to experience first-hand the impact that activity and positive role models have on the
development of children. These experiences molded my active learning abilities and

demonstrated my growth as a person while witnessing the impact of human interaction on

multiple fields.
Research methods was, officially, the second psychology course I had been enrolled in. With my
newly found interest in the study of human behavior, I had enrolled in a semesters worth of
various psychology courses. This course specifically tested my active learning ability. In this
class I was expected to learn and understand the different research methods in the psychology
discipline as well as be able to critique and construct a literature review. I was also instructed to
learn the different testing methods to correctly represent results in these different research studies
through statistics. At the end of my two semesters of research methods and statistics I was
instructed to create my own research method experimentation within a group of my peers. My
ability to grasp the content, analyze data and results, and create effective ways to gather my own
data helped me to develop into an active learner.
My development into an active learner was solidified through my advanced research lab.
Through the advanced research lab, I worked with a research partner over the span of two
semesters to develop a study that would effectively collect data to be analyzed and interpreted.
Our research, analyzing the effects of sacred spaces on an individuals cognition and behavior,
was overseen by a Loras psychology faculty member. The research plan we developed set out to
collect data among various religious denominations sacred spaces across Dubuque through
interviews and questionnaires. In turn, we worked to categorize the data to find specific themes
that stood out among all denominations. By doing this we were able to analyze how a sacred
space is developed, its characteristics, and the effects it can have on a persons behavior.
As far as my development as a reflective thinker, I have learned to display insight by
taking into account my own biases and reflecting on them in a creative and critical manner.

There is one class that immediately comes to my mind when I think about my growth as a
reflective thinker. A common theme that I come across is open-mindedness. In order to be a
reflective thinker you have to know how and want to think creatively and critically given any
circumstance. One course that really forced me away from being closed-minded was Democracy
& Global Diversity. This class focused on my personal growth and ability to reflect on my own
growth within my culture.
Democracy and Global Diversity was a class that uses historical role-play to immerse
students into a pattern of reflective thinking and decision making. The general idea of the class
is that each student plays a role reflecting a historical position in an important point in history.
For example, for the first half of the semester, I played a Hindu member of the Indian National
Congress who was a representative at the convention deciding the future of India and whether
they would become independent or remain under British rule. At first, the class seemed very
difficult to me because I was not comfortable arguing with others within the convention setting
that we were simulating. More importantly, I did not know how to critically analyze a situation
that I was not familiar with. After gathering more insight regarding this historical period, I
became more confident in my ability to role-play within the classroom. What I took away most
from this course was gaining the ability to look at a situation from multiple viewpoints and
assessing solutions based on the information and circumstances. For the first time, I found my
voice and made it heard.
Being a psychology major and criminal justice minor, I have spent a great deal of time
examining human behavior. I specifically remember being challenged to researching more about
human behavior in ways that did not necessarily come easy to me. Attempting to find my own
ways to examine and research further about topics, I became more proficient and confident in my

own research abilities. I began approaching things by examining the larger picture and the
several possibilities that can be explored rather than taking things for what they seem to be.
The most prominent theme I recognize in the Loras psychology program is real world
application. Professors constantly remind students of the importance of application and real
world experience. In the psychology department, there is a constant theme dealing with research
connecting to real world topics and issues. There are classes such as research methods, which
require students to come up with their own unique ways to identify and research a topic. By
addressing our own ways to research real world topics we are using what we have been taught in
order to be successful. Physiological psychology is a prime example of this. Through a semester
long course, we were expected to analyze behaviors specific to their function in the brain.
Another class that comes to mind is developmental psychology, in which we were asked to make
decisions that would affect the lives of our virtual children that we were raising. These
experiences, among others, have helped me to progress and to take my understanding of human
behavior to the next level in order to become more proficient.
What has been learned about the major controversies surrounding the field of psychology
is that they are often not as simple as black-and-white. In a field that studies the complicated
field of human behavior, it is easy to see why controversial topics can be so complicated. It is
also clear that in a complicated field there are several controversies with different perspectives
making very good points. Through my Loras education I have learned to acknowledge, further
research, and respect ideas that differ from my own. One example of this is in the field of
criminal justice where and idea such as the death penalty draws a large controversy about
respecting human life. From a criminal justice perspective, the death penalty can be seen as
tolerated due to the fact that it grants restitution for the victims. However from a religious stand

point, the death penalty is generally seen as wrong and a detriment to human life. Psychology
takes a stance on this that ultimately aims at the protection and betterment of human life.
Through my Loras education, I have been exposed to all three of these principles. Causing me to
reflect on ideas that can possibly conflict with one another has allowed me to develop the skill of
critical thinking beyond my own perspective that can be carried with me throughout many areas
of life.