Viktor Kevin S.

Rubio – Analyzing an Experience (Psych 101)

Subject A (female, preferred to remain anonymous)

B LIS graduate of 2015. Took Psych 101 in 2014 under Ms. Rizason Ng.

Subject A’s comments about her Psych 101 class were mostly positive. According to her,
the class did not feel like a chore hence she thought the class to be enjoyable. Most of their
activities involved group discussion (e.g. sharing of experiences) regarding a topic, game-based
activities (e.g. taking care of an egg), and reporting. The following are the salient points from the
interview with the subject, classified under affect, behavior, and cognition. Context is given per
item.

Affect:

1. Enthusiasm – According to the subject, she had a near-perfect attendance for this class. Her
reason was that the discussions are worthy and an absence would mean “not just missing a
class but more importantly missing out on the interesting discussion”.
2. Fun – Most of their time in class involved discussions and these were usually filled with
humorous anecdotes from her classmates.
3. Happiness – According to the subject, she consistently placed in the top 5 highest exam
scorers in her class. This gave her a consistent feeling of happiness throughout the semester.
4. Anxiety – The subject stated that she felt a high level of anxiety every time she had to report
in front of the class.

Her comments regarding affect were mostly positive. It is also worth noting that her comments
were consistently about her mood in the class rather than specific emotions.

Behavior:

1. Always sits beside the window – The subject consistently chose to sit away from most of her
classmates, specifically beside one of the windows in the room. She also apparently put her
bag in the seat next to her to discourage people from sitting immediately next to her.
2. Inhibited – While she would generally listen to the discussions, she often shied away from
actually participating and sharing her own ideas and experiences.
3. Doodling – The subject noted that she found herself doodling often in class. She also stated
that it was not because of boredom, but rather her attention just drifts away a lot.
 4. Dressing up – She makes sure that “the better outfits are reserved for days with Psych class”.
Her reason is that she is trying to acclimate to the Psych students in the building whom she
describes as “conyo”.

Her behavior in class is consistent as to how I know her as a person; that is she is generally
introverted.

Cognition:

1. She thought that the professor really cared about what the students say because their papers
almost always had comments written on them.
2. She consistently remarked that the concepts she learned in class were great additions to one’s
skillset in life.
3. She thinks that Psych 101 as a class should be a required course for all students because it
provided a formal understanding of the self and the society.

Based on her overall comments during the interview, her cognitive insights were less about
people and more about the ideas she learned in class.

Subject B (male, preferred to remain anonymous)

B LIS graduate of 2016. Took Psych 101 in 2013 also under Ms. Rizason Ng.

Subject B’s comments about her Psych 101 class (under the same instructor) are
surprisingly contrasting with Subject A’s comments. His comments were mostly negative that it
felt like the two subjects were talking about two different people. Subject B notes however that
he took Ma’am Ng’s class when she was still a new and part-time faculty and further stated that
it is very much possible that Ma’am Ng has since improved and/or changed. As with the above
pattern, the following are the subject’s affect, behavior, and cognition items about his class.

Affect:

1. Anxiety – The subject constantly felt anxious about being in class. The instructor was
apparently very strict regarding many things (e.g. seating arrangement, attention towards the
instructor, punctuality).
2. Pressure – The subject stated that the instructor at several times mentioned that she has high
standards for UP students. This caused a feeling of looming pressure for the subject.
3. Uncertainty – The subject often mentioned during the interview that the instructor was
“moody”. He therefore felt uncertain whether what would happen in class and how he was
supposed to act depending on the instructor’s mood.

It is highly interesting that the two subjects interviewed were pretty much polarized about the
same instructor. Furthermore, while the Subject A’s comments were generally positive and
towards the class itself, Subject B’s comments were mostly negative and geared towards the
instructor.

Behavior:

1. Punctual – Subject B mentioned that he was forced to be punctual because the instructor was
strict about it. He also mentioned that the instructor apparently did not honor the UP grace
period.
2. Inconspicuous general behavior – The subject mostly kept quiet and did nothing attention-
worthy deliberately to “stay out of her radar”.
3. Faking attention – The subject admitted to faking attention towards the instructor mostly
because he was scared to get called out.

Basing from the whole interview with Subject B, it appears that his behavior inside the class
can be described as either sycophantic or inconspicuous.

Cognition:

1. The subject thought that the instructor was, to be precise, “masungit”. He also thought the
instructor was moody.
2. During class time, the subject’s thoughts would often wander towards other things (e.g. things
he needed to do for his other classes)

It appears that Subject B’s true attention was focused everywhere else but his class.