HO CHI MINH CITY INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY (HCMIU)

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

Psychology Assignment
Course Coordinator: Dr. Nguyen Duc Danh
Student: Bui Nguyen Chi Lan BABAIU12120

Date of submission: May 7th, 2015

Psychology Assignment

Table of Content
Question 1 .......................................................................................................................................
Question 2 .......................................................................................................................................
References .....................................................................................................................................

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Psychology Assignment

Question 1

Memory consists of recalling information that you have learned or experienced. Hence, the
strategies for improving memory must be based on the system that information are processed
and transferred to long-term memory. This stages-of-memory model shows that system:
Information

Sensory
memory

Attention

Working
memory

Encoding

Long-term memory

Retrieval

We do not attend to the information in sensory. Only when we take attention to the information,
it will be moved to working memory. However, it is easy to forget information at this stage. In
order to avoid forgetting we have to encode the information and turn it into long-term memory.
Finally, we retrieval information when we need it.
The ways we improve our attention, encoding and retrieval information are the key factors to
build up our strategy. There are many techniques as follow:
Mnemonic devices are procedures for associating new information with previously stored
memories, that imagery is one specific kind. It affects to the attention. Imagery includes some
methods such as:
The method of loci refers to the use of familiar locations as cues to recall items that have been
associated with them.
The pegword technique is the use of familiar words or names as cues to recall items that have
been associated with them.
The encoding can be improved by Coding technique. Items that are not very meaningful or
relevant to the learner are not learned as well or as easily as more meaningful or relevant items.
Finally, grouping method can support very well for the process of retrieval. Since the time of the
first experiment on grouping, psychologists have consistently found that we tend to group or
chunk items when we recall them.
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Psychology Assignment

These techniques can be very useful for all aspects in self-developed for the professional career
in business administration. Once we can use them effectively, there will be some skills which
can be developed much more easily:
No matter who we are in our career, giving speech or presentation in front of from small groups
of five or ten team members to a higher level a larger audience in an auditory room, in a
conference, in company meetings is very common. It is a daily practice in business working
environment which is regarded as a useful way to express some innovative ideas, new strategies
or the project planning for the next months, etc. There are several people, however, facing
difficulties in memorizing their speech scripts when they are on stage. There are some reasons
for the problems they are not good in remembering too long essays, they are not well-prepared
or even more simply, they are too nervous to be calm and keep anything in mind. Imagine you
must give an important speech in front of your college communications class for your final
exam. No matter how many times you rehearse the speech, you know you will not be able to
memorize every part of it. You don't want to accidentally leave out any necessary details, but
you want to impress your audience by not relying on notecards for help. Then the Method of
Loci can help! The Method of Loci is an effective mnemonic device, or a trick to aid in memory
storage and retrieval. The effectiveness of this method relies on visualizing mental images to
associate with the material that needs to be remembered. The more vivid the visual, the more
effective the method.
Example 1: If you are planning a presentation in order to introduce new product, you can
imagine your map in your house for illustration the outline of the speech. The gate may
represent for your introduction, the garden is the literature review and background studies, then
continue throughout your imaginary walk, each room symbolizes each element of your body
until you reach the backyard the end of your speech.
Similar to the above technique, the Pegword technique is also very useful for those who want to
practice giving a speech fluently. This approach can enable us to recall some terms or figures
which are difficult to remember during the speech into some words which have familiar sounds
or names in our life.
Example 2: A leader has a set of tasks to do:
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Psychology Assignment

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Recruit new members for new projects;

Solve the feedbacks of one customer about the products;
Meet new clients to sign a potential contract;
Train teamwork skills for all the team;
Prepare documents for reporting to the CEO;
Get idea for launching the new product;
Attend a meeting to discuss about next strategy of company.

It is hard to remember all tasks, so the leader can group the number 2, 3 and 6 as the activities
affecting to external outcome of the company; group the number 1 and 4 for the activities to deal
with the peer level, and the rest are for tasks related to working with top position in the
company.
We have other tools which can support for managers in training the staffs for new skills or new
projects. They can be both acronyms and acrostics, two common techniques of coding.
Managers when using these kinds of tools can encourage learners to attain knowledge faster and
more easily while sometimes the members can meet a lot of troubles in learning new things.
Example 3: When training about the method of planning a professional development strategy,
SMART is a very common tool. People may not know the detail of the approach at first, but
when they remember about the word SMART, they know that these must-have patterns of a
thorough plan are: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely.

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Psychology Assignment

Question 2

Among many kinds of intelligence which are very critical for any department in a company,
emotional intelligence and human resource management seems to have a stronger relationship. It
is obvious that for those who want to be excel at the position, they need to have a deep
understanding about emotional intelligence and how to improve it.
EQ is the ability to apply knowledge about emotions to everyday life, involves an awareness of
and an ability to manage ones own emotions, self-motivation, empathy, and the ability to handle
relationships. It requires both intrapersonal and interpersonal skills (empathy), both self-insight
and self-control (self-motivation). It enables us to cope with stress, depression, and aggressive
behavior. Thanks to these characteristics, EQ helps human resource management become much
more effective. EQ helps managers to manage stress for themselves as well as for others, it is
vital for enhanced cooperation and teamwork. Our ability to work together is profoundly
impacted by our emotions, and this requires an ability to self-soothe, connect, and integrate in
workplace relationships.
Example 1: When two workers in an organization have conflicts together, human resource
manager must be the one who can understand the both side of their opinions. HR can use the EQ
to clarify the situation, explain for them about any misunderstood they may have, and finally
reach out a solution in peace and friendly way.
Example 2: Sometimes, there is a staff that can feel lost direction in his career path and become
demotivated. With emotional intelligence, HR can use the sympathy and the motivation power
of this kind of intelligence to give the staff the best advice for their future as well as comprehend
the situation where he got lost, what he lacks of, so that HR can design a development plan or
training for the staff.

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Psychology Assignment

Although there are already many studies concluding that intelligence is mostly based on the
genetic factors and heredity, it can still be improved and developed through external factors such
as health, personality, sociocultural factors and environmental factors. Therefore, individuals
should focus on these channels to be able to increase their IQ score.

About health, people who exercise regularly tend to have higher IQ scores than those who do
not. In general, individuals that have a high awareness of caring for their physical body can be
more intelligent. Scientists prove that when someone exercises, his brain cell can be stimulated
to grow through a process called neurogenesis and the brain can be supported with favorable
neurotransmitters like dopamine. In addition, a good nutrition from healthy foods can provide us
a good source to promote the IQ. Foods play an essential role in brain development. The
researchers found that healthy diet influenced IQ regardless of other factors. If we want to boost
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our intelligence, it is better to stay away from eating processed food. Beside healthy foods and
regular exercises, IQ promotion can be supported with some functional supplements like Omega
3 Fatty Acids which helps improve the logical thinking of the brain.
Example 1: When a student are revising the knowledge to prepare for such a big exam like
university entrance exam, he is always recommended to consume healthy food like fish or fresh
vegetables to learn well.
With personality, we can focus on meditation to rest the mind, then improve the intelligence.
Meditation can help decrease stress, improve mood, and light up brain activity. Additionally, it
can increase performance on intelligence-related measures and increase IQ scores over time.
Another activity which can influence IQ through personality is reading. Reading is especially
important if you want to boost the IQ. Reading will stimulate thought, learning new vocabulary,
and helps people make connections between certain events should be good for the brain.
Theoretically, reading material that is both stimulating and challenging should be able to help
improve a persons IQ score.
For sociocultural factors and environmental factors, people are advice to continuously try to live
in an enriched environment which provides both active learning and new experiences for us.
Actively learning new things helps your brain learn and may help you make connections.
Learning a new skill such as chess, how to play a sport, how to juggle, or anything new for that
matter may help your brain in ways you never thought possible. In addition to actively
learning or engaging your brain to learn new things, new experiences can also help rewire and
increase your intelligence. Something like taking a trip to a foreign country, becoming fluent in
their language, and lifestyle is going to have an influence on your brain.
Example 2: Children who are allowed to play freely to discover new things and not afraid of
making mistakes are more intelligent than those who do not. It is because the environment
supporting them a good active learning atmosphere as well as numerous experience for them
to learn.

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References
Aberg et al. (2009) Cardiovascular fitness is associated with cognition in young adulthood.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0905307106
Robert et al. (1990) Transcendental meditation and improved performance on intelligencerelated measures: A longitudinal study.
Hassan et al. (2011). Human Resource Management Emotional Intelligence: Communication
Effectiveness mediates the Relationship between Stress Management and Job Satisfaction.
International Journal of Managing Information Technology
Verhaeghen et al. (1992) Improving memory performance in the aged through mnemonic
training: A meta-analytic study. Psychology and Aging, Vol 7(2)

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