People don't resist change, they resist being changed. Awareness enables individual, organisational, and social transformation.
The fireball: my first feedback story It was one of my first jobs, the debut of my career. I was working for Procter & Gamble in Bucharest. The Romanian branch had just opened a procurement centre (intending to transfer all procurement activities from Brussels and Geneva), and I was employee number four of the new... Continue Reading →
I've been living in Malaysia for over five years, working for a company that employs more than 60 nationalities. My first Scrum team had eight nationalities (out of eight team members) spread across all spectrums of cultural differences. My family is also multicultural (my son has Romanian-Malaysian genes, plus influences from Romanian, Chinese, Malaysian and... Continue Reading →
The way to mastery is a long journey. Yet if you're passionate about your craft, be it writing, designing, building virtual products, building physical products, or just want to become a master at whatever you're currently doing, pick up this book - Apprenticeship Patterns. Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman, by David D. Hoover and... Continue Reading →
Note: an assignment I wrote for Current and Historical Issues in Psychology (part of my MSc in Psychology). The assignment is a position statement that should answer the question: Is Psychology a science? Psychology’s status as science meets high scepticism within the profession itself (Lilienfield, 2012) and is not accepted as a given among policymakers,... Continue Reading →
Note: This research is part of a series of assignments for Cognitive Psychology, part of my MSc in Psychology. Autobiographical memory (AM) is memories from past experiences of our own lives (Fivush, 2011). This type of memory contains episodic memories (specific events) and semantic memories (personal semantic memories, facts related to those events) (Cabeza &... Continue Reading →
Note: This research is part of a series of assignments for Cognitive Psychology, part of my MSc in Psychology. My first childhood memory comes from being separated from my brother at five in kindergarten. I found out that not having memories as an infant is called childhood amnesia/infantile amnesia, as the earliest memories in children... Continue Reading →
Note: This research is part of a series of assignments for Cognitive Psychology, part of my MSc in Psychology. People make decisions based on past experiences and learning by using shortcuts or “rules of thumb” to reach the correct conclusion and take action. These shortcuts are called heuristics, and they play an essential role in... Continue Reading →
Note: This research is part of a series of assignments for Cognitive Psychology, part of my MSc in Psychology. Growing up in post-communist Romania, we always knew what our future held for us: my brother was meant to study mathematics, and I was meant to study humanities. However, 90% of girls in high school were... Continue Reading →
Note: This research is part of a series of assignments for Cognitive Psychology, part of my MSc in Psychology. Mindfulness means “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally” (Kabat-Zinn, p. 4, 1994). Thus, mindfulness is a practice that takes us to the present moment, where we exist with... Continue Reading →
Note: an assignment I wrote for Social Psychology (part of my MSc in Psychology). The assignment is a position statement that should answer the question: Are traditional social psychological theories useful for explaining interaction in online environments? The Incel community (Incels) is an internet subculture of men who are involuntary celibates, unable to find a... Continue Reading →
Note: an assignment I wrote for Social Psychology (part of my MSc in Psychology). The assignment is a position statement that should answer the question: Is there evidence that group processes transfer to different contexts and cultures? Laissez-faire is a passive leadership style with devastating effects on employees. Laissez-faire leaders do not recognise or motivate... Continue Reading →
Note: an assignment I wrote for Social Psychology (part of my MSc in Psychology). The assignment is a position statement that should answer the question: Can social psychology be used to address current societal issues? Climate change is a global challenge that requires global solutions involving behavioural change and the cooperation of large groups, from... Continue Reading →
Note: This research is part of a series of assignments for the Cognitive Psychology course, part of my MSc in Psychology. Going through my third lockdown caused by a new strain of COVID-19, I am not as anxious as when the pandemic started. In the beginning, I was in a state of high alert and... Continue Reading →
Agents of Awareness 