In Psychology, One Answers Questions

With this insane professor of yours, one can never truly be prepared for psych class. But you’re feeling good about today. You’ve done your readings and you’ve discussed them in depth with Vishal, trying to figure out what questions he’ll ask. All that remains is to catch the curveballs that he’ll throw. You lean back in your chair, flipping through your notes.

{if JeanneStalker == 1} That’s when you get a strange feeling, as if you’re being watched. You look up, but it’s just the usual glut of men in the classroom and Sarah… except, no, hanging by the door, you notice a blonde girl staring at you. What’s Jeanne doing here? You ignore her and keep studying. When class is about to start a few minutes later, you look up again, and sure enough, now she’s gone. Strange. {endif}

“We’re starting class. I hope you’ve done your readings thoroughly, because these questions are coming in hot and fast,” the professor says, pacing around the front of the room. “Let’s kick it off with some review. Freud. Softball. What’s parapraxis?”

Hands fly up, yours included, but you’re not picked. The professor points at Michael, that jerk.

“That’s a Freudean slip, when you make an error in speech due to your **** interfering with the conscious. For example, if I meant to say ‘Sarah’s breast’... shit, I mean, if I meant to say ‘Sarah’s the best’...”

But he doesn’t get to finish his sentence as the class erupts into laughter. Vishal and you chuckle, taking a glance at Sarah. She does have great breasts.

“Well demonstrated,” the professor says, not skipping a beat. “Next. Aphasic patients often have impaired sentence comprehension despite understanding single words well. What are syntax-first and constraint-based sentence processing theories, and how do they relate to this empirical finding?”

Once again, your hand shoots up, but your hand is only one of two. The professor points at you, and you go, taking your cue.

“Syntax-first theory suggests that when we see sentences, we first look at the way in which words are arranged, before attributing meaning to them. Constraint-based processing theories say that our brain uses various assumptions about word order, grammatical structures, and other constraints on language process sentences. People with aphasia could rely on meaning over structure due to problems with syntax processing or similar constraints. Just consider Michael, who had trouble putting together his sentence but definitely knew what he meant to say.”

Another wave of laughter echoes around the room, but the professor’s already moving on, asking his next question. You see Sarah, however, glancing at you with an impressed look. She was the other one with a hand up. You give her a cool smile, before throwing your hand up again. You know you’re not getting picked this time; it doesn’t matter that you didn’t even hear the question. What matters is that you got her attention.

The rest of class goes smoothly. You get called on a few times more, answering each question impeccably, and you can tell that you’ve impressed the other students in the class.

“You were on fire today,” Vishal says, clapping you on the shoulder once class wraps up.

“You weren’t half bad either,” you say, returning the gesture. “Study buddies, eh?”

“We’ll be real boffins in a jiffy at this rate,” he laughs.

Vishal +5
Sarah +10
Michael -10