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'The Magic in Psychology' - Stanford Intellectual Vitality


insanesoul81994 10 / 30  
Dec 31, 2011   #1
Can I get comments/advice on this essay? Thanks!
Prompt: Stanford students possess intellectual vitality. Reflect on an idea or experience that has been important to your intellectual development.

As a child, I have always been fascinated by magic tricks. Whenever I watch a magician perform, his tricks leave an imprint that remains in my mind for hours. How did he make that card disappear? Where did that second coin appear from? These questions never ceased to plague me after leaving a magic show.

Seeing how magicians had the ability to provoke the audience's amusement and curiosity sparked my own interest in magic tricks. After buying a few kits and reading online tutorials, I started practicing my own tricks and performed in front of my family and friends. While some were fairly straightforward, I did not fully understand why others worked.

One day in my psychology class, Mrs. Hewitt played a clip. She told us to count how many times the people in white jerseys pass to the people in black jerseys. At the end of the clip, I felt confident that I knew the answer. "How many of you noticed the gorilla walk into the middle of the screen?", she asked. I was stunned. There was no way that a gorilla could have walked in the middle of the screen without me noticing. After replaying the video, the entire class was in disbelief after not having noticed the gorilla the first time. "Humans have a selective attention," Mrs. Hewitt explained. "We only focus our awareness on a limited aspect of all that we experience."

Suddenly it started to make sense. The reason why that magician was able to make that second coin appear in his left hand was because he took advantage of human psychology. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how much many magic tricks relied on the blind spots of the human brain. As I learned more psychology, I understood connections between things such as perceptual organization and magic tricks. For the same reason that I loved magic tricks, I loved psychology. I realized that in order to be a successful magician, one must exploit the efficiencies of the mind. Learning psychology has not only allowed me to understand the intricacies of the human brain, but has also made performing magic tricks much more real to me.
masterkid114 1 / 5  
Dec 31, 2011   #2
Its definitely a good read, focus more on the psychology aspect instead of the magic, instead of closing with magic close with psychology and how you grew as a person because of this experience. The magic aspect was a good intro and its well balanced with the psychology (btw saw that too, i thought it was sick) but conclude with more developmental stuff, you want the reader to leave with the feeling that you changed because of this experience, doesnt have to be an extreme change like going from prep to goth but less subtle
pringles 6 / 36  
Dec 31, 2011   #3
I agree with masterkid114. It's great that psychology has made you a better magician and all but tie it all to a bigger point. Do you now want to go into the field of psychology? or anything. Just make it more meaningful! other than that, it's a smooth read, shows your passion for magic, and seems to be free of any major grammatical erros.

I would really appreciate it if you could help me make some final touches on my Stanford roommate letter. please and thank you :)
Dilara1010 4 / 17  
Dec 31, 2011   #4
Suddenly it started to make sense. The reason why that magician was able to make that second coin appear in his left hand was because he took advantage of human psychology. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how much many magic tricks relied on the blind spots of the human brain. As I learned more, I found that the same yearning I had for learning magic tricks also existed in psychology. What Mrs. Hewitt had said at the end of the clip made me feel like I had just been shown the secret behind a magic trick. From that moment, I knew that I wanted to study the field of psychology.
RubyRed 1 / 3  
Jan 1, 2012   #5
As a child, I havehad (you're not still a child, are you?) always been fascinated by magic tricks. Whenever I watchwitnessed a magician perform, his tricks leaveleftan imprint that remains in my mind for hours imprints on my mind that refused to fade for hours at a time. How did he make that card disappear? Where did that second coin appear from? Questions like these questions never ceased to plague me after leaving a magic show.

^^ your tenses were very irregular in that paragraph. I changed a bit of the sentnce structure too. hope that helps :))

i really loved your idea though. And i've watched that video! frikkin' blew my mind into a million-and-one pieces :D

good luck :)
nkprasad12 5 / 18  
Jan 1, 2012   #7
Would the essay lose that much without the second paragraph? I think there would still be a smooth transition between the 1st and 3rd paragraphs without it, and you could use the extra space to talk more about why you like Psychology. As it stands, this essay is about magic, not your love for psychology.

If you have a minute, could you take a quick look at my "MIT world" essay?


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