Who I am and What I'm Doing

[auntbeast]

Hi All,

First, thanks Toby for inviting me to the meetings and providing tasty vittles to me and my family!

Next, thanks to the rest of the Waco FF folks who have been willing to share their love of all things Star Wars with me. In return, I thought it important to share a bit about why I've suddenly appeared with a bunch of nosey questions.

I'm a PhD student in Educational Psychology at Baylor. I'm currently working on my dissertation which involves the study of highly intelligent individuals who love sci-fi. I haven't officially chosen participants for the study yet. Right now, I'm in the information gathering stage. This includes reading A LOT about people who love sci-fi, studies done on highly intelligent folks, etc. It is important to do more than that though. Thus my reason for plopping myself down to listen and learn from actual fans. You've all already taught me a lot and I'd like to learn more. As for the study itself, I'm still getting it set up. It will most likely include having participants take some sort of intelligence test and sit down with me for an interview. When the time comes, I may be contacting some or all of you to see if you'd be interested. This should be some time this fall. If you want to know more about me, feel free to e-mail me any time or visit my website. Thanks for "inviting me in!"--you are all a great group of folks and I really appreciate your openess!

Cindy

[D-Vader]

You're welcome, and you're welcome anytime, Cindy!

Whatever you need for us to help you, I'm sure we'll all be able to give a hand, schedules permitting.

Just let us know what you need, when you need it, and we'll do what we can! I'm hoping that you (and your family) will continue to be a part of our group, even after your dissertation is complete. And tell Megan (sp?) she can feed Zada anytime!

[auntbeast]

Thanks! You guys are awsome and Zada is a sweetie! ;D

[auntbeastie]

Hi All,

Yeah, its me, Cindy--my login just ran out...anyway

I'd like some help on my research if you don't mind. I'm planning on using the theory of Flow (if you're interested in learning more, I can bore you to tears about it individually--no need to torture the whole forum!). What I'd like to know if if you're interests/hobbies related to Star Wars is any and/or all of the following:

A challenging activity that requires skills--the "skill" can be either physical or mental--for example, playing with ideas.

A merging of action and awareness--your attention is completely absorbed by the activity

Clear goals and immediate feedback--you know what needs to be done and know when you've done it well

Concentration on the task at hand--while involved in the activity, you forget everything else--all the unpleasant aspects of life

A paradox of control--you are comfortable with the fact that even if you do make mistakes while doing the activity, you know it's "no big deal"--unlike making a mistake at work and losing your job

A loss of self consiousness--while doing the activity you don't feel well, self conscious

Time flies

Thanks for any feedback you can give me! I sooooo appreciate it!!

[Amy Leia]

I guess my answers depend on the activity.

If I'm watching the movies or reading the books, then it would fall into these categories:
A merging of action and awareness
Concentration on the task at hand

If it's attending a meeting, etc. then it falls into
paradox of control
A loss of self consiousness

Anyway, that's my input. By the way, I'm a doctoral student in educational administration at Baylor working on my dissertation now. I think the only ed psych prof I had was Dr. Robinson (Eric, or is it Robertson?). He cotaught one of our stats classes with Dr. Bateman (who has now left Baylor to be Assoc Provost elsewhere).

Feel free to private message me. I would love to commiserate with someone else who is working on their dissertation right now. Sorry I haven't been at any of the meetings you've attended; hopefully, we'll meet in the future. I'm in Belton, so I don't make it very often.

[auntbeast]

Thanks for the responses Amy! Yes, I hope we do get the chance to meet at a future meeting or at Baylor. Working on the "big paper" is really overwhelming. I'm still working on the lit review. We'll have to swap grad student "war stories" at some point!

BTW, did you know that Dr. Joel Porter is a total Star Wars fan?