Mind Matters Club: Where Science Meets the Self
A Monday meeting with the Mind Matters club.
The Mind Matters Club, run by freshmen Kensie Chang and Natalie Lo, is a psychology club working to bring together students interested in psychology through hands-on activities. The club meets biweekly on Mondays in room 41 during lunch. The advisor for this club is Mrs. Marino, a 9th grade English teacher. Every meeting they learn about different subsections of psychology, mainly focused on neurological and biological psychology. They give in-depth presentations and play fun mind games and ice breakers to get members intrigued by psychology.
According to founders Chang and Lo, they created the club to “aim to deepen our understanding of human behavior and mental processes and also to provide a space for students to relax and recharge.” They want the Mind Matters Club to balance learning psychology with fun in a relaxed and engaging way. They also wanted to inform people about the importance of psychology in day-to-day life. The leaders put a lot of planning into each session to present a new concept every time. One of the topics that has been taught to members are cognitive biases. Cognitive biases include confirmation bias, when one speaks and interprets information to confirm your beliefs while ignoring contradictory evidence, and overconfidence bias, when one overestimates their abilities. Another topic that has been taught is how your brain connects connects. For example, they demonstrated how introducing the concept of “threading” or “sewing” can cause your mind to activate related concepts, like “needle,” through a process called spreading activation.
Mind Matters is a club for students who want a fun, relaxing space to decompress while learning something genuinely interesting. Chang and Lo say they are “building a community of curious, open-minded people who want to explore the human mind together.” Chang took a psychology course through Johns Hopkins University's Center for Talented Youth (CTY) program over the summer, which really deepened her interest in the field and it may interest others willing to take the course as well. For those considering psychology as a career or who want to understand people better, this club offers something for everyone. Come drop by the Mind Matters Psychology club every other week on Mondays in room 41 during lunch!