I found all of the studies quite interesting for the most part. It was really fascinating to see how people reacted in different situations. I know from experience that the situation changes a lot on how we act and behave. I thought that these experiments showed the full spectrum and harshest of situations to deal with. In Asch's Conformity they tested how people’s choices were affected by a group if the group all answered wrong. I would probably answer they way the group did. Not only would I not want to be embarrassed, but I would probably second guess myself, maybe even try to see a way that the wrong answer could possible be right. In the Milgram’s Obedience tests, I found it interesting how far some people went on obeying what a leader had told them. Giving people shocks even though they didn’t want to anymore they still did because they were told that’s what they had to do. I think it just shows how easily persuaded we can be into doing something unconventional. In the Stanford Prison Experiment it was interesting that in only six days perfectly nice people could turn so easily into angry and vicious guards. It shows that depending on the situation we are put in we are in a constant state of self protection. Most of the things they did were done in order to protect themselves and to demonstrate what they think they should do. It shows that it’s our human nature that we can be so easily persuaded into believing, thinking, and acting differently. I think we created this way of going about life in order to protect ourselves from the dangers of the world. We use this ability of changing in order to fit into groups, learn, and grow as a society. Human nature makes us want to be the best that we can be at whatever we want even if it’s being the prisoner or the prison guard.
Social influence it the influence of the outside world and other people on us as a person. Social influences affect how we act in a group or how we behave when following a leader. Different types of social situations change how we act or talk. I think social influences can be bad and good, I would considered peer pressure to be social influence because your peers are pressuring you into doing something and being usually social people we don’t like to stand out so we do what the group does. It’s a census among the people. I know on many occasions that I have acted differently according to the different social situations. I know for one thing that I act different in different groups of people. When I am in a different social setting of one group of friends sometimes I will act obnoxious or be even hateful towards other people. Sometimes it’s how I feel, but other times I go along because I don’t want to be the odd man out. When I am in another group of friends I act a little laid back, I am still outgoing and like to joke, but I’m generally not as hateful or use words or slang different when in different groups. One thing I do is when in a store when by myself I’m usually quieter and less likely to be noticed. When I’m with friends, family, or just a group of people, I’m more outgoing, loud, and crazy. These types of social situations change how I act. Sometimes I act like I wouldn’t normally just because of the group I’m with.
The most interesting thing I have learned in this class is how very complex our minds are. It really amazed me about how many different reasons our minds do the things they do. How our daily life is increasingly affected by our environment, the people we hang with, what we see, hear, taste, smell, and what we remember. It was all so intriguing to find out how much of our daily life is done using the things mentioned in psychology, things like defense mechanisms and how we remember or learn things. I found it all so complex that it’s all linked to one great thing. It’s funny imaging that we have pretty much one giant muscle in our skulls that control so much of what we do, who we are, and how we act or react. It changes us. I have learned a lot about myself, others, and how my mind works. It’s really neat to find out how great and complex our minds are. I just think of how great God is to make our minds so complex, so malleable, yet completely different from everyone else. It’s all so remarkable!
Monday, December 14, 2009
Blog Post #12
Just because you act abnormally does not mean that you have a mental disorder. Some people do it for fun or to relax to act different is a way of expressing oneself, a way of being unique. To be considered a mental disorder the actions taken by a person must be “deviant, distressful, and dysfunctional.” (pg. 595) These behavior patterns show signs that there may be a mental disorder involved with the person. I for one know that I may act “abnormally” but not to the extent of what it is explained to make it a mental disorder.
My aunt had been diagnosed why bipolar disorder a couple of years ago. I haven’t really been close to her enough to know about what it’s actually like to have her be bipolar, but I know first hand from what it has done to her family and her life that bipolar disorder can be extremely bad. Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder in which the person alternates between two states a depressive state and a state of mania. My aunt has had many ups and downs with substance abuse and recovery. She has also been in and out of jail for many years. With being bipolar she was also given drugs to help ease the states she was in. I remember when I did spend time with her when I was younger that she would be really energetic and eager, always doing something. She was happy and carefree. Then she would shift to being lethargic and depressed. That’s when she would begin to drink and do drugs to bring herself out of her slump of depression. Bipolar disorder has very extreme sides of mood changes; it’s not just a little depression or a little excitement. When a person who has bipolar disorder becomes depressed they fall into major depression, life isn’t worth it. During this stage many people feel the need to commit suicide to end it all. Many famous people who were and are bipolar try committing suicide; some even succeed like Kurt Cobain. When in a state of overexcitement it’s considered to be mania, during this stage people are in constant motions. They usually don’t sleep very much and always are thinking of something. My aunt exhibited most of these characteristics of bipolar disorder and was eventually diagnosed with this disease. So far it has practically ruined her entire life, family, and how she is as a person. Bipolar can be a very scary and harmful disorder if not taken control of with the help of family or a doctor, even medication. My aunt is a very good example of not taking care of her bipolar disorder.
The most interesting thing I learned in this section was about the mental disorder of Dissociative Identity Disorder. It’s the disorder that deals with multiple personalities. After watching the Three Faces of Eve, I discovered another woman who experienced multiple personalities. Her name was Shirley Ardell Mason; she ended up acquiring 16 different personalities. I was then watched a movie that was based on her life with her mental disorder and how she over came it. The movie is called “Sybil” and it was an extraordinary movie about Shirley Mason’s life. It wasn’t until the remake in 2007 that Shirley’s name was even released. Because of her traumatic childhood, with a mother who was diagnosed with narcissistic schizophrenia, she made 16 different personalities to protect herself. I found it really amazing that all 16 personalities in Shirley’s case knew each other and worked together to make sure that Shirley/Sybil stayed safe. Most people don’t know that they have other personalities and when people tell them that they act different or dress different it makes them angry or deny what they did. I found it really interesting in the end when Shirley found out that she had other personalities and with they help of her physiatrist was able to meet all of her personalities and make them one. In the case of the three faces of Eve she had 3 different personalities and they knew each other. I also found it very fascinating that each personality can have its own voice, style, age, and even gender. In Shirley Mason’s case she had 2 boy personalities. I would recommend that people who were interested in this chapter watch the movie “Sybil,” it taught me a lot. I am currently reading the book “Sybil” which is also fascinating to learn more about Shirley Ardell Mason.
My aunt had been diagnosed why bipolar disorder a couple of years ago. I haven’t really been close to her enough to know about what it’s actually like to have her be bipolar, but I know first hand from what it has done to her family and her life that bipolar disorder can be extremely bad. Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder in which the person alternates between two states a depressive state and a state of mania. My aunt has had many ups and downs with substance abuse and recovery. She has also been in and out of jail for many years. With being bipolar she was also given drugs to help ease the states she was in. I remember when I did spend time with her when I was younger that she would be really energetic and eager, always doing something. She was happy and carefree. Then she would shift to being lethargic and depressed. That’s when she would begin to drink and do drugs to bring herself out of her slump of depression. Bipolar disorder has very extreme sides of mood changes; it’s not just a little depression or a little excitement. When a person who has bipolar disorder becomes depressed they fall into major depression, life isn’t worth it. During this stage many people feel the need to commit suicide to end it all. Many famous people who were and are bipolar try committing suicide; some even succeed like Kurt Cobain. When in a state of overexcitement it’s considered to be mania, during this stage people are in constant motions. They usually don’t sleep very much and always are thinking of something. My aunt exhibited most of these characteristics of bipolar disorder and was eventually diagnosed with this disease. So far it has practically ruined her entire life, family, and how she is as a person. Bipolar can be a very scary and harmful disorder if not taken control of with the help of family or a doctor, even medication. My aunt is a very good example of not taking care of her bipolar disorder.
The most interesting thing I learned in this section was about the mental disorder of Dissociative Identity Disorder. It’s the disorder that deals with multiple personalities. After watching the Three Faces of Eve, I discovered another woman who experienced multiple personalities. Her name was Shirley Ardell Mason; she ended up acquiring 16 different personalities. I was then watched a movie that was based on her life with her mental disorder and how she over came it. The movie is called “Sybil” and it was an extraordinary movie about Shirley Mason’s life. It wasn’t until the remake in 2007 that Shirley’s name was even released. Because of her traumatic childhood, with a mother who was diagnosed with narcissistic schizophrenia, she made 16 different personalities to protect herself. I found it really amazing that all 16 personalities in Shirley’s case knew each other and worked together to make sure that Shirley/Sybil stayed safe. Most people don’t know that they have other personalities and when people tell them that they act different or dress different it makes them angry or deny what they did. I found it really interesting in the end when Shirley found out that she had other personalities and with they help of her physiatrist was able to meet all of her personalities and make them one. In the case of the three faces of Eve she had 3 different personalities and they knew each other. I also found it very fascinating that each personality can have its own voice, style, age, and even gender. In Shirley Mason’s case she had 2 boy personalities. I would recommend that people who were interested in this chapter watch the movie “Sybil,” it taught me a lot. I am currently reading the book “Sybil” which is also fascinating to learn more about Shirley Ardell Mason.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Blog Post #11
I would have to say that my personality would be considered very unique. I’m the person that gets along with everyone. My personality of being outgoing and extraverted helps me make new friends and get along with all types of people. I’m that strange kid in the store that shouts out random things with my friends or does strange things or gets beat up by my dad (playing around beatings..haha). Another personality that I have is that I am a very funny person. I consider myself the comedian; I am always the first one to say something completely off topic or something that makes everyone laugh. I’m good at doing impersonations and I like to make people laugh. I’m not usually the emotional type of person; I prefer to make serious situations lighthearted instead of serious. I think it lightens the mood, making it more comfortable for some people. I know sometimes I can get annoy when I break a tense situation with something funny, but usually the mood changes. I also tend to be the person that likes to get on people’s cases. I like to make arguments among friends and other people because I generally like to see how people react in situations and getting into arguments can be fun sometimes with friends. I can also be very forgiving, when I took that big 5 quiz it said I was neither agreeable nor very forgiving, I was exactly in the middle. I found that a little bit strange knowing that I like to get on people nerves and see what happens. I do this a lot with my parents. I like to push the boundaries, some would say. A personality trait that I really didn’t know was a personality trait was being disorganized. I find this a bad trait to have because being disorganized causes me to procrastinate. If I can’t find something I will push it off until I do find it. I think it is a bad trait to have if it is extremely bad and in my case it is pretty serious. I usually have a hard time finding things I need when they are needed. I am very disorganized and have a very messy room at times and this makes it hard for me to stay focused on a project if I don’t have all the materials. Another personality trait that I think I posses is confidence; over the years I have grown confidence because the experiences I have. Confidence helps me as a leader of a group or organization. Being part of Cheerleading helped me become better at leadership and teamwork. Also being apart of Forensics made it easy to do presentations. Being in things like plays and musicals has boosted confidence making me dependable and a leader. I would say another bad personality trait I have is being impatient. Sometimes I get antsy and it makes it hard for me to wait to get things done. I want to get started and not listen to tons of lectures. Another negative trait would be tempered. Sometimes at home I get very frustrated and will get angry with my parents or my sibling for no reason. I tend to be very moody in that sense of home life.
I would say that I am very optimistic to say the least. I generally have a good outlook on life, but occasionally I have those days where it just seems that everyone is against me and nothing is going right. Then I am more pessimistic about how things are and get upset about what’s going on. I think I am able to pick the situation in which to be optimistic or pessimistic. I think this has influenced my life because it I was only optimistic I would miss all the things that are bad and would just blow them off like they are no big deal, because I’m happy with the way things are. I also think that if I were only pessimistic I would miss out a lot on life and the fun things being able to have fun. I usually can be pretty pessimistic about school when things aren’t’ going right or I have a bad day. Like recently for instance I was up till 3 in the morning last night and still had a lot if homework done, making my day today not enjoyable. I have a pessimistic outlook right now because I don’t think things will get better. Another example of me being pessimistic is when I am at work. Some day I have a really bad day or work was really busy and I don’t want to come back and I think work sucks. Optimistic is when I look forward to going to school because I know what I’m doing and I’m enjoying what we are learning about. Another way I am optimistic is when I look forward to the weekends and relaxing or spending time with family or sleeping.
I think one of the traits that change is being extraverted. Sometimes when I am in a new surrounding that I don’t know at all I seem to be a little less aggressive with my speech and the way I act. When I am with friends I am crazy and outgoing and I act crazy when we are hanging out in Marshfield or at the malls. When I am at a new place or organization I tend to be more laid back and shy. I think it helps me stay calm and helps me to stay out of trouble or saying something that I shouldn’t that could get me in trouble. Another trait that changes is disorganized. It’s hard to believe that me being such an unorganized person I can be really organized. This tends to happen when I am packing or going on a trip. I am a big list maker of things I have to do and things that I need to pack. I am really strange that way. My homework can be in shambles, but when it comes to me getting ready for something I like to be organized. Like last night because I went to bed at 3 in the morning I figured I would oversleep so I got all of my books together, my clothes out, and all the stuff I needed so I could walk out the door right away. This helped because I did over sleep, but I was prepared when I woke up to get ready.
One of the defense mechanisms I have used was repression. Repression is the blocking of threatening memories into our unconscious mind. I have used repression with a lot of things like pushing things off because I don’t want to admit to myself that they are a problem or that I need to change. I also use it to keep myself from doing something that I really don’t want to do. I used repression when I was 9 when I broke my leg. I used repression to push away those feelings and what happened into my unconscious mind so that I don’t have to remember what happened. I can recall to some extent what happened, but I don’t remember the whole scenario on what happened. I remember using displacement when I was little when my parents would yell at more or if I would get grounded for doing something. Displacement is discharging unwanted emotions or feelings out in a less dangerous way than what we would do. I used displacement to help relieve that stress and anger. I would scream into a pillow or punch my pillow sometimes I would throw things around in my room making a mess. Denial is refusing to admit something that is unpleasant. I think everyone uses denial all the time. We use it to tell ourselves what we are doing is okay. We don’t want to admit to ourselves that we have a problem I don’t like admitting to myself that I have a weight problem and when my parents bring it up a get defensive and don’t want to talk about it and tell them that it’s not that big of a deal, but it is. I use denial to make the problem go away in my mind and how I feel.
I would say that I am very optimistic to say the least. I generally have a good outlook on life, but occasionally I have those days where it just seems that everyone is against me and nothing is going right. Then I am more pessimistic about how things are and get upset about what’s going on. I think I am able to pick the situation in which to be optimistic or pessimistic. I think this has influenced my life because it I was only optimistic I would miss all the things that are bad and would just blow them off like they are no big deal, because I’m happy with the way things are. I also think that if I were only pessimistic I would miss out a lot on life and the fun things being able to have fun. I usually can be pretty pessimistic about school when things aren’t’ going right or I have a bad day. Like recently for instance I was up till 3 in the morning last night and still had a lot if homework done, making my day today not enjoyable. I have a pessimistic outlook right now because I don’t think things will get better. Another example of me being pessimistic is when I am at work. Some day I have a really bad day or work was really busy and I don’t want to come back and I think work sucks. Optimistic is when I look forward to going to school because I know what I’m doing and I’m enjoying what we are learning about. Another way I am optimistic is when I look forward to the weekends and relaxing or spending time with family or sleeping.
I think one of the traits that change is being extraverted. Sometimes when I am in a new surrounding that I don’t know at all I seem to be a little less aggressive with my speech and the way I act. When I am with friends I am crazy and outgoing and I act crazy when we are hanging out in Marshfield or at the malls. When I am at a new place or organization I tend to be more laid back and shy. I think it helps me stay calm and helps me to stay out of trouble or saying something that I shouldn’t that could get me in trouble. Another trait that changes is disorganized. It’s hard to believe that me being such an unorganized person I can be really organized. This tends to happen when I am packing or going on a trip. I am a big list maker of things I have to do and things that I need to pack. I am really strange that way. My homework can be in shambles, but when it comes to me getting ready for something I like to be organized. Like last night because I went to bed at 3 in the morning I figured I would oversleep so I got all of my books together, my clothes out, and all the stuff I needed so I could walk out the door right away. This helped because I did over sleep, but I was prepared when I woke up to get ready.
One of the defense mechanisms I have used was repression. Repression is the blocking of threatening memories into our unconscious mind. I have used repression with a lot of things like pushing things off because I don’t want to admit to myself that they are a problem or that I need to change. I also use it to keep myself from doing something that I really don’t want to do. I used repression when I was 9 when I broke my leg. I used repression to push away those feelings and what happened into my unconscious mind so that I don’t have to remember what happened. I can recall to some extent what happened, but I don’t remember the whole scenario on what happened. I remember using displacement when I was little when my parents would yell at more or if I would get grounded for doing something. Displacement is discharging unwanted emotions or feelings out in a less dangerous way than what we would do. I used displacement to help relieve that stress and anger. I would scream into a pillow or punch my pillow sometimes I would throw things around in my room making a mess. Denial is refusing to admit something that is unpleasant. I think everyone uses denial all the time. We use it to tell ourselves what we are doing is okay. We don’t want to admit to ourselves that we have a problem I don’t like admitting to myself that I have a weight problem and when my parents bring it up a get defensive and don’t want to talk about it and tell them that it’s not that big of a deal, but it is. I use denial to make the problem go away in my mind and how I feel.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Blog Post #10
One of the things that I was able to learn from chapter 9 was about Solving Problems. I found out that there are many ways we go about in trying to find out the answer to problems. I found it interesting the types of strategies we use to solve problems. One of the ways we try to solve problems is by using algorithms, which are step by step procedures that guarantee a solution. This kind of strategy is kind of like a guess and check, you will usually find your answer, but not after a lot of work and time. This type of strategy is usually exasperating and time consuming. Another way we solve problems is by using a heuristic approach. This is where we use a simply thinking strategy to help us make judgments and solve problems. This method is usually faster, however is more prone to error than the algorithm approach.
They explained the differences of these two ways of solving problems by discussing how we shop for items in the store. An algorithm approach to shopping would be going down each isle in search of what you need. You know eventually you will find what you are looking for. With a heuristic approach to shopping you narrow down you options and you go for the area that you know has the item you are looking for. For me personally when I shop I use a heuristic approach because I’d rather get in and get out.
Another way to solve problems is insight this is where you have a sudden and often novel realization of a solution to a problem. This helps when looking at jumbles words and being able to tell what the real word is or be able to take a word fragment and relate it to something. There was a lot more to problem solving and the obstacles of problem solving, but these were the ideas that I found the most interesting and pertained to me.
Creative Intelligence is being able to generate and adapt novel or important ideas. I think that creativity can be a number of things not just artistically, but it can also be physical creativity. I think that dance is a great way to show creativity. I love to dance although many people don’t get the opportunity to see me dance, I dance a lot. I am able to choreograph dances steps and routines (mainly in my basement ) and that I would consider to be creative. I am not very good at drawing, but when it comes to dancing and acting like a fool, that would be me. I also think creativity is something that can be like creative thoughts, being able to come up with a funny story or write a book that has a great meaning to it. Those things require creative abilities. Along with this I also thing that I am emotionally intelligent because I can tell the moods people are in sometimes and make their days better when I joke around (or worse ), but I would consider myself more creative over emotionally intelligent.
One thing that I learned from chapter 10 that I found very interesting was the gender differences and similarities. It seems that in every chapter that gender makes a big difference in how we act and perceive situations. I know most girls think that we are always smarter than the boys, but it was interesting to find out the different areas that the different genders were better at. Even to our dismay girls and boys have ranked practically the same on Intellectual tests for overall intelligence, however there were differences that occurred. Females are better at spelling than and at the end of high school there were only 30 percent of U.S. males that were better than the average female. That was really interesting. Females also ranked higher in areas such as verbal ability, nonverbal memory, sensation, and Emotion-detecting ability. One of the very interesting areas was mathematics. Studies showed that when males and females were tested in mathematics their scores were practically identical. However, when in math competitions females had more of an edge, where as males were able to gain higher scores in the math problem solving. It was fascinating that in Western Countries all prodigies participating in the International Mathematics Olympiad were males. The last bit of information they gave that I found interesting with a bit of a comical twist (my strange humor) was that there is a greater male variability than females. When tested males’ scores were more varied with having multiples of boys on the high end and low end. There concluding thought was “Boys are, therefore, more often found in special education classes. They talk later. They stutter more.” I find this very interesting because I don’t see very many females in special education classes, but I didn’t know that the outnumbering of boys could affect this outcome. This was quite fascinating.
They explained the differences of these two ways of solving problems by discussing how we shop for items in the store. An algorithm approach to shopping would be going down each isle in search of what you need. You know eventually you will find what you are looking for. With a heuristic approach to shopping you narrow down you options and you go for the area that you know has the item you are looking for. For me personally when I shop I use a heuristic approach because I’d rather get in and get out.
Another way to solve problems is insight this is where you have a sudden and often novel realization of a solution to a problem. This helps when looking at jumbles words and being able to tell what the real word is or be able to take a word fragment and relate it to something. There was a lot more to problem solving and the obstacles of problem solving, but these were the ideas that I found the most interesting and pertained to me.
Creative Intelligence is being able to generate and adapt novel or important ideas. I think that creativity can be a number of things not just artistically, but it can also be physical creativity. I think that dance is a great way to show creativity. I love to dance although many people don’t get the opportunity to see me dance, I dance a lot. I am able to choreograph dances steps and routines (mainly in my basement ) and that I would consider to be creative. I am not very good at drawing, but when it comes to dancing and acting like a fool, that would be me. I also think creativity is something that can be like creative thoughts, being able to come up with a funny story or write a book that has a great meaning to it. Those things require creative abilities. Along with this I also thing that I am emotionally intelligent because I can tell the moods people are in sometimes and make their days better when I joke around (or worse ), but I would consider myself more creative over emotionally intelligent.
One thing that I learned from chapter 10 that I found very interesting was the gender differences and similarities. It seems that in every chapter that gender makes a big difference in how we act and perceive situations. I know most girls think that we are always smarter than the boys, but it was interesting to find out the different areas that the different genders were better at. Even to our dismay girls and boys have ranked practically the same on Intellectual tests for overall intelligence, however there were differences that occurred. Females are better at spelling than and at the end of high school there were only 30 percent of U.S. males that were better than the average female. That was really interesting. Females also ranked higher in areas such as verbal ability, nonverbal memory, sensation, and Emotion-detecting ability. One of the very interesting areas was mathematics. Studies showed that when males and females were tested in mathematics their scores were practically identical. However, when in math competitions females had more of an edge, where as males were able to gain higher scores in the math problem solving. It was fascinating that in Western Countries all prodigies participating in the International Mathematics Olympiad were males. The last bit of information they gave that I found interesting with a bit of a comical twist (my strange humor) was that there is a greater male variability than females. When tested males’ scores were more varied with having multiples of boys on the high end and low end. There concluding thought was “Boys are, therefore, more often found in special education classes. They talk later. They stutter more.” I find this very interesting because I don’t see very many females in special education classes, but I didn’t know that the outnumbering of boys could affect this outcome. This was quite fascinating.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Blog Post #9
I think that memory is really important in defining who we are as human beings. Without our memory we would not be able to survive. If you think about it, over the years of life and way back in the beginning of time, people were able to learn and grow from that learning. They learned to hunt and fish and gather food. Without memory they would not be able to survive because they would not remember how to do things to survive. I think we take our memory for granted sometimes, we never actually worry about our memory and how good our memory is unless it is important to us, like studying for a test. We never actually worry about forgetting our past, our name, or any other simply little things that mean everything. When I watched the video about Clive Wearing I was completely shocked. I didn’t think there was ever a disease that could cause you memory loss like he had. I couldn’t even image living like who Clive did. You always think about being forgetful and not remember something that you were going to do, but I could never image never knowing again what I was doing or who I was seeing. I can only image who frustrating that would be, not just for me, but the people around me. A memory of only 20 seconds, would be about the scariest things I could image. You never think, hey, what happens if I can never remember anything ever again? This reminds me of a radio commercial I hear a lot about Diet Mountain Dew. The list a bunch of facts and one of the facts was that a gold fish has a memory span of about 3 seconds. That’s really short! Then the commercial goes on and has a guy say “Hey, what’s up?” and 3 seconds later “Hey, what’s up?” I never would think that it could really happen to someone, where they completely forget everything ever 20 seconds and start fresh and new ever 20 seconds.
If I was Clive’s wife, I would have to have a lot of patience. I think it would be very different married to a man who whenever I walk into the room, he has no idea who I am. I think she handles herself very well, for having to go through so much. She was supportive and tries to help Clive understand and she is able to be patient with him and help him understand. Even if it’s only for a short while.
This makes me feel really grateful for my memory capacity that I am able to remember things even little details. I think we underestimate the importance of everything and how it works with our memory, even the simplest thing of how a flower smells. I think it’s amazing how powerful our minds are and how much we can come to appreciate what we do have to knowledge and memory.
I believe that I do have a different outlook on memory in general. I will not trust my memory all the time anymore, considering that I now know that my memory is sometimes not the greatest, but something to cherish and appreciate. I already know that a lot my memories are fuzzy and I may have them wrong, but it makes me wonder how many of my other memories that I think I have perfect and to a T are wrong. I think I trust some of my memories, I don’t think you can give up completely trusting your memories, because not all your memories are or can be false. You just have to realize that sometimes our memories are altered because of our surroundings or our relation towards that memory. I did all of the activities on memory, I was surprised at how poorly I did the activities, I was able to figure out how different ideas enter my head. I did on activity where you had to look at 7 pictures of 15 seconds then try to remember what you saw, then you had to look at 7 words for 15 seconds and try to remember them. The last one you had to do was listen to 7 words and remember. I found out that it is easier to remember pictures than it is to hear spoken word. I did another activity that showed the differences it makes when you have distraction and are trying to memorize something. This activity I thought was really hard because they gave you a lot of numbers and then had static and interferences that affected how well I could remember.
I think in general the whole idea of memory is significant, because there is so much to it that makes it interesting and confusing at the same time. I think some of the most fascinating things were about how we perceive things. How we remember things and how our memory can be changed. I feel that our memory is not always understandable. In this section I learned that our memory is easily changed and that when we look at things we automatically try associate them with something. The significant thing would have to be how we perceive things. When you look at two different faces that only have a slight change one can look happy and the other angry, but when flipped they changed the one is happy and the other changed to angry. Things like when we look at a picture and we try to remember a face from our past, it is hard to know exactly if it’s the right face. Like Jennifer in her case she was sure that it was Ron Cotton who raped her and she had set herself and her mind up to believing that it was true and there was no way it could be anyone else. She conditioned her memory to picture Ron because he was the one that had to closest resemblance to her actual offender Bobby Poole. I find it striking that our minds are so quickly changed into seeing something one way than other. I can apply this to daily life by think about how accurate my memories are and how well I recall an even or action that takes place. We use our memories everyday in school, when trying to remember what we have to do, the classes we have and how to do the work we are giving. Our memoires affect everything we are and do and without them we would be completely lost in a daze forever like Clive Wearing. I am glad I have my memory and that it is fairly decent. At least I think it’s fairly decent. I think this section was really intriguing and enjoyable to learn about.
If I was Clive’s wife, I would have to have a lot of patience. I think it would be very different married to a man who whenever I walk into the room, he has no idea who I am. I think she handles herself very well, for having to go through so much. She was supportive and tries to help Clive understand and she is able to be patient with him and help him understand. Even if it’s only for a short while.
This makes me feel really grateful for my memory capacity that I am able to remember things even little details. I think we underestimate the importance of everything and how it works with our memory, even the simplest thing of how a flower smells. I think it’s amazing how powerful our minds are and how much we can come to appreciate what we do have to knowledge and memory.
I believe that I do have a different outlook on memory in general. I will not trust my memory all the time anymore, considering that I now know that my memory is sometimes not the greatest, but something to cherish and appreciate. I already know that a lot my memories are fuzzy and I may have them wrong, but it makes me wonder how many of my other memories that I think I have perfect and to a T are wrong. I think I trust some of my memories, I don’t think you can give up completely trusting your memories, because not all your memories are or can be false. You just have to realize that sometimes our memories are altered because of our surroundings or our relation towards that memory. I did all of the activities on memory, I was surprised at how poorly I did the activities, I was able to figure out how different ideas enter my head. I did on activity where you had to look at 7 pictures of 15 seconds then try to remember what you saw, then you had to look at 7 words for 15 seconds and try to remember them. The last one you had to do was listen to 7 words and remember. I found out that it is easier to remember pictures than it is to hear spoken word. I did another activity that showed the differences it makes when you have distraction and are trying to memorize something. This activity I thought was really hard because they gave you a lot of numbers and then had static and interferences that affected how well I could remember.
I think in general the whole idea of memory is significant, because there is so much to it that makes it interesting and confusing at the same time. I think some of the most fascinating things were about how we perceive things. How we remember things and how our memory can be changed. I feel that our memory is not always understandable. In this section I learned that our memory is easily changed and that when we look at things we automatically try associate them with something. The significant thing would have to be how we perceive things. When you look at two different faces that only have a slight change one can look happy and the other angry, but when flipped they changed the one is happy and the other changed to angry. Things like when we look at a picture and we try to remember a face from our past, it is hard to know exactly if it’s the right face. Like Jennifer in her case she was sure that it was Ron Cotton who raped her and she had set herself and her mind up to believing that it was true and there was no way it could be anyone else. She conditioned her memory to picture Ron because he was the one that had to closest resemblance to her actual offender Bobby Poole. I find it striking that our minds are so quickly changed into seeing something one way than other. I can apply this to daily life by think about how accurate my memories are and how well I recall an even or action that takes place. We use our memories everyday in school, when trying to remember what we have to do, the classes we have and how to do the work we are giving. Our memoires affect everything we are and do and without them we would be completely lost in a daze forever like Clive Wearing. I am glad I have my memory and that it is fairly decent. At least I think it’s fairly decent. I think this section was really intriguing and enjoyable to learn about.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Blog Post #8
Classical Conditioning is a type of learning in which someone learns to link two or more stimuli together and anticipate events. Ivan Pavlov made this way of learning famous. An example of this type of conditioning is when you eat something like a mushroom pizza and you get food poisoning from it or sick from it. You will associate that mushroom pizza to stomach aches and being sick and then condition yourself not to eat it. Operant Conditioning is the type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher. An example would be if a little child cleans their room they can watch play video games. The child will then keep their room clean and have their reward as getting to play video games. The difference between classical conditioning and operant conditioning is the type of learning. In classical conditioning you learn how to link two stimuli together to help adapt and protect yourself from further harm. In operant conditioning you learn according to the behaviors and reinforcement placed on someone.
Positive reinforcement is increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli, such as food. A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response. Negative reinforcement is increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli, such as shock. A negative reinforcer is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response. Punishment is an event that decreases the behavior that it follows. An example of positive reinforcement in my life would be when I got my chores done every morning or night I was allowed to go onto the computer and play games when I was younger. I discovered it I finished my chores and did what I was told right away the sooner I could get on the computer and I was able to stay on the computer longer if I did the jobs well. A negative reinforcement in my life that happened recently was when I had an allergic reaction to something, I don’t know what, and I broke out in hives on my arms and legs. I took antihistamine to relieve the itching and the swelling. I took the medicine hoping for the end of pain, that’s a negative reinforcer. I have had many punishments in my life. The biggest punishment I had was getting grounded for a year. Let me tell you my dad never forgot he had me grounded. I lied about who was driving to the movies and my parents found out. My dad lost trust in me and I wasn’t allowed to go to a basketball game to cheer and I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere with my car unless it was work or school. I learned from this punishment never to lie to my parents because they always know and find out and my punishment doesn’t go away for a long time.
I found it very interesting that little kids are able to pick up on things just by watching it. That at young ages when viewing something like violence it can cause us to become desensitized to it and its effects. There was an experiment done with a Bobo doll where a woman beat up the doll and kicked it and they had children view the woman doing this. When the kids where given a Bobo doll they did the same thing the woman did by beating and kicking the doll. They were able to watch and pick up the idea of beating the doll just because they saw someone else doing it. When children are exposed to violence they become more likely to act out aggression towards others like they see in the movies. This is called imitation, the kids see something violent and don’t see the injury or pain caused to the victim and they think its okay to go and do that to another child. I think it’s very interesting how our brains work in persuading us without us even knowing that we are thinking a certain way or acting a certain way because of our observations. I think that our observations of daily life can be greatly effected by this, but we are unaware of what we are doing or saying that isn’t our own ideas or ways of doing things. I think about how easy it is to be talking to someone with and accent and accidentally doing that accent yourself. Your exposure causes you to do things you wouldn’t expect like an accent or an act of aggression.
Positive reinforcement is increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli, such as food. A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response. Negative reinforcement is increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli, such as shock. A negative reinforcer is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response. Punishment is an event that decreases the behavior that it follows. An example of positive reinforcement in my life would be when I got my chores done every morning or night I was allowed to go onto the computer and play games when I was younger. I discovered it I finished my chores and did what I was told right away the sooner I could get on the computer and I was able to stay on the computer longer if I did the jobs well. A negative reinforcement in my life that happened recently was when I had an allergic reaction to something, I don’t know what, and I broke out in hives on my arms and legs. I took antihistamine to relieve the itching and the swelling. I took the medicine hoping for the end of pain, that’s a negative reinforcer. I have had many punishments in my life. The biggest punishment I had was getting grounded for a year. Let me tell you my dad never forgot he had me grounded. I lied about who was driving to the movies and my parents found out. My dad lost trust in me and I wasn’t allowed to go to a basketball game to cheer and I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere with my car unless it was work or school. I learned from this punishment never to lie to my parents because they always know and find out and my punishment doesn’t go away for a long time.
I found it very interesting that little kids are able to pick up on things just by watching it. That at young ages when viewing something like violence it can cause us to become desensitized to it and its effects. There was an experiment done with a Bobo doll where a woman beat up the doll and kicked it and they had children view the woman doing this. When the kids where given a Bobo doll they did the same thing the woman did by beating and kicking the doll. They were able to watch and pick up the idea of beating the doll just because they saw someone else doing it. When children are exposed to violence they become more likely to act out aggression towards others like they see in the movies. This is called imitation, the kids see something violent and don’t see the injury or pain caused to the victim and they think its okay to go and do that to another child. I think it’s very interesting how our brains work in persuading us without us even knowing that we are thinking a certain way or acting a certain way because of our observations. I think that our observations of daily life can be greatly effected by this, but we are unaware of what we are doing or saying that isn’t our own ideas or ways of doing things. I think about how easy it is to be talking to someone with and accent and accidentally doing that accent yourself. Your exposure causes you to do things you wouldn’t expect like an accent or an act of aggression.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Blog Post #7
Sensation is the use of our five senses, hear, taste, sight, smell, and touch. The sensation we have is because of the body taking and understanding stimuli and turning it into a sensation or feeling. Perception is the way we perceive or interpret these sensations our body picks up. Depending on our minds it changes how we perceive and sense things occurring in our body.
I found, out of the senses, one of the interesting senses was our sense of smell. Although it’s not as keen as our sense of hearing or sight, it’s an important part of our body functions. Many animals have better sense of smell than humans and they use this to find their prey and mates. This affects me because without the sense of smell mammalian ancestors used their sense of smell, to sniff out food and predators. Without the sense of smell before our cerebral cortex fully developed being able to smell helped keep us alive. Now days sense of smell helps bring back memories. We acquire the liking of a smell when we are babies. It was said that before we knew our mothers smell we did not like it, but after awhile of constant interaction with that smell it because natural to us and a smell we look for, and come to like. I find it very interesting that our sense of smell is one of the hardest to explain. We can only explain what we smell not specifically what that smell is. Usually smells are associated with food or flowers, or even the sweet aroma of a friend, but never and actual name of that smell.
I searched for perception in the psychblog and found an interesting article called “Why Career Planning is Time Wasted.” The article talked about how planning our futures at a young age is a waste of time because you never know what the future brings. Who are we to expect what we will enjoy doing in 5 years time. They did a study on people and their choice of sandwich for lunch. They made two different groups, one group had to choose the sandwiches they predicted they would want to eat throughout the week a week in advance, and the other group had the choice of a sandwich ever day. Results showed they people who were giving the choice that day picked their favorite sandwich and were happy about their decision. The people who had to decide in advance what they wanted to eat each day, when it came to that week they weren’t happy about their decision. I think this proves that as we grow older even just the next week, we are going to have different likes and dislikes. How are we suppose to decide what we want to do as a career in the next 10 years, but can’t even make the simply decision of what we are going to eat in a week. It was said we are very bad at predicting our futures and how we are going to be and feel. They also said a reason it’s time wasted is because our future self is like a stranger to us. Our futures may seem like we have them in control, but we will never know until the time comes.
I find this very interesting because I don’t know what I want to do with my life when I grow older. There are so many paths one can take and it’s hard to decide what one I will like more or will be happy with doing. I never know what life is going to be like or what is going to happen even the next day. I always seem to make list or schedules of things to do and things I have to get done, but they always seem to change or I don’t get them done by my deadlines. I think this article just proves what I do on a daily basis.
I found, out of the senses, one of the interesting senses was our sense of smell. Although it’s not as keen as our sense of hearing or sight, it’s an important part of our body functions. Many animals have better sense of smell than humans and they use this to find their prey and mates. This affects me because without the sense of smell mammalian ancestors used their sense of smell, to sniff out food and predators. Without the sense of smell before our cerebral cortex fully developed being able to smell helped keep us alive. Now days sense of smell helps bring back memories. We acquire the liking of a smell when we are babies. It was said that before we knew our mothers smell we did not like it, but after awhile of constant interaction with that smell it because natural to us and a smell we look for, and come to like. I find it very interesting that our sense of smell is one of the hardest to explain. We can only explain what we smell not specifically what that smell is. Usually smells are associated with food or flowers, or even the sweet aroma of a friend, but never and actual name of that smell.
I searched for perception in the psychblog and found an interesting article called “Why Career Planning is Time Wasted.” The article talked about how planning our futures at a young age is a waste of time because you never know what the future brings. Who are we to expect what we will enjoy doing in 5 years time. They did a study on people and their choice of sandwich for lunch. They made two different groups, one group had to choose the sandwiches they predicted they would want to eat throughout the week a week in advance, and the other group had the choice of a sandwich ever day. Results showed they people who were giving the choice that day picked their favorite sandwich and were happy about their decision. The people who had to decide in advance what they wanted to eat each day, when it came to that week they weren’t happy about their decision. I think this proves that as we grow older even just the next week, we are going to have different likes and dislikes. How are we suppose to decide what we want to do as a career in the next 10 years, but can’t even make the simply decision of what we are going to eat in a week. It was said we are very bad at predicting our futures and how we are going to be and feel. They also said a reason it’s time wasted is because our future self is like a stranger to us. Our futures may seem like we have them in control, but we will never know until the time comes.
I find this very interesting because I don’t know what I want to do with my life when I grow older. There are so many paths one can take and it’s hard to decide what one I will like more or will be happy with doing. I never know what life is going to be like or what is going to happen even the next day. I always seem to make list or schedules of things to do and things I have to get done, but they always seem to change or I don’t get them done by my deadlines. I think this article just proves what I do on a daily basis.
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