The stats given in the intro to this blog caught my attention immediately. I am not a big TV watcher, and the fact that we are exposed to at least 15 TV food commercials during prime-time tv is crazy! What makes it worse is that these commercials are mostly for salty, fatty, or sugary foods. And the absolute worst part of all is this: the commercials WORK.
Yale university colleagues conducted a few studies and found one extremely strinking result:
Children who ahd watched a food advertisement then been offered goldfish ate 45% more than those who hadn't seen the advertisement.
Some may conclude that children are simply more impressionable, but further studies on young adults who viewed adverts for snack or healthy foods revealed that those who had seen the snack food commercials ate one-third more snack food.
The article clearly shows the power advertisers hold over even the most mature eaters. It makes me consider how much more easily I would succumb to unhealthy temptations if I actually watched TV once in a while!
Monday, December 7, 2009
ch. 16 Social Psychology
This was my favorite chapter of the entire book. I didn't get bored reading it because it was highly informative about things we experience all the time, like stereotyping, prejudice, etc.
A few points of interest were:
The theory that cruel acts shape the self. Our high school psychology teacher's motto is "Think Feel Act Become." This theory correlates with his motto perfectly. Act as though you like someone, and you eventually will. I agree with the book in that changing our behavior can change how we think about others and ourselves, boosting likeability and self-esteem.
I also thought the part in the book about things like sickness being PSYCHOLOGICALLY contagious. When we think we will get sick because a large amount of others are, we practically make ourselves sick! I have seen this at school and agree completely.
Finally, I agreed with the section int he text about strengthening conformity. Cliques at school DO seem to strengthen and grow when there are more than 3 people, they all dislike or like the same thing/person, and they have a popular status. Many groups with these characteristics are demeaning toward others. It is hard to find a "nice" group with a good reputation.
I never thought this day would come, but this is the end of my last chapter blog EVER!
A few points of interest were:
The theory that cruel acts shape the self. Our high school psychology teacher's motto is "Think Feel Act Become." This theory correlates with his motto perfectly. Act as though you like someone, and you eventually will. I agree with the book in that changing our behavior can change how we think about others and ourselves, boosting likeability and self-esteem.
I also thought the part in the book about things like sickness being PSYCHOLOGICALLY contagious. When we think we will get sick because a large amount of others are, we practically make ourselves sick! I have seen this at school and agree completely.
Finally, I agreed with the section int he text about strengthening conformity. Cliques at school DO seem to strengthen and grow when there are more than 3 people, they all dislike or like the same thing/person, and they have a popular status. Many groups with these characteristics are demeaning toward others. It is hard to find a "nice" group with a good reputation.
I never thought this day would come, but this is the end of my last chapter blog EVER!
Assignment Blog - Not My Type
Attribution is explaining someone's behavior by crediting either the situation or the person's disposition, in other words, it is explaining someone's behavior rationally and not jumping to comclusions or blaming.
The fundamental attribution error is the tendency to underestimate the situation or overestimate the impact of personal disposition when analyzing another's behavior. An example of the attribution error can be found in the last problem of the final :)
Stereotypes are generalized beliefs we hold about a specific group of people. Examples could be jocks, preps, nerds, goths, emos, Christians, to name a few. Stereotyping is directly related to illusory correlations in that these correlations feed our beliefs. When we believe a relationship exists between two things, we are more likely to notice when something happens that confirm what we think (and less likely to notice or store memories of when something contradicts what we believe). We like to think that what WE believe is what most people believe as well.
The fundamental attribution error is the tendency to underestimate the situation or overestimate the impact of personal disposition when analyzing another's behavior. An example of the attribution error can be found in the last problem of the final :)
Stereotypes are generalized beliefs we hold about a specific group of people. Examples could be jocks, preps, nerds, goths, emos, Christians, to name a few. Stereotyping is directly related to illusory correlations in that these correlations feed our beliefs. When we believe a relationship exists between two things, we are more likely to notice when something happens that confirm what we think (and less likely to notice or store memories of when something contradicts what we believe). We like to think that what WE believe is what most people believe as well.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Blogging Personality
Birth order is something I find very relevant to my personality.
Upon discussing birth order in the text and in class, I pulled out an old favorite... "Perfect Match." It's a book about finding the "perfect" mate, and it relies on birth order theories. I looked into middle children, and a main emphasis was that middle children often try to imitate the parent they admire. They also try to recieve attention by acting like their parent in order to impress them.
My mom is my role model and always has been. She's had a rough ride and is still the strongest, most organized, driven, caring person I know. It dawned on me after completing my Big 5 test that my results matched her personality...a lot! We've been told we're very much alike, my results of having a disagreeableness, conscientiousness, high-strung personality verified that! So, I think subconsciously trying to imitate or impress my mother throughout the years has shaped my personality to be more like hers than it would have otherwise been.
I usually don't find the lectures on the text helpful because I read the chapter in depth ahead of time, and the lectures usually just re-iterate what I've already learned. However, I did enjoy the Moral Psychology video. The comparison between various countries concering the 5 foundations we enter the world with at birth (Ingroup, harm, purity, fairness, and authority) was really interesting. Most countries agreed that harm and fairness were important, but the difference came between the liberals and conservatives when questioning the other 3 foundations. The speaker's adaptation of what the greatest wonder of the worlsd was was very interesting also. He thought that people living together within the 5 foundations and finding ways to respect and work together in testing places and climates was the greatest wonder, not the grand canyon. I have to say, I agree!
Upon discussing birth order in the text and in class, I pulled out an old favorite... "Perfect Match." It's a book about finding the "perfect" mate, and it relies on birth order theories. I looked into middle children, and a main emphasis was that middle children often try to imitate the parent they admire. They also try to recieve attention by acting like their parent in order to impress them.
My mom is my role model and always has been. She's had a rough ride and is still the strongest, most organized, driven, caring person I know. It dawned on me after completing my Big 5 test that my results matched her personality...a lot! We've been told we're very much alike, my results of having a disagreeableness, conscientiousness, high-strung personality verified that! So, I think subconsciously trying to imitate or impress my mother throughout the years has shaped my personality to be more like hers than it would have otherwise been.
I usually don't find the lectures on the text helpful because I read the chapter in depth ahead of time, and the lectures usually just re-iterate what I've already learned. However, I did enjoy the Moral Psychology video. The comparison between various countries concering the 5 foundations we enter the world with at birth (Ingroup, harm, purity, fairness, and authority) was really interesting. Most countries agreed that harm and fairness were important, but the difference came between the liberals and conservatives when questioning the other 3 foundations. The speaker's adaptation of what the greatest wonder of the worlsd was was very interesting also. He thought that people living together within the 5 foundations and finding ways to respect and work together in testing places and climates was the greatest wonder, not the grand canyon. I have to say, I agree!
Monday, November 23, 2009
Psyblog - Weather Has Little Effect On Mood
This was a very interesting article, and honestly, I didn't really believe the statement upon reading the title.
Personally, I think that the weather effects one's mood depending on how much time the person spends outdoors. I get really anxious when it's sunny outside and I have to be inside. On the other hand, I don't mind when it's raining and I'm stuck indoors.
The study showed that Germans positive moods were not affected by the weather, whether it was sunny and blue skies or not. Good weather didn't make people feel happier at all. (I am the total opposite.)
Negative weather, on the other hand, did make a difference. Less sunshine was associated with greater tiredness, etc. I agree with this- rain and gray skies make me drowsy, especially when stuck in school.
One thing that I think needs to be considered is that this study was taken in Germany. We don't know how much time Germans spend outdoors on average compared with north or south Americans, Asians, etc. Could this make a difference?
Personally, I think that the weather effects one's mood depending on how much time the person spends outdoors. I get really anxious when it's sunny outside and I have to be inside. On the other hand, I don't mind when it's raining and I'm stuck indoors.
The study showed that Germans positive moods were not affected by the weather, whether it was sunny and blue skies or not. Good weather didn't make people feel happier at all. (I am the total opposite.)
Negative weather, on the other hand, did make a difference. Less sunshine was associated with greater tiredness, etc. I agree with this- rain and gray skies make me drowsy, especially when stuck in school.
One thing that I think needs to be considered is that this study was taken in Germany. We don't know how much time Germans spend outdoors on average compared with north or south Americans, Asians, etc. Could this make a difference?
Chapter 13 - Personality
This was the first chapter that I disagreed with various points throughout. I thought for the most part it was a pretty easy to read, educational chapter, but at times it seemed like the author was talking in circles and that certain points weren't necissarily always valid.
I found Freud's view of fixation very interesting, and although many of todays psychologists are beginning to doubt the credibility of his theories, I think this one should definitely remain considered. Basically, it said that fixation is a lingering focus of pleasure seeking energies at an early stage creating unresolved conflicts. A great example given in the book was a person seeking oral gratification later in life if deprived of is as an infant. This could include smoking or excessive eating. I realize it is not always true, but I think it certainly could be some of the time.
Regression was another interesting theory of anxiety defense that Freud came up with. It explained how, when put in stressful, high anxiety situations, people revert back to comforts like thumb-sucking or clinging to a parent.
One of the points I highly disagree with in the text was the point made about personal web sites. I don't agree with the author that most people use facebook or myspace as a canvas or self-expression rather than a way to falsely represent themselves. Many people who have added me on facebook are people I know and go to school with, and many of them use their pages to display sexy pictures for guys that have been photoshopped and dont even look like them. Statuses are set to bring on questions from friends, not always to express oneself.
Another disagreement I had with the text was the example given about learned helplessness. It's not so much the theory I disagree with, but the example of how this theory came to be. Who on earth would repeatedly SHOCK dogs to create fear and anxiety just for a psych experiment?! And why on earth was this example the one published and used in chapter 13? This is ridiculous and cruel to me and I wish the book hand't used it.
What did everyone else think of the 2 disagreements I had??
I found Freud's view of fixation very interesting, and although many of todays psychologists are beginning to doubt the credibility of his theories, I think this one should definitely remain considered. Basically, it said that fixation is a lingering focus of pleasure seeking energies at an early stage creating unresolved conflicts. A great example given in the book was a person seeking oral gratification later in life if deprived of is as an infant. This could include smoking or excessive eating. I realize it is not always true, but I think it certainly could be some of the time.
Regression was another interesting theory of anxiety defense that Freud came up with. It explained how, when put in stressful, high anxiety situations, people revert back to comforts like thumb-sucking or clinging to a parent.
One of the points I highly disagree with in the text was the point made about personal web sites. I don't agree with the author that most people use facebook or myspace as a canvas or self-expression rather than a way to falsely represent themselves. Many people who have added me on facebook are people I know and go to school with, and many of them use their pages to display sexy pictures for guys that have been photoshopped and dont even look like them. Statuses are set to bring on questions from friends, not always to express oneself.
Another disagreement I had with the text was the example given about learned helplessness. It's not so much the theory I disagree with, but the example of how this theory came to be. Who on earth would repeatedly SHOCK dogs to create fear and anxiety just for a psych experiment?! And why on earth was this example the one published and used in chapter 13? This is ridiculous and cruel to me and I wish the book hand't used it.
What did everyone else think of the 2 disagreements I had??
Monday, November 16, 2009
Psyblog- Hows Beliefs Influence What tastes Good
This article dealt with how our preconceptions of what we're about to eat play into how we thinkt he food actually tastes.
Some tests administered tricked the volunteers into thinking they were eating beef when really eating veggie-burger, or vice versa. The same went for a study using pepsi and a store brand cola, but my favorite was the example about whether low or full fat foods tasted better.
So many people, including my own family, won't buy the lowfat milk, whipped cream, yogurt, ice cream, mayo, etc. because they truly believe it tastes worse. Depending on the BRAND, not the fat content, tastes vary, but really, can one honestly tell a major difference between 2% and 1% or skim milk? I don't think so. I think it all has to do with preconceptions.
My mom recently bought low-fat beanutbutter accidentally. I ate it without knowing and couldn't tell the difference, but she was astonished that I even opened the jar! When we dont know that what we're eating is a bit different from what we're used to, I don't think we can percieve a difference. We EXPECT full fat foods to taste better, but why wouldn't we choose the healthy road for a little less flavor (and thats if you can even detect the difference!!)
Currently organic and low fat foods seem to be all the rage...so I wonder what is selling better: full fat, normal foods or the continual supply of new, lowfat concoctions?
Some tests administered tricked the volunteers into thinking they were eating beef when really eating veggie-burger, or vice versa. The same went for a study using pepsi and a store brand cola, but my favorite was the example about whether low or full fat foods tasted better.
So many people, including my own family, won't buy the lowfat milk, whipped cream, yogurt, ice cream, mayo, etc. because they truly believe it tastes worse. Depending on the BRAND, not the fat content, tastes vary, but really, can one honestly tell a major difference between 2% and 1% or skim milk? I don't think so. I think it all has to do with preconceptions.
My mom recently bought low-fat beanutbutter accidentally. I ate it without knowing and couldn't tell the difference, but she was astonished that I even opened the jar! When we dont know that what we're eating is a bit different from what we're used to, I don't think we can percieve a difference. We EXPECT full fat foods to taste better, but why wouldn't we choose the healthy road for a little less flavor (and thats if you can even detect the difference!!)
Currently organic and low fat foods seem to be all the rage...so I wonder what is selling better: full fat, normal foods or the continual supply of new, lowfat concoctions?
Current Event 11-16
I was recently having a conversation about movies that I feel can really pertain to psychology and the way we think.
Basically, a friend and I decided that movies and tv shows are getting extremely crude and mentally deteriorating. Think about it...when we're young and watching disney movies, Cinderella's step sisters trying to steal her shoe and, consequently, her boyfriend prince charming, seems like a real problem. As we get older and start watching more sophisticated movies, we start seeing affairs within families and other corrupt things. Movies we watch when we're young are just leading us into the twisted world we live in today. Where do you think the producers get the story line ideas anyway?
So the question my friend and I were pondering was, what are OUR kids going to be watching someday? Obviously we can't just shut them out from the world, but do we really want them watching what we've watched? Or the sex/drug filled sitcoms we watch now? No way. It wasn't until I was allowed to watch R-rated movies that I started swearing ever. I don't only blame the movies, but they certainly didn't help.
Unfortunately, we learn from what we watch on tv and associate with our own lives. What's worse is that as of right now, there doesn't seem to be a way of fixing it.
Basically, a friend and I decided that movies and tv shows are getting extremely crude and mentally deteriorating. Think about it...when we're young and watching disney movies, Cinderella's step sisters trying to steal her shoe and, consequently, her boyfriend prince charming, seems like a real problem. As we get older and start watching more sophisticated movies, we start seeing affairs within families and other corrupt things. Movies we watch when we're young are just leading us into the twisted world we live in today. Where do you think the producers get the story line ideas anyway?
So the question my friend and I were pondering was, what are OUR kids going to be watching someday? Obviously we can't just shut them out from the world, but do we really want them watching what we've watched? Or the sex/drug filled sitcoms we watch now? No way. It wasn't until I was allowed to watch R-rated movies that I started swearing ever. I don't only blame the movies, but they certainly didn't help.
Unfortunately, we learn from what we watch on tv and associate with our own lives. What's worse is that as of right now, there doesn't seem to be a way of fixing it.
Chapter 9- Thinking and Language
I liked this chapter because of it's length. Short and sweet!
I found the discussion about animals and animal studies to be very intriguing. The way they have learned and been trained to develop vocabularies, whether audible or signed, is fascinating!!
I agreed with behaviorist B.F. Skinner in that we learn language by the familiar principles of association, imitation, and reinforcement. I believe that by seeing expressions, hearing words modeled by others repeatedly, and associating lip movement with the sounds we hear are what enable us to develop out own language. I also believe this is what causes accents and usage of certain slang, etc.
Insight was a concept that the book covered pretty thoroughly. Insight and instinct seem to go hand-in-hand in some ways. Instinct is a sudden flash of information to the brain that tells us how to act or deliver a movement, and insight is a flash of inspiration solving a problem much in the same way: suddenly. Intuition also helps smart thinkers gain instant help when needed in making automatic, effortless decisions.
When the book talked about framing I immediately could think of multiple examples. To list a few: when an expensive item is priced half off, it looks more appealing than a regular priced item being 25% off. This is due to framing. Verbally, a friend may set you up or frame their words to get you to do a favor for them by "buttering you up" first. Favors look a lot simpler to complete when you've been complimented.
Overall, this chapter kept my attention better than others. I liked that there were more examples to learn from!
I found the discussion about animals and animal studies to be very intriguing. The way they have learned and been trained to develop vocabularies, whether audible or signed, is fascinating!!
I agreed with behaviorist B.F. Skinner in that we learn language by the familiar principles of association, imitation, and reinforcement. I believe that by seeing expressions, hearing words modeled by others repeatedly, and associating lip movement with the sounds we hear are what enable us to develop out own language. I also believe this is what causes accents and usage of certain slang, etc.
Insight was a concept that the book covered pretty thoroughly. Insight and instinct seem to go hand-in-hand in some ways. Instinct is a sudden flash of information to the brain that tells us how to act or deliver a movement, and insight is a flash of inspiration solving a problem much in the same way: suddenly. Intuition also helps smart thinkers gain instant help when needed in making automatic, effortless decisions.
When the book talked about framing I immediately could think of multiple examples. To list a few: when an expensive item is priced half off, it looks more appealing than a regular priced item being 25% off. This is due to framing. Verbally, a friend may set you up or frame their words to get you to do a favor for them by "buttering you up" first. Favors look a lot simpler to complete when you've been complimented.
Overall, this chapter kept my attention better than others. I liked that there were more examples to learn from!
Monday, November 9, 2009
Diners Spend More In Lavender-Scented Restaurant - Psyblog
This was an...odd...article, to say the least.
It was based off of a study that included dispensing aromas 3 weeks in a row into a small pizzeria to see which week consumers spent more money (the study wanted to relate spendings with the aroma.)
The first week no aroma was dispensed.
The second weed the smell of lemon was dispensed and sales increased minimally.
The third week the smell of lavender was dispensed from the diffusers and sales jumped!!
The lavender and spending were, in fact, directly related, but there was a downside: So were lavender and lingering in the restaurant. I really don't understand why the smell of lavender would make someone's mouth water, and I personally don't think it would work on me. The smell of lavender and pizza would actually make me sick when I really consider it. This article made me wonder if grocery stores diffuse small amounts of a scent in order to make you buy more, or if they rely on the smell of the bakery?
It was based off of a study that included dispensing aromas 3 weeks in a row into a small pizzeria to see which week consumers spent more money (the study wanted to relate spendings with the aroma.)
The first week no aroma was dispensed.
The second weed the smell of lemon was dispensed and sales increased minimally.
The third week the smell of lavender was dispensed from the diffusers and sales jumped!!
The lavender and spending were, in fact, directly related, but there was a downside: So were lavender and lingering in the restaurant. I really don't understand why the smell of lavender would make someone's mouth water, and I personally don't think it would work on me. The smell of lavender and pizza would actually make me sick when I really consider it. This article made me wonder if grocery stores diffuse small amounts of a scent in order to make you buy more, or if they rely on the smell of the bakery?
Chapter 8 - Realizations
After reading chapter 8, specifically the Misinformation Effect section, I was able to recall a memory of being lost at Art in the Park when I was between 4 and 5 years old. This used to be a vivid memory, because it was the first and only time I was REALLY lost that I could ever remember. With time, the vividness has decayed, but I thought I could remember the important details. To test this, I asked my mom what her account was of what had happened after trying to remember as much as I could myself. Here was my account:
I wandered away when my mom was taking too long at one booth, and ended up not knowing where I was going. I ended up in the more open part of the park and started getting freaked out because I couldn't see my family anywhere. I remember thinking that my mom had always said 'If you get lost, just wait where you are and I'll find you." So I sat down next to an elderly couple on a bench. They were strangers so I didn't respond when they asked me if I was lost. 15 minutes later my mom found me.
Here's how my mom remembers it:
I wandered away (about 30 ft...far enough away that I couldn't see her over the heads of other people, but she could still see me). My mom finished looking at the items of the booth she was at and then caught up with me. She had let me be for about 3 minutes so that I would learn not to wander away again.
Obviously, there's a bit of a difference between our stories. Something tells me that her at-the-time 35-year-old memory was better than my 4-yeard old memory. Being in a scary situation that marked my first experience of being "lost" may have made me misrecall what had actually happened. Many other similar instances have happened, I'm sure, but this was definitely one of my most memorable.
I wandered away when my mom was taking too long at one booth, and ended up not knowing where I was going. I ended up in the more open part of the park and started getting freaked out because I couldn't see my family anywhere. I remember thinking that my mom had always said 'If you get lost, just wait where you are and I'll find you." So I sat down next to an elderly couple on a bench. They were strangers so I didn't respond when they asked me if I was lost. 15 minutes later my mom found me.
Here's how my mom remembers it:
I wandered away (about 30 ft...far enough away that I couldn't see her over the heads of other people, but she could still see me). My mom finished looking at the items of the booth she was at and then caught up with me. She had let me be for about 3 minutes so that I would learn not to wander away again.
Obviously, there's a bit of a difference between our stories. Something tells me that her at-the-time 35-year-old memory was better than my 4-yeard old memory. Being in a scary situation that marked my first experience of being "lost" may have made me misrecall what had actually happened. Many other similar instances have happened, I'm sure, but this was definitely one of my most memorable.
Bloggin Time - Chapter 8
Memory is an inexplicably important asset to who we are as human beings. Who would we be if, like Clive Waring, we could not remember more than 20 seconds into our pasts? No one. We would practically be non-existent if we, in fact, could not REMEMBER our existence. Would we know or remember how to make and raise children? would we remember to eat enough to stay alive, or forget we ate so much that we die of obesity? Would the human race even remain?! Life would be unimagineably difficult. We would be unable to learn the traits of survival and likely become extinct. What a terrible world it would be if we didn't have our precious memories.
This chapter was really interesting because it brought up some confrontational points, such as: is my memory as good as I think it is? Can I, just like many other researchers and ordinary people, fabricate my own memories or fill in the pieces that were never really there to the point where I believe them? Yes, because there are many ways in which memory works with and against us. The 7 sins of memory gives perfect examples of many of these mind operations.
The concept of memory repression (or lack thereof) interested and surprised me. We hear about traumatized people repressing tragic memories in the news, magazine interviews, and often we even know someone who seems to do this is their mind. What was intruiging about this concept in the text was that an increasing number of memory researchers think repression rarely, IF EVER, occurs. People often succeed at intentionally forgetting certain material, but not when the material deals with emotions. Trying to forget emotional material actually leads to intrusion of memory, creating persistant replays of a traumatic event.
This chapter was really interesting because it brought up some confrontational points, such as: is my memory as good as I think it is? Can I, just like many other researchers and ordinary people, fabricate my own memories or fill in the pieces that were never really there to the point where I believe them? Yes, because there are many ways in which memory works with and against us. The 7 sins of memory gives perfect examples of many of these mind operations.
The concept of memory repression (or lack thereof) interested and surprised me. We hear about traumatized people repressing tragic memories in the news, magazine interviews, and often we even know someone who seems to do this is their mind. What was intruiging about this concept in the text was that an increasing number of memory researchers think repression rarely, IF EVER, occurs. People often succeed at intentionally forgetting certain material, but not when the material deals with emotions. Trying to forget emotional material actually leads to intrusion of memory, creating persistant replays of a traumatic event.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Psyblog- Getting Closer: The Art of Self-Disclosure
This was an awesome blog!!
I wish all internet daters would read it...not because it gives a big old dose of reality, but because it could probably save a lot of broken hearts. If you're not willing to leave your photos the way they are (without touching them up) or pad your profile, how will a relationship ever work? The same is true for reality shows like the Bachelor or Dating in the Dark. Self-disclosure is key, and it is often not possible on national television.
To summarize, the blog talked about how self disclosure must be odne the right way at the right time. It is vital for relationships to prosper, and even to be liked in school or at work. If one gives too much information too quickly, the reciever of the information will likely freak out and run ( I have experienced this with guys before. Some just take the "sensitive guy who opens up" role WAY too far...). The same goes for two members of the same sex, just looking to be friends. If one gives her life story and deepest darkest secret, the other probably senses a lack of trust to be had.
Another interesting point was that as serious romantic relationships lengthen, self-disclosure decreases. I have been dating the same guy on and off for 5 years. After about 3 years we had a really hard time talking to eachother and could never figure out why. At the time, my family was entering a rough situation and I think I chose to shut him out. Lacking the self-disclosure we had always had was probably what tore us apart for a while, and I realized that as time went on. This is probably a major factor in divorces as well.
This was a great blog. I think we should all read it because I believe we can all probably relate and maybe even improve relationships if we put serious thought into it!
I wish all internet daters would read it...not because it gives a big old dose of reality, but because it could probably save a lot of broken hearts. If you're not willing to leave your photos the way they are (without touching them up) or pad your profile, how will a relationship ever work? The same is true for reality shows like the Bachelor or Dating in the Dark. Self-disclosure is key, and it is often not possible on national television.
To summarize, the blog talked about how self disclosure must be odne the right way at the right time. It is vital for relationships to prosper, and even to be liked in school or at work. If one gives too much information too quickly, the reciever of the information will likely freak out and run ( I have experienced this with guys before. Some just take the "sensitive guy who opens up" role WAY too far...). The same goes for two members of the same sex, just looking to be friends. If one gives her life story and deepest darkest secret, the other probably senses a lack of trust to be had.
Another interesting point was that as serious romantic relationships lengthen, self-disclosure decreases. I have been dating the same guy on and off for 5 years. After about 3 years we had a really hard time talking to eachother and could never figure out why. At the time, my family was entering a rough situation and I think I chose to shut him out. Lacking the self-disclosure we had always had was probably what tore us apart for a while, and I realized that as time went on. This is probably a major factor in divorces as well.
This was a great blog. I think we should all read it because I believe we can all probably relate and maybe even improve relationships if we put serious thought into it!
Random Blog - chapter 7
I wanted to blog about one specific part of chapter 7 and wasn't able to in our chapter 7 assignment blog, so here it goes.
The section I found most interesting was Applications of Classical Conditioning. The part about former drug users being advised to stay away from people or places they associate with previous highs was what caught my eye. I have not had experiences like this myself (pertaining to drugs) nor have I witnessed someone having withdrawal issues in a particular place or with a particular person, but after reading this section of the chapter I realized that situations such as this may happen quite frequently. For example, I have a friend who never knew her father. I avoid talking about dad's or fatherly figure with her because it makes her upset and sad. It is unlike the severity of the drug association the book gave as an example, but I feel that it is the same concept. In order to avoid negative associations, we use common courtesy.
I think we all need to keep other people's associations in mind when speaking about our opinions. I'm certain we've all had an incident or two where we make a comment like "you're retarded" to someone with a mentally retarded relative or friend and immediately think "open mouth: insert foot." Psychology really does play into every area of our lives.
The section I found most interesting was Applications of Classical Conditioning. The part about former drug users being advised to stay away from people or places they associate with previous highs was what caught my eye. I have not had experiences like this myself (pertaining to drugs) nor have I witnessed someone having withdrawal issues in a particular place or with a particular person, but after reading this section of the chapter I realized that situations such as this may happen quite frequently. For example, I have a friend who never knew her father. I avoid talking about dad's or fatherly figure with her because it makes her upset and sad. It is unlike the severity of the drug association the book gave as an example, but I feel that it is the same concept. In order to avoid negative associations, we use common courtesy.
I think we all need to keep other people's associations in mind when speaking about our opinions. I'm certain we've all had an incident or two where we make a comment like "you're retarded" to someone with a mentally retarded relative or friend and immediately think "open mouth: insert foot." Psychology really does play into every area of our lives.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Learning - Chapter 7 Blog
I loved this chapter!!
A) It was interesting.
B) It was SHORT!! I was able to keep reading without daydreaming or getting bored with the information!!
I found quite a few aspects of this chapter interesting. One was onion breath being related to sexual arousal. This study and the man's account of onion breath "turning him on" completely baffled me! I wanted to laugh hysterically, but it was really interesting! It relates to so many things in life like, when you're at the store and you smell gingerbread, you automatically think of (are conditioned to associate) Grandma's Christmas cookies. You spontaneously recover that tidbit of forgotton or seemingly extinct information when you sniff that first whiff of ginger.
An example of something I've been conditioned to is red Ford Rangers (a type of pickup truck). I associate these trucks with my father, who drives one. There have been several unfortunate incidents that have occured in/with this truck of his, so whenever I see one while driving, I immediately tense up and expect to see him in the driver's seat (Classical conditioning/ unconditioned response to the truck). This stimulus gets me every time and is extremely annoying, but the same response takes place every time.
This chapter helped me realize why I react the way I do to many things and was extremely informational in how I would like to one day raise my children. I took lots of notes!! :)
A) It was interesting.
B) It was SHORT!! I was able to keep reading without daydreaming or getting bored with the information!!
I found quite a few aspects of this chapter interesting. One was onion breath being related to sexual arousal. This study and the man's account of onion breath "turning him on" completely baffled me! I wanted to laugh hysterically, but it was really interesting! It relates to so many things in life like, when you're at the store and you smell gingerbread, you automatically think of (are conditioned to associate) Grandma's Christmas cookies. You spontaneously recover that tidbit of forgotton or seemingly extinct information when you sniff that first whiff of ginger.
An example of something I've been conditioned to is red Ford Rangers (a type of pickup truck). I associate these trucks with my father, who drives one. There have been several unfortunate incidents that have occured in/with this truck of his, so whenever I see one while driving, I immediately tense up and expect to see him in the driver's seat (Classical conditioning/ unconditioned response to the truck). This stimulus gets me every time and is extremely annoying, but the same response takes place every time.
This chapter helped me realize why I react the way I do to many things and was extremely informational in how I would like to one day raise my children. I took lots of notes!! :)
Monday, October 26, 2009
Illusions Blog
I picked these 8 illusions for the activity: Adelson's Corrugated Plaid, Stereokinetic phenomenon, Scintillating Grid, Face in Blocks, Rotation changes the Interpretation, The Frankfurter Illusion, Shepard's "Turning the Tables", and Contrast Constancy.
From the tutorials, I was able to realize that there is often a lot more to a picture, image, or even something that seems to be a gob of nothing. The tutorials showed me that my mind percieves sometimes only the things it WANTS to percieve. It also showed me that sometimes my mind is surprised by illusions I wasn't ready to see because they aren't "set," common, or expected.
In some of the tutorials, I tried to figure out what I was supposed to learn before reading the write up on each one. Sometimes I could figure it out, but most times I couldn't. This surprised me. I expected that I would be able to see whatever I was "supposed" to see without reading the write ups, but it wasn't until I read that I saw Abraham Lincoln's "face in blocks!" I was also surprised in the corrugated plaid tutorial when the dots were turning colors as I looked at and away from them. I thought my mind was playing tricks on my or that my eyes were going weird until I read the tutorial and learned that that was the illusion part of it.
I think these tutorials can teach us something about how we percieve the world. Not everything in life is an optical illusion or has to be stared at, but these tutorials demonstrate that there really is more to life than only the things we want or choose to see. In some of the tutorials I almost "ignored" the illusion until what I was supposed to see was spelled out for me! It's the same way in life. It's easy to not percieve things until they're placed right under your nose.
Experiences in which I fail to sense or percieve things happen every day. A perfect example could be not sensing or percieving what someone is trying to get across to me without verbalizing. Someone may be sending oodles of body language messages, and I may fail to notice completely. I think this happens to many of us, and it all deals with whether our mind is in tune to percieve our surroundings.
From the tutorials, I was able to realize that there is often a lot more to a picture, image, or even something that seems to be a gob of nothing. The tutorials showed me that my mind percieves sometimes only the things it WANTS to percieve. It also showed me that sometimes my mind is surprised by illusions I wasn't ready to see because they aren't "set," common, or expected.
In some of the tutorials, I tried to figure out what I was supposed to learn before reading the write up on each one. Sometimes I could figure it out, but most times I couldn't. This surprised me. I expected that I would be able to see whatever I was "supposed" to see without reading the write ups, but it wasn't until I read that I saw Abraham Lincoln's "face in blocks!" I was also surprised in the corrugated plaid tutorial when the dots were turning colors as I looked at and away from them. I thought my mind was playing tricks on my or that my eyes were going weird until I read the tutorial and learned that that was the illusion part of it.
I think these tutorials can teach us something about how we percieve the world. Not everything in life is an optical illusion or has to be stared at, but these tutorials demonstrate that there really is more to life than only the things we want or choose to see. In some of the tutorials I almost "ignored" the illusion until what I was supposed to see was spelled out for me! It's the same way in life. It's easy to not percieve things until they're placed right under your nose.
Experiences in which I fail to sense or percieve things happen every day. A perfect example could be not sensing or percieving what someone is trying to get across to me without verbalizing. Someone may be sending oodles of body language messages, and I may fail to notice completely. I think this happens to many of us, and it all deals with whether our mind is in tune to percieve our surroundings.
Sit Up Straight, Be Confident! - Psyblog
This blog was...odd. I didn't completely understand how the experiment worked, but I did understand it's purpose (which I think is all I need in order to blog about it).
First of all, I feel like I have pretty decent self-confidence. I know i'm a responsible, hard worker, but I do usually slouch. So does that mean I'm negative? I also can think of several people I know who sit up perfectly straight and work hard, but are shy and have no self-esteem or confidence in themselves. So, based off of personal experience, I disagree with the article. I do believe we should sit up straight in order to look like we have a little self-respect.
Finally, when did someone say (and who is the someone who said) that sitting up stright is BAD for your back? I have mild scoleosis and have NEVER been told by a doctor NOT to sit up straight! Anyone know anything about this?
First of all, I feel like I have pretty decent self-confidence. I know i'm a responsible, hard worker, but I do usually slouch. So does that mean I'm negative? I also can think of several people I know who sit up perfectly straight and work hard, but are shy and have no self-esteem or confidence in themselves. So, based off of personal experience, I disagree with the article. I do believe we should sit up straight in order to look like we have a little self-respect.
Finally, when did someone say (and who is the someone who said) that sitting up stright is BAD for your back? I have mild scoleosis and have NEVER been told by a doctor NOT to sit up straight! Anyone know anything about this?
Chapter 6: Sensation and Perception
This chapter interested and confused me. The parts of the text that explained how our individual senses work got lengthy and reminded me of anatomy class, while the parts about ESP and sensual adaptions were really grabbing.
The three main things I learned/found interesting were the basic four skin sensation variations, association of smells, and how perceptual set influences what we hear.
I found it interesting how certain motions create tickles, itching, wetness, dryness, and heat when pressure is put on the right spot. Stroking adjacent pressure spots creates a tickle, repeated gentle stroking of a painful spot creates itching, touching adjacent cold pressure spots triggers a sens of wetness (this can be experienced my touching dry cold metal as well!), and stimulating nearby cold and warm spots produces hot sensations. The variation about touching cold dry metal and thinking you are touching water rings a bell for me. I can remember times when i have even thought my clothing was wet because it was so cold (outside at football games, etc.).
The example used about the smell of wintergreen stimulating thought of candy or gum for Americans and medicine for British was a great perspective. The text explained how our attractedness to smeel depends on what we have rpeviously associated that smell with. I found it interesting that babies are not born with a preference to their mother's smell, but that the preference builds. I ahd previously assumed that, after 9 months in mommy's tummy, a baby would recognize and favor their mother's odor. The text also explained how smells evoke memories, whether pleasant or unpleasant. I remember a time when, after being out of the hospital for 2 months, I smelled someone's hand sanitizer. This hand sanitizer happened to smeel just like the sanitizer the hospital staff used, and I immediately disliked it.
Finally, the chapter talked about perceptual sets. I liked the example given about the pilot who raised the wheels of a plane too early after thinking he had heard his co-pilot say "gear up." really, the pilot had said "cheer up" but the pilot operating the plane was anticipating gear-up and therefore "heard" the phrase. This seems to be extremely common in my life! I feel like I often do something totally opposite of what I'm told to do, just because the words may sound the similar. I'm sure everyone has had some type of similar incident, becuase we all form perceptual sets.
I hope we talk about color constancy, proximity, continuity, similarity, and connectedness in class because I don't feel that I completely understood them. Did everyone else?
The three main things I learned/found interesting were the basic four skin sensation variations, association of smells, and how perceptual set influences what we hear.
I found it interesting how certain motions create tickles, itching, wetness, dryness, and heat when pressure is put on the right spot. Stroking adjacent pressure spots creates a tickle, repeated gentle stroking of a painful spot creates itching, touching adjacent cold pressure spots triggers a sens of wetness (this can be experienced my touching dry cold metal as well!), and stimulating nearby cold and warm spots produces hot sensations. The variation about touching cold dry metal and thinking you are touching water rings a bell for me. I can remember times when i have even thought my clothing was wet because it was so cold (outside at football games, etc.).
The example used about the smell of wintergreen stimulating thought of candy or gum for Americans and medicine for British was a great perspective. The text explained how our attractedness to smeel depends on what we have rpeviously associated that smell with. I found it interesting that babies are not born with a preference to their mother's smell, but that the preference builds. I ahd previously assumed that, after 9 months in mommy's tummy, a baby would recognize and favor their mother's odor. The text also explained how smells evoke memories, whether pleasant or unpleasant. I remember a time when, after being out of the hospital for 2 months, I smelled someone's hand sanitizer. This hand sanitizer happened to smeel just like the sanitizer the hospital staff used, and I immediately disliked it.
Finally, the chapter talked about perceptual sets. I liked the example given about the pilot who raised the wheels of a plane too early after thinking he had heard his co-pilot say "gear up." really, the pilot had said "cheer up" but the pilot operating the plane was anticipating gear-up and therefore "heard" the phrase. This seems to be extremely common in my life! I feel like I often do something totally opposite of what I'm told to do, just because the words may sound the similar. I'm sure everyone has had some type of similar incident, becuase we all form perceptual sets.
I hope we talk about color constancy, proximity, continuity, similarity, and connectedness in class because I don't feel that I completely understood them. Did everyone else?
Monday, October 19, 2009
Persuasion: The Right Ear Advantage-Psyblog
This was an interesting, yet seemingly controversial psyblog. It discussed how when asked a request in our right ear, we (male or female) are more likely to respond. The theory behind this statement was that language heard through the right ear is interpreted in the left side of the brain-the side more preferentially processing language.
I think to some extent this could be true. When I began reading the article, I didn't really buy into what the author was saying because their study didn't seem very supportive (a person went around and asked people for a "smoke" while at a club. More people said yes when asked in their right ear.) When the blog talked about how some people prefer talking into the phone in their right ear (although more people prefer left) I was able to grasp what the author was trying to say. Personally, I CAN'T talk with the phone on my left ear, so this made more sense to me,
The blog was interesting, but I wouldn't recommend taking the time to read it.
I think to some extent this could be true. When I began reading the article, I didn't really buy into what the author was saying because their study didn't seem very supportive (a person went around and asked people for a "smoke" while at a club. More people said yes when asked in their right ear.) When the blog talked about how some people prefer talking into the phone in their right ear (although more people prefer left) I was able to grasp what the author was trying to say. Personally, I CAN'T talk with the phone on my left ear, so this made more sense to me,
The blog was interesting, but I wouldn't recommend taking the time to read it.
Age 25...the new "adult age?"
A part of this week's text that I wasnted to blog about specifically was the fact that "the brain's frontal lobes will continue to develop until about age 25."
The reason I wanted to blog about this individual fact was because I want everyone to think about it for a while. Consider this: If our brain's are not fully developed until age 25, why are we considered adults, and allowed to make adult decisions at 18? If we are not at our stage of complete competency and understanding, why are 18 year olds tried as adults in court? Why is it legal to potentially damage your brain with alcohol after age 21? Is it smart for some high schoolers to make life decisions, such as go to college or work, when their brains have not reached full maturity?
I don't think so.
I think that this issue needs to be considered a bit more. If the driving license age were a bit older (not 25, but not 16) would there be less accidents due to better decision making?
I'd really appreciate some feedback on this blog. I could be completely wrong; I just simply found the whole thing interesting.
The reason I wanted to blog about this individual fact was because I want everyone to think about it for a while. Consider this: If our brain's are not fully developed until age 25, why are we considered adults, and allowed to make adult decisions at 18? If we are not at our stage of complete competency and understanding, why are 18 year olds tried as adults in court? Why is it legal to potentially damage your brain with alcohol after age 21? Is it smart for some high schoolers to make life decisions, such as go to college or work, when their brains have not reached full maturity?
I don't think so.
I think that this issue needs to be considered a bit more. If the driving license age were a bit older (not 25, but not 16) would there be less accidents due to better decision making?
I'd really appreciate some feedback on this blog. I could be completely wrong; I just simply found the whole thing interesting.
Developing Through the Life Span-Chapter 5
Thank goodness we're done with heritability! I enjoyed reading this chapter MUCH more and feel that I was able to take more away from it. Many of the theories discussed were familiar to me, such as Piaget's and Kohlberg's, but it was interesting to read a little more in depth about their studies and research findings.
I agree with Piaget (and most of today's researchers) that chldren actively create and modify their minds and understanding of the world. One of Piaget's main ideas was object permanance. I have always found this concept fascinating, most likely because I cannot remember when it applied to me! Object permanence is the awareness that things continue to exist when they cannot be percieved. It baffles me how infants seem to think that an object has "disappeared" and forget about it immediately!
Another bit of information that I found interesting and agreed with was the fact that people are usually unable to remember early memories. I had heard the whole "no memory before the age of 3" bit before but never really knew if it was completely true. The text confirmed that it is, in fact, true and further explained how the human cerebral cortex is too immature to retain information during infancy and beginning toddlerhood.
Habituation (decreasing responsiveness to repeated stimulation) is a concept that fascinates me! I never would have realized that this is how we learn and retain most information, even after infancey, if the term "habituation" hadn't been given. Although with familiarity comes boredom, intelligence and recognition come as well. This is a genious way of "asking" infants what they can remember (brain stimulation tests).
Finally, Jonathon Haidt's social intuitionist account of morality (moral feelings precede moral resoning) was a theory that really made me think about what I would do in life threatening situations (of others). Would I let 5 die if it meant having to push one person to their death? Or, if i wasn't involved, would I choose to save the 5 at the expense of one life? This is an extremely tough decision and I thought about it for a long time. I continued thinking about this at night as I was going to sleep and actually dreamt about it. In my dream, the 5 people on the train tracks, waiting to die, were my boyfriend and 4 family members. I chose to push a friend onto the tracks to save my 5 loved ones. If this were a real life situtation, I would be haunted forever, yet feel happy to still have my family. It was really an intense section of the chapter that I feel deserves some in class discussion.
I agree with Piaget (and most of today's researchers) that chldren actively create and modify their minds and understanding of the world. One of Piaget's main ideas was object permanance. I have always found this concept fascinating, most likely because I cannot remember when it applied to me! Object permanence is the awareness that things continue to exist when they cannot be percieved. It baffles me how infants seem to think that an object has "disappeared" and forget about it immediately!
Another bit of information that I found interesting and agreed with was the fact that people are usually unable to remember early memories. I had heard the whole "no memory before the age of 3" bit before but never really knew if it was completely true. The text confirmed that it is, in fact, true and further explained how the human cerebral cortex is too immature to retain information during infancy and beginning toddlerhood.
Habituation (decreasing responsiveness to repeated stimulation) is a concept that fascinates me! I never would have realized that this is how we learn and retain most information, even after infancey, if the term "habituation" hadn't been given. Although with familiarity comes boredom, intelligence and recognition come as well. This is a genious way of "asking" infants what they can remember (brain stimulation tests).
Finally, Jonathon Haidt's social intuitionist account of morality (moral feelings precede moral resoning) was a theory that really made me think about what I would do in life threatening situations (of others). Would I let 5 die if it meant having to push one person to their death? Or, if i wasn't involved, would I choose to save the 5 at the expense of one life? This is an extremely tough decision and I thought about it for a long time. I continued thinking about this at night as I was going to sleep and actually dreamt about it. In my dream, the 5 people on the train tracks, waiting to die, were my boyfriend and 4 family members. I chose to push a friend onto the tracks to save my 5 loved ones. If this were a real life situtation, I would be haunted forever, yet feel happy to still have my family. It was really an intense section of the chapter that I feel deserves some in class discussion.
Monday, October 12, 2009
How rewards Can Backfire-Psyblog
I LOVED this article because it is so true, yet never really thought about.
To summarize, the article talked about how when a reward is hung infront of a childs face, their attention turns from the activity at hand to that reward, and often results in a poorly finished activity (in the study on Psyblog, the activity was drawing). The article stated it very well: "Play becomes work." Ponder it for a moment and you'll probably be able to think of a time when you were a kid, or maybe when you saw a child, perform a simple task differently because a reward was involved. Maybe you didn't go beyond expectations because you knew that when you finished the bare minimum, you would get a reward. Maybe the opposite is true; maybe you went TOO far above and beyond in order to obtain your reward and, in result, overdid it.
An example that came to mind in my life is volleyball. Our team played a very poor, very beatable team on senior night two weeks ago and lost. I kept asking myself "why do we ALWAYS crack under pressure?!" and I think this may take part in the reason. When a reward, in my situation, winning, is the main thing on one's mind, they play/draw/etc. FOR that reward, not for the fun of the activity. This is where play becomes work, where individuals and teams meet their breaking points.
To summarize, the article talked about how when a reward is hung infront of a childs face, their attention turns from the activity at hand to that reward, and often results in a poorly finished activity (in the study on Psyblog, the activity was drawing). The article stated it very well: "Play becomes work." Ponder it for a moment and you'll probably be able to think of a time when you were a kid, or maybe when you saw a child, perform a simple task differently because a reward was involved. Maybe you didn't go beyond expectations because you knew that when you finished the bare minimum, you would get a reward. Maybe the opposite is true; maybe you went TOO far above and beyond in order to obtain your reward and, in result, overdid it.
An example that came to mind in my life is volleyball. Our team played a very poor, very beatable team on senior night two weeks ago and lost. I kept asking myself "why do we ALWAYS crack under pressure?!" and I think this may take part in the reason. When a reward, in my situation, winning, is the main thing on one's mind, they play/draw/etc. FOR that reward, not for the fun of the activity. This is where play becomes work, where individuals and teams meet their breaking points.
Evolutionary Psychology and Sexual Attitudes-Video
I think this video made some very good points. The first that caught my attention was what young women look for in men and what young men look for in women. I wasn't surprised by the fact that the majority of women look for someone reliable with status who can make a living because I myself hope to one day marry someone who is able to provide. What surprised me was that, for the most part, men look for similar reliable, homemaker quailities in women they date! I guess I always figured that most young guys are more about looks that potential.
Later in the video it talked about how these quality needs erode as we age and become able to do them ourselves. When a woman lands a decent job and realizes she can do the things that she thought the man must do, she will probably begin to seek someone who has more things in common with her. The same goes for a man who, with time, realizes he cand o just fine on his own and doesn't need someone to look after him.
The second video, supporting Darwin's theory, was interesting, and although I am sticking to what I said about Darwin in my chapter blog, I do agree with the fact that vital genes were passed from our ancestors, helping us survive. I found the fact that the speaker thought adoption to be un-Darwinian very interesting! If we are able to reproduce and pass on our genes, adopting someone elses offspring definitely goes against Darwin's theory.
Later in the video it talked about how these quality needs erode as we age and become able to do them ourselves. When a woman lands a decent job and realizes she can do the things that she thought the man must do, she will probably begin to seek someone who has more things in common with her. The same goes for a man who, with time, realizes he cand o just fine on his own and doesn't need someone to look after him.
The second video, supporting Darwin's theory, was interesting, and although I am sticking to what I said about Darwin in my chapter blog, I do agree with the fact that vital genes were passed from our ancestors, helping us survive. I found the fact that the speaker thought adoption to be un-Darwinian very interesting! If we are able to reproduce and pass on our genes, adopting someone elses offspring definitely goes against Darwin's theory.
Chapter 4- Nature, Nurture, and Human Diversity
This was a very complex chapter. Parts of it interested me, but other parts were very hard to understand, probably because they went against previous beliefs of mine.
I thought that heritability accounted for more personality characteristics than it apparently does. The book said that heritable individual differences can describe traits such as height, but I thought things such as shyness, outspokenness, etc. could be attributed to genetics as well, when really, they are more often the result of our environment. It surprised me how much the chapter emphasized the influence our environment has on us, even though I felt like I knew most of what it was saying. The way I was raised just made it seem like how I turned out depended on my parents!
I disagree (and always have) with Darwins' theory of natural selection. I don't believe that the world came from a "big bang" and that it was "survival of the fittest cells" from there on forward. I believe that, as the book said, the world is so perfectly created that taking even "one number from the equation" would turn the earth to soup or destroy it completely. I believe that our universe is perfectly engineered, but I believe that it is because of the amazing works of God. By no means are the authors of the book or scientists who agree with Darwin's theory wrong or stupid, these are just my opinions.
A part of the chapter that has always interested me was the section about social and cultural norms. Our (American) expected behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and values are very unlike those of other cultures, yet completely acceptable and expected in our country. What would happen if each person in our psych class were told to adapt to just one cultural norm from a different part of the world for a week and document how people reacted to each of us? I think the result would be fascinating!
Finally, I learned that some people I have previously thought of as narcissists or arrogant may just have been "individualists," as the book described. At the end of this individualist/collectivist section of chapter 4 it asked which we thought we were. I honestly didn't know how to answer that question, because I believe I am somewhat both. Everyone likes to think of themselves as independant to some degree, but not to the point that we are disagreeable to groups or standoffish. It was a very thought-provoking section!
I thought that heritability accounted for more personality characteristics than it apparently does. The book said that heritable individual differences can describe traits such as height, but I thought things such as shyness, outspokenness, etc. could be attributed to genetics as well, when really, they are more often the result of our environment. It surprised me how much the chapter emphasized the influence our environment has on us, even though I felt like I knew most of what it was saying. The way I was raised just made it seem like how I turned out depended on my parents!
I disagree (and always have) with Darwins' theory of natural selection. I don't believe that the world came from a "big bang" and that it was "survival of the fittest cells" from there on forward. I believe that, as the book said, the world is so perfectly created that taking even "one number from the equation" would turn the earth to soup or destroy it completely. I believe that our universe is perfectly engineered, but I believe that it is because of the amazing works of God. By no means are the authors of the book or scientists who agree with Darwin's theory wrong or stupid, these are just my opinions.
A part of the chapter that has always interested me was the section about social and cultural norms. Our (American) expected behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and values are very unlike those of other cultures, yet completely acceptable and expected in our country. What would happen if each person in our psych class were told to adapt to just one cultural norm from a different part of the world for a week and document how people reacted to each of us? I think the result would be fascinating!
Finally, I learned that some people I have previously thought of as narcissists or arrogant may just have been "individualists," as the book described. At the end of this individualist/collectivist section of chapter 4 it asked which we thought we were. I honestly didn't know how to answer that question, because I believe I am somewhat both. Everyone likes to think of themselves as independant to some degree, but not to the point that we are disagreeable to groups or standoffish. It was a very thought-provoking section!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Are Your Initials Holding You Back? -Psyblog
This was a very interesting article, and I'm not sure whether I believe all of it or not.
The main point the article tried to make was that, in most studies, people's actions, choices, grades, places of employment, etc. were influenced by their initials. A few examples: In a survey of 14,000, peple whose names started with a C or D were more likely to get these grades than those with initials A or B. The same went for law school students: students with initials A or B went to better schools than those initialed C or D. My question is, what about the people with initials after A, B, C, or D? The study didn't talk about these at all!
Another study showed that people were more likely to pick a prize that has one of their initials in it's label (example: Prize F) whether it was a grand prize or consolation prize. The same went for employment. People were slightly more inclined to work for a company who shared one or more of their initials. The interesting point with this theory (called implicit egotism) was that companies were slightly more inclined to HIRE workers with similar initials!
So, is it coincidence or evidence?
Personally, I often pick at random when choosing things that include letters. BUT, after reading this week's chapter, I wonder how random my choices really are. Is my subconcious fooling me, and really choosing for me?
The main point the article tried to make was that, in most studies, people's actions, choices, grades, places of employment, etc. were influenced by their initials. A few examples: In a survey of 14,000, peple whose names started with a C or D were more likely to get these grades than those with initials A or B. The same went for law school students: students with initials A or B went to better schools than those initialed C or D. My question is, what about the people with initials after A, B, C, or D? The study didn't talk about these at all!
Another study showed that people were more likely to pick a prize that has one of their initials in it's label (example: Prize F) whether it was a grand prize or consolation prize. The same went for employment. People were slightly more inclined to work for a company who shared one or more of their initials. The interesting point with this theory (called implicit egotism) was that companies were slightly more inclined to HIRE workers with similar initials!
So, is it coincidence or evidence?
Personally, I often pick at random when choosing things that include letters. BUT, after reading this week's chapter, I wonder how random my choices really are. Is my subconcious fooling me, and really choosing for me?
Implicit Association Test
The implicit association test was REALLY interesting!
The question I was given was "Do you have a preference to New over Old?" I interpreted this as new technology, new cars, etc. My options were strong preference to new, moderate preference, slight preference, no preference to either, slight preference to old, moderate preference to old, or strong preference to old. I chose slight preference to new because, while I like new things like i-pods, cell phones, clothes, etc., I still agree with many old traditions, not to mention I don't have internet yet!
After taking the test, my score showed that I have a STRONG preference to new! I was really surprised by this, and wondered if the score was affected by how many wrong "clicks" I had between the e and i keys. (I was not very good at hitting the right one!)
The test showed me that my subconcious must have a stronger input that I thought, and that maybe my subconcious is more influenced my society than my concious. Obviously, I'm more "new-age" than I can aknowledge.
The test also made me think that maybe we aren't completely aware of our attitudes and their effects on our behavior. If I knew I had a strong preference for new things, I would have indicated so at the beginning of the test!
The question I was given was "Do you have a preference to New over Old?" I interpreted this as new technology, new cars, etc. My options were strong preference to new, moderate preference, slight preference, no preference to either, slight preference to old, moderate preference to old, or strong preference to old. I chose slight preference to new because, while I like new things like i-pods, cell phones, clothes, etc., I still agree with many old traditions, not to mention I don't have internet yet!
After taking the test, my score showed that I have a STRONG preference to new! I was really surprised by this, and wondered if the score was affected by how many wrong "clicks" I had between the e and i keys. (I was not very good at hitting the right one!)
The test showed me that my subconcious must have a stronger input that I thought, and that maybe my subconcious is more influenced my society than my concious. Obviously, I'm more "new-age" than I can aknowledge.
The test also made me think that maybe we aren't completely aware of our attitudes and their effects on our behavior. If I knew I had a strong preference for new things, I would have indicated so at the beginning of the test!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Chapter 3- Conciousness and the Two Track Mind
This was another easy-to-read chapter. It caught my interest right away with describing the different states of conciousness, such as spontaneously occuring, physiologically induced, and psychologically induced. It was useful to learn about each state so because we have the potential to experience every one! We have all felt drowsy, daydreamt, and had dreams in our sleep (spontaneous), some of us may have experienced hallucinations, orgasms, or extreme starvation (physiological), and maybe some of us have even had the opportunity to be hypnotized at a school event, volunteered in a sensory deprivation expericment, or taken some extra time to meditate (psychological).
Dual processing was another interesting topic that I previously didn't completely understand. It indirectly explained how we "know more than we know we know." A perfect example of this is the fact that most of our everyday thinking, feeling, and acting happens outside of our concious awareness. This is a hard concept to process, but basically, we just have to give the credit to our minds. An example the book gave was how a woman who was blinded was still able to place an evelope in a narrow mail-space even without seeing it. This example shows that our mind can percieve things our eyes may not be able to.
An idea I found surprising was inattentional blindness, or failing to see visible objects because our attention is directed elsewhere. This is true in many circumstances. Things may happen right before our eyes without us even seeing them because we are so intensely focused on our activity at hand. Change blindness is a concept much like inattentional blindness. In change blindness, one fails to notice changes in the environment (example: someone in a crowd of a few people may be wearing a green t-shirt, and after a brief visual iterruption they may change to a red t-shirt without you noticing because you are focused on someone else in the group). A common phrase used for this is "out of sight, out of mind."
When I learned about the importance of sleep and what it does for the brain, I really reconsidered my bedtime/waking habits. I think from now on I will do what it takes to get better amounts of sleep in order to keep a healthy, stress-free mind. I am excited to see the outcome of our sleep experiment for class; I want to know what I need to change and what my dreams mean in relevance to my life.
Last year our school hired a hypnotist or an afternoon assembly and I found it incredibly funny to watch some of my friends make fools out of themselves without knowing it. After reading the chapter, I learned that, while they may not have remembered doing all the things they were asked to do by the hypnotist, their subconcious was taking care of them and knew what they were doing (dual processing, once again!).
I agree with what the book had to say about tolerance and withdrawal from an addictive substance. I can support this belief because I have family member who is addicted to alcohol and I have been able to watch this disease progress. With time, more and more alcohol was needed to get to the "happy place" where there were no worries, or to the point where this person could fall into VERY deep sleep. When certain circumstances didn't allow for alcohol, I witnessed this person experiencing withdrawal symptoms which were unpleasant to watch, and, I would imagine, even more unpleasant to experience. I also believe that the book is correct with the three main influences on drug use. Many people object that addictions, like those to alcohol, are not bilogical, but I agree with the book that they most certainly are. The family member I have who is addicted also had an addict father. I also agree that psychological and social-cultural influences also play a major role. Who you are around the most, what they do, and how they make you feel all influence how you percieve usage of drugs. It is sad that becoming a user could be this simple, but it is the truth. I think it's very important for kids to have positive influences at school and for adolescents to be well-informed of drugs and their consequences before age 14.
Dual processing was another interesting topic that I previously didn't completely understand. It indirectly explained how we "know more than we know we know." A perfect example of this is the fact that most of our everyday thinking, feeling, and acting happens outside of our concious awareness. This is a hard concept to process, but basically, we just have to give the credit to our minds. An example the book gave was how a woman who was blinded was still able to place an evelope in a narrow mail-space even without seeing it. This example shows that our mind can percieve things our eyes may not be able to.
An idea I found surprising was inattentional blindness, or failing to see visible objects because our attention is directed elsewhere. This is true in many circumstances. Things may happen right before our eyes without us even seeing them because we are so intensely focused on our activity at hand. Change blindness is a concept much like inattentional blindness. In change blindness, one fails to notice changes in the environment (example: someone in a crowd of a few people may be wearing a green t-shirt, and after a brief visual iterruption they may change to a red t-shirt without you noticing because you are focused on someone else in the group). A common phrase used for this is "out of sight, out of mind."
When I learned about the importance of sleep and what it does for the brain, I really reconsidered my bedtime/waking habits. I think from now on I will do what it takes to get better amounts of sleep in order to keep a healthy, stress-free mind. I am excited to see the outcome of our sleep experiment for class; I want to know what I need to change and what my dreams mean in relevance to my life.
Last year our school hired a hypnotist or an afternoon assembly and I found it incredibly funny to watch some of my friends make fools out of themselves without knowing it. After reading the chapter, I learned that, while they may not have remembered doing all the things they were asked to do by the hypnotist, their subconcious was taking care of them and knew what they were doing (dual processing, once again!).
I agree with what the book had to say about tolerance and withdrawal from an addictive substance. I can support this belief because I have family member who is addicted to alcohol and I have been able to watch this disease progress. With time, more and more alcohol was needed to get to the "happy place" where there were no worries, or to the point where this person could fall into VERY deep sleep. When certain circumstances didn't allow for alcohol, I witnessed this person experiencing withdrawal symptoms which were unpleasant to watch, and, I would imagine, even more unpleasant to experience. I also believe that the book is correct with the three main influences on drug use. Many people object that addictions, like those to alcohol, are not bilogical, but I agree with the book that they most certainly are. The family member I have who is addicted also had an addict father. I also agree that psychological and social-cultural influences also play a major role. Who you are around the most, what they do, and how they make you feel all influence how you percieve usage of drugs. It is sad that becoming a user could be this simple, but it is the truth. I think it's very important for kids to have positive influences at school and for adolescents to be well-informed of drugs and their consequences before age 14.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Psyblog- The cocktail Party Effect -10/1/09
I was reading some interesting blogs on Psyblog.com and came across The Cocktail Party Effect. It was something I had heard of, but forgotten how it worked, so I clicked and read over it. I forgot how interesting this theory was!
To summarize, it basically said that if you're interested in a conversation around you (and not interested in the conversation you're supposed to be engaged in) the brain and ears together are able to pick up on that interesting conversation and distinguish it from a multitude of voices! This is amazing because it takes a lot of hard work for the brain to pick one voice from many, both male and female, loud and soft, etc.
The author of the blog talked about a study where volunteers wore headphones and were asked to "shadow" or follow, one of two conversations coming through the speakers. This was a hard task because the two voices were from the same person! Somehow, most volunteers were able to trail one of the conversations but, in result, had no idea when the language changed to German etc. because they were focused so much on the voice they were trying to follow. This holds true in day to day scenarios when your brain is focusing on someone or something other than the rpesent conversation. Often, one's name can be dropped in conversation without the distracted person even noticing because the brain is so intent on listening or processing something else!
I think we can all think of a time when we've been caught in our "own little world."
This was a great article- go read it!
To summarize, it basically said that if you're interested in a conversation around you (and not interested in the conversation you're supposed to be engaged in) the brain and ears together are able to pick up on that interesting conversation and distinguish it from a multitude of voices! This is amazing because it takes a lot of hard work for the brain to pick one voice from many, both male and female, loud and soft, etc.
The author of the blog talked about a study where volunteers wore headphones and were asked to "shadow" or follow, one of two conversations coming through the speakers. This was a hard task because the two voices were from the same person! Somehow, most volunteers were able to trail one of the conversations but, in result, had no idea when the language changed to German etc. because they were focused so much on the voice they were trying to follow. This holds true in day to day scenarios when your brain is focusing on someone or something other than the rpesent conversation. Often, one's name can be dropped in conversation without the distracted person even noticing because the brain is so intent on listening or processing something else!
I think we can all think of a time when we've been caught in our "own little world."
This was a great article- go read it!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Chapter 2
This chapter was my favorite so far! (I know there have only been 2 others, but I seriously love this stuff!) The brain absolutely fascinates me. I can't really wrap my mind around how something could be created so perfectly; to work in tune with our bodies and surroundings, help keep us alive, tell us when things go wrong, etc. etc. etc. I have read quite a bit of school material on the brain both last year in anatomy and this summer in my nursing assistant class, but I never really get tired of it!
Three things I learned from this chapter were how antagonist molecules inhibit neurotransmission, how polarization within an axon works, and about the different types of neuroimaging techniques.
I had heard of antagonist molecules being present in certain foods, like canned foods, but I didn't quite understand how they worked. Antagonists are structured similar to neurotransmitters, so they can block a receptor site but not stimulate it's receptor. Obviously, this creates a type of paralysis. When many antagonists are present, this becomes a major problem.
Neural polarization works like this: Neuron stimulation creates a brief change in electrical charge within a neuron. If the change is substantial enough, it will produce depolarization and action potential. Action potential is a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon. This creates a chain reaction to the rest of the body, helping us to detect stimuli.
Finally, I learned about the three main types of neuroimaging techniques used. PET scans(positron emission tomography) show consumption of each brain's chemical fuel-sugar glucose.
MRIs (magnetic resonance imaging) scan the brain by putting it in a strong magnetic field which aligns the spinning atoms of brain molecules. A radiowave momentarily distorts them, and they then give a detailed pictures of the brains soft tissue once they resume their regular spinning.
fMRIs (functional MRI) can tell us about the brains functioning as well as it's structure. It shows where the brain is most active by showing us blood flow. As a person performs different mental functions, esearchers can watch the brain "light-up" with bloodflow. This helps lead to discoveries about how the brain works and where it works most!
These things all interest me not only because they're fun to read about, but because they happen in my body every day. I think it's important that we all have at least a little conception of what our brain is doing or how it is made up. Without any type of knowledge about our own brains, we may underestimate (or overestimate) our abilities. It is also easier to understand why you feel certain ways when you understand things like hormones, etc.
Three things I learned from this chapter were how antagonist molecules inhibit neurotransmission, how polarization within an axon works, and about the different types of neuroimaging techniques.
I had heard of antagonist molecules being present in certain foods, like canned foods, but I didn't quite understand how they worked. Antagonists are structured similar to neurotransmitters, so they can block a receptor site but not stimulate it's receptor. Obviously, this creates a type of paralysis. When many antagonists are present, this becomes a major problem.
Neural polarization works like this: Neuron stimulation creates a brief change in electrical charge within a neuron. If the change is substantial enough, it will produce depolarization and action potential. Action potential is a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon. This creates a chain reaction to the rest of the body, helping us to detect stimuli.
Finally, I learned about the three main types of neuroimaging techniques used. PET scans(positron emission tomography) show consumption of each brain's chemical fuel-sugar glucose.
MRIs (magnetic resonance imaging) scan the brain by putting it in a strong magnetic field which aligns the spinning atoms of brain molecules. A radiowave momentarily distorts them, and they then give a detailed pictures of the brains soft tissue once they resume their regular spinning.
fMRIs (functional MRI) can tell us about the brains functioning as well as it's structure. It shows where the brain is most active by showing us blood flow. As a person performs different mental functions, esearchers can watch the brain "light-up" with bloodflow. This helps lead to discoveries about how the brain works and where it works most!
These things all interest me not only because they're fun to read about, but because they happen in my body every day. I think it's important that we all have at least a little conception of what our brain is doing or how it is made up. Without any type of knowledge about our own brains, we may underestimate (or overestimate) our abilities. It is also easier to understand why you feel certain ways when you understand things like hormones, etc.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Serendip Activities
I found the Serendip website activities very interesting and even FUN! The four I chose were Prisoner's Dilemma, Find Serendip, Blind Spots, and Ant Colonies.
I learned in Blind Spots about, you guessed it, blind spots! I wasn't really buying the fact that we had small blind spots or "white space" in our eyes, connecting to our brains, but when I did the activity, I was extremely surprised that it worked! I was able to "see' my blind spot! I had a friend try as well because I was so surprised. I learned from this activity that the brain is making up what it can't see (white space) since the eye isn't transmitting any info or visuals to the brain.
I can't really apply blind spots to every day life, so I went on to the ant colony activity. I didn't really understand the activity part of it, but the information it gave was extremely thought-provoking. It talked about how with some animal groups, such as fish or geese, there appears to be a leader. The same goes for people, governemnt officials, etc. But with ant colonies, every ant is independant; there is no director. Society is maintained through positive interactions. This really made me think, if our world could ever be this way, everyone would be so much better off. We are only stopping ourselves from letting this happen! So yes, this activity did effect my perception of the world and our interactions in today's society.
There were many things that I learned in this week's chapter, some of which changed my perception of the brain and how it works. I really actually enjoyed this chapter, because I'm extremely interested in the brain. I learned that seizures can be stopped by separating the brain's hemispheres along the corpus colossum. This was interesting to me because I HAVE seizures, and never knew this was even an option for people who have them much more frequently than me. I also learned that, through split brain research (as seen on "The Man with Two Brains") scientists have discovered that the left hemisphere is the more verbal side, while the right excels in perception and the recognition of emotion. Finally, I found it interesting that almost all right-handers process speech in the left hemisphere, which is expected, but more than half of left-handers do as well! This was interesting to me because you would think that, naturally, the left-handers would use their right hemisphere!
Obviously, there are many ways and things to learn about how we process information, but I feel that the activities really put a fun spin on this week's studies!
I learned in Blind Spots about, you guessed it, blind spots! I wasn't really buying the fact that we had small blind spots or "white space" in our eyes, connecting to our brains, but when I did the activity, I was extremely surprised that it worked! I was able to "see' my blind spot! I had a friend try as well because I was so surprised. I learned from this activity that the brain is making up what it can't see (white space) since the eye isn't transmitting any info or visuals to the brain.
I can't really apply blind spots to every day life, so I went on to the ant colony activity. I didn't really understand the activity part of it, but the information it gave was extremely thought-provoking. It talked about how with some animal groups, such as fish or geese, there appears to be a leader. The same goes for people, governemnt officials, etc. But with ant colonies, every ant is independant; there is no director. Society is maintained through positive interactions. This really made me think, if our world could ever be this way, everyone would be so much better off. We are only stopping ourselves from letting this happen! So yes, this activity did effect my perception of the world and our interactions in today's society.
There were many things that I learned in this week's chapter, some of which changed my perception of the brain and how it works. I really actually enjoyed this chapter, because I'm extremely interested in the brain. I learned that seizures can be stopped by separating the brain's hemispheres along the corpus colossum. This was interesting to me because I HAVE seizures, and never knew this was even an option for people who have them much more frequently than me. I also learned that, through split brain research (as seen on "The Man with Two Brains") scientists have discovered that the left hemisphere is the more verbal side, while the right excels in perception and the recognition of emotion. Finally, I found it interesting that almost all right-handers process speech in the left hemisphere, which is expected, but more than half of left-handers do as well! This was interesting to me because you would think that, naturally, the left-handers would use their right hemisphere!
Obviously, there are many ways and things to learn about how we process information, but I feel that the activities really put a fun spin on this week's studies!
Current Event 2
I found my psych book, lost my pen drive.
I am still a mess.
On Friday, Heather, also in Intro to Psych, thankfully found my pen drive after I mindlessly left it in the computer at the computer lab. Now it's Monday and I've lost it again. What is wrong with me?! Between being sick and what feels like the most homework in my life, I think I'm losing it. I WILL eventually get it together, I'm just not guaranteeing that it will be soon.
So, for my REAL current event (not that losing my pen drive isn't totally intriguing) we had a volleyball tournament last Saturday, the day of our homecoming dance. Pretty normal for a Saturday, until I saw a relative that doesn't really get along with our family. It was extremely weird seeing this person, and I'm not sure why they were there. This person just kind of gave me a funny look and left. Saturday night I was too zonked out to remember my dreams, but last night I had some pretty odd dreams/nightmares about it. I'm not quite sure why, because I haven't thought about it too much since Saturday, but I would say the dreams are definitely psych-related!
We see people all the time that make us uncomfortable, but don't necessarily dream about them, so why this one person?
I am still a mess.
On Friday, Heather, also in Intro to Psych, thankfully found my pen drive after I mindlessly left it in the computer at the computer lab. Now it's Monday and I've lost it again. What is wrong with me?! Between being sick and what feels like the most homework in my life, I think I'm losing it. I WILL eventually get it together, I'm just not guaranteeing that it will be soon.
So, for my REAL current event (not that losing my pen drive isn't totally intriguing) we had a volleyball tournament last Saturday, the day of our homecoming dance. Pretty normal for a Saturday, until I saw a relative that doesn't really get along with our family. It was extremely weird seeing this person, and I'm not sure why they were there. This person just kind of gave me a funny look and left. Saturday night I was too zonked out to remember my dreams, but last night I had some pretty odd dreams/nightmares about it. I'm not quite sure why, because I haven't thought about it too much since Saturday, but I would say the dreams are definitely psych-related!
We see people all the time that make us uncomfortable, but don't necessarily dream about them, so why this one person?
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Current Events (in my life) #1
Before I started typing this, I realized how hard it really is to just open up and write about something, ANYTHING, happening in your life. I don't know if it's the idea of having people read this and know stuff about me or what, but it just seems...odd. I also had a really hard time thinking of something to write about, but then it just kind of hit me.
I'm having a really hard time adjusting to high school, or college within high school for that matter. This summer I took a 3 month Certified Nursing Assistant course that entailed a lot of hard work and tests. I did this while working a full time summer job, while all of my friends seemed to be having fun. When class ended and all I had to do was volleyball for four hours a morning, it was the hightlight of my summer! I was "back in the loop" and care free. No more tests! Those two weeks flew. Now I have 3 our of 4 college classes to keep up in that my future in nursing greatly depends upon, not to mention volleyball, church activities, being president of two clubs, and working on the weekends. Things are beyond crazy. In fact, to make matters worse, I lost my psych textbook! I studied last night and never saw it again. Poof. Gone. Little brother hasn't seen it, my mom hasn't seen it, and I sure haven't seen it! I'm beginning to think my dog ate it...
So, in a nutshell, these are things I'm experiencing currently. I feel very stressed and am waiting to fall into a bit more of a routine so I don't feel like a chicken running with it's head cut off anymore. I hope everyone reading this is having a smoother transition back to school!
I'm having a really hard time adjusting to high school, or college within high school for that matter. This summer I took a 3 month Certified Nursing Assistant course that entailed a lot of hard work and tests. I did this while working a full time summer job, while all of my friends seemed to be having fun. When class ended and all I had to do was volleyball for four hours a morning, it was the hightlight of my summer! I was "back in the loop" and care free. No more tests! Those two weeks flew. Now I have 3 our of 4 college classes to keep up in that my future in nursing greatly depends upon, not to mention volleyball, church activities, being president of two clubs, and working on the weekends. Things are beyond crazy. In fact, to make matters worse, I lost my psych textbook! I studied last night and never saw it again. Poof. Gone. Little brother hasn't seen it, my mom hasn't seen it, and I sure haven't seen it! I'm beginning to think my dog ate it...
So, in a nutshell, these are things I'm experiencing currently. I feel very stressed and am waiting to fall into a bit more of a routine so I don't feel like a chicken running with it's head cut off anymore. I hope everyone reading this is having a smoother transition back to school!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Chapter One 9/22
The mportance of research is that, without it, we wouldn't be moving forward each day. Without knowing why, how, or when things happen, we are aren't able to learn! Psychology digs right into the idea of research from many different angles, and, for this reason, is a never ending researching process.
There are many examples of research that we can apply to our lives, but the first one that came to mind for me was medical research. I have a condition where I have seizures pretty easily but it is NOT called epilepsy. Without well researched doctors, would we have been able to rule out epilepsy and discover that it is a less dangerous condition? Probably not. Research over the years has kept people alive, as well as kept society running.
One of three very interesting things I learned in chapter one was the hindsight bias theory. This interested me because I could directly relate to what the book was explaining. the "I K=knew it all along" theory is probably something we have all experienced; errors in recollection. Common sense more easily describles what has happened rather than what will happen. We often think, I should have seen that coming!
I also found the scientific attitude interesting. It is a curious, eager attitude that I can carry into everyday thinking.
Finally, I thought it was interesting that psychologists are able to conduct so many different types of research in order to observe and describe behavior accurately. Some of these research include individual case studies, random samples of a population, and naturalistic observations. The book gave vivid descriptions and examples of all three, which I expect will be able to help me in future classwork.
There are many examples of research that we can apply to our lives, but the first one that came to mind for me was medical research. I have a condition where I have seizures pretty easily but it is NOT called epilepsy. Without well researched doctors, would we have been able to rule out epilepsy and discover that it is a less dangerous condition? Probably not. Research over the years has kept people alive, as well as kept society running.
One of three very interesting things I learned in chapter one was the hindsight bias theory. This interested me because I could directly relate to what the book was explaining. the "I K=knew it all along" theory is probably something we have all experienced; errors in recollection. Common sense more easily describles what has happened rather than what will happen. We often think, I should have seen that coming!
I also found the scientific attitude interesting. It is a curious, eager attitude that I can carry into everyday thinking.
Finally, I thought it was interesting that psychologists are able to conduct so many different types of research in order to observe and describe behavior accurately. Some of these research include individual case studies, random samples of a population, and naturalistic observations. The book gave vivid descriptions and examples of all three, which I expect will be able to help me in future classwork.
Prologue 9/22
I previously believed that psychology was the study of the human mind. Basically, I thought that it "encompassed" the study of why we do the things we do. What I read in the book differed fromt his in that it was much more in depth. Psychology is the study of the mind's structure and function from various approaches (the three main approaches were biological influences, psychological influences, and social-cultural influences).
Psychology affects our lives in many ways. One way is that if something were to happen to us that affected us emotionally or mentally, we would be able to find help through psychology at the service of psychologists, psychiatrists, etc. It helps keep us mentally stable in many situations, as well as helps us to be more understanding to others if we have learned about how to think critically through psychology.
Psychology study methods also play a role in my life. When research and surveys are conducted in society, I benefit by being able to see the results and, in turn, make better/ more knowledgeable decisions.
Finally, two things I learned from The Story of Psychology were the SQ3R study method and psychology's current perspectives. The SQ3R method was something I had never heard of and it seemed like it could be extremely useful not only in Intro to Psych, but in everyday classes and activities. Psychology's current perspectives interested me because I didn't know there were so many! I realized before reading the book that psychologists made observations with a base view, but I didn't realize how complex these views were.
Psychology affects our lives in many ways. One way is that if something were to happen to us that affected us emotionally or mentally, we would be able to find help through psychology at the service of psychologists, psychiatrists, etc. It helps keep us mentally stable in many situations, as well as helps us to be more understanding to others if we have learned about how to think critically through psychology.
Psychology study methods also play a role in my life. When research and surveys are conducted in society, I benefit by being able to see the results and, in turn, make better/ more knowledgeable decisions.
Finally, two things I learned from The Story of Psychology were the SQ3R study method and psychology's current perspectives. The SQ3R method was something I had never heard of and it seemed like it could be extremely useful not only in Intro to Psych, but in everyday classes and activities. Psychology's current perspectives interested me because I didn't know there were so many! I realized before reading the book that psychologists made observations with a base view, but I didn't realize how complex these views were.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Why Men Prefer Direct Pick-Up Lines-Summary 9/16
Of course, I chose this article because it caught my eye. I've often wondered why guys feel the need to be so direct all the time. What's wrong with the way girls do things, such as sending nonverbal messages? Well, this article laid it out there, plain and simple.
A research was studied about how women act upon meeting a new guy in the first 10 minutes. I thought it was interesting that in the first minute, whether the woman liked the guy or not, she acted polite and, overall, the same. It was in the 4th-10th minutes that she started sending NONverbal signals. The article author stated that this was the problem: guys can't distinguish between whether a girl is being polite, or sending those signals. When I thought about it, it did seem legit. When a girl thinks a guy's cute and is interested, she usually doesn't throw herself at him within the first 10 minutes, which is the directness some guys seem to prefer. This is probably where much of the "does he or doesn't he?" confusion comes from!
This was an easy-read article that really made me think. Definitely somthing for us girls to think about!
A research was studied about how women act upon meeting a new guy in the first 10 minutes. I thought it was interesting that in the first minute, whether the woman liked the guy or not, she acted polite and, overall, the same. It was in the 4th-10th minutes that she started sending NONverbal signals. The article author stated that this was the problem: guys can't distinguish between whether a girl is being polite, or sending those signals. When I thought about it, it did seem legit. When a girl thinks a guy's cute and is interested, she usually doesn't throw herself at him within the first 10 minutes, which is the directness some guys seem to prefer. This is probably where much of the "does he or doesn't he?" confusion comes from!
This was an easy-read article that really made me think. Definitely somthing for us girls to think about!
Essenstials of Group Psychology-Summary 9/16
The first article I read on psyblog.com was called the Essentials of Group Psychology. I was immediately drawn to this article because groups are such a major part of high school. They are alla round us, and most of us are probably even a part of one.
The article first talked about our social identites, and how being a part of a group strongly influences this. I think we all know from experience that we're much more likely to speak up whe we know there's someone "on our side" to back us up.
A consequence of being in a group for a long time is the conformity effect. We start to "fall ito step" with the general ideas and opinions of the group, rather than our own. Again, I think this is a very common high school experience. Eventually, group members become comfortable enough to state their own opinions, and usually a lead "conformer" becomes the group leader.
I found the concept of "social loafing" very interesting. The article explained how when we get into groups to brainstorm, such as in the classroom, we actually get LESS done. People use the session as a social hour or are afraid of being judged by others, resulting in less ideas being put on the table. Personally, I completely agree with this idea. I work better alone because I don't feel like I'm being judged or like the "group idea" is going in one direction or another. The same goes for group decision making: it is much easier to be influenced when other people seem to be making the choice for you.
All in all, by reading this article, I realized that groups really do dull our perosnalities and creativity if we do not choose who we associate ourselves with wisely. In my opinion, it is important that we strive for uniqueness.
The article first talked about our social identites, and how being a part of a group strongly influences this. I think we all know from experience that we're much more likely to speak up whe we know there's someone "on our side" to back us up.
A consequence of being in a group for a long time is the conformity effect. We start to "fall ito step" with the general ideas and opinions of the group, rather than our own. Again, I think this is a very common high school experience. Eventually, group members become comfortable enough to state their own opinions, and usually a lead "conformer" becomes the group leader.
I found the concept of "social loafing" very interesting. The article explained how when we get into groups to brainstorm, such as in the classroom, we actually get LESS done. People use the session as a social hour or are afraid of being judged by others, resulting in less ideas being put on the table. Personally, I completely agree with this idea. I work better alone because I don't feel like I'm being judged or like the "group idea" is going in one direction or another. The same goes for group decision making: it is much easier to be influenced when other people seem to be making the choice for you.
All in all, by reading this article, I realized that groups really do dull our perosnalities and creativity if we do not choose who we associate ourselves with wisely. In my opinion, it is important that we strive for uniqueness.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
About Me
Hello!
My name is Hannah Imhoff. I am 17 years old and attend Edgar high school.
Something that has shaped me as a person has a actually been a someONE: my mom. Her name is Kim and she is about the most amazing person I've ever met! Of the four children in her family, she was the only one to earn a college degree. She has a been a special education teacher at Stratford elementary for years and I have learned so much from her. I greatly respect her motivation and drive. I also really enjoy spending time with her. Over the years she has taught me strong morals, such as self-respect and respect for others, honesty, responsibility, and integrity. My mom is one of my best friends and I hope that I can one day be a mom like her. Having her as a role model has definitely played a role in shaping who I am today.
I believe that it is important to study psychology in order to better understand how and why poeple are the way they are. Psychology is a study that lets us focus on who we, as well as the people around us, are. It is important to try to understand why we do the things we do, which I believe is a concept that is much more complex than it sounds.
Personally, I would define psychology as the study of the mind. It is a science that digs into the behavior of human beings and their mental abilities, tendencies, and processes. It is a never ending research of the most interesting thing on the planet: ourselves.
My name is Hannah Imhoff. I am 17 years old and attend Edgar high school.
Something that has shaped me as a person has a actually been a someONE: my mom. Her name is Kim and she is about the most amazing person I've ever met! Of the four children in her family, she was the only one to earn a college degree. She has a been a special education teacher at Stratford elementary for years and I have learned so much from her. I greatly respect her motivation and drive. I also really enjoy spending time with her. Over the years she has taught me strong morals, such as self-respect and respect for others, honesty, responsibility, and integrity. My mom is one of my best friends and I hope that I can one day be a mom like her. Having her as a role model has definitely played a role in shaping who I am today.
I believe that it is important to study psychology in order to better understand how and why poeple are the way they are. Psychology is a study that lets us focus on who we, as well as the people around us, are. It is important to try to understand why we do the things we do, which I believe is a concept that is much more complex than it sounds.
Personally, I would define psychology as the study of the mind. It is a science that digs into the behavior of human beings and their mental abilities, tendencies, and processes. It is a never ending research of the most interesting thing on the planet: ourselves.
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