Post #13...

Asch's Confomity was definitely the only experiement that was morally correct. I really think that if I was presented with the same question in the experiment, I would not choose the answer that the others have been choosing if I know a different one is correct. If I was unsure on the answer, I would definitely jump on the bandwagon, but in this circumstance, i would trust my gut. Milgrim's Obedience was very cruel to the "teacher". Although it is tough to say after seeing hte results of the experiemnt, i really think that i would havent finished the testing. I would of felt horrible! Although we cannot conduct such experiemnt today, it would be interesting to repeat to see how the results differ over the last 60 years. The worse of the experiments was obviously the Stanford Prison Experiment. This was near tourture! I can imagine that it would be difficult resisting to falling into the roles, but yet again, I cannot imagine throwing all of one's morals out the window in a 6 day period! This experiment would also be interesting to repeat.

Social Influence is the difference in one while being surrounded or affected by a certain group of people than how they would normally act. A prime example of social influence in my life is that when my friends are slacking and not doing their homework in down time at school, i often choose to procrastinate as well, even though I know I should be getting my work done. Another example is that I tend to curse a lot, but when I am around someone who doesn't curse, or doesn't like when people do, I tend to act a lot more innocent. This works both ways, because when I am around friends that curse a lot, I find myself cursing a lot more as well.

The most interesting thing I learned in this class is about Memory. Specifically, I found the Thompson-Cotton case extremely intriguing. I found this so interesing because I knwo many people that tend to stretch the truth, and everybody does it at some point. I now have a better understanding of how our mind tends to mold our memories into what we want to remember rather than what is actually right.

Blog #12...

A psychological disorder is an ongoing pattern of thoughts, feelings, and actions that are deviant, distressful, and/or dysfunctional (594). We also discussed in class that a psychological problem often becomes classified as a psychological disorder when the problem greatly affects one's lifestyle. Although almost everybody experiences psychological problems throughout their lifetime, they do not always reach the severity of a psychological disorder. For example, Major Depression is often diagonoised after one experiences the symptoms for more than three weeks, as we discussed in class. Many people jump to conclusions when stating sad people are "depressed", two faced people are "bipolar", and people that act strange are "schizo". This is very wrong to jump to conclusions, and because of the first hand situations I've witnessed, I am sensitive to those who jump to these conclusions.

Both myself and many people close to me have experienced Major Depression. I truly believe that no one completely understand the disesase unless they have experienced it first hand. Many people think it would be very easy to overcome. However, it is a disease, and with any disease, it doesnt go away over night. My depression was mainly influenced by my low self esteem. I was very, very dissatisfied with myself. Another thing that I believe really triggered my depression was my inability to talk about my problems with others. I kept everything bottled inside until I snapped. Although I would rather not go into too much detail, I can say that when I hit rock bottom, I literally rolled out of bed, went to school (barely talking to anyone), come home and go to bed, and do it all over again the next day. I have cried myself nearly every night for months. I refused to let anybody care for me because I didnt want to let them down. It got ugly. Fortunately, after I was diagnoised and slowing came out and became comfortable talking about it, I discovered I had many people close to me that suffered from the same illness, which made it easier to talk about. Throughout my depression, I recieved no psychological therapy, although I blieve it would of been helpful. I was put on medication to get me throught, but a lot of my therapy was self healing. I slowly started boosting my self esteem on my own--and people noticed. My parents also played a big role by eliminated many negative influences from my lifestyle.

Also, one of my best friend's dad suffers from schizophrenia. This disease is horrible, and i wouldnt wish it upon anybody. It completely tore their family apart and her and her brother suffered the brunt of it. My friend is now a lot more accepting of her father's condition, but I often become very scarred that she may eventually suffer from the disease as well. I choose not to explain further, for the privacy of her family.

The most interesting thing I learned in this section is simply when I asked a question in class. Mrs. Olson explained that people have a 1% chance of developing schizophrenia. I then asked what are the chances of inheriting it from a parent. That number jumped to 10%. Because of my friend, this is a question I have had for a long time--I feel as if I have noticed symptoms, but maybe I was just being paranoid. However, it really scares that me that she's put at a much higher risk than me, and there really isnt any prevention to the horrible disease. I am glad I now have a better understanding of the disease in order to hopefully help her.

Blog #11...

The best way I can discribe my personality is very contradicting. I truely believe that although some traits are more obvious than others, and they vary depending on the people I'm around, I possess every trait a personality could possibly possess. Normally I am a very sociable person. I really like this trait because I believe communication is very important in life, but it can also get me in trouble. Unfortunately, I can also be very pessimistic. I am normally only pessimistic about myself, but when I am, I tend to completely shut down and isolate myself. One trait I am very proud of is my creativeness. Whether it is projects I do in school, papers I write, or witty statements or jokes I make, I tend to present this quality in many areas of my life. Another trait of mine that I absolutely depise is how indecisive I am. I have a very difficult time making decisions. I hate when people ask my where I would like to eat or what I would like to do. Although I have a difficult time making decisions, I believe I tend to make correct ones because I think each situation through so thoroughly. This makes me very thoughtful, which is a trait I usually like. I believe I am a very deep thinker, and because I am a deep thinker, I feel as if I am more intellectual and hold better insight. Unfortuantely, my "thoughfulness" can also keep me up on nights. (sigh) Another trait I am very fortunate to possess is my independence. Another trait people have always told me I possess is maturity. I think I tend to be very mature for my age merely because I have been surrounded with older, mature people throughout my life. I have spent a lot of time with my brother and his friends, and throughout my life the majority of my friends have been older than me. The variety in my traits causes an additional trait: changeability. Since I possess so many traits I can be easily altered depending on who I am with. I don't like this because it makes me feel as if I am being fake to certain people. The truth is, its just the easiest way for me to feel comfortable and happy in each and every situation.

As explained above, I tend to be pessimistic. Over the last 6 or so months, I have been getting a lot better than I used to be. I used to be very dissatisfied with myself and I struggled with my self confidence for a long time. I can be very optimistic in certain situations though. Whenever my friends are struggling with their lives, a lot come to talk to me, because I normally know what needs to be said for them to start thinking optimistically. I also am usually very optimistic about my school work. My pessimism has affecteed my life greatly, and created some of the hardest years of my life. The optimisim I hold creates stronger friendships in my life and also makes me more confident in my work.

One trait that varies a lot depending on each situation or who I am with is my maturity. Usually, it remains impressively high. However, when I hangout with certain people, I can get very silly. Although it helps me loosen up, I feel as if I am acting like the type of person I would normally look down upon. Another trait that varies depending on who I am around is my temper. My mature and temperness usually go hand and hand. When I am acting more immature and silly..i tend to be more tempermental. When I am mature, I most often handle the situation in a more mature way.

One of the most prominent examples I have of defense mechanism in my life is denial. I refused to admit I was suffering from depression and needed help for a long time. Because I was in denial, my situation got worse before it ever got better. I experienced Rationalization, or justifying a failure with socially acceptable reasons rather than the real reasons, in my life when I was trying to justify to my parents why I was partying as much as I was. I explained to my parents that everybody does it, and there is nothing better to do. I have also experienced displacement, or discharging pent-up feelings on objects less dangerous than those that initially aroused the emotion. Although I don't do it as often as I used to, when I would get very upset or frustrated, I would often find myself chucking things, usually my cellphone. Although my cellphone had nothing to do with the reason I was upset, it is what i released my anger on.

Blog #10...

One thing I learned and found interesting in chapter nine (thinking and language) were the different stages of language. At four months, humans already begin to show signs of language developing. They call this the babbling stage. The can discriminate speech sounds and also read lips. By reading lips, babies are beginning to develop receptive language. I find this amazing how quickly humans learn. We often take speech for granted, and we often assume we were completely oblivious when we were children, but they are suprisingly aware of what is going on. At 10 months, babies start babbling sounds that resemble words moreso than just vowels. A few months later, around the age of one year, babies start learning and remembering words. They call this the one-word stage. They are often able to associate names with what they see or want, but by only using a single word. Around teh age of two years, these chidren begin the two-word stage and telegraphic speech. They create two word sentences that generally contain a noun and a verb. From this age, speech continues to increase and developes rapidly into complete, grammattically correct, sentences. The stages seem obvious, but I do find it fascinating that all children learn around the same pace. Also, I find it interesting how quickly we are able to learn. We are constantly associating things in order to remember them at a later date. This process of learning never ends.

I think I am a very emotionally intelligent person. I am often aware of how people are feeling or the mood they are in simply by looking at them. I often know how to approach a person based off of the mood they are giving off. My strength in emotional intelligence has made my bond with friends and family tighter. Since my friends and family know that if they come to talk to me, they can trust me to have good insight or understanding, they rely on me more. I like having this quality because I find a way to relate to everybody. I like the feeling I get when I help a close friend through a difficult time. I think it is also extremely important to have this quality, especially if one spends a lot of time with people. Any person that holds a profession that has a lot of interaction with other humans, such as teaching, secretarial, business, marketing, or nursing, should be somewhat emotionally intelligent. I believe emotional intelligence and communication go hand and hand, and one cannot be successful without the other.

Something I learned and found fascinating in chapther 10 was that twins often share the same amount of intelligence. It said that when two identical twins take an IQ test, their scores seem as if the same person took the test twice. I find this amazing because although the identical twins hold the same genes, you would think that they hold the power to pursue their intelligence. I would assume that two identical twins would learn at seperate rates simply because they each have their own will. Because of this, I never would guess that their scores would be so capatable. It also said that although fraternal twins do not hold the same genes, their scores are often closer than two siblings would be. I find this fascinating as well because fraternal twins, in reality, are no different than any two siblings. The book explained that fraternal twins' scores are often compatable because the twins areoften compared and treated more alike throughout their lifetimes.

Blog #9...

Memory is extremely important to who we are as human beings. Human beings are essential to this advancements of the earth. Because humans hold the ability to remember things, they are able to further advance technology to better our species and environments. Without memory, we would not be able to learn or later retrieve that information. Our species could easily cease to exist without our remarkable sense of memory.

Clive Wearing is a British musician that suffers from anterograde amnesia, which means he is not able to form new memories. Because of Wearings condition, he literally wakes up or is reborn every 7 to 30 seconds. This means that every few seconds he has to recharge his conciousness. The only memories he holds are pieces from before 1985. I cannot fathom being married to Clive Wearing. I give this woman a lot of credit for sticking by the man she loves throughout his condition. If I was in her shoes, I would have to handle the situation with humor. My grandmother suffers from demensia, and although it is not as severe, my family has learned overtime that it is most often easiest to handle if we are able to laugh about things she says. Although it seems unmoral, sometimes we make little white lies about who we are or where we are going, just because we know she wont remember in five minutes. I think this is the same way I would handle Wearing. After not only hearing Clive Wearing's story, but also experiencing my grandmothers, I am extremely thankful for my strong memory that is often taken for granted.

Although I feel as if i had a decent grasp on understanding that memory is not always consistant or reliable, studying this chapter has given me a better understanding and explanation of why. When studying the Thompson - Cotton case a lot of questions crossed my mind with my own memories. Although I cannot relate to the trauma Jennifer Thompson experienced, I still related to her on a level everybody can: how has our memory played tricks on us that has had unfortunate circumstances? Merely because of our conversation in class, I also considered how some of the memories I hold from my childhood are probably extremely altered from the truth. Also, by using several of the applied cognition exercises that were linked to us, I have reached a better understanding of simple things, like how I can memorize pictures better that sounds. This is useful because each student has to study a different way. If I easily remember things I learned from visual demonstration verses lecture, I will probably do better when tested. I also learned how easily interference can affect someone. Everybody has done it: when someone is concentrating on counting or remember a number, it is always fun to list random numbers to screw them up. Why doesnt the same affect happen when the person memorizing or counting has other distractions? After the several examples of the inconsistancy of memory, I am now more concious not to rely solely on my memory, and not to feel bad when my memory is wrong, because it is simply part of the way the human brain works.

Something significant I learned while reading this chapter is how to improve my memory. Some ideas seem obvious, such as repeated studying and using mneumonic devices but some ideas suprised me. One idea that really shocked me was "activating retrivial cues." This means that when one is trying to remember something, they should recreate the environment and mood they were in when they originally learned the material. The should then allow each cue to lead them to another memory, until they discover the desired memory. Now that I think about it, I have done this while taking test, sometimes I close my eyes and try to picture a page of my book or whiteboard in a classroom. Although I have used this technique in a sense, I cannot say I have ever completely recreated the environment and/or mood. I also was suprised on how much sleep can increase one's memory. I know experts say that sleep is healthy to recharge your body, which in turn increases performance, but I really never realized the organization your brain does while sleeping in order to better remember things. Because of my understanding of this chapter, especially this concept, I hope further use these techniques to increase my success in my remaining high school, and continued college, education. I truly believe if I exercise all of these techniques simutaneously, verses which ever I feel are appropraite or easy at the time, I will have a easier time remembering important concepts and details to not only increase my test scores, but also make my homework go by faster.

blog #8...

Classical Conditioning is most easily described as a type of learning (which was made famous by Pavlov) in which one links or forms a connection between two or more stimuli and therefore anticipates events. An example of classical conditioning would be if one had too much to drink one particular evening and became sick. The next day, while hungover, the individual may become sick or nauseated at the mere smell of the alcohol.

Operant Conditioning can be described as a type of learning that if rewarded or reinforced, it becomes stronger..and if punished, it becomes diminished. A common example of operant conditioning is when a child becomes upset after a parent refuses to give them a candy bar. The child then proceeds to whine and eventually throw a fit. The parent then gives up on refusing the candy to the child and allows them to have it. Consequencely, a similar situation may thereafter happen everytime the child visits the store and wants a candy bar.

The largest difference between Classical and Operant Conditioning is that Classical conditioning is in a way "programmed" into the brain. With classical conditioning, one thing is associated with another. With operant conditioning, something is learned by consequences, and somewhat trial-and-error.

This can be easily applied to everyday life, especially in children and animals. My puppy Bella is only one year old and very intelligent. We don't train her hardcore, but she does know quite a few things. She knows that when we are putting on our shoes or packing bags, we plan on leaving. This would be an example of Classical conditioning. In order to potty train her when she was young, we would reward her with a treat whenever she went potty outside. When ever she had an accident in the house, we would pick her up and place her outside. This is an example of operant conditioning.

Positive reinforcement increases behavior by often involving a rewarding stimuli. I have experienced positive reinforcement throughout my education. Every quarter when I received a report card, my parents give me so much money for each A. The lower the grade, the lower amount of money I recieve. Although I naturally have a lot of determination, this reinforcement my parents have placed on me has also been an incentive to keep my grades up.

Negative reinforcement increases behavior by stopping or reducing the stimuli -- but not punishing. One of the most common examples of negative reinforcement I can think of is the seat belt alarm. Although I am very good about wearing my seat belt, If i slip up and forget, my car alarm digs. This is obviously annoying, so it reminds me to put it on. Although if necessary, my car can be easily ignored because it is a subtle ding, my mom's cannot. The alarm begins immediately and increases in pitch and speed the longer you wait to put your seatbelt on.

Punishment is an action or even that decreases a given behavior. This summer my dad became very upset with some of my actions. Overall, he thought I was acting out in ways I shouldn't have and it had much to do with the people I surrounded myself with. My dad chose to punish me by taking away my cell phone. He did not specifically tell me when I would get it back, but merely when he believed "we were on the same terms again." Because of the punishment, I began to behave again and I finally recieved my cell phone 9 weeks later, with understanding that if things got out of control again, the punishment would be a lot worse.

Something I found very interesting in this chapter was the extremes of observational learning. I know that many people have fought to eliminate children's exposure to violent media but the numbers and statistics presented in this chapter were phenomenal. This really changes my mind about what kids should really be exposed to in general. I always believed that with good supervision and explanation children could experience such violence to a certain degree. After reading this I really do believe that eliminating the bulk of the violence would be a positive solution in order to save the lives of many innocent children.

Blog #7...

Sensation refers to the processes (see, hear, feel, smell, and taste) that our sensory receptors and nervous system recieve from various things in our environment. Perception refers to organizing and interpreting the information gained from sensation in order to recognize important or meaningful objects and events.

The thing I found most fascinating in Chapter 6: Sensation and Perception was subliminal stimulation. I find this interesting because it is proven that we can unconciously sense stimuli below our threshold, and in turn, without our awareness, these stimuli can influence us, creating suggestive powers. For example, although we are unable to smell something, our body may still react to it, depending if the smell is pleasant or unfavorable. This really creates a lot of concerns for me. Now that I am aware of this information, I wonder the millions of things that are going on around me that I am unaware of, although my body continues to react to them. This almost makes me feel as if I hold less control over my own body. This can be applied to everyday life by surrounded someone with positive, but yet subliminal, messages in hope to boost their spirits or self-confidence. I think this could be a positive for of therapy if persued.

After searching perception, I read and article on Psyblog entitled "How do Emoticons and Capitlisation Affect Perception of Email?." The article explained that forms of communications such as e-mail, text messaging, or even blogging (haha) obviously decrease the true understanding of the writer's behavior. With increased popularity, several people use capitilisation, punctuation, italicisation, or emoticons to express and convey their emotion. When capitilisation is overused, readers tend to recieve a bold, intimidating, or even angry perception. When emoticons are used, readers often feel a friendlier vibe. This was put to the test by holding a questionaire among college students. The students were asked to fill out a personality questionaire and then read anonymous emails. Although the students' personality also affected how the emails were preceived, the majority students rated the writers that used correct capitilisation and emoticons with a higher likability and those writers that used intense capitilization with a lower likability.

This is interesting because although forms of communication have changed radically in the last decade or two, people continue to find ways to justify for what is lost by the lack of nonverbal communication. The study also proves that although the way in which a writer constructs or punctuates a message may alter the vibe, all humans will precieve the message slightly different. This can easily be applied to everyday life merely because these forms of communication have become so promident. While keeping these studies in mind, a writer can alleviate some confusion when trying to convey a message.