Post #26

Chapter 15, was actually full of information on the disorders, but it was hard to pick something specific enough to write about and relate to my own life. 

In the beginning of the chapter, the authors give a brief history on how mental patients once were forced into psych wards and chained down in beds with little social contact. After a long period of time, Dorothea Dix changed the way the United States viewed these patients. She set up an approach called moral treatment, which advocated that mental illness patients be treated with dignity. In 1950 a new drug came about, chloropromazine, that revolutionized mental health. Many patients were sent on remission because it worked so well, providing more reason to shut down mental institutions. With these people back on the street, it was a toss up whether or not they would become integrated into American life, or would fall back off the medication at a loss of follow-up programs. 

Media still portrays these mental institutions as prevalent. In the television show Revenge, the main actress' mother is seen in flashbacks as being strapped to a hospital bed and in some cases wearing a straight jacket. This is a poor display of reality because these methods are an exaggeration and would only be used in serious cases. 

Also, I was recently going through my family's genealogy and found a birth certificate I never knew of. It was for a great uncle who showed to be the youngest in the family of my grandmother's family. When I asked my dad about him, he told me that when he was born he had certain mental disabilities and grandma never knew him. It is an unspoken secret on that side of the family. But he was sent to a hospital, and my father does not know whether he is still around or not. He may have been one of those people locked up in a room in a straight jacket, or he could have been saved by the miracle drug. 

Post #25 Extra Credit #5

I recently posted about students taking the SAT or ACT and how well that reflects their intelligence, so reading and writing about this article seems to be a good follow up.

The article "Psychologists Debate the Meaning of Students Failing the SAT," is short but it gives a good idea to readers that there may be an actual problem with the test and the people taking it. The 2012 SAT scores showed fifty-seven percent of test takers did not meet standards which would make them successful in college. Scores were down among all demographics and groups, including socioeconomic status. And apparently a student's test scores do predict how well a student does in college as an incoming freshman. The article said that socioeconomic status was taken into account when calculating the decrease in scores. In the prediction of how well a student does in college, researchers take into account: GPA, SAT scores, and controlling both socioeconomic status, and parent's education, the results showed each thing has an impact on the college student's success.


Another thing I could relate to within the article, was the act of controlling certain factors within the study to prevent a bias or skewed results. I am taking AP Statistics and much of the same language I learned in that class. So it is interesting to see how well correlated the two classes are when it comes to the studies presented in psychology. I find I am noticing these things more often than not. In fact last chapter in Stats, Mr. Paulson (my teacher) referenced that what we would be taking about is something we talk about in CIS Psychology. And it turns out, this exact thing I am writing about, control groups and correlation, we spent a great deal talking about.

Post #24 Extra Credit #4

When reading the text, I forget which chapter of course, the idea of motivation really stuck to me. It didn't go much into depth about how to solve a lack of motivation or any science behind it, so I took it upon myself to understand it and hopefully better my own internal drive. 

I say to better myself, because the motivation in my life is not complete nor very strong if you will, to help me accomplish near anything on a timely basis. This is especially true when it comes to my school work. I find myself knowing and planning everything I have to do, in order to be in a well position, but I cannot consistently bring myself to actually do any of it. Doing my school work, will get me good grades, which in turn will get me scholarships for college and teach me good study habits for next year. Yes, I do understand that complete connection but again, I am just lacking in the motivation to even start the cycle. 

And as is so prevalent in class, I searched out a Ted talk on motivation. Through watching this talk I hoped to cure my short of desire in motivation and better myself in the coming months and years. 

Dan Pink gave a talk on 'The Puzzle of Motivation.' He was a very entertaining speaker and was able to keep my attention most of the eighteen minutes. At the beginning Pink actually presented the candle problem, which I already knew about because we had reviewed it in class. Then, he began talking about incentives. Incentives in the work area were proven to block creativity, or just not work. His basis off of how a work place works, made the extrinsic and intrinsic incentives/ motivators very applicable to my own way of thinking. Rewards narrow our focus and specializes our way of thinking, which is where the blocking creativity comes in. This idea is actually very surprising to myself because while searching on Pinterest one day, I saw a post of tricks to studying in college. One of these tricks was to reward yourself with an M&M after reading each paragraph in a college textbook. For myself, to read and study the Psychology textbook I use the same idea with modifications After each page I would eat an M&M, and soon enough I would be more interested in the text and forgot to reward myself.

So, Pink wasn't able to give specifics on how to better my study habits or improve my motivation, but some the broad spect ideas were really wonderful. Such as, he presented examples from Australia's work force and how they process, which makes them more productive. The country has days where they do not have to be at work at specific time, nor do they have any deadlines. The data showed their productivity actually went up. Taking this thought into consideration, my motivation could be improved by not worrying so much about when something needs to be done, and more on when I have time to do it. By doing so, I will probably be less stressed and find it easier to sit down and do work.

Post #23 Extra Credit #3

This morning I watched the movie The Vow for the first time, and it was a blatant example of most of chapter 6. In the movie, the actress suffers from memory loss and never regains it back, although her husband tries and tries to no avail. What is curious about her memory loss is that she only loses the memories she has with her current husband. She is stuck in a moment which, which she is engaged to a different man, has a different career choice, and is still in touch with her family.

The part of her brain which was damaged is the temporal lobe. I believe it to be this lobe because this is where autobiographical memory is stored. She lost much of her autobiographical memories, such as birthdays and dates, over an extent of numerous years. It is supposed to store memories of our past, and in this case their was a lesion which erased part of her past. During the diagnosis of the impairment, the doctor describes the problem to be in her frontal lobe however. She said there was swelling which may have put pressure upon her lobe causing the loss in memory.

Not only does this movie represent a quick review of the brain's functions, but also the idea of plasticity. Plasticity is the capability to heal and return to an original state. Plasticity is greatest when a person is in infancy and decreases with age. Given the woman's age in the movie, her plasticity is not wondrous. A woman in her twenties does not have much chance of regaining her lost memories, but she is still capable of functioning without.

While in the hospital and going through the process directly after the accident, the doctor performs and fMRI on the actress, which was really neat to actually see because the book's visuals do not compare to the action of performing such a concept. fMRIs are supposed to measure the blood oxygen levels within the brain and specific areas within. It was with this machine, the doctor was able to diagnose where teh most damage was done and also to explain what was happening to the husband.

Post #22 Extra Credit #2

Greed and generosity are to very different attributes where it seems as a person must be one or the other. Which is true as seen in the study described in the article "Greed, not Generosity, More Likely to be 'Paid Forward.'" The study sampled random people in a Massachusetts subway station having them play an economic game. This game involved a person receiving an amount of zero, three, or six dollars which was told to be what the previous person had chosen to give them. The person was then asked how much they would like to pass on to the next person, and so on. If people chose to be greedy initially they were more likely to continue the trend of greed.

In the second study shown, instead of money the administrators used work tasks, boring or engaging. Again the results showed greed taking the forefront, as people were more likely to perform the engaging tasks leaving the boring ones for the next person.

Both studies give evidence there is a drive for greed within in the work place and the world, providing a desire for success on the wrong terms. People's own selfishness creates their own successes. I think this idea is a sad attribute of the society we live in, and though I do not agree with the findings I think they are an accurate representation. People only give generously when they are required to do so or they know the answer they give will affect them personally. By the former I mean, if a person knows by choosing a work load for themselves a partner or close co-worker will get the leftovers, they would be more likely to split the boring and engaging work equally out of sympathy. Though the article does not provide evidence of this idea, I would be interested in finding the if there is any truth behind it.

From personal experience if I do not know the other person, I would be passing the six dollars onto I would be more likely to keep it for myself. I have no personal attachment towards the receiving person, nor do I feel as though I deserve any less than what I received.

Post #21

Within Chapter 11 a polygraph or lie detector test is actually more prominent in our culture then the authors give the test credit for. A polygraph test can measure multiple symptoms of a person lying, such as sweaty palms, respiration, skin conductance, and most typically an increase in blood pressure. When administering a polygraph test, the recipient would be attached to say a blood pressure monitor, while an administer would ask questions. These questions would start with a baseline of control and irrelevant questions. These questions would ascertain a baseline of the recipients blood pressure when answering simple questions. Questions such as stating your name, your age, or your views on certain subjects. 

The polygraph has been subject to much criticism because of the accuracy of it. The test captures arousal symptoms which may be lead on by questions bearing the possible thought of going to jail or answering in the wrong tense. I have witnessed the same example on an episode of Keeping up with the Kardashians. In the episode, the mother takes a polygraph test to prove she is no longer in love with a man she cheated with many years ago. During the answering of the question, the line spikes as if to say she is lying when she answers no to still having feelings for him. After finishing the test, the administrator says the spike may have been caused by thinking about old feelings with the man or just becoming nervous that her heart may think differently than her mind. 

Accuracy can also be skewed by performing different tricks while answering questions to throw off the normality of the machine. These tricks can include: biting their tongues or curling their toes. The tricks are called countermeasures and can create a false-positive. 

Polygraph tests should not be used as a final decision in a trial or investigation, but can provide substantial evidence and a one up in certain instances. 

Post #20 Abnormal Psych

Abnormal psychology is a branch of psychology which studies unusual patterns or abnormalities in people and attempts to diagnose a cause and cure for the symptoms. The first abnormal disorder I thought of was OCD, or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. The generation of today, the term OCD is laughed off about people who are super organized and like to have things a certain way. I myself have been the butt of many of these jokes, and have also ascertained a few. But I know I am not seriously suffering from this abnormality, nor do I know anyone who is.

OCD is not only directed at being hyper organized, but is more of a disease which causes a person to obsess over certain ideas, such as: sex, aggression, or religion as the book states. People with this disorder do view themselves as crazy and have an innate sense something is wrong with them. If their obsessive thoughts do not give them away, their repetitive behaviors will. They possess compulsions or repetitive acts which allow them to relieve stress. This is where the organization comes in. People come into routines such as cleaning, which they feel the need to perform routinely, whether it be every day at a certain time or every hour. To be diagnosed with OCD, a person must spend at least an hour a day immersed in obessesions, compulsions, or both.

From the text, the disorder is an abnormality but it is becoming increasingly acceptable. Because multiple celebrities have spoken publicly about their disorder, the social norm is changing and it is becoming less of a monumental movement or status.

Post #19 Exam 3 Reflection

Well, I performed better on this test than I previously had on the others. This may be because the exam was only forty questions or perhaps it was because I finally figured out the most profitable way to study. Having only three chapters to study from made the process that much easier.

To study, I actually took a POA one day just to get caught up to a manageable point from which to start from. Routinely for each chapter, I would read it and then take the online quizzes for the chapter. And then I would go through the same chapter again, rereading it, taking notes on it, and using the study guide as a reference point. After the book work, I would watch each lecture, taking notes on them as well, and also using the study guide as reference point. This is the system I would use for each chapter.

And then the day of the test, it ended up working out I was taking the day off and then coming back for the test, I used some of the time I had that day to take and check my answers on the practice exams. Unfortunately, when I was taking the 2012 exam I found some of the answers to not match correctly. Many of the questions on practice exam were also on the actual test. And I believe having the wrong answers on the practice exam, reviewing those wrong answers as though they were right until it was too late, may have even worsened my score on the exam.

In the future I plan on using the same process for the next exam, only starting the process sooner. Also, I will attempt to make use of the organized review sessions as well as meeting with a classmate to go over the material.

Post #18

Chapter 10 I found to be severely boring and uninteresting. But I came upon the attachment styles which I found odd because Professor Simpson lectured on this for chapter 14 personality. So basically I already knew this before reading it, score. Although, the book through in the idea of disorganized attachment. This form of attachment is the rarest of styles. It in a nutshell, is when a mother returns to the child, the child appears dazed and comes up with multiple different responses. Fairly self-explanatory by its name. 

Also interesting, is how different the cultures set in. Japanese babies tend to fall more under the insecure-anxious category, where as American babies tend to fall under the insecure-avoidant category. The explanation for this was vague, but came down to the idea which American children are left alone more often than children from Japan are. I was one of those babies that was left alone a lot. My mother tells me stories of how I would sleep in a different room. The first few nights every time I would cry, one of my parents would come into check on me, but as time wore on they just stopped rushing to my side. And I have been independent my entire life since. 

I wish the text and the lecture, went further into any given research about how these styles affected people as they grew older because it was only tested in babies. Because maybe my parents off hand way of parenting when I was younger played a hand in how I am today. My mother also told me she was just as independent as me at my age, which goes along with the idea of off- hand parenting. Because my mother was the eighth child in her family, and at that point my grandmother just didn't 'care.' 

The text goes onto talk about correct parenting styles, which I found interesting too, though I am not planning on being a parent myself. The studies behind the different styles are only correlational and therefore cannot be taken seriously. But based off of the different styles presented, there seems to be a bias towards the authoritative. This is because it says, 'taking the best of both permissive and authoritative.' The statement shows a bias towards this style by its wording and also because it is claiming both styles have flaws and so authoritative is a combination of both but only the good parts of them. 

Post #17

"Be as smart as you can, but remember that it is always better to be wise than to be smart." -Alan Alda

Chapter 9 spanned across intelligence and how to measure it. This is relevant as high schooler, mainly because throughout our entire lives we have been told to study hard in preparation for college, and when we reach high school our intelligence is put to the test, literally. Taking the ACT or SAT can be the most daunting day of a person's life, because it is a test that carries a lot of weight and can determine what college you are able to go to and how the rest of your life will pan out because of that college.

When I took the ACT for the first time, I had the exact thought of my entire college and future life depends on this one test. Thinking this psyched me out and ended up not receiving the score I had hoped for. There is so much pressure riding on one test, it makes me wonder whether it is a true test to your intelligence or if there are more beneficial ways to assess your ability.

The text gives evidence that there is about a 0.7-0.8 correlation between an IQ test and the SAT. It then goes into statistical evidence and the way the experiment was conducted, which I actually understand because of my stats class. And seeing how the SAT and the IQ test are measuring different forms of intelligence it makes sense as to why it is not one hundred percent correlated.

It would be hard to imagine the rest of our lives being determined by an IQ test though. As demonstrated in class, many of the students thought having to reach a certain IQ before entering a job was not a good testament as to who the person was as a worker. Which, going back to the college entrance exams, carries the same idea. Colleges not only look at your test scores but also how you've progressed over your high school year and how you've carried yourself through extracurriculars.

Post #16 Smartest Person

The person I chose as the smartest person I know is Rishabh Mishra. Originally I was going to choose Mr. Farmer because Mr. Loiselle raved about how he was the smartest person he knew, but I do not know him personally like I do Rishabh. Rishabh is a very well-rounded person. He has a very very high level intelligence as demonstrated by his full time PSEO work at the University of Minnesota, high excellence in science and engineering as well as scoring a thirty-six on his ACT. From what appears to be a nerd of a high schooler, he is actually not lacking in a social ability either. When I first met Rishabh freshman year of high school, I was taken aback by his high intelligence and what seemed awkward at first, way of making conversation with people. But as I got to know him, I found him to be the most engaging person. He has the ability to begin a conversation with anyone, whether he just met them or has known them since the first grade. He is involved in numerous clubs and organizations which require personal skills, such as Youth in Government. Rishabhh possess great personality traits as well, such as being punctual and always presenting himself well in the presence of others.

I believe Rishabhh to fit under the category of general intelligence. Although he possesses a high IQ, he doesn't fit under the triarchic model because his creativity is not up to par, say against my own. At the University of Minnesota he is taking an entry level art class, and even he can admit the pieces look as though a fifth grader created the art. It could not multiple intelligence either, because his intelligence does not deal with music or something other than academics. He is an all around smart guy with the social skills of any extravert therefore he fits into the general intelligence category. Rishabh just has an overall more effective and efficient brain than others, as stated in the text book allowing for him to succeed academically while still being able to interact with others socially on a basic level.

Post #15

"Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter." -Mark Twain

Chapter 14, lightly touches on the idea of our birth orders playing a part in our personalities and the traits we possess. This I thought was odd, because last year in my regular psychology class we talked for a few days on just this topic alone. Also, when I was younger I can remember taking a personality test which correlated with the birth order, and it did match fairly well. 

Just a quick Google search tonight turned up many articles and examples of birth order traits. For example I compared a CBS article to my being the oldest child. CBS said that I am a perfectionist, typically aggressive,   people pleasers, hate surprises, and are reliable. These assumptions fit me to a T, aside from the being aggressive. But I am aggressive in the sens of taking charge, just not physically. 

The book said this theory, is hard to test and replicate, but I find that hard to believe. Because as I previously said, just a quick internet source can pull up thousands of examples and articles of it being proven correct. 

There is not any science behind the theory, it is mainly based off of observation and studies. So in this sense I can understand as to why it is not accepted fully everywhere though it has its merits. 

Post #14 Video Reflection

Although I took regular psychology last year and watched the videos, Picking Cotton and the numerous segments of 60 Minutes, I still find it just as interesting. One 60 minute video which stuck out the most to me was the one about the five people with super autobiographical memories. It stood out to me, I think, because that is a sort of super power I wish I had. I have a few of the symptoms, such as OCD about much of my organization. Being able to remember every single detail about your life and the events surrounding it would be incredible. History is such an interesting subject for me, and being able to relive parts you've lived through would be phenomenal. 

From this video I learned about how new of research is coming from this gift/curse. I can see why the leading psychologist behind the study would like to find out as much information on it as possible. There is so much possibilities and good which can come from it, if it can be harnessed Alzheimer's could be changed and diminished. So far the only leads psychologists have on the rare 'disease' is that adrenaline is osmething which helps regular people remember and relives parts of their lives. So the connection between these people and adrenaline is a very large possibility. Otherwise the enlargement of their temporal lobe could be exercised with regular people and enlarged in that way.  

But I am slightly confused about some of the details surrounding the talent. It did not go into detail about what types of information the people could remember. It spoke of how their memories retain the highlights of each day as well as more, but it come back to them as images. I wonder if they remember the information the read, such as in a book or newspaper. Because in relation to school, if they were able to remember every detail of their lives including the information they read, each person should have no problem doing well in high school and college. 

Post #13 Exam Reflection

Well, exam two did not go as well as I had hoped it would. I was one of the people who did do worse in comparison to exam one, but it is all relative. To prepare for the exam I had originally planned on watching all of the lectures, and I only ended up watching three or four. Which, if i remember correctly is more than before. Of course, I read all of the chapters, because it comes quite easily for me and I can do it at a quick enough pace. But I didn't go back and reread as many parts as I would have liked to.

Coming off of the first exam I was looking to improve and better my previous score. I had everything planned out of when it would get done, and it just didn't happen. My life got hectic with work and family, so the plan would be pushed back and I was never able to completely catch up.

In the future for exam three, I will again read all of the chapters, take all of the online quizzes, and do all of the blogs. I also hope to watch more of the lectures and take notes on them. Becasue on the few I have currently watched i wrote very few notes, and it would be nice to be able to look back and remind myself the parameters of the lecture. Also, when I read the chapters I need to be writing down vocabulary and large enough explanation to go along with it. This is because I seem to understand the readings, but when a word or phrase pops up on the online quizzes, i cannot recall what it means in that specific context. I have already began organizing and planning how I will attack each chapter, with each night laid out and what I have to do in order to stay on track. So if I can stay with this plan, I should have no problem improving on the next test. And improvement should not be too difficult considering my score.

Post #12

“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.” -H.P. Lovecraft

Chapter eight, was by far the most interesting chapter, I thought. I was able to read it within two hours, which means it was just like a novel you can't put down. On of the facts within it, which struck me the most was the idea that speed reading does not improve your comprehension. Thinking about it now, it makes complete sense. When you are speed reading you are focused on reading at a faster rate instead of the content. But years (and actually minutes) ago, I would consider myself a fast reader. When I was younger, I would be able to whip through those little kid chapter books no problem, while all the other kids were still reading their phonics books. This was something I took pride in, and still sort of do. Of course, a chapter book and a college textbook are two completely different things and the levels of comprehension needed are differing. 

In terms of comprehension, when I was younger I did understand the chapter books and was a well-advanced reader. Going to SACS we had an Accelerated Readers (AR) program. Each student was given the opportunity to go onto computers and test on a book they just read for AR points, which they would be rewarded based on the difficulty and number of questions answered correctly on the book. These points could then be turned in for prizes at the end of the quarter. The weird thing is, because I am a fast reader, my comprehension was supposed to go down, but I did score perfect on a very large amount of the books. 

Another real life example of the reading comprehension, is a few years back my father had purchased a book which was to help him read faster. The textbook mentions these sort of books and how they are a waste of money. But, he is a remarkably slow reader and I do not blame him for trying anything to improve on his weakness. And so I took a look at the book, and it lays out the road to improvement fairly simply. You start by reading a while with having a finger follow each word you read, dragging the finger underneath it. After a long while at this, then you move onto just placing your finger on the side of the page to signify which line of the book you are on. I do not understand the science behind it, if any, but as a child I thought it would work. 

And so thinking back to the self-help book, I decided to try it on the college textbook today. At one point I was having trouble focusing so I used my fore-finger to guide along with each word and it actually did help regain my focus. Whether that focus was on making sure my finger stayed with the right word or actually on the content, I'm not sure. 

Post #11

“Trying to forget really doesn't work. In fact, it's pretty much the same as remembering. But I tried to forget anyway, and to ignore the fact that I was remembering you all the time.” -Rebecca Stead

The concept of memory is vast and cannot be wholly and justly presented in this simple blog, but it does carry enough weight that I will cover a few ideas personable to myself. Memory can be split between long term and short term, as well as the in between processing. I find the short term memory to be the most interesting as well as the steps to lengthen and make the short term memory more effective. 

Short term memory can only be retained for less than fifteen seconds, and many scientists are disagreeing suggesting the timeline is actually shorten than five seconds. A few of the ways to make it more effective is to use techniques such as chunking or rehearsal. Which makes complete sense, when you are trying to remember someone's phone number you repeat it aloud multiple times in chunks until you are able to dial. This practice is actually accounting for both memory techniques. 

But one discrepancy I have found is that, the book outlines how chunking and rehearsal work when you read a number or series of words or letters and then you have to transfer them somewhere. It does not however, talk about how the transfer works when someone tells you information and then you musts place it somewhere else. For example, I work at a retail store and when I ask for someones personal information they tell it to me in chunks and I must transfer it into the computer. I put in the information more correctly by extracting it from their drivers license rather than from word to mouth. I believe this may attribute to whether I am a visual learner or not. I am, so it makes sense I could more accurately place the information by seeing it before transferring it. Of course, I do use the chunking to place information, and because it is in my short term memory, I only remember it for the time the customer is in front of the register. 

I find the primacy and recency do not have a great effect on my cash register abilities though. The first piece of information they give me is their last name which I forget sooner than anything else. Meaning primacy is non-existent on the job. But I do seem to remember the zip code they give for a longer amount of time because it is the last thing required by me.  

But basically, my short term memory works about fifty percent of the time at my retail job, and it is enough. 

Post #10

“The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers & cities; but to know someone who thinks & feels with us, & who, though distant, is close to us in spirit, this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden.” -John Wolfgang  von Goethe

When I was first searching for a topic to write this blog on I saw the words 'higher-order' and I got super excited because I thought it was higher order thinking, turns out it was conditioning. But either way, I still chose  to write on the topic because it is interesting enough. Higher order conditioning, second-order conditioning, is the association a person makes between a variable and stimulus. Through classical conditioning, by using our five senses (sight, smell, touch, hear, and taste) we can make an association between one of them and something else. For example, seeing the blaze orange color and camouflage combination, makes me think of hunting. Or, smelling a chocolate chip cookie, can emanate within you and make it appear as though you can actually taste the cookie. 

An example was presented about Vietnam war veteran's coming home with supposed large heroin addictions, but most of them disappeared upon entering the United States because their setting changed. Vietnam was the setting for heroin and when it changed, their desires did as well. This idea makes sense in the reverse as well. Just being around, or any sense of heroin for recovering addicts can bring them right back into using. But if the addiction broke so well for 86% of the veterans, then why has this same scenario not been replicated for other addictions or phobias? Is something as simple as moving, can break an addiction being able to harness the same idea of higher order conditioning has the potential to save many lives. 

Higher order thinking is supposed to be harder to achieve than first order, which makes sense because of the extra association that has to be made. And though it may be difficult to execute correctly advertisements and children are perfect master minds behind the idea. Advertisements and media because they can create an image or jingle, which every time you see or hear will automatically be associated with the product. There is a commercial which represents Internet Explorer 9 and they use a popular song in the background. The song is popular enough on its own, to not be played with the commercial, but when I hear it on KDWB all I picture is the TV commercial Internet Explorer 9. Children, obviously, have become genius in the art of throwing a temper tantrum. And most parents can just not say no. And so by saying yes, the child associates getting what they want by throwing a tantrum.

Post #9 Extra Credit #1

As an extra credit post, I chose to read two articles, 'Why is Yawning Contagious' and 'Pet Dogs Can Catch Human Yawns,' to relate the two as well as relate them to personal experiences.

Before reading either one of the articles, I thought the act of yawning came from your body telling you, you were tired. But it turns out, according to a new study found the purpose of yawning is to cool the brain so it operates more efficiently and keeps you awake. In a way this hypothesis does make sense, but at the same time it contradicts everything I thought about it in the past of it being a sign I needed to rest and sleep. Which means my whole childhood life was a sham, when ever I would yawn my mother would send me off to take a nap or go to bed for the night. Of course I would protest the entire way too. However, according to the dog article, a yawn can either mean you are tired, or it can be stress induced. 

The idea of a yawn being stressed induced it fascinating to me, because this would mean high schoolers and college aged kids would yawn much more than a five year old child or an infant. From personal experience, I feel I yawn more late at nights. Now whether that is from being up late or being stressed from procrastinating on my homework, I have no idea. But neither article seemed to mention the idea of boredom, because I feel that is the main reason I yawn during the day. During a typical school day I will yawn about tent times because I am bored sitting in class doing nothing or something I find irrelevant to my learning. 

As for the idea of a dog being able to catch a human's yawn, I feel this is very much true. The original reason I chose to read this article, was because I do have a dog and I know I have caught yawns from him. He'll yawn right as I look over him, and I end up needing to yawn immediately after. The study demonstrates how a human would yawn in front of the dog and see if the dog would yawn back, and 21 out of 29 times it would. To boost the legitimacy of the study another test would involve a human just opening and closing their mouth to see a response, and there was no response at all. And apparently humans can catch dog's yawns too, well, at least I can. 

The act of catching a yawn, records back to the idea of, not exactly natural selection, but rather instinct. It is part of something called the 'herding principle,' which relates yawning to be in the same concept is a flock of birds all flying together. In coordination with the cooling theory, yawning was thought to have to do with human vigilance. While yet another study believes it historic periods, it was used to maintain sleep cycles as well as a way to communicate their alertness levels with one another. 

This of course all seems prehistoric to me, so I think for now I will just try and communicate to my dog how stressed I am with his behavior late at nights; that way I have my bases covered. 

Post #8

"As long as habit and routine dictate the pattern of living, new dimensions of the soul will not emerge." -Henry Van Dyke 

Circadian rhythm is our own internal clock which allows for us to have certain routines through our life that we have to follow. There is certain times when we must sleep, and there is reasoning behind our drowsiness in the early afternoon. But the circadian rhythm runs the motion of sleep, our peak of energy, hunger, and release of hormones. Our need for sleep, does not come from one specific hidden reasoning, but rather form many uncertain ones. Either way, our body needs to rejuvenate and be of use so we do not crash the next day from a lack of. The hormone melatonin is at its highest level, when it is dark outside, which triggers feelings of sleepiness.

Our circadian rhythm can be thrown off because of jet lag and travel to different parts of the world. Because of the different time zones, and time the sun will set our sleep schedules are put on skew and so is our rhythm. This idea makes me wonder about people who live in Alaska and how their circadian rhythms have adjusted to the climate change and sun exposure times.

During the winters in Juneau, Alaska there are about five hours of light and in the summer twenty. To adjust to these light changes, most Alaskans will apply darkened shades in their bedrooms as well as participating in a great amount of exercise in order to be tired when it is time to sleep. In an essence, they are tricking their bodies into following a routine circadian rhythm.

I remember last year taking regular psychology with Mr. Van De Hinz, he had a light on his desk which produced an artificial real light, or something along those lines. But it was suppoesed to give him Vitamin D, and I suppose it is also similar to people's need to be kept awake and to have low levels of melatonin during the work day. 

Circadian rhythms not only occur in humans, but also in animals. Birds possess it through their ability to know when it is time to migrate. They sense the climate change as well as the shortened days of fall and winter. In a study done, arctic animals possessed circadian rhythms in all season with the exception of summer. The adaption the reindeer and ptarmigan make is truly incredible. 

Post #7 Reflection

After going to the University of Minnesota, I simply cannot wait to head off to college. As if I wasn't already excited to leave home, going to an actual college lecture with actual college students surrounding me was truly amazing. It is funny, however, the Wiley Hall lecture room we were in, was the exact same one as I went to for my CIS Literature class last year. And so I knew going into the building what to expect of the room size and presentation set up. Before arriving, Ms. Osmundson told us to look for the students who were on Facebook or other social media sites, and there were surprisingly less than I expected. Granted there were the few students checking Facebook, and the annoying group of people behind who would not stop laughing at some video they were watching, but other than that, very little. 

From going to this lecture, I found I will need to sit up more towards the front of the lecture hall and not sit by any of my friends if we are taking the same class. Sitting up in the front will be because, from the man who gave the lecture on Friday, he was very difficult to hear in the back of the hall and so I was straining myself the entire time trying to hear better. As for sitting separately from my friends, I will need to do this because if I don't I will not pay attention at all to the lecture. Sitting by myself will force me to pay attention to the professor and then I will be able to learn better. 

I enjoyed the collegiate feel of the campus, obviously, because at the end there was the video played of the cutting of a corpus collosum, and many students left as it was starting. This was basically because, I felt, they thought they were not going to benefit from the video or that portion of class. Seeing people leave, was a really neat aspect for me because I can almost relate, there are many times I would just like to get up and leave because I feel certain classes are not beneficial to sit in on certain days. 

The lecture itself, I felt did not provide a lot of information however. It seemed to drag on and did not give anything I felt necessary for me to dwell on or look more into. I felt as though he was just covering the basics and his examples took far too long without getting to the actual point. They were rather good examples, but did not need to take up as much time as they did. Overall, I felt the lecture was rather boring and simplistic but the atmosphere was great and it made it all worth while. 

Post #6 Reflection

Unfortunately, I did not do as well as I had hoped for my first CIS Psychology exam. But I did receive the grade I deserved. This being said, I did not put forth any effort into studying for the test, and did poorly on the exam as I should. Now, I may not have failed which is always a relief, but I did not do as well as I wished I had. Throughout the unit, I did read all of the chapters, which are so dense, that for me just reading them is no longer enough for me to do well. In the past I have been able to retain most information indefinitely after one read through and I am also a fast reader which comes in handing for most classes. But these chapters were very and difficult, so the strategy I have been able to get by with for the past ten years is no longer in effect.

For the next exam, I do plan on actually studying. And to be more specific, I will watch the lectures (all of them), and reread portions of the chapters assigned. I will also make better use of the study guides and practice quizzes given to us. I started off the unit well going through the study guide and looking back on portions I missed, but I will just have to continue that pattern along further this time around. Hopefully I will do much better on this upcoming, unit test because I know what to expect and will be better prepared.

Post #5

There is no logical way to the discovery of these elemental laws. There is only the way of intuition, which is helped by a feeling for the order lying behind the appearance. -Albert Einstein


Lately I have been catching up on the re runs of the show Switched at Birth, shown on ABC Family. One of the episodes I recently watched was about the son's, Toby, gambling addiction and how he employed his new found sister and her best friend, who are both deaf, to help him win back some money. They claim, by being deaf they are capable of better seeing competitors tells and basically have a knack for winning a lot of money playing poker against hearing people. This instance reminded me of the section in chapter four where it talks about ESP, subliminal messaging, and psychic connections. Of the three, extrasensory perception is what really interested me and how variable it is in sensing things and how much it can affect people.

Extrasensory perception can be split into three categories; precognition, telepathy, and clairvoyance. Precognition is when a person can predict events before they occur. Telepathy is the act of reading other people's minds, and clairvoyance is being able to detect the presence of objects or people who are hidden from view. In different trials, no aspect of ESP could be replicated and so lost much of its poignancy fast. It is still something of huge interest today, but the validity and reliability of it is lacking. It being  still of interest causes many people to ask why, including myself; why someone could believe so whole heartily about such a lost cause. It seems as though people tend to believe in the practice so earnestly because of coincidence. People can see all the coincidences between events in their own lives, and are blind to the many times nothing happens. 

Extrasensory perception involves reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses, but sensed through the mind. It can also sometimes be referred to as intuition. Intuition is something I can more so relate to than telepathy or one of those other specifics. Everyone, including myself, has those moments where you think about doing something for a split second and doing something in its place, and then regretting not doing the split second thought. For example, I was debating between two knitting needles to buy today at JoAnn Fabric Store, and my gut was telling me to go with the larger one but I went with the smaller one because it was cheaper. When I got home and was about to use them, one of the sticks I had bought had a huge crack down the center of it. This was a situation where my intuition was pulling me in the right direction. 

I think trusting my intuition will definitely be something I will be following from now on. It tends to pay off more in the long run. And although I still do not believe in ESP I can see the benefits and drawbacks from all angles. 

Post #4

"At any given moment, the brain has 14 billion neurons firing at a speed of 450 miles per hour. We don’t have control over most of them. When we get a chill... goose bumps. When we get excited... adrenaline. The body naturally follows it’s impulses, which I think is part of what makes it so hard for us to control ours. Of course, sometimes we have impulses we would rather not control, that we later wish we had." -Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) on Grey's Anatomy


An example was given in the section about firing neurons, comparing the action to the firing of a gun in the sense of it being 'all or nothing.' This example continued to stick with me, primarily because I can relate. Deer opener is coming up in a little more than a month and I of course can think of nothing else. Because in the same way, the example is true. Last year I was posted up on the side of a field, and two white tails came streaming across me from a snowmobile trail which was below me. I locked on and shot, but i had forgotten to take off my safety and so nothing happened. yes, it most definitely was embarrassing, but it was an all or nothing situation just ass the book had said. One thing, however, the textbook does not mention is what is something to stop the firing of the neurons. 

Finding out about what stops neurons, was next for me and so I googled it (of course) and the first thing to come up was drugs. Imagine that. The type of drug, the website appsychology.com is actually referring to, are antagonists drugs which bind onto receptor sites on a neuron and keep it from firing. This wasn't much help either, and so I found an example of an antagonist drug, which was propranolol. Propranolol acts as a beta blocker and is used to treat tremors, high blood pressure, angina, and other heart conditions. 

Aside from that, according to Dartmouth college drugs again are used to stop seizures. Seizures are a result of rapidly firing neurons, and with certain drugs they are able to stop and prevent the retrigger. There are risks however, to using drugs to stop seizures because a person may not respond to the drug quickly enough, more severe damage may be done, or neurons deep in the hippocampus may continue to fire. 

The idea of seizures is so prevalent in my own life as it is in just about everyone's. A neighbor of mine has a dog, who takes seizure medicine. And one day she had tried to explain to me what it does in terms of preventing future seizures but I became utterly confused. Just by reading the one section within the book of how the neurons are always firing, as a gun would, gives me much more knowledge into understanding more of the human brain and its uncontrollable impulses. 

Post #3

“Judging is preventing us from understanding a new truth. Free yourself from the rules of old judgments and create the space for new understanding.” -Steve Maraboli

Heuristics are mental shortcuts, or rules of thumb that can help streamline thinking and make sense of the world. In its simplest forms, a heuristic approach to things is separating nuts and bolts, but it can also reach the most extensive of problem solving or making precarious judgments of a person. 

Heuristics to me are a way to problem solve or a way of thinking about a problem. One example of such is a maze. Most people will try to solve it forward and then get stuck, and so the most obvious and fulfilling decision is to work the problem in reverse, or backwards. This idea of figuring out a way to think or problem solve, reminds me of my dog when he was younger. When we first got him, we put up a half door to our laundry room to keep him out of the rest of the house while we were at work or school, sort of like a huge kennel. After a few months he learned how to open the door and escape so he could roam the house. My dog was able to use his heuristics, in order to roam the house and sleep on the couch. Though his intentions were wrong, his way of thinking proved astonishing. 

The book gives the examples of meeting someone for the first time and making an instantaneous judgement of them by their interests, looks and mannerism. And most of the time these perceptions run true, but it is also possible to be wrong. The shortcut in judging someone is through a representative heuristic, we judge the probability of an event by its superficial similarity to a prototype. In reality, we make the same judgments of people everyday, when we first start a new class, in a job interview, people passing on the street, and countless other instances. I know, most specifically I use the representative heuristic most when I am looking at what someone is wearing. I can judge whether they are a hipster, a little preppy, smart, wealthy, poor, confident, athletic, among many other characteristics just by what they are wearing. And by judging what someone is wearing, tells me whether or not I want to be associated with this person.

Heuristics simply the world for us and allow our judgments to take over. In some parts, this can be both good and bad. As long as they do not dictate who we are as a person or how we perceive others to be, life should be much more understandable. 

Post #2

"Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.” -Wayne W. Dyer


Through the reading of chapter 1, one thing that consistently resided with me and seemed to keep popping up for me outside of the book, was the topic on naive realism and our perception of things. The book clearly defines naive realism as the belief that we see the world precisely as it is. And then it goes on to give this cutesy little picture of how the angle you look at a table from can make it look more rectangular or square. Psychology is supposed to teach how to question this idea of naive realism and also look inwardly into how we talk to people and how our beliefs influence our perceptions. 

Now back to the cute little picture of the tables, in my spare time I am slightly obsessed with the website Pinterest. Pinterest is an online pin board where people can search other websites and choose to share, or rather pin, a picture with a link to the page they are looking at. There are millions of people who are members of the site and so there are a variety of different pictures and ideas that appear on my news feed. These images range anywhere from fashion, humor, home or wedding ideas. For example, one of the pictures which has come up many times, was a reel of images in which a persons perception is completely thrown off by looking at something. On the reel, this image of how a person can appear to be floating because of a shadow was given...



Now, this was just one example of a reel of perception pictures. I cannot seem to find the entire reel, but if I do, I will be sure to post it.

Aside from the physical sense of perception, naive realism can cause us to be mistaken about ourselves, others, and beliefs. It can lead us to draw incorrect conclusions about human nature. Such as, myself thinking cold pizza tastes wonderful and anybody who disagrees with me is wrong and has no taste buds.

In opposition to naive realism, religion seems to take a lead. Because naive realism tells us that how we view materialistic things is truth and believing is seeing, God simply cannot exist within these parameters. This ideology I struggle with, primarily because I went to a Catholic elementary school my entire life, and for some psychological idea to tell me it cannot be true, is hard. This is where I believe naive realism is wrong, because 88% of the world's population believes in a higher power, as of a 2005 study. 

Being aware of how naive realism and my perceptions of the world versus other peoples' perception has caused me to take a better focus in how I look at qualities in a person and how they look at each other. Because I believe when it comes to a touchy subject such as religion or politics, our naive realism will take over, preventing us from thinking reasonably. And so my choice in the people I associate myself is determined by those with the least dependency on their naive realism.

Post #1

“Action and reaction, ebb and flow, trial and error, change- this is the rhythm of living. Out of our over-confidence, fear; out of our fear, clearer vision, fresh hope. And out of hope, progress.” –Bruce Barton

Throughout my education, and more specifically my high school career, I have taken some challenging and some not so challenging courses which have shaped a few habits, being both good and bad. For this class, I plan on implementing the better chosen habits and strategies through trial and error in order to reflect the best possible outcome and success in Psychology 1001.

Before being able to succeed in this class, I must first recognize the bad habits which have accumulated over the years and be able to counter them with good and more helpful options. These bad habits include but are not limited to, perseverance in spite of sleep deprivation, priority organization, and as Ms. Osmundson predicted- procrastination. All three bad habits tie in very well together and result from my poor lack of desire, to put it plainly.

I go through the school day with such high hopes as to the success in my homework I will find when I get home, but when I pull into my driveway and unpack my backpack, all sense of desire and anticipation flees with procrastination filling its place. The perfect plans I had written down, exact to the minutes of how I will complete my homework and studying in the most reasonable allotment of time is thrown into the air. The plans no longer carry relevancy as the hours past slowly until it reaches nine o’ clock and I am forced to position myself on the couch with my delayed homework laid out in front of me in overwhelming shame. And after mulling my way through a few assignments the need for sleep hits me and the bed a mere twenty-three steps away (yes, I counted) beckon to me until I face plant into the pillow. Although I organize and plan it all to a T, the most important and relevant assignments do not get done first, because they typically are the most boring. Without doing these pertinent assignments the night before, I will have to wake up earlier than expected to finish. And so begins the vicious cycle again.

As the new school year begins, I have decided to attempt new strategies and outlooks on my day in hopes to better finish the homework and studying for upcoming tests that is necessary. Instead of planning my night in how to best compete my homework, I will simply make a checklist. Because it is so much more rewarding to cross off an assignment from a checklist rather than to watch the outlined time slowly dwindle with each uncompleted assignment. As for doing the most interesting over the most pertinent assignments, that is made all the easier due in part to my actual class assignments and how I do enjoy each of them equally, except for Psychology- being the utmost exciting of course. The classes I have chosen have few if any assignments due the day after, allowing me to feel more at ease about studying and reading in small increments each night in order to stay in a healthy time frame.

As the school year goes on, plans and expectations are expected to change but that is how life works. In order to gain progress out of hope, change is required no matter the amount of times required to adjust.