Thursday, November 29, 2012

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.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

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. 

Sunday, November 18, 2012

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. 

Thursday, November 15, 2012

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.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

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. 

Monday, November 5, 2012

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.