thinking critically blog

Where would we be without research? It has contributed to a lot of major things. I'm sure that a lot of research was put into making this very computer and light over my head. However, we also use research as individuals everyday of our lives. We walk into the lunch room and observe those around us to figure out who we would fit in with better and have the best conversations with at the lunch table. Not only that kind of research, but also scientific research contributes to our everyday lives. Where would we be without modern medicine? In Psychology, there is also research on behaviors and actions. For instance, I read an article in PsyBlog that was called Persuasion: The Right-Ear Advantage. This kind of research also contributes to our daily lives. For instance, I learned that language is processed by the left side of the brain. Being the the left side of the brain controls the right side of your body, your right ear is what gives the language portion of the brain it's input, helping you to understand what is being said. In this experiment, they found that if you want to persuade someone, you are twice as likely to get what you are asking for if you say it directly into the right ear. So, by reading this article, I learned how to better my chance of getting what I want from my parents. :) I also learned why I have to hold my phone up to my right ear to get the most out of the conversation although my hearing is better in my left. It was really interesting.

my thoughts after reading Chapter 1

When I signed up for Psychology, I knew that it was going to be the study of the mind, but I didn't realize how much of a science it really is. It has a lot to do with formality and methods. I'm not so sure that studying psychology will effect my life all that much. Of course, I'm only a week and a half into the course and my opinion could change. Being that Psychology has a lot of different theories, without there being a definite truth, this class will just force me to make some definite decisions on what I believe to be true when it comes to this area of study.

One thing that I found really interesting was the idea of the placebo effect because I can see how this is true. A lot of times, things like medication and treatments work because we want them to. Our minds are really powerful and can be kind of deceiving. Hindsight bias was also really fun to study. I tried to unscramble the words for just a few seconds before looking at it and didn't really come up with an answer. However, when I looked at the words behind them, I said, "Oh, DUH!! I knew that." That's when I realized exactly what the author was getting at.

Introduction

My name is Candace Ann Giwojna, but I've been called Candi my whole life. In fact, I didn't even know that Candi wasn't my full name until I was in Kindergarten and I kept wondering why she was calling me by some other kids name. Being that I'm 17-years-old now and a senior in high school, that was about 12 years ago. I currently go to Flambeau High School, but I just moved here from Stanley last year. The move would have to be the one thing that shaped me into who I am today. Before I moved to Sheldon, I was always very uptight, and frankly, not much fun. I only concentrated on my homework, so I also was always stressed out and took everything that happened personally. When I moved, I met some great friends who changed my life. They made me not afraid to be different, loosen up, relax, have fun! I thank them for that.

I always thought of Psychology as the study of the mind. Things like emotions, why we do what we do, and what goes on in the brain in any given situation would be some things that I would expect to learn about in this class. With this said, I would also have to say that it is rather important to study Psychology. We can't do anything without using the mind, so we should know at least a little bit about how it works.