PsyBlog: How Other People's Unspoken Expectations Control Us

This PsyBlog talked about how we immediately conform to how others expect us to act by our looks.  A person who is attractive often times acts more animated.  They did an experiment where they gave the men a picture of a woman.  Half of the men were given a picture of a woman who was rated an 8 out of 10 and the other half given a picture of a woman who was rated a 2 out of 10.  Then, they got on the phone and talked to a woman without seeing her.  If the man expected an attractive woman, the person on the other side of the phone caught onto that and talked more animated and enjoyed the conversation more and vice versa.  

I thought that was really interesting.  I do think that we try to conform to others' expectations of us.  For example, my friends expect me to be funny, so I act funny.  My parents expect me to be well behaved so, for the most part, I try to please them while around them.  My teachers expect me to be smart, my brother expects me to be mean, and so on.  

Video games

I was really surprised at the video game section.  It talked about whether video games teach or release violence.  I have heard a lot of studies about violent video games, saying that students who play video games have a greater chance of becoming violent, but I always thought that it could be that people who are aggressive are more attracted to violent video games.  However, I was really surprised when it talked about the studies that talked about how people with low hostility are more likely to get into fights if they play video games.  They also did studies of nongamers and found that they were more likely to get into fights if they started playing video games.  It was really rather sad.  I don't game myself, but I have nothing against it.  

Blog Chapter 16!

The attribution theory is the theory that we explain someone's behavior by the situation they are in.  For example, at school, especially choir class, I am really outgoing, but at home, I am really quiet and keep to myself.  This is because at school, my friends are there and they get me excited whereas home is nothing new and is rather boring.  

The fundamental attribution error is the overestimation of the influence of personality and underestimation of influence of situations.  As in my example earlier, all of the choir students think of me as extremely outgoing, but that is simply because they see me only in choir.  If they followed me around all the time, they would see that I sometimes like to keep to myself, but am not exactly shy.  

Stereotypes are the generalization of a group that we base our opinions and beliefs on.  There is a huge stereotype that says blondes are dumb, but being a blonde myself, I can see that there is a huge variation in the intelligence of blondes.  

A lot of the time when there are stereotypes, illusory correlation occurs.  Illusory correlation is, in a set of data, seeing the conclusion one expects.  An example would be when people form false associations between the number of membership in a minority group, like Mexicans, and negative behaviors, like gang fights.  We would see that as the Mexican population went up, so did the amount of gang fights, even though there is no relationship between the two.  

Chapter 13- The Big 5

MY RESULTS
Closed-Minded…………..Open to New Experiences (59%)
Disorganized……………….Conscientious (10%)
Introverted…………………Extroverted (89%)
Disagreeable……………….Agreeable (38%)
Calm/Relaxed……………..Nervous/ High-Strung (87%)

I thought that it was really funny how accurate my results were. It showed a lot of my flaws in just 5 categories. Also from looking at this, I saw why I am having such a hard time choosing a career that I believe is right for me. I am so disagreeable that I can't even agree with myself. My dad said that because of this, I should become a lawyer, but I had to disagree, proving that I'm disagreeable, if that makes any sense. Also, my nervousness causes me to think long and hard about what I'm going to do. I once came to a consensus, but because of my disorganization, I can't remember what I was going to do about college. I obviously need to make some decisions, being that it's already my senior year... AAHHH!!!!

Chapter 13 Movie reflection

I didn't really like the Moral Psychology video. I think it took a seemingly simple topic, morals, and tried to complicate it to try to turn it into a scientific, impersonal thing. I have very strong morals and beliefs. I don't think that I think that way because I have gathered together with a group and formed morals as an evolutionary aspect because if it was, wouldn't it be more widly used? I don't want to get into an argument though, so please no nasty comments.
I did really enjoy the human experience video. I liked how they related the personality tests to our everyday life, explaining how Norm applied the tests he took and determined which career he was going to go into. I am trying to choose a career right now and am definitely going to keep doing personality tests to aid me in doing so.

Chapter 13 Reflection

My personality was probably most defined by nature. I am a lot like my parents and siblings but can't think of specific events that have formed me into who I am. I do strongly believe that we can make conscious decisions to change a specific personality trait, which would be nurture. I also agree with Maslow, who said that we have a basic set of needs to be fulfilled. When they are fulfilled we look for self-actualization, or to fulfill our potential. I also believe that our personality, or behavior, can change with the situation, but I still believe that we have a set personality as well that either decides to show itself in these situations or not.

I have noticed that I use a lot of defense mechanisms, especially displacement. Whenever I get home from a bad day at school, I almost always yell at my brother. I regret it later, but I do it again later. It really bothers me. I also have noticed that I use rationalization. If I get a bad grade on a test, I will say things like "everyone did badly" or "that teacher hates me" even though I know it's not true.

Chapter 9 Movie Reflection

My favorite part of the Development of Language video was definitely the part where they talked about how we have to be taught the basic steps of a conversation. It seems so obvious. I mean, a conversation is just two people responding to each other. How would you do that if you had never been taught to wait to talk until the other person is done? What would you talk about? The art of conversation seems as important as the art of language itself. Also, while watching the video, I was suddenly amazed at how smart kids are. We don't give them as much credit as they deserve because we don't sit down and just observe them. Their conversations with others are extremely complex and intelligent for how few of years they have been speaking.

Chapter 9 Reflection

I found this chapter extremely interesting and, better yet, relatable. Our society is a social one and depends a lot on language. There is not a day that goes by without communicating with another human being through some form of language. I really enjoyed the stages of learning language, especially because I have experienced it by watching my little sister, who is now 6, grow up. It was so much fun trying to get her to say single words. We would try to get her to mimic us, causing her to say "Da Da" by about 8 months. It was probably just the second stage, being just babble that resembles household language, but it was exciting. Also, it was amazing watching her language develop from telegraphic speech to full sentences, and it did so in what seemed like days. It went by fast. Now she's reading and writing! They grow up too fast! (I feel like an over-protective mom!)

Chapter 9 opinion of second language

In chapter 9, we learned that it is proven that when learning a second language, it is definitly better to start learning it as early as possible. This makes me wonder why we don't start learning Spanish in school until our high school years. Last year, we hosted an exchanged student from Denmark, and she started learning English and German in fourth grade and barely had an accent and had almost perfect grammar when she came. Also, having already learned 3 languages, it made it much easier for her to pick up Spanish in class and learn Japanese on her own while here. It just seems so much more convenient and I wish that I had done so as well. I wonder why we don't learn languages as early. She had so many more opportunities, having learned so many languages, to travel all over the world. If America is the land of opportunity, shouldn't we have the same chance?

Remembering and Forgetting video

I found the video on remembering and forgetting very interesting, especially the part about the eye-blink conditioning helping to detect Alzheimer's even earlier.  This relates to me because my mom has worked with Alzheimer's patients for a long time and I have seen the stages in which it goes through first-hand.  To detect Alzheimer's early is a big deal.  Although there isn't a treatment yet, it is very possible that if this really is an accurate detection of the disease, that the medicine would be able to develop enough eventually to be able to cure it when caught in it's early stages.  Right now, however, all we can do is exercise our mind in hopes to keep it longer.  

Chapter 8 Blog

Memory is everything.   I always like to say that we should live in the present, but it is our memories of our past experiences that help us make decisions, important decisions.  I remember that, as a child, when I touched the stove top, I got burned.  This memory, although painful, helps me to not touch the stove.  This prevents my hand from looking like a charred hamburger.  Also, moral decisions are impacted by memory.  I remember that last time I lied to my parents, they found out and I was punished, so I try to prevent that now.  This makes me a better human being.  Also, humans are social beings.  We need to communicate and share our feelings with others, especially women.  If a person didn't have any memories of anyone, how would they be able to confide in a friend.  They wouldn't have any friends.  

If we didn't have memory, life would be miserable.  We would live in a continuous state of confusion, and worry.  We would never have a single happy moment.  The bright side is we wouldn't remember being constantly worried and sad.  

Clive Waring lives a miserable life.  However, he isn't depressed.  He is happy most of the time because every minute is as if it is the first minute he is alive.  Everything is new and exciting.  It would be hard to hold a relationship with him however.  

I do think about memory differently now.  I have found that I use the memory techniques a lot more often in an attempt to have a greater capacity for memory.  Also, I have learned to not depend completely on my memory.  Our brains can change them.  It may be hard to almost impossible to recognize, but it happens.  It's mind boggling.  With that said, I do trust my memories to a point.  However, when it starts to impact others, I have to be able to say that my memory might be corrupted.  

The most important thing that I learned is about the eye witness testimony.  This is the idea that the mind doesn't record everything exactly as it happened.  It changes it as new information is represented.  This is important because we have to learn that we can't depend strictly on our memory because we are setting ourselves up for failure.  

PsyBlog: 6 Types of Play: How We Learn to Work Together

This PsyBlog article discussed a rather simple topic.  I was surprised that this was even Psychology.  It talked about how we learn how to play and the importance of play time.  It helps us develop our social skills by developing a sense of self, learning how to interact with other children, learning how to make friends, and learning how to lie and role-play.  For this study, children between the ages of 2 and 5 were observed and their play was categorized into 6 types.  Unoccupied play, that seems to have no apparent purpose, solitary play, when they play with themselves and don't seem to notice others, onlooker play, which is when they look at other children playing, but don't join in, parallel play, which is when the child mimics others activities, but don't join in, associative play, where they play with others rather than toys, and cooperative play, where there is organization while children play together.  What came out of this was that as children get older, their play time develops and they lean how to play more with others.  So, learning to play is learning how to interact with others.  

Television

I was reading the sidebars in our text book and I was taken back when I read the one New York Times 1939 quote on page 321.  It says, "The problem with television is that the people must sit and keep their eyes glued to a screen: The average American family hasn't the time for it.  Therefore the showmen are convinced that... television will never be a serious competitor of [radio] broadcasting."  This was written way back in 1939.  My thought was, "Yeah, why do we spend so much time watching TV.  We complain all the time about how we don't have enough time for this or enough time for that, but we can sit down in front of a TV screen and do absolutely nothing for an hour-long show!"  Just think about all the stuff that we could accomplish within the nine years straight we spend in a lifetime just sitting in front of that stupid screen.  

I find our link to television really disgusting, especially being that we learn so much from it.  There are some really good, educational shows on it, but we hardly choose to watch them.  Instead, we watch action films with a lot of violence, causing us to act in a violent way.  It also introduces stereotypes, which we all say are bad in the real world.  The fact of the matter is, we are wired to learn from what we see and if we are watching TV, we learn bad things.  I say that we shouldn't watch TV anymore.  Ya, right.  We have become accustomed to it.  It is now a form of relaxation.  

Chapter 7

I found the Bobo doll experiment extremely interesting.  I couldn't believe that the kids actually imitated the adult's actions and were more likely to lash out in an aggressive way when angry.  However, I think that the onion breath conditioned stimulus was the most interesting.  It was gross, but interesting.  I can't even imagine kissing a guy with onion breath, let alone be aroused by the smell of onion breath.  It's really disgusting.  

We are classically conditioned to things like our alarm clocks and school bells.  Also, when I was younger, I had a group of birds, specifically Barn Swallows, swoop down at me when I was mowing lawn, causing me to get into a little fender-bender with the lawn-mower that I was on.  Even it was just a bump, I was really scared to see my dad's reactions.  Even to this day, I have a tremendous, irrational fear of birds.   I think that this is also a result of classical conditioning.  

Chapter 6 Blog (I know, late... oops)

I accidentally forgot to do a reflections blog on this chapter... oops.

Some things I found really interesting was the complexity of our senses.  There is so much going on in our bodies in order for us to be able to do what we do.  For instance, for something so small, the eye has so much going on.  It is much more than I would ever be able to understand.  With that said, I found that the sense of touch was the most interesting.  I mean, people have adapted to be able to live without eyesight or hearing, but touch is harder to adapt to.  It is so important for us to be able to feel what is going on around us.  Even as I sit here and type, I realize that it wouldn't be possible if it weren't for the fact that my fingers are feeling each and every key so that I hit the right one at the right time.  I never knew this before, but touch is divided up into four different parts.  I never realized how much there really is to it.  

Why Do People Bother Voting?

This article was strange, but it kind of made sense.  It tried to explain how even though we know that our vote doesn't count all that much when compared to the billions of votes cast, we still vote.  It said that it was mainly because we recognize that others feel the way we do about it and if others decide not to vote, then their candidate won't win.  So, by them themselves voting, they feel that they are making others who feel the same way vote.  It our narcissism that makes us vote.  I disagree that our votes don't matter, because they do.  We should all vote when we come age.  However, this article makes sense in saying that this is why we vote. 

Pain-free

I really enjoyed reading about the girl who couldn't feel pain.  It seems as if pain should be a bad thing, but it can really help us.  I watched an episode of House (my favorite show) this week that was about a girl who had this same problem.  She was in a car accident and that's how she got to the hospital.  At one point in the show, she stuck her hand in a cup full of boiling water and got second degree burns because she couldn't feel it.  She also constantly had to check her fever because she would never be able to tell if she had one or not.  While in the hospital, she had such a high fever that she lost consciousness, but she didn't know it beforehand.  It was really interesting.  Something was wrong with her, but she could tell them where it hurt, so it was a wild goose chase.  They had to check everything.  

Illusions Blog

I viewed the Fourier Analysis, Induced Motion, Use of Visual Information in Art, Effects of Shadow, Vergence Eye Movements, Figural Aftereffect, Color Aftereffect, and Emmert's Law tutorials.  I learned a lot about how the mind can play tricks on us and how our previous beliefs, like the placement of the sun, can affect our perception of a picture.  It was rather surprising how easily my perception of an image changed after having new information.  I also thought it was cool how our minds can remember images we had seen.  These tutorial changed my view of how we sense and perceive the world by showing me how important our beliefs an previous knowledge is to how we perceive things.  This affects me by showing me that I must make sure that I am unbiased when I look at an image and try to only see the facts, although that might be impossible.  

How Rewards Can Backfire and Reduce Motivation

In this psyblog article, it cited a study done with 51 preschool children who enjoyed drawing. The children were divided into three groups. The first group was told that they would get a certificate with a gold seal and ribbon if they took part. The second group got the same reward, but they weren't told about it until after the activity was finished. The third group didn't receive a reward at all. Each of the children were put in separate rooms to draw for 6 minutes and then their rewards were either given or not given, depending on which group they were in. Then, over the next few days, the children wre watched to see how much drawing they would do on their own. The group that expected the reward beforehand drew dearly half of the amount of time as the other groups and their pictues were rated by judges as being less pleasing.

The article says that this happened because of overjustification. They all liked to draw and were intrinsically motivated to draw because it was fun. When the children received a reward, their motivation changed, making it less enjoyable.

Another reason the article gave was because the reward made us think about unenjoyable activities. We are used to getting money for painful tasks, so when we get it for enjoyable tasks, we think that we shouldn't want to do the task.

This is also said to be true for adults when the reward is money. To a musician, who really likes music, the task can seem tedius when money gets thrown into it. To a student, who really likes reading, may not like reading if it is for school because school assignments are normally boring, so we make the connection that reading must be boring too.

Chapter 5 video reflections

The video from learner.org was really interesting. I especially liked how it talked about how babies aren't helpless. They have traits that help their survival from the sucking reflex so that they can eat, to their cute looks and behaviors that cause adults to want to have kids of their own and to pay a lot of attention to them. Another thing that I really liked was the experiment where the lady hid a little snoopy toy in a model of the room while the child was sitting there. Then, she hid the big snoopy in the same spot in the actual room and told the child to find it. It was interesting seeing how much of a difference that little difference in age made in whether or not they would be able to understand the question and the idea of the little room being a model of the big room.

I also enjoyed the video on adolescence. I can definitely understand and relate to that video. I remember, when I was in junior high, I always got into fights with my parents over the dumbest things. I can definitely see how that is a result from wanting to be your own person and separating from your parents. In general, adolescence is a hard period of life.