Blog Post #7

Sensation is how our senses interact with our brains. Our five sense--sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing--all allow us to sense the world around us. Perception is the way we perceive our environment. It is how we organize the information our senses provide us with.

The most interesting thing I learned in this chapter was about Heather Sellers. Sellers had an issue with her perception and was unable to recognize people's faces. She wrote a book entitled Face First that tells about a bunch of awkward moments her inability to recognize faces caused. I thought this whole story was really interesting because I think it would really suck to not be able to recognize faces. A person would have to be reintroduced to someone every time they met. You wouldn't be able to distinguish among friends, family, and strangers. I would hate to have a perception disorder like this. This doesn't really change how I look at life. There's really no way to apply this to my everyday life, except that it makes me realize how lucky I am not to have any weird disorders like this.

I read the article called "Seven Ways Music Influences Mood." This article was about a study done on how music affects our moods. They described 7 ways people use music to improve how they feel: 1) Entertainment-providing stimulation, 2) Revival-to wake up in the morning or calm down in the evening, 3) Strong sensation-thrilling feeling of musical performers, 4) Diversion-provides a distraction from poor thoughts, 5) Discharge-release of emotions, 6) Mental work-takes us to another time and place in the past, and 7) Solace-reminds us of a person we have lost touch with. I found this article interesting because I listen to music almost non-stop throughout the day. I especially like the part about mental work and solace because this is totally true for me. When I hear an old song, it reminds me of the day that I first heard it and the people I was with. Certain songs also remind me of certain people, especially ones I don't talk to that much anymore. This doesn't change how I think about things because I already thought about music this way. I already use this in my everyday life.

Blog Post #6

I learned a lot of things from the interview with my grandma. For example, I didn't know that farm kids were allowed to skip school during the harvest season to help collect crops. One thing my grandma told me that surprised me was that everyone's phone line was connected on the same circuit back then. This means that when one person tried to call someone, everyone's phone in the neighborhood would ring. They all had specific ring tones and if yours was the one coming from the phone, it meant the call was for you. If not, you weren't supposed to pick up the phone because you would end up eaves-dropping on one of your neighbors conversations.
My life is very different from my grandma's as a teenager. First of all, girls back in her time dressed differently. Jeans weren't acceptable for society and young girls were to wear skirts or dresses all the time. I wear jeans basically everywhere I go. Also, girls' necklines were pretty much non-existent. They wore high-collared shirts and barely ever exposed skin below their neck. Now days, girls get in trouble for showing off too much cleavage. There is also way more technology now than there was when my grandma was young. I don't know what I would do without the Internet, radio, and my cell phone. I think it would be a neat experience to live back in my grandma's time, but I don't think I would like it very much. I would probably get bored really quickly because there wasn't much to do for fun back then.

The "Parenting and Adolescents" video made me think about my life at home. I agree with the video when it said that kids and their parents often make a big argument over some small, insignificant matter. My parents and I fight about stupid things all the time and the argument is usually blown way out of proportion. My teenage years have been memorable, emotional, exciting, and so much fun. I think that these years will affect me as an adult because I have learned a lot throughout them. I believe that I will benefit from all of my experiences and have more knowledge in the adult world from them.

One thing I found interesting in chapter 4 was in the section about gender development. A boy in Canada was born and lost his male parts in a circumcision accident and his parents decided to raise him as a girl. As the child grew, 'she' didn't like any girl toys or girls clothing and played a lot rougher than other females of her age. She wasn't interested in boys at all as she grew up. Her parents decided to tell her about the accident. The child then decided to become the male they were born as and assumed a new name, David. He married a woman later on but committed suicide shortly after. I think it's interesting how biologically your body knows what sex you are even if people try to tell you differently from birth. I would be really mad if something like this happened to me and upset that my parents didn't tell me earlier.

I found childhood amnesia interesting in chapter 5. The book stated that most of us can't remember much of anything before age 3. I think that this is strange that our brains just simply forget everything once we pass through our third birthday. I also think this is a true statement because I can't remember a single thing from my early years.

Blog Post #5

One of the things that I found interesting when reading chapter 4 was the section about identical twins. More specifically, I liked the part about the two identical twins who were seperated at birth and raised by two different families. These men were both named Jim, with different last names, and had many similarities in their different lives. Both men had the same interests, named their dog Toy, and their sons Jim. I found it very surprising that these men carried out different lives, but yet so many things were similar about them.

Another thing that I read that I found interesting was the part about mating preference. The book talked about how men go for women who are younger-looking and who have waists that are about a 1/3 smaller than their hips. Our past ancestors believed that women who had these qualities would be able to have children for many years to come and researchers believe that this is why men look for these qualitites now. On the other hand, women look for men who are stable, strong, and would make a good father/provider for their children. Women in the past wanted a man who would stick around and help take care of their children.

I also learned the nurture aspect of people's lives begin long before they are born; in the womb. The environment in the womb (the nutrition we receive and the toxins we are exposed to) begins the nurturing part of our lives. When we are born, our early experience in life help our brain to develop and influence our characteristics as we get older.

Blog Post #4

I listened to the teens and sleep radio talk thing. It basically talked about how most teenagers today don't get enough sleep now days and how it can affect them academically, socially, and mentally. I learned that only 20% of teens get the recommended amount of sleep, which is 9 hours per night. The experts said that taking naps during the day is a good short term solution but it can also have bad consequences. You may not be able to fall asleep until late that night after your nap and in turn get less sleep that night. Because of this, you won't feel anymore rested the next morning than usual. This is relevant to my life because I am one of those teens who don't get enough sleep at night. On a normal school night I probably get about 7 hours of sleep if that. I'm usually tired the next day and sometimes in a bad mood. I also tend to fall asleep after school when I'm just watching TV or something like that. This is interesting because it relates to my life so much and I'm sure it relates to a lot of other people my age as well.

I also learned that most students who get 9 hours + of sleep at night usually do better academically in school. This affects me because I don't get 9 hours of sleep, except on the weekends, and I guess it can affect how I do in school. I don't really agree with this, however, because even though I don't get enough sleep at night, I still do pretty well in school.
Nothing in this section really surprised me; I had already heard most of this before.

Blog Post #3

The first activity that I did was called "Seeing more than your eye does." This study talks about the eye and how everyone's eyes have 'blind spots.' To actually show you where your blind spot is, there is a + on the left of the page and a big black dot on the right. You are supposed to cover your left eye, stare at the +, and slowly move closer to the computer screen. Eventually, you find your blind spot and the entire black dot will disappear. Your brain will then fill in the blind spot with the surrounding color of the screen, pattern, etc. I learned from this experiment that when your eyes don't send info to the brain, it basically makes up what you are seeing. This really surprised me because it just seems weird to me that the brain can just make things up like that on its own.
The second activity that I did was called "Ambiguous Figures." It talks about how what we see is basically just one interpretation of many. For example, they have pictures on the page and when looking at one of them, I immediately thought of a skull. Then, when I enlarged the photo, I could also see a woman looking in a mirror at herself. From this I learned that there are many different ways of seeing something, it is basically all in the eyes of the beholder.

One thing from this section that interested me was when neurosurgeons tried to cure epilepsy by splitting patients brain in half. I learned that this cured the patients of their seizures but the communication with their hands got all messed up. For example, Joe (the guy with 2 brains) was able to draw 2 different pictures simultaneously with his left and right hand.
I thought the theory of phrenology was also interesting. Apparently, back in the 1800s, scientists believed that bumps on our heads could show things about our character and mental abilities just by location or number of bumps. We have obviously come a long way in the study of the brain since then.
These things change the way I originally thought about the brain because, for one, I didn't think it was possible to live with your brain cut in 2. Also, it seems silly to me that people actually thought bumps on our head could determine how smart we are and I am glad to know that we have come farther with our knowledge than that today.

I really liked the video about the guy with 2 brains. I think it is really interesting how he can still function and live with the 2 halves of his brain severed. I think it would be sweet to be able to draw 2 different shapes at the same time. I also think it would be really annoying and somewhat crazy not to be able to process something that I saw out of my left eye.

Thinking Critically [Post #2]

I think research is important because it allows you to investigate things that are relatively unclear. For example, if you don't understand something you learned in school, you could research the information more in-depth. This will give you a better understanding of what you have learned.

I read the research article on psyblog called "The Acceptance Prophecy: How You Control Who Likes You." This article talked all about the so called 'acceptance prophecy,' which basically states that if you believe someone will like or accept you, they more than likely will because you will act warmer and nicer to them. This also works in the opposite direction; if you think someone will not accept you, you will probably act colder and shyer around them, causing them to not like you as much. In this article, scientists tested this prophecy and found that when people felt like their risk of rejection was lower, they were more friendly and welcoming. When the risk was higher, they were more fearful of rejection and were more reserved. All in all, people with more confidence who expected to be accepted were more likable as opposed to those who expected to be rejected. I think this article is relevant to my life because everyone deals with acceptance issues like this and, in my opinion, I believe that the acceptance prophecy is 100% true.

Other things I have learned from this chapter were 1) Psychology isn't just about therapists, it is a scientific process that allows us to see deeper into the human mind 2) There is a lot of experimentation involved in psychology and there is still a lot to learn about it and 3) Thinking critically is a huge part of studying psychology and is basically another word for 'smart thinking.'
All of this is important because it allows us to further our knowledge about our own minds and behaviors.

Chapter 1

Before this class, I already knew that psychology had something to do with the study of the mind and how people interact with others around them. I didn't know how much was involved with psychology until after I read the first chapter. I figured psychology was all about therapists and their patients. If you had a problem in your life, you would go to a therapist and they would ask you a bunch of questions and try to figure out what was wrong with you and the way you think. After reading this first chapter, I found out that psychology is a form of science that goes much deeper than that.
I believe psychology affects everyone's life in some way. We all have emotions and express them in different ways.

One of the things in the chapter that really interested me was the part about Hindsight Bias. In the reading, the definition of Hindsight Bias is a tendency that once something has happened, it automatically makes it inevitable. This basically means that when you look back on an event that already happened in your life, you think it is obvious that everything happened as it did. This happens so often in everyone's life.
Another thing that i found interesting was the section that talked about illusory correlations. When people find an occurrence unusual, they are more likely to remember it. This apparently feeds the fire for superstitious beliefs because people recall out-of-the-ordinary events. Once enough people start noticing the same unlikely events occurring, they all begin to believe that such things are true.