Blog Post #13 - Social Psychology

I thought the Stanford Prison experiment was very cruel. All the prison guards took on this new role and forgot who they were. They forgot about how indecent they were being and never thought about what they were actually doing because it was part of an experiment. In Asch's Conformity experiment I think many people can relate to this experiment and have a better understanding of it. When five people all say the wrong answer and you think the answer is something else but don't want to stand, you are more than likely to conform to the group answer so you do not stand out. I think this experiment can relate to people in school and society in general. This shows how human nature can lack confidence in themselves and sometimes are afraid to stand out and go with how they actually feel. I thought that Milgram's experiment really showed how well some people take to obedience and how far they will actually go. This experiment showed how well some people take to obedience. If I had to take part in this experiment, there is no way I would be able to keep going hearing people "scream" and "have heart attacks." If I knew the indicated pain, there is no way I would be able to continue on.

Social influence has to deal with when the population or a group of people that act a certain way because everyone else is doing it and they would rather not feel like an outcast. Many people conform, or adjust their behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard. The first example is in school when a teacher asks a question and takes a vote, if the majority of the students raise their hand and one student questions what to say. That student is more than likely going to go with the group decision. The second example is clothing trends. Many people buy clothes from the same stores and wear the same types of clothes. Clothing is a social influence and even if people say they are branching out with their own style, usually it is relatively the same as everyone else.

The most interesting thing I learned was the different cultures and how they affect people and how they look at other people. Many people have different culture influences that vary depending on where you live and how many different cultures are around. A culture is the behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next. Many cultures differ in languages, money, sports, food, transportation, and mannerisms. Each cultures has their norms, which is an understood rule for accepted and expected behavior. For example, in Arab societies a kiss is often a greeting from one person to another. In other cultures, this is not acceptable and crosses many people's personal space. When exploring a different culture, a person must know the accepted behaviors of another culture. Human nature manifests human diversity.

Blog Post #12 - Psychological Disorders

According to the book, on page 594, a psychological disorder is an ongoing pattern of thoughts, feelings, and actions that are deviant, distressful, and/or dysfunctional behavior patterns. For many people, it can be very had to decide whether or not someone has a psychological disorder. Many people may think someone does because of the way they act or look at things. People are raised different and have different mannerisms and beliefs, therefore they may look at someone who is different from them and think they have a disorder. At various moments, everyone of us feel, think, or act differently. People may get excited, depressed, suspcious, or withdrawn. However, this does not mean we have a psychological disorder.

I have never been around anyone with a psychological disorder or been close to someone with one. The disorder I found really intriguing was bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder in which a person experiences, in the absence of drugs or a medical condition, two or more weeks of significantly depressed moods, feelings of worthlessness, and diminished interest or pleasure in most activites. Alternating between the euphoric, hyperactive, wildly optimistic state of mania to living in slow motion and being depressed signals bipolar disorder. Many bipolar people have extreme mood swings often, sleep problems, and may have thoughts of suicide. I would hate to be bipolar because one day you could be the happiest person in the world and then the next have the worse feelings of worthlessness. I would hate the mood swings and having to hurt others around me that had to deal with it and who were affected by it.

The most interesting thing I learned was schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a group of severe disorders characterized by disorganzied and delusional thinking, disturbed perceptions, and inappropriate emotions and actions. There are different subtypes of schizophrenia like paranoid, disorganization, catatonic, undifferentiated, and residual. There are early warning signs such as a mother whose schizophrenia was severe and long, separation from parents, disruptive and withdrawn behavior, and emotional unpredicitability. I never knew what schizophrenia actually was and how severe it can actually get. This is one disorder I would never want to have because of the symptoms that it can cause.

Blog Post #11 - Personality

I think I have a very easy, fun loving personality. I am able to get along with most people and definitely love being social. I am laid back and not up tight about anything except my school work. When it comes to people and everyday things, I am laid back, but if my school work is not done, I am way more up tight about it. Another positive trait would be organization. I am organized in and out of school. My locker, homework, and clubs in school are all super organized. At home, my closet and room is always neat and everything has its own place. I am super self-disciplined. My parents were strict on me growing up and now that they are laid back and giving me more freedoms, I am able to discipline myself and make good, smart decisions. I am a fun-loving person and can get along with most anyone. I enjoy helping others and listening to them and providing feedback when asked. The last positive trait would be I consider myself to be relatively smart. I have school smarts and street smarts. School comes pretty easy for me luckily and I am usually able to get stuff done. The first not so good trait would be I get stressed very easily. Sometimes I get stressed because of school and situations outside of school. The second one would be that I am very particular about different things like my homework or projects. I always have to have them just right and the way I envisioned them. The last negative thing would be getting nervous. I get really nervous giving speeches and talking in front of large groups. I also get somewhat nervous going into new situations.

I feel that I am more of a pessimistic person. I always feel like I am thinking ahead about all the negative things that could happen and thinking of ways to prevent them. I feel like this affects my life by always worrying and thinking ahead and possibly getting stressed out. My first example is when I have to take a test in school. I get stressed out and think about all the horrible outcomes of the test. This makes me nervous and sometimes I end up doing not so good because I am worrying too much. My second example is when I go into a new situation that I have never been involved in. Sometimes I think about all the negative things that could possibly happen and it pushes me away from trying new things.

The first trait that can change and adapt from situation to situation would be going from really laid back to being uptight and nervous. When I am in a situation where I feel super comfortable and know exactly what is going on, I am able to be relaxed and laid back. However, when it comes to having to do a speech or enter into a situation that I am unaware of, I get super nervous. It is adaptive because depending on my surrounding and what is going on will decide whether or not I am nervous and worry about things. The second trait would have to be how stressed out I get. I get stressed out super easy,especially at school. However, when I go home I am more at ease. They are two different environments that I adapt to and my personality traits change.

I have used "reaction formation" which is the tendency to act in a manner opposite to one's true feelings. When I was younger and had a crush on a boy, there were many times when you deny it and are mean to that boy because you have a crush on them. I have used "regression" which is relieving anxiety by showing immature behaviors that have relieved anxiety in the past. When I get mad or frustrated with parents or friends, there have been many occasions that I have punched things in my room or threw my cell phone and broke it. I have used "rationalization" which is the providing of socially acceptable reasons for one's inappropriate behavior. I used this when I have argued or been disrespectful to someone because I was standing up for myself or someone else.

Blog Post #10 Thinking and Intelligence

One thing I read about in chapter 9 was overconfidence. Overconfidence is the tendency to be more confident than correct and to oversee the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments. Across different tasks, many people will overestimate that their performance was, is, or will be. There are many different types of overconfidence in our world. For example, presidents may be overconfident when going to war, different tests in the labortories, stockbrokers, and students in school with assignments. Many people are overconfident in their decisions with everyday things. If you fail to appreciate our potential for error, it can have different consequences but overconfidence does have adaptive value also. People who are on the side of overconfidence live more happily, find it easier to make tough decisions, and seem more credible than those who lack self-confidence. I feel that it is necessary to be overconfident in some situations but not when it involves other people and issues that affect them. In school, kids who are overconfident with their opinions and making sure everyone knows exactly how they feel about every situations is very irritating. When kids are overconfident in school work and no exactly what they are doing, it can be nice if you need help with an assignment. Overconfidence can go both ways, sometimes it pays to be overconfident and sometimes people need to know when to hold back.



Creativity is the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas. There are five different components to creativity. Expertise is a well-developed base of knowledge that furnishes the ideas, images, and phrases we use a mental building blocks. Imaginative thinking skills provide the ability to see things in novel ways, to recognize patterns, and to make connections. A venturesome personality seeks new experiences, tolerates ambiguity and risk, and perseveres in overcoming obstacles. Intrinsic motivation is being driven more by interest, satisfaction, and challenge than by external pressures. A creative environment sparks, supports, and refines creative ideas. If you are surrounded by all these things and contain all these things how can creative can one really be? There are different factors that I can be creative with and not so creative with. In school with projects, posters, and things like the yearbook, I feel I can be super creative with designing things. However, I am only creative if its on the computer or with stencils and what not. I have no artistic ability what so ever. I feel it can be an asset to have a higher creative intelligence. If you are creative in different things it allows you to broaden your horizon and be different than others. It may also allow for more ideas to be brought up that can benefit you.



I thought Sternberg's three intelligences were very interesting and the one I would probably relate too the most. He also states that there is more to success than traditional intelligence. He proposed triarchic theory which consists of analytical (academic problem-solving intelligence) intelligence, creative intelligence, and practical intelligence. Analytical intelligence is assessed by intelligence tests which presents well-defined problems having a single right answer. This is the type of intelligence I use in school and work. Creative intelligence is demonstrated in reacting adaptively to novel situations and generating novel ideas. Practical intelligence is required for everyday tasks, which may be ill-defined with multiple solutions. I use practical intelligence everyday with everyday situations and problems. I think intelligence is a measure of many different thinks not just about book smarts and your IQ.

Blog Post #9 - Memory

Memory can help shape a person into what and who they are as they grow older each day. From the day you are born until the day you die, you memorize things all the time. If memory was nonexistent this earth would be drastically different. How would a person carry on their day without memory? It would be almost impossible for memory to not exist because each day carries over into the next. Clive Wearing was a talented musician who suffered from anterograde amnesia. He is unable to transfer memories from working memory to long-term memory. His memory only lasts from 7 to 30 seconds and he spends every day waking up every 20 seconds restarting his consciousness. If I was his wife, there is no way I would be able to be that patient unless I was completely in love with him. I give her so much credit for sticking by his side and making it through each day with him. She has tried hard to help him each day and he still greets her with excitement every time they meet whether or not they were together five minutes before. If I was Clive Wearing's wife, I have no a clue what I would do with myself. You have to be so patient each day and I honestly don't think I would be able to handle that. If he was my husband and I loved him that much, I would try my hardest to work at things and make each day better for the both of us. This makes me realize just important memory is to me. People never wake up and think about what it would be like to not have their memory. Most people, myself included, take it for granted. It makes me think twice about what I should think about more and just how true my memory actually is.

I never realized just how specific and intense the process for memorization actually is. Memory is an unconscious process that can be narrowed down to a three stage model. It begins with information to be retrieved by your senses and registers in your sensory memory. We then encode the information into working or short term memory through rehearsal. From there the information moves into long term memory for retrieving later. We can encode the information automatically, such as what shirt you wore yesterday, or with effort, such as studying for a test. This makes me wonder just how and why I memorize the things I do. Obviously there is no way a person can memorize everything so what sticks out for each item that is memorized. When we did the activity in class when Mrs. Olson read the list of things and I thought she said words she didn't and could only remember certain words. It makes me wonder why I memorized the ones that I did and why not the others? When I did the exercise called "Short Term Memory:Encoding and Rehearsal" it says how most people would memorize words that are spokin that are seen. However, I was able to memorize the words that were written down better than the spoken words.

I found chunking to be very interesting. It is something we use everyday and don't even realize we are doing it especially in school. Chunking is the organizing of items into familiar, manageable units. Chunking can also be used as a mnemonic technique to recall unfamiliar material. The example from the book is ROY G BIV, which helps you memorize the colors of the rainbow. I have used chunking and mnemonic techniques in many of my classes to help me remember and understand concepts for tests and assignments. It is important because people don't even realize they are grouping things together but really it is helping them to recall phrases and words better.

Blog Post # 8

Classical conditioning is a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events. Most now agree that classical conditioning is a basic form of learning by which all organisms adapt to their environment. There is the unconditioned response, unconditoned stimulus, conditioned response, and conditoned stimulus that can all relate to classical conditioning. An example a dog drools when it sees food before conditioning and when it hears a bell it does not salvate. During conditioning, you ring the bell which is the neutral stimulus and give the dog food. Therefore as time goes on the dog will know it is getting food when the bell rings. When the bell rings after conditioning and no food is present, the dog will begin to salvate because it is assosicated food with the bell and thinks it will be given food. Operant conditioning is a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher. For example, if you are late for curfew and there is a resulting consequence such as being grounded or losing your phone. You then learn from that behavior and don't do it again. Classical conditioning associates between different stimuli and in operant conditoning, organisms associate their own actions wtih consequences. Classical conditioning is a respondent behavior that occurs as an automatic response and is involuntary. Operant conditioning is operant behavior that operates on the environment and and consequences. This is interesting because there are different techniques to teaching organisms acquired skills. There are many benefits to having teaching methods for organisms. I can apply this to my life in how I act and what decisions I make. Operant conditioning may give me reasons to obey commands so I don't have to suffer from the consequences.

Positive reinforcement is when you increase postive behavior by presenting a positive stimuli. A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that when presented after a response can strengthen the response. Negative reinforcement can increase behavior by stopping or reducing negative stimuli. A negative reinforcer is any stimulus that when removed after a response strengthens the response. Be sure to remember that negative reinforcment is not a punishment. A punishment is an event that decrease the behavior that it follows. A punisher is any consequence that decreases the frequency of a preceding behavior. There can be positive and negative punishment. Positive punishment can administer an aversive stimulus and negative punishment can withdraw a desirable stimulus. An example of positive reinforcement in my life would be helping my mom out around the house and doing chores and then in return she pays me an allowance for helping. An example of negative reinforcement when a person is not wearing a seatbelt it dings every minutes very loudly and is super annoying. I then put my seatbelt on to make the annoying sound go away. An example of punishment is most common is my life with my parents. If I receive a bad grade, I will not be able to do anything during the week and instead work on homework. If I am late for curfew, I get punished and I am grounded for a few days.

The most interesting thing I learned was classical conditioning and how you can apply it. Pavlov's experiment was very interesting and it is amazing how we can teach organisms certain behaviors for everything with different stimuli. There are different processes such as acquistion, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, and discrimination that can be directly related to classical conditioning. Classical conditioning can be applied for different techniques in drug addicts that are recovering, teaching a child to be potty trained, and parents disiplining their children. This changes the way I look at things because you can look at it and decide how certain organisms were taught certain things and how you can teach someone or something that needs to be taught.

Blog Post #7

I would say that sensation deals with using our five senses. We can see, smell, taste, touch, and hear all the things around us. Our senses detect the different things around us and we get different sensations sent throughout our body. By defintion it is when our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment. To me perception is how we process all the sensations and what it means to us. When we have all these sensations, different people can have their own opinions or explanations which would be our own perception of things. By defintion perception is the process of organzing and interpreting information and for us to recognize meaningful objects and events.



One of the things that I found interesting about this chapter was the section on hearing loss and the deaf. Conduction hearing loss occurs when the eardrum is punctured or if the tiny bones of the middle ear lose their ability to vibrate, and the ear can no long conduct vibrations. Sensorineural hearing loss happens when there is damage to the cochlea's hair cell receptors or their associated nerves. A cochlear implant is the only way to restore hearing for people with nerve deafness and it is also know as a bionic ear. In the close-up article, I was suprised to know that their are 500 million people who live with hearing loss. I was also suprised to read that if yo uare raised in a signing household, you are more likely to express higher self-esteem and feel more acceptable. After reading, this really makes me think about the challenges they face everyday. It also makes me realize how lucky I am and how to many people take, not only hearing, but all their other senses for granted. I can apply this to my everyday life by really being thankful for what I am blessed with. I can also assist those that I come across who are deaf and really try to understand what they are going through.

I read an article called Psychology of Magic: 3 Critical Techniques. In 2007, a group of magicians and psychologists met and talked about the psychological principles they use to produce magic. They aimed to uncover new ways of investigating human thought with behavior. Many psychologists are interested in the principles of magic because many tricks create mind-binding effects that manipulate people's expectations, misdirect their attention, and influence their decisions. All these things are what psychologists are interested in. There are three different techniques they talk about using called psychological misdirection, cognitive illusions, and mental forcing. Psychological misdirection is when the magician points to an object then some sort of gesture distracts the audience and the trick happens. Cognitive illusions are when the magicians uses mental illusions which can fool our attention or play with the way we predict things. They can use smoke and mirrors and other techniques to create the illusions. Mental forcing use different tricks that put the spectator under pressure to answer quickly but the free choice is still emphasized. Many psychologists have begun to use these tricks in their studies to help them learn more about the human brain. This article really makes me want to go to a magic show and really analyze what they are doing. It makes me think how gullable some people can be to these such obvious tricks but yet magicians can still fool everyone. I really don't know how I can apply this to my everyday life other than the fact that if I were to ever see a magic show that I would really try to figure out how each trick works.