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.

Blog Post #6

1.) I learned many interesting things about life as a teenager back in the day. Life was harder and house chores were expected. Everyone had to do their part and not get paid. I was very surprised when my grandma had told me that she didn't know anyone who didn't attend high school, I thought that there would have been a higher amount of kids not attending. I also learned that many of the things were the same, such as underage kids drinking even though it wasn't nearly as big of a deal, acted the same and had high school dances, and most who very concerned about fitting in and what they wore. My life doesn't involve as much work around the house and not as much is expected around the house. However, in school way more is expected of us and we are expected to attend college in order to get a job. I have never made any of my owns clothes where my grandma made a lot of hers. I don't think I would have like living then because of the lack of technology and how much work around house was expected. It's very hard to tell though because they both have the pros and cons but ultimately I like living in present day and everything that goes with it.

2.) I agree with the video that in our adolescence, it can be a very hard time with conflicting roles and expectations. Parents must give their children enough psychological space, but still maintain an emotionally close relationship. This can be very difficult when kids grow older and don't want to share everything with their parents, the parents can take it as personal rejection. I think that parents need to give their children enough space to grow up and experience with the good and bad or they will never learn. If they don't learn when they are young and when their parents have some rein on them, when they become older there will be no self control. I think my parents have done a good job raising me with rules, but yet letting me have my independence and experience things. It has shaped me into a better person and helped me realized what I want someday when I become a parent and how I will and will not discipline my children.



3.) I learned how each culture has their norms which are rules for accepted and expected behavior. Everyone around the world has their own cultures and group that evolve and have their norms. It is very important when traveling to other countries, you know what is acceptable and not acceptable. Some cultures may collide and their differing norms may invade our personal space. In our country there are many things that we do that other countries do not do and vice versa. For example, greeting each other with a kiss in one country is weird for Americans in the United States. Many cultures have different religions and morals that they abide by and even families have different standards. The bottom line is if you go somewhere other than your house, you need to know what is accepted and not accepted for behaviors!


4.) One thing that I learned in Chapter 5, is the different parenting styles. The first is authoritarian which is when parents have rules for their children and expect them to follow them exactly. If not, they have punishments for them. The second type they mention is called permissive which is when parent's listen to their children's desires and don't imply many rules or consequences. The last type is called authoritative which is when parents are demanding and responsive. They do explain the reasoning behind their rules and encourage open discussions especially with older children. I feel like my mom is authoritative because she is a stricter parent but always tells me why she gives me certain rules. If I explain to her exactly what I am doing and don't get caught lying, I have more benefits and she becomes more lenient. My mother and I are very close and she always encourages me to have open discussions and tell her what is going on in my life. Overall, sometimes I wish I didn't have such strict rules; however, I feel it has made me a better person with more self control!

Blog Post #5 - Nature, Nurture, & Human Diversity

The first thing I never really understood was the difference between identical and fraternal twins. Identical twins develop from a single fertilized egg that splits in two which makes them genentically identical. Fraternal twins develop from separate fertilized eggs, but share a fetal environment. My older sisters has twin boys that are about eight months old and I really wonder what they are. She talks about finding out with a test but supposedly it costs a lot of money. Twins are adorable, however, I don't know if I would ever want to be a twin.

The second thing I read about was peer influences. I feel that our peers have a huge impact on our lives. They state in the book that we seek to fit it with groups and are subject to group influences. I believe this is very true. When you enter preschool, you might like the same foods or play the same games or like the same songs, however, I don't feel that preschool has as much peer influence as high school. When you enter middle school and high school, you tend to be influenced by way more things. The way you dress, who you talk to, your attitude, the choices you make are all peer influenced. Parents can help by choosing your school and neighborhood but they can't pick your friends for you.

I watched the video about Evolutionary Psychology and Sexual Attitudes. They talked about how sex with a male and female is a fertile relationship and that's why more men are attracted to women and vice versa and this is the way humans have evolved. It also talked about how men look for a homemaker and a woman looks for status and resources. I believe this is not true that back in the day women were homemakers but now a lot of women are doing more than just staying home. Some women even provide and the man stays home. Someday I want to be the wife who provides for my family and am independent enough to not have to rely on someone else.

Blog Post #4 - The Unconsciousness & The Two Track Mind

I read through the lecture on consciousness and it was a basic overview of the chapeter. The first thing I learned was there are different layers of awareness. The highest-level of consciousness is it involves controlled processing and the lowest level is called no awareness which Freud's belief states that some unconsious thoughts are too laden with anxiety and other negative emotions for consciouness to admit them. I never knew that we also had levels inbetween such as lower-level, altered states, and subconscious. I also learned that if someone is sleep deprived it can become chronic and there can be many side effects. Many days when I don't get enough sleep I can barely concentrate. This can affect the way I participate in school, my attitude, and my driving. In the end, not only does it affect me but also others around me. That is how important sleep really can be. I learned that I need at least eight hours of sleep a day, which is sometimes very hard for a person with a busy schedule and a lots to get done. I agree that you should really get at LEAST eight hours of sleep a day. It sucks going to school with crabby kids and going home to crabby people.

Blog Post #3 - The Biology of the Mind (Chapter 2)

The first activity that I did was called "Contrast/Color Illusions." This activity consisted of a checkboard with a tall shape casting a shadow over it. This made the colors of the board look darker or lighter depending on where they were located because of the light. The second activity was called "Seeing more than your eye does.". In this activity you had to cover your left eye and stare at a cross. Next to the cross was a round black circle. When you moved your head closer to the screen, the dot disappeared into a blindspot even though it was still there. These activites show how the brain can interpret different colors and make up things.

I learned that we have to look at things closely to make sure our brain is not fooling us. Whether it is the color of something and you need to take into play your surrounding areas. I can apply the blindspot activity to driving everday. Even though a car is in the lane next to me, if there is something in the way my brain is going to tell me there is no car. These activites will really change how I look at things and perceive them. Is my brain trying to trick me or is it actually what I really see?

I have learned in this unit that the brain is way more complex than anyone can imagine. I never knew that we had complex neurons that process information in milliseconds. That is so hard to even understand because nothing in our everyday lives that we encounter is at that speed. I also though it was very intriguing to know how we break down the peripheral nervous system into different movements and glands and then again down into around and calming actions. Everyone knows the brain is very high tech but it's hard to believe all this stuff is going on right now in our brains.

The video "The Man With Two Brains" was so crazy. I never knew something like that was even possible. Performing that kind of surgery just seems so crazy and unreal because of one wrong move could change his life drastically. What is really crazy is how it helped cure him and he did not even know the difference. After watching the video it made me realize how we couldn't draw like he was with the two different shapes. You never think about all the little things until you see something like that. Overall, the video was very imformative and interesting!

Formal Blog #2 - Thinking Critically (Chapter 1)

Research is a very important aspect in society. What would we do if research never existed? Humans would have no knowledge of anything or anyone around them. We research the past to inform ourselves about the present and the future. Research allows us to find cures, solve problems, and to prevent problems from happening in the future.

I read an article called "Mondays Are Not As Depressing As You Think." After the weekend goes by, you end up in school on Monday usually tired and not wanting to be there. Many people think their moods are the best on Friday and Saturday mornings and the worst on Mondays. This study showed that on average a person's mood remained the same throughout the week. This result showed memory bias which meant that when people think of Mondays, stereotypically they think they are depressing. Therefore they recall the worst Monday they have had. When they think of the weekend, stereotypically they think of the most memorable and exciting weekend. I think this is very true that you have a fun weekend and dread Monday even though nothing bad is on Mondays.

One thing I learned is that critical thinking examines the assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions. We use critical thinking everyday for all situations. Some people need to use smarter critical thinking skills. Another thing I learned is that an independent variable is the factor in an experiment being studied and the dependent variable is the outcome factor that could change in response to the independent variable. The last thing I learned in this chapter is how our cultures can shape our behaviors. The ideas, behaviors, traditions, and attitudes in a person's culture have a definite influence from one generation to the next.