When something is a psychological disorder it is an ongoing pattern of thoughts, feelings, and actions that are deviant, distressful, and/or dysfunctional. In order to decide what is a psychological disorder you have to view the standards for deviant behavior which vary by context and by culture. They also vary with time. However there is more to a disorder than being deviant. To be considered disordered, deviant behavior usually causes the press distress. If someone acts abnormally they are not disordered. Everyone acts different and has other thoughts on how they behavior. Unless the person shows signs of distress they are normal, I believe.
I have not had a psychological disorder, nor have I known anyone who is disordered. However I have studied the disorder of paranoid schizophrenia. Which preoccupation with delusions or hallucinations, often with themes of persecution or grandiosity is the definition. Some symptoms are confusion. lose of ouch with reality, strange behavior and actions and a change in eating and sleeping habits. If I had this disorder I don't think I would think anything of it. I think I would be looked at differently and have no friends. I would do weird actions and act abnormally.
I found learning about bipolar disorder very interesting. I learned that adolescences have mood swings from rage to bubbly which can produce a bipolar diagnosis. I found it interesting because I never knew that during the manic phase of bipolar disorder the person is typically overtalkative, overactive, and elated, have little need for sleep and show few sexual inhibitions. The person also finds advice irritating. They need protection from their own poor judgement, which may lead to reckless spending or unsafe sex.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
Blog #13
As I watched the video about Asch's Conformity I began to think of so many situations that I have been in myself. I sometimes believe that I know the right answer but then once everyone else says a different answer I begin to go with what they are saying. Althought I think that I am right I am not 100% sure. I think because the majority are voting for the same answer that I am wrong. Then I started to watch and learn about the Milgram's Obedience which I disagreed with. I couldn't believe the cruel ways people would treat others just for a psychological tests. Many of the people used as the victims in this test could have other problems that could result in life threaten situations. Finally was the Stanford Prison Experement which I believed to be very cruical and painful for the victims. I, once again, disagree with this experiment and still can't believe people would do such a thing to others. What I found rather interesting about these experiments were that some, if not most, of the victims to the experiments were able to leave the tests normal and fine even through all the different experimentation. These studies state that as humans no matter who you are the odds of you staying with what you think to be right over the majority of people thinking the opposite you are going to go with what others are thinking. That is just human nature.
A social influence can be seen in one's conformity (adjusting to one's behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard) compliance and group behavior. The book has examples of normative and informational social influences. Normative include influences resulting from a perosn's desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval. Informational include influences resulthing in a person's willingnes to accept others's opinion in reality. An example of having a normative influence would be completing homework and doing well in school. I have an older brother who set the bar high when doing homework and taking tests. My parents have then expected the same from me even though I am not my brother. However because he has has set the bar and my parents believe and want me to do the same if not better I try my hardest and won't settle for anything less. Another good example of a social influence would be being voted President of Student Council. Because of my thoughts and some ideas I decided to run as an officer to have my ideas thrown out there. Because of my ideas and they relate to others I was voted as the President. Others began to understand my points of view and agree on topics with me.
The most interesting thing I learned in this class was the different parenting styles such as authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative. I found the different styles interesting and related them to the parents of my friends. I could pick out which parents were what and most importantly which parents mine were. My parents are the authoritarian type. They are strict and have many rules and do expect much obedience. They want us to be respectful towards others especially our elders and follow rules when they are given with no questions asked. They obiviously gave the rules out for a reason and that reason isn't to be quesioned. I learned many more important and interesting facts in psychology and parenting styles caught my attention the most.
A social influence can be seen in one's conformity (adjusting to one's behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard) compliance and group behavior. The book has examples of normative and informational social influences. Normative include influences resulting from a perosn's desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval. Informational include influences resulthing in a person's willingnes to accept others's opinion in reality. An example of having a normative influence would be completing homework and doing well in school. I have an older brother who set the bar high when doing homework and taking tests. My parents have then expected the same from me even though I am not my brother. However because he has has set the bar and my parents believe and want me to do the same if not better I try my hardest and won't settle for anything less. Another good example of a social influence would be being voted President of Student Council. Because of my thoughts and some ideas I decided to run as an officer to have my ideas thrown out there. Because of my ideas and they relate to others I was voted as the President. Others began to understand my points of view and agree on topics with me.
The most interesting thing I learned in this class was the different parenting styles such as authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative. I found the different styles interesting and related them to the parents of my friends. I could pick out which parents were what and most importantly which parents mine were. My parents are the authoritarian type. They are strict and have many rules and do expect much obedience. They want us to be respectful towards others especially our elders and follow rules when they are given with no questions asked. They obiviously gave the rules out for a reason and that reason isn't to be quesioned. I learned many more important and interesting facts in psychology and parenting styles caught my attention the most.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Blog #11
I have many personality traits that represent who I am and people should expect. My strongest personality would be thoughtfulness. I always think of others before I think of myself. I try to make others happy and do what would satisfy them before what I want or need. Some traits can be positive others not so much. Positive traits are: agreeableness; I don’t see a point in disagreeing and arguing over something that can be discussed to fit both peoples needs, neuroticism; I remain very relaxed in situations that I don’t believe are a big deal I go with what life throws at me and try to make the best of it, extraversion; I am social and enjoy the company of others no matter who the person is or what they are doing, conscientiousness; I am very well organized and can be relied upon I like all my nooks and papers in correct and labeled folders, trustworthy; everyone can trust me with their secrets and know that I won’t talk about them behind their backs. Negative traits are: moody; I become very moody when certain topics are discussed and some things I don’t like brought up, procrastinator; I wait until the last minute to do my homework and hand in my work when time is almost up, I complete the work to the best effort I just don’t use my time wisely, opinionated; although it can be positive it can be taken negative as well, I will stand by what I believe and it can sometimes create an argument.
I believe I am both optimism and pessimistic. It all goes back to my mood. If I am in a good mood everything is optimism and at an above average level. However on a not so good day I can be pessimistic and it is at a low level. They both impact my life because many will see me as happy and always looking at the positives in life however some might only see me when I am pessimistic and get the wrong impression. An example would be everyone complaining about the test to take in school but I would mention we wouldn’t have homework over Thanksgiving break. Another example would be I complain about everything and look at all the negatives the situation has to offer and the new student in school sees me acting in this way will get the impression I am very pessimistic.
Two traits that vary are mood and extraversion. An example of moody would be – the other night I was happy doing my advanced math assignment. My dad came and sat by me and asked me how the class was going. They he tells me how I won’t do well in college if I don’t study for all my quizzes. I got very upset and angry with him for telling me something I already know. Another example would be I am having a great day talking to others and saying hi until I hear news that my boyfriend is flirting with other girls. I wouldn’t approach him because we are all human and do it but I would become very antisocial and not want to talk to anyone else. In both situations they would only benefit you until the change occurs. In both scenarios I was happy which would bring joy to others, then my mood would change or I wouldn’t talk to you.
I have very strong defense mechanism level. An example of a defense mechanism would be when someone would talk negative about my ex boyfriend I would stand up for him and defend him over what they had to say because I still cared about him. Another example would be me teasing my brother but once someone else starts to tease him I would defend him and put what I had to say before behind me. A final example would be when someone talks of my faith and what I believe I will stand up and speak my opinion in a defensive matter.
I believe I am both optimism and pessimistic. It all goes back to my mood. If I am in a good mood everything is optimism and at an above average level. However on a not so good day I can be pessimistic and it is at a low level. They both impact my life because many will see me as happy and always looking at the positives in life however some might only see me when I am pessimistic and get the wrong impression. An example would be everyone complaining about the test to take in school but I would mention we wouldn’t have homework over Thanksgiving break. Another example would be I complain about everything and look at all the negatives the situation has to offer and the new student in school sees me acting in this way will get the impression I am very pessimistic.
Two traits that vary are mood and extraversion. An example of moody would be – the other night I was happy doing my advanced math assignment. My dad came and sat by me and asked me how the class was going. They he tells me how I won’t do well in college if I don’t study for all my quizzes. I got very upset and angry with him for telling me something I already know. Another example would be I am having a great day talking to others and saying hi until I hear news that my boyfriend is flirting with other girls. I wouldn’t approach him because we are all human and do it but I would become very antisocial and not want to talk to anyone else. In both situations they would only benefit you until the change occurs. In both scenarios I was happy which would bring joy to others, then my mood would change or I wouldn’t talk to you.
I have very strong defense mechanism level. An example of a defense mechanism would be when someone would talk negative about my ex boyfriend I would stand up for him and defend him over what they had to say because I still cared about him. Another example would be me teasing my brother but once someone else starts to tease him I would defend him and put what I had to say before behind me. A final example would be when someone talks of my faith and what I believe I will stand up and speak my opinion in a defensive matter.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Blog #10
In Chapter 9 I learned numerous new things and all that interested me. However, the topic of explaining language development caught my interest the most. In this section two different people, a Behaviorist and a Linguist both expressed their reasons to how humans learn what we know. Skinner, the Behaviorist, stated we learn by 3 main principles; association, imitation, and reinforcement. He gave an example of each such as for association, the sight of things with sound, imitation, the words and syntax modeled by others, and reinforcement, smiles and/or hugs when the child says something right, The Chomsky, the Linguist, stated children acquire untaught words and grammar faster than solely learning principles. Children generate all sorts of sentences they have never heard. Chomsky believes given adequate nurture language will naturally occur. He gave the example that no parent teaches their child to say “I hate you, Daddy.” I found this interesting because I believe that both are right to an extent. I believe Skinner more than Chomsky because although we don’t teach children bad words or negative comments they hear them from their models or parents and they imitate them thinking that is what they are suppose to do.
As defined in the textbook creativity is the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas. I chose that one because I usually come up with ideas to write about or an answer to solve a problem. I can honestly say that I am creative. I believe I am most creative when designing something or decorating. I love to scrapbook and I think that is where most of my creativity is shown. I also apply being creative to my everyday life by helping people solve their problems. I personally think if you have a solution to someone’s problem you were creative in finding an answer. Being high in creative intelligence is a huge asset because you think beyond your normal knowledge. You find other ways to solve or create something then what is given.
In Chapter 10 I learned about hereditary and environmental influences on intelligence. I found this interesting because they had two good points to prove. I f someone was born into a smart and well positioned person they would think by birthright they justify their social position. That is from heredity. However if we got our intelligence from the environment someone who was brought up in a disadvantage environment can expect to lead disadvantaged lives. I was curious to see whether I could blame my intelligence on my mother and father or I would have to thank nature for what it has given me.
As defined in the textbook creativity is the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas. I chose that one because I usually come up with ideas to write about or an answer to solve a problem. I can honestly say that I am creative. I believe I am most creative when designing something or decorating. I love to scrapbook and I think that is where most of my creativity is shown. I also apply being creative to my everyday life by helping people solve their problems. I personally think if you have a solution to someone’s problem you were creative in finding an answer. Being high in creative intelligence is a huge asset because you think beyond your normal knowledge. You find other ways to solve or create something then what is given.
In Chapter 10 I learned about hereditary and environmental influences on intelligence. I found this interesting because they had two good points to prove. I f someone was born into a smart and well positioned person they would think by birthright they justify their social position. That is from heredity. However if we got our intelligence from the environment someone who was brought up in a disadvantage environment can expect to lead disadvantaged lives. I was curious to see whether I could blame my intelligence on my mother and father or I would have to thank nature for what it has given me.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Blog #9
Having memory is a privilege that we, as humans, take for granted. No one realizes how much a person uses their memory and doesn’t realize it. Without memory it would be difficult for a person to continues forward in life and increase their knowledge and ability to learn. Memory is everything that a human’s life is revolved around. Clive Wearing is an amazing and gifted human in the study of music. He has talent beyond any other however his lack of memory hurts his ability to go fat in life with what he knows. As I sit here I imagine being Mrs. Wearing, Clive’s wife, and I think to myself she handles Clive’s disability very well and doesn’t let that affect her love for him. She knows how long they have known each other and what has happened yet she plays along, while with him, like nothing has ever happened between them before. Now I see myself in her shoes and I can honestly say I could never do it, I couldn’t handle being married and having my partner forget everything in the past and for that matter my name. I would get upset with Clive when he states he didn’t write in his diary or that he doesn’t know what I am talking about. After this video I realized how fortunate I am to have the memory I do. I know I complain about forgetting little, unimportant events, but after seeing Clive those unimportant events became nothing because I can still remember my families’ names.
To me, memory was nothing like I thought it worked before. I learned in the “Human Memory Model” that human memory is described as a set of stores which are places to put information and a set of processes that act on the stores. It then went into detail about 3 stores being 1.) Sensory information store, 2.) The short term store and 3.) The long term store. They spoke of 3 processes; 1.) Encoding, 2.) Maintenance and 3.) Retrieval. I had no idea there were so many different places and steps to having a memory. I don’t see a difference in my memory from any other, I believe they all work the same what stops others from remembering certain things is the way our brain works and how it was developing. Most of the time I trust my memory and I normally have other information to back up what I have stated. However there are many points in time where I second guess myself and don’t agree 100% with what my memory is telling me.
In this section I learned the influences of emotions and stress hormones on memory. I found out that when we are excited or stressed emotion-triggered stress hormones make more glucose energy available to fuel brain activity, signaling the brain that something important has happened. I believe it was important because so many events take place in a person’s life that can change their emotions and affect their memory. However something can happen on a day to day basis and a person still has to remember those events as well. I can apply this to my life, especially being a teenager and emotional, because I have school work to memorize yet events occur that either make me happy or sad and remain in my memory for a larger period of time than any school work would.
To me, memory was nothing like I thought it worked before. I learned in the “Human Memory Model” that human memory is described as a set of stores which are places to put information and a set of processes that act on the stores. It then went into detail about 3 stores being 1.) Sensory information store, 2.) The short term store and 3.) The long term store. They spoke of 3 processes; 1.) Encoding, 2.) Maintenance and 3.) Retrieval. I had no idea there were so many different places and steps to having a memory. I don’t see a difference in my memory from any other, I believe they all work the same what stops others from remembering certain things is the way our brain works and how it was developing. Most of the time I trust my memory and I normally have other information to back up what I have stated. However there are many points in time where I second guess myself and don’t agree 100% with what my memory is telling me.
In this section I learned the influences of emotions and stress hormones on memory. I found out that when we are excited or stressed emotion-triggered stress hormones make more glucose energy available to fuel brain activity, signaling the brain that something important has happened. I believe it was important because so many events take place in a person’s life that can change their emotions and affect their memory. However something can happen on a day to day basis and a person still has to remember those events as well. I can apply this to my life, especially being a teenager and emotional, because I have school work to memorize yet events occur that either make me happy or sad and remain in my memory for a larger period of time than any school work would.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Blog #8
Classical conditioning is a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticpate events. That was the way the book described it. In my words I believe classical conditioning is like taking puzzle pieces and putting them together to create the whole picture. An example would be a teacher giving you the end of the chapter assignment and making the next day a review day in class. You can conclude that the following day is going to be a chapter test in class. Operant conditioning is a type of learning in which behavior is stregthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher. An example of that would be me cheating on a test, and having bad behavior, then in turn getting a 0% on my test from the teacher causing me never to cheat again. The difference between classical and operant conditioning is classical you are using what you know to predict a future event whereas operant is performing a behavior that will diminish because of a punisher telling you it was wrong. It is interesting to see how two types of conditions can be totally different in many ways yet still play a huge part in our lives. They both apply greatly to my life but I believe more so operant conditioning because so many times I perfrom behaviors at school, at home, or at practice that I get punished for and realize it wasn't worth the time.
Positive reinforcement is increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli. Negative reinforcement is increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli. Punishment is an event that decreases the behavior that it follows. An example of a positive reinforcement is a suggestion that my mom brought to my attention. She offered to buy me a cell phone for my 18th birthday if I could keep all "A"s in all my classes. I worked really hard and set goals for myself to complete all my classes with an A. I achieved those goals with "A"s in all my classes and for my 18th birthday I received a cell phone. An example of a negative reinforcement would be my behavior changed when I was dating a certain guy. He was a bad influence on me and made my behavior change for the worst. My mom brought it to my attention and told me to stop seeing him. I did as she asked and it urns out his next girlfriend he got pregnant and got into trouble for under age drinking. I also found someone better for me. Finally, an example of a punishment is I tend to use unnecessary and inapproiate words. Well my mom hears them and everytime I use an inapproiate word I have to pay her 10 cents as my punishment. That money than goes to charity. The outcome in this situation is at the time I didn't think 10 cent was a lot until I realized how much I swore and how I was running low on money. I soon reduced my swearing and I have money again.
In this section I thought observational learning was the most interesting topic. Observational learning is observing others in their actions and than imitating them. I love to see the different behaviors and actions performed and see who follows and who doesn't. I also enjoy seeing how others respond to the action, such as do they follow or do they become individual and do their own thing. This applies to my everyday life and everyone elses in the aspect that people do stuff all the time in shcool that others will either follow or thye will go the other direction. I have observed that if someone is popular they are more likely to be imiated than if someone who isn't so popular were to do the same thing.
Positive reinforcement is increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli. Negative reinforcement is increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli. Punishment is an event that decreases the behavior that it follows. An example of a positive reinforcement is a suggestion that my mom brought to my attention. She offered to buy me a cell phone for my 18th birthday if I could keep all "A"s in all my classes. I worked really hard and set goals for myself to complete all my classes with an A. I achieved those goals with "A"s in all my classes and for my 18th birthday I received a cell phone. An example of a negative reinforcement would be my behavior changed when I was dating a certain guy. He was a bad influence on me and made my behavior change for the worst. My mom brought it to my attention and told me to stop seeing him. I did as she asked and it urns out his next girlfriend he got pregnant and got into trouble for under age drinking. I also found someone better for me. Finally, an example of a punishment is I tend to use unnecessary and inapproiate words. Well my mom hears them and everytime I use an inapproiate word I have to pay her 10 cents as my punishment. That money than goes to charity. The outcome in this situation is at the time I didn't think 10 cent was a lot until I realized how much I swore and how I was running low on money. I soon reduced my swearing and I have money again.
In this section I thought observational learning was the most interesting topic. Observational learning is observing others in their actions and than imitating them. I love to see the different behaviors and actions performed and see who follows and who doesn't. I also enjoy seeing how others respond to the action, such as do they follow or do they become individual and do their own thing. This applies to my everyday life and everyone elses in the aspect that people do stuff all the time in shcool that others will either follow or thye will go the other direction. I have observed that if someone is popular they are more likely to be imiated than if someone who isn't so popular were to do the same thing.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Blog #7
I would clearly state that the difference between sensation and perception has a varitey of different ways being descirbed. I would first state that sensation is what you are feeling of how you act in respones to the environment. Whereas perception is how you see things through your eyes. Many people get this two words mixed up or think that they are the same but they are actually totally different.
The most interesting thing that I learned in this chapter was dealing with the illusions and seeing things beyond what they appear to be. I was interested in the illusions we had to glance at and write about. Some many of the illusions I looked at and thought one thing but then realized after you look at the display and go beyond what the naked eye sees you see much more. I then related all this illusions to life experiences that I either have experienced or will be experiencing in the future. My favorite was the wagon wheel, you thought you knew what was happening and you thought you had figured out the puzzle but really you had to sit and observe what was truly taking place as the wheel spun. So many situations occur in my life today that I see people for who they are on the outside but it isn't until I look closely and talk more to them that I finally figure out their true selves and realize what kind of person they are.
The article I chose to summarize was called 18 ways attention goes wrong. This article talks about how our minds get so distracted and can't stay focused on one thing. We forget, as humans, of the present events that we are doing because we are thinking about future events yet to come. Because of the mind working like this we miss many other occurences in the present time that play a huge part of our future. Then the article listed 18 ways and describe each of them and how they all can play a part in attention lost in your present mind set. I found this article interesting because some of the way they mentioned that affect your train of thought at the time are events I would never have thought would affect me. It then started to make me think about how some events affect my thoughts at the moment and then I forget what I was doing, who I was talking to, or what I was suppose to be doing but instead I got side tracked. I will always be applying this to my everyday life because there will never be a moment in my life that I can't be doing something without thinking of many others things. For example right now, I am doing my psychology homework and concentrating on how these events affect my learning yet I am truly thinking about what I am going to wear tonight to the football game and how I did on my last Physics quiz. So many events happpen in my life that I can relate to either the illusions that I saw for today or just events that take place of what my mind is suppose to be set on.
The most interesting thing that I learned in this chapter was dealing with the illusions and seeing things beyond what they appear to be. I was interested in the illusions we had to glance at and write about. Some many of the illusions I looked at and thought one thing but then realized after you look at the display and go beyond what the naked eye sees you see much more. I then related all this illusions to life experiences that I either have experienced or will be experiencing in the future. My favorite was the wagon wheel, you thought you knew what was happening and you thought you had figured out the puzzle but really you had to sit and observe what was truly taking place as the wheel spun. So many situations occur in my life today that I see people for who they are on the outside but it isn't until I look closely and talk more to them that I finally figure out their true selves and realize what kind of person they are.
The article I chose to summarize was called 18 ways attention goes wrong. This article talks about how our minds get so distracted and can't stay focused on one thing. We forget, as humans, of the present events that we are doing because we are thinking about future events yet to come. Because of the mind working like this we miss many other occurences in the present time that play a huge part of our future. Then the article listed 18 ways and describe each of them and how they all can play a part in attention lost in your present mind set. I found this article interesting because some of the way they mentioned that affect your train of thought at the time are events I would never have thought would affect me. It then started to make me think about how some events affect my thoughts at the moment and then I forget what I was doing, who I was talking to, or what I was suppose to be doing but instead I got side tracked. I will always be applying this to my everyday life because there will never be a moment in my life that I can't be doing something without thinking of many others things. For example right now, I am doing my psychology homework and concentrating on how these events affect my learning yet I am truly thinking about what I am going to wear tonight to the football game and how I did on my last Physics quiz. So many events happpen in my life that I can relate to either the illusions that I saw for today or just events that take place of what my mind is suppose to be set on.
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