Monday, May 27, 2013

IN PREPARATION FOR THE FINAL

Well  I can easily say that it is impossible to study absolutely everything that we learned this year covering the textbook and lectures. Or at least from my opinion. I think that doing the practice test you can get a lot out of it. Each question you can look at all the multiple choice answers and then analyze what each one means, even if that wasn't the specific answer. Then you can think of an example for each, or why that wasn't the correct answer, and what question could have been asked to make it the right answer. I also like to draw diagrams for questions that I think would be useful for, like for me I remember the id, superego, and ego better if I draw a picture of an iceberg. Also, I like to draw out the brain and the different parts. I am so thankful that I did the study guides through out the semester because just skimming over them refreshes me on so many topics. I'm going to be honest I haven't even done half of the study guide for the last chapters because I think it would be more useful for me to just review everything. We recently learned the information so I haven't forgotten it all like the older chapters. Also, I read a whole book on depression for extra credit, so I know that topic down to a T. A lot of mental disorders treatments are the same like schizophrenia, mania, and bipolar all have similar treatments, so that isn't as hard to study for. Again, i'm glad that I didn't cram the night before for all my previous tests because now I can retain the information better. I haven't used Study Blue at all to study, but I might glance over some flashcards tomorrow night. I learned that the more I cram, the worse my results on tests are, so for the most part I'm going to study what I don't know without confusing myself. I finished reading the chapters a while ago so I haven't been learning a lot of new information other then the lectures.  I think I will do decent on the final - as in hoping to pass. No matter how well I do, I will accept it because I put a lot of time and effort into the class and I learned a lot..like I haven't done homework in any of my other classes in weeks.. I could have studied more...as in I should have started studying for this test weeks ago, but with the amount of other things going on in my life, who has the time! Whatever happens, happens..DONE WITH PSYCH FOR LIFE.
But not technically because I see it everywhere I go. Thanks for being an awesome possum teacher Leuthner :)

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Chapter 10: Human Development

I think we all want to know how and why we develop into the people we are today. During this chapter I learned that as babies we are more likely to want comfort than nourishment. Contact comfort: the positive emotions offered not only can make someone happy, but can also offer feelings of safety and protection. In the book they talked about the strange situation experiment. There are four different categories: secure attachment, insecure-avoidant attachment, insecure-anxious attachment, and disorganized attachment. Also described in lecture, I am most likely to be insecure-avoidant attachment, which was when the infant reacts to mom's departure with indifference and shows little reaction on her return. These type of people (avoidant) don't depend on others and take care of themselves. I found the Kohlberg and morality experiment to be very interesting, I know that I determine my morality on postconventional morality. I would break any law to save someones life, life is greater than any stupid law. Also, when it comes to parenting when I get older, I am going to take the authoritative approach, but I also am going to let them learn things on their own. I personally think that kids learn the best from a parent-centered or "hard" approach to parenting.  What do you guys think is the best approach for parenting? Also, the Erikson's model of Idenity: the Idenity Crisis is a unique concept to everyone's individual idenity. I think it is correct for some, but not all. I do not believe that everyone goes through all 8 stages.  

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Chapter 14 : Personality

My group I was out into was Low Extroversion and High Conscientousness

1. My group thought and acted similar through out the exercise.  We came up with a plan and stuck with it. We had specific and realistic plans that we wanted to do like for exampe; travel to the Great Barrier Reef or the Sydney Opera House in Australia. We all could agree on one place and thought it would be a good idea to have an itinerary and a daily routine. Our group was able to stay on task the whole time and not get side tracked thinking about other things.

2. One thing that hindered or hurt my feelings is my group wanted to split up, which is understandable because our personality type would rather be alone or on our own, but personally I would rather be in a group when I travel to a country I have never been to before! Also, people in my group were in a hurry to pick a place and move onto the next question because they didn't like time stalling. Our group was still trying to decide where we wanted to go when some members were already on to the next question!

3.  "North Korea"...blankly stated that is not my personality type. That group's personality was laid back and looking for the attention of others. I think it was strange that some people didn't have a plan and wanted to arrive at their vacation and just go with the flow. Or how they needed to do all of these things like go tanning before their trip.  Or how some groups were very unrealistic and care free.

4.  If other personality types were in our group, hands down we would all sit there and let them do the deciding because we are more reserved and quiet. We all have our own ideas but if their was someone who wanted their ideas to work I think we would just let them decide because to us - this excersise is unrealistic and if we were actually planning a legit trip we would never go with those type of people anyways.  

Monday, April 22, 2013

Chapter 9: Intelligence and Psychological Testing

1. I think the 2 most important aspects of intelligence that should be measured in an IQ test are the ability to solve real world problems - Practical Intelligence and the ability to understand our emotions and others - Emotional Intelligence. We all live once for what, less than a hundred years? Who wants to be intelligent because they spend their whole life studying and wasting their life away not learning anything but a bunch of numbers and definitions. I think practical and emotional intelligence are important because it is all about the real world - the world we live in. Being practical intelligent helps you to solve everyday problems. Emotionally we all want to live happy and stable lives, that is why I think emotional intelligence is so important. Both emotional and practical intelligence is important no matter what culture, age, or gender.

2. To totally eliminate cultural differences? I think - impossible. No matter what type of test you use their is always going to be one type of culture where it is more familiar to them than others. I think though that there are many ways to almost eliminate it or greatly diminish the differences. One way is to use geometrical patterns having to pick out the last pattern. This test is called the Raven's Progressive Matrices. Another way is to design culture-fair tests that totally eliminate the language- giving no culture a greater advantage because of familiarity of language. In reality, we all know that different cultures are better at different areas of intelligence just by the way their culture acts and behaves. 

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Chapter 11 : Emotion and Motivation

There are many theories of emotions. The James-Lange Theory relying on how we result from our bodily reactions implies emotions from what I can see is incorrect.  Cannon-Bard Theory is a theory I agree on because it makes sense that an emotion-provoking event would lead to both an emotion and a bodily reaction. The Somatic Marker theory also makes some logical sense - that we use our gut reactions to determine how we act. Then we have the two-factor theory?? It makes no sense to me, and I don't see how it works in real world situations. I found the section on lying and lie detection very interesting. I did not know that occupational groups like custom officials and psychiatrists do no better job than us at detecting lies. Also, I think we need to find a better way to detect lies because our devices have high falsality rates. Alot of criminals are good liars, how else would they get away with their crimes? I think our whole school should read about the misconceptions of happiness. Like money won't buy you happiness! OR just because soemthing bad happens to you..it doesn't determine your happiness.  I was sad to hear that people on the West Coast are not happier than us Minnesotans... I was planing on moving to California in my later years thinking the sun and beach would bring me a great deal of happiness, I guess I was wrong! I found it amusing to find a whole section on attraction, love, and hate in our textbook. Proximity, similarity, and reciprocity...the triangle of LOVE. 

Sunday, April 7, 2013

TEST 2!

That test was bogus! I studied for hours on end and did the study guide and watched all the lectures, I felt prepared for the test and I still did bad! I thought that I understood all the material in detail and could explain it all in my own words. I think that it is alot of information to retain at one time, and when it came down to test time some of the questions were confusing and I drew a blank. For the next test I am going to have to work harder and make sure I start studying TODAY- way in advance..even though I studied alot for the last test. I think I put in the work, but didn't get the results I wanted. One reason is becasue during the state tournament I didn't do any psych....so I had to cram over spring break..but still this class is hard. Thank god for extra credit. What I learned in psych....I am classicaly conditioned to fear our classroom. Everytime I walk in im scared!

Monday, April 1, 2013

Chapter 7 : Memory

What elements played a role in creating Paul's "memories"?
Paul didn't think that his daughters were liars so he thought that what they said was true. All of his sheriffs and friends were his interrogators. He was also placed in an isolated cell where the lights were on nearly all the time because he was under a suicide watch. He was manipulated, hypnotized, and detained. The police told him that if he confessed that he would start to remember what happened. He visualized what happened after praying and would describe what he thought would have happened in third person.
Identify research findings from the Locust Article that might apply to the Paul Ingram case.
Stated in the article, people can be implanted with false memories that never happened under certain conditions. For example a study was shown how people had said that they had seen Bugs Bunny at Disney World because they were talking about it and made it believable and realistic. Bugs Bunny isn't even a Disney character but people were convinced they had seen him. This shows that with the right amount of convincing and manipulating you can get people to remember things that never happened, just like how Paul Ingram believed he committed the crime.
What evidence of his potential innocence was ignored? Why would people ignore this evidence?
The daughter who said that her dad molested her was actually a virgin. He could have never raped his daughters if they were virgins. The evidence was ignored because all over the country people had heard  what he had done and he was already hated, also he couldn't be trusted because people didn't know what to believe. Also, once he confesses there was no way to go back, if he said he did it, there was no going back.
Why do you think Paul Ingram confessed?
I think he confessed because he was under so much pressure and all of his friends and family turned against him and he had nobody to talk to. Also, I think that all along he was trying to be a good father, and he didn't want his kids to get in trouble or have to go to court or jail. He eventually believed what people were telling him because he didn't know what else to think.