Chapter 8: Language, thinking, and reasoning

Reading this chapter I felt like I was in speech class! Alot of the terms we learned about language were similar to the ones we have learned in speech like the four levels of analysis : phonemes, morphemes, syntax, and extralinguistic information..also dialect and arbitrary sentences.  I have always thought that sign language was an unbelievable way to communicate with others. I learned that humans aren't the only species to communicate, animals do to just in different ways like mating and agression. Linguistic determinism and relativity are described as two different things in the book. I thought they were the same?
Regarding the Winter Survival Game:
2. What kinds of errors affected problem-solving in your group? (Failure to Define the Problem? Functional Fixedness? Confirmation Bias? Groupthink? Social Loafing/Group Dominance? Provide at least one specific example.)
 My group did a very good job with functional fixedness, we new to use the objects for more then there original purpose. We knew that the ball of steel wool is extremly flammable and that the whiskey was also flammable not just used for alcohol. I would say our biggest problem is we thought about it too much when we should have used our basic principle of Occam's Razor. Sometimes the simplest solution is the best! Some people in our group were affected by confirmation bias, they only wanted their ideas to be right and they shut out any one elses.
3. If any individual scored better than the group, why was the group not able to take advantage of that accuracy? OR If the group scored better than all members, why was the group better?
I scored better as a group rather than individually because I barely even defined the problem, which is step one in critical thinking. I also would say I was set in a mental set on just trying to find my way back home..when really that is unrealistic in negative degree whether so far away from home. I forgot about the needs of others and thought that my way was right as long as I was warm and safe.

Chapter 6: Learning

This chapter was the death of me...I thought it made sense when I first started reading it..but then everything started combining together and I didn't know what term meant what or what example was for what condition. Classical Conditioning and Pavlov's Discoveries with the salivating dogs were easy to follow with the diagram in the book explaining UCS, UCR, CR, and CS. Then they throw at you acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, stimulus generalization, and stimulus discrimination..like what?? None of those terms make any sense to me especially when they use them again in operant conditioning..are they the same terms or do they have different definitions? I liked reading about the story of Little Albert because I didn't know that fear could be shaped by classical conditioning. The Skinner boxes interested me because they were so much more advanced then the cat boxes made by Thorndike. Under the applications of Operant Conditioning I was confused about the differences between shaping, fading, and chaining. It says that fading is decreasing the frequency of our reinforcement and chaining is a technique in which they link a number of interrelated behaviors to form a longer series. Does that connect to fading or shaping? I dont understand this chapter at all. Someone help me "learn". ;)

Chapter 5 : Consciousness

The first part of this chapter is so interesting...the second part was not so much....I love learning about how our brains work when we sleep.  I always knew there were different cycles when you sleep, but I read that there are 5 different stages and the fifth stage - REM sleep, is where your brain is the most active and you have the vividest dreams. I also was suprised to learn that during each stage your brain's waves frequencies and altitudes differ. Like when you are awake your brain produces beta waves..but when you are in stages 3 and 4 your brain produces delta waves.
For some reason I find learning about the different disorders of sleep very interesting. Except...Insomnia I thought was when you had difficulty falling and staying asleep...and narcolepsy was when you would fall asleep unexpectedly-or when you didn't want to. When I was taking the quiz I got a question about the difference between the 2 and it said

" narcolepsy causes people to have difficulty falling asleep when they want to, while insomnia causes people to fall asleep when they do not want to." That doesn't make any sense to me?? I thought it was the complete opposite?? I am proud to say that I have experienced lucid dreaming before. I actually was screaimg for help in my dream hoping that my mom could hear me and wake me up.  I didn't know if lucid dreaming was even possible until now!

TEST!!

I would have to say I am happy with my score that I got on my psych test. I think coming into this class, everyone makes you really nervous for the tests and says you have to know EVERYTHING. I put in alot of work to prepare myself, but the studying I did was over an accumalated time, I only studied for a couple hours the weekend before. By doing the study guide, reading the chapters, and taking notes I think I was prepared for the test. I was just happy for it to be over. For the next test I am definently going to start doing the study guide in advance! The study guide took me a very long time, but the only thing I used to study was reviewing the questions and understanding them. As long as I keep up with my work, I will easily be prepared for the next test. GO PSYCH!