MINT: IB Psychology Blog

2007-04-03T01:21:00.000-07:00

Student Learning Styles~

Today in my psych class we did a test on learning styles.
At the end; the test classifies us in to 4 catergory-

Then we go to a website that helps explain what those 4 styles are:

http://www.csrnet.org/csrnet/articles/student-learning-styles.html

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There are two perceptual qualities: concrete and abstract.

Concrete: This quality enables you to register information directly through your five senses: sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing. When you are using your concrete ability, you are dealing with the obvious, the "here and now." You are not looking for hidden meanings, or making relationships between ideas or concepts. "It is what it is."

Abstract: this quality allows you to visualize, to conceive ideas, to understand or believe that which you cannot actually see. When you are using your abstract quality, you are using your intuition, your imagination, and you are looking beyond what is to the more subtle implications. "It is not always what it seems."

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There are two ordering abilities in Gregorc’s model:

Sequential: Allows your mind to organize information in a linear, step-by-step manner. When using your sequential ability, you are following a logical train of though, a traditional approach to dealing with information. You may also prefer to have a plan and to follow it, rather than relying on impulse.

Random: Lets your mind organize information by chunks, and in no particular order. When you are using your random ability, you may often be able to skip steps in a procedure and still produce the desired result. You may even start in the middle, or at the end, and work backwards. You may also prefer your life to be more impulsive, or spur of the moment, than planned.

From the test I'm a CONCRETE RANDOM style.

This website also gives further explanation for each style:-

What Do They Do Best?

Inspire others to take action
See many options and solutions
Contribute unusual and creative ideas
Visualize the future
Often a different way to do things
Accept many different types of people
Think fast on their feet
Take risks

What Makes Sense to Them?

Using insight and instinct to solve problems
Working with general time frames
Using real world experiences to learn
Trying something themselves

What’s Hard For them?

Restrictions and limitations
Formal reports
Routines
Re-doing anything once it’s done
Keeping detailed records
Showing how they got an answer
Choosing only one answer
Having no options

What Questions Do They Ask While Learning?

"How much of this is really necessary?"

The ones hight-light red are ones I think I am. I find this activity very interesting and fun because it allows me to really know who i am, and whether or not i agree with it.
Also, we get to know what styles we are weak at so that we can change and balance to help us deal with people of different styles better.

(My lowest score was for Abstract Sequential.)

2007-03-29T23:39:00.000-07:00

Extended Reading "It's Magic..."

What is the relationship between memory and selfhood?

According to the article “memory builds that about us which often seems most solid- our sense of self. We remember, therefore we are.” In my opinion, memory is what b

uilds up the “self” or who we are. Our self maybe relies upon how we think or our perception of the world, which is influence by our past experience, our parents’ guidance. It is mentioned that memory storage of childhood experiences help us develop a richer send of self! As I go through the article it has mentioned other factors such as physiological

ly-the brains and its function that influence our memory. On the other hand, our memories can be reconstructed by list

ening to others or imagining things that makes you believe you really did something. This implies that memory is malleable and easily manipulated, which in fact has an affect on the “self” as well. “Memory is malleable – so are we.”

What new discovery about memory do you find most interesting?

I found the discovery about how sleep helps enhance our memory and the discovery about our memories are being processed at different areas of the brain very interesting.

The discovery that sleeping helps enhance our memory is not the first time I’ve hea

rd of it. Actually, my dad use to tell me that we should go to sleep early because when we sleep our brains release chemicals that will help sort and classify what we’ve learn that day into our brain. The article help confirms what my father use to tell me and it really worked.

The second discovery makes it clearer to me that our memories are not a single file. One memory can be associated to all the 5 senses, and once we recognize one of the cues that lead us to the memory, we will be able to retrieve that piece of memory easily. Our memory works as a network where it is broken in to little parts, in which they are all connected.

How can some memories become indelible?

Some memories become indelible or unforgettable because it is emotionally deep-rooted. We can say that the more we connect our memories to our emotion, t

he deeper and better we remember them Emotional memories are very powerful because when we encounter with such context the brain releases hormone that regulates several physical reactions associated with that emotion. If we encounter similar situations the same hormones overflows repeating similar body reactions. These hormones stimulate the amygdala. In addition, it is said that the amygdala may process many of our unconscious response. Because of this, it is hard to heal or forget the memories that disturb us.

How can amnesia and repression be explained?

Amnesia is when information is not encoded into the long term memory. For example, a victim in car accident does not recall the incident because they lose their conscious right after they got hit. Repression is memory that is forgotten but later is able to be retrieved. It is the body’s defence mechanism that helps protect the person from painful memories (e.g. repeated rapes.)

Amnesia and repression maybe due to a malfunction of the hippocampus. In order to recall certain memory the hippocampus must process the information taken in first. Perhaps, the work of the hippocampus is disrupts while processing the information (e.g. cause by trauma events) while other components of memory carry on.

Explain the following statement: "Memory is more reconstructive than reproductive."

“Memory is more reconstructive than reproductive” this statement implies that time passes by details of the memory fades away and we replace them with our own details based on our perception and schemas. We don’t remember the “actual” event but the “big picture” and reconstruct the details ourselves. We don’t reproduce our past experiences because we don’t remember them; instead we reconstruct them based on what we think we remember and other people’s suggestion.

So does it mean, we cannot rely on our memories and does others? – Nothing is reliable?

What new paradigm of memory is now emerging?

The new paradigm of memory says that memory is the blending or fact and fiction, where images are transformed by experience and emotions. In other words, our memory is not a 100% recall of the actual event but a mixture of what we “think actually” happens and not. We create images according to our feelings and based upon our “self.”

After reading this article, what conclusions can you make about memory?

After reading this article I come to a conclusion that memory is not a solid based that build up that we are, but it is malleable and is easily shaped by our perception, our emotions, other people, or other factors.

Our memories build up who we are, and in contrast who we are determines what we remember. We remember what we think we know and add them with tiny bits of information from other people. This implies that we cannot rely on our memories because it is mostly reconstructed. No matter how confident you are, you can be proven wrong.

2007-03-15T03:25:00.000-07:00

Activity 5 - Rumor Chain Activity

In this activity Mr. Anthony tells Pang a story about a passenger hijacking an airplane. Then Pang retells the story to Maytee, and Maytee to Daniel.

The demonstration shows us examples of leveling, sharpening, and assimilation.

Leveling is simplifying materials, we can see this as the story is retold, and the shorter it goes. This can happen because the person forgets minor details, or sometimes eliminate the details because they don’t think it is important.

Sharpening is highlighting or over emphasizing some materials. In this case, the spec of the machine gun came across the three people.

Assimilation is changing details to better put the subjects own background or knowledge (schema.) For example the pilot in this story is female, and the Stuart of the plane is male. As Maytee retells the story to Daniel, he unconsciously said the pilot is male and change Stuart to an air hostess. Because most pilots are male and flight attendants are air hostess, we change the gender of people in the story to fit with the teller’s schema.

You can see how a story can dramatically change between 3 people. So I guess we don’t have to be over excited when someone gossips or heard rumors because it is likely to be painted all over.

2007-03-15T03:17:00.000-07:00

Activity 4 - All purpose memory activity

In this 4^th activity 14 words are read out loud to us. After that we write down as many words as we can remember.

The words include…

Bed Quilt Dark Silence Fatigue Clock Snoring Night Toss Tired Artichoke Turn Rest Dream

You can see that the words are associated with night schemes.

The chart shows how many students remember each word. From this graph it demonstrates different concept of memory in a role.

Serial Position Effect- most people remembers first and last words.

Primary - first word
Reacency – last word

Semantic distinguishes – most people remember words that stand out or pronounce differently. E.g. Artichoke & Fatigue
Rehearsal improves recall – because the word “night” is repeated 3 times, it enhances our memory and tells us that the word is somehow important for us to remember.
“Toss and Turn” is an idiom that most people associate them together. We “chunk” the words together that is why we hear one part of the idiom we automatically recall the other half.
In this activity 3 people (including me) think the word “Sleep” is said, but it turn out it doesn’t. This is an example of memory reconstruction, which a person thinks they hear or see something happening when actually it doesn’t occur (aka Dejavu.)

*(Keep in mind that this is just a small sample size)

2007-03-13T06:21:00.000-07:00

Activity 3 - Meaning enhances recall

Our third activity is to experiment on how well we recall our memories.

First, 20 words were presented to us, and at the bottom of each card indicated the letters A&B.
(A is for us count to syllables)
(B is to associate pleasant or unpleasant feelings to the words.)

After all 20 words have been said out loud, we write as much as we can remember. Then we count the total, and categorized the numbers in to 2 groups A and B.

The highest numbers of words remembered is 19 and lowest is 6
The person who scored 19 said he created a story to help him remember the words.

the more wild and fancy the story is; the better you can remember

Another person who scored 6 was because he's sleepy

outside factor can also affect the way we remember

The pattern we found is most people will remember words associate to feelings.

The class average for... A is 5.09, B is 7.09, and total words are 12.2.

This activity shows us that in order to remember all 20 words require a effortful-processing. The more meaning to words is to a person, he or she will be able to remember to more.

2007-03-10T03:17:00.000-08:00

SHORT TERM MEMORY~

what's the capacity of our "short term memory" ; how much can we remember in a short period of time???

my psych class did a little activity to test it out.

first, a set of number is read aloud, after that we write that set of number down.
followed by another set, every set of number is increase by 1 digit.
when all the sets are read aloud, we check to see our scores of how many numbers we got correct.

my class average is 6.5, but the average of people around the world is 7 +/- 2

haha~ guess what i think i have a short short term memory because i score a 4....

* fortunately, only 1 trail is not yet a reliable data. we should perform at least 10 trials !!!

from this activity we observed that

most of us remember only the first and last digits, and tends to forget the middle ones.
when we focus too much on the first couples of digit, we will forget to remember that ones behind.
but when we focus on remembering last digits, it interferes with the first half of our memory

from our discussion...

we learn or remember things better when we are able to visualize or see what's going on.
however, the numbers are abstract, which makes it hard for most people to visualize, and to remember them all
also there is no pattern in which the numbers are said.
it will be easier if the numbers are put together in "chunks"; e.g. grouping numbers in 3

MEMORIES THAT WILL STAY WITH US
ARE MOSTLY LIKELY THE
MOST MEANINGFUL AND EMOTIONALLY SIGNIFICANT TO US

2007-03-08T04:17:00.000-08:00

Our first memory

Today we do a little activity trying to recall our first memory.

I remembered that I was about 6, in summer school and there was no electricity. Instead, of being afraid I was happy… perhaps it’s because I’m happy that this is my first summer school.

Then everyone shared their memory. The average age we recalled ourselves was 3-4 years. However, there are some people who recall their age to be around 1-2 years. It turned out to be that it is highly not possible because logically our brains are not fully developed.

Most of the memories are emotional elements. The more tense the emotional we encounter that deeper we will remember. For example, if we get bitten by dogs and its hurts painfully. Mr. Anthony suggests that most of our early memories are reconstructed. Our early memories are malleable, flexible and more likely shape from external factors. We might not remember exactly what happened; instead we remember what our family discusses during dinner, what was told, and we reconstruct the scene. The perspective we see is like watching movie, we see ourselves doing the things told at that age.

2007-01-21T03:40:00.000-08:00

Abraham Maslow

LIFE

Maslow was the first of the seventh child of Jewish migrant. His parents wanted him to have a better life than they did, so they pushed him academically. This academic push led Maslow to feel isolated and lonely as a child.

The feeling of being isolated in an early age may have an impact on Maslow’s theory because one of his hierarchy needs included love and belongingness. Maslow may have look for love from his parents as a child, which he thinks it other people may feel the same way.

They wanted him to earn a degree in law, and wanting to be a good son, Maslow went along with his parents’ wish and enrolled in the City College of New York

At this point he is undergoing the state of "Would-Should Dilemma"

However, it was hard a hard for him, he completed only 3 semester and quit. His parents were shock and upset upon his decision.

He moved to Wisconsin to attend the University of Wisconsin from which he received his B.A. (1930), his M.A. (1931), and his Ph.D.(1934) in psychology.

Maslow fulfilled his parents will, but later found out what he really wanted. Since he discovered his “self,” he followed his wishes and it turned out he did really well. I think it is where he gained his “self-esteem” as another stage in the hierarchy of needs.

He retired to California, where he died of a heart attack in 1970, aged 62, after years of ill health.

2007-01-20T23:46:00.001-08:00

Maslow's Quote

“A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. “

I don’t really agree with this quote of Maslow. I don’t like when he uses the word “must” because it sounds like he is pushing a duty to the person.
As for me, I don’t know if I can call myself an artist, but I like to paint and do activities regarding art. At times when I’m really involve doing some art work, time flies, and I catch myself again an hour or two later. I recall myself, it feels really good, I don’t know if I should call it “ultimately at peace” with myself, but I think it feels more like “peak experience.”

“If I were dropped out of a plane into the ocean and told the nearest land was a thousand miles away, I'd still swim. And I'd despise the one who gave up.”

Personally, this quote is similar to a Thai teaching that says “ความพยายามอยู่ที่ไหน ความสำเร็จอยู่ที่นั่น” This means if you try, finally you will achieve your goal. Or simply it implies that don’t give up.

This quote can give me strength at times that I should try hard at everything I wish to achieve regardless of all obstacles. I admit that at times there are (a lot of) times that I think of giving up. My parents often say that when I ever come across a problem, I rather give up of choose a path that is easier for me, which I think is true. If the situation in the quote really happens, I really don’t know what I will do. Honestly, at first I wouldn’t swim, but think again, just swim and I’ll be safe, I think I’ll try swimming.

“We are not in a position in which we have nothing to work with. We already have capacities, talents, direction, missions, and callings.”

I wonder if my father ever knew Maslow before because this quote is very similar to what he teaches my brother and I. My father always teaches us to be thankful for what we have because we’re luckier than others. We have almost everything necessary, we already have capacities, talents, direction, missions, and callings. We have everything ready, what is left is to only move the first step consciously, and then everything will follow its path.

“What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.”
I guess it’s true, if I can change the way I look at myself, I’ll be happier. If we can change our self awareness, we should change it positively. If a girl is happy with whom she is, what she looks like, and feels confident, it will make everything better. Rather than caring with other thinks of us, we should care the way we think of ourselves.

“He that is good with a hammer tends to think everything is a nail.”
A person who is good with hammer, it can be compared to a person who reaches “self-actualization.” If a person reaches the top of the hierarchy of needs, they will see problems from the “real” situation and solve it consciously.

Quotes from www.brainyquotes.com

2007-01-20T23:45:00.000-08:00

A brief summary of the main ideas and concepts with your personal reactions and reflection about them

Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow’s theory is a description of basic human needs, which he saw as influencing every aspect of our behavior. He sought the basic human need into a pyramid diagram he called “hierarchy of needs.” At the bottom of the pyramid, locates the physiological needs (food, air, shelter) that are the most basic human need. Followed by safety need, love and belongingness, and esteem. According to Maslow, the four basic needs are categorize as “deficiency needs,” the most basic need must be fulfilled before higher needs.

However, this diagram is more of an ideal person to me. I don’t think anyone can follow the diagram step by step. There are many people who doesn’t have all the physiological need but still have esteem, which it also drives him to fight for himself. For example, a successful business man, when he was young, he lived in poverty. He has no food of a house to live in, but because he believes in his ability, so he fights to be in this status.

Self-actualization – “the most advanced human need based on the desire to grow and use one’s capacity to the fullest”

Maslow argued that SELF-ACTUALIZING is a drive within us all, "to be the best we can."

If the person does not see the importance of people around them (parents) or their future. For instance, a good son tries to be the best he can, for his own future, and for his family.

MASLOW~ the PIZZA MAN

Maslow’s theory is a combination of various psychodynamic theorists and himself

Freud’s physiological need,
Horney’s love and safety,
Adler’s esteem
Kurt Goldstein’s self-actualization
Harlow, taught him the importance of scientific methodology and observation.
Maslow returned to New York to work with Edward Thorndike.

His contacts with Wertheimer and other Gestalt psychologist; led him to see the importance of viewing the whole person

2007-01-20T21:30:00.000-08:00

An evaluation that focuses on your own personal response to the ideas of the author. Can you see these ideas having any impact on your life?

Maslow’s theory about the hierarchy of needs can be applicable to very less of the population. I think it is too ideal, and very less people can fulfilled every aspects; one by one. Maslow’s case studies on famous people may have made his theory appear believable, but I don’t think anyone can follow it completely. On the other hand, it may have appeared that Maslow picked out examples that will comprehend with his theory. (Cross-cultural)

Looking at back at myself, i think i've already fulfilled my basic needs such as, physiological, safety, and love and belongingness. However, for me i think i still lack of esteem.
For me because i have all the basic needs right at the first place, so i didn't have to seek for it, which i find this as a bad thing. Since we already have it (others provide it for us) without needing to seek for it, we don't really see the importance of it. As for esteem, it is something i have to look for myself. If i can fulfill this aspect, i believe it's going to be very helpful to me. if i have confidence or esteem in my decisions; i'm postive that i'll be happy .^^.

2007-01-17T23:51:00.000-08:00

A Poet's View

SELF ACTUALIZATION

by Darshan © 1995

There’s no need to strive for perfection 
‘Cause you’re perfect the way you are
There’s no need to look for outside affection 
‘Cause if you look inside yourself it will not be far

There’s no need to change 
To meet the expectations everyone puts on you 
And though that may seem strange 
It’s because you’ve been programmed to 
Believe in a certain way about how you live your life 
And act in a way others think you should
But all that does is cause stress and strife 
And affects you in ways you never thought it could 

Like causing you to think your self-esteem is low 
Or that you’re insecure 
Then it causes you to doubt what about yourself you know 
And shuts down your efforts to ever go for more  

So if you think you would like to improve 
Do it for you and no one else 
Because you have nothing to lose 
By improving yourself

So when that all becomes clear inside your mind 
You’ll become the person you’ve kept hidden 
And a peace within yourself you’ll find 
‘Cause now you know being you isn’t forbidden

Poem: http://www.performance-unlimited.com/sapoem.htm
Picture: www.devianart.com

2006-11-23T02:03:00.000-08:00

EXISTENTALISM~

"a philosophical movement emphasizing individual existence, freedom, and choice."

the idea of existentalism is very deep and meaningful. it's a very "DEEP" topic that can be debate over and over. existemtalism deals with the person trying their whole life to understand themselves.

existentalism is a very fasicinating subject. i really enjoy it because it is what we are looking for; to discover the meaning of life, who we are, what we are made for, etc. At first, it maybe hard to understand, some people maybe totally lost, but once we start looking back into our own lives and reflect upon our own experience, we find existentalism in almost every part of our life.

2006-10-10T19:18:00.000-07:00

What was the historical and cultural context of learning perspective?

The historical and cultural context of learning perspective can be traced back to the 1900s. Being driven by earlier works of Pavlov, John Watson started the behaviorist movement in 1913. Behaviorist such as Watson, Thorndike, and Skinner proceeded to develop theories of learning. Behavioralism emerged at the turn of 20th century and was extremely influential in America, until the 1950s. In USA, Freud’s ideas are mostly rejected, for example his assumption of unconsciousness. Behavioralism de-emphasizes studies of just the brain, but emphasizes more on observable behavior that could be studied through experimentation. Scientifically, it provides simple and more realistic explanation of behavior and how learning can occur. Explanations of behavior can be explains by focusing on how the stimuli in environment produces responses. Consequently, this perspective provides a simpler Skinner added new insights from cognitive and biological perspectives, and modifies behavioralism to learning perspective. Following, in the late 1950s its assumptions and methods are widely criticized.

2006-09-27T23:53:00.000-07:00

Erik Erikson and Alfred Adler are two Neo-Freudians that developed their own theories under Freud’s influences. The change they contribute to classical psychoanalysis was the emphasis of social factors as an influence of development of personality. Adler's theory of striving for superiority broadens the ideas to show that people are not only driven primarily by sexual and aggression drives. While Erikson’s 8 stages of psychosocial development is different from Freud's psychosexual stages it also helps contributed to the understanding of human behavior.

2006-09-07T00:14:00.000-07:00

First essay

i'm pretty satisfy with the score for the first essay in ib psychology class.
i like the structure of essay in class because it gets to the point straight away. no need for attention device and the "waffle"...

we must be very careful about our word choice, because in psychology, we can't use words like "discover" "truth."

the essay question looks easy but when it comes to writing, its quite hard to come up with a "focused" "on topic" essay.

2006-08-30T05:32:00.001-07:00

Sigmund Freud....

what can i really say about him? at one point i think he's a very strange, sexist, and just an dirty old man. but some of his studies (on little hans) does really shock me. towards the end his interpretations did make alot of sense to me. its so surprising how he gain so much from using his theories to cure a little boy.

throughout the discussion in class, many questions come to mind. how can freud interpret what little hans says?? like does those fantasies really symbolize the sexual drives, death-wishes, and phobias?
i was thinking that hans is just like ordinary boy where he loves his mom more because she took care of him, not because he wanted to sleep with her. and later as he grow up, his ego will develop (normally) and sooner or later little hans would recover from his fears.

nevertheless, freud brings up another side of psychology (more of a dark side view.) without him, we probably still believe in demonalogy. his studies may cause stirrups in his years, but it really create a concrete base to the study of psychoanalysis, psyhchosexual development, and so on.

2006-08-22T02:10:00.000-07:00

Sigmund Freud, One of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century.

Freud’s education is very interesting to me. When Freud was young he was a child prodigy, and was expected from his parents. Freud began his education in 1873 at the University of Vienna to study medicine, a path he didn’t want to take. He originally concentrated in biology, physiology, and neurology. His Jewish background played a determining role in his career choice because medicine and law were the only professions open to Jews in Vienna at the time. The University of Vienna is where he starts doing research in physiology and worked with Ernst von Brücke. Brücke introduce Freud into neurology, followed by Wilhelm Fleiss, a doctor from Berlin who inspired Freud's interest in psychology. Freud became interested in hysteria by working with Jean-Martin Charcot, a Parisian neurologist known all over Europe for his studies of hysterics and use of hypnosis.

What is in the Historical and Cultural Context is new to me. Freud study medicine, but the fact that he adopted belief in mechanism is very new to me. “Life understood through understanding underlying physical laws of chemistry and physics.” I don’t really know what it means and how it influences him into “deterministic psychology.”

2006-08-18T18:19:00.000-07:00

Assessment: “Best of the Century” By Albert Ellis

Psychotherapy that has been around for a few hundred years, within those years’ researches and technologies has help change modern psychotherapy from what it was in the past.

Major modification between modern psychotherapy and 19th century therapy are the therapist. In the past they were forced to be loyal to one thought, but presently most therapists blend treatments into their theory and apply them. I find this to be a major change because if therapists change it will lead to revolution on the therapy itself. Today millions of people attend psychotherapy sessions such as regular individual and group therapy, seminars, and workshops. Along with improvement in technology such as computer-assisted materials or self-help books widely accepted by experts, have become very successful and helpful. Onwards, in the 20th century advances international relationships have expanded in many countries. For therapists to cope with clients of different culture and background they must develop special methods; therefore Multicultural Therapy swiftly replaces one-culture attitude. Following, psychotherapy has encourages steps to other support groups that aid in the field of addictions. The therapy has reached many areas for instance education, business, and labor areas. Last but not least, the most common factor in psychotherapy today is religious and spiritual issue. Differently, in the past this factor has been rejected. Religious and spiritual issues are important part of human condition, emotional, and spiritual health. This delicate concern possibly will contribute much to helping people with trouble.

This article brings up 20 breakthroughs in psychotherapy, and I pick 5 that I find most important, and interesting.

Breakthrough #1: Martina Homer, this helped clarify the question of why men are more successful than women. The experiment show dramatic changes in performances between male and female in competitive situation. Participants are place in a close and separate room, where woman performs well, and scores higher on her tests. However, when you put the two people together, the man stands out, whereas woman becomes nervous.

Breakthrough #2: Harry F. Harlow’s research with monkeys showed that love and care from mother had major impacts on emotional and academic development. He also proved that females love their infants, but males tend to be uncaring or slightly abusive. Even though others find his research to be offensive because he interprets monkey behaviors to be similar to humans, but I agree with him. This research supports one of my beliefs that the reason humans do the things they do because of the impact of early day’s experiences.

Breakthrough #3: Robert Epstein demonstrates that “creativeness” is not mystical, but it’s an expansion of what you already know- it’s organized and predictable. Epstein came up with 4 techniques to boost creativity; capturing, challenging, broadening, and surrounding. I find this breakthrough important and interesting because it can be use as a source to help develop creativity in youngsters.

Breakthrough #4: Martin Seligman, the person who developed the theory of “learned helplessness.” His research showed that unconditional punishment has major impact on emotions and cause of depression. Again Seligman’s findings confirm part of my beliefs that childhood experiences can influence who you are and what you do.

Breakthrough #5: Hans Selye, the first researcher to identify “stress.” His laboratory research showed that the body responds to stress in very specific way, and the foundation of understanding the stress plays a part in illness, mood, and performances. I agree with Selye when he mention that “our aim shouldn’t be completely avoid stress, but learn how to cope and live with it.

2006-08-17T00:09:00.000-07:00

The Big Issue

The three "Big Issues" in psychology i discover today are..

Rational VS Irrational
Change VS Stability
Nurture and Nature

Today we fill out a survey that will help us understand ourselves- are the person we believe we are? Throughout the survery i avoid marking disagree or agree strongly because i believe in every area there's always a exception.
According to the results, I'm pretty satisfy with my results because it turn out similar to what I believe. I tend to be an irrational person (10/25,) believing that most people have no explanation to their behviors. I'm a person who believes that people can change over time (11/25), with the aid of nuture (8/25.)

2006-08-14T19:36:00.000-07:00

Why do we do the things that we (want) do?

We do the things that we do because our personality shapes us. Our childhood experiences, is more likely to influence you as a child. In addition, our behavior is also control by the culture and social influences. On the other hand, I think the reasons for our actions and behavior is basically because we're happy about it- we find it entertaining, challenging, motivating etc.

2006-08-09T01:47:00.000-07:00

Why I take IB Psychology...

The reasons I take IB Psychology are firstly, I have great interest of why people behave in certain way. Most of the time when I watch movies or read novels I often become curious and together surprise of the characters' behavior and their consequences. I've observed that different people has different ways of dealing with certain problems, so I wanted to study the diversity of people.

My ideal and future career is something that combines art and psychology (i.e. advertisements, graphic designs, creative, if not a psychologist or counserlor is also a good choice.) By taking psychology it would help me develop my art works too, and vice versa. Ms.Aloha (my 8th grade English teacher, and TCNJ Coordinator) once told me that "...in the future art and designing is not only about how our work is presented, but it's about the audience themselves and how they absorb our piece of art..."
It's great if I know who my audience or clients is and in what ways is best to be able to present my ideas to reach them. If I really acheive my goal in working in one of my ideal careers, by getting to talk to different people, listen to various conflicts, share experiences, and exchange thoughts, it will help me reflect myself. I can use those informations to help others as well as reflecting with myself.

My aunt, who just graduated her master on social science...assure me that in the future they'll be giving out liscensce to people studying in this field. If we really do have a liscense it's a great benefit for taking this course. We can give advice to clients (just like doctors, except the fact of we won't be giving out pills.)

I believe that almost everything has to do with human,and mostly is based on psychology, I wanted to do a deeper study of human mind, emotion, behavior etc., so there's no reason why not to take IB Psychology.