Posted What I'll Always Remember to Psych 1001 Section 010 and 011 Fall 2011
I feel like the scientific thinking principles will always apply to real life. They can be used to compare and analyze things that happen every day. For most situations, like the saying "there are two sides to every story" there can be more than one explanation for things which is an example of Ruling out Rival Hypotheses. An example of correlation vs. causation is that, with my group of friends we are all very similar and it could be that we were all so similar and that is why we became friends or because we are all friends we started to be more alike. I actually used this thought process today in a conversation. Falsifiability is very common in being able to tell whether or not someone is lying to you. Whether or not you can prove or disprove the claim that they are making. Occam's razor is a way to think of things when you are trying to explain how something happened. When something happens and one person comes up with a crazy reasoning of the situation, you can think of this and try to reason that whatever is the simplest and most easily probable explanation is probably what really happened....
Posted Why Are You Happy? to Psych 1001 Section 010 and 011 Fall 2011
There are a lot of factors that make people happy. It's interesting that there could just be this simple list of things that are common for every one and they make everyone happy. The list of things that make people happy are: http://solarphotographers.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/really-happy-girl.jpg Marriage: married people are usually happier because they have someone to share their life with and responsibilities as well giving them less to worry about. Friendship: people who have a good number of friends tend to be happier than those with few or none. My friends are what keep me happy, without them I would be so sad and lonely and bored. College: people who went to college are usually happier. I would say that compared to my brother who didn't go to college, I am happier. I wouldn't know what to do with my life if I didn't go to school. I would feel like a loser. Religion: those who are deeply religious tend to be happier than those who aren't. Their religion and closeness to God make them happy and fulfilled with life. Political affiliation: people in the Republican Party tend to be happiest then democrats then independents. Exercise: people who exercise are usually happier than people who don't. Exercise works as a kind of antidepressant. It also makes people happy to feel the sense of accomplishment you get after working out and feeling fit and healthy. Gratitude: thinking about all the reasons that you should be happy actually makes you happier. When you think of all the good things you have in your life you realize how much you have to be happy for and how much you appreciate those things. Sometimes I am sad but if I really think about my life and all the people in it, it makes me much happier and I realize I'm not alone. Giving: when you give to other people who are less fortunate it usually makes people happy. People are more happy spending money on others then on themselves. I love to give gifts it makes me happy to know that I got someone something that they wanted or will just love and I love to surprise people and see the look on their face. Flow: this is a mental state where people are completely caught up in the moment, in what they are doing at that time. They aren't really paying attention to the world or the bigger picture or problems that can wait until tomorrow. They're just happy now. I always feel this way when I'm with my friends or boyfriend and am having an amazing time. These things are important because it is important to know what makes people happy and what makes you happy and realizing that these things are a common bond among most people....
Posted Viloent Media and Aggression to Psych 1001 Section 010 and 011 Fall 2011
Violent media influencing aggression is a very interesting topic to me. It is saying on one side that watching violent television programs or playing violent video games causes people to be more violent and aggressive in their everyday lives. Then on the other hand there is the argument that people that are already violent or aggressive just happen to watch and play these violent media forms. This is a matter of correlation versus causation because we don't know that these two factors are correlated and if they are we don't know that one causes the other, or which one causes which. This study is important because it could help us learn why some people act the way that they do and also whether or not it is crucial that we don't allow children to view these kinds of media in case they should permanently influence their life styles and choices. This issue is so interesting to me because it is so hard to decide which side I would agree with because both have the possibility of being correct. I would agree that violent media influences the behaviors of children as we saw in the video in discussion. Though there were also the factors such as the fact that some children may have only participated because all the other kids were doing it. There is also the fact that these children were playing not being aggressive for real and we don't know that this would be a way that they continue to act or if it only occurred at that time immediately following the show and then they forgot all about it. Perhaps this only affects young children and they should be monitored. (http://www.webmd.com/parenting/news/20050610/media-violence-may-affect-childrens-minds) Some may think though that if affects all adolescents' not just young children. That video games and movies can make teens even act more violent and aggressive. We can't know though whether that is the cause or not. (http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/11/20/media-violence-linked-to-aggression/3379.html) Then there is the fact that maybe the media isn't the cause of that behavior it could be the effect....
Posted Alien Abduction to Psych 1001 Section 010 and 011 Fall 2011
The article I chose is about people being abducted by aliens. It talks about a couple that claimed to have been abducted while driving in their car. They couldn't remember anything for a two hour period and later when talking to a psychiatrist they seemed to remember details and both of their stories were the same in most details. http://jill-stefko.suite101.com/psychological-effects-of-alien-abduction-victims-a393581 The scientific thinking principal that I think this relates to is Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence. There were no witnesses or proof of the events that these people say occurred. This is a very unlikely thing to happen and with no proof it's hard to know if it is real or not. Another thinking principle that comes into play is Ruling out Rival Hypotheses. There could be other explanations then that they were abducted by aliens. They could have been making it all up for attention, their car could have been leaking exhaust fumes causing them to hallucinate, or perhaps it was a long ride and they were very tired causing either a dream or hallucination and one having told the other they both thought that id happened. They could only remember the details when they were hypnotized which is not an effective way to emerge memories. These could also be false memories planted be ideas from dreams. In a related article I read that the details they gave were similar to recent episode of "The Outer Limits" which is where they could have gotten the idea that planted the false memory. In this case we should consider Occam's Razor and go with what is much more probable, that they in some other way got the idea that they were abducted but really they were not....
Posted Perception Deception to Psych 1001 Section 010 and 011 Fall 2011
There are many illusions that are known to us that force us to perceive things as different then they really are. (http://visualfunhouse.com/wpcontent/uploads/2009/03/flaming-street-ofchalk.jpg) The ponzo illusion makes things look smaller the farther away they are. Railroad tracks look as though they run into each other far away but they are really the same distance apart all the way down. They also make the wooden planks between the tracks look shorter and shorter but they are also all the same length all the way down. (http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/pictures/11000/velka/railroad-tracks-23521292901749uK0.jpg) There are many real life instances where we perceive things as different then what they really are. It is important for us to know about illusions that effect our real world perception so we know that things aren't always what they seem. These illusions can be especially important with driving. It is important to know how far away things and people are from you. There is that little message in your side mirrors also "objects in mirror are closer then they appear" (http://www.jcsnotebook.org/wpcontent/uploads/2010/01/objects_in_mirror_are_closer_than_they_appear1.jpg) which is another way that your perceptions trick you. Things can be close but look further away in the mirror which can be dangerous when driving. This is why it is so important to be aware of illusions that can be tricking you in sometimes dangerous ways. There is also the perception related to the ponzo illusion that people who are further away look smaller than they are. They are still a normal sized person but from a distance a person close to you looks much bigger than them although the two people could be the same or very close to each other in actual size....
Posted Perception Deception to Psych 1001 Section 010 and 011 Fall 2011
There are many illusions that are known to us that force us to perceive things as different then they really are. (http://visualfunhouse.com/wpcontent/uploads/2009/03/flaming-street-ofchalk.jpg) The ponzo illusion makes things look smaller the farther away they are. Railroad tracks look as though they run into each other far away but they are really the same distance apart all the way down. They also make the wooden planks between the tracks look shorter and shorter but they are also all the same length all the way down. (http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/pictures/11000/velka/railroad-tracks-23521292901749uK0.jpg) There are many real life instances where we perceive things as different then what they really are. It is important for us to know about illusions that effect our real world perception so we know that things aren't always what they seem. These illusions can be especially important with driving. It is important to know how far away things and people are from you. There is that little message in your side mirrors also "objects in mirror are closer then they appear" (http://www.jcsnotebook.org/wpcontent/uploads/2010/01/objects_in_mirror_are_closer_than_they_appear1.jpg) which is another way that your perceptions trick you. Things can be close but look further away in the mirror which can be dangerous when driving. This is why it is so important to be aware of illusions that can be tricking you in sometimes dangerous ways. There is also the perception related to the ponzo illusion that people who are further away look smaller than they are. They are still a normal sized person but from a distance a person close to you looks much bigger than them although the two people could be the same or very close to each other in actual size....
Posted The Onion: Ugly Babies to Psych 1001 Section 010 and 011 Fall 2011
I found this hoax article that says that the babies born this year are the ugliest babies born in the past 30 years. The scientific thinking principles I can apply to this are ruling out rival hypotheses, falsifiability, replicabitity and extraordinary claims. Ruling out rival hypotheses applies to this because the reason that this is said could be merely because the man that said it was upset or biased or just had a different opinion then many other people. Falsifiability is a part of it because it cannot be disproved because it is a mere matter of opinion. Opinion cannot be the basis of scientific facts. Replicability applies to this story because this is only tested among one group of babies that were born at one hospital and to one doctor. If anyone else were to look at the same children they could say that they aren't ugly babies at all. If they were to test this on a different group of children born this year they may not be ugly either. This is an extraordinary claim because it is far from being able to be proven and it is an opinion and not a well-tested result. The evidence would need to be in depth and substantial to prove that this year had the ugliest babies that were born ever. A concept that could explain how these results came about could be a confirmation bias by the doctor. For whatever reason he may have expected this to happen and he ignored any pretty babies and only saw the ugly ones or ignored that they were pretty and accentuated their uglier features....
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