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• Commented on Do You Have What It Takes to Be Dr. Cal Lightman?
  I have never seen this show, though in relation to Chris's comment, I too have heard that humans are usually poor at detecting lies in others. I wonder if the issue is more that people cannot detect lies or that...
• Commented on Adolescents are less guilty because of age?
  While I believe that the death penalty is wrong in all circumstances, I still think that adolescents are fully responsible for their crimes. At one point does the burden of responsibility for one's actions fall on someone? Right when they...
• Commented on Fact or Fiction? The Midlife Crisis
  The idea of a "midlife crisis" seems more like an element of pop psychology or pseudo-science that we learned to be wary of in the first chapter of the book. As far as I can tell, the idea of a...
• Commented on More Is Not Always Better
  I think the bystander effect is one of the most frightening concepts of social psychology. It is hard to fathom that so many people could witness a gruesome event and remain inactive. However, evaluating my own experiences in both groups...
• Commented on The True Love Story
  It is very interesting that you related these three principles to the Twilight series. While Twilight's critics often deride it as a poorly written love saga, it seems that Stephenie Meyers created a unique and compelling love story. While Edward...
• Commented on Why he don't want to shake hand with me???
  I think it is hard to understand people with phobias like that, but I also try to keep it in perspective, because I believe I have a mild phobia of mice. Though it does not cripple me in everyday life,...
• Commented on Hearing Bilingual: How Babies Sort Out Languages
  I think it is much easier for children to grow up bilingual when they are raised in a multicultural household, eg. when the parents already know another language. I too wish I was exposed to another language earlier in life....
• Commented on 6 Scientific Thinking Principles
  I also named the six principles of scientific thinking as the most memorable part of my experience with the course. I agree; most of the information learned in Psychology 1001 will not be applicable outside of the course or in...
• Commented on What's Love Got To Do With It?
  I think Robert Sternberg's theory of love was also an extremely interesting portion of the text because it paints a nice picture of how people really feel in different forms of relationships. Dating a person and marrying a person definitely...
• Commented on TWO FACED
  Although people may conduct themselves differently in certain situations, I don't necessarily think it implies they are "two-faced." The Stanford prison experiment definitely showed a darker side of many individuals, but this could also be the underlying result of a...
• Commented on KISS
  Before this course, I definitely didn't give the idea of Occam's Razor, or "KISS," enough credit. I too tend to be long-winded and over-analyze many situations. But logically, it does seem best to seek out a more simple solution. Plus,...
• Commented on Gender Freedom
  I too agree that one should not make judgments on another person's expression of gender. Gender and sexuality are much less clearly defined than many would like to think. Some may choose to identify with one gender or the other,...
• Commented on Sticky Situations: Stress
  I agree that one should focus primarily on what they have control over. Usually, I become much more stressed when I think of things outside my control, like the questions on an exam. When I think in terms of what...
• Commented on Do I Have To...? The Milgram Experiment
  The Milgram Study is definitely a disconcerting picture of the possible consequences of obedience to an authority figure. I wonder if there are other causes of such behavior. Maybe the study's participants were more inclined to continue with the task...
• Commented on A Look At Now: 5 Years Later
  I also found the nature versus nurture debate to be one of the most thought-provoking topics of the course, as it seemed to be at the heart of many psychological debates, especially in the areas of genes and intelligence. It...
• Commented on my own experiences
  I agree that cognitive development is one of the most fascinating subjects discussed in the course. In my opinion the most interesting aspect of language development are the ideas of linguistic determinism and linguistic relativity, which posits that our language...
• Posted How to Think: Principles of Scientific Thinking to Psy 1001 Section 04-05 Spring 2012
  A popular adage states that high school teaches you what to think, while college teaches you how to think. Reflecting on my experience in the PSY 1001 course, the latter definitely rings true. One concept from the class that I...
• Posted Beauty in the Eye of...the Mirror? to Psy 1001 Section 04-05 Spring 2012
  While searching for universal concepts of human beauty is a challenging business, it seems most cultures find common ground when it comes to causes of attraction. An internet search on the subject confirms that physical attractiveness is generally more important...
• Posted Behaviorism: "Animal Man" Makes Baby Cry to Psy 1001 Section 04-05 Spring 2012
  Would you be enticed to believe that your consciousness plays virtually no part in your actions, or that the process behind your decision-making is really no different than that of animals? If not, behaviorism might not explain your preferred theory...
• Commented on Homosexuality and the Nature/Nurture Debate
  I think a very interesting concept in the study of sexuality and psychology is the heterosexual-homosexual continuum, which evaluates individuals based on a varying continuum with the opposites of complete homosexuality and complete heterosexuality on either end. By this school...
• Commented on Harry Potter vs Free Will
  I believe it is possible for an action to be both predictable and of one's free will, generally consistent with the "compatibilism" school of thought. While I agree with some aspects of determinism, such as the importance of cause-effect relationships,...
• Commented on Beyond Nature vs. Nurture: Parental Guidance
  I believe there is a lot of truth to the theory expressed in this blog post and the original article. I wonder if this type of nurturing generally involves the parents consciously steering their child toward a certain career, or...
• Commented on Awake in your sleep?
  I definitely believe I have experienced this state of lucid dreaming before, and I also struggled with the same paradox, wondering if the experience counted as sleeping or as part of my waking conscience or both. Such a situation has...
• Posted Phobia, Fetishism, and Salivation: The Art of Conditioning to Psy 1001 Section 04-05 Spring 2012
  Many students probably have a basic understanding of Pavlov's foray into "classical conditioning," by which the Russian scientist trained dogs to salivate upon the sound of a metronome. But as Chapter 6 tells us, classical conditioning may extend as far...