Pondering Psychology

Hi I'm Jeanne, have you met my aura?

2012-05-07T23:45:44Z

One page 437 in chapter 11 of our book this semester (Spr 12), there is a note that links sexual desire to migraines. There was a reported 20 percent higher level of sexual desire supposedly because migraines are associated with low levels of serotonin thus a guesstimation that people with migraines would have higher levels of sexual desire compared to sufferers of a brother-headache "tension", but the 20 percent came from migraines only. I have to say that explains a lot I turn down a lot of guys and am like...why won't you leave me alone...ok, kidding sorta but I must be in the other 80 percent. Perhaps it's because when you have a migraine sex is the last thing on your mind and when you don't have one perhaps people with a "regular" sex life then make up for lost time. Not sure, that is only my theory. I was talking earlier to our discussion group leader and she mentioned a treatment that is suppose to give a shock or something, I have not had time to do all the research, during ones period of aura to prevent a migraine. I don't think I mentioned this but every migraine medication I have tried has been administered with the same instructions. My auras come right along with a swoopingly quick and intense migraine. My medications have been tried and tried and most of the time they work as long as I can take them, put ice on my head (the whole thing if possible) and lay in a very dark very quiet room for about a half an hour and I am good as new. Every once in a while I will have to go to see a doctor who administers two shots and proceeds with the 30 minutes, and voila. I am glad I don't have to give myself or need the shots as often as I get migraines but I am glad they are there. So what is an aura? To some people it is what it sounds like a halo type effect to the entire world. Others like me get very abnormal auras, there are two that dominate my life and the minimum of 1 migraine/week I endure...not sure for how much longer but wish me luck...the first is a nearly out of body experience, it's as if I am not driving, not talking, not walking, don't know where I have been or where I am going and why. It's very odd. The other is more classic and it feels like an icepick is trying to make it's way thru my eye. So an aura can be something very simple to something very complex. They have found that since other things are a factor on top of my migraines they may have something to do with my auras being significantly different from a majority of people. Anyhoo. This can be a major factor in psychological study of someone, not to mention the books highly interesting remarks regarding sexual desire, but desire for many things can be inhibited when you have a patient with chronic migraines. Take it into account if you are thinking about counciling, it can be a factor in attendance and thus success and a large factor in ones overall enjoyment of life in general. Good luck to all those out there who suffer as I do.

Accuracy of IQ tests

2012-04-30T04:09:35Z

I never realized how accurate IQ tests really were until I took this class. I know there is a lot of controversy over using IQ tests as a means of hiring people because it is not always accurate. However whether people like it or not, IQ tests have been proven to be extremely accurate at predicting job performance. Previously I had thought that IQ tests were similar to the ACT and they just tested you on facts and vocabulary (which is not testing intelligence), but what I wont forget about the IQ tests in that they are testing intelligence in many different ways, some in which you know even need to know any language to answer the question. This is a good example of an IQ questions that you don't need to know a language for.
I think the idea of labeling people as a number rubs a lot of people the wrong way, but your IQ is not telling you what you are capable of, it is just telling you how easy it is for you to learn knew things. I think people need to remember that their IQ score is not supposed to be a restriction, but it is more of a guide as to how hard you should work when trying to achieve something. People also need to remember that IQ tests test your overall intelligence, which means that if you are bad in spatial reasoning that does not mean that you aren't brilliant at listening to others and problem solving.
Andy Wharhol, a very famous pop artist had an IQ of 86 and he was very successful!
JFK only had an IQ of 119.
A few more interesting facts that I won't forget are, we are probably smarter than our grandparents. IQs have been increasing over time and they are estimated to continue to increase.

Classical Country

2012-04-30T04:00:58Z

When starting Psychology, I had no idea what classical conditioning was, or how it affected my everyday life. But I believe years from now it will be the thing I remember most from this class. When I first heard about Pavlov and his experiment with the salivating dogs, I was somewhat skeptical and thought it was an absurd experiment. But not long after I realized I had classically conditioned myself to many things.

This experiment happened naturally within my own life only days ago. The last few years I have always disliked country music. I claimed haughtily to all my friends I would "never listen to that garbage." But then during this spring when I would grill out during the warm days country music would play. At first I didn't enjoy it, but the more it became associated with grilling, and the relaxing days in the sun the more I enjoyed country music. Lately I have been listening to country music willingly and by my own choice. I much like Pavlov dogs, had unknowingly been introduced to an outside source which caused some sort of positive arousal. Whether I wanted it to or not.

Out of all the psychology topics that I have been introduced to this year, classical conditioning is the one I feel most relevantly pertains to my own life. It will be the one that I keep recognizing years to come.

The Men in the White Coats

2012-04-30T02:46:58Z

I always had a suspicion that people were more followers than leaders. However, I never really understood to the extent to which people were sheep-like in their decisions. After reading about the milgram experiment, I found that out exactly and the responses honestly frightened me. In this experiment,participants were asked to play a teacher and deliver different voltage shocks to a participant supposedly hooked up on the other side - the machine going to a lethal dosage. Here's a video to explain it better than I ever could:

Over 66% of the time, people didn't quit just because there was an experimenter telling them to continue. The fact that authority figures were telling them to do something and there was no other consequences of stopping than to annoy the man in the white coat actually pushed these people into complete obedience. This experiment by itself taught me to just always question the legitimacy of authority no matter how it seems and to always be certain and conscious of my actions. The principles applied in this experiment are demonstrated throughout history and large travesties such as the Holocaust can be avoided if more people were to study these types of effects. Oh it also taught me to never trust men in white coats.

Obedience to authority figures, Blog 4, Jarod Aaron

2012-04-30T02:26:38Z

I think the concept in psychology that I will definitely remember even five years from now is the obedience to authority figures. I think I will remember this concept the most because of the experiments that were done to figure it out such as the well known Milgram experiment that we talked about during lecture and in discussion. This concept sticks out in my mind because I thought the results were shocking. I never thought that people would continue shocking the other participant after hearing their screams and their pleads for the test to stop. However, I can see how the obedience to authority would make them continue to a certain extent but I did not think that so many people would continue to nearly maximum of the machine. I like to think that I would never continue to that point if I had been put into that situation myself and I really believe that I wouldn't continue after hearing them in pain. I really believe that's how I would respond but I know it would be different if I had actually been faced with that test myself because I generally don't try to go against authority but I also think I would never want to hurt anyone.

My memories of the memory section

2012-04-30T01:59:39Z

Although psychology in general interests me, the topic that I will probably remember as the years pass is the subject of memory. The idea that our memory, something that we as humans rely on so heavily, is so malleable and error prone is absolutely terrifying. It was disconcerting to think of my past and question if my memories were reflections of reality, or my own mind's construction. Reading about people who had confessed to horrific crimes and actually believed that they had committed them (when they hadn't)was both shocking and fascinating.
Or there was the phenomenon in which subjects would report completely different experiences a year after an event than they had the previous year. None of these subjects were "lying", but their accounts were not consistent with those that they had previously recorded. The minds of the people in the study had created an entirely different memory.
I feel that the section in memory really intrigued me because it reflects how much of "reality" is based on the faulty memories of humans. It goes to show that one person could have an entirely different perception of a shared experience than another person, but both memories would be completely real to each observer.

It's My Way or The Highway!!!

2012-04-30T01:50:12Z

To me, something that I learned this semester in PSY 1001 that will most likely stay with me for the next few years (and possibly the rest of my life!) is the task of consevation.

Piaget explains that children in the preoperational stage do not pass the test of conservation. Piaget's task of conservation requires children to understand that despite a transformation in the physical presentation of an amount, the amount remains the same.

Here is a video that show several great examples of tasks of conservation and how a young child executes the task and the reasoning he gives for his answers.

Watching videos like the one above never cease to amaze me. For college students like us, the idea splitting a group of coins into two equal groups and then stretching one row apart does not affect the amount of coins in the row comes very easily to us and seems like second nature, but in the eyes of a child this becomes a much different story.

Children of a young age seem to grasp onto the belief that such physical changes can change the amount of a substance. Until about age seven or so, children seem to believe that "since A is visually bigger than B, A must have more this substance!"

I for one hope that I can test this on a child I hope to have some time in the future!

Needing to Belong

2012-04-30T01:12:08Z

Have you ever wondered what draws you to your group of friends or if you like being in a big group of friends or a small group? Well, when I was reading chapter thirteen I learned that being accepted and how we chose our friends is something that is something that is necessary for our existence and if we don't belong it can often lead to isolation and in some instances hurt our mental functioning. The need to fit in and belong goes all the way back to the hunting and gathering times in society. It is normal for people to often feel lonely when they are restricted from social contact. Humans need interpersonal relationships in order to survive and remain healthy thus causing humans to have the feeling in needing to belong and find their groups of friends.

Tricky Mind

2012-04-30T00:27:43Z

Something I found interesting this semester in psychology that will stay with me is visual perception. Perception is defined as the brain's interpretation of raw sensory inputs. And with that perception our brain can play "tricks" or illusions, perception in which the way we perceive a stimulus doesn't match reality, on us.

This looking like a broken road of lava, when in reality it was done with chalk.

Along with illusions the opponent process theory, which is the theory that we perceive colors in terms of three pairs of opponent colors: either red or green, blue or yellow, or black or white. I know that i've experienced it before when I would stare at something for a long time then close my eyes, but I never understood why I would see the certain colors when I did close my eyes.

Lastly, I will remember learning about bistable images, one we can perceive in two ways, like The Necker Cube. For some people it's easier for them to shift from looking at an image one way and then switch to the other way. I was always told that you would see an image one way if you were "left brain" and another image if you were "right brain" as you see in the video clip bellow. With the left-side of the brain is considered to be adept at tasks that involve logic, language and analytical thinking and the right side of the brain is best at expressive and creative tasks.

Hard Work Pays Off

2012-04-29T23:51:22Z

I believe that I will always remember one of Pavlov's classical conditioning's, positive reinforcement. I say this because it always comes to mind when I do something that is rewarding, whether it is school related or work related, and it will always pay off. For example, with every well written paper you do, there's a good grade behind, creating a positive reinforcement feeling, knowing that the amount of effort that you put into it came out of it.

Another example is in the work force, at the end of every other week, there is a pay check waiting for you with your name on it, and if the dollar amount is high, it goes to show you that hard work pays off and it doesn't get any better than that.
All in all, positive reinforcement will be apart of my future, as an architect major, it will come from anything and everything that I produce, whether it be a failed prototype or an outstanding design that may be constructed somewhere, because hard work pays off.

Feeling ATTACHED to this theory...

2012-04-29T23:24:18Z

Out of all the interesting things that we saw, what really stuck to me the most is the attachment theory. All humans have the need to form and maintain stable relationships over time. Parents to children and children later on to romantic partners. Some of the feelings that bond you with your parents are similar to those that bond you with your significant other. I have to admit that yes, this is a bit disturbing to think about, the fact that attachment to your parents can be similar or related to attachment to a partner. But really, this is the relation. There are 3 attachment patterns found in people:
1-secure
2- avoidant
3-anxious-ambivalent

Turns out that these 3 types are response to how your parents cared for you as a child.
1-Contingent/responsive care=Secure. Parents helped kids when in need but after their problem was solved, they left them on their own. Showed them that they can count on people when they are in distress to calm them down.
2-Rejecting care=Avoidant. Parents that take care of their kids like if it was a burden. They don't provide warmth; they don't help the baby and let them fix the problem on their own. This makes people very reserved; they don't rely on anyone to solve their problems because they don't want to become an even bigger one.
3-Inconsistent/unpredictable care=Anxious-ambivalent. Parents have good intensions but they don't really know what is wrong. This makes people very insecure and clingy.
It makes a lot of sense but I never really linked that how you were treated as a child reflects the relationship you have with your parents and later on with your partners. At least for me, after thinking about it, I understood why I act the way I do in my relationships.

Neurologist In the Making

2012-04-29T22:52:45Z

Throughout the semester, I have always known which topic has interested me the most. So when we started to learn about the brain and it's interconnected neural pathways, I was more than excited.

The brain will be the concept I remember in 5 years from now because that is what I want to deal with for the rest of my life. As a psychology major, I am moving pre-med for neurology and possibly neurosurgery. The brain and it's network just fascinates me, which is why I chose to go into this field. My aunt is a brain injury survivor, my grandpa passed years ago with Alzheimers, and my cousin has Autism. All these factors in my life have pushed me farther into my love for cognitive works, and farther into my goal for finding a cure. As a neurologist, I hope to study more and attempt to work in a laboratory to work towards a cure for Alzheimers or Autism, so no other family has to go through what I have.

In the future, I am destined to have more psychology classes through cognitive psychology and neuroscience, which is why I will remember it even past 5 years from now.

Anything You Can Say, I Can Say...Better...?

2012-04-29T19:45:34Z

With hundreds of languages in the world it's fascinating to me that we are all born with knowing the same phonemes and then change, lose or gain some, as we grow older. I think that I'll remember the young children can differentiate between different phonemes in foreign languages when they are young and then lose the differentiating ability but they can eventually gain some back if they are exposed to it by a native speaker in person. I always find language to be interesting because I feel as though I can still tell the differences between different words in foreign languages even if it is a subtle difference. For example when we watched the video in class, I could tell the difference between the two words that the speakers gave even though they sounded the same to everyone else. I have always kind of wondered why I have been able to do that and if other people can do it too. It would be interesting to see if there has been research done on individuals who seem especially adept at differentiating between languages even if they weren't brought up in a bilingual household. I sometimes contribute my ability to the fact that my mom would speak some Spanish, since she was fluent but never really taught me or siblings, and she used to sing us kids to sleep by singing Slovak lullabies.

Though this video doesn't necessarily address this blog, I found it interesting and it kind of is just a summary of language acquisition and development. Enjoy!

Sleep, Study, Social life..Pick 2

2012-04-29T17:18:17Z

As we have gone through psych this semester, I've been trying to keep up with all the work for my classes, get enough sleep and still have somewhat of a social life. As someone prone to stressing out easily, my body seemed to make the decision to eliminate sleep as something "needed" in this trifecta. Somedays its great because I can easily stay up studying, but other times when I actually have the time to sleep, it sucks. I lay in bed staring at the wall, tossing and turning. Not to mention feeling like a zombie the next day! So naturally, when we learned about insomnia and other sleep related info, I was hooked. For me, I will definitely remember everything about that section. I found it really intriguing (and frustrating) that insomnia can be recurrent with becoming anxious and frustrated when we can't sleep, and that it can be a underlying factor in other medical related issues. Although some people use medication to sleep, I've yet to reach that point since after reading about, it can make insomnia worse in the long run. So fingers crossed mine is resolved with summer break soon here!

Final Blog Assignment Nature vs Nurture

2012-04-29T02:35:39Z

I think that the most important thing that I learned in Psychology was why people act the way they do and the most interesting was the idea of Nature vs Nurture because it relates to almost every aspect of human personality. Nature deals with the genetic and biological factors that make up a person an example being, eye color or blood type. Nurture is the environmental factors that go into a person's personality like their religion, culture and language. Both nature and nurture are important in the study of psychology.
ESPN wrote an article, "What if Michael Vick was white," explaining how his circumstances of who his parents were and what race he was born as affected the athlete that he is today. The article takes a nurture approach to his sport ability. The article writes that Michael Vick has an African-American feel to the way in which he plays quarterback in the NFL. The style that he has playing as well as the way in which he moves in many ways is said to have the "Black Athleticism." If he would have been white the path that he took may have not included sports or his style may have been different when he played. The privilege which he may have received is he were white could have also altered the decision to play football.
On the other end of the argument is nature, he could be genetically more athletic and gifted in sports than others making him a star athlete. He could also have a gift for learning at a quicker pace than other or quicker reflexes making him a strong quarterback.
I wonder if there will ever be a way in which we could completely isolate nature and nurture, though there are twin studies and family studies nature and nurture are never completely isolated.

http://espn.go.com/espn/commentary/story/_/id/6894586/imagining-michael-vick-white-quarterback-nfl-espn-magazine