vuexx256: October 2011 Archives

Jenny Vue vuexx256@umn.edu

Remember when you were young and you received a reward for doing something? You might have continue doing this after you began to pick up the response. It may have been chores, homework, or something that you were doing in exchange for money, food, or whatever that you and the dealer agreed on.

If this was you, then you were using the law of effect - adapting to a behavior in return of a reward, which is most likely to repeat in the future. According to some psychologists, this may be refer to as the S-R psychology, S is stimulus and R is response. Lilienfield stated that the law of effect help build up the S-R bonds since it is in our everyday life. Well, is it really in our every day life or not?

This is in our every day life. Everyone do this voluntarily. I believe this was how all living creatures learned how to behave in their own way, therefore makes the law of effect important. Take my baby brother for example. He did not know how to walk; instead he practiced and learned. Every time he took a step or two, my family and I encouraged him through applause. His steps were his behavior and the applause was his reward. As soon as he picked up the response, which doesn't take long, he began to adapt to it. However, once he was capable of walking, his behavior then changes. Now his behavior is talking, and his rewards are hugs and kisses.

In this video, the dog's behavior was to sit and wait for its owner to call for him. As a reward, the owner gave the dog a treat. This is an example of the law of effect.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjAta0Ahuzg

In this photo, the rat is trying to respond to the machine. There is a place where the food comes out, a speaker, some signal lights, a lever, and a shock generator. Sooner or later, the rat will adapt to this behavior and know what to do. This is also an example of the law of effect.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/65/188048205_277919c9ea_o.jpg

Jenny Vue vuexx256@umn.edu

Remember the last time you feel like you've done that or seen that before even though you have not been there? If your answer is yes, then you have experienced déjà vu before. As Lilienfeld had stated, déjà vu is a French word meaning "already seen". It is define as the feeling of familiarity toward something new. It is like a movie that is replaying a scene from your memory to your present life; and in addition, I believe this is important. Déjà vu's ability to relive the memory is important because I believe it's like a future machine that shows you what is going to happen. For example, I remember talking with my little cousin at a birthday party and I have a familiar feeling inside of me. As I turned around to grab my drink and turned back, I took a look at the room and everything blurs for a few seconds then went back to normal. Right at that moment, my memories attacked me and I remember dreaming of this party.
I don't know how déjà vu can occur, but I think it is really a great way of telling the future. On the other hand, a problem about déjà vu is the ability to remember the action or scene. Why couldn't our memory remember the action or scene without hiding it?

This is a video of déjà vu:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3qVqNPDnD8

Jenny Vue vuexx256@umn.edu

Naïve realism is someone's belief from their perspective of the world. It is an everyday thing that people use. In other words, naïve realism is: what we see, we believe; it is similar to our common sense. For example, if you are playing a game of dodge ball, you would either be running around like crazy or standing there like a statue. However, once the balls begin heading for you, you would either doge the ball, like how the game was supposed to be played, or stand there and get smack with the balls. Furthermore, you may react to the balls as they hit you - like scream, turn away, or block - which you occasionally perform. Our perspective may be right at times, but it can be wrong.
It does not mean that naïve realism is bad, but in some cases our common sense can lead us to the wrong idea. For instance, a triangle and a square are displayed in front of you. It would be difficult to determine if their sizes are identical or not. On the other hand, when you measure them with a ruler, they are similar in size to one another. In this case, your common sense has misinterpreted the triangle and square's sizes. Although naïve realism can be risky sometimes, its precision is also incredibly effective.

This is a website that contains a brief summary of naive realism:
http://www.theoryofknowledge.info/naiverealism.html

I found this photo really amusing and easily interpret naive realism because each of them have their own aspect when thunder A and B strike.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_0WforrCTJJ4/SeauACa7mhI/AAAAAAAAApc/GXvcmOw2B4s/s1600-h/relativity.png