burns592: April 2012 Archives

Throughout the course of Psychology 1001, we have learned about the 6 Principles of Psychology: Ruling out Rival Hypotheses, Correlation v. Causation, Falsifiability, Replicability, Occam's Razor, and Extraordinary Claims. The principle that I have used the most in my everyday life is the Extraordinary Claims rule. For a long time I have been fascinated by television shows like Paranormal State on A&E and A Haunting on The Discovery Channell. In fact, these types of shows used to keep me up at night because they seemed so real! However, after learning about the principles of psychology, I have come to realize that many of these shows are staged and their "evidence" of paranormal activity usually goes unsupported. For example, in the show A Haunting they have people narrating their terrifying experiences and have real actors and actresses portray the scene for the episodes. This seems highly unreliable because many times TV producers exaggerate information in order to attract viewers. What one needs to think about is if these extraordinary claims have extraordinary evidence to back them up. In most cases, the evidence is not strong enough.

Throughout the course of Psychology 1001, we have learned about the 6 Principles of Psychology: Ruling out Rival Hypotheses, Correlation v. Causation, Falsifiability, Replicability, Occam's Razor, and Extraordinary Claims. The principle that I have used the most in my everyday life is the Extraordinary Claims rule. For a long time I have been fascinated by television shows like Paranormal State on A&E and A Haunting on The Discovery Channell. In fact, these types of shows used to keep me up at night because they seemed so real! However, after learning about the principles of psychology, I have come to realize that many of these shows are staged and their "evidence" of paranormal activity usually goes unsupported. For example, in the show A Haunting they have people narrating their terrifying experiences and have real actors and actresses portray the scene for the episodes. This seems highly unreliable because many times TV producers exaggerate information in order to attract viewers. What one needs to think about is if these extraordinary claims have extraordinary evidence to back them up. In most cases, the evidence is not strong enough.

Divorce between two parents can be an extremely hard and stressful time. Not only is it traumatic for the adults in the situation, but it can be especially trying for the children. In the past, reports have claimed that the long term damage on kids with divorced parents is very high. However, recent reports have shown that this is not completely true. As a child whose parents divorced at age 4, I can say that the negative effects that I have experienced are minimal. Both of my parents were adamant about keeping their conflicts under the radar, so it did not upset or distress my sisters and I. Therefore, I think the actual reason children are affected negatively does not have to do with the divorce itself, rather the conflict between the parents before the divorce. However, one thing that could come into play is if the divorce results in one parent becoming uninvolved. This could do major damage to a child's emotions, because both parent's play major roles in a child's development.