It was when I was in junior high school that I first learned about Pavlov's classical conditioning. I memorized that reflexes mostly dependent on autonomic nervous system such as knee jerk is unconditional response and salivating when thinking of the sour taste of lemon is conditional response. And that was it. It wasn't until I took this course when I learned how widely the concept could be applied. We first learned how classical conditioning is commonly used in commercials to make the consumers response to a conditional stimulus, the advertising product. And classical conditioning can also explain acquisition of phobias and fetishes. Distinguishing from classical conditioning we also learned operant conditioning and its real life applications. We saw a video depicting how B. F. Skinner trained a pigeon by shaping by successive approximations. And Professor Peterson showed a very interesting video about treating autistic children. The video was so remarkable that I had to watch it again. I never knew that operant conditioning by reinforcement can lead to a dramatic improvement on those children.
The most important psychology concept I learned through this course is classical and operant conditioning, not the concept itself but how it can be applied to our daily life. I don't think I truly learned classical conditioning when I memorized the salivating dog is conditionally responding to the metronome. When watching how autistic children learn to make eye contacts with others and speak was the true moment that I learned what operant conditioning is. I learned through this course that concepts or theories are valuable when they bring real life differences.
leex6248: April 2012 Archives
According to the textbook, it is an undeniable truth that physical attraction is important when choosing our romantic partners, but it's especially important to men, as a survey suggests that they pay more attention to looks in women than women do in men. Perhaps this is the reason why we can think of the fairest beauty in history such as Cleopatra of Egypt or Yang Guifei of China, but none comes to our mind when thinking of the most handsome men in history. Instead men, who are recorded and adored through history, are the bravest men who conquered and ruled the world. So when we talk about beauty standards, mostly the focus is on women.
Although beauty standards seem to converge into one big criterion since the impact of western culture expanded over the world, there are still unique and intrinsic beauty standards left within ethnic minorities. They can be very strange but I want to point out that the reason why I'm introducing them is not to judge or compare them with today's criteria or ethics. Karen, an ethnic group of Myanmar, is well-known for the women stretching their necks by putting on several metallic rings around their necks. So the woman with the longest neck is considered the fairest. As cervical vertebrae are detached from one another because of those thick metallic rings, women can't move their heads around. They can only look forward. So those women are expected to maintain chastity, as they can't look elsewhere. In China, women used to wear foot-bindings, because those who have small feet were considered beautiful. Foot-bindings, which prevent women's feet from growing, also seem to be related to chastity. Women wearing foot-bindings are unable to run away, so they have no choice but to stay with their husband for life.
Beauty standards are not fixed but change depending on the society's value. For it is a reflection of the society, it gives lots of information about what people wanted and expected.
