November 2011 Archives

The personality dimension of introversion -extraversion plays a key role for students coming to college for the first time. Possessing traits like warmth, gregariousness, sense of adventure, enthusiasm and ambition can lead to plenty of social attention and personal success.

Yet extraverts have two potentially troublesome traits such as impulsivity and dominance than can get them into trouble.

Addictive Personality.pdf

Several studies have shown how introverts differ from extraverts in unique ways. As you examine and think about the findings of these studies, consider what consequences these differences might have on both extraverts and introverts.

Introverts demonstrate faster classical conditioning because they are more easily aroused.

Introverts react more strongly to punishment and extraverts react more strongly to rewards

Extraversion predicts heavy drinking in college students

Now that you've done a bit of serious thinking about introversion and extraversion, for fun try taking the Hidden Brain Damage Scale.docx

You probably think you are pretty smart. To get some idea of how smart you are relative to the population, a psychologist would have you take the 90 minute Wechsler test. I know you don't have that kind of time now, so how about a 5 minute version?

A Five minute intelligence test

So these questions are a bit tricky but do they measure everything we consider to make up intelligence?

Think of the smartest person you know. What characteristics can you describe that make this person intelligent?

Is it just one thing or many things? Are those abilities related or distinct. Did that person become intelligent from living in an environment that supported education, did they inherit intelligent genes or did they get that way through hard work and constant study?

These are important questions that psychologists still don't have clear answers for. You may think the 5 minute test above is not exactly a valid test of intelligence but what is?

Some researchers have tried to boil down all of the different types of intelligence tests into a set of 12 that describes the broadest range of cognitive abilities with the fewest amount of tests.

The 12 pillars of wisdom.pdf

Even after scholars examine decades of intelligence research I still wonder if this captures why some people seem smarter than others and why higher levels of intelligence lead to better life outcomes.

In class we discussed a recent study that demonstrated self-control was another important aspect separate from intelligence that accounted for success in life. Others have suggested that motivation may play a role as well.

Intelligence and motivation.pdf

Finally, no matter how smart a person is, if they can't relate to other people their intelligence might be wasted. Many scholars have theorized about emotional intelligence as being essential to communicating ideas to others, gathering the support needed to accomplish goals and leadership to guide the process.

Do you think you could describe what characteristics are involved with emotional or interpersonal intelligence? Complete the activity and then think about how this ability fits with the more traditional view of intelligence as measured by the tests in the 12 Pillars article.

Measuring Interpersonal Intelligence.docx

This week in discussion we focused on the development of violence in children and specifically how violent television and video games causes (or if it causes) the development of violence. This got me thinking about how television affects children in general. It is a known fact that children of the new generations spend more time, on average, sitting in front of the television either watching T.V. or playing video games. In the future, it will be interesting to see the effects this has on the children both in their mental and physical health. Unlike previous generations, these children are constantly stimulated, so less time will be spent enhancing their imagination. According, to chapter 10 in our psychology book, there are specific stages of development during a child's life, so I wonder if increased time spent in front of the television will effect this development. These stages start from birth and continue into old age, but while every child goes through stages of the development the order and the amount of time spent in each stage is different for each child.
People have done studies on this matter and have theorized different development stages, but I am more interested in the generations being born now because they are going to grow up in world that is almost completely dependent on computers and technology. I have witnessed this just in the past four years of college. When I was a freshman I would turn most of my papers in physically, but now I have not turned one physical paper in, instead I turn everything in on the internet. I even take tests on computers. While this has affected our society positively, the overall affect it has on the development of children will not be known for many years. All we can do right now is hypothesize about the effects.

Favorite Blogs
1. Lucid Dreaming and Inception (vangx) - this is my favorite movie, and even after learning about dreaming in class, I never thought about it along with this movie, so I really liked how the blog made that connection.
2. How to improve memory (jungx169) - As students we are always trying to learn how to remember things better. I am no different, so this blog was not only interesting but it effected my everyday life.
3. You can kid the World, but not your sister (wilke247) - I am an only child, so the relationship between siblings has always been interesting to me, so I usually find it fun to read about people's dynamics with their brothers and sisters.

The overwhelming message of the developmental chapter in our book other than that being a French child-psychologist (I think the hyphen is key here) is a ticket to immortality, is that there is a major struggle between experiential and innate development in children. As with seemingly all nature vs. nurture debates, the answer seems to so clearly lie "somewhere in between" that you have to wonder how some of these psychologists became so convinced that their rigid approach to developmental theory could hold true with creatures as varied as juvenile great apes.

That said, new information from the burgeoning field of evodevo (evolutionary development) and the concept of epigenetics seems to be wedging their way into the staid debate betwixt the two great Ns. Case in point is this recent article about autism that seems to point (although the design was small and we all know where that can lead relative to this topic, cough, cough, Andrew Wakefield, cough, ashwholl, cough...) to the fact that issues occurring in prenatal development may be the cause of autism. The likely culprit in this case seems to be a fetal developmental one that may be mostly genetic according to twin studies but which is nonetheless caused during the growth process of a human rather than because of a blueprint or environmental (cough, Wakefield, dooshbg, cough...) factor.

Given the non-nature or nurture nature of autism development and the road blocks that its manifestation puts up in front of any fundamental changes in personality subsequent to birth, precisely because of the developmental deficiencies inherent in the spectrum disorder, this may be one of the few ways in which a human's cognitive development is governed mostly by non-genetic and non-environmental factors. Put that in your pipe, and smoke it Piaget, stage my ass.

Click on cartoon to see the full monty.

My favorite posts to date are, in no particular order, other than best to not best:

1) Is your brain full? by glen0041 - Interesting topic to me. I recently took the Strong Interest Inventory and was not sure if it was kosher. I think the best indicator of personality is your star sign. I'm an ares.

2) Lucid dreaming and Inception by vangx890 - I am one of those people that rarely if ever remember that they dreamed upon waking much less what the dream was about. I thought this blog post was great and made great use of the movie clip.

3) Waiting Until the Last Minute, Again?! by zhan1689 - I, like most people in life probably think of themselves as champion procrastinators. I tried Premack's suggestion and it failed utterly. Turns out when I both control the stimulus and the eject button I chose the eject button. I need some to double blind me. Great post.

After reading about the major principles that guide attractions and relationships it sparked real life situations. The principles say that; proximity, similarity, and reciprocity guide the strong relationships. These principles counter the idea of love at first sight. At first sight we do not know that we have any similarities with each other, and we have not had proximity. Still countless people seem to believe that they met their soul mate when they first set eyes on them. I totally agree that you can be attracted to someone at first sight but after reading this chapter I do not see how "love at first sight" works.

I have been in a relationship now for a while, and I can see that it was built on all three of those principles. The proximity part was huge because if I did not see her as often I would not have gotten to know her and find our similarities. I am not calling people that say they fell in love at their first meeting crazy in any way, I just believe that its going to take a little more work to find someone that you have a good connection with than just going off the basis of attraction.

Favorite Posts:
Anwey: Because I think that it is very interesting seeing how pre birth health issues can affect newborn children.
Liefs003: I think that their opinion was very strong and their evidence to back it up was even stronger.
Keise021: I like how he put real life situations into his blog post, and it is evidence that the principles of relationship building works.

Over the past decade scientists have gained a new understanding of brain function and structure through advances in medical imaging technologies such as magnetic resonance imaging and electroencephalography or EEG. Through these amazing medical advances we can now reliably measure changes in brain activity that is directly associated with thoughts, feelings, and behaviors; in theory leading to the reality of the previously science fiction concept of reading someone's mind.

With these new possibilities of using modern neuroscience techniques to gain direct access to a person's thoughts, feelings, or knowledge has come new ethical questions about the technology's applications. The most pressing of these questions revolves around the developing use of these technologies in lie-detection techniques. Lie-detection technology through these neuroscience techniques are currently being developed by United States defense agencies for the use in criminal and terrorist investigations. The new ethical questions that are raised with the use of these more reliable and precise methods are more complex and pressing than the questions normally raised with polygraph test. A study on these technologies done by the Center for Neuroscience and Society and the University of Pennsylvania presents the idea of "cognitive liberty," and stresses the importance of the debate over the limits that should be placed on the state's right to peer into an individual's thought processes with or without his or her consent, and the proper use of such information in civil, forensic, and security settings.

What should be the limits when it comes to the government finding intelligence and information about crimes, both large and small? Some say that the nation's security is worth giving up some freedoms while others won't give up any of their "cognitive liberty." What side of the debate are you on?

Top Blogs:
Shaping a Generation Through Advertising? - schre230 - very informative and interesting. Kids see 40000 ad on TV a year, crazy right?

The Fate of Our Weight - walke954 - informative, new information to me about the set point. I have often wondered about the genetics of weight and body size, with the amount of variation throughout the population.

Incentive Theory: Internal wealth or external wealth? - nzaro002 - another interesting post, with a cool video. Although it's a little long, it's worthwhile, and can really open eyes to a new way of thinking.

Similarity, Proximity & Reciprocity. These are all factors that are taken into account when taking a closer look at relationships. The age old myth "Opposites Attract" may be true in one or two aspects but as an overall it is not.

Proximity is key in starting relationships because it is whats convenient for most people. It allows people to become comfortable with others and their surroundings. When you gain the trust of others it is easier when they are close by and easily accessible.
Similarity is vital in relationships because we most see ourselves with people who share common interests, goals and views. It makes it easier to speak that person, which in turn strengthens the relationship.
Reciprocity is the least important of the three in relationships. Once the relationship has started then it is very, very important to have a good level of reciprocity. Reciprocity helps a relationship grow deeper and when both parties are gaining positively from these exchanges then they get bigger and better.
I'm in a long-distance relationship myself & I can say that proximity did help start the relationship. We hung out a lot over the summer before she left for school and just seeing her everyday made the attraction grow. We are alike in more ways than others and our opposites sometimes cause confrontation but it is our similarities that help us get back on track. Now that we have been dating for some time the reciprocity has played a great role. She does things, mentally and physically, for me that help take this relationship to new heights and vice versa.
Favorite Posts-
1. Anwey001- Interesting take on Insomnia and the Economy
2. Wilke247- The tip of the tongue. A phenomena so common but yet we ignore it.
3. Mill3984- Cramming is so common in many of us but not always the best path.

In our book and during last week's discussion group we talked about the three major principles that guide attraction and relationships: similarity, proximity & reciprocity. My first reaction was that these principles seem a little outdated; can these principles hold true in a world where online dating seems to be taking over? The more I thought about it however, the more I realize that online dating is really just capitalizing on these very principles.

Similarity: You signup online and enter your beliefs & interests which are then used to find your prospective partners with similar beliefs & interests. At last, in front of you is a list of people that you can reach out to or better yet you have an inbox full of emails of people that want to talk to you.

Proximity: You might not be crossing paths at the gym or the grocery store and the picture they posted may be photo shopped a bit, but online you start to close the gap. You email, text, talk on the phone and hopefully even meet for a date putting you in closer proximity virtually and in reality.

Reciprocity: A relationship, whether online or in person, takes two. No one wants to be the one putting in all the effort.

Favorite blogs:

Neural Plasticity: A Real Life Example: I liked this article because I am always amazed at how efficiently and effectively the human body is created to maintain itself.

Famous Myths: "Left-Brained" vs. "Right-Brained": I think this is a good example of how myths often become "truth" just by the sheer number of believers.

Slot Machines: The Big Gamble: I am always surprised by the number of people that seem to fall prey to slot machines. I think this posts outlines a couple ways how casinos get the most out of their patrons.

Learning about morality in chapter 10 reminded me of a video I had come across when thinking about morality previously. Morality is an issue that continues to be debated among psychologists and scholars every day. While some claim religion defines our moral bounds, others, like Marc Hauser, claim that millions of years of natural selection have allowed morality to become a distinct entity in our brains allowing us to solve ethical dilemmas.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41AqgL4BWeL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

So of course the question is, is morality innate or do we learn it? In the video below, psychologists at Yale University try to find answers. In the video, babies are shown different situations with puppets where certain characters assist the protaginist in his goal of climbing a hill or getting a ball, or prevent the protagonist from reaching such goals. The results are fascinating. Around 80% of infants chose the character who helped rather than prohibited the protagonist.

See for yourself.

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/05/04/magazine/1247467772000/can-babies-tell-right-from-wrong.html

So morality may be innate or it may not be, but it allows us to see that sometimes the simplest way to explain morality, such as religion, may not always be the correct way. Exploring where the roots of morality lie help us to better understand the entire human race

Favorite Posts:
1. I liked the post Energy Armor Real or Hoax by nguye639 because it was interesting that the blogger connected a real world experience to psychology. Also, it was interesting to critically examine a product that is "scientifically proven."

2. I liked how to improve your memory by jungx169 because it was interesting to learn how to improve our memories using real world techniques.

3. What does Insomnia have to do with the Economy by Anwey 001 was also an awesome post because it took two things people wouldn't normally link and connected them in a great way. It was definitely a Freakonomics approach.

I posted recently about my displeasure with news media's--and in that case, Congress'--gross scientific illiteracy and the societal damage it promulgates. This week grand reportage strikes again. Radio listeners and internet news readers among you likely learned about a medical study reporting that consumption of as few as three boozy drinks per week increases the risk of relapse among breast cancer survivors. You were lied to, along with my Dad, who implored me to press this vital information upon my Mom, herself a breast cancer survivor (also they're separated, thereby drafting me into diplomatic service). What Dad and many others don't understand is that the study under discussion reported no such thing, and that in fact the news media took the liberty of attaching that specific data to the study (more science for everyone!). As a representative sample, consider this piece from the New York Times, informing its approximately 30 million readers in no uncertain terms that "A Few Drinks A Week Raises Breast Cancer Risk."

The problem: the correlation-causation distinction, throwing science in the way of knee-jerk reactions for years. An expense of sixty seconds reviewing the study's abstract--completed by Dr. Wendy Chen and published in the AMA Journal--is enough to properly inform anyone in this class or not-retarded at large. The studied women who down 3+ drinks a week may also skydive three times a week, or they may have sex with dogs seven times a week, or at least more often than women who drink less, or vice versa. Who knows? It's a study, not a controlled experiment. I'm sure this is exactly what Dr. Chen had in mind--I'll do the work and publish the study in the Journal, then news rooms around the world can read it in a mirror while smoking hash and attach whatever conclusions they come up with in their articles. Perfect.

My favorite post is TV Crime vs. Actual Crime by Walke954. This is interesting in that I've always been piqued by this discussion, and believe it's a silly argument-the supposed connection, not your writing. It's a talking point advanced by Joyce Foundation malcontents with too much free time and entirely too much money from suckers with too little intellect.

My next favorite post is the nzaro002's Nature vs. Nurture piece. I was immediately drawn to the embedded video, and I like Michio Kaku, who I recognize from his spots on several Discovery networks shows. Then I read the post; it's alright. The vid got me.

My third favorite post is Brain Preferences/HBDI piece by glen0041. I'm just a sucker for infographics, and that I can follow the link the BDI site is doubly fun.

As I was reading about motivation, I found the idea of the set point particularly interesting. The set point is the amount of weight and muscle our bodies tend to maintain. What this implies is that maybe people who are obese have a high set point than people like myself who could eat all day and not gain a pound, and that is why losing weight is so hard for them. The importance of this idea lies in its implication for people who want to lose weight. In other words, if we can find a way to lower an obese person's set point, we may be able help them not only achieve a lower body weight, but maintain it in the long term.

Not only is this useful to just overweight individuals, but to a person like myself who wants to gain more pounds, yet for some reason seemingly can't. This is certainly something I have tried to change, but honestly I haven't gained anything over the past two years.

The set point is thought mostly to be genetic but there isn't an absolute correlation between genetics and personal weight. This means the environment has at least something to do with our weight. The sizes and availability of portions probably have a lot to do with that. Therefore, maybe if we take into account the size of our meals we will find that we can change our weight easier.

Favorite blog posts:
1. Stuck on the Tip of Your Tongue, wilke247
This was interesting because the tip of the tongue phenomenon is something I experience a lot.
2. Cramming...Best Study Plan!!, mill3984
I liked this one because it talked about cram studying which is something I do a lot and end up later regretting.
3. The Man I Killed That I Didn't, liefs003
I thought this was a very interesting story.

We have been talking about how young children are very impressionable, and soak up information like a sponge. The advertisements on television will play such a huge role in how the newest generation of young children see the world. Our generation is already bombarded by ads everywhere we look, and we are taught to recognize brand logos at a young age. So what will be different for the next generation? And how will it affect the future of that generation?

If we want to have a good amount of control over how our children turn out, we need to be aware of what they are being taught during the early stages of their lives. It is already true that young children are shown over 40,000 advertisements in a single year. (http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/118/6/2563.full) And that number will only continue to grow as new advertising techniques are created. Is there any way to overpower the effect that advertising can have on children?

Top 3 Blogs:
1. (Energy Armor: REAL or HOAX??!! by nguye639) Because I have always found the wide array of interesting products people try to sell quite intriguing.

2. (First Love Retrospect by xiexx229) Because this blog post offered a very realistic view of the concept of first love.

3. (You Can Kid the World But Not Your Sister by wilke247) Because this post offers a great look into the diversity of everyone.

I recently saw an infomercial for foot detox pads. Manufactures claim the pads detoxify the user's body by placing the pads on their feet overnight. The pads are supposed to be worn for an initial 30 day period, for an initial cleansing. Then the pads are to be worn occasionally for maintaing overall good health. There appears to be some problems with many of the claims manufactures are making, and with their reasoning for why the products work.

The evidence to support these pads detoxifying powers is completely absent. According to Dr. Gibson, "No scientific studies have been published showing that detox foot pads do what they claim they'll do." This lack of evidence lead me to use the extraordinary claims principle, because the evidence is not as strong as the claims made by manufactures.
I also noticed the claims contained many fallacies, such as the bandwagon and the antiquity fallacy to name a couple.

Bandwagon - "Millions of people all over the world are using foot detox pads"
Antiquity - "According to the manufacturers, these foot detox pads are formulated using ancient Japanese and Asian cultural medicine."

My favorite post was "Nature argument for Video Games" by dahl0979 because the post shed light on the idea that some people pick up certain tasks quicker than others.

My next favorite post was "You Can Kid the World, but Not Your Sister" by wilke247 because she provided information on the nature vs. nature debate with her own experiences.

My third favorite post was "Nature vs. Nurture" by nzaro002 because the post questioned the idea of free will. I also thought the video clip was interesting.

A new study has found high blood pressure during early stages of pregnancy raises and can lead to birth defects in new borns. Researchers discovered that the medicines used to control high blood pressure weren't the actual cause in raising the risk of major birth defects. Instead their research discovered that high blood pressure itself is the culprit and their previous assumptions were incorrect. For years pregnant women have been told to avoid these drugs during their later stages of pregnancy; however it was unclear what impacts and how safe it is taking these drugs during the early pregnancy.

The study done by researchers found that women with high blood pressure compare to those without it were more likely to have children with spinal cord defects, brain defects, and congenital hearts regardless of if the mother was taking medications or not. The study was preformed by Dr. De-Kun Li and fellow researchers from Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California. In the study the researchers examined files from over 460,000 women and their children dating from 1995-2008. Scientist aren't exactly sure yet why high blood pressure raises these risk. However they are also aware that maybe physiological changes in the mothers body does impact the development of the fetus.

1.My favorite post was Huy Nguyen because I've always wondered if the energy armor bands work and it convinced me to stay away from them.
2.My favorite post was Lee Vang because his use of the movie Inception and making the connection to lucid dreaming. Plus i like the trailer and the movie.
3.My favorite post was Eddy Nzaro post of lucid dreaming as he had really nice video clip from the discovery channel. Also learned something new from the post; learned that the logic center of the brain shuts down while we dream.

In our generation, we were growing with watching television. Still in my memory, I used to wait the evening time because many cartoon movies were televised. Last week during the discussion class, we watched the Power Ranger movie. As we saw the 'Youtube' video clip, the children acted to follow the Power Ranger, such as they were kicking each other. In Korea, Power Ranger also was televised, and my friend and I also used to act to follow it, just like the children in 'Youtube' video clip. Also, I thought that every foreigner could speak Korean because the movie was dubbed in Korean.
Judging from my child experience, children might act to follow and believe what they have seen. If they liked to watch a violent movie and have seen the kind of movie many times, then they might become more violent because children might follow the movie scene without knowing that it is violent or not.
However, I have a curiosity about the old generation. They had grown without television. Does it mean that they were not much violent as comparison with nowadays children because of not watching the television? Or, what kind factors gave them to be aggressive?

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=%ED%8C%8C%EC%9B%8C%EB%A0%88%EC%9D%B8%EC%A0%80&hl=ko&sa=X&biw=1024&bih=566&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=da9w0Uyn1BSczM:&imgrefurl=http://www.wtcwtn.net/398&docid=lrPDtMCLU9XHWM&imgurl=http://cfs15.tistory.com/image/23/tistory/2009/02/11/18/30/49929ab8a489d&w=640&h=290&ei=XCy3TtP3N-fisQKvk-HmAw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=379&vpy=282&dur=2172&hovh=151&hovw=334&tx=217&ty=85&sig=116703765496086973226&page=1&tbnh=74&tbnw=163&start=0&ndsp=17&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:0

Top 3 favorite blogs
1. Cramming... Best Study Plan!! by mill3984 because I have done it every single time, so I have to fix myself.
2.Do smart pills make you smarter? by weixx267. A pill can't make people smart!
3. The Adrenaline Effect 2 by walke954.

Parents love their children, and of course, would like to their children to have a jump-start. Therefore, it comes at no surprise that simple educational method such as listening to Mozart became popular among parents. Although the research is premature, parents are willing to give it a try. The deep love for their children make them unwilling to miss any possible chance to improve their children's ability, even if the effects of the method may be dubious. As it turned out, the Mozart effect may simply be a result of increased alert level rather and increased intelligence. Exposing babies to Mozart is unlikely to increase the abilities of the babies.

Favorite three posts: 1. Incentive theory. Internal wealth or external wealth (by Nzaro002). This post is very interesting since it contradicts the classical belief of external incentives and show that both internal incentives (altruistic motives) and external incentives are important. 2.What does Insomnia have to do with the Economy? (by Anwey001) This post is quite interesting since it relates a seemingly unrelated health problem with the economy, and explains how Insomnia could affect the economy. 3. Stuck on the Tip of Your Tongue (by Wilke247). This post is interesting since it tells an interesting phenomenon that happens to everyone, and yet most people ignore it.

Everyone has there times when they are open minded when they are happy, but some people are just very optimistic which makes them think very openly. I know someone who is almost aways so open minded when it comes to debating. Everyone would even go to him when they have problems because he gives positive feedback. As I see it he is always a very cheerful man. But I've also seen a few times when he gets upset. He can be a bit narrow minded during those times. Seeing that this happens to even the most optimistic person I would say i agree with this theory.

Top 3 blogs:
1. I like leex5619's homosexual couples vs. Married couple because i feel that it should be fine for homosexuals to raise their own children.
2. I like louwa027' s there is no escaping change because the mayfly midlife crisis comic is funny.
3. I like grue0122' s how impressionable are kids? Because the comic about watching tv is,funny.

The incentive theories proposes that we are often motivated by positive goals. Within the theory, there is intrinsic motivation which people are motivated by internal goals, and extrinsic motivation which people are motivated by external goals. For me personally, I have to say my love of playing soccer has slowly but developed from an extrinsic motivation to an intrinsic one, and sure enough it has made me a better player, mentally and otherwise overall.

This video provides an interesting point in regards to the incentive theory when dealing with the work place( and possible study place). It also offers cool drawings so check it out! =)

What do you guys think though? Surely when it comes to more broad, larger tasks and goals, the best sort of motivation comes from intrinsic don't you agree?

Favorite three posts: 1.The Terror Management Theory(by anwey001) This post brought on a major point which I think is one of the most important things that has shaped the current world. 2.The Gift of Endless Memory(by mitch720) Enjoyed the article because of the topic and I actually watched the videos because they were interesting. 3.First Love Retrospect( by xiexx229). I can relate to the notion that a lot of times, the memories most people hold are usually exaggerated to some degree.

This week in our discussion we talked a lot about how much children learn through observation, and especially how much violent video games and shows influence children. Parents are often very careful what to say around their toddler and younger age children, however, children at this age are a lot more resilient than parents may realize. Children at this age have already passed what is known in developmental psychology as the "critical period" in which kids are highly influenced and sensitive to the experiences around them. Thus, I think it is safe to say that although parents should obviously monitor what their young children are doing, it is important to not go overboard with worry about how every little experience can influence a child.

Top 3 Favorite Blogs
1. You Can Kid the World But Not Your Sister by wilke247 - I really enjoyed this blog post because it reminded me of my two sisters, and how different we all are.
2. Nature-Nurture or Neither: A Case of Twin Sisters by weixx267 - This blog was very interesting to me because it was a real world example of the differences between twins, which are so often studied in psychology.
3. First Love Retrospect by xiexx229 - This blog post was very intriguing because it made me think of first love in a new and more realistic way.

So I went to the Mall of America yesterday and ran into a kiosk that sells these Energy Armor bands. The sales associate was trying to sell me this black bracelet (Energy Armor) that blocks of bad Ions entering your body which works with the body's natural energy flows, which promotes energy, balance, and strength.

Here is the link to the Energy Armor video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iHB0vX776Y&feature=youtu.be

Before thinking of buying the bracelet to try out (since I feel as if I lack energy everyday) I was thinking to myself, what within the six principles of critical thinking fits best for this claim; extraordinary claim and pseudoscientific claim.

EC: The evidence for this claim is not as strong as the claim because it lacks a lot of scientific evidence if the Energy Armor really works. On their website it said, "Scientist have studied Negative Ions and their effects on human health for more than 100 years. Some scientific studies around the world have suggested that exposure to Negative Ions may support your overall health."
There's no doubt that scientist have studied about negative ions for over 100 years, but it doesn't say anything about the Energy Armor working 100%. I tried it at the kiosk and it didn't work for me and the sales representative made up some goofy story saying that my shoes had bad traction that's why it was easy to push me over.

PC:
They use a lot of technical terms for advertising that many Americans might not understand. Nonspecific claims; if you notice in this video they never tell you exactly how negative ion technology actually works or what it is supposed to do. All they ever say is that you are supposed to feel better, energized, etc. BUT the same thing can be done if you have good diet, positive thinking, and exercise.

Top 3 Favorite Blogs:
1). How to improve our memory - jungx169
-this is my top ranking entry because I come from a background that has bad memory. It seems as if I only remember important things not small things that I should remember. Like where I placed my keys, wallet, etc. I actually started to take the advice and research findings that Jungx169 provided and it's helping slowly.

2). Hypnosis: Conscious and Subconscious Mind - mitch720
-I can clearly relate to this article because I was put under hypnosis once just for fun and also for me to not procrastinate and do things last minute. It worked for 3 weeks and I came back to square one again and with practice I got better at doing things not last minute anymore.

3). Nature-Nurther or Neither: A case of twin sisters - weixx267
-Great entry because my grandfather and his brother were twins but was raised in two different families because the parents divorced. They were more with nature than nurture.

Sources:
http://themycenaean.org/2011/01/energy-armor-complete-scam-or-innovative-technology/

http://www.energy-armor.com/

Nowadays many parents show excessive love and care to their children and they are quite careful not to say even a bad word to their kids. All compliment and praises, just to prevent them from hurting their babies' "fragile" mind. Are kids really as delicate as we thought?
After reading Chapter 10 development, I started to realize that children are much much more tough than we imagine in popular psychology. Remember when we first stand on our feet without parents' assistance and stumble to our toys. We are already tough and persistent to achieve our goals at that time. Kids are tough.

What's more, do you really remember the day before yesterday that somebody insulted you? May not. So do kids. So next time you punish your kids unintentionally, not need for feeling guilty. They may already "left behind" what you said.
My favorite post was Photobooth, Facebook - Show Me the Beauty! by olso5796
because the author relate mer exposure theory to facebook, which is fashionable and attractive to viewers.
My next favorite was New emoticons - I feel awkward!!! by xiao0100
because the blog is quite humorous, especially i am from China.
My third favorite was Chris Langan - the world's smartest man? by wiley085
because his video is the best one to show me the smartest man in the world

Have you ever felt the power to control your own dreams? Have you ever felt like you were on the outside looking into a mirror with the total control? Well you along with a majority of Americans have experienced the phenomenon known as Lucid Dreaming. I myself have caught myself dreaming and from that point on had total control of what was going on in that dream. The ability to become lucid during a nightmare usually improves the dream's outcome (Levitan & LeBerge, 1990; Spoormaker & van den Bout, 2006). One day I was taking a nap before practice and caught myself in somewhat of a nightmare. My family & I were on a trip and we were attacked by a bear but then I took control. That resulted in me saving my family and distracting the bear away. Lucid Dreaming is very common and very real.

A tendency to find patterns, also known as pareidolia, allows you to make something out of nothing for the most part. Pareidolia is a part of our everyday life. The most common example is when you take a moment out of your day and take a look in the sky. You see clouds in the sky and all of a sudden you think you see something or what you perceive to be something. A bundle of clouds suddenly look like an animal of some sort or, depending on your mood, something that makes sense in your life.

Take a second and look around at something in the room. Stare at the object for a while, you should have made a generalization in your head on what it looks like. I took a look at a pile of clothes and the more I stared at it, the more it took shape. It took the form of a cat but to somebody else it might have just looked like a pile of clothes. Pareidolia has a lot to do with perception and how people view things a part from others. I do not think Pareidolia just happens every once in a while. If you think about it, you make something out of nothing more than you think and if you pay more attention to it then you will see. Take a look around, anything seem familiar?

A tendency to find patterns, also known as pareidolia, allows you to make something out of nothing for the most part. Pareidolia is a part of our everyday life. The most common example is when you take a moment out of your day and take a look in the sky. You see clouds in the sky and all of a sudden you think you see something or what you perceive to be something. A bundle of clouds suddenly look like an animal of some sort or, depending on your mood, something that makes sense in your life.

Take a second and look around at something in the room. Stare at the object for a while, you should have made a generalization in your head on what it looks like. I took a look at a pile of clothes and the more I stared at it, the more it took shape. It took the form of a cat but to somebody else it might have just looked like a pile of clothes. Pareidolia has a lot to do with perception and how people view things a part from others. I do not think Pareidolia just happens every once in a while. If you think about it, you make something out of nothing more than you think and if you pay more attention to it then you will see.

TV, computers and video games are deeply entrenched in modern life but what effect does all this screen time have on how children develop?

One thing is clear, screen time is sedentary behavior and too much can replace the physical activity necessary for children to grow healthy and maintain normal weight.

Less clear are the cognitive and emotional effects on development. A recent NY Times article reports on recomendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics to limit the screen time of children.

TV Limits for Children Urged by American Academy of Pediatrics - NYTimes.com.pdf

In class you will be investigating the influence of video games on aggressive behavior of children but there are several other concerns parents may have about their children's viewing habits.

For example, television often portrays males and females in gender-stereotyped ways. As you watch clips from Barney and Power Rangers in lab you may also want to think about what influence these portrayals likely have on the development of gender identity and gender role awareness in children?

Certain shows might influence gender identity but often commercials play up gender stereotypes even more.

A recent study estimates that children 4-11 years old spend on average 2-4 hours a day in front of a some type of electronic screen.

A question we might ask is "What are children missing out on while watching television?"

Can you imagine life without TV or video games? What would you have done during your childhood and adolescence with the time you spent watching television? Would you have turned out any different?

Robert Zajonc (rhymes with science) was one of the most innovative psychologists of the last 50 years and contributed much toward understanding emotions and how our thoughts shape our emotional lives. His experiments revealed the mere exposure effect which shows that repeated exposure to any new object increases our liking of that object. Check out this demonstration of the effect here.

He also proposed that people, often unconsciously, mimic the facial expressions of their spouses and that, over the years, couples who tend to share similar facial expressions will become increasingly similar in appearance.

Based on the assortitative mating activity we did in class you might think that couples are initiatially drawn to each other who are similar in attractiveness and may even share certain facial features but this is not what Zajonc found in his experiments. Here is a NY Times article reporting on the original finding and the methods used to arrive at this conclusion.

Long-Married Couples Do Look Alike, Study Finds.docx

Now conjure an image of the person you are currently dating or interested in. Do you really want to look like that person 25 years from now?!

Another facial expression that signals emotion and often reveals the stirring of the heart for another, or perhaps just plain old embarrassment is the blush.

Recent studies have found that blushing can help reduce criticism from others and increase social bonds.

Hold Your Head Up. A Blush Just Shows You Care.docx

Your textbook also describes how knowing someone else is fond of you can increase attraction. This seems rather obvious and yet researchers have found that not knowing whether or not someone likes you at all can be an even more potent factor toward attraction.

Uncertainty Heightens Romantic Attraction.pdf

How many of you already act indifferently toward a potential boy/girl friend when you really are head over heels?