AP psych

norms and conforming

2010-05-04T07:32:00.000-07:00

i find social norms interesting. in countires like china and japan the social norm is to conform. but in the U.S. the norm is to express individuality. we are always looking for ways to define ourselves or set ourselves apart from the part usually. But we have down almost everyway of expressing our individuality and to diverge from the norm. So are we expressing our individuality or are we in a sense of conforming? I feel that it is all up to you
if you are say getting your back pierced so you fit in with your friends more than you are conforming but if say you get a tattoo of a severed demon head because it reflects an internal value or belief than you are being more individualistic. But what if you get it because it looks cool?
that in a sense could be a form of conforming because you are getting it to impress others.

so what do you guys think? do you express your indivualism or do you conform?

fat

2010-04-27T07:49:00.001-07:00

to answer the question about why pear shaped bodies are better is because the pear shape decreases the chances of diabetes and increases omega 3 fatty acids which are better for your brain. Being apple shaped increases the chances of diabetes and produces more omega 6 fatty acids which deteriorate the heart.

And to talk about fat cells. they don't go away when you lose weight so weight lose and keeping it off when once you are obese is near an impossibility or at the very least it is a battle for the rest of your life. So what truly is the cure to obesity? don't ever become obese but in our world today is a very difficult thing to do. I think that there has to be a way to lose weight and fat cells. The book mentions exercise lowers the settling point and the lypo-suction (forgive spelling) removes fat cells. but there has to be a non-surgical option other then complete prevention.

To some up your body will always have fat in it. your muscles actually store fat in them for very quick energy. So to have fat is healthy. plus you won't look like you're from the holocaust. As a wrestler who has suffered the anorexic life style of that hellish sport I know the joys of eating and the consequences of dropping your body fat below say five percent, two percent... one percent. don't do it. it's bad. So frankly i say put on more weight. like the book says it is better to be slightly over-weight rather than underweight. So eat and exercise. you'll stay at a healthy weight and exercise does so much for you in terms of stress. so get out there and enjoy your meals. just don't binge (as wrestlers do) that is very bad. and it fuels the viscious cycle of weight gain

schizophrenia

2010-04-21T17:34:00.000-07:00

Schizophrenia is genetically influenced and it believed to be caused by fluid filled holes in the brain and a smaller than normal cortex (amoung other brain deformalities) paired with biochemical disruptions.

symptoms include:
(+)
-delusions
-hallucinations
-disordered thinking, fragmented mind

(-)
-social withdrawal
-extreme apathy
-diminished motivation
-less than normal amount of emotional expression

schizophrenia is often mistaken for depression and the cognitive disabilities that accomany schizophrenia are also hard to recognize. These illness like syptoms are what makes living a normal life with schizophrenia almost impossible.

it is diagnosed when active schizophrenia symptoms are apparent for two weeks or more and debilitate the person. such symptoms include a psychotic episode

It is treated with medium to heavy antipsychotic drugs that work to balance out neurotransmitter levels. One important neurotransmitter to regulate in schizophrenic people is dopamine.
article found at: http://schizophrenia.emedtv.com/schizophrenia/schizophrenia.html

living with schizophrenia

2010-04-21T16:55:00.000-07:00

article above continued....

the first point to emphasise. schizophrenia is chronic and greatly effects life. Even if someone is in remission the symptoms can and will affect their life. Just because remission appears doesn't mean the illness is gone.

Things in your life that will/ may be affected by your illness are
-focusing and maintaining attention
-remember recently passed events and appointments
-being motivated to do normal things
-being optimistic and flexible
-having a suffecient EQ
-acting and behaving 'normal'
-over coming social anxiety

When in remission it becomes difficult for people with schizophrenia to identify if the symptoms are coming back. so it is necessary to rely on other people to give feedback. People like family, roomates, spouses, doctors, and close friends should watch for changes in behavior. These people that are chosen to keep a close eye on the person should be educated in what to look for and if changes are noticed then they should call the doctor of the person and inform the person

Changes to look for include:
-starting to talk back to the voices or if the person becomes upset with them
-having harder time getting up in the morning
-being late
-seeming more 'ADD' than normal. can't focus as well, easily distracted
-less happy or less emotional
-more aggitated
-having a worsened memory, difficulty doing arithmetic
-reacting to hallucinations more
-seem to be obsessed with the delusional

If the changes present themselves a change in medication may be administered and then after the episode has passed the original dosage will be administered. When living alone people with schizophrenia are advised to use PDA's to help them remember appointments and stay organized and on time. People's social workers describe a set of activities of daily living that a person with schizophrenia may have difficulty with and should practice:

-independently monitoring medication and changing it
-personal hygine
-laundry
-making the bed
-eating regularly and preparing food
-shopping
-maintaing a budget
-using public transportation
-if the illness is a problem then going to the bathroom may be an issue (changing adult diapers)
It is important to set goals for what you want to accomplish in terms of overcoming difficulties of the illness.
you should:
-join group therapies so you are not alone and are shown and able to empathize with others like you that understand what you're going through
-ask loved ones to support you and stick with you
-participate in social skills training. These allow you to learn how to function and do things with the illness
-Online dating can help you meet new people without encountering the problems that make communication hard
article found at: http://schizophrenia.about.com/od/livingwithschizophrenia/a/LivIndependence.htm

disorders

2010-04-21T07:25:00.000-07:00

i can't help but talk about disorders. there are very many and some of them don't seem 'real.' And i know that there are many people in this world that do not 'believe' in them. I'll keep my opinions on which disorder is real or not to myself but what i want to talk about is how broad symptoms are. ADHD = inability to focus, inability to stay still, being hyper. Everyone gets moments like this. MOOD DISORDERS = sadness, raiod change in mood, these are symptoms of teenagers. We all get sad and pretty much all teenagers get moody. and what about PMS? when a female experiences that she seems to exhibit those symptoms. PERSONALITY DISORDERS = no conscience, being able to lie with no remorse, these are also common. children exhibit symptoms of antisocial personality disorder in an attempt to avoid punishment.
I myself have exhibited throughout my life many of these symptoms. does this make me 'crazy?' possibily but most likely not. What is important in determining a disorder if it inhibits your life or the life(s) of others. What truly defines a disorder is how dangerous one becomes because of the symptoms exhibited

dreams

2010-04-13T08:12:00.000-07:00

dreams. that is a very wide subject. i find them incredibly interesting. I want to start with the cercadian rythum. the book says that if you do this that blah blah it messes it up and it can be reprogrammed. the book also says that the circadian rythum is 'turned on and off' by light and dark. IS it possible to train your rythum to switch? or say to not be stimulated by light at all? that is kind of what happened to me when i was working night shifts

and as for dreams. Everyone dreams I know this, the book states that we dream most vividly in REM which occurs at the end of the night. I agree with this but one thing i did not like about the book's definition is that they forgot to mention that the body rests first. that is why stage four happens first so the mind goes into a deep sleep and the body rests.
Dreams are very hard to interpret and i believe that they really cannot be analyzed by anyone else but the person who had the dreams

PS

2010-03-31T08:41:00.000-07:00

My post on self-sulfilling prophecies is not aimed at anyone. It is solely a defensive blog to defend my point, myself, and my beliefs. It is not an attack on anyone what-so-ever.

self-fullfilling prophecies

2010-03-30T15:53:00.000-07:00

the book mentions them in the intelligence chapter. the book talks about how tracking aptitude tests and always measure intelligences and things of that sort create a self-fulfilling prophecy. Basically if you track a student or ignore or tell the kid something (or things of all that sort) will lead the child to be 'smarter' (what the tracking of aptitude tests would do) or make them 'dumber' (ignoring or telling them they can't do it)

Self-fulfilling prophecies are kind of funny because of how true they are and how often they happen. For example in coaching student-athletes if the coach never puts the kid in or bashes them at practice instead of encouraging them the student will (almost always) develop into a 'cripple' at that sport and not try and then become worse. this could then lead into problems with other things in the child's life. An example of my own life: working this summer I always complained to my coworker about how i was crazy and that 'this place' (taco bell) was driving me out of my skull. and he always said 'hey man if you think it, it will happen' he always told me 'your a walking self-full filling prophecy.' eventually that happened. I worked days and nights at taco bell. I had no sleep schedule. my sleep was erratic and short. soon I was becoming delirious (even more than i already am haha) and I actually had hallucinations at certain points during some work night. they were mostly audible hallucinations but I was hearing things that weren't there or happening. I told my boss and he laughed he explained to me that taco bell and working days and nights kills the brain. He told me that I would return to normal when school came around and i stopped working nights and days simultaneously. I then told my coworker that i was losing my mind and he explained to me that fluorescent lights block the production of melatonin in the brain and because of the hindered ability that your brain goes through due to the lights you won't be able to sleep.

that is merely one example of those self-fulfilling prophecies. what are some of yours?
one way that a self-fulfilling prophecy in my life that relates to our book is that my mother, yes i am talking about her again and frankly i have every right to. she raised me very well in comparison to a lot of people these days and she is a wonderful and very intelligent person. so deal with me talking about her. I have to listen to all of your s**t all day but i digress. She always encouraged my mental development and pushed me to do my work and all of that and never let me accept giving up

6 terms

2010-03-23T18:11:00.000-07:00

I had a matht est today. I used algorithms all first hour. algorithms are methodical rules that solve problems and gaurantee a solution the down side? the take sometimes a long time

I started running out of time though so i started using heuristics to solve the multiple choice problems. Heuristics are fast problems solving stratagies that work by say eliminating options or say using okham's razor to solve things. the problem: they are more prone to error becaus eof the speed

I also used a flashbulb memory. awhile ago i got a question wron on a test that cost me 8 points. i was pissed! that solution to that particular problem is burned into my head. that exact problem was on the test and i used my flashbulb memory to solve it

In psych i used a prototype to figure out the nail problem. I was shown the solution of that along time ago and had a mental image of the solution and concept of solving it

I also fell victim to overconfidence (overestimating your own abilities) in psych. I am farely good at logic and puzzle stuff but in class i was thrown by the logic puzzle. i blame the math test frying my brain (possible over stimulation of neurons causing a lack of firing due to exhaustion?)

and today i noticed a large amount of Belief perserverance. the tendency to maintain your own beliefs and views in the face of contrary evidence. The subject that was held by the belief perserverance was people's own moralities. Some people moralities were questioned by others and despite the 'evidence' that was given the morally wrong people withheld there behavior as right and justifiable. haha i' not one to judge I am an extremist. i don't tell people what they do is wrong. because i succomb to that sin of belief perserverance many a time as well

another thing i experienced today is insight ( a sudden burst of knowledge and 'hey! that's the answer!') during my test i looked at a multiple choice problem my mind went blank then suddenly BANG i had the answer.

syntax

2010-03-22T07:24:00.000-07:00

I read the other night about syntax and what it is. basically it is our grammer and stucture of our language. but the reason i bring this up is because tghe book also sighted upon how language links us. but language is also limited. sure it allows us to comminicate and pass information from one person to another but it is not... complete. let's say fro example a person feels a certain way about another person or has a problem with a that person. If the person feeling that way does not know the right words our how to combine other words to convey that feeling the certain person or others will never accurately know how the person with the feeling feels.
or in the example of the problem. if the person DOES NOT or again lacks ability to describe what the problem is and how he/ she does not like or how she/ he would like it to change then the problem is impossible to mend or change.
This two examples pose two major issues in our society. Lack of vocabular knowledge and commiunication failure. Look at texting and online chat. it is so fast that people become lazy at talking to others. vocabularies deminish and feelings that are supposed to be conveyed are not. plan and simple we as a group of maturing people are killing our syntax. we are becoming (in terms of language) simplistic, that is in america. Me personally I love in person discussions and on the phone chats. it allows for a broadening vocabulary and MORE INFORMATION to be communicated between two people in a FAST and EFFICIENT manner.
the one thing i find interesting about our decline in language is what the book first mentions in the thinking and language chapter. People are and always will be able to commiunicate the GIST of whatever they want or need to. Babies do this when they are learning to speak. I find this interesting but also ironically hilarious that as a technologically 'advanced' nation we are becoming no more than infants in terms of merely talking and that is all because of online and texting. all because of our 'being advanced technologically.'

and yes i know this is quite an extreme we as a people are not that bad, yet. I am merely looking ahead a grteat deal and using a hyperbole to demonstrate a possibilty. my point: I really don't think of our communication skills as that bad and i know they are not but hey who knows what the future will hold

motivation

2010-03-16T08:03:00.000-07:00

Intrinsic motivation : all for yourself. you do something because you WANT to do it. YOU want to DO something for YOURSELF.

Extrinsic: You need a reward to do something.

I am instrinsicly motivated to do this class. I love this material. I find it incredibly interesting. And my interest in this class motivates me to do and learn all of this

but in english i am extrinsicly motivated. I LOATH that subject gah it drives me bonkers. I only do that class to get it down and out of the way so i don't have to take it anymore. my motivation? the REWARD of not having to take it anymore.

an example you can attribute to your own life: chores: no one really likes doing chores so it'll go like this 'oh jimmy! do the dishes.' "NO!! I don't wanna!!" 'if you do the dishes you can go to the movies.' "YEA!!!" want something done, you do it for a reward = extrinsic

an example for intrinsic: sports: you really won't do well in sports unless you WANT to do well. unless YOU want to motivate YOURSELF.

to some up intrinsic = in = motivate self
extrinsic = outside = rewards

my question I have for you guys is about perception. What do you think reality is? your reality is obviously different from mine. So how do you guys perceive the world? and also to bring up Drier's (sorry for spelling) point. How many of you are more focused on immediate gradification? rather than waiting for your rewards?

conditioning

2010-03-12T23:52:00.000-08:00

After doing the project and the readings i'm noticing just how easy conditioning is. for example food poisoning
When my parents were pregnant with me they went to hardees and got horrible food poisoning. since then they haven't gone to hardees. The only had 1 association moment and they were conditioned. or with operant conditioning. take a look at the freshmen. they drink, they screw, they swear and they all get away with it. Their parents were probably reinforcing the 'bad' behavior by giving in to the child's plees. or also 1 of the side effects of punishments. it is possible that the children learned discrimination. 'Hey I can't drink, smoke, screw fight or swear at home but maybe i can do that in... my neighbor's car! or a bus station, or a park, or school...' ect.
I am just amazed at how fast people in general can be conditioned. I mean heck my example with me wrestling doug. I learned to stay away from him pretty quickly.

And as for the project. I recommend that you all get started soon because you might find out tha you have more work than you originally planned (this happened to me)

to everyone

2010-03-11T08:24:00.000-08:00

something that will help all of you understand everything in this class more is

READ YOUR BOOK!!!!

Mr. D this is not my weekly blog. just letting you know

psa announcements

2010-03-04T17:56:00.000-08:00

My video is not up yet and i was not able to get the link yet but i will post it when i find it

here are my favorite psa's http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0qoY_5mOo Katie, mariah and patrick
I found this video very entertaining as well as diverse. This video covers a ton of things in Ashwaubenon that aren't confined to one specific area such as community service

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F09d5fzO44 Lauren Candice and Sara
I found this article incredibly stimulating intellectually. I liked how in depth they got with their definitions. My only recommendation is stay further away from the mike

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR7-5enn7vY Cory, Ben, and melissa
I enjoyed this video simply for the humor haha nice job on the trace like voice ben

sensation and perception

2010-03-03T07:32:00.000-08:00

my weekly post:

on the topic of sensation and perception. The book constantly stated and states that we see, hear, feel, sense with our brains. It showed this will by explaining the fake hand test. when a rubber hand is put in front of you and you cannot see your real hand: when the fake hand is stroked many people will often PERCIEVE that their own hand is being touched.
I am noticing that as sensory information stays the same perception changes from person to person. For ex. today in class we did the hearing test and although there were many i could not hear myself i knew there was a sound being admitted because i was getting a horrid headache. I did not hear anything but i knew there was a sound causing my hair receptors to be stimulated and this constant ringings always have given me headaches as long as i can remember. So therefore i am perciveing the sounds when i don't hear it and it is causing me a feeling of uncomfort.
I am just commenting on how sensory information, sights, sounds, pain are all in your head. If you can find out a way to block or stop the stimulus you won't feel or hear or see really anything. Just something interesting to think about that reality is all up to the beholder. my reality and what i percieve is much much different from yours

what is your morality

2010-02-24T08:38:00.000-08:00

my cblog for this week is to discuss morality.
Yes punishments are bad and yes you shouldn't break the law and yes there are justifiable situations but my question is what morality are you? and if you are postconventional what situations are ok to break the law and kill, steal, ect.

That is my question. What morality are you? what type of situation would cause your morality to change?

Test taking

2010-02-19T07:08:00.000-08:00

This week we had a test on unit two and the beginning of unit three.
There were a few questions that i got wrong because of careless reading errors.
I have had trouble taking tests for as long as i can remember. And here are a few things that a learned about taking multiple choice tests.
-make sure you circled the right bubble. On one of the questions i chose the right answer but i circled the wrong answer and then i didn't go back through the test to make sure i circled all the bubbles correctly.
-Read carefully. One thing you can do is underline important terms in the questions. EX. i got a question wrong because I read 'brain' instead of 'brainstem.' again more careless errors.
-Another thing is that when/ if you underline important terms in the questions define them in your mind correctly. IE genetics: the study of DNA and their effect on evolution, life, heredity, ect

These are some things that i am trying to keep in mind while I take tests. I have not perfected these methods and they may not work for everyone but I can guess that a few of you have this problem too and I hope that my tips may help on your test taking abilities.

My hypothesis on the tongue eyeball

2010-02-11T16:42:00.001-08:00

Sensations of the tongue travel to the nucleus of solitary tract (the area of the brain responsible for interpretation of taste bud information) via the glossopharyngeal nerve.

Sensory sensations of the tongue are delivered to the sensory strip (posterior to the frontal lobe) of the brain where it is interpreted and then the information (sensation) is sent to the motor strip of the brain (anterior to the parital lobe). Here a response is conducted and sent to the tongue through the glossopharyngeal nerve.

My hypothesis: What the electrodes placed on the tongue do is deliver a shock (stimulus) to the tongue in varying areas and varying strengths based on the color (tint/ shade) and distance of an object from the camera placed on the camera. What happens in the brain is that as a person learns to associate stimuli with colors, distances, sights, ect… the area in the brain responsible for taste interpretation develops further and its neurological pathways extend. The occipital area of the brain is also utilized. The occipital lobe, that has sat nearly dormant because of the lack of vision, is now rewired in correlation with the taste sensory area of the brain. As these two develop further together their functions (receiving information for sight) intertwine and a person is able to ‘see’ again. Another that happens is the person’s sense of taste and sensations in the tongue are increased because of the heightened function and neural wiring of the taste and vision sensory areas of the brain.

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/tasty.html

IMPORTANT

2010-02-08T17:42:00.001-08:00

one key piece of information was left out of my summary of morphine I posted it as a comment of my morphine blog post. READ IT

Morphine

2010-02-08T16:31:00.000-08:00

Morphine is a narcotic pain reliever. It belongs to the opiate family of drugs and contains the principal alkaloid in opium and the prototype opiate analgesic and narcotic. Morphine suppresses the couch reflex and some side effects are constipation and nausea. Morphine attaches to three specific receptors (mu, delta, and kappa)in the brain and act as an antagonist. Morphine reduces the chances of ion channels to open on these receptors. Meaning, very roughly, less channels open; less neurotransmitters received; less pain and other sensations like that produced; a sense of euphoria is instilled. Another thing morphine does is it debilitates the amount of GABA released. GABA is what is used to suppress the releasing of dopamine. So, if GABA is inhibited, more dopamine is released and more pleasure (along with mood swings and dependence on morphine) is elicited.

If morphine is used for a long time it inhibits the activation of cAMP. But cAMP production is picks up by other mechanisms and if morphine is then dropped (no longer used) there becomes an over production of cAMP which leads to hyperactivity and an intense craving of the drug.

The constipation and nausea side effects are caused by morphine acting on the myenteric plexus and the submucous plexus in the digestive tract. Morphine slows, if in high enough doses stops, the plexus’s functions which causes the constipation because the food is not being broken down or moved along the tract.

If this drug is misused, how to counteract the effects of this drug involves; the use of other drugs to fight off the digestive malfunction side effects, and slowly take less and less of the opiate to make the withdrawals less severe and less frequent. Another effect of morphine is mood swings. If enough morphine is taken mood swing can parallel with those of bipolar and even borderline individuals and it may be necessary to take psychotropic drugs to counteract the mood swings.

http://www.drugs.com/morphine.html

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_morphine_do_to_you

http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/i/i_03/i_03_m/i_03_m_par/i_03_m_par_heroine.html

http://www.homehealth-uk.com/medical/morphine.htm

QUIZ

2010-01-29T08:00:00.000-08:00

i know this is a bit late but about the quiz. aside from the two questions that were almost the same question that confused me (due to the inability to view both questions at the same time) I thought the quiz was fairly easy and i am enjoying the material we are reading about very much. As a side note I like the actually physical textbook more than the online text book. Staring at computer screens and reading for long periods of time is unenjoyable for me

NET BOOKS

2010-01-28T08:11:00.000-08:00

I find that these net books ar incredibly comperson. My opinion about these has not changed I still would much rather be taught in a face-to-face / lecture style versus try out these new things. I am a creature of habit and I think that these net books are unnecessary and annoying even though they do provide us a way to say do homework in class or get caught up. I also think that these net books for other people will be a distraction.

EXPECTATIONS

2010-01-27T07:40:00.000-08:00

My expectations for this course. I am expecting to pass this course with an A, A-, or B+ My expectations for this class have changed slightly since the beginning of the course because i am now realizing how inflexible and slightly unrealistic many of the deadlines are. Unfortunately, I am powerless to change the deadlines and complaining about it only takes up my time for work. I also understand that the deadlines are possible to meet even though I percieve them as unrealistic. My goal for this class is to develop better time management skills and to become a better reader.
As for what I would like to get out of this AP course, I would like to get a 4 or 5 on the AP test and earn some credits that I will not have to take in college or gain knowledge that would allow me to test out of some beginner psychology courses in college.
I am looking forward to the psychoanalysis portion of this course, the ink-blot tests, and learning about the multiple intelligences along with psychological disorders. I feel that this class, despite the gratuitous amount of work, will be very interesting and informing. I also feel that this course will be a good preparation for college and other online courses.

hello

2010-01-21T04:30:00.001-08:00

To anyone in my psych class:
is this how i am supposed to do it? as in set up this blog thing?