Week 7 First Impression Prompts – Sensation & Perception

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Regardless of which prompt you choose, please use the Tag “Sensation & Perception” on your post.

Option 1:

Synesthesia is a condition in which people’s perceptions of one sense activates another (for example hearing colors or seeing sounds). Watch Daniel Tammet explain his experience of synesthesia in a TED Talk entitled “Different Ways of Knowing.” Share your reactions to this video and discuss how you think this condition would affect someone’s day-to-day life.

Option 2:

Can we use magic to help people on the autism spectrum? This is actually a serious question. There is some evidence that people on the autism spectrum are less likely to be fooled by the slight of hand on which magicians rely. For this post, watch this video from the PBS show NOVA where neuroscientists work with magicians to understand how the way the brain processes visual information plays into magic. Then watch this brief clip also from NOVA about the potential for magic to give insight into or potential serve as treatment for autism and read this article from the LA Times about a new theory of autism as a “magical world” (the journal article upon which this story is about is available here). Share your reactions to these materials and discuss whether or not magic could be used to help those with autism.

I look forward to seeing what you write!

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Week 6 First Impression Prompts – Consciousness

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Option 1 (please use the Tag “Drugs” on your post):

Recently, several states have legalized recreational use of marijuana and even more are considering it. This has lead to both celebration and condemnation depending on who you ask. Medicinal use of marijuana is still controversial as well. In your blog post, take a position on both medical and recreational use of marijuana. Should they be legal or not? Make sure to point out pros and cons to both arguments.

Option 2 (please use the Tag “Sleep” on your post):

In this TED talk, Russell Foster outlines 3 prominent theories about why we sleep. Watch the talk and argue for the theory you find the most convincing. Include a discussion of your current sleep habits and how healthy you think they are. What is a realistic goal for amount of sleep per night for a college student?

I look forward to seeing what you write!

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Week 5 First Impression Post – Memory

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Regardless of which prompt you choose, please use the Tag “Memory” on your post:

Option 1:

Elizabeth Loftus is one of the preeminent researchers in false memories. Her research has shed light on the fallibility of eyewitness testimony, the over-reporting of satanic ritual abuse, and the ease of implanting false memories. Her TED talk outlines much of her research and illuminates the fragility of our memory. Watch the TED talk and discuss your reactions. Make sure to specifically address Loftus’s implication that we could manipulate memory for positive outcomes (like enjoying vegetables) by discussing potential pros and cons and stating whether or not you believe we should consider tampering with memory.

Option 2:

One of the topics we will discuss related to memory is study habits. For this post, critique your current study habits. What do you do well and what do you need to improve. In particular, I want you to discuss how you studied for the first exam in this class and share any changes you might make for the second exam to improve your preparation. We will see how closely your ideas reflect what the research says about improving your memory for learned information.

I look forward to seeing what you write!

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Week 4 First Impression Prompts – Neuroscience

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Regardless of which prompt you choose, please use the Tag “Neuroscience” on your post.

For your blog prompt this week, you are to choose one of the following TED talks:

Each talk focuses on a different aspect of the brain. In your response, address the following issues:

What drew you to choose the talk you did?
Briefly summarize the talk.
What did you find most interesting about the talk?
How trustworthy did you find the presenter and the information she or he presented? Explain why.(Note: you must go beyond talking about the reputation of TED talks in general)
Come up with a research idea of your own based on the information presented in the talk and briefly outline how you would conduct it.

I look forward to seeing what you write!

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Week 3 First Impression Prompts – Development

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Regardless of which prompt you choose, please use the tag “Development” on your post. Here are the prompts for this week:

Option 1

Tiger moms, jellyfish dads, and helicopter parents. These terms all refer to various parenting styles and each has been both promoted as an ideal and criticized as “the problem with kids these days.” We will discuss parenting this week, but I’m curious what you think is the “best” way to parent. By “best” I mean most likely to produce children who grow up to be happy, healthy, and productive members of society. Write your post about the ideal way parents should raise their kids.

Option 2

While most developmental psychologists have focused on how we grow and change from birth to early adulthood, Erik Erikson was one of the first psychologists to put forth a theory of development that covered the entire lifespan. He divided the lifespan into 8 stages and in each stage he posited the primary challenge a person had to overcome for each stage. I want you to create your own 8-stage lifespan development theory (make sure to identify the age range for each stage) and identify what you think the main psychological challenge is for each stage. We’ll see how similar your ideas are to Erikson’s.

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Week 2 First Impression Prompts – Research Methods

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Regardless of which prompt you choose, please use the Tag “Research Methods” on your post. Here are the prompts for this week:

Option 1

For this week’s discussion, I want you to design a research study about a topic you find interesting in psychology. You can choose any topic you would like as long as you relate it to something from our textbook. In your post make sure to do the following:

List your research question
State your hypothesis (what you think the outcome would be and why)
Describe your procedure (what you would have participants do, how you would recruit participants)

Make your research idea something feasible that you could actually do as a student researcher. In other words, assume you have a fairly small budget and a limited amount of time. If you’re a psychology major or minor, you will eventually take Research Methods and have to conduct a research project, so this is great practice to start thinking about what you might want to do.

Option 2

Mythbusters is a popular TV show on the Discovery Channel which tests popular ideas using scientific methods. Select one of the mini-myths (short clips from the show) below and critique the methods used to test the myth. Remember, critique means list the strengths and the weaknesses. For each weakness, discuss why it is a problem and suggest a solution.

I look forward to seeing what you write!

Header image: CC by Flickr user Caitlinator

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Additional Student Introductions

A few students decided to create an “About Me” page in place of a blog post, so their introductions will not show up in the feed. Make sure to check them out using the links below:

About Me (:

https://sallyannesstudentblog.wordpress.com/about/

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Spring Semester 2017: A New Semester, A New Approach to Blogging

Hello readers,

I hope you have all been well since we last left you at the end of spring semester 2016. Spring semester 2017 starts tomorrow morning, and a new batch of student bloggers will be joining us for the next 14 weeks, as they explore the exciting world of psychology. I hope you will welcome them and engage with their writing.

I’m trying something a little different than I have in the past this time around. In previous iterations of this course blog, students wrote posts after we’ve covered new material in hopes it would help them solidify material from the lesson and add depth to what we covered in class. While it seemed to serve that purpose, I want to try something new this semester. This time, students will write posts before we cover new material in order to organize their original impressions and identify assumptions they are bringing to the material. Students will then comment on each others’ posts later in the week (once we’ve learned the psychological theories or principles involved) to help each other improve their understanding and highlight growth over time. In my mind, this better mimics the scientific method and simulates the experience of starting to become a psychologist. I’ll say more about this later, but I wanted to give you all a warning that things will look different this year. Now I’m off to bed so I’ll be fresh when I meet my new class at 9am tomorrow.

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Finals Week Blog Prompt: Reflections

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This is the prompt for finals week. You must post by noon Friday, 5/13 to receive credit. This prompt will either replace a non-zero post from earlier in the semester or give you 2 extra credit points (I will apply whatever helps your grade more). Comments will be accepted until noon on Saturday, 5/14 and will either replace a non-zero comment from earlier in the semester or give you 1 extra credit point (I will apply whatever helps your grade more). Use the tag “Finals” on your post.

Return to your introductory blog post where you described the 3 topics you were most and least excited about for this course, and the one question you wanted to be able to answer when it was over. Reflect on whether your predictions came true in terms of your favorite and least favorite topics, and try to answer the question you posed.

I look forward to seeing what you write!

Header image: CC by Flickr user Caitlinator

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Week 14 Blog Prompts: Mental Health

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Here are the three prompts for this week. Regardless of which prompt you choose, use the tag “Mental Health.”

Option 1

Schizophrenia is often depicted dramatically in the media, and has been the subject of many major films like A Beautiful Mind, The Soloist, and Donnie Darko. Less frequently, however, do people get the chance to think about the daily life of someone who experiences hallucinations and delusions. Watch this video which simulates the experience of a person with schizophrenia, share your reactions, and compare this to how you typically see schizophrenia in the media.

Option 2

People often associate schizophrenia with the homeless population or mental hospitals, but rarely do we think about people who are professionally very successful. One person who is thriving despite her schizophrenia is Elyn Saks, who received her law degree from Yale and is a professor at the University of Southern California. In her TED Talk, she describes how she struggled with her disorder and was eventually able to manage her condition and take control of her life. Share your reactions to the video, discuss how her story compares to the “typical narrative” of schizophrenia, and discuss why you think she turned out differently than other people with this disorder.

Option 3

Television shows like My Strange Addiction, Intervention, True Life, and others have turned some mental illnesses into entertainment. In particular, the shows Hoarders and Hoarding: Buried Alive showcase people with hoarding disorder trying to get their lives, homes, and relationships back in order. What do you think about this type of show? Is it ethical to do? Does it exploit people with mental illnesses? Answer these questions, then watch this clip from Hoarding: Buried Alive and share your reactions and if any of your perspectives changed. Then read the comments and again share your reactions and perspectives.

I look forward to seeing what you write!