Intelligence

Jane Elliott’s classic blue eyes/brown eyes experiment: Jane Elliott teaches her class what arbitrary discrimination means by separating them into two groups the inferior blue eyed students and the the superior brown eyed students. By separating them with collars; the students really understood what discrimination was because they were put in situations where they got called names, and couldn’t hang out with one another. Two of the students got into a altercation because the brown eyed student felt “stupid” and left out. One of the students makes a connection and say thats “it’s like other people calling black people niggers.” Elliott’s experiment shows that kids learned about power, and how using power could make people feel useless and worthless and make one group feel superior.

Claude Steele explaining stereotype threat:  In this experiment a group of black and white athletes were instructed to do a golf related task. The task of athletic ability, was done better by the african americans and for as the task of strategy the Caucasians did better. So throughout this experiments we learned about the stereotype threat and how it effects people.

Rosenthal & Jacobson’s discovery of the Pygmalion effect: In this experiment Rosenthal and Jacobson took the Pygmalion effect and show the teachers expectations do have and affect on a students progress. The students names were put into a hat and randomly drawn and they said those students progress will increase over time. So for the teachers giving those students more attention; in the outcome we see that yes students do better when their teacher expects them to do better.

Connections with the videos; With the first video I honestly though it was very interesting how fast people could view other people by separating them into two separate groups. For the second video I can kinda relate to it as in the aspect of people calling Hispanics/Mexicans maids a lot, just because one can’t afford a decent job and have t0 become maids for the wealthy doesn’t mean to discriminate them. It is just apart of life and one has to do what they got to do to keep their life going. For the last video I can relate to it because in elementary school I went to a all minority school and for me i was the star student that was always called on in class and always was the teachers pet, and the other students were not the same, they seemed not to care about the class, where as I was and the teachers would constantly call on me and I succeeded well. Another thing is that I think if a student wants to learn and be engaged in class it should be on them to want to do it. With the school systems i honestly think that no school or student have to be discriminated, hated, or even bullied because it affects the students.

 

 


Recreational and Medical Marijuana

Legalizing marijuana is a big controversial topic in the United States, whether it being for or against legalizing it.  What is Marijuana? Also called weed, herb, pot, grass, bud, ganja, Mary Jane, and a vast number of other slang terms is a greenish-gray mixture of the dried, shredded leaves and flowers of Cannabis sativa—the hemp plant. The main psychoactive chemical in marijuana, responsible for most of the intoxicating effects sought by recreational users, is delta-9-tetrahydro-cannabinol (THC).

Why should it be legalized? Well for one thing for sure medical marijuana has been proven to help with cancer, aids, epilepsy and many more other diseases. Since we know that it helps why not legalize it? Well first of all congress would not know how to tax it and believe it would get out of hand. Now that 23 states allow medical marijuana it has proven that it really helps the patients out. As of recreational use there are some states that have legalized it. Many people use weed for their purposes and no matter what they still find a way of getting it. I believe that if it doesn’t cause harm for the users than why not? Why do we sell tobacco? Its an addictive substance, that actually causes cancer and destroys your body, and that is legal. If alcohol is legal and causes many outcomes of using it, i honestly believe that marijuana should be legalized.

Why it shouldn’t be legalized? Marijuana is the most commonly abused illegal drug in the U.S. and around the world. Those who support its legalization, for medical or for general use, fail to recognize that the greatest costs of marijuana are not related to its prohibition; they are the costs resulting from marijuana use itself. Today there are 15.2 million current marijuana users in comparison to 129 million alcohol users and 70.9 million tobacco users. Though the number of marijuana users might not quickly climb to the current numbers for alcohol and tobacco, if marijuana was legalized, the increase in users would be both large and rapid with subsequent increases in addiction.Since legalization of marijuana for medical or general use would increase marijuana use rather than reduce it and would lead to increased rates of addiction to marijuana among youth and adults.

I believe that the sources are trustworthy enough but actual research would help with arguing an opinion on the situation, this goes for both sources.

News, ABC. “Should Medical Marijuana Be Legal?” ABC News. ABC News Network, 11 June 2005. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.

“Why We Should Not Legalize Marijuana.” CNBC. N.p., 20 Apr. 2010. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.


Video Games

With many adults having concern on wether or not violent video games have an effect on their child, many researchers have given the pros and cons on how they view this controversial topic. Many youngsters play video games such as Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, Assassins Creed, and many more others, but parents are worried that it may make the young child violent. Some people view them as not violent and others do. With the help of research we got the pros and cons of video games.

For the pros:

  • Playing violent video games causes more aggression, bullying, and fighting.
  • There is broad consensus among medical associations, pediatricians, parents, and researchers that violent video games increase aggressive behavior.
  • Simulating violence such as shooting guns and hand-to-hand combat in video games can cause real-life violent behavior.
  • Many perpetrators of mass shootings played violent video games.
  • Violent video games desensitize players to real-life violence.
  • By inhabiting violent characters in video games, children are more likely to imitate the behaviors of those characters and have difficulty distinguishing reality from fantasy.
  • Exposure to violent video games is linked to lower empathy and decreased kindness.
  • Video games that portray violence against women lead to more harmful attitudes and sexually violent actions towards women.
  • The American Psychological Association (APA) lists violent video games as a risk factor for aggressive behavior.
  • Video games encourage and reward violent behavior.
  • The US military uses violent video games to train soldiers to kill.

For the cons:

  • Sales of violent video games have significantly increased while violent juvenile crime rates have significantly decreased.
  • Studies claiming a causal link between video game violence and real life violence are flawed.
  • The US Supreme Court ruled that violent video games do not cause youth to act aggressively.
  • Playing violent video games does not cause kids to commit mass shootings.
  • Violent video games allow players to release their stress and anger (catharsis) in the game, leading to less real world aggression.
  • Violent video game players know the difference between virtual violence in the context of a game and appropriate behavior in the real world.
  • Studies have shown that violent video games can have a positive effect on kindness, civic engagement, and “prosocial” behaviors.
  • Nearly all young men play video games, so the fact that some people who commit violent acts also played games should not be surprising, nor does it imply a causal relationship.
  • Many risk factors are associated with youth violence, but video games are not among them.
  • Violent video games provide opportunities for children to explore virtually the consequences of violent actions and to develop their moral compasses.
  • Violent video games may decrease crime because people are busy playing the games instead of committing violent acts.
  • Gun violence is less prevalent in countries with high video game use.
  • The competitive nature of a video game is what arouses aggression, not the level of violent content.
  • Older generations often unfairly disparage new things that youth like, such as video games.

Now that we have seen the pros and cons, it now leads us to know a little bit more information that we didn’t know in the past. As for a parents it’s their decision to let their child play the game, but if they do, it relies some what on them for purchasing and approving their child to play it. As I view this article I believe it was a good article with some eye opening facts. I honestly don’t think that the violent video games should be banned due to it all depends on the player if he/she wants to become violent or do bad things.

“Violent Video Games – ProCon.org.” ProConorg Headlines. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.


Mythbusters Distractions while Driving

The mini myth of Ghostbusters they experiment which is a worst distraction; whether it is talking while driving or diving drunk. Many people have always had this question and wanted to see the outcome.

In this experiment the host Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage have two others test this experiment. The track/course is all controlled and stays the same through out the whole time. They had to stop at a stop sign and also avoid a road condition. They first do one trial with being completely sober and with their results they both passed the test. They then did a second trial while talking on the phone. With this trial they both failed the test, why is because they were both distracted by the phone and having to memorize what the person on the other line was saying had an impact on their driving. Then in the last experiment they were given alcohol to see if it had the same impact or even worse when driving. They again failed this test as well. With what the host of Mythbusters, they say that it is equally the same with drinking while having alcohol in your system and talking while driving are both dangerous with having an impact on your driving.

I honestly believed that this was a great experiment but it did have some weaknesses to it as in: they should of had a different age limit because now a days high school and college drink while under the age. Many accidents of drunk driving are caused by minors and especially while on the phone. Whether it be texting, calling, or even being on other applications cause distractions while driving. With that being said I would try and use other ages to do this experiment. One last thing is that there should have been more people experimenting this theory.The good things in this experiment was that it was a controlled course everything was the exact same.

With that being said they are both equally dangerous and no one should have to be in this situation. Drive smart and everything will be okay.


About Me

Hello fellow classmates and Dr. MacFarlane,

I’m Brian Escamilla and I’m a second semester freshmen. I chose Austin College because of the classes and programs they have here. I enjoy hanging out with friends and also being on my phone.

I chose to take this class because it fit best with my schedule. I also don’t know much about psychology and I’m looking forward to learning the material. I associate “why people do what they do” with psychology. What seemed interesting to me in the sylabus was conditioning, drugs, alcohol, and the brain, and personality theory. These three popped out to me and I can’t wait to learn about them because they relate to everyday college life.  I find all the topics interesting and am excited to learn more about them but find research methods, neurons, and sleep to be the least interesting of the topics.

One question I would like to have answered before leaving this semester is whether a person is born with their personality or if personality is developed over time?

This semester should be interesting and can’t wait to learn new things.