Author Archives: cooperpsy101blog

Are video games making you racist?

Are you a white person? Do you play violent video games? Do you enjoy shooting and running over random people in the virtual streets? Have you ever played grand theft auto or saints row with a black avatar? If this sounds like a good time to you, then I have some shocking news that you must hear. Break all of your violent video games today and never use a black avatar again! You’re turning yourself into an aggressive racist! A recent study constructed and executed out of the Ohio State University lead by Dr. Brad Bushman has tested the effects of playing violent video games as a black avatar on white people and the results are shocking to white people everywhere. The psychologists reached their assumptions from the results of two different experiments. The first experiment randomly chose participants to play saint row as a black or white avatar and complete either a violent or non-violent task. The violent task being escape from a prison, and the non- violent being locate a church. After the tasks were completed the researchers implemented an implicit negative attitudes test. In this test the participants were required to associate different white and black faces with good and bad words. The results showed an increased connection between the black faces and bad words amongst the participants who completed a violent task with a black avatar. The second experiment was designed to not only show increased negative attitudes towards blacks but also an increase in aggressive behavior. Participants were again randomly selected to play as either a white or black avatar. Participants then played the violent video games “WWE Smackdown V.S Raw” or “Fight Night.” After playing the games participants completed another implicit negative attitude test. The test had black and white male and female faces paired with either weapons or harmless objects. To no surprise to the researchers the results showed an increased in negative pairings amongst the participants who had played with black avatars. To examine the increase in aggressive behavior the participants were then given one more test. The participants were given the ability to feed hot sauce to an imaginary person that did not like the sauce to begin with. The participants who had played with a black character forced the imaginary partner to consume 115% more hot sauce than those who had played with a white avatar. Dr. Bushman has exclaimed that the results of the research is outstanding proof that the portrayal of blacks as violent in all forms of media increases racial tendency and aggression in whites.

research article:

http://spp.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/03/20/1948550614528008

News article:

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/03/20/video-games-may-reinforce-racist-stereotypes-study-finds​

 

Rewriting this article was pretty simple. Anyone can summarize an experiment. The tough part about writing this article and continuing this project is my lack of interest in this subject. I care a lot about the racial divide in our world today, but I am increasingly tired of it. I find that no matter what you do there are going to be racist tendencies in some people. Some people flat out don’t want change. Hate is such a powerful emotion. I feel like the race issue is prominent in my everyday life. This debate has caused me to feel defeated and lost. I don’t believe one day prejudice will be extinct. Research like this I find obviously shows that almost everything shines a light on the natural tendency of racism in people. I find it unfair to blame a video game for the increased aggression and racist tendencies in the white participants. Maybe people are just inherently stereotypical and prejudice. That seems to be the truth, and that is why the race debate is killing me on the inside. I feel that no matter what I think because of my skin color I am assumed to have some natural feeling of supremacy towards other races. I have a typically black name and I grew up in a family and community that was mostly Mexican and black. I know I’m not the only one who has the same feelings of dejection, but being a white person who is so accustom to accepting other’s for their culture and skin color to the point that it isn’t acceptance it is just the way I am, I feel defeated that my skin color throws my true identity into the trash. This project has increased my disgust for the media and the way ideas are portrayed by journalists and researchers. When I read the news or listen to it I pretty much just do so to take in something and get an idea of what is going on but I never allow a news outlet to determine my feelings on a scenario. Pretty much just goes in one ear and out the other. I left out a lot of intricacies that I did not find important to summarizing the research. I also left out a lot of the discussion because I feel like the general idea is easily summarized with one or two sentences.

 

Are video games making you racist?

Are you a white person? Do you play violent video games? Do you enjoy shooting and running over random people in the virtual streets? Have you ever played grand theft auto or saints row with a black avatar? If this sounds like a good time to you, then I have some shocking news that you must hear. Break all of your violent video games today and never use a black avatar again! You’re turning yourself into an aggressive racist! A recent study constructed and executed out of the Ohio State University lead by Dr. Brad Bushman has tested the effects of playing violent video games as a black avatar on white people and the results are shocking to white people everywhere. The psychologists reached their assumptions from the results of two different experiments. The first experiment randomly chose participants to play saint row as a black or white avatar and complete either a violent or non-violent task. The violent task being escape from a prison, and the non- violent being locate a church. After the tasks were completed the researchers implemented an implicit negative attitudes test. In this test the participants were required to associate different white and black faces with good and bad words. The results showed an increased connection between the black faces and bad words amongst the participants who completed a violent task with a black avatar. The second experiment was designed to not only show increased negative attitudes towards blacks but also an increase in aggressive behavior. Participants were again randomly selected to play as either a white or black avatar. Participants then played the violent video games “WWE Smackdown V.S Raw” or “Fight Night.” After playing the games participants completed another implicit negative attitude test. The test had black and white male and female faces paired with either weapons or harmless objects. To no surprise to the researchers the results showed an increased in negative pairings amongst the participants who had played with black avatars. To examine the increase in aggressive behavior the participants were then given one more test. The participants were given the ability to feed hot sauce to an imaginary person that did not like the sauce to begin with. The participants who had played with a black character forced the imaginary partner to consume 115% more hot sauce than those who had played with a white avatar. Dr. Bushman has exclaimed that the results of the research is outstanding proof that the portrayal of blacks as violent in all forms of media increases racial tendency and aggression in whites.

research article:

http://spp.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/03/20/1948550614528008

News article:

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/03/20/video-games-may-reinforce-racist-stereotypes-study-finds​

 

Rewriting this article was pretty simple. Anyone can summarize an experiment. The tough part about writing this article and continuing this project is my lack of interest in this subject. I care a lot about the racial divide in our world today, but I am increasingly tired of it. I find that no matter what you do there are going to be racist tendencies in some people. Some people flat out don’t want change. Hate is such a powerful emotion. I feel like the race issue is prominent in my everyday life. This debate has caused me to feel defeated and lost. I don’t believe one day prejudice will be extinct. Research like this I find obviously shows that almost everything shines a light on the natural tendency of racism in people. I find it unfair to blame a video game for the increased aggression and racist tendencies in the white participants. Maybe people are just inherently stereotypical and prejudice. That seems to be the truth, and that is why the race debate is killing me on the inside. I feel that no matter what I think because of my skin color I am assumed to have some natural feeling of supremacy towards other races. I have a typically black name and I grew up in a family and community that was mostly Mexican and black. I know I’m not the only one who has the same feelings of dejection, but being a white person who is so accustom to accepting other’s for their culture and skin color to the point that it isn’t acceptance it is just the way I am, I feel defeated that my skin color throws my true identity into the trash. This project has increased my disgust for the media and the way ideas are portrayed by journalists and researchers. When I read the news or listen to it I pretty much just do so to take in something and get an idea of what is going on but I never allow a news outlet to determine my feelings on a scenario. Pretty much just goes in one ear and out the other. I left out a lot of intricacies that I did not find important to summarizing the research. I also left out a lot of the discussion because I feel like the general idea is easily summarized with one or two sentences.

 

Are video games making you racist?

Are you a white person? Do you play violent video games? Do you enjoy shooting and running over random people in the virtual streets? Have you ever played grand theft auto or saints row with a black avatar? If this sounds like a good time to you, then I have some shocking news that you must hear. Break all of your violent video games today and never use a black avatar again! You’re turning yourself into an aggressive racist! A recent study constructed and executed out of the Ohio State University lead by Dr. Brad Bushman has tested the effects of playing violent video games as a black avatar on white people and the results are shocking to white people everywhere. The psychologists reached their assumptions from the results of two different experiments. The first experiment randomly chose participants to play saint row as a black or white avatar and complete either a violent or non-violent task. The violent task being escape from a prison, and the non- violent being locate a church. After the tasks were completed the researchers implemented an implicit negative attitudes test. In this test the participants were required to associate different white and black faces with good and bad words. The results showed an increased connection between the black faces and bad words amongst the participants who completed a violent task with a black avatar. The second experiment was designed to not only show increased negative attitudes towards blacks but also an increase in aggressive behavior. Participants were again randomly selected to play as either a white or black avatar. Participants then played the violent video games “WWE Smackdown V.S Raw” or “Fight Night.” After playing the games participants completed another implicit negative attitude test. The test had black and white male and female faces paired with either weapons or harmless objects. To no surprise to the researchers the results showed an increased in negative pairings amongst the participants who had played with black avatars. To examine the increase in aggressive behavior the participants were then given one more test. The participants were given the ability to feed hot sauce to an imaginary person that did not like the sauce to begin with. The participants who had played with a black character forced the imaginary partner to consume 115% more hot sauce than those who had played with a white avatar. Dr. Bushman has exclaimed that the results of the research is outstanding proof that the portrayal of blacks as violent in all forms of media increases racial tendency and aggression in whites.

research article:

http://spp.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/03/20/1948550614528008

News article:

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/03/20/video-games-may-reinforce-racist-stereotypes-study-finds​

 

Rewriting this article was pretty simple. Anyone can summarize an experiment. The tough part about writing this article and continuing this project is my lack of interest in this subject. I care a lot about the racial divide in our world today, but I am increasingly tired of it. I find that no matter what you do there are going to be racist tendencies in some people. Some people flat out don’t want change. Hate is such a powerful emotion. I feel like the race issue is prominent in my everyday life. This debate has caused me to feel defeated and lost. I don’t believe one day prejudice will be extinct. Research like this I find obviously shows that almost everything shines a light on the natural tendency of racism in people. I find it unfair to blame a video game for the increased aggression and racist tendencies in the white participants. Maybe people are just inherently stereotypical and prejudice. That seems to be the truth, and that is why the race debate is killing me on the inside. I feel that no matter what I think because of my skin color I am assumed to have some natural feeling of supremacy towards other races. I have a typically black name and I grew up in a family and community that was mostly Mexican and black. I know I’m not the only one who has the same feelings of dejection, but being a white person who is so accustom to accepting other’s for their culture and skin color to the point that it isn’t acceptance it is just the way I am, I feel defeated that my skin color throws my true identity into the trash. This project has increased my disgust for the media and the way ideas are portrayed by journalists and researchers. When I read the news or listen to it I pretty much just do so to take in something and get an idea of what is going on but I never allow a news outlet to determine my feelings on a scenario. Pretty much just goes in one ear and out the other. I left out a lot of intricacies that I did not find important to summarizing the research. I also left out a lot of the discussion because I feel like the general idea is easily summarized with one or two sentences.

 

Are video games making you racist?

Are you a white person? Do you play violent video games? Do you enjoy shooting and running over random people in the virtual streets? Have you ever played grand theft auto or saints row with a black avatar? If this sounds like a good time to you, then I have some shocking news that you must hear. Break all of your violent video games today and never use a black avatar again! You’re turning yourself into an aggressive racist! A recent study constructed and executed out of the Ohio State University lead by Dr. Brad Bushman has tested the effects of playing violent video games as a black avatar on white people and the results are shocking to white people everywhere. The psychologists reached their assumptions from the results of two different experiments. The first experiment randomly chose participants to play saint row as a black or white avatar and complete either a violent or non-violent task. The violent task being escape from a prison, and the non- violent being locate a church. After the tasks were completed the researchers implemented an implicit negative attitudes test. In this test the participants were required to associate different white and black faces with good and bad words. The results showed an increased connection between the black faces and bad words amongst the participants who completed a violent task with a black avatar. The second experiment was designed to not only show increased negative attitudes towards blacks but also an increase in aggressive behavior. Participants were again randomly selected to play as either a white or black avatar. Participants then played the violent video games “WWE Smackdown V.S Raw” or “Fight Night.” After playing the games participants completed another implicit negative attitude test. The test had black and white male and female faces paired with either weapons or harmless objects. To no surprise to the researchers the results showed an increased in negative pairings amongst the participants who had played with black avatars. To examine the increase in aggressive behavior the participants were then given one more test. The participants were given the ability to feed hot sauce to an imaginary person that did not like the sauce to begin with. The participants who had played with a black character forced the imaginary partner to consume 115% more hot sauce than those who had played with a white avatar. Dr. Bushman has exclaimed that the results of the research is outstanding proof that the portrayal of blacks as violent in all forms of media increases racial tendency and aggression in whites.

research article:

http://spp.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/03/20/1948550614528008

News article:

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/03/20/video-games-may-reinforce-racist-stereotypes-study-finds​

 

Rewriting this article was pretty simple. Anyone can summarize an experiment. The tough part about writing this article and continuing this project is my lack of interest in this subject. I care a lot about the racial divide in our world today, but I am increasingly tired of it. I find that no matter what you do there are going to be racist tendencies in some people. Some people flat out don’t want change. Hate is such a powerful emotion. I feel like the race issue is prominent in my everyday life. This debate has caused me to feel defeated and lost. I don’t believe one day prejudice will be extinct. Research like this I find obviously shows that almost everything shines a light on the natural tendency of racism in people. I find it unfair to blame a video game for the increased aggression and racist tendencies in the white participants. Maybe people are just inherently stereotypical and prejudice. That seems to be the truth, and that is why the race debate is killing me on the inside. I feel that no matter what I think because of my skin color I am assumed to have some natural feeling of supremacy towards other races. I have a typically black name and I grew up in a family and community that was mostly Mexican and black. I know I’m not the only one who has the same feelings of dejection, but being a white person who is so accustom to accepting other’s for their culture and skin color to the point that it isn’t acceptance it is just the way I am, I feel defeated that my skin color throws my true identity into the trash. This project has increased my disgust for the media and the way ideas are portrayed by journalists and researchers. When I read the news or listen to it I pretty much just do so to take in something and get an idea of what is going on but I never allow a news outlet to determine my feelings on a scenario. Pretty much just goes in one ear and out the other. I left out a lot of intricacies that I did not find important to summarizing the research. I also left out a lot of the discussion because I feel like the general idea is easily summarized with one or two sentences.

 

Are video games making you racist?

Are you a white person? Do you play violent video games? Do you enjoy shooting and running over random people in the virtual streets? Have you ever played grand theft auto or saints row with a black avatar? If this sounds like a good time to you, then I have some shocking news that you must hear. Break all of your violent video games today and never use a black avatar again! You’re turning yourself into an aggressive racist! A recent study constructed and executed out of the Ohio State University lead by Dr. Brad Bushman has tested the effects of playing violent video games as a black avatar on white people and the results are shocking to white people everywhere. The psychologists reached their assumptions from the results of two different experiments. The first experiment randomly chose participants to play saint row as a black or white avatar and complete either a violent or non-violent task. The violent task being escape from a prison, and the non- violent being locate a church. After the tasks were completed the researchers implemented an implicit negative attitudes test. In this test the participants were required to associate different white and black faces with good and bad words. The results showed an increased connection between the black faces and bad words amongst the participants who completed a violent task with a black avatar. The second experiment was designed to not only show increased negative attitudes towards blacks but also an increase in aggressive behavior. Participants were again randomly selected to play as either a white or black avatar. Participants then played the violent video games “WWE Smackdown V.S Raw” or “Fight Night.” After playing the games participants completed another implicit negative attitude test. The test had black and white male and female faces paired with either weapons or harmless objects. To no surprise to the researchers the results showed an increased in negative pairings amongst the participants who had played with black avatars. To examine the increase in aggressive behavior the participants were then given one more test. The participants were given the ability to feed hot sauce to an imaginary person that did not like the sauce to begin with. The participants who had played with a black character forced the imaginary partner to consume 115% more hot sauce than those who had played with a white avatar. Dr. Bushman has exclaimed that the results of the research is outstanding proof that the portrayal of blacks as violent in all forms of media increases racial tendency and aggression in whites.

research article:

http://spp.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/03/20/1948550614528008

News article:

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/03/20/video-games-may-reinforce-racist-stereotypes-study-finds​

 

Rewriting this article was pretty simple. Anyone can summarize an experiment. The tough part about writing this article and continuing this project is my lack of interest in this subject. I care a lot about the racial divide in our world today, but I am increasingly tired of it. I find that no matter what you do there are going to be racist tendencies in some people. Some people flat out don’t want change. Hate is such a powerful emotion. I feel like the race issue is prominent in my everyday life. This debate has caused me to feel defeated and lost. I don’t believe one day prejudice will be extinct. Research like this I find obviously shows that almost everything shines a light on the natural tendency of racism in people. I find it unfair to blame a video game for the increased aggression and racist tendencies in the white participants. Maybe people are just inherently stereotypical and prejudice. That seems to be the truth, and that is why the race debate is killing me on the inside. I feel that no matter what I think because of my skin color I am assumed to have some natural feeling of supremacy towards other races. I have a typically black name and I grew up in a family and community that was mostly Mexican and black. I know I’m not the only one who has the same feelings of dejection, but being a white person who is so accustom to accepting other’s for their culture and skin color to the point that it isn’t acceptance it is just the way I am, I feel defeated that my skin color throws my true identity into the trash. This project has increased my disgust for the media and the way ideas are portrayed by journalists and researchers. When I read the news or listen to it I pretty much just do so to take in something and get an idea of what is going on but I never allow a news outlet to determine my feelings on a scenario. Pretty much just goes in one ear and out the other. I left out a lot of intricacies that I did not find important to summarizing the research. I also left out a lot of the discussion because I feel like the general idea is easily summarized with one or two sentences.

 


Schizophrenia in the media

I had a childhood friend with schizophrenia, we lived next door to each other and spent quite a bit of our summer together, we would play in the park together until he moved when I was 15. When I first met him I was 13, he seemed to have something causing him some distress and wouldn’t tell me his name. My parents had invited him and his family over to have dinner with us to welcome them into our neighborhood. I had never really known what schizophrenia was before I met him. Once him and his family came over I could tell there was something off before the meal even started. He looked as if he didn’t trust anyone and he could barley stomach the sight of his food. Half way through our meal he shot up out of his seat and screamed “I’m not with them.” after that he started breathing really heavy and his parents and my parents went into another room and talked. Him and I sat at the table alone together. He slowly started whispering something to me over and over again, I could not understand what he was saying. I asked him to speak up but he wouldn’t. I decided because he was in my house I should do more to make him feel more settled. so I got out my seat and walked over to his side of the table. I don’t think he took my attempt to calm him down as a kind gesture. As I got closer his eyes lit up with what I assumed to be fear. I placed my hand on his shoulder and just as I was about to speak he grabbed the butter knife we had been using to butter rolls and slashed through my arm, and his whisper grew to a scream. I could understand what he was saying now. “you’re one of them, I know” He wouldn’t stop yelling after he cut me. I was shocked to say the least. I couldn’t understand why he had hurt me when I was trying to ease him. The commotion startled my parents and his. I was surprised to see that no one was upset with him. They left right then. later that night my parents explained to me what he was going through. Apparently he had recently been diagnosed and the new medication wasn’t going over very well, still I had no idea the ins and outs of what a schizophrenic person is actually experiencing. I think this video does a good job at illustrating the perception of some one with this illness. I was able to forgive him once I learned he didn’t actually want to hurt me, he had no choice he is schizophrenic, he is sick. I think the media does a good job at portraying the difficulty of living with this illness, but at the same time the media harms the perception of these mentally ill people because more often than not they are portrayed to be dangerous and hopeless doomed to be lost in their mind.


Personality Examination

These tests were enlightening in some aspects, but they don’t completely explain me because they can not be that flexible. It would take much more discussion and probably and actual human to give me an explanation of what I am like and why it is so. The first test calculated that I have an ENFP personality type. The second test told me the same thing which was surprising. This personality type is called the journalist on the second test. I love to write and I feel I do it with ease so I can agree with that. The ENFP personality suggests I am slightly extraverted and intuitive I live by emotion and I prefer to perceive others points of views instead of judge them. Oddly enough This explains me pretty well. The response I got on the third test was boring but basically I’m extraverted.  The color test was surprising to me because I can agree with it pretty well it had half of my issues right but I think it was trying to hard to give me a solution to my mental health. Based on the colors I clicked I am emotional and artistic. I enjoy being around beauty and art. I am looking for a partner who has an eye for beauty and enjoys close loving relationships. I can agree with all that. The test assumes I feel unappreciated and in an unpleasant position. This is not true. It assumes I haven’t found people that reciprocate my emotions and point of view, also false. The test assumes I am unwilling to give myself fully but I want to change my ways and surrender to deep urges. In reality I give all of myself to the people who deserve it. Apparently this makes me feel weak and irritable but that’s not true I love being real with someone I can trust. Sad thing is you can’t trust people these days. A lot of snakes in the grass. Like the response says I do long to be valued, given importance and admired for my personal qualities. Based on the colors I avoid conflict and disagreements. I Prefer a peaceful, calm, and relaxing environment this is true I don’t like stress or drama. People who like drama are the worse kind of people. Find something more important in life than causing mischief with others. This is where I think the constraints of the test come into place my actual problem. Apparently my desire to be respected and to stand out from the crowd is not being satisfied and therefore I feel anxious. My normal friendly self is being held back and I refuse to become involved or participate with others in normal day to day activities. Error, I love others and I get involved easily and believe me the right ones recognize my genuine personality and they definitely let me know I am respected. I am not anxious because of a lack of respect or acknowledgement, I am anxious because of life. Overall I found the tests to be insightful to who I am and slightly eye opening because they made me think about the way I am and why.

 


My perspective on Violent video games

I played all genres of video games growing up. It seems at times as though the more violent the video game the more entertaining. There is something about putting bullets into your opponents to obtain the objective that is addictive. Although I was always very fond of sports games as well, I was upset when I would lose. Personally I wouldn’t let losing in a video game go to my head and cause me to physically outburst in some way. At some times I do remember being quite upset from a loss. I remember witnessing some of my friends sling controllers at the wall curse at their sisters and even at me after a game did not go their way. I don’t think it is only violent video games that can cause an increase of violent behavior in an individual. I have seen and heard more outburst from relevantly non violent sports games. It seems that video games are taken way too seriously at times. The idea that you could ban an art form is preposterous. That is exactly what video games are, they are an art. Countless hours are put into their creation and admiration. I cannot deny that there is no connection between video gaming and violent behavior. I think the worst part about video gaming is what it does to a persons psyche, attitude, social life, and over-all health. Someone who loves to game yearns for the countless hours in front of the screen where they get lost in the gaming sauce. Throughout their day a video game addict has the persistent thought “I am going to play as soon as I get home.” How can a young adolescent deal with major academic tasks at their best with a game stuck in their mind all day. Someone who takes video gaming seriously is mentally distraught in gaming failures. If this individual has poor coping skills then just because they played a video game their whole attitude will be shifted in a negative direction and this negativity builds from failure to failure. Video gaming, similar to social media has taken friendships out of the physical and into the virtual. This can be positive if the person playing has a healthy social life outside of the game. This can be dangerous in light of cyber bullying which is no doubt a part of online gaming you can’t last ten minutes online without a twelve year-old calling you out of your name. From personal experience I have the understanding that video games induce a higher rate of cursing in most gamers. The cursing that comes from video gaming has a violent undertone, and forms a habit. From what I have noticed from my younger cousins, the online social system of video gaming increases their distance from their family they become glued to the screen and likewise they form an emotional attachment to this virtual world. Studies have shown that sitting still for hours on end is not good for your health. Without a parent or a will power to keep video gaming as an after thought in your life, you will see some negative impact there has to be some control on time and personal value given to the platform. The negative effects of video gaming are very individualized. From person to person the effects will not be seen as strongly in one person as the other. It trickles down to what is most important in your life, if it is gaming then there is going to be bad habits formed because of it. You can game and be a mentally and physically healthy individual, but there is a fine line.

 

 


Is marijuana useful?

This debate is ridiculous to me. It was not until the 1900’s the United States decided to outlaw the drug. Marijuana has been used for thousands of years as a tool for medication, relaxation, and as a fabric. The only real reason one can find that it is outlawed now are as follows. There are billions apron billions possibly even trillions of dollars at stake in the legalization of Weed. If weed were federally legal, The economy would be turned upside down. Americans would start to see cannabis clothing, cannabis blankets, cannabis paper, cannabis drugs. Might I add that Marijuana as a medication will not always deliver the high that seems to haunt so many people who don’t use it. In marijuana there are 2 chemicals (there are also many more) THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD. THC which is relatively low in marijuana but is the chemical that gives the sensational high that some people adore and others deem demonic. CBD is much more prominent in marijuana and is not a source for the high. CBD can be used to help treat epilepsy,reduces anxiety, is an anti-inflammatory, reduces antipsychotic effects, reduces nausea and vomiting and potentially has the power to combat cancerous or tumorous cells. Now wouldn’t you say that there are plenty of major companies and doctors making billions off of the benefits derived from treating people with substances and practices that did not grow on its own? The government has implemented a negative social stigma behind the drug. which in return has produced ignorance on the use of the plant for decades now. Ignorance is something Americans especially love to cling to. The American people also love to cling to the idea that they have a perfect government, and can truly trust those that they give their lives and health to. Well how often has someone you loved lied to you? Then why would someone making enormous amounts of cash off of your blindness teach you how to see? Wakeup marijuana has pros and cons. But the great thing about it is you don’t have to partake it if you don’t want to. It is a somewhat free country isn’t it? Not only does the medical industry profit on the illegality of the plant that can literally grow in your closet. The privately owned major prison corporations and every business they are connected to whether it be food, clothing, toiletries, postage, are thriving off of the incrimination of plant burning. Drug offenses amount to about half of incarcerations and arrests in America, and marijuana amounts to about 30% of that 50. What I do not agree with is the idea Marijuana is perfectly okay to partake every day all day long with no negative effects to smoking\eating\drinking weed. That is the beauty about the substance it comes in every form imaginable. What I will say is like alcohol like these thousands of drugs we deem legal there are negatives. The negatives of weed though are nowhere near in comparison. Weed can be addictive. When you get addicted to weed, all it takes is a few days maybe a week or two and the addiction has become controlled. Weed withdrawal may give you a head ache and cause some restless nights, and at first will increase your anxiety levels. Like any other drug like any other pleasure stimuli there is a chance for addiction. That is a hard pill to swallow for the pharmacy bigots, and the alcoholics. Marijuana use is the individuals right and should be sanctioned as so and legal for recreational and medical use so that everyone may benefit from the wide array of applications the drug has to offer.


Is mind control possible?

Rebecca Saxe: How we read each other’s minds

I chose to discuss Rebecca’s’ discussion of how human’s read each other’s mind because I think it would be intriguing, and peculiar to have the ability to read others thoughts. Even though her talk isn’t exactly about mind reading, I got the impression from the initial link, and I went with it. I  was not disappointed. Rebecca is professor of cognitive neuroscience in the department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT. I believe that gives her enough credit on this matter. Rebecca discusses how an area of the brain RTPJ (right temporoparietel junction) Is used for only the thought process of understanding other’s thoughts. Dr. Saxe explains how the unique portion of the human brain develops and adjusts to better understand others throughout childhood and on into adult life. To demonstrate the differences in development of the RTPJ Saxe has a 3,5, and 7 year old determine the intentions of Ivan the pirate. Ivan the pirate has a cheese sandwich. Ivan places his sandwich on his treasure chest to go get a drink. Once Ivan has gone the wind knocks his sandwich onto the ground. Joshua another pirate places his cheese sandwich onto the treasure chest to go get a drink as well. Before Ivan takes his cheese sandwich Ivan takes, Saxe asks the individual children what sandwich Ivan will take and why? The 5 year old predicts Ivan will take the sandwich on the treasure chest because Ivan thinks it belongs to him. The 3 year old predicts Ivan will take the sandwich on the ground because it belongs to him. The 3 year old explains that Ivan is being mean for taking the wrong sandwich and did so to avoid eating the dirty sandwich. The 5 year old also agrees that Ivan is being naughty for taking the wrong sandwich even though he could understand that Ivan didn’t know his had been knocked off the chest by the wind. It is not until the 7 year old is questioned on Ivan’s intentions that Dr. Saxe receives a somewhat mature response. The 7 year old claims that Ivan is not to blame the wind is the culprit of the matter.

Dr. Saxe goes on to another scenario of RTPJ and how it is used in adult cognitive processing. In an example of magnetic manipulation other wise known as TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation). In this example of Gabby and the coffee pot. Gabby is at a table waiting for a friend. In the first portrayal there is a pot labeled deadly poison yet in reality it is just sugar. Gabby puts some of the fake deadly poison in her companions drink yet her friend is fine. In the second example there is a coffee pot labeled sugar but, it is actually deadly poison, Gabby places what she is considering sugar into her friends drink and they die. As one may assume the adults placed more negative moral connotations on Gabby when her friend lived opposed to when she died from accidental poisoning. Now in order to display how these thoughts can be manipulated through TMS Dr. Saxe ran through the same example of Gabby and the coffee pot while the TMS is focused on the RTPJ the responses she received about Gabby’s intentions are intriguing. Adults placed less blame on Gabby when her friend survived the intentional murder, and more blame on Gabby when her friend died from the accidental poisoning. Dr. Saxe concludes her research illustrates people come equipped to develop thoughts on the behavior of others.

I don’t know if I am the only one who gets a slight chill from this experiment, but what I see is the beginning of mind control technology. I find the TMS instrument to be the most interesting part of this talk. Although, it frightens me to think further manipulation of this instrument eventually may lead to the ability to control an individuals thoughts. For the sake of science. I would implement my own study to further develop this technology. I would have to conduct my research on open minded individuals. I would give out a survey to find persons that are of such tendency to accept new beliefs and direction. Second I would follow up on the questionnaire and achieve the consent of three gracious individuals. Once under my power I would continuously condition the minds of these individuals with my will through the power of the TMS, pin pointing the amygdala in order to further control the individuals emotional responses. The hippocampus, in order to manipulate memories to my favor and distance their past lives from them. The hypothalamus, in order to control appetite, sleep, eating habits, the subject would do nothing without my say so thanks to the magnetic power. The thalamus, in order to highjack their choice of movement and the RTPJ in order to numb their perception that they are still human as they once were. Although once I had achieved the ability to surrender the will of the subjects to my command, I would probably be considered a criminal. I would auction off my new found methods to the highest bidding military force. After all is said and done, hypothetically I would keep my initial three test subject as my own personal assistants. I will never have to do mind numbing tasks like laundry, cook, or cut the lawn ever again.