Extra Credit

The BBC Milgram Replication replicated Milgram’s study on obedience using the learner and shock generator. Milgram’s study found that while most people believed they would not generate electric shocks to the point when the learner cries for release, the results showed that 65% of participants administered shocks to the highest level. The replication experiment was very similar to the original experiment and included the “researcher” who was actually an actor and the participants (the “teachers”) who believed they were participating in a experiment about learning. The video showed the participants to gradually become more reluctant and even refuse to continue generating the shocks, but most of them still continued as the actor tells the experiment requires for continuation. In the end, 9 out of the 12 participants went all the way to the maximum shock of 450 volts. The researchers of the video pointed out most people continued to generate shocks because people have the impression that scientific experiments are supposedly beneficial, despite the lack of knowledge the participants had of the “researcher”. The percentage of people who administered shocks to the highest level in the BBC experiment was 10% higher than the percentage of people who did the same in the original experiment.

I was not surprised at the high percentage of people who continued administering the shocks to the highest level as I was expecting a similar turnout to Milgram’s experiment. While I was watching the video, I felt very frustrated with how easily the participants were influenced by the actor’s statement that the experiment required for continuation. I ended up realizing, however, that the obedience of the participants was largely caused by their positive view on scientific experiments and being “caught up in the moment” and not thinking about what they were doing. Watching and observing the BBC experiment and Milgram’s experiment have influenced me to be more questioning and skeptical in various situations and also to not be easily influenced by the statement of others.

Motivation // Orthorexia nervosa

With the increase of weight loss “methods” and societal pressures to be “fit” in the media, the idea of healthy eating has become widely popular today, particularly with millennials.

I would consider the provided criteria to be a valid way to define the boundary between eating healthy and having a mental disorder. I believe healthy eating becomes a disorder when it becomes obsessive, emotionally distressing, and/or compulsive. The criteria also lists evidence of when the line is drawn between healthy eating and disorder.

The first source I found on orthorexia nervosa suggested the disorder as similar to eating disorders, emphasizing orthorexia as an obsession about healthy eating rather than about weight loss and the the idea of being “thin”. Although I agree with the source’s statement that orthorexia is mainly motivated by wanting to be “healthy”, I disagree with its claim that orthorexia is not motivated by weight loss. I believe the obsession with healthy eating can result from an obsession with body image, and therefore orthorexia could be considered as an eating disorder. One can develop orthorexia along with other mental disorders due to societal pressures to be “fit” or look “thin”, both of which are associated with being “healthy” and healthy eating in today’s time. The source also pinpoints orthorexia becomes a problem when it takes up an inordinate amount of time in one’s life, a statement which I agree with.

The second source provides additional information on the effects of orthorexia and compares it with anorexia nervosa that was not as clearly stated in the previous two sources. The source add that those who suffer from anorexia or orthorexia seek self esteem through controlling food take, avoid certain foods, possess co-occuring disorders such as OCD, and may become socially isolated as a result of their disorder. All these factors add to my opinion that orthorexia can be classified as an eating disorder.

Sources:

https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/orthorexia-nervosa

http://www.timberlineknolls.com/eating-disorder/orthorexia/signs-effects/

Spotlight // Learning

For my first spotlight blog, I chose to review three sources focusing on study tips for college students, parents, and high school students.

The first source provided study tips for college students and consisted of a visual that provided study tips and statistics derived from various scientific studies that back up the advice given. For example, t included the percentages of students who played games, checked emails, surfed the net, and used instant messaging while using their laptops in class to suggest that laptops could be a source of distraction when in the classroom. The source emphasized setting aside a designated study time ranging from 30 to 50 minutes with a 10 minute break and studying within 24 hours of receiving the information due to higher retention rates at that time period. This related to the textbook’s tip on chunking, organizing information into chunks for better memory. The source also included techniques that we have discussed in class, such as rewriting notes, using flashcards, and making up examples. The source mentioned tips relating the negative of effects of listening to music while studying, cramming, and lack of sleep, all of which were discussed in the textbook. I would consider all of the tips in this source as good tips since they are reliable due to evidence from scientific research . Despite the biases the article seems to give off, it encourages its readers to discover what study techniques work best for them.

The next source from U.S. News targets parents, specifically those of middle and high school students. Some of the tips it provides are similar to the previous source, such as to develop a study plan and to designate a study area. Although I thought the advice was good, the source did not provide scientific studies to support the advices, making it less believable to readers. Some of the advice, such as “get organized”, were vague and superficial. Many of us know organization is important when it come to effective studying. A way to improve this advice is to provide multiple strategies for organization, such as maintaining a sleep schedule, setting daily goals, and motivating yourself with rewards.

The source targeting high school students was titles “10 Study Methods for College-Bound Teens”. It included tips that were mentioned in the previous two sources, but also different ones, such as working on soft skills, tracking habits, and maintaining good health. While the most of the advice was good, this source was similar to the source for parents and did not include studies or further details to support the advice. For example, the advice that suggests for using peers to study, should provide ways to set up and organize a study group.

Overall, the sources provided useful study tips, but the last two could have used more evidence to support the methods.

Sources:

Boynton, Briana. “10 Study Methods for College-Bound Teens.” U.S. News. U.S. News, 13 Dec. 2016. Web.

Comer, Ronald J., Michael Clifford Boyes, Elizabeth Gould, and Nancy A. Ogden. Psychology around Us. Toronto: John Wiley & Sons Canada, 2015. Print.

Media, Column Five. “Rasmussen College.” Rasmussen College – Regionally Accredited College Online and on Campus. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.

“10 Good Study Habits to Help Your Child Succeed in the New School Year.” Sylvan Learning Blog. N.p., 26 July 2016. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.

Drugs // Marijuana

The debate to legalize medical and recreational marijuana is unnecessarily prolonged. The issue can be solved efficiently if our government chooses to take more consideration on the benefits of legalizing marijuana, instead of viewing marijuana as merely an addictive drug. I strongly believe both medical and recreational marijuana should be legalized and decriminalized.

The popularity of marijuana nullifies the purpose of marijuana criminalization, to diminish marijuana usage. Criminalization has not lead to decreased use of marijuana. In fact, marijuana usage has double in the past decade, according to Time. As a result, legalization of marijuana, whether medical or recreational, will not be a factor that causes increased usage. Criminalization of the usage of marijuana has increased incarceration rates in America. High rates incarcerations are costly, both financially to America and socially to the offenders. Whether used as a calming reagent or a cure to epilepsy, medical cannabis is also a medicine. It can treat illnesses ranging from insomnia to multiple sclerosis to autism. There has also been no supported records that the effects of recreational marijuana are not near as harmful as the effects of cigarettes. Excessive use of marijuana, however, can obviously cause more harm than good. Just as overdosing on prescription drugs can lead to serious problems, overuse of marijuana can do the same. While there are not that many studies that focus on the effects of marijuana on our lungs, it is something we should look into more when it comes to usage of marijuana in relations to our health.

While I do believe medical and recreational marijuana should be legalized, I also believe that it is crucially important to do research and conduct more studies on both the positive and negative effects of marijuana. It is important to understand this drug as it is important to understand other drugs.

Memory // Study Habits

This week, we are prompted to discuss about our study habits. Usually, I start out my week by writing down all of my assignments, activities, goals and tasks for that week in my agenda. I plan out times that I should be studying in the library and what class to study for on certain days. When I study for tests and quizzes, I use Quizlet flash cards to help myself memorize terms and processes for classes such as biology and psychology. Because this is a new method of studying that I adopted this semester, I’m not sure whether or not this method will work for me. In addition to using flash cards, I often record notes from textbooks and lectures in a notebook. I am satisfied with my note taking techniques because I have already found a way to effectively organize my notes. I still struggled to motivate and push myself to actually review them consistently. Knowing myself, I tend to procrastinate and get distracted easily, and eventually become behind the schedule I had initially set earlier that week.

For the last psychology exam, I did not get the chance to study my flash cards as much because I did not make them in a timely manner. In order to avoid the same situation from occurring, I will make flashcards immediately after each lecture and divide them up into smaller categories. This should allow me to remember and categorize the abundance of information I learn more efficiently. I spent most of my study time for the first exam by repeatedly looking over my notes and the textbook. This method only helped me remember the material to an extent, since I had difficulty remembering material that wasn’t discussed or reviewed as much in class. For the next exam, I plan to rewrite my note without looking at them to avoid being stuck on the free response questions. Hopefully, I will be able to discover new ways to help me study for subjects that require a lot of memorization after this week’s lessons.

Neuroscience // Toward a New Understanding of Mental Illness

Thomas Insel: Toward a New Understanding of Mental Illness

This week, I watched a Tedx CalTech talk by Thomas Insel titled “Toward a new understanding of mental illness”. I was drawn to this talk in hopes of learning and understanding more about mental illness. The speaker, Thomas Insel, is not only a neuroscientist and psychiatrist, but also the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health. Insel’s abundant research and experience in neuroscience and neurobiology make him a trustworthy source on the topic of mental illness. In this talk, Insel compared deaths from commonly known illnesses (heart disease, leukemia, etc.) to deaths from mental illness. He discussed the importance of early detection, and how it has significantly lowered death rates of heart disease and leukemia over the years. Intel questions of we could do the same with mental illness. He suggests understanding the brain and brain disorders as the key to understanding mental illness. What I found most interesting from this talk is that Insel brought up how we only acknowledge mental illness when we observe a behavioral disorder. For mental illness, early detection is not emphasized. Insel pointed out by the time we observe the behavioral part of mental illness, it is already past the early detection stage.

If I were to come up with a research idea based on the information from this presentation, I will use the experimental method. This experiment will test the idea of early detection of mental disorders and observable behavior of mental disorders. To conduct this experiment, I will use neuroimaging technology to detect brain abnormality in children from the ages of 3-10. The experiment will be conducted over a period of time, as I will have to follow up with the children’s parents each year to record whether there are signs of behavioral disorders.

Development // The Ideal Parents

Hi everyone,

This week’s topic is:

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.

As a Chinese-American, I grew up with a Tiger mom. To make things equal, my dad was also quite demanding, just not as much as my mom. If you’re not familiar with the term “Tiger mom”, it is a strict mom who pushes her children to achieve high standards in academics and extracurriculars. The goal of Tiger moms (or parents) is to raise multi-talented and academically successful children. Although this may sound idealistic to some people, Tiger parenting has its negatives. Many children raised by tiger parents end up becoming productive members of society, however, they lack in happiness and health. A lot of Tiger parents are so focused on creating carbon copies of other “successful” children that they ignore and forget about their children’s emotions, thoughts and feelings. They forget that not all children are built the same way. They forget that there are more career options than doctor, engineer and lawyer. Most importantly, they forget that happiness is also connected to successfulness.

Coming from a background that highly values the act of working hard, I believe children should always be pushed to do their best. It depends on the parents’ values when it comes to how much a parent should focus on their children’s academics, activities and etc. Contrast to the limitations of Tiger parenting, I also believe children should be exposed to open options. It’s important for the child to discover what they like and want to do by themselves instead of having the parent decide the child’s future. Parents should be a source of guidance and not a source of decision. They should establish trust and connection with their children through communication.

There is no “perfect” way to raise a child, considering that every child is different. In the end, parents will have to modify their parenting techniques as their children grow and change.

Holly

Research Methods // Mythbusters

Hello everyone,

This week, we were are assigned to critique the experiment methods of a Mythbusters mini myth. I decided to critique the experiment “Are Women Better At Men at Reading Emotions?”. In this mini myth, the three experimenters had the subjects predict the emotions of different pictures of the experimenters’ eyes. The result, as many would expect, was that women are better and quicker in predicting emotions than men are.

A major strength of the experiment was that the experimenters tested a diverse selection of individuals, varying in race, ethnicity and gender. Despite the diversity, the experiment still lacked in the number of people tested. The experiment also occurred over a short period of time, which could have caused the subjects to rush their thinking process. These weaknesses can easily be improved by elongating the time period of the experiment which can result a larger pool of people to test from. Other strengths the experiment included were the variety of emotions shown, and the challenging concept of the experiment. The test showed a total of 17 emotions and showed only the eyes instead of the whole face to the subjects. This leads to the third main weakness of the experiment. I believe the experiment is not realistic because of the exaggerated expressions of the pictures. In reality, no one’s mouth is shaped in an upside-down “U” when they are sad. A solution can include having the subjects predict emotions by observing real life situations, through pictures and video clips.

Overall, the short clip was interesting, and I’m excited to learn about more psychology experiments this semester.

See you guys soon,

Holly

Blog Intro // About Me

Hello everyone,

Welcome to my blog! I’m Holly, and I am a freshman at Austin College. I was born in China, immigrated to Los Angeles, moved to Dallas and now I’m here in Sherman. I am in the pre-medicine program, planning to major in biology, go to medical school and become a plastic surgeon or a women’s health doctor. As you can see, I have my life put together. Just kidding, I’m actually a mess, like most college students.

I created this blog for my general psychology class. To be completely honest, I took this course to fulfill my pre-med and social science requirements, but I’m excited to start learning more about the subject. Psychology has always seemed interesting to me because it studies the human mind and behavior. As someone who plans to work with humans for the rest of her life, this class will definitely be useful for my future. I have never taken a psychology class before, and the only background I have close to the field was studying characters as an actor in acting classes and theatre.

When I hear the word “psychology”, I think about a psychiatrist. A lot of the people I know who want to major in psychology also want to become a psychiatrist. In the past, I have thought about becoming a psychiatrist. I also have a strong interest in mental health and illness since I’ve had several encounters and experiences with them in the past. That being said, the three topics in the syllabus that look the most interesting to me are classifying mental illness, treating mental illness and stereotypes and discrimination. Although our country is considerably more progressive than many other countries, mental illness is still commonly neglected and dismissed today in our country, especially in the public school system. I have attended public schools up until college, and mental illness was a topic that was never thoroughly discussed in the classrooms. I hope studying these topics will improve my understanding on how different kinds of mental illness and treatments work. In addition to mental illness, I am also eager about the discrimination and stereotypes topic, since it is very prevalent today. As an immigrant and a minority, I have experienced discrimination and stereotypes throughout my life and even have been guilty of discriminating and stereotyping against others in the past. I am looking forward to studying discrimination and stereotypes from a psychological point of view. The three topics in the syllabus that look the least interesting to me are scientific method, research methods and experimental design. As a science major and pre-med student, every single one of my science classes have gone over those topics to the point where they are bland and repetitive. Don’t worry. I’ll survive through it.

By the end of this semester I hope my questions about mental illness will be answered, such as how do depression and anxiety form and are there treatments for mental illness other than pills. I also hope I do not look like a corpse by the end of this semester. A lot of upperclassmen have told me freshman pre-med spring semester is tough.

Wish me luck, and see you guys soon!

Holly