Motivation

Undoubtedly, many Austin College students feel the ups and downs of motivation. As said in the description of this proposed blog, “motivation is not a stable force”. I believe that I inquire much of my motivation in school from the Incentive Theory; whereas, my behavior is motivated by intrinsic or extrinsic rewards. My external award for attending Austin College is getting my degree from here and receiving a good job in the future. My internal award is taking in the satisfaction of all the hard work paid off when receiving my diploma and future job. I chose Austin College because of the endowing opportunities the school gives out later in life, as well as being given the chance to compete in NCAA DIII softball. Some key principals of motivation that are able to be applied to classes would to be to keep in mind the motivations that are provided by our own well-being or state of mind, our external and internal motivators around us; in other words, we need to keep our multitude of motivations in check in order to complete the hierarchy of needs.

Personality Test – Week 10

After taking the four different personality tests, I am able to say that all four were fairly similar in results excluding the second test listed. I feel that the other three were, for the most part, representative of my personality. To my surprise, I think that the color test (the last personality test available) represented my personality well at this point in my life. The opening statement of the personality assessment was capturing because it appeared to read into my thoughts exactly: “[she is] organized and detail-oriented, she has a very precise and methodical manner. She needs relationships which offer her understanding, respect, and approval” (She, referring to me). It assessed parts of my life/personality at this moment fairly clearly. The other personality tests were not as exact as this test, however did give an interesting insight towards my personality traits. I appear to be an extrovert, intuitive, mind over feelings, and consider things in an intellectual way instead of giving in to perception. Each test gave a disclaimer at the beginning of how they may be valid but not reliable, or neither valid nor reliable. It appeared that the second test may have used some sort of constructed validity because at the very beginning it had asked for previous results if the user had already taken a personality test; it is unknown to my behalf if this was used to calculate their own scores or if it was to correlate and compare with other tests besides its own.

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Here are the list of personality tests for others outside of the Psych 101 class to access:

Spotlight Blog 1 – Divorce

The amount of divorces in the United States is becoming more and more common in recent years. There has been many debates as to what the effects are on the children within the divorcee’s relationship. Some researchers and people claim that there is no effect on the children involved in the divorce, while others argue that there is a great impact on them. My viewpoint on the matter is that divorce does impact the children involved in some way, however, how much it impacts them depends on factors such as the child’s age, their relationship with their parents, how the divorce is handled/settled, how the parents later treat each other in the settlement, etc. Most people may view that divorce is overall bad for the child, yet they need to also take in consideration of how the child could perhaps be even more negatively affected by the unhappy/unhealthy relationship their parents have when together and if that relationship were to turn into something more toxic.

In the research article The Effects of Divorce on Children, it was presented that there is vast negative effects on children. The relationships within the family that the child had become broken, their emotional status is deflated into negativity, there is greater resentment towards the parents, their behavior and social skills become hostile, and they typically fall in their educational performances. This research article goes hand-in-hand with the scholarly journal “Social Justice, Spirituality, and Responsibility to Needs: The “Best Interests of the Child” in the Divorce Transition”. This particular journal was written to give the reader possibly new viewpoints of just how harsh divorce can impact a child’s spirit and what they view to be ‘social justice’. Within the journal, it is argued that divorce damages a child’s view of how their relationship with their parents are sacred, as well as the expectation that good and not harm will be bestowed upon them in life. Divorce, as explained, practically crushes the child’s spirit. Both of these articles share valid points within each, however it is not expected for every child to go through their parents divorcing in the same way. These are common consequences of divorce that children present after the fact, yet there are other factors that need to be taken into consideration that may explain why not all divorces are devastating on children, or are – at the least – not as bad.

In the two articles “Psychological and Emotional Aspects of Divorce” and “An Overview of the Psychological Literature on the Effects of Divorce on Children” are both coming from the standpoint that yes, there can and are negative effects of divorce on children; however, there are going to be certain children more effected than others, and how there are ways to prevent such a negative impact on the kids being put in the middle. It is states that

Children’s psychological reactions to their parents’ divorce vary in degree dependent on three factors: (1) the quality of their relationship with each of their parents before the separation, (2) the intensity and duration of the parental conflict, and (3) the parents’ ability to focus on the needs of children in their divorce (Corcoran).

This is an agreed statement within both articles, yet displayed in different ways. The article “An Overview of the Psychological Literature on the Effects of Divorce on Children” gives ways that children can be dealt with during a divorce so that they may not be impacted as heavily. There are areas where a child is more likely to be effected in, however it also is a depending factor on how the adults in the situation react to their child’s behavior.

I think that all four articles have valid areas being brought to the reader’s attention, and should be considered when two adults are going through a divorce that have children. The psychological needs of a child is very important to be kept in check while going through a vulnerable stage of their lives, such as when their parents have decided to separate. Although there is debate of just how divorce impacts children, there is no doubt that there is some sort of mental change within the child. There has to be adjustments made when going through a divorce, for both adults and children involved. Both the negative and neutral resources give references to both sides fairly well. These resources were found both by using the Abell Library’s website, as well as the search engine Ebscohost.

Works Cited:

An Overview of the Psychological Literature on the Effects of Divorce on Children. (2004, May). Retrieved March 31, 2017, from http://www.apa.org/about/gr/issues/cyf/divorce.aspx

Corcoran, K. O. (1997, June). Psychological and Emotional Aspects of Divorce. Retrieved April 1, 2017, from http://www.mediate.com/articles/psych.cfm

Fagan, P. F., & Churchill, A. (2012). Marri Research. The Effects of Divorce on Children. Retrieved March 30, 2017, from http://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF12A22.pdf

Kruk, E. (2013). Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health. Social Justice, Spirituality, and Responsibility to Needs: The “Best Interests of the Child” in the Divorce Transition. Retrieved April 1, 2017, from ebscohost.

Believing Your Intelligence

Week 9’s First Impression Prompt covers the topic of intelligence. In this discussion, we were asked to watch three videos: Jane Elliott’s classic blue eyes/brown eyes experiment, Claude Steele explaining stereotype threat, and Rosenthal & Jacobson’s discovery of the Pygmalion effect. I will discuss each of these videos in the order listed.

Jane Elliott Brown Eyes vs Blue Eyes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CtrpLh6TKk): This video was a demonstration of imposed discrimination the third grade teacher, Jane Elliott, introduced her class to. She separated the class by blue eyes and brown eyes, permitting the blue eyed people to be “superior” to their brown eyed counterparts. She wanted to demonstrate among her kids of how it feels to be discriminated against. She successfully did so; it was quite shocking of just how the children had changed in demeanor so quickly, as she had commented.

Claude Steele explaining stereotype threat (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGEUVM6QuMg): As learned in Chapter 7, a stereotype threat is where a person feels themselves being at risk for being stereotyped because of some type of social group/class they are in. In this video it is observed that when people have the feeling of being under a stereotypical threat, they will adjust their behavior that ends up fitting more towards the stereotype. In this short clip, psychologists Jeff Stone observed a group of white and black male athletes. He told them that they would be tested for 1) their athleticism, and then 2) their sports strategy skills. The first test the black male group prevailed in, while the second question had the white male students come out on top. This is a match-up with stereotypes, however it is assumed because of the way the questions were presented and expressed. It is disheartening to know that this effect is shown to be true. It does make quite a bit of sense, however I do question the accuracy in these findings. I think it would be much more relevant to prove more of how these people feel that they are being stereotyped versus if it actually is how they are.

Rosenthal & Jacobson’s discovery of the Pygmalion effect (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTghEXKNj7g): Two psychologists implanted in teacher’s heads that particular students were ‘late bloomers’ to see the effects it could have. In a short time, they had started to treat their children differently. They had a more positive expectations among their students, which increased their performance in doing well. This falls under the Pygmalion effect, which is the believed effect that higher expectations will lead to an increase in performance ability. Climate, input, response opportunity, & feedback are four factors the psychologists observed effect the children and teachers learning opportunities within the study and how well the child prevailed throughout the next school year. I thought it was interesting how the teachers would pick out the children that were expected to be smarter than the others, while dismissing the other children. It makes me disappointed in many teachers for treating between the ‘types’ of children differently without acknowledging how it will affect them in the future of their education.

All in all, I thought all of these videos were quite interesting and brought out valid points to take note of for the education system. Looking back at my own school experiences, I can firmly believe these instances. In a specific case with myself, there was a time where I was so awful at math. (I still am, just not as much!). The teachers did not do a great deal to help me, or give me outside resources to turn to for a different perspective for help; it was as if they had given up on me. However, a professor that greatly appreciated my desire to become better at math helped me tremendously in giving me extra help as well as encouragement in doing so – so, instead of ending the semester with a low C as expected, I finished with a high B. It helps tremendously is a person – especially an educator – believes in the student, and that they will be successful in learning. There are other factors that can be put into play for being able to comprehend information, however the way a professor, mentor, etc., presents and delivers the information can also have a withstanding impact on the student of individual.

Violence Amongst Children

Violent video games have rose to be a hot topic discussed in the media. The subject has dwindled down from public headlines compared to years ago, however, it is still a sensitive subject. Some argue that violent video games are negatively impacting developing children’s minds, whereas others say they have no effect. There is also great debate as to whether or not they should be permanently banned. I have the belief that these video games are not the sole case in effecting the young gamers mind. There are more factors that go into it rather than just the video games, which is very important to consider when trying to create a reliable correlation between the two. Such factors would be how the child is raised at home, how educated they are about the violence that goes on within the game, what other violence they are exposed to (home life, movies, songs, etc.), how old the child is, and how the parents/guardian(s) of the child go about when discussing the violent nature of video games and other sources of violence. Because of all of the other possible variables that go around the development of children, I do not think that violent video games are to blame. I do believe, however, that the games should stay restricted to certain ages. I also believe that parents and other sources should educate their children about the violence that goes on within the world we live in. I do believe it is good to expose children to some sort of violence (to an extent) in order to prepare them to not be too naive for the real world.

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Medical & Recreational Marijuana

medmarijuana

This week I will be discussing the topic of both medical and recreational use of marijuana. In this particular blog, I will be taking a stance on the use of both as well as whether or not it should be legal. This topic is quite controversial across the United States; many people are both for and against the use of marijuana in general, for good reason. I believe that marijuana use should be legal, however, in I believe in moderation. Yet, just as alcohol, there is no way to necessarily control the amount a person indulges in for recreational use. Just as alcohol is still able to find its way into dry counties, marijuana will be able to find its way into areas that are against the use. The “upside” to marijuana usage is that, unlike alcohol and most other drugs, you have an extremely low probability of dying from marijuana use. I have a strong belief that medical marijuana should be legal nationwide, particularly for those who suffer from cases such as chronic pain or high anxiety. Marijuana has been proven to have many beneficial effects for those suffering from illnesses – physically and mentally. Although, just as many drugs, there are different experiences with different people. Some people may experience a more enhanced or concentrated pain, while others may have higher anxiety levels than normal from the plausible side effects of marijuana use. I do believe that there is the possibility for people to abuse marijuana, just as people do with many things. However, people are able to abuse marijuana whether or not it is legal (recreationally). Most people, though, are not able to get marijuana for their detrimental illness the proper way if their state prohibits its use. All in all, I think that both recreational and medical should be legal. There are many pros and cons to each side, but I believe that the pros outweigh the cons in this case. There is – in my opinion – more good than bad that would come from the legalization of weed for both medicine and (moderately advised) recreational use.

To tie in with my blog, I would also like to add some additional reads about medical/recational marijuana that I thought were interesting while I was gathering my thoughts of how to approach this topic:

This article covers the use of marijuana and anxiety:

http://www.anxietysocialnet.com/anxiety-and-medical-marijuana

Chronic pain/psychiatric problems & medical marijuana:

http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2338266

Recreational use of marijuana (notice that this is not a scholarly journal/abstract – careful for pseudoscience)

http://www.businessinsider.com/health-benefits-of-medical-marijuana-2014-4/#her-types-of-muscle-spasms-could-be-helped-too-9

“Remember” to Study, Study, Study!

For week 5’s first impression post, we are presented with the topic of memory. For my blog in particular, I will be analyzing and critiquing my own study habits. Later in my post, I will also be critiquing my study techniques for the first exam that was taken and what changes I may make in order to improve my score for Exam 2. Next week (week 6) we will be learning about memory and helpful study techniques in class so that I would be able to compare my own memorization techniques to what research says about improving memory for learned information. Although I believe that I benefit from my study techniques, I am hoping that I am able to learn more from this upcoming week’s lectures. I am hopeful to find different ways to recall information that what I have been practicing thus far. I am quite interested in seeing how alike or different my techniques of studying will stand compared to official research. I am always up to learning new memory/study techniques, especially as classes get more and more difficult.

Overall, the typical way I study for any class is in an analytical process. I typically will color code concepts in clusters, highlight important concepts (again, with various color coding techniques), write out my notes, make flashcards, and sometimes I will make my own review sheet for the exam/test. It is tedious to write down information again and again, but it is quite helpful (I find) so that I will remember it. The colors that I use to color code certain subjects helps me relay back to the main point(s) for the specific concept being asked. Sometimes I will rewrite my notes completely, or put chunks of what is vital to remember on flashcards (again, color coded). I will flip through my flashcards religiously until I know the information that is needed. In other circumstances, I will sometimes make my own review for the test. If I know what types of questions are expected to be asked, I will go further into detail with each. I typically make the review 2-3 days before the exam so that I can have one full day in between before I look back at the review to answer the questions on it without freshly going over the material.

For this class’ first exam, I made few flashcards with main concepts on them. I did not use the flashcard technique for this first exam. Instead, the main method that I used for the first exam was going back through my lecture notes and highlighting the points that I needed to know. I highlighted and/or underlined the concepts that were important to remember and look back over. I also went through the study guide that was provided, and made my own review for the test. After completing the review, I again color-coded the concepts that were important to recall. I did decently well on the first exam compared to the class average, as well as the max/min of the scores. I could have definitely done better, though. If I were to of taken advantage of more of my typical study techniques I think that my score would of came back higher than what it was. I had other classes that I was also studying for (Cellular Biology in particular) that must be reviewed over every day for at least 30 minutes. I think that I need to make a breaking point so that my brain can have a slight ‘resting’ stage from one class to another, especially so when studying for exams. I believe that this will help me retain information better. Next time we have an exam, I will be better prepared. I have already started to make flashcards as we go through each chapter so that it will not be as tedious to get all the material written out in preparation for the exam. I also to plan out more time than what I had before for this exam; we were coming back from softball games in Tennessee and Mississippi. I should have done my homework in a different order than what I did, so that I could have studied more on the bus for the psychology exam. I believe that time management is my greatest hardship for studying.

A Killer’s Thought: TED Talk

In this week’s class discussion, I watched the following TED Talk to analyze the speaker’s presentation:

I was drawn to this particular TED talk because the title “Exploring the Mind of a Killer” drew me into knowing more about the topic. Especially so considering that we had discussed how there are vital cognitional developmental stages for adolescence. I had predicted that the speaker may talk about the different types of parenting styles (authoritative, neglectful, permissive, and authoritarian) and how they impact their brain into creating a pathway towards their child becoming a psychopathic killer. I also considered that the speaker may bring out some issue of the brain, such as misfiring of synapses between neurotransmitters or other neurological miscommunication within that resulted in someone being more likely of becoming a killer.

In this TED Talk, neuroscientist Jim Fallon (University of California) spoke briefly about his research of analyzing different ‘types’ of brains. He was asked by a colleague to take on an experiment to compare ‘normal’ brains to the brains of psychopathic killers. He observed a total of 70 brains to compare and contrast their neurological likeness. He found that all murderers had a similar area of damage to the brain: the orbital cortex and anterior temporal lobe. Fallon also had brought to the audience’s attention of how the major violence gene (MAOA) is a high risk gene for murderers/psychopathic killers. The MAOA gene is only found in the mother’s X chromosome. Due to this information, it is reasonable to conclude that this is why mostly men (XY) are psychopaths rather than women (XX). Fallon made the observation that This biological aspect of the brain also relates back to his point of the baby having too much serotonin during its development: it does not work later on in life because you become accustomed to the chemical. Fallon wrapped all of these observations and discoveries to conclude that a psychopathic killer originates from a mixture of genes, brain damage, environmental exposure, and the ‘perfect’ timing in the developmental age. If a child is exposed to traumatic violence and obtains the major violence gene during a crucial point of their developmental stage, then it is the perfect recipe of becoming a psychopathic killer.

Overall, Fallon and his data were considerably trustworthy information. Jim Fallon presents his information that he conducted himself from the University of California. He had reliable sources, as well as the collection of data that he had presented. Fallon explained how he conducted his research on the 70 different brains there should have been no bias since he was ‘blind’ as to which true type of brain was being examined; therefore, he would not know which brain was ‘normal’ versus ‘psychopathic’. He is a valid authoritative figure to rely on for this type of information. Fallon is a nueroscientist, who had conducted the experiment and gave us feedback himself. TED Talks are generally valid presentations of reliable information being given.

If I were to conduct a research experiment based off of Jim Fallon’s findings, I would conduct research to answer the questions I had constructed in the first paragraph as to why I was drawn to the topic. In this instance, I will focus on one single proposition: how parents certain parents (authoritative, neglectful, permissive, and authoritarian) can impact their child’s brain towards becoming a psychopathic killer or if they do at all.

From his data collected and the task at hand, I have created the theory that parenting styles have a large influential impact upon their child to later demonstrate psychopathic tendencies. Parenting styles is not dependent on whether or not the child becomes a psychopathic killer, but rather being a psychopathic killer is dependent on how their parent raised them. There is not an experimental way to test this theory because it would be unethical and morally wrong to impose children to the dangers of certain parenting styles, as well as the possible negative side effects of doing such.There would be no way to randomly assign this test due to this reason. Therefore, to test this theory there must be research done upon psychopathic killers already out there. Their backgrounds, childhood experiences, and parents’ lifestyle all must be researched upon. Each would be focused upon individually and recorded. There would be, over time, a vast data set of this information to fall back on to make the conclusion if one type of parenting style versus another is correlated with a child becoming a psychopathic killer. The results can be compared to other ‘normal’ individuals that do not appear to have psychopathic tendencies and how their parent’s had raised them.

In addition to this post (this is not a mandatory portion of the assignment), I would like to add an article from ABC News that I had found about Jim Fallon.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/scientist-related-killers-learns-psychopaths-brain/story?id=21029246

It is a short interview and description of Fallon’s similar genetic and neurological makeup. He has quite a bit of similarities in genes, as well as having a low amount of activity in the orbital cortex and anterior temporal lobe.However, Fallon had mentioned how he was raised: surrounded with love, care, attention, etc. Fallon obviously had grown into the man he is today without murdering anyone; however, he did not posses much empathetic emotions. Could this be a relative correlation? This case causes more reason for the type of parenting styles to be observed and compared to psycho killers vs. ‘normal’ people.

Research Methods

In the TV show Mythbusters, episode titled “Are Women Better Than Men at Reading Emotions?”, I am observing and critiquing the methods that are being used to test this particular myth. It is being assumed that women are better at acknowledging and reading someones emotions than men are. This experiment had tested this theory by ushering in both male and females to look at pictures of just the Mythbuster crews’ eyes and taking their best shot of what emotion they are expressing before reveling the rest of their face (and the answer). It is not mentioned in the short clip if these participants are random, or if they were chosen specifically for this experiment. If these were all fans of the Mythbusters TV show, there could have been some that recognized facial expressions of their favorite person on the cast more so than others were able to. This also goes hand-in-hand with if the participant were close friends with any of the cast, too; usually we are able to recognize our friends’ facial expressions better than strangers or people that we do not know as well. This could be a flaw in their data collection due to a skew of the variety of participants. There is a good selection of both men and women viewing the slideshow; they also are all being presented in the same room, under the same conditions to observe the pictures being presented. Yet, as a viewer of the clip, it is uncertain how many comments the crew initiates towards the participant as they are looking through the photographs. Encouragement, discouragement, criticism, noises, or no verbal communication at all may be effecting participants differently, as well as their way of thinking as they work through all of the pictures. These are factors that could change the way the person sitting in front of the screen continues through the test. At the end of the clip we do learn that there is a variety of wrong and right answers between both men and women, so it is not prevalent that women are better than men at recognizing emotions. However, it is apparent that the women’s answers are much more rapid in response and seems to be more instinctive. This is a tidbit that we can take from the mini-myth being tested, yet we are not necessarily able to rely on it directly considering we are not sure of all the outside components that we do not know about.

A Case Example

“Miguel has been struggling with his coursework lately. He has felt very tired in recent weeks and has found it difficult to focus on his studies. Even though he is always tired, he has trouble falling asleep at night, is irritable during the day, and picks fights with his roommates. He is a bit of a perfectionist and gets mad at himself when he makes even tiny mistakes. It’s gotten to the point where he doubts his ability to do anything right.”

“Come up with an explanation for Miguel’s problems from each of the modern perspectives (beginning with psychodynamic) we discussed.”

Psychodynamic: In psychodynamics, we would be looking at Miguel’s issues he is facing from a systematic viewpoint. There would be emphasis on the possible underlying reasons of his behavior, feelings, and emotions and how they all may be related to an earlier experience he had. There would be a highlighted spectrum upon Miguel’s childhood to explore his conscious and unconscious thoughts. It might be considered that Miguel had a difficult childhood in the sense that his parents were “overly” strict, and/or anal with him when learning certain tasks (such as toilet training). Due to his early experiences, it is now causing him to cope with life events in a negative manner because of his early learning associations and coping mechanisms.

Behaviorist: In a psychological viewpoint of a behaviorist, Miguel’s actions would first be observed in attempt to figure out his underlying difficulties within his situation. A behaviorist psychologist would perhaps changing Miguel’s surroundings and/or daily routine because they may think that he has a certain stimuli that is on setting his irritable feelings/reactions and drowsiness. In result of these responses to whatever stimuli Miguel is responding to, he is also creating insomniac tendencies, along with self-confidence issues. His stress level due to school and other outside factors (family, friends, work, etc.) could very well be playing into all of his behavioral instincts. Surrounding himself with a more supportive and happier crowd could greatly increase his chances of adjusting his behavior to a more positive outlook.

Humanistic: In the humanistic psychological standpoint, Miguel has a high potential of greatness, however, he is holding himself back from achieving his goals. Miguel is having difficulties climbing up Maslow’s hierarchy of needs pyramid, which is in result preventing him to reach ‘self-fulfillment’ to find/realize his true potential. Miguel needs to reassess himself and his goals, and first focus on his primary needs (hunger, thirst, sleep, etc.) while working his way up the pyramid so that he may be able to again feel comfortable within himself and his state of being.

Cognitive Psychology: In the cognitive psychologist’s perspective, Miguel is going through mental challenges and unleashing them in his outward behavior. He is overloading his brain with stress and putting great amounts of pressure on himself, and negatively responding when the slightest error occurs. He is processing the information that is being thrown at him in a negative manner, which in turn is outputting his negative reactions.

Biological/Neuroscience Psychology: To look at Miguel’s current hardships from the psychobiological standpoint, Miguel may be suffering from a multitude of mental disorder such as depression, insomnia, bipolar, and/or anxiety. In this field, it can be theorized that Miguel may be acting and responding to his environment due to his genetic make up. It could be that Miguel is genetically predisposed to behave the way that he is, or because of the biological and cultural differences that are influences within his life. Depending on his thought processes and how he has been taught to respond to certain aspects can greatly impact his behavior and mental responses.

Cultural Psychology: In cultural psychology, Miguel’s home and customs would be taken into account. Different cultures have tendency to vary in their ways to cope with certain aspects of life, as well has having different expectations within themselves and those around them. One culture may differ greatly from the ‘normal’ response of another. Miguel’s actions and behavior may be result of how and where he was raised culturally, or at least have an impact towards his responses.