Tag Archives: Spring 2017

Spotlight Blog “Memory”

Study tips are basically review tips for how to study efficiently and effectively. These vary from person to person but overall the tips involve many different strategies that involve the same tactics with a little adjustment for each age category.

When discussing middle school students, greatschools.org discusses many ideas of physical discipline to help the student physically stay involved in studying with the help of parents. Some of the ideas discussed involve,

  • Helping your child get organized
  • Provide a place to study for your child
  • Communicate with your child’s teachers
  • Use of a planner

Most of this tips from the website involve personal help from the teacher and outside sources not involving the kids. Although this is a great situation for middle school students, this in fact does not so much involve the student but more the ones helping the students in this situation. The advice on using a planner and delegating a specific study space allow for the student to prioritize school work and make for a solid foundation of study tactics. Although these tips are good for middle school students, I feel as though not involving the student and not making the student the main subject of responsibility is a problem and might help the student in the situation, but will not help the situation in the long run after it is removed from the present.

In terms of high school study tips we see an advancement in terms and ways of studying on academictips.org. These tips focus on the mind of a young adult and specifically state that it is how “you” study, making this more personalized for the student. I agree on many of the topics at hand concerning things such as, determining your concentration span, maximizing recall, and improving your memory, which are all topics of discussing in the article. Determining your concentration span, picks on making sure your brain is actually focused and you are involved in what you’re learning otherwise this information will never making it into long term storage regardless of how hard we try. maximizing recall, deals with how we should space out our learning and not crunch everything into one big study session.This being seen as the space learning process, makes it easier for our minds to process information and encode the information into long term storage. Lastly the article reviews improving our memory, which involves working our mind like a jigsaw puzzles and putting together the information how only we can understand. This can be seen as another way of connecting our research or readings of study material to more relative things in our everyday life, such as anagrams or relating a word or phrase you already know to the new material. I see this source in particular very well rounded and credible due to my previous knowledge of what I have learned through personal experience and exposure in our current psych class.

As for study tips for adults and parents we get into the more helping your student or child succeed role. These study tips aren’t directly pushed towards the parents tidying habits but are coded for them helping their kids succeed. childdevelopmentinfo.com does a great job of offering some basic tips for the parents of these children to make sure they are getting the studying habits they need to be successful these in turn are contributed to,

  • Turn off the TV set.
  • Designate specific areas for homework and studying.
  • Regularity is a key factor in academic success.
  • Organize study and homework projects.

and many more. These basic ideas are very credible in relationship to our knowledge of studying and memorization based on the ideas that these are all prioritizing study and making routines. The goals in these tips are to turn your child’s focus towards the task at hand and make sure the homework and studying is the number one thing on their mind. Again these tips are directed toward what the parent can do to help with the homework situation whether that is organizing the environment or helping the student learn and practice study tips for the future. This guide is a great base for parents who have high school or middle school aged kids and I feel like is a great source based on the key factor that all of these have been proven in our recent readings. This site was credidited by other sources and has many resources that go beyond these basics as well.

For what I consider the most challenging situation to study for, college students, we turn to collegetips.com. This website offers some great insight on some advanced tactics that work well in the college situations for studying.

  • Create Mnemonics
  • Make Flash Cards
  • Remember to Take Breaks
  • Get lots of sleep
  • Avoid Studying on Coffee, Ritalin and Adderall

All of these specific situations are more prescribed towards the college students frame of mind. Obviously a middle school student would not be thinking of addrerall or pulling all nighters frequently worrying about how much sleep they are getting. These tips I have found to be very useful and easily backed up by the information we have previously received as far as mnemonics being able to help your brain in the encoding process, making flash cards for the same reason, and getting sleep to allow your brain to process this information. As far as the drug use goes prescription or not prescription it is always best to stay away from these if you are able to like the article says. No one knows how they will react and it could affect your habits and overall performance. The most important of these tips for college students especially is the use of sleep. With many college students opting to substitute an hour of sleep for more studying time we see these results constantly fail so its good that this site reminds the students of this exposure. ne thing I do not agree with on this site is the advice to study during the week. Although many students do have lives on the weekend I believe that studying throughout the week as you wish is the best way of retaining information and not putting any effort in on the weekends could greatly affect you. Overall I found this article to credit many of the things we have discussed in class and has given me great insight on my own study tactics.

http://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/study-skills-for-middle-school-and-beyond/
http://academictips.org/study-skills/improving-your-learning-ability/
https://childdevelopmentinfo.com/learning/tips-for-helping-kids-and-teens-with-homework-and-study-habits/#.WOHMyIWcH4g
http://www.collegetips.com/college-classes/study-tips.php

 

 


Spotlight Blog #1

http://www.rasmussen.edu/student-life/blogs/college-life/how-to-study/

This website article is an info graphic on study tips for college students. The post talks about taking effective notes, studying those notes, getting enough sleep and which study techniques are best for college students to use.  They first talk about notes and how 64.3% of college students use laptops to take notes.  And taking notes is an essential process for effective studying, however students who used laptops to take notes reported that they are distracted when taking notes which takes down the quality of  the notes they take because they are distracted by things like games, the internet, testing and email The website gives tips against being distracted in class, which is helpful for memory because good notes equal easy ways to study.  Next the website lays out ways to study: review your notes every day, set aside 30-50 minutes to study with a 10 minute break, read notes, rewrite notes, highlight notes, make flashcards and make up examples. All of these study tips are fantastic for helping students memorize. Reviewing your notes each day is a great way to study because you have a longer amount of time to study and commit the material to memory, and scheduling study time in chunks with breaks in between is very good.  However, it is mostly recommended that you study material for 20 or so minutes and take a small break. 30-50 minutes may be a rather steep amount of time to study at once, so shortening it may be more effective. Reading through and rewriting notes is another very effective way to study because writing things down multiple time helps commit it to memory and this will be especially helpful if a student has taken notes on a laptop. The next tip of making up examples is very help because it is based on the way of studying that is called elaboration which helps people associate concepts in their mind with real life stories and helps them remember.  The infographic also warns against cramming the night before an assessment and talks about the benefits of getting enough sleep.

http://www.brighthubeducation.com/teaching-middle-school/3521-study-skills-for-middle-school-students/

This website has an article that talks about 10 studying tips for middle school students as given by teachers. The first tip is to select a consistent and calm place to study. The environment that one studies in can vary from person to person and each student needs to develop that perfect place to study: with music or without, a desk or a bed, the bedroom or the library. And once the perfect study place is found, it needs to be used pretty regularly. The next tip is to not cram when studying and to studying a little every night, which is a good tip because you have more time to commit things to memory. Avoid cramming and get a good nights sleep will help you perform better on you exams. The next tip is my personal favorite for studying well and staying organized is to buy a planner and write all your assignments in it so that you remember what is coming up and what you need to get done. Most students have too much on their minds to remember everything without writing it down. Another tip on the this site is to make flash cards or a study guide and practice with them each night leading up to the test so that you know what you will be tested on. This is helpful simply because it is an effective way to study but you can also divide it into what you know really well and what you need to practice more so that you are focusing on what you actually need to practice. This article also recommends forming study groups if that is something helps you and to ask for help from other students or teachers if you’re struggling.

http://kidshealth.org/en/parents/homework.html

The first article I looked at was study tips for parents and more specifically for parents of elementary school students. It laid out 10 tips that included: knowing the child’s teacher, setting up a homework area, regular study time, homework plan, minimizing distractions, letting kids do their own work, monitoring and motivating kids, setting an good example, praising them for good work and working with their teacher if there is an ongoing issue for the kid. For the most part, these tips are good. Some of these tips don’t fall under the sphere of helping a child’s memory though, some are simply there to promote parental involvement with a young child’s education. However, a child who is positively encouraged by his/her parents and by his/her teacher will tend to do better in school. (ADD A LINK) In terms of studying and memory, the tips about a study plan, minimizing distraction, and regular study times is very good and can help with memory. Having a set way and plan to study, even from a young age can benefit memory and how well kids study. Also, minimizing distraction is essential to the effectiveness of studying. When you sit down to study, it is not at all effective if you are constantly distracted by other people, the TV, or other electronics like the phone or iPod.


Spotlight 1- Memory

As college students, our lives revolve around learning and memory. I am always on the lookout for new study tips and the most effective ways to study for certain courses. Study tips are never in short supply either. They can be found all over the internet, blog pages, YouTube, Pinterest, etc. Just like most other things, not everything we read about study tips on the internet is true.

A few years ago, The Huffington Post published an article called “9 Awesome Study Tips For College Students”. Many good tips were included in the article such as the use of flashcards. Flashcards are a great tool since they allow you to practice retrieving information. They also make it very easy to interleave content. By shuffling the flashcards, the material can be studied out of order. This allows the student to practice recalling the material with fewer retrieval cues such as the word right before it or its location within the chapter. Another good tip was to take multiple tests. This is great since it allows the student to learn and practice in a method similar to the real exam. This is part of the context effect which explains that we can better remember things in an environment similar to where we learned the material. This then leads to another tip that was given. The article stated that it is best to “alternate study spaces”. This may not be the best idea because of the context effect. If possible, it is best to study in the place where the exam will be taken or in a space similar to the classroom.

A second article I read was targeted towards high school students. This article also contained useful advice. One of the tips was concentration. It talked about staying focused in class and paying close attention to what is being taught. I though tis was very interesting because this is a very true and helpful tip that is not usually discussed. Our sensory memory allows us to take in information about our surroundings. This information, however, only lasts about a second if it is not used. Therefore, attention will determine what comes out of our sensory memory and into our working memory. If the student is paying attention to his or her phone and only faintly listening to the teacher, then he or she will most likely not retain the material. Another slightly unusual tip was given which was making flashcards using colored index cards. I’m not sure exactly how much this would help. The colors may stimulate the brain but the studies regarding this would have to be looked at since no evidence was provided in the article.

The third article I read was targeted towards parents. Since it is best that the students do their own work without their parents doing it for them, most of the tips revolved around creating a good study environment for the student and helping them get organized. One of the tips was to help the child create a plan to split up large projects or multiple homework assignments. This is a good tip since distributed practice is a great method for effortful encoding. By studying material in smaller chunks the material can be properly organized. Studying a small amount daily will also strengthen the connections in the brain. Another tip was to set up a “homework-friendly area” where the child can complete their work without any distractions around them. This goes back to attention discussed in the previous article and how attention determines what makes it into our working memory.

Overall, all of the articles I read had a lot very good tips, many of which I saw in all three articles. I think it is important to check the credibility of a source when investigating study tips. Also, each person has different preferences and organizes things differently so study methods should be tested since a method that works for one person may not work for all. It is best to test what works best for you personally and as long as study habits are established and proper time management skills are exercised, the student will be very likely to succeed.

Articles:

9 Awesome Study Tips For College Students. (2011, May 25). Retrieved April 2, 2017, from The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/08/study-tips-for-college-_n_709096.html

Gabor, E. J. (2015, January). Top 10 Homework Tips. Retrieved April 2, 2017, from KidsHealth: http://kidshealth.org/en/parents/homework.html

WISE Study Tips Top 10 Skills for High-School Students. (n.d.). Retrieved April 2, 2017, from Auburn University: https://cws.auburn.edu/shared/content/files/50/WISE_Study_Tips.pdf

 


Personality

I took 4 personality tests and two of them had similar results.The first test labeled me INFJ and the other test said ISFJ. I guess some traits are relate-able but then I wonder how accurate these tests are since I had different results on both tests. The second  test described me as a working and loyal person which i do agree with that.The results lacked more information because I feel it only provided some traits not all of them. The third test had different results since it labeled my personality as an , extrovert, emotional stability, agreeableness, conscientiousness,  intellect imagination. These results were somewhat accurate since I am organized and do socialized when I want. This test is accurate in most of the traits that explains my personality and it did provide some feedback comparing the score of the test to other test results that have lower results.

The fourth personality test was just about choosing colors and did not ask questions.The outcome of the test was not accurate at all.It said, that I was not a responsible person and not organized which i disagree with those results. It was an easy test by just choosing colors, but I feel it was not accurate at all since by just clicking on colors can determine a person’s personality.Overall I think the most credible test was the third test.


Children of Divorce

 

Throughout the years, the amount of divorces in the U.S. has seemed to increase significantly.  This has led parents to question whether or not divorce is the best option for their family in the long run.  Divorce is not something that only affects the two people involved, but it can dramatically change the lives of their children, as well.  As this question of whether or not divorce is the best decision for children of bickering parents began to surface, many people reacted by assuming the worst.  Rumors began to spread that the children of divorced parents were worse off than if their parents had stayed together.

As I researched this topic, I found very different opinions on how divorce affects kids and, especially, how parents should handle their dilemma.  I first stumbled upon the rumored negative affects that divorce seems to have on children, while reading “How Divorce Affects Children” by Dr. Robert Emery.  He presented four points on how divorce impacts children and what parents can do to help their children through this difficult time.  First, he addressed that in almost every situation, divorce is a stressful time for both the parents and the child/children.  He said that sometimes the parent-child relationships can become strained or contact can become lost between one of the parents and the child.  Dr. Emery presented the method of making the legal process go as smooth and stress-free as possible.  This will significantly help the child make the adjustment to this dramatic change in their life quicker and easier.  Dr. Emery also stated that divorce will often increase the risk of the child developing psychological and/or behavioral problems down the road, not to mention, a lack of motivation for school or other activities.  Children can sometimes become depressed, anxious or overly responsible; where they end up wanting to care for their parents, instead of letting their parents care for them.  Later in the article, Dr. Emery diseases the negative emotional impacts divorce can have on children and how it can still affect them in adulthood.  He refereed to a survey, done by himself and Lisa Laumann-Billings, in which college students who had experienced their parents divorce, as recent as three years ago, were asked to choose the description that represented their current emotional pain level from the divorce.  Although, she held less resentment/pain than others, almost all the students believed that their life would have been different if their parents had stayed together.  This does not necessarily mean it would have been a better life though, as we discuss this later.

In the second article I read, titled “The Impact of Divorce on Young Children and Adolescents”, the negative impacts of divorce on children were given based on their particular age and Dr.Carl Pickhardt discussed how they might react in different ways to their parents’ separation.  He explained how a child’s world is very dependent on his/her parents or legal guardians.  Their social and everyday activities revolve around what the parent is doing or wants them to do.  An adolescent’s (or teen) life, however, is a more independent one and the circle of friends they form becomes a big part of their life along with their parents and other outside influences.  Dr. Pickhardt goes on to describe the different ways a child and an adolescent will react in a divorce.  For a younger child, seeing the love of their parents be broken by a legal document shakes their trust.  The child will often feel confused, as they visit each parent separately in different households.  This change in routine, can create a sense of instability and anxiousness within the child’s life, which will often lead to the child crying at bed time, breaking practiced toilet training, wetting the bed, and more frequent crying and tantrums.  Although, most of these anxieties will fade over time as the child adjusts to life with divorced parents, this process can still be very traumatic for the child stuck in the middle of a difficult separation.

In one of the Huffington posts, titled “7 Ways Divorce Affects Kids, According to the Kids Themselves” seven different responses were given from children (young and old) of parents who had gotten divorced in their life.  Many of the negative affects it had on the children, seemed to be either minor or temporary and the article focused on both the negative and somewhat positives that can come from a divorce.  Some of the children who were interviewed said when their parents first got divorced, it was a very hard experience for them.  They often wanted to blame their parents for putting them through this and for many, having to go back and forth between different houses was a hard concept to grasp and to get used to.  Although, the process of divorce can be a confusing and hurtful time for the kids, something good can come from it.  One girl said that although, it was distressing at first to see her parents divorce, she was happy to see them thrive afterwards.  She said her dad seemed more full of life and energy after the divorce and both parents were, overall, more content with their lives.  One person said that they were relieved once their parents finally got divorced, even though they (the child) had to wait until their early 20’s until it happened.

In another Huffington post, titled “Why a Good Divorce is Better Than a Bad Marriage for Kids” multiple points are given as to why getting a divorce and working out the issues of that situation is much better than putting your kids through a life of arguments, fighting, and emotional instability under one roof.  One of the points the article made was that even though, yes, divorce will be difficult for the children, it is much better than living in an aggressive, combative home, full of anger and resentment for most of their childhood.  Many parents stay together for the kids sake and will decide to divorce once the children are adults.  As the article points out, this may not be the best decision for the children’s sake.  When parents decide to divorce, they are an example to their children, in a positive way, showing them that they value personal happiness.  In this way, the children can learn from their parents’ actions that it is important to be happy in life, even though it might mean making hard desicions about their future.

In all four of these articles, it is shown that divorce is not an easy thing to go through as a family, especially the confused children in the middle of it all.  I believe, however, as the Huffington post articles suggest, that if the parents work together to make things go as smooth as possible for the child and for themselves, good can come from divorce.  In the end, the parents who had to make a hard decision about their futures, choose their own happiness, which doesn’t mean they will neglect their child’s happiness and well-being.  I believe that a family can make it through divorce and come out the other end (although separated) stronger and happier than ever.

 

Sources:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/28/kids-and-divorce-_n_5730980.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brette-sember/why-a-good-divorce-is-better-than-a-bad-marriage-for-kids_b_6925236.html

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/surviving-your-childs-adolescence/201112/the-impact-divorce-young-children-and-adolescents

http://emeryondivorce.com/how_divorce_affects_children.php

 


Week 10 First Impression- Personality

I have always found personality to be a very intriguing topic and I have always enjoyed taking personality tests to learn more about myself. For this blog post, I took four online tests. The first was the Jung Typology Test. My result was ISFJ, Introverted Sensing Feeling Judging. I thought this result did describe me. It stated that ISFJs are “characterized by their desire to serve others”. This is very true for me and is, for the most part, the reason I want to be a pediatrician. It also described ISFJs as methodical and accurate workers. This is also true for me and is also the reason it is difficult for me to delegate. It also stated that ISFJs are also very loyal to a few close friends and are always willing to provide support which completely describes me. This test is based off of Carl Jung’s and Isabel Briggs Myers’ typology so it did have a basis to make its scoring methods and results more credible.

On the second test, “Personality Test Center” I also got ISFJ and received a similar description to the previous test. However, this source seemed a little less credible since the scoring method was not discussed. Also, there were only 2 answer options making the results extreme and leaving no room for intermediate.

The third test was the IPIP Big Five Factor Markers. My highest score was in Agreeableness followed by Conscientiousness. I think these results described me very well since I do consider myself as optimistic, careful, friendly, and diligent. I also think the results are credible since the scoring process and procedures were explained and references were provided.

The fourth was the Color Test. The results of this test were not accurate at all for me and any results that did apply were very vague and could have applied to anyone. I do not think this test is credible at all since it relies simply on color preferences. Although there was some explanation given about the basis of the test, the research would have to be looked at to ensure that no conclusions were being made on simple correlations.

Personality can be very difficult to clearly define with just a few questions so most personality will most likely not provide extremely accurate results. To ensure better results, however, I think it is important to look at the research and studies the test is based on and how the results are calculated.


Personality test

The four personality test I took for this blog did not seem to accurately reflect my perception of myself. The first personality test labelled me as the personality type ESTJ. This personality type describes me as being an outward and orderly. I do not agree with this all that much considering I do not go to social event that often nor is my workplace tidy to any degree. The second personality test stated that I am of the personality type ISTJ. This one seems to fit a bit better because of the introversion, but I still do not completely agree because I am not very organized. The third test seemed the most accurate because my highest scores were in the categories emotional stability and conscientiousness, which I do view as similar to my personality, but the same test also labeled me as an extrovert and not very agreeable. The last test was the most interesting, because the method it used was based off of choosing colors, but I still found it lacking in accuracy. The last test labeled me as stubborn and having high standards, which does not agree with me at all because I think that I am a compromising and agreeable person. I find that these test are not very credible because most of the results are so generic. The last one I would say does not seem generic, but I do not see how one can determine a person’s personality based off of choosing colors and I would be very interested in seeing how such a process could work.


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.


First impressions: Personality

We were asked to complete these four personality tests and then give our opinions of their accuracy. Here are the four (free) personality tests:

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp

http://www.personalitytest.net/cgi-bin/q.pl

http://personality-testing.info/tests/BIG5.php

http://colorquiz.com/

The first two tests used the same scoring system as the Meyers Briggs test does. The first time I took the Meyers Briggs two years ago I was an INFP, but I have changed quite a bit since then. One of my friends was trying to figure out the personalities of everyone on the tennis team and she predicted mine as INTJ, and was shocked to learn that I had scored INFP previously. Well, she was very excited to learn my score for both of the first two tests was INTJ. The most surprising thing to me was how accurate it was in describing me. The first test seemed the most accurate to me because the questions never left me annoyed that there wasn’t a third option. There was always an obvious path to take for all of the questions, so I believe it worked the best for me. The second test scored the same thing for me, but there were some questions on it where I wanted a third answer choice because neither one seemed to accurately represent what I would do. This only happened about 4 times out of 50 or so questions though, so it did not seem too inaccurate. The third test did not seem very accurate to me because it categorized me as only 40% out of 100 in agreeable ness and said if anyone scored low, they were aggressive and confrontational. I found this amusing as I am very easy to get along with and my friends often comment to me how I am a calming person to be around. While this test did show some results that fit with my own assessment of myself, it was not as accurate as the previous two. Finally the color quiz was interesting to say the least.. I was very skeptical initially and that didn’t improve much. I selected the colors and upon reading the results was surprised to find that the section over existing situation and sources of stress were fairly accurate. It was all down hill from there, and the results began to fit me less and less until it seemed it was describing someone with a totally opposite personality. I am also not sure how the colors had anything to do with who I am, I know people the exact opposite of  me who like the same colors.

The first three test had a solid method of testing, using the questions on the spectrum. (the second one didn’t have a spectrum just one or the other, which explains my wish for another choice). The questions intuitively seem like they would work much better than the colors, and based on the results I would say that is true.


Personality

          I took the four personality tests, and I found the first three to be pretty accurate, but the last one based on colors assessed me quite differently than I think of myself. I got INTJ on the first and second test, but I liked the first test better because it showed the degree of each of the traits (moderate on I, N, and J and slight on T). I find this to be a pretty accurate description of myself as I am confident, a perfectionist, value knowledge, and do struggle to cultivate personal relationships. I do think that some of my decisions are based on feeling rather than thought, and I have taken this test before and received INFJ, so I do fluctuate in that area. I think it is always a little questionable to rank yourself and see where you are, and since I have taken this test in the past, I felt like I knew what kind of answers I would need to give to get the same response. I do think these tests are somewhat reliable, but I don’t think that anyone should base their perception of themselves on a quiz like this.

          On the third quiz, I had an 11% on extroversion, 16% on emotional stability, 62% on agreeableness, 62% on conscientiousness, and 95% on intellect/ imagination. I think this test kind of exaggerated my results, and I do not think that I am that low in extroversion or emotional stability or am that high in intellect/ imagination. Since there were not that many questions, I think it is difficult to completely assess and rank aspects of people’s personality. I found this test to be less reliable than the first two, but more reliable than the last one. The last test, based on colors, definitely assessed me as being much more extroverted than I consider myself, and said that my main issue was that I could be manipulative, which I do not consider myself to be. I did find this test to be fun to take, but I don’t think that it has any basis in accurately predicting my character traits. I did not find this test to be very credible.