Major Depressive Disorder

I am Major Depressive Disorder, the "common cold" of psychology. I tend to give people persistent feelings of sadness and take away their interest from the things they love. Not only do I affect how you feel, but I affect how you think and behave as well. I fill people with feelings and thoughts about how life really isn't worth living. If I'm lucky, I might be able to cause emotional and physical problems. I am not a weakness. I am a chronic illness. My only weaknesses are medication, psychological counseling, and treatment. I'm a tough cookie and it takes awhile to really get me down. There are a few different things that attract and cause me to show up. I can't seem to resist stress, discouragement, irritability, frustration, extreme sadness, suicidal thoughts, or slowed thinking.

Personality Test Reaction

I'm always kind of afraid to take personality tests because I feel like they're going to tell me I have a really crappy personality. haha. Some personality tests are completely ridiculous and inaccurate. I have to say though that these two tests were actually pretty accurate. The big five test had somewhat difficult questions. I never like rating myself like that. Maybe it's just me, but I think it's kind of difficult to pinpoint those types of things about yourself. The North Dakota personality test was really odd, but surprisingly spot on. It was by far the most accurate personality test I have ever taken. When I first started, I was a bit confused by the questions..or statements, I guess. Some of them made perfect sense, but others...eh..not so much. Luckily it all worked out in the end!

*The truth is written all over our faces.

I think that microexpressions are the single most interesting thing on the planet. I am beyond fascinated with them. Paul Ekman is by far one of the most important and well known psychologists to study and work with microexpressions. He started researching back in 1954 and hasn't stopped since. He is constantly working on new research or traveling the world teaching people what he knows. A microexpression is an involuntary facial expression or movement lasting only 1/25 of a second. A person can never really tell a lie, because their facial expressions (microexpressions) will always give it away. They cannot be controlled. A microexpression will always be backed by some sort of emotion even if the person expressing it does not realize it. Many times they can be difficult to pinpoint simply because of the fact that they happen so quickly. You have to know exactly what you are looking for. If someone is reading someones face/microexpressions the first thing they have to do is establish a base line. They will usually ask questions that they already know the answer to, which allows them to later determine if someone is lying.
My favorite TV show is called Lie to Me. It is based on Paul Ekman and his work with microexpressions.
I found a clip explaining a little bit about the show and the microexpressions. The Truth Is In Our Faces

I also found a picture from the show that points out some of the different microexpressions for each emotion we experience. 

my reaction..and stuff. :)

Today in class we took multiple intelligence tests. Hunter and I worked together. We started taking the first test and we were like ohh yeahhh! We've totally got this! This is easy! We're so smart! Go us! And then we continued on to the rest of the tests and realized we had spoken too soon. We scored a solid 7 out of 10 right on the first test, but our scores continued to decrease as the tests went on. The hardest part about the tests was the vocabulary they used and they way the questions were written. Towards the end, there were all kinds of words and sayings that neither of us had ever heard of, which made it difficult to answer the questions. It was actually really frustrating trying to answer the questions on the Australian, Chitling, and Reddon-Simons test because they were from different cultures. I have never really been exposed to any of those cultures before, which made it even more difficult.

At home tonight, I read the article You Can't High Jump If the Bar Is Set Low. I thought this article was really interesting, and it made good points that I really had not thought about before. I thought it was interesting that when they conducted experiments on different stereotypes the different results they were able to find. It almost seems as if the test results that they received were more based on a mental attitude than actual intelligence. When they were asked about their race they tended to score close to the stereotypical score, rather than what they were actually capable of. I also never really thought about the fact that there are gender stereotypes, not just race stereotypes. Overall I thought the article brought up some really interesting points.

Oh The Joys of Framing.

So there's this thing called framing. It's the way an issue is posed. How an issue is framed can significantly affect our decisions and judgments. When the same issue is presented in two different ways, the result is that people usually respond in two different ways. People use framing all the time to get the response they want. Large companies use it when selling and pricing their items and it is also very popular among statistics. For example, if a drug company were to propose a new drug that had a 60% chance of severe side affects, most people wouldn't approve. If that same company were to propose that exact same drug, but this time said that it had a 40% chance of no side affects, people would most likely be more open to the idea. Framing is a really simple thing, but for some reason it continues to trick people on a daily basis.
I found this super lame video on YouTube of these weird animated people explaining the concept of framing. haha. It's weird, but it works!
Framing Video

Hi! I'm Tom.....Hi! I'm Tom.....Hi! I'm Tom.....

This week we talked about memory. Most of it was a review from regular psych, but it still amazes me every time. Without our memory, life would be super crappy. We would all be going through life confused and frustrated. Everything, for the most part, would be pointless. I also think that most of us take our memory for granted. If we were to damage a part of our brain we could lose part, or all of our ability to process and store memories. In the movie 50 First Dates there is a guy named Tom. Everyone calls him Ten Second Tom because he lost part of his brain in a hunting accident and now his memory only lasts ten seconds before it relapses. Tom is unable to encode new memories because the part of the brain that transfers information from the working memory to the long-term memory is damaged. I couldn't imagine living my life like that..

I did manage to find a link to the part of the movie that shows Ten Second Tom. :)

Ten Second Tom

classical conditioning

This week in class we learned about classical conditioning. I really enjoy this chapter, partially because I find it somewhat simple to understand. I was looking on YouTube at a few different classical conditioning videos and I found a clip from the office. Jim is conditioning Dwight. Every time the computer makes a noise, Jim offers Dwight an altoid.  Eventually when Dwight hears the computer make a noise he automatically sticks his hand out for an altoid, even though Jim didn't offer him one. The whole concept of conditioning amazes me.

Office Conditioning

Absolutely Crazy..

This week in class we talked about sight and perception. I found perceptual constancy really interesting. We looked at a few pictures and illusions showing shape, color, and size constancy, but my favorite were the color constancy ones. Color constancy is the perception that familiar objects have a constant color, even while illumination varies.

This was one of the images we looked at in class. You can see that the ground is a pattern of light and dark gray squares. There is also a shadow from the green cylinder. When you look at the square labeled A, it looks to be dark gray. When you look at the square labeled B, it looks to be dark gray. Next is the part that totally blew my mind..both squares A and B are the exact same color. Crazy, I know! I was trying to figure out a way to prove it and I figured out that if you slouch down really far in your chair and look at them, you can see that they are in fact the same color. It all has to do with the way the image lies on the retina. 

PSA reaction

I liked Kayla, Leigha and Courtney's video. They had a lot of places in their video that other people didn't include in theirs. They used pictures and did voice overs which made everything really easy to hear and understand. They talked about all of the different stages of development and how each relates to a different place in Ashwaubenon. They didn't make it super funny or over the top creative, but sometimes that's the best way to get the information across and still keep people watching.

Nell

This week in class we learned about all the different stages of development. We talked about all of the different things that occur at each stage. The first thing that came to mind was the story of Nell. Nell is a girl that lives in a log cabin in the middle of the woods. She has lived there her entire life with her mother, until her mother died. She was completely isolated from everyone and everything until a group of researchers discovered her existence. Nell had a different way of communicating. She knew how to speak, but she could not speak like everyone else. She had developed her own language. Because she had not had any human contact in such a long time, she continued to act in child like ways. Eventually they tried to teach her how to live in the real world. She went through some of the stages that a child would have gone through. You can see some of these in the trailer, such as the childish gesture of imitation. A young boy sticks his tongue out  at her and she imitates him by sticking her tongue out at him. The movie does a really good job of showing what happens when children do not go through all of the different stages of development.

Nell

Hello. My name is Devon and i'm addicted to ice cubes..

For the past 48 hours I felt like a total ninja. Having to constantly use ice cubes was a pain in the butt. Hiding the yarn on my wrist wasn't as hard as I would have thought it would be. I never really realized how sneaky a person had to be in order to hide an addiction. Obviously they have to be good at lying to people straight to their face, but it kind of takes over your mind. The whole time I was thinking about what I was going to do next, if anyone had seen me, if my family knew I was up to something, if there was ice in the freezer, how I was going to get ice to school, how I could hide the sound of the ice from hitting the side of the glass. A million thoughts were always going through my head. Most of the time I was thirsty because I couldn't get to the freezer without anyone seeing me. In order to get ice cubes to school I put my insulated water bottle in the freezer over night. In the morning I put a full tray of ice in it, filled a lunchbox with ice packs and then stuck the water bottle in the lunchbox full of ice packs. It worked great!! They lasted all day and all night. The only problem was that I had to hide the lunchbox in my backpack and carry some of my books around all day.
I was the only person at my table that had figured out how to keep ice cubes frozen at school. I got sick of everyone asking if they could have some, so I decided to become an ice cube dealer. Most people paid me with starburst. It was fantastic!! We didn't want anyone to find out what we were secretly doing in the hallways between passing time so we decided to give the ice cubes a code name. We called it...Frozen Drizzle. Genius, I know.
Sneaking frozen drizzle at home was a lot harder than it was at school. You can see my kitchen from all of the main rooms in the house. The first time I was making ice, my brother snuck up behind me. When I turned around and saw him I dumped the unfrozen drizzle allllllllll over the floor..oops. When he asked me what I was doing I told him I was cleaning the ice trays like I do every month. I told him not to judge, but i'm pretty sure he did anyway. The look that he gave me when I told him though may have been the most awkward funny face I have ever seen anyone make. ever.
The next morning I had to wake up earlier than usual to get my morning dose of frozen drizzle, and pack some for the rest of the day. For some reason my dad also decided to get up extra early, which is so unlike him. Anyway, I had the lunchbox, ice packs, water bottle, and tray of ice cubes sitting out on the counter. He walked in the kitchen, looked at the contents laying out on the counter, and went on to ask if I was packing a lunch for myself. Why, yes dad! How did you know that my favorite lunch was a tray of ice with a side of red and blue ice packs?! no..I was clearly not making myself a lunch. But I lied and told him that I was making myself a lunch and he responded by saying, "Okay. See you after school." Oblivious much?! Maybe just a bit..
Overall though, I really enjoyed the experiment. :)

cognitive differences in generations

Millennial generation has high levels of trust and optimism, stronger sense of connection to parents, friends and the world in general, strong team instincts and closer peer relationships,they support convention.
Technology helps cognitive abilities in different ways than books do. Both are good because they help different parts of the brain develop. Generation X does not have as much experience as the millennial generation does with these different sources that help cognitive development.

blog #3 The Woman Who Could Not Forget

This week in class we learned about the different parts of the brain and what they do. I found aphasia extremely  interesting, so I looked it up on YouTube to see what I could find. I did end up finding some really neat videos, but I actually found one about a woman who cannot forget anything. Jill Price has the ability to literally remember everything. Some people might find this really cool, but Jill has had many issues because of it. While she is able to remember the good things about her life, she also remembers all of the bad. It has brought her into a sort of depression. Nothing has been able to get her out of it. Most people say that all things heal over time, but for Jill that is the farthest thing from the truth. Doctors were studying her brain and found that certain parts are much larger than the average person. They think that it is closely related with OCD and may even be able to give them answers pertaining to other diseases as well.

The Woman Who Could Not Forget

brain article link

http://healthland.time.com/2011/10/21/why-the-latest-study-on-cell-phone-use-and-brain-cancer-wont-be-the-last-word/

read article
individually, summarize and elaborate on three things that you learned from the content of the article.
choose one thing from the article that you don't understand or would like to know more about.
be ready to discuss this tomorrow!

blog #2

This week in class we pretty much just went over everything that we read in chapter one. We talked about all of the different perspectives and who was important to each one. Yesterday in class we split up into small groups and each read about a different famous studies/experiments. If you ask me, most of them are completely ridiculous which is probably why I found them to be so intriguing. So, I decided to look up The Stanford Prison Experiment  and I found some pretty crazy stuff. Actually, I found a website that takes you through the entire experiment. http://www.prisonexp.org/ As I was reading, I found it interesting that each of them was actually arrested from their homes or where ever they happened to be at the time. Each person was treated like they were an actual criminal. They were basically dehumanized. Throughout the experiment they were humiliated repeatedly, stripped of their possessions, names, and clothing. Even they were only trying to create a functional simulation, I think that things got a bit out of hand. "Prisoners" began to rebel and the guards acted like they had all of the power in the world. The guards didn't seem to have any regret or any feelings whatsoever. It amazes me that they were able to go through the experiment treating people, actual human beings, in such cruel ways and not be even slightly bothered by it. The things that these prisoners and guards went through is absolutely incredible. I never would have thought peoples moods, thoughts and behaviors could change so much in such a small amount of time. Then again, people are still just people even if they are participating in an experiment. If you give someone power, chances are they are going to use that power, and it is going to go straight to their head. As far as the prisoners go though, I was thinking about how their self-esteem just completely vanished and how they had become so mentally weak. I think that credit for those feeling and emotions can be given to the learned helplessness that we talked about in class. I decided to do a little more research on learned helplessness and I found a video on YouTube about it that I really liked. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFmFOmprTt0&feature=g-vrec&context=G25f04afRVAAAAAAAAAQ It basically is showing what learned helplessness feels like, only it is on a much smaller scale than The Stanford Prison Experiment was. These prisoners were constantly ripped on. Nothing they did was right. They were all criminals and their was nothing they could do about it. I think that they all started to give up hope. In the past when they rebelled they were just constantly shut down. I think it got to the point where they felt helpless and that was just the way it was going to be. After the experiment was shut down they interviewed one of the men that had been a guard during the experiment. I found his response to be very interesting. I was able to find a video clip of one of the prisoners talking about how he felt completely helpless and a clip of the guard that was interviewed after the experiment had ended.
Helpless Prisoner http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbDy4ZtB2fU
Guard Interviewhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQnOkmvigi0&feature=plcp&context=C3e40887UDOEgsToPDskI_cnTmmD_k1DMvp38GkXDK

AP Psych Expectations and Chapter One

Going into AP Psychology I have a lot of expectations not only of myself, but of the class as well. I am very excited to learn more about the way people behave and why they behave that way. I find psychology ridiculously fascinating and there is not one thing in this class that I am not looking forward to learning about. However, I think I will find personality, emotion, human memory and social psychology to be especially interesting. My goal is to come out with a solid A in the class and pass the final AP exam with at least three points, if not more. Next year, I am going to college to major in psychology, so I am really hoping to start next year out with a few credits already under my belt. I am a bit nervous about the amount of reading and other work for this class simply because it is not the only AP class I am taking at the moment. I know what it takes to do well in an AP class and although balancing my time with other classes will be a challenge, I think it is doable. 

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The prologue gave a broad overview of psychology and it's history. It stated that the most controversial question still around today is Nature vs. Nurture. Chapter one went on to talk about all different types of research, and biases in research. It went through case studies, surveys, naturalistic observation, correlation and experimentation. All of these are ways in which information is gathered and organized. They can all be applied to the Nature vs. Nurture debate, but at the end of the day people are still torn on the issue. I was able to find a video on YouTube that talked about Nature vs. Nurture and I found it interesting because it took a somewhat different approach compared to what I had heard before. It talked about how our genes help to interpret our environment. Their big question was, which genes are triggered by our environment? And does it matter which genes are triggered by our environment? Apparently, it all depends on which genes our minds turn on and which genes our mind turn off. Different circumstances cause our genes to turn on and off, but according to the researchers in the video, they have yet to figure out those circumstances. Some believe that children receive a stronger social influence from people other than their parents. Other researchers believe that children live in separate worlds and that not much is carried over from world to world, but anything that is carried over is going to be genetic. Judith Rich Harris, a developmental psychologist, believes that how well, or not well, a child turns out is up to the child, not it's parents. Many, however, disagree with her. Researchers continue to do genetic research and observe people in many different ways, but no one has quite been able to clear up the debate of Nature vs. Nurture. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aNaMlSc3Ag&feature=plcp&context=C3ef4464UDOEgsToPDskKMEvbONU1nxq0hzuhX2iUe

I also was able to find a video about two identical twins that were separated at birth to become a part of a twin study. Paula Bernstein and Elyse Schein grew up in completely different places and had completely different families. Both of them went through most of their lives feeling like they were missing a part of themselves. One of them had decided to contact the adoption agency to find out more about her birth mother. In response, she received a letter saying that she had a twin sister. The two of them ended up getting together and catching up on things only to find out that they have the same mannerisms and did many of the exact things up until this point in their lives. Their story, along with a few others, has proven that nature beats out nurture in the Nature vs. Nurture debate. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gwnzW4jOMI