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