Reaction- A Beautiful Mind:

This week in Psychology we learned about psychological disorders.  I enjoyed watching the video clips about anxiety and OCD.  It gave me a much more understanding point of view about these disorders.  To finish up the week, we watched a movie called A Beautiful Mind. 

A Beautiful Mind is a true story about a man named John Nash.  He attended Princeton and was immediately classified as a social outsider.  When attending Princeton, Nash becomes close friends with his so called roommate, Charles.  John Nash was a talented Mathematician, and was devoted to finding a new and original theory.  Later, John takes a top secret cryptography job for the government and became a professor at MIT.  A student of his named Alicia becomes quite fond of him, and they end up getting married.  Soon enough, John loses his grip on reality, becomes institutionalized, and is told he has Schizophrenia.
[Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that makes it difficult to tell the difference between real and unreal experiences.  It also makes it difficult for a person to think logically, have normal emotional responses, and to behave normally in social situations.]
After grasping the concept of Schizophrenia, it is clear that Nash has been hallucinating about Charles as well as a few other characters, and desperately needs treatment.  He is then put on medication and undergoes insulin treatments.  Then he is allowed to go back home.  John did not believe he was mentally ill, so he stopped taking his medication when he got home and continued hallucinating.  Years later, John finally became stable again.  Then, he perused his dream of creating his original theory at the University of Princeton.  John Nash finally perfected his theory, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in economics.
    
This movie was incredibly intruging to me, and it related to class well.  It did a good job introducing Nash's character, then threw us all for an interesting curve, and ended on a hopeful note.  The movie kept me questioning my predictions and wondering what would happen next.  I think this is an important movie that everyone should watch.  It could help prepare us for what possibly could happen as we age.  But beyond that, I think this movie gives people with any sort of disorder hope for their future.  It is possible to overcome psychological disorders, people cannot give up!


Questions?  Comments?  Concerns?  Post your thoughts! 

Conditioning:

This week in Psychology, we learned about conditioning; classical and operant.  Classical conditioning is a process of modifying someone or somethings' behavior by using a stimulus to get a desired response.  Operant conditioning is somewhat the opposite; it is also a process of modifying someone or somethings' behavior, but the shown behavior will result in positive or negative reinforcement to get a desired response. 


If I were to relate a conditioning method to my childhood, I'd have to say my brother used the classical conditioning technique on me quite a bit... Unknowingly of course.  Anyways, my brother enjoyed shooting his nerf guns at me when we were little.  He typically would always call me by one of his lame nicknames, then right when I'd look he'd shoot me.  As the years went on, he'd continue his experiments with air soft guns, and those hurt!  This example follows the 3 step pattern of classical conditioning like so:
shoot me (UCS)  ->  feel pain (UCR)
call nickname (NS)  +  shoot me (UCS)  ->  feel pain (UCR)
call nickname (CS)  ->  cringe in pain  (CR)


Below is a picture of the modern nerf guns.. thank goodness we weren't kids when these things were popular, or I would have gotten some decent size welts!

Questions?  Comments?  Concerns?  Post your thoughts!

Letter to Mr. Dreier:

Dear Mr. Dreier,
I'm going to keep this letter personal, and start off by saying one thing... Homework over winter break?!  You should understand my point.  Anyways, this class is more than I expected.  We're learning some interesting things, yet I think we could be learning them in better ways than note taking.  On the bright side, I'm keeping a good grade; therefore I believe I'm excelling.  Like I said again, Psychology is a bit more than the average class at Ashwaubenon High School.  The concepts are deeper and relate able to everyone, so I have learned a decent amount of applicable information.  In my point of view, you are one of the better teachers in our school.  You make assignments inside and outside of class challenging, yet do able.  That's a good thing, although I have a couple suggestions to help your future students succeed.  Too much note taking in one day does not help me remember the information. Warning that there is a test tomorrow is enforcing your students to cram studying, which you informed us is not a good study habit.  A couple extra credit opportunities couldn't hurt either, plus they would show you what students really care. Lastly, I like how you try spicing up class once in a while to keep us interested, keep it up!  Life outside of school is quite boring, I'm not struggling with anything major, but I am quite nervous about my next school year; college.  You could give me some tips about Stevens Point if you wanted! To wrap things up, I'll be brutally honest with you.  I could care less if Chris Angel or John Edwards is fo' rizzle. Haha!
Sincerely,
Alana           


Questions?  Comments?  Concerns?  Post your thoughts!

Stages of Development:

Psychology was more interesting this week in my point of view.  To keep it general; we learned about the developmental stages of a child.  Jean Piaget was a powerful contributor.  He developed the theory of object permanence.  This is when a child cognitively knows something still exists, even when they cannot see it.

There are 4 stages leading up to a child achieving object permanence.  The first stage is when an infant cannot follow an object in front of their face with their eyes.  The second stage is when an infant can follow an object with their eyes.  Although, if they can't see it, they do not know it still exists.  The third stage is when a child will search for an object where it usually is kept.  It can cause the child to become confused if they do not find it.  Lastly, the fourth step is when the child reaches the object permanence level.

Piaget also created the 4 stages of cognitive development.  From birth to 2 years is the Sensorimotor stage, or stage one.  This is when a child's thinking is displayed in their actions, like using their senses to judge.  From 2 to 6 years is the Preoperational stage, or stage 2.  This is when language first appears in children.  They also use representational thinking, like drawing pictures.  From 6 to 12 years is the Concrete operational stage, or stage 3.  This is when children are able to imagine events occurring outside of their lives.  They are also able to think about past, present, and future times.  Finally, from 12 years to adulthood is the Formal operational stage, or stage 4.  Teens and adults are now able to think abstract and hypothetically.  They form their own personal ideals, values, and can use logic to solve problems.      

  

In Sociology I learned about Erik Erikson.  He gave a different view point of how children develop.  If you're interested, you should check out this website [http://www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/development/erickson.shtml] and tell me what you think!

Questions?  Comments?  Concerns?  Post your thoughts!

Brain Disorders:

This week in Psychology we continued learning about the brain, but we focused on brain disorders.  A brain disorder is an abnormality in the brain that results in impared functioning or thinking.  Brain disorders are very common, and usually occur during development in utero, or after a serious head injury.

I realized I knew more than I thought about brain disorders as each group presented.  Epilepsy is the disorder my group presented.  It was very personal to Alyssa and I.  We each have a family member with the disorder, so we had a bit of extra information rather than just research.  In brief, Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder.  It occurs when the brain sends electrical impulses quicker than normal, which triggers unexpected seizures.  Other than Epilepsy, I found Synesthesia to be a very confusing, yet intruging disorder.

Synesthesia is a disorder when a person's sensory organs pick up more than one sensation.  For example: A person with Synesthesia could smell images, taste words, or even hear colors.  It is thought that Synesthesia can be hereditary, yet it is more common in women.  It is also a thought that many famous people from our history had this disorder.  Below is a picture showing what color each person saw while playing the piano.

      

After doing a little more research on Synesthesia and seeing this picture, I realized many talented people had a brain disorder and still did impressive things.  Each presentation in class also showed me that all brain disorders aren't bad.  Savant syndrome is a disorder that gives people intense concentration so that they can focus and basically become a master at something that really interests them.  Most savants still suffer from poor social, comprehension, or communication skills; yet they have amazing memory, artistic, or even musical skills.  

Questions?  Comments?  Concerns?  Post your thoughts!

Memory:

This week in class we focused on the brain; its multiple parts, and its complex functions.

The image on the right shows the major parts of the human brain.  Each part controls specific functions of our bodies.  One of its most important functions is creating and storing our unique memories.  The power or process of reproducing or recalling what has been learned and retained is a specific definition of memory.  Memory can be categorized into three basic stages, including: Encoding- transferring information so the nervous system can process it. Storage- the process by which information is remembered over a period of time, and Retrieval- the process of obtaining information that has been stored in memory.

Memory can also be categorized into three types, including: Sensory memory- very short memory storage immediately following initial stimulation of a receptor.  Short term memory- the capacity for holding a small amount of information in mind in an active, readily available state for a short period of time, and Long term memory- the storage of an unlimited amount of information over an extended period of time, perhaps even forever.

I found an online memory test that will unknowingly test you on the stages and types of memory, while incorporating a Christmas spirit.  If interested, take the test at:  http://en.nienteansia.it/tests/visual-photographic-memory-test.html.  Let me know your results!

Questions?  Comments?  Concerns?  Post your thoughts!

In Class Assignment- Theories:

CARL JUNG:
A Swiss psychiatrist, the founder of analytical psychology, and understudy of Sigmund Freud.  He became known for his theory, the collective unconscious archetypes.  Jung took Freud's theory of the unconscious mind a step further.  His spin on the theory describes how the eternal forms, personal insticts, experiences, and inheritance of humanity forms our collective unconscious mind.  I understand that this theory provides us with our independent symbolism, hope, religious beliefs, and meanings.  Overall, it basically explains how we judge everyday life.


ALFRED ADLER:
An Austrian medical doctor, psychologist, and founder of the school of individual psychology.  Adler was a colleague of Sigmund Freud.  Adler's idea was the inferiority complex, which Freud declared as too contrary.  I understand the basic idea behind this theory is that all children go through a stage of experiencing inferior feelings.  This is caused by being surrounded by stronger, and more capable adults.  Then the child becomes more aware of their personal feelings, and strives to be like their elders.


KAREN HORNEY:
A German psychoanalyst and psychiatrist.  Horney had her own views; many agreeing, and many disagreeing with those of Sigmund Freud's.  She particularly criticized Freud's penis envy theory.  She believed Freud stumbled upon women's jealousy of men's power in the world.  Horney was later known for her women vs. men psychoanalysis.  I understand that she said Freud's penis envy theory was possible, but the womb envy theory must be present then too.


Questions?  Comments?  Concerns?  Post your thoughts!