Operant conditioning

In my life I've witnessed an instance of operant conditioning when I was younger and was crying at my friends house and after a while my parents allowed me to stay over longer because I wouldn't stop crying since I didn't want to leave. This was an example of positive reinforcement because my parents gave in and allowed me to stay longer so they reinforced my concept to cry when I didn't want to leave

Trauma as Classical Conditioning

At around five years old a family member of mine was cleaning the basement near the workout equipment and had just finishing dusting. They bumped into some equipment and the cord snapped releasing 150 pounds of metal and weights on to their hand.  They ended up breaking their hand in several places and getting surgery for a plate in their hand as well.  Their reaction was of course horrific and painful but at the same time it stuck with them afterwards.  To this day they still wont dust or clean near the equipment to prevent such an injury of ever occurring again.  This case was classical conditioning because bumping into the machine was the unconditioned stimulus and the unconditioned reaction was the breaking of the hand.  The neutral stimulus was the cleaning/ dusting and the conditioned stimulus is the cleaning followed by the conditioned response to avoid the cleaning by the equipment to prevent further injury.

Now although this doesn't relate at all to the article besides both being classical conditioning, it still follows the grid of classical conditioning

Subliminal Persuasion

In my opinion i believe the first explanation for subliminal persuasion is the strongest.  When things are popular, sometimes no matter how stupid they may be, everyone will like it.  Like Gangnam style was not a very good song and everyone realized this after the fact when everyone did like it and it became the most watched youtube video ever.  I just find that ironic and at the same time fascinating that the public can be manipulated by something as simple as a song.

I believe the weakest explanation for subliminal persuasion is the final explanation.  When someone does not know why they did something and they claim as the presentation stated "the devil made me do it" i think is ridiculous.  People can always make their own choices when it comes to harming or upsetting someone or something else.  If anything i dont believe the final explanation truly exists because there is no true evidence behind it.  We go by what everyone says from their heads not what we all see.

I believe subliminal advertising does exist.  Old play writers used to express subliminal messages in their performances to reflect upon the emotions of the crowd.  Not only that, but when a price tag says "$9.99" you think, oh thats not that bad but when you see "$10.00", you think woah wait, thats to much, or i dont want to pay for that. This is because if you paid with a $10 bill, you lose all of the money from that bill but when its "$9.99" you still receive something back after paying, so the human mind plays tricks on you and companies and stores have unfortunately figured this out to their advantage.

Sensation Vs Perception

Sensation occurs when sensory organs absorb energy from a physical stimulus in the environment  then sensory receptors convert this energy into neural impulses and send them to the brain.  While Perception follows and the brain organizes the information and translates it into something meaningful.  Sensation in the body is not voluntary it is involuntary and after a sensation is sensed from the environment  our bodies identify this sensation and perceive it to be one of the many perceptions we have today such as, pain, excitement, involving hearing, touch, tasting and seeing.  

Some students may find this confusing due to the very close similarities between sensation and perception.  Like i said before, sensation is involuntary and comes before perception. After a sensation is sense the body turns it into perception and the brain then tells the rest of the body how to react and feel based on its perceived notion of the sensation.  Both words are very close in definition but very different in actual action.

"Suppose that a reader has just read, "Daylight savings time ends tomorrow, and so people should remember to change their..." According to the top down view, the reader guesses that the next word in the sentence will be "clocks."  The reader checks that the word begins with a "c" and, because the hypothesis has been supported, does not take in any remaining letters of the word.  This is an example of the sensation of sight because in order for the body to interpret perception after sensation, it must sense a sensation then translate  it into something that can be responded to or acted upon, in this example knowing the next word is clocks.  After the reader has read the sentence but before reading the word clocks, the person reads the first letter of the word instead of the full word assuming its clocks and moves on.  Bottom up processing is the opposite where the reader would read the full word then interpret its meaning without assuming what the word actually is instead.

Phrenology

I find the concept of phrenology fascinating.  When examining the boys of the lower class it was either a coincidence or biological that all three kids had the lump by their ears.  Although it is not accurate i still find it interesting that this was the start of the study of the parts of the brain.  Phrenology explains that each section across the brain deals with 37 different traits.  It's kind of astonishing that in fact, there are, for one not 37 parts and that two each brain part participates in several of these traits each amongst the brain itself instead of there being 37 different parts.  Also, the concept drawn when talking about the "smarter" classmates and their bulging eyes was kind of humorous because it drew the conclusion that the frontal lobe was pushing them forward when in fact it has nothing to do with the frontal lobe than it does genetics and biology.  Biopsychology was the hardest topic for me last year but i still understand that the brain and body are so different yet so similar in how they work together. From the firing of neurons to the autonomic spinal cord control reflexes that mind and body are a fascinating well oiled machine.

 Blue Eyes

I think the genetic origin of blue eyes is quite interesting.  I myself was born with blue eyes and they have slowly started to get darker since then but they still resemble the blue recessive gene. My dad has blue eyes and my mom has brown eyes so there was a large chance of me having blue eyes in the first place if I'm not mistaken, 50% right? Anyways, its interesting that the origin of blue eyes started and still lies near the black sea with countries like germany containing 75% blue eyes which is a substantial number of people of over 60 million, compared to the U.S. with only 8% which is still approximately 24 million people. The statistics are crazy and results are astonishing but the process seems so simple with time.

Environment

I believe the environment has the largest impact of the two because just as we noted in class, people from Ohio tend to talk faster to conserve energy for the winter whether we notice it or not.  Also, the people in the south have no reason to conserve their energy for the winter so they speak slower most of the time.  A very obvious example of environment influence deals with accents and language as well.  People speak different languages because of where they grew up and lived and who taught them how to first speak.  Also culture all around the world varies from country to country from town to town, especially involving the concept of traditions.  Chagrin Falls, for example, has the pumpkin roll and we participate in it because one we grew up around it happening and two because we were "handed down" the privilege to partake in such an activity to create memories and have fun our upperclassmen years.  We behave the way we do because of our environment more than anything, I would say the number from 1 to 100 would be 85 because of how much influence our environment holds. 

Genes

Genetics have a large impact on our behavior and mental processes.  Although our environment has a larger impact, genetics still come into play when acting upon the neurological side of things.  People have inherited genes from all strands of DNA so things may vary between parent and offspring but at the same time many things may stay the same due to the genetic code transferred and modified from parents to child during development.  Even then, environment always find its way back into the situation.  Yes you inherit genes from your parents but you act as you do and speak as you do because of your parents and how they raised you not because you were born with the ability to walk and talk.  Everything about our behavior and mental processes develops from our environment and how we react to things as we grow up and live our lives.  Therefore the number I think represents the level of influence our genetics have on our behavior and mental processes is 15 because of how little but still existing influence genes have on our behavior.

Ethics, Animal Rights, and Use of Torture

First off, the ethical considerations in psychological research are implemented for many different reasons and in my opinion should’ve been introduced sooner than they were so the experiments like Milgram’s experiment could not have been issued.  This experiment caused many issues ethically due to the fact that the participants were mentally scarred from this process.  Ethics in psychology are necessary so participants in an experiment have the right to privacy and the proper knowledge of their safety so they may live to see another day.

 The use of animals in an experiment poses many issues to not only the researcher but also the animals themselves.  Many activists like the BC group are very against this topic and want to ban the use of animals in experiments.  The only issue is, if the animals can’t participate then the humans must participate and no one wants to.  Majority of people would rather a monkey lose a life than themselves, it’s just a survival aspect.  Everyone claims to be an animal lover but the second they’re given the choice to put themselves in danger or an animal, they pick the animal.  Few people I would think would want to die in the name of science especially after they asked to participate they didn’t necessarily volunteer.

            Lastly, the use of torture is never a great positive topic to talk about but it has to happen sometimes.  For example, when our entire country is in danger because of one man if we don’t find out the plan then we want to find out everything he knows to survive and not lose the thriving nation we have today.  Interviews are different in that they are just question and answer sessions between two or more people.   No violence or harm physically may be done during an interview.  There may be some foul language if the right words aren’t said but otherwise no harm may be done.  A method of torture though implements physical harm and mental harm all to extract information needed to solve an issue or survive or both.  Especially those involved in the examples given like the Geneva Conventions and general military interrogations to extract needed information.

AP Psych Week 2

In my opinion the biological approach is the most concrete due to the fact that it can be proven scientifically. Genetics is a a branch of biology and determine almost all factors of an offspring's body and mind.  To say one has more fat cells in their body makes sense due to heredity from the parents and genetics because thats how they were born.  When the subject was stated about the level of weight dropping below a certain weight causing the hunger to increase and metabolism to slow down makes sense as well.  To say it's evolutionarily required to survive is kind of skewed.  Although a "healthier" weight is better than a "skinnier" weight, the concept of obesity can cause many levels of sickness and physical restrictions.  The one thing I disagree with is how obesity is determined more commonly by BMI.  Many NFL players are considered "obese" through BMI tests yet they are some of the most physicaly fit athletes around?  A metabolism is a genetic trait that is different for everyone as well. One person cant just simply change their metabolism as they please?  If we could, i dont think the level of obesity would be anywhere near what it is now because people would self-regulate their metabolisms and simply eat whatever they please and not change physically whatsoever.  Either way, I feel the biological approach is the most concrete because it can be scientifically proven.  The Evolutionary approach is kind of skewed because a heavier person can experience more and more physical and health issues if they "store more energy" than they spend.  The sociocultural approach can be somewhat concrete because of the influence our environment has upon us.

Another approach I feel might provide more rationale for obesity as well is the humanistic approach.  We grow up, just as Mr. Womack stated, learning to "clean our plates" and that the older the subject, the more they tend to eat because of how they were raised through both their parents and their environment.  So by default we feel the urge to finish everything we are given no matter the serving size provided.  Another approach I feel would also provide a rationale is the cognitive approach.  The human mind can control its eating habits if its really determined too.  I feel sometimes, that people just dont care enough to "take care of themselves" and watch what they eat so they gain weight and after a while become overweight and maybe obese because of it.

AP Psych Week 1 Part 1

In my opinion, judging by the fact that the purely thought out concept of her being possessed by Satan and having the symbol “666” inscribed upon her head cannot be proven nor scientifically explained, I have to believe this was not true.  I find that, the family genetics behind her actions and behavior, influence what she does every day and in this case what she has done to her children as well.  Being so, I believe the family level of this psychoanalysis explains her actions, since these symptoms and sought actions can be and most of the time are, genetic between generations and siblings.  I firmly stand by my opinion not only due to the science that has proven this to be true but because there are other examples of this as well such as the case of Jeffrey Dahmer. Jeffrey was a fellow Ohioan, after moving here around the age of six. He was eventually diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder shortly after his mom was hospitalized for anxiety.  Anxiety can lead to such disorders and can explain Dahmer’s actions due to the genetic relation of anxiety between his mom and him.  Also, not only does genetics come into play but the blatant concept that Andrea’s doctor took her off her medicine that was keeping her under control and her husband even complained and better for her to be put back on it.  I don’t understand why she was taken off of it in the first place if her kept her sane but at the same time I felt the psychiatrist was trying to make sure her medicine for one wouldn’t become addictive and two so she wouldn’t build up an immunity to it maybe.  All I can say is, I feel there is no true level of this psychoanalysis that completely explains Andrea’s actions to full potential separated as they may be but genetics I feel plays a majority in the full case of Andrea Yates.