Tat's AP Psychology Blog

-OUR CHEATING HEARTS-

1. What is the thesis of this article?
- The thesis of this article is that men and women genetically are built to be searching for new mates all the time, although for different reasons.
"The good news from evolutionary psychology is that human beings are designed to fall in love. The bad news is that they aren't designed to stay there."

2. In what ways are the strategies employed by men and women to pass on the next generation at odds?
- There is a difference in the strategies used by men and women to pass on the next generation. Men's purpose is to produce as many offsprings as possible and therefore, need to mate with many other females. On the other hand, females tend to look for a mate who has the best gene, considering their mating opportunity is limited. However, by seeking other males, the females would find ones who are capable of caring for its offsprings and looking after the entire family.

3. What conclusion does the article draw about monogamy?
- The conclusion drawn in this article was that the idea of monogamy in both humans and animals is not natural. Naturally, humans are programmed to search for other mates to fully reproduce and create more offsprings. This is the same in animals. The different fact though, is that humans are able to decide on what is right or wrong and believe in morality. And because of morality and cultural values, humans try to be polygynous.

4. Explain the last paragraph of the article.
- The last paragraph simply concludes that although humans are not naturally moral, the values have been passed on to us by parents and ancestors. Without this ability to judge whether what is right or wrong, we are no different that other animals.

5. What are your personal reactions to the article?
- Personally, it wasn't surprising at all reading through the article. Applying what I do see in relationships around me, I can see this is a very reasonable explanation for many of the actions taken in many couples. For example, girls who have boyfriends still try to exercise their charms by flirting around unconsciously for no reason, although not admiting to it (even most wives do, except for some very moral ones). Or guys who thinks it's so cool having many girlfriends and wanting maximum attention from both of them, not feeling guilty whatsoever about lying that they are both his only sweetheart. It clears out many doubts I ever had about men in specific because (no offense) infedelity occurs more often with men.

posted by Tat S. @ 9:18 PM 0 comments

*PRINCIPLES*
1. Everything psychological is simultaneously biological
- Psychology has to do with why people do what we do, how we think and why our behaviors and thoughts are the happenings in our body.. By explaining psychology, we also have to consider biology. For examples, when one is excited, sometimes breath faster, why?- simply becuase the heart is beating faster. Without our body, we cannot feel what we feel or do what we do.

2. The nervous system is complexity build from simplicity
- The nervous system consist of neurons (simple nerve cells) which comes together into functioning parts in our body. The simple thing about neuron is that it either fires or it don't. If it fires, there is action potential.

3. The brain is eithersocialized and integrated
- There are two sides of out brain, the left one (in charge of academic) and the right onw (in charge of the artistic ability). Separately, each side can function differently and at the same time, it also works together. For example, when using our left hand, the rigt side is the one at work. When discussing sight, both the right and the left side of the brain are working at the same time.

4. The nervous system is "plastic" especially at early ages of development
- New born babies' brains are at the absorbing stage, it can take in information easier than adults or developed brains. For example, when learning languages, children seem to take in the language much aster than adults. Biologically, it is also proved that children has more neurons than adults but slowly loses it through stages of development.

posted by Tat S. @ 10:29 AM 0 comments

A Boy Without a Penis

Noticing the title of this article at first stunned me with the thought that the process would not be possible. The article discusses a particular situation of a boy known as John, previously Joan, who had a sexual organ transformed due to surgery difficulties since birth. As stated in the article, his parents decided after the incident to just change the poor boy's gender. I realized that parents show their love for the child in different ways, which are all unique in every single family. The parents of John probably decided that this was the best way out for him. The result however was that John rejected the operation psychologically, hated the fact that he was a girl until later found out the story and things finally made sense to him.

To an extent, it proves that gender is not determined by nurture but instead, nature. One situation may not be able to generalize the overall cases but it certainly brings the thought to mind. For sure, the hormone pills did not work and the result was not satisfying for both the family and the doctors. I believe a person's gender at birth is what one is suppose to be. If he or she wishes to change it, it would depend entirely on the person herself not on the parents or any other professionals.

posted by Tat S. @ 8:33 PM 0 comments