Tat's AP Psychology Blog

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Today’s class was divided into two parts. In the first part, we all had a chance to read an article titled as Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse which was about how the prisoners in Iraq were treated by American soldiers with evidence pictures included. The pictures themselves were pretty self-explanatory. The main reason we were told to read this article was because it goes along with the idea of social psychology. It was to be understood by psychologists that humans’ behaviors were influenced by situations and environments. In my opinion, the fact that one human is torturing the other is scary enough to admit, but worst, (as mentioned in class) taking a photograph of it. However, I would not dare give my absolute opinion upon their actions because I am not confident enough that I would not do the exact same thing under those circumstances.

The second part is watching the video by Phillip Zimbardo, Developmental Psychology which talks about different experiments by different psychologists. First of all, Milgram who experimented with electric shocks. Milgram had his volunteers apply electric shocks every time the control person makes a mistake on a memory test. He found out that none of the volunteers made the effort to rescue the control person but rather, some of them even followed the exact order and went on with the experiment to the extend that the control person could die. Secondly, Zimbardo, experimented with playing roles between prisoners and guards. The volunteer group was divided into prisoners and guards. With the expected two weeks experiment, it went on only for six days, seeing the expected result. The prisoners were depressed whereas the guards were tortuous. Most importantly, these people undergo tests prior to the experiment to make sure they all were both physically and mentally healthy. The third experiment is about eyesight. This one fascinates me the most. Under different situations, people performed differently on the same eye test. This proves that humans can really be influenced by environments and situations.

Labels: Social Psychology

Monday, March 12, 2007

1. How should intelligence be defined?
- Intelligence is defined as the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations. According to Gardner, intelligence should be defined in more specific areas, consisting of three: musical, mathematical and logical intelligence.

2. What are the elements of intelligence?
- There are three elements of intelligence: genetic make up, education and lastly, environment or in other word, nurture. The level of intelligence is defined by using intelligence tests which shows that all these elements influence intelligence. Psychology however, cannot be certain about what influences intelligence since there could be something more than the above elements.

3. Is intelligence testing valid? Reliable? Ethical?
- Intelligence tests aren’t valid. IQ tests only give the result of how an individual performed on the test but not necessarily how intelligent a person is. As said before, intelligence is defined in many different areas which IQ testing only defines intelligence in one specific area.
- IQ tests are reliable. Reliable means giving a consistent result. However, it is unethical because people easily misunderstands the given results by thinking that one is stupid if the scores are below the average.

4. How can variations in intelligence be explained?
- Variation of intelligence refers to the different abilities obtained by each person. The factors that influence intelligence are genes, society, culture, education and disabilities. Disabilities can some times prevent one from fully maximizing his or her abilities but may also at times encourage one to reach their highest potential.

Friday, February 09, 2007

Yesterday, the psychology class had a chance to visit the elementary classroom (kindergarten) to experiment with the young kids. Before I went, I really thought that the tests were useless and that the kids would have no problem getting the correct solution. However, I have found the result to be surprising.

The first test we did was a simple asking-answering question thing which reflects on the idea of egocentrism. Simple questions such as “Why does the sun shine” seem to be too difficult for them to answer. According to Piaget’s stages of development, children at around 4-7 years old are under the period called “intuitive phase” and are supposed to be less egocentric. In my group in particular, none of the kids were able to answer the egoc3entirc questions correctly whereas in some other groups, all the kids might have gotten those questions correctly.

In the other experiment with the staircase, the kids in my group seem to be having a problem. The main concern is the language development rather than the maturation of the brain or the physical abilities. The one girl does not understand what we mean by a staircase.

This experiment made me realized that Piaget’s theory is at times accurately. The only mistake is that he focuses on the wrong range of age and it varies for each individual. Some kids are able to perceive more information compared to others.

Monday, January 22, 2007

From the Emotional Intelligence Quiz, my score is high above average. I got 125 which is not much surprising. I find myself to be happy most of the time. Whenever I face the worst problems, I tend to think that there will always be a way out. I am a straight forward person and I say exactly what I think or feel (but considering the appropriateness) and it is a way to get all the problems out of the system.

Sometimes when I have a situation in a relationship (either with family or friends), I will always find a way to be happy when I’m not around the person. I can accept my weaknesses as well as treasure my talents.

Even though this result is not surprising, I find it to maybe some what inexact. If the person is taking the test during the vulnerable state of life, he or she may react differently to the quiz.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Motivation

The motivation of the survivors from the plane crash were all different but yet similar. Before the plane crashed, there were a few different group of surviviors. One was on its way to a rugby competition and that was their motivation. The other were going home to visit their families during the holiday. The atmosphere of the plane was full with eagerness. In the pilot's cockpit, however, the pilot was trying to control the plane in a terrible weather and the pilot's motivation is to save the lives of the passengers by doing his job the best way possible.

After the plane crashed, the main motivation for most people were to survive. The weather was extrememly cold and none of the survivors were prepared for the situation. There were no food, no water; so bad that they had to eat the meat of the dead.

The survivors started talking about their family members and the main motivation was to go back to see their families. This motivation made them gathered into a group to hike out for help.

I can see that motivation is an important factor in one's live. Without a motive, a person has nothing to live for and no reason to start acting.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Gregorc Style Delineator

According to the self- assessment test called “Gregorc Style Delineator”, I qualify under the abstract random classification. It seems to be all about looking at the world in a bright side and dreaming of the future and only the future. Abstract random people deal more with emotions rather than reasons.

After reading the “Style Characteristics of the Dominant Abstract Random Individual”, it made me see many aspects of myself. For instance, the way I see the world or how I view life or even people around me. The sentence that makes me feel as if I fit in this group perfectly is the one saying that: He/She establishes attachments to certain ideas, people, places, and things; and he/she may not give up the relationships despite all logical reasons which support a break up. I really feel as if this statement defines who I am because in most relationships that I have been through, that is how my decision is based on, emotions and no logic at all.

The description covers a lot of areas, for instance: view towards society, view of time, the thinking process, the use of language, etc.

Despite all the negative points, I am very satisfied with the result and felt as if during the evaluation, my group had a lot of fun discussing the matter and agreeing to all the things each of us had to say. Mr. Anthony advices that our group should become more consecrate sequential in order to be more balanced.

Monday, November 27, 2006

It's Magical, It's Malleable- It's MEMORY

What is the relationship between memory and selfhood?

As described in the article written by Jill Neimark, the most solid part of selfhood are our emotions and experiences which these two are both parts of our memories. Memories are like the stored information of our experience which usually is attached by emotions. However, some memories can also be created by our imaginations in which the article referred to as “creativity blending and reblending the experience and emotion”. Without these memories, we will not be who we are today and therefore, there is an effect to selfhood but with the misconceptions of memories, we can also become someone we are actually not. Memories are not always the reliable source of information.

What new discovery about memory do you find most interesting?

The new discovery that interests me most is concerning memories and senses in relation. Our brain can record memory even before it records the senses. In other words, we can remember things even before realizing it. Amazing how the memory part of our brain works but yet no one seems to be able to figure out how it actually works.

What is the homunculus crisis?

The homunculus crisis is the idea introduced by Gerald Edelmen; it is the mystery state of confusion of where and how some memories are suddenly reminded in our minds. The issue is simply who and how these memories are suddenly activated into our brains causing these memories.

Which theory of dreams finds support in the experiments by Lynch?

“Lynch is known for his inspiring, if slightly mad, brilliance. His laboratory found that LTP is strongest when stimulation is delivered to the hippocampus in a frequency that corresponds to the slow rhythms of theta, of deep relaxation.” (5) LTD refers to consolidation of memories during the most relaxed state of the human brain, simply when we’re sleeping. Researches prove that humans obtain more information if getting enough sleep. Lynch’s experiment proves how information can be better restored during sleeping state, particularly, REM sleep.

How can some memories become indelible?

The term “fight-or-flight” refers to the reaction of the body in a traumatic event. When faced with trouble or dangerous situations, the body chooses to either fight, meaning react back or flight, meaning run away. During “fight-or-flight”, the body releases hormones, particularly stress hormones which gives human the strength to do things beyond its normal capacity. When faced with a traumatic event, the information gets stored much deeper than normal events; this is because the body needs this essential information in times of need, like facing similar situations, the body can take prior precautions. However, the brain does not know its limit. The memory can be too deeply stored and will most likely haunt you without going away.

How can amnesia and repression be explained?

Amnesia and repression are two diverse ideas. Amnesia is when a person lost his or her memories because the memories were never encoded since the first place whereas repression is when memories are retrieved. Amnesia may be cause by one accident while repression may be caused by a repeated number of bad experiences. Siegel suspected that the causation of these two ideas is due to the malfunction of the hippocampus. Sometimes memories detach because of a continuous traumatic events, so the explicit memories are forgotten but the implicit memories remain.

Explain the following statement: “Memory is more reconstructive than reproductive.”

Human can remember most events well but all the details are miscalculated. “Memory is more reconstructive than reproductive.”- Memories can be encoded, retrieved and even encoded back or with added information but it’s not useful because all the little details are overlooked and forgotten; therefore, not reproductive.

What new paradigm of memory is now emerging?

The new paradigm of memory is that is can be seen as a combination of facts, what really happens and our own imaginations. Sometimes people remember things that did not actually happen, all because of his or her own creativity and imaginations. This mixture is synergized with experience and emotions into creating memories.

After reading this article, what conclusions can you make about memory?

Memories can not be easily understood. Not all of its happenings can be explained with theories and experiments. Some believe that memories shape up a person’s character and being but memories can be delusive or fantasized. It can be created and at the same time destroyed. In simple words, it is as fragile as the egg’s shell when you don’t want it to be and sometimes can be as tough as bricks and bones. We cannot really choose which memories we want to remember and which ones to forget. It seems as if memories are controlling us instead of us controlling it.