What would YOU do?

The Bystander Effect. All of us liketo think that if faced with a dangerous, stressful situation, we would take charge and do something. However, evidence shows this is not the case. In reality, the bystander effect would occur. The bystander effect is a social psychological phenomena that refers to cases where individuals do not offer help in an emergency situation when other people are present. This also goes along with diffusion of responsibility which tends to occur in groups of people when responsibility is not officially assigned. This seems unbelieveable to me. However after talking to my dad about this, he gave me a real life example of both of these concepts.

My dad is a trained EMT at work and one day at work, a man got severely injured and was bleeding heavily. My dad and another man were called to help and when they got to the scene, there were many people standing around, watching the man bleed. In order to help the man, my dad and the other EMT were going to need some assistance. My dad asked "Can someone get me a blanket and the first aid kit?" No one moved. Finally he had to say, "John, can you get a blanket, and Lisa, you get the first aid kit." Then people started to do something. This clearly illustrates the bystander effect and diffusion of responsibility. When my dad addressed the crowd as a whole, no one responded but when he called certain people by name, they acted because they realized people were depending specifically on them, not just the entire group.

This happens quite frequently. I found an interesting article called 10 Notorious Cases of the Bystander Effect. In the article, it discusses multiple cases such as horrific murders and rapes that could have been stopped if someone would have just stepped up. So next time you wonder if you should step in, don't think twice, just act.

DID I do that?

After looking at Kirby's amazingg glog, I learned that DID, also known as multiple personality disorder, is when a person exhibits two or more! personalities. The number of people who have DID is about 1 in 10,000 people. The DSM-IV classifies DID with the following four characteristics: (1) presence of two or more distinct personalities, (2) at least two of the identities come back often and take over control, (3) unable to recall important personal information that can't be explained by normal forgetfulness, and (4) disturbance is not due to a substance or medication. Unfortunately, there is no proven cause of DID, however, it is linked to childhood abuse, multiple tramas in life, and genetics. Some symptoms of DID are blackouts, not remembering how you got somewhere or something, repressing certain memories, being called names not his/her own, hearing voices, feeling more than one person, and original personality denies that the others exist.

In order to treat a patient with DID, the best approach would be to draw from many different types of therapies known as the eclectic approach. Because the disorder could be caused by a tramatic event or childhood memory, psychoanalysis could help to bring out that memory and possibly get to the root of the problem and deal with those original emotions. Similarily, cognitive therapies could look at specific life events to see how the person interpreted them and how they are affecting the personalities. These two therapies could possibly rid the person of the multiple personalites because they are now unneccesary for the original person to deal with their problems. Also, group and family therapies could be utilized in order to confront certain people from the past and how they hurt them which may have led their personalities to form. The therapist could also council their spouse and children in how to more effectively deal with many personalities.

The biomedical therapies would not help a person with DID. There are no medications for this disorder to rid the person of the personalities. I don't think that the mood stabilizers or an of the other drugs would be effective.

When dealing with depression, SSRI's help because they block the reabsorption or breakdown or norepinephrine and serotonin. Both norepinephrine and serotonin are neurotransmitters that enhance mood and arousal. In many depressed patients, they are both found to be lacking in the body. When the SSRI's block the reuptake, the extra serotonin in the synapse will connect again with the receptor. This causes the SSRI's to boost mood and therefore combat depression.

Hypochondriasis Glog!

http://smitsamber.edu.glogster.com/hypochondriasis/

Bipolar Disorder

I thought this week in psych was particularily interesting. Learning about the diseases was intriguing and easy to read about. One of the disorders, bipolar disorder, peaked my interest. As a young child, one of my neighborhood friends had bipolar disorder. (Although I didn't know this until years later, I did pick up on the syptoms, even though I was young.) The way the book describes the disorder as a mix of depression and manic tendencies seems a little extreme, however, it was completely on point for the way my former neighbor acted. When we played together, she would always be super hyper. Normal for a child you say? Well, not her actions, they were over the top. On those days, she would never get tired and was always on the go. Other days when I would ask to play with her, her mom would say she was tired or sleeping. What!? In the middle of the day, in the summer? But these symptoms were not unusual for her because the disorder basically controlled her actions. Coincidentally this week, actress Catherine Zeta-Jones went to treatment for bipolar disorder and kind of put a public face on it. Not that it is great she has the disease of course, but I think this is positive for all the Americans struggling with it day to day. If this successful actress can deal with it and is "normal," this gives others with the disorder hope of living normal, productive lives as well. Also, it takes the stigma away from the disorder and puts it in the limelight, giving clueless Americans a little insight. The article states it perfectly by saying that bipolar disorder is "not a character flaw." Many people get uncomfortable when talking about mental health and various little known disorders so I think it is awesome that she isn't ashamed about her need for treatment because there is no reason she should be. Way to take a stand and give a voice to other Americans with bipolar disorder!

Achievement Motivation

During class when Dubbs asked us to choose which trash can we would aim for before going down to actually try it, in my head I chose C. I chose this because I thought it would be difficult to make the beanbag in, but also, I thought that I would still have a high chance of making it aka of having success. These were my exact thoughts, so when Dubbs discussed the high need for achievement notes in class, a light bulb turned on in my head. I definitely think that I am a person who has a high need for achievement. I wouldn't have chosen E because I don't have that good of aim, but I also wouldn't choose A because it's too easy and no one would have thought it was cool when I made it. I also feel that I am intrinsicly motivated like Dubbs said people with a high need for achievement typically have. The feeling inside feels better for me than winning a trophy or medal does. Although society engrains the opposite in everyone, my parents/family had a large part in me not caring about the material rewards. They taught me that the better reward is inside feeling proud of yourself. Not that I don't have all my trophies displayed in my room :)

Is EQ importance EQual?

Have we stretched the idea of intelligence too far when we apply it to our emotions? I have never thought of it this way but our keys to true success is our EQ. You can be extremely smart and successful but I believe that you will never reach your full potential if you do not have a high EQ. Having a high EQ consists of being able to percieve, understand, manage, and use emotions effectively. To me this translates to being able to know how others are feeling and interact in an appropriate manner in a social setting. It's true that there are many highly intelligent people in the world who lack basic social skills and they are very successful in their profession but are they successful in their personal lives and relationships with others. If someone doesn't have a high EQ, they may not value personal relationships an important or necessary aspect of life. However to me, a person can't have a truly fulfilling life without personal success in their career as well as in their personal life. I believe it is wise to value emotional intelligence highly because it leads to personal connections and feeling included in society.

Learning Language

Dora the Explorer. Go Diego Go. Ni Hao Kai-Lan. These are just three of the plethora of television shows geared towards teaching kids a different language. In each episode, children as young as 2 or 3, learn colors, numbers, and words for everyday objects. Why? Because studies show that learning a new language becomes more difficult with age. Similarly, David Myers in our text said that young children have a readiness to learn language. Although there is not "critical period" to learn a second language, thoses who learned it before age 8 understood the grammar as well as native speakers.

In order to test the validity of these studies, I did a little experiment of my own.. Once again, Alex (age 4) came in handy along with my dad (age 41). I taught them each 10 basic spanish vocabulary words at the same time so the teaching was the same for both. The teaching consisted of showing them the word along with correctly pronouncing it. I also asked them to repeat the word. They both had a little difficulty with this :). 30 minutes later, I separately quizzed each of them by saying the word in English then asking them to translate it to Spanish. While my brother got 7 correct, my dad only got 3 correct... Even though this study may not be very reliable, the results were pretty significant. It definitely displayed to me that learning a second language is best done when young. This is probably why in recent years, many tv shows have popped up claiming to teach a second language. Do they work? No one will know until the children watching the shows grow up and society can see how their language skills have developed compared to previous generations. But it is an interesting topic to think about...

My Life is "Psych"adelic!

Psychology: the science of mind and behavior. No wonder my life connects to psych class in so many ways. My life is full of crazy behavior and even crazier minds. And because of AP Psych, I feel that I now analyze the world with a psychologist's point of view.

Placebo Effect.

*Placebo effect: experimental results caused by expectations alone, any effect on behavior caused by the administration of an inert substance or condition, which the recipient assumes is an active agent*

During one night of spring break, I was very tired (the reason will be explained later), so my friends told me I should try a 5 hour energy. I never know if I can believe that energy drinks really give you energy, so I said they would have to put it in my drink without mentioning it first because otherwise I would believe I felt more energized, the placebo effect, even if the drink didn't truly make my body more awake. If they had just given me the 5 hour energy, I would have probably thought I felt more energized aka the placebo effect.

This was a fitting example because most people experience the placebo effect when given a drug.

Brain Organization and Handedness

I saw the movie, The King's Speech, over break. The king's therapist was asking him about his childhood, thinking that his stammering problem was caused by a tramatic event. It was revealed that the king was born a true left hander but was punished when he used it. Therefore, he grew up to be a right handed person.

This got me thinking about the brain and how which hand is dominant affects it. The king's brain organization was probably screwed up when he, as a young child, was forced to write with the right hand. This may have causeds his stammering problem.

This movie was a good example of how your dominant hand is more connected to the rest of the body than just to the arm. Psychology is about the mind and the king's mind probably malfunctioned when he was little because of the hand confusion in the brain.

Stimulants and Withdrawl

*Stimulants: drugs that excite neural activity and speed up body functions*

*Withdrawl: the discomfort and distress that follow discontinuing the use of an addictive drug*

Although I am not a religious person, I decided to test myself and give up coffee for lent. I drink coffee every morning so this was really going to be a challenge. Caffeine, the stimulant in coffee, increases wakefulness and alertness. The second day of my challenge, I was incredibly tired and had major headaches, two common side effects for caffeine withdrawl.

This minor addiction of mine displayed how drugs could seriously impair your life on a major scale. If my symptoms are fatigue and headaches, it is scary to think about the more serious side effects of wtidrawl from other stimulants or drugs in general. After only a few days, I was experiencing negative side effects.

Personal Space
*Personal space: the buffer zone we like to maintain around our bodies*
Emily and I are going to room together next year and were talking about it one night. In addition to who will care for our pet rocks (The rockettes!), we also discussed more serious guidelines. We are both the type of people who need to have time by ourselves and enjoy or personal space. This may be hard to come by in a dorm, but just like when visiting other cultures, we have to figure out each other's personal space and work with it. Now we won't go so far as to tape off our sides of the room but we do know we can't be with each other all the time.

Different cultures, and different people, have separate ideas about what is appropriate for personal space. Having to live in a confined space with someone will teach both Emily and I about people's differing needs for personal space.

Crystallized Intelligence and Fluid Intelligence

*Crystallized intellligence: our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills*

*Fluid intelligence: our ability to reason speedily and abstractly*

My family tends to be competitive so at family get togethers, games can get cutthroat. During my cousin's birthday party this week, my family divided into teams to play Jeopardy. My grandpa was on my team. He is definitely an asset with all his crystallized intelligence so my cousins and I were happy to have him. However, we soon realized that although he knows a lot of the answers, it takes him awhile to retrieve them, time which we couldn't afford.

This truly displayed how fluid intelligence really does decrease as we age while crystalized increases. My grandpa knew the answers but wasn't able to speedily answer them. Our knowledge continues to accumulate as we age while our reaction times decreased. This real life example clearly displayed this discrepancy.

Sensory Adaptation

*Sensory adaptation: diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation*

I visited a dorm room of one of my friends and as soon as I stepped off the elevator, the smell knocked me back. I knew it was a guy dominated floor but I didn't realize it would smell so...strongly. Although his room smelled too, after a few minutes, I didn't even smell it anymore thanks to sensory adaptation.

This was a great example of sensory adaptation because it allowed me to forget about the strong smell and focus on others things in the environment. It wouldn't allow species to survive if they only focused on the unchanging part of the environment so sensory adaptation allows the body to put unchanging stimulus, the smell, in the back of our minds so we can focus on the changing stimuli in our current environment.

Operant Conditioning

*Operant conditioning: type of learning in which behavior is strengthened in followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punished*

I love the show Modern Family. While watching it this week, a perfect example of operant conditioning came up. A gay couple adopted a little girl. In order to take the negative stigma off the word "adoption," they would clap whenever someone said it and then cheer. Then at the end of the episode, one of them said "adoption," and the little girl clapped because she had been operantly conditioned to do so. She had learned that people would cheer for her if she clapped after hearing the word so she did. The clapping was reinforced by the cheering causing the little girl to want to do the behavior.

Flashbulb Memories

*Flashbulb memories: a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event*
I am so excited to go to prom again this year and many of my friends are going as well. We were talking about it and reminising about last year's prom. I could remember the whole thing because it was a flashbulb memory for me. I had so much fun and was with all my friends so it was a great day which is why I still have a clear or flashbulb memory of the whole night.

Flashbulb memories allow us to clearlly remember an emotional or significant moment. I cleary remember almost all the details of prom since it was the first time I went and was really excited about it.

Living in a Silent World

I like the days I am in my silent house alone, no brother to ask me a million questions, no parents telling me to do something... But could I survive in a completely silent world everyday...As I write this, I am listening to music and having a conversation with my mom...How could I function? How would I feel connected to people?

Well there are 500 million people in the world who do it everyday. Some have partial hearing loss while others are completely Deaf. According to the psych book, Deaf people can feel just as connected to the world around them as people with full hearing. It says that Deaf children who grow up around other Deaf people more often identify with Deaf culture and feel positive self-esteem. This seems obvious but then I thought what if a whole family was deaf or most of them? Well according to Youtube, there are many such families like that.

A family that caught my eye was a family that had Deaf parents, two Deaf children and two hearing children. One of the hearing kids was 15 and the other three. The 15 year old talked about the challenges his family faces. Interestingly many of the stuggles he has, most teenagers experience such as his mom being overly involved in his life. However, he did say that when he went to school, he got made fun of for prounouncing some words wrong because he had copied how his Deaf father said them. He also said that the best part of being from a Deaf family is that when he got in trouble when he was younger, his teachers couldn't call home. His Deaf siblings actually go to a Deaf school and he says that is the best place for them because they can connect with people they typically wouldn't have met.

After watching multiple youtube videos about Deaf people, they all say they are content to be Deaf, that it's peaceful, and they couldn't imagine life any other way. Hearing people would say the same thing. It's hard to imagine never being able to listen to music, go through a drive through, or see a movie....However it might be nice not to hear my brother "singing" all the time though...

PSA Success!

I watched multiple PSA's from both classes and the first one I watched was Katie Kirby and Alisa's PSA. I enjoyed this PSA because the girls made it from the point of view of a new family who had just moved to Ashwaubenon and what they liked about it. I liked that each "member of the family" was represented along with examples of programs that would benefit their developmental needs. This approach to the PSA was one that I had not thought of before and seemed to be realistic and believable.

Next was Michael, Jacky, and Tom's PSA. This PSA was run like a tour of the village, again another unique approach. It was funny overall especially when Tom was in the library and whispering the information. They included all the necessary information but shared it in a way that wasn't boring to listen to.

Lastly I watched Becky, Marin, and Chloe's PSA. This PSA was hilarious because it incorporated both acting and still photos. Even though the acting was funny, the PSA was still informative and got the point across that Ashwaubenon was a great place for all ages to live. The collective voices in many parts of the PSA were clear to understand and unique. The pictures all fit what they were talking about.

Overall, the PSA's that I watched, although all unique, were very informative and creative. I don't really have a favorite because each PSA used a different approach to share the information which made them all very interesting to watch. They all had a variety of problems and included all the necessary information.

Passing the tests... mostly

My 4 year old brother, Alex, can be useful at times it seems especially when I need to perform psychological experiments. After discussing Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development, I was especially intrigued with the preoperational stage (2-6/7 years old) since I live with someone who is currently in this stage. I wondered if Alex would be able to pass three seemingly simple tests I saw children in this stage fail but that he should be able to accomplish before leaving the Preoperational Stage.

1. Theory of Mind
Theory of mind is the ability to understand what others see/are thinking. To test this, I set up a divider between us and put a crayon and a car on his side and a book on my side. I asked him what he saw and he obviously said, "a crayon and a car." Then we switched sides and when asked the same question, he correctly said he saw a book. Then I asked the million dollar question, "What do I see from where I'm sitting?" to which he responded, "a crayon and a car."
Theory of Mind test - pass

2. Is this Fair?
The next psychological experiment I gave to Alex was a fairness test. I told him we were going to share these three chips fairly. I gave him one and took two for myself. When I asked him if this was fair, he gave me a frown and whinily said, "No! You have two and I only have one." Then I proceeded to break his chip in half so we each had two pieces. He was quick to point out this was still not fair because he really only had one chip.
Fairness test - pass

3. Conservation
After he passed all three tests, I was feeling discouraged. He's a smart kid but what can I say, I wanted to fool him. I poured equal amounts of water into two short wide cups and asked if these had the same amount. He said yes. Then I poured one of the glasses of water into a taller skinnier glass. I asked which glass had more water or if they had the same amount. He pointed to the taller glass and said it had more water. When asked why, he said it was because the water level was higher.
Conservation test - fail

I was expecting him to fail all of the tests, so the results surprised me at first. After thinking about it for a while, the outcomes made more sense. He is 4 - almost 5 as he is quick to tell everyone - which puts him in the middle of this stage meaning he should be able to complete some of the behaviors. Actually performing the experiments made the milestones more clear to me because children obviously develop differently and achieve different things at different times within the same stage...And should I really get this much satifaction from tricking a four year old... if you knew Alex you would say yes!

Ice Obession

Truthfully, at the beginning of the ice cube addiction simulation, I was skeptical. I couldn't see how being "addicted" to ice cubes would really allow us to experience how to be a real addict. However, if taken seriously, I believe the simulation is a great learning tool about how powerful and life changing addictions can be.

Here are a few glimpses into my days as an ice cube addict:
Feb 9, 2:42 p.m. : I have to work today at 3:45 until probably 7:30. I'm already feeling anxious about how I will be able to get ice cubes. I hope it's not busy so I can go into the kitchen a lot to sneak drinks. I hope my coworkers don't question me about it or my pink ribbon. AHH! So much to worry about...

Feb 10, 7:15 a.m. : My morning routine took longer and required more thought now that I need to pack ice and think about where my next ice cubes will come from. As I was packing my ice, my dad asked id it wasn't cold enough for me outside that I needed to pack ice. I didn't really respond. I don't like having to sneak around to get ice.

Feb 10, 12:26 p.m. : Tom just asked for some ice. I only have a little left but I gave it to him discreetly. I felt sketchy and could tell people in the class were watching me...

Feb 10, 3:39 p.m. : At talent show rehearsal. Ice is melting...getting nervous...What am I going to do? AHH.. I can't wait to get home to get more ice...I might need to go buy some.

Feb 10, 11:46 p.m. : In bed. Thought up ways to get ice if mine melted tomorrow at school...couldn't fall asleep for a while.

Feb 11, 6:56 a.m. : Put ice in my milk at breakfast. My 4 year old brother asked for ice too. He picked up on my habit after only two days. Oh no! I feel terrible..what if he gets addicted?

Addictions change and ruin lives.
By the way...Pagophagia is an actual term for being addicted to eating icecubes.

Boys and Barbies

America's gender roles seem to be deeply engrained.. especially for boys. It's socially acceptable for little girls to play in the mud, accel in sports, and wear "boyish" clothing, essentially to be tomboys. Why then is society still uncomfortable when boys play with dolls or play dress up in high heels?


This scenerio was recently addressed in an episode of ABC Primetime's What Would You Do? Two male actors, one playing the part of the father and another of a 5-6 year old boy, went into a toy store. The child immediately went to the shelf of barbies. In one scenario, the "dad" allowed the child to get the toy and in the next scenerio, he tried to convince his son to choose a different toy. The varous reactions evoked by people were suprising. Women were more likely to tell the dad to allow the child to get the toy and not to worry about it since it is probably just a phase. Most guys in the store seemed to not want the child to get the doll and helped the dad encourage the boy towards more "boyish" toys such as trucks and action figures.



The shows next scenerio took it further, with the child actor now wanting a barbie...while he was wearing a dress. Again, most women laughed this off while men could not accept it. They threw out words like "sissy" and other more offensive terms, toward this young child. I couldn't believe how strong some of the reactions were. It seems ridiculous to get so angry over such a silly thing. If the situation were real, the child would probably grow out of it, and if not, who cares. Diversity makes the world interesting right?



Also, recently on the news is a real boy who likes to wear dresses. His mom wrote a book called, "My Princess Boy," to raise awareness about how her son is just like any other 5 year old boy except that he likes to wear dresses. Is his gender identity confused or is he just having fun? I tend to believe he is just having fun. People need to back off and let children experiment because that is how they learn. Maybe the people with such negative reactions should read the book to gain a little more acceptance of people's differences.

Are teens to blame for risky behavior?

Talking about the brain this week really got me thinking.... In class we discussed the specific parts of the brain and their functions. The question was then raised if the cause of risky and impulsive teenage behavior was due to the fact that our brains aren't fully developed yet. I had heard this before but was interested in how exactly the adult and teenage brains differed and also if researchers believed teens should not be held responsible for their risky behavior.

Science Daily had an article last week discussing teen brains and the root of risky behavior. According to the article, researchers at the University of Pennsylania studied the neuron behavior in adolescent rats which they believe could reveal new information about teens and their decision making. The article says that after both adult and adolescent rats received stimulation in the reward centers in the brain, the adolescent rats acted with a greater sense of frenzy and excitement. Scientists believe this could explain why teens are more prone to rash behavior, addiction, and mental diseases than adults are. Although the adult rats processed their rewards with excitement, they also displayed control.

The orbitofrontal cortex is the brain region that weighs payoffs and punishment when planning and making decisions. The scientists believe that this is the part fo the region that develops slower than other regions of the brain. This slowness to develop makes teens vulnerable to risky behavior. Although this is the first study to record and compare the neuron activity in adult and adolescent brain, other research has been done on the developing teenage brain as shown in this video.

As the video shows, teen brains are at a crossroads in terms of development. They are stuck right in the middle of outgrowing the brain of a child and growing into the brain of an adult. Teens also have the greatest capactiy for learning than they will ever have again in their lives... depressing. But the researcher also makes it clear that at this stage, teens also make some not so smart decisions due to the developing brain meaning we can't be held completely responsible for our crazy teenage behavior... at least there's one upside :)

Heyy fellow bloggers! Just want to share some of my thoughts with you about my AP Psych class so far. We are only two days in, however I can already tell that this class with require a lot of my time and energy, but will also be super interesting! I expect to be introduced to and get a good grasp on the general psych concepts. After reading an entry in the Hock book, I am excited to learn about some more of the most groudbreaking case studies in psych. These experiments give me a real life example of the concepts we study in class and will make remembering them easier and more fun!

I also want to see if I would be interested in a career in the field of psychology. I plan to work hard in AP Psych in order to achieve my two goals of scoring at least a 4 on the AP test and getting an A in the class. My expectations have stayed pretty consistent from what they are now since before I stepped foot in the door. Even though I did okayy on the first quiz, I now know what to pay special attention to in the reading and what to make sure I take note of. I am especially looking forward to any case studys about children and adolescents since that is where my interests lie. I know it will be a lot of work but I'm definitely up for the challege! :)