Friday, May 4, 2018

JT Signing off (Final Psychology Blog Post)

My First Psychology Semester

I was kind of shocked that there wasn't going to be any tests, and I was wondering how the class was going to work without any way to assess what we learned. I quickly learned that Dr. Pris had her own ways of doing so. She would have us get into groups and discuss different topics of our modules. The modules we had were:
Getting to know Me, You, and Psychology: In this module we had to go about creating our first blog, this was interesting for me because I had never done anything with blogs. It took us about 45 minutes to get it set up, but once we did, I was able to post a snip-it of my life for my classmates, and I was also able to learn a lot about each of my classmates.
Brain, Sensation, and Perception: This module was about how our brains are able to preserve different things around us, and also how our brains develop. I was struck by how many different parts of the brain there are and how each part functions. For our experiential task for this module we had to interview someone with a teenage child and get their opinion on why their children behave in a certain way, and after getting their opinion on this we had to show them a video on this with factual research and see if we could teach them something that they did not know before. It was easy for me to find someone to interview because my stepsister is a teenager, so I just interviewed my stepdad about her. He didn't seem to be startled by the research, but at least I was able to teach him something.
Developmental Psychology & Personality: For the developmental module I learned about the Nature vs. Nurture principle. This states that your environment can impact the way you turn out. It also says that if you are nurtured in a different environment that you came from you can be changed by the new environment. I think there are pros and cons arguments for both sides. I believe the way we are raised can impact us but we do have the power to make our own choices. For the personality part I took a personality test for this part of the module. I did not agree with the results, because it said that I would make a good teacher or nurse. I have no interest in being either one.
Learning and Memory: I learned that animals can be taught to preform a certain behavior just by the smell of certain foods. Pavlov's experiment in which he placed a bowl of meat in front of a dog. The dog learned to anticipate getting the meat by his footsteps and the sound of the bell. The dog would also smell the meat and start to slobber too. Dogs can learn to preform a certain behavior due to the anticipation of getting a treat.
Motivations, Emotions, & Social Psychology: In this module, I got to do something pretty special, I got to shed light on a friend of mine's story, Matt Baran. Matt is my tech person for Region IV. Matt is a quadriplegic due to a bull riding accident that he had.
Psychological Disorders and Therapy: This module was about any counselors or anybody we had help us in our lives. I told my story about Patrick Fogal a councilor at Freedom Counseling who helped me through some difficult times in my life.
Positive Psychology: This was about how to use positive influence to help in dealing with patients or just people you are working with.

The module that stood out to me the most was the memory module. The reason for this is because of the video we had to watch about a man who got convicted of rape because the victim in the rape identified him as the rapist when he wasn't even there, just because he looked like the person. I was also shocked at how many different types of learning there is. One class period that stood out to me was when Dr. Pris was talking about how back in the 1800s people with mental illness would be locked away and sent to the London Zoo for people to gawk at them. This shocked me and made me kind of upset that people would do that. I am sure glad there is better help out there now. We have had many outside student lead activities, but the one that stood out to me the most was the one when we had to break social norms. I loved seeing people's reactions of us sitting close to them and how startled they were. One of my favorite experiential tasks was when I interviewed my caregivers parents on the subject of memory and the eye witness video. This was my favorite because of again, seeing their reactions when they wrote down something that was not on the list that I presented to them. They created a false memory that I found interesting. My favorite blog post I wrote/videoed about was when I got to share Matt's story. If you want to know more then please refer back to what I said earlier about this video.

I found one of my classmates (Desiree Melendez's) blogs to be the most helpful because of the details she would put into her blog and enjoyed seeing her videos with her daughter this is her link to her blog: (http://desipsych.blogspot.com/).

Sarah Rodgers comment on my life story blog was helpful because she wanted to pursue the same field as I do (sport psychology).

One thing that also stood out to me during class time learning is when we are so easily distracted that we don't realize when someone is even pick-pocketing us. We are distracted by our phones and other things. The TedTalk videos we had to watch and the other videos were pretty helpful because it taught us more information that we had not learned in class. Some of the videos that I liked were the exoskeleton one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQzXqjT0w3k), Eye Witness (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-SBTRLoPuo), and Pavlov's Dog experiment (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhqumfpxuzI). The reason I like the exoskeleton video is because I was amazed by the technology that is available to us today, and the possibilities of what can be accomplished.
My biggest take-away from all of this will be learning how to read people and why people behave the was that they do. I'll be able to tell if people are genuine or just putting on an act. I will be able to apply this personally in everything that I do. I will also be able to apply what I have learned professionally when I advance into the career of Sport Psychology. This will help me better understand athletes and their mindsets so that I can help them when I pursue Sports Psychology field. Thank you Dr. Pris for all you have taught us.

Monday, April 30, 2018

M7 Task "3 Good Things"

For this task I wrote down three good things that happened to me each day for seven days straight.
Side note: During this week my mom hurt her back so I was having to stay with my caregivers.


Day 1: Tuesday April 17th
1.) I woke up today which is good because it means I am still alive :)Image result for waking up

2.) I ate lunch with my mom. The reason why this is good is because since she hurt her back I wasn't able to see her much due to her being in so much pain and her Doctors appointments.

3.) Ate lunch at Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers. This is good because it's the best fried chicken anyone could ask for.Image result for Cane's chicken

Day 2, Wednesday April 18th

1.) Did a lot of running around town. This is good because I got fresh air and sunshine.Related image

2.) Got to see my mom and she gave me a Bundt cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes. This is good because Nothing Bundt Cakes has some of the best cakes in town. If you haven't tried it, I would suggest checking it out!Image result for nothing bundt cakes

3.) Watched my teams play basketball. This is good because as you know that basketball is something that I enjoy a great deal.Image result for rockets basketball

Day 3, Thursday April 19th

1.) Got a day off of class due to Western Heritage because the traffic was super backed up and we wouldn't have made it to a parking spot on time. This is good though because I was stressed out due to my mom hurting her back and was able to have some down time.

2.) My caregivers got me some more chocolate covered peanuts from Jackson Brothers. This is good because they have the best chocolate covered peanuts around!Image result for chocolate covered peanuts fort worth

3.) Went and met mom for ice cream at Dairy Queen. This is good because my mom is getting stronger each and everyday :)Image result for dairy queen blizzard

Day 4, Friday April 20th

1.) Mom picked me up and took me to lunch at Church's Chicken. I enjoy every moment with my mom and am glad to see her getting around better.Image result for Church's Chicken

2.) Got my haircut because my hair was getting too long.

3.) Got to go visit my grandparents. I enjoy visiting my grandparents  as much as I can.

Day 5, Saturday April 21st

1.) Went to Buffalo Gap Flea Market, this is good because I got to get out in the fresh air and sunshine, I got to see all the different things and animals they had out there.

2.) Went out to eat at Skeet's. Skeet's is good because it's one of my favorite restaurants. Everything they have there is amazing and if you have not ate there then I suggest doing so!Image result for skeet's texas grill

3.) Watched NBA play-offs again. Watched the Rockets because they're one of my favorite teams and I want them to do well.

Day 6, Sunday April 22nd

1.) Got to go home with mom, she is feeling a lot better. This is good because I was missing her.

2.) Watched more play-off games, that's good simply because it's my favorite sport.

3.)Went to the gym to see my friend Zach, which is good because I get to be around the team and see them.

Day 7, Monday April 23rd

1.) Ate some Chick-fil-a, it's good simply because it's Chick-fil-a :)Image result for Chick-fil-a Abilene,Tx

2.) Went to my caregiver's house. This is good because I get to see them.

3.) Watched the Rockets finish off the Timber Wolves now they get to advance to the second round of play-offs.

Saturday, April 14, 2018

#CounselorsHelp

I chose to talk about my Counselor Patrick Fogle, he helped through some hard times that I was having. I encourage you that if you need it, please seek help because it really does help.

I don't have a Facebook or Instagram/Twitter so the only way I can share this is through my blog or my YouTube.

Thanks!

Saturday, March 31, 2018

#PsychStory

Hope you enjoy :)


****The task is me... myself telling an inspirational story about someone else, other than myself.

I enjoyed telling Matt's story and I hope that I told it the way he would have wanted me to, like I said in the video that he could not do it due to scheduling conflicts. It was nice learning about his story.

I gained from this experience that you should keep pushing forward no matter what.

TELL YOUR STORY TO ENCOURAGE OTHERS... MMM'KAY?!

Friday, March 9, 2018

M4Task

I chose option 2 for the M4 Task project. I interviewed my caregivers parents.


Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Memory Week 8


There are several aspects of the chapter that stood out to me. One of the most prevalent ones was that there are different types of memory. We can somehow block out bad things that have happened to us, but depending on the mood that we are in the memories of the event/or events can come flooding back. We also have a tendency to make certain activities second nature such as, waking up and brushing out teeth. We do not have to think about brushing our teeth because once we do it enough, it becomes ingrained in our minds to do so.



Alzheimer's patients have trouble remembering names and faces, however if you tell them to take you to their house or to a place they frequented many years earlier, they can do so because they have travelled the path to those places so many times before. The reason for this phenomena is because their long term memories are not effected by the disease. The effects are felt in the part of the brain that controls short-term memory.Image result for alzheimer's

Science behind the phenomenon:


People were shown a crime but they all describe the same crime in different ways. This is why at times eye witness testimony can be shaky because people see things in different ways. They can be influenced by others takes on the same event. Other people can make you think you saw something. This was demonstrated by an experiment aired on the Discovery channel where people were placed into a room and shown a crime and asked to describe what they had seen. The test subjects were influenced by what the teacher said about the suspect's nose when she was describing the suspect. The teacher said he had a big nose, but turns out he didn't have a big nose at all, but she persuaded them to believe that.


Image result for eye witness testimony




Thursday, March 1, 2018

Learning Week 7


What stood out to me about the Chapter on Learning, was that there were so many different types of learning, and so many different ways in which our environment can effect our behavior. One example that really stood out to me was the portion on why we watch sports, because I watch a lot of sports and it was interesting to understand the mental approach of why we watch them. While I knew that we watch sports for it unpredictability, I did not realize it was the major part of why we watch them. If sports were regimented and we could tell what would happen, we probably would not have near as much interest in them. For example the text example of this would be the "home run theory" -  The theory is that if Mike Trout hits a home run, he will not hit another one for 17 more bats, the theory is that if we know this we would not be as inclined to watch, but since we do not know when his homerun will come it adds to the unpredictability and this is why we continue to watch.

Image result for unpredictable


Image result for mike trout

The Science Behind "Learning":

  • One of the best examples of the Science behind learning, is the dog experiment. Pavlov's Study was a experiment in which scientist placed dogs in an controlled environment with food. The first time they offered food to the dogs their mouths began to water. Doctor Pavlov then decided to include a sound with the offering of food. As the experiment drew on, he found that the dog's mouth began to water when they simply heard the sound. The food did not even have to be in the area for their mouths to start watering. The reason for this, is because they began to associate the sound with the food over time.Image result for pavlov's study

Real-World Application:

In conclusion I have found that most behaviors that we do are learned. While some are not easily unlearned, that does not mean that it is impossible. For instance, someone who is struggling with an addiction, can learn to not need the object or substance that they are addicted to with help and support. It does help to find ways to prevent themselves from indulging in it. An example of this would be like a certain smell that they learn to associate with the substance, if it is a bad smell they can be taught that whenever they are around the substance or object that the smell will come with it, in turn making them not want to have the substance or object anymore.Image result for stinky

Sources: https://www.simplypsychology.org/pavlov.html