Stress: Week 9 First Impression

--Original published at BillardnBlog

I would consider myself a “go with the flow” kind of person. I try to keep my stress levels pretty low and not let unimportant things stress me out. Although, the things that do give me stress raise the stress levels pretty high. Sometimes I may make things seem worst than they actually are. One of my biggest stressors is school and my classes. Mainly exams are what I stress out the most for. Other things I’ll stress about are deadlines for assignments, how busy my schedule is, or even some professors (not including MacFarlane). I do have some ways to try and manage these things that give me stress.

I think the biggest reason I get stress is because of my procrastination. Leaving everything to the last minute puts a lot of pressure and stress on my to get assignments done on time and have them done well. I can try to fix that by setting aside time to get work done. Also making sure these times are set in advance to any assignments being due. I do have a planner that I use to set up every week to help plan and organize my school work. One of my biggest stress relievers is exercise. Being in a sport or just going for a run helps me forget all of my problems and clear my head of anything bad that could have happened that day or week. It’s able to calm me down and refocus on the thing that was stressing me out. I think setting aside free time for yourself is important because is give you a break from anything that is bothering you. I know coloring can be very helpful as it is relaxing and fun to do. Being around other people can help; going out with friends will let you focus on something fun rather than what is stressing you out. From this you’re able to regain focus and calmness to work at the stressor that is causing a problem.

Week 9 First Impression

--Original published at Site Title

I find it very challenging to balance school with playing a sport which leads to me being very stressed on occasion. I’ve tried to figure out different stress management strategies and I’ve only found a few that actually help me. Often times when I’m very stressed out, I will step back and take a deep breath and then take some time to just sit and listen to music. It doesn’t really matter the genre, any type will help me get my mind off of things. I’ve also found that taking time to do simple things like read and watch movies or hang out with friends helps too. Sometimes even exercising and going on a run will help me clear my head and make me feel better. Though these strategies work for me I want to be able to prevent me from having to use them as much. I tend to procrastinate with my school work which is something I need to improve with. Something I want to start doing though is managing my time and being organized. I think that if I sit down and prioritize what work I need to get done or what tests I need to study for then I won’t have to stress about getting things done at the last minute. Having something like a checklist would help motivate me to keep up with my work. I also have heard that yoga is a very calming and relaxing thing so I’m interested in trying that to see how it helps with my stress.

Week 9 Stress

--Original published at Site Title

When I get stressed from school work or I’m in a stressful situation I often take a deep breath and map out what I need to do. The first thing I do in the beginning of the week is make a sticky note for each day and put on it the assignments or schoolwork I need to get done. Spacing the work out I need to accomplish by the weekend helps me not to feel too overwhelmed all at once. When something gets done and I get to cross it off the list I feel huge relief off my shoulders. I like to stay very organized and on top of things not only with school work but other aspects of life too. I hate when things happen unexpectedly or out of plan, like a pop quiz or an assignment a teacher throws in last minute. These are the situations in which I get most stressed. Exercise has always helps me to relieve an eventful of overwhelming day, a long run outside has always cured me. I try to schedule free time in my daily schedule as well to enjoy or do something I like, such as socializing with friends or watching a movie. One thing I found I did quite frequently last year but not so much this is to color in a coloring book. Listening to music and a nice cup of green tea help to calm me down as well. In the future, I would like to be able to cope better with the unexpected or the curve balls life throws at me. Meditation is something I have always considered and wonder how well it works. Learning different breathing strategies I think would also benefit me in a stressful situation. I am interested to know others ways of stress relieving activities or management skills that I can incorporate into my life.

Week 9 First impression post

--Original published at Em

I chose option two which is a reflection on Kelly McGonigal. McGonigal started off with a study on 30,000 Americans asking how much stress they experienced? They were also asked if they believed stress was harmful. Then the researcher checked the death rates. People who believed stress is harmful for their health had a 43% higher chance of dying. People who did not believe stress was harmful were least likely to die. 20,000 people died from stress according to McGonigal. That would mean that changing what you think about stress would make you healthier. Then McGonigal explains the research that if you rethink your biological reaction to stress as this is my body preparing me for a situation. The heart pumping fast is to get more oxygen to your brain. Then she moves on to Oxycontin explaining it is just as a stress response as your heart pumping. Oxycontin makes sure you tell people you and get that support in stressful situations. Oxycontin helps repair your heart in social situations. A person then releases more Oxycontin when people interact with people. Caring for others can counteract the stress.

I think the speaker is credible because scientifically that is sound. She is a Professor at Stanford so that also heightens her credibility. I agree with her also because physiologically there are a lot of examples where a persons mindset changes the outcome of an event. For example if you believe you cannot do something you automatically shut down or or subconsciously do not try as hard. In my life I feel this way about Chemistry I must change my mindset about it. I do not hate chemistry it is not too hard and then i can focus. I could implement this into my life by simply believing that the Adrenalin response at exam time is to help me preform at my prime. I can also manipulate Oxycontin to repair my heart as Mcgonigal suggested.

Week 9 First Impression Prompts – Stress

Hand writing on a notebook

Here are the two prompts for this week. Regardless of which prompt you choose, please use the tag “Stress.” The first impression posts will be due by the beginning of class on Monday, 10/23. The refinement posts will be due at noon on Sunday, 10/29.

Option 1:

Stress permeates American society, and college is a very stressful environment for everyone involved. Stress management is a critical component of academic success in college. Describe your current stress management strategies, assess how well they work, and discuss what other stress management activities you could realistically incorporate into your routine to help you deal with stress more effectively.

Option 2:

Stress is something all too common in college students’ lives, but what if you could change your relationship with stress? Kelly McGonigal discusses doing just that in her TED talk “Making Stress Your Friend.” Watch the video, share your reactions, comment on the speaker’s credibility, discuss how reasonable you find its message to be, and discuss how you could implement some of the ideas into your life.

I look forward to seeing what you write!

Header image: CC by Flickr user Caitlinator

Week 8 First Impression Post- Emotion

--Original published at alanaspsy105blog

For this week’s first impression post, I decided to choose option two which was about reading people’s facial expressions in order to determine how they are feeling. I thought the test would be easy and I would get all twenty of them correct with no problem. This was not the case. I only got a fourteen out of twenty; it was a lot harder than I had anticipated it would be. Some of the faces I could definitely tell apart like love and sadness, but when I looked at some of the other faces, some were a lot harder to distinguish. Some were very similar like love and flirtatious. Embarrassment and sadness also looked very similar. Overall, it was just hard to determine how the person was feeling by just looking at their facial expressions. If I would have known the context of the facial expressions and could have spoken to them, it probably would have helped determine their emotion. The test does not seem that credible to me because everyone’s facial expressions can be slightly different for the same emotion. Also, people can feel a certain emotion, but react with a different facial expression depending on the situation that they are in. The test seems like a good idea because being able to identify the emotion behind a person’s facial expressions in everyday life is very important. I just do not know if this test is the best way and most accurate way to decide whether you can correctly identify people’s emotions in everyday life.

Week 8- Emotional States

--Original published at Site Title

Its very hard for me to read emotional expressions. I can never tell when something is bothering someone or how they feel in a certain situation. It is easier for me to identify emotions of close friends and family, but for strangers I have no clue how. I did the emotions test for this assignment and surprisingly got a 13/20. I know that isn’t very high, but it was way better than I thought I would get. The test was given in the Greater Good Magazine, which usually magazines aren’t the most credible sources. The test was however said to be based off of the pioneering research of psychologists Paul Ekman and Dacher Kelther. These psychologists seem credible but not so much the source on where their results were tested. University of Berkley is a very well known and credible school who established this magazine to connect the bridge between the research community and the general public. The quiz therefore seems to be controversial as to whether it was 100% accurate but it did supply scientific explanations behind each picture of emotions.

I found that identifying when someone was happy, angry, sad, scared, or surprised was the easiest. Happiness tended to have the corners of the mouth turning upward. Anger showed a tensed face and surprised had an open jaw. Disgust and flirtatiousness were also relatively easy for me to identify. The more confusing facial expressions came with interest, compassion, pain, and contempt. I think contempt was the hardest one for me because it looked more confused than contempt in my eyes. Interest was also a very difficult one. Being able to identify emotions in facial expressions is a very good thing to pick up on. It can help you decide who needs a compliment or helping hand when down. It also can facilitate how you speak or talk with certain individuals not to offset their mood. Recognizing how an individual is feeling can help you relate to their situation better and put yourself in their shoes. Emotions help express actions of a person too. For example, knowing when my dad is angry and when he is happy will help determine what time I ask him for money.

Week 8 First Impression Prompts: Option 2

--Original published at Site Title

Taking the emotion test made me realize one thing: I suck at reading faces. I was pretty hopeless distinguishing the emotions. I could tell the difference between basic things like happy and sad but beyond that I had no idea. The hardest for me was embarrassment. I was 0 for 2 with that. It was hard to tell that apart from sadness and shame because people seem to make similar faces for those three emotions. I also had problems distinguishing between love, compassion and desire. Again, the faces all seemed similar to me. I think the test accurately reflects my ability to read emotions. The expectations for this test were definitely low to say the least and my result backed that up. That being said, I started to do a lot better towards the end after reading the explanations after every question. I was able to start taking the emotion test like an actual test and that improved my score. The information I learned from taking this test could definitely be applied in real life. Now that I have a better idea of what the emotions look like, I may be able to figure out how my friends are feeling without them having to tell me. I thought the test was pretty credible but it seemed like the faces in it were trying to clearly show one emotion. In real life, people are not going to make it that obvious so it may not be a true measurement to how good someone is at reading emotions. My suggestion to improve the test would be to add in some more subtle faces instead of ones trying to make it obvious.

Reading Faces: Social Cue’s

--Original published at Kyle's Gen Psych Blog

Earlier in my freshman year i took a test, this test was the STRENGTHS test. After finishing this test i was assessed to have Empathy as one of my STRENGTHS. After taking this new test i found myself to be moderately successful, as i scored a 17/20. It seems that the STRENGTHS test was at least somewhat accurate in its predictions of my abilities. Although i found the test to be a bit unreliable as a lot of the facial expressions can be confused for other things. I also did not appreciate the abstract concepts that they expected me to recognize such as politeness. Seriously? A majority of the time when in real life it is much easier to assess a persons emotional or psychological state based on the context of the situation.

The context of a situation is key to differentiating more complex emotions between the simpler, happy, sad, angry. Going forward in life i feel like this information would be useful whenever we are in awkward or difficult situations and this knowledge would help us better gauge the state of the situation that we are in.

First Impression: Emotion

--Original published at Site Title

Many people have told me that they can read my facial expressions like a book. You do not have to be an expert to read my facial expressions. Once it was brought to my attention, I have been trying harder not to wear my feelings on my face but it is hard to do. Although people can easily tell my emotional expressions, I on the other hand, struggle on that topic. According to the test that I took I am in the average range of being able to tell people’s emotional expression. My score was 12/20, going into the test I honestly thought I knew a lot about reading emotional expressions but I realized that is something that I need to work on. A question that crossed while taking the test was: Do people express their emotions in different ways? If so, how can we really tell what emotion is what? I could not tell the difference between being polite and being happy. If someone walks past you and smiles couldn’t they be showing happiness and politeness? I was good at telling when someone was being flirtatious because of the way she tilted her head when she smiled and the way she made eye contact. Another easy emotional expression I could detect was interest, because the person’s eyebrows were raised and their eyes were big. I decided to take the test again and got 16/20, which is above average. With practice, anyone can improve on their ability to read emotional expressions.