Spotlight Blog #2 – Memory

--Original published at Wolfman Productions

When studying for tests/exams students tend to either cram the night before, study over a set period of time before the day comes, or don’t study anything at all. Students can fall into any of these choices and that all depends on their study habits/skills.

When it comes to college students may sites offer different advice for studying habits. The site I chose to look at is ExploreHealthCareers.org to see what tips they offer. The one I took the most to heart is there “Take a Break” section. They say it’s good to take a 10 min break after an hour of studying. They also say to limit the use of computers and social media and we tend to get distracted by these things. I can see this helping out, but some people are better off studying for hours with little to no breaks because they retain the information better that way.

High school students can have the same problems as others when it comes to studying, but they might be limited on their time if they’re dedicated to sports or other after-school activities. The source I found for these tips comes from LiveAbout.com. The one point that caught my eye was the very first one they list. They say to study alone if you don’t have friends that are super-serious about studying, but some people are able to study better in a group even if they get sidetracked. I can see the benefits of studying alone because you can focus into what you need to learn more and spread your time across the entire session. I still think studying with a group is better because you can ask questions if you don’t fully understand notes or a certain term.

Parents might have issues relating to their children on how to study their school work. The site I chose to look at is Edmentum.com which is a blog site that offers other information for parents and educators. The one point I picked out of these is “Teach your child to ask for help”. If parents don’t tell their children to ask for help when they need it, then they won’t be able to advance further with their studies because they don’t fully understand the topics they cover. I remember when I was younger, I was told to ask for help if I ever needed it for my assignments and other things I needed help with. I fully encourage this tip for parents everywhere to use on their children.

These sites are just a small selection of the ones I found searching. If you don’t like the tips in these sites then a good google search will lead you other sites with tips that you may find more to your liking. Hope these tips are able to help someone out with there study habits and I know some of these tips can help me out with studying my material.

Chapter 13 First Impression

--Original published at Wolfman Productions

I believe personality test can be helpful to define what type you are, but you can’t always rely on the results. The test from humanmetrics.com gave me a personality type of ESFP. It tells me I have more ability in my sensing than other attributes. This means I sense things more than using my intuition for my decisions. The other description of this type match me pretty well seeing that I enjoy being around people and making them feel good.

The test from personalitytest.net gave me the typing of INFP. The first two letters don’t match in this description, but the last two do surprisingly. This site states that people with the INFP label are “Idealistic, self-sacrificing, and somewhat cool or reserved. They are very family and home oriented, and have a high capacity for caring. High sense of honor derived from internal values. 1% of the total population.” I can agree with some of this statement. I do see myself as self-sacrificing and also have a high capacity for caring. Those traits hit me because I will go out of my way to make sure others are feeling the best they can be and that means putting them over my own well-being.

The test from openpsychometrics.org gave me a weird result that I’m not sure what to make of it. They give you five factors with a score surrounding them. The biggest factors I got where extroversion & agreeableness, and I agree with these finding. I do tend to go and talk to strangers I find friendly and can hold conversation with. If I don’t like the person I’m talking to, I politely thank them for their time and walk away hoping to not see them again. I can also agree with most people around me even if I don’t always agree with their stances. I respect their choices even if they don’t match up with mine.

The last test came from colorquiz.com and gave me results I do agree with. I agree with this point they make ” Looking for friendly, pleasant relationships with others, who will further develop his intellect.” I’m always on the look-out for new friends who will test my knowledge on subjects I may not be the smartest in and vice versa. This point hits me hard as well, “Feels as if too many walls and obstacles are standing in his way and that he is being forced to make compromises. He needs to put his own needs on hold for the time being.” I feel like I put my needs first and sometimes it makes my needs seem less in comparison, but I know when to stop and worry about my own needs.

These tests do help get a lock on your traits, but I don’t fully trust them. It’s true they matched a lot of my personality traits, but there where points that have no connection to me and lessen how I use my actual traits. The best thing I can say is take these tests with a grain of salt and make sure to find yourself by learning and experiencing things around you rather than rely on the same old things you’ve seen/done for most of your life.

Chapter 10 First Impression – Option 2

--Original published at Wolfman Productions

After going through this test and getting my score, I’m at a middle ground. I got 15 out of 20, which according to the website means “Your score means you’re better than the average at reading expressions. And research suggests that people can improve their emotion recognition skills with practice. So keep an eye out for our forthcoming empathy training tool, designed to boost your emotional intelligence”. I honestly thought I did better than that. Some of the expressions didn’t make sense due to the people they got to do the faces. This test is credible to a point, but other people see these expressions different than myself. I don’t remember which faces were harder or easier to tell apart, but I do know a least three of the ones I got wrong were hard to understand. This information is useful to a certain degree. I can tell some emotions from people because of being around these people I can understand their emotions. If I met a stranger on the street I wouldn’t know how to read them unless I talked with them for awhile. I can hopefully keep working on this and keep my skills up and running on this.

Results link: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/quizzes/ei_quiz/results/

Chapter 11 First Impression Prompt – Option 1

--Original published at Wolfman Productions

No matter how you slice it, everyone has stress within them. Some may break under it easier than others, but everyone still has it. Now along with everyone out there, I have to cope with stress, but I may have different ways to de-stress myself.

The ways I de-stress myself is by playing video games or watching a YouTube video or movie/TV show. When my stress reaches a certain level, I need to step away from reality and play a video game that lets me escape. This is how I got hooked on RPGs because you get lost in the world of the games due to the ways you can change your character and the story around you. Watching the YouTube videos or a movie/TV show also helps me escape, but it also lets me learn new things I may not have know before. Mr favorite show to watch when stressed out is Mythbusters. No matter how many times I’ve seen an episode or what the episode is, I will always watch because I love seeing these people solve these myths while also expressing their background of special effects. They always manage to make me smile and laugh even if I’ve heard the joke before. It’s the best show to veg out on because you can still learn something.

Granted these only work for me if my stress level is low to medium level. If my stress reaches high then these methods will barely work for me because of how I can’t pull my mind away from what’s stressing me out. When my stress levels reach its high, I just have to sit down and focus on what it is that’s stressing me out. If I keep pushing it away, it’ll keep adding up until a huge mass of stress just hits me all at once. This is where it’s a good idea to try out other ways to reduce the stress levels.

Other things I can try to do is read a book I’ve been trying to finish, go on a nice walk in the sun, sit down with friends and chat with them or do an activity, and do some meditation. The ones I’d most likely try would be reading a book and talking among friends. At home I have a stack of five books I’ve been trying to get through for years, I just haven’t had the time to. If I need to lower my stress I’ll try to read a book for an hour or two to see if that helps. I’d also like to talk to my friends because they can also be dealing with this stress and want to talk to others about it. If I would incorporate these two methods to my de-stress list, then most stress that occurs during a week would disappear and I can focus on my classwork.

Chapter 3: Sleep Option 2

--Original published at Wolfman Productions

Many college students think they get enough sleep, but being one I can say that we end up not getting enough. When put on a time schedule some students can adjust and get more sleep than others, but give some people the freedom and they will stay up till 6 am the next day doing different things like studying, doing homework, playing video games, watching Netflix/YouTube or doing other things they enjoy. This affects how those students will perform in class and other tasks they do the following day. They could fall asleep during class or just space out during and not paying attention to the lecture.

Looking at my own sleeping habits, I know I can improve on it. I spend time in the evening doing some homework I know I can finish in an hour or so. Depending on the assignment it might take hours over multiple days our many hours in an evening. I’ve completed some assignments in the earlier morning and still wake up for my classes the next day. I feel fine for the first few hours, but after some time I start to get drowsy. I need to fall asleep before 1 am so I can function without needing to drink soda or get up for a stretch during class. If I can improve this and make sure I stick to it, I’ll feel better and be more productive during the day and sleep better at night.

Chapter 3 First Impression: Drugs

--Original published at Wolfman Productions

When thinking about certain drugs and how many stories you hear about the misuse of them, many often think that most if not all drugs are nothing but bad. There are drugs out there that if misused constantly, then many will think all drugs are misused and fear for their families safety. When you take the time and look at the facts floating around at there, you see than there are many drugs that help more than hurt the consumers.

One drug I see come up as a drug that should be used more often is Marijuana. Many claim that if more states get access to this drug, then things would be easier for patients suffering from extreme pain and the standard civilian. I do see the positives for marijuana and how they can and are helpful to patients who are suffering from extreme pains from surgery or a symptom they have no control over. I’m a bit more worried about allowing marijuana being available to the general public because you never know what the dealers are doing to the drugs.

The people who end up selling this drug could mix is with something else that could hurt the people using it. The people who use it recreationally may not notice anything wrong with it and keep using it without knowing the danger they might be in. This can cause trouble for both the market and how other look at the usage of this drug. The market could be affected by the lesser amount bought because of the issues of merchants mixing other drugs into the marijuana. The people in charge of distributing the drugs would need to take better care to make sure that the people they are sending it to are trustworthy. Others who notice this would also change their minds on the subject because of it. They would take a look and make sure they still support the use of it recreationally. Once they figure out how they feel about this, they can make their choice to support this longer or give it no more support.

Hopefully more people and more people take time to look for information to form their own opinion and not let other sway their thoughts. As long as we can do this, then we can be more proactive with this and make sure it’s how we want it to go.

Spotlight Blog 1 – Divorce Effects

--Original published at Wolfman Productions

“Many couples who know their marriage is over will actually put off a divorce because they believe that it is better for the children if they stay together.” (Leamon). After reading over this statement and thinking about it, it makes sense that a couple could do this, but in many cases it’s the exact opposite. Divorces are mostly seen as negative events, but I believe that these events are positive more than negative.

Divorce can be seen as positive or negative depending on the information you’re seeking. A negative effect that takes place is that the children spend less time with each parent. No matter how the couples decided the time their child spends with each of them, the child is still losing time with both parents. Sam Bone from divorcemag.com explains this point by saying “Every minute that your spouse spends with your child is a minute that you will not get to spend with your child. Whether we like it or not, it is a zero-sum game. Regardless of whether you receive every other weekend, week-on week-off, your spouse receives every other weekend, or whatever arrangement you may have, it will be less than you had before.” (Bone). Sam also brings in a positive point about his by saying that if one spouse get their child during the weekend you don’t have them, that spouse can take that time to recharge their batteries and collect their thoughts so they’re ready the next time they have their child. Both parents could also come together for some events like holidays and birthdays so the child can see both parents together.

The site divorcemag.com gives people who need support with divorce. You can look for lawyers, mediators, and other information the couples might need who are going through this dilemma. Sam is also a creditable source for this information because he’s a lawyer who practices in the areas of divorce, custody, and criminal defense and he was also selected as one of the top 40 lawyers under 40 by the National Trial Lawyers Association in 2015. He’s has experience with this department and should be seen as creditable with this information.

The children could also feel insecure about certain things because of the divorce. Reinier Bloem from children-and-divorce.com states that “They do not understand the divorce very well. All they know is that everything will be different.” (Bloem). The children could also have many questions about this like will I be able to see my friends, did I contribute to the divorce, and will I live with my brothers and sisters in the future or will they live with the other parent? These could make the children gain more stress because like Bloem said, the children don’t fully understand the divorce and could make it seem like they caused the divorce. Aside from bring up the negative effects, Bloem also lists ways to lessen the blow the children could take. If the parents present a clear picture to the child of their future and do it proper and quick, the child could calm down and understand the situation better.

The site children-and-divorce.com can be used as a good source for information. It give the user of the site information like divorce statistics, explaining joint and child custody, and going into the psychology of the entire matter.

There are still more questions that parents who go through divorce and don’t have an idea what’s going to happen. Neil Farber from psychologytoday.com lists questions that parents ask about divorce, but the one I want to look at is “Is my child going to go through this alone? How common is divorce for children?” (Farber). The answer that Farber has to this question is as follows, “It is estimated that between 30-50% of children will experience parental divorce before they turn 18. So, it is likely that your child will know many children who either have gone, or are going through, a similar situation.” This is something to think about if you’re a parent who knows a child that’s going through this, or a parent who is going through divorce and want to makes sure their child understands what’s happening. When the question asks if their child has to go through this alone, Farber’s article answers this question, but Shawn Leamon from divorceandyourmoney.com offers more insight to this answer. Leamon says that divorces can lead to better relationships for the parents. Leamon says “Once you have released yourself from the confines of an unhappy marriage, you open yourself up to the possibility for a better mate.” (Leamon) This mainly talks about the parents, but the child can also make a stronger connection to the new parent their father/mother ends up finding. Leamon brings up a great point of how the children can see how making a new relationship is better after a divorce. He states ” Your children watch and learn from the decisions you make. They will see how ending a bad relationship and finding one that is healthier and better for you is worth it in the long run.” (Leamon) This is a great lesson to learn for the children. If they can see how the relationship isn’t right for them and can leave it before it gets worse, then they can improve their life by finding a new partner.

Psychologytoday.com offers a service that finds a therapist to help you with any issues that you need helped with. The author, Neil Farber, is creditable because he has BS degree with honors in Psychology and completed dual Doctorate degrees in Research and Medicine. Farber is also a certified life coach, personal trainer and hypnotherapist. Shawn Leamon is the host of the “Divorce and Your Money Podcast and has a MBA while being a part of the CDFA. The site divorceandyourmoney.com gives the user different things to ponder regarding the topic of divorce. The podcast is where to find the most information, but you can look through the blog posts to find the full transcripts of each episode.

With the information present, I can see that divorce can have negative effects on children, but there are also positive effects as well. The children may face stress and struggle with questions regarding the divorce itself, but with help from the parents these worries can lessen and the child can understand why all this happened and won’t end up blaming themselves for the reason their parents separated. With some couples these problems may not appear, but they still need to make sure their children understand why these events happened and to make sure they aren’t to blame for it all. With all this the children will be able to learn from this and make their own life better because of it.

Sources

Bloem, Reinier. “Children Negative Effects of Divorce.” Children and Divorce: Information, Tips and Real Life Stories for Divorced Parents., 2018, http://www.children-and-divorce.com/children-negative-effects-of-divorce.html.

Bone, Sam. “3 Negative Effects Divorce Can Have on Children.” Divorce Magazine, 18 Dec. 2017, http://www.divorcemag.com/articles/3-negative-effects-divorce-can-have-on-children/.

Farber , Neil. “Enhancing Positive Outcomes for Children of Divorce.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 30 Mar. 2018, http://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-blame-game/201803/enhancing-positive-outcomes-children-divorce.

Leamon, Shawn. “Potential Positive Effects of Divorce on Children (It May Not All Be Bad News…).” Divorce and Your Money, Divorce and Your Money, 26 Nov. 2017, divorceandyourmoney.com/blogs/positive-effects-of-divorce-on-children/.

PSY 105C Introduction

--Original published at Wolfman Productions

download For my intro to psychology class at my college, I was asked to make an introductory post about the course.

I chose this course because I need the class for credits and my core requirements for my major.

I have no background in psychology.

When I hear the word “psychology” it makes me think of psychiatrist.

Three topics that interesting to me are How to Make Memories, How to Improve Memories, and Why do we Forget? These interest me because my memory as it is now is terrible when it comes to certain subjects. The three topics I’m least interested in are The Brain: Micro & Macro Level and Theories of Intelligence. These don’t interest me because the topics themselves don’t sound all that captivating.

I can’t think of any questions about psychology I want answered by the end of class.