Chapter 15 First Impression

--Original published at LivsCollegeBlog

For this weeks first impression post, I decided to go with option 1. I evaluated the 4 major types of psychotherapy, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, and humanistic, and rated them according to which I thought would be the most helpful if I were to need therapy. I started by defining each type of psychotherapy. Psychodynamic therapy views individuals as responding to unconscious forces and childhood experiences. These childhood experiences are what led to the individuals current state of being. I rated this therapy as being the least helpful because I dislike how it mainly just aims at explaining why individuals feel the way they feel, failing to actually provide ways for the individual to alleviate their feelings. Humanistic therapy attempts to reduce the inner conflicts that interfere with natural growth and development. Therapists aim to boost people’s self-fulfillment by helping them grow in self-awareness and self-acceptance. Clients should take immediate responsibility for their feelings and actions, rather than uncovering hidden causes. I rated this therapy as slightly more helpful than psychodynamic therapy, but not the most helpful. I dislike how individuals would just be talking about their feelings and realizing why they feel the way they feel, without taking actions to fix anything. Behavioral therapy applies learning principles to the elimination of unwanted behaviors. Therapists don’t look deep into the problems, they simply refer to the problems themselves as the problems. There are many therapies within behavioral therapy that aim to eliminate these unwanted problems. I rated behavioral therapy as more helpful than humanistic therapy, but still not the most helpful. I like how behavior therapy just goes straightforward with everything. “Here are your problems, let’s fix them.” The different types of therapies actually aim at fixing or getting rid of the problems. Cognitive therapy teaches new, more adaptive ways of thinking. It is based on the assumption that thoughts intervene between events and emotions. Therapists aim to change the way an individual thinks about a certain event in hopes to alleviate the way the individual is feeling. The example given in the book shows the cognitive perspective on psychological disorders. An individual loses their job and thinks that they’re worthless and it’s hopeless, leading to depression. Cognitive therapy aims to change the individual to think that losing their job was because it wasn’t a good fit and they deserve something better, leading to no depression. I rated cognitive therapy as the most helpful because it aims the change the way one thinks. Personally, I think about things more often than I act on things, so cognitive therapy would be more helpful to me than behavioral therapy. Each therapy has its benefits and disadvantages and some may work better than others for other people. It is all unique to the individual.

Psychology in the Media

--Original published at LivsCollegeBlog

A popular question among society today is whether to stay in a relationship even if it makes you unhappy. Everything that you once loved in your significant other is now what’s driving you away. You complain to your friends and only think of the negative aspects of your relationship, but for some reason you can’t leave. Why? A recent study conducted by University of Utah’s Samantha Joel and colleagues provides insight to this nature. Joel and her colleagues began by questioning the usual assumptions, which state that being single is worse than being in an unhappy relationship or that leaving an unhappy relationship would be a waste of the time and effort invested. Perhaps, then stay/leave decisions are made based on what is in the best interest for the partner. According to Joel and her colleagues, this selfless nature is due to the interdependence theory. The interdependence theory states that in any interaction, people have the choice to maximize the outcomes that benefit them but will actually transform these selfish gains to include their partner and the relationship as a whole. Joel and her colleague conducted two studies to test these propositions. In the first study, 1,281 participants provided the researchers with data that allowed them to determine whether the perception of the partner’s dependence on the relationship predicted lower breakup rates. The participants filled out questionnaires that included various questions about their partner and the relationship itself. Over the course of 10 weeks, researchers assessed the relationship status of participants, enabling them to make predictive observations. As predicted at the beginning of the study, participants that perceived their partners to be highly dependent on the relationship had low chances of breaking up. The second study dived in more closely to take a look at the specific ending process in couples who were contemplating a breakup. Participants were invited to participate in the study through ads on various social media platforms. This led to an initial 4,106 participants who were then screened to narrow it down to 500 total participants. At the beginning of the second study, 442 participants were actively considering breaking up with their partner. Over the course of two months, Joel and her colleagues once again found that the chances of a breakup were lower if the partner seemed highly dependent upon the relationship. The study conducted by Joel and her colleagues was one of the first documentation of the prosocial nature of humans. This explains why you might be in, or have stayed, in an unhappy relationship. Although the findings answer this common question, they leave several other questions unanswered such as “Is it a wise decision to stay in an unhappy relationship?” or “How long is too long to stay in an unhappy relationship?” Joel and her coauthors state that further research is needed to provide additional information to answer these questions and more. For now, Joel and her colleagues suggest that people in relationships take their partner’s feelings into account when deciding whether to leave or stay. Perhaps this sense of security within the relationship will inevitably make it stronger.

Reflection

When I was writing the summary of the Scholarly Article, I found it difficult to decide how much information was “too much” and how much was “not enough.” I wasn’t sure what details were important to include and which ones I should leave out. I felt that if I left something out, the reader would have no clue what I was talking about. Through this process of summarizing a 20+ page article, I have gained a new respect for journalists. Kudos to you journalists! I had to take into account the lingo of today’s society. So I had to leave out some of the fancy science words and put it in terms that everyone will understand. I will admit that I put this off until the last minute as usual, so going back to write this summary was…interesting, to say the least.

Pop Culture Article

Scholarly Article

Chapter 14 First Impression

--Original published at LivsCollegeBlog

For this week’s first impression post, I chose to go with option 1. I watched a video that showed a first person point of view simulation of the experiences that a person with schizophrenia has.

Before watching this video, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Usually, when someone thinks of a person with schizophrenia, they think of that person as having different personalities and expressing those different personalities at different times. A recent movie titled Split shows the main character as having and expressing different personas as though he was a different person altogether. The different people, however, knew about one another in his mind and talked to one another in his mind. I think that this movie really opened up the interpretation of what schizophrenia is like.

I had watched this video before in AP Psychology in high school. I thought it was interesting then and I think it is interesting now. It really shows how a person with schizophrenia thinks and experiences things differently than a person without schizophrenia. This difference can be seen towards the end when a woman comes in and acts drastically different than the main point of view. At the beginning of the video, everything seems to be going well, all sunshiny and bright. But once the person wakes up, it seems as though everything has been flipped upside down; it’s dark, gloomy, and malevolent. The voices in the persons head start to appear and make it seem as though everything is dangerous and that nothing is safe. During the dark and malevolent time, the voices make it seem like everything is out to get the main person such as the pizza man, the pizza itself, the coffee, the weather, etc. Everything is dangerous. While watching the video, I could notice small differences. One difference occurs with the newspaper. In the beginning, when everything is happy, the newspaper mentions a man winning the lottery. Later on, when everything is dark and malevolent, however, the newspaper mentions to “not leave the house” and to “renew prescription.” At the end of the video, the woman that enters opens up the curtains and lets light shine in. This occurrence seemingly eases the main persons mind and the voices seem to dissipate. The makers of the video make it known that this is just one possibility of how a person with schizophrenia experiences things. They state that there is not just one type of schizophrenia.

After watching the video, I now have a new insight on what a possible scenario of someone with schizophrenia is like. This experience was altogether enlightening.

Chapter 12 First Impression

--Original published at LivsCollegeBlog

For this blog post, I chose to go with option one and take two different Implicit Association Tests (IATs). The first IAT I took was the “Age IAT.” During this test, I answered some demographic questions and other questions about my political and religious beliefs. These questions had no affect on my results. The main part of the test was categorizing words associated with “Bad” and “Good” and pictures of “Old” and “Young” people. This was what determined my results. I was supposed to press the “E” on my keyboard for a certain category and the “I” on my keyboard for the other category. They sometimes switched up which categories went with which key. My results said that I have the automatic preference of Young People to Old People. This was surprising to me because I consciously thought that I didn’t have a preference at all. I thought I preferred young people just the same as I preferred old people.

The second IAT test I took was the “Weight IAT.” During this test, I answered the same demographic questions as the first test I took. Again, these questions had no affect on my results. The main part of this test was similar to that of the first test. I categorized certain words associated with “Bad” and “Good” and also categorized silhouettes of people associate with “Fat” and “Thin.” This categorization process was what determined my results. Like the first test, I also used the “E” and “I” keys on my keyboard to categorize the words and silhouettes. My results said that I have a slight automatic preference for Thin people over Fat people. This was surprising to me for the same reason as the first test. I didn’t think I had a preference at all.

Both tests were intriguing and interesting to take. IATs can help college students become more aware of how they subconsciously prefer people. This helps them make sure they don’t come out as rude when talking to someone they subconsciously don’t prefer. Even though they might think they don’t mind the person, they will display cues that they dislike the person without realizing it.

Chapter 13 First Impression

--Original published at LivsCollegeBlog

Personality: we all have one. It is rather complex and confusing and can change throughout our lifetimes. Personality tests examine the behavioral style of an individual, therefore determining the type of personality one has. Before taking the personality tests, I was unaware of the type of personality I exemplified. After taking the tests, I overall had a personality type of ISTJ. I found this to be accurate because I am more introverted than extroverted (I), I focus more on the “here and now” rather than “what could be” (S), I make decisions based on logic rather than emotion (T), and I look for things to be more structured rather than open and flexible (J).

The first personality test was from humanmetrics.com. This test broke down my results into percentages so that I could see which was more prominent in my personality. Based off these percentages, my personality is 19% introvert, 31% sensing, 44% thinking, and 38% judging. I found this test to be credible because it gave the same result as the other tests I took and also because it broke down my results into percentages.

The second test I took was from personalitytest.net. This test gave me the same result as the first test. After clicking to read more about my results, I found that I was placed in the “Trustee” category. This category says that Trustees are “Dependable pillars of strength. They make good bank examiners, auditors, accountants, and phys. ed. teachers, and boy or girl scouts! 6% of the total population.” I thought it was interesting to find out that only 6% of the population shared the same personality type as me. I found this source to be credible because it gave the same results as the first test and also because it was from a center that specializes in personality tests.

The third test was from openpsychometrics.org. This test was a form of the IPIP Big Five Personality Test. The Big Five Factors are Extroversion, Emotional Stability, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Intellect/Imagination. The results showed which percentile of each factor I was in. I scored in the 29th percentile of Extroversion, the 5th percentile of Emotional Stability, the 45th percentile of Agreeableness, the 57th percentile of Conscientiousness, and the 1st percentile of Intellect/Imagination. This test also gave descriptions of your personality based off of where you were in each factor. Because I scored rather low in Extroversion, I am considered a shut in rather than outgoing and social. I also scored low in the Emotional Stability factor so I have low emotional stability or high neuroticism or negative emotionality. I scored pretty high in agreeableness so I am considered friendly and optimistic rather than critical and aggressive. I also scored high in Conscientiousness so I careful and diligent rather than impulsive and disorganized. I scored low in Intellect/Imagination so I am considered traditional and conventional. I think this test is not that credible because it asked for the amount of friends I have on Facebook and it included a comment section from Facebook at the end of my results. The results were also supposed to contain a raw score as well as a percentile but I didn’t see a raw score anywhere. I would not advise using this website’s personality test.

The fourth personality test I took was from colorquiz.com. This one was unique compared to the other test I took. I have taken a lot of personality test, however, I have never taken a personality test like this one before so I was excited to see how it would turn out. When taking the test, I was confused how clicking on colors could determine my personality. The results from this test were also different than the other tests. This one didn’t give a specific type of personality that I had, but analyzed my traits instead. My results said I like to be in control of situations, I feel isolated form others and wish to overcome that feeling, I believe life has more to offer than what I’ve experienced so far, I quickly become an expert in anything I pursue, I am emotionally distant, I seek to be known for something I have accomplished and use my social abilities to win people over, I’m afraid others will try to hold me back from achieving what I want, and I long form the freedom to make my own decisions and plan without the criticism of others. I liked how this test analyzed my results more rather than just telling me my personality type. I do not find this source credible, however, because there are a ton of adds and it asks me to share my results to social media.

I was only asked to complete those 4 personality tests, however, I chose to do one more. In high school, I took AP Psychology and completed an array of personality test in that class as well. My favorite one was the Myers-Briggs personality test found on 16personalities.com. My results from this test were ISTJ, the same as the first two test I completed. This test places you in one of four personality types: analysts, diplomats, sentinels, or explorers. Each of these 4 personality types has 4 sublevels. I was placed in the mediator sublevel of diplomat. This website also gives a small section to read about your personality type, listing the strengths/weaknesses, career paths, other aspects of your personality, and tips for handling your personality type. I would highly recommend this personality test to anyone because not only does it list your personality type, it also accurately describes your personality and gives examples of famous people that share your personality.

Spotlight #2: option 1

--Original published at LivsCollegeBlog

Memory and studying is different from person to person. Some people can get away with less studying, while others have to put a serious amount of time and effort into studying to get the same results. In college, studying is an important part to academic life. There are different methods to go about studying. One online source is aimed at college students. It gives seven different tips to get the most out of studying in college. The first tip is “Good Notes = Good Grades.” This tip suggests that you should take notes on the key points of the lecture or textbook, without taking down too much information. This tip also states that it could be useful to record lectures and take notes from those recordings at a later date. The second tip is “Stay Organized,” which states the usefulness of using a calendar to keep track of due dates for assignments and extracurricular activities. It is important to plan out as much as you can so that you know when you will have time to study and for how long. Another part of this tip is to organize class material by using sticky notes to mark important parts of the textbook, keeping returned assignments, and making flashcards for key terms. The article also advises to “Unplug and Reconnect,” which basically means that you should limit the use of electronics to academic use rather than social media or games; at least while studying or in class. The fourth tip is “Don’t Cram.” In my opinion, this is one of the most useful points for college students. It says that by delaying studying until the last minute, you’re less likely to retain the information. Instead, try studying a little bit every day to ward off exhaustion and have a better chance at remembering what you learned. The next tip is “Don’t Over Study,” which deals with time management. It states not to study useless information and just stick to the key concepts of the subject. If you’re unsure of what information to study, contact your professor to make sure you’re studying the right information. The next tip is “Find Your Zone.” Find a spot to study that promotes focus and learning. Try to avoid places that are loud and crowded. Some people listen to music while studying, while others prefer silence or a quiet environment. If you’re not sure which environment works best for you, try different ones until you find the one that you can study the best in. The final piece of advice is to “Take a Break!” The article suggests taking a 10 minute break every hour or so, as well as taking a day or two off every week. Taking breaks helps students to stay energized and prevents over studying. Given how overwhelmed college can be, taking breaks is probably the most important tip when it comes to studying. I think all the tips included in this website are great study tips for college students.

Middle school and high school students also have to study, although it’s not necessarily as demanding as studying in college. An online sources gives 6 tips to help middle and high school students when it comes to studying. Most of the tips from this online source are similar to study tips for college students, however, they are more structured for the academic level of middle and high school students. The tips that the two sources have in common are finding the right spot to study, limiting distractions, practicing time management, and setting the mood. One tip given by this source that is different from the online source for college students is to try checklists. The article suggests that there is a form of satisfaction that comes from checking off a box after finishing an assignment. This tip is useful to make sure you don’t forget to do an assignment. I personally write down each assignment that I have to do on a post-it-note and line them up in a chain based on the due dates of the assignments and then throw away the post-it- note whenever I finish the assignment. I find this source credible because it shares the majority of its tips with the source for college students.

Parents are a group of people who don’t usually have to study, but there are some useful tips given in this article for parents to help their children form effective study habits. The first tip suggests creating a designated study space for your children. This is useful in making sure the children have the supplies they need, are organized, and are away from distractions. The article suggests letting your children make the area their own by having them decorate the area however they want. The second tip is to keep a planner, which teaches time management. The article suggests creating milestones for larger projects and tests so that the child doesn’t get overwhelmed. The parents should also make sure that their child sticks to the schedule, which can offset procrastination (which is a hard habit to break). The third tip is to take effective notes. The article lists several note taking methods that parents should be familiar with so they can determine which one works best for their child. By having the parents practice effective note taking strategies, the children will follow and begin taking notes effectively as well. The next tip is to practice for tests. The article suggests having the parents help the child practice more interactively rather than just reviewing the information. This could be done by making practice tests or using flash cards. Essay-style questions are also a great way to practice the material because it causes the child to recall the information rather than just memorizing definitions. The next tip is to avoid cramming. This tip works in conjunction with keeping a planner. The article suggests that the parent should create a study schedule so that the child can space out their studying and study different subjects rather than just sticking to one subject. This process is called interleaving and has been effective when it comes to retaining the information for multiple subjects. This tip also includes the use of taking a 15 minute break every hour or so to avoid becoming overwhelmed with information. The next tip asks parents to encourage their child to ask for help. Parents should teach their children that it is okay to ask for help and that they should ask sooner rather than later to prevent from becoming confused when it comes to studying. The final tip is to avoid distractions, which can be used in conjunction with creating a study space. Parents should make sure that the environment in which their child studies is free from distracting electronics. This tips also asks parents to encourage the child to focus on one thing at a time, because multitasking can take away from learning. The last thing mentioned in the article is to make sure that the child has healthy sleeping and eating habits in order to maximize studying and learning.

Studying is an important part of doing well in school. It can be seen how much a student cares about their learning based on whether or not they study and how much they study. Studying can be useful when it comes to retrieving information at a later time. Each student has their own approach to reviewing information. The tips and strategies given in this post and the sources below are beneficial for determining which strategy works best for an individual. Studying can be hard, but after following these tips, students can finally realize how beneficial studying can be to their academics.

Chapter 9 First Impression

--Original published at LivsCollegeBlog

Music is an important part in my life so I try to implement it into as many things as I can. Whether it’s just relaxing with friends while listening to music, or listening to music while I work out, or listening to music while I study; I find that music is everywhere I go. After reading the first impression prompt and the article from New York Times, I think that Governor Miller’s decision was a wise one. Whenever I am studying, it helps to listen to music. I find that it is better to listen to classical music as it helps my focus more than music with lyrics. It is better to stick to music that does not contain any lyrics because you’ll focus more on the lyrics of the song rather than what you are studying. Although Governor Miller’s decision was a wise one, I do not think it was executed well. Rather than giving each student a cassette tape, Mozart’s music could have been implemented in the school system itself. If students listen to Mozart while they’re learning and then again while they are studying, it’ll help them to retain the information. I also don’t think it should be limited to just Mozart but rather have it expanded to classical music as a whole. I would highly recommend listening while you study to any student. It has highly benefitted me in my entire school career.

Chapter 10 First Impression

--Original published at LivsCollegeBlog

Facial expressions are important when it comes to communicating with people, though it can be difficult for some people. Before taking the Emotional Intelligence Quiz, I thought I had a pretty good idea of how to read emotions. When I was taking the test, there were a few emotions that were a little difficult to recognize and others that I could recognize right away. I got an 18/20 of the quiz so I am pretty good at reading emotions, but I could still improve as well. The ones that stumped me the most were contempt and compassion. I think I struggle with these emotions because they aren’t as clear as other emotions such as happiness or pain or disgust. I find this Emotional Intelligence Quiz to be credible because it is from an accredited academic university. I liked how the quiz pointed out tell-tale signs of each emotion. For example, to notice someone is experiencing fear you should look for their eyebrows to be up and in, “lower eyelid contracts and upper eyelid raises slightly,” and the corners of their lips are pulled sideways causing the mouth to tighten. I also liked how the quiz compared emotions that were easily confused with each other. Continuing with my previous example, fear is often confused with surprise, however, when expressing surprise our eyes open wider than when we express fear. This quiz was super fun to take and I am happy with my results. I plan use these tips and pointers in my every day life to be able to read peoples’ emotions. This could help me better communicate with people on a daily basis.

Chapter 3 First Impression

--Original published at LivsCollegeBlog

After going through my current sleep habits, it is safe to say that they are pretty healthy, but they could also improve. At the beginning of the school year, I had a big gap between my second and third classes, so I would fit a nap in. This then caused me to be up late at night and have a hard time falling asleep. Now, I try to refrain from taking naps. I preoccupy myself with homework and getting ahead in my classes or going to the gym or hanging out with friends. Because I wake up around 7:30 every morning, I usually try to be in bed and asleep by 11:30. I use the “bedtime” mode on my phone so it notifies me around 10:30 to start unwinding and relaxing. At 11:30 it puts my phone on “Do Not Disturb” to block out notifications so I can get a good sleep. I also use the sleep mode on my Fitbit so it will also tell me to start winding down. Although I’m pretty good about getting a decent amount of sleep, I usually have to take melatonin supplements to actually fall asleep.

Going to bed at 11:30 and waking up around 7:30 seems great because I’d be getting a full 8 hours of sleep. The amount of times I actually follow that is less than ideal. Most of the time I’m up past 11:30 studying or working on assignments or just playing on my phone. I also have a bad habit of setting like 4 alarms in order to be able to hit snooze and feel good about myself.

If I were to make improvements on my sleep habits, I would try to do most of my homework throughout the day so that I wouldn’t worry about it at night. I would also try to start reading at night or doing something other than being on my phone so that my brain can rest and unwind like it’s supposed to.

I think it is important to get a good amount of sleep, but that differs for everyone. For me, I can still function on about 6 hours of sleep. On average, I’d have to say that a healthy amount of sleep for a college student is probably around 7 hours.

Drugs

--Original published at LivsCollegeBlog

Drug addiction is an epidemic that is practically everywhere. Due to it being so widespread, there are many ways to deal with it. One way is the abstinence model where the goal is to completely rid the substance from the body and eliminate the use of the drug. Another way is the harm reduction model, which aims to provide a healthier way to use drugs. The example given by Dr. MacFarlane for this model was to provide clean needles to drug users in replace of dirty needles to reduce the contraction and spread of HIV or Hepatitis.

Sadly, I have dealt with drug addiction in my family and fiends on numerous occasions. Because of this, I personally feel that the abstinence model is way better than the harm reduction model. That’s not saying that the harm reduction model is not useful or impactful at all, it just isn’t AS useful or affective than the abstinence model.

The abstinence model is probably a better choice than the harm reduction model because it is aiming to completely eliminate the use of the drug and rid the body of it. Compare this to the harm reduction model where the drug is still being used, just in a “healthier” way.

If/when a loved one in my life needs help, I will definitely recommend the abstinence model. If my family member chooses to seek help for his/her addiction, I want them to never have to go through it again; I want the toxin to be completely gone.