Spotlight Blog Post 3 (option 1)

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Peer pressure is something that people of all ages face throughout their life time. I believe that peer pressure is the highest during the college years. It can be really hard at times to say “no” due to the pressure to fit in and look “cool”. For this reason I choose to look up ways to resist peer pressure for teens/college students. Some of these methods include following your heart, knowing you do not have the obligation to fulfill someone’s request, and to act cool when someone is pressuring you. There were other methods listed but these are the ones I personally believe that most college kids would agree with or think of when put in these situations. I think remembering these tips when being pressured can be successful. Deep down everyone has their ID and super-ego reminding them of the right and wrong choices and if they listen to their heart, or super-ego they will be able to make the right decisions. I also think acting cool when someone is pressuring you can be a successful task because it is easy to come up with excuses for why you cannot do something, such as “I can’t, I have a lot of homework to do”. I also found a website with ways to resist peer pressure for athletes since that is something that I can personally relate to. A lot of athletic teams operate under a “dry season” where alcohol is not permitted to be consumed throughout the duration of the season and at times this can be very difficult. The methods from this website that I find to be most successful are earning the respect of your teammates by your hard work, when you earn their respect they will also respect your values and to make friends outside the team who share common values. I know when someone on my team is working hard and is successful on the field it drives me to become a better version of myself and I would not want to give into peer pressure and drink alcohol and risk getting my team in trouble or disrupting my performance. I also think finding friends outside of the team is an easy solution to avoid peer pressure if you are uncomfortable with the activities your teammates participate in outside of practice/games. This can easily be accomplished by finding clubs with people who share the same beliefs/values, for example a Christian Athlete Group. Lastly I looked up ways to avoid peer pressure that parents can use to guide their children. Some of these methods include talking to children about how to avoid undesirable situations or people who break the rules, remind children that there is strength in numbers, and let children know that it is okay to seek an adult’s advice. I think these are all successful methods especially if they are taught at a young age. Teaching children at a young age to stay away from people who, for example smoke cigarettes, can help ensure that if put in a situation where they are offered a cigarette they will remember this and resist the temptation. Reminding children that there is strength in numbers is also a good lesson. Groups help keep each other accountable when placed into tough situations. Being able to turn to someone you trust such as adult that has been through the same things when they were younger is another key part in avoiding peer pressure.

 

https://collegelife.nl/peer-pressure/

https://www.universitysurvival.com/student-topics/avoiding-pressure-from-teammates/

http://paofdurango.com/helping-kids-avoid-peer-pressure/

Psychology in the Media Project Part III: Media Production

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Summary

After a longitudinal study, researchers have found the word “fat” holds a lot of power and negative consequences. This little word can do as much as increase the risk of young girls becoming obese later in life.

In this study, researchers followed 1213 girls that identified as black and 1166 girls that identified as white over the course of about a decade, starting at age 10 and ending at age 19. These girls were weighed at the start of the study (10) and then again at the end (19). Upon the start of the study, 58% of the participants were previously told they were “fat” by someone close to them such as a parent, sibling, friend, or teacher. The shocking results came after measuring the girls’ body mass indexes (BMI) at the end of the 10 years. The girls who were told they were “fat” before the study were found to be 1.66 times more likely to be obese at age 19 compared to those who were not told they were “fat”.

Although the parents/guardians of the participants shared information with the researchers about their income and educational background that could have contributed to the findings, the researchers found that the biggest contributor to obesity came from the girls being told they were “fat” by a family member versus and non-family member. These findings help back up a previous study done at Yale University in 2007 that found the stigmatization of overweight children can have negative consequences on both their physical and mental health. Even though there is no cause and effect between stigmatization and obesity, and at times it may not seem like it , young children do listen to what you say and will take it to heart.

http://www.msnbc.com/craig-melvin/calling-girls-fat-can-affect-their-weight

Hunger JM, Tomiyama AJ. Weight Labeling and ObesityA Longitudinal Study of Girls         Aged   10 to 19 Years. JAMA Pediatr. 2014;168(6):579–580. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2014.122

Reflection

The process of writing my own research summary was not too hard, but I think for the most part I just got lucky with the article that I chose. The news article and scholarly article are fairly short and lack a lot major detail therefore my summary could not be that extensive, however if the circumstances were flipped I think I might have struggled. Writing is not one of my strong suits and I have a lot of respect for journalists that do that for a living. Specifically I think it would be extra challenging to be a journalist who writes about research studies and experiments because they not only have to read those at times, lengthy scholarly articles, but they also have to understand what they are reading and interpret the results. That is a much more difficult task compared to us, where we were able to have access to a previously written news article in addition to the scholarly article Although my article was short I did leave out some information that I felt was rather irrelevant to the main idea of the research. Specifically, I left out the information about the states that the girls were from. I felt the need to leave this out because this was not mentioned in the scholarly article so that triggered me to believe it is either not important to the results of the research, or the writer of the news article did not have their facts straight. I also left out the little snippet from the original news article that states no data exists for adolescent boys on this topic, mostly because for me that only raised more questions and I think it is just better off if the reader is not introduced to excess information that could potentially distract from the main point. In addition, from my summary the five critical questions to look out for when reading research are not really addressed, but they were not fully answered in either of the original articles and made it difficult for myself to implement them in my writing.

Johari Window Bonus Blog Prompt

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I thought the Johari Window was an interesting assignment. I decided to send my link to my soccer team since we are together a lot and they would be able to see my personality better than anyone else. For the most part everyone that did my Johari Window picked at least one of the personality traits that I did as well, which didn’t surprise me too much because I like to think that I am a pretty readable person. As far as validity, I think that this could go either way. Since this is a face valid assessment it can be easy for one to select traits that would make them look good (or vice versa) that others may not agree with. Also, if someone does not like you they could select bad traits to make the individual look bad, or the opposite, people could just be putting nice things because they’re afraid to be honest since the owner of the window can see what they put. On the other side, I believe that this assessment can potentially be fairly valid if the right people take the window. If people are open and honest this assessment can be really eye opening to people and they can discover things about themselves that they did not know before. For me, some people selected traits such as cheerful, energetic, and brave, which are words that I would never think to describe myself as. I think it would be even more valid (and interesting) to see how the results would vary if it was a completely anonymous assessment.

Spotlight Blog Post 2 (option 3)

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I think most kids can think back and remember their days in elementary/middle school with D.A.R.E. (at my school we used a program called T.E.A.M.). The overall goal of this program is prevent drug use among children, but some would say that the end result was quite the opposite. There are several reasons why people believe that this program was ineffective.

The first reason why people believe that this program did not work is because it is counterproductive. It was found that there was a higher rate of drug use among high school students that had went through the D.A.R.E. program compared to those students who did not. What is believed to have lead to this increased rate of drug use is the exposure at such a young age. These elementary school/middle school aged kids were being taught about different drugs at a young age. As they got older and are potentially  in situations where these drugs are present, they remember these lessons and their curiosity is triggered . Due to these findings, the D.A.R.E. program lost federal funding in 1998.

Others would say this program was ineffective due to the way in which it was taught. Before reforms were made, officers would just stand in front of a class and lecture them for 45 minutes straight, with the occasional interactive simulation where a student pretends to be in a situation where drugs are being offered and has to make a decision. The program that was created as a result from the failed D.A.R.E. program is called “keepin’ it REAL”. The biggest difference between these two programs goes back to the way they are taught. Keepin’ it REAL is not aimed to be an anti-drug program, rather, it is focused on decision making skills, in hopes that kids will be more honest, safe, and responsible when stuck in difficult situations.

Although the D.A.R.E. program was not as successful as the founders hoped it would be, I still think that it is important that children are taught about these harmful substances. I can definitely see how children becoming aware of these drugs at a young age can spark their curiosity later in life, but I also think that if they are informed about what these drugs can do to them, then no one can be at fault for their decision to try them. This then brings up the question, “should similar abstinence-based programs be used in schools?” Based on the failed results of the D.A.R.E. program, most people would probably say no, they should not be used in schools. For example, if a sexual education program is implemented, and a similar pattern follows, you might see the rate of sexual activity among adolescents, STDs, and even teen pregnancies increase. Again, I think I would have to take the side that as long as they are informed about the dangers of what can come from sexual activity who can really be at fault? These children are being given the information they need to make the right decisions and I do not think that these programs can be the blame for their decision not to make the right one. That being said, I do think that abstinence-based programs should be used in schools.

Works Cited

Wolchover, N. (2012, March 27). Was D.A.R.E. Effective? Retrieved from https://www.livescience.com/33795-effective.html
Nordrum, A. (2014, September 10). The New D.A.R.E. Program-This One Works. Retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-new-d-a-r-e-program-this-one-works/
Cima, R. (2016, December 19). DARE: The Anti-Drug Program That Never Actually Worked. Retrieved from https://priceonomics.com/dare-the-anti-drug-program-that-never-actually/

Chapter 9 First Impression Prompts – Intelligence (option 2)

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I think Governor’s decision was not a good one. He was making this decision based on his personal beliefs and interests. The article references a professor from the University or Toronto, who even studies infant’s perception of music, who states that there is not enough evidence out right now to back up the claim that having infants listen to soothing music can help develop their brain connections. $105,000 is a lot of money out of the state’s budget to spend without solid evidence that this would even make an impact on the baby’s development. It is also a lot of money to spend if the cassettes will only be used when the child is a baby, which is such a short portion of their lives. I think there are other, more simple ways to help develop a child’s brain, such as reading to them every night. I also believe that the impact the music would have on the baby depends on their genes. If their parents are musically inclined then there might be a good chance that their child could be too, but on the other hand, if they are not then the baby might not reap the benefits. Personally for me, I know I get my taste in music from my mom and classical music would not be vert stimulating for me. When Governor Miller played classical music for the lawmakers and then asked them if they felt smarter I thought in my head how listening to classical would make me feel; tired and very unstimulated.

Chapter 11 First Impression Prompts – Stress (option 1)

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Stress is something that I deal with daily, especially this semester. Most of my stress comes when I think of all the things I need to do in a short amount of time. When this happens I like to make a checklist of all the things I need to do and then cross them off as they get completed. This helps me because it gives me a visual that shows I am actually getting stuff done. Another way I destress is by rewarding myself when I finish an assignment or study for a certain amount of time. The rewards usually consist of a few minutes on my phone or watching an episode of a show on Netflix. This really helps motivate me because I know if I just get my work done I will get something good out of it. My stress mainly comes down to a lack of time management. One way I can help myself not get too stressed in the first place could be working ahead of schedule. Working ahead of schedule and doing a few smaller assignments over the weekend rather than saving it all for the week to follow will allow me to spend more time on the big things that cause me the most stress, such as studying for an exam. Having more time to study for exams and feeling more prepared would definitely lower my stress levels. As cliche as it may sound, another stress relief technique I think I should consider is different breathing exercises and clear my mind. When I’m super stressed I get really overwhelmed and just want to break down, but I think if I just take a breather and let myself regroup I will be more relaxed and focused to get my work done.

Chapter 3 First Impression Prompts – Sleep (option 2)

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I think my current sleep habits right now are not awful, but I constantly feel exhausted. A lot of this I think can be attributed to how much busier and more worn down I am this year than last. This is my first year on the soccer team here and it really has been a huge adjustment from last year that I am still getting used to. It really consumes a majority of my time and is exhausting. Typically after practice/games I spend the rest of my nights doing homework or studying until 10 or 11 and then I’m ready for bed. A lot of times I even find myself falling asleep while I’m trying to do work. Typically then I would say I’m usually asleep by 12:30ish, which I think is about the same as most college students, if not earlier, but still isn’t great since I wake up at 7 AM. I feel like growing up I’ve always heard that 8 hours is the standard hours of sleep a person should get a night. I think that number is often hard to achieve with all the things I need to do in a single day, and usually average around 7 or 6 instead since I have class at 8AM everyday. To improve my sleeping habits I could try using the weekends more for getting my work for the week done rather than for relaxing. I usually just do my work throughout the week right before its due but it would definitely be more beneficial to get it done early so my weeknights are not as packed and I can go to bed earlier.

Spotlight Blog Post 1- Development

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Growing up I’ve had the privilege of having both of my parents together under one roof, however I have always had friends that grew up with divorced parents and have wondered how different my life would be if my parents were divorced. After doing some research I might have found an answer to my curiosity.

Although there are many differences from child to child and family to family, divorce can have some pretty negative effects on children. An article from American College of Pediatricians really gave me some insight on these effects ranging from emotional security to psychological maturation.  For starters, in a divorced family, the child will tend to spend less time with either parents whether its due to custodial arrangements or the fact that the mother/father may need to work more hours in order to keep up with a single income lifestyle. The lack of time being spent with parents can lead to weakened relationships between child and parent and leave the child without emotional support. This can be especially harmful depending on the age of the child. This separation can result in less language stimulation and lead to the children doing worse in school and receiving lower GPAs compared to children whose parents are still together. Divorce can also have very negative effects on a child’s physical and mental health according to an article from Marripedia. Physically, there is a substantial increase in injuries linked to divorce as well as an increased risk of asthma, or an asthma related emergency. Mentally and emotionally, children from divorced families tend to suffer from depression, anxiety, lower self-esteem, and see themselves as fault for their parent’s separation. From this article it appears that divorce can be most harmful to children between ages 12-15 as they attempt to speed up adolescence, and in that case you see early sexual activity and the abuse of drugs and alcohol. I found both of these sources to be credible since they both were .org, and not .com. They also both have a long list of references at the end of the article that come from various academic journals and studies from different universities that add to their credibility.

On the other side of things, divorce is not always that harmful long term to the children involved. An article from the Scientific American states that some of the effects of divorce such as anxiety and anger are short term and seem to disappear after the second year. A quantitative study done at the Pennsylvania State University followed children with married parents and then those who suffered through a divorce at different ages and compared their academic achievement, emotional and behavior problems, delinquency, self-concept and social relationships. The study showed very few differences between the two groups leaving the only conclusion that could be made was the majority of children handle divorce pretty well.   There is no doubt that divorce can cause difficulty in one’s life, and seem like the end of the world when it happens, but in the long run it is usually in the best interest of the family. It is not healthy for a child to grow up in an environment where the parents are constantly fighting and yelling at each other and  a child can really benefit from being in a household with one fully, well-functioning supportive parent. There are several benefits that can come from divorce as well. These benefits include children becoming more resilient and adaptable, they become more self sufficient, they develop a greater sense of empathy towards others, they are more conscientious when choosing their own spouse later in life, and they tend to learn more through quality time with their each parent individually. I found both of these sources to be credible because they both reference doctors and studies done to make their claims.

Based on my reading I’d have to say that children can in fact come through divorce without serious consequences. Divorce is such a common thing today that so many children go through and if it caused that much of an issue it would be talked about more. I also have many friends that have divorced parents, even my mom’s parents got divorced when she was a child, but they all have turned out fine and have been successful. If effects from divorce last long term, such as depression, there might be a greater cause of that and it cannot be blamed fully on the divorce.

https://www.canadianliving.com/life-and-relationships/relationships/article/5-positive-lessons-children-learn-from-divorce

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-divorce-bad-for-children/#

http://marripedia.org/effects_of_divorce_on_children_s_healthhttps://www.acpeds.org/the-impact-of-family-structure-on-the-health-of-children-effects-of-divorce

https://www.acpeds.org/the-impact-of-family-structure-on-the-health-of-children-effects-of-divorce

 

Chapter 3 (Drugs Section) First Impression Prompts (option 1)

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Although it has been legalized in some states, the use of marijuana both recreationally and medicinally is still a very controversial topic. Personally, I think both uses should be legalized, but I do see the pros and cons for both sides.

As far as pros go for the recreational use of marijuana, a lot of people use it not just for the way it makes them feel, but it helps them in other ways such as falling asleep or destressing after a hard day. This is also a very common and popular drug today and people do it whether it is legal or not so the legalization of it will only decrease the crime rate for possession of marijuana. It can also provide more jobs, such as farming, and revenue for the economy. Pros for medicinal use is plain and simple, it is used to make those that are ill feel better. I know it is used in some extreme cases, such as with cancer patients and it should be a goal of ours to make them feel as comfortable as possible during their illness.

Some negatives of the legalization of marijuana recreationally would come with the side effects and the way it impairs your brain. If it is legalized you would definitely see cases of people getting behind the wheel and putting their lives and other drivers’ lives in danger, much like when people drink and drive. A negative of the legalization of marijuana use for medicinal use could come after their illness is gone and they still continue to use this drug. I know marijuana is not an addictive drug, but this is a drug that a lot of people tend to use everyday once they get into it and it almost seems like an addiction, and then comes the danger of these people being out in the world driving or going to work high and not being able to do their job properly. In conclusion, if the day ever comes that marijuana is legalized everywhere there needs to be some rules set, for example, the amount one is allowed to purchase at once, in order to keep society safe.

Chapter 8 First Impression Prompt – Memory (option 1)

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I chose this blog post because I am really interested in and looking forward to learning what changes I can make to better my study habits. Right now I would say my study ethic is pretty poor. For most exams I do not start to crack down on the studying until about 2 days prior to the exam, which I know is a bad habit. I always just feel very overwhelmed when it comes to exams and try not to stress myself out too much.

For the most part when preparing for exams I tend to read the chapters in the textbook that I know the exam is based on. I try not to read too in depth and overwhelm myself, I skim and find the things that were emphasized by the professor during class time or in their powerpoint slides. I then go over the professor’s powerpoints if they have them posted on canvas and at the same time look over my notes as well, and depending on the class I will make flashcards with key terms and definitions on them. Lastly, if a practice exam is posted I always do that the day before because they typically mirror the real exam and I get to see how much I know or what topics I need to study more.

Specifically for our last exam the day before I read over the chapters and my notes, and did the practice exam. I definitely wish I would have studied more than just a day or two before the exam so that is definitely something I need to change for not just this next exam, but all of my exams because I follow this same pattern for all of my classes. I feel like when I wait until last minute like this I am trying to teach myself all the material the day before and it’s near impossible to remember everything.