First Impression Week #4

--Original published at Nadia's Blog

I chose the TED talk on how the brain may fix itself with help. I decided to chose this topic because I immediately was drawn to the scientific aspect of how the brain is able to work. Jocelyne Bloch began to explain how when there is damage to the human brain it most likely leads to an individual being handicap. Her as well as other doctors, have been trying to find evidence to repair the brain in a successful way. During a head trauma the brain begins to swell with pressure. The only way to decrease it is by removing a section of the brain tissue. When it was removed, they decided to study the tissue and attempt to grow new cells from that tissue, which they realized would be very difficult. Many attempts later they were able to grow new cells and soon realized they had created a new cell population that would divide slower and were able to die quicker. They created an experiment to discover if they could use these cells to help with brain repair. They first did a biopsy of the brain, then looked at the cell culture, labeled the cells they injected with colors in order to track them, and then re-implanted them in the same individual. They began testing this on monkeys, their control group was a normal monkey and they came to find that when injecting the cells into a normal monkey the cells were not needed and disappeared. They then injected the cells in the monkeys who had a lesion, and found that these cells remained, and began to mature into new neurons. Their experiment resulted in success and are now in the process of meeting the regulations for them to apply this concept on humans.

I found it interesting that they were able to track the exact cells that they had implanted into the brain by coloring them. To me this was surprising, since they are able to differentiate between millions and millions of cells. I felt that the presenter was very reliable because not only is this research in her field, but she is a very well educated neurosurgeon. I also felt that Bloch was reliable because along with her efforts in her study, they were also able to make progress and get logical and accurate results from their experiments.

Another research idea could be studying other types of brain tissues and applying the same process of studying the culture, labeling the cells and re-implanting them into the same individual, to see the affects of different cell tissues in the brain.

First Impression Post Week #3

--Original published at Nadia's Blog

In general I think that parenting is one of the most difficult tasks and is something that almost every parent would strive to do their best at. Parenting can be approached in many different ways and that is clearly acknowledged based on the different stereotypical parents like helicopter parents, tiger moms and jellyfish dads. Although each parent might approach raising their child differently, I think that ultimately they each believe that their child will grow up to be a well-rounded individual and will be successful in whatever they choose to do.

I think that the most effective way to allow your child to be happy, healthy and a productive member of society is by having an equal balance of respect, honesty and friendship. In order for a child to be happy, it is necessary for them to be in a positive environment and be able to have a good relationship with his/her parents. For parents it is important for them to be able to discuss all aspects of their child’s lives, so that there is a mutual understanding in all areas. This goes hand in hand with honesty, it is one of the most important things for a parent and their child to be honest with one another so they can each respect each other. If a child does not trust their parent, they will not be able to go to them when they need them, and ultimately it is a parent’s job to be there for their child. One of the most important aspects of raising a child in my mind is friendship. This could be easily overlooked and in many cultures this would not be something that a parent would have with their child. I think that if a child is afraid and intimidated by their parents that they would be more secretive and attempt to handle most situations on their own. Some individuals may think that by being your child’s friend that the child would be more reckless and think they could get away with more leisure. This may be true in some cases, but if there is an equal balance of friendship as well as respect and honestly, I think that the child would be aware of their boundaries, responsibilities and make wise decisions. I think that if a parent is too harsh, strict or enforces punishment on small actions the child will most likely act out more in an act of rebellion or decide to be more secretive and hide things from their parents. In order for a child to be happy and benefit society it is important for them to be raised properly with the correct help from their parents and be able to pass on the support they were given to other individuals.

Theoretical Lenses in Psychology

--Original published at Nadia's Blog

From a Psychodynamic perspective, Miguel is being affected by his unconscious mind which is what is ultimately in charge of his human behavior. Since he has an underlying issue it is causing him to behave in a certain way, which is why he is picking fights with his roommate and struggling with his coursework. He does not realize that there is an internal conflict which is why he is irritable. From a Behavioral perspective, based on observations Miguel seems to be tired since he has not been sleeping well and has had trouble falling asleep. Another observable trait would be his behavior to pick fights with his roommate which could be his way to handle his internal conflict and let out his frustrations. From a humanistic perspective, it would be noted that Miguel is a perfectionist and that he is now doubting his ability to do anything right. In order to help Miguel, the psychologist should focus on his strengths in order to build up his self-esteem and that it is ultimately his decision if he wants to grow in a positive way. From a cognitive perspective, Miguel’s ability to process information, think and solving problems would be observed. The psychologist could possibly focus on Miguel’s lack of sleep which could be causing him to be less focused and would affect his ability to process information. From a Neuroscience perspective, Miguel’s brain would be observed as well as the chemical imbalances. Since Miguel is stressed and irritable his chemical’s are imbalanced which is causing him to act out in irrational ways. In a cultural perspective Miguel could’ve been raised in a very strict family where education was the most important aspect of their lives. He also could’ve possibly been apart of a community where there was a lot of competition in academics which is causing him to be a perfectionist. Miguel’s culture and appreciation for education could be vastly different than his roommates perspective which could be a possible reason for him to pick fights with his roommate.

First Impression Post #1

--Original published at Nadia's Blog

For this weeks First Impression Post, I chose to watch the Mythbuster’s short clip that tested if talking on the phone while driving was as dangerous as driving drunk. I predicted that driving while on the phone would be dangerous but not nearly as dangerous as driving drunk. The scientists created a three part experiment in order to solve the myth. The experiment consisted of a brake test, parallel parking and a time trial. Each of the three tests were performed by a man and a women in three different states, once when they were sober, once on the phone and once while they were drunk. After experimentation the two test subjects had both passed all three trials while sober, yet failed them both when they were either on the phone or drunk. Although the tests were failed while talking on the phone and drunk, talking on the phone was found most dangerous.

Although the results seem accurate, there are a few weaknesses to this experiment. In any given experiment there should be a number of individuals to use as subjects so that there is an accurate data collection. In this experiment there were only two test subjects. In order to have a wider and more accurate set of data, there should be more test subjects. Another weakness was the fact that the experiment was only tested once. In order for the results to be more precise the scientists should’ve repeated the three tests multiple times. Lastly one of the greatest weaknesses of this experiment was that there could be a great variation in the two subjects when they were “drunk”. They did not say how much each individual had to drink, nor did they state if they were intoxicated equally. It could possibly be that the man was more sober than the women. In order for this to be more accurate they would need to measure the level of intoxication that each individual was under. On the other hand the positive aspect of this experiment was that the scientists created three different trials in order to test the driver’s ability. Another strength to this experiment was that the test subjects had to complete each task while in three different states, once sober, once on the phone and once while drunk. This made the results more accurate since each individual had the same set of instructions.

Introduction

--Original published at Nadia's Blog

I decided to take Psychology this semester because it is apart of core and it also is required for my major and my future career path. Along with those factors the class seems very interesting. I do not have any background in Psychology unlike some other individuals. When I hear the word Psychology I immediately think about the brain and how it functions as well as its behavior and compatibility with other factors. The three most interesting topics to me seem to be “How to make memories”, “Motivation” and “Theories of intelligence”. I personally seem very interested in each of these topics because they are all topics I have never been introduced to before. The least interesting to me is “Scientific Theory”, “Power of Experiments” and “How to get good sleep”. These are all topics I have previous knowledge of and have learnt about them in the past. One question I would like to have answered during this course is to know how dreaming works.