Media Project

--Original published at Phil's College Blog

Love is not easy. However, neither is telling someone that you do not love them anymore. This is a normal issue that many people deal with everyday, and there is something psychological that reveals why it can be problematic. A new study from psychologists from the University of Utah, Wayne State University, and the University or Toronto have found the explanation for this problem.
The issue is that the person who wants to break up is too concerned with how the other person will handle it. This will cause the individual who wants to break up to hold on to the relationship for the other person involved. These universities came to this conclusion by conducting two different studies to display their results to the public. The first study involved around 1400 participants and the second included an extra 500 from the previous 1400. Throughout the study, the participants were monitored by answering questions about their relationships. Then the participants were checked on over 10 weeks to see if they stayed with their partner. The second study was almost exactly the same however, it was used to see how many people thought of ending their relationship over the same time span. This allowed the researchers to have an in-depth look at both sides of the spectrum.
In both studies, the people that wanted the best for their ex-partner stayed longer than those who did not think about their ex-partner’s feelings. Furthermore, if the partner could see how much the other was putting into their relationship, they were inclined to stay in it longer because of the feelings for the other person.
In the end, people do break off relationships for different reasons, but it is true that partners do care about how their partner would feel if they left them. So next time you think your friend should break up with their partner, maybe you should give them time because maybe the process is already happening.

I found this article easy to summarize because it was about a topic I could understand because I had this happen to me. I was able to summarize the article easily because it did not have science specific definitions that would be hard to explain to the general public. However, I do feel that it was hard to fit in the reasons the scholarly article provides for why people could feel the way they did in the surveys and questions they answered. The answers such as the Prosocial Decision Making theory and Interdependence Theory could have been key bits of information that could have provided the reader with reasons why the participants felt the way they did. I believe that not having the space to put that type of information in hinders the piece’s affect. The reader was not able to see the complete side of the participants decision to break off their relationships because the reader could only see the results and not the explanation for them.

Furthermore, I decided to omit the same information as the original author as well because I would not have been able to conclude the article due to the space I was provided. The information that was left in my summary was just enough to get my point across. hat is all I wanted to put in my article because lay people do not want a long explanation with results, charts, and long definitions because that bores the reader. That is why I kept the information I did because it carried the story and kept the reader interested by not bogging them down with information that is not necessary.

Finally, my perspective on journalists have changed for the better because of this series. I never understood how hard it would be to keep an audience engaged and wanting to read without boring them with the unnecessary information. I never thought of how hard it would be to create a story with so much detail in the background but summarize the information into an article that makes sense in a defined length. Without doing this series, I never would have understood the editing of information required in order to release results to the public in a manner the public wants, while still keeping the integrity of the information by keeping the entire article credible with the information presented.

Links:
https://hellogiggles.com/news/why-people-stay-unhappy-relationships-study/

http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000139

Chapter 11 First Impression Prompt

--Original published at Phil's College Blog

Stress has been one of the hardest issues in society that everyone has to deal with at some point. Whether that is making sure the children are picked up from school on time, or if you have enough money to pay your bills for this month. However, for me my stress is completely focused on my daily life as a college student. I can say that my stress levels in general are coped with by different strategies.

First, I typically resort to an activity that I find exciting and fun. Which for me is to go grab my lacrosse stick and shoot lacrosse balls for about a hour. This makes me feel better when I go back to study for a exam or to write a paper because I feel accomplished. I can say to myself you accomplished something that made you better today.

Secondly, when I do not pick up my lacrosse stick I typically call my parents or close friends to help calm me down. They help to put everything into perspective and that everything will be okay as long as I put my best foot forward. This is huge for when I feel too overwhelmed to go grab my lacrosse stick because this stress reliever is accessible at anytime and anywhere from my phone. This always works for me because a calming voice makes me realize that what I have going on might seem like a lot but in reality I can handle all of my stress.

Finally, The activity I could work into my stress routine could honestly be a stress ball. I feel like this could have the same effect of playing lacrosse because I take out all my stressful energy on another object and after my energy is exhausted I feel better, or when I get home I could get a punching bag that could have the same effect but a lot faster.

Chapter 10 First Impression Prompt

--Original published at Phil's College Blog

The speaker during the Ted Talk made me think about my idea of happiness. The talk made me realize that what made me happy was completely dependent on myself. This synthetic happiness is real. At first, when I watched the video I did not believe that something such as synthetic happiness could be achieved. Synthetic happiness is when your mind makes you believe that something that you have is greater than what you do not have. Even though the item or thing in your possession is not as good as the other options. However, once the speaker explained the idea with his experiments, I understood where he was coming from because I was able to connect it to my own life. For instance, I look as at my car as being better than the options that I do not have however everyone tells me that my car is not as nice as I perceive it to be.

Secondly, I believe that the speaker is credible because he has written a book on happiness and he also is a Harvard Psychologist. The school will back any research he has done. This makes him credible because Harvard would not endorse something if they thought the information was faulty.

Thirdly, I do think this message is reasonable because I found myself placing people and items from my life into his examples. If I could not do that easily, I would not believe that the message was reasonable but since the reason is as transparent to my life and the speakers examples. I do believe firmly that his idea is truthful and realistic.

Finally, I can incorporate synthetic happiness into my life by appreciating what I have rather then what I do not. I also could use this in my relationship with my friends. I should see the value of someone even though they might not always be there. Even though they are there about 90 percent of the time. I should just focus on what they are not but what they are giving to me.

Chapter 8 First Impression

--Original published at Phil's College Blog

In high school, I went to a college prep secondary school that required me to study most nights for my classes. I had to do this because a usual week for me included 4 tests and at least 1 paper to write. However, my study habits in college have become very different. I will saw that because I am not being tested as frequently that my study habits have taken a turn for the worst. For example, some classes only have a few exams throughout the entire semester which allows me to procrastinate more than ever. I believe part of my issue is that my academic schedule became easier for me once I got to college. To study for the exams, I usually still use the same habits that I used in high school. They include studying a few days in advance for a big exam and rereading my notes and the textbook. Then once I feel comfortable, I quiz myself on the material. I usually study until I can recite the information. I feel that these habits never let me down so for that reason I never have had to change them.

Although, the only time my study habits change is when I struggle with a topic. If am struggling with a topic I usually go to someone for extra help days in advance of the exam. For instance, last semester I did not understand some of my history material so I went to my friend for help. Only after that meeting was I able to understand the material completely. If I am to lazy to go to my friend for help, I will look on YouTube for answers pertaining to my questions.

I feel that my positive habits have carried me through a tough academic career. However, my negative habit is being stubborn not asking for help. This has caused me trouble with classes that could have been easy only if I asked for help. For example, I would stare at a math problem for an hour before I went for help because I want to hold myself to a higher standard. This in turn made my entire grade suffer because of the time spent on 1 problem. I have begun to go away from that because I know how uneffective and dumb that is of me, and I have to tell myself to go ask for help instyead on being by myself working on something.

Chapter 2 First Impression

--Original published at Phil's College Blog

The Ted talk I chose to watch was Jim Fallon’s talk ” Exploring the mind of a killer” because a student from my high school turned out to be a serial killer a few years ago. His name was Cosmo DiNardo. He was a senior when I was a freshman, and the teachers at my school thought that he was a normal student. However, a few years after graduating he killed young adults from my county. Later, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and other mental diseases. I always wondered why he would do these things, and that is why I was attracted to that TED talk.

Jim Fallon’s talk included how genders influenced the likely hood of who became a serial killer. He explained how the X chromosome is the deciding factor. This is true because the X chromosome carries a gene called MAOA gene. These means that the likely hood of this gene becoming dominant will come from your mother if you are a boy. This is true because a girl has two X chromosomes. For instance, the X chromosome from your mother becomes diluted with your father causing the MAOA gene to be less dominant. This happens because there is to much serotonin in the embryo during the pregnancy so later in life serotonin becomes ineffective to the person. Jim also explained why this gene continues is because the only way the gene activates because of a traumatic event. This causes cultures to be violent because the only ay this gene becomes active is through violence causing a tinderbox of a community ready to ignite.

The thing I found the most interesting about the talk is how the gene largely only affects boys because a girl has the same gene but it is not activated because of the X chromosome of the girl’s father. I would think that the same traumatic event would still activate the gene even though a female has another X chromosome.

I do not fine the presenter trustworthy because he did not perform a experiment about the children in violent communities have a more likely chance to have MAOA activate. He described scientifically and psychologically how this could occur but he never did a study on those children and children outside of that community. That he randomly assigned and randomly sampled.

My research idea is that a safe environment away from violence will decrease the chance of violent actions by the affected individuals.

First, I would select a random group of children that have volunteered for my study from a violent community. Then I will randomly assign the children into non-violent communities, and the other randomly assigned group will be sent to a different violent community. The children’s violence will be monitored by an act of physically or emotionally hurting someone by their host families and their teachers in the perspective schools. After one year, the violent acts will be tallied, and we will see if the traumatic events in their younger childhood years still affected their behavior. However, the researcher will also see if the new environments increased or decreased the behavior of the children . The students in the violent community will always be secretly watched incase their mental health and live is put in serious danger by the host family. Both host families, in either community will give the same treatment to the subjects. Both will provide exactly what is needed to survive, but the family will give no extra affection or neglect. This will truly attest the research to the community the students live in daily.

Chapter First Impression Post

--Original published at Phil's College Blog

Research Question: Does eating breakfast affect overall mood?

I chose this research question because I also noticed different moods in the morning at my high school. Personally, I have noticed my mood change when I do not have breakfast. My mother used to say that breakfast was the most important meal of the day. I truly never understood why until I noticed that I acted differently with or without breakfast. However, my brother never ate breakfast in the morning, and he always had the same mood. With this study, I would like to figure out if this was true for people in the community and not just for me.

Hypothesis: If a person misses breakfast, then there is a decline in mood.

Procedure: To find the samples for the research, the researcher must send out a survey to ask if people wanted to be included in the study. Once the results are returned, the participants that answered “Yes” are split in half into two groups. The groups will be randomly assigned to the either Group A or B. Group A will not eat breakfast for an entire week and Group B will eat a breakfast consisted of bacon, eggs, and toast for the same week. The mood of the participants will be reported by colleagues at work and other students at the participants schools. After the first testing week, Group A and Group B will switch from eating breakfast to not eating breakfast. This will ensure that it was not the personalities of the subjects that effected the research. The mood will be calculated by the participants reaction to social interaction. The colleagues and students will write down the participants reaction in a notebook. Once the research is complete, the researchers will determine the mood of the participants. By how many smiles and friendly reactions are given throughout the week.

Introductory Post

--Original published at Phil's College Blog

I chose to take Psychology 105 because I had to find a class that fit the core requirement. However, I do have experience with psychology. I took AP Psychology my senior year of high school. I enjoyed that class and I assume that I will like this one just the same. When I think of the work psychology, I think of how the brain works and how a stimulus can affect our everyday actions in the world. The top the topics that I am interested with in the syllabus are ” How to get a Good Sleep”, “Coping with Stress”, and ” Mood Disorder & Anxiety”. I am interested with these topics because I feel that these are things that could help me with my everyday life. I also believe that learning about all of these things will allow me to function on a higher level on a day to day basis. Three topics during this class that least interest me are ” Stereotypes and Discrimination”, ” Cerebral Cortex,” and ” Chemicals and Consciousness”. I find this topics uninteresting because I feel that these topics have a lot of memorization without having a experiment or procedure that is directly involved with these topics. These topics seem to me as background information and that sometimes can become boring. One question that I want answered by the end of this class is ” Why can behavior be manipulated so easily? “.