Chapter 7 First Impression

--Original published at HarrysCollegeBlog

Video Gaming as a whole can have many reasons why people are drawn to play them, whether they are to escape reality’s harshness, or just to have a fun time playing the game. Even before video games existed, violence did. Violence  has existed much before we have, and it still will. Video games, although may be a contributing factor to the rise of violence, are not necessarily the only reason. A game can be violent, and graphic, but without the factor of fun, it looses its meaning. We play video games because we find them to be fun, and plenty of people who play violent video games don’t end up committing crimes.

The Main contributing factor is how people are raised. If they are raised under bad conditions such as child abuse, alcoholic parents, then they might be more inclined to violence. These also can lead to them finding video games as a way to escape reality’s harshness, but more often than not, they become more addicted to the game, than their desire to do harm, as that desire is fulfilled by the violent game they are playing. Gaming can be cathartic, despite its violent nature, and its better to ensure a happy, safe environment with good parents than focusing on banning video games.

Chapter 2 First Impression

--Original published at HarrysCollegeBlog

Going into this assignment, I decided to choose the mind of a killer Ted talk, due to a lack of interest among the other decisions. Before going into the video, im expecting some sort of talk about justification of their actions of some sort on the killer’s part. Immediately upon going in, He talks about genes, and it surprises me that Genes could have something to do with someone deciding to be a killer. Environment and Brain damage I did expect, but inherited genes, not so much. A Normal person can be warped into a bad person by circumstance I understand well, life is cruel and unforgiving. But the MAOA Gene being passed down genetically from the Mother of all people was shocking. Here in America, we see mothers typically being very kind, gentle and caring, but this gene that is passed down from such a gentle mother being able to turn people into murderers is so ironic.

The Ted Talk itself Gave me good insights on how far we can fall, just based off of our family heritage, and the events that surround our youth. It really makes me appreciate being in such a peaceful part of the world, where this is a lot less likely. It makes me wonder if I, if given bad experiences in my youth, could’ve ended up like this, with such common use of violence to solve problems. One can only wonder at the possibility.

Chapter 1 First Impression

--Original published at HarrysCollegeBlog

As I delved into my first lessons in Psychology, I noticed some very boring sight that thought i had long gotten rid of since I finished history. More names and dates of people to remember. I went into the course expecting to learn of many new interesting things about the mind, and how we as humans like to think, and i did indeed learn new things. To my distaste though, History is something I do not excel in, and history I must know. I fully understand why it is necessary to learn of the field’s history, to understand how it evolved over time, yet I don’t care for who they are, but simply what they contributed and how it changed how people thought about psychology. I do admit, later on after all the old people and their names, when they got into the real meaty subjects such as Genetics and culture it got more interesting. Immediately after, it dropped again as we got into sub fields.

After the first review, I grew more interested once again, with hindsight bias catching my eye. with a single event’s outcome effecting how we think about it. the part about theories and how to craft them was kind of boring, as I enjoy making theories about subject and knew how to do it, especially with the over complicated explanations. I didn’t find the rest of it particularly interesting, but it shocked me to think scientists wouldn’t use any means necessary to obtain their research. I understand government regulation is a thing, but there has to be extremists out there willing to do anything it took to figure out the mysteries of psychology.

Introduction Blog Post

--Original published at HarrysCollegeBlog

My name is Harry Zhang, the second of 4 children born of Immigrants from China who successfully clawed their way up from nothing to middle class. I was frequently compared to my older sibling on how much better she was than me, leading to my quiet nature, to escape the burden of others’ criticism. If im quiet and not talkative, that is why. not because I hate you.

Why Choose This class?

My background as an aspiring E-sports player for Super Smash Bros. is the main reason. my inability to keep my cool during a tournament has led me to many losses. These looses are not always the fault of my character, but more so myself. In order to understand my own mindset during my play, I decided to study psychology so I can understand whats making me fail during these tournament matches, and how I can solve the problem.

Background?

I am currently inexperienced in psychology, in all aspects, although I do enjoy talking about theories and philosophy on occasion. The Theories I enjoy must be related to things I enjoy, like Video Game lore, Anime Lore, or Mythology/history Lore.

What do I think of when I hear Psychology?

The study of the Mind, of morality, and of why we perform certain actions. When I hear “Psychology” these topics come to mind. Humans are complex creatures of beautifully disgusting actions.

The most Interesting 3 Topics?

The Three most interesting topics in the syllabus are Classical Conditioning, Coping with stress, and Observational learning. These topics seem to be the three most useful to my play as an E-sports player in Super Smash Bros. Conditioning is a topic that relates to the way I trick my opponent. by conditioning them to think I prefer one option they come to expect it, thus making me more able to counter them as i’m countering their counter. Stress is a big part of E-sports, as you’re constantly under pressure to perform well, play the game, remember all the mechanics of the game, the characters, the stage, etc. being able to cope with this stress is a main reason why I took this course. and Finally, we have observational learning. by observing the  best players play, I intend to figure out their mindsets on why they chose these options, and why they play like they did.