Monthly Archives: September 2017

First Impression Post #1

--Original published at alanaspsy105blog

For my 1st First Impression Post, I chose to watch one of the Mythbusters videos then give my response to it. The video was titled “Shockwave Jam” and answers the question of “Does weaving through traffic actually get you to your destination faster?”

While watching the video I noticed several strengths of the experiment such as leaving at the same time of day so they would be driving through the same amount of traffic. Also both of the drivers were just regular people, with equal driving experience.

After watching the video I looked at their experiment set up and noticed a few weaknesses. The speed of the cars in the lane is always changing and the lane that he couldn’t change out of may have been faster or slower than the lanes the other car was weaving in and out of. The car in that couldn’t change lanes could be stuck behind a really slow driver one day and not the next. Also, it doesn’t account of other crazy drivers on the road, if weaving in and out of the lanes is worth risking your life. This could be fixed by setting limits on how fast each of the cars can drive.


Study Hard: Week 2 First Impression Blog

--Original published at BillardnBlog

If I were to conduct a psychological study, my experiment would test the question “Does listening to music while studying allow a person to remember more of the material?”.My hypothesis is a significant difference will occur in how much information is remembered when listening to music while studying a subject. I believe there would be an increase of information able to be retained if one listens to music while studying. The brain would be able to connect what someone was studying while listening to a certain song or style of music.

For my procedure I would use ten participants; this would not include ten more people as the control who studies without music playing. All participants would be given the same material to study from for a small mini quiz on a particular subject. There would be allowed times to study over the course of a few days and the participants are able to listen to their music of choice. While the participants are taking the mini quiz, the same music or songs will be playing in order to see if it can jog their memories to remember the material. The participants would either be separated to not mix music or each individual listens to their music through headphones. These grades will then be compared to the control group who studied and took the quiz without music.


Option 2

--Original published at Site Title

I watched a Mythbusters video for this post. The video is called “Mythbusters Cell Phone Use vs. Drunk Driving.” It answers the question ,”Is talking on the phone while driving as dangerous as driving drunk?”

The Mythbusters prove that taking phone calls while driving is equally as, if not more than, dangerous as driving drunk. They execute two tests in which they talk on the phone while driving and two tests in which they drive after drinking. All of the tests are failed due to distractions. The phone calls cause the Myhtbusters to lose focus on the road while they answer the person on the other line. The alcohol causes them to miss stop signs and hit traffic cones.

The Mythbusters could have performed more tests on this subject. While the results of the four tests are conclusive, more experiments could cause them to vary and provide insight into which distraction is more dangerous. Only two people test driving while on the phone and driving while drunk. Executing the tests with multiple people could change the outcome, as one distraction may affect certain people more than others.

Though the Mythbusters run a small amount of tests in the video, they succeed in proving that driving while talking on the phone is as dangerous as driving while drunk.

 


Extra Credit

--Original published at Site Title

Taking a psychodynamic approach, we would look at Miguel’s childhood and figure out what traumatic or memorable event caused him to act the way he does now.  His parents may have been very strict when he was younger and anal about him learning certain things a certain way.  This has caused him later in life to be very hard on himself especially when he can’t live up to or meet a certain potential.  He know deals with obstacles in his life with a negative approach that he will never be good enough, making him irritable and explaining him lashing out on his roommates.

Looking at Miguel’s situation from a behavioral standpoint he may be acting this way due to his external environment stimulating certain behaviors.  The outside world may be training him to act a certain way removing or changing certain things in Miguel’s daily routine can improve his behavior.  School stress and parental influence may be the reason he is so hard on himself and struggling in school.  Something is affecting him on the outside and causing him to act irritable and affecting his sleep.  Creating a happy and positive environment for Miguel may result in different outcomes in school life and home life.

The cognitive approach is determined by looking at expectation and emotion.  How Miguel internally processes and handles the obstacles of life will reflect externally.  When things are difficult for him he loads himself with stress.  When he can’t meet his own self inflicted expectations he turns it into a negative and therefore reflects negative responses.  These negative responses involve him being mean to his friends, having sleepless nights, and going through life with the wrong mindset he’s not good enough.

A humanistic outlook would focus on Miguel feeling good about oneself and focusing on fulfilling his needs and goals.  Motivating him to be the best person he can be and analyzing why he does something in the first place. Starting from the basics of fulfilling his little goals he can work his way up the pyramid to fill the bigger goals.  He need to find and realize his own self potential first.

From a cultural aspect, Miguel may be feeling extreme pressure due to the religion he practices or the expectations of those in his community.  Cultures cope with scenarios in different ways and the way he is taught to deal with things may be too much for him.  Cultures can also have certain standards they live by some requiring high self standards as well.

From a biological approach we would look at Miguel’s genetic makeup, hormones, and nervous system.  This approach would target understanding a healthy brain and examining the mind and body.  Miguel may be going through depression which can be inherited across generations and explain why he is so down on himself lately and irritable towards his friends.  Depression can interfere with normal life and lead to fatigue, slowness, and changes in sleeping patterns.

 


Week 2 First Impression Blog

--Original published at Site Title

I watched one of the Mythbusters videos for this blog.  It explored the topic of hands free driving devices and their ability to improve driving safety.  There were a lot of good things they did to test this idea, but also quite a few things that could have been done to improve their experiment and make it a little better.

The first mini test was a driving course set up the same for both the two drivers. I thought this was a strength having the same course design meant that the level of difficulty wouldn’t vary with the driver.  However, some people generally tend to just be better at driving than others as well as better at multitasking.  The questions that were asked of each driver either through the phone or Bluetooth triggered the same part of brain, the prefrontal cortex.  The asking of the same type of question to each driver was also a strength of this study.  The downfall this experiment had was that one individual only did hands free driving and the other only did hands full driving they didn’t switch roles. Who is to know if the two men in the test have the same skills in driving or if one is naturally a little more talented at driving than the other.  Adding more than just two people to this study would help to come to a better conclusion as well.

The second test involved 30 volunteer drivers in a driving simulator created at Stanford. They were then divided into two groups those using a phone and those using Bluetooth, both groups receiving GPS instructions.  The course was monitored on a computer screen so each individual ran the same one in a controlled environment and the same car, this was a major strength for the experiment.  I think another strength for this test was also the size. More people could help the experiment to receive better results.  However, the age of the participants wasn’t specified.  I think we can all agree a 17 year old driver would have quite a different driving experience than a 40 year old driver.  Gender also wasn’t taken into account which could be a whole other topic in itself, are men better drivers than women?  The participants did not switch roles either from hands full to hands free they just completed the course using one.  Having a separate group run the simulation with the use of no devices to test the difference in performance as a control, could have also heled to see clearer results. I believe running a controlled simulated course in the same car with lets say,  30 men ranging from 35-45 years old would be a better test.  Each of the men getting a chance to do the test with no devices, with Bluetooth devices, and lastly with their hands full.


Research Methods

--Original published at Site Title

The research question I would look into is if looking at a phone before attempting to sleep really interrupts the sleeping process as a whole. There is research done pertaining to how the blue light a tablet or phone gives off affects the quality of your sleep because it alters the levels of Melatonin controlling person’s sleep cycle. This research was done by Sleep.org which was very interesting to read on, as they go into how all electronics can make your sleep worsen over time. I paid close attention to cell phone use especially because it is more personal to me; I’m very attached to my phone! I believe that if more cell phone users put their phone down two hours before going to sleep each night, they would wake up less throughout the night, and feel more rested each morning. In order to test this hypothesis, I could take ten close friends, and ask them if they would be willing to put down their phones two hours early before going to bed, and then record how their sleep was every night. I would then take ten more teens and ask them to use their phones right before bed and record any symptoms they have waking up the next morning. I would then put both sets of recordings together and compare the results.


Bonus Post: Miguel

--Original published at Site Title

Miguel has been struggling with his coursework lately. He has felt very tired in recent weeks and has found it difficult to focus on his studies. Even though he is always tired, he has trouble falling asleep at night, is irritable during the day, and picks fights with his roommates. He is a bit of a perfectionist and gets mad at himself when he makes even tiny mistakes. It’s gotten to the point where he doubts his ability to do anything right.

From a psychodynamic standpoint, Miguel appears to be very stressed. He also seems to find difficulty managing his frustration. There is a chance he has self-esteem issues, given his self-doubt. Overall, he seems to direct a great deal of anger inward.

Judging his behavior, it appears that Miguel has a difficult time holding back his feelings. Some of his frustrations become clear in the way he begins conflicts with his roommates. He cannot fall asleep because his mind never seems to feel at rest. His lack of sleep is likely a large factor in what’s making him so irritable, and in turn may be what is causing him to pick fights.

From a humanistic approach, Miguel may just be having a difficult time trying to succeed in school. He may be starting fights with his roommates because there are significant issues between them. With his studies, he may be directing his anger inwards because he feels he is not doing enough. He feels the need to succeed due to his own interests and possibly the importance of what others think. He wants to be moving forwards and is struggling with his hangup.

A cognitive approach would tell you that he may have a learning disability involving his focus. He also finds difficulty with reading other people’s emotions, and reacts strongly, starting conflicts with his roommates. As for his perfectionism, he treats most situations as if they are completely within his control, not understanding the other factors at play. He is unable to consider an objective approach to his issues, so instead he processes it as a deep personal flaw.

From neuroscience standpoint, there may be a disruption in his brain chemistry. Due to his lack of sleep, a chemical may be being produced too much or too little. Due to this pattern, his sleep patterns may be thrown off by that much consistent bad sleep. The disruption also hurts his ability to focus and process information and emotions.

There may also be a cultural factor at play. Miguel could come from an immigrant family or live in an area where he feels like a minority. People like his roommates could be treating him differently or unfairly, making him feel distant and emotionally upset. Due to this constant discomfort, he cannot sleep at night due to feeling threatened or depressed about his isolation. He also finds it difficult to learn in the same environment as the majority around him.

 


Bonus Posts

--Original published at Em

Psychodynamic this point of view would suggest that he is not aware of what is really bothering him such as an unconscious mind theory by Freud. They would suggest something such as a talking cure.

Behavioral point of view would  first only observe him. Then when focusing on observations suggest that Miguel sleep more, get along with his roommate and perhaps put less pressure on himself.

Humanistic point of view would suggest that this is just part of Miguel personal growth and freedom. He may just need some time to get through this. This is just part of his journey.

Cognitive point of view would focus on how Miguel is thinking about these issues. He is the one who is putting so much pressure on himself. Maybe he has a negative thought process. He could form a positive thought process.

Neuroscience would focus on what is going on biologically? chemically even? perhaps he has a imbalance of testosterone making him particularly aggressive and irritable? Perhaps he is depressed and cannot sleep this could cause a lack of sleep leading to these symptoms. Perhaps through medication he could feel better.

Culturally perhaps his surrounding area puts Miguel up against a lot of stress. Perhaps he is at an ivy league school and his parents told him to be at the top of the class or do not come home. Culturally simply refers to a specific area.


Week two First Impression

--Original published at Em

For this post I selected the make your own research project. As far as mental processes one topic that stood out in the syllabus was memory. Memory could be useful for studying for a test or just everyday. I really wonder the scientific reason why some random things we remember forever and other really important miscellaneous details slip my mind. How does something go from short term to long term memory? How long does it take to forget?

For this specific exercise  my research question is how long does it take for 15 words to be forgotten.  My hypothesis is the shorter amount of time the easier it will be for recall. I believe the participants will use the repetition technique to remember words. I predict that perhaps at the 30-45 second limit there may be some long term memory.

My procedure will be four groups. The setting will be a quiet classroom with only the the experimenter and the participant. First all participants will have given full consent to the experiment (18 or over).  There will be equal parts male and female ideally. They will be briefed the best possible explaining that they will be told 15 words. One group will be the control. This group will be asked to recall the words immediately after being told them, next 15, 30, 45. The other group will wait in another quiet classroom. There will be no interaction between the groups after they are tested as to not alert them to the words. The debrief will take place in the hallway.  They will be informed it was a test of memory and that they are free to access their results or withdraw them at any time. I would recruit them by volunteers. I would ask the first years as they need three hours of research time.


Miguel’s Problems extra credit

--Original published at Site Title

What Miguel is going through is something that is very common among high school students and other college students across the country and world wide. What I think is going on with Miguel in this situation is that the lack of sleep he’s getting, is affecting his mood and his ability to fall asleep at night. It would make sense that after a while of getting no sleep one could go too bed without any problems, but night after night of getting no sleep can make people feel very anxious and get angry at small things that have no meaning. I can relate to Miguel because this has happened to me. Coming from a psychodynamic perspective I think that Miguel’s mind is telling him what to do rather than himself telling him what to do. I think that Miguel lacks self confidence because he is always trying to perfect everything. What many people don’t realize is that the majority of the population lacks self confidence. From a behavioral stand point I would tell Miguel to maybe try talking to someone. Everyone has a different mental process but from a cognitive perspective I think in order to solve Miguel’s problems, I think he should maybe try talking to a counselor or someone who is struggling with the same issues.