chapter 9 first impression post

--Original published at Marisa Psych Blog

Throughout my personal experience in school, a relationship with not only your professor but an understanding of there style of teaching is very important. Not everyone picks up information the same. Different individuals have different ways on remembering information and making in useful throughout the course their teacher is teaching them. Schools should make it more of a priority to understand their impact on a students education. Not only are they responsible for making their students understand the material being taught, but making sure it is sticking and not being forgotten. Interactions between students and teachers or educators create a system and dynamic of how students will continue to learn and their habits tying to school work. Students can’t succeed unless they are understanding the material given to them. Students performances in clad can definitely be increased grade wise if educators may more attention to detail of students personal habits. School should have meetings with students throughout the year, checking through their progress and get a full understanding of how they all learn personally. This suggestion could improve school systems as well as the education of the children attending. Performance in a class room all starts with the teacher. They lay the work out so to speak for their students, but how they interact and connect the students to the material is very important in the success of a student.

Chapter 10 First Impression prompt

--Original published at David's Blog

For this first impression prompt I decided to choose the second option which talked about the ability to read peoples emotions based on there facial expressions. Before I took the test I believed that I could read facial expressions fairly well. After taking the test I found out that I got a twelve out of twenty. The website that the test was on also let me know that was an average score and that if I wanted to I could improve my facial reading skills. I’m not to sure how credible the sites test was, some of the facial expressions were quite odd and didn’t seem right. I also showed the quiz to some friends and they also found it odd and not quite right. The most easiest emotions to tell apart would be sadness and happiness. Some of the hardest to tell apart would have been surprise and pain. I wasn’t to sure why some of them were to easy or hard but I do believe some of the easier ones were just natural instinct. This information could be used every day to help others find out what could be wrong with there friends or loved ones. I do find it interesting how well certain people can read others emotions and feelings just by looking at their face expressions. It also intrigues me how some people are not good at reading emotions at all to the point to where there almost mute to emotions. I look forward to learning how to read emotions in our later classes.

Chapter 10 First Impression Prompt-Emotion

--Original published at HuntersCollegeBlog

People communicate not only verbally, but with their facial expressions as well. I thought I was really good at reading facial expressions, but apparently I need some work.

The test that I took online showed you a picture of someone’s face, and you had to pick what emotion their face was showing. In total, I got a score of 11/20. I thought I would’ve gotten at least a 15/20, because I read people’s faces every day. A lot of the questions had the choice of 4 emotions that were very similar to each other, which also made it hard to pick which emotion it could be since they were all very similar. The distinguishing factor between the similar emotions was a slight difference in eye placement, or what the eye muscles were doing, or the positing of the lip muscles or lips themselves. Emotions like sadness, fear, and disappointment were extremely similar, so they were really hard to tell apart. Emotions like anger and frustration were sometimes hard to tell apart as well, since their facial expressions were so similar. Embarrassment, surprise, and happiness seemed to be the easiest ones to distinguish.

I find this test pretty credible, because it explained why a certain emotion was the correct answer, and it showed which parts of the face contributed to that emotion. It would label the slight tilt down of the lip, or the slight raise of the eyebrow in order to explain what emotion it was. It’s also hard if you’re not aware that the slightest lift of the lip muscles can distinguish a completely different emotion than what you may have thought it was. You could use this information in every day life in order to tell how your friends may be feeling based on their facial expression. They may not want to directly tell you how they’re feeling, but a lot of the time their face says it all. You could also use this information to be able to correctly express how you yourself are feeling if words can’t seem to express it.

Chapter 10 First Impression – Option 2

--Original published at Wolfman Productions

After going through this test and getting my score, I’m at a middle ground. I got 15 out of 20, which according to the website means “Your score means you’re better than the average at reading expressions. And research suggests that people can improve their emotion recognition skills with practice. So keep an eye out for our forthcoming empathy training tool, designed to boost your emotional intelligence”. I honestly thought I did better than that. Some of the expressions didn’t make sense due to the people they got to do the faces. This test is credible to a point, but other people see these expressions different than myself. I don’t remember which faces were harder or easier to tell apart, but I do know a least three of the ones I got wrong were hard to understand. This information is useful to a certain degree. I can tell some emotions from people because of being around these people I can understand their emotions. If I met a stranger on the street I wouldn’t know how to read them unless I talked with them for awhile. I can hopefully keep working on this and keep my skills up and running on this.

Results link: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/quizzes/ei_quiz/results/

Chapter 10 First Impression Post- Prompt 3

--Original published at Isabella's Psychology Blog

On the surface, The One I love is a love by REM is a song about a person you love and it should be a very romantic song. The first line of the song is literally “This one goes out to the one I love.” Unfortunately, the second and third lines of the song are “This one goes out to the one I’ve left behind” and “A simple prop to occupy my time.” (REM). Which most people in a relationship would be angered to be called a prop used to occupy someone’s time by their significant other. Since this means that the person saying this is using their partner and are not returning the others feelings despite being in a relationship.

Then when you look in the later verses the line “A simple prop to occupy my time is replaced by “ Another prop to occupy my time.” Which is even worse, since this implies that the person saying this treats everyone they love as a prop. This indicates that the person does not see other people as deserving respect or affection. So the person saying this is just using people without thinking of the other person’s feelings. Then they continue to do this over and over again in their relationships without remorse. Which is scary since this means that they truly do not care about the people they were in a relationship with.

The chorus of the song is not better since the chorus is the word “Fire” as another band member sings “she’s comin’ down on her own, now” in the background. I am interpreting this as the breakups are bad and end in anger from the other person since they realize that they are being used.

The song does not have a lot of lyrics since it just repeats itself over and over again so there are not a lot of lyrics to analyze. Though the song repeating itself probably means that the person the song is in the point of view is never going to change but instead continue to use their romantic partners as props. Which is sad that the person is unwilling to change their actions. Though it is also disturbing since they know that they are using their romantic partners but don’t find anything wrong with it.

Link to Lyrics: https://genius.com/Rem-the-one-i-love-lyrics

Link to the Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7oQEPfe-O8

Chapter 9 First Impression- prompt 1

--Original published at Isabella's Psychology Blog

In school I learned two things about intelligence that has stuck to me today, you need to be excited about learning and be an advocate in making sure you are learning. Since even though school is a place to learn, it doesn’t mean that it is a good is a good place to learn. I was taught this when I was in elementary school and was put in the special class for kids who struggled in school. This classroom was smaller and we had better teacher supervision. The teachers explained that we all learned differently and by being in the smaller class we could get more support. Also, the teachers were more encouraging and patient so I never felt stupid even though I knew I was behind on learning things when compared to other students. My classmates and I were encouraged to be excited about learning and to do essays and research articles about topics we liked. I felt encouraged and excited to learn new things.

So I just kept on trying to do better until I only needed some extra writing classes and had a special study hall when I was in middle school. My second year in middle school I had an extra writing class. It was filled with kids from the special classes I had in elementary school and I enjoyed the class. At the end of the year, I ended up getting almost a hundred in the class and was very happy. So you can imagine my surprise when I had to retake the same exact class, with the same exact students the next year. All of the projects and rubrics were exactly the same. The teacher even acknowledged everything was the same and it was not a mistake that I was in the class. I felt confused and sad that even though I passed the class the teacher did not feel that I was smart enough to truly advance to a different course. I talked to my Mom about this and we both talked to the principal about my development in writing. I got transferred out of the class but I felt that the school was holding me back. At the time I was scoring high in the majority of my classes and was known as being the best read student in the school but I was not considered good enough to get out of my remedial classes.

In my Freshman English class, the class was out of control and the teacher had no control of the students. So I went to the teacher and Principle to talk about half of the class being wasted by the students and they acknowledged it was a problem and decided not to fix it. Later in the year I left for a week, did two hours of work for the class and ended up being a month ahead of the class.

I feel that my experiences in my middle school extra writing class and Freshman English class were very discouraging and unproductive in teaching kids. I feel that performance in the classroom would be increased if the information in the classes were different from each other. Since if you lean the same thing in the same format a couple years in a row, the kids are going to stop paying attention since they already learned the material.

Then if the class is out of control to the point a teacher can’t even keep the classes attention for having of the class period it reduces the maximum performance in the class in half, something must be done to correct this. It could be anything from giving the teacher an air horn to having a security officer go to the class, something needs to be done Also if a student feels the need to book an appointment with the principle of the school at address a real problem and there is something that could be done to fix it, the problem should be fixed. Since when the work completed in a month of class equals two hours of work outside of class, there is a serious problem in the class performance.

Ch 10 First Impression: Emotion

--Original published at Manami PSY105blog

I heard that the communication consists of 80 percent non-verbal communication such as facial expression and gesture before. It is said that Japanese is one of the most difficult language. Our communications and the way to express feeling is difficult to understand. Because Japan has high-context culture which people communicate in ways that are implicit and used a lot of non-verbal communication. I thought I am good at recognizing facial expressions because I grew up in such high-context culture. In fact, I tend to catch the hidden message from people’s non-verbal communication and I often try to understand what people around me think in each situation without words. I think this is typical communication style and a kind of manner in Japan. However, I was disappointed about the result of the test, “Test Your Emotional Intelligence.” I got 13 out of 20 points although I expected 100 percent correct. I am also realized that I might misunderstand the actual feeling of friends and family due to my individual perspective. To be honest, this test is a half-credible and a half incredible. Because, I could not be satisfied with some answers of incorrect. For example, the facial expressions that woman looks down and points under her eye should mean sadness. However, the correct answer is embarrassment because she is touching her face. For me, pointing under the eyes describes tears and I do the same thing when I feel sad. Therefore, it may have a cultural difference between America and Japan regarding the facial expression. It was hardest for me to tell the differences between sadness, disgust and embarrassment. They all look sad for me sometimes. The easiest facial expression was happiness and surprise. They are simple and I see these facial expressions always in daily life. I will trust my experiences in Japan to read facial expressions as well as before I took the test. However, asking with the words is also important.

#emotion

Spotlight 2 – Option 2

--Original published at AlyssaM

Source 1: College Students

The first source lists 10 ways for college students to manage their stress. Several of them we discussed in class as beneficial such as, exercise, getting enough sleep, having a social support system, and taking a moment to breathe. However, there were a few the article listed that were not discussed in class. One is to eat well, or so it suggests. There is not a lot of support backing it up and simply claims it is “leading to lower threshold for stress,” yet it provides no evidence. I feel eating well would only benefit health and has nothing to do with stress. If people tried only eating better, they would not be successful in dealing with their stress because it is not dealing with the stressor in an Emotion-Focused Coping or Problem-Focused Coping method.

Secondly, the article mentions “avoiding unnatural energy boosters” such as energy drinks students are addicted to. For this they claim it deals with stress because then it doesn’t result in sleep lost. Really the issue here is the sleep not the energy drinks and they hardly provide incite as to that. This method could work, if the energy from the boosters are keeping the individual awake at night, but otherwise it may not always be the best method.

The article suggests making time for passions, even if there is a ton of work to be done. Doing something one enjoys, is a good way to de-stress and it helps most people put it from their mind. I agree that this method is a strong one in dealing with stress, although it does not eliminate the stressor because it is using the Emotion-Focused Coping to do something fun that the individual enjoys – while the stressor is right there still waiting. Generally though, this is a good method and works well taking the college student’s minds away from the work and deadlines to have a little own-self-time.

Source 2: Parents

Parents like teens stress a lot, even if they never let it show, so this article has a few suggestions as to what they can do to deal with it. One they mention seeking guidance from professionals, such as a therapist or a psychologist. This can be a good method because the psychologists are well informed on the topic and that is there job to help others with their situation. It can be a successful method, but it may not work for every parent due to not having time to fit it in, or they don’t want to get outside help.

Luckily, this article has backup suggestions in case one of the methods do not work for everyone. The second it suggests is an effective method, spending time with family and putting all other tasks aside. Having a good time with family is a good way to take the mind off, while (potentially) engaging in exercise like running around the yard, or playing a game of soccer with the dog. Plus this method helps strength the bond between those all involved in the time, regardless if it is exercise or sitting together for a meal. Being around people that care about you and you care for helps ease one’s mind.

However, as the article suggests it is important to take time for oneself as well, otherwise one could get emotionally exhausted. Every now and then even parents need to take alone time and do something they want to do like reading a book because it will refresh their mind.

The article also suggests using support systems. As discussed in class having good close friends and social groups to raise one up, is a great method. The friends can be there to be a shoulder to lean upon in to help emotionally if needed, or they may offer advice as to what to do to get rid of the stress that is hanging above the parent like a storm cloud. As we know from class and reading the studies in the textbook, it is important to have a support group because every now and then we all need a friend to tell us it is going to be okay.

Source 3: Writers

Finally, the source I chose deals with stress management for writers. I myself am a writer, so I know what methods do and don’t work for me at least. However, one of my methods to dealing with stress is writing, so that is a different story.

The article starts off by suggesting the writer sets a realistic goal. I understand how hard it can be to reach getting to a certain point by a certain day. However, I the article talks about setting goals as in pages or words written, but that can create more stress than it eliminates. Putting the bar too high can definitely add to stress, so I agree making realistic standards is a good idea, but still if it is how much content there is it can create a problem. A better suggestion would be to set a goal of how long to focus on writing each day.

Like the first article, it suggests eating nutrients to add more energy and keep the creative mind thinking. It also suggests exercise again because writers sit a lot, so they need to get up and do more sometimes. I agree these can be helpful methods in this case and are definitely beneficial.

It advises writers if they are stressed to try a different genre of writing. I disagree that this is a good method. Trying a different genre that a writer is not familiar with can create a heck of a lot more stress than initially. It is better to stick with what they know because writers can find comfort in their bubble. Save the experimenting with different genres for when one is not extremely stressed out and using writing as a way to cope.

Another it suggests is imagining the finished result, whether it is the published version, or just finished manuscript. This could be a successful method because it helps the writer remember the end goal and it could create the feeling that the “happy” place we talked about in class can.

A helpful method it suggests is to “free your mind,” which can include Mindfulness Meditation as a way to clear the mind. When it comes to writer’s block it is best not to think about it and let other thoughts wander the brain. Going for a walk or simply changing tasks can help clear the mind and then the imagination will have gotten a chance to replenish and maybe will have formed an idea in the process.

Regardless of all three sources, each method they suggest has its good points and its bad. Still though stress is like a person, it is different for each individual and there is no right way to deal with it; one must find their own methods that are the most beneficial for them.

First Impression Post-Chapter 9

--Original published at RachelsCollegeBlog

Throughout my school career there have been multiple teachers and staff that have affected my life in many ways and most of the time in a positive manner. Teachers were the ones who were fighting to make me love learning as much as they enjoyed teaching it as well as fighting for me to reach my fullest potential. My educators are the reason that I was success in not only my educational career but also in my life after high school on my own. They allowed me to build up a sense of independence and that has made me who I am today.

Though there are always some aspects of the school system that can change to help improve a student’s performance in the classroom. One thing that I would change about the school system would be the little amount of time that a student has outside of the classroom during the school day to receive extra help from the teacher if they are not understanding a concept. There were many times in high school that I was lost in a class or multiple classes and was unsure what was going on. We did have a little break in between classes for a study hall but that only lasted about 30 minutes which was not enough time to visit all of the classes that I needed help in. More time would allow the gaining a clearer understanding as well as allow students to visit more teachers so I they are not as far behind in classes

Another aspect of the school system that I would change would be the lack of freedom in classrooms. There were times in classrooms that I was silent the entire class because the teacher was continuous teaching and I felt as though the questions that I want to ask were non-intelligent and I would be made fun of for asking them. Students should not feel as though they cannot ask questions to gain clarity on topics. Classrooms should be more of a comfortable space that students feel comfortable and not judged.

Ch 9 Intelligence – Option 1

--Original published at AlyssaM

Intelligence can be defined as the information retained and then applied to the individuals life to make it better. For example, learning calculus and then going on to become an engineer. For me, classes were best taught when the teachers were fun, upbeat, joking, and making the learning enjoyable. Much of what some of those teachers taught me, I can’t recall now. So does that mean I am not intelligent? No because we all are in our special ways. I may not recall the material from the course, but I remember the life lessons they wove between the lines and those I can apply to my every day life. My favorite teacher of all, Miss. McCarthy, taught me the most of any one and she was the teacher of Publications (yearbook, and newspaper). She is always full of positivity and would always have the best advice ready for anyone that would need it. She taught me: how to be brave when traveling, she showed me she’s always there and I’ll never be alone, how to utilize my creativity regardless of the situation, not to hate discourage my sometimes crazy imaginative thoughts, how to be strong, to enjoy the sunshine, and so so so much more.

All schools need educators like her that go out of their way to teach not what the book says, but also valuable survival lessons. Educators can get creative in the way they present the required material and shape it that the students learn a valuable life lesson from it. For example, I never flew in an airplane before that instant and I have to admit I was a bit nervous. I was 16 and yes I did have a few friends on the trip with me, but not my close circle and no family was going. At that time, I never left the East Coast so I was nervous about many things, but also excited. We were seated on the plane alphabetically, which thankfully put Miss. McCarthy beside me. She could sense I was afraid, so she turned it into a joke and was telling me how it was like a roller coaster and she added sound effects. We were laughing and I relaxed. She talked to me like a mother with a child walking them through something. I really liked take off and she knew my mind was eased. From that I gathered how to be bold with traveling, especially now that I know what to expect. She understood I needed to hear everything would be fine, and provided that. Educators would benefit if they knew how to read their students without a word spoken and creatively teach them, it’s okay. From there intelligence will gradually grown within the individual and they will continue to grow from the life lessons first taught to them through their educators at school.