Media Production

--Original published at Casey's Blog Site

Is the best way to learn really to make mistakes and move on? Investigators at Ohio State tested this and found that this really isn’t all that true. After several experiments they found that to really learn from your mistakes you must really have the feeling of failure.

Rather then just looking at what went wrong, for example let’s use a test, they [Ohio State investigators] suggest that for the next test you won’t try any harder if you didn’t feel the pain of failure. This is because when a person feels any negative emotion their brain will make a tag to remember this. The more failure a person feels the more memorable the tag will be. So when a person sets the same goal for a similar situation then they will have a better chance of remember the negative feelings of past experiences and since no one enjoys feeling like a failure, the person would try harder.

For people the norm when faced with failure is usually to protect themselves and make excuses as to why they may have gotten the test question wrong or made some other mistake. Which is exactly what researchers found. In their first study they had volunteers from their campus search for a blender online with specific specifications with a lower price than what the researchers had found. Although the researchers had rigged the computer to make sure the price the volunteers used wasn’t correct to make sure they would feel the sense of failure. Half of the participants were asked to focus on their feelings after being told they failed while the other half was told to focus on their thoughts.

Then they were asked to complete a similar task, looking for a gift for a friend that best suited them or find a book that best fit their college budget. Researchers predicted that those who focused more on their thoughts would put in more effort in trying to find a book best suited for their budget while those who focused on their thoughts would put the same amount of effort.

Results showed that their predictions were correct. By looking at the amount of time a participant took to complete the task it showed that those that spent more time completing the task were those that focused on their emotions while those who focused on their thoughts spent about the same time as the task before.

As stated before when a person is faced with failure usually, not always, a person makes an excuse for making the mistake and they try to protect their self-esteem. This does nothing when it comes to trying to prevent later mistakes.

So when a person tries to think and focus more on the actual feeling of failure they later on will have the same displeasure and try harder to put more effort into future situations that are similar to the original task.

So next time you don’t get the grade you want on a test or make some form of mistake try to think more about how you actually feel rather than the mistake itself and you can better prepare yourself for next time.

Reflection:

Summarizing from the original study was difficult, mainly from trying to explain what the study was about and the significance of it. To me reading the study top to bottom it makes sense to me. But trying to reword it all and have it make sense is a different story. As for being a journalist I believe I wouldn’t have the job, I feel as though I am too wordy to be a journalist. When comparing to the article I have actual paragraphs while the author for the article has quite less than paragraphs. He gets the point across clearly with less for sure. Also while I was typing the article I tried to keep in mind the potential audience that may read it, meaning any teens on up to those with PhD’s. Keeping this is mind I know that teens may not have as long of an attention span to read as much as those higher in the field, so I tried to keep the article somewhat short while also explaining one of the several experiments and its results. Also I feared if adding the other experiments and their variables as well as the researcher’s explanations to why they done this or that would have made it incredibly wordy and I wouldn’t get the right points across, or repeat the same information. Overall journalism to me is still a difficult task, I still have no desire to come close to being a journalist but I respect those who are since there are more restrictions that they have to work with than many may realize.

Link to original article: https://psychcentral.com/news/2017/09/14/owning-your-mistake-can-enhance-chances-of-future-success/125994.html

Johari Window

--Original published at Casey's Blog Site

When reading the assignment description about the Johari Window and what it looks like and as well as reading it on the website I was intrigued and terrified at the same time. I was going to slightly see into the minds of my friends and see what they think of me. I was intrigued to find out what they thought of me and if it was good or if they thought of me as quite the swell guy, and terrified to find out what they thought of me at the same time. For all I know I view myself as the exact opposite as what others see me. And once I had completed the window I found this to be somewhat true. When I had completed my part I had selected the words adaptable, mature, observant, friendly, independent and introverted. Now these are just words I feel I am most of the time, not every situation am I mature or observant or adaptable, I’m only human. Immediately after filled myself out I got my roommate to complete it, now part of me wanted to wait and get all ten of my friends to complete it before I looked at the results but curiosity had gotten the best of me and I looked at what he put and to my surprise…we didn’t have a single word that was the same…I was sure he would have thought I was at least independent. Instead he had put logical, caring, modest, giving, knowledgeable and helpful. So after seeing his answers I was even more curious what others thought of me. After asking others to complete the window I was even more surprised how many words were in the blind spot category. In the end there were only 3 words that both I and several other of my friends have agreed on, independent, friendly and introverted. I think using the Johari Window to see what your friends and even colleagues is a good way to see what others think of you, it can show you aspects of yourself that you may not realize and it may also show you aspects of yourself that you might want to change. For example for a little while now I have been trying to become less and less introverted and try to be more social in general. Overall I have learned that I am not the person I really see myself as compared to what others see.

Link to my Johari Window: http://kevan.org/johari?view=Casey%20Marshall

(Names aren’t used in case my friends didn’t want their named used)

First Impression Post 12

--Original published at Casey's Blog Site

Option 1

Out of curiosity for both tests I decided to take the self-esteem test and the alcohol test, and one or two others just to see what the results would be. At first when I saw the titles of the 7 different tests I was somewhat confused in thinking that these tests were going to be more generalized and not so specific. For example I had never really sat down and thought about whether or not mental illnesses were dangerous or if I favored medication over talk therapy. I suppose this is because I never had to deal with either in my life. So at first selecting a test to complete put the thought in my head of completing option 2 since none of the titles really applied to me. But I completed the alcohol test “Do you implicitly think alcohol is irresistible.” Frankly I don’t remember exactly the result word for word but I do know it basically said I believe it can be resistible. In going through the test though I thought the way that it was done was strange. All it had me do was press ‘i’ key or ‘e’ key depending if I remembered if the word that flashed on the screen was in the group of words that they had shown before the test started. To me it felt more like a memory test than a test to see if I thought alcohol was irresistible. After the flashing words it asked several other questions of what I thought of alcohol which is when I got the feeling that the test had actually started, but then there were at most only 5 questions that it had asked me so it didn’t seem like a very reliable result that was given. This made me skeptical to take another test, inevitably though I took the self-esteem one and to my surprise the result I had gotten was not what I was expecting. And although it was a different topic as well the test had the same process as the alcohol test, gave you a group of words to memorize then flashed words and asked if it was in the group, afterwards asked 5 questions and gave my result. So all in all I feel as though the tests are somewhat misleading or don’t give an accurate result on what is outside my conscious awareness and therefore not real useful for college students.

Spotlight 2: Year-Round Education

--Original published at Casey's Blog Site

For many decades there has been a controversy whether or not the current education system should change from having nine months of schooling and three months of summer to having shorter terms of schooling and short breaks along with them all year long. Both options have their pros and cons and both have their supporters.

An article from the Edvocate focuses on some of the cons that can come with having year-round education. They argue that having year-round education could cost more than the traditional education system. “Having empty classrooms in the summer months means less money going out to air conditioning,”(3 Reasons) which means if there was year-round schooling then schools would have to worry about paying for more air-conditioning during the summer days that students would be in school. An article from a school that is using the year-round system says that “it costs $128,000 more just in busing expenses to keep the schools operating under the year-round calendar”(Year-Round). Usually the time that students would be off for summer is the time that schools would fix anything that is needed fixed or add anything the school may need such as a new air-conditioning unit for example. Another argument suggests that younger students need the down time that summer gives for proper development, suggesting that kids should be out playing games with friends and getting fresh air. “Students can use traditional summer breaks to gain work experience, to take specialized courses or remedial tutoring… all of which shape a student’s character”(Year-Round). Taking away from this time could hurt students preparing for college, without time to work how will they be able to pay for schooling?

When it comes to year-round educational system there are some positives contrary to popular belief. “Reasons Why Year Round School Is A Good Idea,” argues several points to having a year round school system, including “easier to schedule vacation.” With more breaks for the students it is easier for parents to schedule vacation time rather than struggling to find the best time in the summer to get off and go somewhere with the children. It may also cost less as well since having little breaks would mean that there aren’t as many people to compete with to get that nice resort room at Disney World. Another point brought up is that teachers would make more working year round. “During the summer, many teachers have to take on second jobs to supplement their loss of income.” A long with several other arguments/points for pro year round schools they all mention that student’s brains won’t be drained from constantly being at school for nine months straight, same with the teachers. Having a usual summer vacation causes “children to lose a good bit of what they have learned each yeah”(Reasons).

When looking at both sides of this argument I would have to decide on our traditional way of schooling. I would go with this decision by looking back at my school district I grew up in, it really wasn’t the richest to say the least. Having a year round school system would really hurt my district when it comes to all of the expenses. Also I have been friends with many great and incredible students, with the traditional system, that are out accomplishing their goals, which shows me that our traditional school system is still credible in producing excellent students and people.

“3 Reasons Not to Adopt Year-Round Schooling.” The Edvocate, 16 Apr. 2017, http://www.theedadvocate.org/3-reasons-not-to-adopt-year-round-schooling/

“Reasons Why Year Round School Is A Good Idea-Screenflex.” Screenflex Portable Room Dividers, 21 Apr. 2017, http://www.screenflex.com/reasons-why-year-round-school-is-a-good-idea/.

“Year-Round Schools Don’t Work, so Districts Should Abandon the Idea.”DeseretNews.com, Deseret News, 30 Jan. 2011, http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700105078/Year-round-schools-dont-work-so-districts-should-abandon-the-idea.html.

Week 8 First Impression Post

--Original published at Casey's Blog Site

On the emotion test I had scored only a 10/20, and was rather displeased with this. Reason being is because usually when it comes to people around me I can figure out or get close to how a person feels. I certainly did not think I would miss as many as I did. But then I thought about the people around me, how long I have known them and how close I am to them. Figured this has some effect on how good I am at figuring out a person’s expression. In doing so since I have known a person longer or am closer to a person the better I am at telling their expression rather than just looking at a picture of someone I have never even met. This makes sense to me because when it comes to friends, family members anyone close to you, you want to make sure they are happy so you tend to pick up these signals/expressions that indicate they are not happy or they are hurting or whatever negative emotion you can think of. So looking back to the test it is clear why some expressions were confusing, for instance when love was shown, the other choices that were listed with it were compassion, flirtatiousness and comfortable. Now to me these choices are all some what similar in that when a person is in love they show compassion to their partner, they flirt with their partner and they are comfortable around/with their partner. So to me the answer wasn’t too clear when I thought about all of these things together. So in conclusion a person may not be as good as reading expressions of others that aren’t close to them rather than those who are.

Spotlight Post 1: Divorce and Children

--Original published at Casey's Blog Site

Firstly stating that my parents have divorced when I was around 8 or 9 so I may add some of my thoughts throughout the post. Divorce itself seems to be more and more common in modern day relationships. Whether or not the child is affected by the divorce depends on how the relationship was before the divorce and after the divorce. If the relationship had the parents arguing and fighting more often than not and continues afterwards then the child will be more effected than if the relationship was taken care of civilly. “The consequences of a divorce for children are mostly that they have to move to a different home and sometimes to a different school and that they will not see and be with both their parents at the same time any more.”(Effects).

The first source suggests that children really aren’t affected at all when it comes to divorce. As stated above that the only thing they have to deal with is having to move form one house to another every now and then, but still states that children will react in different ways depending on how old they may be during the divorce. For example for children who are under the age of 9, the “preschoolers”, they feel a sense of that it was their fault for the divorce (Effects). While children 9-13 years of age become more independent and feel as though they need to take care of themselves since their parents can’t (Effects). The child is impacted the most once they enter a serious relationship and has the idea that they are going to fail or the relationship won’t last.

The following source argues that how the child is affected depends on how bad the relationship was before and after the divorce. “Researchers have consistently found that high levels of parental conflict during and after a divorce are associated with poorer adjustment in children” (Lilienfeld). This source also suggests that with more fighting creates more stress and affects how they are parenting the child, pushing them away when the child needs them the most. ” Children fare better if parents can limit conflict associated with the divorce process or minimize the child’s exposure to it” (Lilienfeld). Lilienfeld lastly states that children can bounce back and get through the divorce with little or no battle scars, if parenting is done right after the divorce.

When it came to my parent’s divorce they didn’t argue in front of me so I wasn’t exposed to it but looking back I would have to agree with the first source when stating that children from 9-13 become more independent. When it all happened and my parent’s moved to separate houses I did feel the need to take care of myself and only truly rely on myself to do things. But then I have also had friends who’s parents divorced and argued before and after the divorce and now I can see the different effects of them compared to me. I do believe that the effects on a child really do depends on how the parents take care of the situation, whether they are mature about it or not. So finally my take on it is that divorce overall can affect the child negatively if the child/children aren’t cared for correctly.

Bibliography:

“Effects of Divorce on Children.” Children and Divorce: Information, Tips and Real Life Stories for Divorced Parents., http://www.children-and-divorce.com/effects-of-divorce-on-children.html.

Lilienfeld, Hal Arkowitz Scott O. “Is Divorce Bad for Children?” Scientific American, http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-divorce-bad-for-children/.

Week 7 First Impression Post

--Original published at Casey's Blog Site

Option 2:

With my schedule this semester I believe on average I get maybe 6 hours of good sleep where I’m not waking up or tossing and turning. I know when time comes for bed I am certainly ready and welcome being able to sleep but some nights I don’t always sleep the best. I don’t exactly have any real sleeping habits other than setting my alarm before I go to sleep if that is even is considered as a sleeping habit. I don’t have a set time to go to bed but for the most part I get up at the same time everyday with the exception of the weekends. I don’t believe this is a terrible unhealthy sleeping habit other than having less time for sleep on the nights that I am up later.

I feel as though it is best for a college student to have on average 8-9 hours of sleep each night for their brains to have enough time and rest from the day and process all the information that the student took in. To improve sleeping habits one might set a time to wake up and go to sleep. Also drinking a cup of water before going to bed may help as well. I have also heard/read that sleeping naked also helps with sleep since it makes it easier for the body to control it’s body temperature. Other than these few ideas I am unsure of the best ways to help improve sleeping or creating sleeping habits that will help in the long run.

First blog post

--Original published at Casey's Blog Site

Hello, my name is Casey. I am a sophomore majoring in computer science. Before this course I had taken a psychology course in high school so I knew some idea going in what was going to be gone over. The reason I am taking this course is one because the brain and how it operates interests me quite a bit. Also I needed the credits as well so I thought it was a win win situation. When I hear the word psychology I usually think about a person, I think of the nervous system, specifically the brain and brain stem. Then I also think about how a person works and the decisions they make and why they make them. As stated before one topic that will be covered that I have interest in is the brain both on a micro and macro scale. I also look forward to personality disorders/mental illnesses. I always find it intriguing to read and learn about each. What I will not be looking forward to are the topics of chemicals and consciousness, emotions and personality theories. I just genuinely don’t find these helpful/interesting to me. Taking this course I hope to answer the question of why we think the way we do.