--Original published at Tiffany'sCollegeBlog
Author Archives: collegeblogtiffanyhofmann
Memory
--Original published at Tiffany'sCollegeBlog
When it comes to studying, for me at least, it’s extremely different and sometimes difficult. It truly depends on the subject that I’m studying for. At school I have upwards of 14 classes while during the summer, I only have 2. Granted the two summer classes are way more than my actual classes at school, studying for them makes it way harder. At school, I have 13 classes this semester. While most majors include reading and wiring essays and books, my major involves clinical studies and practicing an exuberant amount every day. I have some classes that do require me to take notes and study like the “normal” student but most of them require me to practice in one way more than another. For my typical “normal” student classes, I take notes and use notecards like they are going out of style. On those, I typically put vocabulary that I need to know and dates for history or something. I also put my lecture notes in with my personal notes. Most of the time I have my class notes and then before the next class, I write in my lecture notes again. When I typically take lecture notes, I put them on a separate sheet of paper and then copy them in so that I’m seeing them twice. Typically, with repetition (hence the notecards) I can remember a lot more than not using them. With my other classes, I have to do a lot of practice, mentally and physically. I have classes like theory, aural skills, symphonic band, lessons and orchestra where I have to physically practice my oboe, bassoon, piano and guitar for a long period of the day. It is a requirement for the FAPA department for all music majors to practice their primary instrument for at least 1 1/2 hours a day and 30 minutes for each instrument beyond that that we play during the school year. Most of my practicing is done that way so for homework sometimes it can be very fun and other times it’s hard to get the whole time in. Our other homework has to do with multiple problems of theory and aural skills so sometimes we have multiple problems and other times we have to write music or listen to it and dictate it. So not all the time can I necessarily have any study habits because I don’t have to study much for my classes. Exams and quizzes and playing tests are definitely more different. We have to prepare by reviewing material, multiple practice problems etc. It’s all very different. There isn’t much reading and notes that we have to take besides maybe notes that could help us improve.
For summer classes however, it’s a lot different than at school. I’m reading way more than I normally do, I have a lot more notecards, and I have more lectures than I do at school. I have this class and then my history class for my other minor and that class isn’t too bad as much as this one, having to do all the readings and lectures etc. My history class I have multiple books to read and movies to watch for quizzes and discussion boards and even the midterm. I have more notes and more studying in order to keep up. A lot of times I’m up till 2 or 3 am and then I get up at 9am roughly and get started again. An issue or two that I do find with studying is that I get very distracted easily and part of that is probably ADD and then the other part of that is just excessive noise. I have some headphones that I wear and I listen to “classical for studying” on Pandora every once in a while to have some constant noise. I have figured out that in order to listen to music, I have to listen to music that isn’t my own. For example, sometimes I go to Panera to study or read and I am able to focus there because they have their own music playing on the speakers not my own like country/pop music in my ears.
I think with my own study habits sometimes noise gets in the way, my phone also can be in the way and not having a time schedule or a plan of what I need to accomplish gets in the way. All of those can make it very difficult for me to divide an conquer what needs to be done in what order. I definitely know that my notecards work. One other thing that I do is put them on a ring so that I don’t lose any but it’s also easier to keep track of where you are. Another thing that doesn’t help with studying is my comprehension skill. Not all the time do I understand what I’m reading and understand it so sometimes I do have to re-read so that I get it. I also read slow so that doesn’t exactly help but when I do, I can understand what I’m doing. When I was studying for the first exam, I had my two sets of notecards and my notes from the chapters and the lectures. I went over them multiple times a few days before and then right before the test and I was able to do well besides the lack of time for the last few questions. For the next exam, I will have to start earlier reviewing the material so that I can do well and go over everything instead of missing some things. There are way more chapters and vocabulary that we need to know so reviewing multiple times will help and for a long period of time helps as well. I will also continue to have the notes that I take and the notes from the lectures.
Learning
--Original published at Tiffany'sCollegeBlog
For chapter 7’s first impression post, I chose to do the second option, discussing the fact of whether or not violence video games cause children to be more violent and whether video games should be banned. I agree and disagree with this statement. It’s very controversial and for some it’s true and others it’s false.
The reasons that I don’t think that video games cause violence are because some people use it as a way to “relieve stress” or get away from the world. Another reason is that the kids only play fr a few hours and it’s not like they believe it and it just depends on the game. For many kids, video games are like their “safe zone.” That’s what it is for my brothers, both of them. They both play on the computer and they play violent games and non-violent games. It’s just a safe zone for them so that they can play with their emotions, not their physical lives. I think that most people who do play video games tend to be the “nerdy” and they are the “soft” people. Not everyone plays violent games and the ones that do might not even play them for a long time. Theres not that many issues with violence in video games as there are with school shootings. In the past year, there have been more school shootings. The mass shooters who have attacked schools have showed signs of mental illnesses and that the mental illness was what caused them to do it.
I agree with the statement that some video games do cause violence though. In video games, the realism is intensifying the game and making it real life. The graphics create a false reality. An example: older video games were more based on cartoons, when a character was injured, there was no sound of blood or a breaking bones. It was imaginary and not real. The player could tell it’s not real. While technology is wonderful, the background effects and sound effects, the games give off virtual reality. These online games are now involving virtual reality and role-playing scenarios. Unless society brings children away from the games and outside, playing with actual friends, they will most likely start to believe that they are the actual people in the video games. People who play for hours and don’t tend to move for a long time get focused with the game and start to believe that they are the robber they are playing, the shooter they are playing. Mental illnesses are becoming to be a bigger part of society. A lot of people have them and with the proper help, they can get help and not be so violent.
I also didn’t finish what I had to say because of the deadline. It’s very controversial, with and without violence.
Neuroscience
--Original published at Tiffany'sCollegeBlog
For my chapter 2 first impression, I chose to watch the Ted Talk called “Toward a New Understanding of Mental Illness.” I chose to watch this because now a days in the media everyone is talking about mental illnesses and how it can affect people in many different ways. I think that it’s a good topic to bring up so that people are aware of what can happen to people who have mental illnesses.
In the talk, Thomas Insel talks about how doctors have been able to decrease the amount of people who have Leukemia, Heart Disease, AIDS, and Strokes through medication and getting the people who is experiencing that problem to the hospital quickly. Early detection and early intervention will help people not be disabled after coming out of the hospital. He wants to see if it’s a possibility to lessen it with depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia to see if it lowers the amount of suicides a year.
The most interesting thing I found out about was that there are 38,000 suicides a year, 1 about every 15 minutes and it’s mostly people between the ages of 15-25. I also found it interesting how there are less car accident deaths and less homocides than suicide deaths. I think that mental illnesses and suicides sometimes aren’t see as important as they really are.
I think that Thomas Insel was very trustworthy. He stated that he even worked for the government and that “you all” meaning the audience, pays him to do the work that he does. His actual job title is the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health. His job is to make sure that we are moving in the right direction for lessening the amount of mental disorders and how we can treat them. I also think that his research that he did was very professional and he had graphs and brain scans to show the difference between the way someone looks with depression versus someone that has schizophrenia. Having that background and research to help support what he was saying was helpful.
A research study that we could conduct could include looking at brain scans of people who have mental illnesses and people who don’t have mental illnesses. My research question would be: Does someone with anxiety have similar brain scans to someone who has depression? For doctors to see symptoms early and start fixing the problem before anything serious happens, you can take a brain scan of multiple ages, especially the 15-25 age range where most suicide happens. The study of course would have to be longitudinal and be over a long period of time as you want to see if the people are improving or not.
Development
--Original published at Tiffany'sCollegeBlog
For this first impression post of chapter 4, I chose to discuss the parenting styles that I feel are the best that produce children who grow up to be happy, healthy, and productive members of society. The prompt refers to “tiger moms,” “jellyfish dads,” and “helicopter parents.” The “tiger mom” is a mom who raises her children with strict rules, tough love, and discipline to get child to succeed. A tiger parent is an authoritarian parents who pushes and directs their child. They hover and micromanage their children. The “jellyfish dad” is a dad who is a permissive parent. They have little rules, expectations, and overindulge their children. Children of jellyfish parents tend to lack impulse control. The “helicopter parent” is a parent who pays extremely close attention to a child’s or children’s experiences and problems. They are obsessive with their child’s life and are overprotective. All of these parenting styles don’t allow the child or children to be themselves and do things for themselves, like problem-solve and their individualism. Children need to be able to breathe. Yes, having some rules are okay. Yes, you can motivate your child without being down their throat. There are ways to create what I like to call “happy mediums.” Children have to be able to make mistakes and learn by them to grow. By not allowing a child to make mistakes or yet alone learn from the mistakes makes them continue to make mistakes. You aren’t allowing your child to do his/hr own thing and be themselves.
I actually have personal experience dealing with two “helicopter parents,” moms in this case. It was two “cases,” where I was close to dating the one guy and I dated the other guy for like a month and called it off because I couldn’t handle it. With the one guy I almost dated, that was the most recent and his mom had his uncle (who was a cop), do background checks on my family and he told me that his mom would read his texts messages, so I ended that because there was no like guy to talk to. I felt like it was his mom. The other guy, I ended up dating but had to end it. There was no privacy. In order for him to come over to my house and hang out, his mom (who has a thick Australian accent) had to talk to my mom for at least an hour on the phone and most times, we had to go get him from his house because his mom complained we were too far when we really were like maybe 10-15 minutes away which isn’t far. This mom also bartered an extra graduation ticket from someone just to go see her son play in the band. So obviously, being overprotective isn’t helpful for the parent or the child because the parents have to be involved in everything having to do with their child which means that they can’t live their life and the child can/will keep things from their parents so that they don’t know everything.
I think that it’s important to find a “happy medium” when creating a parenting method that works for the child but also for you as a parent. Some parents use the parenting style they had when they were a kid and that doesn’t help because then they are essentially acting like their parents and that can not be good all the time. Children need to be free and have their own creative juices flowing. The “dolphin parenting” method is a balance of the multiple extremes of different parenting and it is authoritative in nature. The dolphin is a firm yet flexible animal and dolphin parents have rules and expectations but also value creativity and independence. They are more collaborative and at first they might be strict and overprotective, making sure that their children stay out of trouble and make good decisions but will soon let them do their own thing with a little instruction hoping they follow what they want to do and make their own life and rules. Eventually maybe the parents wont be more parents as much as a friend with their child. Not allowing a child to learn as they grow can make them unhealthy.
Research Methods
--Original published at Tiffany'sCollegeBlog
In this assignment, I chose option number two of which I had the choice of watching 8 mini videos. I narrowed it down to watching “Do Waitresses Get Bigger Tips When They Have Bigger Breasts?” and “Do Hands Free Devices Improve Driving Safety?” After watching both videos, I chose “Do Waitresses Get Bigger Tips When They Have Bigger Breasts” because I felt that this video was more relatable as I have personally experienced this label. My own personal experience has led me to a few strengths that I liked about the video. A few strengths that I noticed were that they chose a place that generates a lot of tips, a coffeehouse; the attire of the women in the experiment was good and consistent, she tried to smile as much as she could but it seemed like she smiled more with men than she did with the women and the size deviation was very good. As far as the weaknesses go, I felt that they showed more mens’ reactions versus the women (they maybe showed three women to the ten men); it only truly focused on the males and how they reacted; there were also blurred faces of some of the men and when she explained the tips from the women, she only talked about the the money and there was no controlled experiment to compare it to. To fix the “problems” that they had, they should have focused not on just the money but the expressions from everyone and the amount of men versus women. If I had to do this experience on my own, I would keep track of the different sexes, the amount of tips from each sex, and the facial and body language from each person, male or female. This makes me wonder if women with bigger breasts actually play it up and “show off” and if breast size actually matters or are waitresses just flaunting to get more tips? In conclusion, there is a lot that could be changed and tweaked to replicate this experiment to have similar results.
Introduction
--Original published at Tiffany'sCollegeBlog
Hello! My name is Tiffany Hofmann! I transferred to Etown at the beginning of last semester so after the fall, I will have officially been at Etown for a complete year! I’m from Westminster, Maryland and I live with my parents, two brothers and two puppies (Murphy, mini golden doodle and Miya, mini labradoodle). I will be a sophomore Music Therapy major with a double minor in psychology and history. I work at Vera Bradley and in the fall, I will be bringing Murphy back to school with me. Something you might find interesting about me is that due to being a Music Therapy major, I have 13 classes when I go back in the fall and I play 8 instruments including but not limited to: oboe, flute, piccolo, bassoon, piano, guitar, ukulele, and voice. I have had a strong interest in Music Therapy (which is why I transferred to a school that had the program) working with clientele that have developmental disabilities especially Autism. The main reason I wanted to do Music Therapy is because of my little brother. He has high-functioning Autism and I want to help kids and clients like him. I also want to see how people behave and interact with others like kids who have ADHD etc.
Despite being a minor in Psychology and it being a requirement, I have always wanted to take a Psychology class. In high school, I started out in AP Psych and I was told I would’ve been fine with the work and not having any other knowledge but that was not true. I dropped the class and the only other Psychology class that was available was regular Psychology so that’s what I took. I do have so experience in Psychology and I do remember some of what I’ve learned but taking this class also is a requirement for Music Therapy. When I hear the word “Psychology,” I often think about therapy, behavior, and how individuals interact with others.
One of the topics I am most interested in would be how to improve memory and study skills. Often when I am taking a test, I forget everything that I have studied and it kinda screws me over in the end. Sometimes, I also have trouble remembering what I just did so knowing what I could do to help that would be great, especially coming to tests and exams. Another topic that I am interested in is the understanding stress and coping with it. I stress a lot for many different reasons and I wanted to know if there are other things I can do to un-stress. I do many things like get my nails done and color but when I have deadlines and such for school. Finally, the last topic I am interested in is the mental illness, mood disorders and anxiety due to the increased talk about this topic in the public etc. If I had to choose a few topics that I am no interested in learning about, they would be why research design matters, obedience and how to choose a therapist.
By the end of this class, I would really like to answer the question: “Can people with mental illnesses and anxiety treat/help other people?” Other than that, I am very excited to do this class especially because this is one of two of my summer classes and to learn the topics!