Author Archives: jvershinski

Chapter 9 First Impression

--Original published at JVershinski's Blog

Governor Miller made quite a bold statement with his idea of the Mozart effect and distributing a cassette or CD of classical music to the parents of each new born child. I personally do not believe in the Mozart effect, and think that this was a foolish idea to do this.

First, this idea that listening to Mozart will increase intelligence is only a theory. This just means it is an educated guess that is used to attempt to explain something. While it would be interesting to explore this theory some more and actually test it, I don’t think that a personal belief of this theory justifies spending $105,000 to do it. Additionally, the money spent was spent based on the idea that he theory holds true. If the money was spent to experiment if the theory was true or not, I think then it could be justified some more, but the fact that the governor just spent the money because he thought it would work is not a good decision.

Also, who is to say that the parents will even play the music in the household to even try to increase the intelligence of their child? There is no reinforcement to ensure that the music will be played. In addition, how long is the music to be played for? Is there a certain amount of time that states the music should be played for x minutes during a certain time of the day? Is it better to play the music while the child is asleep or awake? Up to what age should the music be played? Does the theory explain why it only contributes to the intelligence of young children? With all of these questions unanswered, I think spending $105,000 to give out free Mozart was not the best idea.

Chapter 11 First Impression

--Original published at JVershinski's Blog

So I’ve never really gotten too stressed about things. Tests and quizzes don’t stress me out. Job interviews don’t stress me out. Don’t ask me why, because I have no clue why these things don’t stress me out, but they just don’t. For the occasional event I do get stressed about, I take some very thorough steps to ensure I can try to minimize the stress as much as possible.

My first step in minimizing my stress is to ensure that my daily routine does not change significantly. I’ve tried to change it up before when I’ve gotten stressed, but that just made me more stressed about the entire situation. I will wake up at the same time, eat breakfast at the same time, workout at the same time, and do my homework at the same time I would on any other day. The next step I take in minimizing stress is to ensure that I get a good couple nights of rest. Sleep deprivation is something that I’ve noticed does not treat me well if I am stressed out. Making sure I get enough sleep allows me to still feel good when I wake up and go to the gym, and it helps keep my stress in check. One thing that I do like to change up is that I will take somewhere between 5-10 minutes of my day to meditate. A lot of people may laugh at this, or joke around about it, but it has really worked for me in the past and still does. It clears my mind, relaxes all of my muscles, and just leaves me feeling good afterward. I think these things help me keep my stress levels low, and keep me going through the stress.

I’m not really sure of any other stress-reducing techniques I could incorporate into this routine. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know because I would like to try new things as well.

Chapter 10 First Impression

--Original published at JVershinski's Blog

I do not think that this criteria is appropriate to determine whether some is eating healthy or has a mental disorder. First and foremost, the criteria states that it does not have a set standard for what is considered obsessive. It states that individual beliefs may vary and I think that is the biggest problem. If you can’t set a standard for which to compare how people are acting, how is someone to diagnose this mental illness? I think this is the problem with a lot of mental illnesses and even some addictions. There is not a clear universal standard for which to say whether or not someone is addicted or obsessive about something to the extent that it can be considered an illness.

Another non-specific qualification in this criteria is when the article states that violation of dietary restrictions set by one self can cause exaggerated fear of disease. First, there is not a standard for what dietary restrictions must be met in order to be considered eating healthy or obsessive. Also, there is not a baseline for exaggeration. What some people may see as exaggerated, others may see as normal. I understand that it is going to be difficult to set standards for these things when each individual is different, and hoping to achieve something different by eating healthy, but this lack of standards makes it difficult to determine whether someone is just eating healthy of is obsessive about it. If there was some way to set standards for things like healthy eating vs obsessive healthy eating, and other mental disorders, I think that would be the best thing to try to do.

Chapter 3 First Impression

--Original published at JVershinski's Blog

I think my current sleep habits are actually quite good. I like to go to the gym a lot, and if I don’t get enough sleep, I don’t feel the best when I workout. This feeling forces me to get enough sleep because otherwise I would have a really bad workout. I sleep anywhere from 7-9 hours a night, usually on the higher end of that range. I don’t like to sleep in so I usually wake up around 7 or 8 in the morning and get out of bed shortly after. Sleep, in my opinion, is one thing that many students think they can skip over because it’s not as important as they think, but it really does make a big difference in almost every aspect of one’s life.

I think a realistic amount of sleep for college students is the 7-9 hour range. The problem with a lot of college students, and the reason they don’t sleep enough is because of laziness. Many college students do not plan out when to do their homework well so they leave it till the last minute and cram it all in one night. I think one major way to improve these sleeping habits is to try to go to bed at the same time every night. This will hopefully induce a habit of when your body begins to shut down for the night. Another big thing that could help with better sleep habits is time management. If college students would manage their time better, then they wouldn’t need to cram for tests or do an entire project the day before it is due.

Chapter 8 First Impression

--Original published at JVershinski's Blog

I think that some memories are much stronger than others because of the frequency of them. Everyday things such as getting into a car or waking up from sleep seem so ordinary, so we just disregard them as simple things that will continue to happen as long as we live. If something strange were to happen to one of these ordinary events though, it would suddenly have a lasting impact. For example, if you wake up one day and your bed is covered in blood, that memory will be stronger and more vivid than the day before when you woke up and everything was normal. Events like 9/11 are very rare occurrences, so when they do happen it becomes a very strong memory. Another good example is family deaths. Only one family member can pass away once, so when it happens it becomes a prominent memory.

I think the only way to study how accurate these memories are would be to interview people who have remembered an important event. The problem with this is, though, it would be very difficult to compare the memories to what actually happened. Take 9/11 for example. Many people say they remember exactly where they were and what they were doing at the time they heard of it. However, if that person was alone at the time of 9/11, how would you confirm that they were doing what they said they were? There’s nobody to validate what the person said is true. I think it would be an interesting thing to do, but a lot of problems would come up while trying to verify a person’s memory.

Chapter 7 First Impression

--Original published at JVershinski's Blog

My perspective on violent video games is that they do not insinuate for children, or anyone playing them for that matter, to go do something similar to what they are doing in the game. I do not think that violent video games are making children more violent and I think these criticisms of the video game industry are unsupported by meaningful research.

As far as I know, there is little to no research dictating that violent video games promote violence in children. There is research that supports the notion that video games, while some may be considered violent, do help to improve social skills as well as hand-eye coordination in many people. Additionally, who is to be the judge of what is considered violent and what isn’t? Why should a first person shooting game be considered more violent than Mario? Both games promote violence and the killing of “bad people”, yet the shooting game is considered more violent.

Also, the idea to permanently ban “violent” video games is just baffling. First and foremost, I can’t think of one game that does not have some sort of violence in it. This ban, if it were to ban all violent video games, would essentially wipe out the entire video game industry. The video game industry is worth more than $100 billion, and wiping it out would not go without economic consequences. I also think the irresponsibility of parents to allow their child to play a game that is rated for an older age group does not help the situation. Just because you let little 10 year old Timmy play Call of Duty does not mean the video game is to blame.

Chapter 2 First Impression

--Original published at JVershinski's Blog

I watched the Ted Talk about serial killers by Jim Fallon. What drew me to it is the idea that serial killers structurally have a different brain that normal people do. This is interesting to me because they’re just another person, but their brain structure causes them to act differently.

This talk told me about how serial killers have different brains based off of brain damage, genetics, and their environment. It talks about how these things need to development at a certain time in order for the outcome of a serial killer to be present.

The most interesting thing about the talk was the idea that the timing of when the brain damage occurs affects whether or not someone will be a psychopath. I find this interesting because if someone does have brain damage, it could’ve been a matter of a few weeks difference that lends them to being a psychopath or a normal person.

I find the information presented fairly trustworthy. Ted Talks do not just invite anybody who is a self-proclaimed expert on a topic onto the show. They do their background research and see how reliable this source of information actually is before inviting them onto the show. Additionally, the information presented by the speaker was done in a very professional manner, along with photos that were specifically designated to help understand what is going on. Many people can access these photos with a quick google search, but the speaker explained what was going on in the pictures, and if he wasn’t reliable, he did a very good job telling everyone about the brains of psychopaths.

A research idea that could be interesting to investigate would be if neuron development is affected by brain damage. To conduct this experiment, you could take some individuals and determine an estimate of how many functioning neurons are in their body, and then you could take a brain damaged individual and determine the same. Compare the results to see if neuron quantity or at least functioning neuron quantity is significantly different.

Chapter 4 First Impression

--Original published at JVershinski's Blog

8-Stage Lifespan Development

Stage 1: 0-3 years old

I think that the main psychological challenge during this stage of development is the understanding of learning so many new things. The behaviors that someone this age will go through as well as the mental processes pose quite a challenge for someone from a young age.

Stage 2: 4-6 years old

The main psychological challenge for this age is the behavioral aspect of life. At this age I think that many people are learning to act how their parents tell them to act. Also, kids go through the phase of whether they should listen to their parents or act the way they want to act.

Stage 3: 7-12 years old

The main psychological challenge of this age group is the external development of behavior. I think at this age people are beginning to understand how their behaviors and what they say affect others around them.

Stage 4: 13-22 years old

At this stage in life, I think the biggest psychological challenge is stress. Most people around this age are in middle school, high school, or college, and they are faced with new mental challenges that they learn to figure out on their own which can cause a lot of stress. Also, around this age range is when people really judge themselves for how they look, and this can lead to things like anorexia or other eating disorders.

Stage 5: 22-28 years old

In this age group, I think independence in terms of behavioral development emerges on a different level. Around this age, you graduate college, move out, find your own place and start your own life. There is no more relying on other people to help you out anymore, and the responsibility of yourself really comes to light.

Stage 6: 29-40 years old

I think at this age range the biggest psychological challenge is planning ahead. This is the age range where people work a lot and start to plan their future years ahead, possibly even to retirement. This places a lot of stress on the brain as well as the person as a whole.

Stage 7: 41-64 years old

This age range’s biggest psychological challenge is development of new skills. Many people around this age do not possess the capability or the correct mindset to make time to learn something new. This could possibly prevent true happiness or joy from occurring.

Stage 8: 65+ years old

I think the biggest psychological challenge for this age group is keeping everything in order. Around this age and onward dementia may begin to kick in which could lead to episodes of mania or maybe forgetting something or someone that was very important to you.

First Impression Chapter 1

--Original published at JVershinski's Blog

Does Weaving Through Traffic Actually Get You To Your Destination Faster?

There were both some strengths and weaknesses when it comes to this experiment. First, one strength of this experiment is that it was tested in the real world. This is a strength because it shows the applicability of this experiment to everyday life. A weakness in this experiment is that it was only tested once. This does not help the experiment because testing an experiment one time does not prove if it was successful or not. To fix this, the people testing the experiment should have tested it multiple times and collected the data and maybe averaged the numbers. Another strength of this experiment is that I believe the same cars were used for both variables, ensuring that one car does not have a physical advantage over the other. A second weakness to this experiment is the people only used one road to test it. This is a weakness because maybe that specific road is an outlier in which the results are not accurate to what the majority of the results would be when compared to other roads. While this experiment had both its weaknesses and strengths, I do not think that it would be a reliable experiment based off of one test.

Intro to Psychology Blog Creation

--Original published at JVershinski's Blog

Hello! My name is Jacob Vershinski. I am from Glen Mills, Pennsylvania and I just completed my freshman year at Elizabethtown College. I have lived in Glen Mills my entire life with my mom, my dad, and my older brother. We currently have three dogs, a guinea pig, and a few fish. I am majoring in Biology with a concentration in pre-medicine, but I think that I am going to switch my major in this upcoming year.

I decided to take this course because it is a pre-requisite for my current major, as well as the major I may be switching to. I do not have any background in psychology as I did not take it in high school. When I hear the word psychology, I think of the way that people act and the reasoning behind it. Another thing that comes to mind is my favorite TV show, “Psych.” To me, chapters two, four, and the drug knowledge activity appear to be the most appealing. Chapter two is about the biology of behavior which sparks my interest. Chapter four is about how psychology changes during the human life span, and the drug knowledge activity is interesting to me. Three topics that are not interesting to me are chapter one because I know it will be the basic introductory chapter, the stress ranking activity because it’s summer time and I don’t think many of us will be stressed, and the exams are definitely not fun topics. A question about psychology that I wish to answer is what kind of role it plays in everyday life. Obviously it is going to play quite a major role, but I’m just curious as to how much it impacts the everyday life.