Author Archives: rickster384

Emotional Intelligence Quiz

--Original published at Rickster's Psychology Blog

I took the Greater Good Intelligence Quiz. I got an 18/20 on the quiz. The test had 20 pictures of people making different facial expressions. I had to choose which emotion these people were expressing.

The 2 emotions I had problems with were anger and pain. I think I mixed them both up because most of the time, I feel like people are angry because they got hurt physically like if they stubbed their toe or hit their head off the kitchen counter. Both facial expressions looked similar because both emotions have similar micro-expressions occurring at the same time. Every other emotion was very easy to answer.

The test isn’t very credible. I feel like every interpretation of someone’s emotions requires more situational awareness. There were no audio cues so you couldn’t tell the tone of the person’s voice. You couldn’t see what their hands or body were doing except for the embarrassment emotion.

I already use this information in daily life. This might have been useful 15 years ago. I have 2 Tiger Parents so I need to know exactly how their feeling so I know when or if I can engage them about something. I can tell how their feeling by the sound of them opening a door or how they go up stairs.

I see emotional intelligence being more important than normal IQ. You can be the smartest person in the room, but if you don’t know how to properly communicate with people or express your emotions properly, then how successful could you ever be?

Why Do We Sleep?

--Original published at Rickster's Psychology Blog

The first prominent theory is for restoration of the brain. This has been a rising and dying fad throughout time. This theory is making a resurgence because new studies are suggesting specific genes only activate during sleep. These genes help with restoration and metabolic pathways

The second theory is energy conservation. The idea behind this theory is when we sleep, we save calories. However, if you compare someone who slept all night with someone who stayed up all night with limited movement, the difference is only 110 calories. This theory is much less credible due to the small difference in calories saved.

The last theory advocates for brain function. It suggests we sleep for brain processing and memory consolidation because when you sleep after learning a task, you are much more likely to learn and remember the information. You also have more creativity after sleeping on information so you are more likely to come up with simple solutions to complex problems. The more important synaptic connections are strengthened after a good night’s rest.

I believe the 1st and 3rd theories are the same. I feel like the 3rd theory gets more into detail about what the 1st theory does. If you combine both theories it would be, “We sleep to restore brain processes and memory consolidation.”

I think sleeping is like checking email. When we sleep, we’re checking all the important emails from work or staying up to date with our fields of study from newsletters we receive. Then we clean out the junk mail and delete it because memes and dad jokes aren’t important and don’t need to be stored in our hard drives.

Then we wake up in the morning. We go through our daily routine. Then we check our email again.

Not All Memories Created Equal

--Original published at Rickster's Psychology Blog

I always wondered why it was so easy to remember a song or funny joke rather than some information I for a class. I have several different theories about this.

At least for me, I always seemed to remember things when I needed to know them. I always remember I thought was important. I have almost perfect memory when it comes to do with my hobbies or in a serious moment. I would be able to remember how to take apart an engine after doing it one time but remembering algebraic equations or the ATP cycle would take an eternity for me to learn because I don’t see those pieces of information as important or I don’t seeing myself using those pieces of information in everyday life.

Another theory I have about memory is when your trying to remember something which involves all 5 senses, taste, touch, hearing, sight, and smell. It maybe because of my adhd but I’m unsure.

I think everyone can remember where they were when they heard about 911 because I think most of their peers asked them the same question for a month after it occurred so it was well ingrained into their heads.

I think we can study powerful memories by asking people about 911 while in an FMRI machine. Then we could ask them what they had for breakfast last week. We could view what parts of the brain are activated during a powerful memory and short term memory.

Violence in Video Games

--Original published at Rickster's Psychology Blog

My perspective on violent video games will be slightly biased. I’m on the verge of playing Call of Duty as a career so I think I could offer a unique opinion on the subject.

From my perspective, video games have always offered me an escape from life. I have had extremely strict parents. I was never allowed to go out as a kid. Nowadays, I’m still required to go through a 15 minute interview with each parent before I go anywhere. Most days I can’t put up with it so I lock myself in my room and I take my anger and frustration out on the game.

I’ve met many people and made many friends throughout the course of my e-sports career. They all play video games for similar reasons as me. Some play to stay out of trouble. Some play because they’re severely injured or have some sort of medical or mental problem so they can’t function normally in society. Some have lost everything and games are all they have left.

I don’t believe video games make people violent. If anything, they keep people from committing violent acts because they can get the violent vibes out of their system by playing video games.

I think its ludicrous people are calling for the banning of video games. These games have changed in recent years. For example, in Call of Duty, much more teamwork, communication, and self sacrifice is required in order to win consistently. Players need to learn to communicate efficiently. A much quicker reaction time is required now so this would help people when driving or when quick decision needs to be made. These games are helping children with poor eye sight have better cognitive recognition and better peripheral vision.

I think video games have helped many more people than they have hurt.

Can We Read Each Other’s Minds?

--Original published at Rickster's Psychology Blog

For the Chapter 2 First Impression Post, I selected the “How We Read Each Other’s Minds” TED talk presented by Rebecca Saxe.

I chose this talk because I was interested how we could already read minds. Then I thought maybe this video teaches telepathy. The title of the talk made me feel like I was missing out on something so it was an easy choice for me.

The talk started out with the special part of the brain called the RTPJ. It is the part of the brain which focuses on figuring out what other people are thinking. Then Dr. Saxe talked about the early development of this brain region. She showed a video of the difference in this brain region between a 3, 5, and a 7 year old.

The test was called the False Belief Task. The task involved 2 Pirates. 1 Pirate left his cheese sandwich on a chest to get a drink and the wind blew it over. Another Pirate had a cheese sandwich and put his sandwich on the same chest to go get a drink. Then the first Pirate came back. Then Dr. Saxe asked each participant which sandwich was the first Pirate going to take. The 3 year old chose the one on the ground. The 5 and 7 year old said the one on the Chest. The correct answer was the one on the chest. Then she asked the kids should the first Pirate get in trouble for taking the other’s sandwich? The 3 and 5 year old said yes. The 7 year old said the wind should get in trouble.

Then Dr. Saxe presented the adult version of the test. It turned out there is a negative correlation between the amount of blame people put on the defendant to the amount of RTPJ response so the more the RTPJ was functioning, the less amount of blame the defendant would recieve.

Lastly, she talked about a device called TMS. It sends a magnetic pulse to specific part of the brain and interferes with neurons. She used this device on people’s RTPJ and repeated the False Belief Task. The results showed the people thought defendant should receive less blame.

I found the TMS part to be the most interesting because it suggests building on the TMS could eventually lead to brain control or even curing mental diseases where certain parts of the brain don’t function at all.

I found the presenter trustworthy. She reported exactly how she conducted each experiment and showed videos for 2 of them. She said much more testing needs to be conducted and she said nothing controversial.

My research idea would be to see if it’s possible to use the TMS technology to prevent someone from lying. I would identify the parts of the brain involved in lying using FMRI. I would give them questions where lying would benefit them. Then I would use the TMS to send a magnetic pulse to the part of the brain which helps the person think about their ego. If the TMS eliminates the ego protection thought process, the person should never lie.

Introductory Blog Post

--Original published at Rickster's Psychology Blog

Greetings!

My name is Richard Stone. I’m from Pottsville, Pennsylvania. I’m Business Administration Major with a concentration in finance.

I’m taking this class in order to graduate, deepen my understanding of Psychology, and apply it to the Cognitive Science courses I’ve completed.

My background in Psychology stems from 2 Cognitive Science courses I previously completed and an introductory Psychology class I took in high school.

I think of Psychology as the study of the way humans think as individuals and the combined mental processes in order to generate behavior.

The 1st topic which sparked my interest was cognitive because it would be interesting to compare how a Psychology instructor would explain Cognitive Science as to how my previous instructor with a Philosophy background explained Cognitive Science.

The 2nd topic which I’m interested in is Observational Learning. I know a bit about it already. I’m curious about the amount of depth this class gets into on this subject.

The 3rd topic I’m interested in is the mechanics of sleep. I never learned about the stages in great detail so I’m curious about each stage and what roles they play throughout the sleeping process.

The 1st least interesting topic to me is the scientific method. I’ve learned about it in every science course I’ve ever taken.

The 2nd least interesting topic for me is Neuro-Imaging. From what I’ve learned about Neuro-Imaging already, I know we still can’t capture the exact parts of the brain which respond to a certain prompt in real time. I’d be more curious on the subject when better technology is available and has bigger sample sizes.

The 3rd least interesting topic for me is Why Research Design Matters. I’ve learned about what makes a good Research Design in great detail in statistics class. I don’t feel like there’s much more for me to learn about this subject.

The question I want to build a better answer for from this class is “What are the mental processes and behaviors needed for an organism to constitute consciousness?”