--Original published at Kirsten's Kreations

I chose option one and chose to do the mental health test and the featured task test. The first one I took was the mental health test. This test was interesting to go through because I though the test was going to be about a rate this on a scale test. However it was way different than I expected. The first part was a test to quickly hit E or I if it relates to self or other and calm or anxious. Words would pop up on the screen and there are five minutes to finish 6 rounds of hitting E or I. Because there were so many it had to be done fast. This is a problem for me because half the time my eyes registered the word but my brain didn’t register what the word is making me hit the wrong button even though I knew which one to hit.

The other problem I have with this test is was asking me if I am currently dealing with some mental issues like depression and anxiety. These can show different and everyone. For some people depression involves them working their but off to make others happy and for others it is wanting to lay around in bed all day ignoring the world. For me this part of the test is slightly ridiculous because I can be suffering from depression and not realize it because I am mistaking it for stress mixed with anxiety. This part should have been a survey that involves a few phrases and rating a scale as to how much that relates to me.

At the end of it all, the results were slightly surprising. The results tell someone if they seem more calm than anxious or vice versa. My results were shocking because it told me I am more of the way I haven’t been feeling lately. I do believe if I took it during the school year they results my have reversed because I am calmer during the summer and more stressed during the school year. I don’t think this test can necessarily be good for college students because I don’t believe the questions used to measure our mental health were good. If anything they seemed to be far from questions that can measure if my mental health is in good shape.

For the featured task test this was interesting for me because it asked a lot about my views of males being breadwinners and the females being stay at home moms. For me, an ideal situation is one of the parents being able to stay home with the kids for the first few years while the other works then both go back to work when they have the chance. However due to the way the economy is and how much trouble there is trying to have both parents be able to make enough for a comfortable living, the ideal situation is to have both parents work but have leeway to be able to spend as much time with the children as possible.

At first I didn’t mind because there were questions like if i agree or disagree. But then there were the E or I questions like there were in the mental heath one. I had problems with trying to chose those the write questions again. When looking at my result it said there are too many errors to get results. This disturbs me because that means most of the results are based on the part where I have to hit E or I fast. This is the part that messes me up because my brain doesn’t register everything as fast as my eyes do. I also don’t believe this is a good test either because it didn’t have good questions that can measure my opinions. I especially don’t think think it is a good test if it tells me it can’t give me results because I messed up the E or I questions too many times because my brain doesn’t register it as fast as it wants me to.

--Original published at Jenna'sPSY105blog

For this week’s first impression post, I chose the first prompt discussing IAT tests and discovering biases.

The first IAT test that I took was about weight. So it would show silhouettes of fat people and thin people and show good and bad words. At the end, it asked questions about my political and religious views, about my weight, and other things to determine if I have any bias towards fat or thin people.

The second IAT test that I took was about disability. It would show pictures of wheelchairs, crutches, a service dog, as well as someone crossing the street, someone skiing, and someone running and then showed good and bad words. At the end of that test it asked about my religious and political views, and asked me if I had any disabilities of my own. I have a chronic, very painful medical condition that technically counts as a disability. So when I answered yes to that question it proceeded to ask me more questions regarding that, such as how much it affects my daily life, how long I’ll have it, how bad it is, etc. Then based off of those answers it determined whether or not I would have a bias towards disabled people.

I consider myself to be a little chunky and I technically have a “disability”, so my results said that I don’t have an automatic negative bias toward either of these groups of people, which I wasn’t surprised by because I definitely agree with that. I am very accepting of everybody and understand everybody has their own issues and obstacles.

I believe that these tests make you more aware of how you interact with others and pre-perceived biases towards people who are different from you. It also makes you self- reflect on your own issues in life and how you view the world. I think that this could be very useful in college because you’re constantly meeting all kinds of people with so many different situations and backgrounds. It is important to be as open-minded as can be, because if you judge people from what you see, you could be missing an opportunity to gain a great friend. You also never know what someone is going through, and  some people, like myself, don’t wear their disabilities on our sleeves. At first glance you would never know I had anything wrong with me, when in reality I’m pretty sure I’ve had more surgeries than anyone I know. Everyone is dealing with something, so just be accepting of everyone!

In regards to my career, as an OT I will be working with all kinds of different people and populations, so of course I need to be as accepting and nonjudgemental as can be. I especially will be working with people with all different types of disabilities, and I think it is so interesting to hear people’s stories and learn from them and their experiences. People with disabilities are so strong and preserver through life, and I think they can teach us a lot.

--Original published at Loretta Gabrielle

In the video the experiment which was used was students came in to look engage in different tasks which are supposed to be a lot of fun when it was really very boring. The students in the experiment were then asked if they would be the spokes person for the next student(s) who was going to take the test. Half of the students were given $20 as a retainer and half were given $1. No matter what the price which was being paid they sold the experiment as a lot of fun even though it was boring. The man who was paid 20 dollars knows the experiment was dull but had enough of an incentive to lie about it. The person who has 1 dollar doesn’t have enough money which creates dissonance. From this it changed his cognitive dissonance. Whenever there is insignificant dissonance, they convince themselves they like it.

Although it wasn’t defined in the video, one can conclude that cognitive dissonance is having inconsistent beliefs when regarding emotional influences and attitude changes.

Personally I would enjoy a task where I got $20 especially if it was boring and or an overall bad experience. I would be fine with getting $1 if it was a really rewarding task which cannot be measured with money.

A time in my life where I experienced a change in beliefs due to cognitive dissonance has happened middle often but a small example at work. A normal work day for most staff is from 8:45-4:15 but I insisted working from 7:30-6 every day because it gave a little more money. In comparison to my work week hourly pay, I was gaining money since I was staying later but not by much. I wasn’t getting insufficient pay and my family knew this and we would argue about working so much. I convinced myself that I needed it and I liked it. I looked at the positives and in this case I got to know more kids, I made a little extra money, I liked waking up early to get my day started, it was easy on some day, and more. I created reasons as to why I needed it and wanted it even though it was consistently understaffed, the pay wasn’t enough, and ADHD medication a child was on for the day had worn off. It was always chaotic and from it being understaffed and screaming names ever few seconds/ minutes it caused a lot of stress. I still did it for around 10 weeks because I convinced myself the reward was worth it. Would I still do it? Yes. They pay wasn’t good, it was poorly run, and I hated it more than I liked it but I had cognitive dissonance and convinced myself that I did need the extra money and I could manage to where it wasn’t horrible. I made it so anytime I didn’t do it, I felt like I wasted my time and was a horrible person for missing an opportunity to make extra money.

I think in this case it is a good way to use cognitive dissonance because although I wasn’t paid well, I did make more money which was a consistent source of payment where babysitting or other ways wasn’t consistent. This provided a set outcome and unless I had another job I would and will still do it. In other cases I can see it as bad when a worker is being paid under minimum wage and cannot support themselves. With cognitive dissonance in both of these exampled no one actually likes what they are doing but have a reason to say they are. If that reason is a way or strategy of coping though a bad situation, I think that it is a good tool to use. From this, I think we should promote it as a good coping tool but also be aware of the faults it can bring. Overall a good tool in both of these situations presented.

--Original published at KatieMillerPSY105

For this first impression post, I chose to take two of the Implicit Association Tests. I thought it was very interesting that these tests could see some of the biases that I am not fully aware of. It made me more curious to see the ways I may be interacting with other people. 

The first test I took was the Age test. This test asked a few questions before getting into the actual test. Some of these questions were “how old do you feel you are”, “how old do others think you are”, and asking at what ages do I think you hit certain milestones. After these questions, you had to put your fingers on the keys “E” and “I” to distinguish between the pictures of young and old people as well as “good” or “bad” words. At times, this part was challenging because I wanted to continue to click with the same key I did previously. This challenge, however, did not affect my results for this test. Before I took this quiz, I thought that I saw no difference in people’s age because I enjoyed being with my grandmother and her friends as well as helping teach technology use to people who are older. When the results came in, I saw that they were the same as I thought before. I think this test could help me with my future careers since I want to be a nurse, and depending on what field I pursue, I will not know what the age of the patient could be until they come into the hospital. I cannot discriminate anyone for their age or give them different treatment because they are older or younger. 

The second test I took was the Gender-Career test. This test started with the categorizing part using the keys “E” and “I”. The categories were family, career, male, and female. This test then asked what my home life was like and who was my main care giver, did they have a job, and who was your other caregiver, and did they have a job. Before taking the test, I thought I was more neutral about who could have a career and who could tend to the family. I felt that I performed the same as I had with the other tests on the key clicking, so I was confused when the results told me I had a slight automatic association for male with career and female with family. I was more confused because I know when I want to start a family, I still want to keep my career.  I thought that maybe the test was biased since it asked how my home life was when I was growing up. If the test used my personal background, then they would have given me these results since my mom did stay home with my brother and me while my dad worked. I think this test is important for college students because it can show them that either gender could perform both roles well. 

Overall, I think these tests could be a little skeptical, but both could help college students learn something about themselves. All the tests on the website can help with careers so that you do not discriminate against a certain gender, race, age, or weight. 

--Original published at CatherinesCollegeBlog

I chose the first option for this post, which prompted me to take two implicit association tests. The purpose of the first test I took was to determine my preference between old and young people. This test had me categorize good and bad words alongside pictures of old and young people. My results suggested that I have a slight automatic preference for young people over old people, which surprised me. Personally, I feel like I enjoy spending time with older people much more than with younger people for a few reasons. I am not an overly enthusiastic or energetic person most of the time, which is how younger people are typically characterized. Spending time with younger people is usually more draining for me, and I would rather just hang out with older people. I always had the best time just talking with my grandpa, and I think it also has to do with a different admiration. Older people have lived more of their lives, so they have more wisdom and advice to offer, not to mention a much better perspective of how everything eventually works itself out. Although my results differed from what I believe to be true about myself, they can be useful for college students. This test lets us know who we would possibly work best with in a future career setting. If you have a preference for older people, you may want to look into organizations that focus more on tradition and loyalty with older high level employees. If you have a preference for younger people, you would likely be better off joining a new organization like a startup with a young entrepreneur who is full of energy all the time.

The purpose of the second test was to determine the association I make between males and females with career and family aspects. The test had me categorize male and female names and words that were related to career and family terms. I think my results were slightly affected by the order of the questions. Since I was first required to remember an association between female names and family terms, when this was revered to relate male names and family terms, it was more difficult to reprogram my initial reaction. My results suggested that I have a strong automatic association for male with career and female with family, which was also slightly surprising based on my own family. Both of my parents have created successful careers for themselves the entire time they raised me. Perhaps the association I have created has to do with the involvement from each parent. Since my dad is in the military, he is frequently anywhere but our home. His deployments lasted over a year at a time, so my brother and I would not see him for extremely long periods of time, seeming even longer when you compare it to how long our own lives have been so far. He is out there doing amazing work, but definitely has missed out on many family occasions which is maybe why I associate my mom more with the family terms. She also has a career as a middle school teacher so she has balanced both aspects of life. This test can be useful for college students because it helps identify where their values sit regarding the importance of family and career goals. This is especially important in a relationship, as your partner should know your beliefs on the role you think you should fulfill, whether it is one with more of a career focus or more of a family focus.

--Original published at Tiffany'sCollegeBlog

For this week’s first impression prompt, I decided to do the Implicit Association Test. I liked the idea of the test being to help you understand yourself and how you interact with others. That’s pretty cool especially with the fact that Music Therapy is truly based on interacting with our clientele, who may be of a different culture or race than us. My experience with the test would have probably be better if I weren’t doing this so late at night and if I wasn’t so impatient and balls tired. I think my results were surprising and I’ll probably go back on a later date and try more of the tests to see what kinda of results there are. I definitely thought about what the results would be before I took the test and then I saw the outcome and it was different. This test can be useful for college students because with the different tests that it had we can see how we are and then change how we see certain people. The same thing goes with careers, especially for one that you would possibly work with someone of a different culture than you. 

--Original published at Kealey's PSY105 Blog

I found the experience of taking the Implicit Association Test (IAT) interesting to say the least. I took two tests. The first test I took was the Eating IAT. This test  of asked a few demographic questions, history of mental health, opinion of foods, and finally a sorting element. The sorting element consisted of classifying words into one of two categories as fast as possible, making few mistakes as possible. For example, the word would be something like “pizza” and you would have to distinguish if it should go in the “low-fat” or “high-fat” category. I had a lot of mistakes when trying to sort these words. Going into this test, I thought that I would have a shameful association with high-fat foods. This is because I will often indulge in unhealthy foods, but I almost always feel guilty for eating high-fat foods. My results aligned with my prediction. The IAT revealed that I had a moderately associate “acceptable” more with low-fat foods than high-fat foods.

The second IAT I took related to gender and careers and family. My personal beliefs are that there should not be a preference between career achievement and caretaking depending on gender. The test’s results showed that I had a moderate implicit bias of associating men with careers and women with the family. I can understand why the results came back this way, but I do not think that these results indicate my values accurately. Historically, in our society women have been unable to leave the home because they had to take care of the family while the man worked. This kind of social structure was put in place because of hundreds of years of stereotyping and a lack of opportunities afforded to women. We have made huge bounds in dispelling this idea, but it is not dead yet. My grandparents’ generation lived this way as the norm. Personally, I see a brighter future even closer to gender equality between ideals of family and career, though I still see the subtle realities of gender roles in our society today.