PTSD

I am PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder. I occur after you have witnessed or experienced a traumatic event which typically involves a threat of injury or death. Some events that would cause PTSD would be assault, abuse, rape, terrorism, war and much more. I ususally come with haunting memories, nightmares, and insomnia. I can occur at any age and most often occur in women. Usually if you have me, you tend to avoid situations similar to the particular event that caused you to be diagnosed with me. Some of my symptoms are heart beating fast, dizziness, being startled easily, feeling dettached, etc. A good treatment for me would be to join a support group and go to therapy.

3-9-12

Memory!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeqSEQa7b_Q&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL5E33987EE15C6D70

Chapter 8 focuses on memory, and again is a topic more easily understood for me because I can relate to it and I see it in my everyday life. We talked about the different types of memory such as sensory, short term, and long term memory. This video is a psychology memory experiment and is similar to the type of activity we did in class. The video shows words presented on the screen for a specific amount of time and viewers are asked to try to remember as many words as possible and when the words disappear, write down the words you remembered. This type of memory is short term memory because you have to keep the information in your brain only for as specific amount of time and then you can spit out the information and then dispose of it. Another example of using your short term memory would be remembering the digits of a phone number and reciting it in your head until you dial the number on your phone; releasing the information. Short term memory information is usually unable to be remembered just minutes after getting the information out of your head or after you have stopped rehearsing.

3-2-12

Classical Conditioning!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guroaQRFsX4

By far this was my favorite chapter in Psych and a concept that I find easy to grasp! I find it fun to be able to know how to classical condition someone because their reactions are so interesting and fun. I chose this video of an episode of the Big Bang Theory to represent one of the topics from class this week. In the video, sheldon is using operant conditioning penny by using positive reinforcement. He is rewarding her (giving her chocolates) everytime she does something good (acceptable behavior to him)

Reaction to PSA: 2/20/12

My favorite PSA that we viewed in class was the PSA of Erin, Shelby, Jayme, Katie and Elise. Not only were they able to get the point that was required across, but they also kept the audience entertained while doing so. Though it was long, they did a nice job of taking advantage of all of their time by teaching the core aspects of the development through Psychology that we have been learning in class. For every location in Ashwaubenon that they promoted, they explained how it would have the development of people and why we should choose to go to that spot. They also incorporated many key terms that we talked about as well. Not just Piaget's theories of development. This served as a nice review to all of the subjects we talked about previously. Their PSA made me feel like i truly wanted to move to a wonderful location such as Ashwaubenon.

2-17-12

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5MudJ7yxkE&feature=related

This week the topic I found to be most interesting is attachment. Between the reading and listening to guest speakers talk about Harlow and his monkey experiment, i found the subject to be enjoyable. It was cool to see the different stages of attachment and how children are automatically attached to their parents from such a young age. In this video, the strong attachment from mother to child is shown. The child is only comfortable playing with her toys while her mother is present and it is just the two of them. As soon as a stranger enters the room, the child is no longer at ease. The child does not interact well and is frightened. I always knew children had a certain attachment to parents I just never knew it was this strong.

Ice Cube Addicition

I found it to be difficult to lie to my parents and friends. One day at lunch my friends asked me what the bracelet was for and i replied with, "Dont worry about it, i cant tell you." They were quite offended that i did not tell them what it was for and i think they were slightly worried about what it was. I can definately see how a real addiction can affect relationships with loved ones. I dont know how people could lie like that all the time, i found it difficult to do for just 48 hours.
It suprised me how into the experiment i got. I found it fun to try to obtain ice cubes wherever i was. It was also fun to go to "the ice cube dealers" It was hard to constantly try to hide the ice cubes and the bracelet from other people. i felt like no matter what i did they still saw or "knew" what i was doing or even i felt like they were judging me.
I dont think my parents or my friends noticed a big change in my behavior. At some points when i was trying to obtain the ice cubes i probably seemed a little sketchy and they could have detected a change. However, overall i'm sure that they were not suspicious of anything. I understand how some parents may be shocked when they find out about their children being addicts. If they could hide it well enough, their parents would not be wondering about their actions.

Cognitive Difference in Generations

People used to do their cognitive thinking through their minds alone. Nowadays we rely on much more to "think" for us. With the technology increasing constantly it is estimated that cognitive thinking used to better than it is today.

2-3-12

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1200958/Girl-born-half-brain-person-world-fields-vision-eye.html

In this article, it talks about how a young girl was born with only half a brain. It covers the topic of plasticity. This week, i found the plasticity to be the most interesting topic by far. I was unaware of how the brain was able to adapt to differnent changes and even survive by only having one hemisphere. The video shown in class about the girl who had one part of her brain removed due to seizures interested me greatly. The thought that the brain could alter to any change amazes me.

Week of 1/23/12- 1/27/12 Blog

This week one of the topics we covered in class was learning about the measures of central tendency. Including the mean, median, mode, range, and standard deviation. These measures are important for analyzing your results after conducting a research method. It is essential to know what exactly your data means. In most cases, you will want to know the average of the results you have collected. I found the following video on youtube. It is a series of mini rap songs that help to ingrave into your brain what each of the measures of central tendency is and what it is used for. It is very catchy if you listen to it enough!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jVZi0cNHls

Blog #1

I expect this course to be harder than any other course I have taken so far. This is my very first AP class and my only that I will be taking in High School. Compared to my classes this term, it will be tough but it is also my top class that I am interested in the subject. I look forward to being able to learn more about psychology in depth and to find answers to questions that I have always had. I am most excited to learn about our personalities and about all the different psychological disorders. I believe I will truly enjoy this class and I will get a lot out of it if I put the time into it and work as hard as I can!


Weekly Blogging Assignment:  Prologue and Chapter 1

http://allpsych.com/timeline.html

One of the most helpful topics I took out of the Prologue and Chapter 1 was the information on how psychology started and who came up with all the different theories. This served as a refresher of what I had previously learned in Psychology. It helped me remember some of what I already knew and served as a basis of everything I will learn in the future. This article that I found is a timeline of the dates and people that had an impact on the history of psychology. Re-reading these segments helped trigger my mind to think psychologically. The article helped be get a foundation of what is to come!