Week 6

What a rather quick semester. And psychology is just rolling off the plate. This class is something I would call...interesting. Of course in a good way. I took this class because majoring in psychology was one of my ideas, and I wanted to see what "goodies" Psych had. I guess what I like about this class is that something seems to be happening and "mind games" are apparent everywhere. My favorite project was probably the senses project since I got to do numerous things like spin around and walk the line like a drunk person, and eat good cookies! What I didn't like about the class was the work given when a sub was present. That work totally blows, and I feel that nothing really came out of it.
I think leaving out that whole super old AP test analysis should be taken out. That took forever to attempt to complete. Also, leaving out that one sub who refused to resort to common sense during our senses projects and listen to the authority of a teacher and totally messed up the schedule couldn't hurt either(I'm aware that's a run-on sentence?). Since I'm not taking Eco YET, I really don't know what to suggest.

Psych was a fun class, and I learned a nice chunk of information. Thanks for the experience Mrs.Halfen! See ya around everyone in my class!

EDIT: After reading other's blogs, I just have to say some more haha. THE VIDEOS. KEEP THE VIDEOS. The one on the solitary confinement was my favorite. Watching people go nuts is better than anything else! Then comes the "repeated". The stepping through the sections was too intense, although I do appreciate having a chance at extra credit. In addition, the short semester totally blows, and I think you should push to making it a year long!

Week 5

So this week, I'll be discussing brain training programs and fluid intelligence! So according to www.pnas.org, fluid intelligence is "the ability to reason and to solve new problems independently of previously acquired knowledge." The idea is that people take brain training tests, their fluid intelligence will increase or at the very least, slow the decline of mental processing from aging. It seems logical since it is known that elderly people who continue to provide themselves with brain activities become less susceptible to reduction in mental processing. If it works for them, why not me? Apparently, this is not the case completely. There is no exact proof that participating in brain training activities can actually improve our fluid intelligence and that it can actually get better without practice. However, it is said that our brain can still be trained and grow. However, this is by a certain method. Even though there is no solid evidence, it really can't harm you. The only thing it does if it doesn't work is use up some of "your time and a few bucks." What's to lose? Plus, some of the activities can be fine when you're really bored hehehe...

So ultimately, there is no proof that 4hours playing Brain Age infront of the TV on your brand new Wii will enhance your fluid intelligence.

Week 4

So...who am I? Time to find out...according to freaky tests that are suppose to tell you who you are o.O YAS!

First test! The Jung Typology Test:

ENTJ. Extraverted: 89, Intuitive: 12, Thinking: 1, Judging: 11

You are:
very expressed extravert
slightly expressed intuitive personality
slightly expressed thinking personality
slightly expressed judging personality

Hmm... I guess sometimes I can be very expressed. Intuitive...now I like that. If it isn't 2nd, then I'd be surprised. HAHAHA ABOUT MY THINKING SKILLS. I suppose that's true sometimes. And judging...I guess I judge more than I think.

2nd!

Understand yourself

Openness To Experience: Imaginitive, Broad ideas, Open to New experiences. Defintely! Score:73

Conscientiousness: Responsible, well-organized. Defintely responsible, not so much well-organized. Score: 67

Agreeableness: compassionate, good-natured, and eager to cooperate and avoid conflict. I guess this goes into my tactical senses. Works for me! ScorE: 61

Extraversion: The SOCIAL sideee. What a nice drop down from the first test haha. Score: 51

Neuroticism: How emo we are/get at certain things. That's right everyone, I'm a positive person! Score: 24 (the lower the better I suppose unless you like to be emotional...)

3rddd

Big Five IPIP Style

Expressive Style: 4.00 - You probably prefer to interact with other people, meet new people, and feel as though you are more energetic than others. alrightt!

Interpersonal Style: 3.70 - You probably hate conflict and rejection and make it a point to treat others with love, compassion, and respect. I don't like conflict. Love and compassion...in joking around! Respect I suppose.

Work Style: 2.90 - achievement oriented but make sure to take time out for an earned break. HECK YEAH!

Emotional Style: 4.00 - tend to handle pressure and tension well. Yup, awesomeness.

Intellectual Style: 4.10 - resist orders, and prefer to break new ground and challenge tradition at every turn. Maybe not at every turn but I do do it!

Crime and Criminals:

extraversion = 3.75 - Well this is lower than usual o.O

agreeableness = 3.22 - This one too...

conscientiousness = 2.78 - Really now... I think I control myself better than this.

neuroticism = 2.25 - Well that's good!

openness = 4.20 - Alright, I'm an open person...kind of.

Lastly, the Attractive Test

The Results:  

•I prefer "nice" girls haha.

•Seductiveness is average

•Cheerfulness is my highest. Happy, fun-loving, and upbeat are my thing I guess

•Intelligence: A little above average

•Trendy: A little above average.

That about sums me up accurately...I hope haha. 

Now to discuss the tests. The Jung Typology Test appears to be the most reliable due to it's "YES NO" questions which prompts a question where one can be one or the other. Of course there could be a problem if some answers are actually a maybe . The Understand Yourself test prompts questions and rating them from one to nine. This is tedious and more complex with 9 choices to choose from and some questions are asked more than once, thus the validity of this test may be lower than some of the others. The Big Five test follows a similar format as the Personality Lab tests, however they prompt only 5 choices to choose from. Since I'm a fan of the more fewer, the more accurate concept, I find this test more accurate than the questions with more than 5 choices. This includes the Explain your Brain tests that are almost the same as the Personality Lab tests. Overall, I'd conclude that the most reliable would be the Jung Typology Test, which is the one I'd believe the most in.

Week 3

Ello Bella,

College life is pretty tough. Bunch of projects, friends, all that happy fun stuff. I just hate it when people don't follow the rules. The rules are there to be followed! Why do people break them?! And why are people always late to meetings? If you schedule something, you should be inclined to be there at that specified time! Everything is so unperfect and unorganized? Why? It just makes me mad. I have a project to do, but I just can't get this one part of it right. It has to be perfect to be worthy! It angers me sometimes when colleagues ask me out to a group dinner when it is clear that we have a lot of work to do instead of procrastinating. Why don't the notice it? I was digging through some boxes since my room needs to be perfect and I found a really old Transformer toy that I can't just discard. I think I'll hold on to it for a while. A long while. I hate working in groups where noone wants to follow your mindset! I mean I've come up with the perfect idea and people want to make it better? You can't make something perfect better! Groups suck. Financially, I'm growing. I know that one day when the world markets begin to crash, all that money I saved will help big time. No one beats me! I just can't overcome my anger when people insist that they are right when they aren't! All the time, I always have the right answer but people think otherwise. I don't care if you call me stubborn, I'm right! How can the world ever be perfect?

-Steven Fu

NOTE: This is not how I think or act on a normal basis. Infact, this point of view frightens me. So don't think I'm some crazy wack okay? :)

Week 2

This week's post is about diagnosing realistic patients with anxiety disorders. What fun.

Case Study 10: A 36-year-old man and his young son were driving through an intersection when another car ran through a red traffic light and struck them. The two were trapped in the car until a fire department rescue team freed them. The patient was bruised but not seriously hurt. His son had a broken leg. The first few days after the accident the patient was preoccupied with arranging care for his son and getting the car repaired. A few days later he began having recurrent distressing thoughts and images of the accident. Theses symptoms lasted for several weeks. The memory of his son’s screams after the car was struck seemed particularly vivid. The patient became irritable, had difficulty concentrating, and avoided talking about the accident. He went out of his way to avoid driving down the street where the accident occurred. As time went on he could no longer remember whether the traffic light was red or green when he approached it.

This patient is suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It is recommended that the patient should seek mental health professionals who specialize in the treatment of trauma and PTSD or local mental health clinics, psychiatric hospitals, or counseling centers for therapy (Be sure to trust the therapist or else PSTD can become worse and the therapy will not work).

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a disorder that causes anxiety, reexperience, and avoidance of things that connect with the traumatic event. The patient has recalled the event through images and thoughts, particularly his son's screams. He started to become agitated and avoided talking about the incident. The patient even stayed away from the street that the crash happened on. All of these symptoms have lasted for at least a month. These all connect to the symptoms of a person suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

Summary: If you or someone you know is experiencing anxiety, recalling the event, and avoiding the thought of the accident, they may have PTSD and should be treated as soon as possible by a trusted PTSD therapist.

Week 1

Edgar Allen Poe is famous for his literature full of "interesting" genres. Poe was born on January 19, 1809 and was taken in by John and Frances Allan after his parents died when he was young. He is considered to have taken part in the American Romantic Movement. He is also the first well-known writer who tried to make a living off writing alone. Poe's works influenced literature in the United States and around the world. Inspiring as he is, Poe suffered from bipolar disease which effected his literary works known today.

Sufferers of bipolar disorder commonly suffer from episodes of depression. Poe's life was depressing from age 2 when his father abandoned his family and his mother's death soon after. Even though he was taken care of well by the Allans, he was never really adopted making him somewhat of an outcast. With the death of his young wife and cousin, Poe began to write what is ironically called "tragically beautiful". His episodes of mood swings often gave him wild imaginations which show in his works. Before his death, he was found in a crazied state assumed from mixed episodes of bipolar disease. 

Bipolar disease is a pretty freaky disorder in my opinion. It's as if your moods are riding a rollercoaster and can twist and turn into whatever. Anxiety sinks in and you start feeling things like lack of motivation and suicidal ideas. It's kind of scary to picture yourself having this disease. With depression, agression, fatigue, insomnia, rage, and delusions, I'm definetly glad that I don't have this disorder. I would think that the disorder actually reinforced Poe's writings and is what made his works what they are today.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe

http://gstrecker.iweb.bsu.edu/poepoetry.htm

http://www.emedicinehealth.com/bipolar_disorder/article_em.htm