Brain & Behavior

So we had to go to this website: http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/playground/ and do four activities off of it. This entire thing was kind of weird, these activities didn't really make any sense. But i did do 4 of them:

1) The first one i did was called "The Game of Life". It gave you a bunch of circles in a block and you just had to click on these circles and make weird shapes with it. So i made a design in the circles and then you can click on either, 1 time step or 10 time step and it will change. Totally didn't make sense.

2) The second one i did was called "Hofstadter's Road Sign". All you had to do was insert these bars and it just explained to you what you were suppose to see when you looked at this thing. It showed you some spots on a black back round. And these dots blinked, moved and changed colors. It has something to do with perception.

3) The third one i did was "Ambiguous Figures". This one was kind of cool. Its like one of those posters where you look at it and you obviously see one thing, and then you keep looking at it but sort of look at it in a different direction, and you see something else. Its kind of neat when you think about it. Its like a 2 in one artwork.

4) The fourth one i did was called "The Prisoner's Dilemma" It was sort of fun. You could choose to either compete or cooperate. And its like you are playing against somebody and flipping these coins. I don't know exactly how, but i won i guess.

These activities were really no fun. They were really hard to understand. Or maybe its just because it makes you use your brain. Who knows.

I didn't really learn anything from these activities. It was more in the directions and how to do it that gets you to think about what you can actually learn from it. But you can use them in everyday life because they can really give you different morals.

This doesn't really change the way i see things in the world. But some people i guess may notice that it makes the way you look at things differently. Or see things in a new prospective. There are ways that you have to think when you do these activities that would help you use your mind in a way that you normally don't.

One thing that i learned in this chapter is that there are different parts of your brain that do differnt things. And its not all one part. There are different parts that all interact and work together to acomplish one thing. Another thing i learned is that one part of the brain, the thalamus is the part of your brain that works with the senses that you have such as smell, hearing, and taste. The third thing that i learned is that i didn't know that the brain was connected to the vertebre. The last thing i learned is that the brain has two parts, two differnt hemispheres. I thought that was interesting.

The way that i learned the brain works by reading this chapter is alot differnt than the way i looked at it before just because of the way it works. How there is so many differnt parts of it that all have different functions and jobs. And now i see that the way you percive information is different than i had thought before reading this chapter.

I haven't read the articale about the man with 2 brains or watched the video yet, so i suppose i will have a different blog about that. Sounds very interesting without even watching it yet. 2 brains? What? How weird.

What Is The Importance Of Research?

Research is very important, all the time! If you were doing your homework and you didn't know the answer? Would you just fill in the blank with something stupid? Or would you actually take the time and look through the book, or go online and try to figure it out? Think about it. We use research all the time. It is very important because we need to get the facts straight about stuff before we can actually say that we know about it. You don't get an A in a class by not researching. Its extremely important. *One example of research would be on that psyblog website. Where they are talking about slouching. They don't just come up with something like that and make up a whole bunch of crap about it. They research and do polls and surveys to get the information. The slouching one is very related to my life because i slouch all the time, at school, even right now. And learning about it and realizing that it makes me look like a slob makes you think a little more. I did research and learned allot about slouching, research and you can find out about a slug. Its good, and its important, it helps you in every day situations. *One thing i learned in this article was that slouching lowers your self esteem and lowers your confidence level. Also that slouching, even though it may be comfortable, it hurts your back in the long run. One more thing i learned, slouching makes you think negative about yourself and really makes you feel no good. Whereas if you were sitting up straight you would feel better about yourself. All of these are important. Maybe one day i will listen to this advice and stop slouching.

Prologue ?'s and Answers

Here are my Q's and A's for the prologue.
Q : Does it have to do with psycology that we have routines like; making our bed in the morning or doing the dishes after dinner?
A: I believe that it just has to do with what we were taught when we were younger, like it worked for our ancestors, so it will work for us too. That type of thing, not because we do it to do it, it's not like it's fun anyway.

Q: Who is your favorite psycologist; just by what you read in ch 1 and the prologue?
A: William James; because, he was kind of a sick man, he suffered from depression and got sick often, but still had the guts to keep up with what he really wanted to do in life.

Q: When you picture a psycologist, what do you see? A lab jacket and a rat?
A: I see somebody in a really calm colored room sitting in a big comfortable chair waiting to give advice when you think you are all depressed.

Q: Where do you think there would be more psycological problems? In the north? Or down in the core of New Mexico?
A: I think there would be more down in NM. Because there is so many issues that go on down in the south with gangs, killings, robberies, drugs & all the stuff like that. And up here there isn't so many problems, so more people would be more likely to be needing help with their emotions.

Q: What is so huge about the nature-nurture issue?
A: I think it is important to know about this because it is good to know weather you are the way you are because of how you were raised by your parents and the way you were nurtured, but also it's important because it could have to do with nature and the environment that you are in.

The Story of Psycology

I think psycology is a much broader subject than what i had first thought now that i have read chapter 1, because there is so much more than what meets the eye. When i thought of psycology before i read this chapter i just thought it had to do with the mind, and thats it. But now that i have read the proluge and the regular chapter i've seen that there is all sorts of different studies and different parts of psycology that i would have never even thought of before reading this chapter. - I think psycology affects my life alot. I personally have ADHD, and that has alot to do with psycology. It makes me wonder sometimes if it is all in my head. Or if ADHD is an actual disease that you can't help. Learning how your brain works and all about the little deficiencys and stuff with yourself is just amazing. - One thing that i learned was that sleepwalking is not acting out your dreams, i never knew that before and i found it quite interesting. Another thing that i found out while reading this chapter was this statement that they made in the book. "Opposites do not generally attract." I was like whoah, thats a little odd. But it does make sense when you think about it after a while. Thats why there is so many gays and lesbians. Very weird, but also, very interesting.

Sit Up Straight! Be Confident!

Picture I Got Off The Blog

Looks like me! Haha.

Wow, this artical i read was totally the truth. Well i think so anyway. Sure, slouching does make you look very sloppy and make you look like your not paying attention, but i slouch all the time, i still pay attention! Of course like this artical says, that cool kids didn't want to seem like they want to make an effort to pay attention, but you know, i don't know too many people that sit up straight in a perfect posture all the time, it gets very uncomfortable, unless your like the queen of England and have to do it! Even in the bottom of this it says that sitting up straight can hurt your back, and it is proven too! So i disagree with this blog when it says that geeks that pay attention don't slouch, because everybody does. But i do agree with the fact that it can make you feel better about yourself. And of course i agree that it makes you look like your paying attention. But i'm sure if half the kids that used to slouch, started not to now, teachers would think that the kid is hiding something, or something cool like that. Anyway - Great artical! Read it! - http://www.spring.org.uk/2009/09/sit-up-straight-be-confident.php#more-7397

Journey Through The Psycology Of Emotions

Picture From The Blog (WEIRD!)

I just read this blog about your emotions, and the psychology of it. It was pretty cool. It gave you a bunch of other posts on there that give you a whole bunch of information about different emotions towards different things. The one i thought was really cool is number 1. Its called, "Emotional Truth: The Search Starts here". It tells you in there that you have control over your emotions. And you know, i have tried controlling my emotions, it seems impossible, but these people, the philosophers say otherwise. It just gives you a whole load of information about how emotions can be controlled. The coolest thing he said in there was that emotions are like strategies. If you read the whole article, it's actually pretty interesting. I found it on spring.org.uk. The web address for it is : http://spring.org.uk/2006/11/journey-through-psycology-of-emotions.php. - When you get to that site, you can click on the different numbers that give you info. Check it out!

..?

Did it work?

Just for Psyc.

So i guess this is for psyc. I hope it works! :s