Chapter 7 Entry

     When I was younger, my sister used to be afraid of lightning.  Whenever we would ride in the car in the middle of a thunderstorm, she would always cover her eyes and crouch down in the seat.  This same response happened with every flash of lightning.  When analyzing this situation, I realized that the lightning is not what was scaring her.  It was the loud booming thunder that followed right after the flashes of light.  She was so used to the thunder coming right afterward, that she considered it to be all together. 

     After reading Chapter 7, I realized that she didn’t really have a dramatic fear, but she was just conditioned.  In classical conditioning, a person learns to associate two stimuli with a response.  In the case of my sister, the two stimuli were the lightning and thunder. The neutral stimulus, which happened to be the lightning, originally has no response before conditioning.  (If she was really afraid of lightning, she would jump at the flick of every light switch.)  The unconditioned stimulus which, was the thunder, is a stimulus that naturally causes a response.  This response, also known as the unconditioned response, would be my sister’s flinching and covering her eyes.  The conditioning process happens when the unconditioned stimulus immediately follows the neutral stimulus repeatedly.  This creates the conditioned response to the now conditioned stimulus.  In this case, my sister would automatically flinch when she saw the lightning.  My sister’s conditioning wasn’t permanent and she eventually grew out of it over time.

Chapter 6 Entry

     Since I was younger, I have been fascinated with illusions and how they play tricks on the mind. I remember when I was younger, illusions used to come on the back of the cereal box.  I would be able to look at them and figure out the trick within a few minutes. But I remember an illusion that truly stumped me.  This one illusion in particular, was of an old lady and a younger woman. At the time, I could only see the old lady.  I thought that she looked quite comical and that is what stuck out to me at first.  I went to show my older sister what I thought was just a funny picture, but she could not see it. Instead, she said that she saw a younger woman looking away and a feather on her head.  We both became confused because we didn’t see the difference in the picture.  So to finally solve the issue, we outlined what we saw with a pencil.  After much staring, I was finally able to see the mysterious younger woman that sister saw!  I wondered why was it so hard for me to see the past the older lady.

     In Chapter 6, they discussed sensation and perception.  The chapter went into detail on how our sensory and perceptual processes work together to help us sort out complex images, much like the mysterious picture of the two ladies. In the book, there was a similar image that contained hidden faces, but you were only able to see them depending on the way you perceived the image.  For me, I first saw the older lady because I thought that it was funny.  After seeing that image first, it was harder to see anything past it.  Therefore, I constructed my perception based on my senses of the comical image.

Chapter 5 Entry

     I am reminded of a time when my cousin would come down from Pennsylvania to spend the summer with us.  At the time, he was around six years old and always looked for some type of adventure.  He would often want to play the video game the same time that I was playing.  Since I was younger, I was really passionate about my video games and didn’t want anyone else to mess-up my progress.  So I came up with the strategy of hooking up a second controller to the game console so that he may “play” as well.  What he didn’t know was that the controller was defective and did not work.  At the time, just saw that it was plugged in, and the next step was to have fun.  I was able to get away with this strategy for the whole summer!  I considered it a win-win situation: we were both able to play the video game and have fun.

     The next summer, he came down to visit us again.  And without surprise, we still had the same video game dilemma.  I was still at the age of being selfish with my video games, so I tried my strategy with faulty controller again.  For the first couple of days, everything went smoothly. After awhile, he began to realize that something was different about playing the game.  One day while in the middle of playing the game, he completely stopped and put the controller down.  As he looked at the television and saw that the game was still continuing as I tapped away on my controller. He realized that he was not controlling the game! I began to wonder what allowed him to see the difference in playing the game from the previous summer.

     This answer was explained when I read Chapter 5.  When he visited at the age of six, he was still in the preoperational stage. This meant that he had perceived the getting the controller meant that he could play automatically the game.  The controller was associated with fun! When he came back at the age of seven, he had developed more cognitively and was now in the concrete operational stage. He was able to see that although he received a controller, that did not mean it worked.  He had gained the ability of problem solving and checking things to see if they actually worked.  This is what probably caused him to suddenly pause to check and see if it was actually working.  I find it amazing how the mind works and how fast if constantly changes!

Chaper 4 Entry

     Reading and analyzing Chapter 4 really exposed me to cultural and gender differences and how they have an effect on a society.  Before reading the chapters, I watched a video that allowed me to see how effective a culture may have on an individual.  In the video, an experiment was conducted that explained the gender differences in sexuality.  During the experiment, when men were approached by a stranger they were more likely to sleep with the stranger as opposed to women who were asked the same question.  I often wonder how things, such as the results from this experiment, turn out this way and what makes this acceptable in our culture.  Why would it be viewed as “cool” for men to sleep with strangers but women are perceived as a “whore” when doing do the same act? One double standard that I find amusing is women and men at the movies.  When women cry at the movies, people may find this sweet and endearing.  But if a man sheds a tear during a movie, he is viewed as soft and not as manly. He may have to cover it up by saying something like, “Something was in my eye” or “It takes a real man to cry during Bambi.” But where do things derive? 

     Our society often conforms to things such as this.  They derive from existing beliefs, traditions, and attitudes that are passed down within a culture from generation to generation.  Depending on the culture, certain things are looked down upon which results in certain behavior among individuals.  We often adapt to the customs of a culture and live by what’s acceptable and what’s not. For example, in the book is stated how in Arab societies, heterosexual men often greet one another with a kiss. In America, and other Western countries, this act would not be easily accepted and viewed as homosexual.  Many things are also portrayed all over the media that makes certain this acceptable to individuals.  Many music videos and “reality” television shows show men in a dominant position which basically allows the culture to adapt to what they are exposed to.  But what will happen if a culture is exposed to limited things that will not allow them to form cultural and gender double standards? Would this be possible?

Chapter 3 Entry

     In Chapter 3, one of the topics we discussed was dreams.  Since I was younger, I have always been fascinated by and their meaning in life.  I have come across different theories about dreams and their significance.  One of the theories that I remembered was by Sigmund Freud who believed that dreams served to gratify unconscious wishes and longings.  I always found this theory interesting but not always correct. Thinking back on some of my previous dreams, I felt like the dreams were displaying some sort of message, as opposed to some type of longing which is stated in Freud's theory.

     For example, I remember having a dream that took place on a farm, which is not similar to where I currently live.  As I was walking towards the farm, I noticed that a tornado was coming to destroy the house. I tried to run away, but I could not move. It was as if I was in shock! As the tornado destroyed the house, it began to advance toward my direction. Fearing for my life, I still was not able to budge.  As the tornado got, closer and closer, I began to scream and then finally woke up!

     It was the first time I had ever experienced a dream like that.  What made it more interesting was that there was a hurricane the night before.  We also had to evacuate because a huge tree fell on our house and we had to evacuate. When thinking of Freud's theory, I do not see how this dream was displaying some type of unconscious wish or longing. I always felt as if there was some type of correlation or message to that dream and the events that had took place day.

Chapter 2 Entry

     When thinking of the brain, we often underestimate the power and the abilities that the brain carries out on a daily basis.  After reading Chapter 2, I got a better understanding of the brain and its functions. Everything that we do is processed through the brain! I am reminded of a time that I did community service at Volunteer Farms with a campus ministry that I am apart of.  Thinking back on the events of that day, I am reminded of how the brain carried out its many functions.  

             

     Being out in the heat, we became a little hot due to the sun beaming down on us.  We were aware of this temperature increase due to the hypothalamus, which is located in the limbic system and regulates body maintenance. It lets us know when we are hot, cold, hungry, etc.  The motor cortex, which controls the voluntary movements, allowed me to do all of the hard work which consisted of picking the produce and hauling it back to the farm. While walking in the field, I accidentally stepped on a few tomatoes and I could feel the mushiness under my foot.  This sensation came from the sensory cortex which processes body touch and movement sensations.  The sensory cortex also came into play when I would hold the tomato in my hand and touch its smooth surface. My visual cortex allowed me to process all of the striking sights from nature’s beauty.  Just knowing that all of the sights and smells came from different parts for the brain is pretty amazing.  The brain is way more the just a big piece of tissue located in our head; it is what allows us to carry out our daily functions to survive!