freshcutz4less:

This video shows and explains the different stages of sleeping. They cycle through several cycles in one night, from the four stages of NREM sleep to periods of REM. This one of the best videos I could find that breaks down and explains the different stages of sleeping from Non-REM Sleep to REM Sleep. I chose this video because it breaks down the different stages of sleep for the viewer to better understand what the different stages are and what they involve. The video also describes the exact topic we discussed in class. The different stages of sleep that a person goes through from consciousness to being unconscious.

According to the book the definitions for NREM and REM is as follows:
 1) Non-REM (NREM) sleep- Sleep stages 1,2,3,and 4; they are accompanied by gradually slower and deeper breathing, a calm and regular heartbeat, reduced blood pressure, and slower brain waves. (Stages 3 and 4 are called slow-wave sleep.)

2) Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep- A stage of sleep in which brain activity and other functions resemble the waking state but that is accompanied by rapid eye movement and virtual muscle paralysis.

Topic: (Module 12, Consciousness: Stages of Sleep)

glennreeves:

This picture is a wheel that depicts the eight different kinds of intelligence which produce a high level of skill in your life.  It is sometimes defined as something that you have a “knack” for.  I posted this picture because I just thought it was a good illustration of the kinds of intelligence and their respective areas of skill.  Once again, this deals with how the brain works, and for these phases of intelligence, it tells us that some areas may be more present in some than others.  This is how I relate it to the science of psychology.  I will briefly explain each kind of inteeligence, and it turn, which skill it affects.  Musical intelleigence pertains to skills involving music or the understanding of music.  Bodily kinesthetic intelligence involves skills in using the whole body or various portions of it in the solution of problems or in the construction of products or displays.  This is most involved in the lives of dancers, athletes, actors, etc.  Logical-mathematical talks about skills in problem solving and scientific thinking.  Lingusitic intelligence is about skills involved in the production and use of language.  Spatial intelligence talks about skills involving spatial configurations, used mostly by artists and architects.  Interpersonal and intrapersonal are similar, but just differ in dealing with yourself  and you feelings as opposed to others.  Finally, naturalist intelligence is the ability to identify and classify patterns in nature.  [Intelligence, module 23]

newphilosopherbreed:

This is a picture of the Hierarchy of Emotions. This diagram attempts to fit emotions into linguistic category’s to make them easier to discuss, contemplate, and experience. most researchers suggests that the basic emotions are happiness, anger, fear, sadness, and disgust. I posted this picture to show waht the majority of people think emotions are categorized. Although a problem arises when someone puts into account cross cultural differences; such as shadenfreude for the German’s and Hagaii for the Japanese. 

This picture reminds me of the Structuring Personality topic. The Dark would represent the id part of our personality. The Light would represent the ego and superego parts of our personality.

Structuring Personality: Id, Ego, and Superego, Module 31

I know some people may think it’s a bit weird, but I consider myself sapiosexual. A sapiosexual is simply one who finds intelligence the most sexually attractive feature.

For me attraction always starts with the mind. So I’m attracted to women that are intellectual and articulate. I have always been attracted to intelligent women, looks aren’t near as important. One thing I love is to be able to carry on an intelligent conversation; not saying that she has to be a genius.

Physical attraction has never been a stumbling block for me. I like to give people time to show me who they really are, and that’s what is ultimately attractive to me – their minds. Because what’s in their heads shows you what is in their hearts.

A woman with intelligence is more physically attractive to me. There is nothing worse than spending time with a “bimbo”, no matter how physically beautiful, when she has nothing to say.

I thought that this video was very funny, but it addresses a serious problem. The video is addressing black on black racism. It is typical for one black person to accuse another for being white or less black because they carry themselves in certain way.

African-Americans can be racist within themselves. Scorning educated men and women because they’re “acting white”. Skin color doesn’t decide someone’s intelligence or potential. If African-Americans really want to stop racism against them, they should start with themselves. It really annoys me when African-Americans prove their stereotype. 

Racism on the whole is a very serious problem, but it especially saddens me as a black male to see us discriminating among each other. I’ve experienced it personally many times. Sometimes because of the way I’m dressed or the things I’m interesting in; sometimes it has absolutely nothing to do with my appearance or personality, like the fact that I went to private schools all my life.

Violent Video Games Alter Brain Function in Young Men

Sustained changes in the region of the brain associated with cognitive function and emotional control were found in young adult men after one week of playing violent video games, according to study results presented by Indiana University School of Medicine researchers at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.

For the study, 28 healthy adult males, age 18 to 29, with low past exposure to violent video games were randomly assigned to two groups of 14. Members of the first group were instructed to play a shooting video game for 10 hours at home for one week and refrain from playing the following week. The second group did not play a video game at all during the two-week period.

The results showed that after one week of violent game play, the video game group members showed less activation in the left inferior frontal lobe during the emotional Stroop task and less activation in the anterior cingulate cortex during the counting Stroop task, compared to their baseline results and the results of the control group after one week. After the video game group refrained from game play for an additional week, the changes to the executive regions of the brain returned closer to the control group. Stroop task tests an individual’s ability to control cognitive flexibility and attention.

(Topic: Current Research in Psychology)

Images of prisoners’ brains show important differences between those who are diagnosed as psychopaths and those who aren’t, according to a new study led by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers. This study found reduced connectivity between an area of prefrontal cortex (PFC, red) and the amygdala (blue). The white matter pathway connecting the two structures (the uncinate fasciculus) is shown in green.

The results could help explain the callous and impulsive antisocial behavior exhibited by some psychopaths.

The study showed that psychopaths have reduced connections between the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), the part of the brain responsible for sentiments such as empathy and guilt, and the amygdala, which mediates fear and anxiety.

(Topic: Current Research In Psychology)

Maslow’s hierarchy shows how our motivation progresses up the pyramid from the broadest, most fundamental biological needs to the higher-order ones.

The Five Needs:

1. Physiological needs are to do with the maintenance of the human body. If we are unwell, then little else matters until we recover.

2. Safety needs are about putting a roof over our heads and keeping us from harm. If we are rich, strong and powerful, or have good friends, we can make ourselves safe.

3. Belonging needs introduce our tribal nature. If we are helpful and kind to others they will want us as friends.

4. Esteem needs are for a higher position within a group. If people respect us, we have greater power.

5. Self-actualization needs are to become all that we are capable of becoming, which would our greatest achievement; self-actualization.

(Topic: Maslow’s Hierarchy - Ordering Motivational Needs, Module 24)

Stage 1 Sleep

Stage 1 is the beginning of the sleep cycle, and is a relatively light stage of sleep. Stage 1 can be considered a transition period between wakefulness and sleep. In Stage 1, the brain produces high amplitude theta waves, which are very slow brain waves. This period of sleep lasts only a brief time (around 5-10 minutes). If you awaken someone during this stage, they might report that they weren’t really asleep.

Stage 2 Sleep

Stage 2 is the second stage of sleep and lasts for approximately 20 minutes. The brain begins to produce bursts of rapid, rhythmic brain wave activity known as sleep spindles. Body temperature starts to decrease and heart rate begins to slow.

Stage 3 Sleep 

Deep, slow brain waves known as delta waves begin to emerge during stage 3 sleep. Stage 3 is a transitional period between light sleep and a very deep sleep.

Stage 4 Sleep

Stage 4 is sometimes referred to as delta sleep because of the slow brain waves known as delta waves that occur during this time. Stage 4 is a deep sleep that lasts for approximately 30 minutes. Bed-wetting and sleepwalking are most likely to occur at the end of stage 4 sleep.

REM Sleep

Most dreaming occurs during the fifth stage of sleep, known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. REM sleep is characterized by eye movement, increased respiration rate and increased brain activity. REM sleep is also referred to as paradoxical sleep because while the brain and other body systems become more active, muscles become more relaxed. Dreaming occurs due because of increased brain activity, but voluntary muscles become paralyzed.

(Topic: The Stages of Sleep, Module 12)

In a projective personality test a person is shown an ambiguous stimulus and asked to describe it or tell a story about it. The responses are considered to be “projections” of the individual’s personality.

The most common type of projective personality test is the Rorschach test. Rorschach test is a test that involves showing a series of symmetrical visual stimuli to people who then are asked what they figures represent to them. Their responses are recorded, and people are classified by their personality type through a complex set of clinical judgments on the part of the examiner.

I thought it was interesting how the group Gnarls Barkley incorporated the Rorschach inkblot test into their music video for the song “Crazy”. Animated, mirrored inkblots morph into another, while taking on ambiguous shapes. It also plays on the theme of the song which is “crazy”, as they state, “I remember when I lost my mind.” The Rorschach test is usually associated with people that society considers “crazy”; so I think that it was interesting to see them incorporate it into their video.

(Topic: Rorschach Test, Module 33)

Structuring Personality: Id, Ego, and Superego

Id, ego and super-ego are the three parts of the psychic apparatus defined in Sigmund Freud’s structural model of the psyche; they are the three theoretical constructs in terms of whose activity and interaction mental life is described. According to this model of the psyche, the id is the set of uncoordinated instinctual trends; the ego is the part of the personality that provides a buffer between the id and the outside world; and the super-ego represents the rights and wrongs of society as handed down by a person’s parents, teachers, and other important figures.

Even though the model is structural and makes reference to an apparatus, the id, ego and super-ego are functions of the mind rather than parts of the brain and do not correspond one-to-one with actual somatic structures of the kind dealt with by neuroscience.

The second pictures gives a real life explain of how the id, ego and superego operate in real life. The example uses a college student who has to decide what she wants to do with her time while exams are approaching. The id only want to socialize and do no revision, the superego would only want to revise with no time for rest or relaxation, and the ego would want to revise with a realist time-table.

Structuring Personality: Id, Ego, and Superego, Module 31

What is self-esteem? Self-esteem is how we value ourselves; it is how we perceive our value to the world and how valuable we think we are to others. Self-esteem affects our trust in others, our relationships, our work – nearly every part of our lives. Positive self-esteem gives us the strength and flexibility to take charge of our lives and grow from our mistakes without the fear of rejection.

The cat in the picture represents high self-esteem. It shows that when it comes to having high self-esteem it really does not matter what people think about you, or how they see you, what is important is how you view yourself, that is what determines your level of self-esteem.

Following are some outward signs of positive self-esteem:

• Confidence

• Self-direction

• Non-blaming behavior

• An awareness of personal strengths

• An ability to make mistakes and learn from them

• An ability to accept mistakes from others

• Optimism

• An ability to solve problems

• An independent and cooperative attitude

• Feeling comfortable with a wide range of emotions

• An ability to trust others

• A good sense of personal limitations

• Good self-care

• The ability to say no

What is low self-esteem? Low self-esteem is a debilitating condition that keeps individuals from realizing their full potential. A person with low self-esteem often feels unworthy, incapable, and incompetent. In fact, because the person with low self-esteem feels so poorly about him or herself, these feelings may actually cause the person’s continued low self-esteem.

Here are some signs of low self-esteem:

• Negative view of life

• Perfectionist attitude

• Mistrusting others – even those who show signs of affection

• Blaming behavior

• Fear of taking risks

• Feelings of being unloved and unlovable

• Dependence – letting others make decisions

• Fear of being ridiculed

Self-esteem, Module 32

In the clip the popular tv sitcom ‘The Big Bang Theory’ shows us an example of operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is a form of psychological learning during which an individual modifies the occurrence and form of its own behavior due to the association of the behavior with a stimulus. Operant conditioning is distinguished from classical conditioning in that operant conditioning deals with the modification of voluntary or operant behavior. In operant conditioning a voluntary response is strengthened or weakened, depending on its favorable or unfavorable consequences.

In the clip the character Sheldon uses chocolates as a positive reinforcer on the character Penny to encourage what he considers to be correct behavior. Reinforcement is the process by which a stimulus increases the probability that a preceding behavior will be repeated. Like in the clip with the use of chocolate, we can see that a reinforcer is any stimulus that increases the probability that a preceding behavior will occur again.

Operant Conditioning, Module 16