Alzheimer's Wpidemic

Personal blog #9: Reflect on The Forgetting and the subject of Alzheimer’s Disease in general. If you have faced this disorder in your family, feel free to discuss what you have observed. Whether you have had first-hand experience or not, explain what you have learned, and share any insights that you have about this tragic disease.

I never really knew much about the Alzheimer's epidemic. This whole film was basically brand new news to me. I understood that it involved bad memory loss but I never really realized the impact it had on the person with the epidemic or the family and friends around the person with the epidemic. I have not known anybody with the Alzheimer's epidemic and actually thought it was very rare since I knew nobody that had it. I feel fortunate since the situations in the film were pretty scary and awful.

Bandura Blog

2. In a few sentences, list any and all specific media or cultural items that your parents or grandparents think are bad influences on you, and explain the impact that these items have had on you if any (i.e. specific types of music, video games, TV, movies, celebrities, specific sites on the internet, etc.)

My parents find the television to be a bad influence on me. They know I am not watching anything productive or something that I can learn from but rather something that is funny or enjoyable instead. They do not think that I should have no joys or have no entertainment to enjoy but they do find the television to be a major waste of time. My mom also finds videogames to be a huge waste of time as well as a bad influence. My dad does not for he enjoys them too. I do not play as much as I used to play for I have realized how much of a waste of time and how unproductive they are. My mom thinks the same way and hates that I do play at all since its just time consuming and I get in grumpy moods when she interrupts me in the middle of playing the games when she needs me to do something.

3. Reflect on the people you have imitated over the course of your life: family members, friends, or people in the media. Who have your “models” been? Identify and describe specific ideas, attitudes, fashions, habits, ways of thinking, behaving, and speaking that you have picked up through observational learning. BE SPECIFIC! Write a paragraph with plenty of examples from your own life.

I have many different models to follow after. For my style and clothes, I am my own model. Nobody wears crazy shorts like I do so I find it to be a self-imposed style. For my personality, I think that I follow mostly after my dad. I think that I have a humor somewhat like his but I can be serious when necessary just like him. The way I talk and use different slang I think would be through my friends. I have been a follower in the sense that I hear people say funny words or use different terms and then I use them myself. I feel that I have come up with my own way of learning and coming up with ideas but that my mom has influenced me as well. I took on math on my own and figured it out my way since nobody in my house is very good at math. My mom did teach me how to study the best way I know. She taught me through note cards and repetition that I pick up information the best. I am influenced by others but I do feel that I have come up with my own ways as well.

Carr

According to Carr, "the Net also provides a high-speed system for delivering responses and rewards- "positive reinforcements," in psychological terms- that encourage the repetition of both physical and mental actions." In what ways does the internet utilize operant conditioning? In what ways does using it every day change the way your mind works? To what extent do you agree with Carr's conclusions?

The internet utilizes operant conditioning by having a relationship between behaviors and reward or punishments for that behavior. By using the internet and clicking on links, there is a reward of receiving a lot of responses. There could be a punishment of receiving links that are useless to what you are searching for. It can change the way your mind works every day by showing a shortcut to research. Instead of having to do lots of research through books, the internet has made everything simpler with a few clicks of the mouse. It makes the mind think that with less work needed to be done, the easier the task of searching for information is.

Learning Style

Personal blog #6/discussion:

Summarize and discuss the results of the three personal learning styles tests you took (open up the PDF files of the results pages). To what extent are these results accurate? Was there anything that surprised you? Do they describe the way you learn accurately? Explain the unique way you learn, and how you can best seize on these strengths. What specific classes, teachers, and kinds of activities have helped you learn in the most effective manner?

All three tests asked somewhat similar questions. From taking these surveys, I am now certain that I am a visual learner. I always thought I was but these tests confirmed it. I did not see much that surprised me. I always knew that I would rather a hands on project instead of a paper and I would rather learn by doing physical activities and not listening to a teacher speak about it. To best seize these activities, I would require more hands on learning. More projects instead of busy work for a project involved me to actually do something whereas busy work and listening is not in my interests. My "Crafts" class last year was probably the best hands on class I will ever take. Everything involved me putting something together or building something. There was no learning other than how to go about different projects but the rest was left to our creativity. I know that it is harder for some teachers to do projects or bring in hands on activities when they teach something like history since it is all factual based. I also learned form the test that I would rather learn facts then theories and ideas since a fact is set in stone and can't change making it easier for me to comprehend. But, history would probably be the worst subject for me. Even though it is a class about facts, it is hard to incorporate hands on activities.

Celebrity Motivation

Personal blog #5 (1st blog of the 4th mp): Compare and contrast the forces that motivate you to the motives of the individuals interviewed in the film. Which individuals were similar to you? Which individuals were different? How did being “born rich” affect their motivations? How do you think your motivations be different if you were “born rich” like them?

Most of the people in the video weren't very motivated at all. Some wanted to be able to make a name for themselves instead of being known as the daughter or son or grandson etc. of somebody with money. But most were not motivated since they had everything they could really want or they could acquire everything they want. The difference between me and them is that I don't have everything I want or a lot of money so I am more self motivated whereas these people have everything done for themselves essentially by their family. So I motivate myself with different things such as going to college or receiving money out of it. I did not feel that I could relate to any of the individuals because most of them were pretty rude people. Being "born rich" affected their motivations by not motivating some of them anymore. Everything was given to them and they are set for life so they have no motivation other than to have fun with it. I think my motivations would be different by I would be going to college to have fun, not so much for an education.

I'm Rich B*!$%

1. Personal Blog #4: Imagine that last week you won the Megabucks lottery last week ($319 million). What would you be motivated to do if money was never going to be a concern? What goals would you work toward? What would drive you? How would you live your life differently?

If I won the lottery last week, I would probably have my own house at the age of 17. I would honestly be motivated to do nothing but purchase nice things. I would go to college knowing that I have it all already paid for by myself and that I can basically slack off at college. My goal for most of my childhood (believe it or not) up through high school was to be able to go to college and come out ready to be a psychologist or a shrink. With all of this money, and knowing that I am set for life, I would not go to college thinking I was going to come out a psychologist. As much as I would like to become one, I would like nothing more than to know that I can relax and know I am set for life. I would work towards the goals of not losing all of the money or spending it all at a casino when I am old enough. A casino would probably be where I brought some of the money because I already feel that I can be considered a gambler. What would drive me? I think a chauffeur would drive me in my Escalade. I would probably also own a Jeep SRT8 and an Infiniti G37 but I would drive those cars and let the chauffeur drive me in only the Escalade. But what would really drive me would be nothing. I am set for life so other than possibly making more money, I would not be very motivated or driven at all. I would live my life differently by having nice things and going nice places. Life would be much different with money and its almost sad that I would do nothing special or be motivated by nothing since I had all the money I needed.

Altered States

Personal blog #3: In what ways (if at all) do altered states of consciousness play a role in your life? After learning about all of the other non-sleep altered states, have you learned anything new that you may now use to improve the quality of your life? What steps do you think you can you take to experience more "flow" experiences?

I don’t have any experience other than one time in an altered state of mind. The only time was during meditation where I felt totally relaxed and carefree. I think that I have learned that through meditation I can become more relaxed and less stressed out as a person. I can truthfully say I have never done drugs and I am proud of that and never plan to use them. I don’t think that the feeling felt from using drugs will make me feel better but I think meditation would be something that could help me in that sense. To experience more flow in life, I think I can listen to music for certain things because music does work and make me concentrate. For other things, things I can’t listen to music during, I can just stay more focused and be less distracted than I have been in the past.