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.

The Lost Hour

The lost hour for teenagers means a lot. It means they will be more tired during the week while at school for they will be running on less sleep but will still be going to the same busy workload at school. It is also unhealthy for teenagers for they are still young and are creating habits that can possibly stay with them their entire life. What surprised me in this chapter is that on average, people are losing more and more sleep as the years go on. To me, I feel that people would be doing the opposite and be gaining more sleep since they know that it is unhealthy to be losing sleep. But, I guess that people have more and more work to do these days so they are losing sleep. I agree with the fact that teenagers do seem to be losing sleep. We stay up at odd hours of the night using technology (television, computers, phones, etc.) to keep us occupied when we need to get some sleep since we have school the next morning. I believe that I have lost sleep due to work and then school work and sports and it has taken a toll on my body. I feel sore often from being out late and doing activities with friends and working but then not getting enough sleep and having to wake up the next morning for work or for school has really hurt me. When I haven't had enough sleep, it is a fight with my body to stay awake during the day. So overall, I would say that I have been affected due to my lack of sleep and it has impacted my performance in school.

Sleep zzzzzz

Teens and students struggle for reasons that I think pertain mostly to school. School can be very stressing to a student especially during the later years of high school in junior and senior year. The rest of high school is also very stressing but not as stressful as the final two years. Junior year involves a lot of college tests and courses that can be taken and they are very important for the future. Senior year involves a lot of contacting colleges and filling out applications and it all takes up a lot of time and a huge toll on your body and brain. All the time put into the work involved at school has students lose time to sleep and relax for they are always busy. So teenagers have a lot of work on their plate to prepare for college and the future. There are many big decisions to be made so there is a lot of "wear and tear" on the body that requires more sleep but the body won't get it since it is awake and working hard.

For myself, I love to go play around on the internet and play with technology. I am normally texting right up until the point I feel that I am going to pass out. So for me, technology keeps me up at odd hours of the night. Also, I would say that for the beginning of this year, I had a lot of school work to do and then a fair amount of college applications to fill out. As a whole, I would say I lose sleep to technology. For my friends and peers, they lose sleep off of video games. They play until odd hours of the night during the week when they need to wake up for school the next morning. I am not allowed to play video games during the week for it will interfere with my school work says my mom which is totally true. So my friends don't sleep due to video games. My brother would definitely lose sleep to watching television all night. He loves watching the late shows and he could stay up all night so I would say that is what makes him lose sleep.

Adults lose sleep due to work. They spend all day at work and running around doing errands for themselves and their families so it takes a toll on the body and brain that would require more sleep. But, this sleep is never acquired since adults seem to always have something to do and they are always busy. So for adults, keeping up with necessities to themselves and their families and their work/job is what keeps adults from getting sleep. My parents work a lot during the day. My parents are also divorces so for my dad, he spends a lot of time behind a desk working and in the car traveling to go to work in New York, going home to Connecticut, and visiting me and my brother here in New Jersey. My mom spends a lot of time working and then rushing around driving me and my brother. I have my license and am supposed to be getting a car but we are waiting until the winter passes so that it is safer for me to drive and own my own car. So my mom runs errands and then cooks dinner and works and then helps me contact college coaches and then eventually watches her shows of the day. Then sleep comes in but it is not nearly enough time to sleep when there is so much more going on.

Defense Mechanisms'

Denial is one defense mechanism that I would say I use frequently. Denial is when a situation is just too much to handle to the point I would refuse to experience it. If there is something I don't want to do, no bribing will make me want to do it. For example, on Christmas Eve my family gets together and we celebrate and have dinner. This was the first Christmas for my baby cousin and somebody was supposed to be Santa. So they asked me first since I am the oldest kid in the family; I refused. The family tried bribing me with extra gifts from stockings and money and I just refused because I really didn't want to. In the end nobody dressed up because my baby cousin's mom (my aunt) is quite the scrooge but year round, not just for Christmas. Another story is I was asked to shovel snow on the recent snow that fell for money but I just wasn't in the mood. I knew there was a good amount of money involved but I didn't want to go out in the snow unless I was going to hang with friends or shovel my own house. If there is something I don't want to do, there is no convincing me I should do it.

Intellectualization is also something I use as a defense mechanism. This is when something that should be a big deal is not treated as if it were. I use this because it keeps me calm. If I see something as a big ideal, I like to keep the situation under control and not worry because if I do worry, I will probably end up making the situation worst. If the situation is tough, then you have to stay stronger to overcome the obstacle. So for example, I broke my teeth on the bottom of a pool and I did cry because I was in a lot of pain but I calmed myself down because if I didn't, I wouldn't have been able to have cleaned out of my mouth. Another situation was when in trouble for some "fight" I got into when I was in Middle School. My "friend" couldn't take me making fun of him anymore so he got really angry. I was only making fun of him because he was being very annoying so I couldn't help it but that doesn't make me right for my actions. So, he couldn't take it anymore, comes up from behind me, puts me in a headlock and throws me over a chair. As I fell over the chair, the teacher walked in and didn't yell at us but asked us what the hell was going on. So the kid that threw me started freaking out and loudly explaining himself whereas I stayed calm, cool, and collected. I didn't do much wrong but I knew I was going to get into trouble but there was nothing I could do about it. Once something has happened, it is in the past, and there is no changing it. This is why I don't like to take things as a big deal because it can make the situation worse even if the situation is a big deal.