PHASE 3

 

Our group made a survey to collect information and receive accurate data. In our survey we had each person write their name, their gender and circle which learning technique they thought was the best for them. The techniques they had to choose from were memorization/reading, lecture/notes, visual aids, hands on, or technology. When we looked through all of the answered surveys we found that most people did not pick technology as their best technique to learn. Most people picked either lecture/notes, hands on, or visual aids. From our results from our survey we learned that most of the students in our school like to be taught and use hands on activities rather than use technology based activities. One conclusion that we came to about why this occurred is that technology is very unreliable and can be extremely frustrating to work with.
Throughout our survey we evaluated five pieces of information from our data. We first learned that most students do not like the use of technology when learning. We concluded that they do not like this because of how unreliable technology can be. Also with working in it in school it can become very frustrating when something such as the internet connection can turn your learning experience into a pain. This is why in our lesson plan we did not include any technology in it, instead we used more hands on activities. Next we learned that many students like to see visuals to help them gain a concept. We included a video about neuroscience in our lesson plan. This was to capture the viewer’s attention, but still have them learning at the same time. After this we decided to have notes and a discussion since the next most popular learning technique among students were notes. We will have a lecture on neuroscience and have the students take a couple notes and we will ask them questions. Once they are done answering them we will turn it into a class discussion to improve the student’s knowledge about neuroscience. Following the class discussion and the notes, we are having the students make a poster explaining neuroscience in their own words. We learned from our survey that students like to interact and do hands on activities to help learn the material better. With making a poster in a small group of people, the students can really test their understanding of neuroscience. Overall throughout the research and survey’s that we conducted we learned that students like to be taught by a teacher and given the information to process rather than have to teach themselves. Students would rather a lecture and a class discussion over reading a textbook or doing activities on the computers. However we could have made our survey more accurate by asking each person what their average GPA was each quarter. This would have helped us get an understanding of how the student is doing in school. It would have told us if the learning techniques that they are using are actually helping them learn better. (Ashley Simmons)



For our learning strategy, we found it potent to use learning techniques similar to the ones that students in our survey expressed to be the ones that helped them learn the best. After surveying 60 people, we found that very close to half of the surveyed students found lectures and notes the best way that they learn. The next best learning strategy expressed by the students was hands on learning, then visual aides and memorization. What was evident from our survey was that basically no one found technology to be the most effective learning strategy. With that in mind, we strayed along the lines of lecture and notes strategies with a bit of hands on and reading. What our group came up with was this: First the student would watch a video (or two in our case). During and after the video, the student would be asked to take notes on what they learned and what they were wondering about the video and neuroscience. After the video they would be asked to answer simple recall questions as well as expand on their questions about neuroscience. Furthermore, the class would then hold a discussion about the video and about their further questions. Lastly, the student’s assignment would be to create a model of the brain for presentation. The catch to this assignment was that they would have to present real-world examples that coincide with each part of the brain for a life application.

To continue this further, our first technique, watching videos, is a technique that has been used for a long time as a way to learn (as long as TVs have been around). It simply involves students engaging their mind upon the screen as they learn. Videos are effective because they are a source of lecture, but with a bit more flare (keep in mind it is not considered technology because it is a sort of lecture). Since we learned that lectures are a very important part of a students learning, a lecture with a bit more to it than a teacher standing up in front of the class should be very effective. Overall, our video has proved to be a very good learning source because our participant was able to memorize and retain the song and its words very well. Also, since neuroscience is very much memorization and not the process of analyzing, videos help sort this information neatly inside our heads.

Moreover, our second step to our learning process, taking notes and thinking further about questions, is a very potent step in the comprehension of information. This step gives students an opportunity to think for themselves about neuroscience and put information into their own pattern. I think that the idea of students creating their own questions is a rather new concept to learning. Throughout history, it seems that students have only been blatantly given information. Giving students the chance to think for themselves is effective because every person sorts ideas in their heads differently and there are many applications to topics. Giving the student the chance to take their own notes is important to neuroscience because there is so much information to obtain and comprehend that students need to sort it out and have it written down for extra retention.

Our third step is a discussion based on the notes. This is important because it combines lecture and notes into something that everyone feels comfortable with. To have this discussion, each student would get out their notes and the class would circle up to have an open discussion. Throughout history, I believe this has always been a potent way to learn. What is different now though is that students are able to express their ideas more freely. This strategy is effective because students can now hear other people’s response to neuroscience as well as expand on their own ideas. This is a good strategy to build upon neuroscience because neuroscience is a very difficult subject to pick up and if students can share with each other information, it makes it all the easier.

Lastly, our students would be assigned a small project. This project would require them to build a creative model of the brain that includes labeled parts and explanations as well as real life examples for each part. The students have the ability to get creative and design the brain with anything they want. They also have the ability to apply the examples to their personal life. This is an effective strategy because besides the extra repetition of learning the parts of the brain, students are able to link the information to their personal lives which should help the information stick. We thought this would be a good idea because it is a hands on learning experience and we did have many people say that hands on projects helped them learn a lot. Throughout history, I believe that hands on projects like this have always been helpful because repetition and application of information is an important part of learning. In conclusion, this hands on assignment is important to neuroscience because there is a lot to do with the brain that is labeling and since it is part of our body that we can not see, putting it out in front of us as a visual aide can be very memorable. Our whole learning strategy together provides a unique way to capture the essence of neuroscience!  - Megan Johnson

Our test-run was quite effective. My younger sister participated in the lesson and was able to retain a majority of the information presented to her on neuroscience. After watching the first movie my sister answered the questions on the topics presented in the movie just through her own recall. She only replayed a brief section of the movie once to find one of the answers. To me, this showed that watching this movie was a good learning source because it made the lesson more interesting than if I were to lecture her. Next, she watched another movie; however, this movie was a lot more fun than the first. The first movie was a lot more fact-based. The second clip was an enjoyable way to demonstrate information pertaining to neuroscience. The song made a memorable impact on my sister, to the extent that she was singing it multiple days after watching it. Thus, our learning strategy was quite effective.

            The test-run was overall quite sound due to the impressive results my sister was able to draw from the material that was presented to her. When asked to watch the movie, answer questions, and then create her own questions regarding to any gray areas or further inquiries she had about a topic, she handled it all extremely well. She watched the movies intently and was able to respond to the stated questions without difficulty. In many cases her answers were close to word for word from what the movie had stated. Throughout watching the first movie, she asked many intelligent questions that not only went beyond the material covered in the movie, but were also expanding the connection of psychology and neuroscience to the processes of the body. One aspect of our test-run that was extremely successful was that of the second movie. My sister thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie. Yet, what was fantastic was that even though this movie was enjoyable, it was factual as well. Our activity that built upon the video made the clip even more effective. By asking our student to identify five parts of the brain, and then research their functions, we pushed her to go beyond the immediate resource and explore for herself with some guidance when needed. This made her learning the parts of the brain not just memorization, but learning. Furthermore, another aspect of our test-run that was beneficial was creating a poster of the brain that not only identified the parts of the brain and their functions, but also presented real-life examples. This was another way of how we helped our student to learn. One thing that could have been modified would be creating another video for her that would have discussed even more information about neuroscience. Otherwise, our test-run ran exceptionally well.

            Our strategy entailed numerous ways to expose our student to all of the depth of neuroscience. We were able to have our student learn through watching a movie and answering questions and also by doing research when asked to define certain parts of the brain. My sister used thinking when she was asked to create her own questions. This caused her mind to process all of the information she had learned and try to build upon it to better her knowledge. Her questions were built upon during a discussion after the lesson as well. Memory was used when she watched the movies and she was asked to recall certain information. It was apparent that her memory was used after watching the second clip because after her first view, she was able to recite a good portion of the song. Finally, language was used in the question that asked her to relate neuroscience to psychology in her life. This presented her an opportunity to express in her own words what she had learned and apply it to herself. All in all, our test run went fantastic because we were able to teach someone something they had never been exposed to before, and they were still able to recall, without memorization, the information about the subject matter.       – Paige Barbour

Over the process of the midterm project it has been proved that learning, thinking, memory and language are all crucial to our understanding of neuroscience. Learning is the relatively permanent change in an organism’s behavior due to experience. Over the process of the project it is evident that in order to understand neuroscience, one needs to have to attitude and change in their behavior to be ready and willing to learn. As for thinking, one needs to be able to think and understand all of the subtopics and topics involved in neuroscience and then think and learn to produce a real life example. Memory is crucial to learning neuroscience because without it you could not remember the information that is neuroscience. We have all learned that language is super important because the way that you talk and approach a group is very important. The way that we combine, write and or speak words are all a combination of our language and how everyone in the world communicates, so without language there would be no communication and if there is no communication there would be no learning.

Understanding all of these ideas can help us grow as learners and better understand the processes we go through on a daily basis because we are learning in numerous ways such as videos, self questioning, discussions and hands on projects. It helps us to learn to work with others, and remember psychology in different ways all of which can be applied to anyone’s life. Each day we all go through the process of using our brain to collect, understand and remember information that we have read or heard.

This knowledge can help us to not only learn neuroscience but other aspects of psychology because we now understand how the brain works and we can use that to our advantage when trying to study for a test or teach someone something. Other aspects of psychology can benefit from this knowledge because it helps everyone to know how we learn and what way works best for everyone because not everyone learns the same way. Due to that fact that everyone is different our concepts vary and cover all aspects of learning so all types of learners can learn at the same time.

Our groups learning strategy consisted of a movie, self asked questions, class discussion, questions based off the discussion as well as a project of working in groups to create a poster of the brain. Once the test run was completed it was evident that our group’s strategy was successful. All of the worksheets were competed correctly showing evidence that the student had an idea what they were talking/learning about. Also, the person created her own questions based off the movies which mean she was paying attention and was trying to comprehend neuroscience. By the end of the lesson it was obvious that she had learned about neuroscience and had internalized it for times to come. Our learning strategy is the best way for everyone to learn because it incorporates all types of learners including hands on, notes, and lecture all in one.

In order to make our learning strategy successful we simply took the information that we found in the survey and applied it to schooling. This meant that we were not going to include technology because all of the students who took the survey disliked technology. Next, we took into consideration that fact that hands on, lecture and notes were all the most popular choices on the survey and we created a learning strategy that included all of them. Overall our learning strategy was very lenient and flexible because regardless of how you learn, you could learn neuroscience from our strategy because it included so many options. Despite only testing the strategy on one person, we know that it can apply to everyone and that in the end our strategy is the best way for everyone to learn in an effective way that is right for them.  – Lauren Lountzis

PHASE 2

Consider Maslow's Hierarchy of need, how can this concept about the needs of human beings imact memory and learning?  Maslow's Hierarchy of needs demonstrates memory due to the fact that it uses sleep as a main point which is learned through repetition, friendship which becomes a familiar thing impanted to your memory, and even problem solving, which that process can be learned through conditioning, and the way you problem solve is based on past experiences and their results.  thus, the heirarchy of need can impact your learning and memory.


-Paige Babrour (Period 8)

• echoic memory- a momentary sensory memory of auditory stumuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can be recalled within 3 to 4 seconds. Ex- recalling what you just heard on TV while doing homework.
• long-term potentiation (LTP)- an increase in a synepe's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Ex- after the boy is hit with a bat and knocked out, when he wakes up, he cannot remember what game he was playing.
• Impliciti Memory vs. Explicit memory- Implicit is the retention independent of recollection (ex- telling a story faster the second time, but not recalling telling it the first time) and explicit is the memory of facts and experiences that one cn consciously know and declare (knowing the president, but not knowing yourown name).
• Recall- a measure of mmoryin which a personmust retrieve information earlier ex-answering a "reading quiz" in english
• Serial positioning effect- our tendancy to recall the best, the last, and the first items on a list Ex- in sport everyone recalls the winner and the loser
• Recognition- a measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned ex- using a list to remember your next task
• Relearning- a memory measurthat asses the ammount of tru time saved learning materil for a second time ex- going to the tutoring center
• priming- the activation, ofter unconcioulsy, of particular associations in memory ex- thinking of a printer to remmber the idea of paper

-Paige Barbour (Period 8)

• Belief Perseverance- Our tendency to cling to our beliefs in face of contrary evidence. Ex- if someone believes that the Twin Tower explosion was planned by our government, they believe in that idea even though there is much more evidence supporting the explanation of the terrorists planning it.
• Belief Bias-The tendency for our beliefs to distort our logic. Ex. Premise 1: Some parents drink alcohol; Premise 2: All drinkers are abusive; Premise 3: Some parents are abusive.
• Artificial Intelligence- science of designing computer systems to perform operations that mimic human thinking and do "intelligent" things. Ex- robots
• Computer Neural Networks- computer systems designed to mimic the brains interconnected neural units. Ex- in the movie "War Games" the main character interacts with a computer that is able to communicate and able to function because of its use of its "neural network."
• Language- they way we use, think, combine, and process the spoken, written, or signed symbols or words. Ex- English
• Phonemes- a set of basic sounds.  Ex- cat - C-A-T
• Morpheme- smallest unit of language that carries meaning, most are combinations of two phonemes.  A lot of times are prefixes of suffixes. Ex- lasted- L-A-S-T-ED
• Grammar- rules to follow in a language that enable communication. Ex-punctuation

-Paige Barbour (period 8)

Why does everything in Chapters 8, 9, and 10 fall under the field of cognitive psychology? Provide three different examples of how it does.  Consciousness is the awareness of ourselves and our environment which uses the thinking part of cognitive psychology; learning though conditioning deals with knowing, communicating, and remembering; also your memory in general deals with remembering, thus, all deal with the definition of cognitive psychology: all of the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering and communication. Overall, each little bit of the chapters touch on one of the main areas of cognitive psych.

-Paige Barbour (period 8)

how can we utilize psychology to help create learning strategies for all learners? by incorporating multiple lessons, on different days revolved around the same topic and idea, to expose students to different methods of learning, but everyone must participate in theses activities for everyone to get the full affect of the numerous possibilities.

-Paige Barbour (Period 8)

You know some of the ways we learn-but what types of learners are there in our classroom?  What ideas do you have for incorporating  all those learners into your learning strategy?  We would like to have multiple ways incorporated into one large idea.  It may involve mixing a hands on lesson with a lecture or so on; however, due to our research, we will not be including technology, due to the fact that that was overwhelmingly unpopular.

-Paige Barbour (Period 8)

we talked about the impact of grades during Unit 2.  Do you think they fall into this unit at all? Why or why not?  I believe they do fit into this unit because good grades are conditioned reinforcers, and bad grades can been seen as a punishment for not doing all of your work.

-Paige Barbour (Period 8)

How do punishments impact your learning here in school? Punishments in school frustrate me because punishments are not necessarily telling me what behavior or action is desired, it is only punishing me for the action I chose to use.

-Paige Barbour (Period 8)

Do you think either plays a role in how you respond to teachers and your academic role here at Wilson?  i believe both influence me here at Wilson.  due to the fact that certain actions by the teachers signal that, for instance there will be a pop quiz today (classical conditioning), but also as students we know what behaviors are acceptable in class due to witnessing other student's or perhaps your own punishments or rewards (operant conditioning).

-Paige Barbour (Pd 8)

Provide one example of Observational Learning from your lifetime- One time I remember experiencing Observational Learning was when I went to Junior High.   watched my locker buddy open his locker next to mine, and then i mimicked his motions, but implemented my locker combination in order to open my locker.

-Paige Barbour (Period 8)

• Positive Reinforcement- the giving of something to increase a behavior. Ex- giving students more time to work on a project, due to diligent working in class.
• Negative Reinforcement- the taking of something to increase a behavior. Ex- Taking away a question on a test because no one in the class had enough time to answer it thoroughly.
• Primary Reinforcers- are innnately satisfying. Ex- eating food when hungry
• Conditioned Reinforcers- are learned; secondary reinforcers. Ex- money or praise
• Immediate Reinforcers- reinforcing something immediately after occuring; the desired behavior is more likely to continue to reoccur.
• Delayed Reinforcers- delaying allows other incidental behaviors to intervene and be reinforced.
• Continuous Reinforcement Schedules- desired Response is reinforced everytime it occurs; learning occurs rapidly.
• Partial (Intermittent) Reinforcement Schedules- responses are sometimes reinforced, sometimes not; produces greater persistance.
• Fixed Ratio Schedules- reinforced behavior after a set number of responses.
• Variable-Ratio Schedules- provide reinforcers after an unpredictable number of responses.
• Fixed Interval Schedules- reinforce the first response after a fixed period of time. Ex- constantly checking to see if the water in the pot has boiled.
• Variable-Interval Schedules- reinforce the first response after varying intervals. Ex- the "You've Got Mail" sound when your email is updated.
• Punishment- the opposite to that of reinforcement; punishment decreases a behavior, thus entails a consequence.
• Cognitive Map-a mental representation of one's environment.
• Latent Learning- learning that occurs, but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it.
• Intrinsic Motivation vs. Extrinsic Motivation- Intrinsic motivation is a desire to perform a behavior for its own sake and for it to be effective; wheras, an extrinsic motivation is a desire to perform s behavior due to a promised reward ot threat of punishment.

• How does Cognition impact Operant Conditioning?  Cognition consists of all mental ctivities such as thinking and remembering;Operant Conditioning subjects associate behaviors with the consequences.  thus are taught to remember what happened to them before.

-Paige Barbour (Period 8)

Research Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives and Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences. How do they tie into what you learned about human memory and also, how can they help you create an effective learning strategy? Provide 3 pieces of factual support for your reasoning.

Multiple Intelligences shows that everyone has some sort of intelligence, but maybe in not one way as another. Examples of this would be how some people are kinetically enhanced learners while others learn from memorization. With this, we can find that people need to learn in different ways because they are better at one way than another. We will take this into consideration and use many different learning strategies. Higher level learning is an objective of teachers in the research done by Bloom. There are standards that teachers set for students and the ultimate standard is when students can learn to analyze and interpret things they learn in school into everyday situations and larger global perspectives. In his debate he says that remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing,evaluating, and creating are the main points to learning with the latter being the most important. With this knowledge, our group will try to hold discussions on and have students speak about the learning so that they can create a wider view for themselves and for their classmates. It is then important that we have the students create something good out of the learning. So a project is a good idea for learning.

How can you use your knowledge of language acquisition, and the way that we read, speak and think to help create your learning strategy?

Knowing that humans think the way we do, and learn the way we do, this knowledge can be used to make our learning strategy because we know that students learn through repetition and example. Our survey showed this as well. We will create our learning strategy around these principles. We know how the brain functions and we take this into consideration with what our learning strategy will be. Knowing that people process language the way we do, we will use language acquisition. We have to know where everyone is coming from with their vocab. We have to use language that everyone understands and processes the same way. Everything like this is important in obtaining our learning strategy.

Summarize how you will use thinking and language in your learning strategy below. Make sure to include at least 6 different ways you are going to utilize this knowledge.

1. Questions and hypothesis - Asking questions and developing the way we understand something will help. With the formation of language, gradual changes will come in network connections in the brain.
2. Watch Movie – By watching a movie the eyes help interpret information
3.Take Notes on Movie and create your own questions – With repetition, mental rehearsal can help you achieve an academic goal.
4. Class Discussion based off of questions – This is another way that with the formation of language, gradual changes will come with brain connections.
5. Hands on Experiment- get in a group and create a short skit of your view of how neuroscience affects psychology in your lives. This will help because the more we act out information, the more we remember it.  6. Come up with algorithms – With algorithms, algorithms will help up know that there will always be a solution and it will help up remember to always search for the truth.

Any of these learning strategies will help students remember information and retain it. Some of these ways are new and should be used because they are different.

Megan Johnson, Pd. 7

Semantics: Semantics is how we find a meaning in language. A real world example is using –ing at the end of every word that describes something in action; or using -s at the end to make something plural.

Syntax: Syntax is the way we structure sentences so that they make sense. A real world example is using a verb in a sentence only if there is a clear noun.

Babbling stage: The Babbling stage is the first stage of language in babies where they slowly begin to make noises and comprehend how to make these noises and speak. A real world example is how when a baby is still cute and little it makes cute little noises that are unexplainable, but definitely cute!

One-word stage: The One-word stage of a baby is when they begin to be able to put little words together and speak them, but no sentences have been formed. A real world example is how parents wait for their child to say their first word, arguing over whether it will be mama or dada!

Two-word stage: The Two-word stage of a baby is when the baby’s speech is gathering further and he/she are able to speak in two-word now instead of one. A real world example is how a child may be able to say simple phrases like “Thank You” and “Good bye” but not full sentences yet.

Telegraphic speech: Telegraphic speech is another way of talking about the two-word stage where a baby can only put simple choppy words together. A real world example would be if a child wanted to be on the ground instead of held they may be able to cry, “No! Please!”

Linguistic determinism: Linguistic determinism is the hypothesis made my Benjamin Lee Whorf that the way we think is determined by language. A real world example would be that Americans who speak English live a completely different culture than say, Chinese people, who have different values and morals than Americans.

Megan Johnson, Pd. 7

Mere-exposure: The phenomenon that repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them. This is in simple words that familiarity breeds fondness. It comes from psychological chemistry, but also from adaptive behavior.

Déjá vu: The eerie sense that “I’ve experienced this before.” Cues from the current situations may subconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience. This can happen because if we have previously been in a similar situation, the current situation may be loaded with cues that unconsciously retrieve the earlier experience.

Mood congruent memory: It is striking because moods bias memories. In mood-congruent memory, people have a tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current good or bad mood. What this means is that when something happens during a certain mood, you remember it better when you are in that mood again. Moods also influence how we interpret other people’s behaviors.

Proactive vs. retroactive interference: Learning some items may interfere with retrieving others. Proactive interference is the disruptive effect of prior learning on recall of new information. This means that if it is close to something you learned earlier, you brain can clutter and you are unable to recall this new information. On the other hand, retroactive interference is the disruptive effect of prior learning on recall of old information. Thus, it is the opposite of proactive. You forget the old and not the new.

Repression: Repression is the psychoanalytic theory, in which repression is the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings and memories. To protect our self-concept and to minimize anxiety, we supposedly repress painful memories. Eventually, though, the memory will submerge.

Misinformation effect: The misinformation effect is incorporating misleading information into one’s memory of an event. In other words, people misremember situations. As we recount an experience, we fill in memory gaps with plausible guesses and assumptions. After more retellings, we often recall the guessed details, which have now been absorbed into our memories, as if we had actually observed them.

Source Amnesia: When we encode memories, we distribute different aspects of them to different parts of the brain. Among the frailest parts of a memory is its source. Source amnesia is attributing to the wrong source an event that we have experienced heard about, read about, or imagined. Source amnesia and the misinformation effect are very similar.

Binocular cues: Depth cues, such as retinal disparity and convergence, which depend on the use of two eyes. This type of cue helps create our perception of the world around us. Two eyes + brain = depth.

Monocular cues: Distance cues, such as linear perspectives and overlaps, available to either eye alone. This type of cue helps create our perception of the world around us. Two eyes + brain = depth.


Megan Johnson, Pd. 7

3. What kind of strategies can you use to study in order to help you remember information better for the AP exam?
In order to study for the AP exam, students can use the spacing effect which is the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice. They can also use acoustic and semantic encoding, mnemonic devices, and recall. Acoustic encoding is the encoding of sound, especially words, semantic encoding is the encoding of meaning, including the meaning of words. Also they can use visual encoding because that is the encoding of picture images. Mnemonic devices are aids, especially techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices. All of these strategies can help a student remember their information in order to receive a good grade on the AP exam.


Cognition- the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering and communication
Concept- a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas or people
Prototype- a mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to the prototype provides a quick and easy method for including items in a category
Algorithm- a methodical or logical rule/ procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier but also more error-prone
Heuristic- a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently, usually speedier but also more error-prone then algorithms
Insight- a sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem; it contrasts with strategy based solutions
Confirmation Bias- a tendency to search for information that confirms one’s preconceptions

3. Explain the relationship between functional fixedness and problem solving. Provide an example that illustrates the relationship (this should be no more than 2 sentences).
Functional fixedness creates a hinder when trying to solve a problem. For example, you are in the bathroom when you run out of toilet paper and you don’t think about using a tissues because it is not its normal use.


4. How can you use what you know about thinking and language to improve your learning strategy? Provide two examples.
You know that when learning a new language, one must be taught slowly like a child; therefore for the learning strategy you must remember that. For example, in the learning strategy instead of teaching many concepts separately, you can combine all the common concepts so that it is easier to compare and understand them all. Also, as an example, you can show informative movies and have the class take their own notes on what they think is important and once they are done with notes you can have a whole class discussion. With this all types of learning strategies are incorporated.


Lauren Lountzis Pd.7

Memory-
Definition-the persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information
Real World Example- you read a book in English class and you remember the main characters names from that book that you read.

Memory Loss-
Definition-the knowledge and memories becomes disrupted and one can no longer remember certain things, either short term or long term
Real World Example- you go to a party and get very drunk and pass out, and you don’t remember anything that happened when you wake up.

Memory Feats-
Definition-the ability to remember/memorize large or small amount of information such as voices, sounds, tastes, songs, faces and places
Real World Example-your mom gives you her credit card number to pay for something online and you memorize all of the digits in order to order things online later.

Memory like a Computer-
Definition- the brain stores memories and a computer saves information for long periods of time, both memory and a computer encode, retain and reuse information
Real World Example-you remember a memory from when you very young and you were a child.

How Neuroscience fits into memory-
Definition- the brain stores information and memories in storage units
Real World Example-you practice taking penalty kicks for soccer for days and days, and finally in a game you have to take a penalty kick and you score it without even looking at the ball because your muscles knew exactly where to go in order to make it.

Sensory Memory (all types)-
Definition- the immediate, initial recording of sensory information in the memory system and the two tykes are iconic and echoic
Echoic- a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds
Iconic-a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second
Real World Example-
Echoic-you are talking to a friend when you look away but you can quickly recall what that friend was saying
Iconic- you look at a picture and quickly and shortly remember who was in it

Long Term Memory (include Storage)-
Definition-the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system
Real World Example-you remember your sixth birthday party as a senior in high school because for that birthday you got a pony.

Short Term Memory-
Definition-activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as phone number digits while dialing before the information is stored or forgotten
Real World Example- you have a vocabulary test in one period and you cram all of the words into your head so you remember them for the next period but forget them after you complete the test.


The role of emotion in memory-
Definition- if a memory has a strong emotional connection, the memory stands out more
Real World Example- you remember memories that had an impact on you such as September 11th because it was such a tragic event that you will always remember it due to the emotion that it made you feel.

The Steps of Encoding-
Definition- there are both automatic and effortful processing
Automatic Processing-occurs with little or no effort, unconscious
Effortful Processing-requires attention, conscious effort
Real World Example-you know every character in a book that you read, but you cannot remember the plot.

Lauren Lountzis Pd.7

Phase 2- Part 6

1. Questions- How does neuroscience effect psychology in your life?

2. Watch Movie

3.Take Notes on Movie and create your own questions

4.Class Discussion based off of questions

5. Hands on Experiment- get in a group and create a short skit of your view of how neuroscience effects psychology in your lives.

Lauren Lountzis Pd.7
Real World- it teaches students how to create their own questions, solve problems and work with others. Also, you are creating your own questions which is self management.

Upon asking 60 students which way they learn the best, we found that most people preferred learning through lecture and notes; another big chunk hands on work; and another big chunk visual aids, and memorization and reading. We learned that almost no one found technology the best way to learn because only 1 out of a study of 60 students preferred technology. Through investigation, we also know that this student was on the edge with another way of learning. Overall, it seems that active learning for each person is preferred. Our data should be relevant and useful to our class because we asked all our classmates and most we found were on the edge between 1, 2, and 3.

Megan Johnson, Pd. 7

generalization- the tendency to respond to stimuli similar to the conditioned stimuli.

discrimination- the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and other stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulu.

importance of cognitive processes in classical conditioning: cognitive is the mental process of the brain.  it is very important in classical conditioning because the way the brain works helps us follow instruction and get certain things engraved into our brains.

importance of biology in classical conditioning: the way our brain works is very important in the classical conditioning process.

taste aversion (research of John Garcia): If you become sick after eating a certain food, you probably will have a hard time eating the food again.  The smell and taste would have become a conditioned stimulus for nausea.  This learning occurs readily because our biology prepares us to learn taste aversions to toxic food.

An example of taste aversion not described in your book: If you ate a certain food such as eggs for breakfast, then that day you ended up getting sick you will have a hard time eating eggs again.. Every time you smell or taste eggs it will remind you of that time where you got sick after you ate them.

Watson, Rayner and research after Pavlov: Watson and Rayner did an experiment called "Little Albert"  where they paired a lab rat with a terribly loud noise.

Respondent Behavior: behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus.

Operant Behavior: behavior that operates on the environment, producing consequences.

Law of Effect:  Thorndike's principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely.

Skinner Box (operant chamber): a chamber containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer, with attached devices to record the animal's rate of bar pressing or key pecking.  It is used in operant conditioning research.

Shaping: an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of a desired goal.

Successive approximations: this has to do with shaping.  An example is if a researcher uses rats in a lab and every time the rat does something good they give them a treat or some cheese.

Discriminative stimulus: a stimulus, associated with reinforcement, that exerts control over a particular form of behavior; the subject discriminates between closely related stimuli and responds positively only in the presence of that stimulus.

Reinforcement: any event that increases the frequency of a preceding response. There are two types of reinforcement, positive and negative. 


Phase 2 Part 2

Do you think either plays a role in how you respond to teachers and your academic role here at Wilson? Explain.


I think both classical and operant conditioning play a role in how I respond to teachers and my academic role here at Wilson. For classical learning students become programmed to listen to the rules that sometimes they don't even realize they're always obeying the rules. For example, we are taught that you are supposed to be in your classroom by the time the bell rings and you are to leave class when the bell rings. This makes students get up when the bell rings whether or not they are dismissed by the teacher. Also we are taught that you have to ask to go to the bathroom or to leave the room, so without thinking we always ask the teacher for permission to leave. As for operant conditioning, students often associate doing the homework or completing the homework with good grades. When in fact you have to study and actually do the homework and know what your doing. You can't just copy answers from others.

How can understanding classical and operant conditioning help us to understand the way we learn? Provide at least two examples that help illustrate your point.

The understanding of classical and operant conditioning can help us understand the way we learn.  If you learn with classical conditioning that means that you are told something over and over again that you just do it without realizing it.  For example you could do your homework without a thought because you were taught that.  If you learn with operant conditioning you learn by associating things together.  For example you can associate doing homework with getting good grades.

In your normal day here at school, explain a time where you have seen the use of positive reinforcement and one of negative reinforcement. For each one, analyze the impact that it had on you or the class you were in.

An example of positive reinforcement shown at school is when a teacher is giving a detention to a student for doing something inappropriate. It is positive for the teacher because they are giving a stimuli to the student to reinforce that what they did is bad. An example of negative reinforcement shown at school is when a class listens and works hard sometimes teachers won't give them homework that night. This is an example of a negative reinforcement because the teacher is taking away something instead of giving.

How can you use what you know about the history of psychology and the science behind psychology to create your learning strategy? Provide two paths you can take to incorporate that knowledge into your final product.

We learn with experience, so learning strategies can be hands on to help this.  If we work with hands on techniques that can help us know the meaning of what we are trying to learn.  Also we can use repetition and go over concepts and questions many times.  Repetition will help your brain remember ideas and concepts easier than you would if you just read something or discuss something once.

PART IV

Ebbinghaus' retention curve:  Ebbinghaus found that the more times he practiced a list of nonsense syllables on day 1, the fewer repetitions he required to relearn it on day 2.  For example, just because you memorize something one day doesn't mean your actually learning it.

spacing effect: the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice.

What we encode:  we encode meaning, imagery and organize information.

kinds of encoding:

visual encoding: the encoding of picture images.
acoustic encoding: the encoding of sound, especially the sound of words.
semantic encoding: the encoding of meaning, including the meaning of words.

levels of processing: processing a word deeply produces better recognition of it at a later time than does shallow processing by attending to its appearance or sound.

imagery and memory: mental pictures; a powerful aid to effortful processing, especially when combined with semantic encoding.

mnemonics: memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices.

ways to organize information for encoding: you can organize encoding by chunking with is when we organize information into meaningful units.  This helps us recall things more easily.  Also we can organize information by heirarchies.  When we do this we remember them better than when we see them presented randomly.

memory trace:  the hypothetical structural alteration in brain cells following learning

iconic memory:a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image emory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second.

Consider everything you know about the way memory works in the human brain. How can you tap into that in order to construct your learning strategy? Provide at least 5 different ways to use memory to create an effective learning strategy?

1. grouping the words into smaller lists for easier memorization
2. using acronyms
3. pneumanic devices
4. relate the subjects to your life
5. create a rhythm of the words and rhyme them together

How is the human mind faulty in remembering information? Explain how that could impact the construction of your learning strategy (provide 3 examples)

Our mind can be faulty in remembering information.  For example, witnesses at a crime scene have a hard time remembering everything that happens.  When asked to identify if one of the suspects was at the crime scene, they automatically assume that one of the suspects was in fact there and then try to make there conclusion.  When in fact the suspect might not even be there.  Misspelled words in your activity may affect how we remember things, because we will remember the spelling to be wrong.  Also our brains fill in certain words to create a meaning that we know.  So if we are looking at neuroscience and our definition has a different word in it we might substitute that word in without even realizing it.  Also our biased opinions can create problems.  If we believe that neuroscience has a certain definition we might not be able to accept the other definition given.

Create a category hierarchy to organize a concept of your choosing.  Make sure you label a prototype as well.

                                                    athletes
basketball                                 baseball                swimming
gender                                     gender                    gender
physical fitness                        physical fitness       physical fitness



PART 3

Reflect on your data collection.

Was the tool you designed useful and accurate in collecting data? Why or why not?

Yes, it was accurate because we got the information directly from the students who took the survey.

How did it help you start to build your learning strategy?

It gave us a sense of how students learn and what the most affective way of learning for students is.

Is there anything you can do to supplement the data that you collected this time around?

We could have asked for the students average GPA. This would have given us an idea if the strategy that they were using to learn was actually affective for them.

PART V

belief bias: the tendency for one's preexisting beliefs to distort logical resoning, sometimes by making invalid conclusions seem valid, or valid conclustions seem invalid.  Example: Since we know a guy who was muslim was the cause of September 11th and he was a terrorists, some may assume that all muslims are terrorists.
belief perseverance: clinging to one's initial conceptions after the abasis on which they were formed has been credited.
Artificial Intelligence (AI): the science of desgning and programming computer systems to do intelligent things and to simulate human thought processes, such as intuitive resonin learning, and understanding language.  Example: video and computer games.
Computer Neural Networks :  computer circuits that mimic the brian's interconnected neural cells, performing tasks such as learning to recognize visual patterns and smells.
Language: our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning.  Example, our language Enlgish, and body language.
Phoneme: in a spoken language, the smallest distinctive sound unit.
Morpheme: in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix).  Example: the prefix pre means before.
Grammar: in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others. Example: If a letter does not display good grammar the letter could lose the meaning that it was trying to portray.

Ashley Simmons
Period 7

Learning- a relatively permanent change in an organism’s behavior due to experience

Associative Learning- learning that certain events occur together, the events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequence (as in operant conditioning)

Classical Conditioning- a type of learning in which an organism comes to associate a stimuli, a neutral stimulus that signals an unconditioned stimulus begins to produce a response that anticipates and prepares for the unconditioned stimulus, normally with a stimulus and an independent variable so the two are not related

Operant Conditioning- a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforce of diminished followed by a punisher, there are both positive and negative reinforcers and the negative ones are not necessarily bad

Behaviorism- the view that psychology should be an objective science that studies the behavior with reference to mental processes

Observational Learning- learning by observing others

Ivan Pavlov’s Experiment (outline, goals)- the goal was to make the dog salivate to a tone before food was shown and the outline was use a tone before showing the dog food in order to have to dog realize that once the tone went off, food was coming

Findings of Pavlov’s Experiment (responses, stimulus)-the response of the dog was that once it understood what was going on, it would begin to salivate once it heard the tone because it knew food was coming, the unconditioned response was the salivation because it was the unlearned part, the unconditioned stimulus was the food

Acquisition-the initial stage in classical conditioning; the phase associating a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus comes to elicit a conditioned response, in operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response

Example of Classical Conditioning- when a teacher turns on the lights and hands the students a paper there is a test, therefore whenever the teacher gives the class paper and turns on the lights they will think that they have a test

Extinction- the diminishing of a conditioned response, occurs in classical conditioning when an unconditioned stimulus does not follow a conditioned stimulus; occurs in operant conditioning when a response is no longer reinforced

Spontaneous Recovery- the reappearance, after a rest period, of an extinguished conditioned response

Example of Observational Learning- I have two older brothers and after observing the oldest study very hard for school I learned that studying is very important in order to do well in school

Phase 2- Part 2

Explain Classical Conditioning using a scenario that YOU created.

A teacher grades a test and uses a red pen which leads to the student crying, this leads all the students to thinking that a red pen leads to crying. The unconditioned response is the teacher grading the tests because it is the unlearned part and the unconditioned stimulus is the red pen because it triggers a response which is crying

Explain Operant Conditioning using a scenario that YOU created.

A student is being annoying while they wait for the teacher to come help them, the teacher ignores that student and goes to help another which means the annoying student will no longer be annoying if they want the teachers help. This is also an example of a negative reinforce because the time with the teacher is being taken away from the student and taking away is a negative reinforcer

Compare Classical and Operant Conditioning. How are they the same? How are the different?

Classical and Operant Conditioning are the same because that both involve acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization and discrimination. They are different because Classical has an automatic response to some stimulus and Operant operates on environments to produce a reward or punishment, plus Operant Condition has positive and negative reinforcers while Classical does not.

Do you think either (Classical or Operant Conditioning) plays a role in how you respond to teachers and your academic role here at Wilson? Explain.

I think that all students have to been classically conditioned to get up and leave when the bell rings, despite if the teacher is done teaching. I also think that the way students work hard and receive good grades is an example of Operant Conditioning because the students work hard and receive a good grade, this could be a reward, or a positive reinforcer because the students are being given something. I think that despite students being conditioned to do something, it does not affect the way students respond to a teacher with Classical Conditioning.  As for Operant Conditioning, I do believe that it plays a role in how students respond to teachers and the academic role at Wilson. I think this because is a teacher is really mean and does not give in, the student will not complain because they know it will not help. As for your academic role, I do not think that Classical Conditioning plays a big role, but I do think that with rewards and reinforcers both negative and positive Operant Conditioning can make a student work hard if they know they will get a reward. So overall I think that both types of conditioning play a role in how you respond to a teacher but only Operant plays a role in your academic role.

Phase 2- Part 3

Consider the first two units that we discussed this year: the history of psychology and applying science to Psychology, how do they fit into our midterm project? Provide at least three examples to illustrate your point.

In the history of psychology unit we learned how people interact with one another, and how John Locke believed that experience was how we learned because we all started with a blank slate. Now with this midterm project we learn how everyone learns and how everyone has had different experiences which lead to everyone having a different mind. Also, in applying science to psychology, it can be compared to the midterm because everyone knows that biology is a type of science, and in the learning chapters we learn all about the brain, the parts, and their functions and how the brain transmits messages throughout the entire body, just like you learn in biology. Lastly, in the midterm we learn and have to create a way for people to successfully learn without rote memorization which means that we have to create a survey which is a type of experiment, and in the science of psychology chapter, we learned all about different types of experiments. Overall, both chapters that we have previously studied are just building blocks to help show us how the brain works, how messages are sent and how people learn, which is the point of the midterm. Without the other two units we would not know enough information to create a way for people to learn.

Real World Application:

What makes you data applicable not only to this project but to the real world? Who might find it useful and how would they use it?

The data that we found shows how most people like lectures and memorization as the way to learn; therefore it cannot be applied to this project because the point was to find other ways to teach, however we should not have included those as options in our survey to avoid this problem. Aside from people liking lectures and memorization the data can be applied to the real world because teachers, groups of students and professors can use the information accumulate new ways of teaching people in a way that they will enjoy and understand.

Are you going to share this data with any one of the people or groups of people listed above? Why or why not?

We can share this data with teacher in the Wilson high School because that way the teachers know how their students learn best, which will result in better grades for the students. If teachers know how kids want to learn, then they can apply it and offer their students a better learning environment in which they are not being forced to learn a way that they hate and don’t care for. If a student doesn’t enjoy a way of learning then they will most likely not learn very much. With the data we have collected, it can be useful for teacher to understand how students want to be taught, regardless of whether the teacher agrees with it or not because it is the students job to learn, not the teachers.

Lauren Lountzis Pd.7

Phase 2- Part 1

Do you think either (Classical or Operant Conditioning) plays a role in how you respond to teachers and your academic role here at Wilson? Explain.

I believe that Classical Conditioning plays a role in how one responds to a teacher, but that it does not play role in one’s academic role at Wilson. It can play a role in how someone responds to a teacher in many ways. Say for example that a teacher smells like cheese. In most cases, from then on you would associate the smell of cheese with your teacher. Well, what if you don’t like cheese or you have a bad experience with it? In that case, a bad experience and your teacher could be related. This would also occur in the opposite way if you liked a smell your teacher wore! Moreover, I don’t believe that Classical Conditioning plays a role in a student’s academic role because a student’s academic role, in my opinion, just has to do with who they are. Second, I believe that Operant Conditioning plays a role in how you respond to teachers and your academic role. It plays a role in how you respond to your teachers because if he/she is a pushover when you complain, then you are likely to do it again. Also, if they enforce punishment, you are likely to rebel. On the other hand, if they use reinforcement in a good way, you may like them and respond to them in a good way. Lastly, I believe that Operant Conditioning may play a small role in an academic role at Wilson because if you have a good teacher and they encourage you properly with reinforcers, your grades may raise as you increase your good academic behaviors. The way I see it though it that Classical does not relate because it can not make you suddenly be a better student. Operant can only reinforce your confidence.

Your textbook has a very positive bias when explaining the implications of Skinner’s research on operant conditioning. Do you agree or disagree with this bias? Explain by providing at least two examples that illustrate your point.

I believe that Skinner did create the basis of Operant learning so he should be respected in a positive way. Although his research was very simple and did not carry very far before his death, he definitely started a concept that was never truly explored before. An example that really shows that he started a concept was his design of the Operant chamber or the Skinner box that he implemented. The box was typically soundproof and recorded the responses of animals as they were tested. This was a totally new concept and was never explored in this way before. Another great thing that Skinner brought about with his research in operant conditioning was his creation of partial reinforcement schedules. He and his researchers used fixed-ratio schedules, variable-ratio schedules, fixed-interval schedules, and variable-interval schedules to further study the principles of operant conditioning. Through these schedules, he contended that these reinforcement principles are universal and behavior has astonishingly similar properties throughout species.

Let’s not forget learning by observation: Think of something that you do that might be influenced by what you have observed and explain it and how it applies to both the psychological aspect of out study and also the biological.

Something that I do that was probably influenced by what I observe is being optimistic. I think that I learned from a lot of different people around me and how the things they did made others happy. Through the years, I think I have pieced together examples from multiple people. The way I learned to be optimistic was through prosocial models. This is psychological because people who exemplify good behavior can spark this behavior in others. Modeling another person is something that all humans do in one way or another. This applies to the biological aspect because mirror neurons in the frontal lobe fire when they observe something. This also applies because my parents are very positive people and it shows how their influence made me grow up to be a positive person.

How does biology play a role in how we develop learning strategies for learners?

Biology plays a role in how we develop learning strategies for learners because we know that mirror neurons in the frontal lobe help us observe other behaviors and act them out. Knowing this, we can see that a good way to teach learners is to have them observe good examples. Another way biology plays a role is that we can base the way a parent learns and use the same aspect for a child.

Megan Johnson, Pd. 7

How does biology play a role in operant conditioning?

Biology plays a role in operant conditions because an animal’s natural predispositions constrain its capacity for operant conditioning. For example, pigeons easily learn to flap their wings to avoid being shocked and to peck to obtain food, because it is natural for them to flee with their wings and eat with their beaks. However, they have a hard time learning to peck in order to avoid a shock or to flap their wings to obtain food. Biological constraints predispose organisms to learn associations that are naturally adaptive. Thus, it was found that biological dispositions were more important than formerly supposed. Scientists found that even after an animal would learn a behavior, they would soon begin to drift back to their natural ways.

Research after Skinner:

Research after Skinner had a lot to do with operant conditioning. Scientists applied operant conditions in work, at school, and at home. Today we have seen operant conditioning principles used on problems ranging from high blood pressure to social withdrawal. Behavioral economists are applying operant conditions principles in their study of consumer behavior and drug use and abuse. Skinner believed in using operant conditioning at school to teach students of different abilities. Today, his idea has not completely played out, but we are closer to it than ever with new technology. Moreover, Skinner once said, “How much richer would the whole world be if the reinforcers in daily life were most effectively contingent on productive work?” Today, many companies enable their employees to share profits and to participate in company ownership. As well, motivation, morale, and cooperative spirit are commonly used to reinforce a job well done. Lastly, at home Skinners legacy has played out as energy costs are lowered with operant conditioning studies and parents find ways to disrupt the cycle of a child’s disruptive behavior with reinforcers.

Modeling: Modeling is the process of observing others and imitating a specific behavior. Humans learn all kinds of social behaviors from observing and imitating others.

Mirror neurons: Mirror neurons are recently discovered neurons that reside in the frontal lobe area adjacent to the to the brain’s motor cortex. They fire when performing certain actions or when observing another doing so. The brain’s mirroring of another’s actions may enable imitation of language learning, and empathy. Basically these neurons control the “monkey sees, monkey does” idea. PET scans reveal that these neurons definitely occur in humans.

Albert Bandura: Albert Bandura is the pioneering researcher of observational learning. One of Bandura’s famous experiments was when he studied how a preschool child mirrored adult behavior in a classroom. Bandura believes that part of the reason that a child would imitate this model is reinforcements and punishments. We look and we learn. By looking, we learn to anticipate a behavior’s consequences in situations like those we are observing. We are especially likely to imitate those who we perceive as similar to ourselves, as successful, or admirable.

Prosocial models: Prosocial models are models that are positive and helpful and can have prosocial effects. This means that people who exemplify nonviolent, helpful behavior can prompt similar behavior in others. Models are most effective when their actions and words are consistent.

The impact of television: Television, no matter where it is, is a form of observational learning. Yet, this learning is not always a benefit. In developed countries, most children spend more of their first 18 years watching television rather than in school. Two-thirds of homes have three or more sets, which helps explain why parents’ reports of what their children watch hardly correlate with children’s reports of what they watch. U.S. network programs have offered about 3 violent acts per hour during primetime and 18 per hour during children’s Saturday morning programs. During the late twentieth century, the average child viewed 8,000 TV murders and 100,000 other acts of violence before finishing elementary school. Half of television’s violent interactions don’t show the harm done to the victims and 6 in 10 don’t show the victims pain. To sum it all up, researchers have found that watching violence on television does lead to aggressive behavior in children and teenagers.

The good news about TV: The good news about television is that psychological research is not definite and there are many things that could have gone wrong with the experiments that researchers did on violence and TV. One thing they have to take in mind is that people who watch violent TV probably already have a history of violence and/or like violence. As well, they only experimented on a small sample. To really find cause and effect in an experiment it is better to use a large, randomized sample.

Desensitizing of youth: After a prolonged exposure to horrid violence on television, many viewers become desensitized. They become more indifferent to it when later viewing a brawl, whether on TV or in real life. While spending three evening watching sexually violent movies, male viewers in one experiment became progressively less bothered by the rapes and slashings. Three days later, they also expressed less sympathy for domestic violence victims than did research participants who ha not been exposed to the films, and they rated the victims’ injuries as less severe. It is evident that there has been a change because in 1903 when they first showing of a story film occurred and a cowboy fired a pistol at the camera, some audiences ran out screaming. Today, that would probably not bother anyone.

Provide one example of Observational Learning from your lifetime:

One example of Observational Learning from my lifetime is when I learned to yawn like my dad. This may sound really weird, but my dad has a really obnoxious and strange yawn. I never understood why he did it, but I eventually started to yawn like him, only subconsciously knowing it at first.

Megan Johnson, Pd. 7

PHASE 1

Consider the term "Social Darwinism" used often during the imperial age of American history. Do you believe that the term has credibility when it comes to Psychology?


Social Darwinism does not have much credibility when it comes to psychology because of the concept of nurture. Yes, there many be a lot of evidence that Social Darwinism relates biology and nature, but it does not explain nurture. A lot of what Evolutionary Psychologists contribute to natural selection, can just as easily be contributed to human tendencies and nurture. Sexuality is not attributed to natural selection. Men are more sexual because it is the gender role. Men are seen as sexually overpowering in most cultures. It is not hard to see that men have picked up their sexual tensions not only from biology, but from influences in culture. It can also be pointed out that women may feel the same sexuality as men, but because it is not socially excepted to say yes to sex for a women, they will not do it. While for a man it is okay. Evolutionary psychologists did not look deep into when they did this sexuality study. Another point is that if "the survival of the fittest" were really true for men, then why are women becoming more powerful and more able to show their sexuality over the centuries?


Based on what you know about psychology and biology, do you believe that men and women can be perfectly equal in our society? Explain your response.


Based on biology, it is not really possible that men and women will become perfectly equal in society. In general, men are stronger and can endure more physicality. Therefore, men will probably always continue to be the wrestlers, the football players, and the lumberjacks. Though this is not necessarily a discriminatory difference, there will probably always be jobs that are gender-dominated. When it comes to psychology, the gender schema theory comes into play in every culture. As far as I know, there is not one culture that finds men and women completely equal even if it is very close. Though gender roles easily change throughout society, they will probably always be in play because they smooth social relations and save awkward decisions about who does what.




Consider Wilson High School's social environment. How often does peer pressure play a role in the decisions that students make here? Provide an example to prove your point.


I believe that peer pressure does influence decisions that students make at school, but only to some extent. Even though peers play a role in the lives of students, it is the way that a person is and he/she chooses the people he/she wants to interact with. A student at Wilson High School chooses the kids he/she wants to hangout with based on their his/her interests. Peers use the "selection effect". They seek out peers with similar attitudes and interests. Because of this it can be said that peers at Wilson High School can only influence one another within their own groups. For example, if a student chooses to hangout with the kids that smoke, he may be influenced to smoke, but this student must have already had some kind of desire to hangout with these kids. What I am trying to say is that it is not often that a student at Wilson High School can influence a cautious by nature student to skip class. On the other hand, it is not often that a rebellious by nature student will want to be the valedictorian because of another peers influence.




The current foreign language program at Wilson starts in 6th grade. Considering what you know about brain development, is that a good age to start studying a foreign language or is it not necessarily the best age to start? Explain using at least two examples.


This is not necessarily the best age to start learning a foreign language. It is better to start even younger. There is a biological reality to early childhood education. During early childhood the excess connections in the brain are still on call. At a young age these kids can master the grammar and accent of another language much better. It is said that lacking any exposure to language before adolescence, the person will never master any language. It is the same for natively deaf children who learn sign language after age 9. These children will never learn as well as children who becomes deaf at age 9 after learning English. When a young brain does not learn any language, its language-learning capacity never fully develops. Another example that shows that brain development is most necessary in early childhood is with visual experiences. Lacking visual experiences during early years impairs visual perceptions. The brain cells that have been normally assigned to vision have died or have been diverted to other uses. For us to have optimum brain development, normal stimulation during the early years is critical.


Megan Johnson, Pd. 7

Sexuality/gender - Human sexuality is the work of the brain. Within the nervous system, the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems play a role in stimulating ejaculation in males and allowing blood to flow to sex organs, respectively. The reticular formation, a finger-shape network of neurons that extends from the spinal cord control arousal; The limbic system deals with desires of sex; and the hypothalamus regulates sexual behavior. As for gender, there are obvious differences in the male and female reproductive organs. The way the brain interacts with the two different organs is quite similar. On the other hand, there are some undefined differences in the way the brain is associated differently to gender. One example is that out of all left handed people, most of them are men. There is no explanation for this.


Behavior Genetics - Behavior genetics is the study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior. In other words, to what point do your genes influence who you are? Is your biological blueprint set in stone? or can outside influences and the environment you live in change who you are and how you act?


Twins (importance of studies) - Studying twins is very important to the study of behavior genetics. Identical twins are a phenomenon because they are two people that have identical genes and come from a single egg. This is important because it shows that genes can not be the only source that affects a person because not all  identical twins have the same personality. Fraternal twins are not similar genetically, but there are some parts that suggest a genetic influence. It is also important to study twins who are reared apart at birth because usually they are very similar even after being separated for a very long time.


Adoption Studies - Adoption studies are also very important to the study of behavior genetics because they ask questions like: are the children more likely to have traits of their adoptive parents or their biological parents? While sharing the same home environment, do adopted siblings come to share traits? Studies of adoptive families have given new insight into behavior genetics. 


Temperament/heritability - Temperament is a person's characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity.  Heritability is the proportion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes. Heritablity is very misunderstood and can vary from study to study. Both temperament and heritability can definitely be related to genetics. 


Genes and the environment - There is no percentage of gene and percentage of experience that form to create a person. There are many different things that come together and form a person. What can be pointed out is that genes may influence the environment a person lives in. Also, genes can influence the way people act to and influence a person. Instead of nature vs. nurture; think nurture via nature.


Molecular genetics - Molecular genetics is the new frontier of behavior genetics that is on the quest to identify the specific genes that influence behavior. The goal of molecular behavior genetics is to find some of the many genes that contribute to a trait such as obesity, reading ability, or shyness.


Parental Influence/Interference - Another study of Behavior Genetics is Parental influence and interference. The amount of influence and interference that a parent has with/on a child's life and personality has been studied constantly. What has been found is that parents should not be given much credit for their child's abilities. This is evident because two children raised in the same household may be two completely different people. You can blame your parents for your genes, but not for how they raised you.


Megan Johnson, Pd. 7