Term One Reflection [Blog #10]

In the beginning of this class, I was SO excited. I love love love psychology, and I was so eager to learn more  about it. In the beginning of class I read ahead every single day, took notes multiple times a day, I highlighted every important concept in the book. Then as the term went on, I became less excited for class and just kind of lost interest in reading the text. I think it was probably because when you do something every day, it's not really exciting anymore.

In term two I think I should definitely get back into reading every night and taking notes all of the time. I am actually going to start studying for the AP exam this weekend because the longer I study, the easier it will be to recall the information, and I don't want to have any unnecessary struggle during the test.

Studying! [Blog #9]

The last section of Chapter Eight discusses effective ways to improve memory, specifically when studying. It suggests that when you study, you space out your studying so that you keep coming back to it. It also says that you should connect the information to your own life or something else that you remember easily. It says you should allow one thought to trigger another, and use mnemonic devices. It helps to study before sleeping because that's when you encode and process and store all the information learned throughout the day. It also helps to sleep more and to test yourself.

I found a website (linked below) that gives tips on how to study effectively. The key concepts are:
1) Manage your time. In other words, don't cram.
2)Take notes in class and then REWRITE THEM at home. (this works pretty well)
3)Study from hardest subject to easiest.
4)Read the text out loud and read it more than once.
5)Do your homework. If you recall the information outside of class, you're more likely to remember it later.

http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/howtostudy.html

False Memory [Blog #8]

When we talked about false memories in class, it got me thinking...how many of my memories never actually happened? I know that sometimes I remember doing things I never did, like filling out a worksheet or loading the dishwasher. But at what point does I thought I did that worksheet turn into I thought I married that man or an elaborate story that never actually happened to me?

 I wondered why memory was so malleable and why we all had these false memories. In the article linked below, I found information about the steps that you go through in order to make a false memory. Some researchers did a really interesting experiment to see if they could create false memories in the people partaking in the experiment. What intrigued me the most was how incredibly easy it was to create a false memory. It makes me wonder if I have more false memories than I thought...

http://www.unisci.com/stories/20012/0613011.htm

Classical Conditioning in The Office [Blog #7]

Sometimes it's kind of hard for me to label things correctly when talking about classical conditioning. I get the concept; that part is really simple. But naming the stimuli and responses is kind of tricky for me. I found a good example of classical conditioning from an episode of The Office where Jim conditions Dwight to want an Altoid when a certain sound comes from Jim's computer. It's a pretty funny video. Anyway, I typed the experiment below in a way that made the most sense to me.

http://www.spike.com/video-clips/0jnov0/the-office-the-jim-trains-dwight

Bad Breath = Desire for Altoid

Sound from Jim's Computer + Bad Breath = Desire for Altoid

Sound from Jim's Computer = Desire for Altoid