Improvements

What did you like about the class?
I like the subject that I was learning in class. I've always found psychology facinating and interesting. Taking this class made me even more interested. The powerpoints made it easier for me to follow along.

What was your favorite activity or project?
I do not have a favorite activity or project.

What didn't you like about the class?
I didn't really feel like I really understand the information given. Everything we learned felt rushed and unexplained clearly.

What do you think I should leave out next year?
I don't think there is anything in the class that should be left out next year. I think adding more to the subject is needed instead.

Do you have any suggestions or ideas for things I could do next year in AP Psych?
Next year, I recommend that you return our work faster because it would be easier for some of us to see our progress through the semester. I suggest that you give out more extra credit and pass out study guides that we can work on.

Do you have any suggestions or ideas for next semester in AP Econ?
I suggest more extra credit and study guides.

How Obedient Are We?

Remember all those times you didn't want to do something, but you have to? What about those time when you knew it was wrong but still did it? Would you have given physical pain to someone if others told you to?

In the APA Press Release, Replicating Milgram: Researcher Finds Most will Administer Shocks to Others when Prodded by 'Authority Figure', studies have shown that ever after the WWII in Germany, people have not changed for more than 40 years. And there is no difference between the men's or women's minds.

Stanley Millgram in 1961 conducted a study in which the situation was similar to WWII. What he did was asked people to come in a small room. There, the people were told that they were given the power to "push the button," and if the person push the button, then in the other room, a person would receive painful electrical shocks and screams of pain can be heard. The person who pushes the button has the right to leave the room and not continue on with the experiment.

Normally, you would think that the person would not push the button and jsut leave right? Well, let's add in an authority leader. Let's have him encourage and tell the person to push the button. What happens? The person will continue to push the buttons many times no matter how loud the screams on the other side of the room are. This continue on until the amount of volts increased to 450.

Note however, that there was nobody on the other side of the room in pain, and nobody was injurded during the process.

This experiment is an example of 'blind obedience.' The same example can be seen during the Holocaust. However, because Millgram's experiment has been debated and due to ethnic codes, psychologists were not entirely sure if Millgram's discovery is valid even to this day.

Jerry M. Burger, PhD, decided to replicate the Millgram's procedure, and test it out himself. He found that people were still willing to 'push' the button but up till 150 volts. He also noted that men and women do not act differently in the same situation.

Even up to this day, we seem to still retain the 'silent' obedient trait when authorities give orders. The very thought of this is shocking and a little bit scary as to how far we're willing to do.

How obedient are you?

Personality Test

For the Jung Typology Test, I was a ISTJ. I am introverted 78% of the time. My sensing is 25%; thinking is 12%. Judging is 22%. Introverted means that I am super dependable most of the time. In a way, this is true but I do not rely on people all the time. Most of the time, my friends and I rely on each other heavily so that all of us could be successful in whatever we are doing. People rely on me and I rely on them. Also the choices on the test were either 'yes' or 'no.' The test didn't give a in between choice, so it was hard for me to choose what type of personality I have.

In the Planet Personality website, I took the Big Five-short IPIP version. According to the test, I have low expressive style, meaning I don't really express my feelings easily. According to the test, I have high interpersonal style which means I tend to be sympathetic to other people. My work style is also high, which means that I tend to take promises and commitments very seriously. My emotional style is very high, which means I can get irritable very easily. For intellectual style, I tend to 'give in' to traditions, but will accept new solutions if they are proven valid. In other words, I'm progressive, but I do not give in to flights of fancy. This test seems to be proven more reliable because I have a choice from a range of 1-5. However, I do not think the emotional style is not true. I only get very irritated when I'm under a lot of stress and pressure. I tend to avoid being angry most of the time and try for a more peaceful solution.

In the Planet Personality website, I took another test called the Fifth Wave Personality Assessment. According to the test, I have low sociability. My ambition, likability, adjustment, school success, and intellectual are medium. My prudence is high. According the information, most of the statements sound reasonable. I have trouble making friends and I tend to hide my feelings instead of expressing them.

In the website Personality Lab in Deal with it, it stated that my self-esteem is low (5%). My shame-prone personality is high (77%). My guilt prone and pride prone are 59 and 42 percent respectfully. I think this test is pretty unreal. It gave me such a low self-esteem when most of the time I don't think negative.

On the online EQ test, I scored a 36, so I'm slightly above the average. However, I don't think this test is valid since I do not have a job and I can't really explain how I feel about the manger since I don't work.

Which Disorder?

Dear Dad,

How have you been doing ever since I left college?

I hope you are doing well. For me, things are challenging and quite frustrating these past few days. I feel like everybody is against me, my friends as well. There is nobody who seems to be really trustworthy.

For example, just the other day, a couple of my friends had a football party and never invited me. It was only yesterday that I realize that I was the only friend who wasn't invited. They apologized, saying that they thought I wouldn't want to come, but I can tell by the way they talked that they were trying to cover up with a 'lame' excuse.

There are always people that seemed to think that annoying me is funny. Just the other day, a guy was walking by and bumped into me. He apologized but as he walked away, he started laughing as if it was a whole joke. I felt so angry that day and from this day, I always gave a cold glare at the guy whenever I see him.

I wish people could stop treating me as an inferior person and respect me more. The loyalty I get from my friends doesn't exist.

I hope things turn out better later.

Yours truly,
Diana Lu

Case Study 11: Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Case Study 11: A 38-year-old man has been increasingly anxious about his job in a large manufacturing company. He feels that he has been passed over for a promotion several times. The patient is preoccupied with many small events and conversations that have occurred at work during the year and worries how his superiors will interpret them. He finds it difficult to control his worrying. During the day at work he feels restless and edgy. At home he is irritable and has difficulty sleeping. He wife asks him about work but he doesn’t want to talk about it.

The man is suffering from Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Some of the disorder's symptoms include difficulty to stop worrying, unable to sleep, and easy to be irritated.

The man feels like he didn't get promotions because his superiors were judging from the man's past events. He can't stop worrying and it is affecting his lifestyle. His worrying cause too much stress to the brain. The stress in the brain causes lack of sleep, and because of this, the man feels irritated around people.

A good recomendation for this man is to seek help with a practioner who has training in cognitive-behavioral therapy and let the practioner help give the right medicine for treatment. It is important for the man to find a person whom he is comfortable to talk with. By allowing others to listen to him and taking the right medication, the man will be able to relieve his disorder and be able to look at life in a more positive direction.

Albert Einstein's Learning Disability

Albert Einstein was born in Germany in 1879. His family later moved to Munich and then Italy. Einstein continued his education in Switerland and obtain his doctor degree in 1905. In 1903, he married Mileva Maric and had two sons and a daughter. They divorced in 1919, and Einstein remarried to his cousin, Elsa Löwenthal. Einstein died in 1955 and was buried in Princeton, New Jersey. Einstein contribution to physics has been enormous and helpful to the world, especially during WWII.



During his childhood, Einstein had suffered what is called a learning disability. He could not speak until the age of three and even as an adult, he had trouble finding the right words to say. During school, he had trouble in many subjects, especially reading and math. Most teachers considered him as a hopless child with no success for the future. However, it was later realized that Einstein is more of a visual learner than a language comprehender. Because of this ability, he was able to comprehend modern physics with relative ease.



In a way, this disorder was the reason why Einstein was looked down upon during his childhood. Yet, despite what other people think, he managed to rise above and became one of the most famous scientists in history. I find it amazing that Einstien, despite all odds against him when he was young, managed to overcome his learning disability. People with this disability have a harder time to succeed in life. I wish that we can help these people more because it is proven that they can do great things.


http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1921/einstein-bio.html

http://learningdisabilityforum.com/bbs-ld/621.html