In a recently reviewed research paper, I read about the cognitive bias known as the availability heuristic. The availability heuristic is the brain’s tendency to believe a particular event is more likely if it can easily access a memory of it. For instance, after watching a flipped coin land on tails five consecutive times, one might believe that on the sixth toss it is more likely to land on tails. In reality, however, the odds still remain equal. But since your brain has recently witnessed the event of the coin landing on tails, it makes an incorrect assumption. Furthermore, mental bias influences our judgement to more easily recall flashy, dramatic events. For instance, people often overestimate the frequency of plane crashes. In actuality, it is a generally uncommon occurrence. But, due to the intensity and significance of each crash, people can vividly recall incidents of plane crashes and therefore assume they are a major cause of death.
I was extremely interested by this topic. Humans tend to believe that they memory is so infallible, when it is actually extremely susceptible to be wrongly influenced. Understanding these biases, moreover, allows people to make less biased judgments. They are able to stop and think about if their belief is accurate or if it is simply being swayed by cognitive biases. An especially interesting point made in the paper involved the subject of court testimonies. If memory is so fallible, why are court testimonies so highly regarded in trails? The consequences of these testimonies could very well have involved sending completely innocent individuals to jail! In the future, I would like to know more about the availability heuristic affects perception of others. Do people recall more memorable individuals better? How does this affect the lives of individuals who may not be as flashy? The availability heuristic is an widely interesting topic with the potential to prompt additional studies.
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Music is a universal language present in the lives of many— myself included. Whether its at work, school, parties, the gym, or in the comfort of our homes, music follows us wherever we go. But music serves as much more than just a source of entertainment. A research paper I read recently discussed the effect of music on memory. I was fascinated by how significant a role music plays in our lives.
The use of songs to aid students in remembering material seen in the education of young children is something I have learned about and experienced in my own life. What I didn’t know was the the specific connection between musical compositions, emotions, and the memory mechanisms in our brain. I was equally as interested in the remedial uses of music seen in experiments on patients with impaired cognitive function. Results showed that listening to music improves the memory of the individuals. The various ways in which music benefit people raise many questions for further psychological study. I wonder whether certain genres of music could be more helpful than others in helping retain information. It would also be interesting to find out if there is a way to help people with certain learning disabilities or disorders like Alzheimer's through the use of music. The possibilities of research on this topic are endless. There is so much more studying the area to be done, and as I read from the paper, research has only begun. ![]() From simple “word of mouth” to chatting instantaneously with people across the world, communication has evolved to fit with the drastic changes of the modern era. However, today’s main forms of communication—texting and online chatting apps—are limited in the emotions they can express. In a research paper I read, I learned more about just how effective (or ineffective) modern forms of technological communication can be. Emotions are an unconscious process that motivate people to action. Emotional stimulus is sent through the amygdala, after which it can travel on one of two pathways: 1. Fast Track. Controlled by the limbic system, this includes emotional reaction and impulses. 2. Slow Track. Controlled by the frontal lobes of the brain, this includes logical thinking and long-lasting emotions (such as grudges). These two tracts are necessary for behavioral responses. Within these two tracts, emotions are expressed through the five basic expressions of communication: 1. Words 2. Touch 3. Facial expression 4. Body language 5. Sound (such as tone of voice) All five are needed to fully communicate a person’s emotions and the meaning of their words. In fact, it is interesting to note that only ten percent of communication is derived through words; therefore, texting, using solely words, does not communicate ninety percent of what is communicated. Hidden meanings, such as sarcasm, can be misinterpreted. Even words are shortened using “net lingo”, such as “LOL” (laugh out loud). The emotions themselves are boxed up into emoticon symbols, such as :-), which depicts the emotion of happiness. This method of communication is not only limiting, but also can be misinterpreted as the brain is not able to identify any sound, touch, facial expressions or body language it would usually use as cues for emotional interpretation. Also, abbreviations and emojis can downplay the emotions themselves. From personal experience, I once overheard someone saying that she found it funny when her mom sent angry emoji faces, even though she knew her mom was trying to show that she was very upset. The use of emoji faces can be very useful; however, they can also minimize their meaning as they are used frequently and result in making communication impersonal. Snapchat and Instagram, with video and pictures, can include three of the five basic expressions of communication: words, facial expression and sound. However, there is still a disconnect, and many people report that many adolescents have, “alter-egos” online. When a person is online, since they are not physically confronting the person face-to-face, it is easier to be blunt, rude, or even bully others. Still, there are many benefits to these inventions: the ability to communicate quickly over long distances, to save conversations and even to include other mediums of expression, such as art and music. So while it is not wise to depend on technology solely for communication, technology has many advantages. With new inventions and updates, society may find itself one day with technology that can encompass communication fully. Until then, I personally would like to learn more about how emotions are communicated, and evaluate how well apps like Skype and FaceTime communicate emotion. I read about a research paper about animal language, and I will briefly introduce the topic. This research paper focuses on the language of human and animals. Although animals do not have an extensive system in their brains to communicate like humans, they have their own ways of communicating and interacting with each other.
First, it has been confirmed that human brains are very complex and have greater capacity than animals to form words and phrases. Studies with the apes have shown that animals could not produce sentences like humans could. However, there are similarities in how both humans and animals develop their language. Some birds and mammals grouped notes into syllables which eventually created words and phrases to make up sentences. This study have shown that animals and humans have similar structure in the language format. Moreover, humans and animals both use facial expressions to convey different messages. Animals can acknowledge the different facial expressions and figure out the different emotional states. Another method of communication animals use is dance. Bees dance to locate the location of their nest sites. Also, they communicate about the direction and location of the food and decide whether it is worth making the journey. I found this topic really interesting, and I learned new aspects to communication in animals. I did not know that animals used all these types of methods to communicate with each other. Although animals do not have a complex brain like humans do, they still have the capacity to express themselves. ![]() Recently, I read a research paper about the causes and effects of personality and how personality can change over time as we age. When I read this paper, I found this information very interesting because sometimes I think I have a few traits of mine that are similar fours year ago when I started high school, but in reality, I have changed in my personality without even realizing it. This can be caused through a few factors in the psychology of personality. First of all, genetics plays in the role of personality. Some of our DNA passed down hereditary can be similar and the biology of our family. However, a situation that counterfeit this is the experiment between children related and raised together and children related but raised separately. This takes into account of the effect of personality in nurture and nature. The results showed that there was a difference of their characteristics such as openness or being introverted with the children raised in two different environments. Not only the environment can change personality, but also our personalities as we age. The most rapid change is through the ages of twenty to forty because that is the age period in our lives in becoming independent. This can also relate to how our emotional stability is increased over time and how to handle a situation by showing a certain personality. From the ages of forty and older, our rate of personality change decline. Another factors of the change in personality is the knowledge that our personality will always move into a positive direction. As we age, we become more mature which makes us more responsible and controllable of our lifestyles and actions. We may sometimes stray from our core personalities of who we are, but we tend to stay the same in remainder of our lives. Change can be also changed through experiences either good or bad such as marriage problems, disturbing life problems, or one's environmental surroundings. When one is affected by this experience, their "trauma" affects their personality. Psychologists can diagnose a specific type of personality through the Big Five model: agreeable, conscientiousness, and extroversion, neuroticism, and openness. Many answers can be found through this diagnosis if we are conscientious to being irritable. In the future, I hope to research different types of personality disorder thousands of people go through and how psychologists can discover this through their continuous research. |
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