Psychology in the Real World 'Synthesis Post'

      Psychology is a vast field full of research and exploration of multiple sub fields. The overall theme of psychology is the study of how people think, behave, and interact. Since the subject is so general, it includes a wide range of topics to explore. Psychology involves everything from human behavior, to hormones, brain, stress, business, family, mental disorders, and much more. These topics captured my attention from an early age. Growing up I never knew exactly what I wanted to do, but I did know that whatever it was, that I wanted to be able to incorporate psychology into my career. I choose psychology to be the focus of my blog because it was the only subject I had any interest in. I wanted to learn about the different careers out there to try and figure out what career I want to pursue. This led me to a wide range of options of possible choices. Psychology is used every day in the real world, and my blog is helping me to find my place within it.

     The great thing about Psychology is the fact that it is so broad. This became very clear after doing my research. This makes it possible for everyone to find their passion. It is a great minor for any field because most jobs involve working with people, and psychology is all about understanding people. It’s also a great career choice for people, like me, who had no idea what they wanted to do. This is because it can be related to every job out there. Each sub field focuses on different parts of human life and processes. If you’re a person who likes science and math, then the research part of psychology is a great option. People who empathize well with people would excel as a psychiatrist or psychologist. For those people who love to be around a ton of people, they could pursue a career as a professor. The options are endless, and my blog helps to explore those options.

     Another thing that I learned from conducting research was that the majority of jobs in psychology are generally doing research and studies. I think this would be very interesting to do, but it would leave for a lot of ambiguity. There does not seem to be much direction within this part of psychology, so I feel like it would be hard for me to feel fulfilled. Plus all of this research would include a massive amount of paperwork. It seems like there is a lot of writing in this part of psychology, and the writing is very technical and bleak. This would be a challenge for me if I decided to conduct research. However, the research that psychologists conduct is usually very interesting and relatable. I used several news articles in my blog when I talked about the mental health of soldiers, and about how psychiatrists are so helpful for people affected. The news articles and publications that come out of it are so cool to read because most of the time the results can affect you as a person, and tell you a little more about yourself. Although this is true, I still cannot see myself doing research, and I am glad that my blog made me aware of that aspect.

     I did find myself pretty interesting in the business part of psychology. It is called Industrial-Organizational Psych, and is all about psychology of the workplace. I think it would be cool to do this because business and marketing is another interest of mine, so incorporating the two together would be perfect. I learned a ton about this field since I am taking a class on it currently. I reported a few things from it to my blog, and figured out that it caught my attention. This is just one option though. Another part I enjoy is learning about psychiatrists and the work they do. I really like to talk to people and help with their problems, so this could be another choice for me. I also like learning about mental illnesses and the effects of them. Both are possibilities that I still need to consider further.

      The point of my blog was to find my passion in psychology. However, even after all of the research and blog posts, I still find myself unsure. It did not help me to find my exact specialty, but it did help me to narrow down some options. I still know that I want psychology to be a part of my job, I just still don’t know if I want it to be my whole job. I still have more exploration and thinking to do, but after starting this blog, I am definitely more educated on my options. Psychology is all around us every day, but it’s up to us to determine where we fit in it.

Prompted Post #10: Remixing Knowledge

Classical conditioning is one of the biggest advances in psychology till this day. It was found accidentally by the famous Psychologist, Ivan Pavlov. He noticed that his dogs would salivate whenever they saw food. His dogs would even salivate every time he entered the room whether he was feeding them or not. Later on he realized that this salivation was their response to the expectation that he was about to fed them. This lead him to conduct an experiments on his dogs, which gave us the basic knowledge of  how we learn; through the associations that our brain makes with a stimulus and a response. 

There are four steps to this learning process. There is a neutral stimulus (NS), which in this case is the bell. This sound naturally does not lead to any response. Then there is the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), which would be the food. The food leads to an unconditioned response (UCR), the salivation, which does not need to be learned. After several times of hearing the bell (NS) immediately followed by the food (UCS), which naturally leads to salivation (UCR), something amazing happens. After this association occurs time and time again, the Bell will then trigger the salivation, even when there is no food present. This is because the dogs learned to associate the Bell (Now the Conditioned Stimulus) with the expectation of food which means automatic salivation (Now the Conditioned Response)

After searching on the internet for this information, I found a really cool remix project that was made on Ivan Pavlov's classical conditioning. As you can see, the author organized all of the information that I just told you, on this simple, easy to read flow chart. This remix project was created for those people who are searching the internet for quick information. It is aimed at those who don't want to spend a bunch of time reading. They just want simple information, or an overview. This project's audience is also directed for those visual learners who learn better with pictures then words. The purpose of this project was to help the audience understand the topic of classical conditioning in a simple, straight to the point manner. It also adds a lot to the writing because if the audience member gets hooked with this chart, they may be more likely to read on.

I think this remix of classical conditioning was very successful. It organized the information in a clear and systematic way and made it a lot easier to understand. The rhetorical strategies do what they are suppose to by complimenting the writing and keeping things clear and interesting.

Sources:

Stangor, Charles. "Chapter 7 Learning." Learning. Unnamed Publisher, n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.

Free Post: #10: The Psychology Behind Addictions

      In the previous prompted post, I touched on mental disorders and why it is so important to have psychiatrists to help people affected. Many people don't realize, but addictions are also a form of a mental disorder. Since addictions are both psychological and psychological, there has been much research done on it to learn more, and to hopefully prevent these mental impairments from happening in the future.

 Many of us know someone or has heard of someone who has an addiction. An addiction is a serious condition that results in the need to consume a substance (usually narcotics) or engage in a risky activity. It is a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, and memory. When a person is addicted to something, they feel the constant urge or need to engage in this behavior, without any control. Addictions are serious and can be crippling. They are be life-altering by taking away from a person’s happiness, freedom, and daily functioning. They take over body and mind until the affected person has no choice but to give in.

 The consequences of addictions are serious and without treatment, It can lead to a disability or even death. Since addiction is all about mental and psychical processes, it is a big focus in the psychology world. Psychologists study the exact regions of the brain affected and do research to learn more about what causes addictions.

Neurobiology tells us that addiction takes over the frontal cortex of the brain, and takes over the connections between the cortex and the circuits of reward motivation and memory. The frontal cortex is also in charge of impulse control and judgment. These are key areas of the brain that give us control of our actions. Without these parts functioning properly, It is easy for an addiction to take over.

Certain people are more at a risk to obtain an addiction. Certain personality characteristics might be one underlying factor. This includes people who deny problems, have emotional trouble, and those who are impulsive. There are also genetic factors that can contribute, as well as culture.

Addiction is dysfunctional emotional state and should be taken seriously. It is important to know that it is a form of a mental illnesses, and anyone who is addicted should receive immediate treatment. Always keep your eyes out for friends and family who may have an addiction, If you or someone you know has an addiction and needs help, they can find a trained psychologist to help them on the path to recovery by Clicking this link. Mental awareness is important, and I think that addiction awareness is a key part of that.

  Sources:
"Addiction Alcoholism, Substance Abuse." Addiction. Sussex Publishers, LLC, 2014. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.
ASAM Board of Directors. "Definition of Addiction." Definition of Addiction. American Society of Addiction Medicine, 19 Apr. 2011. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.

Prompted Post #9: Recognizing Significance

Mental health is a current day issue that our society has not fully accepted yet. There are still stigmas out
there that judge the people who are affected by them. Some people believe that mental illnesses are just made up problems and that people who suffer from them are weak. However, this is not the case at all.

Mental Illnesses are medical conditions that disrupts a persons thinking, feeling, moods, and ability to function normally. To cope with these illnesses, affected people can go to a Psychiatrist to talk about their problems. Once the Psychiatrist identifies the problem, he/she can prescribe medication to the person to help them cope with the illness.

 I found an article about mental illness and the importance of the Psychiatry in treating them.  1 in 4 people are living with a mental illness. Since their aren't identified cures for most of these illnesses, Psychiatrists are their only hope in living a semi-normal life. The article talks about the changes to the DSM-5, this past December. For those of you who don't know, the DSM-5 is the newest version of the 'Diagnostic and Statistical Manual', which is the guide for diagnosing a mental illness. The mental illnesses are sorted into categories based on their type. Then underneath are the symptoms and criteria that a patient affected by the illness would have, and how many are needed to be present in order to be diagnosed. This manual is a helpful tool and guideline for Psychiatrists.

One of the changes that the DSM-5 has had in the past year includes changes to the diagnostic criteria of schizophrenia, mood, and anxiety disorders. A new categorization of 'substance use-disorders' was made separate from substance related disorders. Plus the age of diagnosing ADHD was increased to before age 12.However, he biggest change that occurred was the the diagnostic criteria for psychiatric disorders (like depression and substance use) have been relaxed so that more individuals will be qualified for this and can get the necessary treatment. They talked about how this two issues are rising and that some people done show all of the symptoms like they thought before.

The only issue will loosening the criteria is the issue of over-diagnosing. We don't want to spend unnecessary money on people who aren't in need of the treatment. Psychiatrists will keep a close eye on this but they believe that this change will benefit many people.

Without Psychiatrists or the DSM-5, 25% of people in the United States would not know what is wrong with them, and would have no way of coping with their problems. This is the most significant part of psychology and our society benefits greatly from it.

Sources:
George, Tony P. "Psychiatry 2013 and DSM-5." Psychiatric Times. UBM Media, LCC, 19 Dec. 2013. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. 

Free Post #9: Dream Interpertation

Dreams are mysterious things. No one knows the real reason of why we dream or the true meaning behind them, but there are many theories out there. Some say they are our unconscious thoughts represented through symbols, while others believe that they are meaningless. Theres also a theory that says they are just your random thoughts throughout the day made into a random story.

No matter what the real meaning behind them are, they still are interesting to try to decipher. I recently became interested in dream interpretation because just this morning my mom called me and told me that she had a dream about me during the previous night. I remembered learning learning about this in a previous psych class so i used my knowledge to try and decipher her dream.

To refresh my memory, I decided to look more into the meaning of dreams by searching on the internet. I found some descriptions and more background info on each theory, that many people may find helpful when trying to interpret their own dreams.

Theories:

Psychoanalytic Theory of Dreams

This is Psychologist Sigmund Freud's dream theory. He believed that dreams are a "representation of unconscious desires, thoughts and motivations". He believes that they are motivated by our aggressive and sexual instincts and desires. He wrote a book called the 'Interpretations of Dreams' which is full of all his ideas and symbols. Here he goes over what each symbol means and what the images could possibly represent. This is done through the manifest content (actual images and symbols) to determine the latent content (hidden meaning behind the manifest content).

Activation- Synthesis Model of Dreaming

This theory is all about the biology behind dreams. It explains the physical processes behind them and what goes on in your body when they occur. The theory says that there are circuits in your brain that become activate when you are in REM (dream sleep). Areas in the limbic system (amygdala and hippocampus) especially which are the areas in your brain are involved in emotions, sensations, and memory. The brain the tries to interpret the meaning behind these symbols. The founder behind this theory, Hobson, does not completely believe that dreams are meaningless like some people think. He believes they are a part of our creative conscious state.

Others
There are many other theories behind dreams. Like that we are just trying to interpret external stimuli, that your brain is just trying to clean up the clutter that fills in, or even that they are just a summary of all of your thoughts and ideas throughout  the day.

All of these theories could possible be true, and different ones could be used to interpret different dreams in different situations. Dream interpretations are an interesting study in psychology that I love to learn about.

Sources:
Cherry, Kendra. "Why Do We Dream? - Top Dream Theories." About.com Psychology. About.com, 2 Feb. 2012. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.

Prompted Post #8: Practicing Your Knowledge

Hands-on learning in the real world is drastically different from learning in a classroom. Out in the real world

you have to face real situations and apply the knowledge you learned to that situation. The reason it is so different is because you are actually experiencing the full effect and emerging yourself into something that you have only read about in books or heard in a lecture. You actually get to be involved and the knowledge you learned suddenly becomes much more personal and something you can relate to.

Hands-on learning is a great way to really get the most out of the knowledge you are learning because you become actively involved. I recently got the opportunity to do hands-on learning by participating in an actual experiment conducted by real psychologists.

Conducting experiments for research is a big part of psychology. Many of the careers available within the field involve research and experiments.  That is why in every psychology class I have ever been in, the first thing we always learn about are the steps and procedures to conducting these research experiments. But to see this process go on in person was much different then I imagined.

I always imagined that research was conducted by psychologists in white lab coats, and in bright white rooms. That idea always intimidating to me because I thought they the research would be very "sciencey" and unpersonal. However this was not the case; the researchers were very friendly and tried to make me feel comfortable. They simply sat down and talked to me about the experiment. They had to make sure I was given 'informed consent' which means that I knew exactly what is going on in the experiment.  They got really extensive into explaining everything to make sure that I really understood. I was then asked to fill out a ton of paper work for legal reasons.  Once that was over they simply gave me each section of the experiment which included a short survey, a listening test, then another short survey. I thought they would be staring over my shoulder the entire time and that there would be a ton of pressure, but that wasn't the case at all. They simply monitored through a video feed while they waited in another room. It all seemed very laid back but very professional at the same time. 

I'm sure that actually being the subject is a lot different from being behind the scenes, but I still got to get a good sense of how things work. Of course I didn't get to see any of their preparations or lab work, but I did get to see how the actual experiment is conducted. It gave me a better understanding of the types of experiments as well. The one I participated in is a lab experiment as well as the most common type, survey. I finally could remember the difference between the dependent and independent variables, which I always struggled with, but since they clearly explained it to be and I was personally involved, It really made the knowledge stick.

 It was a lot different then I expected because when I think of research I think of bio and chem. But from this experiment I learned that psychology experiments are actually fun and interesting, and that the actual experiment it self is the simple part; the prep work is the most extensive part. Overall I still think it was a great experience, and it definitely made me a lot more interested in pursing a career in research.

Sources:

Heffner, Dr. Christopher L. "Research Methods in Psychology 101 at AllPsych Online."Research Methods in Psychology 101 at AllPsych Online. Heffner Media Group, Inc., 29 Nov. 2011. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.

Free Post #8: Mental Health Information

1 out of every 4 adults in the United States suffers with a mental health disorder; that's 57.7 million people! 25%  is a pretty hefty chunk of our population. That being said I think that It is important for people to be informed on these disorders so they can be  more aware and sensitive to the people who suffer.

Anxiety Disorders:
Anxiety is a normal reaction to stress, but a anxiety disorder causes this feeling of uncertainty to be excessive. It is difficult to control while it also causes you to look at life in a negative light. There are a wide range of types of anxiety disorders.

• Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD): Creates a feeling of being on edge all the time, or even feeling     anxious for no reason at all
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD): Obsessing over little rituals and feeling the need to repeat certain rituals over and over again. The main focus is different for everyone affected and can be anything from counting objects over and over, to repeating words or actions. The person feels an overwhelming sense of anxiety until the ritual is completed.
• Panic disorder: A sudden panic attack consisting of intense anxiety, shortness of breath and hyperventilation. The cause of the attack usually for an unknown reason, but certain people also have certain triggers.
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): Caused by a traumatic event. The person may randomly feel stressed or threatened and go into their fight or flight response when no danger is present.
• Social phobia (or social anxiety disorder): A strong fear of being judged negatively by others. They may feel anxious or embarrassed to meet a person or speak to people. They cannot control their fear and usually stays away from situations where multiple people are involved

Mood Disorders:

A strong feeling of a certain mood without any control from the individual. It takes a toll on the individual's mood and mind.

• Depressive Disorder: When feelings of sadness last for an extended period of time, and it feels like there is no escaping it. The sadness is accompanied by feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness. The symptoms also commonly interfere with daily life functioning.
• Bipolar Disorder: Known as a manic-depressive illness. It causes shifts in one extreme of a mood to the other extreme within a short period of time. When its an manic episode the person feels extremely happy, like they can accomplish the world; they usually work excessively. During the depressive state the person feels overwhelming sadness and is unable to function.  

Other Disorders:

•  Schizophrenia: is a chronic, crippling brain disorder. People affected hear voices in their head plotting to harm them or telling them other irrational things. The voices are almost constant, which makes it difficult to focus, or to do anything else but sit and listen to the thoughts. It is difficult for a person with this disorder to hold a job or live normally.
• Autism: A pervasive developmental disorder, inhibiting the person from developing in a normal way. There is a cognitive impairment which leads to unusual actions and behaviors, as well as a different way of thinking and learning.
• Eating Disorders: Is a mental disorder that is caused by a person not seeing themselves the way they really are. They want to strive for perfection by making themselves beautiful and skinny. Anorexia Nervosa is one type which is starving ones self.  Bulimia Nervosa is another type in which a person eats normally but then makes themselves throw up the food. Binge-eating disorder is the last type which is periods of starving ones self followed by periods of excessive overeating.
• Borderline Personality Disorder: A pattern of instability in relationships, self image, and impulsiveness.

There are many more disorders and sub-disorders out there, but I think it is important for people to have at least a little background information of these disorders due to the commonality of them.

Sources:

Kessler RC, Chiu WT, Demler O, Walters EE. Prevalence, severity, and comorbidity of twelve-month DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R). Archives of General Psychiatry, 2005 Jun;62(6):617-27.

U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates by Demographic Characteristics. Table 2: Annual Estimates of the Population by Selected Age Groups and Sex for the United States: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2004 (NC-EST2004-02) Source: Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau Release Date: June 9, 2005.

American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual on Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, 1994.