Developmental Theories

     The development of adults never stops. The key point to be noted is that health and well-being generally improves as you get older, up until a certain point. Then you reach a point were you reach a physical peak, gain weight, lose height, and women enter menopause. Early in life, birthday cards are joyful and celebrate growing up, but when you start to get old people start to enter a stage of fear or denial about how old they really are. Most of their thoughts about growing up are negative and this is why as people get older the cards start to get more sincere or more of a joke, to comfort the receiver. When the person was young they got happy cards to celebrate them growing up, but now that they are getting old they no longer want to celebrate getting older, because it makes them remember that the end is that much closer. When we are kids we have momentum and don't even have the end in mind, but when you start to grow up death becomes a very common topic in life. When you get older, most of the time you will slow down your whole life and get ready for retirement and other events to try and soothe the thoughts of getting old. In the end, I think cards start to get more sincere or reassuring, because no one wants to be reminded how old they are getting and how they are slowing down, but if the card makes you laugh about it or feel a sense of pride about your age then that is always a positive. Some cards also talk about reaching milestones in life, like living to an unexpected age. People also start to lose their memory and other things relating to them, and cards will often make some sort of fun of that and this helps the people laugh about themselves. After all, no birthday card is made to actually hurt someone. They are constructed to celebrate or congratulate the many adventures you have or will endure in your lifetime.

What I have learned

     In the Introduction to Psychology, I learned that there are many branches of Psychology such as structuralism, behaviorism, and functionalism. Structuralism looked to study what made up the human mind by using introspection. Functionalism is a more detailed branch where it focuses on how our mental and behavioral processes function. Mostly, it focused on how they enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish. Functionalism is probably the most important function in our life, because it allows us to survive and flourish and if we didn't do this there would be no point to have any other life processes. Functionalism effects me everyday in my decisions, because I make moves to adapt to for example, maybe I get more homework than normal, then I adapt and change my time schedule so I can finish all of my homework. Over the years I have adapted to many things and this is one reason why I might still be alive today. As a human we find ways to adapt especially in Wisconsin when we have the changing of seasons. In winter we adapt by wearing heavy clothes, gloves, boots, and hats. In summer we adapt by wearing shorts and a t-shirt. The main point being that our mind is always running and working to help us flourish. The mind also controls our behavior and our behavior is a very important part of everyday life. I also learned how behavior is affected by the bio-psychosocial model.
     The very first interesting thing I learned in chapter 1 was a tendency we call hindsight bias. This is when we think we knew what the outcome was going to be the whole time, when really we had absolutely no clue. This is very interesting and relevant to me, because I often use this tendency of hindsight bias, especially when I am making a guess with my friends and I am right. I will often guess on deal or no deal and they will pick a different case and I will say, "that's gunna be a high dollar amount and I am right, then I will say I knew it." When really I had absolutely no clue, but it's just I thought I knew it. The reason why I think I may know things or what I may think is common sense is really deceptive. The way I am thinking when I use hindsight bias is by no means critical thinking which is a very important term in this chapter. This is looking for hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions.
     In chapter 4 the subject of nature versus nurture was what the chapter was about. It also was very involved in using twins to describe how genes affect a human. Identical twins are the closest to each other than any other relative because they come from the same egg. They have the same genes and therefore are similar, but they may have different counts of those genes, causing one twin to be more prone to disease. Identical twins may have slight differences between them, but for the most part they do almost everything the same as each other. The genes that the twins get are random from the two parents so even if both the parents are successful in sports the child may not even play sports. This impacts me to know that just because my dad may be successful in his life doesn't mean I will be successful in my life, or just because my mom is a nice and hardworking person doesn't mean I am going to be the same way. This is deceptive to me because I thought that I would just get these traits, but actually I will have to work and possibly change to be like them. Back to the identical twins, they are always really close because they are from the same egg, where as my brother and I don't get along at all and right now he doesn't care to hang out ever. In fact, he seems to be nothing like me.
     The most interesting piece of information I learned is how misleading our mind or thoughts can really be, and that is why we have to be critical thinkers. I find this interesting because I always thought that, that gut feeling you get is the most accurate source and you should believe it, but by taking this class I now know that this assumption is by no means right. It just seems like there would be a logical explanation for why I get that gut feeling.
    That leads me into my first question. Why do we get gut feelings when making decisions?
Why do we often question ourselfs?
Why do we really develope the way we do?
How random is the mind and how detailed?

Psychology

All these random thoughts,

What do they really mean

I try find an answer,

By thinking critically

Then I find a science,

Called Psychology

Now all my thoughts,

That I had before,

Are easy to explain,

And float right out the door.

Psych Introduction

  Hello, my name is Jeffrey Rachu. I am a 16 year old junior from Greenwood Middle/High School. I am the youngest kid in my class, because I turned five on the first day of Kindergarten. I am in three sports, basketball, baseball, and football, and out of these three sports basketball is my favorite. I am also a dedicated student and enjoy working with electronics.
     When I get to thinking about things I often end up thinking so much that the subject I was originally thinking about becomes distance. When I think about things I start to wonder why I think what I do and it all seems odd to me, but then I always think that there is a real reason why I am thinking what I am, and most of the time it is to take my mind of stressful things and life and change it to things that seem to be perfect. When I go about doing work I aways think about what is the most efficient way to go about my job. I always consider all my options and what are the effects.
     The best way I process information is by actually attempting to do the material or working with a partner. I take a long time to fully understand the question and then conjur up a descriptive answer. I will often read over information several times or repeat a question in my head before I answer it. I then can write down or solve a problem very fast thinking of my answer in my head as I go.
     I learn through many different methods. When it comes to memorizing vocab words I will write then over and over again to get the visual down and then I will say them over and over again. I also learn best by actually doing the work rather than watching an example. The best way that I learn is easily by physical working with the content and then the next way would definately be visual.
     I am a very energetic person who likes to be doing something most of the time. There are some days though were I might be "running low on gas," but most of the time I will be the life of the party. I am going to be who I am and I will not let people's opinions get to me. When I play sports I am more of a laid back player and I let my performance do the talking because I think talking tough shows nothing if you can't back it up. I also tend to do stuff on a schedule and if my schedule gets messed up then my day seems a lot different. I am able to change how I react to situations and be proactive about what is going on in my life, and I work to enlarge what I can control and don't worry about what I can't control. I have pretty good hearing so when I hear a noise I can get easily distracted, but once I notice what it was I get right back to my work. I like to work with electronics, and in doing so I have to be very persistant because electronics seem to consistantly have problems, but my favorite thing to do is fix problems and thats why I plan to be a Computer Systems Analyst. I am also a very sensitive person and it can be hard sometimes because I can be sarcastic, and sometimes my remarks might hurt people and I feel terrible about it. Then once I do that I always do whatever it takes to make the situation better.
     My biggest influence in my life would have to be my mom. Her being a single mother and making mine and my brother's life as good as she can make it really helped me to see what I should be thankful for. She always does whatever she can to make us happy and I do the same thing to people when they are not in a good mood. My dad is also a role model in my life because he constantly reminds me how important school is and he is very strict to what he wants me to do and I respect that because he wants me to be successful in life.
     I like to be my own original self, but sometimes I will pick up on language that my friends or family use. I have obtained a strong sense of will from sports and responsibility from school and other characteristics just from my surroundings. Otherwise, I will be myself and let no one change that.
     In my life I take after my dad because he has been very successful and is sastified about where he is in life, but I want to go even beyond where he is sitting in life right now. I want to make a positive name for myself. One other person in my life that I take after is my uncle. He is organized, clean, and can be histerical. I live life to the fullest I can but I don't just forget about everything along the way, I keep my best memories closest to me in mind.
     Since Psychology is "the science of behavior and mental processes" this assignment relates to that because I talked about how I behave in my life. I explored how I think about things, how I process information, how I learn, and what influences me. While I was writing this it made me think deeply about who I really am and that it was Psychology is.