THORNDIKE
1. Thorndike invented a puzzle box in order to study operant conditioning in cats. He would place hungry cats in a box and the only way out was to pull a latch, once out the cats were given acess to food which is a positive re-inforcer. He found out that the cats would solve it faster and faster everytime.
2. Responses closely followed by satisfaction, will become attached to the situation and more likely to re-occur when the situation is repeated. If the situation is followed by discomfort the connection to the situation will become weaker and therefore less likely to occur.
3.Stimulus response associations are strengthened through repetition
SKINNER
1. Behavior is based on past behavior and its consequences.
2. It makes the behavior occur much more frequently
3. Makes the behavior occur less frequently
4. Positive reinforcement is say the animal is rewarded for doing such an action, another is when they do not do a certain action they are punished. Positive punishment is say introducing a loud noise to decrease the frequency of an action, negative punishment would be taking away a dogs toy.
Works Cited
http://www.psychology.uiowa.edu/faculty/wasserman/glossary/Puzzle.html
http://psychology.about.com/od/lindex/g/lawofeffect.htm
http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/skinner.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Friday, November 26, 2010
Pavlov and Watson
Ivan Pavlov
1.Ivan Pavlov was working to study the secrets of the digestive system and the releasement of saliva from a dogs mouth.
2. Ivan had a dog, he tied him down and through an operation, switched the salvitory glands and made it so the saliva would go into the tubes connected to the dogs cheeks. Every time the dog was eating, saliva would pour into the tubes. then he started making a series of variables, every single time he would give the dog food he would ring a bell and it would tick and after the tick the dog was given the food. Then, as soon as the dog started hearing the ringing, saliva began to pour into his mouth. the dog had related the noise to the ticking sound and knew when the sound was made that he was going to be given food.
3.The condition stimulus was the bell ringing, the uncondition stimulus was the food that was given to the dog and the condition response was the salivation of the dog.
4.Extinction is the eventual dissapearance of the conditioned response.
5. this is when the conditioned response happens too many times without the uncondition response, if the dog hears the bell way to many times but does not get the food when the bell is rung.
6. Stimulus discrimination is when someone or thing learns to respond to one but not to another.
7. The limitations are that it could be different for humans and he only tried it on one species of animal.
8. Pavlov said that we learn through association
John Watson
1. John Watson made an experiment on human behavior. He used a subject called ¨Little Albert¨ a small todler. The young boy was introduced different animals such as rats, monekys, dogs, and he never showed a negative response towards them. Then, the young boy was shown the rat, but whenever the rat was given to him a loud bang on a pipe was made, this starteled the young boy, but soon he started to relate the sound to the rat so he showed a negative response whenever the rat or other furry animals were present.
3. the conditioned stimulus of the experiment was the white rat, the unconditioned stimulus was the banging of the pipe, and the conditioned response was little alberts negative reactions to the animals.
4. Two limitations of this study are that 1 he only used one subject and thats it, the second is that it cannot be repeated because it is un human.
5.Most often evenets are linked together, the strongest one will be the association.
6. The response that has most recentlz occured after a single stimulus is the response most likely to be associated with that one stimulus.
7. Watson believed that he could turn someone into whoever he wanted, through human behavior, say a serial killer an athlete or a genius.
Sources Used:
1. http://nobelprize.org/educational/medicine/pavlov/readmore.html
2. http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/misc_topics/pavlov.html
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_B._Watson
1.Ivan Pavlov was working to study the secrets of the digestive system and the releasement of saliva from a dogs mouth.
2. Ivan had a dog, he tied him down and through an operation, switched the salvitory glands and made it so the saliva would go into the tubes connected to the dogs cheeks. Every time the dog was eating, saliva would pour into the tubes. then he started making a series of variables, every single time he would give the dog food he would ring a bell and it would tick and after the tick the dog was given the food. Then, as soon as the dog started hearing the ringing, saliva began to pour into his mouth. the dog had related the noise to the ticking sound and knew when the sound was made that he was going to be given food.
3.The condition stimulus was the bell ringing, the uncondition stimulus was the food that was given to the dog and the condition response was the salivation of the dog.
4.Extinction is the eventual dissapearance of the conditioned response.
5. this is when the conditioned response happens too many times without the uncondition response, if the dog hears the bell way to many times but does not get the food when the bell is rung.
6. Stimulus discrimination is when someone or thing learns to respond to one but not to another.
7. The limitations are that it could be different for humans and he only tried it on one species of animal.
8. Pavlov said that we learn through association
John Watson
1. John Watson made an experiment on human behavior. He used a subject called ¨Little Albert¨ a small todler. The young boy was introduced different animals such as rats, monekys, dogs, and he never showed a negative response towards them. Then, the young boy was shown the rat, but whenever the rat was given to him a loud bang on a pipe was made, this starteled the young boy, but soon he started to relate the sound to the rat so he showed a negative response whenever the rat or other furry animals were present.
3. the conditioned stimulus of the experiment was the white rat, the unconditioned stimulus was the banging of the pipe, and the conditioned response was little alberts negative reactions to the animals.
4. Two limitations of this study are that 1 he only used one subject and thats it, the second is that it cannot be repeated because it is un human.
5.Most often evenets are linked together, the strongest one will be the association.
6. The response that has most recentlz occured after a single stimulus is the response most likely to be associated with that one stimulus.
7. Watson believed that he could turn someone into whoever he wanted, through human behavior, say a serial killer an athlete or a genius.
Sources Used:
1. http://nobelprize.org/educational/medicine/pavlov/readmore.html
2. http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/misc_topics/pavlov.html
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_B._Watson
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Sleep Articles
This is an article written by "Science Daily", speaking about sleep. The school started class exactly one hour later than the usual time. The study showed that kids who got atleast 8 hours of sleep increased from a 35% to a 50%, this is a very big number, half of the kids in the school are getting their needed sleep, although this number could be larger, it is a significant increase. Students get a "catch up sleep" on the weekends, and this involves more crashes with teenage driving when the school started later. By starting classes later, the crash rate reduced significantly in teenage students, so by starting school later kids got more sleep and less "catch up" sleep on the week ends and therefore less crashes were reported. I find this very interesting, me being a student who drives to school knowing that the more I sleep, the more aware I will be when driving and the less chance I have of getting into a collission. 
The second article I read was also poster by Science Daily. This study was related to teenage sleep and depression and fatigued students. A rhode island school delayed their entrance time by just 30 minutes, and the number of students who got 7 hour of sleep or less decreased by 80%. That is a drastic number, 80% of students get more than 7 hours of sleep daily with just a 30 minute delay entrance time. This is a very important study relating that our school enstead of starting 30 min later, they actually cut the entrance time by 30 minutes, and students feel more fatigued, tired, less motivated to participate in anything in any class because we are all just so tired. Our school should do this, it would help greatly.
The last study is one found in Neurology®, they found that people with a certain sleep dissorder called narcolepsy suffer from excesive drowsiness or feel more tired during the day. The study also showed that people with this sleep dissorder also woke up about 5 times during the night when an average person woke up only about twice. Also people with this sleep dissorder spent less time in deep sleep according to this article in Neurology®. I think this is very interesting becuase sleep dissorders are very interesting and my thought is that many people in the world suffer from sleep dissorders. Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Teenage Brain Video
This video spoke of the teenage brain and how it reacts to events such as no sleep, sleep deprivation is something I can relate to. I usuallz go to bed around 10:30-11 after all my homework and studying. This means I only achieve 7 and a half hours of sleep every week day, when I am supposed to be getting 9 hours and a half. I am loosing 2 hours of sleep everyday that I should be getting becuase I have to wake up at 6:30 to be at school at 7:30. To change this I believe school should begin at a later time, 8:30 would be the best. Another thing I can relate to is a boy in the video said that his mother would yell at him for "choosing not to do it" because if he would have wanted to do it he would have done it at that instant. This same thing occurs with me, I forget to do things my parents ask me to do becuase I am not interested in doing them or I am occupied at the moment and trz to remember to do it at another instant, and they say it is becuase I dont do it right away and that I choose to forget.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
The Human Brain
The word hemisphere, when talking about the brain refers to the two sides of the brain, the right and the left.
The main differences with the right and the left side of the brain are many. The right processes information by seeing the big pictures first, not the details. It sees the big picture and then can process the details. However, the left side is the opposite to this. The left side processes information like a puzzle, it finds different pieces and links them up for the big picture.
The main differences with the right and the left side of the brain are many. The right processes information by seeing the big pictures first, not the details. It sees the big picture and then can process the details. However, the left side is the opposite to this. The left side processes information like a puzzle, it finds different pieces and links them up for the big picture.
It is a wide flat bundle of neural fibers beneath the cortex, this links the left and right hemispheres and aids in communication between the two.
Paul Broca studied the brains of aphsic patients, his first being a man nicknamed tan, who could not speak any other words but “tan”. He soon realized that “tan” had a lesion caused by syphilis in the left cerebral hemisphere. Paul concluded that this area important for speech production.
In the 1960’s there was no cure for people suffering a special kind of epilepsy than by cutting of the connection between the two hemispheres. The brain was split into two, each side could still learn but one had no idea what the other side had experienced.
Paul Broca studied the brains of aphsic patients, his first being a man nicknamed tan, who could not speak any other words but “tan”. He soon realized that “tan” had a lesion caused by syphilis in the left cerebral hemisphere. Paul concluded that this area important for speech production.
In the 1960’s there was no cure for people suffering a special kind of epilepsy than by cutting of the connection between the two hemispheres. The brain was split into two, each side could still learn but one had no idea what the other side had experienced.
Karl Wernick discovered the “Wernicks Area” (the second area responsible for speech, the first is Broca’s), he did this by researching those people who had brain injuries that caused aphasia, just like Paul Broca.
The Optical lobe is responsible for vision, it is on the rear part of the brain.
The temperal lobes are most responsible for hearing and language, there is one on each side just above the ears.
The frontal lobe is responsible for problem solving which would involve mathematics.
The frontal lobe is responsible for problem solving which would involve mathematics.
The Parietal lobe is responsible for all of this.
Sources:
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Phineas Gage
Phineas Gage was a construction worker on a rail road who is one of the earliest recorded victims who have suffered severe brain trauma. On 13th September, 1848, Gage and his crew were working on a rail road in Vermont for Rutland and Burlington. Gage was preparing for the explosion by compacting a bore with explosive powder and somehow the tamping iron lit a spark and caused an explosion that forced the tamping iron through his left cheek bone and came out through his skull andlaunched him 30 feet backwards. As a result of his injuries he suffered massive brain trauma but somehow minutes after the accident he was walking. Some people say he changed, not physically but he was not a good person to be around. It is believed that he lost social inhibitions, which often lead him to inappropriate behavior. What we learned about the brain is that no one knew that the brain could survive such a severe injury, now we do. We also learned where the brain has its “commanding points”, what each part of the brain controls. This is called brain localization. One part might control social skills the other mind control thoughts the other part might control decision making etc. The brain is separated into two hemispheres, the left and the right and this is called brain lateralization. There are theories that certain function are being lateralized and different parts contain different thoughts or actions. 
Sources:
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Criminal Behavior: Nature or Nuture?
Nature vs. Nurture is a debate that has gone on for years and years. Many people argue that you are born with your certain characteristics for example, aggressiveness, social skills, athletic abilities or shyness etc. Other people agree that these are all causes of the environment you are put into when you grow up. That is my belief, when it comes to the topic of Criminal Behavior. If a child is born to be the smartest and kindest human being in the country, but he grows up in the ghetto where people are shot every day and he is witness to rape and mugging, it is highly unlikely he will fulfill to be the person he was born to be. Or if he was abused physically and sexually when he was growing up, he will probably not become a smart and kind person. 
According to Dr. Lonnie Athens, professor at Seton Hall University, in the field of criminology, violent individuals have encountered certain events in their lives which have lead them to become that way. He lists them as, individuals who have been violently violated, threatened, tortured, or have watched other people in those circumstances; they learn to commit these acts and have been encouraged to proceed with them. He also believes they do this as a way to manipulate and gain respect by showing and performing violent acts. According to Dr. Lonnie Athens, research has shown that that juvenile criminal behavior has been linked much more closely to social factors rather than biological. This all includes the community the person is placed in, the family structure (If there is a father, if they get along well, are there continuo’s fights on and on). Fred Goodwin from George Washington University stated that one of the vital factors in juvenile delinquents is not just poverty and race, but the most vital is not having an active father in the house. Many people have researched this problem, have gone to juvenile detention centers and have asked many of them various questions to see what they all have in common. The majority of the ones who committed severe acts against the public, did not have an acting father in their home. But, many people also state that criminal acts are genetic as well. There is a certain case in Italy, where a man named Abdelmalek Bayout confessed to murder, and was sentenced nine years and two months in prison, the court then removed one year from his sentence because a psychiatric report had posted that he is prone to violent behavior if provoked. He was studied and result show that abnormalities in 5 genes were linked to violent behavior. If I were to take a guess, I would state that 95% of criminal behavior is linked to environmental causes, and 5% is linked to genetic. In conclusion, criminal behavior can be caused by many things. The majority of these falling into the environmental category like those without an active father in the house, or those experiencing and or witnessing violent acts or have been treated violently. Then there is a small portion of criminal behavior that falls into genetic category like in Bayouts case. But the overall belief is that Criminal behavior is linked to environmental causes. But, what do you think would happen if both are found in a single individual?
Friday, August 27, 2010
Nature vs Nurture Debate
People have known for ages that you’re hair color, or you’re skin color, maybe you’re eye color is genetic; it comes from your parents. That’s the Nature. The Nurture in the debate is how you obtained personality traits such as intelligence or aggressiveness, or if a child is a prodigy singer or skilled mathematician, did these things come from your parents, or were you put in environments which lead to your abilities? Francis Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin’s, first came up with this question; he is known to be as one of the most original Victorians. He used groups of identical twins in many of his studies, which was very valuable for his debate of Nature vs. Nurture. A few topics about the debate are aggressiveness, rage, intelligence, hobbies, ticks etc. Some people say that it is genetic; others say that it is because of the environment in which you were born. The overall belief of this is that it is a little bit of both. You can be put into the best learning environment but a little bit of genetics are involved in someone who is very intelligent, or if you have a gene of aggressiveness, your environment also affects this as well. I believe that this debate is a little bit of both, but mostly environmental. If you have an incredibly intelligent gene, but are born into poverty and work in a field every day, you probably won’t develop the great mind that you were born to develop.
Sources:
http://www.victorianweb.org/science/galton.html
http://genealogy.about.com/cs/geneticgenealogy/a/nature_nurture.htm
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Darwin and the Origin of Species
Charles Darwin was born on the 12 of February 1809. He was an English Naturalist who studied animals and their evolution over time. He published the famous book "The Origin of Species Through Natural Selection". Darwin went on an expedition to the Galapagos Islands and began to study many different animals for example birds. He began to ask himself why some of the brids had different beaks, or why some turtules neck would stick up and others would point down. All of this is because of the enviroment in which they live in and the circumstances in which they must obtain food. This was all very difficult to explain becuase this all went against what the church would say. He would say that dinosaurs existed but according to the bible god created humans, and all animals and dinosaurs do not exist. His wife was also extremely religious and so these were all things that made it very difficult for him to prove his point. Basically darwin was "killing god" with his theory, and so that mad it very unpopular because he was going against the church with what he was saying so he had major stress on himself. Also he had to prove everything to the last detail so that maybe some people would believe his words that were speaking against the church.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/darwin/origin/
Monday, August 16, 2010
Psychology
Psycology is the study of the human mind and behavior. It shows us why we might do some things that we do. The understanding of behavior is what Psycologysts aim to achieve. It's the study of the human mind and its actions. Psycologists aim for the qestion of "why", why and how humans react to situations or instances they are put in. How the mind percieves whats around it and why it reacts to such instances. 
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