Innate Reactions
Our last class was very interesting concerning subliminal messages and other stimuli to create some sort of atypical response. For instance, I was surprised that thinking of old people made you walk slower or thinking of what a professor looked like made you score higher on an exam, placement test, etc. Sitting in class I was reminded of an experiment my Greek professor encouraged us to do last year.
Last year ACU had a speaker on “White Privilege” that sparked a lot of conversation and controversy on campus. One of the things this particular professor told us was that we must recognize how we were raised and where we come from in order to fully recognize our own biases concerning race. This recognition will help us deal with our automatic responses and hopefully move forward in such a way as to change ourselves and others for the better. We cannot pretend our past doesn’t shape us. To help us better understand what he was saying, he encouraged us to take a test online. The results were confidential and not revealed to anyone other than the test taker.
The test paired certain good words and bad words with an African/African-American face or a Caucasian face. The test taker was supposed to match the terms as quickly as possible to the “correct” terms. One time through bad words were paired with Caucasians and good words with African Americans while a second time through did the opposite. The pairings were chosen randomly. When I took it, Caucasian was paired with good the first time through and with bad the second time through. A rating was given after the testing based on the time it took to match the questions and the number that were paired incorrectly. The rating was made by comparing the test takers 2 scores. It was not based on comparing the test taker to a neutral group.
I was not surprised with my own results. I grew up in a highly racist family from the south east. My father still flies the Confederate flag and considers Arlington National Cemetery in DC to be stolen property from the North. Though I hold vastly different views from my parents (more particularly my father), I knew my automatic responses would be less than great. However, I am grateful to my professor for the suggestion. I am now aware how strong my innate reactions despite my own opinions. It is interesting how much there is “unconscious” that we are not aware of. I wouldn’t consider myself crazy about Freud’s particular analysis of the unconscious, but I do agree with him that it is important. We must know how we’ve been shaped (maybe more of a behaviorist mindset) before we can live how we believe is right.
Anne Weaver on School's out for summer...
12:32 pm, 11.22.10
Don’t forget the 1950s “The Three Faces of Eve.” It’s about a woman who was documented to have had MPD/DID.
Also there is “A Beautiful Mind” concerning schizophrenia.
And for a completely unrealistic take on psychology and mental illness there is always “What About Bob?”
Mental illness can be very entertaining in the cinema because it is so elusive, scary, or funny at times.
Anne Weaver on Subliminal Messages
12:27 pm, 11.22.10
Marketing has done an amazing job at letting us know what we do and do not need. I’d be very interested to hear what a marketing major thinks of subliminal messages. Are they really ethical? Is there some sort of standard of ethics in the marketing world? What laws exist to protect people, or are there any? I have no proof of this, but I haven’t had cable for the past 3 and a half years. Just from my own experience, I buy fewer things and fewer things. Is it a result of my personality or is it a drop in the amount of advertisements I see? I really have no idea.
Anne Weaver on Is Hogwarts a Mental Institution?
12:01 pm, 11.22.10
I thought this was very insightful. I’ve never considered this before, but it does make some sense. It reminded me of the scene in the last movie when Valdemort was a little boy. He thought Dumbledore was coming to take him away to some mental institution due to the strange things he did. I’m not a huge fan, so I’m not coming up with any other parallels. But very interesting theory.
Anne Weaver on AI of the Future
8:01 pm, 10.24.10
First off, I do remember that movie on the Disney channel, and I loved it too.
Secondly, I have to agree with you. But let me take it further. I am even concerned about the use of technology now (much less a world of AI). It seems as if people no longer know how to communicate with one another. Messaging, e-mail, G-chat, facebook, blogs, texting, words with friends, twitter, and even calling on the telephone are all used instead of personal and face-to-face interaction. I feel like people are forgetting or failing to learn the basic skills of interacting. We can’t read body cues and we have more misunderstandings and arguments with one another. I am curious if older generations have better social skills than we do or vise versa. I still prefer an evening over board games and a hand written letter to socializing over technology.
Anne Weaver on Should we because we can?
7:52 pm, 10.24.10
Responding to your last paragraph, I remember Dr. Casada bringing this very idea up in my Abnormal class last year. I don’t have a good knowledgeable foundation as to whether or not someone can practice this kind of therapy, but I am in favor of it. We orient those struggling through anorexia nervosa to see themselves as they are and in a healthy way. We do not attempt to help them affirm their destructive behaviors that waste away their bodies. The problem with my analogy though is that there is a discrepancy between individuals as to whether or not homosexuality and gender orientation are “destructive.” I am not trying to answer that question. Rather I am trying (but maybe very poorly trying) to point out that someone who seeks therapy to remain oriented to their biological sex is not harming themselves. It may be destructive however to force someone to orient themselves away from their biological sex when that is what they want. I may have made a confusing mess of my words. If I didn’t make sense, feel free to ask for clarification on anything I said.
Anne Weaver on A Formula for Brilliant?
7:39 pm, 10.24.10
I think there is something to the notion of struggling through life and though situations to become a better version of who you are. Some of the most remarkable people I know have lost loved ones, been dealt devastating blows, struggled through cancer and lived, and have struggled through sickness and died with a life well-lived as a result. A maturity comes from pain. That doesn’t mean we enjoy it or seek it out, but it does mean we give it our all when hard times come as well as help others who are struggling to trek through their own journey. I don’t think I can answer your question concerning brilliancy, but I can say many “sick-souls” have a lot of wisdom to share.
Anne Weaver on Functionalism: History and Reflection
9:36 pm, 10.10.10
I also appreciated that the functionalists wanted to be less a pure science and more a practical science to help industry, educators, etc. Maybe I like their ideas because they have influenced so much of my own as an American, or maybe they are onto something. I can appreciate the science of it all. Discoveries now lead to theories later, but I am more of a practical person. I like going back to the simplicity of the basics in order to create and understand the complexities in the world that cannot be avoided.
Anne Weaver on Right or Left Brained...
9:29 pm, 10.10.10
While watching the video, a great deal of me also wondered how much American society is generally left brained over right brained. We are so caught up in hurry-sickness, multi-tasking, and 30 minute lunches I see little right brain actions left in our society. The individual seems to win out over the whole. I myself miss living in a more right-brained society. When I was working in Thailand, meals could go for hours, we could easily be a few hours late and still be “on time,” and life revolved around many efforts put into a few acts and relationships (not a little effort put into many relationships and many actions).
Anne Weaver on A reflection on the future of psychology...
9:22 pm, 10.10.10
I feel like the notion of being “wired” for something is taken too far. If one says we are “wired” for religious experiences, then are we also wired to murder someone when we become angry? I know a great deal of social psychology goes into that example, but I just see the argument of “wiring” faulty. Just because our brains have the capacity for many things, doesn’t mean we do them all or that we have certain experiences due to our wiring.
Anne Weaver on Is Perception Really Reality?
11:07 am, 10.04.10
I think you may have to split this idea in half. When is perception reality for those not suffering from a mental illness and when is perception reality for those who have mental illness? One can debate all day long about making sure you are true to yourself, or discovering untruths within yourself/society. But, if you see Pikachu running around your house, I doubt that perception is reality however realistic it may appear. Concerning those without a mental illness, I wonder if there is a time in life when perception of self is closest to reality. Is it when you are young without inhibition to be yourself? Is it after you have grown up and put away make believe? Or does it exist the higher you are on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?