Edward Thorndike and B.F. Skinner

THORNDIKE
1. Explain Thorndike's puzzle-box experiment.
He placed a cat in a puzzle box and put a piece of salmon outside of it. The cat started to scratch the bars of the box like trying to get out and get the salmon. When he kept doing it and he realized he couldnt get out that way he started to move around the box and he bumps against the latch that opnes up the door. When the door opens the cat goes out and eats the salmon. This was done repeatedly and the more times the cat was put in the box the more times keeps bumping into the latch to open up the door and eat the piece f fish. 
2. Explain Thorndike's "Law of Effect".
The law of effect states that when a situation occurs and the response to that produces satisfaction then it is more likely for the situation to occur the same way it did las time; but ig the situation causes discomfort then it is less likely for the situation to happen as it did before.
3. Explain Thorndike's "Law of Exercise
The law of exercise states that the most closely a stimulus and a response are associated together, the more likely the particular response will follow the stimulus. this means that we learn by doing things and not by wacthing others do it and also by practice.
http://psychology.about.com/od/lindex/g/lawofeffect.htm
http://www1.appstate.edu/~beckhp/puzzlebox.htm
http://www.answers.com/topic/law-of-exercise


B.F SKINNER
1. Explain Skinner's concept of Operant Conditioning
Its the effect of consequences of a particular behavior. there are four types of Operant Conditioning: Positive Reinforcement, Negative Reinforcement, Punishment, and Extinction.
2. What does  reinforcement always do?
The particular behavior is reinforced menaing it will continue to happen because it gets a positive consequence that causes pleasure.
3. What does a punishment alsways do?
The beahvior is weakened because it receives a negative consequence which causes discomfort.
4. Explain the difference between "postive" and "negative" as they are used in opernat conditioning.
In the positive the behavior is stregthened because it will receive a positive condition and in a negative the behavior is stregthened to stop and avoid the negative condition it will receive.
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/proj/nru/opcond.html

PAVLOV AND WATSON

IVAN PAVLOV
1. What was Pavlov actually studying when he developed his theory of classical conditioning?
Pavlov was studying the digestive system of mammals, specifically dogs.
2. Explain (in detail) how Pavlov's experiment was conducted.
Pavlov trained his dogs to salivate when they heard a specific bell sound. He did this by ringing a bell everytime he was going to feed them, until they got a point where he didn´t even have to give them food for them to start salivating.
3. Identify the conditioned stimulus, the unconditioned stimulus and the conditioned response from Pavlov's experiment.
The  Conditioned Stimilus was the bell, the unconditioned stimulus was the food and the conditioned response was the salivation.4. Explain what extinction means in relation to classical conditioning.
Extinction is when the conditioned stimilus in thsi case the bell is presented with no unconditioned stimilus whic is the food. This makes the dog unlearn what he was taught because now the bell does not cause salivation, the dog knows he is not etting any food after hearing the bell.
5. Explain what stimulus generalization means in relation to classical conditioning.
Stimilus generealization occurs when it creates a conditioned reflex. This means that for example if the dog   has already associated one specific sound of a bell with the food and you change that sound o another and he still keeps associating it with the food he is generealizing the unconditioned stimilus.
6. Explain what sstimulus discrimination means in relation to classical conditioning.
Stimilus discriminations is the opposite of the above, it means that the new stimilus is too different from the last stimulus so it does not cause the same effect. The dog will not salivate to another sound because it is too different so he is discriminating against it. 7. Explain at least two limitations of this experiment.
One limitation was that it could have worked differently with dgs than with humans or other type of animals, and another limitation is that he only used two dogs to test his theory.
8. Explain what Pavlov theorized about how we learn
He thorized that we learn by classical condition meaning that we learn by association and by practice.
http://www.eruptingmind.com/pavlov-classical-conditioning-theory/

JOHN B.WATSON
1. Explain (in detail) how Watson's "Little Albert" study was conducted.
This was an expiriment using a baby boy called Little Albert. Watson showed him some furry animals like a rat to see how he responded to them, but he didn´t cry and was not scared as they were in front of him. Later Watson associated the white rat with a loud and scary noise making little Albert cry, this made him be afraid of rats and other furry animals.
2. Identify the conditioned stimulus, the unconditioned stimulus and the conditioned response from Watson's study
The Conditioned Stimulus was the rat, The unconditioned stimilus was the noise and the consitioned response was was little Albert scared and crying. 3. Explain at least two limitations of this study.
One limitation was that he only used one child and that he only did it one time and cannot be repited.  
4. Explain Watson's law of frequency.
This law of frequency said that the more frequent a stimilus was the habit of the response will become stronger.
5. Explain Watson's law of recency.
The law of recency was that the more recently response has occured, the most likely that the response will be associated to the stimilus used.
6. Explain the basic assumptions of behaviorism according to Watson.
Watson said that our behavior has to do with our environment and that we learn by observation. He believed that psychology had nothing to do with peoples minds but with behaviorism.
http://www.psychology.sbc.edu/Little%20Albert.htm

Articles about sleep

FIRST ARTICLE

Judith A. Owens, M.D M.P.H of the Hasbro Children's Hospital, Providence, and colleagues, contributed Rhode Island high schools to a new study about delay of school start time. School was delayed one hour students that got 8 hours increased from 35.7 to 50%, then students who got at least 9 hours of sleep also increased from 6.3 to 10.8%. The delay also contributed to drop the percentage of teen car accidents because kids are more awake and have less possibilities to crash. After this study students had to make a survey of their sleep habits and the majority of the students were angry about the school start time and felt annoyed and unhappy during the day. (from 65.8 to 45.1 students) I think that this study is really interesting because it shows how only 30 minutes can change the mood of a teenager and can drop rates of car accidents enourmosely. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081215074351.htm 1995-2010 ScienceDaily LLC

SECOND ARTICLE

This article from the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology published on October 26, 2010 talks about how the lack of sleep affects us differently. 12 to 38% of those with gene variant are considered healthy sleepers. To make the study 92 healthy adults without the gene variant were compared to 37 healthy adults who had the gene variant but did not have any sleep disorders, those with gene variant woke up twice as many times as those whitout the gene variant during the 5 days they were examined. I think this study proves us that some people can be moody without their 8 or more hours of sleep and some people are more active. It also proves to us that people with the gene variation sleeps less than those without the gene variation and those with the gene variation also sleep uncomfortable while others sleep deeply. 

  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101025161023.htm 1995-2010 ScienceDaily LLC  

THIRD ARTICLE

On June 9, at Sleep 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies was proved that students that are more alert and do their best during later in the day get a poor amount and quality of sleep and bad alertness. Some results show that students that are more active at late day lowered their college GPA to 2.84 than those who are active in the morning which have a college GPA of 3.18. Students show a big decrease between their transition from high school to college. I think that this report shows that if a student does not get enough amount of sleep a night before class they are going to be different and it is possible that their lack of sleep may affect their GPA because of the way their brains are working and their body is processing everything.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090609072813.htm 1995-2010 ScienceDaily LLC  

TEENAGE BRAINS

The video we saw in class about teen brains had many interesting new facts that surprised me. One of those was the amount time that we teenagers need to sleep so we can a have a normal and good day. I was surprised by this because I thought we needed even more sleep than what we need, I have problems waking up every morning and I don't even sleep 7 full hours which makes me be sleepy and tired the rest of the day. Knowing this made me change my time of going to sleep and now I feel better and with more energy everyday. I felt connected to one of the teens that appeared in the video which said that she had mood swings, this happens to me a lot one day I am super happy and the next day I am sad or upset; sometimes its a matter of hours. Honestly I felt bad seeing how teenagers did not care how the treated their parents, Im not sure if I am that bad to them but if I am definitely going to change my ways of treating them. The first guy we saw was so mean and disrespectful to his parents and that shouldn't be like that. I think that the test they did to see how the amount of sleep you get affects how you function and work during your day, and they proved themselves right looking at how the kid that did not sleep enough got a low score and the kid that did got a high score. I learned a lot from this video not only new knowledge but new ways of thinking how to act.  

How our Brains Work?

1. What does the word "hemisphere" refer to when talking about the brain?
 Hemispheres refers to both sides of the brain left and right.
2. What are the major differences between the lfet and right sides of the brain?
The right side of the brain is more visual and focuses on feeling emotions while the left side is more logical and focuses on learning hard tasks. The right hemisphere processes in a sequential order and the left hemisphere processes intuitevely.
3. What is the corpus collasum?
It is a thick band of nerve fibers that is in charge of sending messages between the left and right hemispheres.
4. Explain the study performed by Paul Broca in which he discovered "Broca's area."
Paul Broca was a french physician, anatomist and anthropologist. A part of the frontal lobe is named after him because he discovered that it was the part that makes us talk.
5. Explain the study conducted by Roger Sperry in regard to "split brain."
Roger Sperry was a neuropsychologist, neurobiologist and nobel laureate. He discovered the what was the split brain with two other men. The split brain is when the corpus collasum connects the two hemispheres of the brain.
6. Explain the study conducted by Karl Wernicke which led to the discovery of "Wernicke's area."
Karl Wernicke was a german physician, anatomist, psychiatrist and neuropathologist. He discovered the Wernicke's area which is one of the two parts of the cerebral cortex that is related to the understanding and writting and speaking a language.
7. Which lobe is more responsible for vision?
The occipital lobe
8. Which lobe is more responsible for hearing and language?
The temporal lobe
9. Which lobe is more responsible for performing math calculations?
The frontal lobe
10. Which lobe is most responsible for judgement, reasoning and impulse control?
The frontal lobe

Phineas Gage

Phineas Gage was an american railroad construction foreman who is known for surviving an accident in which a big iron rod was driven completely through his head destroying his frontal lobe. This happenned on September 14, 1848, Gage was preparing the roadbed for the Rutland and Burtlington Railroad in Vermont. He had to add blasting powder, a fuse, and sand and them compact the charge into the hole using a large iron rod. The sand was added at 4:30 p.m and the powder exploded carrying an instrument he was using through his head, this tool was an inch and a fourth (diameter) and three feet of length it entered on the side of his face and later passing back on the left side and out of the top of his head. This caused him to change his personality and become a mean person, he literally lost all of his friends and lived alone for the rest of his life. This accident helped investigations and because of this people know that the personality has to do with your front part of the brain which is the part that got damaged. That is a very interesting fact that I learned. Brain localization means that different parts of the brain have different roles and functions in our brain. That may seen obvious but for example 2 parts of our liver do the same function so not every part f our body had different roles. The brain also exhibits lateralization which means that the cerebrum has 2 different parts the left and the right which are different in some ways and alike in others. Some people are more left brain and others more right brain; both like different things. The left side controls the right side of the body and the right side controls the left side of the body. It is amazing how Gage could survive that accident but unfortunately he lost his entire life because of it.

www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage

www.facstaff.gpc.edu/bbrown/psych1501/brain/loclat.htm

HOMOSEXUALITY: nature or nurture?

"The phrase 'Nature and Nurture' is a convenient jingle of words, for it separates under two distinct heads the innumerable elements of which personality is composed" this was said by Francis Galton an english polymath. Nature and Nurture are two different ways that manipulate how a human being's personality or behavior can turn out. These two are are completely different and their influence in some topics is being strongly debated by scientists. One of those topics and the one that is being debated the most is homosexuality. Nobody knows if homosexuality comes from nature meaning your genes or from nurture and how your parents raised you. In my opinion homosexuality comes from nature; you cant choose to be straight or gay you just are what you are. I think that those who admit or realize that they are gay or lesbians after a long time is because the changes that had to occur before happened late but it has nothing to do with how you are treated at home, that can help you realize you are a homosexual but really everything was already in your genes. This is being debated by many scientists and no one still knows what causes homosexuality but they do know that gays and lesbians can be noticed at a small age. The video we saw in class showed examples of childhood pictures of people and videos of them as grown ups, and differences between a straight person and a gay person could be noticed since they were kids and we could actually predict if they were going to grow up straight or gay just by the way they acted, moved their hands, sat etc. Another example to prove my point is the video we saw about the two identical twin brothers, this shows that is comes from genes because they are both brothers and they are both treated the same but for some reason one is more manlike and the other is more femininelike. We could see that one preferred to play with boy stuff and the other one with girl stuff; we could also see differences in their ways of dressing, their decoration in their rooms, the way they talked and how they acted all fot these showed that one going to be straight and the other one gay. 

As Neil Swidey said in his book you cant make someone gay as well as you cant make someone straight you are just born with it but of course home is involved in this because as parents try to stop their child to be gay the more insistent they become the most probabilities that the child will not change. Some parents see homosexuality as a disease and really its just a rare change in someones genes that makes the person different. Scientists opinions in this topic is divided because really both of the sides can equally defend themselves with great points. Some of them believe that your sexuality may be changes and repaired but others think that you are born with sexual preferences and that you cant change that. Both points can support themselves for example the nature concept can defend their point with the two identical twins with different preferences and the nurture concept may defend their point with their theory that we can all be influenced by our environment not only in the sexual preference way but in every single way. 

In conclusion after doing my research i changed my mind about where does it come from, I think that homosexuality comes from both nature and nurture. A person may be born gay but their environment may either change their way of thinking or even make it stronger. Scientists still are debating about this and they will keep on probably during years. No one knows if a traumatic life may lead to certain rare choice in preferences or if what Paul Ewald said that homosexuality is considered a virus is true. More research can maybe figure the whole problem out but it  will be difficult because they are both right in different ways. 

SOURCE: http://www.gaylife.about.com/ 

Nature vs Nurture-the debate

The first person that used the term Nature vrs Nurture was an English Victorian Polymath called Francis Galton. Nature is something that you have or you do according to you genetics and Nurture is when you do things because you were taught that way. If you have something because of nature you cant change that but if you have it because of nurture you can mold it and change it. Stuff that ypou get by nature may be eye color, hair color sking color etc, and stuff that you get by nurture are values, beliefs, manners amont others. Scientists have had doubts about where do some stuff like athletic ability,personality,intelligence, homosexuality, creativity and others. These topics are still in doubt and i dont think that scientists can ever find the answers to these questions because both sides make a lot of sense. For example I think that creativity is nature but if could be nurture if your parents from infancy. Another example is homosexuality many people say that you are born with it but others think that you learn it in time because of where you grew up. Nature vrs Nurture is a very difficult debate because like I said before both points of view make a lot of sense. 

SOURCE: www.genealogy.about.com/cs/geneticgenealogy/a/nature_nurture.htm

Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin was an English naturalist born in 1809. Darwin was the fifth child of a wealthy and sophisticated english family. He graduated from Cambridge in 1831 and he was later taken aboard the English survey ship HMS Beagle. There he had the opportunity to look at many geological formations and found in every place along the way. He found many fossils of species who looked alike but had different characteristics and there his ideas started to come up. He drew his ides of the evolution theory in his notebooks of Transmutation of Species. He started to focus on his explanation of how organisms evolved after reading an essay on the Principle of Population. He then got married with his first cousin, Emma Wedgwood and had 10 kids together, 3 which died when they were infants. His theory was  first announced in 1858. Darwin believed that all animals reproduced to produce and their genes pass on other generations. I think that Darwin was so afraid of developing his theory because in his times everyone believed that earth was created in 7 days and if anyone thought or had different opinions was punished and accused. He didnt wnat to publish his book because everyone would look at him differently and his ideas would contradict everyone including his family.    

 SOURCE:

www. charles-darwin.classic-literature.co.uk/charles-darwin-biography.asp

What is psychology and why do we study it?

1. I think psychology is the study of how our brains work.
2. The Science that deals with mental processes and behavior. (www.answers.com/topic/psychology)

3. We need to study psychology because it is important for us to know how our brain controls our body. We also learn parts of how the brain works, our memory, how do we learn, our personality, development etc. It is essential because its not only how we think but how other animals think so its very useful to know this in many ocassions.