DEFENSE MECHANISMS
ASSIGNMENT IX
ASSIGNMENT IX
Rationalization
–
Creating false but plausible excuses to justify unacceptable behavior
I am sure by now you all realize that I am a movie fanatic.
Therefore, I would like to share with you all another favorite movie of mine
called “Bronx Tale,” starring Robert De Niro, Chazz Palminteri, and Lilo
Brancato Jr. For those of you that have never seen the film, it is about a
young Italian boy named Calogero growing up in the Fordham section of the Bronx
here in New York City. Young Calogero witnesses a murder committed by one of
the most notorious crime lords in the streets named Sunny played by Chazz
Palminteri. During a police line-up, Calogero is given the opportunity to “rat”
Sunny out, but then chooses not to out of fear of what might happen to him and
his family. As a reward to Calogero, for not giving him up to the police, Sunny
takes him under his wing and begins to teach him the rules of the street. This
movie has a lot of psychological aspects, but today I am only going to talk
about one in particular. Once Calogero becomes a teenager he began to
rationalize Sunny’s behavior. The bound that is formed between Sunny and Calogero
is so strong that Calogero disobeys his own father in order to be in Sunny’s
presence. One can clearly atone to this, if you are like me and have seen this
movie a million times. For example, Sunny let’s Calogero borrow his Cadillac
convertible to go on a date, things don’t go as planned and “C” returns back to
the neighborhood with the car. While driving down the block Calogero’s father
spots him driving Sunny’s car. Once he is inside of the apartment “C” thinks
that the coast is clear and goes into his bedroom wanting to be alone.
Suddenly, his father appears and questions him about where he was and most of
all why was he driving Sunny’s car?
“C” refuses to talk about the
actions that took place that evening, which leads to an argument between father
and son. Calogero’s father once again finds himself explaining why he does not
want his son hanging around Sunny. Of course Calogero refuses to listen to his
father, stating that the facts that his father has put forth aren’t true,
mainly because Sunny trusts him and would never let anything bad happen to him.
Calogero then storms out of the apartment leaving his father in shock about
what just happened. While wondering the streets, Calogero runs into Sunny who
is clearly very angry and accuses Calogero of planting a bomb in the front hood
of his car. Calogero swears to Sunny that he would never do anything to harm
him, but the street life that Sunny have been subjected to forbids him to trust
anyone. In the end, Calogero realizes that he learned a great deal from his
father and Sunny, but the ultimate life lesson was that the saddest thing in
life is wasted talent. I really enjoy
this movie for many reasons, but most of all it shows how easy it is to
rationalize certain situations that we feel are most important to us.
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FALLACIES
ASSIGNMENT VIII
ASSIGNMENT VIII
Moral
high ground fallacy – In which one assumes a “holier than
thou” attitude in attempt to make oneself look good to win an argument. That being said these individual’s claim that
their arguments, beliefs, and knowledge are morally superior to those being put
forward by other people. For instance, one of my favorite TV shows is the
Honeymooners. It is a family sitcom
pertaining to the lives of Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason) a bus driver for the
city of New York and his wife Alice (Audrey Meadows) a stay at home wife. While every episode is a classic, today I am
going to talk about one in particular. The episode where Ralph gets laid off
from his job which ultimately means that Alice has to go out and find a job in
order to support herself and Ralph, Of course Ralph is totally against this and
he argues that a women’s job is to take care of the home. Alice refuses to
listen and then she secretly takes a job as a babysitter. Ralph thinks that
Alice is cheating on him when he catches her talking on the phone to the
child’s parents he follows her to her job where he finds out that it is a
little boy that she has been watching and not a secret man. This is a classic
example of moral high ground fallacy.
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ASSIGNMENT VII - MEMORY BIASES
Fading
affect bias – A bias in which the emotion associated with
unpleasant memories fades more quickly than the emotion associated with
positive events.
It is a known
fact that we as humans tend to repress memories that are unpleasant. Today, I
chose to use my personal experiences as an example. As I mentioned before,
during the previous assignment, I lost my mother November of 2013, but what I
didn’t mention is that she passed away in front of me. On November 7, 2013
exactly three weeks before Thanksgiving ,
my mother and I got up early that morning and we went food shopping. We
were planning our annual Thanksgiving feast as we always did ever since I was a
little girl. Mom and I purchased our food then we went back to our house to put
our food away. After that I made lunch for mom and I, then I got the “itis” and
decided to take a nap. I slept for about three hours. I woke up to my mother’s beautiful smile. She
asked me if I wanted pizza for dinner I said yes, then we ordered the pizza.
About ten minutes later mom said to me that her chest was hurting and that she
was going to lye down. My mother never made it back to her bedroom, she looked
at me smiled and then her eye’s rolled back into her head. I ran to her side
immediately screaming “Oh my god mom, mom!!!”
That’s when I heard her last breath exiting her body. I yelled for help our neighbor ran over to
assist us, while he and his wife were performing CPR on mom I called the
ambulance. I was crying uncontrollably to the point that I could hardly breath
and my head was pounding. The ambulance came ten minutes later and they also
performed CPR on mom and administered medication. We rushed mom to the hospital. Once we got
there the doctor came out and told my brother’s and I that they tried to revive
mom but there was nothing they could do, mom had died of a heart aneurysm. So,
the point that I am trying to make ladies and gentlemen, is that psychologist
have suggested that most traumatic experiences become repressed over time, in
my case, it’s like it just happened yesterday . The positive aspect of the
situation is all of the great memories that I have with my mother and that is
what keeps me strong.
Testing
effect – That frequent testing of material that has been
committed to memory improves memory recall.
I am very
grateful that I am from one of the most diverse cities in the world. That being
said, I have friend’s from all walks of life. I have many dreams that I wish to
fulfill one day. One of my dreams in particular, is to learn as many languages
as possible. I believe that it is very important to be able to communicate with
others. So far I’ve learned basic mandarin, Japanese, and Spanish. I test
myself on a regular basis, and while I still need more practice, I am very
proud of the progress I’ve made. There is a vast majority of individual’ s that
believe that testing isn’t necessary, and then there’ s other individual’s
including myself that believe that life is the ultimate test.
Zeigarnik effect – That
uncompleted or interrupted tasks are remembered better than completed ones
In general,
school is all about time management. I am the type of person that can’t rest
until I know that all of my work has been completed. As a student I feel as
though that it is my obligation to always give 100%. Many people believe that
completed tasks aren’t worth remembering, simply because it’s one less thing to
worry about. I am the complete opposite, I stress over the completed tasks the
same way I stress over the uncompleted tasks. The more effort that is put in,
determines whether or not that person is responsible.
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ASSIGNMENT VI: DEVELOPMENT
Nature vs. Nurture debate states that particular aspects of behavior are a product of either inherited (genetic) or acquired (learned) characteristics.
Today, I chose to analyze the child abuse case of 12
year old Christopher Pittman. Pittman’s young life was troubled from the very
start, having run away from the home of his neglectful parents. After a spell
at a juvenile care facility, he went to live with his grandparents. After a
fight with his grandparents Pittman snuck into their room at night and killed
them both with his grandfather’s shotgun. He tried to drive away but was
apprehended by police. He confessed but never showed any remorse. The case
gained notoriety because Pittman had been switched from Paxil to the
anti-depressant Zoloft, which the USFDA assert can lead to increased risk of
suicidal thinking and behavior in short-term studies of adolescents and
children.
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Observational
Learning also known as social learning is a form of
learning
associated with the work and social learning theory of psychologist Albert Bandura. Observational learning can take place at any stage in life,
but is thought to be particularly important during childhood
as authority becomes important.
associated with the work and social learning theory of psychologist Albert Bandura. Observational learning can take place at any stage in life,
but is thought to be particularly important during childhood
as authority becomes important.
In Asian culture,
the elders train their children in the arts of self-defense as soon as the
child learns how to walk. It is by observing the elders that the children learn the art of self-defense. And it is through observational learning that as adults, these children (male and female) will have strengthen the skills to be able to observe and prevent in advance when danger could happen. "By observing the body language, behavior and the activities
of another person you would be able to know about the wrong intentions of
someone."
Some people believe that this age is too young, and that the child will become too rough when dealing with other children. I grew right here in lower Manhattan, my mother loved to watch old school kung fu movies on channel 5 which showed kung fu cinema every Saturday. My mother would let me and my brothers watch the non-violent kung fu classics, such as “The 36 Chambers of Shoalin” part one and two and “The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter” starring Ms. Kara Hu, all directed and choreographed by Leu Chia Leung.
As I got older, my mother and I always talked about how important it is for young women to learn how to protect themselves. Yes, I’m sure by now you all realize that I have a huge kung fu collection. Over the years I’ve observed these fantastic movies and I’ve been deeply inspired to learn martial arts.
Another movie that my mother and I love is called “The Last Dragon” starring Tymak. If you never heard of the movie, it is about a young man studying the art of kung fu here in lower Manhattan. His goal is to reach the final level of his martial arts studies. His mentor and favorite martial artist is Bruce Lee. The one and only issue that I had with the movie is that his significant other Ms. Laura Charles didn’t know how to protect herself. If it wasn’t for Tymak she would have been history. I have seen many great martial arts classics and I really appreciate the films where the females kick ass also. For example, in “Shaolin Super Dragon,” the lead female character, played by Ms. Polly Chiang seeks revenge against the evil gang that’s responsible for the assassination of her father. In “The 8 drunkards” directed by Wu Ma, starring Meng Fei, the lead female character in that movie practices the snake style. “The Vengeance of Snow-Maid” The lead female in that movie inherits her mother’s dragon and phoenix blades in order to protect the citizens from the raft of the evil bandits that dominate their land.
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As you all may or may not know, I am a firm believer in
astrology and I have strong cultural beliefs. Not only do I believe that
everyone acts their sign, but I also believe that everyone’s culture has a
strong influence on what is dreamt on a day to day basis. I chose this dream
catcher image because my nationality is African American, Cherokee Indian, and
Irish. My mother’s mother was 50% Cherokee Indian and 50% Irish. My grandmother
was gifted with conscious premonitions. Some called it insanity, while she
perceived it as a spiritual gift. My mother was very close to her mother and
sadly at the age of six, my mother lost her mother. Eighteen years later my
mother married my father and then they began to expand their family. One night
while my mother and father slept, my mother dreamt that her mother had visited
her in her dream. I will never forget it because my mother was very emotional
the next morning. My mother said that grandma was wearing a white angel’s gown
and she had a beautiful smile on her face and she told her that she loved her
and that she wasn’t in any more pain. My mother said that when she reached out
to touch grandma’s hand she woke up instantly. My mother was a very educated
woman, she was a writer. She loved science fiction novels and movies. She also
knew a great deal about our Indian culture. We would spend hours upon hours
talking about the Cherokee Indian culture. She explained to me that the Indians
were known for being very clairvoyant. She also taught me how to pray in
Cherokee Indian language, we used this prayer to calm us after having a
nightmare.
Manifest
content is the elements of a dream that we remember
upon awakening. Four years ago I dreamt that my brother and sister in law were
expecting a child. In my dream my brother and sister in law walked into my room
and my sister in law said Ness your niece is kicking and she took my hand and
placed it on her stomach. Then I woke up.
Latent
content is the hidden content of a dream. My brother
called two days later and said I have some great news my mother said your
sister already knows. We all laughed and then 9 months later in January 5 days
before my 27th birthday my niece was born 9lbs. 6.3 ounces. She was
my birthday baby.
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SENSATION AND PERCEPTION
Part
1
Perception The
ability to see, smell or become aware of something through the senses. This is a very interesting topic, considering
the fact that we as human beings sense things differently. For example, one of
my favorite movies is Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, written by Ms.
J.K. Rowling. One of my favorite scenes of the movie is when Harry and Ron
arrive at their potions class late and unprepared. Harry explains to the
professor that he has not received his potions book and needs to borrow a spear
book from the cupboard, the professor agrees and then the boys play fight over
who should get the book that’s in the better shape. The professor proceeds with
his class and asks for a volunteer to step forward before the classroom and
reveal what types of potion reside inside of each of the three cauldrons. Suddenly,
Miss Granger, played by Emma Watson, raises her hand and begins to explain the
purpose of each potion. The third and final potion happened to be the most
powerful love potion in the world that smelled differently to each person
according to what attracts them. Miss Granger smelled spearmint toothpaste and
freshly mown grass while the others smelled a variety of different aromas. This
is a great example of how we perceive things. Ultimately, the sensation aspect
of the professors experiment made me realize that our brains react to certain
smells that may remind us people we love or vice versa.
Part 2
Sensation A physical feeling or perception resulting from something that happens
to or comes into contact with the body.
When think of sensation, we generally think
of the things that make us feel good. Not necessarily true considering the fact
that we all experience hundreds of emotions each day. When I was a child I
remember playing a game with my friends called pass it down. We would start the
game off with something nice to say about someone and then once it reaches the
last person it was something completely different and not so nice. I used this
example because it is a known fact that all individuals including myself can start my day feeling
great and then all of a sudden my day takes a detour to this day literally
sucks. Why does this happen? Well, its all psychological in my opinion. A
person can bump into you on the bus or someone can accidentally step on your
fresh new pair of sneakers while on the train, automatically we tell ourselves
we should just curse that person out or “F” train smack that person, but then
nothing gets resolved. The only thing that's being accomplished is that we are
adding more stress to our already stressful lives. Recently, I went to a stress
relief session here at our college, and the instructor was very helpful and
what he said was that laughing is the best cure to relieve stress. At the beginning of the session I could not find anything funny since I've been through so
much personally, but then as I loosened up I realized laughter did help me to
relieve some of that stress.
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Free will
vs. Determinism
Free will
proposes that we as human beings can choose what path to go down and their
consequences. I believe this to true, on a personal level, I also experienced
an illness which hospitalized me for six days. I suffer from a condition called
hyperthyroidism. I could have given up a long time ago but I chose not to. I am
a firm believer in the phrase “We are the masters of our own destiny.”
Determinism
suggests that all behavior good or bad is the prime factor to which an
individual’s behavior extends. The environment that the individual was raised
in ultimately mold’s the person’s character. I believe this to be true as well.
My parents divorced when I was four years old. My mother was my main supporter
and best friend. Sadly, she passed away November of 2013. My mother is the main
reason why I am the person that I am today. She taught me how to be strong,
independent, and determined. My mother also instilled in me the courage to
follow my dreams and never give up. I hope that one day I could be half the
woman she was. Words will never explain how much I miss her.
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EXPERIMENT PROPOSAL
QUESTION OF INTEREST:
Is an education important for your future?
Hypothesis: An education is important for your future. It is a known fact that individuals who have
attended college after high school earn more money as a result of their higher
levels of education.
Operational definition: What
is an education? How do we define important? How will we trace its importance in
the future?
Longitudinal research through case
studies: Study the participants who earn more money from
obtaining a degree while in college as opposed to individuals that did not
attend college
Preliminary research: Studies
have showed that college graduates with an associates and or bachelor’s degree
earn 80% more money per year than individuals with only a high school diploma.
The more schooling you obtain, the more your average salary rises
Experimental and Control groups:
Compare individuals with degrees salaries (experimental) to individuals’
salaries without a degree (control)
The percentage of Americans ages
25-29 earned at least a bachelor’s degree while in college was 33.5% compared
to 24.7% in 1995 and 21.9% in 1975. The rise or increase in the number of
individuals that attended college appears to be driven by both a sharp rise in
college enrollment and by an improvement among colleges in graduating students.
