This is your first Topical Blog. Topical blogs will allow you to learn and write about topics that interest you, be project oriented (something to do and report on), or focus on particular topic in motivation and emotion.
For your first one, I'd like you to browse the blog contents of our Motivation website. You can navigate by clicking on topics that interest you in the right hand column under 'categories.' This isn't about jumping to one topic and writing about it. Most of this assignment is about spending some time reading blog content (say at least 30 minutes).
Then, as a comment to this post, tell us about 3 or so topics you found interesting, and then report in detail about one particular post that you read.
Have fun!
The first topic I found interesting was the article about how students who had over a 30 BMI could not graduate from a particular school. This school made this rule to motivate students to lose weight and live a healthy lifestyle. If they had more than a 30 BMI then the students could not graduate. Another article I found interesting was the article about how flavored water can cause you to drink too much water and how drinking too much water can be bad for you. I have always thought that drinking water was important and never would have thought that adding a flavor to someone’s water could cause them to drink too much water that it could become harmful to a person. I also found the general topic of caffeine to be interesting and how some people feel that they need caffeine to motivate them. I was like these people and I always thought I needed caffeine to help me focus or stay awake to work harder. However, Caffeine has some bad side effects and can be harmful to us. There are other ways to motivate you and you don’t have to rely on a drug to help motivate your body to work harder or stay energized.
The most interesting post I read was the article about how boredom can kill you. This title to this article caught my attention right away. I was shocked to the idea of how possibly boredom could kill a person. After reading the article the reason to why boredom could possible kill someone made more sense to me. The article talked about how people who are highly bored all the time seem to engage in health risky behaviors. Simply people who always or chronically bored usually don’t have the motivation to do health beneficial things. They most likely won’t be motivated to workout, eat healthy, or participate in a healthy lifestyle. One study was performed and found out that people who reported of being bored chronically or all the time were more likely to die of a heart problem or die before people who were not as extremely bored. Everyone gets bored at some point and time; however, people who are chronically bored are more likely to develop heart problems and die sooner. This is mainly because people of this complete boredom have bad health and health problems.
The first category I browsed through was body modification. Most of the articles were about weight and how unrealistic images can motivate us to try and achieve extreme weight loss goals. These weight loss goals can end in eating disorders. The second category I browsed through was procrastination. This discussed why some of us lack motivation until the last minute to get things done. There were many different outlooks on procrastination. One article explained that people can actually get things done before they’re due, but waste time worrying about details up until it’s time to hand it in. It also discussed how some people procrastinate on things that they may fear or feel they “can’t do right”. The third category I looked through was the money category. Money is sometimes thought of as a controversial extrinsic motivator. There was a lot of variety in this category. One post discussed why money was so important to us as a culture. Some posts discussed how money can affect relationships.
One of the articles that I found to be the most interesting was under the category of Money. It was called Smart Women Marry for Money and discussed how it was a wise decision for women to keep money in mind when choosing a spouse. It pointed out that the number one cause of divorce in the country was financial issues. These financial issues could be solved if both partners were in agreement on their financial plans and if money wasn’t scarce. I found this to be especially interesting considering the information we just learned about in Chapter 4. In this chapter, we discussed the differences between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation occurred when somebody was innately interested in a task without any outside motivating factors. Extrinsic motivation occurs when someone is doing a task mainly for other environmental factors that are separate from themselves. A woman would be extrinsically motivated if she was getting into a marriage for financial security. During the chapter, it pointed out that extrinsic motivation can undermine intrinsic motivation. This would suggest that getting married for money would not be the best thing to do long term.
The first topic I found interesting was the article about how students who had over a 30 BMI could not graduate from a particular school. This school made this rule to motivate students to lose weight and live a healthy lifestyle. If they had more than a 30 BMI then the students could not graduate. Another article I found interesting was the article about how flavored water can cause you to drink too much water and how drinking too much water can be bad for you. I have always thought that drinking water was important and never would have thought that adding a flavor to someone’s water could cause them to drink too much water that it could become harmful to a person. I also found the general topic of caffeine to be interesting and how some people feel that they need caffeine to motivate them. I was like these people and I always thought I needed caffeine to help me focus or stay awake to work harder. However, Caffeine has some bad side effects and can be harmful to us. There are other ways to motivate you and you don’t have to rely on a drug to help motivate your body to work harder or stay energized.
The most interesting post I read was the article about how boredom can kill you. This title to this article caught my attention right away. I was shocked to the idea of how possibly boredom could kill a person. After reading the article the reason to why boredom could possible kill someone made more sense to me. The article talked about how people who are highly bored all the time seem to engage in health risky behaviors. Simply people who always or chronically bored usually don’t have the motivation to do health beneficial things. They most likely won’t be motivated to workout, eat healthy, or participate in a healthy lifestyle. One study was performed and found out that people who reported of being bored chronically or all the time were more likely to die of a heart problem or die before people who were not as extremely bored. Everyone gets bored at some point and time; however, people who are chronically bored are more likely to develop heart problems and die sooner. This is mainly because people of this complete boredom have bad health and health problems.
The first category I looked at was sexuality. This was a very interesting section to me. One person blogged about how additional hormones in semen can lessen the chances of women being depressed and attempting suicide. Who knew unprotected sex had other benefits aside from becoming pregnant?! The second category that I looked into was dieting. In this category there was a blog about the perfect way to lose weight. Of course I read this because who isn’t looking for a perfect way to lose weight. The catch is that the product being used for this weight loss, Sensa, is a flavorless, odorless, sprinkle, and when put on food it removes everything we love about food. It limits our desire to over-eat the good stuff. The next category that caught my eye was relationships. Most of the articles were “how to” articles. How to find true love, how to be a good girlfriend, and how to beat depression related to loneliness, etc. These articles are interesting because if somebody actually is looking for an answer to any of these questions they are informative articles to look at that may actually help somebody in those particular situations.
I am actually going to talk about one of the articles I read in the relationship category that I found very interesting. This article was called 5 Secrets to Keep from Him. This article was about exactly what the title says, what girls should keep from their husbands or boyfriends. I can see this article as being very helpful in most relationships and it may also prevent a lot of silly arguments from happening. These are the five things to keep from your guy: past hookups, how you spend your money, they way you feel about his family, innocent flirtations, and what you really think of his gift. All of these things are in most cases harmless and after thinking about it I would not want my boyfriend to tell me most of these things. It would just cause a silly argument that should never have happened.
There are so many different categories and all are so interesting. The first category I read through was under eating disorders. There are three main types of eating disorders: Anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder. All the articles involved information on how motivating these subjects can be in peoples lives. Autonomy and Eating Disorders was the first article under eating disorders that caught my eye. This is a major motivating factor. People feel like they cant control many situations in life, but when it comes to their eating that is something they have complete control over. The second category I browsed was in the mood category. This section talked about mental problems, how to prevent from being in bad moods, brain activity, and emotional resilience. This described being motivated in positive ways like being grateful for things in your life, being optimistic, using your strengths, and using acts of kindness.
The third category I researched was over addictions. When you think about addictions what comes to mind? Many times people believe that addictions are only to substances like drugs and alcohol. This category under addictions talked about many different areas including; gambling, alcohol, chewing on straws, being an internet junkie,and eating certain foods.
The one I found the most interesting was called Gambling. I find this so odd that people can consume their entire lives with gambling. My uncle has a gambling addiction and spends about 2,500 dollars a month at the casino. People with addictions like these will take over lives, ruin marriages, and destroy friendships. This article states that when a person gambles they are continually reinforced. We have learned before about positive and negative reinforces. If you gamble and gain something out of the event this is considered a positive reinforcer which promotes the activity to do it even more. But how often do we win when we gamble?! Only on the rare occasion. When you win even just a few dollars this motivates you to want to continue to pull down on the nickle slot. On the other spectrum of things punishment you think would stop the behavior. Therefor when you lose money you'll stop? That is wrong considering punishment is not a good way for people to learn, its actually very ineffective. The main point in motivation from this reading shows that people are motivated by the excitement and thrill of gambling rather than the money itself. Excitement obviously is not always the best thing to go off of when it comes to motivation, other wise we all would be broke!
After browsing quite a few of the categories there were a few I found particularly interesting. First was dysfunctional and maladaptive behavior. This folder was about behaviors that a viewed as odd or harmful to society and norms such as self-injury, extreme behavior like radical martyrdom, lying to manipulate your environment and communities that promote eating disorders. Second category was dieting. The articles in this folder were based around diet trends that could be harmful or not well known. One article talks about good carbs and bad carbs while another talks about a new weight loss additive that takes all the taste away from your food so you don’t eat so much. One article was even presenting the idea that too much water is bad for you. A third folder I found interesting was called addiction. This categories discussed a large spectrum of topics such as gambling and how its positive reinforcement makes it difficult to walk away, caffeine and the fact that too much consumption can lead to caffeine intoxication which is harmful, how advertisement agencies are going for provocative images to stop smoking, how some people have addictions to naturally occurring endorphins or even the internet!
An article I found extremely interesting was on about how certain foods can have an effect on your mood. It goes into depth on how fast food and processed foods have many additives that offer little nutrients and are high in fat and sugar. This mix can often lead to an immediate feeling of energy and well-being but it comes with an ultimate crash that makes the body feel sluggish and awful . It goes on to state that some people with anxiety and small mood impairments have shown great improvements by switching to a healthier diet. The article continues on this subject by listing foods that can improve moods.
One interesting topic I found was about the behavior of lying. Signs of lying include avoiding eye contact, change in voice (pitch or speed), body language or contradicting statements. I thought this was interesting because I am a person that does not look one in the eye when talking to them no matter the circumstances. Obviously I am not lying (all the time) when I am engaging in conversation, but eye contact makes me extremely uncomfortable. I’ve tried looking important people (i.e. an interviewer) between the eyes so it looks like I am confident and making eye contact. However, most of the time I get caught up on focusing on the spot between the eyes that I forget to listen to what they are saying.
On the ABC show “Take the Money and Run,” participants hide a case of money and are incarcerated for 48 hours while detectives try to find the case. The show participants are interrogated in many different ways. Interrogators establish a relationship with the “criminals” to get a baseline of their personality. For example, when they are talking about their family, they talk in a steady, normal rate of speech. However, when questioned about where they hid the money, most participants are caught off guard, pause, and think before they talk. By doing this, interrogators know when they are lying. Interrogators also invade the criminals personal space by sitting very close to them or standing to show their power over them. This makes the criminal more likely to slip up and give away answers. Criminals on this show tend to avoid eye contact, turn away from interrogators, change their voice and often contradict themselves. Because the participants are not “experienced” criminals, their tendencies of lying are picked up more easily.
Another interesting topic I found was that acting happy increases cardiovascular health. If the body is stressed, it damages the heart muscles, blood vessels and clogs the arteries. This makes sense because when one is stressed, their immune system is weaker. We tend to sleep less, eat less, and eat poorly when we are stressed out. Our heart also is affected because it is required to pump harder. Stress affects our overall health, but especially the heart.
A final topic I found interesting is why people stay in abusive relationships. There are many reasons: fear, income, low self esteem, children, lack of support from others, and they think that the abuser will change eventually. This story hit close to home for me because I found out that one of my friends is a victim of this type of relationship. She fears that if she tells her boyfriend how she is feeling about the relationship, he will lash out, leave her and never come back (which is probably for the better). I also think she has low self esteem from being in this relationship because her boyfriend blames her for his actions (when it is not her fault). He uses her as an outlet to rationalize his wrongdoings. This makes her feel bad and slowly is degrading her self esteem. She also believes that her boyfriend will eventually change his ways and that this time “was the last time.” However, there is always another incident with an abuser. I have done my best to help her see this verbal abuse and offered other support systems, but she is in denial that she is in an abusive relationship. She fears being alone so she always forgives her boyfriend for his actions and says that “he didn’t really mean it.” This article provided some knowledge for me in reasons about why it is hard for her to leave this relationship when it is so obvious to third party viewers.
One interesting topic I found was about the behavior of lying. Signs of lying include avoiding eye contact, change in voice (pitch or speed), body language or contradicting statements. I thought this was interesting because I am a person that does not look one in the eye when talking to them no matter the circumstances. Obviously I am not lying (all the time) when I am engaging in conversation, but eye contact makes me extremely uncomfortable. I’ve tried looking important people (i.e. an interviewer) between the eyes so it looks like I am confident and making eye contact. However, most of the time I get caught up on focusing on the spot between the eyes that I forget to listen to what they are saying.
On the ABC show “Take the Money and Run,” participants hide a case of money and are incarcerated for 48 hours while detectives try to find the case. The show participants are interrogated in many different ways. Interrogators establish a relationship with the “criminals” to get a baseline of their personality. For example, when they are talking about their family, they talk in a steady, normal rate of speech. However, when questioned about where they hid the money, most participants are caught off guard, pause, and think before they talk. By doing this, interrogators know when they are lying. Interrogators also invade the criminals personal space by sitting very close to them or standing to show their power over them. This makes the criminal more likely to slip up and give away answers. Criminals on this show tend to avoid eye contact, turn away from interrogators, change their voice and often contradict themselves. Because the participants are not “experienced” criminals, their tendencies of lying are picked up more easily.
Another interesting topic I found was that acting happy increases cardiovascular health. If the body is stressed, it damages the heart muscles, blood vessels and clogs the arteries. This makes sense because when one is stressed, their immune system is weaker. We tend to sleep less, eat less, and eat poorly when we are stressed out. Our heart also is affected because it is required to pump harder. Stress affects our overall health, but especially the heart.
A final topic I found interesting is why people stay in abusive relationships. There are many reasons: fear, income, low self esteem, children, lack of support from others, and they think that the abuser will change eventually. This story hit close to home for me because I found out that one of my friends is a victim of this type of relationship. She fears that if she tells her boyfriend how she is feeling about the relationship, he will lash out, leave her and never come back (which is probably for the better). I also think she has low self esteem from being in this relationship because her boyfriend blames her for his actions (when it is not her fault). He uses her as an outlet to rationalize his wrongdoings. This makes her feel bad and slowly is degrading her self esteem. She also believes that her boyfriend will eventually change his ways and that this time “was the last time.” However, there is always another incident with an abuser. I have done my best to help her see this verbal abuse and offered other support systems, but she is in denial that she is in an abusive relationship. She fears being alone so she always forgives her boyfriend for his actions and says that “he didn’t really mean it.” This article provided some knowledge for me in reasons about why it is hard for her to leave this relationship when it is so obvious to third party viewers.
There are so many interesting articles. I had a problem to choose only three. Yet, the first category that I thought it was very useful and interesting to read was Study Habits. I am going to talk about this topic later on. The second category that I found interesting was Culture. I read many articles about this topic mostly becasue I am curious what other people think of cultural influences and the fact that I experienced or still experiencing the cultural change makes me want to know more about this topic. One of these article talks about cultural influences on the Self. The author asked a really good question, how much actually of out Self is of part who we are as and individual and how much the self creates society in us? Like American cutlure seems to be very indivudalistic but I think this might not be necessary the truth. People sort of follow what the most of society do, behave etc.
Another category that I looked up was Dating Behavior and how much now poeple use dating sites as the main source of finding the Right person. People shared their opinions whether dating sites is a good thing or not. I personally think it is a good think and chance to people who are way to shy to go out and start a conversation to someone he/she might be potentially attracted to. Whoever does not like this idea does not need go on dating sites if they think that loose the value of the first impression and face to face contact. One of the fact is that dating sites work as we can tell how many people get married and being in relationship after go on dating sites and find their second half :)
Now, I would like to go back to my topic number one: Study Habits. I read the articles and people's comments. After reading the article I got insipred and curious of how would life be without facebook?:) And I gave it a try. I deleted my account after reading this article. I want to find myself how much I an improve my school work and grades this smester if I will not have facebook. People who commented on it and who do not have facebook anymore said that it helped them so much to improve their grades. For instance, during writing a paper almost everyone keep theit facebook on and look at pretty much every 2 minutes. After that instead wrting a paper they got tired of looking on the screen and that affect not only their time but also the value of the paper. They make more mistakes and are not willing ot think harder because they are already exhausted after being on the computer for hours. Even now, I know for sure that if I would still have facebook and doing this assigment it would take me at least 40 to an hour more than it is taking now. I am glad I read this article and deactivated my facebook account:)
I really enjoyed reading all the different blogs! The three that I spent the most time on were procrastination, dating behaviors and exercise.
The first section I read about was procrastination. This immediately sparked my attention because I easily fall into the "procrastination trap" a few weeks after school starts. The first post I read talked about facebook lowering your grades. I immediately understood the fact that it may eat up valuable studying time, but a study has shown that being on social networking sites can lower your grades a whole letter grade. I didn't completely believe this because I spend a lot of time of facebook, but I also know how to take myself away from facebook for a day or two when I need to study.
The second section that caught my eye was about dating behaviors. The first post I read was about internet dating and if it really works. I do not feel like I could be swayed one way or the other after reading this. I believe that online dating works for some people but not for others. There were several other really interesting blog posts in this section. One post described topics not to bring up on the first date and another talked about chemicals that are released as we kiss another person.
The last section that I read was about exercise. This section caught my attention because I am always looking for ways to increase my motivation in this area. There was one post that talked about ways to make exercising a better experience such as drinking up cup of coffee before hand, listening to music, or exercising with friends. Another entry had a link to a quiz where you could find out what your "workout color" was and it would give you exercises that fit your personality.
One topic I found interesting was creativity. I thought it was interesting that music, art, and even certain colors can be motivating to a person. Another topic was mate selection and what motivates us in choosing a mate. There was a post that was interesting to me where it talked about an article on ways to tell if a man was “Mr. Right.” It listed off several things, such as do your friends like him, does he get a long with your family, and is he trustworthy. According to the article, the more of these qualities a man has, the more motivated a woman is to seek him out as a mate.
http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/sex/is-he-the-one-10-signs-to-tell-if-he-s-mr-right-1032610/
The third topic I looked at was sports, specifically what motivates athletes. I read a blog post about the UNI Men’s basketball team and how their self-efficacy helped them upset Kansas in the NCAA tournament. Their belief that they could win and advance in the tournament helped them to succeed in doing that, even when no one else thought that they could. If they did not think they could win, they would not have been very motivated to even try. I also read a post about what motivates elite athletes. I read that elite athletes value personal achievement, winning, and competition more than people who are not elite athletes, so the fact that these things are important to them could be one reason why they are motivated to work so hard in their sport and why they are able to get to an elite level. I think the best and most passionate athletes are intrinsically motivated instead of extrinsically motivated. They do what they do and work so hard at it because they have a need for personal achievement. They work hard because they love it and not for awards or recognition from others. These are the athletes that work hard when no one is watching because they are not doing it for the recognition. These athletes set goals for themselves and feel a sense of accomplishment when they reach these goals, whether others know about it or not. It is very interesting to me that a simple difference of interest in values could determine whether or not a person has the ability to become an elite athlete.
Exploring previous blog posts turned out to be more fun than I first anticipated. While many categories looked interesting to me, I decided to focus my time on these 3 subjects: depression, religion, and mate selection. For me, it is very obvious why I picked these subjects, all 3 having a strong personal connection to me, motivating me to read more about them. The first topic that I will discuss is mate selection. Under this blog post found here:http://www.psychologicalscience.com/motivation_emotion/sex-and-mating-behaviors/mate-selection/
I found a very interesting paragraph discussing the matter of mate selection..
"all of us conform to one of four personality types, which are controlled by different chemicals in the brain. These chemicals mould us, and cause us to be attracted to people who complement our personality types (see panel). There is the Explorer, a sensation seeker ruled by dopamine; the Builder, a respecter of authority driven by serotonin; the Director, analytical and ruled by testosterone; and the Negotiator, intuitive and fired by oestrogen. Negotiators need to connect with others on a deeply personal level, are very trusting and good at talking."
This segment really hit home with me because I, along with Helen Fisher (the original author of the previous passage), believe in these four personality types. I really sat by my computer for a long time, debating on which one best describes me and my journey to "true love." I decided that I am The explorer, looking for sensation and totally ruled by dopamine. In fact, there is really a better why to describe me and I am very glad i came accross this quote.
The second topic I'd like to discuss is Religion. Religion influences the lives of billions of people every day and motivates them to act a certain way, depending on what is "right" according to their faith. With my own friend group, I have 3 different religions being worshipped. The majority of my good friends are Christians, varying in different levels of devotions. I have a friend who is part of the Hindu religion and me, along with a few other close friends, belong to no religion. It is interesting to see how that factor alone, motivates us either to partake in different actions or to engage in the same behaviors but for completely different reasons. A common discussion in our appartment is what we are going to have for dinner. One of my roommates is Hindu, one is Christain, and my 3rd roommate along with me, have no religion. The first two mentioned are vegetarians. The Christain vegetarian is a vegetarian simply because she is very involved in animal rights. The Hinda vegetarian is a vegetarian because it goes against her religion to eat animal products. Here is a great example of the same behavior being played out but for two completely different reasons.
The last topic I found interesting to read more about is that of Depression. I found this topic to be most beneficial to me, because I have lived with clinical depression for 3 years now. Many people talk about depression like it is a weird, crazed disease. But to me, depression is similar to the common flu. Reading the blogs, i learned that 1 in 6 adolescents are diagnosed with depression and girls are twice as likely as boys to be diagnosed. I believe that girls are more diagnosed simply because they seek help more than boys. Depression has been a real motivator in my life. While I certainly do not enjoy living with depression, I do have a sense of pride living with it. I came from a high school where many classmates were lost to suicide and it is very powerful for me to be able to say im a survivor. My own depresssion motivates me to advocate for mental illnesses like depression and anxiety. It motivates me to help people live a happier life. My friends always say that I think too much. And i believe that because of my depression, i have become more motivated to seek out the truth in life and to try and answer all of life's "whys?". While depression is an illness, it is a treatable one, and it can give people the motivation to fight for every dream they've ever had.
The first category I read through was the violence and aggression section. I found this topic interesting because in a lot of the posts it seems like people are motivated to be violent or aggressive because they want control or power. A good example of this was a blog post about the movie “enough”. Another category I found interesting was the love section under emotion. I found a lot of the post to be very entertaining. Some would give pointers on how to find the perfect soul mate as well as certain secrets women should keep from their partner. I found the addiction category very interesting as well. I liked this category because it wasn’t just obvious addictions such as alcohol and drugs. People went into detail about not so obvious addictions such as flavored water and chewing straws!
One blog post I found particularly interesting was the post about depression in adolescent girls. I liked this post because it gave good statistics which makes it easier to see how severe depression is. For example, it states that 1 in 6 girls are diagnosed with major depressive disorder. This is twice the amount as it is for boys. One fact in this post made a lot of sense to me. It said that adolescents want to have some sort of control over their lives, however, because of hormones and their body physically changing this can cause a disturbance. It is easy to see why the rate for depression and eating disorders in adolescents is on the rise. The media and culture we surround these children in emphasizes the important of being thin and tall. I really liked how this post ended. It explained that if these individuals were given an outlet to express their feelings such as a group setting or one on one, the rates could possibly decrease.
The first thing I clicked on was body modification. This section was really interesting and had a lot of information and life experiences about people with eating disorders. I read one story in particular that was about a young woman who had been suffering from anorexia since middle school. She began cutting her portion sizes when she was just a young girl; bringing only a yogurt, an apple, and some pretzels for lunch. Then slowly she cut out eating lunch all together. When her parents would make her eat dinner, she would throw it all up later by purging herself. She would weigh herself many times a day on 2 different scales and would often idealize looking like a skinny 12 year old girl, who obviously hadn’t hit puberty and gotten her healthy curves. This girl had a lot of other health problems as a result of her anorexia. She stopped having her period for a year during middle school; she has low blood pressure, low iron, low potassium, low blood sugar, and acid reflux from throwing up. Her hair is thin and her skin is dry and she has constant headaches. She had even said “it is about being the best at your eating disorder”. When she went to college, by her sophomore year, she realized she needed to check into a treatment facility. But, when she was released from the treatment center a year later she had a relapse and at 2 a.m. she took over 50 laxatives to try and lose weight. She was puking and couldn’t even stand up. Today she is a senior in college and she still struggles with anorexia, but she manages it better. She said that anorexia was just a way to deal with her depression and anxiety. I found this article really interesting and sad at the same time. I think people underestimate just how many girls are affected by anorexia or bulimia. I definitely think this is a much bigger problem than people realize.
The section on body modification also had another interesting blog. One was about Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. They are implementing a program for incoming students. When freshman arrive they have their BMI measured and if it is 30 or higher they are required to take a Fitness Walking/Conditioning class or they cannot graduate. The chair of the department of health there said that they are concerned with the whole student, not just the academic side. Physical and emotional health can seriously affect learning. I think this is a GREAT idea. I think forcing students who have weight issues to take a class that can possibly help them become more healthy and fit is something every school should do. I think that these classes should emphasize and teach students HOW to work out and HOW to be healthy, not just tell them to walk. I think providing information on nutrition and exercise is something that we NEED for our college students, because this is the time where a lot of us are not as active as we were in high school and for a lot of us, our bodies can change dramatically during our college years.
Another blog post I found interesting was in the self esteem category. A girl was writing about the term “skinny fat” to define people who are yes, skinny, but not necessarily fit or healthy. I think this is important to understand because, just because someone looks skinny does not mean they are healthy. This blog post also pointed out that bigger/curvy women have low self esteem but maybe not because of their size, but because our culture is constantly telling them they are not pretty or sexy. It is interesting to me because I am a girl who works out a lot, but I am not the skinniest person around. But what I cannot stand is when I am surrounded by girls with skinny legs and arms who complain that their or fat or flabby….well duh, you don’t work out, you’re not healthy. I think it is important for people to realize that it isn’t all about being skinny, it is about being healthy!
I also looked at the depression blogs and the health blogs. Another thing I read that was interesting was a study about the placebo effects of “exercising”. In the study the experimental group was continually reminded that they were getting a lot of exercise throughout the day at work; while the control group was not told anything. Both groups did the same amount of work during the day. What is interesting about this study is that the experimental group reported feeling much healthier and they showed a decrease in weight, blood pressure, body fat, waist-to-hip ratio, and body mass index. I think this is really interesting and I think it could be beneficial for many people. Maybe simply thinking that you are being healthier might give you some of the benefits as actually being healthier and maybe thinking this can get you to, in turn, actually do things to improve your health.
The first article that I read through was about facial expressions. It talked about how using facial expressions is a huge part of communication between two people. But there are some people who are not able to make facial expressions because they have a disorder called Moebious syndrome. Moebious syndrome have facial paralysis therefore are not able to make any sort of facial expressions, and this makes it harder for them to communicate their emotions. The second article I read about was anorexia. Some women have built in an internal fear of getting fat or becoming overweight. This blog talks about how most of the time when an anorexic person sees someone who is overweight, they don’t judge the overweight person, they just turn it on themselves fearing that they someday will become obese. People who are anorexic focus all of their time and energy on their own self-image and will do anything they can to stay thin. The third article I read was about the addiction to gambling. People get addicted because of the immediate reward of money that they get after they push one button on a slot. The money that they receive then motivates them to keep gambling for more. Even when people lose, they are still motivated because they want to get back the money that they lost.
The article that I found to be most interesting was the article on the addiction to gambling. This article is interesting to me because I have a personal connection to it. Four years ago, my uncle killed himself because of his gambling addiction. So when I hear people talking about going gambling it honestly scares me because I can see how addicting it could become. This article made me realize that there is a lot of motivation and reinforcement in gambling. It’s easy to believe that if you didn’t win this time, you can win next time or if you won this time, you can win even more next time. Gambling can easily take over someone’s life.
I browsed the body modification article first, and was disappointed that most of the articles seemed to be about eating disorders. The topics of plastic surgery and general weight loss/fear of obesity were interesting, but I expected more about what influences people to make permanent changes to their body such as piercing or tattoos. Although, I don’t know how much depth such an article would really have.
Under the evolution category I got stuck on reading the article about hidden biases. I remember in another class taking that Implicit Association Test, and wondering if babies adopted by a family of another race would have hidden biases against all races but their own and their parent’s, or whether there would be more general acceptance and less biases, or just a lot of confusion.
Since I commented on positive reinforcement today I finished off with the category on positive reinforcement. There, I was intrigued by the article called You Feel What You Eat. The big cycle of unhealthy foods, unhealthy overall diet, obesity, depression, and anxiety was analyzed from the viewpoint of whether our food influences our mood more than just being obese from our diet would. Mostly, the article was unsurprising, but that didn’t diminish the level of interest I had in it. The fact that ‘junk food’ or fast food can addict you with fats but make you feel so down is a really bizarre catch-22. Dieting becomes that much harder when the food that literally calls to you puts you in the kind of mood that takes away your motivation. This junk food works as a positive reinforcement at first, making you feel energetic with the sugar and satisfied with the fat, but works its way into almost a punishment. It just doesn’t work as punishment though if you don’t connect the feelings and stop eating the food. This type of diet really does become an awful cycle that is incredibly difficult to break.
The first section that I looked through was music, as being a musician; I found it interesting to see how motivation and music can be linked together. There was an interesting blog discussing how the ways sound has an effect on us. It was stated that music can affect us physiologically, psychologically, cognitively and behaviorally. I found it particularly interesting that humans are attracted to sounds that are within the frequency of twelve cycles per minute (think the sound of the ocean or someone breathing in their sleep).
Since I am a musician, I also was interested in the section titled, “creativity”. In here, I found a very interesting article about twenty tips to boost your creativity. Some of the tips deal with extrinsic motivation such as rewarding yourself. I found this to be sort of contradictory to what we discussed in class though about trying to intrinsically motivate yourself. I also found that a lot of the tips deal with creating charts of some kind or another, which, believe it or not, I find particularly useful with music when creating charts mapping out chord progressions, who would have thought that flow-charts could help you write better music?
The third and most interesting blog that I found was that dealing with falling in love. The blog had a link posted to a website called, Independent Woman. The article on the website stated how a woman named Helen Fisher has identified there being four romantic personality types. These personality types I have copied and pasted below from the website.
Explorers: Adventurous, sexual, impulsive and creative. Can be unpredictable, even narcissistic. Often drawn to other Explorers.
Builders: Calm, loyal, traditional, the pillar of society. Can become dogmatic and stubborn. Usually fall for other Builders.
Directors: Analytical, decisive, logical and direct. Tend to lose their tempers and can seem blunt. Well matched with Negotiators.
Negotiators: Philosophical, imaginative, trusting and intuitive. Can appear scatty and depressed. Respond strongly to Directors.
Read more: http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/independent-woman/love-sex/which-personality-type-are-you-2051174.html#ixzz1XO38C9UE
I thought that this was an interesting idea at trying to categorize and connect certain personalities of individuals to whom they may fall in love with, however, I do not believe that this sort of approach by Helen Fisher holds any sort of sound evidence or research to back up her claims. I would find it interesting however, to try and relate personality types from a personality inventory test such as the MBTI (one that is seen as more valid and reliable) to see just what types of personalities are attracted to one another.
The first section that I looked through was music, as being a musician; I found it interesting to see how motivation and music can be linked together. There was an interesting blog discussing how the ways sound has an effect on us. It was stated that music can affect us physiologically, psychologically, cognitively and behaviorally. I found it particularly interesting that humans are attracted to sounds that are within the frequency of twelve cycles per minute (think the sound of the ocean or someone breathing in their sleep).
Since I am a musician, I also was interested in the section titled, “creativity”. In here, I found a very interesting article about twenty tips to boost your creativity. Some of the tips deal with extrinsic motivation such as rewarding yourself. I found this to be sort of contradictory to what we discussed in class though about trying to intrinsically motivate yourself. I also found that a lot of the tips deal with creating charts of some kind or another, which, believe it or not, I find particularly useful with music when creating charts mapping out chord progressions, who would have thought that flow-charts could help you write better music?
The third and most interesting blog that I found was that dealing with falling in love. The blog had a link posted to a website called, Independent Woman. The article on the website stated how a woman named Helen Fisher has identified there being four romantic personality types. These personality types I have copied and pasted below from the website.
Explorers: Adventurous, sexual, impulsive and creative. Can be unpredictable, even narcissistic. Often drawn to other Explorers.
Builders: Calm, loyal, traditional, the pillar of society. Can become dogmatic and stubborn. Usually fall for other Builders.
Directors: Analytical, decisive, logical and direct. Tend to lose their tempers and can seem blunt. Well matched with Negotiators.
Negotiators: Philosophical, imaginative, trusting and intuitive. Can appear scatty and depressed. Respond strongly to Directors.
Read more: http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/independent-woman/love-sex/which-personality-type-are-you-2051174.html#ixzz1XO38C9UE
I thought that this was an interesting idea at trying to categorize and connect certain personalities of individuals to whom they may fall in love with, however, I do not believe that this sort of approach by Helen Fisher holds any sort of sound evidence or research to back up her claims. I would find it interesting however, to try and relate personality types from a personality inventory test such as the MBTI (one that is seen as more valid and reliable) to see just what types of personalities are attracted to one another.
The first topic I browsed was love. I read an interesting article about how a man cheated on his wife with people who very much so resembled his ex wife. This was interesting to see that his past behaviors still linger in him and he still looked for someone like his ex even though he was newly married. Also, he kept cheating with multiple women because he kept getting away with it which increased his self-efficacy. The second category I browsed was sadness. I read two articles. One about how someone can keep themselves happy when feeling down. Ideas were making sure the sadness doesn’t affect your daily activities. Another was getting more light/sunlight because light helps with sadness. The other article I read was about the difference in situational and chronic depression. Situational is brought upon by life events, while chronic is long lasting and more severe. Lastly, I browsed the category relationships. There was a blog someone posted about a cosmopolitan article “How to be a good girlfriend.” She thinks the article is wrong and not all of these qualities make someone a good girlfriend because people have different wants and needs.
A very interesting article I read was about Susan Klebold, the mother of one of the Columbine killers. This article interested me because Susan’s son was raised in a nurturing family and was always taught self defense but it never occurred that he would actually end up being the problem. It’s interesting to me to think that her son was so messed up in the head, but no one ever saw it until the unthinkable happened. It was also mentioned that Susan and her family were blamed for bad parenting. I think that is very unfair because Susan says her family was raised in a very good manner and no one saw this crazy act happening. Overall, I’m interested in this article because it’s crazy how people can be feeling so much hurt without anyone even noticing and how this can lead to suicide, or even worse!
The first topic I chose was violence and aggression. I was expecting to find a domestic abuse article, but instead discovered an article about prison rapes. It was interesting to learn that it is like its own community inside the prison. First, there is a prisoner victim rape profile. This includes things like smaller, feminine looking attributes that are key to being perpetrated by other men. In the prison, the men travel in packs, known as the aggressors, to target other men. Aggressors have their own profile such as low education level, low socioeconomic status, history of violence and so on. They use violence more often than not when committing this crime. It was interesting to learn that it is harder to stop than you would expect. Because this community has formed within the prison, alliances and friendships have been building where an investigator can’t distinguish a rape from homosexual activity.
The second topic I chose was procrastination. I am great a procrastinating and wanted to read more about it. The articles varied in how they were written. One article allowed me to see a step by step process to fix procrastination, while another one suggested that procrastination has to do with the perfectionism in someone. Another article suggested that Facebook users do worst on exams than non-Facebook users. It is stated that Facebook is such a distraction many students only one hour a week on homework allowing the grades recorded to be lower with users than non-users. Overall, there are many possible motives to procrastination that are still being researched.
The third topic I chose to read about was dating behaviors. One article talked about online dating and the ramifications of the sights. It is said that often people feel more open online, and express themselves deeper than they might in person, however, it can also be dangerous because anything can be said over the internet. It’s wild to see how the world as shifted to everything online and people turn to the internet to meet someone instead of going out and meeting them in person.
One topic that I found really interesting was aggression. The posts addressed the issue of needs that could motivate people to act aggressively. One motivator to act in an aggressive way is to protect a family member from getting hurt. I thought it was interesting to think about how myself and others would react to an organism that was trying to hurt or kill a family member. I personally would put up a fight and act aggressively to protect my family. Another need mentioned is the physiological need of survival. For example, food deprivation could cause someone to kill an animal to ensure their survival. Affiliation is a social need that was addressed in the blog. For example, gang members are willing to act aggressively or even kill people to obtain a sense of belonging to their gang. The blog also addressed the issue of why people might stay in abusive relationships. Fear is one reason that many people stay in an abusive relationship because the victim is afraid of what might happen when they try and leave the relationship. The fear of having a poor financial status after leaving a relationship is another possibility. One of the blogs also addressed the Columbine massacre, addressing the importance of being socially connected with people. The post mentioned that one of the gunmen named Dylan, wrote down feelings of being alienated or unaccepted by peers. The blogs really introduced me to a variety of potential motivating factors that could cause people to act aggressively.
Another interesting topic I found was on procrastination. I found the blogs about the topic interesting because procrastination is something I can really relate to! One of the blogs mentioned an article discussing face book and GPA. The article stated that people who use Facebook are underachieving by a whole letter grade versus those who are not using Facebook, due to lack of studying. Another article described procrastination as a gap between intended behavior and enacted behavior. The article then offers some suggestions to help decrease procrastination. The first step mentioned is to admit that you’re a procrastinator. Next, you must determine why your procrastinating. Third, you must develop anti-procrastinating tactics such as rewards or having someone check up on you. Fourth, you must develop time management. Another blog discussed different types of procrastinators. I had no idea that there different types of procrastinators! The first type of procrastinator is thrill seeking. Thrill seeking procrastinators enjoy the thrill of getting something completed just in time. The second type of procrastinator avoid the fear of success or failure. Personally, I am always worried that I’m doing assignments wrong or that I’m going to get a bad grade on assignments. The last type of procrastinator has a hard time making decisions, because the procrastinator believes that they cannot be help responsible for an outcome if they don’t make a decision.
Another topic that I found very interesting was eating disorders. One aspect that I found very interesting in the blog was that women react more negatively when seeing an obese woman than men do. Instead of reacting negatively toward the obese woman, their brain focuses on their own self image. The blog states that most women, not just women with eating disorders, have this fear of getting obese and develop a need to stay skinny. Another blog addresses the need of self control. There are so many aspects in our lives that are controlled by other people or our environment. However, weight is something that we have some control over. An extreme for control was expressed as a common factor associated with anorexia. The blog mentions that autonomy and persistence correlate with anorexia. Autonomy deals with the control aspect while persistence relates to the ongoing behavior in an attempt to become perfect. Another blog that I read stated that there are pro-anorexia communities that encouraged people to not eat in order to stay in control. I found it very repulsive that there are communities that encourage people to starve themselves in order to stay in control. The worst part of the blog was examples of the beliefs of the pro-anorexia community! One example is that the bathroom scale is a measure of daily success and failure. The community also encouraged members to strive for perfection. It boggled my mind that perfection according to the pro-anorexia is associated with unhealthiness and sickness. I also thought that the pro-anorexia community must be naive to promote the groups followers to strive for perfection. I am interested in finding out how the pro-anorexia community defines perfection.
The first category I found to be interesting was under drug and alcohol use. One doctor describes addiction as "a specific biological disorder of the reward systems of the brain that permanently alters the survival system and thus the motivational priorities. A biological disorder may help understand why families may have such a history of drug or alcohol abuse. We find drugs and alcohol to be a common go too substance under various circumstances. One article even explained bored to death as a literal statement because of the association toward these substances when bored.
The second category I found interesting was about health. Health is such a broad topic, with blogs consisting of dieting, tanning, alcohol consumption, etc. The tanning concept was a huge eye catcher personally. When I think of health I do think of dieting and putting toxins in our bodies. Tanning has detrimental effects to our health and yet people continue to want that bronzed look. People either have motivational behaviors to identify the hazards of their lifestyle or fail to recognize them. Some people are so motivational to change their bodily appearance that it ultimately leads to addiction and harm.
The third category was interesting, it was on media. A few topics included the use of marketing power and advertising. The media is designed to take control of your minds. These advertisements are specifically to make you use their product and motivate you to do so! These advertisers look to alter your motivational behaviors, in a shift toward what they are marketing.
The relationship between religion and emotion post was very interesting to me. Religion can play an astonishing role in one’s life. People often times need a release support from guilt or depression they are feeling. Religion may be that guide they look for. The post explained information that relates to myself personally and I’m sure most people, that somebody in our lives has sought religious beliefs which motivate their behaviors and change their perspectives on life. Religion is often controversial, but for many people gives us an example of how a belief in something can change our motivation behaviors. People act up various beliefs in religion because that’s what they learned to believe, or were shaped to believe. Religion isn’t for everybody, but for a lot, it helps with their personal concept and feelings that they can act upon or put their trust in.
The first topic I read about was procrastiantion. I chose to look at this topic because I am usually a big procratinator. Reading the articles about procrastination taught me a lot and they were very interesting. The first article talked about people using facebook. People who use facebook are underachieving by a whole letter grade. One of the reasons for this is because people get on facebook instead of studying. 79% of facebook users do not believe facebook affects school work. I believe that these people are just in denial. I am a facebook user and I do know that facebook can be a very big distraction. I use to have my facebook open while I was doing homework, but I stopped doing that because I would alwasy get distracted by new updates or someone wanting to talk with me. Another article I read about procrastination talked about how to get over procrastination. The first step is to recognize that you are a procrastinator. Luckily for me I have realized that I am a procrastinator, so there is hope for me. Step two is to find out why you are procrastinating. A lot of times I procrastinate because I get distracted with other things or I am suppose to write a paper(which I hate doing) so I put it off to the last minute. Step three is to adapt anti-procrastination stragtegies. This is an area that I need to imporve on still. It says to develop good time-management, better organizational skills, and encourage effective habits.
The other two topics that I read about were religion and love. I looked at these topics because they both interested me very much. The article I read about relgion was relationship between relgion and emotion. It talked about how believeing that there is a God does help with your emotions. I can relate to this because I do strongly believe that there is a God. I also feel that I am very easy going because of this. The article I read about love was called Is He the One? 10 Signs to Tell If He's Mr. Right. I comepletely agree with all of these signs. My boyfriend meets all of these signs and I knew even before I read this that he is Mr. Right, this just confirmed it even more.
The first category that caught my eye was crime. As this is a motivation class, it got me thinking about the ways and why's people do the illegal things they do, be they big or small. The first topic I read was about flash-mobs, interesting little bit. It sort of brought the mob-mentality to mind, but this wasn't that extreme. Rather it was groups teens getting together to be such a large disturbance that the law got more involved to the point parents were held responsible if their kids were out late at night. It mentioned how flash-mobs, appeal to the high sensation seeking with all the thrills it involves. It came to my attention that, there are people are high sensation seekers, but don't get involved with illegal activity, they find a different outlet. Makes me wonder what motivates the individual to engage in legal or illegal behaviors.
The other two topics I looked at involved high needs of affiliation. It told of a US- born woman, becoming an Islamic extremist, plotting to kill a man and willing to marry another extremist so he can move around easier in Europe. The article spoke of her high need of affiliation maybe the reason behind her motivation to comply to all these requests when not compelled by religion like other extremists.
The second article I read about was libraries going to the police and using the law to get overdue materials back. It was strange to think about, because I can't remember my home library going to such an motivational extreme to get their things back. I can see where they are coming from though, and a good portion of their profit comes from those late fees. Still makes me wonder if the law is really necessary for a simple overdue book or dvd etc. It would be considered theft and that can go on a persons record after all.
I found a lot of the articles and topics to be pretty fascinating. I read an especially interesting article about music first. It cited several amazing examples of people utilizing the power of music to help them in life. Albert Einstein apparently was not very good in school. His parents didn’t send him to school because they said it would be a waste of his teacher’s time. Instead, they bought him a violin. Albert was very moved by classical composers and liked to play difficult pieces. The article also said that Einstein solved his problems by improvising on his violin.
The article went on to say that music helped Thomas Jefferson write the Declaration of Independence. He too would improvise on his violin and it would help him put his thoughts on to paper.
In the base of the article, the author describes music as having a great effect on the body and mind. “Responses to music are easy to be detected in the human body. Classical music from the baroque period causes the heart beat and pulse rate to relax to the beat of the music. As the body becomes relaxed and alert, the mind is able to concentrate more easily. Furthermore, baroque music decreases blood pressure and enhances the ability to learn.” It says that learning potential can be increased by 5 times using baroque style- sixty beats per minute style.
The article describes several experiments in which students took tests while listening to music. In one experiment three groups of students were asked to memorize words and were given a pretest, posttest, and post-posttest. The first group was read the words with Handel's Water Music in the background; they were also asked to imagine the words. Group 2 was read the same words also with Handel's Water Music in the background but they were not asked to imagine the words. Group 3 was only read the words, was not given any background music, and was also not asked to imagine the words. Group 1 ended up having the best scores on all three tests. The article then surmised that High school students who study music have higher grade point averages that those who don't.
This article was concluded with a quote by Napoleon which helps explain to me why secret societies have such an influence on the music industry. This quote will probably stay with me for life: "Give me control over he who shapes the music of a nation, and I care not who makes the laws”.
The next post I read was titled “Facebook Users do Worse on Exams.” It talked specifically about facebook users who check their page frequently during the day relaying that 65% of users check their accounts periodically throughout the day. It then went on to say that it has been found that those who utilize Facebook are underachieving by a whole letter grade compared to those who do not have a Facebook! I know that I use facebook quite a bit. Even when I am supposed to be studying I will check my facebook every once in a while just to take a quick break. Most FB users don’t believe that having an account effects their grade but in reality there is almost a direct correlation between facebook and lower grades.
The post mentions Relatedness as being a psychological need to have social interaction that is warm, close and affectionate. The author says that we check our Facebooks in order to satisfy that need. But isn’t that just an excuse? We could spend all day with our friends and then go to the library to focus on school work. Our relatedness need would have already been satisfied.
The post was interesting and I have considered deactivating my account for some time now. This just gives me another reason to get rid of it.
I read quite a few other articles so my last selection was hard to pick. I read a post about boredom that was pretty interesting. It starts off by saying that experts say there's a possibility that the more bored you are, the more likely you are to die early. It said that boredom alone isn’t going to kill you, but boredom leads to risky decision making like smoking, drinking, and illicit drug use. Other experts said while the research was preliminary, “the link between boredom and increased heart problems was possible -- if not direct.” "Someone who is bored may not be motivated to eat well, exercise, and have a heart-healthy lifestyle. That may make them more likely to have a cardiovascular event," said Dr. Christopher Cannon, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard University. Cannon also said it was possible that when people are bored, dangerous hormones are released in the body that stress the heart.
All pretty interesting posts can’t wait to watch some movies.
The next category I came across was sex and mating behaviors. There were some posts about the motivation of getting married and the first conversation dos and don’ts basically. Another one was saying that a woman is more attracted to a man’s scent who can help her produce children. It was also saying that men and women view kissing a lot differently. Women would never have sex with someone without kissing someone, but a man could do that.
The article I actually found interesting was about kissing and the differences in men and women. There was one part where is talks about how after kissing the cortisol levels drop a lot. That is only if you are in a long term relationship. The longer the relationship the more the levels of you cortisol hormone dropped. In men the oxytocin hormone levels raise a lot, but in women that’s not the case. It was thought to increase in both males and females but females’ oxytocin levels did not increase. In this article is says that pheromones are not actually used in humans to create attraction. There is still a chemical that is communicating. It may not be much of a surprise, but it has been found that kissing is a lot more important to woman than men. Most women can hardly imagine having sex without kissing but a man can do just that. Men are also more likely to initiate French kissing because in the saliva is testosterone. It talks about how kissing plays a pretty big role on mate selection and also bonding. I really thought all of that was very interesting and some of it was a little surprising to me. The part about the oxytocin I would have never guessed.
The three topics I looked into on the blog site were leisure, procrastination, and love. I am a double-major in Psych and Leisure and am interested in learning about the two topics jointly. I looked into the procrastination blog comments because I am a procrastinator (though I’m getting a lot better at it because I’ve learned I don’t like the side effects of being stressed out).
Lastly, I choose to look at the different comments under the topic of love because I am a hopeless romantic. I am always getting immersed into love stories in books and movies, and love hearing about real life love stories and relationship advice and how to find “the one”. I enjoyed several of the posts under the Emotion: love topic. One that really caught my attention and kept it, was called “Kissing = FUN!!!” It analyzed about article that talked about the hormone release that occurs when engaging in the act of kissing. It states that kissing releases many feel-good hormones in the body, and among those are cortisol (stress hormone) and oxytocin (the bonding hormone). Apparently, in long-term relationships, kissing drops cortisol levels (relieves stress), and oxytocin levels increase ONLY in males = bummer for girls. Exchanging saliva (containing testosterone) with your partner increases arousal, also. This was very interesting to me and points to why the physical aspect of a relationship is more important (generally) to the average male than female—males get more oxytocin and kissing increases the bond for him, apparently more so than for her.
One topic that I find most interesting in relation to motivation is the workplace. Motivation is key in getting the most productivity out of an employee while still keeping them satisfied with their position. Many employers hope to be able to harness intrinsic motivation for productivity, but in the end pay benefits or some sort of reward is what keeps employees motivated. A lot of the articles involved with the work category described different ways that employers could motivate employees. Such techniques included reducing amount of stress, giving employees more control, and use of different rewards. Finding the right combination is the challenge for employers as you want to keep employees on their toes and not expect everything.
another interesting topic was motivation in sports. Coaches, teammates, and athletes themselves try to maximize the motivation of an athlete to perform their best in competition. Both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation can be found in sports and motivation as some people play sports because it is a personal interest. However, sports can also be played in order to earn money or some type of reward. In the category, a lot of the articles focused on how specific teams or athletes get motivated to perform. I found the look at the UNI Men's basketball team interesting as the article laid out the different motivational factors involved with UNI gaining confidence and motivation to win the game.
The final topic I found interesting was motivation in learning. Teachers are challenged every day with getting their students motivated enough to learn the material. The articles gave tips on how to motivate, but also behaviors or actions to avoid. Giving the student the right amount of praise is surely to motivate him or her, but harsh criticism that can damage a student's self esteem or self efficacy can be detrimental to a student's motivation potential.
Inspiration popped out at me at first, so I decided to take a look. It seemed appropriate all things considered, and the first article, titled Music is Medicine really resonated with me. I am not schizophrenic to the best of my knowledge, but all the same writing is as deep a part of me. If I'm not allowed to get some of my writing done, I become irritable and even more restless than usual. My temperament gets worse and I begin to lose motivation which really only compounds the problem. It's like letting the ideas sit in of head too long causes them to ferment into an opiate sans the good feelings.
The second category was supposed to be sexuality, but nothing in that one appealed to me so I tried out mate selection. I didn't really read in depth until I got to the section on Infidelity based gender differences, a topic far more interesting to me then dating advice offered in a few of the other blogs. As soon as I read the first paragraph I had to kind of own up to the fact that it was right. I would be more bothered by a physical infidelity than an emotional one. Regardless of the emotions behind it, restraining from sex especially when you don't want to shows greater devotion anyways.
I've got a love/hate relationship with hope. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it just makes it hurt more. It's my third.
My life growing up was pretty ideal but my father was kind of a pessimist, he called himself a realist, a title I'd take later and eventually adapt. Not depressed or anything, but of a darker bent toward life's little quirks. I can remember as a kid when I told him my dreams, better odds than not he'd tell me how unlikely it was that I'd fulfill them. It was like he was pushing me to see how much I desired that dream, to see if I'd buckle and move onto something else if he showed me the pressures that came with it. My older sister called him the crusher of dreams. To this day, I cling to that hope that I'll become a fiction author, but I don't really believe. It's the reason I'm not an English major, because I'd rather not put my eggs all in one basket, as my father would say. Writing's still my most prominent hobby, but it takes a backseat to a lot of other things in ways that I hate. It's the only activity that can make me ache utterly and completely after not finding time to do it.
For my first category of articles I chose obesity. One of the articles was about how to get children to partake in afterschool activities for 90 minutes a day. And the studies showed after two years that the obese girls lose more weight than the obese boys. Then the next article was about Hollywood talent and overweight women in particle Gabourey Sidibe the obese girl from the movie “Precious”. And that whether you have great talent in acting, you are highly judged on your body image instead of raw talent. Then, the last one was how about eating certain types of foods can mess with your mood and how you may behave.
Then for the second set of articles I chose was addictions. The first article was about how people get addicted to their endorphins. Also, it talked about how certain things like stress, laughter, and exercise can release endorphins, even food like chocolate and spicy foods. The next article was about people who are internet junkies and basically live on the internet. They had broken down the addiction into three categories Gaming, sexual preoccupations, and email/text messages. And for the last article, I read about how anti-smoking ads are publicly being shown between France and in United States with having sexual connotations. In the article they show the U.S. version of the ad which shows a young man with a cigarette in his mouth with a man’s hand on his head and the French version shows nearly the same thing, but it is a woman and they have the man’s waist in the shot at the about height that where his penis would be and it looks like she is giving him oral sex.
And for the last category I chose fear. For my first article I chose an article on horror movies and why people go see them. They talk about in the article that for possible theories why people like to be scared including that it activates the defensive mechanism in our autonomic nervous system, basically a cheap thrill. The next article was about how people need to keep optimistic and not fear about not finding a job. It explains of how people get too far into the dumps, but need to realize that they need to stay positive and learn that they aren’t going to stay unemployed forever.
The article that I found most interesting was the one about how different type of foods can cause different moods. They went on, how fast food can make you feel good at the current moment, but soon after work in reverse and make you feel tired and depressed. Also, that Omega 6 fatty-acid is in a lot of fast food and can mess with Omega 3 fatty-acids which are chemically met to increase better mood. They compared obesity with depression and that with the steady increase of obesity, there has also been an increase in depression, and that obesity can be a true indicator of depression. That fast food has a lot of addictive additives that can cause you to act abnormal and more stressed out if you don’t get your fix. And then they explain different foods that can raise your mood like salmon because of the omega 3 fatty-acids that can increase your mood. Also, that milk has something in it that activate the neurotransmitter serotonin, which can elevate mood too.
after surfing the web for an extensive period of time i finally stumbled upon an article that i deemed interesting. the article was called "overdue library books" it was only after reading it that i realized that even though the topic being covered was interesting it no longer intrigued me in a way it did when i first came upon said article. so i scroll down the page and find a blog post called "Motivators in business". And because we are talking about motivators in the business place and the big role they play in my Industrial/Organizational Psychology class i wanted to learn more.
i began watching this you-tube video and it was called "the Science of Motivation" where Daniel Pink was the speaker at this business convention. he talked to a room full of people, about the dangers of rewards and incentives in the work place, how people (or workers ) when given a narrow focused and a clearly seen goal people work well and excel. but that is unacceptable because problems you encounter in the business world aren't laid out for you step by step, no, all problems are quite different, and range from being very severe to not sever at all( where we saw in the study of the candle experiment) he also discuss the differences on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and intrinsic' role in the business world.
Daniel pink discusses the new building blocks for the operation of business, and it incorporated the usage of Intrinsic motivation in the work place. In which It revolved around Autonomy, the urge to direct ones own life, Mastery, the desire to get better at something you are good at, and Purpose, yearning to do a service larger than oneself. One example he used was ROWE a company where productivity, work engagement, and work satisfaction went up, and where turnover went down. Why? Well because of Autonomy, workers had the ability to show up to work whenever they wanted to if at all, just as long as they got their work done on time. Productivity increased because they loved doing what they did and had an environments that encouraged that.
I was looking through the procrastination archives, because hey, we all do it. I'm doing it as I write this blog post (don't judge me). It was interesting to see how much research was done over the topic mixed with facebook. Very good reads were found, lots of flaws were realized about myself and an enormous amount of depression will now unfold because of.. ;)
After trolling through the blog entries, I found my way into the crime archives. As I started to read, I found one about how libraries are started to use the police to help them get their property back and collect fines for overdues. I sat here wondering, "wow, why would something so simple go to such extremes?" I am notorious for being forgetful and always had a late book or two when I checked out books. If I ever had a law enforcement officer show up at my doorstep for that, I would be both pissed and freaked out. It's crazy how such a simple thing can turn into something that could be potentially name ruining. I have a friend that wasn't the best person, and during a rough time, he continually racked up fines for overdue movies and fines. He eventually went to jail to make up for losses and effort. He now has that permanently on his record... I would cry for something so simple.
The most interesting post I read was about 'putting down the flavored water bottle". I myself am not a huge fan of flavored water; if I want water, i want water.. if i want juice flavors, I want juice. In the article it talks about how drinking too much water is dangerous and how the flavoring causes people to want more, leading to drinking too much water. It's crazy that I came across this article, as I was just having a conversation about how much water should you really drink. Since the 8 glasses a day rules isn't based on scientific research, what is the right amount? When I drink too much water, I know it. I feel absolutely miserable and all I wanna do is sleep off the feeling. I was talking to a friend about dehydration and we were wondering, shouldn't you stop drinking water for awhile if your urine is clear or close to it (because obviously that means you're well hydrated) and shouldn't that mean that you should base your water intake by your own bathroom duties? As gross as that may sound, it just seems like it's a more logical thing to do, because 8 glasses would be way too much for a 20 pound child - wouldn't you think? The article goes on to talk about how it's still in the normal range to drink this much for normal people, you just need to plan to your activity level.
After searching around for a while I clicked on Dieting. This was motivated by my grandmother once again saying how she needed to lose weight, and then she ordered lazonya when we were out to eat (and ate ALL of it). I think that people have these REALLY crazy ideas about dieting to get into pants size they may only keep for a couple months. I don’t say that to be mean, but from every health person (trainer, teacher or instructor) I have heard talk or comment on the issue have done nothing but point out the same issues with dieting. First, people put themselves into the mindset that they are going to severely restrict their diet until they can fit into their goal size. If/when they reach that size, they go right back into old habits of eating massive amounts of junk food or continue to eat foods that don’t give them the proper nutrition they need on a daily basis. I’ve seen some diets on TV that are going to do nothing but hurt that person in the long run, like only eating one food (cabbage, cottage cheese, liquid, or melon) only for months at a time. What really needs to happen is that the person does a complete overhaul of their lifestyle, but does it over the span of six months to a year. Over time they will re-wire themselves to: go for foods that are healthy and not just low in calories, workout on a daily basis because they feel better afterword and not just to shed inches, and feel better from the inside out. People who are concerned about their weight should be pushed to get healthy and not just lose lbs. My suggestion for anyone weather they are concerned about their weight or not to cut out glutens from your diet. I mention this as a result of the first post I read titled Good vs. Bad Carbs. One of the good carbs was said to be pasta and take rice out of your diet. What you should try to do is take all of the glutens (wheat and flour) out of your diet for a week and see how you feel. This diet is typically used to treat Coeliac disease (my Dad was recently diagnosed).
The two others I looked at and skimmed the blogs of were Mate Selection (I didn’t find anything that would help reassure a date for myself any time soon) and Social Networking (it is still relatively new and I think more and more research will come out in the future as we rely more and more on technology for our everyday activates).
The first article I read about pertained to a 15 year old who had an abortion with the help of the high school health center in Washington. The mother was furious when she found out about and that she was not notified about any consent for this. The school was not obligated to notify the parent(s)/guardian and had not violated any laws in that state. The mother had signed what she thought was a general consent previously for flu like aliments. The second article I read was about five things that one can do to lead a happier life. The question that was posed was “can one be happier”? The article stated how happiness had a lot to do with genetics and how life situations had little to do with happiness. Those five things that could make one happier include being grateful, being optimistic, counting your blessings, using your strengths, and committing acts of kindness. The third article I read was about a study done on men with Oxytocin nasal spray and picture flash cards. The study was about Oxytocin improving social memory. The study concluded that the participants who received the Oxytocin nasal spray were able to remember the pictures of the faces better than the men who did not receive the Oxytocin spray, but could not remember the inanimate objects better. This was the first time that a hormone has been shown to help people recognize faces. The article that I thought was most interesting was the first one I read regarding the 15 year old having an abortion. I get that the mother is upset and would have probably liked her teenager to come to her regarding the unplanned pregnancy rather than someone at the school health center. But she didn’t, there was a reason and something motivated her not to go to her mother. I feel that she has a right to be upset not only at the school, but also at the laws in that state that basically says any minor has the right to receive health care services without parental consent that include abortion. That law seems very odd to me. However, I do feel that this article is a little one sided. It was interesting to me that the teenager did not have a response to the mother’s comments. Or maybe she was not allowed to comment. I wonder if there was a punisher involved after this incident happened or a consequence. Or had the mother already punished regarding sexual activity and the punisher was not effective? The mother seemed compelled to share this story out of frustration from her lack of knowledge of the state law and possibly not fully knowing what she was signing regarding the health center consent.
One interesting topic to me was that discussing abusive relationships and the motivation of those who stay in the relationships. It is very hard to see the point of view of someone who is in an abusive relationship and doesn’t leave, but I understand that it is a very complex thing. I would really like to learn more about what exactly motivates women/men to stay in these relationships and also what motivates men/women to be abusive in the first place.
Another interesting topic I read about was about facebook, and how facebookers grades compared to those who didn’t use facebook-- facebookers apparently receive a whole letter grade below those who don’t regularly get on facebook. It is strange to think about facebook affecting the motivation of students THAT MUCH. (Then again, I can relate to those who are sometimes distracted by the good old facebook world.)
Lastly, I thought religion and the way it motivates/ or doesn’t motivate was a very interesting topic. This was very interesting to me, because I know many who feel they have accomplished so much more, because of their belief in a higher power and even feel they wouldn’t have accomplished much without this belief. I have seen people motivated to do positive things not only because their religion preaches positive morals and promotes internalizing these positive behaviors, but also because they fear consequences (hell) or because they want the reward (heaven). This relates was especially interesting when comparing it to chapter five’s discussion of the positives of intrinsic and negative attributes of extrinsic motivations.
After reading the blogs on Addictions (one about a first time casino goer, who played the slots and was motivated by winning just a little amount. Interesting they weren't discouraged by losing, but losing actually motivated them to play more.), Eating Disorders (A good blog about the controversy of Pro-Ana sites, what these sites want you to believe, and how many of them there are!) But the blogs about Religion, I decided, are the ones that I could relate to the most. Unfortunately there were only four, but two of the blogs on Religion caught my eye.
The author of one of the 'Religion' blog post commented on how religion plays into ones emotion regulation, and how much religion affects the way a person lives. 'Percillia' wrote on their blog that religion can play into one's well being, and I completely agree with this. For those who do have a faith, it makes sense that their faith would have some part in their emotions and motivation in life. I know for me, I have some faith, although I can't really explain it or describe on a blog (just because it's complicated), but I know that something inside of me that I believe is a big part on why I make the choices I do/did, why I act certain ways, and helps me deal with my emotions a lot. I just really like this blog because I could really relate to it.
Another blog on 'Religion' I read was about the brain and spirituality. After reading the link on that page, I started to think to myself. I've always believed and still do, that spirituality and religion were a personal, internal thing that is different for each person. I never thought one's spirituality could change (for better or worse) due to brain surgery. The patients who had the tumor removed from the parietal cortex felt a better, self transcendentalism than those who had the tumor removed from the frontal regions of the brain. I never, until now thought that one's faith/spirituality could change from brain surgery. Seems like Faith & science are more closely related than we might have thought. Here is the link to the article: http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100210/full/news.2010.66.html
The articles I found the most interesting in my search through the blogs were about procrastination, leadership, and personality and names.
The procrastination posts were what I decided to use as my extensive description. My main reasoning for this is that I am one of the world’s worst procrastinators. There were three different posts on this topic. The first discussed Facebook and how Facebook contributed a lot to the procrastination of college students. The post featured an article that stated that the college GPA’s of students with Facebook were considerably lower than those without. The article cited that a possible explanation to this was that people got on Facebook instead of studying. Well, duh. That really isn’t news to me, though, according to the article, 79% of Facebookers don’t think Facebook keeps them from their studies whatsoever. I’m a bit skeptical toward this article and the information that it contains for a variety of reasons. First, it seemed to be slanted towards encouraging people to deactivate their Facebook accounts to keep their GPA high. My issue with this is that Facebook isn’t actually the cause of the problem; it just provides the opportunity for people to procrastinate. I know that I, for one, would simply find other ways of procrastinating such as free reading more, socializing, napping, etc. Just as with any form of entertainment, if used properly, Facebook doesn’t cause any harm. Secondly, I find it hard to believe that over three quarters of Facebook users don’t realize the amount of time they’re wasting. I don’t think that many people can be entirely that oblivious. And the fact that it pointed out that perhaps people were on Facebook instead of studying was a reason for lower GPA was a little incredulous.
The second post on procrastination focused on how to beat procrastination. As one could imagine, I was very interested in this, as it would be very nice to stop procrastinating. According to the post, the first step is to recognize the fact that you’re a procrastinator. Okay, done. It’s rather hard for me to deny. Secondly, you need to find out WHY you procrastinate. This one is a little harder. The post mentions that it could be because you’re a perfectionist, which is slightly true. I mean, I really truly hate mistakes, but I rarely spend time checking for mistakes before I turn something in. I always have to have others proof my work as I am incapable of thoroughly proofing my own work. Other potential reasons cited by the post could be disorganization, the task is unpleasant, you feel overwhelmed, or you have trouble making decisions. None of these really seem to fit me. I am thoroughly disorganized, but that isn’t really the cause of my procrastination as it’s not that I forget to do work, I just choose to do it later rather than sooner. I do sometimes feel overwhelmed, but that’s a result of my procrastination not the cause of it. Additionally, I also don’t really have much trouble making decisions. It is possible that one reason I procrastinate is that the task is unpleasant, but that’s not always the case. Another potential reason is that I enjoy talking to people. It will sometimes take me over an hour to get from room to the computer lab or lounge to do homework, because I stop and chat with friends on the way there. The third step, according to the post, is to adopt anti-procrastination strategies and reward yourself for following through. I may try this and see if it works, but if I know me, I’ll keep saying to myself ‘next time, I’ll do it.”
The third post deals entirely with why we procrastinate. The article featured in the post suggested that the main reasoning behind procrastination is that we don’t have much confidence in our abilities. I am not sure I really agree with this. I do think it could be true for some, maybe even many, procrastinators, but with myself and a few of my closer friends it seems to be more that we don’t put a priority on getting things done ahead of time. Or really just don’t want to do the task, itself.
The next topic I read was about personality. One post suggested that if we have a certain name, a certain personality would go with it. This was rather interesting as in my social psychology class, we just talked about this. However, it was worded a little differently. What was suggested was that some names have certain attributes associated with them, which the owner of said name may grow in to. For example, when my professor mentioned the name Bambi, all of us began to imagine a stripper, hippy or something like that. The professor suggested that someone with this name might grow up and grow in to these characteristics.
I found a lot of the categories interesting. The first one I like the most was music. I really like the article about how much listening to music can help you retain information better while studying. That is if the music is around 60 bpm. I really like music and I had been training to be a DJ so this category really drew my attention. The second category was planning behaviors. I kind of laughed while reading these because one of my friends planned a birthday party yesterday and he didn’t really meet his goals very well. Most of the articles gave lists of ways to improve your planning and reach your goals more often. The third category was dating behaviors. This category had articles that talked about kissing, dating sites and things not to tell him. I was surprised to see some of those on there. One article talked about how important the first conversation is and the reasons for wanting to be in a relationship in the first place. It then listed things that shouldn’t be mentioned in that first conversation.
I found the article getting the girl – the first conversation the most interesting. I think I found it the most interesting because it made me laugh and think of some of the first conversations that I have had and then how those turned out to be. The article lists that these 5 things shouldn’t come up in the first conversation: talking about exes, talking about money, flirting too much, listen, and leave her wanting more. I will admit that I have seen these come out in a conversation first hand and I have been the one to bring them out in some situations. As the article says these are most likely caused by the motivation to have intimacy and relatedness in a relationship and that our nerves are what cause us to make these conversational errors.
The first category I looked through was the sexuality category. I found this to be very interesting, in particular the blog about the kissing. I found it quite amusing, especially how the author described kissing as his/her favorite pastime. According to the article, kissing releases hormones that decrease stress and increase bonding. The second category I looked through was depression. I found the article 6 Ways to Beat Depressing Months interesting, and will use the tips myself because I tend to be affected by seasonal affective disorder. The third category I looked through was eating disorders. The article I read in particular was Learning to Live with Anorexia. I found this fascinating. It gives the story of Hannah Crawford, a young woman affected by anorexia nervosa, and the struggle she has lived with. It shows how easily it is for one to lose control over their habits and have it spiral out of control. I also liked how she was honest and said she still struggles with the disorder, for I feel like many people who share their story say they have conquered it completely.
I found the Facebook article to be interesting. I am one that goes on Facebook every day. However, I only get to check it about once a day. I decided that I don’t know internet on my phone because I am already online enough. This article talks about how those who get on Facebook everyday do not do as well in school and I would support that statement. I find myself having to limit the amount of time I can spend on Facebook otherwise I will be on there all night. I have no doubt that all of this information in this article is true.
I also found the article about women marrying for money to be very interesting. I do agree that, yes, a lot of arguments in a relationship can stem from finance issues but I disagree that a woman has to marry a rich man for these issues to go away. Just because the man has money doesn’t mean that you are both going to on the same page on how the money should be spent. I’m happy for the people that this article works for but if I picked my husband for his money I would have a pretty unhappy life ahead of me.
The article about personal goal settings was a very interesting read. I have always used goal setting and it has always worked well for me. This article just reinstates why goal setting is important and why I should stick with it.
I found the article ‘How Not To Talk To Your Kids’ very interesting. I am the director of the ABC After School Program for Don Bosco Catholic Schools. This means that I am around students for about 4 hours every day. I have found that a lot of what goes into being a care giver for students in the school setting is helping them to develop their self esteem. I work with students from Kindergarten all the way to 6th grade and so I feel as if I get a good look at every type of situation and student out there. I can relate to this article because one of the most difficult parts of my job is figuring out how to effectively discipline and praise students so that after every situation, they learn something. With my three years of experience at the after school program, I do agree with the research that if a student knows that they are very intelligent, they feel as if they don’t have to try as hard because they get praised for even their poorest effort. I also find that when students get a label put on them such as ‘smart’, when they get to a situation they feel as if they can’t do well in, thus not being able to live up to their label they get praised for, they give up easily instead of trying to live up to the label. They give the attitude of ‘I’m never going to be as good as they think I am, so why try?’ Whether I am right or wrong, I try to give praise to the students that have low self esteem and need to be reassured in their work. I find that these students are the ones that benefit from praise the most. I like the suggestions that this article gives such as instead of praise, express how much you like their hard work or how much you believe in them. I agree that once students are told so many times they are smart, they feel as if they have hit their highest level and can’t excel any more than they already have. I plan on keeping this article in mind for my time at the after school program.
The fist and most interesting topic that I read about was body modification. Mainly the kind that involves tattoos, piercing, and other things like scarification/branding. There were many reasons that the articles laid out as to why people are modifying their bodies. Some people, like Erik Sprague aka lizardman, do it as a means to making a living. By modifying his body he became a full time performer and side show act. It has increased exposure for him by being featured on shows like "Ripley's Believe it or Not". Other people modify their bodies in hopes of attaining some kind of increase in spirituality. Many people report that while they are undergoing these modifications they feel more in touch with themselves, nature, and the world around them. FInally some people do it simply as a means through which to express themselves. The body is one of the few things that an individual has complete control over. This is a way for someone who feels like drawing a picture or making a painting is not enough, they need to wear their art. It creates a different sense of identity and makes them stand out from all of the other people around them, or at least that is how they perceive it.
The second topic that I looked at was drugs and the most interesting article I found was one on MDMA, also known as ecstasy. It talks about the how at times ecstasy was used as a psycho therapeutic drug. It was even called "penicillin for the soul." The article also talked about how ecstasy is thought to work. Basically it causes the brain to release lots of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine and shuts off the parts of the brain that are in charge of taking these neurotransmitters out of the brain. So shortly after taking this drug the individual has much higher levels of the chemicals that make us feel good. It causes the person to feel warm, empathetic, and generally calm. It also fights feelings of anxiety, nervousness and depression.
The final topic that I looked at was social networking and whether or not it has an effect on the happiness of those who use it. The article I looked at refuted a study that was done in Michigan that stated people who use social networking sites are happier. The authors of the article said that the Michigan group neglected a variable in their study, whether the person was extroverted or introverted. They claim that extroverts are generally happier and are generally more likely to use social networking sites so the study was not performed scientifically because it didn't look at all of the extraneous variables.
The topics that I browsed were “depression,” “anger,” and “fear.” The postings under the depression category were all pretty run-of-the-mill. Maybe I’ve studied this topic enough to have heard at least something about most of the topics covered under this category, but I’m always hoping I’ll read something I’ve never heard or considered before. So I moved on to “anger.”
As a Type A personality, I get to face the daily (and by daily I mean constant) challenge of practicing patience while I wait for others to get the hell out of my way or to figure out what is going on around them. I’ve learned to pick my battles, to breathe deeply and not let the little things get me agitated. I’m also working on being less critical and judgmental, as it’s very easy for me to criticize others for not being as detail-oriented, efficient, or purpose-driven as I am (as if I am what all others ought to be). One of my favorite quotes is by Frances Willard, who said, “The world is wide, and I will not waste my life in friction when it can be turned into momentum.” Anger is a form of friction that does not move me forward in a positive direction. It wastes energy that could be productive in other ways. And as a Type A, productivity is crucial! ;)
The third topic I browsed was “fear.” Fear is considered to be the lowest of all emotions (opposite of happiness), and often implies powerlessness. The post on “Suicide and Control” seemed to address this issue of power quite well. When a person feels as if they have no power over their life (whether in health, relationships, identity, career, etc.), they may see suicide (or deciding whether or not to BE) as the one thing they have control over. For those with terminal illnesses, I see it as the humane thing to allow them the control over when the balance of pain to quality of life has tipped to an unbearable point. One’s definition of “pain,” however, is quite subjective. Who am I to say that another person’s pain (physical or emotional) is considered tolerable or not? Suicide is definitely an interesting topic that I’d like to study more in depth.
I browsed the topics of love, exercise, and addictions. I was very intrigued by an article that was called "5 Secrets to Keep From Him" because I was curious if I had broken all these rules. Surprisingly enough, I will admit that I am guilty of breaking all of the rules, but not all of them with one person but various individuals I have dated. This article focused on the common mistakes females make when they date men. It discussed how girls are supposed to play "hard to get" and more mysterious with the men because they enjoy the chase. The 5 things that this article claimed to do were not talk about 1) Past hookups 2)How you spend your money 3)The way you feel about his family 4)Innocent Flirtations 5) What you think about the gift he gave you. Many of these things are self explanatory on why they shouldn't be discussed with another person, because it can perhaps scare and or be a deal-breaker for most men. However, they sometimes slip out during casual conversation, and its best to keep it to a minimum if so and not go into explicit detail. But for instance, according to this article nobody wants to hear about guys you used to date because it will make them feel inferior when they want to hear they are the best. In addition, you don't want to talk about how you spend your money and come off as super materialistic. If the money isn't shared between the two of you the article says you don't need to inform him of every move you make. Also, its understandable that it is not good to bash on the guy you are dating's family. Lastly, the article claimed that he doesn't need to hear about flirting moments if they are harmless and mean nothing.
Overall, this article provided some helpful tips on the dating world for females and some insight into the male's mind of how they handle various conversation topics.
First off, the motivation link led me to a piece about advertising. Specifically how advertisers use guilt to get people to buy their product or do some action that they’re promoting. The commercials for helping third world countries and neglected pets can cause guilt, the intent of the advertisement, but can also cause certain levels of anger and annoyance. Those two emotions are not expected and not helpful to the cause of the advertisers. The original poster associated the article they’d read to positive reinforcement and intrinsic motivation. When one donates to a children’s fund and they send you pictures of that child and drawings and letters, one feels good about themselves. That being positive reinforcement for the donation. After an original donation, people are more inclined to donate again. After awhile, the donation process and receiving positive feelings from it can become intrinsically motivated. Those good feelings can also increase self-esteem. If we do nothing and continue seeing such ads we may take a self-esteem hit, instead. Donation would be a way to take that guilt away and increase self-esteem again. This whole process of advertising, trying to motivate people to buy your product, really intrigues me and I liked the post because it dealt with that.
I also found a post about the man that the movie The Soloist was based on. It talks about his lack of desire to get treatment because of his past experience with it in very negative ways. Negative feelings toward past events seem to be a fairly high motivator to not try those things again. I also love music so I think I’m going to have to rent that movie to see how they portray the schizophrenic musician.
The last link I looked at was about being on Facebook and the correlation between test scores. Apparently, those who do not have Facebook are getting better grades on exams and in general than those who use social networking sites. The article used for the post stated that studying time was given up in favor of time on Facebook and that was hindering performance. Using my motivation and emotion learning, I will be able to keep myself focused on studying and off of Facebook!
I had fun going through these browsing through these topics, and I could probably spend much more time continuing to do so. I first read through the “flow” articles, since that is a concept from this class that is new to me and I find very interesting. I like to think of all the things in my life that I do when I know I’m in the “flow,” such as editing movies. The world just shuts out and I am totally focused on nothing but my task, and ENJOYING it. The flow article I read was about recognizing when you are in the flow, and I thought the “conduct a flow test” concept was interesting.
I also read through the religion section, and was caught by the article about a women who was convinced to kill someone by Muslim extremists. It talked about how her actions were not implicated to be of religious motivation, but several other psychological factors, such as the need for affiliation.
The one that I enjoyed most was the one called “Getting the Girl – The First Conversation.” I have always had a particular interest in mate selection and what people find desirable in others (not so I can get dates, of course, but because I’m interested!). The article is about how important the first conversation is, and 5 things you need to be aware of. One of them was talking about exes, which I found humorous because I have been guilty of that before. Another one I found interesting was flirting too much, because yes, I have been guilty of that before too. You can’t come across as too strong, because then they will be turned off. I notice that when I am with a girl that I have a super duper crush on, I become overly outgoing, more so than I already am. I notice that I try a little too hard to be funny too. Overall, I enjoyed this post and comparing and contrasting it to my own flirt-life.
The first blog topic I explored was music, and I read the post about the real people that the 2009 film The Soloist is based upon. Naturally, after I finished reading, I also had to watch the ten-minute TED video associated with it. I have not seen the film, but it stars Robert Downey Jr. as LA Times columnist Steve Lopez and Jamie Foxx as homeless, Juilliard-trained musician Nathaniel Ayers. In the talk, Violinist Robert Gupta speaks about a violin lesson he once gave to Ayers. Because Nathaniel seemed particularly troubled at the outset, Gupta felt that he should stay away from employing technical theory and scales in order to avoid losing Ayers to a schizophrenic episode. His playing brought about an instant transformation in Nathaniel’s demeanor right before his eyes! Suddenly, the troubled musician displayed an extensive repertoire of violin concertos and a deep passion and understanding for each composer. Gupta said it was as if the music itself served as a prescription for his condition. The music allowed Nathaniel to escape his condition by filtering his troubled thoughts into a calm, cohesive reality. It gave him the ability to reconnect with his own humanity and relate to other people.
Next, I read an interesting post about libraries turning to police departments in an effort to retrieve overdue materials. Many institutions are taking the overdue notice to the next level by tacking on a court summons with the risk of an arrest for those who do not show up! I agree with the poster’s commentary about how this sort of deterrent could be too effective. Sure, it may persuade individuals to return their overdue books, but it would likely also produce the undesirable effect of dissuading library usage altogether. I understand that these sorts of “crimes” can have a noticeable effect on a library’s bottom line, but I am not sure if this is the best solution to the problem.
And lastly, I read a blog post about an effort to reduce smoking among French teenagers. The post centers around a controversial ad campaign in France last year which featured photographs of teens kneeling before a man in a suit with a cigarette in their mouths. The photos are accompanied by the phrase “Smoking means being a slave to tobacco.” The implication is that the youths are in a subservient oral sex position to these faceless men, possibly meant to represent bigwigs at the tobacco companies. I know many may see this campaign as extremely offensive, but I find it to be brilliant. The ads surely hit their target audience right on the head (adolescents), and none of these young people would like to be unwilling victims as far as oral pleasures go. This negative association provides a concrete subliminal connection between being sexually victimized and cigarettes that is unavoidable even for the most proficient smokers.