Wow, it seems to me like Chapter 8 skimmed over quite a bit of information without really getting indepth into anything. From eating all the way to sex and love... I think a lot more could have been said, but I know this is just an introduction, soooo...
And Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, too. I found it interesting that the authors of our book pointed to Bono as a person striving for self-actualization. I'm not so sure what I think about that! I used to be a huge U2 fan back in my adolescent idealistic phase, but now he comes across to me as just a little... well, pretentious.
Mother Theresa is a better example, but the text fails to mention the book Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light, published in 2007, that is a compilation of her letters to spiritual confidants and reveals a truly spiritually tormented person who had lost her faith and apparently never got it back. She called her smile a "mask" and even doubted God's existence. She never felt his presence.
That's sad, and I'm not sure what it means that she continued to do such great works. She said in these letters that she feared she was a hypocrite for extolling faith and God while holding on to what some have called such intense "spiritual darkness."
It's so strange to find such sharp cognitive dissonance that she seems to have just "learned to live with." I wonder about what she actually thought about her work -- it clearly was work for the good, and she helped so many people, but did she do so out of what she thought was some "noble lie?"
I find the psychology of religion really interesting, and I'm looking at neurology and religious experience for my final project.
If anyone's interested in knowing more, you can find articles on it like this one: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1655415,00.html.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Week 6
Well, what a coincidence that we've been talking about memory, since I appear to be suffering from "CRS" these days. I know we're technically on week 7 now, but I'm not there yet. And I FORGOT to do Module 4's C&R!!! How does that happen?
Actually, I know exactly how that happens. Too much to do and too little executive functioning. :P
One thing I've found particuarly interesting is the part about encoding specificity. The textbook mentioned the experiment done by Godden & Baddeley (1975) about divers learning lists of words while underwater and being able to recall more of them while underwater than while on the dock.
This explains something I've known about me, and probably other people, for a while. I grew up in Georgia but now that I'm an adult I have worked hard to make my accent the typical neutral Midwestern. However, whenever I talk about my childhood, I apparently lapse back into a thick Southern twang. Thing is, I usually don't notice. The people around me, however, find it really amusing, say it really is thick, and (DH especially) just love to point it out.
If I encoded these events in my memory during the same time I and everyone around me were speaking with a certain accent, then that's a really good explanation. Wow -- as Stan or Kyle would say, "You know, I learned something today!" :)
Actually, I know exactly how that happens. Too much to do and too little executive functioning. :P
One thing I've found particuarly interesting is the part about encoding specificity. The textbook mentioned the experiment done by Godden & Baddeley (1975) about divers learning lists of words while underwater and being able to recall more of them while underwater than while on the dock.
This explains something I've known about me, and probably other people, for a while. I grew up in Georgia but now that I'm an adult I have worked hard to make my accent the typical neutral Midwestern. However, whenever I talk about my childhood, I apparently lapse back into a thick Southern twang. Thing is, I usually don't notice. The people around me, however, find it really amusing, say it really is thick, and (DH especially) just love to point it out.
If I encoded these events in my memory during the same time I and everyone around me were speaking with a certain accent, then that's a really good explanation. Wow -- as Stan or Kyle would say, "You know, I learned something today!" :)
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Week 5
Well, I think this module, particularly the stuff on memory, is really interesting. Some of it I already knew, but there was some that was new to me! The study tips were a good addition to the textbook.
I liked the material on conditioning, and since we're trying to train our dog right now, it was useful to know more. Our big guy is high strung, so we're trying to make sure he gets enough exercise and has tasks to occupy him. He's really smart, wants to please us, and really seems to like learning new things, so we're going beyond the basics to some agility training. He gets bored and unhappy easily. We're a little cooped up in the house right now because of the snow, but we've already been able to teach him to jump over obstacles. He caught on to what we wanted in one session, literally within a couple of minutes. He's a mix with some Border Collie, and I know those ranked as one of the top smartest dogs. Can you tell I love my doggie? :)
I'm also very, very glad to be back home. No more vacations full of family fighting. Next time it's gonna be just the two of us and the dog, and we're going to someplace like Glacier National Park. I want to do some serious hiking/camping, and we would like to see the glaciers before they've receded too far.
I liked the material on conditioning, and since we're trying to train our dog right now, it was useful to know more. Our big guy is high strung, so we're trying to make sure he gets enough exercise and has tasks to occupy him. He's really smart, wants to please us, and really seems to like learning new things, so we're going beyond the basics to some agility training. He gets bored and unhappy easily. We're a little cooped up in the house right now because of the snow, but we've already been able to teach him to jump over obstacles. He caught on to what we wanted in one session, literally within a couple of minutes. He's a mix with some Border Collie, and I know those ranked as one of the top smartest dogs. Can you tell I love my doggie? :)
I'm also very, very glad to be back home. No more vacations full of family fighting. Next time it's gonna be just the two of us and the dog, and we're going to someplace like Glacier National Park. I want to do some serious hiking/camping, and we would like to see the glaciers before they've receded too far.
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