Jessica's Blog

Hey everyone! This week’s topic was on Positive Psychology and the benefits of it. Positive Psychology is the scientific study of human flourishing . The task given to us was to embark on two planned activities, one to bring pleasure to yourself and the other as a philanthropic task that would improve someone else’s well-being .                        Well for my pleasure task, to start I went home this weekend so just being at home after not having seen my family for a month gave me a good start for my task. I also talked my boyfriend into coming home with me to see his family. On Saturday, we started the task off by taking some bluebonnet photos because I really love photography. I have always loved taking photos of other people, so I just enlisted my family, my boyfriend Jacob, and my sister’s boyfriend Ian, to be my models. Everyone really liked how their photos turned out so that only made that part of my...

             Two people in my life that suffer from the same mental illness are my mother , Tracy , and my twin sister , Kellie . They both have been diagnosed with depression . My mother has had depression for 30 years, while my sister has had it for six years. I decided to interview them to see how each of them has been effected and how they cope with this mental illness differently. When and how were you diagnosed with having depression? Tracy - "I was in high school and seeing a family counselor after my parents divorced. He sent me to a psychiatrist where I was diagnosed with depression." Kellie - "I was diagnosed at a mental facility because I had made several attempts at taking my own life when I was around 13 years old." What are the symptoms of your depression that effect you? Tracy - "I have mood swings and anxiety. There are days that I feel like I just want to stay in my bed and be by myself, however on these days I also feel...

       I interviewed Jacob about his adoption story and what it was like for him growing up in a multicultural family . In the video below you can see him personally telling his story of coming to be with his family and how their love for him really shaped him into who he is today. He did say that him being 'different' as a Marshallese is more understood to him now as he has grown up, but he has been shown so much love that the aspect of race has not really effected him. The difference in his ethnicity was never really something he dwelt on. To anyone adopted Jacob says, "Do not be afraid to ask questions about your origins; your adopted family will always be there for you and they adopted you for a reason." I hope that you enjoy hearing his story and learning more about multiculturalism through his eyes. If you or anyone you know has a similar story, or you have just been inspired by it, I encourage you to engage in conversation about it.  Jacob wi...

          Have you ever thought about how important of a role that your memories plays? You have a short term memory, which is where you will store the information that you only need to know for a short period of time. This would be like the grocery list that you just made in your head real quick before running to the store or  a lot of the information that we pick up from the conversations that we are in. We also have long term memory, which is where you store the information that you need to know for long periods of time. This would be where all of you childhood memories and the routes to places you go to a lot are stored. We use each of these memory types in our every day lives in order to have conversations or to be able to retain new information.       A man named, Clive Wearing , is said to have the worst case of amnesia ever. Amnesia is the inability to remember events for a period of time due that could be due to brain injury...

Creating a False Memory and Serial-Position Effect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVysKg8ioQE&feature=youtu.be

       In psychology, learning goes along with experience. This learning is different than the educational learning found in a classroom. Rather, it is through experience of our everyday life we learn or notice the unique patterns and recurring events that happen around us, and we are able to associate them with each other. Learning is also in place through our recurring actions that we aware of and the certain reactions or consequences that follow those actions. This idea of learning can not only be seen in people but also in animals.      A study done by the psychology professor  B.F. Skinner , demonstrates animal's ability to learn from their experiences and actions. Skinner based his work off of another psychologists, Edward Thorndike. However, Skinner's work is more well known because of his ability to apply his finding to not only animals but to humans too. His most prominent finding was that all behavior is determined  by its...