Difficulty Communicating

Hello everyone,

I would like to bring up a topic that comes about in daily life, and I'm sure everyone, or almost everyone can relate to this. We learned that we communicate with people through facial expressions, gestures, and our tone of voice, which helps us have regular conversations and solve daily issues. However, since we are living in the 21st century now, everybody tends to do much of their communicating through the Internet. Whether it is e-mailing for school or a job, or chatting with friends on facebook, we use the computer to talk for us. This means that we are not able to truly communicate our feeling. Simple emoticons like :) ;) or :P might be friendly smileys that we like to use when trying to convey our emotions in a message, but do they really speak for us?

Communicating in this way seems to be a huge issue, in my opinion, because people cannot truly express themselves. I find that many people are afraid of confrontation when they get in fights with friends, so it is easiest to text or chat about it instead. But, this is not necessarily the truth because words in texts/ online can have one meaning to one person and another meaning to the next person. This is all very difficult!

So, I have come to the conclusion that it is probably best to try to resolve problems, or have meaningful/ important conversations in person, so that each person in the conversation can get a true understanding of what is going on.

Culture

This past weekend on the basketball tournament I thought a lot about psychology! Firstly, before each game, I felt my sympathetic nervous system kicking in. I felt my heart racing and breathing increasing. I would also get stomach aches.
The thing that stuck out at me the most was the differences in culture. There were 10 teams total at the tournament. You would think that we would all be pretty similar. We are Jewish teenagers living in America, we go to Jewish day schools and play basketball. However, despite all of these similarities, differences in culture stood out the most. The whole weekend, everyone on our team would comment on the awful driving in Miami. It was much more intense and busy than in Memphis. People were rude and had no problem honking at every little thing. When I was with a group of girls from New York on Shabbos, I was shocked when they started talking about how calm and peaceful the driving was in Miami. Although we only live a two hour plane ride away from each other, we had totally different opinions on the driving in Miami. They are probably used to the intense traffic of New York and saw Miami as a step down. There was also a team who had a lot of Persian girls. Not only did they look and speak differently but they had different customs that I noticed. (davening for example.) You can also notice that each team all dressed similarly. You can also notice a difference between how team A dressed and how team B dressed.
Although I was away from class a lot this month, psychology still followed me everywhere I went!

Just let it out and cry! One approach on why we cry

As I was reading Zahava's post and thought about the idea that we learned in class and from the book, that if we do a certain emotion (smile) we can then feel the emotion that comes with it afterwards (happy). What came to my mind was crying.
I do not think that this is the case for crying, since when I fake cry I dont feel like it makes me sad. Also the idea that we should not let the anger out for example by punching our pillow since it will not help us get rid of the anger but may make us even angrier does not apply to crying.

Maybe it is because of the different reasons why we cry. One approach that I have heared somewhere was that we cry because we want people to feel empathy and that makes us feel better, to be able to share with others our weak moments.

I think this approach is very clever since it gives us an understanding for why we cry and why it is good to let it out sometimes.

Hello my dear fellow classmates,

you will be blessed with two posts this week since we have learned about so many things this week!

We learned about our sexual motivation sometime this week. Men have more testosterone than women which therefore causes them to be more "sexual." For example, men tend to fantasize more about physical sexual experiences, whereas women tend to be more emotional. As many of you know i immediately went and researched how sexual motivation is intertwined with many different sexual behaviors and even sexual disorders. Interestingly enough, i read that many people are often wrong about why certain men rape women. People often assume that because men have more testosterone than women, they have a higher sex drive and often rape to satisfy their desires. Rape, however, is almost never about sexual motivation at all, rather about control and power. Did you think at first that rape has anything to do with sexual motivation like so many others did?

Hello my dear fellow classmates,

So we have learned about motivation, such as hunger. Unfortunately, in our day and age, disorders such as bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa have evolved. Bulimia and anorexia first became a concept in the 1970's as more and more women started having it. The thing that upsets me so much about anorexia and bulimia is that it is believed that these disorders only evolved because of environmental pressures. Women are under so much pressure to be "the perfect size" which is often portrayed in movies and where women are unhealthily skinny. They constantly feel that in order to be considered "pretty" they must be "skinny." Statistics show that at least one in every three women struggles with her weight and body image. In the past, these struggles only existed among upper class western white females, but the disorder has now spread towards other ethnicities and races. The disorder has become more severe due to the fact that our society has changed and evolved as well. In the past, curvier women were considered "beautiful". Marylin Monroe, one of the most beautiful role models to so many women, was a size 14! However, due to the fact that she lived in the 50's, she was considered a beauty, including her size. Nowadays, a size 4 in the modeling world is considered plus-size and many women are forced to use unhealthy methods to reach this "perfect" size. Do you guys think that it is our "fault" that we have "created" this disorder? Could we perhaps have prevented it by making sure that our role models weren't these skinny binny women on the covers of our magazines but instead have curvy yet beautiful women such as Adele, Jordan Sparks(before she betrayed us and lost all that weight!) and Oprah? Do you think it will only get worse like it has until now?

Phobias

Phobias are intense fears of almost anything that can develop in childhood and even in adulthood. The most frustrating thing about a phobia is that it is impossible to make it go away! Some people have phobias of closed spaces or heights. I personally have this strange phobia of dirty places (especially kitchens and bathrooms!) These phobias could be really bad because they might take over one's life. They could cause people to change the way they live just because of their phobia! Phobias are generally irrational. For example, if one has a fear of potentially dangerous dogs, that is normal. However, if one still has a fear of dogs, even if the dog is clearly harmless, like a poodle, it is considered more of a phobia.

I definitely think that phobias are a waste of time! If a person has a specific phobia that takes over their daily life choices, it could be pretty annoying and even scary. I have found that by exposing oneself to a phobia that they have repeatedly could actually help a person get over their fears.

I definitely cannot relate to most people's fears because I am not afraid of heights or tight spaces or most animals, but if you do have a phobia, it is important to try to work it out because the thought of a phobia taking over someone's life is a little bit scary!

go to this website to find out some really interesting phobias. There are so many out there, it's crazy!

http://phobialist.com/

If You're Happy and You Know...

If You're Happy and You Know it Clap Your Hands!

In class, we have been learning chapters 12-14, which cover topics such as motivation, stress, and emotion. One thing that really interested me was something I read in the chapter covering emotion, something that we also discussed during class. 

The book said that sometimes going through the motions can make you feel whatever emotion you are mimicking. For example, if you are feeling a bit sad or angry, if you keep smiling, you might actually make yourself feel happy. And if you are happy, and you start kicking and yelling and frowning, you will make yourself angry. I tried it out while I was reading the chapters, and it actually worked! I was angry for no reason, and then found myself feeling happier once I had smiled for a few minutes. 

That old nursery song, "If You're Happy and You Know it," seems to do the same thing. You dance, clap your hands, and stomp your feet until you are feeling happy!

Another interesting fact- when in a bad mood, venting does nothing to stop your mood. Complaining endlessly to a friend who is going to agree and complain with you does no good, and it might actually increase your bad mood. Similarly, taking out your anger by punching a punching bag or kicking at something might offer a little relief for a few minutes, but it rarely does.

So if you are in a bad mood, and are upset over something, try to smile and make yourself happier, don't take your anger out on a pillow, and try and slow your breathing/your SNS. 

Diabetes

In chapter 12 we touched a little upon diabetes when we discussed glucose regarding the physiology of hunger. As many of you know my sister was diagnosed with diabetes when she was in fifth grade. It was very hard for our family at first but now it just seems 'normal' in a way. It's always hard watching my sister give herself shots and pricks multiple times a day, but to her it is just routine. I always had an idea of what Diabetes is but I have recently wanted to research more. My mom and I are running in the NYC Half Marathon next month and we are running with team JDRF, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, in honor of my sister.

Diabetes is a metabolism disorder. Metabolism refers to the way our bodies use digested food for energy and growth. Most of what we eat is broken down into glucose. Glucose, the principal source of fuel for our bodies, is a form of sugar in the blood.
When our food is digested the glucose makes its way into our bloodstream. Our cells use the glucose for energy and growth. However, glucose cannot enter our cells without insulin being present because insulin makes it possible for our cells to take in the glucose.

Insulin is a hormone that is produced by the pancreas. After eating, the pancreas automatically releases an adequate amount of insulin to move the glucose in our blood into the cells, and lowers the blood sugar level.

A person with diabetes has a condition in which the quantity of glucose in the blood is too high. This is because the body either does not produce enough insulin (Type 2 Diabetes), produces no insulin (Type 1 Diabetes), or has cells that do not respond properly to the insulin the pancreas produces. This results in too much glucose building up in the blood. This excess blood glucose eventually passes out of the body in urine. So, even though the blood has plenty of glucose, the cells are not getting it for their essential energy and growth requirements. I hope now you more aware of what diabetes is!!

Self Motivation is Key!

Good evening my friends,

Since we are learning about motivation, I would like to point out exactly how important it is to be self-motivated. When discussing motivation with work, we learned that one should be very involved in what they are doing and feel the desire to succeed. However, sometimes we might find it very difficult because we are not motivated enough. Personally, I sometimes feel that no matter how much motivation I have from others, what it really takes is self motivation. For example, I always feel that I do not eat healthy enough, and I want to lose a few pound. I know that I need to exercise, and I know what foods I need to eat and which ones I should stay away from, but I simply cannot bring myself to do it! So, I was searching online and came across a website that gives tips on how to be self motivated. Now that I read it, maybe it will help me to reach goals that I want to reach, but am not motivated enough to do. It says that you must have:

1. A cause- something you care about

2. A dream- something concrete, like a goal that you are aiming to reach

3. A hunger- something stronger than just a desire

4. Your own race- do not compare yourself to others

5. One more step- keep going even when there are obstacles in the way

6. let go of the past- the past is just a burden so let go of it!

Anyway, I think this could be some inspiration if anyone is ever having trouble with something and needs a little push :)

http://www.lifeoptimizer.org/2008/10/22/self-motivation-how-to-motivate-yourself/

Hello my dear fellow classmates,
Today we learned about the motivation at work and how to effectively motivate, hire and appraise employees. Like so many things in psychology, this really applied to my life. When i was interviewed to work at my job, i believe that my boss tried to ask me questions that would measure my strengths rather than just my experiences. However, i do think that he judged with his gut that i would be a great worker and not from testing me. For me, it is very important that I feel like i am appreciated and respected at mt job. I want to be appraised and feel like i am doing something to contribute; this will cause me to be motivated and want to perform well. Of course it is important to be critiqued, which does happen, but it should be done respectfully and not too often. I also feel that i can have a good time with my boss, yet i have the utmost respect for him which i think is an important aspect that must exist in the workforce. All the different ways in order to motivate employees truly exist in my job in one way or another and im glad that i now understand how effective that is.