Monthly Archives: November 2012

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From my psychology blog…on prejudice.

Eyes of Psychology

This week in social psychology we are learning about prejudice and discrimination, and it is super interesting, but since my professor subscribes to the evolutionary view, I find there are giant question marks in my notes on the lecture. In Monday’s lecture he referred to “outgroup-preferring genes” not getting passed on by ancestral humans and “ingroup-preferring genes” getting passed along and then ended his point with, “so this is how our brain works.” WAIT, WHAT?!? Do evolutionary psychologists actually believe that there are specific genes for preferring people like us that get passed down? Dr. P said that those who didn’t prefer their group didn’t live to pass on their genes, so it seems he assumes that no social learning happened? Other ancestral humans probably saw what happened to those who didn’t fear other, unlike groups and learned prejudice through social learning and taught their children. It all goes back…

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Spoonful of Sugar: On a Wednesday?

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I know, I know. I’ve been doing some first class slacking when it comes to my blog, but in a couple weeks I will almost be a free bird. This semester has been, well, one heck of a semester, and a busy one, too. But today, today is the day that my favorite artist, Ingrid Michaelson, is doing a benefit concert over the internet. If you’re in Alaska like me, the show starts at 4pm, but elsewhere it is an hour or few later, so head over to the Stage It page for details! Be sure to sign in right away so you get the right time for your timezone. Cool people doing cool things is one of the things my Spoonful of Sugar series focuses on and Ingrid’s efforts to help those in need in New York after Hurricane Sandy made a mess of things would most definitely qualify, so make sure you check out the show today, and check out her music. As I have shared previously, she also released a benefit EP to help hurricane victims, so make sure to check that out too!

A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Monday Go Down. Vol. 2.

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Hey there! Let’s brighten up this Monday by thinking about what awesome people are doing to help rebuild the East Coast after Super Storm Sandy wreaked havoc. One example is singer-songwriter (originally from Staten Island), Ingrid Michaelson. She released exclusively on iTunes her Live From Laurel Canyon EP to raise money to rebuild Staten Island, all proceeds go to Tunnel to Towers Foundation. Here is the link to some great music for a great cause!

Happy Caturday, Folks!

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This is Miss Kitty. I am not responsible for her name. When my brother was much too young, he was given the responsibility of naming her.

A friend of mine is doing a 365 photo project and every Saturday she posts a cat related photo and I liked this idea very much, so in honor of Saturday (and happening to have just taken a fantastic cat portrait), here’s my cat.
And no, I’m not a crazy cat lady…yet. This is what one looks like, exhibit A:

A Different Perspective.

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There are some things that we really take for granted and just don’t even think about. Like actors’ jobs. Yeah, we get bombarded with what famous people are doing all the time, you can’t even get through the grocery store without finding out which famous couples have allegedly broken up or are dating. But, just stop for a second and think about what the job is that people enjoy that brings them so much scrutiny from millions of complete strangers. They are artists that practice a craft, and we don’t usually think of it that way because we take tv and film for granted. I think people used to appreciate it more when it wasn’t so easy to access the things they wanted to watch, but now, if you miss your weekly program, just tune into Hulu the next day and voila! There it is as if you had never missed it. If you want to watch an entire season of your show, just head over to Netflix, it’s just that easy.

I think of Netflix as a museum that showcases the artwork of actors, directors, and producers. Each television station is a gallery of related pieces. Each week when their artwork is displayed, or when a movie releases, I can only imagine that for the actors it is like the feeling an artist has when an artwork goes on display. It must be a feeling of accomplishment, knowing that people will enjoy the fruits of their hard work. Some may not call it “hard work” because actors usually get a pretty cushiony salary and don’t have as much physical work as say an autobody painter, but they put in the hours to create something for the world to enjoy.

President Obama’s Face Across Katy Perry’s Boobs.

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From my psychology-oriented blog. My last political post for the 2012 presidential elections. An example of one of the most powerful propaganda tools-the minds of the demographic.

Eyes of Psychology

One explanation: the representativeness heuristic. What is the representativeness heuristic, you ask? It’s a thinking bias that describes a process our brain uses to come up with an answer or a reason or a decision based off of what comes to mind quickly and easily. Sometimes this can be helpful, but most times this can hinder our reasoning and rationality. With the elections today, there are many things out there trying to persuade us and many biases going on. Two major ones that act from the beginning of a campaign to the polls are the representativeness heuristic and the confirmation bias. We only mindlessly accept information that proves/confirms our beliefs, but think critically enough to find fault with information that contrasts/contradicts or existing beliefs and we can easily think of examples to support us because of the representativeness heuristic. Politicians and public figures know about these thinking biases and…

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