Psychological Disorders

Hopefully Mr. Dreier will give me credit even though this blog is a bit late due to dance team events. I really enjoyed the movie we watched in class this week. To us psychological disorders seem funny until you are showed the reality of how dangerous they can be. In A Beautiful Mind the main character John Nash obviously has schizophrenia. They at first show us the movie from his point of view and make us believe that his roommate is real although he isn't. It seems like his schizophrenia starts off somewhat harmless but becomes more and more severe throughout the movie. His delusions begin to take over his life. He almost drowns his baby and kills his wife because his fantasies tell him to. He is extremely dangerous when his disorder is not controlled by medications. I am not sure the point of the insulin shock or how it is supposed to help schizophrenia because the movie didn't explain or show that to us. Once John learns that ignoring his delusions and acting as though they don't exist makes him more in control he begins to regain his life. He goes onto to become a professor at Princeton and his equilibrium equation changes the world of trade and economics. He is truly a genius. It is remarkable that he even wins the Nobel peace prize while suffering from schizophrenia.

Conditioning

As a young kid I also took ballet and other dance classes. At my old studio it has always been tradition that after class for the little kids they receive stickers if they behaved well and did what was asked that day. I always received stickers after class because I was so well behaved and because I loved going to class. This still goes on and when I taught this class I continued to do the same and hand out stickers for being well behaved. I have also been conditioned by Mr. Dreier to be afraid of "country music". I was conditioned using operant conditioning and it was on a fixed interval schedule because we always had class at the same time on the same day each week and only once a week. We received positive rewards for our behavior. Sorry this post is so short but there is lots to doo.....

Letter Writing

Dear Mr. Dreier,

Hmm.. Where should we start. I am going great in psychology. In fact it is my best grade right now out of all my other classes and it is my easiest class. I look forward to it because it is a relief from all the dreadful classes in my day. I am definitely excelling in psychology and I have learned more than I expected so far. It is all very interesting because the stuff we learn about deals with each of our own everyday lives. Somehow it all relates to each of us. Outside of classes and school there is college. That is always more than enough to handle on its own. Plus there is always family, friends, relationships, and dance for me. Dance season can become stressful at times especially with state appraoching but it also becomes a time that I enjoy. Life is life. It keeps on going no matter what. As for Criss Angel... We all know he isn't a real magician because magic does not exist but he is on the other hand a master at deceiving people. He can't levitate or walk on water like people believe. If you're a believer just search youtube. You will find plenty of videos that explain each of his tricks in depth and how he pulls them off. But I have never heard of John Edwards? Someone please inform me as I am too lazy to do the research myself.....