Recommended Reading: A Couple of Articles on Middle Age Angst and Older Brains

Does everyone have a mid-life crisis on the "9s"?

"...on the Nines"

Are older brains actualy better at some cognitive processes?

"the Wiser brain?"

Study Guide Chapter 5-8

Here's some areas to study carefully for the test upcoming on Chapters 5-8. This listing is not all inclusive, but is intended to give you an idea of how well you know the material now. If some or all the questions make no sense, you need to continue to carefully review the material. Caution: This overview is not a list of questions on the test!

Don't forget to use the study tools in your textbook and at your textbook web site, too!

Review your notes, especially for material not in the book, but on the class web site or part of class discussions.

Studying as part of a small group helps, even if it's just 2 persons.

Chapter 5 Stress

• What are some of the effects of stress in the workplace?
• What are some of the ailments associated with stress?
• What economic group experiences stress more often?
• Name some external and internal sources of stress
• Is most stress caused by multiple smaller events or a single major event
• Are there any benefits of stress? What are they?
• Describe the 3 types of stress according to Hans Selye
• Characterize the difference between chronic vs. acute stress; give some examples
• Major life events can be listed in order of level of anticipated stress; what are some of the highest on the list? Holmes & Rahe assignment)
• Who is more prone to stress: men or women? Young students or retired seniors?
• Personality differences: what type of personality have more stressl-prone traits?
• Do persons experiencing or perceiving possible prejudice experience an addiitonal level of stress?
• Can stress be an unconscious response?
• Do persons experiencing high stress tend to be more or less rigid  in their responses?
• Can a person experiencing stress be excited or exhilarated?
• What are some of the behavioral effects of stress?
• How do women respond to stress in comparison to men? Who feels stress more often? Men or women?
• Who exhibits "problem-focused" coping?
• What is "hardiness (3 characteristics)? Resilience (5 characteristics)? What are 2 features of commitment?
• 3 methods of reducing stress by managing the environment
• Know thew 5 types of compromise (book mentions 4; I added a 5th in class)
• What might be down-side of conformity?
• Managing stress by altering your lifestyle ( methods)
• Is it useful to experience stress in one's young life. Why? For what purpose? 

Chapter 6 Toward Better Health

• What is unembodiment in reference to body image?
• How conscious (aware) are most of us of our body in our waking hours?
• How does the media present "ideal" body images? How does that effect most of us?
• What types of body images cause some distress in men?
• What are current ideals for men/women?
• How accurate are women in terms of what they think men find attractive in the female form? 
• What is "systems " theory as applied to mental/physical health
• What does the immune system  do?
• Is the link between the mind and body fully understood?
• Can stress cause cancer; or does it weaken the immune system leading to susceptibility to various diseases?
• Can a bad marriage lead to illness?
• What personality traits are found to be beneficial to physical health?
• Persons who are strong in "self-efficacy" evidence what characteristics?
• Name the 3 most common hazardous behaviors that damage health?
• Successful formula for weight loss/stability
• What % of american have a healthy BMI?
• You hear about the "Magic All-Lettuce" diet. What should be your response to the value of this strict program?
• % of peole who still smoke? How many?
• Alcohol and tobacco? A healthy combo?
• How do you keep yourself "primed" with nicotine during a normal day?
• Possible smoking cessation methods?
• Is alcoholism hereditary in nature?
• What % of hospital beds on a given day have a person with an alcohol-related illness?
• What's a psychoactive drug? (discussed in class)
• What are 3 environmental problems possibly leading to illness?
• What's a hypochondriac?
• What function does "downward comparison" serve with illness?
• What are some of the roadblocks to good coping with possible health problems?
• What are, in fact, 3 key factors in influencing treatment success that are universal?
• Ways to improve patient response with treatment providers?
• Know the 10 key factors in ongoing wellness?
• What's a down side of being a so-called "good" patient?
• What are implications of the statement that "...the largest amount of American are killing themselves with a knife and fork"?
• Possible functions of dreaming
• What are "carbs"
• What percent of adult Americans are "active"?
• Is it more important to exercise intensely or regularly?

Chapter 7 Affirmative Aging-Adulthood

• What are the 2 components of human development?
• When does it end?
• What traits of personality tend to change as one ages?
• What are some age-related changes; what are some non-age-related changes?
• When your author says "it's the symbolic aspect of leaving home" that matters, what does she mean?
• How  often do children return home after leaving for a period of time?
• What are some "nester" issues/problems?
• In the search for a "career", what two forces must be balanced?
• Change in goals of young career seekers from 50 years ago. Describe.
• What are characteristics of "delays" by young people at this point of early adulthood?
• Relationship of previous "identity" issues with relationships with others
• Who holds the power in a relationship where one is more "committed" than the other?
• Give some characteristics of today's family formation as compared to the past
• Which generation do middle-agers consider (or wish) themselves to be a part of? (sorry for poor syntax)
• Life is 1/2 over realization. How much time do I have left?
• Erikson: a period of generativity
• What is the "unrealized" self?
• What is "yenvy"
• Health consequences of multiple outside interests?
• Turning point for (some adult cognitive capabilities. What is it (approximately)
• Decline in which cognitive components; which may be as good or better?
• Describe male and female climacteric periods
• Do middle-agers appreciate their partners more than young marrieds?
• What are some "euphemisms" for aging?
• What is the tendency to stereotype older persons called?
• What is infantilism?
• Are all the problems of ageing due to physical decline? If no, what are the causes?
• Do you have more fluid intelligence than a senior citizen?
• How about crystallized" intelligence/
• What form of memory is particularly problematic for many seniors/
• What is ILC (Internal Locus of Control"? Give an example of a senior lifestyle with a good ILC?
• Who are more frequently living alone as seniors? Men or women?
• Who copes better? Why
• Where do seniors live commonly?
• Types of retirement? Which is better?
• Difference between "perceived" vs. "actual" income. Implication of difference for senior well-being
• What is "integrity?
• Despair vs. integrity are two poles of Erikson's stage for seniors.
• Role of reminiscing with life's "final chapter" (yes...another euphemism  :(  for time preceding death)

Chapter 8 Social Cognition and Relationships

• Social context is the big picture: what is it made of?
• Social cognition, by selective encoding and perception, leads to one's social reality and attitudes Examples?
• Can two people look at the same activity, and see two quite different events? Why? Bias?
• Behavior is driven by internal (dispositional) or external (situational) forces
• How do you decide what causes certain behaviors under conditions of uncertainty?
• Covariation: is causal factor there when behavior occurred....or not?
• Three factors to consider of behavior observed
• Distinctiveness (a specific occasion only?)
• Consistency (happened in past?), and
• Consensus (others?)
• What is the fundamental attribution error? (FAE); what are basic tendencies when gauging causality?
• Cultural aspects of FAE
• Do people make the FAE at their own expense? What is the opposite tendency called?
• What might be impact of FAE when friends involved as partners?
• What happens with a self-fulfilling prophecy? What role does the originator play? What about the subject(s)? An example?
• What are tendencies with behavioral confirmation? Paul's initial impression of Sam is that he is not particularly bright. Will Sam's behavior tend to be in concert with Paul's impressions?
• What exactly is an attitude? 3 components of attitudes (CAB)
• Accessibility concept: how applied to attitudes predicting behavior?
• Direct vs. limited experience
• Specific vs. non-specific? What are "exemplars"?
• Persuasion: Elaboration Likelihood Model
• central and peripheral routes to effectively persuade (hi vs. lo elaboration)
• Factors influencing use of direct vs. peripheral routes:
• Timing
• Match between type of attitude and type of "argument"
• Dissonance theory
• when does dissonance occur?
• What do you do if dissonance is significant? (self-persuasion or rationalization)
• Your attitudes change your behavior, but can your behavior change your attitudes? When might this "truism" be useful in your life?
• Some basics of self-perception theory: what is going on?
• Three types of "compliance"?
• Prejudice is learned or genetic?
• What are your "in-groups"? "Outgroups"?
• Can you favor your "in-group", but not be prejudiced toward others?
• Do the brains of persons with high tendency toward prejudice differ from those with a low tendency toward prejudice?
• Racism as an outgrowth of prejudice
• Do some people tend to not categorize people into "in" or "out" groups?
• Universal orientation scale
• Are some aspects of stereotyping unconscious?
• Reversing prejudice
• Contact hypothesis
• Elements of the Robbers Cave study
• Jigsaw technique
• Making friends (a logical technique with positive results)
• Self-identification and empathizing
• Deprovincialization

Recommended Reading: Oh Brother!

This is a great article in Psychology Today about sibling relationships, birth order and the effect of differential parental treatment. Do you see yourself in any of the situations in the article?

Check it out.....

Oh, Brother!

Feel free to comment online.

Assignment #2 Lazy Adolescents?

Our text glosses over adolescence, so this assignment is to read an article in Psychology Today (a magazine that began when I was in college) regarding adolescence, from the perspective of both the parent and the teenager. Read the article and respond with a comment online (remember, the entire world can view your piece).

Lazy Adolescents??

Some questions to answer in your assignment:

• Why do some adults think teenagers are lazy?
• Are parents justified in thinking this way?
• What is your experience during this time with your parents? Did your parents recognize how busy your world was (is) with stuff that's actually very important?
• How would you respond if your parents bugged you about not doing enough?
• If you're a parent of a teenager, respond to the above accordingly?

At the bottom of this post, enter your response by clicking on "Comment" button. You may need to create a new Gmail account, or you can use an existing Gmail account, AIM (AOL), Yahoo, OpenID or other listed account. Your post will be visible to all in class (intentionally!) and worldwide. Sign your response with your full name so I can give you credit and others can know who's "talking". Feel free to respond to another classmates comments, also!

Due next Monday!

FYI: Erikson's Developmental Stages

Erikson's Developmental Stages referenced in your text at various times:

Source: Witt @uakron.edu

Current Eating Patterns

According to Harry Balzer, in this year's report Eating Patterns in America:

• In 1984, we took more restaurant meals to work than we ate in our cars. Today it’s just the opposite!
• In 1984, paper was the most popular packaging material for our foods and beverages. Today it’s plastic – and the amount we use increases each year.
• In 1984, 22 percent of all in-home dinners included a salad. Today, salads are part of 16 percent of in-home dinners.
• In 1989, 17 percent of all breakfasts ordered at a restaurant included a donut. Today 10 percent of us order donuts for breakfast.
• In 1985, half of American homemakers agreed with the statement, “Children should not be allowed to eat sweets.” Today only 29 percent agree with that statement.
• In 1993, 28 percent of children were overweight. Today, that number has reached 36 percent.
• In 1984, we spent 11.9 percent of our disposable income on food. Today we spend 9.5 percent of our income on feeding our families.

Among the trends Harry Balzer identified for the 2008 edition of Eating Patterns in America were:

• Americans are eating more at home…but that doesn’t mean they’re using restaurants less.
• Breakfast bars and yogurt hit a new high at breakfast, but stopping at restaurants for breakfast also hit a new high this year.
• Americans are losing interest in losing weight as dieting hits a new low this year.
• Snacking is not as impulsive as you might think. Most snacks are planned more than six hours earlier. There is a shift in when the most snacking occurs — more in the morning and less in the evening.
• Probiotics is the “new” health topic, as concerns about trans fat fades.
• Winter is becoming a new grilling season.

Recommended Reading: Eat Your Veggies........or Not

Witness this front page article in the New York Times:

Eat Your Veggies....or Not

“Eating vegetables is a lot less fun than eating flavor-blasted Doritos,” said Marcia Mogelonsly, a senior analyst for Mintel, a global marketing firm. “You will always have to fight that.”

Your Extra Credit Assignment

Attend one of the following before the end of the semester:

1/ An Alcolohics Anonymous meeting, or

2/ A Laughing Club meeting at the Cuyahoga Falls Library

For either choice, write a journal article of your visit, describing what happened while you were there (at least one page). What was the purpose of the meeting? Who else was there (in general...no names)? What was done at the meeting? Who led the meeting (I don't need his/her name, just whether there was a leader)? From your perspective, was the meeting successful? Were you eventually comfortable at the meeting? Any other thoughts?

If you visit an AA meeting, go to the web site below to select a meeting. Remember, some are open, some are closed to the public. Go only to an open meeting.

Meeting locations

For the Laughing Club:

Cuyahoga Falls Public Library
Saturdays 10:00AM
2015 Third Street Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio 44221
Questions? Call Carol Bailey-Floyd at 330-836-4456

Group meetings like the AA form of meeting are discussed in Chapter 2 as a type of Psychodynamic therapy.

Laughter as a healthy response we make to our lives is also discussed in your textbook.

You may substitute a meeting with another related organization, if you wish. Prior approval is required.

Assignment is due at the final exam.

Good luck and enjoy your assignment.

Recommended Reading: Putting Obesity Out of Business

Putting obesity out of business - The Boston Globe
Ellen Goodman

Recommended Reading: The New Mountaintop-Maslow Revisited



Check out this article in the NY Times regarding the fate of "self-actualization", at least according to the authors of a new study.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/magazine/12fob-wwln-t.html

Everything Changes-Your Comments

Some excepts (w/slight editing):

• Texting while driving is #1 cause of car crashes
• You can't pay attention in class for more than 90 minutes
• I always end up on Facebook or listening to music while studying
• I am seriously an avid and obsessed Blackberry user
• It has helped keep in touch with old friends
• My test comments were taken the wrong way; face to face better
• When we actually use "books", we find things we never knew
• Without these devices, we are out of the "loop"
•  I'm becoming more antisocial
• People fire off angry messages without even thinking about it
• I ran off the end of a dead-end street while texting
• My best friend is my cell phone
• I listen to my mp3 player 24/7
• We are losing intimate connections
• My job was eliminated because of technology
• I may benefit by my new tech skills, or be hurt
• We are "in" America, but not "of" it.
• I don't think people have lost the normal conventions of everyday American living
• I love to sit down and read a good book
• The last minute rush on a computer can seriously backfire
• It's helped us keep up in our fast-paced world
• Technology does produce more work for us all, but we will prevail
• Organizational structures are more horizontal
• Are we the generation of communication? Not really
• Interesting to see six people sitting together and texting not talking to each other
• I don't think technology will take over our world
• I lost my job to technology
• I am more stand-offish now with my cell and laptop
• Blackberries let work take over your wold
• I miss  interaction with humans
• My reaction is a neutral feeling...there are pros and cons to everything
• We love it and take all the frustration that comes along with it

Just for Fun: Class Self Schema

Here you all are. Repeated terms are larger than others. Click image to enlarge.

Holmes & Rahe Life Changes Stress Test

You may want to take the following brief inventory of major life changes/events and see where you fall on the stress/ illness forecast. Remember, this test does not absolutely predict physical ailments. But studies have shown that a correlation exits between the accumulation of these events and physical ailments.

Holmes & Rahe Self-Inventory

Searchin' on Gorham Mountain-Jan Smith

Hearing this song (Gorham Mountain), I was reminded of how we discussed this period of life for young people approaching full adulthood, searching for....who knows what.

Click on the link, click on the large, gray player pointer on the left margin, and play Jan's song "Gorham Mountain". Listen to the lyrics. To me, they eptiomize the joy of discovery (climbing the mountain, seeing wild blueberries at her feet) and, viewed from the outside, the seeming aimlessness in this period of life as she wanders around Bar Harbor acutely observing her surroundings.

http://new.music.yahoo.com/jan-smith/tracks/

Study Guide Chapters 1-4

Here's some areas to study carefully for the test upcoming on Chapters 1-4. This listing is not all inclusive, but is intended to give you an idea of how well you know the material now. If some or all the questions make no sense, you need to continue to carefully review the material.

Don't forget to use the study tools in your textbook and at your textbook web site, too!

Review your notes, especially for material not in the book, but on the class web site or part of class discussions.

Studying as part of a small group helps, even if it's just 2 persons.

Chapter 1 Self-Direction in a Changing World

• Is social change always planned?
• What is the significance that we each are “6 degrees of separation” from anyone else on this planet (see above graphic!)
• How fast is the amount of “known information” increasing?
• Who is least likely to have access to and use newer technology?
• Individualistic vs. Collective societies: how do they differ?
• How did noted psychoanalyst Eric Fromm view freedom?
• Did he believe we have succeeded in becoming self-actualized in this post-industrial world
• What are some of the coping strategies for making life choices? What is the most successful approach, according to your authors?
• Who are more well adjusted: those who are externally or internally directed?
• Self-actualization and ________ (a desire to help others at a possible cost to the helper) are correlated (fill in the blank)
• Is it always a good idea to value personal security over opportunities to meet new challenges?
• What changes have taken place in our values over time?
• Do people tend to grow (mentally) and evolve throughout adulthood, or does development cease after childhood?
• Are aspects of our personality fairly stable over time? Are some more changeable?
• Understand the 3-phase cycle of personal growth
• What emotions typically accompany the 2nd phase of personal growth? Why?
• Why is the 3d phase more satisfying?
• "Personal fulfillment can be achieved only in relation to others". What is meant here by the authors?
• What is the significance of "commitment" to your fulfillment? How is your view of your place in the world changed?

Chapter 2 Research Methods in Psychology

• The 7 Steps in the Scientific Method
• What is the assumption that all events have some specific causes?
• Think up an example of a hypothesis you would like to test for accuracy
• What is "objectivity". Why is it so important, especially today with some many opinions floating around?
• If you bring your strongly held views to a situation and allow your views to influence your conclusions, what is this called?
• Know the difference between a variable, a dependent variable and an independent variable.
• Are there "alternative explanations" why hypothetical Variable "Y" might be correlated to hypothetical Variable "X"?
• What, then, is a "confounding variable"?
• What's a "placebo effect", and why can they be important in research?
• Also, then, what are a couple of control procedures to counteract possible confounding effects?
• Is a group of 4 women chosen off the street in Akron a "representative sample" of all American women?
• Does a correlation (r) of +1.0 indicate a strong relationship between 2 variables? What does a correlation of +0.1 indicate? How about 0.0?
• Does correlation absolutely indicate causation? Why or why not? Explain...
• Have experiments shown that "subliminal" messages truly affect your understanding of some aspect of daily life?
• Reliability and validity are important in research. What do they each mean in science?
• What are self-report measures; behavioral measures? Give some examples of each.
• How does the "risk/gain" concept influence scientific study?
• Is deception towards the participants in a study always acceptable? Why  or why not?
• Where does most of the information re: psychology come from? Studies? TV? Media? Friends? So what? Does it matter where you get your information?

Chapter 3 Understanding Human Personality

• What was the focus on personality types of Hippocrates, Galen, Sulloway and Sheldon?
• Allports's 3 kinds of traits; Cattel's list of 18 traits (from 18,000 adjectives), and Eyesenck's simple 2 factor trait model, and last but not least McCrae & Costa's 5 factor model (or taxonomy) of personality traits. Check them all out.
• What's an amygdala? Why is it important in personality?
• Are personality traits influenced by heredity?
• What is your "if.....then personality signature"? Give an example of this measure of predictability?
• Freudian psychodynamic theory is based on the _____________ self (fill in the blank)
• Three basic Freudian drives S_____, E_______ and T________
• Freud believed much of your behavior is based on u__________ thoughts (fill in the blank)
• What is "psychic determinism"?
• You want to steal something since you have no food and you're hungry. Describe how your id, ego and superego are responding before you do anything.
• What do the 11 ego defense mechanisms do?
• If a defense mechanism is working, do you become anxious?
• What aspects of psychodynamic theory were influenced by Adler, Horney and Jung?
• What's at the pinacle (peak) of Maslow's hierarchy of needs?
• Why is it important to exhibit "unconditional positive regard" towards your children?
• In humanism, what's more important: the client's view of the world, or the therapists objective, fact-based assessment?
• Social learning theorists believe one's personality is heavily influenced by the E________________. (fill in the blank)
• Importance of learned habits in one's life, rather than the unconscious or striving for self actualization
• Mischel's study of interaction between one's self and his/her environment, as well as Bandura (reciprocal determinism and self efficacy) and Cantor's analysis of social intelligence
• Tests and Assessment of Personality: MMPI (for persons with maladaptive behavior symptoms), NEO-PI for all persons (two forms available); Projective tests like the Rorschach test, the Murray TAT test (Thematic Apperception Test)
• Check out the brief overview of classical, behavioral and observational learning as influencing behavior and thus personality at the conclusion of the chapter

Chapter 4 Seeking Selfhood

• Who am I? What do others think of me? Am I a good person? These are all aspects of one's self ______ (fill in the blank)
• Our self-concept, or identity, is very strong and durable. We are afraid that, with death, our identity will dissolve. What do you think of these statements?
• The early years are important to our self-image: True or false?
• If you have high ideals, can you modify your real self to meet your goals. If your goals and aspirations are too high, how do you resolve the gap that produces anxiety?
• Are we all the same in the level of "self-complexity"?
• If your self concept in fragmented and disconnected, what is a possible result or condition?
• The self-concept is a "loose-fitting garment". What is meant by this?
• Define self-consistency, conditions of worth, self-immunization and mnemonic neglect as applied to one's self concept
• Is praising children for their successes likely to increase their self-esteem? Why not?
• Think of an occasion when you used "social comparison' to evaluate your "worth".
• Are people happier who have high "self esteem"?
• What are some examples of the down side of persons with high self-esteem? Know any bullies?
• What is the cure for  maladaptive striving for self esteem?
• Tendencies toward self-enhancement and self-verification to solidify one's own image
• Any differences between male and female levels of self-esteem? Racial differences?
• Visualization and guided imagery for self-improvement? Why might they be useful, even in treating illnesses, obesity.
• Is our view of how others see us always accurate? Is it important to us, even if inaccurate?
• What is the "spotlight effect"? When did you feel this situation?
• Are your free to avoid people who are overly critical of you?
• Why are critics important. Should you listen? What if all your critics are saying the same thing?
• Criticism generates emotional energy. Can you use it for a good cause?
• Stages in gaining self-direction: moving away from internalizing the views of others, especially negative criticisms, and moving to appreciate one's own feelings
• Value the richness of your own experiences, rather than an obligation to seek approval from others.
• Another result is becoming more accepting of others
• Self-alienation is denying our faults and projecting them onto others, including our family, friends and lovers.
• What is the importance to perceive oneself as "becoming", as opposed to having reached a "fixed" state?

Book Website Access & Corrected Course ID

Here's the link to get to the textbook website, in case you're having trouble accessing:

http://www.pearsoncustom.com/oh/akron_hr_psych/

Your Course ID is freeman38885

Can You Catch Happiness?

Here's the article I've been using in class re: happiness being contagious. Read on if you're interested! (graphic from NY Times)


Can You Catch Happiness?