Blog Post #4

I read the article, "What? Me Biased?" This article was about how people are subconsciously bias against not only skin color but also gender and age. For example it talked about how people thought of Obama as less American that John McCain and even the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. I find this rather relevant because I don't think I'm racist but the fact that we are all have subconscious biases makes me wonder if I ever have racist or sexist thoughts. Is this subconscious behavior learned or inherited? And I hope that if I do have these subconscious biases that I can overcome them because I believe racism and sexism is wrong.


One thing I learned about in Chapter 3 was Circadian Rhythm. I read about how bright light at night delays sleep which helps me understand why I have trouble sleeping if I watch too much TV before I went to bed. Also just being bathed in regular light can disrupt our 24-hour biological clock. Basically the point is that artificial light delays sleep.

The thing that surprised me most was the fact that sleep deprivation increases the hunger-arousing hormone ghrelin and decreases huger-suppressing hormone leptin. It also increases the stress hormone cortisol which stimulates the body to make fat. This means that sleep deprivation can lead to weight gain. I would have never guessed that loss of sleep could lead to weight gain like that and it will make me think twice about staying up past midnight.

Post 2- Thinking Critically

I believe that research is important because research is how we learn and discover. It tells us precisley how certain things came to be and how they function and why they are important. Research can confirm our beliefs and solve problems.

Research is vital for many things in my life especially papers. As a senor in two english classes I must write two reserch paper which, as the name of the paper suggests, requires a lot of research. Also because I will be applying to college soon, researching different majors/minors schoolorship options and the programs that the universities offer is essential.

I read the article "How Long to Form a Habit?" which discussed how long it took to form a habit, obviously. It said that t depended on how determined you were and what the habit was. I think this relates to me because habits like excercising are healthy and it helped me understand why I can't make excersise a habit as easily as others.

One thing I learned about was the Placebo effect. It amazed me how we could be tricked into curing ourselves. You could be told that a "medicine" would remedy your ailment but really all it was was sugar pills.

Another thing I learned was about illusionary correlation. It seemed a tad bit similar to the Placebo effect to me. I can relate because I always try to find patterns in things in my life.

The final thing I learned about was naturalistic observations. Everyday I find myself using this on my little sister whom I take care of. I observe and learn her behavior so I can easily take cre of her.

Chapter 1

Before when I thought of psychology I thought of it simply as studying how people think and helping out those with their issues. I had never really explored what psychology really was before now. I had seen the psychologist go to work on numerous television shows but that was the extent to which I had experienced it. However now I realize just how complex and scientific psychology actually is. It delves deeper that just studying the human mind.



I believe psychology effects everyone's lives because the more we discover about the human mind the better we may understand why we feel the way we do and why we and others act the way we do because there is reasoning behind every action.

First off I learned that not only do psychologists study humans but they also sutdy animals too.

Also I was interested in the topic of nature vs. nurture because there is not one side to it. Psychology deals with both effects of family and environment when studying how one thinks.

Introductory Post

My name is Mara Seefeld. I am from Loyal High School and I am 17 years old. I don't know if one thing itself has exactly shaped me into who I am today I suppose all the experiences I've had, the good and terrible, and my family have helped shape me.

I think studying psychology is important to me because I want to be a writer and I think that having a better understanding of how the human mind works may help me in my writing. I believe psychology is the study of how the human mind works.