It would be so much easier if there was a button for everything. A button to press when you need more money, a button that will tell you the right answer or the right thing to say, even a snap of your fingers would be just fine. It is the same for motivation, when you just want a task to be done. A button would be so much easier, to either get the job done or tell you how to do it right. Too bad there are no buttons to answer all of life’s questions, which is why we need motivation. We all have goals, the difference is whether that goal was set by someone else, like money, or if it is something that you strive for yourself.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Understanding Internals
I have been considering psychological concepts involved in learning and understanding the environment, such as personality and the way individuals learn. As pointed out the other day, it seems that I have a lot of ‘drive’ and a lot less emotion. Might this be part of my personality? Is it something that makes me who I am? I would have to say it does affect who I am and how I live my life. This internal drive has allowed me to be quite intrinsic, and external (extrinsic) motivation only fuels this need to learn. It would appear that Drive Reduction Theory applies more to my life than Harlow’s monkeys, although my reward is internal, the ‘satisfaction of a job well done’. I guess this can be taken in both a positive and a negative way. On one hand, I have potential to do tasks that require a lot of dedication – mostly academic and work related. On the other hand, it would seem that I skipped a step along the road in developmental psychology, and will most likely skip over some further experiences that lie outside of the world of personal achievement in the future. So does this shape my personality? I suppose it would, my ‘drive’ is really who I am, it is a part in at least one subcategory of each of the five personality categories: unconscious motives, the self and conscious awareness, all of the cognitive subcategories, abilities, and reward/punishment and observable behaviour. Since drive is the majority of who I am, I wonder what will happen if that drive ‘runs out’, if I eventually crash.
It would be so much easier if there was a button for everything. A button to press when you need more money, a button that will tell you the right answer or the right thing to say, even a snap of your fingers would be just fine. It is the same for motivation, when you just want a task to be done. A button would be so much easier, to either get the job done or tell you how to do it right. Too bad there are no buttons to answer all of life’s questions, which is why we need motivation. We all have goals, the difference is whether that goal was set by someone else, like money, or if it is something that you strive for yourself.
It would be so much easier if there was a button for everything. A button to press when you need more money, a button that will tell you the right answer or the right thing to say, even a snap of your fingers would be just fine. It is the same for motivation, when you just want a task to be done. A button would be so much easier, to either get the job done or tell you how to do it right. Too bad there are no buttons to answer all of life’s questions, which is why we need motivation. We all have goals, the difference is whether that goal was set by someone else, like money, or if it is something that you strive for yourself.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Living With Lies
The myth about stress causing ulcers has been one that I have heard all too many times; it is also a myth that I am glad to know the truth about, granted, the news is still a bit inconclusive, but it is better than the myth being true. I have found myself worried about future stresses and the damage it may cause. It is true, however, that stress can lead to numerous health hazards, but it is good to know that there is one less to worry about.
A myth that I am less than relieved to hear disproved is the myth that a positive attitude can cure cancer, although I knew it would be a long shot. Even though positive attitudes do not cure diseases per say, they can help to increase a persons odds of pulling through a difficult disease. Positive attitudes allow people to feel better about themselves at no risk to their personal well being, so even if it does cure diseases, it couldn’t hurt to try.
Both of these myths are examples of post hoc ergo propter hoc reasoning, based on ones own experiences and the experiences of others. People need to believe in something that can help them through a challenging set of circumstances, so if it helps them feel better, does it really matter if it works?
These myths can have a ‘placebo effect’ on a person. The thought that a myth is true can ultimately change ones outlook on something, such as health. A placebo is a simulated medical intervention that is designed to help a patient where real medicine can’t. It can lead to a patient having perceived or actual improvement. The same can be true for certain myths, such as a good attitude can cure diseases, and hypnosis can help memory (which has not been proven). These myths provide what some call false hope, but isn’t false hope better than no hope at all.
A myth that I am less than relieved to hear disproved is the myth that a positive attitude can cure cancer, although I knew it would be a long shot. Even though positive attitudes do not cure diseases per say, they can help to increase a persons odds of pulling through a difficult disease. Positive attitudes allow people to feel better about themselves at no risk to their personal well being, so even if it does cure diseases, it couldn’t hurt to try.
Both of these myths are examples of post hoc ergo propter hoc reasoning, based on ones own experiences and the experiences of others. People need to believe in something that can help them through a challenging set of circumstances, so if it helps them feel better, does it really matter if it works?
These myths can have a ‘placebo effect’ on a person. The thought that a myth is true can ultimately change ones outlook on something, such as health. A placebo is a simulated medical intervention that is designed to help a patient where real medicine can’t. It can lead to a patient having perceived or actual improvement. The same can be true for certain myths, such as a good attitude can cure diseases, and hypnosis can help memory (which has not been proven). These myths provide what some call false hope, but isn’t false hope better than no hope at all.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Over-Thinking Thinking
The other day, I was working on some physics homework and was completely and utterly lost as to how I got a particular answer. Not that the answer was wrong, but the entire process of getting to that answer was baffling. I began to think about the thinking process; it some times feels like my mind is subconsciously working out a problem while my conscious mind desultorily wandered. I began to think of psychology and the critical thinking process, how we move from one thought to the other. Problem solving with math related problems can be broken up into a few different thought processes. I start by determining what I need and use that to find necessary formulas – this gets tricky when there are multiple formulas or when unexpected thing represent important variables. The next step is to rearrange the formula and insert the information that you know. It becomes challenging when there are multiple unknown variables, this is when you choose to adopt another formula and do a separate set of equations to find one unknown or use to formulas in one equation. The next step is fairly straightforward: use the formula to determine the value of the unknown. It becomes more bothersome if you realize that the answer you got does not make sense, like 15 m/s for someone on a bicycle or 2.1μ.
Problem solving is the main function of directed thinking and breaks complex ideas into smaller, more manageable thoughts. This process is comparable to the process of digestion. Enzymes are sent out to break down complex molecules, like carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, into small molecules that are easy to digest, like simple sugars, triglycerides, and amino acids. Thoughts are broken down to make it easier for us to comprehend or ‘digest’ information that we receive.
Problem solving is the main function of directed thinking and breaks complex ideas into smaller, more manageable thoughts. This process is comparable to the process of digestion. Enzymes are sent out to break down complex molecules, like carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, into small molecules that are easy to digest, like simple sugars, triglycerides, and amino acids. Thoughts are broken down to make it easier for us to comprehend or ‘digest’ information that we receive.
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