Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Psych 101
I'm currently enrolled in school at Bunker Hill Community College, working towards my AD in Computer Information Techonology. I'm taking a psychology class (I'm actually in school right now), and we need to write silly little journal entries for every "Module" we complete. After studying the various parts of the human brain and taking a test on them, the last thing I really feel like doing is writing one of these journal entries. So this is what I came up with:
In Module 4, we talked about the various parts of the brain and the Nervous Systems. Through the reading, we learned about the differences of the male brain to that of the female brain. One thing that stands out about this research is the result of PET scans of the brain when both men and women were asked to find their way out of a virtual reality 3-dimensional maze. Men were found to be considerably faster than women at achieving this activity, and the findings suggested that men used both parts of their Hippocampus (the area used to store recent information learned), while women only used part of this area. With this information in mind, it seems unfair that men are often looked at negatively for being “too stubborn” when trying to find their way to an unfamiliar location in a new place and refusing to ask for directions. This trait in men is often satirically approached in almost every sitcom, movie, and sketch comedy skit I have ever seen. It is apparent in this Module, however, that men’s brains are preprogrammed to act in this specific manner. We should no longer be looked down upon for a behavior which we cannot control; we should instead be praised to have gone through millions of years of evolution to allow us to be at a point in humanity where was can almost certainly locate any Elks Hall, High School Gymnasium, public restroom, or Denny’s Restaurant even in the most unfamiliar of locations.
Now, if we could only remember the anniversary of our first kiss with our significant other, the song that was playing on the radio during that momentous occasion, and which night is trash night on a week coming off of a long weekend, we might truly be considered at the peak of our evolution.
In Module 4, we talked about the various parts of the brain and the Nervous Systems. Through the reading, we learned about the differences of the male brain to that of the female brain. One thing that stands out about this research is the result of PET scans of the brain when both men and women were asked to find their way out of a virtual reality 3-dimensional maze. Men were found to be considerably faster than women at achieving this activity, and the findings suggested that men used both parts of their Hippocampus (the area used to store recent information learned), while women only used part of this area. With this information in mind, it seems unfair that men are often looked at negatively for being “too stubborn” when trying to find their way to an unfamiliar location in a new place and refusing to ask for directions. This trait in men is often satirically approached in almost every sitcom, movie, and sketch comedy skit I have ever seen. It is apparent in this Module, however, that men’s brains are preprogrammed to act in this specific manner. We should no longer be looked down upon for a behavior which we cannot control; we should instead be praised to have gone through millions of years of evolution to allow us to be at a point in humanity where was can almost certainly locate any Elks Hall, High School Gymnasium, public restroom, or Denny’s Restaurant even in the most unfamiliar of locations.
Now, if we could only remember the anniversary of our first kiss with our significant other, the song that was playing on the radio during that momentous occasion, and which night is trash night on a week coming off of a long weekend, we might truly be considered at the peak of our evolution.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
The never-ending saga of Screech and Lisa.
For the past several months (or now that I think about it, "years" may be more appropriate"), I have been unable to start the day without watching two hours of Saved By The Bell on TBS. Recently, they have added an hour of Fresh Prince of Bell Air following the mini-marathon of SBTB. Naturally, I have been sucked in by that as well (until recently, FPOBA was only a late night pleasure, thanks to neo-nickatnite). So now 3 hours of my morning is swallowed up by late 80's/early 90's comedy. If you're hip enough to be reading this blog right now, I'm sure you can relate to my passion for these TV shows. Something about them instantly takes me back to being 13 years old, staying home sick from middle school, and not worrying about a single thing in the world (well, if you were me and 13, you were worrying about having to change in front of people for gym class, but I'm happy to say I made it through that ordeal with only minimal emotional scarring...I was a fat kid, for those of you who can't remember that far back). I find my morning visits with Zack, Kelly, Lisa, Slater, Jesse, Screech and Mr. B (whom I met thank you...well me, and the entire graduating class of Winthrop High School, 1999 met I should say...he was our commencement speaker, believe it or not) to be one of the only constants in my life, and there's really a lot to be said for that. When things come and go far too easily, it's nice to know that Screech will always love Lisa, Zack will always be trying to get himself out of trouble, Slater will be beating Valley at a wrestling match, Kelly will be cheerleading at inappropriate events such as Chess competition, Jesse will be spreading feminism to the close minded macho pigs at Bayside, and Lisa will be shopping and somehow always ending up with the only other black kid who goes to Bayside whenever they're at a dance.
As a related side note, I was watching a few episodes of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" last night (if you haven't seen this show, i would STRONGLY suggest you watch it, it's hilarious), and Dennis Haskings (Mr. Belding) was in one of the episodes playing an elementary school gym teacher who was being wrongfully accused of Child Molestation (i dunno if that's supposed to be capitalized, but it seemed appropriate, so I rolled with it.) He has gained like 100 pounds, and I almost didn't recognize him. But I still love him, it's allllll good. He was America's principle for crying out loud...he was the Big Bopper!!!!
OK, there's my first blog. I've missed enough of my morning fix...Slater just got offered a scholarship to Iowa to wrestle but his dad wants him to go to Military School of course. I've seen this episode 50 times, but I've gotta run, to see what happens :)
As a related side note, I was watching a few episodes of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" last night (if you haven't seen this show, i would STRONGLY suggest you watch it, it's hilarious), and Dennis Haskings (Mr. Belding) was in one of the episodes playing an elementary school gym teacher who was being wrongfully accused of Child Molestation (i dunno if that's supposed to be capitalized, but it seemed appropriate, so I rolled with it.) He has gained like 100 pounds, and I almost didn't recognize him. But I still love him, it's allllll good. He was America's principle for crying out loud...he was the Big Bopper!!!!
OK, there's my first blog. I've missed enough of my morning fix...Slater just got offered a scholarship to Iowa to wrestle but his dad wants him to go to Military School of course. I've seen this episode 50 times, but I've gotta run, to see what happens :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)