Motivation and Hunger

Tonight you are reading about eating disorders and included in the reading tonight is a section on obesity and weight control.  As we all know, obesity is becoming a major factor in many developed countries and an issue that many governments are currently examining.  First, define obesity and explain some social effects of obesity, as well as the physiology of obesity in regards to fat cells.  Secondly, one of the main issues that faces many developed nations is educating individuals on proper eating habits and changing current habits, which is extremely difficult.  Pretending you have unlimited funds, develop a realistic plan that would educate high school students on proper eating habits, keeping in mind who you are dealing with and how to reach them.  This is due by 11:59pm on Wednesday, 1/25/2012.

Operant Conditioning

As we have discussed conditioning is learning through associations.  Classical conditioning is learning through the association of two stimuli in which the neutral stimulus is associated with the unconditioned stimulus.  Operant conditioning is similar because we are making associations.  The difference is we are making associations with some sort of reinforcer or punishment rather than a stimulus.  These reinforcers can range from a variety of items or consequences.  Operant conditioning is seen on a regular basis for training purposes.  For this post I want you to discuss an example of operant conditioning from your own life experiences and identify the following:
- The behavior
- The reinforcer or punishment
- Whether that outcome acted as a positive reinforcer, a negative reinforcer,
or a punishment
- What happened to the behavior over time. That is, was the learning
maintained or did it become extinct? How did this happen?
- What acted as a discriminative stimulus?
- What schedule of reinforcement was operating? (continuous or partial? If
partial: fixed or variable, ratio or interval?)

This post is due by Wednesday morning and I expect thorough answers. 

Classical Conditioning in Advertising

It has been a while since we have used this, but with a new year it is time to get it rolling again.  In class, we have been examining classical conditioning and its principles as we gain a stronger understanding of behaviorism.  Behaviorist techniques have been used in advertising since the early 1900's.  Even the great behaviorist John Watson branched into this area and was very successful with using his behavioral techniques to get people to buy products.  Your assignment is to analyze the use of classical conditioning in advertisements and explain how it is used and why it is so effective.  Along with this, I want you to use classical conditioning and pick a product and explain how you can use classical conditioning to sell the product.  The due date for this assignment is Friday by 8:45a.m.  Have fun!

Dream Journal

•Due Date: Monday 11/7/2011

•Assignment: You are to analyze your dreams in your dream journal.  With that information you are to decide which dream theory appears to best explain your dreams.  Use quality content and detailed information to explain the theory and why you chose it.

•This will require some level of research beyond your text book.

Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat Assignment

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

This project is divided into 3 parts

            1.  Summary of selected articles 4 points each for                 40 Points

            2.  Group presentation                                                                        30 Points

            3.  Research paper                                                                   80 Points

Reading Assignments – You are required to read the following chapters.

1.      Chapter 1:             The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

2.      Chapter 4:             The Man Who Fell out of Bed

3.      Chapter 7:             On the Level

4.      Chapter 8:             Eyes Right

5.      Chapter 10:           Witty Ticcy Ray

6.      Chapter 11:           Cupid’s Disease

7.      Chapter 18:           The Dog Beneath the Skin

8.      Chapter 19:           Murder.

9.      Selection of your choice from chapters 21-24

10.  Selection of your choice from any other chapter not assigned

For each reading selection you must write a short summary that specifically answers the following four questions.

1.      Describe the patient. (Who are they, what are they like?)

2.      What symptoms did the patient exhibit? (What is the matter with them?  Why do they get sent to the doctor?)

3.      Describe the interaction/examination between the patient and the doctor.  (What does the doctor do?  Say?  Is there anything interesting or funny during this interaction?)

4.      Describe the diagnosis/treatment of the patient where applicable.  What adjustments were made by the doctor or the patient to deal with this condition?

Group Activity – For one of the chapters not assigned in class prepare a skit showing the interaction between the patient and the doctor(s).  The skit should clearly demonstrate

1.      The symptoms

2.      The examination

3.      The diagnosis

4.      Any adjustments or treatments given

Research Activity – You will be assigned a brain research topic to do follow up research on.  The research paper should contain the following information.

v  Fully describe the structure or disorder assigned.

v  Give a brief history of the research on this structure or disorder.

v  Give a minimum of two examples of current research being done on this structure or disorder.

v  Your research paper should be about 3 pages in length 12 point font, double-spaced.  Please include a bibliography in APA format showing your sources for the research.

Sensation and Perception Post #2

Recently, we have been discussing sensation and how our sense bring in information and transduce that information in order for our brain to interpret the information.  Today and tomorrow we will begin to examine the perception side of things.  Many people feel their perception high and they can view things around them and take in all the details.  However, as the book The Invisible Gorilla points out to us in the chapter "Illusion of Attention", that our abilities to spot details and recognize things going on around us is questionable at best.  When thinking about this, two terms come to mind: inattentional blindness and changed blindness.

Your assignment is as follows: describe the two terms above.  Then, give an example of how inattentional blindness can be beneficial and how changed blindness can be detrimental.  Be sure to be specific.  Also, below are the links to the videos we watched in class.

http://www.simonslab.com/videos.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGQmdoK_ZfY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u9hB4ff4Hc

This is due Friday by the beginning of class for 5th hour, and Monday at the beginning of class for 1st hour.

Sensation and Perception Post #1

Over the next couple of weeks we will be examining a very fascinating topic, Sensation and Perception.  How we take in information from our senses and process that information is extremely important to understanding how the mind works and examines information.  Today we discussed bottom-up processing and top-down processing and selective attention.  For your post, I want you to give me an example of top-down and bottom-up processing working together (not one from the book or class) and then explain the importance of selective attention and the affects it has on both.  This is due Wednesday morning by 9am.