Psychology 5.3 extra credit 1%

Social interactions and human values. Your human values may be not to judge others, honesty, loyalty, accepting people for who they are but when your with your friends do you really hold true to your values?
People rely on 5 key sources of observation information because we can not read peoples minds. Those 5 key sources are:

• Appearance - physical features such as height, weight, skin and hair color give us some cues to help read people
• Verbal behavior - what people say helps us observe the kind of person they are
• Actions - people don't always do as they say or lie so we rely on their action to tell us what kind of person they are.
• Nonverbal Messages - facial expressions, eye contact and body language are all helpful in determining peoples emotional state or disposition
• Situations - the setting in which behavior occurs provides crucial information about how to interpret a persons behavior.

So using these 5 key sources can help you determine who people are but you really don't know until you put who you think they are to the test. People may be one way in a social setting and another in a private setting.

You have a best friend that you find out is cheating on her husband what do you do? Your values are that you are loyal and honest and would never do this but do you have the strength to confront that friend tell them what they are doing is wrong and goes against your values and don't want to be friends with them anymore or do you turn a blind eye?

Your child is doing things to hurt themselves do you keep it in the family or do you get them the help they need immediately which is what you know you need to do. A lot of people deny their problems which is against their human values.

The relationship between socializing and human values can be good or can get really ugly it just depends on the situation. The rule is that you always adhere to your human values when socializing because if you don't you could be in the wrong place at the wrong time or did you intentionally put yourself in a bad situation.

Mass Media Hum 121 5.6 Project blog

The specific media area I am choosing is reality shows and how the media portrays or edits them for best ratings. These shows may have started out as entertainment but in a lot of them it has become one of disrespect and degrading society. The media is also making a lot of money off of this and it is just wrong.

Mass Media Hum 121 5.3 reflection movie industry

Movies are a great to go watch with a friend, to see the technology, and to see things that interest us. Movies impact our society by showing us stories like Apollo 13, the 9/11 movie, the Daniel Pearlman movie, the documentary from Michael Moore about healthcare, the President Kennedy movie and ect. These movies show us a little more than what the media informs us about the truth of people stories of what is really going on in the world. Media like news and newspapers only tell us a little bit but with the movies about that subject or person we are told the truth and the whole story.
A good example of how movies impact society is the Michael Moore movie Sicko about our health care. I personally have not seen it but the trailer for it show one important piece and that is that the prisoners in Guantonimo Bay get better healthcare, in fact it says they get the best that the U.S. has to offer, but out senior citizens are limited. This is just one example of someone exposing the government so hopefully they can be held accountable for their actions. If it not for the brave efforts of Michael Moore and many other film directors we would not know have of what actually happened. I think by doing those sort of film society is waking up and instead of turning a blind eye to things that are wrong we are now standing up together and demanding action.

Mass Media Hum 121 4.3 evolution of music

In 1877 Thomas Edison invented a little thing called the Phonograph (which means sound writer). In 1887, Emile Berliner developed a little thing called the Gramophone, which replaced Edison's cylinder with flat discs. Berliner joined Eldrige Johnson to form the Victor Talking Machine Company that would later become know to millions as RCA Victor. Early players required large horns to amplify the sound, later becoming housed in the cabinet below the actual player.
In 1927 the first Jukebox was manufactured and brought music to restruants and nightclubs. 1947 Peter Goldmark while listening to Brahms' Second Piano Concerto hated the interuptions from having to turn over the record and the sound defects he detected created the LP (long playing) record which could play for 23 minutes and were larger that the 78rpm records of the World WarII era. William Paley, of CBS radio and records, realized he was taking a big risk introducing LP records when he knew most people didn't own the proper record player to play them. He contacted RCA exec. David Sarnoff to convince him to partner up and make a record player to play the LP records but Sarnoff refused. In 1948 Sarnoff introduced his own 7 inch, 45rpm record, they were perfect for jukeboxes. Eventually Toscanini convinced Sarnoff to manufacture LP records to include33 1/3 spd on RCA record players and in turn CBS would use 45s for it's popular songs. Eventually a record player was made that could play all 3 sizes of records.
1950s saw the introduction of rocknroll and the developement by London Records of High Fedelity. Quadraphonic(4track) and 8 track were almost destined to become the standard of the 1970's but that pesky cassette tape was holding up pretty good. 1979 Sony introduced us to the walkman as a personal stereo.
Today the CD is transforming music in to digital code on a 4.7 inch disc read by lasers. In 2000 CD players that included a CD recorder and computers with a CD-RW drive meant consumers could burn data such as music to a blank CD, play it and then re-record on the same disc.

Mass Media Hum 121 4.2 compare diff in media audiences

All of the magazines that are on the news stands all have one goal and that is to sell the magazine to the consumer but which consumer and how they target that consumer is the difference.
The magazines have 5 divisions for work to be done in to get the magazine ready for newstands:

• Editorial handles everything regarding magazine content except advertising
• Circulation Sales manages subscription info
• Advertising sales responsible for finding companies to advertise in magazine
• Manufacturing and Distribution manage production of the mag and getting it to consumers
• Administration takes care of organizational details (hiring, paying bills, and manage office)

All the magazines have the same 5 divisions but their content and their target reader are different. Magazines divide into 3 different types:

• Consumer magazines - all magazines sold by subscription, news stands, supermarkets and book stores.
• Trade, technical, and professional magazines - magazines sold to specific subscribers and professional associations for their specific members or subscribers
• Company magazines - these magazines are produced by businesses for their employess, customers and stockholders.

Now how do magazines target their particular customer they write about womens issues, social crusades, arts, politics, by doing investigative journalism, sports, mens issues, todays trends, fashion, and different cultures.

Magazines such as People, Us Weekly, Life and Style and In Touch just to name a popular few target mostly woman readers with celebrity news and stories of interest. Readers Digest is poplular because it is published at an 8 grade reading level, which makes it easy to read, and people like the content. Magazines such as Ladies Home Journal, Sports Illustrated, Bride, Business, Boating and Yachting are all magazines targeting someone in particular that at that time in their life are wanting ideas or information about subjects these magazines provide. Magazines such as Time and Newsweek target news and politics. Then you have the imfamous Star and the National Enquire that have stories so outlandish that you don't know whether to believe in it or not and most readers read it for fun.

Magazines are a popular form of mass media and can target a wide range of readers.

Mass Media Hum 121 4.1 news

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows the 7th and final book in the Harry Potter series and maybe one of the most anticipated because someone dies and everyone wants to know if it is Harry or not. One girl in Fairbanks, Ak camped out for 11 days to find out and on the last day of waiting she was being interviewed by a radio station and the interviewers while on hold spoiled the ending and before it was even to be on sale they ruined the anticipation for her. On the t.v. interview she was very good about it in saying that even though she knew the ending finding out how it got there would be interesting. I was also very impressed that she did not reveal to anyone else the ending.
All the reports said none of the books were to be release until the said release date but people all over somehow got ahold of early copies and posted them on the internet which in my opinion was totally wrong. Some online book stores sent them out early and those people got the privilage of being able to read the story before anyone else. So how does this happen?
The media frenzy was felt around the world with the release of the movie Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and a week later the last book in the series Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. The Scholastic Co. had shipped the books to there destinations and the instructions were for the pallets to remained sealed until the release date 1 minute after midnight on that day. They even had security guards guarding the books so they would not be released early but as one would expect there were copies that were released early how this happened is anyones guess. The media phenomenom surrounding the release of the last Harry Potter book was that of Presidential porportions.

Mass Media Hum 121 Blog about media text

Today of all days I decide to relax in the quietness for a minute, take a little time to myself and turned on the t.v. and of all things the new show is on talking about the rehab centers all the celebs are going to and are they for real or just a get away spa.
So yes let us look at that for a moment, because it interests and frustrates me. I have no doubt that the rehab centers like the Betty Ford center and the newest one Promises, that they do work. The problem that we have is that if the person is not there of their own recognition then chances of them getting out and staying sober is a low percentage. Just because it is an expensive or exclusive facility does not make the basis of the program any different. There are a lot of differences in that the more exclusive have personal trainers, pools, and ect but when it comes down to it the basis of why the person is there is the same. I think that in the last few months the high profiled celebrities that have gone into the rehab facilities have only done so because of being forced to. Brittany and Lindsay have both already fallen off the wagon. They tell you whether it is dieting, quiting smoking, quiting drinking or quiting drugs it is a life style change. This means that you can not go back into the bar and say i'll just have water or soda because at some point it gets to you and you say oh just one won't hurt and then it eventually turns into more than one. Brittany Spears was not ready to leave her rehab stint and from all the news reports and headlines she is in total denial of having a problem which means she never got the proper treatment and Lindsy Lohan even though she was wearing an ankle monitor still went off the wagon even after staying in rehab through her 21st birthday. It all goes back to the basics if you want help you can get it from the rehab facilities whether they are exclusive or not and you have to make a life style change if you don't it will still be the same and the rehab was a waist of time.

Mass Media Hum 121 3.8 chptr 5 online resources

Downloading on line, whether it be music, files, pictures, or video has become very popular. Chapter 5 talks about the music industry and provides a good bit on what happened when the mp3 player came out and people started downloading songs from the internet. FREE is always a temptation for people whether it's legal or not. I remember the whole Napster deal as it played out on the news.
The artists have to make their money also and I really don't think it is right for anyone to be able to download their song(s) for free. I mean put yourself in their shoes, if you put a lot of work into producing an album for your fans to buy and then they don't have to buy the album or even spend any money to get the songs from the new album, I think you would be just as mad as they were when they found out about web sites like Napster and Kazaa.
I did download songs from the likes of Napster and Kazaa also but not very many cause I was too afraid of getting caught and sued. Napster I know then went to the membership plan where you had to pay per song or per month to be able to download songs.
There is a lot of companies now on the internet that you can download songs from but I don't know of any that are FREE. The one I found to be a good one so far is Ares Ultra where you pay a one time fee of 40.00 and you can download as many songs as you would like. The only problem I have found is that sometimes the songs you want are not always available and it can be a little slow. For me it is perfect because I don't really download a lot but when I want a song I can usually find it.

Psychology 5.2 Impressions people make on each other

They say first impressions are everything but for some it is not. For example myself most people upon first impression of seeing me think i'm a bitch because of my facial features but those who choose to say hello find a nice, giving, sharing and often too talkative person. So first impressions are not always everything nor are they accurate. Because someone wears all black one can not assume that they are goth or worship the devil or are unruley. Impressions are not always accurate in fact sometimes they are the opposite. Impressions can and often do affect long term relations with people because for instance going to get a job application you are not dressed properly so when you go in for an interview you will be remembered for the way you dressed to come to get the application and that may have a negative affect on your prospect of getting the job.

Psychology Personality

Personality refers to and individuals unique constellation of consistant behavioral traits. Personality trait is a durable dispostion to behave in a particular way in a variety of situations. Some words to describe personality traits is honest, dependable, moody, impulsive, suspicious, anxious, excitable, domineering and friendly. There are 5 high order traits known as the BIG 5. People who score high in:

• extraverson : are outgoing, sociable, upbeat, friendly, assertive and gregarious
• neuroticism : tend to be anxious, hostile, self-conscious, insecure and vulnerable
• openness to experience: are associated with curiosity, flexibility, vivid fantasy, imaginativeness, artistic sesitivity and unconventional attitudes
• agreeableness : tend to be sympathetic, trusting, cooperative, modest, and straight forward
• conscientiousness : tend to be diligent, disciplined, well organized, punctual and dependable

Personality can be described by measuring these 5 basic traits. The 5 factor model is a dominant concept of personality structure in contemporary psychology( having been characterized as the latitude and longitude along which personality should be mapped) .

The structure of personality includes : Id, Ego, and the Superego.

• Id is the primitive, instinctive component of personality that operates according to the pleasure principal (demands immediate gratification) Freud referred to the Id as the reservoir of the psychic energy
• Ego is the decision making component of the personality that operates according to the reality principal. Freud refers to the Ego as like a man on horseback who has to hold in check the superior strength of the horse.
• Super Ego is the moral component of personality that incorporates social standards about what represents right and wrong. The superego emerges out of the ego around the age of 3-5yrs old. For some people the Superego can become irrationally demanding in it's strive for moral perfection.

According to Freud the Id, Ego and Superego are distrubuted along 3 levels of awareness the unconscious, conscious and the preconscious.

There are so many personalities out in the world it makes it very interesting to engage people, interact with them and gather some helpful and maybe useful information.

Psychology 5.1 coping strategies essay

Coping refers to efforts to master, reduce, or tolerate the demands created by stress. Everyone has different coping strategies, some people are :

• active (taking additional action to get rid of problem)
• planning (make strategy about what to do)
• suppression ( put aside other things to concentrate on problem)
• restraint ( for self to wait for just the right time to take care of problem)
• seek social support (asking friends what they did in same situation)
• social support emotional reasons ( talk to someone about how I feel)
• positiveness ( look for the good in situation)
• acceptance ( learn to live with it )
• religion ( seek God's help)
• focus on emotions and vent ( when upset let emotions out instead of keeping them inside)
• denial ( refuse or deny that it happened)
• behavioral disengagement ( give up attempt to get your way)
• mental disengagement ( turn to other things to keep mind off of situation or problem)
• alcohol/drug disengagement ( abuse drugs or alcohol thinking it will take care of the problem)

There is another way of coping it is called constructive coping. Constructive coping refers to efforts to deal with stressful events that are judged to be relatively healthful. Constructive coping involves :

• confronting problems directly (involves effort to rationally evaluate options in an effort to solve the problem
• is based on reasonable, realistic appraisals of the stress and coping resources
• learning to recognize and manage potentially disruptive emotional reactions to stress
• learning to exert some control over potentially harmful or destructive habitual behaviors

There are a lot of ways to cope with stress, pressure, or other problems but there are a few things that should be remembered:

• the stress/pressure/problem will never go away till you deal with it
• alcohol/drugs only complicate or prolong the problem
• and finally taking it head on when it shows up is the only thing you can do. Worrying about what is, was or what could of or should of been is not good. As they say " hind sight is always 20/20". You can only do your best and be honest.

Psychology 3.4 xtra credit 1% family/happiness

The family, as I have found out lately, very much so affects your individual happiness. Think about it, for instance you are married and you come home everynight to a mad, depressed wife that in turn has set the mood for the children, so after working 8-10 hours you come home to an unpleasent house filled with depressed mood. I would rather stay at work. Another example is that you are not happy, the children sense it and feel like they are the cause of it. For most people family is very important key to their happiness. Most men are generally happy if their significant other is happy and as we all know if the woman of the house is happy the whole family is happy if not then it can be pretty miserable. Having family support is also a key to individual happiness. Having family support means you have someone close to turn to, to get help from, to tell your secrets or problems too without being afraid of judgement.

Mass Media week 3 2007

Last time I wrote about how much press coverage Paris Hilton is getting and now Brittany Spears is on the front page. What I have noticed is that the media has really brought down their professionalism in my opinion. Stars are captured in what ever pose, with or without proper clothes, and now some magazines have the DIVA or Not section. Yes I hear all of you that are yelling well they are stars and get paid for it so they just have to deal with it. That is true to a point but these stars are people too and deserve just a little more privacy than the press is giving them.
Now lets talk about the Mass Media and the war that is going on. I am sitting in class listening to a radio commentary from World War 1 and I am comparing it to the coverage that todays media is giving the war in Iraq and there is no comparison. In the Iraq war coverage all we get today is how troops are dieing and gross images of the aftermath what has happened to covering what they are doing day to day. What are they encountering? How are they being treated? How are they treating the Iraq people? Maybe I am just not watching the correct news channel but local news and CNN all show the same. I respect and admire the troops that are fighting for my freedom (and everytime I see someone in uniform I thank them for their service) but I truely get tired of hearing how many are dieing and what the government is not doing because they are too busy fighting over who is right. When 9/11 first happened and there was talk of us going over to fight back I admit I was influenced by the Mass Media and was all for it but whatI did not know was that we were going to go over and drag our feet with out troops lives at stake while the president, congress and the house fought over who was right on how we should conduct the operation. Media sometimes is entertaining and fun but at other times can be sad and non-informative. Sometimes I think that the improvements in technology for the media is hazarous and we should go back to the old way.

Psychology week 3 2007 STRESS

Stress is defined as: any circumstances that threaten or are perceived as threatening to ones well being and thereby tax ones coping abilities.
In todays world we need to come to realize that stress is part of our everyday lives, whether your stressed because you woke up late, the kids are giving you a hard time getting up, your boss gets on you first thing in the morning, traffic is backed up and not moving, or just that you spilled coffee on your work clothes and have to change. The key question is how do you deal with it?
Stress is in the eye of the beholder. There are 2 types of appraisals, primary which is how you view the stress and the other is secondary where you evaluate how you will deal with the stress. Some people deal with stress by reacting without thinking and others think about how to cope with it and act upon their decision in how to cope. There are all kinds of stress, your environment, you culture, pressure to get something done within a time table, outside interference, changes in you life, your friends, family and many more. Stress can have a lot of medical effects on you, such as high blood pressure, cardiac conditions, it can make you unhappy all the time which can lead to depression, or it can lead to agression all of which can be very dangerous to yourself and other around you. One way to deal with stress is to have a positive attitude, take action(don't let someone or something stress you out and not take action on it... solve the problem), exercise (great way to get agression out and feel better about your self), don't dwell on the unknown deal with the facts and solve the issue based on fact, be flexible and think of more than one solution if possible and always remain calm (you always get more without yelling) and be respectful.
I have a lot of stress in my life right now because i'm going to school full time, not bringing in any income(not contributing to the household is very stressful to me as I have always worked), having to deal with my daughters father ( who is a pain in my behind everyday ) and I have had to mature a lot but my way of dealing with stress is positive attitude and hugging my babies cause there is no greater love or stress relief than you child hugging you and saying I love you mom. Somehow it makes all the worries go away and I always smile.

Mass Media HUM 121 week 2 2007

I wrote for my phsycology class about people killing their family members which leads into my mass media blog.
In the recent months and weeks I have read about many killings where people have killed their family members. Most recently the police officer from Ohio who killed his girlfriend (maybe his mistress would be a better title) and mother of his 2 children (1 unborn and 1 2yrs old) and then there is the WWE wrestler who killed his wife and son then himself. The media puts this in the news heavy for about 3-4 days then it just disappears and you never find out why it happened or what caused it. Since starting the mass media class it has really opened my eyes to what I do or watch my children also get educated. I have for the last week and a half have found myself listening to music and keeping the tv turned off. My children have benefited because they are outside enjoying the weather and I also have been taking more walks with them. My husband has also enjoyed it because the atmosphere of the house is more upbeat. The other day the tv had been off all day and I thought I might catch a good movie on or something so I turned on the tv only to turn it back off 5 minutes later because there was nothing on but sad news and junk tv shows. I can't believe how much of impact mass media can have on a person. I was surprised after the first class and I really started paying more attn to what I watch when the children are up. It never occured to me that they were paying that much attn to what I was watching even though they were playing with their toys and not directly watching the tv. Amazing

Psychology week 2 2007

I have had many ideas in the last week to blog about but found myself out of time in the day. There is never enough time in the day for me at least to do all the things I want and need to do. The one thing that has been bugging me the most I think is all of the stories about people killing their spouses, kids and then themselves. I have 3 children 15yrs old, 3 1/2 yrs old and 5 1/2 yrs old, they try me a lot but I can not fathum them getting me so upset that I would kill them. I have a very hard time understanding the mind of a man or woman who is willing to kill their children. To me life can not be that bad and if it is give the child to the next door neighbor or another family member to take care of. It sounds like a simple solution to me but in the mind of someone who is willing to kill their family it probably is not. I wonder what does go through their minds that makes it ok to kill someone?