Adolescence Essay

•       During the western societies before the 1900´s, the transition from childhood to adulthood was very short and stressful. It wasn’t until after the 1900´s that the western society required longer education period of time and adulthood was delayed. They called this transition from being a child into an adult, adolescence. They divided adolescence into  3  categories; early adolescence (ages from 11-14), middle adolescence ( 15 to 18), and late adolescence ( from 18 to 21).

The biological changes

•       The biological changes that occur during adolescence are more noticeable than those of any other time of life, with the exception of infancy.

•       Every teenager grows at different rate

•       During adolescence the stable growth pattern in height and weight that mark early and middle childhood comes to an end.

•       Stability is replaced with adolescent growth spurt. This means that usually last two to 3 years and is when the teenager´s body start to show change.

•       Girls adolescent growth starts from, ages 11 or 12. While boys start much more later, about 2 years later than girls.

Later, in middle adolescence, most boys catch up and grow taller than females.

•       This time of adolescence might be awkward for the teenager.

•       Their hands and feet grow before the arms and legs, so many might feel disproportionate

•       As they grow, and become older, the bodies usually reach their correct proportion.

•       Psychologist believe that no more tan 15% of teenagers had difficulty adjusting to the adolescent growth spurt.

Sexual development

•       Entering the teenage years is associated with entering puberty.

•       Puberty refers to the specific developmental changes that lead to the ability to reproduce.

•       During puberty the reproductive organs of both, males and females, changes.

•       Primary sex characteristics are characteristics that are directly involved in reproduction.

•       Secondary sex characteristics are other characteristics that are not directly involved in reproduction.

•       The changes are connected to changes in hormone levels

•       All hormones are present in children of both sexes from births

•       Males produce more testosterone

•       Female more estrogen

Difference in maturity rate

•       Some adolescents reach maturity at a relatively early age, but others might react it earlier in the adolescence.

•       Researches have determine that boys that mature earlier have certain advantages over boys that mature later.

•       However, boys who mature early physically are not necessarily more mature tan their peers in some other ways, such as in how they approach and handle problems.

•       Early maturation is somewhat different for girls. Girls who mature early may feel awkward because they are taller.

•       This trend of early maturation, might make girls go and spend more time with older teenagers, and some girls are not emotionally ready to such event.

•       Although, the early maturing girls usually do not last long. They will be reach by their Friends and the problem will be gone for good.

Social development

•       Researches suggest that the hormonal changes of a adolescent do have some effect on the activity levels, mood swings, and aggressive tendencies.

•       Adolescence is a psychological concept as well as a biological concept. Certainly, adolescence can be challenging time of life.

Relationship with parents

•       During adolescence, parent and child relationship undergo redefinition. However, the picture of adolescence as a state of rebellion is exaggerated. There are more good changes than bad changes.

•       During the adolescence time, many teenagers want to become more independent from their parents, and this decision of great freedom might cause some conflicts.

•       Wanting more freedom might lead to less time spent with the family, great emotional attachment to people that are not family ( mostly Friends)

•       Adolescence, males and females, tend to interact with their mothers than they do with their fathers. They also see their mothers as more supportive than their father.

Adolescences friendships

•       The transition from childhood to adolescence involves an increase in the importance of Friends

•       Friendships is a very important part of a teenager.

•       Most teenager tend to have one or two best Friends as well as they have a lot of great Friends

•       Teenagers also have loyalty as a key aspect of friendship .

•       Having Friends means more to a teenager tan just having people to spend time with.

•       Teenagers usually choose Friends who are similar to themselves in age, background, education, goals and attitude towards drinking, drug use, and sexual activity.

Cliques and crowds

•       Adolescent not only have close Friends, they also tend to belong to one or more large groups called cliques and crowds.

•       A clique is a group of people of 5 to 10 people that spend a lot of time together and are very close to anyone who tries to enter the group.

•       A crowd are larger groups of people but they share attitudes and groups identity.  The crowds are not as close as the cliques.

Dating and romantic relationships

•       Many people begin dating in their teenage years

•       People date for several reasons, obviously learn how to relate positively to other people. It might help prepare for more serious relationships that come later in life.

•       Among younger adolescents, dating relationships tend to be casual and short. But in later adolescence, relationships tend to be more stable and committed.

Challenges of adolescence

•       Eating disorder

•       Anorexia nervosa is a life threatening disorder characterized by self starving and a distorted body image.

•       Bulimia nervosa is characterized by recurrent cycles of binge eating followed by dramatic measures of eliminated food, such as vomiting .

•       This two disorders mostly affected Young women.

•       Many psychologist believe that Young women that have this disorders are because, they undergo the peer pressure of society and their ideal of beauty and perfection.

•       Substance abuse usually begins with experimentation in adolescence.

•       Drugs are also a a fear factor in the teenage lives. Many schools have drug prevention programs but what they can do por a teenager is limited.

Thinking essay

 

Thinking is the mental activity that is involved in the understanding, processing, and communicating of information. In order to do this process we need: Symbols, prototypes, and concepts. A symbol is an object or an act that stands for something else. When thinking, we often use symbols to represent the things which we are thinking. Concept means to group or grouping. When we think, we often tend to mentally group together objects, events, or ideas that have similar characteristics. Concept means to group or grouping. When we think, we often tend to mentally group together objects, events, or ideas that have similar characteristics.

Solving problems involves a series of processes including analyzing the problem, breaking it into component parts and establishing goals. Algorithms: a specific procedure that when used properly, will always lead to the solution of the problem. Sort of short cuts.

Trial and Error: you know what your goal is, but you have no idea how to reach it, similar to systematic but less reliable. Difference Reduction: when we identify our goal. Means-End Analysis: when we know that certain things we can do will have certain results. Working Backward: is the same method of means-ends analysis, with the exception that you start by examining your final goal. You know your goal, you just don’t know to accomplish it. Analogies: is a similarity between two or more items, events, and situations

Creativity requires divergent thinking.

-Divergent thinking: one associates more freely to the various elements of a problem.

-Convergent thinking: the thought limited to available facts.

Assessing the problem: examining its part and making sure that you understand it. Brainstorming Approaches: the free, spontaneous production of possible approaches or solutions to a problem. Choosing an Approach: the problem solver must choose which approach to take and which course of action to follow. Evaluating the results: is when the goal is achieved

 

To make decisions based on limited information. The representative heuristic: people make decision about a sample according to the population that the sample appears to represent. Availability heuristic: people also make decisions on information that is available. The anchoring heuristic: a shortcut that people sometimes take in making decision. Framing effect: refers to the way in which wording affects decision making.

 

Language contain three basic elements: phonemes (sound), morphemes (meaning), and syntax (grammar). Phonemes: are the basic sound of language. These include not only alphabet but vowels. Morphemes: the units of meaning in a language. Morphemes are made up by phonemes, they also can be suffixes or prefixes. Syntax: the way in which words are arranged to make phrases and sentences. Uses the pattern of: subject, verb, and object of verb.

Crying, cooing, and babbling: this are not considered language because they do not used symbols with specific meaning. Words, words, words: after babbling comes this, true language. Most children learn this at 18 months old. Developing of grammar: the meaning of sentences. Children start making sentences often using over regularization.

 

Thinking is included in our daily life. We think unconsciously and consciously all the time. It gets to the point when you do things in a way that it feels so natural to you. Language is what we need most in life, if you cannot communicate with someone you feel impotent and frustrated.

 

 

 

 

 

Motive Essay

 

Motive is a stimulus that moves a person to behave in ways designed to accomplish a specific goal. These cannot be seen or measured directly. There is also the need factor. The need factor is the condition in which we require something we lack ff. there are both psychological and biological needs. The biological needs are eating, sleeping due to physical exhaustion. Psychological need are achievement, self-esteem, and social approval.

The instinct theory- means that instincts are transmitted genetically from generation to generation. It was believed that human behavior primarily was motivated by instincts. Then there is the drive-reduction theory, this theory means that people experience a drive arising from a need as an unpleasant tension. Over time, humans learn to overcome this and also learns to do something to reduce the tension. The humanistic theory bases on a conscious desire of personal growth and artistic fulfillment. The need to become who we need to be to feel accepted, actualization comes from this theory. Social cultural theory- cultural experiences and factors influences the behavior people use to satisfy basic drives. The basic drives are water, food, and air and pain avoidance. Hunger drive has biological and physiological factors and biologically factors. Biologically it is composed of the mouth, the stomach, and the hypothalamus.

There are currently two main scientific ways of explaining the nature of emotions. According to the appraisal theory, emotions are judgments about the extent that the current situation meets your goals. Happiness is the evaluation that your goals are being satisfied, as when winning the lottery solves your financial problems and being asked out holds the promise of satisfying your romantic needs. Similarly, sadness is the evaluation that your goals are not being satisfied, and anger is the judgment aimed at whatever is blocking the accomplishment of your goals

According to Glasser, the basic human needs are survival, freedom, power, fun, and belonging. Competence, Belonging, Usefulness, Potency, and Optimism.

The types of goal are:

Performance goals- specific goals. These goals include gaining admission to college, avoiding criticism, gaining approval of parents.

Learning goals- learning just to learn

Cognitive consistency- try to think and act according to what fits what they believe and how others expect them to think and act.

Balance theory- people need to organize their beliefs

Affiliation – desire of joining with others to be part of something bigger than themselves.

 

Motive and emotions are basically what runs our lives. We do everything in life to feel some kind of emotion or motive. Our emotions are the biggest players in the game of life, because humans are able to do a lot of things to become or to feel a certain emotion, to feel alive and to make everything fit in with their lives.

 

 

Intelligence Essay

 

 

Intelligence means achievement refers to knowledge and skills from experience. You can define intelligence as the abilities to learn from experience, and to think rationally, it is also to deal effectively with others. Other term use is achievement. Achievement can be defined as knowledge and skills gained from only experience. Intelligence can be found in all human beings. It is a term basically use by psychologist to determine how fast or how we interact with problem solving.

Then there is Spearman. This is a theory that all behaviors we consider to be intelligent, are attach to a common factor. This factor is known as the “g” factor, and the “g” represents general intelligence, which many people have. Then there is the Thurstone theory that the verbal meaning is “the knowledge of the meaning of words”. Then there is memory (the ability to recall information, such as words and sentences) and is word fluency that is the ability to think of words quickly for such tasks as rhyming or doing crosswords. Then there is deductive reasoning, which is the ability to derive examples from general rules, also there is inductive reasoning that is the ability to derive general rules from examples given through life. There is also visual and spatial ability which is the ability to picture shapes and spatial relationships, and for last there is perceptual speed which is the ability to understand perceptual information rapidly and to see similarities and differences between stimuli. There is also the numerical ability which only includes the ability to calculate and recall numbers.

Gardner´s theory was that many people are intelligent, in their own way. Many learn better with numbers, while others learn better with music or drawings. He invented the multiple intelligence theory. In the multiple intelligence theory, Gardner divided it into;

Linguistic - using words effectively. These learners have highly developed auditory skills and often think in words. They like reading, playing word games, making up poetry or stories. They can be taught by encouraging them to say and see words, read books together. Tools include computers, games, multimedia, books, tape recorders, and lecture.                                                                                               

Logical -Mathematical - reasoning, calculating. Think conceptually, abstractly and are able to see and explore patterns and relationships. They like to experiment, solve puzzles, ask cosmic questions. They can be taught through logic games, investigations, mysteries. They need to learn and form concepts before they can deal with details.                                                                                                                                

Visual-Spatial - think in terms of physical space, as do architects and sailors. Very aware of their environments. They like to draw, do jigsaw puzzles, read maps, daydream. They can be taught through drawings, verbal and physical imagery. Tools include models, graphics, charts, photographs, drawings, 3-D modeling, video, videoconferencing, television, multimedia, texts with pictures/charts/graphs.           

Bodily-kinesthetic - use the body effectively, like a dancer or a surgeon. Keen sense of body awareness. They like movement, making things, touching. They communicate well through body language and be taught through physical activity, hands-on learning, acting out, role playing. Tools include equipment and real objects.                                                                                      

Musical - show sensitivity to rhythm and sound. They love music, but they are also sensitive to sounds in their environments. They may study better with music in the background. They can be taught by turning lessons into lyrics, speaking rhythmically, tapping out time. Tools include musical instruments, music, radio, stereo, CD-ROM, multimedia.                                                                                       

Intrapersonal - understanding one's own interests, goals. These learners tend to shy away from others. They're in tune with their inner feelings; they have wisdom, intuition and motivation, as well as a strong will, confidence and opinions. They can be taught through independent study and introspection. Tools include books, creative materials, diaries, privacy and time. They are the most independent of the learners.                                                                                                                                

Interpersonal - understanding, interacting with others. These students learn through interaction. They have many friends, empathy for others, street smarts. They can be taught through group activities, seminars, dialogues. Tools include the telephone, audio conferencing, time and attention from the instructor, video conferencing, writing, computer conferencing, E-mail.

 

Then there is emotional intelligence that include; self-awareness, mood management, self motivation, impulse control and people skills. This are the kind of intelligence many people need to socialize between other people. Many psychologist believe that having all the emotional intelligences is a virtue because as human grow older this might help them find friends or better jobs because of their charisma.

 

Intelligence can come in all forms, shapes, and colors. To be intelligent means that we learn from experience and to think rationally, achievement refers to knowledge and skills gained from experience. So, somehow everyone is intelligent and has achieve something in their lives.

Chapter 7 Memory

Memory is the process by which we recollect prior experience and information and skills learned in a lifetime. There are many kind of memories. Memory is classified according to the different kinds of information it contains; such as event, knowledge, and skills. The three kind of memory are episodic memory, sematic memory, and implicit memory.

Episodic memory is a memory of a specific event. If this event took place in the persons presence or if the person had an event. Some events are so important that it seems as if a flashbulb goes off and on, this is called a flashbulb memory. Sematic memory is general knowledge that people remember. This is an example of explicit memory. Things that are explicit are clearly stated or explained. Implicit memory is the opposite of explicit. Implicit memory are implied, or not clearly stated. It consist of the skills or procedures you learned.

Then you have the three process of memory. The first process of memory is encoding. Encoding is the translation of information into a form in which it can be stored. The second stage is storage. Storage is the maintenance of encoded information over a period of time. Within storage you find the maintenance rehearsal, which is the repetition of information over and over again to keep from forgetting. You will also find elaborative rehearsal which is highly use in education method. The third stage is retrieval memory, which consist of locating stored information and returning it to conscious thought. In the retrieval process you will find the Context-dependent memories, which are the memories that came back to you in that place. Then, there is the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon. It is also sometimes referred to as the feeling “Feeling-of-knowing-experience.” Tip of the tongue is when you know something but it is impossible for someone to remember it.

The first stage of memory is the sensory memory. It consist of the immediate, initial recording of information that enters through our senses. Iconic memory is where the visual stimuli, icons, are held. Eidetic memory is when you have photographic memory. To end with the first stage of memory, there is the echoic memory that are mental traces of sound. The second stage is the short-term memory. Short term memory is where the information will remain there after the sensory memory trace has faded away. There is the primary effect and the recency effect. Chunking is when the brain try to keep something in the short-term memory by rehearsing it. Then there is interference, and it occurs when new information appears in short-term memory and takes the place of what is already there. The third and last stage of memory is long-term memory. The mental representation that we form of the world by organizing bit of information into knowledge are called schemas.

All the stages of memory, are important. They all have an efficient work to help us understand how memories themselves work and how we keep out memories intact. Memory is what we have collected over the years with experience and skills we have perfected with practice. The stages of memory all have a process in which every single memory that is created, follows a strict regime so all information is put in place and it has the order that it happened.