By: Maddy Lestage Do you ever have trouble memorizing things? Do you ever feel like no matter how hard you try to remember something, you just can’t seem to do it? The truth is, nobody has a perfect memory, and everybody forgets things from time to time. However, every single one of us has a limitless memory capacity. Storage isn’t the issue, the ability to recall the information we store is where we have trouble. This can be very frustrating at times, so here are a few simple tips and tricks that can help you improve your memory so you can bring it to use. Memory is not a set thing. It is very capable of being wrong because it changes over time. You may think you have a certain memory of something, but in truth, that memory could be a reconstruction of stories you have been told and photos you have seen over time. So, this means that memory is more like reconstruction than a photographic recording. This is because we use our (somewhat unreliable) long-term memory to help us bring information back into our short-term memories, and this can sometimes give the memory a new meaning. The mind's capacity to store and recall information is truly wondrous. However, there are several factors that explain why some of us have such a hard time processing the information we take in to form memories. The most prominent factor being technology. According to the 2018 Global Mobile Consumer Survey: US Edition, Americans are viewing their smartphones more often than ever before, on average 52 times per day. If you are between the age of 18 and 24, the rate is almost double. Also, the fact that all the information we need is available on the internet makes people a lot lazier when it comes to memorizing. This makes people less motivated to store the information in their head because they know that the information is just one google search away. Mr. LeDoux, whose work focuses on how the brain forms memories, said that “this instant-fact setup clouds our judgment on what information to filter and store.” Lastly, people like to multitask. Many people seem unaware of the fact that they would accomplish more if they gave their undivided attention to their task. This is because people aren’t as good at multitasking as they think. In fact, the brain does have limitations as to what it can process and handle. However, there are a few simple things we can do to improve our memories. Repetition The best way to transform short-term memories into long-term memories is by the repetition of tasks, such as reading or saying words over and over. In order to do this, we need to focus on only one task at a time. Repeating words, thoughts, and ideas over and over until you get them right is the easiest way to do it, and it is helpful because that is probably most like the strategies you used when you were younger. Take Your Time It is very important to take your time when you study. This means that you need to stop cramming immediately! Repetition is always the best way to remember things. Robert Bjork, the chair of U.C.L.A.’s psychology department said, “quickly stuffing facts into our brains leads us to forget them in the long-term.” Yet, when you rehearse stuff over and over again it sticks with you. Also, if you incorporate the stuff you are trying to remember into your daily life, you should begin to remember it over time. However, once you stop rehearsing it, you forget the information. It is called the “forgetting curve.” To avoid getting this, space out the repetition/study period over a few days. Motivation and Cues Since our minds wander so frequently, it is important to stay motivated. It was found that some students are motivated to focus by frequent tests on the material they are learning. Harvard researchers found that this method decreases daydreaming by 50 percent while studying, helping to keep people focused on their assignment. Mr. Schacter suggests employing visual or verbal cues to associate the information you are trying to remember with places and/or things. This is because memory is very cue-dependent. When you don’t have cues, it can be a lot more difficult to remember things. Stop Procrastinating… Get to Work! Many studies have found that procrastinating stresses people out. Then, when they go to do their work, the stress they have built up is at such a high level that it completely destroys their focus, not allowing them to get work done efficiently. This is bad because memory and focus are very closely related. If you aren’t completely focused when trying to memorize something, you will not retain much at all. “A lot of people are overconfident that they can handle distractions,” Mr. Schacter said. “Doing two things at once always has an effect.” Be aware of the situation you’re in and don’t let your surroundings distract you. Stop procrastinating… get to work! Our memories aren’t perfect by any means. Honestly, we could all use a bit of help with our memories. Memory is a very complex skill that you can learn and continue to improve throughout your life. The best way to improve memory is to follow these simple tips and tricks. They will help you more than you would expect. Popescu, A. (2017, October 19). Simple Ways to Be Better at Remembering. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/smarter-living/simple-ways-to-be-better-at-remembering.html?rref=collection/timestopic/Psychology and Psychologists&action=click&contentCollection=health®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=166&pgtype=collection https://i1.wp.com/axtschmiede.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/improving-your-memory.png?fit=650%2C350
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by Winnie Leahy Although they may not seem it, eating disorders are much more common than one may think. They are also much more of a challenge than most people may think. They can target anyone, even if they aren’t critical, and they are extremely difficult to treat. Although, they are easier to control if you have a support system. In the article I read, To Treat an Eating Disorder-It Sometimes Takes Two, the psychologists conducted an emotional experiment based off of the emotions of eating disorders. The study focuses on women (although it is not just women who get disorders) and their romantic partners, which in this study, happen to be men. The experiment, run by Dr. Bulik and Donald H. Baucom, focuses on the romantic partner as a support system. The study took women with eating disorders and gave them individual therapy before introducing a partner as a support system. Once the partner was introduced, weight gain increased and anxiety, depression, and the dropout rate of the program all decreased significantly. By introducing the partners into therapy once a week, the women felt supported within their journeys. By introducing the partners, Bulik and Baucom were practicing the Maudsley approach. The Maudsley approach is when someone in group therapy brings their family to group once a week as a support system. The Maudsley approach has been proven effective by the study. Unfortunately, in a lot of eating disorder cases, most partners are unaware the disorder is even there. They are oblivious to the fact that their partner has an eating disorder, so they do nothing to help. Most men see the eating habits of women who struggle with a disorder as normal. They base what they see off of the negative stigma that surrounds women’s relationships with food, and figure it’s “a girl thing.” Most partners don’t understand what it takes to win a battle against an eating disorder. Although, Most partners want to help the other get through what they’re dealing with. It is not in their best interest for their partner to be unhappy and have to deal with it alone. Unfortunately, they simply don’t know what to do when faced with a difficult situation around food. The purpose of this experience was to see what would happen if they had the tools to use and knew how to approach a problem during a meal. It turns out, the results are extremely positive when you add the conflict into a healthy relationship. There are multiple reasons to why partners may have an effect on weight gain, but I think the biggest is that, a healthy relationship causes a healthy person. For example, one of the women tested was named, Lauren Hill. Lauren Hill had gone through her share of partners before settling on her husband. The one thing that all the partners who didn’t work out had in common was, that they were unsupportive in Lauren’s road to recovery. Some told her what her disorder didn’t want to hear, but what she had to hear in a brutally honest way that made her want to get better. Lauren tried to go into therapy after the awakening call, but it wasn't proving effective. It seemed that the road to Lauren’s recovery didn't really begin until she found a partner who was willing to learn her disorder and support her in her recovery. To me, this experiment is especially interesting because, I for one have been on the other side. I have seen someone struggle with an eating disorder and I have been the family part of the Maudsley approach. I have seen not only family being introduced into the intensive therapy for eating disorders, but I have also seen a romantic partner introduced as a way to give support when families seem to be the root of the problem. From my experience, the partners have been well trained and I found it interesting on how fast they were able to pick up on it. When asked the question, “Do you ever miss something? As in, are you ever oblivious to the problem?” most of the men responded that they were able to pick up on some issues that the women themselves couldn’t even pick up. And vice versa, they did miss some, but it was rare for either of them to miss the cues. They both said they were in it together and they had both gotten to know the difference between when the disorder was speaking vs when she was speaking up. Then, the woman was faced with the question, “Could you have done it without your husband?” She immediately said that in her family, most of the girls have developed eating disorders and that she was the only who had ever gotten help. She was 100% certain that it was because of her husband who told her the behavior was irregular and needed to be treated. In fact, most of the group said that they wouldn’t have made it to treatment, let alone outpatient, if it hadn’t been for their family or partner. Every single person agreed that they needed the push to get help, because it’s hard to admit you have the disorder once it has become part of you. People need the support just as much as they need the therapy. The study was one to prove that if one didn't have a solid support system, they would lose weight, anxiety and depression levels go up, and they are more likely to give up on the program. You can’t deal with eating disorders alone-and that’s why. Ellin, A. (2018, November 29). To Treat Eating Disorders, It Sometimes Takes Two. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/29/well/eat/eating-disorders-food-anorexia-bulimia-binge-partners-spouses-treatment.html?rref=collection/timestopic/Psychology and Psychologists&action=click&contentCollection=health®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection https://www.addictioncampuses.com/blog/addiction-and-eating-disorders/
Jane Fulton Have you ever thought about the way hate speech affects you on a biological level? Although there it is difficult to prove an immediate link between incendiary speech and violent behavior, there is no doubt a connection. The human mind is easily influenced by the actions and behavior of people around them, and hatred emanating from people in power has an especially potent effect. Scientists know from a Polish study conducted in 2017 that the more exposure a person has to hate speech, the more prejudiced they become. Essentially, the more often people hear hateful things from others, the more likely they are to believe those things and take a stance contrary to a marginalized group. The more hate speech a person hears, the more common it is, and people stop caring about this behavior that is typically socially inappropriate. The more they are exposed to it, the less people are bothered by this verbal aggression and less likely to defend victims of bigotry. There is concrete evidence scientists have found in the brain for such a connection. When someone listens to hate speech, a part of the brain called the amygdala is activated. Hormones such as cortisol and norepinephrine course through the brain. These chemicals are called stress hormones, and they create fear, anger, and aggression in the brain. This can cause people to act with hostility after being exposed to hate speech. Mina Cikara, a psychologist at Harvard, conducted a study that found that when people have distrust of an outgroup, a group of people that an individual does not identify with, impulsive anger and violence increases. When individuals are threatened by out-groups, for example, facing economic struggles such as unemployment, this observation is made even more clear. Cikara states that: “when a group is put on the defensive and made to feel threatened, they begin to believe that anything, including violence, is justified.” Feeling threatened makes it easier for people to think of others as less than human and have little compassion. This all around leads to decreased social cognition, or the ability to put yourself in another’s shoes. Such feelings, or lack thereof, often lead to violent behavior and speech. In a study done in 2011, it was found that people often lack empathy towards homeless people and drug addicts. Feelings of disgust were activated in the brain in an area called the insula. Dr. Fiske, who conducted the study, said: “Both science and history suggest that people will nurture and act on their prejudices in the worst ways when these people are put under stress, pressured by peers, or receive approval from authority figures to do so.” We, as socially cognisant beings, need to be aware of the words and actions of those around us and how they impact the way we think. Hate speech, violent behavior, and hostility are unfortunately a part of our daily life, and we need to stop them from becoming even more commonplace. Knowing that hearing these words physically affects your brain is an important step, and we need to figure out a way to make these actions unacceptable again. Image: https://www.nationofchange.org/2017/09/09/hate-speech-not-free-speech/ Friedman, R. A. (2018, October 31). The Neuroscience of Hate Speech. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/31/opinion/caravan-hate-speech-bowers-sayoc.html?rref=collection/timestopic/Psychologyand Psychologists&action=click&contentCollection=health®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=search&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection By Lily Sinker Do you ever think to yourself when you wake up, what the heck did I just dream about? Why do I keep dreaming of this? Does my dream mean anything? This is your brain having fun or in better terms experimenting. Your brain uses the time you are sleeping as a low-risk environment and a time to make new chemical reactions. When you wake up you might be wondering why you are dreaming about that test in the future that is stressing you out. This is your brain working through your anxieties and helping you prepare for that test and all of its possibilities and how to handle them. “Students who dreamed more often about the test performed better in real life”. That’s because when we are stressed we tend to dream about success and how we were able to overcome past stresses. You have probably stressed about a test more than once and still did a good job on it and your brain remembers that it helps you later on. Your brain finds connections like these all the time. Your brain might also connect your test to the school catching on fire or your pencil turning into jello. “A dream object does not transform randomly into another object, but into an object that shares formal associative qualities with the first”. That’s why when you are stressed about that test you could dream that you forgot your pants or didn’t wear shoes to the test.
Plus, the dream emotions that you usually have are mostly negative; they are things like fear, helplessness, guilt, and anxiety. You know, the fun emotions that we all love! Your brain does that so you can work through those problems and prepare to face it in the real world. Have you ever had a dream that a giant animal was attacking you? Well, if you have you can blame on our cave-dwelling ancestors for that trait. They also had these dreams so they could face dangerous situations in the safety of their dreams and are able to confront them in real life. Even though we don’t really have to worry about huge wild animals attacking us we still have to worry about problems as bad or even worse. Your brain does these things so that it can prepare you to fight a wild animal or try not to yell at one of your co-workers for eating that brownie you were saving for lunch. Also, this shows that dreams aren’t completely random for the most part because they are taking what they know and making it into something that could be useful. Most of your dreams have to do with your real life and are in familiar places like work, school, your house, or your room and can have familiar people or animals. You might still be wondering why these dreams are so weird. Well, hate to break it to you but most of your dreams are normal but you can’t really remember them, you just remember the weird things or strange dreams and that because your brain recognizes these as unusual even though it made these strange things happen. Lastly, when something like flying in your dream happens the emotion that you are experiencing are usually appropriate to what is going on in the dream no matter how weird the dream is. “The dreamer’s own self was “well preserved” and “rarely plagued by features incongruous with the waking reality”. This may make your dreams seem real because technically it is your real self and sometimes it’s hard to distinguish dreams and reality because nothing is different about the way you think, act and react and you are rarely a warped reality of yourself. Whether you dream of walking into finals half naked or dream of a tiny hand-sized purple elephant your brain is helping you in the long run even if it seems like your brain is using you as a chemical reaction experiment. Photo Credits: https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/journaling By: Caroline Chittum How many times during the day does your stress level reach “freak out” mode? Do ever feel overwhelmed to point where your brain feels foggy? Do ever feel weighed down by negative thoughts? The answer to these problems may be journaling. Expressing our emotions is the key to many people’s anxiety and stresses in life. When we keep our feelings inside, we are setting ourselves up for disaster: an explosion caused by avoiding powerful emotions can erupt in a blink of an eye. It is natural to want to avoid uncomfortable and traumatic emotions, but we must train ourselves to get in the habit of expressing them. When we experience a traumatic events in our lives, our brains are overwhelmed with the demanding task of processing the incident. Because our minds are already preoccupied with comprehending this event, any extra stress we experience may send us over the edge. This means our health is in jeopardy. For example, sleeping patterns will be disrupted and resulting in chronic tiredness and a lack of motivation. Everyone is different, and therefore everyone needs a form of healthy stress relief that works with their lifestyle. Journaling may be something to try. Journaling has been called the cornerstone of the wellness movement. Doctors and therapists have noted the countless health benefits that correspond with regularly practicing journaling. Their patient's well-being showed signs of turning around for the better by just writing. How is this simple exercise so influential? Studies have provided evidence that supports the idea that journaling can be a remedy for modern day ailments. It has the power to heal both mental and physical illness by simply giving our brain room to breath. Improved memory, increased mindfulness, and better the person’s communication skills are a few of journaling side effects. Journaling has also been linked to a higher IQ, a better immune system, and boosted confidence. A study that was conducted in New Zealand tested and supported the theory that writing about our emotions can actually help physical wounds heal faster. A social psychologist at the University of Texas at Austin named Dr. James W. Pennebaker has done extensive work on studying the effects of “writing therapy”. Dr. Pennebaker said, “It’s a whole cascade of things that occur”, regarding this form of therapy. When we use this form of mental organization our working memory is exercised and therefore will improve; this causes our brains to be less overwhelmed with processing certain traumatic events and thus our sleep patterns will also improve. Dr. Pennebaker’s landmark study on journaling (1988) was documented in his book, “Opening Up: The Healing Power of Expressing Emotion”. The controlled clinical study consisted of students that were selected at random and asked to write for fours days in a row about traumatic experiences, negative emotions, or anything on their minds that they felt they needed to express. After six weeks of practicing journaling, the students reported to be in a much better mood and had less illnesses overall than before the study. Dr. Pennebaker’s book dives into the science behind why and how our bodies respond to this release of emotion. His research exposed the truths about the mind-body connection and that buried trauma is detrimental to our immune system. Julia Cameron, author of “The Artist’s Way”, is another expert and believer in journaling as a way of mental and physical healing. Her ideas are more spiritual and geared to the creative aspect of journaling, but it is all based on the same founding scientific ideas that Dr. Pennebaker discovered in his study. She encourages people who are starting journaling for the first time to think of it as a “brain drain”. Journaling does not have to have a set topic and there is absolutely no rules. It doesn’t even have to resemble writing; it could simple be a few words on a page. The bottom line is that journaling can transform your health. Cameron suggests that one should start journaling first thing in the morning.There is a 45 minute window in the morning before our ego’s defenses kick in, so finding that sweet spot is the perfect time to start getting out emotions on paper. Also, don’t feel pressured to write with a pencil and paper. Dr. Pennebaker says that any format for writing, whether it be on a laptop or on a phone, will produce the same results. The goal is not ruminate. The soul purpose of journaling is to express our feelings and to relieve our minds of traumatic experiences that bring about stress. So, the next time that you feel overwhelmed by a painful emotion, instead of staying silent, try to just writing it. Citation: Phelan, H. (2018, October 25). What's All This About Journaling? Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/25/style/journaling-benefits.html?rref=collection/timestopic/Psychology and Psychologists&action=click&contentCollection=health®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=8&pgtype=collection Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/25/style/journaling-benefits.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FPsychology%20and%20Psychologists&action=click&contentCollection=health®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=8&pgtype=collection By Calin McGonagle Studies have proven that when you get credit for your work, it gives your brain good feelings and can actually help you get more done. Some companies even use praise to boost productivity, and experts say the keeping a positive view can decrease your stress levels. Research also shows that praise can make you more motivated, as well as improve your overall performance and increase your brain’s ability to remember new skills and repeat them. Even though all this is true, we still like to focus in on the negative rather than boosting up the positive - our difficulty with accepting compliments is largely due to the fact that it is associated with bragging, which is not a good thing. Sometimes our greatest strengths are of such second nature to us that we don’t even realize that they’re useful. Still, it’s difficult to accept a compliment without making things awkward. So if you want to comfortably accept a compliment, make sure that you make your answer short, but still let them know that you appreciate it. Saying things like “Thanks, I’m glad you said that,” or “I appreciate that you noticed that,” can go a long way. While accepting compliments from others is a start, accepting compliments from yourself can be even more motivating. When people get credit for work that’s meaningful to them, even if it’s from themselves, it can often be incredibly mood-boosting. Dr. Amabile, who has studied “the impact of daily events on one’s productivity and inner work-life,” says that even in the absence of recognition, people often felt better when they made progress in work that meant something. Dr. Chris Cascio, who is an assistant professor at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, did a riveting experiment. He found that when participants in his experiment were probed to think about things they cared about, and then were shown messages that encouraged exercise habits, the areas in their brain responsible for reward lit up. Those same people often then went on to improve their exercise routines, freshly motivated. So, how can you compliment and help yourself? Well, you can celebrate even the small things by writing down things you complete throughout the day, or journaling about your day and your feelings throughout the day every night. Even if these tiny wins barely touch the bigger picture or goal, it can improve many aspects like your mood and motivation, as well as give your brain very good feelings. Keep a record of things you’re proud of and of meaningful compliments or letters you’ve gotten to help give your brain good feelings. Another option is to try to set aside time every week to talk about what you’ve accomplished with someone you trust. Talking to a trusted friend, co-worker, classmate, or family member can help you become more comfortable in talking about your accomplishments, which may come in handy in more serious situations like a job interview. To conclude, compliments do a lot of good things for our brains, and can help us be not only more motivated, but also more productive, while also boosting our mood. Compliment yourself or a friend today! By: Maddie Marston What kind of learner do you think you are: visual or auditory? The truth is, it does NOT matter! Studies have found that there is no true evidence that points to the existence of learning styles. Most of the time you are just tricking yourself into thinking that one learning style is better for you by trying to learn in accordance to what you believe is your learning style. Three studies done by psychologists all point to the fact that learning styles do not exist, and there is no learning style that is better than another. Joshua Cuevas and Bryan L. Dawson (2017) tested learning styles in a survey study of 204 university students. This survey consisted of questions like, “Do you spell an unfamiliar word by sounding it out or visualizing the letters?”, or “Do you give directions in words or by drawing a map?” They also read statements and asked the participants if they created an image in their head or listened to sound and pronunciation. You would expect that visual learners would focus on creating an image in their head while auditory learners would listen to the pronunciation. However, it turned out to be opposite; visual learners focused on sound while auditory learners created an image of the statement. The next study done (Massa & Mayer, 2006) tested the participants ability to learn new tasks through one’s preferred learning style: a diagram or written instruction. People who thought that they were visual learners chose to study the diagram, and people who thought they were verbalizers chose to read. The outcome turned out that neither of the groups learned the task any faster than another, therefore people just try to learn in accordance to what they think their learning style is. The last study (Kraemer, Rosenberg & Thompson-Schill 2009) looks into the brain activity. The participants consisted of eighteen right-handed people (11 are women). They were given either a picture such as a striped triangle, or words such as “orange”, “circle”, “dots.” Then, the participants had to match the next item that popped up with the one before. When a visual learners saw words, they were transforming the words into a picture, therefore the visual part of the brain was active. The opposite occurred for when verbal learners saw a picture they were translating it into words, therefore their verbal parts of the brain were active. This study shows how people mentally try and change their thinking to match it with what they believe is their learning style. These studies show us that there are no learning styles that we are constrained to because we are able to adapt to anything. Inevitably, sometimes learning styles can hurt us because they are just not fit for a certain task. For instance, problems involving creativity is better fit with intuitive thinking while problems involving probability calculations is better fit with reflective thinking. There is no way that on a statistics test a intuitive learner who uses creativity would ace the test because reflective thinking works more with problems involving with calculations. Learning styles do not actually exist because there is no good evidence. Therefore, you must transform your thinking to meet the task you are trying to complete rather than trying to change your thinking style. Anyone can use any type of learning because they are all accessible by our brains to perform certain tasks. Willingham, D. T. (2018, October 04). Are You a Visual or an Auditory Learner? It Doesn't Matter. Retrieved from
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/04/opinion/sunday/visual-learner-auditory-school-education.html?rref=collection/timestopic/Psychology and Psychologists&action=click&contentCollection=health®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=16&pgtype=collection Annie Lowenstein Do you find yourself juggling a dozen projects in various states of completion all happening at once? You’re not alone. But when you don’t know can hurt you. Having this many tasks all happening at once can lead to excess stress in your life. But through setting goals and being selective there are ways to break this cycle of stress. Many people find themselves doing two or three projects in any given week, we may ‘abandon one’, or ‘save it for later’ as we tell ourselves but really when we do this, it turns into an unconscious load of stress that we have no control of… But wait, yes you do. It starts with our very first decision to start a project, then our brains commit something called a planning fallacy, which is a mistaken belief. The planning fallacy states that there is a, “predisposition of humans to underestimate the time it takes to complete a thing”. What this is saying is that as humans, we cannot accurately estimate the amount of time something will take. So, in turn we overcommit ourselves to an abundance of tasks we can’t complete. This principle is so deep within us that some people can understand it, and acknowledge the fallacy, but still commit it. It is also partly that our unconscious brain finds new things so exciting, that they throw our brain for a loop, and out brains reward ourselves for starting something new, because the chemical reaction that takes place feels so good. As humans, we are built to crave this feeling, and can get addicted to starting new tasks. It is a form of operant conditioning, something called positive reinforcement: When we add something into our lives to strengthen the good feeling in our brains. After a while, we are conditioned to crave the feeling of starting new things. But with time, naturally, the excitement will fade and your brain will lose interest in those things that we don’t really care about. After a while they loom over us as half-completed, and nag on our brains, adding more stress. Sometimes it can make you feel weighed down to the amount of tasks you are trying to handle all at once, created bad stigma around what that project is. But there is a way to solve this looming crisis! There are various ways we can avoid the extra tasks turning into stress. It has to do with self-affirmation, and how your brain rewards itself upon completion of a task. Dr. Amabile, who studies the impacts of daily events on ones productivity and work life, found in a study that participants, that the most impactful events in productivity were the small progresses, or “micro progresses” that kept participants interested in a project. This means that even the slightest of tasks completed would fuel the fire to continuously wanting to work on the task. With these tips, you can keep yourself true to the projects you care about, and leave behind those that aren’t of interest to you. First tip, figure out what success really is to you in the thing you want to begin, and set goals for yourself. Because, when we fail to reach a standard that is unreasonable, it makes us lose interest in that thing. Next, learn how to “Count the full cost”. This means that when we want to start a new task and try to think about the time it will take to complete, multiply that time by three. This multiplication of time seems to be a lot, or almost too much, but has been found to be accurate in making realistic time estimates. To-do lists are also very helpful, this can be considered a form of “micro progress”… When you check off the items on your list, there is a chemical reward released into your brain and it is encouraging for your brain to keep building off of those small accomplishments. Lastly, know when to give up: Set a cutoff date in your head to quit at something when or before it lingers too much and beings to cause you stress. Because once that happens we begin to associate that thing that looms over us as a bad thing, and can cause conditioned reactions to it. Our brains only have so much attention capacity so don't let something from ages ago take up that space you could use for important things. With these tips, conquer those things you’re passionate about and dump those that you aren’t. Can you think of any projects you’ve brushed into the corner? Higgs, M. M. (2018, December 04). How to Accept a Compliment - Even if It's From Yourself. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/04/smarter-living/how-to-accept-a-compliment.html?module=inline Herrera, T. (2018, December 10). Why You Start Things You'll Never Finish. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/09/smarter-living/why-you-start-things-youll-never-finish.html?rref=collection/timestopic/Psychology and Psychologists&action=click&contentCollection=health®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=collection Multitasking woman stock photos. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.shutterstock.com/search/multitasking woman By: Lizzie Guertler How do you decide whether or not you trust someone? Are they actually trustworthy? Every day, your brain makes mental leaps which can cause you to automatically trust someone without further knowledge. An unconscious bias is a shortcut that your brain takes to come to a conclusion. They happen all the time when you are in class, in a meeting, and in general talking to someone. Your brain likes to make conclusions and these conclusions cause you to create cultural bias’ that become encoded in our brains. They can be dangerous, inaccurate, and overall wrong, but the scary thing is that these happen without us being aware of it.
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Ms. Carrigan's Psych ClassWe have been reading articles about psychological studies to inform the way we live our lives. Please explore, and we hope you learn a bit about the psychology in your life! Categories
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