Fraidy Cat

Ever been called a fraidy cat? Just today, I came across two great quotes that relate to topics we’ve recently studied in General Psychology.

A week or so ago, we discussed motivation and zeroed in on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and the internal ”push” people feel to become self-actualized. However, according to Maslow, sometimes we make our choices based on fear rather than personal growth, hence staying at the bottom or middle of the pyramid.

We also looked a various types of intelligence, including Daniel Goleman’s emotional intelligence. One component involves an awareness of one’s emotions, and a related element concerns managing one’s emotions. This brings me to fear.  Do people sometimes hang back rather than “going for it” because of fear? Do they sometimes even know that that’s their problem? Do you think that sometimes people aren’t able to manage their fears even if they’re aware of them?

Here are the quotes:

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” Anais Nin

“It’s a sad day when you find out that it’s not accident or time or fortune but just yourself that kept things from you.” Lillain Hellman

What do you think? Is fear keeping you from making your dreams come true? Is it keeping you in a relationship that’s no longer satisfying? Is it keeping you from making a phone call, speaking up for yourself, or flying in an airplane? It could even be fear (of ridicule, of exposure, of inadequacy) that keeps you from commenting on the blog.  In fact, some people even fear success!

What can you do to expand your life today? Do it, or your life will begin to shrink.

Hot Cognition

Doesn’t this sound like an intriguing term? It is indeed. Since we recently studied problem solving in General Psychology, I thought this topic might appeal to some people who often use heuristics (mental shortcuts) when making decisions. Frankly, that could apply to all of us since we all act from feeling and desire once in a while.

 

Hot cognition is a relatively new psychological term describing the mental processes that occur when emotions and personal goals influence judgment. Unlike cold cognition that is purely intellectual, it often relies on biases, hunches, feelings, intuition, “gut feelings,” and heuristics. People are especially likely to rely on this type of processing when making decisions that involve powerful emotions and self-interest.

 

Have you ever made a decision based on emotion before fully analyzing the situation? Have you ever found it hard to calm down enough to critically and clearly analyze what’s going on? Would you like to share an example?

 

First Memory

Last week we talked about memory, and one topic was infantile amnesia. For some reason, most people don’t remember anything that happened before they were 2 or 3 years old. Why we don’t know. It could be that the hippocampus, a brain structure instrumental in episodic memories, isn’t developed until then. Then again, the fact that infants aren’t yet proficient in language could be a factor.  

Some psychologists feel that the first memory is significant in telling us something about ourselves and our current relationships, lifestyle, and perhaps even self image. Who was in your first memory? Perhaps more importantly, who was not? What was your role? Were you the center of attention, the pampered baby, the caretaker, or what? And how did you feel? Were you mad, glad, scared, or sad? Of all the things that happened to you in infancy and early childhood, why do you think this one memory stands out? Do you think it has significance for you life today?

Here’s my first memory. I was probably around 3 years old, and I was sitting in the back seat of a car listening to my mother and her mother exchange small talk as my mother parked the car. She said something to my grandmother and then got out of the car. I’m not sure where she was going, but I wasn’t alarmed because I knew she’d be back. My brother Mike, however, became extremely distressed. He began to cry as if his little heart was broken, and I reached over and put my arm around his shoulder, whispering that everything would be fine…that our sweet mama would be right back. My grandmother was a great gal, but she didn’t seem to be involved (in my memory at least) in comforting Mike.

Even today, if he’s upset, I’m upset. I’m also protective. If one of my own children were to say something like, “I saw Uncle Mike wearing yellow polka dot running shorts and an orange hat,” I’d say, “So? What’s wrong with that?” Oh, and about our grandmother. She was cool lady, always loving but never cloying, intrusive, smothering, or demanding.

First memory. Mine’s of my brother, and it has significance to my life today. What’s yours? Come on and share. Maybe we can figure out what it means.

To Tell or not to Tell

Here’s an ethical/moral scenario that was submitted by a former student. It fits perfectly with our recent discussion of Kohlberg’s stages of moral development. Read it and share what you think this student should do.

 

“You are a student at a local technical college.  Every time you take a test in one of your classes, the person sitting beside you seems to be cheating. During the first two tests, he kept keying something into his cell phone or some type of programmable electronic device.  Then on the third one, he had a piece of paper under his shirt on his lap. He would watch the teacher and whenever the teacher was looking down at the other students’ papers, he would lift his shirt up and look for answers.  First how do you go about telling the teacher, or do you inform the teacher?  The student is a total stranger, so how do you confront him?  You feel strongly about what he is doing is wrong, but his first two grades were barely passing, even by cheating, so you feel as though he needs all the help he can get.  What do you do?”

 

Life Without Memory

Remember waking up this morning? Within seconds, you probably realized what day it was and began to have some thoughts about what the day entailed. In other words, you became consciously aware of your thoughts, perceptions, and surroundings. You might even have a memory of the tail end of a dream or of a bout of insomnia that kept you from a night of peaceful slumber.

Contrast your awakening with that of Clive Wearing, the man we discussed in PSY 201 who has no memories of the past and no thoughts of the future. Clive developed amnesia over 20 years ago after developing viral encephalitis that destroyed his hippocampus and part of his frontal lobe, areas of the brain believed to be crucial in memory formation. He lives in short 20-30 second intervals of time and feels that he is constantly awakening…from what, he can’t say. Perhaps to assure himself that he’s actually alive, Clive writes statements such as, “I am awake at last,” and “I’m fully conscious for the first time,” in his journal.

Clive remembers his wife Deborah, how to speak and write, how to play the piano, how to dance, and a few other things. However, he can’t remember the names of his children or where he is. He says he’s never seen a human being and vows that his doctors are incompetent. In fact, on a fairly recent YouTube video, he says he’s never seen a doctor. For more information, you might want to Google the man with the most severe and long lasting case of amnesia in the world.

In the meantime, compare his consciousness to yours. You wake up once in the morning (usually) and know where and who you are; he wakes up hundreds and hundreds of times a day and feels that it’s the FIRST time he’s been conscious in a long, long time.  Can you imagine having no past and no future but a mere 30 seconds (tops) in which to experience your life?