Weekly Blog

BLOG 10 – 04.11

For it being my first semester at ODU it definitely was an interesting one, to say the least. My initial expectations for this class were lots of notes and deep information going into each topic that is talked about in the book. I do feel the heavy note-taking still stood but it did not hit as deep as I expected and I am actually thankful for that. Taking good notes for the exams was a must and although I did well on both exams taken so far I believe that was due to taking notes on literally anything that was mentioned in the chapters and following the videos provided.

I mentioned in my first blog how I believed what was taught in this class would be able to help me view people better in my work setting and that still follows. When helping and talking to patients I am able to sit there and think of different things we learned about throughout the chapter based on the way we think, stereotypes, different relations, and how we react to them.

I was very strong in my first blog stating how I am with note-taking and how much I read and note-taking. How this year has been with handing COVID-19 patients’ school has been on a side burner for me a little. I am still super focused and hard working in my studies but not as much as I wish I could have been.  I hope as the world slowly gets back to normal, I am able to balance myself between work and school successfully like I was able to before.

BLOG 9 – 04.04

In this class, I have been able to learn the deep connections behind relationships with family members to significant others and why we love what we do. At the beginning of the semester, we were able to talk about and understand the actual meanings behind the different ways we think based on the situation and how we handle things. With what is very fitting in today’s time we learned about how we judge people based on the way they look, the group they are in, and how we tend to always view people before we get the chance to meet them. We found out based on past studies and our own self-reflections that stereotypes have not changed much for some races and most likely will not until we are able to be better educated in those particular races.

Every blog and module archive tied in with the chapter in some way to help you understand and relate to them in a different way. From choosing your own self decided stereotypes for every race to testing what kind of lover you are in a relationship they were all key factors that we taught in each particular chapter.

My old ‘Intro to Psychology’ professor at Tidewater Community College mentioned the heuristics to us briefly and had us complete a little assignment by having us stop our thoughts and think about which heuristic was used during each thought and made us compare our thought process with each other which in the end showed what kind of thinkers we were.

BLOG 8 – 03.28

I absolutely believe and agree on the mating background. We are human and in the end, for many, it’s to get what we want no matter how, and for many people that may be a sexual activity of some type. I do believe in the society we live in today a lot of partners do fake their feelings in a relationship in order to make sure they are getting things from their partners. It is very hard to build a relationship on trust for some people because they always feel they won’t be able to tell if the feelings are mutual or if they are just being used in some way.

Being stalked by someone you were in a previous relationship happens in so many different ways we don’t normally think of as off-putting until we really lot into it. A big way an ex stalks their ex-partners in today’s time is through social media by constantly checking on their pages and if they have been unfriended or blocked, they can go as far as creating a fake page to continue looking. Having an ex-partner who stalks you can be very dangerous depending on the individual and how serious they are about it.

I believe the easiest way a man can upset a woman is simply by not listening. Regardless if it is a verbal or nonverbal conversation, I feel men have a very difficult time listening to what is going on and causes many issues in relationships. Many women do not like to repeat themselves or going through the same motions constantly due to the fact someone just didn’t listen the first time.

A good way for a woman to upset a man is to always assume. Women are very quick to judge and assume things regardless of it’s on the male’s past, something he may have just worded wrong, etc. we often refuse to allow time for explanation and are quick to judge and argue. Men get annoyed by this because they are often made the bad guy for most of the time little to no reason at all.

BLOG 7 – 03.21

Self-Regulation (control) is one key factor to emotional intelligence based on how you control and manage yourself in particular situations. You learn to teach yourself ways to focus better on the positive things in life and how to clear your mind from all the negative energy. The video mentioned that what we feel tends to affect our thoughts, which I believe to be completely true. The woman in the video gave some great examples on how to clear those negative emotions from yourself:

1. Breath exercises- allowing you to open up and destress.
2. Body scan- with your eyes open or closed, breathe in through different parts of your body normally starting with your toes and relax and destress the areas that need it most.
3. Pay attention to feelings and see where judgments are. We always hold judgments towards ourselves that are negative and need to be let go. By letting yourself know you’re aware of the negative thoughts made toward yourself you are able to handle the situation better and get rid of that negative emotion.

BLOG 6 – 03.14

This Ted talk could be a huge eye opener for many, especially those who didn’t really pay much attention to media advertisements with women in them. For years women have been photoshopped to be shown as the ‘perfect’ image that we needed to follow in order to be in line with today’s beauty standards. It is amazing and sad at the same time that the speaker of the video has been collecting advertisements negatively showing women since the 60’s and nothing has changed. Women are being sexualized in advertisements when there really is no need for it. like the example used by the speaker for the jeans commercial, the woman had absolutely no pants on but her entire bottom was exposed. Body parts are missing from photos because we want people to believe they have to be this perfect tiny size; women of color are being made into lighter tones to match the white crowd instead of having them embrace their natural skin tone. Dark circles and acne are being erased from women’s faces in commercials because not having perfect skin is never allowed.

We are dressing young children in adult dress, makeup, and vulgar posing for adult content magazines when they are setting examples for young girls their age that says dressing like this is the new normal. We are not allowing young girls to be kids anymore; we are setting an imagine that says you have to look and be pretty 24/7.

Women of all sizes and shape are beautiful no matter what society says. Back in the 1950’s to 1970’s women who were curvy were known to be sexier than those who were on the skinner side. Now in today’s society, the skinner you are the hotter you are to the world which is creating many issues. Young girls in school see images of young models who are super thin and decide they are going to look like that also so they can be pretty. Many young women end up extremely sick and with eating disorders all due to trying to fit society’s image when in reality that super model was never that size, it was all in the Photoshop used

BLOG 5- 03.07

Credible sources are known as unbiased information that can be backed up with a good amount of evidence. Credible sources should always be used when writing academic papers and any kind of research paper. When it comes to what factors can perceive your belief in an advertisement is all based on the facts behind the information. Is said information factual? Is the information provided by someone or something credible? Does the page have resources to back up their statement(s)? Can you trust the said source(s)? These are all questions you should be thinking to yourself when looking at a particular article/ website to make sure the information is correct. Make sure no personal opinions are put into articles, they should not be based.

Non-credible sources can be tricky in deciding if they are factual or biased information. Many pages have random statistics thrown into their articles to make their information seem accurate, but you should always fact-check to make sure the statistics are up to date and being used for the proper data. Look where you’re pulling your source from; social media is not a good insight to go with for factual information. Check to see if the information is taken from random websites or those that are from credible sites such as those that end in ‘.GOV’ and ‘.ORG’.

The use of attractive sources has been used for many years, especially within the last handful of years due to the sky-rocketing use of media. Companies use well-known celebrities to show off their brand/ product because they know it will help the consumer’s eye. ‘If this celebrity is using this product then it must be good’ is how many companies believe customers will think when making new campaigns. As a child, this concept worked well but as getting older, I believe going by facts and reading personal non-edited reviews are the best way to tell if a product is good or not. If a product is being overly commercialized it typically is not good in value which is why they need that extra boost to help sales.

BLOG 4- 02.28

I am a huge in detail note taker so going back over notes after any test or exams while checking which questions I got wrong helped clarify as to why I picked the answer I did and why those choices were the incorrect ones. Making choices that were made during the exam were just ones that may have been mixed up with a similar term. Making notes during each chapter and following/ writing down the jeopardy review notes helped me study for the exam much better than just reading over all the basic notes taken within the book. I was able to play the jeopardy notes videos while driving and sometimes at work, so I was continuously hearing it and it stuck better. Following this strategy of studying I believe will help me have a successful rate in this class with exams and hopefully will work well in other classes. Another way I found helpful was seeing the in-person scenario examples that were given because they reflected off many of the questions in the exam.

BLOG 3- 02.21

Music has and always will bring people together for the good and bad. It is played in a time of celebration in times of new beginnings and celebrating those who are no longer. Music plays a big role in strengthening social bonds, increasing contact. Concerts or bars are where we meet people with similar tastes in music in which we may bump into someone and begin conversation due to the music which could lead to a growing relationship. When house parties are thrown music is normally played that matches everyone’s taste because you connect with those friends in a much deeper way than just music, you share values. When you find many people with similar taste in music you create a community of people with common traits and values that can normally get along very well.

We can hear a particular song that triggers a memory both good and bad. We recall the event(s) that happened during such song and normally will stick anytime we here that particular song play.

My mom is my rock and always will be. Being my mothers first child and only daughter has been hard on her watching her baby girl growing up but I constantly remind her that is okay and growing up is okay. I will always be there with her no matter what even when I move out and continue my life with someone else.

Every time I hear the song, I picked to represent myself I think of someone that no matter what is thrown my way I can handle it and will always work it out. It may not be the prettiest or most reliable ways, but it gets done.

My favorite color is yellow, just seeing the color anywhere brings a smile to my face. When picking a song about happiness for myself my choice was easy. It is my go-to song that plays when it’s a warm summer evening, windows down, and cover off on my jeep, just enjoying life as is.

My father passed away early 2017, so when hearing the song chosen for him it often brings me back to the memories we had together during my childhood and how I miss him dearly.

Lastly, my outlook on life. When I listen to the song I chose I always think about those who have situations worse then myself and how I should be fortunate for what I have no matter what.

BLOG 2- 02.14

While in high school my academics were not much of a priority for me, sports were always the main focus. When Junior year hit, I quickly realized that my academics mattered if I wanted to get into a decent college. In my junior and senior year of high school, I worked hard to make sure my GPA stayed at a high and safe point. All my hard work paid off because I was able to graduate top 20 of my class and finished a semester early, which allowed me to start college a semester sooner than many others. After high school I told myself I would continuously work hard in any and everything I did, to make sure of high results every time.

 I do see myself as a hard worker both in the school and work environment. One way I do struggle is keeping on schedule. I tend to procrastinate on some of my assignments due to work or other life factors that I am faced with. When I procrastinate in my classes even by just a little, I typically stress and do poorly on that assignment. Working on my procrastination will help boost my confidence in handling my workloads.

I am very confident in the ways I reach my goals. During the beginning of college, I made myself 2,5- and 10-year plans that acquired many goals. With two years down, I have accomplished much more than was originally predicted to be accomplished and will continue to strive until I am at the finish line.

BLOG 1 – 02.07

When coming into this course I was not too sure on what to expect other then learning about the social context of people. While reading over the courses objectives I instantly knew this was going to be a good class for me. Every object that this course hits has been things I have wanted to learn more about. With as much traveling I have done over the years and hope to continue, I have been around hundreds of people and it teaches you how to accept and adapt to different cultures and groups.

With this course, I hope that I can have a proper understanding as to why we as humans judge people like books, the way we naturally do. I hope also within this course I can find ways on how to avoid being so quick to judge but to also look out for those hidden keys that could help you better figure someone out and how to properly communicate with them.

A way I have found to be successful in almost every class I have taken so far is to read, read, read. You can never read too much. I have noticed the more I read a chapter or even the whole book, the more details I am about able to bring out of the text. When it comes to reading my chapters I first read them to myself before taking any notes. Secondly, I have the voice text read the book to me while I am handling another task; because you would be amazed how much your brain retains even when not 100% focused on one thing. Then finally, I listen to the audio while I read it myself and that is when I take my notes. Since I’ve already read and heard the text my note taking is able to be short and quick but they are just small reminders of things I may not remember as easily. Although it may seem overbearing for just a single chapter, when you Implement it with your everyday schedule you can start to notice yourself remembering things a lot easier.