"Take no heed of her...She reads a lot of books."
~Jasper Fforde


Showing posts with label psychology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label psychology. Show all posts

Monday, May 10, 2010

Pavlov's Emmy

Yeah, so as the title might suggest, I've been studying for my Psychology final recently. Also, as the title suggests, I had a embarrassing discovery today. I was at lunch, seated between Kiity and Professor Thomas, and as usual, both were trying to make me extremely uncomfortable and jumpy by poking me in the ribs. (Yes, dear readers, I am a bit ticklish...)

Well, after their having done this to me for so long, apparently, I've developed this condition where I will jump and emit an embarrassing, high-pitched squeal before they poke me, just as I would when they poke me. Professor Thomas was quite pleased with this discovery, and then went on to explain to Kiity and the Roomie (as though he were teaching a Psychology course, with me as the test subject) that if you observe, the gesture and threats of poking have now become a conditioned response. Basically, I'll jump and squeal if you poke me; and now, if either of them simply makes the move to poke me, I'll do the same exact thing. Murr...

The only thing that I can say is that this has strengthened my understanding of Classical Conditioning, and if nothing else, I'm sure to ace that portion of the final. Still, this does nothing for my sense of pride :P

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Psychology Experiments

I'm excited...later this week, I'm going to have the chance to participate in several psychological experiments! It's one of the requirements of my Psychology class-- I have to volunteer for various experiments to help out the department get a full collection of participants. As far as I can see, my part is going to be easy; I mean, I don't think that its going to be anything like the Milgram experiments or anything. (at least, I hope not :*)