Intelligence and testing

I'm not sure if I really like all of the questions on some of the intelligence tests. Does random knowledge really test how intelligent you are? I think the better way to test intelligence would be just by using the pattern finding or other similar activities. After all, according to the book, knowledge is the application of knowledge rather than pure knowledge. For example, perhaps a person can name the capitol cities of all the countries of the world. This, however, does no good unless this knowledge can be applied and used to adapt to a new situation or solve a problem.

This blogging is definitely a linguistic and intrapersonal activity. Good thing those were my lowest scores on my multiple intelligences test... That's okay though, it is just harder for me that it possibly would be if I had higher scores in these areas. Other than those two areas, the rest of my multiple intelligences were fairly high and equal. I really doubt the accuracy of self tests though, because one person's "sometimes" is another persons "much of the time." That's just personal opinion, though, but I do base it off of how I would rate other people and how they rated themselves. One of us may be wrong, but it is probably because I would underestimate, and the person would overestimate. I think there should be other factors involved other than just personal ratings, however, I would have no idea how to design such a test...

Memory and Tests

This past week has proved very ironic to me. We start by discussing memory, and we end by taking a test, and tests are based on memory. This was actually one of the only, on second thought probably the only, test I have started to study early for. The week began with a read-through of all of the vocabulary of the new chapters. The next day was for reading over the review questions at the end of each chapter... You get the point...

While I can't say I saw a huge difference in the grade I got, I do think that this review helped me, and I would have gotten a much lower grade if I hadn't reviewed in the manner I did. This review concept is called spacing, and I definitely think I am going to utilize it in the future, as if left me not only better prepared, but it also left me more confident and less nervous about a potential GPA disaster (maybe an exaggeration, possibly...)

This past week (I think) we also discussed mnemonic devices, and then we used one that was very beneficial on this test. I think PORN rates as on of the top mnemonic devices of all times in term of memorability. Basically, the test of recognition today was a good challenge, but the test of recall on Monday will be another type of test altogether. It will test a different form of memory, but it will be another valuable experience. So everybody remember, space your studying this weekend... It will pay dividends on Monday! Bring on the challenge.

How did I solve those puzzles?

I will start this with a term from last chapter... I used priming in the activity with the nails. After struggling with it for a while, Jason finally gave us a hint and put two nails together. Immediately I knew what to do. I must have had an experience with this puzzle earlier in my life and I just did 't remember it. Jason's subconscious priming activated my memories and allowed me to solve the puzzle. However, I don't remember, where, if ever, I saw the puzzle before. Because of this, perhaps Jason's actions triggered a sudden flash of insight. Without any strategy I was quickly able to solve the puzzle and put all of the nails on the head of one nail.

To solve the logic puzzle I used an algorithm. I systematically figured out which combinations were true and which combinations were not true. However, once I got into the puzzle I used heuristics, because some of the possibilities were not actually possibilities. For example, it was not possible for the same person to get two different rewards or drive three different cars. Because of this, it was possible to eliminate many of the different possibilities.

The puzzle with the three different people on a narrow ledge was really easy so I didn't really use anything for it.

The record was challenging. Of course, this was probably due to the directions we were given (or the lack thereof). We interpreted the directions as we needed to just make any noise on the record, so we made an apparatus to automatically spin the arm with the needle. This was not the correct solution, however, since we needed to spin the record, but it demonstrates a few principles. Once we got in the mindset that the arm was going to spin (we didn't think we could touch anything, and it would have been much harder to spin the record than the arm with the needle) we didn't really try anything else. This is called fixation. We didn't have a mental set because none of us had ever done a problem like this before (especially considering many people in the group didn't really know how a record player worked). We also did not suffer from functional fixedness because we knew that we were going to have to use the materials in strange ways.

Definitely a great day in AP Psych!

Memory

Memory is a very interesting thing. Why can I remember the random words from sophomore testing (a lep is a ball, a korf is a tiger, a brickler is a wooden shingle... the list goes on and on, and I think I could still do really well on that identical test, over two years later, if I took it today), but I can't remember for five minutes that I need to take up my laundry or empty the dishwasher? When we took all of those memory tests in class, I got everything right except for the random string of numbers, where I missed one. I was even doing what the recommendation was! But it definitely did not work for me...

When I saw the memory competitions that were mentioned in the book I started to laugh. What isn't there a competition for? Some of the memory feats that those people do like the idiot-savants (memorizing huge strings of meaningless numbers or the entire New York phone book) are just crazy. While others might envy these people for their amazing memories, I actually feel sorry for them. Would you really like to have a bunch of strings of numbers floating around in your head all day? Or would you like to be good at just one thing- memorizing numbers? I definitely wouldn't.

Reading about some of the memory topics has definitely made me appreciate the memory I have. It is better than average, but it does fail me some times. However, I can remember random words or syllables. This is most likely because of the encoding I am doing in order to remember the random words. If I could just find a way to get "unload the dishwasher" from my working memory to some other, more reliable area of memory. However, I would not want this in my long-term memory, because then it would just clutter up my thoughts. Sorry again for the rambling...

Conditioning

This topic has been pretty interesting for me. However, it is hard for me to believe that all activities are conditioned. Did our ancestors look for food because they had success looking for food in the past? I don't think so. They would have looked for food because they were hungry. However, there are many ways that they would have been conditioned in this respect. They would have realized that if there was growling behind them they should probably run because there was a viscous animal right behind them. This would be classical conditioning- associating the fearsome growl with an animal they would want to run from. Also, I'm sure there was much operant conditioning going on. If our ancestors were able to kill a rabbit with a spear by throwing it a certain way, then I'm sure they would repeat this action.

However, where my problem is with this whole thing comes from the last section we read about how genetics shapes a lot of these things. We are naturally predisposed to loud noises, like an animal growling behind us. We are not conditioned to be afraid of these things, we just are. If being afraid of an animal growling was not predisposed, would there be many people left to tell the tale? It is possible, however, that a child is taught that if they were to hear that certain growl that they needed to run. However, I'm not sure if I can attribute all of the reaction to classical conditioning- I am more inclined to attribute some of it to genetic makeup. As for the operant conditioning example, I think this can be more attributed to the conditioning, rather than the genetics. A person may try something new, but if it doesn't work they probably wouldn't try it again- they would keep modifying the procedure until it worked correctly. This is all in the process of learning and operant conditioning.

Music and the Senses

In the book or this previous section, music was discussed with the just noticeable differences. By far, the difference be tween two tones (notes) had the least difference (common ratio) in order to be noticeable. Perhaps this is why in band when we are playing many different songs, the band directors are always talking about how important intonation is. Because the just noticeable difference between two notes is so small, it is very obvious when two notes are out of tune. Also, the book also mentions how different people have different thresholds, so possibly that is why the directors can hear things that many of the students can't. Perhaps their brains have different neuron connections built up from many years of listening to music.

I found this last section about the senses pretty interesting. This is because we use our senses every day, but I never really knew how they worked. I really liked the differences between sensation and perception, as well as the Gestalt psychology information. Ironically, I just got back from my piano performance at Solo and Ensemble, and I was in an AP Psychology room. They had posters of many of the illusions and Gestalt images on the walls. I thought it was really ironic and interesting. I have always liked optical illusions (I have a few books of them) and this unit has really helped to explain many of them for me.

Wow that was scatterbrained...

Public Service or Public Disservice Announcement?

The web address for my public service announcement is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0qoY_5ymOo. For our project, Katie, Mariah, and myself traveled all over Ashwaubenon taping at everything from a park, to a church, to Starbucks. We attempted to make our announcement very catchy and memorable. But looking back on it, was our announcement a public service, or a public disservice. Do awful harmonization and ridiculous activities really make our community look the best it possibly could? Or possibly the catchiness of the entire video would inspire people to find out more about our great village... Who knows? All I do know is I had a ton of fun with this project and I would definitely like to do a project like this again in the future.

My favorite video is Kelsey, Meghan, and Allen's. The web address for their video is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6Cz6l2IL2I. I really liked their video for a few reasons. First, it was very evident they put a lot of effort into the project. The pictures were actually taken by them and they were in many of the pictures. Also, they seemed like they were having a lot of fun which makes the presentation seem much better. For me viewing the video, the pictures kept me engrossed in the announcement until it was totally over. Finally, in the video it was actually easy to understand Kelsey, Meghan, and Allen when they were talking, a major criticism I have when viewing many of the other videos.

My other favorite video is found at this address: http://www.youtube.com/user/appsychology1023#p/u/11/6I1L6LT_0NE. It is very easy to understand, and it contains a lot of information. I also really liked the song at the end. It made the announcement much more exciting and it made Ashwaubenon seem like a great place to live (kind of weird, I know, but that was my impression).

Basically, for me, this project was all about clarity and content. If a video was easy to understand (not too close or far from the microphone) and it contained good information, the project was one of my favorites. I think that many people don't have much experience with video and audio recording and editing, so these projects are a challenge for many. I personally like them (however challenging they might be because I don't have much experience either) because they are a different way of thinking. Instead of just the left brain, we are working the right brain as well!