Favorite PSA

Out of the many great videos from both AP psych classes, my personal favorite was the video created by David Yonda, Taylor Wagner, and Dan Caylor. Below is a link for the video. One of the reasons I liked this video the most was because it caught my attention. An important part in getting a message out to the public is to make sure they public is watching the announcement, otherwise the time to create the message was all for nothing. One aspect of the video that made it easy to watch was the fact that it was short and straight to the point. The video was short enough to keep my attention, but long enough to cover the information necessary to provide the viewer with a good idea of why families should move to Ashwaubenon. This group also offered a sense of humor as they created their video, making the video easier and more fun to watch. This group's video covered many general aspects of cognitive development such as playgrounds, churches, the schools, and the nursing homes, but also incorporated other unique cognitive development ideas to the video. I myself never thought once about incorporating the Humane Society, Gnome Games, Barnes & Noble, and Chuck E. Cheese to my video. Each of these locations can play a large role in how a child or adult cognitively develops in Ashwaubenon.

Development Through Life

This week was all about how we as humans develop through our lives. Piaget's four stages of cognitive development help us to better understand how the human brain develops through the course of life. Sensorimotor is the first stage. This stage consists of infants from birth to about the age of 2 years. The main way of learning is though the senses, such as: touching, feeling, hearing, seeing, and tasting. Within this stage, babies develop object permanence. This is the ability to realize that just because something is covered, it is still there. The second stage is Preoperational. This stage is from 2 years of age to about 6-7 years of age. This stage is more imaginative than any of the others. Children develop animism in this stage. This is the ability to give lifelike qualities to objects that are otherwise inanimate. This explains why 2-7 year olds are able to use their imagination when playing. This is also the stage where theory of mind develops. Children will think that the world sees everything through their eyes and no other way. It is hard for a child at this age to look at a situation through someone else's shoes. Towards the end of this stage, children finally are able to develop the ability to see things from the point of view of a different person. The third stage of Piaget's four stages of cognitive development is the concrete operational stage. This stage starts around the age of 6 or 7 years. Mathematical comprehension is at full steam during this stage. Children can process the fact that just because you have a certain amount of something, and you break it into more pieces, you don't have more. A good example is if you have two glasses of water with the same amounts, and one is poured into a skinnier taller glass, the child knows that the amount of liquid has not changed pouring it into the skinnier glass. This is much different from the pre operational stage because in the pre operational stage, children are likely to say that there is more liquid in the taller glass, inferencing that there is more liquid in the taller glass because it is taller. The final stage of cognitive development is formal operation.

This stage is entered at around the age of 12 and continues throughout adulthood. Logic and reasoning develop more thoroughly through this stage, allowing us as adults to interpret complex thinking situations. These stages of cognitive development tie into genetics and social environment. Genetics play a large role in the development of any abilities in life. But the living environment you are exposed to growing up in is also a large factor. As talked about in the previous chapter, a child can catch on to many of these stages quicker if exposed to situations in their environments. Children in more enhanced environments will develop faster than someone in a poorer environment.

My Name Is Cory….And I’m an Ice Cube Addict

From this simulation, I have learned that being addicted to a substance can really manipulate your life. During the simulation, I almost had to keep a low profile to keep people from asking me about it. People in the simulation easily spotted me by my bracelet, but others not in it delved deeper into their investigations. The hardest part of the simulation was having access to the so-called “drug” in a public location. At home, the ice cubes were easy to get and were in abundance, but when I really needed them during the day at school, they were very hard to get or come by because they would melt. At some points in the day, I would find my mind thinking about ice cubes and how I could get more of them, or what the best way to get them was. This obsession of ice cubes started to take over my thoughts as the simulation went on and became harder.

A few times I caught myself trying to hide my exposed bracelet from others. It was a rarity that I had to lie to people about the bracelet. Most of the time my bracelet was exposed was when I was at home. In the comfort of my home, I was busy by myself doing homework where I could easily expose the bracelet without being questioned. Being winter, it was acceptable for me to wear long sleeves to school in order to hide the bracelet. I feel as though I did a good job of keeping my cool in not having to explain the bracelet or the ice cubes. My parents were gone most of the time during the simulation to notice any difference in my behavior. I do understand, however, how some parents are surprised to find out their kids are doing drugs. Behavior will change dramatically and it will definitely be a drastic and easily observable change.

I have learned a lot from this experiment in that addiction is a real thing and it happens all around us. Its easier to get an idea of what addiction is if you are exposed to a minor simulation of it. I know one thing for sure. I never want to look like this guy....or lady...I can't tell.