Subliminal Persuasion and ESP

I really found the part of subliminal persuasion to be very interesting because in health class last year we talked about it and our teacher showed us a video where it was used and had us see if we could spot the images that were flashed in the video really quickly. None of us had seen anything so he proceeded to go through the video and make it stop at the exact part where the message was being shown so we could see it was actually there because we didn't believe him. I think it is very interesting how people used to do this because when you first think of it, it actually seems like a really good idea. Problem is, it doesn't really work, most likely, because it is an extraordinary claim and there is no scientific support to prove that subliminal messaging works.

Another part I found to be interesting was the ESP trick where we had to pick a card and then read on and the book guessed which card you picked and the book got the card I guessed right. The trick totally got me at first. Once I saw that they had taken out my card from the second set like they said they would I went back and looked at the original set and was like, "okay did I pick the most obvious card for some reason?", but then I picked a different card and noticed it wasn't there in the second set either and that the first card I picked still wasn't there either and then I looked at the explanation for it and felt really dumb :) but this just goes to show unintentional blindness in a way because I was so focused on my one card that I didn't even look at the others and realize that all the cards in the second set were different from the ones in the first.

Stem Cells and Adoption Studies

One part in this chapter that I found interesting was the part about how much of our brain we use. I had always heard that we only use 10 percent of our brain, which, according to this book, is a myth! I had seriously always believed that to be a fact that we only use 10 percent of our brain, so it is shocking to me that really every part of our brain has a purpose and function and that we use most or all of our brain capacity all the time. Another part I found interesting was the part about stem cells because I had heard about stem cell research and all the new advances and debate with using them and researching them so I found it interesting to know more about them and their functions. I think it's very cool that we can turn these cells into specialized cells of our choosing in order to benefit and treat people. I think there are many great medical advancements that can made by using this amazing technology.

Also, I liked the part about Adoption Studies because I know a lot of people who are adopted or who have adopted children. I agree with this book that while genetics to play a role in shaping someone, environment and how someone is raised can have a huge affect on what genes stay prominent and how the child is. I think sometimes people rely to much on genes for if they aren't getting good grades or something they will just say, "Oh it's genetics" and blame the problem on genes, when really genes only have a small influence on things and there are many other factors in affect.

Naturalistic Observation

One topic in chapter two that I found very relatable to my own experiences was the part on naturalistic observation. I realized that I do this a lot. I love to sit and observe people and see what they do in situations and just watch them. My friends have often pointed out to me that I have a tendency to stare and people and are constantly like, "Brooke stop staring. Those people are going to think you're creepy". I always just laugh and brush it off because I know they don't mean anything by it, and they know it's just how I am. I always have just been fascinated to watch people, because by observing how two people interact with each other you can get an interesting insight into their personality and what they are thinking. You often tend to see little nonverbal actions and things that the person they are talking to doesn't notice.

Another part I liked in this chapter was the part about representativeness heuristic. This is incredibly true because we tend to base things of first impressions and stereotypes when we don't know a person well or we meet them for the first time. This again reminds me of how at Youth in Government I met a girl named Kara on the first day and right away I thought she was probably nerdy like a vast majority of the kids who go there. She seemed quite and I automatically founding myself making all these assumptions about her based purely on the fact that she was in Youth in Government. I then thankfully got to know her and found she was a very fun and outgoing person who was really involved with swimming. This was completely contrary to the introverted nerd stereotype I put her in originally. This is just one example of the many times I uses representative heuristic in my daily life.

Challenges of Psychology

I found Chapter 1 to be a very good base for psychology. One thing I found very interesting was the fifth challenge of psychology, which is that people's behavior is shaped by culture. The text explains this with the example of the difference in how European Americans and Asian Americans look at pictures. I have also noticed how cultures shape peoples behavior and the ideas and thoughts that they have. I experienced this in January when I attended Youth In Government. While I was there, I was in a program area called National Issues Forum, where we discussed national and international issues and debated and proposed ideas and ways to solve these problems. In our group we had a lot of foreign exchange students that were from Asian countries who came to study in America and go to college in America. What I noticed was that their ideas were often different then the rest of ours and that for certain issues dealing with immigration, education, and even health care, they had different thoughts and feelings. Another thing that was interesting was their way of questioning. They had some of the most deep and well thought out personal questions of anyone there.


I also liked the challenge about how people differ from each other in thinking, emotion, personality, and behavior and that people respond in different ways to the same situation. I related this to soccer because our coach has to approach different players in different ways based on how they think the player will respond. Like for some players my coach can be super blunt and criticize them straight out, while with other players who take it more offensively my coach has to tone down the criticism and approach the situation differently.