The Stroop Effect

What is the background for this experiment?

The Stroop Effect is an effect found in the 1930s by John Ridley Stroop. This effect is used as a test in psychology. This effect explains how our brain processes information. This effect demonstrates how interference can slow down how the brain processes information because it is trying to sort various thing s at the same time.

How is the experiment conducted? (explain step by step in as much detail as possible)

The Stroop Effect consists of a list of colors printed in the same color of ink. First, the person is asked to say the colors from the list and you can see it is going to be very easy for the person to read them, if you want you may record the time to compare afterwards. Then, the subject is given a list of words with names of colors printed in different colored ink. They are told to tell the color of the ink of the words fast and you will see it is much more difficult for the person.

What are the results?

The result of the Test is probably going to be that the person said the first set of words easily and without any mistakes or confusions. And the second set of words you will see is going to be much difficult for the person to say the colors quickly and most subjects even make many mistakes.

Why do these results occur?

You may find that you hesitate or stumble, because the brain is trying to pay attention to more than one thing, reading and the visualizing the colors. The brain tries to process two types of information: a color, and a word naming a color. This is why it is much more difficult to read the second set of words.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-stroop-effect.htm

Multitasking/ Distraction

1. Why is multitasking considered by many psychologists to be a myth?
It is considered a myth by psychologists because they say that it is impossible to multitask. We believe we are multitasking but we are actually just distracting ourselves and not absorbing the information correctly. When we are "multitasking" we are doing more than one thing at a time and we are not concentrating in one. So, actually to multitask is effective in the short term because you finish things faster but in the long term it is worst because you do not recall the information.

2. To what does the term "response selection bottleneck" refer?
It is the same with your attention that when you are trying to pay attention to a lot of things your brain can't process everything at the same time so you stop paying attention and you are not able to completely understand anything. It is also a form of saying that you will probably have to decide what thing you will pay more attention to and won't really concentrate in everything.

3. David Meyer has found that multitasking contributes to the release of stress hormones and adrenaline. Why is this important?
It is important because this psychology causes stress and he says that multitasking is effective while doing it because it is faster but in the long term may cause problems. The release of hormones and adrenaline can cause and contribute to the loss of short-term memory loss.


4. Explain what Russell Podrack found regarding multitasking.
He found that multitasking adversely affects how you learn. Even if you understand while multitasking you are unconsciously learning less because that learning is flexible and you can't learn the information entirely. His research shows that we use different parts of the brain for learning and storing information and when we are multitasking the information is stored in the striatum a place involved with learning new skills but not in the hippocampus a place involved with sorting and recalling information. So the information is not well stored.


5. What does the author conclude could happen to our culture as a result of increased multitasking?
That we will not learn well and if we keep using the cell phone and computer while doing homework the information won't be stored in the correct place and we will lose the information rapidly. It concludes that multitasking it a form of distraction for a person that is trying to learn.

BaMbuti Pigmies

Anthropologist Colin Turnbull is the man who has given the most amount of information for s to have a glimpse at the society of this Pygmies. He interacted with them in Congo. He had alliance with one who traduced everything. He made 6 major trips to Africa. He is known for studying the ethnology of the Pygmies. The BaMbuti are a Pygmy race that live in the forest in central Africa. He observed that their life and culture revolved around the environment they live in. One Pygmy said this about the forest they live in: “The forest is our home; when we leave the forest, or when the forest dies, we shall die. We are the people of the forest”. They never separate from the tribe and they sometimes made bonfires at night and sang and danced. The most important season for these pygmies is the honey season. They also have a sacred trumpet called the Molimo. The culture of the molimo was that the sacred part of it was the song it made and the ‘spirit’ it gave. The BaMbuti have many rituals like this, says Trunbull. The ritual of the sacred Molimo was that they light it on fire, sing songs, and “feed” the Molimo. At the Molimo fire the trumpet is passed through the flames and hot ashes are rubbed over it. The sounds of the trumpet imitate animal sounds. SO, as we can se their perception of nature is totally different than our. Why do you think that is? Maybe, because nature is their home, without the forest they would be totally different. And for us nature is just the trees and grass in the yard. Their perception of life revolves around their forest. We use a trumpet to produce music for instance, while they use to imitate animal sounds. Their form of entertainment is different as well. Their perception of life is highly influenced by the environment they live in. Another example is that we are accustomed to seeing people leave and come back or to see them every other week. Meanwhile, they see each other every single day and they sleep close and everyone in the community interacts with one anther at least 3 times each day, imagine if one of the tribe would leave to the city they would think they died because they do not have experience with people leaving and coming back and they do not know what is outside of the community in the forest.

http://collegecrisis.tripod.com/id9.html

Colin M. Turnbull was born in London in November 23, 1924. He received his education at Westminster School and later at Magdalene College at Oxford University. Turnbull studied philosophy, politics and music. He was part of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve during World War II. Then, he was granted a research in the Department of Indian Religion and Philosophy at Banaras Hindu University in India. Later, he returned to attend to Oxford University where he studied anthropology and specialized in African field. Turnball was highly influenced by E.E. Evans-Pritchard, one of his professors. In 1951 he took a motorcycle trip to view East Africa, the Congo, the Sudan and Egypt. There he became really interested by African ethnology. In this trip he had his first encounter with the Pygmies. Under a grant from the Royal Anthropological Institute, Turnbull returned to Africa (Congo) in 1957 to continue his research on Pygmy tribes. Most of his works were based on Africa ethnology and he made six major trips to Africa. Because of his important researches and work he received many important positions. For example, he gained the position of Assistant Curator of African Ethnology at the American Museum of Natural History, was a geologist for a gold mine in northern Canada, wrote many articles discussed in television and radio, and made various documentary tapes. His last important position was teaching at George Washington University.

Turnbull met Joseph Towles in 1959. They exchanged vows in 1960. They worked together most of the time and Towels accompanied him on the trips to Africa. In the Congo in 1970, they conducted fieldwork on the Nkumbi circumcision initiation ritual for boys. They were inseparable. After Towles died Turnball donated all his belongings and their research. After the death of his partner he left to Bloomington and later in 1994 died of complications of AIDS. 

Many internal and external factors influence our perception if life. An example of an internal influence is our senses. What we see, hear, touch, say and smell highly influences our perceptions of certain things. Our age is another example. A teenager’s perspective of technology differs from a 40-year old’s, therefore their perception also differ. Culture plays an important role in our perception. Different cultures have different ways of interpreting experiences, values and practices. Race, ethnicity, gender, economic class and age are external factors that influence our perceptions. Religion, spirituality and sexual orientation are internal influences. Social rules such as being respectful to your elder influence our perception. Our role in society and how we should act influences too. Our perceptions are influenced by others and by our own senses. For example, I love to pass by Mr. Dougherty’s room because he laughs at my jokes and I laugh at his. The way he responds to my jokes influences my perception of him and his class. I like to be short because someone once told me short people are the ones with the biggest heart, what this person said shaped my perception about short people. I liked putting chinches on my foot but last time I hurt my toe with one so my experience with chinches gave me the perception that I could hurt myself again. I like sleeping with my grandma because when I was younger she used to have presents for me every time I slept with her, and now even though she does not give me presents I feel really comfortable and happy when I sleep there. The way my grandma treated me influenced my perception of her. I hate going to Boston because once my family and I went there for Christmas and it was the first time I had been away from home and my grandparents for the holiday so it brings me bad memories. This trip gave me a bad perception of Boston. I don’t like going to the dentist because every time I go there or the dentist huts my cheek or tells me I have to come again meaning that my she won’t take my braces any day soon. The pain caused by my braces reflects upon a bad perception towards dentists. Perception is shaped by our experiences. 

Why is our perceptions our reality?

The knowledge of every man consists on his experience. Every person has different experiences therefore a different perception of reality. Some life experiences might be impossible to recall but they are always stored in our brain. This is why we all have different fears and joys. This is related to Classical Conditioning because things have different meanings according to everyone’s experience. Our perception of the world starts since we are in the womb. So, even though we can’t remember anything when we are a child, our brain still has this memory present. That is why perception is our reality because everyone’s perception reflects on the way they live. Let’s say I got bit by a dog when I was a kid, my perception of dogs would be fear and I would try to be as far away from them as possible. This would be my perception of dogs. But others might have had a dog they had connected very well to; this person probably loves dogs and has one. This is his feeling towards dogs. So, everyone’s life revolves on the person’s perspectives and experiences. A person’s style of living is build up by the perceptions he/she has, our perception becomes our reality.

Why I chose to be in IB Psychology?

I chose to be in Psychology because I find it amusing how much I learn about how the human brain works. I took a course in summer that taught me allot about neuropsychology. I learned a lot in a couple of weeks and those weeks helped me decide that I want to study Neuropsychology in college. It is amazing how all the things I learn relate to my everyday life. I understand how the brain works and why. I can also understand what parts of the brain are affected when somebody is having a seizure. I learned why Alzheimer’s makes my grandma and old people forget small details. I now understand what part of the brain is affected by Huntington’s disease, the disease that causes my uncle to tremble. So, I chose to be in IB Psychology because besides having THE BEST chinche teacher, I love to learn about the marvelous world inside our brains.