Unit 6 Reflection

Some final thoughts about stress and coping with stress...

• Take the College Life Stress Inventory on page 448. Do the results surprise you?
• What do you consider the most valuable advice in the sections of text entitled "Managing Bodily Reactions", "Modifying Ineffective Behavior", and "Avoiding Upsetting Thoughts"? Remeber to explain your reasoning so we can all discuss it.
• If you were going to put together a "tool kit" for stress management, what items would you include?
• Finally, tell us a story about when you or someone you know experienced a stressful situation: what strategies did the person use? What was the end result? What can this experience teach all of us about ways we might manage our stress in the future?

Unit 6 Talk It Over

Let's get a collection of Health-promoting/stress management behaviors together! Check out the chart on page 422. Read the clinical file on page 427 and the list about managing conflicts on page 433. Then, share your thoughts on the subject:

• What works? What doesn't work?
• After talking to as many friends and family members as you can about the topic of stress management, what are some strategies you might have learned that you hadn't thought of earlier?
• Has anything you've read, either in the blog or the text, triggered any ideas about what we can all do to manage our stress? Share your discoveries and ideas here!

Unit 6 discussion question

This unit deals with the topic of stress... something that's probably all to familiar to most of us.
Here are some questions to consider as we begin the unit:

• What are some of the tools you typically use to deal with stress? (Hint: I'm hoping to add to my own collection of strategies here!)
• Did you teach yourself these strategies or did you pick them up somewhere else? Why do you think they're effective?
• And sometimes, even if we have a collection of tools we use to cope with stress, nothing seems to work. Why do you think this is?
• Finally, do you think stress is more prevalent within a certain age group? Share your thoughts... which age group may be more susceptible to stress? Why do you think this is so? Any ideas about avoiding the trend?

Unit 5 Reflection

Imagine that you are a candidate for a desirable job. Your personality is going to be assessed by a psychologist. What method (or methods) that you've studied in this unit would you prefer that she or he use... tell us why.
Also, can you think of one more reason why personality traits may not be accurately revealed by interviews? Discuss your thoughts here.

Unit 5 Talk It Over

Take a moment midway through the chapter to think about what you've learned about personality. Share your reactions at this point.
Also, read the other posts about this unit. Has anyone's writing, or what you've read, created any questions or comments?

Unit 5 discussion question

Check out the Gary Larson "The Far Side" cartoon on p. 380. What is the author suggesting about personality types?
Do you think that we have any control over our own personality types? Why do you think psychologists think it's important to study the topic of personality and how it relates to behavior?
How would you describe your own personality? Do you think others agree or disagree with your self-assessment?

Unit 4 Reflection

This unit covered a lot of "trigger" topics, topics that create a lot of activity in our minds as we think about the issues. What was the most interesting part of the chapter... why did you respond to it? Did the examples discussed in the text remind you of anyone you know or may have known... tell us about it (you don't have to use names).
How do you think the various issues in this chapter are dealt with in the media? How influential are movies, t.v. shows, magazines, etc., on our personal motivations and emotions?

Unit 4 Talk It Over

Read the posted comments about motivation and emotion. Do you find yourself in agreement with them, or surprised at the difference? Discuss your reactions with us. Also, include in your post a question for everyone else to consider as they continue with the chapter and activities relating to the issues discussed in Chapter 9.

Unit 4 discussion question

As you begin reading the chapter about motivation and emotion (Chapter 9), take a minute to think about what motivates you, as well as what causes you to experience certain emotions.
Why do you think psychologists might want to study these two issues?
What are you hoping to learn about motivation and emotion? How do you think these two issues overlap... or do they?

Unit 3 Reflection

One of the topics discussed in Unit 3 is the issue of moral dilemmas. Some of you may have already watched the film John Q, which deals with a parent struggling with the healthcare industry as he seeks help for his son.
Moral dilemmas come in all shapes and sizes, of course. Has any of you ever found yourself dealing with one? What were some of the strategies you used to guide your response? Are there some basic issues that psychology might teach us about human behavior and motivation that might shed light on moral dilemmas, in general? Are we hotwired to know right from wrong?
Tell us your thoughts on this topic.

Unit Three Talk It Over

Okay, you've learned about parenting styles, interviewed a parent, and read other students' summaries of their parent interviews. Now, let's have a conversation. Remember... keep the discussion anonymous.

• Using all the material from this unit (your own work and other students'), select a few features of different parenting styles that you'd like to emulate as a parent. Tell us why these characteristics appeal to you.
• Did anything you learned about parenting styles surprise you in any way? Tell us!
• Did something in another student's blog trigger an idea on your part, regarding parenting styles? Talk about it here.
• Come up with your own questions and comments about the postings in this unit.

Unit Three discussion question

1. Interview a parent (He or she does not have to be your own parent). Remember, the blog is a public posting, so let's review a few rules here:

• Let the person you're interviewing know that you'll be writing about the interview on this blog.
• When you publish your post, do not reveal any names; privacy is important, so keep the interview and your discussion anonymous.

2. Summarize the key points of the interview in your blog posting.

3. Read other submissions of parental postings... later in the unit we'll evaluate our knowledge of parenting styles based on what we've studied and what we've read on the blog.

Unit Two Reflection

• Think for a moment about what you "knew" about handedness and left-handed people before you read this chapter. Which of your beliefs were correct? How has your knowledge of handedness changed?
• Now, think about yourself and whether or not you consider yourself right-brain dominant or left-brain dominant. Describe an incident in your life that either fits your self-analysis or completely contradicts it. (You should have taken the Right Brain-Left Brain Dominance Quiz by now. If not, go ahead and do that first!)