Nicolle's Blog

Final Reflection The end of this course is finally here and yet for me the end seems to be just the beginning. I have thoroughly enjoyed this class. I believe its been because of many reason: my current age and situation, the professor, the teaching style and various types of learning we were able to use and simply because I didn't realize how much I enjoy psychology.  When I began this class, I didn't know one thing about creating a blog. I have wanted to write one for a few years, and have been encouraged to do so by those who have heard me speak and have read the devotionals and other things I have written. So this class forced me out of my comfort zone and has given me the ability to blog. I learned how to create hyperlinks and to design the background for the blog. This will be very helpful for my future blogging which I plan to start soon.  There have been a variety of topics we have covered in this class. Beginning with the brain and its different parts and

Task 7 I chose to do the self compassion letter for this assignment. As I have shared before, I was an alcoholic for several years and during that time had four sons', one of which passed away of natural causes at 23 months old. The other boys are now teenagers ages 17, 15, and 14. I also now have a son who is 6 months old. Having him now in my sobriety has been quite a joyous experience. I am different in many ways then I was back then. I am sober and present for everyday of his life. I am able to nurse him instead of giving formula which is a unique bonding experience I wasn't able to have with the others. I did bond with the others even though I feed them a bottle and I am not condemning bottle feeding, which ever someone chooses is their choice for whats right for them), Its just breast feeding is something I wanted to do with the others but because I drank so much and wouldn't give it up it wasn't possible. But there are many other things that are different

TASK 6 COUNSELORS CAN HELP!!! Watch my story of a great counselor here This assignment took me down memory lane to remember a great woman in my life. She was a counselor and friend. I haven't seen her in a couple years as my counselor but I did run into while out shopping a couple months ago. She helped me thru some really dark times. Doing this assignment made me think back to where I was and look at where I am now, by the grace of God and God alone. I know that God used Trish in my life to help me thru those couple years as I struggled to get sober and stay sober. I am grateful to her and all she has done for the recovery community.  I really encourage people to see a counselor. A counselor is not just for when things are bad but even for when things are going well. If you are already seeing a counselor when things are good and its already a part of your routine then when things go bad you will know where to go for help and it won't be so hard to go. Tr

My Story of Multiculturalism  My Story   Here it is. Just a piece of my life. There is so much I could tell and usually when I tell my story its about another aspect of my life. I have never thought about my story in terms of multiculturalism or its effects on my life. When I first heard that word I figured it pertained primarily to race but I have learned it doesn't. Its really just about our differences as people. As men and women, young and old, its what makes us so different and interesting.  I got to think about my grandmother and some of my childhood for this assignment. I was great to remember her and how I got started with my love of cooking. I tried to find a picture of her but lots of our pictures are still in boxes because of our move. So much of our society revolves around food. It is consistent with fellowship and a very important part or building relationships and celebrating special moments in our lives. I am grateful to have the talent of cooking. It

MEMORY As I sit here and think of what to type for this blog I am using my memory retrieval process. It funny to be doing a blog on memory and then sitting down to write everything you learned but when you start you draw a blank and look at blank screen for a few moments to try to remember what it was you just studied for the past week!! Some might say that forgetting something that easy means you did not even learn it in the first place or that doing so may mean you were distracted while trying to learn. That I can vouch for. My busy life means trying to incorporate learning into times while listening to video and cooking or while nursing my little one. But even times I sit at the computer while he is sleeping and read stuff it seems it doesn't stick as well these days. I think I can attribute that to sleep deprivation which was not discussed, at least I don't remember it being😕but I do believe that sleep deprivation probably affects memory.  Study technique

M4 TASK For this task I chose to do the second task on False memory and serial positioning effect. I asked two people to be my volunteers. One was my son Jacob, who is 18, and another was my friend Matt who is 58. I though having volunteers who were quite different in age might have an effect on the memory. I did this test at different times so each one was alone and could focus clearly. I asked them to clear their mind and listen closely. they both wanted details like how many words were on the list, and what is the outcome I was looking for. I didn't tell them what I was trying to do. I read the words slowly and clearly and gave them several minutes afterwards to write the words. They are both overachievers by nature so they both wanted to remember each word. Then I asked them about having the words needle, sleep and doctor on their lists. Jacob had all of those and Matt had sleep and needle which proved the concept of false memory. Jacob thought it pretty cool and was ready

Just being able to these blogs now is a sign of learning for me. I couldn't do them before. Everything on this blog format and posting is something I have had to learn. learning about my children daily and what makes them tick is another form of learning for me. learning the different cries of my infant son is another type of learning I do daily. We learn daily and most of it is not even recognized as learning because it is sub conscience learning.  This is a very interesting topic because of the wide range of ages I have in my house and the fact that 4 of us are in school. But also because I am trying to help and infant learn about his world and discover the basics all while trying to get teenagers to learn how to drive or how to learn from the consequences of their mistakes and which types of reinforcement or discipline will work best to help them learn those lessons more effectively. Our lesson used the word "punishment" which also pointed out that sometimes t

My Life   I have on an amazing journey these past few weeks. Turning 40, packing to move to a new house and taking this class at the same time has led me to do a lot of reflecting. My life has been full of some pretty dark and hard times due to my own choices and it has now over the past few years been moving out of the chaos and darkness into light and peace. We have been packing so I didn't have a lot of pictures handy for the poster but I had been going through them recently had looked backed into my childhood and teenage years. I found some pictures from right before my life began its downward spiral and I struggled to remember what was hiding behind those eyes and smile in the picture. What had made me go down such roads?  I do know that everything I am today is due to the tough roads and I am grateful for God's grace and love to see me through and for my parents who have stood by me through it all. I am grateful to now be the mother my boys have needed an

Personality How wonderful and unique God has made each of us!!! People may look alike but can have different personalities. I have three boy all raised in the same environment, exposed to the same things, and all have very different personalities. It is what makes this world interesting. I am sure we would get very bored if we all were exactly alike another. Even as different as we are, Personality traits can all fall into some dimension and each dimension has a range of high , medium or low as to where the person can fall according to how they display the trait.  I took a personality test that was done by Myers-Briggs. They measure personality in sixteen different personality types. The questions compare whether you are introvert or extrovert, sensing or intuition, thinking or feeling, judging or perceiving. It was a series of questions, some of which I had to think about a minute because some behavior are so automatic I wasn't really sure how to answer. I noticed I h

DeVeLoPmEnTaL PsYcHoLoGy "I just don't understand how he can play those stupid video games all the time. People should do things my way. Why don't they ever listen and do what I tell them? I have worked since I was 14 and never hung out with friends. Hard work comes first!!" "Nicolle, do you know where I left my, um, my, um, oh goodness, I can't remember what I was looking for" "My teacher sucks!! He is terrible, he is not fair at all!! I hate his class!! I don't even know how he became a teacher!! and , no, mom trying to talk to him wont change anything. nothing EVER changes!! Its not my fault, its his!! "I'm too stupid to ever pass. The only thing I'm good at is sports. They frustrate me sooo much!! Ugh!! It's so hard to focus!! I will never be as good as my brother in school. I'm just dumb and I will never be good enough for college" "Mom, I need to pay for my SAT. My drama play is this week

Teen brain Vs. Adult Brain For this task I decided to do the teen brain vs. the adult brain. I have three teenage boys ages 17, 15, and 14 so this was of great interest to me and something I could readily apply the knowledge I had learned in preparation for the task. I asked my mom to be in video because we live with her and my dad so even though the teenagers are mine, she has first hand experience on a daily basis with them. The brain and how it works has always intrigued me and I have done a lot of informal learning through the years. Also, because of some the things I have been through in my life I have researched the different aspects and issues with the brain. S o this just confirms what I knew:  Teen brains ARE very different than adults brains!!!  Watch this video as I explain to my mom about the differences I learned about. https://youtu.be/hx_glXpVsWs My mom was very surprised at some of the things I shared with her. It helped he

H ave you ever learned the difference between sensation and perception ? Sometimes this may be something we never really consciously think about. Sensation happens before perceptions can be made. Sensations are the data with which we make a perception.  These are the five senses:  These are the areas of the brain that process the sensory information: It was amazing to watch the TED talk with Apollo Robbins and his mind blowing brain perception games. He explains how we only have so much attention space available for our brain to use. If he distracts us, this leaves us open to being tricked in another area. He describes it as if we have a guard that sits at the front of the brain. He calls his Frank. If he gets Frank to think about a certain memory then Frank is distracted and can't see him as he takes the watch of your wrist. I watched it a couple times with my son and we both tried to see what we knew was coming but still could not get our brains to see