Total Recall

This article was found in Psychology Today, August 2008, page 42-43. There was a 43 year old woman from New York that has a condition called hyperthymestic syndrome. She can recall every second of her entire life. She stated that her memories are like scenes from home movies, constantly replaying. She talked about some memories being happy and very pleasant while others are haunting. She has had all sorts of tests performed and has been sent to several specialists. The doctors found that some areas in her brain were larger than normal. She hopes that some day doctors willbe able to treat or prevent memory loss by studying cases such as hers. In Chapter 6, recall is a memory process. To recall information, it must be retrieved from memory without much help. This woman does not use recognition, in which clues are used to retrieve information from memory. She has experienced episodic memory, which is memory for events in her past, and implicit memory, which she unintentionally recalls experiences of her past. These memories could cause her to have posttraumatic stress disorder in which she recalls traumatizing events from her past.

Inferiority Complex among short men

From Men'sHealth magazine in the January/Februay 2008 issue, page 104, titled "Why Height Doesn't Matter", the article talked about how short men(men under 5'9") must overcompensate for being short. They have outgoing personalities, are very smart, are very active, and do things that takes away the attention of being short. In the chapter dealing with Personalities, we try to overcompensate for our short comings. In Chapter 11, Maslow's growth theory viewed personality as the expression of basic human tendancy toward growth and self-actualization. Maslow talked about growth orientation in which people do not focus on what they are missing but rather what they are, what they have, and what they can do. This applies to short men.

Drug abuse among children

From an article in Family Circle, July 2008 titled "Hard Candy" page 46-48, drug abuse among children as young as thirteen was discussed. The article talked about these kids getting high off prescription pain killers such as Vicodin(hydrocodone) and Oxycontin(hydrocodone). These drugs are very similiar to herion and morphine. These drugs block pain signals in the brain and trigger the release of dopamine. These kids can become addictive to these drugs, causing the brain to build up a tolerance . This creates a craving which grows stronger with each use. Kids abusing drugs need more to get high. As the dose increases, the risks increases. In Chapter 4, the effects of drugs were discussed. Vicodin and Oxycontin are in the family of Opiates. These drugs stimulate the receptors normally stimulated by the body's own painkillers called endorphins. The brain can be tricked into activating its own painkillers causing a mood-altering effect. These drugs, when abused, cause physical changes in the neurons in the brain, making them addictive.

Stress

There was an advertisment in Health magazine in the July/August 2008 issue, page 101 for the Tempor-Pedic bed. The advertisement stated "Imagine a place where stress is relieved and the pressures of the day seem to just melt away". Relieving stress and being comfortable environment go hand in hand. Getting a goodnight's sleep is definitely one way to help relieve and reduce stress. In Chapter 10, health, stress, and coping was discussed. One method of reducing stress stress without involving chemicals is relaxation. If you are in a comfortable bed, the chance of having a heart attack are lessened and your immune system can be strengthened.

Classical conditioning with gray wolves

On June 20, 2008 at 10:oopm on ABC during 20/20, this episode was about trying to keep gray wolves from attacking the livestock of farmers in the midwest. The farmers and biologists set up an electric fence around the livestock. When a wolf touched the fence, he/she would receive an electric shock. This was unpleasant to the wolf, therefore keeping the wolf away from the livestock and no longer being a threat to the farmers. This is a form of classical conditioning in which the electric fence was the conditioned stimulus and the wolves staying away from the livestock was the conditioned response.