Fin.

AP Psychology has been one of my favorite classes I've had this entire year. Maybe it's because of my interest in the field of Psychology, but it's probably because I've had a really cool teacher to guide me through the psychedelic world of psychology.

The class itself has been wonderful. Having experienced Ms. Halfen, I can definitely say I'm taking AP Econ next year. The wonderful John Quiñones has been introduced to me through the countless What Would You Do episodes we've watched in class and I've been able to throughly enjoy learning rather than just taking notes and having a test.

The current project we are finishing up, the mind map, has been my favorite project because it allowed me to spend all of my parents money on loose glitter and modge podge (is that what it's called). My project is going to be SUPER glittery and I'm so excited to turn it in next Monday.

There weren't many downsides to this glass but I guess I could say that I didn't like the number of quizzes we've had. Now, obviously, these quizzes need to happen because they are grades but as someone who is a horrible test/quiz taker they've done more harm to my grade than they have good. But that's just my opinion.

There's really not much in this class that you can leave out because the AP is so soon in second semester, but I guess something I would suggest is to lower the number of quizzes given.

What to do next year? More John Quiñones. Something I think that should be done is more FRQ's. There wasn't much practice with FRQ's and although the ones on the AP were easy, they might not be the years to come.

I like that there are so few tests, but as I've said before - I am a horrible test/quiz taker so I haves fared well with the majority of the quizzes. But the small amount of tests has helped because it allowes me to understand the material rather than just memorizing and forgetting everything a few days later.

Students taking Psych next year: STUDY. The quizzes make up the majority of your grade and if you don't do well on them your grade will continue to drop. DO YOUR VOCAB. There is ALOT of vocab on the quizzes AND the AP. The AP is MAINLY vocab so knowing the cool psych terminology will help you succeed on the AP and in class.

It's been real, AP Psychology. I'll miss this class next year because none of my teachers will play WWYD in class.

Memeing My Life

Meme creation isn't something you'd think would be a psych assignment, but when told it was I was just a little bit excited.

1.

http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/06/11/inside-out-a-look-at-how-emotions-work-together-in-adolescents/

2. 

http://study.com/academy/lesson/fixed-interval-examples-definition-quiz.html

3.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/agoraphobia/basics/definition/con-20029996

4. 

http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/dissociative-identity-disorder-multiple-personality-disorder

5. 

http://biology.about.com/od/anatomy/p/Amygdala.htm

Toxicity in the Debate Space

As someone who tries to keep an enthusiastic persona and attempts to be nice to everyone, it surprised me to learn that my once safe debate space was no longer safe for me rather it was harmful for my mental health because of the toxicity I was exposed to.

Although I plan to continue in the activity, I feel the need to address the toxic environment and provide ways to fix this.

The debate space hasn't always been toxic for me, but a few months back I had been told that someone who shall not be named had been trash talking me since the beginning of the season. This person is someone I have confided in on many occasions, so I was not only shocked but I was angry. But this anger had brought another ill thing with it. Anxiety.

The news spiraled my life out of control and I was constantly paranoid and anxious when near the debate community. Of course, having my luck, there was more than one person who would often talk about me 'behind my back.' There were three, and they had an entire group chat dedicated to talking ill of everyone single one of my failures.

This year was supposed to be my best year. I was supposed to prove everyone wrong. I was supposed to qualify for the Tournament of Champions, but three people ruined this for me. My work ethic diminished and rather than enjoying the activity I found it as a chore, a burden, something that would soon be over.

My previous love for the activity was weakened and I found myself wanting to quit on several occasions, but I couldn't. I have spent too much time and money on the activity to let three people ruin it for me.

I wasn't going to let my anxiety ruin my life.

Depression and anxiety disorders are reoccurring illnesses in my family, both on my mom's and my dad's side. So, it didn't come to that much of a surprise to me when I had began feeling the constant paranoia and the need to cry every hour of the day because someone was talking about me. I felt worthless at times and these were the days I looked the happiest.

Makeup and sleep hid the anxiety, but my extreme enthusiasm was a bad disguise because even my most distant of friends could tell that something was wrong.

The debate space has been toxic since it's existence, but I've never experienced the toxicity until this season

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Testing My Memory

For as long as I can remember, I've always been able to remember vivid moments from my childhood and the older I got, the more memories I was able to retrieve. The earliest memory I have is from when I was 3 and a half and it's my older brother (who was eight or nine at the time) handing me batman valentine cards.

I like to bring up random memories from elementary school every now and then and people just don't remember, but I like knowing that I get to keep these important parts of my childhood with me.

The first memory test I took was the short term memory quiz, and I was very surprised with the results. I like to think I have a somewhat good memory, but scoring the lowest possible number to fall in average proved not. I scored a five, and according to Miller, that's average. I don't necessarily like being average but it's something I will have to improve.

I then took the face memorization test. Now, this may just be because of the Beyonce I had playing in the background, but my scores improved slightly. Rather than 5/7 I received a 7/10. Now, that might now be that much of a difference, but to me that is a lot and an improvement from the last quiz.

Next, I decided to go easy on myself and do the number memorization test. Using the process of rehearsal, I was able to go up to 10 digits without my brain exploding from this increase of 'information.' After ten, I decided to give it a rest because I felt as if my voice was getting tired, in a sense.

Almost nearing the end, I took the picture memory test and managed to memorize 16 out of the 20 pictures present. This, being 8/10, I consider it a success and am pleased with the results of this STM test. My memory seems to be improving already!

Lastly, I took the memory test from Psychology Test and I was very pleased with the results. I scored a 71/100 which equates to a 7/10 and this has pretty much been my score for almost every quiz I've taken.

I've learned that when it comes to numbers and pictures I will remember most of the time, but when it comes to words and phrases I am very bad at remembering.

Overall, I have an average memory, and I'm okay with that.

My Views Regarding Politics

For the entirety of my life, I have identified as a democrat. Now, I didn't really understand what that meant until eight grade history, but I believe that I have chosen the right 'label' to my political views.

The first political personality quiz I took understood me perfectly. I had been classified a 'social democrat' which relates to my undying love for Bernie Sanders, because he too is considered a 'social democrat' or a 'socialist.' The labels may be different, but they follow the same ideologies. The profile suggests that I dislike a 'small government' and that is true. My family didn't move to America in 2000 to trust a few people in how we would be allowed to live. We moved to America because it was the 'land of the free' but that is proven to be false.

With the upcoming elections, my family has posed different views on who they would be willing to vote for. Like me, my father has taken an interest in Bernie Sanders and had given him his vote in the early voting for the Texas primary. My mother, who unfortunately did not vote, has shown her support for Hillary Clinton. My brother, who remains undecided, has jokingly expressed his interest in the republican candidates, but the key word is jokingly. I fall slightly short of the age requirements for the general as I turn 18 two weeks after the election.

The second political personality quiz was also correct about my political view points. It had placed me near Gandhi on the compass, and I agree with his liberal view points. I consider myself to be very left when dealing with politics because of my views on topics that often show up, and I agree to the political compass's placement of me.

The third personality quiz has gotten me right on the dot. I received 'Solid Liberal' which was the most liberal you could get on their scale. I think some of the questions on this quiz didn't really make sense because they dealt with the 'success rate' of individuals and these are questions that people cannot accurately answer because we're exposed to such a small percentage of the population and we're not able to see how success works/how people achieve success in other parts of the country. But overall, I agree with what the personality quiz 'branded' me as.

Once again, I was not surprised with the results on the fourth and final test I took. I sided 96% with Bernie Sanders and 94% with Jill Stein, a member of the green party. I was surprised however to see that Donald Trump and I had 33% in common and Ted Cruz 20%. I would have assumed less with both of them, but I'm still happy with the overall results.

These tests/quizzes have only proved that I'm as liberal as I say I am.

I'd like to end this post with my favorite motto.

#FeelTheBern

 

Testing My Intelligence

When I was in the fifth grade, I thought that I was smart, but my IQ of 104 proves that it's just me assuming I'm smart because my brother is smart. Now obviously my IQ might be a bit age biased, but after calculation I have learned that my mental age is 17.68 whereas I am 17 years old. I assumed that I was going to be on the same level as Barack Obama if not higher, but no, I am at the average IQ of a liberal arts major.

The Mozart's Effect is something I have experienced. My music history class is constantly playing classical music, so when I roll into Pre Calculus I am ready and refreshed to be tested of my mathematical abilities (or lack thereof). The theory works on many levels. Whereas people assume that it increases your overall intelligence, it only increases spatial intelligence for a small period of time. Mozart doesn't have magical powers that induces a unique chemical reaction within your brain, the music's soothing qualities relax the brain and allow for the increase of spatial intelligence.

Stay tuned for more little bursts of Psych Knowledge towards the end of the week! <3