Sad Music for Sad People?

     I have recently been listening to almost exclusively sad music. I generally consider myself a fairly happy guy, and I was curious as to why I found myself enjoying music that not only had sad content, but where the singer sounds like they are crying. Upon a slight amount of introspective thought and research I believe I have a basic grasp of why this is.

     People sometimes say that they feel nostalgic or peaceful when listening to sad music. (Vuoskoski, Para. 1) I concur, The content reminds me of the past and how great my high school years were. Now that I am in college I long for the times spent in theatre or eating at Qdoba after school. It captures the essence of longing for the past much more effectively than anything I have heard in the past.

    Rather than forcing the sadness on me like people tend to assume happens when they listen to sad music, it makes me more resigned to the fact that I cannot go back. I feel happy knowing that I had those experiences. I know I will have many more great experiences.

 C.F.

 Works cited

 Vuoskoski, Jonna K., et al. "Who enjoys listening to sad music and why?." Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal 29.3 (2012): 311-317.

Psychology?Eh I Dont Need It!

    

Many people all have one common question. Why do we need psychology? It may not be as important as the tress that give us air but it’s pretty close. We know what psychology is right? The study of the human brain our consciousness, our environment, and how we behave or think. But why? Recently in my psychology 101 class Professor Hambrick answered that question. Its two main reasons why we need it.

      One is common sense just isn’t enough. By looking at any situation anyone can infer what might have happened. But only psychology can tell us why and what exactly made a person do what they did. We’ve all seen the criminal justice show Law & Order and they have a psychologist there who they bring in when they get certain cases to tell the mindset of that person. By looking at someone’s body language you can often tell a lot.

      The other reason we need psychology is it overall makes the world a better place to live. You may ask why. When you want to know why or how something is psychology will almost most always be the answer. Once they observe something they question it form a hypothesis, do research and through many experiments get the answer. Like where do psychological disorders come from. Is it nature or nurture? So you see psychology holds the answer to many questions in life. Yes, you do need it!

Hambrick, David "Presentation Title" Psychology 101. Wells Hall, East Lansing. October 9,2016. Lecture.

C.C

Hambrick, David "Thinking Critically with Psychological Science" Psychology 101. Wells Hall, East Lansing. October 9,1026. Lecture.

Electrofishing the Red Cedar River (Prompt #8)

     In my second week here at Michigan State I got hands-on experience in my field, Fisheries and Wildlife, in the form of electrofishing on the Red Cedar River. Before hearing about electrofishing in my class, I had no idea that such thing existed. I came to find out that electrofishing creates a current of electricity under the water by using a submerged cathode and anode that temporarily affects fish movement, making them swim to the anode, making them easier to catch (fish are not harmed and return to normal in a few minutes when done correctly). This method is mostly used for field work that includes studying populations of different species of fish in specific areas. My class ended up surveying over 20 species of fish in three hours!

     I couldn't believe that I was actually getting to do fieldwork so early into my career at MSU. Getting out and learning outside of the normal classroom environment is very beneficial for every field, but even more important for fisheries and wildlife. This hands-on experience was different from traditional learning because I got to learn about electrofishing and actually do it at the same time. Instead of sitting in a traditional lecture I was putting on my waders and walking through the river with my classmates. My hands-on experience revealed to me that you really have to be ready for anything when it comes to the weather conditions and you have to tough out equipment failures. It's not a glamorous field but I can really see myself working outside like this in my future.

A.C.

Clowns and Why they Make Us So Uncomfortable

     The recent sightings of clowns have been all over the news as of late. Most news articles are either about the election or these creepy clowns. They have been known to stalk after women and children, chase after people with knives, and are often times just standing on the side of the road late at night. 

     This is apparently not the first time clowns have been creeping around. Back in the 1980’s there were events similar to this and Loren Coleman called it the “Phantom Clown Theory”; connects the clown sightings with media hysterics. In England of 2008, there was a study conducted to see the likeness of clowns and it was discovered that the amount of kids that actually like clowns are few and far between. It helps explain why people find Ronald McDonald to be so creepy and unlikable. 

     So why are we so weirded out by clowns? Frank McAndrews goes into depth about why we find clowns to be so creepy.  Clowns (and jesters) were made as a sort of satire to poke fun at powerful people and make the audience laugh. They are goofy and silly. It wasn’t until the 70’s that the killer clown became a thing. John Wayne Gacy was a normal clown, until it was discovered that he had murdered 33 people in costume. After that, Hollywood took the creepy, killer clown persona and ran with it. McAndrews explains one reason we can get creeped out is because of the ambiguity of a situation; not knowing how to react to someone’s behaviors. He conducted a study for those of 18-77 and asked them to rate creepy jobs, behaviors, and to agree/disagree with statements about creepy people. It was found that men are more likely to be thought of as creepy and that body language is very important. Being a clown was rated in the top 5 of creepy jobs. Another psychologist, Rami Nader, says that we find clowns so creepy because they wear a lot of makeup and hide who they really are. 

     It plays in with the ambiguity, the unknown. They are made to look happy, but are they really? And with the pranks they pull, can we even trust them? There's a lot of mysteries to them and not all are bad, but remember to be careful!

J.M

McAndrew, Frank T., and The Conversation US. "Why Clowns Creep Us Out."Scientific American. N.p., 29 Sept. 2016. Web. 08 Oct. 2016.

Nature vs. Nurture (Prompt 6)

      The debate on Nature vs. Nurture has been around since the beginning of the field of Psychology. Who you are is it because of the place you were born and the people who raised you or is it just nature just the way you were supposed to be. Many psychologist have had a range of ideas and theories pertaining to this subject. In this you tube video The Debate on Psychology Development they give very good examples of the effects of both nature and nurture. Like with the girl Genie who was isolated from the world until age 13. She had the body of a 6 year old and couldn't speak. This tragic case shows the resulting effect of nurture and what it can really do to person's development.

    They also gave good examples on the nature side of the debate using the twin studies. The twin studies have gave psychologist so many answers and paved the way to many psychological cast studies its simply profound. In the video they gave examples of many identical twins separated at birth but being very much similar when reunited again. One set of twins wives even have the same name, their dog's have the same name, and they both divorced a woman named Linda.

In my Psychology 101 lecture we learned about all the things presented in the video. Though all good examples and the argument was quite precise they left a fatal flaw at the conclusion of the video. They said that the debate may never be over . However Professor Hambrick has told us that the debate is indeed over. The winner is neither. Both nature and nurture play a huge role in development and who we grow up to be. So the debate is over there is no more nature vs. nurture only nature and nurture.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPZsrLAkpKM

C.C

VOTE

 With the election coming up, there is a lot of  talk about whether to vote or not. A lot of it also lies within having a "good" or "bad" vote. There are a lot of factors that go into voting, but our emotions tend to get the better of us. Scientific American gives us four good ways to be a better voter. 

1. Don't just go with your gut. 
• They compare it to a doctors vist; the doctor is expected to have the patients best interest at heart. With voting, we are expected to have each others best interests at heart as well. When we vote, it's not just for us but for our community, state, and yes, our country. 
2. Don't get all your news from social media
• When it comes to social media, we tend to block those who aren't in complete agreement with us. Because we do that, we don't get a chance to expand on the important questions or challenge them. It's recommended that we get information from all different sources and try and challenge our original thoughts. 
3. Watch the debate with your eyes closed 
• Unknowingly, we judge our male and female candiates on something as simple as facial expressions. Also, we tend to agree with those that are more visually appealing so we should watch the debate with our eyes closed so we chose based off of their words and not their appearances.
4. Know when to abstain
• Americans are often naive or ignorant when it comes to really understanding trends of the economy, crime rates, etc. So it's important to know when casting a vote is truly necessary to the greater good. It compares a bad vote to air pollution, when it's just one person polluting the air then it's not such a bad thing, but when everyone is doing it then it makes a bigger difference.

It is important to understand the difference one uninformed vote can make. So please, go out and gather all of the information necessary. Read and understand who you are voting for. And no matter who you are voting for, make sure there's valid information to back up your vote.

J.M.

Sources:

Gold, Sunny Sea. "4 Ways to Be a Better Voter." Scientific American. N.p., 02 Aug. 2016. Web. 02 Oct. 2016.

An Amazing Job?

Digital Image. BBC Earth.
Web. 01 October 2016.

     I think we all know of the movie Planet Earth. In my biology lab, it is our job to make a five minute documentary of our semester research project, drawing inspiration from Planet Earth. My peers and I were shown a video that went behind the scenes of the movie and it was very interesting. One photographer spent nine hours a day for three weeks just sitting in one position, waiting to capture a specific bird’s mating dance. Another spent three months in the Hindu Kush Mountains tracking Snow leopards and only ending up seeing a leopard for one hour during the entire excursion. Both men were alone most of the time and one was away from his family during Christmas and got very emotional when talking about this.

     Before watching this video I’ve always said how it’d be amazing to be a photographer for National Geographic, but after watching I can now say that I’m not so sure about that idea. This video made me think about the not-so-great attributes that come along with these jobs like isolation and, in a sense, confinement, which can affect you in a very negative way over time.

A.C.