Wednesday, November 23, 2011
The Baron
The Baron which has now been changed back to the Crier published 2 more of my articles. I am very proud. My friend Jacob even said that he thought that my article was very good. I love that my talent is being showcased.
Dissonance
Cognitive dissonance is a theory about human motivation. Cognation is an attitude or behavior that a person supports. Dissonance is an unpleasant feeling or conflict. Cognition is a desire to maintain harmony between one’s beliefs and one’s actions. Dissonance causes disharmony when someone makes a decision and follows a route of action that disagrees with their original cognition. Everyone faces frequently opportunities to make choices and to follow a course of action. When the course of action of which choice is made causes a conflict many times irrational thinking will develop. Irrational thinking is the attempt to lesson the dissonance maintaining harmony. There are three ways that people can decrease their cognitive dissonance in any decision or course of action. For example the surgeon general of the United States has provided extensive education to the people of the United States of the dangers, and addictiveness of tobacco products. Therefore people have a cognitive choice to smoke or not to smoke. People in any stage of their life, even though well educated can make a decision to use tobacco products. After their decision to use tobacco products, how do they reduce their cognitive dissonance? First they can change their conflicting behavior to have it match their attitude. Using this way people will quit using tobacco products (cold turkey) no matter what it takes. The second way they can change their conflicting cognition is to justify their behavior. For example people could realize their craving for tobacco products shouldn’t have them so they decrease their disharmony by forming an opinion such as “I have to die from something any so by using tobacco products I will at least have a choice”. The third way that people can reduce their cognitive dissonance is by life forming new cognitions to justify their behavior. In this example people admit that they are using tobacco products, they want to continue to use therefore it will explain their actions. A person might say something like (I only smoke when I go out with my smoking friends and I go out with them only once a week therefore I smoke less and therefore it’s less harmful).All of the above examples are people trying to reduce their cognitive dissonance by convincing themselves to use or not to use tobacco products.
Milgram
Milgram was a social psychologist in the 1960’s who performed a highly debated research study with the correlation between obeying commands from an authority figure and the level of obedience. Even though I think that Milgram’s research raised ethical questions I do think that it did show the effect that authority has upon the obedience of others. I think that the fact that no one in the research study was really shocked did not have an effect on the participants because all the teachers believed that they were an authority over the learners and therefore had the power to inflict shocks. The teachers however were following the insistence to continue many times against their better judgment by a higher authority their professor.
I would have strong ethical issues if someone were to replicate this experiment using actual shock. I don’t think that inflicting actual pain would change the outcome of the initial experiment. I mean what is the point? Historically it’s well documented the actions of others using obedience to a higher authority regardless of the outcome. For example knights followed the instructions of their king with the purpose of maintaining their territory. Hitler’s SS soldiers followed his orders even though they were attempting to eradicate a whole Jewish population. Mafia wise guys follow the instructions of their mafia boss regardless of the severity of the request. Power and obedience is an age old phenomenon and will continue regardless of research replication to prove the actions of others.
I would have strong ethical issues if someone were to replicate this experiment using actual shock. I don’t think that inflicting actual pain would change the outcome of the initial experiment. I mean what is the point? Historically it’s well documented the actions of others using obedience to a higher authority regardless of the outcome. For example knights followed the instructions of their king with the purpose of maintaining their territory. Hitler’s SS soldiers followed his orders even though they were attempting to eradicate a whole Jewish population. Mafia wise guys follow the instructions of their mafia boss regardless of the severity of the request. Power and obedience is an age old phenomenon and will continue regardless of research replication to prove the actions of others.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Wolf of a Day
Wolves, the first reaction that people usually have about them is that they are vicious and terrible creatures. But in reality they are really is one of the gentlest creatures you will ever meet. Mission Wolf is an organization that travels all around the country educating people about the importance of wolf preservation. They came to CCC and gave a hands on presentation with the wolves present. The headquarters for this organization is in Westcliffe, Colorado. The refuge in Colorado currently houses up to 40 wolves. The refuge provides a safe and non stressful environment for the wolves to live in peace away from people. Mission Wolf strives to reduce the number of wolves in captivity. The program teaches people about the tragedy of wolves in captivity. Wild animals do not make good pets. They belong in the wild. A lot of farmers and people kill the wolves. If the people only understand the wolves’ behavior instead of killing them people would not be afraid of them. They are just as scared of you as you are of them. They want to say hi and lick your face. Mission Wolf shows the importance of wolf recovery, and the enhancement of remaining ecosystems. This program inspires people to get involved in conservation and preservation of ecosystems. All the souvenirs that Mission Wolf sells 100% of all the proceeds goes to the wolves to save them from future generations.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
CCC Hosts a Night of Original Talent
Nick Ippoliti sang the night away Wednesday October 19th at CCC’s Original Talent Night at Market Street’s Soulfull Cup.
The place was packed as Mr. Ippoliti, is a CCC English professor, demonstrated a one man band of talent. With his guitar in hand and his fedora hat tilted on his head he belted out original folk tunes along with some his original music. Much of his music he writes himself, but he does perform other’s music such as songs done by Johhny Cash.
Some of his creations that he shared not only had attracting themes, but the titles gave a hint as to the flavorful content. He sang selections called: Straight Jacket, Americana, Mama’s Got a Girlfriend and Spanish Fountain. He would periodically interject comments or thoughts that surrounded the creation of his intriguing tales. For example his song Spanish fountain he told was an inspiration from a personal trip he took to Italy. While in search of his genealogy he discovered multiple beautiful water fountains that had been built in Italy by the Spanish during the Holy Wars. The Spanish built these fountains to make clan water available to all future soldiers in their travels, hence the inspiration for his song. He is a great combination of singer/songwriter, a Grammy nominee and is currently working on his 5th album. Is truly fortunate to have the creative Mr. Ippoliti in their midst. Write long and sing hard Mr. Ippoliti.
The place was packed as Mr. Ippoliti, is a CCC English professor, demonstrated a one man band of talent. With his guitar in hand and his fedora hat tilted on his head he belted out original folk tunes along with some his original music. Much of his music he writes himself, but he does perform other’s music such as songs done by Johhny Cash.
Some of his creations that he shared not only had attracting themes, but the titles gave a hint as to the flavorful content. He sang selections called: Straight Jacket, Americana, Mama’s Got a Girlfriend and Spanish Fountain. He would periodically interject comments or thoughts that surrounded the creation of his intriguing tales. For example his song Spanish fountain he told was an inspiration from a personal trip he took to Italy. While in search of his genealogy he discovered multiple beautiful water fountains that had been built in Italy by the Spanish during the Holy Wars. The Spanish built these fountains to make clan water available to all future soldiers in their travels, hence the inspiration for his song. He is a great combination of singer/songwriter, a Grammy nominee and is currently working on his 5th album. Is truly fortunate to have the creative Mr. Ippoliti in their midst. Write long and sing hard Mr. Ippoliti.
The Beef of Spam
Something that really gets on everybody’s nerves is spam email. According to internetslang.com the definition of spam is unsolicited e-mail. Maria checks her email frequently and she has received spam mail from a Viagra company. How do these companies get your email address in the first place? Spammers collect your email from chat rooms, websites, customer lists, newsgroups, and from viruses. Then they can send you spam from all sorts of companies. Pharmacies, drug companies, send out 81% of all spam. Replica companies send out 5.40%. Enhancer companies, companies that sell drugs to enhance body parts, send out 2.30% of mail. Phishing spam involves hackers that imitate banks, fake websites, and other organizations send out 2.30% of all spam. College degrees accumulate 1.30% of all spam. Casino spam 1%, weight loss is 0.40%, and all other spam is 6.30%. Spam mail can cause viruses and worms to infect your computers. In the United States spammers have to follow certain rules to be legal. The information they get has to be truthful, and it can’t forged information. But how much do these companies really get out of spam mail? Most people do not really pay attention to it. A lot of spam emails have a way to unsubscribe from receiving future contact from the companies. It is not a good idea to unsubscribe from the companies because in a study it was found that 16% of companies will continue to contact you.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Famous Room 203
October21, 2011 was a memorable night for CCC and the surrounding community. CCC had the pleasure to present Erin Gruwell for an evening of a true application of theory and educational practice.
Erin Gruwell is a young, energetic female who worked in a very poor and dangerous inner city school in Long Beach, California approximately 15 years ago. The fruits of her labor were multiple, but the world took notice when her class of social misfits compiled a book during her high school English class. The book, The Freedom Writers, was created in the now famous room 203. The story became so popular that it went on to be made into a movie. Although her presentation was very emotional at times by pointing out the trials and tribulations of hers it culminated with a truly uplifting message.Being in the presence of an academic audience was so poi net because she took a well known psychological theorist know as Eric Maslow and his Hierarchy of Needs and tested and proved his theory is valuable and applicable to real life. She talked about her classroom full of students who found the stages of Maslow challenging and nearly impossible to achieve. They strove for basic needs, safety and some kind of feeling of belonging. She found it challenging to teach students who struggled with daily basic needs. They had no desire or interest in going up the pyramid of needs. Therefore they were stagnated and unable to be taught the desire to learn and achieve. The first step in the pyramid of need is hunger, thirst, and fatigue. When Erin Gruwell first met the class, she realized that many of them came from single mother homes, lived in poverty and were starved, and thirsty. Most of them had eaten little for days. The second stage in the pyramid is safety. None of the students in the class felt safe. They walked the streets outside their homes and on their way to school in fear everyday that they would get shot down and die at a young age. Many had already buried many close friends and a relative due to gang fighting.The third stage in the pyramid is belonging. These kids would join gangs, even though they knew that illegal activities could get them arrested or worse killed. Their desire to belong was so great it over rode their judgment because it gave them a sense of belonging to a group. Any group would make them feel like they belonged somewhere. Many of them were gang members, wore gang colors and actively participated in gang warfare. The fourth stage is esteem. These students had never reached this level of Maslow. They were striving so hard to get the lowest levels met that self-esteem and self respect were alien concepts to them. They felt worthless and deep down inside thought that an early death would not be a bad outcome. They had no constructive chances for recognition in achievement, feeling valued, or gaining respect from others. The fifth stage is cognitive. Her class had never read a complete book and some of them even had difficulty reading at all. They did not see the value in such activities and it made no sense to them to value learning activities. Their learning consisted of the street life, and streetwise techniques. The sixth step is appreciating order and beauty. Their lives had no order or beauty. They had constant discord in every aspect of their lives and finding beauty living in dirty, falling down development housing covered in gang graffiti of an inner city can make it difficult to see or be able to recognize any beauty. These students had no chance to achieve the last step of the pyramid unless something drastic changed in their lives. Self-actualization to find self-fulfillment and realizing their potential was totally unreachable for them. They were unable to achieve themselves let alone help others or recognize that they may even have possibilities.
With inspiration from positive role models such as Anne Frank Ms. Gruwell showed her class that there can always be hope even in the throes of despair. Each of the 150 students that she taught in room 203 graduated from high school. This was a totally unpredicted statistic for that population base. They all went on to college. Today many of them are teachers and one is a lawyer. She is very proud of all her students and goes about the country telling their story. All money that is earned through speaking engagements, book sales and royalties from the movie goes to a scholarship to aid future students for success. Each of the original students are mentors for the current high school students in that area. Ms. Gruwell showed her class that there can always be hope even in the throes of despair and proved that Maslow’s Hierarchy can be achieved.
Erin Gruwell is a young, energetic female who worked in a very poor and dangerous inner city school in Long Beach, California approximately 15 years ago. The fruits of her labor were multiple, but the world took notice when her class of social misfits compiled a book during her high school English class. The book, The Freedom Writers, was created in the now famous room 203. The story became so popular that it went on to be made into a movie. Although her presentation was very emotional at times by pointing out the trials and tribulations of hers it culminated with a truly uplifting message.Being in the presence of an academic audience was so poi net because she took a well known psychological theorist know as Eric Maslow and his Hierarchy of Needs and tested and proved his theory is valuable and applicable to real life. She talked about her classroom full of students who found the stages of Maslow challenging and nearly impossible to achieve. They strove for basic needs, safety and some kind of feeling of belonging. She found it challenging to teach students who struggled with daily basic needs. They had no desire or interest in going up the pyramid of needs. Therefore they were stagnated and unable to be taught the desire to learn and achieve. The first step in the pyramid of need is hunger, thirst, and fatigue. When Erin Gruwell first met the class, she realized that many of them came from single mother homes, lived in poverty and were starved, and thirsty. Most of them had eaten little for days. The second stage in the pyramid is safety. None of the students in the class felt safe. They walked the streets outside their homes and on their way to school in fear everyday that they would get shot down and die at a young age. Many had already buried many close friends and a relative due to gang fighting.The third stage in the pyramid is belonging. These kids would join gangs, even though they knew that illegal activities could get them arrested or worse killed. Their desire to belong was so great it over rode their judgment because it gave them a sense of belonging to a group. Any group would make them feel like they belonged somewhere. Many of them were gang members, wore gang colors and actively participated in gang warfare. The fourth stage is esteem. These students had never reached this level of Maslow. They were striving so hard to get the lowest levels met that self-esteem and self respect were alien concepts to them. They felt worthless and deep down inside thought that an early death would not be a bad outcome. They had no constructive chances for recognition in achievement, feeling valued, or gaining respect from others. The fifth stage is cognitive. Her class had never read a complete book and some of them even had difficulty reading at all. They did not see the value in such activities and it made no sense to them to value learning activities. Their learning consisted of the street life, and streetwise techniques. The sixth step is appreciating order and beauty. Their lives had no order or beauty. They had constant discord in every aspect of their lives and finding beauty living in dirty, falling down development housing covered in gang graffiti of an inner city can make it difficult to see or be able to recognize any beauty. These students had no chance to achieve the last step of the pyramid unless something drastic changed in their lives. Self-actualization to find self-fulfillment and realizing their potential was totally unreachable for them. They were unable to achieve themselves let alone help others or recognize that they may even have possibilities.
With inspiration from positive role models such as Anne Frank Ms. Gruwell showed her class that there can always be hope even in the throes of despair. Each of the 150 students that she taught in room 203 graduated from high school. This was a totally unpredicted statistic for that population base. They all went on to college. Today many of them are teachers and one is a lawyer. She is very proud of all her students and goes about the country telling their story. All money that is earned through speaking engagements, book sales and royalties from the movie goes to a scholarship to aid future students for success. Each of the original students are mentors for the current high school students in that area. Ms. Gruwell showed her class that there can always be hope even in the throes of despair and proved that Maslow’s Hierarchy can be achieved.
Andrognous
An androgyny is a person who possesses a combination of both female and male characteristics. This is a type of person who doesn’t fit into the traditional roles of society. This person is able to problem solve like their opposite sex and therefore have more diverse problem solving tactics. For example a female may lack a male in her life, therefore she figures out how to check the oil in her car, air in the tires and change the tires. In the past such activities have been more traditionally accomplished by males. On the other hand a man without a female partner may figure out how to cook a three course meal, wash his clothes efficiently and paint his little girl’s fingernails. In the past such activities have been accomplished by more females. Our society is becoming more androgynous. It has been researched that people who are androgynous have developed characteristics that make them both male and female disregarding their actual gender.
In today’s society more and more people are becoming androgyny in character. Over time due to society demands and lack of opposite sex partners people have adapted to handle and cope with life by developing problem solving techniques more like their opposite sex. Traditional roles of males versus females in our society have become more and more blurred. Being able to adapt using this problem solving style can be a definite advantage. Many people become less dependent upon the opposite sex to help them with everyday life decisions and activities. This enhances the person’s independence and over all ability to cope with life. On the other hand this technique can have definite disadvantages. Over time it is becoming more and more obvious that gender roles are becoming more blurred. People are discovering that if they can problem solve by being more androgynous than why do they need the opposite sex? They can cope and problem solve well without their assistance. The opposite sex may lose value in the eyes of the other and can even become a burden over time causing people to become so independent that relationships between males and females become lost. Over time this can cause disintegration in society as we know it with less male and female partnerships and more single adult households.
In today’s society more and more people are becoming androgyny in character. Over time due to society demands and lack of opposite sex partners people have adapted to handle and cope with life by developing problem solving techniques more like their opposite sex. Traditional roles of males versus females in our society have become more and more blurred. Being able to adapt using this problem solving style can be a definite advantage. Many people become less dependent upon the opposite sex to help them with everyday life decisions and activities. This enhances the person’s independence and over all ability to cope with life. On the other hand this technique can have definite disadvantages. Over time it is becoming more and more obvious that gender roles are becoming more blurred. People are discovering that if they can problem solve by being more androgynous than why do they need the opposite sex? They can cope and problem solve well without their assistance. The opposite sex may lose value in the eyes of the other and can even become a burden over time causing people to become so independent that relationships between males and females become lost. Over time this can cause disintegration in society as we know it with less male and female partnerships and more single adult households.
Gender Idenity
There are many terms that are used to differentiate the male from the female. Biological development if the most obvious. Physical characteristics that help identify the female are being born with a vagina, uterus, and ovaries. Males are born with a penis, testes, scrotum, and a prostate gland. Around the age of 10-12 children experience puberty. When both sexes have growth spurts approaching adolescents and secondary sexual characteristics develop. Females develop a menstrual cycle, enlarged breasts, wider hips, public hair, and fat deposits. Males develop deepening of their voice, facial and public hair, and coarser skin.
Gender identity is the individual’s sense of being male or female. A person’s gender identity is defined as the psychological aspects of being a male or female. A person’s culture, development of their personality and the sense of who they are shapes the definition of gender. Gender does not only effect the way a male or female may feel about themselves, but their relationship with their friends, coworkers and intimate partners as well as what others think of them. For example males are expected to dress masculine, do masculine activities and interact with other males as friends not intimate partners. Females are expected to dress feminine, such as wear a bra, do feminine activities like paint their nails, and interact with other females like discussing boyfriends and how they find them attractive sexually. Many times these male and female behaviors are directed by cultural clues. In other words how the adults in that society expect the males and females to act. For example in the U.S. for a male to wear a dress would be greatly discouraged and not expected. In Africa males wear dresses and are recognized as a norm, especially for special cultural occasions.
Gender identity is the process of a person becoming a male versus a female. Obviously physical development plays a role, but environmental factors enter into the development as well. Gender typing has a big influence of how males and females learn from their culture expectations in behavior. For example if a boy is taught to place with Barbie dolls it may affect his gender identity towards being more feminine in character. If a girl is encouraged to act more masculine, do masculine chores, activities and act rough and tough it may effect her gender identity towards being more masculine. However researchers have not concluded which factors, biological versus environmental, may have more of an affect on the child’s gender identity development. So cultural clues can have a big effect on the way males and females carry out their life roles.
Gender development can be effected by many factors, biological, environmental as well as cultural. A person’s development of their being is effected by all of these areas. However one must also consider that just because all of these factors come into play in the development of a person, one can not be assured the outcome. In many cultures roles of the male and female are blurred and vary from one culture to another. The development of a person is very complex and can also change over time.
Some individual’s feel that they are supposed to be a different sex than what they are. This is called gender identity disorder. Some will even have surgery to become the other gender. A functional magnetic resonance imaging showed that areas involved in emotional and sexual were more strongly active in men that in women.
Gender identity is the individual’s sense of being male or female. A person’s gender identity is defined as the psychological aspects of being a male or female. A person’s culture, development of their personality and the sense of who they are shapes the definition of gender. Gender does not only effect the way a male or female may feel about themselves, but their relationship with their friends, coworkers and intimate partners as well as what others think of them. For example males are expected to dress masculine, do masculine activities and interact with other males as friends not intimate partners. Females are expected to dress feminine, such as wear a bra, do feminine activities like paint their nails, and interact with other females like discussing boyfriends and how they find them attractive sexually. Many times these male and female behaviors are directed by cultural clues. In other words how the adults in that society expect the males and females to act. For example in the U.S. for a male to wear a dress would be greatly discouraged and not expected. In Africa males wear dresses and are recognized as a norm, especially for special cultural occasions.
Gender identity is the process of a person becoming a male versus a female. Obviously physical development plays a role, but environmental factors enter into the development as well. Gender typing has a big influence of how males and females learn from their culture expectations in behavior. For example if a boy is taught to place with Barbie dolls it may affect his gender identity towards being more feminine in character. If a girl is encouraged to act more masculine, do masculine chores, activities and act rough and tough it may effect her gender identity towards being more masculine. However researchers have not concluded which factors, biological versus environmental, may have more of an affect on the child’s gender identity development. So cultural clues can have a big effect on the way males and females carry out their life roles.
Gender development can be effected by many factors, biological, environmental as well as cultural. A person’s development of their being is effected by all of these areas. However one must also consider that just because all of these factors come into play in the development of a person, one can not be assured the outcome. In many cultures roles of the male and female are blurred and vary from one culture to another. The development of a person is very complex and can also change over time.
Some individual’s feel that they are supposed to be a different sex than what they are. This is called gender identity disorder. Some will even have surgery to become the other gender. A functional magnetic resonance imaging showed that areas involved in emotional and sexual were more strongly active in men that in women.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Into the Mind of Kate Douglass
Recently I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Dr. Kate Douglas, the President of Corning Community College. Being new the Upstate New York, she hails from Massachusetts but she is also Corning Community College’s first female president. She started her new position this past summer, but it is clear that she has acclimated well, made many new friends and is daily observed as having academic strength balanced well with grace.
A typical day for Dr. Douglas includes lots of meetings, reports, committee work, problem solving, and the budget. Every day something new and exciting awaits Dr. Douglas. But she is set apart from the average because she likes to interact with students. While making her daily rounds walking around campus and seeing what is going on it is obvious to everyone that she strives to place students first. She can be observed stopping on her daily constitution around campus and chatting with students as well as faculty and staff alike. She is interested in people and takes time out of her busy schedule to connect while assuredly tending to the job at hand. It is obvious that she works to create an organization and culture that respects all.
She commented that she wants a connection to the community that is inviting, welcoming the community to get involved in the CCC organization and infrastructure. Dr. Douglas has an open door policy to her office and frequently encourages people to stop by. I have met her several times in the short few weeks that I have joined the college campus this fall. I find her interested, inviting and energetic. Dr. Douglas shared some helpful advice personally to me as a student. She said TO believe in your dreams, remember it’s never too late for anything, always stay in touch with who you are, and never be afraid to take risks.
A typical day for Dr. Douglas includes lots of meetings, reports, committee work, problem solving, and the budget. Every day something new and exciting awaits Dr. Douglas. But she is set apart from the average because she likes to interact with students. While making her daily rounds walking around campus and seeing what is going on it is obvious to everyone that she strives to place students first. She can be observed stopping on her daily constitution around campus and chatting with students as well as faculty and staff alike. She is interested in people and takes time out of her busy schedule to connect while assuredly tending to the job at hand. It is obvious that she works to create an organization and culture that respects all.
She commented that she wants a connection to the community that is inviting, welcoming the community to get involved in the CCC organization and infrastructure. Dr. Douglas has an open door policy to her office and frequently encourages people to stop by. I have met her several times in the short few weeks that I have joined the college campus this fall. I find her interested, inviting and energetic. Dr. Douglas shared some helpful advice personally to me as a student. She said TO believe in your dreams, remember it’s never too late for anything, always stay in touch with who you are, and never be afraid to take risks.
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