Team Paper.

With the University of Phoenix online (UoPhx), classes are divided into teams and given team assignments as well as our individual assignments, to prepare us for future co-authoring research findings I suppose. Here is our first psych class team paper in my intro class; the assignment being given to identify obsticles to be considered in our Team 'conference call' meetings. I was given the duties for paragraph 5, but we all answered questions for each paragraph and then did the editing as a group.







Do you hear what I hear?
Learning Team D:
Karen Blye
Vanessa Flores
M. “Sonny” Keating Jr.
Dan Pimm
Jeff Pippin
Michelle Eklund-Rentfrow
University of Phoenix
PSY/300
January 27, 2008







Do you hear what I hear?
Sensation, perception and attention abilities vary with each individual team member. To effectively communicate as a team each team member must be aware of those varying abilities and accommodate them. While there are individual differences, many of the barriers to effective communication were similar for team members and can be prevented. By learning about the barriers to team communication, preventative strategies can be implemented to minimize or eliminate the negative impact of communication barriers. With each team members differences in mind we analyze the teams’ threshold for auditory stimuli which are recognized as circumstantial and conditional. Each team member expressed the idea that personal thresholds vary due to environmental and personal factors. Environmental factors may be location, background noise or other auditory interruptions. Personal factors were identified as fatigue, medical issues, and physical hearing loss. Team members agreed that environmental and personal factors caused divided attention issues and negatively affected communication. In a thesis written by Jan Richard of Bryn Mawr College, the threshold for auditory stimuli was tested and indicated the input of stimuli causing divided attention distractions to the listener reduced memory and communication (Richard, 2006). This indicates that it will be important to minimize distractions and to mentally and physically prepare for team meetings enabling effective communication. Team members can take steps to control their environment by minimizing noise, getting enough rest and addressing any physical needs prior to team meetings to ensure the team members will be at higher thresholds for team meetings. A specific auditory topics addressed was dichotic listening, or the ‘cocktail party’ phenomenon. Our team members have very similar responses when comparing answers to the question about our comfort level when it comes to dichotic listening, or the “cocktail party” phenomenon. The majority of the group said that their dichotic listening skills are not very high and still most of us multi-listen at some point in the day almost everyday. Music on an i-pod or just having the radio playing in the background was a common occurrence for most team members. The cocktail party phenomenon “is a psychoacoustic phenomenon that refers to the remarkable human ability to selectively attend to and recognize one source of auditory input in a noisy environment, where the hearing interference is produced by competing speech sounds or a variety of noises that are often assumed to be independent of each other (Cherry, 1953)”( Haykin & Chen, 2005). All team members indicated some difficulty in the divided attention aspect of the cocktail phenomenon. Therefore, the cocktail phenomenon can have a negative influence on our conversations with people because our attentions are being pulled in two opposite directions and we do not give 100% of our attention to either conversation making it hard to get from them what we should have. Most of us will agree that in order to get our full attention we need one on one conversation with little or no background noise. People have different ways of learning. A blind person would learn mostly by hearing, and a deaf person would learn mostly by seeing. A person that can see and hear at the same time has the best advantage to stimulate the brain to learn the concept quicker. Our other senses such as touch, smell, and taste also contribute to the way we learn. An example of using other senses to learning would be by shadowing a co-worker to learn your job duty; smelling a vegetable and tasting it then realizing whether you like it or not. Eliminating distractions helps learning because one is focused only on one thing at a time. Multi-tasking is also another way to learn. Some people are able to adjust to more than one stimuli at the same time, thus learning to do more than one thing. Multi-tasking works all thresholds for stimuli and some people can remember better this way. A perfect example of a talented multi-tasker is Leonardo De Vinci “He was ambidextrous and could write and paint with both hands at the same time” (Walnut, 2006). When attention is needed to one situation more than the other it can cause confusion if one is distracted by other visual or audio stimuli. At times, what one smells can also cause a distraction. Talking on the phone with an important person that is giving viable information on how to solve a problem, and having a child needing one to give them attention while (at the same time) one is cooking dinner is how a person can get confused and distracted. Not giving 100% attention to important details will lower the threshold for understanding. People also learn in different environments. In a quiet room, with no noise at all is helpful to learning since the threshold for audio stimuli is low for most of our team members. While some of our team members would still be able to concentrate and retain information in a louder environment. Dividing attention in relation to learning depends on how the person can adjust, multi-task, and learn with or without distractions.

Not only can dividing attention facilitate or impede team members but age, illness, fatigue, and cognitive differences involved in attention to auditory input challenge us as a group in conference call meetings. Age and an excessively noisy work environment can lead to hearing loss; and changes in threshold cause significant individual perceptual difficulties. The sensorineural hearing loss reported by Dan and Sonny is caused by prolonged exposure to noise that damages hair tissue and nerve fiber in the inner ear and is also caused by age, as stated by the University of Chicago Medical Center, and affects nearly one third of some 30 million Americans who suffer hearing loss (2008). Physical and mental health issues reported by Jeff and Sonny, added to the daily fatigue affecting each of us, decrease the ability to concentrate on hearing and paying attention to what is said and how it is perceived. What is said during group conferences is perceived individually and interpreted differently, according to each person’s socio-cultural, educational background. Scientists “have found that the part of the brain that deals with sound, the auditory cortex, is adapted in each individual and tuned to the world around us.” ScienceDaily (Jan. 14, 2008). Each of us perceives the same stimuli in our own individual manner. Using what we have learned about our team members we know that every team member has different needs and different recommendations for rules when it comes to accommodating our auditory sensation, perception, and attention to learning during team meetings. Because we are attending classes via the internet, our team will hold meetings through conference calls. In order to prepare for our conference calls each team member should prepare by making sure their work environment is clean and organized to avoid distractions during the meeting. The work environment should be quiet of all causes of divided attention such as loud harsh music, televisions, other phones, families and animals. This enables everyone to be able to give their undivided attention, will be able to hear all communications, and no one involved in the meeting will feel distracted. Each team member should be sure to take care of any health care needs so the team member will be able to remain attentive, retaining and understanding the information shared during the meeting. During meetings, we will employ respectful communication skills with all team members. We will accomplish this by taking turns talking, listening and hearing each other. We will give each statement or point valid consideration, taking care not to leave anyone out of the conversation. We will understand individual differences, needs, strengths and weaknesses, properly and appropriately communicate ideas, and clarify misunderstood points with appropriate feedback and paraphrasing. At the end of each conference call, we will summarize the meeting to be sure that everyone understood the topics discussed and the goals and plans that were made for the team and each team member. Effective team communication is vital to the success of the team. Understanding the barriers to effective communication allows team members to implement strategies to minimize negative impacts on communication. Team members can prepare for meetings by being well rested, addressing physical or medical needs before meetings, and eliminating audible distractions. With each team member prepared for a meeting, the resulting positive effect on team communication will be noticeable. By controlling these barriers to effective communication, the team will be prepared and empowered for success in team projects.








References
Haykin, Simon., & Chen, Zhe. (2005). The cocktail party problem. Neural.
computation, 17 (9), 1875-1902. Retrieved January 20, 2008, from EBSCO host database
Richard, J.A. (2006). Remember the Source: Effects of divided attention on source
memory for modality with visual and auditory stimuli. Bryn Mawr College, Bryn
Mawr, PA.
Science Daily. (2008 January 14). Lend Me Your Ears, And The World Will Sound Very Different. Retrieved January 20, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080113212745.htm
The University of Chicago Medical Center. (2008). Noise-Induced Hearing Loss. Retrieved January 20, 2008, from http://www.uchospitals.edu/online-library/content=P00458
Walnut, W. (2006). Creative thinking with. Leonardo Da Vinci. Retrieved January 21, 2008, from
http://www.creativethinkingwith.com/Leonardo-da-Vinci.html


Taa da! Not graded yet, so I can only say in my personal opinion; it's brilliant!

Gosh, Josh!

OMGosh, Josh, you're off to the Marine's now, doing push-up and pumping iron to prepare for pumping lead into people you don't know, nor why? I know that you saw no future at Jiffy Lube, but being a grease monkey certainly would've been my preference to dodging bullets. Hope you do well in taking care of yourself and comrades, come home safe and sound and in one piece! And that's an order, Marine!

Back to school!

Note to myself: blog about school, now that Leave of Absense is over. Somebody might actually care to read this crap and maybe learn what I'm learning. My most recent paper:

Perchance To Dream















Perchance To Dream:
A fleeting glance at psychology.

Maurice S. Keating, Jr.

University of Phoenix























Perchance To Dream:
A fleeting glance at psychology.

Introduction:

“Ha, psyched you out!” We say that all the time, that modern colloquialism. But do we know what we mean when we say that? A good question for psychology: the “study of the soul” or; “mind,” as defined and delineated by the Online Etymology Dictionary (2001). That description only deepens the mystery of what is psychology, where it comes from; answering those questions is the goal of this paper.
Advent:
Psychology is the youngest of the social sciences, a recent development as a field of research, with varying methodologies. Its roots are traced back to early philosopher’s questionings of the nature of our species, as noted by Robin Kowalski and Drew Westen (2005). Questions of determinism, the existence of free will and mind/body dualism; the relationship between inner perceptions and outer events, were debated. (p 30-33). Even before that, with the development of speech and the evolution of increased mental capacities for memory, early ancestors searched for an understanding of themselves and their surroundings. Such is the evolutionary approach to the field of psychology, and gives rise to the biological foundations of psychology’s investigations of human thought processes and behavior, leading into medical research, questions of biology and genetics as determinants of psychology, to be delved into later. (Ch 3).
Inception:
While psychology can be traced historically in linear fashion, its variations have become as dissociated as some of the behaviors and mentality’s it endeavors to study. They’re somewhat ‘at each other’s throats’ with a fervor exceeded only by religiosity-itself another forum for explaining human thinking and behavior. Initially psychology involved introspection, a self examination and reporting technique developed by Wilhelm Wundt, the ‘father of psychology,’ in the late 1800’s. (pp 34-36). Wundt’s student, Edward Titchener, furthered introspection as the only viable research method, into a school of thought called; Structuralism. The Functionalism of William James and others that followed opposed the validity of introspection, focusing on the role and purpose of thought processes in adaptation. (pp 37-42). From thereon, four primary perspectives emerged and developed differing paradigms for examining and investigating thought and behavior, the things that ‘make us tick.’ These four schools of thought are thought of as: the Psychodynamic, Behaviorist, Cognitive and Evolutionary perspectives. (pp 129-131). Join in now for an examination of the origins and assumptions of the schizophrenic four ‘splinter’ groups of ‘psychological perspectives’ as they are thought of by Thomas Kuhn, paraphrased here. (pg 42).
Psychodynamite!
The psychoanalytic theories derived by Sigmund Freud form the basis of the origins of psychodynamic perspectives of psychology. With Freud’s development of theoretical id, ego, and superego posited between co-existent and sometimes conflicting forces of consciousness and unconscious, suddenly we know not what we do, but knew why we did it. It wasn’t ‘the devil’ that made me do it, but unconscious desires from within! (pp 48-49). Thus freed from moral responsibility for actions caused by unknown and unseen forces, individuals and even psychoanalysis itself could advance whatever thoughts and behaviors came to mind without regard to societal norms and laws and mores. Freud’s own adherents dissociated themselves from him to form heretical constructs of their own, thus furthering the splintering of psychology, affecting the subgroup of psychodynamic perspective. Was that; heretical, and not theoretical? Must’ve been a Freudian slip!
Conditioned:
‘You’ve been a bad boy (or girl), and need to be punished. Now go to your room!’ Such parental punishments postulate their knowledge of the behaviorist perspective as put forth primarily by B. F. Skinner and his theories of Operant and Classical Conditioning. (pp 62, 63). All thoughts of an unverifiable extant mind are cast out as only environment, and rewards or punishments to elicit behaviors and condition responses to stimuli, are to be considered as valid subject matter and methodology in Behaviorism.(pp 60-62). Ivan Pavlov’s direct observation of his dogs salivating when given food, and noticing their salivating at the sound of his approaching footsteps, the dogs were then trained to drool at the drop of a hat; well, a bell ringing actually. Food, a stimulus being given the dogs, caused an unconditioned response, salivation. Footsteps before the food, then later a bell rung, before food, caused a conditioned response. Behavior could be trained, even controlled, no longer requiring an unseen mind with unknowable elements of emotions, thoughts or feelings, as such were merely the insidious intellectual byproduct of a bygone age, no longer necessary in psychological studies as espoused by the American behaviorist John Watson. (pp 57-67). Psychology had lost its soul, the very essence which it purported to study.
Cogitative:
“Cogito, ergo sum.” Rene Descartes stated in 1637, and translated as; “I think, therefore I am,” is taught around the world. Encyclopedia Britannica (2007). Thoughts still pervaded humans, with or without souls, and thinking about it gave thought to cogitation as a perception, the subject matter of the Cognitive perspective of psychology. Kowalski & Westen (pp 68, 69). Not what we think, but how we think, along with memory and recall, are the basics of study of Cognitive psychologists. To coin a new phrase: It’s not what you know, or who you know, but how you know it! Experimentation its methodology, as with Behaviorism, and still no ephemeral soul needed to study, the very essence of thought processes inferred by responsive behavior give indication of their extant involvement in the innate ability to learn. (pg 78).
Back to the Beginning:
That redhead’s are known to have fiery tempers, and saying that “the apple does not fall far from the tree,” refer to genetic traces thought to influence behavior and is the basis of evolutionary psychology. From Darwin to DNA mapping, medical science now plays a major role in the investigation of human behavior. The idea that it is all in our genes brings us back to Determinism and the question of free will. Psychology comes full circle now, forging onward with new technology to prove its point. What’s the point in all this? That’s for me to know, and you to find out…and how does that make you feel?







References:
cogito, ergo sum.Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved
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January
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14,
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2008, from Encyclopædia Britannica 2006 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD .

Kowalski, R. & Westen, D. (2005). Psychology: The study of mental processes and behavior [Electronic rEsource version]. Psychology, 4e, (pp. 1-134). John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Psychology. (n.d.). Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved January 13, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Psychology




So goes my first paper for Intro to Psychology class, my second class with the University of Phoenix online. I haven't received a grade for it yet, but already I had noticed after turning it in last weekend that I forgot to put Headers and page numbers on the paper, puting a header on only the title page. Oh well, couple points off and that'll remind me to do it for the next paper.