10. English course

Well, to my surprise, I liked this course. I had taken this course just because I was lazy (I didn’t want to do the English oral exam again) and was kind of bothered to be a Thursday afternoon at the university, but as the classes began I spent a good time.

About the blogs, I think it was a good learning experience if it’s done seriously. You start to be used to write in English, and even learn new words and expressions because you need them to talk about what you want. The only downgrade of this method is that is easy to cheat, but that’s more like a moral problem than a problem of the system itself. Also, I would have liked to do more free-themed blog, because there were some thematic that I really didn’t know much about.

I think that the most important aspect to be improved in my English is pronunciation. I’m a really bad talker (in Spanish and English), so it’s kind of difficult to pronounce well in English. Also, I’m not very good learning new words; I have a really bad memory. This affects the fluidity of my speaking, because sometimes I don’t know what to answer or explain well certain things.  About what I would do to improve these things, I think I’m doing a few right now. I usually watch TV series with English subtitles (because I’m too impatient to wait for the Spanish releases) and when I find a word that I don’t know I search it. Also, I’m reading a book in English, so I kind of practice English that way. Regarding the pronouncing, the video talks of this course helped me a little, but it’s difficult anyway.

To end this entry, like I said before, I use English in a few activities: to watch TV series, to read a book, to play videogames and to learn from forums in English about different aspects. Also, from time to time I have to read papers in English for the university, and write abstracts of papers that I have to do for it too.

Well, I hope you liked this entry, good day to you all J

9. 2013

Tsuki...sleeping?

Overall, I think that I had a very…neutral year. Among the good things that happened in my life is that I could have a new pet in January, a ferret named Tsukihi (by the way, that means fire of the moon). Even though she is a really messy, spoiled, and doesn’t even hear my scolding, I love her. I believe this is the most important good thing in the year because I love animals and I have always wanted to have a ferret.

Another good thing is that it was a good year academically. This semester was especially good, with a few exceptions, because I liked almost all my classes, and that lead me to think what specialty I am going to take. Also, I had good grades overall.

Something like this, but with less  money xD

Finally that last good thing is that I live alone now. Even though I have to lives with roommates in my previous house, it was annoying because I didn’t choose with whom to live, and there was someone that bothered me.

Pinina sleeping

About the bad things…I could name two which affected me. One was to end my relationship with my partner, which lasted about three years, but I would prefer not to talk about it. The other thing is that my cat named Pinina died. I am really sad and I think I will never get past it, because she had been with my since I had memory and was family to me. The thing I most regret about it is that I never got the chance to say goodbye to her, because she died two weeks before I could go to my house in Coquimbo.

I don’t really recall any achievements (except breeding some good pokemon in pokemon X? xD), and I would want to work in something before the end of the year, because I need the money.

Well, I think that’s it, see you next week. J

8. Social media and the end of gender.

The talk “The end of gender” by Johanna Blakley is about the importance of the social media in the construction and deconstruction of demographic categories. To this day, companies describe us in social media investigations using the concept of “demographic box”, which means we are divided in certain ranges of ages that determine our tastes, habits, etc. and everything is done by that presumptions. She thinks that this point of view is now obsolete, because the use of technological tools has given us the means to bypass and construct new ways to escape those demographic boxes. Things likes lying about you age, gender and income make difficult to determine demographic boxes. Nonetheless, companies still use this method to categorize people because that is how they determine the ads in social media.

Blakley thinks that the way to really understand and have more powerful information about people is by “taste communities” (groups of people not determined by demographic boxes, which tend to have similar tastes).

Also she explains that world statistics say that women outnumber men in the use of technology, and even thought this will cause effects like more employment for women and a more female driven social media; in reality they will be responsible for stopping these old “chesse” categories that are imposed on us through demographic boxes.

She ends her speech arguing that the real importance of knowing about social media and what entertains people is because it has a huge impact in our lives, for example, with a better mental health, social interaction, among other things.

Even though I think that what she says has some truth in it, I believe that the main point of the speech was bad-driven. I thought that she was going to talk about gender regimes (which are the actual discussion for “the end of gender”) but the only thing she talked about  was mutual tastes. Sure, it true that tastes are not related to gender (and much more if we are talking about technological social media), but that is not the only thing that defines our gender: our behavior, our interactions with other people, the way we dress, our actual standing about some controversial aspects of our culture (like the hate to transsexuals, the acceptation of homosexual, pansexual and bisexuals, etc.) are important, and they are not even said in her speech. The actual name of her talk would have been “the social media and demographic boxes” because that’s all she talked. To end this entry, I would like to quote a phrase that was said in the comments of the video, regarding the outnumbering of women in the use of social media that expresses what I think and is a topic that she didn’t care about: “what difference you make is not about how much you use it but HOW you use it. Not how much you write but WHAT you make”

Well, thanks for reading, see you next week.

7. Are we green? more like Black.

First of all, I have to say that the things that I will write are my truest opinions. Nevertheless, these don’t necessarily correlate with my behavior; I admit that I do some things that contradict what I think about this topic.

 Even if it’s extremist the only way to really stop contaminating the planet is to stop existing. The human nature constantly creates and destroys and sadly the things that we create (cities, technology, etc.) don’t make any attempt to restore the balance in our environment. An example of this destructive nature is the development of rites in certain social groups like the killing of whales in Japan and the “sporting” killing of seals in Canada, the usage of animals in experiments that violate them in every possible way, the destruction of forests, oceans and entire ecosystems that live within them, among others kind of horrible things. There are small groups of people who care about the environment like greenpeace or PETA, but some of their actions are questionable and their efforts aren’t enough to balance the destruction that we do.

However, extinction of the human it’s not going to happen, and we have to deal with it. If people want to live in a better world and ensure a good place for later generations, we must take a stance and not react passively to these important topics. To finish, if little things like recycling trash, planting trees are done massively, we could make a meaningful change.

6. Technology everywhere.

Well, the technology certainly has been one of the most relevant elements in the last two decades, and I think everyone agrees with that. The development of new technologies and electronic appliances with connection to the network has rapidly increased in the last years, and even little kids use them. (my one year old niece already likes to watch videos from youtube and play with things connected to internet!).

An example of what my niece watch

I myself spend a great part of my day with technological products: mi handheld console, mi personal computer, and my cellphone, and every one of them have connection to the network and play a role in my daily activities. For example, my personal computer let me read the news (since I don’t buy newspaper), know different types of information related to my career, classes and hobby’s  and to write the tasks that the teachers give me in the semester (like this blog). Also, it allows me to communicate with friends that I don’t see often, play online games and watch series from other countries, among other things. My handheld console, being connected to the network, let me play games that I own with people around the world, and my cellphone allows me to communicate con people when my computer isn’t available.

A internet feature of a pokemon game that lets you play with people you don't even know!

I think that without internet my daily life would be a lot more complicated (for a few days I didn’t have internet in my house and it was a hellish experience...), because almost everything I do now is related to it, and even if I don’t want to use it the circumstances around me force me to use it. In that sense, even if it is very useful, it doesn’t make me feel powerful, it makes me feel tied or constrained, and even dislike a little that everything now has to be done by that medium, so I try from time to time to spend less time connected to the network and do other thing, like to play with my ferret and read a book con the A song of fire and ice series.

Me going on a walk with my ferret, away from technology...kinda (it was taken with my cellphone)

Thanks for reading!

5. Munchausen’s-by-proxy syndrome.

The paper I have chosen talks about the Munchausen’s-by-proxy syndrome. The syndrome is used by the Juridical psychology (in forensic and criminal psychology, by example) in differential diagnosis of legal cases, to determine more accurately the perpetrator of a crime, as well as their motives or circumstances related to it. The paper explains what the basis of the syndrome is: it is when either parent simulates the sickness of child, carrying them to a lot of doctors, doing examinations to them, and in severe cases, causing the death of them. The perpetrator is usually the mother, and even though it gives the impression that she cares about her child, she is more centered on the generated sickness than the child itself. The father usually adopts a distant relationship and is not involved with the treatment of his child.

The doctors knowing nothing of that are troubled with the lack of information about the disease, which leaves them with a closed judgment, and leaving the child with more pressure in the medic ambit. The medical case exposed in the paper refers to a mother who, in her life, had five children, and four of them died of weird circumstances, being related with the separation of her partners. The last daughter, Ester, was going to have the same end, but the medical and psychological team found about the existence of the syndrome, and they could protect her from her mother.

Finally, it ends with a discussion about the risk of the medical team on the moment to attend this type of cases. I think this topic (and in especial, all differential diagnosis in Juridical psychology) is very important given the consequences of the syndrome. Leave your child to die thinking you are doing a good thing (protecting them) is something you couldn’t even think of, labeling as crazy at least, but unfortunately, this kind of things happens. The knowledge of this cases and the opportune reaction could save lives, so I think it is essential to study them, give them reflection, and if you want to be a forensic psychologist, have them in mind every time you do an analysis of a case.

I you want to read the paper, you can dowload it from there: http://www.mediafire.com/download/9eko9vms5vm2maj/munchausen-por-poder.docx

Thanks for reading!

4. Body language

First of all, I thought it was a great talk. She went from the basics of the theme she was exposing, gradually inserting examples like the ones with the Politian’s or the doctors, social and biological studies that corroborated her posture like the one about testosterone and cortisol, and even connected emotionally with the audience with her personal experience (I really empathized with her in that part). 

Regarding the topic, I knew about it, and I think is one of the first thing you, at least, hear studying psychology, and it is studied by people in areas regarding behavior and cognitive process. The effects of nonverbal behavior are known, and even if you do not know the exact postures, you can have an idea about what are, simply by experience. It was interesting the information about the difference between gender in power/powerless expression, and how participating in something and the feedback of it can affect us. I agree with all she said about the topic, and the quote she remarked “fake it until you become it” express very well the motive of the talk. 

In my personal experience I, for different reasons, I have been felt powerless and “not supposed to be here”, and I usually do some poses that go accord that way, but I try to change my posture and body language when I realize it, and improve myself in that area, but, like she said, it is something you do step by step.

Thanks for reading!