"Escape and Return"

Readers Digest: November 2008 p. 23

This article was about a woman named MacDella Cooper. MacDella grew up in Monrovia, Liberia with a loving mother and step-father who worked for the United Nations. Back in 1989, when she was 12, a man named Charles Taylor (and his rebels) came and captured her step-father. This left MacDella and her 2 older brothers alone for 4 months (their mother was on vacation in the States). Once their step-father never came back, and one of the rebels said that they would return to make MacDella their wife, all 3 siblings decided to leave and go to a refugee camp. It took them 6 months to walk to the Ivory Coast (were refugee camp was located). And it took them another 3 years to receive their immigration papers. Once in the states their mother was in Newark, New Jersey working multiple jobs and living in the projects. MacDella had not expected America to be the way that her life now emulated. But despite it all, she loved high school. She then went on the receive a degree in electronic communications and worked in fashion business. Back in 2004, she started her MacDella Cooper Foundation, which supplies children in Liberia with clothes and Christmas gifts every year.

This article relates to our psychology class because MacDella's struggle and triumph throughout her life was driven through motive. From the time her stop-father was captured and her siblings and she decided to talk for 6 months to the refugee camp was pure motivation. Motive is the reason or purpose for doing something. MacDella and her family did not want to die because of the rebels, do their minds gave them the drive (taking action to fulfill a task) and determination. Once MacDella got to the states, she had secondary drives of what America would be, but was mistaken. This is how this article related to Psychology.

Toddler Brawl

WSPA Channel 7 News: November 20, 2008 Time: :15

This article is about a news report that I saw on television. For nearly 2 minutes a father video taped his two toddlers fighting continuously. Throughout the tape, you could hear the father laughing and urging the fight to proceed. One of the children fighting was in so much distress that he wanted the beating to stop but the father told them to keep going. Another child (the eldest, around the age of 5) tried to break up the fight, but was quickly removed. The mother of the children was outraged. She could not understand why their father would let such a thing happen.

This article relates to psychology by way of Chapter 5 (Learning- positive and negative reinforcers), the defense mechanisms, and learning by association. When the children were fighting this was an obvious sign of aggression caused by the frustration of another stimuli (someone hitting another person). The negative reinforcement of the father urging the fight on was wrong and should not have happened. Also, the negative reinforcement of pulling the 5 year old off of the fight was wrong. This could cause him to believe that fighting and letting a fight continue is okay, when it really is not. This is called associative learning (learning from whats in the world around you). The initial fact that one of the sons hit another was the defense mechanism of displacement. And the fact that the father suppressed the information was repression. That is hot this news report related to psychology.

The Movie and Biography of Antwone Fisher

antwonefisher.net

A movie that has both, inspired and taught, many people in the world is the Biographical movie "Antwone Fisher". This movie (which is based off of a true story) was about a boy named Antwone Fisher. Antwone Fisher was born to a teenage mother, who was in jail. He went through a number of foster homes where, in some, he received love and affection, while in another, he received a number of years of abuse (12 to be exact). In the movie, as a child and young man, he was scarred by the torment that he endured. Once he turned 18, he decided to go to the Navy. The flash backs still followed him. As a young man, it was hard for him to be close to the opposite sex because of the type of abuse he went through. In the movie, he endured physical, sexual, verbal, and mental abuse. Throughout the movie he also struggled with the longing to be reunited with his biological family, (this ties in the the motivational fact that everyone needs meaningful affection). By the end of the movie, with the help of a female friend and an Army Psychologist (which he became friends with), he finally found his biological family and the mending process of his life had began.

As of now, Antwone Fisher is screen writer, author, and film producer in Hollywood. He has a collection of poetry called "Who Will Cry for the Little Boy?", which depicts his life struggles and how he became the man that he is today. He is truly an inspiration to all people.

This movie relates totally to Psychology because from the beginning of his life he was brought up in an environment that statistically said that he was bound to fail. Being born in jail, and ultimately having to go into foster care sometimes makes people think less of the person because they assume that the person isn't really being taken care of. 12 years of abuse can weaken a persons confidence, cause depression, self-helplessness, and numb the person from feeling any type of emotion connections towards other people. There can be many trust issues with people who a person is not familiar of. Flash backs (located in the Long-Term Memory) and other mental and physical problems can also occur. The person can wake up in cold sweats or even be hyperventilating. When Antwone Fisher was trying to locate his biological family, he would become very frustrated with himself and other people, which then caused him to become aggressive (this relates to Social Psychology). In a particular scene in the movie, Fisher became very frustrated with his Psychologist. He displayed the defense mechanism, displacement, by arguing with his Psychologist about his problems and trying to blame it on him. I believe he also showed sublimation by joining the Navy so that he could mold his anger and discipline himself. Growing up Antwone Fisher knew that he had a rough life. When he grew up to become a man, he used his struggles for good, and triumphed over his obstacles. His mind drove him to be motivated to become the man that he is today, and that should be inspire anyone.

Keep it Balanced!

Readers Digest: November 2008 Issue, Pg: 87 "Health News You Can use- Rebalance Your Brain"
This article talked about technology and our brains. The article pointed out that technology has enhanced our lives by making things easier. In particular, video games can improve hand-eye coordination but can suppress the frontal lobe. They explained that technology in itself, can cause us to lose the social connections which protects us from stress.
This article relates to our Psychology class because with technology, such as a simple calculator, a person may develop a self-helplessness attitude about Math or other subjects. This can then cause unnecessary stress levels which is bad for our health. This article also relates to our Psychology class because it mentioned the frontal lobe, which deals with memory, attention and problem-solving. All of which can be hindered by suppression of the frontal lobe.
So to keep our minds balanced, we should balance our times in the things that we do. We should alternate between regular family dinners, computer-centered lifestyles, returning phone calls, and doing homework.