Week 4: Nature vs. Nurture Debate

Nature vs Nurture debate is a topic I have studied a lot in my previous psychology classes. It's a very interesting topic to discuss because every person has a different point of view. When it comes down to making a decision, the students in my classes were usually divided down the middle. I believe we are mostly shaped by our environment, so I believe in the nurture part.

John Locke came up with an interesting theory, tabula rasa. He stated that all human beings are born with their minds being a blank slate. He believed that the way we raised affected greatly what kind of person we would become later on in life. He didn't believe that nature affected the way we were.

Another interesting theory is one by Albert Bandura. His theory was Bandura's Social Learning Theory. This theory stated that we learned our behaviors through observing our environment. If a person imitates aggression then that behavior would be learned through observation and imitating.

If a child's parents are evil, I don't think the child will automatically be born evil. I believe that the child will learn the parents' behavior and imitate it. If the child is raised by it's sweet grandmother, then the child will be sweet just like the grandmother. I strongly believe that our surroundings and family affect the person we become as adults.

Week 3: Comedy Sketch

What I got from this video is that the British think that Americans are too proud. Hugh Laurie was singing the song. Every time he says "America" or "the states," the audience almost dies of laughter. I'm sure everybody is proud of their heritage and their country. I know I am. This comedy sketch is portraying that Americans are exaggeratedly proud. When the man comes out and punches Hugh Laurie in the face, it kind of demonstrates hatred towards the Americans. I think that British think that Americans are being ridiculous for being so proud. They might possibly annoyed by it. This was my interpretation of the video.

Week 2: Stanford Experiment

I'm not sure whether or not the Stanford Prison Experiment was ethical. After reading about it, I'm kind of undecided. All the students were told about the experiment. They knew what they were doing. Of course, the setting that they were in made them forget that it was all an experiment. It made these students believe that they were really prison guards and prisoners. As I sit here reading my notes about this experiment, I believe it started out as an ethical experiment. As the experiment progressed, the students turned it into an unethical experiment. I think that as soon as the guards started abusing their power, the experiment should have been ended. Luckily enough for the "prisoners," the experiment was stopped before the guards went even further with their abuse and torture. It did become an unethical experiment when the guards overstepped their boundaries. If the people in charge of the experiment kept these "guards" under control, then it would have been an ethical experiment. If they had been kept under control, they wouldn't have gone to the extreme forms of punishment that they resorted to.

As far as interesting, I found it interesting how quickly the students assumed their roles as guards and prisoners. It's amazing how our mind works. The students who were guards quickly adapted to their position and started abusing their power. The students who were prisoners also began rebelling as if they were really imprisoned.