Multiple Personalities

It is assumed that self is the center of personality. But what causes multiple personality disorder, when there is more than just one self? Is self-esteem level a factor?

Each "character" present in multiple personality disorder has their own views and opinions of the world and themselves. Most people with this disorder were either physically or sexually abused as children. The article talks a little bit about disassociation, a defense mechanism.

Personally I think self-esteem does play into the disorder in some sense. Having an extremely low self-esteem may cause them to create another personality that has a higher self-esteem. Physical and/or sexual abuse can cause low self-esteem. Is it possible that abuse is just the underlying cause? Maybe abuse and self-esteem interact.

Of course, not everybody with a low self-esteem has multiple personalities. Same goes for those who have experienced abuse. The question remains, what else could be a possible factor?



Sugru: Challenge Accepted

First hearing about this project, I was certain that there was nothing in my small world that I could possibly fix or improve. I felt that all the good ideas were already taken and posted on the website for all the world to see, so I was forced to think of something brand new. I was experiencing fixation, the inability to see a problem from a new perspective. In this day and age, almost everything has something to improve it, so how could I possibly improve it more? I'm no Thomas Edison.

I went through every room in my house, thinking of things that could be fixed or improved. In the bathroom, you could caulk your bathtub with Sugru, but you could probably just go out and buy caulk, or it's readily available for you in the garage or something. In the kitchen, I questioned whether I could hang utensils up somehow. It didn't seem very practical to me, and you'd probably need a lot more Sugru. With all these little household items, I couldn't think of any unique functions that the Sugru could possibly provide. Functional fixedness was dominating my thoughts.

But the utensil idea got me thinking, what else could I hang up? What never has a place? Sunglasses. I created a hook out of the Sugru that a pair of sunglasses could nonchalantly hang out on. Now they can't be forgotten and broken from sitting on them.

I was feeling a bit more creative at this point, so I thought back to my childhood. What little things bothered me the most? When shoelaces frayed after the little plastic tip broke off from overuse. So I molded some Sugru over the shoelace tips. Hopefully it's a bit more effective than a flimsy piece of plastic.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Before I begin, I have a serious question for Mr. Dreier. How many pistachio colored shirts do you have? Seriously. You should answer this.

OCD is interesting to me because I've always felt that my mom had obsessive compulsive disorder. She cleans the house like it's buried under piles of dirt. Neat freak doesn't even begin to describe her, but she insists that she does not have OCD. To learn more about this disorder, I put my faith in the ever trustworth Google and found this article.

Some of the symptoms fit my mom perfectly, while others do not. Which leads me to believe that maybe she just has a mild form of the disorder. It's not as though she does the same exact thing every day, but she gets extremely anxious when things aren't in their place and spotless. But what exactly causes OCD?

There are parts of the brain involved in fear and anxiety, and scientists believe this is the root cause of the disorder. To learn more about what causes it, click here. Basically, if you have OCD, your brain has difficulty turning off or ignoring impulses from a certain circuit. So, does this mean that the fear and anxiety are amplified, and they aren't able to relieve those feelings until they complete a certain action?

I guess my next question is, if this lack of circuit impulse ignoring could be fixed, what would the solution be? I mean, of course a drug could be a temporary fix, but that means they'd have to take that drug for the rest of their lives, and that's not exactly incredibly exciting. What if a permanent solution could be found?

Shwauby PSA

After careful consideration and many long minutes watching videos, I was able to come up with my top three favorite PSAs.

Nicole, Emily, and Collin
This video was extremely entertaining and held my interest throughout. I loved the creative ideas for Piaget's stages of development. I never would have thought of Chuck E. Cheeses. (Pssst...it's not just for small children (; hehe) The slides introducing each new location helped a lot with knowing where they were in Ashwaubenon.

Zac, Jake, and Jenello
Fine acting. Yes, fine acting indeed. I quite enjoyed this one. Overall, it was well done, except at the Tundra Lodge, I couldn't quite hear what was being said. My favorite definitely had to be at the Lambeau Field. Normally, you wouldn't think that it could contribute in anyway to development, but I was proved wrong. It is true, there is no I in Team....but there is a Me.

Kelly, Marissa, Rilee
The music in the beginning captured my attention right away. It really appeals to an audience. The explanations of each individual place were easy to understand, and it wasn't an overload of information. It's also not too long, so it doesn't really have the chance to become boring. Me gusta (:

The How and Why of Tears

That last test was brutal. I can't say I've ever failed a test before. I literally went home and cried a little bit. So why are there tears when we cry? What causes them? Our eyes are mostly water, right, so they don't necessarily need any more.

There are actually three different kinds of tears. Ones that are always there, reflex tears (like when we get dirt in our eye or are poked), and emotional tears. It's actually been found that tears get rid of hormones in order to reduce our level of stress.

But why, exactly, do we cry? According to William H. Frey, people feel better after crying. Which I guess makes sense, because we cry when we're frustrated or sad or in pain. It's possible that crying gets rid of all the bad feelings through tears. Tears can also be a sign to others that we are in pain or upset, especially before language is developed. It's essentially a form of communication.

Preemie Development

My sister was 3 months premature when she was born. Reading about infant development made me wonder about whether premature babies develop in the same space of time as a baby born around 9 months, or if they even have devolpment similarities at all.

An article that I found about preemie development recommends using an adjusted age to determine the baby's current developmental stage. Since my sister was 3 months early, suppose she is 5 months old now, her actual age would be 2 months old. Using that age, her developmental stage can be concluded. Knowing this, I now know that premature babies develop at a slower rate than babies born on the due date.

This doesn't last throughout the child's entire life. By age 2, they have caught up. This makes me think that there is an increase in developmental speed towards that time.

Genetic Alcohol

I'm interested in why people become addicted to alcohol because many members of my family are alcoholics, my father being one of them. Because he is a direct relation, I found it most fascinating that biological influences can be one of the causes for alcoholism.

In an article about alcoholism and heredity, I found that those born to an alcoholic parent are more prone to alcohol abuse, but that does not necessarily mean that the child will grow up to be an alcoholic. That depends on whether the child starts drinking excessively or not. Also, children not born to alcoholic parents can become alcoholics themselves.
The main theme seemed to revolve around nature and nurture. Social influences can lead to drinking. Those that are more genetically susceptible to alcohol abuse will live a life of drinking if they fall into that social trap.

I have never taken a drink, knowingly, of alcohol in my life, mainly because of my father. I don't have any intention of ending up like him, or any of the other alcoholics in my family. In my opinion, they all live miserable lives. But now, knowing that I am more prone to alcohol abuse, I'm more against drinking than I was before.