NIH Statistics and Royce White

    In the NIH statistics page, it says that 18.1% of Americans have a non-serious mental illness, and that 4.2% have a serious mental illness. This puts Royce White's situation in a new light. If one in every 24 people (1/24 ≈ .042) has a serious mental illness, it seems fairly reasonable that the basketball coaches or at least the team doctor would have experience and be alright with helping basketball players with mental illnesses. However, this is obviously not the case. White didn't feel comfortable with the coach, and was not okay with the team doctor treating him. After we watched the video on Royce White, there was a lot of discussion in the class that Royce White had overstepped and was at fault, and this was reflected in the blog posts. However, after looking at the statistics for serious mental illnesses (which is defined as substantially interfering in major life activities), I can see that Royce White's situation is a lot more common than I had previously thought, making me much more open to his point of view. What do you guys think; given the statistics on mental illnesses, should the coach of the Rockets been more forgiving, or was Royce White being too demanding regardless?

Behind Parenting: When Too Much Is Not Enough

Behind Parenting: 

When Too Much Is Not Enough

  

   "7 Signs Your Over Parenting", "Are Kids Too Coddled?", "The Dangers of Over Parenting"... 

So what is all this? These are just a few articles I have read about over parenting. Yes everyone, I'm sure many of you have experienced this, where your parents are constantly repeating themselves, lectures you until headaches emerge, worrying about every move you make, maybe doing everything and anything for you, and pushing you to do your best, until you start crying... Don't get me wrong, it's out of love. However, let me go into depth about the downfall, and yes, there is a downfall.

  

   Think about these questions throughout this post: When is too much not enough? Here are some examples.

      

     How many of you are familiar with McDonalds?  And the expressions that "Bigger is better", "More is better". Well think if this. If everyone would eat 30 McMuffins everyday for years, heath problems would emerge because of 1) The portion size, 2) The lack of Nutrition, and 3), it just doesn't work. 

     In parenting, articles and collected data has shown that obsessive parenting lacks what kids need most: Support. Without the support from a parent, the child is constantly stressed. When all there is in a relationship in lectures, where is the companionship? Every person, from infancy to the age of 18, need guidance. 

      However, there is also the downfall to that. Then there is too much guidance, where the child becomes reliant on the parent for everything. Their whole world becomes dependent on their parents, and thus, makes becoming independent a brutal process. 

      In conclusion, don't get me wrong, parents do what they to raise their children the best they can. And so observers infer that there are parental techniques that work well and others that don't. We look up to our parents for everything, but sometimes their intentions don't work as well as planned.











  

Is Royce White Selfish?

After watching the 20/20 documentary about Royce White and his generalized anxiety, I started to think that he was being sort of selfish once he joined the NBA. He seemed this way to me because he didn't try to get better, it seems as if it only got worse. When he was playing basketball in college, it didn't seem that he had as much anxiety. In fact, I don't think they mentioned anything about Royce having an anxiety attack during his years in college. The thing that I don't understand is why didn't he at least try in a couple of games. There were millions of dollars on the line. There are people that would go through a lot of trouble to try and get that type of money, they would even kill for it. I personally would go through great lengths to try and get that money. The difference is, he isn't really taking anyone else's opinion into consideration. He had his college coach vouch for him so that the Rockets could draft him instead of any one else. He just doesn't see how lucky he is to be in the position he is in. I can sort of see where he is coming from that he has to be in a stable state of mind in order to play, but what does it mean for him to be in a stable state of mind if he suffers from anxiety and has OCD. Does he really expect things to change just for him? Is that wrong of him to be thinking of only himself, because if he was thinking of the other players on the team, he would be doing anything to try and still be on the team.

Over all, I think he was just using his anxiety and OCD as an excuse to try and make millions of dollars by doing absolutely nothing. Should Royce White somehow make up for wasting the Rockets' time and money, or should he do his own thing. 

Depressed or Depression?

      For a long time, I had lots of symptoms of pure sadness. They would appear one week, and then I wouldn't see the symptoms rise until a month later. There was a repetition of this behavior and I asked myself this question : Am I depressed or do I have depression? I read some articles from WebMD about this topic. Right off the bat, they said depression was not an uncommon sensation. For many years of gathering data, for adults alone, approximately18.8 million adults experience depression, not including teens, every year. Humans are not perfect. In fact, the world would be boring if we were perfect, don't you think?
     Every person endures some kind of sadness in their lives, and some experiences are impacting to some people more than others. If you were to experience a death in the family and went to a funeral, of course, this is not the most exciting time for lots of people. Some may even need more time to cope with the loss, depending on the circumstances of the relationship, or whatever the cause. It's human nature and part of life experience. When we experience sadness, it is part of human development of how we are able to learn from what it is that made us feel sadness, why this is happening, and how it came to be. That is why specialists over the years have studied human behavior to answer these questions.
     To loop back around, other articles conclude that many people worry that they have depression when the fact is, there was a period in their lives where they just had sadness. Depression is a lot more serious than saying "I'm depressed". People who suffer this disorder endure constant sadness, worthlessness, lack of interest, sickness, and in more serious circumstances, thoughts of suicide.
     If you ever thought about depression, ask your self this : Do I have depression, or am I simply depressed?

Anxiety in Middle School

In middle school I had a friend who suffered from anxiety similar to Royce but not as severe. His anxiety kept him from preforming to his fullest potential in school and in sports. In school whenever we had a project in history or an essay in English he would be stressed out and often times left the room to clear his mind. After this phase while working on the assignment he would constantly ask the teacher if he was doing the right thing, sometimes he would stop paying attention in class to worry about other assignments that won't be due for awhile. He was also an active member of the basketball team. In sports his anxiety kicks in before the game and after the game, but he seems to preform just fine during the game. Before the game he would worry about losing and how it would effect the team's chance of going to the playoffs and after the game he would worry about the team we were going to play the next week. Our coach knew about his symptom and did whatever he could to make him feel comfortable. The whole team also supported him in hope of lessening his stress to benefit the team and help him through his anxiety.

Royce White: Were His Demands Warranted?

In my opinion, I don't think White should have made so many demands of the Rockets.

On one hand, the Rockets did take a chance on White and they should have been aware of the special circumstances that surrounded him.  The team and its leaders should have known that taking Royce on was a risk and that they would have to accommodate his mental disorder in ways that they may not have been used to.  So, yes, some of the procedures White outlined were definitely okay, and the Rockets were absolutely accommodating and understanding.

However, I think where White got too demanding was with the separate doctor.  While I understand that having a neutral point of view is important to ensuring that he stays healthy and doesn't push himself or get pushed too hard, the extra doctor completely takes all control away from the team.  The coach is no longer able to play Royce like everyone else or make decisions for the greater good of the team.

Further, I think White's demands of the team are unfair because it doesn't seem like he is doing anything to treat his anxiety or compromise with the team.  From the clip we saw, there was no evidence that Royce was in therapy or on medication or even facing any of his fears.  It seemed that he had resigned to an anxiety-ridden life and was expecting everyone around him to conform to his needs.

Do psychopaths really make up 1% of the population?

There are many different theories about psychopaths and the differences between psychopaths and sociopaths. We learned that psychopaths make up 1% of the population and sociopaths make up 4% of the population. That would mean 3 million people in the US have what it takes to be ruthless killers, scammers, or other random crimes that psychopaths tend to commit. Currently there is close to 2,000 students at Los Altos High School. According to what we have learned, there is around 20 psychopaths that go to this school. However,  I don't hear about Los Altos students taking part in ruthless crimes. On a broader level, there were 52 US school shootings in 2015. This sounds like school shootings are a common thing, before you realize that there are over 100,000 public schools in the US. With dozens of psychopaths going to every school, you would think that these horrific crimes would be more common. One explanation for this would be that full blown psychopaths make even a smaller percentage of the population than 1%. Another would be that psychopaths prefer to remain low-profile, even though we have learned that they like to brag about their crimes. What do you think?

Blame the Bullies,or their Brain?

After watching the documentary on the Columbine shooting, something that the narrator said. He said that Dylan and Eric were being bullied in high school. He also mentioned something about being used to it every day, but they never said anything about the parents knowing what they go through at school. Could it be that they were doing the shooting because of the fact that they got tired of getting bullied every day over and over again. Another possibility is that they were just "meant" to be this way meaning that there's nothing they could do to change them. The only person that really could have changed for the better was Dylan. He seemed to be a follower, not a leader. He would listen to what Eric would tell him to do. He was being manipulated in a way by Eric. This can be seen when Eric wrote the letter of apology to his school when they hacked the school's computers. This is when Dylan kind of told Eric to not mention him in the letter of apology. If Eric listened to him in this small case, this means that he would be the easiest person to trick. You could have him do anything for you. Steal stuff for you, give you the answers to a test, or even lie for you if he really needed to.
This could mean that there was something wrong with his frontal lobe and limbic system.You can see there is something wrong with the two of those because he doesn't really feel any sense of fear for the future or anything related. His decision making skills are also no the best, which is why he can easily be manipulated to do what ever the other person wants. The thing that really surprises me is that there weren't many people that noticed a change in them, especially there parents.

Royce White...What Resources Should He Get?

Royce White was one of the best college basketball players in his time at Iowa State, home of the Cyclones. He claims he needs a personal doctor in order to be comfortable to play.  I first heard of the story before we watched in class, and I thought he was being a poor sport about it, and didn't understand why he wouldn't play...He's in the NBA!  Hearing him talk for the first time really changed my perspective on the issue.  For starters I think he is a major voice not just for the NBA, but all of professional sports.  He is one of the first people to speak out about this issue, similar to a Jason Collins, the first openly gay athlete in the NBA and all professional sports.  It hit me the hardest hearing him say his illness is the same as a physical disability, that's when I first really to understand this is a major problem.  I feel if he is on the NBA roster he deserves the right to a personal doctor if he is diagnosed with depression or similar issues.  I understand NBA teams may avoid him because of this issue, but if he is signed, he deserves what he needs in order to preform.

Columbine Killers- Eric and Dylan

Through watching the movie about the Columbine Killers, I believe Eric was a psychopath and Dylan was a sociopath. Eric showed psychopathic tendencies because he was manipulative and unable to form relationships with anyone because he believed he was superior. It’s even shown that he doesn’t care about Dylan very much because when Dylan revealed he was Jewish, Eric responded, “Well that’s too bad”. Eric also showed a disregard for laws by committing crimes such as breaking into people’s cars and stealing their computers. On top of that, he showed a lack of empathy by blaming the victim, saying it was their own fault for leaving their computer out in the open. These examples of Eric’s personality traits illustrates that he was a psychopath. I believe Dylan was a sociopath because he was not as smart or manipulative as Eric, and he was very awkward. He was depressed, suicidal, and extremely violent, which was shown by pictures of violence and weapons in his diary. He is also an outcast, but he is able to form an attachment to Eric. These characteristics shown by Dylan clearly illustrate that he was a sociopath.
What are your thoughts?

What about female psychopaths?

        For a long time people believed that psychopaths were mostly male because most of the psychopaths they saw were in prison. Most of the identified psychopaths in prison are male, so they assumed most psychopaths were male. The question is: What if the women psychopaths are just not getting caught and showing up in prison? I did some research to find out why it seemed that women were not identified as psychopaths as commonly as men. (I looked at this link specifically for more information: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/insight-is-2020/201508/the-field-guide-the-female-psychopath)
       After reading the article, I came to the conclusion that there is no definite reason that we see less female psychopaths in prison, but there were ideas. The first idea is that they simply do not get caught as often because society is less suspecting of them. This theory is a little far fetched because now criminal and homicidal investigations rely heavily on eye witness accounts and mostly scientific evidence. It is probably not too hard to identify a woman from a man in both eye witness accounts and scientific evidence. The next reason makes a little more sense. The next theory is that the psychopathic traits manifest themselves differently in women. The same aggression is exemplified in a "more subtle and manipulative way." (psychologytoday.com) They may be seen as just crazy, jealous, or mean, but not a psychopath. One example of a female psychopath from the article was a woman who seemed rather normal, but secretly tortured animals. The article also brought out that some of the mothers that kill their children could be psychopathic and some women who are involved in school shootings could be psychopaths.
      The ultimate conclusion of the article was that female psychopaths are just as dangerous as male psychopaths, but do not stand out as much because they are possibly less suspected by society and not expected to be cold blooded.

Columbine Killers: Preventable?

In my opinion, the tragedy of the Columbine Killers was very preventable. Eric Harris was very close to a full blown psychopath which is very rare in teens. His dad even made comments about how worried he was about Eric's actions and his lack of remorse. We did learn earlier that these traits could be suppressed by a healthy childhood, which he obviously did not receive. Because his father was always away, he didn't have adequate support or someone to help him cope with his problems. On the other hand, Dylan was simply suffering from depression and his fatal relationship with Eric resulted in him showing sociopathic traits himself. Klebold's parents once again didn't do anything to help him get past his issues, and his friendship with Eric lead him to more violent and destructive thoughts. There were numerous signs that this was going to happen including the website that Eric ran, in which he threatened to shoot certain people and that the pipe bombs were being made. Also, Dylan began to wear the strange coat that made people afraid of him, and he clearly enjoyed the power he felt with it. I think that all of these should have been treated much more seriously instead of being allowed to continue.

Anxiety disorder or learned helplessness?

What kept Royce White outside the basketball court started with an anxiety disorder and, in my opinion, ended up with learned helplessness. This last illness happens when someone becomes conditioned to believe that a situation is unchangeable or inescapable. The fact of knowing that he has anxiety is scaring and collapsing Royce more than the actual mental disorder. I noticed that instead of pushing himself to succeed, the player is stuck and can’t move forward. He thinks that his illness is unchangeable and has stopped trying to recover from it. He is asking the team to work for him instead of him working for the team. I know it’s hard to have a disorder like that, and I’m not saying that it is easy to deal with it. But I think Royce should take it as an obstacle in his life which he has to overcome if he wants to achieve his dream of being a basketball player. If we pay attention to the documentary, in most cases he is using his disorder as an excuse. It’s not only affecting his career, it’s also affecting his environment. Nowadays there’s a lot of ways to deal with this type of disorder. The anxiety took control of Royce and made him feel scared and paranoid of what could happen to him. If the player tried hard, he could get over his anxiety problem. The feeling of overcoming a disease would make him feel prouder than the feeling of being responsible for not fighting against it. Do you agree or do you think that Royce is being mature by giving up from his dream because of his anxiety disorder?

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Generalized Anxiety Disorder, or GAD, affects 6.8 million adults in the United States, or about 3.1% of the US population. People with GAD face excessive worrying every day, usually about things that don't seem to have any apparent concern. Those who suffer from GAD can live a normal and social life, but they have trouble getting though even the simplest daily activities when their anxiety is acting up. The trouble with a mental disorder such as GAD is that it is not apparent who has it and who doesn't, since you can not physically see that a person has a mental disorder. Therefore, people who have never experienced a mental disorder or have never researched them do not understand how much they really effect people that have one.

We are watching a documentary in class right now about Royce White, who has Generalized Anxiety Disorder. He was a college basketball star, but after he committed to the Houston Rockets, he stopped playing for them because they would not accommodate for his anxiety.  The Rockets coaching staff did not understand how much this mental anxiety affected White, and so White would not play for the Rockets unless they gave him a mental health doctor and some other extra help in order to ease his anxiety. The Rockets and White could not come to an agreement, so White was forced to leave the team.

Royce White is not alone with his mental disorder affecting his dreams and aspirations. There are many other athletes and people in other professions who cannot do their job affectively because of their mental disorder. Mental disorders are affecting people all across the country, and so the question arises: What should be done to accommodate for people with mental disorders?

Dexter - Psychopathic or Sociopathic?

For the past week, we have been studying psychopaths and sociopaths and the traits associated with each condition.  In our discussion, we also explored examples of each in TV shows, movies, etc.  Instantly, the example that popped into my mind and that I shared with the class was "Dexter", the Showtime original that appeared on Netflix.  Unsurprisingly, the show also came up as an example on one of the websites, but the website classified the main character, Dexter, as a psychopath when I believed that from examples in the show that he is clearly a sociopath.  For those who don't know, Dexter is a seemingly normal person, who has urges to kill.  To channel these urges he thoroughly vets people who have commited terrible crimes, and only kills those who are menaces to society.  Before I get into the details, let's back up a step, and I'll share the definitions of psychopath and sociopath that I will base my judgments on.  According to the infographic, the main differences are in the origin of the condition: a psychopath seems to be something a person is born with and inherited through genes, while a sociopath is the result of childhood trauma or a harsh childhood environment.  Other differences include that a psychopath has controlled behavior, while a sociopath is impulsive and erratic.  Looking deeper into these definitions, I can see why the website might have classified Dexter as a psychopath.  He clearly has controlled actions and is a highly manipulative and careful person.  He plans his murders for months sometimes, making sure that nothing can possibly go wrong.  He has a successful career and even a girlfriend.  He fits right into society, and no one would seem to suspect otherwise.  But the key defining trait of a psychopath is missing here.  Yes, on first glance of the show, he is seemingly a psychopath.  But we learn that it wasn't always this way.  Dexter witnessed his mother being brutally murdered at the age of about 3, and his foster father, a police officer, found him sitting in a pool of his mother's blood where she had been murdered in a shipping container.  So according to this fact, he is clearly a sociopath.  Also, we can't assume psychopathy because we know little about his biological parents and the possibility of inheritance from them.  Another trait of sociopathy that Dexter fits is that he knows the rights and wrongs of society; he just follows his own moral code.  He references it throughout the show, naming it after his father who taught it to him, Harry's code.  In the first episode, there is a flashback to his childhood where he kills the neighbor's dog and defends himself by saying that it was annoying and keeping his sick mother from sleeping.  His father then asks him if he would ever kill a human, and he tells his father that the only reason he hadn't is because he knew his parents wouldn't like it.  In my opinion, Dexter is clearly a sociopath, but I can see why he would be classified as a psychopath.  What do others think based on this information?  If you have any questions ask me in the comments.

Columbine Killers- What would have happened to Dylan if it weren't for Eric?

       It is hard to forget the very disturbing documentary we watched last week about two high school boys who decided to massacre their school, Columbine High School. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris set off bombs and shot multiple guns killing several people and injuring many. It was clear in the documentary that Eric Harris was a psychopath and there was not much that could have saved him. His personal journal was over flowing with evidence that he thought he was better than everyone else and most people were deserving of death. Dylan, on the other hand, hated himself and everyone else. He was extremely depressed and even suicidal, he expressed his desire to be violent in multiple ways. In class we discussed the idea that Dylan was highly influenced and manipulated by Eric Harris, the real psychopath behind the massacre at Columbine High School.
        I think that Dylan was not a psychopath, but possibly a sociopath. I think his extreme depression and how much he was bullied may have been so traumatic that he became a sociopath. Sociopaths are violent, erratic, can have a lot of rage, and are able to form attachments. Dylan showed all of these signs. I think his violence and rage was worsened when Eric started having an influence on him. But, would Dylan still have been a part of the high school shooting if it weren't for Eric? Would he have gotten help from a counselor or therapist? Honestly, I think that Dylan would have committed suicide. I think without Eric's idea to take the lives of those who bullied them, Dylan would have settled for only taking his own life. Dylan wanted to die anyway, so what was the harm in following the lead of Eric and taking revenge on the people he hated.

Generalized Anxiety, Royce White

  Having anxiety, I understand where white is coming from. I understand that he needs certain things to help him feel better, to help him feel safe and to help him feel close with his teammates. He should have came at the matter in a whole different manner. Everyone in the NBA knew how hard it was going to be to keep him healthy and on track but the Rockets took a chance with him. The first thing Royce does is present the coach and all of the players a list of rules they all need to follow so he’ll play. After being signed and contracted and everything, he has the audacity to give a list of rules to players that have been on that team for years. If i was a player or even the coach who put my butt on the line, I would feel completely disrespected.

  White also states that his mental health issue is the same as a physically injury, which I agree with as well. The coach understands that he needs time to heal, but in the NBA when you have a physical injury you go to the practices, even if it’s on crutches, you go to physical therapy and you even see a doctor every other day or so. With White, he just sits at home, and doesn’t try and do anything to get better.

  Another excuse White brought up was that, opposed to his college team, he didn’t feel comfortable and safe with the Rockets. Personally, I think the only way he can become comfortable and safe is by spending time with them and taking risks for them to be able to show that he can trust them. White also explained that the basketball court is one of the only places he feels safe, so why run away from the one place that makes you not anxious?

Inside the SAT

Speaking in terms of academic merit, I think intelligence should be greatly valued during the admission process. I think it should be defined in solely your grades. I think your grades should be greatly valued compared to things like where you live and how much your parents donate to the school, those things shouldn't matter. I also think it should be just as equal as who you are as a person and if the school you're applying for is the perfect fit for how you learn, and in that case that's the school's job to figure that out.
I didn't apply for any colleges so i'm not 100% sure how different it is, but I do know that there are a bunch of schools who base their admissions on how much their family donates to the school and i think that's unfair. I think that college should be just like high school, a public learning facility, especially because going to college isn't an option. To prosper in this world, you need some sort of degree. You can't get a job without college and you can't pay for college with out a job, that isn't how the process should work.

Sexting

In the documentary we watched on sexting and the articles we read the main topic of discussion was if sexting is really an issue, is it really dangerous to youth. I think Sexting becomes a problem when it turns into bulling. For example the girls in North Carolina (i think thats where they were from) didn't care and they wanted to be on the page. But, what about the girls who didn't want to be put on blast to the whole school? Girls like Jasmine, who had good grades and a small tight knit group of friends, is posting her photo taking it "too far"? Or was it her fault in the first place for sending the pictures.

Obviously, the police ruled that it was just something bad that happened and after weeks of examining high school students and having countless numbers of phones in bags and buckets, the police sent their condolences to the girls who were posted on the website but they could no longer do anything about it. If I was a school administrator, I would have done the same thing. Yes, sexting is illegal, but sexting begins when 1 person sends a picture, it only continues when someone posts it or forwards it or saves it to be seen later. I don't think you can put the blame fully on someone who posted it, the person who sent it should be held responsible at some point. 

Baby With a Book

In the video we watched a while ago, Dr. Jarret Patten’s research showed that babies around 1 years old can start to show signs of early literacy skills. For example, if you hand the baby a book and he/she opens they and start looking at the pictures instead of putting the book in their mouth, that can be a sign of early literacy skills. No, it doesn’t mean that your 1 year old can read and will be a world famous writer, it just means that they’re starting to understand that books are for opening and for looking at each page, not for eating. I tried this experiment with a 1 year old my grandma watches, his name is Vince. I handed Vince 2 books, one that had no pictures and one with a lot of pictures and a lot of colors. He actually opened the book with no pictures, as if he was looking for the pictures. When I handed him the picture book he didn't seem to mind much of it. I don't think he really likes listening to people read to him, so does this mean his literacy skills will be slower and less progressive than other kids? Hm...

I don't think it will make a difference, if he doesn't like being read to it doesn't necessarily mean he's going to have a hard time his Junior year in English, it may just mean that he has a shorter attention span and doesn't like being read to. 

Royce White

On Friday in class, we watched a video about a basketball player named Royce White, who was going through drafting for the NBA after finishing his college season. However, this process was very difficult for him because he suffers from generalized anxiety disorder, which all the teams knew and they thought it wasn't worth it to draft him despite his talent. When the Houston Rockets gave him a chance, he immediately presented them with a long list of the requirements he needed them to accommodate for his disorder.

I think he is justified to have service for his disorder, but I think that the way he approached the situation could have been better. He didn't seem to try very much to compromise and did not acknowledge that the team was giving him a shot while the other teams did not, and so he shouldn't take advantage of that. While I do believe that he should be able to receive whatever treatment is required to help him do the best that he can, I don't think he needed to make that many demands of the team because they have a lot of other things they have to worry about too. He stated that he didn't have a problem in college at Iowa State because he trusted the coach and so he didn't miss any games. So if his issue was that he was worried he couldn't trust the coach of the Rockets, I think that he should have had a personal meeting with the coach to discuss the problem with him rather than just sending a document / contract with all the information all at once. I think it could have helped each of them reach a better sense of understanding of the other's point of view and therefore come to an agreement of what works for both of them, rather than just all or nothing.

Do you think his actions were justified? What alternatives could there have been?

Royce White: Selfish or Justified?

In class today, we watched a video about Royce White, a basketball star from Iowa State who was recruited to play for the Houston Rockets. However, he has severe anxiety, which he handled by posing many demands for the Rockets, such as having his own personal doctor instead of the team doctor. Although it makes sense why he would do this, to have a medical opinion that is not influenced by team's interests, it seems selfish of him to demand so much from the team and not play a single game, when it seems as though he has made no effort to try and overcome his disorder. White seems to see himself as more important than the team's interests; for example, he could go to therapy or take medication to help himself and thus aid the team. While in the video White compared his disorder to a player having a physical injury, a person with such an injury would work to get better and heal, such as by taking medication or resting. As far as I know, White has done nothing like that to overcome the problem, instead he tries to get others to accommodate him unconditionally without putting in any work himself.

Thoughts? Do you think White's attitude towards the team and his disability is fair? Unfair?

Should people really know whether or not they have the biological make up of a psychopath?

      In the documentary about Good versus Evil, we learned about that one psychologist that discovered he himself had the brain and genetics of a psychopath. He said that he believed he did not become a full blown psychopathic killer was because of his lovely childhood and lack of any trauma. His family all confirmed that they could see it, and that it was not that big of a surprise. When he got over his initial shock, he too saw his psychopathic tendencies. He described that he would have no problem blowing off an aunt's funeral if there was a conflicting party. I found this particularly interesting that he had never actually thought of himself as a psychopath before. But, his whole experience made me question whether or not people who are tested and proven to have the biological make up of a psychopath change in anyway. Do they now feel justified that they do not care as much? Does this affect their decisions in anyway?
      Someone who finds out that they have the makeup of a psychopath could be driven farther in to their psychopathic tendencies because now they believe that it defines them. But does it? Is not knowing better? Is trying to make them conform and fit in better than knowing the truth about their potential?

School Shootings...Should There Be Guns In Classrooms?

School Shootings are one of the worse tragedies that can happen to a community.  A place where kids go to learn and educate themselves, can't be considered safe from outside danger is heartbreaking.  There were 15 school shootings in the year 2015, with a total of 19 deaths and many injuries.  It has been debated for years if teachers should be allowed to keep firearms in the classroom, and I think it is a silly idea.  I understand why there are people who believe this should be allowed, but I strongly disagree.  According to one source there were 100,000 public schools in the US in 2008.  That does not include all private schools as well.  The odds of these schools to be shot up are very, very, very low.  A gun in the classroom with 100,00 public schools will most likely lead to more problems then good.  Teachers are humans, and humans get upset and make decisions based on emotion, and do not always think.  I would almost feel less safe in a classroom with a gun, because you never know when that gun may be used.  You just don't know when a teacher or kid could snap and get a hold of that gun.  What do you think they should do?

Psychopathic Children

We have been learning about psychopaths and sociopaths in class for the last couple of days, and the topic has been very fascinating to me. Although I knew that I was supposed to associate psychopaths with the word "bad" in my head, I never really knew what they were. I was surprised to discover that psychopaths actually become psychopaths because of a different trait that their brain has, rather than their own personal desire to become psychopathic. Of course, as we have learned, these people must also experience environmental factors that cause them to what to do such horrible things, and there are a number of other factors that must line up for people with psychopathic tendencies to actually become psychopaths.

After learning these things, I started thinking about children who have psychopathic tendencies. I was wondering how these children perceive themselves. Do they understand that they are different than most? Or do they think that they are "normal"? Is there somewhere along the line that these children ultimately choose to follow their psychopathic tendencies and actually become psychopaths, or does the environment they are in choose for them? In addition to what these children think about themselves, how do their parents perceive their children? Do these children's parents know that they their children have these psychopathic tendencies or do they think they're children are just mischievous like many other kids their age?

It is very difficult for me to imagine a person that has absolutely no emotion for other people and does not understand reality. So to think that psychopaths' childhoods ultimately determine whether they fulfill their "psychopathic brains" or not, I'm am very curious as to what these people's childhoods actually looked like and how they acted as children.

Laney Intervention

Not long ago we watched an Intervention about a women named Laney who had a life threatening alcohol problem. She drank so much that her doctor said that her liver was only functioning at 20%, even though Laney knows that she continues to drink. At one time during the documentary she even said, "might as well drink until I die". It is no mystery why Laney drinks all day without a care, her life was terrible from the start. Laney's father left Laney's mother when she was pregnant with Laney at 17 wanting nothing to do with her or unborn Laney, mother often leaves Laney looking for a husband leaving Laney with her aunt, Laney's mother married her 3rd husband who treated Laney really badly, at 13 Laney attempted suicide by taking a whole bottle of aspirin, and in high school Laney's ex-boyfriend came to Laney's house and raped her in the middle of the night. Similarly to this life threatening alcohol problem story, I had an uncle who was in pretty much the same situation as Laney and decided to drink his life away. My uncle is not as rich as Laney but he used most of his hard earned money to buy alcohol. I was so bad that it got to a point where the whole family had to step in. In my opinion I think the best thing to do for people like Laney and my uncle is really be there for them even though they may not need it or want it. This kind of support may not be effective like in Laney's situation where she kept pushing away the people who cared for her except for one or two family member, but it didn't hurt to let her know that they are there for her. In my uncles case the support of my whole family really uplifted my uncle to find help for his alcohol addiction. What do you think is the best way to help someone with an alcohol problem in this situation?

Sports and Religion

The clip from Tuesday brought up an interesting point on how sports fit into American lives.  The psychology professor explained that as family and religious life deteriorates, sports take their place as a way for people to belong to something.  I agree with this statement, and I think this "replacement" can be held at least partially responsible for fan rage.  

When people are strong believers in a certain religion, they will often try to convert others, sometimes violently or forcefully, into their faith.  This is because they believe their religion is better than other religions.  If sports are replacing religions, this same thinking can be applied.  A fan believes his team is the best, and has a certain loyalty to that team because of these beliefs.  So, when someone wearing an opposing jersey is verbally or physically assaulted, we could consider this as an extreme version of "conversion".

Thoughts?

Kitty's Stabbing and the Bystander Effect

Although numerous people have blogged about the Stanford Prison experiment and Milgram's Electronic box experiment, I have not yet seen a blog about Kitty's stabbing and the experiment that followed. Kitty was stabbed in the night under a lamp post, and let out terrible screams while no one came to her rescue. As the documentary mentioned, many of the viewers watching this documentary think to themselves, "I would have been the one to go help" or "I would've been the hero." But in reality, a lot of us will act just as the bystanders did the night of Kitty's murder. The reason for this is that we all think that someone else will do the job for us, so that we don't have to bother getting out our flashlights, walking down the stairs, and checking to see if everything is ok under that light pole. So, because of the bystander effect, no one saved Kitty and she died that night.

I thought that this story was particularly interesting because it demonstrated how reliant we really are on other people. There were over 60 people who heard Kitty's screams that night, some who ignored them and some who admitted that they figured someone else would just go check to see what was happening. Later, this concept was being analyzed in an experiment to test whether a person would go help another if one was having a seizure. When there was only one person aware that the actor was having a seizure, he or she would immediately go to help. However, if there were multiple people in the room, the people would look around at each other before going to help. This experiment further proved the bystander effect-- when others are around, people are more likely to stand by while something is happening rather than step up and help.

Both of these examples demonstrate the bystander effect, but neither answers why this is the case. Is it because people are embarrassed to go help incase that they might be wrong about a situation? Is it because people are too lazy to help? But why would this be the case if they would jump right up if they were the only person around? In my opinion, I think that many people are scared to jump in because they may be blamed for something going wrong, when really they were just trying to help. This makes sense for Kitty's case because if someone had gone down to help Kitty and she still died, maybe the person helping would have been blamed for not doing a good enough job of protecting her. However, this reasoning does not work for all cases. Do you guys have any ideas for why the bystander effect occurs in such threatening situations?