Captain Psychology

ktangen

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Chinese Zodiac

Which Animal Would You Pick

According to ancient Chinese tradition, life follows a 12-year cycle. Each year is named for an animal: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep (or goat), monkey, rooster, dog and pig (or boar). The animal for your year of birth indicates how others view you. It is your outer animal.

Your outer animal is moderated by the location of five major planets (Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and Saturn). Each planet has a corresponding element (gold, wood, water, fire and earth) that influences your animal sign. In combination with the 12 years, there are 60 years in a full cycle. The last full cycle began in 1984 and next one begins in 2044.

And it’s actually more complicated than that. Each animal is also the sign for a month of the year. January is the rat, February the ox, etc. The animal of your birth month indicates how you are inside or how you wish to be. In addition to your inner animal, the 2-hour block of time in which you are born is your secret animal: So, all together, the 5 elements, 12 years, 12 months and 12 periods of the day give 8640 possible combinations.

Did I mention that the Chinese zodiac calendar is lunar? It doesn’t start with January 1st; it starts with Chinese New Year’s Day, which varies from year to year. So even though you’re born in January, you might not be born under the sign of the rat. You could be a pig. And don’t forget the Yin Yang cycle as well. Odd years are yin and even years are yang.

Instead of figuring out the complexities of this system, we’ll avoid it altogether. For our purposes, let’s try things backwards. Read the following descriptions and select the one that best describes you. Click on the number to find out which animal you think you should be.

01. You are intelligent, hard-working, successful, and ambitious. You can be quick-tempered and extremely critical but you are hardest on yourself. You’re charming, attractive, and love parties. You’re calm on the outside but needlessly worry and fret about trivial details. You’re a good problem solver but tend not to plan for the future. You’re pretty tight with your money but always looking for fast deals and “bargains.”

02. You are strong-willed, understanding, well-mannered and always find something good to say about everyone. You’re creative, artistic, and diplomatic. You carry through on plans, are rarely impulsive but a bit moody. You’re warm, friendly, likeable, and rarely get in trouble. If cornered, you’re evasive or might even tell a fib. You’re a good listener but not a party animal. A quiet night at home is more your style.

03. You are strong, optimistic and smart. You don’t spend a lot of time on your looks, but you belong to several clubs, love to entertain and are often the center of attention. Although you’re a bit naïve and quick tempered, you love being involved and helping others. You’re steady, calm and have a hard time saying no. You set high goals for yourself and others.

04. You like parties, crowds and activity. You work hard and play hard. You love falling in love and do so often. You like to exercise but don’t like wasting time. You’re intelligent, friendly, capable and a bit selfish. Sometimes you talk too much but you’re always charming. You’re independent, adventurous and good with money and time. You might be impetuous or rash but you’re never jealous of others.

05. You are very expressive, enthusiastic and charismatic. You speak your mind, share your feelings, and bubble with excitement. Everybody loves your bigger than life personality, mostly. You rely on emotions more than thoughts, you can’t keep a secret, and you’re a bit of a know-it-all. Although you’re confident and honest, you have a bit of a temper. Some find you intimidating but you’re fiercely loyal to friends and family.

06. You are capable, talented, and hard working but tend to be a loner. You’re a bundle of contradictions. You’re a thinker but your emotions are quite volatile. You’re both conservative and a show off. You know how to spend and how to save but not how to do both. You swing from one extreme to the other. You have good intentions but can’t always deliver on your promises.

07. You’re good at seeing problems but tend to rush in with too little thought. You’re adventurous, independent and strong. But you hate being bossed around or worse: ignored. You could be great at many things but can’t make up your mind about anything. You’re fun to be around, have a great sense of humor, and love being the center of attention. You don’t have many lasting friendships.

08. You are patient, easy going, and not easily angered. You’re a strong, faithful, dedicated worker and you hate to fail. You’re a born leader but you’re slow to make decisions and don’t have much of a sense of humor. It’s hard for you to form close relationships but you’re very loyal to the friends you have. You’re a bit of a traditionalist and extremely stubborn.

09. You are gentle, artistic and deeply spiritual. Although somewhat timid, you’re passionate about what you do. But you do only what you’re passionate about. You prefer to be your own boss, set your own pace, and keep to yourself. You’re a family person and a bit of a romantic. You love art, music and beauty. You hate pressure, aggression and competition. You love peace and avoid confrontation.

10. You love travel, adventure and new experiences. You want to keep busy, and enjoy being creative. You don’t like people telling you what to do but you’re impatient when others don’t do what you want. You’re good at making decisions and are a natural leader but tend to gloat about your own accomplishments. You are charming, clever and more than a bit mischievous.

11. You prefer life to be predictable. You are loyal, honest and good at keeping secrets. You tend to see life in simple terms: friend or foe, work or play. You work hard and long but never seem to worry. You’re easy going unless riled. You don’t take yourself or other too seriously but you can hold a grudge for a long time. You like good company and are good company.

12. You’re a romantic and a bit of a snob. You love good food, good music and good art. You think more than you talk, but you often make decisions on intuition. You don’t worry about money because you have plenty, mostly because you never part with any. You’re good-looking but know it. You’re very successful and could achieve more, but tend to procrastinate; you’re busy living the good life.

 

Here’s a description of your personality traits based on your animal. Although these descriptions are based on traditional traits associated with the animal symbols, remember that I wrote them, so don’t take them too seriously.

RAT (Year 1; January)You are intelligent, hard-working, successful, and ambitious. You can be quick-tempered and extremely critical but you are hardest on yourself. You’re charming, attractive, and love parties. You’re calm on the outside but needlessly worry and fret about trivial details. You’re a good problem solver but tend not to plan for the future. You’re pretty tight with your money but always looking for fast deals and “bargains.”OX (Year 2, February)You are patient, easy going, and not easily angered. You’re a strong, faithful, dedicated worker and you hate to fail. You’re a born leader but you’re slow to make decisions and don’t have much of a sense of humor. It’s hard for you to form close relationships but you’re very loyal to the friends you have. You’re a bit of a traditionalist and extremely stubborn.TIGER (Year 3, March)You’re good at seeing problems but tend to rush in with too little thought. You’re adventurous, independent and strong. But you hate being bossed around or worse: ignored. You could be great at many things but can’t make up your mind about anything. You’re fun to be around, have a great sense of humor, and love being the center of attention. You don’t have many lasting friendships.

RABBIT (Year 4, April)You are strong-willed, understanding, well-mannered and always find something good to say about everyone. You’re creative, artistic, and diplomatic. You carry through on plans, are rarely impulsive but a bit moody. You’re warm, friendly, likeable, and rarely get in trouble. If cornered, you’re evasive or might even tell a fib. You’re a good listener but not a party animal. A quiet night at home is more your style.

DRAGON (Year 5, May)You are very expressive, enthusiastic and charismatic. You speak your mind, share your feelings, and bubble with excitement. Everybody loves your bigger than life personality, mostly. You rely on emotions more than thoughts, you can’t keep a secret, and you’re a bit of a know-it-all. Although you’re confident and honest, you have a bit of a temper. Some find you intimidating but you’re fiercely loyal to friends and family. SNAKE (Year 6, June)You’re a romantic and a bit of a snob. You love good food, good music and good art. You think more than you talk, but you often make decisions on intuition. You don’t worry about money because you have plenty, mostly because you never part with any. You’re good-looking but know it. You’re very successful and could achieve more, but tend to procrastinate; you’re busy living the good life.

HORSE (Year 7, July)You like parties, crowds and activity. You work hard and play hard. You love falling in love and do so often. You like to exercise but don’t like wasting time. You’re intelligent, friendly, capable and a bit selfish. Sometimes you talk too much but you’re always charming. You’re independent, adventurous and good with money and time. You might be impetuous or rash but you’re never jealous of others.

RAM (goat) (Year 8, August)You are gentle, artistic and deeply spiritual. Although somewhat timid, you’re passionate about what you do. But you do only what you’re passionate about. You prefer to be your own boss, set your own pace, and keep to yourself. You’re a family person and a bit of a romantic. You love art, music and beauty. You hate pressure, aggression and competition. You love peace and avoid confrontation.

MONKEY (Year 9, September)You love travel, adventure and new experiences. You want to keep busy, and enjoy being creative. You don’t like people telling you what to do but you’re impatient when others don’t do what you want. You’re good at making decisions and are a natural leader but tend to gloat about your own accomplishments. You are charming, clever and more than a bit mischievous.ROOSTER (Year 10, October)You are capable, talented, and hard working but tend to be a loner. You’re a bundle of contradictions. You’re a thinker but your emotions are quite volatile. You’re both conservative and a show off. You know how to spend and how to save but not how to do both. You swing from one extreme to the other. You have good intentions but can’t always deliver on your promises.

DOG (Year 11, November)You prefer life to be predictable. You are loyal, honest and good at keeping secrets. You tend to see life in simple terms: friend or foe, work or play. You work hard and long but never seem to worry. You’re easy going unless riled. You don’t take yourself or other too seriously but you can hold a grudge for a long time. You like good company and are good company.

PIG (Year 12, December)You are strong, optimistic and smart. You don’t spend a lot of time on your looks, but you belong to several clubs, love to entertain and are often the center of attention. Although you’re a bit naïve and quick tempered, you love being involved and helping others. You’re steady, calm and have a hard time saying no. You set high goals for yourself and others.

 

 

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Speech Perception

Speech Perception

  • 3 components of Speech Perception

    • 1. Physical signal

      • Process sound waves

      • Varies in 3 parameters

        • Amplitude

        • Frequency

        • Time

    • 2. Extract  phonemes

      • The smallest unit in a language that is capable of conveying a distinction in meaning

      • Make fine distinctions between similar patterns of sound

      • Examples

        • Buh or Tuh

        • M of mat and B of bat

      • Phone = a particular sound used by any language

      • eg the sound [r]

      • Phoneme = a sound used in contrast to another in a particular language

        • eg  the category  /r/ as distinct from /l/ 

        • 1. Phoneme extraction is categorical

          • i.e. if physical characteristics of the signal are changed slowly, there is a sudden change in which phoneme is perceived

        • 2. The speech recognition system can modify fuzzy input to give the listener the correct sound

    • 3. Perception

      • Extract meaning

      • Allows us to recognize the same sounds spoken in different ways

        • e.g. by two different people

      • There are no natural breaks in speech

      • We “hallucinate” word boundaries

        • Oronyms

          • Two or more sentences that use the same sounds but have different words

          • Such as

            • Scuse me while I kiss the sky

            • Scuse me while I kiss this guy

          • Or

            • Some others I know

            • Some mothers I know

        • Speech perception errors

          • Eugene O’neil won a Pullet Surprise

Research methods

  • Voice-Onset Time

    • The amount of time between the release of a stop consonant and the onset of glottal vibrations in the following vowel

    • In English, if we start the laryngeal tone exactly at the beginning of the “P” sound, it becomes (is perceived as) the “B” sound

    • If we delay progressively longer in small increments the beginning of the voice (voice onset time), there is a point in time that it would become the “P” sound

    • VOT may be negative, zero or positive

      • Zero

        • Vocal-cord vibration has begun simultaneously with the release of the plosive consonant

        • A voiceless unaspirated stop (eg. [k]) has zero VOT

      • Negative

        • Vibration beginning earlier than the release

        • A pre-voiced stop (eg. [ɡ]) has negative VOT

      • Positive

        • Vibration beginning after the release

        • A voiceless aspirated stop (eg. [k ʰ]) has positive VOT

    • Different languages have different methods of phonetic realization of this feature

Categorical Perception

  • Definition

    • Sharp phoneme boundary

    • Discrimination peak at phoneme boundary

    • Discrimination predicted from identification

      • only “different” if different phoneme

  • Occurs with consonants, not vowels

  • Not restricted to speech

    • Also found in comparison of musical intervals

  • Not restricted to humans

    • Chinchillas and quails show the same Voice Onset Time boundary as humans

    • Macaques show discrimination peaks at human VOT and place-of-articulation boundaries

  • Innate & Acquired

    • Infants born with ability to make many speech discriminations that they can subsequently NOT make

    • Adults have lost the ability to make distinctions that their language does not use

  • Each language has its own distinctive set of phonemic categories

    • English distinguishes /r/ from /l/  but Japanese doesn’t

    • Tamil distinguishes dental /t1/ from an alveolar /t2/ from a retroflex /t3/.  English doesn’t.

  • Phonemes in a particular language are defined by minimal pairs

    • i.e. since in English “lice” and “rice” have a different meaning, then they contain different phonemes: /l/ and /r/

    • But there is no such minimal pair in Japanese, so they have a single phoneme /r/

  • Can Japanese really not hear any difference?

    • For English speakers /d/-/g/ boundary is in a different position after /l/ than after /r/.

    • This is also true for Japanese who can hear /r/ vs /l/

    • But ALSO true for those who can’t.

    • Is this because of language knowledge (implicit phonetics)? No, its phoneme distinction.

    • QUAILS DO IT TOO  !!!

Auditory Agnosia

  • Definition

    • The defective recognition of auditory stimuli in the context of preserved hearing – as tested with audiometry

    • Primary signs

    • Difficulty in understanding the meaning of spoken words

    • Can refer to a generalized disorder affecting perception of all types of auditory stimuli including non-verbal sounds, speech and music

  • Associated with bilateral, or unilateral lesions of the left superior temporal cortex

    • Although some cases have been described following unilateral right temporal lobe damage

  • By far the most common cause is cerebro-vascular accident

    • But some cases have been reported following encephalitis

  • Types of sound recognition disorders

    • 1. Apperceptive

      • Impaired acoustical analysis of the perceptual structure of an auditory stimulus

      • (frequency, pitch, timbre)

    • 2. Associative

      • An inability to associate a successfully perceived auditory stimulus with a conceptual (semantic) meaning

  • Spoken Word recognition

    • Morton’s 3-stage model

      • Auditory analysis system = identifies phonemes in the speech wave

      • Auditory input lexicon = identifies the phonological properties of known words

      • Semantic system = identifies the meanings of known words

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Gestalt

Gestalts

1. Find component parts

Separate from background

Figure from ground

What part of the image becomes the figure:

bounded (closed) area

symmetric area

brighter area

smaller area

convex area

meaningful

identified

near

2. Group according to built-in rules

Deciding which parts go with what objects

10 Gestalt Principles

Figure & Ground

Similarity

Angle

Form

Brightness

Proximity

Closure

Pragnanz

Good Continuation

Symmetry & Convex

Set & Context

Common Fate

Wertheimer’sPhi Phenomenon

THE THEORY

Perception is the formation of “Gestalts”

Doesn’t translate easily to English

configuration, form, holistic, structure, and pattern

Concerned with how phenomena become organized into whole meaningful figures

Visual perception is an active creation

not merely the adding up of lines and movement

3 Gestalt assumptions

1. Perceptions are formed by automatic processes

2. Perception based on wholes

3. Perceptions are integrated wholes

Problems with Gestalt theory

Gestalts are difficult to describe objectively

Gestalt formation is difficult to predict

No idea how Gestalt formation occurs

eg, built in, learned, incremental, parallel, sequential

 

 ILLUSIONS

•      False perceptions

–   People don’t perceive length, area, angle, brightness they way they “should”

–   Systematic perceptual errors

•      Brightness contrast

Grey square on white background

•      Delboeuf Illusion

Compare outer to inner

•      Estimation

Height of 4-story building overestimated by 25%

Horizontal-Vertical Illusion

Impossible Objects

 

 THE PEOPLE

Max Wertheimer (1880-1943)

Phi Phenomenon

A Challenge to Wundt’s psychology

Perception of apparent movement

Kurt Kofka (1886-1941)

The Growth of the Mind (1921)

Perception has a broad concern

Should not be thought of as a narrow focus on a single process

Wolfgang Köhler (1886-1941)

Spokesman for Gestalt movement

insight versus trial-and-error learning

immediate apprehension

learning involves a reorganization of the psychological environment

molar (Gestalt) versus molecular (behaviorist) view

The Mentality of Apes

 Productive Thinking

Going from confusion to a new state in which everything is clear, makes sense, and fits together

Isomorphism

There is a correspondence between psychological experience and the underlying brain experience

Kurt Lewin (1890-1947)

Founder of modern social psychology

Sensitivity Training Groups

Social Action Research

Group Dynamics

Field Theory

Life space

Zeigarnik effect

the tendency to recall uncompleted tasks more easily than completed tasks

Fritz Perls (1893 – 1970)

Philosophy

Existential & Phenomenological

Grounded in the client’s “here and now”
Goal is for clients to gain awareness of what they are experiencing and doing now
Direct experiencing rather than the abstractness of talking about situations
Rather than talk about a childhood trauma the client is encouraged to become the hurt child

Theory

Self understanding comes from how behave in the present

Holistic approach to personality

Focus on “process”

Therapy

Clients are manipulative

Resist change

Avoid taking on personal responsibility

Prefer environmental support to self-support

Unaware of their psyche

Reintegrate newly disowned parts of personality

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Class Secrets

How pass hard class

How To Pass A Hard Class

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Ken Tangen

You know the difference between an easy and a hard class. There is some variation between people as to which topics are hard but when you expect to be in a class you think will be difficult there are several things you can do.

You already know what to do for an easy class. Go to class, smile at the professor and pretend to pay attention. You also will ask for a detailed study guide, and wait to study until you have to.

In contrast, a hard class requires a different approach. I originally had Biological Psychology in mind but these suggestions apply to any course preconceived as difficult.

Your mileage may vary but in general, in order to master this material, you must invest 300 hours in studying. This does not include class time, labs or study sections. That’s  20 hours per week for 15 weeks of the semester or 33 hours per week for a 9 week quarter.

Clearly, no one has that much time. That’s why you need a plan.

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