Salvador Gutierrez P7 Feb. 21 - Feb. 26

This week in AP Psychology: we learned about one of the best feelings in the world, eureka/insight solutions.  It is when you suddenly come up with a solution for the certain problem you had.  It happens on the third stage of creative problem solving.  After incubation and before verification-elaboration.  It’s kind of the same thing as the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon.  Where you can’t remember exactly what it is so you stop thinking about it (incubation) and after a while, you suddenly remember what it was.  The eureka insights make you feel like a genius.  WARNING: you must have a pen and paper with you always because you don’t want to forget your eureka solution.  I have had many eureka solutions where I would forget what I came up with.  All those creative ideas, those genius ideas and solutions that would have blown the world away…gone.  Anyway, that’s my life motto now.  To carry around a notebook and paper and to put everything aside because I will eventually get back to them with a better solution.  Which is why for homework assignments, their shouldn't be a due date and the students should just put away their homework and forget about it.  Once you have an insight solution, then you can do your homework and turn it in.  It will increase the quality of homework turned in.  If you don’t get an insight solution by the end of the year, then forget about it.  Life goes on, brah! - “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” by The Beatles.  I bet The Beatles wrote most of their songs through eureka insights.  They would stop writing and then just go on with their lives.  And suddenly, while reading a nursery rhyme to the prime minister, they would come up with the chorus.  If we treated homework like The Beatles treated songs then we would turn in some #1 hits.

Salvador Gutierrez P7 Jan. 31 - Feb. 04

This week in AP Psychology: we learned about observational learning and how you mostly learn from those who you admire.  I have many examples of unconsciously behaving like others.  I frown like Jim from “The Office” does.  I smirk like Marlon Brando smirks.  I cross my arms like Marlon Brando did in a poster for “A Streetcar Named Desire” (although I consciously started doing it, I unconsciously do it now).  When I try to act tough and cool I begin to make a face like that of Marlon Brando.  As I was telling my mom this the other day, she pointed out something interesting.  She said that what if I already acted like that, smirked and behaved like Marlon Brando when trying to be cool.  But my behavior modified slightly to that of Marlon Brando’s because we are similar rather than strictly because I admire him.  Which is true in a way.  I don’t admire Jim from “The Office,” but I relate to him and began to act a bit more like him.  But then again, don’t you admire those who you relate to?  Anyway, I am a bit self-conscious now.  Trying to figure out where I learned this and that from.  It seems that I only learn from movie actors/characters, but I also learn from my family.  For example, I touch my moustache with my lower lip like how my grandpa does.  I am also noticing how some of my behavior has rubbed off onto my brother.  Like he also crosses his legs while leaning against something, like I do.  Now that I think of it, observational learning is pretty much common sense.  How else can you learn a certain behavior?  You learn by other humans around you or be like Tarzan and learn by the apes around you.