Literature and Astronomy Essay -- College Admissions Essays

I Wish to Expand my Knowledge of Literature and Astronomy "Where the telescope ends, the microscope begins. Who is to say of the two, which has the grander view?" - Victor Hugo Hugo's words ring true for me because my principal academic interests fall into two main categories: literature and astronomy. In literature, I have learned that there is a great amount of meaning to be found through careful analysis; one must often look at literature "under a microscope" to discover its deepest value. Yet in studying astronomy, I have begun to feel that the greatest mysteries of life, such as "Where does life come from?" and "What role do we play in the universe?" can only be solved by looking through a telescope. My interest in these two subjects reveals my main academic goal: I wish to explore these areas as fully as I can. I feel that this approach will result in one of the two fields emerging as my deepest passion and career direction, and the other remaining a lifelong interest. While I hold this goal close to my heart, I know that the journey toward it, upon which I have already e...

Phobias and Addiction Paper

Phobias and Addiction PSY 300 October 22, 2012 Phobias and Addiction Learning a behavior is gaining knowledge or skills through experience, practice, or conditioning. For example, most people learn to wake up at the sound of an alarm clock. Through the process of conditioning, he or she awakens at the sound of the alarm. The alarm becomes the signal to start the day. Often what happens is that some people condition themselves to awaken at the same time every day without even hearing the alarm.In the late nineteenth century Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, was the first to systematically study classical conditioning (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). Classical conditioning is a process when a neutral stimulus brings forth a reaction corresponding with a stimulus that automatically brings forth that reaction (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). Pavlov effectively produced a conditioned reaction in dogs to a specific stimulus in systematically planned procedure (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). Produced in a similar process are phobias, addictions, and the process of extinction.The following considers how phobias develop through classical conditioning, how addictions develop through operant conditioning, how these two types of conditioning differ, and finally covering the process of extinction and how it is achieved in both types of conditioning. Classical and Operant Conditioning Classical and Operant conditioning are processes in which the brain connects and understands different things. Both depend on the modifications that arise in behaviors when derived from the setting or the behavior itself and necessitate a systematic process.Classical and operant conditioning, otherwise known as associative learning, developed from the behaviorist perspective (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). Both procedures share â€Å"common features such as extinction, prepared learning, discrimination, generalization, and the possibility of maladaptive associations† (Kowalski & Westen, 2011, p. 193). In c lassical conditioning the stimulus that gives off a reflexive response is substituted with a different stimulus (Kowalski & Westen, 2011).In operant conditioning the preferred behavior results according to consequences whether positively or negatively reinforced making that behavior occur more or less frequently (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). It is through these processes that some humans develop phobias and addictions. Phobias through Classical Conditioning According to â€Å"Kowalski & Westen†, (2011), â€Å"a phobia is an irrational fear of a specific object or situation (p. 167). When someone reacts to this irrational fear, his or her response is extreme anxiety such as hyperventilating, increased heart rate, extreme emotions, and sometimes fainting (Kowalski & Westen, 2011).A famous example of the creation of phobias in classical conditioning occurred during the Little Albert experiment conducted by John Watson and Rosalie Rayners (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). For example, tho ugh Albert did not initially fear white rats, when a loud noise occered with the white rat the conditioned response became fear (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). This created a phobia of white rats and other objects used during the experiment (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). For Albert, classical conditioning created these behaviors.Addictions through operant Conditioning Another difficult and often destructive behavior is addiction. The results of addictions can often be poor health, disease, crime, mental illness, and even death. According to the â€Å"American Psychological Association† (APA), (2012), addiction is defined as â€Å"is a condition in which the body must have a drug to avoid physical and psychological withdrawal symptoms† (Addictions). The â€Å"drug† to an addict is not always a substance; it is sometimes an activity such as gambling, sex, or eating.Addiction is often associated with operant conditioning (Antczak,  2011). A person has natural survival met hods, the pleasure or pain response, which either causes the feeling of pleasure when the action is to survive or pain in the actions that decrease to chance of survival (Antczak,  2011). These responses occur as a result of the release of neurotransmitters in the brain (Antczak,  2011). Pathways form in the brain and neurotransmitters reinforce them with the experience of pleasure or pain (Antczak,  2011).Using drugs for example often result in both pleasure and pain responses. Initially the drug creates the feeling of pleasure. This â€Å"high† can cause the person to seek out this altered state therefore creating an addiction. After the high an addict often experiences ill feelings or pain. Often, the addict will seek out those feelings of pleasure to avoid the pain and distress when they are not using the addictive substance. This pattern of a connection between behavior and consequence is operant conditioning (Antczak,  2011).Extinction In classical conditioning learned responses can be extinguished, which is the process of extinction (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). After extinction, recovery is often short term. Extinction initially weakens the remaining association to the learned response, but extinction does not occur unless the reactions of consistent. For example, a parent seeks to have his or her child fall asleep on their own at night and eventually succeeds after having the child cry to sleep on his or her own for a period of time.If this process is consistently repeated, the child eventually will fall asleep on his or her own. After some time, if one parent rushes to the child when he or she cries, the parent will once again struggle to get the child to fall asleep in his or her own and fail to extinguish the behavior. According to Kowalski & Westen, (2011) extinction in operant conditioning occurs if enough trials pass in which the operant is not followed by the consequence previously associated with it (p. 78). If the behavior does no t emit either a positive or negative consequence, eventually the behavior will not occur (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). Conclusion Associative learning covers both classical and operant conditioning and both succeed in a number of settings. To maintain positive behaviors sustain and reinforce connections or extinction ultimately will occur. People learn from experience, and associations made and the resulting behaviors have a powerful influence in the brain.Some associations result in phobias or addictions and although extinction can occur, the process of changing a response is difficult. Classical and operant conditioning allow people to survive, thrive, and adjust to a continually changing situation.References American Psychological Association. (2012). Retrieved from http://www. apa. org/topics/addiction/index. aspx Antczak, A. (2011). Yahoo! voices. Retrieved from http://voices. yahoo. com/classical-operant-conditioning-phobias-addictions-10159457. html Kowalski, R. , & Westen, D. ( 2011). Psychology  (6th ed. ). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

L.a Confidential Film Noir Essay - 978 Words

The Key Conventions Of Film Noir In L.A Confidential L.A Confidential (Curtis Hanson, 1997) is a neo-noir film about a shooting at an all night diner and the three Las Angeles policeman who investigate in their own unique ways. It is based on the book by James Ellroy and after a very well adapted screenplay, won nine academy awards. It starred actors with big names like Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce and Danny Devito, which made it a very high earning film. The Narrative or storyline is much the same as any other film noir movie. It has a ‘hard boiled cop (Russell Crowe) who we grow attached to. The narrative of any film must have certain ‘key conventions which are apparent for the audience to tell the genre of the film. The†¦show more content†¦Danny Devito is perfect in this role because he has quite a seedy voice this is good to illustrate the sleaziness of film-noir, it shows the real voice of L.A. The setting of film noir is usually quite cheap. This is used effectively to actually show the dark tacky parts of society where film-noir usually takes place. There is not a lot of light in these films and they are often set on location. A seedy underworld is often present in film-noir movies, where all the bad or undesirable parts of society are exposed. Things like drugs, alcohol, murder and corruption. In my analysis I will be looking at a scene near the end of the film where Bud White and Ed Exeley take part in a shootout at the victory motel. The narrative conveys very common noir aspects here; the shootout takes place in a very dark room. The only light comes from outside. This shows the mood of the scene to be sinister and bleak. It puts the audience in a scared state as the shadows can conceal anything. It is also hard to see what White and Exeley are doing. The shadows are very menacing because they use a chiaroscuro lighting effect. This means that the rooms, people and settings are hidden from view by shadows. 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