Personal Entry - BBC: Spot the Fake Smile Test

BBC: Spot the Fake Smile Test 

This experiment was designed to test whether one can distinguish the difference between a fake smile and a real smile. It was based on the research by Professor Paul Ekman, a psychologist at the University of California.
I guessed 13 pictures correctly out of 20 and most of the pictures I got wrong were because I marked feigned expressions as real smiles. I personally thought that this test helped me how one's physical characteristics and expressions can both portray and hide emotions. People tend to feign expressions when they want to be polite or hide their emotions. From this test, I realized that it is difficult to notice when people are putting on a real smile or a fake smile. I related this to many other theories connected to emotions and wondered if feigning expressions affect ones' decisions as well. 
In addition, expressions can show one's personality because a bubbly person will have a bigger and more cheerful smile. Each unique smile emphasizes their individuality. Hiding one's smile hides both their personality and individuality. 

IB Class Entry - Ethics in Psychology Case Studies

For my TOK Presentation, I focused on the ethical considerations of one specific psychology case study. I chose IBH Psychology because it was closely related to Theory of Knowledge and many case studies are famous for having low ecological validity and ethical considerations. 

We chose Milgram’s experiment (1963) because it is known as one of the most unethical studies in the field of psychology. Even though Milgram had brought profound knowledge and evidence why we comply to authority figures, the participants were found to be distressed and have traumatic after-effects. This caused controversy on whether the knowledge from Milgram’s study, that used unethical methods, is valid for use. Thus, we came up with the question "How valid is the knowledge we gain from unethical psychology studies?" Through our knowledge question we focused on the validity of the unethical psychological studies. 

Ethicsž is an area of knowledge and are moral principles that govern a person's or group's behavior. Ethical guidelines of psychology studies include: informed consent from all participants, no deception, debriefing must take place, confidentiality and the right to withdraw. 

Through our presentation I learned that Milgram’s experiment is considered to be an unethical study because participants were deceived and were not allowed to withdraw during the experiment. Whenever a participant would ask to withdraw, the experimenters would pressure them. Even though some deception is allowed for an experiment, the emotions of the participants indicated extreme distress. Through the after-effects of the experiment, many are convinced that a study cannot bring valid knowledge if the ethical guidelines are not followed. 

TOK Entry - Personal Emotion Inventory

1. List as many emotions as you can that you have personally experienced.

• Happiness, regret, anger, annoyance, confusion, boredom, sleepiness, fear, timid, surprise, uncertainty, sadness... etc. 

2. How intensely do you feel emotion (on a scale of 1-10, then describe)?  Do you cry or laugh easily?

I cry and laugh easily, especially when I am with my family and friends, so I would describe myself as an emotional person. I would rate myself as 6 or 7 because I don't think I would be able to show a lot of emotions in front of strangers. 

3. What physical responses do you have to specific emotions?  Give some examples.

• I tend to clap or jump up and down if I am happy.
• When I am angry, I bite my lips in order to control my anger. 
• Tears are physical responses to sadness
• Annoyance - roll eyes
• I blink a lot when I am sleepy in order to stay awake
• I shudder or shake when I am in fear. 
• Uncertainty/Timid - avoid eye contact by looking down

4. Can you control your emotions, or do they control you?

I think I try to control my emotions but at the same time I feel like the emotions control me sometimes. For instance, I am unsuccessful at controlling my laughter or sadness. But I tend to suppress and control fear and sleepiness because I wouldn't be able to think properly if I am overwhelmed by fright or boredom. 

5. Do you make decisions based on emotion or reason?

I believe I make decisions based on both emotion and reason. Because I am not able to control my feelings, I sometimes make decisions based on my current emotions. When I am able to control my feelings and think rationally, I make decisions based on reason. I believe the choices made through reason are more logical and justifiable while emotions may cause rather rash decisions.  

6. Do you feign/fake emotional response?  Why?  When?  Is it OK to do this?

I tend to laugh at jokes that aren't funny sometimes in order to be polite. Hiding emotions and faking them make me feel guilty because I am lying about my own emotions but I believe it is necessary in certain situations in order to be not rude. 

In addition, I fake emotional response when I am trying to hide my emotions because I don't want others to see them. For example, I try to hide that I am depressed because I don't want to make them worry or bring the mood down. I believe it is acceptable to do this because I am feigning my emotions in order to assure other people. 

Personal Entry - K-Pop and Fans

Ethical Implications of Sasaeng 

K-pop is a music in Korea that started a popular culture known as Hallyu. Many artists and idols have been introduced and became popular among teenagers and young adults. This caused a subculture of fans to be created around the world but many fans are becoming too obsessed with their idols. Koreans call them "sasaengs" because they invade the private lives of their favorite artists. 

There are instances where the sasaengs would break into their house and steal their private items. Some exposed their private phone calls and messages and even installed CCTV cameras in their rooms or presents to watch their actions. 

To make matters worse, some fans hire "special taxi drivers" to follow their idols, These sasaeng taxis chase the vans of their favorite artists at high speed which results in occasional accidents. A Korean media published an article of Korean managers revealing that popular stars have between 100 to 1,000 sasaeng fans and on any given day, the idols have at least 100 stalkers following them. 

EXO, a famous K-pop group have many incidents of sasaengs. Baekhyun, a member of EXO, was attending a private family event when sasaengs suddenly showed up at the event without being invited. They stood on the chairs to get better pictures and ran up to Baekhyun in the middle of the wedding for his signature. His brother's wedding was ruined due to these fans and Baekhyun blamed himself for causing chaos and disruption in his brother's only wedding. 

Many people are raising the ethical consideration of the sasaengs' actions. Idols have their private information invaded and suffer from emotional and psychological stress. EXO had an interview with a Korean media and spoke of how sasaengs had changed their personality and wished people would stop intruding their privacy. It is unethical to gather confidential information without permission and cause traumatic distress in people.

In addition, respect is needed for all humans and it is important in life to be respectful towards people. Sasaengs refuse to acknowledge the value of respect as they do not protect the personal space of the idols. People need their distance but sasaengs are invading the privacy and feel satisfaction in doing so even if they become disrespectful people. These sasaengs are not only violating the idols' lives but also bringing down their reputation in society. People condemn the idols for their sasaengs who make other fans uncomfortable with their actions and behaviors. 

It is important for them to learn the limits and know how to respect. Furthermore, the continuing incidents of sasaengs are ethical issues in society that need to be fixed in order to help idols find the privacy and respect that they deserve. I believe the government and the company of the idols should take certain measures if sasaengs continue to invade the private lives and be disrespectful. 

TOK Entry - Memory

Memory Test

Try some memory tests online; write a field notebook entry (Q3) about your experience, what you noticed about yourself and about memory in general. What strategies do you use to remember things? How good do you think your memory is compared to other people? 

I tried the Brain Metrix, BBC Face Memory Test and the Short Term Memory Test. I did three trials for the Brain Metrix and ended at level 6, 7, 8 in consecutive order. I think I used the first and second test to understand the patterns. I tried to memorize the highlighted rectangles by repeating them in my head. I repeated the number and the place of the rectangles but after the first few levels, I found it more difficult to memorize them. 

For the BBC Face Memory Test I tried to find certain characteristics that stood out in each picture. I didn't know the test would make me sort out the pictures so I wasn't paying much attention on which section the picture belongs to. I was able to identify all the pictures that were not presented in the test but I was unsuccessful at dividing them to the section I saw. I scored high on recognition memory but low on temporal memory. From this I was able to learn that I had more difficulty with memorizing "when" I saw it. 
Lastly, for the Short Term Memory Test, I used a similar strategy that I used for the Brain Metrix but instead of repeating them in my head I repeated them orally. I would look for a certain rhyme and tried to remember the sound of each letter. I was successful for all trials except trial 6 where I missed 1 letter. I speculated that maybe my memory was limited to storing 5 letters. 
I believe my memory is about average because there are many other people around me who have remarkably good memory. Compared to others, I believe my memory is rather average. According to the BBC Memory Test, I have a memory higher than average but I don't think it is safe to rely on one test only. In conclusion, based on the memory tests I may have better memory for recognition but compared to other people, I believe I am relatively low.

BBC Face Memory Test Results

Field Blog Entry #14 - Logical Fallacies (TOK)

Reflection on Fallacies

Logical fallacies are invalid patterns of reasoning that leads to false conclusions. There are many types of fallacies including inductive fallacies and casual fallacies. The logical fallacies presentation really helped me understand about them especially hasty generalization which was what I researched about. Hasty generalization is an example of inductive fallacy and happens when the sample is too small to support an inductive generalization about a population. When someone draws conclusion based on small evidence rather than looking at statistics, that support the conclusions, it leaves an argument incomplete or invalid. One example of logical fallacies is: none of the children in this classroom have blonde hair therefore there are no blonde children at this school.

Even though reasoning can be very helpful in supporting arguments but fallacies are dangerous when coming to conclusions. Some fallacies may not be dangerous but reaching the wrong conclusion can lead to stereotypes and misunderstanding. The video of “Love is a Fallacy” showed how fallacies are applicable and found in many situations in our life. Reflecting on past experience, I realized that I also had the wrong premises and had logical but untrue conclusions. This is why it is important to have the correct premises and come up with a sound and true conclusion. 

     

Field Blog Entry #13 - Understanding Comics (IB Class)

Understanding Comics

During my IBH Literature class, we were required to read a book called "Understanding Comics" by Scott McCloud. The author explains that comics use language and sense perception, both of which are ways of knowledge in TOK, to help understand comics.

Inside the comic book, the author states that “language was becoming even more direct, conveying meaning simply and quickly, more like pictures.” By saying this, Scott McCloud emphasizes that words have become so developed that it has become similar to pictures where an event is visually told. Instead of distracting the reader from the story, language is now helping people have a balanced understanding through both words and pictures. In addition, the caption in comics and the dialogue used by the characters can portray a huge range of human experiences and emotions.

If there is no language used in comics then people will tend to interpret the same event differently. Pictures merely help the reader visually see the event but they will use reasoning in order to make sense of an event using their own logic, judgment and experience. Sense perception is used when people perceive the pictures used in graphic novels differently. Our internal constructions (cognitive) may differ from the external world (reality) and the different interpretations of what people see may be equally valid.

Through this comic book, which explained the history, techniques and other important usage in comics, I acknowledged that the ways of knowledge is relatable to many subjects. It was quite surprising to find that both language and sense perception was important in understanding comics. This book helped me analyze and understand another graphic novel I read in IB Literature Higher Level class, “Persepolis”, which proved the fact that learning the different ways of knowledge can be applied to comics and further my understanding. I was able to comprehend that the ways of knowledge in Theory of Knowledge is used widely in many sources.