Month: June 2020

Many people all over the world have bad habits that they want to change about themselves, but the most of them are doing it the wrong way. The majority of people threaten themselves with results that could happen if they did not change their bad habits. Although it may not seem like it, warnings have little to no impact one’s behavior. These things can actually cause a person to lose motivation. The main reason that threats and warnings do not work, is all because of the way our mind is. When a normal human being encounters something negative or dangerous, they tend to become scared. Their initial response is to freeze, run, or give up. Humans almost never try to fight back the negativity or danger. There are many other positive ways to change a person’s bad behavior without having to use negative and discouraging methods.

A great way for a person to change is to constantly give themselves rewards. If most humans do not get a reward after hard work at trying to change, they will feel as if they can not change. This can cause lack of motivation and turn into lack of energy. Sometimes, the reward could actually be the result of all the hard work that someone put into changing. However, everyone is different, and some take ages to see results. This is where other types of rewards come in. For example, if someone who wants to lose weight exercises very well one day, they can reward themselves to an extra drink. Yes, maybe that method of rewarding could cancel out the hard work, but our brains need that motivation. Rewards are motivating and assuring for someone who wants to change.

When working towards a goal, monitoring one’s progress is very important. People love seeing results in their hard work, and it can cause someone to become more motivated. The best way to effectively monitor a person’s progress is to put some sort of daily reminder of how well they are doing. For example, they can try putting a paper up on their mirror, so everyday when that person goes to use the mirror, they are reminded that they are progressing. This method seems very good, but there are some downsides to it. Some people progress slower than others, and will become less and less motivated. When seeing little to no results, that person will naturally think that they have failed. This is why people should change the way they think.

Though it might not be easy to change a one’s thought process, there are many ways to do it. For example, instead of focusing on far someone is from their goal, that person should focus on how much closer they are getting. However, if the goal is truly too far and unachievable, they should consider coming up with a more realistic goal. Also, people should not be afraid of failure. Yes, failure can be very dangerous, and can cause someone to lose motivation and hope very quick, but it is a very good way of informing the person of what not to do when achieving a certain goal. Changing one’s thought process can easily influence they way they do things, for the better.

Change is not an easy process. There are methods to changing one’s behavior, and negativity should not be one of them. People need to know that using threats and warnings about the future only causes them to become less and less motivated. Instead, using positive things like reminders of progress and rewards are some very good ways to effectively change. Changing, although it may not seem like it, is all in one’s thought process. Keeping a positive thought process could be the one thing that changes everything. There are many way of changing, people just need to use the right method.

People always have ideas on what the right way to change one’s behavior was, but what has been proven was how humans don’t respond well to negative feedback about the future. However, Tali Sharot has found that there is a better way to change behavior. This way is through positive feedback, as in giving immediate rewards for doing something that would benefit them in the future. This however, can lead to some problems.

The first problem is that if this really becomes widespread, people will start taking shortcuts and rewarding themselves for it. This would be a problem because this wont actually lead to any real change, but just more people feeling good about themselves. Rewarding oneself for good behavior is a good idea, however, people will still come up with ways to exploit the situation.

Another concern is privacy. One good example of this is the example of seeing who is most efficient in using their energy. This might help lead to people being more efficient with their energy, but it will also lead to data privacy issues, as this data is being shown to everybody in the neighborhood. Data privacy is an important issue for people, and if this idea of competition becomes big, some people will start opting out of the idea of this, which will lead to them not changing their behavior.

This is not to say that the idea of encouraging good behavior through instantaneous feedback is a bad idea, but just to point out minor issues associated with it.

When I read this article, it showed me many things that I didn’t even think were possible yet. It surprised me with all the cool things that science and biology can do when combined.

The article begun by showing a strange, glittery, skull-like object. It was explained to be a 3D model of over 1,600 mice neuron networks combined into one map. It was comprised of small tissue samples that are images and mapped them with little 3D pixels. Over years of work, they created a huge map constructed with the average neuron connections of a thousand mice.

This was a breakthrough in biology. Scientists can now map the brain activity of creatures. This could be the start of mapping out other creatures’ brains, and we could have a better understanding of how neurons interact in their brains.

Curtis Zhang

6/11/20

Motivation

People who want to be motivated usually tell themselves about what bad will happen if they do something bad, but that is not the best course of action. Research has shown that giving positive motivation, having social incentives, and having immediate rewards help the most with getting people motivated. 

When you give positive motivation, it has been shown that people are better at understanding it than if you give them negative motivation. For example, if you tell a kid smoking “Your lungs will die if you smoke,” he will be less likely to react than if you told him “If you stop smoking, then you will get better at playing your instrument.” I think that giving yourself positive motivation will work very well because when I give myself negative motivation, I usually give up after a while because I run out of motivation very quickly within half a day or less(I am a very lazy person), but if I have some positive motivation, I usually are able to last a day or 2. 

When you have social incentives you have more incentive to work harder to change or do whatever you are doing because humans are very social beings, and we want to be accepted, so we do that by looking good in front of everyone else. This has also been proven by research, but personally, I do not need the research to prove it because I think that I usually try harder at things when there are other people around than if I am by myself. For example, I have never run a personal best for the mile while with myself and family, (besides the first mile I have ever run) and all my records were either set at school or at a track meet.

When you have immediate rewards, it has been proven through tests that you are more motivated when you have immediate rewards because you usually don’t think about the future as much, so when you come to a choice to an uncertain future or a certain now, you will most likely choose the certain now, but by giving you immediate rewards to get you to point towards the uncertain future, you are more likely to work towards the uncertain future. I think that this is also better because if you decide to give yourself a reward later, you might associate the reward with something else, or just now associate it with the thing you just did. If you however, reward yourself immediately, then you will think that because you did that, then you will get the reward.

The next time you are trying to complete a project or get motivated to do something, you can remember to give yourself positive motivation, social incentives, and immediate rewards to make sure that you are well motivated, as well as help you be able to build better habits for the future. 

For several years, researchers at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, a Seattle nonprofit dedicated to neuroscience, have been mapping out a rat’s brain with extreme detail. Their finished map now includes around 100 million cells. They then 3D printed the model of the rat’s brain. These rodents are commonly used as organisms to be tested on as their brains are similar to humans, and they are able to be trained easily. There are several ways that this 3D model can help enhance our knowledge of the human brain and do better things.

According to the San Francisco Union-Tribune, “Rodents can be a good model for humans because a lot of the structure and connectivity that exists in human brains also exists in rodents, especially rats. ” Many of the experiments that are tested on rats and a model of a rat’s brain can help scientists learn more about the human brain which is clearly beneficial. For example, knowing a good model of a brain can help psychologists learn how to help people with disabilities or just give people a better understanding of why they’re body functions the way it does. In addition, rats share many of the same characteristics as humans. For example, they are strangely social. Because humans are also social, scientists may be able to connect these two and the reason rats are social may be the same reason for humans. Lastly, mice can be trained easily. This can help during experiments as the results will be more constant. If this research about the rat brain is continued, it can benefit many.

The short story, “Everyday use,” by Alice Walker is about a mother that has two daughters. The younger of the to is named Maggie and the other is Dee. Dee is a very arrogant person. She thinks she is very smart and is the best in the family and dresses all expensive. Maggie on the other hand is basically the exact opposite.

The story starts of with Mamma (the mom) dreaming that she was on tv with Dee and Dee was thanking her for everything she has done, but this is only a dream. In reality Dee is ungrateful for her mom and puts her down. Even so Mamma still has a way different perspective of Maggie and Dee.

But later Mamma starts to notice her other child Maggie. She has brought home someone who wants to marry her and the heritage of the family will probably be passed down by Maggie and finally Mamma sees Dee as the selfish people she is.

I think the theme of the story is that personality is the most important attribute of a person. You can see how Dee is very smart and pretty but doesn’t have a good personality. And that is why Mamma has chosen Maggie over Dee. This points out that having a good personality is the best attribute you can have.

Say you see your father smoking a cigarette. You know that smoking is bad for his health and you want to convince him to stop. But what is the best way to do that? Most likely, you would warn him that he could die from some sort of disease. But, evidence shows that warnings don’t work too well to convince someone to change their behavior. This is because the most common reactions to threats is either to freeze or flee, not fight. When something scares us, we tend to get rid of the negative feelings by using rationalizations. This creates a boomerang effect and causes us to become more resilient with the behavior we want to change.

Then how do you get motivated to change your behavior? There are three important principles to motivation of behavior change, Social incentives, immediate rewards, and progress monitoring. We are motivated by other people’s opinion, what they are doing, and what you can do better. Rewards also get us fired up to do it, even something as simple as a praise. You should reward yourself now, so you can reach a goal in the future. For example, you should stop smoking now, so you can run more and win your next race. Also, we need to have something that monitors your progress. When we see he progress and positive outcomes of our behaviors, it will motivate you to keep doing it.

So, instead of telling your father that he will die if he does not stop smoking, you should show him pictures of other people stopping that bad habit and promise to treat him to dinner at an expensive restaurant if he stops as well. Also, put up a board and mark down how many days he does not smoke and praise him for not smoking for long periods of time. That will probably convince him to stop more that all of the threats and warnings you were thinking to use.

Researchers at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, a Seattle nonprofit dedicated to neuroscience, have made a 3D map trace that can cover about 100 million brain cells. They hope the map will bring that understanding to a new level, the Allen Institute said. In doing so, neuroscientists will have a tool with which to develop new research programs and accelerate research already underway. They also did a lot better than the last time they tried.There are 2 reasons why they did it.

First of all, they got The result comprises an “average” of the brains of 1,675 laboratory mice, to make sure the map was as standard as possible. And Mice are common “model organisms” in neuroscience. Their brains have fairly similar structures to humans’, they can be trained, they breed easily, and researchers have already developed robust understandings of how their brains work. 

second, they traced connections between brain cells using thin slices of tissue that can be imaged and explored layer by layer. To build a comprehensive, three-dimensional map, the Allen Institute team instead broke the mouse brain into “voxels” — 3D pixels — and then mapped the cells and connections within each voxel.

After all, the two points that I said was why they succeeded. However, as time passes I think they can do better.

In the TedX talk, Tali Sharot takes us through various ways that we change our own behaviors, and those of others in a positive manner to make us better within ourselves. This text describes how we can motivate ourselves to change our behavior.

Action & Awareness

We believe that if we scare people into an action we can influence their behavior. However in reality this has little or no impact as we usually decide to shutdown from the information told to us and make excuses in our minds. We seek positive actions wherever we can. We will always accept a better view on our futures over the negative. The first thing to understand about behavioral change is that it’s hard. In a recent TedX talk by Mel Robbins, an author, life coach, TV host and CNN commentator, she introduced the concept of activation energy as being the primary ingredient for behavioral change. In chemistry, activation energy refers to the least amount of energy required for a reaction to take place. Her point was, to create any kind of behavioral change requires more energy than to stay the same. She used the example that if you want to face activation energy head-on, start your day one hour earlier than you normally do. It takes effort and energy to create new habits to replace old ones that are routine.

Progress, Competition and Goal

We like to be a part of what everyone else is doing, and we can use this to influence people into the right actions. Competition allows people to satisfy the need to win, a rivalry provides the opportunity or reason for improving their performance, and motivates them to put forth greater effort. Also, we can highlight the progress of others to keep them on the right track. People like to move forward, and showing them this can build the up in the right ways. Define why the goal is important to you . Be clear on your motivation that you can draw upon during those moments when you don’t feel like doing anything

Immediate Reward

If people are rewarded they are more likely to do something they otherwise would not. This can help build better habits as they associated the positive actions of the future with getting something in return. An immediate reward strengthens the association between the activity and the goal of the activity, making people feel like the task is rewarding in and of itself.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is possible to motivate yourself to Change Your Behavior. With these things we can feel more in control of our lives and motivate us correctly.