Born Genius

In the video, Born Genius that we watched in Psychology shows a Chinese boy named Mark that is an excellent piano player. Mark is like 8 years old, and has an amazing talent in the piano. Also he has perfect pitch that means he can hear and know what note it is. Mark also has a bigger cerebellum. What I can conclude from his video is that Intelligence is created. Mark wouldn’t have been a terrific piano player if it weren’t for practice. He practices up to 8 hours a day. Also another example is Jennie who parents strapped her to a toilet and keep her isolated in a room for 13 years. Because of this Jennie had to still where dippers, couldn’t talk and had the metal age of an 18 months old. This girl was not born stupid but because of her environment she missed a window for critical development and many important connections where lost. In short, intelligence is completely due to environmental factors.

Accidental Genius

This video is practically about savants. Savants or idiot savants are people who is considered to be mentally handicapped but displays brilliance in a specific area, especially one involving memory. [Mac’s Dictionary] There are two categories of savants: Gifted savant and prestigious savants. Gifted savants are savants do something useful but not wow. An example is playing the piano. Prestigious savant is prodigies of something that can do something consider the best of anything even is he wasn’t mentally impaired. There was a man called Tommy that after two arteries in this brain exploded and started to bleed into this brain causing pressure into his frontal and temporal lobe he started compulsively painting. He even became so hard to live with, his wife left him. Another savant has the most amazing reading skill and memory. He can read 500 words a second, and can remember EVERY SINGLE THING he reads.  Still I believe you develop these skills by practice, these people overcame the difficulties that came with there mental illness.

MADE GENIUS

In this video, introduces Susan who has the brain of a genius, She was the first female grand master ( “ a chess player of the highest class, especially one who has won an international tournament.”[Dictionary in Mac’s]). She is proof that a any ordinary child can become a genius. As a child, her father decided that a specialized education under “fortunate circumstance” her child would be a genius. She chooses to specialize in Chess. This was in the 1960’s where chess dominated by men thought women couldn’t handle chess. This was because women brains are usually smaller and say more specific features and men see the bigger picture. However, Susan proved them wrong when she beat so many men at chess. Susan is also very good at chess die to practice not because of genes. So in conclusion, intelligence is a skill that you have to develop. Unlike what people think intelligence is not born with but it due to environmental factors.

HOMOSEXUALITY

Homosexuality: born that way or made? That is the question addressed by the video on 60 minutes. And they researched and supported both possibilities.

            To begin with, scientist believes a hormone change when a mother have baby boy. The boy reacts to it as if to were a foreign invader. They also believe that each time you have boy the chances that he will be gay increase by 1/3. It really does make sense that a mother boy would react that way so I believe this theory. What really surprising is how quickly it increases the chances to be gay? Like if you have 4 boys the chance he will be gay is 54%!! That is kind of scary.

            The video shows these two twins Jared and Adam. Jared is all-masculine but Adam has childhood gender non-conformity, which is when a child acts like if he were from the opposite sex. These twins were like 8 at the time of the video so this supports the theory that you can be born being gay.

            To be gay it has to be something from the brain, so you can act gay and not be gay. For example, jail rapping, it doesn’t mean those men are gay they jut have no women around so the rape men to satisfy there needs.

            No in conclusion, Personally I believe that it not entirely genetic or environment a bit of both. You can be genetically have traits that make you gay but like Adam that has traits that only girls usually carry. However, I think the environment also plays a part like for example if you are raped by a man you can be left so traumatized that you would prefer the company of women. Also if identical twins have the same genes then how can one be gay and the other not? It like it is because of environmental factors. 

VIDEO RESPONSE #4: MIND OF A MURDER

In the video MIND OF A MURDER, Dr. Lewis presents a different idea that murder simply murder because they are born evil. Instead she presents the argument that murders are made not born. She gets this from interviewing over 200 murders and as a child psychologist she saw this in juvenile delinquents. What she found was that several murders had more hospital visits , were undernourished and neurological damage. 

     Personally, I believe Dr. Lewis with that murders are made not born. No one is born evil; we are born innocent and pure with no bad intentions. It is our childhood, parents and brain anatomy that shape us into becoming the people we are today. This is supported by the story of Terrance, whom one day snapped and killed his family after wife flirted with ex-husband. After this they discovered, he had bipolar disorder, manic depression and was borderline retarded. This was due to injuries in sports and abusive childhood. 

The video relates back to what we learned how injuries to the brain can effect our behavior to a point where we can become murders. Because from the study Dr.Lewis realized that some murders had more hospital visits and accidents in their childhood. This supports the theory that murders are made by their environment. If you grew up in a house where your mother was an alcoholic, couldn't keep a job and your father hit your mother it is very probable you will end up with a very messed up idea of family. And will be the same way when you grow up, it unavoidable. This is a very scary thought because people don’t really know each other and what they are capable even some people themselves what they are capable of. Because these brain injuries are not like from the previous video they don’t show the effects until it’s to late.

VIDEO RESPONSE #3

 (Natasha Richardson, cause of death brian Injury)

         In the video “Living with traumatic brain Injury” we learned the really struggle many people face when they face life altering injuries to the brain after an accident. We previously knew from the Phineas Gage story about brain localization, in this video we can other examples.  For example the one about a boy who got in a fight at a bar I believe and ended up so badly hurt he know has to live the rest of his life in a wheel chair and can barely communicate. This really makes me think and a bit scared because life is so fragile and an accident can really ruin someone’s life forever.

The majority of accidents occur in the frontal and temporal love because the are easy targets for impact. It such a same because the hold essential functions like reasoning and thinking.

There 3 main types of brain injuries: bleeding in the brain often referred as hemorrhage, contusion which is bruising of the brain, and finally axonal injury which is twisting of the brain.

The brain is such a valuables part of a person (who they are and how they act) it is really import for people to think twice before fighting with people because we don’t really understand or can image the consequences until they happen.

VIDEO RESPONSE #2: MIND READERS

We live in a new age, where technology advances at an amazing speed each day and where we constantly having to work hard to keep up with the new technological advances. MRI or magnetic resonance imaging is one of the many new medical technologies that have help understand and see the human body better. Currently the MRI is able to read people mind by performing test where the person is a shown picture and the computer process that the person processes the picture. Later it can show you what you where thinking. Amazing or Scary? These new technological advances help us unlock secretes in the brain and how they think but what will happen when one day for example they can really “read people’s minds”. Are minds are suppose to be our private, our little secret island but with technological advance that can read out mind is it the end of the seclusion in our minds? Is it even ethical? It is fundamental for a person to have privacy and be able to keep their thoughts to themselves. What is to happen if we are forced to share our minds? Chaos, no one is going to let the government or doctors read people’s minds against there will, it is probable that new laws will be created to keep the mind private for the people.