The psychology behind I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!

Happy Friday all! I cannot believe we're now in December already?! This only means I can begin the official countdown to Christmas, my birthday & 2024. (They all come at once for me within just 7 days😂 )

Putting that obvious, but irrelevant information aside, I want to do a kind of blog post which I haven't done for as long as I could remember the last time I did so. (As the 3 first words in the above title state)

And because it's also that time of year again, where a certain iconic TV programme invades ITVX (as it's now known as these days) for 4 weeks, I felt like discussing the psychology that lies behind it. Just to pre-warn you all, I will be sharing my thoughts in this post as well.

I'm sure most people can say that I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here is one of the most entertaining programmes to come around every year, as 12 celebrities participate in scary & silly challenges. All of which is set in a remote jungle located in Australia. And the 2 hosts are none other than the Geordie duo, Ant & Dec.

But I ask myself this rhetorical question: "What makes this TV programme so entertaining & popular?" Could it depend on what celebrities go into the jungle? Could it depend on which celebrities do what challenge? Could it be that Ant & Dec are the main hosts? Could it even be the the fans' gossip/opinions on social media? The possibilities are endless.

In my own personal opinion, I would say all of the above. Purely because this TV programme has been running the same way since 2002. (Including when the show had to relocate to Wales for 2 years running due to COVID-19 restrictions)

Whenever I watch a celebrity take on a thrilling challenge on public television, it makes my mind think: "Wow! They are so brave at doing that!" And yes, even the celebrities who do these challenges on IACGMOOH like to think they are hard as nails, just for the purpose of the rest of the public to think that way as well. However, the harsh reality is, that it's easy for any celebrity to forget that they are a human being at the end of the day.

To further extend on that point, they get into this habit of people pleasing by thinking they can do anything, as they chose to go on a popular TV programme to undertake a series of crazy challenges. This is also where they develop this mindset of behaving as if they were Superman or Superwoman, (for all you feminists out there) and that giving up is simply not an option. But if any celebrity ended up having to shout: "I'm a celebrity, get me out of here!" When they feel like they cannot cope with a challenge due to feeling too scared, they just end up feeling guilty afterwards. Again, this is their Superman or Superwoman mindset talking to them by telling them that they should've done better.

I can only imagine the celebrities' thoughts if they were to bother reading the fans' comments all over social media about them...

All in all, IACGMOOH is always, and will always set out to people please. Whether it's aimed at the celebrities taking part or just the public watching at home. Especially if the programme itself is still encouraging social stigma across all media.

Why de-cluttering your room can lead to increased brain power

Evening all, hope you've all had a good & productive week! I certainly have, as I've been working at youthscheme from Monday - Thursday.

Moving swiftly on, as the above title states, I know it's somewhat random, but it's the only article on PsychologyToday I could find that was interesting enough to talk about. Well, I for 1, think this article is interesting, because it tells you the different state of minds of living in a cluttered environment & a de-cluttered environment.

Key takeaways: Let's say if you was to live in a household, where there was constant clutter surrounding you, and if you wanted to focus on doing 1 thing, like looking for something, your mind will end up feeling scatty, as you won't be able to find what you are looking for due to the ridiculous amount of clutter that interferes with your focus. This is because living in a cluttered environment has a tendency to make you into an unorganised person, as it will get your mind into the habit of being generally unorganised.

But if you was to live in a household, where everything was neatly organised, (like my bedroom for instance) you wouldn't have any trouble with looking for something, as your mind will be able to recall where that something is everytime. This is what makes you an organised person, as you get your mind into the habit of everything being structured.

Moreover from the 2nd paragraph, being in an organised environment by constantly de-cluttering, helps to increase brain power. Why? Because de-cluttering helps you to focus on any task you need to prioritise. This is something that I benefit from when I constantly keep my bedroom de-cluttered. For the record, I HATE LIVING IN CLUTTERED CONDITIONS!

Think I've covered everything now, so here's the source link, for those interested to read more on how I got my information: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/social-instincts/202308/why-decluttering-your-room-can-lead-to-increased-brain-power%3famp

*I began this post on the 6/8/23, but didn't get to finish it until the 9/8/23*

The psychology behind sign communication

Evening everyone! I hope you're all enjoying your week so far, whatever you're getting up to. As for me, I have the fun demand of attending 4 training courses this week. I have attended 2/4 so far, which were fire marshal training & introduction to sign language. The remaining 2 I have to attend are moving people training & crisis drills training.

The purpose behind these training sessions is to make me feel more responsible while working at my job. To be more precise here, I actually have 3 jobs at the moment, and 1 of them consists of being a play worker at a disability play scheme. (Hence these said training courses) 

But looking at the introduction to sign language training course in particular, I have learned today (when I had attended the training course) that there is a ton of psychology involved with understanding sign communication. When I was reflecting on my training later I had finished, I thought I could disclose what I had learned in my introduction to singing training course onto here, so you guys (who are interested) could learn a few things about signing for yourself!

Why people communicate with their hands:

At around some point in life, you are guaranteed to come across somebody who is non-verbal, and therefore, can only communicate using their hands. Word of advice here for everyone: "Just because they cannot verbally talk, doesn't mean they cannot understand our verbal communication." If nobody was to ever understand hand communication in this world, then try putting yourselves into the non-verbal hand communicator's shoes and see how frustrating the outcome will be for them, as they will end up feeling isolated & alone due to them not feeling a part of anything. This is where the importance of needing to understand hand communication comes into play. By doing so to another non-verbal hand communicator, you'll be making them feel more welcome by taking away their burden of not feeling like they can confidently communicate.

Why people communicate with picture symbols:

Now lets discuss picture symbols. Again, these are commonly used by non-verbal communicators, because they provide visual context of what that person wants/needs. For example, if they are using picture symbols to ask someone what toy they would like to play with. Another way of a non-verbal communicator using picture symbols, is to visually grasp what is happening throughout each day. Or a day schedule, if you like. Where I work at a disability play scheme on a Saturday, I have seen a few people who use picture symbols to communicate with people. (Myself included) In my view, I think that picture symbols are a useful form of communication, as not everyone can understand verbal communication all of the time, right? And pictured symbols helps you to, well, put pictures inside your head. For example, a picture of somebody eating. This helps us to understand that the non-verbal communicator wants something to eat.  

I think I've covered everything for this post, so I'll conclude it here.

I hope all of you have found this post beneficial to you to use in the future when it comes to communicating with non-verbal people. In my case, I am still in the learning process of signing, as there is literally a LOT to cover. This was especially during my introduction to signing training.

*I began this post on Tuesday, (25/7/23) but I finished it on the 28/7/23*

Type A Personality VS Type B Personality

Hello my readers! I hope everyone is enjoying their week so far, whatever you're getting up to. As what the title states, I will be discussing the comparisons between to 2 personality types in psychology.

This was another theory which I have learned about in college last academic year, but since then, I have forgotten about it until recently. Hence the main reason I wanted to keep the memory alive by sharing what I've learned about this theory with all of you.

The one thing I have found fascinating from this personality theory was that how contrasting the 2 personalities both were in general, as well as thinking about comparing them with one another by relating to people I know of in real life. This is what makes this theory more worthwhile to keep researching on.

 

Type A Personality: This personality involves oneself being as hard working as possible. Or to be more personality specific, I'm talking aggressively hard working. They feel as though they have to be working against a time limit (even though there isn't one) all of the time to ensure every working target is met. Unlike most people, these people who have this personality trait do not end up feeling accomplished with satisfaction even after they've actually completed any tasks that they needed to do. It is like they need to be constantly working flat out in order to gain themselves real satisfaction. Because of this, there is a high stress level that plays a role in this personality trait. This is due to oneself constantly dreading failure if they were to stop working tirelessly hard the way that they do. Even if it's just a small break.

Away from the personality side of things, oneself will experience certain characteristics that will make up having Type A Personality altogether. This is what is best known as Type A Behaviour Pattern. (TABP) In which, the characteristics consist of: Competitiveness, Time Urgency & Impatience & Hostility.

Type B Personality: This personality involves oneself being laid back as if nothing ever seems to bother them. Going into more detail on that, they are always so relaxed by having to be tolerant to everything around them. It may seem like that oneself is being tolerant on purpose, but in reality, this is their way of getting work done at their pace by steadily achieving what they need to achieve in no time frame whatsoever. Even if oneself chooses to work at a steadily pace by happily taking their time to try and complete a task, without finishing it on time, they still wouldn't be at all bothered about it. Likewise, this results with the less amount of stress & anxiety produced by adopting a non-competitive trait.

Conclusion: Friedman & Rosenman (the theory inventors) both wanted to use this theory to compare both personalities to see which one was more effective when it comes to working at towards something. In my view, there is no right or wrong in terms of which personality trait I prefer, as I see them both as equally fascinating as one another. However, I have taken note that the actual purpose of the study of Type A Personality was to find out if people with this trait are at significant risk of having a heart attack.

For anybody interested to see my research source, you know what to do: https://www.simplypsychology.org/personality-a.html

Understanding Narcissism

Before I even begin, I just want to clarify by saying that this research topic I had mentioned in my previous post was actually found on WebMD. (Not on Psychology Today) *I apologize there*😂

Anyway, I can't exactly remember what I was doing where I came across this article that was published on a website called WebMD. But what I do remember, is I instantly became curious to have a thorough read through the article which contains information about what narcissism is all about.

Before reading through the article, I was already aware of what narcissism is, but at the same time, I wanted to plunge my mind deeper into the subject for the intention to develop a better & wide understanding of the reasons of how narcissism is unknowingly formatted into oneself. Here's what I have gathered...

Discussion/Review:

Narcissism is what is classified as a self-involvement that creates a dark personality trait to a person. Its overall intention is to fill their ego by purposely ignoring the needs of anyone around them. It was at this point during my reading of the article where I read that narcissism may not be a permanent trait to some people who just choose to behave like narcissists. This may well be dependant on how their mental health is coping, by again, choosing to behave this way as their way of trying to block out everything going on around them. Although, you may seem to think they enjoy behaving this way on the outside, but a look into their mental health state must be considered to be able to understand more about their reason for their choice of narcissist behaviour. 

As I then found out, narcissism has a spectrum. People who are going through a temporarily period of narcissism are classified on the lower part of the overall spectrum. 

In terms of the higher end of the spectrum, you have people who have to live with narcissism attached to them day-in, day-out due to a disorder. And that disorder is named as: 'Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD)' There are 2 different types of narcissism that link to the personality disorder just mentioned. The 2 things the types share in common is the fact that different childhood experiences play a role of being officially diagnosed with NPD. Another common thing in the 2 types is the different ways people will behave in relationships. I suppose that does makes sense, given how different childhood experiences are first formatted to shape a person's upbringing.

Going back to narcissism in general, it is important to factor in all of its characteristics before just saying how it is just by looking at it on the outside. You will notice right away with any narcissist behaviour that a person will make themselves look important compared to other people around them by purposely paying zero attention to how these other people will react around them. This could be followed by that person constantly wanting to be admired for every single thing. Even though, there could be hardly anything for that person to be admired for - Just for the sake of not wanting to look like a disappointment. As a warning to any person who criticises a narcissist person, they will just hit you back hard (emotionally) with rudeness & abuse by thinking they are not receiving the support you are giving them. This has to be done by showing compassion & understanding. What I mean, is by not comparing yourself to other people. No judgement, just be there to show support to.

Conclusion: I would say the one thing that really spoke out to me while reading this article, was that narcissism goes way deeper than just its name. Meaning, there are so many psychological factors of how narcissism is made up of by discovering the roots of the trait.

As always, if anyone is interested to see where I got my research from, the source link is here: https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/narcissism-symptoms-signs        

24 months of this blog...

Having realised what today is, (as the title states) I wanted to talk about the soul purpose of the reason why I had decided to create this blog. But also, to compare what this blog is looking like now in contrast to where it all began out 2yrs ago.

*I tried to make the picture above for this blog post as artistic as possible. I had to use my phone to do it all from scratch*

When it had first started: When I had first created this blog, (12/12/2020) I thought about using it to showcase my initiative. And my initiative happens to be posting content on all things psychology. I remember when I got my blog up and running, I became so motivated to making as many publishes as possible by only wanting to do professional content.

What I mean by professional content, is that I would always post random topics consisting of psychological factors that would play a part of those topics. I even used to title all of them with the rhetorical question method, so it made the blog posts I used to do back then look professional to what you see on a entrepreneur style blog. If you was to look back on these posts I did back then, you would see I had spent at least 7 months doing these posts using the rhetorical question method for my title.

How is it going now: I would say for the very least that my motivation for publishing psychological content has taken a big knock. Not in a negative way, but more or less in a way that I need to slow down a bit. Reason being, as I had discovered that if I was to post professional psychological content on here, I would need spend a lot of productive time doing research on a particular topic in order to get all the right information. For example, see: Let's talk about #ADHD This post took me a week to complete, because I wanted to ensure I had all the right & relevant information to make this a professional factual post. I didn't want to just ramble on without any evidence.

Something else I have been using my blog for a lot in recent months is to openly talk about how I have been feeling. Since this is a blog after all, I feel it's also a good idea to talk about my feelings on here. I do follow a blogger who does this all the time. Hence, my inspiration to do the same. (I'll save that discussion for another post) With all that said, I don't just want my blog to be all about professional psychological content. I've realised that it's just as important to talk about myself as well by raising important awareness, such as #MentalHealth.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Since my mindset is now in a good enough place to be working back on here again, I thought about posting some more professional content on here by talking about something which I have learned at college last year. (The title says it all)

Who is the creator?

Abraham Maslow is an American Psychologist whom is famously known for his self-created theory of Hierarchy of Needs. 

What does the Hierarchy of Needs theory mean and why?

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a triangle which consists of 5 individual needs. The bottom being the most essential to the top being optional. It is formatted in the way that is is because the needs at the bottom half of the triangle have to be met before any of the other needs.

*The above picture shows the Hierarchy of Needs triangle containing its 5 needs*

Physiological needs: 

As what is mentioned beneath, these are the most essential needs that have to be met before all the other ones above on the triangle. This is because these are the needs which will keep you alive and breathing by managing to provide basic survival needs.

Safety needs: 

Along with the topmost set of needs, safety needs are the second range of needs which centres around prioritising things that help to maintain your safety. It is important to be able to prioritise your safety, so it keeps yourself secure when out & about doing stuff in the world. All of these mentioned factors play a vital role in preventing yourself from insecure harm.

Love & belonging: 

By the time you've met the satisfactory level of both the most vital bottom needs on the triangle, your mind can start to adapt to working on what your love & belonging is. Of course, family being the most obvious, but you could also utilise this need to think about who else you wish to fit into your relationship circle to help you feel connected with other people. 

Esteem:

Now that you've come up this far on the triangle by working on building up the most essential needs, your mind can start to concentrate on building up a reflection of how you want yourself to be. The purpose of esteem being second top is that it gives you the chance to identify your own strengths & weakness, as well as making room by using them to unlock success.

Self-actualisation:

At the summit of the triangle is where you have met every satisfaction of the 5 needs, so you can go out and be the best person you could possibly be by putting the accomplished needs to perfect use for when you get to use them in the world. Don't forget to also put this need to its best use for when you believe you could achieve absolutely anything as humanly possible. 

Conclusion:

If we are talking about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs in terms of psychology here, it would be defined as prioritising the most essential needs around you to help you survive day in day out to being able to go forth and achieve the best in yourself. In a way, we could otherwise say that you must always start from the beginning to work your way upwards to getting to the top of somewhere, whatever it may be with where you are going in life. There is no skipping this whole process, as it HAS to be done by taking small steps at a time.

For anyone who is interested to learn more about what I've been discussing, click on this link: https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html 

How spending time in nature can help with Mental Health

I was originally going to make a post to raise awareness for #WorldMentalHealthDay. But since it's now past the date, I'll use this post to talk about something (in this post) that I've come across recently to help raise not only late awareness for Mental Health, but to give you a personal insight about one of my favourite ways to manage it.

As I was out on a local walk this Sunday gone, I was just taking in my surroundings when the idea hit me to capture a picture of what I was seeing. I thought I could use this picture I took to discuss all the beneficial things about spending time in nature in my blog. Even if it's only for as short as 10mins.

It has been proven in the Mental Health & Psychology industry that spending time in nature can have a positive impact on your Mental Health.

Why? When you're out walking in a natural environment, your mind will become fascinated to take in all its naturistic things. Examples given: Leaves, rivers or even squirrels. Especially now we're currently in autumn, it has so much trend to give to just a natural environment itself that it lights up the scenery with different colours. This makes you appreciate how lucky you are that you will always have a nature spot not far from you, so you can take a long or short time out from whatever is stressing you to a calming nature spot to detoxicate.

Although the same could be said for the other seasons as well, but I just think in my opinion that autumn deliveries the best nature content.

The picture I took above shows how just spending momentarily time in nature can have a positive impact on my Mental Health. Purposely taken in wide view, so it captures all my surroundings facing frontwards.

Let's talk about #ADHD

I think I can safely say that I've been keeping my productive self busy during the recent weeks. The variations include work, finishing off the remainder of my coursework & keeping up with my self-care. (Going out walking)

Although, with that said, I have become rather interested in researching the overall subject of #ADHD. But why? Mainly there is a ton of psychology which plays a part in how ADHD operates inside one self's mind. This also includes how they manage their wellbeing.

Not only that, but I am also aware of the amount of misconception there is about having ADHD, as some people tend to view having ADHD as a negative. But let me tell you, that really isn't all about having ADHD. The condition goes way deeper than what some people think. This is why I can gladly say that I've done enough thorough research to be able to piece together enough evidence that I need to make this post. (I'll link my evidences below)

Like I said before, I want to use this post (as well as evidences) to highlight all of the positive aspects of how ADHD works, so it helps everyone to gain a better, as well as a wider picture understanding.

Myths VS Facts:

As mentioned before, some people tend to view ADHD as a means of little - no focus whatsoever. Coming from an aspiring psychologist's view who is keen on the subject, I personally think it is rubbish to be viewing ADHD in that trend, as it's undermining their hidden capabilities in terms of what oneself with ADHD is actually good at. What people should bare in mind in relations to the mentioned myth above, is to understand that oneself with ADHD have a different brain structure. Moreover on that, people with ADHD have a uniquely good level of hyperfocus, which means they're interested on focusing on things that interest them. And if necessary, we could be talking crazy interested in something which makes ADHD individuals want to be active in day in, day out.

Another thing which may annoy those who have got ADHD, is if you was to say to them: "You will need to outgrow it eventually". They would feel offended, as there is no such thing as needing to outgrow ADHD. Instead, there is such a possibility of managing one self's ADHD, as it could be beneficial to help them to work on themselves. This also includes managing their mental health.

https://www.understood.org/en/articles/common-myths-about-adhd  

It's not just the behavioural side:  

What I mean by that, is there is evidence which shows people with ADHD tend to have a creative mind. This evidence has proven people with ADHD to be able to express themselves in a creative manner, as it helps them to unleash their happiness by wanting everyone around them to acknowledge their feelings. Particularly, in a way which makes them feel appreciated to show off their unique talents. Allowing an ADHD individual to show off their hidden creativity, allows them to be open minded in life by thinking that there is nothing which can hold them back in any shape of form. Meaning, they dislike the idea of having barriers to achieving whatever they want to achieve.

https://www.additudemag.com/adhd-creativity-brain-health/  

The ADHD Iceberg:

In case if anyone is interested, I have attached the iconic ADHD Iceberg picture below. Purposely because you can feel free to do your own research on ADHD by looking at its actual factors.

*I actually began working on this post last weekend, but I ended up getting distracted with other stuff going on*

Academic VS Practical (My perspective)

This is something I've been curious about for ages now, but recently, I was looking into it more than ever, so I thought about using this post to summarise the differences of how these 2 ways of learning work. (Psychologically, of course!)

In case if anyone here is unaware of the differences of being academic & practical, they have the psychological capacity of showing how oneself can learn. If oneself is academic, that means they learn by doing written examinations. Whereas, if oneself is practical, that means they learn by doing hands-on tasks. 

Luckily for me, I personally am both of those things. This means I'll have an equal say of how being academic & practical works in full effect.

Academic: The first sign of realizing you are academic is having a keen interest in writing. Although, having a keen interest in numeracy can also count as playing a role in showing signs in early academic development as well. The more good you become at doing these subjects, the more your mind becomes actively keen to further investigate the many ways of how you can make a difference to the world, as you utilise your developmental academic skills into perfect form, so it helps you to aim high as the sky in life. I mean, doing a lot of research can certainly encourage people to become academics, as doing research helps you to gain knowledge about anything at all. Or alternatively, if you're more into reading, then that too can count as inhaling knowledge to the world.

Practical: The first sign of realizing you are practical is having a keen interest in doing things with your hands. When I say that, I could be referring to building models out of Lego or trying to fix random objects. Unlike being an academic here, being a practical shows that you are eager to fit into the practical working industry. Relating to being an academic here, you can utilise your developmental practical skills to aim high as the sky in life. I'd say the most beneficial aspect about being practical is having the capacity to finding the best problem solving solutions, when needed.

Can they work well together?

Coming from me, yes they can! Although, it actually really does have a dependency on what carer path you are looking towards. There are some which are lucky enough to require both traits, but there are some which require being good one or the other.

Conclusion: It is honestly not a bad thing to be just academic or practical. Even both combined for that matter, as long as you require one of these aspects which makes you happy to do whatever it is that you do in life, then that's a match made in heaven. In all of what I've discussed, the one thing I had found fascinating was the fact that there are colleges/universities out there with either just academic or practical courses or both combined, so I'm glad that they are taking these learning traits into consideration.

However, please do bare in mind that this is how I tend to vision the 2 learning traits as an individual with its own view on something, so do not be criticisable by saying that I've got no right to judge the 2 without proving that I am right. When doing a perspective view about something, there is no right or wrong answer in any shape of form, as different people have their own right to share their own perspectives about how they vision something. 

It's perfectly human to have an "Ugh" day

Evening everyone, as of now, I'm glad to say that I'm currently on half-term. This means I'll have more free time on my hands to invest in my blogging again. Not only that, but all my coursework is done and up to date.

Here's to a well earned week off!

On a slight downer, though, I haven't felt like doing anything today. It's one of those days where I lack motivation to produce productivity. I like to call these particular days: "Ugh days"

The way how I see myself experiencing one of these specially named days, is where my mind tells me that its lacking thought power, otherwise known as motivation, so it goes into recharging mode.

During recharging mode, my mind paces up and down, as if it was an alive human being walking about inside my head. If any of you reading know how to relate to this, then you can obviously understand how frustrating it can be to feel like your mind doesn't want to work with your motivation right now. 

Realistically, the reality of the recharging process is me just trying to keep myself sane from going insane. If that makes sense? I say this, as it could be worse when you could inevitably be stuck with a dead battery for days.

To peice everything together here, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having an "Ugh" day. We humans have to experience it sometime in life.

If anything, it shows that your mind needs to recharge for a stronger function. To put it another way, it recharges for you (as a character) to keep on playing in the real world video game.

To raise awareness for #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek

Hello all, I hope every single one of you has had a good week, whatever you've all been up to.😉 As for me, I've been keeping myself busy as usual, in terms of doing coursework, as I've now got more work pilling up which does require my full focus within the upcoming weeks. Most of which has had its ups & downs mood for me in the duration thus this week gone.

While I'm on the very subject of 'work' and yes, I do just mean that subject alone, and it can mean many different things to people when they hear that one word.

In a bid to get involved with raising awareness for MentalHealthAwarenessWeek, I personally want to highlight what goes on in my head whenever I try to work as hard as I can to try and get things done. Especially if it has to be done within a time frame.

As I get given a task to do (more specifically coursework) I like to think to myself: "Okay, this looks easy enough to do". However, I tend to scan the task instructions over and over, (probably about 5+ times) so I can figure out the best way to tackle that given task in my head.

However, a majority of the time, this tactic can heavily backfire on me. My mind will then experience a period of blankness, like it has been totally cleared out with nothing left in it at all. This will lead to me putting my task off for a while, due to the emptiness of my mind not having any room for thoughts to come in and therefore, not do any work.

A while later, I would've summoned some thoughts to be able to help me get a kick-start on my task. To me, everything I do would be a walk in the park at this stage, as I would currently have enough urge to keep working on my task. That is, until I decide that I've done well enough during that time, so I decide to reward myself by stop working on my task for the moment.

But, before I know it, there comes a day where my task will be due in within a short amount of time. 

I get this sudden urge in my mind saying: "Come on, you need to be doing better, otherwise you are not going to succeed". Moreover on that, it's like there is a drill alike coach who is trapped inside my head that will continuously tell me to keep pushing myself, regardless of my mood and motivation.

Also at that time, my mind would've now inhaled all off that inner drill voice, that it leaves me, as a human being, feeling frustrated for not handling my task the way I had intended to handle it. Sometimes, my lack of urge to try and get any task done, would cruise past the 'due in' time. Yes, I know I will always get frustrated with myself for having to do keep on doing this, but in reality, this is just who I am when it comes to prioritizing work.

All of this even includes me trying to get my blogposts done as quick as I try to get them done. (Including this very post as I speak)

My one outcome is that I hope everyone who just read my long personal insight, will vision this as a beneficial talking point, so it helps them to feel unashamed of admitting of what psychological effects go through their mind when trying to work.

Thank you to everyone who has taken their time to read through this important post, and as always, please feel welcome to let me know your feedback.

Sociology & social media

Long time, no see everybody! 

As I'm sure you can all figure out immediately, I've been busy keeping myself occupied with other things going on in my life at the moment. All of which, has prevented me from doing any work on here during that time being.

However, if there has to be at least 1 useful aspect from my reasonable absence period, (blog related) it would have to be that I've been curiously researching about sociology. Not just the term itself, but specifically how it can have an impact on the way people choose to behave on social media.

Just to make everyone here aware, I have been doing my research investigation in several articles & blogs which have been published by people who are qualified in the subject, so I know what I will be talking about here.

Plus, this will give me the opportunity to happily educate everybody reading this what these types of people normally do on social media which makes them behave in the way that they do and why.

Example 1:

You are friends with a group of people in your college class on Snapchat, who only like to use it to keep in contact with everybody else, as well as being able to be silly with one another. In this day and age, pretty much every young person uses Snapchat for this prime reason, as they must really like this kind of social interaction with their friends, let alone a group of college classmates being able to see what their classmates are up to.

To make a personal reference to that example, I personally have no intention of using Snapchat, but I see and overhear my classmates at college interact with one another on there almost on an everyday basis. I can empathise how they must enjoy the filter creativity on there, so it encourages their other classmates to take notice of what they enjoy doing on there which makes them conform to their filterness behaviour.

Example 2:

You are connected with some of your friends on Instagram, but all they seem to do is regularly change their profile picture and not post anything. Now, before anyone gets themselves carried away, those types of people may CHOOSE not to post anything on their Instagram, but they may choose not to post anything, as they may feel too insecure about themselves on there. These insecurities can vary from those people feeling worried about what the comments will be - simply not at all interested about wanting to impress themselves to impress others on there.

In terms of talking about conformity, you will see some friends who you are connected to on Instagram, but they all choose to not to post anything. This is the now typically type of behaviour on Instagram which influences their friends to do the same, as they think it's the best way to get in with their friends. Although, to be fair, social conformity is not just used on Instagram, it can be used in all social media platforms. Again, this is what I'm seeing as a personal insight.

 Example 3:

This is one other type of conformity which is now happening across all social media platforms. It is where oneself rarely posts any pictures, but when they do, they must always feel the need to tag people in their posts. However, this is more commonly used in their stories where it can only be visible to everyone they are connected with for 24hrs, as they do not want it to keep them visible forever. The prime reason behind this behaviour, is so the people who oneself decides to tag, wants those people to see and admire these posts, as well as for those wanting the other people who they didn't tag to admire the people who they did tag.

And you know what... I'm beginning to get hooked onto sociology! So much, that I'm thinking of doing a follow-up post in relations to this one!

If anyone reading happens to be interested in sociology, then be sure to keep an eye out for my next post!😉

The psychology behind conditioning

We're currently 15 days into 2022, and it's been so far so good for me at the moment. I say that, because I haven't been feeling anxious about anything during that time. Hence, I'm in a good enough headspace to be doing lots of blogging.

So... as the above title says, I'll be talking about how the term 'conditioning' works. This is another thing which I've been studying about in my college course over the last couple of months. I find it really interesting, due to the fascinating psychological effects it can have on people and even animals!

   What is conditioning?

Conditioning is, you work out a way to train a human being or an animal, to do something to make them respond in the way you want them to. 

The way how classic conditioning is demonstrated, is by using Ivan Pavlov's dog food and bell training example:

He trained his dog to respond the the sound of a bell, then he put a bowl of food infront of the dog, so he can make it produce saliva. (This is potentially known as unconditioned stimulus) Eventually, Pavlov will have trained the dog enough times to be able to automatically respond to the bell and show hunger, by salivering at the expectation of food. (Potentially known as conditioned stimulus)

That is where the chemistry comes into play. Pavlov has practically trained the dog to get hungry every time it hears the bell ring, even if there is no food! 

This similar kind of conditioning can may also be used on humans.

   

What goes through the minds of those during conditioning?

When one is currently under the spell of conditioning, they would think to themselves first time: "What is going on here?" Due to them being oblivious to what is happening to them. After many many practises of the conditioning spell later... One will eventually understand the routine, and will therefore think: "Oh, I know exactly what will happen now when I do this, so I must react to it immediately" 

To put this in more basic terms, your mind has adapted expectation skills.

In contrast to all the above, conditioning also defines as you being born to do something. An example of this, would be to always have a positive attitude in life. My conditioning falls under, as being the best person I can be. 

I reckon that just about wraps up that topic now.

Thank you for reading through, please feel free to let me know your thoughts and I should be back again sometime soon.

Enjoy the remainder of your weekend!😊 

What is conformity and how does it make us behave?

Conformity. Something very interesting I've learned recently.

In case if none of you here don't know what the term means, it basically means you're doing the same as everybody else, even regardless if it's something wrong... But with that said, it's always good to simply stand out as your own individual! 

I'm just about to further explain on that...

Example 1:

A good example of conformity, would be when you are officially a member of any uniformed public service and you must therefore, dress and behave the same as everybody else.

But why? It's because it shows respect towards your colleagues, the public and yourself, by physically demonstrating you want to be part of a hard working team.

This kind of behaviour, will eventually transform yourself into a confidently disciplined person, who feels proud to be a part of a team, by thinking that you want to be setting a prime example to those looking up to you. E.g. The public. 

Example 2:

A not so good example of conformity, would be when you go to see your favourite football team play.

Whilst you are either sitting down or standing up, trying to enjoy the game like most people, you then hear a small group of people (at first) shouting rude chants. Some can actually turn racist... Eventually you start to hear more and more people get involved with the rude chanting, even though, it seemed like they never wanted to intend on getting involved in the first place.

You sit there thinking to yourself if it's the right thing to do, by joining in with these people, but then again, you hate the idea of being disrespectful to the right-choiced people around you, let alone turning into a racist. This is where your 'Individual Liberty' and 'Human Rights' come into play.

Final conclusion: You must be able to identify the good and bad examples of conformity, as they both have different consequences.

Thank you for reading through and as always, I much appreciate your thoughts on the feedback. Have a great evening all, whatever you're doing.😉

 

Why is #Anxiety linked with #MentalHealth?

Disclaimer: This will be a follow-up post, in relations to my previous special post. See here: Just a little something for #WorldMentalHealthDay 

Hello and Happy Friyay! Yes, I've been in a great mood this week and I've hope you all been the same way too throughout this week. 

As of such, I've been wanting to talk about for awhile (until it was actually the most convenient time to talk about it. I'll explain in a bit) why Anxiety is linked to Mental Health.

From where I stand, I see this topic of discussion somewhat personal to me, as I suffer from Anxiety time-to-time, hence my reasons for a lengthily break. However, as I'm sure you all know by now, talking to an audience by writing/typing really helps me to feel better about myself, as well as taking a huge weight off my chest. 

Whenever it DOES happen, I start to think about the worst case scenario('s) in regards to what's going to happen? Or will it even get better? In shorter terms, all of the mentioned can be referred to as 'Overthinking'

Reason and being the most foremost as to why it links with Mental Health, is because you will be thinking of too many things at one time, (basic definition of overthinking) causing your mind to overload and therefore not being able to cope with anything for a short period of time, as your potentially putting yourself off your own focus.

Well, I say a short period of time, as it never lasts forever, but in reality, it all really depends on how long YOU go through it all.

The best advice for trying to avoid your Anxiety by overthinking too much, is to take everyday as it comes. Do everything one step at a time, so your mind will be able to adapt to the one priority you intend to prioritize first, in order for you to succeed at trying to accomplish something. My biggest example of this would be coursework. With that said, I'm sure many of you can relate to that too.

Furthermore, keeping with the "Do everything one step at a time" strategy will make life a hell of a lot easier for you when you try to get any work done, as well as making you feel good about yourself when you acknowledge that's the strategy to success.

I hope I've taught you all something, by gaining a more in dept understanding of why that link is strongly paired between the two factors. 

Bottom note: Research definitely helps to gain more knowledge.

Thank you for reading, please do feel free to notify me and I hope to publish again soon!  

Why does eating a variety of different foods give you different thoughts?

Hello one and all! It's good to be back blogging once again.

Only because I've been keeping extra priotized with revision for my course this academic year lately, which can be quite full on at times.

Anyway, hope you're all doing well and enjoying the autumn so far.

This is a topic I've been looking into this week, so I thought about distributing it out to you guys, as you may find it interesting, as well as being able to take away some learned information too.

Now, you're probably thinking to yourself: "Why this picture?! It looks crazy!"😂

But... I can only assure you, this is a pictured definition of what foods THAT person is thinking about, when THEY'RE in a calm mood.

As for myself, I like to think about egg when I'm in a calm mood, as the taste of it makes me feel healthy and nutritious. It's also good for you in general.😊

What thoughts go through your mind when eating different foods?

Let's say, you like to crave on pizza, therefore meaning, eating pizza gives you these good thoughts that you never want to let go, such as: "Ahh, this is the life. I hope it never ends"

The problem is, if that inner message keeps on repeating itself over and over, it will eventually tell your mind, that pizza is the only thing keeping your happiness sane. It then becomes an addiction. You can choose to do this with any type of food.

In contrast, try another piece of food which make you experience a more positive emotion, such as nostalgia. You may like to have something, you haven't had since you were a kid, and it happens to be something you liked to eat a lot back then. I also like to do to this from time to time, and it feels so refreshing to your mind!

Or, you might want to feel energized, by eating a banana, cereal or even a protein bar. (Grenade) These foods will tell your mind to find a way to be active for a long period of time, so your mind will therefore tell you to use that fueled energy, by running it all out. I guess you can refer this as to hyperactivity.

Final conclusion: It is always a good thing to experience a variety of thoughts and emotions, when having different foods, as they keep a steady line on your health and wellbeing.

Just in case if you're not familiar of the saying: "Eat well for less" This is the definition displayed on the iconic food plate.

I've pretty much covered everything now.

Thank you so much for taking your time to read through my extensive post. Please do feel free to comment down below or talk to me in person.

Have a great weekend!

My helpful research source: Food and Mood

Why does social media influence people into the way they are?

Hello my fellow readers, hope you're all enjoying your weekends so far. As for me, I've been a tad busy recently, due to me starting back at college again, so I'm currently keeping myself prioritized with upcoming coursework.

However, this week, I've been writing down ideas on what my next post should be about, then I thought about making some kind of follow-up post from my previous one about social media. 

Link here: The psychology behind social media

What I've found on the internet:

Just last night, I've done some research on how can sociology can play a part in social media influencing, (I'll discuss about that in the next subheading) and one of the key factor which plays a huge role is something called: "Gaining empathy from one-another"

This is now very much commonly used by people on their socials, (namely Instagram) to attract likes and comments by their friends, as this is their own way of showing they require attention from their friends or close friends, (if necessary) in the EXACT moment that publish has been created on their social media. Here's the link to my research source: Mirroring

How can sociology be used within social media influences?:

For those of you who are not familiar with the term 'Sociology' it is another one of those scientific human behavioural studies, which mainly focuses on how humans typically behave in social situations around us. A prime example of this would be, how do we typically behave around our families and why do we behave the way we do around them. You could otherwise say, this all comes under the overall psychology umbrella. If you know what I mean.

What I'm seeing a lot on Instagram nowadays, and I'm not just aiming at friends/family either, is people never intending to post anything, yet they still have the intention of posting eventually on there, but this is to just simply gain lots of likes and comments from them, especially their close friends, as they will always be the ones who will support those individuals from day 1 - until the very end.

Let's say, you live in a family of people who have Instagram, but never actually post anything on there, unless it's a special moment in their lifetime, in which, it could be birthdays, in memory of someone or even a major celebration etc.

If your only posts were to be about the above listed things, therefore, you'll be hoping to get as many likes and comments from nearly everyone who follows you on there, meaning, they say lovely things to you, or even just use emojis as a substitute. (Depending on if you're a lover of them or not, as not everyone like the idea of using emojis in their communication)

To flip this point the other way round, if you see a friend/family member do EXACTLY the same thing as what you do on Instagram, you'll be the one who gives out all the likes and comments, in order to help them feel good about themselves in life.

If you were a celebrity, that would be a different scenario all together, as you NEED to post things on your social media, as it's YOUR job to keep the public updated about every single thing you get up to in your famous life, so you'll be able to make a living out of it. This way, other celebrities will give you lots of likes and praise, to help you to keep moving forwards with your career.

If I have to conclude all of this in my own way, it would be, that I see people now enjoy echoing on-another, so they can fit within their own form of society. Bare in mind, I'm not saying this is either a good or bad thing, as you may very well now, that I'm just curious to know how these things work and why.

Lastly and foremost, everyone has an individual right to be themselves on whatever social media. I want to put this message out there.

That's all for this topic.

Thank you very much for reading through. Please do feel free to let me know what your thoughts are in the comments or in person.

Bye for now!😊

The psychology behind social media

Hello all, Happy Sunday! I hope it's been a good one for you, especially with the hot weather today.😎

Since my last post, I've been keeping myself occupied, by staying off the internet and going out walking, which is what will be bringing up today's topic of social media.

What is social media?

Social media is a multi-communication app, which allows us to connect with friends and family, by making your own posts, pictures and stories to share online with them.

Even though, it may be fun and enjoyable to use for posting about your happy moments for everyone to see, such as going out travelling, clubbing or just hanging out with your friends and family etc. It can otherwise be very well known for "Controlling your happiness" (This is a quote, which has been taken from a friend of mine's documentary that'll be displayed at the end of the discussion)

Going back to my last point, social media sometimes has the capacity to control your happiness, especially when you're feeling depressed and bored, by saying to yourself: "Do you know what, I feel like just scrolling through my social media feeds, to see what everybody else has been doing, so that it makes me feel happy" 

Doing this, only shows that you have no interest on focusing on yourself, by looking into other people's lives on social media, which will then lead your mindset to start "Comparing yourself with other people" (Another quote taken from the upcoming documentary) As you judge yourself where you stand in your life progression, against other people in theirs. This is when your mind starts saying: "I feel like I'm doing A LOT better in life then these people, as I've got many pictures, as well as posts on there, which always gets likes and comments. Whereas, this person is boring, as they can never be bothered to post anything"

Don't get me wrong, whenever people like and comment on your posts, it does feel "Rewarding" (Another quote) to you, as those people do genuinely appreciate what you are doing in the making of that post, as well as yourself for that matter, as it makes YOU appreciate what you actually physically do in life, in order for you to receive that amount of praise. I always feel the same way too when this happens on my social media.

Finally and foremost, it is NEVER a good idea to spend lots of long hours on social media everyday, as it drains all of your productive time, which you could be physically doing something towards your goal or hobby, as these are the things you're interested in to make you become into a successful person one day in your life. Plus, it drains your mental health, by constantly looking into your eye-damaging phone screen, so that it brainwashes your mind, by making it think there's nothing fun to do in the outside world anymore, and you'd rather be indoors constantly surfing the internet 24/7, as this becomes your new favourite form of entertainment.

I think I've pretty much concluded everything in that topic now.

Thank you very much for taking your time to read through this long and extensive post today, and as promised, here is my friend's awesome documentary about his outtake on social media.

The topmost reason I wanted to share it with you all in this post, is that he words every single thing about my OWN use of social media, meaning, I couldn't word it any better, as he explains everything. I'll leave you to enjoy.

Documentary: Detached

If you want to see of more of what my friend does, then click on: Nicholas Stone

What goes through your mind when you've achieved something?

Hello all, I hope you've all had a good weekend and enjoyed watching the last of The Olympics. I'd say 4th place was decent for us to finish in, considering the competitiveness of the top 3 countries above us.

Anyway, this will be yet another related post to The Olympics, only this time, I'll be talking about what feelings, thoughts and emotions go through your mind when you've achieved something, as this is a BIG achievement when you think that it's just ordinary people (meaning you and me) doing extraordinary things!

When you finally achieve your very first gold medal after 8 years of waiting, you will first feel your heart jump out from your body, due to the shock that has just entered your mind which says: "OMG! I can't believe I've finally done it!"

You then become speechless, as your mind is still processing all kinds of happy emotions, which causes it to become increasingly overwhelmed with everything around you.

When it eventually settles enough by taking all of the emotions and the achievement in, your mind will keep saying to you: "I am so happy that I've managed to do that. This is something I will never forget, by always keeping it as a memory." Therefore, you still feel excited after what has just happened to you, so you feel the need to announce it to your friends and family, as your mind is telling you that it could do with more praise from other people, to help keep the proudness flowing inside of you.

Not only does it make you feel like that, the achievement can make your connecting people feel just as proud as you are, as they have your full support in everything. Believe me, it feels just as good to applaud people, when THEY are the ones who have achieved something.

This is what is known as using "Reverse psychology" because you share you intend to share your achievement news to your connecting people, so THEY can feel proud of you, in order to make YOU feel proud about yourself in that way.

With that achievement completed, your mind then says to you: "I'm glad that I've finally done that, but do you know what? I reckon that I can go one step better than last time!" This very mind statement will help engage your confident emotion to chase down and succeed that next step. My advice would be to keep repeating it over and over to ensure your mind to stick to it. (Meaning, keeping focused)

That concludes my post for today. 

Thank you for reading through. Please do feel free to let me know what your thoughts are in the comments or in person and enjoy the rest of your week!