Ages and Stages Second Half: How Mistakes Can Make You Smarter

I chose this article because it related to my view on failure.  Personally, when I am participating in a new activity, I fail at first and tell myself that it will only get better and it always does.  As the article states that there are two types of minds in people, often people use the negative view on making a mistake and pay more attention when attempting the activity.  People that use this strategy tend to only be worse at the activity compared to people that use the positive, non-panic method of coping to failure.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-science-willpower/201112/how-mistakes-can-make-you-smarter

Ages and Stages Second Half: Are Alcoholism and Addiction in Our Blood?

In the Psychology Today article, I learned about how addiction and alcoholism may be in our blood after the studies that were done.  Personally, I do believe that alcoholism and addiction runs through our blood and not just through our traumatic experiences that occur in a persons life.  Alcoholism is influenced by a persons personality such as whether or not they have an addictive personality.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-almost-effect/201306/are-alcoholism-and-addiction-in-our-blood

Ages and Stages Second Half: Can Practice Create Mastery?

In the Psychology today article, I learned about why practicing alone can create mastery.  It's simple, practice makes perfect and it has always been that way.  Some are gifted with the ability to have a skill mastered when doing that certain activity once, but for all others, practice does make perfect.  It may be with an instrument, a sport, etc,.  "Factors such as: sleep, innate ability, working memory, and the age you begin practicing all play a role in mastery."  This is completely true because without sleep/rest, correct memory of the skill and the age in which an activity is learned is all very important.  Without memory, the skill would have to be memorized every time it is participated.  Rest and memory are the two most important factors (not including participating in the actual activity) because without rest, the body can not recover from all the practice. 

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201305/can-practice-alone-create-mastery

Ages and Stages Second Half: TV Before Sleep

In the "Psychology Today" article, I learned about why TV before sleep, makes you more likely to stay up longer.  TV is a wonderful thing that can be used correctly but for teens and pre-teens, TV might just have to be taken away.  People who watch TV before bed are less likely to fall asleep early because the light exposure somewhat awakens the children.  Not only does watching TV before bed make the viewer lose sleep, "the insufficient sleep adversely affects cognition and behavior, as well as physical and emotional wellbeing." 

Ages and Stages Second Half: Fifth Entry **

"A Beautiful Mind" was a movie that tells a story about a schizophrenic named John Nash.  John faced many hardships with his schizophrenia such as delusions, paranoia and hallucinations.  An example of John's schizophrenia was when John has one of his delusions where his "boss", the spy named William Parcher, is about to shoot Alice because "she knows too much."  Soon after this situation, John is taken to the Psychiatric Ward, despite being shoved down by John, Alice stayed with John because she knew that John had a problem.  My thought of the worst delusion that John had was when Alice discovered the shed, where John had kept all of his "decoding" work for the C.I.A that he believed he was apart of, and ran back to the house to discover that John left their baby in the tub for his "roomate", Charles Hermann to watch.  Charles Hermann was of course, one of John's delusions.

Although John was the main character, John was not the only one that was affected by his Schizophrenia.  Alice Nash, John's wife, was with John throughout his schizophrenia and showed tremendous dedication to John.  Several examples of her dedication include when Alice visited John at the Psychiatric Ward.  Another example of he dedication was when she was pushed to the ground while holding her baby.  Despite being pushed down, she supported John and stayed with him.  The final example that I thought that Alice would have left John for, was when Alice tried helping John by giving him pills but John lied to Alice and hid the pills so he could continue his "secret decoding work."  Although the movie was about John, John would have never been the man he was, if he didn't have the support of Alice.

Ages and Stages Second Half: Steroid User In Us All

Steroids are commonly used by athletes to enhance their performance, but I believe that no one thinks they will become a steroid user.  Athletes that do not use supplements notice that they cannot perform as well as the athletes that do.  By noticing how well the users perform, the non-users obtain a mindset that they will never be good unless they begin taking supplements.  Athletes that do not use supplements may self-handicap and think of excuses as to why they are not doing very well.  Just like the author of the article stated, athletes "finally turn to the dark side" when they are in their moment of hopelessness and weakness.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/pop-social/201212/the-steroid-user-in-all-us

Ages and Stages Second Half: Fourth Entry **

I believe that eating disorders are so common in modern day because in modern day there is a certain body shape or weight that everyone wants to achieve that is near impossible to achieve such as a supermodel body.  Girls will continue to try achieving this body type despite their own body type being perfect in their own way.  I believe that everyone may continue trying to achieve this "perfect" body-type for many years because there will always be role models that people will have and try to follow such as athletes or actresses.