WEEK 1 – 2 QUESTIONS

1. Describe – Describe a time when you procrastinate.

-I procrastinate when I have assignments due at midnight. I will end up beginning around 9:00pm
and finish at the last minute.
2. Understand – Why do you procrastinate? What does it do for you/how does it help you?
-The reason why I choose to leave the assignment till the end is because at times I have high
expectations of perfecting the assignment and therefore I avoid the assignment all together. By
avoiding it and not doing it, I do not have to face the possibility of me not knowing how to do the
assignment or not understanding the course content. Also, it allows me to blame any imperfections
on the fact that the assignment was rushed, instead of myself.
3. Predict – For this exercise, there are three parts to this prediction.
3a) What outcomes can you predict might occur when you procrastinate? (at least 2 & numbered)
-If and when I do procrastinate, I end up rushing my work and handing it in at the last minute
without looking it over.
1) I end up losing marks on the assignment.
2) I do not have time to review the work done to correct myself and learn for my future
tests and classes, making me fall behind.

3) I will end up stressing to finish, affecting my mental and physical health. *

4) I will sleep late and be tired for the class tomorrow morning.
3b) What outcomes can you predict might occur if you didn’t procrastinate?
-If I did not procrastinate...
1) I would most likely receive a higher mark because I will be able to go over the completed
work and correct and learn from my mistakes. *

2) I would have a better sleep schedule which will help me fix my sleep and allow me to be
more productive, avoiding procrastination.

3) I would be able to not be stressed to meet the deadline of 11:59pm, which would overall
improve my stress management and my physical & mental health.

3c) Put a star next to two predictions that you might be interested in doing a research study on.
4. Change – How might you change your behavior of procrastination? Think about how you
might reward yourself if you don’t procrastinate. Or perhaps you will think that you’ll do
worse if you don’t procrastinate.
-I will give importance to the concept of taking the time to learn the material over completing the
assignment for a perfect mark. This will allow me to begin earlier and let myself learn the material
and be prepared for the assignment. I will avoid learning the material at night and will sleep earlier
the previous night and wake up early in the morning to do the assignment. In addition to this, I will
also review material and the assignment itself earlier, so when I am attempting to complete the
assignment, I feel prepared.
5. If you were a psychologist, which step(s) above (describe, understand, predict, change)
would you be most interested in focusing on for your career and why?
-If I were a psychologist, a step that would interest me the most would be to Understand. I believe
that understanding and revealing as to why we do the actions we do is critical to the patient and
psychologist. For the patient, this step is the most eye-opening and reveals the barriers they must
face and overcome to truly feel better about the situation and themselves. In addition to this, it
would allow me as a psychologist to see the perspectives of many clients who may be having the
same behavior, allowing me to grow as a professional.
CHARLES WHITMAN
1. What biological factors may have been at play?
-A biological factor evidently at play was his malignant tumor which was involved with an area of
his brain relating to aggressive behavior causing symptoms such as his headaches and mental &
behavioral changes.
2. To what extent do you think the tumor played a role in Whitman’s crime?
-I believe that although the tumor did play a role in initiating Whitman’s crime, the nature of his
crime is derived from him as a person. As a result of this tumor, he was experiencing symptoms
such as mental & behavioral changes which caused “unusual and irrational thoughts” with
“overwhelming violent impulses”, providing an explanation for the inhumane level of the crime. But
the specifics of the crime, such as him killing his wife and mother and open firing at the University
partially derives from his personality, apart from the tumor. As discovered, Charles had an abusive
father who beat his mother and siblings, which may have been a mentally unresolved issue for him,
leading to him murdering his mother and wife. In addition to this, Charles choice of attacking the
university may be relating to the fact that in the letter he states, “I am supposed to be an average,
reasonable and intelligent young man”, portraying how he felt disappointed in himself in terms of
school. Therefore, although the tumor was the reason why Charles had those violent impulses and
decided to proceed with them, the specifics of who was hurt originated from reasons beforehand.

3. Even if the tumor played a role, do you think it lessens Whitman’s responsibility for his
actions? Why or why not?
-In my opinion, the tumor did lessen Whitman’s responsibility for his actions as it was an
uncontrollable biological illness. As proven by the letter, Charles did attempt to approach the
situation rationally by reaching out for help and was aware that he had to divert those thoughts to
focus on useful and progressive tasks, but when the tumor took over, he lost control. The tumor,
which initiated these thoughts, took over as he irrationally decided to act upon them. Everyone has
negative thoughts when you’re stressed and feel like giving up, but the fact that Whitman decided to
act so aggressively on his thoughts after knowing previously it was wrong proves Whitman is not
fully responsible.
4. What cultural or societal factors may have played a role in Whitman’s crime?
-Cultural and societal factors that may have played a role in Whitman’s crime include his past and
present influences of his family and people. As mentioned, his father was abusive towards his wife
and daughter, which may have been reflected in the fact that Charles killed his own wife and
mother. Also, the letter written by him expresses his value and expectation that he is “supposed to
be an average, reasonable and intelligent young man”. The violent thoughts had made him feel like
a failure because he was unable to follow these values which could reflect as to why he chose the
university as a place of open fire. In addition to this, Charles had a past that connected with guns in
a positive manner, influencing his choice of weapon of a high-powered hunting rifle so he could feel
a sense of accomplishment in contrast to his feeling of failure.
5. What cognitive factors may have played a role in Whitman’s crime?
-The cognitive factors that may have played a role in Whitman’s crime include his process of critical
thinking and problem solving. The tumor disrupted his sense of critical thinking and problem
solving as it caused behavioral changes. All rationality was eliminated as a result of the tumor and
therefore when those thoughts kept reoccurring, his actions of such a severe crime were a result of
his brain processing the thoughts in an aggressive manner, unlike his previous method of seeking
for help.
6. How might someone explain Whitman’s behavior from a psychodynamic perspective?
-Whitman’s behavior from a psychodynamic perspective can be evaluated from his past of having
an abusive father. His father used to beat his mother and siblings, which is a traumatic experience
to live with if not resolved. His sense of feeling unaccomplished in life in the present could
unconsciously be related to the fact that he could have felt responsible and helpless regarding the
abuse. Therefore, this behavior could have been indirectly influenced by this anger and trauma
from before.
WEEK 3 – 5 QUESTIONS
After watching the Scientific American video titled, “Water, Water Everywhere,” read and answer
the following questions:
1. Why do dousing experts like Paul believe that they can find water with dousing?
-I think experts like Paul believe the method of dousing is effective to find water because they
choose to believe it is true. This method is practiced by others and is quite developed therefore
there is a strong support system supporting their reasoning of beliefs. Also, the method may have
been proven true at times by luck or probability and therefore now the experts are unconsciously
choosing to focus on that fact rather than the times it has failed. They may also choose to believe
this due to a personal behavioral reason of feeling powerful and superior by having a special mental
connection to the Earth that is unexplainable by science and effective.

2. Why do you think this video is being shown in a course about Psychology?
-I think a video like this is being shown in a course about Psychology because it can be classified as
a pseudoscience. Pseudoscience can be defined as beliefs that claim to be factual and scientific but
have not been proven true by the scientific method. As this video highlights, the study concluded
that dowsing was unable to be proven accurate with varying inconsistent reasons. Despite the
method failing, the experts still chose to continue to believe it is accurate and blamed other factors.
This is where critical thinking and methods of behavioral analysis come into play to find reasoning
as to why people choose to follow that method despite facts stating otherwise.
Carl Sagan Speech:
1. According to Dr. Sagan, what is science’s “built-in, error-correcting mechanism”?
-According to Dr.Sagan, science’s “built-in, error-correcting mechanism” is built on the main idea
that science recognizes that human error is a possibility. Once scientific research has been shared
to the world, it reaches critiques whose criticism may lead to the elimination of the idea. This cycle,
which is derived from the scientific community honoring those who find imperfections on others
work, leads to defected science to be self-eliminated. In addition to this, there are also no forbidden
questions, and your social ranking is irrelevant to your argument, eliminating entitlement.

2. Describe Dr. Sagan’s explanation for why he occasionally hears his dead parents call his
name and explain how he relates his explanation to skepticism.
-Dr. Sagan’s explanation for why he occasionally hears his dead parents call his name is because
when they were alive, they would call him Carl regularly, and therefore it was embedded in deep
psychic roots, causing his brain to replay it, also known as a hallucination. He relates this to
skepticism by establishing that we are human after all. Humans have emotions, which at times can
be so overpowering that we are led to believe it is our relatives from the dead talking, because we
miss that person a lot.

3. Why is Dr. Sagan’s article called “Wonder and Skepticism”?

-Dr.Sagan’s article is called “Wonder and Skepticism” because he describes science in relation to
both these topics. His initial interest in science began from the process of him wondering about
stars and their origin. The article continues to explain that wonder and skepticism are often put up
against each other and seen as a “Us vs. Them” situation. Some concepts, he explains, can be
understandable through science, but are often merely given other explanations due to human
behavior and emotions.

Study Question 5:
-My prediction from Study Question 1 in Weeks 1-2 was, “I will end up stressed to finish my work,
affecting my mental and physical health”. This becomes a testable research hypothesis of
“Undergraduates who procrastinate have mental and physical medical conditions”.
-I am going to be conducting a correlational study to test this hypothesis. My participants include
170 undergraduate students from Math111 class at UFV. The study procedure will be as follows:
The students will all complete two questionnaires: a questionnaire asking about how often they
procrastinate in one week (will higher scores meaning more procrastination) and a questionnaire
asking about if they have experienced any of the 3, sleep deprivation, high stress levels and
mistimed eating (dinner/breakfast). After the students have completed the questionnaires, I will
enter the data for all the scores and see if those two variables are correlated. I expect that there will
be a positive correlation, with higher levels of procrastination being related to more of the listed
mental and health problems. These results will help me provide some initial evidence to answer my
prediction that I will end up stressed to finish my work, affecting my mental and physical health.