The Last One

I found it only appropriate to do my last post about the last scene of the Friends series.

In this clip the friends say goodbye as their lives take them separate directions.

• Emotions- All the friends are sad because their lives are changing and they won't be hanging out together everyday. They had ten great years together and with things changing it is always difficult.
• Personalities- Chandler's personality really shows in this clip. It's a sad moment and Chandler, the comedic, makes jokes to lighten the mood and to keep him from getting too emotional. 
• Intelligence- Joey's slow mental processing is also shown in this scene because he realizes for the first time that the apartment is painted purple. He even lived in the apartment for awhile. 
• Memories- as they look around the apartment for the last time their hippocampus digs out of the memories that they have had there and together.
• Perception- All of the friends perceive the apartment as smaller than it usually looks. This is probably because they are sad and the room is empty, they are thinking about how much they are going to miss the apartment and their time together. Also, with the emotion of being sad about things changing their world seems to be closing in on them. 

Personal Reflection

I just wanted to reflect on the class and this activity.

First, I wish the class wasn't at 8am because I'm not quite awake and I wish i would be. The things I have enjoyed about this class is not having a ton of work to do. Knowing the format of tests ahead of time and the review sheets really help because it helps me study effectively for the test. I like that it isn't always a stand and deliver type class. I enjoy working with a group and having discussions as well as doing activities in class that apply to what we are learning. Like the conditioning day, I really understood the  lesson, it made me pay really close attention to what was being said because I was waiting for the word "conditioning" so I could eat some more of my Pixy Stick sugar. I can't believe I was actually salivating, I was even drinking water, I also couldn't believe I was the only one, must have a sweet tooth.

Doing this reflection journal activity was actually pretty fun and helped me understand ideas we talked about in class. It was fun because I was able to watch clips from Friends and have a valid reason to. It was also I really good feeling to be able to apply a concept learned in close to the show because it made me feel pretty smart and it helped me understand the material. When I was studying for tests and certain questions on the test I referred to my blog posts and used them to help me study. I found out that not all my interpretations of the content was correct on here, but I eventually figured out that my explanations weren't entirely accurate but I tried my best to apply the material. I that doing these journal response is an effective form of learning and understanding plus it's nice that we can be creative with it because it sort of makes learning fun.

Overall I've enjoyed this class. It has challenged me and it interests me. I see a lot of connections with this class and my education class. Understanding child behavior will be really important in my career and I like that this class applies to my major. Plus we have a super sweet professor :)

Rachel's Emotional Response

In the following clip Rachel and Ross accidentally lock Emma inside of their apartment.
Waiting to Get Inside of the Apartment
Rachel Freaking Out

According to the James-Lange Theory which claims that a person has the perception of the stimulus and then they experience arousal and after that they feel the emotion.

• With this theory, First rachel realizes that the door is locked and Emma is inside alone. Then her heart starts to race and panic rises and then she starts to feel scared and worried.

According to the Cannon-Bard Theory, which disagrees with the James-Lange theory, says that a person has the perception os the stimulus and then the arousal and feeling of the emotion happen at the same time.

• With this theory, Rachel realizes Emma is locked inside and her heart starts racing as she becomes scared and worried.

If I was a psychologist I would disagree with both of these statements, I think we experience the emotion and then the arousal occurs. I think the arousal plays off of the emotion. I know when someone jumps out at me I get scared right away and after i realize what going on I realize that my heart stopped for a second and then starts to race.

Personalities Based on "Friends" Parents

In class we discussed how personalities can be based on the environment in which people grow up in, currently live in, and the people they are surrounded by. I believe that some of the Friends characters have certain personality traits because of their parents. Either how their parents treated them or how they influenced them growing up or currently.

• Monica- I believe that Monica is a "neat freak" because of her mother. Monica's mom seems to not think very much of Monica and critics everything she does. That is why I believe she has a need to make sure everything is always clean and organized so it's one last thing that her mother can judge her on.
• Ross- I believe Ross has to be right about everything because growing up he was used to his parents praise. Ross was the favorite child, Monica was not, so he was used to getting his way. His parents always told him he was right and that he was the best, so he expects that from others. If they don't believe him, he gets paranoid and won't drop it until he proves he is correct.
• Rachel- I believe that rachel is needy because her parents spoiled her as a child. She comes from a wealthy family where everything was handed to her and she didn't have to work for anything. Now that she is on her own she still seems spoiled and expects to get what she wants and tries to get people to feel sorry for her if she doesn't. 
• Chandler- I believe Chandler is humorous because he is very insecure. His dad is gay and is a drag queen in Las Vegas and when Chandler was growing up his father had him give him facials and pluck his eyebrows, etc. These things make Chandler feel feminine and people always say that there is a gay-like quality about him and he uses humor to mask the lack of self-confidence. 
• Phoebe- I believe Phoebe is strange because she didn't have parent figures growing up. Phoebe lived on the streets through her teen years, which makes her aggressive at times. Also, she believes in weird things because she picked up those ideas of the streets. The lack of parents also gives Phoebe a freeness because she was on your own and didn't have to live by other's rules.
• Joey- I believe Joey is caring and kind because he grew up in a large family. Joey is the only son of this parents and has several sisters, this makes him non-agressive and kind because he didn't have a brother to fight with and has sisters that he knows are moody and knows how to be kind to women. 

Chandler's Defense Mechanism

When Chandler kisses Joey's girlfriend. He feels awful about and as a result he will do anything for Joey and be the best, best friend. This portrays the defense mechanism, reaction formation.

Reaction Formation is psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into opposites. Thus, people may express feelings that are opposite of the anxiety- arousing unconscious feelings. "I hate him" becomes "I love him." Timidity becomes daring. Feelings of inadequacy become bravado.

Chandler shows this because what he did was betray his friend. His conscious feels really bad about it so it decides to do the opposite and start doing really friendly things.

The clip below shows when Chandler tells Joey the truth and this shows that Chandler does not use the defense mechanism, denial. Because he wants to be a good friend and always remember what he did was wrong. Chandler Confesses

Denial is when a person refuses to believe or even to perceive painful realities.

Interpreting Rachel's Dream

One method that Freud used to analyze the unconscious mind was through interpreting manifest and latent contents of dreams.

Manifest is readily perceived by the eye or the understanding; evident;obvious; apparent;plain.
Latent is present but not visible, apparent, or actualized; existing as potential.


The clip below shows a dream that Rachel had about Joey.

Rachel's Dream About Joey

I believe that Freud would look at this dream and use it to analyze Rachel's unconscious mind. He would probably say that Rachel is in love with Joey based on this dream, The manifest would be that she wants to kiss him because she wanted to in her dream. The latent content would be that Rachel is in love with Joey. It's not obvious in the scene of the dream but maybe thats what's driving her passion to kiss him.

The other idea is that Rachel is in love and wants to kiss Joey's soap character. Rachel Watching Joey's Scene this clip shows what she did that day and what could have lead her to the dream. Either watching the scene made her attracted to Joey's character or to Joey himself. We find out later in the series that it is Joey she's attracted to.

Monica's Personality

Personality is an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.


Monica has very strong personality traits. Below I'm going to analyze her personality.

• Cleanliness- Monica is known as a "Neat Freak." She is obsessive about her apartment and loves cleaning it. Examples:
• She describes the dry cleaners as her Disneyland. 
• She categorizes towels into 11 sections.
• She cleans her cleaning supplies.
• Monica's Cleanliness (clip)
• Competitiveness- Monica is highly competitive and usually takes her competitiveness too far and too rough. Examples:
• Monica breaks Ross's nose in football. 
• She got angry during Pictionary and threw a plate.
• She plays Mike in ping pong for several hours trying to beat him.
• Monica's Will to Win (clip)
• Bossiness- Monica is known by all her friends as bossy. Especially when you get in her way of something she wants (going back to being competitive). Examples:
• She insists on working in military time while planning Phoebe's wedding.
• She always bosses Chandler around and tells him what to do.
• She knows that Rachel is a push over and bosses her around some.
• Monica Bossing Chandler (clip)

"Friends" Personality Test

What "Friends" Character are You?

TBS has a quiz that determines which Friends character you are most like based on your personality. Follow the link above to take the quiz.

They questions asked in the quiz is as followed with my response:

1. What's your favorite food? Pizza
2. What is your favorite recreational activity? Watching TV
3.  How would you describe your job? Entertainment
4. What's your favorite type of music? New-Age
5. What's your dominate personality trait? Logical Nature
6. How would you describe your family? Close
7. What's your love life like? Frustrating
8. What's your favorite animal? Chick
9. What song best describes you? Express Yourself
10. How would your friends describe you? Funny
11. What's your favorite type of movie? Drama
12. What's your favorite sport? Basketball
13. If you were a mobster, what would your nickname be? Big Tony
14. What's your favorite era? The Nineties
15. Who would you most like to meet? A Famous Actor

My results:

You are most like: CHANDLER How sure are we? BARELY  Like Chandler, you consider yourself the only "normal" member of your social group. And considering how strange your parents were, that's quite an achievement. Always keeping a sense of humor, your intelligence shows in your quick retorts and use of sarcasm. Despite your hard shell, however, you have surprising depths of emotion and sympathy, proving to be an excellent friend. Not sure if it's all entirely true but close!

Gardner's Eight Intelligences

Howard Gardner views intelligence as multiple abilities that come in packages.

• Savant Syndrome- is a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation of drawing. 
• Gardner's Eight Intelligences- Logical/Mathematical, Verbal/Linguistics, Interpersonal Skills, Intrapersonal Skills, Musical, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Visual/ Spatial, Naturalistic, Existential.

If the Friends characters had savant syndrome they would fall into this category of the eight intelligences:

• Joey- Intrapersonal Skills, because he is an actor and they are supposed to excel in this intelligence.
• Phoebe- Musical, because she is a musician and they are supposed to excel in the level.
• Rachel- Visual/Spatial, because she is into fashion and this level contains artists and fashion is a type of art. 
• Ross- Existential, because he is into history and coming up with new philosophies and this level is dominated by philosophers.
• Chandler- Logical/Mathematical, because his first career was in data processing and this level is excelled by engineers and careers with math.
• Monica- Visual/Spatial, because cooking is a form of art. 

Joey Memorizing Lines

Memory is the persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information.

• Encoding is the processing of information into the memory system. For example, by extracting the meaning.

• Storage is the retention of encoded information over time. 

• Retrieval is the process of getting information out of memory storage.

In Friends, Joey is an actor and has to memorize lines for auditions and roles. In this clip (Joey Learning Bamboozle) Joey is auditioning for a job as a game show host for a new show called Bamboozle. In order to understand the game and to remember the rules for his audition he asks Ross and Chandler to to help him. The play the role of the contestant and Joey is the host, they are putting the script into a real life situation to help Joey.

While this is happen the information is being encoded into Joey's memory and placed into storage. When Joey gets to his audition he will have to retrieve the information from the memory storage.

There are three levels of comprehension:

• Behavioral- lower level processing, basic ABC's
• Cognitive- higher level processing, math and science
• Constructive- highest level of processing, abstract problem solving

I believe that Joey demonstrates a level of comprehension of behavioral at least when it comes to school related things and common sense things. He struggles with math and any concept of science. His common sense is also very shaking.

Examples:
Joey's Card Trick

Joey's 3D glasses

Joey's hiding place

Non-"Friends" Post about Positive Reinforcement

Part of Skinner's Operant Conditioning Theory includes reinforcement and punishment.

Positive Reinforcement is getting something good
Negative Reinforcement is taking away something bad
Positive Punishment is getting something bad
Negative Punishment taking away something good

I noticed with myself that I use positive reinforcement in order to get homework done. An example is that right now I can only make popcorn if I finish two more entries. Let's just say I'm very focused right now. I believe that Skinner's form on conditioning is very effective. I also know if I don't do this assignment I'll receive negative punishment which would be taking away my good grade and positive punishment which would be receiving a bad grade.

Senses "Friends" Characters Couldn't Live Without

Sensation is detecting stimulus from the environment, an example is feeling something or using our senses to understand.

The five senses that we use are touch, smell, taste, sound, and vision. Below I have listed the senses that I think each Friends character would struggle without having the able to use, more than their other senses.

1. Joey- Taste
• Joey would be taste because he loves to eat. His whole day revolves around when he is going to eat and when he goes on dates they always go to dinner because, well, he needs to eat. If Joey didn't have taste his daily routine would be completely different.
2. Monica- Taste
• Monica would also be taste because she is a chef. If Monica couldn't taste she would probably be in a different profession. Also, if Monica couldn't taste her childhood would have been completely different because Monica was very obese as a child. She wouldn't have had an over eating probably if she couldn't taste and wasn't addicted to food.
3. Phoebe- Sound
• Phoebe would be sound because she is a musician. She isn't a very good one put hearing herself sing and being able to share her music, makes her really happy. Not being able to hear she wouldn't have that satisfaction that she gets from playing music.
4. Rachel- Vision
• Rachel would be vision because she is a fashionista. She is so in to fashion that if she didn't have sight she would have a different job and hobby. Fashion is her life, it's the one thing she is good at that someone can make a career out of. 
5. Ross- Vision
• Ross would also be vision because he is a historian and wouldn't be able to read. He is also always writing thesis's and without sight he would struggle with that plus who knows how many more wives he would have had if he couldn't see what they looked like. 
6. Chandler- Sound
• Chandler would be sound because of his sense of humor. He lives to tell jokes and make fun of people. If you couldn't hear he wouldn't be able to comment on a situation and put his two cents in. Chandler says that jokes is the one thing he has to get women and if he couldn't tell jokes he wouldn't have any self esteem.