Tuesday, 9th August, 2011
Dumbasses
Anyway, the reason for the blog post title is due to one of my Psychology lectures at university.
University, a place for the highest-level education. Although, I guess first-year university students have a reason to be quite stupid, but I digress.
Psychology is a favourite first-year subject. Lots of first-years enrol in the unit expecting to learn how to react to people and get in their minds, before they realise that it's a whole lot more than that. Anyway, science students and arts students can both pick up this unit, and this results in (at my university, USYD, anyway) over a thousand students enrolling in Psychology.
Now, this lecture, on the topic of short-term memory and long-term memory, was held in a filled auditorium, which seats approximate 400 people. That's quite a lot of students listening to this lecture. To demonstrate the process of short-term memory, my lecturer decided to show random letters and asked people to memorise them, than jot them down immediately, or after a 30 second break (which is the interval that short-term memory can be held without being phonologically rehearsed), or with distractions and what not.
That's all well and good, with people surprised that they can only memorise a few letters, whilst most people fall within the magic 7 +/- 2 letter mark. I noticed a lot of people gasping, and murmuring at what I assumed was their own stupidity. But that's not my main point here.
Later on into the lecture, about 20 minutes or so, the lecturer decides to ask the auditorium if anyone can remember the first set of letters he had shown them, which almost all people would have forgotten, unless they were rehearsing those letters for 20 minutes, or if they had written them down somewhere. Myself, I had written most of them down, but I still had most of the letters stored somewhere.
Yeah, I'm not normal, but regardless, I would expect most people to be aware of the letters somewhat.
Turns out, I was sitting behind the class clown, who decides to shout out random letters confidently, for whatever reason. I knew those weren't the right letters, for I had somewhat stored those letters and I had them written down, and for the fact that it sounded like he was picking random letters, but I was astounded by the reaction.
The majority of the auditorium started to clap and murmur. I even heard a shout of 'Rain Man'. My lecturer also seemed shocked and seemed to believe that those were the letters, even though he had written out the slides himself. Now, I don't mind people trying to be funny in lectures, it adds a bit of life/colour. In fact, I'm pretty happy that the random clown decided to shout out random letters.
It allowed me to see how easily people are duped, and how frustratingly stupid a mass of people can be. I was very stupified at the response of the audience. I expected small bursts of laughter but when I heard murmurs of amazement, I was mindblown.
Although, it's most likely that I am being most highly critical here, my faith in humanity diminishes.
Wednesday, 10th August, 2011
SAMSUNG GALAXY S2
After a good day at uni, which was very productive and somewhat fulfilling, I came home to a new Galaxy S2. Absolutely stoked. Although, I don't really have the need for a really good smart phone, nor am I getting it for any sort of status, it just feels awesome to have a good phone.
And, I haven't even started using the apps yet. Already happy that my facebook contacts are in my phone, along with my google account and my email account. This phone could be really productive for me, allowing to check emails, set deadlines and stuff, whilst also being very distracting, if I download Angry Birds or Fruit Ninja.
Anyway, here are some pictures:
Saturday, 13th August, 2011:
Deja Vu
As I did last week, I went back to the mansion to spend another night with the boys. Got some photos this time around to share with you, although I am not sure if I am allowed, as it's not my house and I don't have the permission of the owners, so better keep this on the down low. Also, probably shouldn't have made a small fire, toasting marshmallows, so keep quiet about that as well. Anyway, a good way to unwind on the night. ^^
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