we are asked to explore a topic related to our major for future research. well, my major is psychology, so that's pretty broad. everything we interact with is technically our perception of stimuli, which is then subjected to our mental set, schema, and opinions. i could investigate something that has a lot of research (i could endlessly rant about nature vs. nurture regarding gender identity, mental illness, etc.), or i could explore something with a less factual/scientific basis.
actually, right now i am writing. i just finished a seemingly endless mountain of math homework, and then i took a quick Facebook break. my mind is running in a slow and rather awkward fashion. i am about to open my allyn/bacon book to chapter 5 and do some light reading (lol). i'm sure that i will find that after reading or doing something that stimulates my intellectual faculties, i will be much better at writing or at least less awkward, and be able to write about what i'm actually thinking.
which brings me to idea 1. at a very young age, we are encouraged to read (whether it's just a ploy to encourage productivity in general, or because of it's actual mental benefits). it might be interesting to look into just how reading (and reading different types of literature; fiction v. nonfiction, things that interest us v. things that bore us, etc) affects our brain. i'm sure there is a solid amount of research on the actual chemistry of reading, and even how it changes our perception of things is discussed in our "ways of reading" introduction.
or maybe i'll prove my own point and brainstorm another idea once i finish tonight's reading :)
idea 2.
ReplyDeletewhile there is a great amount we don't know about the brain during sleep, there is a solid amount of research. many scientists debate the importance of a sleep on the human body, especially at different ages. perhaps i will look into the most relevant example: sleep on the brain of a college student.
Both of these questions are interesting. As an avid reader, I think looking at the psychological (or even neurophysiological effects) of reading would open up some interesting ideas. See what you can find.
ReplyDeleteThat said: sleep is an interesting topic. I mean, hell, we all know that one of the founding psychologists, Freud, worked with the enigma of Dreams and Dream logic.