Fixed Versus Growth

For a Student Success Seminar, I am currently reading a book entitled Mindset by Carol S. Dweck. At first, I thought the book would be dull explanation of how students need to have a positive attitude to succeed, but the book offers so much more than that. It closely examines two mindsets--the fixed mindset and the growth mindset. From these mindsets, people develop their skills, relationships, and futures. Basically, these mindsets affect your whole life! To see a brief description of these mindsets, click here. While reading this book, I am constantly finding myself trying to decide whether or not I have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. I am starting to come to a conclusion.

Because of my upbringing in school and the home, I believed that intelligence was a fixed attribute. One could not change his or her intelligence, but only gain knowledge. In the book, the author believes that intelligence can grow as long as the individual puts forth the effort to do it. I am a little skeptical about this, even after seeing a few examples; however, this does encourage me that I could possibly get "smarter." When people with the fixed mindset are given academic gifts, they feel they have to prove their gift while giving minimal effort, and when they fail, their self confidence plummets. In a way, I am somewhat guilty of this. I was considered gifted in the science and math departments, so whenever it came to those subjects in high school, I liked to try to see how little I could do and still get an "A."This was probably not a good idea, but it made life less challenging and made me feel smart. Fortunately, there have been a few times where I have been humbled and received poor grades for my lackluster effort. Because of these failures, I was able to break away from having a completely fixed mindset. People with the growth mindset are able to recover and learn from failures, and I was able to do the same from my failures. Also, I have realized that just trying to slide by will not cut it in college. I know in order to succeed I am going to have to give effort, even if it means life will be a little more challenging.  Due to these statements, I have realized that I possess both mindsets.

Reading this book has caused me to endure self analysis. I have been aware of many of my flaws, but this book has showed me how negatively these flaws can affect my life. I do not know if I will ever completely get away from the fixed mindset, but knowing that I have a little growth mindset in me too is reassuring.

Prison Life

Today, I took an unexpected trip to the Center of the History of Psychology. A friend of mine who is a student in another language composition class had to visit the museum, so I tagged along. Many of the experiments and illusions I was familiar with because of past psychology classes, but there was one experiment that really stuck out to me. It was the Stanford Prison Experiment. To learn more about the experiment, click here.

Imagine being in a prison--as either a guard or a prisoner--just for two short weeks. Sounds pretty doable, huh? Well, to the college students at Stanford, this experiment seriously affected their emotions, which caused the experiment to end eight days short. Apparently, the students who were playing the roles of guards became cruel and began to believe they were actual guards. Those who portrayed the prisoners became depressed and were struggling on the prison-like conditions. After visiting this museum stand, I was curious to how I would fare in this experiment.

I have always joked that if I were to ever go to prison, I would not be able to handle it, but after thinking about it, I know that really is not a joke! If college students became depressed after running an experiment for six days, I cannot fathom what actual prison would be like. Part of me would like to take part in that experiment just to see what it would be like, but I would not want it to last over two days! Reading about this experiment has given me a sudden interest in prison life, so maybe watching a documentary about it would be much more beneficial than actually going to prison!

I learned several things from my adventures today. First, it is always a good idea to check out events and places at campus because I never know what I could find. I also learned that prison is not a joke, so I better never end up there!

Snopes on Twitter

Recently, I was given an assignment to evaluate a case on either Factcheck or Snopes. For me, this assignment was no big deal because I already followed Snopes on Twitter--how convenient. On the Twitter page, Snopes posts random facts and declares whether or not they are true. Over the summer, I found myself rather entertained by this. Unfortunately, Snopes has not made any recent tweets, but nonetheless, there are still plenty tweets to keep one entertained for an hour or so!

A tweet that interested me dates back to July 30, 2012, which was during the Chik-fil-A  same-sex marriage controversy. A few days prior to reading this tweet, I attended a Chik-fil-A for lunch, and it was filled with customers. It is not uncommon for a large amount of people to attend Chik-fil-A, but many of them were talking about the same-sex marriage issue and how they supported the company. Personally, I was not surprised by the comments made, and I did not understand how others were due to the fact Chik-fil-A is clearly a Christian restaurant. It closes on Sundays, so I don't understand how people would be surprised that Chik-fil-A's president made a comment reflecting Christian values. Anyway, shortly after my Chik-fil-A visit, I received a text from a friend showing the following picture. 

Right away, I assumed the picture was photoshopped, but I did find it amusing that I had just visited Chik-fil-A that day.  As I read tweets surrounding the day of my visit to Chik-fil-A, I was also entertained by everyone's views and reactions to the situation. To me, the issue was blown a tad out of proportion, but it still made for a few interesting days on Twitter. My favorite tweet came from Snopes' Twitter page. They tweeted this link http://www.snopes.com/photos/signs/chickfila.asp, which led to the image I received a few days ago. How coincidental! Like I thought, the image was fake, but the tweet still amused me.

For anyone who has a Twitter, follow Snopes' Twitter page, and hope they start tweeting again! When they do, it is an easy way to see interesting tweets and discover random facts. Here's the link: https://twitter.com/snopes. Even if a Twitter account is not owned, I highly suggest checking out Snopes website anyway--it's surprising what can be discovered.

From Myspace to Facebook to Twitter

Ever since I reached middle school, I had been fascinated by the idea of social media. I believed that if I was not up to date with the hippest form of social media, I would be considered "uncool." Looking back, I realize I was rather foolish for believing that, but I do like to be up to date on my social media. This way, I can communicate with the optimal amount of people during any time of the day. In order to do this, I have changed my preferred social media site multiple times.

For me, it all started with Myspace. When I was in middle school, everyone had a myspace, and I thought I needed one too. While using Myspace, I would spend time obsessing over top friends, taking pictures, and doing an excessive amount of quizzes--even though nobody cared about those. From 7th grade to my sophomore year, I thought I was living the high life on Myspace, and that would NEVER change; however, Facebook came around.

At first, I did not like that everyone was shifting to Facebook, but as more people began the shift, Myspace progressed to becoming boring. Hardly anyone was using Myspace, and I began to feel like I was talking to myself. Due to this, I joined the craze and shifted to Facebook. Sure, it took time for me to adapt to the new social media site, but in little time, I found myself loving Facebook. I enjoyed "Facebook creeping" on everyone's pictures and statuses, and I also spent much time starting random conversations on my friends walls. The only activity I did not enjoy on Facebook was making statuses, which I find rather ironic due to my new Twitter fascination. Just like Myspace, I thought Facebook would always be my favorite social media site, but again, I was wrong.

Following the Facebook craze, Twitter came along. I created a Twitter acout about a year and a half ago, and at first, I took little interest in the site. Its emphasis was an activity I did not enjoy on Facebook, so I never thought Twitter would ever take off. However, I was clearly wrong. About four or five months ago, I began to notice the drastic decrease in Facebook activity. Just like Myspace, Facebook was starting to bore me due to the lack of friends using their accounts. I knew where everyone was taking their social media activities, but I already did not like Twitter. I was disappointed that the Facebook era was ending while Twitter's was beginning. In order to keep up with my social circle, I started investing more time into my Twitter account by tweeting, retweeting, posting pictures, and chatting with my friends. It took a couple months, but after awhile, Twitter really started to grow on me. I was pleasantly surprised, and now, I truly enjoy twitter and spend my nights reading everyone's tweets. Now, I expect this Twitter craze to last a few years--just like every other site--but  I am curious to what's next. Whatever it is, I know now to embrace it with open arms. Due to my social media experience, I have learned that it's not the site that makes a good experience, but it's the people on the site who create the experience.