Author: ers5587

Charles Manson’s Personality Disorder

Manson was a charismatic character in Hollywood in the late 60’s. Having connections to stars like The Beach Boys. he had an infectious friendly personality that people gravitated towards. In 1967, he lead a group of young adults known as the Manson Family. They lived in an abandoned set. Manson would later instruct his family to commit eight murders within the span of three days. Manson’s ability to be charismatic and friendly on the outside but evil and psychopathic on the inside made him a dangerous force. The family lived by Manson’s say and did whatever was asked of them. They saw Charles as a Messiah, as he prophesied many things. One thing he prophesied was that a race war was coming that would end the world as we know it. Manson was a sociopath, or he had Antisocial personality disorder. Anti-social personality disorder is a long term pattern of exploiting and violating others with no real remorse. Early in Manson’s life, he was sent to a correction school, where they tested his IQ. The test results showed he had a 109 IQ and was severely anti-social. His sociopath tendencies enabled him to manipulate and control others with no real remorse or emotion. The fact that Manson was able to get multiple people to go around and kill 8 just because he wanted them too shows his ability to control. During his court case, the judge ruled Manson was too crazy to give parole. Manson also suffered from schizophrenia and paranoid delusion disorder, another reason Manson was unfit for the real world. Manson requested many times to be released on Parole, the last time being in 2012. Charles Manson ended up dying in prison in 2017. Manson’s actions showed how his personality disorders reflected on how he treated people and what he had people do for him. Sane human beings would have the ability to feel bad about manipulating their friends.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Manson

https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000921.htm

https://www.ibtimes.com/was-charles-manson-psychopath-or-sociopath-sharon-tate-murderer-cult-leader-dies-83-2533039

Mandela Effect

The Mandela effect is a popular conspiracy theory that has spread throughout the internet. Due to people’s false memories of certain events, they have created crazy ideas to explain why history itself has changed. A few examples of this are people’s belief that Jif peanut is actually called Jiffy. The main example is people’s belief that Nelson Mandela died in the 80s when his actual death happened in 2013. Many people were surprised to hear he wasn’t already dead. The truth is that “The Mandela Effect” is both caused by faulty memory and our lack of understanding of memory. People believe that memory is a record of history when in reality our brains take in bites of information to form memories. Those bites of information don’t stay the same over the years. Information we gain after the event can change past memories. Another reason for the Mandela effect occurring is that our brains naturally fill in the gaps in our memories. This is the main reason eye-witnesses arent taken to seriously. Often during events with multiple witnesses, there are conflicting details between witnesses. People spreading these false ideas of events can also prime people to believe that false idea. This is called priming. Suggesting an idea to someone can alter an existing memory in someone’s head. This idea affects one’s ability to recall the event. People put too much value on the brain’s ability to recall events, so they take the thing they recall as fact. Even some of the examples of the effect related to me. As a child, one of the children’s books I loved to read was the Bernstain Bear’s. I always thought the books were spelled the Bernstein Bears. I specifically remember it is spelled this way cause I always thought it was spelled like my last name, “Stein”.  When I found out about this, I almost started to question if maybe the crazy conspiracy theorists were correct, but it turns out my idea of memory was flawed.

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-mandela-effect-4589394

Cuncic, Arlin. “The Mandela Effect and Examples.” Verywell Mind, Verywell Mind, 17 July 2019, www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-mandela-effect-4589394.

Clock Ticking Adaptation

Early last year, I purchased a Penn State Analog clock I found at Walmart. I’ve never owned an analog clock and thought it would look cool on my wall. When I got home, I set it up and left my house for the night. At the end of the day, I went back and got in my bed. When I closed my eyes to try and fall asleep, all I could hear was the ticking from the clock. Eventually, I fell asleep. For a few nights, I struggled to ignore the constant sound. Finally, I completely forgot the clock was even there and never noticed to sound. This concept is called sensory adaption.
Sensory adaptation is when humans are exposed to unchanging stimuli over some time; our brains reduce the sensitivity to the stimuli. Hearing is not the only sense we can adapt to. We can change our sensitivity to smell in the air or get used to the cold on an autumn morning. Arguably, sight and hearing are the most critical adaptations we make. When we are exposed to a loud sound over some time, the muscles in our ears limits the amount of vibration. This adaptation is done to protect our eardrums from any damage. Our sight adapts to allow us to see better in the dark. Our pupils open wider to let more light in. Our rods and cones also become more sensitive to pick up light better. In my case, being exposed to the constant ticking of the clock over some time, my brain reduced to the sensitivity of the sound so that I can fall asleep. Sensory adaptation is an essential function that our minds have. If we didnt have sensory adaptation, certain stimuli would be overbearing to withstand. Being able to desensitize ourselves to certain stimuli allow us to focus on the things we want to focus on. Imagine if I didn’t adapt to the clock. The ticking would drive me insane and force me to take it down.

https://explorable.com/sensory-adaptation

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/health-and-medicine/nervous-system-and-sensory-infor/sensory-perception-topic/v/sensory-adapting

Sarah Mae Sincero (Jun 6, 2013). Sensory Adaptation. Retrieved Sep 18, 2019 from Explorable.com: https://explorable.com/sensory-adaptation

Sahyouni, Ronald. “Sensory Adaptation.” Khan Academy, Khan Academy, www.khanacademy.org/science/health-and-medicine/nervous-system-and-sensory-infor/sensory-perception-topic/v/sensory-adapting.