Alex Banfield

4/9/14

PSYCH 100

Blog Post 3

The Reason I Cannot Drink Diet Coke with Lime

            Taste aversion is a psychology coined term that is fairly self-explanatory. Basically, people and animals are more likely to stray away from eating or drinking items when they get sick after consuming said item. That being said, taste aversion is an incredibly powerful force inside your brain that literally controls how the entire body feels. It is thought that taste aversion is an evolutionary trait that has been taken by humans and animals to keep them safe from consuming poisonous foods or drinks. Farmers have capitalized on taste aversion for hundreds of years to protect their crops. To stop animals from eating the plants they are growing, farmers will spray certain types of poison that will not kill the animal, but will make them very sick after consuming the plant and poison. Then, because of taste aversion, the animal will be terrified to consume or even go near the plants again. Having these facts in mind, let me tell you the reason I cannot drink diet Coke with lime ever again.

I was 15 years old, and had recently taken a liking to diet Coca Cola with lime flavoring. Everyone has had that stage in life where they find a drink or food they really like, and that is all they want for days and sometimes even weeks. Well for me, this beverage was nearly the only thing I drank for about a week straight. Then, it happened. By it, I mean my experience with taste aversion. Almost immediately after eating dinner one night, I remember feeling incredibly sick. My stomach hurt worse than words could describe. To avoid an in detail, disgusting story, I vomited a multitude of times and was practically bed/bathroom ridden for a few days. These instances, however, were different then just regular getting sick to your stomach. Every time I got sick, all I could taste was the diet Coke with lime. Even just seeing the bottle made me sick, so I literally made my parents throw out every bottle of diet Coke with lime we owned!

Of course, it probably wasn’t the beverage that I got sick from, but more likely undercooked food from dinner of just a common stomach bug. That being said, I cannot drink diet Coke with lime to this day. Just thinking about the drink right now is making me queasy to be honest, which is incredible when you think about it. I can tell everyone it wasn’t the diet coke with lime, yet I still feel this strong taste aversion against it. I believe my experience is a great example of taste aversion. The drink I dare to even look at to this day almost definitely did not cause me to get sick, but I cannot make myself go near it again. This truly shows that the effects of taste aversion can be very strong.

Alex Banfield

3/14/14

PSYCH 100

Blog Post 2

My Experiences with Memory Construction

            Memory construction is something called a constructive process. This means that we as humans actually build our memories off of the real event. We tend to “filter or fill in missing pieces of information to make our recall more coherent”.  This filling in can come from our own imaginations, or the people around us. Memory construction occurs a lot with experiences that we have when we are young. It is difficult to recall events that happened to us when we were younger with complete detail. Because of this, we rely on people who were adults at the time to fill in the missing info. However, as we discussed in class, we can never tell whether we actually remember the event, or if we remember what we were told about the event. I have, what I believe is a memory, that directly relates to memory construction.

It was the summer of 1999. I was 4 years old, and my family was visiting my great aunt that lived in New Jersey. I feel like I remember this trip very vividly because we went to the beach. This is the part I think I actually remember. My uncle was pulling me on a boogie board in the ocean. We weren’t very far out in the water, but I remember falling off the boogie board into the ocean and drinking a bunch of the saltwater. I feel as though I can still taste that saltwater today. However, we were visiting my aunt because she was very sick, and passed away quite soon after the trip. This was the last time they got to see my aunt and be with her. Due to this, my parents talk about this trip anytime my aunt is brought up and reminisce about everything that happened. That, of course, involves when I fell in the ocean. Until taking this class I would have told you I absolutely remembered that event with perfect detail, but now I am not so sure. Perhaps because of memory construction, I feel like I remember this when I really just remember my parents telling me about it over and over. Again, like we discussed in class, I will never actually know whether I remember falling in the ocean and drinking saltwater or if I remember what my parents told me about the trip. The fact that I truly believe I remember the event further describes how strong memory construction can affect memories. Overall, I may not actually remember the event myself, but I will never forget the taste of saltwater!

Somewhere amidst the great breakthroughs of psychology, someone coined the phrase “illusory correlation”. Though you may have never heard of the term illusory correlation, they are actually quite common in the world, and most Americans like to create them. An illusory correlation is defined as “the perception of a relationship that does not exist” (lecture 3). This is how superstitions are categorized. Basically, a superstition or illusory correlation is believing that because one event happened, a prior event caused that event. However, we all are very well aware that the shirt I am wearing on super bowl Sunday will have no effect on the game whatsoever. That being said, U.S. citizens love to believe that putting on their shoes in the same order every day is good luck, or that crossing their fingers when LeBron shoots foul shots increases his percentage. We know that this is not true. Though some people may not believe in superstitions or illusory correlations, many athletes do, and I a golfer, do have certain superstitions.

When I am on the golf course, I need to have certain items with me, and they need to be in certain places. For instance, my hat clip that has a magnetic ball marker. If I do not have this hat clip, I will never play a good round of golf. I’m very aware that a clip with a ball marker on my hat has no bearing over the swings I take, but I firmly believe this to be true. Another illusory correlation I have is what are in my pockets. In my left pocket I must have only my divot repair tool and my golf ball in between holes. In my right pocket I carry tees and nothing else. I feel as though the entire world will be turned inside out if anything else are in my pockets, or heaven forbid I switch those pockets. The final illusory correlation that I really experience on the golf course is what I do with my golf glove. I absolutely, under no circumstance, can never putt while wearing a golf glove. I have the thought planted so deep in my mind that I cannot make a putt while wearing a glove that I actually believe it. Truth be told, I probably can putt just as well with a glove as I can without a glove, but thus the example of a superstition.

As it has been clearly shown, there is a clear relationship between my experiences on the golf course and illusory correlations. This is apparent through the rituals I perform on the golf course with my hat clip, tees, and golf glove. I believe that the outcome is controlled by these minute, unrelated inputs, all the while knowing that only my actual golf swing has any effect on how I play. So, why are there illusory correlations? Why are there superstitions? The answer is simply that it is human nature to create correlations even when none is apparent. Also, it gives golfers something to blame when their shots don’t get according to plan.