My best friend Alexa has an anxiety disorder. Always panicking, sweating, worrying, and never staying calm when need be. I found out she had an anxiety disorder a couple years ago when we were just hanging out at my house. Her mom was over as well and had to leave my house early. I looked at Alexa and she was nervous about her mom leaving her alone at MY house. Her best friend! She started to beg her mom not to leave, making excuses as to why she needs to stay, and stalling. I was so confused. Was she mad at me? I had no idea. She eventually left with her mom. This was the start of her anxiety disorder.
I asked my mom why she had left, and my mom had no inkling either. It was so unusual. Throughout the years I noticed that she would slowly never want to sleep over, never wanted to go out alone to the movies or the mall, and would never drive alone. She has a fear of being alone. Anxiety disorders are so common in America and its sad that my best friend suffers from one. She always needs to have an escape route of some sort, just in case she needs to leave where she is. For example, when she came to visit me here at Penn State, she would not stay in my dorm. She wanted to stay in a hotel room, where she can leave whenever she wanted, and didn’t have a fear of being trapped. It’s interesting how I have learned to deal with her anxiety disorders. I always need to make sure she feels safe and never has a reason to leave. Whenever she starts to fidget with her fingers I know she is nervous. I have found small quarks and motions she does when she is having an anxiety attack. Over the years, and with maturity, she has gotten much better. She even goes to college on her own now and is able to deal with her anxiety safely. Anxiety disorders are very difficult and it is hard to watch someone you love have one.

I have a golden retriever named Lola, yes Lola. She’s about 11 years old currently and still gets the newspaper for my family every morning, and every family in the neighborhood. Ever since she was a puppy, my dad wanted to train her to get the paper since we have such a long driveway. I guess you can say my family is pretty lazy? My dog getting the newspaper is an example of shaping. My dad was shaping her to do what he wanted her to do through series of rewards and punishments. Reinforcers (my dad) guided Lola’s behavior towards a desired behavior (getting the newspaper). I remember the day it started. Lola was about 4 years old at the time, and my dad sent her outside. On the newspaper was a small piece of peanut butter. Of course my overweight dog bit the paper. My dad signaled her inside with the paper still in her mouth. Without thinking she had the paper in her mouth she went inside. My dad held up a carrot (healthy choice for lola) and she dropped the paper. Each and every day my dad would put the peanut butter or some form of treat on the paper and she would continue to bring in the paper in exchange for another treat. Shortly, every time she would go outside she would recognize the paper and bring it in regardless of if there was a treat on it or not. My dad shaped her into bringing in the paper. Even the Sunday paper, which weighs like 20 pounds. She still receives a small treat when she comes inside with it. Now, since she has mastered the skill of bringing in our paper, she continues to get our neighbors papers and brings them back to our house in addition to ours. She does this because she knows she will get a treat regardless when she comes back in. I’m always the one bringing it back over to all of our neighbors at 8am. The concept of shaping was utilized when teaching my dog to bring in the paper every morning. Shaping is a form of operant conditioning, and my father shaped Lola to do as he pleased.

When I was little, I would always listen to Bruce Springsteen. I was a Bruce fan basically out of the womb. Growing up to the music of Bruce always put me in a positive and excited mood. Because of Bruce, I feel that my personality has altered and made me a better person. This relates to the idea of a mood dependent memory. A mood dependent memory depends on outside sources to change a mood. The playing of Bruce’s music is an example of a mood inducement. My mother always used to tell me that when I was a baby and when I was crying, she would play “growing up” by Bruce and the crying and tears would come to an almost immediate halt. My mother compared Bruce as a saint for this reason. As I grew up, I would always play Bruce Springsteen to calm me down or get in a better mood. I remember during my state finals field hockey game, it was tied 1-1 and it was my turn as a player and a captain to get everyone in a better mood for the game. It was the start before over time and it was my job to make everyone, including myself, in a better mood. I pulled out my iPhone and began to play Bruce. My immediate reaction was positive; I was getting in the mood, a positive mood. This enabled me to inspire my teammates the same way. Slowly the entire teams mood and energy rose positively and we were ready to finish the game proudly. And indeed we did. Being somewhat mood dependent on Bruce Springsteen has some benefits I guess. When having a mood dependent memory an individual might become to reliant on this song, smell, or sound. Because I only listen to Bruce for certain events, like my field hockey game, I am not completely dependent on it. Growing up to Bruce caused my memory to remember positive memories, making me in a better mood as a result.