Five Theses Regarding Erroneous Perceptions of Psychology

A sample from the ink blot test.

I’ve decided that I want to talk about erroneous perceptions of psychology (as I brought up in my previous post about hot spots in psychology). There are a lot of things that the public thinks about psychology that, while catchy and interesting, aren’t important to the practice of psychology today. One example might be Rorschach ink blot tests. This test was created by a psychologist to see if individuals with schizophrenia would view things differently than a person without schizophrenia. It has now entered the public sphere as something we use to tell us interesting things about people’s personalities, but they are totally invalid and unreliable tests. I feel like when we take things like this out of context, or attempt to boil a complicated issue like personality into a small number of discrete types, we turn psychology into something close to astrology.

I hope to talk about why it is important that we try harder as a society to understand the nuances of topics within psychology because the more we know about psychology the more useful it can be. I think about how much stigma was associated with mental health treatments in the 50s and 60s, how people who went to see a psychologist were “crazy” or you can even watch episodes of Cheers (a show from the 1980s) and listen to them talk about sending Diane to the “loony-bin”. Today I think we are much better about helping people with mental health issues, but I think that as the public continues to really understand things about psychology rather than just picking out interesting tidbits we can see psychology more like a science and less like a mystical art, and people will be better able to use it to get better.

Planning my post about The Failures of Wealth Redistribution

My main topic is addressing the past failures of wealth redistribution policies in history in an effort to guide public opinion away from the contemporary drive to implement these same policies. The topic of wealth redistribution is very relevant in today’s world, where many politicians appeal to the working class by promising government help furnished through the increased taxation of the rich. Many in today’s society favor an activist government, a government that “levels the playing field” at the expense of the wealthy. I oppose wealth redistribution policies because I do not want my posterity and the future inhabitants of this nation to retrogress in prosperity, and I do not want the United States of America to decline.

Planning My Post: Is Twitter Destroying Us?

Blue Twitter Logo

Reflecting on my last blog posts and on the way my perspective has changed through my experiences and the different readings I have spent time with, I have come to the conclusion to pick a narrower and therefore, more controversial topic rather than Freedom

of Speech rather, our modern public sphere: Twitter. It may be understood that Twitter is a place where people can post whatever they want whenever they want making it a much larger scale public sphere than what they had in the Enlightenment period. This is relevant because we live in the digital age.With that comes an easiness to life that people before us did not know, but it also brings up a new set of problems. We can say whatever we want, but where is the line drawn?

Planning Post on Saving Environment

My main topic is to discuss the responsibility that we all have to be better stewards over our environment. I recognize that this is an incredibly broad topic so I have decided to discuss how in order to save the environment the only sustainable option is for there to be a "Green Industrial Revolution" similar to the Industrial Revolution, but just innovation that will allow us to be environmentally friendly without the threat of a depression if measures were too drastic. This topic is engaging and relevant because its a topic that many people want to care about, but are not willing to make changes, and I want to show how one can make the necessary changes. I feel good about addressing the current criteria which I will show in the main body of this blog.

History Component

I mostly want to discuss the Industrial Revolution and The Great Depression. The Industrial Revolution came about due to a desire, an opportunity and the ability to innovate, but people were still concerned about losing their jobs due to inventions of machines that can do the work for them. The cotton gin is a good example of this. People experience that same fear today with AI and computers, but at the end of the day these inventions free up our mind to focus on other problems and over time the floor of the standard of living is raised and so is the ceiling. However, too drastic of changes can cause for there to be too much product and not enough to buy which can lead to an economic depression. I want to talk about how the carbon tax would be too drastic, but that measures to bring about a green industrial revolution through tax cuts and stimulated innovation is the only sustainable way to bring about the lasting change that is needed.

Rhetoric Component

There are some pretty remarkable statistics that show that while there has been an incredible boom in technology over the last 20 years, that has not changed how our industry works as a whole. I want to invoke ethos by showing that I understand both sides of the argument, and I want to propose an idea that people can rally behind. I want to invoke pathos by showing the changes that are already taking place in 3rd world countries and among our environment with animals and losing their homes. Kairos is relevant because this is one of the most talked about issues on the world stage today, and people want a solution.

Personal Component

I have been doing research for a long time about the adverse effects of the environment and about some proposed ideas to institute a carbon tax and for the Green New Deal. I've read things that are pro carbon tax and anti-carbon tax and the arguments that people make that are both articulate and understandable. I have been saddened to see a lot of rhetoric but no real changes to improve our plan to care for the world we live in. My hope is to articulate a plan that people on both sides of the aisle can support. 

Planning My Post On The Right To Free Health Care

75 million Americans forego medications due to cost

My main topic is on the right to free health care within the United States. Despite the countless advances in technology and the abundance of health care organizations popping up all over the place, whether they are free standing clinics, hospitals, urgent cares, etc. many people still lack the ability to receive quality health care at an affordable price. This has become a concern throughout the world, but especially a more vocal concern for residents of the United States in the past few years. There has been an increase of rising out-of-pocket health care costs which has led many to even delay seeking treatment for health concerns in worry of the price they may have to pay which is especially concerning and problematic.

Planning My Post about Nature and Mental Illnesses

For my final blog post, I will be talking about the effects that nature has on mental illness (specifically depression and suicidal thoughts) and how that ties into the Romantic period. Personally, I have struggled with mental illnesses but have experienced a sense of peace when I am out in nature that cannot be paralleled by anything else, so I am excited to write about the beauties and benefits of spending time in nature. I am currently gathering thoughts and ideas and am in the process of making a general outline for the final post.

Planning my post about computational thinking

Computational Thinking is the point
where math, logic, and creativity meet

The purpose of this post is to introduce and outline my upcoming blog post about computational thinking and it's development throughout history. Computational thinking is the problem-solving mindset used in computer science, and used a basic model of inputs, functions, and outputs. Understanding this thinking model's origin and how it has shaped history allows us to understand how it might shape our future. In my exploration of this subject, I hope to prove that this mindset deserves to be analyzed and taught on a much broader basis than it already is.

To develop this idea, I will include the following components:

Planning my Post about Corporate Social Responsibility

A doTERRA employee holds a girl she
met through the company's CSR program

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is any business action that addresses widespread social, community, environmental, or other issues by utilizing company resources (usually in the form of profits). Especially in the 21st century, the emergence of CSR programs in more and more businesses has led individuals to question what the role of business should be when approaching social issues. As many readers (and myself) will be entering the workforce soon, understanding what CSR is and what it should be doing will likely lead to a more fulfilling work experience. Read more to see how I plan to use historical, rhetorical, and personal connections to discuss CSR. 

Planning My Post about Gene Therapy

DNA holds the secrets to our genetic make-up

My main topic is on the current government policies and regulations surrounding gene-based medical treatments and their societal implications. The main relevance of this topic is how it will affect patient treatment options in the future. This is particularly important for parents when deciding children’s treatments or executors of estates when determining treatments for the elderly or those who are incapable of deciding for themselves. This is a complex multi-faceted issue that is affected by government regulation, research ethics, pharmaceutical markets, and many other things, so I’m trying to focus on the policy and research aspects of the gene therapy and specifically what thing should be considered when moving forward in this field.

Five Theses on Re-humanizing Medical Research

Sleeping sickness isn't on our research agenda
because most victims are too poor to pay

In this age of the booming information economy, we face new challenges to human progress. As seen in previous eras, the "invisible hand" described by Adam Smith as guiding the economy can be interrupted by certain expressions of self interest, such as monopolies and trusts.


A problem that the medical research community faces is an overemphasis on profit and an under-emphasis on people. Though medicine can never fully be dehumanized, we have seen repeated compelling examples of when medical research has been stalled, derailed, or falsified to meet business agendas.


In light of this ongoing conflict to bring the care for humans back into healthcare research, I would like to present five theses for your consideration.

Validating Vernaculars: Five Theses

Each student uses letters like these to shape his or her thoughts. Should English 
educators punish them just because their letters are arranged differently?

Over the last two weeks, I have written about some of the trending topics of English education and linked them to historical and communication contexts. Today, I'm taking one of those topics—validating the many vernaculars and dialects spoken by students—and composing five claims to drive my argument.

First, a brief review. English education has largely focused on instructing students in the traditional dialect of American English, grading on "correctness" rather than actual comprehension and engagement. Researchers are now finding that when teachers accept the individual vernaculars of their students and focus on comprehension, student grades and standardized test scores rise.

Gene Therapy: 5 Claims

DNA is material that makes up the human genome
and holds the secret to treating several diseases

In my last post, I talked about connections to historical themes and communication with hotspots regenerative medicine. Gene therapy offers a more modern personalized approach to individual medical treatments and regenerative medicine. As this subset of medicine advances, it will require patients and doctors to adapt to the new discoveries and treatments that develop. However, in navigating this new frontier, it is important to consider the wider implications of gene-based medical treatments and how they will be implemented.

5 Theses Regarding the Environment

The drastic changes to the environment are the single greatest threat to humanity today. It is a multi-faceted issue that cannot be solved overnight and it most definitely will not be solved one person at a time. There need to be major sweeping changes on the level of government in order for any change to happen. There have been little snippets of hope for change coming into the government, but instead of being a unifying issue due to its reach into all of our lives, it has found its way into the aisles, becoming a Republican and Democrat hot topic. Major change needs to happen, and it needs to happen soon. This issue transcends political ideologies and at its core is a human issue.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez co-author of Green New Deal

1. [Policy Claim]
The state of the environment should be of greater concern to our government as demonstrated in legislation to protect the environment.
2. [Definition Claim]
The catastrophic climate change of our environment is the paramount issue facing our generation.
3. [Comparison Claim]
Although the changes in our environment have taken place slowly over many years, the changes in our environment should be treated as a flu-like epidemic. We should take all necessary measures to contain the spreading as quickly as possible.
4. [Evaluation Claim]
Governments across the world have taken inadequate measures to stop the growing epidemic of climate change.
5. [Casual Claims]
The drastic changes in the environment are caused by man-made industries, and humans are also the only ones capable of implementing measures to reverse such changes.

This exercise in formatting different thesis statements has helped to think about what kind of argument I want to make regarding the environment and our duty to be stewards over the earth we live on. Right now I am leaning towards a comparison claim, or a policy claim, because I feel like those are the strongest arguments I can make.

Image Credit: "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Official Portrait" (public domain images via Wikipedia Commons)

Five Theses on Free Health Care

I would like to discuss the right to free health care within the U.S. as I have in a previous post and make a clear claim on this issue.

"How do we view Health Care?"

Proponents of this right say that no one in one of the richest nations on earth should go without health care. They argue that a right to health care would stop medical bankruptcies, improve public health, reduce overall health care spending, help small businesses, and that health care should be an essential government service. Opponents argue that a right to health care amounts to socialism and that it should be an individual 's responsibility, not the government 's role, to secure health care. They say that government provision of health care would decrease the quality and availability of health care and would lead to larger government debt and deficits.

5 Theses regarding Computational Thinking

From printing words on a paper to
3D Design and printing, we've come
a very long way.

My recent posts have been focused on hot spots in the computer science field that I have felt warranted further study and discussion. This post however, will address a much broader, and perhaps more relevant topic: Computational thinking, and the history of it's development. Computational Thinking is a mindset based in “input to output” patterns. I have developed five theses to introduce relevant points of discussion. These range in topics, from the history of Computational thinking, to it's importance in society and education today. Hopefully, these ideas will grow into a well articulated argument, showing that the historical development of computational thinking is also the history of human development.

5 Theses on Mental Illnesses and Suicide

Although the occurrence of suicide is no secret, the mental illnesses surrounding the decision to take one's own life are often topics that are avoided. Mental illnesses still have quite a few stigmas around them that I've talked about in previous blog posts (linked here and here), but it's important that we talk more about mental health and suicide prevention so that fewer people feel like suicide is their only option. It's also important that we come up with new and improved ways to treat mental illnesses so that those who have not experienced improvement through traditional methods, like therapy, can still get better.

5 Theses for The Failure of Forced Equality

I discussed the principle of The Failure of Forced Equality on my second and third blog posts. I have been discussing the failure of forced economic equality, which is exemplified in the tried and tired economic theories of socialism and communism. Many principles of socialism and communism are derived from the works of Karl Marx, who advocated for the public ownership of production as a way for the working class to rise. Unfortunately, the practice of Marx’s concepts in history in various socialist and communist regimes have failed and have produced untold suffering among the human race. Therefore, I aim to raise many above the dark labyrinths of failed feel-good Marxist policies to the safe and clear ideological highland of limited government intervention in economies.

5 Theses on Potential of Music Therapy

Of all the debated issues in psychology, I would like dive a little deeper into the idea of nature vs. nurture. My personal experience and academic study has led me to the conclusion that human psychological development is strongly influenced by both nature (i.e. genetic and personality factors) and nurture (i.e. experience and exposure to ideas). There are certainly natural tendencies that every person is born with. The things a person does and learns has a tremendous impact on their development, however. 

This is what has fueled my interest in music therapy. It has already shown great promise for people recovering from trauma–particularly neurological trauma. By my own observation, I would argue that the use of music is of great benefit to a person at any time, not only following trauma.

Five Theses on Corporate Social Responsibility

Cotopaxi's "Do Good" mission is publicized at a Questival event

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is any business action that addresses widespread social, community, environmental, or other issues by utilizing company resources (usually in the form of profits). Especially in the 21st century, the emergence of CSR programs in more and more businesses has led individuals to question what the role of business should be when approaching social issues. In my “Hot Spots in Business” post, I discussed “give-back” programs and arguments that CSR goes beyond the scope of what business should be. In my next “Historical and Communication Connections” post, I looked at ways CSR programs are tied to era and rhetorical themes. Historical connects include the increased empathy for the plight of others found in the Romantic Era, and communication connections include the ways that companies represent their CSR programs through different mediums to boost their company’s ethos. Read more to see five claims surrounding corporate social responsibility.