"Hyundai's Incentive Program: Hyundai Assurance"

SUMMARY:

Since the beginning of the year, i'm sure most of you have seen Hyundai's commercial known as Hyundai's Assurance. Hyundai already is known to be a car company that offers effecient cars at a low price, but now they have issued for the whole 2009 "Hyundai's Assurance." This programs insures buyers that their credit score will not be ruined in the event that they can't pay for their new car due to jobloss, and also offers the oppotunity to compensate your car payment for up to 3 months. The buyer will be able to return the car if they lose their job within a year after purchase of a brand new vehicle. Their are two exceptions: you must be current on all car payments, and you have to provide proof that you've been laid off (to no fault of your own). Given these two conditions the buyer can return the vehicle and walk off the lot.

CONNECTION:

This automobile incentive program can be directly linked to chapter 8 on Motivation and Emotions. Hyundai's program would be an example of the "incentive theory" which states that an external stimulus can motivate behaivor. We are naturally pulled towerd behaivors that offer positive incentives. Due to the instability of our economy and the struggling job market, this positive incentive would motivate buyers to consider buying a new car.

"Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hide"

SUMMARY:
The strange case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hide is a novel written by Robert Stevenson. The story is about a London lawyer who investigates strange occurences between a doctor, Dr. Jekyll Hide who has covered up his life of evil deeds. To cope with the battle between what is good and what is evil, he creates Mr. Edward Hide. After drinking a potion Mr. Hide emerges on the scene as an evil, cruel, and remorseless individual. When Dr. Jekyll wants to take on the character of Mr. Hide he drinks the potion. Eventually he grows to not be able to distinguish between the two personalities.

CONNECTION:
The novel can be directly linked to chapter 12 in our Psychology course on Abnormal Behaivors. Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hide would be characterized as a Bipolar Disorder. Bipolar Disorder is a condition in which alternate appearances of two emotional extremes (depression and mania) emerge. Bipolar Disorder is commonly known as "split-personality." Dr.Jekyll only transforms into Mr.Hide when he is extremely angry or depressed, which is why his condition can be classified as a Bipolar Disorder.

"Me, Myself, and Irene"

SUMMARY:

Me, Myself, and Irene starring Jim Carrey and Renee Zellweger is the comic movie about a Rhode Island state trooper named Charlie who develops an alter ego after years and years of internalizing his frustration with his job and his family. Charlie is assigned to escort Irene (Renee Zellweger) from Rhode Island to New York City. The stress on the job forces Charlie(Jim Carrey) to formulate an alternate personality by the name of Hank to deal with the trouble he faces from day to day. Hank is the complete opposite of Charlie's real personality. He's an abusive, violent, and sexually compulsive police officer. Along the trip the two eventually fall in love and get married.

CONNECTION:

This movie can be linked directly to our studies on personalities in Chapter 11. The character that Jim Carrey plays would be diagnosed with what is known as "Dissociative Identity Disorder" or DID. DID describes a condition in which a single person displays alternate personalities, each with their own pattern of percieving and interacting with their environment. Charlie is a helpful state trooper, on the other hand Hank is an abusive and violent police officer. As a result of job-related stress the character Charlie develops into this strong personality known as Hank.

"A Beautiful Mind"

SUMMARY:

Released in December 2001, A Beautiful Mind is the movie based on mathmatician John Forbes Nash Jr. who suffered from Paranoid Schizophrenia. The movie stars Russell Crowe, who plays John Nash Jr. and Jennifer Connelly who plays the wife of Nash. Crowe makes an astonishing advancement in the foundations of "game theory" which gains him national acclaim while he attends Princeton University. Soon after Crowe is recruited by the CIA to aid in the area of code-breaking. Throughout the film Russell Crowe battles schizophrenia and ultimately learns to conquer his illness, and wins a Noble Peace Prize. John Nash actually did win a Noble Peace Prize in 1994 for advances in Economic Sciences. The film was nominated for 8 Oscars and won 4 of them.

CONNECTION:

This film can be linked to our studies on abnormal behaviors in chapter 12 of our psychology course. John Nash Jr. suffered from a specific form of schizophrenia known as "paranoid schizophrenia." Schizophrenia is a condition in which patterns of severe disturbed thinking, emotion, perception, and behaivor occur. Nash's wife states that he began to talk of characters who were putting him in danger, an organization of men wearing red ties was chasing him. He even mailed letters to foreing embassies in Washington D.C. saying that he was going to establish a new world government. As we covered in the course, schizophrenia is an abnormal mental disorder in which perceptions of reality are distorted.

"6 Year Old with an I.Q. of 176"

SUMMARY:

On my way to school one morning I was listening to the morning show on 97.9 "The Beat" and they had brought up the topic of a person's intelligence. As many may know, a 6 year old name Pranav Veera is said to have an I.Q. of 176. Einstein was believed to have an I.Q. slightly above 160. Note also that only 1 in a million people have an I.Q. of 150 or above. The average intelligient quotient is of course 100. Pranav can recite the names of the U.S. Presidents in the order they served in office, and say the alphabet backwards at the age of 6.

CONNECTION:
This information can be linked directly to our classes studies on intelligience in chapter 7 of our Psychology class. The Stanford-Binet test was developed to accurately reflect a person's intelligience standing within a population of their age group. Stanford-Binet also developed the formula to equate intelligience (IQ= Mental Age/Chronological Age) * 100. Pranav Veera could potentially be a member of the MENSA organization also, which we covered in the course. This organization grants membership to anyone who has an I.Q above 130 on the Stanford-Binet IQ Test.