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Vocabulary - Quarter 4

Definition Theory: The theory that the easiest way to find a definition is to consult a dictionary. 

Denotation Theory: The theory in which a meaningful word stands for something. 

Image Theory: 

Vernacular: everyday language

Stoicism: Comes from "stoics," a group of people who felt that they should avoid all emotional responses and make all decisions based on reason

Intuition: Knowing or sensing without the use of reason. Refers to the knowledge without reasoning or thinking.

Core Intuition: The most basic form of intuition that is based on a "gut feeling"

Expert Intuition: A form of intuition that is more reliable than core intuition, and based on background, education and experiences.

Antonio Damasio: researcher on Phineas Gage

Malcolm Gladwell: Writer from the New Yorker, and author about a book on intuition

Linguistic Determinism: The idea that language determines how you perceive the world. 

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: Language determines our experience of reality. We can see and think only what our language allows to see and think.

Verbal Irony: When someone says something but means something else. This meaning is usually understood by the other party. Thus, the meaning of the words contrast with the literal meaning.

Sarcasm: A form of Verbal Irony in which you say the exact opposite of what you mean. Sarcasm is usually deeply bitter and insulting. 

Weasel Words: Words that aren't necessarily false, but may distort one's perception as they aren't fully true either. 

Passive Voice: Often used to avoid taking blame for something negative. 

Revealing/Concealing: Not giving away information while attempting to satisfy the other party.

3 Rules of Translation: Translations must be faithful to the meaning of the original text. Also, the translations have to be comprehensible and the reader must be able to understand the meaning of the translated words. The translations also have to follow the principle of back translation where when we re-translate the translated text, it should be similar to the meaning of the original text.

Syntax: The arrangement of words. All human languages are defined by syntax, which joins words together to convey the thoughts of a person, no matter how complex he or she may be. 

3 Features of Language: Intended: All language is communication, but not all communication is language. Language is distinguished from communication without intended to do so. Creative & Open Ended: Even with the rules of language such as grammar, vocab, and syntax, language is creative and open ended meaning. Rule Governed: Language is based upon rules so that we follow the conventions of grammar and syntax that dictates it. 

Lexicography: The art of creating and compiling dictionaries. 

Syntax: "in accord with the will of God." Or, the distinction between what is wrong and right. 

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Reflection - 29 May 2013

Today in class, we explored a completely new area: Ethics. As a class, we concluded that each individual's ethics are different from each others. This is a result of the different cultural and religious upbringings that we all had. As children, we had to follow different sets of rules, set forth by our parents or the society we were a part of. 

When I was younger, I had no idea of the repercussions of not following what my parents told me to, but I just went along and was obedient to them. It wasn't until I was older that I realized not everyone's ethics are the same. 

My parents always brought me up according to the Bible and what their conservative parents taught them, and as a result, I feel that my ethics are quite more reserved and conservative than most others. 

I believe that ethics should be present in out society in order to avoid conflict of any kind, but if a person doesn't want to follow them, it shouldn't be forced onto them. 

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Reflection - 23 May 2013

Today, we discussed different classification methods. This idea of classification relates directly to the idea of stereotypes, a topic we are studying in depth in my IBH psychology course. 

During psych, we were able to conclude that stereotypes are developed naturally to reduce the amount of information that we have to remember that is linked to a certain group of people. However, the majority of the information that we learn from creating stereotypes falls right back into our laps because we have to remember that adverse effects of stereotypes. 

During TOK, we concluded that the power of language is HUGELY underestimated. When I was taught, "think before you speak" when I was younger, I didn't really know what that meant, until I got older and grew with experience. One word that you utter out of our mouth has the ability to tear a person apart. 

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Reflection - 21 May 2013

Today we talked about many different things that related to language and the problems with language as a way of knowing. The first thing that we did in class was watching a video of two British comedians, Frye and Laurie. Personally, I’m not familiar with British slang or language, so it was hard for me to grasp why the audience from the video found the things they were saying so funny. However, after MJ explained some of the things, it was more comprehendible. The next thing we did was watch a clip from “The Daily Show” about gun control. In the video, an Australian journalist was interviewing (more like verbally attacking) a gun supporter from the US who felt that guns should be allowed. There are so many issues with guns in the United States. As a teenaged girl, I am so terrified of guns. Ever since I learned that Korea doesn’t allow gun possession, I was so happy I didn’t live in the United States. There are so many instances where people are misunderstood and blamed for things that they didn’t do. Guns can make every situation more complex and more difficult to handle. I think that guns should be suspended from being in possession by everyday pedestrians in the US.  The next thing we looked at was language and translation. We all received fortune papers that Mrs. Jackson said were specific to each and every one of us. However, she was lying, and all the fortune papers were the same. This exercise proved that everyone in society seems to think the same way, but everyone’s perception of words or situations is completely different. The final thing we looked at was language and translation, and we discussed how unreliable some translations can be. Languages are so different that it’s hard to find an exact translation for some words. We will continue this discussion next class. 

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Reflection - 10 May 2013

Today, we watched a Ted Talk that was about the differences between implied language and meaningful language. Many of us are familiar with the difference between what is said, and what is implied. 

For instance, there was a time I came out of my room after getting ready for a party, and my mother saw what I was wearing, and asked, "Are you going to wear that out?" She wasn't genuinely asking a question. Instead, she was implying that I go back RIGHT NOW and change what I was wearing. 

Although she did not explicitly state that she wanted me to go back and change, I know from experience that this is what she was implying. It's a daily skill we have to learn. We have to differentiate between what is said, and what is implied. If you fail to do so, you could look like an idiot, and feel really stupid. 

The main point of the Ted Talk that stuck to me was that the author said that we only imply things if a) we're really rude, or b) that we have a close relationship with that person. I feel that this is very true. In situations in which you have to be polite and courteous, you wouldn't go around jokingly implying something. I was able to conclude that language really does define who we are and how we talk to others. 

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TOK Entry - Math as a Universal Language

Math is all about numbers, quantities, patters, and all of the other things and ideas that connect to the aforementioned words. Mathematics is easily considered as one of the broadest subjects where it is most prevalent around us. Math is based on different facts and theorems that rely heavily on proving and logic. Therefore, math can be considered as objective, and of the most reliable sources of knowledge. Perhaps, because of these reasons, math can be considered a universal language. 

Math relies on fact on logics that are based on concepts called theorems. These things all make up the basic parts of math. All of these methods are used to prove something. Math is one subject that I think is true beyond reasonable doubt. Everyone just assumes that everything in math is just the way it is and it should be that way.

Another reason why people think this is because math gives one answer. For instance, when you add one to one, it will always be two. It will never be three. No matter how much some one will try to contest, two will always be the final and undisputed answer. 

The cool thing about math is that it is known to man worldwide. Wherever you are in the world, country, city, neighbourhood, or town, math has been used. There aren't any contradictions made about the theorems that have been thought of, because it has been universally accepted that it is correct, and also because it has been proven. 

Math may seem like the most objective subject and language today, therefore making it the most universal language to man. Wherever you decide to go in the world, I will always know that the number of fingers I have is ten, and I'm able to do simple math without talking, and the other person of another race will be able to understand me. 

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TOK Entry - Language & Persuasion

Language is a very important took of communication and speech in our world. I mean, without language, what would we know? How would we be able to communicate? 

Language allows people to express their thoughts, opinions, and feelings to other people. Language makes it possible for people to communicate efficiently to each other. In my opinion, I feel that more than any tool, language is the most important. It's used by humans daily in their lives and interactions. 

Langauge is used between two people, and even in the media. The media is a major source of knowledge for many people. However, one question that arises from this is, "How does the media use language to influence its readers and viewers?" 

Language is often limited in the news due to the vagueness of some words and the double definitions of some words. At the same time, those in the media have to be careful in which words they use to influence their viewers and audience members, ensuring that they react a certain way. The use of language is to persuade or convince an audience into believing or doing something. 

In class, we discussed the different ways language is used in the world, and we concluded that one of the main ways language is used is to persuade people into doing or believing something. One way that people in the media do this is by using vagueness when describing a situation. They'll use words that are used to intentionally mislead people into thinking certain things, which may not exactly be true. Words that have both negative and positive connotations are used. 

I think that the use of language in media is important because it greatly influences the way in which people think and it can lead to much success. Ideas and facts are able to be easily conveyed by the media in a very different way to get a certain reaction from the audience.  

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Other IB Class Entry - IBH Language & Literature

In my IBH Language and Literature class, we are in a unit about poetry, specifically analyzing the works of the great Carol Ann Duffy. One of the poems that I came across is entitled, "We Remember Your Childhood Well." At first, I wasn't very interested in this poem because it seemed so boring and on the surface. However, after receiving the prompts for our Written Task essay, I realized how deep and meaningful this poem actually is.

The question was, "What social group is being oppressed or silenced?" After connecting this prompt to the poem, I realized that this essay was only written from one perspective. We had just talked about the reliability of perspectives in TOK the day before, and it was very mind-boggling. 

This poem is a recount of a child's childhood, but not from his or her perspective, but rather their parents. A parent or an authority figure is being the narrator and seems to be contradicting everything the main character thinks. The parents seem to be lecturing the child about everything that he or she thinks to be wrong. But after reading this essay, only one thought comes to my mind... Who's account do we trust?

The parents seem to think that they have done no wrong in the world and have only done things to help their child have the best life he or she can have, by giving them everything and anything that they wanted. However, on the other hand, the child seems to think that his or her childhood was miserable, and that it felt like hell.

Personally, I feel that the child's perspective is most reliable, although we, as the audience, will never know. I don't think it's right to make a judgement by looking at two perspectives without any background knowledge of the situation. 

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Other IB Class Entry - IBS Math & TOK

I hate math. I always have, and I always will. Now, reading this, you might think this is harsh. However, I have to disagree. BECAUSE, I feel that math hates me too. 

Even when I was younger, although I may have understood the concept of the topic we were learning, I never was able to fully understand it. When I had to memorize the multiplication table, I would always sit there trying to understand how and why these numbers lined up in order and had a specific way they were arranged. 

Also, I had the hardest time trying to separate addition and subtraction and multiplication and division. Why do there have to be four different ways to deal with numbers? The bigger question is: Why do we have to take math all through high school? 

There are so man stereotypes about how Asians are supposed to be good at math, but there are a few, including myself, who don't fit in that category. Math, to some people, are black and white, but how is someone classified as being "good at math?"

Is being good at math include enjoying math, or being smart? One of the things that we will never know is how someone is good at math. Sure, we have people at one end of the spectrum, known as math geniuses. However, how is the average person classified as being "good" at math?

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Personal Entry - Language as Part of Our Identities

My parents grew up at the same church, and as a result, have a solid group of friends that they grew up with. There are a few couples within the group that ended up getting married, my parents being one of them. Since they were all very close, they actually ended up having kids all around the same time. Christopher, also known as Chris, born on May 16, myself, born on May 27, and Josh, born on June 18. As you can see, we were all born within a month of each other.

Every summer, our families get together, and even though we live in different countries, it's never awkward of different when we hang out. We all feel very comfortable with each other, and we always seem to pick up where we left off the previous year. However, as we've been getting older, I've noticed that we in fact are very different, due to the different languages that we speak.

Yes, we all speak English, but it's so different from each other. We're all Korean American, but the English we speak is so completely different. Each year I go back, I learn new slang words that haven't made their way over to Korea yet, and they learn some things that SFSers have come up. 

Josh plays football and baseball in Cali: he's a jock. As a result, he's stereotyped to be one of those "cool" kids who's always in the middle of all the news. Therefore, he always speaks in this "jock" vernacular, and even though Chris lives in the same neighbourhood as him, has no idea what he's talking about. 

I've realized that language really does play a part in our identity. For Josh, in order to be "cool," he has to speak in a sort of manner. For Chris, he has to speak in the "nerdy" vernacular to keep up with the tech guys, and for me, well, I feel like I have to speak in a certain way, and even type in a certain way, to feel included. While language, in a way, defines us, it can also prevent us from being our entire self. It can cause us to change our identity and the way we speak. 

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Personal Entry - Korean American?

I was born in Los Angeles, California, and lived there until I was about three years old, but I'm ethnically Korean. Both of my parents were born in Korea, however, they both moved to California at around the same age, which was 8 or 9 years old. As a result, English became their primary language, and English was also my first language. 

Unlike their kids, my grandparents were not able to pick up the foreign language as fast, so their primary language is still Korean. As a result, when I speak to them, I use Korean. I never realized, though, how different the two languages are. 

When I'm with my friends and nuclear family members, I speak English so comfortably. When I use slang and acronyms, everyone around me knows what I am talking about. However, it is quite impossible for me to do this in Korean. I can't speak Korean as comfortably as I can as English. 

There was an instance in which I was put in a situation to translate from English to Korean and from Korean to English. I realized that translating from English to Korean was SO hard because of my limited vocabulary and unfamiliarity with the Korean slang. However, I realized that I was able to understand and comprehend the Korean language very well, and that I was able to process this in a manner that allowed me to correctly translate it into English.

Another complication that I faced with my limited Korean skills was after I tried translating the two languages. When I was translating from English to Korean, the people who were trying to understand my Korean would ask me questions to clarify my statements, but because I wasn't comfortable speaking in Korean, my voice would get higher, I'd start talking slower, and I wouldn't be able to finish sentences in order to help them to understand me. However, when I was translating Korean to English, my American friends were able to rephrase what I was trying to tell them in order to clarify what they heard, and I was able to explain in different ways to help them understand, something I could never do in Korean. 

As a result, I've realized that in order to truly call myself a Korean American, I should be able to speak the Korean language more fluently and more coherently. 

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IB Class Entry - Language & Literature + TOK

English has always been my strong point. Ever since I was younger, I've always handled my English class with ease and I was always confident in my writing. This is why I decided to sign up for higher level Language and Literature. Instead of focusing on books and literature in general, I wanted to explore how language is represented in the media as well. 

The unit we have most recently studied is entitled "Gender & Stereotypes." This topic has always been my least, yet most favorite category to study. Least favorite because I think stereotypes and gender discrimination is so wrong, and favorite, because I am interested in the different standpoints of some people who have opposing beliefs to mine.

Growing up as a girl who played sports, I was always discriminated against. The most prevalent example of this is volleyball. The summer of my sophomore to junior year, I attended the University of Southern California volleyball camp. The USC women's volleyball team are titled back-to-back Pac12 champions, and are still defending their title. The camp was so informational, and I improved a great deal. Girls who play volleyball in the states dedicate their every free hour to sprawling on the floor to get a ball up in the air. Even they are they are girls, they're by far so much better than our boys varsity team, no doubt about it. I've been exposed to the intensity level that they play at, and I was actually able to keep up due to my athletic ability. However, when I came back to SFS, I showed up at a boys volleyball open gym, and of course, since I was a girl, they didn't let me play with them.

I linked this to my HL english class because it's a stereotype that girls aren't as good as boys at sports, nor are they as fast, strong, or athletic. I then linked this to my TOK class because I started to think about how stereotypes are formed. Who gets to set the false standards? There isn't one way of knowing, we learnt that at the beginning of the year, but how come society is so hung up on one topic of knowing? It still doesn't make sense to me. Stereotypes appeal to the emotions of those who are for the stereotypes and don't make any logical sense to me, personally. 

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IB Class Entry - Psychology & TOK

When I was signing up for my IB diploma classes as a sophomore, I knew right away that higher level psychology was something that I wanted to take. I have always been intrigued by sports psychology and I was curious as to how the mind works and the study of the mind. However, when I entered the class for the first time as a junior, I realized that my psychology class was teaching what I was interested in, but just the second year of the class. 

Each semester, we've been studying a different level of analysis of psychology; the biological, cognitive, and the socio-cultural level of analysis. The thing that we are learning in our first year psychology is basically all introductory and we are learning about different case studies, on which we are to build our HL Psychology knowledge on. 

Because I signed up to take the full IB Diploma, I'm required to take a Theory of Knowledge class. At first, I was dreading having this class twice a rotation, but after a while, I started to get intrigued in what the class had to offer. We've learned about the different areas of knowing and the different ways of knowing, and I feel that the one class that has the most connections to TOK is my psychology. Already, there have been some overlaps in what we've been learning, for instance, the case study of Phineas Gage. 

In psychology alone, there are so many different ways of understanding a matter, and there is never one REAL way of analyzing something, just like there isn't one REAL source of news in society. I found that TOK and psychology is similar because there are so many different biases that researchers in psychology have that are the same in TOK. We shouldn't be able to depend on one thing, and should therefore try to extend our knowledge as much as possible. One example of this is the examination of how reliable eyewitness testimonies are. In class, we were presented multiple case studies and videos that tested the accuracy of eyewitness testimonies. It was obvious, as the audience, that eyewitness testimonies are easily altered, and are therefore not reliable at all. 

This, in fact, is the same concept that I feel TOK and psychology have in common. There isn't one solid source of knowing that a "knower" has. 

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Personal Entry - Love

There are so many, too many, knowledge issues about love. We are living in a society where teen pregnancies, divorces, and polygamy are promoted on television. 

Growing up, I wasn't really interested in TV, but as I got older, and more mature, TV shows are actually things that people talk about. Not only are they entertaining, but sometimes they are the main source of what people talk about at school. However, a lot of these TV shows promote things that are against my beliefs and morals as an individual and it's important for me to stand firm, and not to get brainwashed by many of these topics.

Can you love more than one person at a time? Yes... But it depends on what kind of love. Of course, you can love your mother, your father, your brother or sister, but when it comes to romantic love, I feel like you can only really love one person at a time. For those people who cheat on their boyfriends or girlfriends, I believe that they don't really love either person if they are hurting them by going back and forth. It's not love that they feel, but rather a strong connection. 

To what extent can you do something for someone you love? I have a friend who has loved one boy romantically in her life. Megan (name changed) and Trevor (name changed) were dating for about a year, and everything was going fine. She was a sophomore and he was a senior. When he graduated, he actually decided, because he loved Megan so much, that he was going to stay in Korea for another semester, just to be closer to her. Instead of going to university in the States, he decided to push it off and work in Korea for six months longer. They were able to see each other often, but in the end, Megan realized that their relationship wasn't going to work out. She called it off about 3 months into her junior year, and Trevor was left in Korea with nothing to do. His life was dedicated to working during the day and then coming to school to hang out with her during cross country, since he ran too. They would run together and then workout, and they would see each other everyday. However, after she broke off their relationship, Trevor had nothing to look forward to anymore. He was stuck in Korea with no other friends and he was unmotivated to do anything. He started to ditch work, and his parents got fed up with him being home, being a couch potato. I think what Trevor did was a big mistake. Putting off college for his high school girlfriend is too much. Even though I love them together and they make each other happy, putting off your entire future for someone this early into your adult life is completely wrong. 

Love is such a complicated issue. You can so love someone so much you don't know how you can love someone so much. Or, you could love someone who doesn't love you back... but to what extent could you sacrifice yourself to get them to love you back?

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Personal Entry - Growing Up

Thankfully, my home life has always been solid and loving. My parents actually met when they were in middle school, and started dating in college. They attended the same church, and so they both had similar morals. I'm very close with my parents. I know it's hard for some people to admit this, but my parents are actually my best friends. I can tell them anything and they'll be there for me, whether it's just to listen, or to give me advice. I know some people who's mother is only like that, but I can honestly say my dad is just as close to me as my mother is. 

My home has always been an honest place, and I'd like to say that we try to bless all who enter our home. My family is pretty well-to-do, but I can honestly say that he has worked and earned every single cent of his wealth. My mother has also helped him, being a supportive wife and raising two kids, while also running a household. My dad used to be a professional golfer... he attended the University of Southern California on a full golf scholarship and didn't even have to send in any of his transcripts or SAT scores. He had the grades and on top of that, he was exceptional at golf. My mom majored in interior-designing and had her own business up until she got married to my dad. They got married at the church they grew up with, and looking through pictures, I can still recognize the halls and people that we go back and visit every summer. 

The one thing that my parents have taught me is how to be a good person. They have raised me to have certain morals and beliefs, and how to stand alongside of them. I've been attending church ever since I was born, and I'd like to consider myself a good person. 

When my parents were growing up, there wasn't anything else they knew besides the valley in California. Both of their homes were in California and they knew that when they went to college they were going to stay in the Golden State. All of their closest friends attended the same church and it's funny to say this, but all of my mom's friends all got pregnant around the same time. The three best friends actually married within the group, and I have two really close guy friends who were both born within a month of each other; Chris on May 16, Me on May 27, and Josh on June 18. Josh and Chris both live in La Canada, California, and it's just my family who lives in Korea.

The part that I want to emphasize is that my parents knew they were going to be close to their friends and family. They knew they weren't going to go far. They knew their future, they knew they were going to get married, all because they went to the same church. To me, this is so interesting. I'll never have that. The kids that go to church with me now, some of them just go because their parents force them to. The friends I'm closest to, some of them don't even go to church. I don't know where I'm going to go to college or what I'm going to study when I get there. Life is full of possibilities and growing up is something that I'm so afraid of. 

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TOK Entry - Emotion in Music

In TOK, we've been talking about emotion and how it's prevalent in fine arts. As a homework assignment, we were asked to bring in a picture, song, piece of art, movie clip, anything that evokes emotion. In this field-notebook entry, I wanted to talk about the emotion that is prevalent in music. 

Growing up, I was always interested in music. I started playing the piano when I was six years old, and had to quit in the seventh grade due to my passion for sports over practicing the piano. I also played the flute, and I still do, just not competitively anymore. After I quit the piano, my mom refused to pay for music lessons because she didn't want me to waste her money on something I wasn't going to keep up. Therefore, I went out one day and bought a cheap guitar with my friend. I taught myself how to play that summer, and never got a single lesson. 

Music is part of the area of knowledge of art. It wasn't until this year that I realized that music has a very strong connection to TOK and how it can be defined as the art or science of combining vocal and/or instrumental sounds to produce harmony, relative sounds, and also expression of emotion. To a rock performer, classical music may be boring and not relative to music, but to someone who perhaps majored in classical music in college, knows how much emotion one of Bach's symphonies can evoke. Culture, past experiences, and appeal can determine how we judge art. 

Music has the ability to communicate feelings, emotions, and stories without words. I am a strong believer that music is the universal language, aside from math. For example, a French musician can share his or her emotion through music to someone that doesn't speak or understand French at all just by using a certain chord progression that evokes a sad or depressed feeling to it. I've tried several times to explain to my parents why I often lock myself into my room and blast music, but I think it has to do with the music appealing to the current emotion and mood I'm feeling. 

Music has such a complex concept, but it's also so simple. It's simple in that you can match your emotion to a song you want to listen to, but it's complex in that it has the ability to explain emotions that can't be explained through words. 

Personally, I can't live without my iPod or iTunes library. Since I first got my first iPod, I've been collecting music. I love all types of music and up until last year, I had so many CD disks organized alphabetically on mulitple shelves in my room. However, my mom made me burn all of them and turn them into electrical copies. Music has such an appeal to me and I feel like music is something that can understand me and I can understand music when no one else can. 

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TOK Entry - Personal Emotions Inventory

1.     List as many emotions as you can that you have personally experienced. Over my entire life, I've experience so many emotions, I don't know if I can list all of them. I've felt sadness, happiness, excitement, anger, love, 

2.     Describe one experience of strong emotion you can remember from your childhood.  How did it affect you? There is one emotion that I will never forget from my childhood. My uncle wanted to do something impactful for someone, so he decided to enlist in the army. He wasn't a typical soldier, he was in charge of the military intelligence. He was stationed in South Korea in the Yongsan base, but then he was transferred to Iraq. We didn't have a chance to say goodbye, and we received an e-mail from him telling him he had been moved that morning. I didn't have a chance to say goodbye, and that was perhaps the saddest moment of my childhood. I was also scared, because I didn't know whether I was going to be able to see him again. What if something tragic happened and he passed away in Iraq without us saying goodbye? This emotion was felt even more by my mother, who's baby brother was being sent to Iraq. 

3.     How emotional are you?

a.     How intensely do you feel emotion (on a scale of 1-10, then describe)?  Do you cry or laugh easily? On a scale of 1-10, I have to say I'm a 6. I feel emotions very deeply and I tend to dwell on them for long periods of time. I'm able to cry easily nowadays... I couldn't before. I think part of the reason has to do with how much stress I've been getting from the IB diploma and Junior Year in general. I'm able to laugh about a lot of things, but recently, I've found myself to be more stoic than before. 

b.     Look back at your Myers-Briggs Type Indicator results.  What did they suggest about how emotional you are?  Do you agree? My Myers-Briggs Type indicator results said that I make decisions subjectively based upon my values and what is important to me. I feel this is very true. I try my best not to make rash, hyper decisions, and rather I tend to dwell on which decision to make and take my time, while thinking about the morals I have as a person. 

c.     Which emotions do you tend to feel more strongly?  Are you more susceptible to some emotions and less to others? I feel the emotion of guilt the most. I also feel susceptible to some emotions like confidence. I think this is because I play lots of sports, and I am exposed to both winning and losing. I realized that I feel the emotion of guilt the most during soccer season last year. During the the season, we won every single game of ours. It was like we were immune to losing and realizing what we were doing wrong. We were doing so well it was like we weren't doing anything wrong. However, during APAC, we lost our first game. It hurt so much more than the joy I felt when we had won. 

d.     How emotional are your immediate family members compared to you? My father is definitely more immune to emotions, while my mother on the other hand, is much more emotional than me. When she's sad, she cries, and when she's happy, she laughs. For her, theres never a moment when she's feeling mixed emotions. It's either one or the other. 

e.     Has your experience of emotions changed over time? For me, definitely coming into junior year has changed the way I feel some emotions. When I was stressed last year, I was SO stressed. No matter how much work I had to do, I was so stressed I couldn't function properly. I'd have panic attacks in class sometimes, and freak about a lot of things. However, now, since I've had to be stressed so many more times, I've realized that I don't get so stressed easily anymore. However, I'm still a teenager and there hasn't been ONE specific event that has changed me as a person. 

4.     What physical responses do you have to specific emotions?  Give some examples. When I get annoyed or bored, I tend to sigh often, and touch my hair or fingernails. When I get anxious or am shocked, I tend to stare at the clock, and touch my hair even more. I tend to try and fix things that are already in tact that don't really need fixing. When I get embarrassed, I start to get very red and my hands start to sweat. 

5.     Can you control your emotions, or do they control you? For me personally, I feel that my emotions affect me more than I can control them. I'm not sure how people are so good at keeping their feelings and emotions in tact. I can decide whether I want to act upon my emotions, but not by what I feel, unless I try my hardest to change my attitude about something. For instance, when I am nervous or anxious about something, it's very hard to stop thinking about it, so the nervousness prevents me from moving on in my life. 

6.     Do negative or positive emotions affect your behavior more? Personally. negative emotions affect my behavior more than any other emotions. For instance, when I get a good grade on my test, I'm more conscious about other people around me and how they might feel if they didn't get a good grade. I don't want other people to think that I'm cocky and full of myself, so I try even harder to contain my joy. However, if I got a bad grade on my test, all of my friends can read through my face and can tell that something's wrong. Immediately, their efforts turn to trying to make me laugh and feel better about myself. Also, when I'm in a bad mood at home, I tend to lock myself into my room and don't go out to talk to people. 

7.     Do you make decisions based on emotion or reason? Personally, my emotions and reason tend to play a big part in which decisions I make. For instance, if I'm in a bad mood, I tend to ignore and disregard some options. There was a time when I got a terrible grade on one of my tests and it happened to be on the same day as a college information session that I wanted to go to. However, since I was in a bad mood and feeling negative emotions, I decided not to go to this meeting, which, I learned later, was very beneficial with lots of information. 

8.     Do you feign/fake emotional response?  Why?  When?  Is it OK to do this? Yes, I have faked emotional responses before. During last year's volleyball APAC tournament, I played the entire tournament after a very serious injury. I had torn my exterior ligament in my left ankle, and I was supposed to be out for two months, but volleyball is my absolute most favorite sport, and there was no way I was going to give up going to APAC and KAIAC, so I rushed recovery into two and a half weeks. However, even though I was slower, not able to jump as high, and weaker in my left leg than before, it was obvious to everyone watching that I was playing the best I had ever played. But, when it came for the All-APAC selections, I was not one of them. Someone else received the award, and to be an encouraging teammate and supportive friend, I faked being happy for them. I was happy for them, but I was just upset for the selfish reasons. Honestly, I don't think this is something that should be OK to do. No one should have to fake their emotions, but there are times that you have to, in order to be polite and accepting of others.