I think the one thing I can do well is check my e-mail. Outside of that...what else is there? Apparently there's a lot mroe that I need to know! Much more!

The first thing I did was check out Dr. Leon James Home Page It was really cool to see the things that he has on his page, especially the clickable buttons. How can I get one of those?!!! I guess I just have to start little by little at first, then work my way up. I just thought that his page was pretty neat with the buttons and the pictures on them. Wil this comment help me to get a better grade? Just kidding!

Comments 1

Michelle Ota's Page

The first student home page I went to in Generation 1 was Michelle Ota's page. Can you guess why? We have the same first name! Well, I like her penguin. It's so cute. Again, there's that "pictures make it more pleasant" concept. So of course I wanted to go on with her reports.

I was going through Michelle's page and found something I really needed to read. It is in her lab report under Advice. In that paragraph she states that we should not procrastinate and that we should start things early (meaning our work for this class) because we do have other classes. And it takes so long to get the hang of the internet language and ".html" that by the time midterms roll around, we still haven't finished!

While looking around in her reports, I came across a section under her cursing that really caught my eyes. Well, she states that she read an article about cursing and one person's view on why people curse. That article says that it has something to do with age. I'm sure that aging may have a correlation with cursing, but to base this behavior on one cause or etiology is not correct.

Michelle also disagress with the author of the article. I think that it has more to do with the anger in a person and using that "therapeutic" process of "letting it all out." For me, personally, I try not to swear as much as I did before because I found that people have a really low opinion of people who swear! It's just not professional. When I swear, it's because of my inability to deal with it calmly, depending on the situation. But different people swear for different reasons. Some do it because their peers do it as part of their everyday speech. Some do it to relieve their frustrations. But I feel that blaming it on "age" is incorrect. Where did this woman do her study? Is she using the correct statistical methods to analyze her data? How does she explain the swearing of little children who pick it up on the playground????????

Comments 2

Todd Crawford's Page

The next page I decided to go through was Todd Crawford's Home Page. Not to be mean or anything.......but it's so plain. I know that keeping a home page simple is easy and quick to load but in order to catch the readers' eyes, one must at least put something appealing on the home page. It's Psychology I guess. In order to attract someone to something you have, you need to draw some kind of attention to it. And, looking at his page with just four or five links to other sites is not the way to do it.

So, in order for me to go on, I just had to click on one of those "clickables" so that I may move on to a hopefully more appealing and attractive page. I moved on to his Lab Reports. Not bad.......there is a noticeable improvement! But I guess what's important is the content, not just the pretty pictures.

I kind of thought that his labreport should have begun as a lab report rather than a topical index. So, if I were to really get Psychological on this guy's report, I would assume that because his pages aren't really organized, maybe his reports aren't either......just an assumption. No offense to this guy, but just using what I learned in Psychology. I know sometimes being judgemental has its consequences, but let's see if my predictions are correct.

I decided to just pick randomly one section of his report, which turned out to be entitled Reports. In his first line, there was already a typographical error. Now, I know that I'm doing something called using "labels" by making a judgement on a person because of my first impression of his page. And I don't even know the guy. In Psychology, we talk about being unbiased and being open to all possible explanations of why a person behaves the way they do. It's really simple to say, "I'm a pretty open person. I have an open mind and I'm open to any kind of person, whether he or she is white, black, yellow, fat, skinny, tall, short, or whatever." But I think that first impressions really do make a difference regardless of how open we think we are. Me, I thought I was one of those people who were "open-minded" but I realize that just bashing this guy's home page makes me a hypocrite. I guess all of us are. Well, I shouldn't generalize. Some of us are hypocrites at one point whether it be about a person or any aspect of our lives.

Moving on, he shows the stages of a person's driving makeover and the personalities that go with it. Well, in reading these steps, I find it difficult to do especially when you are in the car and someone has done wrong to you. For example, let's take one of my personal experiences that happened as recently as this morning. It's that "accordian effect" that everyone seems to talk about all the time. I was driving at least two cars away from the car in front of me in traffic, and also trying to avoid the rocks that the car in front of me might throw onto my car. Well, so much for that! This stupid idiot comes into our lane, right in front of me, not even giving me a wave to say "thanks!" And this was a 4x4 truck, with only one person I might add....in the carpool lane. I was pissed off! This emotion led me to say a bad word.

Now this is a good example of how difficult it is to control yourself especially in traffic. It's hard to stop and think, "now, should I really be feeling this way? Should I just be glad that he didn't bang my car?" This is difficult, and I really commend the people that are able to do so. Dr James? Are you one of those people????? I try my best. But I think I need more training! To change your ways of behaving, especially when you've been behaving that way for most of your life, is a real challenge. Traffic Psychology...will it work for me????

Comments 3

Jae Isa's Page

Now, why did I pick Jae Isa's Home Page to look at? Well, I was kind of thinking about the spelling of his or her name. I can't decide whether Jae is a girl or a boy. Well, here I go again, being judgemental. I guess it really doesn't matter whether Jae is a male or a female but it's nice to know so that I know how to refer to he author's reprt. Should I refer to it as "her reprot" or "his report?" Well, since I can't figure it out unless I see the person, I'll refer to this as "Jae's Report" or "Jae's Home Page."

Anyway, I looked at Jae's Lab Report and found an interesting topic. Car Phobias. The last time I heard about "phobias" in general were in my Abnormal Psychology class. And even then, we basically focused on a certain set of phobias. But now that I think of it, there are people who are afraid of stepping into a car. Hearing about all of these fatalities on the roads must have really made an impact on these people. Being continuously exposed to such dangers can really take its toll on people I guess. So, phobias are learned. A good example is this car phobia.

Jae gives examples of being afraid of being in a car, and also "on the other side of the coin" as Jae puts it, there are people that see the car as a "safety blanket" from the dangers, especially when stepping out of the house. I really don't know about that. When you really think about it, you're really not safe anywhere. In the house, someone could slam their car into your living room from the roads or a tree could fall on the roof. Either way, it's just as dangerous to be in the house. I think that these people need to be taught that dangers are everywhere and that we can't hide from it. If it's time for you to die, you will die. Well, that's from a Catholic point of view. But how do you teach or treat these people that won't leave the house and get into a car?

In all of my studies, I think the most effective I've read about is Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in which you do self-talking therapy in order to calm your anxieties. I guess this is the same technique, kind of, that Dr. James stresses when thinking about Traffic Psychology. Just taking little steps toward your goal, and then when you feel comfortable enough, go out and do it a little at a time. And when the adrenal glands start to pump out that adrenaline, we can use our "self-talking" techniques to get through it. Good concept, but difficult to learn and do.

One more thing that caught my eye in Jae's report was on Noise Pollution. This topic just irritates me. Jae makes a little comment about noise pollution being an issue in someone else's report, but for me, I can go on a whole day talking about, or rather, complaining about, noise pollution. I don't understand why people like to turn their radios up so loud in their cars. Maybe it's an ego thing for guys. Well, I really shouldn't generalize it to only guys since girls do it also, but regardless of what sex the person is, I think it's just the attitude that "My car has sounds. You are envious! Admit it!" Because, I'm sure they must realize at some point while they're driving that the radio is too loud and that their tympanic membranes, or ear drums, will tear because of all of that hard vibrations against that delicate membrane. But what do I think of it? Well.......it's just pollution. We really need to clean it up!!!!

Comments 4

Laura Izutsu's Page

The next home page I went to in Generation 1 was Laura Izutsu's Home Page. Well, I think her page is pretty simple and very straightforward. But one thing that really turned me off, it doesn't take much, were the missing icons. I'm one of those people that really need some stimulation because of my "wandering eyes." My attention span is really short unless I have something to keep me interested, as I already mentioned earlier in this report. This page is okay compared to the others I've seen that are completely blank! They probably didn't get much attention on their pages.

I now know why Dr. James doesn't want us to make our titles blink. If we happen to have a slow computer, it takes a little longer to blink and I think people want to know right away what the page is all about without waiting for the title to blink before they can read it. And when we have slow computers, we never know how long it will take. Maybe forever! But, now I know.

While reading through her reports, I came across the tailgating topic. How do I feel about this? Well, I was reading her comments and I do think that the Honolulu Police Department needs to really enforce their laws consistently instead of ticketing some people some of the time, and at other times, letting them off with a simple warning. Well, how effective is ignoring the problem? Not very effective. I think the whole reason for laws is to have people abide by them and be reprimanded for breaking the laws. So, I really don't understand why laws are there in the first place.

Laura makes a comment at the end of the paragraph that says, "So unfortunately, the only way people will actually stop tailgating is if they experience an accident resulting directly from tailgating." Well, I think that if that's the only way that people learn, then there is no other way. The laws are set so that people may follow them, not so people can follow them sometimes and at other times, just wave them off as simple rules that were meant to be broken. One problem with the law enforcement is that they don't enforce the law, which I already said. The other thing is that innocent people are banged from behind because of these careless drivers that do not follow the rules. So what can we do about saving the innocent? Nothing. The law enforcers or even the law makers need to take into consideration these innocent victims and really think about how they can make it safer on the roads for everyone, including those that tailgate. If not, what good is the law enforcement system?

Comments 5

Todd Takitani's Page

Okay, I've come to my last person for Generation 1. And who's the lucky guy? Well check out Todd Takitani's Home Page. Well, it's plain like the others but I've already gotten used to it. But, I'm kind of getting restless because their reports take so long to load. Well, I got the explanation on why they take so long but when trying to find the specific place that you want to get to, it's hard to do. It makes it more difficult that his index doesn't work because the server can't be located. Another difficulty is that I can't go into View Source since the text is too long for it to load. So, I guess I can't link to it so whoever is reading this can see it to.

I guess I need to summarize it. This guy is from the neighbor island so I guess most of his travels are through the interisland flights early in the morning and late at night. I think that, referring to Car Phobias, some people think that the airplane is much safer than an automobile. Maybe these people with car phobias should think about chartering their own personal helicopters. I guess one argument for this is that there is less traffic in the air. It's very rare for numerous airplanes or helicopters to be in traffic wing to wing. But in order to control air traffic, they have the main air traffic controllers that are responsible. Which makes me have a lower opinion of the whole law department. I mean, what are they doing? Are they just there to scare people when they are aiming the radar gun at cars coming their way? I don't understand. I thought they were supposed to protect us, not be against us! What is this world coming to?

Comments 6

Letitia Lujan's Page

Okay, I have finally reached the Generation 2 area. Well, what do I think about their work? I think that the pages look so much better than do the Generation 1 work. I guess it's because Dr. James has learned more about how to make the students make their pages more attractive and there's also new things that they can do with their pages. I really like it!

So, why did I choose Leticia's page? Well, I know her, of course. I had her for one of my classes last semester. But, to get back to the subject, I checked in her Report 1 in which she has all of her feelings about Traffic Psychology and other related topics.

In her report, she made a comment on Why we need Traffic Psychology and I was really interested in why she thinks we need it. Well, I really agree with her when she said that there are other people on the road and everyone else's lives are in our hands when we decide to drive as recklessly as we do today. We need to take the focus off of ourselves for once and try thinking about the other people. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that accidents almost always happen to more than one person. And to hurt an innocent bystander or innocent driver is just too tragic for one to handle. The loss of lives is at stake and if that does happen, that guilt will remain inside of a person forever, even if the person does go through therapy. Therapy helps a person to deal with the traumatic experiences and go through the stages of accepting the ordeal, not helping one to forget what had happened.

Letitia also talks about sidewalk traffic as well as traffic within buildings and other public places. She states that she had a Personal Experience while she was at a dance club. It really interested me because I've had a couple of these experiences myself. She said that she was minding her own business and doing her own thing when two women came charging in, hand-in-hand, and one woman hit Letitia on the shoulder. Without thinking, after she realized that the woman was not about to turn around and apologize, she hit her back and the woman fell forward from the shove. The woman then apologized, but the focus fell on Leticia. She said that she realized that it was wrong of her to do that and she felt more embarrassed than had she been if she hadn't done anything.

I think that before I took this class, I would have done the exact same thing. I really hate it when tourists, especially Japanese tourists to this. It's not that I'm prejudiced against them. It's just that they are the only one's that I've ever had experiences like this with. But, I always feel compelled to hit them or shove them back when they are trying to pass through a crowded area. I think to myself, "why can't they wait in the back like the rest of us? We've been waiting forever, and here they are trying to get in the front. It's unjustifiable!" But along with this class, I also learned from my Cross-Cultural Psychology class that some people are just socialized that way. For example, in Japan, there are so many people that, in order for them to get what they want and get where they want to, they have to be aggressive and push their way through. Well, I understand that but it's difficult not to react before you actually think about it. But I guess I really need to try it! For my sake and for the sake of others.

Comments 7

Sol Valdez's Page

Why did I choose to go to Sol Valdez's Home Page next? Well, I know him too. You know, it seems as though Generation 2 had more freedom to write what they wanted than Generation 1. For example, check out Sol's heading on his home page. He includes the word "dweeb" at the end of the heading. Now, I would feel rather insulted if I didn't know him. But, that's just me. I can't speak for anyone else. Anyways, the graphics on his page are also impressive. I'm beginning to like Generation 2 a lot! Besides, their topics and reports are a little more interesting and a lot less restricted in what they write.

I saw a section on Advice for when you are being tailgated in his report. Because I know that Sol is a pretty funny guy, I decided to check it out. You should too! It's hilarious. I never thought of doing anything of the things his advised us to do, but now that I think about it, it would be kind of smart.

Some things in his advice column are really out-of-this-world. Take for example getting flood lights from a 747 and installing them in the rear of the automobile. That seems pretty unrealistic, though I'm sure the person would not even think twice about tailgating you. But pulling a gun out a showing it out may be a little bit dangerous. What if the other driver who is tailgating you really has a gun....a real one, not a plastic one that he suggested. Well, what do you do in that situation? Sit there and pray to the Lord up above that he won't shoot you?

I don't really think we can afford to take these chances with our lives, especially when we have passengers in the car. It was really funny to read his advice but when you think about it, it's just plain bad attitude. Just pull over and let the person go, no matter what a jerk they are by tailgating you! Don't sink down to their level. Look at me! I can't believe I'm giving out advice! Whatever I say, if I give any kind of advice, don't follow it until I have become a true "Traffic Psychologist."

Before moving on to the next student in Generation 2, one particular topic caught my eye about Manual Transmission. He states that an author wrote somehwere that cars with manual transmission cause people to be aggressive drivers. Well, I really disagree with that. For me, I drive a manual transmission car and I don't feel that I've become more of an "aggressive driver" than I ever was. I think what it really is is the person's personality about driving. Of course if you have a sportier car, which usually have a lot of manual transmissions, you tend to drive faster and more aggressive, maybe to show off their nice car. But for me, I like my car and everything but I choose not to show off and drive aggressively.

One reason for this is that it's a new car and it would really be idiotic of me to abuse it while I'm still trying to break it in. My fiance has a CRX that I also drive. It's a manual transmission 1986 model and I still don't drive aggressively with that car. I really think it's the person rather than the car that makes the driver "aggressive." Besides, if the manual or automatic transmission mattered, I would think that a driver with automatic transmission would be ripping it faster since they don't have to do any extra work with the clutch and shifting gears. But then again, that's just me.

Comments 8

Sharla Supnet's Page

Okay, on to my next victim. This is really fun looking through all of these pages. I don't know why I didn't start earlier. If I had known browsing through the internet would be this enjoyable, I would have taken the time to just have fun rather than waiting till the last minute. I could really grow to like doing this.

Anyways, I picked Sharla Supnet's Home Page to check out next because, you guessed it, I know her too. When you are a Psychology major, you tend to see a lot of people that you know in your classes because Psychology is just so interesting! Besides, everyone is trying to finish their prerequisites so that they can graduate, just like me.

Her home page is pretty simple. But even though there was only one picture of the penguin at the top of the page, I like it. Simple, yet cute. I love penguins. I just love their little waddles. It's just sooo cute! But anyway, I thought I already saw that penguin in someone else's home page also. It must be stolen! Oh no! She's a criminal! Just kidding! If she's a criminal, then by my definition, I'm a criminal too! But that's alright. Where else am I going to get pretty pictures if not from those creative minds around the world. I guess I just have to be careful that I don't get caught. Well, Dr. James will know, so what's the sense? I'll just steal his icons!

One section in her reports than I haven't seen in anyone else's is on Carjacking. I never really thought about carjacking as relating to Traffic Psychology, but I guess now that I really think about it, it is. When someone carjacks you, I guess you would really need to calm yourself down because those who carjack often times have a gun in order to have the upper hand at the victim. It makes sense. You need to think before acting because if you just act on impulse and try to steal the gun away, or any other type of weapon they may have, that could mean your life. I would rather stay alive and lose my car than to risk my life for a car that would have rusted on you in about six or seven years.

Sharla states that any car is at risk and they do it for many reasons. I agree. It doesn't matter how nice or how ugly your car may be. All that matters is that it moves, it has an engine, and it works. Even the ugliest car may get carjacked. I think that people just do it because they're desparate to sell parts. If that's not the reason, then they do it just to do it or just to go on a joyride. I agree with Sharla when she says "Beware!" No one is safe, especially in the safest neighborhood. You can't set boundaries where you don't allow "suspicious" people. That would go against the US constitution. So how do you prevent this from happening? I really don't know. But if you find the sollution, tell me!!! Please!

Okay! Stop right there! I see this aggression this again! I don't know what it is about me and "aggression" but when they start comparing Gender in Aggression, I just think..........get defensive!!!!!

Sharla doesn't really have an opinion on the gender issue but I sure do. She states that Jo Allen of Generation 1 says that some females are more aggressive than are males. Well, I think that the state of mind of the person driving has a lot to do with how aggressive they are. I think men and women are equally aggressive, regardless of what others think. I haven't seen how everyone drives, but I've seen a lot of aggressive women on the road, and it's not a pretty sight. Maybe it's that "show-off" thing where they want to act brave for the guys on the road. I really don't know what the reason is. But when it comes down to the nitty gritty, the main thing is that aggressive driving endangers a lot of people and the drivers should be aware of that instead of using their alterior motives as their guide to how they drive.

Comments 9

Denise Tanaka's Page

I have to admit, I don't know this person, but I've never seen Denise Tanaka's Home Page before. Well, there's a first for everything. Well, almost everything. I thought her page was the worst so far. Not to be mean but her icon at the top does not even work! That just ruins everything for me, the person that gets so fascinated with pictures and icons. Well, actually, since I'm at home working, the colors on my screen don't come up too good, so I can't really see the picture anyways! But in general, pictures are a really good eye-catcher! Trust me! Besides, her heading blinks!

Well, let's look at her report relating to Convoys. To tell you the truth, I have no idea what the purpose of convoys are, except for the usual convoys for funerals or weddings. But other than that, why do mini trucks or high trucks make a convoy around the island? They just cause a lot of unnecessary traffic. And the thing that really makes me upset is the fact that they do not go to the farthest right lane so that everyone who is in a hurry can pass them. Instead, they take up a lot of lanes. What is the deal with that? I mean, if they plan to do that, they should go to another state where there a lot of roads to get to places. Hawaii is just a rock! And these stupid mini trucks drive so slow because they don't want their bottoms to scrape. How in the world to they get over speed bumps? I don't get it!!!!

Denise said in her report that she couldn't really find anything on convoys. But then why did she choose to put it in her report? I don't know. Some people's reasoning is so different from the norm sometimes. I know I'm not one to determine what is normal and what is not, but I would think that a report consists of items that you can well explain, not avoid if you can't find anything. She should have tried to find another topic! Like me, for instance. If I run out of topics, I just elaborate on the ones that I have. But that's only if I have the time. I guess that kind of reasoning is also bad. Well, to each his own!

Well, I've grown tired of criticizing other people's pages. In fact, I feel rather bad for doing so because my pages aren't all that perfect either. I guess this teaches us a lesson. We can't really judge people from only one perspective. We need to get a feel of that person in many different aspects. It's just like driving. If we meet someone on the road and think that they drive a little too recklessly, then we tend to give that person a bad look and try to avoid them. But most of the time, a person in the driver's seat is not the same person outside of the driver's seat. That's why we need to parallel our personalities and be pleasant all around! Now, is that really possible? I wonder!