Sam "Mr." Kochel's Web Site
(a work in progress, forever)
This web site is designed and run by Mr. Sam Kochel who teaches AP Psychology, CP Psychology, and Sociology at Channel Islands High School in Oxnard, CA. You can learn more about me on the "Me" page.
Here are some cool things to think about and use.
A decent look at and into all the biases we carry around: especially when it comes to political (and other social) ideas. But don't forget "Confirmation Bias," where people look to find confirmation of their beliefs by reading and watching things that report and support the point of view they already have. An example would be conservatives watching Fox "News" or liberals reading the Huffington Post.
Here's a chart showing an analysis of how biased or unbiased each major news source is. If you don't like this one, you can look for other ones...but why don't you like it...are you biased against the people or were the people making it biased, and how do we get past our bias?
Don't just give money to anyone. Find out how they are rated as a charity: do they get the job done? Charity Watchdog is good as well.
It ends up there are seemingly biological differences in how liberals and conservatives perceive the world around them in relation to things like threats and fear. It's not that different perhaps than how a Golden Retriever and a German Shepard might see the same stranger show up at the door
This happened on 10/22. And two of my students, Sophia and Maria were responding to me asking them how chronic pot users they know act when they don't get the marijuana they are hooked on, see the chat. Maria...oh my, cracking me up. They reason we were talking about this is that about 9% of marijuana users on average will become addicts. However, for those that started using a lot during their teenage years, 17% of those will become addicts. Far from a harmless drug for some people.
A strong theme we should all remember. A reason why we need to support children: particularly when their parents are not meeting all their needs for a variety of reasons
Video on Johnny Kim. It's a long video that I watched over a few days, but good. An inspiring story of coming from a bad background. He grew up with an alcoholic abusive father who was shot and killed by the LAPD in his own house when he was still young. He goes on to become a Navy SEAL, then gets his MD from Harvard and is now an Astronaut. He's married with kids and speaks about not wanting to transfer anything bad onto his own kids and just show them love. This video is from the Jocko Williams YouTube Channel is a disproportionately long part is about SEALs and military, I am guessing you could find a condensed version if you look.