Hello! My TED talk would be about the power of conscious choice over biological and environmental forces.
Hey! So sort of nature vs nurture stuff?
Yes But less about which one is more powerful, and more about our power to make decisions to change our lives despite those influences
Wow that sounds really interesting, what made you interested in this topic?
Well I'm in an AP psychology class right now, and when psychologists look at the decisions that people make, they always try to explain the decision using nature and nurture And I just started thinking that it was important to also look at the concept of free will and how it relates to decisions Not just other factors that we don't really control
Yeah, there's definitely a balance between the two
Yeah, there is What about you? What would your TED talk be about?
Honestly, I'm not sure what I would do a TED talk on. I guess I might like doing one on procrastination- although there seem to be a lot already done on that I recently wrote a cause and effect essay on procrastination and I think I would focus on explaining that there are a lot more causes than we think there are and also the damage that it does to us physically, mentally, and emotionally
That would be interesting I would agree that there are a lot of materials out there about procrastination but I also think that it hasn't been fully realized as the issue that it is
Yeah!
I think that people sort of make light of it when it can be really damaging And hard to control as well
Yeah it really is a problem, its sort of a bad cycle/habit to break
What are some of the causes that you wrote about in your essay?
Sometimes people procrastinate because they are following the examples of others, sometimes they just have planning fallacy sort of thing, or sometimes they it's just a part of their personality But those are the smaller/less common causes The bigger/more common causes are fear of success, fear of failure, depression, and perfectionism
I would agree What do you think are some of the solutions that individuals or communities could implement to reduce procrastination?
So there are some very literal changes that we can make, such as focusing on rewarding the "early bird" or stop enabling procrastinators But I think that the biggest change has to be made within the procrastinator themselves. A lot of times the cycle continues because after procrastinating and receiving a bad score or performing below the standard, procrastinators have a mind set of "I am bad" instead of "I did something bad" So they experience a lot of shame instead of guilt. Which is not healthy because instead of encouraging them to improve the next time, they keep a negative mindset So I guess the individual has to learn to forgive themselves and the society/community/school/home has to encourage and support that
Yeah that makes sense it's sort of a fixed mindset sort of thing
Exactly So are you planning on going into psychology?
Yeah, I plan to major in psych After that I want to get a graduate degree in educational psychology
Wow that's awesome, so you're planning to teach it? at the high school or college level?
Well it's more of studying the psychology of education Then I can work for schools or for the government and train teachers/design cirriculum
Oh!
Yeah. :) I have a big dream that one day I will completely change the American educational system but it's hard to say if that's even possible
That's actually really cool- and hey it's pretty possible if you go after it! you could do a lot of good with that. You might even actually give a TED talk one day haha!
That would be exciting :) What are you planning to study at BYU?
I'm planning on studying genetics or biology or neuroengineering or biomedical engineering- something on the sciencey side, but I'm not exactly sure what yet
That sounds super cool What made you interested in those studying those particular sciences?
I  like biology and engineering and I really love anatomy/physiology- but I also don't want to go into something as hands-on as being a doctor/nurse/dentist So I'm hoping to go into something that is more on the research side of things
Yeah, that makes sense
So what's your favorite thing to do during your free time?
I don't have much of that But I like to play the piano and garden
Haha yeah free time is hard to come by That's cool. Do you/your family have a garden?
Yeah, we grow vegetables every summer My dad used to take charge, but now I do a lot of the work
That's cool, my family lived with my grandparents for five years and they live on a farm so we used to garden every summer as  well. We still spend a lot of time helping them Are you the oldest sibling?
Yeah I am What about you?
Yep same here. How many siblings do you have?
4
Oh I'm one off! I have 3- 2 sisters and a brother
Yeah, I have 3 sisters and a brother
You gonna miss them when you leave for college? Or are you ready to leave?
I will miss them, but I'm also really ready to leave My parents can be sort of overprotective and I'm just starting to get a bit annoyed
Haha me too- right now I feel like I could really use some freedom but I know I'll miss them once I'm gone I also feel like I need to stay to protect my siblings- like I'll miss something important if I leave And I know what you're talking about with the parent thing
Yeah. Really it's a sort of rough time in life because you're sort of an adult and you start taking on a lot of responsibilities but you don't have all the freedoms
Yeah
What are you most excited for about college?
No more high school(ers)! And the independence and the new friends and the fun What about you?
I'm excited about the independence as well and I'm also hoping for less required homework and more of just doing what I need to do to learn the material
Yeah you're right- I mean I know the classes will be harder, but we at least won't have school every day for 8 hours plus all the busy work and homework
Yep. In a lot of my classes now I do work over material I already understand just because it is assigned
Yeah Are you planning on living on or off campus?
On campus, but I haven't received housing yet. I'm on the waiting list What about you?
I'm living off campus- the dorms filled up super fast You going summer term or fall?
Fall, you?
Yeah, I'm going in the fall too. Well I gotta go, but it was nice talking with you! My name is Mireya by the way.