Late Night Chapter 10 Summary Thinking

        In chapter 10, Employee Satisfaction and Commitment, the correct procedures are talked about for how to correctly satisfy an employee so that they will want to be committed to the job. This chapter discusses why an employer should care whether an employee is satisfied or not. It explains what causes employees to be satisfied and dissatisfied with their jobs and how that correlates to job commitment. It goes into detail about whether an employee is a good fit for the organization or whether the tasks being performed are enjoyable, and if they aren’t, how best to deal with these situations. It describes how to measure job satisfaction and commitment via standard inventories or custom inventories. It then goes into what it is to be dissatisfied with a job and the negative effects that has such as absences and turnovers.

        Currently, this chapter hit home. I obviously do not like my job and have done nothing but complain about it, at every chance I get. I would be fired if I wasn’t allowed to complain about it. I have every intention of getting a degree and leaving the postal service for something that challenges me and makes me feel like I actually contribute something to something, actually feel like I’m making a difference and helping people. Standing around for 8 hours a day pushing mail into an up-ender and removing the empty equipment after the mail has been dumped out of the equipment is by no means what I call satisfaction. We do have job rotation if we would like it, and while it does sound like that would be a reward in itself, like working on an assembly line and being able to take the trash out, but it's not after years of only being rewarded with mundane tasks to replace mundane work. No matter how you slice that pie it's mundane all the same. It wouldn’t be half as bad if they allowed us to read a book or newspaper or something we liked personally while we were waiting for the mail to process through the machine, but we are not. We get personally reprimanded on the work floor like children, as we are supposed to stand there and wait and be watched like little children by employees who go up to be 204B’s (management then come down to keep their job bid, then go up, then come back down then go back up..etc) (and I’m supposed to look at them as authoritative, that’s a babysitter).

        When I went for this job it was because nepotism runs ramped in any government job despite what they say. Since my dad worked for them and he told me about the test, I took the test, and here I am, because at that time, 8 years ago, the postal service still boasted great advantages over most other non-career jobs. Since I was still in college it seemed like a good fit; as time went on it turned more and more into a horrible fit. Now I am counting down the days till I can leave and move on to something meaningful. I feel for the older workers there that will not leave because they feel they are too old to move on to something better, which is most of the employees there. Those of us who are younger have been actively seeking employment elsewhere and have displayed our dissatisfaction with our jobs through absenteeism. In my 8 years, I have seen FMLA forgery been rewarded with a month off and her job back with back pay, a fistfight on the work floor ended in a 3-month suspension with rehab and both their jobs back with back pay, chronic sexual harassers have been shifted around but never lost their job, people who only work 2 or 3 days a week every week continue to keep their job despite the fact that you only get 12 weeks FMLA a year, people who call off for months at a time get to clock back in when they feel like it and keep their jobs like they never missed a day, a man who got a year and a half suspension for getting arrested and he kept his job and got back pay and leave. Yes, I completely understand I just listed job security to a T, but I also described a hostile work environment where employees get away with anything and therefore do anything because of ill management and poor execution of supposed policies, lack of discipline, lack of morals and values. Therefore, is it really any wonder why I complain and have a complete lack of satisfaction and commitment to this job.

        My critical analysis of this chapter is that this chapter is also right. Social Learning theory is right, Social information processing theory is also right, and Discrepancy theory is also right. It’s also extremely correct that if an employee is dissatisfied with his/her job they will react by lowering their job performance in retaliation if they feel they cannot leave their situation due to personal reasons.

Late Night Chapter 9 Summary Thinking

        In chapter 9, Employee Motivation, the correct procedures are talked about for how to correctly motivate an employee. This chapter discusses whether there a predisposition, through personality, self-esteem intrinsic motivation or needs of achievement and power, to become motivated. Also how to go about meeting the employees’ values and expectations through clarifying job expectations and employees needs. This chapter discusses the measurability of employee goals in relation to the company, the goal specificity, and its relevance. It also discusses the self-regulation theory with regards to employees receiving feedback on their goal achievement progression. The chapter then discusses the types of rewards an employee can get for achieving his/her goals and the integration of incentive plans and the difference between rewards and punishment.

        When I first started working for the postal service the plant manager had employee appreciation cookouts. The 1st 2 years I was there they did it twice a year. The next 2 years it went to once a year. In the next 3 years, it went from a cookout to one day where they ordered pizza for everyone. So far this year, it’s been nothing, and since our plant manager has changed again, I don’t sense this one as being all to employee incentive oriented. Otherwise, we used to work hard so that we could get approved for a certain day off, like maybe the pirate home opener or first penguin playoffs, but that has since ceased. They have made it abundantly clear that they are not granting any special leave requests to anyone for anything. They used to support company picnic day at Kennywood Park and have since quit doing that. In the employee appreciation department of things we the employees can definitely feel the financial hurt that the postal system is going through. However, in the amount of wasted resources we consume and dispense you wouldn’t be able to tell one bit. I believe they cut down forests for trees and make new housing developments in wooded areas just so the post office can waste paper products and they don’t even recycle. Our input/output ratios have become so out of sync that we the employees have lowered our inputs to match those postal outputs. They have since been subjected to the increases in health care costs that make the benefits we get not that desirable anymore because in order to support and the whole family you are now paying in upwards of $200 bi-weekly and you still have high co-pays. Our salaries have been in a wage freeze for years now so we have received no cost of living increases despite gas increases and health care increases. There is no way an employee can have a life of any kind outside the doors to the post office because while the news reports post offices closing and financial instability, at my building they are dishing out overtime like its candy and unless you get a doctor to sign off that you cannot work more than an 8 hour day or 40 hour week then you must be there with not one thank you or anything. There is no organizational justice, we have no say in how things are run and every day is like a brand new day, like the post office has never sorted mail before. It’s confusing and there is no incentive to be hard working at all. What once was a job that everyone thought was great has vastly changed into a drone assembly line of unhappiness. In fact, they don’t even hire anyone anymore with the assumption that you’ll have job security or great benefits and pay. People are now hired with the ability to be “let go” at any time and benefits are limited and pay has drastically decreased.

        My critical analysis of this chapter is that this chapter is right. Its theories are right and its evaluation of how companies can motivate employees is right on the mark and more so, its analysis of how employees will react to lack of motivation is spot on too.

Late Night Chapter 7 Summary Thinking

        In chapter 7, Evaluating Employee Performance, the correct procedures are talked about for how to correctly perform an employee performance evaluation. From determining a reason to perform one, if there are any environmental and/or cultural limitations, determining who will do the evaluation, and the best appraisal method to be used to obtain the desired goals of the organization. It discusses how to train raters, how they should observe and document employee behaviors and working conditions, then how they should take their information and evaluate. This chapter also explains the many different rating errors that can occur and the reasons that these errors may arise, their effects, and/ or how they can be solved. It then explains the best ways in which to explain to employees the results from the performance appraisal, critical incidents logs, and/or any other observations made by the supervisor. Finally, this chapter covers the best ways in which an organization and/or supervisor should handle a termination if it is needed and making sure that the legal aspect of any of these actions is done with fairness to avoid the potential possibility of a lawsuit by any employee.

        I do not think I have had more than a dozen performance appraisals over my work span, and I have been working since I was 15. I have worked for several different retail and food places most of which I did not stay at for very long because they were not the kind of job I wanted as my career and I when I found a better paying job I moved on. So, to some degree, I wasn’t at most of my jobs long enough to get a performance appraisal when I was much younger. The jobs I have gotten performance appraisals from did follow some of the guidelines stated but only loosely. They mostly went along the lines of..


~Hi


                         ~Hi


~Just wanted to let you know how you were doing so far.


                         ~OK


~You understand how to do the job, you understand what needs to be done and you get it done.


                          ~OK


~So, keep up the good work


                           ~OK


~Do you have any questions?


                           ~Nope, I’m good.


~OK, back to work.


                            ~OK


        Even at the postal service, its short and to the point. The postal service hardly ever does an evaluation. I think in the almost 8 yrs I’ve been there I have had maybe 3. They did observe my work and they had a sheet for it that they rated my performance on, I believe using the graphic rating scale, with a comments section, that usually said “keep up the good work”. They would hand me a copy afterward and that was that. Keep working.

        The only time they pulled me into the office for a sit down was after my son was born when I started missing more work than usual due to the hard time I had finding people to watch him. It was decided that I should move back to the night shift, so I did. My supervisor at the time was very nice, it was more like friends conversing than a boss and an employee and she listened to what I had going on and we thought of some solutions and night shift was the best and there was a bid up for it so that was what we decided I would try for.

        Not that I don’t think that companies out there don’t have and practice these policies that our textbook refers to, I just have never worked for those companies; or the supervisors that I have had, have never adhered to those policies. So I again don’t have a critical analysis, because what is there to analyze when the book is telling it straight forward how a company should, in a perfect world, handle any and all situations and circumstances. How a company can be and will be at its optimal. It’s kind of hard to critique what has already been critiqued to such a level that it made it into print as being the best way to accomplish a successful business.

Late Night Chapter 3 Summary Thinking

        In chapter 3, Legal Issues In Employee Selection, the correct procedures are talked about for how to legally hire and retain an employee. It gives sufficient case law that can be referenced to illustrate each point. It explains what the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is, as well as a description of the legal process in relation to employment law. It explains how a person can tell whether a case would have merit, based on a discriminatory act, or not. This chapter also explains harassment, Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Affirmative Action, Privacy Issues, Veterans Readjustment Act, pregnancy issues, as well as the Americans with Disabilities Act. It also explains what the 4/5ths rule is in adverse impact and how organizations are helping liable for sexual harassment charges. This chapter also gives a brief description of the fourth, fifth, and fourteenth amendments; as well as definitions for protected classes and what the protected classes are.

        I, personally, have had experience filing a sexual harassment charge against a boss for stating an unwelcomed gesture. I went o my union and filed a grievance and wrote letters to my union president when nothing was done and to the EEOC when nothing was done, but still, nothing was done. Since that boss was being sent to another building for supervisory training it was swept under the rug and when he got back, he was supposed to not be my boss but for some ‘postal/government’ reason, he still was running my section. I sucked it up and dealt with it and we both did not speak to each other thankfully, and because time is a wonderful thing, I never see him now. It just was another way that the postal service/government proved that it doesn’t matter what happens to the general worker as it just matters what their production output numbers look like for federal funding. When you make the laws you can adhere to and dismiss whatever laws you want to for ‘the bigger picture’. So personally I have no faith in any situation I cant clarify and take care of myself. I have also had wonderful issues with the post office in terms of pregnancy. When I got pregnant and eventually had to be put on sitting restrictions the post office says ‘please leave’. Unless you are hurt at work they claim they do not have to make sitting positions for anyone. My facility is a standing facility and unless the incident happened on postal property ‘pregnancy is not their problem’ and I couldn’t perform the duties necessary for my job so I was to go home until my doctor said I could come back. Which meant that before my baby was even born I was burning my FMLA time so after he was born I had less time to be at home with him. But hey, having a baby isn’t the concern of the federal government, only getting that mail to everyone who needs it so badly is, again ‘the bigger picture’. I know I sound cynical crass and very jaded and I am intending it to be that way. While I understand to some degree how a company must work in order to appease everyone, so that the bigger picture of billions of people getting medication or legal documents is necessary, what I don’t understand and never will is the governments’ lack of tack. It filters in all these ex-military hardheads who think women are nothing but moms and nurses and feel they get justified in this thought if one gets pregnant. The unions aren't what they were back in my parent's day either because they make deals with management to cushion their own asses instead of the greater good of the building but we have a no-strike clause that prohibits us from ever standing up like our for-fathers once did. So I digress because while I make such great money, I don’t have enough to pay an attorney to fight an organization such as the post office.

        I do not have a critical analysis of this chapter. It’s a cut and dry chapter about laws.

Late Night Chapter 2 Summary Thinking

        In chapter 2, Job Analysis and Evaluation, the correct procedures are talked about for how to create a proper job analysis and evaluation. Also how to who should or is allowed to give an analysis or evaluation. Also how and who can perform a job analysis and evaluation. Only those who have been trained can give a proper job analysis, and only certain people, such as subject matter experts, should be the ones to be examined or evaluated. It would not be in the best interest of the company to base and analysis and/or evaluation off an employee with a poor work ethic. It also discusses other job analysis methods that are needed to supplement additional information that is needed for full and complete job analysis and evaluations; such as information about worker's activities and job equipment and ergonomics. Also, it discusses how to make sure that evaluations are done correctly so that pay rates and equality remain fair and intact.

        I actually found this chapter comical, not so much a funny haha kind of comical, as a, 'wow, yeah right' comical. I work for the United States postal service, a wonderful branch of the United States government and I assure you that they do not adhere to any format that would be considered employee beneficial. I think they actually get a kick out of making postal employees go off the deep end, i.e. 'postal'. While we have signs up all over about ergonomics and our bosses have said work safe. In no way shape or form does it come down to that. When there are thousands upon thousands of pieces of mail coming through our one building a night to process for early morning dispatch to the local area post offices to have in time for there carrier dispatches, there are no nice guys there is no protocol, there is no following a job analysis, and in my almost 8 yrs of being there, I've been given one performance evaluation that was marked all great because I was making sure the mail got into the box for dispatch that’s it. They do have job descriptions that are written for each job bid that each person has however they are one line, and the bulk of that one line says 'and other duties assigned by your supervisor', to cover their butts so they can send you where they need you to do whatever at anytime.

        Even if I think back to other jobs I've had before the post office, I can almost guarantee that most of blue-collar, fast food, clean up in aisle one, paper or plastic, that dress looks great on you, jobs don’t adhere to those guidelines because when your dealing with customer satisfaction and slapping happy faces on as many people as you can in short spans of time with high school graduates and low educated underachievers a job analysis and evaluation protocol go out the window. There is just no need to waste time and money having the stuff of that nature when your employee turn over rate is high. So to me reading this information was dry and unrealistic form the backbone of society’s jobs or government jobs. But that’s just my opinion from my experience.

        My own personal critical evaluation of the material is that it is too drawn out. Much like a lot of areas of employment in this world, this is another field that is drawn out to create jobs. There is what 8 billion people in this world who need to survive and make a living somehow doing something to kill their time before they die and so we have branched off every subject as much as we can and created as many subsets and fields as we can so that people can attain jobs. I think that this material stated in this chapter is much like that. A job analysis, while for legal aspects I know HAS to be as long and winding as the day is long so to avoid needless grievances and legal disputes, do not have to be so detailed. It just needs to hit the major points clearly. Again, I understand that due to an over suing happy nation of lazy get rich quick people, there is no way we can be simple clear cut and to the point anymore. We have to take between 2 and 5 pages in length to go over everything and every potential possibility because it’s those companies like the post office who have unions filing grievance upon grievance for job description violations round the clock.

Self Analysis Paper

                                                                     Self Analysis

            This paper will be discussing who I am through a self-analysis that uses the Five-Factor Model of Personality and personal reflection. I will explore the genetic factors of my personality as well as examine my motives and needs. I will discuss my pattern of emotions and my emotional reactions as well as examine relevant aspects of my self. Then I will finish up by looking at my overall personality and my social interactions.

            According to the Five-Factor Model of Personality, my behavior in social situations is average extroversion showing agreeableness and friendliness to be also scaled as average, in relation to my interaction with others. I have a relatively high conscientiousness to be organized and persistent with my goals. I try to be as methodical as I can about everything I do as much as my environment around me will let me, without letting it get to me that everything everyone else does can’t be organized. I have a relatively low neuroticism level despite my surmounting stress levels I seem to always put upon myself. While having a relatively high amount of openness that allows me to see things from as many different perspectives as I can.

            Genetically, I am made up of bull-headed, highly intuitive, opinionated ways. I am a product of my environment and I can see both my mother and my father in me. I am an only child of a broken family and a broken home. However, we always have been happily dysfunctional, as my mother would always say. Both of my parents raised me to be highly independent. They did such a great job of it that I actually have a hard time excepting help from others because I’m always looking for the letdown or catch, so I end up doing things myself. Both of my parents have a great humorous side, so no matter what the problem is, humor is always the go-to. No matter what the issue, laughter is always the best medicine. Socially my parents are both extroverts, though my mom is more guarded than my dad. They are both more trusting than I am. Having grown up watching their decisions I have made it a point to have a persona that I use on a daily basis. I tend to only speak to people I feel good ‘vibes’ from and ignore all others and I will only become trusting when my guard is down, but to get my guard down is a hard task. I tend to look at my parents as a road map that I can follow and also use for specific detours that can help me avoid certain roads I don’t want to take.

            My motives and needs have been my driving force all my life. I have always been after the family life. The family aspect that I had before my grandmother died and my family fell apart, because that was a time I remember as being good and happy. However, there is something to be said for being careful what you wish for, it’s not always what you really want; having grown up so independently, it is hard for me to adapt to that sort of co-dependent style now. My need to be loved and feel needed is also a huge driving factor for me. In my personal relationships, I tend to look for guys who are mirror images of my father and women who are mirror images of my mother. Since I can remember I have been there to help and support my parents and they have always shown me great love and affection. So I find that in most social situations I gravitate to the alcoholic/drug addict who needs love and help (my dad) and/or the woman that is emotionally unstable and needs a confidence booster (my mom). I then fulfill my need to be loved and needed by swooping into the rescue. Sometimes it works, sometimes it turns into an epic fail, but I try none the less because that has become my motive and drive. 

            My functional analysis of my emotional states is that I have an emotional trait to become overwhelmed and break down when I become too stressed. That does not happen too often at all. As I tend not to be an over-emotional person at all, things are mostly clear cut, black and white to me. Either you want to do something or you don’t, etc. To me, life is a series of events that we must live through. Once the event in our life has happened and/or heartache dealt or enjoyment felt, it is over. We are only left with the memory to reflect on and process and learn from. If we can not accept it, deal with it, and move on then we become stuck and I have made it one of my life goals to not get stuck in any one period of my life. I try to stay as emotionally positive as I can though I usually come across in social situations as abrasive, cold, tactless, and too blunt. I tend to like these attributes about myself but others find them to be negative in nature. I have always been like this; though through the years, it has become even more a staple of who I am as opposed to just being a way that I could be. This is so, because over the years I have grown increasingly impatient with adult stupidity. When I was younger I could handle a certain level of it with stride due to the age of my peers but now I just cannot handle it. That is not to say that I cannot handle individuality and difference of opinion, I can.

            Some of my most relevant aspects of myself are the fact that I am so strong-willed and determined. I know myself. I know who I am, where I’ve been, where I want to go, I know my limitations, my expectations of myself, what I can and cannot do, and what I will and will not do. I have faith in myself and those that I choose to have in my life. I have great self-esteem; I know how smart I am, how pretty I am, and how amazing I am. I can handle criticisms as long as they are constructive and based on something, cruelty is different and I dish back what is dished to me. I am a firm believer in getting what you give. I have no issues coping with negative events. Death is something that is inevitable. It’s extremely sad when it comes out of nowhere but it is a fact and part of life. I can deal with it and since I have managed to come to terms with death I think I can also handle any other negative attribute to life. It’s honestly, the positive things in life that I sometimes have the most trouble with, I’m always looking for the catch. That would be my downfall, my flaw. I also have a high self-complexity level. I am to one person in a different way than I am to another. I have divided my personality up into five categories: everyday me, daughter me, playful me, intelligent me, and vengeful me. Each one has there purpose.

           

            Lastly, my personality in social situations is generally that of the persona that I have created, being a fun-loving, and humorous tom-boy for when I am around a predominately male environment or a gossip girl around women. Having created this persona it has made it easier for me to be in social situations since prior to creating it I was shy and stand-offish. I don’t generally like meeting new people. I am unique in my thinking, beliefs, and ideas and most people seemed to find them weird when I was growing up so I discovered what most men like in a girl when she is around and centered a persona for when I have to be in those male predominant social situations and a persona that encompasses what women usually find socially acceptable for times when I’m around mostly women. This way no one who doesn’t know me can’t attack attributes about me that would really hurt me. I have found this to work best. It also allows me to see who really wants to get to know me and I go from there.

            While I know I still have a lot of work still to do on my self, I am proud of how in-tune I am with myself and how far I have come over the years in adjusting to the ways I have needed to be and still keeping who I am intact. It’s a balancing act but as long as I keep in mind who I am and what I want then ill always know where I’m going and that I’ll get there.

Memory Is Localized and Distributed

                                               Memory Is Localized and Distributed

            Memory is such a wonderful amazing ability we have that allows us to relive some of the most important moments in our individual lives and recall at will what we need to know about something/someone/someplace. While it has no prejudice for good or bad memories, we will remember it (sometimes even when we wish we could crawl in a hole and hide from the thought).  It has so many facets to it and is capable of storing more memories and information than we could even conceive imaginable. Some question whether it is localized or whether it’s distributed. In this paper, I will discuss my theory as to why I believe it is conceivable that memory is both localized and distributed.

            Local memory is where a single node represents a single concept. (Cognition: The Thinking Animal by Daniel Willingham pg. 256) This on the surface of that statement seems to indicate that local memory is for the focused person who only thinks of one thought at a time. However, a more in-depth analysis suggests that local memory is a secondary to distributed memory. Distributed memory is a concept that is represented across multiple nodes. (Cognition: The Thinking Animal by Daniel Willingham pg. 256) When information is received and encoded into the brain it is done so in several different areas of the brain, cross-sectioning with other information and creating its own subset web attached to a person’s already growing web of information and data; much like a computer but on a much grander scale. Now that specific piece of information could be considered localized to a certain area, even though it could be encoded into multiple areas. For example, riding a horse would be encoded at its informational level of the “how-to” aspect as well as at the experience level where an individual will remember what it was like and how it felt to actually be riding the horse. Each piece of the experience of learning to ride a horse is interconnected in the human brain web but it is split and localized to 2 separate areas, one for informational purposes and the other for the sensory feeling of what the experience was in terms of remembering that time.  Henry Molaison was a good example of this. He was able to learn new motor skills but could not remember how or when or where or who taught him this information, he just knew it. Therefore, indicating that there are separate areas of the brain dealing with specific brain functions. They are all interconnected regardless of brain functioning ability, however, if brain functionality is disrupted in some way by disease or brain injury, the brain can and will rewire itself to work around the missing or damaged section, again indicating that while the memory and information processing framework is all interconnected it is also localized specifically. By allowing information and memories to encode at multiple points in the brain we ensure that while the riding a horse experience may not be remembered for what horse we rode, how our body felt afterward or what the place looked like where we were learning this new skill, we are able to remember the specific motor skills for riding a horse.

            In order for the human brain to function through our everyday lives of increasing technology and infrastructure, networking, and social interactions it is crucial that we have multiple memory systems to filter through all of this information. It is crucial that we have acoustic coding for our primary memory and semantic coding for our secondary memory and sensory and iconic memory to filter what we need and don’t need to encode for storage.  At each of these levels of encoding we see a specific localized process happening that is specialized to its purpose of retaining only the information that we the individual feels is needed to know or remember.  

            So while it would be hard to argue that the brain was just one localized area of memory encoding and retrieval, it can be completely conceivable that within the distribution of information and memories they are being distributed to specific localized areas to be encoded properly so that upon retrieval it can be done effortlessly through the minds mental web; also allowing us to be able to retrieve like information if the desired information is not actually learned and or known. Therefore, we can always keep our own personal library of congress incomplete functional working order regardless of brain capacity or injury. So the argument shouldn’t be whether or not memory and information are localized or distributed because it is a combination of the 2 that allows us to achieve full encoding and retrieval success, full memory and knowledge success. 

Henry Molaison Paper

                                    Reconciliation of Evidence of HM’s Disorder

                                    Within The Levels of Processing Framework

            In 1933 Henry Molaison suffered from a biking accident that injured him with left and right medial temporal lobe damage that caused him epileptic seizures resulting in the need for surgery to remove the damaged parts of his brain in order to stop the seizing. Neurological surgery was performed and successful in terms of stopping the seizures however Mr. Molaison was left with severe anterograde and moderate retrograde amnesia. Despite this drawback to life, Mr. Molaison was able to adapt and live a full life. During his life span, Fergus Craik and Robert Lockhart came up with a theory, in 1972, that challenged the normal perception that “what mattered most was what happened in the primary memory” (page 174, Cognition The Thinking Animal, Daniel Willingham) by creating the ‘Levels of Processing Framework’. Thus possibly explaining how Mr. Molaison was able to manage, memory-wise, when it was virtually impossible for him to convert any short term memory into a long term memory.

            Given that Mr. Molaison could form a thought or learn a new piece of information just like anyone else it wasn’t like he couldn’t be taught or retrieve some memories from his past or even create associations for older memories with new information. It just meant the ways in which he had to remember anything had to get creative, become different or new. Since he could hold a short term memory for about 20 seconds it was possible that if he could attach a new piece of information to an existing piece of information he had already learned that he wasn’t so much creating a whole new piece of information as just modifying an existing one; which was within the means of his condition. He was completely able to learn new motor skills, or learn information; he just wouldn’t remember how he learned it, where he was when he learned it or why. To him, every day was a brand new day, a little worse than Drew Barrymore in 50 First Dates, style of a brand new day.

            According to Craik and Lockhart’s theory of depth of processing the way information got into the primary memory is through deep or shallow processing; it never mattered what certain way or how much time was put into remembering. They devised a sort of hierarchy for memory encoding and retrieval. By means of defining shallow and deep memory encoding, those are the basis for how our memories get stored. Shallow memories will get sorted through and most will never make it to a deeper encoding but some do through personal association and attachment to the memory. This is where Mr. Molaison has trouble. An everyday memory that doesn’t get separated or filtered to a motor skill area or information area of the processing framework is considered to his brain a shallow memory that just gets tossed after 20 seconds. The part of Mr. Molaison’s brain that was removed was the part that would have added that extra piece to the day’s memory so that it would have gone on through to a lasting long term memory. By defining a processing framework, it is easier to see that there are different parts of the brain that are assigned to do different processes when encoding a memory. A person just doesn’t see, touch, smell, taste, feel, experience, or hear something without instantly processing it into categories, sub-categories, and even subsets of sub-categories for where it needs to be stored for when it needs to be retrieved. Mr. Molaison could do this, but if it came down to a memory that would need an attachment to it, like seeing a beautiful flower on a sunny Sunday day walking with a beautiful woman that smelled like springtime could go no further in his thoughts than 20-second intervals till the walk was over and with nothing to attach to this memory he had no way to encode it to his mind more than in a shallow way. By this I mean, he knew what a sunny day was, period, he knew what Sunday was, period, he knew what it meant to walk, period, and so on. Each of those was simply shallow descriptions of basic information he had already attained prior to his accident so he could retrieve that knowledge and know it presently but to associate the feeling and depth of the beautiful woman with him and the significance of the day would never get encoded into his memory.    

            In conclusion, it is irrefutable that the Levels of Processing has a solid stance in the theory of Depth of Processing. This in relation to Mr. Molaison does help to establish how the information was getting into his brain and where it was going after it entered. Which memories or information were getting in and which were not and which were getting stored and which were not. By defining the depth of processing and the difference between shallow and deep processing it is easier to understand which ones Mr. Molasion is remembering and which he isn’t and why.