Killing Centers During the Holocaust

During the Holocaust, Nazis needed efficient ways to exterminate Jews. Killing centers, along with death/concentration camps were the places Jews and gypsies were sent during the Holocaust. Depending on what race and gender they were, they were either sent to a camp where they were forced to work, or a camp that killed them by either being shot, gassed, or scientific experimentation. The first killing center opened was Chelmno, in December of 1941. A year later, they opened the Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka killing centers. These camps were referred to the Operation Reinhard camps. Auschwitz-Birkenau was by far the most imfamous killing center, killing as many as six thousand Jews a day. Majdanek was thought to be the sixth killing center of the group, but was later found to be a place to store valuable objects taken from Jewish victims. It also occasionally acted as a killing site for those who couldn't be killed at any of the other various killing centers.


"Killing Centers: An Overview". Ushmm. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 20 February 2014.

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007327

Blog #3: Meditation Makes You More Creative, Studies Show

Studies performed by cognitive psychologists show that certain types of meditation techniques can promote creative thinking. Findings of this research further back up the idea that meditation is more than simple relaxation, but actually much more. Meditation can have long lasting effects on human cognition, such as the way we experience events and how we think.

 

Byheaven / Fotolia. Untitled. Photograph. ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, n/d. Web. 14 February 2014.

                        <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120419102317.htm>.

 

These same types of meditation techniques are practiced to show effects on the divergent and convergent styles of thinking. Divergent thinking is what allows many ideas t be generated, such as thinking up ways a pen can be used. Testing for this type of thinking is called the Alternate Uses Task method. Convergent thinking is the process of identifying a common relation between things of a particular problem, such as finding the similarity between 'time', 'hair', and 'stretch', which is 'length'. This uses the Remote Associates Task method.

 

In the end, results show that not all types of meditation used had the same effects on creative thinking. Open Monitoring Meditation, which is when the participant doesn't focus on any particular thing, had a positive effect in the participant's outcome in the divergent thinking test method. This test didn't have much of an effect on the cognitive thinking side, though. The other meditation used, called  Focused Attention Meditation, was unsuccessful in both fields of thinking. This leads scientists to think: What meditation can trigger an acceleration in the cognitive thinking process?

 

I feel that this article on meditation connects to my day to day life because it could help me live a more productive lifestyle. Meditation may become an important part of a busy bee's life for those people who have a hard time focusing their mind constantly, such as some students at GECHS. I think that any exercising of the brain, whether it be through a game, schoolwork, or peaceful meditation, can be very beneficial for one's thinking process.

 

This article relates to my classes because many of our projects/assignments call for being creative, but some students may lack creativity. Meditating using the Open Monitoring method may help achieve better grades in school. I think that if there is any possible way of a positive outcome from meditation, its worth a try. I will probably do some further research on meditation, and start to practice it when I can.

 

 

Citations

 

Universiteit Leiden. "Meditation makes you more creative." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 19 April 2012. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120419102317.htm>.

 

Byheaven / Fotolia. Untitled. Photograph. ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, n/d. Web. 14 February 2014.

                        <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120419102317.htm>.