Reticular Activating System

1
Reticular Activating System

• Understanding the powerful influence our
  expectations have on our desired outcomes.

2
Objectives

• Students will be able to describe how their
  expectations affect what happens in their lives.
• Students will be able to illustrate how their
  expectations of others affect their relationships
  those people.

3
MY View

• Answer the questions on your handout.
• These are your own beliefs, there is no right or
  wrong answer.

4
Hidden Picture Activity

• Look at the picture and attempt to find as many
  hidden objects as you can. Circle each object.
• You will have 7 minutes to find as many as you
  can. Then you will have a chance to look at the
  key.

5
Mammoth - Key
6
Hidden Picture Activity

• How hard was it for you to find hidden objects?
• Why?

7
Look at the KEY for the next hidden picture
activity.You will have 2 minutes to review the
key. Now look at the picture and attempt to find
as many hidden objects as you can. Circle each
object. You will have 5 minutes to find as many
as you can. Then you will have a chance to look
at the key.Johnny Appleseed
8

• Why do you think it was easier the second time
  despite having less time?

9
Reticular Activating System
Have you ever noticed when youre out on the
road that as soon as someone mentions red cars,
you seem to see a lot more red cars than at any
other time? There are no more red cars on the
road then than at any other time. You are simply
more aware of red cars and less aware of the
others, so it seems as if there are more red
cars. Thats your Reticular Activating System
at work. The Reticular Activating System is a
part of the brain that acts like an information
filter. It screens out certain information and
lets other kinds of information through.
10
Reticular Activating System
How does it know which information to let in and
which to keep out? You program it with
self-talk and expectations. If your
expectations are positive, you program your RAS
to admit information about positive behavior and
to screen out information about negative
behavior. Our RAS sets us up to notice the
things that confirm our expectations, which in
turn, reinforce our original expectations. The
stronger the expectation, the more things the RAS
screens out that doesnt agree with our
expectations.
11
How can we change negative expectations to
positive expectations?

1. Choose to get rid of the negative expectation.
2. Change your vocabulary. Create a positive
   statement to replace the negative statement.
3. New vocabulary helps you create a new positive
   attitude. I CAN ATTITUDE.
4. Your RAS will start programming your body to more
   often repeat the positive expectation.
5. The behavior you expected is the behavior you
   will begin doing more and more often.

12
Think of some high expectations for now until the
end of the school year and write a goal in each
of the following areas

• Be as specific as you can
• Attendance (what is the most days you will allow
  yourself to miss?)
• Tardies (what is the minimum?)
• Grades (what grades for each class this quarter?)
• Credits (how many credits are they aiming to get?
  Can they catch up on any?)
• Level System (maintain what level? Do they want
  to strive for level 4? For how long?)

13
How many human faces can you find in this
picture?There are probably more than you first
see, so keep trying.How did you do?