Book Reference

This is Information is from the Encyclopedia of Dreams

Dreams and There Meanings

1. Falling dreams- Falling dreams often signify that you feel insecure or as though you have no support. Drowning dreams often occur when you feel overwhelmed by having too much to do and are feeling ready to give up.

2. Sick dreams- The dream may be warning you of an oncoming physical risk to yourself or a loved one. When another dies in a dream, it may mean that you feel that a part of yourself represented by that person feels as if it were dead.

3. Being Re-born- You are feeling hopeful, renewed or better, or that something is stirring to life within you. When you or another person is giving birth, it often means that you feel as though you are improving or that something new has been born in you. (Common during pregnancy)(“ I am healed, born or reborn”)

4. Doing well on test-You feel confident of your abilities or preparation. ( I excel on a test or in performance)

Final Project

http://prezi.com/8kglessgr-8w/edit/#2_4299178

Blog Post #6 Interview

1. When people have dreams, how do they relate to the people's thoughts and problems that they are currently having while actually awake?

I don't know too much about this, but from what I understand, dreams are connected to real life events or places or people because during REM sleep our mind is reliving the experience we just had that day. By doing this, memories are encoded from short term memory into long term memory.  I think this is why things come up in our dreams.  Also, there is a way to systematically control ones dreams called Lucid Dreaming that might be interested in looking into.

 

 

2. I've heard that colors have affects on people, for example the color blue makes people relaxed and calm. Is this true and if so, why do colors affect people's emotions?

Again, I don't know too much about this but from a quick search I found a website which suggests that we have color channels in our brains that perceive and react to color in certain ways.  That is all I really know about this topic.

 

3. What are some psychological disorders that people commonly have and why do people have them?

Some of the more commonly diagnosed psychological disorders are depression, phobias of different kinds are common, and ADHD or hyperactivity.  Still, the majority of the population does NOT have any of these.  They are just the most prevalent disorders that I can think of off the top of my head.

 

4. How does society's image of being "perfect" having an affect on people's minds?

Every person is influenced greatly by the social and cultural norms surrounding him/her.  I think the idea of being "perfect" is a very difficult idea to understand and people perceive what is perfect very differently. I think that when people are far away from their desired self then there is more anxiety, stress, and dysfunctional behavior. You might be able to look into Humanistic psychology and find more information about people's prototypes of beauty to see how much the idea of beauty can vary from culture to culture.

 

5. How do therapists analyze people who have psychological disorders?

There are lots of tests that psychologists use to determine whether people have disorders of any kind.  The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4 (DSM 4) is the bible of disorders and gives specific guidelines for each disorder.  For example, depression according to the DSM 4 is not just people feeling sad.  It is having beyond usual sadness for extensive periods of time.  It also interferes greatly with normal duties and functions of one's daily life.  As psychologists interview patients, they narrow down the disorder it might be and then use the specific criteria of each disorder to determine exactly what disorder a person might have (if any at all).  Here is a link to an awesome podcast about the test used to identify psychopathshttp://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/436/the-psychopath-test.

Final Product

Timeline of the Catholic Church's Oppression

Copy of Timeline of Catholic Church's Cultural Advancements on Prezi

What Is A Dream Video

What is A Dream Video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6e7oWO6jkQ

Final Blog Post

<iframe src='http://www.glogster.com/glog/6lhebiime367li9br7dr5a0' height='1300' width='960' name='glogster-embed-glog' frameborder='0' scrolling='no' marginheight='0' marginwidth='0' style='overflow: hidden;' id='glogster-embed-glog'></iframe>

Final Product: Google Site link

Here's the link to my google site:

https://sites.google.com/site/howdoyoumakedecisions/

Link to my glog

http://www.glogster.com/edit/g-6lhk33i1jc983md8umt5ba0

Final Product

Final Product

Passion Project

http://portal.sliderocket.com/BWHTW/AF6DCBEA-97AF-4E10-B84B-65B2D55DC7D5

Love Express

Love Express

From Mexico to Japan to India

Love differs around the world.

Expressed through religions as it goes,

Including all the boys and girls.

 Love is a gift from the almighty God,

Expressed in different ways

Giving satisfaction to our heart

Throughout every single day

 When two hearts come together,

They will always beat as one

Committing to each other,

Full of passion as they live on.

 It will always be your own,

No matter who’s involved.

Sometimes it may be public

But more intimate than not.

 In India, they steal glances towards each other

Sharing their feelings with their eyes,

Speaking without words

Allowing only their hearts to lock.

 Diverse form Mexico where one can

 Kiss, hug, and hold hands.

Free to express their feelings,

With no one else to care.

 Some people can use poems,

To transform their feelings into words,

Using their inspiration to explore a mystery.

Saying their love in different ways, displaying feelings of emotion.

 Love is expressed in different ways,

No matter what your religion is,

You’ll always find that special one,

Just make sure you love them back.



Final Product

Happiness on Prezi

Final Product

Passion Project on Prezi

Embedded Prezi

How can feelings be spread from person to person? on Prezi

Final Product

https://sites.google.com/site/dailylifeandpsychology/home

final product

My glog

http://www.glogster.com/edit/g-6lhk33i1jc983md8umt5ba0

Final product

Final Product

Final Product

South Africa: Period 1-Last Name on Prezi

Final Product

Memory Psychology

I read the article Memory Psychology by Saul McLeod. This article is reliable because it is a very recent article and therefore have more recent facts, it was published in 2007. http://www.simplypsychology.org/memory.html

• Memory is the term given to the process involved in the storage and retrieval of information in the brain.
• Memory is very important without memory of the past it would be impossible to operate in the present or think about the future.
• Without memory we could not learn anything new.
• When new information comes into our memory system it had to be changed into a form that the system can change so it can be stored.
• There are three main ways memory can be changed or encoded (Visual, Acoustic, Semantic)
• If we can’t remember something it may be because we are unable to retrieve it.
• A large part of the research on memory is based on experiments done in laboratories.

JD Spartz - living life everyday, very interesting, and a role model.
He is a reliable source because he lives his life each day, having fun and is an inspiration.
I interviewed him Sunday at 8:30 over the phone.

1. What makes us motivated to be happy in life?
Doing things you want to do is one of the most important things.  Balance of money helps us live life and do things we want to do.

2. What do you think the most important part of life is?
The most important part of life is to enjoy life every minute of the day.  Chase your dreams, dont let people hold you back or wait for people to join you.  Have dreams and a passion to chase your dreams.  Also have a bucket list and the first thing on it should be live your life.  Each day is a new adventure.  Have the curiosity to move forward and to be motivated.

3. Is there a God or a religion that helps you to be happy?
Learning other religions is very important to me.  Understanding more than one religion and thier views toward life is interesting to me.  Believing in a god is a life long question and a life long mystery.  Life is a     mystery that may take you on different paths.

blog 7: love in mexico

Blog 7

 

• Mexico: Dating and Marriage, Culture Grams.
• NOTES:

1. in Mexico City, couples of the same sex are allowed to get married and adopt children. 
2.  parental approval is important for most couples
3. public desplay f affection is normal, unless in presence of family members
4. at the beggining of a relationship,  small gifts are given to shw love and appreciation.
5. men use mariachi ( band) to sing love songs to their loved ones outside of their home.   
6. marriage usually happens in the mid 20's.
7. most men follow the tradition of asing for brides hand from her parents
8. most marriages happen with the civil wedding first and then the church wedding, as most mexicans are catholic
9. big party/ celebration follows wedding that includes dancing, games, gift-giving, and traditional Mexican dishes like mole, goat, and pozole.
10. divorce rate is low, since the catholic faith does not recognice divorce.
11. teen pregnancy is common, single mothers raise child with help of parents.

(from database) http://online.culturegrams.com/world/world_country_sections.php?contid=6&wmn=North_America&cid=102&cn=Mexico&sname=Dating_and_Marriage&snid=12

Blog 7: Psychology

Positive Psychology

http://heartspark.com/blog/?cat=100

The effects, benefits, results, and story of Smiling.


-Smiling is a very famous, popular, and effective way to spread feelings.
-Smiling to a person gives that person the same feeling you have. For example, we've all had a "stare contest" with one of our friends. And as always, one ends up smiling and also making the other person smile and laugh.
-A test was done with pictures of people who had constant, wide-open smiles, and people with small or no smiles. The results were finding the life-span of all these people. It was concluded that the people who smiled more, lived an average of 7 years longer. This may just be a coincidence, myth, or hoax, but its not just the physical property of smiling, its the feelings behind it that give your life happiness.
-Children can smile up to 400 times per day, and they lead the charts.
-30% of adults smile more than 20 times per day.
-14% smile less than 5 times per day.
-Studies at Uppsala University in Sweden show that it is harder to frown at a smiling face, and that if you look at someone smiling, you are compelled to smile.
-Smiling doesn't just effect you, it also effects people around you. It gives you a more happy, genuine, and courteous look.

January 12th, 2012.

Susan Clark

The Author states every source from studies from universities or tests.

Optimism Gene

UCLA psychologists discover a gene's link to optimism, self-esteem.
Stuart Wolpert

• Oxytocin- hormone that increases in response to stress; associated with good social skills (empathy, enjoying company of others, etc)
• First study to find a gene related to psychology
• There are two variations of the gene- "G" variant and "A" variant
• Those with A variant are more sensitive to stress, do not have good social skills, and poor mental health
• Adenine seems to cause more depressive symptoms in one specific area of the gene than guanine does- if a person has two A or and one A and one G in a specific area the person is more likely to have low levels of optimism, self esteem, and high depressive symptoms
• Adenine causes a harmful mutation?
• Genes don't set a person's future in stone- people have the ability to work around their genes.
• Environmental factors play a huge role in something like optimism and self- esteem.
• I think the same goes for happiness (?)
• This study says that people would benefit from training their brains to be more optimistic, have high self-esteem, etc. (Like Train Your Brain to Get Happy)
• Social relationships still play a huge role 

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/ucla-life-scientists-discover-215259.aspx

Published- September 13, 2011

Author- Stuart Wolpert; Source- UCLA newsroom

Author sites information- It came from Shelley E. Taylor, a "distinguished professor of psychology at UCLA and senior author of the new research."

What causes Emotions: Colors

I am researching emotions and asked one of the social workers and Hinsdale Central to help me answer them. These are the questions I asked her:

1.  What do people diagnose as "emotions", such as depression for example. How can doctor's perscribe medicine for something emotional? Are emotions something that can be changed with medicine?

2. Does everybody feel and express the same emtoions?

3. What are different theories on emotions? (Broad topic- anything you would know)

4. Do colors really know how you are feeling, like mood rings?

5. Do colors affect how you are feeling (Theory: darker colors make you sad, lighter colors make you happy) 

My professional responded:

1. Medication is prescribed through tests, evaluations, and assesements. Medicine is described to someone depending on what is going on with the client. 

2. Everybody does have the opportunity to feel the same emotions as each other. Such as: sadness, happiness, and cheerfulness. Although, people do express their emotions differently.

3. My professional didn't really know a lot about mood rings but told me that depending on the person, colors and weather can take a toll on how someone feels. 

Why religion is linked with better health and well being

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/15/religion-health-well-being_n_1423713.html

Why Religion is Linked With Better Health and Well Being
by Philip Moeller

• Many studies have shown repeatedly that people who devoutly follow religions, especially ones that prohibit alcohol and smoking, live longer than those that do not.
• Such people are also known to be happier with their lives than those that are not.
• However, scientists are not sure if this boost in happiness is caused by the feeling of being around like-minded people or actually worshipping.
• It is believed that strong adherance to a religion can greatly reduce stress in a person's life, and less stress usually means less health problems and a longer life.
• Another thing that may cause them to be happier is knowing that there is a God, which is a very comforting belief.
• Certain religious groups such as Seventh Day Adventists and Mormons live particularly longer lives.
• The ban on alcohol and smoking is also believed to be a major reason for their longer lifespans.

This article was reliable because it was posted on the Huffington post, which is a very reliable website.
It was published on April 15, 2012. The author does refer to scientific studies that prove this.

Blog Post #6 Interview

QUESTIONS:

1. The person I interviewed was Mrs. Miles, she works at school as a social worker. When Mrs. Miles was young she wasn't given the opportunity to be given a lot of love shown to her, this made her want to make sure her children know how much she loves them all the time. She practices Christianity and believes that God is the reason for everything. She also believes that it is possible for people to have soul mates in relationships.

2. She is a reliable source because she writes love poems herself.

3. I interviewed her on May 3, via email.

 INTERVIEW: 

1. Is there a specific way you like to write your love poems or do you just write them however you want feel like writing them?

The way I write poems is based on what I am thinking, or how I am feeling at that moment. Also everywhere I go I listen to people’s conversations, sermon and lectures in boring meetings, not so much in the boring meetings. I take a paper pad and a pen everywhere I go. I also get phrases from my pastor when he is preaching; and from songs. Every once in a while I will listen to love songs. I would hear a line in the song that could be a potential title to a poem to. What I do is write down the phrase so I won’t forget it. I have a very long list of 700+potential poem titles that I go through and look at. If one stands out that is the one I will write. All I need is a title. When a love poem comes to mind I am on that for a good two to three weeks. I have written well over 500 + poems. Many of them I have not typed out yet. Some are typed but not in my file. I have a file on my computer with alphabetized poems from A-Z, plus a file with newer poems that have not been placed yet. I also have a physical file with 26 folders. I wrote my first poem in 1987. I started flowing in the 2000’s and have been flowing since. I sometimes write one poem. Then other times I will sit and write 10 at one sitting. 

2. What exactly inspires/inspired you to write your love poems?

The things that inspire me to write about love is that is something that I have always desired. I want to be loved by a man that loves me unconditionally. The so called love that I have experienced was someone trying to control me and my life. I write what I feel and how I want things to be for me. I am also inspired by how I feel about the love of God and also how I feel about a certain man in my life. Who I feel is my soul mate. I do not see him often, yet I feel a strong love for him. Sometimes I don't understand why I'm feeling this way towards him and I barely see him. But, it seems like this love is getting stronger towards him, which confuses me. I asked God about this and helped me see how when you truly love someone, distance doesn't matter.

3. Is there a specific style you write your poems in or does it not matter the style of poem?

I usually write my poems in rhymes, because that's what always comes in my mind when I write. I try not to write lame rhymes like some Rappers. My rhymes make sense to me and others. I do have some free verse poems too. Some are things of life and I do have some silly poems as well. I do research on other styles of poems in which I try to write in. There are so many other styles out there but some are so complicated to do; you have to use your brain. I have done other forms as well but it was in school. I do still have the notes somewhere. I will look for them.

numero seis

I interviewed KImberley Willingham and she is a teacher here at Hinsdale Central. She has a background with pyschology. She is a reliable source because she once studied all of this information. I interviewed her over back and forth emailing.

Do specific environments within dreams symbolize something?

 

Do specific environments in dreams symbolize anything, they could but you would have to read a dream interpretation book

 

Why do people only remember the dreams in the last five minutes of sleeping?

 

 I don’t know why people only remember the last 5 minutes of dreams and I do know that people dream every night whether they remember the dream or not.

 

 

Why do we remember certain dreams but not others? 

 

No Response

#7-Calculating Consequences: the Utilitarian Approach to Ethics

CALCULATING CONSEQUENCES: THE UTILITARIAN APPROACH TO ETHICS

By: The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics (Santa Clara University)

• many of us use a type of moral resaoning in our daily decisions
• Utilitarianism offers a relatively straightforward method for deciding the morally right course of action for any particular situation we may find ourselves in
• we first identify the various courses of action that we could perform
• we choose the course of action that provides the greatest benefits after the costs have been taken into account
• Utilitarians also differ their views about the kind of question we ought to ask ourselves when making an ethical decision
• apparently utilitarianism cannot be the sole principle guiding our decisions
• utilitarianism is a powerful reminder that morality calls us to look beyond the self to the good of all

http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/calculating.html

2.      Winter 1989 

3.      Santa Clara University

4.      Does not cite any sources, but has many authors.

 

Dreams: How do the Work

• When you are in a dream that is your reality anything that you can experence in real life you can experience in a dream.
• In the dream everything to you is real
• There is one common dream that everyone has and that is the chasing dream
• Even the egyptians had a book where they kept all theie dreams.
• most of them were about what is going to happen in the future.
• The Chasing dream is very important because it was one of the most common dreams.

Interview with Anand Gandhi

1.      I interviewed Anand Gandhi, He studies Eastern philosophy, Hinduism, and Ethics.

2.    He is a very reliable source because he studies religion and ethics, what my topic is focused on.  

3.      I interviewed him through email and he got back to me a few days ago, he was a really nice guy and was really helpful

Dear Peter,
Sorry for the delayed response. I have been slightly tied up with some work of my own but I thought I'd take the time to respond to your email. Honestly, it would be much easier to talk about these things in person so I will briefly respond and we can go into it further when you have some time to talk perhaps over the weekend or something. But for now here it is....

How did the church become so powerful in the past, and what started its decline from power? 
1. The Church became powerful because of the efforts of its early followers who really gave their all to spread the message of Christ. The Apostles did their part but even after that, certain kings used their influence to also spread Christianity. Moreover, there was a heavy use of force and as the European nations went around the world, they took the message of Christ with them everywhere. The decline really began in the medieval era as corruption began in the Church. Martin Luther and the Reformation are certainly the pinnacle of it but even before that you see people like Marsilius of Padua, John Hus and others who found problems in the way the church was expanding into worldly matters. People saw priests hoarding money, living lavishly and controlling political power and this all started to create questions. There was also the matter of science which I believe is your area of interest. As science advanced and discoveries were made, the Church found itself unable to accept and adjust to the new times. The Christian theology was too narrow and it could not make sense of the scientific knowledge. This led people to wonder if the Church was just outdated and that really hurt its image and its influence.


Why was the catholic church so quick to denounce ideas in the past?
2. From what I understand, the Church denounced those ideas because it felt that it undermined its authority. If they admitted that someone else was right, it would be like saying, "We don't know it all and we are wrong." This would take away from the idea that the Church was God's creation and it alone had all the answers. For this reason, they were quick to reject new ideas and new discoveries.

Does the church still reject new ideas and theories? And if so, why do you think that is? 
3.To be honest, I have little knowledge of the Church's current practices but I do know that over the past century they have forgiven many of the people previously labelled as "heretics" or enemies of the Church. I think this is in part to their growing acceptance of science and new ideas. That being said, the Church is still holding strong to many of its beliefs that it finds fundamental to it and I believe it will continue to do so because that is what makes the Church different and gives it its identity.

I am not sure if that is of any help to you but I would be more than happy to help you get in touch with someone who is more of an expert on Christianity if you are interested. My field of work is a bit narrower (I focus on Hinduism, Eastern Philosophy and Ethics) but I have plenty of friends who might be of help.

Good luck with your studies,
Anand

Blog #6 Interview

Part A:

The person I interviewed was Mrs. Willingham. She is social worker at Hinsdale Central High School. She studies psychology because she needs to be able to relate to the studemts at the school. She is a reliable source because she deals with helping people who have had people close to them pass on or become very ill. I interviewed her through email and asked her a couple of questions pertaining to my topic.

Part B:

Q: What is death or what do you believe death is?
A: Death is the term used to describe the cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism.The passing of life out of the human form
       
Q: How do people cope with death?
A:People cope with death many different ways.  It may seem easier for one person to cope with death than another.  Therapy, music, down time, talking with other, and engaging in activities you love can all be good ways to deal with death.
   
Q: What does it feel to have someone close to you pass on?
A: It hurts to have someone close to you pass away 

Q: What do you believe happens when one passes on?
A: When one passes on the spirit leaves it shell/body.  What happens after that is what you believe.

interveiw blog post #7

Blog Post #7
I interviewed Hemang Srikishan who studied psychology for his bachelors degreee.

This bachelors degree makes him relaible because in order to get your bachelors degree you have to be very informed in this subject.  

I interveiwed him on Thursday April 26 by email.

1. What were major events in history that shaped our understanding of psychology?

2.Who were some of the key psychologists that have shaped our understanding of psychology?

3. Do you have any good suggestions for where to find more information on psychology behind criminal behavior?

1. This is a very broad question, so I will try my best to answer it.  I think there are a lot of moments that have defined psychology as it is today.  Probably the most important events were the starting of a lab to study human behavior by Wilhelm Wundt.  After that, the field of psychology spread to America and William James, Ivan Pavlov, and Sigmund Freud started to do studies that were all very influential.  These are some of the people that are covered in any psychology introductory class.  They are big events because they made the field of psychology a legitimate field by showing that there was actual use in studying the human mind in a systematic way. AND more importantly, that the mind could be studied at all.  This was a big shift in the general thinking of the scientific world before since they though only physical things could really be observed or studied scientifically. 

I would say that the next big moments in psychology came as each of the popular schools of psychology were formed (like behaviorism, cognitive psych, humanism, psychoanalysis, gestalt, bio psych, evolutionary psychology, etc.).  These were all huge shifts in the way people thought about human behavior and so they were all very large changes in psychology's history.  Most recently, the studies on happiness are very interesting to me because they are using psychology to study what makes people happy and what leads to lasting happiness.

2. There were a lot of psychologists over time that have shaped the field of psychology.  The study of the human mind has been going on for thousands of years, but was probably more formalized as a field of study in the 1800s and 1900s by people like Wilhelm Wundt, William James, Ivan Pavlov, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and B.F. Skinner.  These men believed in very specific approaches to psychology and to the key element which made people's minds work the way they do.  The behaviorists thought that all behavior could be explained as actions that are rewarding or are conditioned by a desire for rewards and an aversion to punishment.  Psychoanalysis focuses more on relationships and deep seated tension or issues which are hidden away in a part other than the conscious mind called the sub conscious and the unconscious mind.  Basically there have been a lot of different theories that people have come up with and they all try to explain why people behave the way they do. 

3. The most famous criminal psychologist is probably Phillip Zimbardo- famous for the stanford prison experiment.  You can also find good information about why people do "bad" things even when they know they are bad from experiments that Stanley Milgram did.  In fact, there is a great RadioLab Podcast that you can download and listen to that might give you great information and a way to understand how the studies were performed.  Find it at http://www.radiolab.org/2012/jan/09/
A lot of their studies focus on why people do immoral things, so this might point you in the right direction to learn more about criminal psychology.

Interview an Expert #7

PART A

1) To interview an expert, I interviewed Sam Randall, the youth intern at my church. Sam is currently in seminary school at North Park University downtown Chicago and is part of multiple Bible studies, and even leads the Sunday morning Bible study that I atttend. Needless to say, he knows a lot about the Bible.

2) Sam is a reliable source because I know him very well and he knows the Bible very well, and it's what he's been studying for the past 4 years of his life.

3) I interviewed Sam this past Sunday night, April 29th. I interviewed him in person.




PART B (My questions are bolded, Sam's responses are italicized.)

1) Are there any wars in the Bible that relate back to feuds between differing religions? Yes, especially in the books of Joshua and Judges. The Israelites are trying to gain the Promised Land, but the people that had previously lived in the Promised Land don't like that. The people that previously lived there worshipped Baal, a "little 'g' god". In fact, this was one group trying to dominate another based on their race/religion. Also, Genesis and Exodus deal a lot with the exile of the Jews.

2) For you, how do your religious beliefs affect your behaviour in your daily life? Well, I was actually just talking about this with a friend the other day. I was kind of questioning myself, if I wasn't Christian, would I still be good just to be good, or am I only good for God? And then I realized, there's no difference. If I'm doing good, it's all for God. I'm not just good because I was made good, I'm good because I'm Christian. For me, I'm also a really impatient person. Waiting in long lines, getting stuck in traffic, I hate it. But God gives me the patience that I need, and that really helps me. Finally, I would not be where I am with God right now if it weren't for the love and support of my friends and family, and their good behavior rubbed off on me, and I hope someday maybe my goodness will rub off on someone.

3) (I had trouble phrasing this) How extreme do you take your religion? Well not just for me, but I think sometimes people get caught up in the religiousness of their religion, and the forget the Godly part, and they barely acknowledge Him sometimes. For me, I think that nothing is more powerful than testimony, whether its mine or someone else's, I think testimony is extremely important. For me, its all about knowing that God is real and that He loves me for me, and He will help shape me into the person that I need to be.

Blog post #6

I interviewed Mrs. Kimberley Willingham.
She is a social work extern, meaning she deals with psychology and emotions daily.
She is a reliable source because she works through our school and she works as a social worker, so she knows how to deal with emotions.
I interviewed her on May 1 after school by going to the social workers' office and talking with her.

What is the scientific explanation for emotions?

There really isn't a scientific explanation.  Emotions are within everyone and everyone expresses their emotions differently.  People also feel certain emotions differently.

What can cause certain emotions?

Trauma and other issues can cause emotions.  Some people who are quieter may express emotions differently and have different emotion triggers than a more social person.  Triggers vary between people.  Sometimes where you live can be a contributing factor.

What can we do to help people feel better if they are sad?

Prompt certain emotions with the triggers that work for people.  There are things like music therapy and play therapy that can help.  The best thing to do is to support them, make sure they aren't alone, and to talk things out.