Hands Free VS. Hand Held Device While Driving

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6BN7XgTQCs

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080707142838.htm

I Thought This was a good study to post. This topic seams to be in the media a lot lately. I strongly agree with the study, that hands free devices are just as dangerous while driving, as using a cell phone with your hands. The conversation is the distraction. I think the brain is already overwhelmed just trying to pay attention to everything on the road. Then to add a conversation into the mix is just to much for our minds.

This study really makes me think of attention of the brains psychology. How are brains are only made to have so much attention. I think it also relates to this class as far as development of the brain. I think this study overview was really well written. Although, I always wish they showed the statistics with the summary, also more about the actual study and how it was preformed. The summary report of her findings did made a lot of sense, I hope people will think more about how the conversation is really a distraction.

Video games and aggression in children

http://news.health.com/2008/11/03/violent-video-games-linked-to-aggression-in-children-teens/

I have always thought that violent video games added to the aggressive tendencies in youth but I always attributed it to a predisposition to aggression. Personally I played games that were less aggressive because it seems like when I was a child there were far less violent games out there. The Columbine shootings are a prime example of how child aggression can have some tragic outcomes. The perpetrators were said to have played violent video games as well as playing with firearms. I am in agreement that it is the video games that create the aggression although it is true violent people may be drawn to violent games. I thought that the use of American and Japanese children was interesting as well. I am glad they used children from different cultures to come to their conclusions because it eliminates it being an strictly American problem.

http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/children_and_video_games_playing_with_violence

"Studies have also shown that the more realistic and repeated the exposure to violence, the greater the impact on children. In addition, children with emotional, behavioral and learning problems may be more influenced by violent images." I thought that this was interesting and i'm not sure that it was not held into account in the last study that I discussed. It would make sense that kids that fell into this category would be at a higher risk of being effected by the images they are seeing. I think that children and adolescents can become way too involved with video games. It would make sense to me that the amount of time spent on the video games might add to the aggression as well.

Post Rubric

Assignments: All posts should use proper English grammar, spelling, and syntax. Acronyms should be avoided when possible. References to online sources must be linked. Student posts and comments should be respectful to others at all times.

Psychology in the Media: This posting should indicate how something we have talked about in class has been reported in the popular media within the last six years. The media itself should be included (either as an image, embedded video, or working link). A clear description of how this media relates to a topic we have covered. Finally, postings should include the writer's (student's) take on whether or not the media has accurately portrayed the psychological phenomenon and research.

A “Cool” Study: This posting should describe a recent study (published 2005-2010) that relates to something we have talked about in class. The article itself should come from a peer-reviewed source, and should be linked in the posting for the class to peruse. The description of the study should relate not just the study's abstract, but should link the study to what we have talked about in class. Finally, posters should evaluate the study's importance, strengths, flaws, etc.

I Could Do That Better: This post should propose a study that examines a phenomenon we have talked about in class (or read in an assigned reading). This post can include a criticism of a previous study, but must include a research design that corrects mistakes/biases/problems of previous examinations of the psychological phenomenon. At minimum, your proposed study must include sample, methodology, and hypotheses. Finally, your post should include a clear rational for why this proposed study is superior to previous studies.

My view on a debate: This posting should include a short summary of the debate (including relevant sources) that clearly defines the argument. You should provide at least two supports for your view on the debate, and only one of these supports can include anecdotal evidence. Empirical supports should be cited/linked so that others can comment on them. Example debates: Genes vs. Environment, Parents vs. Peers, Sex Ed, Teaching Styles, No Child Left Behind, Nursing vs. Formula, etc….

Welcome to the Developmental Psychology Blog

For this course, students will be graded upon five posts and five comments. Posts will make up 15% of their final grade, and comments will make up 5% of their final grade. Students are encouraged to post and comment as often as they like; grades will only be taken from the "highest scoring" posts and comments.

Posts and Comments Graded

This blog will be left up for a few weeks, however any posts or comments made after this date (and time) will not be graded.

Role Model for Relationship

This article is good because it really opens a person’s eyes to the fact that some of us may not know how a good relationship goes. Who taught us how to treat our better half? Hope the girl I meet had a lady for a mom. I guess that’s why it’s important to meet the parents. It shows us just maybe how the person we are interested in may treat us. Also I hope an article like this would encourage couple with children to treat their partner good around the kids. So as to show them good ways to deal with the hard work that needs to go into relationships.

Healthy Relationships Without Good Role Models

attraction...

Studies show that men judge women in milliseconds.... The sad truth of the fact is most men take about 10 seconds to decide if they are attracted to the select woman...and most women would consider that shallow but i beleive its not because we are suppose to have this charecteristic due to our genetic makeup.

http://www.funnymos.com/men-judge-women-in-milliseconds.html#more-478

What You Touch Changes How You Think

Studies done in June 2010 show how three more types of sensory feedback can shape our attitudes and impressions: weight, texture, and hardness. People holding a heavy clipboard rated job applicants as more qualified and more serious about a position than participants holding light clipboards did. Other studies took two groups of people and had asked each group to put together a puzzle. Each puzzle was the same, except for the fact, one was rough like sand paper and the other was as smooth as glass. The group with the rough puzzle was more anxious and rated it as more adversarial. The smooth puzzle group was more pro social and cooperative.

In class we had learned that our abstract concepts are grounded in our physical experiences in the world. Think of the phrases “the gravity of the situation”, “a rough day”, and “smooth sailing” all are related to different types of sensory feedback, such as weight, texture, and hardness. I am a firm believer that this study is very true.

Teenage Drinking

Are the actions we take our own choice or are they a product of our being? That is the question I would like to answer tonight. I want to find out if we consciously think about the things we do or if we are programmed to do them. Well, let's take a look at peer pressure: kids don't drink by themselves (unless they have issues) so why do they do it in groups? Is there something about a group setting that makes teenagers more likely to drink? I say yes.
Teenagers are constantly surrounded by "Dude, this weekend was crazy," and "Did you see when...?" and, honestly it's hard to ignore. It gives the appearance of fun and glamor, and that's what we want out of life right? Hell yes we do! It's in magazines and television everywhere we look so why shouldn't we believe that's what life should be all about. We are at a very impressionable age and whether we try to deny it or not, what's "cool" is exactly what we want. So don't deny your bad self, express it! Be who you are meant to be!!!

Superstitious charms and rituals actually do improve performance showing that such athletic routines

A recent article published in Psychology Today states “Superstitious charms and rituals actually do improve performance.” A study done at the University of Cologne has somewhat proved that to be possible. During several experiments, half of the test subjects were told to bring a lucky charm or anything that brings them luck, and the other half had no knowledge of this. The “lucky” group tested 35% better than that compared to the other group. Many similar studies have been conducted showing that such athletic routines (such as bouncing a basketball 3 times before shooting a free throw) can actually boost performance.

In my personal opinion, I think it is all a mind-game, if you think you are lucky, you will actually be lucky. So long as people believe in “luck” luck will continue to exist. The mind is a powerful thing, if you really believe you are going to do well in something, your chances of doing so are greatly higher.

Avoidance Behaviors and CBT

At one time or another, we've all probably experienced one type of avoidance behavior or another:

• Eating somewhere else to avoid the cafeteria
• Dropping a class to avoid giving a presentation
• Crossing the street to avoid talking to someone
• Not answering the telephone
• "Spacing out" when you are in a group

The reason we avoid is fear of a social situation. It can become dysfunctional when it becomes the only means to deal with a feared situation as an "escape" mechanism. The true root problem does not go away, but the social situation is simply temporarily avoided. Exposure to these feared situations is an effective treatment as part of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). The main goal with CBT in dealing with avoidance is to identify the irrational belief and thought patterns that provoke the avoidance behavior and replace them with positive comforting beliefs, thus reducing the fear factor.

Most of us have been told during some point in our lives to "think positive". Many of us have also been told to "toughen up", or "face your fears." Those suffering from avoidance issues cannot undertake these commands as easily as others. The article discusses how the brain of an individual with avoidance issues becomes hardwired over time to think negatively and has to be trained to think in a positive manner. Once that occurs, the avoidance issues tend to subside because the fears have been alleviated. However, this process is not a quick one and takes a lengthy period of time.

As stated, we've all had those days where we'd rather hide under the pillow and go back to sleep rather than face a tough day. When those days become persistent and it develops into symptoms of anxiety,it appears CBT is the necessary treatment to revert to positive thinking and reduce the fear factor to be able to face the fears and not allow them to interfere with daily life.

http://socialanxietydisorder.about.com/od/copingwithsad/a/avoidance.htm

http://socialanxietydisorder.about.com/od/treatmentoptions/a/cbt.htm

Coke or Pepsi.....

The topic at hand is weather you can truly taste a difference in coke or pepsi?
Researchers have found via brain scans that people favor certain drinks when they hear the name makes them like the taste better, it triggers memories in our brain of a brand in connection with its name comes the taste therefore the behavior of the brain is largely effected by your brain and not a preference of a kind of soda but by a memory of a taste when associated with the name. therefore you truly cannot taste a difference in the soda unless a name or reference refering to the kind of soda...that means that unless the pop is obvious then its not very easy to tell the difference....


http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-10/cp-cvp101204.php

Death by DSM

The article I read was about a doctor who was on trial for a malpractice suit, because of a patient of his that had committed suicide. What happened was a middle aged man was newly diagnosed with depression and over a series of a couple years experimented with different antidepressants and finally wrote his wife a letter telling her goodbye. The reason this is such an interesting case is because it was believed that the man had other mental disorders wrong with him and the doctor said that he diagnosed him according to the DSM-IV. The doctor argued that he did everything by the book and that if anything is wrong, then the DSM must be flawed.

The reason I chose this study is because I have had postpartum depression twice now and find it interesting that the doctor could not pick up on what was normal for this man and what was not. In fact he even had a time for about two weeks where he clearly acted beyond his normal behavior, and the doctor diagnosed this as being narcoleptic to the antidepressant and left it at that. I am no doctor, but I personally think that there should have been more tests done instead of just guessing and hoping.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/mood-swings/200912/death-dsm

sexual attraction

There has been numerous studies on the effect of certain odors effecting sexual attraction between men and women...The most controversial odor that has been researched is the effect on the sexual attraction from pheromones emitted from sweat...The chemical produced by fresh sweat is called Androstenone which is made when the sweat is mixed with oxygen...but only attractive to women when its constantly fresh so unless the male is changing constantly...because then the without changing the sweat is old and is the opposite and is not apealing at all to the women's senses. so therefore the fresh odor... is not necessarily the best way to try to get sexual attraction via smell.

http://www.sirc.org/publik/smell_attract.html

Sterilzation

Should we force mothers that have killed their kids to be sterilized? Is it wrong to force this upon them? After all we force some sexual offenders that have severe sexual urges to take a medication, ( I forget what it is called ) to control their urges. Is this really so different to do this to those women? While I am on this subject, do we have the right to force a woman with severe postpartum psychosis to be sterilized to prevent them from getting pregnant again? Thus, possible preventing a tragedy. I am a big fan of Autonomy, yet I wonder should there be a line draw somewhere. I don't know the answer to these questions, Do you?

Optimism vs. Pessimism: the Benefits of Each

A recent study led by Richard A. Anderson displays the benefits of being optimistic and pessimistic in term of brain activity and our behaviors contribute to most of this. In an experiment demonstrating the action planning and decision-making of the neural mechanisms, Anderson has subjects had to move a cursor with a trackball to a number of memorized locations on a computer screen in a specific order. Subjects were given 15 seconds to plan their movements and 10 seconds to perform the task, but only 1 second to see the path to follow. Though this may sound simple enough, there was a catch. Depending on the sequence, subjects were given predetermined wagers before each task and the wagers were different for each task. For example, a subject who completed a task correctly would win $5 but loosing would result in the subject having to pay a fee of $1, sometimes the values of winning would be greater than loosing, the values of loosing would be higher, and sometimes they would be equal. Based on these parameters and the behaviors of the subjects (focusing on optimism and pessimism) would determine how well each subject would perform. While the subjects were performing the tasks, neural activity was being measured in the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) through the use of a fMRI.
Before each trial, each subject would predict how they would perform on the task whether or not they would perform well. Those who exhibited an optimistic behavior performed the best and showed the most neural activity in the PPC when the wager was higher for succeeding than failing, and the converse occurred with subjects who had a pessimistic behavior. They showed greater success and neural activity in the PPC when failing had a higher wager than succeeding. Surely these results could demonstrate how being an optimist is probably just as beneficial in life as being a pessimist under most circumstances.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100804151500.htm

Predicting Schizophrenia with Smell

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200310/predicting-schizophrenia-smell

The article I read was called Predicting Schizophrenia with Smell-Problems with Smell Shown to Predict the Disorder. This study was about whether or not olfactory abilities, or lack there of, had to do with predicting who would end up with this disorder. The reason I thought this was interesting was because it gave me an interesting in site into how the disease affects the ability of identifying odors and problems with the sense of smell.

This study was conducted was by a man named Warrick Brewer and his colleagues in Australia. They took 81 high risk patients and compared them to 31 volunteers in a control group. They found that those who later became schizophrenic, scored worse in the olfactory test.

When I read the title of this study, I did not think that it could be possible because I have seen this disease affect some people, but never thought it could possibly have anything to do with your sense of smell. I found it very interesting and insightful to find out about this. I encourage everyone who reads this to check out the link. The article is short, but very insightful.

The effect on playing violent video games...

Researchers have found that when a violent video game is played by an adult or child that it does in fact have some effect on the behavior of the player in some way. they have done studies that when you have two similar players and one has played a more violent game that the subject was far more eager than the other player who has not played a game with as violent of gameplay. The studies show that violent games come with an increased level of aggression.


http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1742

Do we create our own serial killers?

There has been a good bit of research done on children that commit crimes against animals becoming serial killers. I bring this up because my neighbors kids is only ten years old. So far he has killed my friends rabbit, drowned her baby ducks, and bashed his own cats head in on the wall. After all of this both the parents and the juvenile probation officer still feel that there is nothing wrong with the child. His mother states that it is just a faze and he will grow out of it, that her other two boys did. Yet her oldest just got out of prison for raping children, while her middle one is currently in the challenge program after skinning a rabbit alive then torturing it to death. I have to say that it doesn't seem that the other two did really grow out of it they seem to have grown more in to it. About a month ago the state removed the youngest child from her custody and then gave him to the father how is not all there mentally and is about as mean as a junk yard dog to boot. I won't even tangle with him. I think that says it all right there. Yet they say that they, (the state) are looking out for the best interest of the child. I can't see how? I feel that if they would have kept the child away from the influence of the family once the removed him that there may have been a chance to save him. It seems to me that the child does not stand a chance to become a normal person, with that kind of influence. Does this mean that he will be one of the next serial killers? I don't know. What I do know is that we as a society need to try to help this kids before they become serial killers. I don't think that he stands much of a chance the way his current situation stands. But who knows maybe someone or something will come along and change him before it is to late. I sure hope so, not only for his sake, but also for the sake of his potential victims. What do you think?

unlikely cure for psychological trauma

In the past few years i have heard how video games corrupt minds, waste time, etc.
Well a recent study at Oxford Unicersity hypothesized that playing the video game Tetris after witnessing violence could get cognitive resources the brain normally needs to form memories.

The journal PLoS One confirmed the finding stating " Tetris acted like a 'cognitive vaccine' against traumatic memory."

I'll make sure that i start carying a gameboy around with Tetris so if i ever experience psychological trauma i can get rid of it by playing my game.

http://trueslant.com/daviddisalve/2009/12/28/ten-psychology-studies-from-2009-worth-knowing-about/

wana know the real way to attract women?

I guess all of us guys have been doing it all wrong throughout our lives. We don't need to lift weights or be talented at anything all we need to do is wear red! Professor of psychology at the University of Rochester says "We found that women view men in red as higher in status, more likely to make money and more likely to climb the social ladder. And it's this high status judgment that leads to the attraction."

I now know that im going to dress in red all the time so that i can get any girl i want even if none of that stuff is true for me ;) we'll see how well this goes over.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100802101821.htm

Can emotions help animals make choices?

Can an animal living in a world threatened by predators develop a negative mood/emotion? Or vise versa for animals with plenty of opportunities to acquire meals, water, shelter, etc have a positive mood?

Researchers say that emotions not only show the animals experiences but how it makes it choices throughout it's life. Take an elk for example; whenever an elk hears a sound it immediately thinks of danger which would be a "safety-first" response where as whenever a grizzlie or a wolf hears a sound it immediately thinks of prey which would be a "optimistic" response.

I guess that stands true for humans to because if you get picked on a lot a certain way such as being pushed up against a wall near certain groups of people you start to avoid those people as much as you can and when you see them you try to get away.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100803212013.htm
I just think that this makes sense to me

Psychology in the Media: Subliminal Messaging

Sometime do a simple Google image search for subliminal messages and you will be surprised by what you see. We are being brainwashed and we don't even realize it most of the time. Big ad companies use hidden images to make their products seem more appealing to the consumer, and amazingly it works! Our brains process so much that sometimes we don't even notice things consciously. This also makes us realize how powerful sex and money are in our culture.
I think this is a brilliant, while dangerous strategy. We don't know what kind of information is being sent to us at any given moment. The media indeed does control our thoughts!!! The crazy thing is these images could be hidden so well we don't ever find them. So next time you see an ad and think the product looks good just ask yourself, "Self, is this the product talking or something else...?"

Correlation Between Loud Music and Level of Alcohol Consumption

I have to admit that the correlation between loud music and the level of alcohol consumption never entered my mind before reading this article. The louder the music, the more a person drinks alcohol at a faster pace? Is it because the louder music stimulates arousal or excitement, which in turn leads to feeling the urge to continue drinking at maybe a faster pace? Or, is it just because it is so loud that no one can have a conversation, so a person tends to sip their beverages more often in between talking? The French seem to be thinking alot about this issue.


My first thought would be latter, because it just seems logical. However, the whole concept brings me to thinking about other similar situations. Take the Quarry Brewery in uptown Butte for example. The environment is all about conversation, therefore there is no music...people sit, talk, and enjoy a limit of up to three brewed beverages. In establishments where the environment is geared for high-energy, stimulating pace (such as a nightclub or dancing establishment), the music is loud, and quite honestly, there are more issues with intoxicated patrons.



I relate this comparison to Las Vegas - casinos without any clocks, and a fluorescent purple glow throughout the casinos. I have always been told that is so the casino patrons relax and stay in the casinos - the purple glow somehow stimulates the brain to be more "carefree" and have more of a "what-the-heck" attitude. The result is people lose track of time and continue gambling, where if the arousal was not stimulated with the purple glow and no clocks in sight, patrons would regain their senses and move on.



So if the Vegas concept holds true, I can see where maybe the loud music/alcohol consumption ratio is also directly related. It's all about stimulating the part of the brain to say "what-the-heck" and become aroused or excited by the surroundings.



Guess I'll have to go to Vegas and some nightclubs to check these hypotheses out further!







https://mtctsbbl.mtech.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_6586_1

Personality and Social Psychology

Evolution has pretty much proved that human beings are social beings. "With a few notable exceptions (eg. Baumeister & Leary 1995) somewhat less attention has been paid to the power of social motives such as the need to be accepted by, connected with, and of value to other persons and social groups." I think everybody, or almost everybody, feels the need to ve wanted and accepted by socity, or by a social group.
In my college writing and soft skills classes we sometimes worked in groups of two to four on a project. Our grdes depended on the abilities and being able to work together on a project or an essay. This helps to get a person out of themselves and into working with others. It was quite interesting putting everyones ideas together and it was also fun.

Emotional Effects of a Miscarraige

Between 12-15% of pregnancies end in a first trimester, recognizable pregnancy loss. This may be a spontaneous miscarriage or a "missed miscarriage" requiring a D&C. Because this type of loss is so common, it is often underestimated as a source of emotional problems. It may or may not be surprising that rates of depression are reported as high as 22-55% in the year following a miscarriage. Grief, anger, anxiety and panic are also reactions following a miscarriage.

The greatest contributor to emotional reaction is that a woman looks at the early pregnancy as part of herself and when it is lost, there is an emptiness, searching and incompleteness feeling because the fetus is not viewed as a separate being. Also, the connection to the fetus is much stronger for the woman than for her partner and there is a great difference in the intensity of the grieving process between the mother and father. A woman becomes isolated because of this and often has no emotional support for her feelings. Even the usual social rituals of a death notice, a funeral, and friends offering sympathy are absent because very few people usually know of the event. This prevents accepting the reality of the loss. If there was any ambivalence about the pregnancy in the first place guilt becomes a major component of the grieving process. The highest risk time for depression is the first 12 weeks after a pregnancy loss. Risk factors for developing clinical depression include previous depression, the further along in pregnancy that the loss occurred, a history of substance or alcohol abuse, a poor support system and a history of poor coping skills.

I had a miscarriage about a year ago, I was 19 at the time and it wasn't planned. Although I was young I was still extremely excited to bring some one new into my life and future. I ended up losing the baby when I was 2 months along and it broke my heart. I felt like a failure as a women. What made it more difficult to handle was the fact that my boyfriend didn't understand why I was so upset. He kept saying it's normal and it happens all the time for the first pregnancy. That's not what I wanted to hear. When a woman loses a child she needs her partner to be supportive. It's not an easy thing to go through.

Brain Tumors in Children and Adolescents:Cognitive and Psychological Disorders at Different Ages.

In recent years, the number of child and adolescent brain tumor survivors has significantly increased with an improvement in outcome, although motor, sensory, cognitive and psychological sequelae persist (Sklar,2002;Siffert etal.,1999;LeBaron et al.,1998).
I was reading this study because recently I had the opportunity to meet a lovely, young, lady who has had four surgeries on her right frontal lobe caused by brain cancer. If the lobotomy operations that they performed on mental patients in institutions years ago were anything like her operations, then they were happy people. She is a very happy, funny young lady-but also, a bit slow in her thinking and actions.

Using and Exemplification exercise to teach psychological disorders

In 2007 at the Pennsylvania State University, college students in Intro Psychology were given pretests on matching psychological disorders with their definitions. Another group had to match psycological disorders with examples of the disorders.
After twelve weeks, one group of the students listened to lectures on the disorders. The other group sat through lectures and also wrote an example of each disorder.
In the post-tests the students who listened to the lecture and did the exercises did better than the students who just went to the lectures.
This study makes a person wonder if hands-on studying makes a differnce in learning, rather than just listening. And , will this also work in other classes with different topics than just psychology.

SOCIAL INFLUENCES ON PARANORMAL BELIEF: POPULAR VERSUS SCIENTIFIC SUPPORT

Paranormal belief is something that I've always been interested in. The notion that we could communicate just by thinking about it seems surreal. I've always thought that if we did have that ability then maybe we could share information simultaneously throughout or community and actually start moving forward in evolution at a faster pace. School and learning would be obsolete if one could gather all information from someone at once. This study is interesting because people were led to believe that esp was real by showing them evidence (false evidence) of ESP activity. This is another study on social psychology where people were influenced on the basis that somebody else had the ability. A real interesting study that i suggest people read.

Don't believe the hype!

Giving in to Group Pressure: The Impact of Socialization and Risk on Perceived Outcomes

This is similar to the study we learned about in class. I just wanted to post it because it has a couple of new interesting points and it's a more recent study done. Same thing as before people in a social setting began to conform even on issues they believed were wrong. I don't really wanna ruin it but it is a study worth reading. Amazing how we give in just because we are in a group or people.

http://www.uiowa.edu/~grpproc/crisp/crisp15_2.pdf

Evidence of Shifting Standards in Judgments of Male and Female Parents’ Job-Related Ability

This is an interesting study on how gender roles decide the competence in the work place. I've always felt the women have been held inferior in the work place due to sexist beliefs that developed in our past. Nowadays however, it seems that its starting to even out a little more due to the increase high paying jobs that women are filling these days. It would be nice to see men and women viewed as equals someday. Please read this study I think it really outlines a lot of information that is useful in today's society.

http://www.uiowa.edu/~grpproc/crisp/crisp.html

Are Epileptic Seizures Hereditary?

A recent study performed by Timothy Jelga reveals a possible culprit behind the cause of epileptic seizures may be due to a gene called Kv12.2, a potassium-channel gene found in the ion channels of neuron transmitters in the brain. Epileptic seizures are caused by nerves in the brain firing uncontrollably from a small stimulus or even several small stimuli. The Kv12.2 gene aids in the suppression of signaling between neurons in the brain because it is potassium based, sodium and calcium based channels help to excite and promote the sending of signals from neuron to neuron. Jelga said that the Kv12.2 gene was a good candidate to study because it has been found in sea-dwelling creatures discovered to be some 542-million years old and previous studies have shown that the Kv12.2 gene is possibly related to spatial memory.
In testing his theory, Jelga studied the brains of mice through an EEG at the Baylor College of Medicine with Jeffrey Noebels. They found that the mice who had frequent seizures without convulsions were missing the Kv12.2 gene. In finding this, Jelga and Noebels stimulated several mice with a chemical which caused seizures to occur. In doing so, they found that mice with the Kv12.2 gene had a much greater resistance to a seizure than did the mice who were missing or had a defective Kv12.2 gene. These results state that mice had an abnormally low firing threshold of the nerve cells in mice without a properly functioning Kv12.2 gene. Because of these results, Jelga said that the potassium channels are necessary to keep the brain "quiet" and help prevent seizures from happening. Although epileptic seizures may be hereditary, they also occur without any sign of the parents of the offspring who has epileptic seizures not to have an epileptic seizure history, but if epileptic seizures are more or less based on ion-channel defects, medicine may be created to focus more on this aspect of neurons with fewer side effects.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100801190251.htm

Health Risks of Those With Type A Personality Traits

When we think of people with"Type A" personalities, we often think of the high-strung, stressed-out perfectionist types who seem obsessed with every detail. I questioned the extent this type of personality has on the overall health and well-being of such individuals.

I would assume that because of the stress Type-A personalities seem to endure each day, it has to affect their health. This article indicated that people with Type-A personalities have an 84% increased risk of high blood pressure. As a result of increased high blood pressure and all of the associated health problems, heart disease is almost a certainty by age 65 for Type-A personalities. That statistic was alarming to me.

As with any other person with high blood pressure health risks, Type-A personalities must find something to help control it. If Type-A personality traits are further affected by a person's environment (i.e., work-related stress issues or other factors that increase health risks), a Type-A person should incorporate a counter-action to this environment in their daily routines. This article has some interesting methods to try to "calm down" the Type-A personality individual through planned, purposeful, and specific activities, aiming to reduce risks that might otherwise raise blood pressure and negatively impact health.

http://stress.about.com/od/understandingstress/a/type_a_person.htm

Sleep,Tonsils and Learning - Misconception about ADD

For years, kids in school have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). We sometimes refer to younger kids as the "Ritalin" kids, because it seems so many are taking the medication anymore to help with symptoms of ADD that inhibit learning.

Many researchers and others in the psychiatric community have found a link between sleep apnea, chronic tonsil/sinus infections, and poor learning habits in school. In the 1980's and 1990's, it seemed there was a huge increase in the number of children with ADD, most of which were prescribed Ritalin. Researchers are now finding that the symptoms which mirror ADD may not be associated with ADD at all, but with sleep disorders and tonsil infections. Children become hyper when sleep deprived, just as an adult may become hyper when consuming caffeine. Such infections can often affect the sleeping patterns in children, but sleep apnea caused by the physical shape of the throat and nose could also affect sleeping patterns and ultimately learning abilities. As a result, children who are sleep deprived act similarly to hyperactive children with ADD or ADHD, and many physicians may misdiagnose those children and not find the real root of their learning disabilities.

During high school, I experienced significant attention issues and had chronic sinus colds. I was told at that time I had Attention Deficit Disorder and was prescribed medication. However, issues were still prevalent as I went to college, as learning and paying attention in class were still extremely difficult. I was always tired in the morning and afternoon, but was wired at night, just as the kids in school can be after being sleep deprived. A vicious cycle, I could never get enough restful sleep and I could not concentrate during the day, including during school. I felt like a newborn with my days and nights mixed up. Though ADD was thought to be my learning disability, my main problem was I was always tired - when I woke up, during the day, yet I had trouble getting to sleep.

A psychologist I've been working with told me of a link between sinus and tonsil problems to ADD and perhaps to sleep apnea. He ordered a sleep test for me, and found I never really get into a REM cycle (the good, restful sleep) and woke up over 144 times the night of my sleep test. I have trouble with the sleeping machine, so I don't use it. I am planning on having my tonsils removed later this year to reduce the sinus and tonsil infections I get, which should improve my sleep apnea issues, and thus, help me with my attention issues in school and enhance my learning environment.

Sleeping and learning are very much related - I can attest to that. The important thing is to ensure restful sleep is attained - quality versus quanity. I am looking very forward to my tonsil surgery, and believe the diagnosis of ADD will be a thing of the past and I will get a good night's sleep for a change. The main result I'm looking for though is improved quality of learning and the ability to pay attention during school.

http://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/news/20060403/tonsil-surgery-helps-kids-adhd

Stanford Prison Study

The article I decided to post on was our reading about the Stanford Prison Study. What this article was about, as you all should know, is how people took on certain roles, if you will, that they were assigned to imitate for a short period of time. This study was conducted by Zimbardo, from Stanford University. The way he conducted this study was by building a fake prison in the basement of the college and then assigning certain students to be "guards" and "prisoners". He would then act as the "warden" of the prison as he was conducting the experiment. His study went from being a harmless scientific study to, unfortunately, a shocking and disturbing dose of reality. What I mean by this is he found that not only were the students starting to fall victim to their roles, but he was as well. The students who were supposed to be prisoners ended up acting as if they were actual prisoners, even though they had the right to end the study at anytime, by having conflict with the guards, becoming belligerent, and also planning forms of escape. The guards on the other hand were treating their fellows classmates, as if they were really criminals who were actually imprisoned under their supervision. They started doing things to the prisoners, such as, name calling and punishing them in several ways for trying to form escape plans. What was most shocking of all about this study is that Zimbardo himself, started believing that he was a "warden" opposed to his real role as the experimenter. The reason I choose this study to blog on was because I found it extremely shocking that as humans, we can fall victim to what we are told to do. If you would have asked me before I read this if humans were capable of this kind of behavior, I would have told you no way, but after reading this, I have concluded that anything is possible.

Personality Traits and Our Health

I found this article interesting and helpful. In class we talked about personality traits, but not the effect it can have on your immune system, health, heart, and illness recovery time. It’s crazy how everything is connected in life, I never really thought about it, but it seems to make sense. I personally am going to try to make some changes for my health, and I hope others find this helpful as well.


http://psychology.suite101.com/article.cfm/personality_and_health

Twins

I find identical twins very interesting. Instead of one of you there are two of you. I think it would be nice to have identical twin as my sibling. That way we could fill in for each other. Just think of it, if you yourself did not want to go somewhere you could have your twin go for you. I guess I really find it intriguing because I have known a few identical twins before and encountered some of their situations. One student in our Psychology class has an identical twin sister and it is so interesting to be around them. I did not even know about the twins when I meet the one I work with. So that situation left me to mistake our fellow student sister as the twin I work with. She had no idea who I was and it actually was a very funny experience. When I am around them now I can tell them apart, but only because one has long hair and the other has short hair.


Articles say that identical twins score higher in IQ tests then fraternal twins. Some intelligence must come from heredity. Studies also show that environment also has an impact on high IQ scores. Some scholars argue against heredity information because they feel that intelligence is mostly based on the environment around you. Identical twins share their heredity and genetics make-up, but they also share the environment. Having someone so close to being like you and also the same age logically is an environment for competition and siblings pushing each others intelligence. Fraternal twins share the same environment just like identical twins, but not so closely the same genetics that identical twins do. The fact that identical twins have higher scores may lead one to think genetics is the main reason for the higher scores. But then again could it be the close genetic back round that is influencing a more conducive environment for learning and thus environment is the reason. I could argue either way.


Heredity Versus Environment - The Nature-nurture Controversy, Exploring Heredity And Environment: Research Methods, Beyond Heritability

Music and Learning

Not listening but performing music may help improve your grades. By helping create framework for more productive brain activity. It’s nice to have a place to put things. I would compare this to having a file cabinet with millions of folders. Sometimes we need new founders or maybe we need to sort information from one folder in to many folders. It’s easy to store files when there is a folder already made or the path to the folder is well established. It’s like the path to memory is easier when it’s traveled more.

This article listed below is something that will influence me to encourage my children to play some kind of interment. I believe that practice makes perfect & conditioning are pertinent to education. It’s just too bad I hadn’t known this year’s ago, would have come in handy.

Source - How Music Training Primes Nervous System and Boosts Learning

Sleep and Learning

A study by Harvard researchers mentioned in this article is profound, because they may be on the right path to finding out what sleep really is or why we dream. The fact that it may be linked to learning is something I assumed but it’s not just learning they were speaking about. Memory organization while sleeping wasn’t something I figured the human mind would need. I guess I assumed that our brain was more like a mail sorting room rather than a computer hard drive. As information comes in I figured it was put in its proper place. The theory that the brain shuts down as to make room to move or rearrange information is interesting because it would explain a lot. Like why sleep is important or why we dream.

If this theory is true, I would assume that what we actively think of before we sleep will take priority in the reorganizing of memories. So could we control what we learn by thinking about specific things before we fall asleep? Would it be better to take a night class or start early in the morning to get the best out of your waking hours, as far as learning goes?

Source - Dream Your Way to the Dean's List: Sleep Promotes Learning

Psychology in the Media: Subliminal Messaging

Sometime do a simple Google image search for subliminal messages. You will be amazed at some of the images hidden in everyday advertising. And the amazing thing is that our brains process the images without our knowing. We don't even know why we are drawn to certain brands until a subliminal message is revealed showing us that it wasn't the product itself making us interested. We can also see how powerful sex and money are in the way they are used against us in the advertisement world.
I think this is a brilliant strategy, while at the same time a dangerous one. Big industries love to make money and hiding intriguing images in their ads is a great way to lure people in. We are all being brainwashed without even noticing and I think that's astounding. Some of these images are so cleverly hidden, we still don't know they're there! So next time you see an ad and think, "Hey that looks good," ask yourself if it's the product or something more...

Do we forget about the victims in pursuit of get the criminal off?

On the topic on the Short film we watched today in class, I have to say that I can't begin to understand why everyone is always so concerned with the mental health of the person committing the crime, (in this instance Andrea Yates). While it seems to me that maybe society could learn from her, where is the concern for the victims, ( those five Innocent kids)? This question seems to ring true for me every time I hear that some one has committed a crime. Yes, at first everyone is talking about the victims, but by the time the trial gets here it seems that everyone is focused on the criminal instead of the victims. While I understand that the supposed reason for the trial is to get them justice, it seems to me that by this time in the justice system that all the focus is on how to get the criminal off! Like I said that is just my opinion before someone takes offense. I Just can't understand the reasoning behind letting some one like Andrea Yates pretty much get away with murder. Again that is just my opinion. Yes, I understand that she was diagnosed as having post pardum depression that got out of hand , as well as her medication being switched around to make the Doctor more comfortable with the medications she was taking as well as the side affects. Yet, I can't get over the fact that no body did anything to prevent this senseless tragedy. I fully believe that while the husband is to blame as well, since he knew the risks of her having more children, I have to hold Andrea Yates responsible for not saying no. There is no mention that she was an abused wife,therefore she should have said NO! I had a friend that got this same way after having her son. A bunch of us took turns staying with her until she got back to her old self, we made sure that both her and the baby were safe. I feel that with all the friends and family that Andrea Yates had some one would have been more than willing to help her if she would have asked. So, I still say that she in more ways than one made the choice way before that day to kill her kids. I don't know, that is just my opinion. What do you think?

Narcissistic Heterosexual Men Target Their Hostility Mostly Toward Heterosexual Women

This article caught my attention because of the last sentence. In class we have been talking about groups and conformity and this article is about a survey study that showed that narcissistic heterosexual men target their hostility mostly toward heterosexual women. Some say it’s because strait women have the supreme ability to either satisfy or crush their desires. I agree, especially in today’s society. Women are becoming stronger and a lot less willing to conform. I also think that there should be the same kind of study done on the other groups. I would be interested in seeing where their hostility is projected. Do gay men target other gay men, and what about heterosexual women… who do they target?


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100728121329.htm

Nobel Prize- Research on Risky Decision Making

Research done by Kahneman and Tversky suggest that the way people are willing to make risky decisions is adversely effected by the unique outcomes that come out of each situation. These two won the Nobel Prize for their work on this subject. In their studies they used different amonts of money and chances of losing compared with chances of losing that money. They used the classic example of asking if somebody would be willing to bet ten dollars on a coin flip and if they won they'd double their money and if they lst they'd lose it. Well it turns out when it comes to tat little of a gain to be made almost everyone won't take the risk. Later they asked the same people if they had a 100% chance of losing 800$ if they'd take that or if they had an 85% chance of losing 1000$ and 15% chance of breaking even if they'd take that risk. Almost everyone was willing to risk the 1000$ which is the riskier choice. They found that people reacted differently depending on how risky the situation is. They went on later to use hypothetical situations involving human lives. These test went on to prove that people are willing to risk more lives in order to save more lives. This study was groundbreaking, because it helped show how people are likely to act in times of war, and what human nature tends to make people do. By getting this data they were able to inform places like the military about not taking to risky of choices in situations that it doesn't call for. I can see why this was an important study, and I think that it was great for people to find out just how the mind works when put in these risky situations. Personally I think that it should be more highly regarded, because I haven't even heard much about it, and it is a very interesting peice of work.
For more information:
www.spring.org.uk, research and article by Danial Kahneman and Amos Tversky

Conformity

In studies conducted by Solomon Asch the nature of conformity was under the microscope. These studies were aimed at finding out why we conform and change our opinions in different situations even if we don't necessarily agree with what we are conforming to.
These studies involved a group of seven people, where only one person was a subject and the other six were planted actors. Asch then asked the subject to judge the length of a line, which 95% of subjects did acuratly. When the confederates were placed in the room and asked to judge the line innacuratly, the subject quickly changed their mind and conformed.
Conformity is defined as yeilding to social pressure when no direct request to comply with the group is made. In Asch's experiments he found that almost every test subject either always complies or never complies, and nothing in between.
According to Asch the most important factor involving conformity is group size. The other major factor that he mentions is the expertise or education of the people in the group.
I feel that this is a good study into conformity. This study is the same one that we saw in class. This is a good study that shows and uses great examples.
For more information go to: www.suite101.com/social_psychology, article written by, Asha Wate