April 2010 Archives

http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_specter_the_danger_of_science_denial.html

I figured I would make my last post from ted.com, since I have really come to enjoy this site over the course of this semester. This video is of Michael Specter discussing the recent denial of scientific advances. Michael briefly discusses the progression of lifespans in his family from generation to generation. He mentioned that each generation has lived a decade longer than the last, and he plans to live till 90. Through the course of this video he discusses the ways in which we are able to engineer foods to make them more nutritious. We, as a community, have decided that foods that are not 100% natural should be shunned from our diet. However, we are willing to take pill after pill in hopes that it will help us feel better. We have virtually wiped out the threat of small pox in our country, so we no longer get the vaccine. What if small pox is reintroduced? We will all be susceptible once again. The discussion of what problems vaccines can cause has been brought down to the ground by science every time that it is brought up. Yet, people still believe that they are doing their children a favor by neglecting to give them their vaccinations. However, if an unvaccinated individual travels the world and contracts a disease outside of the protective bubble of the United States, not only would they run into a problem for themselves, but they could bring a problem for the rest of us.

What is it that motivates people to take such risky behaviors, but claim them to be safer? Is it the need for power? Reeve describes this as the need to be in control of situations. Could it be that people feel as though they have more control over situations if they eat food that is not genetically engineered or if they avoid vaccinations?

How did this video make you feel? Personally, it really got me thinking about what I felt to be health conscious. I always believed that vaccinations were necessary, and that it was rather ignorant to over look the research that has been done to prove it. This video just reiterated that point for me.

Building Community in Organizations

I found this article through one of my other classes, but I think that it relates to Motivation and Emotion more than anything else in psychology. The article discusses six steps to having a healthy, cooperative community.  Many times it referrers to areas in the business context, but I also think it would be applicable to everyday life.  Although the article does come across as somewhat candy-coated, I still think the general ideas have great meaning behind them, even if they aren't 100% generalizable to every type of community. 

The text discusses the aspect of engagement (Reeve, 165) in a way that encourages motivation.  This is the same basic concept that the article is getting at, only more specified.  The article wants to motivate members of a given community to take part and care about that community, where as Reeve discusses the model of engagement in a broader basis.  Engagement can involve anything that someone cares about, including psychological needs. Engagement also taps into emotions as well, causing for even more intensified involvement in the given activity.  Building a strong community anywhere (whether it's at work, school, or home) can be much easier if these guidelines of engagement are implemented. Table 6.4 (Reeve, 164) in the text shows how the aspects of an environment can trigger engagement and fulfill different psychological needs. While many of these terms are different that those provided in the article, they stem off of the same ideas and constructs. 

 

The six principles of an engaged community are:

1. Communicate a compelling message.

2. Build a guiding coalition.

3. Create principle-based versus compliance-based guidelines for decisions and behaviors.

4. Identify early engagement indicators.

5. Generate continuous opportunities for dialogue at all levels.

6. Plan assimilation strategies for new members and new leaders.

 

While some of the terminology may seem complex, the article explains how simple each principle really is. Many of the terms stem from concepts that we have learned in the past about Motivation and Emotion.  The first aspect, communicating a compelling message, gets into the concept of involvement and relatedness, and almost acts like an advertisement.  Reeve discusses the importance of relatedness (Reeve, 161-162) and how high levels of relatedness can increase levels of social interaction, higher functioning, resilience to stress, and lower chances of psychological dysfunctions.  In order to get people engaged in a given situation, they must first feel as if they have a social relation to that community or event and have a sense of involvement within that situation.

The second principle, building a coalition, corresponds with the idea of leadership. Reeve (196) discusses how leadership skills can effect and influence the people around that leader.  Reeve also discusses how power can also change the attitudes of peers. With a high-quality leader, subordinates will be more likely to participate fully within the community, and be happier with their community overall.   

The third principle, principle-based vs. compliance-based guidelines, revolves around the idea of autonomy and control over situations.  Reeve discusses the importance of fulfilling the need for autonomy (Reeve, 145-146).  This area is crucial in discussing something such as a community or job setting, and can have a huge impact on the level of happiness and satisfaction each individual experiences.  Using guidelines that promote autonomy, rather than strict rules, can enhance individual's level of involvement and engagement within that group.  This can also improve performance and satisfaction in that particular situation.

The next principle deals with early signs of motivational concepts. Once people seem to show an interest in engagement, it reinforces the leaders and those involved by showing them that the engagement is possible and helpful. Reinforcing the behaviors of both leaders and subordinates is a good way to keep motivations high and keep everyone involved (Reeve, 115). In turn, this can help to keep the levels of engagement constant in the community setting.            Principle number five revisits aspects of relatedness and competence.  Encouraging communication is a way to gain relationships with each individual, strengthening their levels of engagement.  This also has an impact on their levels of competence (Reeve, 154).  Increasing communication increases levels of interaction with the environment, establishing a perception of competence.  Competence is the need to have an effect on the environment, as well as master optimal challenges (Reeve, 155).  Increasing the levels of communication and increasing opportunities for challenges is a great way to get individuals engaged in which ever community they may be in.

Assimilation strategies for new members and leaders is applying the concepts of all of these situations into one, making new members feel as though they are involved, making the steps of engagement easier to adapt to. In short, it takes aspects of all of the other principles and applies them to the single new member in order to make them feel as though they are engaged in that community, and so that they can begin to take part in each of the six principles.

 

Can you think of any other psychological concepts that we have discussed in class that relate to this article? Are there any that DON'T apply to these principles?

 

 

 

After you have watched a movie, you should blog your general impressions of the movie (by 5pm on thursdays) and provide 1 example from the movie (scene, character, etc) and how it relates specifically to a theory or construct in Motivation and Emotion.

Your full analyses are due the following Tuesday turned in via eLearning (aka WebCT).

 

http://www.angermanagementtips.com/children.htm

I recently came accross a website that discussed anger management and how to deal with children when they are expressing anger.  I found it to be very interesting because I'm always seeing children in the store throwing tantrums and then their parents just giving in and letting them have their way.  After watching this I always tell myself that when I have children I won't do that, but at the same time it has to be hard to watch your child behave in that way.

The article that I was reading discusses how it's important to explain to children what exactly anger is, that it's ok that they express it, and that even yourself as the parent expresses anger at times.  They need to realiaze how to channel the anger, though.  The article states different suggestions for a parent to follow when their child is experiencing anger.

• taking deep breaths
• turning their anger into expressable words
• working off anger by running or riding a bike
• showing them alternatives to their anger
• rewarding the children for controlling their anger

I thought that all of these ideas were very helpful.  I think it's also important for parents to stick with the methods decide on.  So many times parents will give in to their children and let them get away with things that they probably shouldn't be doing.  They need to be consistant and not back down, although at times this may be dificult. 

The website also says how parents should explain to children what exactly anger is and how to detect anger when they are experiencing it. They list three main things children should recognize.

• their breathing getting faster
• their face getting red in color
• tightened muscles and skin

I thought the website gave decent advice, but I'm also not a parent so I don't know how well these tips actually work.

Are there any parents that have suggestions to what does or does not work for children with anger problems??

 

Kathleen Bogart, pictured above, has a rare congenital condition called Moebious syndrome.  Moebious syndrome is a neurological disorder that primarily affects the 6th and 7th cranial nerves, leaving those with the condition unable to move their faces. The facial paralysis causes those with the disorder to be unable to smile, frown, suck, grimace, or even blink their eyes.  In addition, their eyes only move laterally, making sideways glances and eye rolling out of the picture as well.  (To learn more about Moebious Syndrome, go to the Moebious Syndrome Foundation). 

Reeve (2009) spent quiet a bit of time throughout the book discussing how important facial expressions are to emotion.  The facial feedback hypothesis, introduced in Chapter 12, states that emotion is the awareness of feedback from our own facial expressions.  Facial expressions are also important in social interactions.  Facial expressions allow us to ascertain the emotion & mood of the people around us and allow the people around us to ascertain out emotional state & mood.  Reeve states that emotions are intrinsic to interpersonal relationships, and they play a role in creating, maintaining, and dissolving interpersonal relationships.  We often automatically mimic other people's emotions during interactions.  By mimicking facial expressions facial feedback hypothesis would state that we are then able to understand the other person's emotional state.

Obviously emotions play a large role in our social interactions, whether it is by how we are feeling or understanding and mimicking the emotions of someone else.  Then by conjecture the inability to express emotions via facial expression, like those suffering from Moebious syndrome, can cause a variety of problems with social interaction.  Some researchers assumed that because those with Moebious cannot mimic facial expressions they would not be able to read other people's emotions as well as those of us who do not have Moebious syndrome.  However, recent research has shown that people who are suffering from Moebious syndrome are able to read facial expression just as well as the rest of us can.  This suggests that the brain uses more than just facial mimicry to evaluate emotions. 

While those who suffer from Moebious syndrome can read others facial expressions just as well as the rest of us, they have to use other methods to display their own emotions.  Most individuals with Moebious develop other nonverbal cues to express emotions.  In the same way that those who are blind have better developed senses of smell, hearing, and touch, those with Moebious syndrome have developed better vocal cues, gestures, and body positions.  This development may also aid those with Moebious in reading other's emotions outside of facial expressions.  In fact it was found that by mimicking one's conversation partner, it is more difficult to determine if they are lying or even uncomfortable. 

While, many of these individuals are able to develop such skills, that still does not make social interaction easy.  Many people are uncomfortable when interacting with someone who does not mimic their facial expressions.  I had never thought about how lucky I am to be able to express my emotions on my face - mostly because many times people are able to read me really easily because I don't control my facial expressions - but I interacting with others is made so much easier by having that ability.

To learn more about some of the research being conducted concerning facial expressions, Moebious syndrome, and Kathleen Bogart read this recent NY Times article http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/health/06mind.html?pagewanted=1&sq=emotions&st=cse&scp=4

We discussed in class yesterday some examples of how characters in the movie (namely Robert DeNiro's character, Michael) lacked emotion in certain circumstances where we would have expected to see some. I think we referenced when Michael, Nick, and Steven were being held captive how Michael really didn't express fear like we saw from Nick and Steven (Michael remained calm and coached both of them on). I found a couple of articles that might explain (partially at least) what was going on with Michael.

Strange calm in a sea of danger
What's the scariest part of a frightening experience

The first link discusses how people sometimes fail to exhibit fear in extremely threatening situations (a bear attack is described). We hear many stories like this where people take control of the situation rather than being immobilized by fear. The article explains that this may be due to noradrenaline in our brains. Noradrenaline is believed to be linked to filtering out information that isn't relevant to the threat and decision making. Thus, when Michael explains to Nick that they are going to have to leave Steven behind, the fact that they were friends was filtered out of the situation and the decision was made based only on the threat.

The second article is related to fearful situations and discusses skydiving. It explains how novice skydivers will experience the peak of anxiety/fear right before they are about to jump out of the plane whereas experienced skydivers will experience their peak hours before the jump and it slowly decreases as the jump nears. It is possible that Michael had  more experience with Russian Roulette, which allowed him to be calm while in the situation, as he readied himself for it hours before.
I had a similar experience today. While going downstairs to take a shower this morning I ran into a squirrel in my house! I instantly yelled "Oh F***" and proceeded to return to my room. It was an intense startle moment (definitely a flight response-some adrenaline was flowing). After collecting myself I went downstairs to get the thing out of my house-it had crashed through some ceiling tiles in our bathroom. After successfully getting it out by leaving the doors open and chasing it, I had to clean up the mess. While cleaning up the mess, another squirrel runs by me!  This gave me another startle response, but this time I just opened the doors and chased it out without avoiding it and collecting myself. Not quite a life or death situation, but you can see how my prior experience decreased the reaction and allowed me to deal with the situation much more effectively. 

Anyone else live in a crappy house where animals break in? Have an experience that relates to one of these articles?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/36649379#36649379

Whenver we think about college students and their addictive behaviors, what comes to mind is alcohol and drugs.  Reeve (2009) states that addictive drugs, such as psychostimulants, are especially potent reinforcers because their repeated usage produces hypersensitivity to dopamine stimulation.  This is what is being compared to the feeling people get after tanning.  The behavioral approach system is related to the reward responsiveness feeling, which these tanners feel when they are just getting out of the booth. 

Now, studies have shown an addictive behavior to tanning, especially around the season of prom, graduation, and spring break.  Doctors have said that some people just have addictive behaviors and people who are addicted to tanning, are usually addicted to other things such as alcohol and drugs. In one study done on Northeast college students one third of them are shown to have a tanning addiction.  People feel better after they just got done tanning and that they have some sort of anxiety which they think tanning eliviates.

Although people know that it causes skin cancer, college students feel that they can't get skin cancer that young.  Experts think that tanning booths need to start screening tanners for an addictive behavior.

 

http://positivesharing.com/2006/12/why-motivation-by-pizza-doesnt-work/

I found this article for my organizational psych class, so those of you are in there may have already seen this, but I feel it fits our class well also.  This is a really good article about the power of intrinsic motivation compared to extrinsic motivation in various situations. The author goes one step further though by distinguishing between negative and positive motivation. Negative motivation is when you attempt to keep someone from doing something negative by reminding them of the negative consequences.

For example, in the article, the author describes how people that have heart surgeries are told if they don't start eating right and taking care of themselves than they will DIE. This is clearly the ultimate negative consequence, yet when people with heart surgeries are told this, then checked in on two years later, only 10% of the people are actually making some sort of change in their lives. Instead encouraging patients to look at the positive things in life and work towards making the most of these, they have a much better results, as about 70% of these people changed their lifestyle.

As we have all heard over and over, intrinsic motivation encourages us to seek out and accomplish difficult tasks much more effectively.  Reeve (2009) says that intrinsic motivation is so great because it bring out our encourages us to be persistent, be creative, it enhances our conceptual understanding, allows us to  achieve things which in turn contributes to our psychological well-being.  The article posted above is a quick and interesting read, and I encourage everyone to check it out!

I will warn that though this video is definitely something of premise, it is not for the faintest of hearts. The video is from TED.com. In the short clip Jonathan Klein shows images, some motivating, some devastating, all moving. While I was looking for something to write about this week, I stumbled upon this video. Considering the emotional reaction it elicited within myself, I definitely think it ties into the current chapter that we are learning. A thing that I noticed in this video is that once the it was over, I had NO idea what Jonathan Klein had said. I'm sure it was inspiring and touching, however... in this case, the pictures were (not to sound cliche) worth a thousand words.

I recently read an article that discussed women's inbuilt fear of getting fat.  It discusses how women, more than men, react negatively when they see other obese women.  They do not react negatively against these other women, but instead react in a way that their brain focuses attention on their own self image.  When they see other women who are over-weight they process their own identity and self reflection, therefore solidifying their need to remain thin.  This can be the first stage of eating disorders, but this reaction is seen in many women, even those that externally would say that they were not worried about their image.  

My friend was actually the one who gave me the idea for this post, she told me (and subsequently gave me the link) about a documentary discussing the psychology of Batman and told me I had to watch it. This show, "Batman Unmasked", talks about many different types of motivation of Bruce Wayne and the villains of Batman; in the first ten minutes the commentators (usually psychologists) talked about fear and perceived choice. Wayne, as a child, was very fearful of bats which acted as a motivator for him, he wanted to avoid situations where bats or what he perceived as bats were involved. When Wayne was an adult he used a technique often used by psychologists, exposure, to overcome his fear. He stood in a room full of bats until he no longer felt fear and anxiety.

 

Another really interesting concept talked about was about identity. There is an argument about who is the real person: Bruce Wayne or Batman. Some believe that Batman is the real identity and Wayne is the identity used around others as a mask. Others believe that Batman is the true mask while Wayne is the true identity. Although the argument is not extremely relevant, it helps to show what Reeves talks about with roles in the textbook. Reeve states that a person holds many different roles and what role is chosen by a person is dependent upon the situation (p. 280). That is clearly seen with Wayne/Batman. While out in public Wayne acts a certain way, as a playboy and spoiled heir. When in his own house or around people who know the real him, Bruce acts very differently than he does in his public role. When in the role of Batman he is a protector and fighter, something that also very different from both his public and personal roles.

 

Other topics discussed included Jung and the unconscious/conscious mind, hero complex, anger, power, narcissism, and choice among many others. For me, the most interesting part was the discussion about the enemies of Batman, especially Harvey Dent or Two-Face. If you have about 45 minutes I strongly encourage you to watch the entire documentary, it is really fascinating. This is a link to the first part of the show (just ignore the subtitles): Batman Unmasked

 

http://www.robertpetersonlaw.com/Family%20Law%20Issues/No%20Contact%20Order.aspx

The other day I went to the Waterloo courthouse to sit on a "order hour" and there were two women who wanted their no contact orders dropped. One lady was not able to because she had not gone through the organization "seeds of hope." The second women wanted to drop the order because she was due with the man's baby soon, but the judge had to remind her that while it is being "processed" she cannot see them else they both can go to jail.

The article I found states that A No Contact Order remains in effect until modified or terminated by further order of the court, until the criminal case is dismissed (in a criminal No Contact Order), or until sentencing in a criminal proceeding (when a further order is entered). Only the court can change the order, a protected party can not change the order.

Furthermore, even thought the second women only had a no contact order against the neighbor for bulgary this article mainly talks about  no contact orders due to domestic violence which related the the first women, which she never stated why she wanted it dropped.

In addition to the article, Violation of a No Contact Order (Iowa Code 664A.7) is treated as Contempt of Court and can result in punishment of up to 6 months in jail, up to $500 fine, or both. If convicted or held in contempt of a no-contact order, a jail sentence must be imposed by Iowa Code 664A.7 (2009).  A minimum of 7 days, served on consecutive days is imposed.  The sentence cannot be deferred or suspended and a fine may not be imposed if the no-contact is issued for a public offense. If the no-contact order was issued for domestic abuse assault the conviction is for a simple misdemeanor or treated as a violation of a no-contact in violation of a public offense.

Reeve (2009) states that self-efficacy is the individual's belief that he/she has what it takes to marshal together the resources needed to cope effectively with the potentially overwhelming demands of a situation. In getting a no contact order women are usually able to cope better with their daily lives, but a no contact order only is in effect for a year unless re-instated.

Do you know anyone who has ever had a no contact order against someone or them? or decided to drop it period?

http://www.healthyplace.com/anxiety-panic/main/can-kids-blame-their-parents-for-social-phobias/menu-id-1059/

The study I've chosen to post here is related to something we discussed in class.(The idea that spending one's life blaming parents provides no relief for your troubles, it just makes life worse, and your time would be better spent focusing on bettering your situation).
The article starts out by stating that "Social phobia, a paralyzing fear of social situations, may be brought on by a combination of genetics and child-rearing methods." Of course, there's nothing we can currently do to change our genetics, but some researchers found that parents who are overprotective of or show rejection towards their children may be putting them at greater risk of developing social phobias.

Another interesting point was that the research team " found no link at all between family functioning and teenage social phobia." Contrary to what the title of my article (also a lyric in West Side Story) may indicate, growing up in a dysfunctional family does not appear to make one destined to failure, socially or otherwise.

I think these findings  (at least the latter one) would be very welcome to individuals who have grown up in very poor situations - these results can provide hope, encouragement, and perhaps even  a form of verbal persuasion (to help them believe they can succeed, personally and professionally).Bad things happen, but life goes on. I also think it is incredibly important for there to be motivational speakers who have overcome their tremendous obstacles and achieved success, such speakers may be thought to provide a type of vicarious modeling as well as indirect verbal persuasion.

As some of you may have heard, there's a woman coming to campus on the 20th who actually survived a saline abortion. Although I think her talk will partly focus on how young, pregnant women aren't given enough support, from a motivation/emotion standpoint I think her story is incredible. I cannot imagine the feelings one would experience knowing that you have been given the ultimate form of rejection - having people try to kill you. I think another motivation/emotion question that may merit attention in that situation is the impact that an abortion has on the mother. Here I am not just talking about the loss of the baby's life, but (as we have discussed in class) an expectant mother's body undergoes hormonal changes to prepare for the baby. When the changes have been made and there is no longer a baby, this can an even greater sense of loss. To tie this back into material in Reeve's Chapter 12, it could be said that women in this situation are facing both cognitive and biological bases for their conditions and need help that will address both of these bases.

 
Getting back to the main topic, I think one of the major take away points from the main article is that each person has their own unique set of problems. As discussed in class, it is not desirable to be happy and positive all the time, it is natural to have negative emotions and moods. Negative events provide contrast to positive ones, they have the potential to make people appreciate the "good things" more. Facing serious challenges in one's development might actually make a person stronger and better adjusted to the world, at least for some individuals (and if the challenges are not too overwhelming). This last point most directly relates to goal setting theory in Reeve's Chapter 8.  

After you have watched a movie, you should blog your general impressions of the movie (by 5pm on thursdays) and provide 1 example from the movie (scene, character, etc) and how it relates specifically to a theory or construct in Motivation and Emotion.

Your full analyses are due the following Tuesday turned in via eLearning (aka WebCT).

 

 

Guilt in Advertising

This article was very interesting to read.  It describes the different ways that advertisements can tug at our emotions.  Guilt appeal is a great way to get consumer's attention, and it's used quite a bit in the advertising world.  A good example of this is the commercials showing the dying polar bears without ice to live on, or the cute little puppies and kittens without homes.  Another classic example of this is the commercials about the children struggling in poor countries, asking you to help them with a "dollar a day."   Seeing these commercials evokes an emotional response, and leads the viewer to feel guilty, something advertisers are counting on.  The hope is that if you feel guilty about these poor puppies and children, you will give them money to try and help them or "save a life."
Previous research found that mothers were the most likely target and more susceptible to these types of advertising techniques, so it was mothers that were used in this research study.  They actually discovered that many times commercials and advertisements that used guilt as a motivational factor to buy the product actually evoked some levels of anger in the participants. This anger acted as a mediator between the guilt and the consumer's attitudes about the product or advertisement.   This anger also seemed to affect whether or not the participants reported that they would buy the product or not. Though it may sound surprising that these depressing commercials could evoke anger, think about the last time you saw the Haiti relief commercials? Or the American Christian Children's Fund? Yes, they are all depressing and raise some amount of guilt, but at the same time many Americans feel that things need to change in our own country first.  The article also discusses aspects of annoyance, and how the annoyance levels of these commercials can raise levels of anger as well.
Many commercials of the commercials like this act on the principle of relatedness.  This aspect is also discussed in the book (Reeve, 161, 2009).  Commercials want to make you feel as though you have a connection with the people or animals shown in the advertisement.  This may be why they show close ups of big puppy eyes, and probably why they send you a "personalized letter and photo of the child you're saving."  The advertisements are attempting to make you feel as though these people and animals are just like you or similar to you, your pets, or your children, and this makes us feel as though we should help them.  The letters and pictures that the children's fund sends to you also plays a role in feedback, because these things give you good feelings about your donation, it will reinforce the behavior and allow you to associate donating with good feelings (Reeve, 117).
Using these types of positive reinforcements once they have the consumer to a point where they have made a donation increases the chances that they will make an additional donation in the future.  Making people feel good about the things they have done (donating money, volunteering) is a way to provide a reward, and eventually this reward could develop into intrinsic motivations.  When someone consistently volunteers and contributes to the community, there are positive feelings associated with the outcomes.  This acts as a reinforcement/reward to begin with. As they continue to participate in these types of activities, the reward may evolve into an intrinsic motivation (Reeve, 111) because they are so used to those feelings and actions that they feel a basic internal drive to continue with their good feelings and positive contributions to the community. Along with this, another aspect of intrinsic motivations is the idea of challenge. People who participate in things such as Habitat for Humanity or other volunteer programs many have had feelings of guilt in order to get them started, but then a challenge developed and lead to more intrinsic motivations (Reeve, 111).
These commercials also incorporate the idea of sociability. When we feel as though everyone is donating to these funds (when they say "over a million Americans donate daily," or things of that nature), we don't want to be the only one's not donating.  We have a drive to donate just because we hear that there are many other people donating. It's almost as if these commercials are peer pressuring us into donating to their particular fund.
Many aspects of the textbook can be seen in these emotion-provoking commercials.  They play off of the fact that human's levels of self-perceptions can change at the drop of a hat (Reeve, 279).  When we don't act on these donations, our mind often creates a negative affect from the guilt we experience, which leads us to feel bad about ourselves and could lower our self-esteem (Reeve, 266).  The main difficulty here, according to Reeve, is that raising self-esteem is motivational intervention.  Adversely, the lowering of self-esteem may also be a motivational intervention if you look at the effects that these commercials have on people.  Because these commercials have made people feel bad, it motivates them to donate their money in order to feel good again. Then, every time we donate money and get those good feelings, it reinforces that behavior so that the behavior continues.

There are many other aspects of psychology within these types of commercials. What are some other areas where psychology comes into play within advertisements? What about within the media in general? How do these things affect our everyday lives when we aren't even thinking about them?

Http://www.ted.com/talks/robert_gupta.html

Another TED Video. Love This Site!

Music is medicine, music is sanity. This statement is just part of Robert Gupta's talk about Nathaniel Ayers, a schizophrenic American musician, who has been the subject of many newspaper articles written by Steve Lopez along with a 2009 film adaptation based on these columns called The Soloist which starred Jamie Fox and Robert Downey Jr. Though I have not seen the film, this lecture as a musician interested me and was very inspiring. The story has two very interesting points from a psychological perspective, the Ayers and his relationship with schizophrenia, along with his relationship to music.

Gupta talks about his first encounter with Ayers, who upon first meeting him definitely recognized his symptoms of schizophrenia he referred to it as jumbled, but in a gregarious, jovial way, relating baseball to Beethoven's 4^th symphony. He then had a normal civil conversation about music. Gupta points out that Ayers has refused treatment because of his previous experience with shock therapy, thorazine and handcuffs. These methods have left a lasting terrible impression on Ayers mind. Ayer's is prone to many schizophrenic episodes, wandering the streets while his own mind torments him. After accepting the request for lessons from Ayer's, upon arrival Gupta felt very threatened. Reeve attributes this fear Gupta felt was a result of him anticipating a harmful event like Ayer's schizophrenia taking over and him exploding. Yet he still was motivated to maintain this relationship. Why would Gupta be motivated to do such a thing, even under adverse conditions? I believe it was a combination of a genuinely high expectancy and outcome expectations along with a need for intimacy and achievement, especially when these needs can be met in the field of his passion.

Not having seen the movie, and being a musician myself I am perplexed and in awe at the amazing level of change the music makes in his cognitive processes. When giving the lesson, instead of talking scales and theory, Gupta just began playing. The more he played, the more Ayer's manic rage transformed into an advanced understanding, curiosity and grace, the music being the catalyst of this incredible almost invisible pharmaceutical. His mind changed and he spoke about music with a transformed sense of insight. He was then again the brilliant Juliard student who related on a personal level, playing many of his favorite pieces by ear. Reeve says that emotions energize and direct behavior, this sea of emotions that musicians feel may have a very large role in this transformation. Gupta says through the artistic lens that is a musician's creativity, that music changes us. For Ayer's specifically music is medicine, it is his sanity, it also helped Ayers feel affiliation again, the deficit of no social-relationships could not have contributed positively to his condition in any way.

The emotional level of Ayer's love and appreciation for music helped him find his mind. While I do not know how his story ends, I am certainly inspired and reminded of why I play myself. It truly reaches down to a person's core. This brings so many questions about the emotional significance of music. Does it directly satisfy a need? What is its purpose? Why does it make people feel such intense emotions? There are many theories out there, but none of them have quite explained the creativity aspect. Why is it that when a musician writes a song  or plays a song that is significant to them it makes them feel complete? It is a feeling like no other feeling in the world. This is definitely something I will be looking into further, especially the relationship between music, emotion and moods.

http://health.yahoo.com/featured/94/eating-the-wrong-kind-of-carbohydrates-increases-heart-disease-risk/
I found this article one day while surfing on yahoo looking at the news articles.  It really separates good vs. bad carbs.  I hope I'm not the only one but I find all the health stuff kind of confusing.  One minute it's bad the next someone says it's good for you.  Slowing down the digestive process so that your cells aren't wrecked and so carbs are not stored as fat is the key.  One major reason why people don't succeed with their diet is because they don't take serving sizes into account.  Americans often have very large proportions.  The following are the five ideas the article said for switching to good carbs:
1.  Switch to darker breads
2.  Choose high bran or whole grain cereals
3.  Choose pasta over rice
4.  Swap for better snacks
5.  Embrace fruits and vegetables with a few exceptions
What have you heard about good and bad carbs and what is your opinion? 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070725152040.htm

After seeing a preview for the new Nightmare on Elm street movie I thought of two things.  One, Hollywood is hard up for new and creative ideas, and two, why do people sit through 2 hours of being on the edge of their seat scared? 

The authors of the article state "horror movie viewers are happy to be unhappy. This novel approach to emotion reveals that people experience both negative and positive emotions simultaneously -- people may actually enjoy being scared, not just relief when the threat is removed and that the most pleasant moments of a particular event may also be the most fearful.

Reeve writes "fear motivates defense" and states that fear "serves as a warning signal for physical or psychological harm that manifests itself in autonomic vervous system arousal."  Fear is also an emotional reaction that comes from a person's way of interpreting a situation they may face and see as a danger or threat to their well being. 

While I'm not a big fan of scary movies (I'm not a bed-wetter, I just prefer comedies or dramas) I'll probably see this movie just for the heck of it.  I've seen most of the other Nightmare films and know the concept but if I get too scared, or if the movie is just too stupid, I can do what Reeve describes as "fleeing is putting physical distance between the self and that which is feared"...see you in the lobby.   

How many times have you asked yourself about the goals you want to accomplish before you die? If not, why haven't you? Have you ever heard the quote "Carpe Diem" which means to seize the day. Or even enjoy being a kid while you can, because it goes by too fast. Well the Buried Life guys have, and according to them life moves fast, so we should slow down and enjoy it.

 

You might have met the Buried Life guys if you're a fan of any shows on MTV. It is likely that you have seen a trailer/shows for the TV show called The Buried Life. Meet Ben, Dave, Jonnie, Duncan, four guys who share the same ideas about life and the world around them.

These four guys were originally from the same town, and knew of each other; however it wasn't until 2006 when they discovered that they had the same goals and aspirations about their life, focusing on the question "What do you want to do before you die?" This question led to these four guys making a list of things they wanted to do before they died, starting out at 50 items. After making this first list, they set out on a journey to complete these tasks, and making a documentary of it. Along the way, they wanted to help others cross of things on their lists as well. On their first trip they were able to cross off 26 items on their list, and help 24 people. This led to the development of the list with 100 items on it, and the guys decided they did not want to put a quantity for the number of people they wanted to help, they just want to help as many people as they can. The Buried life eventually are going to making a film of their documentary of all of the 100 items they accomplish.

 

When talking about these guys, we have to go back to the basics of motivation which of course is goals. Their 100 item list is of course their goals. These goals come in a variety of skill level, some more difficult to achieve than others. Along with that, Ben, Dave, Jonnie, and Duncan all have high levels of the need for achievement. You can see this just by looking at how far they have come in achieving all of their goals. These guys first started out just talking about this journey in 2006, and its now 2010, and they have crossed off yet another item on their list "Making a badass TV show" with their show The Buried Life on MTV. Their ultimate goal consists of every item being checked off, and a documentary film to show it all. Along with their goals, they try to help others achieve a goal of theirs. With this, the Buried Life guys are gaining feedback from the people that they help. This feedback is obviously positive, and provides feelings of happiness, joy, and even feeling accomplished.

 

Although it appears that the Buried Life guys are just trying to complete a list just to be able to say they did those things, I think it is something a little more than that. Reeve (2009) talks about the six dimensions of psychological well-being, including self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth. By pursuing these six dimensions, individuals are ultimately defining your concept of self. The Buried Life Guys are continuously working on many of these dimensions. While helping others along their journey to complete their lists of things to do before they die, the Buried Life Guys are establishing positive relations with other people. Not only that, they are networking, and establishing connections which benefit not only themselves, but also the people that they would like to help. It is evident that these four guys also have high levels of autonomy because they have chosen to take on these goals, and to go to great lengths to achieve them despite if others don't believe that they can. Overall, through everything the Buried Life guys are accomplishing, or going to accomplish, they are building and figuring their purpose in life, and have high levels of personal growth.  I'm not sure if the Buried Life Guys would agree, but I would say it seems like their purpose in life is to help others. It seems like they received a lot of joy and happiness out of it, and it helps them grow as a person as well.

Ben, Dave, Jonnie, and Duncan have motivated other people to make their own lists of goals to do before they die. The Buried Life has even influenced a networking site called The Buried Life Network. If you're interested in watching their show on MTV or just learning more about the Buried Life visit these two websites. http://www.theburiedlife.com or http://www.mtv.com/shows/buried_life/episodes.jhtml.

 

As Ben, Dave, Jonnie and Duncan state, if they ever come to your town, you better be ready to answer the question "What do you want to do before you die?"

http://www.consumerismcommentary.com/2008/02/19/smart-women-marry-for-money-and-heres-why/

I was interested in finding a good article on "Gold Diggers" but found this article about why women marry for money.

Having a marriage is like having a business.

"It's like running a corporation. A business venture. You have to go into it knowing that it could fail or it could succeed beyond your wildest dreams and make you rich... If the employees don't share the vision, believe in the vision and work together, the endeavor will fail. Some businesses will get rich. Some will barely make ends meet. Some will never make a dime. The money does not measure success. The sense of accomplishment will come from the daily struggle... the love of what you do, working together day in and day out."

A lot of marriages end in divorThe reality is that personal finance issues are the leading cause of divorce and in order to live happily ever after, you must be on the same page as far as your finances are concerned.

The article goes on to talk about why smart women do marry for the money which includes

-A man with a plan

-Aligned Financial Values

-.Motivated by Money to Create the Life They Want

I chose this article to show how a women has psychological needs to have a fulfilling/ the life they want. These type of women have a high need for autonomy because they want what is best for them. Reeve (2009) states that autonomy is the psychological need to experience self-direction and personal endorsement in the initiation and regulation of one's behavior (p.146).

Do you think these facts would make you change your perception about marrying for love or money? Or what are your morals before and after reading this article? 

So as I was reading chapter twelve, one section that caught my interest was affective computing.  What exactly is affective computing?  Affective computing is the result of persuasive evidence that exists for distinctive autonomic nervous system activity associated with fear, anger, disgust, and sadness. For example, with anger, there is increased heart rate and increased skin temperature which facilitate strong, assertive (adaptive) behavior.  With fear, heart rate increased while skin temperature decreased.  With disgust, both heart rate and skin temperature decreased.  With sadness, heart rate increased while skin temperature was stable. These four emotions, however, are among the few emotions with distinct autonomic nervous system reactions.  As Reeve states, "If no specific pattern of behavior has survival value for an emotion (like jealousy), there is little reason for the development of a specific pattern of autonomic nervous system activity." In other words, for jealousy and other emotions which don't fit distinct patterns, there is no universally appropriate bodily response because it depends on the situation more than it does on the emotion itself.  Thus, it is very unlikely that in the future humans will ever develop and evolve a single pattern of ANS activity for those emotions. 

STILL, for those emotions that show an ANS specific pattern (found through various studies) which I mentioned above (anger, fear, sadness, disgust, and additionally joy), there are future technological implications.  Essentially, it is possible that in the future we are going to be able to build machines that read our emotions.  As Reeve states, "Imagine electronic sensors built into steering wheels, mobile telephones, handles of bicycles, pilot simulators, computer joysticks, and golf clubs which constantly monitor its user's ANS (autonomic nervous system) arousal.  This would be the field of affective computing!  While these sensors would be limited in measuring only those basic emotions, additional technology like a digital camera or video camera could capture and analyze facial expressions and monitor movements of the user's face like the following features:  the user's frontalis, corrugators, orbiculris oculi, zygomaticus, nasalis, depressors, etc.  There is a great picture demonstrating faces of interest in our text after Tiger Woods hits a tee shot on page 341.  Computers already using technology analyzing user's facial muscles are actually already in existence, and are able to score facial movements just as accurate and actually faster than people. 

Here is a link which discusses affective computing and past, present, and future research projects regarding the technology:

http://affect.media.mit.edu/

Here is quick excerpt from the link:

Affective Computing is computing that relates to, arises from, or deliberately influences emotion or other affective phenomena.

Emotion is fundamental to human experience, influencing cognition, perception, and everyday tasks such as learning, communication, and even rational decision-making. However, technologists have largely ignored emotion and created an often frustrating experience for people, in part because affect has been misunderstood and hard to measure. Our research develops new technologies and theories that advance basic understanding of affect and its role in human experience. We aim to restore a proper balance between emotion and cognition in the design of technologies for addressing human needs.

Our research has contributed to: (1) Designing new ways for people to communicate affective-cognitive states, especially through creation of novel wearable sensors and new machine learning algorithms that jointly analyze multimodal channels of information; (2) Creating new techniques to assess frustration, stress, and mood indirectly, through natural interaction and conversation; (3) Showing how computers can be more emotionally intelligent, especially responding to a person's frustration in a way that reduces negative feelings; (4) Inventing personal technologies for improving self-awareness of affective state and its selective communication to others; (5) Increasing understanding of how affect influences personal health; and (6) Pioneering studies examining ethical issues in affective computing.

 

Will these technologies actually come into play in the near future?  Who knows, but if they do, they will revolutionize seemingly every field of business, sport, and life.  Would this necessarily be a progressive adaptation within our culture? Definitely an interesting topic to consider...  

I recently read an article from The New York Times that spoke negatively of a practice we as a society routinely engage in--small talk. It seems to be difficult for us be comfortable with silence, and instead of talking about deep topics like the state of the world or life's meaning, we talk about petty things that have no real breadth or substance (e.g. Did you see American Idol last night?). Dr. Matthias Mehl, a psychologist with the University of Arizona, has recently published a study on the topic. He is quoted as saying, "By engaging in meaningful conversations, we manage to impose meaning on an otherwise pretty chaotic world, and interpersonally, as you find this meaning, you bond with your interactive partner, and we know that interpersonal connection and integration is a core fundamental foundation of happiness." The happiest person in his study had twice as many substantive conversations, and only one-third of the amount of small talk as the unhappiest. Could this be true, or do we simply have deeper conversations with those that we have already established deeper relationships with? Dr. Mehl suggests that we attempt to have one substantive conversation a day for the next five days and see how happy we feel. In what ways do you feel you can positively enhance your everyday social exchanges?

Check out this site for a Guide to Having More Meaningful Conversations.