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Emilie L

The Mind of the Narcissist - 0 views

    • Emilie L
       
      himself vs. reflection: major point
  • Some people explicitly state that they do not love themselves at all (they are ego-dystonic). Others confine their lack of self-love to certain of their traits, to their personal history, or to some of their behaviour patterns. Yet others feel content with who they are and with what they are doing (ego-syntonic). But one group of people seems distinct in its mental constitution – narcissists.
    • Emilie L
       
      * keyword: distinct mental constitution (that differs from all the different kinds of confidence kinda brain traits)
  • Some people explicitly state that they do not love themselves at all (they are ego-dystonic).
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  • Narcissus is not in love with himself. He is in love with his reflection
  • Loving your True Self is healthy, adaptive, and functional. Loving a reflection has two major drawbacks: One depends on the existence and availability of the reflection to produce the emotion of self-love. The absence of a "compass", an "objective and realistic yardstick", by which to judge the authenticity of the reflection. In other words, it is impossible to tell whether the reflection is true to reality – and, if so, to what extent.
  • they direct their love to other people's impressions of them. He who loves only impressions is incapable of loving people, himself included.
  • If he cannot love himself – he must love his reflection
  • ut to love his reflection – it must be loveable
  • the narcissist is preoccupied with projecting a loveable image, albeit compatible with his self-image (the way he "sees" himself).
  • The more successful this projected image (or series of successive images) is in generating Narcissistic Supply (NS) – the more the narcissist becomes divorced from his True Self and married to the image.
    • Emilie L
       
      Meaning, the better he is capable of mentally creating better image for himself in the eyes of others (therefore his 'reflection') the more he becomes 'in love' with the idea of himself then who he truly is
  • he prefers his image
  • The narcissist, therefore, is not selfish – because his True Self is paralysed and subordinate
    • Emilie L
       
      * very good point
  • narcissist is not attuned exclusively to his needs. On the contrary: he ignores them because many of them conflict with his ostensible omnipotence and omniscience. He does not put himself first – he puts his self last. He caters to the needs and wishes of everyone around him – because he craves their love and admiration. It is through their reactions that he acquires a sense of distinct self. In many ways he annuls himself – only to re-invent himself through the look of others. He is the person most insensitive to his true needs.
  • rains himself of mental energy in this process. This is why he has none left to dedicate to others
    • Emilie L
       
      he is so focused in pleasing everyone else to this image that he has no time to dedicate himself to others = lack of empathy
  • Why should people indulge the narcissist, divert time and energy, give him attention, love and adulation? The narcissist's answer is simple: because he is entitled to it
  • Actually, he feels betrayed, discriminated against and underprivileged because he believes that he is not being treated fairly, that he should get more than he does
  • Clinical data show that there is rarely any realistic basis for these grandiose notions of greatness and uniqueness.
    • Emilie L
       
      meaning there is nothing really extravagant or particular about them that they should (or could even be really driven!!) to be narcissistic 
  • The narcissist is forced to use other people in order to feel that he exists
  • He is a habitual "people-junkie"
  • With time, he comes to regard those around him as mere instruments of gratification, as two-dimensional cartoon figures with negligible lines in the script of his magnificent life.
    • Emilie L
       
      bases his own happiness on what others are doing around him + their reflection of him
  • A personality whose very existence is a derivative of its reflection in other people's minds is perilously dependent on these people's perceptions. They are the Source of Narcissistic Supply (NSS). Criticism and disapproval are interpreted as a sadistic withholding of said supply and as a direct threat to the narcissist's mental house of cards.
  • The narcissist does not suffer from a faulty sense of causation. He is not oblivious to the likely outcomes of his actions and to the price he may have to pay. But he doesn't care.
  • he reacts to what he perceives to be a danger to the very cohesion of his self. Thus, every minor disagreement with a Source of Narcissistic Supply – another person – is interpreted as a threat to the narcissist's very self-worth.
    • Emilie L
       
      * big point
  • He would rather discern disapproval and unjustified criticism where there are none then face the consequences of being caught off-guard.
  • that the narcissist cannot take chances. He would rather be mistaken then remain without Narcissistic Supply
  • blames others for his behaviour
    • Emilie L
       
      again, lack of humility
  • The narcissist – wittingly or not – utilises people to buttress his self-image and to regulate his sense of self-worth. As long and in as much as they are instrumental in achieving these goals, he holds them in high regard, they are valuable to him
  • This is a result of his inability to love others: he lacks empathy, he thinks utility, and, thus, he reduces others to mere instruments
  • In 1977 the DSM-III criteria included: An inflated valuation of oneself (exaggeration of talents and achievements, demonstration of presumptuous self-confidence); Interpersonal exploitation (uses others to satisfy his needs and desires, expects preferential treatment without undertaking mutual commitments); Possesses expansive imagination (externalises immature and non-regimented fantasies, "prevaricates to redeem self-illusions"); Displays supercilious imperturbability (except when the narcissistic confidence is shaken), nonchalant, unimpressed and cold-blooded; Defective social conscience (rebels against the conventions of common social existence, does not value personal integrity and the rights of other people).
    • Emilie L
       
      1977 Criteria to Narcissistics * very interesting, gives personality traits + actions 
  • He sees them only through this lens.
  • The narcissist is portrayed as a monster, a ruthless and exploitative person. Yet, inside, the narcissist suffers from a chronic lack of confidence and is fundamentally dissatisfied. This applies to all narcissists. The distinction between "compensatory" and "classic" narcissists is spurious. All narcissists are walking scar tissue, the outcomes of various forms of abuse.
    • Emilie L
       
      strong on the outside, weak on the inside * contradicts with the other article I read earlier..
  • Freud (1915) offered a trilateral model of the human psyche, composed of the Id, the Ego, and the Superego.
    • Emilie L
       
      * find further research
  • According to Freud, narcissists are dominated by their Ego to such an extent that the Id and Superego are neutralised. Early in his career, Freud believed narcissism to be a normal developmental phase between autoeroticism and object-love. Later on, he concluded that linear development can be thwarted by the very efforts we all make in our infancy to evolve the capacity to love an object (another person).
  • The frustrated and abused child learns that the only "object" he can trust and that is always and reliably available, the only person he can love without being abandoned or hurt – is himself.
    • Emilie L
       
      ouuuu
  • This choice – to concentrate on the self – is the result of an unconscious decision to give up a consistently frustrating and unrewarding effort to love others and to trust them.
  • So, is pathological narcissism the outcome of verbal, sexual, physical, or psychological abuse (the overwhelming view) – or, on the contrary, the sad result of spoiling the child and idolising it (Millon, the late Freud)?
    • Emilie L
       
      What makes a narcissistic (i.e., triggers it?)
  • Overweening, smothering, spoiling, overvaluing, and idolising the child – are also forms of parental abuse.
    • Emilie L
       
      Too much love can apparently ruin a child
  • This is because, as Horney pointed out, the smothered and spoiled child is dehumanised and instrumentalised. His parents love him not for what he really is – but for what they wish and imagine him to be: the fulfilment of their dreams and frustrated wishes. The child becomes the vessel of his parents' discontented lives, a tool, the magic airbrush with which they seek to transform their failures into successes, their humiliation into victory, their frustrations into happiness. The child is taught to give up on reality and adopt the parental fantasies. Such an unfortunate child feels omnipotent and omniscient, perfect and brilliant, worthy of adoration and entitled to special treatment. The faculties that are honed by constantly brushing against bruising reality – empathy, compassion, a realistic assessment of one's abilities and limitations, realistic expectations of oneself and of others, personal boundaries, team work, social skills, perseverance and goal-orientation, not to mention the ability to postpone gratification and to work hard to achieve it – are all lacking or missing altogether. This kind of child turned adult sees no reason to invest resources in his skills and education, convinced that his inherent genius should suffice. He feels entitled for merely being, rather than for actually doing (rather as the nobility in days gone by felt entitled not by virtue of its merits but as the inevitable, foreordained outcome of its birth right). The narcissist is not meritocratic – but aristocratic.
    • Emilie L
       
      too much love explained: the child is smothered by love and thus thinks theres a reason for it nana the world revolves around me because mummy and Daddy think so I am there pride and joy, because I am in fact an angel... now look at me I am a narcissitic and it's like a legit mental disorder.
  • This is Millon's mistake. He makes a distinction between several types of narcissists. He wrongly assumes that the "classic" narcissist is the outcome of parental overvaluation, idolisation, and spoiling and, thus, is possessed of supreme, unchallenged, self-confidence, and is devoid of all self-doubt.
  • Yet, this distinction is both wrong and unnecessary. Psychodynamically, there is only one type of pathological narcissism – though there are two developmental paths to it. And all narcissists are besieged by deeply ingrained (though at times not conscious) feelings of inadequacy, fears of failure, masochistic desires to be penalised, a fluctuating sense of self-worth (regulated by NS), and an overwhelming sensation of fakeness.
    • Emilie L
       
      * much importanto: there is only reaaally one type of narcissism despite having two different paths to it i. too much love ii. not enough 
  • hey tend to ignore him – or actively abuse him – when these needs are no longer pressing or existent.
  • The narcissist's past of abuse teaches him to avoid deeper relationships in order to escape this painful approach-avoidance pendulum. Protecting himself from hurt and from abandonment, he insulates himself from people around him. He digs in – rather than spring out.
  • This shocking revelation deforms the budding Ego. The child forms a strong dependence (as opposed to attachment) on his parents. This dependence is really the outcome of fear, the mirror image of aggression. In Freud-speak (psychoanalysis) we say that the child is likely to develop accentuated oral fixations and regressions. In plain terms, we are likely to see a lost, phobic, helpless, raging child.
    • Emilie L
       
      child-like ego problems: strong dependence on parents creates a super vulnerable child
  •  
    "The World of the Narcissist (Essay)" - tons of information +lots to read through, primary resource! like a fountain of info on narcissists. Reliability: not many ads, written by a doctor (has his CV published online, http://samvak.tripod.com/cv.html), wrote two books- one of which is an "ebook"
alicia waid

Cannabis and mental health - 0 views

    • alicia waid
       
      Cannabis is too easy to access (become more and more easy to access, as well).  People are under the influence that smoking cannabis is not bad for you, and that it is, in fact, better than smoking tobacco.  However, this is not the case, as researchers are starting to see that cannabis might actually be causing mental illnesses. 
  • most drug users take other drugs in addition to cannabis create methodological problems and explain the dearth of reliable evidence
    • alicia waid
       
      It is believed that cannabis triggers the onset or relapse of schizophrenia in predisposed people, however this cannot be certain, because many of the people being researched on have taken other drugs, which makes it hard to determine wether the triggers are from the cannabis or from any of the other drugs.
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    • alicia waid
       
      During a test (that occurred over 15 years), it was discovered that by smoking marijuana during adolescence, you are increasing your risk of developing schizophrenia.  However, they are not certain that marijuana is the only cause: Other drugs might be a factor too, and a few other concepts. 
    • alicia waid
       
      In addition, research is showing that cannabis also has a relation with depression.  It was studied over a period of 15 years, and results show that by smoking cannabis, you are increasing your risk of developing a major depression.  It was also showed that the use of cannabis also increases the idea of suicide and inability to feel pleasure.  
    • alicia waid
       
      Although only few studies were talked about in the National institution of Health, they are enough to prove that cannabis increases ones rist of developing schizophrenia AND depression.  The studies also provide very little support to prove that there is also a link between marijuana and mental health problems that are largely due to self medication (harder to prove).  These studies are not trying to say that if you smoke cannabis you will develop schizophrenia or depression, however it is saying that those who are more vulnerable will.  
    • alicia waid
       
      It is important to note that those who use cannabis must reduce their usage if they want their risk of developing schizophrenia or depression to decrease.  It was estimated that if you were to have reduced your exposure to cannabis, the incidence of psychosis would have reduced treatment by as much as 50% (Dutch study).
    • alicia waid
       
      In a Swedish study, it was proved that the use of cannabis increases your chances of developing schizophrenia by 30%.  
    • alicia waid
       
      Even more people are anticipating that cannabis will continue to contribute to even more cases of mental illnesses in the future.
    • alicia waid
       
      With further analysis, it has been discovered that cannabis is the drug associated with the possibility of developing schizophrenia (and not the impact of other drugs).  
    • alicia waid
       
      During another experiment, it was found that 59 people with a basic diagnosis of a psychotic disorder show a strong association with the use of cannabis and psychosis.  It is evident that the longer you've been smoking the drug, the more your symtoms will worsen(there is a higher chance), just like with any other drug.  
    • alicia waid
       
      In New Zealand, it was discovered that people who smoke marijuana are three times more likely to develop schizophrenia, by the age of 15 or 18.  
    • alicia waid
       
      An Australian study was also made that shows the more you smoke cannabis, the higher your rates of anxiety or depression might be.  It was proven that this link is more prone to young women than young men, however this was not proved in any other study (except the australian one).  
    • alicia waid
       
      It was proven, however, that any young human being that has used cannabis three times or more by the age of 18 is more likely to have some sort of depressive disorder by the age of 26! (And unfortunately, this was proved even to those that stopped smoking cannabis and got themselves under control.  After the first 3 times, it was too late).
  • 1990s
  • The link between cannabis and psychosis is well established
  • link between use of marijuana and depression
  • triggers the onset or relapse of schizophrenia in predisposed people and also exacerbates the symptoms generally
  • use of marijuana during adolescence increased the risk of schizophrenia in a dose-response relation
  • possible causal role of other drugs, and prodromal symptoms of schizophrenia
  • led to the use of cannabis, rather than cannabis triggering the psychosis.
  • is associated with later schizophrenia and that this is not explained by prodromal symptoms
  • cannabis
  • relation between
  • strong association between use of cannabis and psychosis
  • Participants who showed psychotic symptoms at baseline and used cannabis had a worse outcome
  • used cannabis three times or more by age 15 or 18
  • more likely to have schizophreniform disorder at age 26
  • cannabis increased the risk of major depression
  • increase in suicidal ideation and anhedonia
  • the use of cannabis and anxiety or depression in a large cohort of 14-15 year olds followed for seven years
  • Length of exposure to use of cannabis predicted the severity of the psychosis
  • higher rates of anxiety or depression
  • frequency
  • study in the New Zealand
  • did not find an association between cannabis use at age 15 and depressive disorder at age 26
  • that young people who had used cannabis three times or more by age 18 were more likely to have a depressive disorder at age 26
  • findings strengthen the argument that use of cannabis increases the risk of schizophrenia and depression
  • importance of reducing the use of cannabis in people who use it
  • exposure to cannabis would have reduced the incidence of psychosis requiring treatment by as much as 50%
  • showing that the use of cannabis increased the risk of schizophrenia by 30%
  • cannabis will contribute to more episodes or new cases of the illness
Chrissy Le

Harvard Education Letter - 2 views

  • Behaviors like embracing novel experiences, supporting peers, even pestering parents for lessons can predict whether a child will emerge as a leader in adulthood, according to researchers who say they are the first to plot a pathway from childhood experiences to adult leadership.
  • new studies use longitudinal data
  • relative importance of factors such as the role of parents, inner motivational drive, intelligence, childhood social skills, and personality traits like extroversion
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  • 106 subjects
  • one through age 29
  • everyday” leaders
  • “taking on the role of and engaging in the process of influencing others toward a common endeavor, goal or cause, regardless of designated formal position.
  • Researchers met with the children (and parents) twice a year for the first four years, then once a year through age 17 and once at 24 and again at 29.
  • 20 for each child
  • 18,000 variables
  • hat children as young as two reveal temperaments that predict for later leadership
  • novel situation
  • more extroverted, socially engaging and become everyday leaders.”
  • children who placed the most demands on teachers and parents to join or do activities were more likely to be leaders as adults.
  • quest to acquire new skills and knowledge
  • invested in and committed
  • parent’s support i
  • stronger motivation trumped higher IQ
  • She says the study offers a strong argument for schools “to do things fundamentally differently.
  • Carol S. Dweck
  • growth mindset
  • schools place such heavy emphasis on extrinsic rewards like test scores and classroom prizes that they risk stifling development of students’ inner drive.
    • Daryl Bambic
       
      What do you think?  Do you agree with this statement about schools reinforcing the extrinsic reward system?
    • Emilie L
       
      (after researching what "extrinsic" meant..) I agree with what Dweck and Adele Gottfriend observed- that we focus/reinforce exterior rewards like grades so greatly that students are at risk of losing their inner motivation. I think that especially in our youth we focus a lot numerical values like test scores and especially money (which, in the long run really do make up our future) so much, that we lack having motivation in what we truly want to do with ourselves. For example, at WIC, marks are a huge deal- however lets say, a top A student truly desires to become a photographer, yet, at school he or she is so convinced that they must do well within the 'extrinsic rewards' that they loose their passion. This isn't to say that it's a bad thing, but I think that often times who we are "meant to be" is diminished/over-shadowed by what society(SCHOOL) tells us we should do and focus on.
    • Julian Pendenza
       
      I do agree with this statement due to the fact that kids today have a lot of pressure and feel the need to get good marks, only because schools put heavy emphasis on it, and not because they are motivated. People have to realize that school is not just about getting good grades, but also it is about finding yourself and seeing what you would like to do in the future.
    • Marie-Lise Pagé
       
      I agree that teens focus a lot on their marks and that they don't take the time to get invovle in after school's activities. Because they need to have good marks to go to College, they have so much pressure to be one of the best students and that prevents them to show their leadership by being in charge of some activities in their school or in the community. Also, the marks give them an idea of how good they are at something and it makes them proud and they know it will help them for the future because it will be easier to get accepted in Cegep. However, when they get involve in an activity the reward is not numerical so they don't know that it will help them in the future.
    • Matthew Schaffer
       
      I do agree, I think schools want students to be academicaly knowledgable that they forget about the "street smarts" as we say. However, not all schools do this. Schools like WIC have a huge variety of E.C.A's that we can also get rewarded for. There is the new tie that shows how good of an athelete you are. SOme schools are taking the step up, however it is true that most schools look to closely into the academics of a child and not into their personality.
    • Ally Talarico
       
      I do not agree with this statement. I think that the reward system teaches discipline. It teaches that if you want good marks and you want to succeed, you must work hard by putting time and effort into your school books. Much of the time, we are graded on creativity but in some cases like Math class, a teacher cannot give a grade on the growth of one's mindset when the answer is not subjective. The grading system is not broken, so why are we trying to fix it? In my opinion, I think this is just another psychological fad like many. 
    • mauromongiat
       
      I do agree that schools put a lot of emphasis on grades and that our educational system is based on students getting better grades. Schools focus too much on the grades of each student. To be able to succeed in a career two things must be achieved the intelligence or knowledge and the ambition for success. In our schools we cannot only teach one part of the road to success, we must also encourage students to follow in what they want and to dedicate everything to it. With motivation and the drive to succeed people can achieve almost anything and we must teach that being motivated for a subject is better than having the smarts for it. Success comes with motivation and perseverance without them there is no way you can become successful. 
    • Camil Darwiche
       
      Personally, I don't agree with schools putting such emphasis on marks. But I can see where they are coming from. Later in life (cegep, university, etc.), students will be based on marks and not on enthusiasm or how they organize extra curricular activities. High school is supposed to prepare you for cegep and university. On the other hand, if all levels of schooling (from elementary school to university) were not based on extrinsic reward systems, there would be many more visionaries and independent workers coming out of school.
    • michelle tappert
       
      I agree with this statement because in my opinion, youth these days are focused on grades and numbers as motivation when we should be focusing on the reasons why we want to succeed. The reason why we focus on this is because of the influence for school but it has nothing to do with the fact that they are motivated. I believe that schools put too much emphasis on being "book smart" which is evidentially a good thing but they don't realize that that knowledge is only useful if they teach "street smarts" as well. It is important to be book smart and know all the facts but for kids to be motivated, they need to relate it to real life which is where the motivation should come from. 
    • Lauren Ganze
       
      I concur with the previous answers: schools tend to focus on pure knowledge and rewarding those who regurgitate memorized facts. The educational system usually ends up ignoring those who step up and try to use this knowledge, or dissuading them by giving them low marks and negative feedback until they conform to the system. We impress certain ideals and behaviours into children, and of this group of values, nourishing leadership is excluded in favour of teaching kids how to follow and how to work for immediate, physical rewards.
    • Julian Posteraro
       
      Yes I agree with this statement. The grading system holds back students from being open with their thoughts compared to what the teachers want them to think. Students should have freedom which would help them be more open minded. After school activities and natural intelligence are aspects that students can be good at outside of the classrooms. Success is based not only on grades, but on ambition, determination and perseverance also. 
    • Eli Michon
       
      I disagree. I believe that too much pressure on marks, awards, etc. leaves way too much pressure on the students. Being a student, I have experienced this many times and it can be quite unhealthy because stress is not a good thing for the mind or for the body.  -Eli Michon
    • Giuliano Musacchio
       
      I believe that this statement is true, we are free spirits, we should be able to think like free spirit students and have our own freedom! By taking initiative they are becoming leaders in their own way. Expressing yourself and following your thoughts is a huge part of today's society. What will our world be without students who can learn to eventually become leaders?
    • kelsey sazant
       
      I believe that schools rightfully put a large amount of emphasis on the academic results however this doesn't mean the other domains should be left behind. Grades and academic achievements are very important and schools should make this their main focus. This being said, I do feel as if most schools forget about the other aspects of an education. Schools should be able to cater to and identify with all of their students meaning that someone who isn't labeled as "smart" can still feel appreciated. Just because someone isn't academically gifted doesn't mean that they can not be successful. I think schools should reward their students for other things then just brain capacity. I think West Island College does a good job of that. Not only do we mark effort but we go as far as to commend students on various athletic skills, public speaking, helping the community (interact or green and grey). I think WIC does a good job of focusing on the well rounded student rather then just the one dimensional "genius" that most schools put up on a pedestal. As Albert Einstein once said "Everybody is  genius but if you judge a fish by it's ability to climb a tree, it will live it's whole life believing that it is stupid."
    • Chrissy Le
       
      I completely agree that this is the method that most schools use. A lot of emphasis is placed on extrinsic rewards in the educational system. I believe that this is a negative thing to do because students then lack inner motivation. They no longer want to do things for themselves, and more for the satisfaction of pleasing others, or receiving a high test score. Even though receiving a high test score might seem like a goal they want to pursue it's not truly for themselves, it is to please someone else.
  • rich variety of experiences and give students choices
  • take charge of their own learning
  • ‘make or break skills’ that come on top of the three Rs
    • Jordyn Shell
       
      I believe that the student is more likely to become a community leader because of the fact they they "choose" to do all this extra work, they're not being forced too. They're taking a choice to help others and inspire others. That's LEADERSHIP! When they say "children who placed the most demands on teachers and parents to join or do activities were more likely to be leaders as adults", that pretty much sums up my point exactly. I believe that those students are more likely to become leaders because they are taking such initiative now, it will only impact them positively in the future to do more!
    • Joe Inhaber
       
      I believe that a students desire to partake in schooling events, and acting as a leader is extriemly personal to the student. I think that students, as well as teenagers and children can develop leader ship skills, and the fact that it is to be rewarded in schools is in my opinion wrong. There is a variety of kids, that find themselfs in the role of "leader" in many situations other than in school. I think that in rewarding kids to become leaders, we are further removing their individuality, witch in my opinion is alredy being taken away through means adapted by our society.
    • vanessa parent
       
       I believe that leadership is not something that is taught but rather a personality trait that is developed by the individual themselves (as it said in the article, some children as young as two can have behaviours that may lead to the skills of a good leader). Some are born to be leaders, they have it in them to encourage, to motivate and positively influence others around them. People who demonstrate this features should definitely be encouraged by parents and by their school to develop these skills because if they start young and keep these habits they will most likely carry them through their whole lives. However i also think as jordyn said above, a good leader is someone who wants to take the initiative to partake in extra work or activities, not someone who is forced to do it. 
Daryl Bambic

Animal Emotions: Exploring Passionate Natures | BioScience | Oxford Academic - 1 views

  • because emotions have evolved in specific contexts.
  • Categorically denying emotions to animals because they cannot be studied directly does not constitute a reasonable argument against their existence.
    • Daryl Bambic
       
      To deny that something is real without first investigating its existence is not good science.
  • Field research
    • Daryl Bambic
       
      meaning in nature and not in a lab
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  • phenotypes
    • Daryl Bambic
       
      This means a type of behaviour related to a species, like mating behaviour for example.
  • My goal is to convince skeptics that a combination of “hard” and “soft” interdisciplinary research is necessary to advance the study of animal emotions.
  • broadly defined as psychological phenomena that help in behavioral management and control
  • Likewise, no single theory of emotions captures the complexity of the phenomena called emotions
  • It is important to extend our research beyond the underlying physiological mechanisms that mask the richness of the emotional lives of many animals and learn more about how emotions serve them as they go about their daily activities
    • Daryl Bambic
       
      Ignore the previous sentence because this one explains it: the study of emotions needs to focus more on how they help us in life and less on the biology of them.
  • emotions are real and that they are extremely important,
  • René Descartes
    • Daryl Bambic
       
      The philosopher who said, "I think therefore I am". He divided humans into mind/body.
  • B. F. Skinner
    • Daryl Bambic
       
      Skinner was a pioneer in behaviour conditioning. He taught that emotions, because we can't measure them, are not important to understanding behaviour.
  • Why then are there competing views on the nature of animal emotions? In part, this is because some people view humans as unique animals, created in the image of God
  • researchers studying animal behavior came to realize that there was too little in studies of animal emotions and minds that was directly observable, measurable, and verifiable, and chose instead to concentrate on behavior because overt actions could be seen, measured objectively, and verified
  • Most researchers now believe that emotions are not simply the result of some bodily state that leads to an action
  • William James and Carl Lange
  • James and Lange argued that fear, for example, results from an awareness of the bodily changes (heart rate, temperature) that were stimulated by a fearful stimulus.
  • Walter Cannon's criticisms
  • there is a mental component that does not have to follow a bodily reaction
  • drugs producing bodily changes like those accompanying an emotional experience
  • do not produce the same type of conscious experience of fear
    • Daryl Bambic
       
      The textbook spoke of this.
  • Primary emotions, considered to be basic inborn emotions
  • Natural selection has resulted in innate reactions that are crucial to individual survival.
  • are wired into the evolutionary old limbic system (especially the amygdala), the “emotional” part of the brain
  • substrate
    • Daryl Bambic
       
      Substitue 'circuit' for this word
  • . Each is connected to the other two but each also has its own capacities
  • current research (LeDoux 1996) indicates that all emotions are not necessarily packaged into a single system, and there may be more than one emotional system in the brain.
  • Secondary emotions are those that are experienced or felt, evaluated, and reflected on. Secondary emotions involve higher brain centers in the cerebral cortex.
  • ethologists
    • Daryl Bambic
       
      Ethology is the study of animal behaviour and mind
  • cognitive ethologists want to know what it is like to be another animal.
  • concerns how emotions and cognition are linked
  • A sense of self in the act of knowing is created,
  • various brain structures map both the organism and external objects
  • I am inclined merely to delete it [the mental realm] from biological explanation, because it is an entirely private phenomenon, and biology must deal with the publicly demonstrable.”
  • abanac postulated that the first mental event to emerge into consciousness was the ability of an individual to experience the sensations of pleasure and displeasure
  • Examples of animal emotions
  • Social play
  • Studies of the chemistry of play support the idea that play is enjoyable.
  • dopamine (and perhaps serotonin and norepinephrine)
  • rats enjoy being playfully tickled.
  • grief in geese
  • grief and depression in orphan elephants is a real phenomeno
  • It is unlikely that romantic love (or any emotion) first appeared in humans with no evolutionary precursors in animals
  • common brain systems and homologous chemicals underlying love that are shared among humans and animals
  • No one discipline will be able to answer all of the important questions that still need to be dealt with in the study of animal emotions
  • However, research that reduces and minimizes animal behavior and animal emotions to neural firings, muscle movements, and hormonal effects will not likely lead us significantly closer to an understanding of animal emotions.
  • All research involves leaps of faith from available data to the conclusions
    • Daryl Bambic
       
      What do you think about this sentence?
  • studies of the behavior of captive animals
  • Field work also can be problematic. It can be too uncontrolled to allow for reliable conclusions to be drawn.
  • behavior is primary; neural systems subserve behavior
  • Emotions are an integral part of human life, so why not for other animals?
  • in many instances, differences in degree rather than differences in kind.
Daryl Bambic

The Psychology of Cults - All In The Mind - ABC Radio National (Australian Broadcasting... - 1 views

  • participating without informed consent or proper screening
  • ulnerable state
  • Kenja
  • ...37 more annotations...
  • e suicided after being unable to cope, particularly when they leave the groups.
  • They consisted of two people sitting opposite each other silently looking at the other person’s eye and the recipient in session was able to have a look at the experiences and emotions and things in their life that they had not fully come to terms with, and that were unconsciously stopping them from being who they wanted to be. It was very emotional.
  • new pathway
  • ideas as much as the man that I found attractive.
  • Klowning was based on the idea that we are not who we think we are.
  • ble to find out the really human part of us.
  • here’s a whole language that goes with this group, isn’t there, and processing is one thing that you would go through
  • charismatic, he did have that capacity to have a group of people in front of him and hold their attention.
  • nudity has no significance other than what you give it, and if you think that this is in any way inappropriate that’s your dirty mind.
  • ut of research done by the CIA and the KGB after the Second World War in trying to understand how Hitler was able to persuade a whole population to a particular way of thinking and particular behaviour, and that research got out into the wider community
  • on Hubbard used a lot of these techniques in his organisation and then a lot of people who had been in Scientology
  • ocial animals,
  • emotional right-brain
  • Hypnotic states are nothing magical but in fact natural hypnotic states occur on a regular basis if we allow them to, about every two hours during the day. There’s a natural down time when our left-brain sort of quietens and our right-brain and our body is able to do a bit of a tune-up of physical processes like blood-pressure and heart-rate and cortisol levels.
  • dissociative state
  • driving somewhere
  • ay-dreamy
  • o when people use techniques that are going to help induce this state it’s not something you’re necessarily going to resist if you don’t realise that perhaps there is an ulterior motive.
  • ocus their attention
  • charismatic leader,
  • behaviour was right or wrong
  • It’s very interesting studying some of the gurus or the charismatic figures you say you often find that they are often people who have actually started out with very good intentions and just find they have this natural ability to attract people to them, or because they may be good listeners, people feel that they’ve got something to offer
  • hallucinate. I
  • en Dyers, was facing 22 charges of sexual assault on two 12-year-old girls
  • Before they were heard in court he took his own life.
  • ersonality definitely changed
  • almost layered by the group norm
  • staying as connected
  • learn all they can about the group and continue to just ask questions to try and find our more
  • But there are some positive things about some groups and it’s likely that some people live happier lives being part of some groups than they would on their own.
  • groups are often filling desperate needs in people that are not being filled by the way we now live. The way we are now is very isolating, people are often expected to work very long hours, or have very long commutes. More and more families are living apart, so we do not live in a community that is kind to people or respects people. So anybody really is vulnerable, it’s not just, you know, the weak-willed, it’s anybody at a particular time in their life, and particularly if they’re isolated from family and friends.
  • Some of the factors that are most important in human wellbeing are a sense of connectedness and a sense of control over your life now and in the future. So what often these organisations do is offer a whole list of very simple rules, if you just follow these rules then you’ll feel okay. If you just remove yourself from that world and you just mix with us everything will be okay. So they often offer a sort of a way of getting back some feeling of control.
  • describe some of the techniques, not necessarily the abuse that may have occurred, and then to help them understand that they were involved in quite a deliberate psychological process.
  • validate their humanity
  • what was missing before and helping them create a life now that is healthier and more balanced and does meet all their needs as a human being.
  • people who grow up in these organisations and really are trapped, and for those that grow up and then start to rebel as teenagers or as young adults and leave, it is very, very difficult because that’s been their reality.
  • recognition by the courts and by particularly the Family Law Court and we need education of the legal profession and I think the professional organisations, particularly the professional health organisations need to be more pro-active in first of all educating themselves about what these issues are and then making it very clear in their code of ethics of these different professional groups how the codes of ethics dovetail with belief systems.
Chrissy Le

Love and Addiction: 4. "Love" as an Addiction - 0 views

  • a human relationship can be equivalent psychologically to a drug addiction.
  • Chein, Winick, and other observers interpret drugs to be a kind of substitute for human ties. In this sense, addictive love is even more directly linked to what are recognized to be the sources of addiction than is drug dependency.
  • Freud noted important parallels between love and another psychologically compelling process—hypnotism.
  • ...25 more annotations...
  • From being in love to hypnosis is evidently only a short step.
  • Love is an ideal vehicle for addiction because it can so exclusively claim a person's consciousness.
  • Someone who is dissatisfied with himself or his situation can discover in such a relationship the most encompassing substitute for self-contentment and the effort required to attain it.
  • When a constant exposure to something as necessary in order to make life bearable, an addiction has been brought about, however romantic the trappings. The ever-present danger of withdrawal creates an ever-present craving.
  • Since the person who addicts himself to a lover has essentially the same feelings of inadequacy as the drug addict, why should such an individual choose another person, rather than a drug, for the object of his addiction
  • found that sexual relationships in the lower class tend not to involve as great a degree of life-sharing.
  • "The lower class person . . . is less dependent on people, and more oriented toward those gratifications which can be achieved without complicated cooperation of other human beings."
  • The latter can be defined as the need to cling to one human object for love and support. That object may not even be a true person, but only a conception of a person.
  • When people are economically comfortable but still sense a large deficiency in their lives, their yearnings are bound to be more existential than material. That is, these yearnings are tied into their basic conception of and feelings about themselves
  • A person feeling this inner emptiness must strive to fill it. In relationships, this can only be done by subsuming someone else's being inside yourself, or by allowing someone else to subsume you.
  • The result is a full-fledged addiction, where each partner draws the other back at any sign of a loosening of the bonds that hold them together.
  • The relationship was an addiction. F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sheilah Graham sealed themselves off from the outside world by neglecting their work and by dropping all their other personal relationships in Hollywood.
  • The belief which underlay this feeling—and all of the relationship—was expressed by Graham when she said that "my living began when he arrived." If there is a need to participate in every aspect of another's life, its conclusive form is the complete control of or reliance on another, so that one person does not exist without the other's being there, too. This is the essential similarity to drug addiction, where a person feels he is living only when he is on the drug. The ultimate statement of the desire to be consumed by love is in the last passage quoted from Graham, where she wanted to crawl into Scott's mind, lose her consciousness in his, and form one human entity out of two incomplete beings.
  • The sadistic person is as dependent on the submissive person as the latter is on the former;
  • The difference is only that the sadistic person commands, exploits, hurts, humiliates, and that the masochistic person is commanded, exploited, hurt, humiliated. This is a considerable difference in a realistic sense; in a deeper emotional sense, the difference is not so great as that which they both have in common: fusion without integrity.
  • Above all else, these extreme emotional reactions conclusively establish that the relationship was an addiction. All along, the lovers' actions toward each other were dictated by their own needs. Therefore, when their connection was severed—even temporarily—they had no basis on which to relate. Each was incapable of respecting, or even conceiving of, the other in his or her own terms, as continuing to live his or her own life. It was impossible for either to be concerned about the other's well-being; if the one lover wasn't there to satisfy the other's needs, then he or she ceased to exist.
  • Because an addiction is sought only for the total experience it provides, it can only be accepted emotionally in that form.
  • Love is the opposite of interpersonal addiction. A love relationship is based on a desire to grow and to expand oneself through living, and a desire for one's partner to do the same.
  • Anything which contributes positively to a loved one's experience is welcomed, partly because it enriches the loved one for his own sake, and partly because it makes him a more stimulating companion in life.
  • If two people hope to realize fully their potential as human beings—both together and apart—then they create an intimacy which includes, along with trust and sharing, hope, independence, openness, adventurousness, and love.
  • If a person loves only one other person and is indifferent to the rest of his fellow men, his love is not love but a symbiotic attachment, or an enlarged egotism.
  • the tendency to regard social partners as commodities. People who show this orientation "fall in love when they feel they have found the best object available on the market, considering the limitations of their own exchange values."
  • Fromm therefore stresses that the respect inherent in all love requires a lover to think, "I want the loved person to grow and unfold for his own sake, and in his own ways, and not for the purpose of serving me."
  • An independent, open person exploring life seriously will instinctively (if not consciously) consider whether someone has anything of substance to add to his or her existence.
  • Criteria For Love Vs. Addiction
alicia waid

Milgram's Experiment on Obedience to Authority - 4 views

    • alicia waid
       
      Excellent site for summary of Milgram's experiment.
    • alicia waid
       
      Important to note the different kinds of studies that were made. (2 variations talked about.)
    • alicia waid
       
      Results: Important to note the 3 different outcomes. State brief explanations of how they're different.
  • ...40 more annotations...
    • alicia waid
       
      Milgram expected what the majority of us expected: Teachers to react to the students' suffering and telling the experimenter that he/she cannot continue the experiment.
    • alicia waid
       
      Important to note the 3 types of results found.  Interesting to see the contrast. 1) Obeyed orders from experimenter, yet blamed everything on the experimenter. 2) Obeyed orders from experimenter, yet blamed self in the end. 3) Stopped during experiment.  (What most people would have expected the highest percentage of results to be, but that is not the case).
    • alicia waid
       
      The "teachers" were happy to see that no harm was done to the "students", however when they were doing the experiment, they continued to use a higher voltage like asked.  Important to note that, although they're happy to see no harm was done, they were willing to do that harm for the experiment (and because the experimenter had asked for them to continue even if they didn't necessarily want to).
    • alicia waid
       
      The whole concept of "Obedience to Authority".  A high percentage of people will do things even if they don't necessarily want to. If someone tells them to do it, they will.
    • alicia waid
       
      Once put in a position with such power, some people don't know how to use it.  With such power, a person may result in changing completely and doing things they might not have necessarily done before all they've received so much power.
    • alicia waid
       
      Under the pressure of having someone "superior" to you, tell you to do something, most of the time, you do it even if you don't necessarily want to.  (Example of man being pressured to continue the experiment).
    • alicia waid
       
      Basic information of experiment.
    • alicia waid
       
      The "student's" sound effects adds depth to the experiment.  When hearing screams and cries, will people really be able to go through with the experiment? We later find out that many do.
  • out of fear or out of a desire to appear cooperative
  • "Teachers" were asked to administer increasingly severe electric shocks to the "learner" when questions were answered incorrectly.
  • illustrates people's reluctance to confront those who abuse power
  • the experiment would study the effects of punishment on learning ability
  • 45-volt shock samples
  • 2.5 percent of participants used the full 450 volts available.
  • grunt at 75 volts; complain at 120 volts; ask to be released at 150 volts; plead with increasing vigor, next; and let out agonized screams at 285 volts.
  • yell loudly and complain of heart pain.
  • actor would refuse to answer any more questions
  • 330 volts the actor would be totally silent
  • treat silence as an incorrect answer and apply the next shock level to the student.
  • hesitated to inflict the shocks, the experimenter would pressure him to proceed
  • Some teachers refused to continue with the shocks early on, despite urging from the experimenter.
  • expected as the norm
  • (65%) of the teachers were willing to progress to the maximum voltage level
  • participants continued to obey
  • he proceeded, repeating to himself, "It’s got to go on, it’s got to go on."
  • visible but teachers were asked to force the learner’s hand to the shock plate so they could deliver the punishment
  • Less obedience was extracted from subjects in this case.
  • teachers were instructed to apply whatever voltage they desired to incorrect answers.
  • 15 to 450 volts
  • averaged 83 volts
  • most participants were good, average people, not evil individuals. They obeyed only under coercion.
  • authority figure was in close proximity
  • teachers felt they could pass on responsibility to others
  • experiments took place under the auspices of a respected organization
  • Rebelled.
  • gave up responsibility for their actions, blaming the experimenter
  • Obeyed but blamed themselves.
  • harsh on themselves
  • Obeyed but justified themselves.
  • was a greater ethical imperative calling for the protection of the learner over the needs of the experimenter.
courtney galli

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE CULT EXPERIENCE - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  • negative characteristics exhibited by the former cult members studied, said Dr. Clark, are depression, guilt, fear, paranoia, slow speech, rigidity of facial expression and body posture, indifference to physical appearance, passivity and memory impairment.
  • The techniques of many cults fall under the general rubric of brainwashing
  • Dr. Singer, ''cult leaders and their trainers exert a systematic social influence that can produce great behavioral changes.''
  • ...19 more annotations...
  • 'have taken techniques from the human-potential movement, from the encounter, sensitivitytraining and humanistic-psychology movements, and combined them with cult ideology and persuasive sales methods - and packaged them in various combinations.''
  • nationally is variously estimated at 300,000 to three million.
  • Dr. Singer estimates that there are 2,500 to 3,000 cults in the United States
  • United
  • Dr. Singer estimates that there are 2,500 to 3,000 cults in the United States
  • Whether or not a cult is destructive is determined by the morality of the cult leader and the nature of the leader's charismatic dream,
  • Not all cults are destructive, the researchers said, and many of those who join and remain in cults do so out of a sincere quest for religious connection.
  • Dr. Cath defined a cult as a group of people joined together by a common ideological system fostered by a charismatic leader
    • courtney galli
       
      Temporal lobe epilepsy is a form of focal epilepsy, a chronic neurological condition characterized by recurrent seizures.
  • ''the expectation is that they can transcend the imperfections and finitude of life.''
  • ''Often they set up a we-they philosophy: We have the truth and you do not.
  • ''Under the force of the conversion experience, people disappeared from their families and changed, sometimes after only a few days.''
  • More are male than female.
  • involves a vulnerable person
  • ''Cult recruiters frequent bus stations, airports, campuses, libraries, rallies, anywhere that unattached persons are likely to be passing through,''
  • Dr. Cath defined a cult as a group of people joined together by a common ideological system fostered by a charismatic leader
  • The symptoms of temporal lobe epilepsy,'' said Dr. Clark, ''are similar to those seen or reported as resulting from cult conversions: increased irritability, loss of libido or altered sexual interest; ritualism, compulsive attention to detail, mystical states, humorlessness and sobriety, heightened paranoia.''
  • Dr. Cath said: ''Keeping devotees constantly fatigued, deprived of sensory input and suffering protein deprivation, working extremely long hours in street solicitation or in cult-owned businesses, engaging in monotonous chanting and rhythmical singing, may induce psychophysiological changes in the brain. The rhythmical movement of the body can lead to altered states of consciousness, and changes in the pressure or vibration pattern of the brain may affect the temporal lobe.''
  • ''cult-conversion syndrome'' represents an overload of the brain's ability to process information.
Jordyn Shell

Brain Difference In Psychopaths Identified - 0 views

    • Catherine Delisle
       
      This website is very interesting because it explains that their is an architectural difference in the brain of a psychopath compared to a healthy brain. The areas that are different are the amygdala, which is associated with emotions, fear and agression, and the oribitofrontal cortex (OFC), which is responsible for the decision making. There is white matter that connects the amygdala and the OFC, which is called uncinate fasciculus (UF). They found a significant reduction in the integrity of the small particles that compose the UF of psychopaths compared to control groups of people with the same age and IQ. The degree of abnormality was significantly related to the degree of psychopathy.
  • esearch investigated the brain biology of psychopaths with convictions that included attempted murder, manslaughter, multiple rape with strangulation and false imprisonment.
  • Health & Medicine Brain Tumor Psychology Research Medical Imaging Mind & Brain Brain Injury Neuroscience Intelligence Reference Antisocial personality disorder Functional neuroimaging Personality disorder Psychopathology The r
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • significance of these findings cannot be underestimated
  • the biological basis of psychopathy remains poorly understood
  • To date, nobody has investigated the 'connectivity' between the specific brain regions implicated in psychopathy.
  • Earlier studies had suggested that dysfunction of specific brain regions might underpin psychopathy
  • amygdale
  • the degree of abnormality was significantly related to the degree of psychopathy. These results suggest that psychopaths have biological differences in the brain which may help to explain their offending behaviours.
  •  
    ScienceDaily is one of the most popular scientific news web sites since 1995. As of 1995, ScienceDaily has won the loyalty of the public (i.e. students, researchers, health care professionals, government agencies, educators and the general public). If all those members of our society can trust this website that has won multiple awards, so can I. I am a part of the 3 million monthly viewers that trust this website that proves to be very credible. I also found this website using www.sweetsearch.com which the student of Mrs. Bambic's psychology class of 2012 have been told is credible and used by many professionals around the world.
Chanelle Miller

What is stress? - 0 views

  • Survival Stress
    • Chanelle Miller
       
      Survival Stress is when your body reacts to danger by pumping adrenaline so you can fight off the dangerous moment. For example, if you were in a forest fire, your body would pump adrenaline so that you can run at intense speeds.
  • Internal Stress
    • Chanelle Miller
       
      Internal Stress is when your body stresses about situation that you have no control over. This is a very dangerous kind of stress! Most mothers deal with this kind. For example, if their son or daughter were on a school trip and they were stressed about their safety and health but yet they can't do anything to help the situation.
  • Environmental Stress
    • Chanelle Miller
       
      Environmental Stress is when your body reacts to the people around you, the noise or the amount of pressure you're under from either friends, work or family. For example, a student has a lot of work and their mom and dad have high expectations of their grades.
  • ...28 more annotations...
  • can become tired, sick, and unable to concentrate or think clearly. Sometimes, they even suffer mental breakdowns.
    • Chanelle Miller
       
      effects of stress: fatigue, lack of concentration, sickness and even mental breakdowns
  • Fatigue and Overwork
    • Chanelle Miller
       
      Fatigue and Overwork stress is one of the hardest stresses to deal with. It happens when your body is over working and not knowing how to mange your time well. It's important that you take some time out of your day to relax. Often students and parents that have an intense job deal with this kind of stress.
  • react by releasing chemi
  • way of responding to any kind of demand.
  • cals into the blood.
  • chemicals
  • bad thing, if their stress is in response to something emotional and there is no outlet for this extra energy and strength
  • physical danger
  • energy and strength
  • things can cause stress
  • response to danger
  • physical
  • emotional
  • . When
  • your body naturally responds with a burst of energy so that you will be better able to survive the dangerous situation (fight) or escape it all together (flight). This is survi
  • you are afraid
  • val stress.
  • worrying about things you can do nothing about or worrying for no reason at all?
  • one of the
  • most important kinds of stress to understand and manage.
  • we can't contro
  • become addicted to the kind of hurried, tense, lifestyle
  • feel stress about things that aren't stressful.
  • response to things around you that cause stress, such as noise, crowding, and pressure from work or family.
  • caused by working too much or too hard at your job(s), school, or home.
  • not knowing how to manage your time well
  • take time out for rest and relaxation
  • one of the hardest kinds of stress
Dayna Rabin

The Science of Storytelling: Why Telling a Story is the Most Powerful Way to Activate O... - 1 views

  • A good story can make or break a presentation, article, or conversation. But why is that?
  • When Buffer co-founder Leo Widrich
  • are very likely to never forget the story of who invented the sandwich ever again
  • ...42 more annotations...
  • For over 27,000 years
  • stories has been one of our most fundamental communication methods.
  • Our brain on stories: How our brains become more active when we tell stories
  • We all enjoy a good story,
  • why do we feel so much more engaged when we hear a narrative about events?
  • we listen to a powerpoint presentation with boring bullet points, a certain part in the brain gets activated.
  • It's in fact quite simple. I
  • Broca's area and Wernicke's area
  • language processing parts in the brain, where we decode words into meaning.
  • things change dramatically.
  • how delicious certain foods were, our sensory cortex lights up. If it's about motion, our motor cortex gets active:
  • but any other area in our brain that we would use when experiencing the events of the story are too.
  • A story can put your whole brain to work.
  • can have the same effect on them too.
  • The brains of the person telling a story and listening to it can synchronize, says Uri Hasson from Princeton:
  • By simply telling a story, the woman could plant ideas, thoughts and emotions into the listeners' brains."
  • Evolution has wired our brains for storytelling—how to make use of it
  • hy does the format of a story, where events unfold one after the other, have such a profound impact on our learning?
  • We are wired that way.
  • While we are busy searching for a similar experience in our brains, we activate a part called insula, which helps us relate to that same experience of pain, joy, or disgust.
  • We think in narratives all day long,
  • We make up (short) stories in our heads for every action and conversation.
  • In fact, Jeremy Hsu found [that] "personal stories and gossip make up 65% of our conversations."
  • henever we hear a story, we want to relate it to one of our existing experiences.
  • metaphors work so well with us.
  • story, if broken down into the simplest form, is a connection of cause and effect.
  • John Bargh
  • We link up metaphors and literal happenings automatically. Everything in our brain is looking for the cause and effect relationship of something we've previously experienced.
  • ou mention the same story to him, as if it was your idea?
  • According to Uri Hasson from Princeton, a story is the only way to activate parts in the brain so that a listener turns the story into their own idea and experience.
  • tell them a story,
  • According to Princeton researcher Hasson, storytelling is the only way to plant ideas into other people's minds.
  • Write more persuasively—bring in stories from yourself or an expert
  • multitasking is so hard for us.
  • ask for quotes from the top folks in the industry or simply find great passages they had written online.
  • The simple story is more successful than the complicated one
  • easy to convince ourselves that they have to be complex and detailed to be interesting.
  • the simpler a story, the more likely it will stick.
  • Using simple language as well as low complexity is the best way to activate the brain regions that make us truly relate to the happenings of a story.
  • xchanging stories with those of experts.
  • educe the number of adjectives or complicated nouns in a presentation or article
  • Our brain learns to ignore certain overused words and phrases that used to make stories awesome.
Mason Brenhouse

HMS Press Release - Deciphering the teenage brain - 0 views

  • “Teens are in a discovery mode,” says Frances Jensen, MD, an HMS professor of neurology. “They’re experiencing new things, and their brains are developing accordingly. There’s simply a lot going on in their brains.”
  • The teenage brain matures from back to front. The posterior regions, especially those above the spinal column, are largely responsible for motor control. Their earlier maturation helps account for the quick acquisition of locomotion and other movement skills by young people. Maturation of many sensory regions also occurs early, enabling a growing person to learn from the surrounding world. The maturing of the forward regions of the brain, particularly the frontal lobe, doesn’t occur until late adolescence or early adulthood; some researchers say the region’s maturation may not be complete until age 30.
  • The ease of learning that most teens enjoy, however, can carry a steep cost: addiction. “The brain builds itself as it responds to experiences,” Jensen says. “With teens who experiment with drugs, this can result in addiction. It’s the same pattern as learning—we want more, more, more.”
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • The challenge for parents, educators, clinicians and others who deal with teenagers is to determine whether their exasperating behavior is just the stuff of growing up or whether their moodiness and lack of judgment are indicative of a larger, perhaps pathological, problem. Many mental disorders begin to manifest during adolescence, including schizophrenia, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and drug and alcohol abuse. “The key,” says Jensen, “is to be aware of what’s going on with your kids. Teens today are exposed to more stress than ever before, including drugs, alcohol, and violence. We all have to be mindful.”
  •  
    This article was written by Scott Edwards of Harvard Medical School on the intricacies of the teen brain and what exactly is going on pertaining to the brain during adolescence. It states that throughout adolescence teens go through many drastic changes. Consequently, this development of the brain may not even be completely finished until the age of 30 in certain cases. It essentially gives the how and why to the volatile behavior that most teenagers acquire. 
courtney galli

Cult Formation - 0 views

  • ideological totalism,
  • Cults can be identified by three characteristics: a charismatic leader who increasingly becomes an object of worship as the general principles that may have originally sustained the group lose their power; a process I call coercive persuasion or thought reform; economic, sexual, and other exploitation of group members by the leader and the ruling coterie.
  • milieu control: the control of all communication within a given environment. In such an environment individual autonomy becomes a threat to the group. There is an attempt to manage an individual's inner communication. Milieu control is maintained and expressed by intense group process, continuous psychological pressure, and isolation by geographical distance, unavailability of transportation, or even physical restraint. Often the group creates an increasingly intense sequence of events such as seminars, lectures and encounters which makes leaving extremely difficult, both physically and psychologically.
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • Intense milieu control can contribute to a dramatic change of identity which I call doubling: the formation of a second self which lives side by side with the former one, often for a considerable time. When the milieu control is lifted, elements of the earlier self may be reasserted.
  • Three further aspects of ideological totalism are "sacred science," "loading of the language," and the principle of "doctrine over person."
  • Perhaps the most significant characteristic of totalistic movements is what I ca
  • Sacred science is important because a claim of being scientific is often needed to gain plausibility and influence in the modern age.
  • language
  • The principle of doctrine over person' is invoked when cult members sense a conflict between what they are experiencing and what dogma says they should experience.
  • The term loading the language' refers to literalism and a tendency to deify words or images.
  • l "dispensing of existence." Those who have not seen the light and embraced the truth are wedded to evil, tainted, and therefore in some sense, usually metaphorical, lack the right to exist.
  • That is one reason why a cult member threatened with being cast into outer darkness may experience a fear of extinction or collapse.
    • courtney galli
       
      History of the person
  • Totalism should always be considered within a specific historical context.
Daryl Bambic

Is Anybody in There? Searching for Consciousness in an Injured Brain | Wired Science | ... - 2 views

  • eft to languish in nursing homes where no one bothers with physical therapy or even to check for glimmers of regained consciousness
  • many patients with no outward signs of awareness retain some degree of consciousness
  • In Wallis’ case, brain scans revealed evidence that his brain had rewired itself to some extent to compensate for the injury
  • ...13 more annotations...
    • Daryl Bambic
       
      Brains re-wiring themselves is called brain plasticity.  
  • y rare, a 2009 study by Belgian researchers found that 41 percent of hospital and rehab patients with a vegetative state diagnosis were actually minimally conscious
  • ike a flickering light, and you’re going to miss it unless you systematically look for it,” Fins said.
  • n a few cases, this technology has enabled rudimentary communication with patients trapped inside an unresponsive body. In the future, some scientists believe, it may be possible to directly decode these patients’ thoughts.
    • Daryl Bambic
       
      For an explanation of how this decoding might work, go to the end of the article.
  • Getting these methods right is crucial, as pressure mounts to use them in medical decisions, including whether or not to terminate life support, and in the legal battles that sometimes ensue. There are a number of ongoing legal cases in Canada that involve vegetative or minimally conscious patients and end of life decisions, says Adrian Owen, a neuroscientist at the University of Western Ontario. “I’m absolutely sure fMRI is going to play a role in one or more of these cases in the next 12 months.”
    • Daryl Bambic
       
      The role of technology in ethical decision making.
  • technology that created these disorders in the first place.
  • ut a badly damaged brain is not necessarily unconscious. The recent research tells us quite clearly that human consciousness is not binary. It can exist in degrees, fade in and out, even when the body is unresponsive.
    • Daryl Bambic
       
      Consciousness is not binary but a question of degrees.
  • wen also described a new way to assess mental function in unresponsive patients. It involves scanning someone’s brain as they watch an 8 minute clip of an Alfred Hitchcock film. When healthy people do this, various parts of the brain synchronize their activity at certain times in the clip. Owen argues that if brain injury patients exhibit similar patterns, it could be a telltale sign of residual cognitive function.
  • imple yes-no communication probably isn’t enough to allow patients to participate in decisions about their care.
  • Gallant’s lab has shown that it’s possible to reconstruct still images and video clips from the patterns of activity elicited in the brain of the person viewing them. If Gallant can see what your visual cortex is doing, he can tell you, more or less, what you’re looking at.
Chrissy Le

The Rules of Attraction in the Game of Love | LiveScience - 0 views

  • Symmetry equals sex
  • If every division were to go perfectly, the result would be a baby whose left and right sides are mirror images.
  • But nature doesn't work that way.
  • ...12 more annotations...
  • men with higher degrees of symmetry enjoy more sexual partners than men of lower symmetry.
  • Both men and women rated symmetrical members of the opposite sex as more attractive and in better health than their less symmetrical counterparts. The differences can be just a few percent—perceivable though not necessarily noticeable.
  • "It makes sense to use symmetry variation in mate choice," said evolutionary biologist Randy Thornhill of the University of New Mexico. "If you choose a perfectly symmetrical partner and reproduce with them, your offspring will have a better chance of being symmetric and able to deal with perturbations."
  • Psychologist Devendra Singh of the University of Texas studied people's waist-to-hip ratio (WHR).
  • Women with a WHR of 0.7—indicating a waist significantly narrower than the hips—are most desirable to men.
  • 0.8 to 1.0 WHR in men is attractive to women, although having broad shoulders is more of a turn-on.
  • Where fat is deposited on the body is determined by sex hormones; testosterone in men and estrogen in women. If a woman produces the proper amount and mixture of estrogen, then her WHR will naturally fall into the desired range. The same goes for a male's testosterone.
  • "The idea is that beauty is conveying information about health and fertility, and we admire that,
  • Men's faces are shaped by testosterone, which helps develop a larger lower face and jaw and a prominent brow.
  • Research reported last month found women both smell and look more attractive to men at certain times of the month.
  • The rules of attraction, it turns out, seem sometimes to play out in our subconscious.
  • A 2002 study found women prefer the scent of men with genes somewhat similar to their own over the scent of nearly genetically identical or totally dissimilar men.
alicia waid

Teens who smoke pot at risk for later schizophrenia, psychosis - Harvard Health Publica... - 0 views

    • alicia waid
       
      Regular marijuana use increases a teenagers chance to develop psychosis*, and developing schizophrenia*.
    • alicia waid
       
      *Psychosis: A temporary state filled with intense anxiety and hallucinations.
    • alicia waid
       
      *Schizophrenia: Disabling brain disorder that not only causes psychosis, but also problems concentrating and loss of emotional expression.
    • alicia waid
       
      In a study following 2,000 tenns as they start to develop into young adults, it was proven that young people who smoke marijuana at least 5 times were twice as likely to develop psychosis over the next 10 years of their lives compared to those who didn't smoke.
    • alicia waid
       
      It was also proven that early marijuana use could increase the speed of the onset of psychosis by three years. (Those most at risk are youths who might have some family member that is dealing with schizophrenia, or any other psychotic disorder). 
  • ...34 more annotations...
    • alicia waid
       
      These people who have family members affected by psychosis have approximately a 1 in 10 chance of developing the same condition themselves (even if they've never smoked pot).  However, if smoking marijuana, this doubles their risk (1 in 5 chance).
    • alicia waid
       
      People who are not affected by psychosis have a 7 in 1,000 chance of developing a mental disorder.
    • alicia waid
       
      People who are not affected by psychosis but smoke marijuana double their risk: 14 in 1,000.
    • alicia waid
       
      A very popular study (nearly 50,000 young Swedish soldiers were followed for 15 years) showed that those who smoked marijuana at least once were more than twice as likely to develop schizophrenia as those who had never smoked marijuana.  
    • alicia waid
       
      It was shown that the heaviest users (used more than 50 times) were 6 times more likely to become schizophrenic than the nonsmokers.  
    • alicia waid
       
      Research on the association of marijuana and the brain is in a very early stage (much is still unknown).  THC* contributes to marijuana's psychological and physical effects.
    • alicia waid
       
      *THC: One of the active compounds in marijuana.
    • alicia waid
       
      One of the many things that are still unknown is how marijuana might lead to psychosis.  There is a theory that marijuana interferes with brain development during adolescence and young adulthood, but this theory is yet to be determined.
    • alicia waid
       
      Although many things are still unknown about the relation between the adolescent brain and marijuana, one this is certain: As a teen, by smoking marijuana, you are increasing your vulnerability to psychotic thinking.
  • regular marijuana use increases the chance that a teenager will develop psychosis
  • risk for later schizophrenia, psychosis
  • increases the risk of developing schizophrenia
  • five times were twice as likely to have developed psychosis over the next 10 years
  • smoked marijuana at least
  • hasten the onset of psychosis by three years
  • already have a mother, father, or sibling with schizophrenia
  • most at risk are youths
  • some other psychotic disorde
  • one in 10 chance of developing the condition
  • even if they never smoke pot
  • one in five chance
  • doubles their risk
  • 7 in 1,000 chance
  • 14 in 1,000.
  • possible link between marijuana use and psychosis
  • smoked marijuana at least once were more than twice as likely to develop schizophrenia as those who had never smoked pot
  • marijuana use might lead to psychosis
  • cigarette smoking and lung cancer
  • marijuana and the brain
  • six times as likely to develop schizophrenia as the nonsmokers
  • stimulates the brain and triggers other chemical reactions that contribute to the drug’s psychological and physical effects
  • not clear
  • theory
  • marijuana may interfere with normal brain development during the teenage years
  • young adulthood.
  • increase a young person’s vulnerability to psychotic thinking
  • reward of a short-time high isn’t worth the long-term risk of psychosis or a disabling disorder like schizophrenia.
dunya darwiche

Catalyst 2001 Features - Birth Order Psychology - 0 views

    • dunya darwiche
       
      Wow did this make me think of my Boyfriends family SOOOOOO MUCH! His older brother the oldest He as the middle child and the little sister oftenly seen as the angel wich in many cases she deserves it but that is out of context
  • five major birth order positions: only, oldest, second, middle, and youngest child
    • dunya darwiche
       
      This made me think of Horoscopes and how they seem to identify your personnality and anticipate your moves, decisions and thoughts according to your date of birth
  • Adler did document exceptions
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • birth order is sometimes not a major influence on personality development and that the child's opinion of himself and his situation determines his choice of attitude
  • mélange of two distinct sciences: sociology and psychology
  • Like all sciences, social psychology searches for concrete proof before belief
  • “the biologizing of human beings is not only bad humanism, but also bad science.”
  • study at Ohio State University conducted in the winter of 2001 showed that birth order affects career interests. In the Journal of Career Assessment, researchers noted that only children and first born children tended to have more cognitive and analytical interests, while those later-born were more artistic and outdoors oriented.
  • twenty-five types of marriages according to birth order
  • most common marital relationship is between an only child and a second child, and it has a fairly high rate of success, while first born-first born relationships seem to rarely happen. Firstborns are less likely to connect romantically.
    • dunya darwiche
       
      Number 1 My parent were both first borns and they had a Very healthy romantic relationship that shined bright with passion and two I am a Firstborn and i do not see how WE are "less likely to connest romantically"
  • seems to have no scientific proof
  • influence of being the first born of a specific gender, the influence of changing family dynamics, and the potential for methodical pitfalls in birth order research interest not only studies on birth order, but the research of many other social trends.
Zach Fenlon

PTSD Symptoms Common Among ICU Survivors - 02/26/2013 - 1 views

  • Condition long linked to war veterans found in one in three ventilated patients
    • Zach Fenlon
       
      Shocking statistic
  • PTSD Symptoms Common Among ICU Survivors
    • Zach Fenlon
       
      Credible source because it comes from a very well known medical facility. 
  • a critical care specialist at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and senior author of the study published online in Psychological Medicine
    • Zach Fenlon
       
      makes the research credible 
  • ...15 more annotations...
  • it may be as common, or more common, in ICU patients as in soldiers
    • Zach Fenlon
       
      I didn't realize not only that this was a possible cause of PTSD but also that it was so highly frequent. 
  • "We need to pay more attention to preventing and treating PTSD in these patients."
  • they often experience flashbacks about delusions or hallucinations they had in the hospital
    • Zach Fenlon
       
      i find this very strange and interesting that their reocurring memories/ nightmares are of figurative events. 
  • being given sedatives and narcotics -- may lead to "memories" of horrible things that didn’t happen
  • "One woman thought her husband and the nurse were plotting to kill her,"
  • For the study, the Johns Hopkins team observed 520 mechanically ventilated patients with ALI,
    • Zach Fenlon
       
      Very thorough research
  • The researchers found that 66 of the 186 patients (35 percent) had clinically significant symptoms of PTSD,
  • Sixty-two percent of the survivors who developed PTSD still had symptoms at their two-year visit.
  • Half of this same group was taking psychiatric medications, and 40 percent had seen a psychiatrist in the two years since being hospitalized with ALI.
    • Zach Fenlon
       
      Even with both types of treatments, many patients were still suffering from PTSD
  • The researchers also found that patients with depression before hospitalization were twice as likely to develop PTSD,
    • Zach Fenlon
       
      Similar statement to my research from Harvard Medical Center. 
  • This inflammation may lead to a breakdown in the blood-brain barrier, which alters the impact on the brain of narcotics, sedatives and other drugs prescribed in the ICU.
  • Bienvenu says patients who have these risk factors need special attention. Simply educating them and their primary care doctors about the increased risk for PTSD would be a step in the right direction, he adds.
    • Zach Fenlon
       
      This is one of the most simple tactics i have read on preventing PTSD
  • he symptoms fall into three categories: reliving the traumatic experience (flashbacks, nightmares), avoidance (feeling numb, detached, staying away from people and places that serve as reminders of the experience), and hyperarousal (being easily startled, having difficulty sleeping, irritability).
    • Zach Fenlon
       
      These are the exact same symptoms that The Harvard Medical Institution describes. 
  • "psychological rehab" now deserves attention.
  • The intervention reduced PTSD symptoms by helping patients make sense of their ICU memories,
    • Zach Fenlon
       
      A proven way to reduce PTSD. Very interesting. 
Daryl Bambic

Behaviorism - 4 views

  • Psychology should be seen as a science. 
  • Its theoretical goal is … prediction and control” (1913, p. 158).
  • concerned with observable behavior,
  • ...17 more annotations...
  • a person’s environment determines their behavior
  • 'tabula rasa' (a blank slate).
  • There is little difference between the learning that takes place in humans and that in other animals.  Therefore research can be carried out on animals as well as humans.
  • Behavior is the result of stimulus – response
  • no matter how complex,
  • All behavior is learnt from the environment
  • Limitations
  • Strengths
  • The psychodynamic approach (Freud) criticizes behaviorism as it does not take into account the unconscious mind’s influence on behavior, and instead focuses on external observable behavior.
  • (tabula rasa)
  • Humanism also rejects the nomothetic approach
  • humans have free will (personal agency
  • Chromosomes and hormones
  • Mediation processes occur between stimulus and response, such as memory, thinking, problem solving etc.
    • Daryl Bambic
       
      What are the three main objections of the Behaviourism?
    • Marie-Lise Pagé
       
      The three main objections is that human cannot be compare to animals, human have free will and they make their own decisions and it doesn't take into account the unconscious mind.
    • Julian Posteraro
       
      1) Humans have free will and are able to make their own decisions. This is objected because our actions are made based on our surroundings. 2) Animals and humans are not comparable. They are however because they can both be controlled by a stimulus for example. 3) People are born with a blank slate in their mind. Freud believed that they were actually born with instincts.  
    • kelsey sazant
       
      The three main objections of the Behaviourism is that humans cannot be accurately represented by animals because we have a different and more complex mind we also have free will and a different decision making process. Hormones also have a huge influence on our behaviour, this does not effect animals as drastically. 
    • Ally Talarico
       
      We are born with a "blank slate" therefore we are not born with a unconscious mind. Behavior isn't determined by our unconscious mind but by our environment. If it's not measurable, it's not a good theory. Also, we can't test on animals and just accept that they are the same as humans. They aren't. We are a lot more advanced and complex than most animals. We have free will and we make decisions differently than they do. 
    • Daryl Bambic
       
      What are the strengths of Behaviourism?
    • Marie-Lise Pagé
       
      The strengths are that it's scientific so the experements done can support the theories. It helps us understand certain behaviours we have. Also, it can help us compare ourselves to animals since most of the experements are done on animals. 
    • Julian Posteraro
       
      Behaviourism is beneficial because knowing that a simple or complex stimulas can trigger a certain reaction, we can learn how to better control other people or animals. For example, a stimulas can be used to train your pet animal or to calm your energetic child down. Knowing that behaviourism is predictable, we can have a certain amount of subtle control over others when needed, in therapy for example. There are also many experiments that help support the theories of Behaviourism. This is also something that is common between animals and humans. We both can react a certain way based on our environment. 
    • Ally Talarico
       
      It's scientific, it's highly applicable through therapy, it emphasizes objective measurement. There are many experiments to support theories as well. 
    • kelsey sazant
       
      The main strengths of Behaviourism are that it is scientific and therefore can test and approve or reject falsifiable theories. It can also be used as therapy or treatment if used or understood properly. It also helps us understand our behaviours by comparing them to animals, this helps us further understand our own species through the observation of another. 
    • Daryl Bambic
       
      Why is Behaviourism primarily concerned with observable behaviour? How is that different from Freudian psychoanalytic theory?
    • Marie-Lise Pagé
       
      Behaviourism is primarily concerned with observable  behaviour because it wants to have data and the only way to get it is by seeing something happen. It is different than the Freudian psychoanalytic because Freud's theory was that you can't change the behaviour, but in behaviourism we can change the reaction.  Behaviourism says that internal events like thinking will be explained with olur behaviour.
    • Jordyn Shell
       
      Behaviourism is primarily concerned with observable  behaviour because the only way to know if something is occurring is to OBSERVE IT, hence 'observable behaviour' (behaviours which are required to be seen, like MLP said). It's different than Freud's theory because he believed that behaviour was permanent, no matter what the behaviour was. However you acted and such wasn't controllable or changeable.
    • Ally Talarico
       
      Behaviorism is proven by observation. Also, the theory explains that we can change the reaction of certain other actions. Freudian theory believes that behavior or permanent. Although we believe that we are being rational when making decisions, we really aren't.
    • Eli Michon
       
      Behaviorism need observation to be justified because you cant know what is happening unless it's witnessed. when thinking about this, i think of how a person under arrest is innocent until proven guilty. Freudian theory however presumed that behavior was a permanent thing and that every psychological advance you made would be determined and preset.
    • Julian Posteraro
       
      Behaviourism is concerned with observable behaviour because our environment determines our behaviour. Technically, people have no free will because every action made is a reaction to another. Freud doesn't take into consideration the unconscious mind and disregards behaviourism. He also believes that we are born with instincts and not with "tabula rasa". These two theories are different because if our surroundings can predetermine our behaviour, then our behaviour isn't permanent unless our environment is.  
    • kelsey sazant
       
      Behaviorism is primarily concerned with observable behaviour because the only way to be certain that a change is occurring is to see it. This is quite different than Freud's theory because he believed that the behaviours that humans have cannot be altered. However, although our behaviours are believed to be set in stone, some things like routines and environments can change our reactions and perspectives. 
    • Emilie L
       
      'Because the study of behavior(ism) relies on the things we do visually (thus observable behavior). Like the text mentions, its an external and measurable study, instead of "average" physcology which is passed off on internal oberservaton (thoughts). It's different because Freudian theory suggest that everything is done mentally: our decisions, reactions. Happens through the brain; behaviorism suggests that we can study something that is said to be in our minds, based off of our actions (externally)
Lauren Ganze

The Unexpected Link Between Schizophrenia and Creativity | Suite101.com - 0 views

  • Schizophrenia in itself is a maladaptive phenomenon
  • genes for paranoia encourage a healthy defensiveness in threatening environments
  • the only substantial research exploring a positive social benefit for psychosis has focused on creativity.
  • ...18 more annotations...
  • just the right degree of social strife to facilitate the splitting of overlarge groups in primitive societies
    • Lauren Ganze
       
      Creativity is definitely an advantage
  • Perhaps some of their executive problems, for example their problems with verbal fluency tests, can actually give rise to creativity?
  • general agreement that creativity involves the production of novel, useful products"
  • multi-trait, multi-method analyses
  • produce novel and quality ideas and products.
  • A schizophrenic's abnormal behaviour and communication styles may in fact lead to incredible and unique creativity,
  • over-inclusive thinking, would facilitate originality which, in optimum circumstances, would lead to creativity.
  • Nancy Andreasen (2006) and Kay Redfield Jamison (1994) have done, finding high levels of mood disturbance and disorder in their samples of creative writers and artists, supporting this link between psychosis and creativity
  • claims to link genius with madness.
  • DARPP-32
  • Three quarters of all people inherit a version of this gene; it then enhances the brain’s ability to think by improving the information processing in the prefrontal cortex.
  • his gene also shapes and controls the nerve circuit closely involved with schizophrenia, hence the connection between genius and madness.
  • This also suggests that schizophrenia may be the downside to an evolutionary change that improved our chances of survival and our fitness, by improving our intelligence and creativity.
  • He found that first-degree relatives of psychotic patients are found to be more successful in attaining recognition in several fields of intellectual endeavour than the general population of the area in which he studied: Iceland. He also found that the fields in which they attained recognition were areas of creative and scholarly excellence.
  • It could be perhaps that although psychosis can cause enhanced creativity, the patient is too inhibited by their condition to use it to their advantage.
  • The importance of creativity for mankind is undeniable
  • Meyer-Lindenberg and colleagues in the NIMH Genes, Cognition and Psychosis program
  •  
    link between schizophrenia and creativity - may be evolutionary
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