An amazing video from a TEDx conference at Imperial. Sophie Scott, a cognitive neuroscientist from UCL tackles the issues of laughter as a social stimulus, cultural bridge and contagious bodily function! Incredibly interesting and hilarious, check it out - it'll take 13 mins of your time and you'll learn a lot :)
28/04/2012
Sophie Scott - Laughter: Love, Joy and Language
An amazing video from a TEDx conference at Imperial. Sophie Scott, a cognitive neuroscientist from UCL tackles the issues of laughter as a social stimulus, cultural bridge and contagious bodily function! Incredibly interesting and hilarious, check it out - it'll take 13 mins of your time and you'll learn a lot :)
19/04/2012
Love this :)
Great example of using modern methods in education and psychology. If the 'young generation' are so hooked on technology, become their true selves online, and tweet and re-tweet what they really want to say - why not exploit that to the benefit of educational and scientific progression?
Dr Maria Kontogianni is a lecturer in psychology at the Nottingham Trent University - she has a particular interest in using social media to engage her students - exploring the psychology of teaching psychology :)
And how did I hear about it? A new email arrived in my online inbox, a link to the BPS's online research digest, which had links to various online sources of psychological interest. Sure the online ether can be dangerous, revealing too much about yourself is foolish, and it is definitely addictive - but hey, it's not just the future, it's the present - and maybe it can be that brave new world everyone talks of?
p.s it involves a tweeting cat involved in a conspiracy theory. CHECK THIS OUT.
17/04/2012
The Politics of Male Psychology
Interesting article on the BPS website showing a link, yet again, between psychology and politics - this time with regards to upper body strength in males.
14/04/2012
Childhood - changing for the worse?
You can fill a child's life up with 'playdates', the latest toys and trips to zoos, museums and activity programmes...but as the trends in raising children shift towards 'tiger parenting' and cushioning every fall, do children get the chance to learn to be truly self-reliant, contemplative and inquisitive?
The consumerist society we are surrounded by dictates that 'good' parents will buy the latest games console, the biggest plastic play-castle or the doll able to simulate the most bodily functions (seriously, ew!) But are the best toys not those that need imagination to give them shape? A plastic playset is just a plastic playset...but an old table cloth sets the scene for sledging for toys, dressing up, tea parties, tents and hide and seek.
Should children be organised, endlessly social and infinitely stimulated creatures? Or should they learn to find happiness in the little things, enjoy the natural world and learn to love themselves over their toys?
The BBC, the National Trust and Ribena all have a say on the matter - what are your thoughts?
13/04/2012
12/04/2012
Dead trees to the rescue?
I've blogged about global warming and enviropsychology before, but here's some fantastic new research. French psychologist Nicolas Gueguen has shown that the presence of dead plants increases people belief and awareness of global warming.
60 Participants were asked to fill out a current affairs questionnaire, which included four questions questioning the validity or evidence of global warming. The questionnaires were identical, as were the rooms - apart from one big difference. Half the participants were in the presence of a luscious green small tree, the others were joined by a convincingly dead version of the same plant. A follow up control study was later conducted, in which no tree was present in the room.
The result? Those with a live tree in the room exhibited no difference to the control study, but those with the dead plant showed significantly more belief in global warming.
It should be noted that no participant realised the aim of the study. Gueguen has concluded that perhaps the sight of a dead tree triggered subconscious thoughts of conditions linked to global warming - such as extreme weather, drought and famine.
The implications? Its been suggested that dead trees could be placed in public toilets to attempt to reduce water consumption...and that a picture of a dead tree could be used in awareness-raising environmental campaigns.
Could it not be rolled out everywhere? Would dead trees not encourage recycling if pasted onto the side of rubbish-bins, could they not help prevent litter if plastered onto telegraph poles...could they reduce petrol-wasting driving if hanging from the rear-view mirror?
It might sound laughable. It might sound sinister or childish. But if the consciousness of a country can't make a big enough change, then is it not time to tap into the subconscious?
Psychology once again showing the versatility, wide-ranging relevance and forward-thinking tendencies that make it a truly modern science!
11/04/2012
Just stumbled across this site, haven't had much chance to check it out yet - but seems like an awesome current affairs hub with a psychological angle, made by a group of PHD students. :) http://theanchor.ie/
09/04/2012
Check out my article about educational segregation on The Periodical, a brilliant new style of blog created and filled by young people: http://theperiodical.info/2012/04/09/the-monster-in-the-milk-cartons-the-growing-issue-of-educational-segregation/
08/04/2012
Epigenetics - taking genetics one step further...
Epigenetics is the study of changes in DNA and gene expression which can be passed between generations but are not caused by the DNA sequence- i.e our outside environment can effect the histone proteins and non-DNA structure of our genome, causing differences in genetic expression which could affect our children too.
This is a very new and comparatively unexplored area of biology and genetic study, but one that could influence all of science in the future.
It certainly shakes up the psychologists' old nature/nurture debate!
Courtesy of the University of Utah Genetic Science Learning Centre - the coolest site ever - incredibly informative, complete with the chance to 'lick a baby rat', virtually change the epigenome of a fluorescing cell, and watch videos on the basics, twin-studies and effects on the brain. An absolute must-see for scientists, psychologists and students wanting worthy procrastination!
03/04/2012
02/04/2012
World Autism Awareness Day
Today, the 2nd April, is World Autism Awareness Day.
Maybe you already knew that Autism is a Spectrum Condition, characterised by a 'triad of impairments':
- Difficulty with social communication
- Difficulty with social interaction
- Difficulty with social imagination;
Maybe you already knew that around 88,000 school aged children in the UK have been diagnosed with ASD (autistic spectrum disorder) and that the vast majority attend mainstream schools;
Maybe you know, or work with, or are someone on the autistic spectrum;
Today is World Autism Awareness Day, as established by resolution 62/139 of the United Nations on December 18th 2007. The aim? Simply to raise awareness, to raise the profile of a developmental disorder which could go un-noticed, under-appreciated and un-provided-for. The aim is also to encourage early diagnosis and early intervention.
Today I'll set you a challenge. Turn those 'maybe's into 'yes's. Spread the awareness - turn your facebook blue, find out a little more about the work of heroes in the area such as Uta Frith and Simon Baron-Cohen...or simply be a little more aware of autism.
Check out The Independent's Autism day supplement: http://np.netpublicator.com/netpublication/n72246359
Read up on the National Autistic Society website: http://www.autism.org.uk/about-autism/autism-and-asperger-syndrome-an-introduction/what-is-autism.aspx
Or visit the site for the awareness day: http://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism/world-autism-awareness-day/world-autism-awareness-day-materials
to find out more.
01/04/2012
The 'Petrol Panic' - playing with our psychology?
The last couple of weeks have seen considerable worry about the possibility of approaching fuel tanker strikes. Organised by the trade union Unite, the strike is over disputed issues on safety and 'terms and conditions'. While the media is full to to the brim with hyperbole and hysteria one BBC article answers the factual issues at hand.
But the problem here is not the strike at all. A shortage of petrol would indeed be incredibly inconvenient and in some cases unpleasant, but contingency plans lie in place both to provide petrol to those members of society fulfilling roles in vital services, and even to intensively train the army and navy to take the place of striking tanker drivers. So why the worry?
Psychologeek has been exceedingly careful to avoid words such as 'crisis', 'panic' and 'insanity'. The problem is, the media have widely adopted these words. Psychologeek searched the web for articles to use as an example and found almost every source began with 'strikes have sparked panic buying this week'. This article is especially extreme, repeatedly including 'madness', 'chaos' and the need to bring back 'sanity'. But where did such extreme reactions come from?
There is much debate on the place of the government in inciting such worry. They have been accused of sending mixed messages, and in the case of Francis Maude even of directly encouraging the use of jerry-cans to collect and store extra fuel.
By using words such as 'panic' and 'madness', an image of collective and crowd degradation of sanity is formed. Crowd psychologist John Drury explores use of such phrases here. The explanation so often used in the media is the loss of sanity and clear thought, and the beginning of 'deindividuation' that takes place in crowds and collective situations, causing a loss of individual rationality. But research has moved on from Le Bon's theories. As John Drury talked of in his article, and as Dr Cliff Stott speaks of on the BBC news, deindividuation is no longer at the forefront of crowd psychology. It has been replaced by Cliff Stott and Stephen Reicher's Elaborated Social Identity Model. The model outlines not a loss of individuality, but a merging of separate identities, without a loss of rationality. The model also leads to thoughts that perhaps sometimes police, and here government and media, behaviour can lead to 'panic' and rioting.
What the psychologists are now saying is that in the 'petrol panic' case unrolling currently, people are acting very much selfishly and indeed, therefore, individually. They are also acting logically as they realise they need petrol to go about their daily lives.
The problem at hand is not really the petrol strike. It is unclear whether it will even happen, and will surely pass without too much of a hitch to our smooth-running society. (perhaps, charmingly the solution lies in the problem). The real issue here is inconsistency in government advice and as seen so often, new psychological advances being ignored in favour of the sensationalist approaches that can be taken with outdated, disproved theories.
Don't panic over petrol. Stop and think, just for a minute, who is playing with your psychology?
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