This is a technique that you may try out if you want to. It is called anchoring and is used within neurolinguistic programming. I am not sure how well it works, but it should work in theory. The basic principle behind it is to learn to associate a certain mood or emotion with a word, a gesture, a phrase or piece of music. It is the same principle as when a song or movie can trigger a pleasant or unpleasant memory.
It can be useful if you want to get out off or into a certain emotion or mood at an instant. You start by choosing the emotion and a suitable anchor. An anchor could be a body gesture, a phrase, a word or just about anything that is unique, thus more memorable. Now imagine the emotion or experiences related to the emotion as visually or intensely as you can. When you are feeling this emotion as strongly as you can, do the body gesture or call out the phrase. You may need to repeat a few times if you want the anchor to be fixed. In theory, you should be able to go into that intense emotion, every time you do the anchor. Derren Brown used this technique, among others, when he manipulated a group of people to commit an armed robbery. He set them in an intense mood of aggressiveness and risktaking, while playing the song "can you feel it?". He then played the song while the each person walked passed a truck that a guard was just loading up with money. Because the song set them in the mood of stealing, they robbed the truck (there were many other factors Derren Brown had manipulated as well). I don't want you to start robbing trucks or make other people rob trucks. But it may be useful if you create an anchor to set you in the right mood for a presentation, a job interview, or an exam. If you try it, feel free to tell me if it worked.
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Recently there was an honor killing in Sweden and I therefore want to comment on this type of murder. It relates to one sociocultural explanation of violence, which is culture of honor. Many cultures have or have had a culture of honor, but in some they are now extinct. You can also find a culture of honor in criminal gangs, where reputation and taking revenge for a member of the group is important.
A honor killing is about a family member bringing shame to the family. It could be a daughter that is sexually active before marriage or refusing an arranged marriage. Because of the honor of the family is at stake, they have the duty to kill her. Sometimes the murder includes torture. It is important to point out that honor killings exist among many different ethnic groups, and that not everyone within an ethnic group support honor killings. Educated people from an ethnic group that support honor killing are less prone for the action. Girls prefer to play with dolls and boys with cars very early on in life. One British study showed this bias existed when children were between one and three years old.
Boys prefer cars very early on Socialisation is of course important, but I also know of another study, where girls that were born with an overproduction of testosterone also were more likely to prefer to play with cars compared with girls with normal levels of testosterone. An explanation put forward by one of the recent researchers is evolutionary. Girls prefer to play with dolls because they have a nurturing tendency. The reason why they prefer pink is because it is the usual color of a newborn baby (a bit far-fetched, don´t you think). Boys prefer moving objects because they have a hunting instinct. As usual this is only a hypothesis. Have I ever told you that teenagers brains differ from adult brains? It is believed that the brain is not fully mature until the age of 25, especially in the frontal cortex. This make it more difficult for young people to plan ahead, to make rational decisions, and keep their focus.
I am a bit skeptical about this type of research, because I know that many teenagers can be very mature, as there can be adults over 25 that can be very immature. However, there are differences in brain anatomy between adults and teenagers. One difference is that teenagers have more grey matter than adults. It is in the grey matter where most of the brain processing takes place. It is not always best to have too much grey matter, because it means that there can be many confusing and unnecessary connections between neurons, which slows down the processing. Adults have less grey matter because their neurons have learned which connections that are important. Unnecessary neural pathways have been shut down. It is my speculation that this may be the reason why adults often are more effective at many tasks than the younger generation but on the other hand may be more conservative and less open for new ideas. Young people are on the other hand more liberal and open for new ideas, but their oversized grey matter may make them unfocused and slow during information processing. On the other hand, if one has more grey matter, one also has potential for great ability. One only has to learn to use it wisely. Here is a documentary by PBS on the teenage brain: Inside the teenage brain Did you know that researchers have found that there are neurons that can be specialized on one thing only, such as that it only activates when shown pictures of specific individuals, such as Jennifer Aniston, Halle Berry or Julia Roberts?
Why your brain has a Jennifer Aniston cell One problem of evolutionary explanations of psychology is that it is difficult for them to explain behaviors that are fairly recent in our history, such as reading. The ability of reading is problematic, as there are neural systems in the brain that are specialized on reading, yet the ability that has only existed for a few thousand years that it cannot have evolved. For example, the brain has an area that is specialized on recognizing words and letters.
There are of course many possible explanations, such as the plasticity of our brain or that evolution can occur faster than previously thought, but an alternative theory by the neurologist Stanislas Dehaene is that reading uses an old visual system that has been developed through evolution. It is believed that this old visual system previously specialized on recognizing natural shapes in the nature (this has been found after research on macaque monkeys). For instance, a tree has an I- or Y-shape, a snake an S-shape, an eye an O-shape, a valley a V-shape, etcetera. These natural shapes then formed the basis of ancient alphabets, which is the reason why alphabets from different languages share some features. It has long been believed that exercise creates a pleasant experience because of release the endorphine hormone. There has however long been a problem with the hypothesis, because the endorphine molecules that are released into the bloodstream during exercise are too big to pass the brain-blood barrier and act the neurons. Now it has been discovered that there are areas in the brain that release endorphins during exercise. These molecules then bind to the receptor cells in the brain, creating positive and pleasant effects. The release centres are in the cortex and insula. Encan reduce depression and chronic pain, and increase concentration and memory. It is believed that the release of endorphins during exercise has had an evolutionary function. This is because the hunting techniques of our ancestors demanded constant movement.
I recently read a Swedish article on the psychology of beauty. Here are some findings:
-Beauty activates the brain´s reward system -Some features of beauty are universal. These are symmetry, a healthy looking hair and complexion. -Men are perceived as more attractive the more female admirers they have -Women with childish features (baby faced) are perceived as more attractive -Men with faces that are more attractive for women have a better immune system -Women prefer different male faces depending on their menstruation cycle. When they are most fertile during their menstruation cycle they prefer masculine looking faces but they prefer feminine looking faces at other times -Men generally prefer faces with feminine features and women faces with masculine features (but I also believe that faces with feminine features are perceived as most beautiful) -We used to believe that the most average looking face is the most beautiful. Now there are indications that the most beautiful faces have distinguished features. (Many of those features, however, I personally believe are cultural) -Attractive people are positively discriminated -The golden ratio, a type of proportion that often is used in art and architecture (a line divided in two parts a and b is considered to have a golden ratio if the ratio of a to b is the same as a to the length of a+b), has been shown to be biologically more pleasing than other proportions Did you know that if you exercise your muscles, they will produce a hormone (IL-6) that acts anti-inflammatory. Indirectly, therefore, too little exercise can lead to dementia and depression. It works in the following way. If too little IL-6 is produced, the body tissue can become inflamed. Because of the inflamed body tissue, more TNF-alpha is produced to counter the inflammation. However, because of an increased concentration of TNF-alpha in the blood, the body becomes less sensitive to insuline. This insuline resistance can lead to an over-production of insuline, which leads to less production of the substance BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factor). BDNF is very important for brain plasticity and neuronal growth. Besides IL-6, the muscles are also producing BDNF. So it seems that the enlightenment philosophers were right, a healthy mind is in a healthy body. The classical philosophers were aware of this as well.
This is another article I read in Scientific American:
Turbocharging the brain - pills to make you smarter? It discusses the new type of drugs that may enhance mental performance. The problem with these drugs is that for the weakest sort there is little effect (and possibly placebo) whereas it for the strongest sort has potential side effects, such as addiction, longterm damage to the brain and increased blood pressure. Many of the cognitive enhancers of today are also just modifications of earlier drugs (such as Ritalin, which is used for ADHD and has amphetamine in it). Caffeine shows similar effects as some of the cognitive enhancers. For now, one has to be aware of that there is no such thing as a drug without side effects (though they can be minimal) and if there are no side effects, there is usually no effect as well. |
AuthorThis is my class blog for IB Psychology. Here I will publish reflections on psychology, reviews of psychology books, recommended links, lecture notes, and information on psychology topics that are not covered by the syllabus. You are free to add comments or ask me questions. Archives
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