If you happen to be interested in looking at the original studies of what we have been learning over the years (for instance, when something is unclear in the summaries), here are links to some of them:
Biological level of analysis H.M. (Corkin 1997) - One of the many case studies of H.M. Caspi (2003) Fessler & Navarette (2003) - An evolutionary study of disgust. Sent to me by Nicky Cognitive level of analysis Loftus and Pickrell (1995) - Lost in the mall experiment Sociocultural level of analysis Yuki (2003) - Abstract Cialdini (1976) "Football supporters study" Bandura (1961) Human relationships Cohen and Nisbett (cultural norms of violence study) - given to me by Nicky Abnormal psychology Chiao and Blizinsky (2009) - The correlational study of the relationship between individualism-collectivism and the 5-htt Serotonin transporter gene - given to me by Ling
0 Comments
Chaya has recommended me several articles over the year. Here is one of them. It is about The Wizard Project. Scientists are studying "wizards", people who are very good at spotting liars (they have at least about 80 % accuracy) in order to improve the understanding of lying:
Article about the wizard project If you are interested in lying, there is a brand new BBC documentary series called the human face that deals with the topic in the fourth episode: The human face - secrets and lies The first episode may be of interest when you are revising the interaction of cognitive and biological factors of emotion. It also features a part with John Gottman and his research on how facial expressions reflect problems in marriage. It is called: The human face - here´s looking at you The series are presented by John Cleese Another interesting source that I found today is open university. The web site has a lot of sources on memory, bystander intervention, and emotion Open university on eyewitnesses Open university on emotion I have been wanting to write this post since Autumn last year, but I lacked a forum to air my thoughts until now. I may have told you about the American University graduate who wrote the world´s probably longest suicide note (1.904 pages), relating to everything from nihilism, to religion and history in September last year.
A few months later, in Sendai, Japan, a 24 year old man hanged himself live on a video streaming site: Man broadcasts own suicide live on video streaming site Unfortunately there may be a possible link between the Japanese suicide and a Swedish suicide one month earlier. The 11th of October a 21 year old man committed suicide live on a Swedish forum by hanging himself. The Japanese event may therefore be an phenomenon called copycat suicide. It was first observed in the early 1800s when many young men are believed to have killed themselves after reading the book "The Sorrows of Young Werther" by Goethe, a book about man who shoots himself after a romantic rejection. Copycat suicide often occurs after a celebrity commits suicide or dies, the latest occurrence was after Michael Jackson died. Other types of suicides are mass suicides, where a group of people kill themselves for the same reason, or suicide pacts, where 2 or more people make a pact to kill themselves at the same time. Copycat suicides, mass suicides, and suicide pacts can be explained by social factors, such as social learning theory (imitation) and group pressure. As with all psychological phenomena, there may however also be other factors at play. An interesting factor of all the examples I just mentioned is that they occurred during Autumn, a fairly dark season for the northern hemisphere. It may also be noticed that all the suicides mentioned were committed by men. Men are also more likely to commit successful suicides. It is interesting that men are more likely to commit successful suicides, while more women than men are treated for depression. Depression is often mentioned as one of the main causes of suicide. It is therefore likely that many men go untreated for depression, maybe because of cultural norms, or maybe because men often have more difficulties in communicating their emotions than women. In the case of Michell Heisman, the man who left that 1.904 pages suicide note, it may have been a "philosophical" suicide. With this I mean that a person commits suicide out of the belief that it is the best thing to do. Our belief is therefore an additional cognitive factor of suicide, which of course may affect our emotion and view of life. It is however interesting to note that Mitchell Heisman was diagnosed with a mild form of Autism (Asperger´s syndrome) and I happen to know that the same was the cases of the Swedish internet suicide and the 13 year old boy who committed suicide after being bullied by a group of girls (which we watched recently in class). I lack supporting research for my speculations, but there well be that autism is a factor that is also related to suicide. If my speculations turn out to be correct, an additional question arises. If mildly autistic individuals are at risk for suicide, is it because of alienation or because of their social difficulties? Suicide, by the way is considered to be an act of violence according to the WHO, as it physically and psychologically harms others (besides the suicide also relatives and friends). This article is interesting, but you may not be able to use it for your essays, because you are focusing on bullying in school environments. The article is about 19 year old girl who committed suicide after being bullied by male coworkers in a café in Victoria, Australia. The bullies were fined with 115.000 Australian dollars and the government have now changed the law for bullying at the workplace. Under the new laws, workplace bullies can be imprisoned for up to 10 years. You may mention legislation and holding bullies accountable as an alternate way of reducing any type of violence, even in the schools. The problem with violence in schools, however, is that the bullies often are too young to be charged with an offense.
Girl's suicide prompts laws on bullying A long time ago Nida recommended this article. I think it is a useful example to use both in essays on bullying and the bystander effect. It is about a 13 year old boy who was attacked of a gang of teenagers and despite that there were several bystanders, no one intervened. In fact, bullying often occurs even though there are bystanders around, so if one finds a way to hold bystanders accountable and socially responsible, bullying can be reduced. This article also relates to cultural norms of violence. There seems to be a tendency of some adolescent youth gangs in poor areas of many big American cities to glorify violence and act anti-socially.
13-year-old-nadin-khoury-violently-attacked-by-teen-wolf-pack |
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
August 2015
Categories
All
|