The "Nasty Effect" is an actual scientific term! What is this strange phenomenon currently being investigated by social scientists? Basically it is how...
"incivility on the Internet can have negative influences on individuals. If reading online incivility can incite negative feelings of hatred, negative attitudes towards a topic, and a reduction of source credibility, it is likely that it may also incite negative risk perceptions..."
This phenomenon has influenced many internet news sites to shut of the comment section of their websites completely, without notice. Only one, Popular Science, explained why they were turning off their comments.
Anderson, A. A., Brossard, D., Scheufele, D. A., Xenos, M. A. and Ladwig, P. (2013), The “Nasty Effect:” Online Incivility and Risk Perceptions of Emerging Technologies. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. doi: 10.1111/jcc4.12009
Paper forthcoming in Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
Even Cracked.com discusses this behavior in David Wong's article, 5 Changing Perspectives That Show You Are Becoming An Adult
The more polarizing and devastating commentary lately in the news and online really has me depressed right now. Trying my hardest to stay positive and live with gratitude.
Last week my social psychology classes were going over persuasion. Which was pretty funny as I was also watching the entire Breaking Bad series as a marathon with my husband. Awesome series btw ;) Since "everyone" has been talking about it the last few weeks my Honeybunny and I have been avoiding any news about it lest the series finale be spoiled for us. I did happen to read an NPR post discussing how use of the Kuleshov Effect was purposefully and liberally used throughout the series to make the audience continue to care about Walter White, even throughout his slippery sloping slide from fairly normal person to a truly despicable human being.
We've finally watched the entire season! The finale did not disappoint! Not going to discuss the ending in case anyone is doing the same thing we did and haven't reached the end yet :)
I do wonder if my students have picked up on any of the other ways that the powers that be at Breaking Bad continued to make us care about Mr. White, there are many, not just the use of the Kuleshov Effect. I do think our culture of violence and individualism over collectivism also might contribute to this Breaking Bad phenomenon.
This last year (or this last decade, or century depending on how far you want to go) has been rife with debate, concern, outrage over surveillance and security. The headlines over the summer blasted us with stories specifically dealing with the trial of Bradley Manning over Wikileaks and the revelations about the NSA by whistleblower Edward Snowden. Well, I'm not going to get into all the questions, politics, and constitutionality of any of this. I honestly haven't figured out for myself how I feel or what I think about these specific topics.
BUT.... I did see this article about How Surveillance Changes Behavior
The article discusses some recent research dealing with surveillance monitoring software tracking theft and productivity in restaurants.
The impact, the researchers say, came not from firing workers engaged in theft, but mostly from their changed behavior. Knowing they were being monitored, the servers not only pulled back on any unethical practices, but also channeled their efforts into, say, prompting customers to have that dessert or a second beer, raising revenue for the restaurant and tips for themselves.
“The same people who are stealing from you can be set up to succeed,” said Mr. Pierce of Washington University.
As a business owner, specifically of an IT company, as well as a lifelong student and instructor of Social Psychology, I found these results extremely interesting.
I thought about observer effects and reactivity. Observer effects refer to changes that the act of observation will make on a phenomenon being observed. Reactivity occurs when individuals alter their performance or behavior due to the awareness that they are being observed.
I thought about how we are now constantly being monitored. Like ALL THE TIME! Cameras are every where. I suspect my students probably record parts of class on their phones, I don't know for sure, but I assume it's a possibility. I'm so damn transparent anymore I'm pretty sure I've reverted back to my three year old self, before I developed a theory of mind, and just assume everyone knows everything I know, so there is no sense in hiding anything. And I wonder, am I the only one that feels this way or has started to think this way?
Are we going to become so accustomed to constant observation that observer effects and reactivity no longer develop? Will this in turn completely change not only our expectations of privacy but the very definition of privacy? Now that has massive repercussions in our political, ethical, legal, industrial, and other aspects of our social worlds and world views.
ADDENDUM!
And right after I post this, I read another little article about why someone shouldn't post anything on facebook about their kids! Because of datamining and lack of privacy before you are even an adult. Interesting viewpoint, and one to definitely ponder!
Recent research suggests that rituals may be more rational than they appear. Why? Because even simple rituals can be extremely effective. Rituals performed after experiencing losses – from loved ones to lotteries – do alleviate grief, and rituals performed before high-pressure tasks – like singing in public – do in fact reduce anxiety and increase people’s confidence. What’s more, rituals appear to benefit even people who claim not to believe that rituals work. While anthropologists have documented rituals across cultures, this earlier research has been primarily observational. Recently, a series of investigations by psychologists have revealed intriguing new results demonstrating that rituals can have a causal impact on people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
The article then goes through discussing several experimental research studies dealing with ritual behaviors. Quite interesting!
The second one was about how rituals actually make food taste better! It briefly describes a recent study that revealed this effect. They also discovered that personal involvement in a ritual was a necessary component. Observing someone else's ritual did not affect the taste, only when performing a ritual themselves did they perceive the food or drink tasting better.
Rituals provide comfort in a confusing world, a semblance of order amid chaos. Shared rituals amplify these feelings of comfort. When an individual performs a simple private ritual, they feel some relief from anxiety, when an entire group perform a shared ritual, the resulting relief is amplified throughout a community, maybe even further, because emotions can spread like a wildfire or contagion.
The bottom line, rituals make us feel better.
For example, when I was diagnosed with MS and started taking Copaxone (a daily injection), I started making a ritual out of my "injection time". I did this for several reasons: 1) to reduce my anxiety at having to give myself a shot while I'm afraid of needles. 2) to make sure that I did it everyday (my past record of remembering a daily medication can be proved by my second born child, lol). 3) to reduce the chances of being interrupted. and 4) to give myself a sense of control over a disease that has no known cure and no real predictable course (relapse can happen at any time and manifest in any form that has to do with the central nervous system).
Many treasured memories center around family rituals. Rituals help us identify who we are both as an individual and as a family; they provide something constant, stable, and secure in a confusing world; they help us make life cycle transitions; and they help us come together
during times of crisis. Rituals also help to create an awareness of our connection with our ancestors and those who will follow after us. Rituals can range from eating meals together on a regular basis, to attending football games, or sitting with family and friends at a large Thanksgiving dinner. According to Harrar (2003, p. 28), family rituals make people “feel happier, better loved, and more strongly a part of families.”
The brief fact sheet continues on to briefly overview the six stages of the family life cycle and the rituals common for each one.
Of course, there is also a dark side of ritual, when it become debilitating rather than helpful. This is most often seen in OCD and Schizophrenia type disorders. Here's a short video about OCD and Religion that's pretty interesting, from 2002 (in other words a younger Dr. Sapolsky, as he's a bit older in the video series I reference further down.
To understand more about this, I saw a series of lectures on Human Behavioral Biology, including topics such as Language, Schizophrenia, and Individual Differences by Dr. Robert Sapolsky from Stanford University on Youtube. Extremely insightful!
Here's a link to a full
25-lecture Course: Human Behavioral Biology (Stanford BIO 250)
This is a biology course presented by Stanford University. It covers how to approach complex normal and abnormal behaviors through biology. How to integrate disciplines including sociobiology, ethology, neuroscience, and endocrinology to examine behaviors such as aggression, sexual behavior, language use, and mental illness.
The course is taught by Robert Sapolsky. Sapolsky is a Professor of Biology, Neurosurgery, Neurology & Neurological Sciences at Stanford University.
Experts say there is a right way and a wrong way to talk with people. Psychologist Bernardo Carducci, director of the Shyness Research Institute at Indiana University Southeast and Judith Glaser, CEO of Benchmark Communications and author of "Conversational Intelligence: How Great Leaders Build Trust and get Extraordinary Results," discusses how to learn the appropriate skills.
Of course, I found this following bit, about how Facebook can make us sad and unsatisfied, on my Facebook newsfeed. How's that for irony, lol ;)
And according to Dr Glaser, in the above news segment, Facebook is fine for a part of your daily dose of conversation, however it should absolutely NOT be your only source of conversation. Because apparently,
Facebook Makes Us Sadder And Less Satisfied, Study Finds
Yeah yeah, this all ties into the idea that upward social comparison is not a good thing, but downward social comparison can make for a boost in the the whole, "ya know, my life's not that bad" boost towards contentment.
Excellent visualization of discourse, minus listening. (cartoon by Joel Pett)
I got the following from my daughter's speech class notes. I think everyone should take the time to learn HOW TO LISTEN!!!
TYPES OF NON-LISTENING:
Pseudo-listening – Pretending to listen and being interested, but really paying attention to something else. This is literally defined as “False” listening. Pseudo means “false”. This is the type of non-listening that your father engaged in when he was watching sports and your mother wanted his attention.
Stage hogging – Happens often when people are telling stories. This listener waits for someone to finish, so you can tell a better story. These non-listeners use your story as a spring board or a transition to their more interesting story. Think “One-ups-man-ship.” You think YOURS is bad listen to this. When I was doing that, this happened and that is way worse than your story. We’ve all seen the guy at the keg party who stands close to the keg and one-ups everyone.
Selective listening – Listening only to the things that you want to hear Insulated listening – Avoiding hearing anything associated with certain topics
Defensive listening – Take innocent comments and turn them into attacks/turn words around. Person listens for weaknesses in your arguments
Ambushing – Collect information they're going to use against you later (cross-exam)
Insensitive listening – These listeners won't look beyond the most obvious content to what people are saying--selfish listeners--say it like I want to hear it.
A FEW KEY ACTIVE LISTENING SKILLS:
Empathizing: Acknowledges the content & legitimacy of a speaker's perceptions.
Talk Less – It is impossible to hear someone else out and simultaneously talk. If both your mouth and your ears are open your listening to yourself not the other person.
Don't Jump to Conclusions--Hear the Person Out. Often when you jump to a conclusion you conclude incorrectly.
Look for Key Ideas – What's the main thing the person is trying to say?
Avoid – Don’t do these things and you’ll promote more active listening:
Deny others the right to their feelings minimize significance of feelings/thoughts
offer unrequested advice
pass judgment on a speaker
rain on speaker's parade
Get Rid of Distractions – Both of those earbuds come out. That phone has an off button. The remote control pauses live TV. People feel valued when you pay attention to them.
How do we learn to embrace our vulnerabilities and imperfections so that we can engage in our lives from a place of authenticity and worthiness? How do we cultivate the courage, compassion, and connection that we need to recognize that we are enough – that we are worthy of love, belonging, and joy?
There comes that day in everyone's life (at least if they have survived long enough :P) that they say "Is it me? Am I getting old or are teenagers getting dumber?" To that person, I must say CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! You have survived the teen and young adult years to become a "Grown Up"!!!
I truly do not mean to say this lightly. I have too many friends that did not live long to become a Grown Up.
That is because during the teenage and young adult years (I'd say between the ages of 12 to 25 on average for both males and females and YES I am making a generalization) we really truly believed that we were invincible. That we knew EVERYTHING! And that "Grown Ups" were beyond stupid. It is when we "grow up" that we discover we aren't near as smart as we think we are, that there is a whole hell of a lot out there in the world that we don't know. It is when we have learned that we are not invincible and neither is the person next to you. It of course is all about perspective and life experience. I can tell you right now, I NEVER really knew what fear was, until the day I took my oldest child home for the first time. The reality of the fact that from that day forward, I was completely and utterly responsible for the life and well being of another human being changed me forever.
I'm pretty sure I'm going to have knew insights, understanding, realizations, fears, and other lessons I cannot imagine right now in the future. Just like my children have grown up so far with vastly different experiences than I had growing up. I don't even want to think about what kind of experiences my possible future grandchildren will have. Anyway, back to that very very special time in our lives when we transform from child to grown up. There has been a great deal of research lately on understanding the teenage brain, and I would like to share some of that with you. As I now have TWO teen-aged daughters that are changing before my eyes, both physically and mentally, it's been something relevant for me to actively go out and research.
The first is a National Geographic Feature Article called Beautiful Brains.
Moody. Impulsive. Maddening. Why do teenagers act the way they do? Viewed through the eyes of evolution, their most exasperating traits may be the key to success as adults.
One part of the article briefly covers some of the National Institutes of Health project where they did the first full series of brain scans of over a 100 teenagers in the 1990s that showed that the human brain goes through massive reorganization between the ages of, you guessed it, the 12th to 25th years of development. The article is pretty fascinating and I like the way they frame the question away from "what's wrong with teenagers" to "what a unique, highly functional, even adaptive period of life."
Another Article from NPR about Teenage Brains describes a study where teens and adults play a game, getting points for correctly answering questions about the motions of dots on a screen. When there were a lot of points at stake, teens actually spent more time studying the dots and showed more brain activity in areas involved in making decisions than the adults. According to the researchers "Instead of acting impulsively, the teens are making sure they get i right."
Furthermore, there is research going on in Cambridge University to understand brain and mental development. "The subjects undergo tests that assess their propensity toward impulsive and risk-taking behavior. The expectation is that the emergence of more sensible behavior will correlate with changes in the wiring of the brain's white matter. This comparison will enable researchers to directly associate the shape of the wiring with behavior patterns that all adults have gone through."
There is actually a Frontline episode "Inside the Teenage Brian" The episode website has the full program available to view online, as well as advice and online activities for parents, more overviews of recent research including an interactive illustration of the brain, and a very interesting discussion on the challenges of applying brain research to parenting and public policy. A very cool and interesting interactive website about the brain! How awesome is that!? I'm going to go play around there some more now. (That's another thing about getting older, the more "grown up" you get, the more distracted you get. Go figure.)
"Social psychologists describe this change as a consequence of a gradual shifting from promotion motivation -- seeing our goals in terms of what we can gain, or how we can end up better off, to prevention motivation -- seeing our goals in terms of avoiding loss and keeping things running smoothly. Everyone, of course, has both motivations. But the relative amounts of each differ from person to person, and can shift with experience as we age."
Why do teenagers seem so much more impulsive, so much less self-aware than grown-ups? Cognitive neuroscientist Sarah-Jayne Blakemore compares the prefrontal cortex in adolescents to that of adults, to show us how typically “teenage” behavior is caused by the growing and developing brain. Sarah-Jayne Blakemore studies the social brain -- the network of brain regions involved in understanding other people -- and how it develops in adolescents.
Yes, yes, I know, ANOTHER Cracked.com article for you all to look over at your convenience. I was just working on some potential discussion posts for the online course I'm creating (of course also hoping it gets through the approval process, etc. etc. when I'm finished getting it together), and I had decided to share some links I found to the 1st season of Brain Games, when low and behold, this cracked.com article comes out! Talk about the universe telling me "hells to the yes, you need to share this information! People need to know it if they don't already!" Not only that, but there is an old song out there, Clint Eastwood by the Gorillaz, that my youngest has been listening to that also had the universe telling me I needed to talk about Reality and Perception ;)
Anyway, the article is "5 Mind-Blowing Ways your Senses Lie to You Every Day" --The are:
#5. Your Eyes Can Make You Hear Different Words
#4. Your Brain Erases Objects from Your Sight...While Your Driving
#3. Your Eyes Change the Way Food Tastes
#2. Your Brain Changes the Size of Objects Around You
#1. You Can Easily Forget Where Your Limbs Are
If you are interested in knowing more about the National Geographic series Brain Games, which is currently into season 2 (YAY!). Check out their website at http://braingames.nationalgeographic.com/
These videos present many experiments and tests that you can do while watching the show, and explain a lot of cognitive science and neuroscience research currently being investigated. We are social thinkers, and we do process information through attention, interpretation, judgment, and memory. And this is what influences just about everything that makes who we are and how we interact with others. I find it extremely fascinating how much these processes are actually wrong, but at the same time they work 'good enough' that we survive to live another day!
Episode 1: Pay Attention Designed to test your memory, the first episode presents viewers with a mock-up crime scene. In a New York park, a man is mugged in broad daylight. Test your Brain: You Won't Believe Your Eyes But can you describe the robbery seconds later? And will your description be the same as that of the person next to you? Discover how details often go missing, forcing the brain to 'make up' memories. So what you believe to be true could actually be
Episode 2: Perception You may not realise it, but our brains are being fooled all of the time - especially by Hollywood filmmakers. Experimental neuroscientist Beau Lotto guides you through the mind-bending world of optical illusions, showing you how our brains 'fill in' crucial information, enabling people to 'feel' with their eyes and 'see' with their ears.
Episode 3: Memory If you witnessed a crime, could you be sure you recognised the perpetrator? Our memories are surprisingly vulnerable, and our recollection of names, numbers and details can often be incorrect at the most crucial of moments. Former detective Greg Walsh reveals how what you believe to be true can often be alarmingly false.
Ok, today I went to a workshop to learn a bit more about creating an online course and today's workshop was specifically about "Content Interactions" which is basically, how can we get onlines students to engage with course content, other students, and the instructor.
One of the most common ways of course is to create and use 'activities' which often include games or simulations. Same thing. And one of the reasons why such activities have been successful is that we like games! How many hours have you 'wasted away' playing angry birds, xbox games, WOW, Star Wars online, or some other video game? Hell, how many of you have spent a lot of time and money at casinos playing poker or the slots? The skinny I learned today is ultimately we are addicted to problem solving. And "When we're playing games, we're not suffering."
I had shared on facebook a while back about a 4th grade teacher, John Hunter, who in order to teach his class about global conflict, he has created a game for them to play, "The World Peace Game". He was interviewed by CBS This Morning and he is also on Ted talks.
Well, in the workshop, I found out about another brilliant person, Jane McGonical, who was approached the World Bank Group "to create a game as a direct response to African demands – namely, universities’ request to develop ideas to engage students in real world problems and to develop capacities for creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Developing nations face steep challenges, and resources in these areas can be limited. These challenges demand the most robust and innovative of solutions.
EVOKE was also conceived as a crash-course in changing the world. It is a chance to showcase the kind of resourceful innovation and creative problem-solving that is happening today in sub-Saharan Africa and other developing regions, and to collectively imagine how the lessons from those scenarios can transfer, scale, and ultimately benefit the entire planet.
The World Bank Institute, the capacity-building arm of the World Bank, is a global connector of knowledge, learning and innovation for poverty reduction. One of its objectives is to create new platforms for learning, and knowledge exchanges to help practitioners construct their own development solutions and innovative approaches.
EVOKE is such a platform for open innovation. It is designed to support new ideas and collaboration, not to push existing solutions."
http://janemcgonigal.com/ (this is Jane's website, which includes videos from Teds talk, cnn, and others as well as information about her book "Reality is Broken" and more cool and awesome information)
Addendum:
A friend of mine sent me this link, very interesting addition to the conversation!
On facebook today, I first saw a Ted talks video by Dr. Jackson Katz on Violence & Silence. I found it extremely interesting in that Dr. Katz presents a "Bystander Approach" to violence prevention. I really like how he looks at the fundamental underlying language, how it's used, and (as I don't have a penis) a male perspective on the difference between sensitivity and leadership.
As I looked down the comments on the facebook link, one commenter (who disagreed with Dr. Katz's lecture) posted a link to another speaker's video on "Continuing distortions about intimate partner abuse." This speaker, Dr. Christina Hoff Sommers, points out how the misuse of statistical information (some even outright make believe numbers) that keeps getting used even after they have been shown to be untrue, has distorted our perception of abuse and in turn does a disservice to victims of violence.
Now, I honestly do not understand why the person who posted Dr. Sommers video seems to think that what she says negates anything that Dr. Katz says. To me, they both actually have a similar underlying message. Violence is a human problem, not necessarily specific to one gender. Also, misinformation, ignorance, and silence make the problem worse.
Also, both mention a documentary called "MissRepresentation." Now I must see it to find out what they are talking about.
Bottom line, in my humble opinion, go through out the day and try not to be an asshole to someone else. There's a start.
(If it's not clear, some of the social psychology topics that I see tying into this includes at a minimum: gender, aggression, ingroups & outgroups, social identity, institutional supports, leadership, social scripts, altered perceptions, self-censorship and the illusion of unanimity, conformative influence, informational influence, prejudice, bystander effects, confirmation bias, lying with statistics and research ethics)
I know I know, I can’t help myself. I was reading a few
articles again, and I found several that I thought might add to your
understanding or give a different perspective of some concepts that were in
chapter two, The Self in a Social World. One of those concepts was “possible selves” (images of what we dream of or dread becoming in the future). I thought this
article was interesting because it is about some research that was done on how
we actually view our ‘future selves’ as different people. On a neurological
level even!
Chapter three discussed mental heuristics (a thinking strategy that enables quick, efficient judgments). I found this
little about a book that came out fairly recently (2010) about how we can
override these mental shortcuts.
Chapter
three also discussed self-handicapping (protecting one's self-image with behaviors that create a handy excuse for later failure). Here’s a little article about it.
There are many wonderfully humorous articles on the Cracked.com website. I have found a few that really really apply to social psychology. First let me say that yes, I am fully cognizant of the fact that Cracked.com is primarily humor based blogs with occasional adult only content. Now you know too, so don't complain if you see something adult oriented.
The first article I want to share with everyone is “5
Scientific Ways the Internet is Dividing Us” http://www.cracked.com/article_19860_5-scientific-ways-internet-dividing-us.html This particular little gem provides some intriguing and critical information, evaluation and dialogue about the nepharious ways group polarization is being pushed to the extreme. Please read the entire article to get the lowdown dirty details. But for those that can't wait here's the list: #5 New algorithms that make sure you only talk to people you agree with #4 New methods to make misinformation spread faster #3 User-submitted news sites that create thought bubbles #2 Discussion formats that encourage us to be negative #1 The divisive gap between internet users and everyone else If that doesn't wet your appetite to actually read the article there's no damn hope. The second article I wanted to share with everyone is "The 6 cruelest science experiments ever done were done on kids"
http://www.cracked.com/article_19993_the-6-cruelest-science-experiments-ever-were-done-kids.html This article provides an interesting perspective on some very classic well known studies many of which are from the field of psychology. I will be honest here. I've known about most of these for a very long time. It never occured to me that they could be considered cruel in any way. This article gave me something to think about for sure. I always learn a bit more when I try to look at things from someone else's perspective. Please read the article and see what you think. I bet most of you have heard of at least a few of these studies. Here's the list to get you going: #6 Put kids in the wilderness, make them go to war #5 Programming kids for violence, then turning them loose on a clown #4 The broken toy experiment #3 Tempting babies to crawl off a cliff #2 Using orphans as practice babies #1 Turning a ruined penis into a lifelong experiment
As the cell phone turns 40 years old, you might think that the
technology has brought people closer together, but new research shows it can
leave us feeling disconnected. Barbara Fredrickson, professor of psychology at
the University of North Carolina, Nick Bilton, technology columnist at the New
York Times, and Sherry Turkle, a psychology professor at MIT, discuss the pros
and cons of mobile phones.
"Texting gives us the feeling that we can hide from each other, we can construct our texts to be who we want to be. We can create a self where we can hide in plain sight."
"If you don't teach your children how to be alone, they'll only know how to be lonely."
"You get the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship."
"Friends don't let friends lose their capacity for humanity."
Benefits of face-to-face communication:
Triggers feel-good hormones
Strengthens brain-heart connection
Lowers blood pressure
Boosts immune system
I found this entire segment very interesting, especially as a business owner with employees that have grown up with cell phones in their hands and seem to have difficulty in the business world helping customers in face-to-face situations. We are actually starting some training specifically in building confidence and communication skills. I am actually excited about this and will be participating in the training as well.
The textbook I use for my social psychology class, Social Psychology, 10th ed. by David G. Myers talks a little bit in chapter 2 about sociologist Charles Cooley's theory of The Looking-Glass Self, which describes how we think others perceive us as a mirror for perceiving themselves. Another sociologist, George Herbert Mead (1934) expanded this concept, saying that it is not how others actually see us, but how we imagine they see us that is important to our self-concept. The bottom line according to Mead is that since people generally praise rather than criticize, we may overestimate others' appraisal in turn inflating our egos. This self-inflation is found mostly in Western countries.
Now that all being said, I have always wondered if there was some gender bias in that idea, that we overestimate and therefore inflate our egos. In other words, "Is that a 'male' thing?" Because as a woman in western society, I have often observed and felt the opposite. Then, I saw the "Dove Experiment" on youtube. And then that made me wonder if they did this experiment on males, would it turn out the same? Honestly, I think it would. Of course, I could totally be wrong. Anyway, it's one of those things that makes me wonder...
Watch the Dove experiment yourself and see what you think.
OMG, I know the following is supposed to be a parody of the other previous one, but it's kind of what I envisioned in my mind how this experiment would go with male participants. Go ahead and watch for a laugh! Now, I still don't know how this would turn out if actually done for real.
Dr. Knight once explained to us that emotions were simply chemicals. I saw this graphic and it made me think of him. For those who don't know, Dr. Knight was one of my mentors and the Dept. Chair of the Psychology Department at UCO. He was also the my Master's Thesis Committee Chair.
Addendum!!! Hummm, looking back I should put a date on my add-ons ;P Oh well, I will from now on.
Picked up a new definition of Emotion (which really goes well with the Schachter & Singer 2-factor theory of emotion, actually, their theory states that emotion is a function of both cognitive factors and physiological arousal, that "people search the immediate environment for emotionally relevant cues to label and interpret unexplained physiological arousal.")
The new definition is from Timber Hawkeye, in his Buddhism Boot Camp book--"Emotions are feelings with a story attached to them."
The new mosh pit research could be interesting for another reason. In emergencies people panic, and the movement rules they follow change. Mosh pits might provide clues about the new rules.
"We hope that this will provide a lens into looking at other extreme situations such as riots and protests and escape panic," Bierbaum says.
I'm an adjunct at the University of Central Oklahoma and I teach Social Psychology in the Sociology Department. I'm working on creating the class to be taught online at UCO. I figured before I ask my students to potentially create a blog for the course, I should try myself first.
What is Social Psychology? It is the scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another. In other words, it is everywhere we are.
What do I want my students to get out of Social Psychology? I will borrow from Dr. David G. Myers in saying that I want my students to know that knowledge of social psychology has "the power to restrain intuition with critical thinking, illusion with understanding, and judgmentalism with compassion."
What I plan to do with this blog is start posting anything I think relates to social psychology and explain why.
