Happy New Year!!!

IA Grades Have Been DELAYED

Due to being in the hospital all last week, grading the IAs has been delayed. That said, serious grading will begin Thursday.

Stay tuned for important UPDATES for January....

X Has Arrived!

Xavier is here! He was born on Christmas Eve.
We have been in the hospital since then!

I will respond to all posted questions tomorrow morning.

Cognitive Essay and Happy Holidays!

I am sorry that you all have this essay hanging over your heads during the break. I am confident you will do outstanding! Again, let's get ready to make IB Psychology history.

DUE on January 5th, 2009
1. JAS for Aserinsky & Kleitman
2. JAS for Cartwright
3. JAS for Hobson
4. NOTES for Domhoff
5. EXTRA CREDIT DREAM STUDY - NO LATE SUBMISSIONS
6. EXTRA CREDIT VIDEO: ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND - NO LATE SUBMISSIONS

Cognitive Psychology Essay Options for January 7th, 2009
See Page: 212
Essay Options: 1, 2, and 4

I will be posting, within the next two-three days, a review video or videos which will cover the three essays. But please feel free to contact me with any questions! The first two days back will be review days and I will be at THS at 3pm on the 5th to hold a review session for the exam on the 7th. I will also try and hold a more brief session on the 6th after school.

Stay tuned for those videos!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!
BE SAFE!

The below video is from Golfrapp. I saw them live two years ago. It was a great show!

Episode II: Activation-Synthesis and the Neurocognitive Theories of Dreams

Again, I apologize for the picture quality. I am using free software! Stay tuned for more critical updates Sunday night. Enjoy!

Dreams: Episode I: Freud

Hello Everyone!

Below I have posted the first of a series of videos (it is my lame attempt at making up for the lost snow days...I apologize in advance for the quality...I will get better at them I hope). For every video I post, feel free to participate by applying what you have read from the homework readings on dreams, posted lecture notes, and what you have seen in the video, and elsewhere, by posting comments. Such participation will be applied to your grade.

Linked below is the Extra Credit Assignment DUE January 5th, 2009!
CLICK HERE:::::EXTRA CREDIT DREAM RESEARCH OPTION
This extra credit assignment is a serious undertaking! Know that it is worth your while (20 points extra credit) but it is an effort for sure! Follow the instructions for how to recall a dream and contact me if you have any difficulties and/or questions.

Check the blog often for NEWS on the IA, Cognitive Psychology Essay, Dreams, and January's coming plans!

CLOSED: Friday Dec 19, 2008

Check back later today  for updates...Including tips for e-mailing me the IA. 

Sorry, I deleted the wrong post! Last night's was an historic dialog...

REPLAY: By Request:

NEWS from Dr. Unis

The below is relayed from Omar.

FROM THE WORDS OF MASTER DAVE UNIS HIMSELF! HE HASTH EMAILTH HISTH GOOD
TIDINGS TO ME BEHOLD THE WORD OF MASTER!!

"Hey, spread the word about this: If we don't have school tomorrow, you
guys can turn in your IAs to the Tigard Public Library's Children's Desk
and get priority grading status over those who turn them in tomorrow by
email. Turnitin.com is not working for Tigard High right now, so
we'll worryabout submitting those later. "The Massa of Disaster"

What is Beautiful is Good -- Reference page:

References

Dion, K. K., Berscheid, E., & Walster, E. (1972). What is beautiful is good. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 24, 285-290.

Dion, K. K. (1972). Physical attractiveness and evaluations of children's transgressions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1972, 24, 207-213.

Tigard-Tualatin Sch. Dist.: Closed (Effective tomorrow - Thu Dec 18th)

The Plan for the Break

Although the end is near, we must make the most of our time from afar! I suspect we will be apart these last few days prior to the break, thus I will lay out the plan for winter break and make hints for January.

First and foremost, many of you are concerned about the IA (and rightfully so). Allow me to get that out of the way first. You should e-mail your FULL IA in one main attachment (or in as few as possible) in Word (.doc or .docx). DO NOT SEND MICROSOFT WORKS FILES -- THEY WILL BE CONSIDERED LATE. Feel free to send me a test fire! PDF works as well. This is DUE by MIDNIGHT This Friday.

Your IA will be graded as usual save the Discussion section. Given that you most likely will not get these back in time, REVISE your Discussion the best you can. Please, stick closely to the rubric. Too many of you have ventured away from this for some reason. The further you venture, the worse the score. I will grade the Discussion with the understanding that you did not have my feedback. Be careful and do your best work here. It is worth 60 points. Please do not send me the entire thing to read again. If you have specific questions, simply send the section you have a question on. I am currently overwhelmed with requests for revisions. Sadly, I am unable to keep up with the demand. If you send me a single question with the text, I can respond very fast! That is good for you and me!

Regarding this Week's Readings
Wednesday (12/17)
Read pages: Freud and Dreams: 279 AND Read pages: 302: Unromancing The Dream - JAS

Thursday (12/18)
1. Review your Notes on Dreams
Read pages: 308: A New Neuocognitive Theory of Dreams - Take Notes on theory, applications, and analysis

Friday (12/19)
1. Dream Analysis: The Wolf Man page 319

Please use the blog as a classroom in that if you post questions, I can answer and others can learn from it!

EXTRA CREDIT DREAM RESEARCH OPTION
This extra credit assignment is a serious undertaking! Know that it is worth your while (20 points extra credit) but it is an effort for sure! Follow the instructions for how to recall a dream and contact me if you have any difficulties and/or questions.

Over the break, if you wish, view, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and write a 1-2 page response on how the neural network model of information processing would explain and evaluate the movie's premise.

January will be the final unit of IB Psychology: Dysfunctional Psychology. I will be designing the plan in the next few days. Although I will not be with you, I will be online and willing to help. I plan to make a few appearances in January to go over Eating Disorders and Schizophrenia. I will also be posting videos to the blog and the sub will play these files in class. So, be sure to check the blog often!

In short, e-mail me any questions and/or concerns!

Have a wonderful winter break! I will miss you all in January so keep me posted on how things are.

I leave you with a video...of course. This is one of THE BEST videos. It is all about dreams! So enjoy!

Tuesday from Home

1. PLEASE stay tuned and check the blog often for key updates
   
2. Check eSIS for grade updates 
   

Tuesday (12/16) -- from home
1. Read/Study Notes on Sleep and Dreams PDF OR
Notes on Sleep and Dreams - PowerPoint Version

2. Read/Study Introduction to Freud PDF OR
Introduction to Freud PowerPoint Version

HW: Read pages: 289: To Wish Upon Dream - JAS
If we are out past Tuesday, I will be posting PodCasts for Dream theory...stay tuned.

CLOSED

Tigard-Tualatin Sch. Dist.: Closed Tuesday December 16th. 12 month district office
employees and district office administrators report as safety allows. (Effective
tomorrow - Tue Dec 16th) UPDATE

Welcome to Freudian Psychology

Because we are missing a day of school (and maybe more), I have posted the lecture notes on Freud. (click the link to access the PDF file). WARNING: when we go over this in class, I will discussing much more information than what is here. So, review these notes and come prepared to ask questions AND write more notes down on this document during lecture. I have printed copies at school so no need to print your own.

Stay tuned for more UPDATES as new breaks on school status and our changing plans...

The Week Ahead

Enjoy the snow day everyone! Don't lose site of the IA however! It is still due Friday! Take Monday to work on your IA! No new homework is assigned for Monday night.

Tuesday (12/16)
1. Finish Notes on Sleep
2. Introduction to Freud
HW: Read pages: 289: To Wish Upon Dream - JAS

Wednesday (12/17)
1. Finish Freud and Freud on Dreams
2. Notes on Dreams
HW: Read pages: 302: Unromancing The Dream - JAS
EXTRA CREDIT MOVIE IF WEATHER PERMITS

Thursday (12/18)
1. Notes on Dreams
HW: Read pages: 308: A New Neuocognitive Theory of Dreams - Take Notes on theory
EXTRA CREDIT MOVIE IF WEATHER PERMITS

Friday (12/19)
1. Dream Analysis: The Wolf Man and Others
HW: EXTRA CREDIT DREAM RESEARCH OPTION

NO SCHOOL MONDAY

Tigard-Tualatin Sch. Dist.: All Tigard-Tualatin School District schools and
facilities closed Monday (Effective tomorrow - Mon Dec 15th)

WEATHER REPORT

CHECK BACK TONIGHT FOR UPDATES ON SCHOOL AND HOMEWORK...DEVELOPING...

Dreams: the Unknown Country

The Final Week Together: Dreams

BREAKING NEWS

Will be announced tomorrow

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

EXTRA CREDIT MOVIE SHOWING NEXT WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY

Happiness Is

You may think your attentive spouse, your loving children and your good friends are what make you happy. But something else may be going on: The people they're connected with are making you happy too.

So suggests a new study proposing that happiness is transmitted through social networks, almost like a germ is spread through personal contact. The research was published Thursday in BMJ, a British medical journal.

It's the latest in a growing body of work investigating how our social connections - neighbors, friends, family, co-workers, fellow congregants at church and other associates - affect us. The premise is that we live in a social environment that shapes what we do and how we think and feel.

"We've known for some time that social relationships are the best predictor of human happiness, and this paper shows that the effect is much more powerful than anyone realized," said Daniel Gilbert, author of "Stumbling on Happiness" and a professor of psychology at Harvard University.

Previous research by the authors, James Fowler of the University of California-San Diego, and Dr. Nicholas Christakis at Harvard, has concluded that social networks influence obesity and tobacco use by altering perceptions of acceptable weight and desirable behavior.

Now they've turned their attention to the emotional realm, exploring how social ties influence our moods and our sense of well-being. Their primary finding: People who are surrounded by happy people are more likely to be happy themselves. And it's not only people in our immediate circles who make a difference - it's the people surrounding the people we know.

Imagine several pebbles thrown into a pool of water that send ripples outward, said Fowler, an associate professor of political science. Each pebble represents a happy person and the waves the impact of that person's mood on others. This impact, his study found, extends through several degrees of separation, to the friends of a person's friends.

Some experts question whether the researchers' statistical methodology can support that conclusion. It's difficult to sort out cause and effect in this kind of research and the authors may not have done so with enough rigor, said Charles Manski, a Northwestern University economics professor who studies how inferences can be drawn from social interactions.

He asks, is it that one person's happiness makes another person happy, or could it be that another factor experienced by both people is affecting both?

Say two friends are watching a TV show together, and one laughs after the other does, Manski said. It may look like the first person's chuckle is the cause of the second, but the jokes on the TV show might inspire both reactions.

Christakis said his research factored out such mutual influences. The study asked the subjects - 4,739 participants in the famous Framingham Heart Study in Massachusetts - to complete a survey including four questions relating to happiness three times between 1983 and 2003. They also provided information about social contacts, which allow researchers to map their connections.

The study found that happy people form clusters and the happiest people are those most centrally located in the clusters.

"If you imagine the fabric of humanity as a patchwork quilt, it turns out if you're happy or not depends on if you're in a happy or unhappy patch," Christakis said.

"We postulate that people who are in closer, more frequent contact with each other are more susceptible to catching each other's moods," Fowler said.

The researchers stress that personal factors such as jobs or marriages also affect happiness and that although happiness may fluctuate, people tend to return to a personal happiness "set point" over time. It is this relatively stable emotional condition they examined in the paper, not the fleeting moods people experience day to day.

Richard Suzman, director of the division of behavior and social research at the National Institute on Aging, said the line of research holds "enormous promise in helping us improve interventions aimed at helping people change behaviors and improving public health."

Such interventions may involve targeted programs designed to alter social networks that influence behavior. The institute on aging has provided funding for Fowler and Christakis' work.

An editorial accompanying the report in BMJ called its conclusions "intriguing" but advised caution. Framingham, a relatively small community, may prove unique in ways not yet understood, wrote Peter Sainsbury, director of population health in Sydney South West Area Health Service in Australia.

As for whether unhappiness is also spreadable, Fowler and Christakis plan to look at that topic in upcoming papers on loneliness, depression and social networks.

Scientists ask: Is technology rewiring our brains?

NEW YORK - What does a teenage brain on Google look like? Do all those hours spent online rewire the circuitry? Could these kids even relate better to emoticons than to real people? These sound like concerns from worried parents. But they're coming from brain scientists.

While violent video games have gotten a lot of public attention, some current concerns go well beyond that. Some scientists think the wired world may be changing the way we read, learn and interact with each other.

There are no firm answers yet. But Dr. Gary Small, a psychiatrist at UCLA, argues that daily exposure to digital technologies such as the Internet and smart phones can alter how the brain works.

When the brain spends more time on technology-related tasks and less time exposed to other people, it drifts away from fundamental social skills like reading facial expressions during conversation, Small asserts.

So brain circuits involved in face-to-face contact can become weaker, he suggests. That may lead to social awkwardness, an inability to interpret nonverbal messages, isolation and less interest in traditional classroom learning.

Small says the effect is strongest in so-called digital natives - people in their teens and 20s who have been "digitally hard-wired since toddlerhood." He thinks it's important to help the digital natives improve their social skills and older people - digital immigrants - improve their technology skills.

At least one 19-year-old Internet enthusiast gives Small's idea a mixed review. John Rowe, who lives near Pasadena, Calif., spends six to 12 hours online a day. He flits from instant messaging his friends to games like Cyber Nations and Galaxies Ablaze to online forums for game players and disc jockeys.

Social skills? Rowe figures he and his buddies are doing just fine in that department, thank you. But he thinks Small may have a point about some other people he knows.

"If I didn't actively go out and try to spend time with friends, I wouldn't have the social skills that I do," said Rowe, who reckons he spends three or four nights a week out with his pals. "You can't just give up on having normal friends that you see on a day-to-day basis."

More than 2,000 years ago, Socrates warned about a different information revolution - the rise of the written word, which he considered a more superficial way of learning than the oral tradition. More recently, the arrival of television sparked concerns that it would make children more violent or passive and interfere with their education.

Small, who describes his modern-day concerns in a new book called "iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind," acknowledges he doesn't have an open-and-shut case that digital technology is changing brain circuitry.

Still, his argument is "pretty interesting and certainly provocative," although difficult to prove, says brain scientist Tracey Shors of Rutgers University.

Others are skeptical. Robert Kurzban, a University of Pennsylvania psychologist, said scientists still have a lot to learn about how a person's experiences affect the way the brain is wired to deal with social interaction.

Life in the age of Google may even change how we read.

Normally, as a child learns to read, the brain builds pathways that gradually allow for more sophisticated analysis and comprehension, says Maryanne Wolf of Tufts University, author of "Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain."

She calls that analysis and comprehension "deep reading." But that takes time, even if it's just a fraction of a second, and today's wired world is all about speed, gathering a lot of superficial information fast.

Wolf asks what will happen as young children do more and more early reading online. Will their brains respond by short-circuiting parts of the normal reading pathways that lead to deeper reading but which also take more time? And will that harm their ability to reflect on what they've read?

Those questions deserve to be studied, Wolf says. She thinks kids will need instruction tailored to gaining reading comprehension in the digital world.

Some research suggests the brain actually benefits from Internet use.

A large study led by Mizuko Ito of the University of California, Irvine, recently concluded that by hanging out online with friends - sending instant messages, for example - teens learn valuable skills they'll need to use at work and socially in the digital age. That includes lessons about issues like online privacy and what's appropriate to post and communicate on the internet, Ito said.

Rowe, the 19-year-old, said he and his buddies often debate whether technology might actually be bad for you. That includes kicking around the argument that computer use makes people socially inept.

Of course, he added, "we spend a lot of time on the computer and still have totally normal and perfect social lives."

Body-swap illusion tricks mind in new study

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Shaking hands with yourself is an amusing out-of-body experience. The illusion of having your stomach slashed with a kitchen knife, not so much.

Both sensations, however, felt real to most participants in a Swedish science project exploring how people can be tricked into the false perception of owning another body.

In a study presented Tuesday, neuroscientists at Stockholm's renowned Karolinska Institute show how they got volunteers wearing virtual reality goggles to experience the illusion of swapping bodies with a mannequin and a real person.

"We were interested in a classical question that philosophers and psychologists have discussed for centuries: why we feel that the self is in our bodies," project leader Henrik Ehrsson said. "To study this scientifically we've used tricks, perceptual illusions."

It sounded intriguing enough for me to try it, though entering the laboratory on Monday, I was having second thoughts.

The first props I saw were two kitchen knives, three naked dummies and a prosthetic hand sticking out from behind a curtain.

"You have the right to say stop at anytime if you feel uncomfortable," said Ehrsson's colleague, Valeria Petkova, as she rubbed my left hand with electrolytic gel and attached electrodes to the middle and index fingers.

She assured me I was not in any danger. Still, a nervous tingle rushed through my body as she placed the headset over my eyes.

In the first experiment, the goggles were hooked up to CCTV cameras fitted to the head of a male mannequin, staring down at its feet. Through the headset I saw a grainy image of the dummy's plastic torso. I tilted my head down to create the sensation I was looking down at my own body.

At that point, it didn't feel very real. But when Petkova simultaneously brushed markers against my belly and that of the mannequin, the effect started setting in. As my brain processed the visual and tactile signals, I had a growing impression that the mannequin's body was my own.

That was good fun, until the gleaming blade of a bread knife entered my field of vision. Petkova slid it across the dummy's stomach, sending shivers down my spine and a pulse of anxiety through the electrodes. My heightened stress level was illustrated by a spike in a computer diagram shown to me after the experiment.

"Approximately 70-80 percent of the people experience the illusion very strongly," Petkova said.

Apparently, I was one of them.

The second experiment was more benign. This time my headset was connected to cameras mounted on a round hat that Petkova was wearing. We faced each other, extended our right arms and shook hands.

Now that was weird: I was supposed to have the sensation of shaking hands with myself. The illusion wasn't perfect as I couldn't quite recognize Petkova's grip as my own, even though that's what the goggles meant to make me believe.

Perhaps the session was too short. The actual study, in which 87 volunteers participated, consisted of repeated sessions that gradually provided more accurate data. The results were published in PLoS One, the online journal of the Public Library of Science.

The principle finding was that under certain conditions a person can perceive another body as his or her own, even if it is of an opposite gender or an artificial body.

"These findings are of fundamental importance because they identify the perceptual processes that make us feel that we own our entire body," the study said.

Ehrsson said the study built on a previous experiment known as the "rubber hand illusion" in which participants were manipulated to experience a rubber hand as their own.

Charles Spence, a professor of experimental psychology at the University of Oxford, said the Karolinska study was a "step up" from other research on the subject.

"This goes beyond other recent studies, where you've taken ownership of rubber hands and rubber legs," said Spence, who was not involved with the study.

His only concern was whether there might be any lasting effect on participants.

"The questions is what happens if you did it much longer? If you were in there for days and weeks. Would it be like something out of Total Recall?" Spence said, referring to the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger science fiction movie about a virtual vacation that turns into a nightmare.

Ehrsson suggested the findings could be applied in research on body image disorders by exploring how people become satisfied or dissatisfied with their bodies. Another possible application could be developing more advanced versions of computer games such as Second Life, he said.

"It could lead to the next generation of virtual reality applications in games, where people have the full-blown experience of being the avatar," Ehrsson said.

Nap without guilt: It boosts sophisticated memory

WASHINGTON - Just in time for the holidays, some medical advice most people will like: Take a nap.

Interrupting sleep seriously disrupts memory-making, compelling new research suggests. But on the flip side, taking a nap may boost a sophisticated kind of memory that helps a person see the big picture and get creative.

"Not only do we need to remember to sleep, but most certainly we sleep to remember," is how Dr. William Fishbein, a cognitive neuroscientist at the City University of New York, put it at a meeting of the Society for Neuroscience last week.

Good sleep is a casualty of the busy modern world. Surveys suggest few adults attain the recommended seven to eight hours a night.

Way too little clearly is dangerous: Sleep deprivation causes not just car crashes but all sorts of other accidents. Over time, a chronic lack of sleep can erode the body in ways that leave us more vulnerable to heart disease, diabetes and other illnesses.

Perhaps more common than insomnia, however, is fragmented sleep, the easy awakening that comes with aging, or, worse, the sleep apnea that afflicts millions, who repeatedly quit breathing for 30 seconds or so throughout the night.

Indeed, scientists increasingly are focusing less on sleep duration and more on the quality of sleep, what is called sleep intensity, in studying how sleep helps the brain process memories so they stick. Particularly important is "slow-wave sleep," a period of very deep sleep that comes earlier than better-known REM sleep, or dreaming time.

Fishbein suspected a more active role for the slow-wave sleep that can emerge even in a short power nap. Maybe the brain keeps working during that time to solve problems and come up with new ideas. So he and graduate student Hiuyan Lau devised a simple test: documenting relational memory, where the brain puts together separately learned facts in new ways.

First, they taught 20 English-speaking college students lists of Chinese words spelled with two characters, such as sister, mother, maid. Then half the students took a nap, being monitored to be sure they did not move from slow-wave sleep into the REM stage.

Upon awakening, they took a multiple-choice test of Chinese words they never had seen before. The nappers did much better at automatically learning that the first of the two-pair characters in the words they had memorized earlier always meant the same thing - female, for example. So they also were more likely than non-nappers to choose that a new word containing that character meant "princess" and not "ape."

"The nap group has essentially teased out what's going on," Fishbein concludes.

These students took a 90-minute nap, quite a luxury for most adults. But even a 12-minute nap can boost some forms of memory, adds Dr. Robert Stickgold of Harvard Medical School.

Conversely, Wisconsin researchers briefly interrupted nighttime slow-wave sleep by playing a beep - just loudly enough to disturb sleep but not awaken - and found those people could not remember a task they had learned the day before as well as people whose slow-wave sleep was not disrupted.

That brings us back to fragmented sleep, whether from aging or apnea. It can suppress the birth of new brain cells in the hippocampus, where memory-making begins, enough to hinder learning weeks after sleep returns to normal, warns Dr. Dennis McGinty of the University of California, Los Angeles.

To prove a lasting effect, McGinty mimicked human sleep apnea in rats. He hooked them to brain monitors and made them sleep on a treadmill. Whenever the monitors detected 30 seconds of sleep, the treadmill briefly switched on. After 12 days of this sleep disturbance, McGinty let the rats sleep peacefully for as long as they wanted for the next two weeks.

The catch-up sleep did not help: Rested rats used room cues to quickly learn the escape hole in a maze. Those with fragmented sleep two weeks earlier could not, only randomly stumbling upon the escape.

None of the new work is enough, yet, to pinpoint the minimum sleep needed for optimal memory. What's needed may vary considerably from person to person.

"A short sleeper may have a very efficient deep sleep even if they sleep only four hours," notes Dr. Chiara Cirellia of the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

But altogether, the findings do suggest some practical advice: Get apnea treated. Avoid what Harvard's Stickgold calls "sleep bulimia," super-late nights followed by sleep-in weekends. And don't feel guilty for napping.

Essay II has been FINALIZED

The curve has been set at 94%, check the Great eSIS for your updated grade. Have a great Black Friday...Watch out for the crazies.

Tootles!
Caro

P.S. The below video is from Unkle but features Yorke from Radiohead. It is a great song and a pretty cool video. Enjoy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Go get them turkeys!

The Week Ahead

Internal Assessment Week!
Recommendations:
1. Bring your laptop if you have one
2. Bring your Reader EVERY day
3. Come prepared to work in class

GOOD NEWS: I have removed the reading for Thanksgiving Weekend -- Methods development is enough. I will provide the content via lecture just prior to Sleep and Dreams.

GO TO: IA's homepage for all forms, rubrics, support materials, and resources!
Internal Assessment DATES/DEADLINES:

• Introduction DRAFT due: Nov. 26.
• DATA COLLECTION DAY: Dec. 4
• Methods DRAFT due: Dec. 5
• Result DRAFT due: Dec. 9
• Discussion DRAFT due: Dec. 12
• FINAL DRAFT: Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, References, Appendix DUE Dec. 19

Monday (11/24)
1. Final words on the Internal Assessment
2. IA group work AND group meetings with me
HW: Work on Introduction

Tuesday (11/25)
1. IA group work AND group meetings with me
HW: Work on Introduction

Wednesday (11/26)
INTRODUCTION DRAFT DUE
1. December Calendar is Distributed!
2. IA group work AND group meetings with me
3. FINALIZE plans for data collection day - (retain a class to use)
HW: Work on Methods

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Calling ALL Local Artists

Check out Homeschool, a new Portland art shop where you can sell your art work or simply go see other artists' work! It only happens once a month so be sure to check out their web site if you are interested.

The blog image for this week is a piece a saw there that I REALLY liked. The artist is Kristen Flemington.

Below is a video from the Cure -- a single off their new album. My wife and son Xavier (only 5 months gestation) were at this show and this was the opening song. Enjoy!

Depression on the holidays is common

For most people, the start of the holiday season brings feelings of joy and anticipation.

But for those who have lost a loved one, the holidays can be viewed with dread and depression.

Family traditions will never be the same, and many people suffer from loneliness and depression.

However, there are things you can do to help alleviate some of the stress and worry that surrounds this time of year.

According to www.griefshare.org, strategies can help those grieving during the holiday season.

--Prioritize and plan what is important this holiday season. Changing traditions might get you out of a depressed rut. Try volunteering and helping people in need. You will feel better about yourself, and it will give you something to smile about when you see the good impact you are having on someone's life.

--Accept your limitations this season. You probably depended on a loved one in the past to help you get things done. If they are no longer around, make sure to keep other important people in your life up-to-date on your situation and let them know what to expect this season. Start buying presents earlier. This will allow you to mitigate some of the financial burden that dealing with the loss of a loved one often brings.

--Ask for and accept help. Your friends and loved ones probably are looking for ways to spend time with you, and by allowing them to help you this season, you will have more energy to focus on things that are higher on your priority list.

--Living in and enjoying the present can be a way to get your mind off of the past. Think about the great things that are still a part of your life, not comparing the sadness of today with the happy times of years past.

--Reconnect with an old friend or relative. Make it a point to talk to someone who used to be in your life, but for whatever reason, is no longer. You might be surprised at the joy connecting with past friends can bring you in your time of need.

Remember to make time for yourself. If there was something you enjoyed doing by yourself when your loved one was alive, keep doing it. Remember that you are important and need time to enjoy yourself.

When times get really bad, remember the true meaning of the holidays. Take the time to write down exactly what the holidays mean to you. Take those core values and celebrate them with the people who still are with you.

Welcome to Cognitive Psychology

Monday begins Cognitive Psychology, our second to last unit and the home of the Internal Assessment. I am always very excited to get into this unit because we cover so many interesting topics such as sleep and dreams, altered states, memory, information processing, and of course the Internal Assessment.

Below is a look at the weeks ahead, AND a list of essential dates. I will also be posting this information on my homepage at mrcaro.com as well as the IA's homepage located at:
http://www.mrcaro.com/psychology/iac.html -- CHECK this page throughout the IA process.

As I have stressed in class, it is extremely vital that you hold closely to the deadlines for the IA and work on the drafts as they are returned to you.

GO TO: IA's homepage for all forms, rubrics, support materials, and resources!
Internal Assessment DATES/DEADLINES:

• Introduction DRAFT due: Nov. 26.
• DATA COLLECTION DAY: Dec. 4
• Methods DRAFT due: Dec. 5
• Result DRAFT due: Dec. 9
• Discussion DRAFT due: Dec. 12
• FINAL DRAFT: Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, References, Appendix DUE Dec. 19

The Weeks Ahead
Monday (11/17)
1. Introduction to Cognitive Psychology
--History and Assumptions
---Notes
HW: Read pages 213-217 in Reader -- take notes on studies & theories

Tuesday (11/18)
1. Cognitive Psychology: Memory
--Memory
---Notes/Video
HW: Read pages 218-230 in Reader

Wednesday (11/19)
Cognitive Psychology: Memory
1. Memory
--Notes/Video/HW review
HW: Read pages 230-236 in Reader - complete a JAS form

Thursday (11/20)
Cognitive Psychology: Memory
1. Memory
--Notes/Video/HW review
2. Begin talks on the Internal Assessment
HW: Read pages 237-242 - complete a JAS form

Friday (11/21)
Cognitive Psychology: Memory and the IA
-- Discuss HW
-- Introduce IA: pages 450-501 in Reader
HW: Read Abstracts on pages: 477, 489, 485, AND Read pages 243-48 and take notes on studies

Monday (11/24)
Cognitive Psychology: Memory and the IA
--Discuss HW
Internal Assessment
-- Group work (see pages 497-501 in Reader)
HW: Work on DRAFT of Introduction

Tuesday (11/25)
Internal Assessment
-- Group work (see pages 497-501 in Reader)
HW: Work on DRAFT of Introduction

Wednesday (11/26)*
Internal Assessment
Introduction DRAFT DUE
-- Group work (see pages 497-501 in Reader)
HW: Work on Methods DRAFT and documents and Read pages 249-267 in Reader -- take notes on models of information processing and studies.


THANKSGIVING BREAK

Now Serving...

I am working through the e-mails so DO NOT PANIC! I will get to yours. I will be checking the blog for questions throughout the night so post as you need to!

GRADES! They are looking AWESOME!!!!!

GREAT WORK EVERYONE. I HAVE THE HIGHEST GRADES EVER IN IB PSYCH!


Check eSIS for updates all day today and into the night! E-mail me with questions. The below video made me a worse human being, but the song made me be able to love again. Thank you Flock of Seagulls.

De-stress to Fight Off Seasonal Depression

A Great song and a Great flick


The bewitching hour of 2 a.m. Sunday marked the end of daylight saving time and the beginning of shorter days and longer nights. For many people, especially women, this annual change of seasons also triggers a change in mood, leading to feelings of fatigue, depression and anxiety --- more severe than just winter blues.

According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, about half a million Americans suffer from winter-onset depression, or Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD. Although more common in northern regions where the winters are longer, the condition plagues residents in southern regions, too.

Symptoms, which can include weight gain and insomnia, can start out mild and become more severe as the season progresses. They usually lift during spring and summer but return about the same time every year.

Many women already experience heightened stress leading up to the holidays trying to juggle work and family demands, plan for holiday gatherings, shop for gifts, and cook. Lower the temperatures, gray the days and dim the sunlight, and women succumb to seasonal affective disorder more often than men.

"They're trying to cram more into less daylight hours," said Jacqueline Dawes, owner of Brookhaven Retreat, an East Tennessee residential treatment center for women. She said that many women complain of feeling completely helpless by the end of October, isolate themselves and create excuses for not going out. "Suddenly they find themselves just kind of stuck," she said.

To unstick yourself, start by unloading some of the stressors.

Instead of taking on more during the holidays, prioritize activities and make good choices about what you can get done. Plan ahead and share responsibilities with other family members. Learn to accept imperfection and set boundaries.

"Women don't like to say no," said Dawes, of women's need to perpetuate the superwoman image. "It's OK to say no."

When feeling down in the dumps consumes your life, especially if you struggle to get out of bed, socialize and sleep, seek help. Don't let depression persist or worsen into feelings of hopelessness or thoughts of suicide.

A doctor will conduct a psychological evaluation, asking questions about changes in your mood, behavior, sleeping and eating patterns and a physical exam to check for underlying health problems. Treatment options include light therapy, antidepressant medication or psychotherapy.

"Once a woman understands what and why it's happening and understands the skills of self-regulating, she learns the tools to manage it," said Dawes.

TAKING CONTROL

Unmanaged stress can lead to depression (seasonal or otherwise). Here are some ways to avoid feeling overwhelmed:

> Manage expectations. Pace yourself. Organize your time. Make a list and prioritize important activities.

> Set realistic goals. Know what you can and cannot do. Don't put the entire focus on just one day. Activities can be spread out to lessen stress and increase enjoyment.

> Learn to say no. If you say yes only to what you really want to do, you'll avoid feeling resentful and overwhelmed.

> Forget perfection. TV specials are filled with happy endings, but in real life, people don't usually resolve problems within an hour or two. Expect and accept imperfections.

> Share the load. You don't have to do it alone. Let others share in the responsibility of planning activities.

> Don't abandon healthy habits. Continue to get plenty of sleep, eat a balanced diet and take time to relax. Don't turn to alcohol or unprescribed drugs for relief.

> Make time for yourself. Spend at least 15 minutes alone, without distractions, to recharge your batteries. Take a walk at night, listen to soothing music or take slow breaths.

> Lighten up. Make your home sunnier and brighter. Open blinds, add skylights and trim tree branches that block sunlight.

> Get out. Get outdoors on sunny days, even during winter. Take a long walk, eat lunch at a nearby park, or simply sit peacefully on a bench and soak up the sun.

> Exercise regularly. Physical exercise helps relieve stress and anxiety, both of which can increase SAD symptoms. Being more fit can make you feel better about yourself, too, which can lift your mood.

> Socialize. Stay connected with people you enjoy being around. They can offer support, a shoulder to cry on or a joke to give you a little boost.

> Take a trip. If possible, take winter vacations in sunny, warm locations if you have winter SAD, or cooler locations if you have summer SAD.

Source: National Mental Health Association, Mayo Clinic

BEYOND THE BLUES

Common symptoms of winter-onset seasonal affective disorder include:

Depression, hopelessness, anxiety, loss of energy, social withdrawal, oversleeping, loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed, change in appetite (especially craving foods high in carbohydrates), weight gain, difficulty concentrating and processing information, fatigue, irritability, increased sensitivity to social rejection, avoidance of social situations.

Source: National Mental Health Association, Mayo Clinic

Stressed Out? Managing It Critical to Physical, Mental Health

Stress in the workplace doesn't have to be all bad. But too much of it can cause both mental and physical problems that can impact not just your work productivity, but your personal life.

Michael Hall, L.M.S.W., outreach coordinator for Memorial Behavioral Health, Gulfport, provides presentations about reducing workplace stress as part of employee assistance programs provided by some businesses in the state. Hall defines stress as the responses our bodies and minds have to the demands placed on them. Workplace stress is the result of high demands placed on an individual on the job, be it real or perceived.

"There are two types of stress," Hall said. "Positive stress can help you concentrate, and can often help you to reach peak efficiency. Positive stress is beneficial in performing your job or other responsibilities. Negative stress is any situation in the workplace that leaves a feeling of depression, anxiety or pressure."

Stress triggers on the job can include being over worked, working long hours for low pay, conflict in the workplace, increased responsibility and unrealistic demands of supervisors. Conflict with other employees or even with customers can also add to workplace stress.

Hall said the physical reaction to stress is always the same, but with negative stress your body stays "geared up" and doesn't relax. When stress becomes chronic and ongoing, your physical and emotional health can suffer.

"Negative stress has been linked to headaches, sleep disturbance, upset stomach, poor concentration, low moral, poor family relations, hypertension, heart disease and psychological disorders," Hall said. "Chronic stress hinders our body's ability to fight off disease and reduces job productivity. There are many factors contributing to stress in general that spill over into the workplace. These include financial, marital, single-family parenting and substance abuse."

Employers can help limit on-the job stress, Hall said, by improving communication sharing pertinent information related to employee's jobs and the future of the organization.

"Set realistic goals and priorities encouraging employees to be part of the process," he said. "This will encourage ownership, which encourages taking responsibility. Support a healthy lifestyle in and outside of the workplace. This investment pays for itself by preventing lost productivity and worker's compensation claims. Wellness programs can decrease stress in the workplace and also cut down on missing work due to illnesses."

He also recommends businesses encourage employees to use vacation days to get away from the day-to-day routine of work and stressful environments.

Tips for employees to manage stress include the following:

* Proper diet and exercise.

* Cognitive techniques such as positive thinking.

* Become more assertive and take control of your lifestyle.

* Improve time management skills.

* Develop a supportive network.

* Do not use alcohol or other drugs.

* Maintain a good sense of humor.

Dr. Harry Mills, who has a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Southern Mississippi and did his clinical residency at the University of Mississippi Medical School, said stress can add excitement to your life or it can become the bane of your existence.

"Whether it is the one or the other depends on the source of stress and on you," said Mills, who now practices in Orlando, Fla., and has 30 years' experience as a stress psychologist. "Any event that makes a demand for a response that may exceed your capacity may be experienced as a source of stress."

First Period Quiz Scores

E-mail if you would like your score e-mailed to you tonight!

In Case You Missed It!

Sex and Gender Video Clips from Class:
Take notes on the following points:
1. How are gender roles learned (operant conditioning and observational learning)
2. The influence of sex/biology on the development of gender specific behaviors (such as play)
3. Culture and gender roles
4. Health and gender
5. Childhood and gender

Clip 1:


Clip 2:


Clip 3:

Obama Blowout!

Happy?
Sad?
Sound off here! What do you think about your new president?

The Week Ahead: 11/3 - 11/7

CHECK eSIS FOR YOUR GRADES -- CHECK FOR MISSING ASSIGNMENTS -- FRIDAY IS THE END OF THE QUARTER...


Monday (11/3)
Operant Conditioning
--Phobia - finish video clips
--Problems with Punishment - finish notes
Observational Learning
--Notes
HW: Read pages 201-205; complete JAS form

Tuesday (11/4)
Observational Learning
--Notes
--Aggression - Bandura (HW)
HW: NONE/Study for Quiz

Wednesday (11/5)
QUIZ
Observational Learning
--Gender Rules - Video
HW: Reading from TEXTBOOK! pages 241-250


Thursday (11/6)
Observational Learning
--Notes
Cognitive Learning
--Discuss HW
HW: Read pages 206-209 (Maps in Your Mind), complete JAS Form 


Friday (11/7)
Biology of Memory and Learning
--Assemble notes on studies on the biology of learning
Evaluation of the Perspective
HW: Read pages 253-262 in TEXTBOOK!

Hopkins study finds combination therapy best for child anxiety
The Baltimore Sun, Maryland - October 31, 2008

Oct. 31--Researchers led by Johns Hopkins doctors have found that three popular treatments for childhood anxiety disorders are all effective, but that combining an antidepressant with behavioral therapy is the superior treatment.

It is estimated that as many as 20 percent of children suffer from anxiety disorders -- the most common psychiatric illness in children -- which can cause serious problems in school and in relationships. The authors of the study, released online yesterday by TheNew England Journal of Medicine, said they hope their work will give doctors confidence about the treatments they prescribe and raise awareness of the seriousness of the disorders.

"[A]nxiety disorders in childhood remain underrecognized and undertreated," the authors wrote. "An improvement in outcomes for children with anxiety disorders would have important public health implications."

In the study of 488 children age 7 to 17 done at six institutions across the country, researchers found that, over a 12-week period, 81 percent improved using therapy and medication, 60 percent improved on therapy alone, 55 percent improved when taking the antidepressant Zoloft and 24 percent improved when taking a placebo. A second phase of the study will monitor the children for an additional six months. It is the largest study of its kind.

Some studies have shown antidepressants don't work significantly better than placebos. In this short-term study, medication was clearly the better option.

The children studied all had moderate-to-severe separation anxiety, generalized anxiety disorder or social phobia. Separation anxiety often means children are afraid to be alone, sometimes following their parents around the house, balking at going to school or even having a baby sitter. Generalized anxiety disorder patients are often characterized as "worrywarts," worrying about the future and the past to a problematic degree. Those with social phobia are very self-conscious in social situations, often refusing to speak in school or answer the phone at home.

If left untreated, doctors say, these disorders can lead to more severe anxiety or depression as the child gets older.

"People tend to think of anxiety as part of childhood. Children worry and have fears," said Dr. John Walkup, a child psychiatrist at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center and lead author of the study. "This is much more serious than that. They're debilitated by their anxiety."

Now, he said, parents can know they "have lots of flexibility, lots of choices" when it comes to treating their children.

Antidepressants have come under scrutiny for potentially triggering suicide in some children. In this study, no child attempted suicide.

2008 Seniors Bowl

Happy Weekend! Go Tigers: Soccer, Football, Water polo, Cross Country, Sword Fighting, etc. etc.

Mom And Dad Are Right: Good Health Equals Better Grades

MINNEAPOLIS - Quit smoking. Turn off the computer. Go to bed.

It could improve your grades. Of course, parents have always known that. Now, in the first study of its kind, researchers at the University of Minnesota have proved it. They matched grade point averages with the typical health problems such as smoking, drinking and stress reported by nearly 10,000 Minnesota college students. They found a clear connection between student health and academic success.

"Health is important," even for young adults who seem to be in the prime of their lives, said Dr. Ed Ehlinger, director of Boynton Health Services at the University of Minnesota and a lead author of the study. Both parents and college administrators "need to make sure that students have access to health care."

What affects grades the most? Stress (lots of it), excessive screen time, binge drinking and gambling.

Students who reported eight or more emotional stresses-anything from failing a class to credit card debt to a conflict with parents-had an average GPA of 2.72. Those who said they had no significant stress reported an average GPA of 3.3.

"Stress is one of the biggest factors," said Marcus De La Garza, a senior from Duluth, Minn. A year ago, just before finals, he had to go home to take care of family members with serious health problems, and it showed in his grades, he said.

"I was out of the game," he said Friday. "Now I'm bouncing back." His GPA is up to 3.5.

The ability to handle stress was equally important, the survey found. Those who said they could effectively manage it performed much better than those who said they couldn't. That's an important finding, because it can persuade colleges to provide students with the resources they need to learn how to manage stress, Ehlinger said.

Earlier surveys showed that students who spend a lot of time on the computer, watching TV or playing video games were more likely to engage in other unhealthful habits such as eating fast food, Ehlinger said. Now it's clear that these activities cut significantly into their grades as well. Four or more hours of screen time a day resulted in an average GPA of 3.04 or less. Less than an hour a day bumped it up to 3.3 or better.

The same pattern held with binge drinking. Teetotalers reported an average GPA of 3.31, compared with 2.99 for students who drank excessively at least once in the previous two weeks.

Ben Flatum, a university senior from Stillwater, Minn., just completed what he called "the year of being healthy." He stopped the regular partying, started eating better and began training for a race in Chicago that he ran last week.

"My time and energy has been exponentially better," he said. His weight is down 25 pounds, and his GPA is up to 3.3 from the 2.5 he had as a partying freshman.

There were some surprises, especially in how resilient young adults can be, Ehlinger said. Students who said they had been sexually or physically abused at some point in their lives had no significant differences in their GPA compared with other students. It shows, he said, that with time, young adults can overcome such trauma, at least as far as their grades are concerned. Those who reported being sexually assaulted or abused in the previous 12 months reported lower grades.

Working to earn money had no effect on grades, another surprise, Ehlinger said. That was true regardless of whether students spent one or 40 hours a week at work.

"There must be something else going on that is protective of folks that are working," Ehlinger said. "It might be a matter of time management."

But Mom and Dad probably knew that, too.

The Week Ahead and News - UPDATED 10/28

News:::
1. First period will get their essays back Monday
2. Fourth period will get their essays back Wednesday
3. Expectations for tomorrow: step 1 should be done and some ideas for shaping
4. Podcast I will preview the quiz next week
5. Quiz questions have been identified, see below!

Monday (10/27)
Operant Conditioning
1. Work on projects -- class time!
HW: Work on Projects

Tuesday (10/28)
Operant Conditioning
1. Work on projects -- class time!
HW: FINALIZE project

Wednesday (10/29)
Operant Conditioning
1. Presentation of the projects
2. Notes on problems with punishment
HW: NONE

Thursday (10/30)
1. Skits: Problems with punishment
2. Depression: learned and biology of depression (discuss HW)
HW: HW: Read pages 196-199; complete JAS form
AND Review quiz questions: 1, 2,3, and 4 from page 154. Come with questions!

Friday (10/31)
Happy Halloween! -- bring your best scary story!
1. Phobias -- Video and Analysis
HW: Read pages 201-205 and complete JAS form

UPDATES/NEWS

I will be posting important updates and news within a couple of hours. STAY TUNED!

One of the best new Radiohead songs for sure. The first video for this song was made in the studio last New Year's Eve. If you like this song as much as I do, you should check it out. Very interesting to watch these guys play.


Forgetting easy when your brain fights itself
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News - October 23, 2008

Oct. 23--Ever forget to drop off dry cleaning on the way to work? This minor error of memory may be evidence of two competing parts of the brain, one that harbors habits, and another involved in learning.

Driving to work is a habit; going to the dry cleaner is a comparatively novel task.

Dr. Christopher J. Pittenger, assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale, calls this symbolic lapse the "dry cleaning effect."

T h e w h i m s i -- c a l l a b e l e n c o m -- passes two o p p o s i n g brain systems that could lead t o n e w u n d e r -- standing of o b s e s s i v e compulsive disorder, drug addiction, and other disorders.

Pittenger and colleagues have demonstrated how these systems work in a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

Pittenger, along with Yale researchers Anni S. Lee and Ronald S. Duman showed how mice respond to changes in the murine habit and spatial learning centers in their brains.

The striatum, in the middle of the brain, stores habits and acts like an autopilot. The hippocampus, a smaller structure beneath the striatum, handles new challenges.

"There are two processes to navigate through the world, literally and metaphorically," Pittenger said.

"I'm interested in things that we do automatically," he said. This automatic behavior is reflected in driving to work, versus driving somewhere strange, he said.

"I cannot remember to drop off the dry cleaning. It takes extra effort to get off autopilot," he said.

In this case, "autopilot" is the striatum guiding you to work or home, to the degree that when you arrive, you cannot remember the trip. Other examples ate walking, talking, riding a bicycle, using utensils, and other actions we accomplish without conscious thought.

The hippocampus comes into play when the brain is required to use spatial information in a new way, Pittenger said. Finding your way out of a forest with a compass is a job for the hippocampus.

Both systems function simultaneously.

Pittenger and colleagues presented mice with a pool of water containing a platform. The mice can be trained to find the platform, which becomes a habit encoded in the striatum.

When the striatum was disrupted, the mice lost their ability to quickly find the platform. However, the same mice improved on tasks involving spatial learning.

Conversely, when the hippocampus was disrupted, the mice could not navigate as well, but learned "landmark tasks," like the location of the platform, more quickly.

Pittenger said that obsessive compulsive disorder, some aspects of autism, and substance abuse, could be habit learning gone wrong.

Other problems might result when the striatum and hippocampus diverge. Alzheimer's disease rapidly damages the hippocampus, which is why patients often fall back on ingrained behaviors, he said.

"If the autopilot system is destructive, a novel system must be brought online," he said. For example, OCD is sometimes treated with cognitive behavioral therapy that helps patients recognize and change destructive "autopilot" thoughts.

"If we could understand these systems better, perhaps we could develop new tools to treat negative habits," Pittenger said.

Mom Can Increase Her Child's Risk of Depression via Nurture Alone

Science News - October 18, 2008

Some youngsters get depressed in the absence of any genetic legacy, a new investigation finds.

Researchers report that having a depressed mother substantially ups a teenager's likelihood of becoming depressed, even if he or she was adopted and shares no genes with the mother.

This finding provides the first direct evidence that purely environmental factors can promote depression in the children of depressed women, says a team led by psychologist Erin Tully of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

A depressed father does not increase the risk of depression in adopted or nonadopted teens, the team reports in the September American Journal of Psychiatry.

Two other investigations, both published in the same journal, further emphasize nurture's role in depression, showing that successful treatment of depressed mothers spurs emotional gains in their depressed children.

"There is an environmental liability of maternal depression that cannot be accounted for by genes but that almost certainly interacts with genetic factors to create depression risk in children," Tully says.

Depression can impair a mother's parenting skills, cause marital conflict and disrupt a youngster's ties to peers and school - and these outcomes can in turn spread depression from mother to child, she suggests.

A growing number of studies demonstrate difficulties that depressed mothers have in interacting with their children, remarks psychiatrist John Markowitz of Columbia University. Tally's study "bolsters the evidence that maternal, more than paternal, depression meaningfully affects children through home life, not just heritability," he says.

Tully and her coworkers studied 568 adopted adolescents, most from Asian countries, 416 non-adopted adolescents and one or both parents of all the children. Nearly all parents and non-adopted kids were white, and all the families lived in Minnesota. Most adoptions occurred before age 1.

Psychiatric interviews with the parents and teenagers probed for current and past symptoms of major depression and other psychological conditions.

While living with a depressed mother boosted the mood disorder's prevalence in adopted teens, non-adopted teens with depressed mothers were even more likely to become depressed. Having a depressed mother also increased the rate of behavior problems in both groups.

The Week Ahead

Monday (10/19)
The Learning Perspective
1. Overview of the Perspective (152-154 in Reader)
2. Discuss Plato and Locke (HW)
3. History and Assumptions of the Learning Perspective
--Notes
HW: Read page 164-165 in Reader come prepared to discuss

Tuesday (10/20)
1. Classical Conditioning
--Discuss Watson (HW)
--Demonstration
--Review page 172 in Reader
--Video clip: The Office
--Practice Classical Conditioning (page 177 in Reader)
HW: Read pages 166-170 in Reader, complete JAS form.

Wednesday (10/21)
1. Classical Conditioning
-- Discuss Watson (HW)
--Read pages 179-180 and take experimentation notes (hypothesis, methods, results, implications)
2. Learning: Video
HW: Read pages 173-176, complete JAS form.

Thursday (10/22)
1. Classical Conditioning
--Discuss Whitehead (HW)
2. Operant Conditioning
--Introduction
--Project (see page 181 in Reader)
---Sample: Pippin learns to rollover!
---Work on Project, Step 1 -- NOTE HELPFUL STUDIES
HW: Complete Step 1 of Operant Conditioning Project

Friday (10/23)
1. Operant Conditioning
--Continue project
HW: Complete Steps 1-3

The below video is one of my favorites for sure! The symbolism of the light and darkness is really well done! I have my own ideas, but how would you interpret it? What do you suppose the house means? The police car? The trees, etc.?

The Learning Perspective

Monday begins the Learning Perspective! This is an entirely new unit, it is the second unit in the course. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that you establish a new set of notes etc. for this forthcoming information on learning psychology.

The Learning Perspective is all about how the environment influences/produces behavior. In the biological unit we focused on biological determinants/causes of behavior or the nature side of the interactionist coin. Now we turn our attention to the environment of nurture side of the interactionist coin. Topics will range from classical and operant conditioning to social and cognitive learning. We will also look at disorders such as phobias and depression.

We begin with a philosophical question: are we born with knowledge, or is all knowledge gained from the environment? The first reading is from Plato who argues that we are born with ALL knowledge! The second is from John Locke who argues we are born with NO knowledge! Consider both positions and come Monday ready to share your position and analysis!

Agenda:

Wednesday (10/15)

Socratic Seminar

HW: Read pages 155-163; answer questions on page 161 and the "Consider This" on page 163.

Other News:

Podcasts may start as soon as this Sunday night! Check back for updates!

Most kids get no therapy with antidepressants

At least half of U.S. children who take antidepressants aren't in therapy, a large study suggests, and that delays recovery while greatly increasing the number of kids on the medication who are suicidal.

"Therapy with antidepressants is the standard of care. But is it what's going on in the real world? No," says Sheila Marcus, child and adolescent psychiatry chief at the University of Michigan Medical School.

The report tracks insurance claims for antidepressants from a database of 6.8 million children and teens from 2002 to 2006. The analysis was done by the health care business of Thomson Reuters, a research firm.

In the six months after getting at least one new prescription for antidepressants in 2006, just over 40% of children had insurance claims for one or more therapy sessions, says Tami Mark, the Thomson study leader.

The Food and Drug Administration has put the strongest safety warning on antidepressants, saying they could increase suicidal behavior in people 24 or younger.

A government study last year found that depressed kids recover most rapidly with antidepressants and counseling that teaches problem-solving and stress management. Also, 15% of children on Prozac only were suicidal -- either thinking about killing themselves or trying to -- compared with 8% on Prozac plus therapy and 6% receiving therapy alone.

The low therapy-claim rates in the new study could be partly a result of some parents paying out-of-pocket or not taking children for counseling because of poor insurance coverage, Mark says.

A federal law passed last week requires employers with more than 50 workers to provide comparable benefits for mental health and medical care. "Lack of insurance has been a big barrier for kids with mental illness," she says.

There's also a great shortage of child psychiatrists, Marcus says.

Some children probably went off antidepressants because of side effects or because they improved, so they weren't referred for counseling, says Kevin Kalikow, a child psychiatrist in Mount Kisco, N.Y.

Many parents are embarrassed to take their kids for therapy, says Jana Martin, a child psychologist in Long Beach, Calif.

"If kids take a pill, the parents don't feel it's as bad a reflection on them. The pill helps, but if kids get bullied on the playground, it doesn't teach them how to respond and not get depressed, while therapy does. You can't go take another pill every time someone bullies you."