Tiffany Calder Subconsciously recalling unwanted memories of tragic events or embarrassing moments is one of the downfalls of having an extremely active mind, but, neuroscientists have discovered a lead to a way that we can deliberately reduce the frequency and severity for random recallings of unwanted memories. In our everyday lives, our mind goes through the process of recalling memories numerous times. Recalling memory happens when your brain activates a biochemical process that solidifies and reorganizes memory that has been stored from past times. Often times this recalling leads us into trouble. For example, perhaps you’ve been in a terrible car accident and everytime you see the location of that accident or a car that looks like the one you collided with, your mind replays the event over and over in your head. Sometimes, we find ourselves just not wanting to remember certain things like that so we don’t have to relive the pain forever. Recently, Tracy Wang, a postdoctoral psychology fellow at the University of Texas led a study that began to explore the possibility of training our mind to intentionally forget certain memories. To test the likelihood of being able to do so, 24 people of a random selection were put to the test. They were placed in a brain-imaging machine and shown 200 images of faces and scenes and were asked to identify them as male vs. female and outside vs. inside for a short period of time before they were then asked to either remember or forget the image before them. After all the images had been shown they were given a test with both images that were shown before and some that weren’t and asked to rate how confident they were at having seen them. To get data, they looked at the brain-imaging machines photos and focused on the ventral temporal cortex and sensory cortex, both of which become very active when a person focuses their attention on simple images like the ones shown. Ultimately, the subjects recalled 50-60% of the images they saw and were asked to remember and successfully forgot 40% of the images they were asked to forget. The brain scans showed that when the subject’s mind was particularly active or inactive, it corresponded with a failed attempt to forget an image telling us that a medium level of attention on a certain thought is ideal for deliberately forgetting unwanted memories, not too little or too much. It is important to note that the study was not entirely conclusive enough to say that it is possible to regularly be able to intentionally forget but that as Lili Sahakyan, a professor of psychology at University of Illinois, says: “memories have to be strengthened before they can be weakened,” but that it is possible to dim memories by substitution, a process used by many therapists that works by linking unwanted memories to other thoughts in order to avoid the random recallings and flashbacks that often lead to cases of PTSD. This study provides the conclusion that “to intentionally forget is to remember differently, on purpose,” and suggests a possibility that deliberately forgetting memories is an activity that we could potentially train our minds to do after more research has been done. Images: https://www.acsh.org/news/2019/01/10/funny-thing-about-memory-gift-forgetting-13720 Article: Carey, B. (2019, March 22). Can We Get Better at Forgetting? Retrieved May 20, 2019, from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/22/health/memory-forgetting-psychology.html?rref=collection/timestopic/PsychologandPsychologists&action=click&contentCollection=health®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=29&pgtype=collection&login=email&auth=login-email
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Marie LeBlanc If I were to ask you what generation was the most entitled, sensitive, easily offended, and narcissistic, it seems like there is an obvious answer. Millennials. Older generations always have something negative to say and younger kids disassociate themselves with them. But how can a group of millions of people all be labeled this way? Josh Grubbs, a psychology professor at Bowling Green State University, who conducted this research, said those stereotypes “in part, started with us. Psychologists were the ones that talked about the narcissism epidemic to begin with.” Twenty years ago psychologists began investigating the trend of young adults becoming more and more self-absorbed than the previous generation. Media and news outlets took this finding and ran with it. However, they never accounted for the opposing side. This age group is constantly being fed this narrative, which has now manifested itself into their mindsets. Grubbs says adults between eighteen and twenty-five years old believe their generation is the most entitled and narcissistic “and are offended by it.” Grubbs saw all of these stereotypes in the media and six years ago began to focus his research on what the people in that generation thought, not what outsiders thought of them. Grubbs interviewed hundreds of college students and asked specific questions regarding narcissism, entitlement, and other stereotypes. They were asked about their own personality traits, what they thought the stereotypes related to their age-group were, and their attitude toward narcissism and entitlement as both a trait and a label. Researchers also recorded reactions to various negative stereotypes including them being entitled, easily offended, and overly sensitive. Researchers then recorded what these students’ reactions were to narcissism when asked in a way that presented it positively or negatively. It was found that people who were narcissistic or had narcissistic tendencies, viewed it as a positive trait. However, most students did not sway from a negative attitude even when narcissism was presented positively. They also found that, in general, these labels and stereotypes were very normalized for this age group and Grubbs was surprised to see there was not as much denial as he thought there would be. But, the students did seem distressed and frustrated about these labels. The research found concluded that millennials are not universally narcissistic, despite this idea being normalized and constantly talked about in our society. Although I am a Gen Z not a millennial, I am eighteen, meaning I am in the range that thinks their generation is the most entitled and narcissistic. I also have had conversations with people older than me about how my age group is lesser and does not withhold values such as hard work. It is incredibly frustrating to be lumped into a stereotype and not be able to defend yourself. It can be hard to be taken seriously when you are held back because of a false label. I am very lucky not have been setback significantly because of stereotypes, but so many are. Going forward in my life I hope to continue not using stereotypes as a way to categorize huge groups of people. Although Grubbs’ research is showing that millennials are not as narcissistic as they are made out to be, it also has a bigger meaning. He hopes his findings teaches people not to label a whole group blindly and to be “a little more cautious and kind” towards others. Full Article: Attention Young People: This Narcissism Study Is All About You
Source: Chokshi, N. (2019, May 15). Attention Young People: This Narcissism Study Is All AboutYou.Retrievedfrom https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/15/science/narcissism-teenagers.html?rref=collection/timestopic/Psychology and Psychologists&action=click&contentCollection=health®ion=stream&module=stream Images: https://psychcentral.com/blog/the-difference-between-narcissism-narcissistic-personality-disorder/ https://www.cmo.com/opinion/articles/2018/1/17/18-millennialminded-trends-for-2018-.html Parker Rollins What if you could intentionally forget an awful memory? In other words, erase traumatic events from your memory? This question has been debated and has been divided into its pros and cons. Events from our past can affect how we live our futures and if we could somehow harness the power to erase bad memories, we could live without the stress of the past. But, erasing memories can be a potential negative as bad memories can act as red flags for us to use when making critical decisions. Without these memories, we would have no knowledge of potential dangers. Also, losing memories is critical for our memory production and retrieval and is key to our identity. Manipulating this sequence could have negative effects that we do not understand. Recent scientific research has opened the possibility to which we could change society and the health of everyone. In a recent study in the New York Times, scientists have been studying whether or not we can forget events that have a negative effect on our lives. Since our emotions to sensory details are crucial to our memory production, the new study focused on this concept. Tracy Wang, a postdoctoral psychology fellow at the University of Texas at Austin, led the experiment where 24 participants sat in a brain-imaging machine while the memory test was being conducted. The participants were shown 200 images of faces and scenes and told to identify the faces and male or female and the scenes as indoor or outdoor. After each image, they were told to either remember or forget the image. After a short break, the participants were shown the images and asked if they confidently remembered the image. The results: the participants remembered approximately 50 to 60% of the images which means they successfully forgot 40% of the images. The brain-imaging showed that when a participant concentrated on forgetting or when a participant mentally ignored the image, it did not contribute to a successful attempt at forgetting. Rather, those individuals that did not focus too much on forgetting actually successfully forgot an image. The study supports the possibility of controllable forgetting which is opening the door for new methods of forgetting. Intentional ignoring is a common method of suppression of bad memories. It is also shown that linking bad memories to underlying positives of the memory can help manipulate the memory into a positive one helping forget the bad event. I found this particularly relatable as I have had many humiliating experiences in my life and rather than focusing on the shame and regret I feel, I have manipulated these memories to focus on the support my friends gave me and the lessons I learned so I am less affected by the bad event than I could have been. I think the idea that we could consciously forget bad memories can be a groundbreaking scientific discovery as it can be a vital treatment for patients suffering from depression, stress, and neglect. We could treat victims with childhood neglect and trauma into living normal lives without the pain and suffering they can endure. Think about it, you can intentionally forget your worst memories and live a healthier lifestyle just by changing your memory! Bibliography Used:
Carey, B. (2019, March 22). Can We Get Better at Forgetting? Retrieved May 21, 2019, from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/22/health/memory-forgetting-psychology.html?rref=collection/timestopic/Psychology and Psychologists&action=click&contentCollection=health®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=29&pgtype=collection Photo: https://www.foundrymag.com/opinion/avoiding-forgetting-curve By Samantha Bailey Have you ever had a dream that made you second-guess a decision or make you think about something in a new way? As we get older we are told that dreams don’t matter. But, that is not true. What you dream about helps you when you are awake. In the 1960s in Brooklyn psychologist Fredrick Snyder analyzed 600 dream reports about how strange and bizarre situations in dreams are. He found that 38 percent were real places that the dreamer recognized, 43 percent were places that resembled familiar places that the dreamer knew, five percent were considered exotic places, and less than one percent was considered a fantastic situation. Dr. Snyder recorded each dream on various measures of coherence. The overall result was that nine out of ten dreams could be considered descriptions of everyday experiences. Another study conducted by Dr. Revonsou and Dr. Salmivalli involved the emotions surrounding dreams. After analyzing dreams from a group of students they found that the emotions experienced in dreams were appropriate to the situation, no matter how odd the situation seemed. In 2014, neurologist Isabelle Arnulf decided to conduct an experiment relating dreams to test grades. She reached out to a group of doctors on the day they were scheduled to take their medical school entrance exams. Around 539 students out of the 719 students said they had a dream about the exam prior to taking the test. The dreams were not just dreams but nightmares that consisted of losing their way to the test center, finding it impossible to figure out test questions, realizing that the test questions were written in invisible ink, being late for the test, or not having enough time to complete the exam. Dr. Arnulf compared the dreaming patterns of the students to the grades that they received on the entrance exam. She found that students who dreamed more about the exam tested better than those who did not. Some people believe that dreams are an accident of biology and do not mean anything at all. This has been proven against by many doctors and scientist from many years. The most recurring and popular hypothesis about dreams is that they let people work through anxiety in a low-risk environment, which is proven in the experiment conducted by Dr. Isabelle Arnulf. Another recurring aspect of dreams involves emotions. The most common emotions experienced if fear, helplessness, anxiety, and guilt. These emotions prove the popular hypothesis above and they relate to the study conducted by Dr. Revonsou and Dr. Salmivalli. I have always found dreams to be very interesting. I do not record my dreams but it has been found that the more you write down your dreams there are an increasing amount of details. Usually I do not think about a dream a have, maybe recount it’s unusual characteristics to a friend or remembers it when I wake up, but other than that I move the dream to the back of my head. A while ago I was in the midst of making a decision and I had a dream about the decision I had to make. The answer was not clear cut or written out to me, I had to think about what the events in my dream meant. Like I said before, I would usually brush the dream off but the bizarre events made me think twice. Ever since then I have been thinking about my dreams more and about what they mean, I have also been wanting to write them down, once I find the time! Our dreams help us solidify new memories and cut irrelevant information about who we are! To view the full article click here
References (in APA). Robb, A. (2018, November 10). Why Do You Keep Dreaming You Forgot Your Pants? It's Science. Retrieved May 22, 2019, from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/10/opinion/sunday/dreams-meaning-science.html?rref=collection/timestopic/Psychology and Psychologists&action=click&contentCollection=health®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=search&contentPlacement=8&pgtype=collection Images: Dream image By Erik Borda The creation of language is one of the first paradoxes you may encounter in your early years. Many children become confused when they consider that the languages we use every day didn't always exist. How did the first people decide on what sounds held certain meanings if they couldn't communicate? Were these sounds mapped to words completely by random? According to a simple test, we may be able to deduce how certain sounds were assigned to objects in early language. The bouba/kiki experiment was carried out in 2001 by two psychologists from the University of San Diego California named VS Ramachandran and Edward Hubbard. In the experiment, a group of participants were shown two shapes to which they had to assign the names 'bouba' and 'kiki'. The participants were never given a definition of these two words or any indication that they belonged to either of the two shapes, however 95% of participants named the rounded shape bouba and the spiny shape kiki. Although this phenomenon was brought to the public attention in 2001, it had been observed as far back as 1929 when a German psychologist known as Wolfgang Köhler conducted a similar test with 'bouba' being replaced with 'malumba' and 'kiki' being replaced with 'katake'. Once again, participants in this experiment assigned the rounded shape to malumba and the spiny shape to katake, suggesting that the bouba/kiki effect may manifest in participants of different languages. It is not clear why this trend occurs, but Ramachandran and Hubbard have speculated that it is caused by a connection between the sensory and motor parts of the brain that associate the shape one's mouth makes while saying 'bouba' or 'kiki' with the shape of the figure presented. One must make a narrow shape with their lips and a sharp tongue movement to say the name 'kiki', while 'bouba' requires a wider shape of the lips and movement of the tongue. This causes the brain to connect the word 'kiki' with a shape covered with sharp points and 'bouba' with a round or amorphous figure. Since so many subjects, especially children, are predisposed to follow the bouba/kiki effect, this suggests a predictable trend to how sounds were first assigned to objects and it may have been a critical step in the development of language.
Though this phenomenon may seem to have little impact in your daily life, it may subtly influence how people expect you to look based upon your name. According to another experiment done by two scholars of the Department of Psychology from the University of Otago, the bouba/kiki effect can extend to facial features. In their first study, they had 30 participants rank the order of how fitting six names were for twenty male faces. Ten of these faces were round, while the other ten were angular. Similarly, three of the names required narrow movements of the lips and tongue while the other three required wider movements. For eight out of ten of the round faces the associated name was given at a greater rank on average and the same thing occurred nine out of ten times for the angular faces. This suggests that people will naturally expect your face to look either round or angular depending on your name. I find the bouba/kiki effect to be intriguing linguistically, but as someone with a "sharp" first name and a "round" last name, I'm somewhat conflicted about its social effects. Source: Etchells, P. (2016, October 17). The bouba/kiki effect: How do we link shapes to sounds? Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/science/head-quarters/2016/oct/17/the-boubakiki-effect-how-do-we-link-shapes-to-sounds Barton, D. N., & Halberstadt, J. (2017, June 08). A social Bouba/Kiki effect: A bias for people whose names match their faces. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13423-017-1304-x Images: https://synesthesia.com/blog/synesthesia/science-of-synesthesia/synesthesia-research-and-science/attachment/3/ https://www.wabisabilearning.com/blog/periodic-table-figures-of-speech-infographic By Shanti Gallivan Today, the list of advantages that the upper class has is extensive and continues to grow. With the disposable income that allows for one to follow their passion without fear of losing it all and having a little extra to invest in the Stockmarket, the upper class seems to have all the right cards to play. With all these advantages, there still seems to be a level playing field in the realm of personality––you just can't buy it. However, new research suggests the wealthy aren't only able to succeed with money but confidence! In a recent study published by the New York Times, several experiments were done to look at the connection, if at all, of confidence and social class. The study concluded that people who came from a higher social class were more likely to have an inflated sense of their skills––even when tests proved they were average. This study also suggests that this sense of overconfidence allows wealthier individuals to convince people they are qualified for tasks that they have little experience in. The study was broken up into three mini studies that looked at different parts of these two hypotheses. Study 1 - Is confidence and wealth connected? The first study's participates featured small-business owners from Mexico. The researchers obtained information from a small business loan agency, Global EFL, on 150,949 small-business owners from Mexico that applied for loans ranging from 429 to 107,294 US dollars. When the business owners were applying for loans they had to complete a short psychometric assessment which tested their cognitive abilities. The assessment consisted of a flashcard game and once the participants finished they had to rank how well they thought they did. Their results were calculated and how much they over-placed themselves was also recorded. The researchers then compared the over-placement records with the participants' social classes. After which, they concluded that those with more education, higher income, and a higher subjective sense of standing in society were more likely to think that they did better on the flashcard game––even if their results were average. This study allowed researchers to find and establish the correlation between overconfidence and wealth. Study 2 - Is there a connection in the United States too? The second study that was done in this experiment was a three part online survey testing the same idea (the strong connection between wealth and overconfidence). In this study, the participants were informed from a MTurk ad and asked to complete three surveys that included tasks and a self-assessment of ones ability of those tasks. This study involved 500 participants and replicated the results of Study 1 while also shedding further light on the statement that "Individuals with relatively high (compared to low) social class tend to be more overconfident because they have a stronger desire to achieve high social rank." By finding that those with a higher social class were likely to be more confident, even if there ability was not special, researchers were able to include US participants in their hypotheses while verifying results found in Study 1. Study 3 - Why is overconfidence beneficial? The final study featured a mock job interview in a laboratory of a college campus featuring college students. The study was to test the last piece of the hypothesis––if overconfidence in higher-class individuals would provide a path to social advantages. The researchers asked the students to come prepared for an interview and to act as if they were highly interested in the job. Those who were doing the interview were also not aware of the specifics in the experiment which made the experiment "double blinded" to decrease sources of error. The interviewers were asked to record their opinions on each university student interviewed. These opinions were later compared to the economic and social status of the student. The researchers found that compared with their lower-class counterparts, higher-class individuals were more overconfident and found to be more competent. This study is important because these findings caused researchers to infer that overconfidence is another way in which those who are born in the upper class are likely to remain in the upper class. This trend is seen in the extreme wealth inequality of the United States. Researchers also believe that the majority of individuals who work at elite and prestigious firms tend to come from elite educational institutions. And finally, high earning entrepreneurs disproportionately come from a highly educated and "well-to-do" families. This study may seem as though it is just adding to the advantages of coming from a wealthy family, however, it relates to the everyday people on multiple levels. First, this study shows the importance of confidence, but also shows how actual experience is more valuable than apparent confidence. This study also shows that the American Dream of climbing up the "social ladder" still has many limitations (even confidence is one) that we must try to overcome for future generations. To me, this study made me realize the importance of your own personality for new opportunities. To view article click here References (in APA): Murphy, H. (2019, May 20). Why High-Class People Get Away With Incompetence. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/20/science/social-class-confidence.html?rref=collection/timestopic/Psychology and Psychologists&action=click&contentCollection=health®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection Images: Inequality scale image Confidence graph image By Liv Bailey Imagine: you live a life where you never get bored of anything. Not even 90 minute long history classes with nothing but a very dull powerpoint to keep your attention. Wouldn’t that be incredible? You’d never be forced to stare at a wall and not know what to do with yourself ever again. Now, obviously, that’s not entirely possible. I don't have some magic trick that just gets rid of boredom with a wave of a magic wand and a couple multivitamins that don’t seem to do anything. There is, however, a way to get around spending your days generall bored with your life, and it doesn’t even involve drastic lifestyle changes! Not that I’d be writing this if I was going to tell you you had to move to another country and throw away your phone. I’m not that much of an idiot — I know you aren’t going to do any of that, and if you aren’t going to do any of it, you’d stop reading this article, and what would be the point of that? Alright, here’s the thing. Boredom? It’s actually something we developed evolutionarily. Boredom is because of this thing called “hedonic adaptation.” I know, I know, scientific jargon, but it’s actually really simple. Hedonic adaptation simply means that over time, we get used to things — whether they’re good or bad. In other words, if your grandmother dies, you’ll be heartbroken (probably. I don't know what your relationship with your grandmother is like), but eventually, that pain will fade away. On the flipside, if you get a new car, you’re going to be super excited and happy about it for a couple weeks, and then that happiness will fade, and it’ll just be your car. Hedonic adaptation, despite the fact that it takes away our happy emotions quite often, does serve an important purpose. Extreme emotions can be nice (or terrible), but no matter what, they always render us unable to remember things as easily, and they make us less motivated to do things. Rushes of emotion reduce brain function, and if we were always like that, we wouldn’t convert a lot of long term memories, and we’d really not get a lot done, because we’re so caught up in feelings. Hedonic adaptation levels out our emotions for us, so we aren’t hindered by them for too long. The problem? When all your emotions are leveled out, you stop really feeling things, and you get bored. In 2018, two men named Robert W. Smith and Ed O’Brien decided to run some experiments to determine what people could do counter boredom. They had people do some interesting stuff, but apparently having participants eat popcorn with chopsticks helped them determine how to free oneself from boredom, so how much can I complain? Anyways, they found that there’s a couple of things people can do that are relatively easy, and still counter boredom incredibly. Here’s my favorite three.
Getting up at 6:00, starting school at 8:00, going to the same scheduled classes every other day, going to sports practice at 2:45, and then going home to do homework at 5:00 can get extremely boring. It’s the same thing, again and again, every day, with no way to get out. I know it kills me. There isn’t really much I can change about my schedule, since it’s so packed, and I don’t even have my licence yet (I’m a sophomore and I’m still fifteen, I know, I don't want to hear about it), so I can't just decide to go somewhere… ever. So, obviously, I have a lot of opportunities to get bored. Reading about a study like Smith and O’Brien’s was very enlightening for me. All the strategies that their experiment revealed were things that I can easily do, despite my age and… immobility. It’s not that hard for me to decide, one day, that I’m going to eat something new or to rearrange my workspace. I will certainly be using these ideas in the near future. So, what did we learn? Well, boredom is something that proves you’re evolutionarily up to date, for one. Was hedonic adaptation the hidden part of the software update that made everything stop working properly? We’d like to think it is, sure, because maybe it’s the cause of our last breakup (the relationship lost its “new” feeling and all of a sudden, you realized you actually didn’t really like the person you were with), but it’s very important that our strong emotions fade over time, so that we can, you know, use our brains properly. Too much evening out causes boredom, however, so we have to find ways to counter that. Smith and O’Brien (what great dudes) conducted a study that found a couple of ways we can do that — eating food unconventionally (a.k.a. go buy yourself some chopsticks), organizing your workspace, and asking people new casual questions (if I hear “how are you?” one more time, I swear). If you do these few things, you’ll be able to reduce your boredom drastically, by creating a small feeling of “new” every time you do something, so that hedonic adaptation doesn’t have a chance to sink its claws into your routine. Works Cited Fraga, J. (2019, March 30). What to Do When You're Bored With Your Routines. Retrieved May 22, 2019, from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/29/smarter-living/what-to-do-when-youre-bored-with-your-routines.html?rref=collection/timestopic/Psychology and Psychologists&action=click&contentCollection=health®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=24&pgtype=collection
O’Brien, E., & Smith, R. W. (n.d.). Unconventional Consumption Methods and Enjoying Things Consumed: Recapturing the "First-Time" Experience - Ed O'Brien, Robert W. Smith, 2019. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0146167218779823 [Popcorn and chopsticks]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://review.chicagobooth.edu/behavioral-science/2018/article/try-eating-popcorn-chopsticks |
Ms. Carrigan's Psych ClassWe have been reading articles about psychological studies to inform the way we live our lives. Please explore, and we hope you learn a bit about the psychology in your life! Categories
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