Change

Just an FYI to let you know that as of yesterday we're now located at http://www.psychcentral.wordpress.com.

Our Five Senses

Ever been to a Japanese restaurant and wondered just exactly what that distinctive taste was? It's "umami."

You're familiar with sweet, salty, sour, and bitter taste sensations, but did you know that recent research suggests that there is a fifth one? It's for monosodium glutamate, a widely used flavoring in oriental or Asian foods, and is known as "umami." Umami was actually identified nearly 100 years by Kikunae Ikeda and cannot be produced by any combination of the other four tastes.

Have you heard of this fifth taste before? Can you think of other foods also flavored with glutamate that have that same umami taste?

No Regrets

A topic that often comes up when we study human development is that when middle aged and older adults are asked about any regrets they might have, the most consistent finding is that they regret the things they DID NOT DO. Even if they failed miserably in a business venture, lost in love, never passed the bar, didn't win the gold medal, or didn't write a best seller, at least THEY TRIED. They didn't stand on the sidelines wishing and hoping their lives were better or richer somehow. They took risks and packed in all the living they could.

Today in one of my general psychology classes, we listened to an NPR segment from "This I Believe" in which the woman was talking about living her life so that she'd have no regrets. She said that at each moment we are all dying; its also true that at each moment we are all living. Which do you want to do more of? She chose to live, and although she had been diagnosed with cancer, she stated that she still planned to savor each moment of the rest of her life.

Is there something you'd really like to try but are afraid to? In other words, what would you do if fear were not a factor? What is something you can do to LIVE the rest of your life so that you'll have no regrets?

Meth Labs and Children

One of the topics we’re currently studying in my Human Growth and Development online courses is child abuse, and while the text reports that it can occur in any SES, it’s more prevalent in settings involving stress, poverty, single parenthood, and parental conflict. While many think of abuse as being primarily physical, we’ve learned that there’s also psychological maltreatment in which a child might be neglected, belittled, frightened, exploited, or humiliated. In this type of abuse/neglect, caregivers (I use that term loosely) harm a child’s behavioral, cognitive, emotional, or physical functioning, and the effects can be long lasting.

The State newspaper is running a series on meth labs in SC, and alarmingly, I’ve learned that there have been hundreds of children involved. Exactly how many we don’t know since no one has counted. Here’s what we do know: When children are found, they are removed from the scene immediately, stripped of their clothing, hosed off, and examined and treated for exposure to toxic chemicals. Leaving toys and other belongings behind, they’re placed in emergency custody and are not returned to a parent if that person is connected to meth lab activity.

According to The State, no other drug, including heroin, cocaine, and crack, exposes a child to the same level of poisons. DSS assistant director Sue O’Toole is quoted as saying that the “chemicals they breathe in have restructured the synapses in their brains.” Since their lungs are larger compared to the rest of their bodies, children take in more air, faster…thus putting them at greater risk.

What kind of parent exposes a child to this toxic drug? Would the person have a profile similar to that of other abusers? Could it be possible that the parents might be ignorant about the effects of meth and the chemicals used to make it? What might be some long term effects of meth exposure on children?

Mental Jogging

All introductory courses cover the brain and its miraculous workings during the first week or so of class, and one of the things that’s always included in the discussions is the nervous system. Just how do messages get conveyed to and from the brain? What about synapses within the brain itself? How can we keep those synapses in good working order?

I came across some “neurobic” exercises proposed by Lawrence Katz, Duke University neurobiologist, and Manning Rubin in The Owner’s Manual to the Brain (love that book!). Each exercise is designed to form new associations among previously unassociated parts of the brain and bring new resources to a person’s consciousness. This “mental jogging” results in the formation of new synapses and the rejuvenation of already established synapses. I’m all for that. What about you? Which of the following seems like a “doable” exercise in your life? Can you think of other suggestions?

Make different smells available from morning to night.
Occasionally use your unaccustomed hand to brush your teeth.
Switch what you normallly wear (pins, wristwatch, pocket contents, hair part, etc.) on the left side to the right side and vice versa.
Take a different route to a frequent destination, such as work.
Try picking out the right coins (and other objects) without looking.
Turn things literally upside down, such as a picture in your office.
Chat with people whom you (and others) tend to overlook (e.g., store clerks).
If you’re not an artist, try painting or drawing a picture. If you are an artist, try doing it with your feet.
Try searching for food in the wild.
If you exercise indoors, try switching occasionally to outdoors and vice versa.
Master some new piece of technology from time to time. This could range from something as simple as a new wine bottle opener to a digital camera.
Try eating and preparing ethnic foods you’ve never experienced.
Acquire a new hobby.

How NOT to Spoil Kids

When I logged onto the computer this morning, I spotted this short piece that outlines five tips to improve parenting skills and decrease the chances of having a spoiled child. Read it and let me know what you think. Briefly, the tips are to say no, set limits, prepare for a fight, avoid tempation, and make them work. When you click the link and read the article, you'll find an elaboration on each of the guidelines.

Do you agree or disagree? Are there some tips that you like more than others?

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/20777582/?GT1=10357

Do We All Hit the Top at Some Point?

I found this to be a curious article/discussion about the glass ceiling effect that sometimes is discussed in our Human Growth & Development classes. I was particularly taken by the few men that have gone into nursing as a career.....but it does appear these numbers are increasing.

http://encarta.msn-ppe.com:443/encnet/Departments/CareerTraining/?article=ReverseGlassCeiling1

Do you think a man may experience a "reverse" glass ceiling in a profession that has traditionally been dominated by women?

Your Suggestions?

Although the brain continues to develop throughout life, it is especially plastic during childhood. Do you have any suggestions that might help parents in facilitating cognitive development and language acquisition in children? In other words, what would you recommend as ways to aid in brain growth and development? For instance, does Sesame Street help? What about reading to children? Does talking to them increase language skills and vocabulary?

Something New

I had a great time reading the journals submitted by my General Psychology students...some great writing. What really struck me is that psychology is still new to everyone and that I've been putting topics on the blog that you haven't covered or even thought about yet. Consequently, today I decided to try something different. What I'd like for you to do is to write about something you learned in class or in your text that you didn't know before. You might even go the "second mile" and tell of a situation that you observed that relates to psychology.

Development of Thinking During College

This morning I came across an interesting reading about the development of thinking during college, and I thought the information was worth sharing with inquiring minds. William Perry, Jr. of Harvard has identified three different development phases that typically occur during one’s college career. This information was lifted directly from page 571 of Pierce Howard’s The Owner’s Manual to the Brain, 3rd edition.

*Dualism. The entering student tends to see the world in terms of right and wrong , good and bad, and searches throughout freshman and sophomore courses to find the right answers.
*Relativism. The maturing student tends to eschew (great word) the notion of a single right approach or answer, instead embracing a pluralism in which multiple points of view and value systems may be simultaneously good or right.
*Commitment. The mature student, while still embracing relativism and pluralism, affirms a personal set of values. This commitment is integrative and accepting of other systems, unlike earlier commitments that were unexamined and based on unquestioned authority.

What I’d like for you to do is to apply these findings to you and your current level of thinking. Do you accept that something is true or right based on what your teacher, textbook, or some other authority says? Have you found yourself doubting some of your earlier beliefs? Do you find that you are occasionally “at odds” with others with whom you associate because of differing beliefs?

Please respond to this post with an experience or observation of your own. After I hear from a couple of you, then I’ll share some of my development thinking milestones that might not have happened had it not been for college.

Power of Thoughts

All this talk about cognitive psychology and the power of thoughts has reminded me of a great book by Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements. My son gave it to me for my birthday a few years ago, and when I finally got around to reading it, I was amazed at the power of the agreements. They're so simple and yet so profound.

Back to the subject at hand...thoughts. The first agreement is "Be impeccable with your word." Dr. Ruiz reminds the reader that impeccable comes from the Latin word pecatus which means sin, and adding the im to peccable means without sin. He then goes on to say that everything we feel or believe or say that goes against ourselves is a sin. Bottom line: Don't engage in negative self-talk. Anytime you tell yourself "I can't," or "I'm a loser," or "I'm stupid, ugly, mean," then you're sinning against yourself.

To quote him from page 45: "Tell yourself how wonderful you are, how great you are. Tell yourself how much you love yourself. Use the word to break all those teeny, tiny agreements that make you suffer....Impeccability of the word can lead you to personal freedom, to huge success and abundance; it can take away all fear and transform it into joy and love.... you can transcend the dream of fear and live a different life."

It's a great little book, one that you can read in a couple of hours but that will affect your thinking forever (or at least for a long time). For now, react to the gist of the the "agreement." Do you think that thoughts are so powerful that by changing them, we can transcend the dream of fear and live a different life? Are the thoughts we have about ourselves really that important?

Change your Thoughts

This past week we discussed several perspectives of psychological thought in the introductory psychology classes, and a couple of students wanted to know my favorite. “I like them all,” I replied to their inquiries. I truly do, for they all offer insight into the mysteries of human thought and behavior. However, this afternoon I must admit that I’m leaning towards the cognitive school of thought, the one that concentrates on memory, perception, dreams, daydreams, problem solving, and thoughts.

One reason I like this perspective is that we always have our minds with us. Granted, sometimes we don’t think as clearly as we need to. Sometimes our emotions, state of fatigue, or just plain fuzzy thinking can really do a number on us. Still, I agree with Shakespeare who said, “There’s nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” If we can control our thoughts, we can better control our worlds.

I’ve been reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, and I think one reason I’m enjoying it so much is because of funny and insightful way that she describes the psychological and spiritual nature of her opinions and experiences. While in India (her travels take her to Italy, India, and Indonesia), she realizes how ultra important it is for a person to choose and control her own thoughts. In fact, she states that if a person who can’t control her thoughts is “in deep trouble forever.”

When Gilbert began saying, “I will not harbor unhealthy thoughts anymore,” her mind latched onto the word “harbor,” and she began thinking about how it could be both a noun and a verb. While we think of a harbor as a safe place, a haven, and a refuge, sometimes we might let ships into our harbors (minds) that are negative and hurtful. Ships, like thoughts, can bring disease, death, despair, plague, doubt, and so forth. Who needs that? Her intention is to stop the entry of any negative thoughts into the harbor of her mind. In addition, she plans to eliminate any thoughts she might be currently harboring that have the potential for harm.

I’m bringing up Shakespeare and Gilbert simply because they’ve written about the cognitive perspective as applied to their lives. Do you agree with their beliefs about the power of thoughts in affecting our behavior and sense of well-being (or its opposite)? Have you ever deliberately changed your thoughts and thereby changed your world…or at least the way it looked to you?

High Heels and Piercings

As we discussed in class, the goals of psychology are to describe, explain, predict, and control (or influence) behavior. Psychologists want to know the WHY of behavior. With that in mind, let's think about something that a blogger posted a few hours ago in response to a statement made in class about wearing high heeled shoes. This is sort of a "he said, she said" thing. In class, he said that women who wear high heeled shoes are asking for it. Online, she said that yes they are...they're looking for bad backs and physical problems.

These comments made me wonder for the umpteenth time: what motivates people to go to such lengths in the name of fashion, acceptance, or enhanced appearance? I'm talking about anything from piercings to nose jobs to liposuction and any and everything in-between. Is it to enhance self-esteem and perhaps give a boost of confidence? Is it to say, "Look at me!"? In the case of high heels, could it be something as simple as the statement made in class by a young lady: "I wear them because it makes me feel pretty."

The choice of shoes is quite different (in degree at least) from having surgery or covering one's body with tattoos or piercings, but the concept is the same. Why do we do the things we do to ourselves that alter our appearance? What motivates us to choose the clothing, hair styles, shoes, jewelry, and so forth that we wear?

I realize that there are several questions to respond to, but the unifying theme is WHY?

Opinion or Fact?

In my General Psychology classes today, our primary topic was the scientific method, and we discussed topics such as empircism, methods of collecting data, theory development, and so forth. Here are some comments made during class:
*Once a woman has children, her place is in the home with them.
*Marijuana should be legalized. Look at how it helps people with glaucoma and those experiencing nausea resulting from chemotherapy.
*My grandmother says that the even the dumbest woman is smarter than the smartest man.
*Most females are catty and sneaky.
*Smokers who are exposed to "scare tactics" will quit smoking.
*Smokers who are exposed to "scare tactics" do not necessarily quit smoking.
*My mother says the best way to deal with a bully is to hit back.
*Women who wear high heeled shoes are asking for it.

Do the above statements seem like topics that psychologists would tackle? Why or why not? Could any of them be altered in such a way that would make them more scientific?

SES and Development

Getting this blog off the ground has been a bit more challenging that I imagined. Truly, I thought students would jump right in with insightful comments and thought-provoking questions. However, such has not been the case, and I'm wondering if it's because of the topics themselves or because of the unfamiliarity of blogland. If it's the latter, I can't help you much with that beyond a few instructions. However, I can try to come up with interesting topics.

In my Human Growth and Development online courses, I posed a question on the discussion board about the effects of SES on one's development. Everyone who responded agreed that socioeconomic status affects humans as they journey through life; however, it was interesting to read that many students used the beginning of school as the time when SES first began to affect people. I responded that I feel it begins even BEFORE BIRTH because of the foods the mother eats, the medical attention she receives, her stress level, her knowledge about the growing fetus, and so forth. After birth, the effects continue. Will a baby's mother live in a safe, stable environment with enough food, clothing, and appropriate shelter? Will the baby receive well-baby checkups? Will the mother talk to the baby?

In The Owner's Manual to the Brain, the author (Pierce Howard) reports that the children of professional parents hear an average of 2,100 words per hour, the children of working-class parents hear 1, 2000 words per hour, and children of welfare parents hear 600 words per hour. In addition, professional parents speak directly to their children three times as much as parents in the other two groups. "So what?" you might ask. The "what" is that that these language patterns are influential in determining differences in measurements of mental age at age three.

Can you think of additional ways in which a person's development might be affected by SES? Also, do you think these issues should be swept under the rug if they make us feel uncomfortable? Why or why not?

A Few Applications

Knowing that I'd meet my PSY 201 classes for the first time, I wanted to do a little "research" on topics in psychology that exist in the "real world." Between 6:00 and 6:25 this morning, I read these blogs about the following:

A woman who declared today to be the first day of her fast. She weighs 267 pounds and is apparently ready to take extreme measures to trim down.

Another woman who wrote several entries about breast implants (why she decided to get them, how her recovery is going, and how thrilled she is with the results).

Yet another woman who is grieving over the death of her 20-something-year-old son. Currently his ashes are in a box on the dining room, and she's open to suggestions about what to do with them.

A 37 year old man who is "re-beginning" college and is anxious and fearful about the experience. He's afraid that he's the oldest freshman in the United States.

A teen (couldn't tell whether it was a male or female) who feels that his or her parents are total losers.

A young woman (teenager) who's disgusted by the old geezers (40 year olds) who have asked her to be friends on facebook.

How, in your opinion, do these examples relate to the science of behavior and mental processes? Choose one, some, or all to discuss; better yet, share one of your own.

That E Word Again

In Human Growth and Development, we discuss exercise at every stage of the lifespan except perhaps infancy. It seems especially important now as the obesity issue continues to grow (didn't intend that pun but could think of no better verb). In The State newspaper this week, a study again reported that 30 minutes of exercise five days a week is sufficient to keep a person in reasonably good health. If that's impossible, then try three or four days for 20 minutes. If that's not possible, then the article suggests that you check your pulse to make sure you're alive. Pretty amusing, huh?

Why do you think more people don't exercise despite all the evidence pointing to its positive results. Not only can moderate exercise help with weight control, but it can also help work out emotional kinks, relieve stress, enhance cognition, and build confidence.

So what' s your opinion? Why don't more people head for the gym, fitness center, or local track? Also, if exercise has helped you, please share how...and perhaps offer a tip on getting us started.

No More Headaches

Have you read about the German woman who, after being plagued for over five decades with a pencil lodged in her brain, has now had it safely removed? When she was four years old, she fell , and the 3.15 inch long pencil went through her cheek into her brain. Her words: "It bored right through the skin and disappeared into my head...It hurt like crazy." Ouch.

51 years later, technology enabled a doctor to locate and remove the pencil...or most of it. Looks like now perhaps the woman's headaches and nosebleeds will cease, or at least diminish in number and severity. I'm astounded by these remarkable events--that she lived with a pencil in her brain for 51 years and that her doctor was able to remove it successfully.

Is anyone out there as awed by this situation as I am?

Grandmother's Pink iPod

One of the fun things about teaching Human Growth and Development is that we get to discuss the many changes that occur during a person’s life. “Life” (in this course) begins at conception and ends at death, so the social, emotional, spiritual, cognitive, and physical changes are numerous. When we add societal influences into the mix, things really get interesting.

This morning, for example, I read an article in The State about seniors and technology. While many of them might still think of a blackberry as a cobbler ingredient, others know better. In fact, the number of Americans 65 and older using the Internet went up 160 percent from 2000 to 2007, according to a Pew Internet and American Life Project. They email family and friends, listen to music on iPods, conduct online research, write books, use digital cameras, play video games, shop, read blogs, produce home slide shows, and burn DVDs.

What I LOVE about this article is that it reaffirms that growth, change, and development can happen at any stage of life I’m hoping someone will respond to this posting with an instance of an older adult who has embraced technology in some way. Another question to consider might be how technology can change seniors’ lives.

TV and Relativity

There's been a recent study on the effect of Baby Einstein videos on children. It looks to be supportive of the view that children under 2 years of age should not view any TV.

This is not likely to sit well with many parents that park their children in front of the TV every week, albeit "educational" videos or not. The research is slowly mounting that TV and young children may not be a good combination. Particularly for young children who are likely negotiating through some important critical periods for language development. Looks like we might want to grab the old reliable Dr. Suess and other children's books instead of the remote.

Read the article here: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1650352,00.html