In 1995, Stanford Psychologist Claude Steele coined the term, "Stereotype Threat." It describes the phenomenon of some members of a minority internalizing a stereotype that others have of them. Those "negative expectations produce stress and interfere with cognition."
Individuals affected by the Stereotype Threat become "victims of [their] own low expectations," according to an article in the June 1, 2009 issue of Time. They fear that their performance on a cognitive task might confirm the stereotype that people have. That fear causes them to perform more poorly.
Stereotype Threat has been documented most often in African Americans, but also in other groups like girls and college athletes.
Some recent "Experimental Aging Research" at North Carolina State University, reported in the Time article, reveals that Baby Boomers (those born right after World War II) also can experience Stereotype Threat.
1/2 were told that the purpose of the tests was "to examine the effect of aging on memory." 1/2 were told that "the tests were written to correct for age-related bias."
POP QUIZ: Which group performed significanctly worse on the tests?
ANSWER: The first group; afraid that their performance would confirm the stereotype that aging people have poorer memories.
Stereotype Threat raises its ugly head again, and this time it affects MY group!
September 19, 2009
September 18, 2009
When Identical Twins Aren't
POP QUIZ: Is it possible for identical twins to be four years apart in age?
ANSWER: Yes!
I know a couple that could not conceive naturally so they did in vitro fertilzation which was successful. They had fraternal twins from the eggs that were implanted and they froze the eggs that were not implanted.
Four years later they decided to have another child so they had the frozen eggs implanted and had a third child... who turned out to be the identical twin of one of the children born four years before!
The original egg had divided before the harvest. One got implanted. The other got frozen and implanted four years later. And, presto! Identical twins four years apart in age.
That is the only way I know of to be younger than your identical twin. But, according to a recent article in Time, Dr. Bahman Guyuron at Case Western Reserve University has discovered some other ways that can at least make you LOOK younger than your identical twin.
He and his team of plastic surgeons investigated 186 pairs of identical twins to see if it was possible for one to look younger than the other. The answer is yes. Here is what they found.
For those pairs of twins over 40 years of age, the plastic surgeons concluded that the twin that looked younger was...
1. the twin that was heavier.
2. the twin that didn't smoke.
3. the twin that didn't drink alcohol.
4. the twin that used sunscreen when tanning.
5. the twin that wasn't divorced.
6. the twin that didn't use antidepressants.
Wait. Go back to #1. Heavier looks younger? I like that. The researchers concluded that the reason was because the fat fills in the wrinkles that come with age, resulting in a younger look.
A couple of sad observations:
(1) if a twin divorced and took antidepressants to deal with the divorce they had TWO things working to make them look older. There is something not fair about that.
(2) The heavier thing? It only works for those OVER 40. For those twins UNDER 40, heavier looked older. Sorry.
ANSWER: Yes!
I know a couple that could not conceive naturally so they did in vitro fertilzation which was successful. They had fraternal twins from the eggs that were implanted and they froze the eggs that were not implanted.
Four years later they decided to have another child so they had the frozen eggs implanted and had a third child... who turned out to be the identical twin of one of the children born four years before!
The original egg had divided before the harvest. One got implanted. The other got frozen and implanted four years later. And, presto! Identical twins four years apart in age.
That is the only way I know of to be younger than your identical twin. But, according to a recent article in Time, Dr. Bahman Guyuron at Case Western Reserve University has discovered some other ways that can at least make you LOOK younger than your identical twin.
He and his team of plastic surgeons investigated 186 pairs of identical twins to see if it was possible for one to look younger than the other. The answer is yes. Here is what they found.
For those pairs of twins over 40 years of age, the plastic surgeons concluded that the twin that looked younger was...
1. the twin that was heavier.
2. the twin that didn't smoke.
3. the twin that didn't drink alcohol.
4. the twin that used sunscreen when tanning.
5. the twin that wasn't divorced.
6. the twin that didn't use antidepressants.
Wait. Go back to #1. Heavier looks younger? I like that. The researchers concluded that the reason was because the fat fills in the wrinkles that come with age, resulting in a younger look.
A couple of sad observations:
(1) if a twin divorced and took antidepressants to deal with the divorce they had TWO things working to make them look older. There is something not fair about that.
(2) The heavier thing? It only works for those OVER 40. For those twins UNDER 40, heavier looked older. Sorry.
September 16, 2009
Hypothesis Confirmation Bias
Social Psychologists have long known that once a person forms an opinion or takes a position it is really, really difficult to get them to change their mind, even with facts that show their position is wrong. They even have a name for the reason...
Hypothesis Confirmation Bias.
That bias does several things. It makes it so I only look for evidence that supports my "hypothesis," ignore evidence to the contrary, and view everything that is ambiguous as supportive.
Don't look so high and mighty. Everyone is guilty of it. Most of the time we just don't know that we do it. We want to think that we are fair-minded.
Some recent research by Dolores Albarracin, PhD, at the University of Illinois of Urbana-Champaign, sheds some new light on this phenomenon of social cognition. According to an article in Psychological Bulletin, as reported in the September Monitor on Psychology...
"Those who aren't confident in their beliefs are less likely to expose themselves to contrary views."
Isn't that interesting. The less confident I am that I'm right, the more I am going to ignore evidence that I'm wrong. You'd think it would work just the opposite, wouldn't you? Well, you'd be wrong.
Oh, one more thing from Albarracin's research: "people are more resistant to new points of view on topics such as religion [and] politics."
So, the less one believes that they voted for the right candidate or hold to the correct theology, the more they are going to argue that they did and they do.
That explains a lot of loud, obnoxious people I have known who only want to argue politics or religion.
Hypothesis Confirmation Bias.
That bias does several things. It makes it so I only look for evidence that supports my "hypothesis," ignore evidence to the contrary, and view everything that is ambiguous as supportive.
Don't look so high and mighty. Everyone is guilty of it. Most of the time we just don't know that we do it. We want to think that we are fair-minded.
Some recent research by Dolores Albarracin, PhD, at the University of Illinois of Urbana-Champaign, sheds some new light on this phenomenon of social cognition. According to an article in Psychological Bulletin, as reported in the September Monitor on Psychology...
"Those who aren't confident in their beliefs are less likely to expose themselves to contrary views."
Isn't that interesting. The less confident I am that I'm right, the more I am going to ignore evidence that I'm wrong. You'd think it would work just the opposite, wouldn't you? Well, you'd be wrong.
Oh, one more thing from Albarracin's research: "people are more resistant to new points of view on topics such as religion [and] politics."
So, the less one believes that they voted for the right candidate or hold to the correct theology, the more they are going to argue that they did and they do.
That explains a lot of loud, obnoxious people I have known who only want to argue politics or religion.
September 15, 2009
Stymied Research
Update on my September 11 post:
There was no July 16 issue of Time in 2009 or 2008. I could have looked in 2007 but lost interest.
Lesson learned: before you go quoting something as authoritative, use your critical thinking skills to evaluate what you read.
In this case, it makes me wonder about the original article, and the research it quoted, that I told you about on 9/11.
If I hadn't done my own investigation, I might have been quoting something ficticious... like most of those fowarded-forwarded-forwarded emails you get about the latest boogie man behind the proverbial rock.
It may still turn out to be real research, but I won't quote it since I haven't been able to verify it.
That, students, is the lesson - take the source into consideration and don't quote if you can't verify.
There was no July 16 issue of Time in 2009 or 2008. I could have looked in 2007 but lost interest.
Lesson learned: before you go quoting something as authoritative, use your critical thinking skills to evaluate what you read.
In this case, it makes me wonder about the original article, and the research it quoted, that I told you about on 9/11.
If I hadn't done my own investigation, I might have been quoting something ficticious... like most of those fowarded-forwarded-forwarded emails you get about the latest boogie man behind the proverbial rock.
It may still turn out to be real research, but I won't quote it since I haven't been able to verify it.
That, students, is the lesson - take the source into consideration and don't quote if you can't verify.
September 14, 2009
No Naps for the Hyperactive
Here's a good one: does napping calm down a hyperactive child or does her hyperactivity cause naplessness?
Research by Brian Crosby, PhD, at Penn State University, presented at the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, found that "children age 4 and 5 who did not take daytime naps were more likely to exhibit higher levels of hyperactivity, anxiety and depression."
And every mother of a 4-year-old says, "Well, duh. It took a scientist to figure that out?"
But seriously, the Monitor on Psychology (September, 2009) reports on the research as if it shows a cause and effect, and says, "Napping may have a significant influence on young children's daytime functioning."
Okay, mothers of hyperactive children, simply put your child down for a nap. That will calm them down.
This may surprise you, but some people think it may be the other way around: the hyperactivity might be preventing the naps. It is not that the child is hyperactive because he doesn't take a nap, but that he doesn't take a nap because he is hyperactive.
Either way, remember -- correlation does not imply causation!
Simply because there is a negative correlation between two things (as one goes up, the other goes down), it doesn't mean that we have found the cause of one or the other. There might be a third factor that causes both behaviors.
For example, it could be that a yet-undiscovered overactive neurotransmitter might be behind both the hyperactivity and the naplessness. Manage the neurotransmitter and you get more nap time and less hyperactivity.
Wait. Is naplessness even a word? I'll look it up after my nap.
Research by Brian Crosby, PhD, at Penn State University, presented at the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, found that "children age 4 and 5 who did not take daytime naps were more likely to exhibit higher levels of hyperactivity, anxiety and depression."
And every mother of a 4-year-old says, "Well, duh. It took a scientist to figure that out?"
But seriously, the Monitor on Psychology (September, 2009) reports on the research as if it shows a cause and effect, and says, "Napping may have a significant influence on young children's daytime functioning."
Okay, mothers of hyperactive children, simply put your child down for a nap. That will calm them down.
This may surprise you, but some people think it may be the other way around: the hyperactivity might be preventing the naps. It is not that the child is hyperactive because he doesn't take a nap, but that he doesn't take a nap because he is hyperactive.
Either way, remember -- correlation does not imply causation!
Simply because there is a negative correlation between two things (as one goes up, the other goes down), it doesn't mean that we have found the cause of one or the other. There might be a third factor that causes both behaviors.
For example, it could be that a yet-undiscovered overactive neurotransmitter might be behind both the hyperactivity and the naplessness. Manage the neurotransmitter and you get more nap time and less hyperactivity.
Wait. Is naplessness even a word? I'll look it up after my nap.
September 13, 2009
Freud Almost Had It Right
Freud's work with a clientele made up mostly of upper-class Victorian white females with anxiety and accompanying physical complaints led him to believe that our dreams hold the key to diagnosis and treatment.
He concluded that we need our dreams to handle the anxiety caused by the unconscious "armwrestling" of our Id, Ego and Superego. So, he studied, probed, analyzed, interpreted and wrote about dreams and dream interpretation.
His observation was correct but his conclusion was wrong.
We don't need dreams. We need the REM sleep in which dreaming occurs.
POP QUIZ #1: What does REM stand for?
ANSWER: Rapid Eye Movement.
POP QUIZ #2: How do you know when someone has entered REM sleep?
ANSWER: Their eyes start moving rapidly behind their eyelids. duh
POP QUIZ #3: When do we dream?
ANSWER: See paragraph 4 above.
The key is not the dreams we have. The key is the kind of sleep we get.
It is during REM sleep that restoration takes place. Brain activity (brain waves) slows down. Protein breakdown slows. Growth hormones are released. Cell maintenance takes place.
What are dreams? One theory is that they are the product of our mind trying to make sense of the random firing of the brain's neurons (brain activity doesn't completely cease when we sleep) and turning them into a "story."
The mind can get creative in the "story" (dream) it produces... imaginative creatures, impossible senarios, insertion of random actual memories, etc.
For example, the other night I had this dream that I was standing in front of my class and...
He concluded that we need our dreams to handle the anxiety caused by the unconscious "armwrestling" of our Id, Ego and Superego. So, he studied, probed, analyzed, interpreted and wrote about dreams and dream interpretation.
His observation was correct but his conclusion was wrong.
We don't need dreams. We need the REM sleep in which dreaming occurs.
POP QUIZ #1: What does REM stand for?
ANSWER: Rapid Eye Movement.
POP QUIZ #2: How do you know when someone has entered REM sleep?
ANSWER: Their eyes start moving rapidly behind their eyelids. duh
POP QUIZ #3: When do we dream?
ANSWER: See paragraph 4 above.
The key is not the dreams we have. The key is the kind of sleep we get.
It is during REM sleep that restoration takes place. Brain activity (brain waves) slows down. Protein breakdown slows. Growth hormones are released. Cell maintenance takes place.
What are dreams? One theory is that they are the product of our mind trying to make sense of the random firing of the brain's neurons (brain activity doesn't completely cease when we sleep) and turning them into a "story."
The mind can get creative in the "story" (dream) it produces... imaginative creatures, impossible senarios, insertion of random actual memories, etc.
For example, the other night I had this dream that I was standing in front of my class and...
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