I read an article this week about a little known sex-gene psychological disorder that affects men. It is caused by a gene found only on the male Y chromosome, so the disorder is only found in men.
The name of the specific gene is Cholorophile Longitudinal Ontogeneous Dysphorium (abbreviated CLOD).
Manifestations of the disorder will show up this evening all over America because tomorrow is Valentine's Day.
Behaviors associated with Male Gift-Giving Confusion Disorder include:
1. Waiting until late on the eve of the gift-giving occasion before beginning to shop for a gift. Often at a store like Dollar General because it is the only one still open.
2. Buying the first Hallmark card they pick up, often without even reading it.
3. Buying a gift that THEY want.
4. Buying the thing advertised on the last radio commerical they heard before entering the store.
5. Buying something "practical."
6. Thinking the gift is romantic even if it has a cord that plugs into the wall.
7. No amount of tears or explanations by females helps the man "get it."
Therapy for the disorder takes years of marriage and modeling of appropriate gift-giving behaviors by the man's wife. Often therapy is never successful because the disorder tends to cause divorces before enough marriage years are accumulated.
"Hello, my name is Gary, and I have the CLOD gene. I once bought my wife a lawn edger for Valentine's Day."
(This was written tongue-in-cheek but it would explain a lot, wouldn't it?)
February 13, 2010
February 11, 2010
Fools and Expectations
We went to the theater last night to see Neil Simon's play, Fools, directed by a good friend. It was a night of great fun with good friends, and the play perfectly illustrated a psychological truth.
It was about the citizens of Kulyenchikov, a small village in Russia where everyone was an idiot. They all knew that they were idiots and they all knew WHY they were idiots. Everyone for generations had been a idiot because of a curse placed on the village hundreds of years ago: "Everyone in the village will be an idiot." Sure enough, they all became idiots and bore idiot children.
Not to ruin the plot of the play for you, but an outsider broke the curse of idiocy. How? By statisfying the demands built into the curse, "You will be idiots until a beautiful girl in the village marries a man from the Slovanivic family."
The outsider had fallen in love with a beautiful village girl, convinced everyone in town that he was a member of the Slovanivic family, and married her.
Instantly, upon the pronunciation of "husband and wife" the idiocy was lifted and everyone in the village was of normal to above-normal intelligence.
The problem? He really wasn't a Slovanivic family. Why, then, was the curse lifted?
Because the idiocy wasn't actually the result of a curse. It was the result of what psychologists call, "the power of expectations." Everyone in the village expected to become an idiot because of the curse, and for that reason became an idiot. Everyone in the village expected the curse to be lifted at the wedding, and the idiocy dissipated.
The most famous "expectancy" study was the Rosenthal-Jacobson study in which they told school teachers which students, based on IQ tests, would "blossom" that year and which ones would not. They came back at the end of the year and the students who had been predicted to blossom actually had, and the others had not.
The truth? Assignment to the student groups was random, not by test results.
POP QUIZ: Why, then, did the ones that blossomed blossom?
ANSWER: Expectations.
Their teachers expected them to blossom, and they did. They expected the others to not, and they didn't.
The teachers refused to believe that they treated the two groups of students differently, but videotapes taken through the year showed subtle differences in how the teachers interacted with the students. Their expectations created a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Watch your expectations of people (including your children). They might live up to or down to them simply because you have the expectations.
(My friend, the Director, just emailed me and reminded me of the line in the second act, when Leon says to Sophia, “Kulyenchikov’s curse is self-inflicted.” Exactly!)
It was about the citizens of Kulyenchikov, a small village in Russia where everyone was an idiot. They all knew that they were idiots and they all knew WHY they were idiots. Everyone for generations had been a idiot because of a curse placed on the village hundreds of years ago: "Everyone in the village will be an idiot." Sure enough, they all became idiots and bore idiot children.
Not to ruin the plot of the play for you, but an outsider broke the curse of idiocy. How? By statisfying the demands built into the curse, "You will be idiots until a beautiful girl in the village marries a man from the Slovanivic family."
The outsider had fallen in love with a beautiful village girl, convinced everyone in town that he was a member of the Slovanivic family, and married her.
Instantly, upon the pronunciation of "husband and wife" the idiocy was lifted and everyone in the village was of normal to above-normal intelligence.
The problem? He really wasn't a Slovanivic family. Why, then, was the curse lifted?
Because the idiocy wasn't actually the result of a curse. It was the result of what psychologists call, "the power of expectations." Everyone in the village expected to become an idiot because of the curse, and for that reason became an idiot. Everyone in the village expected the curse to be lifted at the wedding, and the idiocy dissipated.
The most famous "expectancy" study was the Rosenthal-Jacobson study in which they told school teachers which students, based on IQ tests, would "blossom" that year and which ones would not. They came back at the end of the year and the students who had been predicted to blossom actually had, and the others had not.
The truth? Assignment to the student groups was random, not by test results.
POP QUIZ: Why, then, did the ones that blossomed blossom?
ANSWER: Expectations.
Their teachers expected them to blossom, and they did. They expected the others to not, and they didn't.
The teachers refused to believe that they treated the two groups of students differently, but videotapes taken through the year showed subtle differences in how the teachers interacted with the students. Their expectations created a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Watch your expectations of people (including your children). They might live up to or down to them simply because you have the expectations.
(My friend, the Director, just emailed me and reminded me of the line in the second act, when Leon says to Sophia, “Kulyenchikov’s curse is self-inflicted.” Exactly!)
February 9, 2010
Serotonin and SIDS
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is heartbreaking to families and frustrating to researchers. No clues have been discovered for predicting which babies are at risk.
Now a recent breakthrough in research with neurotransmitters may offer some hope.
Neurotrasmitters are chemicals produced by neurons (brain cells) that bridge the gap between neurons to keep the nervous sytem functioning. About 150 have been identified but we only know what approximately 50 of them do. Some speed up the nervous system, some slow it down. Some produce a feeling of pleasure. Some are pain killers. Some arouse the body so it can be ready for flight or fight. Many have more than one function.
Most psychoactive drugs work at the neurotransmitter level. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that regulates mood and some depression is caused by the brain not producing enough of it. Some antidepressants replace Serotonin, to elevate mood.
Now, Serotonin is being suspected of causing SIDS. Most infants when laid face down can turn their head if deprived of oxygen by a blanket or soft mattress. But babies with a deficiency of Serotonin don't awaken enough to turn their heads. This is a different view than the one that has basically said the brains of children who die of SIDS have "under-developed" brains.
If the research results are verified there might be some testing for Serotonin levels in newborns. Even if a baby's body can't handle drug therapy to counteract the effects because it is too small, parents can at least put some safeguards in place.
Now a recent breakthrough in research with neurotransmitters may offer some hope.
Neurotrasmitters are chemicals produced by neurons (brain cells) that bridge the gap between neurons to keep the nervous sytem functioning. About 150 have been identified but we only know what approximately 50 of them do. Some speed up the nervous system, some slow it down. Some produce a feeling of pleasure. Some are pain killers. Some arouse the body so it can be ready for flight or fight. Many have more than one function.
Most psychoactive drugs work at the neurotransmitter level. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that regulates mood and some depression is caused by the brain not producing enough of it. Some antidepressants replace Serotonin, to elevate mood.
Now, Serotonin is being suspected of causing SIDS. Most infants when laid face down can turn their head if deprived of oxygen by a blanket or soft mattress. But babies with a deficiency of Serotonin don't awaken enough to turn their heads. This is a different view than the one that has basically said the brains of children who die of SIDS have "under-developed" brains.
If the research results are verified there might be some testing for Serotonin levels in newborns. Even if a baby's body can't handle drug therapy to counteract the effects because it is too small, parents can at least put some safeguards in place.
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