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Archive for January, 2011

 Honda Hybrid Car

Article Date: 22 Sep 2010 – 0:00 PDT

Clues to consumer behavior may be lurking our genes, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.

“We examine a wide range of consumer judgment and decision-making phenomenon and discover that many – though not all of them – are in fact heritable or influenced by genetic factors,” write authors Itamar Simonson (Stanford University) and Aner Sela (University of Florida, Gainesville).

The authors studied twins’ consumer preferences to determine whether or not certain behaviors or traits have a genetic basis. “A greater similarity in behavior or trait between identical than between fraternal twins indicates that the behavior or trait is likely to be heritable,” the authors explain.

Read in Full:  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/201904.php



 

September 22, 2010

Quick 7-point primer on the psychology of Facebook.

Love it or loathe it, Facebook is everywhere, and will continue to be everywhere as the film describing its genesis—The Social Network—is released worldwide over coming months.

To help you cope, here are 7 research-based tips for total Facebook domination. If you don’t use it, these should at least help you pepper Facebook-related conversations with compelling observations from the psychological research.

1. Get between 100 and 300 friends

It doesn’t look good to have too many Facebook friends, or too few.

It has been suggested that humans can maintain relationships with 150 people and Tong et al. (2008) found Facebooker’s social attractiveness peaked at around this number. Go much above 300 or below 100 and social attractiveness starts to drop.

2. Court attractive friends

Make sure your friends, or the people who post on your ‘wall’, are good-looking. Walther et al. (2008) found that attractive friends boosted the perceived attractiveness of participant’s profiles.

Keep the uggos away, unlike the offline world, it won’t make you look better in comparison.

3. Understand the 7 motivations

If you need to lure more people in as Facebook friends, it’s handy to understand its attraction.

Joinson (2008) found 7 basic motivations for using Facebook: connecting with old or distant friends, social surveillance (see what old friends are up to, but without talking to them), looking up people met offline, virtual people watching, status updating and content.

Read in Full:  http://www.spring.org.uk/2010/09/facebook-7-highly-effective-habits.php



 Sleep Walking

All of us have a zombie side…



 

Article Date: 21 Sep 2010 – 20:00 PDT

Patients who take newer kinds of antipsychotic medications may have a higher risk of developing serious blood clots, say researchers from Nottingham, England in an article published in the BMJ (British Medical Journal). Specifically, the risk is of venous thromoembolism – a collective term for DVT (deep vein thrombosis) and pulmonary embolism. Antipsychotic drugs are not only prescribed for patients with psychosis, but occasionally for such conditions as vertigo, vomiting or nausea.

Venous thromboembolism is a major cause of illness and death, it is also preventable, the authors write. A third of survivors go on to suffer long-term effects; up to a quarter die within a week of developing the clot.

Read in Full:  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/202011.php



I’ve just found a remarkable documentary on YouTube from a 1957 BBC series called ‘The Hurt Mind’. The programme attempts to de-stigmatise mental health for the public but also documents some of the most controversial treatments in the history of psychiatry.

The programme was an edition of a then pioneering five-part BBC series on mental health and this was one that specifically dealt with ‘physical treatments’ – that is, treatments which directly affect the brain, such as ECT, leucotomy, insulin coma therapy and abreaction.

This was before the days when pills were widely used in psychiatry – there were no antidepressants, antipsychotics or mood stabilisers and the only tranquilisers were heavyweight barbiturates, as benzodiazapines had yet to become available.

The psychiatrists on the programme are not named, but if I’m not mistaken, the main interviewee is William Sargant, who has a bit of sinister reputation for his enthusiasm for brain altering treatments, his interest in ‘brain washing’, and rumours he was funded by the CIA – as we’ve discussed previously.

Sargant literally wrote the book on physical treatments (titled An Introduction to Physical Methods of Treatment in Psychiatry) and the programme presents them in the most biased possible light, in line with Sargant’s enthusiasms, by dismissing side-effects and presenting single case of recovered happy patients.

For those more familiar with the frontal lobotomy – popularised by American surgeon Walter Freeman, which involved hammering an ice pick under the orbits of the eyes – you’ll notice that the British version of the operation, the leucotomy, was substantially different in its approach and involved drilling small holes in the skull.

The programme also depicts abreaction, where a patient with a post-traumatic condition is given a drug – often barbiturate, or, in this case, ether – and encouraged to talk about the difficult event.

The procedure was based on the Freudian notion that emotional pain can be repressed and can ‘build up’ and cause difficulties in other areas – although a drug can be used to help break down the defences and releases the emotion in a healthy catharsis.

Read in Full:  http://mindhacks.com/2010/09/22/rare-footage-of-physical-treatments-in-psychiatry-1957/



 

  • September 21st, 2010 2:44 pm ET

Coco Key Resort in Mount Laurel NJ is an indoor water-park that is always 84 degrees. They offer a variety of water park activities.There is also a small counter service eatery. The nicest part for parents is a lounge area and indoor-outdoor hot tub just for parents or people over the age of 21.

What is at Coco Key Resort

  • a large water-playground with three body slides
  • lily pad pool
  • toddler water play area with large movie screen that plays movies
  • 3 foot deep activity pool
  • 3 tube and body thrill slides.

We visited Coco Key on a Wednesday after Labor Day, which is their least expensive day of the week with admission being 5.00 off and comes to 17.00 a person. It was not crowded at all, and the first half-hour we were there we were the only people in the water-park. From 5pm on the activity picked up but it was never overly crowded or loud.

Read  in Full: http://www.examiner.com/autism-parenting-in-newark/coco-key-resort-mt-laurel-nj-for-kids-with-autism-and-sensory-needs-review



 Countess of Wessex

 

Wednesday, September 22 2010

 

An innovative special needs school in Wrotham has won royal endorsement with a visit from Sophie Countess of Wessex.

 

The Countess, Patron of the National Autistic Society, flew in by helicopter to officially open Grange Park’s new building on Tuesday, September 21.

 

Based on the same site as Wrotham School, the school caters for secondary aged pupils with Autism Spectrum Conditions, and has been praised for its groundbreaking design.

 

All classrooms benefit from a south-facing aspect, as the building – designed to have minimum impact on pupils with autism - is curved and set into a hillside.

 

Its acoustics and lighting have been adapted with autistic needs in mind and special “Kalwall glazing” is used to create a tranquil atmosphere.

 

Its grass roof conceals the building from the north and acts as insulation from noise and temperature extremes.

 

It also includes solar panels and stores rainwater.  

 

KCC Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Education, Cllr Sarah Hohler (Con), said she was “extremely proud” of the new building and thanked the Countess of Wessex for opening it.

 

Source: 

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kentonline/news/2010/september/22/royal_visit_for_new_school.aspx



 

Sean Michaels

guardian.co.uk

Tuesday 21 September 2010 11.40 BST  Singer offers to perform an ‘incredible concert’ if copyright law is changed – but threatens to ‘write a song about what you didn’t do’ if not

Stevie Wonder  has become a copyright crusader, lobbying the UN’s intellectual property division for better access to audiobooks.

In a speech to the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), the singer called for unified copyright rules that would improve audiobook access for visually impaired people.

More than 300m people “live in the dark” and want to “read their way into light”, Wonder explained to the 184-nation WIPO meeting in Geneva. At stake is the UN’s international copyright framework, which has been under revision for six years. Groups representing blind and visually impaired people argue that the current licensing system for audiobooks presents a major obstacle to education, and that they should be able to freely adapt texts into more accessible formats. “We must declare a state of emergency and end the information deprivation,” Wonder said.

Although his speech was just 10 minutes long, Wonder offered a compelling voice for activists’ arguments. Humming scraps of songs like My Cherie Amour and I Just Called to Say I Love You, Wonder explained that “people know the songs because they were able to hear them”. Other kinds of information were locked behind walls due to inaccessibility, or the cost of adaptation. “There are people who have probably even far more to offer than myself who are locked into this kind of prison because information is not available to them,” he said.

Read in Full:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/sep/21/stevie-wonder-lobbies-un-audiobooks



 "A Rose for the Teacher"

Article Date: 22 Sep 2010 – 3:00 PDT

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a manual-based psychological group program to improve teacher’s mental health. Participation in the intervention resulted in a significant improvement in the General Health Questionnaire score. With respect to the Symptoms Check List-27, the values of the GSI (Global Severity Index) and of 3 subscales (those for depressive, dysthymic and mistrust symptoms), compared with the control group, improved significantly upon participation in the group program. Although these findings suggest a protective effect of such a short manual-based psychological intervention program on teachers’ health, some considerations (such as drop-out rate) must be taken into account.

Previous studies have shown that coping with interpersonal processes or problems which teachers are continuously confronted with, is one of the primary factors influencing the health of teachers. Teachers’ health prevention must aim at improving social and emotional competences.

Read in Full:  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/202005.php

Amish children gather flowers for their teacher



 

By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on September 22, 2010

New research suggests oxytocin, a naturally occurring hormone, may improve social cognitive abilities in less socially proficient individuals.

However, researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine found the hormone has little effect on those who are more socially proficient.

The study is published in the journal Psychological Science.

Researchers at the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Columbia University wanted to determine if oxytocin, popularly dubbed the “hormone of love,” could have widespread benefit in making us more understanding of others.

They conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over challenge, giving 27 healthy adult men oxytocin or a placebo delivered nasally.

Read in Full:  http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/09/22/oxytocin-helps-socially-challenged/18532.html