re: [tips] Lazy American Students and Their Grades
Make Palij wrote: The reason for this appeared to be that students could drop a course without consequence up to the 12th or so week in the semester. So, students who saw that they were failing going in the final weeks could drop the course with their G.P.A. unaffected. --- If this were true, and was the reason for grade inflation at that institution, then we should have nothing to worry about. The students were still receiving accurate grades and credit for courses in which competent work had been completed. However, I doubt that the grade inflation disappeared after that loophole was closed. It sounds like a rationalization invented to explain the source of the inflation as something other than a reduction of standards. When I presented clear evidence of grade inflation to my institution, the response was students are better now than they were then, therefore deserving of higher grades. I had to point out that the SAT scores had declined somewhat over the time period involved. Bill Scott --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] When Metaphors Fail
This might be a Jayson Blair type description of college search that the NY Times fell for. I know of no Harry Potter admiission efforts, and I doubt that any college touring high school student would encounter multiple allusions. Bunk. Bill Scott Mike Palij m...@nyu.edu 12/06/09 9:57 AM The NY Times has an opinion piece by a high school student who is doing the college tour thing and comments on the heavy handed usage of the colleges he has visited to compare themselves to things in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter's Hogwarts. Now, from an adult perspective, this may seem like a brilliant PR move since it can be assumed that a large number of potential students will be familiar with the world of Harry Potter and they would enjoy going to college that is in some way similar to Hogwarts. Of course, the adults have it wrong. Read Lauren Edelson's article to see why: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/opinion/06edelson.html -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Too Fat To Graduate
Wouldn't there be some problems with the Americans with Disabilities Act? Bill Mike Palij m...@nyu.edu 12/04/09 4:55 PM Imagine having to have a BMI below the obese threshold in order to be able to graduate from college. Imagine no more; see: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/04/lincoln-fat-graduate-obesity I wonder when this will be made a condition of granting tenure. -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Name that word
antacid sbl...@ubishops.ca 11/25/09 5:08 PM As reported just recently on _The Chronicle of Higher Education_ (which got it from another source), Google searches for a particular word peak each year at exactly this time. What is the word? Stephen - Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: sbl...@ubishops.ca 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada --- --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] small minds preoccupied with small typographical errors
APA as our spin representatives... Seems a long way from APA's origins as a scientific society. Factual reporting appears no longer to be a goal of the organization. Bill Scott Serafin, John john.sera...@email.stvincent.edu 11/23/09 5:40 PM HaHa, when I saw your subject line, it made me think of Stephen Black's recent comments about the typos in Mike's and Allen's posts (both of whom are obviously preoccupied with food issues). Glad to see that wasn't where you were going. :) Yeah, it is spin. Can't disagree with that. But this, too, shall pass. Has anyone yet gotten the corrected version of the manual that was promised? I haven't seen one here yet. John -- John Serafin Psychology Department Saint Vincent College Latrobe, PA 15650 john.sera...@email.stvincent.edu From: Ken Steele steel...@appstate.edu Reply-To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@acsun.frostburg.edu Date: Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:11:17 -0500 To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@acsun.frostburg.edu Conversation: [tips] small minds preoccupied with small typographical errors Subject: [tips] small minds preoccupied with small typographical errors APA puts the spin on the 6th ed issues - http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/page/2/ --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
[tips] if Dr. Phil Twittered
i m not n e d ot. u r. --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Anger manipulations
More recently: Title: Insult, aggression, and the southern culture of honor: An experimental ethnography. Author: Cohen, Dov; Nisbett, Richard E.; Bowdle, Brian F.; Schwarz, Norbert Author Affiliation: U Illinois Urbana-Champaign(Champaign), Dept of Psychology, Champaign, IL, US. Appears In: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Vol 70(5), May 1996, 945-960. Publisher Info: American Psychological Association, US. 1996. were successful in inducing anger by having a confederate insult the participant by bumping into him and calling him an asshole as he arrived for the experiment. Bill Scott - sbl...@ubishops.ca 11/12/09 10:10 AM On 12 Nov 2009 at 5:03, Bourgeois, Dr. Martin wrote[concerning Schachter and Singer's experiment]: They did, but they also had subjects fill out a questionnaire including questions (not accusations) about their mothers' sex lives. One question was something like with how many men besides your father has your mother has sex? and din't allow 'none' as a response option. I recall, Check which members of your family the following apply to [no choice of none']: Seems to need psychiatric care; Doesn't wash or bath regularly. However, I don't recall that they provided the entire questionnaire, at least in their published article in Psychological Review, but just gave examples from it. It seemed to me that it was so over-the-top that I had difficulty believing it would make subjects angry. More likely, I would think it would elicit giggling. And, if I recall correctly, they did not get strong effects, and the subjects did not actually get angry (their ad hoc explanation being that they subjects really were angry but didn't want to show it for fearing of losing marks, or points, or something]. There was an even more over-the-top attempt to manipulate emotions some years earlier. Ax (1953) attempted to induce anger by having subjects who arrived for the experiment be verbally and physically abused by the (confederate) lab technician, berated for being late, and handled roughly. One of the subjects was reported to have said something like I was so angry I wanted to punch him in the nose. Fear manipulation was even worse. The subjects were hooked up to a fake polygraph and given a small electric shock. When the subject reported this, the confederate flipped a switch which caused a shower of flying sparks, and shouted Don't move! There's a dangerous short-circuit. One subjected reportedly said that he thought he was going to die. Ax obtained only minor physiological differences between anger and fear as a result of all this. The good old days indeed. Stephen Ax, AF(1953). The physiological differentiation between fear and anger in humans.Psychosom Med. 1953 Sep- Oct;15(5):433-4 - Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: sbl...@ubishops.ca 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada --- --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Personality tests
The international personality item pool has an acronym, ipip like ipcio. It is http://ipip.ori.org/ but is different from a repository for validated personality tests. It's a great resource for use in a personality course, though. Bill Scott Frantz, Sue sfra...@highline.edu 11/04/09 3:42 PM Hi all, At the most recent Best Practices conference, there was mention of a website that's a repository for validated personality tests. I'm almost certain it was in Laura King's presentation, but I'm not finding it in my notes, nor is her presentation one of the ones available on the Best Practices website. Does anyone happen to have it? It's something like ipcio.com... but I know that's not it. Help? Sue -- Sue Frantz http://flightline.highline.edu/sfrantz/ Highline Community College Psychology, CoordinatorDes Moines, WA 206.878.3710 x3404 sfra...@highline.edu mailto:sfra...@highline.edu Office of Teaching Resources in Psychology, Associate Director Project Syllabus http://teachpsych.org/otrp/syllabi/syllabi.php APA Division 2: Society for the Teaching of Psychology http://teachpsych.org/otrp/syllabi/syllabi.php APA's p...@cc Committee http://www.apa.org/ed/pcue/ptatcchome.html --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
RE: [tips] Fechner Day! -- that darn date
Fechner, schmechner. Ask the graduate students if they know who Donald Hebb was. You'll get the same response. Maybe it's the sign of a maturing science. It's more important to know the facts than the names of those who discovered them. Or maybe it's something else. Bill Scott Wuensch, Karl L wuens...@ecu.edu 10/22/09 10:26 PM I am probably the only faculty member at my institution who even mentions Fechner in the Intro class. When I refer to Fechner with my graduate students they give me that WTF are you talking about look. When I ask who has ever heard of Fechner, not a single hand is raised. So sad. A few will say they remember hearing of Weber, but none can comment on his contributions to the discipline. Cheers, Karl W. -Original Message- From: Gerald Peterson [mailto:peter...@vmail.svsu.edu] Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2009 8:20 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] Fechner Day! -- that darn date Is psychophysics being taught at the undergrad level? I was introduced to Fechner in an undergrad Exper. Psych class and then in the capstone History and Systems class, but I don't see references to psychophysical methods in most Experimental psych texts. I would think it would be covered in our SP class. I do mention Fechner and Weber in Intro tho. Gary Gerald L. (Gary) Peterson, Ph.D. Professor, Department of Psychology Saginaw Valley State University University Center, MI 48710 989-964-4491 peter...@svsu.edu - Original Message - From: William Scott wsc...@wooster.edu To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@acsun.frostburg.edu Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2009 5:44:39 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [tips] Fechner Day! -- that darn date A long time ago an old friend introduced me to the tradition of serving cake in class on Fechner day. I recommend it. Some places can even put a photo in the icing. Fechner's mug makes everyone take a small piece so one cake can stretch through a large class. Bill Scott Christopher D. Green chri...@yorku.ca 10/22/09 5:28 PM The Zend-Avesta was a religious text (after a manner of speaking) by Fechner, in which he outlined his daylight view of science (a kind of pan-psychist, post-Romantic view of the world), as opposed to he called the twilight view (of materialism). (The Avesta is a sacred text of Zoroastrians, who (to a first approximation) worship the sun.) He also wrote abook about the soul life of plants. Neither has ever been translated to my knowledge, but Michael Heidelberger's biography of Fechner is an excellent source (if a bit dense). Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 chri...@yorku.ca http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ == Ken Steele wrote: I have been wondering about the report of that dream, because it is repeated so often--but without attribution. I looked at the 1966 English translation of Elements of Psychophysics (Vol I) and no mention of the date or a dream occurs in the text. (The translation of the volume was NIH-funded to celebrate the centennial of the publication of E of P. I guess we will need to wait until 2066 to see the translation of Vol. II). E G Boring does the introduction to the translation and repeats the dream story--without attribution of course. Even more irritating is an article by Boring (1961), in which the date/dream story is higlighted several times, still without attribution. However, Boring (1929/1950) does provide an interesting bit of info in his Experimental Psychology. Fechner wrote a book, Zend-Avesta, oder uber die Dinge des Himmels und des Jenseits, which was published in 1851. Boring (1929/1950, p. 279) notes: Oddly enough this book contains Fechner's program of psychophysics... 1851 would be a year after the famous dream and the dream/idea would still be fresh. The Elements contains mainly the results of the program Google books has the Zend-Avesta online but my rusty knowledge of German and the old font system have managed to block my efforts to find the psychophysics section. Perhaps another scholar will have better luck. Happy Fechner's Day, Ken Boring, E. G. (1961). Fechner: Inadvertent founder of psychophysics. Psychometrika, 26, 3-8. --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Fechner Day! -- that darn date
A long time ago an old friend introduced me to the tradition of serving cake in class on Fechner day. I recommend it. Some places can even put a photo in the icing. Fechner's mug makes everyone take a small piece so one cake can stretch through a large class. Bill Scott Christopher D. Green chri...@yorku.ca 10/22/09 5:28 PM The Zend-Avesta was a religious text (after a manner of speaking) by Fechner, in which he outlined his daylight view of science (a kind of pan-psychist, post-Romantic view of the world), as opposed to he called the twilight view (of materialism). (The Avesta is a sacred text of Zoroastrians, who (to a first approximation) worship the sun.) He also wrote abook about the soul life of plants. Neither has ever been translated to my knowledge, but Michael Heidelberger's biography of Fechner is an excellent source (if a bit dense). Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 chri...@yorku.ca http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ == Ken Steele wrote: I have been wondering about the report of that dream, because it is repeated so often--but without attribution. I looked at the 1966 English translation of Elements of Psychophysics (Vol I) and no mention of the date or a dream occurs in the text. (The translation of the volume was NIH-funded to celebrate the centennial of the publication of E of P. I guess we will need to wait until 2066 to see the translation of Vol. II). E G Boring does the introduction to the translation and repeats the dream story--without attribution of course. Even more irritating is an article by Boring (1961), in which the date/dream story is higlighted several times, still without attribution. However, Boring (1929/1950) does provide an interesting bit of info in his Experimental Psychology. Fechner wrote a book, Zend-Avesta, oder uber die Dinge des Himmels und des Jenseits, which was published in 1851. Boring (1929/1950, p. 279) notes: Oddly enough this book contains Fechner's program of psychophysics... 1851 would be a year after the famous dream and the dream/idea would still be fresh. The Elements contains mainly the results of the program Google books has the Zend-Avesta online but my rusty knowledge of German and the old font system have managed to block my efforts to find the psychophysics section. Perhaps another scholar will have better luck. Happy Fechner's Day, Ken Boring, E. G. (1961). Fechner: Inadvertent founder of psychophysics. Psychometrika, 26, 3-8. --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Reclaiming TIPS
quoteI appreciate your Zen wisdom, and can appreciate the next-year-it-may-be-someone-else concept, but since 1993 (my first year on TIPS), no one on TIPS has ever made the suggestion that someone be removed. I think that's a pretty good record of tolerance.unquote. And so we should end it now? The day after the action we can change the sign in the parking lot to read One day without an expulsion. Bill Scott --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Reclaiming TIPS
tay...@sandiego.edu 10/21/09 3:04 PM ... things like student learning outcomes, how best to effect assessments, and [why] are psychologists NOT at the forefront of this work? And psychologists should have well behaved dogs and children, too! Bill Scott --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: FW: [tips] Appropriate Self-description
I did this terrible thing. Back in pre-historic times I had a faculty position when I was ABD. I was doing research that was of interest to the media and was invited to appear on a TV show. They wanted to call me Dr. Scott but I had not yet received my Ph.D. Being ethical, I told them they could not call me Dr. Scott. They wanted to call me something authoritative so they suggested professor which I agreed to seeing as I was officially full-time on the faculty at the university. I did the show and it was somewhat popular. I later found out that a number of senior faculty at the university were quite unhappy with the title given to me by the TV network. It never led to a problem with promotion with those folks though. I would suggest that these things are trivial. The students call him professor. He is doing the job of professor. If someone at the grocery store asks him what he does, he will be a better communicator if he describes himself as a prof at so-and-so University rather than as an adjunct visiting instructor at so-and-so. There are places where the title is important and others where professor is truly appropriate even if not officially sanctioned. i would agree that he should not present himself as a professor at your insitution when searching for jobs, but his self-description as professor in other domains seems perfectly reasonable. Bill Scott --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re:[tips] Comic Book, er, Graphic Novel for Math/Logic Nerds
Surely everyone remembers the educational comic books regarding applied behavior analysis in the early 1970's. see: http://www.fortunecity.com/tatooine/niven/142/profiles/pro34.html Bill Scott --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Do you remember this cartoon?
You don't need any add-ons. Using firefox, simply right click on the image (or anywhere on the page) and choose page info, then choose media from the top menu and the image will be listed. Copy the image location and then you can do with it as you wish. Here is the image from the post that started this. http://www.cartoonbank.com/assets/1/122771_m.gif Bill Scott Mike Lee md...@cc.umanitoba.ca 09/22/09 10:40 AM Annette, and others interested, There is actually a nice and simple way to do this. It requires that one use Firefox (not sure about IE) and the add-on called 'Abduction' which allows one to save a webpage as an image. Once installed, you right click on the page, and a new window opens with the page in it and the add-on lets you crop to whatever image you like. This method worked fine for the New Yorker cartoons. Have fun! Mike Lee - Original Message - From: Paul C Bernhardt pcbernha...@frostburg.edu To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@acsun.frostburg.edu Sent: Tuesday, September 22, 2009 8:47 AM Subject: Re: [tips] Do you remember this cartoon? Yep, even my 'snag media from website' add-on fails to see the cartoons at Cartoon Bank. -- Paul Bernhardt Frostburg State University Frostburg, MD, USA On 9/22/09 9:34 AM, tay...@sandiego.edu tay...@sandiego.edu wrote: The problem with New Yorker cartoons is that I can't figure out a way to copy and paste into an overhead for class. They are copyright protected to a degree I have not found in other places. Is there a trick I don't know about? Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 tay...@sandiego.edu --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Arrgghh
My favorite talk like a pirate cartoon: http://tinyurl.com/lj2xto Bill Scott DeVolder Carol L devoldercar...@sau.edu 09/20/09 7:30 PM Ye missed it. Yesterday was talk like a pirate day. To make up for the lack of midweek humor lately I'll share my favorite pirate joke. (Read the punchline in a pirate voice.) A pirate walked into a bar with a steering wheel attached to his groin. The bartender said, Say, did you know you have a steering wheel attached there? to which the pirate replied, Arrggh, drives me nuts. Carol --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Phineas Gage Video
It is from the PBS series, The Brain and the Phineas Gage segment is available on the web at http://www.learner.org/resources/series142.html episode number 25 Bill Scott Wehlburg, Catherine c.wehlb...@tcu.edu 08/31/09 6:33 PM Colleagues, Several years ago I used a video that had a reenactment of the Phineas Gage tamping iron accident. I can't remember the name of the video, though (it might have been a NOVA or a PBS video). Any suggestions would be most helpful! Thanks! --Catherine ** Catherine M. Wehlburg, Ph.D. Assistant Provost for Institutional Effectiveness TCU Box 297098 -- Texas Christian University Fort Worth, TX 76129 Phone: (817) 257-5298 Fax: (817) 257-7173 Email: c.wehlb...@tcu.edu Website: www.assessment.tcu.edu --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] First use of the term alpha
The use of alpha and omega to describe the animals at the extremes of dominance hierarchies was common in describing bird and rodent social structures in 1942. Here's an article by Allee in 1942 describing social hierarchies based on decades of previous research, much of it his own. Group Organization among Vertebrates, W. C. Allee , Science, Vol. 95, No. 2464 (Mar. 20, 1942), pp. 289-293 ���the alpha cock ��� would charge [the other cock] and drive him to the roosts whenever [the other cock] approached.��� The same article refers to a description of an alpha mouse. Before 1942, Yerkes studied dominance and sexual relations in chimpanzees and one of the animals was named Alpha (a female who was not consistently dominant), although I don't think Yerkes used the term alpha to describe the dominant animal. In fact, I believe both Yerkes and Carpenter were of the mind that primate social structures rarely had a single consistent alpha animal. On the other hand, Yerkes believed that evolution had handed the dominant role largely to the male gender. Bill Scott David Kreiner krei...@ucmo.edu 08/28/09 10:47 AM Stephen, first the good news. I was able to access the full text of Carpenter (1942). The bad news: no use of the term alpha male. David Kreiner Professor of Psychology University of Central Missouri Lovinger Warrensburg MO 64093 krei...@ucmo.edu --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
RE: [tips] OMG!!!! DONT GO INTO THE LIGHT!!!
People are experiencing weird religious apparitions everywhere. see the following example: http://tiny.cc/ajGXK Translated from the Portuguese: The family of Edison Mayer, of Lajeado (RS), had a surprise when leaving the dishwashing for the following day: the dry fat formed an image of the singer Michael Jackson, who died last week at the age of 50 years. The curious fact happened last Saturday after the family prepared a roast beef. Bill Scott --- Stephen Black sbl...@ubishops.ca 08/05/09 11:18 AM Mike Palij, under this mock-hysterical (well I assume it's mock) subject header, said: [Sidenote: this reminds me of the movie The Fisher King when the PTSD/Delusional Parry is on a Grail quest and he believes that the holy cup is in the possession of rich man |JACK |The Holy Grail? Some billionaire has |the Holy Grail sitting in a commode |on Madison Avenue? History emulates art (or possibly the other way around, depending on dates): A controversial ossuary, which was claimed to have once contained the bones of Jesus's brother James, was stored for a while in exactly this way, sitting in an apartment in Israel. An artifact such as this is as close to the holy grail as we're likely to get. The US TV programme _6o Minutes_ described the discovery this way: He opened a small chamber on the roof, and I saw this chamber is a toilet, and what I found on top of the toilet, I found the ossuary of James the brother of Jesus, says Ganor. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/12/17/60minutes/main661815.shtml Gad! Stephen Black Bishop's University Sherbrooke, Quebec --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] iPhone happiness research
This is a great idea. A modern high tech mass version of Lewinsohn's mood-activity diaries. I hope Killingsworth cites him in his dissertation. Bill Scott Frantz, Sue sfra...@highline.edu 08/03/09 10:33 AM No, not whether you're happy with your iPhone, but using your iPhone to track your happiness... which may or may not be related to owning an iPhone. http://www.trackyourhappiness.org/ Track Your Happiness.org is a new scientific research project that aims to use modern technology to help answer this age-old question. Using this site in conjunction with your iPhone, you can systematically track your happiness and find out what factors - for you personally - are associated with greater happiness. Your responses, along with those from other users of trackyourhappiness.org, will also help us learn more about the causes and correlates of happiness. Track Your Happiness.org was created as part of Matt Killingsworth mailto:mkill...@fas.harvard.edu 's doctoral research at Harvard University http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/psych/ . This research is approved by the Harvard University Committee for the Use of Human Subjects. Matt works in the lab of Daniel Gilbert http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/%7Edtg/gilbert.htm . -- Sue Frantz http://flightline.highline.edu/sfrantz/ Highline Community College Psychology, CoordinatorDes Moines, WA 206.878.3710 x3404 sfra...@highline.edu mailto:sfra...@highline.edu Office of Teaching Resources in Psychology, Associate Director Project Syllabus http://teachpsych.org/otrp/syllabi/syllabi.php APA Division 2: Society for the Teaching of Psychology http://teachpsych.org/otrp/syllabi/syllabi.php APA's p...@cc Committee http://www.apa.org/ed/pcue/ptatcchome.html --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Fuzzy math: O'Reilly
He's always done this kind of thing. Here's a 2002 rundown from FAIR. http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1108 Bill Scott Michael Smith tipsl...@gmail.com 07/29/09 11:11 PM That's hillarious. --Mike On Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 7:14 AM, Christopher D. Green chri...@yorku.cawrote: Here's a teachable moment for your stats courses. Bill O'Rielly says that it is to be expected that Canada's life expectancy is higher that the US's because the US has 10 times as many people. http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907270052 Paul Krugman (who, despite his Nobel, apparently doesn't get out much these days) says he is left speechless by this inane claim. http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/speechless/?emc=eta1 Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 chri...@yorku.ca http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ == --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Wikipedia despoils the Rorschach
Despoilers of the Rorschach have been on the internet for many years. E.g. http://www.deltabravo.net/custody/rorschach.php These folks didn't originally have all the disclaimers at the beginning of their site that they now have. While I fully agree with Stephen about the demonstrated lack of validity of the Rorschach, and I have been vocal about that opinion for decades, I must tell the following story which gives me pause. In the early 1980's I gave a tirade against the Rorschach something like Stephen's in a clinical case conference in a large hospital setting populated by a fairly large number of psychodynamically oriented practitioners. Afterwards, one of my more open-minded colleagues took me aside and informed me of a challenge that had been put out by Lloyd Silverman (RIP, 1986), a psychoanalyst in NYC. Silverman offered to read the Rorschach protocols of any client of any doubting physician and return an interpretation of the test that would be the virtual equivalent of the empirically derived MMPI results of the same client. We simply had to pay Silverman for the interpretation (I think it was something like $300 at the time), but he would provide a double your money back garauntee regarding its match to the MMPI (he was of course blind to the MMPI data). We decided to give him the test and provided him with a Rorschach protocol of a very complicated client who had a very complex set of statements that were generated by the MMPI. We didn't get our money back. Silverman's interpretation was very very similar to the MMPI results and in fact his predictions regarding the course of treatment for the client were better than those generated by the MMPI. Now, of course this is anecdotal, but it has tempered my thinking about the meaning of statistical tests of reliability and validity, particularly in the face of the objections that are made (particularly by supporters of tests like the Rorschach), that it depends upon in whose hands the test resides. It has also tempered my thinking about the results of the empirical tests of the efficacy of certain therapies when the execution of the therapies is handbook/template driven rather than executed by unrestrained artistic virtuosos of the type of therapy being examined. I know this kind of talk is the kind of maddening dismissals of science expressed by people who divine for water and help the police with psychic powers, but Silverman's performance impressed me. It is said that he never (perhaps rarely) had to pay on his Rorschach challenge. Bill Scott sbl...@ubishops.ca 07/28/09 11:34 PM Big brouhaha over the posting of Rorschach plates plus common responses to them on Wikipedia, the ethics of doing this, whether it ruins the scientific usefulness of the test, makes them meaningless, etc. You can read all about it in the New York Times at http://tinyurl.com/lblelt (Has Wikipedia Created a Rorschach Cheat Sheet?--Noam Cohen) But in all the anguish over this issue, no one seems to have asked What scientific usefulness? Or How can something that is already meaningless be made more so by public disclosure? The fact is that the Rorschach is not science but pseudoscience and please, don't tell me about the Exner system. Our clever former fellow TIPSter, Scott Lilienfeld and his colleagues settled this back in 2000. Their language was cautious, but the message was clear: this is not science but junk. But unfortunately, pseudoscience never dies, and so the Rorschach is with us still. And still causing more damage (e.g. in child custody cases) than I'd care to contemplate. But no one who thinks psychology is a science should care a fig whether its plates and responses are public or not. Stephen The Scientific Status of Projective Techniques Psychological Science in the Public Interest Volume 1, Issue 2, Date: November 2000, Pages: 27-66 Scott O. Lilienfeld, James M. Wood, Howard N. Garb Free at http://tinyurl.com/l4cud5 - Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: sbl...@ubishops.ca 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Subscribe to discussion list (TIPS) for the teaching of psychology at http://flightline.highline.edu/sfrantz/tips/ --- --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Wikipedia despoils the Rorschach
You would then be saying that the MMPI only generates Barnum statements, which it does not, or that we were not sophisticated enough to determine whether or not Silverman's statements were so vague they would apply to anyone, which is also not true, thank you. I'll remind you that I am a complete skeptic about this and was sending him the test in order to discredit his claims. I couldn't. Bill Scott drna...@aol.com 07/29/09 10:39 AM My first guess would?NOT be that Silverman was?demonstrating the amazing accuracy of the Rorschach, but rather that his interpretations were just Barnum enough to be related to the MMPI (which I am not all that impressed with, either) and seem to confirm it. All personality tests are marginal, because personality (apart from context or situation) is a somewhat flimsy construct. Nancy Melucci Long Beach City College Long Beach CA Afterwards, one of my more open-minded colleagues took me aside and informed me of a challenge that had been put out by Lloyd Silverman (RIP, 1986), a psychoanalyst in NYC. Silverman offered to read the Rorschach protocols of any client of any doubting physician and return an interpretation of the test that would be the virtual equivalent of the empirically derived MMPI results of the same client -Original Message- From: William Scott wsc...@wooster.edu To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@acsun.frostburg.edu Sent: Wed, Jul 29, 2009 7:04 am Subject: Re: [tips] Wikipedia despoils the Rorschach Despoilers of the Rorschach have been on the internet for many years. E.g. http://www.deltabravo.net/custody/rorschach.php These folks didn't originally have all the disclaimers at the beginning of their site that they now have. While I fully agree with Stephen about the demonstrated lack of validity of the Rorschach, and I have been vocal about that opinion for decades, I must tell the following story which gives me pause. In the early 1980's I gave a tirade against the Rorschach something like Stephen's in a clinical case conference in a large hospital setting populated by a fairly large number of psychodynamically oriented practitioners. Afterwards, one of my more open-minded colleagues took me aside and informed me of a challenge that had been put out by Lloyd Silverman (RIP, 1986), a psychoanalyst in NYC. Silverman offered to read the Rorschach protocols of any client of any doubting physician and return an interpretation of the test that would be the virtual equivalent of the empirically derived MMPI results of the same client. We simply had to pay Silverman for the interpretation (I think it was something like $300 at the time), but he would provide a double your money back garauntee regarding its match to the MMPI (he was of course blind to the MMPI data). We decided to give him the test and provided him with a Rorschach protocol of a very complicated client who had a very complex set of statements that were generated by the MMPI. We didn't get our money back. Silverman's interpretation was very very similar to the MMPI results and in fact his predictions regarding the course of treatment for the client were better than those generated by the MMPI. Now, of course this is anecdotal, but it has tempered my thinking about the meaning of statistical tests of reliability and validity, particularly in the face of the objections that are made (particularly by supporters of tests like the Rorschach), that it depends upon in whose hands the test resides. It has also tempered my thin king about the results of the empirical tests of the efficacy of certain therapies when the execution of the therapies is handbook/template driven rather than executed by unrestrained artistic virtuosos of the type of therapy being examined. I know this kind of talk is the kind of maddening dismissals of science expressed by people who divine for water and help the police with psychic powers, but Silverman's performance impressed me. It is said that he never (perhaps rarely) had to pay on his Rorschach challenge. Bill Scott sbl...@ubishops.ca 07/28/09 11:34 PM Big brouhaha over the posting of Rorschach plates plus common responses to them on Wikipedia, the ethics of doing this, whether it ruins the scientific usefulness of the test, makes them meaningless, etc. You can read all about it in the New York Times at http://tinyurl.com/lblelt (Has Wikipedia Created a Rorschach Cheat Sheet?--Noam Cohen) But in all the anguish over this issue, no one seems to have asked What scientific usefulness? Or How can something that is already meaningless be made more so by public disclosure? The fact is that the Rorschach is not science but pseudoscience and please, don't tell me about the Exner system. Our clever former fellow TIPSter, Scott Lilienfeld and his colleagues settled this back in 2000. Their language was cautious, but the message was clear: this is not science but junk
Re: [tips] ethics question
Lots of data sets have led to multiple publications, even by authors who didn't collect the data. Take for example the Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Project (TDCRP). These data were used in dozens of publications. The data are publically available and if you have a new idea/hypothesis to test that could be answered with these data, anyone is free to use the data set. Bill Scott tay...@sandiego.edu 07/28/09 6:21 PM This is a question related to self-plagiarism. I hope Miguel is reading this! A collegue and I recently had a study published in ToP. In preparing that ms the editors wanted us to cut down the length of the article so we eliminated a research question completely. Now we want to publish that research question, and the answer to it; so we are using the same data set but analyzing it in terms of an additional variable that did not appear in the ToP article. At what point does using the same data set constitute a breach of ethics? Is it OK to reuse that data set for another, independent publication? And in that case, how much can we just refer a reader to the ToP article in terms of methodological details? Do we repeat all the methods information or do we refer back to the first article? Do people publish this way and how would you know? My colleague searched and searched the literature to see what others have done. If others have used the same data set for two publications, then they certainly did not explictly state that. Shouldn't one normally, however, state this explicitly? Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 tay...@sandiego.edu --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
RE: [tips] Gates, Crowley, and eyewitness testimony
I just responded to the Netscape poll on who do you think was at fault in the Crowley-Gates affair -- Gates, Police, both, can't say. The vast majority at this time are voting that Gates is to blame, second goes to both. Rodney King all over again. Bill Scott Rick Froman rfro...@jbu.edu 07/26/09 8:01 PM He agreed to at least one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxM8cwosjew Rick Dr. Rick Froman, Chair Division of Humanities and Social Sciences John Brown University Siloam Springs, AR 72761 rfro...@jbu.edu From: Christopher D. Green [chri...@yorku.ca] Sent: Sunday, July 26, 2009 4:53 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] Gates, Crowley, and eyewitness testimony michael sylvester wrote: I doubt this would be an issue if the policeman who answered the call was black. If you check the photos that have been released, one of the officers on-scene was black. I wonder how many interview requests he's refused in the last few days. :-) Chris --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Help with Misery quote
There is a dramatic recreation of the experiment on an old CRM film. Methodology: the Psychologist and the Experiment or something like that. See it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7bpwbnged4 Bill Scott Ken Steele steel...@appstate.edu 07/24/09 3:02 PM michael sylvester wrote: I am trying to recall the details of an experiment that led to the quote like misery loves misery or misery love miserable company It may have something to do with subjects choosing to wait alone or with a group of other subjects.I suspect that it is relevant to the cognitive appraisal theory(Schacter-Singer) of emotion.It is the misery part that I am trying to figure out.Please elucidate. Michael Sylvester,PhD Daytona Beach,Florida Michael: You are remembering correctly. The phrase is connected with a study by Schachter (1959), The psychology of affiliation. The misery part was that one group of subjects was told that they were going to experience electric shock and given the opportunity to wait with other subjects or alone while the equipment was being readied. --- Kenneth M. Steele, Ph.D. steel...@appstate.edu Professor Department of Psychology http://www.psych.appstate.edu Appalachian State University Boone, NC 28608 USA --- --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
[tips] midweek academic humor
definition of a psychology professor n. Someone who talks in someone else's sleep. --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
RE:[tips] Reporting Correlations in APA Style
Rick Froman quotes the new APA manual on page 34 as: For inferential statistical tests (e.g., t, F, and chi square tests), include the obtained value or magnitude of the test statistic, the degrees of freedom, the probability of obtaining a value as extreme or more extreme than the one obtained (the exact p value), and the size and direction of the effect. -- It is impossible to know what the probability is of obtaining a value as extreme or more extreme than the one obtained and p values certainly don't tell us that. Why should we submit to instructions from people who don't know what they are talking about? Bill Scott --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] vitae question
I have used a brief version for many purposes including grant applications where they don't actually want a long version but it depends upon the job you are applying for. I imagine someone looking for a job on the supreme court would have to submit a full resume. My wife recently asked me to edit through her cv when she was applying for a chair position at a major medical school and we both figured they would want no less than the full and expanded version (the cv covered 35 years and was multiple inches thick and she got the job, BTW). Bill Scott tay...@sandiego.edu 07/20/09 6:42 PM Indeed, I have a full version and a short version trimmed of conference presentations more than 5 or 6 years old and mentored presentations/publications. But since I have few enough publications--no more than dozen--I keep 'em all :) I think that once the list gets past 20 or so, you can trim selectively to more important ones. Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 tay...@sandiego.edu Original message Date: Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:50:21 -0600 From: Penley, Julie jpen...@epcc.edu Subject: [tips] vitae question To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@acsun.frostburg.edu Hello TIPSters, How far back do your CVs go? Once someone is no longer considered early career, is there a point where they begin trimming down their CV? Do people have a `full' and a `brief' vitae? Just wondering. I recently saw a news story about how to get back into the (non-academic) job market. The `experts' suggested resumes should go back no further than 10 years. That got me thinking whether there's a similar rule of thumb for CVs, at least for smaller accomplishments such as conference presentations. Thanks, Julie Julie A. Penley, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Psychology El Paso Community College PO Box 20500 El Paso, TX 79998-0500 Office phone: (915) 831-3210 Department fax: (915) 831-2324 email: jpen...@epcc.edu webpage: http://www.epcc.edu/facultypages/jpenley --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Hebbian quote?
I agree with Chris that at least the gist is in Hebb's textbook and since I have only read the first edition, I believe it is in that edition as well as the 3rd. Didn't you save yours, Stephen? Bill Scott Christopher D. Green chri...@yorku.ca 07/18/09 12:39 AM sbl...@ubishops.ca wrote: If not, is it anybody else? Does it sound like anything you've heard before? Hebb said something at least vaguely like this in his textbook (I used the 3rd ed, but it may have been in the first two as well). I recall it as being something like, if you want to know about the meaning of life, ask a writer, not a psychologist, but I may have only recalled the gist, not the exact words. Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 chri...@yorku.ca http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ == --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] New terminology in the Publication Manual
I never stopped double spacing at the end of sentences and never was called on it. I don't think anyone notices. The automatic line-typing takes care of it all. Bill Scott Michael Smith tipsl...@gmail.com 07/17/09 5:59 PM How am I ever going to get used to going back to typing two spaces at the end of a sentence? Can't one just ignore the entire thing? Perhaps if it is ignored it will go away. Isn't there another way the APA can make money? --Mike u) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
RE: [tips] Oh Canada!
Sounds like Louis is against metonymic histiography. Louis Schmier lschm...@valdosta.edu 07/03/09 4:21 PM Neither country is supplier of anything to each other. It's some people who are doing the supplying and buying. Make it a good day. --Louis-- Louis Schmierhttp://www.therandomthoughts.com Department of History http://www.therandomthoughts.edublogs.org Valdosta State University Valdosta, Georgia 31698 /\ /\ /\ /\ (229-333-5947)/^\\/ \/ \ /\/\__/\ \/\ / \/ \_ \/ / \/ /\/ \ /\ //\/\/ /\ \__/__/_/\_\\_/__\ /\If you want to climb mountains,\ /\ _ / \don't practice on mole hills - --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
[tips] tips time warp
for the last month or so I have been receiving replies to TIPS messages many hours before the original to which they refer arrives. I sometimes feel like making use of the time warp to warn the original messenger to perhaps modify the message to thwart the responses. This only seems to be happening within TIPS. Is anyone else experiencing this? Bill Scott --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] distinguishing correlation and causation
Try this: Bill Scott Psychological Review, Volume 116, issue 1 (January 2009), p. 187-206 Pseudocontingencies An Integrative Account of an Intriguing Cognitive Illusion Fiedler, Klaus1; Freytag, Peter1; Meiser, Thorsten2 1. Department of Psychology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany 2. Department of Psychology, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany The term pseudocontingency (PC) denotes the logically unwarranted inference of a contingency between 2 variables X and Y from information other than pairs of xi, yi observations, namely, the variables' univariate base rates as assessed in 1 or more ecological contexts. The authors summarize recent experimental evidence showing that PCs can play a pivotal role in many areas of judgment and decision making. They argue that the exploitation of the informational value of base rates underlying PCs offers an alternative perspective on many phenomena in the realm of adaptive cognition that have been studied in isolation so far. Although PCs can lead to serious biases under some conditions, they afford an efficient strategy for inductive inference making in probabilistic environments that render base-rate information, rather than genuine covariation information, readily available. Jonathan Mueller jfmuel...@noctrl.edu 07/01/09 2:34 PM Is anyone familiar with any research on people's ability or inability to distinguish between correlational and causal statements or claims? Thanks for any help, Jon === Jon Mueller Professor of Psychology North Central College 30 N. Brainard St. Naperville, IL 60540 voice: (630)-637-5329 fax: (630)-637-5121 jfmuel...@noctrl.edu http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu ( http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/ ) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Michael Jackson/Moonwalker
My teenage son and his friends are having fun with our TV and a game where they are betting on which news channel, when they turn to it will take the shortest period of time to show a segment of moonwalking. The shortest so far is 3 seconds. The longest is 2.5 minutes. Bill Scott michael sylvester msylves...@copper.net 06/26/09 2:42 PM Michael Jackson's moonwalking dance steps are not easy to emulate.I have been trying to do it for 10 years with not much success. Both the cerebellum and the parietal lobe are involved but my frontal lobe tends to interfere. Michael Sylvester,PhD,DJ Daytona Beach,Florida --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
[tips] Factoids we should think about
This provocative video from Sony about the information age is something we should all know about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9Wu2kWwSY Should I still be spending any time on the work of George Miller? Bill Scott --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Reminder
So we've progressed from humo(u)r to comedy? I must admit I don't tend to like internet comedy. Here's some some unlikeable academic comedy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9iRb7Q9JAgfeature=PlayListp=80128A8860B8F501playnext=1playnext_from=PLindex=73 here's some academic humor: A Ph.D. student, a post-doc, and a professor are walking through a city park, and they come across an old brass lamp. The Ph.D. student picks up the lamp, and a genie comes out of it. The genie announces, OK, you know the drill - you each get one wish. The Ph.D. student says, I want to be on the sunny beach of a Caribbean island, lying in a lounge chair and sipping a drink. Immediately, he is in the Caribbean. The post-doc says, I want to be in my new home overlooking one of the beaches in Hawaii, and relaxing while my husband fixes me dinner. Immediately, she's there. The genie looks at the professor and says, OK, what do you want? The professor replies, I want those two back in my lab and working within an hour. michael sylvester msylves...@copper.net 06/23/09 1:57 PM Mid-week academic comedy relief on Wednesday. Please no previews. Michael Sylvester,PhD Daytona Beach,Florida --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Is anyone there?
If you know the author of Joan's allusion, take this trivia quiz at: http://www.123facts.com/quiz_results.php?quizid=2169 I only got 9 out of 13 correct. Joan Warmbold jwarm...@oakton.edu 06/22/09 6:42 PM It's summer time . . . and the living is easy. What can we say. Joan jwarm...@oakton.edu Michael --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
[tips] midweek academic humor
Dear Journal Editor, I regret to inform you that I cannot accept your rejection of my manuscript at this time. As someone struggling to publish in a very competitive field, I have high standards for accepting refusals from editors. Although your letter certainly has merit, and although it may in fact apply to some other submission to your journal, it does not meet my standards as a junior faculty member. Even if you were to make revisions of your present letter, I am afraid it would not suit my needs. In addition, I at present have a surplus of letters like yours and could not justify accepting it. Given the large number of letters of rejection that I receive, I must be very selective as to which letters I do indeed accept, as I am sure you can understand. Friends of mine who read your letter gave reviews that were at best mixed. One friend said, I cannot believe he wrote this letter to you. Another wrote, This make sense. He just wants to publish work by his buddies. Given the mixed reactions of my friends and my own negative assessment, I would be remiss to accept a letter like yours in its present state. However, should you be willing to send a letter that is more accepting, more open, and more encouraging to publication, I would seriously reconsider my present rejection of your letter. Best of luck in rejecting future manuscripts. Sincerely, . . . . . . . . . --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] feral children was: Mental
There is a Nova program on a girl (called Genie) allegedly kept in a closet throughout her development. It is titled Secrets of the Wild Child. I believe there may have been a follow-up program as well. The facts about her history are unclear and whether or not her disabilities can be attributed to her deprivation can never be determined. Bill Scott Dr. Bob Wildblood drb...@rcn.com 05/27/09 6:04 PM Tipsters, I have a student who asked: Do you know where I could find a decent documentary dvd/video on feral children? I've searched the iucat system, and I can only find fictionalized movies about the boy of aveyron. I haven't been able to find anything so I'm asking my knowledgeable colleagues for some assistance. Bob Bob Wildblood, PhD, HSPP Lecturer in Psychology Indiana University Kokomo Kokomo, IN 46904-9003 rwild...@iuk.edu - drb...@erols.com 765-236-0583 - 765-776-1727 The soundest argument will produce no more conviction in an empty head than the most superficial declamation; as a feather and a guinea fall with equal velocity in a vacuum. - Charles Caleb Colton, author and clergyman (1780-1832) Not thinking critically, I assumed that the successful prayers were proof that God answers prayer while the failures were proof that there was something wrong with me. - Dan Barker, former preacher, musician (b. 1949) We have an obligation and a responsibility to be investing in our students and our schools. We must make sure that people who have the grades, the desire and the will, but not the money, can still get the best education possible. - Barack Obama, President of the United States of America --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] extra textbooks, etc.
You might want to look into the Books for Africa program in Minnesota. http://www.booksforafrica.org/ Bill Scott Beth Benoit beth.ben...@gmail.com 05/26/09 9:43 AM Once again, my bookshelves are overflowing with older textbooks, teachers' manuals, etc. I think the Florida school system is probably overwhelmed with all of the books I sent there a couple of years ago. Does anyone have any use for them, or know somewhere that would be grateful for them? They're developmental, intro., abnormal, lots of child psych., and manuals and test banks for all. Also a lot of transparencies. (Does anyone use transparencies anymore?) Beth Benoit Granite State College Plymouth State University New Hampshire --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
[tips] Walter Mischel -- Don't!
A good article on Walter Mischel and his studies of self control is in this week's New Yorker magazine, titled Don't! http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/18/090518fa_fact_lehrer Bill Scott --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
re: [tips] Walter Mischel -- Don't!
The New Yorker article is a good, enjoyable read. The question, I think, is whether one should treat it as fiction or non-fiction. -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu It is clearly non-fiction and does a good job of laying out Mischel's work and would be a good read for students. As someone who has argued against Mischel at every turn, I agree with all your points. If true, though, it would be interesting to find that the scans of brains of adults could be predicted by childhood behaviors, even if only by correlations. Bill Scott --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Real replication
In an expanding universe with constantly increasing entropy, exact replications are impossible. The best we can do is to perform new studies and attempt to predict the outcomes based on knowledge of previous research. Bill Scott msylves...@copper.net 05/19/09 1:21 PM This may sound like damn if you do and damn if you don't. But wouldn't I have to use all male subjects if I was to do an exact replicate of the Milgram study? Is there an issue as criteria change? Michael Sylvester,PhD Daytona Beach,Florida --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
RE: [tips] Open book test
Like Karl, I have given those same alternatives to classes and they ALWAYS choose the open text format and they ALWAYS do worse when they act on that. My guess, like Karl's, is that they think they don't have to study and come into the exam expecting to look up the answers in the text. The exam is, of course, the kind of exam that I would give as a take-home. When I give them the alternative of a take-home exam in opposition to an exam where they are allowed to bring notes to class for an in-class final they ALWAYS choose the take home exam and they ALWAYS complain about how hard the take-home exam is. The following is a complaint I just now received about a take-home exam that the class voted to have instead of an in-class exam with notes. I don't know if you meant it to be lots of outside work, but I think it took everyone a really long time. Oh my... Bill Scott Wuensch, Karl L wuens...@ecu.edu 05/12/09 5:07 PM A few years back I gave an Intro General class three options regarding the last examination: 1. I give them ahead of time 20% of the actual questions that would be on the exam. 2. I let them bring and use five sheets of paper on which they have written anything they wish. 3. I let them bring and use the text book. I told them I would go for option 2, but they went for option 3. Then they just did not even read the chapters or do any studying. They performed worse on this exam than on any other, even though the material was easier. Some of them did not even bring the correct text book. A few students did well -- they had not only studied a bit but also annotated the text book with notes pointing them to the appropriate pages for key concepts. Cheers, Karl W. From: msylves...@copper.net [mailto:msylves...@copper.net] Sent: Monday, May 11, 2009 1:26 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] Open book test Do you give open book tests? What are the pros and cons? I knew a prof who thought it was great for Crossword puzzles psychology test. Michael Sylvester,PhD Daytona Beach,Florida --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] More fake scientific journals
There are probably more. Someone commenting on the article cited below listed 13 Australasian journals of ... from Elsevier that are not in PubMed or even in Elsevier's ScienceDirect. Bill Scott Michael Smith tipsl...@gmail.com 05/08/09 11:52 AM Well.they don't regret it THAT much :) --Mike On Thu, May 7, 2009 at 5:57 PM, Christopher D. Green chri...@yorku.cawrote: It turns out that the *Australasian Journal of Bone and Joint Medicine*(about which I posted a couple of days ago) is only one of SIX fake journals that was published by Elsevier (see below). All were *Autralasian Journal of *[something or other] All were sponsored by pharmaceutical companies (that the publisher refuses to disclose). Elsevier now blames it on a renegade Australian office and says that This was an unacceptable practice, and we regret that it took place. Will they return the money? Chris Green York U. Toronto Original Message --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) -- Forwarded message -- From: Robert Karl Stonjek ston...@ozemail.com.au To: Psychiatry-Research psychiatry-resea...@yahoogroups.com Date: Fri, 8 May 2009 08:40:14 +1000 Subject: [psychiatry-research] News: Elsevier published 6 fake journals *Elsevier published 6 fake journals* Posted by Bob Grant http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/browse/blogger/31/ [Entry posted at 7th May 2009 04:27 PM GMT] Scientific publishing giant Elsevier put out a total of six publications between 2000 and 2005 that were sponsored by unnamed pharmaceutical companies and looked like peer reviewed medical journals, but did not disclose sponsorship, the company has admitted. Elsevier is conducting an internal review of its publishing practices after allegations came to light that the company produced a pharmaceutical company-funded publication in the early 2000s without disclosing that the journal was corporate sponsored. *Image: flicker/meviola http://www.flickr.com/photos/69659...@n00/ *The allegations involve the *Australasian Journal of Bone and Joint Medicine*, a publication paid for by pharmaceutical company Merck that amounted to a compendium of reprinted scientific articles and one-source reviews, most of which presented data favorable to Merck's products. *The Scientist*obtained two 2003 issues of the journal -- which bore the imprint of Elsevier's Excerpta Medica -- neither of which carried a statement obviating Merck's sponsorship of the publication. An Elsevier spokesperson told *The Scientist* in an email that a total of six titles in a series of sponsored article publications were put out by their Australia office and bore the Excerpta Medica imprint from 2000 to 2005. These titles were: the *Australasian Journal of General Practice*, the *Australasian Journal of Neurology*, the *Australasian Journal of Cardiology*, the *Australasian Journal of Clinical Pharmacy*, the *Australasian Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine*, and the *Australasian Journal of Bone Joint [Medicine]*. Elsevier declined to provide the names of the sponsors of these titles, according to the company spokesperson. It has recently come to my attention that from 2000 to 2005, our Australia office published a series of sponsored article compilation publications, on behalf of pharmaceutical clients, that were made to look like journals and lacked the proper disclosures, said Michael Hansen, CEO of Elsevier's Health Sciences Division, in a statementhttp://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authored_newsitem.cws_home/companynews05_01203issued by the company. This was an unacceptable practice, and we regret that it took place. When confronted with the questionable publishing practices surrounding the *Australasian Journal of Bone and Joint Medicine* last week, Elsevier indicated that it had no plans of looking into the matter further, but that decision has apparently been reversed. We are currently conducting an internal review but believe this was an isolated practice from a past period in time, Hansen continued in the Elsevier statement. It does not reflect the way we operate today. The individuals involved in the project have long since left the company. I have affirmed our business practices as they relate to what defines a journal and the proper use of disclosure language with our employees to ensure this does not happen again. I understand this issue has troubled our communities of authors, editors, customers and employees, Hansen added in the statement. But I can assure all that the integrity of Elsevier's publications and business practices remains intact. *Correction (May 7): The headline and original version of this story incorrectly indicated that Elsevier had produced seven titles in their series of sponsored article publications when in fact the publisher produced only six. The Scientist regrets the error.*
Re: [tips] educating participants in research
Because the alternatives to research participation requirements are pretty much in place everywhere, I'll wager that the students who reported to Joan that they were required to participate in research were actually offered those alternatives. I'll also wager that the alternatives were presented in such a way that the students immediately discarded them as actual alternatives and thereby forgot about that part of the contract. Why write a summary paper that requires real work when you can flip through some questionnaires and get it over with? This was the original concern of this thread. The students are asked to be there in body but need bring nothing else. I agree that this state of affairs could have serious effects on the overall quality of psychological research. I think Stephen, who reported on participants' casual flipping through powerpoint slides, may have a paradigm that could serve as a dependent variable to test the effectiveness of various participant preparation/education procedures. Given different sets of instructions, how much time do they spend with the material presented to them when allowed to proceed at their own pace? Bill Scott Gerald Peterson peter...@svsu.edu 05/07/09 9:29 AM I don't know if it's an ethical guideline, suggestion or what, but APA requires there be alternatives for students in Gen. Psych classes being asked to participate in research. Gary Joan Warmbold jwarm...@oakton.edu 5/6/2009 9:53 pm I clearly was under a misconception here. I had been told by a number of my 101 students that at their previous universities they were required to participate in a number of research studies--average seeming to be between 3 and 6. Has that changed in recent years? Clearly if students are given the option for other activities, then there's nothing coercive about their participation whatsoever. Joan jwarm...@oakton.edu I know of no program that doesn't offer a reasonable alternative to research participation. We ask students to complete a 1-page double-spaced summary of an empirical article from an APA journal or from a short list of other peer-reviewed journals. They get to pick whatever topic they want and often the articles are immediatley accessible online so that they don't even have to go anywhere. The length of the article doesn't matter as long as they can capture the essence of what they read. I really do believe that participation teaches valuable lessons about the process of research. I still remember from the late 1960's participating in research studies even though I was at that time clueless about the whole process. I have a vague memory of memory drums! but I no longer remember from over 40 years ago just what the study was about. I do remember really believing that what I was doing was important. So I have no problem with subject pools. Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 tay...@sandiego.edu Original message Date: Wed, 6 May 2009 19:05:31 -0500 (CDT) From: Joan Warmbold jwarm...@oakton.edu Subject: Re: [tips] educating participants in research To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@acsun.frostburg.edu Boy am I going to provoke reactions here but to me it seems unethical to require psychology students to be participants in research studies. And is it any surprise that forced participants sometimes don't take the research seriously? They might be irritated and/or feel they are being taken advantage of, and rightly so. There has to be a better way to obtain participants for research studies other than literally coercing students to do so if they wish to get credit in a course. Joan jwarm...@oakton.edu We tryto various levels of success. We try to emphasize the ethics involved and have decided as as department to incorporate a discussion of honest participation during the teaching of research ethics. Also, we encourage students to do the alternate assignment if they really don't want to do the studies. That's the best we can do. I'm anxious to hear better solutions to this problem. I just ran a study where I am sure about 15% of my sample was just blowing off a requirement because they performed so poorly :( I'm not sure how to handle the data. Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 tay...@sandiego.edu Original message Date: Wed, 6 May 2009 13:47:51 -0500 From: Blaine Peden cyber...@charter.net Subject: [tips] educating participants in research To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@acsun.frostburg.edu Our students and faculty conduct research with participants from introductory psychology and other courses. Some participants seem to do the studies in great haste and with little sincerity and thereby raise
[tips] biofeedback and Leo DiCara's suicide
I have often covered the origins story of biofeedback in class with the narrative of Miller and DiCara's work with curarized rats that turned out to be not replicable. DiCara did not help with the attempts at replication when he went to the University of Michigan to set up his lab there. He, instead, committed suicide. Miller, and none of his other graduate minions, ever replicated the MD'C outstanding results. Does anyone know anything about Leo DiCara's suicide or the Miller replication results that are beyond the Miller failure to replicate article that to my knowledge never had a published reply? Thanks to anybody. This is a good story for classes, but I need resolution. Bill Scott --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
RE: [tips] Relevance of science to psych work?
I agree. The older ones were better. The changes reflect a general dumbing-down of texts. Bill Scott tay...@sandiego.edu 04/22/09 7:24 PM Am I the only who liked the old Stanovich how to think straight edition about 10 years back better? I don't like the later somewhat reorganized editions that started around 10 years ago :( I tend to advise my students to go back to the 5th edition (1998 pub date in my copy). Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 tay...@sandiego.edu Original message Date: Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:37:51 -0400 From: Helweg-Larsen, Marie helw...@dickinson.edu Subject: RE: [tips] Relevance of science to psych work? To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@acsun.frostburg.edu I also love Stanovich and we require the book to be read by all our majors (as part of the research methods class). It is really an excellent introduction to what psychology is really all about and nicely addresses each of the misperceptions that our students have about psychology as a field. Marie Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D. Department Chair and Associate Professor of Psychology Kaufman 168, Dickinson College Carlisle, PA 17013 Office: (717) 245-1562, Fax: (717) 245-1971 http://www.dickinson.edu/departments/psych/helwegm/ -Original Message- From: Joan Warmbold [mailto:jwarm...@oakton.edu] Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2009 5:53 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] Relevance of science to psych work? Just BTW, a book that I would highly recommend on this general topic is Thinking Straight About Psychology by Stanovich. I'm using it in my honors Social Research Methods class that has a number of college graduates who are moving on to clinical programs. They have spontaneously admitted during class discussions how surprised they are at their unexpected appreciation of how their understanding of science will be so crucial relative to their future effectiveness as a therapist. I have suggested that they need to be prepared for students as well as professors who will be surprised, skeptical and possibly hostile to their new found belief in the importance of the scientific, evidence-based perspective within the field of clinical psychology. Joan jwarm...@oakton.edu Michael Smith wrote: I personally have no problem with psych students who want to be clinicians not being interested in the science of psychology. I always find it funny that the science types are sooo concerned that everyone should take science very seriously. Are the authors EQUALLY concerned about the state and training of the empirical psychologists' human empathy and social interaction skills? I bet not. And if what the authors are saying is true, how come there arnt oodles of positions available for empirical psychologists? :) Dear Colleagues, By way of an analogy, I'm not really concerned whether medical researchers have a great deal of empathy or social interaction skills. These are skills I do value in my doctor. Nonetheless, I very much want my physician/surgeon to be grounded in the science of medicine. I would similarly hope that medical students also care about science. Clinical work is more than social interaction and empathy. If that was all that was required, we would just need a few good friends. Clinical work should be grounded in empirically valid and culturally appropriate practice. This represents many challenges, in part, as we are still learning so much particularly in relation to biological and multicultural influences. Nonetheless, the APA Ethics Code 2.04 Bases for Scientific and Professional Judgments is quite clear--Psychologists' work is based upon established scientific and professional knowledge of the discipline. For students to not care about the science of psychology suggests that they do not understand psychology or the skills/knowledge needed related to clinical practice. In terms of science-related psychology positions, there are many positions within business, government, law, industry, NASA, etc. The /Monitor/ has had several articles highlighting science careers outside of academia (e.g., see http://www.apa.org/monitor/2008/04/careers.html and http://www.apa.org/monitor/feb01/careerpath.html ). The APA Science Directorate has an interesting page illustrating several career options - http://www.apa.org/science/nonacad_careers.html . Best wishes, Linda -- Linda M. Woolf, Ph.D. Professor, Psychology and International Human Rights Past-President, Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict, Violence (Div. 48, APA) http://www.peacepsych.org Webster University 470 East Lockwood St. Louis, MO 63119 Main Webpage: http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/ http://www.webster.edu/%7Ewoolflm/
Re: [tips] Portuguese water dog
see: Dog behavior: the genetic basis By John Paul Scott, John L. Fuller Published by University of Chicago Press, 1974 ISBN 0226743381, 9780226743387 Bill Scot msylves...@copper.net 04/13/09 5:53 AM Do any of you tipsters have a Portuguese water dog? Any idea as to its behavioral conditioning history particularly the amount of trials to criteria for learning new tasks? Michael Sylvester,PhD Daytona Beach,Florida --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Motivation by Shame
Stephen Black asks: 1) What is the earliest reported use of contingency contracts with dire consequences for non-compliance? 2) What is the earliest specific reference to the possibly apocryphal American Nazi contingency? Stephen Malott, R., Whaley, D., and Malott, M. (1997). Elementary Principles of Behavior, 3rd ed. Prentice-Hall. Garcia, M., Malott, R., and Brethower, D. (1988). A system of thesis and dissertation supervision: helping graduate students succeed. Teaching of Psychology, 15, 186--. --- It was much earlier than these references. I first used it myself with an english department graduate student client at York University in 1977. He wrote checks out to Readers Digest with a note about keeping up the good work that I was to send if he didn't keep up with his dissertation writing contract. I used this technique because I had already heard of its effectiveness but I can't remember if I read about it or just heard it described at an AABT conference (association for the advancement of behavior therapy, when they used to call it that). By the way, that particular application didn't work. He didn't believe I would actually send the checks and after the first time that I did, he put a stop payment on all the other checks that I had in my possession. He did finish his dissertation, though and is now a prominent scholar at a top-notch Canadian University. Positive reinforcement contingencies seemed to work better for him. Bill Scott --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Breakdown of authority?
Authority is not a quality one person has, in the sense that he has property or physical qualities. Authority refers to an interpersonal relation in which one person looks upon another as somebody superior to him. - -- Erich Fromm From Fromm's perspective, calls for respect for authority can be seen as calls for acknowledgment of the superiority of those placed in authority. If freedom is derived from equality then respect for authority diminishes liberty. Another point of view though: Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do and how you do it. - -- Rudy Giuliani Which one got it right? Bill Scott Michael Smith tipsl...@gmail.com 03/25/09 12:04 PM Are we seeing a generalized breakdown in respect for authority in the US and Canada in particular? And if so is this a good or bad thing? One example would be the entitlement attitude of students today and the concomitant lack of respect for the professor and classroom regulations that students don't agree with. Another may be the public vowed lack of support for Obama by some politicians. Not that politics shouldn't have arguments, but there seems to be a lack of decorum as well. It seems to me, there is a lack of respect in general for authority figures and or rules/regulations that one happens not to agree with. If so, is there a general social/psychological movement to perhaps an extreme form of the 'me' generation. As educators, should we be resisting and re-training the millenial attitude of students rather than saying this is how it is so we better get on board? --Mike --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Roll over, Darwin
Chris Green sez: -- I think the major reason that attention has suddenly become focused on the Science Minister is that his government just cut the budgets of the major research funding agencies as part of their economic stimulus package. Go figr. -- But he, himself, objected to those cuts!! I'm taken with the following comments by Lorna Dueck in the Toronto Globe Mail: He made a defensive stumble in an environment he assumed would not allow the breadth of questions needed to explore Christianity and science. He drew the line around his faith tightly, with what appears to be a Don't ask, don't tell policy. The fact that we cannot intelligently explore a science minister's personal beliefs in God because it's deemed political suicide in a sound-bite culture should alarm us all about the erosion of our freedoms. While I agree that it is important to know his beliefs, I do understand the defensiveness which led to his statements. Bill Scott Christopher D. Green chri...@yorku.ca 03/18/09 7:53 PM sbl...@ubishops.ca wrote: Our Science Minister, (yes, our _science_ minister), with the proud title of federal Minister of State for Science and Technology, was asked whether he believed in evolution. And then... Shame on us. Indeed. However, it has been long known that the current Minister of International Trade (and former Leader of the Opposition) Stockwell Day is a young Earth creationist. I think the major reason that attention has suddenly become focused on the Science Minister is that his government just cut the budgets of the major research funding agencies as part of their economic stimulus package. Go figr. Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 chri...@yorku.ca http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ == --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
RE: [tips] Random Thought: A Quickie On Retention
One result in the NSSE report is: Seniors who transferred to their current institution were less engaged on four out of five benchmarks. These are students who were not retained at their original institutions. This result seems to point to a less engaged student personality factor more than to a rejection of non-engaging professors at the original institution leading to transfer. The NSSE report speculates: Perhaps transfer students missed out on some early experiences in their college career that facilitate engagement and connection with the institution. I don't see how that conclusion is more supported than a personality conclusion from these data. Bill Scott tay...@sandiego.edu 03/08/09 9:07 PM You can find the 2008 complete report of the NSSE at http://nsse.iub.edu/NSSE_2008_Results/docs/withhold/NSSE2008_Results_revised_11-14-2008.pdf And it's free! What a treat. Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, .D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 tay...@sandiego.edu Original message Date: Sun, 8 Mar 2009 19:32:51 -0400 (EDT) From: Dr. Bob Wildblood drb...@rcn.com Subject: RE: [tips] Random Thought: A Quickie On Retention To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@acsun.frostburg.edu Here is some interesting comment obtained from a student survey, NSSE perhaps, which supports what happens at my home institution. The first two are really damning and show that much more of what Louis said happens in classrooms than on the campus in general. I could tell you some real horror stories, but not now, it's still Sunday. Student Interaction with Campus Faculty and Staff 46%of seniors believed that the campus staff were helpful, considerate, or flexible 88%of seniors believed that faculty are available, helpful, or sympathetic 98%of seniors reported that faculty members provided prompt feedback on their academic performance 69%of seniors discussed readings or ideas with faculty members outside of class Bob From: Shearon, Tim tshea...@collegeofidaho.edu Subject: RE: [tips] Random Thought: A Quickie On Retention Bob- My experience matches yours. We do have a Student Life part to administration here and sometimes they can be warm and fuzzy but it is also their jobs to be gatekeepers and rule enforcers. On the whole, the contact students have is with the Registrar, the business office, housing officers, and various deans and their support staffs. It has been my experience that when students discuss those contacts with me, on the whole their reports are not tinged with words like embracing, caring, supportive, encouraging, and empathetic! I admit in my earlier days I was more the hard line type but, even with the sometimes frustrating component of students taking advantage of me, I've become a bit more prone to cutting folks a little slack. In the original post, Lewis said, embracing, caring, supportive, encouraging, and empathetic connection - I'm not sure how much embracing I'd get away with but I do try being the rest of those things (Lewis, I'm just kidding. I know what you meant.) :) Tim Bob Wildblood, PhD, HSPP Lecturer in Psychology Indiana University Kokomo Kokomo, IN 46904-9003 rwild...@iuk.edu, drb...@erols.com We���re trading a dogmatic president for one who���s shopping for a dog. It feels good. - Maureen Dowd Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a purpose. -Garrison Keillor We have an obligation and a responsibility to be investing in our students and our schools. We must make sure that people who have the grades, the desire and the will, but not the money, can still get the best education possible.- Barack Obama --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
re: [tips] Dirk Wittenborn: a history of brain candy
There is another form of the forced swimming test which is a better indicator of the development of hopelessness. Rats are sequentially exposed to regular increases in forced swimming time until the next trial will be beyond their endurance. At that point they don't swim and give up. If an antidepressant has an effect on such hopelessness, it will extend the number of trials before the rat gives up. As far as I know, the procedure calls for rescuing the rat. I forget the name of this procedure, if there is one, but I imagine this is what Wittenborn is referring to. Bill Scott David Epstein da...@neverdave.com 03/04/09 12:11 AM On Tue, 3 Mar 2009, Mike Palij went: http://tinyurl.com/b5amaz |Don told me that potential antidepressants were |deemed worthy of trying out on people if a rat who had ingested them |took longer to drown than a rat normally takes to drown when placed |in a pool with no exit. To this day, this test is still used - only now to |save time the rats are weighted. I am sure that there are others on the list (e.g., David Epstein) who can lay out the phases of drug testing and what the above test is (is it the Morris water maze? see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_water_maze ). But such details might detract from the writing's punch. The Morris water maze is used in rodent studies of learning and memory. It's not exactly a maze, but as the term suggests, it does have a hidden platform on which the rodents can learn to perch once they find it. A different water test, called the forced-swimming test, is used as a behavioral assay for antidepressants. The major difference is that there's no hidden platform to learn about in the forced-swimming test. There's just...swimming. HOWEVER, I've never seen any reference to a forced-swimming test in which rodents were permitted to drown (or weighted down so they would do so!). In a brief Google Scholar search, I found that all references to drowning were in the context of specifying that the rodents were RESCUED if they seemed to be about to drown: http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=drown++forced+swimming+antidepressant I didn't check all 1,290 hits, but I'll be (negatively) impressed if anyone finds one in which the rodents weren't rescued. --David Epstein da...@neverdave.com --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Does the new definition of science measure up? | Science | guardian.co.uk
I like your definition of science in terms of communal enterprise. (In your actual definition you should change your use of phenomena and phenomenon appropriately). Regardless, we often define our enterprises in terms of what we do rather than in terms of what we are doing as part of a scientific community. Your definition reminds us of that. Thank you. Bill Scott K. H. Grobman k...@devpsy.org 03/04/09 7:09 PM Hi Chris Everyone, That is a surprising definition of science from an authoritative source. My undergraduate degree is in physics. I then studied philosophy of science because quantum mechanics disillusioned me and made me wonder if science really can tell us anything special. After being satisfied with traditional philosophy of science, but dismayed by newer philosophy of science, I returned to science by studying developmental psychology. Here's my definition: == Science is the pursuit of knowledge by predicting new phenomena from prior phenomena, while imposing the greatest degree of skepticism possible and yet assuming just enough to allow shared knowledge among those maintaining just as much skepticism. Repeated consistently- found evidence of phenomena by independent observers leads this pursuit of knowledge to tentatively-accepted truths. Two minimal assumptions of science that allow shared knowledge while remaining as skeptical as possible are: (1) truth is a correspondence between observed phenomena and statements (e.g.., hypotheses, mathematical equations) and (2) an understanding of a whole phenomena is the combination of understanding of parts of the phenomena. == The definition excludes religion, intuition, values, and common sense. However, the definition does not include so much skepticism that we end up believing nothing (e.g., solipsism) or extreme forms of post-modernism. Intelligent Design is not science because it makes an assumption that is not necessary to predict phenomena (i.e., it is not as skeptical as possible) and because it invokes teleological mechanisms instead of explaining solely from prior causes. Any domain can be studied scientifically. Content analysis by our colleagues in mass communication is scientific study of television and there is no reason the same can not be done for art, literature, or history (e.g., Herb Simon's computation models based on diaries of historically important scientists, Howard Gardener's studies of children's changing appreciation of different kinds of paintings). Nobody always does science; I teach with intuition and make choices according to moral feelings. So I am certainly not saying that because something is not science, that it is somehow not worthwhile. Nevertheless, science has a special place in our lives precisely because its truths required so much skepticism be overcome to be produced. No matter how much we disagree on issues of faith, intuition, common sense, or emotion - we can still agree to incorporate scientific truth into our world-views. Kevin _.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._ ~ all that you can take with you is that which you've given away ~ ~ teaching learning developmental psychology ~ ~ http://www.DevPsy.org ~ --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] For Steves only
I'm offended. My name is Bill but I can go to a festival in Spring Green Wisconsin every year (Google Bobfest spring green) where everyone is allowed to be named Bob with a name tag that says so. So how is it I can't be Steve? Bah. Steve Scott (sometimes known as Bill Scott) Michael Smith tipsl...@gmail.com 03/04/09 7:54 PM This is obviously bogus. If it was of any real value, it would have been called the Mike project. --Mike On Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 5:38 PM, sbl...@ubishops.ca wrote: 1) Do you agree with the following statement? Evolution is a vital, well-supported, unifying principle of the biological sciences, and the scientific evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of the idea that all living things share a common ancestry. Although there are legitimate debates about the patterns and processes of evolution, there is no serious scientific doubt that evolution occurred or that natural selection is a major mechanism in its occurrence. It is scientifically inappropriate and pedagogically irresponsible for creationist pseudoscience, including but not limited to intelligent design, to be introduced into the science curricula of our nation's public schools. 2) Do you want to fight Intelligent Design? 3) Is your name Steve, Stephen, Stephanie, Stefan, etc? Then the Steve Project is for you. I am now proud member no. 1048 of the list of Steves (presently at no. 1056 and counting), every one eminent in his/her own special way. Wow! A club that will actually have me as a member is an opportunity I can't pass up. You can admire my listing. It's just between Steven J. Bissell Adjunct Faculty, Environmental Policy and Management, University of Denver Adjunct Faculty, Department of Natural Resources, Recreation, and Tourism, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins Ph.D., Public Administration, University of Colorado, Denver and Steve Black** Professor of Biology, Reed College Ph.D., Genetics, University of California, Berkeley The Steve Project: http://ncseweb.org/taking-action/list-steves It's the club for Steves. We've got some on TIPS. Others need not apply. Stephen (what else) - Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: sbl...@ubishops.ca 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Subscribe to discussion list (TIPS) for the teaching of psychology at http://flightline.highline.edu/sfrantz/tips/ --- --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Bogus treatments
You're going to have trouble finding an actual treatment out there that isn't believed in by somebody in your audience or someone in their immediate family. I have done the same thing you are proposing by inventing a treatment that I demonstrate on myself in class. It's called the ganzfeld treatment and works well because it is a real term from perceptual psychology and it is easy to generate a therapeutic/pseudo-scientific rationale for its application (patients need to clear the sensorium, experience perceptual re-birth, etc.) It involves wearing two half ping-pong balls (easily available at most campus area convenience stores around here for some reason) over my eyes while I speak. The image is entertaining and the students tend to remember the class in evaluations. I then go through the methods of testing the effectiveness of the treatment, as you are planning to do. Also, it is fun to demonstrate the ganzfeld effect with the ping pong balls as a real phenomenon. Bill Scott Michael Britt michael.br...@thepsychfiles.com 02/09/09 10:26 AM I wonder if anyone had any suggestions for me. I'm planning an episode in which I want to talk about research design and various confounds and threats to validity (a la Campbell) and I want to use an example of a treatment (the X in Campbell's terminology) that we know doesn't work. I was going to use teaching methods that attempt to incorporate learning styles, but that's a hot topic, upon which not everyone agrees so I'd rather not use it because I don't want the treatment that I use as an example to distract from the topic of research design. I suppose I could just make something up but thought I'd check to see if anyone had any ideas. Appreciate it, Michael Michael Britt mich...@thepsychfiles.com www.thepsychfiles.com --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Bogus treatments
I claim that ganzfeld treatment cures all anxiety disorders. I wouldn't be surprised if it actually did work as well as EMDR. In fact, EMDR might be a good control procedure for testing the specificity of the ganzfeld treatment, being somewhat the opposite of ganzfeld perceptually. Bill Scott Michael Britt michael.br...@thepsychfiles.com 02/09/09 11:23 AM Yes - I agree: it's hard to find any treatment that someone won't ardently adhere to. So in your demonstration what do you say the Ganfeld treatment actually cures? I like the memorable visual component of the demonstration. Michael Britt mich...@thepsychfiles.com www.thepsychfiles.com On Feb 9, 2009, at 11:00 AM, William Scott wrote: You're going to have trouble finding an actual treatment out there that isn't believed in by somebody in your audience or someone in their immediate family. I have done the same thing you are proposing by inventing a treatment that I demonstrate on myself in class. It's called the ganzfeld treatment and works well because it is a real term from perceptual psychology and it is easy to generate a therapeutic/pseudo-scientific rationale for its application (patients need to clear the sensorium, experience perceptual re- birth, etc.) It involves wearing two half ping-pong balls (easily available at most campus area convenience stores around here for some reason) over my eyes while I speak. The image is entertaining and the students tend to remember the class in evaluations. I then go through the methods of testing the effectiveness of the treatment, as you are planning to do. Also, it is fun to demonstrate the ganzfeld effect with the ping pong balls as a real phenomenon. Bill Scott Michael Britt michael.br...@thepsychfiles.com 02/09/09 10:26 AM I wonder if anyone had any suggestions for me. I'm planning an episode in which I want to talk about research design and various confounds and threats to validity (a la Campbell) and I want to use an example of a treatment (the X in Campbell's terminology) that we know doesn't work. I was going to use teaching methods that attempt to incorporate learning styles, but that's a hot topic, upon which not everyone agrees so I'd rather not use it because I don't want the treatment that I use as an example to distract from the topic of research design. I suppose I could just make something up but thought I'd check to see if anyone had any ideas. Appreciate it, Michael Michael Britt mich...@thepsychfiles.com www.thepsychfiles.com --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
RE: [tips] looking for some software
I find you can get all of these features in a small MIDI keyboard with a sequencer. Works very well for behavioral observation. Also for real time self-reporting of emotions, etc. Bill Scott Dennis Goff dg...@randolphcollege.edu 01/15/09 9:22 AM Mike, Use The Google and search for event recorder software. My second hit took me to animalbehavior.org where I found a link to Behavior Tracker - http://www.behaviortracker.com/ If that program does not work for you, my search yielded other links that might. Good luck Dennis -- Dennis M. Goff Chair, Department of Psychology Professor of Psychology Randolph College (Founded as Randolph-Macon Woman's College in 1891) Lynchburg VA 24503 dg...@randolphcollege.edu From: Donnelly, Michael [mailto:donnel...@uwstout.edu] Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 4:44 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] looking for some software Hello fellow TIPsters: I am planning on adding a new element to my Research Methods course, involving naturalistic observation. I'd like my students to be able to record the duration of behavioral events while viewing videotaped naturalistic behaviors--animals in the zoo, birds on my feeder, kids playing, people at the mall, that sort of thing. I hope that one of you will be able to point me to a place where I can find a piece of software that has the following features: 1. Use for recording cumulative time (duration) of behavioral events (sort of like a stopwatch) 2. Able to record multiple simultaneous times (multiple clocks timing simultaneously) 3. Start/stop isn't the usual toggle action (press/start, release/nothing, press/stop) but instead is press/start, release/stop This third feature is particularly hard to find, and I am hoping I don't have to resort to writing my own program to do it. I wrote one back in the day, for the old Macintosh, but I need one that runs under Windows (all of our students use Windows laptops). I could also do this using the Biopacs we have here, but that system is kind of clunky for this application and not really portable. I found a good timer online, you can find it here http://www.stopwatch-timer.com/ It is admirably set up for the first two features, but not the third. Also, free would be great, but not required. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. -Mike Donnelly http://www3.uwstout.edu/faculty/donnellym/ --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Controlling behavior vs. coercion, was Extinction Sidman and coercion
Paul Brandon paul.bran...@mnsu.edu 01/07/09 1:34 PM The question of whether one can control (produce a change in behavior) without controlling is more a philosophical one. -- I am a reader of the works of Sidman, Kantor, and Powers. I'm still not sure what coercion is. Coercion certainly seems to be an ethical no-no (obsolete phrase meaning impropriety) these days, but where does effective behavioral control become coercion? Or maybe the question is, where does effective behavioral control stop becoming coercion? Is it simply a matter of informed consent? Would extinction of a TIPS member's inappropriate comments without his (or her) consent be considered coercion? Should a group such as this be coercive like that? Bill Scott --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
[tips] pointing to social psych reasearch in the Madoff scandal
Len Fisher seems to have a social psychology perspective in the broker-investor relationship of the Madoff scandal. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/19/AR2008121902977.html Bill Scott --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] avatars and dissociative experiences?
This is an interesting idea, Gerald. I would like to know if there have been multiple facebook/myspace/flicker etc. pages set up by alters of the large number of DID diagnosed individuals in our culture who are of the age where everyone has a facebook/etc page. If this were to be a phenomenon, which would be very interesting in itself, then did the pages get set up before or after the person entered therapy? I can't imagine how to find this sort of thing out, though. Bill Scott Gerald Peterson peter...@svsu.edu 12/17/08 11:18 AM This got no reaction from my students so thought I would post it here during holiday break (well, some of us are on break). The news story was mentioned on tips, but I am just playing with the implications. I was trying to get student reactions to this because of their varied involvement in diverse online sites. I wonder too if clinicians are seeing folks/students with dissociative disorders tied to different selves that they present on myspace, Facebook, etc. How well do created avatars represent our selves or personalities? Some thoughts on a prelim. news story about research where people are led to see and feel from someone else's perspective. My thoughts intended to elicit your comments: If we can be led to see and feel from each other's viewpoint then does this mean greater appreciation of that person's feelings and thoughts? Could I confuse your embodied viewpoint with my own? Could those prone to mental problems become even more screwed up with such experiences? If we exchange viewpoints then do I come to feel the expression of your personality? Don't we already have such experiences with online gaming, role-playing games, and the use of avatars? Do I not become my avatar? BTW, are such avatars a form of hyperspace immortality? If we capture and create an online log of me viewing/experiencing your world from your viewpoint can I say that I am now two selves? Do such experiences promote virtual mind-reading? See the news article and share your perspectives! http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/health/02mind.html?_r=1nl=8hlthemc=hltha1 Gary Gerald L. (Gary) Peterson, Ph.D. Professor, Psychology Saginaw Valley State University University Center, MI 48710 989-964-4491 peter...@svsu.edu --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Frost/Nixon and Rogers/Skinner?
That interaction between Skinner and Rogers was audio taped. Copies exist. I know there used to be one at York University. Chris? Bill Scott Gerald Peterson peter...@svsu.edu 12/15/08 4:51 PM I don't know about the letters, but a famous exchange of views was published in T. W. Wann (Editor). Behaviorism and phenomenology: Contrasting bases for modern psychology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964 Gary Gerald L. (Gary) Peterson, Ph.D. Professor, Psychology Saginaw Valley State University University Center, MI 48710 989-964-4491 peter...@svsu.edu Michael Britt michael.br...@thepsychfiles.com 12/15/2008 1:11 pm I've heard a lot about these Frost/Nixon interviews, which sound interesting. It reminded me of some letters that went back and forth between Carl Rogers and B.F. Skinner - wasn't it? It wasn't an interview or anything dramatic, but I'm racking my history of psych brain to remember who these letters were between. Any help? Michael -- Michael Britt, Ph.D. Host of The Psych Files podcast www.thepsychfiles.com mich...@thepsychfiles.com --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] TIPSTER OF THE WEEK
Me?! Oh my goodness. I suggest that, starting next week, all recipients of the TOTW should be required to create an expressive dance regarding their joy in receiving the award. Bill Scott [EMAIL PROTECTED] 12/11/08 4:05 AM WILLIAM SCOTT ENJOY! Michael Sylvester,PhD Daytona Beach,Florida --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: [tips] So you think you can dance (your Ph.D.)?
This is great! For many years I have claimed that a large number of our students would do better if they were allowed to perform an expressive dance about their theses rather than what we were requiring in the department. Now I know that at least some of them were probably preferring that mode of expression. Bill Scott [EMAIL PROTECTED] 12/06/08 11:22 AM For psychology (or something close to it): Miriam Sach, Ph.D. thesis, University of Duesseldorf, 2004. Title: Cerebral activation patterns induced by inflection of regular and irregular verbs with positron emission tomography. A comparison between single subject and group analysis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRLoP3gOUM4 Explanation: The findings of this thesis demonstrate that regular and irregular verbs are processed in the same neural network as opposed to separate cortical areas for regular and irregular verb inflection. 1.) Regular verbs are represented by the walking at the very beginning of this piece. The walking is simple, straight forward and without irregularities. It is accompanied by the sound of crackling fire a metaphor for the firing neurons. 2.) In contrast, irregular verbs are represented by a huge variety of different movements: jumps, slides, turns, rolls, level changes. Irregularities are also displayed musically by using syncopes and off- beat emphasis in percussion as well as further changes in instruments. 3.) The sound of the falling rain is a cleansing moment with no movements to introduce the final section of the dance: the common neural network of regular and irregular verb processing. It is the first time that symmetrical movements occur to emphasize the common network for both verb forms. In addition, both regular and irregular movements are shown to elucidate the presence of both entities in this network. Overall, fiber connections in the brain representing the connections between regular and irregular verbs are shown by wavy arm movements. - And don't miss the thrilling, The role of vitamin D in beta cell function. Sue Lynn Lau University of Sydney (Ph.D. expected 2010). http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=QiTFBRPFRh8 Click on more information at the right for explanation. Look at those beta cells shake their booties after stimulation by glucose [sugar plum fairy]! It's at the end of the video. And for demystiifcation of all this, see http://gonzolabs.org/dance/ (then click on winners announced) Stephen - Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Subscribe to discussion list (TIPS) for the teaching of psychology at http://flightline.highline.edu/sfrantz/tips/ --- --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: [tips] Conflicts of Interest for Psychiatrists recommending medications
Paul, I would very much like to have that set of references. Please post. Bill Scott Paul Okami [EMAIL PROTECTED] 12/06/08 6:41 PM This is only a tiny blip. A large portion of the research on psychiatric drugs is compromised by complex and multifaceted pharmaceutical industry influence. The entire database is grossly unreliable as a result and meta-analyses cannot be taken at face value. I can provide many good references on this if anyone is interested. Paul Okami - Original Message - From: Joan Warmbold [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@acsun.frostburg.edu Sent: Saturday, December 06, 2008 5:05 PM Subject: [tips] Conflicts of Interest for Psychiatrists recommending medications http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/22/health/22radio.html?ref=business This article is alarming in the extent of serious ethical judgments it reveals various psychiatrists have made by recommending medications produced by the companies that are paying them big bucks as to act as consultants. The article centers on the efforts by Senator Grassley to check for any conflicts of interests within the psychiatric community and what he has discovered, to date, is shocking. For example, on a regular show on NPR Dr. Goodwin highly touted to parents the use of mood-stabilizers for their children who have been diagnosed as bi-polar while simultaneously being paid by a pharmaceutical company that produced these medications. Though he has personally received $1.3 million for his consulting work with pharmaceutical companies, he never reported such to NPR. In another example, Dr. Biederman from Harvard has been a powerful advocate for the use of powerful antipsychotic drugs for children while also earning a total of $1.7 million from drugmakers. Many of you have already heard about Dr. Nermeroff from Emory who earned $1.2 million from 2000 to 2007 while acting as a strong advocate of the use of medications. Have any of you heard about any official response or appropriate actions taken by any of the psychiatric associations? I haven't been aware of such and yet these type of stories do great harm to the publics trust of the clinical field generally. Joan Joan Warmbold [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) __ NOD32 3632 (20081121) Information __ This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system. http://www.eset.com --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: [tips] State stats: Correlations
This site is fascinating, but there is something fishy about it. There is a category for voted for Obama that seems highly negatively correlated with voted for Bush. But wasn't McCain Obama's opponent? I'd like to know how this was constructed. Bill Scott Frantz, Sue [EMAIL PROTECTED] 12/04/08 9:41 PM http://statestats.appspot.com/ Put in a term that people might search for using Google, and this tool will give you a ranking of US states by how popular that search term is in that state. And then it will correlate that search ranking with 21 different variables, such as longevity, obesity, and unemployment. --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
RE: [tips] State stats: Correlations
Thanks, Sue. People like me should look further down the page, but I never read the instructions first. I started playing with it right away. I found that searches for academy were predictably highly positively correlated with illiteracy, for example, and I was happy to see our new home state of Wisconsin almost at the top in search of beer and at the very top in search of cheese. The strongest correlations with Obama (+) and Bush (-) that I have found so far was NY Times. Bill Frantz, Sue [EMAIL PROTECTED] 12/05/08 7:11 PM They're comparing voted for Obama in '08 with voted for Bush in '04. You can see where they get their data here: http://statestats.appspot.com/?q=_metricinfo_ Sue -Original Message- From: William Scott [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, December 05, 2008 6:33 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] State stats: Correlations This site is fascinating, but there is something fishy about it. There is a category for voted for Obama that seems highly negatively correlated with voted for Bush. But wasn't McCain Obama's opponent? I'd like to know how this was constructed. Bill Scott Frantz, Sue [EMAIL PROTECTED] 12/04/08 9:41 PM http://statestats.appspot.com/ Put in a term that people might search for using Google, and this tool will give you a ranking of US states by how popular that search term is in that state. And then it will correlate that search ranking with 21 different variables, such as longevity, obesity, and unemployment. --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: [tips] One for the Guinness book
Stephen Black says: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 12/03/08 4:52 PM Not legal in the province of Quebec. Beyond your satire, please Mr. Black, being a member of that group as you are, why are so many things not allowed for Quebecers? The Netflix prize, for example is not available to residents of Quebec. Why is that? Bill Scott --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: [tips] What's up with South Dakota?
I agree with Stephen. This law in South Dakota is clealy using the framing/anchoring/availability heuristics to be persuasive. Those opposing the law should lobby to have the facts regarding reproductive rights and choice included after these sets of information. Bill Scott [EMAIL PROTECTED] 11/24/08 10:11 PM Or: pushing the envelope on informed consent (There I go again with the scare quotes). I was horrified by this draconian law in the land of the (formerly) free. One might expect a country like Iran, say, to pass such a measure compelling adherence to ideologically and religiously- driven beliefs, together with the promotion of false information in the guise of scientific. But in the USA? See: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/359/21/2189 and then see: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMe0809669v1 (I apologize for apparently bringing the abortion debate to TIPS, where it does not belong. But it seems to me that such a law raises questions beyond that issue concerning the right of the state to interfere in the professional relationship between qualified therapist and patient, and to impose a particular view by misrepresenting scientific evidence. It could be psychology or biology that gets it next. Sorry--I think they already have.) Stephen - Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Subscribe to discussion list (TIPS) for the teaching of psychology at http://flightline.highline.edu/sfrantz/tips/ --- --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: [tips] Dollard and Miller
Although I agree with Paul, I think the notions of approach-avoidance, approach-approach, etc. conflicts have always been good fodder for intro psych speculations that hold meaning for the students. These seem to be real phenomena in need of explaining. The conflicts are mostly from Miller but I think they were part of the Dollard and Miller theory. Correct me if I am wrong. Bill Scott Paul Brandon [EMAIL PROTECTED] 11/04/08 6:17 PM I'd say it's mostly of historical interest now -- interesting speculations but superseded by Behavior Analysis on the one side and Cognitive Neuroscience on the other. More hypotheses than theory. On Nov 4, 2008, at 4:19 PM, Jim Matiya wrote: I hope this isn't a silly question. Is the Dollard and Miller an active force in Learning? Or, has it been discounted as not a viable theory? Paul Brandon Emeritus Professor of Psychology Minnesota State University, Mankato [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: [tips] Hey! It's Identify The Source of That Quote Time!
This was in the unabomber manifesto, I think. Pretty prescient, eh? Nobody said the guy wasn't smart. Bill Scott Mike Palij [EMAIL PROTECTED] 10/12/08 12:52 PM In an article today on the mathematical wizardy that unlies the derivatives that have caused the recent financial unpleasantness and their opaqueness to almost everyone who isn't a math wizard, the following quote was provided because it is an analogy to the electronic trading that appears to have enabled the unpleasantness: |But we are suggesting neither that the human race would |voluntarily turn power over to the machines nor that the |machines would willfully seize power. What we do suggest |is that the human race might easily permit itself to drift into |a position of such dependence on the machines that it would |have no practical choice but to accept all of the machines' |decisions. ... Eventually a stage may be reached at which the |decisions necessary to keep the system running will be so |complex that human beings will be incapable of making them |intelligently. At that stage the machines will be in effective |control. People won't be able to just turn the machines off, |because they will be so dependent on them that turning them |off would amount to suicide. Who said/wrote this? Was it: (a) Ray Kurzweil (b) Alan Turing (c) Norbert Wiener (d) George Dyson (e) None of the above (No fair if you read Richard Dooling's Op-Ed in the today's Sunday NY Times Week in Review). -Mike Palij New York University [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
RE: [tips] What would YOU do?
quote: . PLUS, never show any weakness--it will come back to haunt you. I totally disagree with this. The more you show that you are an ignorant person trying desperately to understand this subject (and your methods), the better teacher you will be. Bill Scott --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: [tips] Do animals get embarrassed?
I had students read the article by Wynne and the responses to it in this: http://psyc.queensu.ca/ccbr/past_vols_2.html Most of them gave up on the anthropomorphizing after reading these articles but the one's that didn't felt that they had seen embarrassment in their pets. Go figure. Bill Scott Michael Britt [EMAIL PROTECTED] 10/03/08 6:47 PM Okay, since I haven't used up my allotment of 3 messages today, let me ask this question. I've had a few cats and dogs in my day, and you could just swear that they look like they are embarrassed when theyrelieve themselves. Now I know I'm probably just anthropomorphizing, but I'd like to hear an explanation for this (assuming others have made this same kind of interpretation). Perhaps an evolutionary one: they are merely looking around to make sure they don't get attacked by another animal during a time when they are...preoccupied? Or they just plain embarrassed? If dogs and cats could talk. Have a good weekend all, Michael Michael Britt [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.thepsychfiles.com --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: [tips] Online Psyc-Related DataBases
ICPSR is a huge resource. http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/ and they have a list of other databases at: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/access/other-data.html Bill Southerly [EMAIL PROTECTED] 09/16/08 5:39 PM I am looking for online data bases that contain psychological-related variables that students could use to explore possible correlations among various variables. This is for a research methods/stats course and ideally it would contain a large collection of potential variables where students could select 2 variables, download the data and do a correlational analysis. Any suggestions are appreciated. Best wishes, Bill Bill Southerly, PhD Department of Psychology Frostburg State University Frostburg, MD 21532 301-687-4778 [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: [tips] Study shows how false memories rerun 7/7 film that never existed | Science | The Guardian
Until recently (I've stopped because they have become too young)I have asked for a show of hands in the intro class regarding who remembers seeing the video of Princess Diana's crash in the tunnel which caused her death. Many vividly remember seeing the crash and refuse to believe me when told that no such video exists. Bill Scott Christopher D. Green [EMAIL PROTECTED] 09/13/08 11:07 AM Still doubt that people can have vivid but false memories of supposedly traumatic events? Check out this article in the Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/sep/10/humanbehaviour.july7 Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ == --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: [tips] BREAKING RESEARCH NEWS
please provide a citation. Bill Scott [EMAIL PROTECTED] 09/10/08 12:50 PM Thinking can make you fat.Thinking makes one hungry and stabilizes insulin levels.Btw,this would seem to contradict the Sheldon/Kretchmer (sp) that ectomorphs are cerebral and endomorphs are on an abs trip. Michael Sylvester,PhD Daytona Beach,Florida --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: [tips] A bit off topic
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 09/06/08 1:15 AM wrote: I was unable to find an answer to the question of what the politically correct call a manhole cover. -- I assume it is the manhole part and not the cover that is politically incorrect. Many manufacturers of these objects now call them sewer entry covers. Bill Scott --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
RE: [tips] why psychology is hard
Mike, I sent the same correction. My source was Thomas Szasz, personal communication, which I later verified as most likely true. I forget how I verified it, but it was pre-Google. Bill Scott Mike Palij [EMAIL PROTECTED] 08/27/08 5:44 PM On Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:15:21 -0700, Marc Carter According to Gilovich, it's Artemus Ward . It ain't so much the things we don't know that get us into trouble.It's the things we know that just ain't so. Annette Taylor emailed me that it was Ward and with the corrected quote but a quick google search raises some doubts. One of the hits was on Amazon for a book by Ralph Keyes entitled The Quote Verifier: Who Said What, Where, and When. The quote in question is on page 3 (Amazon allows page views) and it is attributed to Josh Billings aka Henry Wheeler Shaw. Artemus and others are identified but Keyes says that it is likely that Twain paraphrased Billings' quote in one of his works. I wonder if there is anything more definitive. -Mike Palij New York University [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: Michael Palij [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 2:46 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Cc: Michael Palij Subject: RE: [tips] why psychology is hard On Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:41:25 -0700, Jim Clark wrote: Hi Are we sure that psychology is hard? Or, to be more precise, harder than other intro level courses? I don't know what data there is on this point but in addition to the general academic skills building in the article, implicit is the notion that people walk into intro psych classes with a folk psychology that leads them to think that they (a) know what psychology is about and (b) rely upon their understanding to guide them in interpreting psychological research, theories, and explanations. Folk biology, folk physics, and other commonsense explanations about the world will tend to get challenged in high school science courses which should make the college intro courses in those areas less susceptible to this form of proactive interference effect. This led me to think of the following quote: It's not what we don't know that hurts us, it's what we know that isn't so. It then dawned on me that I didn't really know who the source was for this. I had taught that it was Mark Twain but a check of a couple of Twain quote websites doesn't include it (though there are some websites that quote Twain as saying it). I have also see it attributed to Will Rogers and Milton Erikson as well as to no one in particular (i.e., the old adage). So, who is the source? -Mike Palij New York University [EMAIL PROTECTED] P.S. Apparently there are a couple of versions of this saying, so the one above may not be accurate. --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: [tips] Congratulations! Your Teaching Job Just Got Easier!
Because I had reached a milestone birthday this year, my friends got me an Ipod touch for my birthday, and because the milestone was not sweet sixteen (far, far from it), I did not know what it was. It had a picture of John Lennon on the box, so I thought it was a John Lennon cassette (sic). Upon being told what it actually was, my first thought was omigod! learning curve!! Truthfully, I'm enjoying it immensely now that I've got the hang of it. Bill Scott [EMAIL PROTECTED] 08/21/08 11:01 AM I have the isty bitsy tiny ipod and love it. I listen to novels on tape when I go walking. I like it better than music! But I have the isty bitsy teeny tiny one because I had to pay for it myself ;) Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Original message Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2008 06:38:06 -0400 From: Mike Palij [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [tips] Congratulations! Your Teaching Job Just Got Easier! To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@acsun.frostburg.edu Cc: Mike Palij [EMAIL PROTECTED] Just kidding. Some colleges/universities are giving out iPods and iPhones to incoming studnets, though no mention of any program for faculty. See http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/technology/21iphone.html? _r=1th=oref=sloginemc=thpagewanted=all or http://tinyurl.com/5b93k6 How many faculty have iPods and/or iPhones or smart phones? -Mike Palij New York University [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: [tips] Software for Emeritus Faculty
Our institution will give us our hardware (whatever we are using at the point of retiring) but will not extend site licenses to emeritus faculty. We are supposed to wipe our machines clean of the protected software before leaving. Bill Scott Wuensch, Karl L [EMAIL PROTECTED] 08/19/08 10:30 PM Those of you who happen to know whether or not your university provides emeritus faculty with statistical software (such as Minitab, SPSS, SAS), please let me know. I am struggling with this issue at my institution. It seems that some vendors do not want to include emeritus faculty in site licenses (even though the number who would take advantage of it is probably small). I would like to remain productive, in a scholarly sense, after retirement, but would be hard pressed to do so without access to such software. Karl W. Cheers, Karl W. --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: [tips] Abstinence? Yes. Sex too.
I'd like to see the actual survey. Looks like a response bias might account for these results. Bill Scott Shearon, Tim [EMAIL PROTECTED] 08/13/08 5:50 PM Thought some might be interested in this one from MSNBC today. Our tax dollars at work- if this comes across as scary maybe we weren't thinking ahead. But it surely merits as a discussion starter (assuming you are free to discuss it, of course). The opposite of sex? Adults, teens beg to differ Teens often hold seemingly contradictory ideas about having sex, a new study shows, �� confounding the abstinence-only sex education message supported by over a billion dollars of federal funding. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26159311/from/ET/ Tim ___ Timothy O. Shearon, PhD Professor and Chair Department of Psychology The College of Idaho Caldwell, ID 83605 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] teaching: intro to neuropsychology; psychopharmacology; general; history and systems You can't teach an old dogma new tricks. Dorothy Parker -Original Message- From: Rob Weisskirch [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wed 8/13/2008 3:43 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] What to do with old textbooks? TIPSfolks, Does anyone have a good resource for what to do with old(ish) textbooks? As many of you know, publishers have many texts that turn around every two years and won't send older versions to bookstores. So, I am purging my shelves of textbooks and wonder if there are better uses than just recycling. Most of the texts are 6-10 years old and all are developmental. Ideas? Rob Rob Weisskirch, MSW. Ph.D. Associate Professor of Human Development Certified Family Life Educator Liberal Studies Department California State University, Monterey Bay 100 Campus Center, Building 82C Seaside, CA 93955 (831) 582-5079 [EMAIL PROTECTED] This message is intended only for the addressee and may contain confidential, privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, you may not use, copy or disclose any information contained in the message. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender by reply e-mail and delete the message. --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: [tips] Novel-like Books for Courses
Although Mr. Esterson will probably disagree, I believe The White Hotel by D.M. Thomas is an excellent novel that is expository of Freud's thinking and its historical implications. Also, there is a good article from Thomas in the British Medical Journal regarding the relationship of his novel to Freudian theory available on the internet at: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1550192blobtype=pdf Bill Scott Jablonski, Jessica [EMAIL PROTECTED] 08/09/08 4:14 PM Hello All, I have been incorporating novel-like books as supplementary reading into some of my courses and have found that many of the students really enjoy when we devote the first 15 minutes of each class to discussing our reactions to a chapter of the book. I also require that they keep a typed journal of their reactions to each chapter and turn that in at the end of the semester. I've found this to promote class participation in class sizes around 35 students or smaller, and I am looking for book suggestions for the following courses that I have yet to find a reading that I think the undergraduate students will really enjoy: Theories of Counseling Personality Social Psychology Health Psychology (Standing Tall: The Kevin Everett Story was recently recommended to me by a student, but I have not yet read it) Any suggestions you have are welcomed. Thanks. Jessica Jablonski, Psy.D. Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology Richard Stockton College of New Jersey PO Box 195 Pomona, NJ 08240-0195 Phone: 609-626-5512 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] My Website on Grad Study in Psych: http://home.comcast.net/~jpsyd/graduate.htm --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: [tips] What was Watson fired for? (Was: Profs who marry students)
Chris, I heard the real reason was the sex research. Please inform. Christopher D. Green [EMAIL PROTECTED] 07/23/08 9:30 AM Gaft, Sam wrote: Heart Breaking. Perhaps it's time to retire all of my favorites are being disproved. The falsity of multiple personality, The murder of Kitty and now Zimbardo. I mean how can you teach if your :stories: keep getting disproved. But thanks for the quick response. And John Watson was not fired from Johns Hopkins for doing sex research, while we're at it. Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ phone: 416-736-2100 ext. 66164 fax: 416-736-5814 --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: [tips] Lefties rule! (but not me)
I am left handed. Most theories of left-handedness point to pre-natally caused brain dysfunction, not genetic (see work of Mike Corballis and others). I can anecdotally attest to the fact that left-handed people have to develop ways of reversing points of view, probably leading to a greater sense of gestalt. I can read and write backwards very well. I also have a fairly good talent for saying things backwords auditorily. Pretty gauche, I know, but good for party tricks. Bill Scott Christopher D. Green [EMAIL PROTECTED] 06/09/08 12:21 PM Both presidential candidates this year are left-handers (as most recent presidents have been). There's also some lousy information about left-handers in this ABC report. http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861cl=8228460ch=4226716src=news Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ Part of respecting another person is taking the time to criticise his or her views. - Melissa Lane, in a /Guardian/ obituary for philosopher Peter Lipton = --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: [tips] EEGs for Fun and Profit
David Rosenboom was doing this kind of thing in the early 1970's to create music with thought (much better than directing video cannons in my opinion). This is a classic use of biofeedback placebo ... thinking you are controlling something with a thought is really based on frontalis muscle changes and maybe an eye closing alpha burst. Bill Scott Mike Palij [EMAIL PROTECTED] 06/08/08 10:09 AM EEGs. Not just for science anymore! http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/technology/08novel.html?_r=1th=adxnnl=1oref=sloginemc=thadxnnlx=1212933740-XrKyFB35Asrs+p3dvvdjuw or http://tinyurl.com/5j5yx6 -Mike Palij New York University [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: [tips] SAT for selection (grade inflation)
I don't know about high school grade inflation, but I have data regarding college. to see the frequency distribution of all the College of Wooster senior cumulative GPA's from 1963-1967 go here: http://www.wooster.edu/psychology/testing/gpa1967.jpg to see the frequency distribution of all College of Wooster seniors from 2001-2003, go here: http://www.wooster.edu/psychology/testing/gpa2001.jpg We're not as bad as others. My guess is that high school is much worse. By the way, in both groups, the first year GPA was better predicted by HS rank than SAT but SAT score contributed a significant amount of prediction over and above the class ranking when combined in multiple regression. Bill Scott [EMAIL PROTECTED] 05/28/08 4:07 PM This does not answer my question...I teach my students that their own counting of hits and misses in the natural world is influenced by confirmation bias. I assume that mine is also and by default so is that of my colleagues. With all due respect, I would like some controlled research that verifies the claim. Nancy M. LBCC Long Beach CA -Original Message- From: John W. Nichols, M.A. [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@acsun.frostburg.edu Sent: Wed, 28 May 2008 12:59 pm Subject: Re: [tips] SAT for selection Must be. Look at those getting into our classrooms. (We are 100% pen-door [and 50% revolving-door], so I get to see the full range of tudents.) Perhaps Alcohol Consumption would be a more effective predictor of ollege performance. How could that not product an effect size of ote? FIGMO ��� 65 Days and counting!) [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I am wondering if we have an empirical basis (research of some type) for the claim that high school GPAs are inflated. Nancy Melucci Long Beach City College Long Beach CA -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@acsun.frostburg.edu Sent: Wed, 28 May 2008 9:11 am Subject: Re: [tips] SAT for selection But if you toss on the SAT then what will you use to made admissions ecisions? Clearly high school GPAs are so inflated as to be nonsensical. Regardless of effect sizes, at leat for our freshmen, the SAT-V is the best predictor we have at the moment. Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Original message Date: Wed, 28 May 2008 00:36:33 EDT From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [tips] SAT for selection To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@acsun.frostburg.edu I use the relationship of SAT to College vs HS GPA in my stats class as an example of the importance in considering effect sizes. Both the College Board and Fair Test use the same correlations and regressions. They each characterize the magnitudes (effect sizes) differently. The College Board uses language that makes the effect sizes look larger than they are. Fair Test actually reports effect sizes and characterizes them as small. Imagine if you used prediction models like this to make financial decisions. You may as well invest your money at the Blackjack Table. From the College Board: The SAT has proven to be an important predictor of success in college. Its validity as a predictor of success has been demonstrated through hundreds of validity studies. These validity studies consistently find that high school grades and SAT scores together are substantial and significant predictors of achievement in college. In these studies, although high school grades typically are slightly better predictors of achievement, SAT scores add significantly to the prediction. These findings tend to hold for all subgroups of students and for aFrom Fair Test: Validity research at individual institutions illustrates the weak predictive ability of the SAT. One study looked at the power of high school class rank, SAT I, and SAT II in predicting cumulative college GPAs. Researchers found that the SAT I was by far the weakest predictor, explaining only 4% of the variation in college grades, while SAT II scores accounted for 6.8% of the differences in academic performance. By far the most useful tool proved to be class rank, which predicted 9.3% of the changes in cumulative GPAs. Combining SAT I scores and class rank inched this figure up to 11.3%, leaving almost 90% of the variation in grades unexplained. It's all about effect size. The bottom line is that for a variety of reasons, we cannot predict success in college with any reasonable accuracy. My proposal is that we use a very rough cut-off based on High School grades or rank to make an initial selection and then run a fair lottery to determine who gets
Re: [tips] Kingston University students told to lie to boost college's rank in government poll - Times Online
Too bad it was the Psychology professors who were caught. I'm sure they weren't the only ones. Assessment procedures should be set up to circumvent biases such as these (they will certainly occur in every department when allowed.) Bill Scott [EMAIL PROTECTED] Christopher D. Green [EMAIL PROTECTED] 05/14/08 10:41 AM It is nice (well, comforting) to know that grade inflation is not ONLY a North American problem. :-( http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3924417.ece Chris Green York U. Toronto --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: [tips] Questionnable therapy approaches
While I don't believe that the ersatz therapies such as Eye-Movement Desensitization and Therapeutic Touch have been properly objectively evaluated, there *is* such a thing as clinical trial bias. The belief that a large study that compares one manual-driven technique against another (where techniques are not altered based on client response) is the gold standard (sorry about the quotation marks) leads to huge problems with external validity. Clinical practice does not work that way. Clearly important and effective techniques such as client-centered therapy have not stood up well to the clinical trial bias, but they should not be expected to. We need a new non-linear approach to outcome research. Bill Scott Gerald Peterson [EMAIL PROTECTED] 04/29/08 4:19 PM Clearly these therapies are developed with a eurocentric bias and even evaluated from such a biased perspective. They should not be judged so narrowly. Their lack of efficacy may be due to critics not appreciating their more subtle and(non-eurocentric) holistic influences. I am just trying to describe, not be divisive ;-) Such efforts to judge analytically and categorize according to some eurocentric conception of objectivity, have forestalled an appreciation of the positive energies in such therapies. Try the new Sylvestrian orientation for 30 days and find new peace. Rev. Pete Gerald L. (Gary) Peterson, Ph.D. Professor, Psychology Saginaw Valley State University University Center, MI 48710 989-964-4491 [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: [tips] ScientificAmerican.com: For the Brain, Cash Is Good, Status Is Better
Good article, Stephen. And so recent it isn't even in PsychInfo yet. Anyone looking to read it can find it at: http://www.yale.edu/cogdevlab/People/Lab_Members/Frank/aarticles/The%20Seductive%20Allure.pdf Bill Scott Stephen Black wrote: Or perhaps they were just taking advantage of the gullibility of people to accept an explanation when neuroscience is thrown in. Weisberg et al (2008) reported a study which found that even irrelevant neuroscience information in an explanation of a psychological phenomenon may interfere with people's ability to critically consider the underlying logic of this explanation (which explains the appeal of stuff like right brain/left brain and neurotherapy). Weisberg, D. et al (2008). The seductive allure of neuroscience explanations. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 20, 470-477. Stephen --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: [tips] Pigeon and a Red Block
Are we supposed to assume that the pigeon did not have any insight because it did pigeon like things in getting to the goal? Or should we assume that insight as displayed by Sultan is available to many species, including pigeons? If Skinner's bird was not shaped to do what it did, then I am willing to believe that the pigeon here demonstrates insight as well as Sultan did (perhaps not the best demonstration of insight, but certainly not contradicted by showing other species doing the same thing). But what is the behaviorist argument from this pigeon behavior? If the pigeon wasn't shaped to do this, then it is hardly good evidence at all against the phenomenon of insight in animals if one believes Sultan's behavior demonstrates such things. If the pigeon was shaped, then I am having trouble seeing the point other than the point Skinner liked to make that you can get animals to appear to be intelligent when they are not, like having pigeons peck to a sign that says Peck and to not peck in the presence of a sign that says Don't Peck. Perhaps that is why this video was made, and also why it has not had wide distribution. Christopher D. Green [EMAIL PROTECTED] 04/19/08 7:20 PM I had never seen this Skinner video before, but it is a very clever piece of anti-Gestalt propaganda. It shows a pigeon which is unable to reach a banana that is hung from the top of its enclosure. The pigeon has to move a small box across the floor and stand on it in order to reach the banana, just like Sultan the chimp did on Tenerif(f)e. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-379689165140339264hl=en Chris Green York U. Toronto --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
RE: [tips] When names go bad
We had a neighbor named Manly Hood. Unfortunately he was a male. Probably would have been much better for them if his parents had named his sister with that. Bill [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: [tips] Nurture assumption
Any one of us can be mistaken. It is always good to be shown by others in what way we are mistaken, so that we can correct ourselves. That is, of course, the the way that we progress in science. Being told that we are intentionally ignorant or other such ad homonyms is not helpful. I hope we can restrain ourselves from that sort of thing in the future. Bill Scott [EMAIL PROTECTED] 03/16/08 4:16 PM Thanks Joan. Your mea culpa is admirable, especially in a wide public forum. I have only lurked on this discussion and found the interchage enlightening both about the book and the nature of such discussions. This is what tips is all about for me. I'm not sure a moderated list would have worked as well. A Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Original message Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2008 12:15:10 -0500 (CDT) From: Joan Warmbold [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [tips] Nurture assumption To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@acsun.frostburg.edu All responses to my criticisms of Harris are totally on the mark. I prefer to have footnotes on each page so I can verify the source of various statements as I'm reading. But that's me. Harris, indeed, provides notes for each of the statements in each chapter, though these notes don't provide the source per se--those are provided in the list of references. I apologize for all of you fans of Harris's work for my inaccurate contentions about her book. I feel there are many sound studies to disprove the contention that parents are not crucial to the development of their children but that's an entirely different issue. My apologies to all on this listserv for my sloppy scholarship. It wasn't intentional as I truly hadn't noticed the NOTES, just the list of references. Mea culpa. Joan [EMAIL PROTECTED] I wrote In my copy [of The Nurture Assumption], Harris lists 391 footnotes referencing her arguments,... And Allen Esterson replied: On a purely factual matter, the number 391 at the end of the endnote section (p. 418) is not the number of the endnote but the page number to which the relevant note refers. There are actually around 700 endnotes. (For some pages of the text there are more than one separate endnotes.) Allen's right (Gad, how I hate having to say that). After carefully explaining the matter to warm and bold Joan, I forgot and confused the page number 391 with the number of endnotes. I estimate that there must be between 600 and 700 different endnotes (too weary to count 'em all) and around 700 specific citations to the literature, the vast majority of which are to peer-reviewed scientific publications. This impressive number makes Joan's claim, aided and abetted by Paul Brandon, that Harris fails to document her sources and relied on anecdotes outrageous. If you want to trash a work, fine, but do it on the basis of what the author has actually written. To do otherwise is intellectually dishonest. Stephen - Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Subscribe to discussion list (TIPS) for the teaching of psychology at http://flightline.highline.edu/sfrantz/tips/ --- --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
RE: [tips] help with exam item
On MC tests I always allow the students to choose not to answer and to write their understanding of the issue and/or the question for partial or even full credit. Although only a few take that option on a few items, they definitely like having it available. I often give full credit for their written answer, although sometimes they pick the right answer (they often choose one anyways even though the instructions are to leave it blank), and then write reasons for the answer that show a complete misunderstanding of the material. I give them full credit in that situation because they would get credit for lucky shear guessing on the usual multiple choice items. I wouldn't want to penalize them for explaining themselves incorrectly (but I do want to). You can't grade these tests with a scantron, though. I regularly use MC tests among other modes of evaluation even though there might be evidence that they are not a good incentive to proper studying. Students have to develop skills with these tests if we want them to do well on GRE's, MCAT's, LSAT's, and professional licensing tests looming in their future. Bill Scott Shearon, Tim [EMAIL PROTECTED] 03/15/08 2:28 PM I out-thought myself Annette- That's the fundamental mistake for taking multiple choice tests! :) (Another way to say, we've all done that!) I agree with you that the item isn't great. But it is one of those kinds of items that I use a few of with the additional instruction, Pick the best answer and below the question explain why it is best. Students hate it the first time but actually grow to like it (generally!) and several have said it helps them perform better on MC tests. Tim ___ Timothy O. Shearon, PhD Professor and Chair Department of Psychology The College of Idaho Caldwell, ID 83605 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] teaching: intro to neuropsychology; psychopharmacology; general; history and systems You can't teach an old dogma new tricks. Dorothy Parker --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
RE: [tips] help with exam item
I really like this question and might use it myself in the future. If students understand the ways in which different operationalizations lead to different results, then they are well educated in almost everything we want them to know. I would see the result of your test (and believe me it has happened to me), as an indication that I haven't gotten through to them yet. The question itself lets them know what you are trying to achieve with them. Bill Scott Shearon, Tim [EMAIL PROTECTED] 03/14/08 2:25 PM Annette- I'd composed a long answer- So I shortened it to: Given the specific information on the question: A) kind of true- but with wildly different operational definitions it could also be not true - if you said *could have* this would be equal to C but with should- that, I think, is problematic, i.e., it is an empirical question. B) isn't correct- it is a prior belief but clearly the literature shows such subjective measures do yield good results and are often the only/best operationalization. I think if they all picked this they are not ready for the test yet. C) is true. Even in well established areas of research sometimes the operationalization doesn't work or index the intended concept. But this is also, in determining individual instances, dependent on the operationalization. C seems the best of the three. Thus, I'd pick C. I think the question really doesn't provide enough information unless there is something in it you went over in class that would clarify things. I always let my students Discuss ambiguities on the back of the page (works in small classes but takes a lot of extra time to grade!) Tim ___ Timothy O. Shearon, PhD Professor and Chair Department of Psychology The College of Idaho Caldwell, ID 83605 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] teaching: intro to neuropsychology; psychopharmacology; general; history and systems You can't teach an old dogma new tricks. Dorothy Parker -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Fri 3/14/2008 7:52 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] help with exam item Either I am losing my mind or something is wrong. I used the following item on an exam. Not one student picked the answer I thought was correct. I believe originally the item came from a test bank (which I no longer have) that accompanies the Cozby research methods text. Every single one of my students picked the same answer and it's not the answer I thought was best. Can I call on tipsters to tell me which answer they think is correct and why? I will later tell you which answer I thoughtw as correct and why. 1. Two researchers tested the hypothesis that college students' grades and stress are related. One researcher operationally defined stress as the number of minutes spent arguing with others. The other researcher defined stress as the amount of tension at any point in time measured on a 10-point scale. Which of the following statements is accurate? a. Because their hypotheses are identical, the two researchers should have similar results. b. The only valid definition is the number of minutes spent arguing with others because it is the only objective measure. c. The difference in operational definitions of stress could lead to quite different results. Thanks Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
RE: [tips] MindMentor, the first robot psychologist
I was at a dinner party a while ago where I met a fellow licensed psychologist who told me that that successful therapists must have psychic abilities in order to be successful (I'm not making this up). My immediate response was how do I teach that?. She told me you don't. You either have it or you don't. It makes me want to turn in my license and take up another business, maybe selling insurance. The insurance business is definitely more actuarial than clinical psychology. And, by the way, most health insurance is unlikely to cover your psychotherapy. Ironically, or perhaps characteristically, we psychologists (as carried out by our lobbying groups such as APA) object to that. Bill Scott Shearon, Tim [EMAIL PROTECTED] 03/13/08 5:03 PM Marc Carter said: Not every student, but the majority in every class, thought that he or she'd be a good therapist because of some personal characteristic he or she possessed, not because of knowledge of what worked and what didn't. David E. added the note about the Phoenix rising from the ashes. I think you are both right. Our department actively and often discourages the I'm special or I have gifts mentality in our undergraduates. But it is a difficult idea to suppress. Many psychology majors choose the discipline because it interests them but equally because, All my friends come to me with their problems. Perhaps more disturbing is the belief, so prevalent and even encouraged in some masters programs I'm familiar with, in clinical judgment when the literature is so clear in what it says about such notions. Sigh. (speaking of Phoenixs, I'm going to get it now!) Tim ___ Timothy O. Shearon, PhD Professor and Chair Department of Psychology The College of Idaho Caldwell, ID 83605 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] teaching: intro to neuropsychology; psychopharmacology; general; history and systems You can't teach an old dogma new tricks. Dorothy Parker --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: [tips] MindMentor, the first robot psychologist
Annette, I can't believe that someone is using EMDR for weight loss. It hasn't been shown to be effective for *anything*. NLP is not far behind in the bogus practice field. I'd like to know the criteria by which Kaiser decided to pay for this. Evidence based practice has a long way to go. Bill Scott [EMAIL PROTECTED] 03/12/08 4:41 PM GGGHHH! So, I'm doing this radical weight loss program through my HMO, Kaiser (yes, I've researched it, as well as the options and think it's the right thing for me) and I have to go to weekly 2 hour group counseling sessions in addition to starving myself (not literally). So far I've asked for two changes of counselors. The first one was big on EMDR and this one, I find out in last night's session is a big fan of NLP. Heaven help us because the psychology profession seems to be sorely lacking in critical thinking skills. Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Original message Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2008 12:47:12 -0700 From: Don Allen [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [tips] MindMentor, the first robot psychologist To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@acsun.frostburg.edu No, the best part is that it's based on Neuro-Liguistic-Programming. :-) Rick Stevens wrote: http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=860tag=nl.e539 In 2006, Hollander and Wijnberg did a test-run with 1600 clients from all over the world. Results showed that MindMentor was able to solve the problems for 47% in just one session, a score that any real life psychologist would be proud of. (The best part is) It will cost ���4.95 for one hour session (or about US$7.65 as of today). -- __ Dr. Rick Stevens __ Psychology Department __ University of Louisiana @ Monroe __ [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) -- Don Allen Department of Psychology Langara College Vancouver, B.C., Canada V5Y 2Z6 604-323-5871 --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re:[tips] professional weight loss counselors--long rant
Annette, This seems to me to be the result of how the HMO's have been cutting costs in the behavioral/health psychology fields. They have been paying for less qualified practitioners (MA's, etc.) and only at that lower rate even if one has higher credentials, claiming that the lower paid professionals are equivalent to the higher charging Ph.D.'s in these programs. You get what you pay for, except someone else is deciding what to pay for, and they want to pay the least. Even if evidence based criteria are used, this is what happens when we use a moronic application of null hypothesis statistical testing regarding techniques that have a minimal effect size. The treatments in these trials probably use a more powerful placebo than the controls to which they are compared. Your description of your treatment experience seems like they are trying to maximize the placebo effect. Even so, studies seem to come up with more negative comparisons against controls than positive for these procedures. The negative comparisons are neglected. The people engaged in your treatment play it both ways. In the case of comparing Ph.D.'s to M.A. practitioners, the small effect size, although statistically significant, is seen as meaning equivalency, but the even smaller but perhaps statistically significant effect size for EMDR or other treatments over a control is taken as justification for performing and charging for it. I hope you get the weight loss you are hoping for. If you do, share your secret with me. Bill Scott [EMAIL PROTECTED] 03/12/08 8:15 PM Well, Bill, here is more than you ever wanted to know and more than I should probably put on a public list serve. But, I have not disclosed any names. Rant ... --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re:[tips] anti-depressives in the news again
The article pointed to by Stephen is interesting and I believe it should be said in as many places as possible that there is no clear evidence that depression is caused by the malfunction of serotonin systems. However, I am perplexed by the suggestion in the article that evidence that SSRI's are truly effective would have any importance regarding the issue. This is the argument that pharmaceutical companies have been making. SSRI's relieve depression. SSRI's act on the serotonin system. Therefore depression is caused by a serotonin imbalance. It would be the same as arguing that headaches are caused by a lack of aspirin. Bill Scott [EMAIL PROTECTED] 03/08/08 9:05 AM On 8 Mar 2008 at 5:36, Allen Esterson wrote: Another view on the current debate: http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/docs/Antideps27Feb08.pdf And yet still another: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-03/fsu-smp030308.php# Stephen - Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Subscribe to discussion list (TIPS) for the teaching of psychology at http://flightline.highline.edu/sfrantz/tips/ --- --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
