Re: Ever hopeful, I post more questions
RE: Bipolar drugs: I have known cases of people increasing their dosage of a drug in order to "manage" behavior that they intend to consciously pursue which is clearly destabilizing, such as doubling a dose during the week of exams (late nights, high stress, lost sleep, etc.) or decreasing/stopping a dose when they wanted to ride the wave of energy provided by a hypomanic state. Generally one trip to the residential treatment center cures a tendency to self manage in this way, but sometimes (or with more severely affected people) it can take a lot longer. People with BPDisorder are often prescribed sleeping meds or antianxiety meds (Lithium plus Effexor plus Xanax PRN, for example) and some become dependent upon the antianxiety or sleeping medication. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Tipsters, A couple of questions from my ever-curious students: 1) Although some scientists claim that there is no predisposition for spoken language (as opposed to gestural) my developmental psych students noticed in one video of deaf children who were learning to sign, that the children were vocalizing anyway. he students wondered whether speech might be the brain's preferred mode of language on the basis of this. I pointed out that hearing babies move their hands, too, although this doesn't necessarily indicate any predisposition for gestural language. But I thought I would ask anyway, is there any definitive answer available regarding the speech versus gestural language preference in the human brain? 2) Is it possible for a person with bipolar illness to abuse his or her prescribed mood stabilizing drug (in some way other than by not taking it)? What would be the results of such abuse? I am still hoping for an answer to my thalamus question, if anyone is interested -- what is the location of the thalamus? Or is there no agreement on this matter? Hope you are all having a good weekend. Nancy Melucci PACE - LAHC Tips abuser Instructor, Harbor College
Levitation and David Blaine Street Magic
Michael: I enjoyed the portions of the David Blaine program that I caught, and I hope that the amateur and not-so-amateur magicians in our midst will enlighten us on ways to incorporate such magic into psych lectures. Such demonstrations help keep students' interest levels up near the end of a 3-hour evening lecture. I believe that the levitation stunt involved Blaine leaning, rocking forward and balancing on a long stick he had hidden upon his person, thus moving his feet up off the ground for an instant. He asked the viewers to stand close together behind him, so he must have been shielding something from view behind his legs. Great illusion, if you ask me! I don't think it would work in a class room, as the lines of sight are too wide. I'm sorry I didn't videotape the show for later replay and freeze-framing, as I'm wont to do with televised magic shows. I know, it takes all the fun out of it if you know how it's done, but scientists are supposed to be curious and seekers of "reality", aren't we? I also enjoyed the "I know what card (or number) you picked" trick, and may use it to demonstrate base rates (most commonly selected cards or numbers) in class. I think that the "odd number between 10 and 50..." stunt has been discussed on this list (37 most commonly chosen). As well, we of course only saw the participants for whom the correct choice was made by Blaine; I could easily put together a video wherein I correctly guess a number of people's card, name, favorite color, or astrological sign. It would, of course, involve leaving a lot of (incorrect) guesses on the cutting room floor... Magically, - Max the Magnificent ;-) On Mon, 18 Sep 2000 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I saw a program where David Blaine (Street Magic) was able to levitate from the ground he stood on. I would like to learn the art of levitation so that I can give demonstrations in class. Please send advice. Michael Sylvester,PhD Daytona Beach,Florida "Seeing is believing" Maxwell Gwynn, PhD [EMAIL PROTECTED] Department of Psychology(519) 884-0710 ext 3854 Wilfrid Laurier University Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3C5 Canada
Re: Turner's syndrome
On Sun, 17 Sep 2000, Linda Walsh wrote: Browsing the sex chapters of assorted biopsych texts, preparing for class tomorrow, I came across a discrepancy I thought Tipsters might be able to resolve. Rosenzweig et al states that Turner's syndrome is associated with poorly developed but recognizable ovaries. Klein says that female development proceeds up to a point, but that 2 X chromosomes are necessary for the ovaries to produce eggs, so Turner's results in infertility. Carlson, on the other hand, says that 2 X chromosomes are necessary to produce ovaries, thus individuals with Turner's have no gonads at all. This sounds wrong to me. Is there anthere total absence of ovarian function in Turner's (e.g. secondary sex chars, menstruation). Anyone know the specifics of why 2 X are necessary for ova production? I'm now discussing non-disjunction in my child psychology lectures, so I thought I'd see what I could find related to this question. I'd say they're all about right. I have an authoritative source (White, 1994) which states: "The classical features [of Turner] include...failure of gonadal development [this and following references omitted]. Germ cells are present in the gonads of 45,X embryos, but begin to deteriorate in late fetal life. By early childhood, there are usually no oocytes remaining, and the gonads consist of fibrous streaks...In the Turner syndrome, it has been proposed that absence or structural abnormality of one X chromosome precludes or disrupts the normal X pairing process in the fetal ovary, which eventually leads to premature germ cell loss." But my real motivation in responding is so I can tell you about a truly remarkable new hypothesis to explain why boys are much more antsy than girls. Turner syndrome is the clue (see McGuffin Scourfield, 1997) Turner cases have only a single X, which they get either from the father or the mother (about 80% from the mother, meaning that the sperm is defective in these cases). Amazingly, when they get the X from the mother, they turn out to have social difficulties, such as "offensive or disruptive behavior" much more frequently than when they get the X from the father. This is the phenomenon of genetic imprinting: who passes the chromosome on counts. And here's the great hypothesis. Boys have a Y, supplied by their father, and one X chromosome, which they must get from their mother. The same X that makes Turner girls misbehave. So it's possible that it's the mother's X which makes the boys act like boys. Ironic, isn't it? -Stephen McGuffin, P., Scourfield, J. (1997). A father's imprint on his daughter's thinking. Nature, 387, 652-- White, B. (1994). Ch. 9. The Turner syndrome: Origin, cytogenetic variants, and factors influencing the phenotype. In: Broman, S. and Grafman, J. (eds) Atypical Cognitive Deficits in Developmental Disorders. Lawrence Erlbaum. Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470 Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661 Bishop's Universitye-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy Check out TIPS listserv for teachers of psychology at: http://www.frostburg.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/tips/
Re: developmental question
Hi, Someone requested a viewing of the suggestions I was given regarding developmental activities with small children in the classroom. I can't imagine that some of the private posters would mind me sharing this info. On the off chance they didn't want to be identified, I've summarized the information sent to me. Thanks, Jim G I specialize in developmental assessments, and I bring a 3 month old and parents to class every term for about 3/4 of the class period. In class, the 32 month old will probably be fine. The 18 month old may cling to you for the whole time, or may be very disconcerted by the presence of the whole class. Try the Denver Developmental Screenng Test II or the Ages and Stages Questionnaire for a list of developmental tasks. Don't know how big the class is, but dim the lights on them a bit if possible Could the class meet you in a nearby park? Some suggestions to note age differences: stack small alphabet blocks ask child to put a toy under, next to, on top of, behind where you are seated sing familiar songs and observe which child can do words, motions, etc. play catch and kick with a big ish ball have several students write down everything each child says during the observation, and compare mean length of utterance, grammatical structure, and size of volabulary bring each child's favorite book and have a group of students note similarities and differences between the 2 books, and what appeals to each age developmentally have several students count the average length of time each child spends on any one task Bring your partner and let students pre-prepare a list of questions for the partner (like"How has being a parent changed your time schedule?") Have fun -- the best is afterwards, when you can say "remember what the 18 month old could do?" for the rest of the semester! Some obvious first tasks/demos would be object permanence (ala Piaget) and a language sample/analysis. I have done things like this twice. One time, I had an 8-month-old come to class (with his dad). I asked one of the School Psychology doctoral students (who specialized in infant assessment) to come into class and show the students the normal abilities at this age and the challenges, etc of testing. The other time, I had all the students in the class bring their kids to class. (It was at a community college and most students did have a child or 2.) We had kids ranging from 6 months to 12. I brought all the stuff to do the standard Piagetian conservation tasks (colored water and 2 containers of different sizes, playdough, etc) and we did appropriate tests with each of the kids. (Of course, there are more modern tasks but these are classics and are in every text.) Both classes loved these activities. I think the children involved enjoyed them too. I definitely wouldn't consider taking your children if you thought there was any harm, if they are very shy and anxious around people, etc. (One time I was asked to take my son to a Child Psyc class, but it would have been during his nap at a time when he needed naps, so I said no.) But if not, it would probably be enjoyable for all. It is an interesting question. Using the two as a "live" demonstration seems like a very good experience for them. I've seen others doing this and they just kind of use kitchen props and everyday objects. You could, for example go buy some clay or playdough to show conservation but it will probably work to just pour kool-aid into glasses of different hights/diameters. There are a couple of good Piaget films (assuming your schools have them- our education department has many) and you could just make up analogies. Hiding things under a book or in a match box, making something disappear etc. works well then ask the child to explain what they saw etc. Short of the film just look in a cognitive development text or in the class demonstration supplements to developmental texts and copy or make up analogues for those. The couple of times I've seen this done it works even when it doesn't. One reason I suspect, is that many of your students are probably only children, youngest, or just generally haven't been around 18 - 36 mth olds in a very long time. Of course, there is always the potential for catastrophy (crying, fear of the class etc.- probably less likely with your own kids!). * My kids speak fondly of their memories of coming into my classes throughout the childhood. For kids at those ages, you might
Re: Levitation
Fairy dust, perhaps? (Worked for Peter Pan.) This may seem like one of those silly me-too posts, but it is followed by a serious request. Have we gotten off the path of teaching psychology? With the exception of a p-o-s-s-i-b-l-e link to social psychology (people can be fooled in a group?) I don't see much science here. This is silly. I'd be embarrassed if someone were to have just subscribed to TIPS and saw this group of academicians bandying this topic around. Can we get back to psychology? Beth Benoit University of Massachusetts Lowell
Re: You're not going to believe this question
Well, I started to send this reply off-list saying that the proper meaning was understood in the southern US. And my guess as to a country that would use the word differently would be Australia and I vaguely remembered something similar in the UK. After a quick search of the web, I found my guess was right so I thought I'd let everyone know along with my sources. http://people.enternet.com.au/~goeldner/auslist.htm (Australian Slang) http://www.peak.org/~jeremy/dictionary/lexe-a.html (Brit-American) There were some other sites but these two were towards the top of the list at google.com. And, if you are easily offended by pornography on the web do NOT search for "fanny and vagina". - Marc G. Marc Turner, MEd Lecturer Head of Computer Operations Department of Psychology Southwest Texas State University San Marcos, TX 78666 phone: (512)245-2526 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
The Big Sleep
Hello folks: Yes, it's me. Sorry to bother. A student asked -- is there such a thing as "getting too much sleep" relative to one's usual pattern? Would this have any ill effects? Or, other than the subjective perception of grogginess, be no reason for serious concern? Thanks for your time and patience. Nancy Melucci The Question Lady LAHC-PACE
standardization
Thanks to all those who sent in reports of standardization. Here's a quick and sketchy run-down of the results. * 7 schools have absolutely no standardization policies. (2 small state colleges, 2 medium sized state colleges, 2 small private liberal arts colleges, 1 large state college.) Of these five, one has an informal agreement between faculty for topics in their intro psych. * 5 schools assign textbooks (i.e., the decision is not the individual faculty member's). One of these five assigns texts only for adjunct instructors, and three only for intro psych. In other words, at all but one school regular faculty teaching anything except intro psych select their own texts. * 5 schools provide required objectives, but two of these apply only to intro psych. (1 comm.college, 1 small private, 2 middle sized state - intro only, 1 large state - intro only.) - 1 of those requiring objectives also has required methods of outcome assessment. 1 of those requiring objectives lists learning outcomes in addition to objectives. * 1 small private school has standardized syllabus, text, schedule, and final exams for intro psych only. It is explained as a general education requirement at the school and standardized for that reason. * 1 mid-sized state school requires courses to conform to the college catalogue descriptions. * 1 large state school sets required topics for intro psych only. * 1 of the small state schools listed as having no standardization is proposing a standard syllabus for intro psych only. The numbers don't add up because a school might have been listed twice (e.g., as using a standard text in intro psych and having required objectives). A school-by-school run-down is available if anyone should want one. (It just lists them like: "middle-sized state, objectives/outcomes.") (I categorized schools based on undergrad enrollments according to my old, 1995, college handbook, where under 3000 = small, 3000-1 = medium, and over 10K = large.) -- Mike O. -- ___ Michael S. Ofsowitz University of Maryland - European Division http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~mofsowit ___
Stories (Anecdotes)
After trying to use TIPS and some sites on the web to improve my teaching of Introductory Psychology, I recently realized something important that's missing for me. I probably do my best teaching when I have stories (anecdotes) to tell about the subject matter. I think the students retain better. A good text is filled with stories. But I'd like to add to them. My searching the web and reading TIPS has not substantially contributed to my virtual file of interesting stories I'd like to be able to choose from. Can anyone suggest sites that might contribute to what I'm looking for?
Re: Some notes on testing for ESP
At 04:11 PM 9/17/00 -0500, you wrote: The violation occurs in the fact that no one has been able to identify any physical radiation of any known energy source during brain activity that can be detected beyond the skull. So, because the mechanism for a phenomenon cannot yet be accounted for, we should toss out any evidence of the phenomenon? Further, psi signals (unlike anything known to physics) do not seem to obey the inverse square law (they do not degrade as a function of distance). In a pretty good, but now somewhat dated book on parapsychology, Edge, Morris, Palmer, Rush (1986) point out a nice argument against the incompatability of psi with the inverse-square law. These authors write: "Hoffman (1940) noted, the inverse-quare decline aplies ot the power of the carrier wave, but ESP scores would depend upon the _intelligibility_ of the information. Radio reception is a familiar analogy: speech remains fully understandable over a wide range of distances. Further, the inverse-square law rearely applies in a practical situation, because of reflection, refraction, scattering and other effects, including intentional beaming. Spacecraft have transmitted picture signals over nearly a billion miles with power of only a few watts becasue the energy was concentrated in a narrow beam to earth" The reference for the book is: Edge, H. L, Morris, R. L., Palmer, J., Rush, J. H. (1986). Foundations of parapsychology: Exploring the boundaires of human capability. Boston, MA: Routledge. The reference for Hoffman is: Hoffman, B. (1940). ESP and the inverse-square law. Journal of Parapsychology, 4, 149-152. You can find more detailed analyses at http://www.csicop.org/si/. In the absence of a more specific reference, I am sure one can find arguments against some of those detailed analyses in the various parapschological journals. See http://www.rhine.org/ Miguel Roig, Ph.D. Voice: (718) 390-4513 Assoc. Prof. of Psychology Fax: (718) 442-3612 Dept. of Psychology [EMAIL PROTECTED] St. John's University [EMAIL PROTECTED] 300 Howard Avenue http://area51.stjohns.edu/~roig Staten Island, NY 10301
Fwd: [BP/BNnews] Sleep: how much do we need?
This just in on sleep from the Behavioral Neuroscience email list. -Chuck To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2000 06:56:48 -0700 (PDT) Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [BP/BNnews] Sleep: how much do we need? -- eGroups Sponsor -~-~ eLerts It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free! http://click.egroups.com/1/9068/15/_/841571/_/969377491/ -_- http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/feelinghealthy/sleep/feature1.shtml Sleep: how much do we need? Most people in our modern 24-hour society would say that they aren't getting enough sleep. The post-lunch siesta may not be a common feature of British life but who hasn't felt they could happily nod off for half an hour after lunch, if not longer. So what is the ideal amount of sleep? The answer, as with many aspects of sleep, is that it depends. Generally the amount of sleep we need decreases with age. New born babies will often sleep up to 16 hours a day (unfortunately not always in one session) whereas older people will often sleep up to 45 minutes less than a young adult each night. On average, however, human adults need between 7 and 8 hours sleep although there is a debate about whether we actually require something nearer 9 hours. The implication of this would be that most of the population is chronically sleep deprived most of the time but the evidence for this is hotly disputed. What is known with more certainty is that studies have shown that people who sleep too little, i.e. habitually sleeping less than 6 hours, and those who sleep for more than 9 hours are likelier to die prematurely. This may be related to the fact that the sleep-deprived are more likely to be heavy drinkers, smokers, have a poor diet and take little or no exercise. Certainly sleeping in excess of 10 hours doesn't result in feeling any more refreshed. On the contrary, research has shown that subjects sleeping for 10 hours and over had just as much difficulty in waking up, spent longer getting to sleep and were more likely to wake up during the night. The evidence would, in fact suggest that it is much more important that we enjoy good quality sleep - waking up frequently through the night due to snoring, sleep apnoea or other disturbances can leave you feeling groggy and tired. But for most working people there is little chance of sleeping 9-10 hours. During the week most people will get by on 6 - 7 hours sleep, looking forward to the weekend when they can enjoy a lie-in. This lie-in certainly seems to be necessary for the body to recover but the debate in sleep research at the minute revolves largely around how much "catching up" is needed. Some state that every single"lost" hour needs to be recouped while others estimate that about one-third of the lost sleep needs to be regained. Whichever argument turns out to be right, the most important thing is that we try to avoid losing those hours of sleep to start with, and that requires a change in attitude towards sleep. Rather than being considered a luxury, a good night's sleep should be an absolute necessity. Very few people would skip dinner every day for a week, but will struggle through the week on insufficient sleep. In the long term everything points to this being a real health risk. For more information on sleep check out these sites: Scottish National Sleep Centre (External) http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/sleep The British Sleep Foundation (External) http://www.britishsleepfoundation.org.uk/ BBC Radio Scotland Some of the information in this web site is not applicable to pregnant or breastfeeding women, or people who need to follow special advice on eating or physical activity to control or treat a medical condition. BBC ONLINE TUESDAY 19th September 2000 To receive Biological Psychology/Behavioral Neuroscience news [BP/BNnews] articles, email the command: subscribe biopsychology in the text (not the subject line) to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send the command unsubscribe biopsychology to the same address to unsubscribe. To receive BP/BNnews items AND discussion about those items, subscribe to BehavioralNeuroscience at: http://www.egroups.com/group/BehavioralNeuroscience *** To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
computer viruses prove paranormal
Similarly, there tends to be an outbreak of computer viruses that "eat" papers on the very day that they are due. This seems to be an epidemic and has even been known to impair faculty who are overcommitted with university committees. All we can figure is that on some level, known only to quantum physicists, the Computer is able to overly empathize and somehow take on the student's symptoms, much as the family systems people (used to) say about schizophrenia being a symptom of a deeper problem. As a result, the computer's natural immunity is weakened and whatever paper the student is working on is damaged or destroyed, as the computer clearly incorporates the unconscious fears of the student. By the way, this all ties in nicely to recent current discussions regarding Psi, psychoimmunology, transpersonal psychology, and those of us who are in the growing minority of Computer Rights Advocates. Now if we could just get some serious pharmaceutical company money to test our hypotheses .. - Original Message - From: "Retta Poe" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, September 15, 2000 11:12 AM Subject: grandparental deaths Here is a humor break - if you don't need one, don't click on this site: http://biology.ecsu.ctstateu.edu/People/ConnRev Retta Poe Department of Psychology Western Kentucky University Bowling Green, Ky. 42101 From: mccown [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: school mccown [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: grandparental deaths Date: Monday, September 18, 2000 7:58 PM Similarly, there tends to be an outbreak of computer viruses that "eat" papers on the very day that they are due. This seems to be an epidemic and has even been known to impair faculty who are overcommitted with university committees. All we can figure is that on some level, known only to quantum physicists, the Computer is able to overly empathize and somehow take on the student's symptoms, much as the family systems people (used to) say about schizophrenia being a symptom of a deeper problem. As a result, the computer's natural immunity is weakened and whatever paper the student is working on is damaged or destroyed, as the computer clearly incorporates the unconscious fears of the student. By the way, this all ties in nicely to recent current discussions regarding Psi, psychoimmunology, transpersonal psychology, and those of us who are in the growing minority of Computer Rights Advocates. Now if we could just get some serious pharmaceutical company money to test our hypotheses .. - Original Message - From: "Retta Poe" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, September 15, 2000 11:12 AM Subject: grandparental deaths Here is a humor break - if you don't need one, don't click on this site: http://biology.ecsu.ctstateu.edu/People/ConnRev Retta Poe Department of Psychology Western Kentucky University Bowling Green, Ky. 42101
Re: Some notes on testing for ESP
At 8:27 AM -0400 9/19/00, Miguel Roig wrote: At 04:11 PM 9/17/00 -0500, you wrote: The violation occurs in the fact that no one has been able to identify any physical radiation of any known energy source during brain activity that can be detected beyond the skull. So, because the mechanism for a phenomenon cannot yet be accounted for, we should toss out any evidence of the phenomenon? Science is a process of choosing among alternatives. In an ideal experiment, there might be only two: 1. The results are due to the independent variable. 2. The results are due to random variation. In the real world we usually have more: 3. The results are due to errors in experimental control. 4. The results are an artifact of human frailty (wishful thinking, outright fraud, etc). 5. The results are a false positive; negative results have not been published (really a special case of #2). When the purported mechanism lacks corroborating evidence from other sources, we must consider the relative likelihood of the other alternatives. It's not a question of *tossing out* evidence, but in accounting for it. Further, psi signals (unlike anything known to physics) do not seem to obey the inverse square law (they do not degrade as a function of distance). Again, the below presents a somewhat contrived case where a signal might be intelligible (but with a measurable loss of both magnitude and intelligibility) independent of distance, or at least over a wide range of distances. The inverse square law does apply; there are also other factors affecting the signal. Again, the onus is on those presenting the argument for psi to show that these unlikely conditions do in fact hold. Lacking evidence of any strong effect, experimental flaws and false positives seem the most likely of the alternative accounts. When (as in the Ganzfeld experiments) someone seals ping pong ball halves over their eyes and procedes to walk around a room avoiding objects and naming them, reading signs, etc (like Luke Skywalker learning to use a light saber in Star Wars) we'll have a convincingly strong and reproducible effect. As I've argued before, small effects over large numbers of trials beg for an alternative explanation in terms of experimental flaws. In a pretty good, but now somewhat dated book on parapsychology, Edge, Morris, Palmer, Rush (1986) point out a nice argument against the incompatability of psi with the inverse-square law. These authors write: "Hoffman (1940) noted, the inverse-quare decline aplies ot the power of the carrier wave, but ESP scores would depend upon the _intelligibility_ of the information. Radio reception is a familiar analogy: speech remains fully understandable over a wide range of distances. Further, the inverse-square law rearely applies in a practical situation, because of reflection, refraction, scattering and other effects, including intentional beaming. Spacecraft have transmitted picture signals over nearly a billion miles with power of only a few watts becasue the energy was concentrated in a narrow beam to earth" The reference for the book is: Edge, H. L, Morris, R. L., Palmer, J., Rush, J. H. (1986). Foundations of parapsychology: Exploring the boundaires of human capability. Boston, MA: Routledge. The reference for Hoffman is: Hoffman, B. (1940). ESP and the inverse-square law. Journal of Parapsychology, 4, 149-152. You can find more detailed analyses at http://www.csicop.org/si/. In the absence of a more specific reference, I am sure one can find arguments against some of those detailed analyses in the various parapschological journals. See http://www.rhine.org/. I'll let the physicists make the arguments about what is good physics. * PAUL K. BRANDON [EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Psychology Dept Minnesota State University, Mankato * * 23 Armstrong Hall, Mankato, MN 56001 ph 507-389-6217 * *http://www.mankato.msus.edu/dept/psych/welcome.html*
Could anyone help me?
Hi. I am a education major at Miami University and I was wondering if any of you could help me with a paper for a class on learning disabilities. I need to interview a special education teacher or resource room instructor through email. I need to ask you some questions regarding learning disabilities in your classroom. If anyone can help me out that would be great. If you could either post a message on the listserve or email me directly I would appreciate it. Thank you! Melany Brown [EMAIL PROTECTED]
confused by use of language
On Tue, 19 Sep 2000, G. Marc Turner wrote: http://people.enternet.com.au/~goeldner/auslist.htm (Australian Slang) http://www.peak.org/~jeremy/dictionary/lexe-a.html (Brit-American) Ok so I looked it up but now I'm confused.how would one get off their fanny, which typically means to get busy? annette Annette Taylor, Ph. D. Department of PsychologyE-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] University of San Diego Voice: (619) 260-4006 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 "Education is one of the few things a person is willing to pay for and not get." -- W. L. Bryan
Re: computer viruses prove paranormal
By the way, this all ties in nicely to recent current discussions regarding Psi, psychoimmunology, transpersonal psychology, and those of us who are in the growing minority of Computer Rights Advocates. Now if we could just get some serious pharmaceutical company money to test our hypotheses .. Hi Y'all, I am becoming increasing uncomfortable with the tenor of some of the discussions on TIPs. While I may disagree with someone about the scientific validity of certain concepts within psychology and perhaps even vigorously disagree, I have difficulty when that disagreement transcends into ridicule. Linda -- Linda M. Woolf, Ph.D. Associate Professor - Psychology Webster University http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/ [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Some notes on testing for ESP
Hi all, Paul Brandon (I believe) wrote: The violation occurs in the fact that no one has been able to identify any physical radiation of any known energy source during brain activity that can be detected beyond the skull. And then Miguel Roig wrote: So, because the mechanism for a phenomenon cannot yet be accounted for, we should toss out any evidence of the phenomenon? No. We cannot discount the "evidence" that *sometimes* there is a tiny, but above- chance, match between senders' messages and receivers' guesses. However, why, in the absence of a theory that is compatible with physics, biology, and psychology, should such findings be considered evidence FOR psi any more than they are considered evidence FOR sensory leakage, other confounds, wishful thinking, etc. You're presuming that the presence of above-chance matches means that psi is responsible. That may be, but given the great difficulties in accommodating psi into what we know about the way the mind works, it is more parsimonious to consider that the alternative explanations are more likely than are the paranormal ones. -Mike Michael J. Kane Department of Psychology P.O. Box 26164 University of North Carolina at Greensboro Greensboro, NC 27402-6164 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] phone: 336-256-1022 fax: 336-334-5066
Looking for the Prism Glasses Guy
Hi Tipsters! Somewhere out there in TIPS land, I know there is someone who sells prism glasses. Might that person please contact me? Or if you know the person I need to communicate with, please email me offline. Thanks!:-) --Kathy Morgan [EMAIL PROTECTED]
fanny etc.
Stephen, I regret to inform you that the reviewer is correct. I'm a Yank living in New Zealand for nearly 5 years, and I only just learned the "alternative" meaning of "fanny" a few months ago. Turns out an American colleague of mine told her class to "put their fannies in their chairs and start reading." They were horrified, not to mention confused as to how they might read in such a contorted position. I'm glad I learned this bit of information vicariously, but I'm afraid I have gone down the road of many North Americans living here and committed several spectacular word blunders. Ask the reviewer to tell you what "root" or "bonk" mean or why you should never ever ever hold up two fingers when lecturing on the two major points of your lecture. - Maryanne Garry Senior Lecturer Victoria University of Wellington School of Psychology * Te Kura Maatai Hinengaro Box 600 Wellington New Zealand Direct: 64-4-463 5769 Fax: 64-4-463-5402 http://www.vuw.ac.nz/psyc/garry/garry.html "Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?" --George "Dubya" Bush, US presidential candidate
RE: fanny etc.
Maryanne Garry wrote: I'm glad I learned this bit of information vicariously, but I'm afraid I have gone down the road of many North Americans living here and committed several spectacular word blunders. Ask the reviewer to tell you what "root" or "bonk" mean or why you should never ever ever hold up two fingers when lecturing on the two major points of your lecture. Those interested in this kind of thing might be interested in Roger E. Axtell's books (this from an Amazon.com search on the name): Do's and Taboos Around the World by Roger E. Axtell(Editor). Paperback (June 1993) Do's and Taboos Around the World for Women in Business by Roger E. Axtell(Editor), et al. Paperback (March 18, 1997) Do's and Taboos of Hosting International Visitors by Roger E. Axtell. Paperback (March 1990) Do's and Taboos of Humor Around the World : Stories and Tips from Business and Life by Roger E. Axtell. Paperback (January 1999) The Do's and Taboos of International Trade : A Small Business Primer by Roger E. Axtell. Paperback (April 1994) Do's and Taboos of Preparing for Your Trip Abroad by Roger E. Axtell, et al. Paperback (March 30, 1994) Gestures : The Do's and Taboos of Body Language Around the World by Roger E. Axtell, Mike Fornwald (Illustrator). Paperback (January 1998) Do's and Taboos of Using English Around the World by Roger E. Axtell, Mike Fornwald (Illustrator). Paperback (April 1995) === Axtell was an executive at Parker Pens in Janesville WI, and collected this wisdom on business trips. Paul Smith Alverno College Milwaukee
RE: Fwd: Re: James Randi Daryl Bem
Miguel, You are not alone regarding your views on such allegations. After reading Paul Brandon's post I spent the better part of Thursday afternoon and evening composing a response, deleting said response, and then repeating those steps several times again. Finally I realized I needed to stop and reflect first before responding. Where was all this anguish I was feeling coming from? But in the meantime, your response regarding the notes was exactly what I intended to write (though probably far less succinctly). To my esteemed colleagues on this list, I pondered Miguel's question about the impetus behind the ire. I believe that I understand from whence some, but not all, of it may come. [This was written before I read the post from Jim Clark confirming this concern-I hadn't heard of the case mentioned, though it sounds chilling.] I suspect that part of it derives from a concern for the welfare of our students, who will benefit from clear and rational thinking habits. I agree wholeheartedly with that concern. But, can't we strive to assist our students in honing their thinking skills without making any of those students feel ashamed? I'm specifically referring to a very small minority of students who experience anomalous experiences. As I noted in a previous post, the criticisms made (actually, I just wrote allegations and then changed it, but that reflects the "feel" of this to me)...the criticisms made regarding lack of replicability, allegations of fraud, and lack of theoretical mechanisms are the very same criticisms repeatedly leveled at psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) before the advent of meta-analysis. Researchers in PNI were seen as pseudo-scientists by many, including Marcia Angell who wrote a damning editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1985. Now all that contempt and scorn has given way to standard sections about PNI in the health psych portions of our introductory textbooks. And yet, in a recent interview with Robert Ader in the APA Monitor, Ader said that despite the now consistent replications, there are still a few holdouts who refuse to believe that there can be any effect of the mind on immune function. http://www.apa.org/monitor/jun99/pni.html Incidentally, although we make much of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis as a theoretical mechanism in PNI, it's merely our best guess. In that same interview, Ader goes beyond acknowledging this saying "there are many psychological phenomena, and medical phenomena for that matter, for which we have not yet defined the precise mechanisms. It doesn't mean it's not a real phenomenon." Doesn't our history with PNI at least counsel us to remain curious if also skeptical? And with such, at the time, mixed findings, what do you suppose motivated those scientists to keep looking. Were they just lucky to have their blind faith justified? Hardly. We may not like to talk about it because it's hard to prove, but our brains are peerless when it comes to pattern recognition (although that false positive rate is real bear). Those researchers stuck with it because their instincts or intuition said there something there. My point-mired as it it in digression-is that, if we do not affirm the null hypothesis regarding psi, yet convey contempt in our voices to students, I fear we may be crushing valuable curiosity...and also esteem. I feel ambivalent about this issue. On the one hand, I grew up knowing I was gay, and seeing all the harm that some people-using organized religion and various kinds of sloppy thinking-cause to gays and lesbians. So, in fact, I am strongly motivated to see that our students receive training in critical thinking. On the other hand, I was one of those rare (?) students who had anomalous experiences. I AM one of those adults who has anomalous experiences. Since around the age of 13 I have seen a blue light around living and sometimes non-living things. Let me state at the outset that I do NOT consider myself psychic; indeed, I have never pursued anything regarding this "light" or visual anomaly since I was a teenager. Most importantly, never has it seemed to confer any benefit or advantage, of which I'm aware. (Certainly, some "information transfer" would have been NICE during visits to Las Vegas, but alas) You may well ask why I even make the connection between this anomaly and anything paranormal. I do, only because when I first read a little about the paranormal, descriptions by those who described "auras" bore a striking resemblance to what I saw and in the places where I tended to see it. That's it. But like I said, it's never conferred any kind foreknowledge or specialized "power" (ugh) beyond what my clinical acumen tells me about clients. Pretty uninteresting, believe me. I have never spoken of this in any public forum and I feel intensely vulnerable about doing so now. I have been interested in science since I was a child. I only had passion for a career in which
