job announcements
We have two openings at Drury University. Please see the advertisements below. (They will also appear in the Monitor and Observer.) Valerie J. Eastman, Ph.D.Dept. of Behavioral SciencesDrury University900 N. BentonSpringfield, Missouri 65802 phone: 417-873-7305fax: 417-873-6942 [EMAIL PROTECTED] A teacher-scholar with strong leadership ability is sought to chair the Department of Behavioral Sciences at Drury University. The position opening (for summer or fall of 2002) has resulted from the retirement of the chair. The department consists of nine full-time tenure-track faculty and offers undergraduate majors in psychology, criminology, criminal justice, and sociology. It also offers an M.A./M.S. in Criminology/Criminal Justice. Drury University has 4,400 students including 1,450 full-time traditional students and 400 graduate students. Drury is a member of the Associated New American Colleges. The successful candidate must have a Ph.D. in psychology. Candidates with a specialty in clinical or experimental psychology will receive preference. A background in neuroscience, statistics, and research methods is also desirable. The person in this position will teach in both the undergraduate and graduate programs. Send a letter of application describing teaching and research interests, vita, graduate transcripts, and three letters of recommendation to: Dr. Stephen Good, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Drury University, 900 North Benton Avenue, Springfield, MO 65802. Review of applications will begin November 1 and continue until the position is filled. Women and minorities are especially encouraged to apply. Drury University is an equal opportunity employer. The Department of Behavioral Sciences at Drury University invites applications for a tenure track position in psychology at the assistant professor level beginning in the fall of 2002. The department consists of nine full-time tenure-track faculty and offers undergraduate majors in psychology, criminology, criminal justice, and sociology. It also offers an M.A./M.S. in Criminology/Criminal Justice. The successful candidate must have a Ph.D. in psychology. Candidates with a specialty in clinical or experimental psychology will receive preference. A background in neuroscience, statistics, and research methods is also desirable. The person in this position will teach in both the undergraduate and graduate programs. Send a letter of application describing teaching and research interests, vita, graduate transcripts, and three letters of recommendation to Dr. Valerie Eastman, Department of Behavioral Sciences, Drury University, 900 North Benton, Springfield, MO 65802. Review of applications will begin November 1. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Women and minorities are especially encouraged to apply. Drury University is an equal opportunity employer.
why you shouldn't talk to the media (or maybe you should)
quote: "A senior FBI official, speaking on condition of anonymity, would not say whether charges are likely against Simon Marketing. " --http://www.cnn.com/2001/LAW/08/21/monopoly.arrests/
RE: Spectacles and IQ
So, if I can't distinguish the faces of my dissertation committee members across the conference table, it's a good thing? Pam >= Original Message From Stephen Black <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> = >On Wed, 22 Aug 2001, Michael Sylvester wrote: > >> >> does the correlation still hold that students and profs that wear glasses >> tend to be above average in intelligence than those who don't? >> I am not sure about contact lenses? > >Surprisingly, yes. We discussed this back around the end of July >last year, and I posted a note on July 24th, 2000 about it. >There's a significant relationship between myopia >(nearsightedness) and variables such as IQ, educational >attainment, and amount of time spent reading. The smarter you >are, or the greater your education, or the more time you spend >studying, the more myopic you are. And vice versa. Me, I'm so >nearsighted I can only see behind me. > Pamela Joyce Shapiro, ABD |Office: 738A Weiss Hall Temple University |Lab: 833 Weiss Hall Department of Psychology |Phone: 215 204-2116 Cognitive Program |email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Prenatal Mozart effect marketing
Classical Music Lovers May Indeed Have More Brains One of the most fascinating of all medical-research subjects - especially to those interested in the arts - has been the relationship of music to brain function. Classical-music lovers are really going to like the results of recent British and Italian studies that offer one explanation for individual preferences for classical versus pop music: The former may require more brainpower. A recent issue of BBC Music Magazine reports the studies of the dementia patients of Dr. Raj Persaud of Maudsley Hospital in London, from which Persaud concludes that there's a link between musical taste and intellectual function. As brainpower diminishes in dementia patients who have previously liked classical music, the patients sometimes begin to prefer pop music. As Persaud put it, "What this may mean is that you require more gray matter to appreciate classical music and that you don't need so much gray matter to appreciate pop music, so as you lose gray matter your taste in music changes accordingly." Brain damage changes tastes Other research suggests Persaud may be right. Writing in the Journal of Neurology, Italian neurologist Dr. Giovanni Frisoni states that dementia's damage to the frontal lobes of the brain (the part most involved in complex judgments) is responsible for those changes in musical likes and dislikes. Since pop music is "composed to appeal to the widest possible audience," as Frisoni put it, "the frontal lesions of our patients might have damaged the circuits that were inhibiting this appeal." Of course, Frisoni does not mean that pop-music listeners are brain-damaged. Musical taste, he points out, is an extremely complex issue, depending upon "individual, social and cultural factors." Frisoni's own research in Brescia, Italy, reached similar conclusions. Patients suffering from dementia exhibited a complete turnaround in their musical tastes. One 68-year-old lawyer and longtime classical-music lover, for example, who had developed increasing problems with speaking and abstract thinking, began listening to Italian pop music at top volume. Earlier, he had referred to pop music as "mere noise." There could be other reasons for such changes in musical preference. As reported in BBC News Health, patients who have damage to the brain's right frontal lobe, where novelty is managed, could be more inclined toward seeking novelty " and pop music would certainly be novel to those who had previously shunned it. Frisoni also thinks that lesions may have damaged the dementia patients' brains in the centers responsible for the perception of pitch, rhythm and familiarity. More Mozart effects More brain research suggests that playing Mozart " that same composer responsible for the much-touted "Mozart Effect," in which performance on certain aspects of IQ tests was improved following exposure to his music " can also have a beneficial effect on epilepsy patients. John Jenkins of the University of London has found that playing "short bursts of Mozart's Sonata K.448" (the D Major Sonata for Two Pianos) decreases epileptic attacks. Other studies suggest that Mozart also has a beneficial effect on coma patients. An early start Educators have long observed the benefits of early musical training on school performance, and various studies have shown that some areas of the brain are enlarged among those whose "perfect pitch" facility is revealed in that early training. More recently, the American Academy of Neurology has released the results of a study that found "significant differences" in the gray-matter distribution between professional musicians trained at an early age and nonmusicians. The musicians in the study had more relative gray-matter volume in five regions of the brain, and "pronounced differences in the cerebellum bilaterally." Nature or nurture? Study lea
Re: Spectacles and IQ
Here are some other articles I have just found on this topic. Some of them reproduce the ones that Stephen Black cited. Jeff --- Belkin, M. and M. Rosner. "Intelligence, Education, and Myopia in Males," Archives of Opthamology (November 1987) 1508-11. Benbow, C.P. "Physiological Correlates of Extreme Intellectual Precocity," Neuropsychologia (1986) 719-25. Bower, Bruce. "Retardation : The Eyes Have It," Science News (August 27, 1988) 140. Cohn, S.J., C.M. Cohn, and A.R. Jensen. "Myopia and Intelligence : A Pleiotropic Relationship?" Human Genetics (September 1988) 63-8. Edwards, Diane. "Boring Reading and Nearsightedness," Science News, July 11, 1987, page 23. Grosvenor, Theodore. Refractive State, Intelligence Test Scores, and Academic Ability, American Journal of Optometry and Archives of American Academy of Optometry 47(5) (May 1970) 355-61. Heron, Elizabeth and Adrain Zytkoskee. "Visual Acuity and Test Performance," American Journal of Optometry and Physiological Optics 58 (1981) 176-8. Karlsson, J.L. "Genetic Relationship Between Giftedness and Myopia," Hereditas 75 (1973) 85-9. Karlsson, J.L. Genetics of Myopia and Associated Mental Traits, Hereditas 105 (1986) 205-8. McManus, I.C. "What Makes Some Children Shortsighted?" The Lancet (1987) 1267-8. Miller, Edward M. On the Correlation of Myopia and Intelligence, Genetic, Social and General Psychology Monographs 118(4) (1992) 361-83. Peckham, C.S., and P.A. Gardinier, and H. Goldstein. "Acquired Myopia in Eleven Year Old Children," British Medical Journal (1977) 542-5. Raviola, Elio and Torsten N. Wiesel. "The Mystery of Myopia," The Sciences (November/December 1986) 46-52. Teasdale, T.W. and E. Goldschmidt. "Myopia and its Relationship to Education, Intelligence, and Height," Acta Opthamologica - Supplementary Copenhagen 185 (1988) 41-3. Teasdale, T.W., E. Goldschmidt, and J. Fuchs. "Degree of Myopia in Relation to Intelligence and Educational Level," The Lancet (1988) 1351-3. Williams, Sheila M. "Refractive Error, I.Q., and Reading Ability," Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology (December 1988) 735-42. Wong, L., et. al. Education, Reading and Familial Tendency as Risk Factors for Myopia in Hong Kong Fishermen, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 47(1) (February 1993) 50-3. Zylbermann, R., D. Landau and D. Berson, The Influence of Study Habits on Myopia in Jewish Teenagers, Journal of Pediatric Opthamology and Strabismus 30(5) (September-October 1993) 319-22. Stephen Black wrote: > On Wed, 22 Aug 2001, Michael Sylvester wrote: > > > > > does the correlation still hold that students and profs that wear glasses > > tend to be above average in intelligence than those who don't? > > I am not sure about contact lenses? > > Surprisingly, yes. We discussed this back around the end of July > last year, and I posted a note on July 24th, 2000 about it. > There's a significant relationship between myopia > (nearsightedness) and variables such as IQ, educational > attainment, and amount of time spent reading. The smarter you > are, or the greater your education, or the more time you spend > studying, the more myopic you are. And vice versa. Me, I'm so > nearsighted I can only see behind me. > > And for once the correlation seems to be causal. Nerdish > activities promote elongation of the eyeball, a primary cause of > myopia. This was established in studies where rats were forced to > read the speeches of George Bush and Jean Chretien until they > could no longer see well enough to solve mazes. Predictably, > animal rightists protested, not because of the harm to vision but > because no animal should be subjected to that kind of abuse. > > The references I gave last time around: > > Wiesel, T. & Raviola, E. (1988?) The mystery of myopia. The > Sciences, p. 46 [sorry, still missing a proper reference for > this] > > Kolata, G. (1985). What causes nearsightedness? Science, 229, > 1249-- > > Teasdale, T. et al (1988). Degree of myopia in relation to > intelligence and educational level. The Lancet, 1351-- > > Kinge B., Midelfart, A. [love that name], et al. (2000). The > influence of near-work on development of myopia among > university students. Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica, 78, > 26-- > > -Stephen > > > 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/ > -- Jeffry P. Ricker, Ph.D. Office Phone: (480) 423-6213 9000 E. Chaparral Rd.FAX Number: (480) 423-6
Re: Prenatal Mozart effect marketing
As I feel the fetid breath of incipient geezerhood on my neck, I take comfort in the realization that what goes around comes around. About twenty years ago, I ran across a advertisement for a "pregaphone" which allowed mom and dad to communicate directly with the fetus by means of a pair of speakers attached to the mother's abdomen. The studies to support this device were the old ones which showed that an infant would resond positively to familiar nursery rhymes that mom had recited while the infant was a fetus. The fact that the fetus is going to hear anything that the mother hears either by pregaphone or normally obviates the need for such a device. Maybe ther is something to this after all, though, my son, who is 30, listens to the Stones, Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company and Quick Silver Messenger Service, all of which he undoubtedly heard in the womb. Harry Avis PhD Sierra College Rocklin, CA 95677 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Life is opinion - Marcus Aurelius There is nothing that is good or bad, but that thinking makes it so - Shakespeare >From: Rick Stevens <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: TIPS <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Prenatal Mozart effect marketing >Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 13:25:08 -0500 > _ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp I just thought that some people on this list might be interested. http://slate.msn.com/culturebox/entries/01-08-17_113948.asp A selection from the above link: But there is no reason to wait until your child is actually born: The trend now extends to dozens of CDs for parents to play to their unborn children. Prenatal music classes are offered in New York, Houston, Los Angeles, and even Hong Kong. At least two productsTummy Tunes and the WombSongs Prenatal Systemhelp expecting mothers deliver music to their fetuses directly by attaching speakers or headphones to their bellies. The article is rather critical of the marketing effort: Perhaps most notably, though, the popular Mozart for Mothers-To-Be CD tells us that "Mozart was a child prodigy, a brilliant musician, and one of the most beloved composers of all time. But, at one time, he wasjust like all of usa sweet, innocent, ordinary, baby." This is the essential fiction at the heart of the prenatal music movement... -- __ Rick Stevens __ Psychology Department __ University of Louisiana at Monroe __ http://www.ulm.edu/~stevens
Re: bumper sticker
> From: "Rick Adams" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: Bumper sticker > Michael Sylvester wrote: > > > The following bumper sticker was seen on campus: > > "The only vitamin for a christian is B1." > > Your point being? > > Rick To test how long it took for you to get it? I refuse to answer that question, by the way
Prenatal Mozart effect marketing
I just thought that some people on this list might be interested. http://slate.msn.com/culturebox/entries/01-08-17_113948.asp A selection from the above link: But there is no reason to wait until your child is actually born: The trend now extends to dozens of CDs for parents to play to their unborn children. Prenatal music classes are offered in New York, Houston, Los Angeles, and even Hong Kong. At least two productsTummy Tunes and the WombSongs Prenatal Systemhelp expecting mothers deliver music to their fetuses directly by attaching speakers or headphones to their bellies. The article is rather critical of the marketing effort: Perhaps most notably, though, the popular Mozart for Mothers-To-Be CD tells us that "Mozart was a child prodigy, a brilliant musician, and one of the most beloved composers of all time. But, at one time, he wasjust like all of usa sweet, innocent, ordinary, baby." This is the essential fiction at the heart of the prenatal music movement... -- __ Rick Stevens __ Psychology Department __ University of Louisiana at Monroe __ http://www.ulm.edu/~stevens
Spectacles and IQ
On Wed, 22 Aug 2001, Michael Sylvester wrote: > > does the correlation still hold that students and profs that wear glasses > tend to be above average in intelligence than those who don't? > I am not sure about contact lenses? Surprisingly, yes. We discussed this back around the end of July last year, and I posted a note on July 24th, 2000 about it. There's a significant relationship between myopia (nearsightedness) and variables such as IQ, educational attainment, and amount of time spent reading. The smarter you are, or the greater your education, or the more time you spend studying, the more myopic you are. And vice versa. Me, I'm so nearsighted I can only see behind me. And for once the correlation seems to be causal. Nerdish activities promote elongation of the eyeball, a primary cause of myopia. This was established in studies where rats were forced to read the speeches of George Bush and Jean Chretien until they could no longer see well enough to solve mazes. Predictably, animal rightists protested, not because of the harm to vision but because no animal should be subjected to that kind of abuse. The references I gave last time around: Wiesel, T. & Raviola, E. (1988?) The mystery of myopia. The Sciences, p. 46 [sorry, still missing a proper reference for this] Kolata, G. (1985). What causes nearsightedness? Science, 229, 1249-- Teasdale, T. et al (1988). Degree of myopia in relation to intelligence and educational level. The Lancet, 1351-- Kinge B., Midelfart, A. [love that name], et al. (2000). The influence of near-work on development of myopia among university students. Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica, 78, 26-- -Stephen 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/
