Re: [tips] The joy of stats

[Mike Palij]

On Thu, 16 Dec 2010 18:11:45 -0800, Michael Smith wrote:
>Mike P:
>>"As someone who is familiar with the research methods literature in 
>>sociology".
>
>Congratulations. I think most here are familiar with regression.

Non sequitur.  You self-servingly edited out most of post which
showed that sociologists have used statistical techniques well
beyond regression. If you think that that is the only type of analysis
they do why don't you explain how structural equation modeling
(SEM) can be reduced to OLS regression?  I'd pay a dollar to
see you do that.

>> [Mike P. wrote:]
>>"I am puzzled about (a) why you are laughing (outside of your being prone
>>to laugh at things for no apparent reason)
>
>...better than being a pedantic bore.

Maybe, but you then come off as being an intellectual coward
becuase you say foolish things like "I'm laughing at this" and
when confronted with evidence that you are wrong, don't even
have the cahonies to admit that you're wrong.  

>>"(b) why you think regression
>>lines and scatterplots describe all of the results in sociology."
>
>I think you're just permanently puzzled.

Again, non sequitur.  If you cannot provide a meaningful answer,
may I suggest you just STFU?

>If you think that a couple of names or a journal establishes your
>point of the great complexity of analysis used throughout sociology 
>you're just wrong (again) and that despite your liberal use of 
>Wikipedia

Boy, where did you learn to misrepresent other people's arguments?
Grade school?  Sunday school?  Grad school?  Or are you a
self-educated kind of guy?  You're the one that said all of sociology
was "regression lines and scatterplots" -- I called you on it and
proved you wrong by showing that sociologists in fact use many
techniques.  Listen, I think a lot of people get it by now that you're
not really serious when you make these kinds of foolish statements.  
I don't know what you take seriously and where you manifest this
seriousness and that's okay.  Just realize that you really do look
foolish when you say things like:

"I'm still laughing at that one."

-Mike Palij
New York University
m...@nyu.edu




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Re: [tips] The joy of stats

[Michael Smith]

Mike P:
"As someone who is familiar with the research methods literature in sociology".
Congratulations. I think most here are familiar with regression.

"I am puzzled about (a) why you are laughing (outside of your being prone
to laugh at things for no apparent reason)
...better than being a pedantic bore.

"(b) why you think regression
lines and scatterplots describe all of the results in sociology."

I think you're just permanently puzzled.
If you think that a couple of names or a journal establishes your
point of the great complexity of
analysis used throughout sociology you're just wrong (again) and that
despite your liberal use of Wikipedia

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[tips] Psychology on a disk (activities)

[michael sylvester]

I have used a software titled Psychology on a disk.
Students can buy it and load up on a computer
and perform experiments that are connected to the 
various  chapters.They can discuss their results in class.

Michael "omnicentric" Sylvester,PhD
Daytona Beach,Florida
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Re: [tips] TIPSTER OF THE WEEK

[michael sylvester]

I have had this running for a couple of years.It is just my own and not of Tips 
officially.I try to give recognition to 
infrequent posters or even to people who appear to be significant.Tipsters at 
times get too serious.I think you have had two or three posts that generated 
some subsequent interests.
Anyway...
Michael
  - Original Message - 
  From: Michelle Everson 
  To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) 
  Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2010 8:37 PM
  Subject: Re: [tips] TIPSTER OF THE WEEK




  Thank you!  I'm not sure I know what I did to deserve this, however, but I'm 
definitely honored!  : )


  On Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 4:25 PM, michael sylvester  
wrote:





MICHELLE  EVERSON

Michael "omnicentric" Sylvester,PhD
Daytona Beach,Florida


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  -- 
  Michelle Everson, Ph.D.
  Quantitative Methods in Education
  Department of Educational Psychology
  University of Minnesota
  gaddy...@umn.edu
  612-624-0691
  http://www.tc.umn.edu/~delma001/CATALST/



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--



  No virus found in this incoming message.
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  Version: 9.0.872 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/3317 - Release Date: 12/15/10 
05:34:00

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Re: [tips] TIPSTER OF THE WEEK

[Michelle Everson]

Thank you!  I'm not sure I know what I did to deserve this, however, but I'm
definitely honored!  : )

On Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 4:25 PM, michael sylvester wrote:

>
>
> MICHELLE  EVERSON
>
> Michael "omnicentric" Sylvester,PhD
> Daytona Beach,Florida
>
> ---
>
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>
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>
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>
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>



-- 
Michelle Everson, Ph.D.
Quantitative Methods in Education
Department of Educational Psychology
University of Minnesota
gaddy...@umn.edu
612-624-0691
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~delma001/CATALST/

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[tips] TIPSTER OF THE WEEK

[michael sylvester]

MICHELLE  EVERSON

Michael "omnicentric" Sylvester,PhD
Daytona Beach,Florida
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Re: [tips] The joy of stats

[Jim Clark]

Hi

It is not just sociology that suffers from excessive ideological promotion / 
criticism of non-experimental research.  Psychology as well has many issues 
(theories, models, whatever, ...) that will only or primarily be examined 
non-experimentally.  It behooves us as scholars / researchers / educators to 
document not only the limitations of such approaches but as well the potential. 
 Consider Streissguth's work on maternal consumption of alcohol during 
pregnancy.  

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WYC-46X4819-35&_user=1068128&_coverDate=01%2F31%2F1989&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1581697283&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C51257&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=1068128&md5=f357fe5bd837dfee51da7b30f2d041f5&searchtype=a

OR

http://tinyurl.com/2aromas 

and

http://www.aamr.org/ehi/media/Streissguth%20PP%203%209%2007%20(2).pdf

Essentially the research shows an effect of maternal alcohol consumption on 
child's intellectual abilities even controlling for numerous correlated (or 
potentially correlated) variables.  Surely, the greater the number of competing 
hypotheses that are discredited by empirical research (i.e., statistical 
control) the greater our confidence in a causal relationship.  Ideally, such 
non-experimental results are further confirmed by experimental studies (e.g., 
with pig fetuses).

The idea that we can immediately arrive at a definitive study to settle some 
issue is perhaps one of the worst things that we can impart to students.  Sound 
understanding only comes from prolonged and often difficult work ... no matter 
what ideologists might think (or pretend to think in order to undermine 
approaches with which they disagree, often intensely).

Take care
Jim



James M. Clark
Professor of Psychology
204-786-9757
204-774-4134 Fax
j.cl...@uwinnipeg.ca

>>> "Mike Palij"  16-Dec-10 11:00 AM >>>
On Thu, 16 Dec 2010 07:35:53 -0800, Michael Smith allegedly wrote:
>But the most hillarious one is from one critics response that Allen
>presents that includes:
>"The evidence presented in the book is mostly a series of scatter diagrams,
>with a regression line drawn through them."
>
>This is hillarious !!!
>The reason being, of course, is that the statement is a good
>description of all the results in sociology.
>
>I'm still laughing at that one.

As someone who is familiar with the research methods literature in sociology,
I am puzzled about (a) why you are laughing (outside of your being prone
to laugh at things for no apparent reason) and (b) why you think regression
lines and scatterplots describe all of the results in sociology.

Hubert Blalock, a quantitative sociologist, is just one sociologist
who has used sophisticated statistical analysis in sociological research 
in addition to writing/editing influential textbooks in statistical 
analysis for sociologists.  Consider:

His 1985 "Causal Models in the Social Sciences"; on books.google.com:
http://books.google.com/books?id=Qvpa5n1OhRYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=blalock+%22causal+models+in+the+social+sciences%22&source=bl&ots=3b6T8vfz7C&sig=zZCkVBwPvQLBAwRgd9UBdKZHIh8&hl=en&ei=1D8KTfrVAoiosAPvsKGLCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
 
or
http://tinyurl.com/blalock1985 
Note: this books continues to be used and is available on Amazon as
are other books by Blalock. I would also suggest looking at his 2007
book "Causal Models in Experimental designs"; see:
http://books.google.com/books?id=Mawj7EyctSAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=blalock+%22causal+models+in+the+social+sciences%22&source=bl&ots=kMikWSiPJe&sig=pGDiycgAMpF1yQPPLyLuf5dkd-M&hl=en&ei=1D8KTfrVAoiosAPvsKGLCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CDUQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=blalock%20%22causal%20models%20in%20the%20social%20sciences%22&f=false
 
or
http://tinyurl.com/blalock2007 

Examination of the serial "Sociological Methods & Research" (SMR) will 
show that many different types of sophisticated forms of analyses are used 
and promoted by well-known experts in their field like Kenneth Bollen.
SMR is published by Sage and the current issue (in volume #39) is
available here:
http://smr.sagepub.com/content/current 

There is also the "Journal of Mathematical Sociology"; see:
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/GMAS 

For some background on mathematical sociology, there is a Wikipedia entry
(yadda-yadda) that provides some history and background; see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_sociology 

So, what's the basis for the claim that sociologists only use scatterplots
and regression in their research?  That's claim is almost as hilarious as
saying that all psychologists are clinicians.

-Mike Palij
New York University
m...@nyu.edu 







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[tips] Another correlation/causation, but I wish it weren't just that

[David Hogberg]

see:
http://www.alternet.org/story/149193/study_confirms_that_fox_news_makes_you_stupid
-- 
David K. Hogberg, PhD
Professor of Psychology, Emeritus
Department of Psychological Science
Albion College
Albion MI 49224

Tel: 517/629-4834, Mobile: 517/262-1277

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RE: [tips] Intro Psych: Seeking good non-test based assignments

[Frantz, Sue]

ToPIX (http://topix.teachpsych.org/) is built on a wiki platform, so everyone 
is welcome -- and encouraged! -- to contribute to it.  For the past few months 
I've been busy with other things.  Beginning in January I have some time 
dedicated just to it.  I have a bunch of stuff people have contributed to TIPS, 
PsychTeach, and Psych-News that I want to add (properly acknowledged, of 
course!).  For example, if you have an activity or assignment that really works 
for you, and you'd like to share, you're welcome to add it.  Let me know if 
you'd like some help in doing that.

If you're interested in contributing to ToPIX in some way, but aren't sure 
what, drop me an email (sfra...@highline.edu), and I can give you some concrete 
tasks.  

Beth, do you want to create a 'best of' page on ToPIX?  Alternatively, do you 
use Dropbox?  Save what you find in a Word file, and then make the link 
publicly available 
(http://sfrantz.wordpress.com/2010/11/21/dropbox-share-a-file-via-a-link/).  
For you, all you have to do is make changes to your Word document and save it.  
Everyone who has the link will always get the most up-to-date file.  If you're 
interested in going that route,  I'll create a link on ToPIX to it. 

As for sleep, for the record, I sleep 8 to 9 hours a night.  If I get less than 
that, naps are in order.   

As for spare time, I read, most often non-fiction.  I'm currently reading 
Operation Mincemeat.  After the Allies gained control of North Africa, the most 
obvious entrance to Europe was Sicily.  And everyone, including the Nazis, knew 
that.  The British decided to try to convince the Nazis that they weren't going 
to attack there, but were instead going to feign an attack there while actually 
attacking Greece and Sardinia.  To do that, they floated a dead body carrying a 
briefcase of 'top secret' communications into Spanish waters.  Given some of 
the schemes both sides thought up during the war, I'm surprised anybody won.  


--
Sue Frantz Highline Community College
Psychology, Coordinator    Des Moines, WA
206.878.3710 x3404  sfra...@highline.edu

Office of Teaching Resources in Psychology, Associate Director 
Teaching of Psychology Idea Exchange (ToPIX)
APA Division 2: Society for the Teaching of Psychology 

APA's p...@cc Committee



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Re: [tips] The joy of stats

[Mike Palij]

On Thu, 16 Dec 2010 07:35:53 -0800, Michael Smith allegedly wrote:
>But the most hillarious one is from one critics response that Allen
>presents that includes:
>"The evidence presented in the book is mostly a series of scatter diagrams,
>with a regression line drawn through them."
>
>This is hillarious !!!
>The reason being, of course, is that the statement is a good
>description of all the results in sociology.
>
>I'm still laughing at that one.

As someone who is familiar with the research methods literature in sociology,
I am puzzled about (a) why you are laughing (outside of your being prone
to laugh at things for no apparent reason) and (b) why you think regression
lines and scatterplots describe all of the results in sociology.

Hubert Blalock, a quantitative sociologist, is just one sociologist
who has used sophisticated statistical analysis in sociological research 
in addition to writing/editing influential textbooks in statistical 
analysis for sociologists.  Consider:

His 1985 "Causal Models in the Social Sciences"; on books.google.com:
http://books.google.com/books?id=Qvpa5n1OhRYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=blalock+%22causal+models+in+the+social+sciences%22&source=bl&ots=3b6T8vfz7C&sig=zZCkVBwPvQLBAwRgd9UBdKZHIh8&hl=en&ei=1D8KTfrVAoiosAPvsKGLCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
or
http://tinyurl.com/blalock1985 
Note: this books continues to be used and is available on Amazon as
are other books by Blalock. I would also suggest looking at his 2007
book "Causal Models in Experimental designs"; see:
http://books.google.com/books?id=Mawj7EyctSAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=blalock+%22causal+models+in+the+social+sciences%22&source=bl&ots=kMikWSiPJe&sig=pGDiycgAMpF1yQPPLyLuf5dkd-M&hl=en&ei=1D8KTfrVAoiosAPvsKGLCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CDUQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=blalock%20%22causal%20models%20in%20the%20social%20sciences%22&f=false
or
http://tinyurl.com/blalock2007 

Examination of the serial "Sociological Methods & Research" (SMR) will 
show that many different types of sophisticated forms of analyses are used 
and promoted by well-known experts in their field like Kenneth Bollen.
SMR is published by Sage and the current issue (in volume #39) is
available here:
http://smr.sagepub.com/content/current

There is also the "Journal of Mathematical Sociology"; see:
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/GMAS

For some background on mathematical sociology, there is a Wikipedia entry
(yadda-yadda) that provides some history and background; see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_sociology

So, what's the basis for the claim that sociologists only use scatterplots
and regression in their research?  That's claim is almost as hilarious as
saying that all psychologists are clinicians.

-Mike Palij
New York University
m...@nyu.edu







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[tips] Fantz (1961) - looking for electronic copy

[Patrick Dolan]

Hi folks- wondering if any of you have this available to you- electronic copy 
of 
Fantz, R. L. (1961). The origin of form perception, Scientific American, 204 
(May), 61-71.
 
Pioneer work on preferential looking methodology. My library has it in 
microform but the quality is really terrible. I have the '63 Science article 
but it doesn't have everything I want.  
 
I'm not hopeful. My best bet might be if somebody has one of those bound 
Readings From Scientific American collections. I have 5 of them from 1971 - 
1986 but none of them happen to have this article (quite surprisingly, really). 
 
Many thanks!
 
Patrick
 
 
 
**
Patrick O. Dolan
Associate Professor and Chair of Psychology
Drew University
Madison, NJ 07940
973-408-3558
pdo...@drew.edu 

_

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Re: [tips] Great Classroom Exercises - 2

[Steven Specht]

Interestingly, the statistically significant age estimate effect I had seen 
VERY consistently for 12 years started to "degrade" over the last several 
years. But that itself opens-up discussion at yet another level when we talk 
about "psycholinguistics" of word usage. I now talk about that "degradation" 
too with my class. For example, is it the case that "woman" and "girl" are 
being used more nowadays as interchangeable? What implications does this have 
in terms of "infantalizing" females (of college age). I have begun using "lady" 
and "girl" instead of "woman" and "girl". We also discuss why the equivalent 
male term (i.e., "boy") is used less to refer to college males as "girl" is to 
refer to college females. The class gets a laugh when I suggest that perhaps 
the term "gal" (i.e., the equivalent of "guy") should be resurrected for 
college females ;-)   That would be swell!
Happy holiday TIPSters!



Steven M. Specht, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
Department of Psychology
Utica College
Utica, NY 13502
(315) 792-3171
monkeybrain-collagist.blogspot.com

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and 
convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
Martin Luther King Jr.

On Dec 16, 2010, at 10:19 AM, Beth Benoit wrote:

>  
> Here's today's find, from our own Steven Specht.
> 
> Beth Benoit 
> Granite State College
> Plymouth State University
> New Hampshire
> Memory
> 
> The impact of word use on memory retrieval submitted by Steven 
> spechtsspe...@utica.edu   Utica College
> (Note: The origins of the basic exercise can not be readily attributed to the 
> primary source--it is similar to the work of Elizabeth Loftus, however the 
> novel suggestion of using the film New Jack City was posed by Steven Specht)
> I show the opening scene from the movieNew Jack City, in this scene the focal 
> point is a man being held over the side of a bridge about to be dropped into 
> the river below as a result of a drug deal gone bad. I then distribute a 
> short questionnaire (4 questions) asking students about their recall of facts 
> of the movie scene. For the third question, I ask, "What is your estimate of 
> the age of the woman who was screaming in the video?" However, for half of 
> the class, the word "Woman" is replaced by the word "girl".
> This exercise may show the effect of language and questioning style on memory 
> retrieval. Students tend to guess an average of age 23 when the female is 
> referred to as a girl and 29 when the female is referred to as a woman.
> 
> ---
> 
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[tips] A new homunculus

[sblack]

You heard it here and from me first.

Abstract of paper accepted for presentation at the Jerusalem
International Conference on Integrative Medicine (2010):

---
Author: John C. McLachlan, School of Medicine and Health, Durham
University

Abstract

Intensive study of the development of early human embryos
indicates that there is a reflexology style homunculus represented in
the human body, over the area of the buttocks. This homunculus
corresponds to areas of clonal expansion ("Blaschko lines*"), in
which compartments of the body have clear ontological relationships
with corresponding areas of the posterior flanks. The homunculus is
inverted, such that the head is represented in the inferior position,
the left buttock corresponds to the right hand side of the body, and
the lateral aspect is represented medially. The Blaschko lines
mediate energy flows to parent areas, and lead to significant
responses to appropriate stimuli. As with reflexology, the "map"
responds to needling, as in acupuncture, and to gentle suction, such
as cupping. Responses are stronger and of more therapeutic value than
those of auricular or conventional reflexology. In some cases, the
map can be used for diagnostic purposes. In both therapeutic and
diagnostic interventions, a full case history must be taken, in order
to define the best methods of treatment. In the presentation,
anonymised case histories, "testimonies" and positive outcomes will
be presented. The methodology does not lend itself to randomised
double blind controlled trials, for obvious reasons.

Obviously, the involvement of a sensitive area of the body poses
special challenges. Ethical practice is of significant concern.
Informed consent must be obtained from all patients in writing,
before either therapeutic or diagnostic procedures are commenced.
Although exposure of the gluteal region is recommended, procedures
can be carried out using draping if this is required in order to gain
patient cooperation. Chaperones or same sex practitioners are
recommended in the case of female patients.

Unfortunately, this novel paradigm may meet with closed minds and
automatic rejection. Patience and understanding of "closed" mindsets
is essential in order to advance this new discovery in a way
commensurate with its importance.

*See for example http://dermnetnz.org/pathology/blaschko-
lines.html.
--

A diagram of the discovered homunculus can be found at
http://www.bmj.com/content/341/bmj.c6979/F1.large.jpg

Stephen


Stephen L. Black, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology, Emeritus
Bishop's University
Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
e-mail:  sblack at ubishops.ca
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Re: [tips] The joy of stats

[Michael Smith]

I think I'll try to match Allen's lengthy response.

I haven't read it (The Spirit Level) either (although I think I have
it somewhere and have been planning to).

I think Chris made a good point that it is a popular book and so
perhaps focuses on readability.
This, however, doesn't mean the analysis is poor. And for it's critics
to point out that it doesn't present detailed statistical analyses, is
I think, ludicrous. It isn't after all, a journal article.

But the best part of Allen's response is the funny parts.

One funny thing in Allen's post was:
"...who regards himself as “about as anti-inequality an economist as
you’ll find”)..."
Well I guess that settles that. This is proof positive that God exists.
We have at last found a truly objective (unbiased) individual who is,
miraculously, a government worker !!

But the most hillarious one is from one critics response that Allen
presents that includes:
"The evidence presented in the book is mostly a series of scatter diagrams,
with a regression line drawn through them."

This is hillarious !!!
The reason being, of course, is that the statement is a good
description of all the
results in sociology.

I'm still laughing at that one.

Thanks Allen.

--Mike

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[tips] Great Classroom Exercises - 2

[Beth Benoit]

 Here's today's find, from our own Steven Specht.
Beth Benoit
Granite State College
Plymouth State University
New Hampshire
Memory

The impact of word use on memory retrieval submitted by Steven Specht
sspe...@utica.edu   Utica College

(Note: The origins of the basic exercise can not be readily attributed to
the primary source--it is similar to the work of Elizabeth Loftus, however
the novel suggestion of using the film New Jack City was posed by Steven
Specht)

I show the opening scene from the movieNew Jack City, in this scene the
focal point is a man being held over the side of a bridge about to be
dropped into the river below as a result of a drug deal gone bad. I then
distribute a short questionnaire (4 questions) asking students about their
recall of facts of the movie scene. For the third question, I ask, "What is
your estimate of the age of the woman who was screaming in the video?"
However, for half of the class, the word "Woman" is replaced by the word
"girl".

This exercise may show the effect of language and questioning style on
memory retrieval. Students tend to guess an average of age 23 when the
female is referred to as a girl and 29 when the female is referred to as a
woman.

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[tips] An Interesting Resource And/Or Timewaster

[Mike Palij]

The NY Times have several articles on the newly available U.S. census
data and they have a webpage that identifies the racial/ethnic group
distribution throughout the U.S.; see:
http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/explorer?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=ab1

Note that there has been some controversy about how the census
asks about or measures racial and ethnic group identification, one
of the more obvious problems being how to deal with people who
view themselves as multiracial/ethnic.  Also, when it comes to places
like Manhattan (NY not KS), it is interesting so see how concentrations
of different racial/ethnic group appear in close proximity, especially
in lower Manhattan.

A brief presentation of highs and lows from the census (e.g., who knew
Falls Church, VA was so rich or so smart?) is presented here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/us/15censusside.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=ab1

And access to various sources about the census on the Times
and elsewhere is available here:
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/census_bureau/index.html

-Mike Palij
New York University
m...@nyu.edu











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RE: [tips] Great Classroom Exercises

[Tollefsrud, Linda]

A less messy version of this exercise is to use Pixy Stix candy, rather than 
lemonade mix.  I find that 2 Pixy Stix per student allows me to plot a nice 
curve for both acquisition and extinction.

Linda Tollefsrud
Professor of Psychology
University of Wisconsin - Barron County
1800 College Drive
Rice Lake, WI  54868
(715) 234-8176 ext 5417
linda.tollefs...@uwc.edu

From: Beth Benoit [mailto:beth.ben...@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2010 5:34 PM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)
Subject: [tips] Great Classroom Exercises



Here's my first attempt to cull intriguing exercises from Sue Frantz's and 
Jonathon Mueller's sites (already posted in a thread explaining  that I'll be 
doing that).

Here's the first one...I'm stocking up on powdered lemonade mix for this one:

I had a professor classically condition the class to salivate when he said 
"Pavlov," creating a nice parallel to Pavlov's dogs.To accomplish this, he 
began by giving everyone a small amount of powdered lemonade mix. He then 
instructed us to place a small pinch of the powder directly on our tongue 
immediately after he said "Pavlov." After 15-20 trials (spaced far enough apart 
so that the salivation stops between trials), he instructed us to NOT place the 
powder on our tongue during the next trial. He then said "Pavlov" and the whole 
class proceeded to salivate uncontrollably.

Submitted -- Uriah S. Anderson, M.A. Arizona State University

http://www.intropsychresources.com/pmwiki/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=ResourcesByType.ClassDemonstrations

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RE: [tips] Great Classroom Exercises

[Annette Taylor]

I have tried this exercise a number of times and it has never worked. I wonder 
what I'm doing wrong. I've just assumed it is too weak, or maybe to contrived 
and articifial a situation.

:(

Annette

Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D.
Professor, Psychological Sciences
University of San Diego
5998 Alcala Park
San Diego, CA 92110
tay...@sandiego.edu

From: FLINT, ROBERT [fli...@mail.strose.edu]
Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2010 3:42 AM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)
Subject: RE: [tips] Great Classroom Exercises




I have used an exercise similar to the “Pavlov” one described by Uriah 
Anderson. If you have a local candy store in your area, I would recommend 
contacting them to see if they will allow you to purchase the “sugar” they put 
on Sour Patch candies. I’ve found that this stimulus will produce a stronger 
UCR and will lead to the development of a stronger CR.

Rob Flint
Professor of Psychology
The College of Saint Rose





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Re: [tips] The joy of stats

[Christopher Green]

Again, Allen overwhelms with far more bulk than (I feel) it is appropriate to 
respond to in a forum such as this.

I will say, in response to Kay's critique, that one should look at the whole 
book. It is written for a popular audience, and so does not include 
correlations coefficients in the main text, but they are included in appendix. 

As for it seeming a bit utopian, yes it is, in the sense that there is 
essentially zero chance the the populations of the US and UK, especially, will 
ever accept these recommendations. Inequality  has (sadly) become an entrenched 
part of their national ideologies - the "pain" that signals to them they are 
getting maximum "gain" from their economies. That people refuse to do what is 
good for them doesn't mean, however, that it wouldn't sill be good for them.

For myself, I find the evidence provided in the book quite compelling. As with 
all correlational research, it is possible that there is something else, 
correlated with equality, going on. The authors are aware of this issue and 
address it extensively. The burden of proof is on the critic to provide an 
equally compelling case for some other variable.

Chris
---
Christopher D Green
Department of Psychology
York University
Toronto, ON M6C 1G4
Canada

chri...@yorku.ca

On Dec 16, 2010, at 6:51 AM, Allen Esterson  
wrote:

> On 15 December Chris Green cited evidence he thinks is supportive of
>> the conclusions of the book I was "pushing" a few weeks
>> ago: _The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone_.
> 
> As I wrote in a post under the thread on “objectivity” recently, while 
> one can never completely remove one’s own biases and preconceptions in 
> assessing a thesis, one of the basic principles is that one should seek 
> out writings critical of the thesis before drawing any firm 
> conclusions. (John Stuart Mill puts the same notion rather more 
> strongly in his essay “On Liberty”: “He who knows only his own side of 
> the case, knows little of that.”)
> 
> This is the third time in recently weeks that Chris has “pushed” *The 
> Spirit Level*. So I ask of Chris, which of the several informed 
> critiques of the “Spirit Level” that have been published, some of which 
> are easily found on the internet, have you read?
> 
> There are plenty of informed critical responses out there, not by any 
> means all from the political Right. For instance, Andrew Leigh (former 
> professor of economics at the Australian National University and 
> currently a Labor member of the Australian House of Representatives who 
> regards himself as “about as anti-inequality an economist as you’ll 
> find”) writes:
> 
> “John Kay’s view in the FT
> http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/77b1bd26-14db-11de-8cd1-779fd2ac.html#axzz17MJEMHNx
> comes closest to my own:
> 
> " ‘a larger source of irritation is the authors’ apparent belief that 
> the application of regression methods to economic and social statistics 
> is as novel to social science as it apparently is to medicine. The 
> evidence presented in the book is mostly a series of scatter diagrams, 
> with a regression line drawn through them. No data is provided on the 
> estimated equations, or on relevant statistical tests. If you remove 
> the bold lines from the diagram, the pattern of points mostly looks 
> random, and the data dominated by a few outliers.’ "
> http://previousleigh.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/look-at-the-changes-not-at-the-levels/
> 
> Here is David Runciman (Senior Lecturer in Political Theory at Trinity 
> College Cambridge), in the well-left-of-centre London Review of Books:
> 
> “Why then, given all this – the concise argument, the weight of the 
> evidence, the unmistakable practical purpose of the authors – does the 
> book still feel oddly utopian? Part of the problem, I think, is that 
> the argument is not as straightforward as its authors would like. 
> Despite their obvious sense of conviction, and maybe even because of 
> it, they fudge the central issue at crucial moments, whereas at others, 
> perhaps in order to compensate, they overstate their case, which only 
> makes things worse.”
> http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n20/david-runciman/how-messy-it-all-is
> 
> And from Christian Bjørnskov  (Associate Professor of Economics, 
> University of Aarhus, Sweden):
> 
> “To ordinary readers without firm statistical training, this approach 
> appears to represent careful and 'painstakingly marshaled'  evidence, 
> as The Economist put it. However, to readers with a background in 
> economics or political science, the evidence in the book is wanting. 
> When seeing strong conclusions drawn from scatter plots and other 
> simple figures, for example, one has to ask three questions: 1) are the 
> relations driven by outlier observations; 2) are the findings robust to 
> controlling for other relevant factors; and 3) are the relations likely 
> to be causal? Surprisingly often, Wilkinson and Pickett’s claims fail 
> to address one or more of these questions

Re:[tips] The joy of stats

[Allen Esterson]

A postscript to my post on *The Spirit Level*:

I don’t pretend to have done more than glance through the *The Spirit 
Level*. To properly read a book brimful of statistics I have to be (a) 
in the right frame of mind (b) have little else occupying my time, 
neither of which is currently the situation. In any case, I simply 
don’t have the expertise to judge whether the authors are making their 
(statistical) case reasonably dispassionately or fairly. But one short 
section did stand out for me.

Wilkinson and Pickett (pp. 44-45) make a comparison between Japan and 
the USA as respectively “the most equal [and] almost the most unequal 
of the rich market economies”. Their theme here is the strong contrast 
between certain psychological traits of citizens in the two countries, 
such as personal modesty, which they assert to be the result of the 
differences in economic equality/inequality. (They note, supposedly in 
support of their argument, that the Japanese pattern of behaviour is 
also found in Taiwan and China.) But nowhere in the section is there 
any suggestion that at least part of these differences may relate to 
deeply embedded cultural traditions.

I fully acknowledge that this is just one brief item, but it does at 
least exemplify one criticism widely levelled at the book: that the 
authors do not control for other possible relevant factors.

Allen Esterson
Former lecturer, Science Department
Southwark College, London
allenester...@compuserve.com
http://www.esterson.org



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Re:[tips] The joy of stats

[Allen Esterson]

On 15 December Chris Green cited evidence he thinks is supportive of
>the conclusions of the book I was "pushing" a few weeks
>ago: _The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone_.

As I wrote in a post under the thread on “objectivity” recently, while 
one can never completely remove one’s own biases and preconceptions in 
assessing a thesis, one of the basic principles is that one should seek 
out writings critical of the thesis before drawing any firm 
conclusions. (John Stuart Mill puts the same notion rather more 
strongly in his essay “On Liberty”: “He who knows only his own side of 
the case, knows little of that.”)

This is the third time in recently weeks that Chris has “pushed” *The 
Spirit Level*. So I ask of Chris, which of the several informed 
critiques of the “Spirit Level” that have been published, some of which 
are easily found on the internet, have you read?

There are plenty of informed critical responses out there, not by any 
means all from the political Right. For instance, Andrew Leigh (former 
professor of economics at the Australian National University and 
currently a Labor member of the Australian House of Representatives who 
regards himself as “about as anti-inequality an economist as you’ll 
find”) writes:

“John Kay’s view in the FT
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/77b1bd26-14db-11de-8cd1-779fd2ac.html#axzz17MJEMHNx
comes closest to my own:

" ‘a larger source of irritation is the authors’ apparent belief that 
the application of regression methods to economic and social statistics 
is as novel to social science as it apparently is to medicine. The 
evidence presented in the book is mostly a series of scatter diagrams, 
with a regression line drawn through them. No data is provided on the 
estimated equations, or on relevant statistical tests. If you remove 
the bold lines from the diagram, the pattern of points mostly looks 
random, and the data dominated by a few outliers.’ "
http://previousleigh.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/look-at-the-changes-not-at-the-levels/

Here is David Runciman (Senior Lecturer in Political Theory at Trinity 
College Cambridge), in the well-left-of-centre London Review of Books:

“Why then, given all this – the concise argument, the weight of the 
evidence, the unmistakable practical purpose of the authors – does the 
book still feel oddly utopian? Part of the problem, I think, is that 
the argument is not as straightforward as its authors would like. 
Despite their obvious sense of conviction, and maybe even because of 
it, they fudge the central issue at crucial moments, whereas at others, 
perhaps in order to compensate, they overstate their case, which only 
makes things worse.”
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n20/david-runciman/how-messy-it-all-is

And from Christian Bjørnskov  (Associate Professor of Economics, 
University of Aarhus, Sweden):

“To ordinary readers without firm statistical training, this approach 
appears to represent careful and 'painstakingly marshaled'  evidence, 
as The Economist put it. However, to readers with a background in 
economics or political science, the evidence in the book is wanting. 
When seeing strong conclusions drawn from scatter plots and other 
simple figures, for example, one has to ask three questions: 1) are the 
relations driven by outlier observations; 2) are the findings robust to 
controlling for other relevant factors; and 3) are the relations likely 
to be causal? Surprisingly often, Wilkinson and Pickett’s claims fail 
to address one or more of these questions.

“The bottom line is that this is a well-written, stimulating polemic. 
It nevertheless suffers from the same problems as one-trick ponies: if 
the one trick does not impress you, the show is a failure. Wilkinson 
and Pickett’s trick simply does not hold up to empirical scrutiny.”
http://nonicoclolasos.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/pdr-bjornskov-review-file.pdf

Finally, John Goldthorpe, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Nuffield 
College, Oxford, in "European Social Review", 2009:

“Questions might be raised about every link in this proposed causal 
chain originating in income inequality…[…] Wilkinson and Pickett have 
no time for nicely balanced judgements. They believe that the evidence 
they present shows beyond doubt that more equal societies ‘do better’, 
and they are also confident that they have the right explanation for 
why this is so... Their case is by no means so securely established as 
they try to make out... it has been called into question by other 
leading figures in the field – a fact that WP might have more fully 
acknowledged... WP’s inadequate, one-dimensional understanding of 
social stratification leads to major problems in their account of how 
the contextual effect is produced."
http://esr.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2009/10/22/esr.jcp046.abstract


Allen Esterson
Former lecturer, Science Department
Southwark College, London
allenester...@compuserve.com
http://www.esterson.org

-

RE: [tips] Great Classroom Exercises

[FLINT, ROBERT]

I have used an exercise similar to the "Pavlov" one described by Uriah 
Anderson. If you have a local candy store in your area, I would recommend 
contacting them to see if they will allow you to purchase the "sugar" they put 
on Sour Patch candies. I've found that this stimulus will produce a stronger 
UCR and will lead to the development of a stronger CR.

Rob Flint
Professor of Psychology
The College of Saint Rose




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Re: [tips] Intro Psych: Seeking good non-test based assignments

[Carla Grayson]

Julie,

Thanks for sharing. Would you be willing to send me the full assignments?

-Carla

Quoting Julie Osland :


Hi Carla--

I have them do two projects that have them take the role of the
"researcher."  One involves testing for ESP using zener cards.  The other
involves false memory.  For the false memory project, students read
participants different word lists, each of which is united by   a theme word
(such as needle or music) that is never read. After reading these lists
aloud, the students have their participants write down the words they
remember, and then check to see if their participants falsely recalled any
of the theme words.  And I assign these according to content coverage. The
ESP Project is due shortly after ther sensation and perception material, and
the False Memory Project is due shortly after we cover the memory chapter.

Julie

On Tue, Dec 14, 2010 at 9:20 PM, Carla Grayson  wrote:


I am in the process of wrapping up my first term of teaching Intro to
Psychology. Many things went well. However, some of the homework-type
assignments ended up being more like busywork than real learning
experiences. I already have 3 in-class exams and weekly reading quizzes, so
I would like to push their learning in a different direction. I have
graduate students to help with grading.

I'm looking for suggestions for papers, assignments, etc that you think
might work well for an Intro Psych class.

Thanks in advance,
Carla Grayson
Lecturer
Department of Psychology
University of Michigan

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--
Dr. Julie A. Osland, M.A., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Wheeling Jesuit University
316 Washington Avenue
Wheeling, WV 26003

Office: (304) 243-2329
e-mail: osla...@wju.edu

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