Durkheim question

Hi all! We were briefly discussing Emille Durkheim's research on suicide the other night in class and a student asked what the sample size was on the majority of his studies. Also, what nationality, age, and social status was the population? I am not that familiar with Durkheim's work

Re: Office Hours

Michael, I require that students come by my office within the first two weeks of the semsester. They receive 10 points for this assignment. As you mentioned, once students stop by they are likely to return. By forcing my students to stop by they are making that first step. Plus, it is

Re: any alternatives for shock as a US?

Deanna, A lot of the research I conduct deals with conditioned flavor preferences in rats. The flavors I use are grape or cherry flavored kool-aid and the nutrients are sucrose and saccharin. The research is therefore cheap in cost and the students love it. We usually get profound

movie The Color of Fear

A few weeks ago some tipsters emailed me about using a film called The Color of Fear in my Cross Cultural course. Could you give me some more information on the film, such as the producer, where I could purchse it, etc? Nina

various questions

A student asked me what the difference is between schemas and stereotypes? Last week we were discussing various disorders and the book defines schizophrenia as a "...serious mental disorder that lasts for about six months and includes..." A student asked why the disorder only lasts for six

Re: help: behavioral neuroscience grad programs

Here at K-State, we have an excellent neuroscience program. Dr. Stephen Kiefer and Dr. Becky Brockel are the neuroscience faculty. They are both very active in their research and both have grant-funded research. Dr. Kiefer's lab does alcohol research in rats and Dr. Brockel's lab does

Re: Handing out C's for Christmas

First, of all, I would tell the student that I never GIVE OUT grades...students EARN grades. I really bothers me when students compare their grades. I have had students that asked me why they got a certain grade on their term paper when their friend got grade. I tell them they

Re: A Learning unit question?

Kent, I would see the example as classical conditioning. The whistle would be the neutral stimulus, the birdseed would be the the unconditioned stimulus and the flocking to the stadium would be the unconditioned response. After repeated pairings between the neutral stimulus and

Re: Pavlov: bell or metronome?

Michael, A lot of the literature refers to Pavlov using a bell, but he did actually use a metronome. Nina $$$ Nina L. Tarner$ http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~ninat Graduate

action potetial question

I was covering action potentials in class the other day. I was explaining what happens when your arm muscle flexes. A student asks what happens if you clench your fist and squeeze...do a lot of action potentials occur for each time you squeeze? Is more than one neuron involved?

RE: Maze learning in people and rats

Jeff, The first mazes used in animal learning were modeled after the Hampton Court Maze. These occurred in the late 1800's or early 1900's. I don't have the reference for the research with me right now, but if anyone is interested you can email me directly and I will get the reference

Re: Triplets

Michael, Yes, there have been identical triplets. I went to high school with three girls who were identical triplets. It was extremely difficult to tell them apart. Nina $$$ Nina L. Tarner

Re: classical conditioning question

The length of time of acquisition would definitely have an effect on extinction, specifically because of the exposure time. Nina $$$ Nina L. Tarner$ http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~ninat

Survey of violence (fwd)

Everyone on this list has been such an excellent source of information in the past and so I am again requesting your expertise. Below is an email that I received this morning from a colleaque's student. Could anyone help me out here, the subject area is out of my domain. Thanks,

Re: Ethics of Animal Research

Jeff, The APA Monitor had an article dealing animal research issues about a year or so back. I am sure I no longer have this issue though. Nina $$$ Nina L. Tarner$

birth order and cognitive abilities

A colleaque's student is conducting her senior thesis at Carthage College on birth order and cognitive abilities. She desparately needs some questionnaires dealing with social abilities, procrastination and intelligence. I would, as would she, appreciate any ideas. Nina

Re: Honor Codes at Liberal Arts Colleges

Kansas State just implemented an Honor Code system this year. I'm not sure what all the details are though (shame on me). You could check out our K-State home page at www.ksu.edu. They may have some helpful information there. Nina

Re: StudentU.com

Erica, It was interesting that you brought up the comment about notes being posted on a website. We are currently having this problem with at our university. There is a company (I think it may actually be collegestudent.com) advertising around campus to hire note takers. The company

Re: Exotic spices

There was some talk the other day about the mapping of the tongue for various tastes being wrong. I found this information very interesting considering my main area of research is in flavor preferences. One of our faculty mentioned in his Sensation and Preception class that the center

Re: Korean dictionary in class

Michael, I taught a General Psychology class this past semester and I had a student from Russia in my class. I gave daily quizzes, but since she couldn't translate that fast I allowed her to make up the quizzes after class. She also took her exams at a different time than the other

Re: Final Exam Question

Bob, On my examn I always add a five-point bonus question at the end. On my final exam the bonus question was: The semester is finally over and you are headed home for the summer. Upon arrival your parents greet you with great enthusiam. They want to hear all about the psychology

Re: Introduction to Psychology textbook

Rod, I have recently adopted Rod Plotnik's Introduction to Psychology 5th Edition. I feel as though it is an excellent book for undergraduates, especially freshman. I have had many positive comments from students about the readability of the book. Each chapter has a section on

A measure for IQ

Hello all, A colleague of mine has a student who is doing her senior thesis on autistic children. She is looking for a measure to use for verbal IQ. She is thinking about using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. Can anyone give me some feedback on whether this is a sufficient

Re: quick question

I heard a statistic taken from 1998 also that mentioned that only 3% of Americans have their Ph.D. $$$ Nina L. Tarner$ Animal Learning/Physiological Psychology $ Kansas State

Freud

Hello, One of my gen psych students asked the other day if Freud had homosexual tendencies. The student said that he had heard that from his high school psych teacher. Is it true I told him I wasn't sure, but would try and find out. NIna

Re: Midwestern Psychological Association

Stephen, I will also be attending MPA. I have a friend who is teaching at Winston-Salem also. His name is Richard Walker. He is a new faculty member (just started this past Fall). He teaches Psychology. Nina

motivation

A student in my general psychology class this morning was getting confused on the difference between Incentive Theory and extrinsic motivation because they both are working towards a reward. Can anyone give me some examples on how to better explain these two concepts? Thanks,

hypnosis

We were discussing hypnosis in my General Psychology class yesterday and a student said that he can initiate conversations with his roommate while his roommate is asleep. I asked if he was talking about talking in his sleep and he said no because he was the initiating the conversation

Re: hypnosis

Jeff, Who knows...maybe it is a K-State thing. Anyway, my student did mention that the asleep person will speak the truth. This person supposedly said some things they would never have said otherwise. Nina

Re: undergraduate/graduateprograms in neuropsychology

Kansas State University has a graduate program in Physiology/Neuropsychology. A large portion of the program deals with taste reactivity in mice and rats. $$$ Nina L. Tarner

Re: It's sleep time again....

I also just covered circadian rhythms in my General Psychology class the other day and the study you are speaking of was covered in the text we are using (Plotnik's 5th Edition). I will get you the reference tomorrow since I do not have my text at home with me. Nina

Re: GRE Blues

I can relate to this problem from personal experience. I was in my second year of my MS program and I was applying to Ph.D. programs. There aren't that many Animal Learning programs out there and so I was limited as to where I could apply. I had my first choice program picked and

undergraduate multivariate book

Any suggestions for a good multivariate statistics book for an undergraduate who will be taking Advanced Statistics as independent study? I would like the book to cover multiple regression, ANOVA, MANOVA, and factor analysis. Thanks in advance!! Nina