Fear of success linked to body trauma?

This article approaches how the fear of success could maybe be linked to physiological past traumas. The feeling and "excitement" of the arrival of success is uncannily similar to that of physical traumatic incidents, or the body reaction to traumatic incidents, whether they are sexual or not. Many people never learn to differentiate between feeling of excitement and "trauma reaction."

 http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/somatic-psychology/201101/fear-success


-Daniela Espinosa-Casillas

10 Simple Postures That Boost Performance

This article on PsyBlog brings together several different studies about the connection between body and mind, with proper citations! The first one references the power pose study we learned about. The second one, tense up for willpower, is helping me do this homework right now.

The one I found the most interesting was Smile for Happiness. I found a couple other articles about this on other websites, but here it's actually cited. Turns out it's a really old study from 1988. Supposedly flexing the muscles in your face is so frequently associated with happiness, the neurons responsible for smiling fire off together with linked ones for emotion and hormones. These other neurons increase your mood and decrease stress. I'm going to try fake smiling to myself and see if it works. I tried the power pose and made my friend do it too for our final survey presentation and we both did really well!

link

-Olga

This article discusses the benefits of finding different ways of teaching young children how to express and process their emotions. The article explains how being able to visually and verbally express emotion allows children to process it better and makes it easier for them to respond appropriately.

Amelia Christensen

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/nyregion/at-the-blue-school-kindergarten-curriculum-includes-neurology.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

A ‘Party Drug’ May Help the Brain Cope With Trauma

The New York times published an article about a team of researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina who are studying the possibility of using MDMA to treat PTSD. With the upsurge of veterans coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan, more and more people are looking for alternative solutions to not very effective prescription drugs and therapy. 

Michael and Ann Mithoefer, who are leading the research, take 24 patients at a time for clinical studies. They start out with weekly non-drug therapy sessions, before and after the MDMA sessions. The Mithoefers administer the MDMA in two doses over one 10 hour long therapy session, followed up with another drug session a month later. 

“It’s very much a nondirected therapy,” Dr. Mithoefer said. “We’re with them for 8 to 10 hours, usually, and we alternate between having them talk to us and having them focus on the trauma. Part of what we’re trying to do is help the person stay with the memory even if it’s difficult.”

So far results are highly successful, with PTSD symptoms dropping by 75%, and relief seems permanent. The article references previous MDMA studies done in 2000 with similar results. Patients who were followed-up with later reported have little to no PTSD symptoms one and five years later. 

The article describes MDMA as "the release of a hormone called oxytocin, which is thought to increase sensations of trust and affection. The drug also seems to tamp down activity in a brain region called the amygdala, which flares during fearful, threatening situations."

Patients quoted in the article reported having a new clarity and perspective on their experiences and on life after being able to talk about their buried memories for ten hours.

This is interesting to think about the neuroscience behind this, perhaps the activation of pleasant and calming hormones rewires the brain away from the negative thinking. Also it lets the patients deal with their memories and stress without letting it overwhelm them, making the behavioral therapy more effective.

article link  

-Olga

Good and Bad Memorials

Unsuccessful:

African Renaissance Monument, Senegal

The African Renaissance Monument is a 160 foot bronze statue that cost the city of Dakar, Senegal millions of dollars.  It was criticized for being a waste of money, as well as skimpy clothing and the sexism implied by the way they man is pulling the half naked woman out of the volcano.

Brown Dog Statue, London

This statue of a dog was originally erected in 1906 by a group apposed to animal testing. Below the statue was a plaque that condemned the pro-vivisection students at the university college.  The students ended up destroying the monument and it was replaced in 1986 without the plaque describing the intent of the sculptor.

Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain, London

The Princess Diana fountain was intended to show her accessibility as a princess by allowing people to wade in the water and contemplate quietly   However, shortly after it was opened there were three hospitalizations caused by people slipping in the water and the fountain was closed only to be reopened in 2004 surrounded by a fence and guards keeping people  from walking in the water.

Successful:

USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor

The USS Arizona Memorial is just a platform that over looks that actual sunk ship in pearl harbor.

9/11 Memorial, NYC

It is located at the site where the original twin towers stood and in their place are two square pools with a nearby museum dedicated to the attacks on September 11th, 2001. 

Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington DC

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a large black wall in the shape of a V.  On it are the names of the soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War.  The black marble is shined so that when looking at the names you can see your own reflection in the marble.

- Heidi Systo

This article in the New York Times discusses some of the latest developments in deep learning. Deep learning is a part of artificial intelligence which uses artificial neural networks which have been in development since the 1950's. These artificial neural networks attempt to mimic the way the brain learns and processes information and have been in development to improve the learning speed and accuracy of AI systems as well as to identify speech, visuals, and likely effective drug agents in designer drugs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/24/science/scientists-see-advances-in-deep-learning-a-part-of-artificial-intelligence.html?ref=science&_r=0

-Amelia Christensen

Computer emulates reconstructive memory

In this article Janet Kolodner has made a study in which a computer model employs searching algorithms that are supposed to mirror reconstructive memory.The model either searches directly for a piece of information, or does an "executive search" which searches for conceptually similar or related pieces of information. The idea that these are also recalled is fitting with the idea that memory is compiled the same way- facts that are conceptually related are recalled with 'memory' of what has actually happened.


link:

link to article


-LouLou

Memorials

Bad

Memorial for Comfort Women, New Jersey

This memorial is for the many women who were captured and forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial army during WWII. Recently, there has been some controversy as to whether the memorial is historically accurate or not. Korean inhabitants of the area have expressed an appreciation for the memorial because it has shown them something they had either not known or forgotten about their culture while Japanese residents seemed hurt and offended by the fact that Japanese women were not acknowledged as a part of the suffering. Neither claim is particularly swaying as one is lack of knowledge and the other is lack of acknowledgment. A bit more specificity in the memorial's plaque may have been beneficial.

Voortrekker Monument, South Africa

This monument was built to commemorate the Dutch settlers who trekked inland from the Cape colony and has sparked quite a lot of controversy. Until 1994, only whites were allowed to visit it and the visual history inside it is indicative of how history is written by the victor and the images are less than objective. There had been talk of tearing it down when Apartheid ended by South Africans of African descent but ultimately it was decided that while a biased monument, it was a part of their history.

Crazy Horse Memorial, South Dakota

The memorial consists of a mountain carving of Crazy Horse riding a horse and pointing. However, the memorial has been seen by many as a disrespect for Native American culture as the sculptors did not receive permission to care the sacred Black Hills (Lakota burial grounds), nor did they consult any of Crazy Horse's relatives who all seem to be pretty displeased by the sculpture.

Good
Memorial to Japanese-American Patriotism in World War II

I'm not ready to call this memorial a success or a failure, but I thought it was interesting because it is a memorial for a wrongdoing and accepting responsibility for said wrongdoing with the quote, "Here we admit a wrong." Along with accepting responsibility, it also carries some very beautiful and powerful imagery in the two cranes trapped in barbed wire, showing individual effort to escaped their restraints with the support of each other. It honors the Japanese Americans that fought in WWII and offers regret for placement of over 100000 Japanese Americans in internment camps.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington DC
The dramatic design of this memorial as well as its unique use of public space make it very successful. It also takes in to account that people from every background were affected by the war and brings people together through a common bond.

Korean War Veterans Memorial, New York
This was one of the first Korean War memorials erected in the United States. The Korean War is often thought of as the forgotten war so this memorial was particularly important as it memorialized an event that is often thought of as overlooked. The silhouette of what has become known as "The Universal Soldier"  allows viewers to see through it to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It also functions as a sun dial so that a plaque is illuminated every July 27th at 10:00 AM which is the exact moment the war ended in Korea. This monument is successful because it creates an appropriate emotional distance but still encompasses and commemorates all of the countries that participated and those who lost their lives.

Amelia Christensen

Memorials: Good & Bad

the good

1) USS Arizona Memorial

This memorial is located at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. It commemorates those who lost their lives on the USS Arizona during the Pearl Harbor attack. The memorial is built above the sunken wreckage of the USS Arizona. I think the memorial's location greatly helps in it's success as a memorial.

2) 9/11 Memorial

This memorial is located at the site of the World Trade Center towers that were destroyed on 9/11. As on of the most recent major memorials to open I think its successful in its usage of minimal architecture at the site allow it to be more reflective than argumentive. 

3) Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

This memorial is located in Berlin. Visually striking and moving. I think that this memorial like the ones above keeps a minimalist approach and allows the monument's subject to do that talking.

the bad

1) Zinedine Zidane Headbutt Statue

This memorial is a statue of a French football star head butting another play. It is located in France. Did I mention it is commemorating a football star head butting another....

2) Martin Luther King Memorial

The memorial is entirely white & the influential figure it memorializes is misquoted more than once.

3) 'Teardrop' 9/11 Memorial

The memorial was a gift from Russia and looks like it's commemorating nothing related to 9/11. Sometimes too abstract is just that.

BY CHRIS BERNABEO

Good and Bad Memorials

Good

1 Vietnam memorial in Washington

 

The sheer size of the walls is what is most astounding in this memorial and the fact that it is embedded in the ground really drives home the impact of the war. The reflective granite puts the viewer right beside the names of the fallen. This memorial I think doesn't have anything that would make a viewer think of a false memory. There is a statue of three soldiers off to the side but it is very simple. 

2 9/11 memorial in New York

  

Again the black granite with names etched in it is a very powerful design, it allows the viewer to reflect on the scope of the impact of lives lost. The waterfalls at the foundations resonate with the fall of the towers, and reminds the visitors of what used to be. There is a museum in the basement to preserve the history of the towers and of the event. 

3 Katrina memorial

The Hurricane Katrina memorial in New Orleans also features black granite walls and a water motif. The walkways are in a hurricane shape and there is a wave mosaic on one of the walls. 

Bad

1. 9/11 memorial, NJ

   

People have complained it looks like a giant vulva, and the fact that it looks cheesy and cliche, makes this one of the most controversial memorials. It is supposedly a gift from Russian president Vladimir Putin to America, but people think it is an indirect stab at America. The giant pictures of Bush and Putin really drive home the point that this might just be blatant self promotion. 

2. 9/11 memorial, KATYN statue, NJ

 

People have come up with some weird occult and sexual symbolism for this plaque, so it obviously does a horrible job avoiding reconstructive memory. The statue itself also takes on some new meaning, "a little like America who got stabbed in the back on 911**cough**Bush did it **cough." writes a blogger.

3. Korean War Memorial

While I don't think this is a bad memorial in general, it doesn't do a very good job at avoiding reconstructive memory. Any person who looks at this can start to remember something new or different just because of the realistic nature of the statues. 

Olga Andreyeva

The Belief in Santa Claus

This article discusses the idea that telling kids Santa Claus is real can interfere with the development of their imaginations, causing them to later believe in things that aren't actually real. How do you explain to a child that Santa Claus--a bearded man in a red costume who lives in the North Pole, has elves work for him and delivers gifts to every kid in the planet--is real, while a monster in their closet isn't? Why can't the monster then be real too? Children have enough imagination not to have this imposed by adults into their minds and the learning process of reality and fantasy might get a bit confused.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/think-well/201209/is-telling-kids-santa-claus-is-real-bad-idea




-Daniela Espinosa-Casillas