Mind Reading

When mind reading is mentioned ... do you think of a psychic with a crystal ball?

Malcom Gladwell in his book Blink offers another suggestion of mind reading and how it could play a major role in how we make decisions. Gladwell refers to Paul Ekman and Wallace Friesen: a duo that created a complete glossary covering every facial expression that is humanly possible. They determined that by decoding the face, one could uncover inner emotions that were as natural and unyielding as a reflex. The common thought process up until the mid 1960s was that facial expressions were "culturally determined". Tompkins and Ekman questioned, "Was there a common set of rules, that governed the facial expressions that human beings made?" As it turns out, there is. This form of mind reading is not quite so elusive as a woman wearing a turban and staring into a mineral, the information is right in front of you, if you know how to spot it, and ultimately what it means. They separated the muscles of the face into "action units", determined what each was capable of, and then began layering each "action unit" on top of another to form sequences. They were able to identify "about three thousand" facial expressions that truly represented an emotion.

To give you a closer look at this study you should visit this website and watch the video on the right "Lie to Me" where the doc. explains exactly how to spot the liars in the group.

http://www.paulekman.com/

unconscious decisions

contrary to popular beliefs, 

your brain already know what you will be deciding on next,

about 7-10 seconds prior to it happens.

Researchers from the group of Professor John-Dylan Haynes from the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin used a brain scanner on volunteers to see what happens in the human brain just before a decision is made. Volunteers were asked to click a button with either their left or right hand, at any time, randomly. This research concluded that many process of the brain occurred automatically without involving consciousness. 

Haynes and colleagues showed that brain activity can be predicted. But, they also warn that the study does not rule out free will. His study only shows that some decisions are prepared unconsciously, but they are still not sure where and when exactly the final decision is made. 

As of now, we can kind of tell the future, 7 seconds prior, but our consciousness is not aware of it. Studies are still continuing, and maybe, in the future, we can train our consciousness to realize this fact. 

read the article here : Unconscious Decisions

First Impressions and "Thin-slicing"

I have actually had this book for awhile. I don't know why I have never sat down and took the time to read it. From what I have read thus far, Blink, is a book based on the power of intuition or as Malcolm Gladwell likes to call it, "thin-slicing." He explains how this process can sometimes interfere with our unconscious attitudes, our way of thinking without even being aware of what we are thinking. Powerful associations can be formed about the way people look and their role in society (or history); thus, these specific associations can lead to an immoral way of using rapid cognition. It can be the basis for prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination. But like they say, "looks can be deceiving" and "you can't trust a book by its cover."

For many people, first impressions mean everything. In retail, it seems to control most perspectives of salesmen and women. For them, to sell is their main concern. The more they sale, the more recognition and commission they may receive after they sale a product. If a woman with a fur coat and diamonds in her ear walked into an expensive jewelry place, and I followed, most likely all sales representatives would run to her and help her first and maybe, glance in my direction and realize I probably won't buy anything. This is a prime example of bias thoughts that come into play when a sales representative looks at his/her customers. Without realizing it, the sales representative used his/her unconscious attitude to take over their beliefs and behavior. Because of the way I look and present myself, the sales representative assumed or used “thin slicing” to make a pre-judgment about me.

This is exactly the same thing that happened when Warren Harding ran for office. He looked like a “great president,” but he ended up becoming the worst president in American history. On page 88, Gladwell says, "Most of us, in ways that we are not entirely aware of, automatically associate leadership ability with imposing physical stature. We have a sense of what a leader is supposed to look like, and that stereotype is so powerful that when someone fits it, we simply become blind to other considerations." We’re oblivious to our own sincere judgment and listen to what media and society has told us to believe.

For me, I try to not have a bias opinion about anyone, just like Bob Golomb. In order to understand people, you must treat everyone equally. He understood how snap judgments can become dangerous to race, sex, and appearance matters and can cause a lot of harmful decisions. Thus, he treated everyone with a fair judgment. Similarly, I try to understand all situations from all points of view, that is when you learn the most about people and understand them better. By doing this, one will be more respected for his/her amiability.

The idea is to use thin-slicing in a smart way to help yourself and others, not use it against people. A balanced judgment is what Gladwell is trying to teach us to follow, which would help all of us have a healthier unconscious attitude as well as a more manageable and controlled snap judgment.

Here's an article very relative to the same topic..
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200405/the-first-impression

Advertising is Magic

This article dove into the strange gray area of decision making that advertising and branding creates in people’s lives. Cognitive psychology is involved in advertising through its connections with attention, perception, association, and memory. A large part of someone’s decision to buy a brand over and over again is brand loyalty. Somehow, brand loyalty can exist even when the brand product is inferior to another brand’s product. The article illustrated this with their example of Pepsi commercials that we all remember- The Pepsi Challenge. Pepsi “proved” that more people prefer Pepsi over Coke in taste tests, and yet they still continue to buy Coke instead. It isn’t so much the soda that they’re buying, it’s the brand. A great quote from the article is: “People do not buy objects. They buy ideas about products.”

What I thought is really interesting about cognitive psychology’s impact on advertising is the reaction of people to the brand identity, and what a huge impact it can have on them emotionally and mentally. Everyone knows that you have an attachment to the identity of your favorite brands; like the article stated earlier, it can be so strong that it causes you to forsake a superior product. The emotional impact branding has on people, however, goes even further, surpassing consumerism alone. The article mentions that in studies, exposure to the Apple logo made people more creative than an IBM logo, and exposure to the Disney logo made people more honest than exposure to the E! Entertainment logo. Attachment to brand identity goes so far as to begin to seem to alter mood and consumer identity itself. I think the decision making and cognitive psychology that causes fervent brand loyalty, even when one can acknowledge that it defies logic, is fascinating. I remember when Tropicana changed their packaging and identity last Spring, from the orange-with-a-straw carton that we all recognized as kids to a sleeker, more modern, albeit more generic carton. People went absolutely insane, e-mailing and calling Tropicana and demanding that they bring back their old packaging. There is some crazy psychology that makes people so angry about a change in the brand that doesn’t involve a change in the actual product itself at all.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brainstorm/200807/advertising-is-magic

Making Decisions with your Significant Other

Through www.msn.com I stumbled upon an article titled, "Making Decisions as Couple". Fortunately I have been blessed with a stable family, and as I grew up and observed my parents and to me, it didn't seem as though their "decision making" was ever too difficult, this article doesn't suprise me, but I feel like taking an article like this seriously could even worsen the situation. The article completely simplified decision making, almost acting as if we're all dogs, and states that for a reward of making a good decision, we should extend out for a hug! Giving a hug after something is accomplished, to me, seems that it should come naturally. Giving a hug is stated in Dr. Klapow's five "s.m.a.r.t." steps to sucessful decision making. He also says that all decisions should be made equally between both parites, and no one should "wear the pants" in the relationship. But what if one actually knows more than the other? I feel as though, it could be benificial with certain topics to have someone in "control" not completely all the time, but for some things it can work. Maybe this article bothered me because if you need help on making decisions with your spouse then perhaps there's a bigger problem? I just don't feel that descision making is so black and white...

Cognitive Psychology & Lawyers

After reading Hunt's Story of Psychology, I started to have a better understanding of what Cognitive Psychology actually was, and how the idea came about. The line, "the memory of an event can be slanted by a skillful attorney's loaded questions, that we graft new information on to the memory of an event as time goes by and have no way of retrieving the original version," really stood out to me. I had never thought of lawyer's responsibility in this light. People dish one tons of money and faith in lawyers to help guide them responsibly, but I have never really looked closer and seen that they were manipulating the clients, jury and judge to get a desired outcome for their client. Wanting to learn more on this topic I found an article called "The Role of Lawyers and Legal Assistants, As Front Line Crisis Responders" written T.W. Arnold (link at bottom). I found it interesting the three-step process outlined to help attorneys facilitate disclosure of relevant information in order to formulate a strategy for providing desired outcome. Here are the steps:

• Encouraging the client to express concerns and emotional reactions (this assists the client in describing the situation).
• Thorough empathetic listening enables attorneys to help clients acknowledge emotions.
• After this, the attorney may begin to develop and verify problem-solving theories based upon what has been learned.

This example of Cognitive Psychology I found interesting and would like to explore further in the future- the idea of tactics of manipulating cognition.

link: http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:9TQyCbjBv-kJ:www.cuttingedgelaw.com/content/family-law-attorneys-need-know-skills-crisis-intervention+skillful+attorney+cognitive+psychology&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=safari

Psychology of Heavy Metal Music

I really enjoyed coming across this article for many different reasons. One reason being I've read articles based on similar subject matter in the past, and I've found that most articles discussing heavy metal music and the effect it has on the brain and emotions are usually extremely bias and often accuse metal music/bands for the abusive behaviors in their listeners. However, this article doesn't hold metal music responsible - but it suggests in an almost mocking and witty way that maybe researching are conduction tests on the wrong types of people - people who simply don't enjoy metal music as their music of choice. Since I personally listen to mostly only metal music, I found it very interesting hearing the results of the various testing that was done to both the mice and plants. Ultimately, I believe there are so many aspects in each person's life that effects such things as their moods and behaviors, therefore i find it near impossible to simple accuse (any kind of) music to be held responsible for an individual's behavior.

After reading the article a few times, I was able to form my own non-bias opinions, separate from the fact that I myself listen to heavy metal music. With this, i found it very unfair that "heavy metal music" is seen and discussed as one genre. This being said, i don't think many non-listeners realize that there are many different sub-genres, or types of metal music such as grindcore, thrash, doom metal, metalcore, death metal, thrash, etc. On the same note, we must look at the different types of metal bands there are out there. For example, there are "Christian metalcore" bands such as MyChildren MyBride and As I Lay Dying. The lyrics of Christian metal bands are inspirational and all about moving forward and thinking positively. On the other hand, there are bands such as Awaiting the Autopsy and Elysia - considered death metal, with lyrics based on murder, evil, death, suicide, etc. I believe if one were to try and make true assumptions as to the effects metal music has on one's brain, it is important to consider the actual type of metal an individual is listening to just as much as you have to consider the individuals personal background. However, even with knowing that, I still don't think it's fair to make judgment calls on a person simply from the sub-genre, being I myself listen to almost all types of metal music for various reasons - sometimes for the lyrics and sometimes just for the instrumental appreciation - so it's unfair to judge without knowing what is it the individual is truly getting out of listening.

Overall, after reading many articles on the subject, I still do not believe heavy metal music leads to or causes negative effects on a person such as aggression, suicide or lack of intelligence. One main reason I strongly disagree on the link between the two is because I for one am not a suicidal, depressed person nor am I anything less than an honor student. Like many of the commenters to this article, i firmly agree that heavy metal music enables me to release any stress or anger I may have at that moment. Besides growing up around it therefore being partial to the genre, listening to metal music helps me clear my mind and actually enables me to become a more creative person. Everyone is different and everyone has certain hobbies and interests that brings them joy or productivity. With this, I will also say that mostly no one would subject themselves to listen to a type of music that causes them pain or agony. I don't see how any one person would engage in something that is causing them to act out negatively and become a depressed or angry individual. So, as Jennifer Copley states, I also believe it may just all come down to a person's preferred musical genre. In response to David Merrill's experiment, I believe that if mice were subjected to listen to anything 24-hours a day (especially to such an emotionally loud, intense genre of music) may cause themselves to act out in a negative way simply because of the constant loudness they are not partial to. But just as the mice, the plant may also not "prefer metal music" just as certain individuals do not. I also believe it often takes a more emotionally-intuned person to enjoy and relate to such an intense genre of music, and this does not have to be a negative thing. Same way people throw accusations at hip-hop music may effect someone - there are those who listen to both hip-hop and metal that are individuals that engage in negative behaviors as well as those who live positive lifestyles. With this, how can it possibly be fair to throw out negative generalized accusations, and make assumptions to the effects any type of music may have on a human being's brain if every individual's brain (and musical preference) varies just as much as their personalities and personal interests do ?

Article:

http://cognitive-psychology.suite101.com/article.cfm/psychology_of_heavy_metal_music

psychology of pain

When we expect something to be painful it tends to be in fact painful. But this might have more to do with how we perceive the situation. Pain and the psyche are deeply intertwined. An example given in the article is about an elderly man who needs a minor procedure to drain an infected boil. The doctor explains to him that if he feels any discomfort they will stop. By the time the man says did you start yet the doctor is completely finished without having him feel an ounce of pain.

It reminded me of young children who fall off a swing and are pretty much OK until they look down at their hands to find a small bloody cut, and then they freak out, had they never noticed they would have been fine.

This does leave me wondering if studying people who cannot feel pain, due to a nerve disorder, perceive the same sence of fear of being hurt. How does their mental process compare to those who feel pain normally?

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-psychology-of-pain

Age, Humor and Cognition

The professor of my advertising class must be at least 70 years old. For the most part he’s a great teacher, but I often get frustrated by his critiques of my projects because it seems like he rarely understands the humor in them. Until now, I had assumed that this disconnect was due to a generational gap; that people my age appreciate a different sort of humor than people his age. However, I stumbled upon an article which suggests that our differing perceptions of humor may be linked to cognitive ability.

Younger people preformed better than older people in humor comprehension tests, a skill that is determined by cognitive flexibility, abstract reasoning, and short-term memory. The Science Daily article reports, “...humor comprehension is a result of resolving incongruities—resolving the conflict between the expected and the actual, which requires a combination of cognitive skills.”

People can have different styles of humor (dark vs. cheesy), but its always required that they have strong problem-solving abilities and sharp wit. But while the studies suggest that older people have a harder time comprehending humor; they do not necessarily have a harder time appreciating it. Whether or not my professor is cognitively challenged, I’m going to guess that he wouldn’t think it was very funny were I to give him a copy of this article the next time he doesn’t like my work.

Read the article here.

Creating Early Childhood Memories

I read an article that went into the different types of amnesia in psychology, and most specifically, childhood amnesia. I always thought it was interesting how there seems to just be a huge gap in everyone's memory of their early childhoods. It was an important time in brain development, so shouldn't we have something? Apparently, childhood amnesia generally spans from birth to around age four. What separates this from other kinds of amnesia is that it isn't a result of retrograde or anterograde amnesia, meaning that there is no cause such as a bump on the head. Not only is it completely normal, but it is considered "abnormal" to have memories from this time, and this is generally seen as an indicator of some kind of trauma or abuse. Still, I think almost everyone can reach into their brains and come up with some kind of, albeit vague, memory from this time...how is this explained? This is what I found really interesting...these memories we think we have are all created ex-post facto. This means that we create these memories for ourselves after the fact. Seeing a photograph with yourself as an infant from the event and hearing a vivid story from someone there is enough for your brain to develop its own perception of memory. I remember arguing with my brother about the house our family lived in first, saying I had remembered all these details when it turned out we moved out before I was born. It's interesting how strong and authentic these "false" memories can be. I guess all memories are a personal perception though, so much more "true" are any of the others?

Freud's explanation for childhood amnesia was basically that it was a creation of the ego; being unable to stand the "disgusting" way we survived as infants, the ego represses this segment of our life from our memory. The article I read broke down the ability to make memory into three necessary components: a functioning brain, a means to categorize information, and self-awareness. Self awareness develops a little later on (around 18 months), but the main issue seems to be an inability to story-tell. This all has to do with your sense of time and perspective. Children generally think in the present, and it is difficult for them to remember information in the long-term. It's all about perspective. I think that's another fascinating point of psychology in memory and childhood because it's so obvious how much it changes as you grow up. For example, visiting somewhere you used to be all the time as a child and seeing how much smaller and just somehow less fantastical it looks.

Violated expectiations

I was browsing videos on TED.com and came across one in particular that caught my attention and I found it was very interesting. It was all about happiness and joy and how we feel happy when our expectations are violated and how our brains are fooled by perceptual illusions. What Al Seckel, a cognitive neuroscientist, meant by this in his lecture was that when we go see movies or magic tricks, are shown illusions, or hear jokes our expectations are violated in a very pleasing way. If its not something you would expect there is something joyful about it. In his lecture he showed ways that he could violate the audiences expectations with illusions that were created for TED. It's actually very primal and an interesting question that was posed in the lecture was why do we find these things joyful? Why do we enjoy being fooled? Very interesting. You can watch the video here http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/al_seckel_says_our_brains_are_mis_wired.html

Cognitive Illusions

http://scienceblogs.com/mixingmemory/2008/06/cool_visual_illusions_rotating.php
http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/fcs_hollow-face/index.html
http://illusioncontest.neuralcorrelate.com/finalists_2008/papathomas/MaskRingRollEyesCD.mov


Everyone is very familiar with the famous "Rubin's Vase" optical illusion; Is it a vase? Or 2 people looking at each other? I find it very interesting how images can mislead the mind into believing something else. Pictures can alter a way a person perceives something and may make one think twice about what they are actually viewing. "Cognitive" illusions are the type of illusions that make the brain and the eye make "unconscious inferences." In other words, what a person sees may seem true, but the brain knows that it is impossible but tries to comprehend it to make it true.

While researching more about this topic, I came across this website (http://scienceblogs.com/mixingmemory/2008/06/cool_visual_illusions_rotating.php). For a better view of the mask, you can go here (http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/fcs_hollow-face/index.html). This is one illusion I haven't seen yet that I thought was pretty interesting. The rotating mask distorts your eyes into believing that the concave part of the mask is convex when turning and then switches back. There is a quick diagram on the website the shows what is happening when viewing this illusion.

The author of this article refers to it as "depth inversion." Distortions in size, length, and curvature can alter an interpretation of an image. The curvature of the hollow face seems to switch back and forth as it rotates, but it actually isn't. As the face rotates, you see the concave surface of the back of the mask, but it seems to switch back to the convex side of the face (which isn't really convex). But the brain knows faces can't be hollow, so it changes it for you into believing its convex again.

Anger can strengthen Analytical Reasoning

The article "Thinking Straight While Seeing Red" can be found at:

http://psp.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/33/5/706

It is an excepted idea that people who are angry are not in full control, and that the decisions they make are instinctual versus thoughtful. However recent studies show that, "angry people can have both the capacity and motivation to process and that their selective use of heuristics reflects the cue's perceived validity and not the failure to process analytically". Basically, when a person is angry and makes a quick judgement or decision, it is not that they are unable to look at the situation from a rational perspective but that they chose to trust in previous experiences, this can be called a "heuristic technique". In a related article the author writes, "Although it is not always the case, anger-induced action is sometimes the result of quite clear-minded and deliberative processing". I found this very interesting because I had always assumed that when a person is angry, their brain short circuits and they cannot think, that is why people go for a walk or clear their head, but it turns out that all of those precautionary measures are probably just a form of recognizable ceremony. A walk around the block probably isn't needed because your brain has already rationalized the information and is trying to decide whether to trust past experiences, or to change the traditional course of action, essentially your mind is trying to find the answer to the problem with the smallest margin of error.

The related article "Anger Can Make You More Rational, Not Less, According to Recent Studies" can be found at:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070531162359.htm

love or sex?

I came across an article called "Does falling in love make us more creative?" 

and of course, being a creative, it caught my attention right away. There has been a new study that demonstrates thinking about love, not sex, causes us to think more "globally" which makes it easier to come up with new creative ideas. 

Love has always showed up in many variations of art, from ages and ages ago; from plays like Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare to masterpieces like The Kiss by Gustav Klimt, love has been a recurring theme in countless works of art. So, why is love such a stimulating emotion? There has been a few experiments by researchers which demonstrates that love makes us think differently, which triggers global processing, which in turn promotes creative thinking and interferes with analytic thinking. Researchers suggest that romantic love generates a long-term perspective. But sex on the other hand is quite the opposite; instead of triggering global processing, it triggers local processing, which in turn promotes analytic thinking and interferes with creativity. Sexual desires generates a short-term perspective. 

This is because love typically entails wishes, goals, and hope where as sexual desire typically is focused on engaging in pleasure from sexual activities, here and now.  "According to construal level theory (CLT), thinking about events that are farther into the future or past - or an kind of psychological distancing (such as considering things or people that are physically farther away, or considering remote, unlikely alternatives to reality) triggers a more global processing style."

Maybe this explains why there are more women in the creative field ...?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

I was doing research about how Cognitive Psychology can be used for behavioral therapy. I was online at www.hacbt.org and learned that CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) is a form of Psychotherapy that emphasized the important role of our thinking in relation to how we feel and what we do. I gathered that CBT is based on the Cognitive Model of Emotional Response. Basically our thoughts cause feelings and behaviors and external things do not. Reflecting on these new facts towards my own life became extremely empowering. I realized that if the Cognitive Model of Emotional Response is true, then I have complete power over everything I feel depending on the way I think. For instance let's say I'm afraid of ice, the ice itself will not give me anxiety, and rather it is my thoughts towards the ice. But when do feelings and thoughts become instinctual, and aren't there sometimes where our feelings are present for our own survival? When does it become "unsafe" to be in complete control of thoughts and reactions? Furthermore will our instinctual behavior even allow our minds to "outsmart" it?


Later in the day I stumbled upon "Bruxism", slightly straying away from my interest above, Bruxism is the habit of grinding your teeth at night. All of the negative effects are health side effects, but what I found interesting was the Behavioral Therapy was listed as a treatment. Quoted below is what I had read....

"4. Behavioral Therapy:

Teeth grinding has been long regarded as a habit. And it is quite a bad habit at that. Elimination of bad habits is usually carried out through a series of behavior therapy sessions. A lot of centers are now specializing in teeth grinding. Strategies like proper mouth and jaw positioning, concentration, and constant tongue practice are used to address the condition. Behavioral therapies may also use some alternative medicines to further help make a person forget his teeth clenching habits. (www.teethgrindingcure.com)."

This proposed the question, how can you treat an unconscious behavior?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

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