BSP2J: Online Assignment
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Topic:
Abstract: 3-5 sentences
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Behavioral genetics and development: Historical and conceptual causes of controversy
Traditional, quantitative behavioral geneticists and developmental psychobiologists such as Gilbert Gottlieb have long debated what it would take to create a truly developmental behavioral genetics. These disputes have proven so intractable that disputants have repeatedly suggested that the problem rests on their opponents’ conceptual confusion; whilst others have argued that the intractability results from the non-scientific, political motivations of their opponents. They show that the disputants have competing interpretations of the concepts of reaction norm, genotype–environment interaction, and gene. The common thread that underlies each of these disagreements, the authors argue, is the relevance of potential variation.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/issue/5972-2008-999739996-697532
Behaviorism (or behaviourism), also called the learning perspective (where any physical action is a behavior), is a philosophy of psychology based on the proposition that all things that organisms do—including acting, thinking and feeling—can and should be regarded as behaviors. The behaviorist school of thought maintains that behaviors as such can be described scientifically without recourse either to internal physiological events or to hypothetical constructs such as the mind. Behaviorism comprises the position that all theories should have observational correlates but that there are no philosophical differences between publicly observable processes (such as actions) and privately observable processes (such as thinking and feeling)
@Jeanalyn Ricohermoso: Why did you not follow the format?
@Ivy Dela Cruz: Good job!
ALL: Please follow what Ivy just submitted.
The growth of developmental thought: Implications for a new evolutionary psychology
Evolution has come to be increasingly discussed in terms of changes in developmental processes rather than simply in terms of changes in gene frequencies. This shift is based in large part on the recognition that since all phenotypic traits arise during ontogeny as products of individual development, a primary basis for evolutionary change must be variations in the patterns and processes of development. Further, the products of development are epigenetic, not just genetic, and this is the case even when considering the evolutionary process. These insights have led investigators to reconsider the established notion of genes as the primary cause of development, opening the door to research programs focused on identifying how genetic and non-genetic factors coact to guide and constrain the process of development and its outcomes. I explore this growth of developmental thought and its implications for the achievement of a unified theory of heredity, development, and evolution and consider its implications for the realization of a new, developmentally based evolutionary psychology.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/issue/5972-2008-999739996-697532
What Is Disorganized Schizophrenia (Hebephrenia)? What Causes Disorganized Schizophrenia?
Disorganized schizophrenia, or hebephrenia (hebephrenic schizophrenia ) is one of several subtypes of schizophrenia, a chronic (long-term) mental illness – it is thought to be an extreme expression of disorganization syndrome that has been hypothesized to be one feature of a 3-factor model of schizophrenia symptoms; the others factors being delusions/hallucinations (reality distortion) and psychomotor poverty (poor speech, lack of spontaneous movement, and blunting emotion). Disorganized schizophrenia is characterized by incoherent and illogical thoughts and behaviors; in other words, disinhibited, agitated, and purposeless behavior. Experts say disorganized schizophrenia is a more severe schizophrenia type because the patient cannot perform daily activities, such as preparing meals and taking care of personal hygiene (washing). The patient may become frustrated and agitated, causing him/her to lash out, and when their symptoms appear to have subsided, it is common for them to believe they are fine and do not need treatment. Seeking medical help is frequently initiated by a family member or good friend.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/192361.php
When the Doctors Need Doctoring
My first month as a medical intern, over 20 years ago, I learned many important things: how to distinguish heartburn from a heart attack, how to treat pneumonia and alcohol withdrawal, how to perform a spinal tap. What I did not learn was how to manage the stress of carrying an enormous workload and great responsibility while getting little sleep and eating a diet consisting of greasy food from the hospital cafeteria and candy bars from vending machines. Stress management was not taught because the stress of being a physician wasn’t acknowledged. When we were tired, anxious, sad, or sick, we just kept working.
Like athletes and soldiers, we physicians pride ourselves on working through injury, pain, fatigue, and assorted conditions that might sideline other professionals. For decades, doctors have sacrificed their own health and comfort for the sake of their patients, an ideal that has been reinforced by various media, from the embittered and overworked physician in the 1950s film The Last Angry Man to the scores of hard-drinking medical professionals in Scrubs, House, and Grey’s Anatomy.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201005/when-the-doctors-need-doctoring
What Stimulated the Comeback of Cognitive Psychology?
Robins, Gosling, and Craik used various measures. One was the number of published research studies in various areas of psychology. In cognitive psychology, the numbers were going up quickly. Another important statistic was the number of citations of those studies (i.e. references to them in other publications) by scientists and news writers outside the discipline of cognitive psychology. That number was also high, showing that people outside the specialty were interested in cognitive psychology research.
Another measure of a subdiscipline’s vigor is the number of want ads for new PhD psychologists. Do universities want to hire people in that research area? For cognitive psychology, the answer is Yes. In the back pages of the APA Monitor, a place where many colleges and universities advertise, ads for cognitive psychologists are relatively common, and that has been true for years.
The most important stimulus to the comeback of cognitive psychology was the advent of the computer. Computers made it obvious that scientists could analyze mental processes without resorting to mystical speculations. Previously, during the peak of behaviorism in the mid-20th Century, the mind had often been called a “black box” that was impenetrable, because its processes could not be observed or analyzed. Computers introduced a new way to analyze mental processes, by treating them as flows of information to accomplish a task, much as occurs in a computer.
http://www.intropsych.com/ch01_psychology_and_science/modern_trends.html
Make Your Own Luck
People who spot and seize opportunity are different. They are more open to life’s forking paths, so they see possibilities others miss. And if things don’t work out the way they’d hoped, they brush off disappointment and launch themselves headlong toward the next fortunate circumstance. As a result, they’re happier and more likely to achieve their goals.Luck is hard to study, and yet scientists have uncovered the startlingly large role chance plays in love and work. We are more like pinballs bouncing around a machine than captains at the wheel. Certain types of people are well suited to this fact of life.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201005/make-your-own-luck
Neuropsychology as a (Psycho)Social Science: Implications for Research and Clinical Practice
Many early investigators of brainbehaviour relationships focused their investigative efforts on the psychiatric implications of brain damage and dysfunction. Descriptions of emotional dyscontrol and other psychosocial difficulties appeared frequently in their writings. Although dimensions of perception, memory, and cognition dominate the current neuropsychological literature, the psychosocial implications of patterns of neuropsychological assets and deficits retain their importance (e.g., in the study of the dementing diseases of adulthood). Our investigations of brain-behaviour relationships and their impact on psychosocial functioning have attempted to expand upon and chart a somewhat different (subtypal) course for this area of study. One clearly evident conclusion of these efforts is that neuropsychology is a psychosocial science. Some implications of our findings for research and clinical practice are outlined.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3711/is_200802/ai_n25421364/?tag=content;col1
Current trends in psychological research on children with high-functioning autism and Asperger disorder.
This review explores current trends in the literature during 2004 on psychological studies of children with high-functioning autism and Asperger syndrome. Studies are reviewed that examine diagnostic dilemmas and methodological concerns, cognitive and social deficits, and interventions. RECENT FINDINGS: There is considerable debate over the distinction between high-functioning autism and Asperger syndrome, but few studies find support for separate disorders.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16639107
Emotional Abuse
Psychological or emotional abuse refers to the humiliation or intimidation of another person, but it also used to refer to the long-term effect of emotional shocks. Psychological abuse can take the form of physical intimidation, controlling through the scare tactics and oppression. It is often associated with situations of power imbalance, such perhaps as the situations of abusive relationship and child abuse
http://psychology.wikia/Emotional_abuse
@Richelle: It’s a dead link.
ALL: Just submit your response ONCE. No need to submit it multiple times. I’ll be offline for the whole day, but as soon as I get home I’ll be reading your responses. So don’t worry if you do not see your response right away. Ok?
Behavioral Theory
Behavioral theories of leadership do not seek inborn traits or capabilities. Rather, they look at what leaders actually do.
If success can be defined in terms of describable actions, then it should be relatively easy for other people to act in the same way. This is easier to teach and learn then to adopt the more ephemeral ‘traits’ or ‘capabilities’. Behavioral is a big leap from Trait Theory, in that it assumes that leadership capability can be learned, rather than being inherent. This opens the floodgates to leadership development, as opposed to simple psychometric assessment that sorts those with leadership potential from those who will never have the chance.
A behavioral theory is relatively easy to develop, as you simply assess both leadership success and the actions of leaders. With a large enough study, you can then correlate statistically significant behaviors with success. You can also identify behaviors which contribute to failure, thus adding a second layer of understanding.
http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/theories/behavioral_theory.htm
Existentialism
Influenced largely by the work of German philosopher Martin Heidegger and Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, psychoanalytically trained American psychologist Rollo May pioneered an existential breed of psychology, which included existential therapy, in the 1950s and 1960s. Existential psychologists differed from others often classified as humanistic in their comparatively neutral view of human nature and in their relatively positive assessment of anxiety. Existential psychologists emphasized the humanistic themes of death, free will, and meaning, suggesting that meaning can be shaped by myths, or narrative patterns, and that it can be encouraged by an acceptance of the free will requisite to an authentic, albeit often anxious, regard for death and other future prospects. Austrian existential psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl drew evidence of meaning’s therapeutic power from reflections garnered from his own internment, and he created a variety of existential psychotherapy called logotherapy. In addition to May and Frankl, Swiss psychoanalyst Ludwig Binswanger and American psychologist George Kelly may be said to belong to the existential school.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychology#Humanism
The weight of being: Psychological perspectives on the existential moment
As the prefrontal cortex expanded in human evolution, so too did the capacity for nesting basic biological goals within more complex systems of behavioral organization. This increased ability for abstraction brought with it the challenge of deciding how to interpret the personal significance of any given experience. The human brain appears to manage this increased complexity by defining meaning in relation to one’s currently adopted goals. When encountering goal-related information, arousal and exploratory systems become engaged, such that information is processed more thoroughly. As a consequence of this enhanced attention and arousal, neural plasticity is facilitated, allowing motivationally relevant experiences to have a stronger influence on an individual’s neural organization. To borrow a gravitational metaphor, the existential weight, or significance, of a particular moment will determine the strength of that moment’s influence on an individual’s life. Human experience thus appears to be curved around fluctuations in the existential weight of being.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VD4-4VXT0VY-1&_user=10&_coverDate=04/30/2010&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=browse&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=6338b60f79b08f51571cc9242a19f8d9
Current Trends in Environmental Psychology
Environmental psychology as a specialized discipline within psychology has lost much of its visibility as a unique area within psychology over the past decade.The bad part is that much of the initial impetus for environmental psychology came from the mutual desire of social scientists and designers, particularly architects, to work together to create buildings that would work better for people.The good part is that much of what environmental psychology brought to psychology has been fully adopted into mainstream psychology.Cognitive sciences have incorporated cognitive mapping as a major research area into their field as witnessed by the proliferation of articles within cognitive journals on spatial memory, way finding, and computational models of environmental cognition.Child psychology as well as life span development research continue to examine the role of both the immediate and background setting as they contribute to healthy development.
http://www.ucm.es/info/Psyap/iaap/evans.htm
Modern Trends: Psychology and Science
If humanistic psychology was a third force in the 1960s, then today there are fourth and fifth forces: cognition and neuroscience. Cognition emphasizes information processing within humans, while neuroscience emphasizes the biology of the brain and nervous system.Cognitive psychology has roots going back to the mid-1800s but re-emerged as an important part of psychology in the 1960s and early 1970s. In their analysis of trends in psychology, Robins, Gosling, and Craik (1999) found that over the past few decades “cognitive psychology has sustained a steady upward trajectory” of influence.Robins, Gosling, and Craik used various measures. One was the number of published research studies in various areas of psychology. In cognitive psychology, the numbers were going up quickly. Another important statistic was the number of citations of those studies (i.e. references to them in other publications) by scientists and news writers outside the discipline of cognitive psychology. That number was also high, showing that people outside the specialty were interested in cognitive psychology research.
http://www.intropsych.com/ch01_psychology_and_science/modern_trends.html
Beauty in the Breakdown
What happens when a rock climber, gripped by the natural high of his sport, gets hooked on powerful prescription tranquilizers that help him beat back the fear and anxiety? Very nasty things. MATT SAMET bares all about a long, life-threatening addiction journey that took him from the top of the mountain to a mental and physical free fall that nearly cost him his life.
http://outside.away.com/outside/culture/201006/matt-samet-climber-addiction.html
Hot Trends and Issues From the Annual Industrial-Organizational Psychology Conference
One of the most exciting things at this year’s conference was the launch of SIOP`s new blog/interactive community site, the SIOP Exchange.promote I-O psychology and build an increased sense of community amongst SIOP members and other interested parties.The Exchange offers RSS feeds that will help keep you aware of topics that may be of interest to you.Here is a quick rundown of some of the themes that were represented:Technology is more accessible than ever, test security,and etc..
http://www.ere.net
Topic: Modern Trends in the Psychology of Learning and Teaching
Abstract: This report presents the relationship between teaching and learning and attempts to explain the learning process. The contemporary perspective for effective information processing and tasks of educators are included to provide further explanation of the teaching and learning Process. The factors that affect the variation in the performance of students are also explained. Different Instructional Models are also presented grounded on the beliefs of the cognitive, behaviorist, and humanist approach in learning.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/7790125/Modern-Trends-in-the-Psychology-of-Learning-and-Teaching
Brain Structure Corresponds to Personality
Personalities come in all kinds. Now psychological scientists have found that the size of different parts of people’s brains correspond to their personalities; for example, conscientious people tend to have a bigger lateral prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain involved in planning and controlling behavior. Psychologists have worked out that all personality traits can be divided into five factors, commonly called the Big Five: conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, and openness/intellect.
The study found similar associations for conscientiousness, which is associated with planning; neuroticism, a tendency to experience negative emotions that is associated with sensitivity to threat and punishment; and agreeableness, which relates to parts of the brain that allow us to understand each other’s emotions, intentions, and mental states. Only openness/intellect didn’t associate clearly with any of the predicted brain structures.
“This starts to indicate that we can actually find the biological systems that are responsible for these patterns of complex behavior and experience that make people individuals,” says DeYoung. He points out, though, that this doesn’t mean that your personality is fixed from birth; the brain grows and changes as it grows. Experiences change the brain as it develops, and those changes in the brain can change personality.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100622142601.htm
Brain Structure Corresponds to Personality
Personalities come in all kinds. Now psychological scientists have found that the size of different parts of people’s brains correspond to their personalities; for example, conscientious people tend to have a bigger lateral prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain involved in planning and controlling behavior. Psychologists have worked out that all personality traits can be divided into five factors, commonly called the Big Five: conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, and openness/intellect.
The study found similar associations for conscientiousness, which is associated with planning; neuroticism, a tendency to experience negative emotions that is associated with sensitivity to threat and punishment; and agreeableness, which relates to parts of the brain that allow us to understand each other’s emotions, intentions, and mental states. Only openness/intellect didn’t associate clearly with any of the predicted brain structures.
“This starts to indicate that we can actually find the biological systems that are responsible for these patterns of complex behavior and experience that make people individuals,” says DeYoung. He points out, though, that this doesn’t mean that your personality is fixed from birth; the brain grows and changes as it grows. Experiences change the brain as it develops, and those changes in the brain can change personality.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100622142601.htm
Environmental Psychology and Sustainable Development : Expansion, Maturation and Challenges
In this summary article, some advances of, the potential for, and challenges faced by environmental psychology as a contributor to sustainability science are outlined. In its first 40 years, it has evolved from a discipline primarily— but never solely— concerned with proximate architecture to one that adds concern with larger-scale issues, particularly sustainability. This growth of interest has in turn led to increased interest within it in public policy, technology, cooperation with other disciplines, multilevel analyses of problems, the ingestion of new ideas, and concern with the health of the biotic and ecological world.
http://pdfcast.org/pdf/environmental-psychology-and-sustainable-development-expansion-maturation-and-challenges
sir.
d po ako mkaka attend ng subject nio bukas kc po ngtxt poh sken ang southstar drug my orientation poh kme bukas 8am poh sah pasig poh un main office nla…sna poh nxt meeting mbgyan nio po koh ng quiz…tnx sir
The Measure of Intelligence
Psychometric were the studies primarily concerned with the research of methods and measurement instruments of intelligence. That involved the construction of instruments and procedures for measurement and the development and refinement of theoretical approaches to measurement. The result of psychometric research was the intelligence questionnaires and tests.
http://www.psychology-issues.com/Intelligence-measure.html
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
The Journal of Experimental Child Psychology is an excellent source of information concerning all aspects of the behavior of children. Dedicated to expanding psychological knowledge about children, the journal presents material in the form of empirical research studies and short notes on methodological issues and innovative apparatus. Particular attention is paid to definitive new information and to the value of ideas as stimulants to further research. The journal presents single and multiple experiments that focus on a problem of empirical or theoretical interest.
http://www.psychology.org/cgi-bin/links2/search.cgi?query=new+issues+in+psychology
Brain Structure Corresponds to Personality
Personalities come in all kinds. Now psychological scientists have found that the size of different parts of people’s brains correspond to their personalities; for example, conscientious people tend to have a bigger lateral prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain involved in planning and controlling behavior.
The study found similar associations for conscientiousness, which is associated with planning; neuroticism, a tendency to experience negative emotions that is associated with sensitivity to threat and punishment; and agreeableness, which relates to parts of the brain that allow us to understand each other’s emotions, intentions, and mental states. Only openness/intellect didn’t associate clearly with any of the predicted brain structures.
“This starts to indicate that we can actually find the biological systems that are responsible for these patterns of complex behavior and experience that make people individuals,” says DeYoung. He points out, though, that this doesn’t mean that your personality is fixed from birth; the brain grows and changes as it grows. Experiences change the brain as it develops, and those changes in the brain can change personality.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100622142601.htm
Current Trends in Environmental Psychology
Interior designers,for example, have altered their major scholarly journal, the Journal of Interior Design, to reflect greater involvement in social science research. Interior design departments are increasingly recruiting new faculty with research training. Planners are looking to social scientists for evaluation of various ne development alternatives such as new urbanism or transit oriented development.
http://www.ucm.es/info/Psyap/iaap/evans.htm
Environmental Psychology as a Field within Psychology
Environmental psychology as a specialized discipline within psychology has lost much of its visibility as a unique area within psychology over the past decade. Some of this loss is bad; whereas much of it is surprisingly good–let me explain.
The bad part is that much of the initial impetus for environmental psychology came from the mutual desire of social scientists and designers, particularly architects, to work together to create buildings that would work better for people. Unfortunately that initial enthusiasm has since waned, at least within the United States.
The good part is that much of what environmental psychology brought to psychology has been fully adopted into mainstream psychology. There are many reflections of this. Submission rates for manuscripts to the three major journals in the field, Environment and Behavior, the Journal of Environmental Psychology, and the Journal of Architectural and Planning Research are all very high. Environmental psychology course offerings are at an all time high in North America with new editions of the two best selling textbooks (Bell Fisher Baum and Greene; Gifford) either just out or impending; two new texts have been published in the past year in the U.S. (Mc Andrew; Veitch & Arkelin), and Bonnes and Secchiaroli’s text has been published in Italy; and several additional texts are nearing completion.
http://www.ucm.es/info/Psyap/iaap/evans.htm
Trends and Developments in Educational Psychology
A critical review, from an international perspective, of trends and developments in educational psychology, which attempts to identify specific elements likely to have a significant influence on teaching methods in the future. Written from an interactive perspective, this report focuses on participants (teachers and pupils, mediation, the nature of the learning tasks, and the educational contexts of schools and classrooms). The author believes that teachers need to be more aware of the philosophical bases for their actions. He also maintains that pupils’ ability to learn is affected by their selfconcept and their own attributions of success or failure. The report concludes by stressing the crucial role of school psychologists in the academic, social and emotional environment of schools and classrooms.
http://spi.sagepub.com/cgi/content/short/15/4/293
Trends and Developments in Educational Psychology
A critical review, from an international perspective, of trends and developments in educational psychology, which attempts to identify specific elements likely to have a significant influence on teaching methods in the future. Written from an interactive perspective, this report focuses on participants (teachers and pupils, mediation, the nature of the learning tasks, and the educational contexts of schools and classrooms). The author believes that teachers need to be more aware of the philosophical bases for their actions. He also maintains that pupils’ ability to learn is affected by their selfconcept and their own attributions of success or failure. The report concludes by stressing the crucial role of school psychologists in the academic, social and emotional environment of schools and classrooms
http://spi.sagepub.com/cgi/content/short/15/4/293
Behavioral Theory
Behavioral theories of leadership do not seek inborn traits or capabilities. Rather, they look at what leaders actually do.
If success can be defined in terms of describable actions, then it should be relatively easy for other people to act in the same way. This is easier to teach and learn then to adopt the more ephemeral ‘traits’ or ‘capabilities’. Behavioral is a big leap from Trait Theory, in that it assumes that leadership capability can be learned, rather than being inherent. This opens the floodgates to leadership development, as opposed to simple psychometric assessment that sorts those with leadership potential from those who will never have the chance.
A behavioral theory is relatively easy to develop, as you simply assess both leadership success and the actions of leaders. With a large enough study, you can then correlate statistically significant behaviors with success. You can also identify behaviors which contribute to failure, thus adding a second layer of understanding.
http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/theories/behavioral_theory.htm
Recent Research on Memory, Learning
In psychology, experts use the term metacognition to talk about how people think about their own cognitive processes — in essence, thinking about thinking.
To probe the way people think about their capacity for remembering, Nate Kornell, an assistant professor of psychology at Williams College, and Robert A. Bjork of the University of California, asked people to look at a list of words and predict how well they would be able to remember the words after subsequent periods of study and testing.
Their results led the researchers to the suggestion that people are under confident in their learning abilities and overconfident in their memories. That is, people failed to predict that they would be able to remember more words after studying more — although in reality, they learned far more — instead basing their predictions on current memory. Kornell and Bjork call this a “stability bias” in memory.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100305224432.htm
Brain Scans Of The Future
Psychologists Use fMRI To Understand Ties Between Memories And The Imagination
Psychologists have found that thought patterns used to recall the past and imagine the future are strikingly similar. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging to show the brain at work, they have observed the same regions activated in a similar pattern whenever a person remembers an event from the past or imagines himself in a future situation. This challenges long-standing beliefs that thoughts about the future develop exclusively in the frontal lobe.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2007/0710-brain_scans_of_the_future.htm
Individuals and populations: How biology’s theory and data have interfered with the integration of development and evolution
Research programs in quantitative behavior genetics and evolutionary psychology have contributed to the widespread belief that some psychological characteristics can be “inherited” via genetic mechanisms. In fact, molecular and developmental biologists have concluded that while genetic factors contribute to the development of all of our traits, non-genetic factors always do too, and in ways that make them no less important than genetic factors. This insight demands a reworking of the Modern Evolutionary Synthesis, a theory that defined evolution as a process involving changes in the frequencies of genes in populations, and that envisioned no role for experiential factors now known to play essential roles in adaptive trait development. Furthermore, since evolution has been taken to be strictly a population-level phenomenon while development affects individuals, the two have been understood to require different levels of analysis; this understanding has given rise to incompatible research programs. This state of affairs is untenable because development and evolution mutually influence one another in fundamental ways, several of which are detailed in this article. The balance of this paper considers the conceptual problem that has arisen because understandings generated by developmental scientists cannot be enhanced by studies designed merely to account for variation across populations. Because the theoretical conceptions and methodological tools used to study development and evolution have produced non-corresponding sets of information about these closely related and mutually influential biological processes, these conceptions and tools are interfering with the establishment of a unified theory of biology that encompasses both phenomena.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/issue/5972-2008-999739996-697532
Neurobiological Cause of Intergroup Conflict: ‘Bonding Hormone’ Drives Aggression Towards Competing Out-Groups
ScienceDaily (June 15, 2010) — Researchers at the University of Amsterdam provide first-time evidence for a neurobiological cause of intergroup conflict. They show that oxytocin, a neuropeptide produced in the brain that functions as hormone and neurotransmitter, leads humans to self-sacrifice to benefit their own group and to show aggression against threatening out-groups. This finding qualifies the wide-spread belief that oxytocin promotes general trust and benevolence.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100614114445.htm
Borderline Trends in Social Psychology
Social psychology has mainly borderline trends because social psychology is itself a borderline area. Like a good doughnut there is more in the circumference than in the center. Indeed, it is doubtful whether there would ever have been any social psychology at all or any courses in this field or any researches in this area had there not existed a borderline field in which traditional psychology was not interested and yet which was believed to contain resources which sociologists needed in their work. Not that experimental psychology is or was barren or unfruitful. An admirable technique was developed, rigorously scientific in method, unequivocally mathematical in procedure, but concerned with problems that were increasingly small in extent and more and more remote from the needs and interests of those who were forced to consider the motives of men, and to whom the adjustments and the harmonious development of human life seemed all-important.
http://www.brocku.ca/MeadProject/Faris/Faris_1931.html
Individuals and Populations: How biology’s theory and data have interfered with the integration of development and evolution
Research programs in quantitative behavior genetics and evolutionary psychology have contributed to the widespread belief that some psychological characteristics can be “inherited” via genetic mechanisms. In fact, molecular and developmental biologists have concluded that while genetic factors contribute to the development of all of our traits, non-genetic factors always do too, and in ways that make them no less important than genetic factors. This insight demands a reworking of the Modern Evolutionary Synthesis, a theory that defined evolution as a process involving changes in the frequencies of genes in populations, and that envisioned no role for experiential factors now known to play essential roles in adaptive trait development. Furthermore, since evolution has been taken to be strictly a population-level phenomenon while development affects individuals, the two have been understood to require different levels of analysis; this understanding has given rise to incompatible research programs. This state of affairs is untenable because development and evolution mutually influence one another in fundamental ways, several of which are detailed in this article. The balance of this paper considers the conceptual problem that has arisen because understandings generated by developmental scientists cannot be enhanced by studies designed merely to account for variation across populations. Because the theoretical conceptions and methodological tools used to study development and evolution have produced non-corresponding sets of information about these closely related and mutually influential biological processes, these conceptions and tools are interfering with the establishment of a unified theory of biology that encompasses both phenomena.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/issue/5972-2008-999739996-697532
Overcharging Conceptual and Methodological Issues
There continues to be a strong commitment within environmental psychology to try and study human-environment relationships within the full contextual framework in which they occur. Accepting the mantle from Barker and his early associates, researchers in environmental psychology continue to struggle with how to do this in a manner that yields reasonable guidance about important causal variables. Related to this concern with ecological validity coupled with rigor is the appropriate unit of analysis for study–is it persons, settings, person by setting interactions or some new entity of person-environment unit? Studies of multiple stressors, cross over effects between different settings, life course trajectories, multiple level analyses (e.g., family and neighborhood effects on child development) are examples of this more contextualized perspective.
Greater methodological and analytic sophistication is now also apparent in environmental psychology. For example in the study of environmental stressors a prospective, longitudinal study of chronic residential crowding has been conducted in the U.S. and an ongoing prospective study is underway on airport noise and children in Germany. Analytic investigations of unit of analysis, cross-level effects, as well as environmental sampling have been undertaken. Increasing awareness of the important conceptual and analytic distinctions between mediator processes and moderator processes in the links between human behavior and the physical environment are apparent. Moreover the field’s long-standing commitment to multiple methods of measurement continues unabated.
There is a growing interest among some environmental psychologists to connect up their work with poverty as it becomes increasingly clear that poor environmental quality is often a major constituent of the plethora of suboptimal conditions in which the poor live. This trend appears particularly strong in Third World countries and has influenced current research on topics such as urban stressors, street children, and residential housing. A related issue that some are considering is the potential role of psychical factors to help account for the well established health-income relationship as well as the linkages between poverty and developmental psychopathology.
http://www.ucm.es/info/Psyap/iaap/evans.htm
School Psychologist
School psychologists work within the educational system to help children with emotional, social, and academic issues. The goal of school psychology is to collaborate with parents, teachers, and students to promote a healthy learning environment that focuses on the needs of children.
School psychology is still a relatively young profession. The National Association of School Psychology (NASP) was established and formally recognized as a doctoral specialty by the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1968. In 2002, U.S. News and World Report named school psychology one of the top ten “hot professions.” Many school psychologists in the field are retiring, creating a demand for qualified school psychologists.
ISSUES IN PSYCHOLOGY
APA Ethics Office
APA’s Ethics Office promotes ethics throughout the field of psychology. The Office supports the Ethics Committee in adjudicating ethics complaints, offers educational workshops and seminars, provides ethics consultations, and serves as a resource to members and the Association in addressing new ethical dilemmas as psychology grows and evolves as a discipline. If you are an APA member, the Ethics Office is here to serve you. Please let us know how we may best do so.
http://psychology.about.com/od/careersinpsychology/tp/psychology-career-trends.htm
Taking old ideas seriously: Evolution, development, and human behavior
I argue that the roots of an adequate integration of evolution into psychology are not to be found in evolutionary psychology, but rather in evolutionary developmental biology (evo–devo). To this end, I provide an overview of evo–devo and explore the limited role that behavioral sciences have played in its genesis. I then motivate an evo–devo approach to psychobiology, and sketch desiderata for the success of this enterprise. In particular, I elucidate what it means to take both development and evolution seriously, and argue for the primacy of developmental analysis in the exploration of (human) behavior and its evolution.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VD4-4PP1YN4-4&_user=10&_coverDate=12%2F31%2F2008&_rdoc=6&_fmt=high&_orig=browse&_srch=doc-info%28%23toc%235972%232008%23999739996%23697532%23FLA%23display%23Volume%29&_cdi=5972&_sort=d&_docanchor=&_ct=6&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=3b7ad0d502a5d7c02c1bb3037d7c7768
Loneliness, Poor Health Appear to Be Linked
Two newly published University of Arizona studies suggest that superficial relationships can not only result in feelings of detachment, but also contribute to certain health-related problems.
“There is an association between social networks and health but the precise mechanism is not understood,” said Stacey Passalacqua, who recently earned her UA doctorate in interpersonal and health communication with a minor in psychology.
Passalacqua and Chris Segrin, the UA communication department head and lead author on the papers, decided to study individual perceptions of stress and social support to understand ways loneliness may be linked to health.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100622091746.htm
Developments in Work Psychology
Over the past 30 years there have been revolutionary changes in the organizational context. The globalization of industries has offered unique and unprecedented opportunities for creating wealth and organizational efficiency. Consider, for example, the fact that the revenue enjoyed by the Microsoft corporation is greater than the GDP of many European countries. Such macro-economic shifts and increasing focus on business conglomeration have brought about radical changes in work patterns. Many employees now telecommute to work from home, via a computer network and the internet (see Daniels, Lamond & Standen 2000). In tandem, work psychology has responded to this challenge and shifted focus from more physical and mechanistic skills, to those about the social context of work and the assessment of cognitive demands brought about by increased use of information technology
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-81299944.html
Theoretical Unification in Psychology: A Materialist Perspective
The case for a materialist foundation for psychology is described in which theoretical unification emerges as an on-going historical process, not as a state. Theoretical indeterminacy is overcome through appeal to evolutionary and historical contexts which allow evaluation of theories in terms of essentiality and relevance.
The problems of theoretical indeterminacy, disunity and fragmentation in psychology will not be solved by the revival of any form of positivism (e.g., Staats, 1986). It is well known that the Humean epistemology that defined positivism made it impossible to find a satisfactory solution to the problem of objectivity, and that, as a result, the ultimate goal of a unified science remained chimerical. Many psychologists saw that down the positivist epistemological road lay the dreaded end of solipsism (e.g., Wertheimer, 1972, p. 126). The only reasonable alternative between the Scylla of solipsism and the Charybdis of dogmatism seemed to be some form of metaphysical pluralism. Some of us settled, in short, -however uncomfortably- for the indeterminacy and fragmentation that mark what others now see as a crisis in our discipline.
Despite all the critiques of positivism, we seem to be no further ahead. The reason is that most critiques have not penetrated to the skeptical-subjectivist epistemology that is the root cause of its problems. As a result, the tendency has been to reject the scientistic appearances of positivism, while preserving its essential defect, which, from the point of view of objectivity, and therefore also of theoretical determinacy and unification, is the inability to specify an independently existing, nonarbitrary ground to serve as a basis for resolution of theoretical differences.
Philosophical materialism claims to avoid this defect. If, as materialism claims, such a ground exists and is knowable, then the foundation of a unified conception of science is possible. I can only hope to [p. 30] sketch out this possibility here.
http://www.comnet.ca/~pballan/TheorUnifPsyc%28Tolman1988%29.htm
Ambulatory Assessment in Lifespan Psychology: An Overview of Current Status and New Trends
Ambulatory assessment represents a powerful research tool in lifespan psychology because it allows assessing the within-person variability of developmental processes as it occurs within context-specific influences of people’s natural environments. Following a discussion of historical origins, we review four current research themes in developmentally relevant ambulatory assessment studies that use electronic devices as assessment instruments: (a) affective-motivational development, (b) social contexts of development, (c) age-related challenges and everyday functioning, and (d) cognitive development. Overall, the reviewed research demonstrates that ambulatory assessment complements traditional developmental study designs and laboratory assessments in important ways. Acknowledging the strengths and limitations of ambulatory assessment approaches, we propose that ambulatory assessment will benefit lifespan psychologymost if it becomes an integral part of multimethod investigations of developmental phenomena that balance the external and internal validity of findings. Future research should strengthen the lifespan perspective in ambulatory assessment approaches, combine multiple indicators (subjective and objective) of successful development, and attend to the fact that individual development often interacts with significant others.
Current Trends in Environmental Psychology
Environmental psychology as a specialized discipline within psychology has lost much of its visibility as a unique area within psychology over the past decade. Some of this loss is bad; whereas much of it is surprisingly good–let me explain.
The bad part is that much of the initial impetus for environmental psychology came from the mutual desire of social scientists and designers, particularly architects, to work together to create buildings that would work better for people. Unfortunately that initial enthusiasm has since waned, at least within the United States.
The good part is that much of what environmental psychology brought to psychology has been fully adopted into mainstream psychology. There are many reflections of this. Submission rates for manuscripts to the three major journals in the field, Environment and Behavior, the Journal of Environmental Psychology, and the Journal of Architectural and Planning Research are all very high. Environmental psychology course offerings are at an all time high in North America with new editions of the two best selling textbooks (Bell Fisher Baum and Greene; Gifford) either just out or impending; two new texts have been published in the past year in the U.S. (Mc Andrew; Veitch & Arkelin), and Bonnes and Secchiaroli’s text has been published in Italy; and several additional texts are nearing completion.
The Cambridge series on environment and behavior and Gower’s Ethnoscape series are both selling very well and each series has several volumes in the pipeline. Furthermore, individual volumes continue to proliferate both in North America as well as in Europe. The Handbook of Environmental Psychology sold out its press run and has now been reissued by Krieger Publications. Both Environment and Behavior and Journal of Environmental Psychology have had strong sales of individual volumes or collected articles compiled into books.
North and South American (EDRA), European (IAPS), Japanese (MERA) and Australian/New Zealand (PAPER) organizations are devoted to the study of human behavior and the physical environment. Each manages a regular conference, publishes proceedings, either annually or bi-annually, and sponsors a newsletter. Both Sweden and Spain have national task forces that regularly meet. Estonia has recently sponsored an international conference and publication.
There has also been widespread incorporation of environmental psychology into other areas of psychology. The handbooks of both social and health psychology have chapters devoted to environmental topics; health psychology, the largest growing sector of psychology in North America, routinely incorporates measures of social and physical environmental characteristics. The new edition of the handbook of psychophysiology will contain a major chapter on the physical environment and physiology.
Cognitive sciences have incorporated cognitive mapping as a major research area into their field as witnessed by the proliferation of articles within cognitive journals on spatial memory, wayfinding, and computational models of environmental cognition. Indeed, amongst the earliest intellectual origins of environmental psychology was concern amongst perceptual psychologists about the ecological validity of traditional approaches to the study of perception.
Child psychology as well as life span development research continue to examine the role of both the immediate and background setting as they contribute to healthy development. Developmentalists also maintain a strong ecological perspective in their examination of the role of different childcare settings as well as aging in place options as they impact young and old individuals, respectively. Environmental education is a major subarea within educational curricula and practice.
In addition many leading applied and social psychology texts continue to have chapters devoted to environmental psychology. Several introductory books also include sections on applications of psychology with prominent coverage to environmental issues. Finally, the Journal of Social Issues, a major international journal devoted to psychology and public policy, has had recent special issues on environmental stress, residential mobility, environmental attitudes, human dimensions of global change, environmental hazards, and in 1966, published one of the seminal volumes outlining the field of environmental psychology.
http://www.ucm.es/info/Psyap/iaap/evans.htm
Ambulatory Assessment in Lifespan Psychology: An Overview of Current Status and New Trends
Ambulatory assessment represents a powerful research tool in lifespan psychology because it allows assessing the within-person variability of developmental processes as it occurs within context-specific influences of people’s natural environments. Following a discussion of historical origins, we review four current research themes in developmentally relevant ambulatory assessment studies that use electronic devices as assessment instruments: (a) affective-motivational development, (b) social contexts of development, (c) age-related challenges and everyday functioning, and (d) cognitive development. Overall, the reviewed research demonstrates that ambulatory assessment complements traditional developmental study designs and laboratory assessments in important ways. Acknowledging the strengths and limitations of ambulatory assessment approaches, we propose that ambulatory assessment will benefit lifespan psychologymost if it becomes an integral part of multimethod investigations of developmental phenomena that balance the external and internal validity of findings. Future research should strengthen the lifespan perspective in ambulatory assessment approaches, combine multiple indicators (subjective and objective) of successful development, and attend to the fact that individual development often interacts with significant others.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6X0G-4WDDXRK-2&_user=10&_coverDate=12/31/2009&_alid=1380486521&_rdoc=3&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_cdi=7214&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=110963&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=c07b3ff2afd24d630ccf2b0dcfe9c222
Alcohol Abuse
Alcohol abuse is defined as a pattern of drinking that results in one or more of the following situations within a 12-month period:
• Failure to fulfill major work, school, or home responsibilities
• Drinking in situations that are physically dangerous, such as while driving a car or operating machinery
• Having recurring alcohol-related legal problems, such as being arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or for physically hurting someone while drunk
• Continued drinking despite hav
Alcoholism, or alcohol dependence, is the most severe form of alcohol abuse. It is a chronic disease characterized by the consumption of alcohol at a level that interferes with physical and mental health and with family and social responsibilities. An alcoholic will continue to drink despite serious health, family, or legal problems.
• Alcoholism is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. Alcoholism is chronic: It lasts a person’s lifetime. It usually follows a pr ing ongoing relationship problems that are caused or worsened by the drinking.
edictable course and has recognizable symptoms.
Alcohol abuse and alcoholism cut across gender, race, and ethnicity. Nearly 14 million people in the United States are dependent on alcohol. More men than women are alcohol dependent or have alcohol problems. Alcohol problems are highest among young adults ages 18-29 and lowest among adults ages 65 and older. Also, people who start drinking at an early age have a greater chance of developing alcohol problems at some point in their lives.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/conditions/alcohol-abuse
Bionic Model of Adaptive Searching Behavior
The adaptive behavior line of investigation, which is considered as a bionic approach to development of systems of artificial intelligence, is characterized. One of the topical problems in the framework of this approach is the stimulation of searching animal behavior. A general scheme of searching adaptive behavior with inertial switching between search tactics is presented. A particular model of larvae of caddis flies building a case-house from particles of different sizes and searching or gathering suitable particles is investigated.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/p8730841n1p18l3x/