Psychology

1. “Arizona Legislature Passes Bill Banning Ethnic Studies Programs.” I thank my Alliant University colleague Eduardo Morales for an email summarizing that story: “After making national headlines for a new law on illegal immigrants, the Arizona Legislature sent Gov. Jan Brewer a bill Thursday that would ban ethnic studies programs in the state that critics say currently advocate separatism and racial preferences. The bill, which passed 32-26 in the state House, had been approved by the Senate a day earlier.... The new bill would make it illegal for a school district to teach any courses that…

The first year I was working as a Behavior Therapist, I had a client named David*- a five year old boy with autism, who was my first case as a newly-promoted supervising Senior Therapist. My boss and I met the entire family at their home on an initial fact-gathering mission, in preparation for the beginning of an intensive 35 hr/week home therapy program. We asked David's mom the typical questions- age of onset of symptoms, verbal ability, what types of perseverative behaviors he had, etc. David had Hyperlexia; they figured he probably began reading at about 18 months of age, but had…

The suggestion that famous athletes serve as role models for underage fans is "rubbish," say researchers writing in Drug and Alcohol Review. The authors found that the loutish and drunken behavior of some pro athletes – routinely reported in the media – has little or no effect on the drinking habits of young people. The research team asked more than 1,000 young sportspeople at elite and amateur level and non-sportspeople to report the perceived drinking behavior of high-profile sport stars compared with their friends, and then report their own drinking behavior using the World Health…

Perhaps one of the most outstanding sides to autism is the "Islands of Genius" . Weather we are the famous Rain Man type Savant or Einstein or even well hidden fairly normal people that figured out all of autism it is all the same autism. The normal minds of the even the best researchers use trying to figure us out and research us to death have never been there or done that in terms of experiencing the real autism thoughts we have learned on our own mostly by happenstance are simply the sub level thoughts of the mind.  Every single human could do the Savant thing and…

In a study study likely to increase travelers' trust in the TSA, Duke university researchers say identifying a prohibited item such as a water bottle may keep airport security from detecting harder-to-spot items in the same scan. In the new study, published online in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, researchers asked college students to identify specific targets on a computer display – in this case, two perpendicular lines that form the letter "T" amid distracters, such as Ls and non-Ts. In some cases, Ts were easy to spot, and in other cases more difficult because they…

Moral behavior may increase our capacity for willpower and physical endurance, according to new research from Harvard University. Participants in the new study who did good deeds -- or even just imagined themselves helping others -- were better able to perform a subsequent task of physical endurance. The research shows a similar or even greater boost in physical strength following dastardly deeds. Results of the study are published in Social Psychological and Personality Science. "Whether you're saintly or nefarious, there seems to be power in moral events,"  says Kurt Gray, a doctoral…

Selective hearing- How many times have you heard that term? It might be totally false!  We are, as humans simply thinking in pictures. I know none of this has been in a text book before, the picture thoughts that make autism work and when figured out make normal thought possible. BUT if Psychology knew of our human thought process, If humans themselves knew of their underlying process selective hearing would be not be called that, but rather  something along the lines of "hold on were thinking".  Man is not privileged to know his internal thoughts the deep daydream type…

Selective hearing- How many times have you heard that term? It might be totally false!  We are, as humans simply thinking in pictures. I know none of this has been in a text book before, the picture thoughts that make autism work and when figured out make normal thought possible. BUT if Psychology knew of our human thought process, If humans themselves knew of their underlying process selective hearing would be not be called that, but rather  something along the lines of "hold on were thinking".  Man is not privileged to know his internal thoughts the deep daydream type…

Slender women worry about packing on extra weight, say Brigham Young University researchers who used MRI technology to observe what happened in the brain when people viewed images of complete strangers. If the stranger happened to be overweight and female, it surprisingly activated an area in women's brains that processes identity and self-reflection. Men did not show signs of any self-reflection in similar situations. "These women have no history of eating disorders and project an attitude that they don't care about body image," said Mark Allen, a BYU neuroscientist. "Yet under the surface…

University of Delaware psychologists say that jealously may literally impair vision. In a recent study published in Emotion, the researchers found that women who were made to feel jealous were so distracted by unpleasant emotional images they became unable to spot targets they were trying to find. It has long been known that the emotions involved in social relationships affect mental and physical health, but these results extend the relationship a step further, to the point that emotions affect what we see. In a lab experiment, researchers had romantic partners sit near each other at…