Posts published during June, 2009


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Psychology, swine flu, memory and communication

June 26, 2009 by Evie Bentley.

Research done by Ley (1988) suggested that to enable patients to remember what advice they had been given doctors and nurses should give the most important information first, thus exploiting the primacy effect. Information also needs to be understandable ( well, what a surprise!) so simple sentences and language are appropriate. Instructions need to be explicit, and prefaced by their category, e.g. “this is the problem …”, or “this is what you need to do”, and “this is how you can do it”. Repetition is also helpful in accurate recall.

Now in 2009 similar information is being given by Fischhoff who has pointed out the relevance of psychological research to addressing the current health issue. He has told USA authorities that health communications should

  • Be truthful, factual, even is this is worrying, i.e. demonstrate that you trust your audience.
  • Focus only on the most critical facts as people can retain only so much information. (Remember Miller’s magic number and chunking?)
  • Emotions can interfere with memory (Loftus showed this a long time ago) so communicators should be calm and positive in their manner.
  • Recommendations need to be reasonable for the target population so they can see that they can be successful in complying and therefore carry on listening and remembering ( locus of control v learned helplessness; cognitive consistency).

I do wonder if these recommendations could be spread more widely – Westminster comes to mind!

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AQA A2 Exam Update

June 24, 2009 by Cara Flanagan.

We believe that there is an intention to provide more parted questions on the A2 exam papers than previously. Indeed this has been shown on some of the sample papers. The result is some very undecipherable marks. For example sometimes 10 marks breaks down to 3 AO1 marks and 7 AO2 marks or sometimes 5 AO1 marks and 5 AO2 marks.
As a result we have been advised that, in certain questions the exam will show the breakdown of marks, so that an ‘outline and evaluate’ question might have (5 marks + 9 marks) instead of just (14 marks) after it to show the proportions of marks for description and evaluation.
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AQA Exam Update

by Cara Flanagan.

Item published in the AQA Examinations Update 3: June 2009GCE Examinations
Psychology Specification A (2180) Advanced Level (New Specification)
Unit 3 (PSYA3) and Unit 4 (PSYA4) – January 2010 and beyond
Please note that the rubrics for PSYA3 for January 2010 and all following series will contain the instruction:
“Where appropriate, refer to theories and/or studies, approaches, issues and debates in your answer.”
Please note that the rubrics for PSYA4 for January 2010 and all following series will contain the following instructions:
For Section A: “Where appropriate, refer to theories and/or studies in your answer.”
For Section B: “Where appropriate, refer to theories and/or studies, approaches, issues and debates in your answer.”
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Happy Father’s Day

June 21, 2009 by Adrian Frost.

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“given our rapidly evolving conceptions of “father” and “family,” fatherhood in the 1990s is probably tougher, psychologically, than at any other time in recent history”.

Hah…. I knew I needed some kip…

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Tall guy draws…..

June 15, 2009 by Adrian Frost.

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Short but sad and moving cartoon strips concerning a range of mental health issues by a guy who spent time working on a psychiatric ward…

See links below:

Cuts and delusions

Mad or bad

Darkness

It could be you

Dementia ward

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Mirror neurons

June 14, 2009 by Cara Flanagan.

What is she thinking? Mirror neurons have been hailed by some as a discovery of major importance (for exampl,e the neurologist V.S. Ramachandran). It is claimed that they may explain the ability of humans to understand what someone else is feeling and thinking. This is not mind-reading but ‘Theory of Mind’ – the understanding that other people have a separate mind to your own and therefore do not see or experience the world as you do. A certain group of neurons were discovered in macaque monkeys which were activated when the monkey was inactive itself but was watching another monkey perform an action. The big question is whether such mirror neurons, as they are called, will be able to explain empathy, autism, morality, language and more, or whether it’s all a storm in a tea cup .
This topic is covered in the A2 specification that some of you will be studying – so you might be interested in a recent item in the New Scientist. A team of scientists have provided evidence that mirror neurons (MNs) are not always activated when understanding the actions of others.  This overturns the current views on MNs and suggests that a rethink may be needed.
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Two more chapters

June 5, 2009 by Cara Flanagan.

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Two more freebie chapters from the new A2 Complete Companion have now been added – ones on Relationships and Aggression.

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Live long and prosper……

June 4, 2009 by Adrian Frost.

spock.jpg “IT IS probably the most famous greeting in the universe.

But the simple Vulcan salute left makers of the new Star Trek film with a galactic-sized headache – because Mr Spock just couldn’t do it.

After much head-scratching, experts on the $150 million blockbuster – which boasts stunning high-tech effects – hit upon a low-tech but logical solution – gluing actor Zachary Quinto’s fingers together, The Mail on Sunday newspaper in the UK reports.

Quinto, 31, admitted he found it impossible to form his fingers into the distinctive V-shaped gesture, saying: “It’s much harder than it looks. Seriously.”

One on-set insider said: “Zach could do the salute some of the time but only after he’d positioned his fingers the right way off-camera.

“In some scenes he has to do the salute while speaking his lines so they ended up using skin-protective superglue, like they use in hospitals, to stick his fingers together.”

William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk in the long-running TV show and the first seven Star Trek films, was also unable to do the salute, so he used fishing line to tie his fingers together”. (Link)

So what’s going on there then? If the first Spock had Vulcan Hand Signal Ability (hereafter referred to a ‘VHSA’) why not the new guy?

Is it a genetic thing like tongue rolling? You’ve got the gene or you haven’t? Or is it a learnt thing like juggling or tying shoelaces? Once you’ve got the enactive ‘muscle memory’ in place you don’t have to think about VHSA anymore? Surely if it was a practice thing then the new Spock would beat himself up trying to master this skill…. I’m sure Christian Bale would put the effort in if he found himself in such a position.

My own limited research during lunch today indicates that it does get easier with practice, but you still have to think about the physical position of your fingers quite a lot. It also seems to help if you position your fingers whilst your arms are lowered and then raise them, but I’m not sure it looks as cool. So I don’t know… maybe I’ve just got the VHSA gene. But if I have, what possible evolutionary advantage could that have? I’m pretty certain that the ability to mimic characters from Star Trek is unlikely to enhance one’s reproductive potential……

(Couldn’t quite work out where this fitted in on the syllabus, but obviously had to get it in somewhere so, if you click on the ‘see rest of post’ link below, it’ll take you to the “VHSA Research Methods Worksheet”).

Read the rest of this entry »

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Thinking of doing anomalistic psychology?

June 2, 2009 by Cara Flanagan.

This is your chance (and your students) to take part in some research for the New Scientist on the phenomenon of remote viewing (the alleged ability to psychically identify a distant location). And take part in the world’s first scientific study via twitter.  The experiment is organised by the fab Richard Wiseman who has an impressive record of serious research on anomalistic psychology. For more information have a look here.
Essentially Richard will be conducting trials on Tues, Wed, Thurs and Fri of this week at 3pm (UK time).  To join in, all you have to do is join his twitter stream here.
PS Richard is talking at the Science and Pseudoscience conference next November run by Southwest Conferences, details here. Last year this conference was a huge success – comments included ‘I never thought science could be this much fun’.