mind over matter

Hello, nice fun psychology-conscious readers! I wanted to let you know that I’m putting the blog on a quarter-long hiatus so I can focus on the capstone of my master’s program - the Magazine Publishing Project (with capital letters…and slight reverb). In the mean time, knock yourself out with the archives page and remember to check for new content this summer. I’m also trying to keep my résumé and clips current. Thanks so much for reading!

We all know sexual harassment’s not so kind on the ol’ mental health, but a meta-analysis of 110 studies found that workplace bullying is actually more damaging. It seems that people know where to draw the line on sexual harassment because the line’s a whole lot more visible:

Workers know what actions constitute sexual harassment, in part because employers conduct such training in the workplace. As a result, employees know what behavior is illegal and that they have recourse. But nonviolent workplace aggression, for the most part, is not illegal and leaves “victims to fend for themselves,” says Hershcovis. [Read more →]

OK, this won’t come as a shock to anyone’s who’s heard a little kid shout something to the effect of, “Mommy, why is that man so fat?” New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis finds that the contemplative brain network, an introspective mental system involved in tasks like self-recognition and understanding others’ motives, is less complex in children than in adults. The network is simplistic in kids’ brains but “establishes firmer connections between various brain regions” over time.

Before you roll your eyes, consider the implications: if researchers can establish exactly how these connections and other brain networks develop and interact, then they’ll have a new and improved framework to understand phenomena such as brain injuries and conditions such as autism.

“[Researchers used] a new technique called resting-state functional connectivity MRI to identify brain networks and analyze their functions and development. Instead of analyzing mental activity when a volunteer works on a cognitive task, resting-state connectivity scans their brains after they have been asked to rest and not engage in any specific tasks. The scans reveal changes in the oxygen levels in blood flowing to different areas of the brain. Researchers interpret correlations in the rise and fall of blood oxygen to different brain areas as a sign that those areas likely work together. In neuroscientist’s terms, this means the regions have functional connectivity. [Read more →]

I know I spend a lot of time blogging about spanked children and depressed teenagers and acne-ridden would-be athletes, but the latest research hits closer to home. A new study from the Swinburne University of Technology found that blogging makes people feel less isolated, more satisfied with their social lives and more connected to a community. So, go me.

The study followed first-time voluntary bloggers for two months and then compared their mental health to non-bloggers’. Here’s the thing to notice, though - the participants were not a random sample, but rather MySpace users who volunteered.

“We found potential bloggers were less satisfied with their friendships and they felt less socially integrated, they didn’t feel as much part of a community as the people who weren’t interested in blogging … they were also more likely to use venting or expressing your emotions as a way of coping,” [Professor Susan] Moore says. “It was as if they were saying ‘I’m going to do this blogging and it’s going to help me’.”

And, uh, it did. But perhaps it’s having less of an effect on me, since I was already pretty cool with my friends and am maintaining this blog for a weekly grade. I tend to think I’m actually less well-adjusted now than I was in January, but I think that has to do with the stress of the quarter. One feature and one final project to go…

New research from the University of Washington shows that the combination of mother-daughter conflict and low serotonin levels accounts for 64 percent of the difference among adolescent girls who harm themselves and those who do not.

“Most people think in terms of biology or environment rather than biology and environment working together,” said [Theodore Beauchaine, a UW associate professor of psychology.] “Having a low level of serotonin is a biological vulnerability for self-harming behavior and that vulnerability increases remarkably when it is paired with maternal conflict.”

It’s been a while since I’ve taken undergrad psych classes, but I believe that terminology doesn’t mean that if a girl cuts herself ten times, six of those cuts are due to her mean mom and low serotonin levels. I think it means that of one hundred girls who engage in self-destructive behavior, sixty-four of them can chalk it up to their maternal relationship and low levels of serotonin.

Want to be a better mother? Check out some blogs and sites on the topic here, here and here. Want to lower your serotonin levels? Sorry, but that’s a whole ‘nother post.

First there were rent-a-cops, then there were drop-in health clinics (doc-in-a-boxes), and now there’s MindMentor.com, your robot psychologist friend. I stumbled upon this friendly-looking health professional in a press release here. His website makes a lot of promises:

• He’s an electronic psychologist.
• He’s always available.
• He’s very discreet.
• He’s fast.
• You can afford him.

Um, wow. “His average solution percentage is 47 percent in just one session!” Most PhDs and PsyDs would be thrilled with such high success rates! And he will work with you for just 4.95 euros, “a very modest financial investment in your personal well being!”

This is a little bit scary, right? Artificial intelligence has a long long way to come (remember the AIM buddy “smarterchild”?), and I don’t need a syntax-challenged computer program telling me what to do with my mind and life. Browsing WebMD is one thing, but for situations that require a professional, this is no substitute. [Read more →]

In eighth grade, I was all about the demonstrative speeches. Once I wowed the whole class with four minutes on handwriting analysis, and another time I taught my classmates how to iron a shirt. However, when our professor announced we’d need to create relevant how-to videos for our blogs, I was stumped. Psychology research has all sorts of interesting applications, but it’s not very exciting to watch someone ward off stress by breathing deeply or fend off Alzheimer’s by filling in a crossword.

 Thankfully, my beautiful assistant Anna was willing to help me show the world how to better their lives with one magic ingredient: sleep. That’s right, I’ve put together a quick how-to video, complete with cheesy music, that will help you get great shut-eye tonight.

New meta-analysis research suggests that spanking leads to sexual problems later in life. Getting spankings as a kid raises one’s risk for “delinquent and anti-social behavior in childhood along with aggression, criminal and anti-social behavior and spousal or child abuse as an adult.” Furthermore, children whose parents physically punished them are later more likely to physically or verbally coerce a sexual partner, engage in risky sexual behavior or engage in masochistic sex, including - wait for it - “sexual arousal by spanking.” Electra Complex, anyone?

After 30 years of studying corporal punishment, Murray Straus, a spanking expert, concluded, “parents should never, ever spank because, although it does work, it’s no better than non-hitting methods that don’t have harmful side effects. If there was an FDA for spanking, they’d say use an alternative that doesn’t have harmful side effects.”

I wonder what it says on his business card. Here’s the thing - I feel like we’re talking about consistent, unnecessary corporal punishment. I was a good little girl, but every once in a great while I was incredibly naughty and probably deserved a single spank. When your generally well behaved 4-year-old daughter is running around the house in circles and screaming at the top of her lungs (true story), are there truly equally effective alternatives?

Just read a really interesting Q&A with Drew Westen, professor of psychology and psychiatry at Emory University and the head of a political and corporate consulting firm, Westen Strategies. He’s also the author of “The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation,” and it seems he feels Barack Obama’s string of successes are testament to Obama’s ability to capture voters’ hearts. Some highlights:

This has been like an election between Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton. She’s all issues all the time, encyclopedic in her knowledge and would no doubt be as competent a president as we’ve ever had. But Obama has the natural gifts that her husband has — to make people feel that they’re part of something bigger than them. He has that rare combination of what psychologists call “general intelligence,” i.e., to think quickly and complexly, as well as the raw emotional and political intelligence that predicts success at the ballot box.

I had never noticed that - Obama’s likeness to Bill Clinton.

Q: She tried to define Obama, saying that he lacked experience and that his oratory was “just words.”

A: And if he were a less charismatic speaker, those stories may have worked. But once Obama got on his game, I don’t think he was beatable by anybody.

Criticism does exist - this Facebook group entitled “Every clueless person I know likes Obama” amassed an impressive gallery of anti-Obama political cartoons, for example. People worry that Barack is all talk, but it feels sort of nice to hear the Mr. Rogers-style affirmation “Yes, we can,” over and over again, doesn’t it? It’s a clever slogan on Senator Obama’s part, because how does one argue with it?

Senator Clinton: Actually, no, we can’t.

So, I’m finally caught up on Season Ten of America’s Next (Tenth-) Top Model, and I’m actually feeling a little guilt as to how much I am enjoying it.

Not just because it’s saccharine-sweet and all about Tyra and a celebration of superficiality and excess. What got to me this time was the exploitation of young girls’ difficult pasts, especially their sexual pasts. Take a few discussions from the very first time the contestants met with the judges:

Dominique: There’s so many people who know what I been through.

Tyra: Okay, you tell me what you’ve been through.

Dominiqe: I’ve been through an abusive relationship with a man who was very physically and emotionally abusive to me.

Or the Somalian beauty…

Tyra: You’ve gone through a very controversial rite of passage.

Fatima (crying): When I was seven years old I was circumcised…female genital mutilation is removing the entire clitoris and sewing the two labia together.

Then there was Marvita, the poor girl they cut in the last few minutes of Season Nine, Episode One, after asking her to talk about her experiences of rape, abuse and homelessness for the camera…and for the world.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about our voyeuristic schadenfreude in watching The Moment of Truth. The girls of ANTM are putting themselves through similarly uncomfortable rounds of Truth or Dare, but for them it’s a tactic to stay in the game - and not directly related to game’s objective, which is to become the best runway and high-fashion model possible.

If a gorgeous 5′11″ beanpole strode into Elite Model Management, no one would stop to ask her what she’d overcome in her past. Maybe this has something to do with putting these impossibly good-looking women back into place in our minds - “Yeah, she may be taller and prettier than me, but at least I never put up with an abusive boyfriend.”