Listen
In 1979, the height of the punk rock era, behavioral scientists at the University of Maryland conducted a six week study on how certain music triggers parts of the brain associated with psychosis and violence. Instead of searching for a connection between violent lyrics and real life violence like many others who feared for the budding generation, they focused more on subconscious factors such as tones and frequencies. After hours of tireless work, their efforts payed off. Scientifically speaking, they had created the most rage-inducing song known to mankind. The professors decided to test it on their unruly students, many of them part of the punk craze. They played the music quietly through the air vents in the students’ living quarters while they slept. The symptoms were different for everyone but all similar to common illnesses such as migraine headaches and irritability, but a storm was brewing. The sick students were confined to one large room to keep it from spreading. The professors moved the tapes to the air vents towards that room. Considering how far away the room was, they increased the volume. Blurred vision turned to terrifying hallucinations and irritability turned to gruesome violence. Tensions rose until all of the sudden, everybody snapped simultaneously. The dorm tenants heard screaming and rushed upstairs to find students clawing each other’s eyes in hopes of stopping these hallucinations. Whether it was by suicide or murder, not one person in that room made it out alive. The following is the track that caused it all. Listen at your own risk.
Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences
By a long means the best-selling introduction to knowledge for school kids in the behavioral and social sciences, this text saunters to offer straightforward instruction, accuracy, built-in learning helps, and real-world cases. The goal of STATISTICS FOR THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES, 8th Edition is to no lengthyer best teach the tactics of information, however moreover to convey the fundamental rules of objectivity and excellent judgment which can be crucial for science and treasured in everyday lifestyles. Authors Frederick Gravetter and Larry Wallnau assist students be mindful statistical processs through a conceptual context that explains why the processs were advanced and after they must be used. Students have a lot of alternatives to practice statistical meanss by means of Learning Checks, instances, step-by-step Demonstrations, and that issues. A strong ancillary bundle embodys PowerLecture™, which accommodates lecture slides, JoinIn™ Student Response System content, and a computerized check bank; Enhanced WebAssign, a complete and straightforward-to-use homework administration system; WebTutor™; an Instructor’s Manual/TestBank, plus other on-line and print useful resources..Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences
Research? What's Research?
blog.petermcgraw.orgAll of us who are social psychologists have faced that blank stare that often comes when we try to explain to non-academics what we do as researchers. Indeed, I suspect all academics face problems of this sort, whether in the behavioral and social sciences, the natural sciences, the humanities, or elsewhere in the academy.
My buddy Pete McGraw just reblogged Sanjay Srivastava’s blog post on the subject. (Sanjay is author of The Hardest Science.) It’s a quick read and worth passing on to Grandma—unless Grandma is herself a social psychologist.
How To Get What You Want
First, The Science
Behavioral Science research states that any action you perform for someone else creates a “debt” in that person’s subconscious and, at least in aggregate, that person will feel compelled to pay you back in some way.
For example, do you remember the last time someone offered to buy your coffee at Starbucks or give you a piece of gum? Were you left with a good feeling about that person, and did you feel, even in a very small way, some sense of connection with that person?
What about when someone brought bagels, cookies, or donuts to your office for no reason? What did you think about that person afterwards?
Now, How To Get What You Want
So, the way to create this “debt” in someone else’s subconscious is to do something of value for him/her. So think about what you want, who you want it from, and what the person would value. Maybe it’s something minor like giving someone an extra pen or maybe it’s a bigger item like helping someone get a job. Whatever it is, make it happen, and keep making it happen. And not just for one person, for many people.
The next time you bring cookies to the office, watch the reaction on people’s faces. I’m guessing there will be more than a couple smiles.
Extra Credit
You unlock the gold star if you end up doing something completely selfless that doesn’t provide any benefit to you. Try introducing two people in a business or romantic setting.
The payoff won’t be immediate, but if you keep doing it, it should pay you back 10-fold.
The best part? You may just fall in love with the feeling of giving :)
Doctor's Take Chances When People Might Die, But Not When People Might Live
Mmm, can you smell that? That fragrance wafting under your nose is good old fashioned behavioral decision making, just like mom used to make it.
Let’s compare two hypothetical situations, both posed to a group of doctors (via a New Yorker article:
The U.S. is preparing for the outbreak of an unusual Asian disease, which is expected to kill 600 people. Two alternative programs to combat the disease have been proposed. If program A is adopted, 200 people will be saved. If program B is adopted, there is a one-third probability that 600 people will be saved and a two-thirds probability that no people will be saved. Which of the two programs would you favor?
You likely chose the same as the doctors, namely program A because you’re risk-averse. But if you thought rationally, you’d realize, as My Cousin Vinny so eloquently put it, “It’s a bullshit question”. That’s right, Marissa, they’re mathematically equivalent.
Now, on to the next example:
The U.S. is preparing for the outbreak of an unusual Asian disease, which is expected to kill 600 people. Two alternative programs to combat the disease have been proposed. If program C is adopted, 400 people will die. If program D is adopted, there is a one-third probability that nobody will die and a two-thirds probability that 600 people will die. Which of the two programs would you favor?
Again, they’re mathematically equivalent, but this time doctors chose program D.
So what does this say about human behavior? Well, we’re all still cavemen, as much as we try to suit it up and surround ourselves with books, we’re driven utterly by emotion, fear being the strongest.
Don’t believe me? When’s the last time you took a risk? A BIG risk? Maybe it’s talking back to your boss and standing up for what you believe in, maybe it’s quitting your job because you hate it. Or maybe it’s just going up to that guy/girl you find attractive and striking up a conversation.
Regardless, more often than not you don’t take that risk because fear motivates you more than a rational assessment of the situation (“oh. my. god. what will they think of me if I fail…”).
As Mr. Jobs said, “Don’t be trapped by dogma.”
Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences
By a prolonged methodology the highest-selling introduction to data for school students within the behavioral and group sciences, this freshsletter continues to offer easy guide, accuracy, built-in studying assists, and real-world examples. The function of STATISTICS FOR THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES, eighth Edition is to no longer perfect teach the tactics of information, however additionally to ship the fundamental ideas of objectivity and good judgment which might be essential for science and valuable in on a typical basis existence. Authors Frederick Gravetter and Larry Wallnau help scholars take note statistical procedures via a conceptual context that give an evidence fors why the processs have been advanced and once they will should be applyd. Students have a number of choices to apply statistical techniques via Learning Checks, cases, step-by-step Demonstrations, and that issues. A robust ancillary bundle embodys PowerLecture™, which accommodates lecture slides, JoinIn™ Student Response System content material, and a computerized check bank; Enhanced WebAssign, a whole and simple-to-use homework administration system; WebTutor™; an Instructor’s Manual/TestBank, plus other on-line and print helpful resources..Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences
American Academy of Forensic Sciences 64th Annual Meeting
aafs.org“Worldwide forensic research in action will be presented during the AAFS 64th Annual Meeting’s “Interdisciplinary Symposium” in Atlanta, GA. Preeminent forensic research scientists from ten countries will be represented. Attendees will hear from the members representing the diverse disciplines: Toxicology in Sweden; Questioned Documents in Canada; Psychiatry & Behavioral Science in Germany; Physical Anthropology in Korea; Odontology in Belgium; Digital & Multimedia Sciences in the Netherlands; Pathology/Biology in Portugal; General in Switzerland; Jurisprudence in Bosnia/Herzegovina; Criminalistics from ICITAP; and Engineering from the United States. This symposium is the stuff of which legends are made!”
February 20th - 25th in Atlanta, GA
