The Psych Student

"A Plenitude of Paths" by FeatheredTar postd on Flickr with a Creative Commons use license.

According to biologist Anthony Cashmore’s theory on human behavior, there was no way I wasn’t going to write this blog post. Taking his work to its logical conclusion, it was environmentally and biologically predetermined that I was going to write this sentence and choose these words to do it. When I pause here and there to think about which word expression to use, I’m actually experiencing the illusion of free will. Really? Read the rest of this entry »

WTO protests in Seattle, November 30, 1999. Photo by djbones via flickr.

I decided to go with a somewhat smug and overbearing headline for this post on purpose since I think a lot of people tend to look at activists as sort of self-righteous, arrogant pricks. I like to sprinkle a modest amount self deprecating humor here and there. After all, aside from being a dad, a hubby, a full-time wage slave, a borderline obsessive technophile, bookworm and caffeine junky, I’m also an activist, usually interested in the human rights end of things. I coordinate The Committee to Protect Bloggers, am working on a crisis map in Farsi for the Iranian reform movement and run with folks in the International Solidarity Movement among other pursuits. Why would anyone engage in all this stuff instead of just getting a good night’s rest or playing more video games?

A while back I came across news about a study by by Tim Kasser and Malte Klar, entitled “Some Benefits of Being an Activist: Measuring Activism and Its Role in Psychological Well-Being.” I bookmarked the item and several related articles as potential fodder for this blog, but I was also particularly interested in getting some insight into possibly my own motivations for “getting involved.” Read the rest of this entry »

"Free Goth Baby Belladonna" by Pink Sherbet Photography

If depression is a disorder, then doing away with it should improve people’s lives. But what if doing away with it actually had a ruinous effect?

Scientists Paul Andrew and Anderson Thomson, Jr. have research that suggests depression is a trait that the species, and individuals, would not do so well without.

I’m interested in this as it points to something I think needs addressing in our culture where constant happiness is often seen as the gold standard of wellbeing. Sometimes we just need to be depressed.

Obviously a constant state of depression isn’t healthy. That statement doesn’t seem to warrant much debate. But what about those that are taking the Monty Python song “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” a bit too literally? Couldn’t it be true that an ostensibly happy outlook is also an extreme situation that could signify a disorder? Read the rest of this entry »

"Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?" by Martha K

Yes, this post’s title was part of a cheesy song lyric from way back when and has been the subject of at least one creepy pop tune by Sting, but it’s also the subject of recent research at Birmingham University who, according to Guardian education writer Michele Hanson, “found that teachers’ pets are more common in England than in other countries.”

I think, more accurately, it showed more English students felt that way, but maybe their’s a convincing reason why they should that’s worth exploring.

Having attended all my schooling thus far (Psych classes start in October) in the U.S., I found this assertion a little dubious. But not having yet seen the actual research, I’m also a little sceptical of how it might be portrayed in this article. I’ve also been a newsroom staffer and remember how frustratingly the news industry almost by its very nature over-simplifies academic research in order to make intriguing headlines. Read the rest of this entry »

One of my usual blog stops Lifehacker has a post on research that indicates that positive self talk can actually lead to lower self esteem, which, if confirmed, threatens the vast majority of the self-help publishing industry.

The mention points to this piece at Time, which says: “A study (The Link requires a special log in to read, a practice this blog takes an editorial stance against.) just published in the journal Psychological Science says trying to get people to think more positively can actually have the opposite effect: it can simply highlight how unhappy they are.”

In reference to this, anyone with a 1990s memory or popular American TV will have to recall one of Al Franken’s better characters from Saturday Night Live, Stuart Smalley, the self-affirmation obsessed 12-stepper who invariably ended up hating himself at some point in each skit.

The study, Positive Self-Statements: Power for Some, Peril for Others has gone on to be widely reported. Read the rest of this entry »