# Question
Title: Psychopaths' Response to Expected Losses?
It has been observed that psychopaths will accept positive expected values past some sort of notion of risk aversion by non-psychopaths.

Are there any observations of psychopaths' responses to negative expected values? The quoted study's only valid if it shows that psychopaths respond properly to expected losses.

> Shiv, B., Loewenstein, G., Bechara, A., Damasio, H., & Damasio, A. R. (2005). Investment behavior and the negative side of emotion. Psychological Science, 16(6), 435-439.

# Answer
I do not normally respond negatively about a cited study. This study you have cited is rather glib and very flawed. It could be a better evaluation of a person's mathematical ability as opposed to:

> Fear seemed to play a large role in risk-avoidance behavior of the normal participants.

The other flaw in this study, is to even attempt to correlate giving subjects the money (as it is no personal loss) and using a rather trivial amount, $20.

Any person with a basic understanding of mathematics, would know that the odds were in favor to betting each time. This cannot be compared to real life risk aversion, where there are unknown risks associated with return, and the financial investment is far greater (as it is coming from the individual's pocket).

My views are supported by the following study In fact the results could be accounted by this study Mathematical-Verbal Ability Differentials and Somatic Expressions of Situational Anxiety.

**Are there any observations of psychopaths' responses to negative expected values?**

The following study would demonstrate that on an emotional level, a person with clinical psychopathy would have no response to negative expected values, but the cognitive (purely intellectual) awareness of negative expected values would be intact. This could play out in many ways given the circumstances, as life itself is never so clear cut.

Suffice to say, if it involves the fear of harming another of self harm, this would not be consideration for average psychopath.

> CONTEXT: Psychopaths belong to a larger group of persons with antisocial personality disorder and are characterized by an inability to have emotional involvement and by the repeated violation of the rights of others. It was hypothesized that this behavior might be the consequence of deficient fear conditioning.
>
> OBJECTIVE: To study the cerebral, peripheral, and subjective correlates of fear conditioning in criminal psychopaths and healthy control subjects.
>
> RESULTS: The healthy controls showed enhanced differential activation in the limbic-prefrontal circuit (amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex, insula, and anterior cingulate) during the acquisition of fear and successful verbal and autonomic conditioning. The psychopaths displayed no significant activity in this circuit and failed to show conditioned skin conductance and emotional valence ratings, although contingency and arousal ratings were normal.
>
> CONCLUSION: This dissociation of emotional and cognitive processing may be the neural basis of the lack of anticipation of aversive events in criminal psychopaths.

Deficient fear conditioning in psychopathy: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

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I do not see how you have made the following deduction:
*The quoted study's only valid if it shows that psychopaths respond properly to expected losses.*

Mathematical-Verbal Ability Differentials and Somatic Expressions of Situational Anxiety
Robert L. Milliken and Bernard Spilka
The Journal of Experimental Education
Vol. 31, No. 1 (Sep., 1962), pp. 3-26
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20156598

Deficient fear conditioning in psychopathy: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study.
Birbaumer N, Veit R, Lotze M, Erb M, Hermann C, Grodd W, Flor H.
Source
Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology and Section of Experimental Resonance Imaging of the CNS,
Department of Neuroradiology,
University of Tübingen,
Tübingen, Germany.
> 1 votes

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Tags: abnormal-psychology, decision-making
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# Question
Title: Is the desire to impress others a major goal?
Is the desire to impress others a goal of everyone?

Does a person get a job, go to the gym, etc., to signal worthiness of another person's approval?

# Answer
In their classic work, Crowne and Marlowe (1964) conceived of a new psychological construct, the "need for approval". Approval motivation (as it is also called), while present or absent in varying degree in different individuals, is based on the common fundamental human need "to form and maintain strong, stable interpersonal relationships", the "need to belong" (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). Individuals with a high need for approval behave in a way that they perceive to be socially desirable, with the intention to be accepted into a group or culture and not rejected.

Approval motivation is measured with the Marlowe-Crowne scale that consists of 18 items that, Crowne remembers (1991), seemed so extreme to the two researchers, "that few people could agree to them. But if they did, we thought, their endorsement would have to reflect a potent motive to respond in a socially desirable manner." One sample item is: "No matter who I'm talking to, I'm always a good listener." Note the modifier "always".

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Sources:
> 7 votes

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Tags: cognitive-psychology, social-psychology, motivation
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# Question
Title: Does chewing gum mentally help basketball players make foul shots?
I often see basketball players chew gum while making foul shots.

Does this help in their accuracy?
Any embodied cognitive explanation for this?

# Answer
Chewing gum increases heart rate and blood pressure through muscular exercise (Farella, Bakke, Michelotti, Marotta & Martina, 1999) and enhances mental performance through improved delivery of glucose to the brain (Stephens & Tunney, 2004).

I could not find any references to embodiment playing a role in the effects of chewing.

---

Sources:

* Farella, M., Bakke, M., Michelotti, A., Marotta, G., & Martina, R. (1999). Cardiovascular responses in humans to experimental chewing of gums of different consistencies. *Archives of Oral Biology, 44*, 835-842.
* Stephens, R., & Tunney, R. J. (2004). Role of glucose in chewing gum-related facilitation of cognitive function. *Appetite, 43*, 211-213.
> 8 votes

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Tags: sport-psychology
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# Question
Title: Does the person's walking say anything about the person's cognition?
This afternoon I've been observing people at a local park and came up with some observations that lead me to this question:

**Can the person's gait (manner of walking) say something about the person's internal experience at that moment?** I'm thinking of arousal and cognition.

For example: Have you ever seen a **businessman** or an office worker walk? **They walk with a purpose**, quite energetically with the body slightly inclined forward. Is it feasible to say that when such walk is observed, the person is going somewhere, and may be tense?

A **child** may be running around with arms in the air, along an irregular path. Can it be said that such child is energetic and excited at that moment?

Two **elderly** people may walk very differently. One couple walks at a regular pace of 3-4mph, while another couple may push one foot in front of the other at 0.5 mph. Can this tell us anything about the differences in the mental activity that takes place within these people?

A person may be **strolling slowly** at \<1mph, observing the environment. Can it be said that such person is calm?

It appears to me that in the examples above, the person's mood/demeanor and motion are connected.

**I'm interested if there's really any correlation between how a person appears outwardly and how the person feels?** In other words, if one is tense and feels pressed for time, would one start to "walk with a purpose", as opposed to strolling casually?

Thank you for your input.

# Answer
In terms of answering this question I will address the one final question;
**I'm interested if there's really any correlation between how a person appears outwardly and how the person feels?**

A commonsense answer to this question without any scientific research is; Yes. All animals have non-verbal communication. Much of human communication is based on non-verbal factors. We ca interpret if someone is hostile, and unapproachable, or if someone is happy; from facial expression and body movements. A person's health and vitality is reflected in posture and gait.

Now scientifically:
There is correlation between how a person appears outwardly and how the person feels.
This question overlaps with interpreting body language and mood.

In terms of gait:
There is extensive research on the effect of a person's mood on gait. The studies I have listed below cover aspects of normal gait, and how gait is analysed, to the effects of mood on gait.

I have quoted from the article mentioned by Jeff in the comments.

> The authors examined the relationship between cognition and gait velocity, performed with and without interference, in elderly participants. Neuropsychological test scores from 186 cognitively normal elders were submitted to factor analysis that yielded 3 factors: Verbal IQ, Speed/Executive Attention, and Memory. Regression analyses revealed that these factors were signiﬁcant predictors of variance in gait velocity, but the relationship varied as a function of task condition. All 3 factors predicted gait velocity without interference. However, the Speed/Executive Attention and Memory factors but not Verbal IQ predicted gait velocity in the interference condition. These ﬁndings suggest that gait velocity and cognitive function may have both shared and independent brain substrates. Future studies should explore gait velocity and cognitive function as predictors of dementia and falls.

Gait
Mansfield, P.J., Newmann, D.A., (2009), Essentials of Kinesiology for the Physical Therapist Assistant, Mosby: St. Louis, MO.

Psychosom Med. 2009 Jun;71(5):580-7. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0b013e3181a2515c. Epub 2009 May 4. Embodiment of sadness and depression--gait patterns associated with dysphoric mood. Michalak J, Troje NF, Fischer J, Vollmar P, Heidenreich T, Schulte D.

Can J Psychiatry. 1987 Apr;32(3):190-3. Mood, depressive illness and gait patterns. Sloman L, Pierrynowski M, Berridge M, Tupling S, Flowers J.

Neuropsychology Copyright 2006 by the American Psychological Association 2006, Vol. 20, No. 2, DOI: 10.1037/0894-4105.20.2.215
Cognitive Processes Related to Gait Velocity: Results From the Einstein Aging Study
Roee Holtzer, Joe Verghese, Xiaonan Xue, and Richard B. Lipton Yeshiva University
> 2 votes

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Tags: cognitive-psychology, motor
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# Question
Title: Gaining and maintaining viewer sympathy for an anti-social protagonist
The show "Breaking Bad" is about:

> A struggling chemistry teacher turns to a life of crime with the aim of providing for his family's future.

The protagonist of this show is meant to be sympathized during the beginning of the show. During that later parts of the show, the main character commits atrocious acts. Yet viewers still sympathize with him.

Why is this?
Is it because it is a TV show and not real life?

# Answer
In a world where the Wealthy \[are perceived to\] abuse the Poor and Middle class, it is easy to subconsciously maintain sympathy for a 'honest' (passion to teach kids) and 'intelligent' (chem. teacher) person when they perform crime that it characterized in the 'Robin Hood' style.

I've never seen the show and so I'm sure that there are metaphors that make things more hazy than this, but these are broad societal themes in U.S. culture.
> 2 votes

# Answer
**Overview:**

Let's assume that the writer's intend the viewer to remain sympathetic with the main character. (I have not seen this show)

> When chemistry teacher, Walter White, is diagnosed with Stage III cancer and given only two years to live, he decides he has nothing to lose. He lives with his wife and teenage son, who has cerebral palsy, in New Mexico. Determined to ensure that his family will have a secure future, White embarks on a career of drugs and crime. He proves to be remarkably proficient in this new world as he begins manufacturing and selling methamphetamine with one of his former students. The series tracks the impacts of a fatal diagnosis on a regular hard working man and explores how a fatal diagnosis affects his morality and transforms him into a major player of the drug trade.

Another show which is also transgresses the social norm is Dexter. A show about a likeable serial killer. As he is killing villains who have escaped justice, he is a perverse hero; righting the wrongs within the legal system... (a problem for those countries and states which are anti-death penalty). This aside, the show presents the lowest of the low and evokes in the viewer a desire for revenge and the relief that there is a way to remove undesirables from our society; in doing so increasing our and our loved ones' safety.

> Is it because it is a TV show and not real life?

**Difference between TV and reality:**

I can say, uncategorically, that within the context of *real life* these people would not be regarded as likeable.

As for the serial killer; real life doesn't give us black and white scenarios as the show does.

> Why is this?

Fiction removes the factor's from the situation that cause an average person to lose sympathy for a person committing atrocities.

As for the show Breaking Bad, plays on the hard luck story of this man and his lofty plight to provide for his family. Yet, in reality he is destroying and damaging a huge number of lives. My guess (understanding human psychology and hollywood) is that the show would objectify or dehumanise the main character's victims and instead focus on the "greater good" that he is serving and his internal struggle.

Fiction carves reality out of the situation.

When confronted with the reality of a situation the feelings invoked in the viewer are very different.

See this Real life news story for an example of the real life consequences of methlabs.

**Warning: graphic images** Children are the silent and small victims of skyrocketing number of home meth labs

**Warning: graphic images** An image of a the teeth of a crystal meth addict with meth mouth.

# Creating a sympathetic protagonist is an artform:

Your Hero: Top Ten Rules (Expanded)
List key features a writer needs to use to create a sympathetic protagonist needs. There is a basic agreement about the features a sympathetic protagonist needs to succeed within the writing world (any google search will show this).

Playing the Viewer like an Organ: Norman Bates as the Protagonist of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho

> Psycho is a film where the director intentionally and obviously manipulates the audience. In fact, Alfred Hitchcock took pride in his manipulation of the viewing audience, remarking in an interview, “You might say I was playing them, like an organ,” (Truffaut 269). Hitchcock’s main intention in manipulating the audience throughout the film is to make us complicit in the actions of Norman Bates.
>
> The central shift of protagonist in Psycho is mostly an unconscious one. By the time Marion Crane prepares to take a shower, the narrative has already begun to follow Norman as much as Marion; after Marion leaves the parlor, we see Norman go up to the mansion and sit at the dinner table, waiting. We are unaware of the shift until Marion’s narrative is abruptly and radically ended by her death in the shower. By that point, the film belongs to Norman and Hitchcock is careful to make us root for him.

It would seem that evoking audience sympathy with an "anti-social" protagonist, is an artform and the key to seeing why it is effective onscreen and not in real life lies, with an inspection of the key features writer's use to evoke feelings of empathy, maintain an audience bond with the character, by creating internal conflict, a heroic fighter, with care not to cross boundaries that will evoke revulsion in the viewer.

The question and answers at Sympathetic portrayal of an evil protagonist with good motivations explain this in more detail.

Breaking Bad IMDB
> 0 votes

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Tags: social-psychology, emotion
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# Question
Title: The comfort and appeal of vintage objects?
The vintage culture has grown very large in the last 10 years, with all sorts of collectables from furniture, to homes, to old signs and toys. Just watch the show "American Pickers" to get an idea of this subculture.

The nostalgia and style of the vintage subculture seems to create some sort of feeling that is very pleasant/euphoric.

Especially during times of increased stress, high levels of psychological pressure and/or life struggle - the vintage objects seem to provide some sort of comfort for the individual (as I have also witnessed this in myself and observed in others).

Are there any studies that look into this phenomenon and what are some of it predominant findings?

# Answer
> 4 votes
A long time ago nostalgia was a medical diagnosis. Longing for that which was comforting is perhaps a natural response to no longer being comforted (e.g the current economic crisis). Furthermore, behavioural economics and psychology both do work on people's tendency to remember the past better than today. You could look at the ego-centric memory bias. (you might note the false consensus effect which is related and the cause of many a belief in an erroneous "common sense").

If you combine these you might just see why the vintage is appealing. In fact, even beyond one's own experience there is the lore of the past being better passed down from generation through generation by way of the ego-centric bias, perhaps making older vintage even more appealing. I remember Twain and others writing on this but cannot recall a quote.

Finally, I'm sure that some vintage things are often just lovely on their own and have an appeal of artistry different from modern for a variety of reasons.

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Tags: emotion, memory
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# Question
Title: How can experimental compliance (willingness of participants to participate) be measured?
I would like to have a measure for how willing and eager participants were during an experiment. I have the intuition that their eagerness to comply will profoundly alter results of psychological and even psychophysiological experiments, but I lack a good way of experimentally quantifying this.

As a seed, one way would simply be to ask them following the experiment, another may be to include trick questions with an obvious but incorrect response - this would however tend to conflate willingness with attention.

Any suggestions very welcome.

# Answer
You might look for examples in the Witt, Donnellan & Orlando (2011). They tested subject motivation in a psychology subject pool to see how it varied among groups. There may be follow up studies. Looking through similar studies will give you an idea of the kinds of things people use to assess. This is not a standardized line of research (yet).

Witt, E. A., Donnellan, M. B., & Orlando, M. J. (2011). Timing and selection effects within a psychology subject pool: Personality and sex matter. Personality and Individual Differences, 50, 355-359. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2010.10.019
> 8 votes

# Answer
A method that could help increase both experimental compliance as well as quantify it could be as follows:

* Take a quiz to measure subjects' self-perceived levels of obedience
* Perform experiment normally
* Take another test to measure current self-perceived levels of obedience

Although the initial test may significantly alter levels of compliance as questions on obedience will prime subjects' to be more compliant, the initial data, if looked at with the post experiment tests results, will give an accurate picture.

### Why two tests?

The first would help in measuring their attitudes towards authority and general obedience that they believe, they hold. This may be highly inaccurate as has been observed in many experiments, most famously the Milgram Experiment, where less than 10% of the subjects were able to correctly predict how far they would go.

The second one would be a measure of actual behavior during the experiment. The results of both can be interpreted as follows:

* If the attitudes and behavior did not match, that is, subjects first rated themselves as obedient but were less than compliant during the experiment, then they would be experiencing cognitive dissonance in the post-condition test. Hence, their second results would be higher and incorrect. In fact, their actual levels of compliance would probably have been even lower than initially predicted by them.
* If attitudes and behavior match, then the post-experiment results could either be the same, or slightly lower than the pre-experiment results depending on the individual.

+ If they are the same, then the individual complied to the fullest extent possible with experimenter.
    + If lesser, then the subject complied with the experimenter to the maximum extent (s)he could justify to himself.

In either of these cases, the real measures of compliance would be the results of the second test.

### What to test?

The tests should contain questions which are indirect and mixed with other questions. These should be asking about general situational obedience such as when being stopped by a cop, or being approached by a formally dressed executive in a company office.

The post-condition test could be more direct and ask specifically about the test.

Lastly, this would be most effective for experiments which involve an experimenter actively conducting it, thereby creating the maximum chances of dissonance in individuals who did not fully comply. This would allow for most accurate result collection.
> 5 votes

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Tags: measurement, experimental-psychology
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# Question
Title: What causes lack of energy? The relative importance of testosterone versus emotional, genetic, and environmental factors
Some people assume that males lack of energy because of low testosterone. I would think that lack of energy could be due to esteem levels, emotional abuse, low self-worth, and even genetics to some point.

**What is the relative importance of testosterone versus environmental, genetic, and emotional problems in causing lack of energy?**

# Answer
> 6 votes
This question hits home for me quite a bit. But, I'd have to say about half or more of the population has energy problems otherwise people wouldn't be chugging coffee.

I'll simply cite my own anecdotal experience with this as I've tried so, so many things to increase my energy levels - one of them being testosterone.

I tested relatively low (not that low though - I believe 300-500 mg/dl if that's the measurement) for testosterone from a blood test which I had done out of curiosity. So I went to an open minded (later realized VERY open minded) endocrinologist in the area and after some discussion he prescribed me testosterone propionate, which hits you in about 3-4 days time. It was a very strong dose and worked very quickly. It's pretty much the quickest way to artificially get testosterone into your body via intramuscular injection - I believe. I guess we came to the agreement that we may as well see if it helps or not as quick as possible - won't hurt anything....

So I took it. For about 4 weeks. I actually didn't feel any different energy wise, "masculine" wise, feel any angrier, feel any increase in libido, or actually feel anything from it whatsoever. The only things that happened were:

1) I gained a ton of water weight - which went away when I stopped. It was about 30 pounds worth. Probably a mixture of muscle and water actually.
2) I had a puffy face for a few months.
3) My bench went up by about 30 pounds in 2 weeks which was pretty cool. This obviously went away afterwards though. (I wasn't really trying that hard to get ripped...just do an experiment).
4) That's about it.

Now, you may question if you had the real stuff just as I did. Well, my bench obviously went up and I was gaining water weight....but here's the stranger part:

As my finances were horrible at that time I couldn't see the endocrinologist again - and really he had given me the most powerful testosterone treatment possible. I'm not sure how he got away with it. I managed to snag one of those at home saliva tests that you freeze and Fedex next day to a lab though. Just cause I wanted to see what my results would be.

The lab must have made a mistake or something - but **the lab literally came back with a report that my testosterone levels were ~"50,000 mg/dl."** This would be about a 100 fold increase in my testosterone levels. The funniest part was at the bottom of the report it just had a generic line saying to "seek the advice of an endocrinologist." I think that's like the lethal dose of testosterone, lol.

Regardless, you'd have to admit I did have alot of testosterone in my body, even if it wasn't that much. After that though, if I was presumably "HE MAN" and I didn't have more energy or feel much different I didn't see a point.

I didn't really follow up with it much after that. Nor did I have the money to see that endocrinologist again.

Also there's ALOT more factors than the ones you listed like motivation, nutrition, length of sleep, depth of sleep, dopamine as well as several other chemicals in your brain, etc...

In this example though, keep in mind the n=1, and someone else may respond completely differently.

I think someone wanted studies. I found some interesting ones....

> **Beyond masculinity: Testosterone, gender/sex, and human social behavior in a comparative context.** van Anders SM. Source Departments of Psychology & Women's Studies, Programs in Neuroscience, Reproductive Sciences, and Science, Technology, & Society, University of Michigan, USA. Electronic address: smva@umich.edu. Front Neuroendocrinol. 2013 Aug;34(3):198-210. doi: 10.1016/j.yfrne.2013.07.001. Epub 2013 Jul 16.
> Abstract
> *Largely based on pre-theory that ties high testosterone (T) to masculinity, and low T to femininity, high T is mainly studied in relation to aggression, mating, sexuality, and challenge, and low T with parenting.* **Evidence, however, fails to support this, and the social variability in T is better accounted for by a competition-nurturance trade-off as per the Steroid/Peptide Theory of Social Bonds (van Anders et al., 2011).** Four key domains are discussed: adult-infant interactions, sexual desire, sexual behavior, and partnering. Empirical engagements with gender/sex are shown to lead to important insights over assumptions about masculinity-femininity. Humans are discussed within a comparative framework that attends to cross-species principles informed by human insights alongside human-specific particularities like social constructions, which are critical to evolutionary understandings of the social role of T. This paper thus integrates seemingly orthogonal perspectives to allow for transformative approaches to an empirically-supported social phenomenology of T.

Now in this one they are trying to make clear that the levels of testosterone are not the REAL dependent variable, but actually the interaction of it with something they call "competition-nurturance trade-off as per the Steroid/Peptide Theory of Social Bonds". T and this variable could be correlated. I'm not sure yet...so lets go find out what this theory is.

I did find many other studies that just simply relate aggression (and yes I know your question is more about energy), but the problem with them is they tend to admit they're able to flip the x's and the y's. They don't know which influences the other. Does an angry type of person usually take steroids more often? There's alot of questions like those. I can discuss them if you guys want me to, but this is way cooler:

.....and BOOOOOOM.....if you ever wanted to know anything about Testosterone I'd ask van Anders here.

> **The Steroid/Peptide Theory of Social Bonds: integrating testosterone and peptide responses for classifying social behavioral contexts.** van Anders SM, Goldey KL, Kuo PX. Source Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. smva@umich.edu
>
> Hormones, and hormone responses to social contexts, are the proximate mechanisms of evolutionary pathways to pair bonds and other social bonds. Testosterone (T) is implicated in tradeoffs relevant to pair bonding, and oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) are positively tied to social bonding in a variety of species. Here, we present the Steroid/Peptide Theory of Social Bonds (S/P Theory), which integrates T and peptides to provide a model, set of predictions, and classification system for social behavioral contexts related to social bonds. The S/P Theory also resolves several paradoxes apparent in the literature on social bonds and hormones: the Offspring Defense Paradox, Aggression Paradox, and Intimacy Paradox. In the S/P Theory, **we partition aggression into antagonistic and protective aggression, which both increase T but exert distinct effects on AVP** and thus social bonds. Similarly, we partition intimacy into sexual and nurturant intimacy, both of which increase OT and facilitate social bonds, but exert distinct effects on T. We describe the utility of the S/P Theory for **classifying 'tricky' behavioral contexts** on the basis of their hormonal responses using partner cuddling, a behavior which is assumed to be nurturant but increases T, as a test case of the S/P Theory. **The S/P Theory provides a comparative basis for conceptualizing and testing evolved hormonal pathways to pair bonds with attention to species, context, and gender/sex specificities and convergences.**

So it looks like this guy may have even made a formula or algorithm for determining the social outcome - he also mentions several paradoxes that occur with T - ones you'd see in the literature. He also granularly separates things - for instance we he "partitions antagonistic and protective aggression" and also notes the hormonal responses to each situation. Unlike many others, I enjoy how he factors in the other obvious dependent variables instead of just drawing a line that represents, linearly, testosterone = angry. Or, y(whatever it may be) = testosterone\*x

If you go along with this theory then you'd realize that it's not just the testosterone that would make someone angry or even irritable (in fact it may only be an indirect cause) - **it's the relationship between testosterone and other things that cause that or someone to feel a certain way.**

Now I know you are more interested in energy, and that could be applied here, but it also fits right into your question because it essentially says that it is the relationship between those variables that may account for it.

**Sometimes in statistics your "independent" variables don't mean much of anything (if say you're trying to find the best model for a regression) until you realize that the relationship between them (if you can figure it out) has a huge affect on the Y.**

Let me get straight to your question:

> What is the relative importance of testosterone versus environmental, genetic, and emotional problems in causing lack of energy?

-So I obviously have an anecdotal opinion in that it didn't do much for me.

-But, as I stated earlier in the post, I think you are missing a ton of other variables like nutrition, workout habits, relationships, willpower (interesting question - do you choose your own willpower?), how much you like your job, etc. - unless you are lumping those together in environmental, which I feel would cause one's view of their influence to be quite skewed.

-Even though T obviously plays a role in advanced physiological processes in your body just like van Anders talks about, I believe and the research seems to suggest (as well as just general fact) it's importance increases as the amount you have below the mean for your age/gender/genetics decreases. Here's a case study for instance: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11675582

In essence, probably what happened to me was I didn't actually have low T and that's why I didn't feel much different. Even bodybuilders who take that stuff say it's only 10% of the process. I'd imagine the curve to look generally logarithmic in as far as I suppose it making you feel different - and everyone's initial y intercept (if we say there is one) is going to be at a different place. If someone genuinely thinks they're really low, they might be. If so, I recommend asking one's doctor about a "Taal Test." It could do nothing for that person or they could feel alot different - see the link I provided.

It's the same thing with almost any disorder or disease though...the doctors usually just make their best guess and try out a bunch of stuff on you until something sticks. Except, unfortunately, they don't do much research first and are either

> a) persuaded by the patient that is persuaded by big pharma
> b) persuaded directly by big pharma
> c) won't listen to you until you do crazy stuff like bring in research papers like I do sometimes.
> d) have huge egos
> e) even then, when do they have time to do any real updated research?

**Finding a good doctor, in my opinion, is about learning how to heal yourself first.**

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Tags: neuroscience, motivation, well-being, testosterone
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# Question
Title: What factors improve mood and increase cognitive functioning when people wake up?
I'm a software engineer doing some research in order to figure out if developing some applications are worth the effort. This work is applied to computational devices including mobile devices and even smart houses.

I would like to know **when people wake up from sleep**:

* What environmental factors influence us the most?
* What factors, including sites and sounds, improve our mood?
* What factors stimulate cognitive activity?
* Do such factors vary between people?

# Answer
Particulalry short wavelengths (such a UV light) have been shown to suppress melatonin\[1\], a hormone that regulates sleep. The authors also show that:

> All subjects had an elevated cortisol level in the 90 minutes prior to onset of light exposure compared with the corresponding clock time on the previous day

So there's a kind daily memory in the diurnal system. In the case of cortisol, 555 nm (green light) affected hormone levels just as much as UV.

However, if you take people out of the sun cycles, they still maintain very close to the same cycle for some time. Michel Siffre is known for his six-month cave stay (he even kept his rectal temperature). Wiki says after a month, his cycles started to vary from 18-52 hr "days", but I've never seen that data so I can't comment. Lack of sunlight can cause mental instability, so you'd really need more controlled experiments than Siffre provided (I'm sure they're around if one digs, Siffre's work is decades old now).

Biological clocks are dominantly regulated by genetic and proteomic processes, but will take cues from the sun. However, many people can suffer a mental disorders (Seasonal Affective Disorder) from not having enough sun. In Alaska, you can buy a light to treat it during the dark winters. So the sun doesn't need to be there for the rhythm to be there, but the light can mess with the rhythm if it is there..

Other than light intensity and frequency content, sights and sounds probably don't matter much (unless of course, they're loud and wake you up, ruining your sleep schedule). What's probably most important is to have a consistent schedule and not let it get interrupted. Jet lag, interrupted sleep, drugs, alcohol, inconsistent sleeping schedules can all make waking uncomfortable.

It does vary between people. They can have a different genetic regime, but they can also have a different developmental behavior regime and/or a different environmental reigme.

\[1\] Steven W. Lockley, PhD1,2; Erin E. Evans, BS, RPSGT1; Frank A.J.L. Scheer, PhD1,2; George C. Brainard, PhD3; Charles A. Czeisler, PhD, MD1,2; Daniel Aeschbach, PhD. **Short-Wavelength Sensitivity for the Direct Effects of Light on Alertness, Vigilance, and the Waking Electroencephalogram in Humans**. SLEEP, Vol. 29, No. 2, 2006
> 12 votes

# Answer
I've been wanting to share this study with people for a while. In my experience the light thing helps to a degree, but not as much as other concepts - it just depends on what sort of engineer you are I suppose. I think you could somehow creatively fit this into some sort of app or smart house - it depends. It might add some answer to part of your questions. The environmental part? Not so much probably. I'll just present the concept anyway - it involves nutrition.

I've used what this study concludes too and it works. It's essentially just saying "eat protein, have more energy in the morning." I know everyone says that, but I want to cite it.

Overgeneralized Preface: Tyrosine levels in the brain tend to cause the brain to make more dopamine or other types of chemicals, "catechlomines," that give a person energy. Coffee causes more of these to release in your brain. Amphetamines...much more so. Tyrosine is the building-block for these chemicals in your brain though.

Brain levels of tryptophan are the same thing except it will cause your serotonin levels to rise and make you either tired, lazy, or could have any number of affects...but most likely, *in general*, those that are the opposite of the catechlomines.

And thus:

> **Effects of normal meals rich in carbohydrates or proteins on plasma tryptophan and tyrosine ratios.** *Richard J Wurtman, Judith J Wurtman, Meredith M Regan, Janine M McDermott, Rita H Tsay, and Jeff J Breu* \+ Other Author Affiliations. From the Clinical Research Center (RJW, JJW, MMR, JMM, RHT, and JJB) and the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences (RJW), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. Full text here: http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/77/1/128.
> Abstract
> Background: The delivery of circulating tryptophan to the brain and its conversion to serotonin vary directly with plasma concentrations of tryptophan and inversely with those of other large neutral amino acids (LNAAs). Although carbohydrate-rich, protein-free formula diets have been shown to elevate, and high-protein diets to depress, the tryptophan-LNAA ratio, few data are available about this ratio’s responses to actual meals.
> Objective: We determined whether carbohydrate-rich or protein-rich breakfasts, such as those Americans normally eat, produce substantial differences in the plasma tryptophan-LNAA ratio and in the corresponding ratio for tyrosine, the precursor of brain dopamine and norepinephrine.
> Design: Nine overnight-fasted subjects consumed, 3–7 d apart, a carbohydrate-rich (69.9 g carbohydrate and 5.2 g protein) and a protein-rich (15.4 g carbohydrate and 46.8 g protein) breakfast. Blood samples collected at baseline and after 40, 80, 120, and 240 min were assayed for tryptophan, tyrosine, the 5 other LNAAs, and insulin.
> Results: The carbohydrate-rich and protein-rich breakfasts had significantly different effects on both the plasma tryptophan-LNAA and tyrosine-LNAA ratios (each P \< 0.01). Among the 8 subjects who consumed both breakfasts, the median difference for tryptophan:LNAA was 54% (range: 36–88%) and for tyrosine:LNAA was 28% (range: 10–64%). Insulin concentrations rose significantly after the carbohydrate but not after the protein meal.
> **Conclusions: High-carbohydrate and high-protein breakfasts similar to those Americans normally eat can cause substantial differences in the plasma tryptophan ratio and thus, probably, in brain tryptophan concentrations and serotonin synthesis. Such meals also change the plasma tyrosine ratio and may thereby modify catecholamine synthesis.**

As a general summary: if you eat a breakfast with a much higher ratio of protein to carbohydrates then you're likely to have more energy to start your day off with. Whereas if you just eat donuts for breakfast you're much more likely to fall asleep at your desk.

There are many other studies and I believe I really came across a huge one that is a derivative of this work (or vice-versa) that stated the same thing - I just don't have the time to find it although I'm sure if you look around that link at the top of the study you'll find plenty of evidence.

I know this isn't really about light or immediately when a person wakes up, but it may be another factor to consider, potentially.

It gets at the gist of part of your questions though:

> What environmental factors influence us the most? What factors, including sites and sounds, improve our mood? What factors stimulate cognitive activity?

So, food and that ratio is a factor, not so much environmental...
> 7 votes

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Tags: cognitive-psychology, sleep, well-being, positive-psychology, arousal
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# Question
Title: What are the neurobiological triggers for sleepwalking?
This phenomena has always fascinated me, ever since my parents told me (and filmed me) doing exactly that - sleepwalking.

I have read the pamphlet "Sleepwalking" from the Sleep Health Foundation, that lists several possible causes:

> For some people, sleep walking is an inherited condition. For children it may also be related to a stage of development. Not getting enough sleep, having irregular sleep hours, stress, drugs and some medicines increase the risk of sleepwalking. In addition, medical conditions such as sleep apnoea, seizures and fever can contribute to the likelihood of sleepwalking. If you are prone to sleepwalking, then sounds that disturb your sleep can also make you sleepwalk. However, not uncommonly a cause cannot be found.

However, my question is not about the potential causes, but what is/are the neurobiological triggers for sleepwalking?

Specifically, I am after authoritive (non-Wikipedia) explanations from refereed articles.

# Answer
> 5 votes
You know where I'd start if I were you? I'd start looking at the sleep medications that cause people to sleepwalk whom normally don't (or if they already do, it exacerbates it) - such as ambien. What are they doing? How do they work in the brain on a physiological level?

I'm sure there are some studies that directly study the physiology of what is happening in the brain during a sleepwalk, but when it involves a big drug with big pharma behind it - alot more research tends to go into the area.

That will help you put a sturdy frame around the potential answer, then the rest of it is just extrapolating the Y out of when scientists thought X drug caused Y physiological response, which caused Z (sleepwalking). Then you gotta do some reverse engineering.

You'll find there to be no real true answer as the extent of human knowledge only goes so far, but this might be a credible path to start down. Here's a good starting point:

> **Desensitization of GABAergic receptors as a mechanism of zolpidem-induced somnambulism.** Juszczak GR.
> Source Department of Animal Behavior, Institute of Genetics and Animal Breeding, Jastrzebiec, Poland. gjuszczak@yahoo.com
> Med Hypotheses. 2011 Aug;77(2):230-3. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2011.04.019. Epub 2011 May 11. Abstract
> Sleepwalking is a frequently reported side effect of zolpidem which is a short-acting hypnotic drug potentiating activity of GABA(A) receptors. Paradoxically, the most commonly used medications for somnambulism are benzodiazepines, especially clonazepam, which also potentiate activity of GABA(A) receptors. ***It is proposed that zolpidem-induced sleepwalking can be explained by the desensitization of GABAergic receptors located on serotonergic neurons***. ***According to the proposed model, the delay between desensitization of GABA receptors and a compensatory decrease in serotonin release constitutes the time window for parasomnias.*** The occurrence of sleepwalking depends on individual differences in receptor desensitization, autoregulation of serotonin release and drug pharmacokinetics. The proposed mechanism of interaction between GABAergic and serotonergic systems can be also relevant for zolpidem abuse and zolpidem-induced hallucinations. It is therefore suggested that special care should be taken when zolpidem is used in patients taking at the same time selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.
> Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. PMID: 21565448 \[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE\] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21565448

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Tags: neuroscience, sleep
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title: Why would a behaviour effect one sex?

text:
# Question
Title: Why would a behaviour effect one sex?
After reading the article Regular sleeping hours really are good for children—if they are girls I started wondering what would be a good explanation for something such as sleep patterns have an affect on cognition, and specifically higher in girls?

And are their other examples where one sex is influenced at a higher rate?

# Answer
When I first read the article you cited, which was actually just paraphrased from a magazine, I was hoping that the actual researchers would of come up with a hypothesis as to what would of caused this. If you weren't able to find the actual study, all you have to do is just Google the author's name + their University/College and their page will come up with all the research they've ever done. Academics love to do this. And boom the actual study is here: http://jech.bmj.com/content/early/2013/06/25/jech-2012-202024

But they never sought out to at least hypothesize why...which was disheartening. Sometimes you can find a derivative work on the side there too, which may be trying to explain. Doesn't look like it here. Oh well.

Back to your original questions though:

> What would be a good explanation for something such as sleep patterns have an affect on cognition, and specifically higher in girls?

Physiologically and as a general guess: hormones, the subtle differences in the ways that our brains are set up structurally as well as chemically, which could of all been set up by evolution. The true answer is probably expressed as some sort of very subtle mechanism in the brain that we may not find for a very long time - and that mechanism has been put there by evolution. We just don't know why yet. I'm going to halfway guess down below though.

> And are their other examples where one sex is influenced at a higher rate?

I'm sure you can think of a few pretty general stereotypes that are likely true. In general, girls are more influenced by emotion than guys are. In general, guys are more influenced by logic than girls are. I can cite this if you want, but I'm sure you can think of a million examples too.

Do you think that because this study involves cognition, a topic that is usually thought (or maybe just taught) to be independent of gender, that that is completely true? Evolution would mold cognition just like anything else. Cognition is a very vague word to use anyway since there are so many different tests to measure it and so many different sub types of cognition. Admittedly the researcher did a pretty thorough job with her tests, but she didn't do **all** the tests out there.

**As a hypothesis:** Females deal with certain types of stress differently than males do. Evolutionarily, you could hypothesize a milleu of reasons as to why the "females that responded to this stressor this way usually survived" because of x, y, and/or z.

In this case, they may be more susceptible to disturbances in their sleep (causing stress) and thus handle that type of stress differently than males do. The study of the underlying causes of stress for a man or a woman is actually a pretty huge field as they seem to believe (you'll see in my citations or the side citations next to them on pubmed.gov) that chronic stress = depression. It is a widely researched topic because of this.

There is going to be some granularity to this though. Can't make generalizations.

Here's an interesting study some researchers did that showed the males up:

> **Sex differences associated with intermittent swim stress.**
> Warner TA, Libman MK, Wooten KL, Drugan RC. Stress. 2013 Aug 12. Source Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23930864
> Abstract
> Various animal models of depression have been used to seek a greater understanding of stress-related disorders. However, there is still a great need for novel research in this area, as many individuals suffering from depression are resistant to current treatment methods. Moreover, women gave a higher rate of depression, highlighting the need to investigate mechanisms of sex differences. Therefore, we employed a new animal model to assess symptoms of depression, known as intermittent swim stress (ISS). In this model, the animal experiences 100 trials of cold water swim stress. ISS has already been shown to cause signs of behavioral depression in males, but has yet to be assessed in females. Following ISS exposure, we looked at sex differences in the Morris water maze and forced swim test. ***The results indicated a spatial learning effect only in the hidden platform task between male and female controls, and stressed and control males. A consistent spatial memory effect was seen for males exposed to ISS.*** In the forced swim test, both sexes exposed to ISS exhibited greater immobility, and the same males and females also showed attenuated climbing and swimming, respectively. The sex differences could be due to different neural substrates for male and females. The goal of this study was to provide the first behavioral examination of sex differences following ISS exposure, so the stage of estrous cycle was not assessed for the females. This is a necessary future direction for subsequent experiments. The current paper highlights the importance of sex differences in response to stress, which may have bearing on disease mechanisms. PMID: 23930864 \[PubMed - as supplied by publisher\]

So, in that case the males got the blunt of it when having to go through that crazy course. Their "spatial learning" was messed up in comparison to the female's - whose weren't - but just during one specific part of the course.

It's very granular, but still interesting nonetheless.

Here's another interesting one. It actually seeks and does a pretty good job at explaining why females tend to overeat as a coping strategy for certain types of stress. Actually one thing I don't like about this study is how it generalizes the word "stress" instead of the specific "stressor." Regardless, it does quite a good and interesting job explaining the hormonal, physiological reasons why females overeat when they are "stressed" as the paper says.

> **Gender differences in ghrelin response to chronic immobilization stress in rats: possible role of estrogen.** Elbassuoni EA. Source Physiology Department, Minia University School of Medicine, Minia, Egypt. emanelbassuoni@yahoo.com. Gen Physiol Biophys. 2013 Aug 12.
> Abstract
> Ghrelin is a peptidergic hormone known to be one of the main hormones involved in the regulation of energy balance. Here we evaluated ghrelin response to stress in rats after ovariectomy and during estradiol benzoate (EB) therapy and compared results of males and females, *to know whether ghrelin is involved in disordered eating behaviors in response to stress, and for understanding differences between males and females in food intake and weight gain especially during stress.* 96 adult rats were classified into; male, female, ovariectomized (Ovx), Ovx with EB. Half animals of each group were exposed to immobilization stress 20 min/day for 21 days. We found that chronic stress significantly augments serum ghrelin levels in both males and females, which is correlated with an increase in food intake and body weight. ***Females displayed significant higher ghrelin than males especially in response to stress, ovariectomy suppresses serum ghrelin in both unstressed and stressed females which is rescued by replacement with EB. EB replacement augments ghrelin response to stress in Ovx female, and reduces food intake and body weight***. In conclusion, ***there is a clear sex difference in ghrelin secretion in response to stress caused by EB, since it amplifies ghrelin response to stress in females.*** PMID: 23940093 \[PubMed - as supplied by publisher\]

Here is another really juicy and interesting one actually. The abstract is long and translated from French, but I'm going to post and bold it to highlight more instances where X variable affects females more than males or vice versa. By the way, the article was written as this big block...I didn't write it this way. As I began to bold things, they started making all these crazy assumptions which they actually end up proving most of. The french went REALLY in depth here - at least psychologically. So if you're interested in some psychological influencers and the differences between them in men and women this is for you:

> **Girls are more successful than boys at the university. Gender group differences in models integrating motivational and aggressive components correlated with Test-Anxiety.** Masson AM, Hoyois P, Cadot M, Nahama V, Petit F, Ansseau M. Service de Psychiatrie, Université de Liège, Belgique. Encephale. 2004 Jan-Feb;30(1):1-15.
> Abstract
> It is surprising to note the evolution of success rates in Belgian universities especially in the first Year. Men are less successful than women and the differences are escalating in an alarming way. Dropouts take the same direction and women now represent a majority of the students at the university. In a previous study, we assessed 616 students in the first Year at the university of Liège with Vasev, the English name of which was TASTE, a self report questionnaire constituted of 4 factors: anxiety, self confidence, procrastination and performance value; anxiety particularly concerned somatic expression of students before and during test evaluations; self confidence was a cognitive component close to self efficacy; procrastination was the behavioral component characterizing avoidance when students are confronted with the risk of failure; performance value referred to intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. French validation of TASTE led to an abbreviated version of 50 items (THEE) consisting of 5 factors, the four of TASTE and an additional one, very consistent, at first called depression because of its correlations with this dimension, then called sense of competence on account of its semantic content. Self-competence has been described in the literature of Achievement Motivation and corresponded to expectancy and ability beliefs in performance process which was also relevant to self-efficacy except the particularity of comparison with others, which was not included in the last construct. Self-competence has been considered as an important part of the Worry component of test anxiety. Some Authors didn't hesitate to view causality flowing from self-competence to test anxiety and have conceptualized the latter as a failure of the self where one's sense of competence has been undermined as a result of experienced failure. In our study, only that factor was equally scored in women and men whereas it was scored higher in failed students. In other respects **anxiety and performance value were scored higher in women,** **self-confidence and procrastination higher in men*\*. Because TASTE didn't discriminate the different components of motivation (performance value referred to intrinsic and extrinsic motivations without precise distinction) we decided to use the MPS (Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale) which gave the opportunity to distinguish SOP (Self Oriented Perfectionism) ie, the self-imposed unrealistic standards with inability to accept faults in order to know and master a subject, that corresponded to intrinsic motivation; SPP (Socially Prescribed Perfectionism) ie, the exaggerated expectancies of others which are subjectively believed as imposed and uncontrollable leading to anxiety, feelings of failure or helplessness, that corresponded to extrinsic motivation; POO (Perfectionism Oriented to Others) ie, the unrealistic demands expected from significant others, which especially characterized males. ***We assumed (I apologize for the assumptions they start making, lol)*** submitted more to society exigencies.\** ***That way extrinsic and intrinsic motivations were probably more combined unlike men who, dreading a loss of self esteem, tried to avoid failure responsibility in using self handicapping or aggressive behaviours, so separating motivation in an extrinsic part turned to performance value and an intrinsic one more concerned by self confidence and sense of competence with the result that the motivational balance was surely disrupted in case of high competition leading to failure or avoidance.***
>
> In another previous study we established a structural model illustrating, according to gender, correlations between anxiety, sense of incompetence, self-oriented perfectionism and socially prescribed perfectionism. **Self-oriented perfectionism was less correlated to socially prescribed perfectionism in boys than in girls**; furthermore especially by those who had never failed, **it was negatively correlated to sense of incompetence, thus leading to lower scores of anxiety while in girls**, by contrast, such a correlation didn't exist, thus involving higher anxiety. That way, **on the one hand, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations by female students complementarily operated on the sense of incompetence and consequently on anxiety, the emotional component of test anxiety; on the other hand, by male students, intrinsic motivation had a negative correlation with the sense of incompetence and a lower correlation with extrinsic motivation, thereby shedding some light on the problem of anxiety level differences according to gender.** More, that **observation corresponded well to the model of self-worth where test anxiety was understood** as a manifestation of perceived incompetence and as a defensive way to ward off negative self-evaluation; that model suited particularly well to boys and explained their attempts to maintain self-worth when risking academic failure. The present research assumes that independence or combination of motivation components is also correlated to different expressions of aggressiveness: **hostility corresponding to threat and characterizing more girls while physical aggression is corresponding to personal challenge, a more masculine attribution.** **If fighting against the sense of incompetence actually characterizes men and consequently shows too the competitive aspects of performance strong enough to mobilize intrinsic motivation, what would be expected regarding the notion of threat suspected to be predominant in girls?** The idea of using a questionnaire discriminating the specific dimensions of aggressiveness in fact the Aggression Questionnaire should meet the following purposes: At first establish a French version of that aggression questionnaire, perform the factorial analyses and internal consistency, compare them with other previous samples, then differentiate gender in general and in failure versus success situations. Finally include the different components of aggressiveness in the first described model and build a new one liable to define in boys the explicit pathways between test anxiety, perfectionism and aggressiveness. Statistical analyses have confirmed, in a 3 factor solution, the presence of emotional (anger), cognitive (hostility) and behavioural (physical aggression) components. Internal consistency is satisfactory. **It is demonstrated that physical aggression characterizes boys (F=12.04, p=0.0001) while hostility (F=5.22, p=0.0015) and anger (F=0.49, p=0.0001) characterizes girls; furthermore it is noted that physical aggression characterizes more failed students (F=13.43, p=0.0003). Four models (see figures 2, 3, 4, 5) have been established, at first focused on the distinction of correlations between motivation and cognitive and emotional components on the samples of boys (n=268) and girls (348), then developed on the samples of successful students, male (n=193) and female (n=271). They describe the differentiated action of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations on the different components of aggressiveness and test-anxiety according to gender and without experience of failure.** The dynamic process of the organizational factors is different according to gender and psychopathology resulting from the combinations of behaviors, cognitions and emotions would be assumed, prioritizing physical aggression and psychopathy by boys, anxiety and depression by girls. Anyway more explanation about the evolution of success rates of boys and girls in Belgian universities is proposed. PMID: 15029071 \[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE\]

I can't post anymore links cause I don't have enough rep, but if you go to pubmed.gov and search for the title of this article you'll see many many more related ones that I could just keep citing. Anyways hope this helps, I gotta get some work done now, ha.

Alright here is more research:

I have the citation with what I feel is the most relevant sentance(s) in the abstract after scanning them.

> Luine V. **Sex differences in chronic stress effects on memory in rats.** Stress. 2002 Sep;5(3):205-16. Department of Psychology, Hunter College of the City University of New York, NY 10021, USA. vluine@shiva.hunter.cuny.edu
>
> Relevant Sentance: "***Given the same chronic stress--21 days of restraint for 6 h each day--males were impaired in all of the memory tests while females showed enhanced performance of the spatial memory tasks and no changes in object recognition performance.***"
>
> "***recent studies show sexually differentiated cognitive responses to chronic stress and underline the importance of considering the sex/gender of subjects when studying the stress response.***"

> Bowman RE, Beck KD, Luine VN. **Chronic stress effects on memory: sex differences in performance and monoaminergic activity.** Horm Behav. 2003 Jan;43(1):48-59. Department of Psychology, Hunter College of the City University of New York, 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10021, USA. bowmanr@sacredheart.edu
>
> "**stress differentially affected central transmitter levels in the frontal cortex, hippocampus, and amygdala depending on sex**"

> Bowman RE, Micik R, Gautreaux C, Fernandez L, Luine VN. **Sex-dependent changes in anxiety, memory, and monoamines following one week of stress.** Physiol Behav. 2009 Apr 20;97(1):21-9. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2009.01.012. Epub 2009 Jan 22. Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT, United States. bowmanr@sacredheart.edu
>
> "***these sexually dimorphic neurochemical changes following stress may underlie the behavioral differences. Current results show that short-term restraint elicits sex-dependent behavioral and neural changes different from those previously reported for longer term stresses and suggest that the temporal relationship between the change from adaptive to maladaptive responses to stress is shorter in male than female rats.***"

Now you could easily criticize me here and say I either got too many citations from Bowman RE (which I probably did) or that these are all based in rats...and...well...humans arn't rats.

I can find some more human studies that probably map MRI or something, but part of the value you lose is in that you, for instance, can't squirt them full of estrogen or take their ovaries out and say "try again" let's see how you do (feel free to edit that last part out as it kind of grossed me out too).

Each way has it's own advantage/disadvantages.
> 4 votes

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Tags: sleep, sex-differences
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# Question
Title: Why is it that videotaping someone makes him lose his inhibitions?
Why is it that if I videotape somebody, it makes him lose his inhibitions?

# Answer
> 5 votes
Usually, being observed increases someone's self-consciousness and they control their behavior (which is a problem in ethnographic field studies: the presence of the foreign observer changes the behavior of the native subjects). Usually, this leads to more socially acceptable behavior (no public nose picking) and a self-conscious stiffness.

In a private situation, and especially when under the influence of alcohol, being observed might induce someone to decide to behave more excessive, because that is what is expected and socially acceptable in such a situation. Everybody would be quite bored and disappointed, if pointing a camera at someone while on a party or during a holiday outing would *not* lead to those in front of the camera doing funny stuff. So in fact, "losing their inhibitions" in front of the camera is exactly the opposite: conforming to social expectations.

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Tags: social-psychology
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# Question
Title: Is psychotherapy more effective when examining free association speech than writing?
Is there a difference between free association speaking vs free association writing? Is psychotherapy more effective when examining free association speech?

# Answer
Free association is an integral part of depth psychological therapy (such as psychoanalysis), which is still prevalent around the world (e.g. in Germany depth psychological therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy are the only two therapies paid for by health insurance).

The problem with writing would be that it slows down the interactive process between therapist and client. It has been suggested and there is anecdotal evidence that outside of a therapy, free association writing can be a useful tool for self-knowledge. Within a therapy free association is only one part of the methods and its usefulness is dependent on other processes such as transference and countertransference, which need the presence of a therapist.

To my knowledge, there have been no attempts at purely written (e.g. online) depth psychological psychotherapy. I believe such an impersonal setting and slowed down communication would hinder the interpersonal processes and actually the spontaneous workings of the subconscious needed for depth psychological psychotherapy to work.
> 5 votes

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Tags: cognitive-psychology, communication, clinical-psychology, writing
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# Question
Title: What defines the easiest time to get out of bed in the morning for humans?
I'm interested in sleep research, and sometimes in conversations with people the following idea gets discussed: "A person becomes aware at a certain time in the morning and feel great(while still in bed). But the wake up time is later, so that person keeps sleeping and the feeling is gone. It's much harder to get out of bed". The general pattern is that there's a perceived good time to get out of bed, but people oversleep it.

From my understanding, the second part of this statement is caused by sleep inertia, where a person slips into deeper sleep(slow wave sleep SWS) stages. But what about the perceived "perfect wake up time"?

* **What sleep stage or sequence of sleep stages**, if any is associated with this feeling of energy in the morning(NREM1,2?)?
* **is this feeling associated with light exposure** (ex: 20 minutes after light exposure)
* **does it happen every day**, for all people?
* Is there some " deep sleep hormone" (probably not melatonin) that gets released in deeper sleep stages and produces sleep inertia?

There are a couple very successful sleep apps for smartphones that are marketed for this principle (they advertise the ability to find this "best wake up time" for you) and hundreds of imitations ("smart alarm clocks"). But is there really a phenomenon like I'm describing above, or is it a rare glitch of the endocrine system or something?

# Answer
Human sleep has an (approximate) 90 minute rhythm: about every ninety minutes you are in light REM sleep. When you wake up while in REM, you wake up refreshed. If your alarm clock is set 30 minutes after your last REM phase, then you are in deep sleep again, and, although you slept longer, you will awake groggy and tired. The solution is to get up a bit earlier and feel a lot better.

As the comments suggest, there are some appliances to wake you up during an REM phase. From my experience, all you need is an alarm clock and go to bed early enough to catch enough sleep: after getting up at the same time for a couple of weeks, you'll start waking up in an REM phase before your alarm clock goes off. Just get up and don't go to sleep again, if your clock shows you are within 45 minutes of your alarm time, and keep doing so for as long as you want to keep this rhythm. Keep to the rhythm on weekends, too, for at least a month. If you feel you have fixed it, you can sleep in on free days – or rather, wake up at your usual time but stay in bed and go to sleep again.

Regular sleep (same get-up times each day) are the solution for most sleep related problems. Only when you get up regularly, can your body find and signal the ideal length of nightly total sleep. There is a huge difference between seven days of regular sleep, and six days of too little and one day of too much sleep, even when both add up to the same total length. And yes, I did not write "go to sleep regularly". What you need to do is *get up* regularly. Your body will tell you when you need to go to sleep, and this will vary, depending on the day you had. All you have to do is listen to it, instead of finishing that movie. Healthy sleep needs discipline, or the absence of electricity.

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Sources:

No research on this, just personal experience and lots of similar anecdotes on the web. For the 90 minute sleep pattern, pick up any textbook on biological psychology, e.g. Pinel, J. P. J. (2011). *Biopsychology* (6th ed.). Pearson, and read the chapter on sleep.
> 5 votes

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Tags: sleep
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# Question
Title: Studies linking brain chemistry to sexual infidelity
This study *Oxytocin Modulates Social Distance between Males and Females* examines the effects of Oxytocin (OXT) on men in monogamous relationships. It demonstrates that OXT assists in maintaining fidelity to that relationship. OXT levels are increased by close and sexual interactions with their partner.

> The specificity of the OXT effect in influencing the social distance that males keep from unfamiliar females is evidenced by our finding that it has no significant effect on the distance kept from unfamiliar males. Given the absence of PS differences between single and pair-bonded men in the PLC group, it is clear that for these potential fidelity-enhancing effects of OXT to be revealed, female partners would need to evoke its endogenous release immediately before contexts in which the men might encounter other women. While, compared with singles, basal concentrations of OXT in blood are increased in couples during the early stages of romantic love and stay significantly elevated in couples remaining together 6 months later (Schneiderman et al., 2012), our results suggest that further augmentation of endogenous OXT release is necessary to produce fidelity-enhancing effects. Mechanistically, this may be related to additional OXT either compensating a relative deficit (optimization hypothesis) or by collapsing already optimal levels (decompensation hypothesis). While the most obvious physiological stimulus for promoting endogenous OXT release in men would be having sex with their mate (Kru¨ger et al., 2003), the simple close presence and touch of their partner at any given moment in time might also suffice (Holt-Lunstad et al., 2008). Thus, OXT effects in promoting monogamy in males may normally depend upon the presence of a close positive relationship in the bond with their female partners and close physical proximity between the couple.1

There have been studies on the factors involved in sexual infidelity.

> Virtually all American couples, married or cohabiting, expect sexual exclusivity of one another. This article asks why some people are sexually exclusive while others have sex with someone besides their mate. Previous research has linked personal values, sexual opportunities, and quality of the marital relationship to extramartial sex. This paper integrates these findings in a multivariate model that incorporates factors informing sexual decision making as well as demographic “risk factors.” Nationally representative survey data show higher likelihood of sexual infidelity among those with stronger sexual interests, more permissive sexual values, lower subjective satisfaction with their union, weaker network ties to partner, and greater sexual opportunities. With these factors controlled, gender differences are substantially reduced or eliminated, although racial effects persist. 2

Given that there are people who can maintain close relationships, simultaneously, with more than one partner.
**Have there been studies examining the brain biochemistry that increases an individual's propensity for sexual infidelity?**

**1** Oxytocin Modulates Social Distance between Males and Females Dirk Scheele1, Nadine Striepens1, Onur Güntürkün, Sandra Deutschländer, Wolfgang Maier1, Keith M. Kendrick, and René Hurlemann The Journal of Neuroscience, 14 November 2012, 32(46): 16074-16079; doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2755-12.2012

**2** Sexual Infidelity Among Married and Cohabiting Americans Judith Treas1, Deirdre Giesen2 Article first published online: 2 MAR 2004 DOI: 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2000.00048.

# Answer
The number one hormonal suspect in infidelity has been testosterone. Partially this has been predicted because testosterone predicts sex drive in both men and women. The problem with testing this one in actual humans though is that most of the things associated with cheating also cause increased testosterone levels (flirting, increased number of sexual partners). Therefore, there's a serious chicken and egg problem in more observational studies.

Roney, J. R., Simmons, Z. L., & Lukaszewski, A. W. (2010). Androgen receptor gene sequence and basal cortisol concentrations predict men’s hormonal responses to potential mates. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 277, 57-63.
> 5 votes

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Tags: neuroscience, sexuality
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title: What causes behavioural inhibition?

text:
# Question
Title: What causes behavioural inhibition?
There are obvious consequences that prevent people from behaving anti-socially or criminally. However there are many behaviours that are within the bounds of social norms, yet there seems to be some "invisible" force preventing people from letting go of inhibitions and acting spontaneously.

What stops a person from doing something when they have the urge to do something spontaneous and random?

 I was in the process of answering another question when it was deleted; so decided to write my own question

# Answer
The most common theory to date is that behavioural inhibition is developed from negative reinforcement.

Gray's biopsychological theory of personality

> the Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS) and the Behavioural Activation System (BAS) ../.. The BIS is thought to be related to sensitivity to punishment as well as avoidance motivation, while the BAS is thought to be related to sensitivity to reward as well as approach motivation.

There is some research that suggests that the BIS scale is better correlated with neuroticism and negative affectivity, rather than anxiety.

> The BIS scale was less correlated with anxiety and depression symptoms than are neuroticism and negative affectivity scales, probably because it is designed to measure predisposition to anxiety rather than the experience of anxiety. BIS scores were higher in females,...1

Brain Functions: Behavioral Inhibition, Behavioral Flexibility, and Cognitive Control

Discusses how we modify our behaviour and suggests that some behaviour is inhibited in an "auto-pilot" manner by the prefrontal cortex to free up our brain for more complex thought processes.

> We can inhibit our actions and behaviors while they are in progress, and we can also inhibit our emotions and memories. Different parts of the prefrontal cortex, at the very front of the brain, are used to interrupt these various types of behaviors or thoughts. Some theories even suggest that the role of the prefrontal cortex is to stop all ill-suited actions or thoughts, to leave room for more appropriate actions.

Overall, there are numerous studies showing a link between anxiety and experience of a fear based reward system with behavioural inhibition.2

**1** Using the BIS/BAS scales to measure behavioural inhibition and behavioural activation: Factor structure, validity and norms in a large community sample A.F JormCorresponding author contact information, H Christensen, A.S Henderson, P.A Jacomb, A.E Korten, B Rodgers NHMRC Psychiatric Epidemiology Research Centre, The Australian National University, Canberra 0200, Australia http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(98)00143-3

**2** J Child Fam Stud. 2011 April; 20(2): 157–170. Published online 2010 March 17. doi: 10.1007/s10826-010-9365-8 PMCID: PMC3048305 Behavioral Inhibition as a Risk Factor for the Development of Childhood Anxiety Disorders: A Longitudinal Study Peter Muris,corresponding author1 Anna M. L. van Brakel,2 Arnoud Arntz,2 and Erik Schouten2
> 2 votes

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Tags: cognitive-psychology, social-psychology, developmental-psychology, reinforcement-learning
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# Question
Title: Is it possible to create an inhibition against some activities?
There is an unexplained psychological reason that causes one not to be able to do some random activities (for instance, not being able to eat several days because one's mouth just won't open to take in food or they can not go out to ride a bike because, as much as they want to, it's like their body refuses them to dress and step outside).

There are more examples how the problem occurs but I really want to know what is the psychological reason behind it (I know it isn't anxiety). The problem occurs at random times and against random activities that are a part of one's everyday life.

Also I'm intrested in whether or not an inihbition can be psychologically created by choice against some bad habits (for example it could be the saviour of the people who are trying to quit smoking if, however bad they want to smoke, their hands just won't take a cigarette).

# Answer
There is an answer to the first part of your question here: What causes behavioural inhibition?

I am answering this part of your question:
**I'm interested in whether or not an inhibition can be psychologically created by choice against some bad habits (for example it could be the saviour of the people who are trying to quit smoking if, however bad they want to smoke, their hands just won't take a cigarette).**

To induce inhibitory behaviour requires the use of negative reinforcement. To avoid punishment, or discomfort, an individual will learn to avoid a particular behaviour.

In the case of addiction (as mentioned in your example with cigarettes), the issue is: Creating a negative reinforcement that causes greater discomfort (referred to as negative affect in the article below) when using the drug, as opposed to the discomfort that results from abstinence.
The same can be drawn for behaviour payoffs. If a certain behaviour alleviates for example, anxiety, then the discomfort of the negative enforcement will need to be greater than the anxiety the individual is avoiding.
As one can imagine, it is not always easy to create a humane punishment that creates a discomfort greater than the what the individual seeks to avoid.

> This article offers a reformulation of the negative reinforcement model of drug addiction and proposes that the escape and avoidance of negative affect is the prepotent motive for addictive drug use. The authors posit that negative affect is the motivational core of the withdrawal syndrome and argue that, through repeated cycles of drug use and withdrawal, addicted organisms learn to detect interoceptive cues of negative affect preconsciously. Thus, the motivational basis of much drug use is opaque and tends not to reflect cognitive control. When either stressors or abstinence causes negative affect to grow and enter consciousness, increasing negative affect biases information processing in ways that promote renewed drug administration. After explicating their model, the authors address previous critiques of negative reinforcement models in light of their reformulation and review predictions generated by their model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved) 1

 **1** Addiction Motivation Reformulated: An Affective Processing Model of Negative Reinforcement. Baker, Timothy B.; Piper, Megan E.; McCarthy, Danielle E.; Majeskie, Matthew R.; Fiore, Michael C. Psychological Review, Vol 111(1), Jan 2004, 33-51. doi: 10.1037/0033-295X.111.1.33
> 1 votes

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Tags: cognitive-psychology, reinforcement-learning
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# Question
Title: The psychology of disproportioned people in artwork
Hitler was an artist, unbeknownst to some people. He painted and sketched. In his work, the people were disproportionately large within any given scene. Given his extreme personality, I have often pondered about this. Perhaps an over exaggeration of people in his artwork reflected his own grandiosity about his position in the world.

Is there some connection between the psychology of consistently mistaking the proportional size of people in art work and mental health?

# Answer
I have been drawing for more than twenty years and have observed many people learn how to draw. Getting human (or any) proportions right is the one most difficult part for most people, and that Hitler, who made a living as an artist for years and produced two to three thousand drawings, sketches, watercolors, and oil paintings (Price, 1983), maybe drew people too large in some of them does, it would seem, not reflect anything but his level of artistry – or the expressionistic and new objectivist styles popular at the time: other expressionistic and post-expressionistic artists didn't paint very realistic, either.

Deducing psychopathology from artistic output is at least difficult. "The primary assumptions of art psychopathology theories are unreliable since, as Prinzhorn shows, emotionally troubled people are capable of producing wondrous artworks which compare favorably with the creations of artists and children." (Betts, 2006) Hans Prinzhorn, a German psychiatrist and art historian, was entrusted with caring for the collection of art by mental patients begun by Emil Kraepelin in 1919 and expanded it to more than 5000 works in the following years. He published a book, *Artistry of the Mentally Ill* (1922), in which he analysed the paintings from his collection and found no differences to "normal" art.

Prinzhorn attempted to discern the differences between art by healthy individuals and "outsider art", as the artistic output by mentally ill people came to be called, in a more subjective manner. But first experimental results were contradictory as well. In an experiment, art teachers, mental health professionals, and laypeople, were all unable to discriminate drawings by schizophrenic or healthy children (Rubin & Schachter, 1972). The same group of researchers again found that judges discriminated at levels of chance when they were presented with art by schizophrenic and healthy mothers (Rubin, Ragins, Schachter & Wimberly, 1979). But in other experiments by another research group (Ulman & Levy, 1968, 1984; Levy & Ulman, 1974), judges were able to identify art by mentally ill adults and could even be trained to increase discriminative accuracy.

Discriminative ability seems to depend on what aspect of the artwork the judges look at. In a meta-analysis, Susanne Hacking and David Foreman (2001) identify a number of scales (thematic, quality, shape, color, reality, energy, complexity, composition etc.) and found that two of them (content and body detail, with effect sizes of 0.88 and 0.84 respetively) were able to discriminate patients and healthy controls. Using her own instrument, Hacking (1999) was able to correctly identify psychopathology from artwork with 80-90% accuracy by looking at use of color, line quality, and use of the drawing space.

Even in successful experiments, proportion does not seem to be a distinguishing characteristic of psychopathological art. And it is unlikely that other aspects of Hitler's art would show aspects of psychopathology, because, as he himself stated, as a professional artist his works were dictated by this customers: "I paint that which the people want to buy." (Price, 1983)

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Sources:

* Betts, D. J. (2006). Art therapy assessments and rating instruments: do they measure up? *The Arts in Psychotherapy, 33*, 422-434.
* Hacking, S. (1999). *The Psychopathology of Everyday Art: A Quantitative Study* (doctoral dissertation), University of Keele. Available online at http://www.wfmt.info/Musictherapyworld/modules/archive/stuff/papers/Hacking.pdf
* Hacking, S., & Foreman, D. (2001). Psychopathology in paintings: A meta‐analysis of studies using paintings by psychiatric patients. *British Journal of Medical Psychology, 74*, 35-45.
* Levy, B. I., & Ulman, E. (1974). The effect of training on judging psychopathology from paintings. *American Journal of Art Therapy, 14*, 24-25.
* Levy, B. I., & Ulman, E. (1984). An experimental approach to the judgment of psychopathology from paintings. *American Journal of Art Therapy, 23*, 47-52.
* Price, B. F. (1983). *Adolf Hitler als Maler und Zeichner: Ein Werkkatalog der Ölgemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen und Architekturskizzen*. Zug: Gallant.
* Prinzhorn, H. (1922). *Bildnerei der Geisteskranken: Ein Beitrag zur Psychologie und Psychopathologie der Gestaltung*. Berlin: Springer.
* Rubin, J. A., Ragins, N., Schachter, J., & Wimberly, F. (1979). Drawings by schizophrenic and non-schizophrenic mothers and their children. *Art Psychotherapy, 6*, 163–175. doi:10.1016/0090-9092(79)90040-1
* Rubin, J. A., & Schachter, J. (1972). Judgments of psychopathology from art productions of children. *Confinia Psychiatrica, 15*(3-4), 237-250.
* Ulman, E., & Levy, B. I. (1968). An experimental approach to the judgment of psychopathology from paintings. *Bulletin of Art Therapy, 8*, 3-12.
> 6 votes

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Tags: cognitive-psychology, abnormal-psychology, psychiatry
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# Question
Title: Are there guidelines in the peer reviewing process on assessing methodology?
Usually an article goes through a peer-review process before it is published, and from what I here it is quite common that the reviewers "demand" some changes.

* Are there guidelines for peer- reviewers, especially as the methodological side of things is concerned?
* Are "methodology specialists" incorporated in the process?

# Answer
> 3 votes
I get the impression that good journal editors will get at least one reviewer who is skilled in the methodology used in the paper. The importance of this reviewer role would presumably vary with the statistical or other methodological complexity of the paper.

That said, reviewing is well known to be imperfect particularly when it comes to checking all the possible smaller errors that can be made. Errors in statistical analysis and reporting are wide-spread in published articles in psychology. For example, Bakker and Wicherts (2011) did a review, where to quote the abstract

> we checked the consistency of reported test statistics, degrees of freedom, and p values in a random sample of high- and low-impact psychology journals... On the basis of 281 articles ... \[we estimate that\] around 18% of statistical results in the psychological literature are incorrectly reported. Inconsistencies were more common in low-impact journals than in high-impact journals. Moreover, around 15% of the articles contained at least one statistical conclusion that proved, upon recalculation, to be incorrect; that is, recalculation rendered the previously significant result insignificant, or vice versa.

### References

* Bakker, M., & Wicherts, J. M. (2011). The (mis) reporting of statistical results in psychology journals. Behavior Research Methods, 43(3), 666-678. FULL-TEXT

# Answer
> 3 votes
This does not really answer your question (because it doesn't deal in detail with methodological issues), but there is a nice journal article that deals with problems of the peer review process in general by evaluating "great scientific works of the past" from the perspective of current social sciences:

The reference list has some articles on statistical/mathematical methodology questions.

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In another interesting article, Gerd Gigerenzer shows how p-values are misinterpreted in current research and null hypothesis testing is made a false requirement for the acceptance of papers by major journals:

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A Google search for "peer review guidelines" brings many hits from publishers and institutions. Maybe some of them deal with methodological issues in more detail.

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Tags: methodology, publication-process
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# Question
Title: What were the long-term effects on the participants of the Stanford Prison Experiment?
It has been maintained by Dr. Philip Zimbardo that the experiment has had no long-term harm on the participants. However, one out of the 24 initial participants, who had suffered a breakdown within 36 hours of starting, later went on to become a prison psychologist and has been in the profession for at least 14 years.

While the experiment may not have had any "harm" on the participants, the fact that it had such a huge impact on one participant (as the person himself claims in the experiment documentary), calls into question the fact that how much did the experiment end up altering or affecting the participant's lives.

So, were long term effects **(not just "harm")** of the experiment tracked and documented by the team or anybody else? If tracked, has this been published at any point of time?

Secondly, in most of the popular literature and even on the official website, I do not find any discussion of the experiment in terms of long term effects. Are long-term effects of psychological studies on participants' not considered worth recording? Why?

# Answer
I found this snippet from Quora: Whatever happened to the participants in the Stanford Prison Experiment?

"They performed extensive follow-ups by bringing all the subjects back individually or in groups over a period of the first year and then for the next ten years they have surveyed them by mail and phone and the consensus is that they did suffer during that week of the experiment, but they learned a great deal about themselves and about human nature that most of them say was quite valuable."

Perhaps within the first decade after the experiment they found constancy in how the participants were affected and felt there was no longer a need for further analysis / recording.
> 1 votes

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Tags: social-psychology, methodology
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