# Question
Title: How do emotions influence the language structures we use?
**What are the verbal signs of subjectivity?**

I am doing research about the linguistic content of media (debates, talk-show, sport comments). It occurs that once the participant gets nervous or excited, the grammatical structure of the sentences and word choice (growing amount of modal verbs, judgmental adjectives, not politically correct nouns, dynamic verbs) can change.

That is why I am looking for sources that give me some research results about how emotions affect our verbal expressions (e.g., sentence structure, word usage, etc).

My research is in Polish and Dutch.

# Answer
> 1 votes
*This is by no means exhaustive, but is a beginning, as these links also provide links.*

**Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience**
**A Neural Dissociation within Language: Evidence that the Mental Dictionary Is Part of Declarative Memory, and that Grammatical Rules Are Processed by the Procedural System**

The following study links the effects of emotional arousal on these two memory systems, thus linking the effects of emotional arousal on speech.

**Effects of emotional arousal on multiple memory systems: Evidence from declarative and procedural learning
Stephan Steidl, Salwa Mohi-uddin, and Adam K. Anderson**

**How Emotion Shapes Behavior: Feedback, Anticipation, and Reflection, Rather Than Direct Causation
Roy F. Baumeister Kathleen D. Vohs C. Nathan DeWall Liqing Zhang**

**A review of paradoxical performance effects: Choking under pressure in sports and mental tests
Roy F Baumeister Carolin J. Showers**

Choking under pressure refers to the failure of a person to perform tasks that they are highly skilled in, when placed under pressure to perform. This could well apply to people speaking on a talk show.

This study shows the effects of various emotions on the actual voice quality, which is also useful.

**THE EFFECTS OF EMOTIONS ON VOICE QUALITY
Tom Johnstone and Klaus R. Scherer University of Geneva**

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Tags: reference-request, emotion, language, linguistics
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# Question
Title: Is the 'addiction' to receiving sympathy similar to substance addiction or just a deficit of resilience?
A lot have encountered people who seem to be addicted to receiving sympathy - before getting to my question, allow me to clarify, what I am referring to are people for whom, **knowingly** portray 'everything as a crisis'. I am deliberately putting 'addiction' in quotation marks as I am not sure that it is in fact an addiction.

I used to be this way myself, making even the smallest transgression into a big issue and then using it to get sympathy from others, when I received said sympathy - it felt 'good'. (Nowadays, I just deal with issues myself).

So, my question is, is the sympathy 'addiction' akin to substance addiction or is it a deficit of resilience? or maybe both?

# Answer
> 7 votes
This is a part answer, which only refers to the concept of resilience.

One of the first studies that invesigated resilience was the Kauai-Study, which was a longitudinal study of a cohort in Hawai to investigate the cognitive, social and physical development of children. (Werner and Smith, 1982) Of the children who had to deal with a couple of risk factors from birth on, about a third managed to overcome the obstacles later in life. This led to the formulation of a theoretical concept of resilience, which included vulnerability of the child as a main risk factor and external stress on one side, and social support and ressources within the child on the other side as elements. These elements interact with one another and influence the development of a child. In this sense, resilience was defined as a potential, or maybe kind of like a trait. If there is enough resilience, a "good" development will be possible in spite of a difficult environment. The second thing to notice is that resilience originally was geared towards children.

The concept of resilience has been expanded to adulthood later. Apparently, though, this has led to some problems concerning the definition, since the original conception was explicitly concerned with development in childhood (Luthar and Cicchetti, 2000). The article of Leipold and Greve (2009) integrates different proposals to solve this problem. In their model, resilience, development and coping are linked. Development is seen as coping with all kinds of demands and stressors, and resilience is seen as succesfully doing so. Note that in this definition, resilience is very different from the one that I have given above.

To get to your question: an "addiction to sympathy" might be seen as a lack of resilience, but not in the sense of a trait. It can be seen as the lack of a process as conceptualized by Leipold and Greve (2009). This also leaves open the possibility that the process might "kick in" at a later stage in development, which not only makes sense but is also what you have experienced yourself.

References:

<sub> Leipold, B. & Greve, W. (2009). Resilience. A conceptual bridge between coping and development. *European Psychologist*, 14, 40-50.
Luthar, S. S., & Cicchetti, D. (2000). The construct of resilience: Implications for interventions and social policies. *Development and psychopathology*, 12(4), 857-885.
Werner, E. E. & Smith, R. S. (1982). *Vulnerable but invincible: A study of resilient children* New York: McGraw-Hill.</sub>

# Answer
> 4 votes
1) I don't believe a person can be addicted to gaining sympathy. I believe that a person who is in the habit of manipulating others for sympathy is more a reflection of a deficit within their personality, as opposed to an addiction.

The one exception being within a Histrionic Personality Disorder or the like, where a person becomes addicted to the chemical release in the brain that comes with high stress and drama. I regard the focus here is on create crises as opposed to seeking sympathy.

2) As for a lack of resilience, the character weakness may or may not be linked to a low level of resilience. There are many variables that would need to be examined before passing that judgment.

The seeking of sympathy can be a part of attention seeking behaviours, which in turn can be a part of a personality disorder. It would be fair to say that the complexity of personality disorders, could not be summed up in terms of resilience. Although it can be said, that a person lacking healthy coping skills, may be less resilient.

> The American Psychological Association suggests "10 Ways to Build Resilience", which are:
>
> 1. maintaining good relationships with close family members, friends and others;
> 2. to avoid seeing crises or stressful events as unbearable problems;
> 3. to accept circumstances that cannot be changed;
> 4. to develop realistic goals and move towards them;
> 5. to take decisive actions in adverse situations;
> 6. to look for opportunities of self-discovery after a struggle with loss;
> 7. developing self-confidence;
> 8. to keep a long-term perspective and consider the stressful event in a broader context;
> 9. to maintain a hopeful outlook, expecting good things and visualizing what is wished;
> 10. to take care of one's mind and body, exercising regularly, paying attention to one's own needs and feelings.

The interesting point in this, is that good coping skills are linked with resilience, and asking for help is considered a good coping skill. Which is akin to seeking sympathy, as charity between people is often motivated by sympathetic feeling, whether it was the intention of the sympathised to evoke it or not.

So in summary,
**Is the 'addiction' to receiving sympathy similar to substance addiction or just a deficit of resilience?**

1. I would conclude that there can be an addiction to drama, but not sympathy.
2. A deficit in resilience could lead to sympathy seeking behaviours due to needing extra support.
3. More likely, a deficit within the personality, that requires attention and is part of a bigger disorder.

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Tags: social-psychology, addiction
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# Question
Title: Is dissociative identity disorder a medical condition or artifact of psychotherapy?
The popular media has offered such examples as "Eve" (based on Chris Costner-Sizemore) and "Sybil" (based on Shirley Ardell Mason) as sufferers of dissociative identity disorder (at one point known as *multiple personality disorder*). Doctors and psychotherapists have wrestled with how to help patients dealing with this diagnosis, but in reality, there is often doubt cast upon the validity of the symptoms.

Studies such as Boysen (2011) offer a retrospective analysis of the origins of symptoms and treatments presented in the literature in the 80s and 90s in an attempt to categorize the outcomes. However, there's no comparison with control cases, i.e., those who may have faced persistent, horrible abuse or other similar situations and not developed symptoms of the disorder.

**Are there recent case control studies that have been done in this area of research?** Is this careful retrospective analyis as far as we have progressed in determining whether these dissociative identities are a **medical condition or artifacts** of psychotherapy and popular press exposure?

> Boysen, G.A. (2011) The scientific status of childhood dissociative identity disorder: A review of published research. Psychother Psychosom 2011;80:329-334. \[DOI\]

# Answer
> 6 votes
**Dissociative identity disorder is a medical condition** .

Dissociative Identity Disorder is listed in the DSM-V.

> H 02 Dissociative Identity Disorder
> 1. Disruption of identity characterized by two or more distinct personality states or an experience of possession. This involves marked discontinuity in sense of self and sense of agency, accompanied by related alterations in affect, behavior, consciousness, memory, perception, cognition, and/or sensory-motor functioning. These signs and symptoms may be observed by others or reported by the individual.
> 2. Recurrent gaps in the recall of everyday events, important personal information, and/or traumatic events that are inconsistent with ordinary forgetting.
> 3. The symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
> 4. The disturbance is not a normal part of a broadly accepted cultural or religious practice. (Note: In children, the symptoms are not attributable to imaginary playmates or other fantasy play.)
> 5. The symptoms are not attributable to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., blackouts or chaotic behavior during Alcohol Intoxication) or another medical condition (e.g., complex partial seizures).

I have not found any recent case control studies.

I have found this paper reviewing the research from 2004-2006. Here childhood trauma, dissociation and psychosis are discussed and a study on the relationship between Schizophrenia and DID is discussed.

**Dissociative identity disorder
Colin A. Ross MD
September 2006, Volume 4, Issue 3, pp 112-116
Current Psychosis and Therapeutics Reports**

One issue with diagnosing personality disorders, is that the boundaries between them and other conditions can be blurred. So a person can have traits of several disorders/illnesses, and will be diagnosed with the one that is the best fit.

> Personality disorders often co-occur with other mental illnesses. Harmful alcohol and other drug use often co-occurs with personality disorders, particularly borderline personality disorder. This makes treatment more complex, and effectively managing alcohol and other drug use is important.

**Mental Health
Publications Department of Health and Ageing
Australian Government**

> Although dissociative phenomena have been discussed throughout the 20th century, the recognition of dissociative disorders as a bona fide diagnostic category is relatively recent. Nonetheless, the evidence linking attachment in infancy and attachment-related traumas to later dissociative symptoms, and the evidence linking concurrent states of mind with dissociative symptoms, converge to form a compelling picture.

**Attachment and psychopathology in adulthood.
Dozier, Mary; Stovall-McClough, K. Chase; Albus, Kathleen E. Cassidy, Jude (Ed); Shaver, Phillip R. (Ed), (2008). Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (2nd ed.).**

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*The following is my personal ideas and conclusions about this topic; based on much personal research, formalised study and personal experience (of close relationship with a person with DID). see references below*

It is an accepted practice that dissociation can occur and that there is a connection between childhood trauma (usually in the form of abuse). A healthy personality has multiple aspects and personas. The aspects are brought out during various life situations. From happy experiences, loss, stress; we see different traits of a personality surface. So it would follow that someone with extreme trauma and disruption to personality development, could have a fragmented personality, that changes under varying conditions.

The perception would be that the person has multiple personalities, which is a misnomer, in so much, that we are dealing with one individual with multiple states of consciousness and persona. Amnesia that results from the protective nature of the mind to protect the individual from trauma, with the stress and varying attitudes and roles that a child is forced to play to minimise damage in an abusive environment; acting out in response to coping with extreme trauma. This concoction would well produce a personality that would appear to "flip" and change, one of extremes, and with featured amnesia from one coping state to another.

I think Dissociative States Disorder would be a better name for this condition. As the Hollywood interpretation is one of extremes, and as Autism has a spectrum, (as many illnesses), so do Dissociative Disorders.

As for treatment, I don't believe it is possible for a person to fully recover from such a condition. There are just not enough years available to the human life to do so. When dealing with such extreme and prolonged trauma, it is most difficult for the patient to acknowledge consciously the source of the dissociation and overcome major trust issues to open up. Combined with the fact that damaged child, become damaged adults, who then make poor choices, that compounds poor mental health; this is a difficult condition to minister help.

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**Dissociation and childhood trauma in psychologically disturbed adolescents.
Sanders, Barbara; Giolas, Marina H.
The American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol 148(1), Jan 1991, 50-54**

**Prim Care Companion J Clin Psychiatry. 2000 April; 2(2): 37–41.
PMCID: PMC181202
Dissociative Spectrum Disorders in the Primary Care Setting
James L. Elmore, M.D.**

**Interpersonal functioning among women reporting a history of childhood sexual abuse: empirical findings and methodological issues
David DiLilloCorresponding author
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA**

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Tags: abnormal-psychology, psychiatry, personality
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title: Neural Processes of Inducing Flow

text:
# Question
Title: Neural Processes of Inducing Flow
Related to my previous question: Improved Typing as a result of slight movement

For context: slight movement (\<1 inch in any direction) improves typing, piano-playing, and writing, among other things. I believe this is because the continuous movement helps induce a flow state. Additionally, any mistakes made during the activity (a misspelling, an inappropriate piano note, etc) are more easy to recover from.

I am now curious as to what neural processes could be taking place here - by what process does this slight movement ease the primary activity, remove or reduce errors, and induce a flow state? What mechanism of the human body allows this 'cross-entrainment'?

For bonus points, what neural activity is taking place during a flow state itself?

# Answer
> 6 votes
Although I find the concept of flow quite interesting, I'm not so sure about needing to invoke the flow state to explain motor enhancement from unrelated continuous movements. For example, one possible explanation for why continuous motion would improve learned movements like typing is that the motor cortex is typically used to model periodic movements as a dynamical system, and that short-duration movements are actually abnormal in a motor sense.

Consider how many of the movements we make are naturally periodic. Walking in particular is highly cyclical, but many other types of movements that we typically make (e.g., swinging the arms to counterbalance the trunk during walking, counter-rotating the eyes, head, and spine during a turn-to-look movement, opening and closing the jaw while chewing, inflating and collapsing the ribcage during breathing) show significantly periodic activity. This periodicity suggests that one could model these movements as a rotation in an abstract "phase space" defined by the differential equations that capture the dynamics of the movement. Seen from this perspective, cyclical movements are the norm for almost any animal, whereas short-duration, "single-use" movements like typing or playing the piano are rather unusual. It could be the case that if the motor cortex (or even the basic movements encoded in the spinal cord) is inherently tuned to modeling cyclic movements, then adding some continuous motion could help the motor cortex capture the intended typing or playing movements as part of the larger, continuous movement.

These references don't address the specific topic at hand, but they do address the periodicity of the motor system at a relatively low level. I would argue that this periodicity should be considered "normal" for movement modeling. Whether or not this periodicity is useful for enhancing other movements is, as far as I know, not known.

M. Churchland et al., "Neural population dynamics during reaching," 2012 Nature http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3393826/

A. Ijspeert, "Central pattern generators for locomotion control in animals and robots: a review" 2008 Neural Networks.

### Neural correlates of flow

It's quite difficult to map between levels of abstraction as widely separated as neural activity and a "meta-cognitive" state like flow. However, a quick search online did reveal a couple of papers that have attempted to relate flow to physiological measurements like EEG :

D. Kramer, "Predictions of Performance by EEG and Skin Conductance," 2007 Indiana Undergraduate Journal of Cognitive Science -- not sure where this journal is published, but it seemed like an interesting article

M. Klasen et al., "Neural contributions to flow experience during video game playing" 2011 Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, http://scan.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/05/19/scan.nsr021.full

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Tags: motor, neurology
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title: Mental illness developing in midlife

text:
# Question
Title: Mental illness developing in midlife
There is much research about personality development and childhood. The onset of many mental disorders and illnesses, will occur in early adulthood. Studies are done to link certain childhood personality traits with the manifestation of the illness in adulthood. Conversely, there is much research into the onset of aged onset dementia, Alzheimer's and the like.

With the exception of the Mid Life Crisis, I have not seen much research on the onset of mental disorders or mental illness in adults during midlife, or approx. 35-50 years. What studies are there investigating major personality changes later in a person's life?
An example could be the percentage of new diagnoses of "a particular illness" for 35-50 year old age group.

*I am not interested in an ongoing illness that was diagnosed as a younger adult and is still occurring during this age group. I am interested in the first time onset of an illness in an individual during these years.*

# Answer
I am not a professional, but it is my understanding that it is common for major depression to not show up in adults until the age of 30 to 60 years old; see for example, Table 2 of Lifetime Prevalence and Age-of-Onset Distributions of DSM-IV Disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication, Mood Disorders - Major Depressive Disorder. Overall, the most likely age group for any disorder to present itself is the years 30-44.

The beginning of the paper states: "Little is known about lifetime prevalence or age of onset of DSM-IV disorders". The study included 9282 participants.
> 8 votes

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Tags: abnormal-psychology, psychiatry
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# Question
Title: What forms of the travelling salesman problem are difficult for humans to solve?
In the *traveling salesman problem* (TSP) we are given a set of nodes, where one node is the starting node. The task is to find the shortest tour starting at the start node visiting every node exactly once. A variant of the more general TSP is the *Euclidean TSP*, where the distance between two cities is the usual Euclidean distance. Different metrics can also be considered, suck as the city-block metric.

Based on experimental data in \[1\], the authors claim that Euclidean TSP instances are easy for humans. They also gathered data on case where the metric used is the city-block metric. They note that "... people are near-optimal for these problems in both metrics."

* **What variants of the travelling salesman problem are hard for humans?**
* **Has any research been done on this?**

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\[1\] Walwyn, A. L., & Navarro, D. J. (2010). Minimal Paths in the City Block: Human Performance on Euclidean and Non-Euclidean Traveling Salesperson Problems. The Journal of Problem Solving, 3(1), 5.

# Answer
I just quickly looked this up on Google Scholar and found the following interesting reference :

* JN Macgregor, T Ormerod. "Human performance on the traveling salesman problem." Perception & Psychophysics Volume 58, Issue 4, pp 527-539 (June 1996)

This paper claims that "complexity of TSPs is a function of number of nonboundary points, not total number of points." They define a nonboundary point as a point inside the convex hull that encompasses all points in the problem. This paper also makes some interesting observations about perceptual space for humans in this task, claiming that the problem appears to be solved by humans in a 2D problem space that matches the 2D perceptual space. Finally, the references cited by this paper indicate that at least some research has gone into the question of human performance on the TSP as far back as the late 1960s.

It looks like you might also get some useful pointers by following the citation graph from this paper forward in time : http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=9195299723226128892
> 7 votes

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Tags: cognitive-psychology, problem-solving
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# Question
Title: Can non-verbal communication in interpersonal relationships be taught rather than acquired?
In my experience people living together in difficult circumstances (e.g. close friends, family members) often learn to relate to each other's non-verbal cues.

For instance; A spouse may go shopping with a list in hand prepared by his partner, and return with a few items not mentioned on the list - only to have his partner indicate one or more items were missed by oversight. Similarly people sharing a room in a hostel may merely by a glance communicate an unspoken understanding of intent & action.

Understandably such incidents probably do not occur with high frequency. They are, however, not totally rare either. This brings me to my question:

**Can such non-verbal communication be taught rather than acquired?**

# Answer
***Can non-verbal communication in interpersonal relationships be taught rather than acquired?*** In many ways this question answers itself. As an acquired skill is one that is learnt, and by definition, anything that can be learnt can be taught.

As with many skills, non-verbal communication begins in childhood.

> It is concluded that style of expression and skill in communication are influenced by the emotional expressiveness of the family environment.

**Family socialization of emotional expression and nonverbal communication styles and skills.
Halberstadt, Amy G.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 51(4), Oct 1986, 827-836**

Unlike, many, subconscious difficulties of the mind, learning to read body language can be practiced and improved. A simple google search reveals some of the books and online resources to teach people to improve these skills.

This article discusses the formal study of improving the non-verbal communication skills to children with deficiencies in this area.

**Teaching Approach for Developing Nonverbal Communication Skills in Students with Social Perception Deficits
Part I. The Basic Approach and Body Language Clues
Esther H. Minskoff, PhD**
> 2 votes

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Tags: language, communication
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# Question
Title: Are ambidextrous people better at multitasking?
I'm strongly 'one-handed' in that I can barely even write with my left hand. My wife is fairly ambidextrous, in that she's by default left-handed, but can also write with her right hand.

I've noticed that she's capable of driving in the dark with full, stressful concentration and still be able to talk. Whereas I'd have trouble driving in the dark and holding a conversation at the same time.

I've heard that this is because one handed people have developed a side of the brain more strongly than the other, whereas ambidextrous people have developed both. Anything that implies that ambidexterity is a disadvantage for multitasking would also be helpful.

# Answer
I can find no scientific evidence that supports the claim that ambidextrous people are better at multitasking.

1. Less than 1% of the population are truly ambidextrous.
\[David Carey Bangor University\]
2. Your question cites two personal examples and offers no research on the matter. There could be numerous reasons a person is can conduct a conversation, whilst driving under stressful conditions, whilst another cannot. Factors such as driving and verbal skills could be factors.
3. Issues regarding sex differences in multitasking are addressed well in this answer.
4. The Corpus Callosum being the connection between the left and right hemispheres. The most general consensus is that the Corpus Callosum is enlarged in left handed and ambidextrous people \[ref 1\]. An enlarged Corpus Callosum, is not, necessarily, a good thing.
5. Addressing the relationship between handedness and ability to multitask are addressed in the following study.

**Individual variation in hemispheric asymmetry: Multitask study of effects related to handedness and sex.
Hellige, Joseph B.; Bloch, Michael I.; Cowin, Elizabeth L.; Lee Eng, Tami; Eviatar, Zohar; Sergent, Vicki
Journal of Experimental Psychology:
General, Vol 123(3), Sep 1994, 235-256.**

The study tests;

> (1) auditory processing of verbal material,
> (2) processing of emotions shown on faces,
> (3) processing of visual categorical and coordinate spatial relations,
> (4) visual processing of verbal material.

This study concludes that the are some differences with processing

> phonetic or language-related processes.
6. As a point of interest: It would appear that training that training to be ambidextrous does not improve brain function.

**Can Training to Become Ambidextrous Improve Brain Function? Michael Corballis, professor of cognitive neuroscience and psychology the University of Auckland in New Zealand**

**\[ref 1\] HANDEDNESS AND MOTOR PERFORMANCE IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN
Vlachos Filippos\* , Daloukas George, & Karapetsas Argiris
\*University of Thessaly, Dept. a/Special Education , Volos, Hellas**
> 1 votes

# Answer
This might not answer the question well enough to count as a good answer, but if you're interested in handedness in general, I highly recommend Stanley Coren's well-written and well-researched "The Left-Hander Syndrome."

If I recall correctly, the book doesn't address multitasking specifically, but it does address many issues associated with handedness, including lateralization of language and identity, development of mood disorders, and behavioral differences (especially risk of injury) between left- and right-handers. You might get some good pointers by reading the references.
> 1 votes

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Tags: cognitive-neuroscience, concentration
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# Question
Title: Does identifying a student's sensory learning style and exploiting it result in significantly better performance?
Do people tend to have one pronounced sense (i.e., there is high variability in how strong the auditory, visual, olfactory etc. perception is among people) and can this sense, once identified, be exploited in both beneficial (e.g., targeted/adaptive learning/teaching) and manipulative (e.g., sales negotiations) ways?

My intuition doubts the effectiveness, but perhaps there is empirical evidence.

# Answer
> 10 votes
I think your intuition might be correct. According to Hal Pashler, there is no real evidence for learning styles. The authors do not state that one particular learning style is applicable to everyone. Instead, they conclude that a particular subject may have a preferred learning style. For example, essay writing would have a preferred "verbal" learning style.

**Source**

Learning Styles: Concepts and Evidence by Pashler et al.*Psychlogical Science in the Public Interest*. Volume 9.3 (2008).

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Tags: social-psychology, learning, sensation
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# Question
Title: When I smoke my cigarettes why do I feel smart?
I dunno why I feel smart after getting some smokes in.

# Answer
My only possible suggestion is that nicotine helps memory function see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory\_improvement scroll down where it says about nicotine.

Nevertheless if you want to improve your brain agility and memory or at least stay healthy I don't suggest starting smoking it will affect your body including mind negatively in numerous ways and then will affect your temper as well( http://www.gizmag.com/smoking-found-to-affect-brain/17240/ and millions of other sources can be found ).

In my opinion is interesting to see the benefits of nicotine but if so the best way would be with a some kind of a special field doctor giving you the appropriate amount of it and monitoring you how dieticians do.
> 7 votes

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Tags: cognitive-psychology
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# Question
Title: What is the name of the effect whereby socialising in a group reinforces group beliefs?
**Background**: There's this effect when you have some idea, i.e. that eating other people is (probably) cool, you join the group of like minded people, you talk about how tasty people are, everyone agrees with you, which reinforces the idea, and you all share literature and articles and youtube videos and whatnot on how cool it is, and the longer you all participate in the people eating community the more sure you are that it's cool because of all the friend confirmation and the info you see and share and so on reinforces the belief stronger and stronger, and you don't meet people with opposite ideas that often, don't read criticism on eating people that often, etc. And the people eating idea is no longer just probably cool to you, you become sure about it with all your heart and defend it fanatically.

I am pretty sure I've read about this in some Peter L. Berger's book, however I cannot find it.

**What is the name of this effect? (i.e., whereby being part of a group strengthens your belief in the beliefs held by the group)**

# Answer
> 6 votes
It seems like you are talking about a number of social processes related to internalising group norms. With regards to the influence that groups can have on beliefs, check out:

> Groups internalize norms by accepting them as reasonable and proper standards for behaviour within the group. Once firmly established, a norm becomes a social fact, and thus, a part of the group's operational structure, and is difficult to change. With that being said, newcomers to a group can change a group's norms. However, it is much more likely that the new individual entering the group will adopt the group's norms, values, and perspectives, rather than the other way around.

You also describe a process by which individuals are attracted to groups initially. You might want to look into the concept of homophily. This is the "tendency of individuals to associate and bond with similar others." There is substantial sociological and psychological research on this topic. Shared beliefs cause relationship formation, but presumably also, relationships cause increases in the likelihood of shared beliefs.

# Answer
> 7 votes
There is also the related phenomenon of 'Group Polarisation' (see Myers and Lamm, 1976; Isenberg, 1986), where groups are found to make more extreme decisions and hold more extreme opinions than its constituent members. Not sure if that's specifically related to what you're looking for but I think it's important to keep in mind.

### References

* Isenberg, D.J. (1986). Group polarization: A critical review and meta-analysis.. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 1141. PDF
* Myers, D.G. & Lamm, H. (1976). The group polarization phenomenon.. Psychological Bulletin, 83, 602.

# Answer
> 2 votes
All the points Jeromy made in his first answer can be integrated when you view this from the perspective of *Self Categorization Theory* (Turner et al., 1987) or newer develoments in social psychology which link Social Identity Theory and Self Categorization Theory (Haslam et al., 2009). To be sure, what I am about to say refers to the situation that an individual does already identify with a certain group.

The basic idea is that within a social context, certain cues can make the membership with a certain group salient, which leads to self categorization as a group member (instead of categorization as an individual). This in turn will lead to a heightened awareness of and conformity to norms, values or behaviours that belong to the group. Certain behaviours might even be essential to the definition of that group, like in your example. To provide a (hopefully) more realistic example, certain health-related behaviours like eating certain kinds of foods can be a defining feature of group identity. Oyserman et al. (2007) showed that

> Racial-ethnic minority participants view health promotion behaviors as White middle class and unhealthy behaviors as in-group defining (Studies 1 and 2). Priming race-ethnicity (and low socioeconomic status) increases health fatalism and reduces access to health knowledge (Studies 3 and 4). Perceived efficacy of health-promoting activities is undermined when racial-ethnic minority participants who identify unhealthy behavior as in-group defining are asked to consider their similarities to (middle-class) Whites (Studies 5-7).

So, certain norms, values or behaviours might be relevant to the definition of a group and thereby important for the social identity of a person. As an answer to your question, a term that might fit is *Self Categorization*.

References:

<sub> Haslam, S. Alexander, Jolanda Jetten, Tom Postmes, und Catherine Haslam (2009). Social identity, health and well-being: An emerging agenda for applied psychology. Applied Psychology 58, 1–23.
Oyserman, D., Fryberg, S. A., & Yoder, N. (2007). Identity-based motivation and health. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93(6), 1011.
Turner, J. C., Hogg, M. A., Oakes, P. J., Reicher, S. D., & Wetherell, M. S. (1987). Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. Basil Blackwell. </sub>

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Tags: terminology, social-psychology, norms
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# Question
Title: What is the psychology behind choosing to be weird?
There is a saying I was once told:

> "I no longer fear going insane, I am enjoying every moment of it"

For some (including myself), this is in fact a rather happy and liberating reality, albeit a reality that I don't quite understand. So, my question is, **what is the psychology behind choosing to let one's weird side show?**

*Please note - I am not asking for self help, don't need it - just trying to understand the psychological aspects. An example of this is when I wore a ballerina suit and walked around a shopping centre as if nothing was out of the ordinary... it was not a pretty sight*

# Answer
***The psychology behind choosing to let one's weird side show?***
I think the this question would work as effectively as:
***The psychology behind choosing to let one's individuality show?***

Human beings are social animals. Social pressures play significant factors in moulding personality.

> The term conformity is often used to indicate an agreement to the majority position, brought about either by a desire to ‘fit in’ or be liked (normative) or because of a desire to be correct (informational), or simply to conform to a social role (identification).

So assuming *"weird"* is more likely to be further away from social norms. The more social pressure to be borne. This means a greater courage is needed to be oneself. There are links between self-acceptance, social pressure and depression.

> Correlational results indicated that all three trait dimensions of perfectionism (i.e., self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed perfectionism) were associated negatively with unconditional self-acceptance. Also, as expected, depression was associated with relatively low unconditional self-acceptance. Finally, a path analysis revealed that unconditional self-acceptance mediated the association between socially prescribed perfectionism and depression, and other-oriented perfectionism was found to affect depression only indirectly through its association with low levels of self-acceptance.

**Dimensions of Perfectionism, Unconditional Self-Acceptance, and Depression
Gordon L. Flett, Avi Besser, Richard A. Davis, Paul L. Hewitt
Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy
June 2003, Volume 21, Issue 2, pp 119-138**

***Conclusion***
Gaining self-acceptance, one's individuality or "weirdness" is inversely proportional to the incidence of depression; and also improves the individual's capacity to cope with social pressure to conform. So by accepting one's strengths and weaknesses one is freed from (social and psychological) pressure, improving one's sense of well being.
> 4 votes

# Answer
By being weird you choose a smaller group of similar weirdos to compete for status in. At the limit you're in a group of one. Smaller peer group, easier to be near the top. High status feels good even if it's in a smaller peer group.

It's relatively easy to be the manliest brony as opposed to being the manliest human.

*Disclaimer: I'm not an expert.*
> -1 votes

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Tags: social-psychology, abnormal-psychology, social-desirability
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# Question
Title: The Dark Triad Abnormal Development or Base Human Nature?
I propose the concept, that human beings, as animals have the same instincts as other animals. Even though we are social animals, we still have the basic nature of fight and flight and we teach ourselves to overrule these with the "conscious mind" or frontal lobe. To help reinforce the practice of inhibiting behaviour that "may" be destructive to other human beings, are many laws, and social and organisational constructs of "morality" (eg religion, schooling). These practices assist in the individuals development of conscience.

This leads me to a group of people who fail to conform to the social norms that are supposed to help to ensure that human beings have the optimal chance to overcome base desires and instincts.

The Dark Triad;
Narcissism
Machiavellianism
Psychopathy

The key features being;
lack of empathy
self-centredness
lack of remorse

From the pure analysis that the percentage of people with these diagnoses are not the norm. It can be argued that these people are defective, as they are not the norm. It has been argued these personality types can be genetic and caused by environment and every permutation between. One could, almost argue that it is the underlying "default" of human nature, when all our conditioning is stripped away.

My question is:
**Are people diagnosed with Narcissism, Machiavellianism or Psychopathy truly different; or are these set of personality traits dormant within all people?**

# Answer
> 7 votes
The Dark Triad traits you speak of are subclinical personality traits, therefore they cannot be diagnosed. Everyone carries some of the characteristics of these traits. People high on these traits are also not considered to be defective, even better they may in some environments be considered to be an advantage (e.g., business areas).

You may want to read up on research on the Dark Triad, mainly that by Dr. P. K. Jonason. He is one of the main contributors to the Dark Triad research and uses an evolutionary paradigm to discuss his research, showing how the Dark Triad may be adaptive.

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Tags: abnormal-psychology, developmental-psychology, psychiatry, nature-nurture
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# Question
Title: What motivates individuals to engage in cyberbullying?
With the advent and proliferation of social media, forums and q&a sites, there has been a matching increase in the incidents of online-bullying, or 'cyber-bullying, that goes beyond trolling. All too many times, the consequences of this kind of bullying (like any type of bullying) can be tragic.

What is the psychological motivation behind the cyber-bully? Is it a consequence of them feeling empowered by their apparent anonymity?

I have read the post "Why do teenagers take the internet and cyberbullying so seriously?", but my question is focused on the psychological motivations that the perpetrator of cyberbulling has, not why it is so damaging to the victims.

*I am after authoritive (refereed) articles about this.*

# Answer
> 6 votes
From my understanding of the problem and my years of experience with the internet since the early days when IRC was popular and web forums were just starting to emerge, I believe I can shed some light on this subject. probably not enough for a full answer but more than just a comment.

I feel that a large part of the problem is the anonymity (or perceived anonymity) as well as the sense of detachment that communication over the internet provides us with. I think that psychologically it is much easier to be critical, mean, cruel and otherwise have a lack of empathy when not dealing with another person face-to-face or verbally. Just as text-based communication does not convey tone of voice to allow us to know when others online are being sarcastic, one can lose the sense of how much one's actions are hurting others when they are cruel online.

With respect to perceived anonymity, it becomes greatly easier to rationalize or entirely forget that one's actions have consequences. It's easy to attack someone online and never have them know who is attacking them. This is demonstrated by a 2005 study done by Qing Li of the University of Calgary (I am unable to find the actual link to the study but have found many places which reference it) that states that 41% of students surveyed did not know the identity of the perpetrators. To me this indices that the anonymity provides a means for humans to rationalize behaviors we otherwise would be ashamed to be associated with.

The paper Cyber bullying: Clarifying Legal Boundaries for School Supervision in Cyberspace by Shaheen Shariff/McGill University, Canada and Dianne L. Hoff/University of Maine, Orono, USA also draws some very interesting parallels between cyberbullying and the 1954 novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, speaking to the roots of cruelty in human nature as well as lack of supervision/perceived anonymity:

> Young people in cyber-space lose their inhibitions in the absence of no central power, clear institutional or familial boundaries, or hierarchical structures (Milson & Chu, 2002). As Bandura (1991) explained over a decade ago, physical distance provides a context in which students can ignore or trivialize their misbehavior, as easily as Golding’s boys did on their distant island. In cyber-space this form of disengagement is amplified
>
> Lack of institutional and parental rules in cyber-space have the effect of creating virtual islands similar to the physical islands in Lord of the Flies. The absence of adult supervision allows perpetrators free reign to pick on students who may not fit their definition of “cool” because of their weight, appearance, accent, abilities or disabilities (Shariff and Strong-Wilson, 2005). Cyber-space provides a borderless playground that empowers some students to harass, isolate, insult, exclude and threaten classmates. \[...\] Without limits and clear codes of conduct, communication in cyber-space (even among adults) can rapidly deteriorate into abuse because of the knowledge and sense of security that comes with the limited possibility of being detected and disciplined.

It also talks about teenage hormones being a driving factor:

> Moreover, adolescent hormones rage and influence social relationships as children negotiate social and romantic relationships and become more physically self-conscious, independent, and insecure (Boyd, 2000). Research on dating and harassment practices at the middle school level (Tolman, 2001) shows that peer pressure causes males to engage in increased homophobic bullying of male peers and increased sexual harassment of female peers to establish their manhood. During this confusing stage of adolescent life, the conditions are ripe for bullying to take place. The Internet provides a perfect medium for adolescent anxieties to play themselves out.

I associate it somewhat with the notion by Thomas Hobbes that humans are "warlike", that by our very nature we are completely self-centered, and that we form societies and governments by giving up some of our selfishness and collectively adhering to social contracts for a greater good. By the nature of online communities often we lose this sense of responsibility to the community and each other, and we are prone to regress to our more basic, warlike state. This is my personal belief; I am still searching for actual references with which I can back this up with.

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Tags: social-psychology, motivation, internet, social-networks
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# Question
Title: Is mutually consensual BDSM a symptom of a sick mind or an expression of freedom from social constraints?
BDSM an acronym for bondage and discipline; dominant and submissive; sado-masochism; slave and master.

Assume such a relationships or sexual practices are genuinely mutually consenting; and by consent I mean, meaning two well informed, mature, sober, drug free adults. **In such cases, are BDSM practices or relationships a symptom of a sick mind or the true freedom from social conditioning to play and experiment as desired?**

When answering one must be mindful to put the moral judgment that away. Answers based purely on opinion and without references will be down voted and flagged, as it is not a site for moral argument, but built on latest scientific research.

# Answer
If your question is, whether practitioners of BDSM are in some way pathological, then Pamela Connolly (2006) answered it. Her abstract summarizes her research and findings nicely (emphasis added):

> A demographic questionnaire and 7 psychometric tests were administered to 32 self-identified Bondage/Domination/SadoMasochism (BDSM) practitioners. Although psychoanalytic literature suggests that high levels of certain types of psychopathology should be prevalent among BDSM practitioners, this sample failed to produce widespread, high levels of psychopathology on psychometric measures of depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsion, psychological sadism, psychological masochism, or PTSD. **In fact, on measures of clinical psychopathology and severe personality pathology, this sample appeared to be comparable to both published test norms and to DSM-IV-TR estimates for the general population. There were, however, some exceptions to this general pattern, most notably the higher-than-average levels of narcissism and nonspecific dissociative symptoms found in the sample.** This study also raises significant concern about the appropriateness of the diagnosis of sexual masochism and sadism in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association or, minimally, the diagnostic criteria of these disorders.

But BDSM practitioners aren't only normal, they feel "more better", too: An Australian study (Richters, De Visser, Rissel, Grulich, & Smith, 2008) found that "men who had engaged in BDSM **scored significantly lower on a scale of psychological distress than other men**" (emphasis added).

This higher level of well-being may be explained by conscious and systematic "**relationship management**", including no-holds-barred open communication and clear agreement on mutual relationship roles, resulting in highly functional relationships, as well as a **commitment to personal growth**, both of which are common among BDSM couples (Cutler, 2003). Contrary to common views of BDSM, Cutler states, BDSM activities include non-sexual motivations: "hormonal studies have shown BDSM activities to be more similar to sports than sex, complete with **stress relief** qualities" (emphasis added).

Today, BDSM is a best-selling mainstream media phenomenon, and it has become increasingly difficult to draw a clear distinction between "deviant" and "normal" sexuality. When a little rope play is just another practice for the average couple, BDSM certainly isn't deviant any longer, and many practitioners are as "normal" as you and me. The difference in practice is, I believe, gradual: BDSM couples indulge in "normal" sex just as normal couples pay visits to the land of bondage and submission (and other kinks).

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> 13 votes

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Tags: sexuality, norms
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# Question
Title: What does cognitive science say about whether to learn mathematics top-down from research papers?
There is currently a popular question on math.SE on whether it is effective to learn math top-down.

> By top-down I mean finding a paper that interests you which is obviously way over your head, then at a snail's pace, looking up definitions and learning just what you need and occasionally proving basic results. Eventually you'll get there but is this a bad idea? Is learning each required math area by textbook the better way?

I thought that cognitive science might have something to contribute to this discussion. Specifically:

* **What would cognitive science have to say about the pros and cons of learning from the ground up versus taking a difficult mathematical text and following up on the details?**
* **What decision rules would cognitive science have for deciding whether to adopt a given a approach?**
* **Has any empirical research explicitly dealt with this question?**

# Answer
> 6 votes
This is a part answer to this question, specifically if research has been done for this problem. Also, some perspectives of a Maths and Physics teacher of over a decade experience. Somewhat ironically, I am going to start by making a parallel to a topic that is arguably an equivalent in the Sciences: Physics - as in my experience, I have seen similarities in terms of top=down vs bottom-up learning.

According to "Learning to think like a Physicist: A review of research based instructional strategies" (Van Heuvelen, 1991), many studies then have found that conventional teaching methods (bottom-up in a lot of places), in their use of "primitive formula-centred problem solving" fail to properly develop topic and subject related reasoning and problem solving.

The point here is that enquiry based problem solving, which can be considered as 'top-down' allows the student to learn the topics and concepts within a context, in doing so, they see how various topics link together, that may not be so apparent when working with formula-centred methods. A caveat here, it is absolutely critical that the students have some background knowledge and skills that could be used in their enquiry, these would potentially be enhanced through a top-down type of enquiry.

This is emphasised further in the chapter "Research on Teaching Mathematics: The Unsolved Problem of Teachers' Mathematical Knowledge" (Ball, 2001), who asset that the most common encounter with mathematics is a set of rules to be memorised, equivalent to the 'primitive formula-centred problem solving' model described in the previous article, resulting in the subject not only being misunderstood, **but underappreciated**. This is an advantage of a top-down approach, according to the article (and my own experience), where if the student starts with a query (from an article or unfamiliar question), then it turns into a mathematical challenge, rather than a pedagogical one.

Finally, a key point from the chapter "Learning to think mathematically: Problem solving, metacognition, and sense-making in Mathematics" (Schoenfeld, 1992), make several key points outlined above, and:

> Present problem situations that closely resemble real situations in their richness and complexity so that the experience that students gain in the Learning to think mathematically, classroom will be transferable.

This includes taking an unfamiliar problem, and using skills and knowledge that they have to disassemble the problem to understand its components. Essentially, a great skill can be developed in the top-down approach - how to break down a big unfamiliar problem into its more familiar ingredients.

Hope this helps.

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Tags: cognitive-psychology, learning, performance, mathematical-ability
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# Question
Title: Is there any science behind movie/commercial camera angle changes?
Most of the regular waking cognition experiences a continuous visual field. One object of focus flows into another. Objects out of focus are pushed to the periphery. A person may move one's view around in a 360 degree sphere, but from a single point in space. For example, moving eyes away from the monitor towards the desk keeps the monitor in the field of view, just moves it to the periphery.

Now, as I'm looking at modern day (2012) movies and commercials, I notice that a lot of them feature abrupt changes from one image to another, from one camera angle to another. It is as if the perspective shifts about in space.

**Quite a lot of these image changes are very brief - just a few seconds long.** For example, a conversation on screen may have camera on one actor talking, then jump to show the other actor's reaction, then snap back. Commercials are even worse - if viewed out of the corner of one's eye, they frequently appear as just a series of flashes.

**I'm interested if there's any science behind these abrupt changes in camera angles and flashes of images.** For example, I know that a human eye needs about 25 frames per second to perceive fluid motion on the screen. A refresh rate of 60 hertz is the minimum to avoid eye strain. Are there any similar numbers related to the duration of exposure to the stimulus, for example(fake numbers):

* 0.75 seconds to capture emotion on the human's face
* 2 seconds to comprehend action (ex: car driving on screen)
* 3 seconds flash of explosion is enough to produce excitement
* 14 seconds to become familiar with the scene

# Answer
> 2 votes
Admittedly, this question has intrigued me also. This is a partial answer, as the article below deals with perceptions borne of camera angles of a person, as an example of the effect of camera angles.

According to the article "The influence of camera angle on comprehension and retention of pictorial events" (Kraft, 1987), camera angles significantly influence viewers' mental construct of the story representations. These representations are related to our experience with the real world around us.

Kraft summarises previous research in saying that there is a connotation that:

> physically looking down at an actor translates into looking down on that actor; physically looking up at an actor translates into looking up to that actor.

This also could apply to characters. Thus influencing our perception of the person and the events surrounding them.

In regards to scenes:

> by changing vertical camera angle, one changes the real life consequences of the pictured scene.

These connotations are often 'woven into the storyline'.

I hope this helps

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Tags: perception
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# Question
Title: How does emotional pain cause as much suffering as physical pain?
Consider someone who has a serious injury. Example examples include losing a limb, being shot or falling from a great height. It is easy for the human mind and science to comprehend and explain why and how much pain that person would suffer.

Emotional pain originates in a relatively small part of the body, within the brain, and it isn not usually caused by physical injury.

* **How can emotional pain cause as much or even greater suffering than physical pain?**
* **Why is emotional pain so difficult for many people to cope with?**

# Answer
> 9 votes
Some research that I have dug up:

According to the article "Emotional and Physical Pain Activate Similar Brain Regions" (Fogel, 2012), the anterior insula and the anterior cingulate cortex are activated for both physical and emotional pain. Also, physical pain can lead to emotional pain as it would in the reverse direction (emotional --\> physical).

This conclusion is further discussed in the articles "Does Rejection Hurt? An fMRI Study of Social Exclusion" (Eisenberger et al. 2007) and "Social rejection shares somatosensory representations with physical pain" (Kross et al. 2011). Even though both articles use the insidious form of bullying: social exclusion as an example, the same conclusion could be reached for proportionally greater pain of both types.

What I alluded to in my comment is true, I have fallen from a decent height, both emotionally and physically in 2 separate incidences - reflecting on what I remember of the pain I felt when I landed, it was about the same.

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Tags: social-psychology, emotion, well-being, pain
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# Question
Title: How to calculate composite factor scores post factor analysis for a questionnaire?
I have a question with regard to calculating composite factor scores after running a factor analysis in SPSS. My research is on work related stress and I collected my data through a perceived stress questionnaire. I check for reliability for all sub scales and ran a factor analysis and obtained a clean factor solution extracting four factors. Each factor consists of 5-6 items.

* **How do I calculate the totals for each factor?**
* **Should I calculate the scores before or after centering the data?**

# Answer
Typically, questionnaires where all items are on the same response scale are coded differently to composite variables where you have variables on different metrics (e.g., a set of ability tests).

**Sums and means:** For questionnaires like yours, you would commonly just take the mean or the sum of items that belong to a given subscale (note that you may need to first reverse code some of the items). I have a few notes here about doing this in SPSS and R. I generally prefer this method: (a) it's simpler; (b) it's easy to compare scores across studies; (c) it doesn't force orthogonality or require choices about degree of correlation between factors, rather it is determined by item content; (d) by using the mean, you get values that are on the same scale as the original response scale.

**Test manual:** More generally, assuming the test has been used before, you should examine the test manual or other published studies to see how the test is intended to be scored. By following these instructions, you will make your results more comparable to other studies that have used the test.

**Factor saved scores:** There is also an argument for using factor saved scores. If you do that, there are various methods for deriving scores from a factor analysis. Your software will often provide various means for extracting factor saved scores with various properties. You can also save the coefficients from the factor coefficients table. You can then compute your own factor saved scores by multiplying the coefficients for a given factor by the scores for a particular individual.

**Centering:** All the above methods (sum, mean, factor saved scores) are examples of weighted composites (i.e., $y\_i = \beta\_1 x\_{i1} + \beta\_2 x\_{i2} + ... + \beta\_p x\_{ip}$ for participant $i$ where there are $p$ items, $x$ is the response, and $\beta$ is the weight and where $y$ is one subscale score; you could add another index for multiple subscales). Centering only changes the mean of such a subscale. If you were to create two scales scores, one with centered variables, and one without, the two scale scores would be perfectly correlated. Note that rescaling (e.g., creating z-scores) does make a difference, and is often appropriate where items are on different metrics.

I agree with @Damien's answer that the DiStefano (2009) reference is a good place to get an overview of the issues.

### References

* DiStefano, C., Zhu, M., & Mindrila, D. (2009). Understanding and using factor scores: Considerations for the applied researcher. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 14(20), 1-11. PDF
> 4 votes

# Answer
A good guide how to go about this analysis using the software tools you have described has been written by our very own Jeromy Anglim! "Calculating Composite Scores of Ability and Other Tests in SPSS".

Another article with some details is "Understanding and Using Factor Scores: Considerations for the Applied Researcher" (DiStefano et al. 2009). Their abstract is:

> Following an exploratory factor analysis, factor scores may be computed and used in subsequent analyses. Factor scores are composite variables which provide information about an individual’s placement on the factor(s). This article discusses popular methods to create factor scores under two different classes: refined and non-refined. Strengths and considerations of the various methods, and for using factor scores in general, are discussed.

I hope this helps
> 2 votes

# Answer
In addition to the ressources that @Damien has provided I would like to give you a very brief "tutorial":

Factor scores for a subject are defined as the sum of the scores of that subject on the items that belong to a factor, multiplied by their respective factor loadings. It doesn't really matter if you go with the standardized or with the unstandardized loadings. But very often the standardized values are easier to interpret, as they range from $-1$ to $1$.
> 2 votes

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Tags: personality, statistics, test, stress
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# Question
Title: Is "doing everything in your head" a good proxy for intelligence?
Suppose Bob never takes notes in class and just mentally "gets" a subject. Is this ability of mentally learning a subject without actively recording the information a good proxy for intelligence?

# Answer
> 2 votes
**Subject performance is not intelligence**: Doing well in a single subject is a weak measure of intelligence. While the correlation between IQ and GPA is fairly high. The correlation for a given subject will typically be much lower. So another way of framing this subject is whether doing a subject in your head is a good proxy for subject understanding.

More broadly, your question implies a few other questions:

1. Does note taking improve learning?
2. Are students who are either more generally intelligent or more capable in the subject less likely to take notes?
3. Is there an interaction such that the benefits of note taking is less for more skilled students?

**1. Is note taking effective?** I assume that note taking is generally effective and helping students to retain the information presented in a lecture. It encourages students to focus on the material. Deeper information processing increases depth of learning and retention. It also provides a means of revision, which in turn should increase retention.

That said, there are a lot of different types of note taking. In particular, part of the skill of note taking is working out what is important and what is not important.

There are also many different pedagogical contexts. For example, in some settings note taking is required for keeping a record whereas in other settings slides or recordings of the lecture may be provided. Logic says that if note taking is the only record, then it would be more important. Similarly, lectures vary in the degree to which the specific material needs to be mastered as opposed to providing an overview and relying on textbooks or other activities to hone skills. I would assume that where a subject requires students to repeat or apply information presented in the lecture, then taking notes will be more effective.

**2. Are students who are either more generally intelligent or more capable in the subject less likely to take notes?** I don't know of specific research into this, but I think there would be two key factors operating. First, less capable students are more likely to use poor study skills. So this might involve either no note-taking or poor note taking (e.g., taking down too much information). Second, more capable students are likely to know more material and also be able to absorb the material better. So in some cases, they may have less need to take notes, which in turn may lead them not to take notes.

It might also be related to self-efficacy beliefs which are only partially grounded in reality. So for example, the student might think that they are understanding more of the subject than they are, and fail to see the benefit that they would derive from taking notes.

**3. Is there an interaction such that the benefits of note taking is less for more skilled students?** Certainly at a certain extreme level of prior understanding where the student already knows all the material, then there may be little benefit from note taking. Likewise, as mentioned previously many features of the context may influence the need for note taking. However, in contexts where the material is somewhat new to all students, and the test is on the material presented in the lecture, and there are no slides or other material I imagine that note taking would be fairly valuable for all students.

**Some research:**

It seems there is quite a lot of research on note-taking. Check out "note taking" on google scholar.

**Hartley and Davies (1978)** review note taking looking at why students take notes and the research on note taking.

Kiewra (1989) provides another review of the learning benefits of note-taking:

> This review article investigates the encoding and storage functions of note- taking. The encoding function suggests that the process of taking notes, which are not reviewed, is facilitative. Research specifying optimal note-taking behaviors is discussed as are several means for facilitating note-taking, such as viewing a lecture multiple times, note-taking on a provided framework, or generative note-taking activities. The storage function suggests that the review of notes also is facilitative. Research addressing particular review behaviors, such as organization and elaboration, is discussed as are the advan- tages of reviewing provided notes, borrowed notes, or notes organized in a matrix form. In addition, cognitive factors related to note-taking and review are discussed. The article concludes with an alternative means for defining and investigating the functions of note-taking, and with implications for edu- cation and for research.

### References

* Hartley, J., & Davies, I. K. (1978). Note‐taking: A critical review. Programmed Learning and Educational Technology, 15(3), 207-224.
* Kiewra, K. A. (1989). A review of note-taking: The encoding-storage paradigm and beyond. Educational Psychology Review, 1(2), 147-172.

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Tags: cognitive-psychology, learning, intelligence, educational-psychology
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# Question
Title: What are the psychological mechanisms for compulsive talkers?
What are the psychological mechanisms for people who can't seem to help frequently "talking too much"?

Specifically, I am referring to those that recognise cues to when someone is busy, disinterested or distracted, but are compelled to continue talking.

# Answer
> 6 votes
Compulsive talking appears to be linked with the inability to manage social anxiety. Whether the anxiety is brought about from the uncomfortability of the interaction or from the avoidance of deep seated feelings within the individual.

> People who score beyond two standard deviations above the mean on the scale are labeled as “talkaholics,”

as cited by James C. McCroskey & Virginia P. Richmond

> The most common and basic cause of any compulsive behavior is anxiety. A person engages in compulsive behavior not because he particularly wants to, but because he’s so anxious that he has to do something to get his mind off that anxiety. Until the compulsive talker comes to grips with whatever he or she doesn’t want to think about, the talking will continue.
>
> The root of this anxiety varies from individual to individual. But it often stems from deep-seated emotions of insecurity and inadequacy.../...
>
> For the compulsive talker, silence and reflection are simply unacceptable. A pause in conversation is an emotional abyss into which they simply cannot help but throw themselves.

written by Dr Hurd

Compulsive talking could be confused with Pressure of Speech. Which can be associated with mania and attention deficit disorder. Pressured speech is marked by speaking rapidly, with a sense of urgency and, frequently, with no social awareness.

Logorrhea is another condition, which causes the person to talk endlessly, but, usually, in an incoherent, rambling fashion.

---

**Identifying compulsive communicators: The talkaholic scale
James C. McCroskey & Virginia P. Richmond
Communication Research Reports
Volume 10, Issue 2, 1993**

**Talking too much can have deep-seated roots
Dr Hurd
Private Practice of Psychotherapy and Solution-Focused Consultation since 1988.
Multiple published works.**

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Tags: social-psychology, communication
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# Question
Title: Relationship between social psychology and educational psychology
For some time I have been trying to figure out what the connection between social psychology and educational psychology is. By their definition, it seems that there at least one (major) point of connection. Both disciplines have the term "psychology" in their title.

However, if you go further to investigate the connection, you might find that Wikipedia entry on educational psychology seems a bit confusing:

"Educational psychology is the study of how humans learn in educational settings, the effectiveness of educational interventions, the psychology of teaching, and the \**social psychology of schools as organizations."

Does it mean that social psychology should be considered as a part/subdiscipline of educational psychology?

# Answer
No, social psychology is not a subfield of educational psychology. Social psychology is one of the basic disciplines of psychology (like e.g. personality psychology or developmental psychology), whereas educational psychology is an applied discipline (like e.g. clinical psychology or industrial/organizational psychology). A sort of standard definition of social psychology is, that it is the

> the study of the manner in which the personality, attitudes, motivations, and behavior of the individual influence and are influenced by social groups. (Merriam-Webster, 2013)

This means that as soon as there is some sort of social interaction involved in an educational setting, both disciplines are concerned.

References:

<sub> Merriam-Webster. (August 2013). Social Psychology. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/social%20psychology </sub>
> 6 votes

# Answer
In short, there is no simple answer to your question. First, you have to ask what do you consider a discipline. You should considered and research the following questions:

1. Is there a community of researchers that is actively engaged in debates?
2. Is there a set of journals and conferences that are more related to social psychology (SP) or educational psychology(EP)
3. Is there a corpus of work that is usually refer as key to social psychology or educational psychology?
4. Are the associations dedicated to solely SP and EP?
5. Is there a set of methods that are used and developed solely by SP and EP?

You should ask about relationship between social psychology and educational psychology only after you answer "yes" to the questions above. In other case you only talk about two fields that psychology/psychologists focus their attention.

To conclude, you have to make more research on the disciplinary status of both social and educational psychology.

I would recomend Krishnan (2009) regarding the interdisciplinary relations. A good introduction to disciplinarity is also there.

> Krishnan, A. (2009). What are academic disciplines. Some observations on the Disciplinarity vs. Interdisciplinarity Ddebate. ESRC National Centre for Research Methods. Universitty of Southhampton, 63.
> 2 votes

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Tags: social-psychology, educational-psychology
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# Question
Title: Are individuals who are generally jealous more likely to experience sexual jealousy?
Some people are just jealous of many things they perceive others to possess. Materially or as part of that person.

Is a person who is prone to jealousy more likely to be jealous in romantic relationships?

or does sexual jealousy have different roots.

# Answer
> 4 votes
As Parrot and Smith have said (1993), "envy and jealousy are confounded by laypersons and scholars alike (Schoeck, 1969)", while in psychology, philosophy, and the social sciences in general, a distinction is drawn between jealousy and envy:

> *\[E\]nvy* occurs when a person lacks another's superior quality, achievment, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it. It occurs when this shortcoming exists in a domain that is self-definitional (Salovey & Rodin, 1984), and it intensifies with self-dissatisfaction and when superioority in alternative comparison domains is lacking (R. H. Smith, Diener, & Garonzik, 1990). ... *Jealousy*, by contrast, necessarily occurs in the context of relationships. It occurs when a person fears losing an important relationship with another person to a rival—in particular, losing a relationship that is formative to one's sense of self (Hupka, 1991; Rorty, 1988, chap. 7). (Parrot & Smith, 1993)

As studies have shown, envy appears to be characterized by feelings of inferiority, longing, resentment, and disapproval of the emotion. Jealousy appears to be characterized by fear of loss, distrust, anxiety, and anger. (Parrot & Smith, 1993).

So, if you write: "Some people are just jealous of many things they perceive others to possess. Materially or as part of that person.", then you are actually not talking about jealousy, but about envy, and your question must read:

**Are envious individuals more likely to experience sexual jealousy?**

As experiments and surveys show, both envy and jealousy are caused by threatened self-esteem (DeSteno, Valdesolo & Bartlett, 2006; Parrot, 1991), so it might be concluded that the propensity for both emotions would be equally high or low in one individual. But that is not necessarily so. Findings suggest that

> a distinction might be made between different types of self-esteem, or between different routes to lowering self-esteem. ... In envy one's own appraisal leads to dissatisfaction with oneself. In jealousy, the reflected appraisal of another leads to a lack of security and confidence. (Parrott, 1991)

Feelings of jealousy appear to be equally high in different individuals (and both sexes) if they face the same situations (Salovey & Rodin, 1985). Nevertheless there might be

> certain personality characteristics that might make some people particulaly prone to jealousy. ... The people whose responses indicated a high degree of jealousy were those who also reported these three personality characteristics: having a low opinion of themselves, seeing a large discrepancy between how they really are and what they would ideally like to be and valuing highly such visible achievements as becoming wealthy, famous, well-liked and, especially, physically attractive. (Salovey & Rodin, 1985)

Variance in self-esteem is attributable to genetics, parenting style, perceived appearance, and past experiences of success and failure (Emler, 2001). Nevertheless, in intensity of jealousy was mostly moderated by how secure and committed the current relationship felt (Salovey & Rodin, 1985). Thus it seems that environment factors play at least an equally strong role in promoting jealousy as personality traits or states. Because, of course, "close and loving relationships with others later in life do contribute positively to self-esteem. But" – and here the circle closes – "the likelihood of forming and sustaining successful relationships of these kinds is itself higher when self-esteem is higher in the first place." (Emler, 2001)

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Sources:

* DeSteno, D., Valdesolo, P., & Bartlett, M. Y. (2006). Jealousy and the threatened self: Getting to the heart of the green-eyed monster. *Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91*, 626-641. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.91.4.626
* Emler, N. (2001). *Self-esteem: The costs and causes of low self-worth*. York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
* Parrott, W. G. (1991). The emotional experiences of envy and jealousy. In P. Salovey (Ed.), *The Psychology of Jealousy and Envy* (pp. 3-30). New York: Guilford Press.
* Parrott, W. G., & Smith, R. H. (1993). Distinguishing the experiences of envy and jealousy. *Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64*, 906-920. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.64.6.906
* Salovey, P., & Rodin, J. (1985). The heart of jealousy. *Psychology Today, 19*, 22-29.

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Tags: social-psychology, emotion, abnormal-psychology, sexuality
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# Question
Title: What are the neurological mechanisms behind risking one's own life for another?
Every so often, we hear of people who go that extra mile and put their life on the line (and sometimes, give their life) for another person - whether it is a loved one or a complete stranger (sometimes, an enemy).

This has happened to me and several people that I know - and there many cases floating around in the media, a couple of examples are Jordan Rice and Joan North, there are millions of cases such as this, where ordinary people, young and old have 'stepped up' and did all they could to help. Nearly all of them reject the title 'hero'.

Having experienced this myself, I can honestly say, it was not really a 'choice', but a 'compulsion' - seemingly, the reflexes seem to become more acute, the reactions faster and fear is either suppressed or gone altogether.

So, my question is, **what are the neurological mechanisms that compel a person to act to help another, often without regard to their own safety?**

# Answer
> 2 votes
This book What Makes a Hero?: The Surprising Science of Selflessness by Elizabeth Svoboda, covers the answer to this question in considerable detail.

The author explores the genetic predisposition to be heroic, whether it can be developed and learnt, and the idea of group selection; which proposes this is an instinctual reaction, the sacrifice of one member can be in the aide of the greater good of the species.

This discussion on Moral maze examines whether human altruism really exists, or whether it is an evolutionary process. Examples of mutual reciprocity within various species, demonstrates that self-sacrifice can contribute to an individual's overall well-being. It is a cynical look at human nature, making the basic assumption that the survival instinct within human beings (or the preservation of an individual's gene pool) is the greatest drive and that any seeming detour from this, ultimately serves this.

> "Even in human societies we can still trace many behaviours seemingly carried out for the benefit of the group back to benefits for the individual," Stanford explains.
>
> "Someone who jumps into a river to save a drowning man will become a hero. And heroes accrue all sorts of benefits. For example, they may become more attractive to women," he adds.

My personal take on the two examples you provided:

In the case of Jordan Rice he has sacrificed himself for his younger brother. An act that conforms with the notion of group selection and maintains the integrity of the individual's aim to preserve the own gene pool.

In the case of Amanda (aka Joan) North is quoted as saying:

> I felt like there was a reason I was there. I felt a compulsion to go over to you.

Amanda North is in her 50s and has two children; past her child bearing and raising years (from a survival viewpoint).

Erika Brannock (the woman Amanda North rescued) is a 29 year old woman. A member of the species in the prime of her child bearing years, hence better able to contribute to the ongoing survival of our species. An added, an unrelated observation, is that she also happens to be a preschool teacher - demonstrating the, more likely odds, that she is a member of the species in the role of raising the next generation.

A note about the state of mind of a person in such a crisis, it is survival mode at it's most primitive. The body's fight and flight response, with is managed by the sympathetic nervous system. This optimizes the individual's for self preservation and protection of others.

The body's reaction to fight and flight:

> * heart rate and blood pressure increase
> * pupils dilate to take in as much light as possible
> * blood-glucose level increases
> * muscles tense up, energized by adrenaline and glucose (responsible for goose bumps -- when tiny muscles attached to each hair on surface of skin tense up, the hairs are forced upright, pulling skin with
> them)
> * smooth muscle relaxes in order to allow more oxygen into the lungs nonessential systems (like digestion and immune system) shut down to
> allow more energy for emergency functions
> * trouble focusing on small tasks (brain is directed to focus only on big picture in order to determine where threat is coming from)

Why Do People Risk Their Lives To Help Others During Emergencies Such as the Boston Marathon Bombing?

*note - if you like I can investigate studies which show the demographics of likely heros, which is a little out of the scope of this question.*

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Tags: social-psychology, neuroscience, stress, reaction-time, prosocial-behavior
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# Question
Title: At what point does a complex become pathological?
I've a first question so I apologize if the format is completely awry.

I'm reading Meeting the Shadow: The Hidden Power of the Dark Side of Human Nature and I came across this passage by Edward C. Whitmont:

> The shadow cannot be eliminated. It is the ever present dark brother or sister. Whenever we fail to see where it stands, there is likely to be trouble afoot. For then it is certain to be standing behind us. The adequate question therefore never is: Have I a shadow problem? Have I a negative side? But rather: Where does it happen to be right now? When we cannot see it, it is time to beware! **And it is helpful to remember Jung's formulation that a complex is not pathological *per se*. It becomes pathological only when we assume that we do not have it; because then it has us.**

The bold is my own addition to emphasize where my question stems from. This is the whole paragraph to the end of the chapter so as much context as I could give on it. To me (psychology as an interest/hobby with no classes or experience) this means that when we ignore the effects a complex has on us then it becomes pathological.

An example: Say I have an amputated hand and am lividly jealous at the sight of people doing things two-handed. By refusing to acknowledge and deal with this dilemma, I am relegating it to others to deal with by default and it thusly becomes pathological.

Is this accurate? Are there other important factors to take into consideration when considering a complex pathological?

# Answer
> 5 votes
I don't think there is an easy answer to this question. It is a bit like asking how long is a piece of string. Really what you are asking is, what is the defining point between a lesser problem and a greater problem, that it can be diagnosed as a pathological.

My answer would be once a complex impacts on an individual's ability to function normally, becomes a more persistent within the person's thoughts or in any way crippling then it is pathological. Or better put in the following quote:

> psychoneurosis, also called neurosis, plural psychoneuroses, or neuroses , mental disorder that causes a sense of distress and deficit in functioning.

Firstly to define what Jung considered to be a complex.

> Jung's theory of complexes with key citations.
> A "complex" meaning a personal unconscious, core pattern of emotions, memories, perceptions, and wishes organized around a common theme (Shultz and Shultz, 2009). .../...
>
> Jung often used the term "complex" to describe a usually unconscious, repressed, yet highly influential symbolic material that is incompatible with the consciousness (Daniels, 2010). .../...
>
> Some complexes usurp power from the ego and can cause constant psychological disturbances and symptoms of neurosis (Daniels, 2010)

So given that when a complex becomes a greater problem, it's a neurosis. We need to define neurosis.

> Neurosis is a class of functional mental disorders involving distress but neither delusions nor hallucinations, whereby behavior is not outside socially acceptable norms. It is also known as psychoneurosis or neurotic disorder, and thus those suffering from it are said to be neurotic. The term essentially describes an "invisible injury" and the resulting condition.

Now we compare this with the definition of what pathology is in psychology.

> Psychological Pathology Definition The scientific study of psychological disorders and their causes. Description
> Psychological pathology is the study of the causes, components, course, and consequences of psychological disorders. These are characterized by abnormality and dysfunction. Abnormality
> Psychological disorders are defined by diagnostic criteria, like those outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM; American Psychiatric Association \[APA\], 2000) or the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Conditions (ICD; World Health Organization, 2007).

The inclusion of neurosis in the DSM has been controversial and neurosis is not considered a part of anxiety conditions.

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Tags: social-psychology, abnormal-psychology, jung, psychoanalysis
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# Question
Title: Psychologically, how does volunteer work help the volunteer?
This question has intrigued me for a long time, ever since I experienced it first hand (and continue to do so). Some feel a compulsion to 'step up' and lend a hand to someone in need. An example, after spending a day cleaning up a neighbour's flood ravaged business and then some time helping at an evacuation centre, I came home sore, bruised, bleeding, battered, utterly exhausted - but, I felt **great** \- physically, I was a mess, but psychologically, I felt incredible.

What is/are bases for the psychological benefits often felt by volunteers?

# Answer
> 4 votes
**Individual Motives**

In addition to purely altruistic motivs for volunteering, there is some evidence it can occur for very different, more selfish reasons. Clary et al. (1998) developed a functionalist theory of volunteering and identified six different motives:

* expression of humanitarian values
* gaining knowledge
* personal growth
* social integration
* career benefits
* protecting the ego from negative self evaluation and reducing guilt of being more fortunate than others

Simon et al. (2000) found additional evidence to support the role of gaining knowledge as a motive.

**Social Motives**

All of the above were individual motives for helping behaviour. Going back to altruism as a predictor, it might be useful to also consider a group level perspective. Helping behaviour may have to do with self-categorization as group member. A very prominent approach from social-psychology is the *Empathy-Altruism-Hypothesis* by Daniel Batson et al. (1991). As you might expect, it states that empathy with someone is a good predictor of helping behaviour. However, there are different reasons for experiencing empathy. Stürmer et al. (2005; see also Simon et al., 2000) found in a study with AIDS volunteers, that empathy was a stronger predictor of helping behaviour when the recipient was an in-group member. On the other hand, when the recipient was an outgroup member, personal attraction was a stronger predictor. So volunteering might also have to do with the social identity of a person.

References:

<sub> Batson, C. D. (1991). *The altruism question: Toward a social-psychological answer.* Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Clary, E. G., Snyder, M., Ridge, R. D., Copeland, J., Stukas, A. A., Haugen, J., & Miene, P. (1998). Understanding and assessing the motivations of volunteers: a functional approach. *Journal of personality and social psychology,* 74(6), 1516. PDF
Simon, B., Sturmer, S., & Steffens, K. (2000). Helping Individuals or Group Members? The Role of Individual and Collective Identification in AIDS Volunteerism. *Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,* 26(4), 497–506. doi:10.1177/0146167200266008 PDF
Stürmer, S., Snyder, M., & Omoto, A. M. (2005). Prosocial Emotions and Helping: The Moderating Role of Group Membership. *Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,* 88(3), 532–546. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.88.3.532 </sub>

# Answer
> 4 votes
Some of the "pay-offs" of altruism, but within the more extreme circumstance of risking one's life to save another are address in this answer.

In my opinion, volunteer work fulfills a person's needs to be useful, it also places a person in a position of superiority, as they are bestowing their "gifts" upon a "lesser" person in need. There is evidence that charitable work releases chemicals akin to pleasure in the brain. \[Dan Schulman\]

I cite Ferguson, Eamonn; Farrell, Kathleen; Lawrence, Claire :

> The benevolence hypothesis is supported, suggesting that blood donor motivation is partly selfish.

Citing from the moral maze.

> "Even in human societies we can still trace many behaviours seemingly carried out for the benefit of the group back to benefits for the individual," Stanford explains.

In the study Altruism Costs - the Cheap Signal from Amygdala, it was demonstrated that there a neurological changes within the brain when contemplating making donations.

> neural processing of the cost-benefit difference. The presentation of a charitable donation goal evoked an insula activity that predicted the later decision to donate.../... Our findings imply that the emotional system has an important role in real decision making as it signals what kind of immediate cost and reward an outcome is associated with.

So in summary, I believe the pay-off is a feeling of well-being, that is in accord with supporting the individual's self-esteem and some evolutionary theories of our instincts as a species.

The Biology of Benevolence
Humans may be hardwired to cooperate. The choice to cooperate stimulates pleasure centers in the brain.
By Dan Schulman,
published on November 01, 2002 - last reviewed on May 02, 2006

Blood donation is an act of benevolence rather than altruism.
Ferguson, Eamonn; Farrell, Kathleen; Lawrence, Claire
Health Psychology, Vol 27(3), May 2008, 327-336

Altruism Costs - the Cheap Signal from Amygdala.
Gospic K, Sundberg M, Maeder J, Fransson P, Petrovic P, Isacsson G, Karlström A, Ingvar M.

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Tags: social-psychology, motivation, prosocial-behavior
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# Question
Title: Is there a "foreplay" equivalent, priming activity for thinking or conversation?
I've noticed the following phenomenon and am trying to find out if it is indeed true and if there is a scientific term for it:

When I **think about ideas**, I notice that I can rarely jump straight into "heavy" stuff, like thinking about a cognitive neuroscience article I read. Instead, doing another **activity that "primes" my brain** first tends to make me more conductive to heavy thinking. This can be watching a talk on TED.com or reading some lighter article.

In **conversation**, I find that it's fairly hard to have a "heart to heart" talk with a person right off the bat, but a casual conversation can evolve in that direction.

When thinking about the phenomenon, the following supporting evidence comes to mind:

I've read that in some asian cultures, it is **traditional to start a business deal with small talk**, or over a friendly dinner. The motivation for this tradition was weird to me, until I thought about it light of the phenomenon described above.

Most of my successful job interviews started with small talk, unrelated to skills or position at hand.

When thinking about other human **"priming" behaviors**, the one I can think of most clearly is foreplay before sexual encounters, which serves the following role

> Foreplay is important from at least two considerations, one of which is purely physiological.\[6\] On the other hand, foreplay implies a certain level of confidence and trust between the partners and creates intimacy. Psychologically, foreplay **lowers inhibitions and increases emotional intimacy** between partners. Physically, it stimulates the process that produces sexual arousal.

**I'm interested if there is indeed some "priming" activity that can put the human brain in a state of mind, where thinking or conversation is easier?** If so, what is the term for such activity? Has any neurotransmitter been implicated in the phenomenon described above?

# Answer
> 3 votes
Yes, there is such an activity and it is called priming. It is the same technique that involves mental, sexual foreplay. There has been a fair bit of research about the psychological effects of priming. I have limited the discussion, purely to priming, but there are many other interesting, associations with priming that could be discussed within another post.

I find the following points provide a good summary of the various modes of priming.

> Priming is providing a stimulus that influences their near-term future thoughts and actions, even though they may not seem to be connected.
> **Conceptual priming** occurs where related ideas are used to prime the response, for example 'hat' may prime for 'head'.
> **Semantic priming** occurs where the meaning created influences later thoughts. Semantic and conceptual priming are very similar and the terms may be used interchangeably.
> **Non-associative semantic priming** refers to related concepts but where one is less likely to trigger thoughts of the other, for example 'Sun' and 'Venus'.
> **Perceptual priming**, is based on the form of the stimulus, for example where a part-picture is completed based on a picture seen earlier.
> **Associative priming** happens when a linked idea is primed, for example when 'bread' primes the thought of 'butter'. This particularly applies to 'free association' word pairs.
> **Masked priming** occurs where a word or image is presented for a very short time but is not consciously recognized.
> **Repetitive priming** occurs where the repetition of something leads to it influencing later thoughts.
> **Reverse priming** occurs where people realize they are being primed and, feeling they have been biased, over-respond in their choices which are now biased in the reverse direction

**Meyer and Schvanveldt (1971), Neely (1977), Bargh and Pietromonaco (1982), Marcel, (1983), Draine and Greenwald (1998), Sherman and Kim (2002)**

On the down side:
I have been unable to find studies investigating the neurotransmitters involved in priming (at this stage). One thought occurred to me from when I studied Neuroscience (many years ago). That arousal (as in attention) is required to LTP cells. Although, this specific example may not apply to priming, it is a parallel between the effects of psychological priming and physiological priming. I am sure there are better articles, I, currently, have limited access to journals.

Learning-facilitated long-term depression and long-term potentiation at mossy fiber-CA3 synapses requires activation of β-adrenergic receptors.
Hagena H, Manahan-Vaughan D.
Source
Medical Faculty,
Department of Neurophysiology,
Ruhr University
Bochum Bochum, Germany.

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Tags: terminology, social-psychology, behaviorism
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# Question
Title: What happens to a person's frontal lobes when they have a breakdown from stress?
When a person gets really stressed out and has a mental breakdown what happens to their frontal lobes?

I'm reminded of the clip from "What about Bob?" when Richard Dreyfuss has a breakdown when he learns that Bill Murray is marrying his sister, and then he ends up in the home basket weaving for a couple of months as an example of this...

# Answer
> 3 votes
Research would suggest that the type of "incessant" or "severe" stress required to precipitate a "breakdown" would the higher cognitive functions performed within the frontal lobes. As I am unsure what level of understanding you are requiring on this topic, I have included suitable quotes from a relevant study, which provides the answer to your question.

I quote Amy F. T. Arnsten's study of the effects of stress on the frontal lobe:

> The prefrontal cortex (PFC)—the most evolved brain region—subserves our highest-order cognitive abilities. However, it is also the brain region that is most sensitive to the detrimental effects of stress exposure. Even quite mild acute uncontrollable stress can cause a rapid and dramatic loss of prefrontal cognitive abilities, and more prolonged stress exposure causes architectural changes in prefrontal dendrites. Recent research has begun to reveal the intracellular signalling pathways that mediate the effects of stress on the PFC. This research has provided clues as to why genetic or environmental insults that disinhibit stress signalling pathways can lead to symptoms of profound prefrontal cortical dysfunction in mental illness.

Within the conclusion:

> The detrimental effects of stress on PFC networks are particularly problematic in the ‘information age’, when PFC-mediated cognitive abilities are increasingly needed for success. understanding the molecular mechanisms that alter PFC structure and impair PFC function during stress exposure will help to reveal how genetic and environmental insults can increase an individual’s susceptibility to PFC deficits. Identifying the molecular mechanisms that alter PFC function will provide the foundation for a new era in psychiatry, when we will understand how genetic changes affect intracellular signalling, neural development and neurophysiology in the circuits that underlie neuropsychiatric symptoms. It is hoped that this information will provide the framework for therapies aimed at rectifying molecular errors and ameliorating the symptoms of mental illness.

Stress signalling pathways that impair prefrontal cortex structure and function
Amy F. T. Arnsten
Nat Rev Neurosci. 2009 June; 10(6): 410–422.
doi: 10.1038/nrn2648

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Tags: stress, frontal-lobes
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