October 31, 2002

Halloween is About Fun! http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/living/occasions/4247074.htm I was surfing around trying to give a good link today about the psychology of Halloween. I thought maybe it should be about the psychology of fear, or what costumes tell about the person wearing them, or about Archetypes, or real life hauntings, etc etc. But then I came across this link, and it reminded me not to overanalyze the event and to remember it is all about fun! Hope you are having or have had a happy Halloween. 7:06:58 PM    comment []

October 30, 2002

Raelians Noteworthy, Again Globe and Mail Article http://rael.org The Raelians, a religious group known for its odd beliefs and practices, made the news recently. This time, they were promoting anti-Catholic "de-baptisms" in Quebec. Whenever I read about them, I wonder if I could ever become a believer in something similarly unconventional. Then I remember some of the things I have believed in were certainly not beliefs of the majority. Are you totally conventional yourself? (via Everything isn't Under Control) 6:03:39 PM    comment []

October 29, 2002

The Buddha Families as a Personality Typology http://www.boulderdailycamera.com/livingarts/youth/30pwise.html I'm fascinated by personality typologies and Buddhist psychology has an interesting example of one. The Buddha Families represent energies that personalities (among other things) are comprised of. Each person has one or two dominant energies and different amounts of each of the five energies. Though it is a deep set of concepts, this little introduction gives a good general outline by Irini Rockwell, a modern popularizer of these concepts. Which energy do you most often project? 11:07:06 PM    comment []

October 28, 2002

SSRIs Work by Mediating Aggression? http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-10/apa-aph102302.php You might not be so excited, but I found this interesting, that someone has finally posited a psychoanalytical hypothesis about the efficacy of psychotherapeutic medications. To see whether SSRIs affect the aggressive drives, in true psychoanalytic fashion, one must look deep into oneself. For those who are on, or who have taken SSRIs, do you think they lessen your aggressive impulses? 9:12:25 PM    comment []

October 27, 2002

Simulated Schizophrenia http://www.zeppotron.com/unnovations/schizo-hat.html While this is a joke, what is interesting to me is that I've actually thought of this before. What I thought is that such a virtual (un)reality experience would be (1) good for therapists and caregivers of schizophrenics to increase their empathy and (2) good for schizophrenics as a desensitization method to reduce their anxiety. However, for (2), I'm not sure the VR could be personalized enough to make such VR experiences like their own. Also, I wonder if such VR would trigger episodes...  (Sorry about the site, be warned it can be rather crude...) 5:52:52 PM    comment []

October 26, 2002

Christianized Harry Potter Reuters article This article is about a recent book whose author paints a Christianized picture of Harry Potter. I think this is an excellent example of how powerfully our "reality filters" can reinterpret the world around us to be in conformance with our beliefs. Such belief-based interpretation is a necessary and incessant operation of our minds -- can you see it occurring in yourself? 4:43:17 PM    comment []

October 25, 2002

Gender Differences and Colour http://www.colormatters.com/khouw.html An interesting site about colour has this link on colour and gender differences. It suggests women know and can name more colours than men, in general. I think this is true, but not true for some of the flamboyant gay men that I've known who can name every colour Crayola produced. Just another case of "don't apply every theory you hear about people to everybody". 6:19:19 PM    comment []

October 24, 2002

The Third Temple http://upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20020729-051230-8504r This article reports that 53 percent of Israelis want the Temple to be rebuilt. I don't have much to say, except that despite how difficult rebuilding a temple would be, I am not surprised at the statistics... a temple is at least historically part of Judaism. 5:32:50 PM    comment []

October 23, 2002

What Your Fingers Say About You http://human-nature.com/nibbs/02/manning.html There have been many attempts in the past to correlate a person's physical characteristics with aspects their personality. Palm reading, phrenology (reading head bumps) and William Sheldon's body/temperament typology are examples. John Manning has written this book to promote another idea: some personality characteristics are correlated with the ratio between index and ring fingers. This review is a good introduction to the idea. 10:09:32 AM    comment []

October 22, 2002

Psychedelics and Buddhism (Zig Zag Zen) http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=14033 I saw this book, Zig Zag Zen, in a bookstore the other day and read parts of it. It is a collection of interviews of some popular spiritual leaders and others talking about Buddhism/Spirituality and psychedelic spirituality. Some of them are for psychedelics as a legitimate spiritual avenue, while others are cautious or outright against their use. I'm not sure what to make of it all, but I am pleased to see these things talked about frankly and openly for a change.  4:11:05 PM    comment []

October 21, 2002

Possible Proof of the Existence of Jesus http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20021021/jesus.html You may not know this, but there is no proof that Jesus existed. But this discovery may be the first actual evidence that Jesus was a historical character and not just a story. Of course, an ossuary inscription can go little further than strong suggestion, and nowhere even close to corroborating any of the many biblical stories about Jesus. But Christians apparently do not need such evidence -- there's been 2000 years of believers with only faith to go on -- and this only goes to show the amazing resilience of "believing without seeing" in the face of lack of evidence. 8:32:32 PM    comment []

Foreign Accent Syndrome http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2300395.stm http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/15/health/15CHAN.html Here's a couple of links on recent developments in understanding the rare, curious disorder called "Foreign Accent Syndrome". It got me thinking about how some people, when in the company of people speaking with accents, take on some of accent themselves. This latter phenomenon obviously doesn't have to do with a change in brain structure, but is an interesting little psychological happening I've noticed. Have you ever found yourself talking with an accent (not on purpose)?  7:36:32 PM    comment []

October 20, 2002

The (Non)Effectiveness of A.A. http://www.geocities.com/ageorange/orange-effectiveness.html This excellent analysis of the Alcoholics Anonymous program shows that it is no better than no treatment on sobriety rates. This is not surprising, not withstanding AA's claims to the contrary, as alcoholism is really a very difficult disease to deal with. The presumed effectiveness of AA is another one of those ideas floating around that has little basis in reality. While I wouldn't go so far as the author in saying there is no use for AA, I do agree that we shouldn't be duped into believing claims about such serious matters about our own health without consulting the scientific background. (via Pseudoscience in Mental Health) 7:12:42 PM    comment []

October 19, 2002

Pareidolia and Jesus on a Tortilla http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/NMLAKtortilla.html Pareidolia is a "perception of pattern and meaning from natural randomness" and is a type of delusion that can explain many believed odd or miraculous occurrences. These include UFO sightings, Bigfoot, all the various religious figures seen in everyday objects such as a tortilla, Elvis sightings and the "Face on Mars".  However, to use a psychiatric term to presumptuously categorize all such events could be disingenuous at times. Perhaps of all the pareidoliac sightings there are really some that deserve a second and third look to uncover something truly amazing.  The problem is, which such sightings do we pick to investigate? 10:19:56 PM    comment []

October 17, 2002

Memetic Virus Scanner http://totl.net/VirusScanner/ Speaking of memes, find out about several viruses you have been infected with by taking this very interesting test. By your visual recognition of common and not-so-common symbols, this test uncovers some of the cultural ideas you have been exposed to. My hat's off to the author of this clever test... 9:14:48 PM    comment []

October 16, 2002

Beware the Five Stages of Grief http://www.counselingforloss.com/article8.htm As often happens, a meme (idea) gets popularlized and then it is hard to get out of the public psyche. This has particularly  happened many times in the psychological arena, and the idea of the "Five Stages of Grief" (Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance) is a prime example. These stages have been applied to everthing from death of a loved one to job loss and breaking up with a boyfriend. The original studies by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, from who these stages evolved, are not free of criticisms and the stages were to be applied to grief on hearing news about one's own terminal illness. I agree with the criticisms of this link, and believe responding to loss and life changes is much more complex than can be captured by a little five part meme. (Check out the whole site while you are there -- it is an excellent resource that everyone could use at least sometime in their life.) 7:53:07 PM    comment []

October 15, 2002

Decline of Communal Meals The Guardian: Meals make us human This article about the virtues of family/communal meals suggests that their replacement by eat-and-run practices is the major reason for skyrocketing obesity. I'm not sure how much science backs this up, but the author may be onto something. You may find the article an interesting read, and probably more if you aren't scarfing down a sandwich at the same time... 6:16:16 PM    comment []

October 14, 2002

Are You Grateful? http://www.bethankful.com/articles/emmons2.htm Today is Thanksgiving in Canada, so I thought it would be appropriate to provide a link on gratitude. This link has a number of tidbits about gratitude, and mentions that most people rate themselves highly on gratitude. But instead of asking yourself if you are greatful, perhaps better would be to ask if you could be more grateful than you currently are. I imagine most of us would give an unqualified "yes" to the latter question. Btw, check out the other articles, quotes and other things on the rest of the site about thankfulness: http://www.bethankful.com  It is an inspiring site. 11:37:19 AM    comment []

October 13, 2002

Psychoneuroimmunology Links Stress, Sickness, Mood http://www.apa.org/monitor/dec01/anewtake.html In honour of the fact that I have a miserable, disabling cold, I thought I'd make a psychoneuroimmunology post. This article details the first-line sickness response of the body, and shows that stress causes the same response as sickness. Enjoy, I'm going back to bed. 11:24:38 AM    comment []

October 12, 2002

You Lie More Often Than You Think! http://www.discover.com/oct_02/breaklies.html  This interesting study showed that people delude themselves into thinking they lie less than they really do. I believe this, having barely noticed the other day when I found myself "stretching the truth" a little bit in front of a new acquaintence; what about those times I don't really notice or care? How often do you lie? Are you sure you aren't kidding yourself? (via my fire in this space of time ) 2:49:50 PM    comment []

Non-Addicting Non-Sedative Antianxiety Drugs? http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-10/uonc-rfp100102.php The problem with benzodiazepines such as Valium and Ativan is that they are addicting and are sedative, even though they are excellent at reducing anxiety. So the search has been on to find new anxiolytics without these side-effects. This link details promising research about one avenue for such drugs and offers hope to those prone to addiction (such as recovering alcoholics) who are often steered clear from benzodiazepines. Psychopharmacology is forging quickly ahead and will likely replace many of the problemmatic mind drugs with better agents. 8:13:27 AM    comment []

October 11, 2002

Who is a Psychopath? http://www.cassiopaea.org/perseus/psychopath.htm This is a very good introduction to psychopathy, or roughly "Antisocial Personality Disorder". The prevalence of this psychological mindset is probably greater than most of us realize. After reading this, can you say you know a psychopath? The news isn't good --from what I understand, psychology and psychiatry has not come up with good answers in how to treat Antisocial Personality Disorder. It is a remaining frontier that I hope will get major inroads in the next decade or two. 9:16:19 AM    comment []

October 10, 2002

Speak in Tongues for Better Sleep http://innerself.com/Meditation/weekly/sleep.htm This gem comes from Osho, a popular spiritual teacher. Glossolalia, or speaking in tongues, was a New Testament practice (not Old Testament as Osho says) that I believe is often mistakenly interpreted to mean speaking gibberish instead of just speaking in a second language (maybe I will provide a link for this later.) The making-up-words-and-sounds practice has been proscribed mainly as a means of prayer, and sometimes as an ecstasy-inducer. But I had never heard of this novel use, to help you sleep better and deeper. If you are having difficulties with your sleep, maybe you could add this to your bag of sleep-tricks. 9:24:11 AM    comment []

October 9, 2002

Opus Dei http://www.opusdei.org The other day (Oct 6) Josemaria Escriva, the founder of the Opus Dei movement, was canonized by the Pope. If you don't know about Opus Dei, and I tell you that they are considered to be by some people a conservative and fundamentalist group within the Catholic Church, what is your immediate reaction? These days it seems the terms "conservative" and "fundamentalist" are perjoratives to many -- and this came about by perhaps subtle cultural programming of our minds. To fall victim to such a bias is unfortunate, as it does not keep one's mind open to fairly consider the benefits and inherent good of such movements. I'm not suggesting any viewpoint here (I'm not sure I have one to espouse), but I am suggesting that we keep a lookout for our own knee-jerk reactions, biases and mindsets as an exercise in self-knowledge, particularly when evaluating new information. 12:06:49 AM    comment []

October 8, 2002

An Entertaining Personality Test http://www.jamesgang.com/jamesgang/room/roommind.html Personality tests on the internet abound. Most of them have little validity or reliability, but certainly have entertainment value. There might be a lot of the interpretations that you agree with and lead you to believe the accuracy of the test. However, this is most likely because their descriptions of you describe "high base rate phenomena"; that is, they describe behaviours and attributes that commonly occur to most people. But often these types of tests aren't even good at this... 12:02:02 AM    comment []

October 7, 2002

Preoccupation with Self-Esteem Issues Unwarranted NY Times article (requires free account) Some psychologists are doubting society's belief that high self-esteem results in better behaviour and success in life. There seem to be better indicators of successful and positive behaviour, such as self-control and internal self-worth (not based on external markers). Criminals and aggressive people often have high self-esteem, though they may also be narcissistic (which includes feelings of superiority). This article covers the arguments well. Of particular interest to me is where people get their sense of internal self-worth such as from religion or virtue. Where do you get your internally-generated self-esteem? 9:21:31 AM    comment []

October 6, 2002

The Archive of Scientists' Transcendent Experiences http://www.issc-taste.org Have you ever had a transcendent (beyond ordinary), spiritual, psychic, paranormal, or mystical experience? You are certainly not alone. I think I recall some poll that showed that such experiences were very, very common. This journal offers a large number of stories written by scientists about their experiences -- everything from Cosmic Consciousness to Near Death Experiences and Premonitions. Read some of these stories and you may find some very similar to your own. And feel free to share your stories in the comments here; we'd love to hear them. 8:52:26 PM    comment []

Brain Area Found for Out of Body Experiences Science shows how OOBEs occur The angular gyrus of the right cortex, when stimulated, may cause an out of body experience (OOBE). Many people attach spiritual significance to OOBE's, but perhaps this article shows that it may merely be better explained by an overactive area of the brain. On the other hand, maybe certain spiritual occurrences trigger the brain to behave in certain ways, giving us the subjective experiencing of something profound. 2:51:31 PM    comment []

October 5, 2002

Lookin' at You http://www.sunbelt-software.com/stu/eye.htm Do you get creeped out by pictures of eyes that look at you? On the other hand, you probably have little difficulty looking into the eyes of a loved one. Some people make little eye contact, particularly anxious types.  Do all these things simply have to do with the amount of -trust- we have in the person looking at us? I admit, I don't trust an unknown eye peering at me, and when I see a picture like the one in the link my first reaction is repulsion, though later I can reason myself into trusting a computer screen. At least this eye looks away (but it follows you, ack! That's another issue.) 11:14:12 PM    comment []

"Inner Knowing" to Justify the Bible http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29091 Actually, I selected this article mainly because it covers several interesting issues of faith, and gives some interesting statistics about what the clergy believes. But the core contention of this article, while not new, brings up an interesting question: How much of what we believe is simply based on an "inner knowing"? I believe the question that needs to follow that is: How reliable is our "inner knowing"? The writer believes that this inner knowing is God-given and when honestly uncovered is very reliable. However, both the subjectivity of this -- different people seem to come up with contradictory things -- and the problem of how exactly to be "honest" with oneself to reliably uncover the inner knowing of ethical and spiritual material leads me to question this approach. But is "objectivity", the logical alternative, truly any more reliable if it exists at all? 11:33:39 AM    comment []

October 4, 2002

Cool Checkershadow Illusion http://www-bcs.mit.edu/people/adelson/checkershadow_illusion.html Like all of us, I've seen a lot of these demonstration illusions in my life. This one really wowed me though. It makes me wonder how often in our normal daily lives we are actually being victim to one optical illusion or another. I think I'll keep my eye open for them and see what I discover. Have you come across an illusion in real life lately? 5:15:05 PM    comment []

The Self-Medication Hypothesis of Drug Abuse http://self-med-hypothesis.tripod.com/ The main idea of the self-medication hypothesis of drug abuse is that drugs are abused because they provide relief from the distress of underlying psychiatric conditions and problems. These include depression, schizophrenia, hyperactivity, mania, or even self-esteem issues to name a few.  Critics of the hypothesis  contend that the comorbid problems may actually be caused by the drug abuse itself, not the other way around. This site offers a good review of the hypothesis detailing evidence and opinions for and against it, and links to related material on the web. Personally, I feel unconvinced by either side of the issue, and think that soon there will be a new popular model of drug abuse that covers -all- of the evidence well. If you think about yourself, if you've abused alcohol or other drugs, or know someone who has, do you think they were doing it for relief from their problems, or do you think there was probably something deeper or more "chemical" going on?   3:43:21 PM    comment []

Neuroscience and Advertising http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/09/30/ad_brain/index.html This is a good Salon article about what really goes on in the brain when one sees good advertising. It talks about the brain structures that affect our responses to advertisements (and life in general!) including the dorsal striatum, nucleus accumbens, and amygdala. By considering the operation of the brain, better explanations of what makes an advertisement effective are possible. Read it and get a little more insight into what makes you tick. 10:44:59 AM    comment []

October 3, 2002

Duct Tapings http://www.octanecreative.com/ducttape/walltapings/index.html These guys duct tape people to walls and ceilings for fun. This is a testament to the great creativity of the human mind and the mind's quest for novelty. Much of what people consider "fun" has to do with the novelty inherent in the activity -- indeed novelty has a lot to do with much of human behaviour. I believe the quest for novelty should be considered one of the most important human drives and so you'll probably see me touching on this subject a fair bit in this weblog... In the meantime, enjoy the novelty of this link. 11:08:15 PM    comment []

Crawling as a Test of Faith Some Hindu devotees of Shiva, around Kathmandu, Nepal undergo an amazing ritual as a test of their faith. They make a 50 mile journey to visit a temple -- crawling on their stomachs, face down so they will not look into the sky which is seen as the visage of Shiva. In the process, they crawl through mud and jagged rocks and climb steep paths in the mountainous area. Many on this painful, arduous trek (or "Parikrama") cannot complete the journey and shamefully drop out in the middle to try again the next year. Successful crawlers are believed to be "purified" and are believed to have strong faith in their religion. Source: Ripley's Believe it or Not, episode #315; I saw it last night. I couldn't find a web reference for this, but came across a similar "sashtanga danda pradakshina" (circumambulation while crawling) at http://www.lifepositive.com/gallery/kailash-article.asp done around a Tibetan village. Here in Canada, I don't think there are many (any?) such extreme rituals as tests of faith. However, like everywhere, there is always situations and problems that bedog us --- deep suffering is always a test of faith. But how far would you go, how much could you possibly handle, as a test of your deepest convictions? 11:05:08 PM    comment []

Subud http://www.xs4all.nl/%7Ewichm/subud1.html This Javanese-originated movement is based around the idea of being "opened", a spiritual experience transmitted from someone who is already opened. It is a bit reminicent of "shaktipat" and results in a spiritual exercise called a "latihan" that is all about surrender to God. More detail about Subud can be found at this page: http://www.subud.org/english/index.html I think the idea of transmission isn't so strange. How often have you picked up the attitudes, beliefs or feelings of others just by being in their presence for some time? 11:01:15 PM    comment []

The Geek Trait http://www.thudfactor.com/geekquiz.php This little personality inventory tests for the probably poorly studied but popularly known trait of "geekiness". There are probably many traits or dispositions that we use in everyday life that don't make it into the psychology textbooks. Can you think of any cool ones?  As for the test, I scored only 33% geek -- that makes me a Geek liason -- which is probably why I seem to be slowly extricating myself from the programming field! Or maybe I should work on my geekiness and become a programmer again... 10:46:54 PM    comment []

Interesting Puzzle http://davenet.userland.com/1997/03/03/DonsAmazingPuzzle I found this little puzzle interesting as it shows us something about attention. Don't worry, if you come up with the obvious number, you may just be right. Do the puzzle first quickly or at a normal pace and see what happens. 10:43:45 PM    comment []

The Institute for the Study of the Neurologically Typical http://isnt.autistics.org This is a parody site written by autistics that makes the point that "normals" certainly can be seen to have a functional disorder themselves, and that autistics might be more sane than normals! Much of what passes off as normal behaviour, ideation and attitudes is suboptimal functioning, I think... 10:38:42 PM    comment []

Welcome to my blog! I'm not exactly sure about how this will evolve but I think I will be sharing lots of links to do with psychology, religion, philosophy, spirituality and probably any cool thing remotely related to the mind. I might even voice some of my opinions here and there if you are lucky :)  Stay tuned in the meantime while I try to figure out this system! 10:07:16 PM    comment []