The Ohlone Psychology Club Speaker Series is proud to announce its next installment!
LANGUAGE DEPRIVATION
The Overlooked Social Justice Crisis
Friday, Nov. 22, 2019
7:00 PM
Ohlone College Smith Center
Jackson Theater
The Bipolar Handbook...
Dear Students:
If you're looking for a resource with the very latest information on Bipolar Disorder, I highly recommend 
Phobias!...
Dear Students:
Below, please find the list of Phobias we discussed in class. This list of approximately 500 Phobias is by no means comprehensive, but it should illustrate to you that, since they are all learned, the types of Phobias are endless.
Nelly Bly vs. Blackwell's Island Asylum...
CLICK HERE to read the amazing story of journalist Nelly Bly (whose read name was Elizabeth Cochran), the woman who got herself committed to an "insane asylum," as they were called then, to expose them as the horribly abusive places they actually were.
Because of her newspaper articles, as well as work by others such as Dorothea Dix, sweeping changes were made in the housing and treatment of people with mental illness.
Beauty is in the BRAIN of the beholder...
Although the old saying goes, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," implying that our assessment of attractiveness is learned and subjective, much research in the field of Psychology suggests quite the opposite. Research has shown that we prefer faces that conform to certain measurements; the further away from those measurements, the less attractive the face is considered (beginning as early as 6 months of age, we are able to make these judgments).
CLICK HERE to visit Stephen Marquardt's excellent interactive web site where he shares the research on beauty, discusses what factors make up "the perfect face," and shows how the basic beauty factors (symmetry, the Golden Proportion, etc.) are not only universal, but are also evolutionary, giving us physical cues as to the genetic health of the individual.
Leon Festinger & Cognitive Dissonance...
Back in the 1950s, psychologist Leon Festinger conducted a series of experiments that showed how people's beliefs are affected by Cognitive Dissonance, a psychological and emotional reaction in which people experience negative emotions because they have performed a behavior that is in conflict with their beliefs. Festinger set out to demonstrate that we unconsciously alter our beliefs so that they match with behaviors in order to avoid Cognitive Dissonance. He did this by showing that people's beliefs about a boring task could be altered by getting them to tell others that the task was actually fun. CLICK HERE to see a short educational clip about this landmark study.
Festinger later became fascinated by a doomsday cult known as The Seekers. He knew that their leader, a Chicago housewife named Dorothy Martin. Ms. Martin had amassed a large following of people convinced that she was communicating with beings in outer space through automatic writing. These beings supposedly told her of a great and terrible flood that would wipe out all of humanity, later revealing that she and her followers would be spared. The date for this end-of-the-world prophecy had come and gone without incident several times, but the core of her followers remained dedicated to her teachings and stayed with her.
Festinger took the unprecedented step of joing the cult (under false pretenses) in order to better witness and record their reactions during the next scheduled date. He later wrote about his experiences in a book titled "When Prophecy Fails," and introduced the scientific communited to the term Cognitive Dissonance. As Festinger predicted, members of The Seekers unconsciously altered their beliefs in a manner that allowed them to resolve this internal conflict, and giving themselves "permission" to stay in the cult even though the failed predictions should have (logically) proved Ms. Martin a fraud.
Measuring Your Stress Levels...
Dear Students:
Please click the links below to download either the Stress Scale for Youth, or the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (for adults). Both are designed to provide you with insight into your level of stress, and help you decide whether it's time to take steps to cope better. Keep in mind that we can be under great stress and not even notice it, so don't assume that you'll know when you're at risk.
Emotional Intelligence (EQ) Test...
Dear Students:
CLICK HERE to be whisked away to Discovery Health's web site to take an Emotional Intelligence test. As discussed in class, such tests purport to measure your ability to:
1. know your emotions
2. manage your emotions
3. motivate yourself
4. recognize emotions in others, and
5. handle relationships.
For more information Emotional Intelligence (including the criticisms), CLICK HERE.
Remember The Lessons of Elizabeth Loftus...
As we will discuss, one of the world's leading researchers in Memory is a psychologist named Elizabeth Loftus. Professor Loftus has published hundreds of articles, reporting the results of work with tens of thousands of subjects' memories. The big lesson from this research is that memory production is "constructive" and maleable. It is not a perfect reproduction of the experience, as many people assume.
CLICK HERE to listen to my ShelShocked Podcast episode on memory, which includes an interview with Elizabeth Loftus!
Continue reading "Remember The Lessons of Elizabeth Loftus..." »
Nonhuman Primate Communication...
Dear Students:
Click the link below to read an interesting article from Skeptic about research on nonhuman primate communication. For decades we've heard conflicting reports about efforts to teach chimps and gorillas (and sometimes orangutans) to "talk" using sign language, message boards, and other means. In the early 1970s, the answer seemed to be that it was possible that they might actually have the capacity to express themselves on something approaching a human level of communication. Since that time, the research has been criticized in terms of its methods, research design, conclusions and, in some cases, even its very authenticity!.
The Woman Who Can't Forget...
Have you ever wished for a better memory? I think it's a very common (perhaps ubiquitous) human desire. Many might even go so far as to envy those who have "perfect recall," the ability to store and retrieve nearly every experience, fact, thought, etc.
As with many such cases, however, the reality of perfect recall, often a result of Hyperthymesia, is far from the rosy picture many of us imagine. The case of Jill Price (The Woman Who Can't Forget) illustrates this quite well. Studied by researchers for years, always under a pseudonym, Price has marveled memory specialists with her ability to recite dates and facts down to the smallest detail, with little or no error. She even corrects entries in encyclopedias and other authoritative sources.
CLICK HERE to read a report about this fascinating woman, and watch the embedded video for additional details about how this "gift" can also carry a "curse."
Click the video below to watch a short documentary about Jill and her life history.
William C. Dement - World's Leading Sleep Researcher...
Dear Students:
In 2010, I was honored to receive an invitation to become part of a collaborative effort to educate the public about the importance of sleep. This group, now called the Stanford Sleepwell So
ciety, operates under the auspices of one of the biggest names in sleep research, Stanford University professor/researcher William C. Dement, MD, PhD.
In a previous semester, several members of the Ohlone Psychology Club and some of my other students attended a talk by Dr Dement.
In addition to being an icon within the field of psychology, Dr Dement is a pioneer in Sleep Research, having co-discovered the REM stage of sleep, and worked with none other than Nathaniel Kleitman and Eugene Aserinsky!
Each of us got a copy of Dement's latest book, and both he and I got a little tired as the night wore on. : )
According to Dement, sleep research is the most important field of medicine ever, and lack of sleep affects our lives in countless ways (some of them deadly). I strongly urge you all to look into his and others' work in this field. It's not only fascinating, but also enlightening and educational!
Be sure and check out his book, The Promise of Sleep, which compiles over 50 years of his scientific research into one easy-to-read work.
Use the link below to download a Sleep Debt test to see if you're getting enough sleep. Then get a copy of Dr. Dement's book and find out what to do about it.
Download Ch 06 Sleep Debt Measure
Miracle Fruit!...
CLICK HERE to read a New York Times report about Miracle Fruit (Synsepalum dulcificum), the tiny fruit that "tricks your tongue." Although its active ingredient, miraculin, is still being studied, the experience has been enjoyed by millions around the world.
The fruit (or the tablets made from freeze dried fruit) has little flavor, it causes your taste buds to experience everything as sugar for about two hours after you slosh one around in your mouth. The tablets don't have much flavor at all, and they're certainly not sweet. But after your taste buds are exposed to the active chemical, lemons taste like sweet lemonade or tangerines. Strawberries become sweet almost beyond tolerance. And a host of other sour or disgusting foods (e.g., rhubarb) become at least tolerable, if not delicious.
You can purchase the plants, but they are notoriously difficult to grow, and slow to fruit. It's best to purchase the tablets, then invite your friends over and "flavor trip" all night. Suggested foods to serve include:
- lemon slices
- dill pickles
- strawberries
- bananas
- blueberries
- grapefruit
- salt-and-vinegar chips
- Sour Patch Kids gummies
- very small cups of vinegar (it may taste better, but it's still vinegar, so don't drink much!)
B.F. Skinner and his Kamikaze Pigeons...
Perhaps no better example of the success of B.F. Skinner, the training of kamikaze pigeons in Project Orcon in the 1940s and 1950s showed how Operant Conditioning could be used in some of the most extreme conditions imaginable. In it, Skinner shaped the behavior of the birds so well that they could actually guide missiles toward their target (ultimately killing the birds, of course, but they didn't know that).
CLICK HERE to be taken to a website that covers the project in detail, including strategic blueprints, as well as a short video clip that explains its history and problems.
Introducing Alfred Kinsey...
Dear Students:
Please CLICK HERE to be taken to the home page of The Kinsey Institute for Sex, Gender and Reproduction. Once there, you can learn about the institute, its founder, and the ongoing research being conducted.
Afred Kinsey's contribution to the field of Human Sexuality research cannot be understated. In a time when social norms about sexuality were such that the topic was not discussed, research on human sexual behavior was scant. Kinsey's nonjudgmental approach and fearless activism in the name of scientific investigation helped us understand our sexuality better, and set the stage for many later researchers such as Masters and Johnson, Sandra Bem, Simon LeVay, J. Michael Bailey, and countless others.
To watch the trailer for the 2004 film "Kinsey," click here.
Mosquito: The Sound of Silence?...
Dear Psychology Students: 
Click here to read an article on the creation of the "Mosquito Noise," a 17 kilohertz sound file that was created to discourage young "troublemakers" from hanging out in front of stores, in construction zones, or in other places that they are creating trouble or putting themselves in danger.
Its genius lies in the fact that, generally speaking, only those under the age of about 25 can hear the noise (which I understand is quite shrill and annoying). Presumably, those over 25 years of age are less likely to make trouble, and can go about their business in a mature fashion. It may seem a bit "age-ist" and discriminatory, but initial reports are that it seems to work better than constantly calling the police.
In an interesting side note, clever youth have begun to download this file as a "silent" ring tone for their cell phones, allowing them to receive calls without the "old folks" knowing it. In the game between Youth and Age, I'd say the score is a 1:1 tie, then.
To download file, click below.
Life Without Pain...
Dear Students:
CLICK HERE to be taken to a story about a young boy with the rare disorder "Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis" (CIPA) a 
condition that leaves him unable to feel pain, or to regulate his body heat.
Although we often complain of headaches, toothaches, skinned knees, etc., the truth is, without pain to let us know where we need attention, trouble quickly arises. The heartbreaking stories of children like this remind us how lucky we are to feel pain from time to time, especially when one considers the fact that these children rarely live to the age of puberty.
If you can bare it, a documentary called "A Life Without Pain" was released in 2005 which follows the lives of three girls with this condition. It's a moving tribute to the perseverance of these girls and their families, and a call for further research in the hope that we can some day treat or cure the disorder.
Sensation and Perception...
CLICK HERE to be taken to a wonderful web site full of illusion
s that will test your perceptive abilities and make you better aware of just how the brain's perceptive abilities work (and don't work) to give us a sense of the world around us. For a preview of such wonders, click the image to the right and stare at it for a moment. Although your brain may tell you otherwise, I promise it's not actually moving.
Sensation, Perception, and the Backmasking Craze...
At least, that's what the proponents of BackMasking would have you believe. This phenomenon is not only predicated upon the belief that we can be affected by subliminal input, but even more outlandishly, that we can be affected by BACKWARD subliminal input.
CLICK HERE to be taken to a web site where you can hear excerpts from songs of the accused, played forward and backward. Numerous music artists throughout the years have been accused of "corrupting America's youth" with messages of death, destruction, suicide, and evil supposedly hidden within their music.
The best defense against the nonsense of BackMasking lies in how difficult it is to determine what the message is before reading the "reverse lyrics." An area of the brain responsible for language comprehension (the Wernicke's Area) creates this auditory phenomenon. Ever on the lookout for input, the Wernicke's Area only needs the slightest suggestion to give us the perception of language. With an almost endless supply of recordings to search, it is almost certain that a combination of sounds will present themselves that are close enough to actual words to be perceived as language, especially once we are prompted to listen for them.
Sybil Exposed...
Many of you have likely heard of Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly, Multiple Personality Disorder), the disorder in which people exhibit more than one alternating personality.
Introduced to the American public in the 1950s in a film called "The Three Faces of Eve," its popularity increased dramatically after the made-for-television version of the book "Sybil" was aired in the mid-1970s. Since then, thousands of people have been professionally diagnosed as having DID, and countless movies and TV shows have used it as a vehicle for drama, as well as occasional low-brow comedy.
Although always controversial, a new, more detailed indictment was published in 2011, entitled "Sybil Exposed," which accuses those originally involved in the Sybil case of fraud and deceit. Author Debbie Nathan maintains that three women set out to purposely create the story out of whole cloth, duping the world into believing that the Sybil story was real, and lending unwarranted credibility to the existence of the disorder itself.
CLICK HERE to read a short summary on Salon, and judge for yourself.
P.S. Since the book came out, the real Sybil has admitted in an NPR report that the story was fake.
Correlation vs. Causation...
One of the most important factors in becoming a good critical thinker (and, often, a good consumer of science education) is the ability to understand that correlates are not always causally linked. In other words, just because two things happen together in a predictable manner, that doesn't necessarily mean that one is causing the other.
THIS WEBSITE contains numerous examples of very strong correlations between variables that are highly unlikely to have any causal link (e.g., how could the number of people who drown in pools over a decade be caused by the number of films that star Nicolas Cage?).
The news media is often to blame for reporting stories that are only correlationally linked as if they have a causal connection. Being aware of this, as well as having a good understanding of the fallacy, can make us better able to understand the science we read or hear about, and better informed overall.
Psych 101 - Sleep Debt...
Dear General Psychology Students:
Please click the links below to download the Sleep Debt Measure and the KEY which will allow you 
More information on the importance of sleep can be accessed by clicking HERE.
-- Sheldon
Ohlone Psychology Club...
Dear Students:
As many of you may know, we have a thriving Psychology Club here at Ohlone College. One of the most visible and active clubs on campus, the Psychology Club regularly hosts guest speakers, organizes off-campus field trips, has regular fund raisers, and engages in regular discussions related to the field of psychology.
Our meetings are held every Wednesday, from 3:30 - 4:30 pm.
ROOM FP-03
Psych 102 - Survey Teams...
Dear Experimental Psychology Students:
Below, you can also find an instructional sheet that will guide you through using Google Docs to construct your surveys. Many thanks to my former student, Carlos Hernandez, for creating this form!
Type A / Type B Personality Test...
Dear Students:
CLICK HERE to take an online version of the Jenkins Activity Survey, an introspective measure that will allow you to test whether you fit into the category of Type A or Type B personality. This measure is based on research by Jenkins, Ayzanski, & Rosenman (1971), and consists of just 30 items.
More information on Type A and Type B personalities can be found HERE.
Enjoy!
-- Sheldon
Personality - Keirsey Temperament Sorter...
Dear Students:
If you would like to experience a modern-day "Personality Test," click the links below and download the Keirsey Temperament Sorter. Based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the Keirsey uses a few dozen self-report questions to categorize you into one of 16 different personality types.
After answering the questions, use the KEY to add up the numbers and determine your 4-letter category. Then, look up your "type" on the list of all 16 personalities.
Clicking the hyperlink above will allow you to critically analyze the orignal MBTI and its creators, and to decide for yourself whether these types of tests have any validity.
Download keirsey_temp_sorter.doc
Magic In The Classroom - An e-Book from the JREF...
A few years ago, I was asked by the James Randi Educational Foundation to contribute to part of their educational efforts. The result of this collaboration was three chapters in their e-book, "Magic in the Classroom." In it, I wrote chapters on the following topics:
- Your Nervous System Can Fool You (Chapter 25)
- Your Common Sense Can Fail You (Chapter 26)
- Your Beliefs are Malleable (Chapter 28)
Click here to visit the download page where you can get a FREE copy in multiple formats.
Introducing James Randi...
James Randi's reputation as a magician and escape artist is a matter of world renown. Although he occasionally still performs small feats, most of his current efforts involve his work as a tireless investigator and demystifier of paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. Utilizing a keen scientific mind, Randi - as he prefers to be called - examines claims of paranormal powers and activities all over the world.
And you thought I was kidding....
Dear Students:
Many of you laughed when I mentioned the Flat Earth Society in class (and it is, indeed, laughable). But believe me, I'm not kidding. There are litereally thousands of otherwise normal, everyday folks around the world who believe that our planet is flat.
This view of the world is ancient, and derives from staggering ignorance. Even Christopher Columbus knew that the world was a sphere (regardless of the children's tale that says otherwise). To find people who believed this, you'd have to go back much further than the 1400s. In fact, it was the Greek philosopher Pythagoras who first proposed a spherical Earth in the 6th century (the 500s)!
CLICK HERE to read a report about the Flat Earthers and their ridiculous beliefs. Then, consider what other beliefs people hold (homophobia, Creationism, sexism, anti-GMO, racial superiority, vaccine denial), as well as any that you yourself may hold that aren't supported by the facts.
ANNOUNCEMENT: ShelShocked Podcast Airs!...
I'm pleased to announce that my long-awaited podcast has finally aired. Each week, my co-host Amanda DeVaus (from the Australian Skeptics) will cover a different topic from science or skepticism, and feature interviews from famous scientists, authors, critical thinkers, etc.
NOW AVAILABLE in the iTunes store! Just search for "ShelShocked," then subscribe so that episodes will download automatically each week FREE.
CLICK HERE to join our Facebook fan page where each new episode will post, and related information can be found.
In addition, you can listen to (or download) episodes directly from my website HERE.
Coffey Talk - The Success of Operation Bumblebee...
Dear Students:
I'm happy to report that Operation Bumblebee (San Jose) was a rousing success. Several of us to took part have written up articles about the experience, and some are already taking part in podcast interviews to spread the word. In addition to tricking self-described psychic Chip Coffey into connecting with our fake dead relatives, we also hoped to spark skeptical activism in our community. When you have a moment, click the link below to read (or listen to) my take on the evening. It was an emotionally exhausting experience, but very gratifying, nonetheless.
CLICK HERE to read a report of the evening's events (also available in audio format on that page). We have some interest from several major publications and a TV show, and I'll keep you posted about those as they develop.
Stay skeptical!
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Recent Posts
- End-of-Semester Questions...
- The Bipolar Handbook...
- Phobias!...
- Nelly Bly vs. Blackwell's Island Asylum...
- Beauty is in the BRAIN of the beholder...
- Leon Festinger & Cognitive Dissonance...
- Measuring Your Stress Levels...
- Emotional Intelligence (EQ) Test...
- Remember The Lessons of Elizabeth Loftus...
- Nonhuman Primate Communication...