Science of the SpiritS


Gear

Danger of normalizing and glorifying psychopathic perception of reality: Reading 'Fifty Shades' linked to unhealthy behaviors

Amy Bonomi, Andy Henion
Michigan State University
Thu, 21 Aug 2014 10:58 UTC
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© G.L. KohuthAmy Bonomi is chairperson and professor in Michigan State University's Department of Human Development and Family Studies.
Young adult women who read "Fifty Shades of Grey" are more likely than nonreaders to exhibit signs of eating disorders and have a verbally abusive partner, finds a new study led by a Michigan State University researcher.

Further, women who read all three books in the blockbuster "Fifty Shades" erotic romance series are at increased risk of engaging in binge drinking and having multiple sex partners.

All are known risks associated with being in an abusive relationship, much like the lead character, Anastasia, is in "Fifty Shades," said Amy Bonomi, the study's lead investigator. And while the study did not distinguish whether women experienced the health behaviors before or after reading the books, it's a potential problem either way, she said.

"If women experienced adverse health behaviors such as disordered eating first, reading 'Fifty Shades' might reaffirm those experiences and potentially aggravate related trauma," said Bonomi, chairperson and professor in MSU's Department of Human Development and Family Studies.

"Likewise, if they read 'Fifty Shades' before experiencing the health behaviors seen in our study, it's possible the books influenced the onset of these behaviors."

Comment: Fifty Shades of Grey is just one example of literature that glorifies psychopathic and sadistic perception of reality. More so, it makes it appear as cool and desired. No wonder normal women's psyche develops disorders in order to cope with the stress.

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Clock

Is humanity a failed experiment? 10 shocking facts about society that we accept as normal

Joe Martino
collective-evolution.com
Mon, 25 Aug 2014 00:51 UTC
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© Unknown
When you take a moment and look around at the world, things can appear pretty messed up. Take 5 or 10 minutes and watch the 6 o'clock news. Chances are, the entire time, all you are going to see is war, conflict, death, illness, etc. Sure, this is part of the mainstream medias content strategy to sell drama and keep people focused on it, but besides that it reveals something real about the current state of our world.

I believe Michael Ellner said it well in his quote: "Just look at us. Everything is backwards, everything is upside down. Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, psychiatrists destroy minds, scientists destroy truth, major media destroys information, religions destroy spirituality and governments destroy freedom."

Now obviously Ellner's quote is a simplified way of looking at our current state, but in many ways it's bang on. Most of what we do in the name of "good" ends up destroying something else in the process and is passed off mainly in the name of profit.

We've seen over and over again how our ways have brought us to a point where we are destroying everything in our path, so the question must be asked, isn't it time for change? Are we fully capable, honest, and determined enough to look at our past, where our actions and though-patterns have brought us to this point, and now do something completely different in order to restore balance?

Comment: All aspects of our lives on Earth are infected when we allow psychopaths to take positions of leadership. Andrew M. Lobaczewski called this phenomenon Pathocracy, in his book Political Ponerology: A Science on The Nature of Evil adjusted for Political Purposes:
Pathocracy is a disease of great social movements followed by entire societies, nations, and empires. In the course of human history, it has affected social, political, and religious movements as well as the accompanying ideologies and turned them into caricatures of themselves. This occurred as a result of the participation of pathological agents in a pathodynamically similar process. That explains why all the pathocracies of the world are, and have been, so similar in their essential properties.

Identifying these phenomena through history and properly qualifying them according to their true nature and contents - not according to the ideology in question, which succumbed to the process of caricaturization - is a job for historians.

The actions of [pathocracy] affect an entire society, starting with the leaders and infiltrating every town, business, and institution. The pathological social structure gradually covers the entire country creating a "new class" within that nation. This privileged class [of pathocrats] feels permanently threatened by the "others", i.e. by the majority of normal people. Neither do the pathocrats entertain any illusions about their personal fate should there be a return to the system of normal man.
See also: The Triumphant Beast

"Humanity is a Cosmic body and each individual is a cell in that body. But the humanity we see today is a disease-ridden idiot - a shambling, ragged, beast covered with oozing pustules of corruption representing science, religions and government - stumbling from one self-inflicted disaster to another. There can be only one outcome and this, too, is documented: in ancient literature describing how other 'mighty' cultures have ended:"
As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the time of the Son of Man. [People] ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, right up to the day when Noah went into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

So also [it was the same] as it was in the days of Lot. [People] ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; But on the [very] day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed [them] all. That is the way it will be on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.

On that day let him who is on the housetop, with his belongings in the house, not come down [and go inside] to carry them away; and likewise let him who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot's wife! Whoever tries to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve and quicken it.

I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. There will be two women grinding together; one will be taken and the other will be left. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left.

Then they asked Him, Where, Lord? He said to them, Wherever the dead body is, there will the vultures or eagles be gathered together. Luke 17: 26-37


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Clipboard

Writing by hand benefits the brain: The lowdown on longhand

Ainissa Ramirez
edutopia.org
Mon, 04 Aug 2014 18:58 UTC
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© telegraph.co.uk
My Catholic school third grade teacher was extremely tough on me. Her biggest gripe was my handwriting, which looks more like an EKG scan than penmanship. For years, I harbored not-so-fond memories of her, but now I know that her strictness about penmanship was actually helping my brain develop. Recently, scientists have shown that longhand writing benefits the brain.

Today, cursive writing is becoming a lost art as note taking with laptops becomes more and more prominent in classrooms. But what we are losing is much bigger than a few scratches on a page - we are losing a robust way of learning.

Comment: Read more about the benefits of longhand (handwriting):

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Info

Lies and distrust a part of life at age seven

Bianca Nogrady
ABC Science
Tue, 02 Sep 2014 17:20 UTC
Trust and deception
© Hallgerd/iStockphotoTrust and deception: Children learn not to always trust what someone else tells them by the age of seven.
We are not born with the ability to lie and distrust, but appear to acquire these 'skills' at around seven years of age, researchers have found.

The team of child psychologists and game theorists published their results today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In their study, a group of 69 children ranging in age from three to nine were engaged in two separate games designed to test their ability to think and act strategically in a social situation.

"One of my areas of interest is in children's ability to protect themselves from misinformation from other people, so I'm naturally interested in children's strategic thinking about other people," says co-author Dr Melissa Koenig, associate professor of child psychology at the Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota.

The researchers found that children seem to acquire the ability to act strategically based on their assessment of other people's motivations, and learn that they don't always need to trust or tell the truth, at around six or seven years of age.

In the first game -- called 'sender-receiver' -- a piece of candy is hidden in one of two boxes. The sender knows the location of the candy but the receiver does not. The sender points to one of the boxes, not necessarily the box containing the candy. The receiver then selects a box.

If the receiver finds the candy, they get to keep it, and if not, the sender gets the candy, so the sender has an incentive to deceive the receiver if they think the receiver will believe the deception.
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Life Preserver

Many nurses unprepared to meet dying patients


ScienceDaily
Tue, 02 Sep 2014 16:10 UTC
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A study of more than 200 students has shown that many nurses in training feel unprepared and anxious when faced with the prospect of meeting patients during end-of-life care.
Most nurses in their work care for patients who are dying. A study of more than 200 students has shown that many nurses in training feel unprepared and anxious when faced with the prospect of meeting patients during end-of-life care.

Scientists from the Sahlgrenska Academy have interviewed 222 nursing students at the University of Gothenburg, the University of Skövde and the Ersta Sköndal University College. The interviews dealt with their thoughts about caring for dying patients, their ideas about how to support and meet the patient in dialogue, and their own feelings when faced with dying patients.

Beyond understanding

The interviews showed that even though many students view death as a natural part of life, many find the idea of death to be frightening, and beyond understanding.

"Death awakens feelings of helplessness, insecurity and insufficiency in most nursing students. Some find it natural to talk about death, while others consider it to be the worst thing that can happen and have difficulty coping with the need to talk about it," says Susann Strang, scientist at the Sahlgrenska Academy.
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Briefcase

Power trips cloud thinking, lead to illusions of superiority and control


Increasebrainpower.com
Sun, 31 Aug 2014 00:00 UTC
I
man in suite cloudy head
n life and in fiction we see power "going to the head" of a leader or other person in a position of authority over others. We've all watched this happen in our experience. Some of the most common effects are feelings of superiority and the poor treatment of subordinates.

We also see the more dangerous aspects of power trips, such as when those in power make mistakes on a large scale due to what we might consider their arrogance. The heads of large corporations ignore common sense or advice and make big moves that prove disastrous, for example. The underestimating of the costs of wars by political and military leaders is another example.


Comment: Most of these heads of state and corporations are actually psychopaths. They have risen to positions of power because that is what they crave and they will do anything to achieve their aims, no matter the cost to society. In most of these cases, these are not 'mistakes' or 'underestimating' the costs of war because they could not care less.Their arrogance and feelings of superiority often lead to their demise, but during their monstrous reign and fall they force the society of normal humans to suffer the devastating consequences of their actions.
Psychopathy and the CEO: Top executives have four times the incidence of psychopathy as the rest of us
Psychopaths run the world


How much does power really affect our thinking though? It's a question that recent research has looked at. More specifically, researchers have asked if power creates illusions of control. Does it cause the holder to overestimate his or her ability to control or affect outcomes? The answer seems to be a definite yes. To some extent we actually lose our ability to realistically assess matters and our ability to control events when we are put in a position of power.
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Bulb

Telepathically linked: Scientist transmits message into the mind of a colleague 5,000 miles away using brain waves

Ellie Zolfagharifard
Daily Mail
Sun, 31 Aug 2014 06:55 UTC
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© PLoS ONEThe researchers used electroencephalography (EEG) headsets which recorded electrical activity from neurons firing in the brain to convert the words ‘hola’ and ‘ciao’ into binary. In EEG, electrical currents in the brain are linked with different thoughts that are then fed into a computer interface
Brain-wave sensing machines have been used to 'telepathically' control everything from real-life helicopters to characters in a computer game.

Now the technology has gone a step further by allowing someone in India to send an email to his colleague in France using nothing but the power of his mind.

The researchers used electroencephalography (EEG) headsets to record electrical activity from neurons firing in the brain, and convert the words 'hola' and 'ciao' into binary.

Comment: For fascinating discussions covering all things remotely "paranormal" check out SOTT Blogtalk Radio:

Into the Mystic: Interview with Laura Knight-Jadczyk

Into the Supernatural: Interview with Parapsychologist Stephen Braude

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Bulb

Put stress to sleep

Heather Callaghan
Natural Blaze
Fri, 29 Aug 2014 13:36 UTC
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© discinsights.com
As focus and fear turns to the amount of craziness and chaos in the world continuing to explode, it gets harder to stay sane in an insane world - or not get sick trying. Plus, we've all got our own problems to deal with personally. Simply put, stress is the "gift that keeps giving" until it's unwrapped. In that sense, it's benevolent. I think that's why it stays in what we call the subconscious until it is brought forth. Until your body/mind considers it safe to unwrap. Someone once said, "Hell is the possibility of sanity." In a manner of speaking, it's a good type of hell, because it puts you back as the CEO of your life, despite the outside world's demands for "happy insanity." And it can be as temporary as a minor setback if we're actually allowed to get through it - but, we are compelled early on to avoid it, "be happy," suppress, distract, entertain it away, rationalize, deny, fix it immediately, wrap a bow around it...

Comment: Face life with Éiriú Eolas, a stress relief program



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Info

New study throws into question long-held belief about depression

Michael Bernstein,
RedOrbit
Fri, 29 Aug 2014 13:50 UTC
Depression
© Thinkstock

Comment: Watch out, this is highly misleading. I guess they realized the mouse wasn't depressed when he didn't respond to emo music? We just love how science acts like they've made a big breakthrough in neuroscience when they test something on a mouse. Not the same.


New evidence puts into doubt the long-standing belief that a deficiency in serotonin - a chemical messenger in the brain - plays a central role in depression. In the journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience, scientists report that mice lacking the ability to make serotonin in their brains (and thus should have been "depressed" by conventional wisdom) did not show depression-like symptoms.

Donald Kuhn and colleagues at the John D. Dingell VA Medical Center and Wayne State University School of Medicine note that depression poses a major public health problem. More than 350 million people suffer from it, according to the World Health Organization, and it is the leading cause of disability across the globe.

In the late 1980s, the now well-known antidepressant Prozac was introduced. The drug works mainly by increasing the amounts of one substance in the brain - serotonin. So scientists came to believe that boosting levels of the signaling molecule was the key to solving depression. Based on this idea, many other drugs to treat the condition entered the picture. But now researchers know that 60 to 70 percent of these patients continue to feel depressed, even while taking the drugs. Kuhn's team set out to study what role, if any, serotonin played in the condition.
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MIB

Pathology of the overconfident: Self-deceived individuals more likely to be promoted over the more accomplished


Medical News Today
Fri, 29 Aug 2014 03:00 UTC
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Over confident people can fool others into believing they are more talented than they actually are, a study has found.

These 'self-deceived' individuals could be more likely to get promotions and reach influential positions in banks and other organisations. And these people are more likely to overestimate other people's abilities and take greater risks, possibly creating problems for their organisations.

The study by researchers from Newcastle University and the University of Exeter, has also found that those who are under confident in their own abilities are viewed as less able by their colleagues.

The findings, which are published in the journal PLOS ONE, are the first time a link has been found between a person's view of their own ability and how others see their abilities, and could partially explain financial collapses and other disasters.

Comment: Pathological individuals are drawn to institutions like banks and the military because they are able to exercise power and control over others. Those with high levels of narcissism and psychopathy flock to areas where they are experts, heroes, or are able to climb high up the career ladder. These disorders 'want' adoration.

The successful pathological
Social status and incompetence: Why are people overconfident so often?

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