Science of the SpiritS


People 2

The benefits of 'positive dissociation' and sharing: Divorce rate cut in half for couples who discussed relationship movies

Susan Hagen
The University of Rochester
Sat, 01 Feb 2014 06:56 UTC
A new study finds that watching and discussing movies about relationships is as effective in lowering divorce rates as other, more intensive early marriage counseling programs.

En español: La tasa de divorcio se reduce a la mitad entre recién casados que comentaron cinco películas sobre relaciones de pareja
Discussing five movies about relationships over a month could cut the three-year divorce rate for newlyweds in half, researchers report. The study, involving 174 couples, is the first long-term investigation to compare different types of early marriage intervention programs.

The findings show that an inexpensive, fun, and relatively simple movie-and-talk approach can be just as effective as other more intensive therapist-led methods - reducing the divorce or separation rate from 24 to 11 percent after three years.

Comment: Read the following forum thread to learn more about positive dissociation and its benefits.

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Snakes in Suits

A second look at psychopaths - They're not what you think


Brasscheck TV
Sat, 01 Feb 2014 00:00 UTC
Image
Polished, professional, and dangerous

It's a body of information that explains a lot.

When you read the actual stories of royalty of ancient times, you're much more likely to come across the stories of raging psychopaths than the "kindly and wise."

Why is that - and how much has really changed since we all became so "modern"?

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Family

Why resisting your emotions actually intensifies them

Marissa Håkansson
MindBodyGreen
Mon, 25 Mar 2013 10:48 UTC
Do you resist your emotions, or do you allow yourself to feel your feelings fully? I used to resist my emotions and only welcomed the good feelings, while fighting back the ones that seemed too much to handle.
Woman, health, happiness, balance
© Shutterstock
However, I came to realize that it was my thoughts about those emotions (not the actual emotions) that I was fearful of. I didn't want to experience an intense emotion because the idea of losing control seemed frightening.

For example, I used to worry that if I let myself feel sad, I'd spiral into unrelenting sadness. I tried to overlook my emotions, adopt a positive mindset and move on with my life. But it didn't seem to work.

I see now that it can be easy for us to get caught in a loop when it comes to our emotions, which causes us to resist them. Over time, though, resisting our feelings causes them to simmer and intensify.
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Magnify

Brain area found to help spot bad decisions

Ian Sample
The Guardian
Tue, 28 Jan 2014 18:59 UTC
Image
© CorbisAdam and Eve: possible victims of an underdeveloped lateral frontal pole
Ball of tissue named lateral frontal pole found to be crucial in analysing alternative decisions - and may be unique to humans

A new brain region that appears to help humans identify whether they have made bad decisions has been discovered by researchers.

The size and shape of a large Brussels sprout, the ball of neural tissue seems to be crucial for the kind of flexible thought that allows us to consider switching to a more promising course of action.

While other brain parts keep track of how well, or not, our decisions are working for us, the new structure is more outward-looking, and mulls over what we might have done instead.

Scientists spotted the region, named the lateral frontal pole, after scanning the brains of healthy humans in two different ways. Further scans failed to find any comparable region in monkeys, suggesting the area is exclusive to humans.

"We know there are differences between humans and monkeys. But it is surprising how many similarities there can be, and how a couple of differences can mean our behaviour is so far removed from them," said Matthew Rushworth, a professor of cognitive neuroscience, who led the study at Oxford University.

"There are a few brain areas that monitor how good our choices are, and that is a very sensible thing to have. But this region monitors how good the choices are that we didn't take. It tells us how green the grass is on the other side of the fence."
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Alarm Clock

It's true: Violent video games turn you into a jerk

Jack Flanagan
The Kernel
Thu, 30 Jan 2014 08:33 UTC
ResidentEvil
© Facebook.com/ResidentEvilResident Evil is no Duck Hunt.
Researchers find that gamers are affected by what they play

Media-driven panics about what video games are "doing to our children" are scoffed at by gamers and most technology journalists. But are these haughty dismissals justified? Because studies are now coming thick and fast that find the minds of young people playing video games are affected by what they play. And not always for the best.

In a study titled Remain Calm, Be Kind, a quote from US general Colin Powell, researchers Whitaker and Bushman made the point that, of all media, video games are the most perfectly architected to change our state of mind. They're active: Gamers are indirectly doing things that they'd otherwise imagine or witness in books or film respectively.

They call this "managing our mood states," implying that aggressive actions make us feel short-tempered, while slower-paced games will cause us to feel relaxed.

They set out to demonstrate this. There is a wealth of information that ties aggressive video games to anti-social behaviour. But they wanted to complete the circle: To show that "nice" games make for nicer people too. If we had this information, it would suggest that the link between game and gamer is a strong one and can be both positive and negative.

They gave participants a selection of games to play - violent, neutral and relaxing - and then asked them to compete against each other in competitive games. Those who played high-stakes gaming like Resident Evil were more competitive than those that played less intense games like fishing.
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Life Preserver

Neurofeedback: 6 fascinating effects of watching and shaping your own brainwaves

Jeremy Dean
PsyBlog
Wed, 29 Jan 2014 09:37 UTC
Image
© Creativity103Calmer, more efficient, balanced and happier. Could watching and shaping your own brainwaves do this?
Neurofeedback training is like looking in a kind of mental mirror, where the 'mirror' is reflecting your brain's electrical activity.

The training, some claim, can make you more centred, efficient, balanced and happier - perhaps dramatically enhancing your life.

While others are more skeptical, it has been the subject of renewed interest in psychological research.

What is neurofeedback?

The training itself typically involves sensors placed on the scalp which pick up electrical activity and display it on a screen.

You then sit in front of the screen and try to change the waveform, just by thinking.

The idea is that you can learn to create specific brain states, like concentration or relaxation - it's a kind of high-tech meditation.

Eventually, the theory goes, you can learn to better control your own brain.

Here are six studies on the effects of neurofeedback...
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Black Magic

A real-life demon possession is being reported in Indiana

Jason Howerton
The Blaze
Mon, 27 Jan 2014 13:50 UTC
ammons house
© Hammond Police DepartmentThe house where Latoya Ammons lived with her family was on Carolina St. in Gary. This is a photo taken by the police. A figure appears to show itself in the window at right.
A terrified mother claims she watched in horror as her demon-possessed 9-year-old son walked backwards up a wall and ceiling. Her claims would be easy to dismiss if a child services case worker and a nurse weren't reportedly there to witness it all.

Latoya Ammons claims all three of her children showed signs of being possessed, including "evil" smiles and strangely deep voices, the Indianapolis Star reports. The mother says she also witnessed her 12-year-old daughter levitating in their Gary, Ind., home.

Strangely enough, the scary-sounding incident is outlined in official documents. Further, Gary police Capt. Charles Austin told the Star that he is a "believer" after making several visits to the home and interviewing witnesses. He first thought the family was making stories up as part of a get-rich-quick scheme.
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Video

Best of the Web: Stress, Portrait of a Killer - Full Documentary (2008)


National Geographic
Sun, 16 Oct 2011 11:18 UTC
Robert Sapolsky
© John HeminwayRobert Sapolsky and an olive baboon share a quiet moment on the Talek River, July 2007
The stress response: in the beginning it saved our lives, making us run from predators and enabling us to take down prey. Today, human beings are turning on the same life-saving physical reaction to cope with 30-year mortgages, $4 a gallon gasoline, final exams, difficult bosses and even traffic jams - we can't seem to turn it off. So, we're constantly marinating in corrosive hormones triggered by the stress response.

Now, scientists are showing just how measurable - and dangerous - prolonged exposure to stress can be. Stanford University neurobiologist, MacArthur "genius" grant recipient, and renowned author Robert Sapolsky reveals new answers to why and how chronic stress is threatening our lives in Killer Stress, a National Geographic Special. The hour-long co-production of National Geographic Television and Stanford University was produced exclusively for public television.

Comment: The excellent presentation of the work of Robert Sapolsky in this documentary spells out and clarifies how the dominant baboons in our society, the psychopaths in power, cause the deterioration of our mental and physical health by stressing us out (and to death) with their bullying tactics.

Now, unless the psychopaths who rule over us somehow disappear, we have to take care of ourselves by at least learning to cope with the constant stress emanating down from the top. One way to begin is by applying the simple techniques of Éiriú Eolas, which can be used daily as an antidote to stress, not only to preserve and optimize our mental and physical health, but also to give us the clarity of mind for further studies on the subject of psychopathy. The understanding gleaned from such study of the predators in our midst would provide us with the skills necessary to navigate a world ruled by dominant baboons without succumbing to the deadly effects of stress that their inhuman behavior causes.

Did you also notice what happened to the baboon community when all the dominant baboons ate the tuberculosis tainted food and died? Suddenly the society changed from a hierarchical one, where violence was perpetrated from the top down and the lower ranks suffered from stress and heart problems, to a society where social affiliation and cooperation prevailed, and no one within it had to suffer from stress anymore. Just imagine how us humans can transform our society if our dominant baboons are no longer above us.

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People

How to maintain a psychologically healthy and free of pathologicals community: Hidden benefits of "gossip" and "ostracism"

Clifton B. Parker
Stanford News
Tue, 28 Jan 2014 12:59 UTC
Image
© Shutterstock/CREATISTANew research shows that gossip and ostracism are useful tools by which groups encourage cooperation and reform bullies.
A Stanford study finds that what you might think of as your worst qualities - talking about people behind their backs and voting others "off the island" - can offer surprising benefits for our greater harmony.

While gossip and ostracism get a bad rap, they may be quite good for society, according to Stanford scholars.

Conventional wisdom holds that gossip and social exclusion are always malicious, undermining trust and morale in groups.

But that is not always true, according to a new study published in the journal Psychological Science. Robb Willer, an associate professor of sociology, explored the nature of gossip and ostracism in experimental groups in collaboration with co-authors Matthew Feinberg, a Stanford University postdoctoral researcher, and Michael Schultz from the University of California - Berkeley.

Their research showed that gossip and ostracism can have very positive effects. They are tools by which groups reform bullies, thwart exploitation of "nice people" and encourage cooperation.


Comment: Words like "gossip" and "ostracism" carry negative connotations, while in reality and throughout the history "gossip", or to be exact an exchange of information, was crucial for the survival of the community. The same is for "ostracism", which in ancient times was the most efficient way of cleaning the community from various pathologicals, who caused trouble and strife, and were no more than parasites. One even has to wonder why and since when such protective measures started to be considered as negative.


"Groups that allow their members to gossip," said Feinberg, "sustain cooperation and deter selfishness better than those that don't. And groups do even better if they can gossip and ostracize untrustworthy members. While both of these behaviors can be misused, our findings suggest that they also serve very important functions for groups and society."
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Info

Newly discovered brain region helps make humans unique

Tia Ghose
LiveScience
Tue, 28 Jan 2014 11:00 UTC
Brain
© Johan Swanepoel/ShutterstockHuman brain integrates signals simultaneously coming from different senses.
Scientists have identified a part of the brain that seems to be unique to humans.

The brain region, called the lateral frontal pole prefrontal cortex, was described today (Jan. 28) in the journal Neuron, and is linked to higher thinking processes.

"We tend to think that being able to plan into the future, be flexible in our approach and learn from others are things that are particularly impressive about humans," Matthew Rushworth, an experimental psychologist at Oxford University, said in a statement.

"We've identified an area of the brain that appears to be uniquely human, and is likely to have something to do with these cognitive powers,"

The new brain region is located within a larger region called the ventrolateral frontal cortex, which in past studies has been tied to higher thinking.

For instance, this part of the brain houses Broca's region, which plays a critical role in language.

Differences in the ventrolateral frontal cortex have also been tied to psychiatric disorders such as compulsive behavior disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
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