Brain Changes

While cleaning out files earlier today, I came across some information that I probably posted a year or so ago under a different title. I think it’s appropriate for re-posting because last week someone in my PSY 203 (Human Growth & Development) class asked a question about infants and how quickly their brains develop. I reminded her that all of us, even elderly people, can keep our brains fresh and fit. HOW? Just how do messages get conveyed to and from the brain? What about synapses within the brain itself? How can we keep those synapses in good working order?

I came across some “neurobic” exercises proposed by Lawrence Katz, Duke University neurobiologist, and Manning Rubin in The Owner’s Manual to the Brain (love that book!). Each exercise is designed to form new associations among previously unassociated parts of the brain and bring new resources to a person’s consciousness. This “mental jogging” results in the formation of new synapses and the rejuvenation of already established synapses. I’m all for that. What about you? Which of the following seems like a “doable” exercise in your life? Can you think of other suggestions?

• Make different smells available from morning to night. • Occasionally use your unaccustomed hand to brush your teeth. • Switch what you normally wear (pins, wristwatch, pocket contents, hair part, etc.) on the left side to the right side and vice versa. • Take a different route to a frequent destination, such as work. • Try picking out the right coins (and other objects) without looking. • Turn things literally upside down, such as a picture in your office. • Chat with people whom you (and others) tend to overlook (e.g., store clerks). • If you’re not an artist, try painting or drawing a picture. If you are an artist, try doing it with your feet. • Try searching for food in the wild. • If you exercise indoors, try switching occasionally to outdoors and vice versa. • Master some new piece of technology from time to time. This could range from something as simple as a new wine bottle opener to a digital camera. • Try eating and preparing ethnic foods you’ve never experienced. • Acquire a new hobby.

Decade of Behavior

I think everyone reading this blog would agree that human behavior is both complex and fascinating. The “why” of behavior is, in fact, one of the four goals of psychology.  Is there some specific behavior that’s baffling to you? Does your significant other “drive you nuts?” Do your children act in an unruly and disobedient way? Do you find yourself pouting or sulking for no obvious reason? These are just a few of the questions that psychologists seek to answer.

Psychologists are so interested in behavior that they have designated this decade as the Decade of Behavior, and the APA has launched an “initiative to focus attention on how the behavioral and social sciences can help address many of society’s daunting challenges.” (Psychology,  Lefton and Brannon, 2008,  27).  In this endeavor, they hope to educate people to think more critically, become more effective employees, gain sensitivity to cultural diversity, and become healthier and better educated.

Think about this Decade of Behavior and some of the questions you’d like to see researched and share them with us. To get you started, below are a few I’ve been thinking about as they relate to students that I know. Please add your own, and let’s get a discussion going.

How can you get along with an impossible boss?
How can you get on a health plan (stop smoking, exercise more, lose weight, etc.) and stick to it?
What attracts people to each other?
What are some ways of handling stress?
What’s the best way to resolve conflict?

Is there a tried and proven way to toilet train an infant?

Seven Minutes of Life

We just completed the chapter on consciousness in General Psychology, and the chapter concluded with a discussion about the categories, uses, and consequences of drugs. Our next topic of discussion is learning, and we’ll be covering classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning. Why am I mentioning this? Because when one considers drug use and the detrimental consequences of long term use, you have to ask yourself “WHY?” Is the behavior learned? If so, how?

 Let’s concentrate on just one drug, tobacco. Why does a person start smoking in the first place when he is bombarded on all sides with dire warnings of disease and an early demise? As years go by, and the incessant coughing begins, why doesn’t the person stop? When an expectant mother is told in no uncertain terms that her risky behavior could lead to a lower birthweight and a greater possibility of respiratory illness for her child, why doesn’t she put that cigarette out and never light another? I’ve read that one cigarette cuts seven minutes from one’s life. Why risk it? When you could see yet another sunset, eat another hot fudge sundae, or hug a loved one a few more times, why light up and take away those possibilities?

Please solve the mystery for me. Using principles of either classical conditioning, operant conditioning, or observational learning, tell how smoking could be a learned behavior…and why it’s such a tough habit to break.

Crumbs or Orts?

Language acquisition, comprehension, and production are fascinating topics. It’s mind boggling to think that you can completely understand the speech of someone who’s talking while at the same time formulate a reply. Add the fact that you can also interpret the person’s nonverbal communication, and you have a marvelous process going on.

Let’s explore briefly our primary means of communication: words. I’ve read that the average 18 month old toddler is learning a new word every two hours. Isn’t that amazing? How many of you have learned several new words today? By the time the little tyke is six, she has a vocabulary of 13,000, and this is considered to be a conservative estimate. Fast forward a few years, and we see that this tyke turned teen now knows more than 60,000 words. This is the average high school graduate, however, and the estimate for brighter students is probably twice that many.

Consider these questions: How you think this process (language acquisition) takes place? With that answer in mind, you might also want to comment on why it is that some people have extensive vocabularies while others barely know the basics. Is there anything parents can do to help build children’s vocabularies? Is there anything a college student can do to build his or her own?

Positive Reinforcement in Wal-Mart

We’ve been studying classical and operant conditioning for the past week or so, and I’ve stated in class that if a person could learn and correctly apply the principles of operant conditioning, then he or she would be a powerful person indeed. The problems arise when we reinforce for inappropriate behavior, use the wrong type of reinforcement or reinforcement schedule, or fail to acknowledge a behavior at all.

To illustrate how these principles operate in everyday life, I’m going to share an example that I read in a blog recently. The blogger stated that he thought the reason that women wear skimpy, revealing, and/or tight clothing is to attract attention (positive reinforcement). He then described a situation in a Wal-Mart checkout line in which he had the opportunity to test his hypothesis. Right in front of him were two young women wearing short skirts and tight tank tops. He (our blogger) deliberately looked all around him at other shoppers, the items on display, his shoes…at any and everything EXCEPT the young women. According to him, they continued to stand in line and chit chat after they had paid the cashier despite the fact that the transaction was complete. The blogger then gave them the reinforcement that he believed they were waiting for (an appraising look), and then they left.

What do you think? Do you think that they were waiting for positive reinforcement from him? Do you agree that people choose the clothing, makeup, hairstyles, jewelry, and so forth in order to receive positive reinforcement from others? What about you? Why do you wear the things you do? Does reinforcement have anything to do with it?

It Won’t Happen to Me

Here’s a discussion prompt that I recently posted on the discussion board of an online course: “A couple of things that I find a little surprising are that (1) one in four teens contracts an STD before leaving high school and (2) four in ten babies are born to single mothers. How do you think the personal fable  that occurs during the teen years might relate to this?

While reading the responses, it occurred to me that many of the adults I know must be still operating with the “personal fable” mindset, a view that what happens to them is unique and exceptional AND that they are invulnerable to the risks that affect other people. A teen might feel that he or she can engage in premarital sex because although other might get pregnant, “It won’t happen to me.” Similar thoughts include, “Others might contract an STD, but not me.” Or, “Sure, other people drink, drive, and crash, but not me.”

What about adults? I know adults who persist in smoking, overeating, failing to exercise, drinking, not managing stress, and so forth who continue to believe that nothing will happen to them. Despite information that warns them about cancer and heart disease being leading causes of death, they somehow don’t get the connection between that information and their own lives.

Have you seen evidence of this kind of faulty thinking? Do you think it’s a “grown up” version of the personal fable, or could it be more like cognitive dissonance?