tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22461059201012750102024-03-27T10:44:49.880-07:00MINDPSYCHOLOGY FOR EVERYDAY LIFEAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01344568572649106567noreply@blogger.comBlogger67125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246105920101275010.post-16168426630066749462015-05-27T23:11:00.001-07:002015-05-27T23:11:28.877-07:00CHANGE THE NAME OF SCHIZOPHRENIA <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Schizophrenia is a mental illness characterized by thought disorder, perceptual disorders and abnormal social and personal behavior, in general terms. The name of this illness was coined by the Swiss Psychiatrist Eugene Bleuler one hundred years ago. Before him this mental malady was called Dementia Praecox by the<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: left;">Emil </span>Kraepelin</td></tr>
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German Psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin. Both these terms gave some hints to the inner nature of the ailment. Kraepelin thought that the person afflicted with the illness become demented prematurely and hence the name dementia praecox. Blueler's naming hints to the real cause of the illness. He thought that the mind is split in a person suffering from the disease.<br />
Dr. Mohan Isac a psychiatrist and researcher from Fremantle Hospital, the University of Western Australia participating in a Continuing Medical Education program of the Kerala Branch of the Indian Psychiatric Society, presented his thinking about the changes in concepts and nomenclature of the enigmatic mental illness of schizophrenia. He suggested it is high time to change the name of schizophrenia and proposed "Kraepelin-Bleuler disorder" as a passing remark.<br />
I am also of opinion that it is high time to change the name of schizophrenia. In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSM-5" target="_blank">DSM-5 </a> <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: left;">Eugene </span>Bleuler<span style="font-size: small; text-align: left;"> </span></td></tr>
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schizophrenia is included in the chapter on Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders. There are two concepts in this terminology. The first concept is that the schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder. The second idea is that schizophrenia is not a single illness, it is the name of a spectrum of illnesses. Both are agreeable concepts. The DSM-5 gives the key features of psychotic disorders. They are delusions, hallucinations, disorganised thinking and speech, disorganised behaviours and negative symptoms such as diminished emotional expressions, inactivity and keeping aloof.<br />
The functional <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_neuroimaging" target="_blank">neuro-imaging</a> studies of the brain conducted in schizophrenic patients show poor mentational ability and abnormal activity in Pre-Frontal Cortex of the brain. Evidently the psychotic disorders including schizophrenia are disorders of mentation and psychoses can be renamed as <span style="color: red;">Mentational Disorders</span>. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01344568572649106567noreply@blogger.com52tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246105920101275010.post-12546509971923900562015-05-17T11:52:00.000-07:002015-05-17T11:57:22.803-07:00MY SELF AND MY MIND<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
My Self is present only when I am
awake. When I was asleep I missed the happenings around me; I was not aware of
my surroundings. I was unconscious. When I woke up I regained consciousness.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Consciousness is not merely
wakefulness. When I wake up from sleep I
do not look around vacantly, taking in the sights and the sounds around me as
if my wake mind belonged to no one. I am the proprietor of my mind. I am aware
of each and every happenings and things around me. The myriad of contents
displayed in my mind are <b>connected </b>with me through invisible
strings and I <b>feel</b> or experience these
connections with me. In other words my
consciousness is endowed with subjectivity. ‘I’ move forward and look back with
this innumerable things displayed and connected with me. This forward-moving
merriment in me is my Self.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Search for Self</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Search for self had been going on
from time immemorial. <span style="background: white; color: #252525; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is a treatise on<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Self and the great saint who composed it
found that Self is the infinite universe. (Aham Brahmāsmi)</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKY0pBBBiytZbZYSkgy-HhwhWK3XdTh3GkszbYSgUdibraFCKEn-Dbl16vbN_YauT8p_9AuIvLWn9LxqkZgFKo-4al5K3HSxLzbkxBFgyH6SDWtONpEP-IyQ5CqzZrBVTaU4Cr1yBaSmg/s1600/Aristotle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKY0pBBBiytZbZYSkgy-HhwhWK3XdTh3GkszbYSgUdibraFCKEn-Dbl16vbN_YauT8p_9AuIvLWn9LxqkZgFKo-4al5K3HSxLzbkxBFgyH6SDWtONpEP-IyQ5CqzZrBVTaU4Cr1yBaSmg/s200/Aristotle.jpg" width="149" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aristotle </td></tr>
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<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 150%;">Buddhist tradition holds
that the root cause of suffering is the Ordinary Man’s erroneous view of Self
as an <b>unchanging essence</b>. Furthermore, the tradition holds that this
error is inevitable in the natural course of life because it is based on inborn
patterns, pre-theoretic and unreasoned.<span class="apple-converted-space"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Aristotle<span style="color: #252525;">,
following<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span>Plato<span style="color: #252525;">, defined the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span>soul<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #252525;"> </span></span><span style="color: #252525;">as the core<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span>essence<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #252525;"> </span></span><span style="color: #252525;">of a living being, but argued against its having a
separate existence.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span>Aristotle<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #252525;"> </span></span><span style="color: #252525;">also believed that there were four sections of the soul:
the calculative and scientific parts on the rational side used for making
decisions, and the desiderative and vegetative parts on the irrational side
responsible for identifying our needs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #252525; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></span><span style="background: white; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Avicenna<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #252525;"> said </span></span><span style="color: #252525;">that the idea of the self is not </span>logically<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #252525;"> </span></span><span style="color: #252525;">dependent on any physical<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span>thing<span style="color: #252525;">,
and that the soul should not be seen in<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span>relative
terms<span style="color: #252525;">, but as a primary </span>substance<span style="color: #252525;">. This <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj14WiTc_SU-d8o2-x6jPTZpPwFGncwoaA2lMC-3ongjjgkUoXIMBR6nY-MbqNdwtBVKlIAJHyMsKPv8jdue7BS2q71v9l6aYwA5CmCZIRZgSX9L4GBSWstQOqLflw6NTY4KSi-5ObGMFk/s1600/avicenna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj14WiTc_SU-d8o2-x6jPTZpPwFGncwoaA2lMC-3ongjjgkUoXIMBR6nY-MbqNdwtBVKlIAJHyMsKPv8jdue7BS2q71v9l6aYwA5CmCZIRZgSX9L4GBSWstQOqLflw6NTY4KSi-5ObGMFk/s200/avicenna.jpg" width="198" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Avicenna</td></tr>
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argument was later refined and simplified by<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span>René Descartes<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #252525;"> </span></span><span style="color: #252525;">in<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span>epistemic<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #252525;"> </span></span><span style="color: #252525;">terms when he stated: "I can abstract from the
supposition of all external things, but not from the supposition of my own
consciousness."<sup><o:p></o:p></sup></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">An eighteenth century philosopher David
Hume<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #252525;"> </span></span><span style="color: #252525;">thought that Self is a bundle of perceptions. “For my
part, when I enter most intimately into what I call <i>myself</i>, I always
stumble on some particular perception or other</span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSmYr_sCzFnU991Eu72DQaEOZL-XWr5jIGpMeMdpIYtFfmN9s5q8bFrsdRQGJV-5qPcFPhvOFNyfGa3uxp1rpa3rtQEeYPmbfz0KTdxx_APX3g5zwUuYAsFq49SLQVJbjDwzaEWMr0zSs/s1600/Treaties+on+Human+Nature.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSmYr_sCzFnU991Eu72DQaEOZL-XWr5jIGpMeMdpIYtFfmN9s5q8bFrsdRQGJV-5qPcFPhvOFNyfGa3uxp1rpa3rtQEeYPmbfz0KTdxx_APX3g5zwUuYAsFq49SLQVJbjDwzaEWMr0zSs/s200/Treaties+on+Human+Nature.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
of heat or cold, light or she,
love or hatred, pain or pleasure. I never can catch <i>myself</i> as any time
without a perception, and never can perceive anything but the perception. <span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> When my perceptions are removed for any time,
as by sound sleep, so long am I insensible to <i>myself</i>, and may truly be said not to exist. And were
all my perceptions removed by death, and could I neither think, nor feel, nor
see, nor love, nor hate after the dissolution of my body.” David Hume: <i>A
Treaties on Human Nature</i>.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">All these were brilliant imaginative speculations by
the fertile brains of the past. The first psychological enquiry of Self came
from William James, an American psychologist who initiated scientific
psychological enquiries. He admired Hume’s dazzling speculation on Self, but
criticised. “But Hume, after doing this good piece of introspective work,
proceeds to pour out the child in the bath, and fly to as great an extreme as
the substantialist philosophers. As they say Self is nothing but Unity, unity
abstract and absolute, so Hume says it is nothing but Diversity, diversity
abstract and absolute; whereas in truth it is that mixture of unity and
diversity which we ourselves have already found so easy to pick apart… he
denies this thread of resemblance, this core of sameness running through the
ingredients of the Self, to exist even as a phenomenal thing.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Let us leave the brilliant speculations on Self and consciousness
in the past. The conscious mind and its proprietor the Self are constructs of
the <b>brain</b>. In a series of pioneering studies conducted in North America
and Italy during the middle of the twentieth century established with certainty
that the <b>brain stem</b> is the <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUNr9JQMoXDhQZmP9h1Mh7cmTSLiBj_wmWHfBTY-beqYQm-RU2IR-HnYDRgSV5B0B7SFClM5Y2Q6yeAPmRQ5QIvnSMKQ1RUm_Vi19uxGDRuouYllhUP_t4Of7xoM2aluCHyFk41EyUuk4/s1600/brain+stem.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="119" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUNr9JQMoXDhQZmP9h1Mh7cmTSLiBj_wmWHfBTY-beqYQm-RU2IR-HnYDRgSV5B0B7SFClM5Y2Q6yeAPmRQ5QIvnSMKQ1RUm_Vi19uxGDRuouYllhUP_t4Of7xoM2aluCHyFk41EyUuk4/s200/brain+stem.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brain stem</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
critical contributor to consciousness. More recent
studies conducted in neurological patients whose consciousness was compromised
by focal brain damage. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Relationship between consciousness and self<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Portuguese-American neuroscientist, Antonio Damasio in
his marvelous book <i>Self Comes to Mind</i> says: “When selves do not occur
within minds, those minds are not conscious in the proper sense. This is a
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhsVMc9pt1zhF4WLU2hchg08UNFE_hEDlVKt9TOvABZQPxzvtcJW3MxwVDLe7GVes3A8qaJzJFqxo6zRR63j0zKd9YSdniiDb548kBghCJ99tTvZbxiXHNJkMvJRf1uppj4QVwoP7X-cU/s1600/antonio+damasio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhsVMc9pt1zhF4WLU2hchg08UNFE_hEDlVKt9TOvABZQPxzvtcJW3MxwVDLe7GVes3A8qaJzJFqxo6zRR63j0zKd9YSdniiDb548kBghCJ99tTvZbxiXHNJkMvJRf1uppj4QVwoP7X-cU/s200/antonio+damasio.jpg" width="132" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Antonio Damasio</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
predicament faced by humans whose self process is suspended by dreamless sleep,
anaesthesia, or brain disease.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>Two notions of Self </b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Self is a process and not a thing, and this
process is present all times when we are conscious. We can consider the Self
from two vantage points. One is the vantage point of an observer appreciating a
dynamic <i>object</i>. This dynamic
object is constituted by certain working of minds, certain traits of behaviour,
and a certain history of life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The other vantage point is that of the self as <i>knower</i>.
This is a process that gives a focus to our experiences and eventually lets us
reflect on those experiences. Combining the two vantage points produces a dual
concept to Self. In everyday life each concept corresponds to a level of operation
of conscious mind, the Self-as-object being simpler in scope than the
Self-as-knower. There is no dichotomy between the two. The simpler Self-as-object
evolved earlier in the course of evolution and the later evolved Self-as-knower
is piled up on the top of the Self-as-object.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>The Self as the witness of the mind</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Countless creatures for millions of years have had
active <b>minds </b>happening in their <b>brains</b>. But only after those
brains developed a self as the protagonist capable of bearing witness did
consciousness begin, in the strict sense, and only after those brains developed
language did it become widely known that minds did exist. The Self, as the
witness, is the protagonist is something extra that reveals the presence of implicit
<i>brain events</i> that we call mental. Understanding how the brain produces
that something extra, the protagonist we carry around and call <i>self</i>, or <i>me</i>, or <i>I</i>,
is an important goal of the neurobiology of consciousness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01344568572649106567noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246105920101275010.post-23701688491064785882012-06-23T08:14:00.001-07:002012-06-23T08:14:11.735-07:00COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY FOR DAILY LIFE: Metacognition for better learning<a href="http://cognitivepsychlogy.blogspot.com/2012/06/metacognition-for-better-learning.html?spref=bl">COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY FOR DAILY LIFE: Metacognition for better learning</a>: Thinking about thinking Metacognition is cognition about cognition or thinking about thinking. It is a kind of self-auditing or self-...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01344568572649106567noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246105920101275010.post-91714639171978232852012-06-21T07:54:00.001-07:002012-06-21T07:54:43.359-07:00COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY FOR DAILY LIFE: Information processing by human mind<a href="http://cognitivepsychlogy.blogspot.com/2012/06/information-processing-by-human-mind.html?spref=bl">COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY FOR DAILY LIFE: Information processing by human mind</a>: Human mind works by the process of computation. Computation is a process following a well-de...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01344568572649106567noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246105920101275010.post-16800124347419633292012-06-19T09:37:00.001-07:002012-06-19T09:37:44.636-07:00COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY FOR DAILY LIFE: Disorder of attention<a href="http://cognitivepsychlogy.blogspot.com/2012/06/disorder-of-attention.html?spref=bl">COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY FOR DAILY LIFE: Disorder of attention</a>: The only disorder of attention is attention deficit. Persons suffering from from generalised anxiety disorder often complain that they c...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01344568572649106567noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246105920101275010.post-38652949170287072112012-05-26T10:04:00.001-07:002012-05-26T10:04:38.508-07:00How to improve memory?<a href="http://cognitivepsychlogy.blogspot.in/">http://cognitivepsychlogy.blogspot.in/</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01344568572649106567noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246105920101275010.post-62730886573546264772012-05-21T08:26:00.000-07:002015-04-26T19:16:59.996-07:00Curse of knowledge and other cognitive biases that lead to wrong decision making<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
A person may be consciously biased towards or against an
ideology, a political party, a religion, a creed, a caste, a country, an ethnic
group etc. But a cognitive bias is different from such conscious partisanship.
Cognitive bias is an unconscious psychological process which guides the
individual in decision making without the individual’s conscious awareness. It
is the result of perceptual distortion, inaccurate judgment, or illogical
interpretation of facts. A conglomeration of these is called irrationality.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Cognitive biases are the result of distortions in the human
mind that always lead to the same pattern of poor judgment, often triggered by
a particular situation. But how can one person decide the judgment of another
person poor? In order to decide the judgment to be poor there should a standard
of “good judgment”. In scientific
investigations of cognitive bias, the source of “good judgment” is that of
people outside the situation which is presumed to cause the poor judgment or a
set of independently verifiable facts. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Positive side of cognitive biases<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
According to the evolutionary psychology some cognitive
biases are adaptive and beneficial because they lead to more effective actions
in given contexts or enable faster decisions when faster decisions are of
greater value for survival or reproduction. </div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Some common cognitive biases<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Anchoring<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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This common cognitive bias is also called focalism. It
refers to a common human tendency to rely too heavily, or “anchor” on one piece
of information when making decisions. During normal decision making anchoring
occurs when individuals overly rely on a specific piece of information to
govern their thought-process. Once the anchor is set, there is a bias toward
adjusting or interpreting other information to reflect the “anchored”
information. Through this cognitive bias, the first information about a subject
can affect future decision making and analysis of new information. For example
when a person looks to buy a used car he/she may focus attention excessively on
the distance travelled by it as indicated by the odometer rather than
considering how well the engine or the transmission is maintained.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Focusing effect<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0R8wDyOh6Oo0nEVt0xYKX2MTk-P_1X5xbj_M6KRSkQs8Z_1mdilMJ96TS-_vdmHKlorkm-7TFfBVzfLm25Fe7Tg_O91I5y5f2RZkctrDX2tCb6GGypKkIQfwx7KZBsl1cOsMVYiXshl8/s1600/Daniel_KAHNEMAN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0R8wDyOh6Oo0nEVt0xYKX2MTk-P_1X5xbj_M6KRSkQs8Z_1mdilMJ96TS-_vdmHKlorkm-7TFfBVzfLm25Fe7Tg_O91I5y5f2RZkctrDX2tCb6GGypKkIQfwx7KZBsl1cOsMVYiXshl8/s1600/Daniel_KAHNEMAN.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: small; text-align: left;">Daniel Kahneman</span> </b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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It is also called focusing illusion. This cognitive bias
occurs when people place too much importance to an event, causing an error in
accurately predicting the utility of future outcome. In economics utility means a measure of
satisfaction. People focus on notable differences, excluding those that are
less conspicuous, when making predictions about happiness or convenience. For
example, a rise in income has only a small and transient effect on happiness
and well-being, but people consistently overestimate this effect. Nobel laureate
Israeli-American psychologist Daniel Kahneman and associates proposed that this
is as a result of a focusing illusion, with which people focusing on
conventional measured of achievement rather than on everyday routine. Kahneman
writes: “Surveys in many countries conducted over decades indicate that, on
average, reported global judgments of life satisfaction or happiness have not
changed much over the last four decades, in spite of large increase in real
income per capita. While reported life satisfaction and household income are
positively correlated in a cross-section of people at a given time, increase in
income has found to have mainly transitory effect on individuals’ reported life
satisfaction.” (<i>Would You Be Happier If You Were Richer?</i> By Daniel Kahneman
et. al. <a href="http://www.princeton.edu/~ceps/workingpapers/125krueger.pdf" target="_blank">CEPS Working Paper No. 125</a> May 2006) </div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Confirmation Bias</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 115%;">The confirmation bias refers to the tendency to selectively
search for and consider information that confirms one's beliefs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 115%;">Examples:</span></b><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 115%;"> A student who is going
to write a research paper may primarily search for information that would
confirm his or her beliefs. The student may fail to search for or fully
consider information that is inconsistent with his or her beliefs. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 115%;">A reporter who is writing an article on an
important issue may only interview experts that support her or his views on the
issue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 115%;">An employer who believes that a job applicant is
highly intelligent may pay attention to only information that is consistent
with the belief that the job applicant is highly intelligent.</span> </div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Curse of knowledge <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXvmHBa4Z2joOmvJjt1c315mfX_vjk9UqoFG_qoVMZ1RRrJ9LDt6GNi_rBUSNYo_8v7rTimXipV6tgHxhRynKPwDR-hr6fijW16cmH6jL1zGJxP7PhOiy8LRQUsJ-6gmkwc-n_bvbso7g/s1600/Robin+Hogarth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXvmHBa4Z2joOmvJjt1c315mfX_vjk9UqoFG_qoVMZ1RRrJ9LDt6GNi_rBUSNYo_8v7rTimXipV6tgHxhRynKPwDR-hr6fijW16cmH6jL1zGJxP7PhOiy8LRQUsJ-6gmkwc-n_bvbso7g/s1600/Robin+Hogarth.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: left;"><b>Robin Hogarth </b></span></td></tr>
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The curse of knowledge is a cognitive bias according to
which better-informed individuals may have the disadvantage that they lose some
ability to understand properly the lesser-informed individuals. As such added
information may convey some disutility. The term “curse of knowledge” was
coined by the film and TV music composer Robin Hogarth. In one experiment, one
group of participants "tapped" a well-known song on a table while
another group listened and tried to identify the song. Some "tappers"
described a rich sensory experience in their heads as they tapped out the
melody. Tappers on average estimated that 50% of listeners would identify the
specific tune; in reality only 2.5% were able to. This means that the better
informed individuals failed to understand properly the lesser informed
individuals. It has been argued that the
curse of knowledge could contribute to the difficulty of teaching.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Conservatism</span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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It is a cognitive bias. In 1973 British psychologist Glenn
Wilson published an influential book providing evidence that a general factor underlying
conservative beliefs is “fear of uncertainty.” An analysis of research papers
in 2003 established that not only fear of uncertainty but many other
psychological factors like intolerance of ambiguity and need for “cognitive closure”
contribute to the degree of one’s political conservatism. The term cognitive
closure has been defined as “a desire for definite knowledge on some issue and
eschewal of confusion and ambiguity.” (<i>European Review of Social Psychology </i>No.
18 pps. 133-173) </div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Availability bias <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<strong><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Availability bias</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">is a cognitive bias that causes many to
overestimate probabilities of events associated with memorable or dramatic
occurrences. More than a bias, it is a “cognitive illusion.” Since, memorable
events are further magnified by coverage in the media; the bias is compounded
on the society level. Two well-known examples would be estimations of the
probability of plane accidents and the kidnap of children. Both events are
quite rare, but the huge majority of the population outrageously overestimates
their probability, and behaves accordingly. In reality, one is more likely to
die from an automobile accident than from a plane accident, and a child has a
higher risk of dying in an accident than the risk of getting kidnapped.</span> <strong><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Availability bias</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">is at the root of many other human biases.</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01344568572649106567noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246105920101275010.post-25095856410879692182012-05-16T10:03:00.000-07:002012-05-16T10:03:04.875-07:00Prodigies and idiot savants: Wonders of human intelligence<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8fRYBUS9dJ8pvfPskF2djySqggTn2qbmQkznTEhwwEOn4Yake4kQXLcbda-txmUa0GT5QiDhjrODwyt00QHHZQBUq8ey0o9I3dz5HfuvawrPA63pdoMp-jJxntIn8Gd8NuJlsaA-QJiY/s1600/Sergei+Karjakin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8fRYBUS9dJ8pvfPskF2djySqggTn2qbmQkznTEhwwEOn4Yake4kQXLcbda-txmUa0GT5QiDhjrODwyt00QHHZQBUq8ey0o9I3dz5HfuvawrPA63pdoMp-jJxntIn8Gd8NuJlsaA-QJiY/s320/Sergei+Karjakin.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fefde8; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; text-align: left;">Sergei Karjakin</span> -The youngest Grand Master </td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Comedy
screen writer Andrew Marshall wrote in TIME magazine: “When he was nearly three
years old, Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son would watch his mother and father playing
chess in the family's ramshackle home in the Mekong Delta, and, like any
toddler, pester them to let him play, too. Eventually they relented, assuming
the pieces would soon wind up strewn around the kitchen, a plastic bishop
stuffed into a teapot. To his parents' astonishment, Son did not treat the
chess set as a plaything. He not only knew how to set up the board, which was
crudely fashioned with a piece of plywood and a felt-tipped pen. He had, by
careful observation, learned many of the complex rules of the game. Within a
month, he was defeating his parents with ease. By age 4, Son was competing in
national tournaments against kids many years older. By age 7, he was winning
them. Now 12, he is Vietnam's youngest champion and a grand master in the
making.” ("</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Small Wonders"</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">: </span><i style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">TIME</i><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> Monday, Feb. 17, 2003)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Nguyen Ngoc
Truong Son is, no doubt a child prodigy. In the game of chess the youngest grandmaster
is </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fefde8; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Sergei Karjakin of Ukraine.</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> The standard definition of a prodigy
is a child who by age 10 displays a mastery of a field usually undertaken only
by adults. Prodigies are, by this definition, extraordinary ones whose standout
accomplishments are obvious. Ellen Winner, a psychologist in Boston and author
of <i>Gifted Children: Myths and Realities</i> says<i>:</i> "I always
say to parents, 'If you have to ask whether your child is a prodigy, then your
child isn't one.'" <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Brains of
prodigies <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">American
psychologist Michael O'Boyle in Melbourne has been scanning the brains of young
people gifted in mathematics. O'Boyle found that, compared with average kids,
children with an aptitude for numbers show six to seven times more metabolic
activity in the right side of their brains, an area known to mediate pattern
recognition and spatial awareness—key abilities for mathematics and music.
Scans also showed heightened activity in the frontal lobes, believed to play a
crucial "executive" role in coordinating thought and improving
concentration. This region of the brain is virtually inactive in average
children when doing the same tasks. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">O'Boyle
believes prodigies also can switch very efficiently between the brain's left
and right hemispheres, utilizing other mental resources and perhaps even
shutting down areas that produce random distractions. In short, while their
brains aren't physically different from ordinary children's, prodigies seem to
be able to focus better—to muster the mental resources necessary to solve
problems and learn. O'Boyle says: "For the longest time, these kids'
brains were considered the same as everyone else's; they just did twice as
much, twice as fast. It turns out those quantitative explanations don't fit.
They're doing something qualitatively different."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Neuro-cognitive
basis <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What is the
neuro-cognitive basis of this extraordinary brilliance? Are prodigies born
different, gifted by genetic accident to be mentally more efficient? Or is the
management of mental resources something that can be developed? Scientists
aren't sure. Studies have shown that raw intelligence, as measured through IQ
tests, is highly (though not completely) inheritable. But the connection
between high intelligence and prodigious behavior is far from absolute.
So-called idiot savants, for example, show unusual mastery of specific
skills—they could even be described as prodigies were it not for their overall
low intelligence. And many very creative children don't necessarily register
high IQs because they don't test well on standardized intelligence tests and
examinations, says McCann, the education specialist at Flinders University.
Creative kids "are looking for different ways to answer the
questions," she says. "They're looking for the trick questions."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Unlimited
storage capacity of memory<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmNIupUNfhaE4NhNk2R_DF0XgefUxLWwi-B-bgw369yD4Ujlu10L-A4q8o-30yZPN0j16Vg9ZdKgOOP46ryp9NtvQ904Sy-jl6RFlArmu79NfroozZhb_NOFpx3ZT_nuxO-e87DPaFVpg/s1600/Mauro+Pesenti.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmNIupUNfhaE4NhNk2R_DF0XgefUxLWwi-B-bgw369yD4Ujlu10L-A4q8o-30yZPN0j16Vg9ZdKgOOP46ryp9NtvQ904Sy-jl6RFlArmu79NfroozZhb_NOFpx3ZT_nuxO-e87DPaFVpg/s320/Mauro+Pesenti.jpg" width="214" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; text-align: left;">Mauro Pesenti</span>
</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In a
pioneering study in this issue, neuroscientist Mauro Pesenti and colleagues
have now used functional brain imaging to examine the calculating prodigy
Rüdiger Gamm, and to compare his brain activity with that of normal control
subjects as they perform mental arithmetical calculations. Gamm is remarkable
in that he is able to calculate 9<sup>th</sup> powers and 5<sup>th</sup>
roots with great accuracy and he can find the quotient of 2 primes to 60 decimal
places. The authors found that Gamm’s calculation processes recruited a system
of brain areas implicated in episodic memory, including right medial frontal
and parahippocampal gyri, whereas those of control subjects did not. They suggest
that experts develop a way of exploiting the unlimited storage capacity of
long-term memory to maintain task relevant information, such as the sequence of
steps and intermediate results needed for complex calculation, whereas the rest
of us rely on the very limited span of working memory.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">No more
idiot-savants<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhORTeVYwIWOtUKidJgLNNMSpQ2Mp53ekGhWRxU66iLlntqEkr5z8xUN-fMMzeJ3btQn2jta7XsDMDZvDyCvzg8gS31jbhcnj8Y9sN9vwEraIMb2qo37k4LdDJHczpv2W6MDpab6-EZ9X8/s1600/R%C3%BCdiger+Gamm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhORTeVYwIWOtUKidJgLNNMSpQ2Mp53ekGhWRxU66iLlntqEkr5z8xUN-fMMzeJ3btQn2jta7XsDMDZvDyCvzg8gS31jbhcnj8Y9sN9vwEraIMb2qo37k4LdDJHczpv2W6MDpab6-EZ9X8/s320/R%C3%BCdiger+Gamm.jpg" width="228" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; text-align: left;">Human Calculator: Rüdiger Gamm </span> </td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Savant
syndrome was first recognized by Dr. J. Langdon Down. He also originated the
term Down’s syndrome. In 1887, he coined the term "idiot savant" to
describe someone who had "extraordinary memory but with a great defect in
reasoning power." Idiot is a person with low intelligence. Savant is
derived from the French, savoir, meaning wise. The term idiot-savant is now
little used because of its inappropriate connotations, and the term savant
syndrome has now been more or less adopted. Another term, autistic savant, is
also widely used, but this can be somewhat misleading. Although there is a
strong association with autism, it is certainly not the case that all savants
are autistic. It is estimated that about 50% of the cases of savant syndrome
are from the autistic population, and the other 50% from the population of
developmental disabilities and CNS injuries. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Savant
talents usually appear spontaneously, without warning. The first encounter with
a savant is often very charged. Perhaps because the gift is so extraordinary
and so at odds with assumptions about the disability itself, it can sometimes
seem as if the talent is being revealed, for the very first time, to a viewer's
eyes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Although
savants often take an immediate interest in their instrument or special skill,
their fully-formed talents do not necessarily blossom overnight, contrary to
the Hollywood notion of a savant. Musical progress is often non-linear. Some
aspects of the talent may emerge before others (such as memory or technical
ability); although, when the skills come together, there is a quantum leap in
overall ability. Once that happens, savant talents can progress quite rapidly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Nadia’s
drawings<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTo7hcBclckqzEoYp-SuLuDcG6WsHUmTezHHPfWBmWRcx66Nc9o4n0115q85eBR6nV1QTKVzjd1hnz7BNldznz4nhvfojoeTfiNFBtC7Ty_xr48-79yOj0SzWgLrhrid-JsLI4XrX9uQU/s1600/Drawing+of+Nadia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTo7hcBclckqzEoYp-SuLuDcG6WsHUmTezHHPfWBmWRcx66Nc9o4n0115q85eBR6nV1QTKVzjd1hnz7BNldznz4nhvfojoeTfiNFBtC7Ty_xr48-79yOj0SzWgLrhrid-JsLI4XrX9uQU/s1600/Drawing+of+Nadia.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 17px;"><b> </b>One of Nadia’s drawings</span></span></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Nadia” was
an autistic savant artist who, by her sixth year, demonstrated an astonishing
ability to draw in what was described as ‘Renaissance-style’ perspective. Nadia
was the subject of a widely-quoted 1977 book by British psychologist Lorna
Selfe. As Nadia gained communicative speech later in childhood, she apparently
lost her artistic talent. Selfe suggested a trade-off between language and
artistic skills: that as language skills were refined, special artistic skills
waned or disappeared. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In fact,
Nadia's loss of interest in drawing came in a shift in her care environment,
and mostly in the wake of her mother's death. It is possible that Nadia simply
lost her main source of encouragement, and that her artistic gift withered for
a lack of praise and reinforcement. Fortunately, such trade-offs are rare.
Savant skills are a very useful ‘conduit toward normalization’ in and of
themselves, and when they exist, can be helpful in developing many other skills
that allow the savant to communicate with the larger world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A new
explanation<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_4GAqW2gXGCWHatispBmqL3TvcTZ_7MKRmzVBS6d1u4sRiEx1-qnAXfGjMLoFStUk42etUpNohBPkToVPKHcwSx1oGlViSZE2sFFlKLOFTCjRqZzIQHOhCAmFjBSul-UIkgN4ldIQGw8/s1600/nadia-revisited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_4GAqW2gXGCWHatispBmqL3TvcTZ_7MKRmzVBS6d1u4sRiEx1-qnAXfGjMLoFStUk42etUpNohBPkToVPKHcwSx1oGlViSZE2sFFlKLOFTCjRqZzIQHOhCAmFjBSul-UIkgN4ldIQGw8/s320/nadia-revisited.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Indian
born American neuroscientist V. S. Ramachandran writes: “Consider the
possibility that savants suffer brain damage before or shortly after birth. Is
it possible that their brains undergo some form of remapping as seen in phantom
limb patients? Does prenatal or neonatal injury lead to unusual rewiring? In
savants, one part of the brain may for some obscure reasons receive a greater
than average input or some other equivalent impetus to become denser and
larger—a huge angular gyrus, for example. What would be the consequence of
mathematical ability? Would this produce a child who can generate eight-digit
prime numbers? In truth, we know so little about how neurons perform such abstract
operations that it’s difficult to predict what the effect of such change might
be. An angular gyrus double in size could lead not to a mere doubling of
mathematical ability but to a logarithmic or hundred fold increase. You can imagine
an explosion of talent resulting form this simple but “anomalous” increase in
brain volume. The same argument might hold for drawing, music, language, indeed
any human trait.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He
continues: “a similar argument can be put forth to explain the occasional emergence
of genius or extraordinary talent in the normal population, or to answer the
especially vexing question of how such abilities cropped up in evolution in the
first place.” (<i>PHANTOMS IN THE BRAIN</i> by Sandra Blakeslee & V. S.
Ramachandran p. 192)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01344568572649106567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246105920101275010.post-60295481964379701442012-05-13T05:08:00.000-07:002012-05-13T05:08:03.369-07:00Human intelligence: one or many?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Intelligence
is most widely studied in humans. Animals and plants also are endowed with
intelligence. Yes, plants do have intelligence. A botanist may vouchsafe that plant
intelligence is the ability of plants to sense the environment and adjust their
morphology, physiology, and phenotype accordingly. “Ability” is the phenomenal
aspect of the intelligence. <i>Artificial intelligence</i> is the
simulation of human intelligence in machines. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What really is intelligence?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRzy3_ouOHDhugj27rEZznuVtXeYqZXiiMFTmZUs0fcZuysPmcpQE6oSqcbuB37ElYsmpXp3CcSukn9o3PNTA5SeWsuvWmN9z1aTb4MVBGmxN9mctfGZrIl6nQOKYVJ0ugg6K6OFp-5fk/s1600/TheBellCurve.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRzy3_ouOHDhugj27rEZznuVtXeYqZXiiMFTmZUs0fcZuysPmcpQE6oSqcbuB37ElYsmpXp3CcSukn9o3PNTA5SeWsuvWmN9z1aTb4MVBGmxN9mctfGZrIl6nQOKYVJ0ugg6K6OFp-5fk/s1600/TheBellCurve.gif" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The definition of intelligence is controversial. In 1994 the Harvard
psychologist Richard J. Herrnstein and political scientist Charles Murray
published a book <b><i>The Bell Curve</i></b> which soon became controversial
and best-selling. The book's title comes from the
bell-shaped</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">normal
distribution</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">of</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">intelligence
quotient</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">(IQ)
scores in a population. </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The central argument in the book is that
intelligence is influenced by both inherited and environmental factors. The
book also argues that those with high intelligence, the “cognitive elite”, are
becoming separated from those of average and below-average intelligence, and
that this is a dangerous social trend with the United States moving toward a
more divided society similar to that in Latin America.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Much of the controversy concerned the parts of the book in
which the authors wrote about racial differences in intelligence</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">and
discuss the implications of those differences. The authors were reported
throughout the popular press as arguing that these IQ differences are</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">genetic;
however, they wrote in chapter 13: "It seems highly likely to us that both
genes and the environment have something to do with racial
differences." The introduction to
the chapter more cautiously states, "The debate about whether and how much
genes and environment have to do with ethnic differences remains
unresolved." Shortly after
publication, many people rallied both in criticism and defense of the book. </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“<span style="color: red;">Mainstream Science on
Intelligence</span>”</span></i></b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> was a
public statement issued by a group of 52 academic researchers in the fields
allied to intelligence testing. It was originally published in the <i>Wall
Street Journal</i> in December 13, 1994. The statement says: “intelligence is a
very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability
to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas,
learn quickly and learn from experience. It is not merely book learning, a
narrow academic skill, or test-taking smarts. Rather, it reflects a broader and
deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings—catching on, making sense
of things, or figuring out what to do.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Intelligence tests</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Intelligence tests are widely used in educational, business, and
military settings due to their efficacy in predicting behavior. Intelligence quotient
(IQ) is the number arrived at by dividing the mental age with chronological age
and then multiplying with 100. The mental age is assessed through intelligence
tests. Average IQ is 100. The IQ is correlated with many important social
outcomes—individuals with low IQs are more likely to be divorced, have a child
out of marriage, be incarcerated, and need long-term welfare support, while
individuals with high IQs are associated with more years of education, higher
status jobs and higher income.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Intelligence is
significantly correlated with successful training and performance outcomes, and
IQ is the single best predictor of successful job performance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="mw-headline"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">Core of human intelligence or</span></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></b></span><span class="mw-headline"><b><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">g</span></i></b></span><b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDY2bartNS7GBWHJekEahspGlKgvySNAlaarxiYlQyvFuVtvy4Bk25gMcrsNf5aU_1474UG3JTnqgIFfXIT961XYGuG9GbNujIC4ccbFOi-UUBy4pdM2ayLgMEXPMbpJCwM4eVJLfN7NI/s1600/Charles+Edward+Spearman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDY2bartNS7GBWHJekEahspGlKgvySNAlaarxiYlQyvFuVtvy4Bk25gMcrsNf5aU_1474UG3JTnqgIFfXIT961XYGuG9GbNujIC4ccbFOi-UUBy4pdM2ayLgMEXPMbpJCwM4eVJLfN7NI/s1600/Charles+Edward+Spearman.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; text-align: left;">Charles Edward Spearman </span>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCvidKbbtQte7DMp-pPXzc-tIJICi0f7XzbproPBvSgBZf7YzePNDiL3MhIMBh-zhLkakPi3T4nkkMNio-NoShqm3SHYU-xiMHmXArXEsS2NpZBo7-XwTJgdBqCgIVCUSV-ozRMkFsBL4/s1600/Specific+abilities+and+g+factor.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCvidKbbtQte7DMp-pPXzc-tIJICi0f7XzbproPBvSgBZf7YzePNDiL3MhIMBh-zhLkakPi3T4nkkMNio-NoShqm3SHYU-xiMHmXArXEsS2NpZBo7-XwTJgdBqCgIVCUSV-ozRMkFsBL4/s320/Specific+abilities+and+g+factor.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Specific abilities and <i><b>G</b></i> factor</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">There are many different kinds of IQ tests using a wide variety of test
tasks. Some tests consist of a single type of task, others rely on a broad
collection of tasks with different contents including visual-spatial, verbal,
numerical tasks and asking for different cognitive processes such as reasoning,
memory, rapid decisions, visual comparisons, spatial imagery, reading, and
retrieval of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>general knowledge. The British
psychologist Charles Edward Spearman found that a single common factor
explained the positive correlations among different tasks of an intelligence
test. Spearman named it<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><i>g</i></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>or
"general intelligence factor". He interpreted it as the core of human
intelligence that, to a larger or smaller degree, influences success in all
cognitive tasks and thereby creates the positive manifold. This interpretation
of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>g</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>as a common cause
of test performance is still dominant in intelligence tests. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Multiple
intelligences<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The American developmental psychologist Howard Earl Gardner proposed the
theory of multiple intelligences based on studies not only of normal children
and adults but also of gifted individuals called savants and prodigies and of
persons who have suffered brain damage. This led Gardner to break intelligence
down into at least eight different components: logical, linguistic, spatial,
musical, kinesthetic pertaining to body-movements, interpersonal, naturalist
pertaining to environment, and existential.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ-hp9xI0CaB9Tj9Ku22v_LFUHftkXcmRYuTs0QKDi4Pbir9yrSNEJaTRMnApb1WC92zUyLoN7dgWFHPB0Em1UDkgV30VAx5jIVrB4swVHF9l9Wv0L_yQH8tjCQFuRE_zijD54FPUw5B0/s1600/Howard+Earl+Gardner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ-hp9xI0CaB9Tj9Ku22v_LFUHftkXcmRYuTs0QKDi4Pbir9yrSNEJaTRMnApb1WC92zUyLoN7dgWFHPB0Em1UDkgV30VAx5jIVrB4swVHF9l9Wv0L_yQH8tjCQFuRE_zijD54FPUw5B0/s1600/Howard+Earl+Gardner.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; text-align: left;">Howard Earl Gardner</span> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">1. Logical/Mathematical intelligence:</span></b><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">This area has to do with logic, abstractions, reasoning and
numbers and critical thinking. While it is often assumed that those with this
intelligence naturally excel in mathematics, chess, computer programming and
other logical or numerical activities. </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Logical reasoning is closely linked to fluid intelligence and to <i><span style="color: red;">general ability</span></i><span style="color: red;">.</span> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="line-height: 115%;">2. Spatial intelligence:</span></b><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This area deals with spatial
judgment and the ability to visualize with the mind's eye. Careers which suit
those with this type of intelligence include artists, designers and architects.
A spatial person is also good with puzzles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3. Verbal/Linguistic
intelligence:</span></b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">This area has to do with words, spoken
or written. People with high verbal-linguistic intelligence display a facility
with words and languages. They are typically good at reading, writing, telling
stories and memorizing words along with dates. They tend to learn best by
reading, taking notes, listening to lectures, and by discussing and debating
about what they have learned. Those with verbal-linguistic intelligence learn
foreign languages very easily as they have high verbal memory and recall, and
an ability to understand and manipulate syntax and structure. Verbal ability is
one of the most <i>g</i>-loaded abilities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="line-height: 115%;">4. Kinesthetic/Bodily intelligence:</span></b><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">The core elements of the bodily-</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">kinesthetic intelligence
are control of one's bodily motions and the capacity to handle objects
skillfully. Gardner elaborates to say that this intelligence also includes a
sense of timing, a clear sense of the goal of a physical action, along with the
ability to train responses so they become like reflexes. In theory, people who
have bodily-kinesthetic intelligence should learn better by involving muscular
movement. They are generally good at physical activities such as sports or
dance. They may enjoy acting or performing, and in general they are good at
building and making things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="line-height: 115%;">5. Musical intelligence:</span></b><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">This area has to do with sensitivity to sounds, rhythms, </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">tones, and music. People
with a high musical intelligence normally have good pitch and are able to sing,
play musical instruments, and compose music. Since there is a strong auditory
component to this intelligence, those who are strongest in it may learn best
via lecture. Language skills are typically highly developed in those whose base
intelligence is musical. In addition, they will sometimes use songs or rhythms
to learn. They have sensitivity to rhythm, pitch, meter, tone, melody or
timbre.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="line-height: 115%;">6. a. Interpersonal intelligence:</span></b><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Interpersonal intelligence is the ability to understand
others. In theory, individuals who have high interpersonal intelligence are
characterized by their sensitivity to others' moods, feelings, temperaments and
motivations, and their ability to cooperate in order to work as part of a
group. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">6. b. Intrapersonal intelligence:</span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> This area has to do with introspective</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> and
self-reflective capacities. This refers to having a deep understanding of the
self; what your strengths/ weaknesses are, what makes you unique, being able to
predict your own reactions/emotions. Philosophical and critical thinking is
common with this intelligence. Many people with this intelligence are authors,
philosophers, and members of clergy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="line-height: 115%;">7. Naturalistic intelligence:</span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> This area to do with nurturing and relating information to
one’s natural surroundings. They become naturalists, farmers and gardeners.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="line-height: 115%;">8. Existential intelligence:</span></b><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Some proponents of multiple intelligence theory proposed spiritual
or religious intelligence as a possible additional type. Gardner did not want
to commit to a spiritual intelligence, but suggested that an “existential” intelligence
may be a useful construct.</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It seems that Gardner crystallized and categorized different facets of
human intelligence into distinct types of intelligence. In individual with high
general intelligence different abilities may develop in appropriate
circumstances if properly motivated, supported and persevered. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01344568572649106567noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246105920101275010.post-3355494425806492392012-05-11T04:36:00.000-07:002012-05-11T04:39:32.362-07:00How a criminal mind evolves?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A few days ago a boy aged 15 studying in the tenth standard
of a High School in the Indian state of Kerala cold-bloodedly murdered one of
his classmates by first stunning the victim with a stone-blow and then cutting
the throat with a knife. The murderer led the victim to the toilet of the
school by telling him to show a secret object. The murderer-boy admitted to the
police that he murdered his classmate in vengeance to the defeat he met in the
altercation which took place between him and the victim some months back.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Juvenile delinquency<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitus7UFQBsNdb2opbk9P_n_GLNeTw47lY75RaSDBSoMZTFSTFkqLYaTfn1drv0YplW2vBK_Iz_IvweuwKWe6LeL_pz9FHui7IDhB_oaO4FUR6QdYAj0bTaZXdDrTlj2b5GdPqNrlXXu1U/s1600/images+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitus7UFQBsNdb2opbk9P_n_GLNeTw47lY75RaSDBSoMZTFSTFkqLYaTfn1drv0YplW2vBK_Iz_IvweuwKWe6LeL_pz9FHui7IDhB_oaO4FUR6QdYAj0bTaZXdDrTlj2b5GdPqNrlXXu1U/s1600/images+(2).jpg" /></a></div>
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Psychologically the act of the boy is juvenile delinquency
or in simple terms youth crime. By legal definition it is participation in
illegal behavior by minors under 18 years.According to Laurence Steinberg, department of psychology,
Temple University, Philadelphia, in recent years the average for first arrest
has dropped significantly, and younger boys and girls are committing crimes.
Between 60 and 80 percent of adolescents engage in some form of juvenile
offense. These can range from status offenses such as underage smoking to
property crimes such as theft, robbery and violent crimes. The number of teens
who offend is so high that it would seem to be a cause for worry. But Laurence
Steinberg considers juvenile offending as normative adolescent behavior. This
is because most teens tend to do offend by committing non-violent crimes, only
once or a few times, and these offenses are confined to adolescence. When the
adolescents offend repeatedly or violently their offending is likely to
continue beyond adolescence. In such cases offenses become increasingly
violent. According to psychologist Terrie Moffitt it is likely that such
individuals begin offending and displaying antisocial behavior even before
reaching adolescence.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Evolution of a delinquent mind<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgiGbtqC7SjMIcQlqdgS3c9yTKH4DdR24l9J7iOns8ApTMxgBklRjlijaSQ0WocRtUFhSSWxbO3nihRfBnudh9O9mOj3SPvIvUzz3Evd3Cljk6m2Qp5jEHPGBgdtjkFF8bmwnTtIdQkIo/s1600/Laurence+Steinberg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgiGbtqC7SjMIcQlqdgS3c9yTKH4DdR24l9J7iOns8ApTMxgBklRjlijaSQ0WocRtUFhSSWxbO3nihRfBnudh9O9mOj3SPvIvUzz3Evd3Cljk6m2Qp5jEHPGBgdtjkFF8bmwnTtIdQkIo/s1600/Laurence+Steinberg.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: left;">Laurence Steinberg</span>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Adolescence is a transition phase from childhood to
adulthood. In the early periods of industrialization and in the ages before
industrial era there was no transition phase. A child spontaneously develop
into an adult and start working and living adult life. According to Laurence Steinberg,
who wrote the noted book <i>The 10 Basic Principles of Good Parenting</i>, the
new drawn out transition from childhood to adulthood, that is now common in
western and developing words, has left many adolescents in a limbo where they
must seek to define their identity and place in the world. Sometimes
delinquency may provide a way to get an identity. </div>
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Contrary to popular belief it is highly rare for teenagers
to become spontaneously aggressive, antisocial or violent simply with the onset
of adolescence. Only about 5 to 10 per cent commit violent crimes. In the
United States, according to criminologist Alex R. Piquero, one third of all of
suspects arrested for violent crimes are under eighteen. (Piquero et al. (2003):The
Criminal Career Paradigm: Background and Recent Developments)</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Different types of juvenile delinquents<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCOX9iX4zmURqxpcrwI92l7XCoJpjgk2QbP13JEqKYq5UEP3qs-wbqHDtf8ZyGCr02HsIYj67Y2vCaccc8BeAJFWBebbUuqVZow8dTwKqXWGGDdVbXH0Wtqd2_ktLW1q_-G8nQfgLkSgw/s1600/terrie_moffitt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCOX9iX4zmURqxpcrwI92l7XCoJpjgk2QbP13JEqKYq5UEP3qs-wbqHDtf8ZyGCr02HsIYj67Y2vCaccc8BeAJFWBebbUuqVZow8dTwKqXWGGDdVbXH0Wtqd2_ktLW1q_-G8nQfgLkSgw/s1600/terrie_moffitt.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: left;">Terrie Moffitt </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Lifelong studies of offenders conducted by psychologist
Terrie Moffitt have established that there are two different types of offenders
that emerge in adolescence. One is the repeat offender, referred to as the
life-course-persistent offender who begins showing antisocial and aggressive
behavior in late childhood and continues into adulthood. The second category of
offenders are age specific referred to as the adolescence-limited offender. In
this category delinquency begins and ends during their adolescence. Therefore a
careful childhood history of the juvenile delinquents is essential to determine
whether they will be lifelong persistent offenders, or just adolescent-limited
offenders. Although most of the adolescent-limited delinquents drop all
criminal activities once they enter adulthood, psychological studies have
established that they still show more mental health problems, substance abuse,
and finance problems, both in adolescence and adulthood, than those who were
never delinquent.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Masculinity and delinquency<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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It is a fact that more young men commit offenses than young
women. One suggestion is that the ideas<span style="line-height: 115%;"> of masculinity may make young men
more likely to offend. Being tough,</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> powerful</span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;">,</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> aggressive</span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;">, daring and</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> competitive </span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;">becomes a way for young men to assert and express their masculinity.
</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Acting out these ideals may make young men more likely to engage
in</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> antisocial </span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;">and criminal behavior.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Also, the way young men are treated by others, because of their
masculinity, may reinforce aggressive traits and behaviors, and make them more
susceptible to offending.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">Alternatively, young men may actually
be naturally more aggressive, daring and prone to risk-taking. According to a
study led by Florida State University criminologist Kevin M. Beaver, adolescent
males who possess a certain type of variation in a specific gene</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;">are more likely to group together with delinquent peers. The
study, which appears in the September 2008 issue of the Journal of Genetic
Psychology, is the first to establish a statistically significant association
between an affinity for antisocial peer groups and a <a href="http://newswise.com/articles/study-reveals-specific-gene-in-adolescent-men-with-delinquent-peers" target="_blank">genetic factor.</a></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Risk factors<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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Two important risk factors that lead to juvenile delinquency
are parenting style and peer group association. Following parenting styles are
undoubtedly at fault causing juvenile delinquency:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 1.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
"Permissive" parenting is
characterized by a lack of discipline. It encompasses the following subtypes:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 1.2pt; margin-left: 55.2pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt;">§<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>"neglectful"
parenting, characterized by a lack of monitoring and thus of knowledge of the
child's activities,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 1.2pt; margin-left: 55.2pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt;">§<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>"indulgent"
parenting, characterized by enablement<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>of
misbehavior,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 1.2pt; margin-left: 55.2pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt;">§<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>"authoritarian"
parenting, characterized by harsh discipline and refusal to justify discipline
on any basis other than "because I said so".<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 1.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
Peer group association with antisocial peer groups
is also very important causative factor of juvenile delinquency. This occurs as a result of faulty parenting where the
child is left unsupervised.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 1.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
Other factors that may mislead a
teenager into juvenile delinquency include low socio-economic status, poor
school performance and failures, peer rejection and attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 1.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
Children with low intelligence and
those suffering from ADHD are more likely to do badly in school. This may
increase the chances of offending. Low educational attainment, low attachment
to school, and low educational aspirations are all risk factors for offending
in themselves. Most of these tend to be influenced by a mix of both genetic and
environmental factors. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 1.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Criticism of risk factor researches<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRFX2BoYB9kv-auC0oBuy_J8kD4p6gp2M2yKUW_w1kxbSf6nGNjwP3MPL9FTnxHt6ULTSj8AVAjHYMTUvqZI3hi9mrPiee3NiUdDerNDNXBRjmhfX_10anW_8SIK7YRZ0YKIdB-Ej7qhA/s1600/books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRFX2BoYB9kv-auC0oBuy_J8kD4p6gp2M2yKUW_w1kxbSf6nGNjwP3MPL9FTnxHt6ULTSj8AVAjHYMTUvqZI3hi9mrPiee3NiUdDerNDNXBRjmhfX_10anW_8SIK7YRZ0YKIdB-Ej7qhA/s1600/books.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 1.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
Two UK academics, Stephen Case and
Kevin Haines, among others, criticized risk factor research in their academic
papers and a comprehensive polemic text,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Understanding Youth Offending: Risk
Factor Research, Policy and Practice</i>. The validity of risk factor
research is criticized for:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 1.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b>Reductionism</b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>- over-simplifying complex experiences
and circumstances by converting them to simple quantities, relying on a
psychosocial focus whilst neglecting potential socio-structural and political
influences;<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 1.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b>Determinism</b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>- characterizing young people as
passive victims of risk experiences with no ability to construct negotiates or
resist risk;<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 1.2pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b>Imputation</b><span class="apple-converted-space"><b> </b></span>- assuming
that risk factors and definitions of offending are homogenous across countries
and cultures and assuming that statistical correlations between risk factors
and offending actually represent causal relationships.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01344568572649106567noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246105920101275010.post-39775417804270217412012-05-09T10:08:00.000-07:002012-05-09T10:08:01.530-07:00Perfectionism is manifestation of personality disorder<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid5A9CifXGua9tWPcjk6d6zQf9sI16TprG4p8IDlrzICa9W6fq1x9RJBEldJ6PzK0FCVnHFHSWATYBPEZeCXKOh9A1bhmVY8z9vfkASqDyh6c7ZXx0CalUuioDqZZDPxWG-XTuYJtnVTM/s1600/perfectionism.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid5A9CifXGua9tWPcjk6d6zQf9sI16TprG4p8IDlrzICa9W6fq1x9RJBEldJ6PzK0FCVnHFHSWATYBPEZeCXKOh9A1bhmVY8z9vfkASqDyh6c7ZXx0CalUuioDqZZDPxWG-XTuYJtnVTM/s1600/perfectionism.jpg" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;">Case
vignette </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mr. R.,
working as pharmacist in a Government hospital, experiences ‘mental tension’
whenever he sees things at home or at the pharmacy in a disorderly fashion. He
wants everything in orderly way and neat and tidy condition. He often scolds
his only son studying in the higher secondary class for not keeping his books
in neat and tidy manner. <span style="color: #3b3a39;">He did his daily exercise
to keep himself fit but his son never bothered to do exercise.</span> He
couldn’t gather why he is <span style="color: #3b3a39;">all the time worried and
dissatisfied.</span> <span style="color: #3b3a39;">He was constantly disappointed
with his wife and son who, according to him, never rose to his standards. He
has been pointing out their faults, lecturing them about their duties and
warning them about how their future would be doomed unless they changed their
easygoing nature. His wife and son are becoming more and more detached and
irresponsible, quite contrary to what he wanted. They seemed to be purposely
not following his instructions. They avoided him even to the extent of refusing
to sit together to have a meal. Obviously, they found his constant blaming and
advising unacceptable. He concluded:
“Doctor, I am a perfectionist. But my wife and son are not. That is why I am
worried about them. What should I do to correct them?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #3b3a39;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: #3b3a39; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;">Perfectionism is a personality disorder</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: #3b3a39; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #3b3a39; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mr.
R. was absolutely correct when he said that he was a perfectionist. But
perfectionist is, as William Shakespeare said in<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>King Lear,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>“striving to be better, oft mar
what's well”. Perfectionism is the manifestation of a personality disorder
called obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. In the international
classification of diseases it is designated as ‘anancastic personality
disorder.’ It is characterized by the following:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">feelings of excessive doubt and caution;</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">preoccupation
with details, rules, lists, order, organization or schedule;</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">perfectionism
that interferes with task completion;</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">excessive
conscientiousness, scrupulousness, and undue preoccupation with productivity to
the exclusion of pleasure and interpersonal relationships;</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">excessive
pedantry and adherence to social conventions;</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">rigidity
and stubbornness;</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">unreasonable
insistence by the patient that others submit to exactly his or her way of doing
things, or unreasonable reluctance to allow others to do things;</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">intrusion
of insistent and unwelcome thoughts or impulses.</span></li>
</ol>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h3 style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .25in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal;">Perfectionists may be mistaken for high achievers, but
there are some key differences between them. How to identify a perfectionist?
Following are the telltale traits of perfectionist: <o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<h3 style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .25in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">All-or-nothing thinking:<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Perfectionists, like high achievers, tend to set high goals
and work hard toward them. However, a high achiever becomes satisfied with
doing a great job and achieving excellence or something close to it. They are
not tense even if their very high goals aren’t completely met. Perfectionists
will accept nothing less than perfection. Even “almost perfect” is considered
as failure by perfectionists. This kind of evaluation of achievements is due to
their “all-or-nothing thinking’. This type of thinking is a cognitive
distortion. They see everything in black or white. Therefore this type of
thinking is also called black-and-white thinking.</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .25in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Harsh self-criticism:<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Perfectionists are far more critical of themselves than are
high achievers. While high achievers take pride in their accomplishments and
tend to be supportive of others, perfectionists tend to spot tiny mistakes and
imperfections in their own work, as well as in others work. </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .25in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Perfectionists are
pushed by fear:<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">High achievers tend to be<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>pulled</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>toward their goals by a desire to
achieve them, and are happy with any steps made in the right direction.
Perfectionists, on the other hand, tend to be <i>pushed</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>toward their goals by a fear of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>not</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>reaching them. They see anything less
than a perfectly met goal as a failure.</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .25in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Unrealistic goals:<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A perfectionist’s goals aren’t always reasonable. While high
achievers can set their goals high, perhaps enjoying the fun of going a little further
once goals are reached, perfectionists often set their initial goals out of
reach. Because of this, high achievers tend to be not only happier, but more
successful than perfectionists in the pursuit of their goals.</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .25in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">No result orientation:<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">High achievers can enjoy the process of chasing a goal. Perfectionists
see the goal and nothing else. They’re so concerned about meeting the goal and
avoiding the dreaded failure that they can’t enjoy the process of growing and
striving.</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .25in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Depressed by unmet
goals:<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<h3 style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .25in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal;">While high achievers are able to bounce back fairly easily
from disappointment, perfectionists tend to beat themselves up much more and
wallow in negative feelings when their high expectations go unmet. This leads to
depression.<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<h3 style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .25in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Afraid to fail:<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Perfectionists are also much more afraid to fail than are
high achievers. Failure becomes a very scary prospect. And, since anything less
than perfection is seen as ‘failure’, this can lead to procrastination.</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .25in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Procrastination:<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Procrastination is </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">deferring
an action to a later time. </span><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Perfectionism and procrastination do tend
to go hand in hand. This is because, fearing failure as they do, perfectionists
will sometimes worry so much about doing something imperfectly that they become
immobilized and fail to do anything at all! This leads to more feelings of
failure, and a vicious cycle is thus perpetuated.</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .25in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Defensiveness:<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Because a less-than-perfect performance is so painful and
scary to perfectionists, they tend to take constructive criticism defensively,
while high achievers can see criticism as valuable information to help their
future performance.</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .25in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Low self esteem:<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">High achievers tend to have high esteem of themselves; not so
with perfectionists. They tend to be very self-critical and unhappy, and suffer
from low self-esteem. They can also be lonely or isolated, as their critical
nature and rigidity can push others away as well. This can lead to lower
self-esteem.</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Get rid of perfectionism</span></span></b><b><span style="background: white; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Perfectionism<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333;">can rob you of your peace of mind, enjoyment of life, and
self esteem. Though it’s a process that may take a little time, shedding the
burden of perfectionism can greatly decrease the level of stress you feel on a
daily basis. </span></span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Recognizing
that a change may be needed is a very important first step toward creating a
more easygoing nature and achieving the inner peace and real success that comes
from overcoming perfectionism and being able to say that ‘almost perfect’ or
‘less than perfect’ is also a job well done.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">A restructuring of cognition or mindset and personality is
needed to get rid of perfectionism; here are some important steps you can take
to maintain a healthier attitude:</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .25in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Make a cost-benefit
analysis:<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Take a closer look at your perfectionist traits. You may
think you’re more effective because of them. Many researchers have proved that
this isn’t true. Perfectionism has many negative consequences, and you may be
experiencing several of them right now. Make a list of all the ways
perfectionism is hurting you (and those around you), and you’ll be more
motivated to shed these tendencies.</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .25in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Self-awareness of your
tendencies:<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By becoming more aware of your patterns, you’re in a better
position to alter them. It is better to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="background: white; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">record your perfectionist
thoughts<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333;">as they pop into your mind. If it is impractical for you
to write down thoughts as they come, try to go over your day each night and
remember the times when you felt you’d failed, and write down what you thought
at the time. This will help you become more aware of perfectionist thoughts as
they come to you in the future. </span></span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .25in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">See the positive:<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Try to stop spotting mistakes. It may be difficult to just
stop. But you can soften your tendency to notice the bad by making a conscious
effort to notice all that is good with your work and the achievements of
others. If you notice something you don’t like about yourself or your work, for
example, look for five other qualities that you<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>do</b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>like. This will balance out your
critical focus and become a positive new habit.</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif;">Change
your self-talk:<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<h3 style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .25in;">
<span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal;">A perfectionist always engages in negative self-talk like
‘my work isn’t good enough’, ‘I am not trying hard enough’, and<span class="apple-converted-space"> ‘they are </span>not good enough’. Negative
self talk<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>can perpetuate
unhealthy behaviors and wreak havoc on your self esteem; by<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>altering your self-talk, you can go a
long way toward enjoying life more and gaining an increased appreciation for
yourself and your work.<span class="apple-converted-space"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;">Set
realistic goal</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Perfectionists tend to set<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="background: white; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">goals<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333;">of unreasonable excellence. These goals tend to be
unrealistic and cause problems by being so rigidly demanding and leaving little
room for error. Instead, you can reduce a lot of stress by changing your goals.
</span></span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .25in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Enjoy the process:<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">You may be used to focusing on results, and getting depressed
if your results are less than perfect. One important way to recover from
perfectionism is to begin focusing more on the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>process<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></b>of reaching toward a goal, rather
than just focusing on the goal itself. You can also enjoy the process of
reaching a goal by getting involved with a group who is also trying to achieve
the same goal you’re after. If you find you don’t achieve perfection, you can
then reflect back and see all that you’ve gained in just working toward a
worthy goal, assessing and appreciating the gains you<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>did<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>make
in the process.</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .25in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Learn to handle
criticism:<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Do not look at criticism as an attack and react defensively.
Constructive criticism can give you important clues on how to improve your
performance, making your less-than-perfect performances into useful stepping
stones that lead to excellence. If the criticism you’re receiving is harsh,
just remind others and yourself that mistakes are a great way to learn.</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01344568572649106567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246105920101275010.post-82584343065325696942012-05-06T00:28:00.000-07:002012-05-06T00:28:34.080-07:00Artificial intelligence and Chinese room argument<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-quExg5OX6x_veMbnetv4P1_OnhGfARbpgYBxE8NeVTspRBsjdMLhQ7cBN4vywT1OcNSDZtRFa-mJjQlKVIR1x2ixu1TN_rC0w4ymlHDclYAFqA-Xna2NWqsu7C4nRx4dXl4fxUt2xlc/s1600/Marvin+Minsky.jpj.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-quExg5OX6x_veMbnetv4P1_OnhGfARbpgYBxE8NeVTspRBsjdMLhQ7cBN4vywT1OcNSDZtRFa-mJjQlKVIR1x2ixu1TN_rC0w4ymlHDclYAFqA-Xna2NWqsu7C4nRx4dXl4fxUt2xlc/s1600/Marvin+Minsky.jpj.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marvin Lee Minsky</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Rupee Foradian","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">American<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>cognitive
scientist<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Marvin Lee Minsky once wrote: “Will robots inherit the
earth? Yes, but they will be our children.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Robots are machines run by artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence is a product of human
intelligence. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">But, what is intelligence?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Intelligence is the <span style="background: #D9D9D9; mso-pattern: gray-15 auto; mso-shading: white;">computational </span>part of the ability to
achieve goals in the world. Varying kinds and degrees of intelligence occur in
people, many animals and some machines. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Computation and
calculation<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Computation is a type of calculation.
</span><span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">A<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>calculation<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>is a process for transforming one or
more inputs into one or more results, with variable change.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">The term
is used in a variety of senses, from the very definite arithmetical calculation
of using an algorithm<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>to <span class="apple-converted-space">logically</span> calculating a strategy in a
competition or the chance of a successful relationship between two people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">For
example,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>multiplying<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>7 by 8 is a simple algorithmic
calculation. Estimating the fair price for<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>financial
instruments<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>using the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/blackscholes.asp#axzz1u3VXNavS" target="_blank">Black–Scholes<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>model</a> is a complex <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">algorithmic
calculation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">To<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #d9d9d9; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">calculate<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">means to ascertain by
computing. The English word derives from the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="background: white; font-family: "Rupee Foradian","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Latin<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>calculus</i>, which
originally meant a small stone in the gall-bladder (from Latin<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>calx</i>). It also meant a pebble
used for calculating, or a small stone used as a counter in an<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>abacus.
The abacus was an instrument used by Greeks and Romans for arithmetic
calculations, preceding the slide-rule and the electronic calculator. It consisted
of perforated pebbles sliding on an iron bars.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">What is artificial intelligence?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHvAkyS4zAOL8mSHhUZ0p-36-3UlvhmhoeBv61bNyX3RzXMdBSJ_s62V6V5LV5bQ-iZdNph43aWQKc3ZMJXI0jqZvd8lS2UY3zwQwIWfYuBs3GcR06r3TA6darKDpeaUwaMhWweGlduEw/s1600/John_McCarthy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHvAkyS4zAOL8mSHhUZ0p-36-3UlvhmhoeBv61bNyX3RzXMdBSJ_s62V6V5LV5bQ-iZdNph43aWQKc3ZMJXI0jqZvd8lS2UY3zwQwIWfYuBs3GcR06r3TA6darKDpeaUwaMhWweGlduEw/s320/John_McCarthy.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John McCarthy</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Artificial
intelligence (AI)<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>is the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Rupee Foradian","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">intelligence<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>of machines. Generally, the term is applied to the branch
of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>computer science<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>that aims to create AI. The text books dealing with the
subject define the field as "the study and design of intelligent
agents"<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>where an<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>intelligent agent<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>is a system or machine that perceives its environment and
takes actions that maximize its chances of success.<b><span style="background: white;"> </span></b><span style="background: white;">John McCarthy<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>was an American </span><span style="background: white;">computer scientist<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>cognitive scientist. He coined the term "artificial intelligence".<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Rupee Foradian","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He
</span><span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">defines AI as "the science and
engineering of making intelligent machines."</span><span style="font-family: "Rupee Foradian","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">AI research is highly technical and
specialized, divided into subfields. Machine implementation of human cognitive
ability is an ambitious and challenging objective. Its ultimate goal includes
total integration, understanding, and representation of animal behavours and
cognitive processes of humans—namely, thinking, feeling, speaking, symbolic
processing, remembering, learning, knowing, consciousness, problem solving,
planning, and decision making. These processes compose a broad cognitive and
behavioural spectrum of living systems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Human mind consists of modules<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Many
cognitive scientists depict the mind as “modular”—consisting of different parts
that interact to produce both external behaviors and internal phenomena such as
introspection. Such compartmental paradigms make it possible to create models
of mind and build machines that based on such modular concepts. This paradigm
provides for emulating the human brain. Such forms of emulation are the very
essence of artificial intelligence. Naturally the AI has different branches or
subspecialties performing different functions. </span><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Subspecialties or programs </span></b><b><span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">of artificial intelligence:</span></b><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Logical AI</span></b><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">This program decides what
to do by inferring that certain actions are appropriate for achieving its
goals. Cognitive scientist </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Robert
C. Moore distinguishes three uses of logic in AI; as a tool of analysis, as a
basis for knowledge representation, and as a programming language. </span><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Search</span></b><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">AI programs often examine
large numbers of possibilities, e.g. moves in a chess game or inferences by a
theorem-proving program.</span><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Pattern recognition</span></b><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">When a program makes
observations of some kind, it is often programmed to compare what it sees with
a pattern. For example, a vision program may try to match a pattern of eyes and
a nose in a scene in order to find a face.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Representation</span></b><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Facts about the world have
to be represented in some way. Usually languages of mathematical logic are
used.</span><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Inference</span></b><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">From some facts, others can
be inferred. This is emulation of human reasoning. The simplest kind of
non-monotonic reasoning is default reasoning in which a conclusion is to be
inferred by default, but the conclusion can be withdrawn if there is evidence
to the contrary. For example, when we hear of a bird, we may infer that it can
fly, but this conclusion can be reversed when we hear that it is a penguin. It
is the possibility that a conclusion may have to be withdrawn that constitutes
the non-monotonic character of the reasoning. </span><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Commonsense knowledge and
reasoning</span></b><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">This is the area in which
AI is farthest from human-level, in spite of the fact that it has been an
active research area since the 1950s. </span><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Learning from experience</span></b><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Programs do that. Such programs
are made imitating the neural networks of human brain.</span><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Planning</span></b><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Planning programs start
with general facts about the world (especially facts about the effects of
actions), facts about the particular situation and a statement of a goal. From
these, they generate a strategy for achieving the goal. In the most common
cases, the strategy is just a sequence of actions.</span><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">The list of programs is incomplete. Some
of these may be regarded as concepts or topics rather than full branches.</span><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Rupee Foradian","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Chinese
room argument<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Rupee Foradian","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Cognitive scientists Stuart Russell and Peter
Norvig wrote in the third edition (2009) of the book <i>Artificial Intelligence:
A Modern Approach</i>: “Once we have a complete, comprehensive theory of mind,
it becomes possible to express the model in machine form.” But some philosophers think this is over
confidence and they believe the “Chinese-room-argument” is valid for ever.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">The Chinese Room
argument was put forward by American philosopher John Rogers Searle. It is an
argument against the possibility of artificial intelligence which is true
replica of human mind. The argument centers on a thought experiment in which
someone who knows only English sits alone in a room following English
instructions for manipulating strings of Chinese characters. To those outside
the room watching the performer it appears as if someone in the room
understands Chinese. </span><span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Searle summarized the
Chinese Room argument concisely:</span><span style="font-family: "Rupee Foradian","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Imagine a native English speaker who knows no Chinese locked in a
room full of boxes of Chinese symbols (a data base) together with a book of
instructions for manipulating the symbols (the program). Imagine that people
outside the room send in other Chinese symbols which, unknown to the person in
the room, are questions in Chinese (the input). And imagine that by following
the instructions in the program the man in the room is able to pass out Chinese
symbols which are correct answers to the questions (the output). The program
enables the person in the room to pass the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test" target="_blank">Turing Test</a> for understanding
Chinese without understand a word of Chinese.</span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18.2pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Searle goes on to say, </span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The
point of the argument is this: if the man in the room does not understand
Chinese on the basis of implementing the appropriate program for understanding
Chinese then neither does any other digital computer solely on that basis
because no computer, qua computer, has anything the man does not have.</span></blockquote>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSnCbd3Zc5l-EmVgCR09nICH3HHvO3sT6MHFPJaSnW-HUuFRMOM66O-wXYGWRWEDOK-UP8-4skvkYM0JmqhU1W7bu5zBA-bGYusfFdapUo6z-uuo_vvMnq-TkG0Yk9VwI6enVh3o1n9_8/s1600/John_Searle.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSnCbd3Zc5l-EmVgCR09nICH3HHvO3sT6MHFPJaSnW-HUuFRMOM66O-wXYGWRWEDOK-UP8-4skvkYM0JmqhU1W7bu5zBA-bGYusfFdapUo6z-uuo_vvMnq-TkG0Yk9VwI6enVh3o1n9_8/s1600/John_Searle.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; text-align: left;">John Rogers Searle </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Rupee Foradian', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18.2pt;">Searle develops broader
implications of his argument. Searle also aims to refute the functionalist
approach to understanding minds, especially that form of functionalism known as
the Computational Theory of Mind that treats minds as information processing
systems. As a result of its scope, as well as Searle's clear and forceful
writing style, the Chinese Room argument has probably been the most widely
discussed philosophical argument in cognitive science to appear in the in the
past 25 years. By 1991 computer scientist Pat Hayes had defined Cognitive
Science as the ongoing research project of refuting Searle's argument. </span></blockquote>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01344568572649106567noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246105920101275010.post-54328997824747207292012-04-24T10:37:00.000-07:002012-04-24T10:37:49.544-07:00Get rid of fear of humiliation and embarrassment in social situations<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Case vignette <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEUeccaN9W97HkZcex9a4oTPdxDkI-RQp5BNvAk_nyEpGPILldzb-TiLckr34ftKdfz0VvGYF5draVdrTt0GMt47NySQK-y01OKcMs2EqbkPh2oJBbyq3kqI5dOY1QqjH0d1A7VuYUVlY/s1600/embarassed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEUeccaN9W97HkZcex9a4oTPdxDkI-RQp5BNvAk_nyEpGPILldzb-TiLckr34ftKdfz0VvGYF5draVdrTt0GMt47NySQK-y01OKcMs2EqbkPh2oJBbyq3kqI5dOY1QqjH0d1A7VuYUVlY/s1600/embarassed.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Embarrassed</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mr. S. is a
middle level executive officer in the Indian government service. As part of his
official duty, he has to attend official meetings once or twice a week. His
boss often compels him to answer queries coming up in conferences. Talking in a
conference is a dreadful thing for him. Whenever he tries to talk his mouth
becomes dry. His hands and sometimes whole body becomes shaky. He fumbles for
words and sometimes he is unable to utter a word. He explicitly told: “Doctor,
I fear humiliation and embarrassment not only in official conferences, but also
in all the social situations.” For these reasons he tries his best to abstain
from conferences. This has affected his career and his promotion to the next
level position has been kept in abeyance. Therefore he decided to seek the help
of a psychiatrist to get rid of his malady. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>A case of social anxiety disorder <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Evidently
Mr. S. is suffering from social anxiety disorder. Those who fear humiliation
and embarrassment in social situations suffer from social anxiety disorder.
This condition is also known as social phobia. It is characterized by intense
fear in social situations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">The social anxiety
disorder can be of a specific </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">disorder (when only some particular
situations are feared) or a generalized disorder. Generalized social
anxiety disorder typically involves a persistent, intense, chronic fear of being judged by others and of being embarrassed or humiliated by
one's own actions. These fears can be triggered by perceived or actual scrutiny
from others. While the fear of social interaction may be recognized by the
person as excessive or unreasonable, overcoming it can be quite difficult.
Physical symptoms often accompanying social anxiety disorder include excessive
blushing, sweating, trembling, sensation of heart thumping (palpitation),
nausea, and stammering often accompanied with rapid speech. Attacks of extreme
fear or panic also may occur under intense discomfort. A lesser form of social
phobia is shyness in social situation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some sufferers may
use alcohol or other drugs to reduce fears and inhibitions
at social events. It is common for sufferers of social phobia
to self-medicate and this can lead to alcoholism, drug addiction, eating
disorders or other kinds of substance abuse.</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="line-height: 115%;">Symptoms of social phobia</span></b><b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Social anxiety disorder is a
persistent fear of one or more situations in which the person is exposed to
possible scrutiny by others and fears that he or she may do something or act in
a way that will be humiliating or embarrassing. It exceeds normal
"shyness" as it leads to excessive social avoidance and substantial
social or occupational impairment. Feared activities may include almost any
type of social interaction, especially small groups, dating, parties,
talking to strangers, etc. Possible physical symptoms include "mind going
blank", fast heartbeat, difficulty breathing, blushing, stomach
ache or feeling of “butterflies in the stomach”, and nausea or vomiting
sensation. Thoughts are often
self-defeating and inaccurate.</span><b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Those who suffer from social
anxiety disorder are afraid of being judged by others in society. People who
suffer from this disorder may behave a certain way or say something and then
feel embarrassed or humiliated after. Therefore, they chose to isolate
themselves from society to avoid such situations. They may also feel
uncomfortable meeting people they do not know and act distant when they are
with large groups of people. In some cases they may show evidence of this
disorder by not making eye contact or blushing when someone is talking to them.
This is their way of showing discomfort. </span><b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Physiological
aspects of social phobia</span></b><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Physiological effects, similar to
those in other anxiety disorders, are present in persons suffering from social
phobia. In adults, it may be tears as well as experiencing
excessive sweating, nausea, difficulty breathing, shaking,
and palpitations as a result of the fight-or-flight response. Blushing is
commonly exhibited by individuals suffering from social phobia. These
visible symptoms further reinforce the anxiety in the presence of others. A
study in 2006 found that the area of the brain called
the amygdala, part of the limbic system,
is hyperactive when patients are shown threatening faces or
confronted with frightening situations. They found that patients with more
severe social phobia showed increased response in the <b>amygdala</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Cognitive
model of social phobia<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are four essential elements
in starting and maintaining social phobias. Understanding these elements is
crucial in getting rid of the social anxiety disorder by self-help. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizTcsVbe2C6z7kyE2JBY1TfaaeB1R9m6ba-QnfWNdPjTfBTBB9i19HJag2HSVrUukbAuHNVRo2gA6-UNSl7rz88A40GKjmECRO6LaYCIRowvze5j89LWy_wfGMzUpiixqf0UfGNOi6oGg/s1600/cognitive+model+of+social+anxiety.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizTcsVbe2C6z7kyE2JBY1TfaaeB1R9m6ba-QnfWNdPjTfBTBB9i19HJag2HSVrUukbAuHNVRo2gA6-UNSl7rz88A40GKjmECRO6LaYCIRowvze5j89LWy_wfGMzUpiixqf0UfGNOi6oGg/s400/cognitive+model+of+social+anxiety.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Trigger. The social situation
acts as trigger. (See the pictorial presentation of the cognitive model of
social phobia) The trigger causes imagined social danger. At first the
individual perceives a social danger. Typical assumptions and predictions of
the socially anxious person are: “If I talk to them they will find me boring
and reject me.”; “If I don’t get this just right, I will be humiliated.”
Essentially these are fears centering on being negatively judged. The fears are
not centered on the person’s ability to perform. This imagined danger acts as
trigger.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Focus of attention on the self.
The social-anxiety cycle is maintained by intense self-awareness. This
heightened self-awareness is distracting and disabling. It prevents the
sufferer from reviewing the situations objectively. This leads to misinterpretation of reactions
of other.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">Emotional
thinking: Intense introspection about the sensations of anxiety renders the
sufferer acutely aware of symptoms such as sweating, shaking and blushing. The
sufferer assumes that others are also able to see his/her symptoms.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;">Safety
behaviour: The socially anxious person will attempt to avoid predicted
humiliation or embarrassment by avoiding social contact. They usually avoid eye
contact also. In doing so, the social fear is not addressed and remains intact.</span></li>
</ol>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Get
rid of social phobia without medicines<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
</div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">First step is re-focusing attention
away from introspection. This helps the individual to reduce self-awareness.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Develop an assertive inner voice to
combat the harsh criticism expected imaginatively from others. The individual
should suggest to himself/herself: “What I am presenting is correct and
relevant. If anybody criticizes me I don’t care.”</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Re-evaluate the imagined social
danger. Simultaneously one should review emotional reasoning. The individual
should suggest to himself/herself: “I feel shaky because I am worried about the
criticism from others; I should not bother myself with it. I need not give much
attention to my sweating etc.” If possible the person can view videoed session
which allows the individual to evaluate objectively the severity of his/her
overt anxiety symptoms.</span></li>
</ol>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Along with these cognitive measures the individual should do
relaxation and deep breathing for 10 – 15 minutes every day. This will help the
individual to refocus attention away from introspection and to reduce
self-awareness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01344568572649106567noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246105920101275010.post-51766531171727239142012-04-21T20:42:00.000-07:002012-04-21T20:42:41.852-07:00How to improve comprehension of language?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The three important psychological factors which promote learning in students are interest, comprehension, and repetition. Interest is the manifestation of motivation and it is the psychological driving force that pushes the individual to take action and pursue goals. Lack of motivation is manifested as absence of or deficiency in interest and driving force. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Comprehension is understanding</span></b><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The second factor which promotes learning in students is the cognitive process of </span><i><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">comprehension</span></i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">. In psychology comprehension has roughly the same meaning as understanding. Comprehension has different facets like comprehension of mathematics, language, logic, problem etc. In this article the comprehension of language alone is discussed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Building mental structures<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">While reading a text or hearing a verbal presentation recognizing the words of a sentence is the beginning of comprehension. Along with the meaning of the word one must also recognize the syntactic or grammatical relations among the words to build a <i>mental structure</i> of the sentence’s meaning. In the beginning the mental structures built by the reader start at the sentence level and then it proceeds to the units or paragraphs found in text or discourse. One must also identify the intended meaning of sentences when words with more than one literal meaning are used or when words are used in non-literal ways, such as metaphors. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Morton Ann Gernsbacher, psycholinguistic researcher<b>,</b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Department Of Psychology,</span><span style="color: #cb0029; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">University of Wisconsin – Madison said: </span></div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In building a mental structure, as in building any structure, the laying of a foundation is critical. The time and effort needed to develop mental structures that incorporate the meaning of the text provide useful information about the process. For example, the first sentence of a paragraph takes longer to read than do later sentences because the reader uses it to lay the foundation of a mental structure.<o:p></o:p></span></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Word Recognition through graphemes and phonemes <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0_tP2TNzXAIqlM10YOZm2zkTsTcwi1SYw-lydZz1kGdrQZLe-bcyi6h7haBUU_ZlINbDNB4W9k8ZqUc8n50B3AHdzV29S-nh25KS-nWZbIvOZiL_nfzw0YyVOZ205nOu5wrS4squPUwo/s1600/exposure_sheet_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0_tP2TNzXAIqlM10YOZm2zkTsTcwi1SYw-lydZz1kGdrQZLe-bcyi6h7haBUU_ZlINbDNB4W9k8ZqUc8n50B3AHdzV29S-nh25KS-nWZbIvOZiL_nfzw0YyVOZ205nOu5wrS4squPUwo/s400/exposure_sheet_02.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The first step in the comprehension of the text is word recognition. A word is recognized as a combination of <i>graphemes</i>. A grapheme is a letter or a number of letters that represent a sound (phoneme) in a word. Another way to explain it is to say that a grapheme is a letter or letters that spell a sound in a word. Some written scripts are simple in which 1 letter usually represents 1 sound. These letters and their corresponding sounds are consistent and transparent. For this reason languages like Italian or Spanish are easy to read. English has a complex code in which from 1 to 4 letter graphemes can represent one sound. Here is an example of a one-letter grapheme:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><strong><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">c</span></strong>at. The sounds /k/ is represented by the letter ‘<b>c</b>’. A two-letter grapheme: l<strong><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">ea</span></strong>f. The sound /ee/ is represented by the letters ‘e, a’. Three- letter grapheme: n<strong><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">igh</span></strong>t. The sound /ie/ is represented by the letters ‘i, g, h’. A four-letter grapheme: thr<strong><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">ough</span></strong>. The sound /oo/ is represented by the letters ‘o, u, g, h’.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When one reads a word, the individual letters and the visual shape of the word as a whole are processed as orthographic features. The graphemes used to represent visually the <i>phonemes</i> of a language must be identified. </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">The phoneme is defined by the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="background: white; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">International Phonetic Association<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>as "the smallest<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>segmental<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances." While reading the text the identification of graphemes also activates phonological features. This can happen not only when reading a word aloud but also when reading it silently. The identification of the phonological or orthographic features, either together or separately, brings the meaning of the word to the consciousness. The words or morphemes are verbal labels for underlying concepts or ideas. The people know anywhere from 30,000 to 80,000 words which are kept in the long-term memory store of the individual. When the word is recognized the meaning or the concept underlying the word is recalled instantly. </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #d9d9d9; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">This establishes </span><span style="background: #D9D9D9; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-pattern: gray-15 auto; mso-shading: white;">the importance of learning more words and keeping them in memory for better comprehension of the text and speech.</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: #D9D9D9; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-pattern: gray-15 auto; mso-shading: white;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Concept driven cognitive process in word recognition<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Try to read the following sentence:<o:p></o:p></span></div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Rexmaxkaxly xt ix poxsixle xo rxplxce xvexy txirx </b></span></span></blockquote><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>lextex of x sextexce xitx an x, anx yox stxll xan </b></span></span></blockquote><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>xanxge xo rxad xt—wixh sxme xifxicxltx.</b></span></span></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">You try to read the words using the concepts stored in your memory. Yet, you can’t read? Here is the clue: Every third letter is replaced by the letter ‘x’. But still you can read it by using the concepts. This is the concept driven cognitive process of comprehension of language. When the words do not fit the expectations of conceptually driven processes, extra effort is required in analyzing the data available and finding the apt word from memory storage. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Sentence comprehension<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It goes without saying that complex sentences are harder to comprehend than simple sentences. Here the complexity is not in the construction of the sentence, but in the sense of the sentence. For example, a sentence that negates an assertion is harder to comprehend than one that simply asserts a proposition. This is so because the listener or reader must first presuppose a positive proposition and then negate it. The psycholinguistic researchers </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Clark, H.H., & Chase, W.G. in1972 established this fact through a simple experiment. They first presented the picture with a star, a plus and a statement. Then they presented the following four sentences:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh68TWM7C3LdThx1qQgwM-LMuAJ-hQmvITDVsPongePyDIc7Y7WFT_U2U5S_TvkCx5jfvXtH1u1YNrayNMgBlaeAOGz0ovzMYwt2jtTxnRf4QpAfp5gmolRL1y_eoucHKjWxlKRK4iAPu8/s1600/COMPREHENSION+TEST.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh68TWM7C3LdThx1qQgwM-LMuAJ-hQmvITDVsPongePyDIc7Y7WFT_U2U5S_TvkCx5jfvXtH1u1YNrayNMgBlaeAOGz0ovzMYwt2jtTxnRf4QpAfp5gmolRL1y_eoucHKjWxlKRK4iAPu8/s400/COMPREHENSION+TEST.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">The star is above the plus.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">The plus is above the star.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">The plus is not above the star.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">The star is not above the plus.</span></li>
</ol><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">After presentation of the sentences the comprehension time was measured. The participants took more time to comprehend the falsity in the sentences 2 and 4. Also they found that the participants took more time to comprehend the sentence 3 which is true but in a twisted manner, than the sentence 1 which is true affirmative and so very simple.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 115%;">Polysemy<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Polysemy is the property of language that a single word can have more than one meaning. When a reader encounters word with more than one interpretation special cognitive process is required for comprehension. Homonyms and metaphors illustrate the problem that Polysemy poses for comprehension. For example the word <i>watch</i> has more than one meaning. Illustration: <i>I like the watch. I like to watch. </i>When one reads the first sentence the second meaning is actively suppressed by a special cognitive process. But this cognitive process of suppression of other meanings of the word is supported by the context and syntax. If the context fully supports the cognitive process there may be delay in comprehension.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Example: the word quack has two meanings. One meaning refers to an unqualified medical practitioner and the second meaning indicates the sound of a duck. Consider this sentence: <i>Sam was treated by a quack.</i> The second meaning, the sound a duck, is actively suppressed. Only one meaning of the homophone is supported by the context. But when the context fails to bias a specific meaning both meanings may remain active for long time and comprehension is delayed. Example: <i>Sam was annoyed by the quack</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Similarly, to comprehend a metaphor one must ignore or suppress the literal meaning of words in order to grasp the intended meaning. Examples: <i>Time flies</i>. <i>Untrammeled imagination.</i> Words in a text must be actively interpreted because they can have more than one meaning. In comprehending metaphors the nonliteral meaning—not the literal meaning—must be activated.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01344568572649106567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246105920101275010.post-43315822595231112562012-04-15T07:07:00.000-07:002012-04-15T07:07:05.331-07:00Cognitive aspects of Margret Thatcher illusion<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKP4k1RR-IZ9zHeJeLGUH7D4RDAY7apImRXcSBYZS4cI5jQD9Iw64ABDK0qJqyZReZVXIwPHyGJ9aOkLPicMQIBsj34fqkiPzjsq7gHgxGg6nHTQwuRJPDqFNNRiUOeBrsBjna1Y2X_EM/s1600/images+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKP4k1RR-IZ9zHeJeLGUH7D4RDAY7apImRXcSBYZS4cI5jQD9Iw64ABDK0qJqyZReZVXIwPHyGJ9aOkLPicMQIBsj34fqkiPzjsq7gHgxGg6nHTQwuRJPDqFNNRiUOeBrsBjna1Y2X_EM/s320/images+(1).jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Margret Thatcher illusion or Thatcher effect is the name given to a cognitive process in the perception of human faces. See the picture. In the panel (1) the face is beautiful. In the panel (2) also is the same face. What is the reason for this difference? The answer is: Thatcher illusion or Thatcher effect. Let us examine the cognitive processes behind the Thatcher illusion.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">Pattern perception<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIz-jh4LXBWwWmQmhusnTdOWpYeSnuRoU0MfFXHCkdsk3Hx9PUJSeW8pwf5KX3VDrjYoij9H_rXzNAgFpN2U-dCTp1FHhOkw_CFXR5qHZMJ_SjkGoSGLow0QIfE8hOuTeD7BH7LZWLnDQ/s1600/scan0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIz-jh4LXBWwWmQmhusnTdOWpYeSnuRoU0MfFXHCkdsk3Hx9PUJSeW8pwf5KX3VDrjYoij9H_rXzNAgFpN2U-dCTp1FHhOkw_CFXR5qHZMJ_SjkGoSGLow0QIfE8hOuTeD7BH7LZWLnDQ/s320/scan0001.jpg" width="234" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">For the face perception there is a specialized module in the brain which is formed by specific circuits in the cerebral cortex. In short the face perception is special form of pattern perception. The term pattern perception refers to the step between perception of the stimulus from an object in the environment and the conversion of this stimulus into a meaningful mental representation of the object in the mind. To make the stimuli from an object into a meaningful percept of the object in the mind it is necessary to categorize the object on the basis of its perceived features. See the pictures of the Sheltie dog. First a pattern is perceived and then the dog is recognized. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">Agnosia <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Inability of recognition of object is called agnosia. This is seen in patients suffering from lesions in certain regions of the brain. They can see the object but cannot recognize the object. The patient suffering from this lesion may not recognize the Sheltie dog in the picture in spite of the clear perception. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">Module for face recognition <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Specialized pattern recognition is adopted for perception of human faces. This specialized process for the face recognition is called modularity in face recognition. A module refers to a set of processes that are automatic, fast, separated and independent of other cognitive processes. The module acts through the activation of specific nerve circuits in the brain. There may be several modules, each dedicated to the perception of an important class of stimuli such as face or speech.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Social interactions are crucial to our survival and reproduction. These depend on the ability to recognize faces and speech. So the cognitive system included specialized modules for processing these categories of stimuli. Facial expressions provide a key means for communicating emotional states. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">Perception of parts and whole <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">In the process of perception, stimulus or light from parts of the object reach the brain and in the brain these parts are assembled and the individual sees only the meaningful whole object. This is the holistic perception. But in the process the parts are perceived first. For example in the perception of human face various parts like nose, eyes, lips, ears etc. are perceived separately and they are synthesized together and ultimately the individual sees the whole face only. The first part of the perception of face is called analytical process. The individual is unaware of the analytical process or the perception of the parts. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">When one perceived human face in the upright position the holistic process is dominant and face is recognized as a whole. On the other hand when the human face is perceived in the upside down position the analytic process becomes dominant and each part, the nose, the eyes, the eyebrows, the lips and the ears are perceived separately.<o:p></o:p></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy9wBWkdB9QDJjFdYuHitDRIztjSi9GXvyjF1UtWAw33ZjUfujvji1t3BgnO3FbQt9D3gJNn2AGZ9UMAJor3Evnr8TR0PMMPhPQEADMKwivrvdeIwDsWkOkKQDtGbaT59GHmuptwB20EI/s1600/Thatcher+illusion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy9wBWkdB9QDJjFdYuHitDRIztjSi9GXvyjF1UtWAw33ZjUfujvji1t3BgnO3FbQt9D3gJNn2AGZ9UMAJor3Evnr8TR0PMMPhPQEADMKwivrvdeIwDsWkOkKQDtGbaT59GHmuptwB20EI/s1600/Thatcher+illusion.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peter Thompson's demonstration - Thatcher illusion</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Professor Peter Thompson in 1980 proved this phenomenon through a strange demonstration. The eyes and mouth from a picture of British former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher were cut and pasted upside down. This change caused grotesqueness to the picture which, surprisingly, disappeared when the cut-pasted picture is viewed upside down. This demonstration is called Thatcher illusion. This happened because when the picture is turned upside down each part of the face is perceived separately and appeared normal. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">The psychological processes involved in </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">face perception are tuned to upright faces. Faces seem unique despite the fact that they are very similar. It has been hypothesized that we develop specific processes to differentiate between faces that rely as much on the configuration (the structural relationship between individual features on the face) as the details of individual face features, such as the eyes, nose and mouth. When a face is upside down, the configuring processing cannot take place, and so minor differences are more difficult to detect.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">This effect is not present in people who have some forms of </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">prosopagnosia, a disorder where face processing is impaired, usually acquired after brain injury or illness. This suggests that their specific brain injury may damage the process that analyses facial structures.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Japanese neuroscientist </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Takashi Adachi-Yamada </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">and associates in 2009 proved that rhesus</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> monkeys also show the Thatcher effect raising the possibility that the brain mechanisms involved in processing faces may have evolved in a common ancestor 30 million years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">The human face's proportions and expressions are important to identify origin, emotional tendencies, health qualities, and some social information. From birth, faces are important in the individual's social interaction. Face perceptions are very complex as the recognition of facial expressions involves extensive and diverse areas in the brain. Sometimes, damaged parts of the brain can cause specific impairments in understanding faces.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgylLSSDtRLRsDMac4m9R4TjNCJX0H1bHA6_uvHYgl_Zb8LzsFwQZgnftbdpMbK6migQh-aDssoQNTjoEhCajrz3daZY_Fb54mXPbTGuI_FBtIDh4DeEj8DmhGkPRXLSQsWl2rtnstYYTE/s1600/Medial_surface_of_cerebral_cortex_-_fusiform_gyrus.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgylLSSDtRLRsDMac4m9R4TjNCJX0H1bHA6_uvHYgl_Zb8LzsFwQZgnftbdpMbK6migQh-aDssoQNTjoEhCajrz3daZY_Fb54mXPbTGuI_FBtIDh4DeEj8DmhGkPRXLSQsWl2rtnstYYTE/s320/Medial_surface_of_cerebral_cortex_-_fusiform_gyrus.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Medial (inner) surface of brain. Yellow arrow indicates Fusiform gyrus </td></tr>
</tbody></table><h3 style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: .05in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span class="mw-headline"><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif;">Neuro-anatomy of face perception</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></h3><div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;">Face perception has well identified neuro-anatomical correlates in the brain. Most scientists agree that during the perception of faces, major activations occur in the fusiform gyri. This part of the brain is often called Fusiform Face Area (FFA).<o:p></o:p></span></div><h3 style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: .05in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span class="mw-headline"><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif;">Sex-related differences in face perception</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></h3><div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;">Studies using electrophysiological techniques have demonstrated gender-related differences during a face recognition memory (FRM) task and a facial affect identification task (FAIT). The male subjects used a right, while the female subjects used a left, hemisphere neural activation system in the processing of faces and facial expressions.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;">Gender-related differences</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;">may suggest a role for</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;">sex hormones. In females there may be variability for psychological functions</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;">related to differences in hormonal levels during different phases of the</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;">menstrual cycle. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif;">Ethnicity in face perception<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Humans tend to perceive people of other races than their own to all look alike. Other things being equal, individuals of a given race are distinguishable from each other in proportion to our familiarity, to our contact with the race as whole. Thus, to the uninitiated American all Asiatic look alike, while to the Asiatic, all White men look alike. This phenomenon is known as the </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">cross-race effect, own-race effect, other-race effect, own-race bias or interracial-face-recognition-deficit. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span class="mw-headline"><b>Artificial face perception</b></span><b><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;">A great deal of effort has been put into developing computer</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;">software that can recognize human faces. Much of the work has been done by a branch of artificial intelligence</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;">known as</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #d9d9d9; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;">computer vision</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;">which uses findings from the psychology of face perception to inform software design. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;">Another interesting application is the estimation of human age from face images. As an important hint for human communication, facial images contain lots of useful information including gender, expression, age, etc. Compared with other cognition problems, age estimation from face images is still very challenging. This is mainly because the aging progress is influenced by not only personal gene but also many external factors. Physical condition, living style etc. may accelerate or slow aging process. Besides, since aging process is slow and with long duration, collecting sufficient data for training is a fairly strenuous work. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif;">Prosopagnosia</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;">In Greek "prosopon" means face and "agnosia" means not knowing. Prosopagnosia is a disorder of</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;">face perception</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;">where the ability to recognize</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;">faces</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;">is impaired, while the ability to recognize other objects may be relatively intact. The specific brain area usually associated with prosopagnosia is the</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;">fusiform gyrus. No successful treatment has so far been developed for affected people. Affected individuals often learn to use 'piecemeal' or 'feature by feature' recognition strategies. This may involve secondary clues such as clothing, gait, hair color, body shape, and voice. Because the face seems to function as an important identifying feature in</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;">memory, it can also be difficult for people with this condition to keep track of information about people, and socialize normally with others.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;">The study of prosopagnosia has been crucial in the development of theories of</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;">face perception. Because prosopagnosia is not a unitary disorder (i.e., different people may show different types and levels of impairment), it has been argued that face perception involves a number of stages, each of which can be separately damaged.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 11pt;">This is reflected not just in the amount of impairment displayed, but also in the qualitative differences in impairment that a person with prosopagnosia may exhibit. Prosopagnosia is usually acquired through extensive neurological damage.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01344568572649106567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246105920101275010.post-27559171336644341942012-04-14T08:24:00.000-07:002012-04-14T08:24:18.308-07:00Psychology of bandwagon effect and other cognitive biases<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Cognitive bias is a deviation from what leads to correct decision in a particular situation. Cognitively biased deviation leads to errors in various spheres of life. The following are the common errors occurring due to cognitive biases.</span><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Bandwagon effect<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Let us first consider the meaning and origin of the term. <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Literally, a bandwagon is a wagon which carries the band in a parade, circus or other entertainment. The phrase "jump on the bandwagon" first appeared in American politics in 1848 when<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="background: white;">Dan Rice, a famous and popular circus clown of the time, used his bandwagon and its music to gain attention for his political campaign appearances. As his campaign became more successful, other politicians strove for a seat on the bandwagon, hoping to be associated with his success. Later, during the time of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>William Jennings Bryan's 1900 presidential campaign, bandwagons had become standard in campaigns,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and "jump on the bandwagon" was used as a derogatory term, implying that people were associating themselves with the success without considering what they associated themselves with.</span> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>bandwagon effect<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>is a form of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>groupthink<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>in social psychology. The general rule is that conduct or beliefs spread among people, as<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">fads and trends<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>do, with the probability of any individual adopting it.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>As more people come to believe in something, others also "jump on the bandwagon" regardless of the underlying evidence. The tendency to follow the actions or beliefs of others can occur because individuals directly prefer to conform, or because individuals derive information from others. Both explanations have been used for evidence of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>conformity<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>in psychological experiments. When individuals make rational choices based on the information they receive from others, economists have proposed that<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>information cascades<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>can quickly form in which people decide to follow the behavior of others.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Cascades explain why behavior is fragile—people understand that they are based on very limited information. As a result, fads form easily but are also easily dislodged. Such informational effects have been used to explain political bandwagons. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The bandwagon effect occurs in voting: some people vote for those candidates or parties who are likely to succeed (or are proclaimed as such by the media), hoping to be on the "winner's side" in the end.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The bandwagon effect has been applied to situations involving majority opinion, such as political outcomes, where people alter their opinions to the majority view. Such a shift in opinion can occur because individuals draw inferences from the decisions of others, as in an<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">informational cascade.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Attentional Bias<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">We normally give increased attention or hyper-attention to both attractive and threatening materials. In cognitive psychology attentional bias refers to hyper-attention to threatening materials. The threat may be unrealistic. For example a person with arachnophobia (fear of spider) always shows attentional bias not only to spider but also anything related to spider. This hyper-attention occurs even with verbal material such as words like spider, web, creeping etc. Psychologists use modified Stroop test to demonstrate attentional bias in persons with phobias. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">When the name of a color (e.g., "blue," "green," or "red") is printed in a color not denoted by the name (e.g., the word "red" printed in blue ink instead of red ink), naming the color of the word takes longer and is more prone to errors than when the color of the ink matches the name of the color. The effect is named after American psychologist<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">John Ridley Stroop (1897 – 1973)<span class="apple-converted-space"> who</span> first published the effect in 1935.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The effect has been used to create a psychological test (Stroop Test) that is widely used in clinical practice and investigation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">To establish the attention bias in persons with phobia the Stroop Test is used in a different manner. If the person is suffering from spider phobia words related to spider such as “spider”, “web”, “creepy” are printed in different colours and the person is asked to name the colour of the word. If the person is phobic to spider he/she takes longer time to name the colour because he/she gives hyper-attention to the feared object. Reduction of attention bias through frequent exposure of the feared object is the remedy for this type of disorders. The modified Stroop Test is also used for measuring the improvement in the condition.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Attentional bias phenomena have been found to occur not only in a number of anxiety disorders (e.g., specific phobia, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder), but also individuals with anxiety by trait. It appears that these traits point in the direction of a hyper-vigilant cognitive style that gives high processing priorities to threat-related stimuli, thereby promoting escalation of fear. <span style="background: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Belief bias <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In everyday life people have to evaluate the validity of opinions given or conclusions arrived at by others. People accept or reject these conclusions or opinions depending if they are consistent with their everyday knowledge or prior beliefs. This cognitive process is called belief bias. Belief bias occurs when there is a conflict between existing belief or knowledge and the logical conclusion. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Let us consider the following logical conclusion:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">All dogs are animals.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">All animals have four legs.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Therefore, all dogs have four legs.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There is no conflict between existing knowledge or belief and the logical conclusion. Let us consider another logical conclusion.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">All poodles are dogs.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">All dogs are animals.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Therefore, all animals are poodles.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This logical conclusion contradicts with existing common knowledge and therefore it is considered as invalid. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">People accept any and all conclusions that happen to fit with their system of beliefs. Beliefs and meaning, not the statistical analysis and other abstract systems invented by philosophers, lie at the core of human thinking. The supremacy of meaningful beliefs appears to be universal. Famous Russian neuro-psychologist <span style="background: white;">Alexander Romanovich Luria</span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> asked illiterate farmers from Central Asia o reason deductively, giving them syllogisms of the following sort: “In the Far North, where there is snow, all bears are white. Novaga Zmlya is in the Far North. What color are the bears there?” The responses were of this sort: “I don’t know; I’ve seen a black bear, I’ve never seen any others…. Each locality has its own animals; it it’s white, they will be white; if it’s yellow, they will be yellow”. Some responses were: “How can I know?” Luria observed that the farmers simply ignored or forgot premises that contradicted their own knowledge. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Confirmation bias<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGTweanbC0PbvXpMEYCsciT_e_UI2soY3FqmXBm2F-skyuOzzNPU_RxYeZ7aCg6MRtvgFV2VmpYjbfUeorcXgIKjszNnuz_S8-RXlUTAsxERQBagR4g5nVkitRaWKXNNHeVQ_JHFCgRiA/s1600/Uriah+Heep.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGTweanbC0PbvXpMEYCsciT_e_UI2soY3FqmXBm2F-skyuOzzNPU_RxYeZ7aCg6MRtvgFV2VmpYjbfUeorcXgIKjszNnuz_S8-RXlUTAsxERQBagR4g5nVkitRaWKXNNHeVQ_JHFCgRiA/s320/Uriah+Heep.jpg" width="316" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Confirmation bias<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(also called<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>my-side bias<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>or<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>verification bias) is an ally of belief bias. It is a tendency of people to favor information that confirms their beliefs or<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>hypotheses.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>People display this bias when they gather or remember information selectively, or when they interpret it in a<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>biased way. The effect is stronger for emotionally charged issues and for deeply entrenched beliefs. For example, in reading about<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>gun control, people usually prefer sources that affirm their existing attitudes. They also tend to interpret ambiguous evidence as supporting their existing position. Biased search, interpretation and memory have been invoked to explain<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>attitude polarization, belief perseverance or continuing existing beliefs after the evidence for them is shown to be false, the irrational primacy effect or a greater reliance on information encountered first in a series and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>illusory correlation<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>or falsely perceiving an association between two events or situations. Confirmation biases contribute to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>overconfidence<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>in personal beliefs and can maintain or strengthen beliefs in the face of contrary evidence. Poor<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>decisions<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>due to these biases have been found in military, political, and organizational contexts. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #f9f9f9; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Confirmation bias has been described as an internal "</span><span style="background: #F9F9F9; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">yes-man", echoing back a person's beliefs like<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span>Uriah Heep. <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Uriah Heep<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>is a<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>fictional character<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>created by<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Charles Dickens<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>in his novel<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>David Copperfield</i>. The character is notable for his cloying humility, obsequiousness, and insincerity, making frequent references to his own "'humbleness". His name has become synonymous with being a yes-man.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01344568572649106567noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246105920101275010.post-61708706487473566122012-04-12T08:23:00.000-07:002012-04-12T08:23:23.927-07:00Psychology of rule of thumb<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white;">The origin of the phrase ‘rule of thumb’ is uncertain. It might have evolved from the use of the thumb as a measurement device ("rule"). Some claim that it comes from beer brewing before the invention of thermometers, when brewers would use their thumbs to measure the temperature of batches of beer. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white;">In Greek the rule of thumb is </span><span style="background: #D9D9D9; mso-pattern: gray-15 auto; mso-shading: white;">heuristic</span>, which is term used in philosophy and psychology. In cognitive psychology it refers to experience-based techniques applied to various cognitive processes like problem solving, learning, and logical thinking. In situations where an exhaustive search is impractical, rule of thumb or heuristic methods are used to speed up the process of finding a satisfactory solution. The terms such as <span style="background: #D9D9D9; mso-pattern: gray-15 auto; mso-shading: white;">educated guess</span>, <span style="background: #D9D9D9; mso-pattern: gray-15 auto; mso-shading: white;">intuitive judgment</span> and <span style="background: #D9D9D9; mso-pattern: gray-15 auto; mso-shading: white;">commonsense</span> are considered as equivalent to heuristics. In more precise terms, heuristics are strategies using readily accessible information to problem solving. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Cognitive biases<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">In<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">psychology, heuristics refers to simple, efficient rules which are inbuilt upon the mental processes of the individual through evolutionary processes or learning. These rules have been proposed to explain how people make decisions, come to judgments, and solve problems, typically when facing complex problems or using incomplete information. These rules work well under most circumstances, but in certain cases lead to errors. These errors are due to <span style="background: #D9D9D9; mso-pattern: gray-15 auto; mso-shading: white;">cognitive biases</span>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">A<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>cognitive<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>bias<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>is a deviation in judgment that occurs in particular situations. This deviation from the normally expected thinking process leads to distorted or erroneous perception, inaccurate judgment, illogical interpretation, or what is broadly called irrationality.<span class="apple-converted-space"> T</span>he concept of “deviation" refers to a standard of comparison with what is normally expected from an individual in a particular situation. This comparison may be with the judgment of people those who are outside the particular situation, or with a set of facts which can be objectively verified by others. A<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>long and ever-growing list<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>of cognitive biases has been identified over the last six decades of research on human judgment and decision-making in<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>cognitive science,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>social psychology, and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>behavioral economics. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Cognitive biases are examples of mental behavior which are evolved in the course of the individual’s life or inbuilt by the evolution of the human species. Many of the cognitive biases are evidently adaptive because they lead to more effective actions in given contexts or enable faster decisions when faster decisions are of greater value for survival. These are called <span style="background: #D9D9D9; mso-pattern: gray-15 auto; mso-shading: white;">adaptive biases</span>. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Adaptive bias<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>is the idea that the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="background: white; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">human brain<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>has<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>evolved<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>to gain the cognitive ability of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>reason<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>adaptively, rather than rationally, and that<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>cognitive bias<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>may have evolved as a mechanism to reduce the overall<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>cost<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>of cognitive errors as opposed to merely reducing the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>number<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>of cognitive errors, when faced with<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>making a decision<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>under conditions of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>uncertainty.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 115%;">Example of adaptive bias<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The <span style="background: #D9D9D9; mso-pattern: gray-15 auto; mso-shading: white;">ambiguity effect</span> is an example of adaptive bias. The situation of ambiguity is created by lack of sufficient information. The decision making in such situations is affected by lack of information, or "ambiguity". People tend to select options for which the probability of a favorable outcome is known, over an option for which the probability of a favorable outcome is unknown. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The 30-ball-experiment has proved the existence of ambiguity effect in human thinking. The test is as follows: A bucket contains 30 balls. The balls are colored red, black and white. There is definite information that ten of the 30 balls are red. Of the remaining 20 some are white and some are black, with all combinations of black and white being equally likely. That is all the combinations like 1:19, 2:18, 2:17…. And 19:1are equally possible. The participants should take a ball blindly from the bucket after selecting an option. In option X, drawing a red ball wins a person $100, and in option Y, drawing a black ball wins them $100. The probability of picking a winning ball is the same for both options X and Y. In option X, the probability of selecting a winning ball is 1 in 3 (10 red balls out of 30 total balls). In option Y there is uncertainty of the outcome because there is no information how many balls are black and how many are white. The difference between the two options is that in option X, the probability of a favorable outcome is known, but in option Y, the probability of a favorable outcome is unknown ("ambiguous"). But there is a chance in option Y the probability could be more than that in X because the combination of Black : White could be 19:1. If so, the chance of winning is 2 in 3. In spite of the chance for high probability of a favorable outcome, people have a greater tendency to select a ball under option X, where the probability of selecting a winning ball is perceived to be more certain. The uncertainty as to the number of black balls means that option Y tends to be viewed less favorably. Despite the fact that there could possibly be twice as many black balls as red balls, people tend not to want to take the opposing risk that there may be fewer than 10 black balls. The "ambiguity" behind option Y means that people tend to favor option X, even when the probability is equivalent.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One possible explanation of the effect is that people have a <span style="background: #D9D9D9; mso-pattern: gray-15 auto; mso-shading: white;">rule of thumb</span> (heuristic) to avoid options where information is missing or where there is ambiguity. This will often lead them to seek out the missing information. In many cases, though, the information cannot be obtained. The effect is often the result of calling some particular missing piece of information to the person's attention. The ambiguity effect evidently helped the survival in natural conditions. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Assessment of probability by rule of thumb<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">In daily life people take decisions after assessing probability of outcome in situations of uncertainty and ambiguity. In assessing probability people use the rule of thumb. Example: I am going to toss a coin for six times. Before actually doing it I am presenting two probabilities. Probability one: Head, Head, Head, Tail, Tail, Tail. Probability two: Head, Tail, Tail, Head, Tail, Head, Head. Which outcome is more probable? A trained statistician would say both are equally probable. But almost all non professionals would say the second outcome is more probable, because it appears to be the representative of the outcomes in the random events. People predict those which have a representativeness appearance more probable. This rule of thumb is called </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #d9d9d9; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">representativeness heuristic</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 115%;">Availability in mind <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Another rule of thumb in assessment of probability is whatever available in mind is thought to be more probable. This is called </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #d9d9d9; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">availability heuristic</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">. The<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span>availability heuristic<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </span>is a mental shortcut that uses the ease with which examples come to mind to make judgments about the probability of events. The availability heuristic operates on the notion that if you can think of it, it must be important. The availability of consequences associated with an act is positively related to perceptions of the magnitude of consequences of that act. Sometimes, this heuristic is beneficial, but the frequency that events come to mind is usually not accurate reflections of their actual probability in reality.</span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 115%;">Media mislead in assessment of probability <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Media coverage can help fuel a person's example bias with widespread and extensive coverage of unusual events, such as homicide or airline accidents, and less coverage of more routine, less sensational events, such as common diseases or car accidents. For example, when asked to rate the probability of a variety of causes of death, people tend to rate more "newsworthy" events as more likely because they can more readily recall an example from memory. For example, in the USA, people rate the chance of death by homicide higher than the chance of death by stomach cancer, even though death by stomach cancer is five times higher than death by homicide. Moreover, unusual and vivid events like homicides, shark attacks, or lightning are more often reported in mass media than common and unsensational causes of death like common diseases.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Another instance of biased ratings is the relative overestimation of plane crash deaths, compared to car-accident deaths.<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01344568572649106567noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246105920101275010.post-83004047694234759752012-04-06T09:54:00.000-07:002012-04-06T09:54:23.992-07:00Emotions guide decision making unconsciously<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Before we make a decision we assess the possible outcome and incentive value of the choice available to us. In this assessment we use both rational thinking (cognitive process) and emotions. Traditionally decision making is considered as part of rational thinking and motions are not regarded as part of rational thought. But recent researches have clearly demonstrated that emotions influence human judgment and decision making in important ways. <o:p></o:p></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIThO4yJDqM2PEsSTnmU9h_8suIfUSgC7szJ_QXj10bfBBHJ9mD2AOVxj7sVsyJl6sAen2gLfMK32etIcPWqM-D55hN6Lr8n_IcwX73KsCRpx7fBrp90SpvRLbBHtIVG4lN6rBwD0cGWU/s1600/Antonio+Damasio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIThO4yJDqM2PEsSTnmU9h_8suIfUSgC7szJ_QXj10bfBBHJ9mD2AOVxj7sVsyJl6sAen2gLfMK32etIcPWqM-D55hN6Lr8n_IcwX73KsCRpx7fBrp90SpvRLbBHtIVG4lN6rBwD0cGWU/s1600/Antonio+Damasio.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; text-align: left;">Antonio Damasio </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">An emotional state can shift an individual away from a decision that might ordinarily be made. When people are in a good mood, they try to maintain the pleasant emotional state by avoiding negative thoughts which causes unpleasantness. This kind of mood maintenance can adversely affect aversion of undesirable outcomes. An individual usually try to avoid loss when he/she is in a positive mood and trying to maintain it. Thus tendency for risk aversion is heightened in positive mood. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Fear can also affect our judgments by heightening risk aversion. Professor Baruch Fischhoff, department of Social and Decision Sciences, Howard Heinz University and his associates Slovic, Lichenstein, Reid, and Combs studied attitudes held about the risks and benefits of different technologies in society. It turned out that judgments about safety of a technology were affected by emotional factors. For example, nuclear power is feared by people in part because the radioactive waste from the technology must be stored for thousands of years in a safe way that prevents contamination of our water and air. It is also feared because the technology can be used to build nuclear weapons with devastating power. The disasters occurred in some nuclear power plants have added to the fear factor of the people. The dread that people feel about nuclear technology causes them to be much more risk aversive than the actual probability of a nuclear accident would warrant. These are the examples of emotions affecting decision making at the conscious level. But there are instances at which the emotions affect decision making in covert or unconscious ways. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Somatic marker hypothesis<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyKf7-K3ldWsJYqP_5K8kmNsOiIfNpXqig49Rfd_ekTYPaQVLiUaplHsELKtFhfM7aFB-tR0d3pzu7aQjYEwUPYLSC2fbdB_VMW6Ow6iLknMmBC_XkytlIpgG_szXStGMcrKJASVuiG_U/s1600/Ventromedial+prefrontal+cortex+VMPFC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyKf7-K3ldWsJYqP_5K8kmNsOiIfNpXqig49Rfd_ekTYPaQVLiUaplHsELKtFhfM7aFB-tR0d3pzu7aQjYEwUPYLSC2fbdB_VMW6Ow6iLknMmBC_XkytlIpgG_szXStGMcrKJASVuiG_U/s1600/Ventromedial+prefrontal+cortex+VMPFC.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex (red)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">When we face complex and conflicting situations we are unable to decide on the basis of rational thinking only. According to Antonio Damasio, the neuroscience researcher in University of Southern California, <i><span style="background: #D9D9D9; mso-pattern: gray-15 auto; mso-shading: white;">somatic markers</span></i> help us decide in such complex and conflicting situations. This new theory in the cognitive neuroscience is called <i><span style="background: #D9D9D9; mso-pattern: gray-15 auto; mso-shading: white;">somatic marker hypothesis</span>.</i> The hypothesis holds that we experience sensations arising from the internal organs. These sensations are called visceral feelings. The visceral feelings guide our decisions based on the anticipated pain or pleasure of the outcomes of the decisions. <span style="background: #D9D9D9; mso-pattern: gray-15 auto; mso-shading: white;">These visceral feelings are called somatic markers.</span> The signals producing somatic markers are generated in the ventromedial part of the prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) of cerebrum of the brain. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUdSeW490OrvdVqP1gMAdbTALEQxmQY3ukVOL2OsXX3EeDEm5oiegaBMM8bpKz9ovp0GPtU76ovmgqcA_463jDiBjN49BhU8VuNzTX0lDAinvvxRHYDYpB_lo6nVEmydRa0GtOeD299Bk/s1600/Amygdala.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUdSeW490OrvdVqP1gMAdbTALEQxmQY3ukVOL2OsXX3EeDEm5oiegaBMM8bpKz9ovp0GPtU76ovmgqcA_463jDiBjN49BhU8VuNzTX0lDAinvvxRHYDYpB_lo6nVEmydRa0GtOeD299Bk/s1600/Amygdala.jpg" /></a></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimtd6_2ujiZ3RCGWmjOm3hbm16pPq5CDv2ArvACWa9YStiZIYg-68r-RGpfwypsjXgiD96P2auFcrJGR112Fy83THB3bN8hdSkIFFq1UKTHoN0ovYJM7aDg9IyxEbmuiOzYtluEQwYTSo/s1600/Brain+stem.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimtd6_2ujiZ3RCGWmjOm3hbm16pPq5CDv2ArvACWa9YStiZIYg-68r-RGpfwypsjXgiD96P2auFcrJGR112Fy83THB3bN8hdSkIFFq1UKTHoN0ovYJM7aDg9IyxEbmuiOzYtluEQwYTSo/s1600/Brain+stem.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brain Stem in green</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">In complex and conflicting situations this part of the brain gets activated, signals are sent to internal organs through the brain stem or the “stalk” of the brain and spinal cord and the individual experience visceral feelings which bias the cognitive process of decision making covertly or unconsciously. The somatic markers also influence the decision making overtly or consciously by sending signals to the cortical centers engaged in cognitive process. Damasio proposes that somatic markers direct attention towards more advantageous options, simplifying decision making process. The <span style="background: #D9D9D9; mso-pattern: gray-15 auto; mso-shading: white;">amygdala</span>, a nucleus in the brain which acts as a hub of emotional reactions is also an essential part of somatic marker system. Therefore damage to the amygdala or the VMPFC would disrupt the action of the somatic markers. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Man learns unconsciously from experiences<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">The somatic markers are developed during the previous experiences of failures and associated negative emotions such as depression and anxiety. These emotions had created some subtle visceral feelings or sensations arising from the internal organs. The same sensations are produced during complex and conflicting situations. In such situations the somatic markers come into actions and visceral sensations are produced which guide the individual to a quick decision. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">According to <span style="background: #D9D9D9; mso-pattern: gray-15 auto; mso-shading: white;">economic theory</span>, human decision-making is devoid of emotions and involves logical reasoning based on costs-benefit calculations alone.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">This theory assumes that individuals have unlimited time, knowledge and information processing power and can therefore make perfect decisions. In contrast to economic theory, the somatic marker hypothesis proposes that emotions play a critical role in our ability to make fast, rational decisions in complex and uncertain situations. <o:p></o:p></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKBCSvsjva9UXa_HLYFYrx9-q-TkV3DLhbKwXlCH-9Y-ik2eXEMXbwRIQ0sPan3lgW_g0rzjKkQESHOjt_17u7nBaPFhN8r912iZr6wR6i1SHlL8qQ7gVPDMLvuVVYZw_4eskQj2gXfcA/s1600/Phineas+Gage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKBCSvsjva9UXa_HLYFYrx9-q-TkV3DLhbKwXlCH-9Y-ik2eXEMXbwRIQ0sPan3lgW_g0rzjKkQESHOjt_17u7nBaPFhN8r912iZr6wR6i1SHlL8qQ7gVPDMLvuVVYZw_4eskQj2gXfcA/s1600/Phineas+Gage.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pheneas Gage</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Patients with frontal lobe damage provided the first evidence that the frontal lobes were associated with decision-making and social conduct. Frontal lobe damage, particularly to the VMPFC, results in impaired abilities to organize and plan behavior, learn from previous mistakes, and behave in a socially appropriate manner.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Patients with damage to the VMPFC develop severe impairments in both personal and social decision-making that can result in choosing unsuitable friends, partners, and activities. In fact, these patients appear to lack concern for other individuals, which resembles a mild form of sociopathy.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Surprisingly, patients with VMPFC damage have normal intellect in terms of working memory, attention, and language comprehension and expression. Pheneas Gage <span style="background: white;">(1823 – 1860)</span></span><sup><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></sup><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">was an example. He<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white;"> </span></span><span style="background: white;">was an American railroad construction foreman now remembered for his improbable</span></span><sup><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></sup><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">survival of an accident in which a large iron rod was driven completely through his head, destroying much of his brain's left<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>frontal lobe, and for that injury's reported effects on his personality and behavior – effects so profound that friends saw him as "no longer Gage".<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">VMPFC patients also have difficulty expressing and experiencing appropriate emotions. This led Antonio Damasio to hypothesize that decision-making deficits following VMPFC damage result from the inability to use emotions to help guide future behavior based on past experiences. This damage prevents rapid emotional signaling to bias behaviors toward appropriate responses to simplify the process. Consequently, VMPFC damage forces those afflicted to rely on slow and laborious cost-benefit analyses for every given choice situation, which degrades accuracy and response-time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Neurological mechanism producing somatic marker<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Emotions, as defined by Damasio, are changes in both body and brain states in response to different stimuli.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Physiological changes (e.g., muscle tone, heart rate, endocrine release, posture, facial expression, etc.) occur in the body and are relayed to the brain where they are transformed into an emotion that tells the individual something about the stimulus that they have encountered. Over time, emotions and their corresponding bodily change(s) become associated with particular situations and their past outcomes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">When making decisions in the future, these physiological signals (or ‘somatic markers’) and its evoked emotion are consciously or unconsciously associated with their past outcomes and bias decision-making towards certain behaviors while avoiding others.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">For instance, when a somatic marker associated with a positive outcome is perceived, the person may feel happy and motivate the individual to pursue that behavior. When a somatic marker associated with the negative outcome is perceived, the person may feel sad and act as an internal alarm to warn the individual to avoid a course of action. These situation-specific somatic states based on, and reinforced by, past experiences help to guide behavior in favor of more advantageous choices and therefore are adaptive.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01344568572649106567noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246105920101275010.post-44540126409181053352012-04-04T23:50:00.000-07:002012-04-04T23:50:20.008-07:00MENTAL TENSION CAUSED BY COGNITIVE DISSONANCE<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">Mr. S., a member of the Indian Communist Party came to the deaddiction centre to get admitted for the treatment of alcoholism. He told me that he was drinking alcohol very secretly because his party was against drinking and he wanted to get rid of addiction. He admitted to his feeling of guilt and was visibly depressed evidently due to a phenomenon called <b>cognitive dissonance.</b> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Leon Festinger’s contribution<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9M2fnCmTs6N7nNZVYXenejjxUSgfqicvln9QQADMx9O0K61T2oxaDMmhyphenhyphenwRojgXXiOUjOUNFQWZVWatpNrGgjxGlcmKweTCpgseYSPhkgKmhCe-xBspcCfUgOWAnJRM89IHTLz4oetHg/s1600/Leon+Festinger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9M2fnCmTs6N7nNZVYXenejjxUSgfqicvln9QQADMx9O0K61T2oxaDMmhyphenhyphenwRojgXXiOUjOUNFQWZVWatpNrGgjxGlcmKweTCpgseYSPhkgKmhCe-xBspcCfUgOWAnJRM89IHTLz4oetHg/s1600/Leon+Festinger.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: left;">Leon Festinger</span> </td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal">Cognitive dissonance is a mental condition characterized by feeling of discomfort arising from holding conflicting ideas, beliefs, and values simultaneously. The people suffering from this discomfort have a motivational drive to reduce the mental tension arising from the cognitive dissonance by changing the existing cognitions (ideas, beliefs, and values) or adding new ones to create a no-conflicting belief system in their mind. The phrase was coined by the American social psychologist Leon Festinger (1919-1989) in his 1956 book titled <i>When Prophecy Fails</i>. This notable book chronicled the followers of a UFO Religion in the USA. </div><div class="MsoNormal">UFO religion is an informal term used to describe a group of people who believe the unidentified objects (UFO) come to earth carrying extraterrestrial (ET) beings that are interested in the well being of humanity. For the followers of UFO religion the ET beings are more akin to angels than physical aliens. They also believed in an impending apocalypse. </div><div class="MsoNormal">Leon Festinger and associates <span style="line-height: 115%;">infiltrated a religious group that was expecting the imminent end of the world on a certain date. When that date passed without the world ending, the movement did not disband. Instead, the group came to believe that they had been spared in order to spread their teachings to others, a justification that resolved the conflict between their previous expectations and reality. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Cognitive dissonance in daily life<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In daily life, smoking is a common example of cognitive dissonance because it is widely accepted that cigarettes can cause lung cancer, and smokers must reconcile their habit with the desire to live long and healthy lives. In terms of the theory, the desire to live a long life is dissonant with the activity of doing something that will most likely shorten one's life. The tension produced by these contradictory ideas can be reduced by any number of changes in cognitions and behaviors. Some may try hard to quit smoke. Those who fail in their attempt to quit smoking may rationalize their behavior by concluding that only a few smokers become ill, that it only happens to very heavy smokers, or that if smoking does not kill them, something else will. This case of cognitive dissonance could also be interpreted in terms of a threat to the self-concept of the individual. He may believe: “I am a smart, reasonable person who makes good decisions.” When he smokes the thought may arise: “I am increasing my risk of lung cancer.” This thought can be dissonant with self-related belief. It is often easier to make excuses or pass judgments that it is to change behaviour or values. Cognitive dissonance research contributes to the abundance of evidence in social psychology that humans are not always rational beings.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Cognitive dissonance distorts perception<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRX5qm9FVS35-b57FsIEq_9uBaNW81F4e2Xeg3Fmyfwg25SlOFdEB_8-ComrWPh2s_vTuYpS-CKKtp8gZGoq5EyN9jF2-0V61215RHDazH4Lie0pixVliWksSmwXSmSKHZ0Nsso8J2Qdo/s1600/Carmen_Miranda.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRX5qm9FVS35-b57FsIEq_9uBaNW81F4e2Xeg3Fmyfwg25SlOFdEB_8-ComrWPh2s_vTuYpS-CKKtp8gZGoq5EyN9jF2-0V61215RHDazH4Lie0pixVliWksSmwXSmSKHZ0Nsso8J2Qdo/s1600/Carmen_Miranda.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Researchers have found that cognitive dissonance can affect a variety of human judgments, from estimates of statistical likelihood to social assessments, to self-image. Social psychologists Emily Balcetis and David Dunning have established that cognitive dissonance can affect the human perceptual system. The researchers asked the students who participated in the experiment to walk through the campus to cover a specific distance with an unappealing way to estimate themselves the distance they have covered. In this experiment the distance across a university quadrangle was to be covered by walking. They asked students to walk that distance, in full daylight, while dressed as Carmen Miranda: wearing a grass skirt, a coconut brassiere, and, of course, a giant fruit-laden headdress. <span style="background: white;">Carmen Miranda is probably best-known today as the former spokesperson for Chiquita bananas, but she was equally famous as an actress, singer, and dancer in the 1940s and 1950s.</span> </span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The key to the study was the students' belief that they had<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-style: initial; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">chosen</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>to do this. Some of the students were simply told that they were participating in an experiment about their reaction embarrassment and then told to put on the costume and walk across the quadrangle, after which they'd be quizzed about their reaction. Others were told they could either do the Carmen Miranda walk or some other (unnamed) embarrassing task. However, they were strongly encouraged to dress up in the fruity hat, and in fact, none of them chose the other task. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The students who believed they chose to dress up as Carmen Miranda estimated the length of the quadrangle as significantly shorter than those who were simply told to wear the costume. Another group of students was simply asked to estimate and walk the distance without the costume, and again, they believed the distance was significantly longer than those who thought they had chosen to wear the costume. Balcetis and Dunning say that this misperception of the distance (the quadrangle was actually 365 feet long) is caused by <b>cognitive dissonance</b>. Since they<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-style: initial; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px;"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-style: normal; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">chose</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>to walk in the costume, these students convinced themselves their decision must be rational: after all, it's not a very long distance to walk. They experienced less cognitive dissonance.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Brain centre for cognitive dissonance <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXOck7YVgpr5iJ2h_TaeZQ4U-bzR8AA_L-tKMVYKvq2E_EbV9UMXSGLldALdk2YPQo2wR1ZlCzakdetnBaWVN7ydprTgFQqYek8zsUA3IgVpFznhP3eMggAw4em6SLgHUYedB6STFsGL8/s1600/MRI_anterior_cingulate.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXOck7YVgpr5iJ2h_TaeZQ4U-bzR8AA_L-tKMVYKvq2E_EbV9UMXSGLldALdk2YPQo2wR1ZlCzakdetnBaWVN7ydprTgFQqYek8zsUA3IgVpFznhP3eMggAw4em6SLgHUYedB6STFsGL8/s320/MRI_anterior_cingulate.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">fMRI showing anterior part of Cingulate Gyrus</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Imaging studies with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) conducted by the Dutch neurologist Van Veen and his colleagues have established the front portion of the cingulate gyrus of the cerebral cortex is the brain centre of cognitive dissonance.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01344568572649106567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246105920101275010.post-43232224824599042142012-04-01T05:29:00.000-07:002012-04-01T05:29:18.266-07:00Artificial smile helps to control anger through ‘embodied cognition’<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Forty nine year old man, Mr. S., is a middle level executive in a government department. He is unable to control his anger in the work place. A detailed psychiatric interview established that he is mentally normal but for the lack of anger control. The computed tomography scanning his brain showed no abnormality. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In order to get rid of the anger control problem I advised him to “fit” artificial smile on his face while in the work place. I asked him to try fitting an artificial smile in my presence. He tried and succeeded. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I asked him: “How did you feel while you fitted the smile?” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He promptly replied: “I felt relaxed in mind too.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I advised him to practice this “fitting of smile” while in his workplace. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But he wanted an explanation as regards to the working of this technique. I told him: “This technique works on the principle of <b>embodied cognition</b>. I explained to him what embodied cognition is.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What is cognition?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In psychology cognition refers to conglomeration of different mental processes. These processes include attention, remembering, understanding and producing speech and language, solving problems, and making decisions. In cognitive science the term usually refers to an information processing view of an individual’s psychological functions. The term cognition is derived from the Latin word cognoscere which means “to know”, “to conceptualize”, or “to recognize”. The term generally refers to a faculty for the processing of information. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Embodied cognition<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Generally speaking, the nature of human mind is largely determined by the form of the human body. All aspects of cognition are shaped by aspects of the body. The aspects of cognition include high level mental constructs such as concepts and categories and human performance on various cognitive tasks such as reasoning and judgment. The aspects of the body include the motor or muscular system, the perceptual system, the body’s interactions with the environment or the outside world and the assumptions of future of the world that are built into the body and the brain. The concept of embodied mind considers the body and the mind as a single unit and is opposed to the concept of dualism that is the separateness of body and mind. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: right;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCaMaK3vtSc3VE0jOtqKy_hUm9UAq8UaRiO33A6lFKO8TZeORuGO6GHhOk83ELGarS7WjorOJXZzCL9QqKblp31hQIMXRI-QOEryE_YmgjYrkAdVkQ2mo7WKM3jmUPsuHunlmKePlDGhY/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCaMaK3vtSc3VE0jOtqKy_hUm9UAq8UaRiO33A6lFKO8TZeORuGO6GHhOk83ELGarS7WjorOJXZzCL9QqKblp31hQIMXRI-QOEryE_YmgjYrkAdVkQ2mo7WKM3jmUPsuHunlmKePlDGhY/s1600/images.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Engaging Muscles of Smile</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The principle of embodied cognition generally reflects the idea that the muscular or motor system influences our cognition, just as the mind influences bodily functions. Psychologists Arthur M. Glenberg and associates, working in the laboratory of embodied cognition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, have observed that when the participants in the experiments hold a pencil in their teeth engaging the muscles of smile they comprehended pleasant sentences faster than unpleasant ones. And it worked in reverse too. When the participants held a pencil in their teeth engaging the muscles of frown it took longer time to comprehend pleasant sentences. When the muscles of face are engaged in smile the individual “feels” the smile in mind also.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01344568572649106567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246105920101275010.post-68109736772840833652012-03-31T11:30:00.000-07:002012-03-31T11:30:39.783-07:00Autism is mind blindness<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The young couple first approached a physician practicing in Indian system of medicine (Ayurveda) and then a Homeopath for the remedy of their only male child’s abnormality in behaviour. Both the Ayurvedic physician and the Homeopath assured the young couple a ‘complete cure’ from the curious malady of their son. But treatment which lasted for many months in both the systems failed and there was no relent in the devastating symptoms of the child. Finally they decided to seek the opinion of modern medicine and they approached a pediatrician who advised them to seek the help of a psychiatrist.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The young couple described the peculiarities of their son. Till the third birth day they did not notice any abnormality in the child. The first thing they noticed about their son is that he doesn’t like people to hold him or touch him. He often doesn’t respond when they call him. Even when they move their hand in front of his face he doesn’t respond. They had to pick him up to get his attention. His speech also is defective. The parents couldn’t often follow what he was saying. He repeats whatever he heard as echo but he doesn’t know the sense of many words he repeated. He could not follow their instructions like sit, come here, stand up etc. The most distressing behaviour was his avoiding of looking into their eyes. Evidently their son was suffering from autism. There was no medicine to cure the devastating disorder. Only special training, care and attention would improve the condition of the child. I explained the various aspects of autism to them.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder. It was discovered independently by two physicians, Leo Kanner in Baltimore and Hans Asperger in Vienna, in the 1940s. Both doctor had any knowledge of the other, and yet by a strange coincidence they gave the malady the same name: autism. The term was derived from the Greek <i>autos</i> which means self. They gave this name because the main feature of the disorder is confining to self withdrawing from the outside world. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The symptoms of the disorder can be categorized into two groups. The first group of symptoms pertains to the cognition of the child and its relationship with the outside world. Mental aloneness and lack of contact with the world, particularly the social world, as well as a profound inability to engage in normal conversation are the hallmark of this disorder. Going hand in hand with this is an absence of empathy for other which means a failure to understand others’ feelings and emotions. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The second cluster of symptoms pertains to the sensory and muscular systems of the child. The autistic children find specific sensory stimuli highly distressing. Certain sound, for example, can set off a violent temper tantrum. There is also a fear of novelty and change and an obsessive insistence on sameness, routine, and monotony. The symptoms of motor system include to-and-fro rocking of the body, repetitive hand movements including flapping motions and self-slapping, and sometimes elaborate, and repetitive rituals. These symptoms are not quite as definitive or as devastating as the social-emotional ones, but they occur so frequently that must be connected somehow. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mind Reading and Mind Blindness</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOefjAg2wtjCZKvArNST53xfabxwAG3E-AxAZ5STCIi3D8C0ybtDRr_Xm9K43p_iF4JNjDIPctT29jiTkYTAwb5kIjxA2INlacN8eCWLX6kus9QCCFMK4drSRtRgKOv3Ld4Tyl6Agg-D4/s1600/Uta+Frith.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOefjAg2wtjCZKvArNST53xfabxwAG3E-AxAZ5STCIi3D8C0ybtDRr_Xm9K43p_iF4JNjDIPctT29jiTkYTAwb5kIjxA2INlacN8eCWLX6kus9QCCFMK4drSRtRgKOv3Ld4Tyl6Agg-D4/s320/Uta+Frith.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Uta Frith</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Uta Frith, leading developmental psychologist working at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College, London put forward for the first time the cognitive theory of autism. She wrote: “Individuals with autistic disorder have occasionally commented on what they perceive as an unfathomable yet ubiquitous ability of other people to “mind read” during ordinary social interactions. Normal people indeed behave as if they have an implicit theory of mind, and this allows them to explain and predict others' behavior in terms of their presumed thoughts and feelings. To give an example: you might observe me in my office bent over a filing cabinet drawer pulling out and putting back folders. You would make sense of this behavior by mentalizing, that is, automatically recognizing that I am looking for a paper that I <i>believe</i> is in one of the folders and that I <i>wish</i> to retrieve. You would think this even if you knew that the paper was not there. To explain my behavior, it is immaterial whether the missing file is in the cabinet or really somewhere else. Suppose that you say to me “Try Debbie's desk,” and I respond with “I might have known.” Without mentalizing, this everyday exchange would seem like complete non sequiturs. Further, without mentalizing, you might come up with an outlandish interpretation of what I was doing—perhaps practicing back bending and finger moving? The important point of the example is that for an instantaneous interpretation of ordinary behavior, we automatically take account of the mental state of people, their desires, and their beliefs.”</span><i><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Neuron</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Vol. 32, no. 6, 12/20/01 pp 969-979. The difficulty in mind reading would result a condition called <i>mind blindness</i> which is main characteristic of autism.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mirror neurons and mind reading<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the 1980s and 1990s, neuro scientists Giacomo Rizzolatti, Giuseppe Di Pellegrino, Luciano Fadiga, Leonardo Fogassi, and Vittorio Gallese working at the University of Pama, Italy discovered mirror neurons. They found that some of the neurons controlling the movements of muscles of hands responded when the monkey observed another monkey moving hands without moving its own hands. They called these neurons mirror neurons because they acted like mirroring other monkey’s actions. Further studies confirmed that about 10% of neurons in the lower parts of the frontal and parietal lobes of the monkey’s brain have “mirror” properties.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 6.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A mirror neuron is the nerve cell that fires or becomes live both when an animal acts and when the animal observes the same action performed by another. Thus the neuron mirrors the behaviour of the other, as though the observer were itself acting. Such neurons were observed in various species of animals such as primates and bird. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu92mY5kZAL-J19lA26_ettZ-edvFBRqUy-7vXDkUqKOj3et1ajKWfRWOaUn4CYHuJxMoMFndX3HYolE9CT7jNzPUteKtlY_JaXZ7C30XZkLzOujQX6w8yvVN5xHyiTS-UtFgZltT6aRc/s1600/VS+Ramachandran.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu92mY5kZAL-J19lA26_ettZ-edvFBRqUy-7vXDkUqKOj3et1ajKWfRWOaUn4CYHuJxMoMFndX3HYolE9CT7jNzPUteKtlY_JaXZ7C30XZkLzOujQX6w8yvVN5xHyiTS-UtFgZltT6aRc/s1600/VS+Ramachandran.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">V S Ramachandran</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">According the cognitive neuroscientist Vilayanur S Ramachandran, the mind reading ability derives from the mirror neurons situated in the various parts cerebral cortex. Ramachandran writes: “The clue comes from mirror neurons. In the late 1990 it occurred to my colleagues and me that these neurons provided precisely the candidate neural mechanism we were looking for. The discovery of mirror neurons was significant because they are essentially a network of mind-reading cells with the brain. We were struck by the fact that it is precisely these presume functions of mirror neurons—such as empathy, intention-reading, mimicry, pretend play, and language learning—that are dysfunctional in autism.” <i>The Tell Tale Brain</i> pp 139,140<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01344568572649106567noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246105920101275010.post-14017541835584121312012-03-28T23:27:00.000-07:002012-03-28T23:27:28.244-07:00How to remember names?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">Forty eight years old clerk working in a government department was visibly upset when he entered my office. He wanted treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia. Dementia is a serious loss of cognitive ability beyond what might be expected from normal aging process. It is characterized by loss of short-term memory, inability to learn new things, defects in reasoning and problem solving. The clerk who came for treatment didn’t show any sign of such cognitive functions. So, I asked the 48 year old clerk: Mr. S., why do you think you are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease? </div><div class="MsoNormal">Mr. S. settled down in the chair and started describing his problem: Doctor, I have some memory problems. I can’t remember names of persons whom I know very well. I can recognize their faces, but I can’t remember their names. Often this causes me trouble. Some of my friends accuse me that I lack sincerity in friendship. That is why I could not remember their names. It creates some problems in work place also. My colleagues accuse that I am careless. </div><div class="MsoNormal">I tested his recent memory in the following simple way: I showed him four objects, viz. a pen, a cellular phone, a wrist watch and a paper weight. I asked him to keep them in memory. After five minutes I asked to tell the names of four objects. He recalled all the four objects in the same order. I reassured his memory power was intact. </div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg26ekdRGvFd7SPofuIn_dYQ24Tk_ezQyh2UyZYSKvgCAV1xBamejEZx4X8xE0mvuOeDbqdy2KDG5qnXbhYfj6vEHuBv4I31f2n6ZP6gSad41V9X9ASuzlPHFkF5YddmTdFdOsTAK_ZZ5Q/s1600/Tim+Hallbom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg26ekdRGvFd7SPofuIn_dYQ24Tk_ezQyh2UyZYSKvgCAV1xBamejEZx4X8xE0mvuOeDbqdy2KDG5qnXbhYfj6vEHuBv4I31f2n6ZP6gSad41V9X9ASuzlPHFkF5YddmTdFdOsTAK_ZZ5Q/s1600/Tim+Hallbom.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: left;">Tim Hallbom</span> </td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal">Tim Hallbom, a Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) trainer, <span style="background: white; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">NLP Institute of California</span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">,</span> author and therapist writes: "One of the things that brain researchers have discovered in the last few years is that your internal dialogue occupies the same auditory nerve in your ear as external sound."<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Researchers have established that the people forget names because they're usually involved in some other internal conversation. So, it's real hard to hear the other person saying their name when you're having an internal conversation with yourself about how you're coming across or what you're going to say next.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">In remembering names, the first thing that Tim recommends is to concentrate on staying external with the person by listening to them. Then repeat their name to yourself three times while you're looking at them.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">To get the visual part in, imagine that you can see their name written on their forehead. To make it more permanent, see their name in your favorite color of magic marker. This will make it stick out the entire better. Do this while you're saying their name to yourself. If you repeat this technique for some time it becomes automatic and you can do it effortlessly.<o:p></o:p></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQv_Rzfk1k4PhsGFXT7GE_eT_FBU-eLgyOoQR8wqhZhSK8m6MHjJ6PUGLlR0MJ1SBhsBeer6I7S0D0_GWfltTegrpMBf_2SlF9B2YkY9JQRgMX5ifUEGYTzPhbVPzoB5SmmoA8YIbXG40/s1600/Franklin+D+Roosevelt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQv_Rzfk1k4PhsGFXT7GE_eT_FBU-eLgyOoQR8wqhZhSK8m6MHjJ6PUGLlR0MJ1SBhsBeer6I7S0D0_GWfltTegrpMBf_2SlF9B2YkY9JQRgMX5ifUEGYTzPhbVPzoB5SmmoA8YIbXG40/s1600/Franklin+D+Roosevelt.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Franklin D. Roosevelt </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 115%;">Franklin D. Roosevelt</span>, the 32<sup>nd</sup> President of the United Sates <span class="apple-converted-space">was</span> a master at recalling names. He continually amazed his staff by remembering someone's name that he had only met once, months before. Asked how he did it, he said he saw the person's name written out on their forehead. <o:p></o:p></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01344568572649106567noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246105920101275010.post-35372073967799731512012-03-27T05:01:00.000-07:002012-03-27T05:01:03.196-07:00Core Beliefs in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>An unusual obsession of “adverse remarks”</b></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ms. G. is a student of information technology aspiring to acquire a degree in it. But she couldn’t continue her studies because of her psychological problems. She described her mental problem hesitantly. She admitted that her problem, she feels, is silly. Hence she felt the hesitancy in presenting it to me. She was not sure that they are actually mental problems at all, because they are just thoughts intruding into her mind. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Whenever she saw a person, stranger or friend, some adverse remark about that person intruded into her mind against her will. I asked her to give some examples of such ‘adverse remarks’ and she reluctantly obliged. Following are some of the examples she gave:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This man is a bad person.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That woman is an over smart.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This boy is naughty. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That girl is ugly looking. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The thoughts are not the real problem. Whenever such an unacceptable thought intruded into her mind she felt guilty and experienced ‘tension’ out of this guilt feeling. Worsening her condition she feels a compulsion to apologize to the person for having such an unacceptable thought in her mind. If she didn’t apologize to the person, the tension and guilt feeling doubles. There came a stage of her mental problem at she stopped going to her classes. A doctor related to he advised her to seek help from a psychiatrist. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A cursory psychological examination revealed that she was suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Since her OCD has advanced to a severe state I decided to treat her with Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitor (SSRI) drug and cognitive behaviour therapy. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Prevalence of the disorder</b></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Studies show that approximately 90% of people have intrusive thoughts which may not be unacceptable to the individual. People with OCD take these thoughts to a disruptive and unhealthy level. Their intrusive thoughts or obsessions force them into a series of compulsive behaviours as a kind of defensive mechanism against the obsessions. OCD is a pattern of ritualized behaviour used to cope with distressing situations. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ms. G. developed a ritual of apologizing to the persons whom she thought badly about in her mind. A particular ritual may present relief to the obsessive individual, but eventually, the behaviour becomes distressing to the sufferer of OCD, because it disrupts everyday interactions in life. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What are obsession?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Obsessions come to one’s mind as repeated images, impulses, or thoughts against the will of the person. These make the obsessive person feel negative emotions, the most common being anxiety, stress, revulsion or apprehension. Inability to “stop” these impulses and thoughts make the OCD person feel out of control. Though the person realizes on some level their obsession with these thoughts is irrational, they feel the need to develop mechanisms to cope with their negative emotions. These mechanisms tend to become compulsive behaviour, which is a kind of ritual which offers short term relief to the sufferer. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Possession by devils</b></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the Middle Ages these intrusive thoughts and compulsive rituals were thought to be due to possession of devils and evil spirits. In the <i>Malleus Malleficarum</i> (Hammer of the Witches) written by the two Dominican inquisitors, Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, there is descriptions of a 15<sup>th</sup> century patient’s intrusive thoughts: <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“When he passed any church, and genuflected in honour of the Glorious Virgin, the devil made him thrust his tongue far out of his mouth; and when he was asked whether he could not restrain himself from doing this, he answered: ‘I cannot help myself at all, for so he uses all my limbs and organs, my neck, my tongue, and my lungs, whenever he pleases, causing to speak or to cry out; and I hear the words as they were spoken by myself, but I am altogether unable to restrain them; and when I try to engage in prayer he attacks me more violently, thrusting out my tongue.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The inquisitors subjected the person severe torture to exorcise the devil in him and the innocent patient of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder died. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b>Behavioral</b></span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b> part of treatment</b></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The treatment technique that works best for OCD is the Exposure and Response Prevention (ER&P). The ER&P encourages patients to expose themselves to their obsessions and try to stop themselves from compulsive rituals to get rid of anxiety and tension that they are feeling. People with OCD usually avoid situations which cause intrusion of unacceptable thoughts. For example a person suffering from intrusion of blasphemous thoughts in religious places avoids church, temple or mosque. Ms. G. avoided going out and she discontinued going to classes. He/she should be advised not to avoid places of worship even if blasphemous thoughts cause mental tension. Repeated exposure to such situations may reduce anxiety in due course and obsessions may subside. The ER & P is the behavioural part of the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Find out core beliefs</b></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> The cognitive aspect of CBT is recognition of the core beliefs which causes intrusion of the unacceptable thoughts and the accompanying negative emotions such as anxiety, fear and depression. These core beliefs about the self and the world shape everything we do, including Exposure Therapy for OCD. The OCD patients entertain the following core beliefs:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"></div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">I must be perfect or I'm a failure and therefore worthless.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">I must do everything right on the very first try.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">I must never make a mistake.</span></li>
</ol><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">These beliefs are deep-seated in the mind are on auto-pilot. They guide the actions of the individual even before he/she realizes it. Obsessions and the rituals are motivated by these beliefs.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Another psychological aspect of obsession is the "Feared Consequences," thoughts of which compel the patient do the rituals to avoid unacceptable thoughts. Following are usual thoughts of “Feared Consequences.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If I make a mistake, this will prove I am worthless, and I will have no hope of peace or joy in my life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I will implode from the pressure of my defectiveness.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I will go crazy from the anxiety caused by my defectiveness.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="background: white; mso-line-height-alt: 9.15pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>There are a number of common obsessions:</b></span><o:p></o:p></div><div style="background: white; margin-left: .5in; mso-line-height-alt: 9.15pt;"></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="background-color: white;">Among the most frequently reported is the fear of contamination by germs, dirt, chemicals, or diseases. People with this obsession are often overwhelmed with thoughts of harming themselves or others, so they try to avoid coming into contact with certain surfaces, contaminated objects, dirt, or bacteria. In response to this fear, these people perform compulsions such as frequently washing their hands, changing their clothes, and avoiding dirty objects like doorknobs, shoes, and newspapers.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;">Repetitious uncertainty is another common obsession. This can include doubts about whether or not the person turned off the stove, made a mistake at work, or hit someone while driving. This type of obsession leads to compulsions that are extremely time-consuming. The person is rarely satisfied with the safety or perfection of his or her actions and thus must check and recheck his or her own behaviors. Examples include returning home multiple times to make sure the oven is turned off and repeatedly turning the car around to make sure the person really didn't hit someone in the road.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;">Obsessions of perfection are thoughts that require the person to arrange objects perfectly or to perform tasks in a rigid, systematic fashion. Often, people with this compulsion can’t complete a task if they can’t perform every step of that task in a specific order.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;">Obsessions about causing harm to others lead the person to think about hurting other people, including strangers. This type of obsession may cause the person to perform reassurance behaviors, which are actions they take to make sure that other people are safe, like continuously calling someone on the phone.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;">Sexual obsessions often involve intrusive pornographic thoughts. This type of disturbing imagery may cause people to play mental games to distract themselves, like drawing pictures in their imaginations.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;">Religious obsessions tend to focus on the fear that the person isn’t doing what is morally right or the thought that he or she is going to be punished by God. Religious obsessions can also include uncontrollable, blasphemous thoughts in which the person curses God. In these cases, the person might perform a praying ritual or draw some type of religious imagery in a notebook.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;">Other obsessions include urges to do things that seem aggressive or very much out of the ordinary, like screaming at others for no reason. Afterward, the person might feel compelled to do something to relieve feelings of guilt or shame.</span></li>
</ul><o:p></o:p><br />
<div style="background: white; margin-left: .5in; mso-line-height-alt: 9.15pt;"><o:p></o:p></div><div style="background: white; margin-left: .5in; mso-line-height-alt: 9.15pt;"><o:p></o:p></div><div style="background: white; margin-left: .5in; mso-line-height-alt: 9.15pt;"><o:p></o:p></div><div style="background: white; margin-left: .5in; mso-line-height-alt: 9.15pt;"><o:p></o:p></div><div style="background: white; margin-left: .5in; mso-line-height-alt: 9.15pt;"><o:p></o:p></div><div style="background: white; margin-left: .5in; mso-line-height-alt: 9.15pt;"><o:p></o:p></div><div style="background: white; mso-line-height-alt: 9.15pt;">These are just a few examples of different types of obsessions. In all of these cases, the worries are highly unusual. They are not obsessional worries about common, daily occurrences, like paying the bills or getting to work on time. For each one of these obsessions, there are numerous types of compulsions, not just the ones listed here. In fact, a person’s obsessions and compulsions may not even be related to each other in any obvious way. A person may do anything after the intrusive thought to relieve him or her of anxiety. For example, a woman with a fear of contamination might obtain just as much relief from singing a song each time she feels dirty as she does from washing her hands. However, in all cases, the obsession and the action that follows it become habitual, time-consuming, and disturbing to the person who experiences them.<o:p></o:p></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01344568572649106567noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246105920101275010.post-65822223769683145992012-03-22T09:55:00.000-07:002012-03-22T09:55:24.743-07:00Soul in the brain<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">When the old man entered my office I recognized him. He was a professor in the Arts College. I attended his lecture on the soul an year ago. He asserted that originator of the concept of immortality of the soul was none other than Plato. That was true. One of the main themes in <i>Phaedo</i>, Plato’s last dialogue, which depicts the final days of Socrates, is immortality of soul. But the professor asserted that Aristotle also faithfully followed Plato’s concept. At the end of his lecture I pointed out that Aristotle did not take up the Platonic project of proving the soul’s immortality. Indeed by defining the soul as the first actuality of an organic living body (<i><a href="http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/soul.1.i.html" target="_blank">On theSoul</a></i> II) he seems to have precluded the possibility that any soul can survive the dissolution of the body whose actuality it is. The professor did not refute my point. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">I remembered all these when the professor was sitting in front of me. Professor’s wife complained that he forgets everything, even the food he has had taken a short while ago and asks for it again. Evidently he is suffering from dementia. Dementia is characterized by loss of memory and gross impairment of cognitive functions such as thinking, reasoning, problem solving etc. I asked the professor whether he remembered the lecture he gave in the city hall an year ago. The prompt answer was ‘yes’. Then I asked what the subject of his lecture was. He just said history! He was a professor of history, indeed. Other things he forgot. I asked him again what soul is. He fumbled and just repeated the word ‘soul’.</div><div class="MsoNormal">I asked: What you know about the soul?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Professor: The soul?</div><div class="MsoNormal">I repeated: Yes. What is soul?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Professor: I don’t know.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">A rationalist may argue that the soul ceases to exist on the death of the body, but the neuro-cognitive evidence shows that the soul may disappear even before the death of the individual if dementia grapples him/her. Presently the professor could not say a word about his own soul.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">The renowned Indian psychiatrist the late Dr. Venkoba Rao once said: “the relationship between brain and mind is that of dancer and dance.” His statement implied that with the death of the individual's brain the mind ceases to exist. Dr. Venkoba Rao's statement <span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #23262a;">was opposite of what </span>René<span style="color: #23262a;"> </span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #23262a;">Descartes, the seventeenth century French philosopher, who is often designated as the father of modern philosophy, </span></span>said. <span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #23262a;">Descartes’ main conclusion is that the mind is really distinct from the body. In the book </span></span><em><span style="color: #23262a;"><a href="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes-works/#Pri" target="_blank">Principles</a></span></em><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #23262a;"> he explains that</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #23262a; font-size: 8.5pt;"> </span><span style="color: #23262a;">a real distinction is perceived when one substance can be clearly and distinctly understood without the other and vice versa.</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #23262a; font-size: 8.5pt;"> </span><span style="color: #23262a;"> Descartes was ultimately arguing for the possibility of minds existing without bodies.<sup> </sup></span></span><span style="color: #23262a;">By the term 'mind' Descartes meant the soul.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #23262a;">According to the Hindu faith soul is Brahman itself, the very <b><i>self</i> <i>of the universe</i></b> part of which descends down into the elements of nature through self projection and participates itself in the game of <i>grand illusion </i>or Maya. In the Hindu belief system </span>there</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span>are two kinds of souls, viz. the individual soul or <i>Jeevatman</i>, and the Supreme Soul or <i>Paramatman</i>, the originator of universe and human souls. In Semitic religions the soul is created by the god and supplied to the individual while in the womb. After the death of the individual the soul continues to live independently in the eternity. (</span><i><span style="background: #F9FDFF; color: #001320;">And the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it</span></i><span style="background: #F9FDFF; color: #001320;">.</span><span style="background: #F9FDFF; color: #001320; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.0pt;"> </span><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/star/My%20Documents/Psychology%20for%20everyday%20life/41%20Soul%20in%20the%20brainl.docx"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Ecclesiastes 12:7</span></a><span class="apple-style-span">). All these prove that the soul is only a subject matter of religious faith. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span">But, I do not dismiss the human soul as nonexistent as some rationalists would do. So long as a human brain functions <b><i>in full</i></b> it manifests itself as a mind wherein a soul exists. In other words the human soul is a part of the human consciousness. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #333333;">The intriguing question is: Where is that part of the consciousness called the<b><i> soul</i></b> situated in the brain? This question still remains unanswered. </span>The question became less puzzling with recent discovery of "mirror neurons". <o:p></o:p></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAzc_r5TutHG-Pk9qyBZvmLbzGNy-sXE_ibFa8aTBXe9IUrjYvBLA6LwCS1tnAVKWK6frl0DEgm9cexJGxN0Vg_0fOivwqPcmjeGTbV3nQJnrphEMSbd2pffF-OISnoMBFpD32O0nu2YA/s1600/Giacomo+Rizzolatti.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAzc_r5TutHG-Pk9qyBZvmLbzGNy-sXE_ibFa8aTBXe9IUrjYvBLA6LwCS1tnAVKWK6frl0DEgm9cexJGxN0Vg_0fOivwqPcmjeGTbV3nQJnrphEMSbd2pffF-OISnoMBFpD32O0nu2YA/s1600/Giacomo+Rizzolatti.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: left; text-indent: 48px;">Giacomo Rizzolatti</span> </td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">In the 1980s and 1990s neuro scientists Giacomo Rizzolatti, Giuseppe Di Pellegrino, Luciano Fadiga, Leonardo Fogassi and Vittorio Gallese were doing research on the brain of macaque monkey at the University of Parma, Italy. These neurophysiologists placed electrodes in the ventral premotor cortex of the macaque to study the nerve cells (neurons) specialized for the control of hand and mouth actions such as taking hold of an object and manipulating it. During each experiment the researchers allowed the monkey to reach for pieces of food and recorded from a single neuron in the monkey’s brain, thus measuring the neuron’s response to certain movements. They found some of the neurons they recorded from would respond when the monkey saw a person pick a piece of food as well as when the monkey picked up the food. The discovery was sent to the renowned science magazine <i>Nature</i> but was rejected for its “lack of general interest.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">A few years later the same group of neuroscientists published another paper, discussing the role of the mirror-neuron system in action recognition, and proposing that the <a href="http://netmind2011.blogspot.in/2011/12/cognitive-aspects-of-language-language.html" target="_blank">Broca’s region</a> <span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">in human brain was the corresponding region of the ventral premotor cortex of the monkey. Since then reports on mirror neurons have been widely published and confirmed with mirror neurons found in both inferior frontal and inferior parietal regions of the brain. The studies with imaging technologies of human brain in function have established mirror neuron systems.</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1xzigfheMM53zNmL6PtIDLsAkjq9S3sCUuljQF9pypM6NuihOkQUmQzIw261xbP3wC8kChpSaRNgPQUsvSk3i6gMfiiHbiXA9eMNzNJE3_ax7JVIzmffdFxgMhM0IXoTmisAWmCwxWY8/s1600/Broca's+area.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1xzigfheMM53zNmL6PtIDLsAkjq9S3sCUuljQF9pypM6NuihOkQUmQzIw261xbP3wC8kChpSaRNgPQUsvSk3i6gMfiiHbiXA9eMNzNJE3_ax7JVIzmffdFxgMhM0IXoTmisAWmCwxWY8/s1600/Broca's+area.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Broca's area shown in blue</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdIaCNp8px0PCUzqCcjikEzvKOJXv5uGKf09-gWnYY2upN-adWKNZoFSZRZGeseCZ5QrZekcWSdNLZjSHu8A0LzHREX6MDqX5YMj2pE_wqVaqrHhTjcmfOuvDaWvNsfnV0I5A3EENtk9g/s1600/Makak_neonatal_imitation.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdIaCNp8px0PCUzqCcjikEzvKOJXv5uGKf09-gWnYY2upN-adWKNZoFSZRZGeseCZ5QrZekcWSdNLZjSHu8A0LzHREX6MDqX5YMj2pE_wqVaqrHhTjcmfOuvDaWvNsfnV0I5A3EENtk9g/s320/Makak_neonatal_imitation.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New born Macaque imitates human action</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #333333;">Cognitive neuroscientist V S Ramachandran wrote in <i><a href="http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/ramachandran06/ramachandran06_index.html" target="_blank">Edge</a></i>: </span>Giaccomo Rizzolati and Vittorio Gallasse discovered mirror neurons. They found that neurons in the ventral premotor area of macaque monkeys will fire anytime a monkey performs a complex action such as reaching for a peanut, pulling a lever, pushing a door, etc. (different neurons fire for different actions). Most of these neurons control motor skill (originally discovered by Vernon Mountcastle in the 60's), but a subset of them, the Italians found, will fire even when the monkey watches another monkey perform the same action. In essence, the neuron is part of a network that allows you to see the world "from the other person’s point of view," hence the name “mirror neuron." Researchers at UCLA found that cells in the human anterior cingulate, which normally fire when you poke the patient with a needle ("pain neurons"), will also fire when the patient watches<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em>another</em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>patient being poked. The mirror neurons, it would seem, dissolve the barrier between self and others. I call them "empathy neurons" or "Dalai Lama neurons". (I wonder how the mirror neurons of a masochist or sadist will respond to another person being poked.) Dissolving the "self vs. other" barrier is the basis of many ethical systems, especially eastern philosophical and mystical traditions. This research implies that mirror neurons can be used to provide rational rather than religious grounds for ethics (although we must be careful not to commit the ‘is/ought fallacy’).<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #333333; text-indent: 0.5in;">A better other name for mirror neuron is not “Dalai Lama neuron” but “soul neuron”. Human soul has two parts; viz. altruistic or empathic part and a religious part. I propose that the altruistic or empathic part of the human soul is the creation of the mirror neurons of the prefrontal cortex and the godly aspect of soul is installed in the temporal lobe. The neuroscientist V. S. Ramachandran suggested that </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">absence of the mirror neurons may explain the cruel malady of autism. Without these neurons the child can no longer understand or empathize with other people emotionally. </span><span style="color: #333333; text-indent: 0.5in;">If this suggestion is accepted one has to admit that autistic persons are devoid of altruistic part of soul. Another devastating inference is that the monkeys having mirror neurons in their brains are also having <b><i>souls</i></b>, of course lesser ones than human souls. </span></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01344568572649106567noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2246105920101275010.post-71250261150235299002012-03-20T08:07:00.000-07:002012-03-20T08:07:43.056-07:00Cognitive aspects of gambler’s fallacy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">Gambler’s fallacy refers to the mistaken belief that future toss of a coin or drop of the ball in roulette or roll of the dice in craps is dependent of past events. For example, if you toss a coin and head comes up three times in a row, you may bet against a head coming up for the fourth toss. Similarly, if you see seven rolled on the dice five times in a row, then you are likely to bet against another seven coming up again on the next roll. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">People expect events to even out in the short run because they know that events even out in the long run. If the coin is tossed ten thousand times, then, about fifty percent of falls would have been with head up. This is due to the result of even out of events in the long run. People, using their commonsense, think that this even out is applicable in the short run of events also. This is an informal fallacy. It is also known as the <i>law of averages </i>in the common parlance. </div><div class="MsoNormal">If a coin is tossed repeatedly and tails comes up a larger number of times than is expected, a gambler may incorrectly believe that this means that heads is more likely in future tosses. Such an expectation could be mistakenly referred to as being <i>due</i>, and it probably arises from everyday experiences with scheduled and non-random events such are arrivals of trains, flights etc. For example, when a scheduled train is late, it can be expected that it has a greater chance of arriving the later it gets. In the case of random events such as tossing of coins what is true instead is the law of large numbers. In the long term, averages of independent trials will tend to approach the expected value, even though individual trials are independent.</div><h3>Child birth and gambler’s fallacy</h3><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">As in the case of all other sexual species, the sex ratio of humans is approximately 1:1. Naturally, childbirth is a random event as far as the gender of the child is concerned.</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 6.5pt;"> </span> A very real-world example of gambler’s fallacy is that mothers and couples trying for another child tend to think that if they have had several children of the same sex previously, it is more likely of finally having a child of the opposite sex. This is similar to what people tend to think of with Henry VIII of England trying so desperately for a son. It is almost always a 50% chance of either sex, despite what parents may hope for their next child.<o:p></o:p></div><h3>Monte Carlo Casino</h3><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;">The most famous example happened in a Monte Carlo Casino in Monaco in the summer of 1913, when the ball fell in black 26 times in a row, an extremely uncommon occurrence and gamblers lost millions of francs betting <i>against </i>black black after the black streak happened. Gamblers reasoned incorrectly that the streak was causing an "imbalance" in the randomness of the wheel, and that it had to be followed by a long streak of red. <o:p></o:p></div><h3>Psychology behind the gambler’s fallacy</h3><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzKSCCAnm5JkqDmwSkr-ggHVUAqCCoWFvjK26WRvE8sZTew1FfwV3v5wJaNDYY2xRhfM9OuV7mfbxPF-QAIKdeocQHAPcAKL9NCMoO0RE5D91HWCP1qXGzKZgtyl0YIiXVQlWOpbNDc7M/s1600/Daniel+Kahneman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzKSCCAnm5JkqDmwSkr-ggHVUAqCCoWFvjK26WRvE8sZTew1FfwV3v5wJaNDYY2xRhfM9OuV7mfbxPF-QAIKdeocQHAPcAKL9NCMoO0RE5D91HWCP1qXGzKZgtyl0YIiXVQlWOpbNDc7M/s1600/Daniel+Kahneman.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daniel Kahneman</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Cognitive psychologist Amos Tversky and Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman proposed that the gambler's fallacy is a <b>cognitive bias</b> produced by a psychological heuristic. </span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcoRw4dMTD3IYwN8unZ42OZsms6y08rE9TMm9_o0mngTo-Aj2Yo_rTmkfATo7-M_dkPRFfuI116G2DWM2fMNng-LRiR_Bt9CvqoqYsPc1bWegQzMgY6ndC3GrqIapv2JIDSNTWZ47XPdc/s1600/Amos+Tversky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcoRw4dMTD3IYwN8unZ42OZsms6y08rE9TMm9_o0mngTo-Aj2Yo_rTmkfATo7-M_dkPRFfuI116G2DWM2fMNng-LRiR_Bt9CvqoqYsPc1bWegQzMgY6ndC3GrqIapv2JIDSNTWZ47XPdc/s1600/Amos+Tversky.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; text-align: left;">Amos Tversky</span> </td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">In psychology, heuristics are simple, efficient rules, hard-coded by evolutionary processes or learned, which have been proposed to explain how people make decisions, come to judgments, and solve problems, typically when facing complex problems or incomplete information. These rules work well under most circumstances, but in certain cases lead to systematic errors or cognitive biases.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">A cognitive bias is a pattern of deviation in judgment that occurs in particular situations, leading to perceptual distortion, inaccurate judgment, illogical interpretation, or what is broadly called irrational thinking. Implicit in the concept of a "pattern of deviation" is a standard of comparison with what is normatively expected; this may be the judgment of people outside those particular situations, or may be a set of independently verifiable facts. A long and ever-growing <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_51110069">list </a></span><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases" target="_blank">of cognitive biases </a>has been identified over the last six decades of research on human judgment and decision-making in cognitive science, social psychology, and behavioral economics.</span> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">According to this view, after observing a long run of red on the roulette wheel most people erroneously believe that black will result in a more representative sequence than the occurrence of an additional red, so people expect that a short run of random outcomes should share properties of a longer run, specifically in that deviations from average should balance out. When people are asked to make up a random-looking sequence of coin tosses, they tend to make sequences where the proportion of heads to tails stays closer to 0.5 in any short segment than would be predicted by chance. Kahneman and Tversky interpret this to mean that people believe short sequences of random events should be representative of longer ones. </span></div><h3>Hot-hand fallacy<o:p></o:p></h3><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.8pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Another psychological perspective states that gambler's fallacy can be seen as the counterpart to basketball's Hot-hand fallacy. In the hot-hand fallacy, people tend to predict the same outcome of the last event - that a high scorer will continue to score. This is positive recency. In gambler's fallacy, however, people predict the opposite outcome of the last event - that, for example, since the roulette wheel has landed on black the last six times; it is due to land on red the next. This is negative recency. Peter Ayton, City University, London and Ilan Fischer, University of Haifa, Israel have theorized that people display positive recency for the hot-hand fallacy because the fallacy deals with human performance and that people do not believe that an inanimate object can become "hot" like human hands. </span><o:p></o:p></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01344568572649106567noreply@blogger.com5