Classes are Done!

Hello Psych 203 students:


It has been a pleasure acting as peer mentors for this class. We hope you enjoyed having our presence 'around' the classroom and if you have any questions prior to your final exam.... please do not hesitate to contact any of us. 


Have a great holiday season and good luck on your final exam.

Popular Myths in Psychology

Myths about Psychology and the Law

Myth: Virtually All People Who Confess to a Crime Are Guilty of It

by Amy Webber

Image: JonBenet Ramsey

It seems strange to think that anyone would confess to a crime they didn’t commit; however, the fact is that false confessions do occur, and it happens more often than you might think.

False confessions are especially likely to happen with high profile cases.  For example, over 200 people confessed to kidnapping world-famous aviator Charles Lindbergh’s son in 1932, and in the late 1940s, over 30 people confessed to the murder of Elizabeth Short, commonly known as the “Black Dahlia.”  In another famous case, John Mark Karr confessed to the 1996 murder of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey, although his DNA didn’t match what was found at the crime scene.  These false confessions can cause serious problems in crime investigations, because they detract from finding the actual perpetrator.

But why would anyone confess to something they didn’t do?  In cases like these, it seems like the motivation might be fame.  Other reasons might include feeling a need for self-punishment to make up for some other wrong they’ve done in their lives, or trying to protect the real criminal, if it’s their child or spouse, for example.  Moreover, some people may be unable to differentiate fantasy from reality and thus might actually believe they did it. 

Further, in some cases, the coercive and deceptive tactics used by police officers during interrogations can lead to false confessions by innocent individuals.  During interrogations, police often use the “good cop/bad cop” technique, where they present false, made-up evidence against the suspect, making it sound like they have heaps of evidence pointing against the individual, when in reality, they do not.  The cop will then feign sympathy and provide reasons why the person might’ve done it; for example: “It’s completely understandable that you would act out in that situation, you had every right to be angry”, and offer them some sort of “deal” of a lesser punishment if they confess.  However, when someone is backed into a corner in this way, they might see no other way out than to confess to the crime, even if they didn’t do it.  This is referred to as a “compliant confession” where someone confesses in order to avoid a threat or gain a reward.  Other times, the person may actually start to believe they did it; for example, they may have been intoxicated the night of the crime, so when a police officer presents incriminating evidence against them (even if the evidence isn’t real, cops are allowed to make this stuff up for interrogation purposes), they may start to question their own innocence.  This is called an “internalized confession,” where they come to believe they actually did something they didn’t do.

What makes matters worse is that police officers tend to be highly confident in their ability to know whether someone is falsely confession, although research shows that police officers are actually more likely that other people to believe that a false confession is actually truthful.  This suggests they have a bias to believe that an innocent person is guilty.

Research shows that certain situational and personal characteristics can increase the likelihood of false confessions.  For example, people who are relatively young, suggestible, isolated from others, and who are confronted with strong evidence against them and questioned with intimidating and manipulative tactics, with prior criminal history and lack of legal counsel are more likely to confess to crimes they didn’t commit.

So what can be done to avoid false confessions?  Police should avoid revealing specific details about crime investigation cases to the media so that those who would be tempted to falsely confess in order to gain fame won’t be able to provide the essential details about the crime.  Also, some police departments videotape their interrogation interviews in order to ensure coercive tactics are not being used, and hopefully videotaping of interviews will be implemented more broadly.

References:

Lilienfeld, S. O., Lynn, S. J., Ruscio, J., & Beyerstein, B. L. (2010). 50 great myths of popular psychology: Shattering widespread misconceptions about human behavior. West Sussex, United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Image from:

http://i.cdn.turner.com/trutv/trutv.com/graphics/photos/notorious_murders/famous/ramsey/Gallery/PG-Jonbenet-Ramsey%284%29.jpg

Popular Myths in Psychology

Myths about Interpersonal Behavior

Myth: There is a ‘safety in numbers’: The more people present at an emergency, the greater the chances someone will intervene

by Alicia Kassian

It is scary to think that you could be murdered in front of bystanders and have them watch rather than intervene. Unfortunately, this is a more common occurrence than the human race would like to admit, and baffles most of the people who hear of it later. I bet you are thinking right now that you would not stand by and that you would help that person in need but in truth, probably not. In situations like murder, crime and injury, most of us are just not prepared to understand the situation and then change the outcome. The classic case is of Kitty Genovese that was murdered on a city street in New York and watched by some, heard by others but ultimately helped by….none. But why?!! Most psychologists like to think this is not a reflection of people’s natural behavior and is only because people are scared to act because of the unfamiliarity with the situation. I mean, when is the last time you saw a similar situation and knew what to do, what was going on, and how to change the outcome? Kitty is not the only one that has lost a life in the presence of others, In Manitoba an elderly women fell over into a snow bank on a busy street, she was not able to get up and froze to death. Let’s not forget about the Greyhound beheading incident not too long ago, rather graphic so if you want to know…google it. Probably the most famous bystander effect/obedience to authority would be Nazi Germany and psychologists believe that unfamiliarity with this type of situation and also seeing others also not intervening is part of the reason so many Jewish people were killed. This means that this could happen again! On a better note, psychology students that learn about the bystander effect are more likely to intervene than others so now you can be the ones that make the change.

Popular Myths in Psychology

Myths about Psychological Treatment

Myth – Electroconvulsive (“Shock”) Therapy is a Physically Dangerous and Brutal Treatment

by Amy Webber

Most of you have probably heard of Electroconvulsive Therapy, commonly referred to as Shock Therapy or ECT, and you may have even seen it depicted in films, such as in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.  Many people hold negative views of ECT, believing it to be cruel, painful, harmful, and unsafe, and films often depict ECT in this negative light, often showing it as being used by staff in psychiatric hospitals as a means to control or punish misbehaving patients.  These films show ECT being forced upon people, leading to violent convulsions and causing severe memory loss and zombie-like side effects.

It’s true that in the past, convulsive therapy was indeed unsafe and often caused harmful side effects, and in some non-western developing countries today, ECT may still be administered without the proper procedures.  However, current methods of ECT have come a long way since the treatment was first introduced, and over the past five decades in the United States and most other Western countries, ECT has been administered in a way that is much more humane and much safer.  It is only administered under informed consent of the patient, and the procedure includes giving patients and general anesthetic and a muscle relaxant, and then placing electrodes on the patient’s head, and delivering an electric shock to induce a seizure, while the patient’s movements during the seizure are inhibited by the anesthetic and the muscle relaxant.  This method has been effective in treating many individuals with severe depression, and it is typically recommended as a last resort for those whose severe depression has failed to respond to other treatments.

While ECT does carry risks, the death risk is no higher than anesthesia alone.  Of course, it can have unpleasant side effects such as headaches and nausea.  Memory loss is also a risk factor for ECT, although the loss is usually of events that happened right before the therapy.

In conclusion, as with any medical procedure, ECT does have the potential for negative side effects; however, it is not the “barbaric” procedure depicted in the media, and has actually helped many individuals with severe depression and other disorders that have no responded to other treatments.  In fact, patients who have undergone ECT actually hold less negative views of ECT than the general public, and most of them actually report it to be “less frightening than a trip to the dentist.”  (Lilienfeld, Lynn, Ruscio, & Beyerstein, 2010, p. 241).

References:

Lilienfeld, S. O., Lynn, S. J., Ruscio, J., & Beyerstein, B. L. (2010). 50 great myths of popular psychology: Shattering widespread misconceptions about human behavior. West Sussex, United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Study Sessions

November 23, 2011

Study Review

Peer Mentor: Alicia Kassian

Time: 2:00 – 4:00 pm

Room: A248

November 24, 2011

Study Review

Peer Mentor: Amy Webber

Time: 1 – 3:00 pm

Room: A247B

December 1, 2011

Study Review

Peer Mentor: Sylvia Tsang

Time: 2 – 4:00 pm

Room: A051

December 5, 2011

Study Review

Peer Mentor: Kat Nipcon

Time: 12 noon – 2:00 pm

Room: A247B

December 6, 2011

Study Review

Peer Mentor: Kent Bastell

Time: 1:30 – 3:30 pm

Room: A247B

December 8, 2011

Study Tips and Review                                   

Peer Mentor: Amy Webber

Time: 1 – 3:00 pm

Room: A247B

Popular Myths in Psychology

Myths about Emotion and Motivation

Myth: The Validity of the Polygraph Lie Detector Test

by Alicia Kassian

I was watching Maury the other day and a women was featured because she believed her husband was cheating on her. She was desperate to find out if he was lying to her so he was asked to take the polygraph lie detector test. In fact, he was lying and he had slept with over ten women since their relationship started. Now, that seemed true because his face said “uh oh” and he stormed off the stage, but most polygraph tests are not very valid. This particular guy was definitely guilty because he was caught cheating on his wife on camera at the filming of Maury (yikes). But, polygraphs in general are given heavy importance with a ton of flaws and many false positives (a non liar is given failing grade). Polygraphs only really work if the people being tested don’t know how they work. They measure changes in blood pressure and respiration and these supposedly go up if you are lying…unless you’re a “good liar” which means you do not get stressed or experience fear responses after or during a lie. So why do we still use them in the court of law? Because it can benefit either the defense or state depending on the results and then you can always dispute the reliability of the test. If you know of the movie Meet the Parents I’m sure you remember the father giving his future son-in-law a lie detector test to get into his “circle of trust.” Of course, he is rather a failure of a son-in-law in the movie and doesn’t do very well in his father in law’s opinion. The movie portrays the polygraph as a pretty accurate lie detector; which it isn’t! Also, a great number of people administering polygraphs are intimidating and use intimidation techniques to try and force a confession when that person may be innocent. This means that the person is likely stressed and fearful when the question is asked not because they are lying but because they are scared that they might go to jail or that people might not believe them, how sad is that? This happens to 40% of innocent people that are required to take a polygraph lie detector test. So, the next time you are watching Maury just know that polygraphs may not be so confirmatory, regardless of how guilty that alleged cheater may look.

Meetings Canceled

Please note that the peer mentor meeting schedule for November 8, 2011 at The Den is canceled. We will return next week complete with plenty of study tips for your upcoming exams. 


Thank you for your input on the surveys. Your opinions help us understand how to assist you better.


Check back soon to see upcoming study sessions.
Thanks!

Bonus Question

The Psychology 203 exams will now feature a bonus question that relates back to our blog posts, in particular, our discussion of popular myths in psychology. 

Please feel free to comment or discuss these myths in the discussion board on Blackboard, it just might help with that extra mark on the exam.

Blackboard

Exciting peer mentor news . . . we now have our own section on Blackboard. You can find our contact information and a brief summary of our roles on Blackboard.

We are also going to be starting discussion groups on Blackboard to answer any burning psychology questions, thoughts, or myths that were driving you crazy. 

Please feel free to comment on our discussion, we would love to hear your opinion.

Popular Myths in Psychology

Myths about Development

Myth: From Baby Mozart to Baby Genius: Does playing Mozart's Music to Infants Boost Their Intelligence?

by Kat Nipcon

There are few qualities in North American culture that are more prized than intelligence. Over the last few decades it has become increasingly popular for parents to employ various tricks to give their young offspring a competitive edge. Due to influences from the popular media and pseudo-science, many parents have tried to boost their babies IQ in hopes of giving them a better start in life.

One method of supposedly boosting an infant's IQ, has been a widely-popularized phenomena refereed to as the Mozart Effect. Follow this link for details: www.mozarteffect.com

It all started in 1993 with the publication of a paper on the effects of Mozart's music, in one of the most prestigious science journals, Nature. The paper itself investigated the effects of listening to various types of sound (Mozart, a relaxation tape or silence) on the performance of collage students on a spatial reasoning task. Check out this link to see what this type of task looks like and try it on your own: http://www.fibonicci.com/spatial-reasoning/test/

The researchers found that those students who listened to only 10 minutes of Mozart's music, showed a significant improvement on a spatial reasoning task. This immediate effect translated into an increase of about 8 to 9 IQ points... You may think that this sounds great...but how does this lead to an assumption that Mozart's music increases IQ in babies?

The original study did not in fact imply anything about permanently raising IQ. It did not even claim that listening to Mozart's music results in long-term enhancement of spatial ability. Neither did the study make any claims about the effects of classical music of abilities of infants. After all, the study was done on a group of collage students, not babies.

These facts did not stop the popular media and toy companies from making the Mozart Effect the next big thing. By 2003, the Mozart Effect CDs had sold over two million copies.

One may ask: How is it that more people did not question the validity of the Mozart Effect?

For one thing: clever marketing to receptive parents explains the vast success of the Mozart Effect products. Another reason is that many people often tend to confuse correlation and causation. For example, studies have shown that there is a positive association between musical talent and intelligence. What that means, is that there is a direct relationship between these two variables, in that as one increases, the other one also increases. Yet, a correlation does not imply that musical talent causes a rise in intelligence, or vice versa. All it means is that these two variables tend to occur together.

In case of the Mozart Effect, toy companies and the media made an erroneous leap from the correlational findings of one study to a conclusion that exposure to Mozart's music raises IQ in infants. Moreover,the claims pertaining to the Mozart Effect became even more exaggerated and distorted over time. All the media attention given to this phenomena affected the public perceptions. According to survey data, by 2004 over 80% of Americans were familiar with the Mozart Effect. A 2003 survey of introductory psychology students revealed that over 73% of them firmly believed that listening to Mozart's music does in fact increase IQ. A few years ago, the coach of a New York Jets Football team tried to increase performance of the players by playing Mozart's music during practice sessions. Some colleges in the states implemented special Mozart Effect study rooms. The public craze over the Mozart effect reached its peak  when Georgia Governor Zell Miller increased the state budget by $105,000 to ensure that each newborn baby will receive a copy of a Mozart CD. Other politicians in the U.S joined the mission to boost the nations IQ.

So is anything about the Mozart Effect real,or is it all clever marketing?

Actually,some of the more recent studies found an alternative explanation for the Mozart Effect: short-term arousal. A study by Jones et al (2006) found that an increase in performance on mentally demanding tasks can be achieved through anything that increases one's alertness. Thus, listening to Mozart's music may cause short-term increase in performance in this manner, but we are likely to obtain the exact same effect by drinking a cup of coffee. So, the Mozart Effect is "real" in a sense that  listening to music causes temporary arousal which in turn increases one's immediate performance. Yet, it is important for us to remember that this effect is only temporary and it is not exclusive to Mozart's music. Nor does it result in increase in anybody's intelligence, including that of babies.

You may think that there is nothing wrong with playing classical music to babies, and you are right. Even if it doesn't magically make them into infant-prodigies, it certainly will have not have negative effects. The only potential downside is the frustration of "ambitious" parents at finding that such miracle products do not work. Thus, the one thing to learn from this story is the importance of being an educated consumer.

Meeting November 3rd - The Den

The next peer mentor meeting is November 3, 2011 from 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm (ish) at The Den. 
Hot Topic: Drinking and Driving . . . . are you going to order a beer . . . we'll see after the debate!


Hosted by Sylvia Tsang

Meetings

The peer mentors all met today to discuss new ideas for our upcoming meetings. Just so you know, the meetings will be getting revamped and we want to know what YOU the students would like to participate in. Any comments or suggestions would be great. 


After all, we are here to make your first year experience better, so what is it we can do to improve?

Second Exam Thursday

This upcoming Thursday will be your second exam. Take advantage of the study session offered by the peer mentors this week, they know how to write exams after all these years.


Study Session:
When: October 27, 2011
Time: 11:00 am - 12:15 pm
Where: A248
Peer Mentor: Alicia Kassian


Come on out and if anything, refresh your memory of all the terms and concepts banging around in your head.

Popular Myths in Psychology

Myths about Personality

Myth: People’s responses to inkblots tell a lot about their personality

by Kent Bastell

What do you see when you look at this?

I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t wanna know what my answer to this question says about me haha. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one with my mind in the gutter, so many of us (well at least I hope you guys are seeing what I see) would probably be labeled as sex addicts and/or offenders by approximately 43% of clinical psychologists. Why 43%? Well that’s the approximate number of psychologists that use inkblot (also known as projection) tests (well according to a 1998 survey).  How does this test work? Well a psychologist would ask you to describe what you see in the inkblot diagram and would come to a conclusion about your personality and/or your deepest unconscious thoughts. Sounds pretty reliable eh?...not. Research has found no viable evidence that these techniques work consistently. The one area that it does a serviceable job in is that of people with disturbing thoughts like in schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder, but it plays a dangerous game because some studies have shown the inkblot testing to be misleading to psychologists making their predictions less accurate. Plus individuals with disturbed thought patterns would most likely show symptoms regardless of an inkblot test or not. How would you feel after taking this test, if the psychologist, after analyzing your responses, said you suffered from narcissism (inflated self-importance, egotism, vanity, or conceit)? How would you begin to view yourself? Would you start analyzing your every move to “find” evidence of your “disorder?” Chances are you would, because now you have a label put on you from an uneducated guess. Ever heard of a self-fulfilling prophecy? That means that when you look for evidence that you have a problem, you end up finding (sometimes ridiculous) proof of your supposed disorder, thus convincing yourself that you actually have it. Using the narcissistic example, if you begin to see that you look at yourself in the mirror several times a day you might begin to think you are vain and self-absorbed, when in reality you look in the mirror as many times as any one else in the world. This is why labels are dangerous and inkblot tests have the ability to put these labels on people without being a reliable way to test. Sigmund Freud was even skeptical about these tests and we all know how stable he was.  Because when it comes down to it “sometimes an inkblot is just an inkblot”.

Popular Myths in Psychology

Myths about Consciousness

Myth: Researchers Have Demonstrated that Dreams Possess Symbolic Meanings

by Sylvia Tsang

According to Dream Central’s dream dictionary, if you eat macaroni in a dream, it means that you could be in for various small losses financially. According to Freud, in his landmark book, The Interpretation of Dreams, he reported that the dream image of a straw hat with the middle piece bent upwards and the side piece hanging downwards symbolized a man’s genitals. Moreover, the loss of teeth and beheading symbolize castration.

For the longest time, mankind has tried to make sense of dreams images, and since then, countless websites, blogs, and books have been created to explain what could possibly be the reason of dreaming of a house with many doors or falling down 50 set of stairs. I know I have been guilty of standing at my neighbourhood Chapters/Indigos in the ‘Self-Help’ sections for hours and hours looking at dream books which costs about $40-100 each.

However, contemporary scientists have rejected the idea that specific dream images carry universal symbolic meanings. They know that in the early stages of sleep, before our eyes begin to dart back and forth in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, most of our dreams actually mirror the everyday activities and concerns that occupy our minds, like studying for a test, shopping for groceries, or doing our taxes (Dorus, Dorus, & Rechtschaffen, 1971). The activation synthesis theory, proposed by Hobson and McCarley states that when we cycle through REM periods every 90 minutes or so during sleep, various neurotransmitters (chemical messengers) are responsible for generating dreams. More specifically, surges of acetylcholine hype the brain’s emotional centers, while a decrease in serotonin and norepinephrine inhibit brain areas that govern reason, memory, and attention. Hence, dreams are actually just our brain’s best way, to gather together a meaningful story based on a jumble of random information transmitted to it. Hence, these images that we spend hours over thinking what they could possibly mean are actually gibberish.

Therefore, rather than relying on a dream dictionary to foretell the future or help you make life decisions, it would probably be wisest to consult good friends and trust yourself in the end. Still, as far as your dreams go, it may still be a good idea to  avoid thinking about losing your teeth and guillotines. All this being said, if you are sure you haven’t been thinking of lap dances lately, and hence, want to desperately seek some kind of explanation why such an image would make itself present in your dreams, I would suggest this website to satisfy your curiosity.

http://www.dreammoods.com/dreamdictionary/

Hope you are all having a great week!

Popular Myths in Psychology

Myths about Memory

Myth: Hypnosis is Useful for Retrieving Memories of Forgotten Events

by Kent Bastell

Can you imagine that as you are going through your daily routine, minding your own business only to find a police car in front of your house, wanting to question you over a crime that happened at a train station you frequently use? And as you are being taken to the police station, the officer tells you that you will have a picture taken of you and put in a lineup for the victim to identify a suspect for yesterdays attempted murder. By this point you would probably be really confused and most likely start to freak out when two weeks later the victim who has notified police that he is 100% confident that you are the one who assaulted him that night. Sure you take the train everyday, sure you were home alone doing homework and no one can vouch for where you were at that time, but you know that your not guilty and there should be enough evidence (or lack there of) in order to prove your innocence.

Well technically this is how the legal system works, except when you throw a monkey wrench into the equation that comes in the form of eyewitness testimony through regressive hypnosis. Regressive hypnosis is a technique used by some professionals in order to help patients’ retrieve, usually traumatic, memories that they experienced in the past, through “hypnotic” process.

You are getting sleeeeeeepy…which actually means you are might mean you are in the process of making crap up in your head. What if the man who was assaulted was unsure the day he looked at your photo, but all of a sudden became unshakably confident after he could visualize your face while in a hypnotic trance, even though it wasn’t you? How could the victim visualize you doing the crime even though you have never even occupied the same air space as this person?  It’s called false memory. Our brains are constantly trying to make sense of our environment and when it can’t figure it out it creates a story to try and make sense of it. These stories are not always accurate however, as seen in a variety of studies done. A study by Elizabeth Loftus (it’s in one of your textbooks) really highlights how scary false memories are. Long story short, she took a 14 year old kid named Chris and had his older brother, Jim, make up an untrue story of Chris getting lost in a mall when they were younger. Chris read the untrue story along with 2 other stories that actually happened in his life so it “seemed” like it was a legit event. Loftus asked Chris to write down exactly what happened the day of the untrue event. Surprisingly Chris wrote down exactly how he perceive the event saying things like “I was with everyone for a second and after I went to look at the toy store I realized I was lost” Chris’ mom vouched that this never happened and that the entire story was made up.

This is all scary stuff because the suggestibility of hypnosis leaves a lot of room for error when trying to retrieve memories. The situation described above has happened to countless people, where these people have had to serve several years in prison due to a false testimony based on hypnosis, just ask Larry Mayes how 21 years felt in the pen, when he was completely innocent. Approximately 70% of intro psych students believe that hypnosis is effective for retrieving memories, where the number rises among other disciplines. Don’t fall into the trap of taking things at face value, because you may be the unlucky bloke who gets burned by it in the future.

First Exam Thursday

Thursday will be your first Psych 203 exam . . . good luck to everyone. Don't stay up all night studying either; believe it or not, your brain does remember information better if you sleep the night before a big test.

Popular Myths in Psychology

Myths about Learning

Myth: If you’re unsure of your answer when taking a test, it’s best to stick with your initial hunch

by Sylvia Tsang

As most of you know, midterm crunch time is coming up soon, and with this, brings a lot of stress and tension. As wonderful as introductory 200 level courses are, they also come with a bane of existence- multiple choice tests. A test is a test, but many undergraduates have admitted that they would prefer sitting on a bed of nails than write a multiple choice test.

The thing that everyone hates the most about multiple choice tests are often how similar two choices can be, and then they are left debating to oneself whether The U.S Constitution was adopted in either 1770 or 1780. The most widely accepted piece of test-taking folklore is to stick with your original answer. Personally, I can’t even count the number of times teachers and professional figures have told me that. But contrary to the popular myth and what I’ve been told, I’ve never followed that rule. Part of the reason is that growing up, my parents always made me double check my exams twice, back in the good ole days when my parents still drove me to my piano theory exams, they would make sure I stayed the full 2 hours of the exam and wouldn’t come pick me up any earlier than that. They’ve always said “You’re bound to find some mistakes in your answers”. Since then, I’ve just learnt to apply the double checking method to all my future tests that I have written- including ones involving multiple choice.

Scientific findings (Benjamin et al., 1984; Geiger, 1996; Skinner, 1983; Waddell & Blankenship, 1994) have found that when students change answers on multiple –choice tests, they’re actually more likely to change from a wrong word to a right answer than from a right to a wrong answer. In addition, students who change more answers tend to receive higher test scores than other students. This is because answer-changers are higher test performers to begin with.

So why do students believe that changing their initial answers is a bad idea? Research has shown that there are three likely explanations that come to mind. As mentioned above, professors, counsellors, strategic advisors have always said changing answers are a bad idea. So this mistaken belief is spread partly by word of mouth. Research suggests that students are more likely to remember the times they changed their answers form right to wrong than those they changed from wrong to right. Because the bitter taste of incorrect decisions lingers longer than the memory of decisions (“Why the hell did I change that answer? I had it right the first time.”). As a consequence, this rule of thumb, known in psychology as a heuristic becomes a mental shortcut, and leads students to overestimate the risk of committing errors when changing answers. Research also shows that students tend to overestimate how many answers they get right on multiple choice tests, so they may just assume that changing answers is like to lower their score. All this being said, when writing a multiple choice test, we shouldn’t just change our answers if we are just plain guessing if the answer is right are wrong. Changing answers only becomes beneficial when one has a good reason to suspect their answer is wrong.

Wrapping things up, because our gut feelings are just gut feelings and nothing more, it would make sense that we do best NOT trusting our hunches. If we have a good reason to believe we’re wrong, we should go with what our head tells us, not our gut. Keep this blog in mind when writing your next Multiple Choice Test, and don’t beat yourself up for changing your answer. We are only human. Best of luck studying for your first midterm, but if worst comes to worst and you are sitting in ST 148 thinking you’ve never seen the material on the test before. Try some of these ideas in the link below. Maybe you can help lower the class average so Dr. Kadri will scale the marks.

Jokes jokes jokes.

http://chainletters.net/chainletters/71-things-to-do-on-an-exam-you-know-youre-going-to-fail/

Popular Myths in Psychology

Myths about the Brain and Perception

Myth: Is ESP a well-established scientific phenomenon or is it just a pile of nonsense?

by Kat Nipcon

Do you remember those TV commercials you often encounter when staying up till 3am in the morning? I mean the ones featuring a very monotonous, seemingly hypnotizing female voice that promises to help you solve all your current issues, through the use of psychic powers?

It can be pretty mesmerizing, I know…but how did we get on the topic of psychic power in psychology 203? Well, psychic abilities are a part of what is referred to as Extrasensory Perception, which is actually considered by some to be a valid scientific phenomenon. ESP, or Extrasensory Perception currently means “knowledge or perception without the use of any of the senses”.

ESP encompasses such unusual experiences as psychokinesis, or the ability to influence physical objects or manipulate processes by the power of thought alone. Other types of “gifts” include telepathy, a.k.a mind reading, clairvoyance or knowing the existence of hidden or far away objects or people and precognition which refers to the ability to predict future via paranormal means.

Pretty neat stuff? I mean who wouldn’t want to be able to read other people’s minds or predict the future. Everybody of course wants to develop these mysterious brainpowers. That’s why there exists a vast market to aid people in their quest to get in touch with their sixth sense. Hundreds of self-help books, resources and even seminars have been created to help people achieve this goal.

Sadly, in this day and age there is no strong scientific evidence to support the existence of various types of ESP. Many skeptics reason that ESP simply results from people having very overactive imaginations that lead them to misinterpret or misattribute dramatic or unexpected coincidences, as “psychic” phenomena.

It seems that lack of scientific evidence does not stop the media from attempting to convince the public that ESP phenomena are real. People are flooded with instances of ESP in today’s pop culture, especially movies, e.g.: ”Paranormal Activity”, “The Stir of Echoes”,”Hereafter”,”Insidious”, and “The Sixth Sense”. No wonder why so many of us still play with the Ouija board.Check out the links below to find out more about the Ouija board and have a chance to play with one online!

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouija

http://www.brainjar.com/dhtml/ouija/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cma5Zn7xrWU

Thus, it is not uncommon for many people (and that means people other than devoted parapsychologists) to become seriously fascinated by ESP. Does it mean that most people become influenced by those media to the extent that they are blind to the fact that science has failed to support ESP?

Yes, shockingly enough it does. It appears that from the beginning of the world, humans have always fallen prey to this kind of seduction. Consulting the spirits through a crystal ball, reading the future from the deck of Tarot cards, or (stranger yet) trying to convey meaning in disemboweled remains of a bird, are all seemingly valid ways of getting in touch with one’s inner psychic. Sounds pretty medieval, doesn’t it? Stats show that belief in ESP and psychic abilities indeed has a widespread following in today’s society, at least in the United States.

According to the results of a recent poll, 41% of the U.S population surveyed believes in ESP, 31% believes in the existence of telepathy or communication between minds without using traditional senses, while 26% claims to firmly believe in clairvoyance, which refers to the power of the mind to know the past and predict the future (Moore, 2005). More surprisingly still, a survey of attitudes presented by undergraduate psychology students revealed that 73% believed that the existence in ESP was well documented (Taylor and Kowalski, 2003).

This is a striking result, given the fact that there exists a strong movement to discredit cases of “paranormal” occurrences. Many of the famous psychics have been publicly discredited and showed to be nothing but cunning impostors. Below are the links to videos that show instances of psychic fraud being uncovered. Pretty shocking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRc4LkBRjIc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKyzBe0CA2Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuPadpaTwKY&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuPadpaTwKY&NR=1

Also, check out these cool videos featuring a famous psychic “debunker” James Randi:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0Z7KeNCi7g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9w7jHYriFo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7BQKu0YP8Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxMGxz6-oTs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYGjtlgGtY4&feature=related

On the other hand, psychic powers have had many real life applications and have been utilized by such official institutions as the police force. There allegedly have been many reported success stories that involved psychics solving crimes, finding missing children, and the like. Seems like this may be true, but vast evidence suggests that such phenomena are “real” mostly within the realm of popular media. There is mixed evidence as to the validity of use of psychics in police investigations.

Below are the links to various studies and articles about the use of psychics in police investigations.

www.unconventional-wisdom.com/WAW/POLICE.html

http://www.agnostic-library.com/ma/tag/psychic/

www.telegraph.co.uk/.../Police-worker-fired-for-backing-psychic-

www.victorzammit.com/articles/psychicdetectives.htm

www.quantumhealingcounselor.com/.../Pyschics-and-Police-Investig

All this leaves us torn between wanting to believe in the exciting world of the paranormal and trying to figure out if it really occurs in nature.So far no clear answers have been found,but at the same time the evidence against the existence of ESP speaks for itself.Yet,maybe one day we’ll have the scientific advancements necessary to better understand ESP…

Peer Mentor Intros

Welcome to the Psychology 203 Peer Mentors’ Blog. Below you will find our introductions and a little bit about us!

Peer Mentor: Kat Nipcon

In side photo: First on the left.

Hi! My motivation for becoming a peer mentor for psychology 203 comes from more than one source. For one thing, I enjoy interacting with people, especially my fellow students. I really want to be able to contribute back to the student community by making myself available to the needs of first year students. Through my interaction with psychology 203 students, I also hope to gain a bit of coaching/teaching experience that will go hand-in-hand with my aspiration of becoming an instructor in the future. Another reason for me taking on a role of a peer mentor is because I simply love psychology, and thus my goal is to make this subject attractive to the first year students. I want to share my passion for studying psychology and hope that I can make the course material appear both easily accessible and interesting for students. My experience as a psychology student has been excellent. The instructors and TA’s that I have come across throughout the last 4 years have been exceptional people with regard to their dedication for their work and the amount of support they give their students. I really want to share my positive experience of being a psych student with the students in Psychology 203. I hope to contribute lots to my peers’ learning process. My goal is to provide guidance and offer mentorship to ALL students, both those who may struggle with the course and those who get straight A’s. Unlike your instructor, I am a volunteer not a paid employee. I mentor students in psych 203 as part of the curriculum for General Studies 507, a course that is centered on learning to educate and support students. As a peer mentor, my role is flexible, and I am looking forward to see how it changes as the course unfolds. This semester I hope to engage the students in various academic and social activities that will ultimately enhance their experience in psychology 203. I will hold a review sessions before the tests, so that I can assist the students in their exam preparations. I will also hold at least one non-academic event to give students an opportunity to get to know one another.

Email:  kmnicpon@ucalgary.ca

Peer Mentor:  Alicia Kassian

In side photo: Second from the left.

Hello I am Alicia Kassian. I am a third year psychology student with an interest in Legal Psychology. I am planning on going to law school after graduating. I am a good person to come to if you need a study buddy or if you need some study tips in perfecting your study “formula” for success! I am going to be here for you guys and gals if you have a quick question or just need a reward/therapy after an exam at The Den. Thursden has some pretty good drinks and food for good prices. Also if any of you girls are looking for some connections/friends/support throughout your entire university career I am part of a sorority on campus Alpha Gamma Delta. And . . . recruitment for both Alpha Gamma Delta and Alpha Omicron Pi is starting next week! We have exchanges with the other sororities on campus as well as the fraternities. We hold philanthropy events, low fees, and also it looks good on your resume. Come see us at clubs week this week in Macewan Hall, over by Orange Julius or stop by for our first recruitment party on Tuesday night at 6 pm . . . I will let you know the room number as soon as I can. You can come late because I realize this class conflicts! Also, the formal recruitment party for a sorority is Wednesday September 28, 2011 in Science A 124 at 5:30 pm. I hope to meet a lot of you soon. Take advantage of the fact that you have peer mentors! It would have really helped me in my first year of classes!!!

Peer Mentor: Kent Bastel

In side photo: Centre. Only man.

What’s up guys and gals? . . . My name is Kent Bastell and I am one of your new best friends…I mean mentors for the fall semester.

A little bit about myself??

I’m in my fourth and final year of my Bachelor of Arts degree in Psych and lovin’ every minute of it. Let’s just say it hasn’t always been roses for me in post-secondary. My first year in university I decided to go into engineering (yes…bad choice… for me that is bless all the souls of those who have stuck through it) and long story short failed every single class. During this time I was also involved in athletics so between practice, class, homework, and workouts I got really burnt out, not to mention the several nights out with my bruthas. Hit to the confidence? Yes! Feelings of being overwhelmed? Yes! Not sure if I was cut out for university? Yes! Was I going to give up? Hell to the no! So after getting axed from the soccer team due to a low GPA I needed to find something new. I decided to give psychology a try and BAM, loved it! My intro prof was one of the most influential people in my university career and he ultimately helped me become passionate towards the field. I mean haven’t you always wondered why Lady Gaga thinks it’s cool to be born out of a floating egg in front of a live public audience? This story about my prof is why I was motivated to become a peer mentor. I thought that if he could have a huge positive impact on my life, why can’t I have a positive impact on someone else? Or at the very least make psychology interesting and engaging for them. So in saying this I want to be able to give each and everyone of you something out of this class, whether it’s a fond memory or like my prof was for me, being a positive influence for you guys to potentially pursue the field yourselves.  What I hope to bring you all first and foremost is friendship. Seriously, no one can argue that having a friend in class is AWESOME! Am I going to take notes for you? No! Am I going to help you cheat? No! Am I going to give you a noogie while in the process of putting you in a formidable headlock? No!  Am I going to be available for you to chat, socialize, ask questions, and chill? YES! Honestly throughout this semester I hope to meet and become friends with all of you. Secondly, I want to give each of you the best chance possible to fulfill your psychology potential. Yes maybe C’s are your goal, but I want to help push you higher than that. Maybe you are at an A and think: “I don’t need any help, I got this” Well let me tell you this…an A+ isn’t beyond you either and the beautiful thing about psych is that no matter what mark you have, there is always something more you can learn and apply it to your own life. I also want to give you all the opportunity to develop critical thinking about the world around you so that “face value” isn’t what you always take it for.  One thing I want to make clear is that once again I am your friend not your teacher. I will not mark, evaluate, or judge you…good deal right? I am basically a support for you when you need it. Honestly, if you have any questions related to the course, content, or even if your boyfriend Jimmy is being a d-bag and you need someone to talk to, I would be more than happy to listen and provide constructive feedback for you. As for what I am going to do for activities this semester . . . well . . . I get the oh so wonderful task of holding the very first psych 203 peer mentoring meeting next Tuesday September 27, most likely from around class time ends to 9, or later if we’re having fun. The theme will be a meet and greet at The Den. Yes you can have a beer, yes you can order food, yes we will talk about what ever you guys want to. I think it’ll give an opportunity for those who show up not only to meet some of us mentors, but also a chance to meet other people in the class, who knows you may even find someone to sit beside for the rest of the semester. So come chill with me and have a good time.

 -Kent (aka Kenttouchthis)

Email: kent_swede5@hotmail.com

Peer Mentor: Sylvia Tsang

In side photo: Second from the right.

Hi Everybody, my name is Sylvia Tsang, and I am in my third year hoping to pursue a Bachelor of Science with a major in Psychology and a minor in Health and Society. 

And I know what some of you are thinking right now as you’re reading this. Especially those Engineers and Business kids. OMG. ANOTHER Psychology major? You’re in the faculty of ARTS! You don’t know anything! Stop thinking you know everything and what’s best for me. You know what. You’re right. I don’t know everything. And I am confessing that to you right now. I’m not your TA, I don’t mark your exams, I don’t give you hints on what is going to be on the exam. I don’t want you to think of me as ‘helping’ you in this class either. Because I know when someone says ‘I’m here to help you’.  You think, ‘well I don’t need any help. I don’t want to be helped. I can do it on my own’. And suddenly you feel that the person who offered help is in a higher position than you, which makes you almost slight intimidated by them. And I don’t want that at all. I just want to contribute to your learning process by supporting you and interacting with you. I’ll give you advice on how to give oral presentations, review study materials with you, and most importantly, be your friend. When I saw the application form for being a peer mentor, I flashed back to exactly 2 years ago, when I first walked into a lecture theatre filled with 399 other kids. I was fresh out of high school, and scared crapless. I didn’t have a “peer mentor” to help me, and looking back, I honestly wish I did, because it would have made my university experience so much easier. I don’t get paid to do this, I don’t get a co-curricular record for this. I’m doing this because I want to do this. I want to be your friend and mentor you because I know exactly how it feels sitting in a lecture theatre full of 399 other kids. I’m a student myself, and I am still learning how to learn through my role as a peer mentor in a 500 level General Studies Course. Although I cannot guarantee that this will be an easy A option. I can guarantee you that you will learn so much more about yourself and others in this course and I hope your learning experience is as rewarding as it is for me. Because I want to become friends with all of you, my peer mentoring meetings will include very casual and social events where we can all get together and have some fun. I want you to be able to see me as a friend (if you don’t want to that’s okay). But even then, at least I hope you will become comfortable with me and won’t be intimidated to ask me questions.  My peer mentoring meetings will be:  The Den- November 3 . . . since class ends at 6:15. We can all go for some drinks together after wards, and have a good time. Movie Night - Nov 17 I’ll go book a classroom, grab some popcorn, and we’ll watch a movie that has some psychological aspect in it. Be it something that you talked about in class or just a Psych thriller. I hope you all have an amazing semester and I look forward in meeting each of you, seeing you in class and at my peer mentor meetings.

Email: sswtsang@ucalgary.ca

Peer Mentor: Amy Webber

In side photo: First on the right.

Hi everyone!  My name is Amy Webber, and I’m finishing my final year of my Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology.  I first decided to go into psychology on total impulse; I had always thought I would go to art school, but at the last minute I decided I didn’t want to. So, literally two weeks before the application deadline, I applied for psychology without really knowing what it was all about.  All I knew is that I was interested in people and the way our minds work, so I just went with it.  Turns out, it’s really cool.  I think so, anyway.  You don’t have to agree, but I suggest that you convince your professor that you do. (But you can totally tell me if you hate it, I won’t judge:)). So during my degree I became interested in the area of how psychology relates to the law, and specifically, the criminal justice system. In my third year, my professor for the psych and law course showed us a video on how people get screwed over by the justice system and get convicted for crimes they didn’t commit, and how a bunch of social and psychological factors can come into play and lead to completely innocent people being put on death row and executed (for a very recent example, see the case of Troy Davis who was put to death yesterday in Georgia: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/21/troy-davis-10-reasons?newsfeed=true). 

When I realized that I could do research in psychology that could potentially lead to making the criminal justice system more just and preventing wrongful convictions, I knew that was what I wanted to do.  And that’s my passion in a nutshell. I decided to become a peer mentor for PSYC 203 because I know what it’s like to sit in a room with 400 other students for a class on a completely unfamiliar subject and wonder what the eff is going on, stressing over the midterm, and/or wishing I had someone to talk to so I didn’t have to sit around occupying myself with my iPhone Apps while I wait for class to start.  I realized how much of a difference it makes in my university experience when I’m able to talk to people who have gone through a program or a course before me.  It takes a lot of the pressure off, it takes away a bit of that fear of the unknown.  Even if you’re doing perfectly fine with the course material, you never know what random insight someone else can provide that ends up coming in handy, or if a discussion about course work will go off into a super interesting tangent and you end up becoming friends.  There are so many connections to be made in university and I hope to connect with you guys as your support person.  Keep in mind that I’m not a teaching assistant or a paid employee or anything like that (too bad, since I could really use the money to fund my shopping addiction), and I’m certainly not marking you, so you don’t have to worry.  Also keep in mind that although I’ve taken introductory psych and tons of other psych courses and I’ve been in university for nearly five years, I sure don’t know everything, not even close.  But everyone brings their own perspective to things and I hope to share mine with you, and I really hope that you’ll share yours with me.  I really want to get to know you guys and hear what you have to say. So, throughout the term, in addition to posting on this blog, I’ll be holding some meetings, for example, an advice session on things you should know that people don’t necessarily tell you about university. I will also be holding a study tips/final-exam-prep meeting on the last day of class before your final, so hopefully that’ll help alleviate some stress on that front.  Also, as others have mentioned, we’re looking into setting up a discussion board where we can talk about various topics and you can post anonymously if you’re shy.  I’ll be attending the PSYC 203 lecture pretty much every Thursday this term, and if you ever need or want to get a hold of me, I hang out quite a bit in the PSYCHS office (Admin 170), and you’re welcome to pop by any time, just to say hi and chat, or for whatever reason.  (If you’re interested, you can also join the PSYCHS club and have access to our microwave and cheap food/drinks and meet new people. I look forward to getting to know you guys and seeing where the semester takes us! :) Cheers, Amy

Email: agmee.webber@gmail.com

Peer Mentor Liaison: Andrea Halwas

Hello. I am Andrea Halwas, a PhD Candidate in Psychology, Drama and Nursing combined into an Interdisciplinary Doctorate degree. I have a BA Hons in Theatre, Drama and English and a MFA in Theatre Studies. I am the Peer Mentor Liaison for Psychology 203. I have been appointed to make the peer mentoring process easier, and more streamlined. If you have any questions or concerns about the class, the peer mentors, the peer mentor blog or any of the peer mentor meetings, please feel free to contact me. 

Email: arhalwas@ucalgary.ca

Peer Mentor Study Sessions

November 21, 2011

Study Review

Peer Mentor: Kat Nipcon

Time: 12 noon – 2:00 pm

Room: A247B

November 23, 2011

Study Review

Peer Mentor: Alicia Kassian

Time: 2:00 – 4:00 pm

Room: A248

November 24, 2011

Study Review

Peer Mentor: Amy Webber

Time: 1 – 3:00 pm

Room: A247B

December 1, 2011

Study Review

Peer Mentor: Sylvia Tsang

Time: 2 – 4:00 pm

Room: A051

December 5, 2011

Study Review

Peer Mentor: Kat Nipcon

Time: 12 noon – 2:00 pm

Room: A247B

December 6, 2011

Study Review

Peer Mentor: Kent Bastell

Time: 1:30 – 3:30 pm

Room: A247B

December 8, 2011

Study Tips and Review                                   

Peer Mentor: Amy Webber

Time: 1 – 3:00 pm

Room: A247B

Peer Mentors of Psych 203

Psychology 203 has a unique aspect to the course this semester. This is the first time that we will be introducing peer mentors to this 400-person lecture class. There will be five peer mentors and one peer mentor liaison joining our classroom. The peer mentors will be in class everyday and you are all more than welcome to ask them questions outside of class; this includes class-related questions or university-wide related questions. All of the peer mentors are third and fourth year students that have all sat where you now sit and might be able to provide valuable advice going forward in your academic careers.

The Blog

Beginning in next week’s classes, the peer mentors will be blogging following each class. Their blog will cover the topic/theme of this class in a unique way. Each blog will discuss a popular myth in psychology and how that relates to the class at that time. Reading the blog is up to you, but the entries will shed valuable light on the role that psychology plays in everyday misconceptions and myths about human behavior and reading these entries will certainly benefit your understanding of our class.

Peer Mentor Meetings

Each week one of our peer mentors will be holding a peer mentor meeting. Attendance at these meetings is not mandatory, but the meetings could be helpful in your studies. Each meeting will be announced prior to that week’s class so that you have time to organize your schedule if you are interested to attend.

Peer Mentors

Kat Nipcon

Alicia Kassian

Kent Bastell

Sylvia Tsang

Amy Webber