but being overweight may not be that bad...

Heart survival 'higher in obese'

Obesity 'triggers' disease fears

Discrimination against fat people might not be all the fault of bullies, international scientists say.


To me, this point should have been amplified in the article. Not all stigmas are created equally. The stigma of being overweight is said to be one of the last acceptable prejudices. I am worried that many will use the results of this study as a justification of their rejection of overweight people.

For example, the same can be said for racial and ethnic discrimination -- that there is an evolutionary/genetic basis -- but we recognize that only fringe people (KKK members and neo-Nazis) will they use the evolutionary/genetic explanation as a reason for their prejudice.

Brain damage turns man into human chameleon

"In his 1983 fake documentary 'Zelig', Woody Allen plays a character, Leonard Zelig, a kind of human chameleon who takes on the appearance and behaviour of whoever he is with. Now psychologists in Italy have reported the real-life case of AD, a 65-year-old whose identity appears dependent on the environment he is in. He started behaving this way after cardiac arrest caused damage to the fronto-temporal region of his brain."

Abstinence Education Faces an Uncertain Future

Opponents of abstinence education cite a study that found no sign that it delayed a teenager’s sexual debut.

Suicide Findings Question Link to Antidepressants

Two studies suggest that treatment of depression, either with psychotherapy or drugs, reduces the risk of suicide attempts in all age groups, especially during the first months of treatment.

Counseling Democrats to Go for the Gut

Drew Westen, a professor of psychology at Emory University, argues that the Democratic Party should, for the most part, focus on feelings, not issues or facts.

Fear Appeals?

Missing a Larynx, He’s Become the Voice of Antismoking Efforts

Engaging at Any Speed? Commercials Put to Test

In new experiments for NBC, people are observed as they watch commercials in fast-forward mode.


IVs?
DVs. How is that operationalized?





















IV - Viewing: fast commercials/tv shows (normal speed)
DV - engagement
Operationalization: “skin conductance,” heartbeats, accelerometer respiration

In the Classroom, a New Focus on Quieting the Mind

As summer looms, students at dozens of schools across the country are trying hard to be in the present moment in what is known as mindfulness training.

On the Horizon, Personalized Depression Drugs

Genetic tests may soon help doctors find the best treatment for each individual.

Antidepressants Rated Low Risk in Pregnancy

Researchers report that taking an antidepressant like Prozac may increase a pregnant woman’s risk of having a baby with a birth defect, but the chances appear remote and confined to a few rare defects.

Dreams making a comeback

Big dreams are once again on the minds of psychologists as part of a larger trend toward studying dreams as meaningful representations of our concerns and emotions.

Not my syndrome

Williams syndrome — a genetic accident that causes cognitive deficits and a surplus of unguarded affability — is revealing much about what makes us social beings.

Powerpoint

Real Life Adventures by Gary Wise and Lance Aldrich

- yawn --

'Yawning may keep us 'on the ball'

IVs? DVs? (my answers below)





















At the vary least:
IV=experimental condition; levels = breathed nose, breathed mouth, ice pack, room-temp pack, hot pack
watching a video of people yawning was a control - all subjects watched this
DV = # of yawns (which had to have some type of operational definition - opened mouth wide, made non-verbal sound; and I'd have two raters and check to see if there was inter-rater reliability)

I suspect they did this:
IV1= video: people yawning/people not yawning
IV2= breathed: nose/mouth
IV3 = pack: hot/room/cold

same DV

The brain

Drug can dampen down bad memories

The researchers, from McGill University, in Montreal, and Harvard University in Boston, hope their work could lead to new treatments for patients with psychiatric disorders, such as post-traumatic stress.

poverty and mental health

Gary Varvel

©2007 Creators Syndicate, Inc.
Custom comic pages by MYCOMICSPAGE.COM

Adrants

"Adrants, published by Adrants Publishing LLC, provides marketing and advertising news with attitude in the form of a website and daily email newsletter. Written by current and former industry practitioners, it provides insightful, informed, experiential, no holds barred commentary on the state of the advertising and media industries. Editorial covers emerging marketing and advertising trends, cultural and demographic shifts affecting advertising strategies, new campaign launches, viral and buzz marketing, useful industry research and the examination of the industry's shift from old paradigms to new."

Rubik's Cubicle

The Argyle Sweater by Scott Hilburn

©2007 Scott Hilburn
Custom comic pages by MYCOMICSPAGE.COM