Email Updates of the THSP Blog

Many teachers have told us their school system's web filtering systems block access to any type of blog, including educational ones such as ours. While some teachers have been able to get their technology departments to make an exception for the THSP blog address, many others have run into a big roadblock and can only access the blog from home. We might have an alternative for those who can't reach the blog for whatever reason.

Feedburner, a subsidiary of Google, provides a service where they will take daily blog entries and emailed them out to people. You can sign up for the email updates at http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=TeachingHighSchoolPsychology&loc=en_US or using the form box on the THSP blog site. You will then receive an early morning email containing all of the blog entries for the past twenty-four hours. On the postive side, many of you who currently have trouble getting access to the blog will be able to read the postings. On the negative side, you will still be unable to comment or read comments on the postings, search through past postings or use the side column on the blog. Please be aware, some email systems might treat the Feedburner email as SPAM and block it as well.

Again, to subscribe to the FeedBurner emails go to Subscribe to Teaching High School Psychology by Email If you have figured out a different way to solve this problem of access, please leave your solution in the comment section.

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Swine flu and psychology

A quick post to provide some links for talking about the recent swine flu outbreak in your psychology classes. I don't mean this to be a clearinghouse for general swine flu information, though this CNET site is a pretty amazing one-stop site for links to pages with all kinds of information. Please post links that you find on psychology and swine flu below!

The APA has a helpful page about how to deal with the anxiety that may arise from thinking about swine flu. A similar post from PsychCentral says turn off the radio and TV.

Be careful of your sources: Swine flu: Twitter's power to misinform ("in the context of a global pandemic ... having millions of people wrap up all their fears into 140 characters and blurt them out in the public might have some dangerous consequences, networked panic being one of them.")

A special warning to those with OCD.

Dreading the worst when it comes to epidemics.

Swine flu may get worse but right now driving your car is 40 to 100 times more deadly.

In the Durham Herald-Sun our local rising star Duke behavioral economics professor Dan Ariely (author of the positively reviewed book Predictably Irrational) suggests the fear may already be overblown. "Right now, this looks to me like over-excitement," said Ariely. "I hope I'm not proven wrong, but it's very possible there's a lot of over-reaction here."

The Sacramento Bee has more of the amazing photos that you see at the top of this post here and here.

And don't forget to ...

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Psych Teacher Survival Kit--Need Your Input

Good Day Everyone! Standardized testing is upon us. In pondering my career and life, I have often wondered how much better I would have been if I had a mentor at my school or better resources at my disposal (note: I began teaching before the internet was big). To the right is a picture of a survival kit if I were to be stranded in the wilderness. But I have a different idea in mind.

My request is this. In the comments section, I'd like us to create two lists. The first is a "First Year Psychology Teacher's Survival Kit." The second is to create a list for first year AP psych teachers. There will be overlap. I have my own ideas, but would like to tap into the collective wisdom of this group. So please add your idea(s) in the comments section. Consider this a brainstorming list--all ideas accepted. Once this runs its course, I will compile and create a document that I will send to the APA and NCSS for possible dissemination to teachers around the nation.

Thanks,

Chuck

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Using Columbine in your class

I recently finished Dave Cullen's Columbine and highly recommend it. I was teaching psychology ten years ago when the events at Columbine unfolded and I was certainly tuned in as to why it happened then, but honestly haven't followed any news about it since just a few months after the shootings.

That being said, I was stunned at the amount of misinformation that I had internalized and believed to be true about the killings: the killers weren't part of the Trench Coat Mafia, there was no plan to take out jocks because the shooters were being bullied, this wasn't a spontaneous act of anger and what did happen was only a small part of the plan, most of which failed miserably. A number of the myths are described here in more detail.

As usual in chaotic scenes like this one, the study of memory and eyewitness testimony leaps to the forefront. Cullen was on the scene the day of the shootings and saw a marked difference in the interviews of students that day as opposed to what the students were saying later in the week. When students went home that night and watched the news about the shooting they picked up bits of pieces of information and through confabulation created entirely new memories of what the killers were like and what transpired that day. Even the beloved Columbine principal discovered years later that his memory of being initially told about the kilings was completely wrong; Cullen notes that "Mr. D." understands from two witnesses what he is supposed to have done, but holds on to the wrong memory as well because he can see that one in his mind.

Another major contribution to psychology from the book is the analysis of the shooters. Again, from a distance, I didn't pay attention to any differences, but Cullen does a nice job as an armchair psychologist of diagnosing the boys based on numerous journals, writing assignments and video diaries left behind. Dylan comes off as a depressed loner who was bright but suicidal, and just followed the plan laid out for him. Eric, though, is the prototype of antisocial personality disorder: the manipulation, the ease of lying, the lack of conscience, empathy, remorse, etc.

How about you -- did you mention the shootings at Columbine in your classes last week? Were you a teacher or student in '99 and remember experiencing this? Are you surprised at how the myths have been perpetuated? Should Oprah have canceled her program on Columbine last week -- do we indeed give the killers too much attention by focusing on them at all? Have you read Columbine and have your own opinion? Weigh in below in the comments and share your thoughts.

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Optical Illusion Websites

Do a Google search for "optical illusions" and you will get almost two million listings. If anything, there is an overabundance of websites. A few include:

The Planet Perplex Website at http://www.planetperplex.com/en/index.html.

The Might Illusions Blog at http://www.moillusions.com/ has postings going back to February of 2006.

Many people love Michael Bach's site at http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/, especially the following eyes.

The Exploratorium in San Francisco has their illusion exhibit at
http://www.exploratorium.edu/exhibits/f_exhibits.html

Please leave your favorite illusion website in the comments section below.

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Psych in the news

My bookmarks are bursting at the seams! Many of these great links come via the incredible Mind Hacks blog featuring Vaughan Bell-- be sure to check it out regularly. Here's a few articles to get your week started:

• Great interview of Judith Rich Harris by The Frontal Cortex's Jonah Lehrer. Harris was the textbook editor who put the psychology world in a tizzy in 1998 with the release of her book The Nurture Assumption, which challenged the standing belief that parents play a major role in the shaping of their children's personality. Wrong, said Harris, and she pointed out the flaws in a number of research studies to back her assertions. The book is now out in an expanded edition and is a definite must-read for psychology teachers.
• Jonah Lehrer also writes about what we can learn from how the brains of babies work. The article features psychologist Allison Gopnik who has a forthcoming book called The Philosophical Baby (with its own YouTube intro here).
• NPR's Robert Kulwich does a piece on how language shapes thinking.
• The Obama administration is using applied psychology to get people to want the "change [they] can believe in." Vaughan at Mind Hacks wonders where the skepticism is to this approach.
• Discover Magazine looks at The Big Similarities & Quirky Differences Between Our Left and Right Brains.
• Is sex addiction an excuse, not a disease?
• Nature looks at how the MRI is changing the way we view the brain.
• Has the APA been slow to act when its members have been involved in torture?
• Epilepsy not as a storm in the brain, but an anti-storm?
• New Scientist looks at choice blindness -- how do we know what we want?
• An awesome (but long, naturally) look by the New Yorker at how drugs like Adderall are being used off-label to help non-ADHD people do better than before.
• A lecture on the connection between the fMRI and the four humours (!).

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Jane Elliott - Brown Eyes/Blue Eyes

Do any of you use/discuss Jane Elliott's "Brown Eyes/Blue Eyes" demonstration? I always had mixed feelings when I discussed it in my classes. She sometimes called it an experiment, but there are obviously no controls, not much controlled analysis of the data, etc. And the ethics are iffy - I worried about the unseen impact on some of her students. But it can be a great way to start important conversations about prejudice. This article provides some very recent information about Jane Elliott's ideas about the impact of her work. Responses? Any of you use this activity or something similar to it?

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Phantom Limbs and the revenge of James-Lange!

WNYC's Radio Lab has been featured on this blog before, and they are back again with another wonderful psychology related radio story (I listen to it on podcast, or you can listen to it directly from their website). This program, "Where I am", is about brain-body communication, and focuses on both the James-Lange theory of emotion (current studies of paralysis victims seem to add powerful support for their original claim that emotions are caused at least in part by bodily changes) and phantom limb syndrome. Really engaging, fascinating stuff. Ramachandran talks about his work curing phantom limb pain with a cardboard box and a mirror!

On a related note, neuropsychologis Peter Halligan, neurologist John Kew and photographerAlexa Wright collaborated on some striking photographs that attempt to "visualize" phantom limbs. Some of these pictures might be kind of disturbing to students, so preview them first, but they are pretty amazing and a nice example of art-psychology collaboration.

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Online Psychology Labaratory (OPL)

The Online Psychology Laboratory! OPL provides highly interactive resources for the teaching of psychological science. The peer-reviewed materials include online studies and correlational studies, large data sets, demonstrations, and teaching aids.

There are currently over twenty-five different studies students can partake in, each approved by an Advisory Board of instructors from all levels. Most of the activities require a Macromedia Authorware plugin.

Teachers can sign up to have their student's data collected and analyzed at a future date. A Teacher Tour section provides assistance for teachers using OPL in their classrooms.

The OPL can be found at http://opl.apa.org/Main.aspx

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Review Tips for the AP Exam--CDS Version

I imagine AP review in on many of our minds--so much so for me that I posted a blog today for my kids.


Below is my blog post for my AP students. It includes many links and options they have for doing their review. In class, I recommend that they do what works best for their own brain. I also have a review assignment that jigsaw with each other.




Buenos Suertes!

("Luck is when preparation meets opportunity." -Seneca)

=====================






Good Day Everyone! You've got several options for reviewing for your AP test.
First is your review assignment--work on that

1. Read/re-read your textbook


2. Come to class every block and work on FRQs with us


3. Go over your previous exams and quizzes you've received back


4. Use the questions/review documents in your workbook


5. Use the review readings and practice quizzes and tests in your review books (Barron's or Princeton)


6. Use the review materials by your classmates (once they are done and online)


7. Use the Sparknotes review site: http://www.sparknotes.com/testprep/ap/


8. Use the text online resources: Coon and Mitter Online Resources to Use for Review


9. Use the Glossary of Terms from Psychology Matters


10. If you like using videos for part of your review, please see this site: http://www.psychexchange.co.uk/videos/


11. Come to the Saturday and Sunday review sessions to examine and discuss concepts from the course


12. Some excellent review sites that will help you if you use them correctly. http://quizlet.com/ --search for ap psychology terms
    http://www.course-notes.org/Psychology
    http://appsychology.com/
    http://home.mindspring.com/~j-squared/apreviewsite/index.html http://academics.tjhsst.edu/psych/oldPsych/
    http://www.bubbabrain.com/bbsr.php http://www.montereyinstitute.org/nroc/nrocdemos.html http://twoulfemac.googlepages.com/appsych


13. Go to the ETS site for taking the GRE exam--download their .pdf file with over 200 review questions--

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