Harlow plus Mraz plus Wray equals MAGIC

This amazing video (embedded above) comes from the students of Brad Wray, AP Psych teacher who's been featured on THSP before (see our posts on his cognitive bias and cognitive dissonance songs). It's a brilliant song about the choice that Harlow's monkeys had to make -- food or comfort? -- set to the tune of Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours." I'm definitely showing this to my students when we review for the AP. Love this!
 
--posted by Steve

Old facilitated communication controversy and new iPad "research"

This recent 60 minutes clip about autistic folks using iPads to communicate reminded me of a Frontline clip I used to show about facilitated communication (that link takes you to google video, which makes me a bit nervous b/c I thought google video was going away?).

The Frontline clip presents a dramatic and compelling story about how a "revolutionary technique" can take hold of a group of professionals, and then goes on to show how careful experimentation reveals that what appeared to be "revolutionary" was actually just confirmation bias. I used to show the clip up to the point of the experimental design and then have groups of students design tests to gather evidence about the validity of the facilitated communication technique. Word of warning: the clip involves accusations of sexual abuse and some of the language gets graphic.

The more recent 60 minutes clip is a great feel good story, and it might be interesting to show after the Frontline video. Is there any chance some of the folks working with iPads are falling into the same cognitive "facilitated communication" traps? What are the similarities and differences?

image credit: http://tweetbuzz.us/entry/78160135/www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7385402n

posted by Rob McEntarffer

Infant Brains and Teenage Brains--Two New Articles

This weekend has been a boon for neuroscience articles.  Below are a couple of articles that we could use in our classes related to development and the human brain.

1)  National Geographic--The Teenage Brain

Printable version of the article
The article begins by asking rhetorical questions about our teens and their decision making process.  The article also deals with a cross-cultural/historical mention of adolescence and its tempering effect on behavior.  The article includes an excellent overview of brain development, including myelination.  Very nice article--but what else would one expect from National Geographic.


2)  The second article comes from NPR--the article describes a book and interview with the authors of Welcome to Your Child's Brain with an article entitled "How to Help Your Child's Brain Grow Up Strong."


The NPR article also discusses brain development, but highlights what infants are capable of which is considerably more than previously thought.  Help a child develop self-control is a highlight of both the book and article. It's another good read.  Also, in the left column of the article are links to other brain books and authors.


posted by Chuck Schallhorn

Watch this baby!

Two minutes of sheer delight - I urge you to bookmark this and play when teaching/reviewing development, or just when you and your class need a lift. Love it!

  --posted by Steve

Critical Period - another TED talk, but it's great! Really!

Yes, its yet another TED talk, but its a fabulous summary of recent research on language acquisition and the critical period. Patricia Kuhl summarizes work in her lab about babies and language acquisition and exactly when the critical period window is "open" and when it shuts. I love how she summarizes what's happening cognitively in babies' minds: "They are taking statistics about the languages they hear." Also, I love her slides - great examples of data representation.

This talk might be a great to show in combination with a discussion about the Genie case study, and your bi or tri-lingual kids in class could come up with great examples of phonemes that mono-lingual kids in your class won't even be able to hear.

posted by Rob McEntarffer

MedicineNet Stages of Pregnacy Slideshow

MedicineNew.com (www.medicinenet.com) has put together a short (23) slide show detailing the stages of pregnancy. Each slide includes an brief explanation of events happening during that particular stage.

While primarily designed for expectant mothers, the slide show could easily be used within a developmental psychology unit.

For more information on the stages of pregnancy slide show, go to http://www.medicinenet.com/stages_of_pregnancy_pictures_slideshow/article.htm In addition, check out the "Ten Principles of Good Parenting" slide show at http://www.medicinenet.com/parenting_principles_pictures_slideshow/article.htm

Myth of Pink and Blue brains?

This recent (and great!) article in Educational Leadership by Lise Eliot summarizes piles of research about gender based brain differences (her conclusion: its much more accurate to talk about "brain similarities" than "brain differences"!)

The article is very accessible and is a good example, I think, of how responsible researchers try to look comprehensively at the evidence and reach a conclusion. This conclusion is also controversial - there is a different article by Gurian later in the same issue of Educational Leadership that seems to contradict Eliot's conclusion. Eliot responds to that article , and then Gurian responds to Eliot's criticism.

This might be a great experience for students - to see researchers disagreeing, and how that disagreement helps the whole field move forward.

posted by Rob McEntarffer

The Human Brain Book by Rita Carter

I've been able to purchase and read several books this past spring and summer.  I will be posting about several of them.  The first summer review is The Human Brain Book by Rita Carter (the subtitle is "An illustrated guide to its structure, function, and disorders).  The book makes for not just a great coffee table book (it's over sized), but also includes a DVD that has some additional features one can use in class. The publisher is D/K, the wonderful publishers whose books are among my favorites.



Oh, how I wish I had a book like this when I began teaching psychology.  From a visual learner's point of view, this book hits the jackpot. It begins with a history of studying the brain, landmarks in neuroscience and photos of a series of brain scans.  You know all those pesky little questions that your students ask, but you're not sure of the answer because your neuroscience course was 20+ years ago and the images (I mean drawings) were in black and white?  This book has those answers.  There are 70+ pages of pictures and explanations of brain anatomy (all the parts, not just the ones in our texts), brain zones, neurons, and research to satisfy the best of us. 

This book has a chapter on the senses, one on movement and control, emotions and feelings, the social brain, language and communication, memory, thinking, consciousness, the individual brain, development and aging, and concludes with diseases and disorders.

Although I have not read every word on every page, just for the illustrations, I am giving this book my highest recommendation.  It is a must for every psychology class.  Order by clicking below.  You will not be disappointed.





Posted by Chuck Schallhorn

Time Magazine Two-fer

Time magazine (July 19, 2010 issue) came out today with a cover story about the "Myth of Only Children."  The article goes over the claims by G. Stanley Hall in the early work of developmental psychology.  The fight of research conclusions attempting to go against popular thought is explored along with the research citations.  Current stats along with various quotes from only children and an examination of families and their decision making process are included.

There is some good background/history of psychology research discussed as well as the social/economic context for having larger families and the current changes many couples are dealing with.

A second article on hoarding and the emotional attachment to things follows the cover story article.  Check it out here at "Cleaning House."  In addition to the disorder, the article examines the television imitations to "Hoarders" on A and E television.


Posted by Chuck Schallhorn

Radiolab--Morality

Take yourself back to the ending episode of M*A*S*H and you'll recall the moral scenario--there are enemy troops all around us.  There are 30 of us on a bus and we need to be absolutely quiet in order to survive.  You have your child in your arms and s/he will not be quiet.  You have the choice--silence the baby (end its life) or allow everyone on the bus to get killed.  What do you do? 

This was the premise and beginning of the episode of Radiolab on Morality first broadcast back in 2007.  At the time, Jad had one, non-parent view.  What would happen after the birth of his first child?  Find out in a later episode short called, Killing Babies, Saving the World.

Radiolab consistently has the most curiosity-driven, quality-produced, entertaining and thought-provoking episodes I've ever come across.  Add the show to your podcast listening and catch up on previous broadcasts while driving. 

Schemas--a great demo

I posted this recently on the AP Psych Listserv:

Schemas are a core concept that I have in all my psych classes--they are the key idea around which I create everything else (except biology).  I use the Drew Appleby Demo on Déjà vu, not for that concept, but for the creation of a false memory based upon our schemas.  The PPT I use is here:
https://sbhs-sbhsd-ca.schoolloop.com/blogdocs

Description of the activity I give I created for a textbook video lessons project and can be found on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVEu3OVh3Uw&feature=related

The debriefing is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2nEM-oT0Kw

The demo has worked perfectly for the past 15+ years.  Feel free to use and adapt.

For an assimilation example, I use "Monster's Inc." and the little girl "Boo" who calls Sully a "kitty."  He's obviously a monster to us, but she does not yet have that in her schema, so she uses what she has available already--furry, with ears, four legs and a tail means "kitty."  So far as I could tell, she never accommodated the idea of monster with Sully--she only had that with Randall.  She distinguished the two.

Chuck

20 Studies that Revolutionized Child Psychology

In the early 2000's, Wallace Dixon conducted a survey of over 1,500 members of the Society for Research in Child Development on studies they thought revolutionized child psychology. Dixon went on the write a book on his results (see below for more information) detailing each of the twenty studies.

His original list as published in the April 2002 issue of Development can be found at http://www.psychology.sunysb.edu/attachment/pdf/20studies.pdf

In my mind, Dixon's list provides an excellent guide as to which developmental studies/theories we should be covering in our high school (AP or grade level) psychology courses.

The Nun Study

In 1986, David Snowdon, then at the University of Minnesota and later at the University of Kentucky, began a longitudinal study of the School Sisters of Notre Dame. The study, centered on Alzheimer's disease and aging in general, has come to be known as "The Nun Study"

Go to www.nunstudy.org for more information. While the whole website has a wealth of information on the study, the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section contains a good, short synopsis.

GMU's Online Resources for Development

Adam Winsler and Susan Keegan of George Mason University's Psychology Department developed a website to assist students in their developmental psychology courses. The site is a primarily filled with links to other websites. A search function is included as well as suggestions how the site can be used by both teachers and students. GMU's Online Resources for Developmental Psychology can be found at http://classweb.gmu.edu/awinsler/ordp/index.html.

As people have an opportunity to explore this site, please feel free to leave your "special finds" in the comment section below. Thanks in advance for your help.

Developmental Psychology Lesson Plans

In the Classroom Resources section of the Discovery Education website at http://discoveryeducation.com/ there are two lesson plans devoted to developmental psychology.

The Building a Baby lesson (http://school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans/programs/buildingababy/) is designed for middle school/junior high students, but can easily be adapted to a higher level student.

The Human Development lesson plan (http://school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans/programs/humandev/) deals with Erikson's eight stages of psychosocial development.

Please feel free to leave a note in the comments section if you try one or both of these lessons.

The Teaching Resource Center at the University of California at Berkeley has developed a Teaching Guide for their graduate student instructors. The website has a page on Theories of Learning which includes information on the cognitive development theories of Piaget and Zygotsky. Either click on any of the links below or go to the introduction page at http://gsi.berkeley.edu/teachingguide2009/learning/introduction.html

		THEORIES OF LEARNING Theories Behaviorism Cognitive Constructivism Jean Piaget William G. Perry Social Constructivism Quiz Yourself

The Psych Files: Mnemonic Device for Erikson's Eight Stages of Development

Michael Britt of The Psych Files has developed a clever mnemonic to help remember Erik Erikson's stages of psychosocial development. Michael uses common household items within a peg word mnemonic to help students remember all eight stages.

While the video can be found on a number of websites, I thought I would go straight to the primary source. Go to http://www.thepsychfiles.com/2008/08/episode-67-mnemonic-device-for-eriksons-eight-stages-of-development/ to view the clip.

Perhaps Michael, a follower of the THSP blog, would like to comment on how he developed the mnemonic and additional mnemonics on The Psych Files website.

Ainsworth Strange Situation

Free Response Question #1 of 2008 AP Psychology Exam included a section where students were asked to "summarize one main idea or finding" from Mary Ainsworth's studies on attachment.

Students were then asked to "provide a specific example of actions the Smith-Garcias (a fictitious set of parents) might take to raise their child to produce positive outcomes" in the area of self-reliance using Ainsworth's theories.

A number of good video clips exist showing various aspects of Ainsworth's research and demonstrate her "strange situation" study. Wherever possible, I've included multiple sites where the clips can be found.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTsewNrHUHU
http://vodpod.com/watch/1856913-the-strange-situation-mary-ainsworth
http://www.psychexchange.co.uk/videos/view/20206/


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3634664472704568591#
http://www.psychexchange.co.uk/videos/view/20042/

http://www.psychology.sunysb.edu/attachment/

Developmental Psychology on Cliff Notes

The CliffNotes website includes a page entitled "Homework help in Developmental Psychology from CliffNotes" which includes articles on all the major areas of developmental psychology. In addition, the site includes a glossary of major developmental terms.

The homework help can be found at http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/CliffsReviewTopic/Developmental-Psychology.topicArticleId-26831.html The homework help section also includes a webpage for introductory psychology at http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/CliffsReviewTopic/Psychology.topicArticleId-25438.html

The developmental psychology glossary can be found at http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/Section/Developmental-Psychology-Glossary.id-305499,articleId-30164.html

For more information on CliffNotes books go to http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/

Video Clips on Harlow's Monkeys

There are a number of online video clips of Harry Harlow's attachment studies with rhesus monkeys. Wherever possible, I've included non-YouTube links for those of you who have the service blocked by your school's firewall.

Please be aware, there are many other video clips of these experiments available online. I have tried to pick ones which feature both Harlow and actual footage of the monkey subjects. Please fee free to leave other links in the comments section below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLrBrk9DXVk
http://vodpod.com/watch/2638926-harry-harlow-rhesus-monkeys-development

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fg9QCeA4FJs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsA5Sec6dAI
http://video.aol.co.uk/video-detail/harry-harlow-will-it-be-food-or-security/3443433192