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                 Thanks to ora_mia for permission to use this Photo.

The NMC/EDUCAUSE 2008 Horizon Report (.pdf) is a great resource. Educators and administrators will do well to consider its contents in their planning. I have a small concern. Something about the notion of collective intelligence doesn’t sit well with me. I can’t quite put my finger on it. I can (and have) used the term myself to explain the combined efforts of “the many” in achieving an outcome, solving a problem, or determining the value of a resources (such as voting/rating systems in Amazon and Digg). As a term, it resonates with people - the value of being part of a larger community and sharing and creating information together is valuable, if not necessary today.  I’m not comfortable with collective intelligence - I prefer the notion of connective intelligence.

Derrick de Kerckhove explored this concept in 1997, well before we had the distributed collaboration tools we’re using today. James Surowiecki explored a similar concept in Wisdom of the Crowds. Surowiecki’s book is often misunderstood. He makes the point that people do not think together in coming to certain conclusions, but rather than people think on their own and the value of the collaborative comes in the connection and combination of ideas. Each person retains their own identity and ideas, but they are shaped and influenced by the work of others. (more…)

               Thanks to Curtis Perry for permission to use this Photo.

Since at least the 1930s, mental health professionals in the city of Jerusalem have attested to the existence of a peculiar syndrome affecting some first-time visitors. Referred to as the Jerusalem syndrome, it is described as an intense religious psychosis characterized by delusions, obsessive ideas, or other psychotic symptoms that can affect first-time visitors to the city and can quickly resolve in a matter of weeks. There is a suggested typology of Jerusalem syndrome episodes based on whether there is a preexisting psychiatric history or idiosyncratic ideation involved.

Case histories that have been reported include one individual, who was observed to be dressed in a white tunic and wearing a gilded crown on his head welcomes tourists and pilgrims on their way to the Wailing Wall and proclaiming himself as King David. Being the psalmist, he held a lyre and sang psalms accompanied by occasional preaching. Another case involved a self-proclaimed “messiah” who was observed to guard the entry to Jerusalem and calling on all sinners to repent as he claimed the doomsday is near.  Another individual referred to himself as “Samson” and attempted to move the giant stones of the Wailing Wall “to the right place”. After fighting down policemen who tried to interfere, “Samson” was taken to the Kfar Shaul Psychiatric Hospital in Jerusalem where he was treated and later released. (more…)

Special thanks to Abhi for permission to use this photo.

In biological psychology class, I warn the students that we sometimes take the romance out of attraction by studying things like waist-to-hip ratios and the dilation of pupils when we find someone attractive. So in honor of Valentine’s Day, I think we’ll talk instead about relationships on a larger behavioral scale.Our first study suggests that women might be a bit more perceptive than men when judging their relationships. A group of researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Pennsylvania looked at 97 couples, both married and unmarried, between the ages of 18 and 46. Participants answered questionnaires about their relationships two times: once, from their own point of view, and second, by predicting how their partners would respond to the same issues.

Although couples were highly similar in their responses to the issues in general, the researchers observed some interesting differences. In general, women did a better job of predicting their partners’ responses than the men did. Men showed a tendency to project their own feelings onto their partners, predicting more similarity than there actually was.

Some answers seemed to follow sex stereotypes, rather than reflecting what the couples actually felt. For example, women overestimated their partners’ independence and underestimated their fear of abandonment. Men overestimated their partners’ fear of abandonment and underestimated their interest in sex. (more…)

                             Image courtesy of storyspinn. 

Recently I was contacted by an associate producer from the Dr. Phil show. Are they seeing if I’d be a good guest? It certainly appears like that’s a possibility. So, in addition to getting some very desperately needed help from Dr. Phil and his team, I may one day soon be able to give my bastion of loyal readers a quasi-insider’s view of the show and its’ process. All I can say is, pray for me, and, for now, enjoy this correspondence, edited, of course, for privacy reasons: (more…)

                 Thanks to Robras for permission to use this Photo.

You may have recently seen reports on TV recently about a new wave of online dating sites that match people based on genetic traits.  Although clinical, this method seems preferable to the reality show formula of trapping 100 degenerate men and women in a rented mansion until a final rose, clock, or beat down is won.  There must be a better way to figure out what type of relationship is best for you, right?  The following online test takes only five minutes to complete and promises to provide you with a relationship profile suiting your romantic preferences.  The test was developed by two prominent psychologists and turns out to be rather accurate.  I took it myself before posting this blog.  Let’s just say I have some work to do before my black heart turns gold.  If anyone wants to share their results, we would love to hear from you in the comments section.  This test is fun and insightful.  Take it! 

Ryan Rode
Ashworth University Psychology Program

               Thanks to Eduardo Vedia for permission to use this Photo.

I once worked with an athlete on the U.S. ski team with Olympic aspirations.  The problem was that he was “burned out” and unable to perform at his customary high performance level.  This athlete had heard about my success as a sports psychologist helping athletes who were going through this difficult stage and contacted me.  After hearing his story, I agreed to work with him.  My first effort was to help him get in touch with what he was experiencing.  He didn’t want to leave the team, but thought he had no other option. 

I began by dealing with the issue of time management to see if he could find the extra time he needed for other desired activities.  I also recommended that he take about three weeks off from his sport simply to rest his mind and body.  Obviously, his coaches did not respond to this strategy with much enthusiasm.  Once they realized that the alternative was to remove him from the team, they consented to giving him some time off.  We used this hiatus to work on relaxation strategies and stress reduction.  I also helped him rediscover why he was skiing in the first place.  By the time he returned to his sport, he felt renewed and invigorated.  He was back to his old self.

Many athletes who yield to the initial impulse to get away from their sport when burnout symptoms set in are left with a lifelong sense of regret and dissatisfaction.  They always wonder what might have been if burnout had not robbed them of the pleasure of competition and the pursuit of victory.  For those willing to seek the intervention of a skilled and understanding sport psychology consultant, the result can be quite positive.  It really is possible to “have it all”—high-level achievement and a life outside one’s sport.

Take a moment to consider your own athletic experiences and the negative feelings you may have had at times about participating in your sport(s).  Ask yourself if the decisions you made at the time were the right ones for you.  Would you have made other choices if you knew then what you know now?  Whatever your response, never forget that life is ahead of you, not behind.  There’s still time to “get it right.”

Nicole Detling Miller, M.S.
Sport Psychology Instructor
Ashworth University

Special thanks to Samson for permission to use this photo.

Although cognitive dissonance is a powerful, well-known predictor of human thought and behaviour, its limits are less well understood.

People often display a striking ability to change both their behaviour and their view of the world to try and make it self-consistent. For example, people will interpret seemingly inconsistent information to support their own view of the world and they will adjust their attitudes to make it consistent with their behaviour. One example is that people often value a club or society more if it is harder to get into, even if it turns out to be rubbish.

Psychologists have labelled the cause of this drive towards self-consistency ‘cognitive dissonance’. In the classic experiment on cognitive dissonance conducted in the late 1950s experimenters discovered that people will work extraordinarily hard to present a consistent front to the world.

Perhaps because of the bewildering contrariness people sometimes display, it has become one of the most heavily researched concepts in social psychology. But since the original discovery of cognitive dissonance researchers have probed its boundaries. A frequent worry has been to explain why, if the theory is correct, we are not more consistent. After all, people will frequently display major inconsistencies in their thoughts and behaviour without appearing to suffer any crippling cognitive dissonance.

People will happily explain their reasons for buying a particular dress, choosing a Mexican restaurant for their birthday party or moving lock and stock to Spain. Then, two weeks later, they will cheerfully tell you the exact opposite without any obvious compunction. Surely cognitive dissonance shouldn’t allow this?Click here to read the rest of this entry…