idealawg

Stories about fascinating research, including a law prof who digs up very old bones

Bet you'll enjoy at least one or two of these stories of unique academic research told in "Journeys of Discovery" (Washington Post). You can read about law professor James E. Starrs who looks at old bones to dig up answers to such questions as  "whether famous explorer Meriwether Lewis actually committed suicide -- or was murdered." Read the Starrs story.

Read about Todd Kashdan who is curious about the benefits of curiosity. (I've blogged about Kashdan before.)

John Conkling teaches a class in pyrotechics.

In the lab, students see how to make flames white, red, yellow, blue, even such subtle shades as peach and honeydew melon. They learn how to create thick smoke, ash that squirms and writhes and coils up like a snake, or a quick, brilliant burst of light.

Click for Conkling's story.

Read more research tales here.

Happy Halloween: Listen to an interview of Dr. Steven Schlozman, expert on zombies (and learn about your brain)

Psychiatrist Schlozman has achieved some fame by looking at the human brain through the lens of the zombie brain. He also has a related book coming out soon. Did you know a zombie has some problems with her frontal lobe and her anterior cingulate cortex, and a very active amydala? Listen to this interview to learn more about your brain and that of the zombie, as well as why zombies are zombies. Don't miss it! Great fun and some serious neuroeducation for today's holiday.

Some past posts about Dr. Schlozman:

• More about your brain from Harvard's zombie expert
• All you need to know about your brain can be learned in NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
• A fun and very novel way to learn about your brain
  

Attention: The way to immunize against other people's moods

Of course we catch moods from other people; doing so is often a good lubricant of social interaction. Sometimes we want to catch moods—and sometimes we do not. For when we don't, there is a method of strengthening our emotional immune system which I will mention in a moment.

The contagion of moods is well-researched. For example, from "Emotional pandemic creates herds of bulls, bears" (St. Petersburg Times):

Peter Totterdell, a professor at the University of Sheffield in England, says, "If you put two people in a room facing each other, without talking to each other, their moods will converge, or more likely, the mood of the less expressive person will move toward the mood of the more expressive person."

But it turns out that for emotions to spread, two people don't have to be in the same room. They don't even have to know each other. Emotions can be transmitted through mass media and can extend far beyond their originators.

This emotional contagion can affect the financial landscape.

Studies show that in good times, when an optimistic mood pervades, speculative stocks do best, while in bad times investors' emotions push them to seek greater safety. And preliminary research suggests that the mood reflected in media coverage of the stock market after the closing bell tends to presage stock movement at the next morning's opening, even when you control for more tangible factors.

"Unquestionably," [Sigal] Barsade says, "people's moods are influencing large-scale systems."

I was happy to see that the antidote of which I was thinking as I read the article was eventually mentioned by the writer.

How, then, do you stop yourself from catching a bad bug?

Immunity is impossible, and probably not advisable, since some amount of emotional contagion is integral to social interaction ... . As Totterdell, the professor, says, "Emotions would serve no purpose if they didn't help us learn and be attuned to our environment."

But if you want more control, first know that to catch emotions from certain people, you need to be paying attention to those people, so choosing where you place your attention is key. ...

Once again the power of attention is affirmed. As a ardent advocate of the importance of attention (here's a past post on attention), I applaud this mention of its use. To whom are you paying attention?

Blog Glob: "Kellogg study: outsiders effective leaders"

Excerpt:

A study by Kellogg Prof. Adam Galinsky challenges the notion that promoting from within is the best option ... .

Galinsky said his research shows a failed course of action by business leadership is often perpetuated by new leadership that shares a “psychological connection” to its predecessor.
...

“The idea of an insider versus an outsider depends on the current state of the organization,” he said.

...

Galinsky’s study, “Vicarious entrapment: Your sunk costs, my escalation of commitment” will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. Galinsky said his research centered on the idea of “escalation of commitment,” a theory that was pioneered in the 1970s by former NU Psychology Prof. Barry Staw.

Escalation of commitment is “throwing good money after a bad initial decision,” said Brian Gunia, a fourth-year Kellogg doctoral candidate who assisted Galinsky in his research.

“We were looking at cases in which the initial decision-maker has done something wrong,” Gunia said, “And you, as second decision-maker, are stepping into the decision.”

Gunia said their research showed when the second decision-maker had some sort of “psychological connection” to the first decision-maker, he was “more likely to escalate on (the initial decision maker’s) behalf,” even if it meant following a failed course of action.

Click to read the rest of "Kellogg study: outsiders effective leaders" (Daily Northwestern).

Podcast: "Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction"

From the Allan Handleman radio show site:

David Rock, founder and CEO of Results Coaching Systems, explains the neural basis of issues like self-awareness, reflection, insight and accountability.
"Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus and Working Smarter All Day Long" available at www.yourbrainatwork.org

Click to listen. May load slowly.

Note (added November 1, 2009): Another interview of Rock: What are You Challenged by at Work? (TotalPicture Radio with Peter Clayton).

What will absorb you this weekend? The treat of absolute attention

Being completely immersed in something can be a wonderful state. It can tame your inner wild things. And that to which you give rapt attention can even define you. I read a nice column this morning that reminded me to observe what absorbs me this weekend, and to make sure I am absorbed. From "When one's deeply, vitally alive" (Telegraph-Journal):

What does absorb you? It can be a jigsaw puzzle, intricate embroidery, reading, of course, especially a suspenseful mystery, woodworking where complete attention is necessary to avoid making a wrong cut. Anything that stops your inner voice from running on and on, reminding you of your imperfections, your chores undone, the rude words that you have spoken. But crafts, painting and writing have been especially created for allowing this absolute absorption. For people who are adept, weaving is a form of meditation, of praying in your own closet.

I can imagine my friend George Fry making his pop-up books, not only engaging the part of his brain that figures out the intricate engineering of paper folding but also engaging the part of his brain that creates beauty and meaning. What room would there be in his brain for that inner voice that dwells on troubles, that chastises about leaves not yet raked?

What will you do this weekend to quiet that inner voice?

How do I conquer the wild things inside of me? Depends upon which theory of personality I believe

David Brooks recently looked at two theories of personality. One he attributed to philosophers and the other to psychologists. From "Where the Wild Things Are" (New York Times):

In ... what you might call the philosopher’s view, each of us has certain ingrained character traits. An honest person will be honest most of the time. A compassionate person will be compassionate.

...

But, as Kwame Anthony Appiah, a Princeton philosopher, notes in his book “Experiments in Ethics,” this philosopher’s view of morality is now being challenged by a psychologist’s view. According to the psychologist’s view, individuals don’t have one thing called character.

The psychologists say this because a century’s worth of experiments suggests that people’s actual behavior is not driven by permanent traits that apply from one context to another. Students who are routinely dishonest at home are not routinely dishonest at school. People who are courageous at work can be cowardly at church. People who behave kindly on a sunny day may behave callously the next day when it is cloudy and they are feeling glum. Behavior does not exhibit what the psychologists call “cross-situational stability.”

Brooks says the new movie Where the Wild Things Are illustrates the psychologist's view. He goes on to compare the way in each view one conquers the wild things inside.

In the philosopher’s picture, the good life is won through direct assault. Heroes use reason to

Living in the zone: Another article about physicians learning mindfulness

Pressures have increased in the medical profession. From "How Mindfulness Can Make for Better Doctors" (New York Times):

All of us [physicians] had had the experience of “disappearing” into the meditative world of a procedure [in the OR] and re-emerging not exhausted, but refreshed. The ritual ablutions by the scrub sink washed away the bacteria clinging to our skin and the endless paperwork threatening to choke our enthusiasm. A single rhythmic cardiac monitor replaced the relentless calls of our beepers; and nothing would matter during the long operations except the patient under our knife.

We had entered “the zone.” We were focused on nothing else but our patients and that moment.

But my more recent conversations with surgical colleagues and physicians from other specialties have had a distinctly different timbre. While we continue to deal with many of the same pressures that my mentor dealt with — decreasing autonomy, increasing administrative requirements, less control over our practice environment — the demands on our attention have gone, well, viral.

Extreme multitasking has invaded the patient-doctor relationship.

After describing the problems associated with these demands on attention, the writer then goes on to talk about a mindfulness program for physicians (which I have blogged about here at idealawg).

It turns out that working and living in the zone, not just getting into it on occasion, may be one solution.

Last month, The Journal of the American Medical Association published the results of a study examining the effects of a year-long course for primary care physicians on mindfulness, that 

Is it okay for a sheriff to lie?

In investigating the Balloon Boy alleged hoax, Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden did not tell the truth when he said he believed the Heenes. He admitted this at the press conference last Sunday. Was lying appropriate? Experts are disagreeing about that question's answer.

From "Experts: Lies by law enforcement jeopardize system" (Fort Collins Coloradoan):

During the last two decades, the two largest law enforcement agencies in Fort Collins have deceived the public and media during investigations into high-profile cases, a tactic that has ethicists and criminologists questioning integrity standards.

Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden on Sunday told the world he deliberately misled the public when he said two days earlier he thought the Heene family was sincere when they reported to authorities their 6-year-old son Falcon was floating above Northern Colorado in an experimental balloon.

Alderden's decision to use deception is legal and appears to have assisted investigators in their efforts to determine whether Richard and Mayumi Heene could be criminally liable.

...

Experts in criminology and ethics from around the country have questioned using deception or lying except during dire circumstances, if at all.

"Law enforcement officials in particular depend on trust and (the public's) confidence so people will cooperate," said Samuel Walker, an expert on police conduct with the School of Criminology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and author of "The New World of Police Accountability."

"So when you're just throwing that trust away, you're undermining yourself; you're damaging your own integrity."

I have mixed feelings on the question of law enforcement lying and will be thinking about the matter. I am really torn. What do you think?

Note: Oh, dear! A Balloon Boy Halloween costume. On that, I am very clear about my opinion. Tacky.

Note (added October 23, 2009): Sheriff Alderden's blog post about the balloon incident. It's the entry on October 22.

Talk at U of Colorado biz school - Tuning In: Mindfulness in Teaching and Learning

Wednesday Nov. 4, from 4:30 – 5:30pm, Richard [Brady] will offer a talk, Tuning in: Mindfulness in Teaching and Learning, at the University of Colorado Boulder Leeds School of Business, Room 300. He will speak about how mindfulness-based activities support learning in three ways. They provide students tools to reduce their stress, focus their attention, and encounter material in a deeply connecting way. In this talk each of these benefits will be examined and activities leading to them will be presented. This event is free and open to the public. To learn more about MiEN, visit http://www.mindfuled.org/.

From Colorado Community of Mindful Living.