Nail Biting

There are a many different reasons for nail biting, depending on the person who is doing it. It can simply be a habit, or it can be caused by an underlying disorder like anxiety. One theory is that Nail biting is caused by an obsessive-compulsive personality. Other theories say that nail biting is a form of self-soothing related to increased anxiety. On the flip side, some nail biters sufferers may bite because they're bored and are looking for some kind of stimulation. In many cases, nail biting continues into adulthood as a remnant from the younger years as it has then become an unconscious habit.

Although about 30 percent of children 7 to 10 years of age bite their nails, 44 percent of adolescents do so, about 20 percent of young adults bite and 5 percent of older adults continue the habit. It is also thought that more males suffer from nail biting than women.

The main risks of nail biting are those related to infection. When a person bites their nails down to the nail bed, bleeding can occur, a signal of an open wound. The potential for infection arises because the hands are always touching things, but also because you keep biting it can cause germs from the mouth into the wound. Other risks are not physical, but rather social. People who bite their nails may be embarrassed by their hands or feel ashamed of themselves, which leads to a low self-esteem.

Although medications like antidepressants may help in treating people who wish to stop biting their nails, behavior modification is the more effective way of getting the habit under control. These treatments focus on becoming aware of it and figuring out what may be triggering the response, thought patterns that lead to the behavior and changing the behavior itself. Any type of habit reversal therapy may be effective in treating nail biting if the person really desires to stop and has the motivation to stick with a program that can be quite long.

Music and Behavior

Resource: http://jennifercopley.suite101.com/the-psychology-of-music-a45967

Music is one of those little things that we may love. We may not like all music, but people aren't the only ones who can feel the physical and physiological effects of music. There are tests that make use of animals and plants who feel the effects of music. One of these were a two groups of mice. One group listened to heavy metal and the other listened to classical music. When the heavy metal group was let out to do the maze, they killed each other. The one who listened to classical music went through at a more effective rate than normal mice. Another experiment took use of taking musical lessons versus not taking them. Two groups of boys between the ages of 6 to 15 took lessons and other didn't. The boys who didn't do music lessons did a lamer job at a verbal test than the group who took lessons. The effects of music increased better chances of academic success. Even music helped take the pain from a surgery on a patient versus one without music.

Music is a powerful tool. This makes it very intriguing to study. Why does music make such differences in outcomes? These are questions that music psychology try to answer. Music seems capable of giving a positive outcome and a negative outcome to situations. It is hard to deny that music isn't experienced throughout the world. It is a part of culture, and we have it as well. I think we should all know that music can change the world, one life at a time.

nap time

Summary:

The study shows toddlers between 2 and a half and 3 years old who miss only a single daily nap show more anxiety, less joy and interest and a poorer understanding of how to solve problems, said CU-Boulder Assistant Professor Monique LeBourgeois, who led the study. The results indicate insufficient sleep alters the facial expressions of toddlers -- exciting events are responded to less positively and frustrating events are responded to more negatively, she said.

Critic: No wonder why they cry so much

Impact: Maybe more parents with give there kid a nap

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120103165012.htm

MMPI

Resource: http://psychcentral.com/lib/2011/minnesota-multiphasic-personality-inventory-mmpi/all/1/

The MMPI is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. This is a personality test that is usually paid for and can be administered to find appropriate job placement. This is only one example though of how it can be used. The test can find any abnormalities mentally with a person which is usually for that purpose. There are 10 clinical subscales used for grading the test. The first one is hypochondrasis which signifies the person's compliants about one's body. Depression is second and it obviously measures if the person has clinical depression. Hysteria is the third and it primarily measures poor physical health, shyness, cynicism, and headaches. The fourth one is psychopathic deviate and it measures poor social adjustment and lack of pleasant experiences. The fifth one is Masculinity/femininity and it measures interests in hobbies, aesthetic preferences, and personal sensitivity. The sixth one is paranoia and it measures interpersonal sensitivity, moral sensitivity, moral righteousness, and suspiciousness. The seventh one is psychasthenia and it measures a person's inability to resist specific actions or thoughts. The eighth one is Schizophrenia and it measures overall any abnormal perception or even insanity. The ninth one is hypomania and it measures an unstable mood. The final one is Social introversion and it measures the social introversion or extroversion of a person.

This system helps find abnormalities in people and may lead them to get help if needed. It can also be used to evaluate for job placements. This system can even be used for a use of interest with payment. MMPI is a useful tool in personality and may bring help to those who need it.

What if everyone was as smart as Isaac Newton?

What if everyone was as smart as Isaac Newton?
http://www.livescience.com/17918-humans-intelligent.html
Neuroscientist and professor emeritus at the University of California, Irvine,
Robert Haier, stated that for the first time in human history the concept that
intelligence can be increased is reasonable. If the brain mechanisms
that determine intelligence are understood, then the possibilty that those
mechanisms can be improved or tweaked exists. Haier found brains with higher
intelligence are highly integrated with neural paths connecting distant
brain regions. Less intelligent brains were found to have shorter, simpler
neural paths. People would be able to learn faster and remember more
if scientists can develop a way to improve those long range connections.
Average IQ is a score of 100 and the test doesn't really measure up to
200, but the author proposed what would the world be like if the average
score was 200. It is believed Isaac Newton would have had a score of 200
if he took the IQ test. Earl Hunt, professor emeritus of psychology at The
University of Washington and president of the International Society for
Intelligence Research stated approximately one person in 10 billion would
have a score of 200 and no one is on record with that high of a score at
this time. If we were smarter, we would be healthier and live longer and
have careers that were interesting. We would be able to solve difficult things
like learn a new language in weeks, invent better technology, and would less
likely believe in God. Smarter people are rated as better looking according
to a Harvard University study so the population would be considered better
than average looking. Having a smarter and more attractive population,
however, does not mean we would have a better society because people
would still have the same personalities and emotional responses.

Jellied brains

Jellied brains
http://livescience.com/17800-preserved-brains-mental-disorders.html
Hundreds of canning jars full of yellow liquid and chunks of human
brains have been sitting on a shelf in the Indiana Medical History
Museum. The specimens were collected during autopsies between
1896 to 1938 when the museum use to be the Central Indiana
Hospital for the Insane. Medical pathologist George Sandusky
started studying the brains during the summer of 2010 looking
for genes that contribute to mental disorders. These brain
samples are not tainted by modern psychiatric drugs. The samples
are preserved in celloidin and it took the team a year to figure out
how to extract DNA from the tissues. Sandusky is working on
screening the DNA for genetic glitches associated with
schizophrenia. If the technique works, old collections around the
country could be studied.

working with old brains seems a little creepy, all alone in a lab filled with jars of seventy year old brains is just creepy and would freak me out

Males and females equal in math

Males and females equal in math
http://www.sciencedaily.eom/releases/2011/12/111212153123.html
A new study of international data on school mathematics
performance debunks the myth that males are better
than females at math due to biology. The researchers state
that the differences in math scores are due to sociocultural
factors that differ among countries. The study was published
in Notices of the American Mathematical Society Dec. 12, 2011,
authored by Janet Mertz, PhD and Jonathan Kane, PhD from the
University of Wisconsin. The study used data from 86 countries
from the 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science
Study and the 2009 Programme in International Student Assessment.
The researchers found that boys and girls tend to do better in
countries where females have better equality. The United States
only ranked 31st in the 2009 Programme in International Student
Assessment, below most Western and East-Asian countries.
The researchers recommended increasing the number of mathcertified
teachers in middle and high schools, decreasing the
number of children living in poverty and ensuring gender equality.
It seems like the U.S. should have ranked higher than 31, but the
U.S. also ranked 31st in the 2009 Global Gender Gap Report.
It would be interesting to see where the US students rank today now
that the US has improved to 19 in the Global Gender Gap Report.
The researchers felt gender inequality was the main reason for
poorer math scores for both sexes.