Echoes through space

A video for someone special

2011-08-21T12:52:00.000-05:00

They know who they are.

Now back to your scheduled silence....

Closed until further notice

2010-07-15T17:25:00.002-05:00

Due to professional reasons, I will not be posting anything here for a while. I suppose it's not a great loss, since I haven't been able to motivate myself to get posts up. Still, it's a little frustrating that it's a blanket restriction, instead of a set of guidelines. But then, the Internet is still a confusing thing to many.

other examples of visual processing

2010-06-29T09:43:00.002-05:00

Okay, previous attempt did not work. I may have to check a few settings in Google docs. Anyway, here's what I was trying to post.

Modern Artist Spotlight - Dave Devries

2010-04-13T20:55:00.003-05:00

I haven't been feeling well this past week. I'm afraid my allergies triggered an episode of moderate dehydration and I spent my time off from work rehydrating. I do have a few science posts planned, as well as breaking my art survey into two smaller surveys. In the meanwhile, I will share an artist brought to my attention by a friend.

Dave Devries uses his skill to bring children's drawings into the realm of super-hero graphic style. He uses real images drawn by children, and with an opaque projector, uses acrylic, airbrush, and colored pencil to make them look realistic. This work became the Monster Engine book. Devries brings his work to the public, letting children participate and teaching college students how to do what he does in workshops and lectures. I love it when adults reach out to children and transgenerational communication occurs in a way that validates the imagination.

Qualitative and Quantitative research - ISO Audits

2010-03-29T15:42:00.003-05:00

It occurred to me after my last post that many people might not know the difference between qualitative and quantitative research. In a nutshell:

Quantitative Research - research where the results are all distilled down to numeric quantities. It is usually recommended during the latter phases of a research project. Questions such as "how many people follow the procedure manual while doing this task?"; "how often is this store robbed?"; or "what is the percentage of improvement in depressed people while taking this medication versus a placebo?" are things answered through quantitative research.

Qualitative Research - is research where the results consist of words, descriptions, and images. It is usually recommended during earlier phases of research projects. Questions such as "what procedures are being used in production?"; "who is responsible for security?"; and "what are the side effects of this medication?" require qualitative answers.

The ISO compliance audit is a qualitative research process. Things like percent of damage returns or wasted man-hours are secondary concerns. What is important are things like:

Do the procedures documented in the process manuals accurately depict what is being used on the floor? Some companies create procedures that have little to no resemblance on how the worker actually does the job. Sometimes it's because the workers just don't care, but other times it is because the documented procedure is not adequate, whether it's out of date, an efficiency problem, or safety issue. It's hard to improve something if you aren't documenting what works and what doesn't.

How are data measured, recorded and analyzed? This is something you should ask yourself whenever you read a research document. All the number gathering in the world is meaningless if the numbers are not handled correctly.

Areas of responsibility and accountability. It's not enough to say "Yes, someone is accountable for this." An ISO auditor has to find out who is the person. Is it the QA manager or the production manager? Is it the financial department or procurement?

Feedback flows. How does the company get customer feedback? How can employees give feedback?

And so forth... The ISO system is developed to help companies not only prove their ability to produced quality products, but also put in place processes that help companies improve their performance and stay competitive in changing markets. It is qualitative in nature because you can't compare diverse companies through the use of quantitative data. It's been tried and it was ineffective. However, that's not to say that there is not a quantitative element in ISO certification. You still need a way to track how effective procedures are and what areas need the most work on.

Good researchers start with indepth qualitative research and then do the quantitative research. Anything else is not good research.

The Importance of Qualitative Research

2010-03-27T00:46:00.004-05:00

For five years I worked as a Quality Assurance Technician/Specialist for a major corporation, before I took time off to be a stay at home mom. Most of my work revolved around routine quantitative tests and research at the national QA lab. However, I had the opportunity to work on some investigative research during that time. One nice thing about doing internal research for a major corporation is that you don't really have the option to put a spin on your test results. There is always an external bottom line that you are accountable to. While in the academic and sales world, some researchers can talk circles around their results and still retain their positions, in the quality assurance world, if your research is faulty, it shows in the product and in the accounting. Faulty quality research costs a company money and can get you fired.

During my time in the QA field, I learned several things about research. First off, it's extremely easy to end up measuring the wrong thing. I cannot emphasis that point enough. During my first year, I was the technician for a new engineer, and he and I found this out firsthand. We even had a strong disagreement over one test on this matter. I noticed that there was something weird going on with my test results and brought it to his attention. He wanted to wave it away, because my results were confirming his hypothesis. If there is one thing I hate doing, it's fudging data. So I told him flat out that it may prove his hypothesis, but as a technician, I was not going to stand by the results. He finally told me that I could repeat the test. I'm sure he was expecting me to back down because he knew I hated doing that particular test, especially for the number of repetition he was asking for. Instead I agreed and then after clarifying that I would be doing the test the same way as I had the first time, I asked if I could switch the order of the samples. He agreed and the next set of results showed that I was right. To the engineer's credit, he then accepted that he was mistaken, listened to my observations, and figured out what actually was going on - and was able to confirm it. A few years later, he borrowed me back from the manager I was then working with, because he had a $5 million bizarre problem to solve and he wanted a technician who would tell him if things were looking screwy.

Between those times I worked for that one engineer, I worked for a manager who had been a university professor at an engineering school before working for the company. I was given the task to compare two types of color measuring machines. (Since, to the best of my knowledge, no one reading this blog is in the flexible packaging field, I'll dispense with the technical names.) The newer one was developed for the auto industry and we needed to see if it could meet our needs. Before I could even begin to compare the two machines, I had to do a search of the literature before I could even have an idea what I was actually testing. I also talked to our R&D packaging scientist and the manufacturer's representatives. I even resorted to going through my mother's old books on painting with color, which provided me with a lot more on the subject than I originally expected.

In short, under the direction of my manager, I did qualitative research before I started anything quantitative. That's because it's the qualitative research that shows you what you should be measuring. Most people don't understand that. When I took the research methods class for my masters, I really had to bite my tongue not to go into an impassioned rant over the necessity of qualitative research as a precursor of decent quantitative research. The R&D scientist I worked with for the color project was brillant and a good deal of his brillance came from the fact that he did his qualitative research before he launched his quantitative research. In the quality assurance world, measuring the wrong thing costs money and jobs. There's no time for weak research based on "well, this sounds like this might be the cause." You need to have solid reasons for your choices before you can even start your tests and in the corporate world, those choices are challenged more stringently than what I've seen so far in the academic world. Of course, this may not be the case on the doctorate level. I hope that is the case when I go back to school for my doctorate, because through my quality assurance training I have developed an obsession with doing thorough background research before I develop a test procedure. This is the reason my capstone is basically a literary review, because I would rather do a thorough literary review than a half-thought out series of qualitative tests.

Actually, I'm not sure I can even bring myself to do testing before doing a literary review. You see, my last job with this company was manufacturing defects coordinator. I was transferred to a plant to help them reduce their packaging defects. The plant management was convinced that the suppliers were sending them inferior flexible packaging. I spent the first few months testing roll stock to confirm that this plant was getting the same quality of packaging that all the others were. The plant manager didn't take that very well and I was told that I had six months to find out what the problem was or my job would be eliminated. For the first two or three months, management kept giving me things they wanted me to test for them as possible causes for their high defect rate. Out of pure preservation, I began to study other possible contributing factors. I used my connections with the national lab to talk to the engineers who trained the trainers who taught the packaging machine operators how to do their jobs. These were also the same guys who followed up on the quality of the machine maintenance people. They assured me that the trainers and the plant maintenance people where I was at were top notched. I talked with the trainers in the plant and made friends with the maintenance guys. It was obvious from their dedication and knowledge that they were, indeed doing their part. It was also obvious through the observed quality of their work, which they gladly let me examine.

I knew we were all missing something, but I couldn't figure out what it was while doing all the tests to make management feel better. So, I took a stand and reminded them that they brought me there because I was a specialist and if they were going to make me accountable for this, then they needed to let me do the job I was brought in for. Again, the plant manager was not impressed, but I figured I was doomed anyway with the way things were going, so I stood my ground. He said he wanted me to do line audits. In the past, I had been doing warehouse audits because no one wanted me to interrupt their production flow. I told him that I would do it on the grounds that I created my own audit criteria. To make everyone happy, I put in every common packing flaw that could be seen by a non-destructive inspection. However, well aware that I still had no idea what the real problem was, I made sure I made a space on my audit forms for comments - just in case I stumbled across a clue or two.

Then I started my line inspections. I hadn't even finished my first bag inspection, when the packaging machine operator came up to me and asked in a surly voice if he was going to see my results right away or was he going to have to wait until his manager yelled at him about them. Dumbfounded, I said, "You don't get my reports?" After he confirmed that was the case, I asked him if he wanted me to make him a copy and bring it back to the line as soon as I finished with everyone. He agreed. During this time, a light went off in my head, as I reviewed the stories I knew about how my dad and maternal grandfather managed their employees. The packaging machine operators weren't getting enough feedback. And if they weren't getting enough feedback, then chances were, based on the first guy's comments, they weren't getting any positive feedback at all. So, in my "comment box" I mentioned specifically what was right about the bags I auditted.

I asked every machine operator if they wanted my reports directly from me. All of them said yes. I instituted what I called my positive feedback program. Sometimes, before I even started checking for flaws, I would write down what looked good on the bag. After a week of this, the machince operators started looking forward to my audits and asked for my opinion on some of their issues. During the third week, I came across a perfect bag. I asked the machine operator if I could display it in the lunchroom with his name attached to it. That bag was followed by others from other machine operators. Three months from the start of my audits and positive feedback, the manufacturing defects numbers had dropped 70%.

It wasn't the quantitative studies that found the issue. It was the qualitative investigation that did the job. The quantitative studies only backed it up. International Organization for Standardization has proceedures it dictates for those companies wishing to be ISO certified. I've actually taken classes on ISO certification a few years back and I can assure you that their quality standards take into account the qualitative aspects of processes too. I'm tempted to pull out my books and give examples, but I think I'll save that discussion for another post.

5 most popular posts here

2010-03-25T20:40:00.002-05:00

I've posting this more out of curiosity to see if this changes over time:

Echoes through space: art therapy in prison
Echoes through space: Due Thursday (It's about an article on what we missed about the 1950s.)
Echoes through space: Erikson's 8 stages of Psychosocial Development
Echoes through space: Carl Rogers
Echoes through space: Psychotherapy

The Many Faces of Suicide

2010-03-22T14:13:00.008-05:00

During my first two decades of life, I strongly held the belief that suicide was the ultimate act of failure - at least for myself. Looking back on the suicides that entered my life when I was younger, I don't remember ever feeling disdain for the victim, but I do remember feeling very confused by their acts. My views on suicide became a little less black and white when a friend of mine took a job in a toxicology lab at a local hospital. Her greatest surprise was finding out that many people who overdosed on their medicines or sleeping pills weren't actually trying to end their life. When questioned after being revived, most of them were operating on the misjudgment that if they could sleep a few days straight or just increase their dosage, their bodies and/or minds would be healed and they would be able to live productive lives again. As she put it, "These people could have killed themselves and have no idea of what they had done until they entered the hereafter."

Another loosening of my views on suicide came when I entered treatment for clinical depression. I insisted quite fervently to my psychologist that not only was I not suicidal, but I would never even considered taking my own life because "that would mean that I screwed up my life so badly that not even God could fix it." He looked at me for a moment and then asked me if I had ever had any self-destructive thoughts or acts. I burst into tears. Despite my beliefs, I had indeed had those thoughts - to the point where I could not leave sharp knives out in the open, because I would have visions of me cutting myself in ways that would have lead to my death, had I done them. It was something I guarded against diligently. Every time I used a knife, it was either washed right then and put back in the drawer, or went immediately into the dishwasher. If neither option was available at that moment, it went under a dishcloth. It had to be out of my sight. I even moved my sharp knives to a separate drawer, so I wouldn't see them while getting other utensils. This experience taught me that even people who believed strongly against suicide, could have those type of thoughts.

Sociologist Emile Durkheim studied the social factors of suicide back in the late 1800s. While we tend to think of suicide as a highly individualistic act, it occurs within a social framework that shapes those acts. His research proposed four types of suicidal acts:

Egotistic suicide - These are people who are not well-integrated into the social network around them. Without the social bonds to fall back on for support and guidance, they are left to face their problems alone. These people can be disaffected for a variety of reasons: they're part of undesirable social group; they're highly individualized people; or they have an illness or disorder that makes creating social bonds difficult.

Altruistic suicide - These are people who are overly integrated into the social network around them. This is the kamikaze pilot, the suicide bomber, and the self-martyr. These people kill themselves in the belief that it will save others.

Anomic suicide - This happens when someone loses their standing in their social network. They are no longer guided by the rules they had come to depend upon, because those rules are either no longer relevant or have completely failed them. These are the people who suddenly lost their jobs or social positions, due to things like financial downturns, divorce, or scandal. Not knowing where they now fit into society, they decide that they no longer have a place in it.

Fatalistic suicide - These people are overly controlled by society, whose only real "freedom" is killing themselves. These people include slaves, prisoners and those oppressed by a totalitarian regime.

But social networks are not the only factor in suicidal behavior. Age and level of development is also a great influence on how and why suicide is committed. While it is a difficult concept for even professionals to come to terms with, pre-adolescent children do commit suicide. It's rare, but it does happen in situations where the family bond is weak (strong families rarely tell each other they wish that other family members were dead), especially if the child knows of others who have committed suicide. Children are more likely to commit suicides that can be dismissed as accidents, such as running into traffic or falling from high places. That's not to say that every child that dies this way has committed suicide--far from it. Accidents still are a major reason for childhood deaths; however, for a child who wants to end his/her life, doing similar acts on purpose is the easiest way to achieve their goal.

Adolescents are one of the most likely groups for committing suicide. It is the second highest cause of death for those between the ages of 15 to 24. The lack of problem solving skills among adolescent suicide victims, as well as the lack of parental bonding and guidance probably explains the cut-off point around age 24, which is around the time that the frontal lobes in the brain have finished developing. So it's possible that even those who have an elevated risk will have improved judgment by then. Rick factors include: poor parental-attachment; deficient problem-solving skills; alcohol and drug use in the family; seeing themselves different than their parents; socio-ecomonic adversity; exposure to sexual abuse; high rates of neuroticism; novelty; depression; anxiety; and conduct disorder. There is also a social element involved. Adolescents are more susceptible to cluster suicides--suicides triggered by other who have committed suicide. The attention give to the first suicide victim after the fact can appear to be the type of validation the following victims hope for, though they fail to take in account that they won't actually benefit from it. For this reason, some psychologists are warning Cornell University to be careful how they memorialize the students who have recently comment suicide there.

Adults over 25 who commit suicide are another class, altogether. For one thing, they are less likely to state their suicidal intentions in direct ways. Instead they will talk about not being useful or not being able to stand their current situation anymore. While some, due to delayed development, will behave similar to the adolescent group, most suicidal people from ages 25 to 65 suffer from anomic stressors like job losses, financial and health problems, loss of a loved one, as well as drug use, depression, and hopelessness. Behavioral signs are very similar to clinical depression, with the exception of gettings one's affairs in order. They tend to withdraw from others and start having troubles with sleeping, concentrating, and eating.

Elderly people are largest group to commit suicide and that's not even including those who commit chronic or passive suicide by letting their illnesses have their way or just stop eating and drinking. The group most likely to commit overt suicide in the US are 85 year old white males. The elderly are the most successful at their attempts and the least likely to give any warning of their intentions. Unlike younger people, the elderly rarely use suicide as a threat. Their reasons are often more calculated than emotional. Lack of finances and increases in health care cost often figure prominently in their decision, though depression, isolation, and lack of activity can be major factors. They will often have everything in order to make things easier on their loved ones. During my gerontology studies, a classmate gave a presentation on senior suicides. I will never forget the story she shared of a couple in their 80s, who not only had a file near them containing all their important papers and instructions for their children, but even went as far as laying on trash bags to make the clean up easier. Even my death, dying, and bereavement textbook gives a similar example of elderly suicide.

One type of suicide risk not covered so far is one I'm not sure the mental health industry really has a proper name for - suicidal thoughts caused by medication. Granted, most of these people probably have other risk factors, but based on personal experience, this is not something to tack on just as a footnote. A few years ago, I was placed on blood pressure medication because while my blood pressure wasn't in the danger zone, it was high enough to cause concern with my other medical problems. The first medication I was put up seriously messed with my attention and memory. I stopped driving my car because twice I forgot how to drive. Luckily, both times were in parking lots, and after a few moments I could call up enough of my memory to get me back home. When it became obvious that this side effect was not going to go away, I was switched to another medication. Within a day, I started to have suicidal thoughts. As a precaution, I put my knives out of easy reach. I challenged the thoughts each time they surfaced. Two days later, I took myself off the medication because not only were the thoughts coming just minutes apart, but when I tried to supress them, I began to get suicidal images. Within sixteen hours, I was no longer having those persistant thoughts. I later brought my blood pressure down dramatically by severely limiting the time I spent with negative relatives.

If you experience something similar, it would probably be a good idea to follow the first aid guides at WebMD for suicidal thoughts and not follow my example too closely.

And a final note: Recent studies have shown that animals do commit suicide. While I expected there to be suicides along the lines as the passive suicide done by seniors, having seen a few beloved pets go through this, I had not expected the evidence of animals committing altruistic suicides to protect their population. I do appreciatiate the following statement: "The big difference is that in modern humans that calculation can go wrong. There are some acts of suicide that do save lives. But most of the millions or so human suicides each year worldwide benefit no one, [Thomas] Joiner explained. They are acts that perhaps used to serve a purpose in early human societies, he said, but have lost their function in the modern world."

Modern Artist Spotlight - Marwin Begaye

2010-03-18T20:36:00.002-05:00

Marwin Begaye is a critically acclaimed Navajo artist, currently living in Oklahoma. He teaches at both the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma City University. His passion is educating Native Americans and non-Native Americans alike on the dangers of the modern diet, particularly diabetes. His prints are full of pop-icon, corporate brands, and macabre imagery, all meant to drive home visually what we are doing to ourselves in regards to our dependence on over-processed foods.

On a more personal note, he's the guy who taught me lithography. And I can assure you that he's a real character, as the pictures in this blog post of another print artist will attest to. He teases people a lot. Especially painting students for not being careful enough with their images. You'd never know by listening to his teases that his first accolades were for his works as a painter. He often uses humor to get his point across. As long as you don't take any of it personally, you'll have a great time learning from him, because he really does want to make his students the best printmakers they can be. He also requires his students to personally relate to their own art, to actually create things representative of them. He's the reason that my American Mutt series focused on all of my ancestry, instead of just a juxaposition of Lenape and Pennsylvania Dutch images.

He doesn't really have a website gallery, so here's a slideshow of images from Flicker of his works, taken by other people. In the center of the show is a hummingbird print that I actually have on a t-shirt, from his class. Of course, having not been worn regularly, the print in the slideshow looks a lot crisper than my beloved t-shirt.

Subliminal stimuli processing

2010-03-15T10:47:00.004-05:00

About a month ago, a friend of mine in the psychology profession, who is a fan of Derren Brown, had me watch this video:

It is an interesting experiment and a very well done one. I like the fact that they included two subjects who were internal controls. I think that it would be a very good idea to repeat the experiment for a larger population, with controls who hadn't even laid eyes on the CD they sent out. Another example of subliminal priming is Derren Brown influences two gentlemen who work in the US advertising industry. Even advertising professionals can be influenced. This video includes the explanation of how he did it. You might want to check out the UK version too.

Another interesting study is the Duke University Subliminal Ad Experiment:

Research=> Automatic Effects of Brand Exposure on Motivated Behavior: How Apple Makes You “Think Different”

This article first examines whether brand exposure elicits automatic behavioral effects as does exposure to social primes. Results support the translation of these effects: participants primed with Apple logos behave more creatively than IBM primed and controls; Disney-primed participants behave more honestly than E!-primed participants and controls. Second, this article investigates the hypothesis that exposure to goal-relevant brands (i.e., those that represent a positively valenced characteristic) elicits behavior that is goal directed in nature. Three experiments demonstrate that the primed behavior showed typical goal-directed qualities, including increased performance postdelay, decreased performance postprogress, and moderation by motivation.

What does this mean, besides the fact that humans can be easily manipulated? These experiments, tricks, and studies show that our minds process information on an unconscious level. In fact, it could be argued that some intuitive may come from this subliminal data processing. (Some intuition comes from the capacity to process things in a global manner.) This ability probably wasn't developed as a means to be influenced, though it probably helps with social interaction, but there is some evidence that it can improve our safety. The Gift of Fear written by security expert Gavin de Becker, suggests that the hunches and gut feelings we sometimes get come from picking up on certain cues that our conscious minds miss. It is a very easy and fascinating book to read, despite it's length. I highly recommend The Gift of Fear to anyone interested in personal safety or even just human behavior.

The way I see it, our minds have to regulate some of the processing of stimuli to the subliminal level because if it was all conscious, we'd get overwhelmed. And while this process can have some undesirable results, it does serve some very important functions.

Project Implicit®

2010-03-14T23:13:00.002-05:00

While writing the previous post on the fly, I touched on the concept of preconceived notions and it reminded me a bit of Harvard's research on hidden biases:

Project Implicit®
Project Implicit blends basic research and educational outreach in a virtual laboratory at which visitors can examine their own hidden biases. Project Implicit is the product of research by three scientists whose work produced a new approach to understanding of attitudes, biases, and stereotypes.

It really is a fascinating site to visit. Several friends and I have compared our results with each other with interesting results. Not to mention insightful conversations on why we got the results we did. It's been a few years since I've done some of these tests. I might have to go back and try them again.

Reasons why kids are sometimes better at technology

2010-03-14T22:23:00.003-05:00

After finishing my masters, I decided I wanted a break before going on to a doctorate program. So at the moment I'm employed doing technical troubleshooting over the phone. While in training, the truism about children being better at technology was brought up. Our trainer confirmed that children were indeed easier to troubleshoot with - because they were better at following directions and did exactly what you told them and nothing more. As a parent, this sounded rather counter to my experience; however as a technician, I've found out that she was right. More often than not, the children I've talked to (after getting the parent's permission) weren't really all that more knowledgeable than Mom and Dad. Of course, as we're often reminded, the customer who actually know what they're doing are usually the last ones to call for technical support, but still there is a pattern between the two populations.

1. Children have less preconceived ideas on how something is supposed to work. It never fails to amaze me the expectations people have of electronic equipment. Despite the fact that they have to replace light bulbs in their homes, flashlights, and cars, there are people in this day and age who still think that electronics should last forever. The fact it comes with a time-limited warantee is completely lost on them. But even more frustrating is the customer who thinks they know how a piece of equipment works and tries to jump ahead of the technician. Children don't do this. They let you tell them what the next step is - even the teenagers.

2. Children focus more on the task and less on the embarrassment. When troubleshooting with a child, there hardly ever any self-esteem problems to deal with. They feel valued just by the fact that an expert is willing to work with them.

3. Children are literal. When you ask a child what is showing on a screen, they will tell you exactly what is on there. If you ask a child if the screen says something specific, they will tell you just that and nothing more. If you ask a child what a cable looks like, they never say it's just a cable.

4. Children are open to being taught. This one is sort of a combination of the others, but I've worked with adults who showed the other traits and still failed in this one. The last thing most technicians want is a customer to keep calling back with the same problem when it is something easily fixed. Also, an educated customer is less likely to panic the next time something goes weird. Panicked customers are always difficult to troubleshoot with.

I could probably tack on that children tend to be more trusting of the technician, but that isn't necessarily why they are better at new technology. And for the record, I've dealt with senior citizens who show these traits and several of them have actually taught themselves to be technically savvy at ages that most people would not thought possible. Elderly women in particular seem good at this. I suspect it is because they don't have the preconceived idea that they have to be experts at it. So you can teach an old dog new tricks, but that can't beat old dogs who can teach themselves.

Modern Artist Spotlight - Julian Beever

2010-03-10T19:43:00.007-06:00

Words really can't do Julian Beever's sidewalk art justice. I've seen him compared to Picasso, which is very misleading. Whereas Picasso went for flat abstractions, Beever goes for hyper-realism by making trompe l'oeil art that creates the illusion of three dimensions. Though I will give you that the works of both artists will challenge your preceptions.

Above is a video of him creating a sidewalk/pavement illusion for Aveeno. In addition to his official website, there is also a Flicker gallery of his works.

Tipping Points

2010-03-08T05:47:00.003-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, a commenter directed me to Change Therapy, a free online book about marketing "soft skills" like therapy by David P. Diana. I'm a little leary of promoting things from sources I'm not sure of, so my first action after seeing the comment was to email the link to a friend of mine who has been a practicing psychologist for over 40 years. His response was not only positive, but there was the hint that it would do me some good too.

I did enjoy reading the book. Among the gems within it, was a revisitation of Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours rule. In a nutshell, 10,000 hours of practice is the tipping point of making one an expert at a skill. Diana extended the rule into an exercise program for one's career.

Yesterday, I visited Positivityratio.com, Dr. Barbara Fredrickson's site. Fredrickson found through her studies that "that experiencing positive emotions in a 3-to-1 ratio with negative ones leads people to a tipping point beyond which they naturally become more resilient to adversity and effortlessly achieve what they once could only imagine." Knowing that negativity is one of my worse inner demons, I've decided to track my positive/negative ratio on her site.

Most of my life, I've been told that it takes 21 days to create a new habit. I've have started several "habits" this way, only to have them get squashed by major life upheavals months later. The thing is I don't want new habits, I want an effective lifestyle where I take better care of myself than I do now. I can't do this by being a "habitist". That's how I developed my toolbox of immediate stress relievers. What I need to do is to become an expert - a master - of personally dealing with stress and depression.

So, how can I apply the 10,000 hour rule here? Well, to make it more manageable, I've decided that I would focus on two things - becoming an "expert" at realistic positiveness and becoming an expert at visual processing. The first is for my health; the second is for a career. If I were to assume that I could apply myself to one of these goals 16 hours a day, then it would take me 625 days or about 22 months to gain expertise. Though that is hardly a realistic expectation, especially since I have health concerns that bring the Spoon Theory into play. If I did an hour a day, it would take me a little over 357 months or close to 30 years to achieve the 10,000 hours by rough estimate. After a few more calculations and based on the fact that I tend to have 5 year cycles in my life, I've decided to make a goal of doing at least 2000 hours of effort to my mastery of these two fields, per year. This means about 5.5 hours a day or 38 hours a week. Luckily for me, I can integrate these tasks in with my other activities, and in fact, I already am to some extent. It might take me a little while to get that going strong, but I suspect that once I do, the 5.5 hour practice will naturally extend itself. And on those days when it's harder, I will remind myself that even if I have been doing it for several months, I still have to reach that 10,000 hours.

Living with Depression

2010-03-07T11:00:00.004-06:00

While I don't feel qualified to make conclusions about happiness, I have spent most my life dealing with depression and anxiety. Over a year ago I wrote the following poem to my depression.

Hello Depression
by Amanda D. Barncord Doerr

Hello there.
I know, we've already met.
In fact, we've been together most of my life.
But I decided it was time for a formal introduction.

You see, I've been operating under a pretext,
The idea that I would one day be free of you.
All I had to do is find the right things to think,
And get the right type of help and support.

But you would just wait until I let my defenses down.
Ambushing me like a tiger in wait.
Giving me a double blow. Sending me into a spiral.
Causing me to doubt my abilities to deal with you.

I've finally accepted that you are a part of me.
That when I fail, it isn't because I am a loser.
It's because you are hard-wired into me.
Through genetics, trauma and happenstance.

Even though you are part of me--you are not me.
I just wanted to make that clear.
Those thoughts or doom and despair are not mine.
They are you speaking to me.

And that's all right.
You can speak to me.
Because when you speak,
I have forgotten something.

However, I have the final word.
Things are never as bad as you say they are.
I want to make sure you know that.
It is time I give you credit for your ideas.

So, here's the head up.
I'm not going to play your games.
We will have to work together instead.
Trust me. It's better this way.

People tell you that admitting the problem is half the battle. They're wrong. It's more like a quarter of the problem, assuming that you're admitting the right problem in the first place. After you've admitted there is a problem and determined what the problem is, you still have to learning how to deal with the problem for the long haul and know the quick fixes for the emergency relapses.

It's like living in neighborhood with a gunman around. Now, admitting you have a gunman around is going to keep you safer than pretending he's not there. You can keep a vigilent eye out for him and take evasive measures, but it still doesn't change the fact that there is a homicidal creep with a deadly weapon around. There's always the chance that you will be caught by surprise. If that happens, there's still the chance that you might survive if you can get first aid and medical attention. But the only sure way to get rid of the gunman is to bring in authorities and change the dynamics of the neighborhood. And if the job is only partially done with no thought and effort beyond the immediate situation, there's no guarantee that the gunman won't return or another gunman won't show up. The solution must have awareness, emergency aid, policing, AND a change of the dynamics of the neighborhood itself through long term planning, which increases the social networking and bonding within the community itself.

Depression is a biological part of me that can only be managed like diabetes. That doesn't mean I am doomed to be depressed and anxious--only that I have to be aware that I am susceptible to it when I don't take care of myself. Realizing that part after attending a NAMI presentation made a very big difference for me, because it was then I realized that I was not a failure, but working under the false notion that I could cure myself from depression permanently.

Of the previous stated needs for a solution, I have the first two down pretty well. I have an amazing toolbox for stress emergency aid. What I don't have is a good social and economic network for myself. I'm not completely without a network, and many a time it has stood between me and total despair, but I am not firmly enmeshed in it, nor is it enough for my needs. What I have is an emergency network, something that is essential, but is more for saving my neck than keeping me from getting that bad in the first place. What I need is a preventative network - or more of one.

Building a preventative social network isn't easy for those of us who never really had one to begin with. The longest I've ever lived in one place is six years. Social networks take time to build. You need to be comfortable with the people around you and they need to feel comfortable with you - or at least not be uneasy around each other. You also have to know your neighborhood and be a part of your community. It's the little strings within the network that can often give us the strongest sense of belonging. Nothing says "you belong here" like being able to recognize local merchants and city workers, and running into church/association members in the checkout line. Being an introvert definitely impedes this process, but even an introvert over a period of time can still develop a strong social network.

A strange thing I've noticed over the past few years of being aware of my interaction with the social networks around me, you don't actually have to have everyone know your problems for it to have a positive affect on your sense of security. The restaurant owners near me have no idea of my daily struggle to keep depression at bay, yet that doesn't stop me from feeling valued as I visit their places and chitchat with them. Granted, I still need people I can talk to and confide in when things get bad and I have to deal honestly with people. Promoting a lie never helps mental health. But somehow when I make an effort to just be more visible within my community, things seem just a little less horrible.

Rereading this post, I realized that in my pride, I have neglected to mention/admit that I do need some policing in regards to my mental health. I spend a lot of time self-policing my thoughts, but it probably wouldn't hurt if I got some extra help as I had in the past. Nothing like having your words public to insure you re-evaluated yourself. In my defense, I am in the midst of improving the policing of my depressive behaviors. One thing I am doing is taking advantage of some of the online resources available for monitoring my moods. Another thing I am doing is being aware of all my moods and selectively talking to different friends when I am very disturbed by something in order to gain an understanding of the situation in positive ways.

Interested in the research on Happiness?

2010-03-07T07:47:00.005-06:00

I'm sure that like me, many people find the research on happiness fascinating. I've done a post or two (three?) related to it in the past. I was about to do another one dealing with the newer research when I realized I was actually recovering territory already covered better by another blogger - Sandy Gauntam, writer of The Mouse Trap. The blog is practically dedicated to the subject of happiness at the moment. She does cover other topics there, though, too.

Here are a few of her posts on happiness research:
Am happy, will be selfish; Am sad, will be fair. Oh Really?!?
Happiness opposed to despair/ennui; sadness to anger/irritability
Am Happy, will talk more and deep; am Sad, will make small talk
Am happy, will seek novelty; am sad, will stick with familiar
Why, Mr. Anderson, why, why do you persist?

Do I agree with all her conclusions? Of course not. I rarely, if ever, competely agree with someone's conclusions. I'm genetically onery and have a family tradition of being slightly rebellious to uphold. However, she does an excellent job presenting the research and to be honest, I haven't really made my mind up on the subject yet.

And for your additional perusal, more articles on the subject from other sites:

Happy, Enthusiastic People Less Likely To Develop Heart Disease
Emotions Interfere in Theory of Mind
The Proof’s in the Positive Thinking

Using the Web in a right brain way

2010-03-06T09:49:00.002-06:00

Pivot is a bit like how the right brain sorts and compares data, looking for patterns, anomalies and relationships. Like the right hemisphere, Pivot relies on global processing and dealing with generalities. I suspect as it becomes more used, Pivot will also specialize in finding patterns that can be described visually, but are difficult to describe in words. And like the right brain, Pivot arranges visual stimuli by appearance, using stored data to arrange parts.

Our right brains take simultaneous streams of information and created a master collage of that moment, using images, sounds, tastes, smells and feelings (both tactile and emotional). It manipulates those streams of information in ways not unlike Pivot's algorithms. What is amazing is that the right hemisphere is better at catching errors than the left. It is easier to prime, benefiting from even the weakest association. It is also easier to update with new information.

The "Dawn of Reason" gave humanity the opportunity to hone many left-brain dependent processes. I foresee this as the "Dawn of Global Analysis", which will hone many right-brain dependent functions in the decades and maybe centuries to come. I look forward to the other data analysis tools that will be spawned by this.

When do we consider someone an "artist"?

2010-03-02T21:14:00.004-06:00

It is said that a writer is someone who writes.

When I consider "spotlighting" a modern artist, I usually select people who are primarily known as fine art artists. This has not been a conscious decision on my part and until today, I really didn't put much thought to the matter. In fact, I don't usually put much thought into it at all. I just come across an artist I find interesting and I post about him/her.

Well, I decided this week that I would do someone who is mostly known as a craftsman and a webcomic artist - "Doc" Nickel, creator of The White Board. By trade, he's an machinist who specializes in paintball guns/markers (otherwise known as an "airsmith"). By academic standards, this might not qualify him as an "artist".

However, let me present the follow piece of sculpture:

Rage by 'Doc' Nickel is a sculpture wrought entirely by hand, each piece of 22 gauge sheet steel was formed using only hammers, wood blocks and small handbuilt anvils. Each of the seventy-nine individual plates are welded to an internal steel frame, all of which is supported by a graceful steel spar over a handmade Red Oak base. - from the website.

Shall we compare it to the cluster qualities of high art?

1) Direct Pleasure - yep.
2) Skill and virtuosity - definitely.
3) Style - check.
4) Novelty and creativity - yes.
5) Critism (or "illicits a positive or negative judgment") - I believe so.
6) Representation - check.
7) Special focus - yes.
8) Expressed individuality - yes.
9) Emotional saturation - most definitely.
10) Intellectual challenge - putting 79 pieces together is definitely an intellectual challenge.
11) Art traditions or institutions - okay, you got me here, but I'm still not sold that this is a valid criterion.
12) Imaginative experience - yep.

Does someone have to make a living at high art to be an artist? No. Poet and painter William Blake made his living as an engraver, printer, and illustrator. Here is my favorite work of Blake's Ancient of Days:

Perhaps Doc will not end up in the art history textbooks, but I believe he is definitely worthy of the title of "modern artist".

How we learn to see

2010-03-01T06:51:00.008-06:00

Pawan Sinha talks about how our brains learn to see, based on his research with blind children and adults in India. Despite what some scientists had extrapolated from animal studies about sight, human brains can learn how to see even after many years of vision deprivation, even into adulthood.

"The one thing that the visual system needs in order to begin parsing the world is dynamic information."

This makes a world of sense when you consider that visual perception is dependent on eye movement. Vision and movement are linked. To quote Wikipedia: "Humans and other animals do not look at a scene in fixed steadiness; instead, the eyes move around, locating interesting parts of the scene and building up a mental 'map' corresponding to the scene. One reason for the saccadic movement of the human eye is that the central part of the retina—known as the fovea—plays a critical role in resolving objects. By moving the eye so that small parts of a scene can be sensed with greater resolution, body resources can be used more efficiently."

Try this. Focus on the red dot in the image below. After a while, the blue circle will start to fade. This illusion is based on how your eyes move.

[If you're like me, you will find it hard to stay focus on the dot once you notice the circle starting to look different. I actually got a headache fighting the impulse to compensate for the lack of microsaccade movement, through the use of gross eye movement.]

Visually thinking and different types of minds

2010-03-01T06:22:00.003-06:00

Temple Grandin talks about thinking in pictures. I am so grateful that she has been able to find a way to verbalize how she visually processes things. There is no way I could possibly match her explanations. I straddle verbal and visual processing, but that doesn't mean that I totally understand a visual mind that doesn't has the access to the verbal skills I have. I know that I use visual processing. I also know that there I have not fully developed my visual processing ability. Verbally and mathematically, I had the training. I've been writing poetry since I was seven years old, thanks to my second grade teacher, who introduced poetry writing as part of an English/spelling lesson.

In this world of internet videos, I hope that more people like Temple Gardin are able to show us how to visually think - not only for those like me who intuit its power extends further than we see, but for everyone's benefit.

Visual Processing

2010-02-28T18:37:00.007-06:00

I am a very visual person. I was raised by an artist and a computer programmer. This gave me access to artistic and flow-charting techniques. My dad used give my siblings and I flow chart templates to make art when we were young. When I became older, he explained what some of the shapes meant and then made a game for me. He'd give me a simple task and I would diagram the steps to do it, using those shapes properly.

As a family, we made almost weekly trips to the public library, bringing home art and music in addition to a multitude of books. Our home library sometimes had better references than my school's library. Arguments between myself and the sister just younger than me were usually solved by encyclopedias at ten paces. My mother made sure we had art classes. My dad made sure we had science lab kits. As a family, we made candles, leather and other crafts. Dad would also print out wall-size mazes which we kids and my mother would solved together. When I learned how to process information, it was not only through the verbal and mathematical means, but also visual and kinetic means.

I'm right handed, left eyed, and I have no dominant foot preference. I have taken math courses up to and including partial differential equations and I have about the same amount of credit hours in studio art as I do math. It probably follows without saying that my favorite math class was analytical geometry. I feel that this makes me qualified to make the follow statement:

Calculations can be done visually as well as mathematically.

Anecdotal evidence: When I was in high school, my mother took one of my classmates and I to an UIL science competition. Between the tests, the contestant schools could work on brain teasers. One of them was a word problem about how much material a sculptor would need if they made a bust twice as large in every dimension. While my extremely intelligent classmate began to do the mathematical calculations, my mother read the problem and immediately gave the correct answer. After verifying it with math, my shocked classmate asked my mother how she did the calculation. She used pictures and hand gestures to explain her thought process. He was totally lost by her explanation, so I gave him an interpretation he could understand. For the rest of the problems, my classmate and mother answered them with their own methods, while I translated between the two of them. In every case, both methods gave the same answers.

Historical evidence: All those wonderful geometry and trignometry relationships started out as a function of the relationships between visual elements such as lines, points, angles, planes and solids. M. C. Escher discovered several crystallography relationships years before the mathematical models, through purely graphical means. While many mathematicians hold Escher in the highest regard and consider him to have had an exceptional mathematical mind, he actually did very poorly with math in school and struggled to understand the mathematical treatises sent to him when he was older.

So, having made put that pet peeve to rest, I will share with you a diagram I made a few months ago showing visual processing as part of the problem solving process. While I do not detail how to do math visually (perhaps I will do that in another post), the diagram does show some of the ways visual processing has brought about solutions -> http://cosmicsiren.blogspot.com/p/diagram-of-visual-processing.html

O’Connor, J. J. & Robertson, E. F. (2000). Maurits Cornelius Escher. MacTutor History of Mathematicians. Retrieved February 28, 2010, from http://www.gap-system.org/~history/Printonly/Escher.html

Modern Artist Spotlight - Baptiste Debombourg

2010-02-22T08:32:00.004-06:00

I love it when my friends send me interesting artwork such as "AGGRAVURE" by artist Baptiste Debombourg, which took 35,000 staples to make.

Thanks, Viv!!

The Fun Theory

2010-02-22T08:02:00.003-06:00

A friend of mine recently did a post on The Fun Theory. So instead of writing up my own post on the subject (which would have been undoubtedly more wordy than needed), I will direct you to her post.

Humor research

2010-02-22T07:55:00.001-06:00

Very interesting article: The comedy circuit: When your brain gets the joke.

So what is a joke, exactly? Most theories agree that one condition is essential: there must be some kind of incongruity between two elements within the joke, which can be resolved in a playful or unexpected way.

It was interesting to find out that it is the way the brain solves the joke that predicts preferences. Especially to find out that resolvable jokes actually create more brain activity than the nonsense jokes many people try to pull off as being more sophisticated:

. . . When comparing MRI scans of people as they viewed both straight and nonsense humour, [Samson] found that straight humour evoked significantly more brain activity than a surreal joke in most volunteers. "Making sense out of opposed scripts and integrating this information seems to be a more complex process than simply laughing about nonsense," she says.

So much for sophistication in general. However, there was a subset of people whose brains did react more strongly to the surreal stuff - experience seekers "defined by a desire to pursue novel sensations, stimulation and experiences, whether it's through art, travel, music or an unconventional living style." It is this subset that probably gave rise to the idea that surreal humour is sophisticated humor. However, like most things, the generalization fails when applied rigorously. It's like saying "puns are the lowest form of humor". Some puns really are lame, but there are some very clever ones, which required a good degree of intellect to pick up on. In a way, punsters are like fighters: the crude ones are the least skilled, most obvious, and often miss their intended mark, while a great punster is like a ninja whose attack hits the victim's awareness moments after it has been delivered.

Another thing that dictates humor preferences is our degree to emphathize with others. Many jokes rely on the "Theory of Mind" - the ability to see something from another's point of view. These are the type of jokes that people with autism don't get. On the other hand, autistics love visual puns, which are more abstract.

Sidenote: While it takes longer for women to decide whether a joke's funny or not, they get a greater sense of reward from the limbic system.

What humor style do you have? is blog post about a study on types of humor. To summarize the summary, here is the stripped down list from Dr. Shock's blog:

Affiliative, use of humor to amuse others and facilitate relationships

Self enhancing, use of humor to cope with stress and maintain a humorous outlook during times of difficulty

Aggressive, use of sarcastic, manipulative, put-down, or disparaging humor

Self-defeating, use of humor for excessive self-disparagement, ingratiation, or defensive denial

Personally, I think most of us use all the types, but there is no denying that we tend to favor one over the other. Based on the feedback I get from people I interact with regularly, my preferred type is probably "self-enhancing". Or at least those are the jokes I am best at delivering. I often fall flat while delivering affiliative jokes and my memory suggests that I'm mediocre at delivering the aggressive or self-destructive jokes.

Modern Artist Spotlight - Mike Larsen

2010-02-15T22:27:00.006-06:00

The art of portraiture is alive and well in Oklahoma. The Chickasaw Nation has artist Mike Larsen among its members.

This painting and two of its subjects was part of the Mike Larsen Elders Exhibit for the Chickasaw nation.

This painting with its subject is part of the Mike Larsen Series II Elders installation. I wish I could give you more links to these series. Currently, there is a television spot showing some of the other paintings and it never fails to move me.

Einstein Quotes

2010-02-14T15:51:00.003-06:00

“If we trace out what we behold and experience through the language of logic, we are doing science; if we show it in forms whose interrelationships are not accessible to our conscious thought but are intuitively recognized as meaningful, we are doing art. Common to both is the devotion to something beyond the personal, removed from the arbitrary.”

“If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?”

“Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.”

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”

"It's not that I'm so smart , it's just that I stay with problems longer.”

“Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.”

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

"Condemnation without investigation is the height of ignorance."

Psychotherapy

2010-02-14T08:34:00.004-06:00

I just thought it would be a good idea to post some of the recent research on the effectiveness of psychoanalytical therapy. The dates are when the stories hit my Google Reader.

First, an article defining Psychotherapy:

What Is Psychotherapy? What Are The Benefits Of Psychotherapy?
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156433.php
Jul 4, 2009
Psychotherapy is commonly used for psychological problems that have had a number of years to accumulate. It only works if a trusting relationship can be built up between the client and the psychotherapist (in psychology "client" can mean "patient"). Treatment can continue for several months, and even years. Psychotherapy may be practiced on a one-to-one basis, or in pairs, and even in groups. Generally, sessions occur about once a week and last one hour.

Some of the types of psychotherapy are: Behavior therapy; Cognitive therapy; Family therapy; Interpersonal therapy; Group therapy; and Psychodynamic therapy. If you take a college class (or two) on counselling theories, you probably will use Gerald Corey's texts, which also covers: Adlerian; Existential; Person-centered; Gestalt; Reality; Feminist; and Post-modern. There is some overlap in the two lists and some of the categories, but I like Corey's stuff because he's good at making the approaches easier to understand. For the curious, I share a study aid I made for myself, using his work: Counseling Theories Comparison Spreadsheet.

Now some research articles. I'll keep the number down for you and I'll send you to professional summaries of the research, so you don't have to worry about reading the highly academic stuff. Don't worry, the articles have the actual research publications citated. It would be nice to have direct links, but there's that subscription thing to consider.

According To New Study, Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Brings Lasting Benefits
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/177110.php
Jan 26, 2010
The eight meta-analyses, representing the best available scientific evidence on psychodynamic therapy, all showed substantial treatment benefits, according to Shedler. Effect sizes were impressive even for personality disorders - deeply ingrained maladaptive traits that are notoriously difficult to treat, he said. "The consistent trend toward larger effect sizes at follow-up suggests that psychodynamic psychotherapy sets in motion psychological processes that lead to ongoing change, even after therapy has ended," Shedler said. "In contrast, the benefits of other 'empirically supported' therapies tend to diminish over time for the most common conditions, like depression and generalized anxiety."

Can Therapy Really Change Your Brain?
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/11/25/can-therapy-really-change-your-brain/
Nov 25, 2009
In the “Clinician’s Digest” section of the November/December 2009 issue of Psychotherapy Networker, Garry Cooper discusses a study led by psychiatrist Jakob Koch of Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel, Germany suggesting that “effective psychotherapy with depressed clients is associated with changes at the brain’s cellular level,” increasing the production of a key brain protein that assists in creating neural pathways. In this study they used Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) which looks through the lens of both cognitive and interpersonal issues. It would be interesting to know how other theoretical orientations would fare.

Psychodynamic Therapy vs CBT Smackdown for Anxiety
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/08/09/psychodynamic-therapy-vs-cbt-smackdown-for-anxiety/
Aug 10, 2009
This study demonstrates that psychodynamic psychotherapy is an effective alternative for the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder, when compared to the more commonly-used CBT. The researchers encourage more studies like this one, and I couldn’t agree more. It’s a timely reminder of the value of the different types of psychotherapies available, not just the kind that might be in vogue at the moment.

Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Gets Some Research Respect
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2008/10/01/psychodynamic-psychotherapy-gets-some-research-respect/
Oct 1, 2008
.... This meta-analysis shows that, contrary to many clinicians’ opinions, psychodynamic psychotherapy can be an effective modality, especially in cases of chronic depression or anxiety, or personality disorders such as borderline personality disorder. It cannot say whether it’s better than other long-term psychotherapies (virtually all psychotherapy techniques and approaches can be used for years, although many are focused on short-term symptom relief and change). And the analysis says nothing to the placebo effect of just being with another human being for a year or more.

Haiku based on the Jungian processes

2010-02-08T04:34:00.003-06:00

Written as Amanda Barncord Doerr - requested by Robin Wiley:

Se - Extraverted Sensing
Totalling absorbed
Sensing current physical surroundings
Searching for data

Si - Introverted Sensing
Internal comparison
Memory-based differences found
Referencing history

Ne - Extraverted iNtuiting
Hidden meanings
Threads of thoughts brought to light
Woven into patterns

Ni- Introverted iNtuiting
Unexpected inspiration
Surety from depths of the unknown
Creating solutions

Te - Extraverted Thinking
Empirically based
Theories and research referenced and organized
Contingencied planned

Ti - Introverted Thinking
Catagories refined
Must find the precise term to describe
Include everything

Fe - Extraverted Feeling
Grace unbounded
Openly friendly and socially approachable
Conversation starter

Fi - Introverted Feeling
Beneath the surface
Sensing the undercurrents in the gut
Values upheld

Blog Maintenance

2010-02-07T11:55:00.002-06:00

Echoes Through Space isn't going down or anything, I'm just going back through my posts and adding tags. Considering how many posts I will be going back through, this is going take some time.

Modern Artist Spotlight - Tom Shannon

2010-02-07T11:04:00.000-06:00

Tom Shannon's visually perplexing sculptures and installations allude to unseen forces better known to physics -- and to Star Trek fans -- than to conventional art.
- Art in America

I appreciate Tom Shannon's sculptures because they are not only aethetically engaging, pleasing and inspiring, but they are also wonders of science and technology, which engage the analytical as well as the artistic mind. The Artist's Official Website and the following TED.com video give wonderful examples of his works.

Gravity-defying sculpture inspired by the sun, the earth, the moon.

As a student of the mind, I am touched by his paintings on a couple of levels. First, the marriage of order and chaos - of math and art. Second, on the level of a creative and artistic mind being clever and resourceful enough to find a way to create works of interest and beauty, even while suffering from Parkinson's Disease. Lastly, and most importantly, of the human spirit to strive in the face of difficulty.

The painter and the pendulum

The Shift of Yin-Yang in View of Cultural Differences

2010-02-01T13:32:00.005-06:00

"Whatever idea you may have, the opposite may also be true." - Derek Sivers

I love the idea of a doctor getting payed for keeping well versus getting paid for treating your illness. Of course, I know of hyprochondriacs who would be delighted to bankrupt a doctor like this. However, I suspect that part of the deal is that the patient is required to follow the doctor's orders, or find themselves in breach of contract. I do know of a case in Japan, where a woman was not told that she had bladder cancer because (at least at that time) Japanese doctors did not believe in disclosing such information to the patient. Instead, she was told she had gallstones. Her husband sued the doctor for malpractice, stating that had his wife known how serious the situation was, she would have gone through with the surgery. The doctor's defense was that had she followed his instructions, she would have lived longer. At the time, the court sided with the doctor.

In an individualistic culture, such apparently blind acceptance of another's judgment is considered by some to be nothing short of blasphemy. In a collectivist culture, it's considered a matter of respect and duty. And recent studies suggest that it might not be as blind as one might think. People in collectivist societies are more likely to read things that counter their personal beliefs than those in individualistic societies. A person in a collectivist society probably is more used to accepting ideas other than their own because they have to. They also have the security of a clearer social code than those in a society where individuality make the boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable behaviors uncertain. In an individualistic society, the need to justify one's self to others is more constant.

The upshot of the study is that those in a collectivist societies are less likely to have confirmation baises. People in individualistic societies have a greater drive to "be right", which leads to a greater tendency to ignore information that might prove them wrong - which is the very definition of confirmation bias.

Ironically, I will have to admit that despite knowing all of this, I still have a hard time with the idea of accepting another's judgment in certain things. I am still very individualistic. However, even as I write this, I can think of areas of my life where I balance this out, of times when I will willingly defer to another's judgment without question. And I strongly suspect that most of us are this way. Individuality and collectivism is a continuum. Take individuality to an extreme and one runs the risk of being antisocial and/or egotistical. Take collectivism to an extreme and there is the possibility of becoming too dependent on and/or enmeshed with others. Look very close at people and you will find collectivism and individuality expressed in countless ways: like the rebel teen who wears the same clothes as their friends or the factory worker who has to alter his issued uniform.

Defining art

2010-01-24T05:05:00.007-06:00

I've recently finished reading Denis Dutton's book The Art Instinct. While I have no problem with making "high art" restrictive, I do think that we are crippling ourselves as a society with the implied idea that any visual product that is not "high art" is defective or worthless. I see art more in terms of "stimulating art" and "relaxing art". It is my experience that if someone doesn't have enough stability in their life, they are more moved by relaxing images, while someone who need more stimulation in their life, whose life lacks any real challenges, goes for the stimulating images. Both needs are valid and both needs can cause great psychological and physical harm if they are not met in some fashion. If you doubt the need for relaxing art, just look at the statistics on stress-related diseases and disorders. If you doubt the need for stimulation, look at the people who turn to drugs, the extreme risk-takers, and the lines at horror movies.

Here is Dutton's list of the cluster qualities that define "art" (or what I am calling "stimulative art"):

1) Direct Pleasure
2) Skill and virtuosity
3) Style
4) Novelty and creativity
5) Critism (or "illicits a positive or negative judgment")
6) Representation
7) Special focus
8) Expressed individuality
9) Emotional saturation
10) Intellectual challenge
11) Art traditions or institutions
12) Imaginative experience

From an economic point of view, the values usually assigned to high art are justified. In fact, high art, as it currently exists, is probably the greatest example of consumerism there is. Even Dutton recognizes this when he writes, "The created work of art may be more impressive if it is remote from any possible use." According to his theories, art developed in humans as a means to signal that one has more than enough resources to spare for a suitable mate. With that in mind, it's not surprising that some people act like snobs about the stuff - they're trying to place themselves above their competition.

After discussing the evolutionary purposes for art and some of its historic importance, Dutton gives us four primary properties of (stimulative) art:

1) Complexity
2) Serious content
3) Purpose
4) Distance (not done to please others)

You might consider reading Dutton's book to get a better idea of what he means with each of these because not only don't I want to infringe on his copyright, but your interpretation of his explanation may be different than mine - especially since, as humans, we all read our own meanings into things. (Sort of contradictory there, aren't I?)

Before I go on to what I call "relaxation art", I am going to give a nod to Dutton's concept of self-affirming art (my term). This is art that helps a person re-inforce a view of themselves. At its best, it helps people to grow and enables a sense of stability of self. At its worst, which is what Dutton talks about when he talks about destructive kitsch (versus charming kitsch), it creates a shallow view of the self, rooted in appearence more than substance. The first type of self-affirming art is usually created by the person, themselves, as a means of self-exploration and integration. The second is often purchased and mass-made. Though, in my opinion, being mass-made is not enough to make the owner shallow. Some mass-made objects act as a means of social identification of shared values, as in reproduced religious works, or a means of group affiliation, such as sports related imagery. As to whether or not these means of group identification can be considered art if they meet other criteria, well, I have no definite opinion on that. Though I do reserve the right to giggle at someone who uses it as a means to declare their uniqueness.

Now, on to "relaxation art", which is as near as I can figure out a concept not fully conceived of in formal terms in our society. We skirt the edges of it, but because it often refers back to the natural world, we humans tend to neglect it as not being as creative as stimulation art. Here is my criteria for "relaxing art":

1) Evokes a sense of peace and well-being (lowers the blood pressure and encourages deep breathing).
2) Like stimulative art, it was done purposefully.
3) Holds the attention of the eye, without "shock tactics".
4) Like stimulative art, greater skill makes it more effective.

I realize that what I am describing exists in some form in many living rooms and offices, in the form of landscapes, cityscapes, portaits and still-lifes. I maintain that there is a good reason for it, especially in this day and age where people are becoming more and more divorced from traditional stabilizing factors in their lives, like working with nature, social traditions, and such. Some of these things needed to be changed, but that doesn't mean that we can ignore the loss of stability caused by the change. Luckily, there are ways of increasing stability and I believe that introducing more natural elements into urban areas is a necessary one. Relaxing art is an easier way for most folks to do the same. If I ever do become an art therapist, I have every intention of having high-quality relaxing art in my waiting area. I want the stimulation art in a session to come from the client, themselves.

While thinking on this topic, I had a vision of some future expert going, "According to our tests, Mr. Thomas, to achieve optimal emotional satifaction and cognitive functioning, the art around you needs to be 35% relaxing, 45% stimulating, and 10% self-affirming." I laughed at the thought, reminding myself that to some extent, we do this on our own - provided we are allowed to and are not shamed out of it. (I was very pleased that Dutton discussed the social pressure of aesthetic formalism in his book.)

Long story short, as long as it doesn't completely surround me to the point I can't find some visual relief, or deliberately offensive, I don't have a problem with most people's tastes in art. I usually carry enough internal images in my own mind to make me happy. What really annoys me is people complaining loudly and incessantly about having their delicate art senses abused. What can I say? I'm sorry that the world doesn't revolve around you. To quote Ramana Maharshi: "Wanting to reform the world without discovering one's true self is like trying to cover the world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns. It is much simpler to wear shoes."

Glassworks

2010-01-18T18:16:00.003-06:00

It has occured to me with all the "heavy" stuff on this blog, I might want to introduce more of the art stuff, if only as a breather. I'm also considering posting more about the terms of art and design. But for now, I'm going to share with you one of my favorite places - the Wimberley Glassworks.

If you are ever in the Austin or San Antonio areas, you should visit. The glassblowers are currently working Wednesday through Saturday from approximately 10:30 to 12:30 and 1:30 to 4:30. When we went, the demonstration was as entertaining as it was fascinating.

Research on Learning Styles

2010-01-16T11:33:00.006-06:00

There have been a major paper on learning styles in the months since I finished my capstone paper. Neurologically, the empirical research is not good for those who ascribe to them. I refer you to the following sources that pretty much shred the idea that learning styles have an actual brain structure foundation:

Springer, S. P. & Deutsch, G. (1998). Left brain, right brain: perspectives from cognitive neuroscience. 5th ed. New York : W. H. Freeman and Company.
Smeets, G., & Merckelbach, H. (1997, November). Panic disorder and right-hemisphere reliance. Anxiety, Stress & Coping, 10(3), 245. Retrieved December 1, 2008, from Academic Search Premier database.
Zalewski, L., Sink, C., & Yachimowicz, D. (1992, January). Using cerebral dominance for education programs. The Journal Of General Psychology, 119(1), 45-57. Retrieved December 2, 2008, from MEDLINE database.

The paper referenced in the article, "Matching Teaching Style to Learning Style May Not Help Students", has caused quite a stir with many educators. However, from what I've read of it (being that I am too poor to go around and subscribing to all these journals to see the full paper), it is quite correct about the lack of solid research and validity on the matter. Based on my own research into the subject, the styles don't really map onto the cognitive functions in a clear and concise manner.

The crux of the matter is that the theory of learning styles does have some usefulness in practical application, just not necessarily to the degree many people want it to have. The main author of the paper is quite right to compare it to the Myer-Briggs stuff - the two theories are very similiar in many ways. They work well in clear cut and dry situations, but most humans are not like that. If you try applying them religiously, you will start having to make exceptions to the point that you have something that resembles the rules for spelling English words.

For me, I see the Myer-Briggs Temperment Indicator (and to some extent learning styles) the same way I see the Lewis Dot]Electron Dot diagrams in chemistry. They can only describe things on the simplest level. Get into more complex personalities (which doesn't mean "unhealthy" ones, many healthy personalities can actually be quite complex and some of the simplest personalities can be very unhealthy) and everything starts falling apart, like working with transition metals. Which makes complete sense to me, because healthy individuals actually change in personality traits over time, due to maturation, mental and emotional stresses, illness/health and other developmental process affecting agents. Some MBTI experts do take this into consideration and adjust for it. It is also possible for chemists using metals to use electron dot diagrams with metals, by keeping a reference of possible electron charges near them. However, there is a great danger on relying on any of these methods for more than a cursory beginning. They only briefly describe the surface situtation. Their premises for the deeper levels have no validity on the scientific level.

It's sort of like knowing that tornados in the middle of the United States usually come from the southwest and go to the northeast. You know that is what normally happens by looking at the destruction afterwards, however, that never stops a tornado from going the opposite direction for a little while, before going back to the normal track. Nor can you really know what path it will travel. And when it comes to personality, learning and cognition, there is no such thing as a straight line between points A and B.

My Capstone Files

2010-01-16T10:20:00.004-06:00

The function of hemispheric asymmetry in regards to perceptions, cognition, and emotions.

Introduction
The intent of this capstone project is to study the hemispheric-specific traits of the brain to identify how these traits affect perception, cognition, and emotion. It is hypothesized that a counselor could theoretically increase rapport with their client by having a greater understanding of how the brain affects the mind. To determine whether this idea has any possible scientific basis, a literary review of professional books and journal articles dealing with brain hemispheres and mental functions was conducted. Research was focused on perception, cognition, emotion, concept of self and ways to identity hemispheric dominance. Personality was also an aspect originally considered, but none of the literature reviewed made any reference to it.

Main Paper
Tables

Conclusions
The hemispheres take on many hats as they work together, outside of the commonly repeated visuospatial and verbal ones. In regards to perception, the left hemisphere acts as a reporter, keeping an ear out for language patterns and detailed information. It looks for past occurrences and hints to future events. The right hemisphere acts as a sentry, constantly scanning the surroundings and looking for anomalies that may signal a threat to the body. Aware of the present moment, it notes distances and forms. When it comes to cognition, the left hemisphere is a bricklayer, breaking down information into smaller parts and arranging it into analytical series. Where gaps appear, the left will cover them with its own version of mental mortar. The right hemisphere acts as a project manager, on alert for mistakes and incongruities, while calculating the relationships of the elements involved. In memory, the right hemisphere cues the left hemisphere with generalities, so it can retrieve memories and link them in sequential order. Emotionally, the left hemisphere relies on the past to guide it, using the models and scripts it has created. While the right hemisphere focuses more on current physical and emotional sensations.

In regards to helping counselors relate to their clients better, this data won’t necessarily lead to a better therapeutic alliance. However, there are other ideas that counselors can take from this information to help their clients. Dr. Taylor’s recovery from her stroke shows how controlling one’s emotional environment can help their psychological well-being. Another lesson from her experience that has not been mentioned here yet, is the fact that when her left brain began to recover some of its scripts, she made a conscious effort not to let the negative ones reassert themselves. Her gestalt therapist probably deserves some credit for this, but it is obvious that the ability to say, “this is just my brain trying to do its thing,” did her a lot of good. When Dr. Taylor finds herself in a mental loop that is harshly critical, counter-productive, or out of control, she gives herself 90 seconds to let the emotional/physical response dissipate before re-evaluating the situation and acting. (Taylor, 2007) Being able to give some clients this self-knowledge might enable them to work with their mental processes, instead of fighting them in unproductive ways.

There is obviously a need for further study in this area. For instance, it is possible that learning styles may positively impact the therapeutic alliance, but the field needs more valid tests and research. The idea that false memories can be detected needs to be tracked longitudinally to check for the effects of memory fading. In the areas of depression, anxiety, and BDD, researchers are only scratching the surface. It would be very interesting to see if training techniques that help stroke victims would also help people with these disabilities.

References

Continuing the vein of "We see what we want to see"

2010-01-10T16:35:00.002-06:00

Another good article on the subject => Desire influences visual perception

I love the intro: "WE tend to assume that we see our surroundings as they really are, and that our perception of reality is accurate. In fact, what we perceive is merely a neural representation of the world, the brain's best guess of its environment, based on a very limited amount of available information."

It really is a fascinating article. It would seem that our brains literally make the objects of our desire seem "within our reach" by making them appear closer than the actually are. Or in art phraseology, puts them more in the foreground of our visual field. On one hand, it sounds like a cool "carrot" approach on the brain's part. On the other hand, it also explains why people often give up on a goal when they really are on the verge of achieving it.

Morals and Ethics Test Sites

2010-01-10T16:30:00.004-06:00

YourMoral.org

This website is a collaboration among five social psychologists who study morality and politics. Our goal was to create a site that would be useful and interesting to users, particularly ethics classes and seminars, and that would also allow us to test a variety of theories about moral psychology. One of our main goals is to foster understanding across the political spectrum. Almost everyone cares about morality, and we want to understand --and to help others understand -- the many different ways that people care. - website's "About Us" page

My results for the Moral Foundations Questionnaire based on Haidt's research:
- On the harm avoidance scale, I'm higher than the average Liberal.
- On the fairness scale, I'm closer the to Liberal score than the Conservation one.
- On the loyalty sale, I'm between the two sides.
- On the authority scale, I'm closer to the Conservative one.
- On the purity scale, I'm higher than the average Conservative.

There are many other studies on the site you can participate in, each with the appropriate research disclosure statement at the start of them.

Ethical Personality Test

The concept for the test has been designed by Roger Steare, Visiting Professor of Organizational Ethics at Cass Business School. He is the author of the book “ethicability®” which describes a proven framework for making tough choices in life and work (www.ethicability.org). - website's "welcome" page

There is also this disclaimer: "The test results and report are for personal education purposes only. They are not designed to be relied on as a methodology for assessing the character of any individual and should not be used as such in any circumstances."

Unlike the other moral test above, the results are based on theory and not strict research. That is not to say that there isn't any research on the subject. It is baded on Kolhberg and Gillian's work and the author is more than willing to release a PDF of it if you contact him through the site. (Which I will do soon.) I would like to point out, however, that there are very valid critisms of Kolhberg's and Gilligan's work: the bias towards the researchers' own value systems and the focus on only the ethic of autonomy.

My results:

Judge
PRS Type Moral DNA

Judges believe that moral principle, or “virtue” is the most important ethical perspective. They ask “what would be the fair thing to do?” Then they’ll make sure that laws, rules and contracts have been complied with, although they’ll sometimes “interpret” a rule differently to be consistent with their principles. Finally they’ll consider the human dimension and the impact of their decisions on others. Judges are stubborn but good to have around when the going gets tough. About 17% of adults are Judges.

Strengths: Good at solving really challenging dilemmas.
Weaknesses: Could lack empathy with others in making tough decisions. May sometimes bend the rules if they believe a higher principle is at stake.

Other posts on this blog dealing with this subject:
http://cosmicsiren.blogspot.com/2009/10/theories-of-morality.html
http://cosmicsiren.blogspot.com/2005/02/kolhbergs-levels-of-morality.html
http://cosmicsiren.blogspot.com/2005/02/carol-gilligans-levels-of-moral.html

Hello, my name is _____ and I am a snarky person.

2010-01-09T11:42:00.003-06:00

Like many people, I can be very snarky. Snarky to the point that I can get you long testimonials of my cutting "wit" and sarcasm without hardly any effort - assuming these people haven't blocked my email address. There are people who will swear that I am completely incapable of not being snarky and consider me the Devil Incarnate (or at the very least, "the monster who lurks under the bed"). There are other people who will swear that I am the sweetest person on the face of this Earth and completely incapable of hurting a single living being. These people usually know me outside the internet. There is one term that explains both phenomena - observational bias. I am neither extreme. But that's not the topic of this post.

The topic of this post is snark and using it with restraint.

If there is one thing I've learned as I've gotten older is that nothing makes a person more stupid than the overuse of snark. It narrows one's world view by disregarding possibilities. It subverts the brain's ability to comprehend what psychologists call a "theory of mind" or the ability to understand a situation from a view other than your own. My son used to love listening to some very snarky product review shows. While the technical information given on these shows is top rate, the subjective value judgments by the hosts/writers is so appalling ignorant in social and behavioral understanding that I would become nauseous holding back the urge to correct their comments with research. Stupid doesn't begin to cover the comments. Stupidity implies that they lack the mental ability to comprehend possibilities outside their own. No, this is quite beyond that. This is the suspension of the reality that they are not the center of the universe and its only truth. This is self-made idiocy. The kind researchers talk about when they write about IQ being like height to a basketball player. Height can give a basketball player an advantage, but only is he uses it. Research has shown that scoring a high IQ score does not mean that the person will actually use those reasoning skills on a regular basis. A good editorial article for laymen on the subject is: Clever fools: Why a high IQ doesn't mean you're smart.

But snark can be useful. Just like a crowbar. The trick is to recognized when a situation needs it and to apply it with some precision and care. If you're skilled enough with either, you can correct a sticky situation with minimal damage. Unfortunately, most of us are apes when it comes to both and tend to leave gapping holes, without budging the object of resistance.

It's also great for setting boundaries. While I showed some capacity for snark as a young person, I tried to avoid it because it "wasn't nice". Unfortunately, my nice boundaries were too encompassing, due to the fact that the people who drummed it into my head that I always needed to be nice were also the first to exploit my niceness. And as it is with all systems that get stretched beyond reasonable limits, I was forced eventually to compensate as a means of self-preservation. This meant that I had to take that snark crowbar that I kept locked up and learn how to use it. It also meant, with time, I had to also learn how not to use it.

I won't lie to you, it has taken years - and I started late. I've made my fair share of gapping holes. But at least I haven't gotten stuck in them and they're getting smaller with time. I figure in another decade, if my progress continues, I might even be skilled enough to use it effectively with minimal force - and not leave a scratch.

Mirror neurons

2010-01-09T11:39:00.003-06:00

The greatest thing I think/feel that comes from mirror neuron research is the scientific proof of empathy as an actual human quality, based in neurological structure, versus the idea that it's just something we try to tell ourselves we can have. The second greatest thing of this research is that it also gives us a better idea why we have empathy and how we benefit from it.

This talk covers all of that AND gives us more to consider, based on the research of the phantom limb phenomenon.

In a way, humans benefit from the ability to have a "hive" mind, based on mirror neurons, and also individuality, based on sensory feedback. This dual modality is the basis of our ability to create complex and highly varied civilizations. With it, we can grasp organization and chaos. The trick is managing both.

Gallagher on Education and Language

2010-01-06T13:16:00.003-06:00

Was he a man before his time? Or have we just not been listening to those who talk about the limitations of schools in training the creative mind?

Will we ever listen?

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T16:03:00.004-06:00

Enjoy some "brain magic".

A.J. Jacobs: My Year of Living Biblically

2009-12-25T01:17:00.003-06:00

This talk is more amusing than anything else, but he does make some good discoveries: such how changing your behavior, changes your mind; how giving thanks, changes your mood; the importance of reverence; and not stereotyping religious people. The only thing I find missing is the differentiation between the Law of Moses and the New Testament teachings that came from Christ. He did touch on it some, but seemed to miss the significance of the Sermon on the Mount.

Anyway, I'm sure most of you will enjoy it and everyone will take something different away from it.

Interesting math history facts

2009-12-24T18:55:00.003-06:00

According to Wikipedia...

1) The oldest known mathematical object is the Lebombo bone, discovered in the Lebombo mountains of Swaziland and dated to approximately 35,000 BC.[10] It consists of 29 distinct notches deliberately cut into a baboon's fibula.[11] There is evidence that women used counting to keep track of their menstrual cycles; 28 to 30 scratches on bone or stone, followed by a distinctive marker.[12]

2) The majority of recovered clay tablets date from 1800 to 1600 BC, and cover topics which include fractions, algebra, quadratic and cubic equations, and the calculation of regular reciprocal pairs (see Plimpton 322).[20] The tablets also include multiplication tables and methods for solving linear and quadratic equations. The Babylonian tablet YBC 7289 gives an approximation to √2 accurate to five decimal places.

3) The Babylonians had a true place-value system, where digits written in the left column represented larger values, much as in the decimal system. They lacked, however, an equivalent of the decimal point, and so the place value of a symbol often had to be inferred from the context.

4) The oldest mathematical text discovered so far is the Moscow papyrus, which is an Egyptian Middle Kingdom papyrus dated c. 2000–1800 BC.[citation needed] Like many ancient mathematical texts, it consists of what are today called word problems or story problems, which were apparently intended as entertainment.

5) In China, the Emperor Qin Shi Huang (Shi Huang-ti) commanded in 212 BC that all books in Qin Empire other than officially sanctioned ones should be burned. This decree was not universally obeyed, but as a consequence of this order little is known about ancient Chinese mathematics. From the Western Zhou Dynasty (from 1046 BC), the oldest mathematical work to survive the book burning is the I Ching, which uses the 8 binary 3-tuples (trigrams) and 64 binary 6-tuples (hexagrams) for philosophical, mathematical, and mystical purposes. The binary tuples are composed of broken and solid lines, called yin (female) and yang (male), respectively (see King Wen sequence).

6) The earliest civilization on the Indian subcontinent is the Indus Valley Civilization that flourished between 2600 and 1900 BC in the Indus river basin. Their cities were laid out with geometric regularity, but no known mathematical documents survive from this civilization.[27]

7) The Surya Siddhanta (c. 400) introduced the trigonometric functions of sine, cosine, and inverse sine, and laid down rules to determine the true motions of the luminaries, which conforms to their actual positions in the sky. The cosmological time cycles explained in the text, which was copied from an earlier work, correspond to an average sidereal year of 365.2563627 days, which is only 1.4 seconds longer than the modern value of 365.25636305 days. This work was translated into to Arabic and Latin during the Middle Ages.

8) In the 12th century, Bhaskara first conceived differential calculus, along with the concepts of the derivative, differential coefficient, and differentiation. He also stated Rolle's theorem (a special case of the mean value theorem), studied Pell's equation, and investigated the derivative of the sine function. From the 14th century, Madhava and other Kerala School mathematicians further developed his ideas. They developed the concepts of mathematical analysis and floating point numbers, and concepts fundamental to the overall development of calculus, including the mean value theorem, term by term integration, the relationship of an area under a curve and its antiderivative or integral, the integral test for convergence, iterative methods for solutions to non-linear equations, and a number of infinite series, power series, Taylor series, and trigonometric series. In the 16th century, Jyeshtadeva consolidated many of the Kerala School's developments and theorems in the Yuktibhasa, the world's first differential calculus text, which also introduced concepts of integral calculus.

Education

2009-12-22T13:52:00.009-06:00

© Universal Press Syndicate

In his TED talk, Sir Ken Robinson talks about how current education "stripmines" the minds of our youth. While I wholeheartedly agree with him about the need to change this, I also think we need to find ways to reclaim those older minds who have gone through this system and are now stuck in a changing world, in dire need of those skills that were not developed earlier. For both scenarios, I recommend the following:

Teaching for the Two-sided Mind by Linda Verlee Williams

It's an excellent book for the teacher and the adult learner. Instead of trying to divide people into left and right brain thinkers (which really doesn't have much validity according to neurological studies), Williams comes from the angle that we are ALL left and right brain thinkers. Not only can this book help you refine how you learn information and analyze problems, it also invites you to try other ways of learning. You will be surprised at how much you actually do use both sides of your brain.

Have you Google yourself lately?

2009-12-15T06:57:00.003-06:00

As a first, I am actually sharing something I posted on Facebook on here, versus the other way around.

This isn't a "fun" meme or anything. This is a serious question from someone who has been around the 'net a few times.

I've noticed that several people are passing around this warning about FB security. I've tracked down the article and checked it's claims against my own profile. Strangely, my settings are exactly how I set them and how I refined them when FB asked me a few days ago to look over them. I noticed that several of my very computer literate friends are also not worried about this. However, I do understand how in the rush of life, we easily overlook annoying system messages that pop up on us.

So, here are some suggestions from someone who has actually been cyberstalked a time or two:

1) GOOGLE yourself. See what information is out there on you. Remember that not all information is bad. But also remember what is public so if someone you don't really know brings it up in conversation, you have a good idea where they got it from. If you google someone who you know hasn't gone through their FB security settings, as I have done, you will see that FB is not really sharing that much information about you. The only purpose is to help your friends find you.

2) Google your phone number. See if you come up in the phonebook list. Google in particular has an option to remove a phone number that brings up an address. Remember that the only difference between this and your normal white pages is that it's easier to access. If you are really serious about protecting this information, then you should either get an unlisted number or only use your first initial for your listing.

3) NEVER POST ANYTHING WITH YOUR SS#. This may seem to be a no-brainer, but I have actually had someone post images of a court document on a public post in my livejournal. I immediately deleted the information and gave her a message about protecting herself. The sad thing about it, the information she was sharing with me wasn't really saying what she thought it said - so she was risking her own safety to win an argument with someone who had already withdrawn from the original argument (I guess that why she had gone for my personal lj instead of the community one), and she still didn't prove her point.

4) Always check your security settings whenever you see a message from a site administrator on the subject. Especially when they ask you to.

5) Don't be fearful, be confident. If you know what information is on you and you keep aware, then there is no need to get up in arms when something like this occurs. This is VERY important, because some con-artists will stir up fears to get you to overact and then trick you into giving them access to things you shouldn't, because they are claiming to be protecting you from said threat. This is why Paypal and Amazon have policies on how they address their customers in the mail they send out. This is also why you should NEVER get virus protection from a pop-up message, even if it looks like Windows sent it. I usually install my virus protection on a cd-rom. If you do get it online, make sure you get it from a well-known and trusted vender's site.

Remember that your safety is your responsibility. The internet is not the only way people can get information on you. Even before it became public, it was possible for people to get information on you. Identity theft is not something new, no matter how the press tries to spin it. I moved around some when I was a kid, and because of that, I learned that large public libraries often keep phonebooks from most major cities on file - at least they did in the 1980s. Dumpster diving is still the number one way identity thieves get social security numbers and driver's license numbers of their marks.

And whenever a reporter reports something, check it out for yourself, if you can. It's been my personal experience that reporters are not always the most honest in their presentation of information. Their main job to get readers, after all.

Enjoy!

2009-12-12T13:48:00.004-06:00

For my 45th birthday, I'm going to take it easy and just post a fun talk. I'll try to rev the brain back up next week for more meaty posts.

The Effects of Sound

2009-12-05T16:47:00.002-06:00

Some of you might find it interesting that we can hear sound through our skin. I, personally, find it even freakier that we can hear it through our bones. As a brief break from my exploration of visual stimuli, I share with you this TED talk on sound.

Highlights of this talk

The four ways sound affects us:
1) physiologically
2) psychologically
3) cognitively
4) behaviorally

"You listen consciously, you can take control of the sound around you. It's good for your health. It's good for your productivity."

Examples of the effects of sound

1) A means to help us spot electric cars better as well as other things:
"when there was a visual cue, respondents were significantly less accurate than with no cue. With an audio cue, they were significantly more accurate. And when both audio and visual cues were given, the difference from the no-cue condition wasn't significant (although it was significantly different from both the other conditions). So the audio cue, especially when not paired with a visual cue, made respondents more accurate than a visual cue. If anything, the visual cue seemed to make it more difficult for respondents to identify which circle was disappearing."

2) Affecting moods, like anxiety and depression.

3) To mark psychological boundaries. I've seen this from person experience. I've lived in some diverse socio-economics areas during my life--from upper middle class to what some people would consider "a 'hood". One thing I've noticed in general, the more stressful a neighborhood is, the noisier it is. I've also noticed that the more homogenious the neighborhood, the quieter it is. Over the years, I've developed the theory that many people use sound/music to isolate themselves from others. It's corolary is that groups of people use noise to stake psychological territory.

The last place I lived in became the noisiest and ugliest place after it became more diverse and the ethnic groups felt the need to "mark their territory". The fact that it was a high crime area made things worse. The place I live now is ethnically diverse, but slightly higher socio-economically. Because of that, while we occasionally get someone being loud, it doesn't last for long.

When a few men moved into our apartment building from a lower social bracket last spring, I could tell that they felt uncomfortable, because they gave furitive looks and then would talk "homie/gang-banger" when someone came near them. It wasn't long before I was awoken from my very needed nap by the sounds of one of them screaming profanities at a girl on his cell phone outside, with all the charm of a cat in heat. Finally he hung up, but the next time he started, the neighbors below me started to blare Tejanos music to drown them out. They turned the music down when the next phone call stopped.

Since we live near a lake, we also had the sounds of nature to compete with, which thankfully would drown both parties out from time to time. Within about six weeks, the sound wars ended and nature won.

Are there echoes in space?

2009-12-05T16:20:00.001-06:00

One search term that seems to send people to this blog is the question of whether or not there are echoes in space? I figure I might as well go ahead and answer it: It depends on what types of echoes you are talking about.

Normal sound echoes
NO. Normal sound travels through the air (or water) through compression waves. Without a compressable medium, such as a gas or fluid, these waves cannot exist. Therefore, no echoes. Now it is possible to hear sound through touch, otherwise known as conduction. I did an experiment with conductive sound in one of my gerontology classes as an undergrad. Freaky stuff. However, I don't remember any echoes while doing it and I'm really not sure there can be echoes that way, since echoes are sound waves that bounce back from another point. Still, in space, you probably wouldn't be hearing conductive sound through all the insulation keeping you from either boiling or freezing to death.

Radio and other electromagnetic wave echoes
YES. Electro magnetic waves can travel through space and they can bounce off of things and create distortions that are also considered echoes. However, without the proper receiver, you're not going to hear a thing.

Symmetry, Math, Life and Art

2009-12-02T01:02:00.003-06:00

After watching this video a few times, I have decided that the Japanese had some good insight into the creative process with their Essays In Idleness:

"In everything . . . uniformity is undesirable. Leaving something incomplete makes it interesting, and gives one the feeling that there is room for growth..."

Following what was said in the video, I think this is another feature of art that engages the viewer in conversation.

I'm going to apologize here. I was going to go ahead and write up some of the things I read about humanity's need for balance and such, but I think I will save that for another post.

Delayed Gratification

2009-12-02T00:49:00.003-06:00

I'm really worn out at the moment, so I'm going to post a couple of short entries. For the curious, I write rough drafts for these ahead of time and the flesh them out later.

Recent research has shown that children who learn how to delay gratification are more successful in life. The following video talks about the Marshmallow Experiment originally done at Stanford University, its follow up research, and its replication in other countries.

The little girl the video clip ended with scares me a little. Not because of the fact she tried to trick the researchers by eating the inside of the marshmallow, but because she had such an intense reaction to wanting it. For a moment I was wondering what they had laced that marshmallow with, because she was acting like a heroin addict.

Anyway, back to the concept of delayed gratification. You know Aesop's fable about the Tortoise and the Hare. When you really think about it, it wasn't as much as the tortoise being slow and steady that gave him the race, as it was the Rabbit not delaying his gratifying nap that did.

On the flip side, youth who fell unsafe have trouble delaying gratification. I suspect that may be true for adults too, but the study focused on youths. If you thought you might die soon, there is less incentive to wait for a reward. In fact, there is less reason to play it safe, period, because it wouldn't matter in the long run.

Something fun

2009-11-29T00:19:00.004-06:00

Cornerstone Gardens in Sonoma, California.

Gardens that are actually artwork. I found it through watching the Victory Garden on PBS today. Unfortunately, my browser doesn't like the site. So, if you also have problems, try this link instead.

Jerusalem and Stendhal Syndromes

2009-11-27T08:16:00.002-06:00

Before we go any further, let me define the term syndrome as: A group of symptoms that collectively indicate or characterize a disease, psychological disorder, or other abnormal condition. Or in other words, a syndrome is a reoccurring set of symptoms that suggest a disorder or disease. Whenever I see the term syndrome used, I usually keep in mind that it is a condition defined by symptomology and not a definite cause or overwhelming reaction. As far as I am concerned, a syndrome is what we used to define something until we can study it and get a better idea of what's going on.

So the whole notion of adding "some experts don't believe this actually exist" when discussing a syndrome, strikes me as unnecessary. If there was firmer data on it, then the condition usually gets renamed something else and the syndrome part dropped, because it is no longer being defined as "a group of symptoms". At the same time, vehemently denying a syndrome exists is luricrous. The groups of symptoms exist independently of what people believe, what is actually being debated is whether or not this grouping defines something specific or not. But that cannot be scientifically determined until we test it. And to do that, we need to identify the set of symptoms to be researched, thus the designation of a syndrome.

Yeah, I know. We can argue that this is just my interpretation of the matter, but since I am only going to throw out some extra ideas about these syndromes (after describing them) in this post, my interpretation works for the mental exercise ahead. I'll start by explaining that sometimes these syndromes are triggered in people with mental illnesses. However, there have been reports of people who didn't have a mental illness, who subcomed to the syndromes and then quickly recovered. Unfortunately, many of those refuse to talk about it after their recovery.

So what exactly are these syndromes and why are they connected?

These two syndromes are forms of culture shocks. The Jerusalem Syndrome centers around a religious or spiritual element. I bring it up because it actually has more case studies than the Stendhal (or Florence) Syndrome, while having many similarities. The major difference is that people with Stendhal Syndrome rarely begin to think that they are religious personages from the past. However, in the less severe stages of both syndromes, the sufferers feel the following symptoms: anxiety, agitation, nervousness and tension, plus other unspecified reactions. Both syndromes usually occur when the sufferer is separated from friends and family. They feel as is something had opened up inside them. Both groups of sufferers (if the syndrome is not occurring with other psychopathy) feel an extreme reluctance to discuss the experience. To quote Bar-El, in regards to the Jerusalem Syndrome: "Upon recovery, patients can usually recall every detail of their aberrant behaviour. They are inevitably ashamed of most of their actions, and feel that they have behaved foolishly or childishly."

While Jerusalem Syndrome deals with religious cultural experiences, Stendahl deals with being overwhelmed by art. Listen to Digital Flotsam 59 – Stendhal Syndrome by P. W. Fenton, as he recounts his encounter with Stendhal Syndrome. Like those of Jerusalem Syndrome, Stendahl sufferers also feel this shame of being physically overwhelmed, only by art. Quoting Bar-El again:

The condition most closely resembling the Jerusalem syndrome is the Stendhal syndrome identified by Magherini (1992), which describes a particular acute psychotic reaction arising among art-loving tourists visiting Florence. The syndrome is named after the French writer Stendhal, who described feelings of déjà vu and disquiet after looking at works of art in Florence. Magherini in her book Sindrome di Stendhal (1992) presented the statistical, socio-demographical, clinical and travel-related variables of 106 tourists who were admitted to hospital in Florence between 1977 and 1986. She described cases in which a small detail in a famous painting or sculpture evoked an outburst of anxiety, reaching psychotic dimensions. According to her, such reactions are usually associated with a latent mental or psychiatric disturbance that manifests itself as a reaction to paintings of battles or other masterpieces and culminates in the full-blown Florence or Stendhal syndrome.

In more recent news, a Russian woman threw a terra-cotta mug at the Mona Lisa last August. Based on the news article, severe Stendahl sufferers can just as violent as their Jerusalem Syndrome counterparts. While most of them appear to have the transcendent overwhelming of the body, I can think of reasons why the woman may have had a violent reaction to the Mona Lisa.

First possibility: she have become frightened by the bodily sensations of Stendalh Syndrome and went into fight mode to take control of the situation. I've almost done something similar during a panic attack, but being aware of what was going on, I was able to remove myself from the situation before I did harm to anything.

Second possibility: she was shocked by the reality of the Mona Lisa versus her mental image of it, and reacted violently to this disruption of her world view, coupled with the Stendahl Syndrome (or maybe not). I have never seen the real Mona Lisa, but according my art history professor, most people are shocked to see it smaller than then they thought. Often when we see depictions of it in movies, cartoons, and comics, it is often made to look much bigger than its actual 77 cm × 53 cm (30 in × 21 in) size. This article on the attack actually gives you a better sense of its size. Another possible surprise for those who haven't taken art history, the Mona Lisa is painted on wood, not canvas. I'm not sure how obvious that part is, but it is something most people don't know.

Third possibility: she made some personal connection to the painting and acted on that. The Guardian article suggests that possibility itself. Apparently, she was denied French nationality, according to some sources. However, as the Guardian pointed out, she could have easily picked another, unprotected, painting to attack. For all we know, Mona Lisa may remind her of someone she felt rejected her in life.

Learning from primitive cultures

2009-11-27T00:30:00.003-06:00

In my last post, the second video I embedded by Gever Tulley mentioned how the Inuits taught their children how to use knives at a very young age, thus allowing them to gain better control of a basic tool of their life. In my foundations of sociology class, I had the opportunity to read and critique a wonderful article by Richard Sorenson on the Fore culture, which had some amazing cultural social stucture.

I like the TED.com talks, because they give me a way to share ideas without totally bogging people down with my wordiness. I had thought I had found an excellent talk about documenting endangered cultures; however, while the efforts shown are commendable, I truly feel that the speaker is missing out on the real lost of these cultures. It's good to know that there are other cultures and other ways of doing things, but we also need to save the lessons of life from these culture and learn from their social structure. We obvioiusly can't apply everything we learn and some of it we may not want to, but some cultures can give us wonderful examples on how to deal with others and life.

So, instead of treating you to a video (which you can find here on TED.com), I will instead give you my critique of Sorenson's article. Yes, I'm lazy when it comes to repeating information, but my friends already know that.

CRITIQUE
A Doerr
April 3, 2008

Growing Up as a Fore Is to Be “In Touch” and Free (from Readings for Sociology)

The thesis of Richard Sorenson is that the reduction of cultural diversity may rob us of some very important knowledge and influences. He bases this on his observations of the Fore people in Papua New Guinea. It is obvious that he considers their original cultural to be a utopia of human interaction and child rearing. His downplaying of the fact these people have patterns of settling and then migrating when the land no longer can support them shows a willingness to overlook the fact that if the survival rate of the people improved, they would have eventually developed like many other ancient cultures who found that with success comes an increase in structure.

However, his point that we would do well to record these cultures before they become “corrupted” by Westernization, is a very valid one. Knowledge and skill can just as easily be lost as gained when a culture changes. Art professors have commented that their students no longer have the fine skills the artists of previous generations did because they no longer have to do as much by hand. By knowing what we have lost, it is possible to perhaps relearn it or at least modify it to work to our own cultural benefit. In the case of the Fore, the most precious knowledge would be that on how to raise confident and wise children with few emotional problems.

Sorenson’s article also shows how quickly a culture can be changed when it is naturally inquisitive and opened to ideas. Indeed, he states that this was the downfall of the Fore culture. Something as simple as a road can make a great deal of difference. But his article shows a lot more than just that. It shows how people in primitive cultures actually have comparable intelligence and mental sophistication to be able to adapt to a more industrial way of life if they are open to the concept, belying the ideas of inferior races. It shows how rushed cultural changes can “toss the baby out with the bath water”, suggesting that we would do well to revisit our own cultural pasts to see what we have left behind.

This article is worth keeping in any family counselor’s personal library. While the Fore culture can never be regained in this world, there is enough there that may help us sort out dysfunctions in our own family relationships. In the end, Sorenson’s point about learning about primitive cultures before they are lost, is more than aptly made.

I know, it would probably be more helpful if I directly quoted from the article. If you are really curious, you can read some of Sorenson's work here. It's not the same article I critiqued, but it covers some of the same data.

Art and Thinking

2009-11-26T20:05:00.001-06:00

When I read some of the theories about how art began with humanity, I can't help but compare them to how drawing develops in children. There is such a strong connection between drawing development and cognitive development, as well as manual development, in children that it is hard to believe that "art" began as some dream state as some might claim. I'm not saying that it doesn't create an altered mental state, because it does. I'm just saying that art's beginning is entwined with the process of thought and the communication thereof. The existence of pictographs before writing also strongly points to a hand and hand relationship between art and communication. There is research that shows a connection between language and cognitative ability:

Neural correlates of Early Stone Age toolmaking: technology, language and cognition in human evolution.
Does Language Shape What We Think?

So it really shouldn't be that hard of a leap to connect drawing to the cognition process. Recently, I watched an older TED talk which showed this connection in a interesting way. I'll let Gever Tulley explain...

His observation that the act of decoration is part of the creative problem solving process, a method for letting the mind wander freely for a while, presents an possible insight into how our minds work. Tulley takes things a step further, introducing how manual development helps us mentally in this next talk.

I like the idea of his tinkering school. I like it even better that he can back his views up with anthropology and other science.

Trying to understand world views

2009-11-21T13:55:00.004-06:00

Devdutt Pattanaik, Chief Belief Officer of The Future Group, explains how the mythos of the East and West affect their business plans, art, and world view. I love how he illustrates the difference between "my world" and "the world", because no matter how much we want to believe that we are seeing "the world", we are still seeing it through "my world". This is why I have investigated perception in this blog--more specifically the perception of our basic senses and how they actually work, which is just as much subjective as it is objective. The truth is that our own physical natures, our mental biology and physiology are built around the idea of what is useful to our individual organism. As such, we, as living beings, can never truly escape the subjective side of our nature.

In fact, it has been my observation that the more we try to deny our subjectivity, the more likely it is that we will become a victim to it. It's like having a broken step in our staircase of thought and refusing to believe it is there. If you believe it's not there, then there is no reason not to step into the area . . . and then falling into the hole of your own biases. If you accept that the step is broken, then you can step over it, or step lightly on it; thus avoiding becoming stuck in your own subjectivity.

In psychology, the phenomenon of denying one part of one's nature and over-emphasizing its opposite is called suppression. It's great for short-term crisises (all coping mechanisms exist for a reason), but it's probably one of the greatest causes of neuroticism. Joseph Zinker in his book Creative Process in Gestalt Therapy, gives vivid examples on how "owning" one's suppressed characteristics can actually improve the desired one. As he states, "if I don't allow myself to be unkind, I can never be genuinely kind." (p 202) I know of several people who are so caught up with the notion of having to be nice, that they are actually more cruel because of their rigid beliefs in what nice should be. Some of them go even to the point of being domineering and controlling of others, chaining them to situations or solutions to the point that person being "helped" by these beliefs of "niceness" could conceivedly find death a less painful experience.

As hard as it is to believe, there are many case examples of people becoming more of what they desired, by accepting what they disdain in themselves. This doesn't mean becoming Mr Hyde. As Zinker points out, a healthy person may not always approve of their darkness, but acknowledging it allows them more freedom to be more effective with their lightness. John Bradshaw, in his book Healing the Shame that Binds You, likens suppression to hungry wolves at the door. It takes a lot of energy to starve and block out your dark side. When you let it in and feed it appropriately, several things happen. First, you usually find out that your dark side isn't as bad as you feared. Second, you have better control over your dark side. In fact, if you treat it more as a tool in your toolbox, than a demon to be banished, you can use it to your benefit. Instead of "giving in to the dark side" and letting it take over, you are truly taking the reigns and giving your darkness direction. You are the one in control of your desires. Also, you have more energy. By making your "wolves" work for you, you can get more done. Bradshaw has a wonderful exercise in his book, called "Making peace with all of your villagers". In it, not only do you identify the parts of yourself you are suppressing, but you find out how those parts, properly used, can help you in healthy and acceptable ways.

If you want another way to look at it, consider Viktor Frankl's theory on paradoxical expectations. My son has used it for years to control some of his more anxious behaviors. I don't know why it strikes such a chord with him, but it works better for him than me. I guess I'm not so convincing to myself.

So, tying this back to Pattanaik's talk: to understand people, it helps to understand what you are prizing in your world view and what they prize in their world view. I believe that each encounter between individuals has a cultural clash involved, which may or may not create misunderstanding. I was going to use a book I recently start reading to explore this, but as I began to analyze the differences in my world view and the author's, I discovered that what we really had was a congruency clash, not a cultural clash. Books I have culture clashes with do take longer to read, but I usually walked away with a better understanding of people, even if it doesn't transform my world view. Books I have congruency clashes with are another matter. I can more or less read anything non-fictional as long as the writer is congruent in his or her views. I may still disagree with them, but I can stick with their idea development. However, if they can't stick to their own idea development, I start to become agitated. If they can't stick to their own idea development AND start writing in a defensively persuasive way, I had to push the book away. As someone who is very skilled in defensive persuasion herself, I can spot when someone is writing out of a fear-based agenda, even if they are claiming to have the objectivity of a computer.

Anyway, I could try to force myself to continue reading the book out of an attempt to be open-minded, but these types of books tend to make me more narrow-minded because of their combativeness. Reading it out of principle would subvert that principle. So, I am going to put this book aside and see if I can find a book on the same subject written by someone who is less defensive.

Brilliant!

2009-11-18T07:33:00.003-06:00

Naming science as his chief inspiration, Mathieu Lehanneur shows a selection of his ingenious designs -- an interactive noise-neutralizing ball, an antibiotic course in one layered pill, asthma treatment that reminds kids to take it, a living air filter, a living-room fish farm and more.

And by science, he includes behavioral science too.

Unfortunately, this video is not on YouTube yet, so you might need to go here to see it.

Adding another wish list

2009-11-13T08:28:00.002-06:00

This one is just for books I want for research purposes. In other words, it's only being made public for the curious. So far I have a lot of books on art, cognition, senses, psychology, art history and color.

In particular, I also have a book on color science. This is deliberate on my part. I used to be a packaging quality assurance lab technician for a top Fortune 100 company and I had to learn color science for one of my projects. While I don't need the formulae, I do remember some very interesting science in regards to color and I would like to review it.

So here it is, for the morbidly curious, Cosmic Siren's Research Book Wishlist!

Time

2009-11-12T07:31:00.002-06:00

In his talk about compassion, Daniel Goleman mentions that the most important factor in determining whether or not someone will act like a good Samaritan is if whether or not they feel rushed. Along the same vein, Carl Honore's talks about the need to slow down in this world that is speeding towards the future:

But is slow always the answer? Too often people go from one extreme to another. Luckily, Philip Zimbardo gives us a healthy view on time:

The past gives us roots. The future gives us wings. The present gives us energy. The trick is to know which focus to use when.

Compassion from a Secular View

2009-11-08T22:35:00.004-06:00

I may address compassion, using most of the TED talks from the Charter on Compassion, along with other sources in my religious journal during the holidays, but for now I'll just share these secular views of the evolution of compassion.

Couldn't find this video on YouTube. If you cannot see the embedded video, then go to http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/robert_wright_the_evolution_of_compassion.html

Covers the genetic reasons for the Golden Rule, Game Theory, and economic interdepencies. Also introduces the concept of "moral imagination", otherwise known as the age-old adage of putting yourself in another's shoes.

The next talk shares some of the science research dealing with the psychology of compassion. This is a very engaging talk and quite enjoyable.

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It is interesting that the research Dr. Daniel Goleman shows that while we are all neurologically wired for compassion, what determines whether we will do a compassionate act or not is usually how hurried or pre-occupied we are.

I am also stuck by the fact that neurological studies show that the act of doing something for someone else, usually triggers the circuitry of compassion in the brain. I can give several quotes and truisms from my youth and religion, which attest to this phenomenon, that I have found to be very true myself. Likewise, he shares an insight gained from a serial killer, who once said, "If I had felt their distress, I could not have had done. I had to turn that part of me off."

To expand your vocabulary, Goleman shares the word "pizzled" - the emotion one experiences in that moment when someone suddenly answers their cell phone, iPhone, Blackberry, whatever, and acts as if the first person no longer exists.

While I agree that the act of noticing is a major step towards compassion, it takes more than just noticing to enact effective compassion. As they say, "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions." To give quality compassion, one needs to take a little more time to find the root cause and not just do bandage compassion all of the time. A bandaid in the wrong place can sometimes be worse than no bandage at all, but it doesn't need to happen if, along with noticing, you also listen. Then you will better know whether the bandage needs to be here or there, or if maybe you need to help the person get to a doctor instead.

When I was young, I thought I was a compassionate person, and in my defense, I did strive to be one. But as I experienced more of life's obstacles, I realized that some of the acts of my younger self were not really as compassionate as I thought they were. As Carl Rogers was fond of pointing out, the only person who really knows what is going on inside a person, is the person themselves. So, listen as well as see, and you will increase your changes of giving quality compassion.

Left Brain/Right Brain Components of Art

2009-11-08T03:44:00.007-06:00

Cutting and pasting part of the capstone paper again. ;)

Perception in the left hemisphere.
If there are two words that describe how the left hemisphere perceives the world, those words are "details" and "boundaries". This might be explained by the fact that, while the ears and eyes send data to both hemispheres, the left brain hears the higher frequencies of sound and sees the shorter wavelengths of light. The higher frequencies of sounds helps the left hemisphere to distinguish vocalizations and language sounds, the sounds that the speech areas of the brain need to interpret. The shorter wavelengths of light helps to show lines, edges, and boundaries. (Taylor, 2006) Dr. Howard Sachs, a retired neurologist, decided to continue doing art after he suffered a stroke to his right hemisphere. The following image of his art shows some of the typical traits of artwork done by the left hemisphere: many details, but poor proportions, spatial relationships and overall coherence. (Springer & Deutsch, 1998)

Painting by Dr. Howard Sachs, MD. PhD. Used with permission.

In a very real sense, the left hemisphere cannot see the forest for the trees. While it focuses on details, it does not keep track of the relationships between those details. Relational data is often fuzzy, something that it is not well equipped to deal with. The left hemisphere tells us the boundaries of our environment and the boundaries of our own bodies. (Taylor, 2006). Ironically, it pays the most attention to the right side of the body, sometimes causing a degree of attention neglect to parts (and even the environment) on the left. (Springer & Deutsch, 1998)

Perception in the right hemisphere.
The two words that describe how the right hemisphere perceives the world are "novelty" and "global". The right brain hears the lower frequencies of sound and sees the longer wavelengths of light. The lower frequencies of sounds helps the right hemisphere to distinguish bodily and nature sounds, such as intestinal gurgling and thunder. The longer wavelengths of light blurs lines and edges, making areas and the relationships between them more obvious. (Taylor, 2006) An example of this is Edvard Munch’s painting, The Scream, which shows some of the typical traits of artwork done by the right hemisphere. If we ignore the deliberate distortion of the main subject, we can tell that the perspective and spatial relationships are accurate, with sparse details. (Springer & Deutsch, 1998)

The Scream by Edvard Munch (1893).

An interesting side-note: when Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor (2006) was recovering from her left hemisphere stroke, she didn’t give any consideration to colors until her mother pointed them out to her. This could be considered just a case study anomaly, except for the fact that anthropologists and linguists studying color have noted that the more primitive the culture, the less colors they will have names for among the general populace. Berlin and Kay's (as cited in Gates, 1999) evolution of linguistic development, in regards to color, states that there are seven stages of color recognition: from black and white to black, white, red, green, yellow, blue, brown, purple, pink, orange and grey. More recent studies show that Western civilization has around twelve colors in common usage, in addition to various colors that come and go as fashion dictates. In every culture, artisans will recognize and name more colors than the normal populace because the distinctions are useful to them. (Gage, 1999) It would appear that while the right hemisphere can see colors, it takes the left hemisphere to find a use for them and give them consideration.

Cooperation between the hemispheres.
Most of the tasks done by the brain require input from both hemispheres. The ears, eyes, and sense of touch send signals to both sides, though the signals are stronger for the hemisphere opposite of them. To help the brain adjust to possible injury, each hemisphere can do many of the same tasks, but in their own way. One of the problems that researchers face is the fact that hemispheres are so adept at covering for the other that it can make narrowing in on significant differences difficult. Both Dr. Taylor (2006) and Dr. Sachs (2008) were able to recover some of their damaged hemisphere’s functions through the training of the other hemisphere. Five years after Dr. Taylor’s stroke, she was able to do division and other simple mathematical problems. Two years after that, she was teaching Gross Anatomy again. As of 2006, she was a consulting neuroanatomist at the Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute, helping stroke survivors neurologically rehabilitate themselves. (Taylor, 2006) Dr. Sachs, in his 80s, is retired and living in an assisted living center. Even though it takes lots of concentration on his part, he still paints on occasion. He is fascinated by the lines and furrows of his fellow resident’s faces, though they will not sit for him. Here is another painting by Dr. Sachs in which the defects of his right hemisphere injury are not as apparent:

Painting by Dr. Howard Sachs. Used with permission.

When there isn’t an injury, there are many times symmetrical responses in the hemispheres while doing tasks, even if one side initiates the task first. It is through the process of "cross-cuing" that the hemispheres share information with each other. However, not every task gets originally sent to the hemisphere best suited to perform it, though the hemisphere always performs the task consistent with its own style. Some studies suggest that the mental task to be performed is usually more important than the nature of the stimulus when it comes to hemisphere selection. (Springer & Deutsch, 1998)

Resources
Gage, J. (1999). Color and meaning: art, science, and symbolism. Berkeley : University of California Press.
Sachs, H. (2008, August). Drawing from the left side of your brain. Howard's Weblog. Retrieved May 21, 2009, from http://hmsachs.wordpress.com/2008/08/25/drawing-from-the-left-side-of-your-brain/
Springer, S. P. & Deutsch, G. (1998). Left brain, right brain: perspectives from cognitive neuroscience. 5th ed. New York : W. H. Freeman and Company.
Taylor, J. B. (2006). My stroke of insight: a brain scientist’s personal journal. New York : Viking.

A Color Exercise

2009-11-06T07:27:00.005-06:00

Just something fun for you.

Go to http://www.colorquiz.com/
Select your favorite colors in order of preference.
Go on to the second part - you don't need to worry about the time wait this time.
Select the colors in order of the frequency you wear them.
Save the results you get.
Wait a day or two (or at least a few hours).
Take the test again, but this time pick the color the attracts your eye first as the tiles dwindle, wait the time suggested between parts, and do it again.
Compare results.

While the first results may have some truth to it, if you're like me, the second results will be more accurate for your current situation. This is one of the techniques I have found in therapy art to be the most useful - going with the mind's immediate response versus going with what you normally would claim an affinity to.

One thing the "about" page misses is the fact that Luscher actually measured body responses to color too. His original subjects were wounded soldiers, if memory serves me right. I've lost my copy of his book during one of my moves. However, when I used to do this test with my own set of tiles, I found the chapters on physical responses very useful. It is rather interesting to see how people are more drawn to the psychological aspects. But then, the physiological results usually indicated problems not easily fixed, and therefore more depressing than the psychological results.

But like I said, I'm doing this from memory, since most of the online stuff about Luscher deals more with what I consider the more fluffy stuff. (Okay, I'm minimizing here, since to be honest, today's results were so on the nose, I would be hard pressed to get more accurate results.) However, I have found this site => http://www.luscher-color.ch/default.asp and once I get another set of color tiles, I'm thinking of checking it out. Well, if I have the money to spare too. I might be better off getting another copy of the original book again.

Aesthetic versus Psychological Placement of Art Elements

2009-11-06T00:24:00.003-06:00

One thing I have found while working with art is that it is the actual doing of art that is the most therapuetic part of therapy art. Yes, art can be used to diagnose things like schizophrenia and possible sexual abuse; but that is not therapy, that is diagnostics and should only be done by someone who has training in doing it.

There are several reason for this, but one of the major mistakes I've seen made by people, who attempt to do this because they think they can know people better than the person themselves, is that they don't understand that not all elements in a work of art are there for psychological reasons. I once questioned the reason why art therapists are required to take studio art classes, because I found that my art professors had a tendency to insist on certain elements in their student's work. This outside control may make good art, but not good therapy. I understood the need for learning how to do the art, in order to help the client use the materials, but I often felt at odds with my profs. I finally accepted the fact that my art professors were only doing their job and teaching us aesthetics.

Even though an art professor can encourage a student to do something of personal meaning to them, they still will introduce elements into the student's work. Take a look at this lithograph I made last year.

Sing a Song of Sixpence by ~mamaslyth on deviant ART

Now, there is a lot of personal symbolism in the piece. I am the first to admit that. However, while discussing this piece with a counseling professional without art therapy training, he asked me about the symbolism of the floor tiles. I said in a rather reactive fashion that the floor tiles had no real significance, though I then added some possible symbolism for it. My reaction was emotional because I didn't make the decision to put the checker board tiles in the picture. It was my lithography professor's idea. My reaction was from a neurotic need of mine to not take credit for another person's ideas. This tends to be a very big deal to me, hence the knee-jerk response.

My lithography prof had me introduce the tiles because I had too much white space for a good print. Even though I could come up with possible symbolic reasons for the checkerboard, none of them had any real connection to the actual meaning of the print, itself. I chose to copy the element in other prints in the series because part of the assignment was to make the series coherent and repeating elements is a quick and dirty way of doing that. Had the counseling professional had the same exposure to art education that I had, he would have not put much significance to an element added there to improve my grade in a class.

If you want more proof that checkerboards really aren't that significant to me, feel free to check out some of my other art. You will see that, outside to the American Mutt series, I rarely use checkerboarding in it.

More art

Another major mistake, one most frequently made by lay people (and some professionals, I'm not going to let them off the hook, either) is not understanding that the most important meaning of a symbolic element is what it means to the artist. In my understanding, there are at least three levels of symbolism: the personal, the cultural, and the archetypical. As someone who has written poetry since the age of seven, I have had the cultural and archetypical meanings applied to my work by strangers with really amusing results at times. Because of this, I always make a face when someone wants me to proof read poems.

My favorite example of the differences between levels of symbolism is the color yellow. Archetypical, yellow represents things like the Sun, warmth, joy, intellect and a host of other things with are common among most humans that live on this planet. An example of cultural difference is how yellow can mean cowardly to one culture and divine in another culture. We can also have subcultural meanings. Take the sports fan - depending on what team they cheer for, yellow can be either a good thing or a bad thing. Then there is the personal level. For me, personally, yellow is a color I usually avoid wearing because it emphasizes the yellow tones in my skin, making me look like I'm sick. For a friend of mine, yellow is one of her favorite colors because when she was a kid, she used to hide among her grandmother's yellow rose bushes when she needed peace and quiet. For her, yellow means peace and security. For another friend, yellow is a terrifying color that can trigger flashbacks because it was a color that had ritualistic importance to her abuser.

Of the three of us, I am the most likely to use yellow for aesthetic reasons in a work of art. In fact, the way I found out about their personal meanings for yellow was because, several years ago, I used yellow as a major element on a webpage and they shared their reactions to it. I almost changed the element for the second friend, but we agreed that it was my webpage and I needed to go with what I felt would work. I did, however, avoided using yellow on certain pages for her.

I am willing to admit that 80 to 90% of the time, you can get really close using the cultural and archetypical results. It's that other 10 to 20% that's going to mess you up. That's not really a problem if you are reading something for your own benefit - you should find your own meanings in art and literature. Just don't attribute it to the artist or author!!! In fact, by taking responsibility for your interpretations - that it is truly yours and not another's - you will actually gain a better understanding of yourself and your world, in my experience. Besides, that 10 to 20% lets you, the audience, become part of the work.

In regards to personal therapy, though, this is a bad thing. It is better for a therapist to avoid putting too much of themselves into a client's piece of work. The idea is to let the client have their voice and express their thoughts and feelings - not to echo the therapist's philosophical systems. Some connection needs to be made between the therapist and the piece, but a good art therapist can say "This is how I view the piece and this is how the client views it." And once the client has made their view known, the therapist can share their view to show that they also have been touched by the work, as well as offer possible alternate ways to look at it. If any of the alternate views strikes a chord with the artist/client, then the therapist has a better understanding of what is going on than when no chord is struck.

Anyway, the point is personal symbolism will trump the other symbolic meanings of an art element. If you don't know the personal symbolism behind the elements, or how the elements were chosen, then chances are you will be wandering in the wrong direction, while attributing meaning to a piece of art. In the strict audience sense, that's fine. In a therapuetic sense, it's not.

How the Internet Enables Intimacy

2009-11-04T01:04:00.003-06:00

Stefana Broadbent's research shows how when given (or taking) the opportunity to communicate with other people, we usually spend around 80% or our time in contact with 2 to 4 specific people.

I had sort of a disturbance within myself when she pointed out how separating work and intimacy was an artificial construct from the industrial revolution, because I really do not believe that your home and work worlds should intersect . . . to a point. But as I thought it over, I realized that the things I had the most problems with and had seen the most disruption form, were situations where someone tried to force an intimacy that wasn't already there. Especially when managers or supervisors are involved. I've seen supervisors try to set up employees to date their children. I've had one supervisor who was actually very offended with me because, while I WAS AWAY FROM WORK, I called my family, instead of her, for a personal problem. And people there wondered why I was so hestitant to share what happened to me outside of work.

Then I considered the research done on "job spouses" and other intimate relationships that develop in the work place because people spend more time there than with their own families. I thought about how the cost of broken homes finds its way into the work place, despite management's thinking that it can dictact how a person spends their mental time. It seems to me that this need for having intimate emotional contact is so basic to the human spirit, that if it isn't met in some constant way, it will be met in another.

I think we need a study comparing the family stability and rates of individual stress in work places were management tries to strictly prohibit employees from talking with those they are emotionally intimate with and companies that do not. I suspect that if we remove those few people who spend an exceeding amount of time on personal drama, that the data will show that people are usually more productive and healthy, when they can send little messages to friends and family every so often.

Of course, certain businesses, such as the one I currently work for, cannot allow cell phones in the work area for sercurity reasons. However, we are allowed to step away to certain areas so we can text family and friends.

As for the personal business abusers, in my personal experience, most of those who are bad about spending lots of time on personal issues, usually will find some way to be just as disruptive when they can't talk to people outside the office. The two worst coworkers I had in this area had the impulsive need to interrupt the rest of the people in the office. In fact, there was a time when I almost went to HR and asked them to take the restriction off of one of them, because she was interferring with MY productivity so much with her neurotic need for attention.

A Splog???

2009-11-02T22:39:00.002-06:00

Well, you learn something new everyday.

I showed several of my more savvy friends a list of "profitable blogs" and they shared the following insights with me:

Viv:
I suppose there are a couple of models of blogging for profit. There is the
Instapundit thing, where you gain a huge following and put ads up, which is
what you are talking about. Then there is the pyramid scheme model, which
seems to be what [they are] advocating.

The difference is that people read Instapundit intentionally and the other
method looks more like high view count due to google-bombing.

Phelps:
You might have stumbled onto a splog -- a spam blog. They scrape stories
(automatically sometimes) from other places and intersperse them with the
spam, so that they get a higher google rank (from the scraped stories) for
the spam and search hits. I had one a couple of years ago that was scraping
my entire feed.

I don't think I actually was following a splog. But I do see it as more of the pyramid-type of blogging. And I suppose that's okay for some folks. Though I must admit that many of my friends and I mostly share the opinion of my friend Irix:

Sounds dirty and dishonourable to me, only a slightly better way to earn your living than email spamming. Of course, I may be not in a position to judge, with my cushy job and opportunity to leech on the employer's resources, I don't have to struggle to make ends meet.

Still, leave it to my best friend to send the definitive reply to the whole situation:

"I don't think that list is a good representation of the people who "quit" working. I think it's a good representation of people who are bragging about it.

The sites I frequent are interesting and engaging; I don't have a lot of time to waste on a blog that tells me how to waste less time.

But hey, I see no harm in putting up your wishlist. It's not like you're out there pursuing the almighty dollar."

So, with that advice, here is Comic Siren's Little Wishlist.

And thank you for reading this blog.

Private and public artistic exploration

2009-11-01T01:41:00.001-05:00

I firmly believe that art is an effective means of personal exploration. Even if we do not gain great insight or find personal significance in doing artwork, our minds gain visual and kinetic experiences that help to fine tune our mental processes. I touch on this concept briefly my last post. The following film clip shows some representational examples of artists who explored their medium.

Warning: there is profanity in this clip. You probably don't have to watch it to understand my next points, so feel free to skip it if you wish.

The way I see it, the artists did gain a lot from the creation of their art. Their personal exploration probably did help them to reach a better understanding of their world. However, I do side with the established painter cohersed into juding that art show. It was the actual process and not the finished work that created that transformation, so the art itself said nothing because the context had passed.

All art is useful, but not all art is communicable. There is a difference between the act of making art and the finished work. Cultural art is something that should speak to observer. If it does not, then the conversation that should happen between masterpiece and observer is missing, and there is no enlightenment nor increased understanding.

Personal art needs only to speak to the artist. Under the right circumstances, a single line on a piece of paper can open the gate to passion, clarity, and wisdom--but it will only speak to that artist. It is the artist's conversation with the universe. Such a piece of work should rightly be treasured by the artist, but not necessarily enshrined for the rest of humanity. That would be telling people that this line has now been done, there is no need for more. Instead, the line should stay with the artist's heart and she should encourage others to find their own lines, to unlock their own passions and wisdom.

Which type of art is more valid? The very question itself is blasphemy in my opinion. Without cultural art, we lose our soul as a society. Without personal art, we can lose our very minds.

I must take a step back from my philosophical gushing and point out that even personal art needs to be shared to fulfill its purpose. In art therapy, this is known as "witnessing". Witnessing is when the artist shows the work to a supportive person, who lets the artist tell them what it means to them personally. There is no critique, no suggestions, just an act of listening to the sound of one person's soul being reveal.

At the same time, there is much to be gained by playing around with the art of others, as long as the original works are left physically untouched. It provides an interaction between the artwork and the audience, making the original piece more meaning ladened and important as the conversation continues. The following talk, though mostly meant to be humorous, is a prime example of entering into conversations with well-known artworks.

Granted, the conversations can become turbulent in some cases, but once you develop a personal relationship with a piece of work, it becomes alive and part of your mental fabric. Your brain now has a larger visual vocabulary to work with.

Here are a few sites online that will let you have your own conversation with art. Enjoy the process!

Shockwave needed.

art therapy in prison

2009-11-01T01:34:00.003-05:00

Creating Safer Prisons Through Art
By Amanda Doerr

Originally written April 24, 2007

The first questions many people have in regards to art in prison are probably along the lines of: “Why should we make life easier for these convicts?” “They’ve broken laws and now we’re going to let them play?” “Why should our taxes go for such a program, when there is so many other things we could fund?”

The best answer to these questions comes from Ed Howe, the activities manager at the State Correctional Institution Pittsburgh, who says "[Art] also keeps us safe. If prisoners have idle time, they find their own recreation." (Menees, 2001) This is not a good idea by any stretch of the imagination. If some of these people had healthy outlets for their boredom, they would not be incarcerated in the first place. They are in prison because they are unable to function in a conventional social environment. (Gussak, 1997, p 1) Case in point, convict Jeremy Pinson spent his time in prison planning revenge and writing threatening letters because he didn't have anything else to do, adding more and more time to his own prison sentence with each threat he mailed. (M. G. Preisz, Oklahoma City University Forensic Psychology lecture, April 17, 2007) This is not an isolated incident. The Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons also found in their research that "few conditions compromise safety more than idleness." (The Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons. [CSAAP], 2006, p 14)

Art's effect on violence

Can art actually affect the level of violence? According to the 1983 California's Brewster Study, inmates participating in AIC [Arts In Corrections] at two state prisons had fewer disciplinary problems. (Menees) In one institution, the reduction of disciplinary reports written was 80%. (Gussak, p xix) How much violence could art reduce nationwide? Unfortunately, not enough data about non-lethal violence is available to properly assess the costs of violence to the prison system. Some facilities keep no record at all of the assaults within their walls. (CSAAP, p 15)

Art can help in several ways. Crafts often build self-control within inmates, even those uncomfortable with drawing and painting. (Hall, 1997, p 32 and Milligan, 1997, p 181) Creating expressive art can help an inmate avoid a confrontation by giving him a way to work out his anger. (Hall, p 33) If the means are available and conditions favorable, aggression can be channeled through the creation of physically demanding three-dimensional objects. (Ronaldson, 1997, p 179) Releasing emotion can be problematic in a prison environment, for it can either be considered threatening or a sign of weakness to both guards and other inmates. Inmates who engage in art making are less disruptive, having less of a reason to act out. (Hall, p 39) This was true whether the art was created in an art class or in isolation in a cell. (Taylor, 1997, p 200)

Art also works with mentally ill inmates. Board Certified Art Therapist, David Gussak, one of the editors of Drawing Time: Art Therapy in Prisons and Other Institutional Settings, has "seen examples of nearly every DSM IV diagnosis" while working with prison populations. (Gussak, p xv) The sad reality is that there are still people being sent to high security prisons, who pose no threat to the populace, simply because they are mentally ill. (CSAAP, p 16) Art is a powerful tool for dealing with depressive symptoms while incarcerated, though not as much anxiety symptoms, possibly because heighten states of anxiety are needed for survival in prison. Still, art helps the mentally ill inmate cope better with his situation. (Woodall, 1997, p 116)

Making art safely

There are no total guarantees in life, not even with art. Safety must still be maintained. Scissors, long pencils and paintbrushes can be weapons in the hands of a determined inmate. Clay can be used to make a key or disable a lock. For these reasons, many normal art making supplies are not allowed inside many prisons. (Ursprung, 1997, p 18) Even common art solvents such as turpentine can be forbidden because of the potential risk they can pose. (Menees) Art therapists and facilitators in prisons have discovered many alternative sources of art supplies, often through the ingenuity of those under their care. Found art is common, but other art media might include: foil potato chip bags, socks, hair, nuts, Kool-aid and M&M candies as pigments, magazines, cigarette wrappers and a mixture of toilet paper and soap, which when "mixed with water and combined in the right consistency" becomes a modeling paste that can easily be painted. (Ursprung, p 19 & 21) One inmate grew his hair for five months in order to make his own paintbrushes. (Dobnick, 2006) Through much of the literature on this subject, the need to create in a hostile environment is commented on again and again. (Ursprung, p 17)

And on their own, therapists and facilitators come up with ways around the restrictions. While making masks is usually prohibited because they might aid in an escape, Gussak's solution was to have the inmates make masks with paper plates that couldn't possibly resemble a real face, thereby allowing him to still use a very powerful art therapy technique. (Gussak, p 69) He also taught the inmates to create Plaster of Paris three dimensional works that not only could be accounted for after the session (thus satisfying the fear that it would be used on keys and locks), but also created an art experience in which inmates had no expectations of seeing a recognizable form in, eliminating feelings of inadequacy based on their art skills in most of those participating. (Gussak, p 63)

Even when normal art supplies aren't used for dangerous purposes, care must be taken so they won't be stolen. Art supplies are a valuable commodity in the prison black market because they are means to earn goods and services from other inmates. Portraits, handmade stationary, posters, and decorative objects are often purchased as gifts for loved ones on the outside and for personal use. (Hall, p 36 & 37)

Art and guards

The relationship between guard and inmate depends on a great many variables, not the least of which is the managing culture of the prison they are in. Because of their duties, prison guards and other staff can and do affect how art is created in their institutions. They can't stop it completely, but they can help or impede its creation.

Positive staff involvement can bring about significant results in a prison arts program. It can even generate inmate sympathy towards the correctional officers, as evidenced by an inmate at Folsom State Prison, who said that even the guards didn't need any more negative publicity. Even as far back as 1930s, the connection between the guard and the guarded can be shown, when "a convict named Ralph Pekor painted 'The Last Supper' in the prison chapel . . . The warden loved the fresco until he realized the convict had painted him as Jesus, the inmates on condemned row as the disciples, and, for good measure, tucked himself in underneath the table." (Menees)

Jung once said "The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances. If there is any reaction, both are transformed." Whether this transformation is a positive or negative one depends on the correctional staff more than the prisoners, since they, by their position, hold most of the cards. In a positive manner, staff may become involved through helping in the display artwork in shows that help breakdown the stereotypes of incarcerated people. (Ursprung, p 15) In addition, prison staff may buy inmate artwork, allowing their own prejudices to be dispelled through the admiration of the creative works and giving the inmates a means for purchasing more art supplies. (Ursprung, p 21) The effects of this transformation can be far reaching, even across generations. A Sing Sing guard who encouraged and helped an inmate artist to sell works which allowed the artist to send money to his family even in his incarcerated state, was survived by his daughter, who even now tries to find the descendents of this prisoner so she can give them some of his artwork. On her living room wall is a portrait of her mother, done by the same artist and it is obvious from her interview that she, too, has respect for those her father used to guard. (NYCHS, 2007)

However, not all prisons have a culture that is conducive to positive staff involvement. In those, it is advisable to not have guards in the actual art room, since it may inhibit the inmates. (Hall, p 28) In some correctional institutions, officers may be so paranoid that they feel threatened by the images and either react with alarm or belittlement towards the inmates' creative expressions, further dehumanizing them. Even with paranoid reactions from prison staff, art therapy specifically can help inmates by its ability to allow an inmate to work out issues on a nonverbal level, beneath the radar of those who might otherwise be threatened by inmate expressions. However, this requires the art therapist to allow the staff to continue to see the art as benign and simplistic. (Gussak, p 60 & 61)

Based on the results of the positive staff interactions in several institutions, it seems possible that by carefully involving the prison staff in the display of a public exhibition of prisoner art, a highly strained and possibly abusive atmosphere could be affected in a beneficial way for both staff and inmates. It would have to be done in a manner which would not create resentment on either side and require a great deal of patience on the part of the person managing these events. Such an individual would do well to read Gussak's chapter "The Ultimate Hidden Weapon: Art therapy and the compromise option." in Drawing Time: Art Therapy in Prisons and Other Institutional Settings for advice on how to survive in the destructive dyadic relationship between staff and inmates that exists in some prisons. Changing the atmosphere of an institution does not happen overnight. It takes a lot of work and diplomacy.

A possible theme for an inmate art show that would be relatively benign, yet still beneficial to the inmate artists, the staff and the community, would be to have inmates create images of local historical interest. An elderly inmate at a Pennsylvanian correctional facility decided on his own to do such works, which were then put on display in a local mall. His works not only gave him a reason to research the history of the town, but gave other seniors outside of the prison something to talk about and engage their mental processes with. (Wisker, 1997, p 236) We talk about criminals paying their debt to society, what better way to do this than to educate people through their art, while grounding them in the very community most of them will eventually be released into?

This would, of course, be only the start of the art journey for an institution which has no positive art program history to draw from. It is hoped that eventually in these institutions, art could be done in a freer fashion, allowing both sides to benefit from it. As the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons states, "We must create safe and productive conditions of confinement not only because it is the right thing to do, but because it influences the safety, health, and prosperity of us all." (CSAAP, p 2)

Resources

The Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons. (2006, June). Confronting Confinement. Retrieved April 21, 2007 from http://www.prisoncommission.org/pdfs/Confronting_Confinement.pdf

Dobnick, V. (2006, December 10). In prison, art supplies are likely to be coffee, candy. Associated Press. Retrieved April 18, 2007 from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20061210/ai_n16902944

Gussak, David E. (1997). A Brief History. In D. E. Gussak & E. Virshup (Eds.), Drawing Time: Art Therapy in Prisons and Other Institutional Settings (pp. xv - xx). Chicago, Illinois: Magnolia Street Publishers.

Gussak, David E. (1997). Breaking Through Barriers: Advantages of art therapy in prison. In D. E. Gussak & E. Virshup (Eds.), Drawing Time: Art Therapy in Prisons and Other Institutional Settings (pp. 1 - 12). Chicago, Illinois: Magnolia Street Publishers.

Gussak, David E. (1997). The Ultimate Hidden Weapon: Art therapy and the compromise option. In D. E. Gussak & E. Virshup (Eds.), Drawing Time: Art Therapy in Prisons and Other Institutional Settings (pp. 59 - 74). Chicago, Illinois: Magnolia Street Publishers.

Hall, Nancy (1997). Creativity and Incarceration: The purpose of art in prison culture. In D. E. Gussak & E. Virshup (Eds.), Drawing Time: Art Therapy in Prisons and Other Institutional Settings (pp. 25 - 42). Chicago, Illinois: Magnolia Street Publishers.

Menees, Tim, (2001, September 30). If not art, then what? Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Retrieved April 7, 2007 from http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/20010930artprison0930fnp2.asp

Milligan, Nancy (1997). A Barbed Wire Garden: Art therapy in a maximum security prison for adolescents. In D. E. Gussak & E. Virshup (Eds.), Drawing Time: Art Therapy in Prisons and Other Institutional Settings (pp. 175 - 186). Chicago, Illinois: Magnolia Street Publishers.

NYCHS [New York Correctional History Society]. Fine Art Behind Bars. Retrieved April 19, 2007 from http://www.correctionhistory.org/html/chronicl/state/singsing/finearts/fineartsbehindbars.html

Ronaldson, Claudia (1997). The Lucky Ones: Probationary students in a special education school. In D. E. Gussak & E. Virshup (Eds.), Drawing Time: Art Therapy in Prisons and Other Institutional Settings (pp. 167 - 174). Chicago, Illinois: Magnolia Street Publishers.

Taylor, Marcia (1997). Growing Old the Hard Way: Art therapy as an intervention in gerontology and criminology. In D. E. Gussak & E. Virshup (Eds.), Drawing Time: Art Therapy in Prisons and Other Institutional Settings (pp. 197 - 209). Chicago, Illinois: Magnolia Street Publishers.

Wisker, Carol (1997). What One Museum Does for Prison Art. In D. E. Gussak & E. Virshup (Eds.), Drawing Time: Art Therapy in Prisons and Other Institutional Settings (pp. 231 - 239). Chicago, Illinois: Magnolia Street Publishers.

Woodall, J., Diamond, P. & Howe, A. H. (1997). Art Therapy in a Managed Care Environment. In D. E. Gussak & E. Virshup (Eds.), Drawing Time: Art Therapy in Prisons and Other Institutional Settings (pp. 99 - 126). Chicago, Illinois: Magnolia Street Publishers.

Ursprung, Will A. (1997). Insider Art: The creative ingenuity of of the incarcerated artist. In D. E. Gussak & E. Virshup (Eds.), Drawing Time: Art Therapy in Prisons and Other Institutional Settings (pp. 13 - 24). Chicago, Illinois: Magnolia Street Publishers.

Why I Blog on Here

2009-10-31T01:50:00.000-05:00

Recently, I've been seeing a feed from someone who apparently took up blogging to make money. I must admit I find the concept a bit bizarre. I don't consider blog posts a commodity - I consider them a form of self-reflection and communication. I started this blog five years ago, so I could share what I learned with my friends. I am an experiential learner, which means I learn concepts by applying them to the world around me. This includes writing about them and hopefully taking them a few steps further to see if my understanding still holds up.

So, you see, this blog is really a personal indulgence of mine, which I share because at least a few other people find my intellectual/academic musings and discoveries interesting. I have it separate from my livejournal account because not all of my friends are interested in this part of my life. They are more concerned with my more mundane doings and and rants. I have another journal for my creative writings, so those friends interested in those can read them. I even have a religious journal, which to be honest, I have neglected badly, for the same reason. Most of my friends like the ala cart method I have, and I have no problem with them preferring only part of my life to follow.

So, for me personally, adding advertisements to this blog feels wrong, as does running it like a business. I want to share freely with my friends. I consider it an act of true charity (i.e. love) for those who don't have the access to material that I have (which is the reason this particular site was created - a friend in another country, who does not have the resources to study the topics I am, asked me to share some of my assignments with her). From there, it sort of turned into my more formal blog.

Still, if someone wishes to making blogging their career, then all the more power to them. There's nothing wrong with gaining something for providing information. Frankly, I'm tempted to put my Amazon wishlist up for those who wish to give me something to alleviate any feelings of one sided indebtedness they may feel while reading this blog. Not because I want something for it, but because I have learned that there is more to being charitable and generous than just giving to people--sometimes, you have to be humble and gracious enough to let them give to you. If you can't do this, then your generousity is a sham; a means to assert superiority to those you perceive as less fortunate than you. If receiving help or gifts from other people means you're weak, then what does that say about your view of those you are giving to? If you believe that receiving puts you into another's debt, then what price are you attaching to your gifts?

I will have to think this over some more. I haven't been keeping track of who has been reading this blog during the past three years or so. Most of the people who I do know that read it are friends who already give to me of their talents, companionship, and even the occassional gift. I guess I can start monitoring visitors again and if, indeed, I have a wider audience than I realize, I might put a link somewhere for people who just want to send a little something to thank me for whatever reason. I want whatever I do to be done as a free choice and not as an obligation. I will probably make a special "under $5" wishlist for this blog then. And maybe a list of professional books that a reader here might what me to comment on. But then I might feel obligated to read some books that really don't spark my interest.

Oh well, like I said, I'll have to think this over more.

The Basis of Knowledge

2009-10-30T23:30:00.001-05:00

David Deutsch starts out shaky in the talk, but stick with him. He hits his stride half-way through and then he is amazing.

Bad explanation: easy to vary

Good explanation: Hard to vary assertions, details have functional uses

Explanationless theories - bad science

Architecture that repairs itself?

2009-10-30T01:10:00.000-05:00

Discusses the beginnings of "living" building materials, other known as "protocells", creating limestone structures from the bottom up. Considering how my last post made a point of the influence of natural elements in public places, this recent video is a great example of how some people see buildings in a similar way. But instead of staying with the decay aspect, they are pioneering the creation part.

Color me extremely impressed. I am very delighted to see this technology being pursued.

Art and public spaces

2009-10-26T23:51:00.002-05:00

Olafur Eliasson does a wonderful job of showing how making public spaces an art piece, especially interactive, can help people become more aware of their surroundings and relate to them more. He also explains why this happens with things, such as waterfalls.

Of course, Eliasson uses artistic elements that reflect nature into his public spaces, which makes them more human than many man-made spaces. I believe that this reflection of nature that creates a common ground for all humans, whereas the obviously artificial space limits the way people relate to it.

Teddy Roosevelt saw the same thing in nature's effect on humans when he created the US Natural Parks system. He saw the National Parks where people of all classes could visit and be the same.

So nature reflected in art creates common ground. What does other styles of public architecture do? During the Federalist Period in the United States, elements of Ancient Greek architecture was used to bring a sense of order, beauty and achievement from that ancient democracy to the young country. Romanesque architecture was meant to life the spirit and strengthen faith. Crisp, clean, artificial architecture is meant to drive the imagination into future endeavors.

Likewise, shoddy buildings, and other signs of urban decay, negatively affect the psyches of those who live around it. The only exception to the "building decay=depression" rule I've found is when the decay isn't a crumbling into dust, but a reclaimation into nature. In which case, it often strikes me as nature embracing the structure--a marriage of art and life.

Meditation Sunday

2009-10-25T18:04:00.004-05:00

Decided to treat everyone to a less information intensive post. Choose a toy and then enjoy yourself.

Art and civilization

2009-10-24T08:08:00.002-05:00

I was going to wait until I found the video clip I wanted for this, but I decided to go ahead and post it since it appears that I may have to snail mail someone to locate it.

I was very blessed when I was in high school to have Ms. Sylvia Butler as my Ancient World History teacher. She was significant in my life for two reasons. First, she was the only teacher that had all of my siblings and I take her class. Second, she taught us the history of early civilizations through their art. She not only showed us wonderful pictures that she had taken of art all over the world, but she made us draw some of it, as well as remember the verbal facts, on our tests. You can tell a lot of a civilization through the art it produces and praises.

Another teacher who taught me about the importance of art to a nation was my eigth grade Social Studies teacher, Dr. Demott. He preferred to go as "Mr. Demott" and he was a very soft-spoken guy, but while some teachers know how to present material, he knew what material to present. He used contemporary music and various film clips to underscore certain aspects of life in the 20th century.

One example was using Neil Diamond's "I am, I said" to show the alienation that occurs in a mobile society. Another example was using actual state-sponsored films from communist Russia to show us the power of propaganda. The visual imagery of this clips were so strong that there was no need to translate the Russian in them.

(hopefully, I can find an example)

Frankly, I'm surprised he was able to get away with showing us some of this stuff, but I am glad he did, because it showed us not only real propaganda (versus the weak stuff many people scream about these days), but showed us how powerful controlling the arts can be for those in power, no matter what their idealogy.

99% of Perception is Decision

2009-10-23T22:54:00.003-05:00

Confession here--when I first saw the actual title of this video, a prejudice kicked in. Over the years, I have become very cynical about claims that computer programmers can build virtual versions of the human brain--supercomputer or otherwise. So, I almost didn't watch this video because of a pre-decided condition, one that is actually hypocritical considering my interest in cognition. I don't feel all too horrible about it. First off, it is a very common occurance in humans, even those who should know better. Second, and more importantly, my conscience pointed out my hypocrisy and nagged me until I made a commitment to watch this--thus maintaining my intellectual integrity on the matter.

I am so glad I watched this video. Because instead of seeing a theory built on narrowly conceived philosophies, I saw something that included perception as well as neuron activity. With no disrespect to Jeff Hawkins*, Henry Markham and his colleagues have a fuller theory of the brain, one that consists of holistic elements, as well as detailed ones. Their theory isn't stuck into a left brain world, but embraces both hemispheres of the brain--and the graphics used to show their points are not only extremely artistic, fascinating, beautiful and informative, but also examples of right brain/left brain cooperation. Their calculations are not only the mathematical, molecular side. These scientists actually have stepped backed and analyzed the big picture patterns of their results, realizing that they need to understand the "forest" in their work, as well as the "leaves".

I am tempted to say everyone should see this video; however, realistically, this video will be of more interest to you if you also have a fascination with cognition and perception. I will still maintain that those in the field of psychology and counseling, or consider themselves "scientific" should watch this video. You cannot understand a person or data, without understanding how your mind and others perceive it. You will be doing yourself a major diservice if you don't watch the following video:

Highlights for the less excited about brain science:

2 billion people are affected by mental illness in the world today.
The theory they are using specifically - "The brain builds a version of the universe and projects this version of the universe, like a bubble, all around us."
Finally gives a decent explanation for an optical illusion that was considered unexplained - why the moon looks so big at the horizon. It's not because of light bending. It's because we make it fit our other visual references.
Explains how anesthetics work. They doen't put the brain to sleep, they create a static noise in the brain that keeps the neurons from talking to each other. I think this may explain why hypnosis can be used instead.
"99% of what you see does not come in through the eyes. It is what you infer about that room." This is why people can look at the same thing and come to vastly differing conclusions. In counseling, it is why it is important to understand how the client perceives things and why they are the ones who actually have to be part of the creation of a healthier mentality. You can't just overlay your perceptions on other people.
Shows that for the next hundred years, we can set aside the philosophical side of the above point and ask concrete questions about the brain's ability to do this, which can be tested scientifically.
Mammals need a more complex brain because they had to deal with parenting, social interactions, and complex cognitive functions.
Excellently done video clips that help explain brain development and structure.
Shows how details and general overviews can work together, allowing a better understanding of our world.
"The most important design secret of the brain is diversity."
Shows in mathematical graphic how we can be different on the "leaf" level and still be alike on the "forest" level.
Looking at the raw electical energy and the forms created by it, within the neocortical column.

*I still that Jeff Hawkins is correct with his theory of intelligence. He just doesn't expand it to perception.

Positive Psychology

2009-10-22T13:34:00.001-05:00

Martin Seligman goes beyond the disease model in psychology and how to improve human lives, by examining the positive mental states.

Summarizing types of "happy lives": The pleasant life (full of pleasure) is inheritable and not very malleable. The engaged life (or good life) is full of flow, even if there isn't much emotion involved. The meaningful life is to work towards or for something larger than yourself.

The full life has all three, though the pleasant life gives the least amount of fulfillment of the three.

Where's the sweetness in your life?

2009-10-22T13:32:00.003-05:00

Scrooge: "What right to you have to be happy? You're poor enough."
Fred: "What right do you have to be miserable? You're rich enough."
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

"Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something." - The Princess Bride

You would be very hard-pressed to find someone who hasn't had some grief, pain or other misery in their life, but you can probably easily find examples of people who can be happy in spite of their poor circumstances and those who are miserable in spite of their riches.

My daughter is friends with one of the sweetest, most childlike (without being childish) people I know. Everything she draws has an aura of cuteness. To the casual observer, the only clue to the darkness in her is the fact that she likes really heavy metal. Her innocence is so precious that her friends will tell anyone who tries to destroy it to back off in now uncertain terms. For the past few years, she has lived with a good family that has legal guardianship over her. It has been through conversations with her foster mother that I have some idea what this young woman's early life was like. With most people, I can say that while I haven't been exactly where they are, I have been a few houses down or a block or two away. In her case, imagine living with the craziest relative you know, while in an active war zone - and you just might have some idea what her childhood was like. While I have personal familiarity with some of the architecture of her life, most of the rest of it I only have the familiarity of a war correspondant in comparison.

If anything, her sweetness is one of the main things that kept the misery of her life from totally destroying her. It is no wonder that my daughter and her other friends fight so hard to keep that sweetness alive. Because truth be told, while she may be innocent in many ways, she has experienced more evil than many who parade their "emo-ness" can even fanthom. Her sweetness is not an act of avoidence - it is an act of bravery.

To often we shy away from joy and innocence because others try shame us away from under the guise of calling it "childish", "quaint", "silly", "hokey", and various other snobbish comments. It takes bravery to embrace sweetness and joy, while living in a culture that praises negativity and jadedness. It's no wonder that many people have no clue how to turn Life's lemons into lemonade; most of us don't recognize Life's sweeteners even when they are labelled for us. And a lot of people expect the lemonade to be made and given to them, completely unaware of how much better lemonade is when it is sweetened by ourselves to our own individual tastes. And sometimes Life doesn't give us lemons; sometimes it gives us cream of wheat, medicine, treackle, habenaro peppers, or crabapples.

And there are many types of sweeteners in Life. Nature uses more than just sucrose (refined sugar). She uses glucose (honey), lactose (milk), fructose (fruit), and others.

So today I am going to share some of the musical sweeteners that are currently just right for my life at the moment:

"I get ten thousand hugs from ten thousand lightning bugs." - Firefly by Owl City
Looking out my backdoor by Creedance Clearwater Revival
In My Wildest Dreams - Moody Blues
Never Gonna to Give You Up by Rick Astley. Yes, Rickrolling doesn't annoy me - I actually enjoy it. 'Tis like trying to injure a volcano with a flame thrower or stopping a hurricane with a water cannon! FEAR ME, PUNY MORTALS!
Dragostea Din Tei by O-Zone
Run, Runaway by Slade
I Don't Feel Like Dancing by Scissor Sisters

Youtube playlist for your convience.

Now, what sweetness exists in your life? Please feel free to share, so others not only learn of other sources of sweetness, but take courage enough from your example to embrace the sweetness in their lives.

Cross-posted to my other blog.

Happiness

2009-10-22T09:09:00.002-05:00

While I do want to continue my series about the transformative power of art, I am currently awaiting some information that I really, really want for my next post on the subject. So, until then, back to the TED commentaries.

Nancy Etcoff discusses the science of happiness in the following talk:

Happiness is not the absence of misery. People can feel happy, even while feeling miserable. I have experienced this, being happy, even while in pain and under stress. It is also interesting to note that the pleasure and the reward pathways in the brain are not actually the same things.

Dan Gilbert gives a great talk about natural and synthesized happiness:

I find the free choice experiments very interesting, if not mind-blowing. There is another talk on TED about this, but I find this one more convincing.

The following talk is a more spiritual on the matter of happiness. At the very least, it has some beautiful images.

Art as a means of true social change

2009-10-21T04:58:00.006-05:00

I've decided to talk a short break from sharing my favorite TED talks to share something that hit me while studying for an art history test 3 years ago. I have it posted it elsewhere, but I think it's time to share it here.

Take a look at this picture. Do you know why it is so important?

If you're an art student, you would probably answer with something like this:

One of the most admired frescos from the Arena Chapel done by Giotto, known as the "Father of Picturial Painting". It shows real emotion and human suffering. Uses focal points instead of symmetry, overlapping figures and shading. Done in Italo-Byzantine style, it breaks from the stylistic other-worldness of the Byzantine style of the Dark Ages, with its introduction of naturalism.

However, if you take into the account of the cultural and religious significance of this piece, it becomes so much more than the epitome of a style of painting.

To appreciate Giotto's work, you need to understand that in the Dark Ages, artists painted figures to look other-worldly to reflect the supernatural and unfathomableness of Christ and the saints. These were not persons who could be related to in a normal fashion. These were impersonal beings, who only interacted with we unworthy and insignificant humans out of supernatural mercy.

To this end, the populace were treated to paintings like the one to the left here. Faces that showed no emotions. Images that showed not connection to the things of this world. During the Dark Ages, God was not Love, but Power.

Look again at the Byzantine representation of Christ. Is the image a welcoming one? Does this look like someone who emanates love? Someone who had a personal interest in your salvation?

It doesn't to me.

On the other hand, look again at Giotto's Christ. Is there any doubt that the man lying there had a connection to those around him on a personal level? That they felt his love for them in their life?

To the best of my knowledge, Giotto was the first person to paint Christ in a personal way. Perhaps herding sheep as a child made Giotto feel a special kinship with Jesus Christ. Perhaps being chosen by the master painter Cimabue as a humble lad from the country, Giotto saw more of God's love in the world around him, instead of the power plays of rulers and religious leaders.

Whatever the reason, so moving and innovated was Giotto's works, that he was in high demand and other artists began to follow suit. Soon, many who could not read, much less have access to the Holy Scriptures, had a different insight into the nature of Christ - where they actually meant something to the universe and their Creator.

A description of Giotto from http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/giotto/

Giotto was short and homely, and he was a great wit and practical joker. He was married and left six children at his death. Unlike many of his fellow artists, he saved his money and was accounted a rich man. He was on familiar terms with the pope, and King Robert of Naples called him a good friend.

Rereading what I wrote, I realized that I need to explain that the rediscovery of humanism started at the same time that Giotto began his work. And, frankly, I think that his work was a main factor for its re-emergence.

Motivation

2009-10-19T22:33:00.003-05:00

Dan Pink's talk on the surprising science of motivation is something anyone who deals with other people in an oversight capacity should watch. It's good for those in behavioral studies to watch it, too.

Nothing beats intrinsic motivation when it comes to tasks that need creativity. Which is probably why Tony Robbins is considered a motivational speaker, instead of how he describes himself - a why guy, who asks why you are doing what you do.

As you see from the video, what he is doing is helping people to figure out their intrinsic motivations, their internal drives - which empowers them to do their best.

Human needs as Robbins defines them:
1) Certainty
2) Uncertainty
3) Critical Significance
4) Connection and Love
5) Grow
6) To contribute beyond ourselves

Freud would call "certainty" life-instincts and "uncertainty" death instincts. Adlerian therapy stresses that people need goals and significance in their lives. Existential therapy deals with the need to grow and be unique. Family systems and group therapies deal with connections. Maslow's hierarchy contains all but the uncertainty. So, in spite of Robbins negative comments about us being a therapy society, he, himself, is using much of the basis of psychology.

Success

2009-10-19T22:19:00.003-05:00

UCLA coach and English professor, John Wooden, explains his definition of success:

"Peace of mind that comes from doing the best you are capable of," means a lot more with some of the examples he gives near the end.

This video underlines the capriciousness of fate, despite of merit, and job snobbery, which is rampant in our society. Unless you're a celebrity, it's what you do that gives you status.

My masters' advisor, Dr. Bryan Farha, is quoted by Gerald Corey about people focusing on doing to avoid the experience of being. He never mentioned it in the classes I had with him (probably because we students mentioned the reference ourselves), but you will find him in the chapter of existential therapy of Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychology (at least in the sixth and seventh editions). Anyway, this idea can be also applied to our society - we avoid facing ourselves through our works. Granted, it's not as bad as building monuments using slave labor, but in the United States especially, value in the corporate world means more than value in things like teaching and other pursuits. And it has been that way for a few centuries, at least, as evidenced by the Booker T. Washington quote: "No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem."

Though, in a way, several people have now given the poet the same status as the farmer, based on earnings, and not for the better. It seems to me that we now over-value things that are actually parasitical to our society, while dismissing that which truly feeds body and soul. Everybody wants luxury; some even to the neglect of the necessities.

Greatest part of this talk is stressing the part that we should make sure our ideas of success are truly our own. Also when he says that the nightmare part is that scaring people is best way to get work out of them. My next post will tackle that with some research.

Prediction - the hallmark of intelligence

2009-10-18T22:37:00.002-05:00

Even if you're not into physics and math, the following video also talks about balance and beauty, with gorgeous visuals.

A long way to go to fit a pattern, don't you think? Why do we seek for patterns? It is a very human thing to do and it helps us predict future possibilities. Jeff Hawkins talk makes a very good argument of what intelligence actually is.

Interesting alternative views

2009-10-18T00:07:00.002-05:00

These are two videos that offer a different way of looking at things. Granted, most TED talks do, but I don't really have much to say about these talks because they are a bit outside my areas of knowledge, so I'm still processing their content. However, I do think they are worth considering.

Hidden worlds

2009-10-16T00:00:00.000-05:00

The underwater "flying turkey" creeps me out, but the squids and octopi are way cool. I especially like how male squids will split their coloring to show a potential mate his "softer" side, while still showing aggression towards potential rivals.

I never realized that the canopy of the redwood forest was once considered a "desert", devoid of other life. This video corrects that belief in spades. And I never knew that redwoods can grow back into themselves.

Engineering, art and nature

2009-10-15T23:55:00.000-05:00

This is another example of using a perspective that is based on usefulness. The artist considers his sculptures to be alive. That belief obviously helps him to create this fascinating moving structures.

Now this video keeps me glued to the screen every time. I love how he explains that evolution works on the "just good enough" principle and the extreme constraints of living organisms. Being inspired by nature tells us more than bio-mimicry. And who could not be fascinated by the robots they developed?

Deconstructing and Interacting with Art

2009-10-14T23:46:00.000-05:00

As with the exception to parenting I mentioned a few blog posts ago, I only partially agree with Dr. Pinker in his discussion of art and beauty. Classic beauty is probably a human constant and modern art does tend to reject it, but there is a purpose for the exploration of deconstruction and minimalization. The problem is, in my opinion, that many "progressive" artists stop at the deconstruction and never finish the journey to reconstruction. Therefore, making their own label an oxymoron because they never complete the process to allow true progress.

Golan Levin, on the other hand, does. As an engineer and artist, during the second half of his talk, he shows the progression from simplicity of gaze to one very engaging robot eye.

I see no problem with merging art and engineering. Di Vinci was an excellent example of an artist and engineer. Michelangelo and other artists were also scientists. So, again, we see the creative cycle of divergence and the convergence.

Going back to the first half of Levin's talk, he gives examples of mixing sensory inputs. Evan Grant also works on making sound visible, through the science of cymatics.

Sound does have form and affects matter. There is still much data hidden in nature for us to find.

What happens in a prison-like environment

2009-10-14T23:43:00.001-05:00

I really should have added this to the post on brain damage and the environment, after Dr. Pinker's talk on violence, but I had temporarily forgotten it. This video shows how quickly normally good people can turn into monsters if the conditions are right, even if they don't have a genetic predisposition to do so. I have one very morbid friend who thinks the experiment should have been continued; however, there is no need for that. All one has to do is read up on prisons, and especially prisoners of war, to see where it would have led. We've always had tons of data on that front. The data missing was what type of people were the guards before they fell into this mindset. Once the mindset was achieved, there was nothing new to gain by continuing the experiment. (And, of course, it would have been extremely unethical.)

I wouldn't be surprised if something similar happens in some groups that use hazing. The only difference is that once the initiate lives through the hazing period, they get to become part of the "guards".

Creative Environments

2009-10-14T23:24:00.002-05:00

Not a TED.com video, but still a wonderful example of a creative workplace.

It is a shame that not all engineers are like Golan Levin, who I will discuss in the post after the next one. I admire the BMW design team's sensitivity to their engineering colleagues; however, it really irritated me that the engineers at BMW couldn't think outside their own box. It seems to me that, while the communication part is very important, that the engineers themselves could use a good dose of Google's environment.

Creativity and play

2009-10-13T01:21:00.002-05:00

The 30 circle test reminds me a little of when I did figures in my Drawing I class in college. We first did several drawings of our instructor with only 30 seconds per pose. Then we did a few drawing with a minute per pose. The last two poses for 5 and 10 minutes, respectively. What the exercise did was force us to just draw what we saw, without pausing to edit. Obviously, we only got basic forms at first. But this carried on to the longer drawings and I have to admit that I did much better drawing of human than I had in any other art class before. So, getting past the self-critiques (and external critiques) for a period of time does more than increase creativity, it also improves skills. Creative writing works much better if you wait to edit until after you've written the story. Starting to edit in the midst of creating will deaden the creativity and stunt the work. Editting happens after the creative period, no matter what you are working on. Or in Tim Brown's terms, the convergence period happens after the divergence period.

This next talk is also by a Brown - Stuart Brown:

It amazes me how much we have weeded out adult playfulness in the past couple of centuries. My son did a report of historical children's games last year and we were both surprised to find old books full of adult-too games. In fact, it was hard to find written resources of children-only games before the 1900s. A side-effect of the Industrial Revolution, I suspect.

Both videos underscore the need for kinistetic activity in problem solving. Though I didn't use it in my capstone, I did find a study on how swinging one's arms helps one to solve problems with a swinging element, while researching how the right and left brain function cognitively.

Back to the talk - while the meeting suits are fun, I can imagine all sort of sexual harrassment potential. But I can't deny that it is creative.

The hold of creativity

2009-10-13T01:18:00.001-05:00

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi discusses creativity, fulfillment, and flow in this following video:

In it, he tries to describe the paranormal feeling felt in midst of being creativity - basically, that the mind is so focused that it leaves no room in the mind for the monitoring of self or other distractions. He also lists seven attributes of being in creative "flow":

focused and concentrated
a sense of estacy
great inner clarity
knowing that it can be done
a sense of serenity
timelessness
the process is its own reward

A perfect example of being in creative flow is Adam Savage's talk about his creative obsessions:

If the humor is not enough, it is an incredible example on how creative people need research and knowledge to feed their creativity.

And as he says: "Achieving the end of the exercise was never the point of the exercise to begin with."

Cultivating the creative mind

2009-10-11T06:22:00.003-05:00

Elizabeth Gilbert suggests a different way to look at creative genius in the following video:

In some ways, I should probably post this video after discussing the research on the creative mind and the creative process. However, I think it fits in well with the posts of perception I have recently posted. If a perception helps someone use their talents and relate to their genius in a healthy way, can we truly label it as false?

Most of my life, my rule of thumb has been if it works, then that is the bottom line. As such, can I deny the perception of another, which allows them to create beauty and makes the world better for others? Perhaps it is not my truth, but what right do I have to say it is false for a person who it works for?

Among most counselors, psychologists, and psychiatrists, there is a belief that as long as a behavior or belief does not interfer with functioning in life, it's not something to worry about. For no one really has the right to impose their idea of truth onto another human being. Nor do they have the right to ridicule it.

That's not to say that they can't debate their ideas and search for data. I am a research addict, myself. However, I have found that it is always good to step back for a moment and ask myself how much the data actually proves, versus what it suggests. I believe many people make the mistake of treating the concepts suggested by a body of data as if they are carved in stone facts. Obviously, many people can do this, make it part of their identity and still function in their daily lives. I can't. I have to live with my own truths, which means that I have to accept that I might be wrong at times. (Though I must point out that I have a habit of making declarative statements, which give the impression that I am more firm on a matter than I really am.) Luckily for me, research has shown that being willing to be wrong is one of the key element of being creative. Sir Ken Robinson has a wonderful talk on this very subject:

You can't create something new, if all your concepts are in stone. Still, even a creative person needs a stone foundation in their life. Sometimes, you just have to be willing to rebuild it, after it cracks, into something stronger.

Brain Abnormalities and Environment: from the Curious to the Dangerous

2009-10-11T06:04:00.004-05:00

A continuation of how some brains can perceive things like Capgras syndrome (impaired facial recognition), phantom limbs with learned paralysis, and synesthesia.

I want to point out that Dr. Ramachandran stresses that these perceptual abnormalities do not impaired the rest of their brain functioning. In other words, a perceptual abnormality does not mean there are problems with their ability to analyze and think logically. Truth is, most of us have some form of neurological screwiness in our brains. And most of the time, we can make it work for us, allowing us to specialize in tasks, while other people specialize in other tasks.

So for most people, these differences can actually improve society and humanity in general, if they are not squashed and demonized. I will not deny that there are mental abnormalities that are dangerous. However, from the research I have read, it takes more than the abnormality by itself to cause the danger part. It it is a combination of genetics, brain damage, environment, and development to trigger these behaviors that we have every right to fear, as shown in the following video:

It is interesting that Dr. Fallon's father and three uncles were all conscientious objectors in WWII, after so many generations of killers in the family tree. Before this talk, I had always seen conscientious objections as a personal moral and/or religious choice. However, knowing the family history of Dr. Fallon's dad, I believe that in their case especially, it was a matter of not only personal safety, but public too.

I also think this video explains the mindset of violence in areas like Ireland, the Middle East, Africa, and any other place where deep historical hatred seems to have a life of its own. The question is: can these concentrations of violence be diluted? I believe they can, based on how most of humanity has been becoming less violent over the centuries. Steven Pinker gives an excellent summary of this decline in the following video. Be prepared to have several common beliefs challenged.

The last seven or eight minutes gives possible reasons why violence can decline. It's perhaps ironic that Dr. Pinker shows in this talk how environment can change behavior, while in his TED talk about his book, The Blank Slate, he appears to make the argument that genetic aspect is a stronger force. I believe the point really is, that when environmental factors are not strongly stressful, genetics will usually have the upper hand. Sort of like how some people make fruits look like art by placing them into forms to shape them as they grow to maturity. People can be shaped by child abuse and other extreme stressors, in ways that either suppresses or triggers genetic tendencies. Without these extreme forces, a person will develop into their own behaviors and talents, regardless of parental behavior, as explained by the elderly pediatrician who counselled me as a new mother with these words: "The most important thing a parent can do is love their child. Any mistakes they may make will work out fine as long as the child knows they are loved."

Syncrinicity

2009-10-10T01:29:00.002-05:00

Several of my recents posts have been about preception and how the brain works. So, it is very fortunate that recently TED.com has posted an excellent video on how the brain interprets visual data.

As the video reminds us, our brains are not wired for "truth"; they are wired for usefulness.

My Google Reader Feed

2009-10-07T23:47:00.002-05:00

For those who need more stuff to read.

Mostly contains psych articles, art, some science and the occasional news item. Occasionally stuff from various blogs that I read from there. (I recently moved some of them from my LJ friends list to the RSS reader.) I have stuff from both sides of the political spectrum, so don't get all weirded out if you see some conservative, libertarian, or liberal.

Electroshock Therapy

2009-10-07T16:05:00.002-05:00

This TED talk is about one surgeon's personal experience with electroshock therapy. Please be advise that foul language is used, but it's only like four or five times.

For the record, electroshock therapy is for very severe depression. If you take only ONE thing away from this video, let it be that people can return from the depths of non-function and psychological pain. That they can regain their abilities again.

If you need more proof, I present Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor:

Her progress is better laid out in her book, My Stroke of Insight. Quoting my capstone paper again: "Five years after Dr. Taylor's stroke, she was able to do division and other simple mathematical problems. Two years after that, she was teaching Gross Anatomy again. As of 2006, she was a consulting neuroanatomist at the Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute, helping stroke survivors neurologically rehabilitate themselves. (Taylor, 2006)"

Never underestmate a person's ability to recover and function.

Taylor, J. B. (2006). My stroke of insight: a brain scientist's personal journal. New York : Viking.

How We Read Each Other's Minds

2009-10-07T14:59:00.003-05:00

I found out that the embed codes from the TED site doesn't work with my Google Reader, so I went back to the YouTube version.

Probably the most "stunning" part of Rebecca Saxe's talk is how moral judgments can be affected by magnetic fields. It decreases the desire to blame for intentional acts and increases the desire to blame in accidental acts. As she tried to explain, it takes a noticable magnetic field to actually do anything. Pay attention to the video excerpt, where she is zapped by the equipment - there is a physical and visual response. Let me repeat - there is a physical and visual response. And the effect is TEMPORARY. Of course, if you are attached to your tinfoil hat, far be it from me to deny you another reason to sport it.

Now the question is - what about those people who already put more blame for accidental acts? Obviously they aren't constantly affected by a magnetic field, so it is possible that some brain circuitry gone haywire. Of course, brain circuitry can often be affected by repetitive thoughts and actions.

Another interesting study shows that when the right hemisphere of the brain is similarly stimulated, there is a gender difference in how that stimulation is perceived. To quote my capstone paper: "The creativity of the left hemisphere is evident in how men and women perceive the over-stimulation of the right hemisphere differently. To men it will feel like an alien presence or a source outside of themselves. To women, who are more sensitive to the stimulation, it will most likely take the form of a physical manifestation (i.e. dizziness, spinning, spatial displacement, etc.) from a source inside them. (Persinger, 2003) It is interesting to note that the left hemisphere will also cause delusions to compensate for right hemisphere damage. (Wood, 2009)"

Persinger believes that this is an example of male egotism. Some may say it explains all religious experiences. However, the question is then - what is causing the stimulation of the right brain in those cases? Some we can account for. Others we can't. So while it may give some people warm fuzzies to learn of this, it still doesn't actually prove or disprove anything theological. There is just not enough research and data. Our physical senses can give us weird stuff that aren't accurate and yet most of what they give us is considered accurate. Many of us have hypnogognic hallucinations and delusions. It is not an indication of our sanity or lack thereof.

The following video from TED is about Charles Bonnett hallucinations:

In the cases of Charles Bonnett and hynagognic hallucinations, we know the stimulus sources. Perhaps one day we will know all sources, until then an analytical critical mind will have to be willing to accept abiguity on the matter and be willing to accept that a difference of opinion doesn't necessitate a judgment of insanity on the other person's part. (Insanity is a legal issue, not a medical issue, anyway.)

Persinger, M. (2003, January). The sensed presence within experimental settings: implications for the male and female concept of self. Journal of Psychology, 137(1), 5. Retrieved December 1, 2008, from Academic Search Premier database.

Woods, L. (2009, January). Association between delusions and consistent pattern of brain injury. Medical News Today. Retrieved May 21, 2009, from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/135434.php

The Brain in Love

2009-10-01T13:38:00.003-05:00

This video inspired the poem that follows it.

A Geek's Valentine Poem
by A. Doerr

I love you from the core of my lizard brain.
You are the addiction I can't contain.
Your eyes are gravity wells that captured my soul,
With a gentleness that warms me like anthracite coal.
Your brilliance with the magnitude of Sirius A,
Mesmerize me with the thoughts you display,
Expanding the fabric of my universe with the possibilities
Generated within the bounds of our theories.
You are the greatest collaborator a person can find--
So, my heart's desire, please be my Valentine.

Theories of Morality

2009-10-01T13:27:00.003-05:00

I'm going to cheat on this TED talk and just give excepts from a class paper I did on moral development after the video.

. . . If finding out the early lives of Kohlberg and Gilligan is hard, finding information about someone as young as Jonathan Haidt is pretty much an exercise in futility. All that can be said for certain about his background is that he is a social psychologist who teaches at the University of Virginia and is currently a Research Fellow at the University of California Santa Barbara until the end of 2008. By all reports, he is an excellent teacher, who believes in positive psychology. (The Leigh Bureau, 2008) However, in an interview for Vox Day, a Christian libertarian opinion columnist (2007), Haidt states that he is an atheist, but one who believes that religion is an adaptation that generally works well in societies.

Well-versed in Kohlberg's and Gilligan's theories, Haidt notes that Kohlberg's cross-cultural research was focused on finding support for Kohlberg's own construct and did not address the local cultures' belief systems. Haidt and Craig Joseph desired to go beyond other moral theorists and search for the psychological systems that create moral codes. So instead of creating a moral theory based on the observation of a relatively homogeneous group of subjects and determining a cognitive development theory, they researched the moral codes and institutions of cultures across the world and through history to find constants. They also researched several moral theories, including Shweder's three ethics, which claims that Kohlberg's and Gilligan's theories only constituted one ethic--the ethic of autonomy--while ignoring the ethics of community and divinity. (Haidt, 2007) While Haidt's Moral Foundations Theory is not a developmental model, it does go beyond the Western Judeo-Christian value system, as well as the ethic of autonomy. The five psychological moral systems proposed by Haidt are listed on the Moral Foundations homepage as the following:

1) Harm/care, related to our long evolution as mammals with attachment systems and an ability to feel (and dislike) the pain of others. This foundation underlies virtues of kindness, gentleness, and nurturance.
2) Fairness/reciprocity, related to the evolutionary process of reciprocal altruism. This foundation generates ideas of justice, rights, and autonomy.
3) Ingroup/loyalty, related to our long history as tribal creatures able to form shifting coalitions. This foundation underlies virtues of patriotism and self-sacrifice for the group. It is active anytime people feel that it's "one for all, and all for one."
4) Authority/respect, shaped by our long primate history of hierarchical social interactions. This foundation underlies virtues of leadership and followership, including deference to legitimate authority and respect for traditions.
5) Purity/sanctity, shaped by the psychology of disgust and contamination. This foundation underlies religious notions of striving to live in an elevated, less carnal, more noble way. It underlies the widespread idea that the body is a temple which can be desecrated by immoral activities and contaminants (an idea not unique to religious traditions). (Haidt et al, 2008)

. . .

VI. Discussion

An observation made in the graduate level human development class, attended by the author of this paper, is the fact that hypothetical dilemmas cannot truly predict real life decisions. The lack of time, knowledge and resources may affect what someone might actually do in a situation. It was also pointed out that people will act at different moral stages depending on circumstances or priorities. Viktor Frankl's recollections from his imprisonment in Nazi concentration camps, in his book Man's Search for Meaning, is a perfect example of how people's moral can be changed by their circumstances. When people, due to external circumstances, physical illness or mental distress, are forced to a lower level of Maslow's hierarchies of needs, operating at a lower moral stage is to be expected. By linking morality to cognitive development, neither Kohlberg's and Gilligan's theories properly take into account this fluidity of moral decision making.

Based on Haidt's work, Kohlberg's and Gilligan's theories concentrate mostly on liberal values, setting some key conservative concerns at lower stages. Universities have long been considered bastions of liberalism, so this focus can hardly be a surprise. Unfortunately, as Haidt points out in his presentation at the 2008 TED conference, society cannot survive on liberalism alone. Both liberal and conservative forces are needed to keep a civilization viable. So to discount the conservative values in moral judgments is not only inaccurate, but creates unnecessary tension between different segments of society. While it is true that Haidt does not directly address the fluidity of moral decision making, his work does open the door by breaking down moral values into historic cross-cultural constants, instead using the moral preferences of the researchers. The main weak part of Haidt's research, based on the interviews done for this paper, is the belief that respondents will answer from their personal standards and not what they expect from others. Both Brett and the author of this paper share the belief that other people should not be held to their value system. The difference in their answers was based on the fact that while Brett answered as if judging other people, the author answered judging only herself. Haidt's questionnaire also doesn't take into account if someone considers resisting a particular value or two to be a high priority, as in the case of Elena, who is rebelling against the strict values of her adopted country and its religion-based government.

VI. Conclusion
Kohlberg's stages of morality, while still partially useful for most Westerners, is more accurate for liberal males than any other population. Even though Gilligan's theory mirrors Kohlberg's to some extent, it is difficult to use when there are no ethic of care considerations mentioned. Both theories lack real world moral predictive qualities, though they might give one an idea of a person's cognitive development. The idea that higher cognition leads to greater morality seems implausible when one considers that there are intelligent people with no morals at all, as well as very moral people with impaired cognition. Higher cognition may help make more effective moral choices, but it doesn't make a person more moral. That said, it is easy to see why someone who highly values education, like Kohlberg or Gilligan, would emphasize cognition. Indeed, it can be successfully argued that it is the duty of a moral person to check their facts and reasoning before making a decision. Such behavior falls under being prudent. Yet, as Haidt points out, a major percentage of people act like lawyers--making justifications for their actions after the fact, instead of considering the consequences before doing them. (Haidt, 2007)

Haidt's theory appears to be more predictive of behavior, since it focuses on types of values instead of a cognitive path or two of developing moral values. Possibly because of the biases of his predecessors, Haidt has been more vigilant in challenging his own biases and has worked to understand the "other side". It is not an easy thing to do, but the work of Haidt and of other theorists, such as Shweder, is a good start. Moral psychology and moral development theories still have a long ways to go before they can achieve the reliability of physical developmental models. Despite their shortcomings, however, these theories have provided frameworks on which moral thought can be discussed and studied.

Resources

Day, V. (2007). Interview with Jonathan Haidt. Retrieved on October 11, 2008 from http://voxday.blogspot.com/2007/11/interview-with-jonathan-haidt.html

Haidt, J. (2008). The real difference between liberals and conservatives. TED 2008 Conference. Retrieved September 16, 2008 from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind.html

Haidt, J., Ditto, P., Graham, J., Iyer, R., Joseph, C., Koleva, S., and Nosek, B. (2008). Moral Foundations Theory homepage. University of Virginia. Retrieved October 11, 2008 from http://faculty.virginia.edu/haidtlab/mft/index.php

Haidt, J., & Graham, J. (2007, March). When Morality Opposes Justice: Conservatives Have Moral Intuitions that Liberals may not Recognize. Social Justice Research, 20(1), 98-116. Retrieved September 28, 2008, doi:10.1007/s11211-007-0034-z

The Leigh Bureau (2008). Jonathan Haidt - bio. Retrieved October 11, 2006 from http://www.leighbureau.com/speaker.asp?id=410

Seeing May Be Believing, But It Isn't Always Proof

2009-09-25T17:50:00.002-05:00

In the following video, Taryn Simon shows photographs from two themes in her work. The first half of the video shows part of a collection of photos of "secret sites", stuff most of humanity never sees. The second half is a series of portraits of innocent people who were convicted through the (mis)use of photographs.

My comments today are going to focus on the second half of this video. In 1988, a study by A. Rattner found that in reviewing 205 cases of wrongful convictions, 52% contained mistakened identification by eyewitnesses. In fact, according to G.L. Wells (1993), eyewitness mistakes are the most prevelent factor in wrongful convictions. There are two reasons why this occurs: mishandling by police officers and the nature of memory.

Going into my forensic psychology text by Lawrence Wrightman (2006), I found many possible ways that eyewitness testimony can be compromised. I also found a list of ways of how to make eyewitness information more reliable. The latter is a much shorter list and includes: slowing down questioning, re-creating the original context, tailor questions specific to the witness, have the interview witness-centered*, recognize the differences between accurate and inaccurate answers (as in how the witness says things, not whether or not it fits what the investigator thinks is so), and being careful of the temptation to form premature conclusions.

*Special note about witness-centered interviews. This means that the witness should be encouraged not to edit their thoughts, but to share all of them. Unfortunately, most investigators use control and intimidation to get information, even from cooperative witnesses (Fisher, Geisman, & Raymond, 1987). Very recent research has proven that forcing answers ruins the accuracy of the information gained. Be it intimidation or outright torture or other source, a person's memory can becomes distorted or even destroyed from stress.

I considered summarizing how memory works, but that would seriously take more time than I want to devote to in something that is just supposed to be commentary. So instead, I will give you another video about how our brains are wired to show that we don't always see what we think we see.

To be honest, this TED video is not a favorite of mine. The professor who taught my intro to psychology class, Dr. Melvyn G. Preisz, is not only a practicing psychologist, but also an amatuer magician. His lecture on preception and the mind is far more mind-blowing and informative.

The life of a former Narcissistic PD enabler

2009-09-25T17:40:00.002-05:00

For those of you who prefer more personal views on the subject:

HOLDING THE MIRROR
http://www.angelfire.com/home/mirandashaw/
The journal, reflections, and studies of an abused enabler of a narcissist.