Psychology 10: Introduction to Psychology (Fall 2005)
S/R Paper for September 22, 2005
By
Halford H. Fairchild
Film on QiGong, Chinese Medicine
Stimulus: This film clip,
hosted by Bill Moyers, interviewed a Western medical
doctor who is studying in
Response: I am intrigued by what we saw, and believe that we ought to keep an open mind. I also maintain a bit of skepticism, despite myself.
Clip from Traffic
Stimulus: We see a group of high school students (they could be college aged, but I know from seeing the film that they are ostensibly portraying high schoolers), having a drug party at an upscale house somewhere. People are smoking marijuana from a bong, and snorting cocaine. One of the male youths asks his female companion if she wants to try something, and she says, “sure!” They go into the kitchen and he cooks up some crack cocaine, also known as freebase. They go into a room and she takes a hit, and falls back in euphoria. He kisses her. One may assume that sex ensues.
Response: The clip seemed very “real” and plausible. It shows how rich kids and hang in a mansion and get high on all sorts of drugs. (Where were their parents?) The cooking of the cocaine seemed to be a little too instructive; and the girl getting high really seemed genuinely stoned. Great acting. But the main point that I see about this clip is that the boy used her drug induced state to initiate physical contact, which I would say borders on rape. Rape by pharmacology.
Aserinsky E., & Kleitman, N. (1953). Regularly occurring periods of eye mobility and concomitant phenomena during sleep; Science, 118, 273-74. and Dement, W. (1960). The effect of sleep deprivation, Science, 131, 1705-1707. (Hock, pp. 41-48)
Stimulus: Aserinsky & Kleitman, studying sleep in the 1950s, made a serendipitous discovery of REM sleep. We now know that “everyone dreams” and that we cycle through five stages of sleep—several times—every night. William Dement studied the basic function and significance of dreaming. He used REM deprivation as a methodology—awakening research participants whenever they entered REM sleep. As a control, he interrupted the sleep of other participants when they were in non-REM sleep. The average amount of REM sleep was 80 minutes per night (20% of sleep time); but awakenings became more frequent during the course of the study (indicating that the sleepers were attempting more REM sleep more often). During recovery, REM-deprived sleepers showed a rebound in REM sleep. REM deprived individuals showed anxiety, irritability, or difficulty concentrating, and an increase in appetite. Drugs and alcohol suppress REM sleep. Alcoholics in detox may have D.T.s (delirium tremens), which may be evidence of a REM rebound during waking periods. Recent research suggests that these affects are more germane to the night than to day-time sleeping, underscoring our diurnal nature. Dement decries the way we sleep, and has become something of a sleep activist.
Response(s): REM sleep acts like a primary drive, as necessary to our survival as breathing or eating (although Dement cites no ill effects from even long term REM deprivation). I wonder why Dement feels that we are a “sleep-sick” society?
Hobson & McCarley (1977). The brain as a dream-state generator: An activation-synthesis hypothesis of the dream process. American Journal of Psychiatry, 134, 1335-1348. (Hock, pp. 48-55).
Stimulus: Much research has been motivated by the belief that dreams are psychologically determined and important. Freud, for example, saw dreams as the “royal road to the unconscious.” He segmented dream content into “manifest” and “latent” content. Hobson & McCarley, however, suggested that dreams are simply attempts “to interpret random electrical impulses produced automatically in the brain during REM sleep.” These are “meaningless bursts of neural static.” The brain tries to “synthesize and make sense out of the impulses. There is no hidden significance to dreams. They demystify dreaming. REM sleep causes dreaming, as opposed to the more popular view that asserts that dreams cause REM. Studying cats, they stimulated or inhibited certain parts of their brains to see the effects on dreaming sleep. A number of detailed findings are presented.
Responses: H&M suggest that muscle immobilization actually occurs at the spinal cord and not in the brain, but these are not really separable entities (except for heuristic purposes). If dreams are purely physiological, then why do we dream dreams that have so much relevance and meaning? Why wouldn’t the dreams just be a random jumble of nothing having to do with anything else?
The authors are reductionistic – placing discrete functions in discrete places, rather than looking at the brain (and its functions) more holistically. Their claim that the dream is simple “electrical energy” is wrong: it is chemical; or at least, electro-chemical.
Researchers place dreams in the forebrain, or bain stem, when the brain is really indivisible.
Spanos, N.P. (1982). Hypnotic behavior: A cognitive, social, psychological perspective. Research Communications in Psychology, Psychiatry, and Behavior, 7, 199-213. (Hock, pp. 55-63.)
Stimulus: Is hypnosis a mysterious and powerful force? Franz Anton Mesmer (1733-1815) developed the technique, and from him we have the word “mesmerize.” Hypnosis is named after Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep. This article debunks the mystery of hypnosis, and suggests that is is more related to strategic and goal-directed behavior – it does not involve an altered state of consciousness. The findings were from sixteen of the author’s studies.
Responses: I like to bellyache about how we name things, especially because our naming practices reveal a certain ethno-cultural bias. Hypnosis—derived from Greek. In our text, circadian from the Latin circa dies; etc. etc.
Spanos had certain beliefs and biases – and his research confirmed them. Self-fulfilling prophecy? Or Experimenter Effects?
This article shows how indecisive psychology is: Some say one things, others say another. Both back their statements (hypotheses, theories, etc.) with empirical research.