psych perspective
Issue 5
The team Co-Presidents & Editors-in-chief JenniferZhou JulianaEnkleze
DirectorsofArt & Design TiffanyHe AmeliaRoberts-Rodriguez
Messages It is great to be able to help in flaunting the amazing work of fellow pupils and to help deliver phenomenal ideas as well as sharing intriguing facts or studies about our world to our community at school and possibly more! The artworks are as though-provoking as the writings and I am extremely proud of how this issue turned out and I am honoured to share this experience with my fellow schoolmates, teachers and staff. I hope everyone who has contributed and showed great enthusiasm is as proud of themselves as I am of their work, I am sure there is something interesting for everyone here and I hope you enjoy reading the articles that draws out your curiosity. I look forward to many more publications to come!
—Co-President & Editor-in-cheif Juliana Enkleze
Welcome to the world of Psychology! I am honoured to present you the 5th issue of Psych Harrovian as the Editor-in-Chief. A huge thank you and well done go to everyone who contributed towards this publication. It has been a pleasure working with my team and I am looking forward to seeing more pupils joining us in the future. Ranging from the cognitive and biological aspects of psychology, to the real life applications of curing depression and marketing, we’ve indeed got them all! Please feel free to begin your adventure into the mysterious land of psychology. Enjoy your reading!
—Co-President & Editor-in-cheif Jennifer Zhou
I am thrilled and excited to introduce another edition of the ‘Psych Perspective’ at Harrow, HK. My congratulations go to all the writers, editors and illustrators for their creativity, hard work and dedication towards this publication. Everyone uses Psychology on a daily basis and understanding the way your mind works helps in everyday life by allowing you to build stronger relationships and make the best decisions. These articles are relevant and current to our everyday understanding of the world. Some of the titles such as understanding the psychology of online haters or looking at the stigma around mental illness as well as understanding parental styles or the impact that celebrity ambassadors who promote luxury brands have on consumer behaviour will give you an insight into why people behave the way they do. You might find yourself gaining a deeper understanding of the many influences that have impacted your own life. This publication is underpinned by curiosity and passion, it is a journey that these pupils have taken towards engaging with the human psyche and writing about a topic that they are passionate about. I hope you enjoy reading the articles and the illustrations to go with it as much as I have.
—Academic Supervisor Mrs. Sharin Sikka
Contributors Writers
Artists
AgnesChan AnyaDeng CherryHo JaniceChian JasmineWong JolieNg JustinLeung LaraMcwilliam LornaEmmerson LydiaDaly VanessaChai ZoeWong
Amelia AmeliaRoberts-Rodriguez Roberts-Rodriguez Cynthia CynthiaLi Li Estelle EstelleChan Chan Tiffany TiffanyHe He
Editors Audrey AudreyHui Hui Janice JaniceChian Chian Jennifer JenniferZhou Zhou Juliana JulianaEnkleze Enkleze Lorna LornaEmmerson Emmerson Zoe ZoeWong Wong
Understanding the Psychology of online haters Lorna Lorna Emmerson Emmerson
Can we think without language? Zoe Zoe Wong Wong
Bystander effect Jolie Jolie Ng Ng
When dreams collide with reality Justin Justin Leung Leung
What is the impact of celebrity ambassadors promoting luxury brands on consumer behaviour? Janice Janice Chian Chian
Yogurt and curing depression Jasmine Jasmine Wong Wong
Nature and Nurture in the origin of psychopathy Cherry Cherry Ho Ho
The psychology behind peer pressure Vanessa Vanessa Chai Chai
How different parenting styles affect the metal health of adolescents Agnes Agnes Chan Chan
Repressed memories Lydia Lydia Daly Daly
The interaction of Biology and Psychology: How our brains shape our behaviour? Lara Lara McWilliam McWilliam
The stigmatization around schizophrenia: Why do we fear it? Anya Anya Deng Deng
psychology of of online nline o haters haters
by lorna emmerson emmerson
In recent years, along with the development of the internet, there has been a noticeable rise of online haters dominating social media spaces such as Twitter and Instagram. Of course hate has always been around, however it has multiplied significantly due to the unique space social media has presented us with. Online, groups of people with similar interests and opinions can gather and interact from all over the world, however this also allows for them to comment on content and ideas they disagree with. While this can lead to interesting online discussion, it can very quickly turn south leading to mass amounts of hate being thrown at individuals. It is astonishing how quickly hate can manifest on the internet and social media platforms have given rise to a unique form of hating without true consequences for the ones throwing negativity around. In this article I will discuss the psychology of online haters and why it feels so easy to hate from behind the screen. A psychological theory that can explain why mass amounts of haters can form so quickly on the internet from a particular fan base or group is social identity theory. Social identity theory states that prejudice starts when we join/form an ingroup and start to ‘hate’ on the outgroup. Social Identity theory outlines the process of how prejudice can evolve from when we categorise people into an ingroup and an outgroup to how we start to compare ourselves with the outgroup creating hostility. Tajfel and Turner proposed the idea of social identity theory and said it stems from the human desire to belong and wanting to be accepted by others. The first stage of social identity theory is social categorisation where we separate individuals into an ‘ingroup’ and an ‘outgroup’ where we develop an ‘us and them’ mindset. The second stage is social identification. This is when we start to adopt the beliefs/values of the ingroup to feel more accepted and safe creating changes to one's persona or their identity. This leads to the final stage of social identity theory, social comparison. When we start to identify with an ingroup our self esteem will start to boost when we compare our ingroup with outgroups attempting to establish our own views/beliefs. As a member of an ingroup, you see yourself as superior to others who are not in your ingroup. You start to make comments on outgroups or anyone you perceive as ‘wrong’ leading to outward hostility between groups of people.
On the internet this can be as small as two fan bases arguing over which singer has better performances or it can grow to people doxxing (leaking private information) of people just because they disagree with their views. social identity theory explains how hostility and hate can form between groups on the internet and how it can blow out of proportion leading to serious consequences for the people involved. A psychological reason behind why haters on the internet often don't listen to reason that goes against their ideas/proves them wrong is confirmation bias. Having a confirmation bias leads people to look out for and interpret information in a way that reinforces their preexisting beliefs no matter how wrong they are. This also means people will ignore any information they see that disproves/doesn’t agree with their current beliefs. This is why, despite the amount of knowledge and information on the internet that disproves peoples ideas, there are still haters who are blatantly in the wrong with no real evidence to back themselves because they ignore any information that proves them wrong. Our confirmation biases are also influenced by our schemas, a set of beliefs and values we hold about the world, meaning they are predispositioned ideas we have about the world that are sometimes difficult to change. A psychological phenomenon similar to confirmation bias is motivated reasoning. This is when the biases we have create warped reasoning leading us to make judgements that don't go against what we believe. This process, however, is often unconscious meaning we do not acknowledge it is happening. This, again, explains how haters can ignore or warp the information they are given to make it so that their own beliefs are not shattered. Haters are also susceptible to the focusing effect. The focusing effect is when someone tends to place undue weight to certain aspects of events, namely those aspects that cast a negative light on the hated object or person. Often online this will mean a hater finding one piece of evidence to support their claim or justify their hatred than putting mass amounts of weight on it without considering any other factor. We can also use the idea of cognitive dissonance to explain why there may be intense hostility when haters are called out on their behaviour. cognitive dissonance is defined as ‘the discomfort a person feels when their behaviour does not align with their values or beliefs’. An example of this on the internet may be
someone believing in equality while taking part in hate speech. A defence mechanism against confronting cognitive dissonance is delegitimizing which can be seen heavily on the internet. Haters online may rationalise their behaviour by attacking those who call them out on it or justify those views by attacking people who don't agree rather than attempting to resolve it calmly. This is how hate can become explosive and hostile very quickly on the internet when someone is accused of behaving inconsistently with their values. Another key psychological factor that contributes to online hate is deindividuation. This is defined as ‘the perceived loss of individuality and personal responsibility that can occur when someone participates as part of a group’. Online spaces make it very easy for deindividuation to occur as people are anonymous and feel they are part of a much larger group, this makes it very easy for haters to get involved with spreading negative behaviour and information. This leads to increased online hate and outrageous hostility in online spaces due to the decreased responsibility felt by the individuals as it feels easier to hate when you are sitting anonymously behind a screen. A psychological reason for hate being so common and quick to spread on the internet is emotional contagion. This is defined as ‘a phenomenon where the observed behaviour of one individual leads to the reflexive production of the same behaviour by others’. On the internet, this is magnified as a few negative comments about something or someone can turn into a huge hate bomb that has blown way out of proportion. While normally emotional contagion can manifest in physical spaces where we observe a facial expression then have an emotional response mimicking that, online spaces can still produce the effects of emotional contagion. The behaviour is attributed to wanting to empathise with others (Barger and Grandey) which means that online spaces are full of people jumping on to a hate train to be able to empathise and relate to the other people doing the same thing. Since in online spaces you cannot physically interact with people, hating on something with other people agreeing with you can make you feel like part of a community. This can explain how online haters feel joy or belonging through being a hater.
To conclude, there are many psychological theories explaining how haters think and gather on the internet including ideas from social and cognitive psychology. It is important that we use these psychological concepts and theories to help reduce/stop unreasoned and pointless hate on the internet to make it a safe space for everyone to use and enjoy.
CAN WE
THINK
without language?
BY ZOE WONG
Have you ever heard of the idiom ‘a penny for your thoughts’? It was first used by Sir Thomas Moore in his book Four Last Things, and the idiom has retained its designated meaning since 1552. It roughly translates to ‘What is on your mind?’ which raises interesting questions about our process. Why do we think? How do we think? When we share our ideas, are people actually understanding the original thought we had in mind? I would like to focus on a particular area of the human thought process, and that is the intersection between language and thought. Language is an incredibly useful tool that many organisms wield: whether it be the subtle body language and calls used by animals, to specialised syllables in human language, it is no doubt that language plays a huge role in an organism's survival – and in our case – the functioning of society. We use language to communicate with others and understand them to resolve problems. We use language to spread ideas of innovation, advancement, and modernisation. We use language to accurately express ourselves and our emotions. Our language and the grammatical rules we abide by distinguishes us amongst the many different species of living organisms. You may hear a cacophony of noise when you enter a rainforest, such as the tunes of songbirds or the howls of a monkey, but you are unlikely to hear sounds or syllables as unique as ours. It seems that language is a crucial part of outward communication. But is it as important for the inward conversation? Can human beings think without words? Does a thought start as a full idea before being ‘translated’ into a language, or do thoughts depend on a language to complete them? And how do scientists even begin to study the relationship between language and thought? Meaning of language, thought, and LOTH A more appropriate place to start is understanding what language and what thought means. The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary defines language as ‘the system of communication in speech and writing that is used by people of a particular country or area’ whilst thought is described as ‘something that you think of or remember’.
From these definitions, we can clearly see no overlap between the two notions: the first is concerned with a useful system humans use to understand one another, whilst the latter is concerned with the intangible products of thinking. One can see that there is no requirement mentioned in the definition of thought for language to be used. Therefore, it must mean that both can exist independently, because you can ‘think of or remember’ something without using words, right? The first argument we will look at strongly disagrees with what we have just established. Actually for quite some time, scientists believed the answer was no — humans cannot think without language, and thinking must occur in conjunction with a mental language. This is called the Language of Thought Hypothesis (LOTH), more commonly referred to as Mentalese. The hypothesis states that any mental representation must imply a linguistic structure, which in simpler terms means that thoughts are essentially sentences used in your head. Origins of the hypothesis trace back to Jerry Fodor back in 1975, with the main argument being: since thinking has the properties of ‘productivity, systematicity and coherence’, the most plausible explanation for these properties is a linguistically structured representational system in the brain which guides these thought processes. However, there are arguments against LOTH, such as the need to explain thoughts that have ‘contextdependent properties’, the development of connectionist networks, and the individuation of symbols (which are further concepts that you can read on). In the modern day, LOTH has fallen out of favor as it is not the full story nor is it representative of the variety of thinking methods in the human population. The Inner Experience and Russel Hurlburt Another argument requires us to consider something psychology professor Russel Hurlburt PhD likes to call the ‘inner experience’. This notion has been repeatedly exaggerated and misrepresented by the media: think about those movies, TV shows, and cartoons that show a character’s thought process with an actor’s dialogue. The thought processes are usually verbally presented. Implications of this executive decision means many people are led to believe that the majority of the population have this
internal monologue, and since other people’s way of thinking remains inaccessible and cannot be shared, people are quick to believe that their own method of thinking is universal. In 2020, Ryan Langdon posted a now viral tweet expressing his shock at learning that not everyone uses an internal monologue. It ‘completely blew [his] mind’ as ‘[he] could hear [his] voice in [his] head and speak in full sentences’ as if he was talking out loud. Ryan thought everyone experienced this, but after checking with people around him, he found out that some lack this inner voice, and use different methods such as visual imagery or unsymbolised thinking. It may surprise you, but people who think with words or using language make up the minority. Hurlburt estimates that only 25% of people have an inner monologue. Hurlburt et al. also proposed five different categories of inner experiences: unsymbolized thinking, inner speech, inner seeing, feelings, and sensory awareness. The estimation as well as accounts of these alternative proposed methods of thinking used in the ‘inner experience’ clearly show how language is not necessary for thinking. Hurlburt has spent his life trying to unravel the inner experience, and he has helped develop ways to study the relationship between language and thought. He is a pioneer in the field and was the creator of the Descriptive Experience Sampling (DES) method, which uses interviews and beepers (machines that make a ‘beep’ sound at a certain intervals in the day) to gain qualitative and insightful descriptions of the inner experience. They were able to achieve more reliable and consistent results than the questionnaire based methods (the method that preceded DES) which had many shortcomings such as questionable reliability of results and misinterpretation leading to skewed results. However, there are still problems during investigations using DES, such as accurately identifying whether a person uses language-free thought in the first place. "Most people don't know that they engage in unsymbolized thinking," says Hurlburt, "even people who engage in it frequently." The individuals being studied struggled with determining which thinking method they used, and many who believed they used an internal monologue were surprised to find out they lacked
the distinctive features of inner speech. This is probably due to the inability to compare one’s experience with another as well as the lack of a reference point since science has not yet created ways to exchange inner experiences. There is no solid method of acquiring information that is completely reliable, no method to quantify the data and therefore there is no way to compare the empirical data side by side. This quotation from Lord Kelvin highlights the importance of being able to quantify results, no matter how unquantifiable they seem: ‘When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind: it may be the beginning of knowledge, but you have scarcely, in your thoughts, advanced to the stage of science, whatever the matter may be’.
A comic illustrating the difficulty in sharing the thought process or the inner experience.
What are alternative ways of thinking? Some people use ‘visual thinking’ which means they think with pictures. Those who use visual thinking exclusively are nicknamed ‘real picture thinkers’, and there are not many of them. Child development theorist Linda Kreger Silverman estimates that less than 30% of people use only visual thinking, whilst 45% of people use a combination of visual thinking and thinking with words, and 25% of people (as Hurlburt estimated) use only an inner monologue. It seems that those using a mixture of both visual and language-based thinking make up the majority, but it also goes to show that people can definitely think without language, to the extent of a complete absence of language. Other people use ‘unsymbolised thinking’ which is a type of cognitive process that occurs with the complete absence of words. Heavey and Hurlburt describe unsymbolised thinking as ‘thinking a particular, definite thought without the awareness of that thought being conveyed in words, images, or any other symbols’. Using collected data from a study done by Heavey and Hurlburt, unsymbolised thinking (UT) was reported in 22% of all sampled experiences. There are some authors who reject this proposal, saying that UT is a result of confabulation (confabulation is when a person who has gaps in their memory is asked to recall a certain event, their brain fabricates the events to compensate for the lack of information and to fill in those gaps). Using this line of thinking, people with UT may be fabricating their experience due to gaps in their understanding of their own thought process. These arguments demonstrate the problem highlighted in the previous section: How does one actually know if they use UT or have an inner monologue if there is nothing to compare to? Neurological conditions Neurological conditions, specifically regarding regions controlling language, can lend insight into the relationship between thought and language, and therefore be a starting point in creating treatments for those who have lost the ability to speak. Aphasia is a disorder that affects how you communicate, and the three types of aphasia are Broca’s aphasia, Wernicke’s aphasia, and Global aphasia. The most common cause of such brain damage is a stroke. It is important to remember
that intelligence is not affected in patients with aphaisa. Individuals with Broca’s aphasia struggle to find the right words but have no problem understanding and comprehending what is said to them. This is because the Broca’s area (found in the frontal part of the left side of the brain) does not receive enough oxygen and glucose, leading to cell death and loss of function that area of the brain controls for. Individuals with Wenicke’s aphasia have problems expressing themselves using a language, but they struggle with understanding what is being said to them at the same time. This is due to damage or cell death in the Wernicke’s area which is in the temporal lobe on the left side of the brain. From the observation of what patients with Broca’s aphasia and Wenicke’s aphasia can do, it seems that some function is left intact, and they still can use the operations which language requires.
Global aphasia is the most severe form of aphasia, where patients have significant problems across every aspect of using a language, and can be said to have a ‘near-total loss of language’. They have trouble with speech, comprehension, reading, and writing. They may be able to utter automatic, stereotypic, and learned responses such as ‘yes’ and ‘no’, but their responses are often unreliable as they don’t understand the question posed in the first place. In a study where patients with global aphasia were asked to do certain tasks, scientists were surprised to learn that they could still solve logical problems, reflect on other people’s thoughts, appreciate music, do math problems, and successfully navigate their environment. This shows that despite losing a crucial skill, they are able to solve problems and think in a way independent of a language. Furthermore, neuroimaging studies using fMRIs (functional magnetic resonance imaging) which record metabolic activity over time
show that in healthy adults, the language areas of the brain are not engaged when performing nonlinguisitc tasks such as arithmetic, listening to music, and active storing of information in the working memory. This emphasises how different elements of thought engages different regions of the brain, and although most of the time, various parts of the brain are working together, there are activities that clearly do not depend on language. We now can see a clear answer to the question ‘Can humans think with language?’, and the answer is yes. Conclusion Humans can definitely think without language. This is shown through the investigation of patients with neurological conditions, where we are able to gain insight into the role the parts of the brain responsible for language play in our thinking process. Scientists have used functional MRIs, EEGs, MEGs, as well as the DES method to learn more about how language and thought are connected and areas where they do not overlap. I would like to stress that language and thought are simultaneously separate notions, but also closely intertwined. A word of caution when reflecting on the relationship between language and thought, or indeed any other debate requiring the scientific method, is to avoid having a myopic perspective: it sounds tempting to class thinkers into ‘those who think with words’ and ‘those who do not’, but what good would that bring? Only by asking all the possible questions and refusing to rush through the investigative process will we get closer to understanding the complex mechanisms of human thought. Maybe even one day, the age-old phrase ‘a penny for your thoughts?’ can be translated into a literal exchange of inner experiences.
BYSTANDER EFFECT BY JOLIE NG
The bystander effect is a type of social phenomenon that describes how people are reluctant to help because they believe others will help instead. One individual’s willingness to help is influenced by others’ presence. The bystander effect is about when there is a greater amount of people witnessing the situation, there would be a diffusion of responsibility and a decrease in the willingness to help others out. If no one is offering help, people will simply ignore it even if they notice something is wrong. However, if a person starts offering help, other people will also begin to offer help. The cost of helping also plays a role in the bystander effect, whether the consequences of helping are severe or not. The bystander effect was first brought to attention to the community because of the infamous case of Kitty Genovese. On March 13th 1964, she arrived home at around 2:30 in the morning. A man approached her and wounded her brutally outside of her apartment in New York. Kitty Genovese screamed and cried for help, although there were as many as 30 witnesses to this incident, none of them called the police or offered help, instead, they just walked past and continued minding their own business. Until a neighbour, Robert Mozzer, witnessed this situation and screamed from his apartment window, “Hey get out of here what are you doing?” The murderer was frightened and left. At that time, Genovese was severely injured, and tried to seek help from the neighbourhood or other witnesses. But by then it was too late. Bystanders had walked pass, where the murderer returned to the crime scene 10 minutes later, stabbing her and rapping her. She was later found by a neighbour Sophia Farrar, where she heard the screams and called the police. The authorities arrived a few minutes later, where Genovese was sent to a hospital but died in the ambulance. After the murder, police began their investigation and questioned the neighbours who witnessed the situation. Their explanation for not offering help was simply “I don’t want to get involved.” This brought to the attention of the social influence: the bystander effect. This social behaviour can be explained by various different factors, mainly by the diffusion of responsibility, the cost of helping and pluralistic ignorance.
The diffusion of responsibility is one of the main factors of the bystander effect. This occurs when there are many people witnessing an emergency situation, and the less responsibility each individual feels to offer help as we diffuse the responsibility onto others. Consequently, their tendency to help decreases as well. In comparison, if fewer people witness the situation, individuals may feel more inclined to offer help as fewer people share the responsibilities with them. As each bystander simply believed that the other bystander would offer help, and the blame for not helping the victim could be shared as a whole instead of an individual. The diffusion of responsibility also increases when other bystanders are viewed as more capable of helping, such as doctors being present in the situation. The majority will expect them to offer help instead of ordinary individuals. The cost of helping is another factor of the bystander effect. People often consider the cost and consequences of offering help beforehand: if the cost of helping is too significant, they might refuse to offer help; however, if the cost of helping is lower, they might be more willing to offer help. With regards to the extreme case of Kitty Genovese, bystanders did not help because the risk was too great; it could have resulted in their potential harm, in which bystanders did not want to be involved in the situation. Another factor of the bystander effect is pluralistic ignorance. People are aware of other people's reactions and behaviour and use it to determine if they are going to help or not. People often interpret that situation as non-emergency if there are fewer people providing assistance. On the other hand, people would interpret the situation as an emergency if there are more people providing support. Additionally, people would be more likely to offer assistance if a greater number of people are offering help. This social phenomenon could also be associated with other social behaviour such as the idea of conformity and social influences.
Imagine an extreme case scenario where a person suddenly experiences a heart attack and requires CPR performance. With this being an emergency situation, people would be more willing to help. On the contrary, there are possible factors determining if they are ready to perform CPR as they don't want to be responsible for another’s life. This is where the cost of the helping factor occurs. As a bystander you may say, “I have never been in any of these situations so it doesn’t really matter to me.” But since almost all of us are on social media, we all have been a bystander at some point in our life whether knowingly or unknowingly; we may have unknowingly been digital bystanders (someone who witnesses cyberbullying online). This is associated with the bystander effect as we assume someone else would help and not do anything about it. For example, when someone posts a hateful comment towards someone but no one is willing to stand up and speak for them. Last but not least, another factor might influence the bystander effect is one’s physical impression and identity. Although seemingly absurd, this often occurs in our daily life. We would be more likely to offer help to certain people with a particular circumstance as they were categorised as needing more help, for instance, pregnant ladies and children were found to be viewed as requiring more help more often. Or put it in another way, we are also more likely to offer help for someone who we find more attractive. Would you rather help a homeless person or a pregnant lady? I think we all know the answer. From my perspective, the bystander effect is part of our human nature and something that we cannot avoid. Humans are innately driven by their self-interest or social influences, it would be impossible to fully achieve an altruistic world where people would go out of their way to help others. But people should at least put in the effort to make society a better place.
WHEN DREAMS
COLLIDE
WITH REALITY
Artwork: Cynthia Li
“The interpretation of Dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind” ~Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams Many of us have experienced dreams that feel so vivid that we awaken as though we have lived an entirely different life in another dimension. It is a natural proclivity of the human mind to imagine scenarios, tangible or not, and ponder the many ways in which they could play out. Dreams have been an enigma to us for centuries, with many theories suggesting they are merely figments of our imagination, devoid of any deeper meaning. However, recent studies into dreaming have suggested that they may have a more profound impact on our lives and our perception of reality than previously thought. Dreams are often seen as the manifestation of our deepest desires, wishes, and aspirations; a place where our imagination is free to run rampant without the limitations of reality. They are a window into our subconsciousness, revealing both our most treasured memories and fears, allowing us to explore scenarios that may never happen in our waking lives, yet they often reflect the reality we live in. Firstly, why do we dream? Dreams actually serve many functions beyond just processing emotions and experiences. During sleep, the brain sorts through and organises memories and experiences, leading to insight and problem-solving abilities. But dreams also provide a space for creativity and imagination, offering an alternate reality to explore free of physical boundaries and limitations, essential to our cognitive and emotional well-being and play an integral role in shaping our perception of the world. Overall, while the exact purpose of dreaming is still not fully understood by scientists, it is evident that dreams play a significant role in shaping our perception and experience of the world around us. Morewedge and colleague Michael Norton of the Harvard Business School invited undergraduate students to rank several hypotheses regarding the significance of dreams as part of a study to see if people from diverse cultures and backgrounds hold similar beliefs about the meaning of dreams. Pupils from the United States studying science: economists from India
and South Koreans participating in psychology classes were all included in the survey group. The results showed that the overwhelming majority of pupils in all three cultures agreed that dreams can disclose hidden truths, and all concurred that dreams play a significant role in their lives. While we may not always remember our dreams, they can still leave a lasting impact on our thought processes and behaviour, and it is especially crucial to pay attention to our dreams and the messages they may hold, as they can provide valuable insight into our subconscious mind. By honouring our dreams and using them as a tool for self-discovery, we can unlock new possibilities and gain a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us. Recognizing and engaging with our dreams are equally as important as it allows us to learn more about ourselves, improve our mental health, and even tap into our creativity and inspiration. Dreams truly are a valuable and multi-faceted aspect of our lives, deserving of exploration and reflection. So, next time you wake up from a dream, take a moment to reflect on its meaning and the potential it holds for your personal growth and well-being. According to psychologist and Hope for Depression Research Foundation media advisor Michele Goldman, Psy.D, dreams arise from increased activity in the cortex, the brain's outermost layer, and are equally neurological and psychological in nature. According to Goldman, the cortex "creates a conscious-like experience" during sleep that frequently includes familiar people, locations, or objects from our everyday lives. Images, thoughts, feelings, and even physical sensations can be translated from these experiences. Moreover, the rapid eye movement stage, also known as REM sleep, is when dreams most frequently appear, according to Goldman, who discussed each of the four sleep stages that corresponds to dreaming. As per Goldman, the reason why REM dreams are vivid and narrative-like is that during this phase of sleep, our brain activity mirrors that of an awake brain, so it will be more prone to activities such as dreaming.
Dreams can also reflect a person's waking life by including conscious experiences, appearing as a mosaic of memories rather than a straightforward reproduction of waking reality. Research suggests that, while REM sleep involves more emotional and educational memories where they are typically simpler to remember, non-REM sleep may be more associated with declarative memories. The continuity theory postulates that memories in our dreams may be deliberately broken up in order to better retain new information and experiences. However, there are still a lot of unanswered concerns regarding why some facets of our memories appear in our dreams more or less frequently than others. The emotional regulation dream theory states that dreams serve as a secure place for us to process and deal with our emotions or traumatic experiences. The hippocampus, which is crucial in condensing information and shifting it from short-term to long-term memory storage, and the amygdala, which is involved in processing emotions, are both shown to be active during vivid, intense dreaming. This demonstrates how dreaming, memory storage, and emotional processing are all closely related. Additionally, dream content can impact our mental wellbeing, as recurring nightmares or distressing dreams can contribute to symptoms of PTSD and other mental health conditions. On the other hand, positive dreams can provide a sense of hope and inspiration, helping us navigate the challenges and disappointments of our waking lives. As we strive to understand the complex relationship between dreams and reality, we can gain insight into our own psyche and cultivate a greater sense of self-awareness that can benefit our personal growth and development. The collapse of probability waves is a vital part of the multidimensional realities the mind constructs in dreams, just like it is in "real" life. In our dreams, we compress probability waves in the same way that we do in the real world. Yet, because the brain is not required to follow sensory inputs that are themselves constrained by physical rules during dreams, the mind is free to create experiences that are different from the consensus world we are aware of during the day.
To conclude, the intersection of dreams and reality stresses the importance of balance, mindfulness and acceptance. While it is great to hold onto our dreams and aspirations, it is equally important to acknowledge and accept the reality we are living in. Finding a balance between our dreams and reality can lead to a fulfilling life that acknowledges our deepest desires, while remaining realistic. Ultimately, the collision of dreams and reality is an ever-present theme in our lives, and by understanding and embracing it, we can utilise it to shape a more meaningful existence.
Over the past few years, recruiting celebrities to be ambassadors for luxury brands has become a popular advertising tactic, which has successfully targeted a variety of audiences, from infamous athletes to well-known TV personalities. In this article, I will discuss the psychological impact of celebrity ambassadors promoting luxury brands on consumer behaviour. In doing so, I will better recognise the complex relationship between celebrities, luxury brands and their corresponding influence on consumer behaviour. A trend in the marketing industry for luxury brands has been to recruit celebrity ambassadors from various fields of work to attract customers. For example, Prada recruited the actor Tom Holland would gain the attention of Marvel fans, whilst the member from the Korean boy band NCT, Jaehyun, would attract the attention of those who follow the trends of the Korean wave. Other luxury brands using this same technique are Dior, whose ambassadors include Johnny Depp and Jimin from BTS, and Zendaya and Hoyeon Jung, representing Louis Vuitton. This marketing tactic has been proven successful, according to research by Harvard Business School professor Anita Elberse and Barclays Capital analyst Jerome Verleun, who found that a celebrity endorsement increases a company’s sales by an average of 4% relative to its competition and increases its stock value by 0.25%. The psychology behind celebrity endorsements can be theorised through Erdogan's 1999 study, which posits that the primary intent of each commercial is to create attentiveness and stimulate interest in the consumer's mind. Celebrities are defined as well-known individuals who possess unique skills or qualities that distinguish them from others while exuding magnetism. In Khatri’s study on celebrity endorsements in 2006, he found that marketers needed to use different famous personalities to relate with their brands to create a unique identity for the celebrity and the luxury brand. Although this used to be a high expenditure for the brands who use this strategy, when one spends more than necessary or appropriate, it’s now a powerful and strategic marketing tactic to maximise profit. However, there’s a potential risk associated with utilising a celebrity to endorse a product, as there is no
guarantee that the celebrity's involvement will increase sales for the firm. Nonetheless, consumers' excitement is stimulated, increasing the popularity of both the celebrity and the brand, which may heighten the consumer's perception of celebrity ambassadors and their potential for future collaborations. But how can psychological theories expound on the rise in sales for luxury brands? Each celebrity endorsement intends to create vigilance and stimulate interest in the consumer’s mind, further explained by Bandura’s social learning theory (SLT), which suggests that behaviour can be learned by observing a role model and imitating their behaviour. In the context of celebrity advertisements for luxury brands and consumers, the advertisement will first capture the consumer’s attention, who would perceive the celebrity as a role model. As the consumer continues to see celebrity advertisements, they would be motivated to purchase from the luxury brand. Another psychological explanation would be classical conditioning, when one learns through association by observing two repeatedly paired stimuli. In the context of Jaehyun from NCT being a Prada ambassador, his celebrity status serves as an unconditioned stimulus, which results in an unconditioned response of him being attractive and worthy of admiration. This is then paired with the neutral stimulus of Prada advertisements with Jaehyun as their brand ambassador, and their products would be associated with something worthy of respect towards consumers, stimulating a conditioned response of being incentivised to purchase from the luxury brand. In conclusion, the use of celebrity ambassadors by luxury brands has developed to become a popular marketing tactic that has proven to be successful in attracting consumers and increasing sales. The psychological impact of this strategy can be explained through social learning theory and classical conditioning. Although there is a potential risk associated with using celebrity endorsements, the benefits of increased consumer excitement and heightened brand perception outweigh the risks. It highlights the importance of understanding behavioural economics for marketing strategies to maximise efficiency.
YOGHURT AND CURING DEPRESSION
BY JASMINE WONG
Michael Gershon described the gut as 'the second brain' due to the extensive network of neurons surrounding the gut (Cryan et al., 2019). The sterile foetal gut inherits over 100 trillion bacteria by the time they mature into an adult in the intestinal tract alone. This is more than 10 times the number of human cells in the entire human body (Rege, 2020). The unique set of microbes in the individual’s gut determines many bodily functions, including mood and immunity. The gut microbiome composition can be manipulated by consuming different types of food or through environmental factors. Prebiotics and probiotics are purposeful manipulations of the gut microbes’ composition to gain the desired positive effects of increased gram-positive bacteria. Thus, depression can be alleviated when the composition of the gut changes. What is Depression? In October 2012, the World Health Organization (WHO) highlighted the increasing number of people worldwide suffering from depression (Flores-Ramos et al., 2017). Depression is a common psychiatric disorder defined as experiencing persistent sadness and a lack of interest in activities deemed pleasurable by the individual. Symptoms of depression include disturbed sleep or appetite, tiredness or poor concentration (World Health Organization). The Connection To The Gut Microbiome There are three main pathways the bi-directional gut-brain axis can communicate through: 1. Hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis 2. Immune system 3. Nervous system Probiotics Probiotics are living microorganisms (gram-positive taxa) intended to have health benefits when consumed or applied to the body (National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, 2019). Probiotics can decrease inflammation and improve cognitive function as they produce metabolites by metabolising prebiotics and forming tryptophan mediators. More specifically, there are microbes which are considered to be psychobiotics. Psychobiotics are “probiotics that confer mental health benefits to the host when ingested in a particular quantity through interaction with commensal gut bacteria” (Toro-Barbosa et al., 2020).
Study One The study of the HPA axis and its relation to depression and anxiety using the two most common probiotics, Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, has been found to restore homeostasis by reducing stress-induced HPA axis dysfunction. In 2016, Kouji Miyazaki, PhD, director of the Food Research Department of Yakult Central Institute, Tokyo, Japan conducted a study on Japanese medical students eight weeks before their exams (Kato-Kataoka et al., 2016) (Cornall, 2016). Twenty-three medical students were given milk fermented by Lactobacillus casei (L. casei), while twenty-four other students were given a placebo–non–fermented dairy to gain better validity of the experiment and allow for valid comparisons to be made. Neither group of students knew which milk they were drinking, and there was no difference in taste, colour, or nutritional status. They then did a questionnaire on the five common abdominal symptoms and were questioned on abdominal discomfort, pain, and anxiety felt. Additionally, levels of cortisol were also measured. After eight weeks, it was found that daily consumption of the fermented probiotic milk reduced the abdominal symptoms of abdominal pain, feelings of stress and hopelessness due to the suppressed secretion of cortisol. Moreover, Miyazaki found that the L. casei strain changed the levels of expression of stress-related genes. In the placebo group of students, expression surged in One hundred and seventy-nine stress-related genes; students who consumed the fermented milk increased much less. These stress-related genes were associated with depressive symptoms. Therefore Miyazaki concluded that probiotics control stress responses through the MGB axis due to the presence of neuroinflammation and hence depressive symptoms. This is significant as it suggests that having yoghurt or drinking Yakult which contains probiotics, can help alleviate depressive symptoms and reduce the stress felt by an individual. This provides evidence to show that there is a connection between probiotics and depressive-like symptoms.
A similar study conducted in 2013 supports this idea when they randomised thirty-six neurotypical women into three even groups: probiotic yoghurt, non-fermented milk product with no probiotics , yoghurt or milk products in an attempt to demonstrate the effects of consuming probiotics from supplements or food. After four weeks of drinking their given products twice a day, brain scans indicated that the women who ate the probiotic-dense yoghurt had a less negative emotional response when shown sad, angry, or fearful photos of people. This was due to reduced inflammation in the gut, meaning a less depressive response. Although it was a well-designed experiment, Dr Emeran Mayer, director of the Oppenheimer Centre for Neurobiology of Stress, noted that thirteen of the co-authors were Yakult's employees, the study's sponsor. This meant there may have been some bias in the first study. Additionally, both studies used a small sample size, meaning the reliability was relatively low. However, despite these limitations, it was evident that there was a decrease in psychological stress including depressive moods and symptoms as a result of consuming probioticdense yoghurt which contains Lactobacillus. These two studies confirmed each other's findings and thus increased the reliability that probiotics can reduce depressive symptoms. Hence it is still a significant study since it demonstrated the significance of probiotics such as Lactobacillus found in yoghurt as they reduced inflammation which is a factor in causing stress-related depression. Study Two Moreover, in 2011, Bienenstock and his colleague, John Cryan of the University of College Cork, furthered their studies on mental disorders in mice and their relation to gut flora by using BALB/c mice to detect signs of depression. The investigation involved feeding a group of mice with Lactobacillus rhamnous (L. rhamnous) to compare it to a control group of mice after twenty-eight days (Bravo et al., 2011). EPM was used again to compare anxiety levels. The L. rhamnous-fed mice were more determined and willing to enter a more and were less likely to give up. Deviations in levels of brainchemical sensors supported these observed behavioural changes, and stress hormones were present between the two groups of mice. The
L.rhamnous fed mice produced less corticosterone and instead increased the number of GABA receptors in some brain regions, allowing anxiety levels to decrease. This caused mice-fed broth L.rhamnous to be more adventurous despite typically being more susceptible to staying close to walls. Another anxiety-inducing test was carried out to ensure their findings were reliable, consistent and valid. The forced swim test in a water tank indicated that L.rhamnous mice had lower levels of stress hormones (Saey, 2011, 9). These conclusions were reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on August 29th. As this experiment was to test out a hypothesis, the sample size of the mice was small, with only twelve mice for each condition. Evidence for the role of the microbiota in inducing anxiety-like behaviours can change with physiology, behaviour, and brain function. Hence, these results may not be seen in humans. However, this does establish a solid connection between the gut microbiota and the brain. The limitations of this experiment should also be considered, as behavioural testing was performed only forty-eight hours after the mice were delivered to the facility. This limited time was because beyond forty-eight hours; it would be logistically impossible to keep the mice in their germ-free or specific pathogen-free state. The mice would have been exposed to surrounding pathogens from their cages' air, food, or water. Hence, their gut microbiota would be compromised, altering their gut flora. Furthermore, it should be noted that the order and timing of behavioural testing in rodents are known to impact the outcome, and testing anxiety-like behaviour in the EPM is influenced by prior testing. They believe that if they could have done the behavioural tests on different days, it would have been more reliable as they could not be sure that exposure to the open field did not affect the EPM behavioural data. The Estrous cycle of the mice could also influence stress-related behaviour, changing the data they collected. However, despite these limitations, we can conclude that this experiment is reliable as it aligns with other research and their pre-clinical research. The increased corticosterone levels increased anxiety-like and depressive behaviour in GF mice.
Furthermore, another study observed that mice suffering from depression had less Lactobacillus in the gut and elevated levels of circulating kynurenine, the most notable change in stressed mice (Marin et al., 2017). This was further supported when they restored microbial balance by increasing Lactobacillus levels and reverted their behavioural abnormalities. However, despite probiotics' ability to reduce anxiety in rodents, evidence for similar anxiolytic effects in humans is not established. The blood-brain barrier and inconsistencies in conclusions prevent scientists from determining a definitive conclusion on the results of probiotics such as Lactobacillus on its ability to reduce anxiety. This can be confirmed by a follow-up experiment to investigate probiotic administration's effects on gut microbiota and depressive behaviours in mice. Forty mice were randomly and evenly divided into four groups (n=10): Group A was the control group; they did not administer any probiotics, nor did they induce any stress; Group B was given sterile saline via oral route for eight weeks whilst exposed to stress condition continuously, Group C was administered fluoxetine hydrochloride group; They orally showed a treatment often used for depression and Group D multiple strains of probiotics for eight weeks (Liu et al., 2020, 181-189). They monitored their behaviour and randomly collected faecal samples from five mice in each group on day sixty. The scientists conducted a taxonomical analysis of intestinal microbial distribution. The results indicated that Group B experienced more stress and showed more depressive-like behaviours and higher corticosterone levels in serum. This was compared to Group D, where depressive-like behaviours and corticosterone levels had decreased. The Faecal microbiota in Group D differed significantly from the other three groups. At the same time, Group B had a significant decrease in the diversity of microbes, i.e. a reduction in the number of species and genus levels of microbes. To confirm these results, Liu and his colleagues restored the gut microbiome in Group B through probiotic administration. This also reversed the depressive effects of gut dysbiosis.
To conclude, when mice ingested probiotics, it altered the composition of the gut microbiome and which led to the improvement of mood; hence this study provides encouraging evidence that probiotics contain antidepressant properties which help to improve the symptoms of depression. This further confirms the findings from the first two studies above and hence increases the reliability of the effectiveness of probiotics in reducing depression. This study is significant as a factor for the development of a treatment for depression as it clearly demonstrates the correlation between stress, depression and gut microbiome composition. It showed that those with a greater variety and diversity of microbes, along with more common probiotics in the gut are beneficial to those suffering from depression as they will restore balance in the gut and reverse the effects of gut dysbiosis. Conclusion of Probiotics These two studies clearly demonstrated the significance and effectiveness of probiotics in changing the gut microbiome to restore balance and reduce inflammation and trigger the HPA axis and immune system. Thus, it is evident that probiotics are effective in treating depression, especially for those suffering from stress-induced depression. While the first study demonstrates the effectiveness of consuming probiotics in reducing stress and hence preventing symptoms of depression from appearing, the second study provided evidence to show the ability of probiotics to reverse depression. With the combination of studies, it can be concluded indefinitely that probiotics play a vital role in regulating mood and depressive symptoms as they all support each other’s thesis and conclusions.
Nature And
Nurture in the origin of psychopathy by Cherry Ho
Introduction The long standing debate throughout history of nature and nurture argues whether our behaviours are mainly innate or if it is acquired through influences and experiences. In short, it is a debate between natural and obtained behaviour. In this article, I will evaluate to what extent nature and nurture affects human psychopathic behaviour and tendencies. Factors such as Newman’s response hypothesis and neurobiological factors play an important role by which nature and nurture affect human psychopathic behaviour. 1. What is nature and nurture? Nature ‘Nature’ refers to the hereditary and biological characteristics that we inherit from our parents, and they are usually influenced by the inherited genetic material. For example, our eye colour, hair colour and other phenotypic characteristics fall under the category of ‘nature’ because they are essentially predetermined and can impact the way our personalities start to develop and form as a child, whilst also influencing developments all the way from childhood to adulthood. On the other hand, ‘nurture’ refers to the impacts of environmental or external factors that affect who we are as a person. This can affect how we are raised, how we build our personality, the acquisition of certain characteristics such as loyalty, being able to trust, and the quality of patience. Just like plants and leaves, ‘nature’ in the context of human development means something similar: things that are predetermined and already existing since the moment you were born. Our life is like a puzzle, and the nature component is the existing frame that we grow into. Nature focuses on the biological approach to human behaviour, honing in on the genetic and hormonal explanations of behaviour. This is important as it plays a pivotal role in the development of a child, and the evolution of our behaviour as we grow older. Innate things such as our eye colour, diseases such as sickle cell anaemia, and cystic fibrosis are inherited from our parents are part of the nature category.
Another interesting ‘natural’ characteristic to consider is one’s temperament. Scientists estimate that about 20 - 60% of our temperament are inherited from our parents and are determined by genetics, however these temperament traits do not have a pattern of inheritance or specific genes that grant these specific temperamental traits. In the field of psychology, nativism is a view that some qualities or skills are "native", and are just hard-wired into the brain at birth. Those who believe in a strong inborn stance are known as nativists. Nativists also believe that the characteristics of humans are just a product of evolution, and the only thing that makes us different from each other is our unique genetic code. Such innate qualities remain constant throughout a person’s life. Another natural ability is perfect pitch. Perfect pitch, also known as absolute pitch, is the ability to sing or play a note on the spot without any guiding notes prior to. Researchers have established that perfect pitch has a strong genetic basis, finding shows that the ability generally runs within the family. However, on the other hand, there are also people with relative perfect pitch, where they can identify a note, but in reference to another note. This is a skill that can only be learned through interval training and practice rather than manifesting an already existing skill from birth through general training rather than a selective type such as interval training. Nurture The flip side of the debate is the nurture perspective. Nurture mainly refers to the primary source of influence to a child's development: the external or environmental factors that affect human development. Nurture are the puzzle pieces we must complete ourselves, the pieces that we have to discover through exploring and experience: for example, how a child is raised, their socioeconomic status they are born with, and education they have access to.
Researches have shown that growing up with a close parent-child relationship helped promote the child’s cognitive thinking as well as emotional and social development, while children that grew up with distant parent-child interactions had significantly lower self esteem and internal locus of control (the extent by which they believe they have control over the outcomes of the events in their lives) due to family disputes and separations. I’m sure you’ve all heard of the idiom ‘practice makes perfect’. It illustrates how you are able to develop a skill and master that skill by doing it repeatedly , This reflects the concept of nurture. Just like learning a different language, when a baby is born, the baby does not understand the words that are said to them. However, as they grow up, their exposure to the language increases as it is constantly used in their environment, From the moment they are born, infants are introduced to the concept of speaking a certain language and they start to practise that language the moment they are born. They will gain increasingly fluency in that language the more they are exposed to it through everyday life and communication with their parents. 2. Psychopathic behaviour One modern example of psychopathy is the infamous Cruella. She is depicted as a murderous, narcissistic psychopath; being able to adopt alter egos of both Estella and Cruella. She lusts for power and wealth, willing to do anything to achieve that goal, not taking into account Jasper and Horace’s feelings and concerns, showing her lack of empathy and consideration, perfectly describing the different traits of psychopathy. The Oxford dictionary defines ‘Psychopathy’ as a ‘mental illness or disorder’. Although this is a rather vague meaning towards the term ‘psychopathy’, it is not entirely wrong. Psychopathy is typically diagnosed through a set of traits that the patients present, rather than a single biological factor. The textbook symptoms of psychopathy tend to be: a tendency to lie often, disregarding or violating the rights of others, hurting others
through manipulation, recurring issues regarding the law, difficulty with showing emotions such as empathy, and the inability to distinguish between what is right and wrong. This may seem similar to another term that is also quite well known, sociopathy. So you may be thinking, what is the difference? While sociopaths tend to act more unpredictable and impulsively, it is generally difficult for psychopaths to form attachments. Psychopathy is more commonly referred to as Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) medically, even though not all people with ASPD are diagnosed with psychopathy. According to the NHS, those diagnosed with psychopathy are ‘considered to be suffering from a severe form of antisocial personality disorder’. 3. How does nature and nurture relate to psychopathy? Psychopathy is a complex personality disorder that is characterised by a diverse range of emotional, behavioural and interpersonal (relationships between people) deficits. While these are all just the more specific factors that affects psychopathy, researchers have narrowed it down to two main topics : nature and nurture. Both nature and nurture can play a big role in psychopathy, whereby in this context, nature refers to the biological and genetic factors that affect the development of psychopathy and nurture refers to the environmental factors such as childhood upbringing and socialisation that shapes an individual’s personality. 3.1 nurture factors One theory around psychopathy is Newman’s response modulation hypothesis. This cognitive model is one of the most influential etiological models of psychopathy, it argues that ‘psychopathic individuals exhibit difficulties in adjusting their behaviour in the presence of a dominant response set’. Meaning that psychopathic individuals have difficulties in adjusting their behaviour and adapt in a changing situation. Newman’s hypothesis mainly contributes to the nurture side of the argument, as it argues that psychopathy is supported by cognitive processing deficits such as difficulty paying attention for a short period of time.
In a paper published by Norman Poythress, Jennifer Skeem and Scott Lilienfeld (of the Universities of South Florida, California at Irvine, and Emory (GA), respectively) hypothesised that ‘at least some of the features of psychopathic personalities occur as a result of abuse experiences’. In their study, the researchers interviewed a number of inmates, asking them to complete multiple psychological assessments to assess the typical personality traits of psychopaths. One of which is the psychopathy checklist, the scores of the checklist branches out into two main categories that while they can still be individually perceived, they are still interconnected. The first category being affective (emotional) and interpersonal symptoms, by which the lack of empathy, guilt, remorse and other similar emotions that shows their connection with other people would fall into this category. The second category shows a tendency to be impulsive, poor lack of self control, and an extreme lack of judgement. The data from the assessments were compared to theoretical relationship models suggesting how the data would fit together given that different assumptions were true. The results of the assessments show that one particular model fits better than the others; that a history of abuse did foretell the features of psychopaths being impulsive and the lack of judgement. However, the weak relationship between abuse and the lack of empathy suggests that the particular feature may not be a result but rather a biological/inherited factor of being fearless. Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are characterised by low empathy and guilt, and interpersonal callousness, and they are perceived to be precursors of psychopathic traits in adulthood of adolescents. CU traits are heritable and the development of antisocial behaviour can be influenced by genetic CU traits. CU traits predict the intensity and severity of antisocial behaviour. Many studies have looked at how different parenting, discipline styles and how a child’s personality have influenced a child’s behaviour. More specifically, researchers examined how CU traits of a child affects the association between parents and serious conduct problems,
focusing on how parenting styles and the child’s personality interconnect to risk serious conduct problems in children, which is sought to be developed into psychopathy later into adulthood. The studies have found that harsh parenting at the age of 2-4 have been related to the extreme levels of callousness in children in the long run, as well as poor parent-child communication with male adolescents presented with symptoms of OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder). While long term studies have found that nurturing parenting has lower rates of externalising problems later in life for children with elevated CU traits. To summarise, those without significant levels of CU traits are more strongly associated with experiencing harsh and coercive parenting, whereas those with normative and high levels of CU traits are more likely to develop psychopathy as a result of harsh and abusive parenting. 3.2 nature factors While psychopathy is not caused by ‘psychotic genes’, researches have shown that it does tend to run in the family and can be influenced by genetic mutation in the child that increases the chances of the child developing psychopathy even though both parents do not possess psychopathic traits. A specific gene that causes psychopathy does not exist; it is believed that several mutations in different genes play a role in structural changes of the brain, which can increase the risk of developing psychopathy. It is estimated that the heritability (genetic variations/mutations you inherit from your parents) of psychopathy (severe antisocial personality disorder) is 50%. An article (written by Annabelle Frazier, Patricia A. Ferreira, and Joseph E. Gonzales) on the neurobiological and environmental evidence for the aetiology of psychopathy, notes that ‘environmental influences merely act to shape psychopathic characteristics, which manifests in childhood as callous unemotional traits, and are then stable throughout the lifespan.’. Their research on various psychologists suggests that psychopathy is caused by deficits such as chronic stress, maltreatment and or deprivation can lead
to significant abnormalities in brain development as well as reduction in the brain’s volume. The prefrontal cortex, a part of our brain, is what helps us adjust our behaviour by influencing how other regions of the brain respond to different situations, helping us to adapt to changing circumstances and achieve our goal. In a study conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, images of prisoner’s brains that were diagnosed with psychopathy and those that weren’t (where all prisoners committed similar crimes) were scanned and compared with each other. The result of the study showed reduced connections in the prefrontal cortex (responsible for empathy and guilt) in psychopaths, which in return, mediates fear and anxiety. “Those two structures (the prefrontal cortex and amygdala) of the brain, which are believed to regulate emotional and social behaviour, seem to not be communicating as they should.” says Michael Koenigs (assistant professor of psychiatry in UWSMPH). The abnormalities in the prefrontal cortex and amygdala are most common in psychopathic-like adolescents, given that if either of the structures were impaired, it would have a significant influence on antisocial behaviour, as another study led by the University of Wisconsin-Madison shows that inmates with the most severe psychopathic traits and antisocial personalities have the highest volume of grey matter in their prefrontal cortex suggesting their abnormal functionality. Conclusion Psychopathy is to be described as a set of traits rather than a diagnosis, as psychopathy can be used to distinguish qualities or characteristics of a person and not what is socially perceived as an ‘abnormality’ in them that is disguised with the conclusion that it is an ‘illness’. In a podcast with Dr. James Fallon (hosted by Dr. Caroline Leaf), he explores the mind of a psychopath and the extent to which nature and nurture affects mental illnesses.
Artwork: Cynthia Li
By Vanessa Chai
The Psychology Behind
Have you ever tried to do something, but dismissing the idea after finding that no one else is doing that? Or are you the person who stands out by doing things completely different from others? The key factor that causes the difference between these two psychological behaviours is known as peer pressure.
has fewer friends, and finds socialising hard to deal with, then they are more likely to be affected by peer pressure in order to keep the relationships that they currently have. However, when it comes to another person who has lots of friends, and can make another in minutes, then they may be less concerned with trying to fit in.
What is peer pressure? We might hear this phrase thrown around a lot when adults say ‘make your own choices, don’t be affected by others’, but what is it exactly? Peer pressure is when you do something in order to feel accepted by your peers, and it is most prominent among teens or young adults.
The Positives: Positive peer pressure, more accurately referred to as peer influence, can create opportunities for people to try new things due to others’ influence. It can also promote healthy habits and attitudes towards learning, health and life in general. For example, you may be inspired to step up your studies if you see everyone else is doing the same. Peers can also influence each other by sharing their own experiences, and this can help them to pick up positive hobbies and interests. It may also play a vital role in support and encouragement towards stepping out of one’s comfort zones.
Psychology Professor Brett Laursen divides peer influence in 2 ways: implicit and explicit. Implicit influence is when people change themselves because they believe that will help them to fit into a certain social group. Whereas explicit influence is when a person is confronted or attacked because of their certain features, and so they decide to make a change. In most cases, it is likely to be a combination of both. Peer pressure can be observed as far back as kindergarten. Children may be inclined to behave badly if their friend is doing so, possibly because of their unawareness of what’s wrong. In a different scenario, children may pay more attention in class if everyone else is listening intently and no other distractions present. Peer pressure can play a big role in decision making. It could lead to the extreme good, the extreme bad, or somewhere in between. Adolescents are often heavily affected by peer pressure and the changes they are willing to make are often very significant. They believe that if they don’t behave in the same way as everyone else does, they will not be able to make friends or form relationships with others. However, no one should make life changing decisions because of someone that is not you. It’s your own life after all. Some people are more susceptible compared to those who aren’t moved at all by whatever the world says. With that being said, there are also people who are more influential. Depending on a person’s social skill, the relationships they have, the stability of them, some may be more vulnerable towards peer influence. For example, if a person
The Negatives: We hear about this side of peer pressure more often, especially among teenagers. This is because at this age, people start to become more selfconscious. Physical changes occur, as well as the changes in the brain, more hormones are produced which increase emotional volatility and impulsivity of adolescents. Peer pressure is closely related to bullying, since teens can often pressure each other into bullying or submitting to bullying. These instances of bullying can range from saying mean things or sabotaging relationships with lies and rumours. All of which can cause trauma and decreased self confidence. Most people are inclined to bully because they think everyone else is doing so, and it is the only way to fit in. Pack mentality leaves everyone in the ‘pack’ thinking they are obliged to do whatever the leader or everyone else does. The EU Kids online study shows that 8% of children in 2010 compared with 12% of children in 2014 have experienced cyberbullying. By 2022, 33% of youth worldwide experienced online bullying. With the increased cyberbullying rates, friends may encourage each other to join them in creating mean social media posts, blackmailing and spreading hurtful rumours online.
Negative peer influence can pose both mental and physical health threats for teens. Adding to social media being highly common, peer pressure may lead a person to compare themselves to people who are better than them. However, it is more often than not that people on the internet only post their best selves using filters or posting unrealistic lifestyles. These cause teens to have a lower self confidence, and pressure them to be or do the same, leading to potential risks and anxieties. An example is body image. Seeing others having ‘perfectly’ lean bodies on the internet could lead teenagers to try unhealthy diets, or even weightloss pills which could be very harmful if misused. This doesn’t only affect their physical health, but also gives them mental stress when they realise that they can’t achieve what they see others online can. Because of this, they could develop eating disorders, depressions, anxieties and other mental illnesses. Furthermore, drug and alcohol use become more and more common. Amongst the society of teenagers, it may seem ‘cool’ to be taking drugs or alcohol, but these are actually very harmful to our body, many of which are even carcinogenic. Friends can often persuade others into trying drugs or alcohol, and due to the peer pressure, people are often talked into these suggestions. Some are even threatened to do risky activities by peers who have more social power over them. Social scientists that have explored peer pressure and its relation to dangerous activities came up with the “Social Learning Theory”. The three aspects of this theory include: social reinforcement, modelling behaviour and cognitive processes. Taking the example of a student who has never drank before going to a party where all their friends are drinking. They learn about this new behaviour through the three aspects. Social reinforcement could create anxiety and fear that they will be judged if they don’t drink. Modelling behaviour simply leads them into copying exactly what others do, in this case: drinking. Cognitive processes take place when that student is contemplating whether to drink or not. They may think: “if I drink, I’ll have more fun”, or in some cases “I’ll say and do things I regret if I’m drunk”. This theory proves the effects of peer pressure on people and how it can lead them to do things they wouldn’t do if they were alone.
What exactly is happening to a person biologically when they are influenced by peer pressure? Although there is no confirmed substance that specifically explains the biological influence of peer pressure, scientific research shows that teenagers are more likely to be influenced due to puberty and their brain development, which make them highly attuned to social situations. Their ‘reward system’, a brain circuit causing feelings of pleasure, is also more sensitive, meaning that they care more about the compliments that they get from others and what others think about them. According to a study by the University of Southern California, people are willing to take more chances and try new things when they are surrounded by their friends. This can both offer benefits and costs, as it can provide opportunities for one to get out of their comfort zone, but it may also pose serious consequences if a person decides to make risky decisions due to the presence of peers that they wouldn’t have made without. This was concluded from a research in which a person won a lottery in front of their peers compared to when the person won a lottery alone. A part of the human brain associated with rewards - the striatum, showed much higher activity when the person won in a social setting than when they won alone. The medial prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain associated with social reasoning, was more activated as well. This shows that our brain puts a higher value on a victory where there were other people involved, leading to the fact that people can behave very much differently when they are in the presence of peers. In conclusion, the root of submission to peer pressure is the fear of being left out, the anxiety of being judged and the desire to fit in. Humans naturally care about what others think, and this is most prominent during the teenage period. Peer pressure has its pros and cons, and if incorporated sensibly, could lead to positive outcomes. Coping with peer pressure can be hard, but while you are being open minded to new ideas, please also be aware of the dangers that could come with blindly following others’ leads.
Artwork: Estelle Chan
How Different Parenting Styles Affect the Mental Health of Adolescents
by Agnes Chan
The idea for this essay was developed upon research into the effects of different upbringings on psychological development. The purpose of this essay is to analyse previous research on the relationship between parenting style and quality of mental health, as well as other key influences, and apply this existing knowledge to design an experiment. Note that because the main focus of the experiment is to ensure high levels of validity and reliability, ethics and feasibility will be ignored considering it is fictitious with no restrictions. Existing research into the topic of mental health and the factors influencing it will be explored in Sections 2 and 3. The former will outline the current issue with adolescent mental health and how children are impacted by how they are raised by their parents. The latter will examine the biological aspect of mental health in more detail. This contextual knowledge will be applied in designing the experiment in Section 4, and finally strengths and limitations will be discussed in depth in Section 5. Section 2: Definitions and Context Before exploring the experiment, prerequisite background information and definitions will be provided in the following two sections. Section 2.1: Adolescence and Mental Health As shown across numerous studies, mental health and stability is affected significantly by numerous factors, many being environmental. For younger people, this environment is largely controlled and influenced by parenting styles: “a set of attitudes a parent holds toward their child that are communicated to the child and that, taken together, create an emotional climate in which the parent's behaviours are expressed” (Darling and Steinberg, 1993 as cited in Y, 2017). Despite this, mental health conditions currently constitute a major burden of disease for adolescents globally (Arora, 2021). According to UNICEF, in 2019, it was estimated that up to 20% of adolescents experience mental disorders, and around 15% of adolescents in low-and middleincome countries have considered suicide. With rising global reports of poor mental health and suicidal tendencies in adolescents, it is imperative for parents to be educated on how to raise their children in a constructive and developmentally beneficial way.
Section 2.2: The 4 Parenting Styles of Barumind Parenting styles can be categorised into four distinct groups according to parental demanding/control and responsiveness/warmth: indulgent (or permissive), authoritarian, authoritative and uninvolved. (Maccoby & Martin, 1983 as cited in Y, 2017).
Figure 1: Diagram of Baumrind's parenting styles model Authoritarian parenting is characterised by high levels of demandingness and low levels of responsiveness. With this approach of parenting, the parent typically establishes a one-way mode of communication where there are strict rules put in place that the child is expected to obey with little to no room for negotiation. Children brought up using this parenting approach are typically the most wellbehaved and normally better at following precise instructions to reach targets. However, the children may be more aggressive because they are not provided with proper guidance from their parents, resulting in difficulty managing and controlling anger. This may be linked to why children who grow up with strict parental rules and punishments often rebel against authority figures when they are older (Sanvictores & Mendez, 2022). This parenting style may also influence children to be more shy, socially inept, and unable to make independent decisions. Additionally, they may develop selfesteem issues, which further deepens their inability to make decisions as they become untrusting of their own judgement and question their ability to make good choices. Authoritative parenting is characterised by high levels of demandingness and high levels of responsiveness (Li, 2022). This style of parenting typically results in a close, nurturing relationship
between the child and parents. This is because the parent establishes clear guidelines for their expectations and provides rational reasoning for their disciplinary actions. Additionally, instead of harsh punishment being used for discipline, a more supportive and logical approach is taken where the child can negotiate and communicate with their parents leading to healthy compromises. However, it is worth noting that although this parenting style leads to the healthiest outcomes for children, it requires significant patience and effort from both the child and parent — the parent especially as communication is heavily involved in this method of parenting (Sanvictores & Mendez, 2022). Children brought up using the authoritative method tend to be more confident, with higher self-esteem and responsibility as they have been taught to accomplish goals and tackle difficulties independently. This also means they typically have the ability to self-regulate and manage their emotions (especially negative ones) effectively, which further helps them cultivate better social outcomes and emotional health. On average, these children also reach a higher level of academic achievement (Sanvictores & Mendez, 2022). Permissive parenting is characterised by low demandingness and high responsiveness (Li, 2022). This means permissive parents are typically warm and nurturing towards their children but lack expectations, which results in very rare disciplinary actions and limited rules being imposed (Sanvictores & Mendez, 2022). Freedom of this degree, although beneficial in some ways, also has many disadvantages if the parent does not moderate or guide the child’s behaviour. For example, limited rules may lead to negative habits such as late bedtimes, high screen time and unhealthy eating. It is generally seen that children raised using the permissive parenting style have standard self-esteem and social skills but may have negative characteristics such as selfishness, impulsivity, demandingness and lack of ability to self-regulate (Sanvictores & Mendez, 2022). Uninvolved parenting is characterised by low demandingness and low responsiveness. With this approach, the parent typically responds to the basic needs of the child but stays uninvolved in the child’s life, as the name suggests. They do not act nurturing or warm toward their child, nor do they hold any expectations towards their children, meaning they do not carry out any disciplinary actions, and communication with their child is very
limited. This usually results in children who are resilient and more self-sufficient than other children, as these are skills that children of uninvolved parents must develop out of necessity to survive. Moreover, due to the lack of guidance and excessive freedom from their parents, these children tend to have difficulty controlling their emotions and finding effective coping mechanisms, which may lead to difficulties in maintaining and nurturing social relationships and academic performance (Sanvictores & Mendez, 2022).
Throughout many studies over time and across the world, researchers have generally found the same outcomes expected of each parenting style. It has been shown that authoritative parenting is consistent with the best results in children and is accepted by psychologists and psychiatrists as the best parenting style. This is because authoritative parents use a more logical and reasonable approach and are seen as more fair and rational, meaning children are more likely to be obedient and follow rules and guidance given by their parents. Rather than
following rules due to fear of harsh discipline, they follow the lessons from their parents and internalise these values and develop a strong sense of morality which guides them to do what is right and achieve goals independently (Cherry, 2022).
Section 3: Genetic Influences on Mental Health It is critical that the role of genetic influences on mental health and the interactions between biological and non-biological factors are considered, as most mental disorders are caused by a combination of genes and the environment and links between them. Although there is not a simple genetic cause that has been found, associations between certain genes and gene variations have been established. For example, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression are considered heritable as there is an increased risk of developing these disorders if one has a relative with a diagnosis. It is also possible for those who do not inherit risk genes to develop mental disorders, this is because genes can change after birth and contribute to the development of mental illnesses. However, the interactions between risk genes and certain exposures may cause certain disorders, this is explained by the diathesis-stress model of psychopathology. The general model explains that each individual possesses an extent of inherent vulnerability (i.e., diathesis) for developing a given disorder due to genetic variables. Still, the disorder onset is only triggered by other factors such as environmental stress. It is worth considering that the required amount or intensity of stress to cause the onset of a disorder may be contingent on how strong the diathesis of the individual is (Broerman, 2018). Section 4: The Experiment It could be said that previous research is limited in representing the effects of parenting styles on mental health and development of children as it is largely correlational and does not account for interactions between parenting and other biological and environmental factors. Taking all of the above into consideration, I aim to design an experiment that will yield valid and reliable results to further explore the relationship between the type of parenting style and adolescent mental health and also to examine the interactions between certain genes and parenting styles. This may mean that many ethical conundrums will arise in exchange for higher validity of results, but this will allow us to better understand the role of parenting approaches in adolescent mental health. This knowledge can therefore be used to educate parents and the general public on what behaviours should be adopted in regard to what is in the best interest of their child’s mental health and general wellbeing.
Section 4.1: Design The independent variable has four conditions being the different categories of parenting styles (authoritarian, authoritative, permissive and uninvolved). The dependent variable is the quality of mental health, which will be operationalized using the scores from The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory Adolescent (MMPI-A), which is a frequently used psychometric test to assess personality traits and psychopathology. The co-twin design specifically looks at twins who have been exposed to different environmental risk factors and are then compared in an outcome variable. Because this design controls for genetic influences that can act as confounding variables, it is especially effective for exploring associations between punitive risk factors and outcomes. Hence, this design will be manipulated to fit the current aims, i.e. instead of 2 genetically identical individuals being studied and exposed to different environmental risk factors, there will be 4 genetically identical individuals being studied to match the conditions of the independent variable.
Figure 2: Diagram showing the allocation of participants to the different experimental groups
Section 4.2: Procedure Monozygous quadruplets will be taken at birth for the study. Each participant will be genetically screened to review if they have family history of mental conditions or possess any genes that create a diathesis for common mental conditions; results from these tests will be taken into account.
The participants will then be randomly allocated to one of the four experimental conditions. In order to isolate the effects of these conditions, the study will take place in a virtual simulation within which all the environmental exposures other than the IV of parenting styles will be the same, i.e school environment, social group, socioeconomic status, etc. The behaviour of the participants will be observed and recorded throughout the experiment, and between 14 and 18 years of age, their mental health will be evaluated annually using The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory Adolescent (MMPI-A). The significance of the data will be analysed using a one-way ANOVA (analysis of variance) test with 4 groups. Several assumptions will be put in place, including that the dependent variable (being the score obtained on the MMPI test) is normally distributed, the samples are independent and the variances of the groups are equal. Section 5: Discussion The procedure of this experiment has been designed primarily to find valid evidence for the relationship between parenting styles and mental health. As previously mentioned, the twin study design is a very useful tool in studying experiences that are influenced by genetic and environmental factors. As a manipulated co-twin design was used, genetic factors will not confound the association between quality of mental health and parenting styles as the study’s design takes this into account, ensuring internal validity. The fact that all participants are taken at birth prevent the development of different personalities prior to the conduction of the study; combined with their identical genome, it could be said that this has been standardised, therefore accounting for all participant variables. This also relates to the rationale behind using a virtual simulation as it ensures that the environment that the participants are in can be kept exactly the same except for the
IV, and the differences observed will solely be due to the manipulation of the independent variable. In other words, the method ensures that all key confounding variables are eliminated and therefore, a cause-and-effect relationship can more easily be established as the variable of parenting styles is directly being manipulated. Assuming the simulation convincingly mimics real life, the behaviour of the participants would be representative of behaviour outside of the experimental setting, thus enhancing ecological validity. This would mean that the findings could be generalised to contexts beyond this experiment and have potential real-world applications. The ecological and internal validity of the study are further strengthened by the fact that the participants will be unaware that they are in an experiment, and should behave as they theoretically would in the real world due to a lack of demand characteristics or experimenter effects (e.g. presenting themselves as more mentally stable when that is not the case if they believe that is what the researcher is looking for). However, it should be noted that, seeing as this experiment examines the effects of parenting styles on only one group of genetically identical individuals, it cannot be assumed that the findings of this study would be generalisable to the wider population. Without other individuals of different genetic backgrounds as points of reference, it is impossible to account for potential differences in gene-environment interactions, and by extension the influence of genetics on response to parenting styles. While genetic factors will be maximally controlled within the study through the use of genetically identical participants, the sample may have neurological and neurochemical differences which may interact with experimental conditions in ways deviating from the norm. Hence, due to possible innate participant variables acting as confounding variables, this experiment should be viewed more as an experimental case study that further research can build upon. The data collection method used is self-reports, specifically the MMPI-A test, which possesses advantages typical of self-reports. For one, repeatedly and consistently using the same scales with standardised questions at regular intervals over the course of a longitudinal study allows accurate demonstration of changes in mental health (the DV) over time. This could potentially
establish strong test-retest reliability seeing as the participants are being reassessed every year with the same tool, thus allowing consistency and stability of results to be evaluated. Another advantage is that MMPI-A results provide easily quantifiable and presentable results, hence allowing trends to be more apparent and identifiable, especially when comparing results between groups of the IV. However, practical issues arise when using selfreports. One outstanding issue is the subjectivity of participants’ perception of themselves; they may be unable to assess their own mental state accurately depending on their introspective ability. Additionally, as the MMPI-A rating system is based upon a true-or-false scale, it could be considered overly restrictive in that it does not give participants the ability to express nuance or detail in their answers, e.g. no in-depth insight into why this certain parenting style led to this particular symptom. Honesty also may be an issue when using selfreports; when an individual is taking the test in a dishonest manner, the MMPI-A is no longer a valid measure of the individual’s psychopathology and behaviour. There may be reasons why one may exaggerate or underemphasise the behaviour being assessed by the test; thus the MMPI-A includes four validity scales to evaluate the accuracy of the individual's answers and to what degree answers may have been distorted. Additionally, as observations of participants’ behaviour will also be collected, this allows for triangulation of data as the self-report results can be compared against observed behaviour to see if they corroborate with each other. Section 6: Conclusion This essay is a culmination of research into the key influences on mental health to form a solid foundation for designing an experiment that attempts to accurately investigate the link between the specific factor of parenting style and mental health. That is, if given no restrictions. Unfortunately, there are many restraints in the real world that mean this experiment is not possible, whether that be ethical considerations or lack of advanced technology.
Based on existing literature, it is predicted that the parenting style most beneficial to mental health is the authoritative approach. In the future, if there are considerable developments in technology and an ethical approach to conduct this experiment is devised, this would provide concrete evidence of the cause-and-effect relationship between parenting and mental health as well as serve as a basis for further research into the subject.
REPRESSED MEMORIES
Lydia Daly Artwork: Estelle Chan
Our ability to recall events is one of our most valuable cognitive capabilities because it forms a fundamental part of human development and is used in our everyday lives. The idea that we have the ability to unconsciously repress or hide memories that are associated with extremely stressful events suggests that our brain is more powerful than we give it credit for. This article aims to outline what repressed memories are, the symptoms of hiding these memories, where the theory of repression derived from, where these memories go, how we can retrieve them, neurological studies that have taken place, and counterarguments to the idea that we can repress our memories. What are repressed memories? Repressing traumatic memories is a survival mechanism that is inherently built into us to help us to function after being exposed to some form of trauma. Some forms of trauma include physical abuse, emotional abuse, childhood trauma, or any extremely stressful events. These memories are not easily accessed consciously and recalling them is described by psychologist Pauline Peck as “something that doesn’t feel like a coherent narrative” because one experiences “bits and pieces of a memory”. Repressed memories help to reduce feelings of anxiety that are evoked from encounters of extreme trauma. Unlike suppressing memories, the act of repressing trauma lacks individual agency, as a person does not consciously force unwanted memories or thoughts out of their conscious awareness in the case of repressed memories. The distinct difference between suppression and repression was supposedly at first introduced by Sigmund Freud’s daughter, Anna Freud. Symptoms of repressed memories It is believed that the brain’s repression of memories has both a physical and mental burden on an individual. There are several symptoms of the act of repressing traumatic memories including insomnia, anxiety towards certain situations or people, and low self-esteem. According to Rofe (2008), the repression of memories may lead to the individual experiencing a distorted view of reality and an illusionary perception of themselves. Moreover,
some are inclined to demonstrate the behaviour of avoidance as they evade thinking about or recalling potentially threatening stimuli, which can restrict the positive emotions that the individual experiences. However, Rofe (2008) suggests that most studies had found that individuals who use repression as a coping mechanism had better social skills, a higher frustration tolerance, and scored higher on educational performances than those who did not utilise repression. Where did the theory of repression originate from? Johann Herbart introduced the topic of repression before Sigmund Freud popularised this idea with his work on psychoanalysis. The concept of repression encompasses the idea that individuals unconsciously ‘push’ painful thoughts, memories, or feelings out of consciousness and eventually become unaware of its existence. Herbart described repression as keeping thoughts below the “threshold of consciousness”. Contrasting to Freud, he did not consider it to be a defence mechanism. Psychologist Cheryl Karp described repression as a “defence operation” that targets traumatised children and feeds on their inner conflicts. Scientists such as Karp may contend that repression does not commonly occur for singular or isolated traumatic events, however, suffering repeated traumatic events are more likely to result in the repression of these memories. Where do these memories go when they are repressed? Freud argued that they go to the unconscious mind and still play a significant role in an individual’s behaviour. He maintained that some mental disorders were the result of repressed trauma, and it could contribute to “fixations” that one might experience in later life. Whilst these so-called ‘hidden memories’ may initially appear to be beneficial to the individual because it can protect them from the emotional turmoil that accompanies recalling traumatic events, repressed memories can cause psychological problems including depression, PTSD, and anxiety.
Northwestern Medicine scientists conducted a study with mice where they infused a drug known as gaboxadol, which stimulates receptors in the brain, in the hippocampus of mice. After this, the mice were placed in a box and were given a mild electric shock. Upon returning to the same box the next day, they moved freely and did not appear to demonstrate any sign of fear, which suggested that they did not remember the electric shock that had been administered to them on the previous day. However, when the scientists infused the drug back into the mice and then placed them into the box again, they seemed to exhibit the fearful anticipation of another shock as they remained frozen and no longer moved freely. This shows that the drug, gaboxadol, was able to reroute the processing of traumatic memories within the brain networks to prevent them from being consciously accessed. How can we recover these memories? These memories can be triggered by a particular emotion or a sensory stimulus. Therefore, interacting with this trigger can bring about a repressed memory. The process of suppressing such memories is most commonly evident in veterans, who sometimes experience PTSD after noises, smells, or images trigger parts of these memories. Freud attempted to recover repressed memories through dream interpretation and word association. Other suggestions for retrieving repressed memories include group therapy, meditation, yoga, drug-induced states, and individual therapy modalities such as cognitive processing therapy (CPT) which is commonly used to help Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) patients or Eye movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR). Using neuroimaging to study repressed memories Neuroimaging has helped scientists conduct studies of the brain in relation to the repressions of memories. In this section, the cases of Schater et al. (1996) and Richard Kanaan et al. (2007) will be explored to investigate attempts made to understand reasons for repressed memories.
Schacter et al. (1996) One example of such imagining study of the brain was when Schacter et al. (1996) conducted a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination of 22 women who had experienced sexual abuse. This study found that these women had a five percent reduction of the “left hippocampal volume” in the brain compared to women who had not experienced sexual abuse. This was significant because the hippocampus is embedded in the temporal lobe within the brain and plays a fundamental role in learning and forming memories. Therefore, any damage to this region could result in memory lapses. Schacter et al. (1996) suggested that a possible source of the reduction of the left hippocampal volume could be the toxicity of chemicals called glucocorticoids, which are released during extended exposure to stress. However, this study failed to provide conclusive evidence to prove that damage to the hippocampal causes memories of traumatic experiences to be forgotten. Richard Kanaan et al. (2007) Another study that used neuroimaging to attempt to better understand repressed memories was Richard Kanaan et al. (2007). This involved the study of a woman with conversion disorder, which is more commonly known as hysteria. Conversion disorder is defined as “a condition in which a person experiences physical and sensory problems” including paralysis, blindness, deafness, numbness, or seizure without any “underlying neurologic pathology”. This means that the patient presented neurological symptoms that were medically unexplained. In the case of Richard Kanaan et al. (2007), this woman had a paralysed limb without any medical explanation soon after she had experienced a recent breakup with her significant other. Interestingly, scientists had discovered that she had emotionally repressed the memory of her breakup and suggested that the women did not acknowledge the emotional impact that this event had on her despite her
remembering the event occurring. Upon examining her brain through the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), they found that the area of her brain controlling emotion and the region which inhibits activity were both active but the area controlling body movement (the primary motor cortex) did not show any movement in the part that is responsible for the paralysed limb. Researchers argued that there was a connection between the psychological process of repressing the memory of the breakup with the paralysis that the women had experienced. Arguments against the belief in the repression of memories Some researchers argue that therapeutic methods used to retrieve these memories may lead to the individual creating false memories of traumatic events. They maintain that the creation of these false memories may be unconscious as they could be influenced by suggestions during therapy. The false memory implantation is an example of researchers successfully implanting false memories within their participants after they were told to explain false events that supposedly happened to them alongside actual events that they encountered. There is concern that false memories could reinforce the trauma that the individual had experienced in the past and enhance the severity of the negative symptoms produced by the trauma. Whilst some hold this viewpoint, many in the professional field of psychology agree with Colangelo's concept of repression as he is generally accepted as an expert in this field. According to Colangelo (2009), repression is the “selective forgetting of materials that cause pain, not under voluntary control, and material is not lost but stored in the unconscious and can be returned to consciousness if the anxiety associated with the memory is removed”.
by Lara McWilliam
Artwork: Estelle Chan
The Interaction of Biology & Psychology: How Our Brains Shape Our Behaviour
Do you feel a change in your mood at the smell of chocolate? The human brain is a highly complex organ that is responsible for our every move. It can ‘trick’ us into seeing things that aren’t there, or missing things that are there due to cognitive biases. Physical activity can positively affect the brain’s neurotransmitters, improving mood, and the mere smell of cacao can increase brain waves associated with relaxation, reducing stress levels. How much of a role we have in deciding our actions is ultimately unknown, given that its several regions ultimately dictate how we act and process information. The brain From birth to age 5, a child’s brain develops more than any other time in life.There are 4 key areas in the brain that affect our behaviour. The hypothalamus, for example, automatically maintains body temperature at the normal level. It is found just beneath the middle part of the brain and produces hormones that control the pituitary gland. If the pineal gland acts abnormally, behaviour is directly affected. Increased anxiety or depression, changes in sexual behaviour, as well as memory and attention issues often result. It is clear that our brain directly dictates the way we act. The medulla oblongata, found at the base of the brain, automatically controls breathing rate and heart rate. The cerebellum coordinates movement and balance, and the cerebrum is involved in vision, learning, thinking, emotions and movement. Different parts of the cerebrum are involved in different functions, for example the back of the cortex is responsible for vision while the front is involved in thinking. Our brains are wired to respond more strongly to negative experiences than positive ones. This is known as the “negativity bias” Neuroplasticity Genetic factors can influence the structure and function of the brain, including the way it processes information and regulates behaviour. Likewise, environmental factors, such as exposure to toxins or stress can also alter brain development and function. The brain is capable of changing and adapting over time, a phenomenon known as neuroplasticity. This means that our experiences
and behaviours can actually shape our brain structure and function. For example, learning a new skill or practising a behaviour can lead to changes in the brain that make that behaviour easier or more automatic. Neuroplasticity is a key focus of research in psychology, as understanding how the brain changes can inform interventions for a wide range of psychological conditions. Emotions and Motivation Many aspects of our emotions and motivation are controlled by specific areas of the brain. For example, the amygdala is a key structure involved in the processing of fear and other intense emotions, while the basal ganglia are involved in the regulation of motivation and reward. Understanding how these brain structures interact and contribute to our psychological experiences can inform treatments for conditions such as anxiety, depression, and addiction. Perception and Cognition The brain is responsible for interpreting and making sense of the information we receive from our senses, as well as storing and retrieving memories and knowledge. The processes involved in perception and cognition are complex and involve many interconnected brain regions. Understanding how these processes work can help us understand phenomena such as perception, attention, language, and problem-solving.
The Stigmatisation Around Schizophrenia: Why Do We Fear It? Artwork: Amelia RR
by Anya
Deng
Schizophrenia is an illness that people are often in denial of being diagnosed with, with an estimated 40% of people affected going untreated. People are often able to come to terms with their depression, their anxiety or their ADHD- so what sets schizophrenia apart? Public perception of schizophrenia Historically, mental illnesses such as schizophrenia have always been misunderstood and stigmatised such as in the 1950s when vilifying attitudes towards those with mental illness were very common. Several indicators suggest that since the 1950s, mental illness has garnered more attention and been studied in depth - thus reducing prejudice. A Mental Health Module of the 1996 General Social Survey repeated a question from 1950 regarding the meaning of mental illness; a comparison of 1950 and 1996 results showed that whilst the definition of mental illness broadened, negative perceptions that mental illness results in violence (in particular, mental illnesses such as schizophrenia which causes people to act abnormally) significantly increased. Furthermore, schizophrenia can be a taboo or even unfamiliar topic for many due to a lack of awareness- it’s not as commonly talked about as other illnesses (eg. depression) and has been labelled one of the most stigmatised mental illnesses; found by studies conducted by the US Government National Library of Medicine. People with schizophrenia continue to be deemed ‘naturally violent’ ‘chaotic’ and ‘insane’ - even more so today due to the widespread use of media as a source of education. Media portrayal of mental illness Studies consistently show that both entertainment and news media provide dramatic and distorted portrayals of mental illness that place emphasis on the dangerousness, criminality and unpredictability; entertainment and media also resulting in negative reactions to the mentally ill, including fear and rejection - thus fueling stigmatisation. Of the media that has covered schizophrenia, the 2010 film ‘Black Swan’ is by far the most mainstream. In Black Swan, the protagonist is a ballet dancer who grows overwhelmed and ‘descends into madness’ when she feels inferior to a new hire at her ballet company; the protagonist undergoes hallucinations - resulting in severe violence towards herself. However, psychiatrist Dr. Steve Lamberti claimed the film did not accurately depict schizophrenia, merely presenting “a reasonable portrait of psychosis”. Whilst the protagonist exhibited signs of anxiety and OCD along with schizophrenia,
it is the case that those mental illnesses are usually incompatible and it is rare to suffer from all. Psychosis, particularly in schizophrenia, involves negative symptoms such as "slipping away from contact with reality," and an ignorance towards social interactions and what they look like - the polar opposite of anxiety disorders and OCD where sufferers are too aware. What can be done to reduce this problem? Similarly to the de-stigmatisation of all mental illnesses, the most effective way to destigmatise schizophrenia is to spread awareness of it. For example, in Hong Kong, poor mental health literacy amongst the public is a major factor for stigmatisation; to reduce this issue, we simply need to provide educational materials regarding mental health (in particular, schizophrenia). Thus, the Early Psychosis Foundation (EPISO) was established in Hong Kong in 2007; they conducted a study aiming to evaluate the effectiveness of a school-based interventional programme: the School Tour. The School Tour consisted of “a traditional psychoeducational talk with 2 additional elements: an engaging drama performance and exercise demonstrations” where it was found to improve pupils' knowledge of psychosis and their attitude towards it (P < .001 making the study highly reliable). This study therefore urges the government to provide funding to organisations such as EPISO to spread the ‘School Tour’ programme and further destigmatise mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and its psychosis inducing effects.
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