PSYCHE Activity Handbook | English by sciencegallerybengaluru

U N S E T T L E U N R A V E L U N T H I N K

PSYCHE H A N D B O O K

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Dear Imagineer, Welcome to the whimsical and formidable world of the human psyche. This activity handbook is an accompaniment to our digital exhibition–season PSYCHE. You can explore the capabilities of our little grey cells through PSYCHE’s exhibits, lectures, films, and workshops. This handbook is for you to download and doodle through. Within its activities, you can explore your train of thought, experiment with the mind, and at least partially experience the endless possibilities of the psyche. Let your imagination unfold by reinventing the tales of your childhood. Test your senses and understand how our brain constructs its reality. Take a moment to dive deep into your dreams for a bit of soul-searching. Think, observe and perceive the world afresh around you through these activities we have put together for you. Don’t forget to share your results and creations with us by tagging us on social media, and use the hashtags #ExperimentWithSGB and #PSYCHE to see what others have created. Warmly, The Science Gallery Bengaluru Team

CONTENTS 06 PUT YOUR THINKING CAP ON 14 GRID OF FEAR

18 REMIX YOUR FAVOURITE FAIRYTALES 25 WHERE DOES YOUR MORAL COMPASS LIE 30 CASE STUDY: BREAKING DOWN LANGUAGE

46 PIECING THE MIND TOGETHER 52 CONSTRUCTING REALITY

58 MIRRORING EMOTIONS

62 MUSIC AND MOOD

66 IN THE CLOUDS OR IN YOUR HEAD

1 The psyche is inseparable from the brain, the most complex part of the human body. This three-pound organ is responsible for our intelligence, interpreting sensation, initiating body movement, and controlling all of our behaviours. Arguably, you are your brain. Your brain is the very essence of your personality, individuality, and abilities. Understanding how the brain works may help us understand the basis of human behaviour and actions. The brain is not constant and unchanging. With every experience, our brain remodels itself, strengthening and weakening existing connections and making new ones. Understanding how these unique connections are forged and modified can help us comprehend the link between the physical brain, our behaviour, and what makes us individuals. Let’s delve into our brain structure by knitting ourselves a brain hat!

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PUT YOUR THINKING CAP ON

Photo by Natasha Connell on Unsplash

Here is a video to help guide you through the steps. GETTING STARTED Yarn: Fingering weight 4-ply, fairly thin and lightweight, minimal texture. Choose a nice brainy pink. A slightly variegated yarn gives a nice fleshy appearance. Needles: US 3 - 3.25 mm DPNs and/or circular. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS: CO: cast on DPNs: double-pointed needles K2tog: Knit 2 together (decrease 1, left over right slant) SSK: slip 1 stitch knitwise, slip next stitch knitwise, transfer the twisted stitches back to left needle, and knit together (decrease 1, right over left slant) Part 1: NEEDLING YOUR BRAIN CO with 16” circular needles (or DNPs if you prefer). For a hat circumference of 23.5 inches, CO 131 stitches. This hat will fit heads from 23-15 inches. For different sizes, add or subtract 11 stitches. This will add/subtract about 2 inches from the hat circumference. Remember to add or subtract a repeat when decreasing in the body of the hat. BRIM: knit 14 rows of 1x1 rib. To create the double-thick brim, fold the first 7 rows back and up so that the CO edge is lined up behind the active stitches. Knit one row, knitting one CO stitch together with each active stitch (see pics).

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DOME SHAPING: Row 1:

[knit 10 then SSK]x11 reps. This should leave 120 stitches.

Rows 2-4:

Knit in the round

Row 5:

[Knit 9 then SSK]x11. Leaving 109 stitches.

Rows 6-8:

Knit in the round

Row 9:

[Knit 8 then SSK]x11. Leaving 98 stitches.

Row 10-11: . knit in the round. Row 12:

[Knit 7 then SSK]x11. Leaving 87 stitches.

Row 13-14:

knit in the round.

Row 15:

[Knit 6 then SSK]x11. Leaving 76 stitches.

Row 16-17:

knit in the round.

At this point, you may either switch to DPNs, or use “magic loop”. Row 18:

[Knit 5 then SSK]x11. Leaving 65 stitches.

Row 19-20:

Knit in the round.

Row 21:

[knit 4 then SSK]x11. Leaving 54 stitches.

Knit all even rows. Row 23:

.[Knit 3 then SSK]x11. Leaving 43 stitches.

Row 25:

[Knit 2 then SSK]x11. Leaving 32 stitches.

Row 27:

[Knit 1 then SSK]x11. Leaving 21 stitches.

Row 29:

SSK x 10. Should have 11 stitches.

Row 31:

K2tog x 5. Should have 6 stitches.

Using a yarn needle, thread through the active loops 3-4 times and pull tight to close the hole. Tie off, bury the thread and trim excess. 9

Stuff the cap with bunched-up plastic bags so that it has shape while you pin your I-cord onto it. Part 2 : THE I-CORD Using DPNs, CO 5 stitches USING THE TAIL. (If you know how to make I-cord, you can skip this section) WITHOUT TURNING THE WORK – bring the active yarn around the back and use it to knit row 1. WITHOUT TURNING THE WORK slide the working stitches to the right side of DPN. ◆ Bring the working yarn around the back, give it a little tug and then simply begin the next row. Knit, slide, yarn around back, tug. ◆ Knit, slide, yarn around back, tug. ◆ After a couple of rows, you’ll see it start to form a tube. Giving the I-cord an occasional yank downwards away from the needle helps straighten out the stitches too. ◆ Repeat until you’ve achieved your desired brain pattern.

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TIPS ON MAKING IT LOOK LIKE A BRAIN: 1. Try not to twist your I-cord as you sew it down. 2. The major things that will make your hat look brainy are random squiggles and loops, don’t fall into a regular pattern, and having the LONGITUDINAL FISSURE (the split between the right and left hemispheres).

Here are a few reference pictures

1. 2. 3. 4.

Use lots of pins to secure your gyri (the loops and ridges). Now that you’ve arranged your I-cord on the hat, time to sew it down. You can use a yarn needle or crochet hook. Carefully unpin a few inches of I-cord, and using your needle/hook and some waste yarn, attach one stitch of the I-cord to one stitch of the hat (see pics).

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Completed Brain Hat ! 13

GRID OF FEAR

Photo by Michael Flippo from Dreamstime

2 As the brain develops, we learn specific skills, language being one of these. Language is an essential part of what it means to be human, and we use it to communicate and connect with the people around us. Amazingly, babies learn their primary language only by being exposed to it. It doesn’t require any particular teaching (Tierney, 2009). Language is generally considered to be universal and unique to all humans. The earliest research on brain regions involved in language came from case studies of patients who had suffered from brain lesions—injuries resulting in tissue death in the brain. This research helped doctors discover two key brain regions - Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area - responsible for learning a language. Language skills can also be further developed through puzzles, specifically crossword puzzles. Solving crossword puzzles necessitates attention to the nuance of language. It increases our vocabulary by not only practising spelling but remembering, inventing, and associating words and phrases.

Solving crossword puzzles is relaxing, enjoyable, instructional, and doing them focuses our attention. Solving crossword puzzles can help us find respite from the stressful world around us. Here’s a quick crossword about our worst fears to solve while you’re on your coffee break.

1 2

3 4

5 6 7

8 9

10 11

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FEAR OF...

ACROSS

DOWN

5. Night or darkness

1. People from other countries

7. Places and situations which might

2. Dogs

cause panic, helplessness or

3. Confined or enclosed spaces

embarrassment

4. Water

9. Spiders and other arachnids

5. Things associated with death

10.Blood

6. Being alone 8. Women 10. Being poisoned

4. Hydrophobia

11. Hemophobia

3. Claustrophobia

Arachnophobia

2. Cynophobia

7. Agoraphobia

1. Xenophobia

Nyctophobia

ACROSS 17

DOWN

10. Toxiphobia 8. Gynophobia 6. Monophobia 5. Necrophobia

3 Fairy tales and myths have long been held to communicate deeper undercurrents in any given culture. The Swiss psychologist Carl Jung stated that through fairy tales, one can best study the comparative anatomy of the psyche. In Jungian analytical psychology, fairy tales are viewed as playing an essential role in obtaining a broader understanding of human nature. “Fairy tales are the purest and simplest expression of collective unconscious psychic processes. Therefore their value for the scientific investigation of the unconscious exceeds that of all other material. They represent the archetypes in their simplest, barest, and most concise form. In myths or legends, or any other more elaborate mythological material, we get at the basic patterns of the human psyche through an overlay of cultural material. But in fairy tales, there is much less specific conscious material, and therefore they mirror the basic patterns of the psyche more clearly.” – Von Franz, 1996, p. 1 18 | PSYCHE | 2022

FAV

REMIX YOUR VOURITE FAIRYTALES

Photo by Héctor J. Rivas on Unsplash

Image under CC0 Public domain 20 | PSYCHE | 2022

The basis for the interpretation here will be the practical guidelines developed from Marie-Louise von Franz’s ideas by Jungian Analyst Catherine Moreau:

Title: acts as a one-line summary of what the tale is about Dramatis personae: who are the characters in the tale, and how do they serve the tale? By understanding each character fully, we get a better idea of what structure of the psyche they represent Key sentences: at times, we may notice that the sections of a tale or the paragraphs may feel like discrete subplots. Keep track of such sentences to see how the plot slowly unfolds. Tasks: understanding the various actions done by a character such as who does what, where, when, and why. Successes and failures: noting down how a character faced the challenges present in the tale Motifs and archetypal situations: we need to identify the various archetypal images that exist in the tale. Identifying these issues helps in working through the psychodynamics of the individuation process that the tale is dealing with. Parallels with other tales: here, we try to see if there are common features between the motifs of this tale and others.

Now let’s try breaking down a fairytale of our choice! Read it closely and interpret it, identifying any elements from the list.

Use this space for your thoughts

• Psychoanalysis as a genre has made use of fairy tales and contemporary fairytale retellings to make use of psychoanalytic thought. It’s impressive how many variations of the same tale can be told, and some people may ask, “Haven’t all stories been told?” Well, perhaps, but they haven’t been told by you, with your unique perspective. • How would you tell your own version of your favourite fairytale? We can learn a lot about classic stories by writing different versions of them. What did the other characters think, and why was the villain bad? What if the story took place in a big city or outer space? What happens after the characters live happily ever after?

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You can create your retelling in the form of an audio clip, a comic strip, or a written piece. Here’s a basic guide to retelling fairy tales to help you get started: Choose an existing fairy tale to retell. Reread your favorite fairy tale and think about how you would retell it. Pick a fairy tale that you have always found engaging or unsettling. Pick a new or different perspective. Try writing the fairy tale from the perspective of a minor character in the story or a character that just appears once in the tale. For example, you may try writing “Little Red Riding Hood” from the grandmother’s point of view. Update the setting. Put the characters and plot in a completely new setting, so the tale feels new or engaging for readers. Recast the main characters. Play around with the main characters in the fairy tale and make them your own. Expand the characters so they are more three-dimensional or well-rounded. Expand or adjust the existing plot. Use the existing plot as a jumping-off point and adjust it as you see fit in your retelling. Read examples of fairy tale retellings. There are many fairy tale retellings in modern literature. They often choose a different perspective or change the setting of an existing fairy tale to make it new. You may read examples like:

WHERE DOES YOUR MORAL COMPASS LIE

Photo by Sebastian Voortman from Pexels

4 When searching for new story ideas, authors often seek plotlines that will hold a reader’s interest and get them to invest in a story’s arc and character development. One way for a writer to promote a reader’s emotional investment is to have their main character face a moral dilemma. Do you remember a time when you had to make a choice and each option was equally unpleasant? Perhaps you lied, and something terrible happened, or you were faced with the task of divulging the truth and or being punished for lying. This mess is called a dilemma: a situation that appears to lack an agreeable solution. In literature, dilemmas form the central conflict many protagonists encounter.

Imagine you’re on a bridge that overlooks some train tracks. The tracks split in two, and you notice one person tied to one of the tracks and five people tied to the other. And there’s a runaway trolley that’s coming right for the five people. On the bridge, there’s a switch – you can hit it to change the course of the trolley from killing five people to killing one person. What do you do?

Share your thoughts here

Now you are going to have to make another choice. You’re back on the same bridge overlooking the same train tracks. There’s a gorilla on the bridge. And this time, there are five people tied to the tracks. All of a sudden, there’s a runaway trolley – coming right for them. If you pushed the gorilla off the bridge, you know he would land in front of the trolley and stop it. It would die, but it would save the five people on the tracks. What would you do?

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This is “The Trolley Problem”, a classic thought experiment in ethics, posed by philosophers Philippa Foot and Judith Thomson. In the first scenario, 90% of those asked say they would pull the switch – sacrificing one person to save five seems logical. But in the second scenario, 90% of those asked say they wouldn’t push the gorilla. And this response is consistent for men, women, and people with different levels of education.

The Trolley Problem refers to a debate in philosophy, where moral rationalism says our decisions should be based on pure reason and sentimentalism says our emotions should guide our moral decisions.

Create your own trolley problem! Feel free to add modern elements to your drawing (maybe instead of a trolley, it could be a self-driving car, or instead of the action of running over, maybe it could be an ambulance driving through streets, choosing between saving one person or saving five). Here are some of some existing trolley problems to help you get started:

Footbridge. Frank is on a footbridge over the train tracks. He knows trains and can see that the one approaching the bridge is out of control. On the track under the bridge, there are five people; the banks are so steep that they will not be able to get off the track in time. Frank knows that the only way to stop an out-of-control train is to drop a very heavyweight into its path. But the only available, sufficiently heavyweight is a large man wearing a backpack, also watching the train from the footbridge. Frank can shove the man with the backpack onto the track in the path of the train, killing him, or he can refrain from doing this, letting the five die. Is it morally permissible for Frank to shove the man?

Scarce Resources. Alice is a doctor in a hospital’s emergency room when six accident victims are brought in. All six are in danger of dying but one is much worse off than the others. Alice can just barely save that person if she devotes all of her resources to him and let the others die. Alternatively, Alice can save the other five if she is willing to ignore the patient who is most seriously injured. Is it morally permissible for Alice to save the most seriously injured patient?

Transplant. Bob is a transplant surgeon. He has five patients in the hospital who are dying, each in need of a separate organ. One needs a kidney, another a lung, a third a heart, and so forth. Bob can save all five if he takes a single healthy person and removes her heart, lungs, kidneys, and so forth, to distribute to these five patients. Just such a healthy person is in Room 306. She is in the hospital for routine tests. Having seen her test results, Bob knows that she is perfectly healthy and of the right tissue compatibility. If Bob does nothing, she will survive without incident; the other patients will die, however. The other patients can be saved only if the person in Room 306 is cut up and her organs are distributed. In that case, there would be one dead but five saved. Is it morally permissible for Bob to cut up the person in Room 306?

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Use the space to explore and create your own trolley problem

5 Ethical and moral concerns regularly arise while working patients and conducting psychological research. Several historical experiments would violate today’s ethical standards. For example, Milgram’s infamous obedience experiment involved deceiving human subjects into believing that they were delivering painful, possibly even life-threatening, electrical shocks to another person. These controversial psychology experiments played a major role in shaping the ethical guidelines and regulations that psychologists must abide by today. Ethical codes, such as those established by the American Psychological Association, are designed to protect the safety and best interests of those who participate in psychological research. While there is still a great deal of debate about ethical guidelines, there are some key components that should be followed when conducting any type of research with human subjects. 30 | PSYCHE | 2022

CASE STUDY: BREAKING DOWN LANGUAGE

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels

Participation Must Be Voluntary All ethical research must be conducted using willing participants. Study volunteers should not feel coerced, threatened, or bribed into participation. This becomes especially important for researchers working at universities or prisons, where students and inmates are often encouraged to participate in experiments. Researchers Must Obtain Informed Consent Informed consent is a procedure in which all study participants are told about procedures and informed of any potential risks. Consent should be documented in written form. Informed consent ensures that participants know enough about the experiment to make an informed decision about whether or not they want to participate. Researchers Must Maintain Participant Confidentiality Confidentiality is an essential part of any ethical psychology research. Participants need to be guaranteed that identifying information and individual responses will not be shared with anyone who is not involved in the study.

Let’s look at a prominent case study from the recent past and consider its ethical implications.

There have been a number of cases of children raised in social isolation with little or no human contact. Few have captured public and scientific attention like that of a young girl called Genie Wiley. She spent almost her entire childhood locked in a bedroom, isolated and abused for over a decade.

This case file (Vinney, “Genie Wiley, the Feral Child”) discusses Genie’s life, her treatment, and the impact that abuse and deprivation had on her language development. It also covers the ethical problems with her case

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Although she lived with her father, mother, and brother, her father and brother would only bark or growl at her and her mother was only permitted very brief interactions. Genie’s father was intolerant of noise, so no TV or radio was played in the house. If Genie made any noise, she was physically beaten.

CASE FILE there’s an ethical dilemma in this kind of research. If you want to do rigorous science, then Genie’s interests are going to come second some of the time. If you only care about helping Genie, then you wouldn’t do a lot of the scientific research. So, what are you going to do?

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Genie Wiley (born April 1957) was a severely neglected and abused child who was discovered and taken into custody by authorities when she was 13 years old. While her circumstances until that point were undeniably tragic, they also presented an opportunity for psychologists, linguists, and other researchers to study psychosocial, emotional, and cognitive development in an individual who had suffered from severe social isolation and deprivation. In particular, the discovery of Genie presented an opportunity to study whether a child who was past the socalled “critical period” for language acquisition could learn to speak a first language. Image from UCLA library under fair usage on wikipedia

Key Takeaways: Genie Wiley ◆ Genie Wiley was abused and neglected for over a decade until she was discovered in 1970 when she was 13 years old. ◆ Known as the feral child, Genie became an important subject of research. Of special interest was whether she could acquire language, as she was no longer within the “critical period” for language development. ◆ Genie’s case presented an ethical dilemma between prioritizing her care or prioritizing research on her development.

Early Life and Discovery The case of Genie Wiley came to light on November 4, 1970. Genie was discovered by a social worker when her mother, who was partially blind, went to apply for social services. Genie had been isolated in a small room starting at the age of 20 months until her discovery at 13 years and 9 months old. She spent most of her time naked and tied to a potty chair where she was given limited use of her hands and feet. She was only fed cereal and baby food and wasn’t spoken to. Although she lived with her father, mother, and brother, her father and brother would only bark or growl at her and her mother was only permitted very brief interactions. Genie’s father was intolerant of noise, so no TV or radio was played in the house. If Genie made any noise, she was physically beaten.

Upon her discovery, Genie was admitted to Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles for evaluation. She was severely underdeveloped. She was thin and looked like a child of six or seven. She couldn’t stand up straight and could only walk with a hunched “bunny walk.” She was unable to chew, had trouble swallowing, and spat frequently. She was incontinent and mute. At first, the only words she recognized were her name and “sorry.” Testing shortly after she came to the hospital revealed that her social maturity and mental abilities were at the level of a one-year-old. Genie didn’t walk at a normal age, so her father came to believe she was developmentally disabled. However, the researchers brought onto the case after Genie’s discovery found little evidence of this in her early history. It appeared she never suffered from brain damage, mental disability, or autism. Therefore, the impairments and developmental delays Genie exhibited upon being assessed were the result of the isolation and deprivation she was subjected to. Both of Genie’s parents were charged with abuse, but Genie’s 70-year-old father committed suicide the day he was supposed to appear in court. The note he left said, “The world will never understand.”

The Rush to Research Genie’s case drew media attention as well as great interest from the research community, which considered it a rare opportunity to discover whether it was possible for Genie to mentally develop after such severe deprivation. Researchers would never deliberately conduct deprivation experiments with people on moral grounds. So, Genie’s sad case was ripe for study. Genie was not the child’s real name, but the name given to the case in order to protect her privacy. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) provided funding for research and a team was assembled whose goal was to rehabilitate and study Genie’s progress. Genie soon learned basic social skills like using the toilet and dressing herself. She was fascinated by her environment and would study it intensely. She especially enjoyed visiting places outside the hospital. She was talented at nonverbal communication, but her ability to use language did not proceed rapidly. As a result, psychologist David Rigler decided to focus the research on Genie’s language acquisition.

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Language Acquisition The discovery of Genie coincided with a debate about language acquisition in the scholarly community. Linguist Noam Chomsky, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, claimed humans are born with an innate ability to develop language. He believed language isn’t acquired because we learn it, but because it’s part of our genetic inheritance. Then, neuropsychologist Eric Lenneberg added a caveat to Chomsky’s ideas. Lenneberg agreed that humans are born with the ability to develop language, but suggested that if a language wasn’t acquired by puberty, it might never be. Lenneberg’s proposal was called the “critical period hypothesis.” Yet, there was no ability to test the theory until Genie came along.

Image under fair usage from wikipedia

Within the first seven months after her discovery, Genie learned many new words. She had even begun to speak but only in single words. By July 1971, Genie could put two words together and by November she could put together three. Despite signs of progress, Genie never learned to ask questions and she didn’t seem to understand the rules of grammar. After beginning to speak in two-word phrases, normal children experience a language “explosion” a few weeks later in which speech develops quickly. Genie never experienced such an explosion. Her speech seemed to plateau at creating two to threeword strings, despite four years of additional work and research with her. Genie demonstrated that it’s possible for an individual to learn some language after the critical period. Yet, her inability to learn grammar, which Chomsky believed was key to human language, indicated that passing the critical period was detrimental to the complete acquisition of a first language.

Arguments and Ethical Considerations During Genie’s treatment, there were disputes amongst the members of her team. In the early days after her discovery, she entered her first foster home with her teacher Jean Butler. Butler claimed she felt that Genie was being subject to too many tests and attempted to make changes to Genie’s treatment. She wouldn’t allow the linguist Susan Curtiss or the psychologist James Kent into her house to see Genie. Other team members claimed Butler thought she could become famous through her work with Genie and didn’t want anyone else to get credit. Butler’s application to become Genie’s permanent foster parent was rejected about a month later.

Psychologist David Rigler and his wife Marilyn stepped in and fostered Genie for the next four years. They continued to work with her and let others continue their research throughout that time. However, Genie left the Riglers’ home after NIMH stopped funding the project due to problems with data collection. Throughout the four years in which Genie was being tested and studied, there was debate about whether she could be a research subject and a rehabilitation patient at the same time. The ethics of the situation were murky. In 1975, Genie’s mother regained custody after being acquitted of all charges of child abuse. Genie’s care quickly became too much for her to handle, though, so Genie began to bounce from foster home to foster home. She was once again subjected to abuse in those homes. Soon, she stopped talking and refused to open her mouth entirely. Meanwhile, Genie’s mother filed a lawsuit against Genie’s team and the Children’s Hospital alleging that the researchers prioritized testing Genie over her welfare. She contended that they pushed Genie to the point of exhaustion. The case was eventually settled but the debate continues. Some believe the researchers exploited Genie, and therefore, didn’t help her as much as they could have. However, the researchers say they treated Genie to the best of their ability. Historian and psychologist Harlan Lane points out that “there’s an ethical dilemma in this kind of research. If you want to do rigorous science, then Genie’s interests are going to come second some of the time. If you only care about helping Genie, then you wouldn’t do a lot of the scientific research. So, what are you going to do?”

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Genie Today Genie is believed to be alive and living in an adult foster home as a ward of the state of California. While the linguist who worked with Genie, Susan Curtiss, has attempted to get in touch with her, she’s been repeatedly rebuffed. However, she said that when she calls the authorities, they inform her that Genie is well. Yet, when journalist Russ Rymer saw Genie at her 27th birthday party, he painted a much bleaker picture. Similarly, psychiatrist Jay Shurley, who was at Genie’s 27th and 29th birthdays, claimed Genie was depressed and had withdrawn into herself.

Your Interpretations of the Case Study Here are some guiding questions to help you frame your thoughts: ◆ Was there an inherent conflict between the goals of research and Genie’s need to receive treatment and care? Did harm come out of the researchers’ good intentions? ◆ What, if anything, could have been done differently so that both science and the stability and welfare of Genie could have been served? ◆ What questions would you like to ask Genie if you could? ◆ Have you ever tried to communicate with someone who could not speak English and whose language you could not speak? How did you establish communication? Could you figure out patterns of words in the other language that you could use to make the interaction work? What was the most rewarding part? The most frustrating? ◆ Did you ever invent a language or secret form of communication with a friend? Did you use words or hand motions or both? How did you put different words and signals together to make sentences? Could anyone outside your group decode your language? ◆ Have you studied a foreign language? What is the difference between studying the language in the classroom and actually speaking with someone on the phone or on the street?

Seeing RED & BLUE

Materials

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

Heavy-stock paper Tape Pair of scissors Red and blue transparent report covers

To Do

◆ Use a pair of scissors to carefully cut out the viewer frame from a sheet of heavy stock paper. Make sure you cut away the two center windows. ◆ Cut out a rectangle of both red and blue plastic. The rectangles should be slightly larger than the frame windows. ◆ Use tape to secure the plastic lenses to the frame. ◆ Look through these lenses to decode the anaglyphs on the next page.

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Template

Now look at these anaglyphs using the 3D glass you made!

NASA/JPL. Sol 133.

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NASA/JPL-CalTech/MSSS/Processed by Kevin M. Gill

Image by Reimund Bertrams from Pixabay

Image by Reimund Bertrams from Pixabay 45

PIECING THE MIND TOGETHER

Photo by Ann H on Pexels

6 Case studies can sometimes be limiting because they can’t be replicated, so they risk over-generalizing. Still, they are good at showing us what can happen and help us frame questions for more extensive and generalizable studies. Another method of psychological research is naturalistic observation, where researchers simply observe behaviour in a natural environment, such as observing chimpanzees in the wild. As case studies, naturalistic observations describe behaviour but cannot explain it. Psychologists can also collect behavioural data using surveys or interviews. Surveys are a great way to access consciously held attitudes and beliefs, but framing the questions can be tricky since word choices can influence results. For example, more forceful words like “ban” or “censor” may elicit different reactions than “limit” or “not allow”. Once we have described behaviour with surveys, case studies, or naturalistic observation, we can start making sense of it. We have to conduct experiments to get to the bottom of cause-and-effect behaviours. 47

Experiments allow investigators to isolate different effects by manipulating an independent variable and keeping all other variables constant. This means that certain experiments require at least two groups: the experimental group ( where independent variable changes) and the control group (where variables are kept constant). Just as surveys use random samples, experimental researchers need to randomly assign participants to each group to minimise potentially confounding variables or outside factors that may skew the results. Sometimes, one or both groups are not informed about testing. For example, researchers can test how substances affect people by comparing them to placebos or inert substances. And often, the researchers themselves don’t know which group is experimental and controlled, so they don’t unintentionally influence the results through their own behaviour, in which case it’s called a double-blind procedure. Now, let’s put these ideas into practice in our own experiments.

Activity Here are some experiments you can explore for inspiration. Jot down your observations after performing them to help you make your inferences. Eyewitness testimony One important application of psychology in society is the study of memory and perception. A famous experiment by EF Loftus and JC Palmer demonstrated how malleable memory can be:

J C Palmer

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E F Loftus

1. Show a few individuals a film of two cars colliding (an example of such a clip) 2. Ask them how fast the cars were going when they collided, but word the question differently a. Ask one person how fast the cars were going when they “smashed” into each other b. Ask another how fast they were going when they “bumped” into each other c. Ask another how fast they were going when they “hit” each other

Note down your observations and thoughts

SMASHED

BUMPED

HIT

Selective Attention Task

Watch this video and try counting the number of passes made. Did you notice anything apart from the individuals passing the ball?

The invisible gorilla test, also known as the selective attention task, is a perceptual test created by psychologists Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris. Although some of you will be familiar with this video, Simon and Chabris have designed a new version of the test, the “monkey business illusion,” another exciting video you can check out!

The Stroop effect

This experiment highlights how unobserved circumstances may affect the reaction time required for a given activity. ◆ Print out the three sheets of words (or columns). Note that the text and color on the third sheet should not match ◆ Ask your friends/family members to read each document aloud while keeping track of the time. ◆ Note down the time taken for reading each sheet. What do you think is the reason for your results? Use this space for your notes and observations

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THE STROOP EFFECT

Control

Compatible

Incompatible

dog

red

chair

yellow

boat

green

window

blue

block

red

fan

blue

wheel

yellow

tray

green

bottle

blue

fence

red

7 For more than a century, psychologists have experimentally studied perceptual systems. By far most research has been dedicated to vision and hearing, but other perceptual systems, such as those for smell, taste, movement, balance, touch, and pain, have also been widely explored. To explore these systems, perception scientists run tests, examine patients with damaged brain regions, and develop perceptual illusions that toy with the brain’s attempts to comprehend the sensory environment. The creation and testing of perceptual illusions have been a successful method for studying perception— particularly visual perception. Many illusions are fun to view, but perception scientists develop them based on their knowledge of the perceptual system. Once a successful illusion has been created, the scientist can investigate what people think, what areas of the brain are involved in understanding the illusion, and what variables increase or decrease the illusion’s effectiveness.

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CONSTRUCTING REALITY

Created by Fiestoforo

Scientists aren’t the only ones who are interested in this topic. Many illusion-producing techniques have been discovered and employed by visual artists for millennia, allowing them to create the appearance of depth, movement, light and shadow, and relative size on two-dimensional canvases. For the next activity we will create an illusion.

Tools and Materials

◆ Clean, empty soda can ◆ 8.5-inch x 5-inch (22-cm x 12.5-cm) piece of mirrored Mylar, 0.002 inches (0.05 mm) thick ◆ Tape// if not mylar we could mention aluminium foil (since it is a good reflector of light) ◆ Distorted (“morphed”) images — click here to print PDF ◆ “Place Can Here” page — click here to print PDF ◆ Anamorphic Grid diagram — click here to print PDF ◆ Cup of small dried beans ◆ Pencil

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Assembly ◆ Make a cylindrical mirror (a mirror shaped like a cylinder) by wrapping the Mylar around the soda can. It should be loose enough so that it doesn’t reveal the wrinkles and imperfections in the can’s surface. ◆ Try to make the surface of the Mylar as smooth as possible, and then use tape to hold it in place. To Do and Notice Look at the distorted, or “morphed,” images you printed out. Can you tell what they are? Place the Mylar-wrapped can in the circle next to one of the morphed images. Look at the reflection of the image in the curved mirror. What does it look like now? How has the mirror changed the image on the page? A mirror that distorts a reflected shape is called an anamorphic mirror. Take your copy of the “Place Can Here” page and set the Mylar-wrapped can on the circle. Imagine that the line you see on each side of the can continues underneath it, forming the diameter of the cylinder (see image below).

Use the beans to make a series of points that connect this straight-line diameter in the reflection you see in the can. To do this, place one bean in front of the can so you can see it in the mirror. Then, keeping your eye on the mirror, move the bean so its reflection lines up with the imaginary diameter line. Keep adding beans, one at a time, until you complete the extended length of the reflected line. The key is to keep looking in the mirror as you position each bean.

Once the reflection in the mirror looks like a straight line of beans, notice the shape formed by the actual beans on the paper (see photo below). How would you describe that shape?

Now take a look at the anamorphic grid you printed out: Some of those lines should look like your bean line. How do you think the grid’s reflection will look when you place the mirror in the circle? Try it and see what happens to the curved lines. Remove the can and draw a simple shape on the grid of squares inside the circle. You might draw the first letter of your name, or some other simple design. Use your pencil to fill in each of the squares of your design. Now you can change your design into anamorphic art! Just copy each shaded-in square in the circle to the corresponding “square” on the curved grid. Below is an example using the letter L.

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Copy one square at a time. Count how many empty squares are between your original shape and the circle (which represents the surface of the mirror, or the origin of your reflection), and then start drawing your shape the same number of “squares” away on the outside of the circle (see photo).

Keep counting and filling in squares as you map the complete reflection of your design onto the curved grid. When you’re finished, check your design by placing your mirror back on the circle (see the photo).

“Soda Can Mirror” by Exploratorium Teacher Institute is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

MIRRORING EMOTIONS

Neurones, SEM. Anne Weston, Francis Crick Institute. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

8 Optical illusions occur when there is a conflict between what is visually perceived and constructed reality in our brains. But how about every time you lock eyes with your reflection? You know exactly who is looking back at you. The sense of self is unmistakable. It is so much a part of being human that we often fail to notice it. Yet self-awareness is one of the biggest mysteries of the mind. How did it arise, and what is it for? Our sense of self derives in part from a network of brain cells known as mirror neurons. Mirror neurons were discovered in 1992 by a team of Italian researchers led by Giacomo Rizzolatti. They detected the existence of these neurons while studying the brain of a macaque monkey: while it was observing the execution of a task, the same neurons were triggered while it was doing that same task. In other words, observation works as an internal simulation or a replica of others’ actions. Hence their name: mirror neurons (Pellegrino, 1992). 59

Neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran, one of the leading experts and promoters of mirror neurons, believes that these neurons contain the key to human evolution. Selfconsciousness, language, and empathy –all of them elevated human functions– could be related to mirror neurons. Ramachandram explains: “Here there is a neuron that fires when I reach out and touch something, but we see that the same neuron fires when I watch Joe reach out and touch something. This is extraordinary because it’s as if the neuron were adopting the perspective of the other as if it were realizing a simulation of virtual reality of the other person.”

The ability to identify with and understand another person’s situation, feelings, or motives is called empathy. Recent developments in neuroscience have focused on a system within the brain called “mirror neurons” as a likely explanation for emotional empathy. Through this activity, we will explore emotions and the behavioral aspects of empathy.

Materials :

(click on the images to see the videos)

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Method 1. Assemble your team of three. A group of two would consist of only a viewer and a primary observer as explained below. 2. One individual from each group will sit down so they can fully see the video. This person would be the viewer. The two will take up the role of primary observer and secondary observer respectively. 3. The primary observer watches the viewer from their group in such a way that they can fully see the viewer’s face but not see the projection screen. This observer will document the changes in the viewer’s facial expression and label what emotion they see. 4. The secondary observer watches the primary observer in such a way that they can fully see the primary observer’s face but not the computer screen or the primary viewer’s face. This observer will document the changes in the primary observer’s facial expression and label what emotion they see.

Explore results 1. Are there any patterns in the data of the emotions being expressed? Why would these occur? 2. Are there similarities in the emotions expressed in response to any one video?

Now watch the “Mirror Neurons Engagement Video”. How does this information change your interpretations of the results?

9 The mirror neuron system with its ability to link perceptual and behavioral representations of a stimulus, may simulate an emotional state in people listening to music.There is growing evidence that music plays a role in cognitive development, emotion regulation, and social interaction. Music is a shared experience that merges our mind, emotions, and bodily movements, whether encountered as a solo listener or as part of a crowded audience. We tap to the beat and sway in tandem to a tune. The experience challenges our cognition to recognize patterns and excites us with pleasure when it surprises us. We can explore how sound and sensations are linked through this activity that weaves movies, music, and mood together.

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MUSIC AND MOOD

Photo by Moose Photos

Hair Love, an Oscar-winning animated short film by Matthew A. Cherry, tells the heartfelt story of an African American father learning to do his daughter’s hair for the first time.

Watch the video and come up with three words to define the music’s mood:

Music has a significant impact on the mood of a situation. Changing the music style in a film or television scene can change the emotion or mood of the scene. If we add music from a scary movie to our Hair Love narrative, for example, it will take on a very different tone! Let’s try this for ourselves: PROCESS ◆ Open one tab with Hair Love and pause it. Then, make sure Hair Love is muted. ◆ Open up one tab with The Ultimate Movie Score Playlist ◆ Select one movie score to listen to, then press play. Switch to your muted “Hair Love” tab and view a video section with the new music below it. Do you see how different the scene appears to be?

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DIRECTIONS Using “The Ultimate Movie Score Playlist,” choose three movie soundtracks to utilize in changing the tone of the “Hair Love” video using the techniques outlined in the “Process” section above. After each time, in 2-3 phrases, define the story’s new atmosphere.

THE ULTIMATE MOVIE SCORE PLAYLIST

Score used :

IN THE CLOUDS OR IN YOUR HEAD?

Photo by Anni Roenkae

10 If you don’t recall hearing music while dreaming, you’re in the majority. According to research published in 2017 in Psychomusicology: Music, Mind, and Brain, fewer than half of the approximately 2,000 participants who replied to an online survey indicated they had a music dream. Only 6% of all remembered dreams that had music. People who spent more of their waking time singing, playing an instrument, or actively listening to music (i.e., listening closely and giving the music their full attention) were more likely to have a music dream. According to the researchers, the data confirms that dreams are generally a continuation of a person’s thoughts and worries in waking life.

When we’re dreaming, the stories that unfold in our mind might be better than an action movie. To help capture dreams while they are still fresh, we have prepared a dream journal. Here are a few points to keep in mind while when using a dream journal:

◆ Do it first thing. It’s a familiar sensation to have a dream’s logic crumble when you try to describe it to someone else: Keep a dream journal and a pen with you at all times. That way, when you first wake up—whether it’s in the middle of the night or the next day—you can scribble down whatever you recall. ◆ Write in the present tense. It may help you resuscitate details and vividly follow the action if you describe your dream world in the present tense as if it were occurring again in real life. ◆ Try to capture emotions, not just plot points. Make it a practice to write down how you felt in that scenario. Were you worried when having this dream? Was it in a setting you’d seen before? Was there anything about your dream that enthralled or terrified you?

Take a moment to go through your dreams. Do you notice any common elements between them?

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DAY 1

DAY 2

DAY 3

Photo by Dapo Abideen on Pexels

DAY 4

DAY 5

DAY 6

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DAY 7

DAY 8

DAY 9

Certain tropes can be linked to instances in our daily lives or memories in our distant past. Laid out below are the 6 common tropes noted by dream psychologists. If you’ve noticed any of them in your dreams, what do you think your unconscious mind is trying to tell you?

1. Being Chased 2. Flying 3. Falling 4. False Awakening 5. Losing Teeth 6. Being Naked

◆ The pages ahead are visual representations of some common dreams. ◆ Scan the QR code on the Trope cards using your phone camera ◆ Click on the link to go to Instagram ◆ View the cards through instagram camera for AR experience ◆ Use the white space on the cards for your thoughts.

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GLOSSARY

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Amygdala – part of the brain involved in processing the memory of emotional reactions, notably fear and anger Autonomic nervous system – part of the peripheral nervous system; regulates heart rate, breathing, perspiration; also called the involuntary nervous system Brain stem – the part of the central nervous system connecting the brain to the spinal cord. It contains pathways sending information to and receiving information from the spinal cord and peripheral nerves. Fronto-parietal cortex – region of the brain involving the frontal and parietal lobes, control spatial attention Homeostasis – self-regulating process by which a system remains stable by adjusting to changing conditions Hypothalamus – part of the brain that processes appetite, thirst, hormone regulation, control of internal body functions, sexual functions, and diurnal rhythms; located below the thalamus Limbic system – part of the brain that processes the sense of smell, long-term memory, and emotion; made up of several structures including the amygdala and hippocampus; also known as the “emotional system” Mirror neurons – neurons that fire when an individual does an action or sees the same action done by another individual, thereby, “mirroring” the behavior Occipital lobe – part of the cerebral cortex associated with visual processing Parietal lobe – part of the cerebral cortex involved in processing various sensory and perceptual information Prefrontal cortex (PFC) – the very most anterior (rostral) part of the cortex which controls planning and thought Temporal lobe – part of cerebral cortex associated with hearing, memory, emotion, and some aspects of language

1. “Ellen McHenry’s Basement Workshop.” Accessed March 5, 2022. https:// ellenjmchenry.com/store/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Brain-Hat-2.0download.pdf 2. Frothingham, Mia Belle. “9 Common Dreams and What They Supposedly Mean.” 9 Common Dreams and What They Supposedly Mean - Simply Psychology. Accessed March 5, 2022. https://www.simplypsychology.org/ understanding-your-dreams.html 3. Martone, Robert. “Music Synchronizes the Brains of Performers and Their Audience.” Scientific American. Scientific American, June 2, 2020. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/music-synchronizes-the-brainsof-performers-and-their-audience/. 4. Vinney, Cynthia. “Genie Wiley, the Feral Child.” ThoughtCo. ThoughtCo, June 30, 2019. https://www.thoughtco.com/genie-wiley-4689015. 5. Molnar-Szakacs, Istvan, and Katie Overy. “Music and Mirror Neurons: From Motion to ‘E’motion.” Social cognitive and affective neuroscience. Oxford University Press, December 2006. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pmc/articles/PMC2555420/#:~:text=With%20its%20ability%20to%20 link,Gridley%20and%20Hoff%2C%202006 ). 6. Matwiejczyk, Justyna. “‘The Power of Three’ in Fairy Tales: World of Better Learning.” World of Better Learning | Cambridge University Press, January 28, 2022. https://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/2020/02/25/power-of-threefairy-tales/. 7. TEDtalksDirector. “The Neurons That Shaped Civilization | vs Ramachandran.” YouTube. YouTube, January 4, 2010. https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=t0pwKzTRG5E. 8. Øyvind Kvalnes, and Øyvind Kvalnes 1. “Moral Dilemmas.” SpringerLink. Palgrave Pivot, Cham, January 1, 1970. https://link.springer.com/ chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-15191-1_2#:~:text=Moral%20 dilemmas%20are%20situations%20in,concern%2C%20regardless%20 of%20the%20decision. 9. “Moral Reasoning.” American Psychological Association. American Psychological Association. Accessed March 7, 2022. https://www.apa.org/ pubs/highlights/peeps/issue-110

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10. “Moral Dilemma: Would You Kill One Person to Save Five?” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, December 2, 2011. https://www.sciencedaily.com/ releases/2011/12/111201105443.htm. 11. Tierney, Adrienne L, and Charles A Nelson. “Brain Development and the Role of Experience in the Early Years.” Zero to three. U.S. National Library of Medicine, November 1, 2009. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/ articles/PMC3722610/. 12. Cherry, Kendra. “3 Key Ethical Considerations in Psychological Research.” Verywell Mind. Verywell Mind, September 26, 2020. https://www.verywellmind.com/conducting-ethical-research-inpsychology-2795184. 13. “Brain Anatomy and How the Brain Works.” Johns Hopkins Medicine. Accessed March 12, 2022. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/ conditions-and-diseases/anatomy-of-the-brain. 14. Cherry, Kendra. “What Ethical Guidelines Do Psychologists Follow?” Verywell Mind. Verywell Mind, March 4, 2020. https://www.verywellmind. com/apa-ethical-code-guidelines-4687465. 15. “Creative Writing and Your Brain - Psychology Today.” Accessed March 12, 2022. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/trouble-inmind/201304/creative-writing-and-your-brain. 16. Deleniv, Sofia. “The ‘Me’ Illusion: How Your Brain Conjures up Your Sense of Self.” New Scientist. New Scientist, November 7, 2018. https://www. newscientist.com/article/mg23931940-100-the-me-illusion-how-yourbrain-conjures-up-your-sense-of-self/. 17. “Mirror Neurons: The Key to Self-Consciousness and Empathy.” Faena. Accessed March 12, 2022. https://www.faena.com/ aleph/mirror-neurons-the-key-to-self-consciousness-andempathy#:~:text=Ramachandram%2C%20one%20of%20the%20 leading,be%20related%20to%20mirror%20neurons. 18. Ramachandran, Vilayanur S. “Hey, Is That Me over There?” Scientific American. Scientific American, May 1, 2010. https://www. scientificamerican.com/article/hey-is-that-me-over-there/. 19. “Rewriting Fairy Tales: New Challenge in Creativity in ... - UV.” Accessed March 12, 2022. https://www.uv.es/extravio/pdf6/malafantis_ntoulia. 20. Trotter, Christine J. “Home.” NYU School of Professional Studies English Language Institute ELI, August 25, 2020. https://wp.nyu.edu/spseli/2020/08/25/crossword-puzzles-a-great-way-to-increase-brain-power/.

NOTES & DOODLES

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