The Introduction to Psychology course is the hardest course to teach because we do not have expertise in the vast majority of the material. When you teach Intro Psych for the very first time, you get used to saying, “I don’t know.” As the years have rolled by, I’ve accepted that “I don’t know” is just part of my Intro Psych teaching lexicon. For me, however, it’s not the not knowing that’s problematic. It’s all of the information that I thought I knew, but, alas, did not. Finding out that I’ve gotten something wrong makes me wish I could contact all of my previous students and say, “Hey! Remember that thing I told you about? No, you don’t remember? Well, anyway, it turns out I was wrong. Here’s the right information. Or at least here’s the right information as we know it today.” Okay, maybe it’s best that I can’t contact my previous students. In some cases, the scientific research has given us updated information. For example, research published a week ago in Nature reveals that the motor cortex is not all about motor control (Gordon et al., 2023). There are pockets of neurons in between the motor control sections of the motor cortex that connect with other parts of the body. “As a result, the act of, say, reaching for a cup of coffee can directly influence blood pressure and heart rate. And the movement is seamlessly integrated into brain systems involved in planning, goals and emotion” (Hamilton, 2023). This is a beautiful example of the first of APA’s overarching themes for Intro Psych: “Psychological science relies on empirical evidence and adapts as new data develop” (Halonen et al., 2022) In some cases what I got wrong was me just not understanding. For example, if you used to teach that the cat running to the sound of the can opener was classical conditioning, you can identify with what I’m saying. (See this 2016 blog post for the explanation as to why this is not classical conditioning, but operant conditioning.) While I don’t have any suggestions on how we can speed up science, I do have some suggestions on how we can mitigate how much stuff we don’t understand, and, thus, mis-teach to our students. Here are some excellent books that will expand your Intro Psych knowledge. Most are written by experts in the field. Others were written by people who got deeply interested in the topic. If you have books that you have found useful for expanding your Intro Psych knowledge, please add them to the comments. Thanks! Neuroscience The tale of the dueling neurosurgeons: The history of the human brain as revealed by true stories of trauma, madness, and recovery written by Sam Kean Incognito: The secret lives of the brain by David Eagleman Livewired: The inside story of the ever-changing brain by David Eagleman Sensation and Perception An immense world: How animal senses reveal the hidden realms us by Ed Yong Perception: How our bodies shape our minds by Dennis Proffitt and Drake Baer Consciousness Why we sleep: Unlocking the power of sleep and dreams by Matthew Walker Buzzed: The straight facts about the most used and abused drugs from alcohol to ecstasy, 3e by, Cynthia Kuhn, Scott Swartzwelder, and Wilkie Wilson Development Breaking the age code: How your beliefs about aging determine how long and well you live by Becca Levy The gardener and the carpenter: What the new science of child development tells us about the relationship between parents and children by Alison Gopnik Memory The memory illusion: Remembering, forgetting, and the science of false memory by Julia Shaw Moonwalking with Einstein: The art and science of remembering everything by Joshua Foer Cognition Thinking fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman The undoing project: A friendship that changed our minds by Michael Lewis Emotion Aroused: The history of hormones and how they control just about everything by Randi Hutter Epstein Why zebras don’t get ulcers: the acclaimed guide to stress, stress-related diseases, and coping, 3e by Robert M. Sapolsky Stumbling on happiness by Daniel Gilbert Social Aggression and violence: A social psychological perspective by Brad J. Bushman Kitty Genovese: The murder, the bystanders, and the crime that changed America by Kevin Cook Personality Quiet: The power of introverts in a world that can’t stop talking by Susan Cain   References Gordon, E. M., Chauvin, R. J., Van, A. N., Rajesh, A., Nielsen, A., Newbold, D. J., Lynch, C. J., Seider, N. A., Krimmel, S. R., Scheidter, K. M., Monk, J., Miller, R. L., Metoki, A., Montez, D. F., Zheng, A., Elbau, I., Madison, T., Nishino, T., Myers, M. J., … Dosenbach, N. U. F. (2023). A somato-cognitive action network alternates with effector regions in motor cortex. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05964-2 Halonen, J., Thompson, J. L. W., Whitlock, K. H., Landrum, R. E., & Frantz, S. (2022). Measuring meaningful learning in Introductory Psychology: The IPI student learning outcomes. In R. A. R. Gurung & G. Neufeld (Eds.), Transforming Introductory Psychology: Expert advice on teacher training, course design, and student success (pp. 57–80). American Psychological Association. Hamilton, J. (2023, April 20). An overlooked brain system helps you grab a coffee—And plan your next cup. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/04/20/1171004199/an-overlooked-brain-system-helps-you-grab-a-coffee-and-plan-your-next-cup         ... View more

Why is it so hard for us to grasp that we don’t multitask, we task switch? And that while driving, any task that is not focused on piloting a 2,000-pound vehicle filled with flammable liquid is dangerous? Webex announced in March 2022 that they were partnering with Ford to bring Webex meetings to Ford vehicles. Security and safety are top priorities for both Ford and Webex, so we’re not only making sure the drivers and passengers are safe but also making sure we reduce distractions. The Webex solution only uses audio if deployed while driving. When your car is safely parked – you can get more robust Webex collaboration experiences, like secure video meetings, integrated audio, and content sharing (Kulkarni, 2022). Webex is bringing the same (or similar) technology to Mercedes-Benz. “Meetings and calls are audio-only unless you're parked, in which case you'll have access to video meetings” (Holt, 2023). While it is true that audio only is less of a distraction than audio and video, talking on the phone while driving—even if the phone is your car’s audio system—is still a distraction. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that in 2020 distraction played a role in 8% of fatal crashes (an estimated 3,142 people killed) and 14% of injury crashes (an estimated 324,652 people injured) (National Center for Statistics and Analysis, 2022). When I started writing this post, I imagined that I would wrap it up with offering a suggestion for experimental design practice. But now that I’m here, I’m much more interested in what students are thinking. Before covering selective attention, ask students via a clicker system (even the free Plickers.com): How comfortable would you be as a passenger in a vehicle where the driver was participating in a conference call for work. Very comfortable Somewhat comfortable Somewhat uncomfortable Very uncomfortable After covering selective attention (including showing your favorite attention videos such as counting basketball passes, solving a whodunnit, being amazed by the colour changing card trick, or trying to find the changes in the Škoda Fabia car commericial), sharing the NHTSA data above, and discussing Webex’s partnerships with Ford and Mercedes-Benz, ask your students that same question again. How comfortable would students be? Lastly, take a few minutes to help your students develop some language they can use the next time they find themselves a passenger in a vehicle with a distracted driver. As the instructor, role play the driver. Each student is to imagine themselves as a passenger in your vehicle. Set the scenario. You have just picked up your passenger and are giving them a 20-minute ride to work. You say, “I have a meeting starting in five minutes, so I’ll be doing that on our drive to your job.” Give students a couple minutes to consider ways they can respond, then invite students to share their responses in small groups. Finally, ask volunteers to share with the class the best responses generated by their groups.   References                                                           Holt, K. (2023, February 27). Mercedes-Benz is bringing WebEx meetings to the new E-Class sedans. Engadget. https://www.engadget.com/mercedes-benz-is-bringing-webex-meetings-to-the-new-e-class-sedans-050009834.html Kulkarni, A. (2022, March 31). Driving ahead with Webex. Webex Blog. https://blog.webex.com/customer-stories/collaboration-in-vehicle-experiences/ National Center for Statistics and Analysis. (2022). Distracted driving 2020 (DOT HS 813 309). National Highway Traffic Safety Admistration.   ... View more

With the Intro Psych course, we have the ability to save lives. For example, our discussion of attention may help students stay off their phones while driving or help students refuse to ride with someone who talks on their phone while driving. Our discussion of stress and evidence-based coping strategies may help students find ways to reduce stress or cope better with their stress, leading to healthier outcomes in both the short- and long-term. I had another example just this week. After covering sleep, one of my students is encouraging his father to get screened for sleep apnea. Here's another way that Intro Psych can save lives that I just learned about from the February 2023 issue of Scientific American (Kwon, 2023). Of those diagnosed with REM behavior disorder, up to 80% will be diagnosed in 10 to 12 years with a neurodegenerative disease, most commonly Parkinson’s disease. When the common symptoms of Parkinson’s appear—such as hand tremors (although hand tremors do not appear in everyone with Parkinson’s)—over 40% of the dopamine-producing neurons in the substantia nigra of the basal ganglia are gone (Ohtsuka et al., 2013). (I’ve also seen medical websites say 50% and 80%, but they don’t site a source.) Let’s just say that bunches of neurons have been lost before the traditional symptoms appear. MRI can be used to detect the loss of neurons in the basal ganglia (Bae et al., 2021), but, of course, most people don’t get an MRI until they show symptoms. Earlier detection means being able to start interventions earlier which may slow the progression of the disease (Prashanth & Dutta Roy, 2018). During REM sleep (and for most of us), our major muscle groups are turned off. In REM behavior disorder, the major muscle groups remain online resulting in an acting out of the dreams. Alan Alda was being chased, so he picked up a sack of potatoes and threw them at his attacker. When Alda awoke, he saw that he had thrown a pillow at his wife. Alda had seen a 2015 news story about the emerging evidence of REM behavior disorder being a marker for the potential development of Parkinson’s. A brain scan confirmed it; Alda had Parkinson’s (Kwon, 2023). There is evidence that neurodegeneration and a buildup of a protein called synuclein (click for pronunciation) within the pons and medulla (both within the brainstem) play a role in REM behavior disorder (Chiaro et al., 2018). One possibility is that, over time—say, 10 to 12 years—the synuclein protein clusters spread up into the basal ganglia, damaging those neurons. When enough of those neurons are damaged, we may begin to see Parkinson’s symptoms, such as hand tremors. But here’s the fascinating part. A person with Parkinson’s who experiences slowed muscle movement, rigid muscles, and tremors while awake, has these symptoms seemingly vanish when showing symptoms of REM behavior disorder. While the symptoms of Parkinson’s are due in large part to damage within the basal ganglia, REM sleep bypasses the basal ganglia. While acting out a dream, full movement returns. This raises an interesting possibility. Could treatments bypass the basal ganglia when the person is awake? In the meantime, researchers are looking for ways to reduce synuclein before it does so much damage, and a diagnosis of REM behavior disorder may be one way to identify people at risk but before significant neuron loss occurs (Kwon, 2023). REM behavior disorder has an estimated prevalence of 1% (Haba-Rubio et al., 2018) in the general population. If you teach 200 Intro Psych students annually, and each student has, on average, 10 relatives (totally made up number; I have over 60 relatives, including siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews), sharing this information on the relationship between REM behavior disorder and Parkinson’s with your students could reach 2,000 people.  At 1% prevalence, we would expect 20 of them to have REM sleep disorder. If 80% are expected to develop Parkinson’s (or similar disease) in 10 to 12 years, that would be 16 of them. If those 16 were diagnosed early, the progression of Parkinson’s could be slowed. Your math may vary, but the result is the same. What you cover in Intro Psych could save lives.   References Bae, Y. J., Kim, J.-M., Sohn, C.-H., Choi, J.-H., Choi, B. S., Song, Y. S., Nam, Y., Cho, S. J., Jeon, B., & Kim, J. H. (2021). Imaging the substantia nigra in Parkinson disease and other Parkinsonian syndromes. Radiology, 300(2), 260–278. https://doi.org/10.1148/radiol.2021203341 Chiaro, G., Calandra-Buonaura, G., Cecere, A., Mignani, F., Sambati, L., Loddo, G., Cortelli, P., & Provini, F. (2018). REM sleep behavior disorder, autonomic dysfunction and synuclein-related neurodegeneration: Where do we stand? Clinical Autonomic Research, 28(6), 519–533. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10286-017-0460-4 Haba-Rubio, J., Frauscher, B., Marques-Vidal, P., Toriel, J., Tobback, N., Andries, D., Preisig, M., Vollenweider, P., Postuma, R., & Heinzer, R. (2018). Prevalence and determinants of rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder in the general population. Sleep, 41(2). https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsx197 Kwon, D. (2023, February). When dreams foreshadow brain disease. Scientific American, 328(2), 58–63. https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0223-56 Ohtsuka, C., Sasaki, M., Konno, K., Koide, M., Kato, K., Takahashi, J., Takahashi, S., Kudo, K., Yama**bleep**a, F., & Terayama, Y. (2013). Changes in substantia nigra and locus coeruleus in patients with early-stage Parkinson’s disease using neuromelanin-sensitive MR imaging. Neuroscience Letters, 541, 93–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2013.02.012 Prashanth, R., & Dutta Roy, S. (2018). Early detection of Parkinson’s disease through patient questionnaire and predictive modelling. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 119, 75–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2018.09.008     ... View more

For the first half of my career, I didn’t cover sleep in Intro Psych. And then I noticed how sleep-deprived my students were. The research on the importance of sleep is pretty clear. Your Intro Psych textbook likely does a fine job covering the topic, so I’m not going to rehash it here. In the February 2023 issue of Scientific American, the editors have written a short (and freely available) article on how adolescents tend to have a circadian rhythm set to a later sleep time and later waking time (Scientific American Editors, 2023). They write, “Despite decades of research, thousands of publications and clear science, schools in only a few states and the District of Columbia have pushed their start times to 8:30 A.M. on average, which researchers say is a compromise—a better time would be closer to 9 A.M.” Here's a short writing activity that will help Intro Psych students learn more about the importance of sleep while also empowering them to make a difference. ***** For this assignment, read this short Scientific American article (Scientific American Editors, 2023). Your task is to write a letter to a school board and superintendent encouraging them to shift the school start time to later in the morning. You do not have to send the letter, but if you feel like teenagers would benefit from the change, I hope you would send it. Choose the school district. This may be the school district for the high school you graduated from or, for dual enrollment students, where you still attend. If you have children or other young relatives, you might choose their school district. Do a little Internet research to get the mailing address and email address for the school board and superintendent for your chosen school district. Include this information at the top of your assignment. Use the following format: Dear [school district name] school board members and Superintendent [last name], I am writing to encourage you to [be specific about what action you would like them to take.] [Note: If this is one of the few school districts that has made the change, use this opportunity to thank them.] As a [student, alum, parent of a student, relative of a student] of this school district, this topic is particularly important to me. [Next, share a personal story. It could be about your own struggles with sleep when in high school, or it could be about what you saw in your high school friends, or it could it be in what you see in your high school-attending relatives.] The research on teenagers, sleep, and early school start times is clear. [Identify three to five points from the Scientific American article you read that you found to be particularly persuasive. List these as bullet points.] [Important research information one] [Important research information two] [Important research information three] [Important research information four (optional)] [Important research information five (optional)] Please [reiterate the action you’d like them to take from your first paragraph]. Thank you for your consideration, [First name and last name] Class of [year of graduation; or if writing to a relative’s school district, ‘In the interest of [first name of student], class of [year of anticipated graduation]]   Reference Scientific American Editors. (2023, February). Let teenagers sleep. Scientific American, 328(2), 8–9. https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0223-8   ... View more

In the June 2022 edition of the APA Monitor on Psychology is an excellent article on the psychology of traffic safety. The article features David Strayer’s “four horsemen of death”: speed, impairment, fatigue, and distraction. Given the number and breadth of psychological concepts covered, this article provides fodder for a good end-of-term assignment. It may also save the lives of your students. Note that the journalist uses the term “crash” rather than “accident.” “Crash” is the preferred term by U.S. government agencies, such as the CDC and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The word “accident” implies an incident that could not be avoided. The word “crash” does not carry that connotation. Giving the causes of traffic fatalities are due to driver decision-making, whether it be the driver of the vehicle or the driver of another vehicle, “crash” is a better descriptor than “accident.”   Ask students to read the article “Improving Traffic Safety” (Pappas, 2022), and then answer the following questions. How many people died on U.S. roadways in 2020? Speed. What percentage of the 2020 traffic fatalities were estimated to be caused by excessive speed? The article describes three ways that our environment can contribute to unsafe driving. Take a photo of a road in your area that illustrates one or more of these environmental hazards. Explain. The article also describes three ways that our environment can contribute to safe driving. Take a photo of a road in your area that illustrates one or more of these environmental benefits. Explain. In a survey of drivers at the beginning of the pandemic, researchers “saw an increase in respondents saying they were more likely to break the law because they knew they were less likely to be caught.” Explain this finding in terms of operant conditioning. With fewer people on the roads during the pandemic shut-down, researchers speculate that street racing may have increased. What Ontario law led to a reduction in street racing? Explain this effect in terms of operant conditioning. If you are primarily a driver, what can you do to reduce your chances of dying in a car crash due to speed? If you primarily a passenger, what can you do to reduce your chances of dying in a car crash due to speed? Impairment. What percentage of the 2020 traffic fatalities were estimated to be caused by impaired driving? Based on your reading of the article, describe the relationship between stress, alcohol, and driving while impaired. What Big Five personality trait is associated with a history of driving while impaired and reckless driving? Given your knowledge of this trait, why might that association exist? Fatigue. What percentage of the 2020 traffic fatalities were estimated to be caused by fatigue? Why might this number be an underestimation? Summarize what you learned in this course about the effects of sleep deprivation. Choose five effects, and for each, briefly explain how it could negatively effect driving.   According to the article, what have Australian highway authorities done to combat boredom on empty stretches of highway? Distraction. What percentage of the 2020 traffic fatalities were estimated to be caused by distracted driving? Explain how stress may contribute to distracted driving. Explain how the design of cars may contribute to distracted driving. Give at least one example. Conclusion. What was the most surprising thing you learned in this article? Explain. Identify at least one concept you learned in this course that could apply to speed, impairment, fatigue, or distraction but was not discussed in the article. Briefly describe the concept, and then explain how it could be a contributor to car crashes.   Reference Pappas, S. (2022, June). Improving traffic safety. Monitor on Psychology, 53(4), 46–55.       ... View more

Heads-up displays (HUD) have been common in airplanes for years. (See examples here, or do a Google image search for airplane HUD.) With a HUD, information of use to pilots is projected onto the window, so the pilot can see the information without having to glance down at dashboard gauges, taking their eyes off their view out the window. Automobile manufacturers are now bringing this technology to cars. With a car HUD, the driver will be able to see projected on their windshield information such as speed, speed limit, distance to the car ahead, and highlighted pedestrians. As I read about this technology, I can’t help but wonder if the attentional demands outstrip the value making driving more dangerous with a HUD. After all, pilots are highly trained. In one article about automotive HUDS, I was horrified to read, “And, of course, you should be able to display information from your phone onto the windshield” (Wallaker, 2022). We know that talking on a phone (hands-free or not) takes attention away from driving. A driver who is reading text messages or making a different music selection on their windshield would be seconds away from a crash. On the other hand, if the HUD marks the car in front as green, then we will know that we are following at a safe distance. If the car is red, we need to back off until it goes green. That’s real-time, useful information that is directly related to safe driving. We know from behavioral change research, immediate feedback is more useful than delayed feedback—or in the case of the lack of technology most of us currently drive with—no feedback at all. After covering attention, this may be a good opportunity to give your students a little practice designing experiments. Describe automotive HUD technology, including some of the information that HUDs can display. Ask students to design an experiment that would test these hypotheses: Hypothesis 1: If drivers are given driving-relevant information, such as speed and distance to vehicle in front, via a heads-up display (HUD), then they will have better driving performance. Hypothesis 2: If drivers are given driving-irrelevant information, such as the ability to read text messages or change music selections, via a heads-up display (HUD), then they will have impaired driving performance. “In your design, identify each level of the independent variable, and identify the dependent variable. You may have more than one dependent variable. Include operational definitions of each.” To help students get started, explain that researchers use driving simulators for research such as this as it would be (very!) unethical to put research volunteers behind the wheel of a real car on a real road where they could kill real people, including themselves. The additional advantage of driving simulators is that researchers have complete control over the simulated environment. They can decide what information to display, when a text message appears, and when a virtual child runs into the street. After students have had a few minutes to consider their own experimental designs, invite students to work in groups of three or four to discuss their designs with the goal of creating one design for the group. After groups appear to have settled on a design, invite one group to share their independent variable and its levels. Ask if other groups have different independent variables or different levels. As groups share, identify pros and cons of each independent variable and level. Take the best options offered. Next, ask a group to share their dependent variable(s). Invite other groups to share their dependent variable(s). Again, identify pros and cons of each, then take the best options offered. If you’d like to expand this into an assignment, ask students to dive into your library’s databases. Have any research teams done experiments like the one the class just created? If so, what did they find?   Reference Wallaker, M. (2022, February 6). How does a car HUD work? MUO. https://www.makeuseof.com/how-does-car-hud-work/   ... View more

COVID has changed a lot of things. (Shall we nominate this for understatement of the year?) In this particular case, I’m thinking about sleep patterns. A New York Times article got me thinking about this (Braff, 2022). For the story, the journalist interviewed a few people whose sleeping patterns changed during COVID. One mother of three reported that she would wake up at 3am and then go back to sleep for an hour around 6am. While waking up was due to her mind racing, she began to value the few hours in the middle of the night that she had to herself. For another person, he had always split his night sleep into segments. With the shift to remote work, he was able to allow himself to fall into what felt like a more natural rhythm for him: sleeping from 10pm to 2am, awake for an hour and a half to two hours, then back to sleep for another three hours. The story that really struck me, though, was that of Diana Hughes who spent a year working with physicians trying to find a solution for her middle-of-the-night insomnia. She happened upon the solution by doing her own research. What if being up for an hour, or two, or three in the middle of the night wasn’t actually a problem? Once she labeled her sleep pattern as another legitimate way to sleep, there was no longer a problem to be solved. This was a powerful reminder to me that what we say in our Intro Psych courses and how we say it matters. When we talk about sleep, are we implying that sleeping seven to nine hours straight through the night is “normal” and how we should all be sleeping? And that any wakefulness during the night is “insomnia,” and thus a problem? Insomnia questionnaires (like this one), frame waking in the middle of the night as a problem. “Please rate the current severity of your insomnia” for falling asleep, staying asleep, and waking early. The next four questions, though, address whether it is really a problem: satisfaction with sleep pattern, does the sleep pattern interfere with life, do others think it interferes, and how worried are we about it. As someone whose sleep pattern became biphasic some time in adulthood, I’ve had occasion to give this a lot of thought. I typically fall asleep between 8:30pm and 9pm, wake up around 1am, and fall back asleep between 2am and 2:30am, and then wake up for the day between 6am and 7am. My home and work life give me the luxury to follow what sure feels like my natural sleep/wake cycle. For example, I don’t have children who need tending to in the evening. I don’t have a work schedule that requires me to set an alarm for 5:30am. In looking at the sleep questionnaire, yes, I suppose I have “difficulty staying asleep,” except I don’t perceive it as a “difficulty.” I am satisfied with my sleeping pattern, it does not interfere with my life, my wife doesn’t think it interferes with my life, and I’m not worried at all about my “problem.” But let’s imagine that I did have children that required my attention in the evening and in the morning, and let’s imagine that I did have a job that required me to be on the road at 7am in order to get to wherever I needed to be on time. Suddenly, my sleep pattern has become a problem to be solved. Why must I contort my biology to fit my life? That was the preferred solution pre-COVID. “You’re not sleeping through the night? Time for you to make some changes. Exercise more. Consume less caffeine. Kick your dog off the bed. Turn down the thermostat. Wear an eye mask. Turn on the white noise.” For many people, COVID flipped the script. If children are going to school remotely and if employees are working remotely, the removal of the lengthy daily commutes (and, if we’re being honest, the removal of the need to shower and get dressed) produced at least a few more free hours during the day. For some at least, sleeping patterns changed to something that felt more normal. (For others, the anxiety created by COVID, such as income loss, health worries, death of loved ones, produced insomnia.) As we watched the Great Resignation, we have seen a lot of white-collar workers unwilling to return to their daily commute. In droves, they have left their face-to-face jobs in exchange for remote employment. Their reasons are myriad, but I have to wonder for how many is sleep quality and quantity just one more factor. The New York Times article (Braff, 2022) ends with this: “When practicing segmented sleep, insomniacs don’t have to worry about waking up in the middle of the night, as that’s the way segmented sleep works,” Mr. Savy said. “Therefore, they can adjust the schedule to their insomnia and reduce the stress associated with it.” But returning to sleep patterns from the Middle Ages isn’t for everyone, Dr. Avena said, suggesting that segmented sleep should be tried only by those who are already having sleep issues. My goodness, the assumptions. The word “insomniac” implies someone with a problem. Yes, I’m awake for an hour or two in the middle of the night, but I’m not an “insomniac.” Second, segmented sleep is not something one tries. Years ago, I did not set my alarm for 1am and stay awake for an hour just to try out a biphasic sleep pattern. I just happen to wake up naturally at 1am, I do not define it as a problem, and I fall back asleep naturally an hour or two later. Again, I don’t have “sleep issues.” My big takeaways: I need to pay close attention to the assumptions I make about what is normal or typical, and I need to carefully consider how I talk about these concepts with students.   Reference Braff, D. (2022, February 12). Meet me at 3 A.M. for a cup of coffee. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/12/style/segmented-sleep.html   ... View more

In Intro Psych, we often approach sleep deprivation as an issue faced by individuals with solutions directed at individuals. A compelling article in Science (Pérez Ortega, 2021) argues that we should also consider sleep deprivation in the context of social justice. I’ll skip over how important sleep is. Instructors of Intro Psych, on the whole, probably have a pretty good grasp of the research on sleep deprivation and its effects. After covering the importance of sleep, share these data with your students: A 2015 study in the United States found that, 43.4% of Blacks, 37.1% of Chinese Americans, 31.5% of Hispanics, and 19.3% of Whites reported sleeping an average of less than six hours per night. Ask students to consider what environmental, socioeconomic, and social factors may contribute to that disparity.   Here are some of the factors identified by researchers in the Science article: Black and Hispanic workers are more likely to work nights. Those who work the night shift are less likely to get enough sleep. Acculturation stress for immigrants contributes to sleep loss. The stress of being the target of—or fear of being the target of—prejudice and discrimination is associated with greater insomnia.  “[P]eople of color tend to reside in brighter areas, where they are exposed to approximately twice as much ambient light at night as white people” (Pérez Ortega, 2021, p. 553). “Black, Hispanic, and Asian people in the United States are also exposed to disproportionately high levels of particulate air pollution”(Pérez Ortega, 2021, p. 553). Air pollution affects how well we breathe. The more difficult it is to breathe, the more difficult it is to sleep. Black Americans are more likely to live in neighborhoods where nighttime noise is common. Conclude the discussion by asking students what we can do as society members to mitigate these environmental and social factors. As an example, there is a movement to reduce city light pollution (Payne, 2021). While much of the impetus for the movement is about energy conservation, changing city lights to softer, less intense lights should make urban sleeping a little easier, too. “For the first time, the Department of Health and Human Services earlier this year included improving sleep as one of the main disease prevention goals for the next decade. [Marishka Brown, director of the National Center on Sleep Disorder Research at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, who chaired the working group that came up with sleep objectives for the project, called Healthy People 2030, is elated that improving sleep is now a national health priority. She is disappointed, however, that tackling sleep disparities wasn’t ultimately included, despite all the evidence she and others presented to decision-makers” (Pérez Ortega, 2021, p. 555). Here is the Healthy People 2030 section on sleep, for your reference.     References Payne, E. (2021, September 27). Dark skies ordinance to dim Pittsburgh’s light pollution. Carnegie Mellon University. http://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2021/september/light-pollution-ordinance.html Pérez Ortega, R. (2021). Divided we sleep. Science, 374(6567), 552–555. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.acx9445     ... View more

In 2017, I wrote a blog post about an activity designed to help students see how the number of drug overdose deaths have changed since 1968 using this interactive article from the New York Times. Carolyn Brown Kramer, via the Society for the Teaching of Psychology Facebook group, asked for updated drug overdose statistics. After having your students complete the activity from that initial blog post, provide students with the most current drug overdose death data presented below. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides a “Drug Overdose Deaths” statistics dashboard that is updated monthly based on the best available data. Keep in mind that the best available data are several months old. As I write this in March 2021, the latest data are for July 2020. Line graph Each data point in the line graph is a 12-month rolling total. For example, the number of drug overdose deaths reported for July 2020 are the number of drug overdose deaths that occurred between August 1, 2019 and July 31, 2020. The number of such deaths reported for June 2020 occurred between July 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020. Mouse over a data point to see the numbers. In the line graph you will see both “predicted” data (circles) and “reported” data (solid line). As they explain on the dashboard page, “Drug overdose deaths often require lengthy investigations, and death certificates may be initially filed with a manner of death ‘pending investigation’ and/or with a preliminary or unknown cause of death.” For “reported” data, the investigation is complete. The “predicted” data include deaths that are “pending investigation.” Both reported and predicted data will change as those investigations are completed. Ask your students to predict how the number of drug overdose deaths have changed in your state or District of Columbia, then change the jurisdiction to your location to show students the data. Map For easy visual comparisons between states/District of Columbia, the map displays data by location based on the number of drug overdose deaths for the most recent month for which data are available compared to the data from a year earlier. At the time of this writing, the comparison is between July 2019 and July 2020. The colors depict percentage change between those two months. North Dakota and North Carolina were the only two states with a decrease in the number of reported drug overdose deaths, down 2.3% and 1.7%, respectively. Alaska reported no change. All other states reported an increase. The District of Columbia had the biggest change during that time period with an increase of 56.8% in number of reported drug overdose deaths (308 to 483). Data Tables Sortable data tables of the line graph data and the map data are available directly below the map. Whatever you have selected as the jurisdiction for the line graph, those are the data that will be displayed in the first data table. A word of caution As you cover this very important topic with your students, remember that some—perhaps many—of your students has had someone they know die from a drug overdose. Or perhaps some of your students themselves came close to dying from a drug overdose. Always remembering that I’m talking about experiences my students have had helps me use language that is sensitive to the people behind the statistics. ... View more

This is a whole new level of walking in someone else's shoes! Virtual Body Swapping With Friend Can Alter Your Sense of Self https://psychcentral.com/news/2020/08/31/virtual-body-swapping-with-friend-can-alter-your-sense-of-self?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=owned&utm_content=2021-02-24#1 ... View more

Recently the American Psychological Association published a Speaking of Psychology podcast (and transcript) about the One Mind PsyberGuide—a mental health app rating service. While I wasn’t paying attention, mental health apps have proliferated. Visiting the About One Mind PsyberGuide page, we learn “One Mind PsyberGuide now operates out of the University of California, Irvine and Northwestern University where our team consists of experts in mental health, technology, and technology delivered care. One Mind PsyberGuide is not an industry website; its goal is to provide accurate and reliable information free of preference, bias, or endorsement.” Their mental health app rating system—applied by professional reviewers—includes three main criteria: credibility, user experience, and transparency. Not all of the 196 apps in their database have complete reviews as of this writing. The following is a suggested assignment for the Intro Psych therapy chapter. ********* One challenge for consumers when looking at mental health services is determining what has good scientific evidence backing it and what is closer to quackery. The One Mind PsyberGuide is a website that provides reviews of mental health apps. Apply the CRAAP test to the One Mind PsyberGuide website. Be sure to address each bullet point under Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose. In one paragraph, state whether you would recommend this website to friend who was interested in using a mental health app? Explain why or why not. Now, download one of the free apps reviewed by the site to your phone. (If you don’t have a phone, please contact your instructor for an alternative to this section of this assignment.) Apply the CRAAP test to the app. Again, be sure to address each bullet point under Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose. Does your evaluation of the app match the review provided by the PsyberGuide? Explain. In one paragraph, state whether you would recommend this mental health app to a friend? Explain why or why not.           ... View more

Are you interested in sleep paralysis? If so, check out this new article: Sleep Paralysis and the Monsters Inside Your Mind - Scientific American http://ow.ly/J9E230qYF1T #psychstudentrss ... View more

On June 17, 2020, the psychological science community said goodbye to Anders Ericsson, who history will remember as the researcher who found that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert. Sort of. Ericsson, Ralf Kampe, and Clemens Tesch-Römer (1993) recruited 30 student violinists (“best,” “good,” and “music teachers”). I admit to wincing at the label “music teachers” for the least-skilled group. They wrote, “We call the students from the department of music education the ‘music teachers’ because teaching is the most likely future profession for this group.” [I had to remind myself that teaching is a skill unto itself, just not the skill they were after in this particularly study.] All 30 participants had at least 10 years of violin-playing experience, so there were no novices in the group. The students kept a diary for one week. The “best” and “good” violinists practiced an average of 24.3 hours that week. The “music teachers” practiced 9.3 hours. Where does the 10,000 hours of practice come from? Ericsson et al. asked the violinists to estimate “the average number of hours of practice alone with the violin per week for each year since they had started playing the violin.” By multiplying the number of hours per week by 52 weeks, they calculated an estimate of number of hours of practice for each year. And then they added up the yearly totals. By the age of 20, the “best” and “good” students had accumulated 10,000 hours of practice. Because they were concerned that the music academy they had been attending for the last two years would artificially inflate the number of hours of practice, they dialed back the age to 18. How many hours of practice had the violinists accumulated by age 18? The “best” students had 7,410 hours of practice. The “good students” had 5,301 hours of practice. The “music teachers” had a mere 3,420 hours of practice. For comparison, Ericsson et al. asked 10 middle-aged, accomplished, professional violinists to estimate the number of hours they practiced each week for each year they played the violin up to age 18. They estimated 7,336 hours, virtually identical to the “best” students. A follow-up study with pianists found similar results. By age 18, the “best” pianists had amassed an estimated 7,606 hours of practice. By age 20, the total was over 10,000 hours. Ericsson et al. emphasized that it’s not just quantity of practice, but quality of practice. “[W]e argue that the differences between expert performers and normal adults reflect a life-long period of deliberate effort to improve” (Ericsson et al., 1993, p. 400). Experts have deliberately worked to improve their skills. They have not simply done the same—potentially wrong—thing hour after hour. “Does practice make perfect? ‘Practice makes perfect’—only if the practice is perfect” (Bennett, 1923, p. 49). ******** If you would like to make this an online discussion, provide the above information to your students (edit at will). While the link below goes to the NYTimes.com, consider linking to his obituary through your library’s database in case your students have exceeded the maximum number of free NYTimes.com articles for the month. Initial post Read Dr. Anders Ericsson’s obituary in the New York Times. Part A. Quote Find a quote from the obituary that you found interesting and in 100+ words of reflection, explain why. Be sure to use quotation marks for your quote; the quotation is not part of the 100+ word count. Part B. 10,000 hours (100+ words)      Having read Ericsson’s obituary and the information provided above, would you say that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to make someone an expert? Why or why not? How you would define “expert.” For example, when would you say that someone is an expert? Do think it matters at what point in life the hours of practice happens? Why or why not? Part C. Question If you had had the opportunity to ask Anders Ericsson a question, what would it have been? In 50+ words, explain why chose that question. Responses Please respond to the initial discussion posts written by at least two of your classmates. Part A. In 50+ words, respond to the quote chosen with at least two of the following: A compliment, e.g., "I like how... because...," I like that... because..." A comment, e.g., "I agree that... because...," "I disagree that... because..." A connection, e.g., "I have also thought that...," "That reminds me of..." A question, e.g., "I wonder why...," "I wonder how..."  Part B. In 50+ words, respond to the 10,000-hour reflection with at least two of the following: A compliment, e.g., "I like how... because...," I like that... because..." A comment, e.g., "I agree that... because...," "I disagree that... because..." A connection, e.g., "I have also thought that...," "That reminds me of..." A question, e.g., "I wonder why...," "I wonder how..."  Part C. In 50+ words, provide your reaction to the question to Ericsson in the initial post. Use at least two of the following: A compliment, e.g., "I like how... because...," I like that... because..." A comment, e.g., "I agree that... because...," "I disagree that... because..." A connection, e.g., "I have also thought that...," "That reminds me of..." A question, e.g., "I wonder why...," "I wonder how..."    References Bennett, H. (1923). Psychology and Self-Development. Ginn and Company. Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T., & Tesch-Romer, C. (1993). The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 100(3), 363–406. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.100.3.363 ... View more

It’s valuable for students to learn a little bit about the researchers whose names plaster the insides of their textbooks. Each researcher comes from a background that matches that of at least some of our students. We want our students to think like this: “If they can become a respected psychological scientist, so can I.” This month (June 2020) we said goodbye to William Dement. Intro Psych instructors know his name because of his important sleep research. Obituaries are mini biographies that give us an opportunity to celebrate a person’s life. This discussion invites students to read Dement’s obituary and reflect on his contributions to psychological science. In the instructions below, I provide a link to the obituary on the New York Time website. Because the NYTimes limits the number of free articles available each month, however, it would be better if you provide a link to the obituary through your library’s database. If you’re not sure how to do that, contact your institution’s friendly librarian or your equally-friendly public librarian. While this is presented as an asynchronous online discussion, it may be easily adapted as a synchronous discussion or as a stand-alone assignment. The compliment/comment/connection/question framework is courtesy of Jenn Stewart-Mitchell. **** Initial post Dr. William Dement, sleep researcher, passed away on June 17, 2020. Read his obituary in the New York Times. Part A. Quote Find a quote from the obituary that you found interesting and in 100+ words of reflection, explain why. Be sure to use quotation marks for your quote; the quotation is not part of the 100+ word count. Part B. Research After reviewing Dement’s research as provided in both the obituary and your textbook, what do you think was his most important study? In 100+ words, describe the study, then explain why you chose it as his most important. Part C. Teaching In 50+ words, would you have wanted to take his class on sleep and dreams? Why or why not? Responses Please respond to the initial discussion posts written by at least two of your classmates. Part A. In 50+ words, respond to the quote chosen with at least two of the following: A compliment, e.g., "I like how... because...," I like that... because..." A comment, e.g., "I agree that... because...," "I disagree that... because..." A connection, e.g., "I have also thought that...," "That reminds me of..." A question, e.g., "I wonder why...," "I wonder how..."  Part B. In 50+ words, respond to the research selected with at least two of the following: A compliment, e.g., "I like how... because...," I like that... because..." A comment, e.g., "I agree that... because...," "I disagree that... because..." A connection, e.g., "I have also thought that...," "That reminds me of..." A question, e.g., "I wonder why...," "I wonder how..."  Part C. In 50+ words, provide your reaction to what was written in the initial post about taking his class. Use at least two of the following: A compliment, e.g., "I like how... because...," I like that... because..." A comment, e.g., "I agree that... because...," "I disagree that... because..." A connection, e.g., "I have also thought that...," "That reminds me of..." A question, e.g., "I wonder why...," "I wonder how..."          ... View more

One of the perennial challenges in teaching Intro Psych is helping students understand that knowing that two variables are, say, positively correlated does not tell us anything about what causes that relationship. Discussion of this study would work during your coverage of correlations or during your coverage of circadian rhythms as an opportunity to revisit correlations. The 6.5-year study of 433,268 British adults (Knutson & von Schantz, 2018) provides us with an illustrative example. The researchers asked each person “Do you consider yourself to be definitely a morning person [27%], more a morning than evening person [35%], more an evening than morning person [28%], definitely an evening person [9%].” “Increased eveningness, particularly definite evening type, was associated with increased prevalence of a wide variety of diseases or disorders, including dia- betes, psychological, neurological, respiratory and gastrointestinal/abdominal disorders.” If your Intro Psych students are like most people, they want to jump to the conclusion that being a night owl will cause a number of health problems that will eventually lead to an early death. The lead author of this study, Kristen Knutson, thinks the root of the problem is really that of a mismatch. Many of our societies are geared toward the morning chronotype. If you have an evening chronotype but are trying to work, say, 9am to 5pm, you’re fighting against your own internal clock (Khan, 2018).   Ask students to work in pairs or small groups to generate a list of factors that are associated with good health. Perhaps their list includes things like exercising, getting good sleep, eating well, and developing and maintaining strong social ties. Now ask students to consider why these things may be more difficult for night owls than morning larks. For example, how many recreational sports teams compete at 11pm? How many spin or yoga classes are offered at midnight? How easy is it to find a restaurant with healthy fare at 10:30pm? How hard is it to get enough sleep when you don’t get sleepy until 2am but have to be up at 7am to be a work by 9am? Maintaining social ties is difficult for night owls who want to hang out at 10pm when most of their friends are headed to bed (Clark, 2019). The cause of the correlation between chronotype and health may be due to this whole host of third factors. What if night owls were allowed to be night owls? Would a night owl yoga instructor, for example, teaching at 11pm have night owl students? Would night owls get more sleep if they worked, say, 2pm to 10pm? If time allows, ask volunteers to share their chronotypes and how they’ve adjusted their schedules to fit that chronotype. Or, if their schedules don’t fit, to share why that’s a struggle. In closing this activity, reiterate that knowing that there is a relationship between two variables tells us nothing about why two variables are related.    References Clark, B. (2019, May 23). No, night owls aren’t doomed to die early. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/23/smarter-living/no-night-owls-arent-doomed-to-die-early.html Khan, A. (2018, April 11). Bad news for night owls. Their risk of early death is 10% higher than for early risers, study finds. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-night-owl-death-20180412-story.html Knutson, K. L., & von Schantz, M. (2018). Associations between chronotype, morbidity and mortality in the UK Biobank cohort. Chronobiology International, 35(8), 1045–1053. https://doi.org/10.1080/07420528.2018.1454458     ... View more