Superstition may be good for you

Rome Braves by The Suss-Man (Mike)

by  105 student

To the detached observer, athletes may seem like a strange group of people, performing irrational routines in preparation for an event. Perhaps you have heard that Michael Jordan wore blue University of North Carolina shorts under his Bull’s uniform for good luck or that National Hockey League goaltender, Patrick Roy, was said to have talked to the goalposts throughout games, or noticed that Tiger Woods always wears red on Sundays. If you have ever played a sport, you or your team may have had certain rituals such as wearing purple socks on game days or eating waffles at the previous meal.

Superstition is generally first developed in hindsight, for example: an athlete reviews a performance and then establishes cause and effect between certain circumstances such as wearing green socks and playing well. In 1948, B.F. Skinner studied superstitious behavior in pigeons. After a pigeon was reduced to 75 percent of its weight (when well fed), a food hopper was presented at regular intervals into the pigeon’s cage. In the majority of cases, the birds started to perform distinct behaviors such as turning counter clockwise or swinging the head and body in a pendulum motion close to the time the food was presented. Even though there was no actual causal relationship, the birds continued to perform certain behaviors presumably because of an initial coincidence. By definition, superstitious actions do not have any inherent value yet many athletes still refuse to change their behavior. Are they wrong or simply stubborn by acting this way? Many studies indicate the opposite, superstitious behavior does serve a purpose.

Chance plays a part in the outcome of virtually all sports, creating a relatively uncertain environment. Optimal athletic performance demands a heightened mental state known as the flow state or being in the zone,essentially a good match between the demands of the sport and the abilities of the athlete (Marr, 2001). A survey of male and female athletes at the University of Western Ontario indicated that athletes use superstitions to regulate their emotions in stressful situations such as sporting events. Though superstitious behavior may have no rational foundation, athletes believe they have a greater sense of control over the outcome of the situation, helping them to reach an optimal mental state (Burke, 2006).

Regardless of an athlete’s specific rituals, superstitions may serve an important role in athletic performance. Remember this the next time you hear about an athlete’s strange pregame routine.

References

Burke, Kevin L. (2006). An Exploratory Investigation of Superstition, Personal Control, Optimism and Pessimism in NCAA Division I Intercollegiate Student-Athletes.  Athletic Insight, 8(2). Retrieved April 21, 2010 from http://www.athleticinsight.com/Vol8Iss2/Superstition.htm

Gregory, Jane C. and Brain M. Petrie. (1972).  Superstition in Sport.  University of  Waterloo.  Presented at the Fourth Canadian Psychomotor Learning and Sports Psychology Symposium. Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov:80/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/34/0f/45.pdf

Marr, Arthur J. (2001). In the Zone: A Biobehavioral Theory of the Flow Experience.  Athletic Insight, 3(1). Retrieved from http://www.athleticinsight.com/Vol3Iss1/Commentary.htm

Skinner, B.F. (1947). Superstition in the Pigeon. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 38, pgs. 168-172. Retrieved March 5, 2010 from http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/

Skinner/Pigeon/

Should school be rewarding?

by Alex Middeleer

We’ve learned in class that animals like rats can be conditioned to perform behaviors if those behaviors are accompanied by a suitable reward schedule.  Can that lesson be applied to high school teenagers?   How do prizes affect school performance?  Some big public schools have recently introduced money as an incentive for students to work harder and produce better statistics.  But academic work is no simple behavior, and humans are complex creatures to reward.  It turns out that blindly throwing rewards at students for doing well can have some serious negative effects.

In New York City and Dallas, Texas, the money plan has been implemented and seems to be working.  Kids are receiving big payments for doing well in school or acing their AP tests. As a result, more students are taking the APs, and more are passing. It’s even rumored that the most successful might be getting thousands of dollars (Guernsey 2009).

But how will those receiving money for their studies perform down the road?  Is this simple reward system doing any good besides increasing the number of AP tests that are passed? Will these kids stop studying as hard once the rewards go away?  It’s not clear whether the programs are completely beneficial.
Psychologists have been analyzing the issue for a while now, and report that there are indeed different types of motivation which affect our desire to work hard.  Extrinsic motivators, like candy or cash, are those simple rewards that encourage us to do something we may or may not want to do.  On the other hand, intrinsic motivation, like the ambition to become a great baseball star, is self-produced (Meyers 2007).

Frequently facing forboding fears

by Brittany Parks

Photo by Jim Grady

Do you have a worst fear? Are you afraid of falling from high places, for example? What if someone told you that you could learn to overcome your worst fear? Well, science supports the idea that you can. One way to combat your biggest fear is to face it.

A UCLA study shows that the more frequently one faces a fearful situation, the sooner they can learn to overcome it. The researchers exposed mice to a white noise that was followed by a shock; therefore, the white noise became the “conditioned stimulus” that the mice learned to fear on its own because they learned to anticipate the pain of the shock. By exposing the rats to the white noise, without the shock, for long periods of time and little time between each exposure, the rats learned to overcome the fear of the white noise all together. Thus, proving that the more you face your fear the sooner you will learn to overcome it.

Learning to overcome your fear can also produce other benefits. By learning to overcome fear in one situation, you will have less anxiety when put any other dangerous situations. Researchers Kendal and Pollak also studied mice to support the theory of “learned safety,” the conditioned inhibition of fear. In their studies, the scientists conditioned two groups of rats. The first was the “fear conditioned” group which received a shock every time they heard a certain tone. The second was the “safety conditioned” group who did not receive a shock every time they heard the tone; thus, they learned not to fear the tone. When each group was placed in a pool of water with no escape, the “safety conditioned” group experienced less anxiety when facing the fearful situation. Learning to feel safety in a situation that may have seemed harmful can lead one to feel less stress when facing other experiences that may cause one to normally experience the feeling of fright.

Although each of these studies observes the fear patterns of mice, not humans, and although mice face different fear filled experiences than humans, mice react to fear filled situations in a similar manner as humans. This is because the brains of mice and humans both contain the same memory functions that can aid in “conditioning” of a fear to remember the fear or, in this case, to get rid of it.  So, are you afraid of falling from high places? I advise a trip to the nearest them park for a thrill packed experience on the tallest Ferris wheel, and I advise you to ride it as many times as you can. And after triumphing over your fear of heights, why not head over to the clowns. I’m sure this fear will not seem so bad after all after scaling a hundred feet in a little fenced basket.

References

Howard Hughes Medical Institute (2008, October 9). Learning How Not To Be Afraid. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 9, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081008150445.htm

American Psychological Association (2003, October 6). Scientist Find More Efficient Way To ‘Unlearn’ Fear. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 10, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/10/031006064929.htm

Brave new tastes

By Dorie Obertello

No one will deny that America, as a country, is overweight. Some states have obesity rates that surpass 1 in every 4. There are countless theories as to why this is the case. Is it socioeconomic? Cultural? Medical?

A study by Don Katz from Brandeis University about taste got me thinking not about why American is fat, but how we could fix it. It does not seem that Katz has looked at the weight loss angle of his research, but I see a very possible link.

A popular remedy to excess weight, other than diet and exercise (which for some is too gradual or ineffective) is surgery. This seems a bit extreme because while it is effective, it is also incredibly dangerous. There must be a better way to return quickly and permanently to normal weight.

Katz is studying the links between tastes and emotions. He has postulated that every taste, without exception, invokes a tangible response, usually in the form of brain activity. However, many tastes also evoke emotions, often mirror images of feelings about the setting and/or experience of past consumption.

He has found that if a taste is associated with a negative experience and negative emotions, the taste itself will become disliked. This is called taste aversion. It holds true for a number of animals, from humans to mice (Katz is currently using mice).

So, what if doctors and scientists could program obese patients to loath unhealthy foods? The idea is not extraordinary. All that would be necessary is a bad experience to accompany the taste. If French fires and fried chicken seem vile due to a particularly nasty past stomachache, there is little risk an overweight individual will want to eat them.

Taking the idea a step further, perhaps children could be taught preemptively to dislike certain fattening or non-nutritious foods in an effort to stem the growing “epidemic,” as some call it. Of course, this preventative measure is not right for everyone. However, for those at risk, a picky palette is better than a lifetime of health trouble.