Visual Week 16

Learner Objective: Discuss ethical considerations related to research studies at the cognitive level of analysis.

This visual shows how ECT testing can be unethical because it harms the individual due to the high level of risk associated with the treatment.

Week 16

Learner Objective: Explain how biological factors may affect one cognitive process.

Research done by Dr. Charles Bae, MD shows that eating a spicy meal before going to sleep may trigger nightmares.  This is due to the fact that the heightened metabolism and temperature required to digest the food can cause more brain activity and thus more action during rapid eye movement sleep, the only point during the sleep cycle in which nightmares may occur.  It could also be due to a person's sensitivity to the chemical composition of certain foods, says Tore Nielsen.

This study demonstrates the learner objective because it shows how the digestion and REM (biological processes) can influence the cognitive process of nightmares and their frequency.

Source Article

Week 15 Visual

Learner Objective: Analyze etiologies of one affective disorder.  This shows a cognitive etiology for depression since relying on alcohol can lead to negative thoughts, a cause of major depression.

Week 15

Learner Objective: Evaluate one theory of how emotion can affect one cognitive process

Research by Matthijs Bal has shown that people who experience the emotions of characters within a novel tend to be more empathetic.  Bal asked a group of 36 students to read a short story or a newspaper article and then in a second study asked 50 people to read an excerpt from a novel and newspaper articles.  What he found was that people had higher levels of "emotional transportation" from fiction and those with a high "emotional transportation" tended to have a higher level of empathy after having read the passage.  Thus, people can become more "involved" in fiction reading and through placing themselves in a character's shoes become more empathetic towards real life situations.

This shows the learner objective because the study exemplifies how emotions experienced through a character changes empathy.


Source Article

Week 14 Visual

Learner Objective: Animal research can provide insight into human behavior.

This visual shows that tests can be done on animals to gain knowledge on human behavior.  In this experiment the rats are being used to see what causes overeating.

Week 14

Learner Objective:  Behavior can innate because it is genetically based.

People often categorize male and female behavior but recent research by Bobbi Carothers and the University of Rochester suggest differently.  Using data from over 13,000 individuals and thirteen different studies Carothers found that there were some categorical differences but psychological measures tended to overlap.  Men and women fell into a continuum over areas like sex and relationships instead of the assumed categorical areas.

This study relates to the learner objective because it shows how some behaviors are genetically based but not necessarily according to gender.

Source Article

Visual Week 13

This visual shows the learner objective "humans have a social self," meaning a person has different sides of themselves that they display socially and even with specific people.  In the picture one person has different views of themselves according to the social situation they're in.