Time dynamics of the twitter conversation about the general strike of March 29 in Spain. Each node is a twitter account and each link is a RT between accounts. The discussion is polarized into two groups obtained using community finding algorithms on the twitter RT graph. Those groups correspond to the two major opinions: in favor and against the strike.
I get really excited about nerdy things like this amazing visual representation of data. All the cool kids are learning R to take advantage of features like this.
If you are interested, I also saw this video showing you how to represent temporal networks using graph and R.
Gotta love research.
Deep Inside: A Study of 10,000 Porn Stars and Their Careers
For the first time, a massive data set of 10,000 porn stars has been extracted from the world’s largest database of adult films and performers. I’ve spent the last six months analyzing it to discover the truth about what the average performer looks like, what they do on film, and how their role has evolved over the last forty years.
By Jon Millward
Closure of mental hospitals and rise in prison rates, 1934-2010, US. From Bernard Harcourt
I’m thinking we change this to Social Science Student Sheep.
Researcher Brian Wansink of Cornell University compiled a catalog of final food requests from 247 Americans who were facing the death penalty. His findings were published in the journalAppetite:
So, what would you order for your last meal?
Psychological Science is Important
“Good reason to think that psychological research is now at the brink of a golden age…”
7 Quick Ways to Relieve Stress
Classes start on Monday for me, so I thought I’d share an article that gives some stress relieving tips.
- Take Your Dog to Work
A study published this year found that employees who brought their dogs to work had reduced stress levels as the day wore on. On the other hand, those without pups became more stressed throughout the day, as did dog owners who left their pet at home.- Drink Chamomile Tea
A study found that people who suffered from generalized anxiety disorder experienced a significant reduction in their stress levels after ingesting chamomile extract.- Eat Dark Chocolate—Every Day
Results from a clinical trial published in the Journal of Proteome Research recommend eating 40 grams of dark chocolate for two weeks to reduce stress; the participants reported reduced cortisol levels after doing so.- Turn Up the Music
Researchers at the University of Maryland Medical Center found that when people listened to their favorite songs, their blood vessels opened wider, which is good for blood pressure, heart rate, and mental state. But note: Most people experienced more positive effects when listening to country music and felt anxiety when listening to heavy metal.- Play a (Violent) Video Game
One might associate violent video games with higher stress, but somewhat controversial research shows that playing them does the complete opposite. Turns out that young adults who play violent video games become less depressed and hostile, and deal with stress better than those who don’t play games at all.- Dab on Lavender Oil
A study found that moms who bathed their baby in lavender-scented bath oil were more relaxed and smiled more. Lavender also calmed the infants, who cried less and slept longer post-bath. The mothers’ and babies’ levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, were both shown to decrease, too.- Grin and Bear It
There’s some truth to this common phrase. People who smile while performing a stressful task are more likely to have lower heart rates afterward, according to a recent study published in Psychological Science. That goes for fake smiles, too; those who were forced to smile (using chopsticks, of all things) also reported a positive effect afterward.
The impostor syndrome, sometimes called impostor phenomenon or fraud syndrome, is a psychological phenomenon in which people are unable to internalize their accomplishments. The term was coined by clinical psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes in 1978.
Despite external evidence of their competence, those with the syndrome remain convinced that they are frauds and do not deserve the success they have achieved. Proof of success is dismissed as luck, timing, or as a result of deceiving others into thinking they are more intelligent and competent than they believe themselves to be.
The impostor syndrome, in which competent people find it impossible to believe in their own competence, can be viewed as complementary to the Dunning–Kruger effect, in which incompetent people find it impossible to believe in their own incompetence.
Feel like you might suffer from Impostor Syndrome? Take this test to see! Here are a few example questions. All of the questions are rated on a 1-5 scale, with 1 being “not at all true” and 5 being “very true.”
- I have often succeeded on a test or task even though I was afraid that I would not do well before I undertook the task.
- I can give the impression that I’m more competent than I really am.
- When people praise me for something I’ve accomplished, I’m afraid I won’t be able to live up to their expectations of me in the future.
- I rarely do a project or task as well as I’d like to do it.
- It’s hard for me to accept compliments or praise about my intelligence or accomplishments.
Neuroscientist Bradley Voytek’s response when challenged at a conference by panelists suggesting that his research was “data rich, but theory poor.”
Not only is this a very clever response, but it highlights the major crux of neuroscience at the moment. This is probably the best response that I have seen on the issue.
This happened.
Dr. Robert Spitzer was a pretty prominent advocate for removing homosexuality from the DSM decades ago. He began studying reparative therapy and published his controversial study, which claimed that reparative therapy could be successful for “highly motivated” individuals that wanted to covert from homosexuality to heterosexuality. Years later, he know regrets his actions and is now aplogizing.
I believe I owe the gay community an apology for my study making unproven claims of the efficacy of reparative therapy. I also apologize to any gay person who wasted time and energy undergoing some form of reparative therapy because they believed that I had proven that reparative therapy works with some “highly motivated” individuals.
It is interesting to note that the original article was only published on the grounds that the publisher was going to print commentaries from other psychologists that opposed his “study.” The original study was full of experimental flaws and Dr. Spitzer made some curious assumptions and conclusions from his study.
One note: the NYTimes article linked above claims that “Dr. Spitzer could not control how his study was interpreted by everyone,” and while this is inherently true, all researchers have and obligation to ensure that their study is interpreted appropriately and have a duty to publicly correct any misinterpretations that may arise from their work. He declined to do so.
Read the draft of apology here.
Martha Stout, The Sociopath Next Door
I highly recommend this book to anyone that is interested in sociopathy or psychopathy. I linked the amazon page above.
(via approachingsignificance)
The Marshmallow Test
Kids are given the option to either 1) eat a marshmallow, or 2) sit in front of the marshmallow alone and wait for the adult to come back and receive 2 marshmallows.
The reactions are great.
Psychologists are so cruel; I love it.
I just wanted to see this video again.
The impostor syndrome, sometimes called impostor phenomenon or fraud syndrome, is a psychological phenomenon in which people are unable to internalize their accomplishments. The term was coined by clinical psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes in 1978.
Despite external evidence of their competence, those with the syndrome remain convinced that they are frauds and do not deserve the success they have achieved. Proof of success is dismissed as luck, timing, or as a result of deceiving others into thinking they are more intelligent and competent than they believe themselves to be.
The impostor syndrome, in which competent people find it impossible to believe in their own competence, can be viewed as complementary to the Dunning–Kruger effect, in which incompetent people find it impossible to believe in their own incompetence.
Feel like you might suffer from Impostor Syndrome? Take this test to see! Here are a few example questions. All of the questions are rated on a 1-5 scale, with 1 being “not at all true” and 5 being “very true.”
Martha Stout, The Sociopath Next Door
I highly recommend this book to anyone that is interested in sociopathy or psychopathy. I linked the amazon page above.
