Elena's Legacy. Texts written by Elena, excerpts from texts she liked, her artworks.

Thursday, April 19, 2018

Motivational Strategies for Losing Weight

The media is flooded with images of thin starlets and even thinner supermodels. Of course, it is only natural to want to look good. After all, social psychologists have rated attractiveness to potential partners as one of the reasons of people’s choices of partners. Human beings are meant to be together, to live together as groups and societies. From an evolutionary perspective, living in larger groups conferred an evolutionary advantage, offering protection from carnivore animals. For example, chances of someone noticing a dangerous predator soon enough, or while others are sleeping is much more likely in large groups than for individuals alone.

Along these lines, fighting off a larger animal was more likely to be achieved by a group of individuals that by one individual alone. Indeed, evolutionary psychologists state that whichever traits conferred an evolutionary advantage were passed on, and thus, are more likely to be present among today’s population. The argument fits into the larger survival of the fittest Darwin’s theory.

But what does that have to do with losing weight and staying thin? Perhaps, the fact that one of the motivational strategy most often cited in living a healthy lifestyle is enlisting social support. While losing weight and keeping the lost pounds off may sound difficult at first, it is possible with the right amount of planning, effort and commitment. Healthy dieting and other lifestyle choices add up to make a difference. By the same token, going to the gym with a good friend is much more likely to be an enjoyable activity, than working out by oneself.

Keeping a clear vision of your goals may help you succeed. Keeping active and moving a lot is likely to contribute to weight loss. Image: Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

Another advice often given by psychologists is not to beat yourself up if you fall off the wagon. For example, if you eat that piece of candy, don’t catastrophize, it does not mean that you completely undid your diet plan and that you are destined to remain fat forever. Similarly, a kinder language towards oneself is also in order. Rather than calling yourself fat, you may use words like overweight or a few extra pounds to describe yourself. Finally, self-love, a positive self-image, commitment and willpower are some of the ingredients needed to stay motivated in shaping up and losing weight.

Brain Chemistry Alteration Due to Antypsychotic Drug Treatment

Several drugs alter brain chemistry, including prescription drugs. For example, depression or Major Depressive Disorder is characterized by low levels of serotonin. Due to a combination of genetic, environmental and biological causes brains of individuals suffering from depression produce less serotonin. The condition may be treated by CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) and antidepressants. Antidepresssants include SSRIs or selective seretonin reuptake inhibitors, such as fluoxetine, brand name Prozac. Interestingly, psychological studies have shown that MDD or depression has a better prognosis when therapy is used in combination with medication, as opposed to medication alone.

Estimates are use to calculate excessively large quantities, such as brain cells or stars in all the galaxies. Image: Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

Along similar lines, antypsychotic medication also alters brain chemistry to reduce psychotic symptomps. Disorders with psychotic features include but are not limited to schizophrenia, schizophreniform disorders, schizoaffective disorder, affective psychosis, delusional disorder and bipolar disorders. Psychothic features in turn include delusions and hallucinations. Delusions are false beliefs held against all evidence to the contrary, whereas hallucinations correspond to perception in the absence of any actual stimuli. Antipsychotic drugs such as Seroquel, Risperidone and Latuda are typically prescribed to circumvent the symptomatology of some of the mental illnesses mentioned above.

The Psychology of Losing Weight

Willpower is decomposed by psychologists into cognitive control and self-regulation. Perhaps the most cited experiment about self-regulation is the one which led to the delay-of-gratification construct. Better known in the popular media as the ‘marshmallow test’, this laboratory experiment consisted of a choice for preschoolers. Thus, preschoolers were shown a mini-marshmallow, which was placed on the table. The experimenter told the children (one at a time) that they had a choice: either eating the mini-marshmallow right away or wait until the experimenter came back and get two mini-marshmallows. The experimenter then left the room.

Naturally, some children resisted the temptation and got two marshmallows later on, while others did not. The results led researchers to conclude that self-regulation occurred as shown by the ability to delay gratification and consequently get a bigger reward (two mini-marshmallows). However, what is most interesting about this study is what happened much later. Interestingly enough, the children who were able to delay gratification, by distracting themselves, for example, showed better cognitive, social and economic outcomes later in life.

A fat businessman in a decor mixing modern components with old-fashioned ones. Illustration by Elena

Surely, willpower is very important in life. From losing weight or keeping fit, to writing exams and securing gainful employment, willpower and the ability to self-regulate comes in very handy. For instance, losing weight, for most people, is a simple endeavour, in theory. To lose weight people need to consume less calories than they expend. Thus, eating healthy and going to the gym (or exercising in other ways) is all that is required to achieve the desired results. Nonetheless, it is a very hard undertaking because of the willpower element. Indeed, sugary and fat treats are much more desirable than egg whites and broccoli, and getting up early on a Saturday to work out at the fitness club seems much less fun than sleeping in and watching TV. Notwithstanding, if one keeps in mind the long term goals and practices delay of gratification, one is on the path to achieving their training and diet goals.

Psychology: A Brief Overview

The purpose of psychology is to give us a completely different idea of the things we know best – Paul Valery

The current short essay pertains to general, social, personality and computational psychology. While, just as for economists, many argue that psychologists often disagree on what constitutes the right answer, some truths are nonetheless considered established.

Psychology, the scientific study of the mind and behavior, is a fascinating field. Although there is a distinct branch called experimental psychology, most of the discipline relies on experiments and other research methods.

Methodology includes structured and unstructured interviews, tests (IQ: Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – WAIS, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – WISC; executive dysfunction: Wisconsin Card Sorting Test – WCST; Rorschach projective test, etc.), surveys, experiments as well as naturalistic observation. On the one hand, naturalistic observation, as the name indicates, is simple contemplation without any influence by the researcher. On the other hand, questionnaires range from multiple-choice, to open ended, questions. Also, experiments involve a dependent and an independent variable. A strong advantage of the method is laboratory control. Still, a disadvantage is the Hawthorne effect – the fact that people may behave differently when being watched or participating in a study conducted by trusted scientists. Another common potential confusion comes from the hindsight bias – the ‘knew-it-all-along’ misguided perception.

One of the most famous experiments was done by Stanley Milgram, in his study on obedience to authority. Some of the other established inquiries encompass Asch’s conformity experiments, Zimbardo’s prison simulation and Loftus’ findings regarding eyewitness testimony.

From social psychology one learns such theories as ToM (Theory of Mind – the ability to infer other individuals’ thoughts and motivations), social competence (the capacity to maintain positive relationships while getting one’s goals met) and the dynamics of social standing and status. For example, social psychologists noted that even among children, aggressive peers are usually rejected by classmates.

By definition, professional psychologists are not physicians and cannot prescribe medication (cognitive behavioral or ‘talk’ therapy is preferred). The psychological community relies, nonetheless, on the DSM (the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual) and the ICD (International Classification of Diseases). However, such subjects are the realm of abnormal psychology.

Developmental, or child, psychology covers human development across the life span. Child growth was commented upon by several prominent authors, such as Freud (psychosexual stages), Vygotsky (zone of proximal development), Erickson (psychosocial stages), Kohlberg and Gilligan (moral development) and Ainsworth (attachment theory), among others.

An important scholarly online resource is PsycInfo, while Psychology Today is a popular magazine on the matter. In addition, numerous countries harbor societies (such as the American Psychological Association or APA, not to be confused with the American Psychiatric Association – likewise APA) dedicated to psychologists and psychology.

Portrait of a Nation

America’s population is growing, graying, and moving West

Americans love statistics about themselves. Hardly a day passes without a poll being released. Here, gleaned from the pages of the Statistical Abstract of the United States, the national data book published annually by the Department of Commerce, are some other facts and figures that describe how we lived and how the country is changing.

Headcount: When the first estimate of the population was made in 1790, some 3.9 million people were living in the continental United States. According to the 1990 census, the U.S. Was almost 249 million, an increase of nearly 10 percent from the 1980 figure. The United States is the third most populous country in the world; only China and India have more people.

The Melting Pot: During the 20th century, the greatest number of legal immigrations flooded our shores between 1901 and 1910 – 8.8 million people came to call America home. The second greatest were 7.3 million – arrived during the ’80s. Figures are available, and the immigration rate doesn’t seem to be dropping off. The greatest number of new immigrants are coming from Mexico, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

Manhattan. Heart of New York City. Photo by Elena

Who we are: 1992, women accounted for 51 percent of the population. The male-female ration isn’t projected to change much for the next 50 years. The median age of the entire population was 33.4 years. Just shy of 83 percent of Americans are white, 12.6 percent black, and 4.5 percent “other”. People of Hispanic origin account for 9.5 percent of the population.

Where we live: Almost 80 percent of the population live in metropolitan areas (New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago are the country’s three largest cities). The fastest-growing areas of the country are the Rocky Mountain states and the Southeast. New England, the Middle Atlantic states, and the Midwest either are losing population or growing at a much slower pace.

What we earn: The median income for a white family in 1993 was $28,909; for a black family $21,161. Almost a third of black families are below the poverty level, only 9 percent of white families. Nationwide, 12 percent of American families are living below the poverty level.