Asch’s Experiments

Asch’s Experiments

Social Psychology and Conformity

Psychology is truly an amazing field, especially social psychology. Social psychologists have shed light on such key areas of life as relationships and social life. Further, social psychology showed that conformity to group norms are very important to people. Indeed, many teenagers try recreational drugs or cigarettes for the first time succumbing to peer pressure. Peer pressure results from wanting to conform, to belong with one’s group of peers. Adolescents in particular are prone to peer pressure, since adults learn to differentiate between becoming friends with like-minded individuals, and losing one’s individuality to desire for friendship.

Thus, to make a long story short, Asch is a famous social psychologist who carried out experiments on conformity to group norms. As a brief aside, sociology is the social science centring on the study of society. Sociologists describe norms as unwritten societal rules that everyone must follow. Thus, in Asch experiments, the set up was comprised of subjects and confederates. Interestingly, confederates are paid actors who pretend to be participants in a psychological experiment. Hence, in Asch’s experiments the confederates pretended to give an answer, which they knew was wrong and which they were told to say before the experiment began. Therefore, it was arranged for them to judge the compared length of two lines as wrong. In other words, two lines were shown to subjects and the participants had to judge which one was longer. As one knows from optical illusions and perception, it is possible to make two identical lines look different in length by circumventing or opening the ends artistically, figuratively speaking.

Human beings want to to conform to social and group norms, to belong... Illustration: Elena

However, in Asch’s experiments, the two lines were not an optical illusion and very clearly of different lengths. Participants were told that the experiment was about some visual parameters, thus were completely left in the dark as to the real purpose of the experiment. Sometimes, experimenters disclose the real purpose of the experiment during the aftermath period known as debriefing, during which researchers must find out if participants are ok, and perhaps explain what the study was about. But I digress… Hence, in Asch’s experiments the confederates repeatedly chose the shorter line as the longer and vice versa. And what do you think happened? Well, the real participants, after witnessing several confederates make the wrong choice, made the wrong choice themselves. Indeed, they preferred to be inherently wrong, at least in their own eyes, than to openly disagree with public opinion.

Clearly, Asch’s experiments demonstrate the desire in human beings to conform to social and group norms, to belong, to agree with public opinion. Outcasts are rarely popular and most people prefer to be liked than to make waves. The phenomenon can be witnessed in social psychology experiments, but also in real life, such as in situations prone to peer pressure. So the next time a coworker tries to make you agree to the upheld view simply to sway you and to gain a majority vote, ask yourself the question whether you truly and actually agree with the stance.

Amygdala & Emotion

Amygdala & Emotion

The amygdala is a subcortical structure, which got its name because of its almond shape. Amygdalar involvement is believed to play a crucial role in emotion. Although mentioned in other entries, the present page is designed to cover topics primarily relating to this particular brain region.

Prefrontal Cortex, Amygdala & Aggression Siegel & Victoroff (2009) admonish that there exist two categories of aggression: defensive and predatory. The former activates the medial hypothalamus and midbrain periaqueductal gray (PAG), while the latter is associated with activity in the lateral hypothalamus. Still, the prefrontal cortex (PFC), particularly the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and the amygdala have also been implicated in aggressive behaviour. For example, previous substance abuse recovery studies have shown that metamphetamine dependent individuals show deficits in this cortical framework.

Everything can inspire an emotion. Photo by Elena.

Thus, Payer et al. (2011) wondered why persons with metamphetamine addictions were more prone to violent outbursts. Their fMRI study of abstinent subjects with the addiction found the emotional regulation circuitry intact. However, there was lower activity in the ventral IFG, which led the researchers to conclude that aggression is precipitated through another mechanism, namely the associated alexithymia. Alexithymia refers to dysfunctional emotion processing and understanding. The study concluded that it is poor emotional insight and not cognitive function per se, that is to blame for increased reported aggressive behavior in people dependent on the drug.

References:

• Payer, D. E., Lieberman, M. D. & London, E. D. (2011). Neural correlates of affect processing and aggression in metamphetamine dependence. (Reprinted) Archives of General Psychiatry, 68 (3): 271-82.
• Siegel, A. & Victoroff, J. (2009). Understanding human aggression: New insights from neuroscience. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 32: 209-15.

Let's say this is cortical framework. Source of the illustration : Megan Jorgensen.

Should You Hire a Person With a Mental Illness

Should You Hire a Person With a Mental Illness

The case with Bipolar Disorder

Human resources staff have a lot of decisions to make. Naturally, they go through thousands of resumes on a daily basiss, looking for the perfect resume. From a neuroscience perspective, decision-making neural correlates center on the frontal lobe and prefrontal cortex, which is the seat of excetutive function. Executive function is everything to do with decision-making, planning, organizing and other personality traits. Thus, to make a long story short, a recruiter is going through a multitude of CVs and resumes, some of them of qualified persons, others not. Of course, first the HR recruiters set aside all the unqualified resumes, of which there are plenty.

Actually, you might be surprised by the amount of unqualified or even unsolicited resumes recruiters and employers recieve for every job posting! For example, a friend of mine posted for a position to fill as professional nurse in a private drug rehabilitation clinic, and received hundrerds of CVs daily, some of waitresses and accountants! Why? No one knows. Maybe people don’t always read the job requirements and qualifications sought by the employer. Indeed, it is imperative to carefully screen out job postings and to honestly verify if one’s qualifications fit the job description. But I digress…

Bipolar Disorder: An artist’s conception. Image: Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

So, what do hiring professionals think about hiring mentally unfit people? First of all, they might not know. Actually, they do not know, in most cases. Most people will not write “have a clinical illness” on their resume, obviously. But people with a mental illness have a lot to offer, and it would be wrong to judge them based on their disorder and forego the abilities, talents and gifts they have to contribute in the workplace.

But to examine the situation, let’s first explain what a mental illness could be; for example, Bipolar Disorder. So what is Bipolar Disorder? Bipolar illness is a very serious mental disorder which could be briefly categorized (in layman’s terms) as a sort of a mix between schizophrenia (a milder version) and depression. The disorder is characterized by severe jumps and swings in mood, called mania, hypomania, depressive states or mixed states. Family and friends may see that there is something wrong with the person, but for the person suffering from Bipolar Disorder, everything is normal and fits perfectly fine with the reality their brain constructs.

More often than not, BD starts in early to late teenage years, severly impacts all areas of life, including occupational, vocational, academic and social areas, and also isolates the individual from his or her surroundings. All the while, the individual with the illness lives in their own reality, a matter deserving compassion, and promptly necessitating professional mental, psychiatric help. If you or someone you know suffers from BD, contacting a licensed psychiatrist may be the best solution. After all, people with BD can go on living healthy, productive lives with the professional, psychiatric help they so desperately (or subconsciuously) need.

Transformational Leadership

Transformational Leadership

One of the greatest business leaders in the world is Jack Welch, also known as CEO of the century, His leadership has seen him become an almost mythological figure in the international business community.

For Welch the core competency is people, and he invests a great amount in training facilities. According to Jack Welch, there are four characteristics of a high-potential manager and these can be easily summed up with 4Es, as befits any good theory of management:

• Energy – the ability to address every problem and situation with passion and proactivity.
• Energized – the ability to motivate and energize those around us.
• Edge – the ability to make decisions without doubts and questions.
• Execution – the ability to implement strategies and bring results.

 Those who possess these characteristics are usually the top 20 percent (Pareto Rule) of managers and those on who the company should always focus their efforts. This goal is achieved by differentiated pay in line with the performance of the best performers. Welch put into practice this concept by creating a pay system that offered bonuses and stock options of up to 70 percent of the basic salary of managers.

If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves (Thomas Al. Edison). Image: © Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

Jack Welch installed a business philosophy and strategy that states the his company should be #1 and #2 in all the businesses it owns, and close or sell those in which it isn’t. This strategy has become accepted practice at diversified multinational companies, but it was originally developed and brought to success by Jack Welch’s great capacity for strategic vision.

When the majority of business schools taught the virtues of concentration on a limited number of business to leverage the core competences, or all the knowledge and synergies resulting from specialists in the field, Welch preached and practiced the advantages of differentiation, making over 600 acquisitions in various sectors. He considered the main factor for deciding on the acquisition/disposal to be based on whether the company was the leader (or co-leader) in its market. Il all cases where this was not the case, there were three alternatives: to bring the company to Welch’s standards, sell it or close it.

His transformational leadership was so successful that during his twenty-year tenure, Welch created as much value as any other manager in history.

Getting Professional Counselling or Psychotherapy

Getting Professional Counselling or Psychotherapy

Getting professional counselling may be very important for someone struggling with a mental illness, or simply overwhelmed by daily hassles and challenges. However, due to mental health and mental illness stigma, getting professional counselling can be difficult. No one wants to be called crazy or weak, and unfortunately in the current psychological health climate, sometimes things get blown out of proportion and people get called all kinds of names for no reason.

People seeking counselling or psychotherapy should not feel ashamed. Image: Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

For example, recently there was a TV campaign done by the telecommunications giant Bell about mental health. The commercials shows that people often judge others for having a mental illness, unfortunately such judgments may not only hurt the feelings of people suffering from a mental illness, but also preclude them from being seen by a mental health specialist, such as a licensed psychiatrist. In the commercials, the message urges to reduce the stigma attached, and to give people with mental disorders a chance of not being isolated and judged, and overall the advertisements project a message of hope.

But how do people with a mental illness actually feel? From personal experience working at a mental health and addiction rehabilitation clinic, without mentioning anyone by name or disclosing anyone’s personal details which are strictly confidential, I can tell that patients have all kinds of problems before even disclosing for the first time to a therapist or a crisis intervention counsellor. For instance, people with depression are used to being considered weak for having depression, as if having depression was simply a character flaw and if they were stronger then they would not be ill. Sadly, depression is a serious clinical condition and one cannot simply will it away or wish it away.

People may feel uneasy about getting counselling or psychotherapy. Image: Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

A similar but different challenge exists with psychosis and disorders involving psychotic features, such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder or psychotic depression. In such cases, the patient may not understand that they have a problem at all. Indeed, no matter how far-fetched or unrealistic the delusions or hallucinations seem to be, they appear quite real to the person suffering from the mental illness. In fact, an ill mind has its own logic and transforms all evidence to the contrary of the fixed false beliefs, or imagined sensory stimuli, into something that feels real. Luckily, there are hospitals, clinics and mental health professionals who can help people in need of professional, psychiatric help.