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“What did you say?” Children’s Ability to Learn Words through Overheard Speech
I am sure many of us have stories of young children saying words that they should not be repeating at their age. And I am sure many of these stories make us smile. When my brother was about two-years-old he was playing with his Hot Wheels cars on the floor while my parents watched a…
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Harm Reduction: An Alternative Model to Abstinence
In this article, I will be writing about harm reduction, an approach to minimize the harmful risks involved in drug use, and the efficacy of different practices used with this approach, such as Needle Exchange Programs (NEP’s), Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT), and Safer Injection Sites.
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Analysis of Variance (ANOVA): Why look at variance if we’re interested in means?
If you aren’t familiar with a procedure called, “Analysis of Variance (ANOVA),” it’s basically used to compare multiple group means against each other and determine if they are different or not. We can determine how similar or dissimilar multiple groups’ means are from one another by asking the question, “How much of the difference is…
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Polyvagal Theory Part 2: The Stress Response
Polyvagal Theory In the first article in this series (read here if you missed it!), we got an overview of the vagus nerve and its role in stress physiology. In this second article, we will go through the specific stages of the stress response in polyvagal theory. These stages, in order from least to most…
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MythBusters: Learning Styles
Up there with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is the ever-popular Learning Styles assessment. Such assessments are meant to measure which “way” we learn information best (e.g. visual, audio, etc.). Results indicate what type of learner you are, but what does empirical research have to say about learning styles?
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The Overview Effect
“It’s hard to explain how amazing and magical this experience is. First of all, there’s the astounding beauty and diversity of the planet itself, scrolling across your view at what appears to be a smooth, stately pace… I’m happy to report that no amount of prior study or training can fully prepare anybody for the…
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Emotions and Health: Not Just a “First-World Problem”
Refuting the idea that the relationship between emotions and health is just a “first-world problem,” both positive and negative emotions were uniquely related to self-reported health outcomes in this global sample.
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The Case For Reality: Because Apparently Someone Needs to Make One
This morning, I read an article on consciousness and physics (“The Case Against Reality” in The Atlantic). The beginning of the article starts off with a broad statement: That our senses aren’t completely accurate; that the world isn’t perfectly represented them. It’s a relative statement so it’s not worth disagreeing with. That is, given the…
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Batman vs Superman: The One Where I Tie In Trump and Sanders for Maximum Clickbait
Many saw Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice this last week (420+ million box office), a story about Bruce Wayne, a single man backed by wealth, angry determination and personal fortitude, taking on Superman, a very non-figurative manifestation of limitless power. It’s a story about a man so brilliantly competent, so grimly prepared, so unrelentingly…
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If I told you I’d have to exclude you: Do online research participants have too much experience?
When I was an undergraduate Research Assistant, I worked with two- to six-year-old kids in a developmental psychology lab. Aside from my general incapacity to get small children to cooperate, the data collection process took an excruciatingly long time. It can be hard to find people to participate in studies, especially when many of the…