1) A Bit More On The Stanford Prison Experiment
Here is the response of Reicher and Haslam on the BBC Prison Experiment website. This covers some of the same ground as previous commentary from them. They lay out an explanation of the guards’ behaviour based on identity leadership.
2) Our World In Data – Mental Health
By 2030, it is predicted that the most significant element of the global disease burden will be mental health. This link breaks down the figures for you. The data suggests that if you are interested on a career in mental health, you won’t be short of work.
3) Experimental Philosophy.
This is dealt with in this article. Experimental philosophy uses psychological method to find out how people think about philosophical problems. There’s an application here of the self-report techniques and statistics which we have been working on recently. The article explains what experimental philosophy is getting right in contrast to some of the things going wrong in contemporary Psychology.
4) Understanding Depression Holistically
Holistic thinking is difficult to define and describe clearly. It is easier to say what reductionism is than to say what holism is. Here’s a really good attempt by James Gordon at understanding depression holistically.
5) How Culture Influences Child Development
We’re familiar in Vygotsky’s theory with the idea of cultural tools. We learn how to think about the world using the physical objects, the words and the language which our culture gives us. This article looks at many different ways in which early experience and social interaction affect development.
6) Subtypes Of Depression
One of the puzzling things about the way in which depression is classified is that it has characteristics which are opposites: people can sleep too much or too little, they can be restless or lethargic. This article looks at what happens when people try to solve this problem by dividing depression into sub-types: the sub-types end up being more complex than major depressive disorder itself. It also looks at problems in using questionnaire scales to assess symptoms. Many of the items on the scale will be irrelevant to the person with depression. It looks then as if the sensible way to deal with this when trying to understand causes of depression is to work a symptom at a time.
7) Type 1 And Type 2 Errors
Here is the latest from Crash Course on this.
8) Five Ways Research Is Tackling Depression
Here are five ways research is moving forward. One of them involves properly understanding what serotonin does.
9) The Birth Of Cognitive Therapy
It was Aaron Beck’s birthday last week. Here he is describing the origins of CBT within the psychodynamic approach. It is worth noting that he originally called the therapy “ego therapy”.
