Tired of rote memorization? Tired of NCLB? Try mindful learning. In this episode I explore psychologist Ellen Langer’s concept of mindful learning. What does it mean to teach and learn in a mindful way? How does this concept differ from what is being encouraged in the new report on the teaching of math called the Foundations of Success? Find out the answers to all these questions in this episode of The Psych Files podcast.

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Resources on Mindful Learning

• Here’s an excellent powerpoint presentation on Ellen Langer’s concept of mindful learning (clicking on this link will download a pdf version of the presentation). This presentation was created by Micah Fierstein, Ed.D, Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Alaska in Anchorage, Alaska. Dr. Fierstein has created exercises he calls “practice fields” (safe spaces for students to engage in deeper learning) based on Langer’s work. You can contact him at micah@uaa.alaska.edu for more information on his work with mindful learning.
• Here’s a short article by Ellen Langer in which she discusses mindful learning (a pdf file). This article appeared in Current Directions in Psychological Science.
• Here is Ellen Langer’s homepage at Harvard University.
• The Power of Mindful Learning
• Mindful Learning: 101 Proven Strategies for Student and Teacher Success
• Here’s a nice summary of the main points in Ellen Langer’s book.

Popularity: 19% [?]

 

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Think you know a lot about the little Albert experiment conducted by John Watson? Well, guess what - you’d be surprised at how much of the story is simply not true. If you’re wondering whatever happened to little Albert, whether the little Albert study created a lasting phobia in a small boy, or even what place this story has in the history of behaviorism, then I suggest you take a listen to this episode of The Psych Files and get the facts on this fascinating part of psychology’s history.
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Notes Regarding Little Albert’s Supposed "Phobia"

• When Albert was conditioned again to the rat, 10 days after the initial trials, Albert,
  

  Fell over to the left side, got up on all fours and started to crawl away. On this occasion there was no crying but strange to say, as he started away he began to gurgle and coo, even while leaning far over to the left side to avoid the rat…

  - in addtion, on this same day he was again conditioned to fear the rabbit, alberts response was reported as,
  

  …fear reaction slight. Turned to the left and kept face away from the animal but the reaction was never pronounced.

• 31 days after being shown the rat, Watson reports that when in the same room as the rat "He allowed the rat to crawl towards him without withdrawing"

• On the final day of testing when albert was exposed to the rabbit to which he had been conditioned to fear, he did not avoid the rabbit at all. Watson (1920) reports:
  

  ..after about a minute he [Albert] reached out tentatively and …touched the rabbit’s ear with his right hand…

Objects Albert was supposedly afraid of, but for which there is no evidence:

• Cats
• Fur muffs
• White furry gloves
• Albert’s aunt (who wore fur)
• Albert’s mother’s fur coat
• A teddy bear

Most overlooked facts:

• The study is not an experiment (an experiment requires at least two levels of an independent variable). It is a pilot study at best.
• The study had only one subject.
• The study has never been replicated.

Resources for This Episode on Little Albert

• Harris, B. (1979). Whatever Happened to Little Albert? American Psychologist, 34 (2), 151-160. Click here to download the article to your desktop.

• Samuelson , F. (1980). J.B. Watson’s Little Albert, Cyril Burt’s Twins, and the Need for a Critical Science. American Psychologist, 35 (7).

• Watson, J.B. & Rayner, R. (1920). Conditioned Emotional Reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 3, 1-14. This article is available online at Christopher Green’s excellent Psych Classics site.

• If you’re interested in learning more about the history of psychology, Chris Green’s excellent podcast (which is no longer being produced but which is still available in iTunes) is called This Week In The History of Psychology.

• Watson’s video of the little albert study is available on YouTube in several versions. Here’s one.

Click here to use The Psych Files Power Search tool to add a "widget" to your Google search page which will keep you up to date on news related to the Little Albert study.

Click here to use The Psych Files Power Search tool to add a "widget" on your MyYahoo page which will help you find the latest information on anything to do with Little Albert.

Search The Psych Files podcast for more episodes on: behaviorism

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Are you taking Introduction to Psychology? General Psychology? Or are you looking for online lectures in psychology? You’ve come to the right place. The Psych Files podcast is 1 year old this month and I wanted to tell all the new listeners a little bit about the podcast. Also, I’ve got two "secrets" for success in your psychology class, as well as two "Psychology In Everyday Life" tidbits about blaming the victim and our need for personal control. Welcome to The Psych Files.

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Resources For This Podcast

Previous Episodes of The Psych Files Which Are Helpful to Psychology Students:

• History of Psychology: Hudson River Psychiatric Center Interview

• Research and Statistics in Psychology: Why Statistics Make Us Queasy

• Research and Statistics in Psychology: What is Falsifiability?

• BioPsychology: Brain Development During Erikson’s Eight Stages

• Learning: Positive and Negative Reinforcement Defined

• Learning: Reinforcement and Your Bowling Style

• Development: Erik Erikson and his Eight Stages of Life

• Motivation: Intrinsic Vs. Extrinsic Motivation

• Therapy: Freud's Defense Mechanisms

• Social Psychology: Blaming the Victim

• Social Psychology: Cognitive Dissonance Explained

• Social: What Really Happened to Kitty Genovese?

Those two "secrets" to doing well in psychology or any other learning task are:

• Distributed Practice - spread out your study time!

• Organize - use concept maps, outlines, re-write your notes, personalize the material, etc. In other words, be active with the material and it will stick in your brain.

The research article on how organizing the material we need to learn resulted in higher test grades than just reading it or reviewing it is called, "Effect of Quality and Quantity of Study on Student Grades" by Donald J. Dickinson and Debra Q. O’Connell and it appeared in the Journal of Educational Research, v83 n4 p227-31 Mar-Apr 1990.

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Popularity: 37% [?]

Do you get nervous when you perform? Well, you’re not alone. Listen to a few experienced actors talk about performing and then I’ll share some thoughts about what psychologists have to say about those judges in your head who keep you from doing your best. I’ll also share my experiences as a performer as well. Then we end with a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt. What does she have to do with performance anxiety? You’ll have to listen to find out.

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Resources for this Episode

• Here’s the movie I referred to in this episode. It makes a lot of interesting observations on performance anxiety and it’s a great family film: The Greatest Game Ever Played

• Here’s the wonderful book I mentioned in the podcast that I highly recommend: A Soprano on Her Head: Right-Side-Up Reflections on Life and Other Performances

• This great book on performance anxiety was written by a psychologist: The Confident Performer

• The classic book on the mental side of sports performance: The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance

• For a more thorough review of Albert Ellis and Martin Seligman’s ideas, check out my previous episode on the negative side of positive thinking.

• Seligman’s book goes into good detail on his theory of explanatory style: Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life

• Albert Ellis’ ideas on dealing with irrational thinking are explained in his book: A Guide to Rational Living

Thanks to the actors interviewed in this episode:

• Colleen Raney talked about taking risks onstage.
• Scott Laska talked about how you can’t intellectualize during a performance.
• Yvonne Campbell discussed how she kept focused on her performance during a scene from West Side Story.

Popularity: 45% [?]

 

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Here’s the second part of my episode on alternatives to timeout. In this part of the interview, Dr. Ablon discusses Plan B in more detail. How do you work with your child to come up with solutions that satisfy both your and his or her needs?

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Resources For Timeout Revisited

Make sure to check out the ThinkKids website for more information on collaborative problem solving.

Research this topic further on Technorati: behavior management

There’s some interesting information in Wikipedia on the topic of timeout.

Related Episodes

In case you didn’t catch part 1 of this episode on alternatives to timeout, here’s the link:

• Part 1 of the interview on timeout revisited.

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Popularity: 69% [?]

 

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In part of 1 of this interview Dr. J. Stuart Ablon we talk those children for whom timeout sometimes does not work. What’s your alternative then? Listen in and learn about the Collaborative Problem Solving approach.

Listen to this episode to learn about alternatives to time out.

Resources For This Episode

• Make sure to go to the Think Kids website for more information about collaborative problem solving.
• The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children
• Treating Explosive Kids: The Collaborative Problem-Solving Approach

Relevent Previous Episodes on The Psych Files

• Make sure to listen to the episode entitled Is Timeout Really Effective?
• An early episode of The Psych Files covers the basics of rewards and punishments.

Related Episodes

Be sure to listen part 2 of this interview with Stuart Ablon called “Timeout Revisited”: dealing with challenging kids:

• Part 2 of the interview on timeout revisited.

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Popularity: 70% [?]

Popularity: 70% [?]

To learn or not to learn that is the question this week on The Psych Files. Come with me as I explore mnemonic techniques, learn to memorize Hamlet’s famous speech, and learn 2 keys to true, lasting learning.

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Resources For This Episode

• Click to read the article in New York Magazine by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman about the psychology of sleep.
• The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

Mnemonic Techniques:

• Acronyms: "Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge" and ROY G BIV
• Rhyme - "30 days has September"
• method of Loci
• Pegword ("one is a bun")
• Keywords

Using keywords to remember the lobes of the brain:

• Occipital - Eyes - octopus with eyes instead of suckers
• Parietal - Touch - piranha biting you
• Temporal - Hearing - tempo is something you hear
• Frontal - Thinking - "front door" you open the door and Einstein is there

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Popularity: 55% [?]

 

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You’ve probably heard about the battle between intrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Well, here’s a new competitor to think about: the concept of the Motivation to Learn. What does this idea have to add to the debate about the best way to get kids to read? What does it have to do with the Bourne Supremacy? Find out this week on The Psych Files.

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Resources for this Podcast

• Link to the book: Looking in Classrooms by Good and Brophy on the Allyn and Bacon site. And the same book on Amazon: Looking in Classrooms (9th Edition)
• Link to the book The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children
• The Think Kids site
• The Center for Collaborative Problem Solving site.
• The book by Ellen Langer that contains the example regarding birth control is not Mindfulness (although that is one of her books), but rather this book by her: The Power of Mindful Learning

Notes

Motivation to Learn: Why read? Because learning is worthwhile, important

People are naturally drawn to:

• Puzzles – what would happen if you…went outside your spacecraft without a suit (“Moonraker” vs. “2001″)? Dropped a feather and a brick from the same height? If you were swinging a weight on the end of a string and the string broke. Everyday example: the “Bourne Supremacy”. The concept of the movie pulls you in: you wake up, don’t know where you are or who you are, yet you seem to have the ability to kill people, and people seem to be out to kill you – why?
• Interesting questions – Why did the dinosaurs die out?
• Problems – the scene from “Apollo 13”: “We gotta make one of these… out of this”
• Open-ended questions: instead of asking “Can you…”, ask “How could you..”. Langer author of “Mindfulness”: Can you make a birth control pill that could be inhaled through the nose? Vs. How could you make a birth control pill that could be inhaled through the nose?
• Contradictions: “Opposites attract” vs. “Birds of a feather flock together”
• Controversy – Did we really land on the moon? Examine the angles of the shadows, etc.
• Suspense – Check out futurelabs http://www.futurelab.org.uk/ – astronauts running out of air http://www.futurelab.org.uk/projects/space_mission_ice_moon/
• Guessing (with no fear of public embarrassment)

Corny joke of the week: Q: Why will you never starve in the desert? A: Because of all the sand which is there!

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Popularity: 61% [?]

 

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Popularity: 61% [?]

Everybody advocates the use of time out over forms of punishments like spankings, but how exactly do you administer time out in a way that is effective? Could we be doing it all wrong? Is time out even something we should be doing at all? Join me as I explore this topic.

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Resources and Links for this Episode

• Listen to Jane Nelson (author of Positive Discipline) talk about her views on time out and spanking. This is an mp3 file from episode 28 of the Focusing on Solutions podcast.
• Here is the link to the Positive Discipline website, and here is the link to their podcast.
• Here is a link to the book Positive Time-Out: And Over 50 Ways to Avoid Power Struggles in the Home and the Classroom.
• Here’s the link to 1-2-3 Magic: Effective Discipline for Children 2-12 (123 Magic)
• Here’s the link to Smart Love
• If time out has not worked for you, consider this book: The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children

Quotes of Interest

From Positive Time Out (Nelson):

• Where did we ever get the idea that we have to make children feel bad in order for to act good?

From Smart Love (Pieper and Pieper):

• We believe that discipline makes children miserable without offering them any genuine benefit, because punishing children whose behavior is out of control actually interferes with their ability to learn self governance. We advocate the use of loving regulation, a way for parents to guide their children away from missteps without adding to their unhappiness or interfering with their development of inner happiness.
• The best way to respond to a child’s harmful or dangerous behavior is to stop it without imposing added unpleasantness.
• Parents are frequently advised to tell their child that her behavior makes them angry. But children cannot distinguish between their parent’s anger at the behavior and their parent’s feelings about them. When children repeatedly experience their parents as being angry at them, they copy their parents and develop needs to feel angry at themselves.
• Unfortunately, most people don’t recognize that many of the vulnerabilities and out of control behaviors that children engage in are both temporary and appropriate for their age (you can’t expect children to act like adults).

The Explosive Child:

These authors discuss children whom they refer to as “inflexible-explosive”: children who find it difficult to “go with the flow”. These children get “locked up” and don’t handle change easily. Also, typical disciplinary procedures such as time-out only lead to a deterioration of their condition and probably a “melt-down”. The authors encourage a more problem solving approach to working with such children. I encourage you to take a look at two web sites related to their work:

• Find out more about their approach at the Center for Collaborate Problem Solving.
• The authors have established a non-profit institute called “Think Kids” and I encourage you to visit this site.

Related Episodes

Be sure to listen to the Interview with Stuart Ablon called “Timeout Revisited”: dealing with challenging kids:

• Part 1 of the interview on timeout revisited.

• Part 2 of the interview on timeout revisited.

Popularity: 70% [?]

 

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Popularity: 70% [?]

In this video episode we look at what your bowling style says about you and about human nature in general. And by the way, why do you keep pressing that elevator button?

Watch episode 11 showing how principles of behaviorism can explain your bowling style. Click the video below.

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Resources for this episode

• Go to the book Forty Studies that Changed Psychology: Explorations into the History of Psychological Research at Amazon.
• Watch a great video on YouTube which shows how the principles of behaviorism were used to train a parakeet to play golf and basketball.

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Popularity: 51% [?]