Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

Enhancing Well-Being with Psychology37>> Closing ThoughtsSo what happened to Brenda’s son, Adam, whose therapist had recommended theuse of a magnetic vest and mattress? As it turned out, the magnetic vest producedno beneficial effects, let alone “miracles.” Rather than purchase a magnetic mattress,Brenda and her husband took their son to a clinical psychologist who worked at amedical school. A team of specialists that included two clinical psychologists conducteda new diagnostic evaluation of Adam.The results? Adam did not have schizophrenia. He had Asperger's syndrome, a developmentaldisorder that resembles autism. Although people with Asperger's syndromeusually have normal or above-normal intelligence, they also have poor socialskills. Other common features of Asperger's syndrome are inappropriate emotionalresponses, repetitive behaviors or rituals, and odd or peculiar behaviors.Today, Adam is a senior in high school and his future is much brighter. Brenda’sentire family has gone through social skills training to help Adam learn how to interactmore successfully with others.Like Brenda, many of our students come to psychology with questions aboutpersonal experiences, seeking explanations for both normal and unusual behaviors.As you’ll see in the coming chapters, psychological research has produced many insightsinto behavior and mental processes. We look forward to sharing those insightswith you.comparative psychologyBranch of psychology that studies thebehavior or different animal species.ENHANCING WELL-BEING WITH PSYCHOLOGYPsychology in the Media: Becoming an Informed ConsumerPsychologists and psychological findings are often featured inthe media. Sometimes it’s a researcher, such as Ellen Langer, whois being interviewed about an interesting new study. Or it maybe a psychologist who is appearing on a television or radio talkshow to discuss the research on a particular topic, such as howviolent media or video games influence aggressiveness.How can you evaluate information about psychology researchand psychological topics reported in the mass media? The followingguidelines can help.1. Anecdotes are the essence of talk shows, notscientific evidence.Psychology-related topics are standard fare on news and talk showsand even the so-called reality TV shows. Although such programsoften feature psychologists with research experience andexpertise in a particular area, the shows tend to quickly abandondiscussions of scientific evidence in favor of anecdotal evidence.Anecdotal evidence consists of personal stories told to confirmor support a particular claim. The personal stories are oftendramatic, funny, or heartrending, making them subjectively interestingand compelling. But as we noted in the chapter, anecdotesare not scientific evidence. By definition, an anecdote is one person’ssubjective experience told from his or her perspective.There’s no way to know if the person’s experience is representativeof the experiences of other people—or if it is exceptional orunusual. There’s also no way to determine the story’s truthfulnessor accuracy. In Chapter 6, on memory, you’ll learn about factorsthat can easily distort the accuracy of a person’s memories.2. Dramatic or sensational headlines are “hooks.”Alia Crum and Ellen Langer’s (2007) findings in the hotel experimentwere reported in the media with headlines like this: “YouDon’t Have to Exercise, Just Think You Do” and “Can Your MindControl Your Weight and Blood Pressure?”(Brain, 2008). Headlinesare designed to grab your attention. But if you listen or readfurther, you’ll usually encounter much more cautious statementsby the psychologists themselves. As scientists, psychologists tendto be conservative in explaining their research results so as notto exaggerate the findings. Reporters, however, are sometimesmore interested in attracting readers or viewers than in accuratelyportraying scientific results. As media psychologist RheaFarberman (1999) explains:What the researcher sees in his or her research results—one pieceof the overall research puzzle that can be applied within the limitsof this particular study—is different from what the reporterwants to find in a research study—the all-encompassing headline.The challenge for the psychologist is how to translate theresearch into a meaningful sound bite.Given the difficulty of compressing complicated informationinto a 10-second sound bite, it’s common for researchers to bequoted out of context or for important qualifying statements to beleft out by a reporter or producer (Farberman, 2003). A 60-minuteinterview may be edited down to just 20 seconds of air time.3. Read the actual summary of the study.Psychological research is usually published in a professional psychologyjournal before it is shared with the general public. For