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ADHD<br />

AWARENESS<br />

MONTH<br />

ISSUE 1<br />

1<br />

<strong>PSYCH2GO</strong><br />

ISSUE 1<br />

OCT 2015<br />

Created by Teresa Johnson<br />

Cover Art by Ken Samonte


8<br />

Psych2Go


<strong>PSYCH2GO</strong><br />

The Science<br />

that’s all<br />

about you!


Psych2Go<br />

2<br />

WAIT, WHAT EXACTLY IS "<strong>PSYCH2GO</strong>"?<br />

Psych2Go started as a blog to feature short psychology facts in the format of memes<br />

(text-posts that are rapidly spread around the internet). Our mission was to brand<br />

ourselves as a forum/platform for people to get quick psychology information to further<br />

discuss and debate about the posts. We wanted to create an open forum of discussions<br />

to help foster critical thinking about research methods and limitations.<br />

To accomplish that, the Psych2Go team is transparent about the fact that we don't<br />

always post legitimate psychology information, but only do so in order to get people<br />

to really question ALL our posts and think on an analytical level. Sometimes what you<br />

think is true is actually not true and sometimes what is not true is yet to be supported<br />

by research.<br />

We have found that understanding research methods and having an open and<br />

encouraging forum for all of this is essential. Several Facebook groups have also<br />

been created, already aiming at this - including groups that allow people to express<br />

their creativity like our “Poetry” and “Doodle” group, and our “Research and Writing<br />

Discussion” group which creates discussion among expression of ideas, and academic<br />

assistance.<br />

As time went on, it made sense that Psych2Go should start providing supplementary<br />

materials such as sources, references, as well as some explanation to our viral meme<br />

posts that are featured on our Tumblr (as you’ll see an example from the “Psych to<br />

Go” article in this magazine issue) which generates large discussion from audience<br />

members. From these realizations to include more material content, psych2go.net, the<br />

sister site was born.<br />

When we started, Psych2Go had a team of 10 writers and published over 200 articles<br />

within less than 2 months and received over 1 million page views. And the articles<br />

followed a specific format:<br />

1. Intro<br />

2. Bring up research.<br />

3. Identify the research methods and the limitations<br />

4. question for our readers<br />

This format is aligned with our mission statement to analyze research, create<br />

discussions, and provide the resources needed to facilitate those discussions.<br />

Then, as time went on, we thought about implementing a mentorship program to help<br />

further facilitate this learning process for our younger audiences (since a majority of<br />

our readers were not yet psychology students).<br />

And that’s where psych2go.net is today! We have editors, mentors, and intern writers,<br />

who our Human Resource team has a very close relationship with and helps them every<br />

step of the way.<br />

Our goal is to become the go-to site for psychology, writing, help, research, studies,<br />

and so forth. Psych2Go serves as an easily accessible and inclusive platform for our<br />

young audiences.<br />

Tai Tai<br />

Manager and Creator of Psych2Go<br />

Psych2go@outlook.com<br />

Psych2go.tumblr.com<br />

Psych2go.net


ISSUE 1<br />

3<br />

Artwork by:Ken Samonte


Psych2Go<br />

4<br />

HELLO!<br />

As a special part of the “Psych2Go” team, we believe that this magazine sets itself<br />

apart from other science magazines out there. Understanding this magazine is not in a<br />

traditional “magazine” format gives our magazine a creative and unique feel.<br />

This was made by a collection of young entrepreneurs from all over the world. This<br />

publication includes international contributors from places like Slovenia, The U.K., the<br />

Netherlands, the Philippines, Canada, and people within various places of the U.S. like<br />

New York, Maryland, D.C., Tennessee, and California.<br />

Keep in mind that not all of us are trained professionals in the Psychology field, but<br />

simply people that are intrigued by Psychological concepts, only wanting to pass our<br />

research along, while involving people to talk about their personal experiences, as well<br />

as informing an audience with interesting Psychological facts.<br />

We hope that you enjoy this collaborative publication that acts as an extension of our<br />

online blog, psych2go.net, and we ask that you get involved with this entrepreneurial<br />

organization as well! After all, Psychology is the science that’s all about you, and as a<br />

growing company, we’re offering the opportunity for you to grow with us.<br />

Teresa Johnson<br />

Editor-in-Chief, Manager & Coordinator of Psych2Go Magazine<br />

(https://twitter.com/teresaxjohnson)


ISSUE 1<br />

5<br />

Artwork by: Drew Borja


6<br />

Psych2Go


ISSUE 1<br />

7<br />

CONTENT<br />

About Psych2Go / 2<br />

Hello Message / 4<br />

Meet the writers /10<br />

Psychology in the news /13<br />

Interview with a Psychology student /14<br />

Social Psychology / 16<br />

Exploring mental health / 18<br />

Significant people that endured mental illness / 22<br />

LGBTQA Psychology / 24<br />

Music Psychology / 26<br />

Personality Psychology / 28<br />

Developmental Psychology / 30<br />

Autism Spectrum (S.E.E.P.) Special, Exceptional, Extraordinary, People / 32<br />

Animal Psychology / 36<br />

Forensic Psychology 38<br />

Art Submissions Winner / 40<br />

Career Building / 42<br />

Outside Submissions / 44<br />

Entertainment/Games Section / 50<br />

Projective Psychology / 54<br />

Book Review / 56<br />

Creative writing / 58<br />

Psych to Go / 60<br />

Debunking Psychological Myths / 62<br />

Advice Column / 64<br />

Mental Health Hotlines / 67<br />

Thank you to contributors / 68<br />

Psych2Go's Community Challenge / 70<br />

Reader Testimonials / 72


MEET<br />

THE<br />

WRIT


ERS<br />

Artwork by: Drew Borja


Psych2Go<br />

10<br />

Hello all! I’m Sneha and I’m currently pursing my Master's degree<br />

at University of Pennsylvania's School of Design and I’ve been<br />

practicing Arts & Design for around 5 years. My work inclines toward<br />

a palate of textures that influence the organic and structured notion<br />

of spaces around me. Recently, I completed a Diploma in Learning<br />

Disorders Management and Child Psychology.<br />

U.S. (Pennsylvania)<br />

Sneha<br />

Hi, I’m Sophie! I’m currently doing my BSc in Communication<br />

and Media, but I have always been interested in psychology. I am<br />

especially interested in criminal psychology and how the mind of<br />

a psychopath works, but I am also interested in personality, social,<br />

and child psychology.<br />

Netherlands<br />

Sophie<br />

Hi, I’m Teresa and I attend Community College as a sophomore in<br />

hopes of taking on NYC my Junior and Senior year of college. I plan<br />

to receive a bachelors degree of communications and journalism<br />

due to my love of writing, communicating and self-expression. In my<br />

free time I love to sing, draw, write, and explore new places. I started<br />

by making videos for Psych2Go on their YouTube channel, but now<br />

I’m project manager and editor-in-chief of this magazine!<br />

U.S (Maryland)<br />

Teresa<br />

I'm Imogen, I'm 21 and going into my final year of an MSci in<br />

Psychology and Psychological Research. I work as a staff writer<br />

and a HR rep for psych2go.net, and I love learning and teaching all<br />

things psychological. I hope to one day become a researcher, and I<br />

love forensic, child and animal psychology!<br />

The U.K.<br />

Imogen<br />

I'm a sophomore/junior at American University, and I’m majoring<br />

in Psychology with minors in Spanish Language/Translation and<br />

Business Administration. I love blogging and crafting, as well as<br />

watching YouTube like it's my job. I'm super excited to be a part of<br />

this magazine, and I can't wait to see where this adventure takes<br />

me!<br />

U.S. (Maryland)<br />

Lauren<br />

Hello, I’m Larissa, and I’m a third year Psychology major working<br />

towards a minor in Law and Society as well as Ethics and<br />

Philosophy. Some of my greatest passions in Psychology include the<br />

topics of eating disorders, self-harm, psychopathology, and forensic<br />

psychology. When I’m not working or doing homework I enjoy<br />

watching Netflix, sleeping, reading, playing with cats, and writing!<br />

U.S. (Minnesota)<br />

Larissa


ISSUE 1<br />

Hi! I’m Kayleigh. Besides having a passion for writing, learning new<br />

things and gathering interesting facts (Did you know the majority<br />

of lizards can’t run and breathe at the same time?), I love creative<br />

things like drawing and making jewelry. I'm currently studying at<br />

University and in my free time I can be found listening to music,<br />

reading and writing, or browsing the internet.<br />

Netherlands<br />

Kayleigh<br />

Hi I'm Hannah. I have my BSc in Psychology and I'm completing<br />

my post grad in journalism at the moment. I’m fascinated by<br />

human sexuality & sexual behavior, and the science behind mental<br />

illness. I enjoy editing papers and long runs on the elliptical. My<br />

two hedgehogs keep me motivated, and they say that they hope you<br />

enjoy our articles and magazine! Just know that whenever you read<br />

something by me, a hedgehog was nearby.<br />

Nova Scotia<br />

Hannah<br />

I’m Sheena, and I study Psychology BSc with the University of the<br />

Highlands & Islands in Scotland. Being both the kid who grew up<br />

reading encyclopedias and the ‘Agony Aunt’ friend, I’ve always been<br />

interested in how what happens in our heads affects the way that we<br />

live our lives, and in practicing acceptance (and hopefully spreading<br />

it too!).<br />

The U.K.<br />

Sheena<br />

11<br />

Being a media student, I am a huge supporter of anti-consumerism<br />

and media awareness. In my spare time you can find me reading<br />

(especially fantasy literature), listening to music, watching<br />

Japanese anime, taking long walks in the nature and most often<br />

writing. Above all I am simply a girl, madly in love with stories in all<br />

shapes and sizes.<br />

Slovenia<br />

Katja<br />

Hi there! I'm oftentimes described as a shy girl with a quick wit.<br />

Amazingly, I've managed to channel my passion to different facets<br />

of art and psychology, and blended my two loves. A firm believer that<br />

you never stop learning<br />

Philippines<br />

Risha<br />

My name is Laura Corona and I am 21 years old. Currently studying<br />

Communications and soon will begin working my way into becoming<br />

an American Sign Language Interpreter.<br />

U.S. (California)<br />

Advice Column Team<br />

Laura


Psych2Go<br />

12<br />

I'm Tyra Davis, a middle school English Teacher living in NYC, but<br />

I've always been a writer at heart. Although my background is not<br />

in psychology, I have suffered from anxiety and depression in the<br />

past, which brings with it a lot of experience dealing with negative<br />

feelings and emotions. I hope to bring some of this experience to<br />

light in my advice to our readers.<br />

U.S (New York)<br />

Advice Column Team<br />

Tyra<br />

Myelin<br />

Hey, my name’s Myelin (like Myelin Sheath). I receive my B.A. in<br />

Psychology in November 2015. After that, I aspire to get a PsyD in<br />

Clinical Psychology (fingers crossed). As a staff writer on Psych2Go,<br />

I write on topics related to abnormal or cultural psychology and<br />

sexuality. In my free time, I enjoy belly dancing and sketching!<br />

U.S (California)<br />

Hey, hello! My name’s Aubrey, as I’m sure it probably says<br />

somewhere already. I squint while I talk sometimes, forget to eat<br />

occasionally, and have hot chocolate stains in most of all my sketch<br />

books. I work three, long and tedious jobs and go to community<br />

college in Memphis so that I may transfer into a larger art school<br />

within the same area. I love to both draw and write, so comics and<br />

cartoons are an absolute passion of mine!<br />

U.S (Tennessee)<br />

Aubrey<br />

Hi I'm Lauren, I graduated with a degree in psychology and a<br />

masters in counselling. I've been a youth worker, a counsellor and<br />

currently I'm working towards becoming a social worker. I wanted<br />

to be apart of the magazine as I know what it's like to struggle with<br />

your feelings and I want help where I can. That's my passion in life.<br />

My other passion is art. I post videos of my digital art on YouTube in<br />

the hopes of creating a relaxing space for others. You can find me at<br />

Rad Little Drawings.<br />

Northern Ireland<br />

Advice Column Team<br />

Lauren<br />

Hi! Jessica here. I'm a psych major in college working on my junior<br />

year. I've been inspired to study psychology by my passionate high<br />

school teacher but my favorite topic is the brain. I'm studying hard<br />

to research and learn to help others.<br />

U.S (Maryland)<br />

Jessica


ISSUE 1<br />

13<br />

IN THE NEWS<br />

This past month was a big one for<br />

psychology in the news. One big thing<br />

for people involved in the field was the<br />

revelation of repeated studies, which all<br />

had differing results.<br />

An article published in The Toronto<br />

Star entitled “Repeating Psychology<br />

Experiments Yields Different Results”,<br />

details how a group of researchers in<br />

New York attempted to duplicate over 100<br />

social science studies. The only obvious<br />

conclusion found was that more research<br />

is needed after every study, including<br />

their own. Around 40% of their attempts<br />

yielded the same results, which is not<br />

great news. None of the experiments<br />

were developed to test treatments, and<br />

tended to focus on studies with strong<br />

statistical evidence, as well as studies<br />

that didn’t have surprising results.<br />

A biography of Dr. Marnie Rice, who<br />

studied the minds of some of the worst<br />

offenders in Canada who needed<br />

psychiatric care, was also released this<br />

past month.<br />

“Psychologist Marnie Rice Probed the<br />

Minds of Psychopathic Offenders”, an<br />

article in The Globe and Mail details her<br />

lifetime. She started off working in the<br />

jail in Penetanguishene, Ontario, where<br />

she eventually became the Director of<br />

Research. She did behavior modification<br />

research here on what were referred to<br />

as the “worst offenders” such as serial<br />

killers, pedophiles, and other sexual<br />

offenders. The article details her life,<br />

her upbeat personality, and what her<br />

research did for the field of Psychology.<br />

By: Hannah Jade<br />

Artwork by: Erin Jean<br />

She passed away in August of 2015.<br />

A bit of comedy is involved in the<br />

psychology news this past month; an<br />

article entitled “The psychology behind<br />

why couples fight when assembling<br />

Ikea furniture”. Released on a website<br />

called Quartz, this article details reasons<br />

couples would fight whilst assembling<br />

furniture. It causes unnecessary stresses<br />

and people tend not to be as polite with<br />

those they love than those they are just<br />

friends with. Though probably not rooted<br />

in fact, in general the article was slightly<br />

comedic.<br />

Another article was released on a Calgary<br />

programme to create an addictions<br />

help programme almost completely<br />

routed in the psychology of addiction.<br />

Published in Metro News, the article<br />

“New Calgary Addictions Programme to<br />

bridge psychology and substance abuse”<br />

details it. This programme is meant to<br />

focus specifically on the needs of women<br />

with addictions. It is expected to roll<br />

out at the end of the year and women<br />

who had participated in the programme<br />

will eventually become mentors to new<br />

people involved.<br />

Those are a few of the bigger stories of<br />

psychology in the news over the past few<br />

months.<br />

Citation:<br />

Ritter, M. (2015, August 30). Repeating psychology<br />

experiments yields different results. Retrieved<br />

September 26, 2015.<br />

Ryell, N. (2015, September 15). Psychologist Marnie<br />

Rice probed the minds of psychopathic offenders.<br />

Retrieved September 26, 2015.


Psych2Go<br />

14<br />

INTERVIEW<br />

Amy<br />

Livingstone<br />

Hey guys! In this section of the magazine,<br />

we’ll be interviewing a psychology<br />

student who is going to tell us about their<br />

course, some personal details about<br />

themselves and their interests in psychology,<br />

and also their career aims and<br />

how they hope to achieve them and finally<br />

some advice for prospective students.<br />

We’ll be interviewing Amy Livingstone,<br />

a bachelor of social sciences (psychology<br />

and forensic science) at Swinburne<br />

University of Technology, Melbourne,<br />

Australia. The course involves eight core<br />

psych units, four core forensics units,<br />

and twelve electives. She is currently in<br />

her third year.<br />

We’ll start by asking Amy about her<br />

course, how the education is and what<br />

the cost is like.<br />

From: Australia<br />

US<br />

https://www.facebook.com/amy.livingstone1<br />

What’s the program like, what is the<br />

cost and how’s the education?<br />

I like the program at Swinburne, some<br />

units are obviously run better than others<br />

but overall I think it’s a pretty good<br />

psych education. To be honest I’m not<br />

sure about the cost, the government<br />

basically pays for UNI and we pay them<br />

back when we earn over $54k. I hope it’s<br />

not too much! I think the education’s decent,<br />

it differs again from unit to unit, but<br />

I think if you do everything you can to be<br />

responsible for your learning and reach<br />

out when you need it, you can get the best<br />

psych education anywhere.<br />

Who’s your favorite professor?<br />

My favourite lecturer is probably my forensics<br />

convener; he lectures in a way<br />

that is relatable and really clear. He’s really<br />

easy to follow. Straight forward you<br />

know what you have to do to do well and<br />

it’s always interesting.<br />

We’ll next move on to asking about some<br />

of her personal views about psychology,<br />

like which subjects she likes and dislikes.<br />

What is your favourite topic within psychology?<br />

Abnormal psych was my favourite unit so<br />

far. It was really interesting and I guess<br />

got down to the ‘real’ or ‘stereotypical’<br />

psych stuff, the stuff that the public would<br />

be thinking you’re learning I guess!<br />

What’s your favourite psychology fact/<br />

research study?<br />

I wish I had a really good one of the top<br />

of my head but I don’t, so I’d have to say<br />

Pavlov’s dog. Everyone’s heard of it - I<br />

learnt it in school psychology, but back<br />

then I don’t think I understood what it<br />

meant. I think it’s so cool how you can


ISSUE 1<br />

really apply that to any situation, and<br />

with enough work you can condition anyone/thing.<br />

I like it because it’s so simple,<br />

yet so significant.<br />

The next topic was Amy’s career aims and<br />

what she has done to try and help achieve<br />

those aims.<br />

What are your goals in terms of<br />

career?<br />

I would like to work with youth offenders<br />

at this stage, however I’m open to changing<br />

direction as my education progresses.<br />

I’m really into health and fitness also so I<br />

would love to be involved with a program<br />

that uses exercise to break down barriers<br />

between psychologist and offender, I<br />

believe it could be a really beneficial tool.<br />

What do you look to do after your degree,<br />

further study or work, or something<br />

else?<br />

After this degree I will hopefully complete<br />

an honours year, and then a master’s<br />

course. It’s extremely competitive to get<br />

into so I’m staying hopeful, but should all<br />

go to plan I’m looking at another 6 years<br />

of study ahead of me!<br />

What, outside of your degree, have you<br />

done to further your interest or career in<br />

psychology?<br />

My current casual job is completely unrelated<br />

to psychology, however it’s with<br />

the YMCA who run a range of really great<br />

programs that I think I could get involved<br />

in. I guess what drew me to that job was<br />

that it had the potential to provide pathways<br />

for me.<br />

I’ll have 6 months off study before starting<br />

my honours (hopefully) so I’m hoping<br />

in that time I can get a position somewhere<br />

really cool that will be beneficial<br />

for both my education and career. In the<br />

meantime, I’m hoping to start writing articles<br />

for psych2go, when I have time, to<br />

get some better practice and some feedback<br />

of my work.<br />

Finally, we asked her for some advice for<br />

you guys.<br />

What is one thing a student should<br />

know about studying psychology?<br />

There’s lots of content, lots to memorise,<br />

and in Australia it’s very competitive. People<br />

don’t realise that though they think<br />

things like biomed are tough, psych can<br />

be worse. There are not nearly as many<br />

positions, but almost as many applicants.<br />

And what’s one thing a student should<br />

know about studying at University?<br />

I found UNI difficult to keep on top of, at<br />

school you have a test every week and a<br />

teacher making sure you’ve done your<br />

work, whereas at UNI you’re responsible<br />

for yourself, and you’ve now got a job, a<br />

car, freedom, so study slips, and then it’s<br />

exam time and you’ve done nothing all<br />

semester. It’s definitely harder to keep on<br />

top of, so be prepared and get organised.<br />

Hope you enjoyed this!<br />

15


Psych2Go<br />

16<br />

IT<br />

STICKS<br />

WITH<br />

THEM:<br />

Social Psychology<br />

How what children see impacts who they become<br />

By: Lauren Miedel<br />

Artwork by: Pilar Chavez


ISSUE 1<br />

Most people know that children are<br />

especially impressionable, but to what<br />

extent do they absorb information? What<br />

kinds of things do they retain? While it<br />

may be impossible to know every little<br />

thing, social psychologists have some<br />

ideas about what types of information<br />

children pick up on.<br />

One of the questions psychologists wanted<br />

to know was whether children could<br />

pick up on social cues similarly to an<br />

adult. Diesendruck, Salzer, Kushnir, and<br />

Xu conducted an experiment to see if children<br />

picked-up on social cues from demonstrators<br />

(2015). Their research showed<br />

that when one demonstrator favored an<br />

object, preschoolers associated it with a<br />

person’s preference; however, when two<br />

demonstrators favored the same object,<br />

preschoolers “inferred that it was generalized<br />

to other agents of the same kind”<br />

(Diesendruck et al. 2015). This shows that<br />

children are informed by social cues.<br />

What does this information mean? Well,<br />

this type of study starts to prove how children<br />

don’t just listen to what they’re told.<br />

They can be much more perceptive than<br />

that. Anyone who has heard a kid mention<br />

a word they heard their older sibling say<br />

can attest to that. But, they are also able<br />

to pick up social cues.<br />

This could have serious impacts later in<br />

life. It could explain how children grow up<br />

to be racist or sexist when their parents<br />

don’t really say to be out loud. If a child<br />

notices how Mom always avoids making<br />

eye contact with black people, or how Dad<br />

snorts or rolls his eyes when someone<br />

mentions being anything other than cisgendered*<br />

or straight, the child notices.<br />

It’s likely this is not the only reason, but it<br />

could be a reason.<br />

Another question on what influences<br />

children is whether age plays a factor.<br />

Schwarz and Roebers looked at 8- and<br />

10-year old children and their ability to<br />

“withstand” post-event information from<br />

an interviewer or confederate (2006).<br />

They found that 10-year olds were able<br />

to distinguish that people talking with a<br />

low amount of assertiveness probably<br />

did not have much to contribute, and<br />

were less trustworthy than those who<br />

spoke assertively (2006).<br />

The idea that children, of at least a certain<br />

age, can distinguish assertiveness<br />

when someone is speaking shows that<br />

as they grow, they are able to selectively<br />

take social cues and information from<br />

those they deem knowledgeable.<br />

No one is arguing that children are<br />

sponges. But, they clearly absorb more<br />

information than people like to think. So<br />

to everyone who spends a lot of time with<br />

children, remember that even if you believe<br />

in the motto “Do as I say and not as<br />

I do,” kids are paying attention to how you<br />

act and what you do.<br />

Works Cited:<br />

Diesendruck, G., Salzer, S., Kushnir, T., & Xu, F. (2015).<br />

When Choices Are Not Personal: The Effect of Statistical<br />

and Social Cues on Children’s Inferences About the<br />

Scope of Preferences. Journal Of Cognition & Development,<br />

16(2), 370-380.<br />

Schwarz, S., & Roebers, C. M. (2006). Age differences in<br />

the effects of social influence on children’s eyewitness<br />

performance and their metacognitive monitoring. Journal<br />

Of Experimental Child Psychology, 94(3), 229-248.<br />

Terms:<br />

*Cisgendered -applies to the majority of people, describing<br />

a person who is not transgender.<br />

17


Psych2Go<br />

18<br />

Mental-Health Awareness Month:<br />

October<br />

A<br />

D<br />

H<br />

D<br />

By: Teresa Johnson<br />

Artwork by: Pilar Chavez


ISSUE 1<br />

The mental illness topic of this<br />

month that Psych2Go chooses to bring<br />

awareness to is ADHD. There are theories<br />

created by people that those who<br />

claim to be affected by Attention-Deficit/<br />

Hyperactivity Disorder are simply creating<br />

an excuse to explain their “hyper”<br />

behavior. This is an incorrect speculation<br />

because ADHD is in fact a real mental illness.<br />

It’s a brain disorder that can extend<br />

from childhood to adolescence. According<br />

to the National Institute of Health,<br />

studies have shown that people affected<br />

by this disorder have brain developmental<br />

delays by an extension of up to three<br />

years! It’s brain-baffling to know that a<br />

disorder can take that much growth-related<br />

control. Hyperactive and impulsive<br />

behaviors caused from people affected<br />

by ADHD are much stronger and greater<br />

than those who are not diagnosed with it.<br />

Even though it’s still a mystery to scientists<br />

as to what causes ADHD, genes, as<br />

well as various environmental factors,<br />

are said to help influence the actions<br />

reflected through the disorder. ADHD<br />

sometimes gets mistaken for ADD (Attention<br />

Deficit Disorder), however they<br />

differ in the ways of the “hyperactivity” element<br />

that ADD withholds. Even though<br />

ADHD is not a detrimental disorder, it still<br />

can make life more challenging regarding<br />

elements such as being distracted<br />

and constantly getting up and moving.<br />

The disorder is found in children, and can<br />

extend throughout adolescence and into<br />

their adult years. However, children can<br />

grow out of ADHD and lead very productive<br />

lives, but this requires proper change<br />

to their environment, developing their<br />

strengths, and medication if needed (according<br />

to parents.com).<br />

Bringing awareness to this disorder, certain<br />

organizations like adhdawarenessmonth.org<br />

and chadd.org serve to fulfill<br />

that purpose and let people know that<br />

it does affect people and their mental<br />

health. Feel free to visit these particular<br />

sites if you are someone that struggles<br />

with ADHD and it affects your everyday<br />

activities. Even when a health issue isn’t<br />

physical, it can create just as many issues<br />

within a person’s life. Although<br />

certain theories are made, there is no<br />

definite reason to why people are effected<br />

by this, and the “cure” does not involve<br />

taking a “magical” pill.<br />

However, through time and being attentive<br />

to ones’ environmental surroundings,<br />

the disorder’s relevance in a person’s life<br />

can slowly start to disappear. ADHD is<br />

not made up. It is real and it does affect<br />

people. If you have trouble concentrating,<br />

find yourself being very impulsive, and<br />

have hyper-tendencies, then you may<br />

have ADHD. Don’t be afraid to reach out<br />

and seek help from your doctor if it becomes<br />

a frustrating issue.<br />

Works Cited:<br />

Smith, M., Robinson, L., & Segal, J. (2015, August 1).<br />

ADD / ADHD in Children. Retrieved September 5, 2015.<br />

Rosen, M. (n.d.). Attention for ADHD: 9 Key Facts. Retrieved<br />

September 5, 2015.<br />

Organizations to connect with:<br />

http://www.adhdawarenessmonth.org<br />

chadd.org<br />

19


Psych2Go<br />

20<br />

SEPARATION ANXIETY<br />

DISORDER<br />

By: Sneha Easwaran<br />

Artwork by: Drew Borja<br />

Exploring Mental Health<br />

A normal part of growing up and being<br />

a part of the real world is dealing with<br />

separation in a myriad amount of ways.<br />

Individuals with noticeable symptoms<br />

tend to come from environments that are<br />

held together at quite close approximation,<br />

so as one moves away, the individual<br />

may recurrently exhibit social withdrawal<br />

symptoms, apathy, or difficulty in<br />

focusing. It depends on the individual’s<br />

age as well – from monsters to the dark,<br />

and other situations that are perceived<br />

as presenting danger to the integrity of<br />

the family. This disorder isn’t a mild one<br />

because it can dramatically affect a person’s<br />

life by limiting the ability to engage<br />

in ordinary day-to-day activities. Anger<br />

and outbursts of emotion are very common.<br />

Separation Anxiety Disorder affects approximately<br />

2-5% of children and is much<br />

more prominent to those who frequently<br />

have other family members with anxiety<br />

disorders. The tendency to develop this<br />

disorder involves the genetic and environmental<br />

factors that come into play in<br />

a person’s lifetime. It can be effectively<br />

treated and is based on a comprehensive<br />

evaluation of a child and their family.<br />

Some intervention strategies include<br />

cognitive behavioral therapy with a focus<br />

on helping the child learn skills to manage<br />

his or her anxiety. It involves helping<br />

children and parents understand and<br />

learn way to change unhelpful thoughts<br />

and behaviors. The therapist may help<br />

a mentor understand ways in which an<br />

individual can minimize effects by, for<br />

example, allowing a child to miss a day<br />

of school. It’s also beneficial to master<br />

the situations that contribute to the<br />

anxiety and to find ways to minimize<br />

it as much as possible. As always, parents<br />

and older mentors play a huge role<br />

in being supportive in any treatment process<br />

and some individuals may resort to<br />

benefitting in treatment with antidepressants<br />

or antianxiety medication to help<br />

them feel calmer. Other methods may<br />

include talking therapy in which an individual<br />

develops a comfortable relationship<br />

with the therapist, who provides a<br />

safe haven to express one’s thoughts and<br />

feelings. Another is play therapy, in which<br />

the therapeutic use of play is a common<br />

and effective way to get kids to talk more<br />

openly. Counseling for the family and<br />

school-based counseling is also vital as<br />

a more mature understanding can benefit<br />

an individual to explore more social,<br />

behavioral, and academic demands of<br />

an environment. Preventive measures to<br />

minimize the effects of Separation Anxiety<br />

Disorder can be detected at an early<br />

stage. This can enable a person to effectively<br />

have normal growth and development,<br />

and to improve the quality of life<br />

experience there on out. In order to diagnose<br />

this symptom, it must be present<br />

for at least 4 weeks and be more severe<br />

than the normal occurrences an individual<br />

may experience.<br />

Works Cited:<br />

“Separation Anxiety Disorder in Children.” Separation<br />

Anxiety Disorder | Boston Children’s Hospital. Accessed<br />

August 24, 2015.<br />

“Separation Anxiety Disorder.” Separation Anxiety Disorder.<br />

Accessed August 24, 2015.


ISSUE 1<br />

21<br />

“Separation Anxiety Disorder affects approximately<br />

2-5% of children and is much<br />

more prominent to those who frequently<br />

have other family members with anxiety<br />

disorders.”


Psych2Go<br />

22<br />

Significant People Enduring Mental Illness in Psychology History:<br />

THE CURIOUS CASE OF ELLEN WEST<br />

Artwork by: Ale Caballero<br />

By: Katja Stojic<br />

“Life is hanging on me like a cloud.”<br />

Exploring Mental Health<br />

Women have always been on the<br />

side-lines of history, leaving men to<br />

make decisions for them. They did<br />

not have many ways of expressing<br />

themselves and were far from obtaining<br />

an independent living status. The only<br />

thing a woman could control was her<br />

body. Hence the passage “A hysterical<br />

woman responds theatrically, with her<br />

own body, which is her only stage, upon<br />

which she can perform publicly” (Duda<br />

and Pusch, 1995). Although they’ve been<br />

around for centuries, eating disorders<br />

have widely spread in the last few<br />

decades, hidden behind the forced smiles<br />

and layers of clothing.<br />

“Something inside of me resists gaining<br />

weight. It resists getting healthier; having<br />

round, red cheeks, becoming a simple,<br />

bold woman, which would actually suit<br />

my nature… it is driving me desperate<br />

so that I cannot help myself with all the<br />

big words. I am fighting against secret<br />

forces stronger than me. I cannot unite<br />

and grab them” (Duda and Pusch, 1995).<br />

Ellen West wrote this four months before<br />

she decided to end her life. She was<br />

thirty-three at the time. Her life was filled<br />

with fear and what she dreaded most was<br />

fear itself. Food was always on her mind;<br />

either she ate nothing or she stuffed<br />

herself with anything she could find. She<br />

could only eat by herself, as family meals<br />

made her feel hopeless and empty. Her<br />

therapist said she was trying to fulfil two<br />

needs: hunger and love. The first was<br />

satisfied, the second was not.<br />

Ellen West lived in the late 19th and<br />

early 20th centuries, a time when all<br />

that mattered in a woman was how she<br />

looked. She was a patient of Dr. Ludwig<br />

Binswanger, and suffered from anorexia<br />

nervosa, possibly in addition to other<br />

mental illnesses. Her name is most<br />

famously associated with existential<br />

analysis because the treatment started to<br />

emerge during this time. She described<br />

her struggle with food in her diaries<br />

which she kept for many years.<br />

Even as a child she was intentionally<br />

refusing sweets and was very<br />

strongminded. Her father was wellcontrolled<br />

and stiff but secretly sensitive<br />

and suffering from night depressions and<br />

fears. Ellen supposedly loved him very<br />

much. Her mother was gentle and


ISSUE 1<br />

also suffered from depression.<br />

The family was traditional, yet many<br />

questions remain unanswered. Many<br />

relatives suffered from mental illnesses.<br />

Even as a child Ellen refused to submit to<br />

the expected role of a mother and a wife;<br />

she wished to be a boy. Her extensive<br />

reading and ability to deal with social<br />

problems made her different from others.<br />

Her problems became severe in her<br />

twenties when she refused to live by the<br />

strict social standards of her time. She<br />

despised the hypocrisy and the limitations<br />

of her gender. An ideal image formed in<br />

her mind: a slim body. Friends mocked<br />

her because of her figure so she started<br />

to lose weight. She felt useless and<br />

unworthy, was afraid of everything and<br />

longed for death, which she saw as the<br />

only happiness in life. “Anorexia demands<br />

a perfect self-subordination and thus<br />

gives a possibility of existing” (Duda<br />

and Pusch, 1995). After her enrolment<br />

in college her condition improved for a<br />

while before she relapsed again. Doctors<br />

discovered problems with her thyroid<br />

and ordered bed rest, which led to her<br />

gaining weight. The cycle repeated. “She<br />

is denying her own personality which is<br />

full of needs, hunger, anger and desire”<br />

(Duda and Pusch, 1995).<br />

She was very creative and wrote poetry,<br />

mostly about freedom. After some<br />

persuasion from her family she married<br />

her cousin, but soon had a miscarriage<br />

due to her poor physical health. She<br />

must have dreaded being pregnant and<br />

gaining weight. One of the means to her<br />

remaining slim figure was the use of<br />

laxatives and vomiting. Not much is said<br />

about her husband except that she only<br />

confessed her problems to him at the age<br />

of thirty-two, which is why he soon sent<br />

her to a clinic. She had reached a point<br />

where all she thought about was food<br />

and remaining slim. Her psychological<br />

condition weakened, which is the reason<br />

she wilfully saw a doctor. Her diagnosis<br />

stated “Advancing schizophrenic<br />

psychosis. No effective treatments.”<br />

“I am sitting in a glass sphere,” she<br />

confessed, feeling isolated from others<br />

and being able only to see them, not hear<br />

or touch them (Duda and Pusch, 1995). All<br />

she felt was emptiness and loneliness.<br />

Her thoughts of being inadequate and<br />

unfit for life had reached their peak. She<br />

seemed better in her last days, however;<br />

she enjoyed food and wrote letters. Then<br />

she swallowed poison. Her face was calm<br />

and seemingly happy in death.<br />

“A woman’s body is a battlefield where<br />

she fights for control” (Duda and Pusch,<br />

1995). It is all about controlling your body,<br />

along with its emotional needs. Ellen<br />

West wished to achieve something great<br />

despite not being entitled to do so. Her<br />

role was to be a woman, which meant<br />

remaining in the shadows. Due to her<br />

high intelligence she was able to analyse<br />

her situation with fearful accuracy, but<br />

she could not alter it. Her ultimate goal in<br />

life was to maintain an independency and<br />

to be different from others. She was never<br />

able to discover who she was. Her writing<br />

was not regarded as actual literature,<br />

and even today her work is locked away.<br />

We know much about her struggle with<br />

food, yet almost nothing about her artistic<br />

expressions. Her greatest fear had, in a<br />

way, been realised; she was forgotten<br />

for many years until finally her case was<br />

re-opened and examined, but even then<br />

her real name vanished, leaving her with<br />

the pseudonym Ellen West. Many of her<br />

poems and writings remain locked away<br />

at the clinic where she spent the last<br />

months of her life. It is a shame that a<br />

woman of her potential could not properly<br />

succeed due to the social, economic and<br />

political situations of her era.<br />

Citations:<br />

Duda, Sibylle; Pusch, Luise F. (1995). Nore ženske<br />

(Wahnsinns Frauen). Ljubljana: Krtina<br />

Wikipedia. (2015). “Ellen West.” The Free Encyclopedia.<br />

Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_<br />

West<br />

23


Psych2Go<br />

24<br />

LGBTQA:<br />

The Online Community<br />

By: Aubrey Bryan<br />

Artwork by: Fieni Aprilia<br />

LGBTQ+ Psychology<br />

The internet is wide with all kinds<br />

of diversity from silly baby-burp videos<br />

to middle-aged house-dwellers trying to<br />

find the cure for the common cold. To add<br />

some background, I was always more the<br />

animated cat video kind-of person growing<br />

up. It wasn’t until I came across my<br />

first social website that I realized there<br />

was a real community on the internet.<br />

With community however comes conflict,<br />

opposing sides, and people with their<br />

own individual stories feeding into these<br />

opinions. The greatest example of this is<br />

the *LGBTQA community! There is a consensus<br />

that people with different romantic<br />

and sexual preferences aside from the<br />

“norm” are just as important and need<br />

recognition within society. With today’s<br />

internet culture, the LGBTQA community<br />

has more room to grow, spread information,<br />

and even discuss issues within the<br />

group itself to allow positive change. But,<br />

because we are dealing with the internet,<br />

there’s going to be those that take refuge<br />

behind their screens to hurt, belittle or<br />

put down others for self-righteous gain—<br />

and I’m still talking about the same community.<br />

It’s too often we see on social media<br />

what awful things people can do to make<br />

themselves feel in the right position or<br />

believe they’re doing justice by hurting<br />

or, in extreme cases, destroying the lives<br />

of those with one (or a few) terrible opinion(s).<br />

Those who’ve been on the internet<br />

long enough can already think of multiple<br />

examples, though they may not exactly<br />

be the same examples. From one end, an<br />

example would be the overbearing social<br />

activist bloggers that find it their job to<br />

come down on anyone for any small slipup<br />

comment or joke. On the other end,<br />

there are the less educated members of<br />

the LGBTQA community spreading false<br />

information or making a bad example<br />

of the community as a whole. As<br />

surprising as it is that such well-intentioned<br />

people could also drag in so many<br />

opposing perspectives to the foundation<br />

of these beliefs, it is also not that surprising<br />

at all.<br />

Since we’re all from different areas of<br />

the world and our countries, we’re all<br />

bound to have different views on what<br />

makes sense in the LGBTQA community.<br />

Some less populated places, like the<br />

country-side in Mississippi of the United<br />

States, may hold the reservation that<br />

love is between two individuals; and if<br />

a girl likes a girl she’s gay and if a girl<br />

likes a boy she’s straight. In places like<br />

these, it may just seem a little weird to<br />

begin talking about all the in-betweens<br />

and gray areas. However, a more populous<br />

area with wider variation between<br />

culture, person and belief may be more<br />

accepting to the idea that there’s a neighbor<br />

next door claiming to be demi-sexual.<br />

Not only location, but also upbringing<br />

can affect the way we understand what<br />

LGBTQA supports. Bisexuality, for example,<br />

in some households is the, “I’m<br />

confused about my sexuality” sexuality.<br />

While that certainly isn’t the case, it is<br />

a fermented stereotype attached to the<br />

identity. It’s taught through several different<br />

mediums and not just in the household.<br />

Social groups, media and even our<br />

culture have a bit of an input into this<br />

belief. We have a natural tendency to feel<br />

like we need to “pick a side”, like it’s a<br />

football team or our favorite brand.<br />

I think a lot of people tend to forget about<br />

all the different perspectives and experiences<br />

others may have when they hop<br />

online. For every trans woman that’s<br />

praised and told to be proud of her identity<br />

there’s another just like her being near


ISSUE 1<br />

beat to death for it. The LGBTQA community<br />

is so large and diverse now with<br />

all these separate experiences that we<br />

can’t ever entirely pinpoint an exact focal<br />

point in our goal sometimes. But that<br />

also gives way to discussion and debate<br />

that will allow us to continue to grow even<br />

more diversely. While some could say<br />

that’s an issue, because that would cause<br />

even more conflicting opinions and sides<br />

of the matter—and honestly I wouldn’t<br />

blame anyone for having that view. However,<br />

diversity leads to the evolution of<br />

these opinions, change in culture and society,<br />

and creates new levels of concepts<br />

in gender identity and sexuality that we’re<br />

starting to scratch the surface of. Whether<br />

or not these newer concepts are valid<br />

is a whole other area of debate already,<br />

and you can only wonder how much further<br />

our community will change for better<br />

or worse ten years from now.<br />

25<br />

*LGBTQA – Acronym for the Lesbian, Gay,<br />

Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Agender<br />

community


Psych2Go<br />

26<br />

Music Psychology<br />

FEELING ANGRY?<br />

ADOPT THE<br />

SHARK METHOD!<br />

By: Sheena Mackenzie<br />

Artwork by: Jane Shi<br />

http://www.psych2go.net/feeling-angry-adopt-the-shark-method/#comment-106929<br />

AS FEATURED ON:<br />

psych2go.net


ISSUE 1<br />

27<br />

Back in 2011, an Australian tour<br />

operator by the name of Matt Waller<br />

revealed that for a number of years he<br />

had been tracking Great White Sharks<br />

for a very unique series of experiments.<br />

After hearing of divers in Guadeloupe<br />

who observed sharks reacting to certain<br />

songs, he played music from his collection<br />

through speakers attached to shark<br />

cages to attract them, monitoring their<br />

reactions – and it turns out that Jaws may<br />

have been a bit of a metalhead. When<br />

Waller played heavier music like ACDC to<br />

the sharks he tracked, he observed more<br />

calm and curious behavior as they detected<br />

the vibrations made by the music<br />

(since they don’t have ears to hear it).<br />

This year, a similar experiment was carried<br />

out by Leah Sharman and Genevieve<br />

Dingle of the University of Queensland<br />

in Brisbane, Australia, but with slightly<br />

more docile subjects. In order to examine<br />

the popular notion that angry music<br />

makes for an angry listener, they found<br />

39 participants who listened to ‘extreme’<br />

genres of music (including the likes of<br />

Rob Zombie and Disturbed). The subjects,<br />

with an average age of 20, were<br />

first provoked into an angry state of mind,<br />

then the control group were left in silence<br />

to deal with their anger, while the other<br />

participants were asked to take out their<br />

iPods and listen to angry extreme music<br />

from their personal playlists for ten<br />

minutes. Sharman and Dingle measured<br />

changes in heart rate in both sets of participants,<br />

and also asked them about<br />

their levels of hostility, irritability,<br />

stress, relaxation, activity and inspiration.<br />

The results showed that listening to<br />

extreme music while experiencing feelings<br />

of anger and aggression has a positive<br />

effect on the listener, allowing them<br />

to process their feelings, much like the<br />

participants in Papinczach’s (2015) experiment<br />

which reported a similar sense<br />

of sad music helping them to process<br />

feelings of sadness.<br />

Essentially, these findings have shown<br />

that music can affect our moods, and that<br />

those who consider themselves listeners<br />

of extreme music, much like Waller’s<br />

Great White Sharks, deal with their anger<br />

better and ultimately feel calmer when<br />

listening to heavier music (although most<br />

likely for very different reasons). Now that<br />

I’ve discovered this research, when I feel<br />

myself becoming angry about anything,<br />

I may reach for my headphones before I<br />

reach for someone’s neck.<br />

For those of you who listen to ‘extreme’<br />

genres of music, do you find that you<br />

choose songs specifically to influence<br />

and control your emotions in a certain<br />

way? Do non-listeners do similar things<br />

with their own music?<br />

References & Further Reading:<br />

Case, A., (2011, June 02). Great White Sharks Attracted<br />

By AC/DC Hits. Australian Geographic. Retrieved from<br />

http://www.australiangeographic.com.au<br />

Sharman, L., Dingle, G. A., (2015) Extreme Metal Music<br />

And Anger Processing, Fronteirs In Human Neuroscience,<br />

9, 272


Psych2Go<br />

28<br />

CAN<br />

ANGER<br />

MAKE<br />

US<br />

MORE<br />

RATIONAL?<br />

Personality Psychology<br />

I came across a quote a few<br />

years ago that stuck with me:<br />

“Don’t make decisions<br />

when you’re angry, and<br />

don’t make promises<br />

when you’re happy.”<br />

By: Sophie Poulsen<br />

Artwork by: Ruth Grace Estipona<br />

…I’d like to address the first part of<br />

this quote.<br />

Some qualities that are more commonly<br />

associated with anger are stupidity, risky<br />

behavior, distrust, prejudice, hostility,<br />

aggression, and, above all, being irrational.<br />

We’ve all been in a fight where we’ve<br />

said things we didn’t mean. We may have<br />

called someone something we didn’t<br />

mean, hurting them and embarrassing<br />

ourselves in the process. We may have<br />

impulsively lashed out and made hasty,<br />

stupid decisions, similarly to when<br />

we’re intoxicated.<br />

More and more research has shown,<br />

however, that anger can perhaps make us<br />

more rational.<br />

One of the most prominent experiments<br />

in this area was done by Moons and<br />

Mackie (2007), where they presented two<br />

groups of students - one angry, one neutral<br />

- with a persuasive message about<br />

the fiscal responsibilities of students.


ISSUE 1<br />

one angry, one neutral - with a persuasive<br />

message about the fiscal responsibilities<br />

of students. Each group of<br />

students had to write about a particular<br />

situation or event. One group, however,<br />

was instructed to write about an event<br />

that made them feel angry. The researchers<br />

then presented them with different<br />

persuasive messages that they had to<br />

evaluate.<br />

Moons and Mackie (2007) found that angry<br />

students were more likely to ignore<br />

an irrelevant message from a superficial<br />

expert, while participants in neutral<br />

moods did not. This shows that angry<br />

people appear to process analytically,<br />

which “contradicts the notion that angry<br />

people…lack the cognitive resources or<br />

the motivation to engage in deeper processing”<br />

(Moons & Mackie, 2007, p. 717).<br />

Thus, anger acts as a motivator rather<br />

than a barrier to analytic thought.<br />

In another study, Young, Tiedens, Jung,<br />

and Tsai (2011) researched whether angry<br />

people could objectively evaluate<br />

information without confirmation bias.<br />

Confirmation bias is when individuals<br />

seek information that favors their pre-existing<br />

beliefs while ignoring information<br />

that does not favor their beliefs, meaning<br />

that individuals create biased opinions<br />

because of the way in which they evaluate<br />

information. For example, a reporter<br />

writing an article on an important topic<br />

may only interview experts who support<br />

his or her views on the issue. Confirmation<br />

bias is problematic because it does<br />

not allow for an objective, realistic perspective.<br />

So are angry people also affected by confirmation<br />

bias?<br />

Interestingly, Young et al. (2011) found<br />

that anger results in less confirmation<br />

bias than other emotional states. In their<br />

study, Young et al. (2011) provided participants<br />

with a survey that asked them<br />

about their political views. The main<br />

question was: “Who do you want to win<br />

the 2008 Presidential Election?” Their<br />

choices were Senator John McCain and<br />

Senator Barack Obama. Participants<br />

were then presented with twelve expert<br />

statements on the election. Half of<br />

the statements were in favor of McCain,<br />

the other half were in favor of Obama.<br />

Participants were asked to select the<br />

statements that they were more interested<br />

in.<br />

In order to manipulate the participants’<br />

emotional states, they were also asked<br />

to recount<br />

a memory that was either angry, sad, or<br />

neutral.<br />

Young et al. (2011) found that angry participants<br />

often selected information that<br />

did not follow their beliefs. They attributed<br />

this to the fact that the feeling of anger<br />

produces an “antagonistic interchange,”<br />

where individuals are in an argumentative<br />

state, ready to “move against” someone<br />

who disagrees with their opinion.<br />

In comparison, people in sad or neutral<br />

states were more likely to select information<br />

that confirmed their current opinion.<br />

Both of these studies are significant in<br />

that they show that angry people will be<br />

more flexible in their perspectives, as<br />

well as more analytical in their thinking,<br />

than people in other emotional states.<br />

However, this does not mean that people<br />

should try to experience more anger in<br />

order to make better decisions or think<br />

more analytically.<br />

Every individual is different; anger can<br />

make you rational, but it can also lead to<br />

impulsive decisions that you regret later.<br />

---<br />

Work Cited<br />

Moons, W. G., & Mackie, D. M. (2007). Thinking Straight<br />

While Seeing Red: The Influence of Anger on Information<br />

Processing. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,<br />

33(5), 706- 720. doi: 10.1177/0146167206298566<br />

Young, M. J., Tiedens, L. Z., Jung, H., & Tsai, M. (2011).<br />

Mad enough to see the other side: Anger and the search<br />

for disconfirming information. Cognition and Emotion,<br />

25(1), 10- 21. doi: 10.1080/02699930903534105<br />

29


Psych2Go<br />

Developmental Psychology<br />

30<br />

By: Kayleigh Herber<br />

Artwork by: Jeffrey Bigelow<br />

Developmental Psychology is the<br />

study of how, and why, people change<br />

over their lifetime. When this branch of<br />

psychology was just getting started it<br />

was primarily concerned with babies and<br />

young children, but over the course of the<br />

decades it has expanded to include adolescents<br />

and adults as well. As humans<br />

we are constantly developing in one way<br />

or another, for better or for worse, and<br />

developmental psychology now studies<br />

people of all ages. Today we will be discussing<br />

three major themes within developmental<br />

psychology that scientists have<br />

been busy with for years.<br />

The Nature and Nurture Debate<br />

Over the course of history psychologists<br />

have argued whether behaviour is<br />

shaped by genetics and natural forces we<br />

encounter growing up, or if it’s shaped by<br />

a child’s upbringing. These are referred<br />

to as empiricism (nurture) and nativism<br />

(nature). The empiricists argue that children<br />

are born as a tabula rasa (“blank<br />

slate”), and that behavioural traits develop<br />

almost exclusively from the way<br />

children grow up. On the other hand,<br />

nativists argue that a lot of skills have a<br />

genetic or innate basis, like instinctively<br />

looking for food. While both points of view<br />

used to be usually quite black and white,<br />

contemporary psychologists recognise<br />

that both are very important, though it<br />

is hard to prove exactly how much each<br />

contributes. In a 2014 survey, many of<br />

the responding scientists wrote that the<br />

two-sided nature vs. nurture debate has<br />

outlived its usefulness because it has<br />

3 Important<br />

Themes in<br />

Developmental<br />

Psychology You<br />

Must Know About<br />

sufficiently been proven that both<br />

sides interact.<br />

Continuity and Discontinuity<br />

Also a very widely discussed topic – even<br />

the famous psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud<br />

discussed it - is how we describe patterns<br />

of development. Some psychologists view<br />

development as a continuous process,<br />

where development happens gradually<br />

and skills and abilities are accumulated<br />

over the years. Others tend to view it as<br />

a staircase of step-like phases that are<br />

qualitatively different from the ones before<br />

and after, each defined by particular<br />

behaviours. Contemporary psychologists<br />

view development as a smooth continuous<br />

curve rather than steps; they do<br />

agree that within that curve there are<br />

phases, but they transition into another<br />

phase gradually.<br />

Domain-general and Domain-specific<br />

Another topic that has intrigued many<br />

psychologists is whether, and to what<br />

extent, the development of new skills<br />

can influence our development of other<br />

skills. For example, if you’re learning<br />

a new way of swimming like the backstroke,<br />

which involves bringing your arms<br />

over the head in order to move through<br />

the water, it might impact other motor<br />

abilities too. Practicing this posture and<br />

movement could possibly help you develop<br />

other skills, like over-arm serving in<br />

tennis, or weight lifting, which includes<br />

similar movements. Psychologists differ<br />

in how far they consider things like these<br />

are domain-general. Others have tak-


ISSUE 1<br />

en a more domain-specific point of<br />

view, and believe developments like this<br />

proceed rather independently.<br />

These three important subjects might<br />

seem very one-or-the-other, but they<br />

are anything but that. There is more and<br />

more consensus among scientists and<br />

psychologists that development is probably<br />

caused by multiple factors at all levels.<br />

This means that there is rarely just<br />

one correct answer to the question ‘what<br />

causes this development?’ or ‘which of<br />

these is true’. Finding out exactly what<br />

the answer is seems pretty much impossible,<br />

but the psychological community<br />

will keep trying and trying to get as close<br />

to the answer as possible.<br />

As humans we are constantly<br />

developing in one way or<br />

another, for better or for<br />

worse<br />

31<br />

Works Cited:<br />

Buehl, M. M., Alexander, P. A., & Murphy, P. K. (2002).<br />

Beliefs about schooled knowledge: Domain specific or<br />

domain general?. Contemporary educational psychology,<br />

27(3), 415-449.<br />

Gopnik, A. (2014). Time to Retire: The Simplicity of Nature<br />

vs. Nurture,”. Mind and Matter”, published, 1, 25.<br />

Leman, P., Bremner, A., Parke, R. D., & Gauvain, M.<br />

(2012). Developmental Psychology. London: McGraw<br />

Hill.<br />

Weinfield, N. S., Sroufe, L. A., & Egeland, B. (2000).<br />

Attachment from infancy to early adulthood in a high<br />

risk sample: Continuity, discontinuity, and their correlates.<br />

Child development, 71(3), 695-702.<br />

Further reading:<br />

Developmental Psychology (2011) – Dr Rachel Gillibrand,<br />

Dr Virginia Lam & Dr Victoria L. O’Donnell.<br />

An Introduction to Developmental Psychology (2011) –<br />

Alan Slater, J. Gavin Bremner


Psych2Go<br />

32<br />

S.E.E.P<br />

AUTISM SPECTRUM<br />

EDUCATING EARLY<br />

By: Sheena Mackenzie<br />

S.E.E.P. (Special, Exceptional, Extraordinary People)<br />

To those unfamiliar with Autistic<br />

Spectrum Disorders (ASD), our ideas<br />

about what it really is are shaped by<br />

representations in popular culture,<br />

and perhaps the two most prominent<br />

examples are the film ‘Rain Man’ and<br />

Jim Parson’s Sheldon Cooper from<br />

the American comedy series ‘The Big<br />

Bang Theory’ (although the latter is not<br />

diagnosed, it is widely accepted that he<br />

is). Representational media is incredibly<br />

important to all of us, but it can present<br />

its own problems, as in this example,<br />

where both characters are portrayed<br />

similarly: as troubled geniuses with<br />

strangely obsessive interests, ‘quirky’<br />

behaviors and difficulty in socializing<br />

with others. All of these traits are<br />

associated with autism, but the reality is<br />

much more complex than the simplistic<br />

understanding many seem to have of<br />

it - it’s a spectrum disorder, with many<br />

different levels of functionality and kinds<br />

of expression.<br />

As someone who has known a number<br />

of people at different points on the<br />

Autistic Spectrum, a trend I’ve noticed<br />

is that once children reach about seven<br />

or eight years old, there comes a division<br />

in which neurotypical children exclude<br />

and sometimes even bully peers who<br />

have autism. Promoting the inclusion of<br />

those on the autistic spectrum in schools<br />

is vitally important to allowing them to<br />

create friendships, relationships, and<br />

support systems which are key to living<br />

a fulfilled life for all people. Creating<br />

awareness of autism among those<br />

who attend school with people who<br />

have ASD and dealing with the stigma<br />

of it at a very young age could greatly<br />

improve tolerance and understanding<br />

of the sometimes confusing behavior<br />

that people with autism can exhibit, and<br />

allow them to develop sympathetic and<br />

supportive friend groups with peers,<br />

separate from the parental and formal<br />

support that can easily become the only<br />

support a person receives coping not only<br />

with their disorder, but the other stresses<br />

that young people face growing up.<br />

To this end, Kimberly Maich and E.<br />

Christina Belcher from Ontario, Canada<br />

and Melbourne, Australia respectively,<br />

have investigated the use of picture<br />

books depicting and exploring autism in<br />

schools to promote awareness among<br />

children from a young age. Their study<br />

looked at a variety of books already in<br />

print which address this issue, including<br />

both books which specifically addressed<br />

autism and autistic behavior (such as<br />

“Understanding Sam And Asperger’s<br />

Syndrome” (Van Niekerk & Venters,<br />

2006)) and books which portray autism<br />

in an indirect manner (like “Looking<br />

After Louie” (Ely, 2004)). It’s important<br />

to use both types of portrayal so that<br />

children both understand the complexity<br />

of the disorder, but also that to have<br />

autism does not have to be a disruptive<br />

or defining thing in normal everyday<br />

situation. The paper suggests ten factors<br />

to be considered when approaching this<br />

issues in this way (‘including (a) story<br />

selection tools, (b) direct labelling,


ISSUE 1<br />

(c) indirect terminology, (d) the<br />

wider context, (e) finding positive<br />

perspective, (f) pictorial and literary<br />

value, (g) curricular considerations, (h)<br />

participation possibilities, (i) instructional<br />

approaches, and (j) putting a plan in<br />

place’), but concludes that, although<br />

it needs to be done in a very carefully<br />

planned manner in educational setting, it<br />

is beneficial for both neurotypical pupils<br />

and pupils with ASD.<br />

33<br />

The key thing to remember when<br />

educating people about the autistic<br />

spectrum is that those with ASD are<br />

people who have autism, not autistic<br />

people. This particular condition, to<br />

varying degrees, does have an impact<br />

on an individual’s social, intellectual,<br />

and emotional development, but it is<br />

not their defining characteristic. Autistic<br />

is not a personality trait or a lifestyle,<br />

and those who have it are people before<br />

they are autistics, people with dreams,<br />

motivations, a sense of humor and their<br />

own way of being in the world.


Psych2Go<br />

34<br />

<br />

SPENCER<br />

By: Natalie Pedemonte<br />

S.E.E.P. (Special, Exceptional, Extraordinary People)<br />

All my life, I knew my brother had<br />

Autism. Being the younger of the two,<br />

I didn’t always understand what that<br />

meant, but I knew that he was different.<br />

As far as I was concerned, Spencer was<br />

the kind of big brother that all my friends<br />

had. But as I grew up, I slowly began to<br />

realize that my brother and I were not the<br />

same in comparison to my friends and<br />

their siblings.<br />

I took notice and was baffled by how my<br />

friends’ older siblings always seemed<br />

so uninterested in spending time with<br />

their younger brothers and sisters. Most<br />

siblings with a three-year age gap didn’t<br />

get along as well as me and my brother<br />

did. They never really developed a bond<br />

until later in life. But despite their lack of<br />

interest in one other, the older sibling was<br />

always there to show the younger one the<br />

ropes of life. In my case, I had to try and<br />

figure out the ropes on my own and then<br />

try and help Spencer figure some out<br />

along the way. Spencer and I have always<br />

been close and I can’t remember a game<br />

that he didn’t involve me in. I could always<br />

confide in him when it came down to it.<br />

Spencer was big into history when we<br />

were younger, and every game we played<br />

had some historical significance that we<br />

always stuck to. So all in all, a majority of<br />

my childhood was learning a wide range<br />

of historic events. By the time I got to high<br />

school, I knew almost everything I was<br />

learning in class because my brother and<br />

I had played games based on the same<br />

content as children.<br />

The patience required by me to<br />

play games with my brother rolled<br />

over into my teenage years, and in turn,<br />

he’s affected the way in which I interact<br />

with others. I believe that I’m able to<br />

understand how people think a lot better<br />

than other people my age. From years of<br />

following games step by step, I’m a lot<br />

more analytical when observing people’s<br />

actions. Spencer has allowed me to<br />

look at the world and the people in it,<br />

much differently.<br />

People have asked me what it’s like<br />

growing up with Spencer being the way he<br />

is. And I have never been able to properly<br />

answer them because I was less than a<br />

year old when he was diagnosed, so I’ve<br />

never known any differently.<br />

For my entire life, Spencer has always<br />

been Spencer. And while that made him<br />

different to others, it made my entire<br />

childhood all the more special. There was<br />

never a dull moment with him. I’ve had to<br />

grow up a little bit faster than my friends<br />

have because of my brother. And since<br />

the death of our mom, we’ve both had to<br />

do a lot of growing up in a short period<br />

of time. From experiences like this that<br />

have evoked life-changing mentalities,<br />

our relationship has become even<br />

stronger. I’ve had to be his rock, and he’s<br />

done the same for me. I’ve never really<br />

known anything else and, despite a few<br />

difficulties, I wouldn’t want anyone other<br />

than Spencer to be my sibling. To be my<br />

big brother.


ISSUE 1<br />

35


Psych2Go<br />

36<br />

SCRUB JAYS<br />

Animal Psychology<br />

&<br />

FUTURE PLANNING<br />

By: Imogen Bowler<br />

Artwork by: Ale Caballero


ISSUE 1<br />

Future planning is an interesting,<br />

and particularly hard skill to have. The<br />

reason it is particularly hard is because<br />

to plan for the future, you have to plan for<br />

the motivational state (e.g. hunger, thirst)<br />

you will be in at that time. This requires<br />

the suppression of the motivational state<br />

you are currently in. For this reason,<br />

researchers are not sure whether it is<br />

something animals can do or not. One<br />

interesting study looking into this was<br />

conducted with scrub jays, looking at the<br />

hunger motivational state.<br />

For context, experiments with humans<br />

have shown even we are not perfect at<br />

this kind of future planning. For example,<br />

in Atance and Meltzoff’s (2006) study<br />

children were allowed to eat as many<br />

pretzels as they liked. They were then<br />

asked if they would want a glass of water,<br />

or some more pretzels tomorrow. While<br />

4-5 year olds performed above chance<br />

level, they were not perfect. 3 year olds<br />

also failed this task (ed: what determined<br />

a fail?). It’s even been shown that adult<br />

humans can fail at these kinds of tasks.<br />

Read and van Leeuven (1998) conducted a<br />

field experiment on adult participants in<br />

an office, they were asked whether they<br />

would want a healthy or unhealthy snack<br />

the day after. They were either hunger or<br />

not at the time of asking, and hungry or<br />

not when they would receive the snack.<br />

Participants struggled to correctly predict<br />

what they would want when the two<br />

states of hunger did not match.<br />

With these findings in mind, let’s look at<br />

what Raby et al (2007) found when testing<br />

this skill in scrub jays. This study consisted<br />

of two phases, a training phase and a<br />

testing phase. In the training phase, for 6<br />

days scrub jays spent the morning either<br />

in place A or place C. In place A they were<br />

given breakfast, whereas in place C they<br />

were not. Therefore, in place C, hunger<br />

was more likely to occur. On the 7th day,<br />

the scrub jays were pre-fed so they were<br />

not hungry. They were then given extra<br />

food which they could cache. Caching is<br />

a behavior many birds display where they<br />

store food in a hidden place in case they<br />

need it at a future date. During this<br />

testing phase, the jays were given free<br />

reign of the two places (A and C). If they<br />

were able to ignore their current state<br />

(not being hungry) and plan for a future<br />

point in time (where they would be hungry)<br />

then they should cache more food in<br />

place C. This was in fact what was found,<br />

scrub jays would cache the food in place<br />

C at a higher rate than chance.<br />

This is taken by some as an example of<br />

the scrub jays resisting current state to<br />

plan for the future, however others suggest<br />

that there are problems with this<br />

experiment and that coming to that conclusion<br />

is premature. Can you think of<br />

any possible alternative explanations of<br />

this finding?<br />

Works Cited:<br />

Atance & Melztoff (2006) Preschoolers’ current desires<br />

warp their choices for the future. Psychological Science,<br />

17(7).<br />

Read & van Leeuwen (1998) Predicting hunger: the effects<br />

of appetite and delay on choice.<br />

Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes,<br />

76(2), 189-205<br />

Raby, C.R., Alexis, D.M., Dickinson, A., & Clayton, N.S.<br />

(2007) Planning for the<br />

future by western scrub jays. Nature, 445, 919-921<br />

37


Psych2Go<br />

38<br />

FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY<br />

PSYCHOPATHY<br />

By: Larissa Grundmanis<br />

Artwork by: Pilar Chavez<br />

Forensic Psychology


ISSUE 1<br />

“I’m not a psychopath, I’m a highfunctioning<br />

sociopath.” This quote has<br />

often been heard by fans of the BBC show<br />

Sherlock, and while viewers may laugh,<br />

do they truly understand what is it to be<br />

a psychopath, and why Holmes would<br />

prefer to be called a high-functioning<br />

sociopath? As an avid fan of Sherlock<br />

as well as someone who is interested<br />

in forensic psychology I have often<br />

wondered to myself: do I truly know the<br />

difference between the two? While both<br />

are truly fascinating, the main focus<br />

here is on psychopathy – after all, many<br />

individuals with psychopathic traits are<br />

found in prisons.<br />

39<br />

Psychopathy, while often confused<br />

with one who is psychotic, is actually a<br />

mere individual who has the abilities to<br />

manipulate their way through life without<br />

remorse. While this is a simplified<br />

definition, the most common traits of a<br />

psychopath are that they are incapable<br />

of forming deep emotional attachments,<br />

they often times are unable to feel guilt or<br />

empathy, they are manipulative, and they<br />

often hold a profuse level of “superficial<br />

charm”. Unfortunately, many times these<br />

traits are overlooked by the general public<br />

who instead see someone with antisocial<br />

personality disorder, psychosis, or a<br />

serial killer, according to the Society for<br />

the Scientific Study of Psychopathy.<br />

Why then, is psychopathy so often<br />

associated with murderers? Perhaps it<br />

is because of the media, or perhaps it is<br />

because many individuals who have killed<br />

have been diagnosed with some form of<br />

psychopathy, such as Joanna Dennehy. It<br />

may also be due to the notion that only<br />

criminals would be able to behave in<br />

such manners, but is that really true?<br />

According to Chivers, it’s not. He notes<br />

that Robert Hare, the creator of the<br />

PCL-R once stated:<br />

“There are people who are part-way up<br />

the scale, high enough to warrant an<br />

assessment for psychopathy, but not<br />

high enough up to cause problems. Often<br />

they’re our friends, they’re fun to be<br />

around. They might take advantage of us<br />

now and then, but usually it’s subtle and<br />

they’re able to talk their way around it.”<br />

How many times have you found yourself<br />

taking advantage of your friends, even if it<br />

was to just get a free meal out of them?<br />

How many times have you or your friends<br />

acted impulsively or irresponsibly? How<br />

many times have you found yourself<br />

unwilling to acknowledge that you made<br />

a mistake, and take responsibility for the<br />

consequences? How many times have<br />

you, or someone you know, committed<br />

acts of wanton sexual behavior?<br />

Most individuals would be able to find<br />

some common ground between these<br />

traits and their own lifestyles, but that<br />

does not mean that they are violent<br />

individuals who are prone to crime.<br />

Psychopathy is often looked down<br />

upon, but many times the average<br />

human being acts in ways that would<br />

be found in someone with psychopathic<br />

tendencies. Perhaps instead of jumping<br />

to conclusions, we, as individuals, should<br />

look for true motives behind someone’s<br />

actions.<br />

Citation:<br />

Chivers, T. (2014, April 6). Psychopaths: How can you<br />

spot one?. In The Telegraph. Retrieved from http://<br />

www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10737827/<br />

Psychopaths-how-can-you-spot-one.html<br />

Society for the Scientific Study of Psychopathy. (2013).<br />

Psychopathy: A misunderstood condition. In Society<br />

for the Scientific Study of Psychopathy. Retrieved from<br />

http://www.psychopathysociety.org/en/<br />

Webb, D. (n.d.). The psychopath. In All About Forensic<br />

Psychology. Retrieved from http://www.all-aboutforensic-psychology.com/psychopath.html


Psych2Go<br />

40 3


ISSUE 1<br />

41<br />

ART SUBMISSION WINNER:<br />

THEME: “Psych2Go Community”<br />

“I chose to illustrate the theme “Psych2Go Community” as<br />

a group of people helping each other solve a puzzle. I’ve observed<br />

members of various Psych2Go Facebook groups from<br />

their posts online that the wit and wisdom of each community<br />

members increases camaraderie - or the spirit of humor and<br />

fun. I want to express it in this illustration how they share their<br />

views to enhance learning from each other while in the process<br />

of creating something big.”<br />

Ruth Espinosa<br />

r-gie.tumblr.com<br />

If you would like to have the chance to win and have your art<br />

showcased in our next issue, be on the lookout for the next art<br />

theme which will be posted on our social media!


Psych2Go<br />

42<br />

TIPS FOR<br />

INTERVIEWS<br />

Career Building<br />

By: Jessica Jang<br />

Artwork by: Jane Shi


ISSUE 1<br />

For those trying to get a job,<br />

here are some tips for your interviews!<br />

You’ve got your foot<br />

in the door and now it’s time to<br />

tell your story. These are also<br />

helpful for conducting your own<br />

interviews. Good luck!<br />

THE FOUR DIMENSIONS OF SIMPLE<br />

ATTENDING BEHAVIOUR<br />

Eye contact<br />

This is when the interviewer and interviewee<br />

look each other in the eyes.<br />

The culture and the interviewee might<br />

prefer it to others.<br />

Body language<br />

This is when the interviewer or interviewee<br />

communicate other messages<br />

based on their movements and posture.<br />

Mirroring is when both parties are consistent<br />

in their movements and is best<br />

done subtly. This helps people become<br />

comfortable with you.<br />

Vocal qualities<br />

This is how loudness, pitch, rate, and<br />

fluency affects the interviewee since it<br />

can communicate feelings of empathy or<br />

cause conflict. It’s best to use a soft, firm<br />

voice when interviewing.<br />

Verbal tracking<br />

This is listening to the interviewee to<br />

clarify and summarize what they say<br />

without putting their meanings in it.<br />

Negative attending behaviors are overused<br />

positive attending behavior that it<br />

becomes uncomfortable. Excessive head<br />

nods are distracting, saying “uh huh”<br />

often becomes annoying, too much eye<br />

contact overwhelms others, repeating<br />

the last words intimidates the client,<br />

awkward mirroring looks like mocking.<br />

The interviewee doesn’t want to be scrutinized<br />

or apprehensive otherwise the interviewer<br />

won’t get the true information<br />

they want. Remember everything is good<br />

in moderation.<br />

It’s important to consider culture with<br />

attending skills because an interview<br />

should be a good environment for getting<br />

information and both parties should be<br />

respectful of each other. Individuals have<br />

a preference on the amount of each dimension<br />

of attending behavior. Gestures<br />

could convey other messages in other<br />

cultures and might not be appropriate.<br />

The most important part of interviewing<br />

is being a good storyteller. You need to be<br />

able to take your past experience and use<br />

it to explain how you’ve developed skills<br />

important for the new job. DO NOT just<br />

repeat your resumes because they have<br />

already seen it you just need to expand on<br />

it more. A good method to use is to write<br />

out your positions then come up with at<br />

least three tasks you had to do then the<br />

skills related to it. Here’s an example:<br />

1. Cashier<br />

a.) Accept currency and keep accounts updated<br />

Organization<br />

i.) Trustworthiness<br />

b.) Clean checkout area<br />

i.) Multitasking skills<br />

c.) Help customers with purchases<br />

i.) Communication/interpersonal skills<br />

ii.) Customer Service<br />

43


Psych2Go<br />

Community Submissions:<br />

October: Sport Psychology & Psychology and the Internet<br />

44<br />

HOW IS<br />

PSYCHOLOGY<br />

INVOLVED IN<br />

What is Sports Psychology? (Cherry,<br />

2015) tell us that Sports Psychology is<br />

the study of how psychology influences<br />

sports, athletic performance, exercise,<br />

and physical activity. It is said that sport<br />

psychologists, aside from working with<br />

people who just want to exercise for their<br />

health and well-being, they also work<br />

with athletes and coaches so they can enhance<br />

the ir motivation and performance.<br />

Could that be effective? Thanks to this<br />

article and my perfectly done research<br />

you’ll find out now, today. Just keep reading!<br />

According to (Comar, 1994) educationally-based<br />

psychological interventions<br />

have produced significant increases in<br />

performance. He states that 38 of the<br />

45 studies examined (85%) have found<br />

positive performance effects. Recently<br />

conducted research has added that<br />

sport psychology has had positive affect<br />

on performance enhancement, as well as<br />

the personal growth of athletes. However,<br />

further research needs to be conducted<br />

to improve the understanding of these<br />

positive affects. You’re probably thinking<br />

that this article will only contain information<br />

about studies that have been conducted<br />

throughout the years but you’re<br />

wrong. Besides information about those<br />

studies, I will be speaking about the<br />

athlete’s perspective which is extremely<br />

important. The psychologists can say<br />

anything they want, but if the athlete or<br />

SPORTS?<br />

By: Yara Meléndez<br />

Artwork by: Jane Shi<br />

coach doesn’t feel like he or she has<br />

made any progress throughout the process,<br />

then it hasn’t been effective at all.<br />

(Sharp & Hodge, 2014) conducted a study<br />

in which nine elite athletes would be interviewed<br />

to talk about what they perceived<br />

to be essential for effective sport<br />

psychology consulting and to examine<br />

their perceptions of the key components<br />

of an effective sport psychology consulting<br />

relationship. There were six males<br />

and three females from a variety of sports<br />

(e.g. cricket, rugby, swimming, triathlon,<br />

dressage and wheelchair rugby).<br />

The analysis indicated that three categories<br />

were essential for sport psychology<br />

consulting effectiveness; sport psychology<br />

consultants were friendly but not a<br />

friend, consulting experience and athlete-centered<br />

consulting.<br />

FOUR<br />

1<br />

2<br />

3<br />

4<br />

categories resulted essential for<br />

effective consulting relationships;<br />

flexibility<br />

open, honest, and respectful<br />

contributions from both the athlete<br />

and the consultant<br />

athlete as an active participant in the<br />

consulting relationship<br />

After conducting this research I did some<br />

serious brainstorming. I tried to see this<br />

from their perspective and came to my


ISSUE 1<br />

own conclusions and opinions. I think<br />

that sports psychology could really be effective.<br />

Yes, people say that you can only<br />

motivate yourself and the only one that<br />

can or cannot make you do what you want<br />

is you. Somewhat that might be true<br />

but don’t you think that if you have people<br />

around you who care, take the time<br />

to listen and give you advice; that it will<br />

motivate you too ? Having someone rooting<br />

for you always. Isn’t that nice? Yes, it<br />

is! That’s why I think it is effective. Obviously,<br />

the psychologist cannot do the job<br />

by him or herself. You have to be faithful<br />

and hopeful about your goals and try to<br />

make them happen with the help of your<br />

sports psychologist or any psychologist if<br />

you want to speak about your goals in life<br />

instead of just athleticism. You do your<br />

part and he/she will do his. In the end,<br />

everyone wins.<br />

Citations:<br />

Weinberg, R. (1994, December 1). The Effectiveness of<br />

Psychological Interventions in Competitive Sport. Retrieved<br />

September 1, 2015.<br />

Weinberg, R. (1994). The effectiveness of psychological<br />

interventions in competitive sport. Retrieved September<br />

1, 2015<br />

Sharp, L., & Hodge, K. (2014, April 14). Sport psychology<br />

consulting effectiveness: The athlete’s perspective.<br />

Retrieved August 31, 2015.<br />

The psychologists can say<br />

anything they want, but if<br />

the athlete or coach doesn’t<br />

feel like he or she has made<br />

any progress throughout the<br />

process, then it hasn’t been<br />

effective at all.<br />

45


Psych2Go<br />

46<br />

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE MARTIAL ARTS<br />

Body, Mind, Spirit:<br />

The Strength from Within<br />

By: Mitchell Mabugat<br />

Artwork by: Jane Shi<br />

Community Submissions:<br />

October: Sport Psychology & Psychology and the Internet<br />

“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 punches once,<br />

But I fear the man who has practiced 1 punch 10,000 times.”<br />

-Bruce Lee<br />

Dedication. Intensity. Control. Focus.<br />

All these are key aspects in the world of<br />

martial arts. Dating back to as far as 2000<br />

BCE, martial arts has become a strong<br />

spiritual, physical, and emotional discipline,<br />

that for years has given strength<br />

and enlightenment in one way or another,<br />

to all those who went in search for the<br />

true meaning of combat.<br />

Whether you look at the ancient samurai<br />

of Japan, or the brutal bare knuckle<br />

boxing of Greece, all cultures of the world<br />

have developed in some sense, their own<br />

art of self-defense. Though a common<br />

misconception, many people believe<br />

that all combat consists of is a bunch of<br />

brutes toppling over each other to see<br />

who is the strongest. This idea, I can<br />

confidently say, is false. Though physical<br />

strength is, like in all sports important, it<br />

does not alone make up the foundations<br />

and principles of martial arts. The most<br />

important and sometimes the most difficult<br />

aspect of one’s self to master is the<br />

mind. In its truest form, martial arts is a<br />

science. Similar to all areas of science it<br />

requires analysis, repetition, and reflection<br />

in order to truly master. A second<br />

too slow and you take damage, a second<br />

to fast and you lose an opportunity to do<br />

damage.<br />

Keeping this in mind, I’d say that<br />

approximately 80% of fights are won before<br />

the first punch is thrown. In Sun Tzu’s<br />

book, The Art Of War, he explains “A skillful<br />

general must defeat the enemy without<br />

coming to battle, take his cities without<br />

siege and overthrow his state without<br />

a long campaign. He must make every<br />

effort under the heaven to achieve total<br />

victory with his forced undiminished: This<br />

is the true art of strategic offence.” (Tzu,<br />

S. 513 BCE). Never let your enemy see<br />

your fear. When weak appear to your enemies<br />

as strong. When strong appear to<br />

your enemies as weak. Sun Tzu describes<br />

warfare and combat as “the path of deception”<br />

(Tzu, S. 513 BCE). To never show<br />

your aggressors your fears or insecurities;<br />

to appear a lion when feeling like a<br />

mouse. Showing your aggressor not how<br />

strong you are physically but how impenetrable<br />

and indestructible your mind is.<br />

Even when in a competition of strength,<br />

he whose psyche is unbreakable, is physically<br />

unbreakable.<br />

Now I am aware that the topic I am supposed<br />

to be writing on is sports psychology,<br />

and although mixed martial arts,<br />

boxing, and taekwondo are all technically<br />

sports, I can assure you martial arts in<br />

its truest form is much more than just<br />

a sport. To some it is a lifestyle forged<br />

through repetition and tradition, and to


ISSUE 1<br />

others it is a form of self-expression.<br />

But to all, it is simply an escape. Coming<br />

into a training session, you could have<br />

the world weighing down on you. And by<br />

the end of the class, feeling lighter than<br />

ever before. Sure, your body may not feel<br />

that way at first, but your mind will gain<br />

a sense of relief, if even for a moment,<br />

which I could only describe as magical.<br />

Throughout our lives we tend to find ourselves<br />

shying away from any thoughts of<br />

violence; however, when the time comes<br />

– as it is inevitable, we are not prepared<br />

to defend ourselves from this unexplored,<br />

frightening monster. And unless you live<br />

under a rock, I guarantee you that someday,<br />

somewhere you will need to fight.<br />

Fight for love, fight for pride, or even a<br />

fight to get that killer beach body you’ve<br />

always wanted. Everyday of our lives is a<br />

fight.<br />

47<br />

Is martial arts for everyone? No. Will you<br />

become a great UFC fighter by going to<br />

a few classes? Hell no. Will you gain the<br />

individual strength and resilience needed<br />

to walk through life with less fear and<br />

more confidence? Most definitely.<br />

Citations:<br />

Anonymous. Martial Arts Training: Benefits Physical<br />

and Psychological. Retrieved from http://www.ontarioselfdefence.ca/martial-arts-training-benefits-physical-and-psychological/<br />

Lapre, S. Personal Communication. June 2012.<br />

Mccaferty,G. (2015, July). Psychological Benefits of<br />

Martial Arts Training. Retrieved from http://believeperform.com/performance/psychological-benefits-of-martial-arts-training/


Psych2Go<br />

48<br />

PSYCHOLOGY AND THE INTERNET<br />

By: Digby Driver<br />

Artwork by: Pilar Chavez<br />

Community Submissions:<br />

October: Sport Psychology & Psychology and the Internet<br />

Interpretation is the most necessary<br />

survival skill for all thinking creatures,<br />

though rarely is it associated with basic<br />

needs. Any cub scout, disaster prepper,<br />

or off the grid homesteader will tell you<br />

that food, shelter, and water are the most<br />

crucial things to consider, but the fact<br />

is that these things would never have<br />

crossed their minds were it not for their<br />

body’s ability to interpret hunger, thirst,<br />

and cold. We use interpretation every<br />

second of the day without hesitation as<br />

our bodies interpret the need to breathe,<br />

the words of our friends and family, and<br />

the passing of time.<br />

Have you ever realized that without sensory<br />

data, (or the ability to interpret it),<br />

we wouldn’t be able to interact with the<br />

world on any level? We wouldn’t even<br />

know it existed. Without the ability to<br />

take in and interpret sensory stimuli, we<br />

wouldn’t even be the most basic parts<br />

within Sartre’s existential bubble as<br />

for-itself beings in an in-itself world. The<br />

only thing between us and falling into the<br />

void is entirely in the way our body interprets,<br />

translates, and plans to take in and<br />

make sense of it all every hour in a day,<br />

every day in a week, and year after year<br />

so we can stay aware of our shared bubble<br />

for as long as possible.<br />

Well, that’s a little depressing.<br />

Maybe so, but not as much as having<br />

the ability to interpret all that sensory<br />

stimuli, but not being able to explain it<br />

in a way other people can relate to, or in<br />

a way they can relate to you personally.<br />

What happens if you’re the one with<br />

an atypical method of interpretation that<br />

makes the status not so quo for you and<br />

seemingly no one else? What then? Consider<br />

carefully that it takes us right to to<br />

why the Internet is so much more than<br />

just a piece of technology, and why the<br />

psychology behind the Internet isn’t just<br />

for kicks and pop culture giggles.<br />

Communication and interpretation are<br />

the fluids that keep so many areas of<br />

cognitive and developmental psychology<br />

running smoothly. It’s the oil, the<br />

antifreeze, the water pumping through<br />

the radiator cooling down Carl Jung’s<br />

engine of human thought and reaction.<br />

They’re the most basic parts of our brain,<br />

yet so crucial. In a car, they’re the one<br />

thing mechanics and garages will top up<br />

and monitor freely. It’s not just because<br />

they’re nice guys, but because without<br />

them everything in the entire engine will<br />

break apart, fuse together, and grind to a<br />

painful, inevitable halt if they run out or<br />

grow too stagnant.<br />

A popular quote from Jung’s novel Memories,<br />

Dreams, Reflections says, “loneliness<br />

does not come from having no<br />

people about one, but from being unable<br />

to communicate the things that seem<br />

important to oneself, or from holding<br />

certain views which others find inadmissible.”<br />

The internet is not just another product<br />

or service of the tech age. It’s not the<br />

same thing as the first blocky, off-white


ISSUE 1<br />

Macs my generation started out with.<br />

Neither can the Internet be compared to<br />

the other more advanced technology that<br />

seemed to grow mushrooms overnight<br />

during the late 90s and on into the 21st<br />

Century. Perhaps the Internet started<br />

out that way, and it was probably intended<br />

to be nothing more than another tool<br />

in the end, but that’s not what happened.<br />

49<br />

Instead, the Internet has evolved into a<br />

virtual real estate, pioneered and settled<br />

by my fellow Millennials before it was<br />

passed on and seized by Generation Z as<br />

a brave new world they now claim as a<br />

mother country. Like any other country,<br />

the Internet has a language and a culture.<br />

It has currency, government, and<br />

patriotic pride. The fact that it has no set<br />

location, legal residency, or even a physical<br />

mailing addresses isn’t something its<br />

citizens worry about. If the World Wide<br />

Web were an actual place, anthropologists<br />

and government intelligence agencies<br />

would study nothing else for generations<br />

to come, but since it exists solely<br />

as data connections, Wi-Fi hotspots, and<br />

DSL hookups across the world, it’s up<br />

to psychology enthusiasts to spread the<br />

news that the times are changing and<br />

we’d better be prepared for a hostile<br />

takeover by a country that exists only as<br />

stored memory in hard drives and human<br />

minds.


Psych2Go<br />

50<br />

QUIZZES<br />

Created by: Sadia Nadeem<br />

Designed by: Craig Alexander


ISSUE 1<br />

51<br />

Created by: Jade Li<br />

Designed by: Craig Alexander<br />

Please see answers on page 69!


52<br />

Psych2Go


ISSUE 1<br />

53<br />

Comic by: Katherine Fosso<br />

Blog: sunsinourhands.tumblr.com


Psych2Go<br />

54<br />

Projective Psychology<br />

Rorschach Projective Test<br />

INTERPRETATIONS<br />

By: Risha Mae Ordas


ISSUE 1<br />

This set consists of the most common<br />

answers that were sent to Psych2Go.<br />

All compiled responses are listed here.<br />

The audience’s responses were able to<br />

point out and identify some aspects of<br />

their personality and character:<br />

1. A part of the human body.<br />

A common answer was ribcage, but this<br />

also varied to lungs or the pelvis of a<br />

person. Sometimes, it was even specified<br />

as an x-ray. This would be interpreted as<br />

someone who tends to set the bar high<br />

for themselves. Presumably, they would<br />

be the type of person who (consciously or<br />

unconsciously) projects their intelligence<br />

to their environment.<br />

2. An animal.<br />

There were also a lot of responses<br />

regarding animals—the most common<br />

being a cow, but there were also<br />

interpretations of different breeds of<br />

dogs, followed by rats, elephants, and<br />

foxes. Now, in order to decipher this,<br />

it depends on the characteristic of the<br />

animal. Cows, for example, are known<br />

to be stoic, yet emotionally deep. Dogs<br />

are often called loyal. Rats are often<br />

the witty, mischievous ones. Elephants<br />

are sometimes described as calm and<br />

confident. While foxes are associated<br />

with wisdom and are often guides.<br />

3. Two people kissing/shaking hands.<br />

First off, the immediate association with<br />

a human being means that the person<br />

who interpreted the picture in this<br />

way may have strong connections with<br />

humanism. Also, it would depend on the<br />

gender of the person in the image (is it<br />

a man and a woman? Or two people of<br />

the same gender?). The gender or age<br />

observation may depict the attachment<br />

the interpreter has to a particular<br />

figurehead in their life (was it you and<br />

your sibling you saw shaking hands,<br />

perhaps?). The action can be explained<br />

as someone who is aware of themselves,<br />

and is attuned to the different needs of<br />

the people around them.<br />

4. Supernatural figures such as<br />

fairies, dwarves, and angels, and<br />

the grim reaper, were also common<br />

answers.<br />

These kinds of responses can be<br />

associated with someone who is aware of<br />

themselves and has a greater tendency to<br />

be more empathic to other people. But it<br />

would also depend on what the creature is<br />

doing: If it’s positive (like shaking hands),<br />

then it can be interpreted in a positive<br />

light. If negative emotion is clipped with<br />

the figure, then the person identifying the<br />

image could be experiencing some sort of<br />

negativity within their life, or some kind of<br />

pent up emotion.<br />

The next Rorschach will be posted on<br />

the Psych2Go Website and social media<br />

accounts before the next issue, so to<br />

keep yourself up to date and post your<br />

interpretation, be sure to follow us on<br />

social media!<br />

55


Psych2Go<br />

56<br />

BOOK REVIEW:<br />

WINTERGIRLS<br />

By: Hannah Jade<br />

Book Review<br />

Anderson, L. H., & Viking. (2009). Wintergirls. New York: Viking.


ISSUE 1<br />

While well written and an interesting<br />

read, “Wintergirls” is definitely not<br />

representative of what it is like to have<br />

an eating disorder. The book opens with<br />

a description of how Cassie, Lia’s best<br />

friend of 10 years, has been found dead<br />

in the room of a motel. Lia is the main<br />

character of the novel, which documents<br />

her struggles with anorexia, which she<br />

has personified with the name “ana”. It<br />

appears to me that the author’s research<br />

into bulimia and anorexia may not have<br />

spanned further than researching pro<br />

*ana and *mia websites.<br />

A lot of the way things are written seem<br />

to romanticize eating disorders, rather<br />

than show what kind of torture they are.<br />

Lia called herself strong for keeping<br />

herself “empty”. Cassie had been<br />

bulimic and was influencing her friend to<br />

be the same, which actually made Lia’s<br />

parents somewhat grateful that she had<br />

died. I thought that was a bit of a harsh<br />

way to introduce the stepmother in a<br />

scene. I understand that they could have<br />

been blaming her for the eating disorder<br />

of the child they were raising, however<br />

wouldn’t a death of your child’s best<br />

friend warrant a response that was more<br />

caring and trying to help your struggling<br />

child rather than tarnishing their late<br />

best friend’s name? I don’t know really,<br />

as I thought the way the stepmother was<br />

shown was extremely cold, even though<br />

most of the time she was making an<br />

attempt to help out. A lot of the book the<br />

narration is disconnected and it feels<br />

cold. The chapters are titled in the way<br />

that she would weigh herself and write<br />

down the weight (00.0) which I thought<br />

was interesting. Stylistically, the book<br />

somewhat resembles a diary. It is written<br />

in a very poetic style, but I didn’t hate the<br />

poeticism as much as I hate anything like<br />

that by Sharon Creech. (I’m looking at<br />

you, Heartbeat).<br />

However, a lot of the time the author<br />

will cross out words to show what the<br />

character was thinking at first but then<br />

changed their mind to state differently.<br />

Things like “stepmother” crossed<br />

out to say Jennifer. She also refers to<br />

any type of food as either a number or a<br />

color. The numbers represent the calories<br />

in the food she is discussing. There are a<br />

lot of scenes that are graphically about<br />

self harm and intense self deprecation on<br />

Lia’s part both mentally and physically.<br />

She realized that Cassie had called her 47<br />

times on the night of her death, and a part<br />

of what is making her so stressed out and<br />

ill is that she blames herself for not being<br />

there for her friend.<br />

The hotel in which Cassie died has a<br />

person named Elijah working there and<br />

he and Lia form an unlikely friendship.<br />

It’s very strange to watch this person’s<br />

world unravel. We find out that Cassie<br />

died from a ruptured esophagus and Lia<br />

had actually had some points where she<br />

sabotaged Cassie’s attempts to recover<br />

from bulimia- the disease that ultimately<br />

killed her. Cassie had left a message<br />

for Lia - that she was the skinniest, and<br />

she had won. As if it was some sort of<br />

competition, again the glorification of a<br />

weight achieved by means of an eating<br />

disorder.<br />

The book describes the changes in her<br />

body and it gets increasingly emaciated,<br />

which shows the brutality of what<br />

happens with an eating disorder. The very<br />

end of the book Lia is cutting herself,<br />

and her stepsister Emma who absolutely<br />

adores her walks in. It ends on this note<br />

and doesn’t allow further elaboration, so<br />

one can only make assumptions about<br />

where to go from there. Overall, the book<br />

was decent, however I found it slightly<br />

romanticizing eating disorders and who<br />

can be the sickest, but I have not suffered<br />

from bulimia or anorexia, so I would leave<br />

people with more authority on that to<br />

judge better. All in all the book was easy<br />

to read, well written, and interesting. I<br />

think research could have been better,<br />

but overall it was a good read.<br />

*ana – short for Anorexia Nervosa<br />

*mia – short for Bulimia<br />

57


Psych2Go<br />

58 3


ISSUE 1<br />

59<br />

Everyday<br />

Everyday tell something you didn’t see Something<br />

that wasn’t old, or on repeat Something that would<br />

give me hope, to believe So I can see a chance, to<br />

come back from defeat<br />

Ammunition takes lives is what I hear on the radio<br />

From state to state, from coast to coast<br />

Most of the times we ask why, but don’t know<br />

We don’t have an answer; there’s nothing to post<br />

More tears than smiles, I continue to hear<br />

More suffering than living, please tell me how<br />

These young kids that live their life in such fear<br />

Give me a reason why I shouldn’t be doing<br />

something now<br />

This list goes on as we drift into slumber<br />

Reset the clocks, for the day is almost over<br />

Prepare yourself tomorrow; it’s time to repeat the<br />

same thing Our first world problems block out the<br />

help when others sing<br />

-Anonymous<br />

Artwork by: Ale Caballero<br />

Note from the author: This poem represents how people can alter<br />

their thinking to reflect more positivity to make an impacting change.


Psych2Go<br />

60<br />

PSYCHOLOGY<br />

TOGO<br />

By: Lauren Miedel


ISSUE 1<br />

If you’re like me, you’ve had your fair<br />

share of awkward moments. A lot of<br />

mine revolve around the fact that I cannot<br />

control when I laugh. I laughed when my<br />

friend told me that she and her girlfriend<br />

had broken up. I make jokes about awful<br />

situations, as well as during sad and<br />

angering scenarios. I joke around during<br />

serious talks between myself and my<br />

parents. I have depression, and lots of<br />

times people think that I’m ok because of<br />

how often I make them laugh. So I can say<br />

with certainty that it was a relief when I<br />

discovered that I wasn’t broken; in fact,<br />

I’m just one of many who use humour<br />

to deal with fairly large problems. Many<br />

people use humour or laughter to cope<br />

with stressful and hard situations.<br />

According to Keltner and Bonanno (1997),<br />

laughing helps us respond to stress by<br />

“increasing the psychological distance<br />

from distress and by enhancing social<br />

relations.” In other words, we laugh in<br />

times of distress because sometimes<br />

our minds cannot handle the stress.<br />

Think about it, whenever something bad<br />

happens, it can be hard to process. Your<br />

brain deals with this trouble processing<br />

by laughing, which releases a bunch<br />

of endorphins, increases personal<br />

satisfaction, and improves your mood—<br />

all of these help deal with stress (Mayo<br />

Clinic Staff 2013). By creating these<br />

physiological changes to make your body<br />

think it’s happy, you put distance between<br />

yourself and the situation. Also, think<br />

about how laughing and joking around<br />

play a huge part in our socialization.<br />

Laughing is one of the biggest socializing<br />

elements. In times of distress, your mind<br />

craves human contact and interaction (to<br />

help deal with the stress), so it makes<br />

sense that it would laugh to increase<br />

those chances.<br />

There’s also another reason the brain<br />

might force us into laughter. As humans,<br />

we are generally very good at reading<br />

people’s emotions. We know when<br />

someone is smiling out of politeness<br />

or, in this case, when someone laughs<br />

without feeling a positive emotion.<br />

People who are not as good at hiding<br />

their true emotions are more likely<br />

to do this fake-laugh, which could be a<br />

signal to others that we are in distress.<br />

The brain may do this in order to raise<br />

the likelihood of someone coming to find<br />

out what is causing the stress (Keltner &<br />

Bonanno 1997).<br />

With this information in mind, it’s easy to<br />

see why the brain would sometimes think<br />

that having us laugh is the best course of<br />

action. It may be inconvenient and possibly<br />

a social faux-pas, our brain is just trying<br />

to look out for us. Now I understand why<br />

I make so many jokes when I’m feeling<br />

so down; my brain is trying to find ways<br />

to help me cope with the stress. So the<br />

next time you find yourself laughing when<br />

you think you shouldn’t, remember that it<br />

may help you in the long run.<br />

Citation:<br />

Keltner, D., & Bonanno, G. A. (1997). A Study of Laughter<br />

and Dissociation: Distinct Correlates of Laughter and<br />

Smiling During Bereavement. Journal Of Personality &<br />

Social Psychology, 73(4), 687-702.<br />

Mayo Clinic Staff (2013). Stress relief from laughter? It’s<br />

no joke. Retrieved September 10, 2015.<br />

61


Psych2Go<br />

62<br />

PSYCHOLOGICAL MYTHS<br />

Similarities Attract<br />

Debunking ‘Opposites Attract’<br />

By: Myelin Abenojar<br />

Artwork by: Jane Shi<br />

Debungking Psychological Myths<br />

When looking at one’s partner or<br />

friend, one may suddenly question<br />

with squinting eyes: Why? This may<br />

be a question that is posed repeatedly<br />

or not at all. Maybe there is a mystical<br />

acceptance of fate that brought two<br />

beings together. Or maybe it was simply<br />

proximity, and there was no one else to<br />

choose from. Regardless of the believed<br />

circumstances, it is safe to wonder: Why<br />

do people like the people that they like?<br />

What is this gravitational pull called<br />

“attraction” that people experience<br />

amongst each other? How can this bond<br />

be maintained? And, what if we knew the<br />

formula to achieving peak happiness in<br />

interpersonal romantic relationships?<br />

There are some basic trends that have<br />

been found. “Opposites attract” is a<br />

rationale that is often disputed yet<br />

equally often suggested. The sight of a<br />

cat cuddling with a dog, an interracial<br />

couple, or the pull of two magnets<br />

promotes a sense of awe. But, is it true?<br />

In general, it is more difficult to interact<br />

with someone who is unlike us. As<br />

depicted throughout history in various<br />

battles and wars, dissimilarity has often<br />

been a source of conflict, and furthermore<br />

hatred. Conversely, one can also assume<br />

that it is easier to interact with someone<br />

who is like them. This phenomenon is<br />

highlighted when people of similar ages,<br />

races, religions, or socioeconomic status<br />

get along because they are connected via<br />

a point of similarity (Wilson & Cousins,<br />

2003, p. 161). Overall, partners or<br />

friends who are similar are more likely<br />

to establish, maintain, and sustain happy<br />

and healthy interpersonal relationships.<br />

Similar Romantic Partners<br />

Romantic partners, especially long<br />

term marital partners, tend to be more<br />

similar on personality and interests<br />

than dissimilar in comparison to<br />

random couplings (Gonzaga, Carter, &<br />

Buckwalter, 2010, p. 642). In fact, the<br />

more similar the couples were the<br />

greater report of marital satisfaction<br />

resulted (Wilson & Cousins, 2003, p. 164).<br />

So, similarity is not a random occurrence<br />

amongst people, but something that tends<br />

to bring people together and promotes<br />

happiness. The interplay of a couple’s<br />

“neuroticism, openness to experience,<br />

empathy, self-esteem, extraversion,<br />

emotional stability, and autonomy are<br />

all qualities that significantly affect<br />

the quality of an intimate relationship”<br />

(Barelds, 2005, p. 502, 513). For instance,<br />

an introvert in a relationship may feel<br />

very drained being with an extrovert. Or<br />

someone with low self-esteem may grow<br />

to feel inferior with his or her partner who<br />

has a high self-esteem. And perhaps, in<br />

a stressful situation, someone who is<br />

emotionally stable will find the reactions<br />

of an emotionally unstable partner<br />

strange and discerning. Discordance in<br />

personality type can create dissonance in<br />

the relationship.<br />

Yet, this does not answer why partners<br />

tend to be similar in these studies. The<br />

most convincing argument for how<br />

interpersonal similarity is the largest<br />

factor in relationship satisfaction is based<br />

on the idea of convergence. Convergence<br />

is “the tendency for partners to become<br />

more alike over time” (Gonzaga et al.,<br />

2010, p. 634). One study showed that,<br />

“couples who converged in personality<br />

between first meeting and the first<br />

years of marriage were more satisfied<br />

with their relationships” (Gonzaga et al.,<br />

2010, p. 642). In this situation, similarity<br />

is something that occurs overtime. This<br />

leads to question, are couples least<br />

similar from the onset of a relationship?<br />

To answer that question, it’s logical to<br />

revisit our first interpersonal relationship.<br />

Foundational Primary Caregivers<br />

The foundation created by the initial<br />

relationship with our primary caregiver<br />

affects all future interpersonal


ISSUE 1<br />

relationships. For instance,<br />

“individuals with an avoidant attachment<br />

style use fewer relationship-maintaining<br />

behaviors, such as talking about problems<br />

and coming to an understanding, and are<br />

less likely to seek support from [others]<br />

(Barelds, 2005, p. 503)” thus making<br />

relationships more difficult to maintain<br />

than they already are. But this trend does<br />

not determine that other relationships<br />

with children raised with an avoidant<br />

attachment will be fruitless, but instead<br />

shows that this individual must find a<br />

friend or partner that can understand<br />

and fulfill their needs. And that is the<br />

key difference between our interpersonal<br />

relationship with our primary caregiver<br />

versus our romantic partners or friends;<br />

there is an element of choice. As infants<br />

we do not choose whom we interact with<br />

but as we grow older we gradually receive<br />

freedom to interact with our environment<br />

and the people in it.<br />

Our lives begin with and are propelled by<br />

interpersonal relationships. Others can<br />

and tend to be our source of self-esteem,<br />

comfort, love and belonging. Similarity<br />

is an ideal, but often not a reality—for<br />

the attraction to someone exactly like<br />

oneself is narcissism. And presumably<br />

people are not generally aware of the<br />

similarities they may find in another<br />

person and it is also possible that they<br />

are unaware of their own personality<br />

characteristics. There is not a constant<br />

evaluation mechanism that we go through<br />

that weeds out people who are unlike<br />

ourselves. Our attraction is dependent<br />

more on our perception of the other<br />

person. “Perceiving that another has<br />

similar traits (attitudes, interests, etc.)<br />

increases attraction only because the<br />

perceiver usually positively values those<br />

traits and [therefore hold a] positive<br />

value of the other person (Steele &<br />

McGlynn, 1979, p. 111-112).” Essentially,<br />

it is not the list of traits that may match<br />

up with another person; it is whether or<br />

not those perceived similarities have an<br />

affective value on us, which produces<br />

a sense of attraction. Notably, there<br />

is more to attraction than personality.<br />

Yet, it is helpful to know in retrospect<br />

that the “symmetry that is reflected<br />

between partners at the very start of<br />

the relationship may help determine the<br />

eventual success of the partnership, and<br />

the changes over time may help shape<br />

the relationship as it develops (Gonzaga<br />

et al., 2010, p. 642).” In conclusion,<br />

relationships are subjective and can vary<br />

across cultures and individuals. So what<br />

may work for one couple may not work<br />

for another. Research in this field of<br />

relationship attraction and maintenance<br />

is not only useful to researchers but also<br />

to marriage counselors, relationship<br />

therapists, clergy, love-struck teenagers,<br />

friends, co-workers, and basically anyone<br />

in the world who engages in any form of<br />

an array of interpersonal relationships<br />

(Wilson & Cousins, 2003, p. 165). But<br />

discovering exactly what elements or<br />

personality characteristics to find in<br />

another person to complement one’s own<br />

personality should be knowledge received<br />

and taken in precaution. Although it is<br />

an ideal to achieve peak happiness in<br />

our lives, that sense of happiness would<br />

be irrelevant if there was nothing to<br />

compare it to. Therefore, people should<br />

not limit themselves and disregard other<br />

people who are unlike them. For while<br />

there are times of dissonance when<br />

confronting differences between people,<br />

there is also an equal potential for growth<br />

and understanding in others as well<br />

as ourselves.<br />

63<br />

Citation:<br />

Barelds, D. (2005). Self and partner personality in intimate relationships. European Journal of Personality, 19(6),<br />

501-518.<br />

Gonzaga, G. J., Carter, & Buckwalter (2010). Assortative mating, convergence, and satisfaction in married couples.<br />

Personal Relationships, 17(4), 634-644.<br />

Steele, M. P. & McGlynn, R. P. (1979). Effects of affective value and similarity on attraction. Journal of Social<br />

Psychology, 108(1), 111.<br />

Thompson, W. & Nishimura, R. (1952). Some determinants of friendship. Journal of Personality, 20(3), 305.<br />

Wilson, G. D. & Cousins, J. M. (2005). Measurement of partner compatibility: further validation and refinement of the<br />

CQ test. Sexual & Relationship Therapy, 20(4), 421-429.<br />

Wilson, G. D. & Cousins, J. M. (2003). Partner similarity and relationship satisfaction: development of a compatibility<br />

quotient. Sexual & Relationship Therapy, 18(2), 161.


Psych2Go<br />

64<br />

ADVICE COLUMN<br />

“I’ve been in a long term relationship<br />

for almost six years. We have a child,<br />

and I also have a child from a previous<br />

relationship. We had only been dating<br />

for six months when I got pregnant,<br />

and things weren’t going so well then.<br />

I decided to stay in the relationship<br />

and make it work for the new baby. I<br />

thought - if I loved him once I could love<br />

him again. I did fall in love again but<br />

everything that happened within the<br />

first year of our child being born brought<br />

me to a deep depression. He was so<br />

naive and selfish that he neglected my<br />

feelings and just said I needed to ‘suck<br />

it up’. All this created resentment, but<br />

we finally bought a house, and I thought<br />

maybe then we would be happy. So many<br />

more things happened, which lead me to<br />

cheat. I never slept with anyone, but I<br />

did manage to get involved emotionally.<br />

I feel that his neglect didn’t help, and I<br />

think I fell out of love with him. I know<br />

that I love and care for him, but I’m not<br />

in love. It’s important to me to be in love<br />

with the person I’m spending the rest of<br />

my life with. We get along, he’s a great<br />

dad, but he also hurt me by mistreating<br />

my son verbally. He takes care of all his<br />

responsibilities, is a family man, and is<br />

really smart. I have told him how I feel,<br />

and I know he’s upset that I might not<br />

be in love anymore. He’s being sweet<br />

now but what if it’s too late? I have a life<br />

coach, and I’m trying to give our love and<br />

family a chance, but I can’t seem to get<br />

that feeling back. I feel I have stronger<br />

connections with other men that I meet,<br />

but I fight it off. I can’t help but wonder<br />

why my significant other and I can’t<br />

connect. I think it’s easier if I just suck it<br />

up and stay rather than separate and put<br />

the kids and him though the heartache. I<br />

don’t want to hurt anyone by making a<br />

selfish decision. Please help!”<br />

– Anonymous<br />

Thank you for sharing your story<br />

with us. I believe the first step to<br />

creating positive change in our lives is<br />

getting real about what needs fixing.<br />

As I read through your very personal<br />

account, I can’t help but notice some<br />

contradictions in the ways you describe<br />

your significant other (s.o.). You say you<br />

love and care for him, but you are not in<br />

love with him due to stronger emotional<br />

connections you have with other men<br />

(despite efforts to “fight it off”). You say<br />

your s.o. is smart, responsible, and is a<br />

great dad even though he has verbally<br />

abused your child from a previous<br />

relationship in the past. Finally, you say<br />

you don’t want to hurt anyone by making<br />

a selfish decision. I think it’s a great<br />

thing that you are seeking the help of a<br />

life coach, but if you are still focused on<br />

the negatives you are not going to make<br />

much progress. If your s.o. is smart,<br />

responsible, and great as a father as you<br />

say he is and you sincerely want to keep<br />

your family together, I think you already<br />

know that you’re going to have to stop<br />

indulging outside emotional connections<br />

as this just divides your energy and focus.<br />

On the other hand, if you truly believe that<br />

your relationship with your s.o. cannot be<br />

salvaged, then be 100% honest with him,<br />

yourself, and your children. Your children<br />

will experience some negative emotions<br />

either way. Again, I’m sure you know that<br />

it’s better if they are supported by a single<br />

mother who is confident and happy with<br />

herself and her decisions rather than<br />

a mother who is sad, depressed, and<br />

regretful. Focus on what you really want<br />

with your life, decide what will really<br />

make you happy, and let your true desires<br />

guide you.<br />

TYRA


ISSUE 1<br />

“My best friend’s mom has cancer<br />

and it’s really tearing her apart. What<br />

can I do to make her feel better? How<br />

can I make things better for her? What<br />

are some things I can say to offer<br />

comfort to her without sounding cheesy<br />

and generic or unsympathetic?” –<br />

Anonymous<br />

Hi, I think your friend is very lucky to<br />

have someone like you in their lives,<br />

who’s so committed to being there for<br />

them. I’m sure you’re already a huge<br />

comfort to them. I think there’s 3 main<br />

ways to help your friend. The simplest<br />

one is just to ask them what they need,<br />

this might be as simple as helping them<br />

with chores. What they’re going through<br />

is exhausting, so less responsibility could<br />

make it easier for them to cope. Secondly,<br />

normal life and routine are so important<br />

to help someone feel grounded, try not to<br />

treat them differently and that includes<br />

not having that sympathetic expression<br />

which can be alienating for some people.<br />

The 3rd way to help would be support<br />

groups. Bringing your friend to support<br />

groups allows them to connect to people<br />

going through the same thing. It can be<br />

a place with a lot of information lead by<br />

someone experienced and skilled. It’s a<br />

very difficult situation for your friend to<br />

be in but with a support network around<br />

them, they’ll come through this.<br />

Hello, I’m sorry to hear about what<br />

you’re going through. No one should feel<br />

that level of paranoia and not be able to<br />

move on with their life. It seems to me<br />

like you’re in a bit of a trauma situation.<br />

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)<br />

is a serious thing to deal with at an<br />

early stage. I suggest you do go see a<br />

therapist. Having nightmares about your<br />

ex and feeling like he might show up out<br />

of no where can be early signs of PTSD.<br />

You have to let go of the past in order<br />

to continue your relationship with the<br />

new guy. You’ll never feel safe or worthy<br />

enough around another man and that can<br />

lead to a lot of emotional stress. Please<br />

seek for help. My mother is a victim of<br />

physical and verbal abuse and she never<br />

took care of it. She always ignored and<br />

pretended that things were okay. Now<br />

she’s m.i.a. because she’s so afraid of her<br />

boyfriend that she prefers not to leave his<br />

side in fear he might hurt her if she leaves.<br />

This is her choice. She got the same<br />

opportunity you’re getting of starting<br />

over again and she didn’t take it. You<br />

must seek happiness for your daughter<br />

and see that she doesn’t suffer the same<br />

emotional distress from experiencing all<br />

of this at an early age. Every day brings<br />

new choices and you should always strive<br />

for the best. Do not belittle yourself. You<br />

have to stay strong for your daughter and<br />

for yourself. I hope everything gets better<br />

for you and always remember that there’s<br />

help out there. You just have to reach out.<br />

65<br />

LAUREN LAURA<br />

“I’ve moved on with my life and am over<br />

what happened. My ex was very abusive<br />

to me and made me feel guilty about it,<br />

as though it was my fault. I’m over it.<br />

But am I truly over it? Last night I had<br />

a nightmare about him coming back into<br />

me and my daughter’s life (he’s m.i.a.)<br />

well he was just worse and I had to call<br />

the cops on him. I kept asking this guy<br />

that I want to be with (still in my dream) if<br />

he wanted to be with me because I felt it<br />

wasn’t worth him dealing with my ex and<br />

baggage. What do I do? I’m considering<br />

going to a therapist.” - Anonymous<br />

For future issues if you’d like to receive<br />

advice from your peers, feel free to email<br />

your inquiry to psych2goadvice@gmail.<br />

com. Advice responding to your concerns<br />

may be featured in our next magazine!


Psych2Go<br />

66<br />

Mental Health Crisis Lines<br />

Suicide hotlines by country:<br />

Argentina: 54-0223-493-0430<br />

Australia: 13-11-14<br />

Austria: 01-713-3374<br />

Barbados: 429-9999<br />

Belgium: 106<br />

Botswana: 391-1270<br />

Brazil: 21-233-9191<br />

China: 852-2382-0000 (Hong Kong:<br />

2389-2222)<br />

Costa Rica: 606-253-5439<br />

Croatia: 01-4833-888<br />

Cyprus: 357-77-77-72-67<br />

Czech Republic: 222-580-697, 476-701-<br />

908<br />

Denmark: 70-201-201<br />

Egypt: 762-1602<br />

Estonia: 6-558-088<br />

Finland: 040-5032199<br />

France: 01-45-39-4000<br />

Germany: 0800-181-0721<br />

Greece: 1018<br />

Guatemala: 502-234-1239<br />

Holland: 0900-0767<br />

Honduras: 504-237-3623<br />

Hungary: 06-80-820-111<br />

Iceland: 44-0-8457-90-90-90<br />

Israel: 09-8892333<br />

Italy: 06-705-4444<br />

Japan: 3-5286-9090<br />

Latvia: 6722-2922, 2772-2292<br />

Malaysia: 03-756-8144 (Singapore:<br />

1-800-221-4444)<br />

Mexico: 525-510-2550<br />

Netherlands: 0900-0767<br />

New Zealand: 4-473-9739<br />

New Guinea: 675-326-0011<br />

Nicaragua: 505-268-6171<br />

Norway: 47-815-33-300<br />

Philippines: 02-896-9191<br />

Poland: 52-70-000<br />

Portugal: 239-72-10-10<br />

Russia: 8-20-222-82-10<br />

Spain: 91-459-00-50<br />

South Africa: 0861-322-322<br />

South Korea: 2-715-8600<br />

Sweden: 031-711-2400<br />

Switzerland: 143<br />

Taiwan: 0800-788-995<br />

Thailand: 02-249-9977<br />

Trinidad and Tobago: 868-645-2800<br />

Ukraine: 0487-327715<br />

More specific mental health lines:<br />

USA<br />

Depression: 1-630-482-9696<br />

Suicide: 1-800-784-8433<br />

LIFELINE: 1-800-273-8255<br />

Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386<br />

Sexuality Support: 1-800-246-7743<br />

Eating Disorders: 1-847-831-3438<br />

Rape and sexual assault: 1-800-656-<br />

4673<br />

Grief: 1-650-321-5272<br />

Runaway: 1-800-843-5200, 1-800-843-<br />

5678, 1-800-621-4000<br />

Post Abortion: 1-866-4394253<br />

Child Abuse: 1-800-422-4453<br />

UK<br />

Childline (for anyone under 18 with any<br />

problem): 08001111


ISSUE 1<br />

Mind infoline: 0300 123 3393 e-mail:<br />

info@mind.org.uk<br />

Mind legal advice: 0300 466 6463 legal@<br />

mind.org.uk<br />

Eating Disorders: 0845 634 14 14 e-mail:<br />

help@b-eat.co.uk<br />

Eating Disorders for under age 25:<br />

08456347650<br />

Bereavement: 08444779400 e-mail:<br />

helpline@cruse.org.uk<br />

Frank (information and advice on drugs):<br />

0800776600<br />

Drinkline: 0800 9178282<br />

Rape Crisis England & Wales: 0808 802<br />

9999 1 e-mail info@rapecrisis.org.uk<br />

Rape Crisis Scotland: 08088 01 03 02<br />

India<br />

Self Harm:00 08001006614<br />

Suicide: 022-27546669<br />

Canada<br />

Kid’s helpline: 1-800-668-6868<br />

67<br />

International text based help:<br />

imalive.org<br />

crisischat.org<br />

blahtherapy.com<br />

7cupsoftea.com<br />

Artwork by:<br />

Jeffrey Bigelow<br />

Mental helpline provided by:<br />

riseandtry.tumblr.com


Psych2Go<br />

68<br />

THANK YOU!<br />

The contributors & Digital Research<br />

team:<br />

Mary Walrath – U.S. (New York)<br />

Rhonda Marie – U.S. (Kentucky)<br />

Tai Tai - Canada,<br />

Analucia Guzman –Guatemala<br />

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David Bradley- U.S. (Massachusetts)<br />

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Game Designers:<br />

Jade Li- The U.K.<br />

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Editors:<br />

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The graphic designers:<br />

Ken Samonte – New Zealand<br />

kensamonte.tumblr.com<br />

Pilar Chavez – Mexico<br />

sugar-levels.tumblr.com<br />

Jane Shi – Singapore<br />

Janerart.tumblr.com<br />

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r-gie.tumblr.com<br />

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Instagram: Vapor_Wave<br />

Fieni Aprilia – Indonesia<br />

www.behance.net/Fiensh<br />

novusvultura.tumblr.com<br />

Anne Vu – Australia<br />

facebook.com/ayveephotos<br />

https://ayveecreative.wordpress.com/<br />

Craig Alexander – The U.K.<br />

Chillibyte.wordpress.com<br />

Comic contribution:<br />

Katherine Fosso- U.S. (Indiana)<br />

sunsinourhands.tumblr.com<br />

Issues of the Psych2Go Magazine come<br />

out Quarterly (four times a year) because<br />

we want to make sure we deliver the<br />

best compilation of Psychology related<br />

material to you. All of the people that<br />

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community, have worked very diligently<br />

and hard to produce this publication.<br />

Everyone was such a vital asset to its<br />

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Be sure to keep up to date with Psych2Go<br />

and check out the next issue of our<br />

magazine coming out January 2016!<br />

Teresa Johnson<br />

Editor in Chief of Psych2Go Magazine


ISSUE 1<br />

Thank You to the Donators of “Psych2Go Magazine” Campaign:<br />

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69<br />

Your contributions helped make this project possible!<br />

Stay tuned for Issue #2!<br />

ANSWER KEY<br />

TRUE OR FALSE<br />

1. True<br />

2. True<br />

3. False<br />

4. True<br />

5. False<br />

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUIZ<br />

1. B<br />

2. A<br />

3. D<br />

4. A


Psych2Go<br />

70<br />

Psych2Go’s<br />

COMMUNITY CHALLENGE<br />

Psych2Go's Community Challenge


ISSUE 1<br />

71


Psych2Go<br />

72<br />

Testimonials<br />

READER TESTIMONIALS<br />

Psych2Go Issue 1<br />

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Psych-<br />

2go’s first magazine for ADHD awareness<br />

month, for their first magazine this<br />

is a very strong start, unfortunately it isn’t<br />

without its problems. I was surprised to<br />

find that the barrier to entry is quite low,<br />

literally anyone with little to no background<br />

knowledge of psychology or any of<br />

the social sciences could pick this up and<br />

read it if psychology is something you’re<br />

interested in. This magazine covers a<br />

plethora of thought provoking topics from<br />

separation anxiety disorder, to autism, to<br />

martial arts, and even tips for interviews<br />

so it’s filled with things everybody can<br />

take something away from.<br />

The magazine is very colorful with many<br />

illustrations throughout so it doesn’t feel<br />

like you’re reading a college textbook.<br />

However, many of the pdf pages follow<br />

this format where there are two normal<br />

pages crammed together on one page,<br />

a nice idea but there are some instances<br />

where I feel it doesn’t quite<br />

work (for example page 37). I don’t know,<br />

it just bugs me when one page is full but<br />

the page next to it is half blank (or half<br />

full if you’re feeling optimistic). The last<br />

two paragraphs on page 19 clash a bit<br />

with the art on the page, it’s a minor issue<br />

but I feel that it should be mentioned.<br />

Also, I wish that the font for the citations<br />

were a little darker, so they’re easier to<br />

read (especially pages 66 & 67 with the<br />

suicide hotlines). Page 15 in particular<br />

has a few font related problems, page<br />

14 & 15 have an interview with a college<br />

student but surprisingly there’s no use of<br />

quotation marks at all for her responses,<br />

even though the text is a different color<br />

the questions have the same sized font as<br />

her responses, and there’s even a part on<br />

that page where it transitions from her<br />

responses back into the next section


ISSUE 1<br />

of the interview with the same font<br />

styling(end of page 14 to the beginning of<br />

page 15). That’s definitely not to say it’s<br />

all bad, I love how all the colors pop out<br />

at you and grab your attention I also enjoy<br />

the pictures and imagery used for every<br />

section of the magazine.<br />

73<br />

You can tell that the people writing this<br />

put a lot of effort into it and genuinely<br />

enjoy what they do, this is expressed<br />

through the use of more personal dialogue<br />

to connect with the reader rather<br />

than just reading the information to you.<br />

Despite my few complaints that I feel may<br />

hamper your experience if only a little bit,<br />

I have no doubt you will still enjoy reading<br />

through this magazine as much as I did.<br />

(Obligatory not-so obligatory review<br />

score) PSYC out of PSYCH<br />

- Callestere<br />

Hello,<br />

Honestly I think that you guys had an<br />

amazing idea of creating a dynamic and<br />

more fun access to the psychological<br />

world, something with good source and<br />

using a language that is not too formal,<br />

which makes easier and accessible for<br />

anyone to read, Its just really amazing.<br />

I’m brazilian and I found you guys through<br />

tumblr, it was really great for me because<br />

like some people who work in the magazine<br />

I dont act in the psychology field but<br />

I always had a great interest on it. Congrats<br />

for the magazine, its awesome!!<br />

Keep it up!<br />

(Sorry about my english)<br />

-Love, Marina.


Thank you for purchasing<br />

Psych2Go Magazine!<br />

Thank you for your purchase of Psych2Go Magazine!<br />

Join our community challenge:<br />

When you receive the magazine and are a user of social media,<br />

feel free to post your photo with the magazine, or some<br />

creative way you may be using it – whether it’s in the classroom,<br />

showing a friend, or even posing with the publication!<br />

Be sure to tag Psych2Go in it so we can see your post!<br />

Feel free to use the hashtag: #Psych2GoMag as well!<br />

Feel free to send images to teresajohnso3@gmail.com as<br />

well so we can credit you and repost your photo if you decide<br />

to share your enthusiasm!


Don’t forget to follow us on psych2go.net,<br />

and our other social media!<br />

Teresa Johnson<br />

Editor-in-chief of Psych2Go Mag<br />

Communications & Journalism Student<br />

E-mail: teresajohnson575@gmail.com<br />

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/teresajohnso<br />

Twitter: @teresaxjohnson


Psych2Go<br />

76<br />

Join the community!<br />

psych2go.net

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