Issue 1 Spring 2022

Risk It For the Kiss: Epstein-Barr
Virus and Multiple Sclerosis p.4
The College Blues: Freshmen
Take On Anxiety p.10
The Raisin-Brain of a Cereal Killer
p.24
S
S
CIENTIFIC
CARSDALIAN
COVER TBD
ISSUE I
SPRING 2022

SCI
EN
TI
FIC
EDITORIAL STAFF
EDITORS IN CHIEF
CINDY DEDIANOUS
SIMONE GLAJCHEN
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
OLIVIA LIU
NEWS EDITORS
ROSE KINOSHITA
JADEN TEPPER
OPINION EDITOR
MATTHEW BAROTZ
FEATURE EDITOR
IRENE LI
ADVISOR
DYLAN PRENDERGAST
The Official STEM Magazine of Scarsdale High School

At a glance...
2
Crossword Puzzle
4
Risk It For The Kiss: Epstein-Barr Virus and
Multiple Sclerosis
SCA
RS
5
Illuminating the Brain
6
Thawing Your Seasonal Depression
8
Why Are Kids Stressed?
9
Women in STEM: Perspectives on Gender Bias
10
The College Blues: Freshmen Take On Anxiety
12
Mental Health at SHS
14
Reading Body Language
15
Our Working Memory is Squawk-ingly Poor
16
How Personality Tests Work
18
The Real Reason You Procrastinate
19
Derstroying Your Mental Health
20
Fictional Characters with Mental Illness
22
Our Dreams Under a Microscope
23
Ink Drops and Blots: Rorschach Tests
24
To Stand By Or To Stand Up: The Bystander
Effect
26
Frequency Illusion: The Brain and its Bias
27
IQ Tests: Intelligence Quotient or Inane
Quackery?
28
The Raisin-Brain of a Cereal Killer
DA
LIAN

ULTIMATE CROSSWORD
Created By: Rose Kinoshita and Matthew Barotz
FIND THE ANSWERS ON
scientificscarsdalian.org

Across:
1. When 19 is 10011 (6)
4. The fifth month (3)
6. School transportation (3)
9. Celtic soothsayer (5)
12. Where you might find two peas (3)
13. For cooking or engines (3)
14. Automobile (3)
16. Opposite divided by hypotenuse (4)
17. Cofunction of #16-across (6)
18. Most common personality test (4)
19. In addition to (4)
21. Not under (4)
23. Baby carnivore (3)
24. Between vinyls and MP3s abbr. (3)
25. Hair clump (4)
27. Brain network (6)
28. Federal tax agency abbr. (3)
30. Everest guide (6)
34. Put underground (4)
35. Chimney deposit (4)
36. Night bird (3)
38. Corn unit (3)
39. *Name of the SHS science magazine (10)
42. Force unit (6)
45. Attention-grabbing (11)
47. Employ (4)
48. Carnage (4)
50. *Insect of our first environmental article (6)
52. Highest or lowest card (3)
53. Relevant Greek letter (7)
54. *Form of depression on page #6 (8)
56. Removed the top (6)
58. Test that’s more accurate than a rapid (3)
59. Cultural food (7)
63. Thin (4)
64. BTS song or mini twisted ladder (3)
66. Deceive (7)
67. Sole (3)
68. With XY (4)
70. Pronoun in texting (2)
72. Swoon (5)
74. Anagram of tea (3)
75. Fad (5)
76. Long term #81 across (7)
78. For each (3)
79. Tissue sac (4)
80. Rival (9)
81. Emotional or physical tension (6)
83. Longest working SHS physics teacher (7)
88. Nut most commonly found in pies (5)
90. Figurine (4)
95. Desperate (4)
95. A bar used to pry (5)
97. Grade 9 science (7)
98. Like 2, 8, or 946 (4)
99. Rock (5)
101. Video game or light circle (4)
102. Abbr. #84 down (3)
103. Who, what, when, where, why, and ___ (3)
104. Confidentiality agreement abbr. (3)
107. Not off (2)
108. Person who #7-down’s (4)
110. Cost (5)
112. Charged atoms (4)
114. Treble or bass (4)
116. Friend (3)
118. Take a break (4)
119. Boast (4)
121. One of the unalienable rights (4)
123. Soak something completely (8)
124. Thus far(3)
125. Narcissistic (11)
126. Word used to make something negative (3)
127. Needed to produce rotation (6)
128. To be in second person (3)
129. Protein found in blood hemo______ (6)
130. Instant (6)
Down:
1. 007 (4)
2. Caesar’s death date, ___ of March (4)
3. Stretchy loop (10)
4. Absent military person abbr. (3)
5. Without exception (3)
7. Utilize (3)
8. Male equivalent of madam (3)
9. Erase (6)
10. ___ and flow (3)
11. Central points (4)
12. Photos (4)
14. Legal or tennis (5)
15. Decay (3)
20. Shock (4)
22. Extremely cold (6)
23. Copy (5)
26. Additional info abbr. (3)
27. Less than one (4)
29. Old-style (5)
30. Salt water mass (3)
31. Overactor (3)
32. *Magazine theme (10)
33. Antioxidant berry (4)
34. Experimental (4)
35. *See 39-across (11)
37. Cube root of 512 (5)
40. Weather for remote learning (9)
41. Blaze (4)
43. *“An Ode to ______” (6)
44. Unrefined mineral (3)
46. Featured in the chalk article (12)
49. Message sent with a click (5)
51. *The focus of the article on page # (6)
55. *Nickname for Science Research teacher (6)
57. Safety or bobby (3)
59. Use MLA formatting (4)
60. Target audience (5)
61. Game, ___, match (3)
62. Life-threatening episode abbr. (3)
64. Fox’s home (3)
65. Defeat with democracy (7)
66. Charted (6)
69. Lack vitality (8)
71. Bread grain (3)
73. Wide open (as a mouth) (5)
77. With diet or college (2)
79. *Author of the first published article and crossword enthusiast (5)
82. *Co-editor-in-chief or star American gymnast (6)
84. Not a street or road (6)
85. Permit (5)
86. Used to justify the means (3)
87. Harsh (6)
88. University with Einstein’s lab (9)
89. Coca-___ (4)
91. Rectangular? (6)
92. Large cats (5)
94. Celebrate (5)
95. Environmentally-friendly light bulb (3)
96. Swerve (4)
100. Pitch or attitude (4)
102. Comp-sci acronym (5)
105. Leave behind (6)
106. Delighted (6)
109. Wing ____ (4)
110. Planet? (5)
111. Heated (5)
112. Fury (3)
113. Breakfast grain (3)
115. Hail (4)
117. Elemental unit (4)
119. Farewell (3)
120. Period of existence in years (3)
122. Unwell (3)
125. Immediate help unit abbr. (2)
*related to Scientific Scarsdalian
CLUES
3

Risk It For The Kiss:
Epstein-Barr Virus and Multiple Sclerosis
Written By: Simone Glajchen | Designed By: Alison Jiang and Olivia Liu
"The kissing disease,” also known as
mononucleosis, is an illness that most of us have heard
of. The disease is transmitted through bodily fluids,
most commonly saliva. It can spread from any form of
saliva exchange: sharing a drink or food utensils, and of
course, kissing. Mononucleosis is most commonly
caused by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), which is a human
herpes virus that, following the initial infection period,
remains dormant in the host’s body for their whole life.
EBV is so common that 95% of people contract it in
their lifetime. Some symptoms of mononucleosis are
fatigue, fever, swollen lymph nodes, and an enlarged
spleen. Infection with the virus is unpleasant, but there
are generally two main concerns: rupturing one’s
spleen or developing certain types of cancers (both of
these conditions are extremely rare). However, new
research has revealed that the Epstein-Barr virus can
have other grave consequences—it is associated with
the debilitating neurodegenerative disease multiple
sclerosis (MS). MS is a rare disease in which the
immune system attacks the protective coating (myelin
sheath) of nerves, affecting 2.8 million people
worldwide. The degradation of myelin harms
communication between the brain and the rest of the
body, paralyzing many MS patients. Although there is
no cure for MS, some experience periods of remission.
increases the chances of contracting lung cancer 25-
fold. The study also concluded that other herpes
viruses, such as cytomegalovirus, were not linked to
higher rates of MS.
But why is MS rare when EBV is so common?
Research shows that several factors such as EBV,
smoking, and vitamin D deficiency must be present in
order to significantly raise the risk of developing the
illness. Don’t panic if you’ve had EBV—a very small
percentage of those who have the virus become ill with
MS! The discovery that MS is linked to EBV holds
promise for the future of MS treatments. Advances in
EBV treatments could significantly reduce the number
of MS cases, as well as other rare cancers. Moderna is
currently conducting a phase 1 trial of an mRNA
vaccine for EBV. The National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Disease is also starting a phase 1 trial for an
EBV vaccine in February. By eradicating EBV, we would
be eliminating one of the driving factors of MS
development.
There has been a suspected connection between
multiple sclerosis and the Epstein-Barr virus for years,
and new research conducted at the Harvard T.H. Chan
School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School
suggests that this hypothesis is true. Researchers used
blood samples from about 10 million U.S. military
members. 95% of those included in the study were
positive for Epstein-Barr; 955 people included in the
study (about 0.00955% of the total participants)
became sick with MS. Science published the results in
September: being positive for Epstein-Barr virus
increased chances of developing multiple sclerosis 32-
fold. By comparison, smoking

Written By: Cindy DeDianous | Designed By: Cindy DeDianous
Mind control is real! With the flick of a switch, we have
the power to turn the brain on and off. Cutting off your
sense of smell, restoring blindness, reactivating lost
memories—they’re all within the realm of possibility. No,
this isn’t the plot synopsis for a dystopian sci-fi movie.
With a technique known as optogenetics, scientists are
now doing the impossible.
In 2005, researchers at Stanford University capitalized on
this connection. Using a virus, they altered the genetic code of
a group of neurons to give them the ability to produce opsins.
When a specific wavelength of light was shone on the brain,
only the neurons that had been genetically modified to be lightresponsive
were activated or inhibited. This specificity is the
key to optogenetics. Instead of activating entire cell
populations, researchers could now target certain neurons or
brain circuits and definitively link resulting changes in animal
behavior to the cells' function.
Having a bad day? Think about your happiest memory. Did
that improve your mood? According to researchers at MIT, one
day, it might. They exposed mice to a pleasurable experience
and used a light-sensitive protein to label the cells in the
hippocampus that were storing the positive memory. The mice
were then exposed to high-stress situations, prompting
depression-like symptoms. A fiber-optic cable that emitted blue
light was implanted into the mice's heads. When optogenetics
was used to activate the positive memory, the mice temporarily
experienced a drastic change in mood and behaved like mice
who had never experienced depression!
The secret behind this technology can be found right in
Scarsdale’s backyard: green algae. Photosynthetic
organisms like algae use specialized proteins, called
opsins, to locate areas with optimal light conditions for
photosynthesis. When activated by light, opsins open
channels in the cell membrane. As ions flow across, they
generate a change in charge that alerts the algae to move
toward the light. Remind you of anything? This movement
of ions is similar to the process of depolarization, which
causes neurons to fire.
Optogenetic ‘mind control’ is closer to reaching
humans than you might think. Researchers at Sorbonne
Université recently used a combination of optogenetics
and tech-savvy goggles to return some characteristics
of sight to a blind patient. When the goggles sense
shifts in light intensity, they project the corresponding
light pulses onto the retina optogenetically stimulate
retinal ganglion cells, which play a vital role in image
processing. The results were astounding: the patient
was able to locate and count different objects!
Optogenetics almost seems too good to be true. But
don’t worry, it’s not being used to brainwash me or you
(yet). Instead, it’s prompting breakthrough after
breakthrough and shedding light on the deepest secrets
of our brain.
5

THAWING YOUR
DEPRESSION
Written By: Rahm Bharara
Designed By: Sophia Garcia and Olivia Liu
SEASONAL
SAD Students
Winter! You know what that means: hot chocolate,
holidays, gifts, and of course, seasonal depression.
What is seasonal depression?
The formal name for seasonal depression is
seasonal affective disorder (SAD), and it is defined
as a type of depression that occurs at the same
time every year, usually beginning in the autumn
and continuing for several months, through winter.
In a given year, about 5% of the American
population experiences some form of seasonal
depression, and 80% of these people are women.
Regions further away from the equator have higher
rates of seasonal depression, likely due to shorter,
colder, and darker days during the winter. No
surprise, the symptoms of SAD are quite similar to
those of general depression and include mood
changes, lethargy, and anxiety.
How has the Scarsdale environment
affected/exacerbated your mental health?
“The constant pressure to accomplish things is
quite detrimental to my mental health, especially
during the winter months when the cold and
darkness combine to create conditions that are
almost impossible for me to maintain productivity
in.”
--SHS student
The Science Behind SAD
As sunlight lessens approaching the winter
months, the brain generally produces less
serotonin, an important neurotransmitter most
commonly associated with regulating mood.
Having deficient levels of serotonin is linked to
depression, worsened sleep, and a generally duller
mood. Those specifically diagnosed with seasonal
depression often contain a greater abundance of a
certain serotonin transporter protein that serves to
remove serotonin from the body.
As darkness further invades the afternoons and
mornings, melatonin, a hormone with the purpose
of regulating a person’s circadian rhythm, is
produced at increased rates. While melatonin is
essential for sleep and the regulation of a person’s
internal clock, excess melatonin is linked to
depressive moods and an interruption in a person’s
sleep and wake rhythms.
What are the main pervasive thoughts you have
throughout the fall/winter months?
“I can't go outside as much. I feel like crying all the
time.”
--SHS student

Treatment
There are a wide range of treatments for SAD, none
of which are 100% successful. Phototherapy, or bright
light therapy, is one of the most effective and involves
being exposed to intense lights for up to four hours a
day, which helps suppress the brain’s secretion of
melatonin. Some patients also resort to
antidepressants, which can mitigate symptoms but
also cause unwanted effects. Unfortunately, many
people do not recognize that they have SAD or do not
feel comfortable going to a doctor, so their disorder is
left untreated.
Do you personally experience a notable turning point in
the spring where your mood lightens again?
“Definitely yes! My tutor noticed a very visible shift
between the winter and spring. When I go outside and
sit in the sun, I become much happier and more
relaxed.”
-- SHS student
Seasonal Depression at SHS
Most diagnoses of seasonal depression are within
the age group between adolescence and early
adulthood, notably high school students.
We can see that students are already dealing with
sleep deprivation, so a lack of Vitamin D in the
winter only exacerbates moodiness and lethargy.
The extensive stressors and copious amounts of
work not only damage a student’s sleep schedule,
but also add to a student’s negative neuro-reactions
to melatonin and serotonin.
Scarsdale is notorious for its reputation of an
environment centered around competitiveness. This
atmosphere often creates toxicity and a suboptimal
atmosphere for students to cope with their stress
and mental health, leading to worse symptoms.
What are some words you would use to describe
your seasonal depression?
“drowsy, deflating, defeating”
“overwhelming, lonely, and numbing”
“awful, soul-crushing”
To those who deal with SAD, follow the advice of
Jonna Jinton, a Youtuber who lives in Sweden and
has to face almost complete darkness for six
months every year:
Instead of trying to fight seasonal depression, we can try to appreciate the change in seasons.
A flower would never force itself to bloom during winter, so why should we?
7

Why Are Kids Stressed?
Written By: Amanda Nudelman & Jessica Silvers
Designed By: Claire Chou
Picture this: you are sitting in the Learning Commons with your friends during second lunch on a
Wednesday afternoon, trying desperately to scarf down all of your food in the allotted twenty-five minutes,
when you overhear two of your friends completely flipping out about their math test next period.
“I tried to cram all of last night. I’m so stressed
out that I keep on forgetting all of the material.”
“Me too. We’re going to fail.”
This situation may sound familiar to many stressed
Scarsdale students. These days, it's pretty common to see
someone around you freaking out before a test, and these
stress-induced frenzies may be a result of test anxiety.
Test anxiety involves feeling incredibly anxious before a
test, so much so that academic performance is hindered.
Although a little bit of stress before any important exam is
completely normal, too much can negatively impact test
performance and mental health. Some symptoms of test
anxiety include dizziness, headaches, and heart palpitations
before a test, or having your mind go blank during a test.
.
There are plenty of ways to mitigate the effects of test
anxiety. The Mayo Clinic suggests using study time
effectively, not cramming for quizzes or tests, and creating a
study routine. It is overwhelming to try to study every single
detail, so focus on the big concepts to make sure you
understand the overarching material on a test. Minor actions
such as sitting up straighter, closing one’s eyes, or breathing
slowly can help someone destress during a test. Even
thinking to yourself ‘nobody’s perfect (in the words of
Hannah Montana) and ‘do your best’ can reduce anxiety.
Test anxiety is very prevalent in the Scarsdale community
and in the wider world of high school students. A fear of
failing is one of the biggest causes of test anxiety here at
Scarsdale. Acknowledging that test anxiety is prevalent in
our community is crucial to alleviating the pressure under
which Scarsdale students struggle. Daniel Hochberg ‘23
believes that the change can begin with Scarsdale teachers,
who can be “more upfront about what will be on the test
instead of leaving it up to chance.” Eliminating a degree of
surprise from an already stressful situation can serve to
reduce students’ test anxiety. Solutions should be
considered from the top-down, from the school
administration down to students experiencing anxiety.
Tests can trigger anxious emotional responses and
harm one’s ability to stay calm and alert. Test anxiety is
most often caused by a fear of failure, unpreparedness, or a
history of poor performance on previous tests. Additionally,
a fear of how friends and parents will react to a bad test
score can increase test anxiety
However, anyone suffering from test anxiety is definitely
not alone. The American Test Anxiety Association reports
that in high schools and colleges, 16-20% of students
report high test anxiety, and another 18% of students report
moderate test anxiety. The competitive, high-pressure
Scarsdale environment can contribute to the development
of test anxiety in high school students.
Stress spreads quickly. Typically, one person who is
stressed about a test tells another person about their
worries, who tells another, and another, and another. Soon,
an entire class has fallen victim to a stress domino effect.
We asked Halle Jakubowicz ‘23 about her experience with
test anxiety in Scarsdale and she said, “Before tests, it
becomes hard to focus in class and be in the moment
because I am so consumed by the thought of the test and
not being well enough prepared. I have noticed that the way
everyone deals with the stress is different and talking about
the material or what everyone has done to prepare makes it
worse.” Meritxell Sainz Barrionuevo ‘23 added, “Everyone is
very anxious before tests as a whole which contributes to
an environment of anxiety, especially during testing week.”

Women
in
STEM:
Perspectives on Gender Bias
Written By: Matthew Barotz and Simone Glajchen
Designed By: Olivia Liu
Ms. Yokana, the sole female teacher in the design and
engineering department at Scarsdale High School, has felt
the burden of being a woman in a male-dominated field
her whole life. As a child, she loved working with her dad, a
mechanical engineer, on soldering and woodworking
projects. However, when she decided to major in
engineering, she was told that “girls don’t do that.” Since
then, society has seemingly turned a new leaf, with Twitter
feeds and New York Times articles filled with buzzwords
like “Women in STEM” and “girl-boss”. The topic has
become so widely discussed that it no longer feels like an
issue. Has gender inequality in STEM actually dissipated,
or is it just masquerading itself in different ways than it
was 30 years ago?
Statistics reveal that gender inequality in STEM is still
quite prevalent. A 2021 UNESCO report found that only
28% of engineering graduates are women, with an even
greater gap existing in developed countries such as the US
(20.4%) and Japan (14.0%). STEM faculties are also
horribly unbalanced — a 2014 study found that women
make up only 15.7% of engineering faculty. The proportion
of research published by women has grown substantially
from 12% since 1960, but it has only reached a peak of
35%, never coming close to true equality.
While these numbers are striking, for Scarsdale
graduate and Columbia biomedical engineering student
Emma Glajchen, gender inequality hasn’t been a significant
obstacle to her education. Although “only about 15% of
[her] professors throughout college have been female”,
having predominantly male instructors hasn’t negatively
impacted her learning. None of her professors have
treated her differently, and they have all been “extremely
kind and supportive.” Columbia itself is unusual in that its
engineering student body is evenly split, but attracting
female researchers and professors has been a challenge—
especially because of the small number of women to
receive doctorate degrees in science from previous
generations.
The progress in gender inequality in STEM specialties
has been experienced at SHS too. Ms. Yokana remembers
that when the STEM department first started, boys would
tend to choose courses like computer science or electrical
engineering, while girls would gravitate towards designbased
classes. However, in the six years since its
founding, she says that “many young women are now
being empowered” to pursue their passions, even if they
are greatly outnumbered by men.
Alexandra Simon ’23 spoke about her experience as
the only girl in her robotics class, and she explains that
“[aside from] when certain stereotypical boy jokes are
made, it’s been really fun working with my classmates
and we do have a really great environment.” Her
comments differ from what many people believe: that
male-dominated groups create negative environments for
girls to thrive in. Instead, she says that she hasn’t felt
excluded in class and isn’t treated differently because of
her gender.
Now, this is not to say that gender inequality has
completely disappeared in Scarsdale either. Girls are still
heavily underrepresented in many STEM electives, with
some robotics and app design classes having no girls this
year. And students are not the only ones affected. Ms.
Yokana recalls that when the design lab was being built,
her opinion was ignored by the architects, despite being
the resident “makerspace expert”. Despite the progress
that has been achieved, there is still much work to be
done in Scarsdale to make girls in STEM truly equal.
Luckily, there are a plethora of programs designed to
encourage young women to pursue STEM careers. The
Girls Who Code Club, for example, teaches Scarsdale high
school’s female students the basics of computer science.
The GEMS club also introduces girls to science from a
young age, performing science experiments—such as
harvesting strawberry DNA and making chromatography
butterflies —with girls at Scarsdale elementary schools.
SHS and the global community at large are making
important strides toward achieving gender equality in
STEM specialties, something the world needs. Ms.
Yokana says it perfectly: “[what is] so important about
design and engineering is that you need different
perspectives. You need different voices.”
9

THE COLLEGE BLUES:
FRESHMEN TAKE ON
ANXIETY
Written By: Yuval Cherki
Designed By: Alison Jiang
You have just moved into your dorm. You unpack your new furniture, getting ready for
the new academic year with the exhilaration of a new chapter motivating you forward.
You are in college, away from your hometown gossipers and busybodies, and your old
school spirit begins to dwindle into a collection of name-brand sweatshirts that exert
newfound college pride. You have made it, and it looks like it was worth all the effort.
But just as you begin to feel the relief of independence wash over your body, an
overwhelming wave of loneliness drowns the excitement of your new environment. For
the first time in your life, you are truly alone: left to fend for yourself in this new
academic sphere. With nowhere to turn, you descend into darkness, resorting to any
means necessary to remedy your misery: the beginning of a never-ending cycle of bad
decisions.
Anxiety and depression are relentless disorders that plague learning environments in
modern society. College is the first time many kids spend time away from their parents,
and that sense of independence, combined with rigorous coursework, can become
severely damaging to a student’s mental health. According to Noam Cherki, a Scarsdale
High School alumni currently in his junior year at Duke University, “there are more
pressures to figure out different aspects of your life and create a life for yourself without
the support system that you have when living at home to support yourself.”
Jessica Robbins, a recent graduate from Rochester University, also shared her
personal college experiences. She said, “I think the main shift I noticed in myself and my
friends was an increase in social anxiety. Most people grow up in the same place for
many years and are used to the same friends, people, and social dynamics, but then you
got to college, and it’s like BOOM new group of people, okay go make friends.”

Jessica and Noam were not alone in their struggles. In 2020, it was
determined that over half of the students in Boston University screened
positive for anxiety and/or depression. In addition, over 83% of students in
the same study declared their damaged mental state had caused a clear
adverse effect on their academic performance. However, long-term
physiological disorders have also arisen as mental health statuses have
dropped. Per a survey conducted on over 274 establishments, there has
been an 88% consensus on the spike of self-injury, eating disorders, sexual
misconduct, substance abuse, and learning disabilities over the past five
years.
So what solutions can be provided to those struggling with loneliness
and mental health issues? On the brighter side of the ongoing mental health
struggle, Sarah Ketchen Lipton, a mental health researcher at Boston
University, shared “We [mental health researchers] know mental health
stigma is going down… People are being more open, having more dialogue
about it, and we can better identify that people are struggling.” Counseling
centers and mental health programs are becoming more necessary as time
goes on, and as a pleasant surprise, many kids take advantage of these
resources to better themselves.
"Having a therapist helped, and so did generally having people to talk to,” said Gal Cherki,
Scarsdale alumni and current student at Rochester University, when asked about his solution to
mental health issues. He added, “A lot of people just refuse to take care of themselves because they
feel like they don’t have time to. However, you can always make the time, even if it means stopping
doing something you want to do. You have to be proactive about your mental health, no one is going
to fix it for you.”
Relying on outreach programs and counseling is only one step to achieving a higher standard of
life for college students. Real progress in adjusting to college life comes through learning how to
take care of oneself in this uncharted environment. Noam also shared, “the easiest thing to forget is
to take care of your body with sleep, exercise, and food. Figuring out that stuff is a big step, and then
learning how to take pressure off of yourself and think rationally about things is important.”
College and high school experiences are extraordinarily different. After going through ACTs, SATs,
college applications, and the moving process, actual college life can seem intimidating, especially to
freshmen dealing with their new environments. However, the most important thing to remember is
that struggle is normal, and that taking care of oneself and reaching out for help whenever needed is
pivotal to avoiding the spiral into unhealthy habits. It takes time to adjust, but once a happy medium
is found, the experiences earned in college can last a lifetime.
11

Mental Health at SHS
We asked students to anonymously describe their mental health experience at SHS.
Written By: Anushka Kumar | Designed By: Olivia Liu
"While Scarsdale has provided me with an
incredible education, amazing memories,
and even better friends, it has equally led
to depression, an eating disorder, and an
array of other mental health and self
esteem problems."
"The school’s biggest flaw isn’t its rigor or
competitive nature but rather its horrible
attempt at masking it. The school
“preaches” inclusion and mindfulness so
much that when students are overworked
socially and academically, they feel
invalidated."
"...breaks people..."
"... [we] feel invalidated."
"SHS is an environment that
breaks people so they never
want to move back and yet
puts them in a bubble so that
they feel like they have to. "
"SHS is an environment
where the students are
hyper focused on grades
and packing their
transcripts which
provides for a breeding
ground for mental health
issues."
"Students at SHS have a shared belief
that academic validation determines
your self worth, as well as an exclusive
social climate that leaves people
feeling isolated and alone."
"...a breeding ground for mental
health issues."

"It is the status quo
to compromise your
wellness for
academic success. "
"Detrimental health
habits ... are normalized."
"Scarsdale High School creates an environment so subtly toxic that most
students aren’t even aware of how unhealthy their experience is until
after they graduate. Detrimental health habits such as sleeping very little
and barely eating are normalized."
"While there are a plethora of mental health
issues at SHS, I feel that it is unfair to blame the
faculty as the majority of teachers and staff are
taking whatever steps they can to reduce stress
and connect students with appropriate resources.
The root of the issue lies in the toxic environment
that unfortunately cannot be solved by
administrative policies."
"The root of the issue
lies in the toxic
environment..."
"The toxicity at Scarsdale
makes Bronx Science look
like preschool."
"...an inherent competition among students..."
"The college process has
created an inherent
competition among students,
and it prevents them from
truly building a community
and enjoying themselves in
high school."
13

Written By: Stephanie Liu and Chloe Ji
Designed by: Sophia Garcia
Mind reading, but not really...
Your crush just glanced at you
from the corner of their eye. But
what does this mean? Do they
perhaps like you back, or was
that just a look of disgust? If only
there were a way to tell what they
were thinking...
Luckily for you, there is: reading
their body language!
A total of 60% of how we
communicate is through
subconscious body language,
such as eye movement, nodding,
or gesturing, while only 7% are
actual words spoken. Thus, next
time you have a conversation,
pay special attention to their
mannerisms and gestures to
more clearly understand what
your peer is saying. Make sure to
pay attention to the number of
times someone blinks
when speaking to you as well.
Frequent blinking can indicate
stress, however when
accompanied by the touching of
the face, these blinks can also
indicate lying. Glancing at certain
things is also an essential way of
telling whether or not someone is
interested or not. Glancing at a
person usually means that they
are interested in talking to them.
People often nod when they are
listening to the person they are
speaking with. The speed at which
someone nods can also reveal
some thoughts they are having.
Slow nodding typically means that
the person is interested in what
you are saying and wants to hear
more. Fast nodding can show
restlessness. This probably means
that they want a chance to talk.
The direction the head is tilting can
also signal attention, interest,
confusion, or disagreement.
A rather unexpected form of
communication is the position of
the feet. Similar to head tilting, the
direction that feet are pointing can
also show interest. If their feet are
pointed towards you, the person
wants to engage in conversation
with you. If they are pointed
elsewhere, they probably would
rather focus on that instead. This is
not the most reliable thing to watch
out for, but it can still provide some
useful hints.
You may not be able to know what
exactly the other person is thinking,
however, you can tell a lot by paying
attention to someone’s body
language.

Written By: Jaden Tepper | Designed By: Claire Chou
Calling someone a “bird brain” is a
rather malicious insult, but as it turns out,
it may be true that some human brain
processes are just as weak as birds:
namely, working memory. Working
memory is the brain’s way of retaining
information temporarily. It allows you to
remember numbers between one
calculation and the following or the next
words you are planning to write. Also,
working memory is a crucial step in the
process of storing long-term memory.
However, working memory is limited. Try
this. Remember the following shapes and
colors: a red square, a green triangle, a
purple square, and a cyan circle. We’ll
come back to those later.
In December 2021, a study by Lukas
Alexander Hahn and his colleagues
researched how bad our working
memories are. Using a puzzle that was
usually used to test primates, the
participant would look at a screen, upon
which some colored squares would
appear. After a moment, the squares
disappeared. Then after one second of a
black screen, the same squares
reappeared, but with one alteration: one
square had a different color. The
participant had to determine which
changed. This test is based purely on
working memory. The stronger the
participant's short-term memory, the more
likely they remembered the shapes and
determined which one changed.
What makes this study special is that
they didn’t use the test on humans or
monkeys, but rather birds. They found that
birds have roughly an equivalent capacity
of working memory as humans! “Bird brain”
isn’t seeming like a silly little insult now, is
it? Specifically, they found that the mean
maximum capacity of a bird’s short-term
memory occurs when storing 4 items:
strikingly similar to the human average of
about 5 items.
Going back to those shapes, can you
name the second shape and its color? If so,
good job, but it was probably rather
difficult. Many other brain processes are
significantly elevated above those of birds,
but we know that working memory isn’t
one of them. This study doesn’t prove that
birds think exactly equivalent to us.
However, these findings can give important
insights into the evolutionary process that
formed all species as well as our brains,
and next time someone calls you a “bird
brain,” just keep in mind that they are too!
15

HOW PERSONALITY TESTS WORK
Written By: Andre Couto
Designed By: Sophia Garcia
Personality is often described as the attributes
one possesses and their unique reaction to stimuli
that defines a person. While this may sound simple,
the reality is far more complex. How personality
develops is disputed among psychologists, and
scientists aren’t yet sure what causes personality
to change. Despite the complexities of personality,
scientists have been trying to understand and
classify personality for over 2,000 years. That
desire has led to the modern personality test.
The Origin of Personality Tests
The beginning of modern personality tests can
be tied to World War I to attempt to predict the
likelihood that a soldier would develop “shell
shock”. Robert Woodworth created the
“Psychoneurotic Inventory” to predict recruits’
susceptibility to shell shock, a psychological illness
with various symptoms caused by exposure to
warfare, which was believed to afflict people who
were “weak-minded”.
The test was a series of yes-no questions meant
to assess the mental fortitude of the subjects. The
Psychoneurotic Inventory began by asking the
recruit if they felt “well and strong,” and around 100
questions followed, attempting to discern the
mental state of the recruit. Many of the following
tests focused on negative emotionality, the way
individuals experience negative emotions.
Personality Tests Today
Today, personality testing is a multi-billion dollar
industry; used by individuals, schools, and even
companies. If you have taken a personality test,
you likely took the Myers-Briggs test, developed in
1942 by Katherine Cook Briggs. The Myers-Briggs
Type Indicator, or MBTI, is the most common
personality test. It is a questionnaire that
categorizes people’s personalities into
16 personality types based on four spectra,
including extroversion versus introversion. There
are roughly 90 questions on the Myers-Briggs test
that focus on positive emotions rather than
negative ones. Another test commonly used in the
workplace is the Big Five Model. The Big Five
Model, also known as the Five-Factor Model, is a
theory that suggests personality boils down to five
key traits: openness to experience,
conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness,
neuroticism. Similar to the Myers-Briggs test, the
Big Five personality test is a questionnaire that
aims to rank individuals on a scale for each of the
five personality traits.
Do Personality Tests Matter?
As more and more studies are published,
showing that personality tests are relatively
ineffective in predicting people’s potential to
succeed in a job, it becomes increasingly worrying
that companies trust these fickle tests to decide
whom to hire, or that schools are using them to tell
students potential careers that fit their personality.
One study showed that 50% of participants who
took the Myers-Briggs test 5 weeks later got a
different outcome. This discrepancy can even be
observed in the tests. Furthermore, it can be
incredibly difficult to objectively judge oneself. As
test makers have observed, when a participant is
given the same question they had earlier in the test,
it is not uncommon for the participant to change
their answer.
Does this mean you shouldn’t take one? If you’re
just taking a personality test for fun, there is no
harm in filling one out, and can even help you better
understand yourself. Just remember to view your
results with a grain of salt.

17

The Real Reason You
Procrastinate
Written By: Halle Jakubowicz
Designed By: Claire Chou
Procrastination is a heavily discussed topic;
especially at SHS, it is rare to go through a week
without hearing this word. A kid in your math class
has probably exclaimed, “I didn’t start the homework
until 11:00 last night!” But have you ever heard
someone explaining what procrastination is, why it
happens, or what to do about preventing it? The real
definition of procrastination is delaying doing
something until a later time, often past the deadline.
We are fully aware of the self-harm inflicted by
procrastination, but we do it anyway. It seems
illogical, but procrastination is used as a protection
method. Procrastination typically results from failing
to manage one’s emotions. When attempting to
complete tasks related to school or other activities
that bring about self-doubt, low self-esteem, anxiety,
or insecurity, procrastination can be used as a
protective mechanism to shift your focus onto a less
stressful task. However, in the long run,
procrastination enhances these negative feelings.
By doing this, we are only associating these tasks
with those emotions and causing more
procrastination in the future. Procrastination is an
endless cycle because it causes more stress and
worsens the situation. By procrastinating, you are
creating more anxiety around such tasks and further
postponing completing the tasks. The false sense of
immediate relief provided by procrastination ends up
causing this action to become a habit.
Another reason why we procrastinate is that we
view ourselves as someone else in the future.
Looking at procrastination in this way creates the
sense that we are leaving the task for someone else
to deal with our problems. Even though we know that
the person who will have to deal with them will be us,
it is more important to control the negative emotions
at the time and curb those feelings rather than
removing additional stress for our future selves.
After reading all of this, you are probably wondering
how you can stop this vicious cycle of procrastination
and remove stress from your life? Well, just
understanding the roots of procrastination allows you
to dig deep and think about where your own
procrastination comes from. Understanding the
sources of your procrastination will help you overcome
the emotions that are causing you to procrastinate.
However, just understanding where your
procrastination comes from is only the beginning. A
good way to curb procrastination is to break the task
into a smaller set of clear, more attainable, less
stressful goals. These goals should be achievable
because trying to do something that is impossible or
too hard will further the cycle of procrastination. For
example, you can try to study 15 to 20 minutes every
night for a week or more before a test, so that you
have a head start of better understanding of the
material, instead of leaving it all until the last minute.
Once you have created goals, you have to make a
concrete plan on how to accomplish such goals, like
going over past homework assignments one night,
reviewing class notes another night, taking practice
tests, or writing short drafts, which you then
successively review and edit. And then, from there, it is
only a matter of implementing your plan. When
carrying out the course of action, it is essential to
modify your goals and take note of what works and
what doesn’t.
Once you have started procrastinating, it is hard to
stop. But hopefully, after understanding more about
where your procrastination comes from, and what you
can do to help address the issues causing your
procrastination, you should be able to set realistic
attainable goals and break free from this cycle of
procrastination. You may need to push yourself to
keep a regimen and follow your plan, but once
accomplished, it will be easier the next time because
you succeeded once, and you will recognize it will be
better for you in the long run.

DERstroying
YOUR MENTAL HEALTH
Written By: Rick Yang and Spencer Goh
Designed By: Alison Jiang
Competing in sports is a healthy and fun activity for people of all ages. After all, the benefits of exercise that come along with
participating in sports promote a positive attitude and a healthy mind and body. You might not normally think that athletes are
prone to mental health issues, but in reality, the stress and performance anxiety of playing a sport can sometimes be
overwhelming.
Mental health problems in sports are not rare. In fact, even famous athletes such as Naomi Osaka, a star tennis player, and
Simone Biles, a decorated Olympic gymnast, have sat out of major competitions due to mental health concerns. According to
the nonprofit "Athletes for Hope," 35% of professional athletes have a mental health crisis during their career. Moreover, a
survey found that around one-third of college athletes are struggling with symptoms of anxiety, such as difficulties with sleep,
one-quarter are feeling a perpetual sense of loss, and one-tenth have reported feeling so miserable that it makes their daily
functioning strenuous.
Athletes are constantly under intense pressure from fans
to do well in competitions, which could result in
performance anxiety: the fear that one’s ability to perform
during a game is inadequate. They may worry about failing
before the game begins, resulting in humiliation, rejection,
and possibly panic attacks. Typical athletes’ careers are
relatively short compared to other professions, so there is
added pressure to accomplish as much as they can during
their sports career.
This lack of mental health in sports is extremely
problematic; our current society is immensely focused on
physical wellbeing, but consistently fails to recognize that
mental wellbeing is just as—if not more—important than
physical health.
How can these devastating problems be addressed?
Fortunately, for athletes suffering from more serious
causes of mental health-related difficulties, there are many
licensed mental health counselors that offer services to aid
athletes in building healthier mindsets and overcoming
stress. But solutions like this cost money, and there are
many simpler methods that are equally effective.
These issues regarding mental health must be a
priority among all athletes. There must exist an open
conversation where people can share their experiences
with others to understand that they are not alone. For
younger athletes, parents should teach their children to
embrace vulnerability, prioritize mental recovery, and
ask for support when needed. Every athlete should have
their voice heard by someone, whether it be their
teammate, coach, friend, sibling, or parent. Every athlete
needs to train themselves not to disregard their issues,
as the risk of not addressing these issues increases
exponentially in the long run.
Unfortunately, mental health struggles are very real
and dangerous to professional athletes. Although these
problems can be traumatic, there are many ways to
treat them. Most importantly, everyone, not just
athletes, needs to pay close attention to their mental
wellbeing to prevent a mental health crisis.
19

Fictional Characters
With Mental Illness
Written By: Rose Kinoshita | Designed By: Alison Jiang and Olivia Liu
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Azula, a firebending prodigy and the daughter of the ruling
Fire Lord, fights relentlessly to eliminate her older brother
Zuko in competition for obtaining the throne. In the final
episodes of the series, we see Azula exhibiting schizophrenic
tendencies. Her paranoia increases, causing her to have
auditory and visual hallucinations of her mother. However, the
visions of her mother are highly contradictory to the way
Azula remembered her. The emotional turmoil resulting from
the conflicting visions causes Azula’s downfall, eventually
landing her in a psychiatric ward.
Princess
Azula
DC Comics
Harley
Quinn
Originally, Dr. Harleen Quinzel was a psychiatrist for
the maximum-security prison Arkham Asylum.
However, she transforms herself into the volatile Harley
Quinn, a partner to the psychotic Joker. Although there
are many iterations of her character, the one
commonality is that Harley Quinn’s descent into villainy
begins with a psychotic disorder, in which the Joker is
the primary, or the aggressor & inducer, while Quinn is
the induced, being heavily influenced by his delusions
or criminal grandeur.
Sherlock Holmes
Although Sherlock Holmes, a proficient detective,
claims to be a high-functioning sociopath, it is significantly
more likely that he has Asperger’s Syndrome, which is on
the autism spectrum. Those who have Asperger’s are
more likely to be highly observant and often hyper focus
on an interest, both traits contributing to the success of
Holmes’ career, evident in his picturesque memory. Of the
personality traits he is most known for, Asperger’s often
causes difficulty communicating and empathizing,
causing others to view Sherlock as cold or uncaring.
Sherlock
Holmes

The Hunger Games
After being forced to kill other teenagers and
losing various friends, Katniss Everdeen, a two-time
victor of the Hunger Games, suffers from PTSD. She
is plagued by vivid flashbacks, recurring nightmares,
and hypervigilance. She has strong negative
reactions to otherwise regular objects, including the
smell of roses, that persist even past the end of the
competitions. Additionally, Katniss suffers from
survivor’s guilt, with her visions containing her lost
friends, especially present during her eulogies
immediately following the games.
Katniss
Everdeen
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Dr. Jekyll/
Mr. Hyde
Dr. Jekyll, a renowned scientist, descends
into the darker aspects of science when he
decides to invent a serum that transforms
himself into an evil alter-ego, Mr. Hyde.
Unfortunately, Jekyll soon began
transforming without the aid of the serum,
thereby developing split personality disorder,
clinically known as dissociative identity
disorder. Key symptoms of DID seen in the
character of Dr. Jekyll include distinct shifts
in personality along with the inability of one
persona to control the other.
Grey’s Anatomy
Dr. Andrew DeLuca, an attending general
surgeon, appeared regularly on Grey’s Anatomy
from seasons 11 to 17 and is officially diagnosed
with bipolar disorder during the 16th season. The
show introduces him as he experiences a
depressive episode and low levels of motivation,
however, he soon becomes manic, working
quickly, sleeping little, and struggling to control his
thoughts. As time passes, he goes longer without
an official diagnosis. Eventually, DeLuca has a
breakdown, and he finally realizes that he needs
psychological treatment. With treatment, he is able
to work regularly once again.
Andrew
DeLuca
21

Our Dreams Under
the Microscope
Written By: Neha Nayakkar
Designed By: Sophia Garcia and Olivia Liu
When I was a child, I remember being chased through
New York City by a guy in a gray suit. While running down
the street with a briefcase stuffed with cash, I abruptly
woke up. It was just a dream. If we lived in ancient times,
my dream would be interpreted as illustrating my worry of
losing independence. Occasionally, people believed that
dreams were a reference to future omens. It wasn’t until
Sigmund Freud created his Interpretation of Dreams in the
late 19th century that we began to question the existence
of dreams.
Dreams are essentially motion pictures that the mind
creates while people are asleep. Those dreams occur
during a stage in our sleep cycle called REM, or Rapid Eye
Movement. There are two cycles of sleep: non-REM sleep
and REM sleep. Though they sound the same, non-REM
sleep is essential for the growth of the body and brain.
During this type of sleep, many things occur. First, your
muscles start to relax, and your brain activity starts to
decrease. Then your body temperature decreases as your
body prepares to enter deeper sleep. Typically, during this
stage of sleep tissues are repaired, and the immune
system is strengthened. REM sleep works differently.
REM sleep happens around an hour after people go to
sleep, commonly accompanied by vivid images, or
dreams. During REM, you have increased brain activity,
which explains why people get such vivid dreams.
The amount of REM sleep that you have often is
related to the amount of sleep you get on a given night.
Typically, 7-8 hours of sleep equates to 90-minute
long REM cycles. REM may not seem as important as
non-REM, but its effects on the brain are significant. The
brain needs REM sleep to help stimulate memory
function and cognitive skills. These discoveries about
how dreams occur are recent, however, Sigmund Freud
proposed a different idea as to how dreams work.
Whether it is a good dream or a nightmare, dreams
carry significance in neurological function that scientists
still ponder today. Freud, an Austrian neurologist and the
first psychoanalyst, tried to understand the reasoning
behind dreams using psychoanalysis.
Through psychoanalysis, he was able to decipher three
main components of the mind that influence dreams: the
id, ego, and superego. Freud categorized the id as the
most primitive part of the mind that only thinks about
satisfying one’s needs. For example, consider a person
that wants to get candy from a candy shop, but they have
no money. If they act solely in accordance with the id, the
person would still take the candy and not consider it
stealing. Contrarily, the superego is a component that is
concerned with morals and self-values, similar to a
conscience. With the superego, if the person wanted
candy that they couldn't afford, they would not take it
because they understand that it is morally incorrect.
The id and the superego are connected; the id
overpowers your superego, however, when acting on the
id's desires, the person would feel shame and regret for
their actions. The ego acts as a mediator between the two
-- it acts as the rational part of our mind. If the person
wanted candy and the superego was at odds with the id,
the ego would propose a compromise of acquiring money
and buying the candy. This allows for desires to be
resolved without illegal behaviors.
When patients met with him about their dreams, Freud
would have them elaborate. With the information
collected, he would try to relieve patients of their
symptoms, which he called ‘free association’. Freud’s
work would later help psychology fields discover what
dreams were and how they were associated with one's
brain.

Drops Blots:
Ink
Written
and
By: Emily Attar
Designed By: Claire Chou
Tests Rorschach
Have you ever seen a splotch of ink on a piece of
paper and thought it looked something like a tiger or a
duck? Rorschach tests, or inkblots, began as a
children’s game called Klecksography, where kids used
ink as a way of playing charades. Eventually, they
became a way to test people’s brains and determine
their mental states.
Hermann Rorschach, the creator of these diagnostic
inkblots and an avid player of klecksography as a child,
experimented on many people with these tests. He
noticed that different people saw different shapes from
the same inkblots, and hypothesized that a person's
sanity could be measured by analyzing what they see in
a given image. He researched this hypothesis for a few
years and published his research to the public in 1921.
Then, he used the new tests to diagnose psychiatric
patients at Herisau Hospital.
Patients were asked to state what
they had seen in a series of inkblot
pictures. Many schizophrenic patients saw very
different things in the tests compared to regular
patients, an example of how this test effectively
displays differences in mental states.
The questions that initially came out of these tests
were captivating. However, Rorschach did not live
much longer after sharing his discoveries, and would
not be able to continue experimenting. Although a few
others tried to push the test’s abilities farther, inkblot
diagnoses were later discarded and seen as biased.
They were shunned by the scientific community,
despite being said to have potential in 1993. These
tests didn’t turn out to be the best diagnostic test for
psychology, but they are still fun to take! Try your
hand at some below:
W H A T D O Y O U S E E ?
23

To Stand By Or To Stand Up:
The Bystander Effect
Written By: Jean Sung
Designed By: Olivia Liu
If you’ve ever read Wonder by R.J. Palacio, you’ll know about the
difference between upstanders and bystanders. Jack Will
befriends and stands up for Auggie, who is bullied for his
abnormal facial features, making him an upstander: an upstander
speaks up against bullying and takes action when witnessing an
emergency. On the other hand, a bystander observes an incident
that appears to be a crisis in which a victim requires help but
does not take part. In middle school, we could justify our inaction:
after all, what was the worst that could have happened if we
didn’t stop an insensitive bully? Well, the same justification
cannot hold for an adult who witnesses a gruesome murder, as
shown by the case of Catherine “Kitty” Genovese.
Kitty Genovese was killed in 1963 by Winston Mosely in her
apartment located in Kew Gardens, Queens. What distinguished
this murder from the hundreds of others that took place that
same year was not its gruesome nature, but the 38 eye-witnesses
who supposedly watched the half-hour stabbing of Genovese
without ever helping or calling the police. As the public began
attributing this inaction to the apathy of the apartment residents,
psychologists Bibb Latané and John Darley began searching for
an alternative explanation behind the negligence of the
bystanders and formulated the bystander effect.
The bystander effect is the phenomenon that occurs when the
presence of other bystanders impedes an individual from
intervening in an emergency, suggesting that one is more likely to
help when they feel that there are very few other witnesses. So
what causes this phenomenon? According to Latané and Darley,
the bystander effect originates mainly from pluralistic ignorance
and the diffusion of responsibility.
Pluralistic Ignorance
I’m sure you’ve had this experience at least once in your life:
you’re in class, listening to your teacher go on and on about
whatever, debating whether to raise your hand to ask what
anything they are talking about means. You look around to see no
other hands raised and look down, embarrassed that only you are
confused. The class ends with your question unasked and
unanswered, and you leave the room just as puzzled as you were
before. What you don’t know is that many other students are
thinking the same thing! Everyone is confused and wants to ask
the same question, but does not in order to avoid judgment from
their peers, who they think all perfectly understand the material.
In this situation, you and your classmates are victims of
pluralistic ignorance: the majority of the group internally
believes one thing, but no one takes action after mistakenly
concluding that everyone else believes the opposite.
It is human nature to look to others to decide what to do in an
ambiguous situation, as shown by Darley and Latané in their
“smoke room experiment.” Aiming to study the reactions of
their subjects to a supposed emergency, researchers placed the
participants into a room and instructed them to answer a
questionnaire as smoke slowly filled the room. Participants in
the first room, who were alone, were much quicker in reporting
the smoke than those in room 2. Whereas 75% of participants
took action in room 1, only 10% of the second room subjects,
who were each placed into a room with two actors who acted
indifferent the whole experiment, reported the smoke. As Darley
and Latané hypothesized, a subject was more likely to interpret
the smoke as an indicator of an emergency and get help when
alone. Because we don’t trust our own judgment, we often
adopt the behavior of those around us: when other witnesses
treat the situation as an emergency, we also help the victim
immediately, but when others seem indifferent, we assume that
we are misinterpreting the situation and don’t intervene.
Diffusion of Responsibility
According to witness reports of Genovese’s murder, the
bystanders were unable to see each other clearly and could not
have relied on each other to decide how to react to the
situation. The bystander effect observed in this case thus did
not stem as much from pluralistic ignorance as from the
diffusion of responsibility, which proposes that an individual
feels less responsible to help as the number of witnesses
increases. When witnessing an emergency, an individual’s first
step is typically to divide the responsibility to intervene by the
number of bystanders. Therefore, mathematically, one’s feeling
of personal responsibility will inevitably decrease in larger
groups. After concluding that the moral duty to help is not solely
on themselves, the individual assumes that one of the many
other bystanders in the group will help instead and disregards
the victim, failing to realize that everyone else is going through
the same process. Because everyone pushes off the
responsibility to step in, no one helps the victim, and the victim,
such as Kitty Genovese, faces horrible consequences that may
lead to death.

Latané and Darley’s famous “seizure experiment” helped support
the speculated role of diffusion of responsibility on the inaction of
witnesses. In this experiment, researchers told 72 university
students that they were participating in a discussion about
college life, although they were discreetly organizing a fake
emergency. Each participant, placed in a separate room, talked to
the other “participants” using microphones and speakers,
unaware that the voices they were “talking” to had been prerecorded.
To create the simulation of an emergency, one of the
voices mimicked that of a person experiencing a seizure. Results
showed that different numbers of supposed “participants” in the
group discussion created vast differences in the time it took for a
study subject to ask for help. Out of the subjects who believed
that they were in a one-to-one conversation with the person
experiencing the seizure, 85% reacted quickly and left to ask for
help. On the other hand, only 31% of the participants in the second
condition, who believed that there were four other bystanders,
attempted to help the victim. Because even those that did not
respond were concerned for the victim, Darley and Latané
concluded that indifference or apathy did not cause inaction,
contrary to popular belief. Individuals simply push away the duty
to help a victim when there are many other bystanders around,
causing the bystander inaction that inevitably leads to the victim’s
demise.
Criticisms
Over the years, the bystander effect has become one of the most
studied social-psychological phenomenons and is a staple in
nearly all American psychology textbooks. However, ever since
authors and journalists such as Jim Rasenberger and Rachel
Manning revealed various errors in the original tale of the
Genovese murder, the famous phenomenon has been challenged
by many. Contrary to the large number of 38 witnesses assumed
to have witnessed Mosely stabbing Genovese, in reality, there
were very few people who actually saw the crime. Genovese was
attacked two times by Mosely. She was first attacked outside her
apartment building with a hunting knife until Rober Mozer shouted
from his window to stop Mosely; while she was heavily wounded,
Genovese at this point had been alive. However, because the fatal
second attack took place in a secluded hallway inside her
apartment, even those who had witnessed the first attack
could not have definitively realized that there was a horrific murder
taking place right under their noses.
As the newly made corrections to the murder of Kitty Genovese
weakened Latané and Darley’s argument about the effect of the
number of bystanders on the odds of an individual helping a
witness, many began to find flaws in the assessment of the
bystander effect. Some argue that bystander inaction could result
not from the increased number of other witnesses, but from one’s
fear of offering unwanted help or one’s concern over being
misunderstood as the perpetrator and facing the unjustified
consequences. Many witnesses also misinterpreted the situation
as a mere “lover’s quarrel” rather than a vicious assault, which
again brings to question the main reason for their inaction in
Genovese’s murder.
We will never find out whether the bystander effect described by
Darley and Latané was truly the driving force of the neglect seen in
Kitty Genovese’s murder. However, it is undeniable that the
phenomenon can apply to various situations that we see in
everyday life. Truthfully, I cannot say that I have never fallen prey to
the bystander effect: when I’m in the bustling streets of Manhattan,
I do not give a dollar to every homeless man I see on the streets, as
there are just too many of them. Looking back, I realize that I justify
my inaction as I walk past by thinking that there are plenty of
others with more money than me who can help these
underprivileged people. It’s just our nature to push off the
responsibility of intervening in an emergency to others. So sure,
perhaps the inaction seen in the Genovese murder was not only
caused by a large number of witnesses. Maybe the idea of “safety
in numbers” is not a myth after all. Regardless, the bystander
effect and its two factors, pluralistic ignorance and diffusion of
responsibility, can teach us how to act in an emergency. Ignore the
urge to look to others and take responsibility when you have any
inkling that you are witnessing an emergency: the worst
consequence if you misunderstood the situation may be a feeling
of embarrassment for a couple of minutes. If you are not, however,
and you help the victim immediately, you can save a life and avoid
being eaten away by the harrowing guilt you would have felt if you
had allowed the victim to die.
25

Frequency Illusion:
The Brain and its Bias
Written By: Vivian Zweig | Designed By: Alison Jiang
A pair of trendy shoes on display in a department store
catches your attention. It’s love at first sight; you snatch
them up and stroll to the front of the store to make your
purchase. Smiling, you walk outside and glance at the
shoes other people are wearing. Your eyes are drawn to a
woman lounging on a chair. She’s wearing the same pair
that you just bought! Surprised, you look around and see a
boy strutting past — he’s wearing them too! Even the baby
being pushed around in a stroller has a miniature pair laced
on their feet. Why does it seem like everyone has swapped
their shoes for the pair sitting in your bag? This is the
Baader-Meinhof Illusion, also known as frequency bias,
hard at work.
When you become aware of something new and
intriguing, your brain begins to look for it in the surrounding
environment. This process is called selective attention.
Moreover, when subconsciously searching your
surroundings, you are more likely to find what you are
unintentionally looking for. Noticing the object of interest
more often leads you to believe that it is more present than
it is. Hence, the reason why everyone seemed to change
their shoes after you bought the same pair.
This selective attention and confirmation bias can be
demonstrated through a simple experiment: think of a piano
and envision one in your mind. Now that you’re thinking of a
piano, I’d like you to take a look at the picture and find the
cat.
The chances are that you saw the piano first, even though
it makes you slower to find what you’re looking for. Although
the memory item (the piano) is irrelevant to your search task,
it captured your attention. Your recognition of it first is an
illustration of unconscious influence on your attention. This
phenomenon is similar to what’s happening in the Baader
Meinhof Illusion; something in your mind draws your
attention to an object that you wouldn’t normally notice.
Hopefully, the illusion of the stolen shoe has been made
more clear. Nobody changed their shoes to try and gaslight
you; it’s just the brain’s way of absorbing new information!
So the next time you make a new purchase and are
immediately bombarded with appearances of the same item,
there will be no need to be confused.

IQ TESTS:
Written By: Peter He | Designed By: Claire Chou
INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT OR INANE QUACKERY?
We all know what an IQ test is. It's not surprising that
most of us have taken these infamous “Intelligence
Quotient” tests. But do these tests actually express the
intelligence of an individual? Well, much like the
uncertainty associated with college-entrance exams like
the SAT or ACT, the scientific basis of IQ tests is quite
complicated.
From a logical standpoint, it seems to make sense
that someone with higher intelligence would be better at
performing tasks that require thinking. Thus, a test
designed to assess performance on a series of logicbased
tasks should provide an accurate gauge of
someone’s intelligence, right? Well, as it turns out, that is
not the case. A 2012 study by the University of Western
Ontario concluded that no single test can accurately
measure a person’s general intelligence. With a pool of
over 100,000 participants, the team conducting the
study found there are at least three distinct components
of someone’s “intelligence”: short-term memory,
reasoning, and verbal comprehension.
Essentially, there’s no method to summarize someone’s
intelligence with a single number. Multiple different
tests are required to accurately assess general
knowledge.
Another problem with IQ tests lies in their execution.
Due to the nature of the tasks presented in a test,
someone’s IQ score can change based on factors such
as whether they’re motivated, know certain “strategies,”
or fully understand the task. For example, if an IQ test is
given in English to someone that has a non-native
understanding of English, misinterpretation is a
possibility. Different cultural and social ideologies often
result in different methods of completing similar tasks.
So when an IQ test (or any test as a matter of fact) is
administered favoring one method, no one can truly say
that it was an accurate measure of someone’s ability.
In the end, despite the questionable authenticity of IQ
tests, they can still serve as fun brain teasers to learn
from. Why not try some of the ones listed below?
1. A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?
2. If it takes 5 machines 5 minutes to make 5 widgets, how long would it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets?
3. In a lake, there is a patch of lily pads. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire
lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half of the lake?
4. Where is the pool at Scarsdale High School?
a. The ceiling of the fourth floor
b. The teacher’s lounge.
c. The bathroom that was vandalized earlier this year was secretly renovated
d. Principal Bonamo’s office.
5. Which four-letter word can be attached to the beginning of the following words to form five longer words?
- AGE
- WIDTH
- IT
- STAND
- WAGON
6. What letter should appear next in this sequence?
L K J H
7. What number should replace the question mark?
Answers are on the last page.
9 2 1 8
6 4 2 4
5 7 3 5
8 8 6 ?
27

The Raisin-Brain
of a Cereal Killer
Written By: Bryan Shi and Sebastian Verelli
Designed by: Claire Chou
As a child, Robert Ressler rushed to the cinema
every weekend to watch the latest episode of his
favorite films. These “serial adventures” never left
the audience satisfied, often ending in cliffhangers
so that viewers would return the following week. A
few decades later, Robert Ressler — now an FBI
agent — was lecturing at a British police academy
when he was suddenly reminded of the short films
of his childhood. Ressler had overheard a
description of a chain of crimes, one followed by
another, including burglaries, robberies, and
murders. Drawing inspiration from the “serial
adventures” of his childhood, Ressler gave birth to
the term “serial killer.” Much like episodic films,
serial killers’ crimes unfolded piece by piece,
leaving an inconclusive ending after each killing.
What is a serial killer?
You probably have heard of famous serial killers.
Dahmer, Bundy, Gacy, and Geines terrorized
American society for decades. But what actually
earns a person the title of a serial killer? A serial
killer commits several murders in a series, typically
over an extended period of time. Many experts
consider a serial killer when they have committed
three or more murders, with considerable time
between each murder. Serial killers differ from
mass murderers in that they commit murders over
time, whereas mass murderers commit all their
murders in a one-time event.
Reid Melloy, a forensic expert from the University
of California, developed a system of categorizing
the different types of killers: affective killers and
predatory killers. Predatory killers are regulated,
controlled, and generally lack basic emotional
capacity. They have tendencies to plan their attacks
and generally attack strangers. These “predatory”
killers are more likely to fall into the further subset
of serial murderers. Killers who were categorized as
“affective” were more likely to be driven by emotion,
and their crimes were more likely to be directed
towards a person they knew.
Psychological breakdown
What motivates a serial killer to act? This
question has always puzzled criminal psychologists
and the general public, but we still do not seem to
have an answer due to the many factors that need to
be considered. Contrary to popular belief, most
serial killers are not insane. A more common trait of
serial killers is psychopathy or sociopathy,
describing a lack of empathy or emotion. However,
psychopathy is incredibly difficult to recognize,
especially since many individuals fall on a scale of
psychopathic tendencies rather than being
concretely diagnosed.
Even so, not all serial killers are associated with
psychopathy or sociopathy. Some have been
diagnosed with psychological disorders such as
schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Many also
suffered from childhood abuse or family issues.
Psychopathy alone does not answer the question of
why serial killers commit murder or how they
became that way. As psychology develops new
hypotheses to what makes a serial killer, the vast
spectrum of traits observed makes it increasingly
difficult to determine exactly why or how a serial
killer acts. Peter Vronsky, an expert on the
psychopathology of serial killers, stated that “we
seem to know less about serial killers now than we
thought we did 20 years ago.” As of now, our most
accurate theory is that psychopathy leads serial
killers to act due to a lack of empathy and antisocial
tendencies.
Serial killers are somewhat average when you
separate them from their crimes. Contrary to
popular media, serial killers have average IQs. A
spectrum exists where some have extremely low
IQs, while others could score into MENSA. Scientific
understanding of genetics has also played a role in
the factors that may create a serial killer. Antisocial
personality disorder, a mental health disorder that
may be hereditary, is a trait present amongst many
serial killers.

Neuroscience’s role in
understanding serial killers
To delve deeper into serial killer psychology, we
can turn to the field of neuroscience for some
insight. A 1999 study compared the brain activity of
41 murderers to a control group. While presented
with a visual task designed to engage various
regions of the brain, PET scans of the two groups
revealed a surprising difference in brain activity.
The murderers engaged little to none of their
prefrontal cortex, the region of the brain
responsible for complex decision-making. Both of
the groups showed similar activity in their visual
cortex. The lack of engagement in the prefrontal
cortex is believed to factor into a predisposition to
violence since it gives control to evolutionarily older
areas. Damage to the prefrontal cortex has been
associated with emotional outbursts, increased
risk-taking, and argumentative behavior -- all of
which have been associated with violent crime. At
a social and personality level, damage to the
prefrontal cortex may hinder self-control and the
ability to formulate non-confrontational solutions.
A brain scan of a control brain (right) and
murderer (left). The prefrontal cortex, located
at the top of both images, is activated in the
control brain but not the murderer’s.
Why are we fascinated with serial killers?
Serial killers are a mainstay of American culture. Despite committing their crimes decades ago, killers like David
Berkowitz and Richard Ramirez influence music, films, and TV... Fascination with serial killers is especially peculiar because
of the gruesome nature of their crimes. It seems that the reason we are so engrossed in the lives of these deeply distrubed
individuals is because of their incomprehensible nature. In a recent poll, 11 out of 13 Scarsdale High School students
indicated that they had an interest in learning about or watching content related to serial killers. To the vast majority of the
population, the mind of a serial killer is impossible to understand, which makes their crimes ever more intriguing. Serial killer
crimes are often exotic, differing from our common understanding of a criminal, and thus attracting public attention. The
average populace experiences a wide range of emotions, joy, sadness, excitement, remorse; meanwhile, serial killers are
emotionally stunted or incapable. The “guilty” pleasure comes in trying to understand and rationalize the heinous actions of
the most macabre to walk amongst us.
Note: Questions were taken from a mixture of the Mensa website and the CRT (Cognitive reflection test).
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
$0.05, as $0.05 + $1.05 = $1.10
5 minutes. Each machine takes 5 minutes to make a widget, therefore 100 machines would still take 5 minutes to make 100 widgets.
47 Days. Since the patch doubles every day, the lake must be halfway covered the day before it is fully covered, meaning it would take 47
days.
We don’t really know the answer to this one…
BAND (BANDAGE, BANDWIDTH, BANDIT, BANDSTAND, BANDWAGON)
G, it’s the sequence letters on the third line of a QWERTY keyboard (from bottom-up) from right to left.
4: Multiply the first two numbers to get the next two numbers in a row. 8 x 8 = 64
29

Letter From the Editors
Hello readers!
Thanks for picking up an issue of Scientific
Scarsdalian's first magazine! We aim to make
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and engaging via our print and web articles.
Special thanks to our amazing writers, editors, and
layout staff for their hard work. We can't wait to
publish more magazines to spread our love for STEM
subjects.
We hope you enjoy this look into the mind of SHS.
Have fun reading!
-Editorial Staff
Scientific
Scarsdalian
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