Here I am at the Association for Psychological Science Conference in Boston getting my picture taken with William James!
If you didn’t make plans to join us in Boston, try to come next year, if you made it to the conference drop by the Cengage Booth or our presentation to say ‘hello!’ Love to meet you all!
Here is what I am reading today!
“In most cases, earworms will disappear after a few minutes. In some cases, earworms can last hours or even days…. McNally-Gagnon and Hébert now plan to study earworms using MRI or Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation technology.”
This willingness to assume that an action has some unknown purpose, and to copy it, may be part of how humans develop and share culture, he says.
4 Comments
bcollis · May 27, 2010 at 2:50 pm
I read the article “Get That Song Out of my Head” and I found it very interesting because I seem to get songs stuck in my head all of the time. The article mentioned this happens usually when people are in a positive state of emotion, and although I’ve never thought about, that is definitely true for me. Most often I get earworms when walking to class or exercising. I definitely agree with the article when it says mindless tasks can initiate earworms, it’s just something to focus on. Sometimes when I’m at the gym I’ll listen to one song over and over again and it helps me focus and almost puts me in a trance. And a lot of the time if I don’t have music with me, I will find a song that I think about over and over again in my head. I think it will be interesting to read about the other research findings regarding earworms.
EspieW-PSY340 · May 29, 2010 at 3:59 pm
I think the copy cat behavior in children also may have something to do with trust and/or authority. If a child is shown direction from a parent, for example, the child trusts that what they are observing is the “right” way of doing the task. Most likely, the child will do it the way they are directed without question.
MeredithS · May 31, 2010 at 5:51 pm
The copy cat behavior article was interesting. When I’m around toddlers it’s so interesting to watch them watch other people and process what they observe. Then to see them imitate it can either be really cute or really bad. Like when a toddler sees an adult dancing… probably one of the cutest things to watch them dance along. However, seeing an adult running their toothbrush under water and then the toddler decides to “rinse” their own tooth brush in toilet water… not as cute. I think a lot of this imitation has to do with wanting to be like adults, and in order to be an adult, one must act like an adult. Plus, their brain is like a sponge and any moment they have to learn something, they soak it in. Imitation is one of the only ways for them to learn. Interesting though that primates only focus on what’s necessary, while humans will imitate the unnecessary.
Bianca Vasvani · May 31, 2010 at 10:18 pm
It was interesting to note that culture matters when it comes to this type of mimicking behavior. Research is usually done in western cultures but it is important to be culturally sensitive when it comes to more indigenous cultures whom have different responsibilities and daily routines which may prevent them from spending a lot of time teaching their children. This research has shown that we are motivated to copy the people around us because it’s a way of sharing and expanding our culture.
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