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Our spring issue brings you practical information
for home and business, research updates, a book review and more.Please
share this e-newsletter with family members, friends, community
leaders, local professionals, teachers, and anyone else interested
in learning how psychology can enrich your life.
| Children
and Television News - Roger D. Klein, Ph.D. |
More than 25 million Americans get their daily
dose of information about the world through television news. Parents
may not be aware that local TV news is a less-than-ideal source
for helping children accurately comprehend daily events.
• Most TV news stories are too brief
(almost half are less than 25 seconds in length).
• TV news stories are read at too quick a pace.
• Most TV broadcasts use visuals that are too
distracting to permit effective comprehension.
Research demonstrates that students in middle
school recall and/or comprehend fewer than 25% of the stories
shown on a daily newscast. With stories that are two minutes or
more in length they were able to comprehend 75% of the stories.
A second concern is the emotional reactions
children have to local TV news. Research has shown that most local
news is about disaster, tragedy, and violence. Here’s what
we know about emotional reactions.
Many children report that such content makes them fearful,
and that exposure to horrific events, such as September 11,
2001, increases the likelihood of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
(PTSD) symptoms.
While children do not generally indicate a belief that local
TV news accurately reflects their own immediate environment,
they do suggest a belief that the rest of the world is as dangerous
as TV news depicts.
Before exposing children to daily local news shows, parents should
ask themselves whether producing high levels of fear in their
children needs to be part of how they are educated about local
events.
Ideally, when properly produced, TV news can be very educational.
It helps viewers focus their attention on pertinent current events
and is capable of creating emotional states that can help us acquire
information. Unfortunately, however, most local TV news shows
place sensationalism and “infotainment” ahead of education.
| Working
Women: Take Care of Yourself - Rachel Millner, Psy.D. |
In 1950, about one in three women participated
in the labor force. Today, American women make up more than
one-half of the workforce in the United States (U.S. Department
of Labor statistics). Women also continue to have primary responsibility
for home and family matters, may forget to take care of themselves
and may run the risk of exhaustion, burnout or becoming ill.
In order to function effectively at work and home, there are
several things that women can do to take care of themselves
at work:
Learn to set limits –
you cannot accomplish everything yourself. Know your limit and
set it.
Take breaks – it’s important to
take short breaks during the day. Get up and take a short walk,
speak with a co- worker, or do some relaxation exercises at
your desk.
Say no – it may be difficult to say no
for fear that you will be negatively evaluated; however, if
you take on too much you will not be able to give sufficient
attention to anything.
Take days off – it’s important
to take time away from the office to rest and regain your energy.
Give adequate attention to your life outside the office
– if you are having problems in your personal life, your
work may suffer.
Work reasonable hours – everybody needs
to come in early or stay late sometimes, but avoid this becoming
a pattern.
Communicate – it is important to communicate
with your supervisors and co-workers so that they know what
your needs are, and when you may need extra support on a project.
Recognize signs of burnout – know the
symptoms of burning out such as having a short attention span,
getting annoyed easily, and feeling unmotivated. When you recognize
that you are burning out consider taking some of the above steps.
By taking some of these steps, you may find that you enjoy
your job even more and have more energy at work. Taking care
of yourself not only impacts you, but impacts those you work
with as well.
| Breakthroughs
In Treating Addictions May Be Just Around The Corner - Vincent
J. Morello, Ph.D. |
Treatment for addictions typically is intensive and time-consuming.
For many it is a life-long endeavor. In fact, there is a saying,
“Once an addict, always an addict.” People who support
the disease model of addictions note that drug/alcohol addiction
leads to long-lasting changes in the nerve cells of the brain.
It is almost as if a part of our brain “remembers’
that we are addicts and won’t let us forget no matter how
many years we are in recovery and have maintained abstinence.
Now, a recent study, published in the journal Science, shows
that a particular area of the brain, called the insula, may be
the key toward ending addictions. The study showed that among
32 former smokers who suffered from brain injury, the 16 persons
who quit smoking most easily had damage to the insula (a small
subcortical area of the brain). It appears as if the insula may
act as a switch to turn an addiction on or off. Cravings to use
a drug may develop when the insula is activated in the presence
of “triggers” or people, places, and things associated
with drug use.
It turns out that the insula is a form of weather barometer measuring
the body’s physiological state. The insula produces subjective
feelings of happiness or distress and sends signals to other parts
of the brain. Typically, we take action to increase happiness
and reduce distress (possibly by using alcohol or other drugs)
after receiving messages from the insula. What is particularly
interesting, according to the authors of the study, is that the
insula may be crucial for producing the pleasurable effects of
learned behaviors.
Discovering the role of the insula in overcoming addictions leads
to many interesting questions. First, does the insula control
addictions other than those to cigarettes? For instance, by altering
the functioning of the insula can we eliminate addictions to alcohol,
marijuana, cocaine, shopping, or eating? Second, scientists cannot
deliberately damage part of the brain in an effort to terminate
addictions, but they may discover a way to deactivate the insula
through other methods, perhaps using biofeedback, for example.
The possibilities for breaking new ground in treating addictions
are growing as we discover which parts of the brain are involved
in drug craving, drug dependence, and abstinence. Psychologists,
who study the learning and conditioning processes, may be poised
to play a vital role in understanding how to alter the responsiveness
of organs like the insula.
The possibilities for breaking new ground in treating addictions
are growing as we discover which parts of the brain are involved
in drug craving, drug dependence, and abstinence. Psychologists,
who study learning and conditioning processes may be poised to
play a vital role in understanding how to alter the responsiveness
of organs like the insula.
| Book
Review: "Good to Great" - Jeff Bernstein, Ph.D. |
Intrigued last year by the intensity and drive of
a family whose children were all standout athletes and top-notch
students, I asked the mother to what she attributed her family’s
collective strivings and successes. She simply stated, “My
husband and I always viewed good as the enemy of great”
and she referred me to a book entitled, "Good to Great"
by Jim Collins, 2001.
Good to Great unearths how companies make the transformation
from mediocre to excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed it and believe
that Collins’s ideas can be applied to individuals as well.
Collins identified “good-to-great” companies like
Abbott, Circuit City, Fannie Mae, Gillette, Kimberly- Clark, Kroger,
Nucor, Philip Morris, Pitney Bowes, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo,
and examined how they achieved enduring greatness.
Effective company leaders of these firms
came from the inside and had already established longstanding
commitments to the firm.
Successful leaders lacked huge egos. What they
did have was desire and humility.
Contrary to the “discover your vision”
movement, Collins found that such a vision was not what separated
the good-to-great companies from the comparison groups.
Over and over Collins found that getting the
right people into the right jobs catapulted these companies
to greatness. He calls this “getting the right people
in the right seats on the bus”.
Determining who was the right person had more
to do with character and innate capabilities than specific knowledge,
skills or experience.
The good-to-great companies emphasized what
not to do and what employees should stop doing. This was more
important than “trying to motivate” people.
Greatness came from ongoing commitment instead
of an emphasis on new hi-tech processes or technologies.
In this frenetic world, of here today gone tomorrow, it is refreshing
to read about what it takes to make great companies thrive and
endure. I also have found Jim Collins’s principles personally
empowering and I hope you will too.
PPA’s
Annual Convention will be held June 27-30, 2007, at the Hilton
Harrisburg & Towers. This year’s theme is “Psychology
and the Mind-Body Relationship.” Human resource managers
and other business leaders are invited to attend workshops during
our “Business and Psychology Day” on Thursday, June
28.
The following workshops will be offered in the area of business
/ psychology that range from creating a healthier workplace to
how to deal with disasters that might occur in organizations:
* Healthy Office, Healthy Body, Healthy Mind
* Enhancing Creativity in Personal Lives and Professional Practice
* Personal and Professional Development through Insight, Planning
and Work-Life Balance
* The Mind-Body Connection and the Psychologically Healthy Workplace:
Developing Interventions That Work
* Preparing for the Worst: Disaster Preparedness for Business
* Interventions with Organizations on Building a Drug-Free Workplace
* Motivational Interviewing: A Holistic Approach to Health Behavior
Change
* Coaching 4 Life: Mind, Body and Spirit
* How Best to Be Now
Registration information and complete workshop descriptions are
available at www.PaPsy.org.
Or, please email Marti Evans,
or call 717-232-3817. We hope you will join us for these training
opportunities on June 28.
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