Today was the last day of classes for the semester and for the 2011-2012 Academic Year. We have finals next week, and graduation on May 20th.

With the ending of the academic year, I am wrapping up my 10th year at my school. It’s hard to believe that much time has gone by. Seems like only yesterday I was wrapping up my doctoral studies, buying a house, and looking over my shoulder for someone else when my students called me “professor” in the hallway.  Now, I don’t even flinch. I’m still one of the youngest faculty members on my campus, but I’m no longer the new kid. I had a conversation this afternoon that reinforced to me just how comfortably I’ve grown into my position on campus.

Some days my job drives me crazy. But at the end of the day, there still are a lot of parts of my job that I love. Seeing my students develop from brand new freshmen to somewhat cocky seniors still makes me smile. I am particularly proud of my Experimental Psychology students who all did an outstanding (not just in my opinion, but I’ve heard from MANY people on campus) job at yesterday’s poster session. I love to see them owning their work and proudly sharing it with the campus community. I hope they see the benefits of all the hard work they put in over the course of the semester.

I also want to thank my Honors Seminar students for bearing with Dr. Khoury and me as we taught a brand-new, never-before-tried integrated course on Social Influence. There were some bumps, and, to be honest, at times I’m not certain Dr. Khoury and I knew exactly what the outcome of a particular class session would be. But you all did a good job with what you had for your change campaigns. I’m also very excited to see that you did see the connections between all the pieces of the course. Dr. Khoury and I have our own notes for changes in the future, but feel free to drop either of us an email with your thoughts.

I have a lot of plans for this summer – both in terms of work and home stuff. But first, I have to get through grading papers and finals.

I do want to make one final Thank You to my PSY102 students for following and comment on the blog (and/or on Twitter). You guys kept me motivated to get posts up each week, even when it was the last thing I wanted to do. I hope you keep following in the future and feel free to comment along the way.

Good luck to all my students on their finals and congratulations to all my seniors who are graduating and heading off into the “real world”.

This week is the last week my PSY102 students are required to do a web assignment. The challenge after today’s post will to keep things up over the summer. I’m only teaching one class this summer, so I’ll have plenty of free time. But that free time is already scheduled with tasks around the house that have been ignored all academic year. Maybe if I work the web assignment into my summer course, that will keep me motivated for those six weeks. We’ll see how I do.

This was a bumper-crop week for links. I suspect it has something to do with end-of-semester procrastination for those of us in the final weeks of the semester, or suddenly found free time for those who just finished up. Anyway, here are five links I narrowed down to:

• When Can Faculty Show Porn?

Inside Higher Ed (Mitch Smith) – April 23, 2012

Your first response to this question is likely: Never! However, I would argue that you first need to define what is meant by porn. Is porn simply any sexually explicit material? A precise definition of explicit would probably be helpful, too. Even United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart couldn’t clearly define pornography and stated: “But I know it when I see it.”

In this article, Mitch Smith describes recent cases at California State University at Fresno and Appalachian State College where professors were criticized about showing videos that some considered pornographic. One instance included a human sexuality class; the other a introductory sociology course. In the Fresno State case, the professor was defended by her administration. In the Appalachian State case, the professor was placed on suspension (although, that particular case contained complaints beyond the film).

These cases are particular interest to me, because, as an instructor of a human sexuality course, I do give serious consideration before presenting material to my students. Thankfully, I’ve never had a student complain about material in my course being inappropriate. But, given these instances, I’m thinking I need to add a “Warning: this course contains material of a sexual nature that may be offensive to some” statement to my syllabus. (I actually had to do that for my sexuality research in graduate school.)

• Gender Issues Start Sooner Than You Think

ScienceBlogs: Uncertain Principles (Chad Orzel) – April 23, 2012

In this post, Chad Orzel is commenting on a different blog post by Athene Donald on a report out of Scotland on women in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) disciplines.  The point being made by both bloggers is that children’s definitions of what is gender appropriate begin well before middle school – when we see the typical disengagement of girls from science and math.

• Nobel Prize Winner Weighs in on “Don’t Worry: Be Happy”

Psychology Today: Ambigamy (Jeremy Sherman) – April 24, 2012

First off, I bet you’re also singing the Bobby McFerrin song. If you weren’t already, I bet you are now.

In this post, Jeremy Sherman discusses Nobel Prize-winning psychologist and economist Daniel Kahneman’s insights on thinking and what happens when we focus on our problems. Kahneman’s work argues that spending a lot of time focusing on negative thoughts and events just leads us to feeling even worse about ourselves.

• The Fear of Public Speaking

Psychology Today: Choke (Sian Beilock, Ph.D.) – April 25, 2012

In this post, Sian Beilock talks about a common fear: the fear of public speaking. And it is common. I don’t think I can even count the number of times I’ve had students say they hate public speaking and giving presentations. My advice to them is the same as Dr. Beilock’s: practice!

I’ve stated before that I’m a bit of an introvert, and not a fan of new social settings. However, public speaking doesn’t (and really never did) get to me. Why? I’ve been doing it in some form since elementary school. Most of it prior to college was on the stage in various theater productions. But since my undergraduate days, most of it has been at the front of a classroom giving a lecture or on stage giving out awards.

• The Biggest Obstacle for First-Generation College Students

The Chronicle of Higher Education: HeadCount (Joanna Chau) – April 25, 2012

I’m the first person in my immediate family to earn a Ph.D., but I am not the first person in my family (immediate or extended) to go to college or earn a college degree. I never realized how much of the process and culture of college I took for granted until I started teaching at American International. We have a high percentage of first-generation college students. For many of my students, they may even be the first in their family to earn a high school diploma. There are a lot of obstacles for the first-generation college student, and as this link discusses, understanding the true costs and how financial aid works is one of the biggest.

 

So, the Friday Five obviously didn’t happen yesterday.

My day was rather busy with writing up a recent conference presentation that is to be included in the published Conference Proceedings, and then a meeting to discuss proposals for another conference.  Round out the day with teaching two classes and a faculty committee meeting, and I barely had time to eat lunch.

When I got home, I had a letter waiting for me telling me that, as of next academic year, I have been promoted to the rank of Full Professor. (For those not familiar with faculty ranks, Full Professor is the highest rank one can achieve as a faculty member.) So, I went out to celebrate.

If it weren’t for my students needing a post in order to complete their assignment for this week, I’d be very tempted to skip a post this week. But, they are relying on me, and I appreciate their efforts, so here are a few links for this week:

• Is Psychology About to Come Undone?

The Chronicle of Higher Education: The Percolator (Tom Bartlett) – April 17, 2012

I had several links to this information over the course of the week. In his column for The Chronicle, Tom Bartlett talks about the Reproducibility Project and how it aims to replicate EVERY study published in 2008 in Psychological Science, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, or the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition.

Interesting undertaking. There’s not much replication within the discipline, that we know of, because it’s not profitable in terms of publications. I’m not surprised that the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology wound up on the list, despite it being the top journal in my discipline. I agree with Tom Bartlett that Diederik Stapel’s actions cast a lot of doubt on the field in the recent year.

I have to admit that I’m interested to see what comes of these replications, and what happens with weak and tricky effects that will work with one sample, but might not work upon replication with a different sample.

• Careers in Psychology eCourse

About.com: Psychology (Kendra Cherry) – April 19, 2012

This link is more directed to my students, but it’s applicable to anyone who is thinking about a career in psychology. The eCourse is a 10-week course, so it will not give you an answer on careers in psychology immediately. But if you have the time, it might be just the motivation to keep you searching for the right career for you.

As I have often told students and their parents at an Open House: it’s not so much a question of what can you do with a degree in psychology, it’s a question of what CAN’T you do. There are tons of careers where psychology majors can succeed.

I’ve signed up the eCourse out of curiosity. The fist week’s assignment was a self-assessment in terms of what career might be of interest to me. In my opinion it’s pretty accurate. The top suggestion was an Experimental Psychologist, followed by Cognitive Psychologist and Social Psychologist. Hmm, the junction of those three describes my graduate research.

• How to Be a Better Test Taker

New York Times: Education Life (Annie Murphy Paul) – April 13, 2012

A reminder to my students that there are only two weeks left of classes, then we’re into finals.

This column in the New York Times gives advice on how to be a better test taker. It’s focusing primarily on relieving some the anxiety that can interfere with taking a test. But the very end of the article mentions studying.

Happy Friday the 13th. I hope you don’t suffer from paraskevidekatriaphobia (also known as friggatriskaidekaphobia), the fear of Friday the 13th. Triskaidekaphobia is the fear of the number 13, and not necessarily Friday the 13th. Personally, I like the number 13. (I also like black cats, and I’m not afraid of walking under ladders.)

It has been an odd week. It has felt busy, but no one thing occupied a lot of my time. Maybe it’s just the fact that we’ve entered the final push of the semester. There are only three weeks left before final exams. Also, the end of the spring semester always seems a lot crazier than the end of the fall semester because there are all the end-of-year awards and recognition events.

Anyway, I did manage to select five links that I’ve retweeted this week to share. Here they are:

• Breeders, not fathers: Psychologist says slave past created bad Jamaican fathers

Jamaica Observer (Alicia Sutherland) – April 9, 2012

Jamaican Family Psychologist Dr. Barry Davidson recently made a statement claiming that the history of slavery is the reason Jamaican men are bad fathers. Davidson states that, during slavery, men were viewed as breeders and not as fathers. He argues that this role is still evident today even among middle-class and wealthy men who provide financially for their children, but are not emotionally connected to their children.

• Using timers to improve productivity

Unclutterer (Erin Doland) – April 12, 2012

I love a lot of the tips and posts on Unclutterer (and particularly like when they poke fun at supposedly “useful” items on Unitasker Wednesday). I often retweet some Unclutterer tweets, but I believe this is the first post I’ve linked here on Friday Five.

In this post, Erin discusses using timers to help with productivity. Last summer, when I began doing consulting work, I found setting a timer extremely helpful in tracking my time and keeping me focused. I used a timer set for 15 minutes, because that’s generally accepted as the smallest unit of billable time. It was great, because I could easily keep myself motivated to work for 15 minutes. If I was still in a groove at the end of the 15 minutes, I’d simply set the timer for another cycle. If my mind was wandering, I’d let myself take a break.

• Multitasking – not so bad for you after all?

PsyPost (Springer Select) – April 12, 2012

Wait?! Didn’t I just post last week that texting in class is related to poorer learning? Now, I’m sharing a study that suggests multitasking isn’t so bad?

Well, one of the things about science is that there are a lot of contradictory findings out there. Some explanations are better than others, and sometimes, like this instance compared to last week’s, it’s a matter of studying different aspects of the phenomenon. In this study, by Lui and Wong, participants engaged in a much simpler cognitive task than last week’s study. Additionally, the findings of the Lui and Wong study do not dispute the findings that multitasking is related to cognitive impairments both in the laboratory and in real life.

• Drive on Tax Day at Your Own Risk

Shots: NPR’s Health Blog (Scott Hensley) – April 11, 2012

I feel a little guilty that I still haven’t finished translating the statistics from the study on NASCAR and traffic accidents for my friend Bill over at Talking Traffic. Maybe now that I’ve publicly called myself out on it, I’ll make it a higher priority to translate it from statistical jargon to intelligent person.

But on a different traffic-related note: this link from NPR reports on a study by Canadian researchers who found there is a 6% increase in fatal car crashes on tax day compared to other days. Yes, they studied U.S. traffic statistics.

So, before you start panicking about getting in a car, or being on the roads on Tuesday, April 17th (which is Tax Day this year), realize that this is a correlational study. Correlation does not mean causation!

• No Bad Luck This Friday Unless You Think It Will Happen

(APS) Association for Psychological Science (Lucy Hyde) – April 9, 2012

I struggled over whether to lead with this link or finish with this link. Obviously, I opted to finish with this link this week. I figured if I lead with this link, many of you wouldn’t give much thought to the rest of this week’s links.

Basically, if you think Friday the 13th is unlucky, then it may just be – for you. Why? Because of things like illusory correlations, the confirmation bias, and self-fullfilling prophecies.

In the ten years I’ve worked for my school, I still haven’t quite figured out why we get Good Friday and Easter Monday off (well, now we just get a late start on Easter Monday). We’re not a religious school. But I really won’t complain if it means I get a Friday off from heading into campus. (Note: I don’t get it off from doing work. I have a to-do list a mile long of things I’ve been putting off for too long.)

This has been a busy short week at work, with advising and registering students for Fall 2012 classes. (PSY102 students: make sure you’ve registered & met with your adviser to confirm your courses!) I didn’t really get a chance to process through my retweets until this morning. The following five links are what jumped at me this morning.

• Like humans, dogs engage in riskier behaviors when their self-control is depleted

PsyPost (Springer Select) – April 2, 2012

This link reports on a study recently published in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. The study by Holly Miller and colleagues found that, much like humans, dogs that have exercised self-control will engage in riskier behaviors than dogs who have not just exercised self-control.

• Researchers questioning the link between violent computer games and aggressiveness

PsyPost (University of Gothenburg) – April 2, 2012

For me, the timing of this link was perfect. My Social Psychology students were doing an in-class student-led discussion about the role of media violence in aggressive behavior. Too bad my Social Psych kids don’t read this blog – this study could have been useful to their discussion.

This link describes a study by researchers from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden who have found that the modern violent gaming environment actually requires a lot of cooperation among players.

Personally, I’ve seen this need for cooperation when my husband plays World of Warcraft. However, one should note that this particular study focused on multi-player, collaborative games – ones where players fight against each other or work together to fight the game. The findings discussed may not apply to single-player games – ones where the player only interacts with the computer.

• Star-Crossed Lovers: When NOT to Trust an Intuition of Compatibility

Psychology Today: Are We Born Racist? (Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton, Ph.D.) – March 31, 2012

When I first read this post, I immediately thought of a long time acquaintance of mine. She’s a really sweet person, but she has a knack for being attracted to guys who wind up being the worst losers. The study discussed in this post provides some explanations for my acquaintance’s behavior. The study found that, compared to women with no history of emotional abuse, women who have a history of emotional abuse are actually more attracted to potentially abusive partners.

• Text Messaging in Class May Affect College Students’ Learning

Science Daily: Science News – April 4, 2012

Students, you may think you are good multi-taskers, but the research evidence suggests otherwise. This post reports on the findings of a recent study that demonstrates that texting in class diverts student attention from lecture and course material, which in turn impacts performance.

This particular study examined texting, but it’s likely that the findings generalize to other technology-based distractions in class, such as Twitter, reading email, watching YouTube, and so forth.

• Math Anxiety is (Literally) in Your Head

Association for Psychological Science (APS): Daily Observations – April 5, 2012

I sense a math theme continuing from last week.  APS provides an overview of a recent study out of Stanford University that the brain activity of people with math anxiety is different from that of people without math anxiety.

Unfortunately for those of you with math anxiety, this particular study doesn’t offer suggestions on overcoming it. The study focused on determining a biological basis of math anxiety and found it.

It seems somewhat odd to actually be posting on a Friday. Things have been a bit off the past few weeks. But now, things are starting to get back to normal. (Or as normal as they can be on a college campus heading into the final quarter of the semester and registration for fall classes.)

This week’s links cover a range of topics selected based on my own interests and also things covered in different classes in the last week or so. I hope you find something of interest in this selection.

• Scared Crooked: Do Scared Straight Programs Work?

Psychology Today: Redirect (Timothy D. Wilson, PhD.) – March 26, 2012

Hey PSY102 students, remember how I mentioned in class on Wednesday that fear appeals often ineffective at changing behavior? In this post in his Redirect column, Timothy Wilson talks about the ineffectiveness of Scared Straight programs in changing the behavior of troubled teens. In fact, much of the evidence suggests that these programs actually increase criminal activity of the teens sent to the programs.

• Almost Alcoholic: Could Your Drinking Be A Problem?

Psychology Today: The Almost Effect (Joseph Nowinski, Ph.D.) – March 27, 2012

Although this post by Joseph Nowinski in The Almost Effect was not written specifically with college students in mind, I think students could examine their (or their friends’) drinking behavior in terms of this post (and in light of the link from February 24th about sensible alcohol consumption among college students). The post discusses the grey area between normal social drinking and problematic alcohol use. Those in the middle, the almost alcoholic as Nowinski labels them, may overlook their own behaviors as problematic.

• Learning to Drive with A.D.H.D.

New York Times: Health (John O’Neil) – March 26, 2012

I was drawn to this article because a good friend of mine recently commented that he does not like being a passenger when another friend, who has ADHD, drives.  Although the article doesn’t specifically address the issues my friend has with our other friend’s driving, it does discuss how learning to drive can be particularly difficult for teens with ADHD.

• “Coaching Boys into Men” an effective tool for stopping teen dating violence

PsyPost (University of California at Davis) – March 26, 2012

I brought up this link in my Social Psychology course this week. We were covering the topic of aggression, and I was explaining how different interventions have been designed to model non-aggressive behavior. This link discusses the Coaching Boys into Men program designed to educate male high school athletes to recognize and intervene to stop dating violence.

• Why Is It Socially Acceptable To Be Bad At Math?

Psychology Today: Finding the Next Einstein (Jonathan Wai, Ph.D) – March 25, 2012

One of my favorite courses to teach is Statistics, both at the basic and more advanced undergraduate level. As a student, I loved statistics. And these facts make me “odd” in current American society. I see it in my own students when I teach, and as this post points out, it has become o.k. to be bad at math in our society. When exactly did this happen? I’m not sure, I’ve seen it in my students since I started teaching statistics some 12 years ago.

From a psychological standpoint, the key to getting the United States to succeed in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines doesn’t simply rest on increasing students in these programs, it rests on changing our cultural attitude about math. How are students going to choose to enter the STEM disciplines if they are raised in a culture that says “Math is hard, but that’s o.k., we all suck at it, so it doesn’t really matter”?

I apologize for the delayed post this week. I was busy playing catch-up from being away the second part of Spring Break. Then, Thursday, I left straight from work to drive to Tarrytown, NY for the 26th Annual Farmingdale Conference on the Teaching of Psychology. Conference was great, my presentation with colleagues went well, but I didn’t have access to the internet. (More accurately, I wasn’t willing to pay the hotel’s ridiculous fees to get internet access.)

So, with a bit of delay, here are this week’s links:

• Two ways to right: The perils of naive realism

Psych Your Mind (Aime Gordon) – March 19, 2012

We all believe we see the world the way it really is and that others see it the same way as we do. However, this is not the case. Two (or more) individuals can view the same situation very differently, and these different perspectives can breed conflict. In this repost at Psych Your Mind, Aime Gordan states what we can do in these situations of conflict.

• New Research Shows That Holding a Gun Makes You Think Others Are Too

Medical News Today – March 23, 2012

The findings of a study by James Brockmole of Notre Dame and colleagues at Purdue University are particularly timely in light of the recent news regarding the Trayvon Martin case in Florida. It is also timely, as my Honors students were recently talking about the Amadou Diallo shooting from 1999. (The students were reading a chapter from Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink.)

The findings of the recent study is that participants were more likely to report seeing a gun in an image when the participants, themselves, were holding a gun. The researchers found that simply showing the participants a gun was not enough to increase reports of seeing a gun.

• The Highly Sensitive (HSP) Introvert Survival Guide to Weddings & Family Gatherings

Psychology Today: Prescriptions for Life (Susan Biali, M.D.) – March 20, 2012

The title of this link may seem a bit odd at first glance. Why would I be suggesting you read a survival guide to weddings and family gatherings? Because, you may not need the survival guide, but someone you know (like ME) can really benefit from the survival guide, and that person needs you to understand her.

Susan Biali describes the Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) as “someone who is vulnerable to being overwhelmed by the chaos and overstimulation of normal life, and is frequently misunderstood or mislabled as being shy or ‘weird’.”

The term HSP, or the scientific name Sensory-Processing Sensitivity (SPS), was coined by psychologist Elaine Aron. Aron states that roughly 15 – 20% of the population is affected by this pattern of behavior. Too many to be considered a disorder.

• How Society Works: 8 Revealing Psychological Insights Into Our Social Behaviour

PsyBlog (Jeremy Dean) – March 21, 2012

I hope this link is of interest to many of you, but particularly to my PSY102 students as we are currently covering the Social Psychology chapter in class.

In this post, Jeremy Dean describes eight areas of research conducted by Stanley Milgram.

• The Neuroscience of Your Brain on Fiction

The New York Times: Sunday Review (Annie Murphy Paul) – March 17, 2012

This New York Times opinion piece describes research that demonstrates how different words activate different parts of the brain. For instance, words associated with strong scents (e.g., cinnamon) activate the brain areas associated with smell.

The research suggests that reading fiction does, in fact, affect us.

• The 9 Habits of Highly Effective Complainers

Psychology Today: Changepower (Meg Selig) – March 16, 2012

As we have all learned at some point in our lives, complaining is a compliance technique. We can complain to get someone to yield to our request. However, as Meg Selig points out, we must complain the right way in order to get the person to comply. Selig lays out nine strategies that make one’s complaining more effective.

To celebrate the second half of my spring break & St. Patrick’s day, I’m off to visit with good friends in Atlanta. I’m currently sitting in the Philadelphia airport working on this post (gotta love modern technology and free wi-fi). I apologize in advance for any random typos. In the effort to pack “lighter”, my husband and I only brought one computer with us (his) – I’m still working out the quirks of the track pad if I get lazy in my typing posture.

I had trouble narrowing my choices down to just three links for today’s post, so I added a bonus to make up for the fact that I didn’t come up with five links last Friday. (For my PSY102 students: You can respond to either today’s Thursday Three or last week’s Friday Five in order to complete the web assignment due for Monday, March 19th.)

Here are this week’s links:

• Why Mess Causes Stress: 8 Reasons, 8 Remedies

Psychology Today: High Octane Women (Sherrie Bourg Carter, Psy.D) – March 14, 2012

I will acknowledge that  I jumped on this link as soon as it came across Twitter. I HATE clutter. I also know that clutter, and particularly a cluttered work space, is a huge source of stress for me.

In this post for her High Octane Women blog, Sherrie Bourg Carter describes how mess leads to stress and clutter makes us feel hopeless. However, she also provides hope. She states that stress is one of the easiest sources of stress to fix. It simply requires uncluttering and organizing one’s space. For mental clutter, she advises that one should focus on one task at a time without distractions.

• What’s the Real Reason We Hate Kids on Planes?

Psychology Today: Vacation Mentality (Lauren Fritsky) – March 14, 2012

I found this link particularly timely this morning. I have four flights over the next four days. Thankfully, there were no screaming kids on my first flight. I hope the same holds for the next three and I haven’t just jinxed myself.

In this post for Vacation Mentality, Lauren Fritsky comments on the recent event where a toddler and family were kicked off a JetBlue flight from the Caribbean. She states that kids build on and feed into the stress and anxiety already caused by travel. She also comments that what many passengers are truly frustrated at are the parents who let their entitled brat ruin everyone’s flight.

Note: Lauren Fritsky may not have said it so strongly. I fully admit that I do not have kids. I also acknowledge that my dogs are not exactly models of perfect obedience. However, I do make a point to keep my dogs from bothering people when out in public. Why is it so hard for people with kids to do the same?

• Children Who are Cruel to Animals: When to Worry

Psychology Today: The Human Equation (Joni E. Johnston, Psy.D.) – April 27, 2011

Don’t let the date on this link confuse you. This link did come across Twitter this week.

In this post for The Human Equation, Joni Johnston discusses the different motivations behind animal cruelty and the reasons kids may harm an animal. She also points out what types of behaviors are part of normal development as kids learn about their world, and she distinguishes how these differ from the red flag behaviors that indicate more troublesome problems.

• Learning I Hard and That’s OK

American Psychological Association: Your Mind Your Body (Dr. Stephanie Smith) – March 12, 2012

In this post for Your Mind Your Body, Stephanie Smith describes a study that found that children who are obsessed with success and perfection may actually suffer academically due to their fear of failure. She comments that children should be allowed, even expected, to fail. Doing so may actually strengthen their abilities. She also comments that children should see adults fail at difficult tasks.

This reminds me of two quotes by Sir Winston Churchill that I stumbled upon recently:

“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

Now, I just need to adopt this mindset to my own pursuits.

It’s the Friday before Spring Break, and the campus is a ghost town. I’m one of those mean professors who gave an exam this morning. It’s midterm week! Besides, most students won’t study over spring break, so they’d rather have the test done and over with before the break. (I am extra happy to report that my students performed, on average, 16.7 points better on this exam than their last one. All my harping about studying seems to have motivated them. Keep up the good skills PSY102!) I am also extra-super-evil because I’m holding my 12:25 – 1:15 class AND covering new material.

The spring fever seems to be getting to me, though. I had trouble focusing on writing this post, and as I start it, I’m still searching for a fifth link. I never did find it.

Also, as a forewarning, I will be out of town next Friday. I did promise my PSY102 students that I would post something next week. I’m just not sure that will be the usual Friday Five, or I might do a Thursday Three before I head out of town for the weekend.

Anyway, here are the links to this week’s Friday Five (well, make that Four):

• Has Coddling an Entire Generation of Children Set Them Up for Failure?

Psychology Today: Your Brain at Work (David Rock) – March 5, 2012

In his Your Brain at Work blog for Psychology Today, David Rock talks about some of the problems of the Self-Esteem Movement: that trend beginning in the 1980s that encouraged parents, teachers, and coaches to tell every kid that he or she is special in order to build self-esteem.

I will acknowledge that this post is much longer (7 pages when printed) than ones I usually link to. However, I think it is well worth the read.

• The Upside of Anger: 6 Psychological Benefits of Getting Mad

PsyBlog (Jeremy Dean) – March 6, 2012

We live in a society that tells us that getting angry is bad and that we should avoid getting angry. In this post for PsyBlog, Jeremy Dean presents six ways in which anger can be beneficial. He does conclude his post by cautioning that, while constructive in some situations, anger is still the emotion we find most difficult to control.

• Silly Sports Rituals? Think Again

APS Observer: Daily Observations – March 6, 2012

I still remember a student paper from years ago. The student, a women’s basketball player, was telling of how she developed a superstition of eating a Snicker’s bar before every game. No other candy bar would work; it had to be a Snicker’s. Even though she recognized the superstition was silly, she wasn’t willing to give it up that season. Perhaps it payed off – that was the year (2006) that our Women’s Basketball Team made it to the NCAA Division II Finals.

The APS Observer Daily Observations post describes a study, published inPsychological Science, that suggests that athletes gain a boost in their beliefs that they will perform well, which in turn makes them set higher goals. Basically, pregame superstitions work because the players think they will work.

• Animals on Psychedelics: Survival of the Trippiest

Psychology Today: The Playing Field (Steven Kotler) – December 29, 2010

The date on this may be surprising to some, but the link did come across Twitter this week.

In this post for The Playing Field, Steven Kotler discusses how humans are not alone in our use of mind-altering substances.

The trend this semester seems to be go crazy all week with work and then crash in exhaustion on the weekend. I seem to never get more than a half step ahead of the work. Things were so crazy this week, I didn’t really get a chance to pick out one retweet each day for the Friday Five. So, a few hours ago, after getting out of class a few minutes early, I ran through the week’s retweets and picked five that most interested me. It seems to be a week dominated by tweets through Psychology Today (@PsychToday on Twitter). I usually try to vary up the source of my links during weeks when I spend a bit more effort picking links.

Here are this week’s Friday Five:

• Developing Good Study Habits Really Works

Psychology Today: Ulterior Motives (Art Markman, Ph.D.) – February 27, 2012

My PSY101 students are probably wishing I’d stop harping on this studying thing. Some are probably asking whether this morning’s lecture was about stress or about studying for the exam next Friday. It was actually about stress, but I was using their upcoming exam as an illustration.

In his Ulterior Motives blog, Art Markman discusses the results from several studies regarding the study habits of college students. He points out some of the more (and some of the less) successful methods of studying.

Students, it’s in your best interest to study and get the most out of your college education. Think of the amount of time and money being invested in your education. Only you can ensure you get a good return on that investment. Your professors are more like personal trainers than plastic surgeons. We can coach you and give you guidance to develop success, but we cannot just make you a success. Trust me, my job would be a whole lot easier if I could just open your head and dump in knowledge and skills.

• How Emotionally Attached Are You to Your Pet?

Psychology Today: Fulfillment at Any Age (Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Ph.D.) – February 28, 2012

In Latin, there is a saying: Que me amat, amet et canem meum. (Love me, love my dog.) It has been taken to mean if you want to be in a relationship with a person, you have to be willing to accept everything about them (including their dog). In my case, this is dogs – plural.

In her Fulfillment at Any Age blog, Susan Krauss Whitbourne discusses attachment theory and what can be learned about our attachment to our pets. It probably comes as no surprise to most pet owners that research does support that our attachment to our pets is an important part of our psychological lives.

• It’s Funny But It Isn’t True: Debunking Myths About Aging and Sexuality

Psychology Today: Stress and Sex (Laurie B. Mintz, Ph.D.) – February 29, 2012

The original Tweet for this link (“Your grandparents have sex—get over it.”) was a whole lot more attention grabbing than the title of the blog post.

In her Stress and Sex blog, Laurie B. Mintz dispels the myth that older adults don’t have sex.

As I often tell my Human Sexuality students, saying someone should stop having sex because they’ve reached some arbitrarily defined age of being too old is like me telling you that you have stop eating chocolate tomorrow because it’s Saturday. It makes absolutely no sense.

• The Psychology of Hazing

Psych Your Mind (Amie Gordon) – February 20, 2012

In this post for Psych Your Mind, Amie Gordon briefly discusses some of the reasons hazing practices exist and why it is so difficult to stop the hazing practice.

I must admit that this link brought renewed attention to flyers in my building announcing National Hazing Prevention Week. I cannot say for certainty when these flyers appeared in my building, but based on their layer on the bulletin boards, it has to be this semester. After having no success with the web address typed on the flyers, I Googled National Hazing Prevention Week. It’s the last week of September. I sent an email off to the Director of Greek Life on my campus. I laud the attempts to alert students to the dangers of hazing, but it would help to provide them accurate information.

• Why Some Midlifers Spiral Out of Control?

Psychology Today: Face It (Vivian Diller, Ph.D.) – March 2, 2012

In her Face It blog, Vivian Diller comments on the recent publicity around Demi Moore and Heather Locklear and the difficulties they seem to be experiencing with aging before the Hollywood spotlight. Diller also discusses the rise in substance abuse and extreme measures to control aging among midlifers.