FLORIDA, YLENEAH JAMEE M.

October 12, 2022

COMAC1-18 – T 7:00AM-10:00AM     Activity 19 – Use of Graphics

PSYCHOLOGY BLOGS
A Strange Cure for Lack of Sleep

Figure 1: Cure for Lack of Sleep

Why your perception of how you slept last night is so important.

Just believing that you’ve slept better than you really have is enough to boost cognitive performance the
next day, a recent study finds.

The research, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition,
divided 164 people into two groups (Draganich & Erdal, 2014).

Both were given a lecture on how important sleep quality is and that they would be given a new test of
how well they had slept the previous night.

They were also told that the average amount of REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep that people get each
night is 20%.

Their ‘brainwave frequency’ was then measured and they were shown formulas and spreadsheets.
Despite the measurements being a sham:

• One group was told they’d got ‘above average’ sleep quality, spending 28.7% in REM sleep.

• The other group was told they’d got ‘below average’ sleep, spending just 16.2% in REM sleep.

These numbers had no relationship to how they had actually slept and were just made up to try and
convince one group they’d slept better than the other.

Afterwards, all the participants were given a battery of cognitive tests.

Those told they’d slept better scored higher on tests of attention and memory than those told they’d
slept poorly.

Interestingly, the researchers also collected self-reported data on how people thought they had slept
the previous night.

There was no association between the self-report measures and how people did on the tests of
attention and memory.

Magic mindset

This experiment is another great example of the placebo effect.

People know that sleep deprivation has all sorts of deleterious effects and good sleep has all sorts of
benefits, and so their performance conforms to that belief.

The placebo effect is still somewhat of a mystery, but the study’s authors think the effect is likely due to
both our expectations and how we automatically link stimuli and responses, à la Pavlov’s dog:

“It may be that expectancy directly creates the cognitive effects from perceived sleep quality or that
they are mediated by increased anxiety or decreased motivation following information about poor sleep
quality (or following actual sleep deprivation) or by increased motivation following information about
high-quality sleep…” (Draganich & Erdal, 2014).

Whatever the explanation, remember that how you slept last night isn’t just about how you actually
slept, it’s also about how you think you slept.

This study suggests that tweaking your mindset a little could be enough to boost your performance.

Study Answers Age-Old Question: Do People Prefer The Good News or The Bad News
First?
 Figure 2: The Good News or the Bad News

Many management handbooks and websites recommend the so-called ‘bad news sandwich’ strategy.

News-givers should hand out some good news first, then the bad, then finish off with the good.

According to recent psychological research, published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology
Bulletin, though, this is a selfish strategy:

“Our findings suggest that the primary beneficiary of the bad news sandwich is news-givers, not news-
recipients.

Although recipients may be pleased to end on a high note, they are unlikely to enjoy anxiously waiting
for the other shoe to drop during the initial good news.” (Legg & Sweeny, 2013).

In fact, a survey conducted for this research revealed that the vast majority of people prefer to receive
the bad news first.

It’s the news-givers themselves who prefer to start off with the good news, the study also finds.

“Doctors must give good and bad health news to patients, teachers must give good and bad academic
news to students, and romantic partners may at times give good and bad relationship news to each
other.

Our findings suggest that the doctors, teachers and partners in these examples might do a poor job of
giving good and bad news because they forget for a moment how they want to hear the news when
they are the patients, students, and spouses, respectively.

News-givers attempt to delay the unpleasant experience of giving bad news by leading with good news
while recipients grow anxious knowing that the bad news is yet to come.
This tension can erode communication and result in poor outcomes for both news-recipients and news-
givers.” (Legg & Sweeny, 2013).

Bad sandwich

Worse, the bad news sandwich may be counter-productive.

While it may make people less defensive, hiding the bad news can make them less likely to change.

The bad news — which needs to be acted on and should motivate change — can get swamped by the
good news and leave the recipient confused.

That said, it will depend on the exact circumstances.

The study’s lead author, Angela Legg, explained:

“It’s so complicated. It’s important to fit the delivery to the outcome goal.

If you’re a physician delivering a diagnosis and prognosis that are severe, where there is nothing the
patient can do, tell them the bad news first and use positive information to help them accept it.

If there are things a patient can do, give them the bad news last and tell them what they can do to get
better.”

10 Simple Postures That Boost Performance

Figure 3: Boost Performance

Psychological research suggests simple actions can project power, persuade others, increase empathy,
boost cognitive performance and more…

We tend to think of body language as something that expresses our internal states to the outside world.
But it also works the other way around: the position of our body also influences our mind.

As the following psychological research shows, how we move can drive both thoughts and feelings and
this can boost performance.

1. Pose for power

If you want to feel more powerful then adopt a powerful posture. Carney et al. (2010) found that when
people stood or sat in powerful poses for one minute—those involving open limbs and expansive
gestures—they not only felt more powerful but had increased levels of testosterone flooding their
systems. Powerful poses take up more space, so spread your body and open up the arms or legs. When
you dominate the space, your mind gets the message.

2. Tense up for willpower

Tensing up your muscles can help increase your willpower. In a series of 5 studies Hung and Labroo
(2011) found that when people firmed up their muscles they were better able to withstand pain, resist
tempting food, take an unpleasant medicine and pay attention to disturbing information. So, if you need
to increase your willpower, tense your muscles. It should help.

3. Cross arms for persistence

If you’re stuck on a problem which needs persistence then try crossing your arms. Friedman and Elliot
(2008) had participants do just that and found they worked longer at a set of difficult anagrams. In fact
about twice as long. Their persistence led to more correct solutions.

4. Lie down for insight

If crossing your arms doesn’t work then try lying down. When Lipnicki and Byrne (2005) had anagram
solvers lying down, they solved them faster. Since anagrams are a type of insight problem, lying down
may help you reach creative solutions.

5. Nap for performance

While you’re lying down, why not have a nap? Napping is an art-form though. Nap too long and you’ll
suffer from sleep inertia: the feeling of being drowsy for an extended period. Nap too little and there’s
no point. Where’s the sweet spot?

Brooks & Lack (2005) compared 5, 10, 20 and 30 minute naps to find the best length. For increased
cognitive performance, vigour and wakefulness, the best naps were 10 minutes long. Benefits were seen
immediately after 10 minute naps but after longer naps it took longer to wake up. Five minute naps only
provided half the benefit, but were better than nothing.
6. Gesture for persuasion

The way people’s hands cut through the air while they talk is fascinating. But it’s more than just a by-
product of communication. Maricchiolo et al. (2008) found that hand-gestures help increase the power
of a persuasive message when compared to no use of gesture. Most effective are gestures which make
what you are saying more understandable. For example, when referring to the past, point behind you.

7. And gesture for understanding

Gestures aren’t only helpful for persuading others, they also help us think. In a study of children, Cook et
al. (2007) found that children who were encouraged to gesture while learning, retained more of what
they learnt. Moving our hands may help us learn; more generally we actually seem to think with our
hands.

8. Smile for happiness

The very act of smiling can make you feel happy, whether it’s justified or not. Strack et al. (1988) had
participants holding pens in their mouths either so that it activated the muscles responsible for smiling,
or not. Those whose smiling muscles were activated rated cartoons as funnier than others whose smiling
muscles weren’t activated by the pen in their mouth. So, forcing a smile really does make us see the
world in a better light.

9. Mimic to empathise

If you want to get inside someone’s head, you can try copying their behaviour. Those who are good at
empathising do it automatically: copying accent, posture, expressions and so on. If you can copy it, you
will feel it yourself and then you’ll get a hint of what others are feeling. It’s what actors have known for
years: mimicry is a great way of simulating others’ emotional states.

10. Imitate to comprehend

The idea that copying helps us understand others works for thought as well as emotion. In an
experiment by Adank (2010), participants found it easier to decipher an unfamiliar accent if they tried to
imitate it themselves. Some psychologists go further, claiming that imitating others helps us predict
what they are going to do (e.g. Pickering & Garrod, 2007).

Embodied cognition

Many of these studies support a theory about human life (and indeed all life) called ‘embodied
cognition’. The idea is that we don’t just think with our minds, we also think with our bodies. Our mind
isn’t a brain in a jar, it is connected to a body which moves around in an environment.

As life becomes increasingly virtual, played out on screens of varying sizes, we need reminding that the
connection between mind and body is two-way. Human intelligence is more than abstract processing
power; it’s about the interaction between mind, body and the world around us.
 Here’s The Real Secret to Detecting Lies (And It’s Not Body Language)

Figure 4: Detecting Lies

Until now studies have found that people do no better than chance at detecting lies.

Despite all the advice about lie detection going around, study after study has found that it is very
difficult to spot when someone is lying.

Previous tests involving watching videos of suspects typically find that both experts and non-experts
come in at around 50/50: in other words you might as well flip a coin.

Now, though, a new study published in Human Communication Research, has found that a process of
active questioning yielded almost perfect results, with 97.8% of liars successfully detected (Levine et al.,
2014).

The process of lie detection has nothing to do with supposed ‘tells’ like avoiding eye-contact or
sweating, and everything to do with the way the suspect is questioned.

In the series of studies, participants played a trivia game in which they were secretly offered a chance to
cheat.

In one experiment 12% cheated and in another 44.9% chose to cheat.

Participants were then interviewed using a variety of active questioning techniques.

One group were interrogated using the Reid Technique, which is employed by many law enforcement
professionals in North America.
It involves tactics like presuming the suspect is guilty, shifting the blame away from the suspect and
asking loaded questions like “Did you plan this or did it just happen?”

This technique was 100% effective with all 33 guilty participants owning up to their ‘crime’.

A second group were interviewed by US federal agents with substantial experience of interrogation.

They were able to detect 97.8% of people that cheated — in reality all but two of 89 people.

Bear two things in mind, though:

• The Reid Techniques’ detractors say that it can lead to false confessions.

• Participants in this study did not have that much to lose by admitting their guilt. It wasn’t as if
they’d murdered their spouses.

Active questioning

Across the different types of interrogation, though, the important factor was that the questioning was
active and of the kind used in real interrogations.

Professor Timothy Levine of Michigan State University, who led the study, said:

“This research suggests that effective questioning is critical to deception detection.”

Asking bad questions can actually make people worse than chance at lie detection, and you can make
honest people appear guilty.

But, fairly minor changes in the questions can really improve accuracy, even in brief interviews.

This has huge implications for intelligence and law enforcement.”

Professor Levine believes lies are partly so difficult to detect because in normal, everyday life we have a
presumption of honesty.

“The presumption of honesty is highly adaptive.

It enables efficient communication, and this presumption of honesty makes sense because most
communication is honest most of the time.

However, the presumption of honesty makes humans vulnerable to occasional deceit.”

The key, then, to detecting lies may be to assume someone is lying and then question them on that
basis.