Memoir musings.

Why don't I write on this blog? Why don't I write in a journal? Why don't I write copious pages of witty social commentary, or thoughtful reflections, or a novel???

These questions have plagued me over the course of my life so far and I've not yet found the answer.

My latest inspiration is to write some memoirs. Iain recommended this to me when I declined his invitation to attend a coffee/breakfast experience with him, by saying that it would be like "being stabbed in the thigh with a compass, but without the compass, and without the stabbing".

I thought "Memoirs! sounds like sophisticated and linguistically-related fun". So here I am. On my blog (which was not created at all for this purpose - sorry loyal readers! please allow me a this ephemeral self-indulgence...). Ready to write some memoirs!

But where to start? I have so many questions! (e.g. what is a memoir?)
I looked them up on the interwebs and found an informative website to act as my guide (Inkspell memoir website http://inkspell.homestead.com/memoir.html).

To orient myself appropriately toward the trajectory of memoir excellence, I decided to reflect on the definition that the website had to give...

Definition of Memoir

A memoir is a piece of autobiographical writing, usually shorter in nature than a comprehensive autobiography (OK! So far so good...). The memoir, especially as it is being used in publishing today, often tries to capture certain highlights or meaningful moments in one's past, often including a contemplation of the meaning of that event at the time of the writing of the memoir (Meaningful events? Doubts forming...).. The memoir may be more emotional and concerned with capturing particular scenes, or a series of events, rather than documenting every fact of a person's life (Sweet action...).

It just sounds so EASY!
However, I lack meaningful moments from my past.
So I will have to think about this before I write embark on the memoir journey.
Ideas welcome.

Shameless Promotion!

Needless to say I need to update my blog more often.

One of the reasons I have not updated it lately is because I am doing my PhD.
One of the things I need to do for my PhD is research.
Now my "research" takes many forms, but presently I have an online survey set up to look at customer service performance.

If you would like to, I would LOVE you to do it, so that I can get some data to analyse and then get around to the important things in life (e.g. blogging).

It's really easy; answer questions about yourself and about four video clips of customer service.

It should take about 20 minutes to do.

Here's the link:
http://asb.qualtrics.com/SE?SID=SV_2hRQCyxKbCIFROY&SVID=Prod

I anticipate that the link will be active for another week or 2.... probably more if I don't get any responses.

If you have questions about it, just ask me..... Happy to answer them.

How we perceive emotion

Something I have learned - and feel is worth sharing with people, because it truly is fascinating - is about how people perceive emotions. So prepare to have your minds blown!

Before I give you the readers digest version, I need to let you know that there are competing theories about this, and that there are even different theories about what emotions actually are (I challenge you to come up with a definition!).

So how do we perceive emotions?
Interestingly, this ability requires our own internal simulation of the emotional state. That is, to perceive another person as being happy, you need to - in some way - experience this "happiness" for yourself (whether by some form of volitional imitation or by automatic mimicry). This does not necessarily entail that you - when faced with a fearful person - suddenly get infected with their emotion and begin to show outward fear-stimulated behaviours before you interpret their emotional expression as fear, but a comparison process takes place whereby the perceptual information you get is processed by the premotor cortex and/or posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) (part of your brain responsible for guidance of your physical movement, amongst other things). In other words, you essentially internally simulate what is happening in order to understand it. (As an interesting aside, people who have larger pSTS's have been found to be more altruistic! Go figure...).

Although I might point out that you certainly CAN experience this "catching" of someone else's emotion - there is a large literature on the phenomena, called emotional contagion. Now you know why you like being around happy people - because they make you happy :-)
This, and other evidence from studies on empathy and neurophysiological studies on imitation focusing on mirror neurons (I don't have time to go into these here, but let me encourage you to look them up - they're sweet action) have provided much of the empirical basis for the above view.

Cool huh!?

The woes of infirmity

Oh dear friends... woe is me!

I have been struck down my the mighty hand of back pain and am currently wallowing in a cesspit of doom, guzzling down cocktails of anti-inflammatories and self-pity in a fruitless attempt to comfort myself. The physiotherapist gave me about a thrillion torturous exercises which I can't even do, and all of this becasue...

MY TORSO IS TOO LONG.

Yes... disproportionately so. I have always known that I am mostly torso, and have been telling people for years... however all I ever got in return was mockery and scoffs of disbelief; now I have diagnostic proof from a real live health professional that my torso is just too long to survive. Too bad this information has finally come packaged in the form of a life sentence! Suck on that, mockers!!!!!!!!!!

Flog

noun

a cross between flaming and a blog; a blog for flaming.

For example, I just checked out John McCain's blog... and all I found were rants about how hates Obama! It's more of a flog than a blog, really.

Love on

verb

To dote upon in a non-patronising way, typically with undertones of awe and excitement.

For example, I have spent all day loving on my new iphone.

Frickin

expletive

When you don't want to use censored words.

Sweet Action

turn of phrase 

A cross between being overcome with joy and maximally approving of something.

For example, A: I just sold my sweaty old gym towel to some pervert on ebay for 100 bucks! B: Sweet Action!

adjective

For example, I just scored a sweet action towel of ebay and now I'm going to go rub it all over my body!

Pure Quality

turn of phrase

When something is really good, or features incredible craftsmanship.

NOTE: Must be pronounced in a (Glaswegian) Scottish accent.

For example, this cardamom flavoured gelato is pure quality.

etymology: coined by the Neds in Scotland.

Product Review: Pedometers

OK, I'm going to set the scene for you: on Monday nights a good friend of mine and I have been attending a 10-week workshop designed around the premise of "creating sustainable communities" and touting such claims as "participants who attend the course are experiencing, happier, healthier, more responsible and positive lifestyles". With that calibre of hype - who of you would stay away?!

Anyway, it's not exactly living up to my wildest fantasies. In fact, last Monday we sat through three hours of the "transport" topic. We learned such groundbreaking things as there is a website called 131500.info that you can visit to plan your trip on public transport! (in case you're not from around Sydney, you need to know about this website in order to survive... it's like a prerequisite for LIFE1001) Also - you can catch a bus instead of driving... WOW! My universe is turning upside down etc. ANYWAY this blog is not a flog, so for the purposes of this post suffice it to say I was understimulated.

However, the good news is - in an attempt to encourage us to walk more (instead of burning fossil fuels) they gave us free frickin pedometers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Way to woo me!!!!!!!

So... I now have my very own shiny new sweet action pedometer to love on **SQUEAL** is the the frickin bomb. Oh yes, my life has changed forever....... or so I thought*

That's right people, Monday night I could hardly sleeep with the anticipation of getting up and strutting about town with my stylish little step counter clipped onto the top of my pants. No I don't think you understand: I was literally bursting to get out and take steps. It was totes going to make me FIT and like, lithe and nubile and desirable!!!!!!! oh yes! Pedometer LURRRRRVE!!!!!!!!

Anyway, my hopes and dreams for everything good in the world were dashed against the rocks like a Psalmist's child when the damn thing recorded a step for every nuanced movement I made. lean to one side: that's a step. turn around: that's a step. bend over: that's a step. Get off the bus: there's 1429 new steps there that weren't there before. Pedometer? More like jiggleometer! My wonderful housemate tried to console me by telling me that jiggling still burns calories but that's not the point! The thing is specifically marketed as a step counter, so that's what I frickin expect it to do, OK? And on the subject, why is it even called a pedometer? I thought the prefix "ped" was reserved for kiddyfiddling terms!

Anyway, back to my previous point, this was all terminally annoying, but the real slap in the face came when I sat down and racked up no less than TEN STEPS. All I did was place my bottom on a seat! OK, to be fair I am classed as "the infirmed" right now (i.e. I have a sore back) and am practising a new, more "correct" sitting technique - but that's no excuse!!! In fact, that's discrimination! My jiggleometer is a disableist!!!!

So, the moral of the story is: Pedometers - don't get one.

* totes check out my use of this sweet action literary device a la Stranger than Fiction for your enjoyment.

Procrastination (and other Self-Sabotaging Behaviour)

This topic is one dear to my heart, in fact I dare say this blog wouldn't exist without it! However, for all the fun that procrastination is, do we really know why we engage in it, even when we know we ought not to? And why do some of us indulge in procrastinational pursuits more than others? Is it because they're members of facebook, they enjoy blogging, thrive off leisurely lucubration or are natural tetris-savants? I know that in my case all of the above are true... but is that the whole story?
In my present state of procrastinating, what better topic to discuss than procrastination itself!

Overcommitment, procrastination and perfectionism are widely accepted in the psychological community as self-sabotaging behaviours; in other words, things you do to purposefully hinder your efforts toward achieving some goal (these blockages can be real or imagined). "Why on Earth would someone engage in such behaviour?" you may rightfully ask. The answer is simple - so that when you fail you have a legitimate excuse. Having such an excuse saves us from the damaging thoughts of "I just wasn't good enough".
In fact, sometimes we are so caught up in preserving our sense of self that we choose the option of failure with a credible reason (I just took on too many things) as opposed to the small chance of failure faced with genuine effort and commitment (which of course, can only mean you SUCK!).
How many times have you (or someone you know) turned up to your tutorial presentation, having just thrown something together, only to barely pass? I'm sure the phrase "That's pretty good for a night-before effort" was exclaimed - with sincerity!

Sometimes these self-sabotaging behaviours can be a little more insdidious; being disorganised (on purpose...?) or choosing sub-optimal environments to work in (e.g. Sure, I could have gone somewhere else but I thought I could get it done while my housemates were having a noisy party downstairs)

Hopefully, all you procrastinators will be drowning in waves of guilt right now - and rightly so!
So how can you stop it? How can you cease these harmful - and ingrained - patterns of behaviour?

Well. It's difficult. In fact, procrastination and other self-sabotaging behaviours are built on deep attitudinal foundations. Underpinning beliefs, like "I'm not good enough" might be the answer, and you need to work at changing these. However, this is in no way simply done! I can't give you therapy right here on my blog, but I hope these questions (adapted from Keams et. al. below!) will at least help you start to think of the small changes in your thinking and behaviour that can chip away at you bad habits.

• Identify patterns of behaviour that reduce effectiveness and productivity.
• Understand and challenge the underlying attitudes and beliefs that lead to unproductive behaviours.
• Identify and challenge beliefs related to their the task that lead to unrealistic expectations and, consequently, higher levels of distress.
• Set measurable, attainable goals.
• Learn and utilise necessary skills (e.g. time management, problem solving and goal setting).
  

"Well, that's all well and good. But why would I want to change anyway? I love solitaire!"
I admit - Some of us need extra convincing! For those people (she says, gleefully blogging away) it's time to turn to the wisdom of one of my heroes, Albert Bandura (the hyper-super-guru of social cognitive theory).

In discussing of the wonders of self-efficacy (and they are wonders, believe me!) he points out that when people don't have much confidence in their skills and abilities about given tasks (even when such beliefs are completely unfounded) they don't carry these tasks out in productive ways: they leave them to the last minute, they don't put much effort in etc. When they procrastinate, they have intrusive thoughts about what they are putting off or 'should' be doing which totes detracts from their performance and enjoyment of the procrastinatory activities!

So now go! Do whatever it is you're supposed to do and you won't have these horrid self-reminders!

References:
Bandura, A. (1986) Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Berglas, S., & Jones, E.E. (1978). Drug choice as a self-handicapping strategy in response tononcontingent success. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 405–417.
Keams, K., Gardiner, M. & Marshall, K. (2008) Innovation in PhD completion: the hardy shall succeed (and be happy!), Higher Education Research & Development, 27:1, 77 - 89.

Totes

(abbreviation)
Stands for "totally".

Fer example, I totes want a puppy! Totes so baaaaaad!

Pop me an e

turn of phrase.
1. to correspond via the medium of email.

For example, I hope that hunk-a-spunk Billy Bloggs pops me an e with the details of his party.

Appraisal Tendency and Emotion

Today's fun fact is about the Appraisal-Tendency Approach of Lerner and Keltner (2000; 2001).

In a reaction the the dominant valence-based approach to emotion in the social-psychological literature and actually much other psychological literature too (i.e. emotions are usually treated in two categories: as positive - happiness, surprise etc - or negative - sadness, fear etc ), they suggest that equi-valent emotions (emotions that have the same valence, such as pride and surprise, which would both be treated as positive using the valence approach) actually impact on cognitive processes in substantive and often significantly differential ways, specifically when making appraisals or judgments.

Using the idea that emotions are triggered by evolutionarily significant events (e.g. fear is activated by perceived threat) and that the emotion helps deal with that situation (i.e. puts you in a frame of mind that helps you prioritise things and overcome the situation. For instance when fear is activated, people are uncertain, experience low pleasantness, high anticipated effort and low control).

The authors do a number of experiments that support this theory, notably in the case of anger and fear.
Generally, they find that people experiencing fearful emotions (both trait and state) consistently make pessimistic judgments and choices whereas people who are experience anger display more optimism in these activities.
Also, they found that fearful people were more risk-averse (avoided taking risks, were more conservative in choices) than angry people who were far more risk-seeking (prone to taking risks).

Maybe this goes some way to explaining how our governments operate in relation to different threats? e.g. economic crisis = people scared and thus feel out of control. Decisions made more conservative (focussed on reducing loss) VS foreign invasion = people angry, are certain about understanding events and feel personally compelled to/resposible for retaliation. Decisions made are more risky (focussed on making gains)... just a thought!

References:
Lerner, J. S., & Keltner, D. (2000). Beyond valence: Toward a model of emotion-specific influences on judgment and choice. Cognition and Emotion, 14(4), 473-493.
Lerner, J. S., & Keltner, D. (2001). Fear, anger and risk. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(1), 146-159.

Sweet (blog) Action!

So I'm starting a blog... How exciting!
I don't really know what I want to write, in fact, this conundrum is the primary constipating force that has inhibited my sweet blog action for so many years... but I want one so I guess I just have to start writing. Anyway... below are some preliminary ideas of what I'll be writing about, and the applicable label you can search under to read previous entries of that genre.

Before I launch into it though, I just noticed I can use labels for these posts! FYI, I hereby declare that every post I write will be labelled "sweet action" because that is the exclamatory term I presently use for everything that is awesome and great. Since this blog fits said criteria, I feel it is only fitting that each entry is annotated as such.

What you can expect to see here
Here are some of the topics you can expect to indulge in here on sighblog*. Of course,

• One idea I have for this blog - or a "pilot" idea (you like that?!) - is to share with you some of the fun and miscellaneous facts I learn in my readings of Psychology. My aim is to communicate them concisely and in such a way that people with no psychological background can understand them, without "dumbing" it down too much (which, it saddens me to say, is what I think happens all too often in pop-psychology). So that should be fun. If you like it let me know and I will continue to nurture it. If not, again let me know and I will euthanize it appropriately. This line of sentiment applies to all the things I write about on here actually. [LABEL FOR THESE POSTS: Psychology]

• Because I am a devout fan of vocabularic prowess, am also going to introduce you to some sweet action words and phrases that I like to use (some invented, some not) which I encourage you to weave into your own conversational escapades. If you do so, I expect you will gain friends, respect from your enemies and a generally more enriched life. These phrases will be emboldened in-text and explained in separate, brief posts. [LABEL FOR THESE POSTS: Vocabularic Prowess]

• Sometimes I am like totes in love with stuff or get obsessed with it, or think it's awesome (Note that stuff includes objects, people, ideas, fetishes etc). I need some space to rant about these things and sing their praises! [LABEL FOR THESE POSTS: Fangirl Funtimes]

• I'm a hypochondriac! Flipping out and anxiety-laden verbal diarrhoea is just one of the symptoms you can look forward to copping from me here. Self-indulgent? That's what blogs are all about! 'nuf said. [LABEL FOR THESE POSTS: Hypochondria]

What you need to do
Subscribe!
Post your comments!
Enjoy!
Maybe you have hot tips about presentation, or ideas of what you'd like to see me do. Perhaps there are issues you want me to take on... I'm all up for responding to consumer demand! So pop me an e and let me know.

Anyway, I feel like I've written enough for a first post... In closing (or should I say opening! as this post marks the beginning of a delicious new adventure) I invite you to subscribe, comment and tell your friends. This blog needs an active audience (i.e. you) to survive!

* sighblog is short for "starts with a sigh..." the official name of my blog, and what I will be referring to it as, in a shorthand way.
For those of you not clued up enough to figure out why I have named it so; it's because I love Psychology... in fact, I'm doing my PhD in it! As testament to the solid, world-framing knowledge it has lent me over the years and to much of my ingenious, pure quality blog content inspired by same - (yet acknowledging that sometimes Psychology is a pathetic rigid, positivistic approach to problems that it just can't solve) the title is a reference to the pertinent adage:
Psychology starts with a sigh and ends with an oh-gee-why?