Have you ever heard the fact that we are "99% the same as monkeys"? People love to pull out this fact, especially when people are acting primitive. Yes, we share a common ancestor to chimpanzees (which are an ape not a monkey). And Yes, we are technically an Ape. BUT, we are not actually 99% the same as monkeys. 98% of our genetic code matches that of a chimp if you line it up quantitatively, looking at the A, T, G, C sequences. The linear array of DNA makes this easy to compare and simplify into this commonly referred to fact.
Friday, February 19, 2010
men are apes.
Have you ever heard the fact that we are "99% the same as monkeys"? People love to pull out this fact, especially when people are acting primitive. Yes, we share a common ancestor to chimpanzees (which are an ape not a monkey). And Yes, we are technically an Ape. BUT, we are not actually 99% the same as monkeys. 98% of our genetic code matches that of a chimp if you line it up quantitatively, looking at the A, T, G, C sequences. The linear array of DNA makes this easy to compare and simplify into this commonly referred to fact.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
the happily ever after
A commonly accepted theory is that romantic relationship degrade in the long term. They turn into friendships or companionate love, lacking in sexual fire or any type of passion. In a recent study Acevedo & Aron argue "that romantic love—with intensity, engagement, and sexual interest— can last. Although it does not usually include the obsessional qualities of early stage love, it does not inevitably die out or at best turn into companionate love" They examined 25 individual studies, including longitudinal studies, for their data. Passionate love is characterized by intense longing and includes an obsessive element, (intrusive thinking, uncertainty, and mood swings). It is often denied that this exists in long term relationships. Passionate love was reported to be linked to relationship satisfaction in almost half (46%) of the 302 participants in long term relationships. While this is not as high as in the short-term relationships, 55%, it is still present. More importantly Romantic love is linked to satisfaction 56% or the time. Romantic love includes "intensity, engagement, and sexual interest". SO, in contrast to common belief, both passionate & romantic love can last, and you can live happily ever after.
The table to the left is from their work.
N =Total number of people k =number of independent studies; r = average effect size (the strength of the relationship between that type of love and satisfaction); SD =Standard deviation.
Acevedo, B.P., & Aron, A. (2009). Does a long-term relationship kill romantic love? Review of General Psychology Vol. 13, No. 1, 59 – 65.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Cinderella gets a lesson in love chemistry.
Maybe Cinderella fell in love with the prince because of how he smelled. You’ve heard of pheromones before, a scent that sends out messages to others saying things like “hey I’m available!” You probably haven't heard of MHC’s. MHC stands for Major Histocompatibility complex. This is in the set of genes that controls your immune system. It has been shown to have an effect on who you find attractive. In theory, two partners with a greater difference in their MHC ‘s will create healthier children, with better immune systems. One of the studies testing this theory took place in Switzerland, at the University of Bern. Women were asked to smell different men’s t-shirts and pick the most attractive smelling. Without knowing it, they choose t-shirts of men with the most differing MHC from their own. Click to check out this video of a similar experiment with a man. It has also been hypothesized that kissing is sort of an MHC taste test. We've evolved to be attracted to people who we will have viable offspring with, smell and taste are ways we can check this out. Now that we can see how evolution has a hand in who we love, lets look at how our own brain chemicals can almost trick us into love.
Cinderella might have liked the prince because she met him in such an exciting way. I mean think about sneaking out from your evil stepmother's house in disguise. Studies show that people who meet in situations with high emotion are more likely to feel an attraction for each other. In a study by Dutton and Aron in 1974, men met a woman on one of two bridges. They either met her on a low safe bridge or a higher shaky bridge. She asked them a few questions and gave them the option of contacting her outside of the study. The woman on the shakier bridge got far more phone calls than the one on the safer bridge. More than four times as many men called the girl on the shakier bridge as the girl on the safer bridge. You might mistake a high risk situation as love or attraction because of all the hormones and chemicals that are being released. Instead of attributing them to the situation, we attribute them to the person we're with. We've all her the suggestion that the perfect date is to take a girl to a scary movie, it turns out that's pretty true.
Cinderella met the prince at a fancy ball. Situations really effect how we feel about someone. Another thing that we associate with love is novelty, so if we meet someone in a unique way we often fall for them. My grandparents met when my grandma hit my grandpas car in a parking lot. They've been together around 47 years. These odd occurances stand out for us, they stick in our minds, and so those people often stick in our minds as well.
Did Cinderella really live happily ever after? We may never know, but we might have figured out why she fell in love.
Dutton, D., & Aron, A. (1974). Some evidence for heightened sexual attraction under conditions of high anxiety., Journal of Personal and Social Psychology, Vol. 30, No. 4, 510-517.
Fisher, H. (2004). Why We Love: The nature and chemistry of romantic love. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
Harrell, E., Kloberd, K., & Stinchfield, K.,(2008). The science of romance: why we love, Time. Retrieved May 14, 2008, from http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1704672,00.html
Wedekind, C., Seebeck, T., Bettens, F., & Paeke, A. (2006). The intensity of human body odors and MHC: Should we expect a link., Evolutionary Psychology, ISSN 1474-7049, 85-94.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
psychology of the snowflake
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Lewy, A. J., Wehr, T. A., Goodwin, F. K., Newsome, D. A., & Markey,
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Friday, January 15, 2010
welcome to the happiest place on earth.
At Disney World you will find hundreds of people from all around the world. Waiting in line for the Tower of Terror, you can hear all sorts of languages from French to Japanese. Everyone wants to wear mickey ears and watch the magical character parade. Some people have special buttons that say, "It's my birthday!" and then everyone who works is required to say "Happy Birthday, Jenny". Some people even go as far as having their wedding at Disney World, and pay extra for the characters to attend their reception. Well, all of this prompted me as to why we love this magic? Why will we pay $140 for a park-hopper pass? But then my boyfriend prompted me to ask a less obvious question- why not? Why do some of us snicker at those wearing mickey ears? Why are we so cynical?