January 2010 Issue 3 The Darker Side of Nightmares A bumper Staff Section featuring: Andy Young, Philip Quinlan, Liat Levita Features: Social Loafing 4 Sleep Disorders 6 Dissociation disorders 8 Synaesthesia: What a crumbly yellow voice you have 9 Third year options 11 Classical Psychology: In Memory of Hermann Ebbinghaus 12 Pop Psychology: Mental Health of Students 14 Psych Soc: Summer Job Wanted, Will Use SPSS 16 Vicki Bruce: Honorary Fellow 17 Meet The Staff: Andy Young 18 Philip Quinlan 20 My PhD and Me 21 Interview: Liat Levita 23 Editors Letter: :HOFRPHWRWKH6SULQJ,VVXHRI3V\FK2XW7KLVLVVXHZH¶YHJRQHDOOFOLQLFDOWRH[DPLQHVXFKFRQGLWLRQVVXFKDVVOHHS disorders, dissociation disorders and YOUR mental health! I would also quickly like to thank all of our writers for put- ting in so much effort this issue!! Also a quick thank you to all the staff members and postgrads who have contrib- uted!! If you would like to get involved then email us at [email protected] and don't forget to join us on Facebook!! Also any references cited in this issue can be found at on the PreCognition website. Enjoy! The PsychOut Team 2 ,¶GOLNHWRLQWURGXFH\RXWRRXUDPD]LQJWHDPRIZULWHUVIRUWKLVLVVXHDQG also to thank them for all their hard work!! ,I\RX¶GOLNHWRJHWLQYROYHGLQWKHQH[WLVVXHRI3V\FK2XWDQGVHH\RXU name (and face) up in lights then drop me a email at [email protected] or search for our Facebook group!! Grace Rice Jo Hartley Cassie Barton Editor Adele Goman Ivan Alvarez Chiifen Hiu Hannah Belcher Alex Knight Alex Reid Charmaine Eng Roz Baker Danny Bennett 3 Our Features Section is where large topics in Psychology are discussed. Previous articles in- clude the history of Psychology, the effects of alcohol on behaviour and autistic savants... Social Loafing: A Half Baked Article Roz Baker and Charmaine Eng Have you ever sat back and let someone else tored singularly. GR DOO WKH ZRUN" ,I \RX¶UH WLUHG RU FDQ¶W EH ERWK HUHGRUWKLQNVRPHRQHHOVHFRXOGGRLWEHWWHULW¶V Steiner (1972) suggests two reasons for so- often easier to take a backseat. For instance, your cial loafing: co-ordination losses and motivation Granny has 40 years experience losses. Co-ordination losses refer of making the Sunday roast; to physical impairments that VKH UHDOO\ GRHVQ¶W QHHG DQ\ ³Its always been your little hinder the amount of effort help. Your Mum enjoys peel- the participant can give, such LQJ SRWDWRHV GRHVQ¶W VKH sisters job to set the table. In as not enough space in the DQG LW¶V DOZD\V EHHQ \RXU IDFWLW¶VHDVLHUIRUHYHU\RQHLI tug-of-war ± they slip over, or OLWWOH VLVWHU¶V MRE WR VHW WKH you stay out of the way. other people get in the way. table. In fact, it is easier for Motivation losses are when everyone if you just stay out Sound familiar?´ SDUWLFLSDQWVMXVWGRQ¶WZDQWWR of the way. Sound familiar? do the work. This attitude is called social loafing, and is defined as when overall effort expended by a group is less ,Q D JURXS HYHU\ERG\¶V RSLQLRQV DUH WDNHQ than the sum of individual efforts. into account, whereas in individual work you can do what you want. This motivates the individual to Ringelmann (1913) work harder because they will found that the overall effort get all the credit, it is their expended by a group of idea and they can work when, eight people in a tug-of-war where and how much they was only about half the want to. In a group individual amount predicted by adding ideas may be ignored or they up what they could do indi- may dislike their team-mates, vidually. This has been re- which could cause an apa- peated in further experi- thetic work ethic and lead to ments measuring shouting loafing. levels during a brainstorm- ing session. When the indi- vidual was lost in the noise of the group, they would put less effort in - shout less A lack of space in a tug of war competi- tion is an example of a co-ordination loudly, not get as involved ± than when they were moni- loss 4 The individual in the group gets no personal the group equally. However, this raises another recognition from the efforts they input; they are problem ± how are tasks split so they are equita- not singled out and rewarded if they work and ble? Is roasting the chicken equal to peeling car- SXQLVKHG LI WKH\GRQ¶W WKXV ODFN RIFRQVHTXHQFHV rots? Co-ordination issues could further impede leads to minimum effort expended. In the Sunday tasks. Our house made a Christmas dinner for 16 lunch scenario, there is little reward for helping ± at the end of last term. In theory, everyone should PD\EHDµWKDQN\RX¶ KDYH GRQH RI WKH ZRUN KRZHYHU WKLV GLGQ¶W but not a lot more. And there is little punishment happen; one person ended up doing most of it. for not helping ± lunch will still be served. Hence This was partly because the kitchen was tiny and there is mini- there was no room for people to help, partly be- mal motiva- cause people felt they lacked the skills to help, and tion for help- partly because people had other commitments; ing. both motivation and co-ordination losses. Social loafing in this instance was necessary; 16 people Harkins could not physically fit in the kitchen and cook the and Petty dinner. (1982) found that partici- A further explanation of loafing is that loafing pants put is dependent on the situation. When brainstorm- According to Harkins and Petty more effort ing, it is harder for an individual to come up with a (1982) participants put more ef- into individual range of ideas than in a group setting as members fort into individual tasks com- rather than can inspire and encourage each other; it wouldn't pared to group tasks group tasks. need every- Participants one working are solely responsible in an individual task, at full po- whereas the entire group is accountable in group tential to get tasks. This diffusion of responsibility has led to the job loafing. This is used in sports psychology to maxi- done. But mise output from every member of the team. this doesn't When a team is judged as a whole, members are account for more likely to coast. Coaches now judge members loafing in a individually, as singularly individuals will put in tug-of-war, maximum effort; a behaviour known as evaluation as physical apprehension. exertion, rather than Interestingly, when groups are pitted against intellectual one another in a competition, no social loafing oc- outcome, is curs; groups work hard in order to win the compe- measured. tition. When a liquid or monetary prize is offered, participants in a group work harder than when no And so: a half-baked conclusion for this half- prize is offered; an immediate reward counteracts baked article. The whole is more than the sum of ORDILQJ 7KLV VXJJHVWV VRFLDO ORDILQJ LV D µFDQ¶W EH its parts when there is a reward or competition, ERWKHUHG¶ DWWLWXGH ZKHQ WKH LQGLYLGXDO VHHV QR and if you want a group of students to work to SHUVRQDOJDLQWKH\ZRQ¶WWU\DVKDUG,IWKHORDIHU their full potential, always offer a prize of food or in the Sunday lunch scenario had been offered £5, alcohol. Common sense really. or a couple of beers for helping, perhaps they would have done so. This suggests operant condi- tioning is at play; rewards and punishments shape the loafers behaviour. Solutions to loafing include assessing mem- bers of a team individually or splitting the tasks of 5 I Cant Get No Sleep!! Alex Knight For many, as students, the feeling of awak- UK (Ohayon, Guilleminault, Priest and Caulet, ening either to the dulcet tones of an alarm clock 1997). However, estimation proves difficult as a or being forced out of bed by natural light is a large number of cases remain undiagnosed. In the common reminder of the de- USA, currently just over 43 sire for more sleep in our million individuals suffer lives. Yet in retrospect we from sleep disorders, a ratio spend, on average, one third of one in every six individu- of our lives sleeping, which als (Ram, Seirawan, Kumar equates to 194,821 hours in and Clark, 2009). Based on the lifetime of an individual extrapolated statistics, the from a westernised culture prevalence in the UK is sug- (McKenna in Dakker, 2000). gested to be just under 9 million. Loomis, Harvey and Hobart (1937) were able to Sleep disorders can be distinguish four key stages classified in to three distinc- within the sleep cycle based On average we spend one third of our tive categories. The first on differences in brain activ- lives asleep, most of this is achieved (and most common) classifi- ity, shown by EEG recordings. during our student years... cation is that of dysomnias, This characterisation involved sleep disorders which pre- a division between rapid eye vent the individual from movement (REM) sleep and non-rapid eye move- sleeping, or remaining asleep. This branch in- ment (NREM). Although many question the im- cludes insomnia (difficulty getting to sleep), nar- portance of such a large amount of time spent colepsy (excessive daytime sleepiness combined sleeping, it has been shown that sleep is a proc- with abnormal nocturnal sleep patterns), obstruc- ess which has been shaped through evolution, tive sleep apnea (pauses in breathing during important for the survival of the individual (Zager sleep) and restless leg syndrome (uncontrollable et al. 2007). However, in light of this, very little moving to suppress uncontrollable itching or burn- attention is paid to a supposedly forgotten medi- ing sensations in the limbs). Although many of us cal group within our society, those who have dis- may suffer from bouts of dysomnia (commonly orders of sleep.