HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Newsgroups: sci.psychology


For those of you that responded to my last post and requested to know
about future Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) presentations, here it is.
I have found that these presentations are a way to network with people
interested in NLP, in discovering more about NLP, and having a chance to
ask questions.

Date:  April 14, 1992
Title: The Power & Spirit of Belief Change
Speaker: Robert McDonald, MS
Time:  7:30pm - 9:30pm
Place: Pacific Cultural Center
       Seabright at Broadway (I think)
       Santa Cruz, CA
Cost:  Free

Date:  April 20, 1992
Title: NLP- The Leading Edge in Personal Evolution
Speaker: Charles Sheppard
Time:  7:30pm - 9:30pm
Place: San Francisco Airport Conference Center
       1240 Bayshore Highway
       Burlingame, CA
Cost:  Free


Date:  April 21, 1992
Title: The Art of Personal Energy
Speaker: Michele Roush and Jody Healy,MA
Time:  7:30pm - 9:30pm
Place: Language Studies International
       2115 Center Street
       Berkeley, CA
Cost:  Free

Have fun!

Contact  Tom:  ph# (408)-335-3858
From: andrea@cm.deakin.OZ.AU (Andrea Todkill)
Newsgroups: sci.psychology
Subject: Re: Parapsychology
Date: 10 Apr 92 04:48:09 GMT
Organization: Dept. of Computing & Mathematics, Deakin University, Australia

In <1992Apr8.113252.1@oread.cc.ukans.edu> repalmer@oread.cc.ukans.edu writes:
>I think that there are certain non-linear processes that are verifiable but not
>reproducable, say the weather or maybe psychology specific to one person.

Sigh. Which is why I said ONE of the crucial criteria, not the ONLY criterion.
RTFA.   ;)     <-  (This smiley inserted by Subtitles for the Humour Impaired)
From: andrea@cm.deakin.OZ.AU (Andrea Todkill)
Newsgroups: sci.psychology
Subject: Re: Parapsychology
Keywords: parapsychology
Date: 5 Apr 92 22:54:44 GMT
Organization: Dept. of Computing & Mathematics, Deakin University, Australia

In article <1992Mar31.231443.1956@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> ffujita@s.psych.uiuc.edu (Frank Fujita) writes:
>There is lots of scientifically verifiable evidence of paranormal activity. 
>Unfortunately, it isn't easily replicable under scientific scrutiny.  

One of the crucial criteria for scientific verification is replicability.
And any 'phenomenon' that can't stand up to scientific scrutiny of any kind
looks more than mildly suspect.
Newsgroups: sci.psychology
Subject: Re: Phobias
From: repalmer@oread.cc.ukans.edu
Date: 6 Apr 92 06:34:53 CST
Organization: University of Kansas Academic Computing Serces

In article <1992Apr2.213413.19399@pool.info.sunyit.edu>, ueh@pool.info.sunyit.edu (Eric Hausgaard) writes:
> 
> I am writing this because I have a friend in my Intro to Psychology class
> Who is writing on Phobias and the Fear of Flying in specifically.

Go to the library...ask the librarian if you can use PsychLit CD ROM. They'll
probably have to sign-up on a list and wait a couple days...do a search for
phobias...it well give you abstracts with the word phobias in it. 
Rick
From: jpk@Ingres.COM (Jon Krueger)
Newsgroups: sci.psychology
Subject: Re: Unpleasantness re: inner child discussion
Date: 6 Apr 92 22:32:07 GMT
Reply-To: jpk@Ingres.COM (Jon Krueger)
Organization: Ingres Division, ASK Computer Systems.

Charles Pflanze writes:
>>> Generally speaking, the ways that are the most popularly appealing
>>> tend to be the most effective,
>> How do you know this?  Where does your insight on this come from?
> Things that work well, like Toyotas, tend to become popular.

Phrenology was very popular in its day.

Astrology was and is quite popular.

-- Jon

Jon Krueger   jpk@ingres.com                    Oh we pulled the handle out,
and we pushed the handle in, and the steam went to the pistons just the same
From: dir2@gte.com (Dean Radin)
Newsgroups: sci.psychology
Subject: Re: Parapsychology
Date: 16 Apr 92 22:52:09 GMT
Organization: GTE Laboratories

> In article <2895@sol.deakin.OZ.AU> andrea@cm.deakin.OZ.AU (Andrea
> Todkill) writes:
> 
>    Really? Then if there has in fact been some verified research
>    proving paranormal forces, the researchers have been _extremely_
>    quiet about discoveries which if true would have overturned the
>    entire field of research in physics.
> 
This is an interesting statement.   Andrea apparently assumes that 
(a) the mainsteam would welcome discoveries of such importance 
and therefore wish to publicize them, (b) that such discoveries would
overturn physics as we know it, and (c) that researchers have been 
extremely quiet about their findings.  

All three assumptions are false. For (a), read about the sociology
of science.  For (b), please explain what physics principles would be
violated by"paranormal forces"?  For (c), see (a) and then do a 
bibliographic search on a database like psych abstracts.

Dean Radin
GTE Laboratories
Xref: sparky sci.psychology:2340 alt.politics.homosexuality:1877 alt.sex:13859
Organization: Penn State University
Date: Wednesday, 8 Apr 1992 23:36:01 EDT
From: Tim Bieling <QAA@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: sci.psychology,alt.politics.homosexuality,alt.sex
Subject: Re: Human sexuality
 <1992Apr08.173612.58221@watson.ibm.com> <1992Apr9.023852.24288@cs.uow.edu.au>

In article <1992Apr9.023852.24288@cs.uow.edu.au>, g8801935@cs.uow.edu.au (The
Jester) says:
>[...]
>stein has this right, which may or may not be influenced by others attitudes
>towards him. stein does not dislike jake because of his sexuality.
>stein likes lisa 'coz stein likes all girls/woman/female/XX (circle one:-)

Golly, all het. males will chase anything female (summary of the
above paragraph).  Not true??  Gasp - same goes for gay males.

Clue lesson #1.  (your tuition bill will be mailed shortly)

Jake is right, only someone with neuron interconnection problems would
fail to see this.  (Then again, anyone with NIP (above mentioned
Neuron Connection Problems will have problems understanding this
post)

-Tim
Newsgroups: sci.psychology
Subject: Re: weather-behavior correlations?
From: A.S.Chamove@massey.ac.nz (A.S. Chamove)
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 92 02:38:06 GMT
Organization: Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
X-Reader: NETNEWS/PC Version 2c

People here feel there is a correlation between mood and windiness.

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arnold Chamove
Massey University Psychology
Palmerston North, New Zealand
From: jrupert@fraser.sfu.ca (Jason David Rupert)
Subject: blindness denial
Summary: Looking for references, ideally detailed case studies of Anton's synd.
Keywords: blindness, Anton's syndrome, consciousness.
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 16:16:36 GMT

I'm looking for references of the phenomena of "blindness denial" or
Anton's syndrome.  Ideal would be detailed case studies and theoretical
accounts of the phenomena, but any source would be of help since there
doesn't seem to be much published information... thanks
 
J.Rupert                                        jrupert@fraser.sfu.ca
From: bill@NSMA.AriZonA.EdU (Bill Skaggs)
Newsgroups: sci.psychology
Subject: Re: pleasure centers
Date: 9 Apr 92 18:10:51 GMT
Reply-To: bill@NSMA.AriZonA.EdU (Bill Skaggs)
Organization: Center for Neural Systems, Memory, and Aging

In article <1992Apr8.212103.15617@massey.ac.nz>
A.Raman@massey.ac.nz (Anand) writes:

>
>A few years ago, I was told by someone of an experiment carried out
>on rats.  I'm not sure if it is true.  But if it is, I'd like some
>references to it.
>
>The experiment was about a rat/mouse given a choice between electrical
>stimulation of it's brain's pleasure centre and real food.  The
>observations apparently indicated that the rat preferred stimulation of
>it's pleasure centre (via electrodes implanted in its brain) to the
>point of near death through starvation.
>
>Is this true?  Can someone please point me at references in journals
>etc?
>

  A quote from James Olds:  "This did happen with some probes and
some stimulation levels, but it was quite unusual."

This whole story is described in the book "Drives and Reinforcements:
Behavioral studies of hypothalamic functions" by James Olds,
Raven Press, 1977.

Further references:

A Routtenberg and J Lindy, "Effects of the availability of rewarding
septal and hypothalamic stimulation on bar pressing for food under
conditions of deprivation."  J Comp Physiol Psychol 60: 158-161,1965.

G Spies, "Food versus intracranial self-stimulation reinforcement
in food deprived rats.", J Comp Physiol Psychol 60: 153-157, 1965.

E Miliaressis and B Cardo, "Self-stimulation versus food reinforcement:
Comparative study of two different nervous structures, the lateral
hypothalamus and the ventral tegmental area of the mesencephalon.",
Brain Res 57:75-83, 1973.

Hope this helps,
	-- Bill
Organization: Queen's University at Kingston
Date: Wednesday, 8 Apr 1992 16:59:08 EDT
From: Solace <SETOM@QUCDN.QueensU.CA>
Newsgroups: sci.psychology
Subject: Re: WANTED: Reference Book on Fetishism

Either go with the contemporary literature using one of the major databases,
e.g., PsycLit, or refer to the classic work Krafft-Ebing (1899) Psychopathia
Sexualis.  Lots of interesting fetishes described in detail.
Newsgroups: sci.psychology
From: lady@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Lee Lady)
Subject: Re: Unpleasantness re: inner child discussion
Followup-To: sci.psychology
Summary: Where's the evidence?  
Organization: University of Hawaii (Mathematics Dept)
Distribution: sci
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 11:53:07 GMT

In article <1992Apr6.223207.11743@pony.Ingres.COM> jpk@Ingres.COM (Jon Krueger) writes:
>Charles Pflanze writes:
 >>>> Generally speaking, the ways that are the most popularly appealing
 >>>> tend to be the most effective,
 >>> How do you know this?  Where does your insight on this come from?
 >> Things that work well, like Toyotas, tend to become popular.
>
>Phrenology was very popular in its day.
>
>Astrology was and is quite popular.

Right.  And are phrenology and astrology effective?  Is there any, um,
evidence to show that they either are or aren't?  One of the few actual
scientific studies I know on the effectiveness of astrology came to the
conclusion that in general astrological counselors are actually very
helpful to their clients.  

The issue here, as far as I'm concerned, is not whether astrology or
phrenology are good.  But I find it amusing that those who claim to be
so ultra-scientific so often butress their arguments with examples for which
they have little if no hard evidence.  

--
Lee Lady                                               
Dept of Mathematics                      lady@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu   
University of Hawaii                     lady@uhunix.bitnet
Honolulu, HI  96822
From: andrea@cm.deakin.OZ.AU (Andrea Todkill)
Newsgroups: sci.psychology
Subject: Re: Parapsychology
Date: 10 Apr 92 05:17:06 GMT
Organization: Dept. of Computing & Mathematics, Deakin University, Australia

In article <DAVIDB.92Apr8123701@inmet.inmet> davidb@inmet.inmet (David Barton) writes:
>Without a definition of your terms, I do not know if you are
>ill-informed or simply an intellectual bigot.  Is the work done at the
>Princeton Engineering Anomoly Research center not "paranormal", or not
>"scientifically verifiable"?  If you assert either, intelligent people
>will disagree with you.

I see. Since I disagree with you I _must_ be either ill-informed or
intellectually bigoted. No other possibility at all. On the other hand,
anyone who agrees with you is automatically intelligent. I thought this was
sci.psychology, not alt.flame. Let's see some proof by way of a change
from the ad hominem attacks.

>The best summary book is "Margins of Reality" by Jahn and Dunne.
>There is still some discussion concerning their methods and the
>interpretation of their results.  This discussion is not conclusive at
>this time (except by dint of close-mindedness).  The results have been
>replicated in part, by Dean Radin among others.

Really? Then if there has in fact been some verified research proving
paranormal forces, the researchers have been _extremely_ quiet about discoveries
which if true would have overturned the entire field of research in physics.
 
>Keep your skepticism level very high, however; this field has been plagued by
>bad methods and questionable investigators.  It does not take many of
>these to ruin the overall credibility of an entire body of serious
>researchers.

I can only applaud this call for a skeptical approach. And indeed I am not
saying that most of the researchers are not "serious" (I am sure they honestly
believe in paranormal phenomena). I am, however, making the distinction
between honesty of belief on the part of the researchers and the lack of
validity of the evidence provided by their work. Because they are serious in
their belief does _not_ mean that everyone else must agree with them in the
absence of convincing evidence.
From: ulysses@mcl.mcl.ucsb.edu (Nebulous Enigma)
Newsgroups: sci.psychology
Subject: I beg your pardon (re: RFD: sci.cognitive)
Date: 13 Apr 92 01:03:37 GMT
Article-I.D.: mcl.ulysses.703127017

I beg your collective pardon for driving up late, but I only just started 
reading this group and I noticed a flood of messages about a sci.cognitive
group. Unfortunately when I try to read them, all it says is "expired."
So I would greatly appreciate it if someone would be willing to take the time
to briefly bring me up to date on the discussions.

Thanks,
-Daniel Bucher
ulysses@mcl.ucsb.edu
Newsgroups: sci.psychology
From: pautler@ils.nwu.edu (David Pautler)
Subject: catalog of folk belief?
Organization: The Institute for the Learning Sciences
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1992 17:59:29 GMT

I'm looking for a systematic collection of everyday fallacies and
convenient fictions.  Here are some examples of what I have in mind:

Fallacies:

        1)  "Among the twenty possible sequences (disregarding direction
        and label) of six tosses of a coin, for example, we venture that
        only H T T H T H appears really random" (Kahneman & Tversky,
        psychologists).  That is, people will say H T T H T H is more likely
        than H H H H H H, although they're really equally likely.

        2)  Centrifugal force.

        3)  Judging one counterfactual situation to be more "true" than
        another might also belong here.  (I know David Lewis has written
        a book on the subject).

Convenient fictions:

        1)  Causality is really just a fiction, based on correlations.
        (This was Hume, right?  What's the citation?)

        2)  The intentional stance (Daniel Dennett).  When we observe
        a sufficiently complex phenomenon, we often imagine it's alive
        or that it's intelligent, although we may know full well that
        it's not.

Please send me any references you think may be helpful.  I'll post
whatever I receive.

I should say that I'm not really interested in debating whether or not
these are really fallacies.  I just want to begin cataloging "folk
beliefs".

I'm also posting this to sci.philosophy.meta.  My news system doesn't allow
cross-posting.

        -dp-


Newsgroups: sci.psychology,sci.edu,sci.research
From: aafloy@cs.hw.ac.uk (Hans Aafloy)
Newsgroups: sci.psychology
Subject: Re: The Golden Section & Perception
Date: 15 Apr 92 17:00:25 GMT
Organization: Dept of Computer Science, Heriot-Watt University, Scotland

In article <1992Apr14.174320.1@cc.newcastle.edu.au> c9102929@cc.newcastle.edu.au writes:
>I am trying to locate any studies done on "The Golden Section" or Fibonacci
>Series and perception.

This seems like some kind of quasi sience.
I have degrees in both maths and psychology, and have never
encountered claims like this.

Beware that many "scientists" are very fond of connecting brain- and
neural functions to maths and computer science ( eg "neural network" and
"artificial intelligence" ), probably in order to enhance funding prospects
by a "mystic" and "futuristic" sci-fi like terminology.

Any paper linking perception to the Fibonacci series, should be read
extremely carefully.

Good luck !

Hans.
Newsgroups: sci.psychology
From: c9102929@cc.newcastle.edu.au
Subject: The Golden Section & Perception
Organization: University of Newcastle, AUSTRALIA
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 07:43:20 GMT

I am trying to locate any studies done on "The Golden Section" or Fibonacci
Series and perception.  I believe some studies link neural processing with the
ratios of the Golden Section e.g. with vision 62% is devoted to the focused
subject while 38% is devoted to peripheral vision.  Apparently someone very
clever has linked this with mathematical communication theory (whatever that
is) but I cannot find out a single thing.  Any help would be appreciated.
From: JHARTLEY@cmsa.gmr.com
Newsgroups: sci.psychology
Subject: Re: Want references on this expt.
Date: 9 Apr 92 12:07:26 GMT
Organization: GM Research Labs

In article <1992Apr8.212103.15617@massey.ac.nz>
A.Raman@massey.ac.nz (Anand) writes:

>
>A few years ago, I was told by someone of an experiment carried out
>on rats.  I'm not sure if it is true.  But if it is, I'd like some
>references to it.
>
>The experiment was about a rat/mouse given a choice between electrical
>stimulation of it's brain's pleasure centre and real food.  The
>observations apparently indicated that the rat preferred stimulation of
>it's pleasure centre (via electrodes implanted in its brain) to the
>point of near death through starvation.
>
>Is this true?  Can someone please point me at references in journals
>etc?
>
>Thanks
>
>- & (anand)
>
The work you are speaking of was done by James Olds and Peter Milner at Harvard
in the early fifties.  I'm not sure of the reference but I think they
published a Scientific American article around 1956.  If you look in Psych
Abstracts for James Olds, you should find it.
Newsgroups: sci.psychology,alt.politics.homosexuality,alt.sex
From: jakec@ralvmm.vnet.ibm.com (Jake Coughlin)
Subject: Re: Human sexuality
Originator: jakec@ralvmm.vnet.ibm.com
Date: Wed, 08 Apr 92 17:36:12 GMT
Organization: IBM T. J. Watson Research

sik@cs.uow.edu.au (The 24hr man):
> I probably
> support you more than the homophobes (The 'probably' is there because some of
> you (homosexuals) decided to abuse me...

god, you just. don't. get. it.  do you stein?

some of us (me in particular) abused you because you make such stupid
statements, worthy of homophobes -- here's a wonderful example.  you
base your support of homosexuals on your own convenience.  if they're
nice to you, you support them.  if they "abuse" you, you don't support
them.  DUH!  sexuality, and in particular, sexual freeedom, has nothing
to do with the issue of your support and vice versa.  is this clear?
or should i revert to simple sentences, worthy of t-shirts:

see stein.
see jake.
see lisa.
jake is gay.
lisa is a lesbian.
stein says something stupid.
jake is mean to stein.
stein gets mad.
(1) stein doesn't support homosexuals.
lisa is nice to stein.
stein is happy.
(2) stein supports homosexuals.

(1) should read "stein doesn't like jake" and (2) should read "stein
likes lisa."
-- 
Jason Coughlin ( jakec@ralvmm.vnet.ibm.com )
Queer Without A Cause!
"I find myself suddenly in the world, and I recognize that I have one
right alone: that of demanding human behavior of the other." -- Fanon
Newsgroups: sci.psychology
From: jamcdani@zia.. ("jennifer mc daniel")
Subject: Info request for cognitive psychology/science programs
Organization: Indiana University
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 92 15:56:39 GMT

Hello there. I posted this a week ago to soc.college.gradinfo, but
I got no response save for a few "when you get some responses, mail
me a summary" notes. So, I thought I would try it here. If there's
a problem with replying directly, send your "Correspondence, Love
Letters, and Advice" to jamcdani@buffy.psych.indiana.edu. Thanks!

Greetings. I'd like to ask grad students in cognitive science at 
the following schools to take the time, if you can, to answer a
few questions by E-mail. I realize this list is a bit longer than
usual here in s.c.g-info, but I'm in my junior year and only
beginning to narrow down my choices:

Brown
Carnegie-Mellon
Cornell
Harvard
Indiana 
Johns Hopkins
MIT
Penn State
Princeton
Stanford
UC Berkeley
UCLA
UC San Diego
U. of Chicago
U. of Colorado-Boulder
U. of Illinois
U. of Minnesota
U. of N. Carolina
U. of Oregon
U. of Pennsylvania
U. of Texas-Austin
U. of Washington
Yale 

My questions, roughly in order of personal importance:
1. How is the environment in your dept.? Are students usually 
cooperative, competitive, or both? Are there any sticky political
situations in the faculty?
2. My interests include mathematical/connectionist models, 
semantics of formal and natural languages, categorization, and
logical verification of programs. Are these topics generally
compatible with your dept.? If so, are there any particularly
good advisors in these areas (or, for that matter, particularly
_bad_ ones)? 
3. Here's a thumbnail sketch of my credentials: major in psych, 
minors in computer sci. and linguistics; 3.82 GPA overall, 3.90 
in major; GRE scores 800 in math and analytic, 700 in verbal; 
1 year of research ass't experience, honors thesis planned for 
next year. Given that, do I have a snowball's chance of getting 
admitted and getting support? I'd prefer an RA-ship to teaching,
but beggars can't be choosers :)
4. What do you think of your campus and its environs?
5. What is the proportion of male/female students in your dept.?
Are there any females in the faculty? How many are tenured?

Thanks in advance for your help. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------
    Jenni McDaniel, Indiana University, Department of Psychology
"All we ever look for: a god...a drug...a great big hug." -KaTe Bush
 Big ol' IU taking the opinions of one undergrad?!? Yeah, right....
From: cbrand@cac.washington.edu (Carol Brand)
Newsgroups: sci.psychology
Subject: graduate programs in Psychology
Date: 17 Apr 92 17:02:53 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: UW Networks and Distributed Computing


My friend is interested in applying to a graduate program in Psychology. 
She is interested in studying (now bare with me here, I'm out of my Art
History territory) the interaction between stages of cognitive development
and learning styles, interaction of personality with learning styles,
and/or the effects of war on cognitive development. She says," Make sure
that you specify that I want to do research not clinical." Ok, I said it. 

Can anyone recommend schools and programs.  How about contact names at
schools.  Any information will be greatly appreciated!  My friend does not
have access to the Internet (poor dear) and is VERY skeptical about me
getting a response from the net. 

I don't read this group so if you have information, please e-mail it to
me.  My address is cbrand@nwnet.net.  Thank you in advance. 

-Carol
Newsgroups: sci.psychology
Subject: Want references on this expt.
From: A.Raman@massey.ac.nz (Anand)
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 92 21:21:03 GMT
Organization: Massey University Computer Centre

A few years ago, I was told by someone of an experiment carried out
on rats.  I'm not sure if it is true.  But if it is, I'd like some
references to it.

The experiment was about a rat/mouse given a choice between electrical
stimulation of it's brain's pleasure centre and real food.  The
observations apparently indicated that the rat preferred stimulation of
it's pleasure centre (via electrodes implanted in its brain) to the
point of near death through starvation.

Is this true?  Can someone please point me at references in journals
etc?

Thanks

- & (anand)
From: hmitchell@vax1.umkc.edu
Newsgroups: sci.psychology
Subject: SUBJECT
Date: 9 Apr 92 02:56:48 GMT
Article-I.D.: vax1.1992Apr8.205649.2655
Organization: University of Missouri-Kansas City

I'm a student in English 225 at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.  I'm
writing a paper on the mental adjustments students undergo when entering
college.  If you have any information on the aformentioned topic, or just your
own personal views please respond. Thank you

 			 Sincerely a hopeless student  
			       	JaVon
Newsgroups: sci.psychology