To Tick or Not to Tick?

People who participate in organ donation programs are known to be powerfully influenced by the relevant default policy in effect (''opt-in'' vs. ''opt-out'').

Studies provide evidence that this difference in participation may occur in part because the requirement to opt-in or opt-out results in large differences in the meaning that individuals attach to participation.

A study by Davidai et al. (2012) examined this phenomena in relation to people's driving licences in Germany and Austria. Respondents who live in Germany, which employs an opt-in donation policy; and conversely, in Austria, they have an opt-out policy.

Can being lazy or not bothered have a bigger impact than you imagine? Well, in Germany: the 'tick box' if you DO want to donate leads to 12% being donors. However, in Austria, a country with a very similar culture and economic development: having a "tick box if you DON'T want to donate" leads to only 1% ticking the box. Consequently, 99% of people in Austria are organ donors!

The placement of organ donation differed significantly depending on whether it purportedly was made in an opt-in country or an opt-out country.

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The Hungarian Suicide Song

'Gloomy Sunday' originally written by a Hungarian composer Rezső Seress after he broke up with his girlfriend in the 1930's.; a.k.a The Hungarian Suicide Song.

 

At least 100 suicides have been linked to the song in various countries, including both the composer and the composer's ex-girlfriend who poisoned herself after hearing it leaving a note simply saying, "Gloomy Sunday".

 

It was banned by the BBC up until 2002; who deemed the song "too upsetting" for the public

 

Stories of its notoriety include a man who heard a beggar singing it and immediately gave all his possessions away before jumping from a bridge to his death. In Budapest, a shopkeeper killed himself and left a note that quoted from the lyrics of the same song. In Berlin, a young shopkeeper hung herself. Beneath her feet, they found a copy of "Gloomy Sunday". In New York, a pretty secretary gassed herself, leaving behind her a request that “Gloomy Sunday” be played at her funeral. In London, a woman overdosed while listening to a record of the song over and over.

 

Is it the musical equivalent of M. Night Shyamalan's film The Happening, or simply myth?

 

Listen at your peril...

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Political Persuasion

What does an elected individual do or portray that may benefit them in the run up to polling day? In election campaigns, candidates attempt to promote themselves and try to communicate a positive message to get the support of the deciding voters. Along with expressing their motives if elected, does an understanding of the voter’s mind benefit their campaign strategy? A promotion of this idea could be witnessed in a haunting statement from Adolf Hitler (1933) who remarked in his infamous literature Mein Kampf,

'' … the greater the scope of the message that has to be present, the more necessary it is for the propaganda to discover that plan of action which is psychologically the most efficient''

Political communication and persuasion may have intrigued a tyrant in Nazi Germany,  but how does modern day political messages affect the public? In political elections advertising is regularly used to communicate a candidate's message in the hope of being elected. The public are exposed to images of politicians on campaign posters, campaign buses, leaflets through their letterbox, political broadcasts and televised debates. Whether the individual is walking on the street, driving in their car or sitting in front of the TV, they will likely witness political campaign advertising in some form or another.

 

In what ways does this advertising affect the mind of a voter? In the 2008 US presidential election Barack Obama’s campaign slogan of ''Yes we can'' may have been transformed into a victorious ''Yes we did!'' (Miller, 2009).  The ‘Mere exposure effect’ proposed by Zajonc (1968), says that a repeated exposure to a particular object results in a greater attraction to that object. If this theory is applied to political advertising, you could argue that people who continually witnessed Obama's campaign signs, may have developed a preference for his slogan and thus his party in general.

However, voters are not easily fooled by familiar and attractive faces alone (Mattes et al., 2010). First impressions of a political candidate can also be important. Primacy effects refer to people's tendency to assign more importance to the first information we learn about a person. Research suggests that a candidate who arouses positive feelings in a voter at an early stage, may have a heavy bearing on the day citizens go to the polls. Research from Abakoumkin (2011) highlighted the relationship of primacy effects in the ballot order of candidate's names and election outcomes. According to the author, those candidates listed earlier on a voting list may have had an advantage over those listed afterwards.

Contrary to these primary effects are recency effects, the enhanced memory of recently learned information. Can recency effects have an impact in how they influence vote decision? On October 24th 2011, in the race for the Irish Presidency, allegations were made against front runner Sean Gallagher that he received a €5,000 payment from convicted fuel smuggler Hugh Morgan. An argument could be made that recency effects of the allegations played a role in Mr. Gallagher losing votes and not being elected President. The recency effects coupled with this revelation may have removed feelings of trust and popularity among the Irish electorate.

Popularity and liking is also psychologically important for creating an association with a person. In his book 'Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion', Cialdini (2007) says that people tend to comply with the requests of someone they know and like (p. 167), with other researchers arguing that the likeability of a candidate suggests caring, trust and sociability (Hoegg & Lewis, 2011). Candidates trying to win votes may employ this tactic in order to create a 'one of us' connection. Cialdini also discussed peoples need to reciprocate; a politician who canvasses door to door making promises about what they will do once elected, or what they have done, can leave people in a situation where they feel an act of reciprocation is due (Cialdini, 2007). The political promises are acknowledged and in exchange for a vote, the 'reciprocity rule' lets the person avoid feelings of indebtedness to the other party.

Another method of creating an association with voters is in the linking of celebrities to political parties (Cialdini, 2007). Name dropping to associate yourself with desirable individuals and therefore improve other people's impressions of you, is referred to as BIRGing, 'Basking in Reflected Glory' (Cialdini et al., 1976).

An early example of this was portrayed in an overt media act instigated by Edward Bernays,  a pioneer in public relations. In 1924, the media had portrayed US President Calvin Coolidge as a dull, humanless figure who was viewed as a national joke. President Coolidge contacted Bernays for help in boosting his popularity with the masses. Bernays organised 34 film stars to visit the White House, and in this act of combining public relations with politics, the morning newspapers contained front page articles that increased the President's ratings among the public (Curtis, 2002).

A more recent example demonstrated in 2001, showed Tony Blair inviting celebrities to 10 Downing Street in an attempt to "add some spice" to the Labour Party. Political tactics like 'BIRGing' may sway the undecided votes, by creating a positive mental schema of the politician and thus reducing initial cognitive dissonance.

Basking in reflected glory may have helped President Coolidge boost his self enhancement in 1924, but in the modern era of elections, social media sites can act as a new communication tool for politicians (Vitak et al., 2011). With the younger generation of today being the future voters, politicians may need to increase political interest through relevant mediums. The internet provides people with more information in elections than that of traditional media. Facebook and MySpace were extremely popular among younger voters in the 2008 US Presidential race (Vitak et al., 2011). These social media sites allow politicians to interact with younger voters who may not have been previously interested in politics. Facebook users could post comments, share videos, express thoughts, become a "fan" of a candidate, and connect with other users in ways that previous elections did not offer (Vitak et al., 2011). Thus, from the use of social media sites, the peer to peer interactions among younger users can benefit a politician to convey their message to a broader audience.

An additional attraction of online political communication is how cost effective it can be. Research by Hoegg & Lewis (2011) states, ''A huge determinant of the success of a political campaign is the money spent on it'' (p. 898). It is therefore beneficial to the candidate to engage in powerful online mediums that save on expenditure and are less resource intensive, with any surplus expenditure being directed elsewhere. However, online activities may also have negative implications for political candidates. With the popularity of mobile phones, a member of the public standing in a campaign crowd can record a candidates "gaffe" and immediately post it online for millions to view (Johnson & Perlmutter, 2011). Mistakes can be highlighted and damage political reputations, where in previous decades an unfortunate incident may have gone unnoticed and be quickly forgotten.

The effective use of internet mediums has also been questioned by Morozov (2009). The author regarded the users of online resources for political interaction as ''slacktivists'', where participants were merely engaging in feel-good online activism that has little or zero real world impact. Online participants in chat forums who attempt to generate publicity for a particular candidate, is an ideal form of activism for a ''lazy generation'' and are not interested in following through on their morals (Morozov, 2009).

Political elections continue to be a prominent topic in news and general discussion. With the development of new trends in an internet era, politicians are faced with new challenges in exhausting all possible resources to create the most accessible campaign message. There are a myriad of psychological influences present in political campaigns. The psychological motives of a politician's actions are not always the most obvious from a voter's perspective, but for the candidate they may be a decisive factor in securing the position sought after.

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"People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive."  
                                                                                                                                                - Blaise Pascal, De l'art de persuader

Psychology and Film: A short list of some recommended depictions.

"You know what your problem is, it's that you haven't seen enough movies - all of life's riddles are answered in the movies" (Steve Martin)

Shame - Sex Addiction; Michael Fassbender style.

The Basketball Diaries - Heroin Addiction. A young Di Caprio is more interested in skin popping than shooting hoops. 

 

Awakenings- Catatonia. Based on real events, a tragic and heartfelt story with Robin Williams and Robert DeNiro. From Oliver Sachs' book of the same name.

 

Lars and the Real Girl - Loneliness, Shyness, and Social Ineptitude. When you think it's time enough for the family to meet your sex doll. She's a great listener!

 

Owning Mahowny - Gambling Addiction. The late Phillip Seymour Hoffman as a Canadian Banker with all the cash he needs. Based on a real-life incident: Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce clerk Brian Molony, who embezzled over $10 million from his employers in just 18 months to support his gambling habit.

 

The Butterfly Effect - The Butterfly Effect! The idea, used in chaos theory, whereby a small change at one place in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere, e.g., a butterfly flapping its wings in Rio de Janeiro might change the weather in Chicago.

Memento - Short-Term Memory Loss. Guy Pearce has anterograde amnesia and is unable to store recent memories.

 

Melancholia - Melancholia! Lars Von Trier's take on the mental downfall of one woman (with the end of the world not helping).
 

Project Nim- A great look at the intelligence of our closest animal relative. The chimp also knew one term: 'Ooohh Ooo, Ah Ah', meaning; 'this bath's too hot.' 

Take Shelter - Curtis LaForche (Michael Shannon) starts to believe that he is in the early stages of developing paranoid schizophrenia. His mother was diagnosed with the illness at a similar age and he is fearful of suffering the same fate. The plot explores the boundaries between delusions and reality.

 

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold - Product Placement and Advertising in TV and films;  directed by Morgan Spurlock, the guy who brought you 'Super Size Me'.
 

The Bridge - Suicide. A tragic look at how the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco has become an infamous place to take one's life.

 

Girl, Interrupted - Mental Institutions. Based on the true story of Susanna Kaysen in the 1960s.

 

The Machinist - An Insomniac doubting his own sanity. The producers of the film claim that Christian Bale dropped from about 173 pounds in weight down to about 110 pounds to make the film. His 63-pound weight loss is said to be a record for any actor for a movie role. He regained the weight in time for his role in Batman Begins (2005). A must see.

 

American Beauty - A film about suffocating conformity to social roles, and how people sometimes need to break free of them.
 

Castaway - Survival, Loneliness, Social Isolation; and a ball more loyal than most friends. WILSON!!!!

Helen - Major Depressive Disorder. A powerful depiction of woman going through the throes of Clinical Depression.

Monster- Psychopathy. Based on the life of Aileen Wuornos. It earned Charlize Theron an Academy Award for best Actress; it could have got one for the similarity alone (right). 

 

Changeling - Capgras Syndrome: A disorder in which a person holds a delusion that a friend, spouse, parent, or other close family member has been replaced by an identical-looking impostor.

 

Catfish - The internet and online personas. Great documentary style film showing just how false the online world can be. It can also shed light on the often predatory world of online behaviour.

 

Hotel Rwanda - Prejudice and discrimination. The film is also relevant to the discussion of pro-social and altruistic behaviours. It was nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the 77th Academy Awards, with Don Cheadle also being nominated for Best Actor.

 

Crash - An incredibly powerful and sophisticated 2004 Paul Haggis film about cultural diversity.

 

Devil's Advocate - Persuasion and attitude change. ''Vanity, definitely my favourite sin.''

 

The Savages - Dementia and family conflict amongst others. Starring Laura Linney and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman.

 

< Me, Myself & Irene - Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID); previously known as Multiple Personality Disorder.

or Fight Club (right) if you fancy less laughs.

Boyhood - Growing up and the elusive experience of youth. Amazingly it was shot just over 39 days spanning 12 years.

 

12 Angry Men - An incredibly powerful portrayal of social influence and decision-making processes within a jury. It's in black and white, but things aren't as black and white as they may seem. Puns...

Fatal Attraction - Erotomania. The top grossing movie of 1987. Nominated for several Academy Awards; the movie was the cause of much discussion around the topic of marital infidelity.

Bully - Bullying. A 2011 documentary; the film follows the lives of five students in U.S. schools who face bullying on a daily basis.

127 Hours - Resilience. Produced by Danny Boyle; a true story based on mountain climber Aron Ralston.

Racism and Prejudice; the list here is endless, but notable mentions go to American History X, A Time to Kill , Gran Torino , and This is England.

 

Antichrist - Delusions, Sadomasochism, Depression, Femininity and the rest. To be honest, this one is completely out there; make of it what you will. Directed by Lars von Trier, some have dubbed it a grotesque masterpiece. I thought it was top class; even though I didn't get my head around it.

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"It's funny how the colours of the real world only seem really real when you watch them on a screen."
                                                                                                                                   ~ Anthony Burgess

A Sunday Evening Musing on the Grip of Addiction.

For years addiction therapists and counsellors tended to be people who had been addicts themselves, these days, not so much. Drug and alcohol counsellors who have experienced addiction first-hand represent a dwindling slice of the addiction therapy community. Someone once told me that it isn't possible to become a drug addiction counsellor if you've never been addicted to drugs like heroin, cocaine and so forth. Or you wouldn't be a very good one at least. While they were no addict themselves it did get me thinking, and in a sense I could see the point through their naiveté.

 

I think that's probably like saying you can't help someone suffering from alcoholism because you aren't an alcoholic; or that you wouldn't be able to deal with suicide bereavement because you never tried taking your own life; or a paedophile needs to be reformed and rehabilitated by a former paedophile. I mean that may sound like a bit of a sledgehammer to crack a walnut, but their opinion is not too dissimilar.

 

I don't think that all addictions should have to be approached and individually tailored to the client presenting. William S. Burroughs remarked before, whether ''you sniff it, smoke it, eat it, or shove it up your ass, the result is the same - addiction''. Sure, a heroin addict is going to have a different set of circumstances when trying to avoid their substance, than say an alcoholic, who would be presented with far more opportunities to access and even come into contact with the substance they're trying to avoid. The 'availability hypothesis' states that the greater the availability of a drug in society, the more people are likely to use it and the more they're likely to run into problems with it (Thompson, 2012). The alcoholic's addiction is given extra traction by the innumerable ways society shoves it in their face. It's actively encouraged, under-priced, and sold aggressively. Sure what the hell are ye doing without a pint in yer hand?

''The essential process of addiction is the replacement of people with things. Addicts form primary relationships with objects and events, not with people. In a relationship with an object, the addict can always come first'' (Thompson, 2012).

 

But what's driving the addiction? It is at the end of the day a mixture between psychology and physiology. Psychologically, it's a cognitive battle. Respite only comes from changing your thinking and you won't be able to change anything if you don't change the thought patterns. But how does an addict attempt to change their biology? Physiologically, all addictions are going to have their roots in the major reward centres of the brain. The pleasure pathways. The networks that quash all the aversive psychological effort and scream far louder than most people can cope with.

Addicts go for pleasure even if it is detrimental to their lives. It is often the thoughts of withdrawal that poisons the outlook of an opiate addict. A psychological fear of an impending physiological nightmare. They can say they won't use anymore, but when the body starts to go into the initial phase of withdrawal, nothing will make sense to the person other than another hit to dampen the pain. It's cyclical. It's tragic. For some people, there really is no silver spoon but plastic spoons and dope; but heroin addicts should be treated like patients and not criminals foremost. You have to deal with person - not the crime of using heroin.

It's similar reward paths for tobacco. It has in fact been argued that giving up cigarettes is analogous to that of opiate withdrawal. But who gives a sh*t about the cigarette smokers, it's only a drug that kills over 5 million people annually worldwide. For heroin, a conservative estimate recorded 7,630 drug-induced deaths in EU member states and Norway in 2009, with the majority of these related to opiate use. It accounts for the greatest numbers of deaths related to drug use in Europe; Ireland having the highest rate of heroin use in Europe with just over 7 cases per 1000 population. There's no denying that these figures are a paltry sum in comparison to tobacco products. 

 

''None would argue that gambling is a vice, one in which most of us indulge from time to time without harm. But as with all vices, there is the problem of overindulgence, or addiction'' (O'Brien, 1995). Often in the mire of an addiction, people become detached from the things that had a lot of meaning for them. But there's always a choice point for people. I mean gamblers know over the long term that the house will always have the edge. But does that stop them from throwing down weekly wages on bets when the electricity's gonna be cut off at home? You can bet your arse it doesn't. Right there and then, reward circuitry, pleasure, the immediacy of positive feelings. The guilt hides out back and doesn't show up till later, if at all. Same physiology.

What about sex addiction? Is this just a fancy term for promiscuity? If I was arsed I'd have researched it more, but the closest I have for now is relating to a Freud remark in the early part of the 20th century, ''Masturbation is a shortcut between desire and satisfaction, allowing the subject to by-pass the external world''. Again, replacing people - the addict wins. And win they do! To be honest if you want a good representation of sex addiction then just watch Shame with Michael Fassbender.   

Then there's food addiction, I mean a lot of people nowadays have a private relationship with food, they'll hide their negative eating habits behind closed doors and comfort eat. This isn't anything new. It only takes a quick look up and down the high street to see who's wearing in public the unhealthy choices they're making in private. There's a modern plague of obesity happening in a world where 'cupcakes are the new cocaine' (Thompson, 2012). Again, it harks back to the same underlying physiological roots.

Drug use is human. It has been around since day one. It will never go away. We use addiction to resolve our problems. People are constantly chasing the semblance of happiness and we are pushed in the direction of addictive solutions (Loose, 2012). People are hooked on gadgets and technology. Billions are spent on trying to be beautiful. You're being force-fed the ''you're worth it'' type of attitude, and you god damn well better be hungry. It really is incessant. People are looking for an effect from their consumption; preferably something physical and immediate please.

Drug-use is an extremely effective way of dealing with suffering; it brings immediate relief. For some people, addiction is something that stabilises their structure, ''this is why I worked all day for old douchebag up in the insurance brokers shitbox, now I'm letting loose''. Back to reality. Sometimes however the hooks can go deep, and deeper yet again, before they know it, it's a full on marathon just to keep up. Addiction of any form is a struggle that shapes many peoples day to day lives and it's a difficult terrain to navigate. It's toxic. It's a sickness. But for a lot of people it's not about getting them to be extremely happy again or an attempt to cure. It's about getting them back to 'zero'.

I think in essence addiction is a very personal thing, not something that is the sole realm of ex-addicts. Indeed an ex heroin addict would be an excellent person to learn from in dealing with a heroin addiction. With addiction though, experts talk treatment, not cures. Edward de Bono remarked that an expert is ''someone who has succeeded in making decisions and judgements simpler through knowing what to pay attention to and what to ignore''. What can be learned from an addict is immeasurable; the patterns, the pitfalls; and the lies and excuses one will believe that stoke the furnace of addiction. So in that sense ex addicts are probably the real experts.

But there's just one little hair in the soup; the world isn't filled with ex-addicts.  So to say that addiction can't be dealt with from a qualified professional angle, is quite obtuse and frankly utter nonsense.

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"...addiction implies in most cases the avoidance of the social bond with other people. It is for this reason that the term a-diction is appropriate as it indicates that addiction is largely a matter of avoiding speech, language, communication, symbolisation and representation"
                                                                                                                       ~ Rik Loose (from 'Addiction in Modern Times')