I wanted to figure out if the clothing we wear really does say something about us. Not only if it said something about us, but if it affected the people around us. Will the color I wear today make an impression on you?

Causation: The color I’m wearing effects emotions

Reverse Causation: Emotions effect the color I’m wearing

Third variable: The season in which we wear the color. What I mean by that is red is considered a winter color in the fashion world, and orange would be seen as a summer color. Maybe wearing those colors at the wrong time would not have the same effect on someone.

Women’s Health Magazine made quite a point of this. It said : “The serene shade [blue] soothes the person wearing it and makes the people around them feel at ease, say researchers at the University of British Columbia” (Dold). So now you know that you are probably more relaxed when you are wearing blue, and so are the people around you. When I want to create an ease filled environment I’ll remember to fill it with blue. It creates a vibe that makes you relax.

The article also said, “Psychologists at the University of Rochester found that men are more attracted to women wearing the ruby hue” (Dold). People love red. It is the color that gets the most attraction from the eyes and the brain. It is very easy to notice something in red because of the attraction levels it causes us as a people. Mistakes are corrected with red, red cars always get pulled over more often, there is always a woman in a red dress ect. Taylor Swift even wrote a song about feeling Red, if that counts for anything that relates to emotion. Because she is the mostly renown as an artist for her emotions.

It also continued on to the color of creativity, “Whenever you want to feel inspired, pull on something purple” (Dold). If you need to write a blog and need to sit down and get it done, you should probably put on purple. It will get the creative juices flowing and you will be inspired soon enough. This is probably because purple is not a common color. It is a color that you must be inspired to wear. Something makes you want to put on purple because it is the farthest thing from basic.

Furthermore it said that, “The preferred shade of fashionistas, cops, and CEOs, black is the universal color of authority” (Dold). This should go unsaid. Black is the color of power, but it also seems to connote negativity. I suppose this is why the magazine made a connection between an authority and black.

It continued on with saying, “[Orange is] enthusiastic and inviting, you should wear it when you want to appear social, friendly, or approachable” (Dold). So if I put on orange will you feel more compelled to talk to me and be my friend? According to the article you will. Orange is a social color because it also draws attention, but not in an intimidating way.

The last one was that, “This hue [green] puts you and others in a good mood, according to research from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam” (Dold). I guess this is because green puts people in a good mood anyway. It reminds you of nature and life and money. Good things are usually green. Except for the fact jealousy is greatly connected with green as well.

Works Cited

Dold, Kristen. “What Your Clothing Color Says About You.” Womenshealthmag.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2014.

I knew that the scent of somebody played a role in the laws of attraction. But I would have never guessed that it was this extreme. We cut people off in a second, and we do that in large part because of the way they smell. And it is not the smell of their perfume or cologne or deodorant. It is that underlying natural smell that you only pick up when you enter someone’s house or they lend you their clothes.

Causation: Smells cause attraction

Reverse Causation: Attraction causes smells

Third Variable: Brain perception of the smells, attractiveness ect.

The article I read at first stated that “These are micro-smells called pheromones. They’re so subtle you can’t detect them consciously, and at the same time, powerful enough to influence your decisions about attraction” (Oz). I’m pretty sure it is a subconscious thing that I, myself have never took notice to until today. For example when you walk into a new house, you always make decisions on it; in large part somewhat consciously on the smell. It continued on to say that “These chemicals are also important because they help animals distinguish each other” (Oz). Science says that we are animals, so this would mean that we also may be using a scent of smell to distinguish each other. The animals do so to prevent mating with family. We could be doing that in the same way.

Here’s how it happens: “These odorless steroids float through the air, stimulating the nerves in your nose. The nerve signals travel to your brain, triggering complicated chemical reactions” (Oz).

Then I did some more research and came across an article in Psychology Today that said, “Some researchers think scent could be the hidden cosmological constant in the sexual universe, the missing factor that explains who we end up with” (Svoboda). This is because we subconsciously will be immensely un-attracted to someone, and we can not figure out why. But this is why we could be entirely repulsed by someone who is completely perfect on Instagram or Facebook.

“It may even explain why we feel “chemistry”—or “sparks” or “electricity”—with one person and not with another” (Svoboda). IS THIS WHERE “THE SPARK” COMES FROM? Could it be that the spark is actually real, but it underlies subconsciously in our smell? It is considered the greatest lie of all time, to not meet up with someone again. You tell yourself “there was no spark” and excuse yourself from ever seeing the other person again. But maybe there literally was no spark because they did not smell good enough for your brain to make a positive chemical reaction to.

“One of the most common things women tell marriage counselors is, ‘I can’t stand his smell,'” says Herz, the author of The Scent of Desire (Svoboda). It is funny how this also  plays a part in divorce as well as initial attraction. People grow to make good connotations with each smell. The more you grow to dislike your husband, the more repulsive his smell becomes to you. I guess this goes for everyone. If the guy a girl is on a date with subconsciously smells like her repulsive ex boyfriend to her, the girl will become immediately un-attracted.

So what would be a good experiment here? How would someone test this out? I suppose men could be given randomized clothing worn by women. They can be told to tell which ones are the better smells, and then they could be set up on dates with the women whose smells they found enticing. It would actually probably a really good gameshow. If they found the girl attractive in person, the smell test would show to play a very prominent part in the laws of attraction.

Works Cited

Oz, Dr, and Roizen, Dr. “The Scent of Attraction – Youbeauty.com.” YouBeauty. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.

Svoboda, Elizabeth. “Scents and Sensibility.” Psychology Today: Health, Help, Happiness + Find a Therapist. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2014.

My roommate is very concerned about the freshman 15. Which is complete and utter ridiculousness if you ask me. If you do not have a problem with weight gain, why should it make that much of a difference in college?

Lets play devils advocate for one minute. If freshman year of college DID cause weight gain: Causation: College causes weight gain.

Reverse Causation: weight gain causes college.

Third Variable: Stress, binge drinking, lack of sleep, greasier foods, less working out ext

So I’m not going to lie I see where the idea comes from. But WHERE exactly did the widespread belief of gaining 15 pounds, while getting a higher education, come from?

jezebel.com calls on Seventeen magazine for the blame, “Doctors were able to pinpoint the place where the lie got started: A 1989 issue of Seventeen magazine. The line “FIGHTING THE FRESHMAN 15” appears on the August 1989 issue, making it one of the most damaging cover lies of all time (Hartmann). I suppose it is possible that this magazine would cause this much talk over weight gain. The magazine’s audience is seventeen-year-olds, and those girls are about to get into college. But shame on them, the magazine is supposed to give girls advice, not promote the importance of not gaining weight. It irrationally being publicized for anyone in the world to see, were they not the least bit concerned? And furthermore, if you ask any person between the ages of 16-26, the majority of them would be able to tell you what the freshman 15 is. Which brings me back to this is complete ridiculousness.

According to Today, “A huge part of college is getting to know people and building relationships. That means loading up on “social calories” from eating, drinking and partying” (Bourassa). What is trying to be said here is that the calories that are causing the weight gain could really just be coming from the social events. You eat because you go out to eat often with friends, so that would be a perfect example of social calories. We all do it.

However according to the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, the article states that “The authors observed an average weight gain of 2.7 lbs. About half of the students gained weight, and 15% lost weight. Men gained more weight than did women” (Mihalopoulos). Right there. A .gov site nips this stupid myth in the butt; thank goodness.

Along with that last fact, WebMD says that “At least a quarter of all freshmen lose weight during their first year. The average woman gains 3 pounds as a freshman and the average guy gains 3.5 pounds” (Hartmann). So it is not even enough of a weight gain to be noticeable…or to be stressing about.

The Huffington Post  made a good point of this when it was said that, “According to the researchers, this may be because many 17 or 18 -year-olds are simply not at their full adult size (both in height and weight) before heading off to college” (Grannell). So simple. Look at how easy it could be if every college student just comes to the conclusion that they just weren’t done growing yet? Maybe we could have avoided the whole freshman 15 nonsense.

The article went on to say that, “For women, the difference between first day of school and graduation was between seven and nine pounds; for men, it was between 12 and 13 pounds. Overall, the only consistent “cause and effect” relationship was between boozing and weight” (Grannell). So we should all learn that the weight problems are in large part directly correlated with alcohol consumption.

An article in Psychology Today said that, “They found those freshman living on campus were almost three times as likely as the community sample to gain weight but by their junior year they were almost back at baseline levels” (Karasu). So realistically, even if you were to gain any weight, your body will bring itself back down to your normal weight and comfortability.

So, ladies: do not worry about the freshman 15, it is clearly an overexposed myth.

Works Cited

Bourassa, Sarah. “The Myth of the ‘freshman 15’: How to Survive the College Diet.” TODAY. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.

Grannell, Rachael. “Why The ‘Freshman 15’ Is A Lie.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 06 Sept. 2013. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.

Hartmann, Margaret. “Freshmen 15 Doesn’t Exist, Was Invented By Seventeen.” Jezebel. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.

Karasu, Sylvia R. “College Weight Gain: Debunking the Myth of the ‘Freshman 15′” Psychology Today: Health, Help, Happiness + Find a Therapist. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.

Mihalopoulos, Nicole L., Peggy Auinger, and Jonathan D. Klein. “Abstract.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 18 Aug. 0000. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.

Scott, Elizabeth. “Is The “Freshman 15″ Due Entirely To Stress?” About. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.

I’ve heard a few rumors, but I have always wondered exactly what it is that makes a woman attractive? Why are some women just more attractive than others? So I did my research, and here is what I came up with:

The first article I found online, being the DailyMail stated that in a study, “The exact same woman tends to be rated as more physically attractive when there is a pleasant smell present” Women know to wear a fragrance as frequently as they should wear deodorant. But this makes me wonder what came first the chicken or the egg? By that I mean; did wearing perfume cause people to seem more attractive, or did more attractive people seem to wear perfume?

This article went on to say “A pleasant scent was found to make younger faces look even more youthful – and older faces look even older” (Kirkova). This confused me, because it has never been said that very young or very old faces are attractive. However if a scent can make someone more attractive, is that to say that not looking your proper age is attractive? There could be a third variable like the way we act when we put on a perfume. It can cause us to seem older or younger. Regardless, it apparently makes a female seem as if they a better looking person when she wears a fragrance.

The next article I found was from the New York Times, stating “It increases people’s perceptions of a woman’s likability, her competence and (provided she does not overdo it) her trustworthiness, according to a new study, which also confirmed what is obvious: that cosmetics boost a woman’s attractiveness” (Louis). So look at this. It actually does make a woman seem more attractive to wear face makeup. Again what came first the chicken or the egg? Do girls wear so much makeup as to be attractive, or do attractive people wear makeup, and it just makes us think that they are more attractive than they would be without make up? As a girl, you’re told your whole life not to wear too much makeup but I guess this is why. This isn’t to say that wearing too much or too little makeup does not make you attractive at all, to each is own. But through this article we can see that the ‘natural look’ of just enough makeup to enhance your features, a woman is at her most attractive state.

This brings me to the next theory I’ve heard: If a man is unattractive to a woman, he can make up for it with a good sense of humor. If a woman is unattractive she does not have the same advantage. It is not socially acceptable for a woman to walk up to a man in a bar and start cracking jokes…this would get her nowhere. Why does it almost never matter if a girl, generally, has a good sense of humor? So the next article I found was from live science.com said, “A woman is attracted to a man who makes her laugh, Bressler found in a 2005 study. A man likes a woman who laughs at his jokes” (Carey). As if it were not obvious, women are attracted to humor more than men are. Perhaps it is the qualities we look for in a significant other that differ from the qualities a man looks for.

That article continued on with the next rumor I heard, it was that men were subconsciously more attracted to a symmetrical face. “Both men and women rated symmetrical members of the opposite sex as more attractive and in better health than their less symmetrical counterparts” (Carey). I suppose this is a very likely idea. What if every person we find more attractive just has a more symmetrical face. CNN looked at a study based on the same theory, “Putting it all together, a 2007 study in Perception & Psychophysics suggests that symmetry adds to the attractiveness of “average” faces” (Landau). It blows my mind that a face that lines up as close to perfectly as possible would apparently be a more attractive person. Perhaps this is the reason that we as a people are becoming more and more interested in plastic surgery. Plastic surgery is to make a perfect, symmetrical nose, chest ect.

I had also heard that men were more attracted to women, the higher her voice was. I thought that was crazy. My best friend has the most piercing, high-pitched voice in the world and men say it is completely irritating. But the article stated that, “Previous studies showed that men tend to prefer women with high-pitched voices, which are associated with high levels of estrogen” (Howard). I guess an irritating voice does not make her unattractive. So I guess what could be pulled from this is that the manlier the voice, the more unattractive because it shows a male quality. I suppose the higher the voice, the more feminine and attracted a guy is to that voice. But is estrogen the third variable here? A higher voice does not cause attractiveness, and attractiveness does not cause a higher voice. A higher voice would signal estrogen, causing attractiveness.

Works Cited

Carey, Bjorn. “The Rules of Attraction in the Game of Love.” LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 13 Feb. 2006. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.

Howard, Jacqueline. “What Makes A Voice ‘Attractive?’ New Study Reveals Surprising Answer.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 24 Feb. 2014. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.

Kirkova, Deni. “How Wearing a Nice Perfume Won’t Only Make a Woman Smell Nice – It Can Make Her Look More Beautiful.” Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 01 June 2014. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.

Landau, Elizabeth. “Beholding Beauty: How It’s Been Studied.” CNN. Cable News Network, 03 Mar. 2012. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.

Louis, Catherine Saint. “Up the Career Ladder, Lipstick In Hand.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 12 Oct. 2011. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.

It is a common conception that tanned/bronzed skin gives you a glow that will make you look healthier. But isn’t constantly looking so unnaturally tan supposed to make you look unhealthy in the long run? Is a tanning bed actually doing harm to every person who steps into one? Are people who tan really more likely to have skin problems? Is it not possible that regular constant exposure to sunlight be just as harmful? Is a tanning bed really that bad for you?

First things first, is tanning causing skin cancer, wrinkles, strange bumps, ext…Or is it just a correlation?

Causation: UV light overexposure makes skin bad looking, and causes cancer in the long run.

Reverse Causation: Cancer/ bad looking skin causes people to tan or overexpose themselves to UV lights. (We can probably cross this off from the get go. Time shows that this is impossible.)

Third Variable: There could be no known direct association. Here are some theories on what the third variable could be: –what is put on the skin prior to tanning (lets face it, no serious tanners go in the tanning beds without tanning enhancers) –Frequency of tanning (the more you tan the more likely you are to have problems) –Genetics (how likely are you to get skin cancer anyway? Does a tanning bed just active that more due to your genetics?) –Addiction Factor (the way we think, how easy it is to be addicted to something. Do you have a problem with addictions?) –Wealth. (Do people with more money, who can afford to tan, more prone to skin cancer?)

Direct correlation would be if people who tan in tanning beds begin to show bad skin and signs of cancer as they age. Chances of skin cancer should essentially be lower the less you go tanning. What if you went tanning once a month or once every few months? Wouldn’t you be better off than a person who tans once a week or every few weeks? There are people who can tan every day, yet don’t develop the skin cancer or the skin.

Experiments: An impractical experiment by having three groups that all have a genetic history of skin cancer. One group would be not be exposed to tanning beds, one group would frequently be exposed to the tanning beds and the last group would be frequently exposed to sunlight. This way we can see if it is a direct correlation between genetics/the type of skin you have and the type of light that is being exposed. Another experiment would be finding people with no skin cancer in their genetics, perfectly healthy people and put them into tanning beds to see if it would make them more prone to skin cancer. Group one would go into a tanning bed every day, group two would go in every other day, group three would go in few times a month and one group would not go in at all, only be exposed to pure sunlight. It would be impossible to predict how this experiment would go in the long run because it can not be performed on animals. It can also be experimented to take surveys of people with skin cancer and see how many times they have entered a tanning bed.

How many Americans tan?

USA Today found a study that said “More than 35% of American adults report ever using a tanning bed, along with 59% of college students and 17% of teens in the analysis” (Szabo). It also continued along to say that “The Food and Drug Administration estimates that about 30 million Americans use indoor tanning beds each year, including 2.3 million teens” (Szabo). The link to this article can be found here.

  That is essentially more than a third of Americans.  Boys vs Girls tanning rate? Is it rare? Is it common? How common is it that kids our age are tanning?

The link to the statistics in this graph can be found here. Is it just possible girls are more likely get skin cancer?

Is it better than drugs? And if it is THAT bad for you why is it not illegal? Why just raise the tax on tanning? Does the fact that it brings in a lot of money justify the means of killing people? Why do people do these things regardless of the harm value? Well why do people really do anything when they know it is harmful?

Why would the bed cause more damage to a person than someone who lives in UV prone/desert areas?

A KidsHealth Article stated that, “Tanning beds use UVA light, which penetrates the skin more deeply than UVB rays. So tanning beds can cause just as much — if not more — damage as the sun. Plus, the concentration of UVA rays from a tanning bed is greater than the amount of UVA rays a person gets from the sun” (Indoor Tanning). So our answer is yes.

Is tanning causing deaths?

MSN has a wellness article reporting that, “The number of skin cancers we can blame each year on indoor tanning is higher than the number of lung cancers we can blame on cigarettes” The link to this article is here.

The number of skin cancers we can blame each year on indoor tanning is higher than the number of lung cancers we can blame on cigarettes.

Is there a healthier way to tan? Yes, we could all spray tan ourselves silly. But do we know what the long term effects of that is either? In essence we are spraying chemicals on our body, to extremely darken our skin for a few weeks at a time.

At the end of the day, tanning (in beds) is a fairly new thing to this world. There is slight doubt in there being any direct correlation between tanning and skin cancer. There is enough evidence to show that it has long-term effects. The only way we can bring this uncertainty to zero would be to do a series of randomized experiments. The things supposedly being caused by tanning beds could still be completely due to chance, however science does not recognize these theories. Is tanning bad for you? It could be, but we will not be sure of this until the uncertainty level is closer to zero.

Works Cited

“Cancer Trends Progress Report – Sun Protection.” Cancer Trends Progress Report – Sun Protection. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.

“Indoor Tanning.” KidsHealth – the Web’s Most Visited Site about Children’s Health. Ed. Patrice Hyde. The Nemours Foundation, 01 July 2012. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.

Szabo, Liz. “Tanning Beds Used by More than a Third, Study Finds.” USA Today. Gannett, 31 Jan. 2014. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.

“Whoa: Tanning Beds Cause More Cancer than Cigarettes!” MSN Healthy Living. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.

For those of you reading this, hey, my name is Sarah.

I’m from New Jersey, and quite proud of it. I’m not from the Jersey Shore, but I do actually know most of the cast from the MTV show.

           Yeah me and Snooki go way back.

That also means I know what a real bagel tastes like, and that I have no clue how to pump gas. (At all. So please don’t ask me.) Everyone here already knows I’m from New Jersey by the way I look and talk, I don’t know how (could be the spray tan, could be the nails, could be the way I say coffee) but it beats me. And I really only fist- pump on special occasions … That was an attempt at me trying to be funny.

I’m in the College of Communications, intending to study Public Relations. Intending being the key word here. I chose my major because I’m better with my words than I am with math and logic, hence why I would never take on a career as a science major. But this class could change my mind no doubt. I’m already interested in what this teacher has to say. The way I know he is a good teacher is because he wants to be argued with and told he’s wrong. Those are the most genius people in the world if you ask me… But back to me, I would not like to be a science major right now because I’ve hated science since I was little. Not meaning to offend anyone, but thats just me, I dislike science. I’m taking this course because my academic advisor had a list of the Gen. Ed. science classes I could take to fulfill the requirement. Luckily enough, I pretty much closed my eyes, picked one, and got very, VERY lucky.

So….here’s a science related picture: