Month: April 2020

On Friday, March 13, 1964, a 28-year-old woman, Kitty Genovese, was heading home from work when she was attacked and stabbed by a man later identified as Winston Moseley. Despite her calling for help many times, no one in the surrounding apartments responded to her call; after being stabbed multiple times, it wasn’t until 20 minutes later that the police were called. Several witnesses reported to have seen Wilson assault and kill, yet it still took 30 minutes for the police to arrive. 

While this example is extremely horrifying, it reflects the bystander effect in which people who should help another do not as they believe it is their responsibility. Oftentimes, this happens as a result of the diffusion of responsibility. Because people know that there are other observers, they do not feel as much pressure to act.  The responsibility is thought to be shared among all those present; the greater number of people there are present, the less likely they are going to be willing to help. In a series of studies, when participants were placed in a room filled with smoke alone, 75% of them reported it. When they were placed in the same room with just two others, it was only reported 38% of the time. On top of that, if the other people ignored it, it dropped as low as 10%. Despite being in a dire situation, people simply ignored the smoke just because others did and they refused to believe it was their responsibility.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSsPfbup0ac

(this video reflects the bystander effect under different conditions)

Oftentimes, we feel the need to act in socially acceptable ways. When others fail to act, we take this information as a social cue that nothing is wrong and we can go on as usual. Furthermore, if the situation is ambiguous people are even less likely to act. For example, witnesses of the Kitty Genovese murder claimed they simply believed it was a lover’s quarrel and chose not to get involved. Despite the crying and screaming they convinced themselves that the situation was under control. 

(https://medium.com/@tedbauer2003/organizations-have-a-massive-bystander-effect-as-well-cdbe183bed9)

Action over apathy is an extremely difficult choice and is sometimes made only if the person is similar to ourselves, we are feeling guilty, we have just observed someone else being helpful, or we are in a good mood. In order to overcome the bystander effect, it is important to simply be aware of this tendency. By doing so, we are able to understand other bystanders activities. If you are in trouble, it is important to single someone out in the crowd and attempt to individualize your request. We must break our natural tendencies and not just do things to socially conform.

Cherry, Kendra. “What Psychology Says About Why Bystanders Sometimes Fail to Help.” Verywell Mind, Verywell Mind, 15 Aug. 2019, www.verywellmind.com/the-bystander-effect-2795899.

For this week’s passion blog I am going to write about the topic of hypnosis, how it occurs and the biology behind it. I have always been extremely curious about this topic and have never completely understood the science behind it. It is a psychological phenomenon in which people are in a state of highly focused attention associated with high levels of relaxation. Under this “trance” suggestibility is heightened and oftentimes people are given post hypnotic suggestions that they will perform once out of the relaxed state. While most people believe that hypnosis is simply an act, it has been used for centuries for pain control. Within the Civil War, army soldiers were often hypnotized before an amputation to help with the pain. Patients who receive hypnosis before surgery report less post-surgical pain, nausea, fatigue and discomfort. Hypnosis can help to ease people throughout a surgery reducing stress and speeding up the process (“Hypnosis today”). 

People vary widely in their ability to respond to hypnotic suggestions. While in some cases, hypnosis is very effective it has been known to be extremely detrimental as well. In the 1990’s some patients were convinced by their therapists that they had been molested or abused as children due to hypnotically induced memories. As a result, many innocent people were wrongly put in jail; as a result, in a 2007 Supreme Court decision, post-hypnotic evidence was determined inadmissible. In other ways it has been beneficial; when looking at 59 studies of the effect on hypnosis on smoking, it was determined that hypnosis was more effective than regular treatment at helping patients (“Hypnosis today”). Hypnosis has also proven to be effective to obtain REM sleep as well as weight loss (“Does Hypnosis Work?”). 

(https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Effects-of-the-North-Carolina-hypnosis-treatment-protocol-for-IBS-on-bowel-symptoms-in_fig1_277871259)

Hypnosis happens naturally as well as clinically; during routine parts of the day, your brain enters a hypnotic state. Under hypnosis, we enter an unaltered state of unconsciousness in which behavioral control is dissociated from awareness. For example, in one experiment a hypnotized group of subjects was asked to place their hands in cold water. The hypnotized patients were able to bypass their original thought of pulling their hands out of the water and instead left them in for a longer period of time. Another example of suggestibility that may occur within our own lives is within wine tasting. When a subject is offered 2 glasses of the same type of wine and told one is a more expensive wine, the subject will almost always associate the more expensive wine with a better taste (“Does Hypnosis Work?”). 

(https://farehypnosis.com/product/brain-activity-in-hypnosis/)

While the effects of hypnosis on the unconscious state are still not completely clear,  researchers have found that hypnosis causes observable changes in multiple brain areas. These areas are characteristic of consciousness, spontaneous thought, concentration, and awareness of bodily processes. These brain changes include, decreased connectivity between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the posterior cingulate cortex, increased connectivity between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the insula, and reduced activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. As a result of these brain changes, researchers have concluded the existence of an altered state of consciousness (“Brain Imaging of Hypnosis”) . 

 

“Does Hypnosis Work? Understanding the Science of Hypnotherapy.” Grace Space Hypnosis, 13 Feb. 2019, gshypnosis.com/does-hypnosis-work-understanding-the-science-of -hypnotherapy-2/.

“Brain Imaging of Hypnosis.” Brain Imaging of Hypnosis,  johnmongiovi.com/pages/brain- imaging.

“Hypnosis today.” Monitor on Psychology, American Psychological Association, www.apa.org/monitor/2011/01/hypnosis.