Stats Can Be Sexy

                                        

Visualizing Data for the Masses

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Wells's 1903 argument

• Physical science and advanced thinking require mathematical analysis skills
• Soon, citizen competence will include the ability to compute, analyze averages,, and understand extremes.

Wilks's 1951 simplification

• "Statistical thinking will be essential for citizenship as reading and writing" (Marriott, 2014).

Wilks's breakdown of statistical thinking according to Marriot (2014).

• Six core concepts
  
• Expectation and variance - understanding averages, maximums, and minimums.
• Distribution - Recognizing patterns in data variation
• Probability - Assessing the likelihood of events
• Risk - Evaluating potential costs or dangers
• Correlation - Identifying relationships between variables

Basically, both thinkers highlight the need for data literacy in a world increasingly driven by information and analysis.

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Marriot (2014) argues that the traditional definition of statistical thinking needs to be expanded to include three new concepts which are data, cognition, and visualization.

Data

Data is the lifeblood of statistics, but it's not explicitly included in the current definition. Marriot (2014) highlights the risk of big data and data science, suggesting that statisticians risk being left behind if they do not embrace data in all its forms. (Marriot, 2014)

Marriot (2014) states that adding data to the definition of statistical thinking will not solve the problem on its own, but it will send an important message that statisticians are the original data scientists and embrace data in all its forms. 

Cognition🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦

The human ability to think statistically is limited and  Kahneman's book exposes cognitive errors made by people and statisticians according to Marriot (2014).

Dual system thinking - Marriot (2014) states that Kahneman proposes two thinking systems:

1. System 1- fast, intuitive, prone to biases
2. System 2 - slow, logical, effortful

• Statistical thinking relies heavily on system 2
• Despite our natural cognitive limitations, Marriot (2014) reminds us that Kahneman offers strategies to mitigate errors, encouraging the conscious engagement of System 2 in statistical reasoning, since System 1's instinctive responses can lead to erroneous judgments.

Visualization🟥🟥🟥🟥▶️

• Statisticians excel at visualization tools like histograms, and box plots but at the same time struggle with effective communication through visuals.
• Including visualization in the definition of statistical thinking emphasizes statisticians' ability to analyze and communicate data effectively.
• Statisticians should embrace collaboration with other professionals like graphic designers and neuroscientists to keep up with evolving data trends and expertise.

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                                                            References

Marriott, N. (2014), The future of statistical thinking. Significance, 11: 78-80. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1740-9713.2014.00787.x

Navigating

 The Waves of Change: Embracing Life's Dynamic Nature

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• Life is a continuous dance of change, an ever-evolving tapestry woven with threads of both anticipation and uncertainty. Like a river meandering through the landscape, our lives are constantly shifting and reshaping, adapting to the terrain and the currents that propel us forward. Some changes, like the gentle progression of seasons, unfold gradually, allowing us to prepare and adjust with ease. Others, like sudden storms, strike with unexpected force, leaving us scrambling to find our footing amidst the chaos.

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• Amidst this dynamic flux, the human spirit possesses an innate capacity to adjust, to adapt to the ever-changing landscape of life. Adjustment, in essence, is the process of altering our behavior or expectations to achieve a desired outcome or state of equilibrium. It's a dance of negotiation, a delicate balancing act between our internal desires and the external realities that surround us.

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Consider the simple act of driving. As we navigate the roads, we encounter unexpected obstacles, like traffic jams or sudden detours. In such instances, our adjustment mechanism kicks in, prompting us to seek a detour, slow down, or even consider an alternative route altogether. This automatic adaptation is a testament to our ability to respond to changing circumstances in real time.

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Similarly, we adjust our communication styles to match those of the people we interact with. Subconsciously, we mirror their verbal and nonverbal cues, creating a sense of rapport and connection. This ability to chameleonize, to blend in with our surroundings, is a crucial social skill that facilitates effective communication and understanding.

However, some adjustments are more profound, requiring a deeper level of conscious effort and personal transformation. The transition from high school to college, for instance, marks a significant turning point in an individual's life. It's a period of adapting to new environments, forming new friendships, and navigating the academic rigors of higher education.

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• In the realm of personality psychology, adjustment takes on a central role. It refers to the significant changes an individual undergoes in response to internal and external challenges. Adjustment, unlike coping, is not always a conscious or deliberate process. It can be a subtle shift in perspective, a gradual acceptance of new circumstances, or a complete overhaul of one's beliefs and behaviors.

As we navigate the ever-changing currents of life, let us embrace the process of adjustment, not as a sign of weakness, but as a testament to our resilience and adaptability.  Let us view change not as a threat but as an opportunity for growth, a chance to reinvent ourselves and discover new possibilities.

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Remember, life is not a static destination but a continuous journey of transformation. Embrace the ebb and flow, the twists and turns, and let the process of adjustment guide you toward
a more fulfilling and resilient existence. 

Zimbardo

Experiment

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• The Stanford Prison Experiment was a psychology experiment conducted in 1971 by Philip Zimbardo at Stanford University.
• The experiment was designed to examine the psychological effects of imprisonment, particularly the effects of power and authority.

🧪🧪🧪🧪🧪🧪Methods

• Participants were 24 male college students who were randomly assigned to be either prisoners or guards.
• The experiment took place in a mock prison that was set up in the basement of the psychology building.
• The guards were given instructions to maintain order and discipline in the prison, while the prisoners were given instructions to obey the guards.

🧪🧪 Results

• Within a few days, the guards began to exhibit abusive behavior towards the prisoners, including sleep deprivation, sexual humiliation, physical abuse, solitary confinement, and incessant prisoner counts.
• Many of the prisoners became depressed and disoriented
• Half of the student prisoners had to be released from the study because of psychological strain
• The experiment was terminated after six days due to the emotional suffering of the prisoners and the escalating abuse of the guards.

🧪🧪🧪Conclusion

• The Stanford Prison Experiment demonstrated the powerful effects of situational factors on human behavior.
• It also highlighted the dangers of unchecked power and the importance of ethical considerations in research.

The experiment was designed to be realistic so the participants were not told that it was a simulation. The experiment was videotaped and the recordings were used to study the behavior of the participants. The Stanford Prison Experiment was criticized for its ethical concerns but it is still considered to be one of the most important psychology experiments ever conducted.

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 References

 Lurigio, A. J. (2023). Stanford prison experiment. Salem Press Encyclopedia of Health.

The Shocking Experiment:

How Far Will You Go to Obey an Authority Figure?

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In July of 1961, psychologist Stanley Milgram began a series of about twenty social psychology experiments designed to test the way people comply with authority (Davidson 2022)

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• Milligram wanted to know how many people who were considered normal would continue to inflict pain on another person when told to do so by an authority figure.
• He was inspired by the atrocities committed during World War II by seemingly average German citizens who were following the orders of their leaders.

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First Experiment (Davidson 2022):

one adult played the role of an emotionless authority figure, while an actor played the role of the learner. The experimental subjects, all men, were cast in the role of the teacher and instructed to deliver an electric shock to the learner for each mistake. The shocks started at 15 volts up to 450 volts. The teacher was given a 45-volt shock before the experiment began to experience what the learner would feel. The teacher and learner were placed in separate rooms so that they could hear but not see each other. The teacher would read a work and the learner would have to choose the correct word from a list of four. The authority figure reminded the teacher to shock the learner with a stronger shock each time a mistake was made. The teacher was unaware that the learner was an actor.

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Before the experiment, Milgram polled Yale psychology graduate students and faculty about what percentage of people they predicted would administer the highest level of shock.

65 percent of the 40 men administered the full range of shocks. Not one of the 40 men stopped before reaching 300 volts.

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Milgram designed about twenty variations of this experiment and this is what he learned (Davidson 2022):

🧪🧪Women were slightly more likely than men to complete the shock series.

🥼🥼More people completed the shock series when the authority figure was in the room.

🟦🟦Fewer teachers completed the series when they had to physically place the actor's arm on the shock device.

👀👀About 2/3 of the teachers completed the shock series regardless of their cultural background or gender.

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Milgram concluded that in a structured society, an innate need exists that causes one to obey authority regardless of one's cultural background and gender. He also concluded that when people have little information about a situation, they tend to comply thoughtlessly to the demands of authority.

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Milgram was criticized strongly for the psychological discomfort that he allowed the subjects to feel and was denied tenure at Harvard. 

His later research produced the concept of "six degrees of separation"

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 Reference

 Davidson, M. S. (2022). Psychologist Stanley Milgram Begins Obedience-to-Authority Experiments. Salem Press Encyclopedia.

An Existential Journey From The Shadow to Self-Actualization:

A Creative Approach to Sobriety

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Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, and Rollo May were all influential psychologists who developed different theories of personality and psychopathology. While their theories had some similarities, they also had significant differences. If these three were to come together to develop a treatment plan for someone suffering from addiction they would likely draw on all of their different perspectives to create a comprehensive and individualized plan. Well I have been studying these guys this term and I believe that a daily schedule would look like this for the patient

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Here is a sample daily schedule therapy plan for someone suffering from an addiction based on the approaches of Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, and Rollo May

Monday

• Morning: Individual therapy with a Jungian therapist
• Afternoon: Group therapy
• Evening: Cognitive-behavioral therapy

Tuesday:

• Morning: Psychoanalysis with a Freudian therapist
• Afternoon: Mindfulness meditation\
• Evening: Art therapy

Wednesday:

• Morning: Support group meeting
• Afternoon: Relapse prevention workshop
• Evening: Individual therapy

Friday

• Morning: Individual therapy with a Jungian therapist
• Afternoon: Group therapy
• Evening: Cognitive-behavioral therapy

Saturday

• Morning: Mindfulness meditation
• Afternoon: Free time
  
• Evening: Support group meeting

Sunday

• Morning: Yoga
• Afternoon: Free time
• Evening: Individual therapy

Rollo May

Existential Psychology

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• A person's existence and experience is unique, exceptional, and unrepeatable
• Everyone is a universe in itself.
• Importance of a person's free will and choice
• It is necessary to consider every person as a unique entity in the context of their own circumstances, relationships, conditions, influences, and internal forces.

• Existential psychologists tend to be optimistic
• A self-improving person overcomes selfish desires and pride keeps away from the material world and practices meditation to reach a state of pure consciousness
• Focus on the awareness of others, and self-awareness to pursue pure consciousness and happiness.

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Rollo May

• His health problems early in life and his search for inner strength gave him a creative insight into personality psychology
• he believed anxiety was provoked by technological and social changes taking place in the world and he believed that these factors led to anxiety (Shiraev 2016):
• People were caught up in a conflict between the old world of tradition and the new world of change.
• Tradition represented stability and certainty and change was rooted in uncertainty and instability
• Emerging threats to the individual's fundamental family values
• This anxiety led to confusion which increased the sense of powerlessness and insignificance which can lead to anger and even violence

May encourage people to reduce their anxiety by rediscovering the importance of caring for one another.

3 Ways to cope with Fear:

1. Avoidance
2. Confronting
3. Accept it
4. Identifying it

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 References

 Shiraev, E. (2016). Personality Theories. SAGE Publications, Inc. (US). https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9781506300795

Humanistic

 Principles

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Five Theoretical Principles of the Humanistic Tradition ( Shiraev 2016)"

• It viewed people from a holistic perspective
• People are more than the sum of their habits, reflexes, and mental operations.
• Does not just focus on isolated behaviors
• People are aware of their own psychological processes
• Humanistic Theory shifts the focus from the unconscious to the conscious
• 
  People's existence is not limited to their immediate surroundings.
• A person has material, social, cultural, and spiritual dimensions
• Free will of the people
• the choice comes with accountability
• people can make mistakes and learn from them
• People can control the outcomes of their behavior
• Human behavior is intentional and deliberate

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• People are not direct products of stimuli and circumstances
• People do not follow the imperatives of the unconscious mind.
• People are generally rational and logical in setting their goals and choosing the methods to achieve them.
• It is inherently optimistic and circumstances can affect all of us but we humans have the power to overcome challenges

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How does Humanistic Theory view when someone fails to achieve their goals despite their good intentions and effort?

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• Humanistic Psychology focuses on the actual experience of a person
• They prefer qualitative research methods to quantitative procedures and stress the importance of  a deep examination (Shiraev 2016):

1. concerns
2. memories
3. plans
4. feeling 
5. actions

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Existentialism:

1. focuses on someone's individual uniqueness, free will, and responsibility.
2. People are not substances with fixed properties
3. People are not subjects interacting with a world of objects

Controversial Assumptions of Existentialism (Shiraev 2016):

1. Human existence is tragic
1. People are free but struggle with society's demands
2. Most people do not know what to do with their freedom.
3. Every moment we are getting closer to death
4. No matter what we do and how hard we try the final results do not match our expectations and we are left sad and disoriented.
2. Life is painful and absurd
1. There is no true meaning in life
2. attempts to find meaning are fruitless
3. existential attitude- when we can't find meaning then this adds to a sense of confusion
4. existential crisis - when someone questions the foundations of life and asks whether their life has any meaning, purpose, or value.
5. Finding no answers causes anxiety and depression in people.
3. Steps can be taken to address the tragic nature and absurdity of our lives

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Where do Anxiety and Depression Originate from:

1. Anxiety and Depression manifest because people need answers and do not find them. There is no certainty in life except for death (Shiraev 2016).

What are their solutions?

• Some celebrate the power of human will and power.
• Some encourage people to revolt against their own existence
• Others encourage people to look beyond their prescribed social roles
• Some choose therapy to address anxieties

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References

Shiraev, E. (2016). Personality Theories. SAGE Publications, Inc. (US). https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9781506300795