Who're You Gonna Call? Pschyic Ghostbusters!

Its Halloween, so gather round and I'll tell you tale so frightening it will make you... no wait, this is a science blog and we don't believe in that sort of thing. Instead for this night of ghouls and ghosties I shall offer some reassurance: neuroscientists say there are NO SUCH THING AS GHOSTS- and they have the data to prove it.
The occurrence and frequency of paranormal experiences seem to be associated with altered levels of activity in the the temporal lobe of the brain and some people's temporal lobes are more sensitive than others. The key to it all seems to be global geomagnetic activity (and no I don't know what that is either)- it has been emprirically associated with reports of seeing dead relatives soon after they have,well... died.
It also explains why its the things that go bump in the night that scare us- disruption of normal sleeping patterns seems to be a key element in the witnessing of apparitions and the majority of paranormal experiences occur between 2:00 and 4:00am.
These clever neuroscientists (specifically Persinger and crew) worked out that only specific complex magnetic fields interfered with the temporal lobe and then went a bit Frankenstein and decided to see if they could recreate the resulting experiences by subjecting people to such a magnetic field. When they tried it they found that most normal people experienced a 'sensed presence', feeling interact with their thinking and move in space.
Persinger et al. however are not only ghost-makers but also ghostBUSTERS, solving the problems of people who 'see dead people.' One example given was of a teenage girl who thought she was chosen because she had seen and experienced an apparition and sensed the outline of a baby over her left shoulder. The experiences usually occurred between 2:00 and 4:00am and her medical records showed a frontal injury in childhood.
The psychic ghostbusters measured the magnetism in her bedroom and discovered the existence of a pulsed magnetic field similar to the one they used to create apparitions. Turns out it was coming from her alarm clock, which was too close to the head of her bed and was disrupting her sleep- and leading to her 'visions'.
By now, I expect you are sitting back and breathing a sigh of relief, maybe even thinking of going to sleep without your nightlight. However, Persinger et al. have one last spooky surprise up their sleeve: not content with their own creations, they decided to test two well-known psychics- medium and a remote viewer. Complex tests were set up for both and in each case, the psychic seemed to know things that they shouldn't be able to. Also when engaged in the tests, their brains showed activity patterns that were anomalous for the situations... outside help perhaps?
So it appears even the rigourous neuroscientist ghostbusters cannot completely disprove the existence of the paranormal.
The truth...is out there.

Wear your 'Halo' to Work

The recession may officially be over, but its never been harder to get a job. So what should you be relying on to get you chosen over the hundreds of other eager applicants? Qualifications, work experience, extra skills… or a nice smile?
Unfair though it may seem to those of us not so fortunate as to be absolutely gorgeous, studies have shown that good looking people tend to be more highly rated in interview than their less attractive peers. This isn’t a case of sexism in the workplace- the phenomenon occurs for both men and women- nor does it appear to be due to the overt shallowness of the interviewer as the prejudice is seemingly subconscious.
According to psychologists this bias is due to the ‘Halo Effect,’ a psychological kink by which we attribute positive characteristics to people we like and negative ones to people we like less. When the person or people are strangers to us, the tendency is to assume good looking people are nice and less attractive people are not. A reliance on appearance for judging character is inherent in our culture- phrases such as ‘love is blind’ and ‘a face only a mother could love’ reveal how we connect positive emotions to an attractive physical appearance.
A study conducted in the 70’s by Landy and Sigall shows the Halo effect in action: when male students were asked to evaluate the quality of an essay, the marks they gave when they thought the writer was an attractive woman were substantially higher than when the perceived writer was unattractive.
Of course to a certain extent notions of attractiveness are subjective to personal preference and social conditioning; however the experimental proof of the halo effect seems to indicate that there is some base level of attractiveness- traits such as good hygiene and fitness, personal grooming etc. will influence people’s judgement regardless of what attracts them personally. This effect does not just condition what people think of your personality but also your abilities and skills- people will assume that attractive people (within reason obviously looking like Paris Hilton might be a hindrance) are more capable as well as generally nicer.
So what does this mean in the real world? Well realistically looks are unlikely to replace the right qualifications-you’ll need those to get into the interview room anyway. However once you’re at that stage- even if it seems chauvinistic or unfeminist- its up to you to use every weapon in your arsenal. So dress well, use makeup, get your hair done- at the end of the day it could be the difference between going home with a new job or going back to fill in another round of applications.

The Halo effect: evidence for unconscious alteration of judgements Nisbett et al. J of Personality and social psychology vol 35 no. 4 pg 250

The Winning Streak

Ever wondered why some guys seem to be natural winners, blessed with that elusive stroke of luck- the winning streak? Is it luck, the random hand of fate or do they have something that others don’t?
Emerging evidence suggests that something much more solid than luck is responsible: increasingly it seems that your testosterone levels could affect your success in competition.
This is nothing new: scientists have known for years that one of the main roles of testosterone in the male body is to induce reckless and competitive behaviour in hopes of increasing your chances of attracting a mate.
All men have a basic, consistent level of testosterone that follows a daily rhythm- spiking in the morning (hence ‘morning wood’) and then steadily decreasing during the day. However, if you engage in competition of some sort, the increase in testosterone production that results can temporarily override the decline.
Unfortunately, even discounting these increases some men simply have higher testosterone levels than others. This is to some extent dependent on your circumstances – for example married men with children have significantly lower levels than unattached men ‘on the pull’- however some research using primates indicates it may be possible to predict rank from birth testosterone levels, suggesting leaders are born not made.
But what, if anything, does this have to do with winning?
In primate societies leaders arise through continued success in competition- both sexes favour winners as mates and alliance partners- and it seems humans are no different: research on partner choice in women shows a preference for higher levels of testosterone.
In terms of winning, two key facts to remember are that increased testosterone increases your chance of winning and that winning boosts your testosterone levels. Theoretically this means that success in one competition followed by participation in another will increase your chances of winning in the short term and this seems to some extent to be true in practice although of course there are many confounding factors.
Even if you’re not particularly competitive or sporty you can benefit from this effect: a recent study indicates that men may gain testosterone boosts from watching their favourite sports team win, even if they are just watching the game on television in a bar. Similar studies have shown that this effect can be produced by engaging in nonphysical activities as well- including chess and board games.
The winning streak then, may have more truth to it than has previously been thought and its effects should be remembered next time you hit the pitch, bar or chessboard.