The medical literature contains these two excessively brief accounts of self-treatment for the ailment known as “writer’s block”. Each can be downloaded in its entirety, in PDF form: 1. “The Unsuccessful Self-Treatment of a Case of ‘Writer’s Block‘” Dennis Upper, Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1974 Fall; 7(3): 497. (Thanks to Eric Geigle for bringing […]
Tag: Psychology
Swordswallower recapitulates gorilla
Swordswallower Dan Meyer, co-winner of the 2007 Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine (for the BMJ study “Swordwallowing and Its Side Effects“) accidentally replicated the findings of an earlier Ig Nobel Prize-winning study that involved a gorilla. This video shows it happening: The video was filmed during the 2010 Ig Nobel Tour of the UK (for […]
Experimental smells for the audience
Scent of Mystery, a movie released in 1961, became a de facto psychology experiment by unleashing smells into the air. Commentator Jim Donahue remarked, years later, that “indeed, most movies stink to this day”. (Thanks to investigator Rose Fox for bringing this to our attention.)
Slot Machine Gamblers: Hard to Study?
It’s hard to get good payoffs from slot machines, yes. But it’s also hard to get good information from slot-machine gamblers, and that made things awkward for psychologists Mark Griffiths, of Nottingham Trent University, and Jonathan Parke, of Salford University. They explained how, in a monograph called Slot Machine Gamblers – Why Are They So […]