are you an experienced driver?

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According the the World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention (2004) by the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated number of 1.2 million people are killed in road traffic crashes each year. The people injured reaches as high as 50 million. Next to HIV/AIDS, road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for age groups 5-14 and 15-29 in the year 2002. It is also the third for the age group 30-44 years, after tuberculosis. It was also predicted that by the year 2020, road traffic injuries is the third in leading causes for disability-adjusted life years, which measures the combined information on the number of years lost from premature death with the loss of health from disability.


In the Global Status Report on Road Safety (2009), also by the WHO, it is stated that there were 1.27 million deaths caused by traffic crashes in 2004. Road traffic injuries was already the leading cause of death in that year for the age group 15-29 years, while it was still second for the age group 5-14 years, and third in the age group 30-44 years.

In the Philippines, the Philippine National Police reported around 15,000 traffic accidents in 2006, with 674 fatalities, 3767 injuries, and 10, 623 instances of property damage, with 27% of traffic accidents caused by driver error.

I’m sure most of us have experienced at least one traffic accident –no matter how minor, in our lives. The first question that might pop into your mind is “What happened?” with a couple of curse words in between. Sometimes we do know and we just weren’t able to avoid it in time, and sometimes we just don’t. You’re lucky if only a few minutes got taken off of your schedule because of the accident, especially when you’re only a passenger and can easily transfer to another vehicle. But what if you’re the one driving?

Research has found that young drivers are more likely to exhibit risks of getting involved in crashes, which is probably why road traffic injuries is the second leading cause of death for the age groups we categorize as “young”. The study The development of hazard perception: Dissociation of visual orientation and hazard processing, showed that experienced drivers perceived hazards faster than inexperienced drivers. The researchers suggest that this shorter response time is not due to visual orientation, or where the drivers are looking, but rather it takes a shorter time for the expert drivers to decide whether what they saw is a hazard or not.

Experience, apparently, is found to be more important than what you learn in driving school, along with development of visual strategies that help a driver adapt to the demands of traffic. By the way, although we usually associate traffic with the slow movement of cars, as in “trafik kasi”, traffic does not only involve congestion, but everything else on the road.

The study asked twenty experienced and twenty inexperienced drivers (16 to 28 years) to look at pictures and respond with a button press instead of stepping on an actual brake –experienced drivers were those with 24 months to 8 years driving experience, while inexperienced drivers were those who were still in driving school to those who had 23 months driving experience). These pictures consisted of traffic scenes with either low, medium, or high braking affordance. Not only did the researchers record the response times of these drivers, but they also monitored the eye movement and how long the drivers fixated on the hazard before responding.

It was found that there was no change in criterion. This means there was no difference in the number of times the driver pressed on the brake, whether experienced or not. How experienced and inexperienced drivers classified a situation as being hazardous did not differ.

The researchers note, however, that their study was limited to eye movements and hazard processing, and lacked many other details that are important when driving. Driving does not only involve looking at potential hazards, but also synchronizing your body movements to adapt to these hazards –including safely adjusting speed. This is not as easy as button pressing. Also, the research did not account for peripheral vision, which is also very important in driving –the many mirrors are there for a reason.

Now that we’ve explored one possible explanation for how these traffic accidents happen, what next? According to The Good, the Bad and the Talented: Young Drivers’ Perspectives on Good Driving and Learning to Drive (2007), a good driver must maintain the right level of mental alertness and assertiveness, since driving is not only a physical activity, but also a social and emotional one. As a driver myself, I already put this in my mind whenever I drive. However, even I surprised myself with the way I acted once I got into a real accident –luckily there were no injuries –I forgot almost everything they taught me in driving school, and it took a while before I could put myself together. Personally, I think one can never be prepared for the worst things that can happen on the road –especially in Metro Manila. So I’ve prepared a list/form in case I get in another accident, and I’m making it available for everyone who visits this blog (how kind of me!). You’re welcome to leave comments and personal experiences so we can make the form better.



Since you have to exchange information with the other driver, it won't hurt to ready a list of your contact information beforehand, so you don't have to worry about it at the scene. Also keeping a list of your emergency contacts (in case your phone runs out of battery and you can't remember the digits because you're too nervous!). Keeping a list of emergency numbers in your car, such as hospitals, also won't hurt.



Christmas, S. (2007). The Good, the Bad and the Talented: Young Drivers’ Perspectives on Good Driving and Learning to Drive. Department for Transport. London: Queen’s Printer and Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.

Huestegge, L., Skottke, E.-M., Anders, S., Müsseler, J., & Debus, G. (2010). The development of hazard perception: Dissociation of visual orientation and hazard processing. Transportation Research Part F , 1-8.

Philippine Accidents. (n.d.). Retrieved July 29, 2010, from Car Accidents.com: http://www.car-accidents.com/country-car-accidents/philippines-car-accidents.html

World Health Organization. (2009). Global Status Report on Road Safety: Time for Action. Geneva: World Health Organization.

World Health Organization. (2004). World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.

paano maging kasing kaakit-akit ni Rubi?

Kamakailan lang napapansin kong nahuhumaling ang mga manonood ng soap opera kay Rubi; ang bidang kontabida. Ang teleseryeng ito ay hango sa kwento ni Ruby, isang show sa Mexico.

Dito sa Pilipinas, ang gumanap na Rubi ay si Angelica Panganiban. Isang artistang kilala sa kanyang galling umarte,sa ganda, at….hhhhmmmm?? kasexyhan? (medyo may debate yata jan)

Sa kwentong ito, naaakit ang lahat ng lalaki kay Rubi at tila pinagaagawan siya ng mga ito. Sa mga babae, “ang haba ng hair mo” kung pinagaagawan ka ng mga lalaki. Dahil dito, maraming babae ang nangangarap na maging tulad ni Rubi (di ako kasama dun a..hahahaha)

Ang problema ngayon, ano kayang meron siya? At mas mahalaga, pano natin siya matatalbugan??

Narito…

Isang mahalagang konsepto ng ebolusyon at survival of the fittest ang pagkakaroon ng mga katangiang kaakit-akit para sa opposite sex upang maipagpatuloy ang reproduksiyon at salinlahi. Ayon kila Elliot, A. at Niesta, D. (2008), narito ang mga katangiang hinahanap ng mga lalaki sa mga babae (Gangestad & Scheyd, 2005; Rhodes,2006; Symons, 1995; Weeden & Sabini, 2005)

· sexually dimorphic (i.e., highly feminine)

· symmetrical

· average facial features

· relatively low waist-to-hip

· low body mass index

In short, gusto nila nung tinatawag nating “balingkinitan” at nang babaing babaing itsyura.

Dagdag pa ni Geldart (2008), gusto ng mga lalaki ang mga sumusunod na katangian ng mukha;

· sexually-mature and youthful features (i.e., higher cheekbones, smaller

chin, larger eyes)

Na hindi natin maikakaling, ganito ang kawangis ng mukha ni Angelica Panganiban. Ayon kay Jones ( 1995) at McArthur & Berry (1987) ang mga katangiang ito ay nagevolved bilang mga sinyales na reproductively healthy ang isang babae, at upang masiguro na sa kanya mahuhumaling ang mga lalaki.

Kung akala mo naman ay bigo ka sa pag-ibig dahil kulay kayumanggi ka, pinakyaw mo na lahat ng pampaputi sa department store, at nilagok mo na lahat ng pampaputi…itigil mo na yan! Dahil napagalaman nila Fink, Grammer, at Thornhill noong 2001 “dark skin, not light skin, was rated as most attractive”.

Kaya te, itigil mo na yang pagkukulong mo bahay at ipagmalaki ang tunay mong kulay ( o diba, rhyme!)

Kung wala ka ng mga katanigang ‘yan, wag kang magalala ‘te. Konti makeover lang at pagbabago sa wardrobe, makakatulong na. Naito ang natuklasan ni Elliot at Niesta nitong 2008,

“In many nonhuman primates, the color red enhances males’ attraction to females. In 5 experiments, the authors demonstrate a parallel effect in humans: Red, relative to other achromatic and chromatic colors, leads men to view women as more attractive and more sexually desirable. Men seem unaware of this red effect…”

At malamang din, ito na ang greatest secret ni Rubi…dahil lagi siyang nakapula.

Ngayon, alam na natin kung anu-ano ano ang katangian ng alpha female. Maaaring ang iba nito wala tayo, pero ok lang yan, mag RED ka nalang.

References:

Elliot, A. & Niesta, D. (2008). Romantic Red: Red Enhances Men’s Attraction to Women. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 95, No. 5, 1150–1164.

Fink, B., Grammer, K., & Thornhill, R. (2001). Human (Homo sapiens) Facial Attractiveness in Relation to Skin Texture and Color.Journal of Comparative Psychology 2001, Vol. 115, No. 1,92-99.

Gangestad, S. W., & Scheyd, G. J. (2005). The evolution of physical attractiveness. Annual Review of Anthropology, 34, 523–548.

Geldart, S. (2008). Tall and Good-Looking? The Relationship Between Raters’ Height and Perceptions of Attractiveness. Journal of Individual Differences. Vol. 29(3):148–156.

Jones, D. (1995). Sexual selection, physical attractiveness, and facial neoteny. Current Anthropology, 36, 723–748.

McArthur, L.Z., & Berry, D.S. (1987). Cross-cultural agreement in perceptions of babyfaced adults. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 18, 165–192.

Symons, D. (1995). Beauty is in the adaptation of the beholder: The evolutionary psychology of human female sexual attractiveness. In P.Abramson & S. Pinkerton (Eds.), Sexual nature/sexual culture (pp.80–118). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Weeden, J., & Sabini, J. (2005). Physical attractiveness and health in Western societies: A review. Psychological Bulletin, 131, 635–653.

2-faced Pain

Which hurts more, to know that the person you love doesn’t love you back or to get cut on the finger by a knife as you slice an apple? To find out that you failed the most important exam (e.g. boards) of your life or to recover from an operation you just had? For you and your family to discover you’re suffering from a serious illness or to experience the side effects from all the medicines you’re taking to get well? To get brutally scolded by your dad with the belt or to suffer from guilt as he looks you in the eyes silently after he finds out that you did something terribly wrong? Has it ever occurred to you why, more often than not, we suffer a greater deal of pain when it’s not physically induced? What is it with “symbolic” stimuli such as statements, gestures and facial expressions that give us a reminiscent feel to physical stimuli such as electric shocks, heat and pain? Where in our brains do our sense of touch (from direct stimulation) and sense of sight and hearing enter a crossroad.

Allow me to introduce to you five “street signs” that may come in handy the next time you randomly wonder about your “pains”. Not only will you become wary of the internal processes that are happening to your body, a wise man once told me to try saying these terms out loud in a restaurant and they may actually find you smart (which, mind you, is a turn on for some individuals). Kidding aside, we first have the amygdala. Thinking of how to get something good out of your negative emotions? Remember this: negative emotion with high arousal and positive emotion lead to pain reduction, but negative emotion with low arousal leads to pain enhancement (Rhudy & Williams, 2005). For athletes who seek arousal in rigorous exercise, thank your activated amygdala for inhibiting the pain you feel from daily setbacks. For married couples, you now know what biologically aids in making your relationships long, bearable and pleasurable. Next, did you ever encounter a time in which you felt OP (out of place)? Some people, myself included, find it really hurtful to be nobody at times. What makes us feel this way? Say hello to your Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC). Explicit exclusion (e.g. when your friends deliberately choose not to pass the Frisbee to you, exclude you in their gimmicks, etc.) was found to increase activation not only in the ACC but right ventral prefrontal cortex (MacDonald & Leary, 2005). So, at times when you are lying alone, with your head on the phone, don’t forget to think about your activated ACC - - against all odds, it will never leave you.

It is important to note, however, that pain affect (acknowledgement of pian) was the only factor the researchers zeroed into. The implication? Although you know what allows you to perceive your pain as people exclude you, there are a myriad of other structures responsible for the intensity of your felt pain.

Other systems worth mentioning include the Periaquedictal Gray (PAG), Opioids and Oxytocin, despite the fact that they haven’t been tested on humans. More than getting hurt when socially excluded, activation of PAG serves as a survival mechanism in animals, especially those species who defend, escape and rely on interdependent relationships with their conspecifics (MacDonald & Leary, 2005). Opioids and oxytocin regulate both physical and social pain as well - - reduces pain in isolation and enjoys a more satisfactory social environment. (MacDonald & Leary, 2005)

No doubt there exists a general agreement that emotions influence pain (Rainville, Hyung, Bao & Chre’tien, 2005). As you think about the relationship between these two factors, don’t forget the amygdala, ACC, PAG, Opioids and Oxytocin that made these crossroads possible.

References:

MacDonald, G. & Leary, M. (2005). Why Does Social Exclusion Hurt? The Relationship Between Social and Physical Pain. Psychological Bulletin, 2, 202-223.

Rainville, P., Huynh Bao, Q. & Chre´tien, P. (2005). Pain-related emotions modulate experimental pain perception and autonomic responses. Pain, 118, 306-318. doi:10.1016/j.pain.2005.08.022

Rhudy, J. & Williams, A. (2005). Gender Differences in Pain: Do Emotions Play a Role? Gender Medicine, 2, 208-226.

Sing your way to my heart

by Dianne Cuyugan

Do you wonder why some music can make us happy or sad while others just can’t make us feel anything?

It is funny how our emotions are influenced by music. Listeners tend to associate faster tempo and major mode of music with happiness and slower tempo and minor mode of music with sadness (Hunter, Schellenberg, & Schimmack, 2008). This is why party music is always upbeat while music when someone has just died is always slow. This applies especially to music without lyrics. I just remembered when we were playing a skit about El Filibusterismo for PI (Philippine Institution) 100 using Maalaala Mo Kaya theme. We had to think of an instrumental music for all the sad and painful scenes. Then, I played “Kiss The Rain” by Yiruma. All of a sudden, all my group mates wore sad facial expressions and said that the song was indeed very sad. Surely, the song was very effective and we end up using it for the skit. This also can explain why many Filipino “fan girls” fall in love with Asian (Korean or Japanese) pop music. They can detect and perceive the emotions the music expresses even though they cannot understand the lyrics. And because of this, I’m happy to be one! Haha this is the reason on why I’m not ashamed of being one. Music transcends language!

Music per se cannot affect or induce any emotions and feelings on us if we do not put our attention on them and perceive them. Thus, our own perception plays a big role on how music induces emotions on us. Hunter, Schellenberg, & Schimmack (2010) found out that listeners’ emotional responses are highly correlated with their perceptions of the emotions conveyed by the music. But then, listeners’ perceptions are higher in ratings than their emotions induced. Also, listeners’ perceptions mediate their emotional responses. This tells us that once the listener has identified and recognized the emotion expressed by the music, the emotion is induced as he/she perceived it to be. As an illustration, a listener tunes in to a fast and upbeat music, and as he/she associates it to the feeling of being elated, energetic and happy, he/she will also feel elated, energetic and happy although not in the same degree as how he/she perceives it to be.

Other factors also play a big role on our perception process. Mood for example, can block our perception on the emotion expressed by the music and alter our emotional response. Try listening to “Jai Ho” by Pussycat Dolls on a bad-trip day. However, mood can also heighten your perception and emotional response. Try listening to “The way you look tonight” by Frank Sinatra when you had just been complimented by your crush or boyfriend that you are beautiful. Get what I mean? C’mon try it!

Sources:

Hunter, P., Schellenberg, E., & Schimmack, U. (2010). Feelings and perceptions of happiness and sadness induced by music: Similarities, differences, and mixed emotions. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 4(1), 47-56. doi:10.1037/a0016873

Hunter, P. G., Schellenberg, E. G., & Schimmack, U. (2008). Mixed

affective responses to music with conflicting cues. Cognition and Emotion,

22, 327–352.

FOOD..also needs to look GOOD.

We have been doing a lot of papers in 135 lately (hahahaha) and most of its bulk is the RRL. The papers demand us to be extra creative in writing (which is very challenging but fun), and aside from this we also have to read lots and lots (and lots) of journal articles. It’s time consuming but the good thing is, I now feel extra smarter than before. I could amuse my roommates by firing various trivia about Human Perception…(thanks to Goldstein, Sir Diwa and of course the long RRLs) and make them think that psychologists are really cool, which of course, is true.

Recently, I have come across an article from Time (Magazinehttp://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1666274,00.html). It is entitled Taste Test, and is written by Joel Stein in 2007. It is about a doctor named Brian Wansink from the University of Cornell in New York. Dr. Wansink, base on the article, has been and is conducting wacky and cool experiments on perception and food, and their psychological implications. Many of his experiments yielded interesting results such as we tend to eat more and more M&Ms if they are presented in more colors and that we tend to consume more food when our tables have flowers.

In Jane Black’s article (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/health/7045930.html) a problem in fruit consumption in school cafeterias in New York was solved by Dr. Wansink. They thought that fruit price should be lowered so that kids can afford them. Brilliant Dr. Wansink, saw that the problem is not the price, it’s the presentation!! “ If fruit looks good, kids will choose it”. He put fruits in a rack and added lighting, and voila! the sales increased by 54% by the end of the second week.. (applause!!!!!clap*clap*clap*)

Because of this simple solution, low-cost and flexible, it caught lots of attentions from the higher-ups such as White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs and U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Such researches are born out from an emerging branch of psychology, BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS, a collaboration of psychologists and economists. “Behavioral economics combines the behavioral models of psychology with the decision models of economics to help highlight how biases in perception, memory, or thought processes may influence purchasing decisions” (Just and Wansink, 2009).

They have made innovations in increasing consumption of healthier foods and taking less of the not nutritious ones. Such innovations are “Moving the Fruit”, redesigning smarter cafeterias, and salad sales. (http://www.choicesmagazine.org/magazine/article.php?article=87)

Perception of vegetables and fruits as well as the room arrangement has widely affected the increase of nutritious food consumption!

These studies and experiments have been very helpful in improving children’s health and have solved economic disputes in different institutions (e.g. the schools, the government and children’s families).

The results being very innovative may not, however, be applied in our school canteens in the Philippines. We are facing many problems in children’s nutrition but this is not the priority of the Philippine government. We, the schools and the government, would prefer to spend our funds building and fixing classrooms rather than redesigning our canteens. Although this is true, maybe someday Dr. Walsink’s researches will be implemented in our country when we have solved our primary problems. Let’s cross our fingers to that! Wink*wink*.

Yo! Fro-Yo!

As a person, I am fond of trying any sort of food that I see—may it be pasta, ice cream, siomai, stir fried noodles, tea, and many more. An addition to that countless list is frozen yogurt (also called as ‘FRO-YO’). Out of sheer curiosity, I tried eating some in one shop which offers soft-served fro-yo. It was somewhat tangy and the consistency was bordering the middle (between creamy and watery). After that, I’ve managed to try fro-yos from other shops. What can I say is that the differences in the quality easily surface with a mere taste from a spoon.

In relation to that, almost every one of us might have already observed the rapid increase of shops that offer frozen yogurts. Creamy yogurts that can be sprinkled with a variety of toppings that one can choose from (fruits, chocolates, cereals, biscuits, etc). They also come in different flavors: original, green tea, or coffee. Although there are two types of these mouth-watering frozen yogurts (soft served or hard packed), the most common here in the Philippines is the soft served.With the emergence of the availability of non-fat, low carbohydrate food in the market, who would not be smitten by the alluring characteristics of frozen yogurts? According to Stuart (1979), the refreshing taste accompanied by the nutritional benefits became the deciding factor that certainly made people hooked in frozen yogurts. A study conducted in the early 1990s has shown that there is a preference for frozen yogurt that has a low acid and high sugar content (Guinard Little, Marty, & Palchak , 1994). And contrary to the hype of low fat frozen yogurt these days, Kım, Kim, Baick, Lee & Yu (1993) explained that consumers actually favor fro-yos that have a high fat content.

Based from the abovementioned features of frozen yogurt you may have, by this time, caught the trend of the marketing strategies used to enable this product to penetrate our senses. As the attention of FRO-YO producers is focused on the visual packaging as well as the taste and its consistency, the important aspect of putting the proper amount of live culture of bacteria is neglected. Meyer (1989), argued that the required amount of live cultures in a frozen yogurt that would actually produce beneficial effects in the digestive system is estimated to be about 5 million to 10 million cells per milliliter. She added that most of the consumers are unaware of that. As of present time, there exists no federal standard for frozen yogurts so there is a great variation in the composition (fat, sugar, acid, and total solids) among different competing producers (Guinard Little, Marty, & Palchak , 1994).

On that note, we must begin to be more critical about what kind of food we are consuming. It might look pleasant to the eyes and the advertisements can be quite magnetizing. A real frozen yogurt must contain the necessary amount of live cultures. "The only difference between most frozen yogurt and ice milk is the perception in the consumer's mind of the benefits of yogurt over ice milk," suggests Greg Sheil, president of Yo-Fruit Specialties (page 2. cited in Meyer, 1989). Let us not be easily fooled. We must enhance our difference threshold (the smallest difference between two stimuli that a person can detect) for us to be able to detect if there really are live cultures inside of the frozen yogurt that we eat. Hence, the next time that we crave for something creamy yet healthy, we could be confident enough to choose the best fro-yo that the market has to offer!

REFERENCES:

Guinard, J X, Little C, Marty C and Palchak T R (1994). Effect of sugar and acid on the acceptability of frozen yogurt to a student population. Journal of Dairy Science 77 1232–1238.

Kım, J. H., Kim, Y. H., Baick, S. C., Lee, Y. G. & Yu, J. H. (1993). Studies on the manufacture of frozen yogurt made with different mixing ratios of raw milk and whole skim milk powder. Korean Journal of Dairy Science 15 128–134.

Meyer, A. (1989). Will the real frozen yogurt please stand up? - includes related articles on growing frozen dessert industry. Dairy Foods. FindArticles.com. 06 Jul, 2010. Retrieved from: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3301/is_n2_v90/ai_7544853/

Stuart, S. L. (1979). The Dannon Book of Yogurt. Sacramento, CA: Citadel Press.

(Jeni)