The financial toll of autism - Apr. 2. NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Raising an autistic child can take a tremendous financial toll, even when insurance helps cover some of the costs. Kim and David Picciano's three-year old son, Colton, was diagnosed with autism eight months ago and they pay roughly $1,000 out of pocket each month for all of his therapies. "It's not all covered... we have co-pays," said Kim. "Right now, I've been fighting with insurance since August to get him occupational therapy.
" The cost of providing care for a person with autism in the U.S. is an estimated $1.4 million over their lifetime, according to a study funded by advocacy group Autism Speaks. For those with autism who are impacted with intellectual disabilities (with an IQ of 70 or less) -- nearly half of the autistic population -- the cost jumps to $2.3 million. That's in addition to the standard costs associated with raising a child, including food, education and housing. 'Child care costs are killing us' The rising cost of raising a child. Psychology. Psychology Team. That’s Disgusting - Unraveling the Mysteries of Repulsion - By Rachel Herz - Book Review - NYTimes.com.
“Situations Matter: Understanding How Context Transforms Your World,” b y Sam Sommers. To give weight to his argument, Sommers offers evidence from numerous experiments. For example, an adrenaline-filled chance encounter engineered by psychologists to take place between a man and a beautiful woman on a rickety suspension bridge led to greater attraction than a similar meeting on a sturdier bridge. (Planners of first dates take note: To make a lasting connection, a horror film may be a better bet than a comedy.) More disturbing are his examples of how being part of a crowd can lead us to apathy, or to fail to lend a helping hand.
This has had fatal results, such as when 38 bystanders witnessed 2-year-old British toddler James Bulger being beaten and dragged around town by two sadistic 10-year-olds who later murdered him. In crowds, we are less likely to act independently, assuming someone else will step up. In a group, we are also more likely to obey authority figures, even when what is asked of us defies basic morality (think Abu Ghraib). Quiet, Please: Unleashing 'The Power Of Introverts' Introverts, who prefer quieter, lower-stimulation environments, have trouble thriving in today's extrovert-oriented culture, says author Susan Cain. iStockphoto.com hide caption toggle caption iStockphoto.com From Gandhi to Joe DiMaggio to Mother Teresa to Bill Gates, introverts have done a lot of good work in the world. But being quiet, introverted or shy was sometimes looked at as a problem to overcome. In the 1940s and '50s the message to most Americans was: Don't be shy.
Susan Cain — who considers herself an introvert — has written a new book that tells the story of how introversion fell out of style. Quiet The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain Interview Highlights On the difference between introversion and shyness "Introversion is really about having a preference for lower stimulation environments. "Many people believe that introversion is about being antisocial, and that's really a misperception. On how today's workplaces are designed for extroverts. Jonathan Haidt Decodes the Tribal Psychology of Politics - The Chronicle Review. By Marc Parry New York Jonathan Haidt is occupying Wall Street. Sort of. It's a damp and bone-chilling January night in lower Manhattan's Zuccotti Park. The 48-year-old psychologist, tall and youthful-looking despite his silvered hair, is lecturing the occupiers about how conservatives would view their ideas.
"Conservatives believe in equality before the law," he tells the young activists, who are here in the "canyons of wealth" to talk people power over vegan stew. Explaining conservatism at a left-wing occupation? Haidt (pronounced like "height") made his name arguing that intuition, not reason, drives moral judgments. "He, over the last decade or so, has substantially changed how people think about moral psychology," says Paul Bloom, a psychologist at Yale University. Now Haidt wants to change how people think about the culture wars.
In March, Haidt will publish The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion (Pantheon). Indeed. The proof? "Mic check! " Are smart people ugly? The Explainer's 2011 Question of the Year. Illlustration by Charlie Powell. It's been a few weeks since we posted the questions that the Explainer was either unwilling or unable to answer in 2011. Among this year's batch of imponderables were inquiries like, Are the blind sleepy all the time?
And Does anyone ever get a sex change back? We asked our readers to pick the question that most deserved an answer in the Explainer column. Some 10,000 of you were able to register a vote, and the winning question is presented below. In third place, with 6.6 percent of the total votes, a bit of speculative evolutionary biology: Let's say that a meteor never hits the earth, and dinosaurs continue evolving over all the years human beings have grown into what we are today.
In second place, with 7.5 percent, an inquiry into pharmacokinetics: Why does it take 45 minutes for the pharmacy to get your prescription ready—even when no one else is waiting? Why are smart people usually ugly? Oh, how the Explainer loves a false premise. And I’m Like, Read This! 7 Must-Read Books on Music, Emotion & the Brain.
By Maria Popova What Freud has to do with auditory cheesecake, European opera and world peace. Last year, Horizon’s fascinating documentary on how music works was one of our most-liked pickings of 2010. But perhaps even more fascinating than the subject of how music works is the question of why it makes us feel the way it does. Today, we try to answer it with seven essential books that bridge music, emotion and cognition, peeling away at that tender intersection of where your brain ends and your soul begins.
We love the work of neuroscientist and prolific author Oliver Sacks, whose latest book, The Mind’s Eye, was one of our favorite brain books last year. But some of his most compelling work has to do with the neuropscyhology of how music can transform our cognition, our behavior, and our very selves. Why music makes us feel the way it does is on par with questions about the nature of divinity or the origin of love. Patel also offers this beautiful definition of what music is: Video: Steve Silberman, author of "The Geek Syndrome," speaks about autism and Silicon Valley.
Why Multitasking May Make You Less Productive. Nancy Bistritz is senior director at Nurun where she is responsible for marketing and communications initiatives in the U.S. You can follow Nurun on Twitter at @NurunUSA and read its blog at digitalforreallife.com. We’ve all been there before. You’re out having what you think is a nice meal with someone, and then the inevitable happens: the vibration on the table that can’t be ignored. It can be anything from an "urgent" call to a "How R U?
" text. But in truth, it's a barrier in the way of our ability to listen and focus, not to mention the onset of new social norms that permit distracted behavior — but that's a topic for another time. The Mechanics of Multitasking Multitasking not only hinders productivity but it's actually difficult to pull off. The article explains that reading while listening to music without lyrics is possible because “reading comprehension and processing instrumental music engage different parts of the brain.” There's Only One Solution: Turn Off the Noise.
How to Save an Unproductive Day in 25 Minutes. Parenting changes during the last 30 years. I always find it amusing when people talk nostalgically about “the good old days” when arguing that today’s generation is “out of control.” ”Today’s kids are so violent… When I was a kid I would have never gotten away with that! ,” I hear often. The argument is that today’s youth are out of control because parents do not parent anymore and parental expectations have declined.
But is this really true? Let us for a moment bypass the important question of whether kids today are “worse” than previous kids, because it is actually a complicated issue. But again, let’s assume that today’s kids are truly getting in trouble more often than previous kids. The Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology just published a study that examined parenting changes among thousands of parents of 16-year-old teens in 1986 and fairly similar parents in 2006. I will focus here on two specific questions. Let’s tackle the first question. The authors conclude: Is SpongeBob bad for kids? Give the show a break. This morning I turned on the news and found this headline: “Pediatricians’ group finds fault with ‘SpongeBob‘” published by Reuters. In the article, the Reuters reporter states: And Monday, the American Academy of Pediatrics will take aim at the 12-year-old Nickelodeon show, reporting a study that concludes the fast-paced show, and others like it, aren’t good for children.
From the title and the content of the news article, you could conclude that the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is taking a position against the cartoon. I was initially shocked and wanted to see why the AAP would take such as drastic policy statement. After all, the AAP only takes positions on issues that have been extensively studied, such as their position against corporal punishment. But I rapidly realized that the AAP was not taking any position against SpongeBob at all, and that the AP article was entirely misleading (most likely because the reporter may not know how the AAP publication process works). SpongeBob’s effect on kids’ brains - The Checkup. As a health writer, I never thought I’d have opportunity to blog about my favorite TV cartoon character, SpongeBob SquarePants. But now my day has come. I’m glad that my kids grew up during the SpongeBob era. To me, the cartoon is equal parts silly, smart and sweet. Its varied cast of characters encourages appreciation of diversity without ever even hinting at that word or that goal.
Its writing is clever, its message often heart-warming. So imagine my chagrin when I read the study published this morning in the journal Pediatrics characterizing the show (identified as “a very popular fantastical cartoon about an animated sponge that lives under the sea”) as “fast-paced” and examining whether that fast pace might be harmful to children’s brain functions. People have been worrying about television’s effects on kids’ brains for decades. Today’s small study placed each of 60 4-year-old children into one of three groups. I agree with that. He throws the TV away, by the way.
Violent Video Games Disrupt Emotion and Cognition in Young Men. Video games may not rot your brain but they can change the way you think, a new study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America reveals. The study shows one week of playing violent video games can create changes in brain regions associated with cognitive function and emotional control in young adult men, a PR Newswire statement says.
The study took a random sample of 22 young adults (18 to 29) with little exposure to violent video games. Half were asked to play a shooting game for 10 hours at home for one week and then stop for one week. The other group was asked not to play any violent video games for the same two-week period. All 22 men underwent an fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) at the beginning of the exam, after one week and at the end of the two weeks. There has been a long and controversial fight between people who say violent videos games are bad for kids and game activists who say there is little to no scientific evidence. Free Will Debate: Who’s in Charge? by Michael Gazzaniga (review)
I was almost four when it first occurred to me that no one else was missing legs. Flooded by questions without words to articulate them, I connected images with explanations. Those first confusing moments unravel in my mind like an old film. It begins with me being nudged awake by a waxy moon spilling silver-white light through the window as I sucked my thumb. But it wasn’t my window. Twenty-five years later, Aunt Gert would remind me of that day under the canopy of drying sheets when I picked up my cousin’s shoe and tried to put it on my own leg. “Is that a two-piece?” He started the engine, and I looked again at the house.
Sexiest Dance Moves for Men Identified. - Psychologists have identified dance moves that women find the most arousing. - "Good" dancers did wider and bigger movements of the head, neck and torso. - In contrast, "bad" dancers tended to be stiff and plod. Men who wish to attract women on the disco floor would be better advised to learn a few moves that answer the female mating drive rather than bother with the moonwalk. Psychologists have identified the key male dance movements that most arouse female interest -- and all are to do with central body motions which send out primal signals of health, vigor and strength. A team led by Nick Neave of Northumbria University in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, northeastern England, filmed 19 men aged 18-35 in a lab as they danced to a standard disco beat. The men, none of whom was a professional dancer, wore reflective markers that studded their body and were filmed by a battery of 12 3D cameras.
The footage was used to create a dancing avatar, or animated figure, that was faceless and genderless. 47 Mind-Blowing Psychology-Proven Facts You Should Know About Yourself - StumbleUpon. I’ve decided to start a series called 100 Things You Should Know about People. As in: 100 things you should know if you are going to design an effective and persuasive website, web application or software application. Or maybe just 100 things that everyone should know about humans! The order that I’ll present these 100 things is going to be pretty random. So the fact that this first one is first doesn’t mean that’s it’s the most important.. just that it came to mind first.
Dr. <div class="slide-intro-bottom"><a href=" The Top 10 Psychology Studies of 2010. The end of 2010 fast approaches, and I'm thrilled to have been asked by the editors of Psychology Today to write about the Top 10 psychology studies of the year. I've focused on studies that I personally feel stand out, not only as examples of great science, but even more importantly, as examples of how the science of psychology can improve our lives. Each study has a clear "take home" message, offering the reader an insight or a simple strategy they can use to reach their goals , strengthen their relationships, make better decisions, or become happier. If you extract the wisdom from these ten studies and apply them in your own life, 2011 just might be a very good year. 1) How to Break Bad Habits If you are trying to stop smoking , swearing, or chewing your nails, you have probably tried the strategy of distracting yourself - taking your mind off whatever it is you are trying not to do - to break the habit.
You may also have realized by now that it doesn't work. J. J. M. J.