Interrogational torture: Effective or purely sadistic?

While government officials have argued that "enhanced interrogation techniques" are necessary to protect American citizens, the effectiveness of such techniques has been debated. According to a recent study, when torture is used to elicit information, it is likely to be unexpectedly harsh yet ineffective. This study was published in a new article in Political Research Quarterly (PRQ) published by SAGE on behalf of the Western Political Science Association.

John W. Schiemann, author of the study and a political scientist at Fairleigh Dickinson University, found that information gleaned from interrogational torture is very likely to be unreliable, and when torture techniques are employed, they are likely to be used too frequently and too harshly. Furthermore, he found that for torture to generate even small amounts of valuable information in practice, the State must make the rational calculation to torture innocent detainees for telling the truth in order to maintain torture as a threat against those who withhold information.

Schiemann wrote, "Interrogators will continue to use torture and to increase its intensity in an attempt to ensure the detainee's threshold is low enough to make him talk."

In order to assess the effectiveness of interrogational torture, Schiemann's study employed game theory, a widely-accepted theoretical approach in the social sciences to modeling social behavior. He then compared the outcomes generated by the model to the standards of success set forth by torture proponents in terms of the reliability of information and the frequency and severity of the torture used to get it.

Schiemann stated that while many believe that interrogational torture cannot be justified under any circumstances, those who do advocate for it claim that at times it is the only way gain critical information. He found, however, that under realistic circumstances interrogational torture is far more likely to produce ambiguous and false, rather than clear and reliable, information. "The use of torture makes it possible to extract both real and false confessions and no ability by the state to distinguish the two," wrote the author.

"The question as to whether—in reality—interrogational torture actually provides us with vital information we otherwise would not get—and at what human cost—is one of the pressing moral questions of our time," wrote Schiemann. "The debate over this question suggests that this reality needs probing, and the probing offered here suggests that torture games have no winners."

More information: Find out more by reading the article, "Interrogational Torture: Or How Good Guys Get Bad Information with Ugly Methods" by John W. Schiemann in Political Research Quarterly. The article is available free for a limited time at: http://prq.sagepub … ull.pdf+html

Provided by SAGE Publications

"Interrogational torture: Effective or purely sadistic?." March 28th, 2012. http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-03-interrogational-torture-effective-purely-sadistic.html

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Robert Karl Stonjek

Inside the brains of jurors: Neuroscientists reveal brain activity associated with mitigating criminal sentences

Credit: Caltech

(Medical Xpress) -- When jurors sentencing convicted criminals are instructed to weigh not only facts but also tricky emotional factors, they rely on parts of the brain associated with sympathy and making moral judgments, according to a new paper by a team of neuroscientists. Using brain-imaging techniques, the researchers, including Caltech's Colin Camerer, found that the most lenient jurors show heightened levels of activity in the insula, a brain region associated with discomfort and pain and with imagining the pain that others feel.

The findings provide insight into the role that emotion plays in jurors' decision-making processes, indicating a close relationship between sympathy and mitigation.

In the study, the researchers, led by Makiko Yamada of National Institute of Radiological Sciences in Japan, considered cases where juries were given the option to lessen the sentences for convicted murderers. In such cases with "mitigating circumstances," jurors are instructed to consider factors, sometimes including emotional elements, that might cause them to have sympathy for the criminal and, therefore, shorten the sentence. An example would be a case in which a man killed his wife to spare her from a more painful death, say, from a terminal illness. 

"Finding out if jurors are weighing sympathy reasonably is difficult to do, objectively," says Colin Camerer, the Robert Kirby Professor of Behavioral Finance and Economics at Caltech. "Instead of asking the jurors, we asked their brains."

The researchers scanned the brains of citizens (potential jurors) while the participants read scenarios adapted from actual murder cases with mitigating circumstances. In some cases, the circumstances were sympathy-inducing; in others, where, for example, a man became enraged when an ex-girlfriend refused him, they were not. The scientists used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a type of brain scanning that tracks increases in oxygenated blood flow, indicating heightened brain activity. The participants also had their brains scanned when they determined whether to lessen the sentences, and by how much.  

The team found that sympathy activated the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, precuneus, and temporo-parietal junction—brain regions associated with moral conflict and thinking about the feelings of others. Similarly, the jurors had increased activity in these regions during sentencing when the mitigating circumstances earned their sympathy. In those cases, they also delivered shorter hypothetical sentences.

In addition to Camerer and Yamada, coauthors on the new paper, "Neural circuits in the brain that are activated when mitigating criminal sentences," are Saori Fujie, Harumasa Takano, Hiroshi Ito, Tetsuya Suhara, and Hidehiko Takahashi of the National Institute of Radiological Sciences; Motoichiro Kato of the Keio University of Medicine; and Tetsuya Matsuda of Tamagawa University Brain Science Institute. Yamada is also affiliated with Tamagawa University Brain Science Institute and Kyoto University School of Medicine; she and Takahashi are additionally affiliated with the Japan Science and Technology Agency.

More information: http://www.nature. … mms1757.html

Provided by California Institute of Technology

"Inside the brains of jurors: Neuroscientists reveal brain activity associated with mitigating criminal sentences." March 28th, 2012.http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-brains-jurors-neuroscientists-reveal-brain.html

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Robert Karl Stonjek

People know more than they think they do, study finds

A group of Utah business students was involved in a problem-solving exercise. Credit: David Eccles School of Business.

(Medical Xpress) -- The process of melding individuals into effective, problem-solving groups should involve empowering individuals to realize they have important ideas to share.

Dr. Bryan Bonner, an associate professor at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business, believes the first step to building successful organisations is deceptively simple: self-realisation by each participant of his or her unique knowledge and experience.

Bonner co-authored “Leveraging Member Expertise to Improve Knowledge Transfer and Demonstrability in Groups” with Dr. Michael Baumann, an associate professor of Psychology at the University of Texas in San Antonio. The study, published in February’s edition of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, concludes that “for groups to be successful, they must exploit the knowledge of their (individual) members effectively.”

“It doesn’t take much. All you have to do is have people sit there for a while and think, ‘What is it I already know about this, and how can that help find the solution?’” Bonner says. “People find they often know more than they think they do; they realize that they might not know the whole answer to the problem, but there are a couple things they do know that might help the group come to a solution.”

The researchers used 540 University of Utah undergraduate students, assigning half to three-member groups on one hand, with the remaining 270 participants working as individuals. Their task: arriving at estimates closest to the correct answers to such questions as the elevation of Utah’s King’s Peak; the weight of the heaviest man in history; the population of Utah; and the minimum driving distance between Salt Lake City and New York City.

“We solve problems by using the many examples, good and bad, we’ve gathered through hard-won experience throughout our lives. The problem is that we’re not nearly as good at applying old knowledge to new problems as you’d think,” Bonner says. “Research over more than a century has tried, without much success, to figure out how we can do a better job.”

Bonner and Baumann, however, are convinced their study shows that “although the sheer amount of brainpower it takes to consistently and effectively transfer learning from old to new is beyond many individuals, groups of people working together can actually be very good at it.”

The answers to those study group questions? Kings Peak, the highest point in Utah, is 13,528 feet above sea level; the heaviest man of all time was 1,400 pounds; Utah’s population, at the time of the study, was 2,389,039; and the shortest route between Salt Lake City and New York City is 2,174.41 miles.

More information: To read the paper, visit: http://bit.ly/yHEruM

Provided by University of Utah

"People know more than they think they do, study finds." March 28th, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-people.html

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Robert Karl Stonjek

Om: Meditation a big help for emotional issues

Schoolteachers who underwent a short but intensive program of meditation were less depressed, anxious or stressed – and more compassionate and aware of others' feelings, according to a UCSF-led study that blended ancient meditation practices with the most current scientific methods for regulating emotions.

Teachers who practiced meditation in a short yet intensive program were more calm and compassionate, according to a new study led by UCSF.

A core feature of many religions, meditation is practiced by tens of millions around the world as part of their spiritual beliefs as well as to alleviate psychological problems, improve self-awareness and to clear the mind. Previous research has linked meditation to positive changes in blood pressure, metabolism and pain, but less is known about the specific emotional changes that result from the practice.

The new study was designed to create new techniques to reduce destructive emotions while improving social and emotional behavior.

The study will be published in the April issue of the journal Emotion.

"The findings suggest that increased awareness of mental processes can influence emotional behavior," said lead author Margaret Kemeny, PhD, director of the Health Psychology Program in UCSF's Department of Psychiatry. "The study is particularly important because opportunities for reflection and contemplation seem to be fading in our fast-paced, technology-driven culture."

Altogether, 82 female schoolteachers between the ages of 25 and 60 participated in the project. Teachers were chosen because their work is stressful and because the meditation skills they learned could be immediately useful to their daily lives, possibly trickling down to benefit their students.

Study Arose After Meeting Dalai Lama

The study arose from a meeting in 2000 between Buddhist scholars, behavioral scientists and emotion experts at the home of the Dalai Lama. There, the Dalai Lama and Paul Ekman, PhD, a UCSF emeritus professor and world expert in emotions, pondered the topic of emotions, leading the Dalai Lama to pose a question: In the modern world, would a secular version of Buddhist contemplation reduce harmful emotions?

From that, Ekman and Buddhist scholar Alan Wallace developed a 42-hour, eight-week training program, integrating secular meditation practices with techniques learned from the scientific study of emotion. It incorporated three categories of meditative practice: 

• Concentration practices involving sustained, focused attention on a specific mental or sensory experience;
• Mindfulness practices involving the close examination of one's body and feelings;
• Directive practices designed to promote empathy and compassion toward others.

In the randomized, controlled trial, the schoolteachers learned to better understand the relationship between emotion and cognition, and to better recognize emotions in others and their own emotional patterns so they could better resolve difficult problems in their relationships. All the teachers were new to meditation and all were involved in an intimate relationship.

"We wanted to test whether the intervention affected both personal well-being as well as behavior that would affect the well-being of their intimate partners," said Kemeny.

As a test, the teachers and their partners underwent a "marital interaction" task measuring minute changes in facial expression while they attempted to resolve a problem in their relationship. In this type of encounter, those who express certain negative facial expressions are more likely to divorce, research has shown.

Some of the teachers' key facial movements during the marital interaction task changed, particularly hostile looks which diminished. In addition, depressed mood levels dropped by more than half. In a follow-up assessment five months later, many of the positive changes remained, the authors said.

"We know much less about longer-term changes that occur as a result of meditation, particularly once the 'glow' of the experience wears off," Kemeny said. "It's important to know what they are because these changes probably play an important role in the longer-term effects of meditation on mental and physical health symptoms and conditions."

The study involved researchers from a number of institutions including UCSF, UC Davis, and Stanford University.

Provided by University of California, San Francisco

"Om: Meditation a big help for emotional issues." March 28th, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-om-meditation-big-emotional-issues.html

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Robert Karl Stonjek

Sleep disturbances hurt memory consolidation

Sleep disturbance negatively impacts the memory consolidation and enhancement that usually occurs with a good night's sleep, according to a study published Mar. 28 in the open access journal PLoS ONE.

It is becoming widely accepted that sleep is crucial for cementing long-term memory, so in this new study, the researchers went a step further to investigate whether these beneficial effects only arise after some minimum amount of continuous sleep. The authors, led by Ina Djonlagic at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, found that patients with sleep apnea, which leads to sleep disturbances, showed significantly lower overnight improvement and plateau performance for a newly learned motor task than seen for the control group. Both groups had comparable initial learning performance during the training phase, suggesting that the overnight sleep disturbance was likely related to the subsequent poorer performance.

"Optimal overnight memory consolidation in humans requires a certain amount of sleep continuity independent of the total amount of sleep" conclude the authors.

More information: Djonlagic I, Saboisky J, Carusona A, Stickgold R, Malhotra A (2012) Increased Sleep Fragmentation Leads to Impaired Off-Line Consolidation of Motor Memories in Humans. PLoS ONE 7(3): e34106. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0034106

Provided by Public Library of Science

"Sleep disturbances hurt memory consolidation." March 28th, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-disturbances-memory.html

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Robert Karl Stonjek

Sleep disturbances hurt memory consolidation

 

Sleep disturbance negatively impacts the memory consolidation and enhancement that usually occurs with a good night's sleep, according to a study published Mar. 28 in the open access journal PLoS ONE.

It is becoming widely accepted that sleep is crucial for cementing long-term memory, so in this new study, the researchers went a step further to investigate whether these beneficial effects only arise after some minimum amount of continuous sleep. The authors, led by Ina Djonlagic at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, found that patients with sleep apnea, which leads to sleep disturbances, showed significantly lower overnight improvement and plateau performance for a newly learned motor task than seen for the control group. Both groups had comparable initial learning performance during the training phase, suggesting that the overnight sleep disturbance was likely related to the subsequent poorer performance.

"Optimal overnight memory consolidation in humans requires a certain amount of sleep continuity independent of the total amount of sleep" conclude the authors.

More information: Djonlagic I, Saboisky J, Carusona A, Stickgold R, Malhotra A (2012) Increased Sleep Fragmentation Leads to Impaired Off-Line Consolidation of Motor Memories in Humans. PLoS ONE 7(3): e34106. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0034106

Provided by Public Library of Science

"Sleep disturbances hurt memory consolidation." March 28th, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-disturbances-memory.html

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Robert Karl Stonjek

Very Rare Pixx

Making Memories: How 1 Protein Does It

MicroRNAs key to memory and learning process.

Studying tiny bits of genetic material that control protein formation in the brain, Johns Hopkins scientists say they have new clues to how memories are made and how drugs might someday be used to stop disruptions in the process that lead to mental illness and brain wasting diseases.

In a report published in the March 2 issue of Cell, the researchers said certain microRNAs—genetic elements that control which proteins get made in cells— are the key to controlling the actions of so-called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), long linked to brain cell survival, normal learning and memory boosting.

During the learning process, cells in the brain’s hippocampus release BDNF, a growth-factor protein that ramps up production of other proteins involved in establishing memories. Yet, by mechanisms that were never understood, BDNF is known to increase production of less than 4 percent of the different proteins in a brain cell.

That led Mollie Meffert, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of biological chemistry and neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine to track down how BDNF specifically determines which proteins to turn on, and to uncover the role of regulatory microRNAs.

MicroRNAs are small molecules that bind to and block messages that act as protein blueprints from being translated into proteins. Many microRNAs in a cell shut down protein production, and, conversely, the loss of certain microRNAs can cause higher production of specific proteins.

The researchers measured microRNA levels in brain cells treated with BDNF and compared them to microRNA levels in neurons not treated with BDNF. The researchers noticed that levels of certain microRNAs were lower in brain cells treated with BDNF, suggesting that BDNF controls the levels of these microRNAs and, through this control, also affects protein production. Homing in on those specific microRNAS that disappeared when cells were treated with BDNF, the team found all were of the same type, so-called Let-7 microRNAs, and that all shared a common genetic sequence.

“This short genetic sequence has been shown by other researchers to behave like a bar code that can selectively prevent production of Let-7 microRNAs,” says Meffert.

To test if the loss of Let-7 microRNAs lets BDNF increase production of specific proteins, Meffert’s team genetically engineered neurons so they could no longer decrease Let-7 microRNAs. They found that treating these neurons with BDNF no longer resulted in decreased microRNA levels or an increase in learning and memory proteins.

In measuring microRNA levels in cells treated with BDNF, the researchers also found more than 174 microRNAs that increased with BDNF treatment. This suggested to the research team that BNDF treatment also can increase other microRNAs and, thereby, decrease production of certain proteins. Says Meffert, some of these proteins may need to be decreased during learning and memory, whereas others may not contribute to the process at all.

To confirm that BDNF, via microRNA action, halts the production of certain proteins, the researchers monitored living brain cells to find out where messages go in response to BDNF. Messages that aren’t translated into proteins can accumulate inside small formations within cells. Using a microscope, the researchers watched a lab dish containing brain cells that had been marked with a fluorescent molecule that labels these formations as glowing spots. Treating cells with BDNF caused the number and size of the glowing spots to increase. The researchers determined that BDNF uses microRNA to send messages to these spots where they can be exiled away from the translating machinery that turns them into protein.

“Monitoring these fluorescent complexes gave us a window that we needed to understand how BDNF is able to target the production of only certain proteins that help neurons to grow and make learning possible,” Meffert says.

Adds Meffert, “Now that we know how BDNF boosts production of learning and memory proteins, we have an opportunity to explore whether therapeutics can be designed to enhance this mechanism for treatment of patients with mental disorders and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease.”

Notes about this memory research article

Additional authors of the study included Yu-Wen Huang, Claudia Ruiz, Elizabeth Eyler and Kathie Lin all from Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine.

This research was supported by funds from the Braude Foundation and the Brain Science Institute of Johns Hopkins.

Contacts: Vanessa McMains & Audrey Huang – Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
Source: Johns Hopkins Medicine press release
Video Source: Neuroscience video made available by YouTube.com user JohnsHopkinsMedicine.
Image Source: Neuroscience image adapted from press release above.

Neuron (red) accumulates messages (green) when treated with BDNF. Image from Johns Hopkins Medicine press release. This image is distorted from the original.

Source: Nature Neuroscience
http://neurosciencenews.com/bdnf-micro-rna-protein-making-memories/

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Robert Karl Stonjek

Can you die of a broken heart? Bereavement can weaken the body's ability to fight infections

(Medical Xpress) -- Immunity experts at the University of Birmingham have found biological evidence to suggest that bereavement lowers physical immunity, putting older people at risk of life-threatening infections..

They found that the emotional stress of bereavement is associated with a drop in the efficiency of white blood cells known as neutrophils, which combat infections such a pneumonia, a major cause of death in older adults.

The research, which was funded by the Dunhill Medical Trust, helps to explain why, for example, it is not uncommon for both partners in a long and happy marriage to die within a relatively short period.

As we age our immune system becomes less efficient. We also experience the adrenopause. The adrenal glands produce the stress hormone cortisol, an immune suppressor which has long been prescribed as steroids to reduce inflammation. The adrenals also produce Dehydroepiandrosterone DHEAS, which counters the negative effects of cortisol and helps to increase immune function. 

‘We hypothesised that the emotional stress of bereavement would suppress immune function, specifically neutrophil bactericidal activity, in older adults,’ explains Dr Anna Phillips, of the School of Sports and Exercise Sciences (SportEx), who co-authored the research with Riyad Khanfer, also of SportEx, and Professor Janet Lord, Professor of Immune Cell Biology at Birmingham.

The researchers assessed neutrophil phagocytosis (engulfing by white blood cells) and stimulated superoxide (killing chemical) production against E.coli in 24 bereaved and 24 age and sex-matched non-bereaved controls all aged 65 years and over. Cortisol and DHEAS levels were determined in serum to assess potential mechanisms. Neutrophil superoxide production was significantly reduced among the bereaved when challenged with E.coli. The same group also had a significantly higher cortisol: DHEAS ratio compared to the controls. There was no difference in neutrophil phagocytosis between the two groups.

Alongside the clinical tests, the results of a psychological questionnaire showed that bereaved older people had significantly greater depression and anxiety symptoms that the non-bereaved.

‘The emotional stress of bereavement is associated with suppressed neutrophil superoxide production and with a raised cortisol:DHEAS ratio,’ the authors conclude. ‘The stress of bereavement exaggerates the age-related decline in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis) and combines with immune ageing to further suppress immune function, which may help to explain increased risk of infection in bereaved older adults.’

The latest results build on research previously published by Dr Phillips and her team which has shown that older adults who have suffered bereavement in the past 12 months had a poorer antibody response to the annual flu jab compared to non-bereaved adults. The team has also shown that a significant physical stress, hip fracture, can worsen neutrophil bactericidal ability in older adults, which has been associated with increased susceptibility to infection following surgery.

Dr Phillips comments: ‘We would like to catch elderly people at the crucial point when cortisol is going to be doing the most damage. We think if they were prescribed DHEA shortly after bereavement this would do the most good. It wouldn’t just help with their immunity but would boost their mood as well, as DHEA is known to increase feelings of well-being. Ideally, this could be combined with other treatments such as psycho-social therapies, to help older people through very difficult times and help to prevent them becoming ill.’

Professor Lord, who heads the University’s Centre for Healthy Ageing Research, added: ‘I think the most important aspect of our work is showing that bereavement does have a physiological impact on the body and that the bereaved need to be supported by friends, relatives and clinicians rather than being told to keep a stiff upper lip’

The research was published in the journal Brain Behaviour and Immunity.

Provided by University of Birmingham

"Can you die of a broken heart? Bereavement can weaken the body's ability to fight infections." March 28th, 2012.http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-die-broken-heart-bereavement-weaken.html

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Commentary takes issue with criticism of new Autism definition

(Medical Xpress) -- A commentary published in the April issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry reviews the significant limitations of a study critical of the proposed diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The criteria are being proposed for the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).

The commentary, by the 13 members of the DSM-5 Neurodevelopmental Disorders Work Group, addresses serious methodological flaws in the secondary analysis of an 18-year-old study by McPartland et al, who attempted to evaluate the proposed new diagnostic criteria for ASD and their potential impact on children with high-functioning autism.

The Work Group members state: ―We believe the archived data used in these analyses have too many inherent limitations to assess the criteria proposed for the DSM-5, particularly in regard to sensitivity and specificity.‖ Those limitations stem from the study sample dating to 1994 and the restrictive way data from that sample were collected and evaluated. They make any legitimate review and comparison virtually impossible and ―justify neither alarming headlines nor dramatic conclusions.

The Work Group has proposed that autism, Asperger‘s disorder, pervasive developmental disorder (not otherwise specified) and childhood disintegrative disorder be consolidated within the overarching category of ASD. The change signals how symptoms of these disorders represent a continuum from mild to severe, rather than being distinct disorders. The new category is expected to help clinicians more accurately diagnose people with relevant symptoms and behaviors by recognizing the differences from person to person, instead of providing general labels that tend not to be consistently applied across different clinics and centers.

Developing more useful diagnostic criteria for clinicians and individuals with ASD has been the core objective of the Work Group‘s efforts. For example, the proposed measures indicate increased sensitivity in regard to age of onset. DSM-IV requires functioning delays to be present prior to age 3; DSM-5 criteria would extend this until ―social demands exceed limited capacities,‖ as long as symptoms were present in early childhood. Despite what some critics have suggested, the issue of containing autism rates was not considered by the Work Group, nor was it a factor in revising the criteria.

The commentary notes: ―The answer to the most important question, Have we succeeded in accurately capturing all individuals with ASD with the diagnostic criteria proposed for DSM-5,‘ is not yet known.‖ Preliminary data examined as part of the Work Group‘s continuing review have indicated that the criteria would be both sensitive and specific—rather than one benefiting at the expense of the other—but further analyses using data from the recently completed DSM-5 field trials are under way.

David Kupfer, M.D., chair of the DSM-5 Task Force, praised the Work Group for extraordinarily thorough, thoughtful and detailed work. ―We remain open to any concerns the academic and advocacy communities might have, but we strongly support the decisions that these leading researchers and clinicians have made,‖ Kupfer said. ―The proposed ASD criteria are backed by the scientific evidence.

DSM-5, which is published by the American Psychiatric Association, is used by health care professionals in the United States and much of the world as the authoritative guide to the diagnosis of mental disorders. Its latest proposed diagnostic criteria for ASD and all other disorders are available on www.dsm5.org .

Release of DSM-5 is scheduled for May 2013, culminating a 14-year revision process.

Provided by American Psychiatric Association

"Commentary takes issue with criticism of new Autism definition." March 28th, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-commentary-issue-criticism-autism-definition.html

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இழக்கிறோம்..தினம் ஒரு நாளை.

 

தொடர் என்றுதான் சொல்கிறார்கள், அது இடர் என அறியாமல். ஒளியால் இருள் பரப்பப்படுகிறது. எல்லோருக்கும் போதுமான கவலைகள் இருக்கையில் தம் கவலைகளை அவை கூடுதலாகக் கொட்டுகின்றன. காற்றும் உணவும் அவசியம். கவலையுமா? கவலை நம் இரண்டாவது ஆடையோ? ஒன்பது சுவைகளும் டின்னில் அடைத்த தயாரிப்புகளாய்......நம் சிரிப்பில் கடவுளைக் காண்கிறார்கள் இரசாயனத்தால் ஏற்படுத்தப்படும் சிரிப்புகள் உடலுக்கு நல்லவையா? அழும்போதுதான் பெண்கள் அழகாயிருக்கிறார்களா? முதுகுகள் பின்புறம் இருப்பது பிறர் குற்றம் பேசவேண்டும் என்பதற்காகவா? இந்தப் பெட்டியில் எல்லாவற்றுக்கும் நியாயங்கள் சொல்லப்படுகின்றன எங்கள் நீதிமன்றங்கள்போல  இவை மெல்லவே நகர்கின்றன தொடர்கள் முடிந்து தூங்கும்போது நாம் ஒருநாள் இழந்தது அறியப்படவில்லை. - நீலமணி-

Budgeting backfires - Shoppers unconsciously spend more when trying to limit costs

(PhysOrg.com) -- Setting a price limit when shopping often backfires, according to new research from Brigham Young University and Emory University marketing professors. The study found that merely thinking about prices leaves you likely to spend more than you would otherwise.

The researchers found that consumers spent up to 50 percent more when they started shopping with a price in mind than those who didn’t. The findings were so counterintuitive that the researchers tested them with six separate experiments, and the results held up each time.

“We don’t mean to repudiate budgeting, because its positives probably still outweigh the negatives,” said author Jeffrey S. Larson, assistant professor of marketing at BYU’s Marriott School of Management. “But it’s important for consumers to realize how budgeting can affect our thought process and actually prompt us to spend more than we intended.”

Experiments tested consumers’ thinking about buying televisions, pens, laptops, earbuds, garage doors, mattresses, Blu-ray players and luggage. Various approaches got shoppers thinking about price – they could select a target price from a set of choices, identify their own target price, select a maximum price they were willing to pay, or determine a budget for a specific purchase.

“The results were always the same – a preference for higher-quality, higher-priced items,” said Larson. “The most surprising aspect of this study was that people’s decision-making process can change so easily. Doing something as simple as asking, ‘Hey, how much would you budget for this product?’ completely changes their thinking.”

The researchers reassure us that “aggregate” budgets still achieve their intended result. It’s only when we focus on purchasing one specific product that budgeting can backfire.  They wrote, “A $100 budget for a grocery trip would not leave a shopper exaggerating quality differences between the $3 block of cheese and the $5 one.”  

The study, coauthored by Ryan Hamilton of Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, will be published in the next issue of theJournal of Marketing Research, a top journal in the field.

Our thought process

Here’s what goes on in our minds, explained Larson, who earned his doctorate at Penn’s Wharton School of Business. When we start off the purchasing decision process with price in mind, we first narrow down our options based on price. If we decide we’ll spend about $500 on a new TV, we look only at TVs around that price range. Of course, once we do that, we start to notice that higher-priced sets within that range have more features and better quality, so we lean toward those. Larson’s study found that after we screen our choices based on price, we essentially ignore price after that and focus on quality. And better quality products usually cost more.

For example, in one of the experiments, the researchers asked a group of consumers how much they would be willing to spend on a new TV. Those consumers were then given the option of choosing a TV $18 above their target price and a lower-quality one $18 below. About 55 percent of them chose the higher-priced option that was above their target price range. But among a set of consumers who were given the same options WITHOUT being asked how much they would be willing to spend, only 31 percent chose the higher-priced option.  Those who set a maximum price first also rated the difference in quality between the choices as much greater than those who didn’t.

In another experiment, research subjects were given $6 for participating in the study and given an option to purchase a steeply discounted pen on their way out. Those who were asked how much they planned to pay spent an average of $2.10, compared to the average of $1.64 spent by those who were not asked.

What should we do instead?

So if we’re concerned about spending too much, and setting a budget backfires, how in the world are we supposed to approach shopping? Don’t fret, Larson says – the fact that you’ve read this means you’re now well on your way to developing immunity to this phenomenon. There are two steps we can take to protect ourselves from the effect his study identified.

1. After you evaluate your choices based on quality, force yourself to re-consider price. The researchers found that the effect disappeared after consumers had their attention drawn back price after they had evaluated quality. “Just knowing that the effect is there is going to be enough for most consumers to be able to overcome it,” Larson said.

2. Start by determining what features and quality levels matter most, before you think about price. “We haven’t tested it yet, but our initial research would indicate that if you decide on the quality level you’re comfortable with, you will then focus on price and end up spending less money,” Larson said.

Provided by Brigham Young University

"Budgeting backfires - Shoppers unconsciously spend more when trying to limit costs." March 28th, 2012. http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-03-backfires-shoppers-unconsciously-limit.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

கல்வியை சுமை ஆக்காதீர்கள்

வணக்கம் நண்பர்களே... எனது பக்கத்து வீட்டில் ஒரு நிகழ்வு... தன குழந்தைக்கு பாடம்  சொல்லி கொடுத்துக் கொண்டிருந்தார் ஒரு தந்தை. இது அன்றாடம் நிகழும் நிகழ்வு தான். அவன் சரியாக படிக்காததால் அவனிடம் "நீயெல்லாம் சுத்த தண்டம்.. எதுக்கு பள்ளிக்கூடம் போற? பேசாம மாடு மேய்க்க போ.... இது கூட தெரியாம என்னத்த படிக்கற? எத்தன தரம் படிச்சாலும் உன் மண்டைல ஏறாதா?" இது போல் பல பேச்சுக்கள். அப்பப்போ அடி வேறு விழும். இதனால் என்ன பயன் இருக்க போகிறது? மேலும் அதிகமாக தான் அவர்கள் படிப்பில் திறன் குறையக்கூடும்.  பெற்றோர்களே... அடித்து, கடும் சொற்களால் திட்டி படிப்பு என்பது ஒரு சுமை போல, பயம் தரும் ஒரு விஷயம் போல ஆக்காதீர்கள். முதலில் அவர்களை மனதளவில் அமைதி ஆக்குங்கள். படிப்பின் முக்கியத்துவத்தை அமைதியாக சொல்லி புரிய வையுங்கள். தன்னம்பிக்கை தரும்படி பேசுங்கள். பாசமாக பேசுங்கள். பின்னர் உங்கள் பாடத்தை ஆரம்பியுங்கள். விளையாட்டு தனமாக சொல்லி கொடுங்கள்.  அவர்களை பிற குழந்தைகளுடன் ஒப்பிட்டு பேசாதீர்கள்.  சொல்லிக் கொடுத்த உடனேயே அவர்கள் நிறைய மதிப்பெண்கள் எடுக்க வேண்டும் எதிர்பார்க்காதீர்கள்.   கொஞ்சம் கொஞ்சமாக அவர்களை நன்றாக படிக்க தயார் செய்யுங்கள். ஆரம்பத்தில் கொஞ்சம் பலன் கிடைக்காவிட்டாலும்  பொறுமையாக சொல்லி கொடுங்கள். நிச்சயம் முன்னேற்றம் தெரியும். படிப்பில் அவர்களுக்கு பயம் நீங்கி, ஆர்வம் வரும் வரையில் காத்திருங்கள். மனப்பாடம் அதிகமாக  செய்ய சொல்வதை விட பலமுறை எழுதி பார்க்க வையுங்கள்.  தொடர்ந்து நீண்ட நேரம் படிப்பிலேயே அவர்களை திணிக்காதீர்கள். சின்ன இடைவெளி கொடுங்கள்.  முதலில் அடிக்காமல் சொல்லி கொடுங்கள். கல்வியை அவர்கள் விரும்பி ஏற்றுகொள்ள அதுதான் முதல் படி.  பெற்றோர்களே முயற்சி செய்து பாருங்கள். பலன் கிடைக்கும். நட்புடன்  வசந்தா