30. July 2009 by John Schinnerer.

There is an ancient Japanese tale that tells of an aggressive, confrontational samurai who commanded a Zen master to explain the concept of Heaven and Hell to him. The Zen master replied with disdain, “You are no more than a cockroach. I will not waste my time with trash like you.” The samurai was enraged and drew his sword from its scabbard. He roared, “I will kill you for your disrespect!”

In the face of the Samurai’s rage, a peaceful manner came to the Zen master. “That,” the Zen master calmly stated, “is hell.”

Shocked at seeing the truth in what the master observed about the rage that had the samurai in its grip, he regained his composure and put away his sword.  The samurai bowed deeply and gratefully thanked the Zen master for his newfound awareness.

“And that,” said the master, “is Heaven.”

The moral of the story is if you want to change, change your awareness of your self.

Being Emotional vs. Being Emotionally Aware

The sudden “aha” of the samurai to his own vengeful emotions demonstrates the critical difference between being overtaken by an emotion and being aware of being overtaken by an emotion. The difference is subtle yet critical. 

As the philosopher, Socrates, told us thousands of years ago, “Know thyself.” One of the keys to knowing yourself is to be aware of how you feel.

Enjoy Your Thursday!

Dr. John Schinnerer

Posted in Alexithymia, Managing Sadness, Anger Management, Mindfulness, Awareness, Danville CA, Emotion & learning, National speakers, Managing Anxiety, Emotional management, Dr. John Schinnerer, Managing stress, Positive Psychology, Emotional IQ, Anxiety, Emotional mind, Depression, Guide To Self Beginners Guide To Managing Emotion, Counseling | Print | No Comments »

29. July 2009 by John Schinnerer.

‘People who are rewarded for making correct decisions learn quickly. While the “carrot” approach may produce favourable results, little is understood about how rewards facilitate the learning process.

Now, in a paper recently published in the online open-access journal PLoS Biology, a team headed by Dr. Burkhard Pleger of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, and the University College London have demonstrated that the “reward effect” not only supports the improvement of higher cognitive abilities, but also how brain function in the cortex can be enhanced. Intriguingly, they see that the reward effect can be strengthened using dopaminergic compounds. Targeted manipulation of dopamine levels, thereby enhancing the “teaching signal” in the brain, could open up new possibilities in the treatment of patients, for example, after a stroke.’

Carrot approach may be more effective than old school stick approach with regards to learning new material. Findings seem to support positive approach to new learning.

Story here

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090727203624.htm

Cheers,

John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

Guide To Self, Inc.

Posted in Emotion & learning, School psychology, Dr. John Schinnerer, Positive Psychology | Print | No Comments »

29. July 2009 by John Schinnerer.

As I’ve maintained for years, the emotional mind holds a powerful sway over our behaviors.

Check out these recent study  findings

‘

“Psychological distress does not appear to be caused by teen childbearing, nor does it cause teen childbearing, except apparently among girls from poor households,” said Stefanie Mollborn, Ph.D., an assistant professor of sociology at the Institute of Behavioral Science of the University of Colorado at Boulder.

The study, published in the September issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, used data from two large long-term U.S. surveys that followed thousands of teen girls and women. Participants responded to items on symptoms associated with depression, such as how often they found things that did not usually bother them to be bothersome, how easily they could shake off feeling blue or whether they had trouble concentrating. The researchers did not use the term “depression,” which is a clinical diagnosis.

Only the combination of poverty and existing distress was a good predictor of teen pregnancy.’

Read whole article here

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090727204829.htm

When possible, stay happy - it helps!

John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

Posted in Managing Sadness, Anger Management, Relationships, Resiliency, National speakers, Hope, Managing Anxiety, Emotional mind, Guide to Self, Dr. John Schinnerer, Emotional IQ, Anxiety, Depression, Managing stress | Print | No Comments »

27. July 2009 by John Schinnerer.

Fascinating article in New York Times on July 25, 2009 about the possibility of the ‘loss of human control of computer-based intelligences.’

‘Impressed and alarmed by advances in artificial intelligence, a group of computer scientists is debating whether there should be limits on research that might lead to loss of human control over computer-based systems that carry a growing share of society’s workload, from waging war to chatting with customers on the phone.

Their concern is that further advances could create profound social disruptions and even have dangerous consequences.’

To some extent, consciousness is defined as the degree of integration information in a system such as the brain of a human being, a chimpanzee, or a bumblebee, according to Giulio Tononi of the University of Wisconsin - Madison. He has created a theory of consciousness known as integrated information theory (IIT).

IIT is based on two assumptions.

First, conscious states are rich, detailed and highly differentiated. You are aware of an amazing number of occurrences going on around you simultaneously. You can watch your son swim the freestyle at a swim meet, while talking to another parent, while smelling the freshly mown grass beneath your feet, and be cognizant of the sweltering 100 degree sun raining down upon you.  Each of these can be a specific conscious state.

Second, the information from these specific conscious states is heavily integrated. In other words, despite your best efforts, you cannot turn your sense of smell off, nor can you view your son’s race with complete emotional detachment. And you view the race within the context of a swim meet, in a pool with lane lines, surrounded by hundreds of cheering people. You are unable to separate the elements (e.g., swimmers, water, spectators, flags, tents, etc.) of the scene into the various subcomponents. Whatever information you are aware of is presented to you as a unified whole -  a complete scene.

According to Tononi, consciousness occurs within a single, integrated being with a large panoply of states which can be distinguished from one another. This may include perceptual states, emotional states, cognitive states, and a variety of states of awareness or attention.

My Dell laptop has a far greater memory capacity than do I, yet the information within its memory is not integrated. So the word documents that I write have no meaning, no connections to other files, to the laptop.   However, the word files are meaningful to me as the articles are all linked in some meaningful way. They build on top of one another and the ideas within them are revised as my knowledge base builds over time.

IIT is still a young theory. It does not have an answer for everything. For instance, even entities with small degrees of integrated information, such as a single cell or an earthworm, can be termed ‘conscious’ according to the theory.

In truth, we currently have no way to determine whether or not a computer, or a living organism, has consciousness. There is no rational, objective way to say with confidence that one organism has subjective states while another does not.

Of great interest to me is the degree to which emotions come into play in the consciousness question. Computers can think along logical, rational pre-programmed lines. Some robots can even learn from their own experiences to modify future behaviors. However, no mechanical entity (that I know of) has feelings. There are a few robots which are learning to read and mimic facial expressions. There are programs which scan the human face for signs of emotion. Yet none of these are advanced enough to feel sadness, delight, surprise, hope, awe and curiosity.

So it may be that emotions are one of the key elements which define and differentiate consciousness.  Unfortunately, that’s as much time as I have today.

Full NY Times article here

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/science/26robot.html?_r=2

Keep a watchful eye on your microwave, GPS and toaster. They might be conspiring against you! Just kidding. :>)

In any case, I’ve gotta run to chat with a client.

I hope you are all thriving!

John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

Posted in Emotion and technology, Consciousness, Morals and values, Anxiety, Dr. John Schinnerer | Print | No Comments »

25. July 2009 by John Schinnerer.

Combat psychology

Great article by Shaun Waterman in the Washington Times this week about the use of positive psychology practices in the Armed Forces (’Combat Psychology’).

Here is an excerpt…

‘An Army pilot project is teaching soldiers techniques drawn from sports psychology such as visualization and bio-feedback to help deal with stress and other mental consequences of combat.

“People that study human performance the most carefully recognize the connection between the physical and mental elements of success … especially at moments of truth,” said Lt. Col. Greg Burbelo.

Col. Burbelo is director of the Army Center for Enhanced Performance (ACEP), a project developed for Olympic athletes - and previously used by trainers with elite West Point cadets and special forces - and applying them to basic training for Army recruits and on-the-job “professional development” for active-duty soldiers.

“We’ve figured out how to do this for our 4,000 cadets,” said Lt. Col. Carl Ohlson of the U.S. Military Academy. “Now we have to figure out the best way to scale and refine that for the whole Army.”

The center is also piloting the techniques with injured and maimed soldiers as part of the Army’s Warriors in Transition program.

“Even with the best possible physical training, you can’t ignore the psychological piece,” said Col. Burbelo, “We teach soldiers the relationship between thoughts, feelings and perceptions” on the one hand “and performance” on the other. “There is a mind-body connection. … They are interrelated. You can leverage your body to perform better.” ‘

Interestingly, these are the same skills I teach to executives, elite athletes, and high school students - visualization, biofeedback (relaxation response), mental imagery, emotional regulation, mindfulness, attentional control and more.

It’s true, ‘the moment of truth,’ is what it comes down to for all of us, whether it’s in an athletic competition, a business meeting, a romantic relationship, a friendship or combat. To me, the moment of truth is that point at which your emotion mind begins to take over control of your mind and body, and you simply start to react without room for thought, planning or foresight. These kneejerk emotional responses can be useful at times to keep us safe when in danger. More frequently, however, angry outbursts and snippy comments will burn bridges and ruin relationships (in combat, losing your cool can even cost lives).  Great to see the military is starting to train more and more of our troops in these methods (previously they were only training special forces in these methods).

The entire article is here http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/23/combat-psychology/print/.

Have a blissful weekend!

Dr. John Schinnerer

Guide To Self, Inc.

Positive Psychology Coach

Danville, CA 94526

Posted in Men's emotions, Consciousness, Managing Sadness, Anger Management, Resiliency, Mindfulness, National speakers, Emotion and technology, Awareness, Assertiveness, Managing Anxiety, Emotional management, Managing stress, Realistic optimism, Business & psych, Positive Psychology, Dr. John Schinnerer, Life coach, Emotional mind, Anxiety, Emotional IQ, Guide to Self, Sports Psychology | Print | No Comments »