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Cleveland Clinic's Professional Fighters Brain Health Study (PFBHS)

This is a landmark longitudinal research project that has been ongoing since 2011. Here are the key details:

Study Overview: The Professional Fighters Brain Health Study is a longitudinal study of active professional fighters (boxers and mixed martial artists), retired professional fighters, and controls matched for age and level of education. The main objective is to determine the relationships between measures of head trauma exposure and other potential modifiers and changes in brain imaging and neurological and behavioral function over time. PubMed Oxford Academic

Key Findings:

From a cross-sectional analysis of professional fighters participating in the PFBHS, increasing exposure to recurrent head trauma measured in several different ways was associated with lower MRI-based volumes of various cortical and subcortical brain structures, particularly the thalamus and caudate. Repeated head trauma is associated with smaller thalamic volumes and slower processing speed: the Professional Fighters’ Brain Health Study - PMC
Professional fighters appear to experience recovery in cognitive function, biochemical markers and damaged brain structures following cessation of repetitive head impacts (RHIs), suggests a new study of fighters who transitioned to inactive fighting status. Study Suggests Brain Resiliency After Professional Fighters Retire

Methodology: The study is designed to extend over 5 years, and we anticipate enrollment of more than 400 boxers and mixed martial artists. Participants will undergo annual evaluations that include 3-tesla magnetic resonance imaging scanning, computerized cognitive assessments, speech analysis, surveys of mood and impulsivity, and blood sampling for genotyping and exploratory biomarker studies. Professional Fighters Brain Health Study: Rationale and Methods | American Journal of Epidemiology | Oxford Academic

Study Links:

PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23735309/
Oxford Academic: https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/178/2/280/122944
PMC Article on Thalamic Changes: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4518758/

Julie Norem's Defensive Pessimism Studies at Wellesley College

Julie K. Norem joined the faculty at Wellesley College in 1992, and she teaches courses in personality psychology, research methods, as well as a seminar on optimism and pessimism. Her research focuses on the strategies people use to pursue their goals, with an emphasis on the strategy of defensive pessimism. Wellesley College Wellesley College

Key Research Findings: "The basic finding that we've shown over and over in different contexts in our research is that people who are anxious do better when they use defensive pessimism than when they try to be optimistic," Norem told the Globe and Mail. Julie Norem: The Power of Negative Thinking | Wellesley College

What is Defensive Pessimism: Defensive pessimism is a motivated cognitive strategy that helps people manage their anxiety and pursue their goals. Individuals who use defensive pessimism set low expectations, and play through extensive mental simulations of possible outcomes as they prepare for goal-relevant tasks and situations. Defensive Pessimism, Anxiety, and the Complexity of Evaluating Self‐Regulation - Norem - 2008 - Social and Personality Psychology Compass - Wiley Online Library

Performance Benefits: Defensive pessimists (DPs, who set low expectations, feel anxious, and rehearse possible outcomes) and strategic optimists (OPTs, who set high expectations, feel calm, and avoid reflecting) were randomly assigned to three conditions: a coping imagery condition (imagining correcting mistakes), a mastery imagery condition (imagining a flawless performance), or a relaxation condition (relaxation imagery). DPs performed better in the coping imagery condition, which was similar to their typical strategy, than in the relaxation condition. Reflection and Distraction Defensive Pessimism, Strategic Optimism, and Performance - Stacie M. Spencer, Julie K. Norem, 1996

Her research demonstrates that defensive pessimism can be more effective than forced optimism for anxious individuals, as it allows them to mentally prepare for challenges and reduces performance anxiety through extensive preparation.

Anterior midcingulate cortex (aMCC) Studies

Holroyd & Umemoto (2016) - This study focuses on how the aMCC contributes to “tenacity” - defined as persistent behavior in the face of challenge. The authors propose that the aMCC serves as a network hub performing cost/benefit computations necessary for tenacious behavior PubMed Central PubMed.

Shenhav et al. (2013) - This highly influential paper presents the “Expected Value of Control” (EVC) theory, proposing that the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (which includes the aMCC) integrates three critical factors: expected payoff from controlled processes, the amount of control needed, and the cognitive effort costs PubMed PubMed Central.

Botvinick & Cohen (2014) - This comprehensive review examines computational modeling in cognitive control research, providing a framework for understanding how control systems develop in response to naturalistic task structures PubMed Wiley Online Library.

Energy Drinks

Park, S.Y., et al. (2023). Effects of energy drinks on myogenic differentiation of murine C2C12 myoblasts. PMID: 37231025

This research investigated how energy drinks affect muscle cell development and regeneration using laboratory cell cultures. The study examined the in vitro effects of various energy drink brands on myogenic differentiation using murine C2C12 myoblast cells PubMed Nature, which are commonly used to study muscle development.
Key Findings

Universal Inhibition: A dose-dependent inhibition of myotube formation was observed for all energy drinks, supported by reduced percentage of MHC-positive nuclei and fusion index PubMed Nature. This means that higher concentrations of energy drinks caused greater interference with muscle cell development.
Molecular Impact: Expression of myogenic regulatory factor MyoG and differentiation marker MCK were also decreased Effects of energy drinks on myogenic differentiation of murine C2C12 myoblasts - PubMed, indicating that energy drinks disrupted the normal genetic processes involved in muscle formation.
Variable Effects: Given the variation in formulas of different energy drinks, there were remarkable differences in the differentiation and fusion of myotubes between energy drinks Effects of energy drinks on myogenic differentiation of murine C2C12 myoblasts - PubMed, suggesting that specific ingredients or combinations affect muscle cells differently.

Significance

This is the first study to investigate the impact of various energy drinks on myogenic differentiation and our results suggest an inhibitory effect of energy drinks in muscle regeneration Effects of energy drinks on myogenic differentiation of murine C2C12 myoblasts - PubMed. The findings are particularly relevant because myogenic differentiation is a key process in muscle regeneration to repair microtears after an intense workout session Effects of energy drinks on myogenic differentiation of murine C2C12 myoblasts - PubMed.
This research suggests that despite being marketed as performance enhancers, energy drinks may actually hinder the muscle repair and regeneration process at the cellular level, which could have implications for athletes and fitness enthusiasts who rely on these beverages.

Boston Marathon: Media's Role in Broadcasting Acute Stress Following the Boston Marathon Bombings

"Media's Role in Broadcasting Acute Stress Following the Boston Marathon Bombings" is a groundbreaking research study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in 2014. The study was conducted by researchers from UC Irvine, including lead author E. Alison Holman and co-authors Dana Rose Garfin and Roxane Cohen Silver.

Key Study Details

The researchers conducted an Internet-based survey between April 29 and May 13, 2013 (2-4 weeks after the Boston Marathon bombings), with representative samples of residents from Boston (n = 846), New York City (n = 941), and the remainder of the United States (n = 2,888) PubMed PNAS, for a total of 4,675 adults.

Main Findings

The study revealed several striking findings about media exposure and psychological impact:

Media vs. Direct Exposure: Six or more daily hours of bombing-related media exposure in the week after the bombings was associated with higher acute stress than direct exposure to the bombings PubMed PNAS. This was one of the most surprising findings of the research.

Dose-Response Relationship: Acute stress symptoms increased with each additional hour of bombing-related media exposure via television, social media, videos, print or radio Prolonged viewing of Boston Marathon bombings media coverage tied to acute stress – UC Irvine News. People exposed to six or more hours per day of bombing-related media coverage were nine times more likely to report high acute stress than those with minimal media exposure Prolonged viewing of Boston Marathon bombings media coverage tied to acute stress – UC Irvine News.

Geographic Spread: Acute stress symptom scores were comparable in Boston and New York, but lower nationwide when compared with Boston Media's role in broadcasting acute stress following the Boston Marathon bombings - PubMed, demonstrating how media can spread psychological distress beyond directly affected communities.

Implications and Conclusions

The authors conclude that repeatedly engaging with trauma-related media content for several hours daily shortly after collective trauma may prolong acute stress experience and promote substantial stress-related symptoms. Thus, mass media may become a means of spreading the negative consequences of community trauma beyond communities directly affected Media's Role in Broadcasting Acute Stress Following the Boston Marathon Bombings | Office of Justice Programs.

The study challenges traditional assumptions about trauma exposure, showing that individuals must not necessarily be directly exposed to an event to be at risk for stress-related disorders Prolonged viewing of Boston Marathon bombings media coverage tied to acute stress – UC Irvine News. The researchers emphasize that there is no psychological benefit to repeated exposure to graphic images of horror Prolonged viewing of Boston Marathon bombings media coverage tied to acute stress – UC Irvine News.

8 Minutes and Loneliness

https://simonsinek.com/stories/the-incredible-power-of-an-eight-minute-catch-up-with-a-friend/

Simon Sinek's "8 minutes" concept is based on solid research showing that brief, empathetic phone conversations (around 10 minutes) can significantly reduce loneliness, depression, and anxiety. The magic isn't in the exact timeframe, but in the quality of empathetic, listener-focused connection!

"Effect of Layperson- Does Social Media Use Cause Depression? - Child Mind InstituteDelivered, Empathy-Focused Program of Telephone Calls on Loneliness, Depression, and Anxiety Among Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic" published in JAMA Psychiatry in February 2021.

Key findings from the actual study:

240 mostly homebound older adults participated in a randomized controlled trial A Phone Call a Day Can Reduce COVID-19 Loneliness
Call recipients received brief phone calls from volunteers over the course of four weeks, which usually lasted on average about 10 minutes (note: not exactly 8 minutes, but close!)
Half of the participants reported feeling 20% less lonely on average after receiving the calls
Anxiety and depression saw an even greater decrease, with an over 30% decrease on the GAD-7 scale and a nearly 24% decrease on the PHQ-8 scale, respectively
Recipients reported an average improvement of more than 1 point out of a 7-point standard scale in their feelings of loneliness, equaling a 16% difference A Phone Call a Day Can Reduce COVID-19 Loneliness

The key elements that made it work:

Sixteen callers between the ages of 17 and 23 received brief training on empathetic conversational techniques
The focus of the calls were for the caller to learn about the other person and to prioritize whatever it was that the person they were calling wanted to prioritize
The study participants, all clients of Meals on Wheels Central Texas, led the conversations, which allowed them to define the agenda of the calls

Dartmouth Scar Experiment

You’re referring to the Dartmouth Scar Experiment from the 1980s, but your characterization isn’t quite accurate. Let me clarify what actually happened and what it demonstrated.

In the experiment, participants were told they would have realistic-looking scars applied to their faces to study how people with facial deformities are treated. After the makeup artist applied the fake scar, participants were shown it in a mirror. Then, just before they left to interact with others, the makeup artist told them the scar needed “final touch-ups” but actually removed the scar entirely .

The participants went out thinking they still had scars on their faces. Many reported back that people stared at their scars and treated them poorly .

However, calling this “victim mentality” misses the actual psychological insight. The experiment demonstrated how self-perception shapes our interpretation of social interactions. When people believed they had a visible flaw, they interpreted neutral or ambiguous social cues as negative reactions to that perceived flaw.

This has important implications for understanding human psychology, but it doesn’t invalidate legitimate experiences of discrimination. The experiment shows that:

Our self-concept affects how we interpret others’ behavior
We can misattribute neutral reactions to our perceived flaws
Psychological “scars” (feelings of difference or inadequacy) can be as powerful as visible ones

The key lesson isn’t that discrimination claims are false, but rather that our internal beliefs about ourselves significantly influence how we experience the world. This applies to many aspects of human interaction, not just issues related to appearance or discrimination.

The Spotlight Effect

Researchers had participants wear embarrassing t-shirts (like one with Barry Manilow's face) into a room of strangers. The participants estimated that about half the people noticed their shirt, but in reality, only about 25% did. We drastically overestimate how much others notice our flaws or embarrassing moments.

Primary Citation: Gilovich, T., Medvec, V. H., & Savitsky, K. (2000). The spotlight effect in social judgment: An egocentric bias in estimates of the salience of one’s own actions and appearance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(2), 211-222

Follow-up Studies:

Gilovich, T., Kruger, J., & Medvec, V. H. (2002). The spotlight effect revisited: Overestimating the manifest variability of our actions and appearance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38(2), 93-99
Brown, M. A., & Stopa, L. (2007). The spotlight effect and the illusion of transparency in social anxiety. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 21(6), 804-819

The original study involved participants wearing potentially embarrassing t-shirts (like one with Barry Manilow’s face) and estimating how many observers would notice, consistently overestimating by about double .

Rosenhan's "Being Sane in Insane Places" (1973)

Healthy volunteers got themselves admitted to psychiatric hospitals by claiming to hear voices. Once admitted, they acted completely normal, but staff interpreted their normal behaviors through the lens of mental illness. Taking notes was seen as "writing behavior," and pacing was viewed as anxiety. The label changed everything about how their actions were perceived.

Primary Citation: Rosenhan, D. L. (1973). On being sane in insane places. Science, 179(4070), 250-258

Key Details: Eight healthy volunteers (termed “pseudopatients”) gained admission to psychiatric hospitals by feigning auditory hallucinations. Once admitted, they acted normally but were diagnosed with psychiatric disorders (mostly schizophrenia) and stayed 7-52 days (average 19 days) . Hospital staff never identified them as impostors, though many actual patients suspected they were researchers .

Impact: The study has been cited over 4,500 times according to Google Scholar and “accelerated the movement to reform mental institutions” .

The Pygmalion Effect

Teachers were told certain students were "intellectual bloomers" expected to show dramatic improvement (though these students were actually chosen randomly). Those students ended up performing significantly better than their peers, simply because teachers treated them with higher expectations.

Primary Citations:

Rosenthal, R., & Jacobson, L. (1968). Pygmalion in the classroom. Urban Review, 3, 16-20
Rosenthal, R., & Jacobson, L. (1968). Pygmalion in the Classroom: Teacher Expectation and Student Intellectual Development. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston

Methodology: Teachers were told that about 20% of students (chosen randomly) could be expected to be “intellectual bloomers.” First- and second-graders showed statistically significant IQ gains favoring the experimental group .

Controversy: The study faced significant criticism for methodology. Recent meta-analyses found that only 55% of replication attempts succeeded, and only 30% of unconfounded experiments replicated the original results .

Stereotype Threat

When women were reminded of their gender before taking a math test, they performed worse than when gender wasn't mentioned. Similarly, African American students performed worse on tests when asked to indicate their race beforehand. The mere awareness of negative stereotypes can impair performance.

Primary Citation: Spencer, S. J., Steele, C. M., & Quinn, D. M. (1999). Stereotype threat and women’s math performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 35(1), 4-28

Key Finding: When women were told a math test typically produces gender differences, they performed significantly worse than equally qualified men. When told the test doesn’t produce gender differences, performance gaps disappeared .

Broader Literature:

Steele, C. M., & Aronson, J. (1995). Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(5), 797-811
Meta-analysis: Multiple systematic reviews have confirmed the existence of stereotype threat effects, though some ambiguities remain regarding moderating factors

The Fundamental Attribution Error

When we see someone trip, we think they're clumsy. When we trip, it's because the sidewalk was uneven. We attribute others' behavior to their character but our own behavior to circumstances. This shows how differently we interpret the same actions based on whose they are.

Primary Citation: Jones, E. E., & Harris, V. A. (1967). The attribution of attitudes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 3(1), 1-24

Classic Study: Participants read pro- and anti-Castro speeches. Even when told the speakers’ positions were determined by coin toss, participants still rated pro-Castro speakers as having more positive attitudes toward Castro .

Term Origins: The phrase “fundamental attribution error” was coined by Lee Ross 10 years after Jones and Harris’s original experiment.

False Consensus Effect

People consistently overestimate how much others share their beliefs, preferences, and behaviors. Vegetarians think more people are vegetarian than they actually are; conservatives think more people share their political views than actually do.

Primary Citation: Ross, L., Greene, D., & House, P. (1977). The “false consensus effect”: An egocentric bias in social perception and attribution processes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 13(3), 279-301

Methodology: In one famous study, students were asked to walk around Stanford campus wearing a “Repent” sandwich board. Those who agreed believed most others would also agree; those who refused believed most others would also refuse .

Impact: In the ten years following publication, close to 50 papers were published with data on the false consensus effect .

The Halo Effect

If we find someone attractive or learn one positive thing about them, we assume they have other positive qualities too. This cognitive bias affects everything from job interviews to criminal sentencing.

These studies all reveal how our expectations, beliefs, and mental frameworks powerfully shape what we perceive and experience in the world around us.

Primary Citation: Thorndike, E. L. (1920). A constant error in psychological ratings. Journal of Applied Psychology, 4(1), 25-29

Original Study: Thorndike asked commanding officers to rate soldiers on physical qualities, intellect, leadership, and personal qualities. He found correlations that were “too high and too even” - ratings of one characteristic heavily influenced ratings of others .

Definition: Thorndike noted that “ratings were apparently affected by a marked tendency to think of the person in general as rather good or rather inferior and to color the judgments of the qualities by this general feeling” .

Modern Research: A 2023 study of 2,748 participants found correlations of .30 for intelligence, .20 for trustworthiness, .39 for sociability and .39 for happiness when the same individuals applied beauty filters .

Each of these studies represents a cornerstone in understanding human psychology and perception, revealing the systematic ways our mental shortcuts and biases shape how we interpret the world around us.

Stanford Prison Experiment

Primary Citation: Zimbardo, P. G. (1971). Stanford Prison Experiment. Stanford University Stanford prison experiment - Wikipedia

Key Details: 24 male college students were randomly assigned to be "prisoners" or "guards" in a simulated prison environment. The planned two-week study was terminated after only 6 days due to the extreme psychological abuse that emerged Stanford prison experiment - Wikipedia. Guards began behaving sadistically, inflicting humiliation and suffering on prisoners, while prisoners became blindly obedient and allowed themselves to be dehumanized Stanford Prison Experiment.

Impact: The study influenced changes in how US prisons are managed, including no longer housing juveniles with adult prisoners before trial Stanford prison experiment - Wikipedia.

Controversy: Critics have described the study as unscientific and fraudulent, claiming guards were directly instructed to behave in certain ways to confirm Zimbardo's pre-written conclusions Stanford prison experiment - Wikipedia.

Asch Conformity Experiments

Primary Citation: Asch, S. E. (1951). Effects of group pressure upon the modification and distortion of judgments. In H. Guetzkow (Ed.), Groups, Leadership and Men: Research in Human Relations (pp. 177-190). Carnegie Press Asch conformity experiments - Wikipedia

Methodology: Groups of eight male college students participated in a "perceptual" task where they judged line lengths. Seven were confederates who gave wrong answers on 12 of 18 trials. The real participant was placed among the actors to see if they would conform to obviously incorrect group responses Asch conformity experiments - Wikipedia.

Key Findings: About 37% of judgments on critical trials were conforming responses—the real subject going along with the incorrect unanimous majority. Conformity increased with majority size up to three against one, but further increases produced no significant effects Asch experiment - Oxford Reference.

Modern Replication: A recent study found an error rate of 33% for the standard line experiment, replicating Asch's original findings. When monetary incentives were added, the error rate decreased to 25%, but social influence remained significant The power of social influence: A replication and extension of the Asch experiment - PMC.

The Placebo Effect

Primary Citation: Beecher, H. K. (1955). The powerful placebo. Journal of the American Medical Association, 159(17), 1602-1606 Jamanetwork Wikipedia

Historic Claims: Beecher claimed that in 15 trials with different diseases, 35% of 1,082 patients were satisfactorily relieved by placebo alone. This became the most frequently cited placebo reference for decades PubMed ScienceDirect.

Modern Reanalysis: When Beecher's article was reanalyzed decades later, researchers found no evidence of any placebo effect in the studies he cited. The improvements were likely due to other factors like spontaneous improvement, regression to the mean, and additional treatments PubMed ScienceDirect.

Current Understanding: Recent neuroscience research suggests placebo effects may work by influencing the brain's processing of sensations, particularly pain perception History of the placebo effect and its use in drug trials | Knowable Magazine.

The Dunning-Kruger Effect

Primary Citation: Kruger, J., & Dunning, D. (1999). Unskilled and unaware of it: How difficulties in recognizing one's own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(6), 1121-1134 Unskilled and unaware of it: how difficulties in recognizing one's own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments - PubMed

Original Findings: Participants scoring in the bottom quartile on tests of humor, grammar, and logic grossly overestimated their performance. Although their test scores put them in the 12th percentile, they estimated themselves to be in the 62nd percentile Unskilled and unaware of it: how difficulties in recognizing one's own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments - PubMed.

The "Dual Burden": The study suggested people who are unskilled suffer a dual burden: Not only do they reach erroneous conclusions, but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it Unskilled and unaware of it: how difficulties in recognizing one's own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments - PubMed.

Modern Criticism: Recent statistical analyses suggest the Dunning-Kruger effect may be largely a data artifact. When researchers used computer-generated random data, they could replicate the same patterns without any human psychological bias The Dunning-Kruger Effect Is Probably Not Real | Office for Science and Society - McGill University. Critics argue that very few people are truly "unskilled and unaware" - maybe only 5-6% according to newer data The Dunning-Kruger Effect Isn't What You Think It Is | Scientific American.

Additional Classic Studies Worth Mentioning:

Milgram Obedience Studies (1963) - Showed that ordinary people would administer potentially lethal electric shocks to strangers when instructed by an authority figure.

Bystander Effect Studies by Darley & Latané (1968) - Demonstrated that people are less likely to help someone in need when other people are present.

Cognitive Dissonance Studies by Festinger (1957) - Revealed how people change their beliefs to reduce psychological discomfort when their actions contradict their attitudes.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Studies

Limitations: Recent research suggests that while self-fulfilling prophecies are real, their overall power may be more modest than initially thought. Effects tend to dissipate over time rather than accumulate, and people often have their own motivations that enable them to combat false expectations

The Attractive Expectations Study (Snyder, Tanke, & Berscheid, 1977)

Primary Citation: Snyder, M., Tanke, E. D., & Berscheid, E. (1977). Social perception and interpersonal behavior: On the self-fulfilling nature of social stereotypes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35(9), 656-666 SpringerLink Scirp

Methodology: Male students were given folders containing information about a female student they were to interview by phone. Each folder included a photograph of a woman portrayed as either beautiful or unattractive. The photos were randomly paired with the folders, and the women receiving calls didn't know how they were perceived Rist, R. (1970) Student Social Class and Teacher Expectations The Selffulfilling Prophecy in Ghetto Education. Harvard Educational Review, 40, 411-451. - References - Scientific Research Publishing.

Key Findings: Students who thought they were talking to a beautiful woman were friendlier on the phone and described the person as more friendly and sociable. The interviewers acted differently based on their expectations, which then influenced how the women actually behaved Rist, R. (1970) Student Social Class and Teacher Expectations The Selffulfilling Prophecy in Ghetto Education. Harvard Educational Review, 40, 411-451. - References - Scientific Research Publishing.

Racial Bias in Job Interviews (Word, Zanna, & Cooper, 1974)

Primary Citation: Word, C. O., Zanna, M. P., & Cooper, J. (1974). The nonverbal mediation of self-fulfilling prophecies in interracial interaction. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 10(2), 109-120 Word, Zanna, and Cooper Flashcards | Quizlet

Two-Part Study:Experiment 1: Employed naive white job interviewers and trained white and black job applicants. Results showed that black applicants received (a) less immediacy, (b) higher rates of speech errors, and (c) shorter amounts of interview time Word, Zanna, and Cooper Flashcards | Quizlet.

Experiment 2: Used naive white applicants and trained white interviewers. Subject-applicants received behaviors that approximated those given either the black or white applicants in Experiment 1. Results showed that subjects treated like the blacks from Experiment 1 were judged to perform less adequately and appeared more nervous than subjects treated like the whites Word, Zanna, and Cooper Flashcards | Quizlet.

Impact: The study demonstrated that the differential treatment led white applicants to actually perform worse when treated like black applicants had been, revealing how racial bias becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Social Class and Teacher Expectations (Rist, 1970)

Primary Citation: Rist, R. (1970). Student social class and teacher expectations: The self-fulfilling prophecy in ghetto education. Harvard Educational Review, 40, 411-451 Teacher Labelling and the self-fulfilling prophecy - ReviseSociology

Longitudinal Study: Rist followed a class of inner-city students from kindergarten through second grade. He found that kindergarten students were grouped onto three tables by day eight of school - one for the 'more able' and two for the 'less able' Apa Brainly.

Key Finding: Teachers made judgments not necessarily based on evidence of ability, but on appearance (whether students were neat and tidy) and whether they came from educated, middle-class families. These initial groupings persisted throughout the first several years of elementary school Apa Brainly.

Long-term Effects: The study showed how the kindergarten teacher placed children in reading groups that reflected the social class composition of the class, and how these groups persisted throughout elementary school, with teacher behavior toward different groups becoming an important influence on children's achievement The nonverbal mediation of self-fulfilling prophecies in interracial interaction - ScienceDirect.

Medical/Health Self-Fulfilling Prophecies

Placebo Effect Studies: The placebo effect serves as a classic example of self-fulfilling prophecy, where patients experience beneficial outcomes because they expect an inactive treatment to work, even though it has no known medical effect Simply Psychology Routledge.

Clinical Expectations: Henry K. Beecher compared morphine to placebo effects and found that the beneficial effects of morphine in reducing pain were greater when investigators were aware of whether they were administering morphine or placebo. When investigators didn't know, morphine was no more effective than placebo Rist R C. Student social class and teacher expectations.

Substance Use Prevention (Willard et al., 2008)

Modern Application: Research examined whether naturally-occurring self-fulfilling prophecies influenced adolescents' responsiveness to substance use prevention programs. Results showed that parental beliefs about the value of their involvement in prevention programs predicted their children's substance use The Role Of The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy In Young Adolescents’ Responsiveness To A Substance Use Prevention Program - PMC.

Social recognition can paradoxically undermine goal achievement

The Primary Study: "When Intentions Go Public" (Gollwitzer et al., 2009)

Primary Citation: Gollwitzer, P. M., Sheeran, P., Michalski, V., & Seifert, A. E. (2009). When intentions go public: Does social reality widen the intention-behavior gap? Psychological Science, 20(5), 612-618 Chris L. Christoff Frontiers

Key Findings: Four experiments showed that identity-related behavioral intentions that had been noticed by other people were translated into action less intensively than those that had been ignored. This effect was evident both in the field (persistent striving over 1 week's time) and in the laboratory (jumping on opportunities to act) When Intentions Go Public - Gollwitzer et al.

Mechanism: When other people take notice of an individual's identity-related behavioral intention, this gives the individual a premature sense of possessing the aspired-to identity, which reduces subsequent goal-directed behavior When Intentions Go Public - Gollwitzer et al.

The Theoretical Foundation: Symbolic Self-Completion Theory

Primary Citation: Wicklund, R. A., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (1981). Symbolic self-completion. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum Moral Credentials and the Expression of Prejudice | Request PDF

Core Theory: When an individual is committed to a self-defining goal, they seek symbols of completeness - socially acknowledged indicators that one has achieved that goal. When the individual perceives a deficit in symbols, efforts will be made to display symbols that restore completeness ResearchGate Sagepub.

Key Insight: The symbolic impact of a given activity on an individual's self-construction depends on the activity being recognized by others. Social recognition allows people to derive a sense of progress or goal attainment from their goal-congruent actions, which then influences future goal-striving (PDF) Symbolic self-completion in academia: Evidence from department web pages and email signature files.

Modern Applications: Symbolic Moral Self-Completion

Recent Study Citation: Susewind, M., & Walkowitz, G. (2020). Symbolic moral self-completion – social recognition of prosocial behavior reduces subsequent moral striving. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 560188 Symbolic self-completion theory - Wikipedia

Findings: Social recognition of prosocial behavior reduces subsequent moral striving. When people received social recognition for prosocial acts, they showed decreased motivation to engage in subsequent prosocial behavior Symbolic self-completion theory - Wikipedia.

??Comparing two different AIs trying to find the best path from point a to point b and one took longer to find the most effienct path and the other found a not-as-effiecent path but found it faster??

*Greedy Best-First Search vs. A Algorithm Performance Study**

Primary Citation: Holte, R. C., et al. (2010). A Comparison of Greedy Search Algorithms. In Proceedings of the Third Annual Symposium on Combinatorial Search (SOCS) (PDF) A Comparison of Greedy Search Algorithms

Methodology: An empirical analysis on six standard benchmarks compared greedy search algorithms including greedy best-first search, A* variants, and beam search approaches. The study evaluated performance based on time to solution and solution quality across multiple pathfinding scenarios (PDF) A Comparison of Greedy Search Algorithms.

Key Findings: Beam search and best-first search showed remarkably similar performance, with both outperforming hill-climbing approaches in terms of both time to solution and solution quality. Of these algorithms, beam search was found preferable for very large problems (PDF) A Comparison of Greedy Search Algorithms.

Speed vs. Optimality Trade-off: Greedy best-first search finds solutions faster by choosing nodes closest to the goal, but may produce non-optimal paths. The algorithm is "greedy" because at each step it tries to get as close to the goal as possible, disregarding if another position ultimately yields a shorter distance AI | Search Algorithms | Greedy Best-First Search | Codecademy. A* algorithm uses an evaluation function f(n) = g(n) + h(n), where g(n) is the cost so far and h(n) is the heuristic estimate. This makes A* both optimal and complete when using an admissible heuristic, but at the cost of slower execution and higher memory usage algorithm - What are the differences between A* and greedy best-first search? - Artificial Intelligence Stack Exchange.

Modern Validation: A 2018 comparative study on maze pathfinding found that A* used 504 blocks for computation while Dijkstra and BFS algorithms required 624 blocks - a difference of 120 computed blocks. A* was concluded to be the best algorithm for pathfinding in maze/grid applications due to minimal computing process needed and relatively short searching time ResearchGate Stack Overflow.

Practical Performance: Real-world testing on New York City road networks showed interesting results: using Dijkstra took 39.953 ms and expanded 256,540 nodes, while A* took 108.475 ms but expanded only 255,135 nodes. Despite expanding 1,405 fewer nodes, A* was slower due to expensive heuristic calculations involving trigonometric functions algorithm - Is A* really better than Dijkstra in real-world path finding? - Stack Overflow.

*Dijkstra vs. A Comprehensive Comparison Study**

Primary Citation: Wayahdi, M. R., et al. (2021). Greedy, A-Star, and Dijkstra's Algorithms in Finding Shortest Path. International Journal of Advances in Data and Information Systems, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 45-52

Methodology: The study compared Greedy, A*, and Dijkstra algorithms across multiple graph scenarios to analyze effectiveness in shortest path finding with different complexity levels.

Key Findings: The Greedy algorithm is fast in finding solutions but tends not to find the optimal solution. The A* algorithm tends to be better than the Greedy algorithm, but the path or graph must have complex data. Dijkstra's algorithm was found to be better than the other two algorithms because it always gets optimal results.

Trade-off Analysis: A* is generally faster than Dijkstra for single-target pathfinding because it uses heuristics to guide search toward the goal, but this speed advantage depends heavily on the quality of the heuristic function. Poor heuristics can make A* perform worse than Dijkstra graphs - Dijkstra and A* Algorithms: Why is A* faster? - Computer Science Stack Exchange.