Author: Jinavie

Posted in Psychology & Medicine

Forer Effect

Posted on by Jinavie

Read the following passage, and rate out of 5 how accurately it describes you:

You have a great need for other people to like and admire you. You have a tendency to be critical of yourself. You have a great deal of unused capacity which you have not turned to your advantage. While you have some personality weaknesses, you are generally able to compensate for them. Disciplined and self-controlled outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure inside. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations. You pride yourself as an independent thinker and do not accept others’ statements without satisfactory proof. You have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others. At times you are extroverted, affable, sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, reserved. Some of your aspirations tend to be pretty unrealistic. Security is one of your major goals in life.

Does it fit your personality quite closely? Interestingly, in a study of 150 university students, the average score given was 4.26 out of 5. This is actually composed of pieces of horoscopes by the psychologist Bertram R. Forer, who studied the psychology of horoscopes. As one could see (on retrospect), the above paragraph involves many sentences that would fit almost everyone.

It is through these broad yet somehow specific-sounding statements and the human psychology that the words describe exactly who they are that allow horoscopes and fortune tellers to gain such a profit.

Zodiac by Alphone Mucha (1869)

Posted in Philosophy

Butterfly Dream

Posted on by Jinavie

Zhuangzi was a philosopher whose writings are still famous for their deep and influential thoughts. The following is one of the most famous stories he tells, questioning the concept of reality and mind:

One day I dreamt that I was a butterfly, flying freely and doing what I pleased, without knowing that I was Zhuangzi.
But when I woke up, I was Zhuangzi without a doubt.
So did Zhuangzi dream of being a butterfly, or am I a butterfly dreaming of being Zhuangzi?

Posted in History & Literature

Logic

Posted on by Jinavie

The following logic problem was set by Einstein, who said that 98% of the world would not be able to solve it.

  • There are five houses of five different colours.
  • In each house lives a person with a special nationality.
  • The five owners drink a certain type of beverage, smoke a certain
  • brand of cigars, and keep a certain pet.
  • No owner has the same pet, smokes the same cigar, or drinks the same beverage.

The question is: Who owns the fish?

Hints:

  1. The Brit lives in the red house.
  2. The Mexican keeps dogs as pets.
  3. The Chinese drinks tea.
  4. The green house is on the left of the white house.
  5. The green house’s owner drinks coffee.
  6. The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
  7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhills.
  8. The man in the centre house drinks milk.
  9. The American lives in the first house.
  10. The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.
  11. The man who keeps a horse lives next to the man who smokes Dunhills.
  12. The owner who smokes Bluemasters drinks beer.
  13. The German smokes Prince.
  14. The American lives next to the blue house.
  15. The man who smokes Blends has a neighbour who drinks water.

Posted in History & Literature

Palindrome

Posted on by Jinavie

A palindrome is a word or sentence which can be read both ways and still be exactly the same. This type of mirroring can be found in words such as radar or level, or in more advanced sentences such as “Was it a rat I saw?”.
The following is an example of how far a palindrome can be taken.

The Faded Bloomer’s Rhapsody

Flee to me, remote elf — Sal a dewan desired;
Now is a Late-Petal era.
We fade: lucid Iris, red Rose of Sharon;
Goldenrod a silly ram ate.
Wan olives teem (ah, Satan lives!);
A star eyes pale Roses.

Revel, big elf on a mayonnaise man —
A tinsel baton-dragging nice elf too.
Lisp, oh sibyl, dragging Nola along;
Niggardly bishops I loot.
Fleecing niggard notables Nita names,
I annoy a Man of Legible Verse.

So relapse, ye rats,
As evil Natasha meets Evil
On a wet, amaryllis-adorned log.
Norah’s foes’ orders (I ridiculed a few) are late, Pet.
Alas, I wonder!  Is Edna wed?
Alas — flee to me, remote elf.

– Howard W. Bergerson

It is interesting to note that there have even been a couple of novels written that are completely palindromic.

Another interesting literature technique is called a semordnilap. This is a word or a phrase that reads something completely different when read in reverse (a keen reader may note that “semordnilap” is “palindromes” spelled backwards). Examples include live/evil, star/rats and stressed/desserts (ironically).

(Source: http://lanwu.deviantart.com/art/through-the-looking-glass-145045719?q=boost:popular%20alice%20looking%20glass&qo=8)

Posted in Psychology & Medicine

Hiccup

Posted on by Jinavie

A hiccup is a common phenomenon that almost everyone experiences some time in life. The exact mechanisms are still not well known, but it is likely caused by an irritation of the phrenic nerve, which supplies the diaphragm, causing it to spasm and interrupt normal breathing.

This can be a very debilitating condition, and such there are hundreds of “remedies”, such as drinking cold water, holding your breath or giving the person a scare. However, these are often ineffective in taking away the ailment. 

One thing you can try is pulling your tongue. Although it may sound like a crazy treatment, it stimulates the vagus nerve which can stop a hiccup. However, note that this may be ineffective in many cases as well.

In some cultures, it is said that hiccups are brought on by eating something one stole off another person, or if others are talking about you in a bad manner.
The world record for the longest attack of hiccups is held by Charles Osborne, who had it for 68 years.

Posted in Philosophy

Occam’s Razor

Posted on by Jinavie

Occam’s razor is a philosophical concept that dictates that all other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best. It is useful in many situations, especially the sciences, where it allows one to find an answer without being distracted by the numerous variables.

In medicine, Occam’s razor is extremely useful in differential diagnosis where a doctor may easily prioritise the possible diagnoses and save precious time. Dr Greg House in House MD shows demonstrates just this.

In physics, models showing movement of objects for calculation of force required ignores real factors such as friction or centrifugal force to simplify the situation, showing only the forces being observed. This type of modelling is used in many subjects, where only factors being observed are taken into consideration to find a correlation, or some form of desired truth. 

Although some may suggest that this method does not give the “truth” as vital information may be cut out in the process, it can also be argued that one cannot see the truth unless the “distractions” are removed. This is the fundamental basis of the Occam’s razor, where complexities are “shaved” away until truth is left. A quote by the musician Daniel Jacobs, “The truth of simplicity is camouflaged by the complexity of lies just as a tangle of lies will mask the simplicity of truth,” also supports this idea.

Posted in Science & Nature

Fibonacci Number

Posted on by Jinavie

1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55…

A keen observer would note that each number in the above sequence is the sum of the two numbers before it. These are known as Fibonacci numbers and are among the most famous number sequences in mathematics.

It is famous because of some unique properties. For example, every third number is even, every xth number is the multiple of Fx (e.g. 4th number = 3, 8th number = 21…) and the list goes on. It is also known to approximate golden spirals, a mathematical function that is closely related with yet another famous number: the golden ratio.

However, a more interesting (and more relatable) fact about these numbers is that they appear repeatedly in nature. It has been noted for many centuries that plants tend to follow the Fibonacci sequence in various ways. This includes the number of branches of trees that grow per year, the number of petals on a flower (almost all flowers have a Fibonacci number of petals) and most interesting of all: the arrangement of florets on the face of a sunflower. If one carefully scrutinises the face of a sunflower (also applies to pine cones), they will note that the florets (tiny pieces on the face) are arranged in what appears to be spirals. They are actually arranged on a stack of spirals, both clockwise and anti-clockwise. The number of spirals for both directions are always two Fibonacci numbers next to each other (e.g. 34 and 55).

This is because natural selection pushes the plants to arrange their florets, petals and tree branches in the most efficient manner possible, which is provided by the Fibonacci sequence.

image

Posted in History & Literature

Cassandra

Posted on by Jinavie

Cassandra is a woman featuring in Greek mythology, who is blessed by Apollo the gift of foretelling. However, when she does not return his love he curses her to be never believed by others. This causes her the eternal suffering of seeing the future yet being completely helpless as no one will believe her clairvoyance.

This theme has been portrayed in many works, such as Twelve Monkeys where it is shown how someone who knows the future will most likely be treated as a lunatic in society. Because society has a tendency to treat anyone different to the norm as “abnormal” and therefore inferior, it is easy for a society to reject such a gift.

Posted in Science & Nature

Parthenogenesis

Posted on by Jinavie

It is often believed that for complex organisms such as animals, sexual reproduction is a must to produce offspring. Asexual reproduction is common in bacteria and (some) plants, but even tiny beings such as insects use sexual reproduction to produce a mass of variable offspring. 

However, it has been found that despite having two clear sexes – male and female – there are cases where a certain species is able to reproduce without the need of sexual intercourse. In these cases, the female’s eggs spontaneously divides to form a new offspring without being fertilised by a sperm. Furthermore, sometimes the egg either fuses with another egg or undergo several genetic mixing and mutation to produce some variety in genetic pool, thus avoiding the issue of asexual reproduction (where the entire population can be wiped out by a single disease due to identical genetic makeup). This is known as parthenogenesis, and it has been documented in many insects, fish, reptiles and even birds. 

Obviously, as there is no donation of a Y chromosome, every offspring born from parthenogenesis is female. Because of this, some species such as the New Mexico whiptail, a lizard that is capable of both sexual reproduction and parthenogenesis, the population has completely rid itself of males, making it a completely female species. Curiously, they still engage in “mock sex”, giving them the nickname “lesbian lizards”.

Although parthenogenesis has never been documented in mammals in nature, it has been induced artificially in mice, rabbits and monkeys. However, they all developed severe developmental issues due to the numerous mutations in the egg required for parthenogenesis. 
But if in the future, human parthenogenesis is perfected, it is possible that humanity too could end up as an all-female society.

Posted in Psychology & Medicine

Morality

Posted on by Jinavie

People tend to believe that morality is an absolute concept, or that people cannot easily be “turned” away from their values. However, many interesting experiments have proved that our morality may be more easily manipulated than previously thought.

It has been shown that various factors affect our decision making processes. For example, when a subject is near a drawing of an eye, such as a poster, they tend to be more honest and less likely to cheat in an exam. The opposite effect is seen when there is dim lighting, even if it is only slightly dimmer (as in not dark). This can be explained by our subconscious wanting to be moral when seen by others, while acting much more freely when it believes we are hidden (the classic example being babies believing that if they do not see it, it does not exist). Not only are there obvious examples like this, but there are also strange factors such as large trees lowering crime rates, while examples of bad behaviour (such as graffiti or broken windows) elicit bad behaviour on the observer as well. 

The relationship between religion and morality has also been a time-old philosophical question. It has been shown that anything that invokes the image of a deity brings out generous, good behaviour in people, as it plays to the fear element (that someone is always watching and will bring consequences) in the mind. However, there have also been cases such as a police strike in a Canadian town causing mass lootings and a significant spike in crime rates despite the strong religious background of all the people. It is also notable that Hitler and Stalin were both strong Christians, yet their actions are still considered some of the most evil acts in history.

Therefore, it is entirely possible that morality is a learned behaviour that only exists for an effective society, meaning that it can also be twisted by many different factors.