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LuisanaT's picture

Why bother laughing?

Try it. See if you can make yourself guffaw, chuckle, or just giggle. You realize after a few seconds that you can not make yourself genuinely laugh to your hearts content. It is hard to force yourself to burst into tears, be at a short of breathe, and experience sharp pains in your ribs while having a smile spread from ear to ear. It is rather oxymoronic to see a moment of relief that results from hysterical boasts of laughter be accompanied with so much physical strenuous activity. It puts into question the appropriateness of laughter let alone its evolutionary advantage.

cmcgowan's picture

I read somewhere that their periods attract bears


The quote used for the title of this paper is from the movie Anchorman when a man is trying to warn his friend about the dangers of women.  While the accuracy of this statement is questionable, it makes one wonder if a woman’s monthly period does actually pose a significant threat to the individual and/or society.

Catrina Mueller's picture

From Behavioral Psychology to Cognitive Psychology: An Ever Changing View of Life

Have you ever stood at the top of a very tall object and shuddered at the thought of looking down? Have you ever noticed that when you give a dog a treat, it tends to repeat the same action for which you praised it? Both of these situations use conditioning, a crux of the behavioral psychology. Two branches of Behaviorism, Classical and Radical Behavioral psychology, use conditioning to explain the actions of humans and animals without ever having to delve into the mind.

Ruth Goodlaxson's picture

Is Vegetarianism Healthy?

I became a vegetarian about two years ago, and have since gone through periods of veganism as well as fish-eating. My choice was mostly motivated by ecological reasons, but I became curious about the health effects of vegetarianism after I noticed changes in how I felt after a change in diet. I found I lost weight as a vegetarian, and had more energy; I also had significantly increased energy in the first month of veganism, though this effect wore off eventually. I wanted to gather more observations to discover if my assumption that vegetarianism was healthier was, in fact, true, and true for people other than myself.

Kendra's picture

The Brain and Lefties: What is the Connection?

            For as long as I could remember, I was just like my elementary and middle school classmates. We played the same games, enjoyed the same songs and laughed at the same jokes but it was not until I walked in the classroom on the first day of high school did I know I was different. My difference did not have to do with my clothes or the kind of backpack I decided to wear that day but simply with the hand I had chosen to write with: my left hand. I scanned the classroom for a left-handed desk, but to no avail. I was forced to sit uncomfortably at a

MarieSager's picture

We're All Homos

OrganizedKhaos's picture

The Biology of Race

andrelle's picture

Where do we get our morals from?

We grow up hearing our parents telling us what is acceptable for us to do and what is not acceptable for us to do.  Therefore, we learn the difference between right and wrong from our parents.  But where did our parents get this notion from?  What exactly is morality?  Is it something that is part of our genetic makeup, or is it something that we simply learn?  Morality is definitely not an easy term to define because there are several aspect to it, but in the dictionary it is defined as a code of conduct put forward by a society or group (1).

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