Psychologists Identify Influence Of Human Social Interaction On Sensitivity To Physical Pain

10 Nov 2010

Psychologists at the University of Toronto have shown that the nature of a social interaction has the ability to influence an individual's sensitivity to physical pain. The discovery could have significant clinical implications for doctor-patient relationships and the general well-being of an individual on a daily basis.

"Dozens of studies over the past several decades have demonstrated the impact of inadequate social connectedness on numerous health outcomes, including cardiovascular health, immune function, post-surgical recovery, and lifespan," says Terry Borsook, a PhD student in the Department of Psychology at U of T and author of a new study published in PAIN. "Our study is among the first to show in humans that the perception of physical pain can be immediately impacted by the types of social experiences that people have in their everyday lives."

In the study, healthy participants rated the intensity and unpleasantness of painful stimuli before and after engaging in a structured interaction with a trained actor who was instructed to be either warm and friendly or indifferent throughout the exchange. Participants who experienced the indifferent social exchange reported less sensitivity to pain after the interaction when compared to that measured before the exchange. Participants exposed to the positive social interaction, however, exhibited no change in pain sensitivity.

"While the analgesic effect resulting from a socially disconnecting event might seem like a good thing, we know from a great deal of research in animals and humans that social threats provoke the well-known fight-or-flight stress response, of which pain inhibition is a typical component."

Borsook says that the results suggest that social relationships may be of such critical importance to human health and well-being that even a mild threat of disconnection can be stressful.

"This stress-induced analgesia evolved so that we can escape threats without being hobbled by pain. The pain reduction observed in our study is thus consistent with prior findings but what is remarkable about our results is that analgesia occurred in response to a type of experience that people experience in daily life, perhaps several times a day," says Borsook. "If such everyday mildly unpleasant encounters are enough to provoke pain inhibition, then this suggests that many people may be exposed to chronic fight-or-flight responses, which can have many negative implications for health. This would be the case especially for people who are sensitive to social exclusion, such as those who feel lonely or fear rejection"

Borsook says that the results also have important clinical implications when it comes to seeing your doctor. "Health practitioners who are aloof, lack understanding, or are generally unresponsive to patients may provoke an analgesic response resulting in underestimated reports of pain, with insufficient pain control measures being a possible consequence."

The findings are presented in a paper titled "Mildly negative social encounters reduce physical pain sensitivity", published in the November issue of PAIN, the official publication of the International Association for the Study of Pain.

Source:
Sean Bettam
University of Toronto

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Take from: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/207206.php

THE ECONOMICS AND COST JUSTIFICATION OF ERGONOMICS

ABSTRACT

The language of business is dollars, and in today’s business climate successful ergonomists know that cost-justification of ergonomic interventions/programs is essential. Performing a cost benefit analysis is an important skill for all health and safety professionals. The purpose of this project is to demonstrate how ergonomics affects the business drivers of quality and productivity and how a cost-benefit analysis can be used to justify ergonomic interventions in the workplace. The National Occupational Research Agenda priority addressed in this project includes Social and Economic Consequences. Specific research priorities addressed include economic consequences to employers, macroeconomic impact, and cost outcome analysis. This project includes a discussion on current quality operations, management issues, and the role that ergonomics plays in product quality maintenance. An explanation of how ergonomics can reduce product quality costs will be included. Additionally, we will illustrate how ergonomic principles can lead to improved productivity and reduced corporate labor costs. In order to cost-justify ergonomic interventions, the full representative injury costs must be determined. An explanation of both the direct and indirect costs of injuries will be included in this project. Cost benefit analysis methods including internal rate of return, return on investment, and payback period will be presented, as well as how these methods are used to cost-justify ergonomic interventions. Finally, strategies for justifying ergonomic interventions will be presented and illustrated with real world examples. Not only does ergonomics play a vital role in injury reduction and prevention, but economically effective ergonomic principles can lead to improved corporate financial performance and strategic competitive advantage.

Check the full document at http://www.mech.utah.edu/ergo/pages/NORA/2004/29-40_DouphrateDavid.pdf

CONCLUSION

Health and safety professionals all too often believe that organizational decision makers proactively support ergonomics simply because it is the right thing to do. It is hard to argue against doing anything that may better the human condition, and so this alone should be a compelling argument for actively supporting the use of ergonomic principles. In reality, managers need to be able to economically justify any investment in terms of its concrete benefits to the organization’s ability to be competitive in its market. Effective ergonomics programs not only benefit and protect the organizations that implement such programs, but also promote the interests of United States companies in a globally competitive environment (American Society of Safety Engineers, 2002). That something “is the right thing to do” is, by itself, an excellent but insufficient reason for managers to support ergonomics. In his 1996 Presidential Address at the 40th Annual Human Factors and Ergonomic Society Annual Meeting, Hal W. Hendrick stated, “we have done a poor job of documenting and advertising the cost-benefits of good ergonomics—of getting the word out that most often, good ergonomics is good economics” (Hendrick, 1996). Health and safety professionals need to take a proactive approach with respect to justifying ergonomic proposals from an economic perspective. The true cost of injuries, absenteeism, and poor productivity and quality must be fully understood. Additionally, the positive influence that ergonomics can have on reducing these negative factors must be recognized. Cost benefit analysis should be used to economically justify ergonomic proposals. This will enable the ergonomist to assist corporate managers by providing them with cost-saving information that is relevant to the survival and success of the corporation. Four reasons have traditionally been used to justify ergonomic principles:

1) injury reduction/safety improvement, 2) improvement in the overall quality of worklife, 3) improved product quality, and 4) improved production efficiency/ productivity. It can be argued that a fifth reason for ergonomic justification is the contribution to the profitability and strategic competitive advantage of the company. Ergonomics is good economics, and should be justified from both a humanitarian and an economic standpoint.

David I. Douphrate, Colorado State University

John Rosecrance, Colorado State University

What Is Psychology?

By Kendra Cherry, About.com Guide

Question: What Is Psychology?

One of the most common questions asked by students new to the study of psychology is "What is psychology?" Misperceptions created by popular media as well as the diverse careers paths of those holding psychology degrees have contributed this confusion.

Psychology is both an applied and academic field that studies the human mind and behavior. Research in psychology seeks to understand and explain thought, emotion, and behavior. Applications of psychology include mental health treatment, performance enhancement, self-help, ergonomics, and many other areas affecting health and daily life.

Answer:

Early Psychology

Psychology evolved out of both philosophy and biology. Such discussions of the two subjects date as far back as the early Greek thinkers such as Aristotle and Socrates. The word psychology is derived from the Greek word psyche, meaning 'soul' or 'mind.'

A Separate Science

The field and study of psychology was truly born when Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychology lab in Leipzig, Germany. Wundt's research utilized a school of thought known as structuralism, which involved describing the structures that compose the mind. This perspective relied heavily on the analysis of sensations and feelings through the use of introspection, a highly subjective process. Wundt believed that properly trained individuals would be able to accurately identify the mental processes that accompanied feelings, sensations, and thoughts.

Schools of Thought

Throughout psychology's history, a number of different schools of thought have thought have formed to explain human thought and behavior. These schools of thought often rise to dominance for a period of time. While these schools of thought are sometimes perceived as competing forces, each perspective has contributed to our understanding of psychology. The following are some of the major schools of thought in psychology.

· Structuralism

· Functionalism

· Psychoanalysis

· Behaviorism

· Humanism

· Cognitivism

Psychology Today

Today, psychologists prefer to use more objective scientific methods to understand, explain, and predict human behavior. Psychological studies are highly structured, beginning with a hypothesis that is then empirically tested. Psychology has two major areas of focus: academic psychology and applied psychology. Academic psychology focuses on the study of different sub-topics within psychology including personality psychology, social psychology, and developmental psychology.

These psychologists conduct basic research that seeks to expand our theoretical knowledge, while other researchers conduct applied research that seeks to solve everyday problems. Applied psychology focuses on the use of different psychological principles to solve real world problems. Examples of applied areas of psychology include forensic psychology, ergonomics, and industrial-organizational psychology. Many other psychologists work as therapists, helping people overcome mental, behavioral, and emotional disorders.

Psychology Research Methods

As psychology moved away from its philosophical roots, psychologists began to employ more and more scientific methods to study human behavior. Today, researchers employ a variety of scientific methods, including experiments, correlational studies, longitudinal studies, and others to test, explain, and predict behavior.

Areas of Psychology

Psychology is a broad and diverse field. A number of different subfields and specialty areas have emerged. The following are some of the major areas of research and application within psychology:

· Abnormal Psychology is the study of abnormal behavior and psychopathology. This specialty area is focused on research and treatment of a variety of mental disorders and is linked to psychotherapy and clinical psychology. Mental health professional typically utilize the Diagnosistic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) to diagnose mental disorders.

· Biological Psychology, also known as biopsychology, studies how biological processes influence the mind and behavior. This area is closely linked to neuroscience and utilizes tools such as MRI and PET scans to look at brain injury or brain abnormalities.

· Clinical Psychology is focused on the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mental disorders.

· Cognitive Psychology is the study of human thought processes and cognitions. Cognitive psychologists study topics such as attention, memory, perception, decision-making, problem solving, and language acquisition.

· Comparative Psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the study of animal behavior. The study of animal behavior can lead to a deeper and broader understanding of human psychology.

· Developmental Psychology is the branch of psychology that looks at human growth and development over the lifespan. Theories often focus on the development of cognitive abilities, morality, social functioning, identity, and other life areas.

· Forensic Psychology is an applied field focused on using psychological research and principles in the legal and criminal justice system.

· Industrial-Organizational Psychology is the area of psychology that uses psychological research to enhance work performance, select employee, improve product design, and enhance usability.

· Personality Psychology looks at the various elements that make up individual personalities. Well-known personality theories include Freud’s structural model of personality and the "Big Five" theory of personality.

· School Psychology is the branch of psychology that works within the educational system to help children with emotional, social, and academic issues.

· Social Psychology is a discipline that uses scientific methods to study social influence, social perception, and social interaction. Social psychology studies diverse subjects including group behavior, social perception, leadership, nonverbal behavior, conformity, aggression, and prejudice.

Monetary gain and high-risk tactics stimulate activity in the brain

Milan, Italy, 17 November 2009 - Monetary gain stimulates activity in the brain. Even the mere possibility of receiving a reward is known to activate an area of the brain called the striatum. A team of Japanese researchers report in the January 2010 issue of Cortex, published by Elsevier, the results of a study in which they measured striatum activation in volunteers performing a monetary task and found high-risk/high-gain options to cause higher levels of activation than more conservative options. They also found levels of activation to increase with the amount of money owned.

Dr. Tadashi Ino and colleagues, from the Department of Neurology at the Rakuwakai-Otowa Hospital and the Research Center for Nano Medical Engineering at Kyoto University, used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study hemodynamic changes in the brains of 17 healthy volunteers performing a monetary task. The volunteers were given an initial stock of money and then required repetitively to press one of two buttons, which resulted in either an increase or decrease of the money stock, depending on whether their choice agreed or disagreed with a number that appeared randomly after the button had been pressed. One button was a low-risk option and the other involved high-risk, so that more money was gained or lost when choosing the high-risk option. The volunteers were also able to keep track of the total money stock throughout the task.

They found higher levels of activation in volunteers when choosing high-risk/high-gain options, compared to low-risk/low-gain, and when gaining money, compared to losing money. It did not matter how much money was gained, since small gains stimulated the volunteers’ striatum as much as large gains. They also found that overall striatum activity increased with the total amount of money in stock.

According to the authors, these results show that “risky tactics and pleasure of monetary gain are correlated with activation of the striatum” and that this finding demonstrates “the concept of the striatum as a major reward-related brain structure”.

Source: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authored_newsitem.cws_home/companynews05_01363

Canadian companies lag foreign firms in training

Lack of understanding leads to less investment in staff and lower productivity

By Beth Everson, Director of Communications, Canadian Council on Learning

Nov. 5, 2007

Canadian companies lag behind global competitors in investing in on the-job training and education. Compared with employers in the United States and Europe, Canadian employers invest 40-per-cent to 50-per-cent less on training and education, says Paul Cappon, chief executive officer of the Canadian Council on Learning, a not-for-profit organization with offices in Ottawa and Vancouver.

That translates to only 30 per cent of Canadian workers receiving any training or education on the job, putting Canada in the bottom ranks among nations belonging to the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris.

Read the complete article at http://www.cclcca.ca/CCL/Newsroom/Articles/20061105canadiancompanieslag.htm