Weird Psychology: Call for Inspiration
Inspired by the ever-compelling Freakonomics I thought what we need here in the psychology blogosphere is some coverage of weird psychology studies. I know, a lot of psychology studies are pretty weird, but I'm talking about the really weird ones. Two minor problems.
The main one is finding the studies. And this is where I need to harness the much-vaunted power of networked communities, or Web 2.0, or whatever fancy name we're giving this interweb thingey nowadays. To get you started I came across one entitled: 'Personal space invasions in the lavatory: suggestive evidence for arousal' (via The Psych Files). While this study will be particularly attractive to a British audience who love a bit of micturation-related chat, don't let it constrain your imaginations.
So, fire up your brain departments for a couple of minutes and see what they spit out. I don't necessarily need full references, any old fragments will do. On the other hand I will need a bit more than: "Well, there was this study, right, with people in it, where, like, things were done, and it was, like, really weird and everything."
OK, I know none of you will do that, you're all far too intelligent (flatter the audience they tell me, flatter them). Anyway, you can comment below or feel free to email me direct if you prefer. There's no reason economists should have all the fun with the freaky studies. Psychologists should be able to out-weird those guys any day of the week.
Second, in the tradition of all good rip-off artists I want to have a funky title for these types of 'weird' or unusual studies. Weirdology? No - doesn't contain the 'psych' part. My current favourite is psycho-ology. Geddit? No, doesn't really trip of the tongue does it?
Any other ideas? Come on my networked friends, let's work that grey stuff. Come on FEEEEL THE NEURONS BUUUUURN!
(It's all this inane motivation chat or I'll be reduced to threatening you - it won't be pretty.)
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Sikeology
Thanks sam, few more of my own to spark you all off:
Freudonomics
Pseudology
Crypto-psychology should work. Sort of like cryptozoology except we are looking for weird psychology instead of just weird animals. To give one example of a weird case study, I submit:
Nejad, A. & Toofani, K. (2005). Co-existence of lycanthropy and Cotard's syndrome in a single case. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica Mar;111(3):250-2. In this one, the authors reported on a "a patient meeting DSM-IV criteria for bipolar mood disorder, mixed type with psychotic feature had the delusion of being transformed into a dog. He also deluded that he was dead. He was restless and had a serious sense of guilt about his previous sexual contact with a sheep.".
Is this the sort of thing you had in mind?
Romeo, great suggestion! Thank you.
No, I don't think Freakonomics covers "weird" studies at all. I think the book has captured everyone's interests because many of the studies so cleverly refute the primary assumptions of economics ie individuals are always rational and solely motivated by the maximisation of wealth. The studies so cleverly distill people's hidden motivations and highlights the power of incentive structures to motivate behavior. I think the quirkiness lies in the fact that the authors often draw relationships between two seemingly unrelated topics.
Okay enough about that - yes, I think psychologists should be able to outweird economists, or anyone for that matter, any day.
Hope you find some weird studies - I will be keeping my eye out.
You're right Jean a lot of it is marketing spin - spin which seems to have worked out very well for the book and the blog though!