Re: [tips] To Tipsters in Stockbridge,Mass

2010-11-25 Thread Serafin, John
John V. Serafin, Ph.D., 58, of Ligonier, died Sunday evening, Nov. 21, 2010, at his home. He was born Oct. 22, 1952, in Garden City, Mich., a son of the late John J. and Lillian Bach Serafin. John earned his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. He was a highly respected professor of psychology

Re: [tips] Condolences to the Family of John Serafin

2010-11-25 Thread Serafin, John
. Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving. Carol A. Serafin -- John Serafin Psychology Department Saint Vincent College Latrobe, PA 15650 john.sera...@email.stvincent.edu From: Mike Palij m...@nyu.edu Reply-To: TIPS posts tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu Date: Thu, 25 Nov 2010 12:54:48 -0500 To: TIPS posts

Re: [tips] NYU Faculty First In Backward Looking Technology!

2010-11-18 Thread Serafin, John
Hmmm...I'm not sure why the camera needs to be surgically implanted, so maybe there's more behind this than is indicated in the story. He's not feeding these images into any bigger database, is he? Also, I'm not sure about Fred Ritchin's response that Obviously you donĀ¹t want students to be under

Re: [tips] Who's on first?

2010-10-26 Thread Serafin, John
Michael, Your memory about the monkeys potatoes is pretty good. I don't remember the original authors, but the monkeys under study were a colony of Japanese macaqques on one of the Japanese islands. To support the colony, the humans would dump food (e.g., potatoes) on the beach. The researchers

Re: [tips] Who's on first?

2010-10-26 Thread Serafin, John
Mike P: You are apparently picking a nit with something I said in a previous post (reference the following quote). No doubt, grooming behavior in these animals has an important social characteristic. But I'm pretty sure that they are picking out parasites and other debris in the process, and in

Re: [tips] Grandfathered in?

2010-10-15 Thread Serafin, John
Michael, We've had 2 situation of this type relating to tenure. One was just as you describe--masters required at time of hiring, later the requirement went up to PhD. They were grandfathered in, but all of them have since retired, so it's not a current issue. The other situation, you might find

Re: [tips] Galileo Was Wrong?

2010-09-14 Thread Serafin, John
Hey, wait a minute here. Why is that Italian, Galileo, getting credit (or blame, depending on your perspective) for all of this business about a heliocentric universe? I thought that my Polish ancestor, Copernicus, was the one responsible for all of this rabble-rousing. If they're going to go off

Re: [tips] Galileo Was Wrong?

2010-09-14 Thread Serafin, John
Ha! One of the things I have to love about TIPS is that even when I post something completely tongue-in-cheek, I can count on interesting and informative replies. Thanks, John K! I'll just add that Brahe Kepler did their thing after Copernicus, so I'll still attribute the idea to Copernicus.

[tips] magic/perception issue

2010-08-29 Thread Serafin, John
Ok, I'm going to go out on a limb here. First of all, I admit to being a huge fan of magicians (illusionists, if you prefer that term). I am not a huge fan of the show, America's Got Talent. But That show has a couple of pretty good magicians this year. Relationship to psychology? This

Re: [tips] magic/perception issue

2010-08-29 Thread Serafin, John
Thank you to both Don and Gary for the comments on these clips. Yeah, I had assumed that the tiger act involved prisms or some such to mask his original appearance. I will say, however, that I'm still a bit puzzled by the other one! Where the devil did that second gal come from? In any

Re: [tips] belated response to critique of Susan Clancy book

2010-04-29 Thread Serafin, John
Thank you, Scott. That's another great example. I love using data like these in stats. We get to talk a little bit about the underlying psychological issues, but also can discuss the statistical issues. So...as in a previous discussion...what's best to summarize these data? Mean, median, or mode?

Re: [tips] Are parachutes effective?

2010-03-16 Thread Serafin, John
I imagine that, in contrast to some of the other research recently discussed here, the placebo effect might not be getting stronger in this field of research? John -- John Serafin Psychology Department Saint Vincent College Latrobe, PA 15650 john.sera...@email.stvincent.edu From:

Re: [tips] Great Question about REM

2010-02-23 Thread Serafin, John
Good set of responses to the original question about REM motor inhibition eye movements. Just want to correct one response. Eye movements are not controlled by autonomic systems. The poster may have been thinking about functions like pupil dilation/contraction, which are, in fact, controlled

Re: [tips] Prep for Psych stats?

2010-01-29 Thread Serafin, John
For us, students who are required to take the remedial math course must pass that remedial course before taking psych stats. The others, we assume they have the basic math skills necessary. However, during advising, most are encouraged to take a college-level math course before stats. Not because