John Barbar

              Pacing through the middle school hallway reverberates with eerie echoes of middle school boys in shoes two sizes too big and girls stumbling in heels. But as eager students inch closer towards the auditorium for one of the many school dances, the music begins to propagate with each and every step, drowning out any background noise. This procession, in … [Read more...] about Psychological Phenomena: 7th Grade Dance and The Bar Room Effect

When an individual acts suspiciously, even if it’s for something completely inconsequential, such as your brother eating your delicious turkey sandwich that was once stowed in the refrigerator, or for something more resolute, being able to have some inkling of insight on the truth is critical. Thankfully, a team of psychologists at UCLA has aimed to seek a solution to this … [Read more...] about Psychological Phenomena: The Devil’s in the Details — How to Tell if Someone You Know is Lying

           The following narrative demonstrates the ability for the mind to store connections, or somatic markers, and its capacity to save an individual’s life. Somatic markers are fundamentally the connections between stimuli that are associated with an emotional and physiological affective state. In other words, the mind is instinctually exposed to a certain emotion when … [Read more...] about Psychological Phenomena: Somatic Markers and How They Could Save Your Life

  The following parable demonstrates my feeble and naïve, but ultimately successful attempt to make it back home amidst the anxiety of being a relatively new driver. Human navigation has been touted as an intrinsic ability: we depend on internalized versions of ‘cognitive maps’ and ‘snapshots’, which capture diverse information about the environment around us and aid us in … [Read more...] about Psychological Phenomena: Human Spatial Representation: A Narrative on How My Misfortune Led Me Home

As I glance at my Spotify account, teeming with armies of playlists, I notice that they are demarcated by the various occasions and moods I may be faced with throughout the course of a day: working out (assertive), in the car (energetic), and at home (contemplative) – just to name a few. Much of the popular music played today can be characterized as introspective, brooding, or … [Read more...] about Psychological Phenomena: Why is Sad Music So Popular?