Honest Book Reviews

Ethics Ethics are norms of conduct. In terms of research, ethics are a set of rules that tell researchers what they should and shouldn't do. They exist because researchers might not be objective on whether a study might harm participants, among other things  (McBride, 2010) .    Nuremberg Code When the second world war ended, the Nuremberg Code was developed. This code, which was created after the horrible experiments done by the Nazis came to light, stated that researchers had to follow ten rules (Schuler, 1982). 1. Voluntary consent for participation in an experiment is required. 2. The research should yield fruitful results for the good of society. 3. The results should justify the methods of the study. 4. Researchers must avoid causing unnecessary harm. 5. If there is a priori reason to believe that harm would be a likely result, then the experiment should not be conducted.  6. The results should be more important than the risks.  ...

Prospect Theory and Expected Value Theory The sub-field of judgment & decision making (JDM) in psychology studies the processes that humans undergo in order to make a decision. A particular area of interest revolves around choosing under uncertainty. The purpose of this essay is to define and compare two of the most relevant theories that cover decision making with risks. They are expected utility theory and prospect theory. Expected Value Theory Daniel Bernoulli The first theory that will be covered is expected utility theory. This was developed by Daniel Bernoulli, a Swiss physicist and mathematician ("Daniel Bernoulli," n.d.). Before he developed it, expected value theory was what was commonly used instead. Its predecessor argues that in order to choose the best outcome on problems that involve money and risk we have to multiply the value of an outcome times their probability (Hardman, 2009). For example, if I bet fifty dollars that if I toss a coin it ...

A comparison between psychoanalysis, medication, and cognitive-behavioral therapy. The effectiveness of medication, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and psychoanalysis will be compared to each other in order to describe the most helpful form of treatment. Effectiveness is going to be measured by the effect sizes and the limitations of each treatment; success is going to be measured by relapse and remission rates as well as the increase or decrease of benefits over time and side effects. The first form of treatment that will be explored revolves around psychopharmacology. The article “Selective Publication of Antidepressant Trials and Its Influence on Apparent Efficacy” will provide the effect sizes of antidepressants, the number of positive and negative published and unpublished studies done by the FDA, and it will compare the long--term outcomes of using medication as a form of treatment. Turner, along with the other authors, looked at all registered FDA antidepressant studie...

How Accurate is the Portrayal of Drugs in this Movie?      Let us be honest, the main protagonist is not Rooney Mara as Emily Taylor or Jude Law as Dr. Jonathan Banks. It's pharmaceutical drugs. They are constantly affecting, directly and indirectly, the lives of every character in the movie. If we take this into consideration an important question arises. Are drugs portrayed accurately in this film? Could medication be dangerous?      Something in the movie that I found really interesting and that I covered before in this post: The Self in Brain Research  (http://hbookreviews.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-self-in-brain-research.html) is that t he Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did a review in 2004 of clinical trials and found that four percent of children and adolescents that took antidepressants experienced an inc rease in suicidal thinking and behavior compared to two percent of those who took a placebo. As a result, the FDA put a black...

6 things you might not know about Frankenstein Who is Frankenstein ? If you hear the word, "Frankenstein" and you picture in your mind a green creature with bolts sticking out of his neck, well then you are confusing the monster with his master. In fact, Frankenstein is not a scientist, but a doctor who was obsessed with life and death. The death of his loved ones was the trigger that sparked the interest in giving life into something that was already dead. So I am sorry, but he is not a crazy scientist, although, he fits the archetype: An ambitious man focused on a grand scheme to change the world. Who is the Creature?  Now, if you were thinking that you only mistook the names of Frankenstein and the monster, but that the creature still looks the same, well you are wrong yet again. Frankenstein designed the monster to look beautiful. In the book, the doctor states when he looks at the creature:  "His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected hi...