Olfaction Factory

Breathe in, breathe out.

It's about time we give our sense of smell the credit it deserves because olfaction, or our sense of smell, is what makes life truly memorable. Reminiscing about our past experiences simply wouldn't be the same if we didn't have our ability to smell. There would be no association between the smell of a new box of crayons and the first day of kindergarten. Sitting around the campfire with a group of friends, chomping on gooey toasted marshmallows, would no longer hold a special place in our hearts.

What is the secret behind the deep link between smells, memories, and emotions? Knowing the mechanisms of this rather complex connection can help us get a better grasp on how certain smells can surprisingly influence our behavior. When it comes to making sense of our surrounding environment, there are still so many puzzles to solve. Learning about the olfactory system is simply anohter unique facet of how we can discover something new about ourselves.

Besides, what's more interesting than examining the study of you and me?

#yenakim #olfactorysystem #olfactorybulb #memory #emotion

The Psychology of Advertising

Due to new and changing technology, advertising has taken over the world— and your mind. You see and hear commercials everywhere, whether it be through television, radio, and social media. Advertising is impossible to avoid.

In fact, the average adult is exposed to 5,000 or more

advertisements a day.

But what are these advertisements doing to you? Do they affect the way you think or make decisions? Do they really control your mind?

Well, the simple answer to the previous questions is a resounding “yes.” You may not be aware of it, but advertisements leave a lasting impression on us. Big-­time corporations put their logos on anything and everything, ranging from t­-shirts to billboards to even toilet paper! Though it may seem a little absurd at times, studies prove that all of this advertising actually pays off. Out of the thousands of ads to which you are exposed in any given day, research shows that you note about 86 of them. Additionally, out of these 86 ads, 12 of them will lead to a deep impression. This means that without conscious awareness, 12 ads will affect you and your decision making daily, which is roughly 14 percent of the ads you take note of.

Television advertisements are an enormous money maker for all types of businesses. In order to become profitable, many business people try to manipulate consumers when advertising products. For instance, advertisers frequently use a variety of techniques to influence our memory. But one may ask, “How do they grab our attention and make us remember their brand name?” Well, for one thing, the company’s logo plays a big part in helping the brain remember the commercial in which the logo appears. In many commercials, after a series of images flashes across the screen, a simple picture of the logo appears, guiding the viewer to remember what they have seen. The use of visuals has been shown to sometimes be even more influential than words, because people read so many things in a day that a single sentence on TV is difficult to recall.

Most advertising is done to persuade viewers to buy products or shop in certain places, but not all advertising is like this. For example, there are plenty of advertisement campaigns that are aimed to improve society, such as ones that focus on drug abuse, disease control, and controlled sex. These ads often use dark images and gloomy music in order to evoke guilt in viewers. The images and auditory effects allow advertisers to make use of appeals to emotion.

Advertising amazingly alters people’s decision making and thought processes simply with images and auditory effects. So whether you believe it or not, advertising affects you every day, even if you don’t know it.

Joseph Tingle is an AP Psychology student at Lakeland High School, MI. He is a contributing writer for Brain Stamp.

#josephtingle #contribute #psychology #advertising #thepsychologyofadvertising

Participate in a Real Study!

Did you ever think about getting involved in research, but then realized that you were only a high school student?

Well, this is the perfect chance for you to participate in psychology research and help out a fellow psychology student!

I am currently researching high school psychology students’ opinions about Milgram’s research on obedience. No one has ever surveyed how high school students feel about Milgram’s experiments, and you can be part of the first group of students to let your opinions be known.

Now you may be asking, "How can I participate?" Easy! There's a link to the survey at the bottom of this article. If you are a high school student in a psychology course, you can simply click on the link and complete the survey. It is not meant to take long and can easily be done in 10 minutes or less.

This survey is completely voluntary and you may quit any time. However, in order for your response to be recorded, you must hit the submit button at the end. The survey is very easy to complete, and Google Forms is a fantastic survey platform.

Although the survey is designed to assess your opinions on Milgram’s research from the 1960s, it includes many questions that are relevant to the world today and have the potential to produce astonishing results.

Click on the link below, take the survey, and be one of the first students to express your opinions about Milgram’s research! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at milgramsurvey@gmail.com

Thank you for your participation! - Chris

LINK TO SURVEY: http://goo.gl/forms/xlKvAHhqFv

#christheuerkauf #psychology #research #study #milgram