Tangling With Twisters Program

This morning's Born to Do Science program at the Stillwater library went very well. We had about 33 people, which is a great turnout for the season opener!

Dr. Caleb Lack

Our guest scientist was Dr. Caleb Lack, a clinical psychologist from the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. He spoke about his research into why some kids have a harder time than others recovering from the psychological effects of being in a natural disaster such as a tornado.

Getting Ready to Sing "Psychology"

I started off as always with a new song. I took a light approach with this one. The singer thinks maybe there's something wrong with him but I'm sure you can figure out what's going on...

Psychology

song lyrics by Monty Harper

Psychology, can you tell me what’s wrong with me?

I see eyes looking at me and I get distressed
I feel uptight and anxious, mad and depressed
I hear voices behind me that whisper and mock
No one smiles when I smile; no one listens when I talk
I don’t sleep well at all cause I think of my job
And I dream I’m attacked by an unruly mob
Is there some kind of name for the trouble I’ve got?
Can science explain? Am I crazy or what?

Psychology, can you tell me what’s wrong with me?
Psychology, can you tell me what’s wrong with me?

I’ve been looking in books for some self-diagnosis
I’ve read about phobias, fears, and neurosis
Obsession, repression, fixation, and trauma
Was it nature or nurture that caused all this drama?
I set out to measure the person I am
And I filled out a long psychometric exam
I wanna understand but I’m losing my nerve
I’m afraid I won’t land on the bell of the curve

Oh, yes the human mind is acutely arcane
Couched in the convoluted human brain
It comes without a manual or a guarantee
So we study that puzzle with Psychology

Psychology, can you tell me what’s wrong with me?
Psychology, can you tell me what’s wrong with me?

Gotta go now - my day is about to begin
My seventh grade students are jostling in
I see eyes looking at me and I get distressed
I feel uptight and anxious, mad and depressed
I hear voices behind me that whisper and mock
No one smiles when I smile; no one listens when I talk
I’ll be teaching all day with this chalk in my hand
And tonight two more lessons will need to be planned
But with every spare moment I happen to find
I will ponder the question that’s still on my mind

Psychology, can you tell me what’s wrong with me?

Because Dr. Lack studies what's happening in kids' minds, it was a bit of a challenge to come up with visuals and "hands-on" activities to keep everyone engaged. We can't exactly put our hands on a mind, or experience a tornado in the classroom to see what happens. But we did get to fill out actual "measures," or psychometric exams, that Dr. Lack's research subjects fill out.

Filling Out Measures

We talked about three variables that might have something to do with which kids develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after a tornado and which don't: How much exposure they had to the tornado, how they coped with it afterwards, and attributions, which means how they explained it to themselves.

Thinking About Variables

It turns out all three are important, but attributions are the most important by far. Those kids who say the tornado is just something that happened - no reason - fared the best. Those who blamed themselves fared the worst.

Dr. Lack's Results
Attributions correlate strongest with PTSD

I'm working on a more detailed write-up of Dr. Lack's presentation, and I'll post it here in a day or two for those who missed the program, or for those who were there, but might want to shore up their understanding.

Next month: "Mysterious Algae of the Great Salt Plains!" with Dr. Bill Henley of the OSU Botany Department. That's on February 19, 10:00 AM at the Stillwater Public Library. See you then!!

Chatting Afterwards