UW student proves the existence of God, mathematically!

The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry midterm. The answer by one student was so "profound" that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well.

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.
One student, however, wrote the following: First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time . So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially.
Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.
This gives two possibilities: 1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose. 2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.
So which is it?
If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, "It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you," and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct......leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting "Oh my God."

Do the Math!

My next two classes with the UoPhoenix are Essentials of College Math, algebra and statistics and such. There must be some mathematical theory I haven't studied yet that will explain the reasoning behind an insulting one time $300 tax rebate as an economic stimulus to prevent recession while spending 12 billion a day for the next year on 'defending' Iraq! Let's try reversing the roles and spend 12 billion a day on solving America's economic woes and give each Iraqi citizen a one time payment of $300-that ought to be enough to buy a gun and enough bullets for the Shi'ites and Sunnites to kill each other off-end of problem! Maybe economic math theories are different from the real numerical values I will be studying, or should "I" be the one buying a gun?

The Jung Dr. Sonny is in.

Written using a new (to me), program called: StyleEase for APA formatting. I didn't know if it would allow me to copy and paste like regular Word doc., but it did. So now I don't have to go out of practice. Why do Doctor's call what they do; Practice?

THE OPERANT CONDITIONING

The Operant Conditioning of Behaviorism; How Behaviorism Conditioned Itself.

Maurice Keating, Jr.

University of Phoenix

Abstract
An essay on the historical development of behaviorist perspective in psychology regarding its development by the three major theorists; John B. Watson, Edward C. Tolman and B. F. Skinner.

Introduction

Three men; John B. Watson (1878 – 1958), Edward C. Tolman (1886 – 1959), and B. F. Skinner (1904 – 1990), all inspired by the original work of Ivan P. Pavlov’s (1849 – 1936), animal conditioning experiment, caught on to the idea of conditioning behavior and developed successive theories of what is known today as Behaviorism. Not entirely a linear development of a single concept of conditioning, these three men developed divergent theories along successive similar trains of thought, that of changing the behavior of mice and men. Behaviorism is primarily learning theories developed by comparative research of strictly observable behaviors and drawing analogies between animal learning and human learning, disregarding mental constructs of subjective cognitive and emotive states. The apples and oranges, or rather, mice and men comparison aside, the works of the Behaviorists showing total disregard for cognitive and emotive mental states reveal works truly worthy of any modern day sociopathic or borderline personality. Despite apparent similarities, the specific details of methodology and subsequent developmental theory’s of learning as relates to behavior modification vary widely enough for examination of the basic differences in Watson’s Reductionist, Tolman’s Purposive, and Skinner’s Radical Behaviorist theories, theories that are well suited to explaining and training animal behavior, but met primarily with resistance or causing cognitive and emotive disorders in human subjects.

Watson’s Sociopathic Research

While John B. Watson’s famous claim that “if he were given 12 healthy infants at birth, he could turn them into whatever he wanted, doctors or thieves, regardless of any innate dispositions or talents, simply by controlling their environments” (Kowalski and Westen, 2005, pg. 14), was never put to test, his preference for the nurturing aspect of psychology’s nature versus nurture question undoubtedly explains his own sociopathic Behaviorist research methodology. Raised with farm animals and torn between a philandering alcoholic father and a mother of fire and brimstone beliefs, one need not wonder that Goodwin (2005) only points out that John Watson “was a known troublemaker and had been arrested at least twice [in his youth]” (pg. 290). Watson’s sociopathic tendencies are revealed by his penchant of surgically vivisecting laboratory rats of their sensory input organs to determine which skill they possessed to perform experimental maze learning, and his later conditioning fear in a young infant known as Albert B., Little Albert. Theorizing that infantile emotions only range three types; love, anger and rage, and that such emotions are only conditioned reactions and not fanciful cognitive mental states, Watson continued his sociopathic proclivities, diverting his attention from helpless lab rats to helpless baby infants as his subjects of terror inducing conditioning, training little Albert first to fear Watson’s former victims of furry rats, then other furry neutral objects, and finally fearing Watson himself (Goodwin, 2005, pp. 299-300). Quite a far cry from his boast of being able to make an infant either become a Doctor or thief!

Tolman; Behaviorist for Purposiveness

The purposive or goal-directed Behaviorist theory of Edward Tolman suggests that behavior is done for a reason, and a larger purpose then merely satisfying physical needs. More open to alternate psychologies other than his professed specialty of Behaviorism, Tolman received criticism from his contemporaries for his use of cognitive inferences of none the less observable behaviors. Such idea’s as that dehydrating a lab rat to cause thirst, an unseen and in his terms, an intervening variable that subsequently causes the animal to learn that water is at the end of a maze and thus learn the maze faster, were the influences of Tolman’s gestalt friends and colleagues. Creation of more standardized construction of mazes for his lab animals and testing for variables in the condition of the animals, tests and reinforcements given, led to Tolman inferring latent learning and cognitive maps within the animals. Logical positivism appealed to Tolman and guided the development of his theory’s cognitive states as inferred from observable behaviors, and was reflected in his attitude of learning for the fun of learning. (Goodwin, 2005, pp. 314-321).

Skinner: Learning operant conditioning operantly.

B. F. Skinner carried Behaviorism closer to completion as an independent arena of psychology then any before him. Finely delineating previous concepts of his field of research, Skinner formed more detailed descriptions of conditioning principles into his own version known as Operant Conditioning. Reinforcement could be positive or negative in that the reinforcing stimuli could be added (positive), as a reward or punishment, or negative (removal of reward or punishment). Classical conditioning simply paired an unconditioned stimulus with a conditioned one, to achieve a conditioned response from one previously unconditioned. Skinner brought about Operant Conditioning theory as a way of continuing the pairing of environmental behaviors with associated stimuli in stages that lead from a simple and natural organism’s behavior to more complex behaviors unknown in nature of such organisms, a process he labeled: shaping. Systematic studying of times between reinforcement and number of responses of behavior till being reinforced led to further complete theory development by Skinner. (Goodman, 2005, pp. 330-333). B. F. Skinner believed so passionately about his theory of shaping behavior that he believed it could be implemented on a sociological scale and he even wrote a fictional account of a utopian society called: Walden Two, based upon his theories (Goodman, 2005, pp. 337-8). Certainly his development of Behaviorist theory of shaping was operantly learned, as he continued a train of thought started by Pavlov before he, Skinner, was even born.

Conclusion

The very idea of Watson’s that an infant can show a response called: Love; Tolman’s feelings of having fun in learning; Skinner’s passionate belief in humanity’s possible creation of utopia, these ‘cognitive explanatory fictions’ belie the very foundations of Behaviorist perspective that only observable behavior is necessary for researching causes of psychological realities. Perhaps this is the cause of the decline of Behaviorism as a psychological perspective in regards human beings and their irrational behaviors. More likely and in this author’s opinion, animal based research is perfectly suited to explain animal behavior, human behavior needs human research to adequately explain and train the human mind.




References

Goodwin, C. J. (2005). A History of Modern Psychology, Second Edition. NY: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Kowalski, R., and Westen, D. (2005). Psychology, Fourth Edition. NY: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

I wish this Dr. had been my Dr.!

I chose Dr. Marie-Louise von Franz to write about for my Women in Psychology paper for my History and Systems class and wouldn't you know it, but synchronicity popped up when I noticed that in writing the paper it was about the 10 year anniversary of her passing. I'm still studying Jung after all the twenty years have past since I was previously in college and now finding out Dr. von Franz is gone, I wish I had kept up on my readings in Analytical Psychology.

The Faerie Tale Life of Dr. Marie-Louise von Franz
Maurice S. Keating, Jr.
University of Phoenix

Abstract:
An essay introducing Dr. Marie-Louise von Franz’s early life and the events leading to her lifelong working relationship with Dr. Carl Gustav Jung and his depth psychology theories of Analytical Psychology.

The Faerie Tale Life of Dr. Marie-Louise von Franz

Once Upon A Time

Born of baronial Austrian ancestry in Munich, Germany on January 14, 1915 during the Great War and recently deceased on February 17th of 1998 at home in peaceful Kusnacht, Switzerland Marie-Louise von Franz lived between the unconsciousness of birth to the unconscious end of life, the story of a faerie tale princess living in a world of myth and dreams. Robert Mcg Thomas, Jr., states in Dr. von Franz’s obituary, “…there were those who hailed her as the queen of Jungian [analytical] psychology. She was an expert on fairy tales who had been both Carl Gustav Jung’s most brilliant and inspired disciple and the one who had done the most to illuminate the flame since his death in 1961” (Thomas, 1998, ¶ 2). She was certainly no stranger to dream’s, Dr. Marie-Louise analyzed and interpreted some 65,000 of them during her many years as an analyst and added quite a few of her own to that compendium. The life of Marie-Louise evolved from dreams and revolved in and around the dreamy depth psychology of her mentor, Dr. Carl Gustav Jung, founder of the analytical psychology school of thought. Journey now into the mystical land of folklore, myth’s and dreams that comprise the passionate life work and world of Dr. Marie-Louise von Franz, a woman who lived her dreams to make them come true.

An Awe Inspiring Early Dream

In his eulogy for Marie-Louise von Franz, Dr. Gotthilf Isler (2004, ¶ 5 and 6) relates an actual account of one of her childhood dreams she confided to him and his wife that was memorable enough for her to include in her article, “The Unknown Visitor.” Only about four years of age at the time of her dream, the dream more of a nightmare, an unconscious reconstruction of thoughts peaking into an unknown future, formed from the von Franz family’s flight from oncoming political persecution in Austria to the safety of Switzerland. Marie-Louise told this lucid tale:
I went with Father and Mother and my sister through the streets of a place where we were staying at an inn after our flight. Father held me by the hand. Suddenly in the distance an old man and a young man appeared in the street, approaching swiftly. My father, startled, shouted out. "There they are!" I asked, "Who?" "The Gods, the Examiners. Everyone has an iron tablet with his name and birth and death dates on it. The tablets must be preserved intact. Whoever's tablet is broken will fall under the power of the Gods."
We ran back into our room in the inn. Father opened the chest with the family silver in it and took out the tablets. They were of white enamel with black lettering. The enamel of my tablet was as if it had been fractured by a hammer blow. I was horribly frightened. The others shrank back from me. I stepped out of my body and hovered about the ceiling, where there was a bright, round light into which I went. From there I saw myself below as a little girl holding the tablet. I decided to go on living and returned to my body. I wanted to confront the Gods and went towards the doors. As I was about to open them, the bolt was drawn back from the outside. They had arrived! I woke up screaming.
Only such a vivid dream as this could last a lifetime and portend a future outlook on life as a guide in the manner that Marie-Louise kept this in her memory.

Young Marie-Louise and Jung

Chance and circumstance, or synchronicity it may be, led to a casual encounter between young Marie-Louise at 18 and the then aged 58 years, Dr. Carl G. Jung, in 1933 (Thomas, 1998, ¶ 9). Marie-Louise was yet still a high school student in Zurich, but would soon afterwards begin working closely with him in what would become a lifelong relationship (Isler, 2004, ¶ 15). Analysand and ardent student, an analyst later herself and the first to replace Dr. Carl Jung after his death, as Director of the Jungian Analytical Psychology Institute in Zurich, Dr. Marie-Louise von Franz’s life became enmeshed with Dr. Jung’s own life and theories. At Dr. Jung’s suggestion from an interpretation of her dreams, she went on to study classical languages, earning her doctorate at the University of Zurich, a much needed talent Dr. Jung used in his own work, especially in the translations of ancient texts for his works in medieval alchemy as related to psychology of unconscious projection (Thomas, 1998, ¶ 14 and 15). Dr’s. Jung and von Franz were even travelling companions for lectures at Universities, and other excursions to meet with shamans, Buddhist Monk’s, medicine men and other such purveyors of unconscious wisdom. Dr. Gotthilf Isler (2004, ¶ 17), also reveals a secret meeting Marie-Louise and Carl Jung had with an African oracle that had summarily told her:
At the end, the highest judge will come - this would be an unheard of fortune, and as a matter of fact she experienced many amazing things; many of them had to be kept secret, so she couldn't relate them to me. But then later would come an "after-judge." This would be a great misfortune. This would be her present [Parkinson’s] illness. But she was happy that she had consulted this oracle, because she knew that this misfortune was a part of her fate!
A part of Jung’s belief in unconscious determinism became her own through this experience and was reinforced further in future synchronistic occurrences.

Dream Analyst and Interpreter of Faerie Tales and Physics

Card and Morariu (1998) note that some two years before his death, Jung bequeathed to Marie-Louise the beginnings of his notes on the mathematical properties of the first four integers, indicating his aging inability to accomplish a work of them, and his wishes for her to carry on his work. Dr. von Franz already had begun as a co-author with his final book; “Man and His Symbols,” and hoped to find someone else to complete this new task. Later, after Jung’s passing, Dr. von Franz took it upon herself to investigate, research Jung’s ideas with the help of one of his collaborators, Nobel laureate in quantum physics, Wolfgang Pauli, and finish a remarkable book on the archetypal significances and related synchronistic phenomenon of numbers as related to depth psychology and physics, called: “Number and Time” (¶ 3 and 4). Dr. Marie-Louise von Franz had already begun her remarkable career as an analytical psychologist writer of myths, legends and fairy tales, revealing the archetypal structures of their unconscious origins and the significance of their role in the development of consciousness in the history of humankind, when Number and Time was finally published in 1974. Her work continued as a writer, analyst and training analyst, Director of the C. G. Jung Analytical Psychology Institute in Zurich, and worldwide lecturer, publishing some 40 plus papers, books and even films, before Marie-Louise von Franz finally completed her journey back into the realm of the unconscious, her date with death on February 17, 1998.

In Memoriam

So deeply involved in revealing the mysteries of the unconscious was Dr. Marie-Louise von Franz that she dared take on writing a book called; “On Dreams and Death: A Jungian Interpretation,” published in 1986 and during the writing of which she developed Parkinson’s disease. Her friend and student, Remo Roth remembers that; “After this, she told me several times that she had the distinct feeling that the illness was the direct effect of writing this book” (Roth, 1998, ¶ 2). Dr. Roth continues, saying Marie-Louise remained intellectually active and concerned with the main topic of her book about individuation and the development of alchemy’s subtle body, that which survives and continues on after death; “the diamond body in eastern mysticism” (Roth, 1998, ¶ 3). Dr. Isler notes that Marie-Louise told him of a dream she had after Jung’s passing in which she saw a precious Chinese frog carved of stone that she had given to her mentor as a lifetime gift, but that he found to be too precious to keep, determining that it be returned to her upon his death, and in the dream she saw the frog waving to her. “For her, this was a sign that Jung was still living, and she died with this frog in her hand. The frog is a symbol of resurrection.” (Isler, 1998, ¶ 39). Marie-Louise von Franz has finished her work, yet much remains to be done.

References:

Card, C. R. And Morariu, V. V. (1998). “In Remembrance Of Marie-Louise Von Franz.” Retrieved February 24, 2008, from http://www.geocities.com/paideusis/n1cm.html

Isler, G. (1998, February, 17). Journeys newsletter. “And Her Spirit Lives On…” Retrieved February 23, 2008 from http://journeyintowholeness.org/news/nl/v12n3/eulogy.shtm

Roth, R. F. (1998). “My Personal Memories of Marie-Louise von Franz.” Retrieved February 22, 2008, from http://www.psychovision.ch/rfr/mlvf_nachruf_e.htm

Thomas, R M (March 23, 1998). Marie-Louise von Franz, 83, A Jungian Legend, Is Dead. The New York Times, p.NA. Retrieved February 23, 2008, from General OneFile via Gale:http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS

Lost paper.

I thought I had lost this paper when I switched to a new computer and couldn't find it on my old pc that ended up with a new home at my mother's. Sometimes, not often, but once in a Blue Moon (my old Tavern here in Seattle), I get an urge to drink and then call a friend. Right now? No! But I was thinking on a smoke break just a minute ago (I'm attempting to quit that too), I wonder if I would even still like the taste of beer? I thought to myself; Probably not, as I never did drink for taste, just effect!



Causality: Cause for reflection.
Maurice S. Keating, Jr.
University of Phoenix

Causality: Cause for reflection.
Hi, I’m John Doe, and I’m an alcoholic. Familiar word’s of the introduction preceding an A.A. member’s discourse and self disclosure of their illness. Although my name is not John Doe, and I use my childhood nickname in my personal life as a member of Alcoholics Anonymous to remain anonymous, I chose the name John Doe in this introduction to point out the now recognized status of alcoholism as a progressive and degenerative disease. As stated by Science Clarified (2007) in their Alcoholism forum, the disease is progressive in that it only gets worse in increasing stages, never better, even after stopping the drinking behavior, and its conclusion may end in death (¶ 1). Degenerative in that consumption of alcohol not only kills brain cells and destroys the liver, but is now known that it; “affects every cell in the body, especially those of the liver, heart, and brain” (¶ 4). And a disease in that alcoholism is recognized along with substance abuse as an addiction as noted on p. 213 of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM IV) of the APA (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Before continuing further, let me quote from p. 562 of the ‘big book;’ Alcoholics Anonymous, the 10th of our 12 traditions: “Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never [to] be drawn into public controversy.” (2001). With that disclaimer to honor the A.A. Traditions, the stated purpose of this paper is not about the 12 step recovery group itself, but an exposition of one of its primary initial teachings to the newcomer, the concept known as: Think through the drink. Also referred to as ‘playing the tape through,’ to get to the conclusion of the song and avoid the song and dance routine that leads to taking that first drink without thinking of its consequences.

I can distinctly remember the rationalization I used for taking my very first drink, a misnomer of that word in that my thinking wasn’t rational, rationalization being more the mental process of making up an excuse for behavior; “a defense mechanism by which [my] true motivation is concealed by explaining [my] actions and feelings in a way that is not threatening [to myself]” WordNet (2006). I was fresh out of Basic Training, at my first USAF Base for additional training, and enjoying myself in the enlisted men’s recreational hall. Legal age in Colorado, where I was stationed, and legal age on the Federal property of the Base is 19 years. I figured that if the U.S. Government thought I was old enough to both serve my Country and be served a drink, then I might as well enjoy myself with a beer. If I was old enough to fight and possibly die for my Country, I was old enough to get drunk! Eight years later I was no longer fighting for my Country, I was, however, fighting a battle with the bottle.

I did not come to be a habitual drinker all at once; habituation is most definitely both classically and operant conditioned and occurred in me by the very processes as put forth by Kowalski and Westen (2005). I reinforced my drinking behavior by repeatedly rewarding myself for hard work by; going to the club (the operant), and having a beer (the reinforcement), after duty (pg. 169). In the end I was not reinforcing my good work ethics in this process though; it was the drinking behavior itself that was being reinforced by the significant time delay (the interstimulus interval), between getting off duty and going to the club (pg. 164). Yet initially I took to drink by “observational learning;” other’s at the club were drinking and having fun, and so I mimicked them, “modeling” my behavior to theirs by playing games while having my own drinks (pg. 187). This lead to another use of rationalization about my continued use and abuse of alcohol, the idea that everyone does it, so why can’t I? Classical conditioning also played a role by my associating fun activities with drinking alcohol, and soon I was drinking alcohol to have fun, a stimulus-stimulus association (pg. 166). What were once vices are now habits, as a song says, and my drinking became associated with another bad habit of addictive behavior; smoking cigarettes. Nicotine and alcohol are twin addictions that were formerly thought of as social ills of an individual problematic nature, yet socially acceptable behavior, and they reinforce each other by stimulating the brain (actually alcohol is a depressant), in different neural pathways. Social views are changing along with the legal viewpoint of these ‘habits,’ and they are now considered to be criminal behavior in certain instances of misuse and abuse.

Having incurred the wrath of the Courts and been given the option of seeking treatment for my aberrant behavior of driving under the influence, I have become aware of the necessity of “rehab” and 12 step programs involved in recovery from addiction and maintaining sobriety. A common phrase of A.A. members to newcomers is; “the best way to avoid getting drunk is to avoid the first drink.” But how to do that as is easier said then done, is by what is called: Thinking through the drink. Using reasoning skills of causality to remember the effects of alcoholic behavior; the ill effects of nausea and hangovers, the relationship problems with family and friends, the further social isolation of only having drinking buddies, the economic problems of unpaid bills and loss of employment or lack of stable employment, combined with legal entanglements, all serve as cause for reflection in taking a moment just long enough to give an impulse or urge to return to drink to subside while convincing myself with true rational thought that the “rewards” are not worth continuing the behavior. In giving myself the time to weigh the pro’s and con’s of taking another drink, I give myself pause for reflection and thought, and enough time to come to the realization that I have alternatives and can call for help and support, reach out to another for affirmation that I am not alone. Merely extinguishing the undesirable behavior, quitting drinking, whether by force of will or conditioning, is not enough in the end. Behaviors and attitudes need to be changed together, new behaviors instituted to replace old habits and new attitudes learned, for effective recovery to take place and sobriety to be maintained.

In summation, and I say summation and not conclusion because the only acceptable conclusion to alcoholism is abstinence, and I can only sum up my rehabilitation and recovery as it has thus far occurred; in summation, my personal experience with alcoholism and recovery is not unique to me alone. Not everyone follows the same path, but the pattern is there and the similarities are recognizable. Thinking through the drink; the process of recognizing the onset of impulses and urges that lead to patterns of thought processes of rationalization for my addictive behavior, then diverting those thought processes to different ones of reasoning and reflection, give myself time to take action and preventive measures to avoid falling back into old habits. Memory of past results from taking that first drink, and knowing that it will lead to another and what that will invariably result in, reasoning in terms of causality, is but one of the tools learned to be used on the road to recovery. The road leads on.




References:
Alcoholics Anonymous, Fourth Edition. (2001). New York City: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.

American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision. Washington, DC, American Psychiatric Association, 2000.

Kowalski, R., & Westen, D. (2005). Psychology. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
rationalization. (n.d.). WordNet® 3.0. Retrieved January 27, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rationalization

Science Clarified. (2007). Alcoholism forum. Retrieved January 25, 2008, from http://www.scienceclarified.com/A-Al/Alcoholism.html