PSY 227: DRUGS AND BEHAVIOR
Find two pro-recreational drug use sites on the World Wide Web, and two con-recreational drug use sites. Using your BS detector, your Drug W.I.S.E. tips, and your best critical thinking, evaluate the validity and reliability of these sites. By the day that this homework is due, post the URL's to these sites, along with your brief description and evaluation of each to the class electronic bulletin board (PSY227). Use the format shown below for submitting your assignment:
Your Name:
Site Name:
URL:
Site Authors:
Pro or Con?
Summary of Site:
My Critical Evaluation of This Site:
Do this for each site. Don't forget to sign your name to your postings to the list, or I will not be able to give you credit for having done the homework!
(Modified from Robert Keel.) Observe a GROUP of people using a particular psychoactive drug. NOTE: DO NOT indicate WHO it was that you were observing in ANY of your writings. To do so will violate privacy of your subjects.
Answer the following questions in a concise, thematic, double-spaced, type-written paper, to be turned in to me in class. Your paper should be no more than 2-3 pages. Anything over 3 pages will not be read
Go to the Kollett Academic Computing Center and check out the CD-ROM called "Exploring Perception." Work through Module 1, Interactions 1.1 (entire) through 1.4 (entire). At the end of each interaction subunit, take the quiz on that subunit by clicking on the questionmark in the upper right-hand corner of each page. Submit your answers to these quiz questions to me ON PAPER (in other words, in hard copy) by the date indicated on your syllabus. Be sure you copy the quiz questions also so that I can tell what your answers are in response to!
Visit the following websites and read about the kinds of addiction treatments that each describes:
"Acupuncture and Cocaine Addiction"
Then, read Hillhouse & Fiorentine's article called "12-step program participation and effectiveness: Do gender and ethnic differences exist?" What do you think about the idea that drug treatment therapies might not be equally successful with men and women, or with persons of different ethnic backgrounds? Post your opinion on this question and your critical evaluation of the different treatment types you've read about on the class electronic bulletin board (PSY227) by the date indicated on the syllabus. Be sure to say why you think as you do. Don't forget to sign your post so that I can give you credit for the homework!
(Modified from: McKim, W. (1991). Drugs and Behavior: An Introduction to Behavioral Pharmacology, 2nd Ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall)
Testing The Nicotine Titration Hypothesis
Some studies suggest that cigarette smokers attempt to titrate or adjust their nicotine intake to keep the level of nicotine from getting too high or too low; they puff more when nicotine levels are low and less when they are high. The titration theory assumes that the smoker starts smoking when nicotine blood level falls below a certain point in order to avoid withdrawal and stops smoking when blood levels get too high in order to avoid unpleasant toxic effects.
One of the predictions of the nicotine titration hypothesis is that smokers will compensate for low blood nicotine levels by attempting to increase nicotine intake during the early part of a cigarette. There are two ways in which a smoker can increase the amount of nicotine he or she gets from a single cigarette: they can increase the duration of each puff and hold the smoke in their lungs longer, or they can take more frequent puffs on a cigarette. You would predict, then, that early puffs on a cigarette when blood nicotine levels are low would be both more frequent and of longer duration.
For this homework, you will test the nicotine titration hypothesis and its predictions by making some observations of smokers. You'll need a watch with a second hand, a data sheet, and something to write with. It is difficult to measure puff duration in this way, so we'll just concentrate on inter-puff intervals.
First, you need to find some smokers! You can use roommates or friends, but of course, don't tell them the purpose of your study, and don't ask them to smoke just so you can watch them! If you do, they may not behave as they would naturally! Just take advantage of whenever you see a smoker "light up."
What you need to do is to measure the length of time from the lighting of a cigarette to the first puff, and between all successive puffs until the cigarette is stubbed out. If you are collecting data from single individual, you'll need to observe him or her smoking 20 different cigarettes. If you are collecting data on different individuals, be sure to observe a total of 20.
To analyze your data, find the average interpuff interval for each puff over time. Then, plot that average on a graph with the length of time between one puff and the next on the y axis and the puff number on the x axis. Not all cigarettes have the same number of puffs. This can create some difficulties when you get to higher puff numbers, because each data point is based on a decreasing number of observations. For this reason, plot the data ONLY for the number of puffs for which you have complete data--20 samples. For example, if the smallest number of puffs is 8, then plot the average of only the first 8 puffs on all cigarettes.
What do your data suggest? Do interpuff intervals get longer as puff number increases? Do your results support, or fail to support the nicotine titration hypothesis?
If you would like to do a second study, compare smoking in different settings. Are smoking patterns different when the subject is alone compared to with other smokers? Do other activities such as consumption of alcohol alter puffing patterns? Make a prediction about how alcohol consumption or social conditions might alter puff patterns before you make your observations. What did you find? Be sure that you have a comparison group of smokers who are alone or who are not drinking, so you can clearly see any differences there might be between the two groups.
Write up your studies in the form of a proper lab report, with an introduction, methods, results, and discussion section.
In class and in your readings, we have been discussing legal policies regarding psychoactive drugs. Now, it is your turn to voice an opinion--but make that opinion an informed one. SHOULD the possession and use of recreationally used psychoactive substances be decriminalized? Should possession and use be legal? What do you think, and why? Answer this question in a thoughtful, carefully worded manner, in 2-3 pages typewritten double-spaced pages. Your answer should include references to data that support your arguments, as well as recognition of alternative points of view. After you have written your first draft, consult the BS Detector (below) to see if your paper" passes" (i.e., is not just BS {"baseless science"}) BEFORE you turn it in.
(*"Baseless Science" Detector)
(Modified from Benoit and others)
1. Be skeptical. (If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.)
2. Consider the source. (Of course the tobacco industry will claim that tobacco is harmless, and the DEA will claim that the "War on Drugs" must be expanded.)
3. Is it an observation, an inference, or an opinion? (Observations, inferences, and opinions aren't necessarily very scientific.)
4. Is there any comparison made? (For example, if a research study, is there a control group? Might the results have been obtained no matter what the treatment? If an opinion or idea, does the author compare his/her idea or opinion to those of others? Does s/he seem to be aware of the ideas and opinions of others?)
5. If a comparison is made, does it appear to be a valid one, or is it merely a "straw dog" selected by the author for the ease with which it can be knocked over?
6. Is it a correlation, or a cause? (Just because a link or relationship is seen between two or more things doesn't mean that one thing causes the other.)
7. Is the author oversimplifying?
8. Can what the author asserts be tested in any way? (In other words, can one attempt to disprove the author's ideas?)
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Drug Web and Internet Site Evaluator
(Drug W.I.S.E.)
Web sites related to psychoactive drugs can vary widely in terms of quality, accuracy, and value. Anyone can set up a web site that looks authoritative. How can you evaluate the content of a web site on psychoactive drugs?
Here are some key questions that should be asked in order to come up with a profile of a web site that will form the bases for your first homework assignment. You need not answer all of these in your final homework, but you should use them to help you critically evaluate and take notes on sites.
1. What is the URL? (give the address beginning with http://)
2. Who is the author, contact person, or webmaster?
3. What is the affiliation, title, and/or sponsor of this site?
4. What is the latest date of revision? Is it kept up to date?
5. How did you locate this site?
6. What is the statement of purpose, and what audience is intended?
7. Is the site primarily informational? Instructional?
8. Does the site advocate or support a position?
9. How much information is available at this site?
10. Is the information referenced? What are the references?
11. What links are offered to other sites, if any, and what is their purpose?
12. What is most striking about this site, and what kind of overall description would be most appropriate for it?
These questions should provide a starting framework that is suitable for analyzing the structure and purpose of a web page that deals with psychoactive drugs.
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