Vintage Hospitals

1. Compare today to the 1950s (both in the UK and in the your country) with the following criteria:

Music

TV shows

Clothes

Cars

Restaurants

Telephones

2. What types of buildings do hospitals use in your country/the UK? Have you used one recently?

Read article here: Vintage Hospitals Reading

3. What is your reaction? The hospital settings are nice, but is hospital the best place for dementia sufferers?

4. Do you agree with the following?

a) The 1950 decor is only appropriate for today's seniors - future patients will need makeovers that are related to the 60s/70s etc.

b) Children's hospitals are child-friendly (i.e. age-group friendly). There is nothing new here with these makeovers.

c) Patient/condition-friendly hospitals/wards should be the standard whatever the illness.

d) Dementia is an umbrella term that covers many conditions that affect the brain. The effectiveness of these latest measures suggest that the brain is capable of 'self-repair', whatever the condition.

e) Triggering patients' memories could be beneficial in treating other diseases.

5. What is the ambience of a typical hospital in your country like? Are there any that are designed in a way that puts patients at ease?

6. What features would/should a reassuringly familiar hospital/ward have in your country?

7.  Do your health authorities have any different ways of dealing with dementia?

8. (God forbid) You wake up in hospital. What one hospital feature would give you a boost; what one hospital feature would likely cause you to relapse?

9. How quickly do you adjust to your surroundings? When you are in a different city/country do you do anything that reminds you of home/more familiar circumstances?

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Situation

You are the CEO of a company that makes nostalgic decor suitable for hospital settings. It's still a relatively new phenomenon in Rubovia. Explain to the head of the Rubovian health service why he should incorporate dementia-friendly makeovers.

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Discuss quotes

“One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory.” 

― Rita Mae Brown

“A clear conscience is the sure sign of a bad memory.” 

― Mark Twain

“Remembrance of things past is not necessarily the remembrance of things as they were.” 

― Marcel Proust

“I'd trade all my tomorrows for one single yesterday.” 

― Kris Kristofferson

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” 

― Søren Kierkegaard

Student Handout PDF: Vintage Hospitals 

Supermarket Psychology

1. Have prices gone up or down recently? What effect has the coronavirus crisis had on the retail industry?

2. Do you ever go to a supermarket for a small purchase and leave having bought more than you intended? 

3. When you shop, do you go and get what you want, and then leave, or do you prefer to browse?

4. Do you ever return home from shopping and wonder, 'Why did I buy that?'

Read infographic here: Supermarket Psychology Reading

5. What is your reaction? Were you aware of such pricing techniques? Have you ever been influenced by any of the techniques mentioned?

6. Are there any other methods of increasing purchases that aren't mentioned in the infographic?

7. How can shoppers avoid being manipulated? Tell me about shopping lists, fewer but more efficient visits, shopping when hungry.

8. Have you seen any examples of 'social proof' affecting people's buying habits?

9. 'A false sense of urgency' has affected the availability of toilet paper in the UK - what products have you seen affected?

10. Can you think of an instance where your favourite restaurant/cafe has used an expensive menu item as a means of making its other menu items seem more reasonable?

11. What soundtrack does your local supermarket/restaurant favour?

12. Have you made any purchases that you justify with a 'small daily equivalence' rationale?

13. Do any of your company's products promise 'esteem' or exclusivity?

14. Do you think that the disappearance of cash and the switch to digital payments will lead people to spending more money than they need to?

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Situation

In an effort to diversify his income, your teacher has opened a superette in his/her hometown. Advise them on store layout, pricing, and any other strategies you can think of.

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Discuss quotes

“In the fashion industry, everything goes retro except the prices.”

― Criss Jami

“That which costs little is less valued.”

― MIguel de Cervantes

"What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing."

- Oscar Wilde

"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey."

- John Ruskin

"You don't want to negotiate the price of simple things you buy every day."

- Jeff Bezos

"It is no small thing for an American to be able to go into a fast-food restaurant and to buy a double cheeseburger, fries, and a large Coke for a price equal to less than an hour of labour at the minimum wage - indeed, in the long sweep of history, this represents a remarkable achievement."

- Michael Pollan

Student Handout PDF: Supermarket Psychology

Sports Psychology

 1. What is the most important sense we have? Why?

a) taste

b) smell

c) vision

d) touch

e) hearing

2. How would you rate your eyesight? Do you wear glasses? When was the last time you had your eyes tested?

3. What we can see with sharpness and clarity is the equivalent to:

a) The surface area of a book

b) The surface area of a car

c) The surface area of our thumb

d) The surface area of an ant

Watch video here: Sports Psychology Video

4. What was your reaction? Did you learn something new, or is it an area which you are already familiar with?

5. Do you think that 'keeping your eyes on the prize' can be applied to other areas than exercise? Will work tasks become more attainable if I focus on the 'finish line'? If you've answered yes, can you give an example?

6. According to the speaker, waist-to-hip ratio measurements predict perceptions of distance in relation to exercise; do you think her argument is statistically strong enough? Or are these figures just correlations? Can we use waist-to-hip ratio measurements to judge motivation in other areas?  

7. Is the 'mind's eye' exactly the same as eyesight?

8. What other things influence not exercising?

9. In which areas do you keep your eyes on the prize?

10. Has there ever been a time when apples looked larger or smaller to you? Does hunger correlate with portions of food? Does dieting/breaking a diet reduce the perceived size of foods?

11. According to the speaker, our perception of other people's reactions is filtered by our own mood. Do you know of any strategies that can help us to mitigate mood-based snap judgements? Should we pay more attention to our moods?

12. Here are two images that exploit 'trompe l'oeil':

 Trompe l'oeil 1

Trompe l'oeil 2

Do you know of any examples of trompe l'oeil from your country?

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Situation

You are a renowned psychologist doing an interview on a local radio station. You are a firm believer in the concepts of keeping your eyes on the prize.

Expound your theories to the host (your teacher), answer any questions/criticisms he has.

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Discuss quotes

"Keep Your eyes on the stars, but your feet on the ground."

--- Unknown

“My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She's ninety-seven now, and we don't know where the heck she is.”

― Ellen DeGeneres

“Getting fit is all about mind over matter. I don't mind, so it doesn't matter.”

― Adam Hargreaves, Mr. Lazy's Guide to Fitness

“Humans see what they want to see.”

― Rick Riordan

Student Handout PDF: Sports Pyschology Outline

Photo: Marcus-Aurelius

My Country's Better Than Yours

1. What is the role of a country or state? What should it do/not do?

2. If you were going to tell the story of world history, how would you begin?

3. Below is a list of historical events. Rate how important you think each event is (on a scale of 1 to 7, with 1=not at all important, 4=fairly important, and 7=extremely important).

a) Islam-Christian Wars/Crusades (11th -14th c) 1   2   3   4   5   6  7

b) Abolition of Slavery (19th c) 1   2   3   4   5   6  7

c) Iraq War (2005) 1   2   3   4   5   6  7

d) French Revolution 1   2   3   4   5   6  7

e) Industrial Revolution 1   2   3   4   5   6  7

f) World War I 1   2   3   4   5   6  7

g) World War II 1   2   3   4   5   6   7

h) Russian Revolution (1917) 1   2   3   4   5   6   7

i) Man on the Moon / Space Travel 1   2   3   4   5   6   7

4. Are there any events missing from the list, according to you? What are they?

5. What do you think happened in history that was most important to bring us to the current state of the world?

6. What sort of future do you foresee for the world?

7. What contribution do you think your country has made to world history? 

(give an estimate from 0-100%, with 0%=no contribution, and 100%=all contributions come from my country)

8. Have you read the article here?

Your country's importance

9. Were you surprised by its findings?

10. Are there any consequences to assuming that your country is more important than it is? Or is it mostly harmless?

 

11. Is all of this the fault of history teachers? Should we be learning more about other countries' histories?

12. The study mentioned in the article made use of a fictional country as a means of proving that nationalism wasn't the driving force behind these results. Are you satisfied that nationalism isn't influencing people's views of their own importance?

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Situation

You've been invited to lecture history at the University of Vanuatu: Vanuatu

You've just arrived on the island and are now meeting the dean (your teacher) in an informal meeting. The university has given you carte blanche to teach as you please. Outline your teaching plans to the dean and give reasons for your choices.

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Discuss quotes

"The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border?"

--- Pablo Casals

"Every man has two countries: his own and France."

--- Thomas Jefferson

"The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land."

--- Gilbert K. Chesterton

"It might be a good idea if the various countries of the world would occasionally swap history books, just to see what other people are doing with the same set of facts."

--- Bill Vaughan

Student Handout PDF: My Country's Better

Photo: Brett Sayles