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Browsing by Author "Digdon, Nancy"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Behavioural interventions for sleep: who prefers what?
    (2017) Hemmings, Nicholas; Digdon, Nancy
    Many university students have trouble sleeping because their minds are too active with worries and other sleep disruptive thoughts they are unable to control. Previous research has compared two self-help intervention: Structured Problem-solving, which involves scheduling time earlier in the day to write out worries and steps toward solutions; and Beaudoin’s Somnotest APP, which uses mental imagery to prevent sleep disruptive thoughts. Both interventions were equally effective alone or in combination. Nevertheless, there were individual differences in how students responded to the interventions. Our study extends previous research by examining these individual differences. We examined students’ preferences for interventions in relation to their circadian preference (morning types and evening types) and their preferred way of coping with stress (i.e, emotion focused vs. problem focused). We predict that students who prefer problem-focused coping will also prefer Structured Problem-solving, whereas those who prefer emotion-focused coping will favour the APP. Since evening types take longer to fall asleep, we predict that they may find the APP less effective because it could be arousing. Participants consisted of 131 MacEwan University students who were poor sleepers. They completed standardized measures of sleep and arousal (Sleep Quality Scale, Glasgow Sleep Effort Scale and Pre-Sleep Arousal Scale), ways of coping with stress (COPE) and circadian preference ( Composite Scale of Morningness). Data analysis will be completed by April. Results and implications will be discussed.
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    Correcting the record on Watson, Rayner, and Little Albert: Albert Barger as 'psychology’s lost boy'
    (2014) Powell, Russell A.; Digdon, Nancy; Smithson, Christopher; Harris, Ben
    In 1920, John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner attempted to condition a phobia in a young infant named 'Albert B.' In 2009, Beck, Levinson, and Irons proposed that Little Albert, as he is now known, was actually an infant named Douglas Merritte. More recently, Fridlund, Beck, Goldie, and Irons (2012) claimed that Little Albert (Douglas) was neurologically impaired at the time of the experiment. They also alleged that Watson, in a severe breach of ethics, probably knew of Little Albert’s condition when selecting him for the study and then fraudulently hid this fact in his published accounts of the case. In this article, we present the discovery of another individual, Albert Barger, who appears to match the characteristics of Little Albert better than Douglas Merritte does. We examine the evidence for Albert Barger as having been Little Albert and, where relevant, contrast it with the evidence for Douglas Merritte. As for the allegations of fraudulent activity by Watson, we offer comments at the end of this article. We also present evidence concerning whether Little Albert (Albert Barger) grew up with the fear of furry animals, as Watson and Rayner speculated he might.
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    The implications of the biomedical model on indigenous health
    (2019) Unser-Doering, Abrinna; Digdon, Nancy
    The biomedical model focuses solely on biological causes with regards to illness and disease. Adopting this model when investigating the alarmingly high levels of diabetes among Indigenous peoples in Canada points to a genetic predisposition or a biological cause. However, this perspective acts as blinders to the real culprit of the diabetes epidemic: colonization, assimilation, prejudice, racism, and cultural genocide. Interdisciplinary Dialogue Project.
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    The Little Albert controversy: intuition, confirmation bias and logic
    (2020) Digdon, Nancy
    This article uses the recent controversy about Little Albert’s identity as an example of a fine case study of problems that can befall psychologist-historians and historians who are unaware of their tacit assumptions. Because bias and logical errors are engrained in human habits of mind, we can all succumb to them under certain conditions unless we are vigilant in guarding against them. The search for Little Albert suggests 2 persistent issues: (a) confirmation bias and (b) that overconfidence in a belief detracts from reasoning because logical errors are intuitive and seem reasonable. This article uses cognitive psychology as a framework for understanding why these issues might have arisen in the Albert research and passed the scrutiny of peer review. In closing, the article turns to historians’ writings to gain insight into rules of thumb and heuristics that psychologist-historians and historians can use to mitigate these concerns.
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    Little Albert’s alleged neurological impairment: Watson, Rayner, and historical revision
    (2014) Digdon, Nancy; Powell, Russell A.; Harris, Ben
    In 2012, Fridlund, Beck, Goldie, and Irons (2012) announced that "Little Albert"-the infant that Watson and Rayner used in their 1920 study of conditioned fear (Watson & Rayner, 1920)-was not the healthy child the researchers described him to be, but was neurologically impaired almost from birth. Fridlund et al. also alleged that Watson had committed serious ethical breaches in regard to this research. Our article reexamines the evidentiary bases for these claims and arrives at an alternative interpretation of Albert as a normal infant. In order to set the stage for our interpretation, we first briefly describe the historical context for the Albert study, as well as how the study has been construed and revised since 1920. We then discuss the evidentiary issues in some detail, focusing on Fridlund et al.'s analysis of the film footage of Albert, and on the context within which Watson and Rayner conducted their study. In closing, we return to historical matters to speculate about why historiographical disputes matter and what the story of neurologically impaired Albert might be telling us about the discipline of psychology today.
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    Watson’s alleged Little Albert scandal: historical breakthrough or new Watson myth?
    (2014) Digdon, Nancy; Powell, Russell A.; Smithson, Christopher
    John B. Watson’s legacy is complicated by his reputation for scandal. Recently, Fridlund, Beck, and colleagues accused Watson of a new scandal concerning the 1920 Little Albert study. Hey argued that Little Albert was a neurologically impaired infant (named Douglas Merritte), and that Watson committed serious ethical breaches in relation to this study. Our paper shows that this alleged scandal is likely unfounded. We introduce a normal infant (Albert Barger) who matches the Little Albert proKle better than Douglas Merritte does. In our conclusion, we speculate about how the story of a neurologically impaired Albert illustrates some of the challenges involved in historical revision.