Saturday, April 17, 2021
Friday, April 16, 2021
I collect knowledge about Body Language (what we are NOT saying) - especially our eyes So much to learn about self & other BHP's
Dilated pupils can reveal how hard we’re thinking,
how excited or disgusted we are and more…
Our pupils, the black holes which let light into the eyes, don’t just help us see, dilated pupils can also signal what’s going on in our minds.
Here are pieces of psychological research which show how dilated pupils reveal many aspects of thought.
1. I’m thinking hard
Look into my eyes and ask me to name the cigar-smoking founder of psychoanalysis and you won’t see much change in my pupil size. The name Sigmund Freud comes easily to my lips.
But ask me to explain the laws of cricket and watch my dilated pupils.
That’s because research has shown that the harder your brain works, the more your pupils dilate. When Hess and Polt (1964) gave participants more and more difficult tasks to complete, their pupils got bigger and bigger.
2. My brain is overloaded
Keep watching my eyes closely and you’ll spot the point when explaining the laws of cricket gets too much.
Poock (1973) reported that when participants’ minds were loaded to 125% of their capacity, their pupils constricted.
It’ll be trying to explain a googly that will do it. (Don’t ask).
3. I’m brain damaged
The reason doctors and paramedics flash a light in patients’ eyes is to check their brains are working normally (and because it’s such an easy test to do). They use the acronym PERRL: the Pupils should be Equal, Round and Reactive to Light.
If my brain is broken, say, because I’ve had a bump on the noggin, you won’t see PERRL. There may well be other extremely subtle clues, like the blood pouring from my head.
4. You’re holding my interest
Dilated pupils can also signal whether I’m interested in what you’re saying.
White and Maltzman (1977) had participants listening to excerpts from three books: one was erotic, another involved mutilation while a third was neutral.
Their pupils widened at first for all three. But they only remained wide for the passages that were erotic or involved mutilation.
I’m likely to be interested in anything new, so my pupils will dilate a bit at first, but they’ll only stay dilated if I continue to be interested.
5. You’re turning me on
If things take a sexual turn then our eyes are also involved. Both men and women’s get dilated pupils when they are sexually aroused (e.g. Bernick et al., 1971).
However, not everyone agrees dilated pupils are a signal of sexual arousal. It tends to get tested by showing nude pictures to people and some argue that we’re just really interested in the nude form.
6. You disgust me
Just as I have dilated pupils when I’m interested or turned on, so they constrict when I’m disgusted.
Hess (1972) showed people pictures of injured children. First people’s pupils dilated because of the shock and then they constricted to try and avoid the troubling images.
7. Whether I’m liberal or conservative
Should you happen to be carrying around pictures of politicians you might be able to work out whether I’m a liberal or a conservative just from my pupil size.
Barlow (1969) showed people pictures of Lyndon Johnson, George Wallace and Martin Luther King, Jr.. The liberals’ pupils dilated when they saw fellow liberals Johnson and King but constricted when they saw conservative Wallace. Conservatives showed the opposite pattern.
8. I’m in pain
If you’ve had enough of this article now and want to cause me some pain in return, then why not stab me with a pencil? If you’re watching closely you’ll see my pupils dilate.
Chapman et al. (1999) fired small electric shocks into people’s fingertips and measured how much their pupils dilated. At maximum intensity the pupils dilated by about 0.2mm.
But that was only to a relatively tame current. Imagine what you could do to my pupils if you plugged me into the mains.
Dilated pupils
As you’ll have noticed, the same pupil response can mean different things, although generally dilated pupils send a positive message and when they constrict it’s a negative one. But exactly what it means depends on the situation (and whether someone has turned on a light).
This is all good fun to know, but can we really detect these tiny changes in people’s pupil size?
According to an fMRI imaging study, change in pupil size may be difficult for us to notice consciously, but we do seem to pick up on these very small changes unconsciously (Demos et al., 2008).
So changes in pupil size may be experienced, along with other verbal and nonverbal signals, as a gut instinct to either approach someone or run like hell.
Whether or not the eyes are windows to the soul, the pupils are certainly windows to the mind.
Our pupils, the black holes which let light into the eyes, don’t just help us see, dilated pupils can also signal what’s going on in our minds.
Here are pieces of psychological research which show how dilated pupils reveal many aspects of thought.
1. I’m thinking hard
Look into my eyes and ask me to name the cigar-smoking founder of psychoanalysis and you won’t see much change in my pupil size. The name Sigmund Freud comes easily to my lips.
But ask me to explain the laws of cricket and watch my dilated pupils.
That’s because research has shown that the harder your brain works, the more your pupils dilate. When Hess and Polt (1964) gave participants more and more difficult tasks to complete, their pupils got bigger and bigger.
2. My brain is overloaded
Keep watching my eyes closely and you’ll spot the point when explaining the laws of cricket gets too much.
Poock (1973) reported that when participants’ minds were loaded to 125% of their capacity, their pupils constricted.
It’ll be trying to explain a googly that will do it. (Don’t ask).
3. I’m brain damaged
The reason doctors and paramedics flash a light in patients’ eyes is to check their brains are working normally (and because it’s such an easy test to do). They use the acronym PERRL: the Pupils should be Equal, Round and Reactive to Light.
If my brain is broken, say, because I’ve had a bump on the noggin, you won’t see PERRL. There may well be other extremely subtle clues, like the blood pouring from my head.
4. You’re holding my interest
Dilated pupils can also signal whether I’m interested in what you’re saying.
White and Maltzman (1977) had participants listening to excerpts from three books: one was erotic, another involved mutilation while a third was neutral.
Their pupils widened at first for all three. But they only remained wide for the passages that were erotic or involved mutilation.
I’m likely to be interested in anything new, so my pupils will dilate a bit at first, but they’ll only stay dilated if I continue to be interested.
5. You’re turning me on
If things take a sexual turn then our eyes are also involved. Both men and women’s get dilated pupils when they are sexually aroused (e.g. Bernick et al., 1971).
However, not everyone agrees dilated pupils are a signal of sexual arousal. It tends to get tested by showing nude pictures to people and some argue that we’re just really interested in the nude form.
6. You disgust me
Just as I have dilated pupils when I’m interested or turned on, so they constrict when I’m disgusted.
Hess (1972) showed people pictures of injured children. First people’s pupils dilated because of the shock and then they constricted to try and avoid the troubling images.
7. Whether I’m liberal or conservative
Should you happen to be carrying around pictures of politicians you might be able to work out whether I’m a liberal or a conservative just from my pupil size.
Barlow (1969) showed people pictures of Lyndon Johnson, George Wallace and Martin Luther King, Jr.. The liberals’ pupils dilated when they saw fellow liberals Johnson and King but constricted when they saw conservative Wallace. Conservatives showed the opposite pattern.
8. I’m in pain
If you’ve had enough of this article now and want to cause me some pain in return, then why not stab me with a pencil? If you’re watching closely you’ll see my pupils dilate.
Chapman et al. (1999) fired small electric shocks into people’s fingertips and measured how much their pupils dilated. At maximum intensity the pupils dilated by about 0.2mm.
But that was only to a relatively tame current. Imagine what you could do to my pupils if you plugged me into the mains.
Dilated pupils
As you’ll have noticed, the same pupil response can mean different things, although generally dilated pupils send a positive message and when they constrict it’s a negative one. But exactly what it means depends on the situation (and whether someone has turned on a light).
This is all good fun to know, but can we really detect these tiny changes in people’s pupil size?
According to an fMRI imaging study, change in pupil size may be difficult for us to notice consciously, but we do seem to pick up on these very small changes unconsciously (Demos et al., 2008).
So changes in pupil size may be experienced, along with other verbal and nonverbal signals, as a gut instinct to either approach someone or run like hell.
Whether or not the eyes are windows to the soul, the pupils are certainly windows to the mind.
Thursday, April 15, 2021
Being there amidst raging emotions and dangerous weapons.
TODAY 1997
Someone came in to our community building swinging a meat clever ............
A MEAT CLEAVER
I have faced a many incidents
where a weapon has been used.
Once a man faced me up in an angry mood.
I knew him - he lived in our hostel.
He was a resident member - a troubled soul.
He wanted to do battle with me
He was swinging a heavy hammer.
Instinctively I used his name and
half turned my body and said
waving my hand as I turned my back
"come on over here -
let's sit down and talk about it."
I walked over a few yards and sat down and waited for him.
He hesitated - he was angry.
Then he came over to me & eventually sat down with me.
We put our heads together in more of a quiet dialogue.
Sitting down reduces any confrontation.
As I sat I was not standing legs apart
in a threatening pose - facing him off.
I spoke quietly
and the 'mirror affect' fell into place.
He followed my body language
sitting - leaning forward head down
elbows on knees
elbows on knees
no threading eye contact.
We spent some time together as he cooled &
his feelings calmed.
Another occasion I was in our community lounge area
chatting to members when
chatting to members when
a wildly angry unknown much older young man
came running in to the community which I was leader -
and he was swinging a Meat Cleaver?
He proceeded to chase a younger member
around the pool table swinging the cleaver
shouting and screaming ...
I stood between them - or more like
darted between them as they circled the pool table
as the kept the meat cleaver swinging.
It was tense.
but soon the member was able to remove himself
and the raging man was left without a target.
Fortunately one of our resident older young men,
who had been in the army,
managed to convince the assailant to hand over the weapon.
It passed through a few hand before I shoved it up my jumper and parked the offending weapon
on my desk in my office - behind locked doors.
The police came and removed the weapon eventually.
The assailant had left the building and was never seen again.
Troubled souls can be full of
anger/unmanaged feelings. We can all learn to manage our feelings rather than being::
Unthinking but full of rage/feelings.
We can learn to see through behaviour -
even the worst of behaviour -
we can, sometimes, get through to the
hurting person - but it needs to be in a
starting place = a relationship.
Youth Work, at it's best,
is always about relationships first.
Making contact.
Building a helping relationship -
two humans
equally valuable humans.
BHP
Wednesday, April 14, 2021
I weep - the poverty so many rough sleepers live in ...
Every month since his election as mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham has been transferring £1,375 -15% of his salary - towards his manifesto pledge of eradicating rough sleeping in the region.
The latest government statistics suggest Burnham is making progress, with Greater Manchester recording an 10% fall in street sleepers from 2017 to 2018, the first significant reduction since 2010.
The annual homeless count found 241 people on the street one night in November, down from 268 a year earlier.
Numbers of those sleeping rough have stabilised or fallen in eight out of 10 Greater Manchester boroughs.
There has been particular success in Wigan, where the number has almost halved to 17.
One of those was Pete Smith (not his real name), who moved into his own home last summer after six months living in a tent with his dog.
A keen angler, Smith, 34, often pitched up by fishing ponds at nightfall, stashing his tent in a bush.
Amphetamines, crack cocaine, cannabis and alcohol passed the time.
If there was food, his dog ate first.
Smith was eight stone by the time he accepted accommodation from the Brick, a charity for the homeless in Wigan.
He is one of 246 rough sleepers helped into homes over the last 12 months under a payment by results pilot in Greater Manchester.
It is funded via a "social impact bond", whereby investors receive a return dependent on results achieved.
So far just two participants in the SIB are back on the street, according to Sarah Cooke, who runs the project.
Many others have had wobbles.
Smith included, but the SIB is designed to give people "not just a second chance”, but "third, fourth, fifth chances" when they struggle in their new homes.
They do not have to overcome substance use before they are given a roof over their head.
First they get the keys, then they are given intensive support to sustain a tenancy and tackle their problems, plus help to access education and training.
Smith, who grew up in care, had been homeless on and off since 2007.
By the time he engaged with the SIB last summer he had been in prison three times.
Jail was sometimes a ' welcome respite from life on the streets, he said.
"Three square meals a day, free gym access ... it was more a detox for me than anything else.”
Accepting help from the Brick was daunting.
I struggled at first because I was used to being on my own, just me and the dog.
It was frightening, having responsibilities.”
But he wanted to sort himself out, primarily because of his 14 year old daughter.
"She's of an age now where anything I do directly affects her…
It weren't great for her, with her friends.
That's why I had to make some drastic changes in my life.
It can't be nice going to school and people asking: is that your dad there, sleeping in that field?"
First he moved into supported accommodation with five other men in similar circumstances.
It took some adjustment.
"When I first moved in, I slept on the floor for about the first week.
Stupid as it sounds, the bed was too soft," Smith said.
Part of his SIB deal was to go to the Brick's Wigan hub five days a week, where he learned skills including joinery and did courses in first aid and health and safety.
In November he was deemed ready to have his own place: a social home in Leigh. He was given basic furniture and a "personalisation budget" to make it his own, plus vouchers for the supermarket.
Recently Smith stopped engaging with his care workers, who have been working to get him back on track.
But he started to stay off the streets, motivated by a speech his daughter gave at a recent family funeral.
"She said: ''I hope you're all as proud of dad as I am … … … ………………"
***
Tuesday, April 13, 2021
I am trying to write a monthly update rather than fail to keep so many of you in the dark. Pip UPDATE.
BHP's like you keep asking how I am.
Thank you but I am sorry I can't answer everyone individually = so I will try to bash out something once a month::
Last night I was awake every hour. Mainly bladder signals but also, in addition I have daily medication/pain killers at 5am + every five hours throughout the day
The cancer is in the spine but I don't know about any up to date info because I only speak to my oncologist once every three months - next one 17th May.
My three monthly hormone injections continue - these are to reduce my testosterone which cancer feeds off .
Before that telephone consultancy I will have a blood test which will reveal any positive or negative activity.
Side effects include constipation, difficulty to keep up with friends, concentration, fatigue which just hits me at anytime during the day, in a strange way often when I am just out of bed.
I don't have the pelvic region pain as I did have some time ago. It was tough finding the best pain killers - now I can sit down and not restlessly walk around indoors.
We do walk out locally every day and look forward to better weather to allow us to stay out longer/walk further.
Apologies to many who I have not had the energy to communicate with. Dear friends.
Someone said to me recently "You look well" and I hope I do - but I know there is a lot going on inside.
I think that is all I can share right now.
✅💲T🅰Y🅱eautiful✅
Pip BHP
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