¶ … Statistics
The claim has been made that chocolate operates upon the brain in much the same way as an antidepressant drug. Generate specific predictions based on this general hypothesis and provide operational definitions of the variables involved.
Chocolate releases a unique neurotransmitter called phenylethylamine or chocolate amphetamine, which fluctuate the blood and sugar levels, causing euphoria and attentiveness. Unlike amphetamines, however, it doesn't cause addiction to the consumer, but it does act as an anti-depressant by lightening the mood of a person. According to Coveleskie (2004), phenylethylamine in chocolate gives you the same feeling you get when you're in love and therefore, it's also called a love drug.
Chocolate also releases the lipid anandamide, similar to the chemical THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) which is found in the drug, marijuana. The THC as well as the lipid anandamide produce the neurotransmitter 'dopamine' which makes people happy and high. The chemical anandamide is already present in the human brain, when a person eats chocolate, the amount of anandamide increases and the rate at which it's broken down decreases. Thus, slowing down and extending the period of high. Two more chemicals in chocolate have the same function. However, the THC and anandamide are not completely similar as we can see that THC has a stronger effect since it activates more receptors in the brain and reacts with more widely spread reactors....
The difference is so much that in order to achieve as much stimulation as that brought about by marijuana, a person will have to eat twenty pounds of chocolates.
A chemical that is like caffeine, Theobromine, is also present in chocolate. Apart from giving feelings of mental and physical repose, it
aids in the reduction of headaches and increases alertness of the consumer. There is no such proof that caffeine exists in chocolate; some scientists hold the belief that chocolate contains theobromine which has a similar structure to that of caffeine and is the sole reason why we feel effects similar to caffeine when we consume chocolate (Coveleskie, 2004).
However, it can be concluded that chocolate does act as an anti-depressant by increasing feelings of excitement and elation while decreasing stress and
pain.
Part 2
A therapist hypnotizes a client and asks many questions about her childhood. During hypnosis, the client remembers being sexually abused by her father. At the urging of her therapist, the client sues her father in a court of
law. Briefly discuss the issues involved in this case from a research perspective. Is the client's memory under hypnosis evidence that
childhood abuse occurred?
Video recordings of a witness while in a hypnotic state are not played during court sessions. There are several reasons to justify this: firstly, the witness'
claims might be influenced by someone and secondly, courts strictly disallow hear-say evidence and until or unless there is substantial evidence and guaranteed trustworthiness of the witness' statements, such recordings…
