Hello everyone. Welcome to Thursday, almost always end of the week. Very exciting. Um, you'll notice Catherine looking a little different today. Um, hopefully she makes it in very shortly, but in the meantime, uh, we've got Fred, the phronology head, to give us company for the minute. Um, we'll get into him in a little bit later in this lesson. The first thing that you have to do today though is it's mini quiz time. So, first mini quiz today. Um, so logging into your Google classroom and it should come up in your stream as you open your classroom here. So, mini quiz one, it just looks like a Google form. There's just 10 multiple choice questions. Feel free to use your notes that you've taken so far. Um, and we'll give you about sort of 10 minutes to do that. Should not take you much longer than that hopefully. Um, so we'll let you get on with that. If you have any questions, please drop them in the chat. I'll be here. But I will see you back in about 10 minutes. Good luck. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Hello. Welcome back. Hey, thank you to Freddy for stepping in for me, by the way. I appreciate it. Catherine made it. Yes. How did you all go? Yeah. Hopefully it wasn't too bad. First quiz. First quiz. Always a bit nerve-wracking doing the first one, but give us some um some reactions either in the chat or on on your reaction button down the bottom. Thumbs up if you felt it was all right. Sweet. Nice. Good. That's good. Yeah. Not supposed to be too hard. Just supposed to sort of check in. How you going? Yeah, that's right. Awesome. Great. I know we can see like most of you have done it. So, if you if you're still going, that's okay. Um, maybe just pop it to the side for the minute while we do a bit of fun content stuff. Um, but make sure you finish it. If you are absent watching from home, please make sure to do that mini quiz as soon as possible. Um, I think I've set the due date for it to be Monday. I think that sounds right. I think it's Monday. So, please try and get that done before Monday. Um, if you have not finished it. Cool. So, yes. So, what are we doing today? We're doing some fun stuff. Um, bit of fun stuff. not, you know, super closely related, I suppose, to what we've been doing so far. But we kind of thought, well, the mini quiz is going to be, you know, take a little bit of your time and we want to do something a bit fun afterwards, almost as a bit of re reward for you. Yes. Um, but it's still a bit of an important conversation. So, today we're going to talk about pseudociences. Yeah. Or I suppose how can we tell that neuroscience is really science? Yeah. Um, or where does I suppose some of psychology come from? what are some of the old-fashioned kind of things that have come about pre what we would consider psychological sciences um and sort of you know what would we consider these things to be in terms of like how why are they not a science I guess yeah so like obviously you've all enrolled in neuroscience so you feel I feel like most of you are fairly keen on learning about robust scientific things to do with the brain and how it interacts with behavior and influences behavior and things. Um, but we haven't always known what we know now. And, you know, our knowledge keeps growing, you know, every week, but it's not too long ago that we really didn't have any concept of the power of the brain or the structure of the nervous system. And so, people would look for all sorts of things to try and explain why people behave in the way they behave. Yes. And that's kind of where Freddy comes into it. So, we're going to go through um some activities with you today. And it's again just a bit of fun. Like none of these techniques are scientifically accurate at all. There's no evidence for these things. But we're going to kind of try and use them and see if we can um see if they are accurate. If we can see if they're consistent with each other. Um if we can see if there's any sort of evidence that might be being used to make the claims that some of these pseudociences are making. Yeah, and I think it's a really interesting thing to do because, you know, you see a lot of misinformation out there and sometimes it's tempting to believe because it makes sense for your experience. Um, but we always have to keep in mind that, you know, sample size of one doesn't tell us too much. Um, so we're thinking we'll show you some of these um, methods, fads, phases, ways of thinking. I don't know what you describe them. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. bit of fun. Um, yeah. So, we've got a bunch of methods to show you and then you have a document on your Google Classroom where you're going to record what each method says about maybe your personality or your future, maybe if it's got career advice or any other information that comes up as a result of that um method and then we're going to kind of compare in your little document and see if any of them are actually consistent with each other. Yeah. And if they ring true to you about you because you know yourselves. Yeah. So, can you use a like a pseudoscientific method to kind of confirm what you know? Yeah. All right. So, um on these slides too, there is a video that we have linked. We're not going to watch it today just cuz it's it's about 8 to 10 minutes long. So, it's it's a little bit long. We want to get to the fun stuff. Um but please do watch it if you get a chance. It's a really interesting video from Sihow um about sort of where that idea of pseudocience comes from and who sort of coined the term and how do we decide if something is scientific or not. Um so it's a really valuable video to watch in your own time if you get a chance. Yeah, absolutely. All right, what are we going to start with? Phronology. So this is where Fred comes in. Phronology is very interesting. I think it's fascinating um just because it's so wild. like it just you know you think why did people actually think that this was real and and it was so popular at the time for a long time for a very very long time. Um so study of the brain but more sort of the skull than the brain but people believed that because of the shape of your brain that would cause either sort of bumps or divots in your skull based on which parts of your brain were like bigger or smaller and those areas of your skull where a bump or a divot might be related to personality traits or character traits. Um because like if that part of your brain was big, well then you're more of that thing. Or if it's small and it's a divot, well maybe you're less of that thing. So people paid phronologists a lot of money to come and like read their skulls and give them like really you know detailed papers about their personality and their strengths and their weaknesses and um you know how many kids they would have and what career they should pick and you know are they likely to commit crimes and all sorts of stuff. Yeah, they're a bit obsessed with the whole crime. they were really obsessed with crime. Um it it's just yeah, it's a little bit wild. So um here's a chart that you can use. This is one of the original charts um that was used with all the sort of numbering um down the bottom of the different areas. And you can kind of see on that chart sort of where each area is on at least half of the head. You'd have both of these sort of parts on either side of your skull. There's also a link though here um with a slightly different um map uh if you want to open that if it's a little easier to use. And if you click on the actual actually might as well just show you where Here we go. Uh if you click on the little head, it brings up each of the parts with a bit more of a maybe a detailed or easier to understand explanation of that area of the head. um than the one that's on your slides here down the bottom. We've also just sort of listed a couple of the um uh locations that you might want to look at if you can sort of find them on your own head. And what you're going to do is you're going to sort of feel your head in that area. So try and see if we can hit Could we zoom into this um graphic a little bit? Just the the head bit. Yeah, perfect. Nice. So um have a look for different areas. So if we are looking for example for the acquisitiveness that is a word it sounds made up. Um so sort of just above your ear and maybe a little bit more towards the front of your head. If you have a feel there and can you feel either a bump or a divot? So a so a depression like a little bit of a sunken feeling or if there's a more of a bump there. If there's more of a bump so that means you have that trait or that area is sort of bigger or more prominent. Uh which means that you are more likely to be selfish and crave material possessions. Uh if you have more of a divot uh you might be a bit more wasteful, not interested in material things, a bit more sort of lavish and not caring too much about sort of objects. And it's interesting things that they have like I know that that they think is are important. Yeah. Uh where's the friendship one? Where do we see that? It's in a weird spot. I think it's sort of Where is it? Oh, it's here we go. So towards the back of the head. All right. So a bit further past the back of your head. So looking for a bump. If you have a bump, you love friends. Um you're very social. You like company. If you've got a bit more of a divot, you probably don't like company as much. Bit more of a loner. Would rather be without people. Don't think I've got Don't know. I can't feel any. I feel like I maybe have a bit of a bump there, which is interesting cuz I'm not I don't know. I like people, but I feel like I'm a bit more of an introvert to be honest. Do you? Yeah. I don't know. I get my social battery gets drained pretty quick. Yeah, I guess if you use that definition of maybe you're an ambiiver. Yeah. So, I might just pop out of that. We'll get to palry in a minute. Um, but when you we have a look in our lesson. So, this is the sheet that you'll complete. So, here we go. In our phronology spot, we might just write down a couple of things about did you feel any particular bumps in certain areas or divots in certain areas? What does your sort of phronology reading say about you? Okay. Back. Anyone have any interesting readings? What What did we find out about your own head? Especially you recently shaved your head. It' be much easier. Oh, yeah. You've shaved your head. Absolutely. Drop it in the chat. Feel any particular bumps. You can see why they got they convinced people they needed an expert to come along and read your head for you because it's really hard to do. Feel nothing. To feel nothing. Eloise has a very smooth head. No bumps, no divots. I don't know what that says about you, Eloise. I'm sorry. I think Oh, Tyler's got a bump in the friendship one. So, probably lover of friends, lover of company, very social person. Tarly is apparently there's some interesting ones in um in this too, like uh where was it? Um, secretiveness, propensity to conceal, like sneaky, sneaky, someone who's a bit sneaky, a bit cunning, keep lots of secrets. Cautiousness, individuality is an interesting one, too. Form was a weird one, and they got kind of a bit weird. Like, form is like, okay, understanding the shape of objects, like your spatial awareness. They thought that there was a specific part of your brain just for that, too. I mean, Yeah. Yeah. I think sense of time. Correct me if I'm wrong. I feel like when they first did this, they actually studied a lot of brains after death of like um people who were in jail. Um, and I feel like there was one guy who went through and he did a lot of the baselines based on the skulls of these people who were deceased. Well, but I don't know if I've made that up. Uh, look, it sounds about right. Sounds about as it's all made up, so why not make up that story, too? Uh, Jamie, no, this is very not scientific based stuff at all. And that's kind of the point of this lesson. We're going to try and show you some sort of fun stuff that's absolutely not based in science. And uh look, I'm sure there's someone out there that probably still uses it. You could probably find someone on the internet to do it, but yeah, I wouldn't be paying them any money for it to be honest. No, but it will be good when it would be fun. Yeah, just for fun. And it's great to keep in the back of mind for when you are reading things whether you can um see the legitimacy of them based on the kind of evidence they give. So really there's no evidence for any of this. There's no evidence for any of it, but you know, it's it's fun to kind of have a look. So make sure yeah you've jotted down some notes about your phology readings. Um so we've got the next one which is palm reading. Um so I've got a little diagram on the slides for you but you can open um there's a couple of links for you. Um so this is I don't know I don't know who this Lauren Conrad person is but they've got a website with a bit of basic palm reading stuff. uh and they've got sort of descriptions about um different line lengths and stuff um and what they might mean. The other one which obviously is very very scientific is the WikiHow page um which definitely is far more accurate and very researched and has lots of real evidence for it. Yeah. Repeat all you can call it see cause and effect. Absolutely. Uh so uh feel free to go through this one has uh it's got more diagrams to kind of show the differences in maybe links and things like that which might help you a little bit more than the other website. Um but the sort of descriptions are a little bit more vague on this one. So you know use each of the uh websites. Yeah. But even just comparing the websites to see if there's any consistency that Yeah. True. Yeah. because I didn't check that. So, I just went, "Okay, first two things that popped up on Google and I Google how to read palms." Uh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry everyone, if I've been muffled. I've had a mask on. I've taken it off now. Hope it's all right. I'll be I am hopped up on vitamin C and zinc, so we are good. Um, all right. So, what are we doing? Heartline. Heartline. Which one's that? The top one. Okay. Okay. So, that's this one. I think I think typically you're supposed to do your left hand. Oh, are you okay? Um I think that's Look at us obeying the rules. I don't know. So, we do heartline. Heartline, which is okay. The heartline. I mean, just listen to it. I know. Okay. Mine is definitely not short. It's not very straight either. What else have we got? Begins below the middle finger. No, mine goes a little bit longer than that. Okay. So, I'm not selfish, but that's good. And Matise, in answer to your question, yes, we have received your notes. Thank you very much for sending those through. I feel like mine's a little bit more like this one. Straight and parallel to the headline. a good handle on emotions. Sure. Oh, but I do have lots of little lines crossing that. So, apparently I'm going to have emotional trauma. Oh, no. Fantastic. All right. Oh, thanks Loki. That must be the reason why they picked the left one. That's funny. Doesn't it depend where I move my hand, though? Straight line things realistically. Oh, well, okay. Sure. All right. Anyone find anything interesting? Give us some notes. What does your What does your palm say about you? Oh, nice. Anyone else? Anything interesting? [Music] Oh, okay. Molly, so you got very similar lines on your hands. Okay. Leticia's got adventure and enthusiasm for life. Oh, Maya. Lovely. This all seems very positive. Oh, Lou. Does that mean like bad cardiac health or positive cardiac health? What has it told you? Oh no. [Music] Was that was that a lifeline thing or what was that? Oh, hat. Nice. Successful career p based on early interests. Oh. Oh, Selena, watch out for other people. Be careful they don't manipulate you. Yeah, the handshaped bit is kind of interesting. I don't really know. Kind of almost looks like prehuman hair. Some of those ones. Oh, this sounds like um it's like, you know, are your fingers longer than your a TV show. What was that? Earth, fire, wind. What a go planet. You're going to have some really interesting popups after doing this on Yeah, I know. Oh my goodness. The IT team are not going to be happy. Feel like mine are maybe I don't have very big hands, but they are long. Great. Moody, emotional, and inhibited. Yeah, that sounds about right. Has anyone like looked at their hand and felt their head and thought and thought, "Wow, that must be me." Does it sound exactly like you or is it is anyone just like yes absolutely none of this is wrong cuz he's sociable and talkative and witty. That's quite complimentary, isn't it? I feel like everyone's kind of just like picking and choosing the positive things except for Louis who's like, "No, no, it's it's not good. It's all it's all bad news." Oh, look. I mean, look, he's got emotional stability. Yeah. So, that's kind of good. That's good. That's very Yeah. Very interesting. What else do we have after her breeding? Oh no, Billy. What does Billy say? Does it Does it give you any details or does it just say you're unsuccessful? I feel like already that's wrong. Absolutely. We've seen you be extremely successful in this class. Look, you're here. That's that's already a success. And you've done an ASB subject before, so you're definitely I love that they call it palistry. I know. Such like trying to give it a sciency name, which I think is the problem with um astrology. Sounds really scientific, doesn't it? It's got ology at the end. All right, let's see what the next one is. This one I think this Oh, this one is absolutely wild to me. Graphology. Yeah. So, this is like um it's not it's definitely not a science, but if you've ever watched a lot of true crime, um like handwriting analysis used to be a really big thing. Yeah. Uh and this is kind of where that's come from. Graphology is like the other name for it. It's basically like the way you write certain letters apparently says a bit about your personality or um traits that you might have. Um, in my very very short, not very in-depth research on this though, which I thought was absolutely crazy, there's a lot of like business management websites like about, you know, for CEOs and managers about how to hire people and how to manage their workers saying, "Yeah, use this method to look at your employees and get a really good clear reading, accurate reading on their personalities before you hire them based on their handwriting." based on their handwriting and and like they're not they're not joking like it's like an official website that these people are who's submitting applications in a handwritten well that too like why are you submitting a handwritten resume? What's going on? Um but I couldn't believe it. I was like this is we know this isn't a site. It's like why are people using why are people using it? Yeah, it was just absolutely nuts to me. So, um, for this one, there's a bit of a gross looking infographic linked on the slides, but if you just Yeah, if you just zoom in, um, you can just scroll down as you Yeah. So, write a sentence. Um, if you write like uh what's that standard sentence? A quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Yeah. And that's the one that normally covers every letter in the alphabet, I think, is the is the rule for that one. um that might be a good sentence to write down or just have a look at your notes maybe from Neuro if you've got them handy. And then just scroll down and have a look um to see sort of what bits and pieces the infographic says about you. So if you've got small letters, you might be shy or studious or meticulous. If you've got large letters, you might be more outgoing or love attention. I don't know what an average letter would be, but sure, figure it out. the spacing between your words apparently the shape of certain letters um you know about different sort of personality traits looping so if you have narrow or wide loops on L's and E's how you dot your eyes so like if it's not quite centered or if it's a bit of a dash rather than a circle well yeah what they I haven't gotten everything here. Where you cross your T and how long the cross is. Oh, come on. Uh, open and closed O's, cursive. I don't cursive, so that doesn't apply to me. Not many people do anymore. I've got a weird mix, though. I've got that kind of hybrid of like some of my letters are print, some of them are cursive. Yeah. Yeah, me too, actually. Uh, where your page margins are, how heavy you write. I feel like that's something people do consistently. You either write soft or heavy. Yeah. Signature. Well, that's me. Absolutely not legible. It just depends on how much time you've got, too. Well, I feel like it's also just sort of a practicing, right? Like, if I took the time to make my signature pretty, I could probably do it. Which one is super messy? Cuz that's me. Same. Me, too. Anyway, it's funny. You do kind of get into it. You're like, "Oh, what does it tell me about me?" It's actually not telling you anything about it. It's not telling you anything, but it's still fun. It's just a bit of fun. See, here's the thing. Some of my letters are connected, but some of them are not. Yeah, me too. So, maybe that means we've got like two sides to our personality. Where does it say that, Tarly? Which one does it? Oh, down the bottom here. When the slant varies within a sentence or within Yeah. No, I've got the same. I'll be the same. We're all the same. Well, apparently we all have schizophrenia. I mean, I feel like that is highly like Yeah, absolutely ignore this. Absolutely ignore that. That's got no evidence whatsoever. Writing with variable pressures is one [Music] Autinder. I've only got the one you sent this morning about forgetting your notes. Um, yeah, of course you could use Google Classroom. Um, or you could just do the quiz when you get home if that's yeah, easier for you. Whatever you'd like. Anyone else have any fun stuff from their handwriting? According to this very very scientifically accurate infographic, see that's me. But I don't use pages a lot of the time. Selena. Yeah, it's a bit contradictory. Hey, you enjoy freedom, but you don't like crowded places. Okay. Wide open spaces for you. Yeah, that's Yeah, you have to. Yeah. Ah, Eloise, you're well adjusted and adaptable, but you're also intrusive. Very logical. Yeah. Well, there's a lot of contradictions. So many contradictions on this one. Oh, it's just silly. Oh, yeah. Tirely. I feel like we're all just sort of we're schizophrenic. We probably have Alzheimer's. I definitely have high blood pressure, apparently. I've got the Alzheimer's, too. Goodness. All right, let's have a look at what we got. Moving on. Something that you're probably a little bit more familiar with. This one probably is a little more familiar. Um, the Chinese zodiac. Um, so very, very important in Chinese culture. Uh, and exists because of Chinese philosophy and culture. So, it's it's a very old practice. It's been around for a very long time and very heavily tied to um spiritual beliefs as well. Yeah. Which is awesome. But again, it's not really a science a science. There's no scientific evidence that any of this is true. It's more just sort of um cultural practices and cultural beliefs. I just realized none of them their birth years beyond here will not on this one. I just realized that too. Um but you can go to the website to find your Chinese zodiac year. Um, so you can kind of see it might it should have um your birth year in one of these. Um, or it's listed here. And once you find your year, you can click on it and do a bit more of a deep dive into your Chinese zodiac. What What's your I'm an ox. You're an ox. I'm an ox. What is an ox the most relevant Second animal in the cycle. Diligence, perseverance, honesty, diligence, persistence, and hard work. There you go. Hey, I'll take it. That's nice. Reliability. Don't know how patient I am. Strong work ethic, ability to endure challenges. Yeah, I'll take it. Nice. I wonder what it says about my career, though. Have I picked the right job? Have you Look, you're sharing with Barack Obama. Got some good company. Maybe not Margaret, but we'll ignore that one. Uh, agriculture, manufacturing, pharmacy. Oh, not you've missed your calling. Oh, no. What have I done? I wonder if people actually choose their careers based on the year they born in. I wonder if they do. I wonder if it's Yeah, I wonder if in China it's a more And it would be interesting too because your year of birth determined obviously when you're born. So then your whole life could be tailored around this could be kind of pushed into these careers just by the exposure that you're given. Could be like a self-fulfilling prophecy almost. Birth rates go up every year of the dragon. Oh that's the good one. Is it? Let's have a look and see what the good one is. Year of the Is anyone Year of the Dragon? Most of you I suppose would probably be around the same year, wouldn't you? Year of the dragon. Aspicious and extraordinary creature unparalleled in talent and excellence. I can see why people want to be born in that. Yeah. Okay. Oh, Odin's a dragon. Got some tigers here. A lot of tigers. A lot of tigers. Yeah, rabbits. Rabbit. My daughter's a rabbit, too. Um, and as this is more just a bit of fun information, but just kind of to get that idea of Yeah. This is how we differentiate between real science and Yeah. not so real science. Yeah. Because you'll have you'll have multiple trials of things backed up with independent evidence. All of this is so highly subjective. I mean, even what we're asking you to do now, compare these descriptions to how you feel as a person. I mean, there's no objectivity there. you're relying on yourself and you could, you know, you'd be probably more inclined to believe the positive things if you're in a positive frame of mind or you might be more inclined to believe the negative things and they will be the things that stick. So, it's really multiffactorial. It's une guys. Make sure you don't accidentally unmute yourself if you didn't mean to. Um, what year are you? I am a dog. Good dog. Yep. Don't know what it says about me. Pretty low down. Protective. Protective. Strong sense of responsibility. Willingness to go above and beyond. Loyalty. Bit boring, isn't it? What was I meant to be? What's my career? Here we go. Here we go. Resilient to illnesses. Not today. Sorry. Not today. Um. Oh, it's health tips. Hang on. Oh, recommended. Here we go. police officer. Police nurse close to a scientist. You're basically a scientist. I've dabbled in the art of science. Dabbled in it. And a judge. No way. I could never decide on like Loki's. I am the rat. Fear my earthly powers. Love it. It's a bit of fun, isn't it? Oh, it's just Yeah, bit of fun. All right. And so the other one we've got obviously is the Western astrology. So that's probably the zodiac you might be a little bit more familiar with. Um and this is to do with um like the stars and alignments and things like that. So u when you are born and what sort of stars of where the sun is in the sky and things like that. It can get very very complicated. Now you can get like full birth charts and stuff. Um but for the sake of what we're looking at, we probably only need to know about our zodiac signs. So um I'm a Taurus. So, I've got Taurus, the bull, and and the Chinese zodiac of the ox. So, Venus rules you. I don't know what that means. I don't know. Okay. Green and pink. Today is not my day, apparently. Reliable, patient. Yeah. Stubborn. You do like high quality clothes. I do. That's true. I do like music. If you put broad enough things there, you Yeah. Is anyone going to say they don't like any of these things? Well, I mean, I don't like gardening or cooking, so that's Yeah, but then there'll be other things there, right? They give you enough choice that everyone can be convinced that it describes them and that it's talking highly personally about you, but actually they're just choosing really common things. Yeah. Very vague kind of statements. I mean, it's true. I don't like sudden changes. I don't like insecurity. I don't hate synthetic fabrics. Oh, don't you? No. I don't like I don't like synthetic sheets. I'm a cotton sheet person, but I don't like I don't mind wearing a synthetic like t-shirt. Who doesn't who who would like complications? Yeah, surely. That's weird. And sudden changes. I don't think that. Yeah. Very interesting. Okay. What about you? I Where am I? Aries. Oh, my sister's an Aries. Oh, so I think I'll be all like angry. That's what it usually tells me. Fiery, optimistic. Fire sign that you are short-tempered. Not quite shorted, but impulsive. I do like comfortable clothes, but who likes uncomfortable clothes? Yeah. Yeah. I don't like anyone likes delays, so that's kind of That's true. Yeah. All right. I can hear a lot of people are finding out some things. People are really getting into this, but hopefully you're taking it with a grain of salt. Again, like none of these are none of these are scientifically accurate. Oh, we're over. Okay. Okay, that's fine. Um, the last one is just about big five personality traits. So, there's a different sort of personality test that you can do um if you want to, but we're out of time today. So, please fill in your worksheet um and we'll actually should we put up a portal for them to submit and we'll have a read? Yeah. Yeah, we might put up a portal for you guys to submit these um so we can just have a have a bit of a laugh and see what we think about each other and what these techniques say about you. Um yeah, have a have a check, see if any of them are sort of consistent or not. And yeah. Yeah, we'll see you next week with some proper science. Yeah, Matis, there's a worksheet on today's lesson, but I'll make a new portal for it in Google Classroom for you as well. Okay, see you then. Bye.