Some people say that peer pressure doesn’t exist.

And personally, although I may not quite agree with this statement, I do believe that “peer pressure” can never be used as an excuse.

Although your peers may pressure you, in my mind, the ultimate decision is your own.

However, a recent article by the New York Times entitled “Teenagers, Friends and Bad Decisions” introduced new research by Temple University in which psychologists challenged the non-existence of this so-called pressure.

The experiments were conducted with 40 volunteers: 14 young teenagers, 14 college undergraduates, and 12 adults. Each person was hooked up to a brain scanner while they engaged in a six-minute video driving game, with each win rewarded with a crash prize. Each volunteer played the video game 4 times, with 2 out of the 4 times playing alone and the other 2 times told they were being watched by two same-sex friends in another room.

The findings showed that among the adults and college students tested, neither group showed a change in risk taking (such as running yellow lights or excessive speeding) when playing alone or being watched by two friends. However, the group of young teenagers showed a significant increase in risk taking activities while being watched by two friends compared to when the were playing alone. These young teenagers ran an average of 40 percent more yellow lights along with 60 percent more crashes when they believed their friends were analyzing their every action. In addition, specific regions of the brain linked to reward showed an increase in activity.

“The presence of peers activated the reward circuitry in the brain of adolescents that it didn’t do in the case of adults,” said psychology professor at Temple and author of “You and Your Adolescent: The Essential Guide for Ages 10 to 25,” Laurence Steinberg. “We think we’ve uncovered one very plausible explanation for why adolescents do a lot of stupid things with their friends that they wouldn’t do when they are by themselves.”

This finding is different from many others in terms of the peers that were creating this “pressure” were in another room instead of directly next to them. The subject could neither hear nor see them, though was still directly influenced by their “presence.”

“The subject was in the scanner, so the friends were not able to directly pressure the person to take chances,” said Dr. Steinberg. “I think it’s helpful to understand because many parents conceive of peer pressure as kids directly coercing each other into doing things. We’ve shown that just the knowledge that your friends are watching you can increase risky behavior.”

Dr. Steinberg also states that this finding is supported by brain changes that occur in young adults shortly after puberty. These changes cause an increased care in teenagers over what others think of them.

Fortunately, this experiment demonstrated young teenagers being indirectly pressured to increase risk activity in a video game rather than in real life.

This article made me realize that yes, there is peer pressure, for even myself tries to impress others at times, even if it is at a silly video game.

And even though we may be, even unknowingly influenced by those around us, we must always understand that our actions are still our own responsibility. And as much as one would like to blame wrong actions on peer pressure, bad behavior is simply bad behavior.

Source: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/teenagers-friends-and-bad-decisions/?src=me&ref=general

Plucking through the New York Times “Most Popular” articles, I find myself skimming through major news of Obama’s State of the Union Address as well as the last remaining articles of the horrid Tucson shooting.

But of course, being a somewhat hopeless romantic, I find myself in the “Modern Love” section, sifting through the works of hopeful optimists and quite depressing realists.

I eventually found myself interested in one story in particular.

A Marlboro College student who resides in the crowded streets of New York City challenged the idea of love in college within her article titled “Want to be my boyfriend? Please define.” The writer stated her inability to decipher the meaning behind “seeing someone” versus “dating someone” versus “hooking up with someone.” For all college students and even high schools students today, I think I can honestly say, “sounds familiar?”

Myself, an independent who acts as though she’s too busy too be involved in such a childish art of love, really has no idea what to expect in college.

I honestly could care less about the dating scene in the four years of all night studying and a busy lifestyle I have ahead of myself. But my sister has always told me, “don’t have a serious relationship in college, just date around.” And as much as I’d love to take my sister’s usually 100% perfect advice, I find myself asking could I really just date? Yes, I could go on dates, but I just don’t quite believe that this old fashioned soul would be comfortable cozying up to three different “honeys.”

Ok, that sounds weird.

But still, maybe it’s one of those things that you realize as you grow up.

Just as the New York author stated her difficulties through trivial dating and random encounters, she also states that she is young and it is the time to be “casual, careless, lighthearted and fun.”

So for now, I must realize that college life and love will come as it may, and whatever happens will eventually happen.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/fashion/04love.html?ref=fashion

I can still remember handing my mother a portrait of her and I walking through lines of choppy grass, strolling awkwardly towards an uneven crayon-colored house, containing numerous shades of brown and a smudge of an unpleasant pink.

It may not have been a work of art, but it never failed to make my mother smile.

As a young kid, I colored on the place mats at restaurants and unfortunately on our own kitchen walls. I believe that as a kid, drawing is the easiest, most fun way to explore your creativity.

However, with most pre-school and elementary curriculums in the United States consisting of, on average, an hour dedicated to art projects, the average parent seems to be receiving more works of art than the fridge door can handle.

“We’re getting two to four pieces of crayon drawing a day,” said 36-year-old Ms. Hanff, the mother of a 4-year-old girl who seems to get carried away in art class.

Although children may be forcing their parents to become hoarders, I believe the benefits that art can bring a child is well worth it.

David Burton, a professor of art education at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, stated that art is extremely important within the development of young children. While cognitive and fine motor skills are developed through drawing, children are also taught to recognize and distinguish different colors, shapes, and forms. In addition, just as drawing can be used therapeutically, children have been shown to use drawing in order to express their emotions.

Just as I once handed my “highly acclaimed” drawings to my mother as a young girl, I hope that children of the future will continue this ageless tradition.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/garden/27art.html?scp=1&sq=a%20tough%20art%20critic&st=cse

Many people say that age doesn’t matter.

However, when it comes to the person whose each action determines whether the heart machine continues its regular beats or straight lines, age may definitely come into consideration.

Doctors around the world are aging and simultaneously staying in their professions, reluctant to retire due to their increasing financial pressures.

People began to worry about this situation 8 years ago, the year a 78-year-old vascular surgeon operated on a woman who was left with a pulmonary embolism. The doctor was unresponsive to the nurses urgent calls, and as a result, the woman was left to die.

The surgeon continued his job, unchanged by this incident.

Four years later, after the hospital workers had previously reported the doctor to the Medical Board of California, the physician was asked to take a competency assessment at the University of California, San Diego.

The results were both frightening and unexpected.

“We did a neuropsychological exam, and it was very abnormal,” said the director of the UCSD’s physician assessment program, Dr. William Norcross. “This surgeon had visual-spatial abnormalities, could not do fine motor movements, could not retain information, and his verbal I.Q. was much lower than you’d expect.”

The surgeon was then forced to surrender his medical license.

Unfortunately, these stories are likely to become more common as one-third of the nation’s physicians are reaching their high 60’s.

And although with age surely comes wisdom, a doctor’s intelligence surely does not shield them from aging’s unfortunate pains and diseases.

A 2006 study discovered that in complicated surgical operations, a higher rate of patient deaths is seen under the care of physicians over 60 years of age.

In addition, experts warn that there are not enough protective measures in order to prevent patients from being seen by a physician who should no longer be practicing.

Today, organizations including the National Patient Safety Foundation are dedicated to creating regular cognitive and physical screenings once a physician reaches their late sixties. Several hospitals have already inducted these measures, those opposition from “rank-and-file doctors” has seemed inevitable.

“I do not believe that diminished competence attributable solely to age is a significant factor in the underperformance of most poor-performing physicians,” said Mayo Clinic‘s professor of laboratory medicine Dr. Henry Homburger, 64.

Although this topic may continue its long going debate, most of the public can surely agree that a high risk operation must be performed by only a healthy, efficient surgeon.

We may only hope that money may not stand in the way of people’s well-being, and medicine may once again return to a field of dedicated, proud physicians.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/health/25doctors.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general