Jan.9,2009--Reseach and proposal

‘Who’s Minding the Mind?’--Carey, Benedict--The New York Times--July 31, 2007--Rachel Champagne--Jan.12,2009
The article discusses the similar results of studies conducted by American Universities like Yale and Stanford about the subconscious mind. At Yale, a research assistant carrying too many things asked people to take a cup of coffee from him or her. Later, when asked to rate a hypothetical person they read about, the people would answer favourably if the coffee was hot and unfavourably--rating the person as being more selfish and less social--if the coffee was cold. The temperature of the coffee seemed to have effected their mind. It seems to suggest that people form opinions based on stimulus that may not be filtered through the conscious mind.

On a side note, I think I could make an interesting game if I had and image of a face and then used the same face, but added glasses or blond hair. I wonder how people would react or if they would notice. What if they were asked to describe the person? Would they use preconceived notions about people with glasses or blond hair?

What if I created a game where there would be images of objects and people and places and the game would have adjectives that people could match them up. I wonder if there would be a trend in the matches of images and words?

Or a game like “Life” where there are cards that show houses and even though a house might be worth less, it will still be a valuable house because people will think it looks valuable.

There needs to be a clever trick to the game where people will see how they are influenced by the subconscious mind.


Happiness
Before I do anymore research about stress, which may change how I see my project, I want to define the core concept of this project. I find that happiness is simple. To be happy, there has to be a inbalance of more good events and emotions than bad events and emotions. That’s it. Do what you love.

I try to live by this, but lately I’ve become more stressed than usual--graduating from Emily Carr University without being stressed is probably impossible--and that has effected my happiness. I feel like staying in. I don’t put myself out there for the jobs that I know should be mine. I ignore my gym membership.

But during the holiday season, I played a game called ‘Apples to Apples’ with family and I became addicted, so I made my own version of the game when my brother took the card game home with him. It’s a simple game. A person puts a card down with an adjective on it like ‘luxurious.’ Players will have 5 cards with nouns on them and will choose one that matches ‘luxurious’. The person who put the adjective down will choose which noun they think matches the best and the winner will keep the adjective card. The person with the most adjective cards wins.

‘Apples to Apples’ is hilarious. Players will learn things about each other that they didn’t before and some cards will stimulate long conversations. The interesting thing is the connections that people make. If the adjective is ‘luxurious’ and someone puts down ‘meat,’ everyone usually wonders who put that card down and why.

This game stimulates the subconscious mind through word association and I began to think about the benefits of uncovering thoughts and feelings that are usually ignored. The effects of subconscious negativity and surpressed fears on stress interested me. What if I did a project that could relieve stress through the subconscious mind?

Stress--Psychology by David G. Myers. New York, 1992-Worth Publishers--Jan.8, 2009
There are different types of stressful events: catastrophes, significant life changes, and daily hassles.

“In the last month, how often have you felt:
a. Unable to control the important things in your life?
0. Never
1. Almost never
2. Sometimes
3. Fairly often
4. Very often
b. Confidant about your ability to handle your personal problems?
c. That things were going your way?
d. That difficulties were piling up so high that you could not overcome them?

4.7 is ok for women
4.2 is ok for men

To manage stress, you can use excercise, biofeedback, relaxation (through meditation, in particular) and social support networks (“feeling liked, affirmed and encouraged by intimate friends and family--promotes happiness and health.”).

A subject in a study by health psychologists James Pennedbaker and Robin O’Heeron (1984) (p.533) said “I was finally able to deal with it, work through the pain instead of trying to block it out. Now it doesn’t hurt to think about it.”

A Third Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul. Canfield, Jack and Mark Victor Hansen. Deerfeild, FL 1996: Health Communications Inc..--Jan.9, 2009--Rachel Champagne

Intro--Chicken Soup Stories
Ths basis of this book is that these inspirational stories will cause people to live happier lives through examples. It seems to be full of Christian values. I think that it is interesting that just the thoughts of hope, love and encouragement is beneficial, as if any positive thinking can make people happier. Maybe it’s as simple as that--The Secret says that it is--but I’m skeptical.

I agree that a story can “provide a new perspective, a new way of percieving the universe,”--Ruth Stotter. I don’t want to focus on storytelling for this project though.

Cards--wikipedia--Jan.9, 2009
I’m more interested in the effects of cards on our subconscious. There are many types of cards, created as early as the 7th century in China. The design of French cards became the most popular, using four suits and the King, Queen, Knave and Valet being the court cards. There were 52 cards per deck--and 52 weeks in a year. The four suits represented the four seasons. And if you add the cards together, with a joker card as 1, then you will find the number 365.

The Dream Deck--Jan.9,2009
This is what the dream deck includes: “beautifully illustrated cards, designed to offer both cues and clues about your sleeping mind. With simple instructions on how to both interpret the symbols and influence the nature of your dreams--plus 50 evocative images that capture the surreal quality of night visions--The Dream Deck will inspire self-discovery and enlightenment, night after night.”

There are 8 cue cards that offer ways of influencing your dreams through visualization. For example, a card is titled ‘battling the dragon’ and says to visualize a dream adversary and gain confidance as you defeat the foe. You should feel a sense of victory in your dream and this will relate to your “current, waking circumstances.” So the point is that your dreams influence you life. The fantasy will effect the reality, similar to a self-fulfilling prophecy. On the back of each card is an image representing the cards concept, like death.

Subliminal Messages--wikipedia--Jan.9,2009
Subliminal messages are signals or messages imbedded into another medium, “designed to pass below the normal limits of the mind’s perception.”

Interplay: The process of Interpersonal Communication. 6 ed. Adler, Ronald B., Lawrence B. Rosenfeld, and Neil Towne. Toronto, 1995: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.--Jan.9, 2009--Rachel Champagne

p.48 Influence of Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
To summarize, self-fulfilling prophecies are situations where a person has already made up their minds what a person, place, or thing will be like, so that when they see the reality, their preconceived notions will end up being true. If they think they won’t like a person, they will act like they don’t like them and the person will respond negatively, which makes it true--they won’t like each other. If a person knows that they will be nervous and that an interview won’t go well, then they will become nervous and it will become true.

Of course, it won’t effect something like the colour of the sky. Keeping this in mind, and all of the other things that are out of our control, trying to think positively is still a good strategy, especially about your self-concept. High expectations of yourself will only make you unhappy because no one is perfect. Self-fulfilling prophecy just means that you shouldn’t assume things that aren’t true and you shouldn’t jinx yourself by allowing your fears to influence you.


Introduction


I am designing for health and well-being because I want to be mentally, physically and emotionally healthy and happy and I want other people to be healthy and happy as well. At the moment, many people I know are not healthy and happy. I think that this is connected to stress. For creative people, like designers, I have noticed that the stress is caused by a lack of inspiration, leading to procrastination--you’re just going to do it later when you feel more creative--or frustration--you believe that this project is impossible and insurmountable. There is an opportunity to create a tool to help these people be more creative and less stressed out.

Design opportunity


The problem is that creative people are searching for solutions but thay can’t think of anything productive. There is a blank and they stare at a computer screen for hours not getting any ideas. The work that they do do is repetitive and cliche. I find myself having this problem and my body becomes uncomfortable and distracted, so I shift in my seat and start wondering in the back of my head if it’s time for a coffee break.

I think that the solution for this problem is the subconscious mind because the problem is the conscious mind putting restrictions on problem solving. The subconscious mind is basically linked to finding solutions to problems. The subconscious is stimulated by everything around and forms instinctual responses to this stimuli. It’s connected to the fight or flight response. What creative people need is a way of turning off the judgemental conscious mind and tapping into the subconscious. I think that creative people would feel less stressed out and would get more productive work done if they could use their subconscious mind more.

Most designers will agree that creative solutions will sometimes pop into their heads at weird moments. For example, they are just falling asleep. Their brains are in the ‘Alpha State,’ which means that they are very relaxed and their brainwave frequency is around 10 Hz. The ‘Alpha State’ is the ideal awareness state for the brain to think about solutions because the brain is relaxed and their is a greater feeling of well-being. If my project could cause the audience to be in this ‘Alpha State,’ then they will shut off the conscious mind and tap into the subconscious mind. While their conscious mind is effectively turned off, they will be more creative and feel happier. I think that my project could end creative blocks and cause a long lasting feeling of well-being by creating a tool that will stimulate the subconscious mind.

Design Objective


I intend to create a tool that will stimulate the subconscious mind so that my audience will be able to create solutions that are more creative. They will feel a greater sens of well-being because I want to relax their minds enough for judgement to be turned off. I want to create a tool that is entertaining and enjoyable to use, like a game.

Solving the problem of what the tool will be will require creating prototypes and testing the outcomes on real people. I will need to do research on existing tools and studies being done around the world. I will need to also research my audience: their needs, experiences and environments. During the research phase of the project, I will find experts who can help me find insightful solutions to the problem. Then I will analyze the findings and create a visual language that will appeal to the audience. The prototypes will be tested and refined until I have found the right solution.

Design Criteria


My senior project will fulfill the following criteria: It will...
- stimulate the subconscious mind.
- encourage unique solutions and ideas by creating a time and place that is appropriate for new ideas.
- be suitable for adults, especially creative people like designers.
- be entertaining and stress-relieving.

Target Audience


The person who will use and enjoy this project the most will be young adults between the ages of 20-30. This project will help both males and females. The target audience will value self-improvement and stress relief. They would admit that they are procrastinators. They would also admit that they often feel stressed due to creative problem solving problems at work or at school. They often feel unproductive. They are focused on their career and their friends. They love to have fun and are very social. Their careers are related to problem solving, whether they are creative professionals, business people, scientists, or tradesmen. They want to feel more relaxed, happy, healthy and productive.

Education Goals


In the Spring Semester I hope to learn more about how I can help people feel happier. Since I, myself, also want to live a happy life, I feel like this exploration is very important to my future. I have aspirations to be a teacher as well as a graphic designer, so this project can benefit my future students as well. I hope to learn about what causes problems in our lives, like stress and creative blocks. I want this project to teach me about what I can do to deal with stress and creative blocks, so that I can feel more productive.

Research


I have researched the Subconscious and it led me to Alpha State, Binaural Beats, Affirmation, Subliminal Messages, Tarot cards, Stress, Emotions, and Happiness. I defined each of these things and learned a little of the history behind it. I have been listening to binaural beats and find that it has a calming effect. I have looked at cards and found them to stimulate the subconscious in my dreams.

I have also researched studies on the subconscious and how the subconscious mind influences psychology and social interactions. I found information on the internet, in books, textbooks and articles. I also used ‘Dream Cards’ and ‘The Sacred Circle Tarot” to explore the tools that already exist.

In the future, I will continue to explore books, articles and the internet. I will also find a variety of tools and games to see which ones work and which do not.

Bibliography


Adler, Ronald B., Lawrence B. Rosenfeld, and Neil Towne. Interplay: The process of
Interpersonal Communication. 6th ed. Toronto: Harcourt Brace College
Publishers, 1995.

“Binaural Beats”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Jan.8, 2009.


“Brainwave”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Jan.8, 2009.


“Brainwave Synchronization”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Jan.8, 2009.


Canfield, Jack and Mark Victor Hansen. A Third Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul. Deerfeild, FL: Health Communications Inc., 1996.

Carey, Benedict. ‘Who’s Minding the Mind?’. The New York Times. July 31, 2007.

David G. Myers. Psychology. New York: Worth Publishers, 1992.

“The Dream Deck”. Cards. Designed by Kirsten T. Hetland. Vancouver: Raincoast Books, 2002.

“Dreamachine”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Jan.8, 2009.


“Emotions”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Jan.8, 2009.


Franklin, Anna. Illustrated by Paul Mason. “The Sacred Circle Tarot.” Cards.
St Paul, Minnesota: Llewellyn Publications, 1998.

“Stress”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Jan.8, 2009.


“Sunconscious”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Jan.8, 2009.

Grad Project 09 research

Jan. 8, 2009--Rachel Champagne--Study of Binaural Beats

Alpha State

Initially, I found information about binaural beats on the internet (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subconscious) while I was researching the subconscious mind.

Subconscious
Subconscious is defined as an awareness that exists in the mind that is not conscious. An awareness that humans aren’t aware of.

The subconscious could be considered slightly different from the preconscious mind, which is information that can be recalled as soon as you bring attention to it, like memories. The subconscious mind seems to be information that you are not aware of possessing--information that effects your behaviour and attitude.

Although wikipedia didn’t mention this, I would predict that body language and other non-verbal things that you notice about other humans are incorporated into the information that you percieve and store, yet don’t consciously understand. When you first meet someone, you learn things from them but you don’t realize you do it. Also, sometimes when you are feeling stress, you don’t understand, on a conscious level, why. I think that it is linked to emotions. I haven’t done the research yet, but I predict that emotions are usually subconscious. Emotions can’t be controlled and neither can the brain be controlled when it works on a subconscious level.

What I wonder is if you can become more aware of the subconscious information that your brain is storing--like emotions, thoughts, assumptions and perceptions--and find a better way of controlling the negative effects of stress and fear?

Wikipedia lists a few methods of affecting the subconscious mind: Affirmations, Binaural Beats, Hypnosis, and Subliminal messages.

Affirmation
Affirmation is a “declaration that something is true,” (Wikipedia). What I understand about this is that the effect of positively thinking that something is true will make you believe it’s true, therefore it is true. Either the individual will make it true or else truth is anything that you percieve to be true--a concept linked to the idea that reality is perception. How a person percieves reality is their reality. It’s not my reality, but it’s their reality.

I can see how this could effect a person’s subconscious mind by challenging old assumptions--how a person sees themselves, whether beautiful or ugly, for example. As long as the ‘truth’ is subjective, like beauty, the perception can be altered. If a person says to themselves, “The sky is yellow,” then I can’t see how that could effect the subconscious mind because the subconscious specifically stores emotions and perceptions.

So, what if I used this project to handle stress. If so, I have to prove the idea that stress is caused by emotions and perceptions, rather than by scientific facts like ‘the sky is blue.’

Stress
Stress is defined as the failure of the human body to respond appropriately to emotional or physical threats, whether real or percieved. Biologically, it makes you anxious and produces adrenaline. Stress can commonly cause exhaustion, irritability, headaches and an inability to concentrate. There are many things that lead to stress, but any type of conflict or fear can be stressful.

How to deal with stress? I propose that if the opposite of a stressful situation is a relaxing situation, then relaxation techniques are a solution to stress. If stress is caused by emotions, like fear, then a tool that can change emotions and perceptions hidden deep in your subconscious would be another excellent solution.

I’m confidant that I can relieve people’s stress levels using a tool that taps into the subconscious mind. Now, I need to understand what those tools might look like.

Binaural Beats
Binaural beats are two sounds, both under 1,000-1,500 Hz, and the difference between the two sounds must be small--less than 30 Hz. While wearing headphones, each ear listens to one of the sounds. The interesting thing is that the brain will produce a beating tone, very much like someone meditating to the incantation ‘ohmmm,’ that will relax and slow down the thinking process.

I listened to the binaural beats from Wikipedia and found that it relaxed me enough to eliminate a pounding headache in thirty minutes. I am now a believer in this phenomenon.

To understand how binaural beats work, I had to learn a bit about brainwaves and sound frequency. First I learned that the brain produces tiny electrical signals generated by individual synaptic connections that can be measured using an Electroencephalography (eeg). The frequency of the brainwaves differ depending on the brain’s state of awareness: above 40 Hz is Gamma waves, associated with higher mental activity like problem-solving and fear. 13-40 Hz is Beta waves, associated with active, busy, anxious thinking, or active concentration. 7-13 Hz is Alpha waves, associated with relaxation while awake and pre-sleep or pre-wake drowziness. 4-7 Hz is Theta waves, associated with dreaming or deep meditation. Under 4 Hz is Delta waves, associated with deep dreamless sleep.

Binaural beats may effect brainwave frequency due to a concept called ‘frequency following response’. If the brain recieves a stimulus--like a sound--that is in the same frequency range as brain waves, the brain waves will become closer to the frequency of the stimulus. Our brains are susceptible to stimulus like light, sound, pain, and temperature. It seems that by changing our environment, we can lessen the effects of stress, including pain and tension. Not only changing our environment, but using any stimulus--whether visual, audio, oral or verbal--we can effect our level of stress.
Emotions
I believe that stress is connected to emotions. From wikipedia, I found a list of emotions: Euphoria, Fear, Frustration, Gratitude, Grief, Guilt, Happiness, Hatred, Hope, Horror, Hostility, Hysteria, Interest, Jealousy, Loathing, Love, Pity, Pride, Rage, Regret, Remorse, Sadness, Shame, Suffering, Surprise, Wonder, Worry.

To effect the subconscious mind, I think that these words could be helpful. Word association games--one person says a word and another person immediately says a word that comes to mind without thinking--bring out connections that may not be obvious. The brain is making connections without consciousness. If a person heard or read the word ‘fear,’ would they respond with the real reason they feel stressed? Would consciously acknowledging a fear, problem or stressful situation effect someone’s level of anxiety? If affirmation and positive thinking theories are correct, then it would.