Myth & Controversy of Mozart Effect

Among the most commonly "propagated" trending ideas in the historical events of psychology might be the Mozart effect. It is a term for the improvement in brain growth that allegedly occurs in kids when they're exposed to the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart prior to the time of three. This idea has become so broadly accepted that the governors of Tennessee and Georgia have both helped programs to offer a free Mozart CD to every newborn baby in their own respective states.

Given the attendant marketing in which the notion has received, and also the cost associated with these acts of philanthropy, the typical new parent may be forgiven for believing that the Mozart effect is a real deal and a valid scientific fact.

However, the public could be mistaken, as so frequently occurs with widely known emotional some ideas. The source behind the Mozart Effects is based on a study conducted in 1993 by a physicist, Gordon Shaw, and Frances Rauscher, a developmental psychologist. This result was misreported in lots of ways, likely as the claim that Rauscher and Shaw produced a 51 point improvement in SAT scores. However, it need to be realized that the job they used to acquire this kind of result is invloving paper cutting and folding, which definitely not the SAT!

Do You Believe in Astorology?

Astrology is among the oldest personality description system in the world. The fundamental hypothesis of astrology is pretty simple: it is based on the notion that the positions and mobility of celestial objects, including sun and moon as well as the stars and planets, at the moment of birth wield a unfathomed influence on personality and the course of one’s life. The concept of Astrology can be tracked back to Chaldeans' and Assyrians' society, centuries ago; A time when mankind hardly know the characteristic of celestial object.

That twelve-sign zodiac, commonly known as as sun-sign astrology, continues to be the most common form of traditional western astrology, different from various Asian astrological systems such as the one often seen by Americans on Chinese cafe place mats, that have almost no connection to the western format. A horoscope is basically a map of the heavens over Earth at the time of one’s birth, split into 12 zones, or signs of the zodiac.

The signs of the Zodiac, shown here, are named for
the shapes the ancients perceived in the stars

Horoscope is also a term presented to a projection centered upon that map. Each sign symbolizes the estimated position in the sky (in medieval times) of each zone’s namesake constellation. The paths of the sun, moon, and major planets are then tracked into the zodiac, and their countries at the specific event of childbirth noticed. Astrologers state that, this data pinpoints key factors of a one’s personality and works extremely well to develop projections about that their possible future.

Criticism: Precession of the Equinox

Considering a formal science, criticism to astrology is most likely originated from physics and astronomy As most people know, our cosmos is in a dynamic and functioning in 'forever-moving state'. The resulting changes in bodies’ positions relative to each other are slow and subtle, but they add up over time. One of the evidence is what we recognize as precession of the equinox, where the position of the constellations in sky have changed for about 30 degrees westward in the last 2,000 years. This phenomenon result in an undeniably fact, that the constellations which are used in the zodiac is no longer represent the same map that was designed in the era of ancient Babylonian.

However, this kind critics are often considered as irrelevant, especially when we willing to look deeper about astrology. The terminology used in astrology is ‘sign of the zodiac’, not ‘constellation of the zodiac’. These are two very different things, and that the signs of the zodiac doesn't align with the constellations through which the ecliptic passes.

The signs of the zodiac are simply a method of portraying ecliptic longitude. The first 30 degrees circling westward are labeled Aries 0 – 30. For example, the 12th degree of Gemini would be ecliptic longitude 72 degrees and the 2nd degree of Sagittarius goes along to ecliptic longitude 242 degrees. This approach began since the ancient time and was used in scientific literature in the 19th century.

Popular Myth: "We Only Use 10% Of Our Brain Capacity"

One of the most popular myth in science history is a statement that we only utilize 10% of our brain capacity. This myth makes most people to believe that there are 90% more capabilities that are still waited to be used. Just to mention a few, telepathy, super-human regeneration or even x-ray vision.

Even though this myth is often attributed to William James (the father of Americam psychology) and Albert Einstein, it's still unclear how this all begin. However, public were already aware of this myth in late 1930s. And just like many other pseudoscience, some authorative figures also helped the spread of this false information. During 1950s, this misleading informarion was widely (and wildly) used in many self improvement industries, even in some Dale Carnegie's works..!

10% brain capacity might be true if we're talking about Homer
Simpson who lives in The Simpson Universe

It could be very possible that this myth is triggered by misinterpretation on neurological studies conducted in 1930s. At that time, it was well-known that there are many researchers used electrical stimulation to figure out corelation between physical functions and brain cortex. When a certain area of animals' cortex is stimulated, a physical response will occur. This phenomenon also happens on human. However, there are wide area of brain cortex that don't induce physical/motoric reaction. At that time, researchers call those area as silent cortex, which possibly misinterpreted by the myth starter(s) as part of brain that are left unused or still not activated.