Seminar feedback.

This is general (and pseudo-anonymous) comments on the undergrad
seminars.  Not every seminar is commented on, more coming later.
Also, if the most constructive criticism I could think of was "good
job" I just left the comment off.  The comments are intended to be
useful in preparing the papers, and so reading all the comments (not
just the one for your seminar) is probably worthwhile.

Anabolic steroid abuse:
Could really use a more on "why".  More on what the data means instead
of what the data says.  Why do these different steroids produce
different effects?  More background on the natural function
(differences in natural function) of these things.  Ran way over time!

Serotonin and Aggression:
Really good seminar, liked the "implications" section. I must find out
more about the roles of these 18 different 5-HT receptor subtypes!

Children Witnessing violence:
Piecharts must be avoided!  (very bad psychophysics in interpreting
piecharts, humans not good at reading piecharts).  If there are
possibly confouding variables, then measure and control them, don't
try to ignore them.  Find it hard to beleive there is no ultimate
function implications to this (handled well in questions).

Aggression in contact/non-contact atheletes/non-atheletes:
Confusing results would be far more understandable with some graphs.
Picture== 1k words

Crystal Weibe - Chachma baboon & Aggr:
Could do with less summary of the base paper / poster presentation
recap.  Could really use a more on "why".  More on what the data means
instead of what the data says.  The results were initially
counter-intuitive but the explanation made good sense.  I wonder if
the reconcilliation literature on primate aggression shows the same
thing...

Music & Aggression:
How do these people get away with this stuff!  A bit of a sassy idea
to fix this #^%*$!%ed-up experiment.  What a silly assay!

Shell crabs:
The sequential assessment link felt a bit shakey (both players
assessing, or only receiver), but otherwise this was very well done!

Corticosterone experience and aggression in anoles:
Good, efficient, summary of the critiqued work.  I got a bit confused
with the explanation of the experimental treatment, they weren't
treated with cort (a nervous verbal slip perhaps?).  I must find out
more about the different cort receptors functioning in different forms
of stress!

Homophobia & aggressive behaviour:
Keep the focus on what this tells us about the nature of aggressive
behavior, especially on "why" questions.

5-HIAA gene X environment:
When summarizing the results (eg rearing affects X) take little extra
time to mention the direction of the effects (eg mother reared have
higher/lower, suggesting that 5HT levels in these individuals are
higher/lower).  I'd suggest a bit more emphasis/thinking about
ultimate function.

Indirect aggression: content analysis:
Ran way long!  I would suggest some discussion of why this is helpful,
do we need to know eactly how often different forms of aggression, and
their depicted consequences are depicted on TV if the question is
"Does what's on TV influence aggressive behaviour?"

Bulemia, androgens and aggression:
Keep the focus on aggression, and in the why questions.  Why does
studying bulemics teach us somethin new about aggression, why are
bulemics aggressive (which came first, hormone effects, aggressive
effects, or eating disorder?)

IAT and measuring unconscious aggressiveness:
I really like the explicit statement of the hypotheses to be tested,
and equally explicit statement of the status of these hypotheses
somewhere towards the end would make a good bookend.

Multivariate and Univariate Genetics of Aggression:
Future research ideas kind of value but numerous.  I suggest you focus
on a couple of the best ones, flush them out to the degree that they
can be evaluated for feasability and assessed in term of how
important/relevant the results will be.

Work place space conflicts:
Too much summary of the original research, ran way long.  Hard to
beleive the authors would take two examples of responses to visitors
at someone's desk "I like it when people stop by my desk to talk to
me" vs. "It bugs me when people stop by my desk to chat and distract
me from my work" and expect the reader to believe these differences
must be due to the cultural/ethnic backgrounds of the people involved!