Smoke of Sighs

Chapter 6: Paltoglou et al., 2019

Chapter 6: Paltoglou et al., 2019

"Psychology students often feel anxious about learning statistics, which can impact their performance. However, little research has explored statistics confidence, which may be an important way to reduce the negative connotations of associating statistics with anxiety."

Paltoglou, A. E., Morys-Carter, W. L., & Davies, E. L. (2019). From Anxiety to Confidence: Exploring the Measurement of Statistics Confidence and its Relationship with Experience, Knowledge and Competence within Psychology Undergraduate Students. Psychology Learning & Teaching, 18(2), 165–178. doi: 10.1177/1475725718819290

***

KAYDEN

I'm walking through a crowded sitting area in one of the main buildings on campus when some interesting words in a familiar voice catch my ear.

"Ugh, Hailey. I need to get laid."

Keep walking, Hall.

Except an amused, curious thrill works its way down my spine.

"How long has it been?"

"Like... four months? Five? It's pretty pathetic, actually."

"Why don't you get onto Tindr or something?"

"I definitely don't trust it."

Why does the idea that she's sexually-frustrated make me even more intrigued?

And what's the appeal behind listening to people's private conversations about sex? Could be considered a type of voyeurism... Does the shame and forbiddenness play a role in the physiological arousal one experiences from it?

Or maybe humans are by nature curious about things that are off-limits to us.

Or maybe I just like thinking about her, and sex.

Occam's razor would suggest the latter.

And now I'm busy trying to remember the last time I got laid.

A week or two before the start of the semester? Some chick I picked up in a bar. I'd be lying if I said I remembered her name.

Makes me sound like an asshole, maybe, but I was away from the city for four years doing my PhD at UBC. My regular hook-ups from back then have, uh, moved on.

I'm settling down on the expansive, comfortable, worn rolling desk chair in my small office on the fifth floor of U of E's ancient brick-and-linoleum psych department building. The office isn't much but it serves its function, I guess. The wall between this room and Dr. Zabina's office next door isn't exactly the thickest, so I can hear his loud, grating laugh echoing through the paint every now and then.

My research grant just came through a little while ago. I'm at the point where I need to start developing written questionnaires to target the information I'm trying to collect.

Essentially, I'm trying to dissect the motivations and cognitions behind BDSM sexual experiences, so I can compare the impulses behind "regular" deviant behaviour and "abnormal" deviant behaviour.

There is, of course, lots of research behind abnormal behaviour. But far, far fewer studies, and perhaps only a couple good ones, about deviance in normal sex.

The thing is that university students, who are a typical go-to for research because they're easily accessible, aren't exactly the kinkiest fuckers around, so I have to get a bit unorthodox in where I'm looking for test subjects.