Jonathan Haidt Decodes the Tribal Psychology of Politics - The Chronicle Review By Marc Parry New York Jonathan Haidt is occupying Wall Street. "Conservatives believe in equality before the law," he tells the young activists, who are here in the "canyons of wealth" to talk people power over vegan stew. Explaining conservatism at a left-wing occupation? Haidt (pronounced like "height") made his name arguing that intuition, not reason, drives moral judgments. "He, over the last decade or so, has substantially changed how people think about moral psychology," says Paul Bloom, a psychologist at Yale University. Now Haidt wants to change how people think about the culture wars. In March, Haidt will publish The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion (Pantheon). Practically speaking, that often means needling liberals while explaining conservatives and religious people, and treading a fine line between provocation and treason. Indeed. "Liberals need to be shaken," Haidt tells me. Haidt called the phenomenon "moral dumbfounding." The proof?
The Top 10 Psychology Studies of 2010 | Psychology Today - StumbleUpon The end of 2010 fast approaches, and I'm thrilled to have been asked by the editors of Psychology Today to write about the Top 10 psychology studies of the year. I've focused on studies that I personally feel stand out, not only as examples of great science, but even more importantly, as examples of how the science of psychology can improve our lives. Each study has a clear "take home" message, offering the reader an insight or a simple strategy they can use to reach their goals , strengthen their relationships, make better decisions, or become happier. 1) How to Break Bad Habits If you are trying to stop smoking , swearing, or chewing your nails, you have probably tried the strategy of distracting yourself - taking your mind off whatever it is you are trying not to do - to break the habit. That's because habit-behaviors happen automatically - often, without our awareness. J. 2) How to Make Everything Seem Easier J. 3) How To Manage Your Time Better M. 4) How to Be Happier J.
Are smart people ugly? The Explainer's 2011 Question of the Year Illlustration by Charlie Powell. It's been a few weeks since we posted the questions that the Explainer was either unwilling or unable to answer in 2011. Among this year's batch of imponderables were inquiries like, Are the blind sleepy all the time? and Does anyone ever get a sex change back? We asked our readers to pick the question that most deserved an answer in the Explainer column. Some 10,000 of you were able to register a vote, and the winning question is presented below. In third place, with 6.6 percent of the total votes, a bit of speculative evolutionary biology: Let's say that a meteor never hits the earth, and dinosaurs continue evolving over all the years human beings have grown into what we are today. In second place, with 7.5 percent, an inquiry into pharmacokinetics: Why does it take 45 minutes for the pharmacy to get your prescription ready—even when no one else is waiting? Why are smart people usually ugly? Oh, how the Explainer loves a false premise.
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“Situations Matter: Understanding How Context Transforms Your World,” b y Sam Sommers To give weight to his argument, Sommers offers evidence from numerous experiments. For example, an adrenaline-filled chance encounter engineered by psychologists to take place between a man and a beautiful woman on a rickety suspension bridge led to greater attraction than a similar meeting on a sturdier bridge. (Planners of first dates take note: To make a lasting connection, a horror film may be a better bet than a comedy.) More disturbing are his examples of how being part of a crowd can lead us to apathy, or to fail to lend a helping hand. Sommers challenges the pop wisdom that we should strive to locate an authentic self. Not surprisingly, our beliefs about gender expectations also depend on context. The idea that the one ideal love of our lives is out there somewhere, waiting for that magical moment of fate and coincidence to find us, is another cultural myth that Sommers dispels.
Alternative Medicine Natural Health Shop UK Vitamins Herbs Oils 7 Must-Read Books on Music, Emotion & the Brain by Maria Popova What Freud has to do with auditory cheesecake, European opera and world peace. Last year, Horizon’s fascinating documentary on how music works was one of our most-liked pickings of 2010. We love the work of neuroscientist and prolific author Oliver Sacks, whose latest book, The Mind’s Eye, was one of our favorite brain books last year. Why music makes us feel the way it does is on par with questions about the nature of divinity or the origin of love. Never ones to pass up a good ol’ fashioned erudite throw-down, we can’t resist pointing out that the book’s final chapter, The Music Instinct, may be the juciest: It’s a direct response to Harvard psycholinguist Steven Pinker, who in a 1997 talk famously called music “auditory cheesecake” and dismissed it as evolutionarily useless, displacing demands from areas of the brain that should be handling more “important” functions like language. Patel also offers this beautiful definition of what music is: Donating = Loving
Book Club Buddy Why Multitasking May Make You Less Productive Nancy Bistritz is senior director at Nurun where she is responsible for marketing and communications initiatives in the U.S. You can follow Nurun on Twitter at @NurunUSA and read its blog at digitalforreallife.com. We’ve all been there before. You’re out having what you think is a nice meal with someone, and then the inevitable happens: the vibration on the table that can’t be ignored. It can be anything from an "urgent" call to a "How R U?" text. But in truth, it's a barrier in the way of our ability to listen and focus, not to mention the onset of new social norms that permit distracted behavior — but that's a topic for another time. The Mechanics of Multitasking Multitasking not only hinders productivity but it's actually difficult to pull off. The article explains that reading while listening to music without lyrics is possible because “reading comprehension and processing instrumental music engage different parts of the brain.” There's Only One Solution: Turn Off the Noise
SpongeBob’s effect on kids’ brains - The Checkup As a health writer, I never thought I’d have opportunity to blog about my favorite TV cartoon character, SpongeBob SquarePants. But now my day has come. I’m glad that my kids grew up during the SpongeBob era. To me, the cartoon is equal parts silly, smart and sweet. Its varied cast of characters encourages appreciation of diversity without ever even hinting at that word or that goal. Its writing is clever, its message often heart-warming. So imagine my chagrin when I read the study published this morning in the journal Pediatrics characterizing the show (identified as “a very popular fantastical cartoon about an animated sponge that lives under the sea”) as “fast-paced” and examining whether that fast pace might be harmful to children’s brain functions. People have been worrying about television’s effects on kids’ brains for decades. Today’s small study placed each of 60 4-year-old children into one of three groups. I agree with that. He throws the TV away, by the way.
Is SpongeBob bad for kids? Give the show a break This morning I turned on the news and found this headline: “Pediatricians’ group finds fault with ‘SpongeBob‘” published by Reuters. In the article, the Reuters reporter states: And Monday, the American Academy of Pediatrics will take aim at the 12-year-old Nickelodeon show, reporting a study that concludes the fast-paced show, and others like it, aren’t good for children. From the title and the content of the news article, you could conclude that the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is taking a position against the cartoon. I was initially shocked and wanted to see why the AAP would take such as drastic policy statement. After all, the AAP only takes positions on issues that have been extensively studied, such as their position against corporal punishment. But I rapidly realized that the AAP was not taking any position against SpongeBob at all, and that the AP article was entirely misleading (most likely because the reporter may not know how the AAP publication process works).
How to Save an Unproductive Day in 25 Minutes Violent Video Games Disrupt Emotion and Cognition in Young Men Video games may not rot your brain but they can change the way you think, a new study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America reveals. The study shows one week of playing violent video games can create changes in brain regions associated with cognitive function and emotional control in young adult men, a PR Newswire statement says. The study took a random sample of 22 young adults (18 to 29) with little exposure to violent video games. Half were asked to play a shooting game for 10 hours at home for one week and then stop for one week. The other group was asked not to play any violent video games for the same two-week period. All 22 men underwent an fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) at the beginning of the exam, after one week and at the end of the two weeks. There has been a long and controversial fight between people who say violent videos games are bad for kids and game activists who say there is little to no scientific evidence.