Philosophy posts
- June 4, 2012
- 12:10 AM
- 391 views
I’m (Not) Sexy And I (Don’t) Know It
by Jesse Marczyk in Pop Psychology
Imagine, for a moment, that someone you know tells you that they hate tomatoes, and how people who like tomatoes are seriously intellectually misguided. Later, you find that same person enjoying a BLT, going on about how much they really … Continue reading →... Read more »
Burson KA, Larrick RP, & Klayman J. (2006) Skilled or unskilled, but still unaware of it: how perceptions of difficulty drive miscalibration in relative comparisons. Journal of personality and social psychology, 90(1), 60-77. PMID: 16448310
Kruger, J., & Dunning, D. (1999) Unskilled and unaware of it: How difficulties in recognizing one's own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(6), 1121-1134. DOI: 10.1037//0022-3514.77.6.1121
- June 3, 2012
- 12:01 PM
- 662 views
A Tale of Two Huxleys
by TheCellularScale in The Cellular Scale
Andrew Huxley is one of the founders of both modern electrophysiology and computational neuroscience, and is consequently a personal hero of mine. His recent (May 30, 2012) death inspired me to learn more about his life.Andrew Huxley (1917-2012)Andrew Huxley along with Alan Hodgkin discovered the mechanisms which governed the action potential in nerve cells. They inserted micro-electrodes into the squid giant axon and recorded the sodium and potassium currents which generated ........ Read more »
HODGKIN AL, & HUXLEY AF. (1952) A quantitative description of membrane current and its application to conduction and excitation in nerve. The Journal of physiology, 117(4), 500-44. PMID: 12991237
- June 1, 2012
- 12:13 PM
- 457 views
Science/Scientists Under Attack…
by gunnardw in The Beast, the Bard and the Bot
Earlier this month, a group of so-called eco-anarchists (keep in mind though that eco-anarchism is a fairly wide designation, comprising diverse lines of thought) has sent a letter to an Italian newspaper in which they claim responsibility for shooting Roberto … Continue reading →... Read more »
Corral, G. (2011) Stand up against the anti-technology terrorists. Nature, 476(7361), 373-373. DOI: 10.1038/476373a
- May 28, 2012
- 07:19 PM
- 416 views
Group Selectionists Make Basic Errors (Again)
by Jesse Marczyk in Pop Psychology
In my last post, I wrote about a basic error most people seem to make when thinking about evolutionary psychology: they confuse the ultimate adaptive function of a psychological module with the proximate functioning of said module. Put briefly, the … Continue reading →... Read more »
Gintis, H., Bowles, S., Boyd, R., & Fehr, E. (2003) Explaining altruistic behavior in humans. Evolution and Human Behavior, 24(3), 153-172. DOI: 10.1016/S1090-5138(02)00157-5
- May 23, 2012
- 02:47 PM
- 331 views
Rich People May Not Be So Unethical
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
There was quite the stir a few weeks back about a psychology paper claiming that rich people aren't very nice: Higher social class predicts increased unethical behavior. The article, in PNAS, reported that upper class individuals were more likely to lie, cheat, and break traffic laws.However, these results have been branded "unbelievable" in a Letter to PNAS just published. Psychologist Gregory Francis notes that the paper contains the results of 7 seperate experiments, and they all found statis........ Read more »
Francis, G. (2012) Evidence that publication bias contaminated studies relating social class and unethical behavior. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1203591109
- May 20, 2012
- 01:05 PM
- 315 views
The Difference Between Adaptive And Adapted
by Jesse Marczyk in Pop Psychology
This is going to be something of a back to basics post, but a necessary one. Necessary, that is, if the comments I’ve been seeing lately are indicative of the thought processes of the population at large. It would seem … Continue reading →... Read more »
Conley, T. (2011) Perceived proposer personality characteristics and gender differences in acceptance of casual sex offers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100(2), 309-329. DOI: 10.1037/a0022152
- May 18, 2012
- 04:54 PM
- 321 views
Study: Want to Look Aggressive? Wear Black
by David Berreby in Mind Matters
Psychology is rich in findings that emerge from complex statistics done on the behavior of college students behaving for money or course credit. It's fair to wonder, then, how well those findings relate to the real world: Maybe a result is peculiar to undergrads, or maybe it's a subtle effect that ...Read More
... Read more »
Webster, G., Urland, G., & Correll, J. (2011) Can Uniform Color Color Aggression? Quasi-Experimental Evidence From Professional Ice Hockey. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 3(3), 274-281. DOI: 10.1177/1948550611418535
- May 17, 2012
- 01:02 AM
- 353 views
Where Has Our Capitalist Spirit Gone?
by Jason Carr in Wired Cosmos
The Source of Consumption and Commodity Max Weber was concerned, sociologically, on the effects of class, status, party, and the bureaucratic nature of the struggling lower classes in everyday life. He, too, spent much time contemplating religion (since it has been known to shape party), status, and the daily life of citizens, as well as effecting attitudes [...]... Read more »
Coser, L., & Agger, B. (1991) The Decline of Discourse: Reading, Writing and Resistance in Postmodern Capitalism. Contemporary Sociology, 20(2), 282. DOI: 10.2307/2072981
- May 14, 2012
- 10:38 AM
- 382 views
The Impact of Death on Belief Systems
by Jason Carr in Wired Cosmos
As demonstrated in Jessica L. Tracey’s paper, Death and Science: The Existential Underpinnings of Belief in Intelligent Design and Discomfort with Evolution (referenced below), many turn to intelligent design theory in search for meaning when faced with their own mortality. Despite the scientific proof supporting evolutionary theory (and the one that I believe is most accurate), [...]... Read more »
Tracy JL, Hart J, & Martens JP. (2011) Death and science: the existential underpinnings of belief in intelligent design and discomfort with evolution. PloS one, 6(3). PMID: 21479169
- May 13, 2012
- 02:39 PM
- 331 views
Making Your Business My Business
by Jesse Marczyk in Pop Psychology
“The government has no right to do what it’s doing, unless it’s doing what I want it to do” – Pretty much everyone everywhere. As most people know by now, North Carolina recently voted on and approved an amendment to the … Continue reading →... Read more »
Weeden, J., Cohen, A., & Kenrick, D. (2008) Religious attendance as reproductive support. Evolution and Human Behavior, 29(5), 327-334. DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2008.03.004
- May 8, 2012
- 05:19 PM
- 295 views
Love Pill #9
by eHarmony Labs in eHarmony Labs Blog
Would you take a pill to save your relationship? Researchers are suggesting that this type of “medicine” might not be too far off. ... Read more »
Savulescu, J., & Sandberg, A. (2008) Neuroenhancement of Love and Marriage: The Chemicals Between Us. Neuroethics, 1(1), 31-44. DOI: 10.1007/s12152-007-9002-4
- May 4, 2012
- 09:07 AM
- 475 views
Mutant Flu Study (Finally) Published
by gunnardw in The Beast, the Bard and the Bot
Once upon a time… There were two studies, one performed in the Netherlands, one in Japan, that showed how the avian flu virus could become more dangerous for human beings. Normally, the avian flu (or H5N1) is very inefficient in … Continue reading →... Read more »
Imai Masaki, Watanabe Tokiko, Hatta Masato, Das Subash C., Ozawa Makoto, Shinya Kyoko, Zhong Gongxun, Hanson Anthony, Katsura Hiroaki, & Watanabe Shinji. (2012) Experimental adaptation of an influenza H5 HA confers respiratory droplet transmission to a reassortant H5 HA/H1N1 virus in ferrets. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature10831
- May 2, 2012
- 12:53 PM
- 648 views
Why This Horde of Idiots is No Genius
by Miss Behavior in The Scorpion and the Frog
At first look (in Part 1 of this post), swarm theory seems to predict that the larger the social group, the better the resulting group decisions and behaviors. Then, with over 300 million of us in the U.S., shouldn’t we only be making brilliant decisions? And with over 7 billion worldwide, shouldn’t we have already prevented all international conflicts, cancer, and environmental destruction? And why the heck is Snooki still everywhere we look?! A riot in Vancouver, Canada after the Vancouve........ Read more »
Seeley, T., Visscher, P., Schlegel, T., Hogan, P., Franks, N., & Marshall, J. (2011) Stop Signals Provide Cross Inhibition in Collective Decision-Making by Honeybee Swarms. Science, 335(6064), 108-111. DOI: 10.1126/science.1210361
List, C., Elsholtz, C., & Seeley, T. (2009) Independence and interdependence in collective decision making: an agent-based model of nest-site choice by honeybee swarms. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1518), 755-762. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2008.0277
- April 25, 2012
- 11:54 AM
- 627 views
Can a Horde of Idiots be a Genius?
by Miss Behavior in The Scorpion and the Frog
Let’s face it: The typical individual is not that bright. Just check out these human specimens: Yet somehow, if you get enough numbskulls together, the group can make some pretty intelligent decisions. We’ve seen this in a wide variety of organisms facing a number of different challenges.In a brilliant series of studies, Jean-Louis Deneubourg, a professor at the Free University of Brussels, and his colleagues tested the abilities of Argentine ants (a common dark-brown ant ........ Read more »
Couzin, I. (2009) Collective cognition in animal groups. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13(1), 36-43. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2008.10.002
Goss, S., Aron, S., Deneubourg, J., & Pasteels, J. (1989) Self-organized shortcuts in the Argentine ant. Naturwissenschaften, 76(12), 579-581. DOI: 10.1007/BF00462870
Dussutour, A., Nicolis, S., Deneubourg, J., & Fourcassié, V. (2006) Collective decisions in ants when foraging under crowded conditions. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 61(1), 17-30. DOI: 10.1007/s00265-006-0233-x
List C, Elsholtz C, & Seeley TD. (2009) Independence and interdependence in collective decision making: an agent-based model of nest-site choice by honeybee swarms. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 364(1518), 755-62. PMID: 19073474
Dell'Ariccia, G., Dell'Omo, G., Wolfer, D., & Lipp, H. (2008) Flock flying improves pigeons' homing: GPS track analysis of individual flyers versus small groups. Animal Behaviour, 76(4), 1165-1172. DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2008.05.022
- April 19, 2012
- 07:49 PM
- 452 views
The fertile 'philosophy' of homeopathy
by Lee Turnpenny in The Mawk Moth Profligacies
On the marketing of homeopathy and its claimed effectiveness as treatment for infertility... Read more »
Brien, S., Lachance, L., Prescott, P., McDermott, C., & Lewith, G. (2010) Homeopathy has clinical benefits in rheumatoid arthritis patients that are attributable to the consultation process but not the homeopathic remedy: a randomized controlled clinical trial. Rheumatology, 50(6), 1070-1082. DOI: 10.1093/rheumatology/keq234
- April 18, 2012
- 10:55 AM
- 596 views
It Doesn’t Always Pay to Kill Your Siblings
by Miss Behavior in The Scorpion and the Frog
A mother reed warbler feeding her "adoptive" murderous cuckoo chick. Does she really think this is her child? Photo by Per Harald Olsen on Wikimedia Commons.A woman, driven to not raise her own child, leaves her baby in another woman’s nursery, killing another baby that is there and replacing it with her own. As soon as the transplanted baby is strong enough, it slowly, methodically kills all the other children in the nursery, hording all of the adoptive mother’s attention for itself. With t........ Read more »
Gloag, R., Tuero, D., Fiorini, V., Reboreda, J., & Kacelnik, A. (2011) The economics of nestmate killing in avian brood parasites: a provisions trade-off. Behavioral Ecology, 23(1), 132-140. DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arr166
- April 15, 2012
- 05:33 AM
- 349 views
How A Stroke Changed Katherine Sherwood's Art
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
In 1997, American artist Katherine Sherwood was 44 when she suffered a major stroke. She writes about her experience and how it changed her work in a fascinating article just out, How a Cerebral Hemorrhage Altered My ArtAll of the images below are examples of her work, taken from the paper.Sherwood writes that she had long been interested in the brain. She incorporated neuroscience themes into her work even before the stroke. Here's a 1990 piece: Then, out of the blue, her life was changed:........ Read more »
Sherwood, K. (2012) How a Cerebral Hemorrhage Altered My Art. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00055
- April 11, 2012
- 02:01 PM
- 582 views
The Social Punishment of Samantha Brick
by Miss Behavior in The Scorpion and the Frog
An interesting thing happened this week in the world of collective human behavior. But before we go into that, let me ask you two questions: Have you heard of Samantha Brick? On a scale of 1 to 10, how attractive do you think she is? Samantha Brick, a journalist, wrote an article for the Daily Mail called “'There are downsides to looking this pretty': Why women hate me for being beautiful”. Naturally, the response to hearing a story like this is, “Well, what does she look like?” Luckily ........ Read more »
Tibbetts, E., & Izzo, A. (2010) Social Punishment of Dishonest Signalers Caused by Mismatch between Signal and Behavior. Current Biology, 20(18), 1637-1640. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2010.07.042
- April 6, 2012
- 09:40 PM
- 564 views
Real or Not Real: NeuroTorture
by TheCellularScale in The Cellular Scale
I am not going to lie, I recently got caught up in Hunger Games fever, tearing through all three books at a breakneck pace and staying up way too late doing so. While these books raise interesting questions on some of my favorite topics (like 'how much is too much to sacrifice for victory?'), one particular neuroethics issue jumped out and stung me.Without divulging any plot points or spoilers, I will explain:In the last book, Mockingjay, a good guy is taken hostage by the bad guys.&nb........ Read more »
Kindt M, Soeter M, & Vervliet B. (2009) Beyond extinction: erasing human fear responses and preventing the return of fear. Nature neuroscience, 12(3), 256-8. PMID: 19219038
- April 4, 2012
- 10:28 AM
- 685 views
Animal Mass Suicide and the Lemming Conspiracy
by Miss Behavior in The Scorpion and the Frog
Ticked off Norway lemming doesn't like gossip!Photo from Wikimedia Commons by Frode Inge Helland We all know the story: Every few years, millions of lemmings, driven by a deep-seated urge, run and leap off a cliff only to be dashed on the rocks below and eventually drowned in the raging sea. Stupid lemmings. It’s a story with staying power: short, not-so-sweet, and to the rocky point. But it is a LIE. And who, you may ask, would tell us such a horrendous fabrication? Walt Disney! Well, ........ Read more »
Ramsden E, & Wilson D. (2010) The nature of suicide: science and the self-destructive animal. Endeavour, 34(1), 21-4. PMID: 20144484
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