Social Science posts
- February 4, 2011
- 04:03 PM
- 596 views
Touching Death
by Eric Michael Johnson in The Primate Diaries
The latest stop in the #PDEx tour is being hosted by The Prancing Papio:There is something intensely animal about our relationship with the dead. As an atheist I don’t feel particular reverence or awe at the site of a cadaver. It mostly just creeps me out. But even religious believers, those who should be comfortable with the idea that a dead body retains no trace of the person they once knew, also seem to have trouble letting go of what St. Paul called “confidence in the flesh.” In funera........ Read more »
Cronin, K., van Leeuwen, E., Mulenga, I., & Bodamer, M. (2011) Behavioral response of a chimpanzee mother toward her dead infant. American Journal of Primatology. DOI: 10.1002/ajp.20927
- February 4, 2011
- 01:24 PM
- 1,200 views
Early Complex Societies & Early Organized Religions
by Cris Campbell in Genealogy of Religion
Historians have long known that the shelf life of complex societies throughout human history has been rather limited. Archaeologists are aware of this also. But how to explain it?
In a recent (open access) paper, “Cycling in the Complexity of Early Societies,” Sergey Gavrilets and colleagues mathematically modeled early complex societies using a number of variables [...]... Read more »
Gavrilets, Sergey, Anderson, David G., & Turchin, Peter. (2010) Cycling in the Complexity of Early Societies. Cliodynamics: The Journal of Theoretical and Mathematical History, 1(1), 59-80. info:/http://escholarship.org/uc/item/5536t55r
- February 4, 2011
- 12:18 PM
- 1,310 views
Culturomics does not exist
by Bjørn Østman in Pleiotropy
'Culturomics' does not exist. As far as I'm concerned, if it isn't on Wikipedia, it doesn't exist. However, it is listed on Wikipedia's Word of the year for 2010 under the designation 'Least likely to succeed'. As an amusing side note, it also says this: Most Unnecessary: refudiate (Blend of refute and repudiate used by Sarah Palin on Twitter. The laughs.... Read more »
Michel, J., Shen, Y., Aiden, A., Veres, A., Gray, M., , ., Pickett, J., Hoiberg, D., Clancy, D., Norvig, P.... (2010) Quantitative Analysis of Culture Using Millions of Digitized Books. Science, 331(6014), 176-182. DOI: 10.1126/science.1199644
- February 4, 2011
- 07:02 AM
- 1,253 views
Simple Jury Persuasion: Stand up straight but avoid gesturing with your hands in front of the jury!
by Rita Handrich in The Jury Room
Just in time for the New Year—we have breaking news in research about how to achieve success and stay on message. First, Mom was right (again)! Stand up straight! And stop talking so much with your hands! It’s distracting. While Mom was right about that first one (stand up straight!) she was wrong about the reasons [...]
Related posts:Simple Jury Persuasion: You may want to disagree with this post
Simple Jury Persuasion: Be Powerful in the Courtroom
Simple Jury Persuasion: Avoid ‘oo........ Read more »
Susan Goldin-Meadow, & Sian L. Beilock. (2010) Action’s Influence on Thought: The Case of Gesture. . Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5(6). info:/
Huang L, Galinsky AD, Gruenfeld DH, & Guillory LE. (2011) Powerful postures versus powerful roles: which is the proximate correlate of thought and behavior?. Psychological science : a journal of the American Psychological Society / APS, 22(1), 95-102. PMID: 21149853
- February 3, 2011
- 05:42 AM
- 636 views
Human (amphibious model): living in and on the water
by gregdowney in Neuroanthropology
At the beginning of the film clip, Bajau fisherman Sulbin sits on the side of a boat on the coast of Borneo, gulping air, handling his speargun. And then, he drops into the water. The footage suddenly changes and becomes arresting: silent, dreamy, slow, and so blue. Sulbin strokes deliberately and descends until he strides along the bottom of the ocean, holding his breath, and hunts for fish through handmade goggles.
Finally, after a couple of minutes, he spears a fish and heads for the su........ Read more »
Bavis, R., Powell, F., Bradford, A., Hsia, C., Peltonen, J., Soliz, J., Zeis, B., Fergusson, E., Fu, Z., Gassmann, M.... (2007) Respiratory plasticity in response to changes in oxygen supply and demand. Integrative and Comparative Biology, 47(4), 532-551. DOI: 10.1093/icb/icm070
Ferretti, G. (2001) Extreme human breath-hold diving. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 84(4), 254-271. DOI: 10.1007/s004210000377
Fitz-Clarke JR. (2006) Adverse events in competitive breath-hold diving. Undersea , 33(1), 55-62. PMID: 16602257
Ferretti G, & Costa M. (2003) Diversity in and adaptation to breath-hold diving in humans. Comparative biochemistry and physiology. Part A, Molecular , 136(1), 205-13. PMID: 14527641
Gislén A, Dacke M, Kröger RH, Abrahamsson M, Nilsson DE, & Warrant EJ. (2003) Superior underwater vision in a human population of sea gypsies. Current biology : CB, 13(10), 833-6. PMID: 12747831
Gislén A, Warrant EJ, Dacke M, & Kröger RH. (2006) Visual training improves underwater vision in children. Vision research, 46(20), 3443-50. PMID: 16806388
Parkes, M. (2005) Breath-holding and its breakpoint. Experimental Physiology, 91(1), 1-15. DOI: 10.1113/expphysiol.2005.031625
Schagatay E, van Kampen M, Emanuelsson S, & Holm B. (2000) Effects of physical and apnea training on apneic time and the diving response in humans. European journal of applied physiology, 82(3), 161-9. PMID: 10929209
SCHOLANDER PF, HAMMEL HT, LEMESSURIER H, HEMMINGSEN E, & GAREY W. (1962) Circulatory adjustment in pearl divers. Journal of applied physiology, 184-90. PMID: 13909130
- February 3, 2011
- 05:42 AM
- 662 views
Human (amphibious model): living in and on the water
by Daniel Lende in Neuroanthropology PLoS
At the beginning of the film clip, Bajau fisherman Sulbin sits on the side of a boat on the coast of Borneo, gulping air, handling his speargun. And then, he drops into the water. The footage suddenly changes and becomes arresting: silent, dreamy, slow, and so blue. Sulbin strokes deliberately and descends until he strides along the bottom of the ocean, holding his breath, and hunts for fish through handmade goggles.
Finally, after a couple of minutes, he spears a fish and heads for the su........ Read more »
Bavis, R., Powell, F., Bradford, A., Hsia, C., Peltonen, J., Soliz, J., Zeis, B., Fergusson, E., Fu, Z., Gassmann, M.... (2007) Respiratory plasticity in response to changes in oxygen supply and demand. Integrative and Comparative Biology, 47(4), 532-551. DOI: 10.1093/icb/icm070
Ferretti, G. (2001) Extreme human breath-hold diving. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 84(4), 254-271. DOI: 10.1007/s004210000377
Fitz-Clarke JR. (2006) Adverse events in competitive breath-hold diving. Undersea , 33(1), 55-62. PMID: 16602257
Ferretti G, & Costa M. (2003) Diversity in and adaptation to breath-hold diving in humans. Comparative biochemistry and physiology. Part A, Molecular , 136(1), 205-13. PMID: 14527641
Gislén A, Dacke M, Kröger RH, Abrahamsson M, Nilsson DE, & Warrant EJ. (2003) Superior underwater vision in a human population of sea gypsies. Current biology : CB, 13(10), 833-6. PMID: 12747831
Gislén A, Warrant EJ, Dacke M, & Kröger RH. (2006) Visual training improves underwater vision in children. Vision research, 46(20), 3443-50. PMID: 16806388
Parkes, M. (2005) Breath-holding and its breakpoint. Experimental Physiology, 91(1), 1-15. DOI: 10.1113/expphysiol.2005.031625
Schagatay E, van Kampen M, Emanuelsson S, & Holm B. (2000) Effects of physical and apnea training on apneic time and the diving response in humans. European journal of applied physiology, 82(3), 161-9. PMID: 10929209
SCHOLANDER PF, HAMMEL HT, LEMESSURIER H, HEMMINGSEN E, & GAREY W. (1962) Circulatory adjustment in pearl divers. Journal of applied physiology, 184-90. PMID: 13909130
- February 3, 2011
- 01:59 AM
- 1,410 views
The Social Functions of Blushing
by Krystal D'Costa in Anthropology in Practice
It's happened to all of us. The poorly timed remark, tripping over an uneven sidewalk, a torn seam or an open button or zipper, or even the dreaded toilet paper stuck to the bottom of a shoe—embarrassment can strike at any time.
It's easy to feel as though embarrassing things happen only to you. (We tend to over-emphasize embarrassing events, but I'll let it slide if you want to pretend that you're socially savvy.) In fact, earlier this week, I came close to falling flat on my bac........ Read more »
Keltner, D., & Anderson, C. (2000) Saving Face for Darwin: The Functions and Uses of Embarrassment. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9(6), 187-192. DOI: 10.1111/1467-8721.00091
Miller, Rowland S. (2001) On the Primacy of Embarrassment in Social Life. Psychological Inquiry, 12(1), 30-33. info:/
NICOLAOU, M., PAES, T., & WAKELIN, S. (2006) Blushing: an embarrassing condition, but treatable. The Lancet, 367(9519), 1297-1299. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(06)68554-1
- February 2, 2011
- 01:59 PM
- 894 views
Address the Most Dangerous Feature of Your Product: Dishonesty
by Persuasion Strategies in Persuasive Litigator
By: Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm - One stereotype of the litigious American society suggests that jurors are willing to hold manufacturers and sellers responsible for even the most obvious product dangers: a ladder that allows its user to fall, or a cup of coffee that turns out to be hot. While anecdotes abound -- some true, and some false -- our experience is that product danger alone rarely drives a verdict. Instead, jurors need to see something else in order to generate sufficient anger to delivery any........ Read more »
Klesges RC, Sherrill-Mittleman DA, Debon M, Talcott GW, & Vanecek RJ. (2009) Do we believe the tobacco industry lied to us? Association with smoking behavior in a military population. Health education research, 24(6), 909-21. PMID: 19528314
Mazanov, Jason . (2007) Changes in adolescent smoking behaviour and knowledge of health consequences of smoking. Australian Journal of Psychology, 59(3), 176-180. info:/
- February 2, 2011
- 08:00 AM
- 1,613 views
Why Men and Women Gain Weight
by Arya M. Sharma in Dr. Sharma's Obesity Notes
In my interactions with patients, I always ask them to tell me when their weight problems began and what they believe contributed to their weight gain.
Broadly speaking, there are two categories: people, who were big (or were considered big by others) as long as they can remember and those, who can often clearly pinpoint when [...]... Read more »
Smith LH, & Holm L. (2011) Obesity in a life-course perspective: An exploration of lay explanations of weight gain. Scandinavian journal of public health. PMID: 21270139
- February 2, 2011
- 07:02 AM
- 1,047 views
Who knew we’d be such grumpy (but NOT old!) men and women?
by Doug Keene in The Jury Room
You probably intuited this already but age is simply not settling well on our largest generation. From the exuberance of youth (“don’t trust anyone over 30”) to the contemplation of approaching 65—Boomers feel anxious about their futures. They are afraid they will outlive Medicare. But that isn’t all that is vexing the Boomers. A recent [...]
Related posts:Generation Y (aka the Millennials): Just the facts
The Millennials (aka ‘Gen Y’): On tattoos, TMI, tolerance and technology........ Read more »
D’Vera Cohn, & Paul Taylor. (2010) Baby Boomers Approach 65 – Glumly. Pew Research Center. info:/
- February 2, 2011
- 06:19 AM
- 851 views
Employability viewpoints
by David Winter in Careers - in Theory
In my last posting about the E word I focused on various models of employability (the fun bit in my geeky world!). In this post I wanted to look at some of the various definitions of employability and what those definitions say about the people who construct them. Employers The CBI defines employability as… …a [...]... Read more »
McQuaid, R., & Lindsay, C. (2005) The concept of employability. Urban Studies, 42(2), 197-219. DOI: 10.1080/0042098042000316100
- February 1, 2011
- 04:00 AM
- 718 views
How to navigate a Viking longboat with a king, some bees and a DC-8
Jo Marchant has reported on a new paper, On the trail of Vikings with polarized skylight: experimental study of the atmospheric optical prerequisites allowing polarimetric navigation by Viking seafarers, for Nature news. She also adds more on her own blog including the link to the paper that you can access for free. The research is [...]... Read more »
Horvath, G., Barta, A., Pomozi, I., Suhai, B., Hegedus, R., Akesson, S., Meyer-Rochow, B., & Wehner, R. (2011) On the trail of Vikings with polarized skylight: experimental study of the atmospheric optical prerequisites allowing polarimetric navigation by Viking seafarers. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 366(1565), 772-782. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2010.0194
- February 1, 2011
- 02:00 AM
- 404 views
100 cities ranked according to greenhouse gas emissions
by SAGE Insight in SAGE Insight
Cities and greenhouse gas emissions: moving forwardFrom Environment and Urbanization This study examines greenhouse gas emissions for over 100 cities in 33 countries and suggests 28 policy tools that city governments can use to take action on climate change. It looks at who produces the most, and urges a new look at cities and climate change. [...]... Read more »
Daniel Hoornweg,, Lorraine Sugar and, & Claudia Lorena Trejos Gomez. (2011) Cities and greenhouse gas emissions: moving forward . Environment and Urbanization . info:/10.1177/0956247810392270
- January 31, 2011
- 12:46 PM
- 881 views
Occupational Therapy & the Cognitive Behavioural Approach For Pain Management – ii
by Adiemusfree in Healthskills: Skills for Healthy Living
In the first post on my commentary of Robinson, Kennedy and Harmon’s review of occupational therapy for chronic pain, I argued that they have misinterpreted the cognitive behavioural approach to pain management, and in particular, that they appear to hold an outmoded view of pain as either biological/organic or psychological, and refute the place of … Read more... Read more »
Robinson, K., Kennedy, N., & Harmon, D. (2011) Is Occupational Therapy Adequately Meeting the Needs of People With Chronic Pain?. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 65(1), 106-113. DOI: 10.5014/ajot.2011.09160
- January 31, 2011
- 11:16 AM
- 1,060 views
Do all cities have neighborhoods?
by Michael Smith in Wide Urban World
It's hard to imagine a modern city that does not have neighborhoods. What would residential areas in such a city look like? Is this even possible? Given the prominence of neighborhoods in social science research on life in cities today, I would guess that all modern cities do have neighborhoods. If a sociologist or planner, for example, identified a city that lacked neighborhoods, I'm sure they would study the situation and publicize it for being so strange.For premodern cities whose housing and........ Read more »
Smith, M. (2010) The archaeological study of neighborhoods and districts in ancient cities. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 29(2), 137-154. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2010.01.001
- January 31, 2011
- 08:30 AM
- 596 views
Most people are a bit crazy, and believers are a bit crazier than most
Full-blown delusions are thought to be pretty rare. By that I mean the truly bizarre delusions, like Capgras syndrome (when you think that relatives or close friends are sometimes replaced by identical-looking impostors), or Subjective Doubles (a belief that there is another person who looks and acts like you) and Controlled Thoughts (that your thoughts are not fully under your control).
It's actually quite difficult to find out just how common these kinds of delusions are. You can't just ask p........ Read more »
Pechey R, & Halligan P. (2011) The Prevalence of Delusion-Like Beliefs Relative to Sociocultural Beliefs in the General Population. Psychopathology, 44(2), 106-115. PMID: 21196811
- January 31, 2011
- 07:02 AM
- 900 views
Does ‘death qualification’ systematically bias our juries?
by Rita Handrich in The Jury Room
Despite reports that death penalty use and support continue to decline and stories of freed innocent prisoners, researchers continue to explore the impact of ‘death qualification’ on the makeup of American juries. Recently, a study published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology, examined whether the ‘death qualification’ process in jury selection systematically excludes jurors based [...]
Related posts:Is racial bias fueling anti-Obama rhetoric?
Propaganda, Dogmatism & B........ Read more »
Summers, A., Hayward, RD, & Miller, MK. (2010) Death qualification as systematic exclusion of jurors with certain religious and other characteristics. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 40(12). info:/
- January 30, 2011
- 03:52 PM
- 852 views
Smoking and the Slave Trade
by Dirk Hanson in Addiction Inbox
To Africa and back again.
[Queen Nzinga (smoking a pipe) with Her Entourage, Kingdom of Kongo, 1670s]--------->
In the 17th Century, tobacco, the prototypical New World stimulant, was introduced to Africa by European traders. By 1607, tobacco was being cultivated in Sierra Leone, and in 1611 a Swiss doctor commented on how the soldiers of the “Kingdom of Kongo” fought hunger by grinding up tobacco leaves and setting them on fire, “so that a strong smoke is produced, which they inhale........ Read more »
Handler, J. (2009) The Middle Passage and the Material Culture of Captive Africans. Slavery , 30(1), 1-26. DOI: 10.1080/01440390802673773
- January 29, 2011
- 02:00 PM
- 809 views
Occupational therapy & the cognitive behavioural approach for pain management
by Adiemusfree in Healthskills: Skills for Healthy Living
I have always resisted being labelled. I am much more than my gender, my marital status, my diagnosis, my professional background. I also feel quite uncomfortable about being told what I may or may not do (maybe that’s where my kids get it from?!). I don’t like being told what is and isn’t ‘my role’ … Read more... Read more »
Robinson, K., Kennedy, N., & Harmon, D. (2011) Is Occupational Therapy Adequately Meeting the Needs of People With Chronic Pain?. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 65(1), 106-113. DOI: 10.5014/ajot.2011.09160
- January 29, 2011
- 01:12 PM
- 708 views
Waste lands
by Sarah Stephen in An ecological oratorio
Modern cities generate huge amounts of rubbish, and disposing of this is one of the most pressing environmental problems. One can bury it of course, or burn it in incinerators, or just dump it in a big pile just outside the city. This is the approach chosen for the Jardim Gramacho in Rio, Brazil, one of the worlds largest rubbish dumps, which is the subject of the Oscar nominated film, Waste Land.*Seventy percent of Rio's rubbish arrives at Jardim Gramacho, which is an astonishing 7,0........ Read more »
Porto MF, Juncá DC, Gonçalves Rde S, & Filhote MI. (2004) [Garbage, work, and health: a case study of garbage pickers at the metropolitan landfill in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil]. Cadernos de saude publica / Ministerio da Saude, Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz, Escola Nacional de Saude Publica, 20(6), 1503-14. PMID: 15608851
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