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POPSEvo Psych "Like other critics, he has no doubt that evolution shaped the human brain. How could it be otherwise, when evolution has shaped every other human organ? But evo psych's claims that human behavior is constrained by mental modules that calcified in the Stone Age make sense "only if the environmental challenges remain static enough to sculpt an instinct over evolutionary time," Pigliucci points out. If the environment, including the social environment, is instead dynamic rather than static—which all evidence suggests—then the only kind of mind that makes humans evolutionarily fit is one that is flexible and responsive, able to figure out a way to make trade-offs, survive, thrive and reproduce in whatever social and physical environment it finds itself in"
16
POPSNatural-born supernaturalists 2 interesting concepts that portrait religion and other supernaturalism as stemming: 1) Natural selection- the Darwinist angle. 2) A by-product of the human psychology.
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POPSThe Woman Who Can't Forget, (her past not more) "As I followed Price's story, I was fascinated but doubtful. I am a cognitive psychologist, and to me something didn't smell right. Everyone seems to have an uncle or cousin with "photographic" memory, but damned if they can actually give you a phone number to reach that person. The only serious scientific paper documenting photographic memory was published nearly 40 years ago, and that study has never been replicated. Price, however, is eminently real. I spent the better part of two days with her, meeting her friends and family and watching her at the office. At the end, I can honestly say that in my decade as a professor of psychology, I've never encountered anyone remotely like Jill Price."
5
POPSPsychohistory? "Unlike betting in Las Vegas, the Iowa Electronic Markets are not designed to make money for the market operators," Amaral says. "They are designed to use the wisdom of the crowds to find out what most likely will happen by aggregating the information possessed by a large number of people. This approach extends beyond politics -- prediction markets like this one exist for everything from scientific breakthroughs to box-office profits. "These studies are important because if people have some belief that these prediction markets are doing a good job, then they will pay attention to what is going on with them,"
13
POPSFearing failure An interesting read. courage has many layers one of them is the ability to look straight and face value oneself, without this one will forever remain the same.
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POPSAn evolved tendency to care about cheating? "Why does an image of a pair of eyes motivate cooperative behaviour? While it is possible that the eyes were simply more effective than the flowers at attracting people's attention to the notice, we do not believe that this is the explanation for our findings. The participants had all been informed prior to the experiment that they were supposed to pay for their drinks. Furthermore, the notice was positioned such that it was not possible that anyone making drinks would fail to see it, irrespective of the image displayed. Instead, we believe that images of eyes motivate cooperative behaviour because they induce a perception in participants of being watched. Although participants were not actually observed in either of our experimental conditions, the human perceptual system contains neurons that respond selectively to stimuli involving faces and eyes" "reputational concerns may be extremely powerful in motivating cooperative behaviour."
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POPSFalse hope syndrome "The cure for false hope is to set more reasonable goals and recognize that achieving even modest change will be difficult. And if you are older than 30, remember that your openness to new experiences is slowly declining, so you are better off making a new start today than postponing it until later. Perhaps most important of all, try to appreciate the person that you already are." I cannot disagree more! to be a human means to want the stars, to reach the unknown. yes, in the cost of not being satisfied...
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POPSThe brain and us... Now that we know a basis that affects, we can start relating to it. So i welcome these discoveries not as finite, but as a beginning...
11
POPSLoss Aversion Very interesting read. "In our distant past, this was an important survival mechanism, since it allowed us to protect each other from predators." The concept of loss aversion is escorting human everywhere. the prospect of losing is terrifying the human and overclouds the sense of adventure and game.
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POPSHeart-Warming News on Hot Coffee I like this piece, mainly because it points to so much of the unseen ecology that affects a human on the immediacy. something to think about and drink next time we are so convinced about something...
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POPSWhy Your Boss Is White, Middle-class And A Show-off A very nice study! Pointing just to the point of how things have not changed since men appeared. The more we will not attend to it, individually and otherwise, the more the gaps in relation to the advancement in technology and philosophy... will widen.
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POPS"People have found other ways to be cooperative – without God." The study also points out that in today's world religion has no monopoly on kind and generous behaviour. In many findings, non-believers acted as prosocially as believers. The last several hundred years has seen the rise of non-religious institutional mechanisms that include effective policing, courts and social surveillance. Very interesting read, on the social function of god. maybe we can say that JC, Moses and the like are history social workers :)
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POPSCan you trust your mind? "These findings have significant implications for the authenticity of reports of recovered memory experiences." "Overall, this study clearly demonstrates that false suggestions about childhood events can profoundly change people’s attitudes and behavior." This is an amazing (if i recall it is not the first one:)) study. Raising many questions regarding the validity of my self-experience and knowledge.
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POPSself- fulfilling perception "This shows that a person's level of sensitivity to being stereotyped -- their expectation that a person will behave prejudicially towards them -- may distort their perception of reality." Zooming out from the specification of the article, i think it points to the inevitability of seeing what one is "programmed" to see. where is the way out? :)
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POPSAttraction, strength and self humor the article is more elaborate. but it points towards self humor as an attractive trait but only if backed up by achievements. this too is a matter of emotional and otherwise affordability.
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POPSHappiness, not necessarily an advantage "This scientific debate raises the question of why sadness exists at all, Forgas says. “If sadness has no benefit, why is it so ubiquitous?” he asks. " Maybe happiness or sadness are obsolete descriptions? We need a different language.
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