ARCHIVE - Rick's blog

ARCHIVE - Discussion Thread: Week 7

Rick — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:58:57 -0800

Here's a place to discuss the content of the chapter: "Hot Heads".

ARCHIVE - Week 6: Discussion Thread

Rick — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:59:22 -0800

This is an open thread for discussion of topics related to Pinker's chapter titled: "Good Ideas." Please let us know what's on your mind.

ARCHIVE - The "extended-contact effect"

Rick — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:56:19 -0800

In some new studies, psychologists have been able to establish a close relationship between diverse pairs — black and white, Latino and Asian, black and Latino — in a matter of hours. That relationship immediately reduces conscious and unconscious bias in both people, and also significantly reduces prejudice toward the other group in each individual's close friends.

This extended-contact effect, as it is called, travels like a benign virus through an entire peer group, counteracting subtle or not so subtle mistrust.

"It's important to remember that implicit biases are out there, absolutely; but I think that that's only half the story," said Linda R. Tropp, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts. "With broader changes in the society at large, people can also become more willing to reach across racial boundaries, and that goes for both minorities and whites."

ARCHIVE - Wikispaces link

Rick — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 12:30:43 -0800

here.

ARCHIVE - Discussion Thread: Week 5

Rick — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:10:39 -0700

Here is an open thread to post seminar questions pertaining to the reading for week 5, i.e., The Mind's Eye. Please post thoughts or questions that you'd like to follow up on.

ARCHIVE - Starting points

Rick — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 13:21:33 -0700

I'm going to provide some links here that folks can use to get started on their project. I'll break it down by topic, but there are a few general links that you all may be interested in:

Now for some topic specific links:

With respect to the tolerance of difference/racism group, you may be interested in Kurzban, R., Tooby, J. & Cosmides, L. (2001). Can race be erased?: Coalitional computation and social categorization. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 98(26), 15387-15392. Also see: Cosmides, L., Tooby, J. & Kurzban, R. (2003). Perceptions of race. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 7(4), 173-179 (April).
For the diet/nutrition topic, there are a couple of books you might start with: Nestle, Marion 2002 Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health. University of California Press, and Counihan, Carole and Van Esterik, Penny (eds) 1997 Food and Culture: A Reader.
On the topic of education and learning styles, here's a nice primer. I also mentioned Jerry Fodor and Howard Gardner as resources.
For altruism/belief/morality/religion, the work of Marc Hauser should get you a lot of good references. Hauser has a recent book: Moral Minds, and that will have all the references you'll need.
With respect to depression/happiness, I mentioned one author: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. (I notice that his wiki entry is pretty thin -- hint, hint.) Another possible source is: Hagen EH (under review) Gestures of despair and hope: A strategic reinterpretation of deliberate self-harm. (You may be able to get a copy by emailing the author.)

ARCHIVE - Discussion Thread: Week 4

Rick — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:41:12 -0700

Here is a thread to post seminar questions pertaining to the reading for week 4, i.e., Revenge of the Nerds. You can also post about any questions that you'd like to follow up on.

ARCHIVE - Uniqueness of the Human Brain

Rick — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:01:06 -0700

ARCHIVE - Banjo playing during brain surgery

Rick — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:56:10 -0700

Now you can truly call Eddie Adcock the Bionic Banjo Player --and don't forget Gearhead Guitarist-- as he recovers from some remarkable brain surgeries to control a right-hand tremor.

The three-part surgery, termed Deep Brain Stimulation, involved implantation of electrodes into the brain as well as insertion of a palm-sized battery-powered generator within the chest wall, plus lead wires to connect the two. The technologically-advanced procedure was performed in multiple stages over the month of August in Nashville, Tennessee, at Vanderbilt Medical Center, a teaching and research hospital which is a world leader in neurological studies and surgeries.

Those neurosurgeons were eager to operate on Eddie, with his life-long high level of musical accomplishment and the unique requirements related to his fine motor skills. During the brain-implantation stage of the surgery, he was kept conscious in order to be able to play his Deering GoodTime banjo and assist the team of surgeons in directing the fine-tuning of their placement of electrodes in the brain -- an operating-room 'first'.

ARCHIVE - Discussion Thread: Week 3

Rick — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 08:45:31 -0700

Here is a thread to post seminar questions pertaining to the reading for week 3, i.e., the second half of the chapter: Thinking Machines (p. 98-148). You can also post about any questions that you'd like to follow up on.