Rick's blog
Opinion - Stephanie Coontz: Too close for comfort - sacbee.com
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Ever since the Census Bureau released figures last
month showing that married-couple households are now a minority, my
phone has been ringing off the hook with calls from people asking: "How
can we save marriage? How can we make Americans understand that
marriage is the most significant emotional connection they will ever
make, the one place to find social support and personal fulfillment?"
I think these are the wrong questions -- indeed, such questions would
have been almost unimaginable through most of history. It has only been
in the last century that Americans have put all their emotional eggs in
the basket of coupled love. Because of this change, many of us have
found joys in marriage our great-great-grandparents never did. But we
have also neglected our other relationships, placing too many burdens
on a fragile institution and making social life poorer in the process.
A study released this year showed just how dependent we've become on
marriage. Three sociologists at the University of Arizona and Duke
University found that from 1985 to 2004 Americans reported a marked
decline in the number of people with whom they discussed meaningful
matters. People reported fewer close relationships with co-workers,
extended family members, neighbors and friends. The only close
relationship where more people said they discussed important matters in
2004 than in 1985 was marriage.
From Talaris.org:
This research-based timeline is organized by a child's age. It serves as a general guide to the five amazing ways a child grows, from birth to 5.
- Social - Emotional - how children feel and how they learn to relate to others
- Cognitive - how children learn and think
- Language - how children learn sounds, words, and sentences
- Sensory - how children hear, see, taste, smell and feel
- Motor Skills - how children learn to skill to sit up, crawl, walk, and run
As you'll see, each milestone shows a range of ages typically
seen in children's development, but a child may not meet every
milestone and still be progressing normally. Don't be surprised if
your child's growth is different from what's included on this
timeline, or if your child develops more quickly in some areas than
in others. Above all, enjoy learning about the many fascinating ways
children develop. If you have any concerns about your child's growth
and development, please seek a health care professional.
Timeline.
There are two ways to submit content to the site. Here are the choices:
- Personal Blog Entry
I'm imagining that this will be the most frequent choice. In a blog entry, you can document your thoughts, initiate a conversation, or post something interesting that you've found and think others might be interested in. Click on "create content" and then "blog entry" on the navigation menu. This will allow you to collect your content in one place that others can access. If blog posts are particularly interesting to the whole community, they can be promoted to the front page.
Also, if you're quoting from an article, just pick a paragraph or two that makes your point, and then include a link. Folks can go read the whole thing on the original site.
- Event
You can let others know about an event by clicking on "create content" and then "event" on the navigation menu. Set the day and time with the menus, then add a description of the event in the text field.
You can also comment on other's posts by clicking on the title of a post and scrolling to the bottom of the page.
[via Onegoodmove]
Here is an excerpt from Julia Sweeney's "Letting Go Of God" part of the
"This American Life: In Defence of Godlessness" program on WBEZ
Program Date 06/03/05
Julia's faith began to crack after reading Biblical passages like the one
pictured here, of Abraham about to cut the throat of his beloved son,
Isaac.
Here's an interview with Julie Sweeney on Fresh Air with Terri Gross.
Lab report: James Morgan on the science that's shaping our futurePeople often say there's no such thing as true altruism. I'm willing to bet that those people are Audi drivers.Have you seen the new Audi advert yet? A man looks up to see silver light streaking across the night sky. After a montage of clips from the Apollo landings, we learn it is not a Nasa space shuttle, but the Audi A6.Then comes a subtitle which reads: "To date, Nasa has filed 6509 patents. In developing the A6, Audi filed 9621."That's quite a boast, but, hang on, isn't there an irony here? In the words of one blogger, "To paraphrase Audi, 'We're better than Nasa, because they let everybody else benefit from everything they learned during Apollo. We're making sure you can't. Please buy our car, though.'"
Too good to be true? Altruism’s better for you - The Herald
Do we have a “God gene,” or a “God module”? I'm referring to claims that a number of you may have noticed. Just last week, a cover story of Time magazine was called "The God Gene: Does our deity compel us to seek a higher power?" Believe it or not, some scientists say yes. And a number of years earlier, there were claims that the human brain is equipped with a “God module,” a subsystem of the brain shaped by evolution to cause us to have a religious belief. "Brain's God module may affect religious intensity," according to the headline of the Los Angeles Times. In this evening's talk, I want to evaluate those claims.
Link
I'm a Paul Ekman fan, and there is a great post about him at Mind Hacks (with lots of cool links). Go check it out.
Science Blog
In the study, the researchers had two groups of women take an exam-like test that included two math sections separated by a verbal/essay section.
The math questions were identical, but the essays differed. One put forth the theory that men were genetically advantaged compared to women when it came to math. Another agreed that men outperformed women in math but explained that this was due to environment, not genes. A third essay contended there were no gender differences in math ability, and the fourth essay avoided the subject but did "remind" women test-takers that they were females by discussing women artists.
Did anyone go? Any thoughts?
If you can't play with the quicktime plugin, then download the mp3 file here.
To continue the discussion from seminar, I'd like to hear about people's early experience with indoctrination through cultural memes. What memes did you encounter as a child? Do you remember how you felt at the time? How was that particular meme introduced to you? Do children undergo the same kind of introduction today?
Check out this video of Sam Harris, author of End of Faith.
- 22% are certain that Jesus will return.
- 22% are pretty sure.
"That means that 44% of Americans would look at a mushroom cloud and see a silver lining."
Please, if you haven't put up a picture on your profile, now is the time. It's important that we be able to know who we're communicating with, and be able to bridge between class and blog. Having a visual really helps this process.
Use this space to discuss the readings on moral development for week 4 such as Kohlberg, Piaget, and Bloom.
Use this thread to discuss the reading from Descartes' Baby for week 4. Also, the material from Non-Western Classics chapter in Diessner & Tiegs.
antropologi.info
Currents online, University of California
In an invited lead article in the current issue of the influential journal Human Development, UCSC psychology professor Per Gjerde challenges his colleagues to reconsider popular ideas about the role of culture in human development.
Much of the trouble stems from the use of nations as proxies for cultural units, said Gjerde. Notions of culture are linked to national boundaries and geographical areas, like “East” and “West,” fueling generalizations about “American individualism” and “Asian collectivism,” said Gjerde.
Gjerde is critical of the fieldwork that forms the basis for most notions of culture, saying it has been conducted in “limited and bounded social contexts” and that the fixation on groups has obscured the exploration of variation and complexity within and between human beings.
Gjerde’s model would take a more interdisciplinary approach to the study of culture, incorporating the writings of anthropology and other fields, and it would consider the influence of power, coercion, and class differences on individual psychological development.
Here's the link to Frontline that we discussed in class.
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