Being Human

http://differencesanddiscrimination.wikispaces.com/

check yourself before you wreck yourself!

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

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.

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."

Read more.

Hi my fellow groupies. Not sure if anybody reads this, but in case you do...

I missed class due to patriotism, or maybe class was cancelled? If it wasn't, sorry i didn't get to hang with my project peoples. Did anyone set up a wikispace yet for our group? If so, could someone email me at home the page-name so i can find it? My home email is musicalpeace2001@yahoo.com. Thanks. Looking forward to our fun final project. ~ Su

Not sure what page this will come out on, but i'm trying to ask Rick for help. I'm in the computer lab again, and can't see the videos. They just show up as big white boxes with a little red x in the corner. What am i doing wrong? ~ Su

Hello? Anyone on here? Maybe i'm not asking this question in a place where anyone hears it... Where would i ask questions? Not sure i understand this webpage. Maybe i should try emailing Rick instead of blogging... okay.

here.

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.

So i'm in the computer lab, trying to watch some of the videos, but i can't figure out how to play them... they just have blank boxes with little red x's, not clickable. What am i doing wrong?

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:

• The Center for Evolutionary Psychology
• Steve Pinker's website at Harvard University

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.)

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.

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'.

Read more.

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.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to design a project that addresses some aspect of the human experience and improves it based on information about the evolution of the human mind. Possible topics include (but are not limited to):

1. Tolerance of difference/discrimination/racism
   • Liza/Roger/Bob
2. Diet/nutrition
   • Eamonn/Alysha/Lindsay
3. Education/learning styles
   • Matt/Kara/Ashley
4. Criminality/punishment
5. Altruism/belief/morality/religion
   • Ashley/Kendall/Tim/Lesley
6. Depression/happiness
   • Kimberly/Scott/Kristine/Erik/Judy/Su
7. ...

Here is a thread to post seminar questions pertaining to the reading for week 2, i.e., the first half of the chapter: Thinking Machines (p. 59-98). You can also add any initial thoughts you're having about the material.

TESTING