Notes of a Psychology Watcher - Steven J. Ceresnie, Ph.D. Psychologist

Book Review: Coming Apart

2012-01-31T13:25:00.001-05:00

1/31/12. Read this book.

W. Bradford Wilcox reviews Charles Murray's new book:

"So much for the idea that the white working class remains the guardian of core American values like religious faith, hard work and marriage. Today the denizens of upscale communities like McLean, Va., New Canaan, Conn., and Palo Alto, Calif., according to Charles Murray in "Coming Apart," are now much more likely than their fellow citizens to embrace these core American values. In studying, as his subtitle has it, "the state of white America, 1960-2010," Mr. Murray turns on its head the conservative belief that bicoastal elites are dissolute and ordinary Americans are virtuous..."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203806504577181750916067234.html?KEYWORDS=charles+murray

What the Bible Teaches about Capitalism

2012-01-30T19:06:00.000-05:00

1/30/12. A Rabbi who understands the free-market system.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203806504577179303330474134.html?KEYWORDS=the+bible+and+capitalism

What's Wrong with the Teenage Mind?

2012-01-30T10:16:00.001-05:00

1/30/12.

Alison Gopnik:

"What was he thinking?" It's the familiar cry of bewildered parents trying to understand why their teenagers act the way they do.

How does the boy who can thoughtfully explain the reasons never to drink and drive end up in a drunken crash? Why does the girl who knows all about birth control find herself pregnant by a boy she doesn't even like? What happened to the gifted, imaginative child who excelled through high school but then dropped out of college, drifted from job to job and now lives in his parents' basement..."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203806504577181351486558984.html

The Tribal Psychology of Politics

2012-01-30T00:15:00.002-05:00

1/30/12.

Jonathan Haidt:

"...Haidt (pronounced like "height") made his name arguing that intuition, not reason, drives moral judgments. People are more like lawyers building a case for their gut feelings than judges reasoning toward truth. He later theorized a series of innate moral foundations that evolution etched into our brains like the taste buds on our tongues—psychological bases that underlie both the individual-protecting qualities that liberals value, like care and fairness, as well as the group-binding virtues favored by conservatives, like loyalty and authority..."

http://chronicle.com/article/Jonathan-Haidt-Decodes-the/130453/

Nature, Nurture, and Liberal Values

2012-01-29T23:22:00.000-05:00

1/29/12.

Roger Scruton:

"Human beings are diverse and live in diverse ways. Should we accept that we are diverse by nature, having followed separate evolutionary paths? Or should we suppose that we share our biological inheritance, but develop differently according to environment and culture? Over recent years scientific research has reshaped this familiar “nature-nurture” debate, which remains central to our understanding of human nature and morality..."

http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2012/01/nature-nurture-and-liberal-values-roger-scruton-jesse-prinz-david-eagleman-neuroscience/

Ritalin Gone Wrong - Updated

2012-01-29T14:10:00.002-05:00

1/29/12. L. Alan Sroufe, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Minnesota's Institute of Child Development, is the author of this article.

Dr. Stroufe's article is logical, coherent and wrong. If you type ADHD into the Google search engine, the prestigious National Institute of Mental Health web site pops up, linking you to a 46 page pamphlet on ADHD -- a disorder affecting 3 - 5 percent of youngsters under age 18 years --- a neurophysiological disorders that doctors have known about and successfully treated for decades.

There is never a shortage of articles attacking the usefulness of medication for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

My thirty-five years of clinical experience evaluating, treating, and following patients with ADHD is consistent with many research studies and reports of clinical outcomes that Ritalin and other medications for ADHD not only save lives, but block such side-effects of depression, substance abuse, delinquency, and suicide. Does the medication work for everybody --- of course not.

There are some excellent long-term studies about the effects of medication for ADHD. There is strong evidence that ADHD is a genetic disorder. ADHD is chronic --- starts in childhood, and is pervasive --- occurs across settings. Dr. Sroufe, for example, says that the environment of a child with ADHD predicted the disorder. What he doesn't say, is that an ADHD child often has a parent with ADHD ---- adding to environmental stresses such as frequent moves, domestic violence, substance abuse, and patterns of parental intrusiveness.

As one astute commenter notes, healthy, stable parents may adopt a child with ADHD and learn the benefits of medication and information about how to create a positive climate for their child. Understanding the family and a person's psychodynamics and prescribing pharmacotherapy are not incompatible, but complementary. Medication and psychological therapy for the child are soul-saving - for their child ---- and the family.

Of course having a ADHD and getting medication to treat this disorder is rarely the full answer nor takes into consideration the complexity of the problems for the child and the family.

But medication for ADHD helps many children, adolescents and adults --- not in some paradoxical way, but in helping people filter out external distractions and "put the brakes" on their emotional reactivity.

As Dr. Sroufe notes, we need comprehensive understanding of the condition. We should not be fooled that brain chemistry explains all we need to know.

We live in a time when our excitement with the tools of brain imaging, advances in understanding brain chemistry, and promoting pills for complex problems leads to what some brain researchers call neuromania.

For those who may remember, we have lived through decades of environmental mania - when the experts on the human mind told us that schizophrenia, autism and other maladies were created by refrigerator mothers, and that all emotional problems stemmed from family experience, often blaming mothers for the emotional problems of their children..

Until we have a medical test to identify ADHD, no amount of clinical experience, research or testimonials from parents or children will convince some professionals and the public of the validity of neurophysiological disorders such as ADHD.

Dr. Sroufe's article will no doubt frighten some parents, making it easier for some to grow-up with untreated ADHD --- suffering side effects such as school failure, depression, delinquency and substance abuse.

Ritalin Gone Wrong:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/opinion/sunday/childrens-add-drugs-dont-work-long-term.html?_r=2&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212

Information on Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder from the National Institute of Mental Health:

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd/index.shtml

Dr. Ned Hallowell's (co-author of "Driven to Distraction") response to Ritalin Gone Wrong:

http://www.drhallowell.com/blog/dr-hallowells-response-to-ny-times-piece-ritalin-gone-wrong/

The Science of Sword Swallowing

2012-01-26T00:11:00.002-05:00

1/26/12. On the cutting edge...

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cocktail-party-physics/2012/01/25/by-the-sword-the-science-of-sword-swallowing/

White Blight

2012-01-25T21:08:00.001-05:00

1/25/12.

Kay Hymowitz writes:

"Charles Murray depicts an increasingly two-tiered white America.

Charles Murray is back, and the debate about wealth and inequality will never be the same. Readers of the political scientist’s earlier work, especially The Bell Curve and Losing Ground, might assume that with his new book he is returning to the vexed subject of race. He is, but with a twist: Murray’s area of intensive focus (and data mining) is “the state of white America”—and it’s not what you might think.."

http://www.city-journal.org/2012/bc0125kh.html

An Honest Speech

2012-01-25T09:05:00.002-05:00

1/25/12. Mitch Daniel's response to President Obama's State of the Union.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/mitch-danielss-response-state-union_618456.html

Joseph Fischhoff, M.D. RIP

2012-01-24T22:13:00.002-05:00

1/24/12. My friend, colleague, and mentor Dr. Joseph Fischhoff died today after suffering a stroke on January 16, 2012. He was 87 years old. The I.Q. of the world has declined.

I had the privilege of meeting with Joe, a child psychiatrist, for more than 35 years. He was a remarkable man. Although trained as a psychoanalyst, he was never seduced by the religions of psychiatric theories. He went where his experience and the data took him. He was steeped in pharmacology as deeply as he understood the unconscious mind. He loved a good joke.

Joe played the trumpet like he approached life --- he knew the scales, when to improvise, and cherished effective surprises.

From his years of sailing, he always knew which way the wind was blowing.

He touched the lives of all who knew him.

To life!

Steve Ceresnie

The Detroit News:

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120126/OBITUARIES/201260385/1263/Child-psychiatrist-renowned-teacher-teachers-

Quote of the Day

2012-01-24T22:05:00.004-05:00

1/24/12.

"I tend to choose narcissists as my friends; that way I don’t worry that they’re talking about me behind my back."

--- Sara Levine

What Consciousness is Not

2012-01-24T21:59:00.001-05:00

1/24/12.

Question:How does the brain generate the mind?

Answer: We don't know.

Raymond Tallis:

"...Chalmers’s latest book, The Character of Consciousness (2010), at least begins well, and there is much in it to recommend. The early chapters are a significant contribution to clarifying and deepening the fundamental questions of the philosophy of mind:

What is consciousness? How can it be explained? Can there be a science of consciousness? What is the neural basis of consciousness? What is the place of consciousness in nature? Is consciousness physical or nonphysical? How do we know about consciousness? How do we think about consciousness? What are the contents of consciousness? How does consciousness relate to the external world? What is the unity of consciousness?

The multiplicity of these questions is to be entirely expected, given that consciousness is, as Chalmers puts it,

an extraordinary and multifaceted phenomenon whose character can be approached from many different directions. It has a phenomenological and a neurobiological character. It has a metaphysical and an epistemological character. It has a perceptual and a cognitive character. It has a unified and a differentiated character.

And that’s just for starters. The mystery of consciousness is a network of mysteries, touching on the mystery of ourselves, the mystery of the intrinsic nature (if any) of the non-conscious world, and the mystery of our knowledge of ourselves, the natural world, and the human world atop it. If there is such a thing as a First Philosophy, the philosophy of the conscious mind is it. It is the ground in which every other branch of philosophy takes root..."

http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/what-consciousness-is-not

Twenty Brain-Bending TED Talks for Philosophy Students

2012-01-24T10:31:00.000-05:00

1/24/12. Thanks to Jasmine Hall.

http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2012/01/23/20-brain-bending-ted-talks-philosophy-students/

The Myth of American Decline

2012-01-21T23:49:00.001-05:00

1/21/12. Robert Kagan:

"Is the United States in decline, as so many seem to believe these days? Or are Americans in danger of committing pre-emptive superpower suicide out of a misplaced fear of their own declining power? A great deal depends on the answer to these questions. The present world order—characterized by an unprecedented number of democratic nations; a greater global prosperity, even with the current crisis, than the world has ever known; and a long peace among great powers—reflects American principles and preferences, and was built and preserved by American power in all its political, economic, and military dimensions. If American power declines, this world order will decline with it. It will be replaced by some other kind of order, reflecting the desires and the qualities of other world powers. Or perhaps it will simply collapse, as the European world order collapsed in the first half of the twentieth century. The belief, held by many, that even with diminished American power “the underlying foundations of the liberal international order will survive and thrive,” as the political scientist G. John Ikenberry has argued, is a pleasant illusion. American decline, if it is real, will mean a different world for everyone..."

http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/magazine/99521/america-world-power-declinism?passthru=ZDkyNzQzZTk3YWY3YzE0OWM5MGRiZmIwNGQwNDBiZmI

Metacognition and Learning

2012-01-21T21:32:00.001-05:00

1/21/12. Why are so many people wrong about their abilities?

http://chronicle.com/article/MetacognitionStudent/130327/

Freud: the last great Enlightenment thinker

2012-01-20T01:08:00.001-05:00

1/20/12.

"...Freud’s ideas are today not simply rejected as false. They are repudiated as being dangerous or immoral; the “gloomy mythology” of warring instincts is condemned as a kind of slander on the species, the fundamental nobility of which it is sacrilege to deny. To be sure, righteous indignation has informed the response to Freud’s thought from the beginning. But its new strength helps explain one of the more remarkable features of intellectual life at the start of the 21st century, a time that in its own eyes is more enlightened than any other: the intense unpopularity of Freud, the last great Enlightenment thinker..."

http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2011/12/freud-the-last-great-enlightenment-thinker/

The European Crack-Up

2012-01-17T09:51:00.003-05:00

1/17/12. Dr. Dalrymple gives his diagnosis.

http://www.city-journal.org/2012/22_1_otbie-european-debt-crisis.html

The Origins of Envy

2012-01-17T00:13:00.001-05:00

1/17/12.

"Our egalitarian feelings were forged in the Stone Age. But the cave man ethos is not always appropriate in the context of the modern world."

http://www.american.com/archive/2012/january/the-origins-of-envy

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DEEP, ELEGANT, OR BEAUTIFUL EXPLANATION?

2012-01-16T09:55:00.000-05:00

1/16/12. 192 contributors.

"To arrive at the edge of the world's knowledge, seek out the most complex and sophisticated minds, put them in a room together, and have them ask each other the questions they are asking themselves."

http://www.edge.org/responses/what-is-your-favorite-deep-elegant-or-beautiful-explanation

The Brain Can Be Trained

2012-01-15T10:57:00.000-05:00

1/15/12. Old dogs can learn new tricks.

http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/publications/observer/2012/january-11-2012-observer-publications/aps-award-address-3.html

Are We Holding a New Ice Age at Bay?

2012-01-14T16:40:00.002-05:00

1/14/12.

"The entire 10,000-year history of civilization has happened in an unusually warm interlude in the Earth's recent history. Over the past million years, it has been as warm as this or warmer for less than 10% of the time, during 11 brief episodes known as interglacial periods. One theory holds that agriculture and dense settlement were impossible in the volatile, generally dry and carbon-dioxide-starved climates of the ice age, when crop plants would have grown more slowly and unpredictably even in warmer regions..."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204257504577150812451167538.html

Billions of Other Planets

2012-01-12T23:57:00.002-05:00

1/12/12. Feeling small.

"Astronomers said Wednesday that each of the 100 billion stars in the Milky Way probably has at least one companion planet, on average, adding credence to the notion that planets are as common in the cosmos as grains of sand on the beach.

The finding underscores a fundamental shift in scientific understanding of planetary systems in the cosmos. Our own solar system, considered unique not so long ago, turns out to be just one among billions..."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203436904577154803588270744.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read

Intelligence: New Findings and Theoretical Developments

2012-01-11T23:51:00.002-05:00

1/11/12.

The authors introduce their paper:

"We review new findings and new theoretical developments
in the field of intelligence. New findings include the following:
(a) Heritability of IQ varies significantly by social
class. (b) Almost no genetic polymorphisms have been
discovered that are consistently associated with variation
in IQ in the normal range. (c) Much has been learned
about the biological underpinnings of intelligence. (d)
“Crystallized” and “fluid” IQ are quite different aspects of
intelligence at both the behavioral and biological levels.
(e) The importance of the environment for IQ is established
by the 12-point to 18-point increase in IQ when children
are adopted from working-class to middle-class homes. (f)
Even when improvements in IQ produced by the most
effective early childhood interventions fail to persist, there
can be very marked effects on academic achievement and
life outcomes. (g) In most developed countries studied,
gains on IQ tests have continued, and they are beginning in
the developing world. (h) Sex differences in aspects of
intelligence are due partly to identifiable biological factorsand partly to socialization factors. (i) The IQ gap between
Blacks and Whites has been reduced by 0.33 SD in recent
years..."
http://scottbarrykaufman.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Nisbett-et-al.-2012.pdf

On Human Nature

2012-01-11T16:07:00.000-05:00

In 1945 the American anthropologist George P. Murdock listed the following characteristics that have been recorded in every culture known to history and ethnography:

Age-grading, athletic sports, bodily adornment, calendar, cleanliness training, community organization, cooking, cooperative labor, cosmology, courtship, dancing, decorative art, divination, division of labor, dream interpretation, education, eschatology, ethics, ethnobotany, etiquette, faith healing, family feasting, fire making, folklore, food taboos, funeral rites, games, gestures, gift giving, government, greetings, hair styles, hospitality, housing, hygiene, incest taboos, inheritance rules, joking, kin groups, kinship nomenclature, medicine, obstetrics, penal sanctions, personal names, population policy, postnatal care, pregnancy usages, property rights, propitiation of supernatural beings, puberty customs, religious ritual, residence rules, sexual restrictions, soul concepts, status differentiation, surgery, tool making, trade, visiting, weaving, and weather control.

cited in Wilson, E.O. "On Human Nature." Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978.

Religion, Science and Human Nature

2012-01-11T14:39:00.002-05:00

"The essence of humanity's spiritual dilemma is that we evolved genetically to accept one truth and discovered another. Is there a way to erase the dilemma, to resolve the contradictions between the transcendentalist and the empiricist world views."

"People need a sacred narrative. They must have a sense of larger purpose, in one form or another, however intellectualized. They will find a way to keep ancestral spirits alive."

"The human mind evolved to believe in the gods. It did not evolve to believe in biology."

--- E. O. Wilson (1929 - ). Biologist.

The Sinatra of Social Science

2012-01-11T00:21:00.001-05:00

1/11/12. Honoring James Q. Wilson.

http://www.american.com/archive/2012/january/the-sinatra-of-social-science

Fast and Slow: Pondering the Speed of Thought...and more...

2012-01-10T12:38:00.002-05:00

1/10/12. Psychologist Daniel Kahneman on NPR.

http://www.npr.org/2011/10/27/141508854/fast-and-slow-pondering-the-speed-of-thought

Have your opinions regarding human nature changed over with years?

2012-01-09T15:53:00.000-05:00

1/9/12.

Steven J. Ceresnie writes:

Yes. My current view is that human nature is deeply woven with contradictions, conflicts, and discontents. Genetics and environments are equally important contributions to understanding human nature. The proper use of reason is to recognize reason's limitations. Reason is the rider holding the reins on the elephant of unconscious desires and values. Understanding human nature springs from the mystery of consciousness, the basic experience of humans on which our social and personal relationships rest. We do not understand how consciousness is produced, nor do we understand its full potential. There is little science that applies to our understanding of human nature. So our understanding of human nature takes the form of stories, religions, ideologies, and beliefs.

How have your opinions regarding human nature changed over the years?

Forgiveness is a Kind of Wild Justice

2012-01-07T23:34:00.000-05:00

1/7/12. Dr. Theodore Dalrymple muses about forgiveness and justice.

"Recently I was asked at a public discussion of crime and punishment at which I was a speaker whether I thought it was right that the government (in Britain) had made it illegal for an employer to ask a prospective employee whether he had a criminal record and, if so, its nature and extent. This is a question that I have turned over in my mind, or at least let bubble away in my subconscious, ever since, for it in turn raises several interesting and important questions..."

http://www.newenglishreview.org/custpage.cfm/frm/104668/sec_id/104668

Interview with Stephen Hawking

2012-01-07T23:27:00.000-05:00

1/7/12.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21328460.500-stephen-hawking-at-70-exclusive-interview.html

Breaking Out of Our Righteous Minds

2012-01-07T13:30:00.001-05:00

1/7/12.

Psychologist Jonathan Haidt on morality and self-righteous beliefs.

Professor Haidt:

"When I say that human nature is selfish, I mean that our minds contain a variety of mental mechanisms that make us adept at promoting our own interests, in competition with our peers. When I say that human nature is also groupish, I mean that our minds contain a variety of mental mechanisms that make us adept at promoting our group’s interests, in competition with other groups. We are not saints, but we are sometimes good team players.” This is what people who had studied morality had not realized, “that we evolved not just so I can treat you well or compete with you, but at the same time we can compete with them.”

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2011/12/08/jonathan-haidt-the-moral-matrix-breaking-out-of-our-righteous-minds/

American Psychological Association: Your Mind and Body

2012-01-07T13:24:00.002-05:00

1/7/12. Experienced psychologists write about what's on their mind ---- and body.

http://www.yourmindyourbody.org/

Charles Murray: Belmont and Fishtown

2012-01-07T13:11:00.001-05:00

1/7/12.

"American exceptionalism is not just something that Americans claim for themselves. Historically, Americans have been seen as different, even peculiar, to people around the world.1 I am thinking of qualities such as American industriousness—not just hard work, but the way that Americans have treated their work and their efforts to get ahead in life as a central expression of who they are. There is American neighborliness. Many cultures have traditions of generous hospitality to guests, but widespread voluntary mutual assistance among unrelated people who happen to live alongside each other has been rare. In the United States, it has been ubiquitous. I am thinking also of qualities such as American optimism, present even when there doesn’t seem to be any good reason for it; our striking lack of class envy; the assumption by most Americans that they are in control of their own destinies; and our famous naïveté in assuming the best of a random person that we come across. Finally, there is the most lovable of exceptional American qualities: our tradition of insisting that we are part of the middle class, even if we aren’t, and of interacting with our fellow citizens as if we were all middle class..."

http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/Belmont---Fishtown-7250

Don Carter RIP

2012-01-07T13:07:00.000-05:00

1/7/12. A bowler's bowler.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/07/sports/don-carter-first-big-star-of-bowling-dies-at-85.html?_r=1&hpw

Why anti-Semitism is moving towards the mainstream

2012-01-06T20:23:00.002-05:00

1/6/12. Alan Dershowitz tells the truth.

"For the first time since the end of World War II, classic anti-Semitic tropes – “the Jews” control the world and are to blame for everything that goes wrong, including the financial crisis; “The Jews killed Christian children in order to use the blood to bake matza; the Holocaust never happened – are becoming acceptable and legitimate subjects for academic and political discussion..."

http://frontpagemag.com/2012/01/04/why-anti-semitism-is-moving-toward-the-mainstream/

Buff Your Brain

2012-01-04T01:35:00.000-05:00

1/4/2012.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/01/01/buff-your-brain.html

The Joy of Quiet

2012-01-02T11:09:00.001-05:00

1/2/12. Amen.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/opinion/sunday/the-joy-of-quiet.html?_r=1&sq=Pico%20Iyer&st=cse&scp=2&pagewanted=all

A Conversation between David Brooks and Walter Mischel

2011-12-31T18:17:00.002-05:00

12/31/11. Two wise men talking.

http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/publications/observer/obsonline/news-from-psychological-science-a-conversation-between-david-brooks-and-walter-mischel.html

The Periodic Table

2011-12-31T16:41:00.002-05:00

12/31/11. I wonder what elements would constitute a periodic table in psychology.

http://www.ptable.com/

War No More

2011-12-31T11:42:00.000-05:00

12/31/11. On psychologist Steven Pinker.

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/136957/timothy-snyder/war-no-more?page=show

Trial and Errors: Why Science is Failing Us

2011-12-30T22:05:00.000-05:00

12/30/11.

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/12/ff_causation/all/1

Are we alone in the universe?

2011-12-30T11:18:00.000-05:00

12/30/11. Charles Krauthammer wonders why we have not discovered life on other planets.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/are-we-alone-in-the-universe/2011/12/29/gIQA2wSOPP_story.html

Writers Pick Their Top Ten Favorite Books

2011-12-29T00:09:00.002-05:00

12/29/11.

http://toptenbooks.net/authorslists

The Way the Brain Buys

2011-12-28T23:57:00.001-05:00

12/28/11. The psychology of shopping. We have come a long way since Vance Packard wrote "The Hidden Persuaders" in 1957.

http://www.economist.com/node/12792420

Antonio Damsio: The Quest to Understand Consciousness

2011-12-28T23:51:00.002-05:00

12/28/11. How does the brain create the mind?

http://www.ted.com/talks/antonio_damasio_the_quest_to_understand_consciousness.html

Going Pogo

2011-12-28T00:40:00.001-05:00

12/28/11. The life and times of Walt Kelly's Pogo.

"On the first Earth Day, in 1970, a cartoon poster appeared at rallies in all 50 states. It showed a rueful opossum picking up papers, bottles, cans, wrappers—the detritus of modern life. Superimposed on the image were the words WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND HE IS US..."

http://www.city-journal.org/2011/21_4_urb-walt-kelly.html

Thomas Sowell: Observations on the Passing Scene

2011-12-27T12:42:00.001-05:00

12/27/11. Economist Thomas Sowell --- random thoughts on the political landscape.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/12/27/random_thoughts_112538.html

If Your Teeth Could Talk...

2011-12-27T12:36:00.002-05:00

12/27/11. Your oral health tells an oral history.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203686204577112893077146940.html?KEYWORDS=dentistry

Essaying Epstein

2011-12-22T00:01:00.001-05:00

12/22/11.

"Books of essays don’t sell, an editor once told me, so don’t send me one. Joseph Epstein, who considers the label “essayist” an honorific and who himself has been one of the editors of the annual series, The Best American Essays, has compared the essayist’s place in the realm of literature to a seat at the children’s table at the family holiday dinner. Not to get too snooty about it, as Joe Epstein might say, the essay deserves a better seat than that, maybe even one at the high table..."

http://www.the-american-interest.com/article.cfm?piece=1171

Web site: Association for Psychological Science

2011-12-20T17:18:00.002-05:00

12/20/11.

http://www.psychologicalscience.org/

What is the Single Best Thing You Can Do for Your Health?

2011-12-19T17:12:00.000-05:00

12/19/11. To life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUaInS6HIGo

Twelve Months of Reading

2011-12-18T19:38:00.002-05:00

12/18/11.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204466004577102800650505034.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLESecondBucket

Decline in Democratic Control and Faith in Market Capitalism?

2011-12-18T18:03:00.002-05:00

12/18/11. From Irwin Stelzer.

“Capitalism without failure is like religion without sin. It doesn’t work.”

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/decline-democratic-control-and-faith-market-capitalism_613447.html

The Community for Psychologists in Independent Practice

2011-12-18T17:58:00.002-05:00

12/18/11. From Division 42 - Independent Practice - American Psychological Association.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/J5qWP-EMSRQ

Chirstopher Hitchens RIP

2011-12-16T17:17:00.005-05:00

12/16/11.

NYT:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/16/arts/christopher-hitchens-is-dead-at-62-obituary.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

David Frum:

http://www.frumforum.com/christopher-hitchens-1949%E2%80%932011

Julian Barnes:

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2011/12/christopher_hitchens_death_the_novelist_julian_barnes_on_a_memorable_conversation_he_had_with_hitch_.html

Christopher Buckley:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/12/postscript-christopher-hitchens.html

Matt Labash:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/hitchless-world_613396.html

The Twice-Victimized of Sexual Assault

2011-12-12T16:32:00.001-05:00

12/12/11.

Jane Brody:

"Nearly every woman I know can recall one or more instances in which she was sexually assaulted, harassed, threatened, inappropriately touched or even raped..."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/health/the-twice-victimized-of-sexual-assault.html?_r=1&ref=health

Global Warming and Adaptability

2011-12-11T20:50:00.002-05:00

12/11/11. The heat is on.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203413304577086361984880468.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

The Excellence Gap

2011-12-11T20:46:00.000-05:00

12/11/11. How do we improve our public schools?

http://www.city-journal.org/2011/21_4_academic-excellence.html

Book Review: Magical Mathematics

2011-12-11T00:09:00.000-05:00

12/10/11. So how many times must you shuffle a deck of cards to produce randomness?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204826704577074501731476934.html?KEYWORDS=magic+and+math

Matt Ridley: The market as an antidote to capitalism

2011-12-09T23:01:00.002-05:00

12/9/11.

http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/market-antidote-capitalism

The Economist: Best Books of 2011

2011-12-09T22:44:00.002-05:00

12/9/11, Page-turners.

http://www.economist.com/node/21541386

Obama's Godfather Speech

2011-12-08T17:32:00.006-05:00

12/8/11. A shovel-ready snow job:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203413304577084292119160060.html

and,

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obamas-campaign-for-class-resentment/2011/12/08/gIQApYDagO_story.html

and,

http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/obamas-thing-gruel-osawatomie/247271

and,

http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/obamas-thing-gruel-osawatomie/247271

and,

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/285409/statist-delusions-mark-steyn

and,

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/12/08/barack-obama-political-hack/

My Holiday Book Recommendations

2011-12-07T23:56:00.005-05:00

12/6/11. Some of my recent favorite books:

Darlymple, Theodore. "Life at the Bottom. The Worldview that Makes the Underclass."

Epstein, Joseph. "Gossip."

Gazzanaga, Michael. "Who's in Charge? Free Will and the Science of the Brain."

Kagan, Jerome. "The Temperamental Thread. How Genes, Culture, Time and Luck Make Us Who We Are."

Markel, Howard. "An Anatomy of Addiction. Sigmund Freud, William Halsted, and the Miracle of Cocaine."

The Myth of Multiple Personality Disorder

2011-12-07T23:40:00.000-05:00

12/6/11. How can so many people be so wrong? Easy. Science is filled with beliefs masquerading as facts.

http://io9.com/5865263/whats-the-truth-behind-multiple-personality-disorder?tag=psychology

On Thomas Sowell

2011-12-06T23:16:00.000-05:00

12/6/11. Economist Thomas Sowell is a national treasure. His book "Conflict of Visions" is my favorite.

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/thomas-sowell-peerless-nerd/

Theodore Dalrymple: Barbarians on the Thames

2011-12-06T11:13:00.000-05:00

12/6/11. A postmortem of the British riots.

http://www.city-journal.org/2011/21_4_otbie-british-riots.html

Elisabeth Young-Bruehl RIP

2011-12-06T11:01:00.000-05:00

12/6/11. Of her many books, I enjoyed her study of Anna Freud, the youngest of Sigmund Freud's six children.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/06/us/elisabeth-young-bruehl-65-dies-probed-roots-of-ideology-and-bias.html?_r=1&hpw

NYT: 100 Notable Books of 2011

2011-12-06T00:39:00.003-05:00

12/6/11. http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/review/index.html

What is your favorite book(s) from last year?

Book Review: "Gossip," by Joseph Epstein

2011-12-06T00:15:00.000-05:00

12/6/11. On the untrivial pursuit - gossip.

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2011/12/gossip_the_untrivial_pursuit_reviewed_joseph_epstein_s_book_on_gossip.single.html

Wall Street on Trial

2011-12-05T22:34:00.000-05:00

12/6/11. Andrew Klavan talking about my generation --- and others.

http://www.manhattan-institute.org/wallstreetontrial/?play

To Dream, Perchance to Consolidate Memories

2011-12-04T23:15:00.000-05:00

12/4/11. Matt Ridley writes about sleep, dreaming, and memory.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203802204577066321124757932.html?KEYWORDS=dream+matt+ridley

Wally Prechter on Bipolar Disorder: Adding Knowledge and Reducing Stigma

2011-12-01T00:44:00.000-05:00

12/1/11. Paul W. Smith from WJR Radio interviews Wally Prechter about Bipolar Disorder.

http://www.wjr.com/FlashPlayer/default.asp?SPID=34612&ID=2294622

Herman Cain --- Two Views

2011-11-30T17:08:00.001-05:00

11/30/11. On the drive into work today, I heard an interview on NPR about Herman Cain. One person interviewed was a pastor, and he offered his opinion about the morality of what Cain thought he was able to get away with. The other person interviewed was the CEO of a Web site that arranges affairs between married people --- who thought moral judgments should not apply to Mr. Cain.

What do you think?

The Great Global Warming Fizzle

2011-11-29T23:54:00.003-05:00

11/29/11. Some say global warning attracts a religious following. When is that last time a religious group disbanded for lack of evidence supporting the tenets of their beliefs?

http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2011/11/qa-steven-pinker-0

Inflating Your IQ

2011-11-29T23:31:00.000-05:00

11/29/11. Charting our IQs started in the early 1900's with the invention of tests to measure children's progress in school. These tests proved necessary because relying on teachers' judgements were often misguided. The standard IQ test measures verbal reasoning, perceptual organization, working memory, and visual processing. Much can be learned from an IQ assessments in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders and learning disabilities. As yet, we have no valid measures for creativity.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203935604577066293669642830.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read

A Psychoanalyst Examines President Obama

2011-11-28T20:51:00.000-05:00

11/28/11. Everybody wants to get in the act --- dreams of a psychoanalyst.

http://www.tnr.com/article/97758/obama-insular-psychology

Why Our Brains Make Us Laugh

2011-11-26T10:00:00.000-05:00

11/25/11. A new theory of humor.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2011/11/20/why-our-brains-make-laugh/l0OWxVcnRpzfyIheFgab5N/story.html

Inspiring Elderly Learners

2011-11-23T19:35:00.000-05:00

11/23/11. You can teach on an old dog new tricks.

http://www.bestcollegesonline.com/blog/2011/11/22/11-elderly-learners-who-are-incredibly-inspiring/

Nudge thyself

2011-11-22T23:39:00.000-05:00

11/21/11. Deceit and self-deception go together like a horse and carriage.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/78fef17e-0f8a-11e1-88cc-00144feabdc0.html

Neuroscience Challenges Old Ideas about Free Will

2011-11-22T23:35:00.001-05:00

11/22/11.

We have to believe in free will. We've got no choice.
---Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902 - 1991)

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=free-will-and-the-brain-michael-gazzaniga-interview

Joshua Walters: On being just crazy enough

2011-11-21T15:35:00.001-05:00

11/21/11. Joshua Walters - a self-described bipolar comedian - gives a provocative talk about mental illness and creativity.

http://www.ted.com/talks/joshua_walters_on_being_just_crazy_enough.html

Alexander Tsiaras: Conception to Birth - Visualized

2011-11-21T15:24:00.001-05:00

11/21/11. A magical, visual tour of the unfolding of the genetic blueprints of a human being - to marvelous for words.

http://www.ted.com/talks/alexander_tsiaras_conception_to_birth_visualized.html

Jonah Lehrer: How Does Prozac Work?

2011-11-21T13:30:00.003-05:00

11/21/11. Is our brain to complicated to imagine?

What’s the point of neuroscience? Why do we spend billions of dollars investigating those three pounds of flesh inside the head? Sure, human nature is interesting, and self-knowledge is a virtuous pursuit, but let’s be honest: we study the brain because we don’t want to die. Because we want cures for awful afflictions. Because we’re desperate to avoid depression and addiction and dementia. The only way to justify the terrific expense of biomedical research is medicine.
Here’s the bad news: I think neuroscience has yet to deliver on its therapeutical potential. We’ve learned an astonishing amount about the brain in recent years – a ten year old textbook is totally obsolete – but all this shiny new knowledge has yet to heal us. As a result, we’re still stuck with pills and treatments that are frustratingly ineffective.
Consider depression. Every year, approximately 7 percent of us will be afflicted to some degree by the awful mental state that William Styron described as a “gray drizzle of horror . . . a storm of murk.” This is a big societal problem, which is why 24.4 million prescriptions were filled for fluoxetine (the generic version of Prozac) in 2010 in America.
The first thing to say about fluoxetine is that it’s an old drug, having been introduced in the early 1970s. (Like many medical treatments, it was discovered largely by accident, when researchers realized that a common anti-histamine had anti-depressant properties.) Until recently, scientists assumed they knew how fluoxetine/Prozac worked. The story was simple: depression results from a neurotransmitter imbalance in the brain, in which patients suffer from a shortage of chemical happiness. The little blue pills cheer us up because they give the brain what it has been missing – a dose of serotonin.
There’s only one problem with this theory of anti-depressants: it’s almost certainly wrong, or at the very least woefully incomplete. Experiments have since shown that lowering people’s serotonin levels does not make them depressed, nor does it worsen their symptoms if they are already depressed. And then there’s the “Prozac lag”: although anti-depressants increase the amount of serotonin in the brain within hours, their beneficial effects are not usually felt for weeks.
Despite our causal ignorance, anti-depressants remain an essential balm for millions of people, allowing them to escape from that recursive loop of woe. And yet, it’s also clear that anti-depressants are
often disturbingly ineffective and, in many clinical trials, appear little better than a placebo. (See Irving Kirsch for a partiuclarly critical take.)
Furthermore, even when the drugs prove effective, their efficacy remains mysterious. Although there are some exciting new hypotheses about the power of Prozac – I’m particularly interested in the neurogenesis story – we still don’t understand why this category of drugs is the best we’ve got, even after forty years of well funded R&D. (Of course, this mystery hasn’t interfered with the popularity of the pills: As Schopenhauer once noted, people tend to treat causes “like a hired cab that one dismisses when one reaches the destination.” All we really care about is the health benefit – the causal story is just a sales ploy, a way to reassure patients that our success isn’t dumb luck, even when it is.)
And this returns us to the current state of neuroscientific research into depression. Last week, the field recieved a jolt of bad news: a hyped new compound from Glaxo (GSK372475) proved utterly useless. In two well done clinical trials, the drug failed to make people feel better.
Why is this news? Drugs fail all the time. (According to one recent analysis, more than 40 percent of drugs fail Phase III clinical trials. The odds are even worse for brain pills.) What makes the dismissal of GSK372475 noteworthy is that it looked so good on paper. The molecule is a potent triple reuptake inhibitor (TRI), blocking the breakdown of serotonin, noradrenaline and dopamine. While Prozac only alters serotonin, other successful anti-depressants, such as venlafaxine, block the reuptake of serotonin and noradrenaline. So it seemed like a good idea to also interfere with the reuptake of dopamine, especially since decades of research have suggested that more dopamine in the synapse is reliably associated with feelings of pleasure and reward. (Why do you think cocaine feels nice?) Although we still don’t understand how blocking the reuptake of various neurotransmitters cheers us up, we have yet to improve on that mechanism of action, which is why drug companies are still investing in expensive clinical trials for reuptake inhibitors.
But that logic didn’t pan out. Not only did depressed patients on GSK372475 get better more slowly than those on placebo, they were also hit with a bevy of side-effects, including insomnia and nausea.
Pharmaceutical failures like this are a sobering reminder that the brain and its afflictions remain deeply mysterious. Despite the billions of dollars poured into depression research, we still don’t understand the causal mechanisms of the illness, which means we don’t even know which drug actions to screen for. We can’t even imitate our past successes.
Given such struggles, it’s not surprising that drug companies are dramatically scaling back research into the brain. (Most recently, four leading drug firms, including Merck and GlaxoSmithKline, announced that they were cutting neuroscience R&D. They cited the disconnect between scientific funding and pharmaceutical sucess.) The organ is simply too complicated, too full of networks and pathways we don’t comprehend.
I don’t want to overdo the pessimism – betting against science is a losing game. But I think we need to be honest about the payoff of basic research, at least so far. We’ve learned so much, but we have yet to learn what really matters, whether it’s the neural underpinnings of depression or the triggers of Alzheimer’s or the genetic snippets behind, well, everything. The brain isn’t just complicated – it seems to be more complicated than we can imagine.
So how does Prozac work? The sad answer is that we’re still not sure. And that means we don’t know how to come up with something better.
PS. The Neuroskeptic has a typically great post on the failed trial.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/frontal-cortex/

Woody Allen, American Master

2011-11-21T01:48:00.002-05:00

11/21/11. One of a kind.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/movies/2011/11/woody-allen-american-masters.html

Metapsychology: Book Reviews

2011-11-19T00:21:00.000-05:00

11/19/20. A Web site of reviews of psychology books.

http://metapsychology.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_index.php?idx=news

Medication for Mental Health

2011-11-19T00:06:00.001-05:00

11/19/11. Sometimes psychiatric medication is essential for psychological treatment. For example, people with major depressive disorder, ADHD, and anxieties often benefit from medication.

Psychological therapy is often a crucial component of effective psychological treatment. Many people take psychiatric medication --- for a while --- give up, and never reap the benefits of psychological therapy.

For some people, until we have biological markers for psychological disorders, no amount of research and clinical knowledge will propel people to get the psychological treatment they need.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2062634/One-American-women-medication-mental-disorder.html

Earth: Time Lapse View from Space

2011-11-14T16:00:00.000-05:00

11/14/11. It does look round.

http://vimeo.com/32001208

PBS Special: A Nazi Story That Still Surprises

2011-11-14T09:25:00.001-05:00

11/14/11. On TV this Tuesday (11/15/11) evening.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204358004577030131740812396.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLETopBucket

Mrs. Radosh and Hyman.

2011-11-11T20:35:00.003-05:00

11/11/11.

Mrs. Radosh says to the rabbi, My husband keeps shrinking! When we married he was five foot eight, and now he’s five foot four. Can you say a blessing for him?

Of course: May he live to be four foot ten.

God agrees to grant Hyman a wish, with the condition that whatever he asks for, his brother-in-law will get double.

Okay, Hyman says, I wish I were half-dead.

Rethinking Thinking

2011-11-11T20:24:00.000-05:00

11/11/11. How does the brain create the mind?
We don't know.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204618704576642991109496396.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion

Alter Kockers

2011-11-10T15:29:00.002-05:00

11/10/11. Do some old Jews know the secret to longevity?

http://nymag.com/print/?/news/features/ashkenazi-jews-2011-11/

What are the odds of your existence?

2011-11-10T15:28:00.002-05:00

11/10/11. Most people are never born.

http://boingboing.net/2011/11/09/great-moments-in-pedantry-the.html

Daniel Kahneman: The King of Human Error

2011-11-09T22:36:00.000-05:00

11/9/11. Psychologist and expert on decision making.

http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2011/12/michael-lewis-201112.print%22

15 fascinating facts about same sex schools

2011-11-09T01:05:00.001-05:00

118/11.

http://www.onlinecollegecourses.com/2011/11/08/15-fascinating-facts-about-same-sex-schools/)

New Ways to Stop Bad Behavior

2011-11-08T19:33:00.000-05:00

11/8/11. Need to improve your child's self-control? Read this.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203716204577018223567068482.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read

The Wrong Inequality

2011-11-06T23:34:00.001-05:00

11/6/11. David Brooks describes the complexity of inequality.
There is not only income inequality - a serious problem - but also educational and social inequality.
There are no easy answers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/01/opinion/brooks-the-wrong-inequality.html?_r=1&ref=davidbrooks

David Eagleman: Your Brain Knows a Lot More Than You Realize

2011-11-06T23:23:00.000-05:00

11/6/11. Your consciousness or "I" feel likes your driver. For much of your experience, you are the passenger with your unconscious mind at the wheel.

http://discovermagazine.com/2011/sep/18-your-brain-knows-lot-more-than-you-realize

Video Interview with Walter Mischel and David Brooks

2011-11-06T01:43:00.001-04:00

11/6/11. David Brooks is a journalist as rare as a Rabbi in Mecca who writes a regular column in the New York Times. Much of his interest focuses on social science applications to practical problems. Walter Mischel is one of the giants in the field of social psychology most famous for his two marshmallows study illustrating the roots of self-control.

http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/publications/observer/obsonline/news-from-psychological-science-a-conversation-between-david-brooks-and-walter-mischel.html

Book Review. "A Point in Time: The Search for Redemption in This Life and the Next," by David Horowitz.

2011-11-04T20:33:00.002-04:00

11/4/11. David Horowitz took three years to write an elegant, short book drawing from his experience and from the works of Marcus Aurelius and Dostoevsky. In his youth, Horowitz was a political radical. After his secretary was murdered by the Black Panthers, he began to rethink his ideology. Horowitz is now a political conservative, and understands --- like few people do --- the utopian horrors of his youth.
He meditates on the meaning of life - and death.
http://www.city-journal.org/2011/bc1104td.html

When Geeks Meet

2011-11-04T00:10:00.001-04:00

Psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen (cousin of Sascha) draws on his research on autism to predict what kind of parents produce autistic kids.

http://www.nature.com/news/2011/111102/full/479025a.html