Being Human: Individual + Society & Morals + Culture from Being Human on FORA.tv◦
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
Journal Article: Hungry like the wolf: A word-pattern analysis of the language of psychopaths
Purpose. This study used statistical text analysis to examine the features of crime narratives provided by psychopathic homicide offenders. Psychopathic speech was predicted to reflect an instrumental/predatory world view, unique socioemotional needs, and a poverty of affect.
Methods. Two text analysis tools were used to examine the crime narratives of 14 psychopathic and 38 non-psychopathic homicide offenders. Psychopathy was determined using the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). The Wmatrix linguistic analysis tool (Rayson, 2008) was used to examine parts of speech and semantic content while the Dictionary of Affect and Language (DAL) tool (Whissell & Dewson, 1986) was used to examine the emotional characteristics of the narratives.
Results. Psychopaths (relative to their counterparts) included more rational cause-and-effect descriptors (e.g., ‘because’, ‘since’), focused on material needs (food, drink, money), and contained fewer references to social needs (family, religion/spirituality). Psychopaths’ speech contained a higher frequency of disfluencies (‘uh’, ‘um’) indicating that describing such a powerful, ‘emotional’ event to another person was relatively difficult for them. Finally, psychopaths used more past tense and less present tense verbs in their narrative, indicating a greater psychological detachment from the incident, and their language was less emotionally intense and pleasant.
Conclusions. These language differences, presumably beyond conscious control, support the notion that psychopaths operate on a primitive but rational level.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Michael Shermer: Baloney Detection Kit
Science Deception.
With a sea of information coming at us from all directions, how do we sift out the misinformation and bogus claims, and get to the truth? Michael Shermer of Skeptic Magazine lays out a "Baloney Detection Kit," ten questions we should ask when encountering a claim.
The 10 Questions:
1. How reliable is the source of the claim?
2.Does the source make similar claims?
3. Have the claims been verified by somebody else?
4. Does this fit with the way the world works?
5. Has anyone tried to disprove the claim?
6. Where does the preponderance of evidence point?
7. Is the claimant playing by the rules of science?
8. Is the claimant providing positive evidence?
9. Does the new theory account for as many phenomena as the old theory?
10. Are personal beliefs driving the claim?◦
An Article You Should Checkout: 4 Ways to Shrink the Power of Negative Emotions
Great self help article. It is nice to understand emotions and the difference between emotions and moods.
http://blogs.psychcentral.com/bounce-back/2012/03/4-ways-to-shrink-the-power-of-negative-emotions/◦
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Student Attacked on Campus
Let's take a look at a couple of the statements made by the victim to a local TV news reporter.
"I kinda got really scare and I was really nervous, I was like 'oh, you know, oh my God what am I going to do?,'" said the student.
The student said he gathered up his courage and shoved the man off him and against a sink. Then he ran out of the bathroom and got help.
"I'm very nervous. Like today earlier, I called campus police to walk me over to my car. I'm really scared to go to the bathroom," said the student. "I don't feel safe anymore. You know what I mean. It's just so scary."
Now watch the video and hear the telephone interview in his own words, http://www.fox59.com/videogallery/68620060/News/IUPUI-Student-Attacked
As you know, I do not like to comment on ongoing investigations where there is a clear victim. I'm commenting on this story because I see glaring grammatical and misplaced emotional hot spots with the victims statements.
This statement is odd, "I kinda got really scare and I was really nervous..." The victim was either scared or not, not kinda. You would not expect this type of noncommittal language from someone that suffered a traumatic event. This is a clear sign where his words betray his level of confidence.
Next is the following statement, "I'm very nervous. Like today earlier, I called campus police to walk me over to my car. I'm really scared to go to the bathroom," said the student. "I don't feel safe anymore. You know what I mean. It's just so scary."
This statement does not match up logically:
...campus police to walk me over to my car... does not match up with ...I'm really scared to go to the bathroom...
"You know what I mean." This is really a question, and we know when someone is asking for reassurance to their statement, it is less likely to be a truthful statement.
◦
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
"Being Human 2012" on March 24, 2012 at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco
See more news releases in: Internet Technology, Multimedia & Internet, Art, Entertainment, Education, New Products & Services
Top Visionaries and Scientists Share Revolutionary Discoveries About Human Nature in Groundbreaking Public Event
0 1 0
March 24, 2012 Gathering in San Francisco Features World-Class Lineup of Luminaries
SAN FRANCISCO, March 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Pioneers in the exploration of human nature will come together for the first-ever multidisciplinary event to explore exciting new discoveries that challenge outdated assumptions about the human condition. "Being Human 2012" will be hosted on March 24, 2012 at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco.
"Everyday, fresh insights from science and philosophy shed new light on the processes of human experience – the how of feeling, thinking, and believing – and invite us to redefine who we are as human beings," said Peter Baumann of The Baumann Foundation and creator of the Being Human initiative. "We are delighted to bring these new understandings into the public arena. Our intention is to serve as a bridge between the theoretical and the practical, and to foster increased well-being."
Big questions to be explored include:
•How does the nonconscious mind influence the decisions we make?
•What is the relationship between self and culture?
•Are you who you think you are, or is that just an illusion?
•What does science tell us about our relationship with fellow humans?
•What are the evolutionary origins of the human mind?
Being Human 2012 is for anyone curious about how and why they experience life the way they do, and interested in expanding their orientation towards self, others and the world.
Distinguished speakers include:
Richard J. Davidson, David Eagleman, Paul Ekman, Anne Harrington, Jane Hirschfield, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Beau Lotto, Hazel Markus, Thomas Metzinger, V.S. Ramachandran, Gelek Rimpoche, and Laurie Santos.
Speaker sessions will include 18-minute presentations and facilitated conversations. Multimedia and experiential elements will be integrated into the program.
Event Details:
When: 24 March 2012, 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Where: Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco
Tickets: $75, $135, and $250
Register: www.beinghuman2012.org◦
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
