Mostly stupid things, like what people think of me. Yes, I know a lot of critics, and boy does criticism sting. But I can't allow myself to be paralyzed by my fear of it.
It's time to take risks. Try! Fail! Start again! Focus my energies! Stop acting so dissipated! Stand up and lay claim to my life - my OWN life, mine to make of what I will. Time to stop talking and start doing.
But, but, but...but we think good things about you.
I've been reading a lot about the pyschology of fear over the past year. It's far more complicated than I originally thought. Good luck; expect cycles.
A combination of evolutionary psychology, cognitive biology, behavioral economics, risk studies, and the theory of decision making. Mostly academic papers, but some books.
I'm getting ready for the Workshop on Security and Human Behavior, which I am co-chairing in June of this year.
I can give you a lot of specifics, but I need to know what you're looking for before I can give you any concrete reading recommendations.
For example, right now I am reading two books: The Perception of Risk (http://www.amazon.com/Perception-Risk-Earthscan-Society/dp/1853835285/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202484786&sr=8-1), a collection of psychology papers by Paul Slovic; also Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought (http://www.amazon.com/Religion-Explained-Evolutionary-Origins-Religious/dp/0465006965/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202484870&sr=1-1). The latter book isn't directly about fear, but it has a lot of relevent aspects. I just finished this essay: "Why War?" (http://realhumannature.com/?page_id=26).
Barry Glassner's (he's a sociologist at USC) book, The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Afraid of the Wrong Things (http://www.amazon.com/Culture-Fear-Americans-Afraid-Things/dp/0465014909/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202488296&sr=8-1) is both a good book and an easy read.
A friend, Danny De Vries, is just about to publish an anthropology/historical ecology dissertation that may intersect with your reading. Its about residents of flood plains, floodways, mitigation agencies and perceptions of risk. I wish I could link to a commercial site, abstract or pdf, but unfortunately it hasn't been published yet. In the meantime, here's a link to his blog on same: http://temporalvulnerability.wordpress.com/
Does "evolutionary psychology" refer primarily to changes in psychological makeup of groups as environmental stressors change over the centuries or to the changes in an average individual's psychology as they mature as a person?
If it's the former (as Wikipedia would suggest), what is the equivalent to the fossil record for this discipline? It seems to me that there would have to be a heck of a lot of inference.
There's no fossil record, but there isn't for a whole lot of similar sciences. You have historical records -- such as they are -- for effects of behaviors. Scientists know, for example, when primates started forming social groups. The rest of it is looking at current brain function, figuring out which regions of the brain do what, figuring out when those regions first appeared and what else the species in question was doing at the time, seeing where those regions are in other animals, and so on.
This is why it's not straight evolutionary biology. There's a lot of biological psychology, and a lot of other things, thrown in as well.
These days I'm reading a lot about the evolutionary origins of morality: books like Moral Minds: How Nature Designed our Universal Sense of Right and Wrong (http://www.amazon.com/Moral-Minds-Nature-Designed-Universal/dp/0060780703/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202515506&sr=8-2). A lot of the research is done by putting people in MRI scanners and asking them moral questions, to see what parts of the brain light up.
But yes, there's a whole lot of speculation going on. This field is really in its infancy; but it's amazing how differen is now than it was even ten years ago.
How do they determine when certain regions of the brain first appeared? Is it based on probable branching from the phylogenetic tree?
Slightly relatedly, I know that there has been research using EM fields in a sort of reverse-MRI to (temporarily) disable sections of the brain. Has this practice extended to turning off the moral reasoning sections and seeing how people's answers to moral questions change? It seems that such an experiment could go a ways towards determining whether morality is inherent (brain structure) or learned (brain structure too, I suppose... but in a different way)
Oh, and apologies to tesla_aldrich for hijacking the topic.
I haven't seen any research where they "turn off" parts of peoples' brains. Apart from the ethical implications, I don't think we know enough to be able to do that.
Instead, researchers rely on people with birth defects or brain injuries; basically, people who have parts of their brain already turned off. Oliver Sacks writes a lot about these sorts of people.
Something I read recently is about experiments done on sociopaths. Seems as though sociopaths do have knowledge of right and wrong, and of the moral implications of their actions. What they don't have is motivation to follow that moral compass. Researchers have put sociopaths into MRI scanners and have asked them moral questions; there is a part of the brain that lights up in normal people that doesn't work right in sociopaths. It is hypothesized that this part of the brain is the seat of morality.
"Oh, and apologies to tesla_aldrich for hijacking the topic."
Oh, nothing of the sort. This is the best part about LiveJournal; having a completely irrelevent conversation in someone else's LJ.
I actually pulled the book off the shelf and looked it up. By "turn off" I was referring to the process of transcranial magnetic stimulation. I first learned of this when I was perusing Mind Hacks (it's Hack #5). The process seemed interesting to me, though I admit to some fear on my part which would prevent me from actually trying it out. Intellectual curiosity does not overshadow the risk of brain damage (which they say is slight... but still).
Interesting to hear about the sociopath study. I've heard similar in relation to the interesting abilities that autistic people have. Basically, it's not that they have any natural ability a non-autistic person has, it's that their brain rewards the work needed to hone such a talent in ways that other brains do not.
I agree with your ethical implications statement, but it would seem (from a just two sources) that such research is progressing. Whether it's applicable to the study of morality, however, is well beyond my layman understanding of brain science.
That's true, but some of them have savant-like abilities that often revolve around memorization: know pi to thousands of decimal places, can sketch photo-realistic scenes from memory, rapidly mentally calculate complex algorithms, etc.
Not to say there's not a significant cost or that their brains are wired differently. I'm just saying that I've read that part of what is wired differently is the motivation/reward piece.
Taking control of your own life is an amazing experience. Congratulations for making this decision.
It's too bad that the two best phrases I've heard about this ("Just Do It" and "No Fear") have been turned into brand catch-phrases. However, they still apply, and I am sure that taking a firm hold of your life will be incredible for you.
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-08 05:08 am (UTC)It's time to take risks. Try! Fail! Start again! Focus my energies! Stop acting so dissipated! Stand up and lay claim to my life - my OWN life, mine to make of what I will. Time to stop talking and start doing.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-08 08:24 am (UTC)that being said, point me at what scares you, and I will smashy smash it.
Fear
Date: 2008-02-08 11:27 am (UTC)I've been reading a lot about the pyschology of fear over the past year. It's far more complicated than I originally thought. Good luck; expect cycles.
B
Re: Fear
Date: 2008-02-08 02:26 pm (UTC)Re: Fear
Date: 2008-02-08 02:37 pm (UTC)I'm getting ready for the Workshop on Security and Human Behavior, which I am co-chairing in June of this year.
B
Re: Fear
Date: 2008-02-08 03:07 pm (UTC)Re: Fear
Date: 2008-02-08 03:37 pm (UTC)For example, right now I am reading two books: The Perception of Risk (http://www.amazon.com/Perception-Risk-Earthscan-Society/dp/1853835285/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202484786&sr=8-1), a collection of psychology papers by Paul Slovic; also Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought (http://www.amazon.com/Religion-Explained-Evolutionary-Origins-Religious/dp/0465006965/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202484870&sr=1-1). The latter book isn't directly about fear, but it has a lot of relevent aspects. I just finished this essay: "Why War?" (http://realhumannature.com/?page_id=26).
B
Re: Fear
Date: 2008-02-08 04:33 pm (UTC)B
Re: Fear
Date: 2008-02-08 06:00 pm (UTC)http://temporalvulnerability.wordpress.com/
Re: Fear
Date: 2008-02-09 12:09 am (UTC)B
Re: Fear
Date: 2008-02-08 11:59 pm (UTC)If it's the former (as Wikipedia would suggest), what is the equivalent to the fossil record for this discipline? It seems to me that there would have to be a heck of a lot of inference.
Re: Fear
Date: 2008-02-09 12:06 am (UTC)This is why it's not straight evolutionary biology. There's a lot of biological psychology, and a lot of other things, thrown in as well.
These days I'm reading a lot about the evolutionary origins of morality: books like Moral Minds: How Nature Designed our Universal Sense of Right and Wrong (http://www.amazon.com/Moral-Minds-Nature-Designed-Universal/dp/0060780703/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202515506&sr=8-2). A lot of the research is done by putting people in MRI scanners and asking them moral questions, to see what parts of the brain light up.
But yes, there's a whole lot of speculation going on. This field is really in its infancy; but it's amazing how differen is now than it was even ten years ago.
B
Re: Fear
Date: 2008-02-09 10:14 am (UTC)Slightly relatedly, I know that there has been research using EM fields in a sort of reverse-MRI to (temporarily) disable sections of the brain. Has this practice extended to turning off the moral reasoning sections and seeing how people's answers to moral questions change? It seems that such an experiment could go a ways towards determining whether morality is inherent (brain structure) or learned (brain structure too, I suppose... but in a different way)
Oh, and apologies to
Re: Fear
Date: 2008-02-09 08:06 pm (UTC)Instead, researchers rely on people with birth defects or brain injuries; basically, people who have parts of their brain already turned off. Oliver Sacks writes a lot about these sorts of people.
Something I read recently is about experiments done on sociopaths. Seems as though sociopaths do have knowledge of right and wrong, and of the moral implications of their actions. What they don't have is motivation to follow that moral compass. Researchers have put sociopaths into MRI scanners and have asked them moral questions; there is a part of the brain that lights up in normal people that doesn't work right in sociopaths. It is hypothesized that this part of the brain is the seat of morality.
"Oh, and apologies to tesla_aldrich for hijacking the topic."
Oh, nothing of the sort. This is the best part about LiveJournal; having a completely irrelevent conversation in someone else's LJ.
B
Re: Fear
Date: 2008-02-09 08:25 pm (UTC)Interesting to hear about the sociopath study. I've heard similar in relation to the interesting abilities that autistic people have. Basically, it's not that they have any natural ability a non-autistic person has, it's that their brain rewards the work needed to hone such a talent in ways that other brains do not.
I agree with your ethical implications statement, but it would seem (from a just two sources) that such research is progressing. Whether it's applicable to the study of morality, however, is well beyond my layman understanding of brain science.
Re: Fear
Date: 2008-02-09 08:36 pm (UTC)B
Re: Fear
Date: 2008-02-10 04:15 am (UTC)Not to say there's not a significant cost or that their brains are wired differently. I'm just saying that I've read that part of what is wired differently is the motivation/reward piece.
Re: Fear
Date: 2008-02-10 01:50 pm (UTC)B
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-08 11:56 pm (UTC)It's too bad that the two best phrases I've heard about this ("Just Do It" and "No Fear") have been turned into brand catch-phrases. However, they still apply, and I am sure that taking a firm hold of your life will be incredible for you.