Category Archives: Psychology

Parents, Children, Identities: Andrew Solomon’s FAR FROM THE TREE

Posted on 19 May 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

This is an enormous book, 962 pages long, 702 of that text (with the remainder consisting of encyclopedic notes, a lengthy bibliography, and an index). The book is about how parents deal with exceptional children, covering ten categories of exceptionality, … Continue reading →

Posted in Children, Culture, MInd, Psychology, The Gays | Comments Off on Parents, Children, Identities: Andrew Solomon’s FAR FROM THE TREE

Link and Comment: Modern Conservatism

Posted on 17 May 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

From a review in Sunday’s NYT Book Review, by Damon Linker, of a book about the famous conservative intellectual William F. Buckley, and his relationships to various presidents of the United States. The review is titled “William F. Buckley and … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on Link and Comment: Modern Conservatism

Links and Comments: Expertise, Dunning-Kruger, Tactics of Denialists

Posted on 10 April 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

NPR’s Adam Frank on Why Expertise Matters, commenting in part about Tom Nichols new book The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters. Frank quotes a couple key passages from Nichols: Nichols is profoundly troubled … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Distrust of Science; Trump’s conviction; Global society; a Two State solution

Posted on 8 March 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

This subject is everywhere — the rejection of reality by the current administration — and I don’t collect very many of these links, but here are a few more. Tom Nichols at Scientific American, via Salon: Don’t go with your … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Psychology, Science | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Distrust of Science; Trump’s conviction; Global society; a Two State solution

Is Trump the problem, or also his voters?

Posted on 27 February 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

I have a link saved from a few days ago of a column by Nicholas Kristof called Trump Voters Are Not the Enemy, which he tweeted a cautionary note about not demonizing the people who voted for Trump. It’s a … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Reason; Christian victimhood; dead progressives; dystopias; Republican blondes; the fight for reason; fake history

Posted on 21 February 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

From an Elizabeth Kolbert essay in next weekend’s New York Times Magazine: Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds, subtitled “New discoveries about the human mind show the limitations of reason.” One way to look at science is as a system … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Psychology, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Reason; Christian victimhood; dead progressives; dystopias; Republican blondes; the fight for reason; fake history

Links and Comments: Trump’s Lies; Right Wing Media; Christian Education Agenda; Blowfish Fallacy

Posted on 18 February 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Slate’s Will Oremus compiled The Lies, Exaggerations, and Obfuscations That Came Out of Trump’s Mouth While He Called the Media “Dishonest”. Bottom line: When Trump or his advisers say things that aren’t true, it’s not their fault; the real villains … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Lunacy, Psychology, Religion | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Trump’s Lies; Right Wing Media; Christian Education Agenda; Blowfish Fallacy

Link and Comments: science visions; the retrograde government; multiverse; faith; Wars v Trek; California as the future; Haidt on tribalism and the national rift

Posted on 8 February 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

For today here are several links I’ve ‘saved’ on Facebook in recent weeks, with comments. First, Plate Tectonics Movement During the Last 540 Million Years, a cool video animation, from a Facebook group called Geology Wonders, that shows the continents … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Living in the Real World

Posted on 5 February 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Salon: College students were asked simple questions about politics and history and their answers are a dramatic wake up call about the state of our education system. (The same video has been posted elsewhere.) Street interviews with college students asked … Continue reading →

Posted in Lunacy, Psychology, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Living in the Real World

Links and Comments from last Sunday’s New York Times

Posted on 10 December 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

First, a Sunday Review front page essay by Maria Konnikova, Born to Be Conned. It’s about how people are “suckers for belief”, about confidence games, with insights into human nature, e.g. Monte operators, like all good con men, are exceptional … Continue reading →

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