Category Archives: Psychology

Notes for the Book: Magical Thinking, Cognitive Dissonance, Group-Thinking

Posted on Wednesday 30 September 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

Extending thoughts from previous posts about the future of enlightenment and similar matters. About group-thinking and how people get along in their lives just fine without understanding how the world actually works (as well-established by physics, chemistry, biology including evolution, … Continue reading →

Posted in Evolution, Psychology, Religion, The Book | Comments Off

Links and Comments: America’s Reputation; Facebook; Cognitive Dissonance

Posted on Wednesday 30 September 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

NY Times, 25 Sept.: I Feel Sorry for Americans’: A Baffled World Watches the U.S.. Subtitle: “From Myanmar to Canada, people are asking: How did a superpower allow itself to be felled by a virus? And why won’t the president … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Psychology, Technology | Comments Off

Links and Comments: Speaking Fox; Ideology and Lies; Fear and Paranoia

Posted on Thursday 17 September 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

It’s difficult to get away from the current crisis, and threat. The Atlantic, Megan Garber: Do You Speak Fox?. Subtitle: How Donald Trump’s favorite news source became a language Political theorists, over the years, have looked for metaphors to describe … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Psychology | Comments Off

Andrew Shtulman: SCIENCEBLIND: Why Our Intuitive Theories About the World Are So Often Wrong

Posted on Sunday 13 September 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

(Basic Books, 2017) Here’s a book I read earlier this year and am only just now boiling my notes down into a coherent summary. (Well actually I started boiling my notes down but ended up just cleaning up the remainder, … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Psychology, Science | Comments Off

Links and Comments: Dishonest Republicans; Covid-19 Skepticism; Carl Sagan’s prediction of a charlatan leader

Posted on Saturday 12 September 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

Why are Republicans so routinely dishonest? Do they think they cannot win without cheating? Or do they think they have some ‘higher purpose’ that excuses cheating (my provisional conclusion, which alas applies to every group of zealots throughout history, who … Continue reading →

Posted in Lunacy, Politics, Psychology | Comments Off

Links and Comments: Republican Gaslighting

Posted on Thursday 27 August 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

All of these links just today. Slate: Republicans Are Gaslighting America. Will It Work?. Subtitle: Night three of the RNC was more revisionist history. \\ Salon: Mike Pence’s contemptible convention speech: A fable of failure, culture war and corruption. Subtitle: … Continue reading →

Posted in Lunacy, Politics, Psychology | Comments Off

Links and Comments: Thinking, or Not

Posted on Wednesday 19 August 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

Scientific American: Nine COVID-19 Myths That Just Won’t Go Away. Subtitle: From a human-made virus to vaccine conspiracy theories, we rounded up the most persistent false claims about the pandemic. I’m beginning to think that many, perhaps most, people, do … Continue reading →

Posted in Psychology, Thinking | Comments Off

Links and Comments: About Thinking; About Research; About Orientations

Posted on Wednesday 5 August 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

First, from yesterday’s New York Times Science section: How to Think Like an Epidemiologist. Subtitle: “Don’t worry, a little Bayesian analysis won’t hurt you.” As Marc Lipsitch, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Harvard, noted on Twitter, Bayesian reasoning comes awfully … Continue reading →

Posted in Psychology, Science | Comments Off

Quote: David McRaney

Posted on Monday 3 August 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

From his 2011 book YOU ARE NOT SO SMART, which I blogged here about in 2013. One particular idea came to mind again recently (which I managed to track down to this book, though it’s likely discussed in others), considering … Continue reading →

Posted in Psychology, Quote at Length, Quotes | Comments Off

Links and Comments: How Science Really Works; How Pandemics Can Trigger Cultural Renewal; Newton’s work during a Plague Year

Posted on Friday 17 July 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

(updated 18jul20) Slate, Shannon Palus: How Public Health Experts Feel About Being Wrong. Subtitle: “That they change their advice is actually why we should trust them.” The subtitle is precisely right. Experts, scientists, anyone with intellectual integrity change their minds … Continue reading →