Category Archives: Psychology

Girls and Boys and Evolutionary Psychology

Posted on Thursday 19 June 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Apparently there’s a worldwide shift in preference for baby girls over baby boys, reversing an age-old bias; The article cited doesn’t explain the evolutionary rationales for these shifting preferences, but I will; And Sophie’s Choice; And it reveals reasons why … Continue reading →

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Police Uniforms and Masks; Humor vs. Anger

Posted on Wednesday 18 June 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

How fake police wear uniforms, and secret police (ICE) wears face masks; Robert Reich on the most regressive bill in history; The lack of conservative humor; Becoming aware of Rebecca Solnit; And short items about how Trump cut the suicide … Continue reading →

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Paleolithic Emotions, Medieval Institutions, and Godlike Technology

Posted on Tuesday 17 June 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

EO Wilson on the real problem of humanity; Conservatives think you can command things into existence, despite the evidence of the real world; re: Trump’s tariffs on aluminum; With my comments about modern technology and globalism; How the Minnesota killer … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Human Nature, Human Progress, Politics, Psychology, Religion | Comments Off on Paleolithic Emotions, Medieval Institutions, and Godlike Technology

Say Black Is White, and Some Will Believe You

Posted on Sunday 15 June 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

The ‘No Kings’ demonstrations yesterday were a huge success, the parade in Washington DC less so; How the White House lies about those demonstrations; How MAGA and Musk are somehow blaming the *left* for the shootings of Democratic lawmakers in … Continue reading →

Posted in Lunacy, Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on Say Black Is White, and Some Will Believe You

The Psychology of Trump and His Supporters

Posted on Sunday 4 May 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Robert Reich channels George Lakoff, about Trump as an abusive parent; More examples about how Trump is a clueless idiot, and wondering why his supporters don’t care; A bit about Linus. – – – Robert Reich channels George Lakoff. Robert … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on The Psychology of Trump and His Supporters

Conservatives, Conspiracies, and Reality

Posted on Friday 2 May 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

White evangelicals still see Trump as ethical and honest, which to me calls into question their moral compass; Trump’s 2026 budget is more for the military and less for everything else, a typical Republican proposal; Separation of church and state … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Psychology, reality | Comments Off on Conservatives, Conspiracies, and Reality

Civic Uprising?

Posted on Sunday 20 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Conservative David Brooks calls for a civic uprising against the Trump administration; How Salon executive editor Andrew O’Hehir reacts to this; How psychopaths and financial services seem to go together; The extent to which JD Vance lies; Aid to foreign … Continue reading →

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Musk, History, Science, Education

Posted on Monday 14 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Adam Grant on the wrong lesson to take from Elon Musk; David Remnick on the conservative urge to rewrite the past in simplistic terms; RFK Jr.’s contempt of science; And the conservative war against education. – – – Adam Grant … Continue reading →

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In a Sense, It’s All About Tribal Conformity

Posted on Thursday 10 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Today’s deep thought about religion and conformity; How US scientists have withdrawn their names from a scientific paper about evolution, for fear of reprisal — one of them coincidentally mentioned in a piece posted yesterday; Short items about Trump’s lapel … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Lunacy, Politics, Psychology, Science | Comments Off on In a Sense, It’s All About Tribal Conformity

Dan Ariely, MISBELIEF

Posted on Wednesday 9 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled “What Makes Rational People Believe Irrational Things” (Harper, September 2023, 311pp, including 21pp of acknowledgements, references, and index.) Here’s the latest book by Dan Ariely, author of one of the earliest books I read about psychological biases and human … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Human Nature, Psychology | Comments Off on Dan Ariely, MISBELIEF