“You don’t mean to say that this charming, clever young lady has been so foolish as to accept you?” Lord Caversham to Lord Goring in Oscar Wilde’s, An Ideal Husband “Evolution is an examination with two papers. To succeed demands a pass in both.” Steve Jones, Darwin’s Ghost (p. 76) The Arts Club of Vancouver’s … Continue reading Why Is A Christmas Story — The Musical — So Hilarious? Inside Jokes, The Mating Mind and Mental Spaces We’d Rather Not Explore
This document contains notes written by Luc P. Beaudoin, mostly in preparation for a February 26 2023 local humanist meeting. Members had been asked to think about What’s Right in, and What’s Missing from, The Status Game book by Will Storr? The book is about “Social Position and How We Use it”. You can read … Continue reading What’s Right in and What’s Missing from The Status Game book by Will Storr?
sapioaffinity is a term coined by Beaudoin, which means affinity for sapience, intelligence and competence. It’s discussed but not named in Lovers, Intellectual Loneliness, and an Enigma. It is an attitude (in the sense of Ortony, Clore & Collins (1988). Sapioaffinity is not the only affinity we have, of course, but Beaudoin argues it is … Continue reading Terminology
Last month, Professor Aaron Sloman was awarded the 2020 K. Jon Barwise Prize which recognizes “significant and sustained contributions to areas relevant to philosophy and computing by an APA member. The prize will serve to credit those within our profession for their life long efforts in this field.”
I believe that all the important problems of war and peace, exploitation and brotherhood, hatred and love, sickness and health, misunderstanding and understanding, the happiness and unhappiness of mankind will yield only to a better understanding of human nature. […] Psychology should be more humanistic, more concerned with the problems of humanity, and less with … Continue reading Psychology of the Base: Why Do Some Canadians Still Support the Harper Government?
In Cognitive Productivity I described several illusions and biases that interfere with our ability to leverage knowledge resources. The first set of illusions is to over-estimate or underestimate the “helpfulness” of a knowledge resources. Illusions of Helpfulness of Information Selecting the right resource to process is critical to the development of effectiveness.
I’ve begun to offer a pair of workshops on emotion that focus primarily on romantic love, technically known as “limerence”. The first workshop is designed primarily to enhance participants’ understanding of their emotions, whereas the second is focused on “relating to” their emotions. This post is about the first workshop. Why Understand Limerence (Romantic Love)? … Continue reading Romantic Love (Limerence): A Workshop on Emotion
Sexual selection is the professional, at sifting between genes. Geoffrey Miller, The Mating Mind Have you ever had this awkward experience at a conference cocktail party: a rosy new acquaintance asks you about the morning’s keynote, which you attended with no capture device but yourself? So you couldn’t recall anything about the lecture to convey … Continue reading Tea, Zen, Creativity and Taking Mental Notes with the Method of Loci
