Monday, July 30, 2007
we like punishment
the game has been done a million times with many different manipulations. one manipulation is to allow others to punish free riders - those that didn't contribute - by reducing their earnings. this tends to increase contributions, maintaining them at a higher level than without punishment, and generally increase efficiency of the system.
but what of well-being? perhaps people prefer to live in a world without punishment? not the case, says a new study:
...harsher punishment possibilities lead to signifcantly [sic] higher well-being, controlling for earnings and other relevant variables. People derive independent satisfaction from interacting under the protection of strong punishment possibilities.what does this say about humans? do we enjoy living in an environment where we can punish? or are punished? or can injure lazy people? a follow-up should separate satisfaction from punishing from satisfaction and reducing the incomes of their opponents... they attempted it with the hard vs. soft punishment (hard punishment reduced the punished's income much more at the same cost), and it seems to indicate that more than anything they enjoyed the hard punishment - that is, the more they could reduced the free rider's income, the more they enjoyed the game. and, although they controlled for income, can income really be completely separated from punishment when it increases along with income, and "causes" that increase?
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Tuesday, January 02, 2007
a brave new world without disgust
"modern molecular techniques will one day find a way to cure Huntington's, but along the way, work out a method to crank down or turn off our disgust response, while preserving our motor systems"hauser correctly notes that disgust is involved in many awful things such as india's caste system, war, genocide. however, involved in and responsible for can be two very different things.
moreover, disgust can be a powerful positive force as well. for example, disgust may be partially responsible for the cast system, but modern efforts to eradicate it are also motivated partially based on the exact same emotion. disgust at hunger, homelessness, and other woes motivates many individuals to do good work. perhaps we would still be motivated to enact change without this emotion, as (semi)rational humans, but would our motivation be as powerful? probably not. we should be careful in vilifying certain feelings - and proposing the permanent elimination of them - because of the actions of a few.
Labels: misc. psych, social
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Wednesday, November 08, 2006
broadcast isn't the same, but what does that mean?
peyser claims that at TV's inception it was promoted nothing but mainstream values, but as it evolved and tested boundaries it became a powerful vehicle for social critique. he then claims (without conjecture as to why) that TV has since devolved back to its original entertaining-but-not-critical form, where he cites shows such as CSI and grey's anatomy, and even 24.
i'll argue that society hasn't lost its desire for irony and satire but that due to constraints alone its vehicle has shifted from broadcast to more individualistic avenues such as subscriber TV and the internet. old forms of satire such as M*A*S*H (which is awesome, by the way) and even married with children, if i dare call that social commentary, are just that- they're old. our desensitized polity wants social commentary that still speaks to the same kinds of issues but in a new and edgy way (think sex and the city or southpark). the only way to do that is to go above and beyond what's been done before, to shock.
however, as family guy's first-attempt cancellation indicates (or howard stern's difficulties, if we want to also talk about radio), that kind of thing is just not permitted in traditional broadcast. this doesn't mean we don't get it; thankfully, somehow (though it defies logic), the invention of paid entertainment and the internet create a different set of censorship rules. we can actually get the kind of social commentary we want, we just have to pay for it. (this excludes a certain sector of society from getting satire, which is similar to the problem of banning medicines as i've argued before, and is a subject for an entirely different post)
without any evidence, i'd even be willing to at least propose that we've, if anything, grown more desirous of it if the number of satirical shows on today were compared historically and controlling for number of stations, shows etc. (and if desire and # shows are equated as peyser does). if only i had a million research careers...
Labels: social
Yeah, it's just ridiculous to talk about broadcast television as though it still represents a cross-section of society. Broadcast TV's market share has been steadily declining for decades, and most of the good shows are now on cable. In addition to Comedy Central and HBO, we've got whole channels devoted to punditry.
By 
Tim, at
Wed Nov 29, 08:43:00 AM
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Wednesday, October 11, 2006
neurotheology
the rockefeller chapel here has a cool art exhibit by neurologist audrius plioplys on neurotheology. those interested in this blog may want to check it out - it raises important questions of the soul, reductionism, etc.
Because his works represent the human brain's ability to think philosophically, he sees them as spiritual. "It's from these neurological networks that the human spirit comes from," said Plioplys.
Labels: neuroscience, social
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Monday, August 21, 2006
self-fulfilling prophesy, what?
Labels: social
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Wednesday, August 09, 2006
life keeps getting better: sleep
via neuroethics & law.the length of a single night's sleep has decreased over the years (upward of 30 percent of adults average six or fewer hours), but the quality of our sleep has improved significantly.
Despite nostalgic notions about sleep in past centuries, threats to peaceful slumber lurked everywhere, from lice and noxious chamber pots to tempestuous weather.
Worst in this pre-penicillin age was sickness, especially such respiratory tract illnesses as influenza, pulmonary tuberculosis and asthma, all aggravated by bedding rife with mites. One 18th-century diarist recounts that asthma forced her husband to sleep in a chair for months, with "watchers" required to hold his head upright. Among the laboring poor, whose living conditions were horrendous, sleep deprivation was probably chronic, prompting many to nap at midday, much to the annoyance of their masters.
Labels: social
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Thursday, July 20, 2006
do women make (insignificantly) better social science researchers?
something else i found cool about the study, although it's technically insignificant: the newcastle study hinted at an inverse linear relationship between femininity and contribution (see chart, page 2). the most feminine eyes induced the fewest contributions and the most masculine the most, with eyes straight out of a ann rice novel in the middle (??). it's a straight linear line, with no outliers - too perfect to be coincidence! who really believes in statistical significance anyway?
so, although men may be better at administering medical care, women may be better than their male counterparts at leading behavioral experiments by influencing their actions less. this study only ran for a few months, with only two sets of female eyes. i'd like to see a larger study with higher variation in both femininity, age, and expression.
of course, insignificant gender correlations aside this has interesting implications for social science experiments involving prosocial behavior. regardless of whether the eyes activate something that harks back to group selection or simply to a reminder that another person may enter the room, researchers must be very careful to minimize felt observation.
Labels: social
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Saturday, June 17, 2006
hayek and the pope: the harmony of the spheres
this week some i had the pleasure of attending acton university. i thought i'd share with you (i.e., try not to butcher) an interesting concept i learned from catholic social thought: subsidiarity.as i understand it, this concept contends that a number of spheres surround each individual. the closest sphere consists of your most intimate acquaintances, such as the immediate family. this is followed by spheres with less and less familiarity, from friends and extended family to the spheres of the church, community, and finally government.
subsidiarity suggests that when problems arise, it is best to consult the sphere closest to you and move outward if that sphere is unable or unwilling to help. this continues until you reach the outermost sphere which presumably consists of the highest level of government. in a society that took subsidiarity seriously, i wonder whether we would ever reach those outermost spheres.
pope leo XII, who developed the concept developed in the encyclical rerum novarum of 1891, seems to have beat hayek to the punch with the concept of local knowledge. or, perhaps, hayek received his early understanding of this concept from his catholic upbringing. we'll never know, i suppose!
- - -
we also had the pleasure of hearing the former prime minister of estonia, mart laar. you can listen to it here in MP3.
Brian Doherty brought up subsidiarity in one of my favorite articles at Reason back in the fall of '04.
By , at
Sun Jun 18, 07:31:00 PM
what a great article! that's what i get for not being as loyal a reason reader as i should. a great quote:
"One of government's most pernicious effects is the way it colonizes our consciousness, in a manner deeper and more significant than advertising or markets ever manage. I would call upon my fellow citizens to loosen the mental bondage government has over them, to ignore it rather than engage in pointless and hopeless efforts to change it..."
By 
ns, at
Sun Jun 18, 08:59:00 PM
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Friday, June 02, 2006
hardship, education, and gullibility
this counterintuitive study reminds me of a recent survey that found that the more education one has, the more likely s/he is to believe in the possibility of paranormal activity. this is interesting, esp. given the inverse relationship between education and religiosity.
the relationship makes me wonder the cause of the alleged correlation between education level and ideology. it doesn't necessarily take smarter people to appreciate the nuances of theories on paranormal activity (although mulder was quite
but can we relate this study to the belief that an earthly "higher power," i.e. the government, almost paranormal in capability, can solve society's woes?
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Sunday, May 28, 2006
hedgehog locale update
what do jessie jackson and john ashcroft have in common?
...thomas sowell and paul wolfowitz?
...milton friedman and kurt vonnegut, jr.?
answer:
they all went to the university of chicago.
and soon i will, too. in chicago's masters program i will study lots of fun and exciting stuff, like brains (yes, brains are fun! and exciting!). i'm taking the summer "off" so officially no longer staff here (although i'd like to think of myself as director emeritus), and will instead be here for the next few months.now that i'm finished freaking out about those decisions, i'll probably do some more blogging...
Congratulations. I am certainly hoping that you turn out most like Jessie Jackson. A penchant for rhyming prose might improve the digestability of neuroeconomic reseach.
"We've got to probe
The frontal lobe
To give your subliminal choice
An academic voice.
Can I get an Amen?"
JC
By , at
Mon May 29, 10:11:00 AM
HA. thanks, you :) i'll add that verse to my first academic paper.
but to succeed i "must know it is not my aptitude but my attitude that will determine my altitude."
By ns, at
Mon May 29, 12:42:00 PM
thanks! i will be at GMU util the end of August though, so you had better hang out with me. :)
By ns, at
Mon Jun 12, 10:26:00 AM
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Wednesday, May 03, 2006
IQ and age
"The poorer performance by older adults may be characterized by a loss of efficiency in visual search," stated the researcher. "...This finding offers direct support for the hypothesis that sensory deficits influence coding task performances."
certainly, this is a very important distinction. however, i wonder then how we define IQ. physical central nervous system decline such as neuronal atrophy causes deficits in perceived cognitive output. this study shows that the body's physical decline creates similar deficits in perceived output. effectively, intelligence has dropped, regardless of what is going on in the brain, regardless of what executive functions are still sharp. the individual has lost the ability to interact as one with her previous IQ does, and that is important.
Labels: social
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Thursday, February 23, 2006
"trustiness" of the historic trust
it's too bad that an organization dedicated to preserving private property tries to restrict private construction. however, they're not completely anti-liberty. although they do have a veritable toolkit for restricting property rights, much of their odd drugstore crusade seems targeted at the corporate level, allowing for consensual, mutually beneficial, preservation. although, for my dime i'd rather cheap medicine and an ugly building to the reverse.
more from FH on private conservation: prairie chickens (no joke), and an archeological site
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Saturday, February 11, 2006
and it was supposed to be fun
Most affairs consist of a little bad sex and hours on the telephone.ouch. from psychology today's archives
Labels: social
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Wednesday, January 25, 2006
sustainable microfinance
By choosing a business on our website and then lending money online to that enterprise, you can "sponsor a business" and help the world's working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive monthly email updates that let you know about the progress being made by the small business you've sponsored. These updates include reports on loan repayment progress, photos of new capital equipment, narratives on business growth and standard of living improvements, and more. As loans are repaid, you will get your original loan money back.anyone with a credit card and paypal account can loan much-needed funds in $25 increments. interest goes to operating expenses only (partly due to massive SEC regulations on interest-bearing loans), so investors receive only their capital investment when the loan is repaid.
so why would a nonprofit choose microfinance instead of donations? insisting that poor entrepreneurs repay their loans seems much colder than handing out grants. yet it seems to me that requiring repayment engenders a feeling of obligation and indebtedness, possibly making entrepreneurs work harder to succeed. kiva's answer is focused on our behavior rather than that of the entrepreneur - we are more likely to give money when we get it back, increasing the number of loans and people they can help:
visit kiva's website for more information. the founders also have a blog.There is a limit to the amount of money people can give; loans, on the other hand, can be repaid and re-loaned indefinitely. We believe in the power of creating a more sustainable option for people to contribute.
Labels: social
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Sunday, January 22, 2006
restoring a lost language
"It might have been done anyway, but it would have taken much, much longer," Rudes said. "This type of work is very time-consuming and expensive. ... There are so many other projects, I probably wouldn't have turned to this one."details on the restored language from the film, including CDs and scripts, will go to the descendants of the langage. a dictionary is also in-progress. many nations are attempting to reclaim some of the cultural heritage taken from them during assimilation, and language is an important key to this process. so even if the movie sucks, you'll be buying a bit of cultural preservation with your ticket.
Labels: social
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Sunday, December 04, 2005
all's fair in love, war, and sports (and markets?)
"moral development" was gauged by measuring values such as honesty, justice, fairness, and responsibility, but only during athletic events. this seems to leave room for the possibility that sports do not lead to immoral people, but rather that athletes may not see athletics bound by the same moral rules (previous studies indicate this with other games). indeed, they may even see bending rules as part of the game.
we could tenuously link this to real-life by hypothesizing that athletic competition is similar to market competition (although profits and wins are very different). yet we must first ask if we really care about the values above in market interactions - a true market believer might say that these behaviors would be weeded out eventually if they harmed the consumer, for who would buy from a known dishonest company/person? therefore competition provides both the problem and the cure (although certainly harming lots of folks along the way - think enron). in team sports, at least, we can't see this; athletes are generally forced to play each other. in trade, not so much.
this, of course, all assumes self-report data on deontological surveys is valid in the first place. and that monopolies don't exist.
Labels: social
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Wednesday, October 05, 2005
last chance...
a big THANK YOU to those who have donated.
to those who are saving their $ for katrina victims, please keep in mind that many leukemia patients lived in that region. the society is doing their best to restore normal lives for these doubly-afflicted people. your donation can help!
a statement from the society on their hurricane efforts:
"In order to help meet the critical need to restore health care to the communities ravaged by the hurricane, the Society will commit $1 million to help get blood cancer treatment centers and patient support services in the devastated areas up and running again. The organization will carry out this commitment through two of its major fundraising campaigns: a half million dollars from the 2005 Light The Night Walk and a half million dollars from this year's School & Youth Programs.
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Tuesday, October 04, 2005
comments down
and no, it's not a clever way to get greg to stop harassing me to post.
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Saturday, September 24, 2005
take heart, optimists. we're alright after all.
we image that people confronted with disasters must have a disturbed pattern of functioning. it makes sense; people should have a difficult time moving on after extraordinarily traumatic events. however, george bonanno at columbia university claims:
...the most common reaction among adults exposed to such events is a relatively stable pattern of healthy functioning coupled with the enduring capacity for positive emotion and generative experiences.given our pop psychological understanding of reaction to tragedy, this surprised me. why does it seem as if people should be less resilient than they are? two posibilities come to mind. first, traumatized victims are a better media story, increasing our perception of their actual incidence in a normal population. a cynic would also say it's in the mental health field's best interest to portray their services as necessary for everyone, but i'm not sure that's always the case, as most of them do seem honestly convinced of being essential.
this study is much needed as it highlights human's amazing coping mechanisms and the power of social networks. it shows our ability to eek out a happy - or at least satisfied - life following very unfortunate events. and that's not so bad.
for more on the good stuff in psychology, see positive psychology.
source: bonanno, george. resilience in the face of potential trauma. psychological science, june 2005
update: fixing typos, that's all.
Labels: social, well being
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Thursday, September 22, 2005
natural selection at work
Joe McGee stands in the pounding surf at the Southern Most Point in Key West, Fla. Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2005, as Hurricane Rita neared the lower Florida Keys. (AP)
this reminds me of people who rushed to mount saint helens last year when everyone thought it may blow its top. the motivations for rushing to the scene of a potential natural disaster are a bit different than what is going on here, though. here people are staying in their homes, and the disaster is coming to them. risk judgments are involved in both cases, but in the latter other factors such as previous hurricane experience and overestimation of home construction play a role. in some situations, one could see overconfidence and flawed self-assessment as adaptive traits, helping individuals perform better. however, flawed assessment of one's ability to weather a storm is fatally dangerous, as we've seen with katrina or any number of other decisions (e.g., overestimating your body and making the decision to continue smoking).
it's also interesting to note that when forced to make decisions based solely on experience and memory people typically make much riskier decisions than when presented with written materials. this is not particularly surprising. and hurricane folks certainly aren't basing their decisions off of hurricane evacuation manuals. life insurance companies would do well to mail those to their costal clientele.
aside: rita is a truly terrible name. homes in houston deserve better.
update: just fixing the picture
Labels: decision making, social
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Wednesday, September 07, 2005
giving to charity
i chose americares for katrina. any donation is good, i suppose, but it confounds me that with so much human suffering people donate instead to animal rescue efforts. in my opinion, i'd rather save all the people and worry about the animals later. i'd rather them be alive and missing fluffy than the reverse.
also check out missionfish's ebay auctions for various katrina-related charities.
Labels: social
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Monday, September 05, 2005
holy cow, are gas prices high
it seems to me that there are countless alternatives to gas, and even more options for gas consumption reduction. get an ethanol, diesel, electric or hybrid car. take the bus. take the subway. walk. ride a bike. buy a horse. carpool. move closer to work. don’t drive a hummer. don’t drive unless you have to. make your car more fuel efficient.
of course, some of the above are predicated on the assumption that one can switch situations immediately, but in reality some people may be unable or unwilling to compensate at all right away. however, it seems this will only slow, but not altogether prevent, the market adjustments that will occur. in the meantime, we’ll just have to wait it out and stop whining – or even concentrate on the positive benefits of the gas spike to the environment and technology making us less dependent on oil.
Labels: social
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Sunday, August 28, 2005
words of the day
in my quest for a more magniloquent vocabulary, i came across the new american sub-standard politically incorrect dictionary. check it out, although it doesn't really live up to the high expectations its name creates.
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Thursday, July 21, 2005
nonprofit innovation
- community voice mail - "provides free, 24-hour nationwide voice mail to people in crisis--connecting them to jobs, housing, and hope--a deceptively simple concept with extraordinary impact"
- donors choose - "a marketplace where teachers and individuals connect to give at-risk students the resources they need to learn"
- kickstart - "helps channel the entrepreneurial spirit of Africa to help people help themselves. The organization creates and markets simple tools that people use to generate income"
the abundance and variety of nonprofits continues to amaze me. see related posts on missionfish and the nature conservancy.
Labels: social
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Sunday, July 17, 2005
APA amazes again
i will try not to be too sarcastic about this press release by the american psychological association:
"This study shows that parent training is the most effective tool in dealing with conduct disorder," he said. "We compared a great number of variables and there was not a single condition where a treatment without parent training was more effective."perhaps they don't have kids in that ivory tower?
Labels: misc. psych, social
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Friday, July 15, 2005
taking history seriously
Staff at the Western-style restaurant were told to ask Japanese customers who walked through the door to give their views of Japan's 1931-1945 occupation of parts of China....
staff are told to deny entrance to japanese patrons who did not recognize and apologize for the occupation, which a war crimes tribunal found killed 155,000 chinese.
you can call this unfair discrimination, but the restaurateurs see it otherwise:"We totally welcome those Japanese customers who can correctly view history," the manager, surnamed Tian, was quoted as saying."But as for those customers who still refuse to admit to history, we want to say we don't like them."what better way to do that than to deny entrance to their establishment?
forcing establishments to discriminate, as with mandatory affirmative action, jim crow laws, or even - dare i say it - a smoking ban, has detestable outcomes that definitely exclude people from the market. however, one restaurant selecting its own policies for admittance seems perfectly reasonable to me.
Labels: social
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Thursday, July 07, 2005
blind date?
the owner says he began the restaurant chain because of an interest in corporate social responsibility, but although blind servers assist customers, it's no charity:
...de Broglie's policy is based on profit. Other members of staff can see.i know where i'll be dining on my next trip to europe!
"I don't hire people because they're blind but because they're better in their job than people who are not blind. I wouldn't put them in the kitchen, because it's a dangerous place for them," he said.
Labels: social
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Wednesday, June 15, 2005
join the organic rebellion
help cuce-skywalker and obi-wan cannoli battle darktater and the dark side of the farm in grocery store wars, a short by the organic trade association hawking organic produce. it's really pretty funny.one question though: how does non-organic produce have "artifically lower prices?"
thanks go to j-hawk for the tip.
update: cannoli is spelled with two n's, nikki.
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Friday, June 03, 2005
we still bowl, just not in leagues
a study from the journal political psychology says maybe not. this study examined informal social interactions and their impact on social capital.
importantly, the study hints at why many people prefer informal interactions, which the study found were "thought to be immediately rewarding and to provide long-term satisfaction to a greater extent than organizational participation." organizations cost money and often have barriers to entry, whereas informal interactions are more accommodating and often free. there are lots of potential reasons for the decline of membership in formal organizations (not least of which is the modern welfare state that decreases the need for nongovernmental support networks, but that's another story), but this one is interesting in that it points to our increasing desire to "have it your way."
that desire may not reap such ill consequences as previously thought. the study notes that while formal organizations are still tops for building civic competence, informal participation is actually better at building "feelings of connectedness and social support." informal interactions also exceed in providing companionship and creating networks of mutual obligation.
i'm certainly no expert on the subject, but that seems like a good thing to me.
source: green, mc et al. organizational membership versus informal interaction: contributions to skills and perceptions that build social capital. political psychology. february 2005 (yes, i am that far behind on my reading. back off!)
Labels: social
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Tuesday, May 31, 2005
to the tanning beds!
ohio state just released research indicating that our brains may shrink in the absence of sunlight. the report speculates that the loss occurs not in the areas receiving and processing visual information, but in those involved in learning and memory (in the hippocampus).
this may partially explain why many people get blue in the winter. interestingly enough, melatonin, produced in the hippocampus, has been previously linked to seasonal affective disorder (SAD), the ailment causing depression during winter months.
Labels: social
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Tuesday, May 24, 2005
elephantine entrepreneurship
an entrepreneur in seoul is profiting from his recent tragedy. in mid-april, elephants destroyed his restaurant, but now he says that business is better than ever. the owner used his insurance money to remodel and put up a new name: "restaurant where elephants have been." he has renamed menu items to coordinate with the restaurant's new pachyderm persona.
it's proven quite profitable - sales have doubled:
"What can I say about the elephants? Thank you for causing the trouble? Well, that just might be right," Keum said.read more.
Labels: social
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Thursday, May 19, 2005
red is for winners... sometimes
This does not mean that a bad team can reverse its fortunes by wearing red, Dr. Barton said. The study applies only to closely matched competitors. "If you're hopeless," he said, "then wearing red isn't going to make you start winning."someone had to say it!
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Friday, May 06, 2005
free enterprise, free conscience
forcing a businessperson to engage in something s/he feels morally wrong does not seem justifiable, so as long as pharmacy owners are allowed to fire pharmacists for refusing to fill prescriptions, this makes a lot of sense to me.
i'm not concerned with any negative effects of this law. most, if not all, towns have more than one pharmacy, and i am fairly sure at least one will be entrepreneurial enough to exploit the need for birth control pills. the withholding pharmacy will loose profits from those pills while, perhaps, gaining some of the other pharmacy’s clients who would prefer to go to a "moral" pharmacist. i bet it may even out in the end and allow people to act in accordance with their own beliefs.
and if there is only one pharmacist and he's a zealot catholic looney? there is no reason why one can't order birth control pills online or via mail. it's often cheaper anyway.
for more information, visit the protection of conscience project's website, a religious group pushing all kinds of laws against "force[ing] health care workers and others to participate, directly or indirectly, in morally controversial procedures".
via the fayette county review
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Wednesday, May 04, 2005
ugly people are people too
from the new york times:
"Like lots of animals, we tend to parcel out our resources on the basis of value," he said. "Maybe we can't always articulate that, but in fact we do it. There are a lot of things that make a person more valuable, and physical attractiveness may be one of them."correlations have also been made between attractiveness and intelligence. perhaps parental involvement (or lack thereof) is one factor in this?
*or bastardized...
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private scholarships count
This study also provides ample evidence of the deep commitment that exists in the private sector to help students go to college. The private sector’s support for scholarship aid must be better recognized and understood as a key element in the national goal of improving access to higher education, especially as private aid is combined with critical government and institutional financial aid programs.
private groups awarded $3 billion in scholarships last year (7% of total grants). these groups included local community initiatives, big corporations, small companies, philanthropic foundations, service & fraternal organizations, educational trusts, and more.
the report found that private funding sources "help students who slip through the cracks of other programs and facilitate choice and affordability for a wide range of students" and make "college more affordable for both low- and middle-income students."
check out the whole report.
thanks for the heads up, dan.
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Thursday, April 07, 2005
obesity and incentives
although you'd have to control for store quality (upscale stores likely hire a different variety of clerk), there would likely be significant behavioral differences between stores paying on an hourly rate and those paying on commission. giving staff a stake in their sales may curb their prejudiced behavior because ignoring obese customers on the assumption that they will not buy will result in fewer sales. clerks who ignored the stereotype would likely earn more (and possibly even stay in the job longer because of their higher earnings). clerks on hourly wage, however, have no reason to treat customers differently from their default behavior, as they have no direct stake in daily sales.
prejudiced behavior may still bleed through with commissions, but to a lesser degree.
and, if americans really are becoming more obese (which i am not convinced of), we'll probably see this stereotype effect fade away as people are confronted with the invalidity of this stereotype more often - one upside to the "epidemic," i suppose.
reference: the paper is not published. it's a graduate student paper by eden king, “remediation strategies and consequences of interpersonal discrimination toward obese customers.” eden tells me they did not compare commission vs. hourly pay schedules in this study.
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Tuesday, March 29, 2005
relative reproductive rights
our society and lawmakers insist (no pun intended) on enforcing this restriction in a thinly veiled attempt to enforce what most of us recognize clearly as a cultural taboo. we do this even in spite of the knowledge that there is at most an extremely low risk of any kind of genetic defect for this particular kind of union. even a low risk is not good legal justification, as i'm aware of no laws banning marriage or reproduction amongst individuals with serious genetic risks. of course, few seriously try to justify this law based on science. i mean, it's gross. right?
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a win-win: charity marathons
of course, there are some sour grapes - serious marathon runners who call charity runners a "nuisance." i'm willing to bet these folks will likely amend their opinions if ever afflicted with leukemia, breast cancer, or AIDS.
read more.
aaaaand, now for the plug: if you're feeling left out, donate to my walk for the leukemia & lymphoma society.
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Monday, March 28, 2005
saving schiavo
it seems that legally the schiavo case was blessedly clear-cut in favor of mr. schiavo. that the executive and legislative interventions were ineffectual in spite of the media frenzy and public outcry and that judges were able to hold their ground despite these pressures both say something truly great about the law here in the US. in far too many other countries, authorities might well have taken control regardless of law or precedent. one only needs to scan international news – particularly in africa and transition nations – to see flagrant abuse of power.
in contrast, florida’s governor, although guilty of the iniquitous crime of being a bush, stated he simply could and would not overstep his powers. it’s not because he didn’t want to.
people will be people, and power paired with empathy tends to make some feel they should step beyond the law. this time, however, it did not work. in the face of such a powerful story, we can uphold our court decisions – even in spite of intrusions from both other branches of government.
whether or not the outcome is morally right is a different matter.
religious activists have politicized the schiavo case as a war against immoral secular law and fail to mention any conflict inside Christianity. to me, the Christian perspective is even less clear than the legal case. it is not clear to me which of our unhappy alternatives - allowing her to die or artificially prolonging her life in that state - would really be “saving” her. the answer may very well be neither – perhaps we could not save her at all, no matter the ruling. although it’s a hard answer to swallow, it may just be the right one.
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Friday, March 11, 2005
fair access to shaky science
but progenitorivox isn't real of course; it's the design of the “consumers union.” the consumers union's objective is not to mock consumers and their serious health problems, such as erectile dysfunction and clinical depression, but rather to push legislation forcing pharmaceutical companies to make the results of their clinical trials public. their effort has been dubbed
the FACT [The Fair Access to Clinical Trials] Act, requiring drug companies to make public all the results of their clinical trials so we’ll know about potentially harmful side effects. And it must create an independent office of drug safety in the Food and Drug Administration to ensure quick action is taken when safety concerns are raised.on the face of it, the act sounds innocuous - why shouldn't we outlaw certain drugs, which the act would eventually lead to, based on the results of a clinical trial? even putting aside the privacy concerns this raises, the act seems like a bad idea. i am leery of unpublished studies and studies not published in peer-reviewed journals, as is the case with most clinical trials. in general, i believe researchers share in this opinion. so, if it's not good enough for science, why is it good enough for law? criminalizing a sick patient's treatment preference based on a study done by a private company that has neither been replicated nor reviewed seems unjustifiable.
the new york times thinks it’s a great idea though, but does give d
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