1. Several arguments are presented in favor of rules and social control, including that rules are necessary to maintain order in society and prevent free riders, and that religious beliefs provide social control by promising rewards or punishment in the afterlife.
2. Different religious and philosophical traditions discuss the nature of the soul and its relationship to the self, divinity, and the possibility of reincarnation or an afterlife.
3. The scientific method and use of evidence-based reasoning challenged traditional religious authorities by offering alternative explanations for natural phenomena and forcing an expansion of beliefs beyond personal experiences or sacred texts.
1. Several arguments are presented in favor of rules and social control, including that rules are necessary to maintain order in society and prevent free riders, and that religious beliefs provide social control by promising rewards or punishment in the afterlife.
2. Different religious and philosophical traditions discuss the nature of the soul and its relationship to the self, divinity, and the possibility of reincarnation or an afterlife.
3. The scientific method and use of evidence-based reasoning challenged traditional religious authorities by offering alternative explanations for natural phenomena and forcing an expansion of beliefs beyond personal experiences or sacred texts.
1. Several arguments are presented in favor of rules and social control, including that rules are necessary to maintain order in society and prevent free riders, and that religious beliefs provide social control by promising rewards or punishment in the afterlife.
2. Different religious and philosophical traditions discuss the nature of the soul and its relationship to the self, divinity, and the possibility of reincarnation or an afterlife.
3. The scientific method and use of evidence-based reasoning challenged traditional religious authorities by offering alternative explanations for natural phenomena and forcing an expansion of beliefs beyond personal experiences or sacred texts.
Get rid of free loaders or free riders Keep people in line The notion that it is important to behave for the good of one's society but also for one's own well-being in the afterlife The idea of a soul, its survival, the necessity of doing the irght thing to assu re its survival are all packaged into a powerful source of social control Ra vs Apophis good vs evil Ba I have not done falsehood against men I have not impoverished my associates I have done no wrong in the Place of Truth I have not learnt that which is not. I have done no evil I have not made people labor daily in excess of what was due to be done for me. Heaven is for real 90 minutes in heaven Hades Elysian fields Pythagorus take on other people's perspective consciousness transmigration of souls someplace, in the minds of someone else souls follow their own rules dualism Plato, religious mythologies Plato the soul is immortal after death, the soul retains what's essential to person, personality character P and P - more important to take care doesn't obey laws of physical objects philosopher riff raff-recycled after 10,000 years new body Buddhism sufferings cause of suffering can learn to stop suffering 8 fold path concentration, mindful, right view of life - to decrease suffering meditation, observing your own mind 1. everything is always changing 2. only this moment exists detached less suffering your self doesn't exist soul arises from self and vv non-self not hold on to a self separate to other organism elements that cause you to being seed tree seed no soul but part of life not a religion buddha not a god some parts worship no after life philosophy type of psychology buddha-understanding the mind liked lists education for a job to think not all belief systems are religions religion-set of beliefs causes, purpose of universe, creation, people in charge early religion-no devotion not much about life after death gaps in understanding speculating-believing-operation of unseen forces kids-natural, agents in world brain- inborn talent to envision agents of good things and bad things happen concrete representations of agents externalize ideas externalization bargaining with gods monotheism Yahweh devotion to single god grand puppeteer not the first accdg to one critic our soul can imagine other realities' soul never thinks without an image nexting Nous-highest part of rational soul, maybe mind when it is set free it is immortal and eternal Prime Mover -> post judaic thinkers adopt aristotle God was first cause of motion and soul is divine and immortal religure latin-to bind communal dancing, trances, communication with spirits, gods, and dead ancestors ned for group cohesion, territorial defense, handling freeloaders the need to be a member of a tribe - physical survival (wade) religion social cohesion monotheistic stern overseer of people's actions fear of divine punishment in life and afterlife enhanced intra-tribal ties learning how to be a mmeber of a tribe imitation - values, worldviews instruction child-malleable initiation Cognitive Dissonance fast, tithe -effort, glad to be part, like those with similar commitment advantages of tribe embership protection sense of identity- I am a *relgion support secure common meanings, worldview, goals feel good Protestantism and the weakening of ties that bind Emile Durkheim french sociologist in late 19th century son of rabbi rate of suicides in protestant communities than catholic and jewish communities anomie -sense of being alienated not connected, on your own, relying on own resources lonely physical survival to psychological survival put soul into hands of god Martin Luther - I am not I am not lawyer->monk lightning indulgences identity-industrial revolution Erik Erikson - author of young man luther stage of identity formation late adolescence -blonde blue eyes jewish swedish Identity Who am I? how do I fit into the adult world? worldview-identity core beliefs what do i blieve? what roles are available to me? what is my ideology? what is my tribe? changes defend identity, ideology defending religious ideologies part of identity video result of insulting a tribe only takes a few people do it bec. god is watching research on religion and health -7th day adventists 34% lower of not good health of standard male in health 12% of not good health women mormons religios active 55% better 45% utah-mormons nevada -regular church attendance -the earlier the better god takes care of religous people correlation between affiliation of church to longevity/ correlation is not causation memberships strict eating rules healthy activities good diet low in fats smoking and alcohol banned life less stressful - know people low divorce rates strong social norms support network old atheists all religion is bunk-thomas edison mark twain-letters from the earth (from satan to his fellow archangels, st.micha el and st. gabriel) god's experiment - law of nature new atheists the four horsemen religion / science separate magisteria -the anatomy of internalized beliefs sam harris the end of faith letter to a christian nation undergraduate degree in philosophy studied religions bible ancient children believe what parents tell them career opportunity - muslims turn themselves into bomb religions-protected from criticism taboo divisive paying the price ability to cause ourselves harm xspiritual experiences religions argues that is true useful that is necessary atheism - dogmatic intolerant another religion bertrand russel can't all be true - diversity evidence? terrible or nonexistence no extrabiblical sources of miracles first hand reports of miracles - hindus, gurus people who tell stories desperately want to believe them lack of corroborating evidence virgin birth genghis khan powers satya sai baba alexander bible and koran -God written deemed to be profound can't be conceived by human mind isaac newton solitude integral calculus gravity no one is tempted to ascribe to divine agency sam harris phd in neuroscience usefulness, validity of ancient literature danger of continued proliferation Richard Dawkins The selfish gene the god delusion genes - listen to parents mythology comforting privileged few who won the lottery of birth how dare 12% do not 8% agnostic europe sweden 87 japan 65 france 54 great britan 44 mau stalin hitler pol pot bill reily the brights William Paley (1743-1805) high in ranks of naglican church a view of evidence of christianity cambridge university required reading for 100 years natural theology introduced metaphoro f watchmaker complex - creation design must have had a designer person god modern day hero of Intelligent Design Daniel Dennett natural selection Darwin's dnerous idea breaking the spell discuss religion cristopher hitchens god is not great thug of group author, journalist anti anything totalitarian Carl Sagan astronomer, strophysicist a universe not made for us political system Francis Bacon armchair philosophy observatoin and experience non-overlapping magisteria religion / science billy collins "the first geniuses" the acquisition of knowledge Humans like to share ideas some shared ideas are very casual formal - expertise challenge worldviews phases of the moon 500 yrs ago more time looking at things big ideas: copernicus planets - special powers curious correlations making sense of the world by making sense of the sky astrology vagueness gives some explanation calculations collecting info middle ages - dark ages 1000 yrs knowledge not important frowned upon renaissance copernicus big idea sun in center to good to be false Bruno burned at the stake in the universe no center and no circumference exist, but the center is eerywher e...as to us on earth, the earth seems to be the center of the universe, so to i nhabitants of the mooon, the moon will appear as such...each world has its cente r, each its up and down; these differences are to be assigned relatively Galileo sun center of universe Newton - universal law of gravity Bacon scientific method - observation, measurement replicability (add) horse story other ways of finding out info and trusting those ways evidence based decision making global sense climate change air pollution energy problem not convenient to solve that not base actions and opinions on evidence change mind - not natural Galileo John Paul II - theologians who condemned Galileo did not recognize the formal di stinction between the Bible and its interpretation. "This led them unduly to tra nspose into the realm of the doctrine of the faith, a question which in fact per tained to scientific investigation." earth's picture from space nasa scientists electric lights extension of senses scientific method, empiricism, and mathematics have all forced expansion of beli efs beyond senses - Traveling Senses .Things aren't always what they sem .We don't live where we think we do .We aren't what we think we are methods mechanical, electronic tools Charles Darwin ennoble humankind challenged, accepted talk civilly "There is a simple grandeur in the view of life with its powers of growth, assim ilation, and reproduction,...that from so simple an origin, through the process of gradual selections of infinitesimal changes, endless forms most beautiful and wonderful have evolved." Darwin's Zeitgeist Victorian England-the first "Information Age"? Charles Darwin was young, undecided, and restless pamphlets -expected to succeed physician? clergyman Captain Fitzroy the beagle (1832 to 1837) didn't get along naturlaist sail mail species and where they came from amazing diversity of flora and fauna incredible landscapes seashells on a mountaintop malthus on population dynamics an earthquake (july 1837) darwin's prototypical scene the Big idea! tree evolution
5 year journey 1842 darwin had drafted most of the ideas insured the eventual publication delay but daughter died son ill darwin ill studied barnacles anonymous - vestiges of the natural history of creation (1844) the victorian sen sation and that pesky brain thing walace's wake up call brain behavior mind soul didn't want to face that charles wallace 1859 origins of the species a tour de force of the theory deliberately scholarly to counter vestiges fitzroy's lament there is a grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been o riginally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet ha s gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a begini ng endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evo lved. "the book" bible slit his throat Two Main Process drive evolution natural variation natural selection peppered moth adaptive coloration industrial revolution dark grey soot dark peppered moth changed with environment sheep sick liverfluke healthy sheep stayed healthy and sick stayed sick sheep droppings nutrient value snail slimeball ant The Natural Heritage of the Brain MacLean's Triune Brain Reptilian Paleomammalian Neomammalian Darwin's Two Simple Rules Natural variability Natural selection NPR descent with modification Kalat: "Some ancient animals that acted the way we do survived and reproduced mo re successfully than some closely related animals that acted some other way; the first group of animals therefore became our ancestors and the second group beca me extinct. Freud's Triune Mind Ego Id Superego bec. of behavior Darwin's Loss of Geological Time Young earth creationists--stage Lucy-stadium lord Kelvin-somerville dinosaurs-harrisburg first life-san francisco each step thousand years Darwin's Loss of Mendelian Genetics Addressed society of bruenn (1865) hybridization inheritance snubbed by elitists invisible characters 50 yrs before genetics 100 yrs before dna They (creation and evolution) are presented as alternatives that exclude each ot her...this clash is an absurdity becaus on one hand there is much scientific pro of in favor of evolution, which appears as a relaity that we must see and which enriches our understanding of life and being as such." pope benedict vi Mental Evolution "in the future i see open fields for far more important researches. psychology w ill be securely based on ...the necessary acquirement of each mental power and c apacity by gradation" charles darwin we didn't always have brains that did BIG ideas. when, in the process, did we ha ve: consciousness mind soul The Mind-Body Problem Rene Descartes He thinks therefore he is "I had after this described the reasonable soul, and shown that it could by no m eans be educed from the power of matter,...but that it must be expressly created ; and ...that it is necessary for it to be joined and united more closely to the body, in order to have sensations and appetites similar to ours, and thus const itute a real man." source and origin of life forces essence properties Animism Attribution of sentience (soul or spirit) ideas go back at least to Aristotle we hang onto them in our everyday language my computer hates me! heavy objects want to fall water seeks its own level pack mule: military humans thought about minds before we knew it was the brain: heart? head? looking for the source of animism cave drawings aristotle heart brain-cools body ... head heart Descartes stays in bed until noon France dutch colonies military 3 dreams/visions spurred to involve in science math find truth cartesian coordinates i perceive rokcs trees and my own body but it is possible that they exist only i n my mind but my thoughts must exist, or i would not have them i think therefore i am cogito ergo sum I am not perfect, so there must be something more perfect that created my though ts (god) God does not deceive (perfect) so rocks, trees and my body must be actual physic al objects, separate from my mental processes mind occupied body temporarily mind/body humans/animals Descartes' Dualist Views Oversimplified If animals had minds they would have everlastign souls and language; therefore a nimals must be mechanistic stimuls-response "machines" mr.scratch unconscious behaviors (reflexes; scratching an itch) in humans is also mechanist ic Conscious thought processes control voluntary actions, and while in temporary re sidence in the body, control the body via the pineal gland ("seat of the soul") program in brain waiting for u to release it conscious decision to unleash program description of what happened brain imaging we believe our mind is telling our brain what to do and brain follows the Dilemma of Consciousness Dualism: most humans see their minds (mental) as being separate from their bodie s (physical) "I (this body) have a mind you (your body) also have a mind (theoretically) asking your mind, "do you have a body?" seems sort of silly theory of mind assume we can understand ur body Monism view that everything that exiss is physical and obeys the Laws of Physics Fire is the same thing as processes occuring in a candle Mental events are the same thing as processes occuring in the brain This Identity position is a hard sell because it never FEELS like that! We easily view the mind as the source of our behavior (making up one's mind) where is your mind? dmo b/d when did your mind begin? phylogeny ontogeny unfolding comlexity When does it end? A lot of people don't want their to end-ever! Or those of their loved ones (Dennett's corpse problem" Graham 0blind but can see blind sight detect things but not aware prof blakemore we can manage brain without consciousness what is consciousness for vision is separate from being aware esp eyeball thalamus visual part visual cortex consciously see older rodents, birds, reptiles brainstem reflexive direct gaze lizard brain-reflexive movement/non-movement traveling self personal history natural clyve wearing no memory here and now current events, surroundings diary no traveling self no future no past The physical brain is obviously in control of many processes that are unimaginab ly complex-one of the things it does is the conscious mind. What more do we need?? Do we always need mindfulness? Thinking and Feeling Antonio R. Damasio and a Patient named Marivn To Think by feeling The adult brain marvin stroke, cut off from emotions amygdala visceral emotion memory decision Descarte's error i feel tehrefore i am subtle feelings preconscious lvel after his stroke, marvin was no longe rmarvin antonio damasio "feelings form the base for what humans have described for mille nia as the human soul or spirit. Phineas Gage frotnal lobes-personality phrenology specialized reigions plans reason decisions inhibit behavior Eliot-modern day Phineas cognitive abilities remained unchanged iq good preceptual ability math language skils ability to imagine solutions to a host of roblems but not able to make any action decisions elliot was no longer elliot lost felings soul-feel personality has changed no longer who you were frontal lobes? but more complicated planning perception of self in future-feelings, even without u knowing organizing problem solving decision making controlling behavior and emotions Ogilvie suspects that frontal lobe critically involved in creating and evaluatin g images of ourselfs in the future and making dcisions based on waht we 'see' an d on what we 'feel' when we see what we see. sense-emotions interfere with thinking true at some point we rely on emotions as guides balance bwn thinking and feeling inhibit feelings destructive on you and others drinking 0 frontal lobe Phineas, Eliot, Marvin-frontal lobes The brain constitutes a very important part of the CNS but it's not the only par t. Peripheral Nervous system connecting brain to rest of body. Nerves ferry impu lses from brain to body and body to brain. Brain and body are also interconnecte d chemically by substances such as hormones and peptides which are carried back and forth by bloodstream or molecules that can penetrate the brain/body barrier. -constant interaction bwn brain and body instantaneously Following Damasio's lead, Ogilvie propose that body plays much greater role in d ecision making by way of generating feelings than is recognized by most neurosci entists and most cognitive scientists. 2 way stream of info mammals two survival needs physical survival-survive long enough to propagate -reptilian and paleomammalian brains, at most primitie level psychological survival (probably for humans only) cognitive equipment, social world how to survive in group of people, early age in family, member of group, how to avoid being abused, be liked respected loved job pressure .largely in the hands of cerebral cortex(especially frontal lobes) and its inter actions with feelings and emotions that emerge from body) limbic system-emotions reptilian-breathing etc automaticity cerebral cortex unique to mammals frontal lobe - more percentage of human brain Review of parts of triune brain Reptilian brain mostly in and around brian stem controls basic life functions like balance, breathing, heart rate, territorial d ominance, and ritual displays paleomammalian brain also called limbic system and/or midbrain involved in learning and memory at a most primitive level, emotion, approach and avoidance, feeding and reproductive behavior calming the internal mileu of the body neomammalian brain cerebral cortex found uniquely in mammals forebrain portion of cerebral cortex much larger for humans than any other mamma l confers ability for language, planning, and consciousness and Oglivie will argue that the forebrain is largely responsible for providing h uman beings with the burden of surviving psychologically Psychological survival living in the world of others whod do you have to do or be to survive in social world? hard wired for physical survival but have to learn how to survive psychologicall y 1. conditioning and reinforcement, rewards and punishments 2. trial and error role of feelings in making it through the day .recognizing people recognizing alterations in the environment-what's going on with mom? pet is burnt to a crisp -upset balance of internal milleu, solution run thru various possibilities Rules for regulating the Internal Milieu of the body .HOw should I act, what should I want, what should I elieve,etc., to not feel ba d about myself, to not feel anxious, to feel loved and respected, etc? change in environment, thinking about something An example of a decision I am unworthy, unwanted -drives u take a look at belief, when was it installed, and how and why it's important to u childhood experiences memories of many examples dismissal of counterevidence proving unworthiness belief-feelings don't touch this feelings Another belief I must be liked by everybody who knows me Terror Management Sheldon Solomon Soul - universal nature of soul beliefs cultural anthropologist ernest becker birth and death of meaning denial of death - pulitzer escape from evil motivational perspective bdm - understand why people do things when they do when they do them lay out epistemological guidelines how we can know anything, nature of knowledge assumption 1.no single academic field has handle on truth psych philo theo socio lit pop culture music film intellectual net as widely consider ideas wide but critical consider all, but some ideas are better than others 2. we need to be empirical, test ideas 3. practical how we can use knowledge 4. we need to position any idea that we have abt nature of human in context of t heory of nat. selection self-preservation diff forms of life has diff ways of doing that people- curios autoonmous phys entities not considerable as humans - 1.profoundly social creatures - cooperation, collective survival 2.fantastically intelligent humans are unique bec. are alone in the natural world only form that able to imagine things that don't exist transform dreams to reality otto rank only human beings make the unreal real others -must accept kieerkegard ppl so smart we realize that we exist consciousness/selfawareness neurologically intact 4-5 yrs aware of his existence self-introspection needs sophisticated cognitive apparatus to render urself the object of your own subjective inquiry once u're aware that u exist u'll experience uniquely human emotions awe dread be alive, know you're alive, and appreciate it if u know you're alive, you'll know you'll die one of the most momentous events of human life- not only the prospect of dying, but concommitant ralization it can be anytime inevitablity, anytime, don't like that we're animals existential crisis culture consists of humanly constructed beliefs abt nature of reality that we share with other people in part to reduce anxiety result of awareness of death psychological and behavioral we are persons of value in a world of meaning culture gives us sense that we live in meaningful universe and that we contribute in a significant way to that universe terror management becker birth and death of meanig meaning value all cultures origin of universe, prescription, right and wrong, promise of immor tality behave in accdg cultural dictates literal immortality - heaven, afterlife symbolic imm (robert j. lifton) Plato some vestige of ourselves to persist children, books, art, structures treating religion disrespectfully? becker - religious psychology not intention to debunk soul, deities theodore dyosvky grand inquisitor if there were no gods man will create them psychological tendency to lean towards that to stand in the morning need to believe life has meaning disillusioned, demoralized, depression -neuroanatomical imbalances we need to believe that we are valuable contributors to the cultural drama which we subscribe not pathological narcissism we are here for some reason, life has some purpose social roles, associated standards of conduct -person of value in world of meaning self-esteem feels good self esteem is when we are valuable participants in a meaningful universe reduce anxiety discomfort on mortality we need self-esteem but we don't get self esteem for yourself by yourself, u get it when u satisfy t he standards of value that are adhered to at the context of culture times and places when it's easier for people to get self esteem than others martin soliman pres. apa america 10% more depressed than after world war, 1/3 drugs whenever there's a large population that finds it hard to feel good about thems elve need to look at culture if there's opportunities there were times when it's easier empirical assessment of terror management theory self-esteem anxiety buffer paper experiment boost self-esteem fake shocks mortality salience and worldview defense beliefs about reality serves as a death denying function cultural constructs reduce death anxieties experiment reminded of mortality - likes same group hates different gruop seat harm others if they're different from others iranian suicide bombers preemptive use of weapons reminded of death - yes bush/carrie rutgers bush-mortality 3 to 1 carrie 4 to 1 allusions to matters pertaining to mortaility realworld funeral, grocery lab- flash death some cultures value tolerance not the same results high self esteem different from narcissism - don't have self-esteem common humanity genetic bottleneck fantasies of flight- fly-immortal, invulnerable soul - disinclination to die albert camoo "there's only one liberty to come 2 terms with death after which everything beco mes possible' otto rock voluntary affirmation of the obligatory -the way you choose to respond to that fact erik errikson 8th stages of man -if parents have the courage to die, children have courage to live -attitude you adopt to your finitude yourself treat others children condition of world ANATOmY oF INTERNAL BELIEFS Psychology neuroscience prof hamilton cognitive psych - learning and memory sensation and perception, decisions clinical psych - psychopathology, practice cure, behaviorist, unlearn bad, learn new skills, reinforcement social psych - how people influence each other personality psychologist representations of representations undesired self -now ideal self-future fantasies of flight -peterpan soul beliefs arts and sciences, general education Like a Rock quote form darwin NOr should we overlook the probability of the constnt inculcation of a belief in God on the minds of children producing so storng and perhaps inherited effect o n their brains not fully developed, that it would be as difficult for them to th roww off their belief in God, as for a monkey to throw off its instinctive fear of snakes." is Darwin suggesting we have God gene? probably not, genes had not yet been discovered is he sugesting we have inherited an inclination to believe in God? in modern terms, that would mean that ancient men and women who believed in God were more 'fit' than disbelievers. they survived and thereby passed on predispos itions to believe. timely not constant instinctive vs. learned behaviors hard-wired, instinctive behaviors .eyeblink .startle reaction .sucking reflex learned behaviors .electrical outlet .sunscreen .language .belief in Santa Claus .belief in God Other than being born with some instincts, babies are born with Stupid instinct + capacity to learn similarities bwn Santa Claus and God both adult males are bearded know everything about you are omnipresent but they differ i terms of omnipotence (power) new iPod life ever after in very nice place for being good child-5min forever based on God's observations, knowledge, and wisdom, He or one of his emissaries will determine the eternal, everlasting fate of our soul. We're talking survival stories like this,if taught and reinforced early enough, become internalized, nt -to-be-questioned, conscious and unconscious, fixed beliefs another story theory of evolution or descent by modification natural variation of traits natural selectin based on adapttability to environmental pressures why is it so difficult to replac one story, supernatural creation story, wiht an other story, the one that features descent by modification? efforts to debunk religions brain and peripheral nervous system neocortex-higher order thinking limbic brain-emotions brain stem survival rat in alley preserve image of oneself anxious - sometimes know exactly why sometimes not reminiscent internal milue and physical and psych survival aim for homeostasis damasio - we are feeling machines that think. happenings in external world can distrub internal milieu of the body fear of heights, snake - picture reactive to environment think thoughts that disturb internal milieu something associated with calming the internal milieu (with easing your anxiety) is a strong cnadidate for becoming an internalized belief 'don't worry, God will take care of you i fyou take good care of your soul" something associated with calming the interla milieu (with eas Challenging an internalized belief is tantamount to challlenging psychological survival Freud's Conception of the Human Psyche (the iceberg metaphor) Conscious - Preconscious Superego Nonconscious -Ego*- Unconscious Rock- Internalized soul Belief, Protected by feelings Note: Ego is freefloating in all three levels Internalized beliefs are protected byfeelings. Attacking a person's beliefs is t antamount to attacking their feelings and disturbing the internal milieu of the body. confirmation bias - u want all beliefs confirmed belief - u stop thinking Like a large boulder lying just beneath the surface of a steam that directs the flow of water around it, a solidly grounded internalizd belief automatically and effortlessly determines the acceptability and unacceptability of ideas coming i ts way in terms of whether or not that information represents a threat to contin ued existence of the self. As we learn more about God, his will, what traditions we must follow to please h im, etc. the rock gets rock gets bigger and gets fixed in place the new atheists are not only attacking religion, they are attacking the rock an d the feelings that protect it. By promoting the Darwin's ideas about evolution, new atheists are promoting the idea that there is death after life. That draws a strong diviging line between proponents of scientific atheism and r eligions that promise life after death. We can't talk much abt psychological survival without bringing in the concept of the self. stupid babies - even into adulthood, some indiviiduals continue to be stupid cute - to take care And just as some adults remain stupid throughout their lives, some cute, adorabl e, and loveable babies evolve into cute, adorable, loveable adults assumptions The human brain evolved over millions of years. That brain is a brain-in-progras s at infancy. It is by no means fully developed at birth. It continues the proce ss of maturation until around age 30. But the most dramatic changes occur in chi ldhood. senses of self meme -spread How does someone become a feeling perosn who thinks and what does thinking, or b etter, what does believing, have to do with calming the internal milieu of the b ody? Relatedely, how do beliefs regulate feelings and how do feelings alter beliefs/ Preview of senses of selves .The Protoself . Core Self .Subjective and Intersubjective Sel .Objective Self .Symbolic Self .Traveling Self Why cute, adorable, lovable? Bred to survive We are 'seekers of objects' -Human objects 4-6 months to feel and be involved in relationships Ned to be picked up, held, stimulated by mvmt and words that accompany the movem ent. Being cute, adorable, and lovable helps -orphanages picked up not early stages of self dev' tDaniel stern-child psychiatrist and infant researcher Antonio Damasio - neuroscientist didn't interact much same conclusions outside in inside out the Protoself born with budding sense of self, beneath awareness Daniel Stern-The infant operates with the non-reflective awareness that it is a bounded entity, shows preferences, makes choices. like to stare at certain pictures, smiley face mother milk damasio-there's a coherent coleection of neural patterns that map moment by mome nt the state of the phys structure of the organism in all of its dimensions. Pro toself monitors and regulates the body's internal milieu and does what it needs to do to maintain a condition of homeostasis. brain stem one shape that fis all species hamilton, following maclean, referred to it as the reptilian brain the Core Sense of Self Core self is built upon th eprotoself. it continues to monitor the internal mili eu and develops the capacity to associate some coincidences between alterations in the internal milieu and events in the environment. more specifically, the alt erations of feelings become linked with events in the environment. Core Self and learning in humans and other animals contingencies of reinforcement mother and child intersubjective attunement intersubjective self recover sharing of subjective selves caregiver intersubjective sense of self me with mom me with other people stern-child doesn't have sense of self outside of relationship infant continues in life sense of self with mom in good mood bad mood other people mental representations when they're violated the process stops -look at what went wrong what do i need to do to reistablish or conmplete mental representation attachment child hides behind mother attachment system jungle times when caretaker not available something takes place imagine she'll come back working model- mental represntation - even when she's not there, she still exists cognitive development Attachment and the onset of working models Side note on the importance of working models in daily life working model-saves energy guide it is very likely that the emergence of the core self and the intersubjetive sel f are related to the maturation of the limbic system Hypothalamus pituitary gland Amygdala Hippocampus-memory The nset of an objective sense of self 18 months 13 months rouge rub it off the mirror 18momths, take it off son of oglivie mirror "that sam" elephants, etc -recognize themselve theory of mind-recognizing that other people have minds before 18 months -what is true for them is true for others phythagoras laws-physical minds - move on own accord Fishies Sally-Anne Test autistic can't Alligator eats mouse -misses mom, friends, hungry Blume - children natural dualist naturally thinks something suvives death, feelings, emotions, sensations The importance of reading other people's minds Empathy sometimes we attribute our minds to others we can't see their minds monkeys neurons control muscle when monkey observe others, mirror neurons we can learn by observation clicking away also involved with empathy characterized with our capability for empathy .. The SYmbolic Self Unique to humans damasio-extended self stern-verbal self This is the self we talk about. The self we compare with other selves, the self that we believe gives us directions, offers us guidance, the self that Mark Lear y observes can be a curse. climbing symbolic peak-nonsense we are struggling to be worthy curse we have to prove our worthiess Precursors all the other senses of selfe language theory of mind etc neocortex symbolic self frequently accompanies the mind in mental time travel self (MTT) what is the evolutionary advantage of possessing a mind capable of travelling? f rom the forest to the savanna. dare see the possibilities imagine oneself in future - survival traveling mind check situation what will it feel like Dan Gilbert "Our brains have a unique structure that allows us to mentally trans port ourselves into future circumstances and then ask ourselves how it feels to be there. Rather than calculating utilities with mathematical precision, we simp ly step into tomorrow's shoes and see how well they fit. Our ability to project ourselves forward in time and experienc e events before they happen enables us t o learn from our mistakes without making them and to evaluate actions without ta king them. if nature has given us a greater gift, no one has named it. MTT eposidic memory as a precursor to imagining self in the future evolve gradually The ability to remmeber what happened yesterday isa cognitive skill that takes a long time to develop. Current research indicates that episodic memory is on the way to being establish ed between the ages of 3 and 4. prior to that age, children pretty much live in the 'now' with only spotty memories of what happened yesterday and are not able to take a peek into tomorrow. that achanges with onset of MTT stepping into tomorrow showes and see how they f it and feel\ are we the only creatures able of planning for the future/ what about scrub jays? (storing wax worms and nuts) monkeys in brazil crush nuts some evidence that certain animals have rudimentary skills in this area, but non e of them come close to matching or MTT abilities. some argue that MTT marks a d iscontinuity between us and other animals. upsides of MTT planning Downsides of MTT GAD generalized anxiety disordr -looking for something happening, preventing it from happening can imagine own death how do u suppose the protoself and the core self respond to the idea of death/ w hat could possibly calm the internal milieu? would something like 'dont worry you will live forever' work? or 'you will live forever if you follow these religious instructions" do u figure that would calm the internal milieu? the makings of internalized beliefs/ the early foundations of the rock. don't forget that the proto self is still in full operation as it monitors the i nternal miieu of the body form moment to moment. the core self also remains on a ctive duty, monitoring, from moment to moment, the external envirnoment, noticin g any alterations of feelings, and making appropriate adjustments. natural or common sense dualism (Bloom reading assignment) Two cognitive systems: One for dealing with material objects One for dealing with social entities Two survival needs: Physical survival psychological survival is boyd/mind dualism the same as body/soul dualism? in other words is the mind the same ast the soul? the lit. on this topic use the mind and the soul interchangeably tricky topic. do people believe that their minds will survive the death of their bodies or that their souls will survive the death of their bodies? why would children be receptive to the idea that they have a soul? we know it calms the internal milieu. but why is it cognitively acceptable? .chidlren naturally believe bthat feelings and desires survive death (alligator eats mouse) age 4 can imagine themelves in future After-Life, Out of Body and Disembodied: What's the Evidence? Julien Musolino, PhD The emperor's new soul the traditional soul is a scientific claim consciousness free will moral compass potentially survive phys death religious theological metaphysical scientific claim series of scientific claims physics, biology psychology, neuroscience if it is scientific claim, then it can be validated objectively contrary to what many believe, tehre is no real evidence supporting the existenc e of the soul moreover, modern physics, biology and psychology render the existence of the sou l extremely implausible there is solid evidence supporting the conclusion that our minds arise from the operation of our brains we have nothing to lose morally, spiritually, or aesthetically by giving up our soul beliefs temple university interview two views of human nature soul materialism/physicalism the tone of discussion 3 questions about the soul .does sci have anything to say about the soul/ .what is at stake? .why is it that virtually all scinetists no longer believe in the traditional so ul/ a positive message The soul Egyptians - anubis Greeks aristotle's souls Nutritive soul Sensitive soul rational soul didn't believe souls can detach from body at death unlike plato rene descartes (modern conception of soul) scientific revolution body res extensa - body substance extended in space contact mechanics soul - res cogitans thinking substance cartesian notion interact soul - makes u do things, push buttons free will decisions body - make u feel in soul animals-lack soul automaton french 17th century cat burning driving around NJ after you die you will meet god. hebrews 9:27 assumptions 80% us god must exist sometinga bout u meet god - soul after death in the beginning god created genesis 1:1 1855 truth university gospelbillboards.com newsweek heaven is real dr. eben alexander nde -raymond moody, md phd buckle up -ad british ad for seatbelt (Substance) dualism Dualism is the concept that our mind is more than just our brain. This concept e ntails that our mind has a non-material, spiritual dimension that includes consc iousness and possibly an eternal attribute. One way to understand this concept i s to condier our self as a container including our physical body and physical br ian along with a separate non-physical mind, spirit, or soul. From all about philosophy 2009 harris poll (2,303 amrican adults) God 82% miracle 76 heaven 75 angels 72 survival of soul after death 71 devil 60 darwin's theory of evolution 45 15 religiosity and wealth pew global attitudes project, nov 2007 the american paradox the prosperous few and the restless many Psychology students at rutgers 60-70 soul "The soul is the life inside the physical body. It gives the body life and has a record of all your actions while alive .some of the properties it has are that it can survive death and remember what you have done, even though you might not. " "I believe my soul is the non-material being of myself. the part that is distinc t from both my mind and my external body. i believe the soul to be unchanging an d eternal...because i think the soul is imperishable i also believe that it wil survive the death of my body.' "I would define my soul as the spirit inside of me that is currently present in a human form. The properties of the soul are that it contains all of our emotion s and feelings. i believe that when i die my soul will live on. Traditional soul non-physical/immaterial,distinct from the body endows us with some of our psychological functions - feeilngsmemories consciousn ess moral compass capable of surviving death of bodies and preserve some of its psychological func tions the soul hypothesis mark c. baker stewart goetz most people at most times in most places at most ages that humans have a soul the astonishing hypothesis francis crick -dna You, your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behaviour of a va st assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules. early materialism democritus 460-370 bc everything inc mind is matter in motion Julien delaMetterie Julien de la Mettrie L'homme Machine don't need soul to explain humans biological terminators Materialism is a set of related theories which hold that all entities and proces ses are composed of - or are reducible to - matter, material forces or physical processes. in general, the metaphysical theory of materialism entails the denial of the reality of spiritual beings, consciousness and mental ... states or proc esses, as ontologically distinct from, or independnt of material changes or proc esses. routledge encyclopedia of philosophy Modern scientific view joshua greene, harvard from social neuroscience and the soul's last stand Most people are dualists (bloom,2004). Intuitively, we think of ourselves not as physical devises, but as immaterial minds or souls housd in physical bodies. mo st experimental psychologists and neuroscientist disagree, at least officially. The modern science of mind proceeds on the asumption that the mind is simply wha t the brain does. We don't talk much about this, however. We scientists take the mind's physical basis for granted. Among the general public, it's a touchy subj ect' Owen Flanagan There is no consensus yet about the details of the scientific image of persons. But there is broad agreement about how we must construct this detailed picture. First, we will need to demythologize persons by rooting out certain unfounded id eas from the perennial philosophy. Letting go of the belief in souls is a minima l requiremenet. In fact, desouling i shte primary operation of the scientific im age (p.3) From the Problem of the soul Compassionate skepticism Carl Sagan "In the say skepticism is sometimes applied to issues of public concern, there i s a tendency to belittle, to condescent, to ignore hte fact that...supporters of [the traditional view[ are human beings with real beliefs, who, like skeptics, are trying to figure out how the world works and what our role in it might be. T here motives are in many cases consonant with science" Baruch Spinoza's motto I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail, not to scorn huma n actions, but to understand them" Acknowledging our limits "All our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike - and yet , it is the most precious thing we have" -albert einstein .Physics descartes soul thru pineal gland how does soul interact with body equations biology not created on earth 10000yrs crationism evolution 14b yrs old universe earth 5b at what point did the soul come into evolution human special property? neuroscience The soul is a scientific hypothesis Proof of the Afterlife The Conversation Continues Br. Gary Joseph Evidence of the Afterlife The Science of Near Death Experiences Jeffrey Long MD with paul Perry Life after Death the Evidence Dinesh D'Souza The soul hypothesis There is nothing inherently anti-scientific about the soul hypothesis...ofcourse , it is worht considering whether scientific rsearch might show that the soul hy pothesis is false...but that is a very different matter from saying that it is i ntrinsically anti-scientific and hence entirely out of bounds... Introduction p.5 The Stakes how we view a number of impt social, moral, political religious and cultural iss ues .the afterlife .free will .morality and moral responsibility polls .our criminal justice system .issues like abortion .fear The stakes worse than creationism paul bloom for the law, neuroscience changes nothing and everything - joshua greene and jon athan cohen cease consciousness - frightening Fear of nihilism The Wedge Center of science 7 culture discovery institute The goal of a new army of cultural warriors in america 10 yrs ago was to defeat sci materialism and its destructive moral, cultural, and political legacies. to replace materialistic explanations with the theistic understanding that natu re and human beings are creted by god Fear of nihilism Tom Delay colombine reported in new york times 1999 The causes of youth violence are working parents who put their kids into daycare , the teaching of evolution in the schools, and working mothers who take birth c ontrol pills. our school systems teach our children that they are nothing but glorified apes w ho have evolutionized out of some primordial soup o fmud, by teaching evolution as fact. make people afraid of science and implications The form of the argument the soul is a scientific hypothesis there is no serious evidence for the existence of souls therefore there are no serious reasons to believe in souls moreover, modern science renders the existence of the soul extremely improbable there is serious evidence for materialism therefore there are good reasons not to believe in souls functions that are/were attributed to the soul can now be programmed into machin es continuum 3 groups of people scientific consensus agent scully agent mulder-want to believe Arguments for the soul 1st person arguments ex descarte Death or near death - reincarnation, nde the unexplained - soul of the gaps - consciousness First person arguments A brief history of the soul Stewart Goetz and Charles Tuliaferro In light of our brief history of thought about the soul, which shows that the so ul's existence is affirmed largely, if not entirely, on the basis of first-perso n experience p.181 subjectively percieve world subjective states/reality soul feels like separate from body if you feel like that whay Subjective reality Isomorphism Objective reality Res extansa Res cogitans Feels true but false subjective reality powerful, dream objective reality Feels fals but true Subjective reality earth not moving Can't trust subjective intuitions for objective realities counterintuitive science evolve from simple lifeforms advanced physics Arguments for soul The red surface of an apple does not look like a matrix of molecules reflecting photons at certain critical wavelengths, but that is what it is The soun of a flute does not sound like a sinusoidal compression wave train in t he atmosphere, but that is what it is The warmth of the summer air does not feel like the mean kinetic enery of millio ns of tiny molecules, but that is what it is If one'spains and hopes and beliefs do not introspectively seem like electrochem ical states in a neural network, that may be only because our faculty of introsp ection, like our other senses, is not sufficiently penetrating to reveal such hi dden details third person objective corrobotive evidence Clueless conscious mind principles deployed when we use language iceberg cognitive psych decisions moral judgements pay attention to Incognito The secret lives of the brain David Eagleman The first principle Richard feynman The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest p erson to fool' death or near death Heaven is real Eben Alexander - nde cerebral cortex shut down Greeks, Plato soldier NDE asc pleasant emotions; calmness and serenity visions of a tunnel with bright light at the end encounters with deceased relatives or spiritual figures experiencing a life review OBE =when it was powered back again On contrarians 97 out of 100 climate experts think humans are causing global warming Anderegg, Prall, harold, and Schneider (2010) PNAS Flat earth society Charles k. Johnson president 1972-2001
The publication process nature science consciousness can detach from body - nobel prize change science fundamentally science journals pitch to public The consensus position There is nothing paranormal about near-death experiences; how neuroscience can e xplain seeing bright lights, meeting the dead, or being convinced you are one of them Dean mobbs1 and Caroline Watt2 1Medical research Council, Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, C ambridge CB2 7EF, UK University of Edinburgh, Department of Psychology, 7 George Square, Edinburgh, E H8 JX, UK Trends in cognitive Sciences Oct 2011, Vol.15 No.10 Sam Harris blog But combat pilot high acceleration NDE DMT affect brain chemically conscoiusness created by brain The soul of the gaps he unexplained soul of the gaps The problem of qualia (the hard problem) -how can arrangement phys matter experience qualia (personal) the problem of free will -may be true but not evidence -formaly stated, predict All this evidence that there are things that we do not (yet?) understand If postulating a soul helped us understand those issues better, then so much the better for the soul hypothesis, but it doesn't... In sum There is no formalism that describes what the 'immaterial' substance of souls is not equal to energy Newton - attraction that can act at a distance equations no clue what soul is There is no objective empirical evidence that souls exist No explanatory gain comes from postulating the existence of souls seems that soul has properties that it doesn't exist Its actually work Jaegwon Kim Physicalism, or something near enough -philosophy Ghost Elizabeth of Bohemia -Descartes how can immaterial substance intearct with physical The interaction problem HOw can we decide that it is G1 that killed A (and not B) vv A1. Find a continuous causal path bwn G1 and A and between G2 and B A2: FInd a paring relationship, R such as that R holds of G1 and A and G2 and B, but not of G1 and B2 and G2 and A. A2: R coulb be something like properly oriented, at the appropriate distance A2: Spatial understand conceptualize formalize Q: cand D how can we decide that soul1 mad c move and not D and that it is soul2 that made D move (and not c)? A2: Soul 2 is closer to C than D or more properly positioned? -soul nonspatial by definition -perception based on space -incoherent logic philosophy biology neurscience physics Cannot be coherently stated Souls seem to have exactly the properties that they should have if they didn't e xist On evidence Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence - Carl Sagan how do they know? The evidence No serious evidence vs. Serious evidence Materialism Genetic disorders affecting the brain and the mind Cognitive/mental abilitis change as an individual, and his or here brain grows/m atures Mental/cognitive functions can be diminished, lost or altered as a result of bra in injury/reorganization -fragmentation, touch brain faceblindness Mental operations can be linked to physical changes in brain Pepole's decisions can be predicted by third parties using brain-imaging techniq ues seconds before a person is consciously aware of making the decisoins 6-10 seconds aware of decision drugs that affect brain chemistry affect many modes of thinking/feelingperceivin g The mind is what the brain does The physical basis of free will Self Qualia Alien hand syndrome Cotard's syndrome Walking corpse syndrome -free will The Cotard delusion or Cotard's syndrome or Walking corpse syndrome is a rare ne uropsychiatric disorder in which people hold a delusional belief that they are d ead (either figuratively or literally), do not exist, are putrefying, or have ls ot their blood or internal organs. In rare instances, it can include dlusions of immortality. brain injury -self Pain Symbolia Pain asymbolia also called pain dissociation, is a condition in which pain is pe rceived, but does not cause suffering. This usually results form injury to the b rain. Typically, patients report that they have pain but are not bothered by it, they recognize the sensation of pain but are mostly or completely imune to suff ering from it. -qualia Minds and machines deep blue, GPS intelligence, creativity, intelligent behavior computational theory of mind replicate minds work Dualism empty Materialism half full positive message apples and people wedge document aristotle natural state where it wants to be newton - gravity einstein - curvature of space time expalantion change not fact humans can exp range of psychological states evolve Dualism - soul scientist - brain fact remains ascribe to humans power they don't have underwater breath airplane on immortality make the most of life scientific breakthroughs download consciousness A positive message If the current scientific consensus is correct, you may have 'lost your soul' bu t you certainly haven't lost your ability to think, to feel, to love, to tell ri ght form wrong, and to be happy. Sunsets are still beautiful and love still feel s wonderful whether or not you have a soul... buckle up heaven can wait The Brain and Our Emotional future *Foundations of Emotions feeling machines that think mussolino materialism brain is in charge of behavior William James principles of psycn (1890) sit all day in a moping posture, sigh and reply to everything with a dismal voic e, and your melancholy lingers... if we wish to conquer undesirable emotional tendencies in ourselves, we must...g o through the outward movements of those contrary dispositions which we prefer t o cultivate. Carole King beautiful (1971) Grandmothers a whole bunch of serious scientists Emotions are learned External events .real or imagined. -learning of fears wild-reared monkey shows fear of snake lab-reared monkey shos no fear of snake .emotional reactions based on experience >classical conditioning Pavlov little Albert white rat generalization > obsrvation electrical thunderstorm >biological preparedness snakes, spiders not really afraid of tall buildings, guns, vehicles >mirror neurons labreared monkey learns fear of snake by obsrving wild-reared monkey and snake lab rearerd moneky does not learn fear when snake is not visible Limbic System external world via the five senses action fight or flight Internal Milieu via the autonomic nervous system brain monitor inner and outer world emotion know outside world and inside world response movement internal changes body is energized -emergency sti. anger and fear *Theories of emotions Cannon-Bard THeory you see the snake you feel scared body aroused you run James-Lange Theory you see the snake Body aroused THEN...you feel scared You run delay before u feel full emotional impact Shacther and singer's two-factor theory Cognitive Label + Physiological Arousal = emotion S and S's Wasebasket Experiments Stimulant Drug alone: no emotion cognitive label for euphoria: no emotion drug + lable = uephoria stimulant drug alone: no emotion cognitive label for anger: no emotion drug + label = anger Exression of emotions in man and animals charles darwin evolution -emotions linked accross species and time Eckman pictures emotional pan cultural built in muscles of face exam anxiety clinical psychologists make a fist feel tension in arm make it go limp relax tension relax shoulder forehead jaw recognize difference and bring up to higher levels of consciousness act non-anxious will ease anxiety look at our body limbic system look at internal milleu how bad it is relax give brain a different set of informaiotn mirrors feedback from face emotional feedback from faces actor in lab moving face pencil What's the evidence? muscle relaxation training facial feedback .contrived expressions .pencil experiments teeth/lips teeth funnier mirror neurons *Mirror Neurons and Socially Shared emotions deeply involved sports moive video games, dance, connect when we watch other people new either side of head fundamental to how we see other people italy monkeys - neurons grab for peanut motor neuron seeng and doing humans learn by looking and copying harness own abilities and project dots firing as if its you UCLA tie us to other ppls actions and feelings sharing with others Physical Survival Our body's regulatory systems provide for stability of the internal milieu .physical challenges arouse fear, anger or other negative emotions signaling a t hreat to survival .the body's physiology is reogranized to take care of busienss (flight or fight) .we can do some of this via surrogates (watching others) Psychological Survival Belief systems provide the "rock" for stability of the internal milieu .Challenges to those beliefs arouse fear, anger & other negative emotions .buttressing those beliefs restors the internal milieu ."everything will be alright" ."you will not really die." ."when you die, that will be the first day of your eternal life with Christ t he Savior." .confirmation bias Danger the same physical systems are activated! Feelings for Others Antonio Damasio has investigated what he refers to as Social Emotions Compassion (-) Envy (+) Physical Lost a hand Dancer Psychological Stroke Poet how does the brain organize this? By physical vs psychological; not Pos vs Neg Overall Summary The human brian has evolved in some very special ways: .We have an amazingly long childhood (up to 30 yrs, experiential and emo experie ntial) that permits individual experiences to play a critical role in brain deve lopment .Our somewhat modest endowments of ensory and motor systems are leveraged into s uperiority via sophisticated brain systems; and . we have an unparalleled ability to plan and adjust our future behavior - with emotions attached. We have a rich, evidence-based understanding of our behavior that can lead us to plan to be 'better' or 'more successfl' or 'more secure' people. The Lion and the gazelle let's compare predation! the scent stealthy approach probably not a lot of forethought mostly instinctual attack it's all about the moment early humans and the gazelle + emotional planning our "Moments" almost always take us into a planned future! complex emotional future *The Biology of Thou SHalt Not Introduction to Behavioral Inhibitions "I've looked on a lot of women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart ma ny times. This is something that God recognizes I will do--and I have done it--a nd God forgives me for it." Pres. Jimmy Carter nov 1976 interview Playboy Magazine brain mechanisms of thoughts Rules for Good Behavior Rules for not engaging in bad behavior Who's watching (Dennett's challenge) Mom? God? Why do we care? Are we naturally prepared to NOT do things? 7/10 thou shall not little children Mr. Rogers what goes inside your head stays inside your head -can read to some extent Dennet- behavior we do in privacy masturbation do in front of God what they won't do in front of Mom why do we care what others think? are we naturally prepared to not do things? Behavioral inhibition Formal definition: Withholding a response when behavior is either punished or no longer rewarded. Pavlov was first to see inhibition as a basic element of behavior L R position habit reversal pavlov evaluation of neutral based on eomtion associated to something else nerve cells plus and minus car opposing systems organisms and nerv systems operate immediate punishment, unruly horse rat poison rat maze left and right stop food or switch to other side if u learned to do something and no longer rewared/punished still have urge power motivation to do it hundred yard dash, swimming competing behavior gogogo waitwaitwait quiet sneeze taken away inhibition response lab is this related to soul beliefs/ Is behavioral inhibition really important? suppose we can make the case, based on solid scientific evidence, that brain mec hanisms of behavioral inhibition: .are among the most recent and most sophisticated brian systems to develop .mediate the defining features of mature, socially acceptable behaior .lie at the core of emotional intelligence .provide the filter thorugh which we separate 'right' from 'wrong'? *Laboratory Basic Reseach and the Emergence of Inhibition in Humans Princeton University Campbell et al baby rats Active Avoidance YES YES passive avoidance NO YES differences in cognitive development Rutgers Carlton et al Acetylcholine (Ach) is the chemical transmitter adult rats drugs no difference blocked ach - yes cant do passive avoidance Univ of chicago mccleary et al measures of behavioral inhibition doesnt' overlap damage limbic system unable to withold respons that is punished or not rewarded When What Where - Convergence of Evidence baby mobile remembers mobile learns from environment protect them 24 hrs good reflexes visoin hearing language child to old - car very quickly develop skills that allows us to do all sorts of complicated things slow to learn how to withold responses that are either punished,nonrewarded/migh t be behavioral inhibition 30 years plateau, 30 years wisdom really carefully systematically analyze complex future events and behave accord ingly Convergence of psychological science Disinhibition-bad behavior Frontal lobe damage phineas p gage, extension of limbic system .impulsive .childish .don't care about others .poor planning-traveling self is seemingly on vacation not good at not doing things alcohol depressant, inhibitory frontal lobes lose ability to look forward, think rationally, not do certain things psychopathy mostly men how would you feel if other people done this to you? cant understand Alter inhibitory behavior brain injury drug genetic/other anomaly children-developing brains impulsive, childish, don't care about others missing part of brain that Phineas Gage is missing behavioral systems develop, inhibition one of latest brain and not devil For the first time in history, humans have observable, lawful, physical origins for our mental events - why we do things and why we don't. Brain science, Evolution, Laws of Learning laws of learning Mentions of brain in holy books: heart hands feet loins no brain last 100 years at most when we have ability to analyze behavior Behavioral Inhibition is Important There is a convergence of solid scientific evidence, that the brain mechanisms o f behavioral inhibition: .are among the latest and most sophisticated brain systems to develop (frontal l obe extensions of the limbic system); .mediate the central features of mature behavior (impulse control, empathy); .lie at the core of emotional intelligence; .provide the filter through which we separate 'right' from 'wrong'/ Dark Thoughts Recall prof. solomon's reference to kierkegaard, who opined that humans had beco me so smart that they became aware of their own existence and viewed that knowle dge with Awe and Dread. This conscious awareness gives us the ability to think aboutand 'plan' bad thing s whenever we want. we may never intend to carry them out - but who knows who mi ght be watching? mom? god? our tribe? our self? maybe its just laws of behavior? physical, psychological, think about thou shall not - emotions thoughts in head are impt part of life Johnny 99 Bruce Springsteen Judicial system based on thoughts in our head what was going on in person's head when he did that guilty-seen favorably, or done with good reason not - physical evidence children don't respond well to punishment, not enough brain to do that catch them being good *Soul Beliefs Evolutionary Psychology and the soul Azi Grysman, PhD -cognitive psychology, memory Charles Darwin - difficulty brain cant be left out of evolution acceptance in general public 17 yrs evolution part of behavior Evolution and its relevance to psychology .what we know about evolution: -behaviors that benefit our survival are more likely to appear in future generat ions .how we approach evolution: .imagine the trime frame in which evolution occurred, use what we know about the species' development, and formulate hypotheses about how the trait developed e.g.peppered moths in England .imagine human beings in the environment of evolutionary adaptedness - 10 millio n to 10,000 yrs ago .pre agriculture, egalitarian societies, hunting, gathering .what's our most impt tool for survival? our speed?strength? .our brains .why? importance of social living compensate teamwork certain mental capacities - evolutionary pressure why is childhood so much longer for human sthan other species? Large brains are really important to humans (good in interacting w environment, negotiating social situations-selective) head needs to fit through mother's pelvis mother needs to walk upright, keeping the pelvis a certain size more brain development occurs after birth childhood-very different from most ohter species cosmides and tooby's 5 principles principle 1. the brain is a physical system. it functions as a computer (metapho r!). its circuits are designed to generate behavior that is appropriate to your environmental circumstances principle 2. our neural circuits were 'designed' by natural selection to solve p roblems that our ancestors faced during our species' evolutionary history color vision - fruit,leaves principle 3.consciousness is just the tip of the iceberg; most of what goes ion in your mind is hidden from you. principle 4. different neural circuits are specialized for solving diff adaptive problems feels like stream of consciousness, princ 5. our modern skulls house a stone age mind reasoning and evolutionary psych there are 4 cards. each card has a letter on one side and a number on the other rule: if a card has a vowel on one side then it must have an even number on the other which cards do you turn over to be sure that the rule is being followed? A B 10 5 / X X always if consonant, irrelevant irrelevant you work as waiter in bar if a person is drinking beer, that person must be at least 21 which cards do you turn over to be sure that the rule is being followed? Budweiser age:24 coke age:17 / x x yes same logical structure .Wason selectoin task demonstrates evolutionary psych principles: 2 problems are logically identical we perform much better at the second because it uses the cheater detection syste m humans - not good at logic, math but learn in training .cheater detection is a specialized system 'designed' to solve adaptive problems of living in social groups survives if people pulls their share division of labor punish cheaters -compare to vampire bats -remember who gave blood and didn't systems in our society when somebody cheats strong desire to get them back and n ot let them benefit from it how it all ends? .wason selection task demonstrates evolutionary psych principles: 2 problems are logically identical we perform much better at the second because it uses the cheater detection syste m cheater detection is a specialized system designed to solve adaptive problems of living in social groups -compare to vampire bats we don't conscoiusly realize that we are thinking about the 2 problems different ly more ev psych exampels extends work of fodor (1983) most of mind is small, specialized modules - compar tments that feed info to the central executive area of the brain which line is longer concious decision making system even when it's override doesn't change can't ignore color specialized system send final conclusion .If we want a psychology of religion/soul taht's meaningful we have to better un derstand what the mind is doing in the day-to day consider categorization, a process of cognition We make assumptions based on category membership -experiences, teaching animate - wanted to inaminate - force acting on it pascal blaise automatic assumptions templates at work lets say i encounter a new item i had never heard of before: zygoons are the only predators of hyenas what can you tell me about zygoons? none of you has ever heard of the word zygoon, but at this stage you have an ima ge of an Animal, and thus to you zygoons... -grow and die -need food for survival -gives birth to ther zygoons -eat hyenas templates automatic to function in world of unknowns Inference System Sentence Zygoons eat hyenas -> Porperties beinga cornivore inference: zygoon is an animal what happens when you assume u make an ass out of u and me process info more quickly reduce cognitive load less calories make decisions faster heuristics - valued even wrong 5-10% of the time This style of categorization provides the ability to make basic assumptions abou t things and not have to think about them - it's highly efficient What is going on when I read about a zygoon? Inferences information we intuit wihtout being told - e.g. we assumed that a zygoon is an a nimal Default inferences i assume that since it is an animal, it will maintain properties of other animal s (gives birth to its own kind, grows and dies, etc.) unless i encounter any inf o to the contrary note that these are expectations. we're not tied to them, but we do find them re asonably likely, and we'll be surpised if they are not upheld. we have categories for things we usually come in to contact with we make automatic assumptions using these categories our automatic assumptions relate to evolutionary needs .eg.we don't have a category for all animals that are brown, because color is no t useful info in most scenarios but we do know which animals are carnivors and which are herbivores volunteer? video Hyder and Simmon narrate 40's agency-ability to act on one's own self-driven beings Agency video http;//www.youtube.com/watch?v=76p64j3H1Ng Inferences in video - what's causing them/ a dexcription of the source of mvmt -> an agent is something that moves on its o wn fundamental distinction made early in life between things that move on their own and things that don't If a ball rolls behind two screens in this demonstration, the child age 2 is sur prised if he doesn't see it pass between the screens. don't get the same reaction if a person does this adults are magical creatures unpredictable agency we need to know what other people are gonna do internal motivation something inside of me is pushing me to make decisions .Agency is a very important factor in the evolutionary environment, but it's som ething we cannot see -therefore describing the source of agency grabs attention .concept of a meme (Dawkings, pre-God bashing phase) -idea or tendency that is found independently in many cultures because of its us efulness not a historical hypothesis .aim for the soul is to understand it on as conceptual level - what part of our concepts are important in forming the concept of soul? agency-soul some hypothesized properties of the soul immaterial animacy/center of agency - thing that makes us alive center of morality - immoral damaged soul essence of a living being/identity indivisibility can't see don't know where it is but describes person Assumptions of PERSON Sandra rolled down the hill, because she wanted to get to the bottom Sandra = Person Rolled down the hill because she watned to get to the bottom has Agency Belief-Desire Psychology is subject to the laws of physics rock rolled down the hill because it wants to go to the bottom agency X bdp X is subject..yes absurd Sandra's soul rolled down the hill bc. it wanted to get to the bottom agency maybe b-dp maybe is subject... x absurd animacy/center of agency a horse has a soul than a plant absurd 5 very reasonable 1 A horse has a mind 1.75 a soul 3.00 shrub has a mind 4.90 soul 4.51 center of morality unreasonable 4 reasonable 0 A person's soul can be disgusted by Hitler 2.5 a person's soul can be disgusted by roadkill 3.5 moral disgust physical symptoms of disgust Conclusions influenced by factors of agency goals and trials and tribulations CONClUSIONS evolutionary context influences our thinking modern,explicit, conscious ideas, may have their roots in evolutionary problems or modes of thinking the concept of the soul is one such idea Religious and cultural concepts build on challenges of our environment: .describes agency .identifying moral behavior .keeping track of a person's essence we might want to consider people's concept of soul as a way of taking an unconsc ious inference and putting it into words what does this mean about how the concept of 'soul' came to be? Cognitive approach to religion attempts to understand and describe the mental pr ocesses involved in thinking about religious concepts Doctrinal vs. intuitive beliefs .eg. at Ru approx 60% believers, 30%agnotiscs 10% atheists over 95 percent believe in soul suggests the soul is something bey different than religion, reflects different b elief systems - don soul-useful module - finetuning of what's already there, there are things we're ready to believe easy to believe bec. the way mind is structured fits our framework brain ready to take certain learned concepts defense module intuitive ability to accept beliefs and reject beliefs more simpler ability to argue not to come to conclusions but prove it right argue any point soul that goes somewhere assumption ->fact how is it adapatable soul goes to where episodic memory -memory of events autobiographical memory guides future memories exist for planning future behaviors religions usurp, power control take a peek at automaticity may think about it differently evidence to the contrary seem nonesensical Dreaded States and Desired outcomes: A case for the Undesired-Self Indices of Psychological Survival Ideal Self and Its Various relatives sigmund freud's push from the past, "ego-ideal" alfred adler's pull of the future, 'fictional finalism" throw further ideal self new goals abraham Maslow's and Carl Roger's Self actualization achieving from Man of Lamancha Carl Rogers' method for measuring real/ideal-self discrepancies Cue Sort (100 cards with wrods like 'friendly, disciplined lonely ambitious outg oing reserved gregarious content etc written on them) bell curve real self ideal self Ideal self sort participant sorts the cards into a normal distribution plaicng most like my idea l self cards at one end of the distribution and least like my ideal self cards a t the other end of the distribution a real/ideal-self discrepancy score that is in the range of 1.00 to -1.00. A hig h positive correlation means that hte real self is close to the ideal self. lowe r correlations indicate higher discrepancy scores. rogers demonstrated the utility of this measure in therapy outcome research and self-dicrepancy research entered into its golden days. many researchers climbed onto the band wagon and published hundreds of studies containing discrepancy sco res. we evaluate ourelf in different dimensions orthagonal desired self undesired self Enter the Undesired Self .the undesired self pops to mind on a cold and rainy November day conducted a study showing that real/undesired discrepancies were more related to Life Satisfaction ratings than real/ideal discrepancy scores Quote from Milan Kundura's the Unbearable Lightness of Being: "The goals we purs ue are always veiled. A girl who longs to be married longs for something she kno ws nothing about. The boy who hankers for fame has not idea what fame is. The th ing that gives our every move its meaning, is always unknown to us.' Might we then not ask how much credibility can be given to a number that represe nts the distance between and an individual and a phantom, the distance between o ne's now self and a self largely based on guess work? With good evidence, I argud that th ideal self tends to be abstract and the unde sired self is more derived from experience. Ogilvie pays a visit to Charlie Rose 5 minutes, increase of number o studies containing real/ideal-self discrepancy s cores E. tory Higgins' Self Discrepancy Theory Retains the ideal self and introduces another self called the ought self. superego -parent/god self distance bwn real and ideal self covaries bwn happines and sadness .ideal discrepancies predict depression 9eg sadness), also called dysphoria .ought discrepancies predict anxiety (also called agitation) This theory was a big hit. led to the publication of many studies Higgin's selves Questionnaire - synonym/antonym comparisions: ideal Self Real Self Ought Self Best Scale Close to being my best/wosts Far from being my wrost A few results The 2 dimensions are (sometimes) independent as shown by low correlation coeffic iants Distance from Worst (undesired self) is more related to both anxiety and sadness than is the distance from either Best (ideal self) or Ought self using higgin's measures. While both males and females use the undesired self as a standard for self-evalu ation, females do so in a more pronounced manner results from interviews asking people to describe what being at their worst was like: females describe being at their worst .in interpersonal contexts . when unhappy about appearance .during times of transition males .context of concerns about their identities males more difficult tims describing themselves at worst in general from teenage years and beyond, people tend to describe their Ideal Selves in ter ms of desirable roles 'worsts' tend to come about when roles don't work out, are not available, or col lapse The field of psychology was not ready to hear about the undesired self. so I too k turned my attention to Terror Management Theory, and with Florette Cohen, cond ucted the folowing study sheldon solomon expereimental manipulations - 2 independent variables 2003-2004 bush death Salience instruction: pls desribe the emotions that the thought of your ow n death arouses in you. Exam salience Instruction; ...exam.. 9control condition) Dependent Bariable Support the President Survey It is essential that our citizens band together and support the Pres. of the US in his efforts to secure our great nation against the dangers of terrorism. Pers onally I endorse the actions of Pres Bush and the members of his admin who haave taken bold action in Iraq...Mr. Bush has been a source of great inspiration to us all. God bless him and God bless America Exam Salience 1.9 Death Salience 4.0 it's great to be alive death back to becker's theory (denial of death) becker obsrved that: humans are capable of being aware that they will die people don't like that. it freaks us out. we create buffers against constantly being aware of death. these buffers include: self esteem close interpersonal connections religions (god will take care of you) becoming cnnected with the social structure by occupying valued roles new question; could the ideal self be another social construction that, in part, serves the pu rpose of diverting us from ruminating about our death? in other words, might not the ideal self serve as a buffer against death aniety? perhaps asking people to think about being at their worst might temporarily disable the ideal self buffe r and make death thougths more accessible. consider the possibility that the Ideal Self is one of our buffers against death anxiety. We know that most people think about their ideal selves in terms of ro les. what might happen if the ideal self is temporarily removed from consciousness by asking people to dwell on their Undesidred (me at my worst) self? we predicted that thinking about being at one's worst would make thoughts about death more ac cessible. Death Accssibility Measure BUR_D PLA_ _OK WAT_ DE_ MU_ _NG B_T_LE M_J_R P_TURE FL_W_R GRA_ K_GS CHA_ KI_ED CL_K TAB_ WI_DOW SK_L TR_ P_P_R COFF_ _O_SE POST_ R_DI_ Q: Are death thoughts more accessible to people who are asked to think about the mselves at their worst than to people who are asked to think about being at thei r best? YES Fig 2 Mean Accessibility of Implicit Death Thoughts by condition exam salient .6 mortality salient .95 best self salient .58 worst self salient .97 Next piece of the puzzle Since asking people to think about being at their worst arouses death associatio ns, according to Terror Management Theory those associations must be shut down. We wondered if being assigned to a Me at My worst condition would be equivalent to being assigned to a Mortality Salience Condition 4 conditions (4 independent variables) 1. exam salience (write about what it like for you when you take an exam) 2. death salience (write about what it will be like for you when you are dying) 3. at best salience (write about what it is like for you when you are at your be st) 4. at worst salience (write about what it is like for you when youare at your wo rst) dependent variable support the president survey fig 1 mean attitudes toward pres. bush by condition exam salient 2.3 mortality 3.5 best self 2.39 worst self 3.1 freminder: the information contained in this lecture is repeated in the paper titled The un desired self: death connotations question our culture, like all cultures, provides buffers against constantly ruminating a bout death; avenues for us to perceive ourselves as persons of value in a world of meaning. one way to keep thoughts of death from consciousness is to pursue an d occupy valued roles. however, if a person chooses not to do that, what are the prospects for psychological survival? assuming that self-esteem is a primary buffer against death anxiety, there are m ultiple ways to build up self-esteem .be good at something .help other people .find a problem and solve it, or locate a need and fill it .became aware of the pitfualls of symbolic immortality Do you really have to get all A's? Is it essential that you fulfill your parent's dreams/ is it really impt that everyone likes u? Should on'es sense of self-worth really depend on the size of a person's bank account Do whatever is necessary to fully realize that death is inevitable, get over it, break through the bubble of denying reality, and find ways to be of genuine ser vice to the world. How it all Ends The evolution of the human brain intro why is thought being a secretion of the brain, more wonderful than gravity a pro perty of matter? it is our arrogance, our admiraiton of ourselves - charles darw in need for nonphysical element dennett's creed breaking the spell "If you can approach the world's complexities, both its glories and its horrors, with an attitud of humble curiosity, acknowledging that however deeply you have seen, you have only just sctatched the surface, you will find worlds within wor lds, beauties you could not heretofore imagine, and you r own mundane preoccupat ions whill shrink to proper size... for if you can stay centered, and engaged, y ou will find the hard choices easier, the right words will come to you when you need them, and you will indeed be a better person. that, i propose, is the secre t to spirituality, and it has nothing at all to do with believing in an immortal soul, or in anything supernatural." topics: prof. solomon talked about the mediocrity of our sensory systems; we will see ho w human evolution has leveraged these into complex analytical systems. brain-centered experience prof. ogilvie talked about the progressive emergence of more and more complicate d "Selfs"; we will see that human evolution has provided the time required for t his. prof. ogilvie taled about he power of cuteness; we will see that as a theme of h uman evolution adaptations muskrat - squirrel mallard woodpecker egret woodchuck brain part that controlled behavior of physical adaptation building a brain psychology will be securely based on the necessary acquirement of each mental po wer and capacity by gradiation. - charles darwin ..the main neuronal circuits achieve an architecture that is breathtaking in its complexity, but frugal in its variability -jacobson & hunt (1965) Building the basic human brain genetic blueprint competition first come/first served porgrammed cell death end up with detailed structure/function breathtaking in its complexity frugal in its variability embryo - develops brain What is special about the human brain? million new neurons every minute 9 months long fibers competition cell dies without connection programmed cell death about half michaelangelo - david sculpture story 500,000,000,000 neurons as many as thousand interconnections Carl Sagan MacLean's Triune Brain reptilian paleomammalian neomammalian Darwin's Two simple Rules natural variability natural selection wrinkled communicate with up and down layer bedsheet A Greandeur in this view of life such as grand orchestration of dev't could not have occurred by accident! well, actually, it sort of did!! teleological not the end product process plasticity -visual Not ust bigger, faster, sharper Real differences are in process and plasticity Some examples from the visual system Moth frog what the frog's eye tells the frog brain horizon detector dimming detector see small dark object, flip tongue chick's maturation of pecking chic with displacement goggls (Hess) -doesn't have capability to make correction goggles upside down inverted vision plastic-adapt to world of changes Evolution has pushed preceptual processing & plasticity into the brain Is Human Childhood Special? Yes! milton: The childhood shows the man as morning shows the day." Poppe: "'Tis education forms the common mind.Just as the twig is bent, the tree' s inclinde." Wordsworth: "the child is the father of the man." Three evolutionary advances longer lifespan neoteny very long childhood lifespan life expectancy = 70, 50 constitution, 20-30 life span constant - up to 100 yrs Mammals live for about 800 million heartbeats gerbil 3 yrs cat 10 yrs elephatn 75 yrs whale 200 yrs humans should be 22 yrs If i had know i was going to live so long i would have taken better care of myse lf eubie blake 100 yrs Yearlings Neoteny: Progressive maintenance of child-like (cute) feautures into cadulthood round head big eyes receding chin lost cuteness in adulthood Even in the most chalenging cases, adult humans remain cuter than our close prim ate relatives. (Well, we think so!) -math more nurturing, helpful, nice to cute creatures social - doesn't always work maim and kill language - romantic baby brain bulk processing info unknown reason - long lifespan childhood up to 30 yrs all the time to put personal stamp on brain changes molds and adapts detailed circuitry on brain ontogeny own individual life turn back time have everything same at that time different brain animals off the brain The Human Spark Introduction to Our Ancestors "What a piece of work is man. How noble in reason. How infinite in faculty. In f orm and moving how express and admirable. In action how like an angel. In appreh ension how like a god. The beauty of the world. The paragon of animals. lose magic Denialists claim: probably just disfigured modern humans who died too many gaps in the record can't really know the age accidentally relocated to dig sites but the rich and ever-growing details of our natural heritage trace the story of modern humans' finest features see snapshot the 'unsuccessful' neanderthals lived in small clusters for over 200 thousand years (!) made simple stone axes that remained unchanged no engravings in caves had a short (~6 year) childhood skull grew more in facial region than in brain case h.sapiens 40,000 yrs Europe -neanderthals Harold Dibble Univ or Pennyslvania repeat patterns no clear evolution of traits adept at adapting Shannon McPherron Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology flexible but not adaptable basically same toolkit bonre o antler hammer 2000 generations human spark svante paabo max plank... unique behavior adrian briggs dna small difference michael richards no plant foods no fish tanya smith neanderthals less time to learn about the world/ rebel perhaps against elders be fore thrust into adulthood 10-20k 500 little groups in europe Emergence of human behavior May have begun behaving like modern humans 300k years ago -long before looking l ike modern humans behavior has powerful influences on reproductive success modern human mind emerged in Africa (100-150k yrs ago) and set the stage for dis placing Neanderthals multi part spears & spear throwers social hunting of big animals (language/planning/cooperation) paintings, engravings, jewelry 15-30k yrs ago important symbols can ID who will cooperate! imagine solutions to problems humans plants fish fowl spear language not necessary - pleasing, pait jewelry - teeth of corpses, seashells, soapstone fake teeth and fake seashells language areas of brain left hempisphere production ... broca's area comprehension ... wernicke's area connection ... arcuate fasciculus actin words ... near motor area object words... near visual area huge areas of modern human brain are dedicated to language right hemisphere language area inflection production comprehension gestures .production .comprehension The Power of Language Language provided leverage: .cooperation .identification (over 7,000 languages!) .in combination with larger villages/cities led to flash-like spreading of ideas and inventions) .shared ideas formed larger cultural units -Jung's Collective Unconscious: Commonality of brain/sensory/motor organization gives shared view of world around us -Durkheim's Collective Consciousness: Shared knowledge of the world around us. The Languaged Self Follow me down this garden path for awhile to think about language: .provides more complex personal thinking about one's self (selves) .allows discussion of shared feelings (loves, fears, etc.) .allows discussion of shared beliefs Our brains love stored regularities - things like average faces, predictable beh avior, shared beliefs. and language makes it easy! Shared Beliefs and Abiding Souls Spreading of Shared Beliefs Perhaps our most salient shared beliefs, religions, have expanded to fill within geographic and political borders. The Ontogeny of Ensoulment Brief recap: .Pythagoras (6th Century BCE) reasoned that nonphysical souls (unlike bodies) co uld occupy same space .Bloom argues that we are "natural dualists" Our Dualistic Theories: .Theory of Body (we don't talk much about it; occurs at a very early age) .Theory of Mind (gradually develops; probably over several years) .We are comfortable with our interpretations of the thoughts and actions of othe rs The abiding souls of others when a loved (or hated) one dies: .the body is whisked away in some manner (Dennett's "corpse problem") .the soul (spirit, mind, essence) abides in the minds of others (this we know - "he will never be forgotten") .we even have our own Judgment Days -She was a great humanitarian. -He was the scourge of the eearth .we create revisionist histories -turns out all of that 'niceness' was superficial -he acted like he was being helpful .we project them into the future -what would Lincoln do? -What would Jesus do? With the power of language, the thought of others (living and dead) become inter twined with our thoughts for as long as we remember. And use them to guide/plan our future. Dan Gilbert: "If nature has given us a greater gift it has not been named." How I got that quoate. The influence abides across genarations. Nearly immortal The Scopes Trial: Human Origins and the Public Classroom Setting the Stage for the Trial social cultural political consequences personal consequences The Scopes Trial:/monkey trial/trial of the century tenessee courthouse Here, from July 10 to 21, 1925, John Thomas Scopes, a county high school teacher , was tried for teaching that man descended from a lower order of animals, in vi olation of a lately passed state law. William Jennings Bryan assisted the prosec ution: Clarence Darrow, Arthur Garfield Hays and Dudley Field Malon the defense. Scopes was convicted Summer for the Gods the scopes trial and america's continuing debate over scienc e and religion Edward Larson Social Context -1925 tenessee enrollemnts 1910 10k 1925 50k expectations have changed new facts Legal Context - Taxpayers Rule Antievolution Laws began to appear, mostly in southern states, supported y belie fs that: there was no scientific proof of evolution; theory of evolution eroded fundamental faith majority rule for taxpayers to determine what was taught in schools Billy Sunday crusades majoritarianism cong. butler "That it shall be unlawful for any teacher in any of the Universities, Normals a nd all other public schools of the State which are supported in whole or in part by the public school funds of the State, to teach any theory that denies the st ory of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the BIble, and to teach instead t hat man has descended from a lower order of animals. BUtler Act (Tenn.HB 185, 1925) misdemeanor 500 dollars 100 dollars just after WWI Woodrow Wilson firm hand of stern repression 1919 Civil Liberties - "Firm Hand of Stern Repression" American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) .President Wilson's declaration of war with 'protection' from dissent; Later rou nd up of 'radicals' in 1919 .antievolution laws violated freedom of speech .Vanderbilt University (1878) fired Prof. Winchell for teaching that humans prec eded Biblical Adam American Association of University Professors (AAUP) .Lafayette College (1913) fired Prof. Mecklin for teaching that social evolution (rather than revealed truth) shaped religion .University of Tennessee (1915) fired several professors who happened to be symp athetic to evolution American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS) .Psychologist James McKeen Cattell (Pres & co-owner) Offered to provided scientific experts concerns abt religions and poss. challenges to religion freedom " The Eolution of a Trial ACLU offer in Chattanooga times: We are looking for a Tennessee teacher who is willing to accept our services in testing this law in the courts. our lawyers think a friendly test case can be arranged without costing the teach er his or her job. Distinguished counsel have volunteered their services. All we need now is a will ing client. Setting the Stage: .Newspaper ad .City slicker (George Rappleyea) .Meeting at Robinson's Drugstore .High school football coach (John Scopes) .Dayton City Attorny (Sue Hicks0 From so simple a beginning legal climate, social context, majority rule ACLU's SImple test Dayton's publicity stunt Clarence Darrow brilliant defense lawyer agnostic great orator Leopold and Lobe William Jennings Bryan Presidential candidate Devout Christian Great orator Prayers Court - the court will come to order. The Rev. Cartwright wil lopen court with p rayer....['interminable'] picnics privies Inside the Trial - Tooth and Claw Clarence Darrow Brilliant opening speech Masterful cross-examination William Jennings Bryan Brilliant opening speech Masterful cross-examination Clarence Darrow Statute is vague Bible is wrong Protect our freedom William Jennings Bryan Majoritarianism Bible is everything Protect our culture non-overlapping magisteria The Trial Endgame Bryan argued that scientific experts were not relevant: "These people want to come here with experts to make Your Honor believe that the law should never have been passed and because in their opinion it ought not to have been passed, it ought not to be enforced." Darrow's response led to contempt of court charge: Experts did not appear, but submitted statements Darrow apologized Judge accepted apology I am sure that if he had had time to have thought and deliberated he would not h ave spoken those words... we forgive him and we forget it and we commend him to go back home and learn in his heart the words of the Man who said: "If you thirs t come unto Me and I will give thee life." (Applause) jury did not hear record expert on Bible 2 hour grilling on Bible Darraw call Bryan to stand as expert Biblical witness! Grilled for more than 2 hours on literal interpretations: Was Jonah really swallowed by big fish? Or a whale? Any independent evidence for the great flood? Do you really believe that there were no human civilizations more than 5,000 yea rs ago? Have you ever looked at other religions? Was everything created in six 24-hour days? Where did Cain get his wife? Did Joshua really stop the sun? Shouldn't it have been the earth? Etc. -> not to be taken literally Darrow asked for a guilty verdict: "Let me suggest this. We have...no proof to offer on the issues that the court h as laid down here, that Mr. Scopes did teach what the children saiod he taught.. .I thik to save time we will sk the court to bring in the jury and instruct he j ury to find the defendant guilty. we make no objction to that and it will save a lot of time and I think that should be done." Jury could not get through crowd, so reached Guilty verdict in hallway. Judge Raulston set fine at $100 Darrow: "I think this case will be remembered because it is the first case of th is sort since we stopped trying people in America for witchcraft because here we have done our best to turn back the tide that has sought to force itself upon t his - upon this modern world, of testing every fact in science by a religious di ctum. That is all I care to say." William Jennings Bryian died during an afternoon nap five days later! protecting religion and freedom Tennessee Supreme Court set aside guilty verdict because the jury was supposed t o set fine! no legal result still standing Tying up the Loose Ends After the Trial of the Century: US Supreme Court upheld most of the ACLU views Most universities adopted the AAUP guidelines National policies of the 1950s .national defense education act funded science education .national science foundation funded state-of-the-art science textbooks .biological sciences curriculum study developed high school biology texts that s tressed evolutionary concepts Arkansas antievolution law struck down by US Supreme Court (1968) Antievolution laws seemed almost un-American! But... sputnik Dissent with modification Creationists proved to be agile adversaries of science: In 1970s, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana each passed laws for equal coverage of cretionism and evolution (all three struck down in separate lawsuits) In 1995, Tennessee introduced a law to perfmit firing of teachers who taught evo lution as factual rather than theoretical (narrowly defeated under intense publi c pressure) Senator Rubio (R-FL), a possible contender in the 2016 Republican presidential r ace, (Earth=5k?) gave the following answer: "I'm not a scientist, man. I can tel l you waht recorded history says, I can tell you what the Bible says, but I thin k that's a dispute amongst theologians." (GQ, November 2012) Antievolution Congressman Paul Broun (R-Ga.) ran unopposed in 2012 election, but nearly 4,000 voters wrote in Charles Darwin to protest their representative's v iews (Broun called evolution "lies straight from the pit of hell.") A new Tennessee law protects teachers who explore the "scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses" of evolution and climate change, a move science education advocates say could make it easier for creationism and global warming denial to enter U.S> classrooms (April 2012) A pro evolution Dr. Pepper ad rubs super serious Facebook fans the wrong way. Dover PA School Board (2005) required oral disclaimer of evolution plus an Intel ligent Design "textbook" (struck down by Judge John Jones III, a conservative U. S. District Judge appointed by President George W. Bush) Where Do We Go From Here? Beliefs Conflicts and Evidence-Based Decision Making Science vs. Religoin: Is It Really Necessary? The Cursed Inexplicables The human brain boggles when it can't explain something! Explanations soothe the mind. The explanations don't necessarily have to be true .Science .Religion .Pseudoscience .Pseudoreligion Entrenched explanations grow stronger .Things learned early .Things repeated often It's upsetting to hav the explanations challenged keep strengthen protect Holy FIre: One Malady; Two Cures Then Sufferers of the Holy Fire Symptoms Painful blackened limbs Causes Sin Cure atonement (St. Anthony) Now: SYmptoms Rare Causes ergot fungus -rye/related brain Cure prevent fungus treat with drugs Life in the Good (Very) Old Days For thousands and thousands of years, humans of all descriptions made love made music hunted gathered did of diseases made tools created villages hated waged war raised families told stories wrote our holy books prayed to countless gods and knew almost nothinga bout the way things really worked! then Big ideas started roling in about 500 yrs ago math physics testing observing biology reading writing measuring the grand, frustrating, and exhilirating search for evidence-based knowledge! Some Absolutely Indisputable FACTS There is no difference in the strength of evidence. you cannot be educated and p ick and choose from these: The sun is the center of our universe and the earth rotates around it. The earth is round and VERY old. our universe (from atoms to galaxies)follows the laws of physics. Species are temporary (over the long haul) and constantly evolving. Including hu mans! DNA provides the written record of creatures present and past (and future). Blood circulates through the body to deliver nutrients and oxygen. The mind is what the brain does. no pick and choose and discard but can have room Holy BOoks Are Not Science Books Clarence Darrow got it right: "The Bible is made up of sixty-six books written over a period of about one thou sand years, some of them very early and some of them comparatively late. It is a book primarily of religion and morals. It is not a book of science. Never was a nd was never meant to be." The eyes of the scribes were shielded from the factual knowledge of the future Human have an everlasting soul - The soul weighs 27 grams Science vs. Religions: one vs. many
maybe these are the real non-overlapping magisteria - differences between variou s religions maybe it's ust a healthy debate? country science religiosity france 497 11 Czech Republic 493 11 Japan 529 12 Germany 513 21 Korea 546 25 Slovakia 497 29 Canada 527 30 Britain 492 33 Poland 495 36 US 487 59 -0.32472 Science: program for international student assessment (pisa) religiosity: pew dec 2002 Let's Talk! What if it were possible for .Science and religion to show mutual respect for their very different goals? (no n-interfering magisteria??) .different religions to stop being willing to kill for differences in beliefs? prayers affect other negatively how we learn about souls and afterlife ever imagine what it would like to be dead? this is what i imagined: (oglivie) coffin smelled musty i was shivering i felt lonely i wondered... until when to wait until other family members reunited In other words, some of my psychological processes remianed pretty much intact. But alas and alack, God and I decided that Heaven was not for me. "I don't want to be a thing that dies," says she. Reaction of most parents would be "Don't worry, God will take care of you." That is often a prelude to the installation of a belief that can be held as a fa ct: .a life sustaining .life guiding .fear reducing .unquestioned .reassuring .sometimes terrifying "it's going to happen" assumption fit it into what u know - distorted boulder beneath water - unconscious directs flow of water around it eddy kicks in automatically without conscious attention Similarly, internalized beliefs direct the flow of trafffic of information comin g their way. Information compatible with an internalized belief is stored in an eddy where it remians accessible. For instance, the eddy formed by a boulder sec ured by soul and afterlife beliefs might contain: acceptable information Left Behind the movie 90 minutes in heaven don piper heaven is for real life beyond death dr ebn alexander iii creationism intelligent design Unacceptable information sent on its way downstream same sex marriage science global warming theory of evolution gay rights abortion rights euthanasia The End of Faith sam harriss god is not great breaking th spell the god delusion Why it is so easy for kids to believe in afterlife. they are told to believe that by their elders study in belfast mouse field alligator 3yrs old - intuit something survives death mental time travel 4 yrs old remember be in one place and imagine urself in another imagine how it would be in one situation than another great value intuitive grasp of physics In other words, kids, as "natural dualists" are prepared to belief and they are particularly ready to accept the idea that "yes you will die, but not really bec ause your soul will carry on." more organized, more cumbersome culture -if you do this -social cultural alternative to police state common belief to survive death and live in peace forever if not do the right thing, torture, and it might be eternal burning but maybe ou tside god and his protection Other than living in a police state, a more powerful mechanism of social control could never have been devised. Do what you are told to do not only to be a valued member of your tribe, but als o for your well-being for all tim. The unconscious knows no time fresh today as it was first installed The child is father (mother) to the man (woman) internalized child calling shots Adults make decisions, but the internalized child call the shots automatic assumptions Only solution I know about to counter automaticity to become mindful of what we were told when we were kids: war over territory also fighting over who has the right to occupy the kingdom of god --- Unwittingly, Gages example indicated that something in the brain was concerned specifically with unique human properties, among them the ability to a nticipate the future and plan accordingly within a complex social environment; the sense o f responsibility toward the self and others; the ability to orchestrate ones surviv al deliberately, at the command of ones free will.
The most striking aspect of this unpleasant story is the discrepancy between the normal personality structure that preceded the accident and the nefarious personality t raits that surfaced thereafter and seemed to have remained for the rest of Gages life. Gage had once known all he needed to know about making choices conducive to his betterment. Af ter the accident, he no longer showed respect for social convention; ethics in the broad sense were violated; the decisions he made did not take into account his best interest, and he was given to invent tales without any foundation except in fantasy. There was no evidence of concern about his future; no sign of forethought.
The alterations of Gages personality were not subtle. He could not make good choi ces and the choices he made were not simply neutral. They were not the reserved or sligh t decisions of someone whose mind is diminished and who is afraid to act, but were instead a ctively disadvantageous. One might venture that either his value system was now differen t, or, if it was still the same, there was no way in which the old values could influence his decisions. No evidence exists to tell us which is true, yet my investigation of patients with brain damage similar to Phineas Gages convinces me that neither explanation captures what happ ens in those circumstances. Some part of the value system remains can be utilized in ab stract terms, but it is unconnected to real-life situations. When the Phineas Gages of this world need to operate in reality, the decision making process is minimally influenced by old knowledge. There is no question that Gages personality change was caused by a circumscribed brain legion in a specific site. But that explanation would not be apparent until two decades after the accident. For a long time, everybody believed that the portion of the brain t raversed, was, for several reasons, the best fitted of any part of the cerebral substance to sustain the injury. In other words a part of the brain that did nothing much was thus expenda ble. Yet Gages case raised more questions than answers. collector's behavior -----