-
On the Trail of the Orchid Child
Scientific papers tend to be loaded with statistics and jargon, so it’s always a delightful surprise to stumble on a nugget of poetry in an otherwise technical report. So it was with a 2005 paper in the journal Development and Psychopathology, drily titled “Biological sensitivity to context.” The authors of the research paper, human development specialists Bruce Ellis of the University of Arizona and W. Thomas Boyce of Berkeley, borrowed a bit of Swedish idiom to name a startling new concept in genetics and child development: orkidebarn.
-
Is “If-Then” Insight the Key to Lasting Friendship?
I think of myself as a fairly easy-going guy—tolerant, not easily riled up. That is, unless a rude driver cuts me off in traffic. Rudeness triggers the worst in me, and I doubt anyone would describe me as congenial under those circumstances. I can also get moody when I’m tired, and I’m much more affable once I’ve had my morning coffee. I’m probably more cheerful on Sundays than on Tuesdays. Still, on balance I think most my friends would describe me as easy-going. What I’m describing here—this seeming contradiction—is the difference between my global personality and my more nuanced, situational “if-then” profile.
-
Does the “Empathy Gap” Encourage Torture?
Imagine that you work for a government agency and you are trying to get information from a suspected terrorist. As part of your interrogation you lock the detainee in a “cold cell.” A cold cell is a room where the temperature is near freezing, and the procedure is to keep the detainee there for up to five hours, with little or no clothing. Now try to get inside your suspect’s mind and body. What is he feeling? How much pain is he in, physically and psychologically? Does such an interrogation technique seem okay to you? When does his pain cross the line into immoral and illegal torture?
-
Parents and Science: When Desires Trump Data
Many young couples face some version of this dilemma today: They’ve decided they want to have children in the near future—they’re not on the fence about that—but the financial reality is that they both have to work. They need both their earnings, not for a fancy lifestyle but just to pay the bills and save a bit. So when the day comes that they do become parents, they will almost certainly have to send their young child to some kind of day care, so that they both can continue to work. That’s their world. But in their hearts they believe that children are better off raised at home, by a stay-at-home parent.
-
The Brain Is Not an Explanation
Brain scans pinpoint how chocoholics are hooked. This headline appeared in The Guardian a couple years ago above a science story that began: “Chocoholics really do have chocolate on the brain.” The story went on to describe a study that used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan the brains of chocoholics and non-cravers. The study found increased activity in the pleasure centers of the chocoholics’ brains, and the Guardian report concluded: “There may be some truth in calling the love of chocolate an addiction in some people.” Really? Is that a fair conclusion to draw from the fMRI data in this study, reported in the European Journal of Neuroscience?
-
A sobering message about free will
Addiction is a disorder of the will, yet treatment for alcoholism and other addictions often comes with decidedly mixed messages about willpower and abstinence. On the one hand, newly sober addicts and alcoholics often hear the news that two of every three of them will ultimately relapse. There is a frightening sense of inevitability in this not-so-hopeful message. On the other hand, this folk wisdom can also be heard echoing through the rooms of recovery: “Relapse is not a requirement.” Not a requirement, yet two of three will fail. This seeming contradiction can be confusing to those struggling to shake their compulsions in early sobriety.
