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Is Violence Declining? APS Fellow Steven Pinker Says “Yes”
Violence is as an inherent part of human society. So if you looked at the number of violent deaths from prehistory to the present day, you would expect to see a pretty steady trend, right? Not so, says APS Fellow Steven Pinker. “Violence has been in decline for thousands of years,” he says. “We may be living in the most peaceful era in our species’ existence.” Pinker, who is a psychological scientist from Harvard University, collected his research on the subject in a new book called The Better Angels of Our Nature. He discussed the book in a recent lecture at Politics and Prose, a bookstore in Washington DC.
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Evil: Is It Us or All Around Us?
Psychological scientist Philip Zimbardo reflected on his controversial Stanford Prison Experiment with Jon Stewart in a past episode of the Daily Show. In 1971, twelve students were randomly assigned to the roles of a prisoner or a guard in a mock prison in the basement of the Stanford psychology building. Within 36 hours, the students displayed characteristics of abusive guards and pathological criminals. The experiment was supposed to run for 2 weeks, but it ended after only 6 days. In this clip, Zimbardo also discusses his book The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil and explains how our environments can affect our actions.
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<em>Better Angels</em>, Believe It or Not
Two World Wars, the Cold War, and the rise of terrorism must make the past century one of the most violent in the history of our species, right? Not according to Harvard psychologist and APS member Steven Pinker, who argues in his new book, The Better Angels of Our Nature, that violence is declining. According to Pinker, we are actually living in the most peaceful era in human history. Watch Pinker’s TED talk on the myth of violence to learn more about why Pinker thinks our “better angels” are winning out. You can learn more about Pinker’s by reading coverage from The New York Times and Time.
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Spoiling the Ending Doesn’t Spoil the Story
People hate to know the ending before they’ve read the story or watched the movie. At least that’s what they think. A study in the September issue of Psychological Science reveals that contrary to this popular belief, knowing the ending actually enhances readers’ enjoyment of a story.
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Michael Smith Dances His PhD
If you’re a PhD student with mad dancing skills, Science and TEDxBrussels have the contest for you. Dance Your PhD is again offering $1,000 for the best video. This example may provide just the inspiration you need to create your own masterpiece. Michael Smith dances Guarding and Robbing Behavior in Social Insect. According to Goldenberg, her dance and public wikis both utilize textuality, dialogue, and a participatory process. If you find Goldenberg’s wiki dance intriguing, you may consider writing a wiki on your own area of expertise as part of APS’s Wikipedia Initiative.
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Maartje C. de Young Dances Her PhD
If you're a PhD student with mad dancing skills, Science and TEDxBrussels have the contest for you. Dance Your PhD is again offering $1,000 for the best video. These three examples may provide just the inspiration you need to create your own masterpiece: Maartje C. de Young dances How Does Your Brain Analyze Incoming Visual Information? De Young’s dance shows what goes on in a brain that is processing visual information. DeYoung explains, “You look with your eyes, but you see with your brain!” What we see is based not only on the world around us but also on “inferences and assumptions.” For more the brain’s interpretation of the outside world, take a look at recent research from Steven L.
