La morte dell'individualità L’idea che siamo individui dal pensiero libero ha plasmato la società occidentale per secoli. I dati però ci mostrano che ciò che domina realmente è il pensiero di gruppo. Per gran parte della nostra storia ci è stato insegnato che la verità e la morale vengono da Dio e dal Re, e che il libero arbitrio è solo una questione teologica. Nel 1700 ciò ha iniziato a cambiare e si è fatta strada, nei sistemi di credenze delle alte sfere, l’idea che gli esseri umani sono individui liberi con una libertà di scelta razionale. Nel corso del tempo i concetti di razionalità e individualità hanno profondamente modellato i governi e le culture dell’Occidente. Ma fino a che punto siamo individui con libertà di pensiero ? Una recente ricerca sta iniziando a scoprire il grado in cui ci comportiamo come individui indipendenti. Per sviluppare questa nuova scienza sono stati studiati dei veri e propri laboratori viventi. La logica dietro a tutto questo è semplice.
LUCID DREAMING AS A LEARNABLE SKILL: A CASE STUDY Sérgio A. Mota-Rolim, John F. Araujo. (2013) Neurobiology and clinical implications of lucid dreaming. Charles D. Tadas Stumbrys, Daniel Erlacher, Melanie Schädlich, Michael Schredl. (2012) Induction of lucid dreams: A systematic review of evidence. Martin Dresler, Stefan P. Frederick Burwick. (2007) Romanticism as Cognitive Process. Brigitte Holzinger, Stephen LaBerge, Lynne Levitan. (2006) Psychophysiological correlates of lucid dreaming.. BARRY A. Alan Richardson. (1999) Subjective Experience: Its Conceptual Status, Method of Investigation, and Psychological Significance. ANTHONY LEQUERICA. (1996) LUCID DREAMING AND THE MIND-BODY RELATIONSHIP: A MODEL FOR THE COGNITIVE AND PHYSIOLOGICAL VARIATIONS IN RAPID EYE MOVEMENT SLEEP. JORGE CONESA. (1995) RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ISOLATED SLEEP PARALYSIS AND GEOMAGNETIC INFLUENCES: A CASE STUDY. Antti Revonsuo. (1995) Consciousness, dreams and virtual realities. Paul D. ROBERT D.
Baumgartner gives supersonic skydive a go (live video) | Cutting Edge Last update: 10:55 a.m. PT. Felix Baumgartner wants to make history as the first person to achieve supersonic speed in freefall, but that won't happen today. At about 10:45 a.m. The liftoff had been scheduled to begin at about 5:30 a.m. The daredevil's bid to go supersonic is coming after years of intense preparation and frustrating delays . Besides hitting the unprecedented freefall Mach 1 speed, the plan calls for Baumgartner to start his descent from higher than anyone else has ever ascended in a manned balloon flight: 120,000 feet, or 23 miles above the Earth. There's more than mere bragging rights behind the extreme altitude as the starting point. Whenever the jump finally occurs, the 43-year-old Baumgartner will need to exercise some serious body control to get into the most streamlined position possible for his freefall, which is expected to last roughly 5 minutes, 35 seconds (which also would be a record, outdoing the existing mark by a full minute). Update at 6:20 a.m.
The Science of Dreams and Why We Have Nightmares by Maria Popova The psychology of our built-in nocturnal therapy. “The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind,” Freud argued in his influential treatise The Interpretation of Dreams in 1900. In Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep (public library) — best science books of 2012, exploring what happens while you sleep and how it affects your every waking moment, which also gave us this fascinating reads on sleep and the teenage brain — David K. Freud’s theories — premised on the idea that the symbolism of dreams encoded the dreamer’s subconscious desires and concerns, often of a sexual nature — were systematically challenged and dismissed over the course of the 20th century, but without much of a viable alternative theory. By the time [Hall] died in 1985, Hall had synopses of more than fifty thousand dreams from people of all age groups and nationalities. And yet theories continue to differ. Donating = Loving
Lasting Relationships Rely On 2 Traits Gottman wanted to know more about how the masters created that culture of love and intimacy, and how the disasters squashed it. In a follow-up study in 1990, he designed a lab on the University of Washington campus to look like a beautiful bed-and-breakfast retreat. He invited 130 newlywed couples to spend the day at this retreat and watched them as they did what couples normally do on vacation: cook, clean, listen to music, eat, chat, and hang out. And Gottman made a crucial discovery in this study—one that gets at the heart of why some relationships thrive while others languish. Throughout the day, partners would make requests for connection, what Gottman calls “bids.” The wife now has a choice. People who turned toward their partners in the study responded by engaging the bidder, showing interest and support in the bid. These bidding interactions had profound effects on marital well-being.
Lucid dreamers help scientists locate the seat of meta-consciousness in the brain Studies of lucid dreamers show which centers of the brain become active when we become aware of ourselves in dreams. Which areas of the brain help us to perceive our world in a self-reflective manner is difficult to measure. During wakefulness, we are always conscious of ourselves. In sleep, however, we are not. But there are people, known as lucid dreamers, who can become aware of dreaming during sleep. Studies employing magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) have now been able to demonstrate that a specific cortical network consisting of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the frontopolar regions and the precuneus is activated when this lucid consciousness is attained. The human capacity of self-perception, self-reflection and consciousness development are among the unsolved mysteries of neuroscience. “The general basic activity of the brain is similar in a normal dream and in a lucid dream,” says Michael Czisch, head of a research group at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry.
The 50 Best Social Psychology Books on Persuasion, Influence and Understanding Your Brain Have you ever wanted to be more persuasive, convincing, or if nothing else, understand how others try to influence you? …Of course! Who hasn’t? In all honestly, the more you know about social psychology and social influence, the better. Not only will you be more prepared when trying to convince others, but you’ll also be aware of when others are trying to unethically convince you! If this is your goal, reading a healthy selection of world renown psychology books is a must. Fortunately, there are many out there, and they cover a wide variety of topics (social influence, marketing, persuasion, social constructs, etc.) and all of them are very approachable: these aren’t boring science papers, they were written for the typical person interested in psychology. As an aid to you in your journey, I’ve prepared this extensive list of the 50 best social psychology books out there, free of charge. The Importance of Reading Oh no, it’s like 3rd grade all over again! Think about that! About the List 1.) 2.)
Money Makes You Less Rational Than You Think Kinja is in read-only mode. We are working to restore service. Two year ago, Berkeley researchers showed that people who drive expensive vehicles are four times more likely to cut off drivers of lower status vehicles. This supports my theory that Lexus drivers are the worst. if I get cut off, its almost always by a Lexus. Flagged In my experience people in luxury brands tend to drive without regard for other drivers, usually driving erratically (very slow then very fast, similar to people that are texting; swerving around without checking lanes, never signalling, drifting out into the middle of an intersection during a red light then not going when the light turns green; generally like self-important pricks) people in expensive sporty looking cars tend to drive more aggressively, cutting people off, etc.
Lucid dreaming: a state of consciousness with features... [Sleep. 2009 Behind the scenes at Focal, France (part 2) We've been in France to visit speaker manufacturer Focal, and as you can read in our first blog, the company makes its high-end models in its factory in Bourbon Lancy. During the second part of our visit, we went to the firm's drive unit factory based in St Etienne (below). Focal is rare among its rivals in that it builds all its home audio drive units in-house. It’s also unusual in optimising each drive unit for the speaker it’s going in, rather than using the same unit across a range, as most speaker manufacturers tend to do. In-house production gives it the capability to do so. Bearing in mind Focal’s obsession with drive unit technology, it comes as no surprise to learn the company started off as a drive unit manufacturer, only building complete speakers later. The factory doubles as home to the R&D department too, as well as the company’s in-car division and Pro-audio operation. We were particularly taken with the wave-like ceiling shape and wooden strips décor used throughout.
Future - How human culture influences our genetics You shouldn't be able to drink milk. Your ancestors couldn't. It is only in the last 9,000 years that human adults have gained that ability without becoming ill. It turns out that cultures with a history of dairy farming and milk drinking have a much higher frequency of lactose tolerance – and its associated gene – than those who don't. Drinking milk is just one of example of the way that traditions and cultural practices can influence the path of our evolution. Another example of how culture influences our genes is the relationship between yam farming and malaria resistance. But there are some people who seem to have a natural defense force. Here's what's interesting: those communities that farm yams have much higher rates of the sickle-cell gene than nearby communities with different agricultural practices. So while it's sickle-cell disease that's protective against malaria, it was a uniquely human behavior – yam farming – that allowed evolution to act.
Psychophysiology of Lucid Dreaming by Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D. Lucid Dreaming Physiologically Verified Although we are not usually explicitly aware of the fact that we are dreaming while we are dreaming, at times a remarkable exception occurs, and we become conscious enough to realize that we are dreaming. "Lucid" dreamers (the term derives from van Eeden, 1913) report being able to freely remember the circumstances of waking life, to think clearly, and to act deliberately upon reflection, all while experiencing a dream world that seems vividly real (Green, 1968; LaBerge, 1985; Gackenbach & LaBerge, 1988). This is all in contrast to the usual past characterization of dreams as typically lacking any reflective awareness or true volition (Rechtschaffen, 1978). Figure 1. Physiological data (EM, RR, HR, and SP) were also collected for sixty-one control non-lucid REM periods, derived from the same 13 subjects, in order to allow comparison with SVLDs. Figure 2. Figure 3.
eduClipper: The Pinterest of Education Pinterest revolutionized the way we keep track of the gems that we find on the Internet, with categories of interest ranging from home decorating to cooking. While it hosts a wealth of educational resources, wouldn’t it be nice for educators to have a similar site tailored solely to educational purposes? Such a site exists! , a virtual pin board designed specifically for education. eduClippereduClipper, which was only recently launched, was founded by Adam Bellow , an award-winning technology training specialist in New York City. , a site devoted to providing teachers with quality technological resources for their classrooms. eduClipper is Adam’s latest brainchild, developed to provide teachers with free high-quality technology-based resources. How It WorkseduClipper’s motto is “Clip anything. Benefits for Students and TeachersSince this is a safe site for students, the applications are tremendous.
Hive minds: Time to drop the fiction of individuality - opinion - 08 April 2014 FOR most of Western history, truth and morality came from God and king, and free will was a theological question. This began to change in the 1700s, and the idea that humans were individuals with the freedom of rational choice soon wormed its way into the belief systems of the upper echelons of society. Over time, the concepts of rationality and individualism profoundly shaped the governments and culture of the West. But to what extent are we freethinking individuals? Recent research is beginning to uncover the degree to which we act as independent individuals.