Chris C. Mooney's Blog, page 11
February 9, 2012
The Science of Left and Right: Reading Material for My Thirst, D.C. Talk Tonight
[image error]I'm giving a preview lecture at Thirst, D.C., tonight about my new book. And because the subject matter tends towards the, er, controversial, I'm putting up this post now so that interested attendees can go read some of the peer reviewed research themselves.
First, there are the studies on left-right differences in brain structure, function, attention, and physiological responses. I've listed seven of them here. An eighth, just out, is discussed in detail in my recent Huffington Post piece...
Four New Republican Brain Tour Dates: Seattle, Davis CA, Chicago, Buffalo/Amherst
[image error]I've continued to add book tour dates, and have four more great ones to announce. They're added to the total list below.
First, there are four more "pre-tour" events, in February and March, including an event tonight in D.C.:
FEBRUARY
Thirst, D.C.: "The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Deny Science and Reality" (preview lecture)DATE: Sunday, February 19, 2012
TIME: 8:30AM
PLACE: Vancouver Convention...
February 8, 2012
Big Point of Inquiry News: Indre Viskontas Joins as Host
[image error]Point of Inquiry has undergone some changes in the new year–and I think they are going to make the show better than ever. First, I'm now hosting three episodes per month–the first three weeks of the month–and Lawrence Krauss was my first guest for the new schedule.
[image error]But then the last episode will be hosted by Miracle Detectives star Indre Viskontas! Here's the official news from the Center for Inquiry:
Point of Inquiry, the official podcast of the Center for Inquiry (CFI), today announced that...
Want to Understand Republicans? First Understand Evolution
[image error]I've been meaning for some time to comment on the new University of Nebraska-Lincoln political physiology study, recently published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (free version here). It took a while, but now I've done a major Huffington Post item on the topic, entitled, "Want to Understand Republicans? First Understand Evolution."
First, there is the summary of the research itself. Here is an excerpt:
As the new research suggests, conservatism is largely a defensive...
Santorum Calls Climate Change a "Hoax," Implying an International Global Warming Conspiracy
(Creative Commons; Gage Skidmore)
It just gets worse and worse.
Rick Santorum, who racked up three primary states yesterday, is now saying the kinds of things Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe says about global warming. Santorum, like Inhofe, now literally calls it a "hoax."
As I explain at DeSmogBlog today, this is truly radical stuff:
In using the word "hoax," Santorum is apparently endorsing the global warming conspiracy theory. What do I mean by that?
This is the idea (at least in some...
February 7, 2012
Lawrence Krauss: Kicking God out of Physics
[image error]My latest hosted episode of Point of Inquiry, with Lawrence Krauss, is now up.
Krauss is always a great guest, and this was no exception. To me, the most memorable part of the interview came when I tried to get at what kind of meaning audiences were were deriving from his new book, which is clearly striking a chord.
And what became clear (at least to me) is that the book is flying off shelves because it finally "kicks God out of physics"–or at least, gives a fully plausible account of a...
February 6, 2012
A Conservative Ignores the Science on Why…Conservatives Ignore Science
[image error]Last week, a piece went up at the conservative American Spectator by David Klinghoffer, of the anti-evolutionist Discovery Institute. It purported to give the real reason why Republicans have issues with certain aspects of science–except, er, it ignores all the science on that question!
Indeed, at one point Klinghoffer even writes:
I'm not aware, though, that anyone trying to explain these things has considered exactly what kind of scientific issues evoke a skeptical response from Republicans.
T...
Mere Church Proximity Correlated With Increased Distrust of Out-Groups
[image error]I just came across this, from the blog Epiphenom, reporting on a new study in the International Journal for the Psychology of Religion:
LaBouff stopped people at random outside a church in the Netherlands (and, to check if the effect was culturally specific, a few people outside Westminster Abbey in London). He asked them a series of questions, including asking them to rate their attitudes to different groups on a 1-10 scale.
He also stopped some other people in a location that contained only...
February 3, 2012
New Psychology Study Grabs the Third Rail: Prejudice, Intelligence, and Political Views
Everybody is emailing me about the new study (PDF) out of Brock University–discussed here on Huffington Post, here in the Daily Mail–tying together racism, conservatism, and low cognitive ability in childhood. More precisely, the study argues that conservatism "mediates" the relationship between the other two. It is just out in Psychological Science and can be read for free.
An enlightening conservation about the work is now happening on G+, and Andrea and I have been involved. We are taking a...
February 2, 2012
#Scio12 Session Summary: Covering Political Neuroscience in the Blogosphere
[image error]This post is by Andrea Kuszewski.
A few weeks ago, Chris Mooney and I co-moderated a session at the Science Online 2012 conference titled, Covering Political Neuroscience in the Blogosphere. We were joined by two scientists with expertise in the field of social psychology and neuroscience as it relates to political views and group behaviors; Keith Payne, a social psychologist at UNC, and Lasana Harris, a social psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist from the Duke Institute for Brain...