Anthony Biglan's Blog, page 2
March 11, 2016
Ahh, the ‘War on Christmas’
Ahh, the war against the non-existent war on Christmas has begun. Does it seem like the war begins earlier every year? As a long-time non-religious person who loves Christmas, I am amused every year when people start accusing others of waging a “War on Christmas.” The first salvo I have seen this year is the accusation that Starbucks is waging a war on Christmas because its holiday cups have removed “symbols of the season.” What amuses me about this is that, for me and for most of the people I know (including my Jewish wife), Christmas is well loved because…
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A Fist Fight at the New York Times?
Jonathon Chait seems to be trying to get a fist fight going at the New York Times. He claims in New York Magazine that a recent column by Paul Krugman was actually an attack on David Brooks. Brooks claimed that we have spent huge sums on anti-poverty efforts with no success and that the problem of poverty is due to poor people lacking middle class values. I side with Krugman on the question of whether government expenditures make a difference on poverty. But I think Krugman and other critics of Brooks are unfairly misreading Brooks’ claim. Living in poverty stresses…
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Behavioral Science May Prove to Be Our Most Important Science
Science has changed our world. We take for granted the impact of the physical and biological sciences on our world, forgetting that it once took months to get from the East coast to the West coast or to communicate with someone across the ocean. Science has dramatically improved our health too. In nineteenth century England more than 100,000 people died of cholera before John Snow showed that contaminated water was the cause of cholera. It might seem that no such stunning changes are possible when it comes to human behavior. We continue to have significant problems with crime, drug abuse,…
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Perhaps We Can Prevent Terrorism
Does it seem like we are winning the “war” on terror? Events in Paris, Syria, Iraq, and Libya in recent weeks make it hard to be optimistic. We should not be surprised. Our pursuit of this “war” conflicts with scientific understanding of human behavior. When people are attacked, their biologically driven response is to counterattack. Yet we continue to pursue a military strategy that focuses narrowly on apprehending or attacking terrorists, while ignoring the collateral effects our actions have in inciting terrorism in the first place. Our science is consistent with the bumper sticker observation that “We are making terrorists…
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Creating a Grand Coalition to Foster Human Wellbeing
In my last essay, I described how Lewis Powell’s memo to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce helped instigate the formation of a coalition of business interests that came to dominate public discussion and policymaking through well-organized advocacy for unregulated markets and minimal government. The effort was organized around neo-classical theory of free market economics which was particularly effectively propounded by Milton and Rose Friedman in their book and television series Free to Choose (Friedman & Friedman, 1990). According to this view, individuals’ pursuit of economic gain in an unfettered market benefits the whole society and government action necessarily limits wellbeing…
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Evolving a More Nurturing Capitalism: A New Powell Memo
Is it possible that evolutionary theory can explain how the U.S. came to have the highest levels of child poverty and economic inequality of any developed nation? I think it can. It also can help us evolve a more nurturing form of capitalism, one in which people are more caring and productive, and they place greater value on the wellbeing of every member of society. We certainly have room for improvement. The U.S. has one the highest rates of child poverty among economically developed countries and it is harming our children. Families living in poverty have more conflict, which leads…
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January 8, 2015
Rejoinder to Gary Guttings Doubts about the Behavioral Sciences
Gary Gutting, Professor of Philosophy at Notre Dame published an opinion piece this week on the New York Times Opinionater pages. In it, he asserts that “we need to develop a much better sense of the severely limited reliability of social scientific results” and that “Given the limited predictive success and the lack of consensus in social sciences, their conclusions can seldom be primary guides to setting policy. At best, they can supplement the general knowledge, practical experience, good sense and critical intelligence that we can only hope our political leaders will have.” Dr. Gutting is woefully uninformed about the effectiveness of…
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Materialism, Nurturance, and Global Warming
I have been writing a lot about the fact that behavioral scientists have made a great deal of progress on how to prevent virtually all of the most common and costly problems of human behavior, including depression, crime, and academic failure. In essence, we have figured out how to help families, schools, and to some extent communities, become less coercive and more nurturing. More loving societies are realistically within our grasp. But the progress is threatened by global warming. Here are the predicted consequences of a 1 degree Celsius increase in global temperatures, as enumerated by the National Academy of Sciences.…
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Strategies for Reducing Family Poverty
Lane County has begun an unprecedented effort to address the problem of poverty. Public and private organizations are coming together and putting in place efforts to improve the economic self-sufficiency of Lane County’s citizens and to see to it that children living in poverty get the evidence-based programs that will help them develop the skills needed to escape from poverty. Poverty is a big problem. The U.S. has the highest rate of child poverty of any economically developed nation. More than 20 percent of those under 18 are living in poverty. Older people have much lower rates. Here in Lane County we…
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Holiday Greetings
Every year at this time, I find myself wanting to enjoy the warmth and love that people so often show at this time of year. And I find myself wondering why we can’t have it more often throughout the year. We need to build a culture where every day most everyone tries to put a little love and warmth in their life and the lives of those around them. It doesn’t have to cost anything and it can be healthier for us than a brand new car! One of the things that often puts a bit of love in my…
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