Michael Kammen, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian whose scholarly aim was no less than the illumination of the collective American psyche, died on Nov. 29 in Ithaca, N.Y. He was 77. … His work, which stood at the nexus of history, folklore, psychology and sociology, helped cast the form of the […] Read more »
The Economy in Red and Blue
As economic indicators and holiday shopping numbers trickle out at the year’s end, it’s good to remember that the economy is about more than data points like GDP and unemployment. There’s also personal circumstances and psychology: what people think about their economic situations and prospects. And, like most everything else, […] Read more »
Political values and scientific attitudes
The following post recounts a conversation I had with Dan Kahan, a law professor who does experiments on psychology and political attitudes. I think our discussion should be of interest to many Monkey Cage readers, as it touches on one of the central political issues of our time: that extreme […] Read more »
Data-Mining Our Dreams
Are dreams really meaningful? … For many years, researchers (including me) have been using quantitative methods of analysis to study the content of dreams. The findings from these studies provide compelling evidence that dreaming is not meaningless “noise” but rather a coherent and sophisticated mode of psychological functioning. Furthermore, recent […] Read more »
Extremists Least Likely to Doubt Their Views
As America’s political polarization grows ever more intense, it sometimes seems that the people who are most convinced of the superiority of their viewpoints are those at the extremes. Newly published research suggests that depressing equation is absolutely accurate. A study that surveyed opinions on nine hot-button topics finds that […] Read more »
Rich People Just Care Less
… A growing body of recent research shows that people with the most social power pay scant attention to those with little such power. … Bringing the micropolitics of interpersonal attention to the understanding of social power, researchers are suggesting, has implications for public policy. [cont.] Daniel Goleman, New York […] Read more »