Science of the SpiritS


People 2

Social contagion: Is transgender the new anorexia?

Robert Tracinski
The Federalist
Thu, 06 Sep 2018 08:28 UTC
transgender
Gender identity clinics should screen patients, says lead author of new paper
Brown University Professor Lisa Littman recently published a blockbuster study on the "transgender" phenomenon, presenting evidence that parts of it might be a "social contagion" - a maladaptive coping technique for troubled teens, spread by peer groups and the Internet. Brown issued a press release about the study, then promptly retracted it and replaced it with a weasely non-statement that just drew more attention to Littman's research. This was in response to a furious outcry from transgender activists, and I can see why they find this study such a threat.

The study itself is not actually about "gender dysphoria" as it has previously been defined in the scientific literature. Rather, it is about the newer phenomenon of "rapid-onset gender dysphoria" (ROGD). Prior to about ten years ago, cases of gender dysphoria typically involved a long history of a child rejecting identification with his or her biological sex, going back before puberty.

By contrast, "rapid-onset gender dysphoria" involves a post-pubescent child, usually a girl, with no history of dysphoria suddenly claiming within a period of weeks or months not to identify with her biological sex. Not only is rapid-onset gender dysphoria sudden, but it tends to occur in clusters.
Parents have described clusters of gender dysphoria outbreaks occurring in pre-existing friend groups with multiple or even all members of a friend group becoming gender dysphoric and transgender-identified in a pattern that seems statistically unlikely based on previous research. Parents describe a process of immersion in social media, such as 'binge-watching' Youtube transition videos and excessive use of Tumblr, immediately preceding their child becoming gender dysphoric. These descriptions are atypical for the presentation of gender dysphoria described in the research literature and raise the question of whether social influences may be contributing to or even driving these occurrences of gender dysphoria in some populations of adolescents and young adults.
Let's be clear on what the statistical background is. "The expected prevalence of transgender young adult individuals is 0.7%. Yet more than a third of the friendship groups described in this study had 50% or more of the AYAs in the group becoming transgender-identified in a similar time frame, a localized increase to more than 70 times the expected prevalence rate." AYA is an acronym for "adolescents and young adults." Remember it, because it's going to come up a lot.
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Info

Brain-to-brain communication is possible according to new study

Scarlett James
Outer Places
Thu, 04 Oct 2018 13:30 UTC
BrainNet System
© ARXIV:1809.08632 [CS.HC]A graphic showing the architecture of the BrainNet system.
For the first time in history multi-person brain-to-brain communication has not only been proven, but quantified in a clinical setting. A team of scientists from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Washington published their findings in the "pre-print server" arXiv owned by Cornell University, which means it has been published after moderation but not yet approved for a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

The experiment itself involved three subjects: two "Senders" and one "Receiver." The Senders wore electrodes that would record the electrical impulses of their brains using electroencephalography (EEG) technology (the same technology used to diagnose, say, sleep apnea).

The Receiver was outfitted with their own set of electrodes to receive and interpret these electrical signals using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), which is a technology that employs magnets to stimulate the targeted areas of the brain. It's used to evaluate brain damage following strokes and is a burgeoning therapy for treatment-resistant depression.
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Microscope 2

Study finds abused children carry the trauma in their cells


Channel News Asia
Tue, 02 Oct 2018 09:22 UTC
children sunset
© AFP/Hector RetamalResearchers found the trauma of child abuse was indelibly printed in the DNA of victims.
Children subjected to abuse may carry the physical hallmark of that trauma in their cells, scientists said Tuesday (Oct 2), in research that could help criminal investigations probing historic mistreatment.

The imprints may also shed light on whether or not trauma can be passed on between generations as has long been hypothesised.

A team of researchers at the University of British Columbia examined the sperm cells of 34 adult men, some of whom had been victims of child abuse years earlier.

Comment: This study is fascinating. The field of epigenetics continues to bring new insights into how we are affected by our environment and may prove to be the mechanism by which the trauma-abuse cycle continues through the generations. How much of your personality is shaped by your own experience, and how much is actually inherited from your ancestors? Could your great grandfather's traumatic life have affected how you experience reality? And can anything be done about it?

See also:

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Laptop

Another study links physical aggression to violent video games

Mike Snider
USA Today
Mon, 01 Oct 2018 20:08 UTC
video gaming
© Shutterstock
The latest in the long-standing debate over violent video games: They do cause players to become more physically aggressive.

An international study looking at more than 17,000 adolescents, ages nine to 19, from 2010 to 2017, found playing violent video games led to increased physical aggression over time.

The analysis of 24 studies from countries including the U.S., Canada, Germany and Japan found those who played violent games such as Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty and Manhunt were more likely to exhibit behavior such as being sent to the principal's office for fighting or hitting a non-family member.

"Although no single research project is definitive, our research aims to provide the most current and compelling responses to key criticisms on this topic," said Jay Hull, lead author of the study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Comment: See also:

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Family

When we invoke appeals to identity, we undermine the intention of truth-seeking conversation with others

Bryan Caplan
Econ Log
Wed, 26 Sep 2018 00:00 UTC
identity politics
When you invoke appeals to identity, you are undermining the truth-seeking mission of the conversation, and the reasonable response is to discount what you say.

I recently remarked: "Appealing to your identity is a reason to discount what you say, not a reason to pay extra attention." Why do I believe this?

Logic Versus Emotion

Well, suppose you want to make people agree with you. You've got two main routes.
  1. Offer arguments in favor of your view to change what listeners sincerely think.
  2. Make continued disagreement feel uncomfortable so listeners pay you lip service.
Only #1 is epistemically respectable. But it has a major downside: Good arguments are scarce. #2 is epistemically sleazy, but it has a major upside: It is open to everyone, regardless of the merits of their views.

Comment: In fact, there are a whole host of reasons why someone's 'political identity' can get in the way of having a constructive exchange - but that doesn't mean it can't happen - or that one shouldn't try necessarily.

See: The Truth Perspective: Morality in Politics: Why We All Don't Just Get Along

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Bulb

Raising independent, capable and happier kids: How the Let Grow Project is changing communities

Elizabeth Broadbent
ScaryMommy
Mon, 01 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
free range kids, let grow project
When given more independence kids are happier, enjoy better mental health, and learn how capable they truly are.
Ten years ago, Lenore Skenazy didn't think she was starting a movement. She just thought she was letting her 9-year old son ride the subway, alone, through New York City. She didn't give him a cell phone, and she didn't trail behind him. And for doing so, she was decried as "America's Worst Mom" on media outlets and in parenting forums.

But something else happened too. The group Free Range Kids was born - an online movement dedicated to giving kids the freedom we enjoyed as children. A place to publicize how kids are far safer than when we were growing up, and it's not because of helicopter parenting. A place to show how kids, when given more independence are happier, enjoy better mental health, and learn how capable they truly are.

But it wasn't enough to decry legal interventions into kids walking their dogs or babies left in cars for thirty seconds. Skenazy didn't just want to raise awareness. She wanted to change the world. So, along with an executive director, she launched the Let Grow Project.

Let Grow is almost scary in its simplicity, a premise that makes it easy for teachers and other educators to implement. Kids simply agree to do something they've never tried on their own before. Suggestions range from climb a tree or get themselves ready for school to write a letter, trick or treat with friends, or do odd jobs for neighbors.

Kids pick something. They go home, and with parents' permission, do it. Then they come back to school and report on the results. The website offers all the information to start the program, from project instructions, letters to parents, student handouts and worksheets. Let Grow takes up almost no class time.

The results are nothing short of astounding.

Comment: Are American child rearing norms creating an authoritarian society?
Consider that practically every declining health outcome in children can be traced to the sedentary, indoor, micromanaged lives that now define American childhood. In a 2005 Pediatrics study, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania found that children with mothers fearful of neighborhood safety are more likely to watch over two hours of TV per day, instead of playing outside. When American students are moving for only 18 minutes per day at school, it's hardly a surprise that we've seen since the 1970s a more than threefold increase in the number of overweight 6 to 11 year olds.

Experts meanwhile are linking increasing rates of anger, aggression, and severe behavior problems to a lack of free play. These outcomes are consistent with evolutionary psychology theories that consider play to be a critical part of child development, teaching children to cope with, and ultimately master, fears and phobias.
See also:

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Caesar

Why we don't have to get emotionally embroiled in every drama that comes our way

Anne Hughes
Glasgow Live
Sun, 30 Sep 2018 20:11 UTC
drama
This week I lost my purse. It had all the stuff your purse usually has in it - bank cards, credit card, driving licence, loyalty cards, stamps (how retro), photos and £50 cash. I was gutted.

Gutted I'd have to cancel all my cards. Gutted that I had cash on me when I rarely do.

Gutted that I actually couldn't remember what photos and sentimental things were in there.

After the initial annoyance disappeared I thought about who could possibly have found it. I decided to paint them in my mind as someone who was having a bad day. Someone who didn't know how they'd feed themselves that night and I decided I had a choice. I could curse the event and let myself be annoyed all week or I could just wish whoever found it really needed a break. That they needed the cash and it would make their week easier. That my misfortune was their lucky break. I felt instantly better.
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Eye 2

Scientists discover evil people share a 'dark triad' of traits

Ally Foster
New York Post
Thu, 27 Sep 2018 16:14 UTC
evil scary face
© iStockphoto
Psychopathy, egoism, sadism and narcissism are among the traits considered to be a part of the dark side of humanity - and new research has found people who exhibit these traits all share a common characteristic.

While characteristics like narcissism or spitefulness may not seem as extreme as psychopathic tendencies, scientists have found a behavioral link between people who exhibit these traits, and it's not as uncommon as you might think.

Research from the University of Copenhagen revealed that people categorized in this "dark core of personalities" tend to put their own interests ahead of anyone else's.

Another common characteristic researchers observed was the ability to take pleasure from causing other people pain.

The most predominant of these tendencies are known as the "dark triad," which includes psychopathy (a lack of empathy), narcissism (excessive self-absorption), and Machiavellianism (the belief that the ends justify the means).

Some traits, like egoism or sadism, might appear to be more acceptable than those in the dark triad, but the study claims they are all derived from a common underlying disposition, dubbed the "D-factor."

This means that if you display one of these traits, then you are more likely to exhibit some of the others as well.

Comment: See also: The dark core of personality measured

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Family

Can people tell the difference between strategic kindness and real kindness?

April McCarthy
Prevent Disease
Fri, 28 Sep 2018 16:07 UTC
heart on the beach
Psychologists at the University of Sussex have confirmed that the warm glow of kindness is real, even when there's nothing in it for you. In their study, published in NeuroImage, they undertook a major analysis of existing research showing the brain scans relating to over 1000 people making kind decisions. For the first time, they split the analysis between what happens in the brain when people act out of genuine altruism -- where there's nothing in it for them -- and when they act with strategic kindness -- when there is something to be gained as a consequence.

Is human kindness evoked by something besides mom's good example.

Many individual studies have hinted that generosity activates the reward network of the brain but this new study from Sussex is the first that brought these studies together, and then split the results into two types of kindness -- altruistic and strategic. The Sussex scientists found that reward areas of the brain are more active -- i.e. use up more oxygen -- when people act with strategic kindness, when there is an opportunity for others to return the favour.
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Cloud Grey

One is the loneliest number: History of a Western problem

Fay Bound Alberti
Aeon
Wed, 12 Sep 2018 12:48 UTC
loneliness
© Photo by Esther Bubley/Library of CongressGirl sitting alone in the Sea Grill, a bar and restaurant in Washington, DC, 1943.
'God, but life is loneliness,' declared the writer Sylvia Plath in her private journals. Despite all the grins and smiles we exchange, she says, despite all the opiates we take:
when at last you find someone to whom you feel you can pour out your soul, you stop in shock at the words you utter - they are so rusty, so ugly, so meaningless and feeble from being kept in the small cramped dark inside you so long.
By the 21st century, loneliness has become ubiquitous. Commentators call it 'an epidemic', a condition akin to 'leprosy', and a 'silent plague' of civilisation. In 2018, the United Kingdom went so far as to appoint a Minister for Loneliness. Yet loneliness is not a universal condition; nor is it a purely visceral, internal experience. It is less a single emotion and more a complex cluster of feelings, composed of anger, grief, fear, anxiety, sadness and shame. It also has social and political dimensions, shifting through time according ideas about the self, God and the natural world. Loneliness, in other words, has a history.
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