Neuroscience as religion
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fred trotter
Oct 15, 2011, 8:53:19 PM10/15/11
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Hi,
One of the markers I have always noted in people with neuroscience training is the distinct lack of inclination to "blame it on the brain".
In fact, many of the people I have invited on this list are perfect examples of this. I studied neuroscience long enough ago that the "brain imaging revolution" had not yet occurred, but recently enough to know that it would occur.
This has always placed me in an interesting position of not really understanding what the current research was saying, but having a pretty strong understanding of what the basic limitations of the new approaches would be. This has put me in a place of "uniformed dubiousness" that has always been reinforced when I met people who I could tell were experts, who uniformly possessed "informed dubiousness".
I have always wondered what made people who were not trained in critical thinking so given to fascination regarding "right brain" "left brain" explanations, or how by labeling which part of the brain might be involved in some behavior, we think we have made that behavior any clearer. Amateur psychology "brainers" have competed consistently with amateur "evolutionary" psychologists to develop explanations which elaborated without explaining. (I cannot resist referring to my favorite evolutionary psychology joke: http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d98/sabotabby/evopsychbingo.jpg)
I feel vindicated to note that this effect, were people who have no idea how the science works are swayed because of "brain talk", has been recently shown to be a measurable effect:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2778755/
I thought this might be heart-warming for those of you somewhat frustrated with the "non-helpful brain discussion in behavior change"...
Also, this really is not intended to be "my" list. Everyone can post. Anything interesting you are doing in behavior research, esp with a tech bent...
Even barely-related but entertaining segways like this one are welcome!!
-FT
--
Fred Trotter
http://www.fredtrotter.com
One of the markers I have always noted in people with neuroscience training is the distinct lack of inclination to "blame it on the brain".
In fact, many of the people I have invited on this list are perfect examples of this. I studied neuroscience long enough ago that the "brain imaging revolution" had not yet occurred, but recently enough to know that it would occur.
This has always placed me in an interesting position of not really understanding what the current research was saying, but having a pretty strong understanding of what the basic limitations of the new approaches would be. This has put me in a place of "uniformed dubiousness" that has always been reinforced when I met people who I could tell were experts, who uniformly possessed "informed dubiousness".
I have always wondered what made people who were not trained in critical thinking so given to fascination regarding "right brain" "left brain" explanations, or how by labeling which part of the brain might be involved in some behavior, we think we have made that behavior any clearer. Amateur psychology "brainers" have competed consistently with amateur "evolutionary" psychologists to develop explanations which elaborated without explaining. (I cannot resist referring to my favorite evolutionary psychology joke: http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d98/sabotabby/evopsychbingo.jpg)
I feel vindicated to note that this effect, were people who have no idea how the science works are swayed because of "brain talk", has been recently shown to be a measurable effect:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2778755/
I thought this might be heart-warming for those of you somewhat frustrated with the "non-helpful brain discussion in behavior change"...
Also, this really is not intended to be "my" list. Everyone can post. Anything interesting you are doing in behavior research, esp with a tech bent...
Even barely-related but entertaining segways like this one are welcome!!
-FT
--
Fred Trotter
http://www.fredtrotter.com
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