Monday, December 31, 2007
Against All Odds
In “Against All Odds”, students follow a young person’s flight from oppression in his or her home country to exile in an asylum country. The game is intended to increase students’ awareness and knowledge about refugees – where they come from, what situations they have faced and how they adapt to their new lives.
Educators across the United States can help students learn about the plight of refugees and understand the importance of treating refugees with tolerance and respect. UNHCR offers free educational materials for teachers of grades 4-12, including lesson plans, magazines, videos, posters and games.
Educators across the United States can help students learn about the plight of refugees and understand the importance of treating refugees with tolerance and respect. UNHCR offers free educational materials for teachers of grades 4-12, including lesson plans, magazines, videos, posters and games.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
No Covert Racism
Over the last 25 years, some forms of racism have gone "under cover," that is these forms of racism are no longer socially acceptable. For example, anti-black racism is under cover in American right now and the cases of Dog the bounty hunter, Michael Richards, and Don Imus illustrate that. 25 years ago white people could safely say the n-word.
However, other forms of racism are not covert.
Anti-Islam and Anti-Arab racism is overt.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Monday, October 8, 2007
Health Care/Insurance
Last week President Bush vetoed a health care bill for children stating that it was socialism.
This was the major pitch of the AMA back in the 1950's to fight affordable health care. Is it socialism?
-------------------------
The Washington Post
October 3, 2007 Wednesday Regional EditionReturn of the Goldwater GOPBYLINE: Harold MeyersonSECTION: EDITORIAL COPY; Pg. A23LENGTH: 810 words
Just outside our nation's capital, in affluent Montgomery and Fairfax counties, they still build public schools when the number of school-age children rises above the number that the existing schools can accommodate. Beyond question, there are parents in Fairfax and Montgomery who could easily afford to send their kids to private schools but who send them nonetheless to the excellent public schools in their neighborhoods They thus increase government spending and withhold revenue from the private-school industry, but I've never heard anyone complain about that. A free public education is a right, or, if you prefer, an entitlement in America, because the nation long ago decided that an educated population is a national good.
You might think that the same logic would apply to providing children with health care, that the gains to the nation from having a healthy population would outweigh those of bolstering private health insurance companies in the name of laissez-faire ideology. According to President Bush and the hard-right wing of the Republican Party, though, you'd be sadly mistaken. Bush fears that expanding health care for children from uninsured families who can't afford to buy insurance on their own (it costs about $11,000 a year for a family of four) would enable some families, as he put it at a news conference last month, collectively to "move millions of American children who now have private health insurance into government-run health care."
Nine million American children have no health coverage, a figure that rose by three-quarters of a million last year as the number of employers who offer health insurance to employees and their dependents continued to shrink. Congress has placed a bill on the president's desk that would expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover most of those children, but Bush argues that it could benefit some people who would otherwise stick with private insurers. By the same logic, no more public schools should be built in well-off communities. But public education is the American way, while publicly subsidized health care for children is creeping socialism.
The unacknowledged ideological secret of American life is that we have any number of somewhat socialized systems that flourish in plain view. The health-care system for veterans, which most analysts consider about the best America has to offer (and no, Walter Reed was not a VA facility), is socialized medicine pure and simple. Medicare is not a socialized system -- it pays for private medical care -- but is a single-payer system. Like education, these aren't parts of the economy that were wrested from the grasp of a covetous private sector. They address needs -- insuring all seniors, covering the costs of veterans, educating all children -- that private companies chose not to meet because these enterprises, however necessary, weren't profitable.
So it is with health insurance today. We have a massive, competitive private sector that has decided it cannot turn a buck on millions of Americans of modest means or uncertain health. If there were a private-sector solution to the problem of 9 million uninsured American children, the private sector would have found it.
But the president and those Republican members of Congress who join him in opposing SCHIP's expansion have a faith in laissez-faire ideology that cannot acknowledge the limits of what capitalism can, or even chooses to, do.
We hear a lot from Republicans these days, presidential candidates most especially, that they want to return their party to its roots, to make it once again the party of Ronald Reagan. Problem is, they've overshot Reagan and seem bent on reinventing the GOP as the party of Barry Goldwater.
Reagan's conservatism had wind in its sails: The stagflation and drift of the Carter years provided an opening for Reagan's limited rollback of government. What Goldwater personified, however, was the triumph of ideology over experience. He opposed Social Security and Medicare and voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the name of property and states rights. The needs of seniors, the claims of African Americans to equal rights, ran counter to Goldwater's theology of markets over people.
Today's Republicans seem determined to re-create that magical Goldwater self-marginalization. Opposing the provision of health care to children because it conflicts with one's faith in an economic future (capitalism insures everyone) that capitalism itself does not really share (or it would insure everyone) is the same kind of theological nuttiness that led to the Goldwater debacle. In the name of attacking socialism, what Republicans are really doing is affronting the empiricism and the pragmatism, not to mention the decency, of the American people. At, one need hardly add, their own risk.
meyersonh@washpost.com
------------------------
Socialism is one specious argument against affordable and universal health care, the other is moral risk.
What are the facts? (wow! look at the change in insured rates for blacks and Hispanics)
What would affordable and universal health care look like?
This was the major pitch of the AMA back in the 1950's to fight affordable health care. Is it socialism?
-------------------------
The Washington Post
October 3, 2007 Wednesday Regional EditionReturn of the Goldwater GOPBYLINE: Harold MeyersonSECTION: EDITORIAL COPY; Pg. A23LENGTH: 810 words
Just outside our nation's capital, in affluent Montgomery and Fairfax counties, they still build public schools when the number of school-age children rises above the number that the existing schools can accommodate. Beyond question, there are parents in Fairfax and Montgomery who could easily afford to send their kids to private schools but who send them nonetheless to the excellent public schools in their neighborhoods They thus increase government spending and withhold revenue from the private-school industry, but I've never heard anyone complain about that. A free public education is a right, or, if you prefer, an entitlement in America, because the nation long ago decided that an educated population is a national good.
You might think that the same logic would apply to providing children with health care, that the gains to the nation from having a healthy population would outweigh those of bolstering private health insurance companies in the name of laissez-faire ideology. According to President Bush and the hard-right wing of the Republican Party, though, you'd be sadly mistaken. Bush fears that expanding health care for children from uninsured families who can't afford to buy insurance on their own (it costs about $11,000 a year for a family of four) would enable some families, as he put it at a news conference last month, collectively to "move millions of American children who now have private health insurance into government-run health care."
Nine million American children have no health coverage, a figure that rose by three-quarters of a million last year as the number of employers who offer health insurance to employees and their dependents continued to shrink. Congress has placed a bill on the president's desk that would expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover most of those children, but Bush argues that it could benefit some people who would otherwise stick with private insurers. By the same logic, no more public schools should be built in well-off communities. But public education is the American way, while publicly subsidized health care for children is creeping socialism.
The unacknowledged ideological secret of American life is that we have any number of somewhat socialized systems that flourish in plain view. The health-care system for veterans, which most analysts consider about the best America has to offer (and no, Walter Reed was not a VA facility), is socialized medicine pure and simple. Medicare is not a socialized system -- it pays for private medical care -- but is a single-payer system. Like education, these aren't parts of the economy that were wrested from the grasp of a covetous private sector. They address needs -- insuring all seniors, covering the costs of veterans, educating all children -- that private companies chose not to meet because these enterprises, however necessary, weren't profitable.
So it is with health insurance today. We have a massive, competitive private sector that has decided it cannot turn a buck on millions of Americans of modest means or uncertain health. If there were a private-sector solution to the problem of 9 million uninsured American children, the private sector would have found it.
But the president and those Republican members of Congress who join him in opposing SCHIP's expansion have a faith in laissez-faire ideology that cannot acknowledge the limits of what capitalism can, or even chooses to, do.
We hear a lot from Republicans these days, presidential candidates most especially, that they want to return their party to its roots, to make it once again the party of Ronald Reagan. Problem is, they've overshot Reagan and seem bent on reinventing the GOP as the party of Barry Goldwater.
Reagan's conservatism had wind in its sails: The stagflation and drift of the Carter years provided an opening for Reagan's limited rollback of government. What Goldwater personified, however, was the triumph of ideology over experience. He opposed Social Security and Medicare and voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the name of property and states rights. The needs of seniors, the claims of African Americans to equal rights, ran counter to Goldwater's theology of markets over people.
Today's Republicans seem determined to re-create that magical Goldwater self-marginalization. Opposing the provision of health care to children because it conflicts with one's faith in an economic future (capitalism insures everyone) that capitalism itself does not really share (or it would insure everyone) is the same kind of theological nuttiness that led to the Goldwater debacle. In the name of attacking socialism, what Republicans are really doing is affronting the empiricism and the pragmatism, not to mention the decency, of the American people. At, one need hardly add, their own risk.
meyersonh@washpost.com
------------------------
Socialism is one specious argument against affordable and universal health care, the other is moral risk.
What are the facts? (wow! look at the change in insured rates for blacks and Hispanics)
What would affordable and universal health care look like?
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Physical Attractiveness Cues
Monday, October 1, 2007
Friday, September 28, 2007
What is your biggest weakness?
When you get information from the free internet you get what you pay for. Regardless of this warning...
I have a few websites which speak of the stress interview:
http://www.as.pitt.edu/undergraduate/experience/internships/how-to-interview.html
http://www.fazeteen.com/articles/stressinterviews.htm
http://www.seek4job.com/content/view/38/2/
This last page states, "you should not give a directly answer to the questions at stress interview," and I agree.
This page then goes on to discuss the typical answer to the weakness question. I say that they break their own rule by directly answering the weakness question by giving a obviously rehearsed and information-less answer.
As the webpages say, the stress interview is to see how you handle stress. Thus, the weakness question finds out: Do you give useless and trite answers when under stress or do you know to keep your mouth shut?
I have a few websites which speak of the stress interview:
http://www.as.pitt.edu/undergraduate/experience/internships/how-to-interview.html
http://www.fazeteen.com/articles/stressinterviews.htm
http://www.seek4job.com/content/view/38/2/
This last page states, "you should not give a directly answer to the questions at stress interview," and I agree.
This page then goes on to discuss the typical answer to the weakness question. I say that they break their own rule by directly answering the weakness question by giving a obviously rehearsed and information-less answer.
As the webpages say, the stress interview is to see how you handle stress. Thus, the weakness question finds out: Do you give useless and trite answers when under stress or do you know to keep your mouth shut?
Searching for Literature Reviews
EBSCO has changed how to search for literature reviews again. Hopefully they stick to this method because it's very simple.
Click the Advanced Search tab.
Go down until you see the Methodology window:
click to enlarge
and select Literature Review. Go up and search as normal.
And EBSCO has always made it very easy to identify Lit Reviews on the abstract page:
click to enlarge
Framing - Something that Bill can't remember the details of ...
Tversky and Kahneman (1981) demonstrated systematic reversals of preference when the same problem is presented in different ways, for example in the 'Asian disease' problem. Participants were asked to "imagine that the U.S. is preparing for the outbreak of an unusual Asian disease, which is expected to kill 600 people. Two alternative programs to combat the disease have been proposed. Assume the exact scientific estimate of the consequences of the programs are as follows." The first group of participants were presented with a choice between two programs:
Program A: "200 people will be saved"
Program B: "there is a one-third probability that 600 people will be saved, and a two-thirds probability that no people will be saved"
72 percent of participants preferred program A (the remainder, 28 percent, opting for program B).
The second group of participants were presented with the choice between:
Program C: "400 people will die"
Program D: "there is a one-third probability that nobody will die, and a two-third probability that 600 people will die"
In this decision frame, 78 percent preferred program D, with the remaining 22 percent opting for program C.
However, programs A and C, and programs B and D, are effectively identical in accordance with von-Neumann's expected utility hypothesis, in which the value of the outcome of an event is multiplied by the probability of its occurrence
Tversky, Amos, and Daniel Kahneman, 1981. "The Framing of Decisions and the Psychology of Choice." Science 211: 453-458.
Program A: "200 people will be saved"
Program B: "there is a one-third probability that 600 people will be saved, and a two-thirds probability that no people will be saved"
72 percent of participants preferred program A (the remainder, 28 percent, opting for program B).
The second group of participants were presented with the choice between:
Program C: "400 people will die"
Program D: "there is a one-third probability that nobody will die, and a two-third probability that 600 people will die"
In this decision frame, 78 percent preferred program D, with the remaining 22 percent opting for program C.
However, programs A and C, and programs B and D, are effectively identical in accordance with von-Neumann's expected utility hypothesis, in which the value of the outcome of an event is multiplied by the probability of its occurrence
Tversky, Amos, and Daniel Kahneman, 1981. "The Framing of Decisions and the Psychology of Choice." Science 211: 453-458.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Neat Program - Deadline 10/1/07
Thurgood Marshal scholarship program. I had a student do this and she felt it was very useful.
click to enlarge
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Doubt is our product
As a result of these trends, Lisa Bero says, science has become one of the most powerful tools that private companies can use to fight regulation. The strategy they most often deploy was pioneered by the tobacco industry, which learned to foment scientific uncertainty as a means of staving off regulation. A famous tobacco industry document from 1969 spells out the strategy succinctly: "Doubt is our product, since it is the best means of competing with the 'body of fact' that exists in the mind of the general public. It is also the means of establishing controversy."
In 2003, Frank Luntz, a political consultant to the Republican Party, recommended using the same strategy to combat public environmental concerns. "Voters believe that there is no consensus about global warming within the scientific community," he wrote. "Should the public come to believe the scientific issues are settled, their views about global warming will change accordingly. Therefore, you need to make the lack of scientific certainty a primary issue in the debate."
"Some policymakers fail to recognize that all studies are not created equal," says Michaels, the author of a forthcoming book, Doubt Is Their Product: How Industry's Assault on Science Threatens Your Health. "This results in the existence of what appear to be equal and opposite studies, encouraging policymakers to do nothing in the face of what appear to be contradictory findings."
Virtually everyone interviewed for this article agrees about one thing: The U.S. government must strengthen its investment in science. The members of Norman Augustine's 2005 National Academies panel continue to call for an immediate doubling of federal investment in basic science, arguing that basic science is a quintessential public good that only the federal government can properly fund. The rewards of basic research are risky and diffuse, making it difficult for individual companies to invest in.
- Liza Lentini, “One Universe, Under God,” Discovery Magazine (Oct, 2007).
In 2003, Frank Luntz, a political consultant to the Republican Party, recommended using the same strategy to combat public environmental concerns. "Voters believe that there is no consensus about global warming within the scientific community," he wrote. "Should the public come to believe the scientific issues are settled, their views about global warming will change accordingly. Therefore, you need to make the lack of scientific certainty a primary issue in the debate."
"Some policymakers fail to recognize that all studies are not created equal," says Michaels, the author of a forthcoming book, Doubt Is Their Product: How Industry's Assault on Science Threatens Your Health. "This results in the existence of what appear to be equal and opposite studies, encouraging policymakers to do nothing in the face of what appear to be contradictory findings."
Virtually everyone interviewed for this article agrees about one thing: The U.S. government must strengthen its investment in science. The members of Norman Augustine's 2005 National Academies panel continue to call for an immediate doubling of federal investment in basic science, arguing that basic science is a quintessential public good that only the federal government can properly fund. The rewards of basic research are risky and diffuse, making it difficult for individual companies to invest in.
- Liza Lentini, “One Universe, Under God,” Discovery Magazine (Oct, 2007).
Friday, September 21, 2007
Do We Really Know What Makes Us Healthy?
A magazine story from the NYT on how research (in this case medical) is communicated (and miscommunicated) to the public.
Much of what we’re told about diet, lifestyle and disease is based on epidemiologic studies. What if it is just bad science?
The catch with observational studies like the Nurses’ Health Study, no matter how well designed and how many tens of thousands of subjects they might include, is that they have a fundamental limitation. They can distinguish associations between two events — that women who take H.R.T. have less heart disease, for instance, than women who don’t. But they cannot inherently determine causation — the conclusion that one event causes the other; that H.R.T. protects against heart disease. As a result, observational studies can only provide what researchers call hypothesis-generating evidence — what a defense attorney would call circumstantial evidence.
Testing these hypotheses in any definitive way requires a randomized-controlled trial — an experiment, not an observational study — and these clinical trials typically provide the flop to the flip-flop rhythm of medical wisdom. Until August 1998, the faith that H.R.T. prevented heart disease was based primarily on observational evidence, from the Nurses’ Health Study most prominently. Since then, the conventional wisdom has been based on clinical trials — first HERS, which tested H.R.T. against a placebo in 2,700 women with heart disease, and then the Women’s Health Initiative, which tested the therapy against a placebo in 16,500 healthy women. When the Women’s Health Initiative concluded in 2002 that H.R.T. caused far more harm than good, the lesson to be learned, wrote Sackett in The Canadian Medical Association Journal, was about the “disastrous inadequacy of lesser evidence” for shaping medical and public-health policy. The contentious wisdom circa mid-2007 — that estrogen benefits women who begin taking it around the time of menopause but not women who begin substantially later — is an attempt to reconcile the discordance between the observational studies and the experimental ones. And it may be right. It may not. The only way to tell for sure would be to do yet another randomized trial, one that now focused exclusively on women given H.R.T. when they begin their menopause.
Much of what we’re told about diet, lifestyle and disease is based on epidemiologic studies. What if it is just bad science?
The catch with observational studies like the Nurses’ Health Study, no matter how well designed and how many tens of thousands of subjects they might include, is that they have a fundamental limitation. They can distinguish associations between two events — that women who take H.R.T. have less heart disease, for instance, than women who don’t. But they cannot inherently determine causation — the conclusion that one event causes the other; that H.R.T. protects against heart disease. As a result, observational studies can only provide what researchers call hypothesis-generating evidence — what a defense attorney would call circumstantial evidence.
Testing these hypotheses in any definitive way requires a randomized-controlled trial — an experiment, not an observational study — and these clinical trials typically provide the flop to the flip-flop rhythm of medical wisdom. Until August 1998, the faith that H.R.T. prevented heart disease was based primarily on observational evidence, from the Nurses’ Health Study most prominently. Since then, the conventional wisdom has been based on clinical trials — first HERS, which tested H.R.T. against a placebo in 2,700 women with heart disease, and then the Women’s Health Initiative, which tested the therapy against a placebo in 16,500 healthy women. When the Women’s Health Initiative concluded in 2002 that H.R.T. caused far more harm than good, the lesson to be learned, wrote Sackett in The Canadian Medical Association Journal, was about the “disastrous inadequacy of lesser evidence” for shaping medical and public-health policy. The contentious wisdom circa mid-2007 — that estrogen benefits women who begin taking it around the time of menopause but not women who begin substantially later — is an attempt to reconcile the discordance between the observational studies and the experimental ones. And it may be right. It may not. The only way to tell for sure would be to do yet another randomized trial, one that now focused exclusively on women given H.R.T. when they begin their menopause.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Is the Surge Working?
Besides answering this question Steven D. Levitt makes a great observation about science and politics (or as I often say in class objective vs subjective) in this Freakonomics blog.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Saturday, September 8, 2007
In Favor of Disruption
Spotting the next disruptive technology, understanding the future and expecting less from insurance.
... and be able to predict the next business/marketing trend!
... and be able to predict the next business/marketing trend!
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Is Cultural Diversity Bad?
A study conducted by Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam suggests that diversity hurts civic life and that differences can actually translate into distrust. The political scientist and author explains his findings on the flip-side of cultural diversity.
I'm not surprised about this finding. One basic idea in group work is that while diversity in a group is beneficial regarding the task, diversity requires more psychological work to be done in the group.
There were two social psychological topics touched upon. First, Putnam was talking about the stress of living in a diverse environment. Stanley Milgram talked about stimulus overload among city dwellers (because of the social stimulus city dwellers experience, they "turn off" and ignore much of the environment) and I'm surprised that Putnam never heard of it. Second, when Putnam was talking about the mega-church he was describing using a superordinate identity allow people of different backgrounds to -- literally -- ignore their differences.
I'm not surprised about this finding. One basic idea in group work is that while diversity in a group is beneficial regarding the task, diversity requires more psychological work to be done in the group.
There were two social psychological topics touched upon. First, Putnam was talking about the stress of living in a diverse environment. Stanley Milgram talked about stimulus overload among city dwellers (because of the social stimulus city dwellers experience, they "turn off" and ignore much of the environment) and I'm surprised that Putnam never heard of it. Second, when Putnam was talking about the mega-church he was describing using a superordinate identity allow people of different backgrounds to -- literally -- ignore their differences.
Monday, September 3, 2007
The Laws of Simplicity
John Maeda, of MIT's Media Law, has written a book enumerating 10 laws of simplicity for technology.
Here's his blog.
Here's his blog.
Friday, August 31, 2007
At I.B.M., a Vacation Anytime, or Maybe None
Is this pro-employee? Notice that this policy creates problems associated with the virtual office; employees are never "away" from the office and always on call.
Borrowing the Tricks of TV News to Set a Show Apart
Fox Broadcasting is sending fake news vans onto the streets of four cities to promote its new sitcom, “Back to You.”
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Monday, August 27, 2007
Behaviorism going to the dogs
Interesting articles about behaviorism by a dog trainer.
A Brief Introduction to Operant Conditioning
Punishment:Problems & Principles for Effective Use
General articles.
A Brief Introduction to Operant Conditioning
Punishment:Problems & Principles for Effective Use
General articles.
Depression is 'over-diagnosed'
Real Behaviors in Virtual Reality?
The "corrupted blood" disease spread rapidly within the popular online World of Warcraft game, killing off thousands of players in an uncontrolled plague.
But, there are ethical/methodological problems in using virtual reality to study such behaviors. For example, one reason the WoW players' behavior in the game was similar to real behavior is that the WoW players cared about their characters because they had an investment in them. Thus, it would be unethical to release a disease in a virtual game of such stakes. If the players don't care about the virtual world, then their behaviors would more likely to be artificial - and not as useful to the researcher.
But, there are ethical/methodological problems in using virtual reality to study such behaviors. For example, one reason the WoW players' behavior in the game was similar to real behavior is that the WoW players cared about their characters because they had an investment in them. Thus, it would be unethical to release a disease in a virtual game of such stakes. If the players don't care about the virtual world, then their behaviors would more likely to be artificial - and not as useful to the researcher.
Cosmopolitan magazine: Gray Rape
According to the article 'hook up' culture and women's new sexual 'aggression' has created a new kind of rape -- 'gray rape' -- "a kind of sex that falls somewhere between consent and denial."
"It seems the author completely made up the term. None of the 'experts' cited use it. There is no clinical or even criminal justice term called, 'gray rape.' If this term gets popularized, particularly by the same political segment that attacked the documentation of acquaintance rape in the eighties, victims will be even less likely to come forward or seek help. "
I've often heard this from writers at Cosmopolitan, that they are given conclusions to articles by the editors and told to go out and write a story to support it. Why? Making people afraid sells magazines.
"It seems the author completely made up the term. None of the 'experts' cited use it. There is no clinical or even criminal justice term called, 'gray rape.' If this term gets popularized, particularly by the same political segment that attacked the documentation of acquaintance rape in the eighties, victims will be even less likely to come forward or seek help. "
I've often heard this from writers at Cosmopolitan, that they are given conclusions to articles by the editors and told to go out and write a story to support it. Why? Making people afraid sells magazines.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007
Winter Travel Grants
Subject: Winter 2007-2008 STOCS Program
Attached please find the student application for the Winter 2007-2008 STOCS (Study/Travel Opportunities for CUNY Students) Program, and a list of study abroad programs eligible for STOCS scholarships for Winter 2007-2008. Please make copies of this application and this list of eligible programs available to your students. Students can also find these documents online: Winter 2007-2008 STOCS Student Application Form: http://www1.cuny.edu/academics/oaa/uei/inted/stocs/for-students/w0708StudentApplicationForm.pdf Programs eligible for STOCS scholarships during Winter 2007-2008: http://www1.cuny.edu/academics/oaa/uei/inted/stocs/Winter07-08-STOCS.html
The deadline for Winter 2007-2008 STOCS applications is Friday, October 12, 2007. Funded by a grant from the DeWitt Wallace/Youth Travel Enrichment Fund at The New York Community Trust, the STOCS Program is in its second decade of service to CUNY students. Thousands of our students have benefited from STOCS, a program that helps our students discover the many worlds outside New York, and bring that knowledge home to the CUNY community. The STOCS Program stands as a testament to the promise of CUNY: international education for a remarkably international student body. I thank you for your support. Judith SummerfieldUniversity Dean for Undergraduate EducationOffice of Academic Affairs535 East 80th StreetRoom 503New York, N.Y. 10021Phone: (212) 794-5367Fax: (212) 794-5378
Attached please find the student application for the Winter 2007-2008 STOCS (Study/Travel Opportunities for CUNY Students) Program, and a list of study abroad programs eligible for STOCS scholarships for Winter 2007-2008. Please make copies of this application and this list of eligible programs available to your students. Students can also find these documents online: Winter 2007-2008 STOCS Student Application Form: http://www1.cuny.edu/academics/oaa/uei/inted/stocs/for-students/w0708StudentApplicationForm.pdf Programs eligible for STOCS scholarships during Winter 2007-2008: http://www1.cuny.edu/academics/oaa/uei/inted/stocs/Winter07-08-STOCS.html
The deadline for Winter 2007-2008 STOCS applications is Friday, October 12, 2007. Funded by a grant from the DeWitt Wallace/Youth Travel Enrichment Fund at The New York Community Trust, the STOCS Program is in its second decade of service to CUNY students. Thousands of our students have benefited from STOCS, a program that helps our students discover the many worlds outside New York, and bring that knowledge home to the CUNY community. The STOCS Program stands as a testament to the promise of CUNY: international education for a remarkably international student body. I thank you for your support. Judith SummerfieldUniversity Dean for Undergraduate EducationOffice of Academic Affairs535 East 80th StreetRoom 503New York, N.Y. 10021Phone: (212) 794-5367Fax: (212) 794-5378
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Response to Crain's op-ed
In response to http://billsblogofpsychology.blogspot.com/2007/08/raising-standards-at-cuny.html
The poor man's Harvard
Brooklyn: Re "New test rules fail CUNY's mission" (Op-Ed, Aug. 12): When I applied to City College in 1940, I needed a minimum 88 high school average before I could take the entrance exam. Once accepted, I had to maintain at least a C average or I'd be thrown out. Students got in and stayed in on merit. When open enrollment was instituted in 1969, our beloved college lost its standing as a top school. I am happy an attempt is being made to restore its reputation.
Seymour Becker, Class of '43
Source
The poor man's Harvard
Brooklyn: Re "New test rules fail CUNY's mission" (Op-Ed, Aug. 12): When I applied to City College in 1940, I needed a minimum 88 high school average before I could take the entrance exam. Once accepted, I had to maintain at least a C average or I'd be thrown out. Students got in and stayed in on merit. When open enrollment was instituted in 1969, our beloved college lost its standing as a top school. I am happy an attempt is being made to restore its reputation.
Seymour Becker, Class of '43
Source
Monday, August 13, 2007
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Thursday, August 9, 2007
How long will you live?
What has a 16th-century astronomer got to do with the of governments and possible extinction of the human race? Answers in fractions please, says J. Richard Gott III
York just had its 40 year anniversary. According to Gott, York has a 2.5% probabilty of closing in the next 1 year.
go directly to calculator
York just had its 40 year anniversary. According to Gott, York has a 2.5% probabilty of closing in the next 1 year.
go directly to calculator
Several articles in the Sun about an Arabic Public School in Brooklyn
Social Influence in the news
Now, scientists believe that social networks not only can spread diseases, like the common cold, but also may influence many types of behavior — negative and positive — which then affect an individual’s health, as well as a community’s.
This isn't so surprising to a social psychology, who has been trained to look at the social influence exerted upon us by our peers.
This isn't so surprising to a social psychology, who has been trained to look at the social influence exerted upon us by our peers.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Gender differences on the job: asking for more
About 10 years ago, a group of graduate students lodged a complaint with Linda C. Babcock, a professor of economics at Carnegie Mellon University: All their male counterparts in the university's PhD program were teaching courses on their own, whereas the women were working only as teaching assistants.
That mattered, because doctoral students who teach their own classes get more experience and look better prepared when it comes time to go on the job market.
When Babcock took the complaint to her boss, she learned there was a very simple explanation: "The dean said each of the guys had come to him and said, 'I want to teach a course,' and none of the women had done that," she said. "The female students had expected someone to send around an e-mail saying, 'Who wants to teach?' "
----and----
Although it may well be true that women often hurt themselves by not trying to negotiate, this study found that women's reluctance was based on an entirely reasonable and accurate view of how they were likely to be treated if they did. Both men and women were more likely to subtly penalize women who asked for more -- the perception was that women who asked for more were "less nice".
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Milgram Mania!!!
Primetime recreates Milgram Experiment under the supervision of a psychologist! Follow the link for story and video.
I often use this video to illustrate a current occurrence of Milgram-type obedience
The civil lawsuit has been settled.
Derren Brown's (a British magician) reenactment
Claymation version - cute
A humorous (?) student video
I often use this video to illustrate a current occurrence of Milgram-type obedience
The civil lawsuit has been settled.
Derren Brown's (a British magician) reenactment
Claymation version - cute
A humorous (?) student video
Consumed and more
http://www.murketing.com/journal/ ---> subscribe to this blog using rss
What is this site? Murketing.com is a project of R. Walker. That’s me. It is descended from an earlier project called the Journal of Murketing (the term “murketing” dates to this article from Outside Magazine, about Red Bull), an email newsletter that I discontinued partly because too many people signed up for it. Also because I was busy: “Consumed,” a weekly column I write for The New York Times Magazine, made its first appearance in January 2004, and it takes up a lot of my time.
What is this site? Murketing.com is a project of R. Walker. That’s me. It is descended from an earlier project called the Journal of Murketing (the term “murketing” dates to this article from Outside Magazine, about Red Bull), an email newsletter that I discontinued partly because too many people signed up for it. Also because I was busy: “Consumed,” a weekly column I write for The New York Times Magazine, made its first appearance in January 2004, and it takes up a lot of my time.
Milgram's 37
I often mention "Milgram's 37" in class when discussing the Milgram Experiments. "Milgram's 37" is a song by Peter Gabriel about the outcome of one condition of Milgram's obedience study.
In this condition, the experimental subject was assigned a role as a recorder for two confederates who actually administered the shocks. The confederates always obeyed and the DV was whether the actual subject would disobey. Milgram obtained the greatest obedience in this condition 37 out of 40 subjects were totally obedient (compared to 50% in the condition we are more familiar with where the learner cries out and demands to be released).
In this condition, the experimental subject was assigned a role as a recorder for two confederates who actually administered the shocks. The confederates always obeyed and the DV was whether the actual subject would disobey. Milgram obtained the greatest obedience in this condition 37 out of 40 subjects were totally obedient (compared to 50% in the condition we are more familiar with where the learner cries out and demands to be released).
How I came to love the veil
A Washington Post Article
One way to look for potential prejudices is to examine the way we respond to one group and then look at how we respond to another group:
When Islam offers women so much, why are Western men so obsessed with Muslim women's attire? Even British government ministers Gordon Brown and John Reid have made disparaging remarks about the nikab -- and they hail from across the Scottish border, where men wear skirts.
Is the veil feminist?
Some young Muslim feminists consider the hijab and the nikab political symbols, too, a way of rejecting Western excesses such as binge drinking, casual sex and drug use. What is more liberating: being judged on the length of your skirt and the size of your surgically enhanced breasts, or being judged on your character and intelligence? In Islam, superiority is achieved through piety -- not beauty, wealth, power, position or sex.
One way to look for potential prejudices is to examine the way we respond to one group and then look at how we respond to another group:
When Islam offers women so much, why are Western men so obsessed with Muslim women's attire? Even British government ministers Gordon Brown and John Reid have made disparaging remarks about the nikab -- and they hail from across the Scottish border, where men wear skirts.
Is the veil feminist?
Some young Muslim feminists consider the hijab and the nikab political symbols, too, a way of rejecting Western excesses such as binge drinking, casual sex and drug use. What is more liberating: being judged on the length of your skirt and the size of your surgically enhanced breasts, or being judged on your character and intelligence? In Islam, superiority is achieved through piety -- not beauty, wealth, power, position or sex.
Policing Terrorism
In remarks to reporters, Brown’s new home secretary, Jacqui Smith, articulated the basic message. “Let us be clear,” she said, “terrorists are criminals, whose victims come from all walks of life, communities and religions.”
While mainly about Brown's policies, this article raises an interesting question about the language being used, and the groups and stereotypes being referenced:
Radical Islam
War
Terror
While mainly about Brown's policies, this article raises an interesting question about the language being used, and the groups and stereotypes being referenced:
Radical Islam
War
Terror
An Experiment: When the Only Familiar Sight Is a Uniform
Are police officers patrolling the streets willing to give directions to out-of-towners?
This NY Times article conducts "an experiment" on police officers' responses to questions about directions?
What would be the IV? DV?
What controls did the reporters use?
Were operational definitions mentioned?
What potentially important controls did the reporters not use?
This NY Times article conducts "an experiment" on police officers' responses to questions about directions?
What would be the IV? DV?
What controls did the reporters use?
Were operational definitions mentioned?
What potentially important controls did the reporters not use?
Happy Birthday, Cognitive Dissonance
Cog Dis turns 50 this year ... hey bud, let's party!!!
NY Times
Science Friday podcast of interview with Eliot Aronson
NPR Story
Newsweek
NY Times
Science Friday podcast of interview with Eliot Aronson
NPR Story
Newsweek
A Baby-Proof Method Tracks Just Where Little Ones Look
This is for 330 students doing research papers on developmental psych; this is how we measures if infants are aware of something.
New technology makes it easier to follow a baby’s gaze and to decipher the developing mind by looking at infants’ eye movements.
New technology makes it easier to follow a baby’s gaze and to decipher the developing mind by looking at infants’ eye movements.
Availability
The availability heuristic and social politics: we are concerned about what the news media presents to us.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Obesity 'triggers' disease fears
Discrimination against fat people might not be all the fault of bullies, international scientists say.
To me, this point should have been amplified in the article. Not all stigmas are created equally. The stigma of being overweight is said to be one of the last acceptable prejudices. I am worried that many will use the results of this study as a justification of their rejection of overweight people.
For example, the same can be said for racial and ethnic discrimination -- that there is an evolutionary/genetic basis -- but we recognize that only fringe people (KKK members and neo-Nazis) will they use the evolutionary/genetic explanation as a reason for their prejudice.
To me, this point should have been amplified in the article. Not all stigmas are created equally. The stigma of being overweight is said to be one of the last acceptable prejudices. I am worried that many will use the results of this study as a justification of their rejection of overweight people.
For example, the same can be said for racial and ethnic discrimination -- that there is an evolutionary/genetic basis -- but we recognize that only fringe people (KKK members and neo-Nazis) will they use the evolutionary/genetic explanation as a reason for their prejudice.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Brain damage turns man into human chameleon
"In his 1983 fake documentary 'Zelig', Woody Allen plays a character, Leonard Zelig, a kind of human chameleon who takes on the appearance and behaviour of whoever he is with. Now psychologists in Italy have reported the real-life case of AD, a 65-year-old whose identity appears dependent on the environment he is in. He started behaving this way after cardiac arrest caused damage to the fronto-temporal region of his brain."
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Engaging at Any Speed? Commercials Put to Test
In new experiments for NBC, people are observed as they watch commercials in fast-forward mode.
IVs?
DVs. How is that operationalized?
IV - Viewing: fast commercials/tv shows (normal speed)
DV - engagement
Operationalization: “skin conductance,” heartbeats, accelerometer respiration
IVs?
DVs. How is that operationalized?
IV - Viewing: fast commercials/tv shows (normal speed)
DV - engagement
Operationalization: “skin conductance,” heartbeats, accelerometer respiration
Friday, July 6, 2007
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
- yawn --
'Yawning may keep us 'on the ball'
IVs? DVs? (my answers below)
At the vary least:
IV=experimental condition; levels = breathed nose, breathed mouth, ice pack, room-temp pack, hot pack
watching a video of people yawning was a control - all subjects watched this
DV = # of yawns (which had to have some type of operational definition - opened mouth wide, made non-verbal sound; and I'd have two raters and check to see if there was inter-rater reliability)
I suspect they did this:
IV1= video: people yawning/people not yawning
IV2= breathed: nose/mouth
IV3 = pack: hot/room/cold
same DV
IVs? DVs? (my answers below)
At the vary least:
IV=experimental condition; levels = breathed nose, breathed mouth, ice pack, room-temp pack, hot pack
watching a video of people yawning was a control - all subjects watched this
DV = # of yawns (which had to have some type of operational definition - opened mouth wide, made non-verbal sound; and I'd have two raters and check to see if there was inter-rater reliability)
I suspect they did this:
IV1= video: people yawning/people not yawning
IV2= breathed: nose/mouth
IV3 = pack: hot/room/cold
same DV
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
poverty and mental health
Gary Varvel
©2007 Creators Syndicate, Inc.
Custom comic pages by MYCOMICSPAGE.COM
Monday, July 2, 2007
Rubik's Cubicle
The Argyle Sweater by Scott Hilburn
©2007 Scott Hilburn
Custom comic pages by MYCOMICSPAGE.COM
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Why I study rape the way I study rape.
My research on sexual assault is on how third-party observers view the rapist, survivor and the situation. Students are more interested -- and understand better -- areas about sexual assault which I don't study: survivor reactions, and pornography and rape. It makes sense for a psychologist to study how women (and men) respond to sexual assault, how they cope and how to speed the coping process; and it also makes sense for a psychologist to study the relationship between pornography and sexual assault. To students, it seems trivial to study how much a person blames a rapist for raping and what factors make people blame a rape survivor more for being raped. None of these things seem useful.
In this article, from Slate, there's an excellent example about why I study rape the way I do. People don't view rape the same way as other crimes (an excellent set of examples is at the end of the first page and beginning of the second). And, as this whole case shows, the way third-party observers view rape can have a great deal of impact on the well-being of people.
In this article, from Slate, there's an excellent example about why I study rape the way I do. People don't view rape the same way as other crimes (an excellent set of examples is at the end of the first page and beginning of the second). And, as this whole case shows, the way third-party observers view rape can have a great deal of impact on the well-being of people.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Beauty is only pixel deep!
Dove's Self-Esteem Project's Evolution film.
Playboy alters the images of its model so much that they forgot to replace one model's bellybutton! Readers demanded their money back for the issue.
Playboy alters the images of its model so much that they forgot to replace one model's bellybutton! Readers demanded their money back for the issue.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Muslims’ Veils Test Limits of Britain’s Tolerance
New York Times article
Two interesting things. First, it appears that the Britons who are upset about the veil are talking past the Muslim-Britons: the Muslim-Britons see it as a political and free speech issue. Why is it not perceived that way? And (a related) second, I wonder to what degree attitudes against the veil are anti-Muslim attitudes being expressed symbolically?
science quote
"The job of a scientist is to generate wrong ideas as fast as possible."
-- Murray Gell-Mann, Nobel Prize winning physicist
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Dinosaurs
Why are dinosaurs so popular (e.g. Jurassic Park)?
Freud would say that it's identification with something that is stronger than ourselves and stronger than the things we fear.
Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
©2007 Universal Press Syndicate Custom comic pages by MYCOMICSPAGE.COM
Freud would say that it's identification with something that is stronger than ourselves and stronger than the things we fear.
Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson©2007 Universal Press Syndicate Custom comic pages by MYCOMICSPAGE.COM
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Knowing what we don't know
The adaptive unconscious has an extremely powerful influence on our behavior. A lot of what we do is not conscious.
An excellent demonstruation is here
An excellent demonstruation is here
Inattentional Blindness
People only perceive what they are looking for and what they think they will see. As a friend of mine is graduate school said, "I'll see it when I believe it."
This video is an excellent example of how well we misperceive.
While the above video was a demonstration, the following video is from an actual experiment which tested the hypothesis of inattentional blindness.
Participants were asked to watch the video and count the number of passes made by the team dressed in white.
Go to this page and watch the video
http://viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu/grafs/demos/15.html
After watching it, scroll down
in this condition (count the passes by the team in white) only 42% of the participants noticed the gorilla.
Here is a link to the article.
This video is an excellent example of how well we misperceive.
While the above video was a demonstration, the following video is from an actual experiment which tested the hypothesis of inattentional blindness.
Participants were asked to watch the video and count the number of passes made by the team dressed in white.
Go to this page and watch the video
http://viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu/grafs/demos/15.html
After watching it, scroll down
in this condition (count the passes by the team in white) only 42% of the participants noticed the gorilla.
Here is a link to the article.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
And now for something completely different: not closed loop communication
Closed loop communication is when the listener repeats what they hear to allow the speaker to confirm that the listener correctly heard it. Any submarine movie (or episode of Star Trek) provides numerous illustrations.
This video is not an example of closed loop communication.
This video is not an example of closed loop communication.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Brand Building, Social Networking & Cellphones
"The Coca-Cola Company is hoping its new mobile site for social networking,
Sprite Yard, will become the MySpace of the cellphone world. "
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Depressive Realism?
The more realistic you are about your future - usually the more depressed you are.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Monday, May 28, 2007
Sunday, May 27, 2007
A NYT story about narrative psych!
Remember: The universe isn't made of atoms, it's made of stories.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Sunday, May 20, 2007
What make a society prone to rape? A Sociological View
I found this old talk announcement on my computer.
What makes a society prone to sexual assault and rape? Professor Peggy Reeves Sanday addressed this question this morning with students in a combined session of two classes, one in sociology and one in philosophy. Sanday is a distinguished anthropologist who teaches at the University of Pennsylvania.
Professor Sanday did research on 95 band and tribal societies to see whether rape is a universal phenomenon. It is not, according to Sanday's results. She conducted her study in the late 1970's and published it in 1981 as the lead essay in a special issue on rape in the _Journal of Social Issues_. Rape is not universal. Of the 95 band and tribal societies she studied, Sanday found 47% to be rape-free and 18% rape-prone, with the remaining 35% difficult to classify as one or the other.
The rape-free societies, in which sexual assault is rare, exhibited common characteristics. In them, (1) there are explicit codes emphasizing the importance of consent and choice in sexual relations. (2) Women and men are both conceived as active sexual agents, neither passively available for the other at the other's wishes. Both men and women are seen as potential initiators of sexual activity and intimacy. Finally, (3) the same standards of sexually appropriate behavior apply to both women and men. That is, there is no double standard, for example, where women are thought sexually dirty and men sexually normal for the same level of sexual activity.
In the rape-prone societies, there is clear evidence (1) that men rape women regularly or (2) that forced intercourse is considered normal sex. Also, (3) men may use ceremonies or rituals of rape or group sex to (a) punish women for violating sexual norms, (b) to introduce boys and young men to their sexuality, or (c) to display male sexuality, especially to other men. In such societies, commonly, all-male groups have social hegemony or dominate social life through controlling certain important social ceremonies or rituals. These all-male groups may show strong aversion to homosexual or bisexual men and may engage in activities designed to deny unequivocally any such inclinations of their own.
Professor Sanday offered several explanations for the difference between these two types of society. In rape-prone societies, (1) there is a high level of interpersonal violence. (2) There is a pervasive ideology of male toughness and a polar opposition between masculinity and femininity. (3) Women are not respected as fully enfranchised public citizens and have relative low status socially, politically, and/or economically. (4) There are high levels of sexual segregation (and male identity is often represented with centrally displayed phallic symbols). (5) There is social support or at least tolerance, either explicitly or implicitly, for rape and for men who commit rape. Finally, (6) great importance is placed on maintaining a sexual code defining appropriate from inappropriate sexual relations. In societies with these characteristics, rape is more frequent, more likely, and more condoned.
Sanday will give a lecture this afternoon at 4pm in Kissell titled "No Means No." Her visit to Wittenberg is being sponsored by the Departments of Sociology and Philosophy, the Women's Studies Program, the Women's Program Committee, and the Office of the Provost.
What makes a society prone to sexual assault and rape? Professor Peggy Reeves Sanday addressed this question this morning with students in a combined session of two classes, one in sociology and one in philosophy. Sanday is a distinguished anthropologist who teaches at the University of Pennsylvania.
Professor Sanday did research on 95 band and tribal societies to see whether rape is a universal phenomenon. It is not, according to Sanday's results. She conducted her study in the late 1970's and published it in 1981 as the lead essay in a special issue on rape in the _Journal of Social Issues_. Rape is not universal. Of the 95 band and tribal societies she studied, Sanday found 47% to be rape-free and 18% rape-prone, with the remaining 35% difficult to classify as one or the other.
The rape-free societies, in which sexual assault is rare, exhibited common characteristics. In them, (1) there are explicit codes emphasizing the importance of consent and choice in sexual relations. (2) Women and men are both conceived as active sexual agents, neither passively available for the other at the other's wishes. Both men and women are seen as potential initiators of sexual activity and intimacy. Finally, (3) the same standards of sexually appropriate behavior apply to both women and men. That is, there is no double standard, for example, where women are thought sexually dirty and men sexually normal for the same level of sexual activity.
In the rape-prone societies, there is clear evidence (1) that men rape women regularly or (2) that forced intercourse is considered normal sex. Also, (3) men may use ceremonies or rituals of rape or group sex to (a) punish women for violating sexual norms, (b) to introduce boys and young men to their sexuality, or (c) to display male sexuality, especially to other men. In such societies, commonly, all-male groups have social hegemony or dominate social life through controlling certain important social ceremonies or rituals. These all-male groups may show strong aversion to homosexual or bisexual men and may engage in activities designed to deny unequivocally any such inclinations of their own.
Professor Sanday offered several explanations for the difference between these two types of society. In rape-prone societies, (1) there is a high level of interpersonal violence. (2) There is a pervasive ideology of male toughness and a polar opposition between masculinity and femininity. (3) Women are not respected as fully enfranchised public citizens and have relative low status socially, politically, and/or economically. (4) There are high levels of sexual segregation (and male identity is often represented with centrally displayed phallic symbols). (5) There is social support or at least tolerance, either explicitly or implicitly, for rape and for men who commit rape. Finally, (6) great importance is placed on maintaining a sexual code defining appropriate from inappropriate sexual relations. In societies with these characteristics, rape is more frequent, more likely, and more condoned.
Sanday will give a lecture this afternoon at 4pm in Kissell titled "No Means No." Her visit to Wittenberg is being sponsored by the Departments of Sociology and Philosophy, the Women's Studies Program, the Women's Program Committee, and the Office of the Provost.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Not Just at Euro Disney ...
From The New York Times's article, Not for Kids Only: Seeking Buccaneer Bliss -
Ms. Treadwell has sailed these waters here and at other Disney theme parks for more than two decades — once even dragging a boyfriend from Moscow to Euro Disney outside Paris for a weekend of riding Pirates of the Caribbean. “There are profound differences between the rides,” she noted. “Here, the pirates chase the women for food and booze, while at Euro Disney they chase women for sex.”
The Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney has always bothered me regarding the scene described above. In one scene, pirates are chasing women around. In 1997, after complaints about this rape scene, Disney added pies to the women's arms to show that the pirates were chasing the women for the pies. Still on the ride is a latter scene where there is an auction of women and a pirate says something like "take one of these wenches as yea wife."
This is an example of the rape myth is our culture and the normalization of rape. The rape myth, according to Burt, is a set of beliefs centered around the idea that rape is not a serious crime because some (most) women desire to be raped. The rape myth is a necessary foundation for the normalization of rape - a process where are culture adopts the rape myth.
Another example of the commonplace-ness of this rape myth are the Pepe LePew cartoons. In these cartoons, Pepe (an sexually acting out skunk) stalks and gropes a female cat. In many cartoons, another aspect of the rape myth is seen: after repeatedly rejecting Pepe's sexual advances, the cat turns the tables on Pepe and chases Pepe - showing that the female really wanted Pepe to rape her.
Ms. Treadwell has sailed these waters here and at other Disney theme parks for more than two decades — once even dragging a boyfriend from Moscow to Euro Disney outside Paris for a weekend of riding Pirates of the Caribbean. “There are profound differences between the rides,” she noted. “Here, the pirates chase the women for food and booze, while at Euro Disney they chase women for sex.”
The Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney has always bothered me regarding the scene described above. In one scene, pirates are chasing women around. In 1997, after complaints about this rape scene, Disney added pies to the women's arms to show that the pirates were chasing the women for the pies. Still on the ride is a latter scene where there is an auction of women and a pirate says something like "take one of these wenches as yea wife."
This is an example of the rape myth is our culture and the normalization of rape. The rape myth, according to Burt, is a set of beliefs centered around the idea that rape is not a serious crime because some (most) women desire to be raped. The rape myth is a necessary foundation for the normalization of rape - a process where are culture adopts the rape myth.
Another example of the commonplace-ness of this rape myth are the Pepe LePew cartoons. In these cartoons, Pepe (an sexually acting out skunk) stalks and gropes a female cat. In many cartoons, another aspect of the rape myth is seen: after repeatedly rejecting Pepe's sexual advances, the cat turns the tables on Pepe and chases Pepe - showing that the female really wanted Pepe to rape her.
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