Are Babies Born Good? 60 Minutes

I am catching up this week on my DVR recordings.  This past Sunday, 60 minutes had a segment on babies and morality examining some current research (which is shown on screen) about potentially inborn moral preferences.  Fascinating segment involving research and operational definitions.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50135408n
The segment is 13:33 long.





posted by Chuck Schallhorn

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Head Games: New Show on Discovery and Science Channels

While I was away at the AP Psych reading, the Discovery Channel began running a short series called, "Head Games," a series of episodes about different aspects of psychology.  Topics include conformity, morality and Pavlov's classical conditioning, perception and mirror neurons.  I accidentally discovered them when doing a Tivo wishlist search.  While the show calls the demonstrations "experiments," the principles I have viewed thus far are pretty indicative of what we attempt to show our students.  At first glance, snippets of the show would be best used in our classes rather than full episodes.  There are also some online activities to illustrate some of the concepts as well.

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/head-games/
http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/head-games/episode-guide.html
http://science.discovery.com/tv/head-games/head-games.html


posted by Chuck Schallhorn

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Radiolab--Morality

Take yourself back to the ending episode of M*A*S*H and you'll recall the moral scenario--there are enemy troops all around us.  There are 30 of us on a bus and we need to be absolutely quiet in order to survive.  You have your child in your arms and s/he will not be quiet.  You have the choice--silence the baby (end its life) or allow everyone on the bus to get killed.  What do you do? 

This was the premise and beginning of the episode of Radiolab on Morality first broadcast back in 2007.  At the time, Jad had one, non-parent view.  What would happen after the birth of his first child?  Find out in a later episode short called, Killing Babies, Saving the World.

Radiolab consistently has the most curiosity-driven, quality-produced, entertaining and thought-provoking episodes I've ever come across.  Add the show to your podcast listening and catch up on previous broadcasts while driving. 

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Podcast-Radiolab

Whenever I have to drive, I make sure I have my iPod with me. While NPR is my only radio station, its programming is not always what I want to hear at the time. With that in mind, and going back to my childhood listening to CBS Radio Mystery Theater (back when AM radio was used for more than talk radio), I now listen to the best radio show around.

Robert Krulwich and Jad Abumrad are the hosts of each show, and they create a movie for the ears. In the words of the website, "Radiolab is a show about curiosity. Each episode is an investigation - a patchwork of people, sounds, stories all centered around one big idea." This means that topics will likely include psychological topics--memory, curiosity, deception, music, the brain, nostalgia, tickling, coincidence, morality, science, parasites (and effects on behavior). Every episode is seemingly a wonderful interdisciplinary show that feeds the mind.

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab
http://blogs.wnyc.org/radiolab/?utm_source=links&utm_medium=hp&utm_campaign=radiolab

One recent show was about the Obama Effect. The show was about people's perceptions related to their scores on intelligence tests (or some other term that was used). Results included differences in test scores when minorities had different beliefs about what the test was about. It really challenged the notion of the efficacy of intelligence tests.

In short, it is my favorite radio show and I highly recommend it. Please try one episode and you'll see. Enjoy!

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