Field of reference: Psychology
Description: Comparing ourselves to society is a pervasive social phenomenon that affects our core psychological being
>“Two decades of research have shown that social comparisons are more complex and that people play a more active role in making use of comparison information than initially thought. Concepts from social cognition, emotion research, cognitive psychology, self theory, and the study of naturalistic experience have yielded insights into the process of social comparison and the motives that underlie it. Comparing the self with others, either intentionally or unintentionally, is a pervasive social phenomenon. Perceptions of relative standing can influence many outcomes, including a person’s self-concept, level of aspiration, and feelings of wellbeing (i.e., subjective well-being)>.”
style="text-decoration: underline">>Link to the academic paper
שייך לקטגוריות 3. קנאה וכבוד | להשאיר תגובה | |
Field of reference: Biology, Sociology
Description: A strictly biological approach to operationalizing the concept of basic needs, which is referred to as the "Survival Indicators" paradigm.
>“Categorical distinctions can be drawn between (a) primary needs, (b) instrumental needs, (c) perceived needs, (d) dependencies and (e) wants, although in practice these categories often overlap. it is suggested that a basic needs paradigm could provide an analytical tool (a "bio-logic") for examining more closely the relationship between our social, economic and political behaviors and institutions and their survival consequences, as well as providing a predictive tool of some importance.”
style="text-decoration: underline">>Link to the article
שייך לקטגוריות 1. מעל צרכים בסיסיים | להשאיר תגובה | |
Field of reference: History, Politics
Description: Political crisis in West - leaders incapable of finding a way out of financial crisis
>“For the better part of 500 years, it was Westerners on both sides of the Atlantic who could say that they had the best economic system, that they developed the best political system and so forth. And those claims have sounded increasingly hollow in our time," Ferguson said in an interview.The breakdown in public confidence caused by the financial crisis has revealed a deeper problem. "What we're seeing in government is part of a wider crisis of Western institutions," he said.Heather Conley, a former U.S. Under Secretary of State for European Affairs and now a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said this near political paralysis seen in the United States and Europe is common when governments are at an inflection point. "Without decisive direction and leadership, we march in place or attempt to muddle through, uncertain of which path to take. The West is at such a moment," she said. "Only an external shock I fear will force us to take the uncertain (new) path. Or we will become so frustrated that the West will choose leaders who will take us in a radically new direction. I'm not sure our frustration level has reached that level, yet. But Europe may be arriving there soon..”
style="text-decoration: underline">>Link to the article
שייך לקטגוריות 2. לראשונה גלובלי | להשאיר תגובה | |
פורסם: 23.02.12, 11:51 pm
Field of reference: Biology
Description: Great description of information transmittion over generations with examples in the cellular level.
>“Life, we learn, is information, transmitted in ever more intricate ways across the generations. Self-replicating chemicals walled themselves into cells, organized themselves into regimented communities of chromosomes, swapped notes with other populations to become sexual, cloned themselves to form multicellular colonies called organisms, got together with other colonies to form societies, and, eventually, in the case of one particular ape, developed the ability to put this whole story down on paper. <p> For those evolutionists brought up on the theory of "red queens" and "self genes," <I>Origins</I> provides a complementary crash course in the practical nuts-and-bolts biology behind the headlines. The authors describe the technical problems involved in the transition from one stage to another, and explain the ingenious and often fortuitous steps that natural selection took to overcome them."
style="text-decoration: underline">>Link to the book
שייך לקטגוריות 5. מדור לדור | להשאיר תגובה | |
פורסם: 23.02.12, 11:49 pm
Field of reference: History
Description: The history of man is one human story.
>“Rather than thinking in terms of multiple civilisations, we need to think in terms of one fluid human story with internal characteristics linked to the time and place in which it manifests itself. Thinking in terms of the totality of human civilisation requires an approach to history that allows one to conceive of a period of time that extends beyond that of the longue durée outlined by Braudel. A philosophy of history needs to encompass span of human time that captures human nature and its mastery of its environment. Rather than thinking of competing and separate civilisations, we should think in terms of only one human civilisation (one human story), comprised of multiple geo-cultural domains that contain sub-culture."
style="text-decoration: underline">>Link to the book
שייך לקטגוריות 5. מדור לדור | להשאיר תגובה | |