Lisa Feldman Barrett

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Tu cerebro no está hecho para pensar

ReflexionesPensamiento, Cultura y Ciencia

Hace quinientos millones de años, una diminuta criatura marina cambió el curso de la historia: se convirtió en el primer depredador. De alguna manera, sintió la presencia de otra criatura cercana, se impulsó o se contoneó hasta ella y se la comió a propósito.

Esta nueva actividad de cazar dio inicio a una carrera armamentística evolutiva. Durante millones de años, los depredadores y las presas evolucionaron para tener cuerpos más complejos que pudieran sentir y moverse con mayor eficacia a fin de atrapar o eludir a otras criaturas.

Con el tiempo, algunas criaturas evolucionaron hasta tener un centro de comando que dirigiera esos cuerpos complejos.…  Seguir leyendo »

When Is Speech Violence

ReflexionesPensamiento, Cultura y Ciencia

Imagine that a bully threatens to punch you in the face. A week later, he walks up to you and breaks your nose with his fist. Which is more harmful: the punch or the threat?

The answer might seem obvious: Physical violence is physically damaging; verbal statements aren’t. “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

But scientifically speaking, it’s not that simple. Words can have a powerful effect on your nervous system. Certain types of adversity, even those involving no physical contact, can make you sick, alter your brain — even kill neurons — and shorten your life.…  Seguir leyendo »

When a Gun Is Not a Gun

MundoAméricaReflexionesPensamiento, Cultura y Ciencia, , ,

The Justice Department recently analyzed eight years of shootings by Philadelphia police officers. Its report contained two sobering statistics: Fifteen percent of those shot were unarmed; and in half of these cases, an officer reportedly misidentified a “nonthreatening object (e.g., a cellphone) or movement (e.g., tugging at the waistband)” as a weapon.

Many factors presumably contribute to such shootings, ranging from carelessness to unconscious bias to explicit racism, all of which have received considerable attention of late, and deservedly so.

But there is a lesser-known psychological phenomenon that might also explain some of these shootings. It’s called “affective realism”: the tendency of your feelings to influence what you see — not what you think you see, but the actual content of your perceptual experience.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica,

The Post asked political analysts, pollsters and others what Joe Biden and Sarah Palin need to do in tonight's debate.

Ken Duberstein, White House chief of staff to Ronald Reagan; chairman of the Duberstein Group.

This debate is 90 percent about Sarah Palin and 10 percent about Joe Biden. This is her SAT, not a pop quiz or a "gotcha" exam. Gov. Palin must seize the opportunity to speak compellingly about John McCain's vision on national security and economic policy, not in sound bites but in well-constructed, thoughtful paragraphs. This debate is not a forum for Alaska stories but for a McCain worldview, carefully articulated for the independent voter, not simply for the conservative base.…  Seguir leyendo »