Negative Space: psychology
- Acquisition/Development of Morphology: Specific Aspects of Noun- and Verb-Phrases
- Beginning late in the second year of life, and speeding up in the third through fifth years, children undergo vast changes in their use of language, venturing from single word holophrases and paired words to actual grammatical morphemes and the application of morphological rules. The order of acquisition of these rules seems to vary little within languages, and follows very similar patterns.
- Alcohol and Culture
- David G. Mandelbaum notes that alcoholism appears to be tied to societies which do not expect men to get drunk. Further, whether alcohol uplifts or depresses is tied to cultural expectations.
- Animal Play Behavior
- Robert Fagen’s work is a fascinating survey of anecdotes and studies regarding the desire for animals to alter their consciousness.
- Appendix
- Altered states of consciousness aren’t just for drugs or even for natural highs. Our bodies are continually adjusting themselves to our environment and to our actions. The physical state necessary when running, for example, is different from the physical state necessary for watching television and from the physical state necessary for talking to a group of friends.
- Beliefs, Behaviors, & Alcoholic Beverages
- Subtitled “A Cross-Cultural Survey”, Mac Marshall (University of Michigan, 1979 ) collects essays on the use of alcohol in cultures throughout the world. Perhaps surprisingly, even the intoxicating effects of alcohol appear to be more a matter of psychology than of actual physiological changes.
- Ceremonial Chemistry
- Thomas Szasz subtitled this “The Ritual Persecution of Drugs, Addicts, and Pushers”. It’s a brilliant piece of work drawing on history from as far back as the witch trials and persecution of Jews. His thesis is that mankind requires scapegoats on a ritual scale. While hardly a ground-breaking idea, the depth of his examination is.
- Cross-Cultural Implications
- It has been widely held that cultural studies offers means by which members of different cultures may interact without prejudice. With the advent of global computer networks, it may also become important to facilitate cultural interaction while retaining cultural integrity. Otherwise, “culture shock” may easily become a domestic disease.
- Drinking: Behavior and Belief in Modern History
- Susanna Barrows and Robin Room edit this 1991 collection of articles on the history of drinking in modern culture.
- Hot Dogs, Sauerkraut, and Memory
- Have you ever noticed what you remember? In our most vivid memories it seems that we remember the poignant, the unique, and the reason that the memory is vivid. But what about everyday life? How do we remember things that simply pass us by, that we see briefly and that do not make much of a difference in our lives? What did I have for dinner last night?
- Intoxication: Life in Pursuit of Artificial Paradise
- Ronald K. Siegal hypothesizes that, along with sex, food, and sleep, that intoxication is a basic, natural need in humans. He makes a strong case that recreational drug use is not just something that people like to do, it is something that humans require to survive.
- Jungle Revelers
- When beasts take drugs to race or relax, things get zooey. Ronald L. Siegel writes about the drug habits of animals in Omni, March 1986, pp. 70-72, 74, 100.
- The Natural Mind
- Andrew Weil’s Natural Mind is mostly about the mind’s apparently amazing ability to trigger healing in the body, and that’s a fascinating topic in itself. Among these, he also discusses some of the bad research on LSD and the “damage” it purportedly causes in the laboratory.
- Pigeon managers
- Random reinforcement explains manager behavior?
- Social Impact of Marihuana Use
- No relationship between marijuana and crime, except perhaps a negative one: marijuana use lessens crime. Driving tests revealed “no significant correlations between marihuana use and driving disabilities.”
- The Think-Drink Effect
- G. Alan Marlatt and Damaris J. Rohsenow, Psychology Today, December 1981, pp. 60-69, 93.
- We are not free unless we fight for the freedom of others
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If we don’t act like freedom matters overseas, we won’t act like freedom matters domestically.
- Who Uses Psychotropic Drugs?
- What kind of person uses the various kinds of mind-altering drugs?
- Why Drugs?
- Whether it is children spinning themselves into hallucinations or religions incorporating mind-altering drugs, there appears to be some human need to induce “variations in consciousness”.
More Information
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest•
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Jack Nicholson leads an all-star cast that wasn’t all-star at the time, in a “typically” Milos Forman film dealing with issues of freedom, totalitarianism, and responsibility, all contained in a nuthouse.
- Spin, Strangeness, and Charm
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“Politics, media bias, science, and psychology.”
- Foundation• (paperback)
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“The Old Empire was crumbling into ancient barbarism throughout the million worlds of the galaxy. Hard Seldon and his band of psychologists must create a new life, the foundation, dedicated to art, science, and technology as the beginnings of a new empire.” (Isaac Asimov)
- Beliefs, Behaviors, & Alcoholic Beverages•
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Mac Marshall collects essays on the use of alcohol in cultures throughout the world. Perhaps surprisingly, even the intoxicating effects of alcohol appear to be more a matter of psychology than of actual physiological changes.
