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==29/30 MAR==
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==11: OCT 6==
  
===Haidt Chapter 9: Divinity with or without God===
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===Assigned===
  
Elevation as a vertical axis in relationship.
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:*Haidt, Chapter 5, "Beyond WEIRD Morality" (17)
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:*Writing exercise: How WEIRD is Morality?
  
:*Flatland
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===Brief Survey on Student Engagement in Hybrid course delivery===
:*Major speculative hypothesis:  183: In addition to relationship and status, we perceive/experience "divinity" as a kind of "moral purity".
 
  
:*But this is puzzling, given that we are also ANIMALS
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:*Please take the following anonymous [https://gonzaga.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3I98g1ecsTe59ZP survey].
:*Research on disgust.   Why do we experience disgust?  186. Purity opposite impulse from disgust. Disgust brings us "down".
 
  
:*Psychological anthropologist Richard Shweder, U Chicago:  Haidt worked with him on research in morality in India:  "Shweder's research on morality in Bhubaneswar and elsewhere shows that when people think about morality, their moral concepts cluster into three groups, which he calls the ethic of autonomy, the ethic of community, and the ethic of divinity." 188  -- evidence on diff. distribution of these ethics by class.  Note observations on research in India.  Link bt. purity/divine.
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===Final Stage of Sapolsky Writing Assignment===
  
:*Cites approvingly: Eliade, The Sacred and Profane -- perceiving sacredness universal among humans189: Interesting examples: handedness, space in houses.
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:*'''Stage 4''': Back-evaluation: After you receive your peer comments and my evaluation, take a few minutes to fill out this quick "back evaluation" rating form: [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdgKCYITDTSOOHcvC3TAVNK-EZDsP4jiiyPj-7jdpRoNUsLPA/viewform?usp=sf_link]'''Fill out the form for each reviewer, but not Alfino.''' Up to 10 points, in Points.
  
Elevation and Agape
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::*Back evaluations are due '''Thursday, October 8, 11:59pm'''.
  
:*Looking for a name for the emotions that we experience when we observe morally outstanding deeds. "Elevation"
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===Some samples from Henrich's, "The Weirdest People on Earth"===
:*Jefferson: Experience of aesthetic value triggers physical changes in the body and recognizable feeling of elevated sentiments.
 
  
:*196: wants to see if elevation is a kind of happinessresearch with student Sara Algoe, (three conditions: doing something good for someone, saw someone tell a joke, saw extraordinary non-moral performance) results seem to separate out different responses: moral elevation vs. response to non-moral excellence like basketball player.
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:*p. 25: "Who Am I?" taskShow charts
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:*p. 28: sociocentric vs. individualistic
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:*p. 34: guilt vs. shame
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:*p. 44: impersonal honesty research (recall Ariely). 
  
:*initial research documents elevation as response.  Unclear how moral/non-moral triggers  work.
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===Haidt, Chapter 5, "Beyond WEIRD Morality"===
  
:*Vagus Nerve theory -- operation of vagus nerve, relationship to oxytocin. Since oxcytocin causes bonding rather than action, this theory might explain the lack of evidence in an earlier study that elevation leads to action.
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====WEIRD Morality====
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:*WEIRD morality is the morality of Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic cultures
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::*just as likely to be bothered by taboo violations, but more likely to set aside feelings of disgust and allow violations
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::*only group with majority allowing chicken story violation.
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::*"the weirder you are the more likely you are to see the world in terms of separate objects, rather than relationships"  "sociocentric" moralities vs. individualistic moralities; Enlightenment moralities of Kant and Mill are rationalist, individualist, and universalist. 
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::*survey data on East/West differences in sentence completion: "I am..."
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::*framed-line task 97
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:*Kantian and Millian ethical thought is rationalist, rule based, and universalist.  Just the ethical theory you would expect from the culture.
  
:*Puzzle about moral elevation and lack of action -- in two studies no sig increase in "signing up" to volunteer after elevation.
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====A 3 channel moral matrix====
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:*Schweder's anthropology: ethics of autonomy, community, divinity 99-100 - gloss each...
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::*claims Schweder's theory predicts responses on taboo violation tests, is descriptively accurate.
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::*ethic of divinity: body as temple vs. playground
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::*vertical dimension to values.  explains reactions to flag desecration, piss Christ, thought exp: desecration of liberal icons.  (Note connection to contemporary conflicts, such as the Charlie Hebdot massacre.)
  
:*Lactating moms study 198 -- (answers puzzle: oxcytocin is about bonding, not actingwe've managed to make moral conduct a trigger for oxcytocin.)
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====Making Sense of Moral/Cultural Difference====
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:*'''Haidt's Bhubaneswar experience''': diverse (intense) continua of moral values related to purity. (opposite of disgust). Confusing at first, but notice that he started to like his hosts (elephant) and then started to think about how their values might work. Stop and think about how a mind might create this.  Detail about airline passenger.
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:*Theorizing with Paul Rozin on the right model for thinking about moral foundations: "Our theory, in brief" (103)
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:*American politics often about sense of "sacrilege", not just about defining rights (autonomy)Not just harm, but types of moral disgust.
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:*'''Stepping out of the Matrix''':  H's metaphor for seeing his own cultural moral values as more "contingent" than before, when it felt like the natural advocacy of what seem true and right.  Reports growing self awareness of liberal orientation of intellectual culture in relation to Shweder's view.  Social conservatives made more sense to him after studying in India.  
  
:*Letter from religious person distinguishing two kinds of tears in church.  compassion/celebration
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===Small Group Discussion===
 
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:*Discussion questions:
:*Latter like agape :  objectless love
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::*Does it make sense to talk about "stepping out of a matrix"? Is this a temporary thingWhat value might it have in your experience?
 
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::*Do you have a parallel story to Haidt's? (Mention travel experiences.)
Awe and Transcendence
 
 
 
:*cites Darwin / Emerson, idea of elevation from exp of nature.
 
 
 
:*Drugs - -entheogens.  reports old experiment with mushrooms and religion.
 
 
 
:*Emerson's "transparent eyeball" experience.  Awe and transcendence of the ego.  (also in flow)
 
 
 
:*Awe:  "As we traced the word "awe" back in history, we discovered that it has always had a link to fear and submission in the presence of something much greater than the self." 202
 
 
 
:*Emotion of awe:  "Keltner and I concluded that the emotion of awe happens when two conditions are met: a person perceives something vast (usually physically vast, but sometimes conceptually vast, such as a grand theory, or socially vast, such as great fame or power); and the vast thing cannot be accommodated by the person's existing mental structures."  203
 
 
 
:*Story of Arjuna Pandava from Gita.  Gets a cosmic eye.  Extreme case, but Haidt implies this is a model for how we describe spiritual transformation.
 
 
 
:*Maslow's work on peak experiences.  Side note on clash about the nature of science in psychology.  Maslow is considered a founder of humanistic psych.
 
 
 
:*Mark Leary, Curse of the Self:  Self as obstacle to -- mental chatter -- self as obstacle to vertical development .  Read p. 207.
 
 
 
===Hall, Ch 9, Altruism, Social Justice, Fairness, and the Wisdom of Punishment===
 
 
 
:*Hall's point about the wisdom of Solomon (from beginning and end of chapter) -- implication for theory.  Was Solomon's behavior unwise? 
 
 
 
:*Problem of altruism
 
::*from Darwin, then from Hamilton and Trivers "reciprocal altruism" and "kin selection" - golden rule, also in Confucius, a proverbial version of reciprocity.
 
::*Adam Smith, Moral Sentiments, top 153.
 
::*"Strong reciprocity" Bowles and Gintis.
 
::*Research by Ernst Fehr -- wanting to study "fairness" judgements in pay and motivation.  behavioral studies of subjects in Prisoner's Dilemma situations (digress on Prisoner's Dilemma), bias toward cooperation.
 
::*2002 finding by Rilling -- mutual cooperation in a PD game stimulates learning and pleasure responses. (Later, on p. 161, same is true for punishment.)
 
:*Ultimatum Game 157
 
::*Interpretation of Ultimatum Game regularity (25% or less gets rejection).  Example of NFL revenue sharing. "altruistic punishment"
 
::*Alan Sanfey's work on neural response in ultimatum game -- areas for emotion and disgust "light up" on low offers.
 
::*Fehr research using TMS --- respondents accepted unfair offers. p. 161
 
:*Public Goods games and punishment / Wisdom and punishment
 
 
 
===Prisoner's Dilemma Intro===
 
 
 
:*for more depth, see Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article on game theory.
 
 
 
{| class="wikitable"
 
|-
 
! !! Prisoner B: Smith stays silent(''cooperates'') !! Prisoner B: Smith betrays (''defects'')
 
|-
 
! Prisoner A (you) stays silent (''cooperates'')
 
| Each serves 1 year|| Prisoner A (you): 3 years<br/>Prisoner B: Smith: goes free
 
|-
 
! Prisoner A (you) betrays (''defects'')
 
| Prisoner A (you): goes free<br/>Prisoner B: Smith: 3 years || Each serves 2 years
 
|}
 
 
 
:*Pay off matrix for any outcome:
 
::*Smith stays silent (cooperate), you betray (defects): 3, 0 (Smith's a sucker)
 
::*Smith betrays (defects), you stay silent (cooperate): 0,3 (You're a sucker)
 
::*Both betray (defect): 2 years each (Game theoretic outcome)
 
::*Both (cooperate): 1 year each (Optimal outcome for combined interests/utility - allegedly only achievable with an enforceable social contract - even one enforced by bad guys!)
 
 
 
:*Why should you defect in the the face of uncertainty about Smith's cooperation?
 
::*Analyze both possibilities for Smith
 
::*He stays silent (cooperates)
 
::*He betrays you (defects)
 
 
 
:*Note on iterated prisoner's dilemma
 
 
 
===Edgarton, Sick Societies, Chapters 1 and 2===
 
 
 
====Ch 1: Paradise Lost====
 
::*myth of primitive harmony in 20th c anthr and pop culture.  
 
:::*Supported by assumption that it is misery that needs explaining, cities as cause of dysfunction; early anthropology ranged from idealistic misrepresentations and glossing over of the violence in trad. societies to racist accounts of non-Europeans as subhuman. 
 
:::*Examples of anthropologists doing follow-up studies and finding big discrepancies with earlier accounts.  Redford. 6
 
:::*Story of Ik tribe in Uganda.  Controversy over Turnbull's judgement, but also evidence of a disrupted culture: forced to horticulture by gov't
 
:::*also, ethos of being a guest in a culture; expression of solidarity might rationalize some concealment of disfunction.  Calling something maladaptive seems to violate anthropologists "methodological relativism". 
 
:::*examples of attempts to explain genital mutilation as adaptive.  but also counter examples "ecologically oriented" anthropologists who were willing to judge practices as maladaptive. 
 
:::*example of Siriano Indians of Bolivia -- very asocial and low family bond. p. 13.  unclothed, lack of knowledge to make fire. 
 
 
 
====Ch 2: From Relativism to Evaluation====
 
 
 
::*recognition of adaptive/maladaptive in our own culture. 
 
::*Oneida Community 1848-1879  John Noyes
 
::*sexual practices -- reservatus also part of other traditions
 
::*changing the rules -- justifying rape and sexual child abuse. 18
 
::*Duddie's Branch, 1960, Eastern Kentucky 238 ind. p. 19 - the horror of it - interestingly, very low levels of social communication. 
 
::*gov't support, deterioration of hygiene, basic values
 
::*non standard tracking of patrimony.
 
::*fierce loyalty to community, showed "pride, dignity, courage, and generosity"
 
::*23-45: Review of the issue of relativism in anthropology, especially in mid-late 20th century.
 
:::*comparisons are inevitable, and some involve evaluation.
 
:::*traces relativism in the methodology of anthropology 26ff.
 
:::*"suttee" - wife joining deceased husband by being burned to death.
 
:::*[Note diff between "methodological" and "principled" relativism]
 
:::*[Too strong on Spir-Whorf: the weak version of the thesis survived.]
 
:::*31ff: racist past of non-relativistic anthropology.  yet functionalism can go to far.  quote from Malinowski 31. 
 
:::*Example: Ruth Benedict praising burdensome marriage practices of the Kurnai
 

Latest revision as of 19:51, 6 October 2020

11: OCT 6

Assigned

  • Haidt, Chapter 5, "Beyond WEIRD Morality" (17)
  • Writing exercise: How WEIRD is Morality?

Brief Survey on Student Engagement in Hybrid course delivery

  • Please take the following anonymous survey.

Final Stage of Sapolsky Writing Assignment

  • Stage 4: Back-evaluation: After you receive your peer comments and my evaluation, take a few minutes to fill out this quick "back evaluation" rating form: [1]. Fill out the form for each reviewer, but not Alfino. Up to 10 points, in Points.
  • Back evaluations are due Thursday, October 8, 11:59pm.

Some samples from Henrich's, "The Weirdest People on Earth"

  • p. 25: "Who Am I?" task. Show charts
  • p. 28: sociocentric vs. individualistic
  • p. 34: guilt vs. shame
  • p. 44: impersonal honesty research (recall Ariely).

Haidt, Chapter 5, "Beyond WEIRD Morality"

WEIRD Morality

  • WEIRD morality is the morality of Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic cultures
  • just as likely to be bothered by taboo violations, but more likely to set aside feelings of disgust and allow violations
  • only group with majority allowing chicken story violation.
  • "the weirder you are the more likely you are to see the world in terms of separate objects, rather than relationships" "sociocentric" moralities vs. individualistic moralities; Enlightenment moralities of Kant and Mill are rationalist, individualist, and universalist.
  • survey data on East/West differences in sentence completion: "I am..."
  • framed-line task 97
  • Kantian and Millian ethical thought is rationalist, rule based, and universalist. Just the ethical theory you would expect from the culture.

A 3 channel moral matrix

  • Schweder's anthropology: ethics of autonomy, community, divinity 99-100 - gloss each...
  • claims Schweder's theory predicts responses on taboo violation tests, is descriptively accurate.
  • ethic of divinity: body as temple vs. playground
  • vertical dimension to values. explains reactions to flag desecration, piss Christ, thought exp: desecration of liberal icons. (Note connection to contemporary conflicts, such as the Charlie Hebdot massacre.)

Making Sense of Moral/Cultural Difference

  • Haidt's Bhubaneswar experience: diverse (intense) continua of moral values related to purity. (opposite of disgust). Confusing at first, but notice that he started to like his hosts (elephant) and then started to think about how their values might work. Stop and think about how a mind might create this. Detail about airline passenger.
  • Theorizing with Paul Rozin on the right model for thinking about moral foundations: "Our theory, in brief" (103)
  • American politics often about sense of "sacrilege", not just about defining rights (autonomy). Not just harm, but types of moral disgust.
  • Stepping out of the Matrix: H's metaphor for seeing his own cultural moral values as more "contingent" than before, when it felt like the natural advocacy of what seem true and right. Reports growing self awareness of liberal orientation of intellectual culture in relation to Shweder's view. Social conservatives made more sense to him after studying in India.

Small Group Discussion

  • Discussion questions:
  • Does it make sense to talk about "stepping out of a matrix"? Is this a temporary thing? What value might it have in your experience?
  • Do you have a parallel story to Haidt's? (Mention travel experiences.)