Difference between revisions of "FEB 16"

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==10. FEB 16==
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==9: FEB 16==
  
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===Assigned Work===
+
===Assigned===
  
−
:*Pollan, Michael. Part 2: The Western Diet (pp. 101-136) (35)
+
:*Robert Sapolsky, C 13, "Morality" pp. 483-493
−
:*Alfino, Taxonomy of Successes and Failures of the US Industrial Food System (in shared folder)
+
:*Haidt, Chapter 6, "Taste Buds of the Righteous Mind" (112-127 15)
  
−
===In-class===
+
===In-class ===
  
−
:*Resisting Industrial Foods
+
:*Rubric Training: Reminder on Norming Scores, Process for Peer Review, & Giving Peer Criticism
  
−
===Pollan, Part II of ''In Defense of Food''===
+
====Reminder on Norming Scores====
  
−
:*Part II : Western Diet and diseases of civilization
+
:*We'll take a look at the numbers associated with the two rubric areas you are evaluating.
  
−
:*'''Chapter 1: The Aborigine in all of us'''
+
:*In each rubric area, start reading the essay by thinking of a “5” as “pretty good, no obvious problems”.  As you encounter difficulties in writing or content, start to lower your numeric assessment.  If you start to be impressed by the writing or content, raise your estimate.
  
−
::*Summer 1982 - W. Australia aborigines study -- "metabolic syndrome" -- defined, theorized as signature disease of western diet. [https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/metabolic-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20351916 A visual for metabolic syndrome.]
+
:*There may not be any 1s or 2s (though it is possible - look at the semantic cues in the rubric).  Maybe some 3s and definitely 4s.  Likewise, 7s should be pretty scarce (let yourself be really impressed before giving a 7).
−
   
 
−
::*O'Dea's results p. 87.  Note that she didn't look for a silver bullet, a single factor.  Just the diet change.
 
  
−
::*Major premise:  Compare us to many traditional diet populations and the difference in diseases profile is stark.  It might be the "whole diet pattern" rather than a single imbalance.  (The imbalances are symptoms.) [Lots of evidence that as cultures move toward industrial food brands and more female labor market participation, they start to acquire more dietary disease.]
+
====Process for Peer Review====
  
−
:*'''Chapter 2: The Elephant in the Room'''
+
:*I will send a link to everyone who turned in the assignment.  Do not share this link as a few students may still be working on their assignment.
  
−
::*Group of early 20th c intellectuals/doctors (bot 90) noticed absence of chronic disease in populations they traveled to.   
+
:*Use that link to open the file “#Key for Peer Review - Saints and Animals”.  Find your Saint name.  The animal on that row is your animal pseudonym for this assignment.  '''You will review the next four animals, looping to the top of the list if necessary'''.  Show examples.
−
::*British doc Dens Burkitt:  "Western Diseases" -- diseases attributable to western diet and lifestyle.
+
:*Note: '''Some animals may be missing. Wait a few days for them.  If they do not arrive, go to the next animal on the list and review it'''. Continue until you have reviewed 4 animals.
−
::*Pollan chooses the story of Weston Price from this group.
 
  
−
::*Two objections to hyp that Western diet is to blame:  disease/race theory (but evidence from mixed ethnicity/race cultures like US suggests not), demographic theory (we live longer, so we get more disease).  In both cases, the evidence refutes the claim.
+
====Giving Peer Criticism====
  
−
::*Weston Price -- b. 1870.  diseases of teeth are effects of Western diet.  1939 major work after global travels looking at teeth.  Lots and lots of teeth.  kind of an amateur scientists, but collected important data (and seen right by later dental research).  hard to find control groups.  Price found big differences in Vit A and D.  (Note comment about Masai -- .  Multiple successful diets for omnivores.)  p 98: note comparison of groups with wild animal flesh and agriculturalists. 
+
:*The Goal: Giving criticism someone would want to consider.
−
::*First to make comparisons of grass fed / winter forage fed animals to find vitamin differences. Example today from grass fed cows. [https://www.pureeiredairy.com/blank-t1jyw Pure Eire Dairy]  Better 06/03 ratios.
 
−
::*Decline of nutrition in current vegetables and fruits: [https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/soil-depletion-and-nutrition-loss/]
 
  
−
::*Albert Howard 99 -- "father" of organic farming movement; early 20th century; similar time period, making argument against synthetic nitrogen (more later).  both pioneers in what would later be seen as an ecological approach to food production. 
+
:*You are only asked to write two or three sentences of comments, so choose wisely!
−
::*Important: Among first to see a connection between dietary diseases of the food system as part of an "ecological dysfunction". (This is a theme that will occupy a lot of our attention in our discussion and reading about the history of agriculture.)
 
  
−
:*'''Chapter 3: The Industrialization of Eating'''
+
::*Give gentle criticisms that focus on your experience as a reader:
 +
:::*"I'm having trouble understanding this sentence" vs. "This sentence makes no sense!" 
 +
:::*"I think more attention could have been paid to X vs. "You totally ignored the prompt!
  
−
::*Thesis: Calling for a more ecological way of thinking about food.  Think of food as mutual adaptation of plants and animals to humans.  Propagation/place in ecology of food chain. 
+
::*Wrap a criticism with an affirmation or positive comment
−
::*Example of fruit: ripeness, transportation, high nutrient state.  Corn vs. corn syrup.  (Note point about possible future humans who could use HFCS.) Also true of milk in history of agriculture. Pollan doesn't quite give the details on milk.  Not like a light switching on. [Textbook example of gene-culture co-evolution. Selective advantage for those who keep lactase expression going past breast feeding. You can always leave it to natural selection to favor those who can get on with the new diet.]
+
:::*"You cover the prompt pretty well, but you might have said more about x (or, I found y a bit of a digression)"
 +
:::*"Some interesting discussion here, esp about x, but you didn't address the prompt very completely ...."
  
−
:*Types of Changes that Mark the Western Industrial Diet
+
::*General and specific -- Ok to identify general problem with the writing, but giving examples of the problem or potential solutions.
 +
:::*I found some of your sentences hard to follow.  E.g. "I think that the main ...." was a bit redundant.
 +
:::*I thought the flow was generally good, but in paragraph 2 the second and third sentence seem to go in different directions.
  
−
::*'''1. From Whole Foods to Refined'''
+
:*Also avoid: Great Work! Score 4.
  
−
:::*prestige of refined products: prior to roller technology, white rice and flour would be labor added, story of grain rollers 107, Refined flour is the first industrial fast food.  Fresh flour lasts days. 108: specific details germ/endosperm, but also local mills, water power. Fortified bread. B vitamins added back in to reduce pellagra and beriberi.
+
===Sapolsky. Behave. C 13, 483-493===
−
:::*1996: added folic acid.
 
−
:::*Jacobs and Steffen study:  epidemiological study showing effects of whole grains, but also that groups not eating whole grains, but getting equivalent nutrients did not enjoy benefits.  alludes to possible '''holism''' in effects.  Sugar intake since 1870's.  [http://www.sugar-and-sweetener-guide.com/consumption-of-sugar.html Sugar data] 
 
  
−
::*'''2. From Complexity to Simplicity'''  
+
:*'''Origins of Social/Moral Intuitions in Babies and Monkeys and Chimps'''
 +
::*More infant morality:
 +
:::*weigh commission more than ommision - infants track commission better than ommission, as in adults.
 +
:::*Pro-sociality - helper puppet studies, (watch previous YouTubes)
 +
:::*Punishment - sweets go to helper puppets
 +
:::*Tracks secondary punishment - secondary friends study - Babies prefer secondary puppets who were nice to nice puppets and punished bad puppets.
 +
::*Capuchin monkey study (deWaal) - "monkey fairness". (demonstrated also with macaques monkeys, crows, ravens, and dogs), details on 485.  google "crows solving puzzles" or "[https://youtu.be/CXcRw6Piaj8 elephants solving puzzles]"  animals are much more intelligent than we have historically understood. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meiU6TxysCg]  “Inequity aversion”
 +
::*Chimp version of Ultimatum Game - in the deWaal version, chimps tend toward equity unless the proposer can give the token directly to the grape dispensers. 486
 +
::*"other regarding preferences" (Does the animal show awareness of other's preferences?) in monkeys, but not in chimps!
 +
::*Keep this in mind the next time you are thinking about whether to cooperate with a chimp!
 +
::*some evidence of "solidarity" in one inequity study the advantaged monkey (the one who gets grapes) stops working as well.
 +
::*Interesting comment: '''human morality transcends species boundary'''. starts before us.
  
−
:::*The flip side of food degradation is soil degradation.  Nitrogen fertilizers.  simplification through chemical processing.  Control.  Documented nutrient decline in foods (also article above).  Note on the Haber-Bosch process for synthetic NPK. 
+
:*Exemptions for testifying against relatives and vmPFC patients who will trade relatives in Trolley situations.  
−
:::*Simplification of plant species in industrial foods.  Again, appearance of greater variety in industrial food store, but products actually represent a small variety plants and animals.  116 for details.  Decline in nutrition levels in foods since mid-20th century.
+
::*vmPFC damaged patient will sacrifice a relative to save four non-relatives.   
−
:::*details on loss of food crop diversity. [https://civileats.com/2015/10/05/u-s-farms-becoming-less-diverse-over-time/].  [https://www.agprofessional.com/article/study-us-farm-data-shows-loss-crop-diversity-past-34-years Industrial publication] on loss of crop diversity.  (Examples from intact food production cultures like Italy.)
+
::*Interesting note about criminal law exemptions.  Why do we let family members avoid testifying against each other.
−
:::*Corn and soy are very efficient plants for producing carbs, but now supply sig % of calories in Am diet (about 800).
 
  
−
:::*Conclusion: there may be a false economy in industrial food production.  Varietals, soil, diversity of food have values that are lost in assessing costs at the retail level.   
+
:*Context: Neuroscience of the Trolley Problem and "Intuition discounting"
 +
::*dlPFC (focused on reasoning) in lever condition and vmPFC (focused on emotional information processing) in bridge condition. Correlation of vmPFC activation with likelihood of not pushing the guy of the bridge.
 +
::*Greene's hypothesis: '''not so much because it is "up close and personal" as we speculated, but in lever condition the killing of the one is a side-effect.  In bridge condition, its ''because'' of the killing.''' Different kinds of intentionality.  Ok for most people if you push someone out of the way on your way to the lever.  Not intentional killing.
 +
::*'''Why this is so cool''': This research helps us think about the particular cognitive adaptation we have about killing.  It's not just something that excites the brain because "it's up close and personal", it seems to involve a concept of intentionality, and hence Theory of Mind is somehow instantiated in our brains.  Coincides with the baby-puppet studies. 
 +
::*Loop condition -- you know you have to kill the person on the side track, should be like bridge condition, but test subjects match lever condition, roughly. 
 +
::*Hypothesis: '''Intuitions are local; heavily discounted for time and space.''' (Think of other examples of this.)  Stories in which your reaction to something changes when you learn where it happens. '''Another cognitive adaptation. Is it help to follow it all the time, or should we be more concerned about this one?''' (quick group chat)
  
−
::*'''3. Quality to Quantity'''
+
::*Related point about proximity - leave money around vs. cokes.  Cokes disappear. One step from money and the rationalization is easier. (Also in Ariely research)  Singer's pool scenario vs. sending money for absolute poverty relief.
  
−
:::*Industrial food system has favored cheap macro-nutrients over cheap whole foods. (whole foods in Italian significantly cheaper.)
+
:*Priming study on cheating involving bankers.  492 - shows "intuition discounting" when primed to think about work identity. more cheating the more primed about "role" - "It's not me"...
  
−
:::*Decline in nutrient content (118-119: review), "nutritional inflation," interest in "phytochemicals" -- seem related to anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.   
+
:*'''But this circumstance is different...'''
 +
::*Under stress subjects make more egoistic, rationalizing judgments regarding emotional moral dilemmas.
 +
::*[this is not mentioned in the text, but it is what he is talking about: the '''Fundamental Attribution Error''' - neuro-evidence for the '''Fundamental Attribution Error''' [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_attribution_error]
 +
::*Short version: '''We judge ourselves by internal motives and others by external actions.'''  Our failings/successes elicit shame/pride while others' elicit anger and indignation.  The FAE suggests that we explain our own failures more generously than the failures of others.  We offer ourselves excuses (inner lawyer) but are biased toward inferring bad intent from others. (Think of fitness advantage for this bias.)
  
−
:::*False food value lesson from "'''nutritional inflation'''" :  You get a larger variety of X fruit or veg with less nutrition, but it's cheaper.  Problem is that you have a limited volume of food intake, so you lose value in the end and possibly compromise nutrition. Simplification of species diversity and monoculture of ag.  corn and soy are very efficient producers of carb calories.  but then we draw less food diversity by focusing on these two.
+
===Haidt, Chapter 6, "Taste Buds of the Righteous Mind"===
  
−
:::*Decline in food nutrient content from food grown in impoverished soil.  Some details on how soils matter: Growing time affects mineral and vitamin levels ('''bio-accumulation'''). [Note on negative examples of bio-accumulation: mercury in fish.] Some evidence that organic plants have chemicals related to immune responses.   
+
:*Analogy of moral sense to taste sense. '''"the righteous mind is like a tongue with six taste receptors"'''
 +
::*Unpacking the metaphor:
 +
:::*Places where our sensitivities to underlying value perception have depth from evolution, but have flexibility or plasticity from the "big brain", which allows for shaping within culture and retriggering.   
 +
:::*Morality is rich, not reducible to one taste.  A way of perceiving the world.  against '''moral monism'''
 +
:::*Like cuisines, there is variation, but within a range.
 +
:*Mentions Enlightenment approaches, again:  argument against the reductive project of philosophical ethics 113-114.  ethics more like taste than science. 
 +
::*Hume's three way battle: Enlightenment thinkers united in rejecting revelation as basis of morality, but divided between an transcendent view of reason as the basis (Kant) or the view that morality is part of our nature (Hume, Darwin, etc.).  Hume's empiricism.  also for him, morality is like taste
 +
:*Autism argument: Bentham (utlitarianism), Kant (deontology).   Think about the person who can push the fat guy.
 +
::*Bentham told us to use arithmetic, Kant logic, to resolve moral problems.  Note Bentham image and eccentric ideas.  Baron-Cohen article on Bentham as having Asperger's Syndrome (part of the autism range).  Kant also a solitary.  Just saying. clarify point of analysis.  not ad hominem.  part of Enlightenment philosophy's rationalism -- a retreat from observation. 
 +
::*The x/y axis on page 117 shows a kind of "personality space" that could be used to locate Enlightenment rationalists.  (Note that Haidt is looking at the psychology of the philosopher for clues about the type of theory they might have!)
  
−
:::*"Overfed and Undernurished" - Industrial ag succeeded in growing more calories per acre, but at a cost.
+
:*Major global religious and ethical culture identifies virtues that seem to respond to similar basic problems of social life.
  
−
:::*Cites Bruce Ames, serious researcher interest in micronutrition and cancer.  Interesting theory (unproven) that "satiety" mechanisms are tied to nutrition such that a malnurished body always feels hungry. [Note that we have more theory about this now - Microbiome research.]
+
:*Avoiding bad evolutionary theory or evolutionary psychology: "just so stories" -- range of virtues suggested "receptors", but for what?  the virtue?  some underlying response to a problem-type?
  
−
::*'''4. Leaves to Seeds'''
+
::*Moral taste receptors found in history of long standing '''challenges and advantages of social life'''.  The "moral foundations" in Haidt's theory just are the evolved psychological centers of evaluation that make up moral consciousness for humans. 
  
−
:::*Shift from leaves to seeds decreases anti-oxidants and phytonutrients in our diet.   
+
:*Modularity in evolutionary psychology, centers of focus, like perceptual vs. language systems.  Sperber and Hirshfield: "snake detector"  - note on deception/detection in biology/nature. responses to red, Hyperactive agency detection.   
  
−
:::*Mentions Susan Allport's ''The Queen of Fats''
+
:*See chart, from shared folder: '''C F L A S''':  Care/Harm, Fairness/Cheating, Loyalty/Betrayal, Authority/Subversion, Sanctity/Degradation
 +
::*Work through chart.  Note how the "adaptive challenges" are some of the things we have been reading research on.
 +
:*Original vs. current triggers, 123 Reason/Intuition 
  
−
:::*More seeds tilt in the fat profile of the food product toward O6.  Less healthy fat. O3 fats spoil faster, so tend to be removed from industrial food.  Nutritional advice to move toward seed oils didn't originally distinguish O3 from O6.   
+
:*'''Small group discussion''':  Try to find examples from everyday life of events do or would trigger each of these foundations.  Consider either real cases of people you know and the things they say or examples from general knowledge, or even hypothetical examples.  For example:
  
−
:::*Lipidphobia led us to shift to seed oils (give up butter --which has some 03 fats and move to corn -- which is high in 06 fats) and that led to a change in ratio of O6/O3 from 3:1 to 10:1.  note the connection p. 129 between fat profile and sense of "food security" -- interesting digression here.  Could we have a deep fear of hunger that still leads us to choose overeating, especially of caloric foods? 
+
::*You and your friends all worry about COVID cases, but some more than others. Might be observing the Care/Harm trigger, or Sanctity/Degradation.
 +
::*You and your friends all occasionally enjoy risqué humor, but you are uncomfortable listening to people talk about intimate things like sex casually.  Maybe you have a different sanctity trigger.
 +
::*You hear someone talk uncharitably about someone who sees them as a good friend.  You are triggered for disloyalty.
 +
::*You and a co-worker agree that your boss is a bit full of himself.  You find yourself pushing back, but your co-worker just ignores his boorish behavior.  You have different triggers for authority and subversion.
 +
::*You like Tucker Carlson, but then you see that one of his pro-Putin shows is being run on Russian TV along with Trump’s and Pompeo’s praise for the warmongering dictator. It feels like betrayal.
  
−
:::*O3 decline also related to mental health.  130
+
:*Focus on both ways that we are all triggered and ways that we are differentially triggered.
−
 
 
−
::*'''5. From Food Culture to Food Science'''
 
−
 
 
−
:::*Shift from reliance on national / ethnic food cultures to science.  Lots of wisdom and nutrition understanding in traditional cuisines.
 
−
 
 
−
===Resisting Industrial Foods===
 
−
 
 
−
:*You can reverse each of the trends Pollan identifies in his discussion of industrial food and the Western Diet that it supplies.
 
−
 
 
−
:*'''From Refined to Whole foods / Simple to Complex'''
 
−
::*Apple confections to apples, [https://www.myfooddiary.com/foods/1435292/starbucks-bran-muffin Starbucks muffins] to a home made muffin (digression on [https://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1213856 Bob's Red Mill muffins],
 
−
::*Orange juice to oranges to fruit salads (note on ascorbic and citric acid).
 
−
::*Mac and cheese to pasta primavera, pasta e ceci.
 
−
::*Cook with brown rice when possible.  Treat flour as a fresh food.
 
−
 
 
−
:*'''Quantity to Qualtity:  "Pay more eat less".''' 
 
−
::*Comparisons of taste (and nutrition) between industrial and non-industrial foods.  Taste (in a basic food) as guide to soil quality. (Often associated with organic, but conceptually quite distinct.)
 
−
::*Nutrients lost in poor soil. Synthetic fertilizers don't address soil quality.
 
−
::*Industrial foods often large, but water logged.  (50cent egg lessons here.) "nutrition deflation" - For the same volume of big industrial produce you are getting less nutrition. 
 
−
 
 
−
:*'''From Processed Seeds to whole Seeds and more Leaves.''' 
 
−
::*Omega 6 and 3 issue.  Fiber and microbiota. How do you get more plants in your diet? "Trade up" dishes that are carb/fat based to dishes that incorporate leaves and vegetable fiber.
 
−
:::*Mac and cheese to pasta primavera, pasta e ceci.
 
−
:::*Industrial products with corn syrup and corn based chemistry to, well, corn!
 
−
 
 
−
:*'''Engage in local food culture, which is often more diverse and fresher.'''
 
−
::*Markets
 
−
::*Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).  Locally "Linc Foods".
 
−
::*Nutrients lost in the supply chain transit time.
 
−
 
 
−
:*'''Connect with traditional ethnic cuisines.'''
 
−
::*Ethnic cuisines have a long history of creating nutritious and tasty diets (not just dishes) under conditions of food scarcity. Italians refer to "cucina povera".  High and low (humble) cuisine. Pre-urban cuisines had greater use of higher quality oils (digress on Italian oil buying habits), access to fresh herbs (expensive in urban food culture, but part of "cucina povera").  In terms of practicality, traditional cuisines often create diversity of dishes from common patterns of herbs, spices, and cooking methods.  Compare to stocking and supplying an international/global cuisine kitchen.  Food waste. A foodie could have a very austere yet satisfying and practical kitchen modelling cooking on a traditional "cucina povera".
 

Latest revision as of 19:25, 16 February 2023

9: FEB 16

Assigned

  • Robert Sapolsky, C 13, "Morality" pp. 483-493
  • Haidt, Chapter 6, "Taste Buds of the Righteous Mind" (112-127 15)

In-class

  • Rubric Training: Reminder on Norming Scores, Process for Peer Review, & Giving Peer Criticism

Reminder on Norming Scores

  • We'll take a look at the numbers associated with the two rubric areas you are evaluating.
  • In each rubric area, start reading the essay by thinking of a “5” as “pretty good, no obvious problems”. As you encounter difficulties in writing or content, start to lower your numeric assessment. If you start to be impressed by the writing or content, raise your estimate.
  • There may not be any 1s or 2s (though it is possible - look at the semantic cues in the rubric). Maybe some 3s and definitely 4s. Likewise, 7s should be pretty scarce (let yourself be really impressed before giving a 7).

Process for Peer Review

  • I will send a link to everyone who turned in the assignment. Do not share this link as a few students may still be working on their assignment.
  • Use that link to open the file “#Key for Peer Review - Saints and Animals”. Find your Saint name. The animal on that row is your animal pseudonym for this assignment. You will review the next four animals, looping to the top of the list if necessary. Show examples.
  • Note: Some animals may be missing. Wait a few days for them. If they do not arrive, go to the next animal on the list and review it. Continue until you have reviewed 4 animals.

Giving Peer Criticism

  • The Goal: Giving criticism someone would want to consider.
  • You are only asked to write two or three sentences of comments, so choose wisely!
  • Give gentle criticisms that focus on your experience as a reader:
  • "I'm having trouble understanding this sentence" vs. "This sentence makes no sense!"
  • "I think more attention could have been paid to X vs. "You totally ignored the prompt!
  • Wrap a criticism with an affirmation or positive comment
  • "You cover the prompt pretty well, but you might have said more about x (or, I found y a bit of a digression)"
  • "Some interesting discussion here, esp about x, but you didn't address the prompt very completely ...."
  • General and specific -- Ok to identify general problem with the writing, but giving examples of the problem or potential solutions.
  • I found some of your sentences hard to follow. E.g. "I think that the main ...." was a bit redundant.
  • I thought the flow was generally good, but in paragraph 2 the second and third sentence seem to go in different directions.
  • Also avoid: Great Work! Score 4.

Sapolsky. Behave. C 13, 483-493

  • Origins of Social/Moral Intuitions in Babies and Monkeys and Chimps
  • More infant morality:
  • weigh commission more than ommision - infants track commission better than ommission, as in adults.
  • Pro-sociality - helper puppet studies, (watch previous YouTubes)
  • Punishment - sweets go to helper puppets
  • Tracks secondary punishment - secondary friends study - Babies prefer secondary puppets who were nice to nice puppets and punished bad puppets.
  • Capuchin monkey study (deWaal) - "monkey fairness". (demonstrated also with macaques monkeys, crows, ravens, and dogs), details on 485. google "crows solving puzzles" or "elephants solving puzzles" animals are much more intelligent than we have historically understood. [1] “Inequity aversion”
  • Chimp version of Ultimatum Game - in the deWaal version, chimps tend toward equity unless the proposer can give the token directly to the grape dispensers. 486
  • "other regarding preferences" (Does the animal show awareness of other's preferences?) in monkeys, but not in chimps!
  • Keep this in mind the next time you are thinking about whether to cooperate with a chimp!
  • some evidence of "solidarity" in one inequity study the advantaged monkey (the one who gets grapes) stops working as well.
  • Interesting comment: human morality transcends species boundary. starts before us.
  • Exemptions for testifying against relatives and vmPFC patients who will trade relatives in Trolley situations.
  • vmPFC damaged patient will sacrifice a relative to save four non-relatives.
  • Interesting note about criminal law exemptions. Why do we let family members avoid testifying against each other.
  • Context: Neuroscience of the Trolley Problem and "Intuition discounting"
  • dlPFC (focused on reasoning) in lever condition and vmPFC (focused on emotional information processing) in bridge condition. Correlation of vmPFC activation with likelihood of not pushing the guy of the bridge.
  • Greene's hypothesis: not so much because it is "up close and personal" as we speculated, but in lever condition the killing of the one is a side-effect. In bridge condition, its because of the killing. Different kinds of intentionality. Ok for most people if you push someone out of the way on your way to the lever. Not intentional killing.
  • Why this is so cool: This research helps us think about the particular cognitive adaptation we have about killing. It's not just something that excites the brain because "it's up close and personal", it seems to involve a concept of intentionality, and hence Theory of Mind is somehow instantiated in our brains. Coincides with the baby-puppet studies.
  • Loop condition -- you know you have to kill the person on the side track, should be like bridge condition, but test subjects match lever condition, roughly.
  • Hypothesis: Intuitions are local; heavily discounted for time and space. (Think of other examples of this.) Stories in which your reaction to something changes when you learn where it happens. Another cognitive adaptation. Is it help to follow it all the time, or should we be more concerned about this one? (quick group chat)
  • Related point about proximity - leave money around vs. cokes. Cokes disappear. One step from money and the rationalization is easier. (Also in Ariely research) Singer's pool scenario vs. sending money for absolute poverty relief.
  • Priming study on cheating involving bankers. 492 - shows "intuition discounting" when primed to think about work identity. more cheating the more primed about "role" - "It's not me"...
  • But this circumstance is different...
  • Under stress subjects make more egoistic, rationalizing judgments regarding emotional moral dilemmas.
  • [this is not mentioned in the text, but it is what he is talking about: the Fundamental Attribution Error - neuro-evidence for the Fundamental Attribution Error [2]
  • Short version: We judge ourselves by internal motives and others by external actions. Our failings/successes elicit shame/pride while others' elicit anger and indignation. The FAE suggests that we explain our own failures more generously than the failures of others. We offer ourselves excuses (inner lawyer) but are biased toward inferring bad intent from others. (Think of fitness advantage for this bias.)

Haidt, Chapter 6, "Taste Buds of the Righteous Mind"

  • Analogy of moral sense to taste sense. "the righteous mind is like a tongue with six taste receptors"
  • Unpacking the metaphor:
  • Places where our sensitivities to underlying value perception have depth from evolution, but have flexibility or plasticity from the "big brain", which allows for shaping within culture and retriggering.
  • Morality is rich, not reducible to one taste. A way of perceiving the world. against moral monism
  • Like cuisines, there is variation, but within a range.
  • Mentions Enlightenment approaches, again: argument against the reductive project of philosophical ethics 113-114. ethics more like taste than science.
  • Hume's three way battle: Enlightenment thinkers united in rejecting revelation as basis of morality, but divided between an transcendent view of reason as the basis (Kant) or the view that morality is part of our nature (Hume, Darwin, etc.). Hume's empiricism. also for him, morality is like taste
  • Autism argument: Bentham (utlitarianism), Kant (deontology). Think about the person who can push the fat guy.
  • Bentham told us to use arithmetic, Kant logic, to resolve moral problems. Note Bentham image and eccentric ideas. Baron-Cohen article on Bentham as having Asperger's Syndrome (part of the autism range). Kant also a solitary. Just saying. clarify point of analysis. not ad hominem. part of Enlightenment philosophy's rationalism -- a retreat from observation.
  • The x/y axis on page 117 shows a kind of "personality space" that could be used to locate Enlightenment rationalists. (Note that Haidt is looking at the psychology of the philosopher for clues about the type of theory they might have!)
  • Major global religious and ethical culture identifies virtues that seem to respond to similar basic problems of social life.
  • Avoiding bad evolutionary theory or evolutionary psychology: "just so stories" -- range of virtues suggested "receptors", but for what? the virtue? some underlying response to a problem-type?
  • Moral taste receptors found in history of long standing challenges and advantages of social life. The "moral foundations" in Haidt's theory just are the evolved psychological centers of evaluation that make up moral consciousness for humans.
  • Modularity in evolutionary psychology, centers of focus, like perceptual vs. language systems. Sperber and Hirshfield: "snake detector" - note on deception/detection in biology/nature. responses to red, Hyperactive agency detection.
  • See chart, from shared folder: C F L A S: Care/Harm, Fairness/Cheating, Loyalty/Betrayal, Authority/Subversion, Sanctity/Degradation
  • Work through chart. Note how the "adaptive challenges" are some of the things we have been reading research on.
  • Original vs. current triggers, 123 Reason/Intuition
  • Small group discussion: Try to find examples from everyday life of events do or would trigger each of these foundations. Consider either real cases of people you know and the things they say or examples from general knowledge, or even hypothetical examples. For example:
  • You and your friends all worry about COVID cases, but some more than others. Might be observing the Care/Harm trigger, or Sanctity/Degradation.
  • You and your friends all occasionally enjoy risqué humor, but you are uncomfortable listening to people talk about intimate things like sex casually. Maybe you have a different sanctity trigger.
  • You hear someone talk uncharitably about someone who sees them as a good friend. You are triggered for disloyalty.
  • You and a co-worker agree that your boss is a bit full of himself. You find yourself pushing back, but your co-worker just ignores his boorish behavior. You have different triggers for authority and subversion.
  • You like Tucker Carlson, but then you see that one of his pro-Putin shows is being run on Russian TV along with Trump’s and Pompeo’s praise for the warmongering dictator. It feels like betrayal.
  • Focus on both ways that we are all triggered and ways that we are differentially triggered.
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