55 Matching Annotations
  1. Apr 2023
  2. Feb 2023
    1. Each reflects the operation of psychological mechanisms that were designed through evolution to serve important adaptive functions, but that nevertheless can produce harmful consequences.
      • Each of these 4 problems
        • anxiety disorder
        • domestic violence
        • racial prejudice
        • obesity
      • reflects the operation of psychological mechanisms
      • that were designed through evolution
      • to serve important adaptive functions, - but that nevertheless can produce harmful consequences.
    2. What do anxiety disorders, domestic violence, racial prejudice, and obesity all have in common?
      • question
        • What do
          • anxiety disorders,
          • domestic violence,
          • racial prejudice, and
          • obesity
      • all have in common?
      • answer
        • maladaptive cognitive biases!
  3. Dec 2022
  4. www.janeausten.pludhlab.org www.janeausten.pludhlab.org
    1. panic as pleasure

      This recalls Maria Lucas meeting Lady Catherine in Pride and Prejudice

  5. Aug 2022
  6. www.janeausten.pludhlab.org www.janeausten.pludhlab.org
    1. But I hate to hear you talking so like a fine gentleman, and as if women were all fine ladies, instead of rational creatures. We none of us expect to be in smooth water all our days

      It's unclear if Captain Wentworth honestly thinks women require more care and better accommodations or whether he is avoiding women in general because of Anne. This line of Mrs Croft's is beautiful. There is a modern web series adaptation called Rational Creatures. I think this is an echo of Mary Wollstonecraft, Austen uses the term again when Elizabeth Bennet is rejecting Mr Collins proposal (P&P chapter 19)

    2. Admiral and Mrs Croft, who seemed particularly attached and happy

      There are few happy couples in Austen, another example is the Gardiners in Pride and Prejudice.

  7. www.janeausten.pludhlab.org www.janeausten.pludhlab.org
    1. three miles

      The same distance of Netherfield from Longbourn in Pride and Prejudice but for some reason Uppercross feels much further from Kellynch Hall.

  8. www.janeausten.pludhlab.org www.janeausten.pludhlab.org
    1. youthful infatuation

      Potential parallels to Mr Bennet's feelings for Mrs Bennett in Pride and Prejudice. Mr Bennet had been "captivated by youth and beauty, and that appearance of good-humour which youth and beauty generally give, [and] had married a woman whose weak understanding and illiberal mind had very early in their marriage put an end to all real affection for her." (P&P Chapter 42) Perhaps this also parallels Sir Thomas Bertram's feelings for Lady Bertram in Mansfield Park. It's never stated that Sir Thomas regrets his match but she "captivated" him (chapter 1 MP) and became a "woman who spent her days in sitting, nicely dressed, on a sofa, doing some long piece of needlework, of little use and no beauty, thinking more of her pug than her children" (chapter 2 MP). It seems more fitting somehow that it was the men making choices led my their hormones more than the women (though you must consider Lydia Bennet). Austen points out constantly how women had few choices in life and marriage, they had to make good ones as they would be trapped, they did not have the same freedoms as men.

  9. Jun 2022
  10. www.janeausten.pludhlab.org www.janeausten.pludhlab.org
    1. Every morning now brought its regular duties—shops were to be visited; some new part of the town to be looked at; and the pump-room to be attended, where they paraded up and down for an hour, looking at everybody and speaking to no one.

      For a comparative analysis of Northanger Abbey's and Pride and Prejudice's depictions of the city in relation to contemporary ideas of the city "as moral pollution," see Celia Eason's essay, "Austen’s Urban Redemption: Rejecting Richardson’s View of the City." Easton shows us how characters like Isabella Thorpe and Mr. Bennet defy contemporary ideas that women were helpless in the city or that remaining ignorant of the city proved morally useful, respectively. As Catherine's character will prove, knowing how to navigate the city and its traps is essential for any young woman.

      Citation: Easton, Celia. "Austen’s Urban Redemption: Rejecting Richardson’s View of the City." Persuasions, no. 26, 2004.

  11. Mar 2022
    1. I was not less fanatically a Negro, but "Negro" meant a greater, broader sense of humanity and world-fellowship. I felt myself standing, not against the world, but simply against American narrowness and color prejudice, with the greater, finer world at my back urging me on.

      This stood out to me a lot they felt more like a person than being judge off the color of there skin sad that color prejudice is a thing. It is not the world world that thinks this way it’s simple minded narrow viewing individual that feel this way.

  12. Feb 2022
    1. ReconfigBehSci. (2022, January 20). @timcolbourn @OmicronData I can’t, for example, imagine someone saying “handwashing is of limited use it only ‘delays’ getting norovirus”. So, I think it seems worth unpacking the many presuppositions involved in your “just delay” framing 1/n [Tweet]. @SciBeh. https://twitter.com/SciBeh/status/1484075371108646914

    1. ReconfigBehSci. (2022, January 20). @timcolbourn @OmicronData As I said before, it’s not the function of this account to argue/advocate covid policies, but I will comment on the shape of the argument. The use of the frame “just delay” here seems hugely prejudicial. We don’t talk that way about flu or other diseases we might get repeatedly [Tweet]. @SciBeh. https://twitter.com/SciBeh/status/1484074977964011520

  13. Sep 2021
  14. Aug 2021
  15. Jul 2021
  16. Oct 2020
  17. Jul 2020
  18. Jun 2020
  19. May 2020
  20. Mar 2019
    1. This modulefocuses on biases against social groups,which social psychologists sort intoemotional prejudices, mental stereotypes,and behavioral discrimination. Thesethree aspects of bias are related, but theyeach can occur separately from the others(Dovidio & Gaertner, 2010; Fiske, 1998). Forexample, sometimes people have anegative, emotional reaction to a socialgroup (prejudice) without knowing even themost superficial reasons to dislike them(stereotypes).

      The article talks about how prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination has a correlation, but can happen separately. I do believe that this is true. You can be prejudice, stereotypical and discriminate towards others and not be aware. You see this happen a lot in this society. This are the people that see no wrong in there behavior and thinks society is suppose to keep accepting there behavior. Times have change from the 70's to now.

  21. Feb 2019
    1. prejudices

      Prejudices come back again--Hume, Vico, Astell...those are three that in recent memory have used this word (or the intros to them did).

      Is it possible to have the situation that Sheridan refers to here, one without prejudice entirely? Even in a new subject, couldn't one jump to conclusions or make assumptions about (to pre-judge) it?

  22. Dec 2018
    1. seven or eight and twenty

      This is around the same age as some of Austen's male love interests. Mr. Darcy was 28. Many of the male targets of Austen's marriage plots were older than their female counterparts.

    2. incongruity

      Austen reiterates the idea of gossip that is mistaken and misconstrued, and it is both relatively innocuous and sometimes effective to the plot by introducing conflict. For example, in Pride and Prejudice with the gossip over Mr. Bingley and who would join his party, the story of Mr. Darcy's treatment of Mr. Wickham, and then the suggested engagement between Darcy and Lizzy Bennett.

    3. "move in a circle"

      This phrase is often used in Austen's works, referring to the particular society or selected families a person interacts with, and which usually indicates a level of social class. In Pride and Prejudice, Mrs. Gardener says she "moved in different circles" from the Darcys, and in Emma, Mrs. Elton hopes to install Miss Fairfax as a governess in a better circle than she might be able to procure on her own.

    4. Links to common words/themes throughout the annotations

  23. Sep 2017
    1. a happy married future can hold more of the same, not the wholesale change Elizabeth anticipates

      By comparing Pride and Prejudice's concerns of marriage to Emma and Mansfield Park, Moe improves her argument about Austen's comprehension of marriage by using relevant texts to apply to Charlotte and Elizabeth's respective situations.

  24. Jun 2017
    1. What trade, thou knave? Thou naughty knave, what trade?

      The scornful treatment of the Plebeians by the tribunes is a clear indication of the class distinction that was present during the Roman, and more appropriately, the Elizabethan eras. The noblemen's internal prejudices create perceptions of the commoners as 'naughty knaves', 'hard hearts' and the 'cruel men of Rome'.

      Flavius and Murellus' reprimand of the tradesmen for truanting a workday further solidifies their belief that a labourer's sole purpose is menial work. Shakespeare uses the context to express the irony of this hierarchy; the commoners are distinguished by stupidity, although it is the tribunes that fail to understand the meaning behind the cobbler's puns.

      Ultimately this scene serves to characterise the Plebeians and their purpose in the play. The constant defamation from the higher classes outline the insignificance of the commoners in regards to the more serious issues of the story.

  25. Feb 2017
    1. Wherefore, my respected friends, let us no longer talk of prejudice, till prejudice becomes extinct at home. Let us no longer talk of opposition, till we cease to oppose our own. For while these evils exist. to talk is like giving breath to the air, and labor to the wind.

      Discussing prejudice ironically keeps it alive; it is only through action and relationships that prejudice can be phased out.

      This sentiment is slightly concerning, though. If one never discusses how they may be prejudiced against, will they ever be able to recognize it and act appropriately? Can prejudice by solved through action and character alone?

    2. What arc their prospects'! They can be nothing but the humblest laborers, on account of their dark complexions; hence many of them lose their ambition, ;ind become worthlcss.

      Interesting how this correlates to her call for free American persons of color to be more ambitious and hardworking a few pages ago. To decrease prejudice, she seems to be saying that the marginalized community must meet it head-on. While she does at least partially blame prejudice for giving birth to the loss of ambition in the black community, she is still advocating for them to rise to the challenge so that their descendants' lives will be much easier.

    1. Most com-mentators, having their minds preoccupied with the prejudices of education, afford little aid; they rnthcr tend 10 darken the text by the multitude of words

      I thought this was interesting in connection with Hume and taste. For Hume, it's important to approach things in an unbiased way in order to properly judge the quality of something. But education is also important for Hume in being able to judge something. Grimke here is pointing out that education itself is biased, as it has privileged white men, meaning that texts will be read through a sexist lens.

    1. People who believe in one conspiracy are more likely to believe in others

      Like Hume's individual "prejudiced" by previous taste-making experiences?

  26. Jan 2017
  27. Nov 2016
    1. I grew up in rural, Christian, white America. ... The problem isn’t that I don’t understand these people. The problem is they don’t understand themselves, the reasons for their anger/frustrations, and don’t seem to care to know why.

      ...

      Since facts and reality don’t matter, nothing you say to them will alter their beliefs. “President Obama was born in Kenya, is a secret member of the Muslim Brotherhood who hates white Americans and is going to take away their guns.” I feel ridiculous even writing this, it is so absurd, but it is gospel across large swaths of rural America. Are rural, Christian, white Americans scared? You’re damn right they are. Are their fears rational and justified? Hell no. The problem isn’t understanding their fears. The problem is how to assuage fears based on lies in closed-off fundamentalist belief systems that don’t have the necessary tools for properly evaluating the fears.

      What CAN change their minds?

      • Someone they consider "one of them" and respect as an authority, who preaches tolerance and critical thinking. We need more of those. (Unfortunately, there are now many public figures who reinforce their worst beliefs.)
      • Personal experience: knowing people from the groups they are prejudiced against.
  28. Sep 2016
  29. Nov 2015
    1. "Our nation's leaders need to speak out against this type of anti-Muslim hate. The American Muslim community is a small minority and we by ourselves, we can't push back against the tide of anti-Muslim sentiment," said Hooper. "What we're seeing is the end result of the mainstreaming of Islamophobia by leading public officials, such as Ben Carson and Donald Trump.

      Incidents of discrimination and harassment against Muslims have increased since the attacks in Paris on November 13th. It has received little or no attention in the mainstream press.

      talkingpointsmemo.com "The leader of a group of armed anti-Muslim protesters in Texas posted the addresses of dozens of local Muslims and 'Muslim sympathizer(s)' to Facebook on Tuesday."

  30. Oct 2015
    1. all the traps that people can fall into when they try to get and keep a sense of high self-esteem: narcissism, self-absorption, self-righteous anger, prejudice, discrimination, and so on. I realized that self-compassion was the perfect alternative to the relentless pursuit of self-esteem. Why? Because it offers the same protection against harsh self-criticism as self-esteem, but without the need to see ourselves as perfect or as better than others. In other words, self-compassion provides the same benefits as high self-esteem without its drawbacks.
  31. Sep 2015
    1. Is it possible to achieve the cooperative advantages of a small group without having the group reflexively view outsiders as the Other? One often encounters pessimism in response to this question, based on the notion that humans, as primates, are hard-wired for xenophobia. Some brain-imaging studies have appeared to support this view in a particularly discouraging way. There is a structure deep inside the brain called the amygdala, which plays a key role in fear and aggression, and experiments have shown that when subjects are presented with a face of someone from a different race, the amygdala gets metabolically active—aroused, alert, ready for action. This happens even when the face is presented subliminally, which is to say, so rapidly that the subject does not consciously see it. More recent studies, however, should mitigate this pessimism. Test a person who has a lot of experience with people of different races, and the amygdala does not activate.
    1. Among those who reported helping others, present-focused attention predicted increased positive emotions—such as compassion, elevation, and joy—but did not predict negative emotions. By contrast, non-judgmental acceptance predicted decreased negative emotions—such as distress, disgust, and guilt—but did not predict positive emotions.
    1. A final trait of HEPs is that they do far more than empathize with the usual suspects. We tend to believe empathy should be reserved for those living on the social margins or who are suffering. This is necessary, but it is hardly enough. We also need to empathize with people whose beliefs we don’t share or who may be “enemies” in some way. If you are a campaigner on global warming, for instance, it may be worth trying to step into the shoes of oil company executives—understanding their thinking and motivations—if you want to devise effective strategies to shift them towards developing renewable energy. A little of this “instrumental empathy” (sometimes known as “impact anthropology”) can go a long way.

      Empathy Habit 6: Develop an ambitious imagination

    2. Beyond education, the big challenge is figuring out how social networking technology can harness the power of empathy to create mass political action. Twitter may have gotten people onto the streets for Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring, but can it convince us to care deeply about the suffering of distant strangers, whether they are drought-stricken farmers in Africa or future generations who will bear the brunt of our carbon-junkie lifestyles? This will only happen if social networks learn to spread not just information, but empathic connection.

      Empathy Habit 5: Inspire mass action and social change

    3. Adam Hochschild reminds us, “The abolitionists placed their hope not in sacred texts but human empathy,”

      Empathy Habit 5: Inspire mass action and social change

    4. Empathy is a two-way street that, at its best, is built upon mutual understanding—an exchange of our most important beliefs and experiences. Organizations such as the Israeli-Palestinian Parents Circle put it all into practice by bringing together bereaved families from both sides of the conflict to meet, listen, and talk. Sharing stories about how their loved ones died enables families to realize that they share the same pain and the same blood, despite being on opposite sides of a political fence, and has helped to create one of the world’s most powerful grassroots peace-building movements.

      Empathy Habit 4: Listen hard—and open up

    5. George Orwell is an inspiring model.  After several years as a colonial police officer in British Burma in the 1920s, Orwell returned to Britain determined to discover what life was like for those living on the social margins. “I wanted to submerge myself, to get right down among the oppressed,” he wrote. So he dressed up as a tramp with shabby shoes and coat, and lived on the streets of East London with beggars and vagabonds. The result, recorded in his book Down and Out in Paris and London, was a radical change in his beliefs, priorities, and relationships. He not only realized that homeless people are not “drunken scoundrels”—Orwell developed new friendships, shifted his views on inequality, and gathered some superb literary material. It was the greatest travel experience of his life. He realised that empathy doesn’t just make you good—it’s good for you, too.

      Empathy Habit 3: Try another person’s life

    6. We all have assumptions about others and use collective labels—e.g., “Muslim fundamentalist,” “welfare mom”—that prevent us from appreciating their individuality.

      Empathy Habit 2: Challenge prejudices and discover commonalities

    7. Bonobos are less brutal, but in their case, too, empathy needs to pass through several filters before it will be expressed. Often, the filters prevent expressions of empathy because no ape can afford feeling pity for all living things all the time. This applies equally to humans. Our evolutionary background makes it hard to identify with outsiders. We’ve evolved to hate our enemies, to ignore people we barely know, and to distrust anybody who doesn’t look like us. Even if we are largely cooperative within our communities, we become almost a different animal in our treatment of strangers.
    1. We were surprised and quite pleasedto learn that people develop friendships across group boundaries pretty easily. However, theirstress levels continued to be high during these periods.It was only after the third 45-minute session that this friendship manipulation happened,that people's stress levels began to go down, but afterwards, two weeks later, a month later,after the experiment was over, people reported that they felt more comfortable, and moreat ease, interacting with members from other groups. Furthermore, they sought out interactionswith members from other groups.
    2. but it turns out that they have a physiologicalcost to the person who is prejudiced. Why? Quite simply because being prejudiced canbe very stressful when one is interacting with members from the outgroup.