Category Archives: Psychology

Nonfiction Notes: Michael Shermer: WHY PEOPLE BELIEVE WEIRD THINGS

Posted on Saturday 6 February 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Michael Shermer: Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time. (W.H. Freeman, 1997) Here’s one of the earliest books that address human irrationality in terms of both the evidence against various pseudoscientific beliefs, and the … Continue reading →

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Nonfiction Notes: Neil F. Comins, HEAVENLY ERRORS: Misconceptions about the real nature of the universe (2001)

Posted on Thursday 4 February 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

This is a book I’ve had for nearly 20 years, since its publication in 2001, and finally I sat down last year, 2020, and read it. I had thought it would be a book about common misconceptions of the universe … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Changing Minds; GOP Economics; Liars; Taxonomy of Trump Supporters

Posted on Wednesday 3 February 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Items from NYT (Adam Grant); NYT (David Leonhardt); Slate (William Saletan); The Week, NYT, and Salon about Trump and the GOP; and NYT (Michelle Goldberg).

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Links and Comments: True Believers Scorned

Posted on Thursday 21 January 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

The QAnon cult is reeling from the evaporation of the promises Q and a certain former president made about what would happen on inauguration day. It’s like those many examples over past centuries of apocalyptic cults, anticipating the end of … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Farewell to T****, maybe not to his supporters

Posted on Wednesday 20 January 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Marking the occasion: what happened today, for those looking back (including me) from the future. Joseph Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president and, despite threats from right-wing groups, and honest fears from security officials, there was no apparent protesting … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Conspiracy Theorists, Psychology, and Beliefs

Posted on Tuesday 19 January 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

What does “belief” even mean? How can people claim to believe things that, to others, are transparent nonsense? Clearly belief has nothing to do with what, based on evidence and reason, is actually real. Belief can simply mean conviction to … Continue reading →

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Notes and Quotes: Ezra Klein’s WHY WE’RE POLARIZED (2020)

Posted on Sunday 17 January 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Ezra Klein’s Why We’re Polarized was published a full year ago, in January 2020. Ezra Klein is a co-founder of the ‘explainer’ website Vox, and writes essays and columns for various other outlets. (And he lives somewhere here in Oakland.) The … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Insurrectionists, the G.O.P., Evangelicals, Fantasies, and Lies

Posted on Wednesday 13 January 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

It’s always dangerous to characterize any entire group with some common trait; that’s the first step toward prejudice and bigotry. Yet there are more and more article and essays that find common traits among Republicans, as a group, or at … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Yet more about conspiracy theories, since they never go away

Posted on Monday 11 January 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

First at Slate, an efficient recounting of the psychological reasons behind the attraction to conspiracy theories. John Ehrenreich: Why People Believe in Conspiracy Theories, subtitled “They’re not stupid.” Long quote with links to references left intact: What does predict belief … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: The Coup Attempt; Human Nature; Republican Fantasies

Posted on Friday 8 January 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

It’s hard to know where to start given events of the past few days. The general consensus among the pundits and sites that I read is that we knew this was coming all along, that this particular event (the seditious … Continue reading →