(1) At different points in Western History, sex within marriage has taken on wildly different roles within marriage. At one time, religious leaders composed texts asserting that--because sex was only to be used for the purposes of producing offspring--it was better to have sex with your father or cousins if you were trying to conceive than to have sex with your husband just for pleasure. Eew! How crazy is that? I hope that the people weren't fooled and that only the religious leaders were running around spouting off this wackiness.
(2) So, this isn't a really crazy thing, but it's a really interesting thing that I've been pondering lately. I read it in a book, so I figure that it falls under the domain of this post's title. I'm reading "Psychology's Sanction of Selfishness" which was written by these two incredibly adorable old Psychologists who have visited the bookstore regularly since it opened over 30 years ago. I found one of the Wallachs books in the basement of the library (on a totally cool shelf that automatically moves itself when you push a button). I'm not that far into the book, but I'm already intrigued. An important thesis from the book is that Freudian therapy aims to decrease the SuperEgo's control over the Ego. One way to safely re-phrase those concepts using a concrete example is to say that Freudian psychoanalysts try to make you feel less guilty about doing the same activity if doing that activity is not harmful to you or others and doing so brings you pleasure. The Wallachs argue--if I have gotten this right--that emphasizing selfish motives and praising self-assertion as the end-all goal of "mental health" leaves out the possibility that altruistic behavior may be very healthy for people, indeed.
I just wanted to put this point out into the internet-ether to see whether anyone else had any thoughts about it. Should we be making people less guilty? Is guilt always a bad thing? Being overly-guilty unnecessarily does seem inhibiting and less mentally healthy, but doesn't it help keep people aware of their value lines to experience some guilt or other negative emotion when they cross those lines?
I'd love to hear your thoughts (citizens of the internet), but I'll write more later, when I've read more of the book and collected my thoughts a bit more coherently.
They also wrote some articles about how mainstream research Social Psychology is often built on circular reasoning. I am really excited about reading their article because I definitely recall having that thought when I was a psychology student and hoping for a more in-depth analysis of the issue. Once a philosopher, always a philosopher, I guess . . .
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
These kids today
I was babysitting last night for Maggie and Anna, two EXTRA-lively girls in the neighborhood. Maggie created this game for us where she played a ghost in a hotel called "Shangala" (phon. Shang-GAH-luh"). The hallway of the hotel was the hallway between her bedroom and her parents, and the bedrooms were the hotel suites. She was pretending to sleep in her room, and Anna and I were pretending to be guests in the parent's room. Maggie told us the entire plan before we started, so there wouldn't be any confusion or deviation from her expertly-crafted game idea, and so we wouldn't be scared when we saw a "ghost". She said that she had pretended to put on a white sheet and paint her feet white. Then, she was going to go out into the hall, wave her hands around, and say "OooooOOOOhhhOOOHhOOO" just like a ghost. We were supposed to act scared. Then, she was going to run back into her room and shut the door. At this point, Anna and I were to leave our room, go out into the hall, and go into her bedroom pretending to be ghosts and say lots of "OOOOooohhhhhoooS" and "AAAhhhhhaaaaaahhHHHHss".
Everything went according to plan, we looked petrified at Maggie's ghost impersonation, Anna even hid behind me when we peeked out into the hall. Then, we sneaked over into Maggie's room, waving and ghosting, just as instructed (except that Anna took the liberty of sticking her fingers into Maggie's eyes to try to rouse her from her faux slumber!).
Then, Maggie modified the plan a bit (without sending us a memo or anything--but we caught on) to incorporate a much-needed snack. She went into the kitchen and began toasting a piece of bread in a toaster that is made to toast only one piece of bread at a time. (I pointed out that I found her toaster amusing for that fact, and she feel on the floor laughing. The comment really wasn't that funny, but I like to think that I've got real panache with the little ones.) While we were waiting for the one-bread-wonder toaster, Maggie started talking to me in a thick country accent while Anna helped herself to an enormous carrot from the fridge--complete with greens on the end--and sat down on the kitchen floor. Maggie went on and on about how she'd heard stories that the Shangala was haunted, and she wondered whether I'd heard anything about the ghosts. "Ghosts!" I said, mimicking her country accent, "Now that's just a rumor. Where'd you hear about that? See it in the paper?"
Nope. She shakes her head.
"I read it on the Listserv."
Of course you did, Maggie, of course you did.
Everything went according to plan, we looked petrified at Maggie's ghost impersonation, Anna even hid behind me when we peeked out into the hall. Then, we sneaked over into Maggie's room, waving and ghosting, just as instructed (except that Anna took the liberty of sticking her fingers into Maggie's eyes to try to rouse her from her faux slumber!).
Then, Maggie modified the plan a bit (without sending us a memo or anything--but we caught on) to incorporate a much-needed snack. She went into the kitchen and began toasting a piece of bread in a toaster that is made to toast only one piece of bread at a time. (I pointed out that I found her toaster amusing for that fact, and she feel on the floor laughing. The comment really wasn't that funny, but I like to think that I've got real panache with the little ones.) While we were waiting for the one-bread-wonder toaster, Maggie started talking to me in a thick country accent while Anna helped herself to an enormous carrot from the fridge--complete with greens on the end--and sat down on the kitchen floor. Maggie went on and on about how she'd heard stories that the Shangala was haunted, and she wondered whether I'd heard anything about the ghosts. "Ghosts!" I said, mimicking her country accent, "Now that's just a rumor. Where'd you hear about that? See it in the paper?"
Nope. She shakes her head.
"I read it on the Listserv."
Of course you did, Maggie, of course you did.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Food and Tea!
I am sitting in a coffee shop, listening to a Cold War Kids song (thank you, Andy) over and over on my iPod, halfway thinking about choreography and halfway thinking about . . . well, I'm not actually thinking about much else. I am, however, typing a blog entry. Perhaps, I will eventually share this site with, um, someone. Guess I'll see! Yesterday, David and I drove to Winston-Salem to eat at Mary's Of Course http://www.marysofcourse.com/. I hadn't been in probably over a year, although I used to go almost every weekend when I lived there. They have fantastic vegetarian options (not that I'm an actual vegetarian anymore, at all), and it was absolutely wonderful. If you live anywhere near there (or actually do live there and are a little pissed that I didn't get in touch with you when I was in town (a) sorry, I suck and (b) go to Mary's!) I got the vegan Tofu scramble which has tomatoes, squash, red onions
interruption, David has coined a fantastic word: Blognosticator.
that's right.
. . .
and tofu sauteed in Shoyu (which is similar to soy sauce but a bit sweeter). I got English muffins, and the stone-ground, yellow, extra-buttery grits. David, who is, shall we say, HIGHLY interested in pimento cheese, got an omelette with jalapeno pimento cheese, bacon, and red bell peppers, toast, and grits. I may have snuck a bite, and it may have been delicious, too. We were in town to see All In This Tea, which is a beautiful movie about a man who single-handedly creates a trade market in America for organic, handmade teas from China. http://lesblank.com/more/TeaFilm.html It was a Les Blank film, and Les was actually there to answer questions! He was dressed in old dark-blue Levi's and a bright, Hawaiian-y looking shirt, and Tevas, I think. Very casual. He answered questions, but he's certainly more of the quiet type, I think. :0) The showing was at the Reynolda House, and I'd never actually been inside the house. We wandered around some in there--they had a bowling alley, swimming pool, roller-skating lane, bar, and billiard table downstairs in their home. Whew! After the movie showing, there was a tea-tasting outside the house in a little lawn/garden area in front of the sun porch. It was delightful, but we didn't get in any talking with Mr. Blank himself. :-D
Later that evening, we ate dinner at the Federal and ran into Elliot at the convenience store. It was his birthday, so we had to follow him back to the Federal with our "present"--a fat, mini-sausage called "li'l Chub"--that we'd picked up at the convenience store and buy him a beer. We hung out for a bit with his friends; it was really nice outside. Gina and Elliot had gone to the Farmer's market that morning and bought steak, asparagus, tomatoes, and sweet potatoes and cooked that for his birthday dinner. The dinner sounded delicious, and they said that they certainly tasted the difference between the locally-grown produce and the conventionally-farmed kind that you buy at the grocery store. They made an interesting comment about the meat, though. The steak was a bit tougher, but it was tastier, than what they would get conventionally.
The psychologist in me would love to have a blind taste test comparing a locally-grown version of some food with a conventionally grown one. Now, don't get me wrong, I am completely in support of locally-grown foods for their environmental friendliness and of organic foods because of their ecological value, but of course I wonder how much the placebo effect creates a tastier morsel in the mouth of a local food "believer" than the same bite on the tastebuds of a pure-bred grocery-store goer.
interruption, David has coined a fantastic word: Blognosticator.
that's right.
. . .
and tofu sauteed in Shoyu (which is similar to soy sauce but a bit sweeter). I got English muffins, and the stone-ground, yellow, extra-buttery grits. David, who is, shall we say, HIGHLY interested in pimento cheese, got an omelette with jalapeno pimento cheese, bacon, and red bell peppers, toast, and grits. I may have snuck a bite, and it may have been delicious, too. We were in town to see All In This Tea, which is a beautiful movie about a man who single-handedly creates a trade market in America for organic, handmade teas from China. http://lesblank.com/more/TeaFilm.html It was a Les Blank film, and Les was actually there to answer questions! He was dressed in old dark-blue Levi's and a bright, Hawaiian-y looking shirt, and Tevas, I think. Very casual. He answered questions, but he's certainly more of the quiet type, I think. :0) The showing was at the Reynolda House, and I'd never actually been inside the house. We wandered around some in there--they had a bowling alley, swimming pool, roller-skating lane, bar, and billiard table downstairs in their home. Whew! After the movie showing, there was a tea-tasting outside the house in a little lawn/garden area in front of the sun porch. It was delightful, but we didn't get in any talking with Mr. Blank himself. :-D
Later that evening, we ate dinner at the Federal and ran into Elliot at the convenience store. It was his birthday, so we had to follow him back to the Federal with our "present"--a fat, mini-sausage called "li'l Chub"--that we'd picked up at the convenience store and buy him a beer. We hung out for a bit with his friends; it was really nice outside. Gina and Elliot had gone to the Farmer's market that morning and bought steak, asparagus, tomatoes, and sweet potatoes and cooked that for his birthday dinner. The dinner sounded delicious, and they said that they certainly tasted the difference between the locally-grown produce and the conventionally-farmed kind that you buy at the grocery store. They made an interesting comment about the meat, though. The steak was a bit tougher, but it was tastier, than what they would get conventionally.
The psychologist in me would love to have a blind taste test comparing a locally-grown version of some food with a conventionally grown one. Now, don't get me wrong, I am completely in support of locally-grown foods for their environmental friendliness and of organic foods because of their ecological value, but of course I wonder how much the placebo effect creates a tastier morsel in the mouth of a local food "believer" than the same bite on the tastebuds of a pure-bred grocery-store goer.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
