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developed by JhackAbout Skeptikai
Skeptikai defends science and exposes pseudoscience. Living in Japan also allows for an interesting opportunity to discuss fascinating stories that go unnoticed elsewhere. Psychological phenomena and intriguing cases from around the globe are also regularly highlighted.
Should You Let Your Kid Date in Middle/High School? Science Gives a Surprising AnswerYoung love can show you things about yourself you've never known. It can bring you to…
In Japan, Strangers are More Likely than Family to Give CPR for Cardiac ArrestWhen it comes to Japanese people giving CPR to someone suffering a cardiac arrest, it…
Power and Rape – Part 2: How to Create a Breeding Ground for Sex OffendersAs I mentioned in Part 1, rape is tolerated in the military because the acknowledgment of…
Power and Rape – Part 1: Rape in the Military is a Career Killer… for the VictimIf you ever wanted to know just how bad "blaming the victim" can get, look no further than the…
Does Chewing Gum Help You Concentrate?If you want to be a rocket scientist, you might want to start chewing that stick of gum.…
Possessed by Demons, Animals, and Nonsense"Japan doesn't have that stuff. That's more of a Western thing." Just like I constantly…
SATIRAN – Part 3: “Judicial Theatre,” or Judgment for the 2010 IsraeliIn May 2010, the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla" was sent to give humanitarian aid and…
Study: Close Relationships Aren’t Necessarily BetterIt makes sense, doesn't it? The closer you are to someone, the better your relationship…
Are Religious People More Charitable, Generous, and Altruistic than Atheists?According to a Canadian study from 2008, religious people are "more helpful, honest and…
Gender, Age, Socioeconomic, and Cultural Differences in Social Networking Site UsageOnline social networks has become an interesting platform for research, and hundreds if…
Tag Archives: America
Are Vocal Homophobes Really Just Homosexuals in the Closet?
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind. -Dr. Seuss
What is it about homophobes that make them so gay? If this questions sounds controversial to you, then you may need to hear the science behind the answer. New research is showing that there actually is a link between homophobic rhetoric and homosexual tendencies. This article is about the notion that if you’re homophobic, you might just be compensating.
Posted in Culture, Legal Issues, Psychology, Science, Sex and Sexuality, Social Psych
Tagged America, discrimination, homosexuality, Kenya, Libya, Nigeria, prostitution
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Bollywood Zombies and The Westernization of Indian Pop Culture
Go Goa Gone, the first Western-style zombie flick to be made in Bollywood, was just announced last week. The trailer was released a few weeks ago and seems to be quite popular, with already over 2.5 million hits on YouTube. This may not seem like a particularly significant thing, but it’s just another example of how Indian TV and movies are taking cues from their American counterparts, effectively transforming their pop culture. What effect might this have on Indian popular culture?
Power and Rape – Part 2: How to Create a Breeding Ground for Sex Offenders
As I mentioned in Part 1, rape is tolerated in the military because the acknowledgment of rape in a unit will make that unit look bad, not to mention the military as a whole. Therefore, officials try to sweep such information under the rug. In fact, reporting rape is seen as far worse than actually committing it. Now, let’s focus more on the military culture. Not only is it a culture of rape, but also one of partying – a drinking culture. In fact, no matter where the U.S. servicemen go in the world, it seems like they bring their trouble along with them.
Posted in Japan, Legal Issues, Psychology, Science, Sex and Sexuality
Tagged America, Canada, crime, discrimination, military, rape, sex, sexual harassment
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Power and Rape – Part 1: Rape in the Military is a Career Killer… for the Victim
If you ever wanted to know just how bad “blaming the victim” can get, look no further than the U.S. military. It’s clear that blaming and shaming has gone far beyond just making someone have to live with a stigma that they completely don’t deserve – which is bad enough. Rather, the problem is a systematic denial of justice, a protection of the perpetrator, and an outright pursuit of punishing the victim. If this type of discrimination happened in the public sphere, people would be completely outraged; but what is it about this military culture that allows such behavior to go unpunished?
Posted in Culture, Legal Issues, Medicine & Health, Psychology, Science, Sex and Sexuality
Tagged America, crime, discrimination, homosexuality, military, rape, sex, sexual harassment, stigma
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Possessed by Demons, Animals, and Nonsense
“Japan doesn’t have that stuff. That’s more of a Western thing.” Just like I constantly have to remind Westerners how they’re horribly wrong about the bizarre and ridiculous stereotypes of Japan, I had to show my Japanese friend that she was totally wrong in her idea about “us” and “them.” The notion that only Westerners believe in exorcisms and demonic possessions is simply wrong. In addition to the many stories I mentioned in an earlier post about exorcisms in Japan, yet another case occurred recently in Japan where the belief in possessions reared its ugly head.
Posted in Abnormal & Clinical Psych, Culture, Japan, Psychology, Science, Skepticism
Tagged America, animals, brain, brainscan, China, crime, exorcisms, spirit possession
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Study: Close Relationships Aren’t Necessarily Better
It makes sense, doesn’t it? The closer you are to someone, the better your relationship is. Intuitively, this makes perfect sense. But new research out of Columbia University suggests that this is not necessarily the case.
Posted in Psychology, Science, Social Psych
Tagged America, Canada, dating, love, marriage
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Are Religious People More Charitable, Generous, and Altruistic than Atheists?
According to a Canadian study from 2008, religious people are “more helpful, honest and generous;” an American study from last year found that “religious states give more to charity than non-religious states.” As I explained in a previous article, the stereotype that religious people are more likely to be Good Samaritans than nonreligious people is highly suspect. In fact, a new study has thrown the idea of religious people being more charitable into question too. This might just be the nail in the coffin for stereotypes about religiosity and altruism.
Posted in Culture, Psychology, Science, Social Psych
Tagged altruism, America, Canada, money, religion
8 Comments
Gender, Age, Socioeconomic, and Cultural Differences in Social Networking Site Usage
Online social networks has become an interesting platform for research, and hundreds if not thousands of studies around the world are investigating how we interact with others online. This article looks into recent studies that analyzed data regarding differences in age, culture, gender, and socioeconomic status.
Gender Differences
Researchers from the Santa Fe Institute used a multiplayer game “Pardus” to analyze social networks. Online video games have become increasingly seen as a gold mine of data on social interactions in recent years, and, as it turns out, many of the same gender differences seen in the real world were observed in the social networks in Pardus.
Posted in Culture, Media, Technology, Video Games
Tagged age-related, America, China, economy, facebook, gender, internet, social networking
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Tortured Confessions – The Science of Waterboarding, Torture, and “Intense Stress”
With the new movie “Zero Dark Thirty” raising a lot of eyebrows with its depiction of waterboarding, there has been a lot of talk regarding the veracity of such techniques. Namely, does torture yield the intended results? Did the results assist in the hunt for Osama bin Laden? There are the anecdotes that make this an interesting case to look at, but we also have the science to give a more conclusive answer to the question of whether or not waterboarding works.
Posted in Culture, Media, Medicine & Health, Neuroscience, Psychology, Science
Tagged America, false confessions, interrogations, Osama bin Laden, stress, terrorism, torture, waterboarding
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If Toby Becomes Japan’s New Prime Minister, Will Japan Cease to Be a Pacifist Nation?
Toby’s at it again. The dream of having to never blog about Tokyo’s most famous bigot – who I hesitate to call anything other than Toby (explanation here) – has been short lived. A few days from now, the country will vote in a general election. Having been a governer of Tokyo for over a decade, Toby has proven that he is a stable leader, which has become an increasingly attractive quality for a prime minister here. Is it possible that he could become the leader of the country? And what would that mean for Japan?