What Is Happiness? What is happiness? Academically, the concept of happiness has confused me for several years now. So over the past few months I have been familiarizing myself with the “happiness literature” to attempt to find out what scientists know about what makes us happy, and why. Full Article: What Is Happiness? on The … Continue reading What Is Happiness?
Tag: social science
Why New Religions?
Why New Religions? Despite the recent global decline in traditional religious belief, new religious movements (NRMs) have grown significantly over the past 50 years. Why have they become such a dominant cultural force in the western world? And what can be done to reduce their continued growth? Full Article: Why New Religions? on The Advanced … Continue reading Why New Religions?
The Decline of Violence
The Decline of Violence Steven Pinker is a world-renowned psychologist and cognitive scientist. In The Better Angels of Our Nature Pinker explores the history of human violence to attempt to understand if we have become more or less violent. He approaches this topic from a multi-disciplinary perspective incorporating data from history, anthropology, biology, psychology, and … Continue reading The Decline of Violence
Disrespecting Social Theory
Disrespecting Social Theory A recent Gallup poll revealed that belief in creationism has not declined over the past few decades. The majority of scientists have responded to this as a disturbing trend. However, a few social scientists have pointed out that this trend may have more to do with cultural identity than it does with … Continue reading Disrespecting Social Theory
Sharing A Divided World
Sharing A Divided World During my undergraduate career I was fully immersed in a four-field approach to anthropological learning. During this experience I found that there is severe division between the four fields that is detrimental to the subject as a whole. In the future anthropologists need to be open to greater collaboration and integration. … Continue reading Sharing A Divided World