Mid-Course Correction

1. While I posted to Thinking Slowly 15 times in January, I only posted 8 times in February. At the same time, the posts have gotten longer. When reading other blogs, I prefer frequent, shorter posts to infrequent, longer ones. I resolve to do the same here. A possible problem is that some of the topics I hope to write about require a more extended discussion. For the time being, my solution will be to break them up into parts, as I did with Cooling the Marks, Part 1 and Part 2.
   
   
2. When I started the blog, my plan was to relate my posts—with the exception of those about music—to research or theory in the social sciences. That approach pushes the blog in certain directions, but discourages others. For example, it's easy to write about health care and racial discrimination because new studies appear often. On the other hand, I care a great deal about U. S. foreign policy, but I haven't discussed it all in almost three months. Civil liberties and campaign finance reform are other examples of political topics for which I found it difficult to locate pertinent research. (Freedom Of/Freedom From is one of essays I most enjoyed writing, but it's a semantic exercise, and I had to violate my own “rules” to include it.) In the future, I will include more posts about political issues which don't tie directly into the social sciences. It is hoped that these posts will still be consistent with the theme of slow thought.

Feedback is always welcome (lstires@auxmail.iup.edu).

New Year, New Blog

I've been meaning to do this for a long time.

This blog's title is inspired by Daniel Kahneman's 2011 book, Thinking, Fast and Slow.  In it Kahneman presents the theory, well accepted in social psychology, that our thought processes can be described as if they are organized into two systems.  System 1 is automatic, effortless and outside our awareness.  It consists of innate responses to external stimuli and well-learned patterns of behavior.  It is likely to make errors, such as overreacting to our fears.  System 2 is deliberate and effortful.  It is what we recognize as the content of our consciousness.  While System 2 can also make errors, careful thought offers our best hope of responding rationally to an increasingly difficult environment.  Here's a link to a recent lecture (about an hour long) by Kahneman on the subject of his new book.

We live in a country in which a major-party candidate for President has implied that allowing gay people to have sex will lead people to have sex with animals.  It is hoped that this blog will encourage more rational thought.  Specifically, I hope to apply the best available knowledge to the solution of our many social and political problems.  And to have a good time doing it.

Since I'm a social psychologist, many of my examples will come from that field.  However, I will touch on many other fields, including sociology, economics, political science, communications media, and the environmental sciences.  Since no one can be an expert in all these areas, I hope you'll bear with me and correct me when I'm wrong.

The posts are intended for general audiences, so if you find them either too technical or too simplistic, please let me know.

Your comments and suggestions are always welcome.