���On 6Jun09 Mike Palij suggested: >Then again, as good scientists, the most parsimonious position >would be that Tipsters don't blush because we have no evidence >that they do.
I'm not sure if Mike is being serious here, but I'd say that the most parsimonious position is that there is no evidence one way or the other. >From the New York Times article: http://tinyurl.com/mtfzog “We are this hypersocial species that settles conflicts and misunderstandings face to face, and we need a way to repair daily betrayals and transgressions quickly,” said Dacher Keltner, a psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of “Born to Be Good: The Science of a M eaningful Life” (Norton, 2009). “A blush comes online in two or three seconds and says, ‘I care; I know I violated the social contract.’ ” I think the paraphrase of Darwin goes beyond this: "Other primates may redden during sex, but to Darwin the blush mainly reflected the human capacity for imagining others’ perceptions." Writing as a compulsive blusher, I think the view attributed to Darwin covers a multitude of relevant situations, though as it stands it doesn't explain the "why" question. I recall once in grammar school in morning assembly (in those long distance days the whole school gathered in the hall each morning before lessons) the Headma ster reported some misdeed (possibly something of value that had been stolen), and appealed to the culprit to own up and see him privately later. I started wondering what the culprit would be feeling in that situation, and found myself blushing. (And, no, I was not habitually blamed for things at home!) On another occasion, in my student days while a member of a student political society, at the end of a nationwide AGM there was a request for a volunteer from among the delegates to check the society's accounts at the end of the following year. As the silence lengthened into minutes I found myself beginning to blush as if I feared people would be looking to me for this undesirabl e job (though there was no reason why they should – they would have no knowledge that I studied mathematics in my degree course). I doubt such situations are covered by the conventional notions of the reasons for blushing (guilt, shame, etc). One kind of situation notorious for provoking blushing occurred in a recent TV programme on the possible routes out of Africa for homo sapiens: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00klf6j The presenter, Dr Alice Roberts, anatomist, paleopathologist, etc, has wide experience of appearing on TV (in one series suddenly appearing with hair dyed bright red), so she's hardly the self-conscious type: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Roberts Nevertheless, in 20last Sunday's programme when shown a very early example of a sculpted phallus (by a youngish male paleo-archaeologist) she confessed that though she was an anatomist she found herself blushing. Allen Esterson Former lecturer, Science Department Southwark College, London http://www.esterson.org ************************************* From: Mike Palij <[email protected]> Subject: Do Tipsters Blush? Date: Sat, 6 Jun 2009 12:08:38 -0400 Benedict Carey in an article earlier this week in the NY Times reviews some recent research on blushing and the social functions it seems to serve. For details, see: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/health/02mind.html?ref=science Given that=2 0TiPS is a text-based medium where face-to-face interaction is not possible, all sorts of communicative cues are absent (especially obvious cues to when one is being ironic or sarcastic) but I have the feeling that if one reviews that posts made over time one might find messages that one could predict cause the author or person being discussed to blush. Then again, given certain people's style of posting, it also seems that some people never blush (NOTE: not that they cannot blush, they just never appear to have the interpretation and emotional reaction that would lead to a blush). Then again, as good scientists, the most parsimonious position would be that Tipsters don't blush because we have no ev idence that they do. Some might argue that Tipsters are like ordinary people and since ordinary people blush it is reasonable to infer that Tipsters also blush. I feel, however, that proving that Tipsters are like ordinary people is an even harder proposition to support than the proposition that they blush. :-) ;-) :-D -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] ________________________________________________________________________ Don't let your email address define you - Define yourself at http://www.tunome.com today! --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
