I have heard from colleagues in other disciplines, particularly anthroplogy
and sociology, that psychologists were not the only ones to receive this
"gift."
As a member of APA who has not received the book, I am feeling really
cheated and left out!
Jeff Nagelbush
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Ferris State University
>At 01:36 PM 12/7/99 EST, Karl L. Wuensch wrote:
> >
> > Yesterday I found in my mailbox a plain white envelope with no
> >return address. Looked like junk mail, but what junk mail. I opened it,
> >started to throw it in the garbage can, then saw that it was a little
> >booklet. The author's name caught my eye -- J. Philippe Rushton. Oh my,
>I
> >thought, who is sending me this, on what ultra conservative mailing list
> >have I gotten? But there was nothing inside but the booklet, no
>explanation
> >of who sent it or why. I looked back at the envelope and thought the
> >address label looked very familiar. Thinking it might be my American
> >Psychological Association mailing label, I pulled a copy of the APA
>Monitor
> >out of my mailbox, and yes, that is what it was. The number on both
>labels
> >was my APA membership number. The APA has sold membership labels to some
> >organization which has mailed out Rushton's work. I thought the mailing
> >might have only gone to those with a divisional membership in
> >comparative/evolutionary (the title of the book is "Race, Evolution, &
> >Behavior"), but a nearby colleague who is a social psychologist got it
>too.
> >I am curious, did all APA members get this mailing?
> >
> > In case you don't recall who Rushton is, let me give you a
>retrieval
> >cue: One of his arguments is that racial differences can be explained by
> >the "r-selection vs K-selection" hypothesis (proposed by R. H. MacArthur
>and
> >E. O. Wilson, and referring to the parameters r and K in the
>Lotka-Volterra
> >equations for competition between species), which I learned in population
> >ecology many years ago. R-selected organisms are those which rarely
> >approach asymptotic density, so for them, the rate of population increase
>is
> >the more important parameter. These species tend to live in
>unpredictable
> >environments, where mortality is often catastrophic and
>density-independent.
> >There is little the individual can do to delay death, so intelligent
> >individuals would be as likely to die young as not so intelligent
> >individuals. Evolution favors small body sizes, rapid reproduction, no
> >parental care. Think of mosquitos and flies -- lack of parental care and
> >brains hasn't led them to extinction. These critters don't need much
> >brains, just lot of gametes.. Other organisms exist in habitats which
>are
> >less variable, more predictable, and where populations are near
>asymptotic
> >density. Smarter individuals can postpone death here. Selection favors
> >delayed reproduction, larger body size, slower development (longer life),
> >and parental investment. These critters need more brains than gametes.
> >Well, Rushton applies this logic to the differences between human races.
>He
> >argues that as humans moved out of Africa, they evolved away from r-type
> >organisms to K-type organisms. Get the drift?
> >
> > Have you all also received this junk mail? Any ideas who is
>sending it
> >out?
> >+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> >Karl L. Wuensch, Department of Psychology,
> >East Carolina University, Greenville NC 27858-4353
> >Voice: 252-328-4102 Fax: 252-328-6283
> >[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >http://core.ecu.edu/psyc/wuenschk/klw.htm
> >
> >
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