I thought the paper referred to by the Columbia student was a good example of quantitative rumination and a good example of how statistics is only descriptive and helps us reveal patterns in the data. The interpretation is still up to our theories.
http://iopscience.iop.org/0295-5075/99/2/28002/ By analysis of the social networks, the authors compared mythological accounts to the characteristics of "real" social networks. The presumption is that if a myth such as Beowulf depicts true social networks it is more likely to have been an historical account rather than a fictional one. They also analyzed the Iliad, an Irish epic, Tain, The Fellowship of Ring, the Marvel Universe and Harry Potter. These accounts obviously vary in the social networks they depict. The Fellowship, Iliad and Harry Potter all depict a small group of close friends fighting adversity. The Lord of the Rings has the weakest analysis. In the Appendices of The Lord of the Rings and other works, Tolkien mapped out the explicit genealogies and built the story around these: http://lotrproject.com/hobbits.php The Fellowship of the Ring, the only part examined by the authors, refers to nine guys representing all the races of Middle Earth set against nine ringwraiths who were formerly men given rings of power by Sauron. In a strange way, Sauron was bringing people together. His overall plan was to bind the ringbearers into one tight crew: One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. If the authors had analyzed the Lord of the Rings thoroughly, they would have discovered that it is a complete, internally consistent history. Tolkien attempted to depict his understanding of England as it existed in Anglo-Saxon times, when Grendel, Beowulf and the Elves were still here. He even invented the languages that he believed existed at the time. Since the authors only examined the first book of the Lord of the Rings, they missed depicting the complete social structure that existed in Middle Earth. This reminds me of an analysis done of a possible new poem by Shakespeare comparing the number of new words used in the poem to the population distribution of new words used by Shakespeare: http://www.learnpsychology.com/movies/infer_onescoresm.mov It strikes me that the authors should have compared the mythical accounts to historical accounts of the same period and culture (e.g. compare Herodotus to Homer). Including the Marvel Universe was really odd. Mike Williams Hi A Columbia psychology graduate student gives an incoherent diatribe against scientific approaches in the humanities and social sciences, including psychology.http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/literally-psyched/2012/08/10/humanities-arent-a-science-stop-treating-them-like-one/ Well, this kind of critique is not new though her incoherence and apparent lack of historical knowledge of the nature of psychology is troubling. This is particularly so, given some of the research that she has been involved in. Ms. Konnikova's bio on the Scientific American website is kind of vague on what she's doing and who she is working with at Columbia; see: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/literally-psyched/about.php?author=314 EndFragment --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=19731 or send a blank email to leave-19731-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
