Headlines of the Week (Or Whatever)

5 Steps to Separate Science from Hype, No PhD Required.

Revisiting Milgram's obedience experiment: what did he actually prove?

Drugs: Without the Hot Air, now in the USA!

A Tongue In Cheek Review of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition

The Case Against Brain Scans As Evidence In Court

Headlines of the Week (Or Whatever)

The Irrational Consumer: Why Economics Is Dead Wrong About How We Make Choices: A new paper reviews how psychology, biology, and neurology are ganging up on economics to prove that, when it comes to making decisions, people are anything but rational.

IRS sued for not enforcing politicking restrictions on churches! Yay!

On the "mind-blowing" revelations offered by use of LSD in science. Because science!

Occupy Earth Day: An Expose of the Corporate Propaganda Systems that Undermine Systemic Change Activism

The Rape of Petty Officer Blumer: Inside the military's culture of sex abuse, denial and cover-up.

Better Living Through Chemistry

From a writing prompt on our Honors Psychology Discussion Board:

Why do people first begin using drugs? Because it is easier for teens to buy drugs than alcohol. Ba dum ching! No, not really. While the above is sadly true, there is no one line answer for this question. I believe that a variety of factors play into the decision to use drugs, assuming that illegal intoxicants are what we are focusing on.

Our first exposures to drugs as a concept are as small children. “Take this,” we instruct our children. “It will make you feel better.” Then we gulp a caffeinated, sugary soda to prepare to stay up all night with them. We begin our mornings with coffee and end our evenings with a nightcap. We celebrate with wine and champagne. We step out to smoke a cigarette while the television blares out commercials advertising magical pills to fix all of life’s problems, from depression to erectile dysfunction. We take those pills, and our children see it. We prime our children for 'better living through chemistry'. Is it any surprise that they seek out what we show them?