Number of words: 562 First it must be noted that what we are talking about is not whether the threat of punishment deters people from crime. The question, much more specific than that, is whether the threat of death is of significantly greater deterrent force than the threat of long imprisonment. How does this question … Read more

Number of words: 100 If the prosecutor, having charged a capital crime, is nevertheless willing top accept a plea of guilty to a lesser offense, then the defendant has in turn the choice of accepting or rejecting this offer. This dreadful choice has to be made by a man in custody, often disoriented and frightened … Read more

Number of words: 545 The historical root of swearing in English and many other language is, oddly enough, religion. We see this in the third commandment, in the popularity of  hell, damn, and God, and in many of the terms for taboo language  itself: profanity (that which is not, sacred), blasphemy (literally “evil speech” but … Read more

Number of words: 557 Shakespear wrote, “But words are words. I never yet did hear/That the bbruised heart was pierced through the ear.” Yet most people don’t see it that way. The FCC and network censors are not inveterate prudes; they are responding to a huge constituency of listeners who light up a station switchboard … Read more

Number of words: 618 This work suggested that memories might fade more rapidly as we age because memory is encoded by fewer neurons, and if any of these neurons fail, the memory is lost. (Photo: Representational/Pixabay) Washington: Researchers have identified the neural processes that make some memories fade rapidly while other memories persist over time. Using … Read more

Number of words: 131 Man’s search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life and not a “secondary rationalization” of instinctual drives. This meaning is unique and specific in that it must and can be fulfilled by him alone; only then does it achieve a significance which will satisfy his own will to meaning. … Read more

Number of words: 133 Does this not bring to mind the story of Death in Teheran? A rich and mighty Persian once walked in his garden with one of his servants. The servant cried that he had just encountered death, who had threatened him. He begged his master to give him his fastest horse so … Read more

Number of words: 876 Once upon a time there was a Greek, an Englishman, a German and a Spaniard. They decided they would each write a story that would do its best to explain the human condition. The Greek said, I’m going to write about a man who’s tossed about on the seas after a … Read more

Number of words: 544 Obesity levels are substantially lower in countries that consume high amounts of rice, while counties with lower average rice intake have higher obesity levels, recent findings suggest.The link between rice intake and obesity persisted even after taking into account other lifestyle and socioeconomic risk factors including total energy consumption, education, smoking, … Read more

Number of words: 3,601 What makes people vote Republican? Why in particular do working class and rural Americans usually vote for pro-business Republicans when their economic interests would seem better served by Democratic policies? We psychologists have been examining the origins of ideology ever since Hitler sent us Germany’s best psychologists, and we long ago … Read more