Thanks to the hard work and serendipity of Dr. Michael Gazzaniga, who was recently profiled in the New York Times, we know that our left brain homunculus is a storyteller. Our homunculi confabulate like crazy. Nevermind that the person in our head lacks basic information or essential plot elements: s/he will fashion a narrative or [...]
Tags:agency·confabulation·credulity·illusory intentions·intentionality·manipulation·Margaret Lynn·Michael Gazzaniga·mind control·storytelling·suggestion
Sometimes getting fooled again is good for you, as in healing good. Shamans have been healing people for tens of thousands of years, using their considerable powers of persuasion and that most efficacious of treatments: placebo.
While shamanic healing methods are varied, there is a great deal of ritual similarity across time and space: trance, sucking, [...]
Tags:Bali·Balian·Balinese healers·cultural tourism·Daniel McGuire·Ketut Liyer·Mangku Pogog·New Age·placebo·ritual healing·shamanic healing·suggestion·traditional healers
There are some scholars — such as James McLenon and Stephen Sanderson, who contend that shamanic techniques of healing played in an important role in the evolution of religion. I tend to agree and discussed the issue in “Judge Not and Be Persuaded (or Healed):
“Essential to McClenon’s argument is that the people being treated by [...]
Tags:Antonio Damasio·Christian Science·emotions·healing·health·hypnosis·Jaak Panksepp·James McLenon·placebo effect·placebos·shamanic healing·shamans·Stephen Sanderson·suggestion·Tor Wager
Today’s title riffs on the seventh installment of William Saletan’s Slate series on the memory researcher, Dr. Elizabeth Loftus. In several places in the article, one could simply replace words or phrases and the result would be an accurate description of the ways in which religious cultural inputs create imaginary worlds for believers of most [...]
Tags:cultural inputs·cultural patterning·Elizabeth Loftus·imagination·implantation·indoctrination·memories·memory·sin·suggestion·taboo·Ur-God·William Saletan
In the fourth installment in his series on memory and the work of Dr. Elizabeth Loftus, Slate’s William Saletan discusses “repressed memories” that have given rise to all sorts of injustice in courtrooms across America. The title of today’s article is “The Recipe: A Cookbook for Memories of Sexual Abuse,” and includes this revelatory excerpt:
Loftus [...]
Tags:confabulation·Elizabeth Loftus·filtered experience·identity·imagination·immersion·indoctrination·inference·memories·memory·recipe for religion·spiritual cookbook·spiritual experiences·suggestion·William Saletan
