Neither are critically acclaimed movies… and in neither case do the fans care. They both make tons of money. Both have transforming-ish characters.

New Moon is now even in the top 3 of biggest opening weekends, right next to the Dark Knight. Really.

So what is the difference between Transformers and Twilight?

I just got back the midterm evaluations for my class – the FIRST class I have taught all by myself. Here are a few:

What did you like most about the course and/or the instructor?

“Adam rocks! We have awesome discussions and learn a lot about teaching!”

“I like how we don’t have useless tests.”

“I loved that he let us discuss and provided feedback.  He basically let us be ourselves and doesn’t judge us for our opinion.”

“Mr. F [they really wrote "Mr. F" - Arrested Development reference, anyone?] is pretty chill and I feel that the introspectiveness of this class has been very beneficial to my person.”

Starting with the Washington Redskins of the NFL. Sure, they have no “economic” incentive to change their name–it is not the job of capitalism to instill values–but this is one of those things that we are going to look back on in 40-50 years (hopefully a lot sooner) and think, “Wow, look at what complete racist idiots we were back then!” Think about it. Can you imagine a pro sports team today called the Alabama Blackskins?

I have given a lot of thought as to why I believe in more than just this life, or why I believe in something bigger, stronger, and wiser* than I am…. than we are.

Bigger than the Big Bang.

10/17 Update: Warning–This post is meant to be humorous. Apparently many people have somehow been offended, lol. I pass no judgment on one’s preferred Halloween wear. None at all. Seriously people, chill.

Also, by “Darwin” I mean “Evolutionary Theory.” “Darwin” just sounded punchier, like we could blame one dude. I don’t know how a few commenters thought I meant “Social Darwinism.”

For those who don’t mind my ill-advised/ham-fisted attempts at humor, read on.

Darwin.

Sure, you can use the economic explanation – these costumes exist because they sell. That however does not get at the root of the issue. Nor does the line, “for one day a year I get to dress like the hooker I always wanted to be, but couldn’t.

I’m writing a paper on the history of love, looking at traditional views and comparing it with the view of love through an adult attachment lens.

Here is a brief outline for my paper…

This paper will trace the origins of romantic love and attachment-related concepts throughout history, leading up to Darwin, Freud, Lorenz, and others. It will then describe how John Bowlby took these influences and conceptualized attachment theory, and how Mary Ainsworth subsequently validated Bowlby’s hypothesis through her research. The paper will then discuss why childhood attachment came first, what influenced Shaver and Hazan to join the concepts of attachment and romantic love in 1987, and how they put the ideas together. The subsequent boom in adult attachment research, how it has evolved in the last 20 years, and what has been validated by research will then be discussed. Next, the paper will explore alternative current views of adult love and how they compare with adult attachment theory. The different ways adult attachment concepts are being applied today will then be discussed: psychotherapy/couples therapy, interaction with the sexual behavior system, emotion. Finally, future directions for research and application of adult attachment theory will be discussed.

So, what do you think?

If you were to read 35 pages on the history of romantic love, what would you want to know?

Things have been busy lately, but I’ve decided to write a bit on all the fascinating things I have been reading for school. The text* for my history of psychology class covers Socrates, Aristotle, Cynicism, Renaissance Humanism, Ptolemy, Francis Bacon, Descartes, Empiricism, Positivism, Spinoza, Kant, Rousseau, Nietzsche… and on and on and on. Impressed? I am. It feels like the philosophy degree I was supposed to get as an undergrad. Now if I can just remember any of it for the midterm.

One figure who does stand out for me is William James. Wikipedia can tell you more about his life than I can, so I’ll get to some points that I liked.

James went through a period of deep depression in his life when he became convinced by some of the prevailing scientific thought of his day (hurrah for dogmatic science, bleh) that everything is predetermined, i.e. there is no free will. He was able to finally break out of this by taking a Kierkegaardian “leap of faith” in free will, and decided he would act from that point forward as if it did exist. This subjective experience cured his depression, and fueled his career as a psychologist and philosopher.

I swear this is not a reaction to my recent non-commercial-beef eating resolution… which is going quite well, by the way. We recently had some tasty buffalo-loaf (BuffaLoaf?).

I have never been a huge fan of salad.

“Are you nervous?” the woman at the ticket counter asked. Her eyes lit up when I asked for two tickets to see the movie, Food Inc.

I replied kind of nervously, trying to be funny (emphasis on try) but failing, “Why? Since you’ve seen it, do you still eat food?”

Not surprisingly (we were at a theater that shows all the trendy, independent movies), she said she was a long-time vegetarian, but after her friends saw the film, “they were done” eating meat.

My wife didn’t want to hear that. Bless her heart she was brave to come along with me despite her worries. “Promise me you won’t become a vegan after this,” she asked with a nervous laugh as the movie started.

Every once in a while, when looking for something to read, I ask myself, “What is something that I wouldn’t normally read? What just ‘isn’t me’?”

Recently that book was Confessions of a Shopaholic. Cue sneers.

A year or so ago it was The God Delusion, by prominent atheist Richard Dawkins.