Weekly Top Five Articles
Here are some summaries of articles that stood out this week:
(1) “We Need Dads More Than Ever” by Jason S. Carroll, Institute For Family Studies (June 12, 2024)
Carroll's article highlights the alarming decline in marriage and family formation, with recent statistics showing historic lows in fertility and an increasing number of never-married adults. This trend is partly due to young adults being less prepared for adulthood responsibilities, often extending their adolescence due to overprotective parenting.
Research shows that fathers play a crucial role in fostering independence in their children. Fathers are more likely to encourage risk-taking while ensuring safety, helping children develop confidence and navigate new challenges. This independence is vital as many young people today are either under-nurtured or over-nurtured, leading to a reluctance to take on adult responsibilities.
Involved fathers bring numerous benefits to their children's lives, including higher academic achievement, emotional resilience, and improved social relationships. Fathers' unique approach to discipline and problem-solving also contributes to children's stability and self-control. Furthermore, fathers remain primary earners in most families, and their absence often correlates with poverty.
Celebrating Father’s Day is an opportunity to recognize the invaluable role fathers play in their children's growth and flourishing. Renewing our appreciation for fatherhood can help ensure a new generation of fathers who contribute meaningfully to society.
Jason S. Carroll, Ph.D., emphasizes the importance of valuing fatherhood for the well-being of future generations. Simply put, dads matter!
(2) "The Secret Code of Pickup Basketball," by Ross Andersen, The Atlantic (June 13, 2024)
Anderson explains the intricate social dynamics of pickup basketball games. Every Sunday night, Andersen joins a long-running basketball game in Washington, D.C., that epitomizes the essence of unstructured, yet deeply communal play. The game, likened to the Ship of Theseus, constantly evolves with new players but maintains its core spirit of competition without an end goal, akin to early childhood play.
Nick Rogers, a sociologist, explored this paradox in his ethnography of a pickup basketball game. Despite the aggressive and diverse nature of these games, conflicts are rare due to an unspoken set of norms that players intuitively follow. These norms foster a sense of unity and flow, allowing strangers to move and play as one cohesive unit.
The research of sociologists like Jason Jimerson and Michael DeLand further reveals that the success of pickup basketball relies on mutual encouragement and cooperation, even with opponents. Disputes, often about fouls or game rules, are settled through a mix of unwritten codes and the mystical belief in "Ball don’t lie," where the outcome of a shot is seen as the ultimate arbiter.
Jimerson describes basketball as a "third place," a social environment distinct from home or work, where players can be themselves and connect with others. This sense of community and the joy of playing keep many engaged in the game well into their later years, despite the inevitable challenges like injuries.
In essence, pickup basketball offers a unique blend of competition and camaraderie, governed by an implicit social contract that maintains order and fosters a profound sense of belonging among its players.
(3) “Photo Filters Linked to Muscle Dysmorphia in Youth,” Neuroscience News, June 8, 2024
Summary: Researchers found a strong link between social media photo filter use and increased muscle dysmorphia symptoms in Canadian adolescents and young adults. Analyzing data from 912 participants, researchers noted higher levels of muscle dissatisfaction and body image issues, particularly among boys and men.
The study emphasizes the critical need for awareness and interventions targeting the negative impacts of digital image manipulation. The study advocates for further research and media literacy programs to address these mental health challenges.
Key Facts:
The study involved 912 participants from the Canadian Study of Adolescent Health Behaviors.
Boys and men using photo filters showed higher muscle dysmorphia symptoms than girls and women.
The research underscores the importance of media literacy programs to mitigate the negative effects of photo filters on body image.
(4)”Tillosophy” by Anil Gomes, London Review of Books (June 2024)
In his review of Daniel Dennett's I’ve Been Thinking, Anil Gomes explores the late philosopher's lifelong quest to reconcile the ordinary thinking about the mind—beliefs, pain, consciousness, free will, and the self—with the scientific story of neural pathways, molecules, and atomic particles, all without invoking the supernatural.
Dennett's philosophical journey began under the influence of his Oxford supervisor, Gilbert Ryle, who critiqued Descartes’s dualism by suggesting that mind and body interactions don't need to be located in the material world. This perspective shaped Dennett’s approach, as he sought to understand mental states without positing immaterial substances.
Throughout his career, Dennett navigated between two extremes: reducing mental phenomena to brain states and eliminating them as mere folk psychology. He introduced the "intentional stance," suggesting that beliefs and desires are ascribed based on predictive utility rather than inner states. This stance allowed Dennett to maintain that mental states exist because they help predict behavior, not because they are directly observable in brain states.
Dennett’s work extended to consciousness, where he argued against fixed facts about subjective experience. He proposed that consciousness consists of multiple narratives constructed by the brain, with no single canonical narrative. This view led some critics to accuse him of denying consciousness, though Dennett maintained he was rejecting only the mystical aspects of it.
Dennett's writing style was characterized by storytelling, using "intuition pumps" to illustrate complex ideas. This method often frustrated those seeking clear answers but was intended to provoke deeper understanding and reflection.
Gomes notes Dennett’s naturalistic approach, emphasizing that mental phenomena must fit within the evolutionary framework without resorting to miracles. Dennett’s influence extended beyond philosophy to debates on religion, where he applied his naturalistic explanations to phenomena traditionally attributed to supernatural causes.
In sum, Gomes portrays Dennett as a philosopher dedicated to integrating the mental and scientific realms, using narrative and naturalism to bridge the gap between our everyday experiences and the empirical world. I’ve Been Thinking reflects Dennett’s belief in the power of stories to reveal philosophical truths and his commitment to a coherent, naturalistic understanding of the mind.
(5) “The Historian's Craft,” by Nicole Penn, National Affairs (Spring 2024)
Penn explores the foundational principles and evolution of historical study, emphasizing the balance between theoretical and practical approaches. Gertrude Himmelfarb, an intellectual historian, highlighted this balance in her work, underscoring history as a craft that combines art and science. Her rigorous training at the University of Chicago focused on primary and secondary source analysis, fostering a deep respect for "hard evidence."
Himmelfarb’s intellectual biography of Lord Acton is a key focus. Acton, known for his complex views on liberty and religion, influenced Himmelfarb profoundly. Acton treated liberty as both a vehicle for virtue and a virtue itself, resisting papal infallibility and promoting the compatibility of faith and reason. His belief that ideas drive history shaped Himmelfarb’s own historiographical approach. Acton's uncompromising moral lens, particularly his critical view of historical events like the Inquisition, aligned with Himmelfarb’s sensitivity to the moral facts of history.
Himmelfarb’s The Idea of Poverty captures the intellectual evolution of society, analyzing how poverty was reframed as a moral issue needing reform. She contextualized intellectual titans like Adam Smith and Thomas Malthus within broader societal attitudes toward the poor. The book highlighted the humanizing efforts of writers like Charles Dickens and radical newspapers, emphasizing that "Great Texts" alone do not shape history but are part of a society’s self-conception.
In The New History and the Old, Himmelfarb critiqued new historiographical trends, defending the importance of political and intellectual history. She argued against social history's dominance, emphasizing the significance of written ideas from "great men" and ordinary people alike. Himmelfarb believed that politics is the arena where humanity actively shapes history, opposing the view that it only studies the elite.
Himmelfarb’s The Roads to Modernity differentiated the British, French, and American Enlightenments, emphasizing the British focus on the "sociology of virtue" and the role of religion. She argued that the British Enlightenment's emphasis on moral sense and equality inspired significant social reforms, contrasting with the French Enlightenment's ideological pursuit of reason alone.
Himmelfarb’s work underscores the importance of treating history as a complex, nuanced field. She believed that history offers intelligible wisdom if approached with respect for the perspectives of those who lived it, acknowledging its messiness and contradictions. Her balanced approach to history, combining rigorous evidence with moral considerations, offers a valuable model for understanding and preserving historical traditions.
Honorable Mention…
Gratitude robustly predicts reduced loneliness, comprehensive study shows by Eric W. Dolan, PsyPost (June 13, 2024)
A comprehensive study published in the journal Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being reveals a robust inverse relationship between gratitude and loneliness. This meta-analysis, which synthesized data from 26 studies involving 9,679 participants, found that individuals who exhibit higher levels of gratitude tend to experience lower levels of loneliness.
Gratitude, often linked to positive emotional states and better physical and psychological health, contrasts starkly with loneliness, a distressing emotion associated with negative outcomes like depression and cognitive decline. Researchers, intrigued by the potential connection between these two experiences, aimed to consolidate and quantify existing studies through a meta-analysis.
The analysis, led by psychology professor James B. Hittner from the College of Charleston, involved searching academic databases for studies reporting simple correlations between gratitude and loneliness. The meta-analysis revealed a statistically significant, moderate inverse association between the two variables. The results indicated that the strength of this relationship did not vary significantly with sample size, publication year, or geographical location, underscoring the robustness of the findings.
Hittner highlighted that the probability of a person scoring above average in gratitude also scoring below average in loneliness is 62.4%. This suggests that enhanced gratitude is linked to greater interpersonal resilience and reduced perceived loneliness.
The study also recommends incorporating gratitude enhancement interventions to alleviate loneliness. Future research directions include exploring the mechanisms underlying the gratitude-loneliness relationship, conducting longitudinal studies to track changes over time, and examining how gratitude correlates with other negative emotions like depression and anxiety. This study underscores the potential of gratitude as a protective factor against loneliness and offers a foundation for developing targeted interventions to improve mental well-being.
Also,
(1) Check out this new podcast: Raising Boys, Masculinity, Jordan Peterson, and Why Wrestling with Your Sons Keeps Them Out of Prison: Dr. Anthony Bradley and Preston Sprinkle
(2) My thoughts on the David French saga are here. I explain why I don’t think he was technically cancelled.