Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Paranormal Psychology: Psy410, Larry R. Martinez

PDXOpen: Open Educational Resources

This OER packet contains the course materials for PSY410: Paranormal Psychology. Although often dismissed as a pseudoscience, there are many things we can learn about human beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors by studying phenomena that our current science cannot explain. The course begins with a history of real scientific studies that have been conducted to try and determine whether things like extrasensory perception, telepathy, and telekinesis are real phenomena, with a particular emphasis on what those studies can teach us about the scientific method more generally. This is followed by an examination of things related to the afterlife (e.g., ghosts, mediums, …

The Balance Of Personality, Chris Allen

PDXOpen: Open Educational Resources

This open access textbook was developed as an upper division undergraduate textbook for theories of personality. Its intended audience are students from Portland State University enrolled in Psychology 432 Personality course. The chapters are shorter than some personality textbooks and in this particular course Psy 432 the textbook is combined with other readings including scientific articles on personality. This open access textbook may be of interest to other courses interested in teaching about theory and research on personality.

Please see the Open Textbook Library for faculty Reviews of this textbook

Adopt/Adapt
If you are an instructor adopting or adapting this …

Interview With Mary Zinkin, Mary Zinkin, Stephanie Vallance

Conflict Resolution Oral Histories

Mary Zinkin was interviewed by Stephanie Vallance on May 6, 2020. Also participating in the interview were Liza Schade and Lady J.

In this interview, Zinkin describes her own self-designed interdisciplinary graduate degrees in Conflict Resolution at Portland State and her influence in the creation of those degree programs at PSU. She discusses her academic work in the field of conflict mediation, and her view of the need for a professional, skills-based degree that blended theory and practice. She describes the logistics of getting the program off the ground, noting the development of curriculum, number of students, and the conversation …

Interview With Karin Waller, Karin A. Waller, Patricia A. Schechter

Conflict Resolution Oral Histories

Karin Waller was interviewed by history professor Patricia Schechter on May 27, 2020, in Portland, Oregon. Also participating in the interview are graduate students Cleophas Chambliss and Liza Schade.

In this interview, Waller describes the personal, social, and intellectual intersections that brought her to graduate study, her mentors in the graduate program, and her thesis project.

Webinar: Racial Bias In Driver Yielding Behavior At Crosswalks, Kimberly Barsamian Kahn

TREC Webinar Series

This webinar discusses research exploring how social identity factors (race and gender) influence drivers’ behavior in interactions with pedestrians at crosswalks. One dangerous potential point of conflict for pedestrians within the transportation system is interactions with drivers at crosswalks (NHTSA, 2009), and racial minorities are disproportionately represented in pedestrian fatalities (CDC, 2013). This project examines whether racial discrimination occurs at crosswalks, which may lead to disparate crossing experiences and disproportionate safety outcomes.

Our initial research on this topic revealed predicted racial bias in drivers’ yielding behavior at crosswalks: Black male pedestrians were passed by twice as many cars as, and …

Levels Of Altruism, Martin Zwick, Jeffrey Alan Fletcher

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

The phenomenon of altruism extends from the biological realm to the human sociocultural realm. This paper sketches a coherent outline of multiple types of altruism of progressively increasing scope that span these two realms and are grounded in an ever-expanding sense of “self.” Discussion of this framework notes difficulties associated with altruisms at different levels. It links scientific ideas about the evolution of cooperation and about hierarchical order to perennial philosophical and religious concerns. It offers a conceptual background for inquiry into societal challenges that call for altruistic behavior, especially the challenge of environmental and social sustainability.

This talk was …

Neuroscience Of Personality: Principles Of The Psyche As A Living System, Dario Nardi

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

The brain is a complex living system. Using colorful slides and anecdotes, Dario Nardi, PhD will overview his hands-on research of the past 5 years in his social neuroscience lab using EEG technology to better understand the neocortex. He spends 2 to 3 hours with each subject, offering a variety of tasks from solo activities like meditating, drawing, and recalling to social activities like poker and speed-dating. The results are in. The neocortex relies upon a dynamic of modules, circuits, and holistic modes to continuously coordinate with the environment in both a top-down and a bottom-up manner. Moreover, individual differences …

Building A Decision Aid Right-Side-Out, Barry F. Anderson

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

Tools have long been available for improving decision making, yet people who have knowledge of these tools seem reluctant to use them. I consider multiple reasons why this might be so and consider multiple solutions, then present what I believe to be the world's most user-friendly decision aid, which is now nearly ready for beta testing and available at no cost at http://wisedecider.net.

Wise Decider is believed to be unique in having the following features:

1. A creative thinking guide and a critical thinking guide that provide context-sensitive advice for problem structuring, evaluation, and implementation.
2. A decision table with cells …

What Makes A Meaningful Universe?, Todd Duncan, James Butler

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

A common line of thinking says that although we feel subjectively that our thoughts and actions matter in some way, this perception is an illusion. According to this view, an honest look around at the universe shatters this myth and reveals that our lives are ultimately meaningless. If we are to be hard-nosed realists, limiting ourselves to scientific, evidence-based reasoning, then we must accept that human existence is an inconsequential accident of no ultimate significance in the grand scheme of things. Is this attitude really justified by the evidence? We'll explore this question by taking a step back and asking …