Links to Stuff

OK, time for a few links.

First up, there's a very good new blog by cognitive anthropologists called Alpha Psy. I disagreed pretty strongly with some of the points in their post on terror management theory, but overall I've really enjoyed the blog so far. I strongly recommend the post on majority rule, "Long Live the Majority," and the primers in their "Rough Guide to Naturalism."

Also, I just added two social science statistics blogs to the blogroll. They're both really good, but a bit specialized, so they're not for everyone. The first is Social Science Statistics Blog, which has a really nice series of posts on causation and manipulation up (Part I, Part II, and Part III). The second is Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science, where there have been a couple good posts on the recent publication bias debate (here and here). Even if you're not into statistics, you'll probably find this post hilarious.

Next, via 3 Quarks Daily, I enjoyed this review of two books on cave paintings, both of which I now plan on reading.

Finally, check out this post from Amanda at Pandagon. Definitely watch the video (it's probably not work friendly, though if you're in a psychology lab right now, it's prefectly OK to watch it, trust me). The video is here, too. The trip to the store is absolutely hilarious. After you watch the video, ask yourself whether you thought it was possible that people as stupid as the legislators in the video could be elected, much less make laws governing our private lives.

Oh wait, one more. Sean Carroll (perhaps typing from Richard Feynman's desk!) discusses string theory and Lee Smolin's Lee Smolin's recent book, at Cosmic Variance. I know jack about string theory really, but I still find the heated debate fascinating. I can't really say why.