Is psychology dominated by Western perspectives?

Biswarup Ganguly/wikipedia, CC BY-SA

According to this article by a psychologist, many facets of the human psyche, from our concept of  motherhood to the delusions we may suffer, are affected by the culture in which we have been immersed. The article does a quick swoop over the discipline of psychology, illustrating with evidence how Western bias (and the preponderance of under-graduates as experimental subjects) may have skewed our conclusions. 

What can History teach us?

The failure of Google Glass to become a raging success is mirrored by the difficulty other technologies had in being adopted, for example the dining fork. Britain was relatively quick with the umbrella (I wonder why?).

The podcast The Secret History of the Future looks at how the long story of technology has lessons to teach us: the first cyber attack was in the nineteenth century according to the podcast. Episodes of the podcast look at automata and driverless cars and demonstrate the long lineage of these ideas. Can we foretell the future by studying the past? Are there lessons from History which can illuminate present issues? Does history repeat itself or are we too ready to seek patterns in chaos?

Sometimes the audience is the work

Banksy, the graffiti artist, sold a self-destroying painting which had sold for 1 million pounds. The article speculates that its value thereby doubled. The headline calls it a prank, but was it, in fact, Art? The painting participated in an event which evoked varied responses from viewers. Can the public's reaction be part of the artwork?

A font which helps you learn!

According to its designers, Sans Forgetica has been created to improve retention of the information written in it. They claim that it is difficult to read in a way that makes the knowledge stick. Can the way in which information is taken in through sensory channels affect the way in which we process it? For the best chance of recalling later the details of the work, read the passage below.