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Amazonian Tribal Warfare Sheds Light on Modern Violence, Says MU Anthropologist

By Guest PostOctober 10, 2012Culture, Scienceafghanistan, altercation, Amazon, amazon forest, amazonian, amazonian warfare, anthropologist, cause, christianity, civilization, clash, cultural factor, cultural identity, culture influence, deadly attack, death, drew bailey, european contact, europeans, evolutionary history, external raid, frequency, global goal, humans, instinctual motivation, intensity, internal raid, intertribal warfare, libya, missouri, modern gang, mortality, primate ancestor, rival group, river basin, robert walker, south america, tribal life, tribal society, university, us embassy, violence, violent conflict, war, was treachery

Developing a shared sense of global community could help reduce major episodes of violence

In the tribal societies of the Amazon forest, violent conflict accounted for 30 percent of all deaths before contact with Europeans, according to a recent study by University of Missouri anthropologist Robert Walker. Understanding the reasons behind those altercations in the Amazon sheds light on the instinctual motivations that continue to drive human groups to violence, as well as the ways culture influences the intensity and frequency of violence.

“The same reasons – revenge, honor, territory and jealousy over women – that fueled deadly conflicts in the Amazon continue to drive violence in today’s world,” said Walker, lead author and assistant professor of anthropology in MU’s College of Arts and Science. “Humans’ evolutionary history of violent conflict among rival groups goes back to our primate ancestors. It takes a great deal of social training and institutional control to resist our instincts and solve disputes with words instead of weapons. Fortunately, people have developed ways to channel those instincts away from actual deadly conflict. For example, sports and video games often involve the same impulses to defeat a rival group.” (more…)

Foreign Policy Takes Stage, Yet Most Voters Indifferent

By Guest PostOctober 1, 2012Politicsafghanistan, americans, Barack Obama, chaos, China, diplomatic approach, egypt, embassy, foreign policy, global issue, international security, iran, libya, matt zierler, michigan, middle east, mitt romney, nuclear power, presidential campaign, russia, state university, tension, united states, us troops, violence, war, world

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Foreign policy has taken center stage in the presidential campaign as Barack Obama and Mitt Romney tout their differing plans – and take aim at one another’s vision for international security.

Unfortunately, voters pay little attention to these issues when electing a president, said Matt Zierler, associate professor of international relations at Michigan State University’s James Madison College.

“Foreign policy does matter, but voters traditionally don’t pay much attention to it,” Zierler said. (more…)

September 11 and The Cost of War

By Guest PostSeptember 11, 2012Politicsafghanistan, attack, brown university, catherine lutz, combat, conflict, connecticut, cost, death, democracy, domestic, environmental degradation, ethnicity, federal government, fiscal year, human lives. economic term, human right, international, international studies, Iraq, oregon, Pakistan, pentagon, september 11, united states, US, violation, war, war project, watson institute, yemen

The Costs of War project is assessing the total cost of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan in the wake of the 9-11 attacks. Findings thus far put the cost at more than 300,000 lives and $4 trillion. The project’s findings are continually updated. (more…)

National Deficit Outlook Unchanged Under Obama: UMD Policy Analysis

By Guest PostSeptember 9, 2012Economy, Politicsaccumulation, afghanistan, alternative, budget control act, bush era tax, cbo, congress, congressional budget office, debt, deficit, democrats, election policy, fact check, finance, fiscal cliff, fiscal scenario, gdp, george bush, Iraq, key, national debt, philip joyce, policy issue, President Obama, presidential campaign, public policy, republican, social security, university of maryland, war, wealthy american

Public Policy’s Philip Joyce Offers Election Policy Fact Check

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – From a public policy point of view, the national debt accumulation since President Obama took office is largely a result of policies put in place prior to his inauguration, says a new analysis by University of Maryland expert Philip Joyce. He adds that Obama’s policies will make little impact in the debt over the next decade.

“The best that can be said about presidential fiscal policies thus far is that they would slow the bleeding, but they neither would stop it nor would they do much to heal the patient,” Joyce says.

The size of the debt has been one of the biggest issues of the presidential campaign, with Republicans arguing that the President has allowed the debt to rise out of control and Obama saying that he inherited the policies that led to an increase in debt and deficits. (more…)

That Giant Tarantula Is Terrifying, But I’ll Touch It

By Guest PostSeptember 8, 2012Sciencedomestic violence, emotional experience, giant, intuition, katharina kircanski, macbeth, malcolm, matthew lieberman, michelle craske, psychology study, returning, Shakespeare, soldier, stressful time, tarantula, ucla, victim, war

Expressing your emotions can reduce fear, UCLA psychologists report

“Give sorrow words.”

—Malcolm in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”

Can simply describing your feelings at stressful times make you less afraid and less anxious?

A new UCLA psychology study suggests that labeling your emotions at the precise moment you are confronting what you fear can indeed have that effect.

The psychologists asked 88 people with a fear of spiders to approach a large, live tarantula in an open container outdoors. The participants were told to walk closer and closer to the spider and eventually touch it if they could. (more…)

Largest Analysis of Public Opinions at Outbreak of World War I Challenges Popular Myth

By Guest PostJuly 16, 2012Politics1914, a kingdom united, august 1914, british, catriona pennell, dublin, first world war, france, Germany, irish, keith jeffery, outbreak, popular myth, public opinion, scotland, the, times higher education, trinity college, united kingdom, university of exeter, wales, war, war enthusiasm, world war

A groundbreaking book presents new evidence that challenges the way we understand British and Irish responses to the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.

Almost 100 years since its outbreak, A Kingdom United presents the first ever fully-documented study of British and Irish popular reactions to the outbreak of the First World War. University of Exeter historian Dr Catriona Pennell has explored UK public opinion of the time and successfully challenges the myth of British ‘war enthusiasm’ and Irish disengagement.

Treating the UK as the state that it was in 1914 – the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland – the research is based on a vast array of contemporary diaries, letters, journals and newspaper accounts from across the country. The book explores what people felt and how they acted in response to an unanticipated and unprecedented crisis. (more…)

The Warrior-Scholar Project: Easing the Move from Combat to College

By Guest PostJune 21, 2012Culture, General, Politicsafghanistan, air force, alfred guy, american soldiers, australian army, black and white, christopher howell, civilian life, dave carrell, david howell, democracy, donald kagan, eli whitney program, first gulf war, globalization, jeffrey brenzel, jesse reising, john gaddis, karin gosselink, marine corps, misha pemble belkin, navy seal, nick rugoff, ninja reading, pilot program, platoon, restrepo, sebastian junger, tactical assault group, taliban insurgents, tim hetherington, tribalism, us army, war, warrior scholar project, william whobrey

Having twice served in Afghanistan, where his platoon faced some of the most intense fighting of any American soldiers, U.S. Army sergeant Misha Pemble-Belkin felt a bit of a “culture shock” earlier this month when he first took a seat in a Yale classroom.

His combat team’s firefights with Taliban insurgents in eastern Afghanistan in 2007 — and the deaths of two members of his small unit — were captured in the Academy Award-nominated documentary “Restrepo” by Sebastian Junger and the late Tim Hetherington, as well as in Junger’s bestselling book “War.” Described by one film reviewer as “the conscience” of the documentary, Pemble-Belkin received major media attention for his part in the film.

During his stay on the Yale campus, however, Pemble-Belkin had to leap out of the role of soldier and into that of student as he participated in the newly inaugurated Warrior-Scholar Project, which helps war veterans and non-commissioned officers who are leaving the service make the transition to college life. (more…)

UCLA Study Identifies Genes Linked to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

By Guest PostApril 7, 2012Healthafghanistan, alan steinberg, american, armen goenjian, danger, david walling, devon schmidt, disorder, DNA, ernest noble, flashbacks, gene, hyper alert, Iraq, julia bailey, natural disaster, post traumatic, ptsd, ptsd symptom, rape, stress disorder, symptoms, tph1, tph2, uma dandekar, variant, war, war veteran

Why do some people experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) while others who suffered the same ordeal do not? A new UCLA study may shed light on the answer.

UCLA scientists have linked two genes involved in serotonin production to a higher risk of developing PTSD. Published in the April 3 online edition of the Journal of Affective Disorders, the findings suggest that susceptibility to PTSD is inherited, pointing to new ways of screening for and treating the disorder. (more…)

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