Date: Wed, 24 Jul 2002 15:15:58 -0400
Subject: Re: HAB: Brain Research and the Return of Universal Human Nature?


First of all, this is rubbish.  Secondly, what does it have to do with
Habermas?

Cheers,

David Hawkes

Thomas McDonald wrote:

> The New York Times
> July 23, 2002
>
> Why We're So Nice: We're Wired to Cooperate
> By Natalie Angier
>
> What feels as good as chocolate on the tongue or money in the bank
> but won't make you fat or risk a subpoena from the Securities and
> Exchange Commission?
>
> Hard as it may be to believe in these days of infectious greed and
> sabers unsheathed, scientists have discovered that the small, brave
> act of cooperating with another person, of choosing trust over
> cynicism, generosity over selfishness, makes the brain light up with
> quiet joy.
>
> Studying neural activity in young women who were playing a classic
> laboratory game called the Prisoner's Dilemma, in which participants
> can select from a number of greedy or cooperative strategies as they
> pursue financial gain, researchers found that when the women chose
> mutualism over "me-ism," the mental circuitry normally associated
> with reward-seeking behavior swelled to life.
>
> And the longer the women engaged in a cooperative strategy, the more
> strongly flowed the blood to the pathways of pleasure.
>
> The researchers, performing their work at Emory University in
> Atlanta, used magnetic resonance imaging to take what might be called
> portraits of the brain on hugs.
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/23/health/psychology/23COOP.html
>
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