Today's Fresh Blogs...

• "Cognitive Ergonomics"?

  Published: August 3, 2007, 8:41 am

  Tags: Social Interactions, Human Nature, Disarmament As Humanitarian Action, Decision Making, Cognitive Biases, Borrie, Intuitions, Cognitive Ergonomics, Diplomacy

  In 10 minutes of off-the-cuff concluding remarks from our 25 May Disarmament Insight symposium on Human Security, Human Nature and Trust-building in Negotiations', John Borrie talked about what he calls cognitive ergonomics and the relevance of the concept in thinking about the structures and procedures in multilateral negotiations. Not

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• Fun and Games

  Published: July 31, 2007, 9:58 am

  Tags: Trust, Social Interactions, Defection, Schelling, Axelrod, Cooperation, Borrie, Altruism, Nowak

  - or pay-off structure - of interactions for everyone. Social interactions matter.In contrast, Nowak has been working on problems like the spread of cancer cells in the body. But he realised the tools he was using might be applied to human problems, especially when applied to thinking about social networks:"Dr. Nowak and his colleagues found

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• New Podcast Warring instincts: what we can learn from behavioural economics & neuroscience?

  Published: July 24, 2007, 2:43 am

  Tags: Trust, Social Interactions, Human Violence, Human Nature, Cooperation, Borrie, Podcast, Intuitions, Paul Seabright, Conflict, Disarmament Insight

  On 25 May we held our latest Disarmament Insight symposium with disarmament practitioners including diplomats, international civil servants, representatives of civil society groups and researchers, entitled Human security, human nature and trust-building in negotiations'.We're pleased to unveil the latest free podcast we've prepared from the

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• Cognitive Dissonance: Don't Mention the War

  Published: July 11, 2007, 6:46 am

  Tags: Social Interactions, Iraq, Blame Game, Thornton, Perceptions, Decision Making, Cognitive Dissonance

  The way we perceive our world can have a significant impact on our decision-making and the way we interact with others. A recent Washington Post article reported on a psychological experiment carried out by Roy Baumeister that revealed one way our perceptions can influence how we view others.In the experiment, Baumeister asked participants to

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• Zapped! Mobile technology in the conference chamber

  Published: July 4, 2007, 6:13 am

  Tags: Social Interactions, Blackberry, Conference, Negotiators, Technology, Arms Control, Decision Making, Multilateral Negotiations, Mobile Phone, Lewis, Diplomacy

  room ) .They can promote social bonding through jokes, expressions of concern and support, or they can convey terrifying messages of accusation and threats whilst one is speaking. The impact of these technologies on the way delegations are doing business in the negotiating room is hard to measure and is something we'll return to in the future

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• Facebook versus face to face

  Published: September 14, 2007, 3:20 am

  Tags: Social Interactions, Face To Face, Evolutionary Psychology, Facebook, Technology, Internet, Cooperation, Martin Randin

  of a person's real social status. According to the news reports, his research into the new types of friendships being fostered online shows that:Social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace aren't expanding people's circles of close friends, but they are creating plenty of meaningless relationships. His study showed that

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• Complexity and Arms Control Diplomacy

  Published: September 26, 2007, 2:27 am

  Tags: Social Interactions, Mer Ay, Complexity Theory, Frans De Waal, Borrie, Paul Seabright, Network Theory, Philip Ball, Paul Ormerod, Disarmament Insight

  the hallmarks of complex social phenomena - could, we think, help make their work more effective and has implications for human security thinking.Small arms proliferation and the diffusion of new technologies, like say those in the life sciences that could be turned to hostile use, have many characteristics that indicate they're complex

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• New podcast - the physics of social behaviour

  Published: October 11, 2007, 7:49 am

  Tags: Social Interactions, Complexity Theory, Podcast, Rational Choice, Network Theory, Philip Ball, Disarmament Insight

  can generate collective social behaviours that can't be anticipated by studying their components or their interactions in isolation.One recent book exploring this topic, and how physical understanding of the world is relevant to social problem-solving, is 'Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another'. Its author, Dr. Philip Ball, is a

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• Farmers markets benefit communities

  Published: October 13, 2007, 7:04 am

  Tags: Farmers Markets Benefit Communities Social Interactions Educat, Farmersmarketsbenefitcommunities Socialinteractions Education

  greater range of goods. The social benefit of the interactions of the groups is more than just commercial; it is educational as well, with the learning going both ways.In addition, in many parts of the country "low-income and elderly community residents receive particular benefits from farmers markets, where they are more likely to find

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• Does socializing make us smarter?

  Published: February 16, 2008, 5:23 am

  Tags: Health, Cognitive Performance, Mental Functions, Social Interactions

  Article lead author Oscar Ybarra and his colleagues at the University of Michigan explored the possibility that social interaction improves mental functioning.

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