The Anatomy of Violence by Adrian Rain

3min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

I was thinking about Adrian Rain's book. I can't remember if we've discussed this before, the anatomy of violence. So I reviewed it for all your review. He has those two case studies. The middle age school teacher who became somewhat pedophilic with his wife's with his stepdaughter and so on. And then he gets a brain scan for various reasons and looks, there's a tumor in his orbital frontal cortex. They extract the tumor. His pedophilic feelings go away. Then the wife finds some kiddie porn on his computer and back to the brain scan. The tumor's grown back as well. Okay, then he has that whole section on Adri on Daun

How does the brain — a three-pound gelatinous mass — give rise to intelligence and conscious experience? Was Freud right that we are all plagued by forbidden sexual desires? What is the function of emotions such as disgust, gratitude, and shame? Renowned psychologist Paul Bloom answers these questions and many more in Psych, his riveting new book about the science of the mind.

Shermer and Bloom discuss: neuroscience • human nature • religion • souls • consciousness • Freud • sex and desire • Skinner • development • language • perception • memory • rationality • appetites • differences and disorders • the good life • happiness.

Paul Bloom is Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto, and the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Yale University. His research explores the psychology of morality, identity, and pleasure. Bloom is the recipient of multiple awards and honors, including, most recently, the million-dollar Klaus J. Jacobs Research Prize. He has written for scientific journals such as Natureand Science, and for the New York Times, the New Yorker, and the Atlantic Monthly. He is the author or editor of eight books, including Against Empathy, Just Babies, How Pleasure Works, Descartes’ Baby, The Sweet Spot, and Psych: The Story of the Human Mind.