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Trent Smith on Deep Capture and Obesity – The Video
Posted on September 29, 2015
In the fall of 2014, Trent Smith delivered a talk titled “The Economics of Information, Deep Capture, and the Obesity Debate.” Here’s the abstract and, below that, the video of his talk. Are consumers susceptible to manipulation by large corporations? Or are consumers basically rational, able to decide for themselves what to buy and how […]
Posted in Behavioral Economics, Choice Myth, Deep Capture, Events, Legal Theory, Video | 2 Comments »
Trent Smith on Deep Capture and Obesity – SALMS Talk Friday!
Posted on September 9, 2014
The Economics of Information, Deep Capture, and the Obesity Debate When: Friday 09/12/14 – 12-1pm Where: WCC 1023 Are consumers susceptible to manipulation by large corporations? Or are consumers basically rational, able to decide for themselves what to buy and how to live? This lecture will argue that these seemingly contradictory views of the American […]
Posted in Events, SALMS | Leave a Comment »
Natasha Schvey on Obesity in the Courtroom – Today!
Posted on November 1, 2013
When: Friday 11/01/13 12-1pm Where: WCC 2012 Today, join Section 6’s Ninja Tortles and the Student Association for Law and Mind Sciences (SALMS) for a talk by Natasha Schvey on bias against overweight defendants in the courtroom. Schvey, a doctoral student in clinical psychology at Yale University, has focused her research on obesity, weight stigma, […]
Posted in Events, SALMS, Situationist Contributors | Leave a Comment »
The Evolutionary Biology of Obesity
Posted on March 13, 2012
Harvard’s Daniel Lieberman, Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology, speaks about the evolutionary origins of today’s obesity epidemic. For more on the situation of eating, see Situationist contributors Adam Benforado, Jon Hanson, and David Yosfion’s law review article Broken Scales: Obesity and Justice in America. For a listing of numerous Situaitonist posts on the situational sources of obesity, click here.
Posted in Choice Myth, Evolutionary Psychology, Food and Drug Law, History, Life, Video | 1 Comment »
An Inspiring Story or Another Distorted Messages on Obesity?
Posted on March 27, 2011
Earlier in the week, I wrote about the problems I saw with Joe D’Amico’s all-McDonald’s diet “experiment” leading up to the L.A. Marathon. It turns out that that was not the only potentially troubling obesity-related story coming out of the marathon. The media was also very excited to report on Kelly Gneiting becoming the heaviest […]
Posted in Life | 2 Comments »
The Viral Situation of Obesity
Posted on September 21, 2010
From UC San Diego News: The emerging idea that obesity may have an infectious origin gets new support in a cross-sectional study by University of California, San Diego School of Medicine researchers who found that children exposed to a particular strain of adenovirus were significantly more likely to be obese. The study will be published […]
Posted in Choice Myth, Food and Drug Law | Leave a Comment »
The Policy Situation of Obesity
Posted on March 12, 2010
In 2004, Peter Jennings hosted an outstanding report, titled “How To Get Fat Without even Trying,” in which he explored some of the situational factors, including federal government agricultural policies and food industry practices, that are contributing to Americas obesity epidemic. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * […]
Posted in Choice Myth, Deep Capture, Education, Food and Drug Law, Life, Marketing, Public Relations, Video | Leave a Comment »
The Distributional Situation of Obesity
Posted on May 18, 2009
William Underhill had a nice summary of recent research on one of the situational causes of obesity: inequality. Here are some excerpts. * * * What makes Americans so fat? Don’t blame the doughnuts. That extra heft could be symptomatic of a malaise prevalent in all the world’s least equal societies. According to “The Spirit […]
Posted in Distribution, Emotions | 2 Comments »
Situational Obesity, or, Friends Don’t Let Friends Eat and Veg
Posted on August 2, 2007
No one would deny that your friends have a profound effect on your personality and what you find to be socially acceptable. A group of friends develops inside jokes, shared history, and gestures that instantly convey complex meanings. They also influence each member’s views of how people should act in groups and what is acceptable […]
Posted in Choice Myth, Food and Drug Law, Life | 6 Comments »
Systemic Justice Project in The Globe
Posted on February 7, 2015
Below are excerpts from Courtney Humphries’s superb Boston Globe article about the Systemic Justice Project at Harvard Law School (cartoon by Sam Washburn and photo by Justin Saglio, both for the Globe): From the first day, it’s clear that law professor Jon Hanson’s new Systemic Justice class at Harvard Law School is going to be […]
Posted in Education, Law, Legal Theory, Public Policy, Situationist Contributors | Leave a Comment »
Legal theory must incorporate discoveries from biology and behavioral sciences
Posted on October 15, 2013
Some recent discoveries in evolutionary biology, ethology, neurology, cognitive psychology and behavioral economics impels us to rethink the very foundations of law if we want to answer many questions remain unanswered in legal theory. Where does our ability to interpret rules and think in terms of fairness in relation to others come from? Does the […]
Posted in Legal Theory, Morality, Neuroscience, Philosophy | 3 Comments »
Alex Laskey on Social Situation of Energy Use
Posted on June 9, 2013
From TED: What’s a proven way to lower your energy costs? Would you believe: learning what your neighbor pays. Alex Laskey shows how a quirk of human behavior can make us all better, wiser energy users, with lower bills to prove it. Related Situationist posts: Christakis Speaks to Harvard Freshmen about Social Networks The Scalability of Cities […]
Posted in Education, Environment, Video | Leave a Comment »
The Situational Benefits of Compassion
Posted on May 20, 2013
Emma Seppala, for The Observer, has an outstanding overview of some of the health consequences and contagiousness of compassion. Here is a portion of her article: Decades of clinical research has focused and shed light on the psychology of human suffering. That suffering, as unpleasant as it is, often also has a bright side to […]
Posted in Altruism, Distribution, Emotions, Morality, Positive Psychology | 2 Comments »
Robert Lustig on Effects and Politics of Sugar
Posted on December 31, 2012
Dr. Robert Lustig (Sugar: The Bitter Truth) speaks at Yale’s Peabody Museum on the policy and politics of the “Sugar Pandemic.” Hosted by the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity. Related Situationist posts: The Situation of How We Became Fat – Part 3 The Situation of How We Became Fat – Part 2 The Situation of […]
Posted in Food and Drug Law, Politics, Video | Leave a Comment »
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