EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E 
Buddhism and Modern Psychology
Robert Wright, Princeton University
https://www.coursera.org/#course/psychbuddhism
C O U R S E   L E C T U R E 
The Modular Theory of the Mind
Notes taken on March 22, 2016 by Edward Tanguay
the module theory of the mind
various modules that can take control of the mind and body for at least awhile
if there are modules, this would help explain how the mind could operate effectively without there being a single unified self in control
there are a number of command modules and they take turns running the show
Douglas Kenrick
Arizona State University
"The Rational Mind" (2013)
modular view of the mind
when it comes to our social behavior, we are pretty much always under the influence of one of seven modules that Kenrick calls subselves
subself
suggests that there is a main self
but this is not what Kenrick meant to convey by the term
there's not a module that acts as controlling CEO
these modules are all like cabinet secretaries
the seven modules
seven main kinds of challenges that our ancestors had to meet in order to get their genes into the next generation
1. self-protection
the ability to fend off harm
2. mate attraction
find someone with whom to mate
3. mate retention
protection, companionship, and further mating
4. affiliation
making friendships, cementing alliances
5. kin care
taking care of other people who share your genes
6. status
show you are someone who is worthy within your group
7. disease avoidance
stay away from people and things which may make you ill
seeks to explain in evolutionary terms why
is an explanation which attempts to explain the division of mental labor
enables us to get a handle of looking at module models of the mind
whichever module is most highly activated by information in the environment will tend to become dominant for a period of time
is someone is running toward you waving a machete saying he is going to kill you, your self-protection module would become high active, dominant, and then controlling your behavior
how much value is added when we talk in terms of modules
we already know that fear makes people run away
it enables us to talk of human behavior in a way that is more based on the physical reality of the brain
what does it mean that one module is currently in charge
experiment: created two advertisements of a museum with two different taglines
1. "visited by over a million people each year"
2. "stand out from the crowd"
changed the appeal of the tagline by changing which module was in charge at that moment
showed scenes from the movie "The Shining"
more inclined to visit the museum when seeing the ad with the tagline "visited by over a million people each year"
fear module is activated and there is safety in numbers
showed scenes from a romantic movie "Before Sunrise"
more inclined to visit the museum when seeing the ad with the tagline "stand out from the crowd"
when we are in courtship mode, we are trying to stand out from other people
afterwards showed ad to museum
asked how inclined they would be to visit the museum
one would think that which tagline one would be more influenced by would be a matter of one's personality, not the dominant mode they are in
advertisers generally think this way, viewing different ads as appealing to different kind of people
this experiment showed that it was more based on the subself that was dominant at the moment
experiment: time-discounting rate
inter-temporal utility function
your willingness to forgo reward in the short term for greater reward in the future
e.g. you can have 10 dollars today or 15 dollars in a month
how you answer questions of this kind determine what your time-discount rate is
economists have long said that people have different rates
but they also have stated that a single person's time-discount rate will remain the same
experiments have shown this to be otherwise
Margo Wilson and Martin Daly
showed picture of attractive women to men
showed other men pictures of less attractive women, men, or cars
the men who saw the pictures of attractive women were then more inclined to want their money immediately
the mind module explanation is that when the courting module is activated, it wants to have all its resources there to attract the mate
there doesn't seem to be anything conscious going on here, e.g. that they want to impress the picture
it's just that their minds have the a specific mode activated
but a mere picture of a women triggers this response
reminds us that we were designed by natural selection for an environment that is different than the current environment
throughout evolution, we didn't have cameras so if we saw an attractive, potential mate, then there was an attractive potential mate there, and our minds still react in this way
experiment
high school males
filled out survey about career aspirations
some filled it out in a room full of males
some filled it out in a room with males and females
more inclined to have higher career aspirations
in particular making money was important
it's doubtful that this was some kind of enduring change
their minds were being prepared for a kind of self-advertisement
they were preparing themselves if they got the chance to talk to the females in the room
it doesn't seem to be conscious strategy as it was clear that the females were not going to see their surveys
the participants were told not to talk to each other
these two experiments were also performed on females
the effect in question was not found in females
in an evolutionary view of sexual psychology, there will be some differences between men and women