mama's last hug Flashcards
automatons
a machine or control mechanism designed to follow automatically a predetermined sequence of operations or respond to encoded instructions “In our species, too, as covert filming has demonstrated, after we shake hands with another person, especially someone of the same sex, we often scent our own hand. We lift it casually close to our face to gather a chemical whiff that informs us about the other’s disposition. We do so unconsciously, as we do so many things that resemble the behavior of other primates. Nevertheless, we like to see ourselves as rational actors who know what we’re doing, while we depict other species as automatons. It’s really not that simple.” Automatic vs manual - automatic is more automaton like because it is designed to follow automatically a predetermined sequence of operations or respond to encoded instructions.
feelings
feelings are when you become conscious of your emotions. We show are emotions, but we talk about our feelings. “We are constantly in touch with our feelings, but the tricky part is that our emotions and our feelings are not the same. We tend to conflate them, but feelings are internal subjective states that, strictly speaking, are known only to those who have them. I know my own feelings, but I don’t know yours, except for what you tell me about them. We communicate about our feelings by language. Emotions, on the other hand, are bodily and mental states— from anger and fear to sexual desire and affection and seeking the upper hand—that drive behavior. Triggered by certain stimuli and accompanied by behavioral changes, emotions are detectable on the outside in facial expression, skin color, vocal timbre, gestures, odor, and so on. Only when the person experiencing these changes becomes aware of them do they become feelings, which are conscious experiences. We show our emotions, but we talk about our feelings.” MD - anger - fast heart pulse, blood rushing to the face, frown - these are emotions. Feelings - Hercules - “disapointed!!!!!”
emotions
emotions are when certain stimuli trigger physiological changes in our body. They seem involuntary. “We are constantly in touch with our feelings, but the tricky part is that our emotions and our feelings are not the same. We tend to conflate them, but feelings are internal subjective states that, strictly speaking, are known only to those who have them. I know my own feelings, but I don’t know yours, except for what you tell me about them. We communicate about our feelings by language. Emotions, on the other hand, are bodily and mental states— from anger and fear to sexual desire and affection and seeking the upper hand—that drive behavior. Triggered by certain stimuli and accompanied by behavioral changes, emotions are detectable on the outside in facial expression, skin color, vocal timbre, gestures, odor, and so on. Only when the person experiencing these changes becomes aware of them do they become feelings, which are conscious experiences. We show our emotions, but we talk about our feelings.”
contrition
the state of being contrite : REPENTANCE “But the feelings that accompany a reconciliation—contrition, forgiveness, relief—are knowable only to those who experience them. You may suspect that others have the same feelings as you, but you can’t be sure even with respect to members of your own species. Someone may claim they have forgiven another person, for example, but can we trust this information? All too often, despite what they have told us, they bring up the affront in question on the first occasion that arises. We know our own inner states imperfectly and often mislead both ourselves and those around us. We’re masters of fake happiness, suppressed fear, and misguided love. This is why I’m pleased to work with nonlinguistic creatures. I’m forced to guess their feelings, but at least they never lead me astray by what they tell me about themselves.” MD -
disabused
to free from deception At international meetings, Americans and Brits often mistake the extraordinary privilege of being able to speak in their mother tongue for intellectual superiority. Because no one is going to disagree with them in broken English, they are rarely disabused of this notion. We know the verb “abuse” as a word meaning “to misuse,” “to mistreat,” or “to revile.” But when “disabuse” first appeared in the early 17th century, there was a sense of “abuse,” now obsolete, that meant “to deceive.” Sir Francis Bacon used that sense, for example, when he wrote in 1605, “You are much abused if you think your virtue can withstand the King’s power.” The prefix dis- has the sense of undoing the effect of a verb, so it’s not surprising that disabuse means “to undeceive.” English speakers didn’t come up with the idea of joining “dis-“ to “abuse” all on their own, however. It was the French who first appended their prefix “dés-“ to their verb “abuser.” English “disabuse” is modeled after French “désabuser.” Abuse used to mean deceive. picture someone who has been abused deceiving those. if they were to find out the truth about the abuse, they would become disabused - dis has the sense of
pout
a protrusion of the lips expressive of displeasure or an attempt to looks sexy. “Similarly, if you observe, as Charles Darwin famously did in The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, that other primates employ human-like facial expressions in emotionally charged situations, you cannot get around similarities in their inner lives. They bare their teeth in a grin, they produce hoarse chuckling sounds when tickled, and they pout their lips when frustrated. This automatically becomes the starting point of your theories.” MD - Joe Kelly’s pouty face - protrusion of the lips P (push) -OUT (out the lips to look sexy or show displeasure)
hominid
any of a family (Hominidae) of erect bipedal primate mammals that includes recent humans together with extinct ancestral and related forms and in some recent classifications the great apes (the orangutan, gorilla, chimpanzee, and bonobo) One month before Mama turned fifty-nine and two months before Jan van Hooff’s eightieth birthday, these two elderly hominids had an emotional reunion. MD - 1 - family of bipedal primate mammals - family that humans belong to - features of a gingerbread man, bipedal, mammal,
mercurial
characterized by rapid and unpredictable changeableness of mood Chimpanzees don’t seem large to us, but their muscle strength far exceeds ours, and reports of horrific attacks are plentiful. Even the biggest human pro wrestler would come up short against an adult chimp. When I asked Jan if he would have done the same with any other chimp at the zoo, some of whom he had known for nearly as long, he said he’s too attached to life to even think about it. Chimpanzees are so mercurial that the only humans who are safe in their presence are those who have raised them, something that didn’t apply to Jan and Mama. Her being so weak now, though, changed the equation. Furthermore, she had expressed positive feelings about Jan so many times in the past that each of them had come to trust the other. This had given Jan the courage for his first and last in-person audience with the longtime queen of the colony at Burgers Zoo, in Arnhem, the Netherlands. Over MD - Mercury is the smallest and fastest planet in the solar system. It is also the closest planet to the sun. fast - rapid + unpredictable changeableness of mood. the planet going through different moods.
What is a human gesture that male chimpanzees and men have in common?
backslapping For the first time, they realized that a gesture that looks quintessentially human is in fact a general primate pattern. It is often in the little things that we best see evolutionary connections. These connections, by the way, apply to 90 percent of human expressions, from the way a few measly hairs stand on our bodies when we are frightened (goose bumps) to the way men and male chimpanzees slap each other’s backs in exuberance. We can see this forceful contact every spring when the chimps emerge from their building after a long winter. Finally enjoying the grass and sun, they stand around in little groups hooting, embracing, and backslapping.
the common ancestor of chimpanzees, bonobos, and sapiens existed… Since these three hominids have equally long histories behind them, they are equally “________________.” So looking at an ape reveals our __________________ history not only to us but also to the ape looking back at us. If apes are time machines for us, then we are the _____________ for them.
6 million years ago. “evolved,” shared, same One journalist was so enamored of a male chimpanzee in a sanctuary that when he looked into the ape’s eyes, he questioned his own identity: he felt like he was staring straight into his lost evolutionary past. In his desire to show respect, however, he unintentionally ended up being condescending. Extant apes are not merely time machines to show us our own evolutionary origins! While it is true that we descend from an apelike ancestor, the ancient species that gave rise to us no longer exists. It dwelled the earth about six million years ago, and its descendants went through numerous changes and died out one by one before giving rise to the survivors around today: the chimpanzee, the bonobo, and our own species. Since these three hominids have equally long histories behind them, they are equally “evolved.” So looking at an ape reveals our shared history not only to us but also to the ape looking back at us. If apes are time machines for us, then we are the same for them. show evolution tree for apes (picture in folder)
Emotions evolved, in short, for their capacity to induce _____________ ______________ to danger, competition, mating opportunities, and so on.
adaptive reactions Hebb was hinting at the prevailing view in biology that emotions orchestrate behavior. Taken by themselves, emotions are pretty useless: simply being fearful doesn’t do an organism any good. But if a fearful state prompts the organism to flee, hide, or counterattack, it may well save its life. Emotions evolved, in short, for their capacity to induce adaptive reactions to danger, competition, mating opportunities, and so on. Emotions are action-prone. Our species shares many emotions with the other primates because we rely on approximately the same behavioral repertoire. This similarity, expressed by bodies with similar design, gives us a profound nonverbal connection with other primates. Our bodies map so perfectly onto theirs, and vice versa, that mutual understanding is close behind. This is why Jan and Mama met as equals rather than as man and beast. MD -
qualified friendliness
Someone who is friendly to people who earn it. Even more than her physique, Mama’s dominance came from her persona. She had the air of a grandmother who had seen it all and didn’t take any nonsense from anybody. She demanded so much respect that the first time I looked into her eyes at face level across the water moat, I felt small. She had a habit of calmly nodding at you, to let you know she had noticed you. I had never sensed such wisdom and poise in any species other than my own. Her gaze was one of qualified friendliness: she was ready to understand and like you as long as you didn’t cross her. She even had a sense of humor. MD person with arm around someone (“earned it”) and wagging their finger at someone else saying “you don’t qualify.”
party whip
Both parties in the Senate elect whips. The term “whip” comes from a fox-hunting expression— “whipper-in”—referring to the member of the hunting team responsible for keeping the dogs from straying from the team during a chase. Established early in the 20th century, the development of party whips coincided with the evolution of party leaders in the Senate. Traditionally serving as assistant leaders, whips are mainly responsible for counting heads and rounding up party members for votes and quorum calls, and they occasionally stand in for the majority or minority leaders in their absence. Mama connected easily with everyone, both male and female, and had a support network like no other—she was a born diplomat. She also was not reluctant to enforce loyalty: she would take sides in male power struggles, choosing to support one male against another, but she would not tolerate other females expressing an alternative choice. Females who did so, who intervened in male battles on behalf of the “wrong” contender, would suddenly, later in the day, find themselves in trouble with Mama. She acted as party whip for her favorite candidate. MD - 1 - show party whip with a whip counting heads 2 - show party whip using the whip as a lasso to round up the party members for votes and quorum calls,
oratory
the art of speaking in public eloquently or effectively There was an enormous mismatch between what my generation wanted to be, as expressed in our passionate political oratory, and how we actually behaved. We were in total denial! MD - oratory. The grand orator. ““your face was plain, even hideous, you were morose and austere, but we all know that under that outer husk there beat an honest, friendly heart!”
triadic awareness
When an individual is aware of relationships outside their own. This event reflected what I call triadic awareness, or the understanding of relationships outside your own. Many animals obviously know whom they dominate, or whom their own family and friends are, but chimps go one step further by realizing who around them dominates whom and who is friends with whom. Individual A is aware not only of his own relationships with B and C but also of the B–C relationship. Her knowledge covers the entire triad. Similarly, Mama must have realized how much Nikkie depended on Yeroen. MD - A with lines to b and c showing that it is aware of these, but it also can look across and see the relationship between b and c.
One of the few nuts that chimpanzees can’t crack without their teeth.
macadamia “Once at a Japanese zoo, I saw they had set up a nut-cracking station for their chimpanzees. The enclosure contained a heavy anvil stone and a smaller hammer stone attached to it with a chain. The caretakers would throw a large number of macadamia nuts into the enclosure, and all the chimps would gather hand- and footfuls, then sit down. Macadamias are one of the few types of nut that chimps can’t crack with their teeth—they needed that nut-cracking station. First the alpha male cracked his nuts there, after which the alpha female did the same, and so on. The rest waited patiently for their turn. It was all extremely peaceful and orderly, and everyone managed to crack their nuts without problems. But underlying this order was violence: if one of them had tried to breach the established arrangement, chaos would have ensued. Even though this violence was mostly invisible, it structured society. And isn’t human society set up like this, too? It is orderly on the surface but is backed by punishment and coercion for those who fail to obey the rules. In both humans and other animals, giving in to one’s emotions without regard for the consequences is about the stupidest course of action to follow.” MD - Chimp breaking its teeth on a big mac
Difference between power and rank.
Rank is who submits to whom whereas power is how much influence an individual has on a group. MD - secretary. Low in the work rank hierarchy, but high in power because he regulates who has access to his boss. Power and rank are different things. We measure rank by who submits to whom. Chimpanzees do it by bowing and pant-grunting. The alpha male needs only to walk around, and others will rush toward him and literally grovel in the dust while uttering panting grunts. The alpha may underline his position by moving an arm over the others, jumping over them, or simply ignoring their greeting as if he doesn’t care. He is surrounded by massive deference. Mama received such rituals less often than any male would have, but all the other females would at least occasionally pay their respect to her, making her the top-ranking female. These outward signs of status reflect the formal hierarchy, the way the stripes on military uniforms tell us who ranks above whom. Power is something else entirely: it is the influence an individual exerts on group processes. Like a second layer, power hides behind the formal order. To give a human example, the longtime secretary of a company boss often regulates access to her employer, whether male or female, and makes lots of small decisions by herself. Most of us recognize her immense power and are smart enough to befriend her, even though formally she stands rather low on the totem pole. In the same way, social outcomes in a chimpanzee group often depend on who is. MD - chess board all the pieces submit to the King (high rank), but the Queen has the most influence on the board, she is able to affect all the pieces by her large span across the board. show the diagonal side and up movement of the queen.
listless
characterized by lack of interest, energy, or spirit So even though we don’t know how that blanket ended up near Mama’s remains, we can’t rule out that someone was trying to make her feel comfortable, perhaps in reaction to her icy state. The study of how apes and other animals respond to the death of others falls under thanatology, after the Greek god of nonviolent death, Thanatos. Grieving after death is hard to define, but in her 2013 book How Animals Grieve, Barbara King, an American anthropologist, proposes that a minimum requirement is that individuals who were close to the deceased markedly alter their behavior, such as by eating less, becoming listless, or guarding the spot where the dead was last seen.8 If the deceased is an offspring, a mother may keep the smelly corpse until it falls apart, as has been seen many times. A chimp mother in a West African forest carried her dead infant for no fewer than twenty-seven days. This reaction is natural enough in the primates, who transport young on their belly or back, but it has also been observed in dolphins. A mother dolphin may keep her dead calf’s body afloat for days. MD - unable to list what was on the shopping list, from a lack of energy 1 - not an interesting list, very boring things to buy like paper towels and crackers 2 - tired no brain power 3 - lacking spirit - I wish there was sage on this list for me to burn.
oxytocin
Hormone released in all mammals by the pituitary gland during sex and nursing. It induces labor (it is routinely administered in maternity wards to induce labor), but it also serves to foster bonds among adults. People who have just fallen in love have more oxytocin in their blood than do singles, and their high concentration lasts if their relationship lasts. When owner and dog stare into each other’s eyes, oxytocin levels are heightened. “only human.” Monogamy, or pair-bonding, is more typical of birds than mammals. In fact, very few primates are monogamous, and whether humans truly are is debatable. The accompanying emotions may be similar across species, though, as oxytocin is involved in all mammals. This ancient neuropeptide is released by the pituitary gland during sex, nursing, and birthing (it is routinely administered in maternity wards to induce labor), but it also serves to foster bonds among adults. People who have just fallen in love have more oxytocin in their blood than do singles, and their high concentration lasts if their relationship lasts. But oxytocin also shields pair-bonds from sexual adventures with outsiders. When married men are given this hormone in a nasal spray, they feel uncomfortable around attractive women and prefer to keep their distance. MD 1. hormone relased by the pituitary gland. MD - think of a couple bonding over olives. 1. olives have pits - pituitary gland 2. the olive is actually a baby in a tummy/the tit on a breast. - it induces breast feeding and labor. 3. Olive pairing - 1 who loves olives and one who doesn’t - pituitary gland - love is like oxytocin - 1. oxytocin leads to loe
Why does the prairie vole live a promiscuous life while the similar looking meadow vole forms pairs in which male and female mate exclusively with each other and raise pups together?
The prairie vole have far more oxytocin receptors in the reward centers of their brains than do meadow voles. “The meadow vole lives a promiscuous life, whereas the similar-looking prairie vole forms pairs in which male and female mate exclusively with each other and raise pups together. Prairie voles have far more oxytocin receptors in the reward centers of their brains than do meadow voles. As a result, they have an intensely positive association with sex, resulting in an “addiction” to the partner they had it with. Oxytocin ensures that they will bond. If these voles lose their mate, they show chemical brain changes suggesting stress and depression. They also become passive in the face of danger as if they don’t care anymore if they’ll live or die. So even these tiny rodents seem to know grief.” MD - picture the prairie vole praying at a wedding. and oxytocin receptors in their brains, whereas the meadow vulls are having woodstock hangout in a meadow.
Humans diverged from the ___________ about as long ago as ___________ and ______________ elephants did from each other, and they are genetically about as close or distant.
apes, African, Asian Humans diverged from the apes about as long ago as African and Asian elephants did from each other, and they are genetically about as close or distant. Yet we freely call both of those species “elephants” while obsessing over the specific point at which our own lineage moved from being an ape to being human. We even have special words for this process, such as hominization and anthropogenesis. That there was ever such a point in time is a widespread illusion, like trying to find the precise wavelength in the light spectrum at which orange turns into red. Our desire for sharp divisions is at odds with evolution’s habit of making extremely smooth transitions. MD - picture of humans diverging from ape branch. along side the asian and african elephant diverging.
ambivalence
simultaneous and contradictory attitudes or feelings (such as attraction and repulsion) toward an object, person, or action “The ape also shows the same ambivalence as a child. He pushes your fingers away, protecting its ticklish spots while trying to escape from you, but as soon as you stop, he comes back for more, putting his belly right in front of you. At this point, you need only point to it, not even touching it, and he will throw another fit of laughter.” MD - Latin ambi- “both, on both sides” (see ambi-) + valentia “strength,” abstract noun from present participle of valere “be strong” - picture someone ambidexterous using both hands with tennis rackets - but when on each racket their are contradictory attitudes like attraction and repulsion
origins of anthropomorphism.
Translates to human form. the term anthropomorphism, which means “human form,” comes from the Greek philosopher Xenophanes, who protested in the fifth century B.C. against Homer’s poetry because it described the gods as though they looked human. Xenophanes mocked this assumption, saying that if horses had hands, they would “draw their gods like horses.” MD - “Zeus hitting a homer and Xenophanes objecting, xenophobic - God’s are other -
Difference between empathy and sympathy
Sympathy, constructed from the Greek “sym,” meaning together, and “pathos,” referring to feelings or emotion, is used to describe when one person shares the same feelings of another, such as when someone close is experiencing grief or loss. Empathy is a newer word also related to “pathos,” but there is a greater implication of emotional distance. With “empathy” you can imagine or understand to how someone might feel, without necessarily having those feelings yourself. “They could go at it for hours until they’d plop down exhausted. Dogs and cats often get along well because they’re both eager to chase and grab moving objects. They’re also both mammals, which helps them relate to us. Other mammals recognize our emotions, and we recognize theirs. It’s this empathic connection that attracts humans to domestic cats (an estimated 600 million worldwide) and dogs (500 million) rather than, say, iguanas and fish. With that human-animal connection, however, comes our tendency to project feelings and experiences onto animals, often uncritically.” In the long-ago time of Adam Smith, before we had the term empathy, all this fell under sympathy. Nowadays, however, sympathy means something else. Empathy seeks information about another and helps us understand their situation, whereas sympathy reflects actual concern about the other and a desire to improve their situation. MD - parents seeing their daughter mess up on a solo in the sympathy - they experience the same feelings of embarrassment and sadness. whereas when the parents see the lost empanada they aren’t so sad, but they can understand how the empanada feels. There is a greater emotional distance.
corrugator muscles
The corrugator supercilii muscle, is a pyramidal-shaped muscle located near each eyebrow. The corrugator supercilii muscle functions to move the eyebrow down and inward toward the nose and inner eye. This muscle also functions to create vertical lines or wrinkles in the lower part of the forehead. It is the “frowning” muscle, and may be regarded as the principal muscle in the expression of suffering. We may say that our dog is “proud” of a ribbon he has won in a show or our cat is “embarrassed” that she missed a jump. We go to beach hotels to swim with dolphins, convinced that the animals must love this as much as we do. Lately, people have fallen for the claim that Koko, the late hand-signing gorilla in California, worries about climate change, or that chimpanzees have religion. As soon as I hear such suggestions, my corrugator muscles contract into a frown, and I ask for the evidence. Gratuitous anthropomorphism is distinctly unhelpful. Yes, dolphins have smiley faces, but since this is an immutable part of their visage, it fails to tell us anything about how they feel. And a dog carrying a ribbon may simply enjoy all the attention and goodies that come his way. MD - corrugated - alternating ridges and grooves, it creates a groove, vertical line on the forhead when the eyebrow is drawn downward and towards the center of the face.
timbre
“the quality of a sound made by a particular voice or musical instrument,” and is useful in being distinct from pitch, intensity, and loudness as a descriptor of sound. the resonance by which the ear recognizes and identifies a voiced speech sound Timbre is defined as ”that attribute of auditory sensation, in terms of which a listener can judge that two sounds similarly presented and having the same loudness and pitch are dissimilar” emotions “facial expression, skin color, vocal timbre, gestures, odor, and so on.” MD - 2 lumberjacks shouting “timbre!!!!” with same volume, pitch, but different
primate
any of an order (Primates) of mammals that are characterized especially by advanced development of binocular vision resulting in stereoscopic depth perception, specialization of the hands and feet for grasping, and enlargement of the cerebral hemispheres and that include humans, apes, monkeys, and related forms (such as lemurs and tarsiers) MD - King, phillip…soup - primates are order just above family hominidae. show human and lemer, what do they have in common, binocular vision resulting in steroscopic depth perception, specialization of the hands and feet for grasping - man hanging 10 with 2 lemers holding his arm. enlargement of the cerebral hemispheres in both.
contrite
feeling or showing sorrow and remorse for a sin or shortcoming A person who is contrite may have rubbed someone the wrong way and caused bruised feelings - and there is a hint about the origins of the word in that thought. Contrite came to English by way of Anglo-French from the Latin verb conterere, meaning “to grind” or “to bruise.” Conterere, in turn, was formed by combining the prefix com- and terere, meaning “to rub.” If you’ve guessed that trite is a cousin of contrite (through terere), you are correct. Other terere descendants in English include detriment and tribulation, and very possibly the familiar verb try. etymology - “con” - together; trite comes from trere MD - 1. after his trident was CONfiscated, and he had some time to think, he felt/showed remorse for a sin, poking people with the trident/shortcoming - his desire to poke people with the trident.
shortcoming
- a weakness in someone’s character : a personal fault or failing - a bad feature : a flaw or defect in something MD - etymology - from the phase come short. there’s a bar and the person falls short of the bar. antisemitism is gogol’s shortcoming. treat everyone with equality.
trite
hackneyed or boring from much use : not fresh or original Latin tritus, from past participle of terere to rub, wear away — more at THROW entry MD (done) - Trident - 3 spears - a fight between an axe and a trident, 1. the axe is hacking the trident in half - hackneyed 2. the trident is yawning - boring 3. and the 3 spears on the trident represent from much use. “students first, students first, students first”.
one-upmanship
the art or practice of outdoing or keeping one jump ahead of a friend or competitor engaged in a round of verbal one-upmanship We often had close-up grooming sessions through the bars of her bedroom, which she shared with her friend Kuif. While my relations with Mama were relaxed, I had to be careful with Kuif, who sometimes tried to provoke me, testing me out. Chimps are always in the game of one-upmanship, always seeking the limits of your or their dominance. Kuif sometimes grabbed at me through the bars—when Mama was sitting right next to her, having her back. Your best strategy in such cases is to stay calm and act as if you barely notice; otherwise things might escalate. In later years, my relationship with Kuif changed radically for the better. After helping her raise her first surviving offspring, I became her favorite human being. - “act or practice of being ‘one up,’” 1952, from noun phrase one up “scoring one more point than one’s opponent” (1919) + ending from sportsmanship, etc. MD - self explanatory. one-upmanship - let’s make sure we’re one ahead 2 ships, one ship is one ship lengths ahead. one-upmanship. we can refer to the ships art or practice of being up as the one upmanship.
saccharine (not in the sense of sugar)
3: ingratiatingly or affectedly agreeable or friendly jealousy as antiquated, and felt that any kind of ambition was suspect. The chimpanzee colony that I watched day in day out, on the other hand, showed all those “reactionary” tendencies in spades: power, ambition, and jealousy. Sitting there with my shoulder-length hair, nourished by saccharine songs such as “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Good Vibrations,” I went through a truly eye-opening period. Right away, as a human being, I was struck by the similarities between us and our closest relative: every primatologist goes through this “If this is an animal, what am I?” phase. But then, like a true hippie, I had to come to grips with behavior that my generation roundly denounced but that was common in apes. Instead of letting this affect the way I looked at apes, I began to better understand my own kind. MD - saccharide is a monosaccharide sugar or a combination of sugars. tom brady and a saccharine sacker. covering him in a syrup. “my what a great arm you have!”
in spades (expression)
to an unusually great degree : in the extreme MD - (made) Etymology. From the card game of bridge, in which spades is the highest suit. Perhaps influenced by phrases with similar meaning, “in spadefuls” or “in spate”.
calling a spade a spade
to say something the way it is or call something by it’s most suitable name even if the subject is considered coarse, impolite, or unpleasant. “Call a spade a spade” or “call a spade a shovel” are both forms of the figurative expression which state that the speaker should call, or has called, something by its most suitable name without any reservation to the strained formalities that may result. “Call a spade a spade” is a figurative expression. It is also referred to as “let’s call a spade a spade, not a gardening tool”, which refers to calling something “as it is”,[1] that is, by its right or proper name, without “beating about the bush”—being outspoken about it, truthfully, frankly, and directly, even to the point of being blunt or rude, and even if the subject is considered coarse, impolite, or unpleasant. Let’s not lie and say we like his pants, they are obviously too tight, you can see his woo hoo! You can see his spade, call a spade a spade. You can see his spade. I MD - (done) picture of man with spade
queuing (female chimpanzees)
The practice in female chimpanzees to achieve high rank through waiting it out instead of competing with each other. Decades of research on wild chimpanzees have shown that females compete very little over status and just wait it out, a process known as queuing. If a female lives long enough, she is bound to end up in a high position. Since they live dispersed over the forest and forage mostly on their own, achieving a high rank probably does not yield enough benefits for females to take risks for it. It’s not worth the trouble males go through.7 A MD (done) - a queue is a weighting line especially of persons or vehicles. so just picture a line of female chimpanzees and q is at the end of the alphabet so list the age of q being young like 7 years old while the others are pretty old. Females 38 years.
exude (as in exudes a cool self-confidence)
to display conspicuously or abundantly. Obviously, predators have a different emotional repertoire than species that need to constantly look over their shoulder. Predators exude a cool self-confidence (except when they meet their match), whereas prey animals know fifty shades of fear. They live in terror, and they startle at every unexpected movement, sound, or smell. This is why horses bolt and dogs don’t. We evolved from tree-dwelling fruit pickers—hence our frontal eyes, color vision, and grasping hands—but because of our size and special skills, we share a predator’s poise. This is probably why we get along so well with our favorite pets, which are two furry carnivores. In college, I had a black and white kitty named Plexie. About once a month, I would take Plexie on my bicycle, in a bag with her little head sticking out, for a playdate with her best friend, a short-legged puppy. The two of them had played together since they were little and kept doing so now that they MD (done) - Latin exsudare, from ex- + sudare to sweat spanish for sweat is sudar. - 1. sweat is displayed conspicuously 2. sweat is displayed abundantly - picutre sweat oozing out of pours - each sweat droplet is qualities - confidence, good chemistry, wealth and success - monopoly sweat drop.
shade (color)
a color slightly different from the one under consideration. Obviously, predators have a different emotional repertoire than species that need to constantly look over their shoulder. Predators exude a cool self-confidence (except when they meet their match), whereas prey animals know fifty shades of fear. They live in terror, and they startle at every unexpected movement, sound, or smell. This is why horses bolt and dogs don’t. We evolved from tree-dwelling fruit pickers—hence our frontal eyes, color vision, and grasping hands—but because of our size and special skills, we share a predator’s poise. This is probably why we get along so well with our favorite pets, which are two furry carnivores. In college, I had a black and white kitty named Plexie. About once a month, I would take Plexie on my bicycle, in a bag with her little head sticking out, for a playdate with her best friend, a short-legged puppy. The two of them had played together since they were little and kept doing so now that they MD - see folder orange In optics, orange has a wavelength between approximately 585 and 620 nm and a hue of 30° in HSV color space. In the RGB color space it is a secondary color numerically halfway between. All the shades of orange are all within the 585 - 620 nm wave length range.
antrhopodenial
Rejecting the similarity between humans and other animals. The anthropomorphism argument is rooted in human exceptionalism. It reflects the desire to set humans apart and deny our animality. To do so remains customary in the humanities and much of the social sciences, which thrive on the notion that the human mind is somehow our own invention. I myself, however, consider the rejection of similarity between humans and other animals to be a greater problem than the assumption of it. I have dubbed this rejection anthropodenial. It stands in the way of a frank assessment of who we are as a species. Our brains have the same basic structure as those of other mammals: we have no new parts and employ the same old neurotransmitters. Brains are in fact so similar across the board that in order to treat human phobias, we study fear in the rat’s amygdala. Dogs trained to lie still in a brain scanner show activity in the caudate nucleus when they expect a hot dog in the same way this region lights up in businessmen who are promised a monetary bonus. Instead of treating mental processes as a black box, as previous generations of scientists have done, we are now prying open the box to reveal a shared background. Modern neuroscience makes it impossible to maintain a sharp human-animal dualism. MD - (done) the dog expecting a hot dog has the same mental process as a business person who is promised a monetary bonus. picture the caudate nucleus of both dog and business man lighting up.
parsimonious
frugal to the point of stinginess. “Anthropomorphism is not nearly as bad as people think. With species like the great apes, it is in fact logical. Evolutionary theory almost dictates it, given that we know apes as “anthropoids,” which means “human-like.” We owe this term to Carl Linnaeus, the eighteenth-century Swedish biologist who based his classification on anatomy, but he could just as easily have done so on the basis of behavior. The simplest, most parsimonious view is that if two related species act similarly under similar circumstances, they must be similarly motivated. We don’t hesitate to make this assumption when comparing related species like horses and zebras, or wolves and dogs, so why change the rules for humans and apes? Fortunately,” MD - Purse moans at us, forcing us to e parsimonious. A purse saying don’t pay for that!
meta-communication
signals that communicate about communicating. “Laughter serves the same purpose: it puts other behavior into context. One chimp pushes another firmly to the ground and puts his teeth in her neck, leaving her no escape, but since both utter a constant stream of hoarse laughs, they stay totally relaxed. They know that this is just for fun. Since play signals help interpret other behavior, they are known as meta-communication: they communicate about communication.21 Similarly, if I approach a colleague and slap him on the shoulder with a laugh, he will perceive it quite differently than he would if I did so without a sound or without any expression on my face. My laugh delivers a meta-signal about the hand that hit him. Laughing reframes what we say or do and takes the sting out of potentially offensive remarks, which is why we use it all the time, even when nothing particularly amusing is going on.” - Mama’s last hug MD - smile when saying something mean. I don’t mean for this to sound mean. the laughter is used as a meta-signal even though what we’re saying is not funny. It’s meant to take the sting out of the potentially offensive remark.
panoply (not the full suit of armor worn by “hoplites,” heavily armed infantry soldiers of ancient Greece)
a magnificent or impressive array ex. the full panoply of a military funeral “He had no trouble producing the minutest movements, either symmetrically or asymmetrically, that conveyed small shifts in emotion. He could look angry, or angry masked with a broad smile, or pleased mixed with worry. You name it—his face could produce a panoply of subtle emotions on command. He would illustrate how a slight frown indicates one emotion, and a wrinkled nose another. We admired not only his facial acrobatics but also his evolutionary outlook, which at the time was exceptional in a psychologist. I speak of “acrobatics,” because” etymology - Panoply comes from the Greek word panoplia, which referred to the full suit of armor worn by “hoplites,” heavily armed infantry soldiers of ancient Greece. “Panoplia” is a blend of the prefix pan-, meaning “all,” and hopla, meaning “arms” or “armor.” (As you may have guessed already, “hopla” is also an ancestor of “hoplite.”) “Panoply” entered the English language in the 17th century, and since then it has developed other senses which extend both the “armor” and the “full set” aspects of its original use. etymology - pan - all, pan demic - pan - all; demos - people array - a range of a particular kind of thin
MD - peter pan - the broadway production of Pan was considered a “panoply,” 1. magnificent or impressive - he flew, there was an actual alligator! 2. array - there were also tights, captain hook had a hook
frisk
to move around in a lively or playful way. We have thus returned to Charles Darwin’s position in his 1872 book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. Darwin stressed that facial expressions are part of our species’s repertoire and pointed out similarities with monkeys and apes, suggesting that all primates have similar emotions. It was a landmark book— acknowledged by everyone in the field today—but it is the only major book by Darwin that, after its initial success, was promptly forgotten, then overlooked for almost a century before we returned to it. Why? Because hard-core scientists felt his language was too free and anthropomorphic. It embarrassed them when he wrote of a cat’s “affectionate frame of mind” when she rubs against your leg, a chimpanzee’s “disappointed and sulky” pouting of his lips, and cows that “frisk about from pleasure” while ridiculously throwing up their tails. What nonsense! Moreover, his suggestion that we convey our own noble sensibilities through facial movements that we share with “lower” animals was roundly insulting.
MD - Missy elliot get your frisk on - if you look at the dancers in the video they are moving around in a lively or playful way.
blush
a reddening of the face especially from shame, modesty, or confusion. Blushing remains an evolutionary mystery, especially for cynics who insist that the whole point of social life is the selfish exploitation of others. If this were true, wouldn’t we be much better off without blood uncontrollably rushing to our cheeks and neck, where the change in skin color stands out like a light tower? If blushing keeps us honest, we’d need to wonder why evolution equipped us and no other species with such a conspicuous signal. Or as Mark Twain put it: “Man is the only animal that blushes—or needs to.”
MD - shame, modesty, confusion - picture a son blushing at a toilet flushing competition. 1. his face reddening because of confusion - not knowing how to flush
- Shame - how will they all see me.
- modesty - winning gold ribbon and feeling proud.
knitted brow
to move the eyebrows together in a way that shows that one is thinking about something or is worried, angry, etc. But bonobos, with their flatter, more open face, frown easily, and they do so at the same moments as we do. While warning another one, for example, bonobos will narrow their eyes in a piercing stare with knitted brows, which looks exactly like the angry glower of our species.
MD - 1. knitting needles move towards each other so picture the eyebrows doing the same, 2. but one needle is angry and the other is worried
ethogram
a comprehensive list, inventory, or description of the behavior of an organism. We record the events leading up to the expression as well as how it affects others. Does a given signal start a fight, stop a fight, or pave the way for reconciliation? We have entire catalogs, known as ethograms, of the typical signals of every species, not just primates but also horses, elephants, crows, lions, chickens, hyenas, and so on. One of the first ethograms concerned the wolf, including all its tail movements, ear positions, hair raising, vocalizations, baring of teeth, and so on. Ethograms can be quite elaborate, indicating a rich repertoire. For mice and rats, we have them, too.
etymology - etho- (as in ethology) + -gram ethos - meaning nature or disposition; gram - comes from Greek, where it has the meaning “what is written. ‘’ It is attached to roots to form nouns that refer to something written or drawn, either by hand or machine: cardio- (= of or relating to the heart) + -gram → cardiogram (= a recording and diagram of a heartbeat, drawn by a machine).
MD - show a dog ears down tail between the legs - represents guilt. - 1. gram - show someone writing “a comprehensive list, inventory, or description of the behavior of an organism.” this gets to the ethos of an organism - the characteristic spirit.
- gram - what is written - comprehensive list, inventory or description of 2. ethos - nature or disposition- can be gathered by the behavior of an organism.
dog’s inner brow raise (puppy dog’s eyes)
the raise of the inner eyebrow makes dogs look sadder and more puppy like Dogs, too, have been studied for how they produce and perceive faces, including ours. We have concluded that they communicate intentionally from the fact that their faces change more in response to a watching human face than one who has turned his back. One common dog expression occurs when they pull their inner eyebrow, which enlarges their eyes. We fall for the cuteness of rounded faces with big eyes, a sensitivity massively exploited by animated movies. Dogs’ inner-brow pull makes them look sadder and more puppy-like, which even affects pet adoptions. Observers at shelters have noticed that dogs who direct this face at human visitors are rehomed more easily than those who fail to do so. Clearly, man’s best friend knows how to pull our emotional strings.10 People
MD - picture of puppy
everything in nature is a modification of something ___________________.
older Many questions surround the bared-teeth grin, such as how this toothy expression became a friendly one in our species and where it came from. The latter question may seem odd, but everything in nature is a modification of something older. Our hands came from the forelimbs of land vertebrates, which derived from the pectoral fins of fish. Our lungs evolved out of fish bladders. MD - show horse with hands. If horse’s had hands. Well this could one day occur because our hands evolved from the forelimbs of land vertebrates.
MD - Our hands came from the forelimbs of land vertebrates, which derived from the pectoral fins of fish. Our lungs evolved out of fish bladders.
ritualization
An evolutionary process in which the form or context of an action is altered because it comes to play a role in social communication.
“With regard to signals, too, we wonder about their origin. The process of transformation from earlier versions is known as ritualization. For example, we mimic the instrumental act of holding an old-fashioned phone by extending the thumb and pinky finger and holding them against our ear: this gesture has been transformed into a “call me!” signal. Ritualization does the same, but on an evolutionary scale. The woodpecker’s irregular tapping on a tree in order to find grubs became rhythmic drumming on hollow logs to announce a territory. And the soft chewing sounds that monkeys make when picking lice and ticks out of each other’s hair became a friendly greeting with lifted eyebrows and audible lip-smacking, as if to say “I’d love to groom you!”
MD - Woodpecker ritualization irregular tapping on a tree to find grubs –> one tapping a hollow log to announce its territory
- the context or form becomes altered - context - not searching for grubs, announcing its territory. And form - is it tapping the exact same way it would tap if it were searching for grubs? -> 2. because it comes to play a roll in social communication - not looking for grubs, communicating to other woodpeckers that the territory is taken. think of camp site.
MD - The funeral’s practice of burrying a dead became a ritual probably when our ancestors transitioned from nomadic to sedentary. They needed to dispose of decaying bodies.
derivation of the smile - Used by subordinate to __________ conflict and avoid the __________ of a dominant
diffuse, wrath
Used by subordinate to diffuse conflict and avoid the wrath of a dominant. The human smile derives from the nervous grin found in other primates. We employ it when there is a potential for conflict, something we are always worried about even under the friendliest circumstances. We bring flowers or a bottle of wine when we are invading other people’s home territory, and we greet each other by waving an open hand, a gesture thought to originate from showing that we carry no weapons. But the smile remains our main tool to improve the mood. Copying another’s smile makes everyone happier, or as Louis Armstrong sang: “When you’re smiling, the whole world smiles with you.” Wave is open hand gesture - thought to MD - UFC muscular dude fighting against Schweitzer.
MD - used by a subordinate to diffuse conflict and avoide the wrath of a dominant.
derivation of the wave
a gesture thought to originate from showing that we carry no weapons. The human smile derives from the nervous grin found in other primates. We employ it when there is a potential for conflict, something we are always worried about even under the friendliest circumstances. We bring flowers or a bottle of wine when we are invading other people’s home territory, and we greet each other by waving an open hand, a gesture thought to originate from showing that we carry no weapons. But the smile remains our main tool to improve the mood. Copying another’s smile makes everyone happier, or as Louis Armstrong sang: “When you’re smiling, the whole world smiles with you.”
MD - picture a gun firing harmful waves. These waves would not be presnet if someone was waving.
UFC experiment - The investigators concluded that smiling indicates a lack of physical ____________, and that the fighter who smiles the most is the one most in need of ________________.
dominance One study explicitly looked at this underdog quality of the smile in pictures taken right before matches in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The photographs show both fighters defiantly staring at each other. Analysis of a large number of pictures revealed that the fighter with the more intense smile was the one who’d end up losing the fight later that day. The investigators concluded that smiling indicates a lack of physical dominance, and that the fighter who smiles the most is the one most in need of appeasement. MD - “see derivation of the wave - schweitzer in a ufc ring with joe rogan”
mimetic muscles (mah ‘meh tic)
The facial muscles are a group of striated skeletal muscles supplied by the facial nerve (cranial nerve VII) that, among other things, control facial expression. These muscles are also called mimetic muscles. When a team of behavioral scientists and anthropologists finally tested the idea by carefully dissecting the faces of two dead chimpanzees, they found the exact same number of mimetic muscles as in the human face—and surprisingly few differences.15 We could have predicted this, of course, MD - MIMETIC - think of a mime imitating things - those with strong mimetic muscles are able to use their facial muscles well, muscles supplied by the facial nerve
human hearing range
Humans can detect sounds in a frequency range from about 20 Hz to 20 kHz. (Human infants can actually hear frequencies slightly higher than 20 kHz, but lose some high-frequency sensitivity as they mature; the upper limit in average adults is often closer to 15–17 kHz.) Panksepp noticed that rats like being tickled by human fingers, so much so that they will come back for more. When you withdraw your hand and move it somewhere else, they will follow, seeking out stimulation while uttering bursts of 50-kHz chirps that are above the human hearing range. MD - 20/20 hearing 20 hertz to 20 kilohertz
kilohertz (KHz)
1000 hertz Panksepp noticed that rats like being tickled by human fingers, so much so that they will come back for more. When you withdraw your hand and move it somewhere else, they will follow, seeking out stimulation while uttering bursts of 50-kHz chirps that are above the human hearing range. One - kilo - 1,000
enteric nervous system
a network of millions of neurons embedded in the lining of the digestive tract a network of millions of neurons embedded in the lining of the digestive tract—may give us butterflies of anxiety in the pit of our stomach, which in turn tells our brain what we feel For example, the enteric nervous system—a network of millions of neurons embedded in the lining of the digestive tract—may give us butterflies of anxiety in the pit of our stomach, which in turn tells our brain what we feel. Because of the enteric system’s autonomy, it is also called our “second brain. MD - food can’t enter the brain, but it can ENTER the enteric nervous system.
why does fight or flight give us cold feet?
Blood flow is directed toward our larger organs that are more crucial to survival, and thus our extremities are left with sensations of being cold. fight-or-flight response literally gives us “cold feet” as blood is drawn away from the extremities. In one episode of the MythBusters television show, heat sensors were placed on the feet of people who were faced with tarantulas crawling over them or taking a frightening ride in a stunt plane. The drops in temperature were astonishing. Our feet freeze when we’re afraid, a reaction that we share with fearful rats, which get cold tails and paws. - MD - quadriceps and heart (larger organs) will get you away from the lion, not your feet and hands.
feelings vs. emotions
emotions - changes in our body feelings - when we become aware of them and give them a name. I find it hard to explain this outcome without inferring subjective experiences. This is not just about emotions anymore, which may be automatically triggered, but also about feelings. Feelings arise when emotions penetrate our consciousness, and we become aware of them. We know that we are angry or in love because we can feel it. We may say we feel it in our “gut,” but in fact we detect changes all over our body. How could the apes in Lisa’s experiment have selected the right facial expression unless they felt something? Most likely, they felt good or bad from the videos, which then helped them decide which face would go with them. Lisa’s temperature measures confirmed that they solved the task emotionally rather than intellectually. Her experiment left us with the intriguing possibility that apes are about as conscious of their feelings as we are. MD - think of emoticon - smiley face for emotion, vs. language used to describe that emotion - feelings.
botox
Botox is a drug made from a neurotoxin produced by a bacterium. When injected, the neurotoxin moves from the dermis into the desired muscle and blocks the synapses between the nerve. After the injection moves from the dermis and into the desired muscle, the nerves there are blocked—rather, their synapses, are blocked—by the Botox. So even though your brain may fire and signal for your body to move a particular muscle, Botox effectively blocks that firing and keeps the muscle from moving. The injected muscle can no longer contract, which causes the wrinkles to relax and soften, and also helps prevent new ones from forming. “This has become a problem for people whose faces have been injected with Botox. Their muscle relaxation keeps them from mirroring the faces of others, which robs them of feeling what others feel. Botoxed people may look wonderful, but they have trouble empathizing. And the problem is not just in how they relate to others, but also how others relate to them. Botoxed faces look frozen, missing the stream of micro-expressions employed in daily interactions. Their facial unresponsiveness makes others feel cut off, rejected even.12” MD - Bo tox - 1. tox for neruotoxin and 2 Bo - blocking the synapse of the neuron so that communication that the brain sends to the muscle is not received. Since muscle can no longer contract, the wrinkles relax and soften. see diagram.
visceral
The “viscera” are the internal organs of the body-especially those located in the large cavity of the trunk (e.g., the heart, liver, and intestines). figurative sense - felt in or as if in the internal organs of the body : DEEP “Does this mean we care more about the mistreatment of one canine, who survived, than about the violent deaths of over a million human civilians and soldiers? Rationally speaking, I can’t imagine that we do, but our visceral reactions are informed by our senses, not by numbers.” tie to biology The “viscera” are the internal organs of the body-especially those located in the large cavity of the trunk (e.g., the heart, liver, and intestines). The word viscera comes from Latin, in which it has essentially the same meaning. Something “visceral” has to do with the viscera. In a more figurative sense, something “visceral” is felt “deep down.” Even in the early years of its use, “visceral” often referred to things emotional rather than physiological. For example, in 1640, an English bishop named Edward Reynolds wrote, “Love is of all other the inmost and most visceral affection.” This figurative use is the most common use of “visceral,” but the word continues to be used in medical contexts as well. MD - viscous - picture all of the internal organs of the chess cavity being prepared in a blender - the blender is the chess cavity. And this is felt.
synchronization and mimicry in nature
when multiple dolphins jump out of the water as one or when pelicans fly by in seamless formation Synchronization and mimicry are common in nature, such as when multiple dolphins jump out of the water as one or when pelicans glide by in seamless formation. We also see it in animals under human care. When two horses are trained to pull a cart together, they will initially push and pull against each other, each following its own rhythm. But after years of working together, they end up acting as one, fearlessly pulling the cart at breakneck speed through water obstacles during cross-country marathons. They will object to even the briefest separation, as if they have become a single organism. The same principle operates among sled dogs. Perhaps the most extreme case is that of a female husky who went blind but still ran along with the rest, based on her ability to smell, hear, and feel them. Bodily
