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By leading the Americans in his audience at TEDxPSU step by step through the thought process, sociologist Sam Richards sets an extraordinary challenge: can they understand -- not approve of, but understand -- the motivations of an Iraqi insurgent? And by extension, can anyone truly understand and empathize with another?

Richard Abibon voilà un exemple typique de la soumission aux diktats d'une obligation de diagnostic : l'un est pour ceci l'autre pour cela. et alors viendra un troisième pour proposer encore une autre solution, pourquoi pas? chacun pense avec sincérité que son diagnostic est le bon. et alors? et si c'était l'autre qui avait raison? et alors? ça avance à quoi à part, dans les deux cas, se tromper de discipline. alors en plus, si on base le diagnostic sur l'examen du visage, on en retourne au délit de faciès, voire au "criminel né" de Lombroso.

Nice review of research on geographic differences in word-sorting and mental categories. Mentions the research of Richard Nisbett, The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently and Why.

Richard Brodie's essay describing the origins and evolution of consciousness. Level 1 - people are not aware - Level 2 - people understand - Level 3 - people understand, act and add value

It is said in the 18th century the American general Israel Putnam once invited a British general to a novel test of nerves. Both were to sit on barrels of gunpowder, and the fuses were to bit lit. The last man to run away would be the winner. The unnamed British general accepted Putman's challenge. But as the fuses burned, he became increasingly fidgety while Putnam sat calmly, smoking his pipe. At the last moment the British general fled. Putnam stayed seated; he knew that both barrels were filled with onions. For several hundred years the Tower of London was home to a menagerie of wild animals, including a number of lions that later became the basis of a hoax. Dawk's News-Letter for April 2, 1698, announced: "Yesterday being the one April several persons were sent to the Tower of London to watch the annual lion-washing ceremony." This fictitious event continued to attract gullible visitors. Indeed, 158 years later, in 1856, many bought tickets to attend the ceremony. They were unaware of the significance of the date, April 1, or that the lions had been moved to the London Zoo 21 years before.