Stream Your Event | Partners | Speakers CART ITEMS: - | CHECKOUT

Neuroscience and Sociology: David Brooks

Watch Full Video | previews

The Aspen Institute

Info
Bio
Chapters
Preview
Download
Zoom In

Ideas Festival: David Brooks on Human Behavior

08 min 42 sec

Add to Profile

New York Times opinion columnist David Brooks explains the subtle difference between unconscious human behavior and the conscious side.
David Brooks on Conscious and Unconscious Human Behavior

05 min 34 sec

Add to Profile

David Brooks, New York Times opinion columnist, explains the subtle difference between unconscious human behavior and the conscious side.
David Brooks: Innovations in Neuroscience and Sociology

03 min 33 sec

Add to Profile

David Brooks, opinion columnist for the New York Times, discusses the relationship between innovations in neuroscience and trends in sociology.
Watch Full Program

01 hr 01 min 10 sec

Add to Profile

There are 4 comments on this program

Please or register to post a comment.

Previous FORAtv comments:

theknopfknows

Posted: 12.17.11, 06:34 PM

WILL POWER! FREEDOM TO LOVE; LOVE IS THE FREE WILL. There is an affection within Family that is not available to persons outside the Family Therefore to do good work= Your at your best WHEN YOU LOVE "its not who you love but do you love Free Will Love Freely

brux

Posted: 03.09.11, 03:49 PM

Brooks seems like an amazingly nervous wanna-be comedian. I'm missing the neuroscience ones though. The title of neuroscience and sociology seems to indicate some learning taking place, some transfer or knowledge, but much of this is emotional pandering and first order approximations of problem solving. We can say we are trying to reduce the education gap, but our whole economy is geared towards snagging people's vulnerabilities and dragging them down purposefully to refine the political hierarchy ... a positive feedback loop that would lead directly to the world views he speaks out about. The mythology that he promotes here I think is meant to appeal to old conservatives, but it is wrong. We deliberately impose the IQ we do in order to promote political stability in my opinion. The parking ticket analogy is like a status symbol, we are in love in corruption in the US, but we cannot admit it or it could not continue. Brooks is intelligent, clever, entertaining and likable, but what our society deliberately steers everyone away from is not something most people are going to see, like the orbits in orbits in orbits used to prop up the old circular view of the universe, without a grounding in looking at the world from an objective generic human being's point of view, GIGO. What I don't understand is how all that brainpower he has and intellectualism, vision and ideas interfaces with the Republican party ... what does he see as this long term vision of the Republican, or conversely what is missing in the Democrats - or does he care and just wants a job that allows him access to the media?

Aqbal Singh

Posted: 11.09.08, 09:02 AM

I agree - it was a great talk. A unhurried but clear overview of the "intellectual revolution" in the area of "non-cognitive skills", i.e. the non-conscious structures and processes that make for better adapted or more successful individuals. Where it gets interesting is the discussion of strategies to help those challenged in these areas. It seems to boil down to maximising caring, nurturing and mentoring relationships right through life. So this involves both seeking and forming such relationships as a win-win exchange with one's society. Something we should keep in mind in this age of rapid mobility and transient relationships at work and cities, especially for our children. David Brooks links the science beautifully to his conception of "conservatism" as "epistemological modesty" where you respect the complexity of the human person or society (both resultants of the interplay of processes whose exact natures are unknown) which you are trying to reform. I was moved by his reference to Hofstader who had an insight when contemplating his deceased wife - that the two had fused into one unit that survived her death and that this integrated unit could somehow perpetuate the family and facilitate the parenting of his orphaned children. "The two shall be one flesh". I am paraphrasing a lot. David's own style is much more conversational and accessible.

seidman

Posted: 08.26.08, 05:18 PM

Neuroscience and Organizational Transformation

This was a great talk. I was particularly interested in the importance of the emotional connection to driving the learning process. While the importance of emotion to learning intuitively makes sense it is good to have this verified. We have been applying the concepts of neuroscience to organizational transformation, mostly in the private sector. One of the challenges is to develop a repeatable structure that both allows for and guides human connection between people in otherwise dehumanizing organizations and also, surprisingly, between people and the emotional quality of visoinary goals. Presenting people with a sufficiently motivating vision seems to have a similar effect on learning as a direct personal connection. I look forward to reading the book.