Robert Provine, psychology, has an essay in a newly published book entitled “This Explains Everything,” a collection of answers to Edge.org’s annual question for 2012. This year’s question was “What is your favorite deep, elegant, or beautiful explanation?” In Provine’s response, “Observers Observing,” he writes that “observation is the link between all empirical sciences, and the reason why physicists were among the founders of experimental psychology. The difference between psychology and physics is one of emphasis; both involve the process of observers observing. Physics stresses the observed, psychology the observer.”
Provine has also answered the annual question for 2013, “What should we be worried about?,” the answers to which are posted on the website. Provine writes in “The Gift of Worry” that “too much worry strands us in an agitated state of despair, anxiety and paranoia; too little leaves us without motivation and direction. Worry contributes life’s “to do” list, but its relentless prompts are unpleasant and we work to diminish them by crossing items off the list. The list is constantly fine-tuned and updated. As life’s problems are solved, topics of worry are extinguished, or if a dreaded event does not occur or becomes obsolete, we substitute new, more adaptive topics of concern. The bottom line? Stop worrying about worry. It’s good for you.”
Tags: CAHSS, Psychology
