Pebbles, Vol. 9

1. Steven Pinker on genes, personality and behaviour (Pointer)

2. I’ve learned a new word. It’s “relatable”, as in: ‘Marketing considerations [...] account for the virtual absence from the screen of children between the ages of newborn (when they appear briefly, to puke on the star for the trailer) and that of the Macauley Culkin character in “Home Alone.” Why have a four-year-old character, when one who is ten will prompt ten-year-olds to find him “relatable,” and four-to-nine-year-olds to look up to him?’

3. Are many reported correlations between psychometric and brain area activation measures dramatically inflated? Paper, Q&A with links to commentary around the web, rebuttal, rejoinder. (Pointer 1, Poiner 2)