full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Molly Crockett: Beware neuro-bunk

Unscramble the Blue Letters


So speaking of love and the biarn, there's a researcher, known to some as Dr. Love, who cailms that scientists have found the glue that holds sctieoy together, the source of love and prosperity. This time it's not a cehsee sandwich. No, it's a hormone called oxytocin. You've probably heard of it. So, Dr. Love bases his argument on studies showing that when you boost people's oxytocin, this inreacses their trust, empathy and cooperation. So he's cnilalg oyxctoin "the moral mlouecle."

Now these studies are scientifically valid, and they've been rtielcaped, but they're not the whole sotry. Other studies have shown that boosting oxytocin increases envy. It increases gloating. Oxytocin can bias people to favor their own group at the expense of other groups. And in some cases, oxytocin can even decrease cooperation. So based on these studies, I could say oxytocin is an immoral molecule, and call myself Dr. Strangelove. (Laughter)

Open Cloze


So speaking of love and the _____, there's a researcher, known to some as Dr. Love, who ______ that scientists have found the glue that holds _______ together, the source of love and prosperity. This time it's not a ______ sandwich. No, it's a hormone called oxytocin. You've probably heard of it. So, Dr. Love bases his argument on studies showing that when you boost people's oxytocin, this _________ their trust, empathy and cooperation. So he's _______ ________ "the moral ________."

Now these studies are scientifically valid, and they've been __________, but they're not the whole _____. Other studies have shown that boosting oxytocin increases envy. It increases gloating. Oxytocin can bias people to favor their own group at the expense of other groups. And in some cases, oxytocin can even decrease cooperation. So based on these studies, I could say oxytocin is an immoral molecule, and call myself Dr. Strangelove. (Laughter)

Solution


  1. society
  2. oxytocin
  3. molecule
  4. cheese
  5. calling
  6. replicated
  7. claims
  8. brain
  9. story
  10. increases

Original Text


So speaking of love and the brain, there's a researcher, known to some as Dr. Love, who claims that scientists have found the glue that holds society together, the source of love and prosperity. This time it's not a cheese sandwich. No, it's a hormone called oxytocin. You've probably heard of it. So, Dr. Love bases his argument on studies showing that when you boost people's oxytocin, this increases their trust, empathy and cooperation. So he's calling oxytocin "the moral molecule."

Now these studies are scientifically valid, and they've been replicated, but they're not the whole story. Other studies have shown that boosting oxytocin increases envy. It increases gloating. Oxytocin can bias people to favor their own group at the expense of other groups. And in some cases, oxytocin can even decrease cooperation. So based on these studies, I could say oxytocin is an immoral molecule, and call myself Dr. Strangelove. (Laughter)

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
cheese sandwich 4
treated unfairly 2
brain image 2
people agree 2
brain scans 2
spect imaging 2
mental illness 2


Important Words


  1. argument
  2. based
  3. bases
  4. bias
  5. boost
  6. boosting
  7. brain
  8. call
  9. called
  10. calling
  11. cases
  12. cheese
  13. claims
  14. cooperation
  15. decrease
  16. dr
  17. empathy
  18. envy
  19. expense
  20. favor
  21. gloating
  22. glue
  23. group
  24. groups
  25. heard
  26. holds
  27. hormone
  28. immoral
  29. increases
  30. laughter
  31. love
  32. molecule
  33. moral
  34. oxytocin
  35. people
  36. prosperity
  37. replicated
  38. researcher
  39. sandwich
  40. scientifically
  41. scientists
  42. showing
  43. shown
  44. society
  45. source
  46. speaking
  47. story
  48. strangelove
  49. studies
  50. time
  51. trust
  52. valid