Intelligence and the rationality of political preferences. Yoav Ganzach. Intelligence, Volume 69, July–August 2018, Pages 59-70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2018.05.002
Highlights
• We show that in political behavior intelligence is related to rationality.
• Intelligence is operationalized as achievement in standard mental ability tests.
• Rationality is operationalized as consistency between attitudes and preferences.
• Political attitudes are measured on a conservative-liberal dimension.
• Political preferences are measured by party affiliation.
Abstract: I study the relationship between intelligence and the rationality of political preferences. Intelligence is operationalized as achievement in standard mental ability tests, rationality as consistency between political attitudes and political preferences and consistency as the effect of the interaction between intelligence and political attitudes on political preferences. Political preferences are measured by party affiliation – support for the Democratic versus the Republican Party in the US – and political attitudes are measured on a conservative-liberal dimension. I analyze three large representative American databases and find that for global political attitudes and for specific social attitudes, but not for specific economic attitudes, intelligence is associated with a considerable more attitude-preference consistency (ΔR2 of 2.7% 0.9%, and 0.9%, in Study 1, 2 and 3, respectively, corresponding to f2 of 0.014, 0.011 and 0.035, respectively). I conclude with a discussion of possible causal processes underlying the observed relationship between intelligence and consistency of political attitudes.
Tuesday, June 19, 2018
Same-sex courtship behaviors in male-biased populations: Found more male-male sexual interactions in male-biased populations and a significant decrease of these behaviors after consecutive days of observation
Same-sex courtship behaviors in male-biased populations: evidence for the mistaken identity hypothesis. Anthony Macchiano, Imran Razik, Maria Sagot. acta ethologica, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10211-018-0293-8
Abstract: Same-sex sexual behaviors (SSSB) have been recorded in nearly all major animal groups and are often found in populations with skewed sex ratios (SR). Here, we study the role of sex ratios in the frequency of SSSB to better understand the conditions that give rise to such puzzling behaviors. We observed SSSB in multiple populations of the common fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) after manipulation of sex ratios. We also recorded male responses after being pursued by other males. We found more male-male sexual interactions in male-biased populations and a significant decrease of these behaviors after consecutive days of observation. Males pursued by other males reacted to such encounters. Our results provide support for the mistaken identity hypothesis, in which males are unable to differentiate between sexes at first encounter. With this work, we help elucidate possible social conditions that facilitate the appearance of such intriguing behaviors in nature.
Keywords: Same-sex interactions Homosexual behavior Sex ratios Drosophila melanogaster
Abstract: Same-sex sexual behaviors (SSSB) have been recorded in nearly all major animal groups and are often found in populations with skewed sex ratios (SR). Here, we study the role of sex ratios in the frequency of SSSB to better understand the conditions that give rise to such puzzling behaviors. We observed SSSB in multiple populations of the common fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) after manipulation of sex ratios. We also recorded male responses after being pursued by other males. We found more male-male sexual interactions in male-biased populations and a significant decrease of these behaviors after consecutive days of observation. Males pursued by other males reacted to such encounters. Our results provide support for the mistaken identity hypothesis, in which males are unable to differentiate between sexes at first encounter. With this work, we help elucidate possible social conditions that facilitate the appearance of such intriguing behaviors in nature.
Keywords: Same-sex interactions Homosexual behavior Sex ratios Drosophila melanogaster
Sex-based divergence of mechanisms underlying pain and pain inhibition: The female is more sensitive and less tolerant of pain
Sex-based divergence of mechanisms underlying pain and pain inhibition. Jeffrey S Mogil. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, Volume 23, October 2018, Pages 113–117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2018.05.005
Abstract: Whether there are sex differences in pain sensitivity is a topic of enduring interest. This question has essentially been answered, with a clear consensus emerging in the direction of the difference in humans. More importantly, though, there is also much evidence for robust qualitative differences in pain mechanisms between the sexes, in both rodents and humans, predictive of the eventual sex-specific treatment of pain. This review details some of the known differences in pain circuitry between males and females, and asks whether pain is unique in featuring such divergence.
Abstract: Whether there are sex differences in pain sensitivity is a topic of enduring interest. This question has essentially been answered, with a clear consensus emerging in the direction of the difference in humans. More importantly, though, there is also much evidence for robust qualitative differences in pain mechanisms between the sexes, in both rodents and humans, predictive of the eventual sex-specific treatment of pain. This review details some of the known differences in pain circuitry between males and females, and asks whether pain is unique in featuring such divergence.
Social observation promoted deontological judgments especially for moral dilemmas involving direct physical harm (i.e., the personal moral dilemmas), yet with an overall decrease in decision confidence and significant prolongation of reaction time
Social observation increases deontological judgments in moral dilemmas. Minwoo Lee, Sunhae Sul, Hackjin Kim. Evolution and Human Behavior, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2018.06.004
Abstract: A concern for positive reputation is one of the core motivations underlying various social behaviors in humans. The present study investigated how experimentally induced reputation concern modulates judgments in moral dilemmas. In a mixed-design experiment, participants were randomly assigned to the observed vs. the control group and responded to a series of trolley-type moral dilemmas either in the presence or absence of observers, respectively. While no significant baseline difference in personality traits and moral decision style were found across two groups of participants, our analyses revealed that social observation promoted deontological judgments especially for moral dilemmas involving direct physical harm (i.e., the personal moral dilemmas), yet with an overall decrease in decision confidence and significant prolongation of reaction time. Moreover, participants in the observed group, but not in the control group, showed the increased sensitivities towards warmth vs. competence traits words in the lexical decision task performed after the moral dilemma task. Our findings suggest that reputation concern, once triggered by the presence of potentially judgmental others, could activate a culturally dominant norm of warmth in various social contexts. This could, in turn, induce a series of goal-directed processes for self-presentation of warmth, leading to increased deontological judgments in moral dilemmas. The results of the present study provide insights into the reputational consequences of moral decisions that merit further exploration.
Keywords: Reputation concern; Moral dilemma; Social observation; Deontology; Warmth
Abstract: A concern for positive reputation is one of the core motivations underlying various social behaviors in humans. The present study investigated how experimentally induced reputation concern modulates judgments in moral dilemmas. In a mixed-design experiment, participants were randomly assigned to the observed vs. the control group and responded to a series of trolley-type moral dilemmas either in the presence or absence of observers, respectively. While no significant baseline difference in personality traits and moral decision style were found across two groups of participants, our analyses revealed that social observation promoted deontological judgments especially for moral dilemmas involving direct physical harm (i.e., the personal moral dilemmas), yet with an overall decrease in decision confidence and significant prolongation of reaction time. Moreover, participants in the observed group, but not in the control group, showed the increased sensitivities towards warmth vs. competence traits words in the lexical decision task performed after the moral dilemma task. Our findings suggest that reputation concern, once triggered by the presence of potentially judgmental others, could activate a culturally dominant norm of warmth in various social contexts. This could, in turn, induce a series of goal-directed processes for self-presentation of warmth, leading to increased deontological judgments in moral dilemmas. The results of the present study provide insights into the reputational consequences of moral decisions that merit further exploration.
Keywords: Reputation concern; Moral dilemma; Social observation; Deontology; Warmth
Collective Narcissism: Americans Exaggerate the Role of Their Home State in Appraising U.S. History
Collective Narcissism: Americans Exaggerate the Role of Their Home State in Appraising U.S. History. Adam L. Putnam et al. Psychological Science, https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797618772504
Abstract: Collective narcissism—a phenomenon in which individuals show excessively high regard for their own group—is ubiquitous in studies of small groups. We examined how Americans from the 50 U.S. states (N = 2,898) remembered U.S. history by asking them, “In terms of percentage, what do you think was your home state’s contribution to the history of the United States?” The mean state estimates ranged from 9% (Iowa) to 41% (Virginia), with the total contribution for all states equaling 907%, indicating strong collective narcissism. In comparison, ratings provided by nonresidents for states were much lower (but still high). Surprisingly, asking people questions about U.S. history before they made their judgment did not lower estimates. We argue that this ethnocentric bias is due to ego protection, selective memory retrieval processes involving the availability heuristic, and poor statistical reasoning. This study shows that biases that influence individual remembering also influence collective remembering.
Keywords: collective memory, availability bias, egocentrism, narcissism, judgment, open data, open materials, and preregistered
Abstract: Collective narcissism—a phenomenon in which individuals show excessively high regard for their own group—is ubiquitous in studies of small groups. We examined how Americans from the 50 U.S. states (N = 2,898) remembered U.S. history by asking them, “In terms of percentage, what do you think was your home state’s contribution to the history of the United States?” The mean state estimates ranged from 9% (Iowa) to 41% (Virginia), with the total contribution for all states equaling 907%, indicating strong collective narcissism. In comparison, ratings provided by nonresidents for states were much lower (but still high). Surprisingly, asking people questions about U.S. history before they made their judgment did not lower estimates. We argue that this ethnocentric bias is due to ego protection, selective memory retrieval processes involving the availability heuristic, and poor statistical reasoning. This study shows that biases that influence individual remembering also influence collective remembering.
Keywords: collective memory, availability bias, egocentrism, narcissism, judgment, open data, open materials, and preregistered
Beneficial effects of education on cognitive abilities of approximately 1 to 5 IQ points for an additional year of education. Moderator analyses indicated that the effects persisted across the life span and were present on all broad categories of cognitive ability
How Much Does Education Improve Intelligence? A Meta-Analysis. Stuart J. Ritchie, Elliot M. Tucker-Drob. Psychological Science, https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797618774253
Abstract: Intelligence test scores and educational duration are positively correlated. This correlation could be interpreted in two ways: Students with greater propensity for intelligence go on to complete more education, or a longer education increases intelligence. We meta-analyzed three categories of quasiexperimental studies of educational effects on intelligence: those estimating education-intelligence associations after controlling for earlier intelligence, those using compulsory schooling policy changes as instrumental variables, and those using regression-discontinuity designs on school-entry age cutoffs. Across 142 effect sizes from 42 data sets involving over 600,000 participants, we found consistent evidence for beneficial effects of education on cognitive abilities of approximately 1 to 5 IQ points for an additional year of education. Moderator analyses indicated that the effects persisted across the life span and were present on all broad categories of cognitive ability studied. Education appears to be the most consistent, robust, and durable method yet to be identified for raising intelligence.
Keywords: intelligence, education, meta-analysis, quasiexperimental, open data
Abstract: Intelligence test scores and educational duration are positively correlated. This correlation could be interpreted in two ways: Students with greater propensity for intelligence go on to complete more education, or a longer education increases intelligence. We meta-analyzed three categories of quasiexperimental studies of educational effects on intelligence: those estimating education-intelligence associations after controlling for earlier intelligence, those using compulsory schooling policy changes as instrumental variables, and those using regression-discontinuity designs on school-entry age cutoffs. Across 142 effect sizes from 42 data sets involving over 600,000 participants, we found consistent evidence for beneficial effects of education on cognitive abilities of approximately 1 to 5 IQ points for an additional year of education. Moderator analyses indicated that the effects persisted across the life span and were present on all broad categories of cognitive ability studied. Education appears to be the most consistent, robust, and durable method yet to be identified for raising intelligence.
Keywords: intelligence, education, meta-analysis, quasiexperimental, open data
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
