Dark Triad 18 cultures (Europe, America, Africa, Asia): Men higher than women on all traits in most cultures, gender differences generally larger in European countries (Senegal findings shows women higher in psychopathy)

Dark Triad Traits, Social Position, and Personality: A Cross-Cultural Study. Anton Aluja et al. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, January 26, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220221211072816

Abstract: This research explores the Dark Triad traits in 18 cultures from Europe, America, Africa, and Asia. We examined the relationships among Dark Triad traits, as measured by the SD3, with gender, age, social status, and two personality models, HEXACO and Zuckerman’s alternative five factor model (AFFM). There were 10,298 participants (5,410 women and 4,888 men) with a mean age of 40.31 (SD = 17.32) years old. Between 6% and 16% of the variance in the Dark Triad traits was accounted by culture. Men scored higher than women on all three traits in most cultures, but gender differences were generally larger in European countries. The relationship between the Dark Triad traits dimensions and age is negative, but the largest effect size is small (Psychopathy; η2 = .018). Psychopathy is associated with low Social Position, and Narcissism with high Social Position. In regard to Personality traits, Narcissism is positively related to Extraversion, and Psychopathy is negatively related to Conscientiousness for the HEXACO, and Narcissism is positively related to Activity and Sensation Seeking, and Machiavellianism and Psychopathy are positively related to Aggressiveness and Sensation Seeking for the AFFM.

Keywords: Dark Triad traits, SD3, HEXACO, AFFM, cross-cultural, personality

Hadza hunter-gatherers are not deontologists and do not prefer deontologists as social partners

Hadza hunter-gatherers are not deontologists and do not prefer deontologists as social partners. Kristopher M. Smith, Coren L. Apicella. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Volume 101, July 2022, 104314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2022.104314

Abstract: Researchers hypothesize that social selection resulting from partner choice may have shaped deontological moral reasoning in humans. People in Western societies judge deontologists to be more trustworthy than utilitarians and prefer them as cooperative partners. We test if the preference for deontologists as social partners generalizes to the Hadza, hunter-gatherers residing in Tanzania. We presented 134 Hadza participants with three ecologically-relevant sacrificial dilemmas and asked them to judge whether the actor should sacrifice one person to save five. We then randomly assigned participants to hear that the actor made either a deontological or utilitarian decision and asked them to make partner choice judgments about the actor in the dilemma. Compared to 249 US Mechanical Turk participants, Hadza participants were more likely to think the actor should choose the utilitarian option. Regardless of what option they thought the actor should choose, Hadza participants showed no preference for the deontological or utilitarian decision-maker, whereas Mechanical Turk participants who thought the actor should choose the deontological option had a strong preference for the deontological actor. These results suggest the preference for deontological decision-makers as cooperative partners is culturally variable.

Keywords: Moral dilemmaDeontologyUtilitarianPartner choiceMoral characterPerson perception

Peers often recognize Nobel laureates as “Renaissance” intellects; prize committees often award their prizes for transdisciplinarity & integration; the Nobel laureates often describe their polymathy as *conscious* choice to optimize creative potential

Polymathy Among Nobel Laureates As a Creative Strategy— The Qualitative and Phenomenological Evidence. Michele Root-Bernstein & Robert Root-Bernstein. reativity Research Journal, Apr 25 2022. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2022.2051294

Abstract: Previous statistical studies found that polymathic networks of vocational and avocational interest predominate among Nobel Prize winners, discriminating them from less-successful peers. Here we confirm qualitatively and phenomenologically that this multidisciplinarity is a considered creative strategy. Peers often recognize Nobel laureates as “Renaissance” intellects; Nobel Prize committees often award their prizes for transdisciplinarity and integration; Nobel laureates often describe their polymathy as conscious choice to optimize creative potential. That so many Nobel laureates should develop diverse interests and harness them to creative ends is, probably, the result of a confluence of factors. Laureates experience, on average, enhanced access to education; they train differently and more broadly than their peers; they retrain and extend themselves as serious amateurs; and they meld vocational and avocational sets of skills and knowledge into integrated networks of transdisciplinary enterprise. In effect, this combinatorial approach to learning and doing enables them to perceive unusual problems at the intersections of disciplines, to transfer ideas and techniques from one field to another, and/or to synthesize knowledge across domains. Specializing in breadth can be a path to innovation comparable to, and (at least in terms of Nobel Prizes) arguably better than, specialization alone.

After a database of gun holders was publicized, burglaries increased in zip codes with fewer gun permits, and decreased in those with more gun permits

Guns, Privacy, and Crime. Alessandro Acquisti & Catherine Tucker. NBER Working Paper 29940, Apr 2022. DOI 10.3386/w29940

Abstract: Open government holds promise of both a more efficient but more accountable and transparent government. It is not clear, however, how transparent information about citizens and their interaction with government, however, affects the welfare of those citizens, and if so in what direction. We investigate this by using as a natural experiment the effect of the online publication of the names and addresses of holders of handgun carry permits on criminals' propensity to commit burglaries. In December 2008, a Memphis, TN newspaper published a searchable online database of names, zip codes, and ages of Tennessee handgun carry permit holders. We use detailed crime and handgun carry permit data for the city of Memphis to estimate the impact of publicity about the database on burglaries. We find that burglaries increased in zip codes with fewer gun permits, and decreased in those with more gun permits, after the database was publicized.