The Strengths of Wisdom Provide Unique Contributions to Improved Leadership, Sustainability, Inequality, Gross National Happiness, and Civic Discourse in the Face of Contemporary World Problems

The Strengths of Wisdom Provide Unique Contributions to Improved Leadership, Sustainability, Inequality, Gross National Happiness, and Civic Discourse in the Face of Contemporary World Problems. Igor Grossmann and Justin P. Brienza. J. Intell. 2018, 6(2), 22; doi:10.3390/jintelligence6020022

Abstract: We present evidence for the strengths of the intellectual virtues that philosophers and behavioral scientists characterize as key cognitive elements of wisdom. Wisdom has been of centuries-long interest for philosophical scholarship, but relative to intelligence largely neglected in public discourse on educational science, public policy, and societal well-being. Wise reasoning characteristics include intellectual humility, recognition of uncertainty, consideration of diverse viewpoints, and an attempt to integrate these viewpoints. Emerging scholarship on these features of wisdom suggest that they uniquely contribute to societal well-being, improve leadership, shed light on societal inequality, promote cooperation in Public Goods Games and reduce political polarization and intergroup-hostility. We review empirical evidence about macro-cultural, ecological, situational, and person-level processes facilitating and inhibiting wisdom in daily life. Based on this evidence, we speculate about ways to foster wisdom in education, organizations, and institutions.

Keywords: wisdom; reasoning; virtues; well-being; political polarization; culture; social class; egocentrism; leadership

Check also Grossmann, Igor, and Harrison Oakes. 2017. “Wisdom of Yoda and Mr. Spock: The Role of Emotions and the Self”. PsyArXiv. December 21. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/12/wiser-reasoning-appeared-in-conjunction.html

wiser reasoning appeared in conjunction with greater (vs. lower) emotionality, especially the recognition of a greater number of present emotions and greater balance of intensity across experienced emotions.

And: Wisdom and how to cultivate it: Review of emerging evidence for a constructivist model of wise thinking. Igor Grossmann. European Psychologist, in press. Pre-print: http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/08/wisdom-and-how-to-cultivate-it-review.html

Study in Norway: Increasing family wealth was associated with easier family communication, clearer family communication, and higher family support

Study in Norway: Family wealth and parent–child relationships. Mai Emilie Ramdahl et al. Journal of Child and Family Studies, May 2018, Volume 27, Issue 5, pp 1534–1543. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10826-017-1003-2

Abstract: This study examined associations between self-reported family wealth and parent–child relationships, by contrasting three theoretical perspectives on the shape of the association. The study utilized data from the Norwegian part of the “Health behaviour in school-aged children study (HBSC) 2013/2014”, with a sample of 3383 children aged 11–15 years old. The shape of associations between family wealth and parent–child communication were tested using regression spline models with knots at 1 SD below mean family wealth and at 1 SD above mean family wealth. The regression spline models showed that increasing family wealth was associated with easier family communication, clearer family communication, and higher family support. Results revealed that for boys, the association between family wealth and outcomes was stronger for the lower segment of family wealth, than in medium and high segments of family wealth. For girls, the gradient across level of wealth was monotone, with higher parent–child communication and higher family support at higher family wealth. To conclude, the results from this study suggest a nonlinear pattern of inequality in parent–child relationships across the range of family wealth.

What is usual, not just what is objectively permissible, drives moral judgment, even when holding behavior constant and varying descriptive norms

It's not what you do, but what everyone else does: On the role of descriptive norms and subjectivism in moral judgment. Andrew E. Monroe et al. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Volume 77, July 2018, Pages 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2018.03.010

Highlights
•    Five studies tested the impact of descriptive norms on judgments of blame and praise.
•    What is usual, not just what is objectively permissible, drives moral judgments.
•    Effects replicate even when holding behavior constant and varying descriptive norms.
•    Agents had to be aware of a norm for it to impact perceivers' moral judgments.
•    Effects generalize to explain decisions of trust for real monetary stakes.

Abstract: How do people evaluate moral actions, by referencing objective rules or by appealing to subjective, descriptive norms of behavior? Five studies examined whether and how people incorporate subjective, descriptive norms of behavior into their moral evaluations and mental state inferences of an agent's actions. We used experimental norm manipulations (Studies 1–2, 4), cultural differences in tipping norms (Study 3), and behavioral economic games (Study 5). Across studies, people increased the magnitude of their moral judgments when an agent exceeded a descriptive norm and decreased the magnitude when an agent fell below a norm (Studies 1–4). Moreover, this differentiation was partially explained via perceptions of agents' desires (Studies 1–2); it emerged only when the agent was aware of the norm (Study 4); and it generalized to explain decisions of trust for real monetary stakes (Study 5). Together, these findings indicate that moral actions are evaluated in relation to what most other people do rather than solely in relation to morally objective rules.

Keywords: Moral judgment; Norms; Mental state inference; Social cognition; Blame-praise asymmetries

Time in social activities has diminishing returns for subjective well-being: In the US, socializing more than 2.5 hours a day did not predict higher happiness

The Declining Marginal Utility of Social Time for Subjective Well-Being. Kostadin Kushlev et al. Journal of Research in Personality, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2018.04.004

Highlights
•    Time in social activities has diminishing returns for subjective well-being (SWB).
•    Across 166 nations, spending over 3 hours a day with others predicts no higher SWB.
•    In the US, socializing more than 2.5 hours a day did not predict higher happiness.
•    Quadratic effects explain substantial variance over linear effects alone.
•    These diminishing returns are explained by inter- and intra-domain processes.

Abstract: Are people who spend more time with others always happier than those who spend less time in social activities? Across four studies with more than 250,000 participants, we show that social time has declining marginal utility for subjective well-being. In Study 1 (N=243,075), we use the Gallup World Poll with people from 166 countries, and in Study 2 (N=10,387) the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), to show that social time has declining returns for well-being. In Study 3a (N=168) and Study 3b (N=174), we employ the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) to provide initial evidence for both intra-domain (principle of diminishing satisfaction) and inter-domain mechanisms (principle of satisfaction limits). We discuss implications for theory, research methodology, and practice.

Keywords: subjective well-being; social interaction; social relationships; psychological needs; life balance; principle of diminishing satisfaction; principle of satisfaction limits; marginal utility

Examining aggressive play with toy weapons and its relation with crime

Learning to blast a way into crime, or just good clean fun? Examining aggressive play with toy weapons and its relation with crime. Sven Smith, Christopher J Ferguson and Kevin M Beaver. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health (2018), 10.1002/cbm.2070

Abstract
Background: Researchers, such as Bandura, have proposed that children’s mere exposure to the use of play weapons encourages deviant displays of aggression, but there is very little research to support this hypothesis of 20 years.

Aim: To examine the relationship between amount of weapon play and concurrent aggression as well as later violent juvenile crime, while controlling for other variables possibly influencing criminal pathways.

Method; Using longitudinal survey data collected from mothers and children (n = 2019) from age 5, with follow-up at age 15, correlations between children’s play with toy weapons and juvenile criminality were examined. Multivariate regression analyses were employed to determine to what extent early childhood aggression, symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and symptoms of depression were antecedents of juvenile crime.

Results: For bivariate analysis between toy weapon play and juvenile criminality, the effect size was small and not significant. The relationship remained not significant once control variables were introduced into the model.

Conclusions and implications: The act of pretending to be aggressive in childhood thus plays little role in predicting later criminality after other factors, such as gender, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or depression, have been taken into account. Involvement in imaginative play with toy gun use in early childhood is unlikely to be useful as a risk marker for later criminal behaviour. Play fighting and war toy games may even be considered necessary components within the frame of normal development.

Implicit Theories of Intelligence and Personality: Relations to Intelligence, Motivation and Personality

Zirenko M. (2018) Implitsitnye teorii intellekta i lichnosti: svyazi s intellektom, motivatsiey i lichnostnymi chertami [Implicit Theories of Intelligence and Personality: Relations to Intelligence, Motivation and Personality]. Psychology. Journal of Higher School of Economics 2018, vol. 15, no 1, pp. 39-53 (in Russian). https://psy-journal.hse.ru/en/2018-15-1/217802819.html

Implicit theories (IT) reflect core beliefs about malleability of cognitive and personality human attributes. IT participate in the interpretation of the social world, regulate behaviors (through goal setting, adjustments after failures, learning strategies, etc.), and are valid predictors of achievement (Dweck, 2006). Nevertheless, little is known about the IT’s relationship to the components of the intellectual and personality human potential. The purpose of this research is to examine the extent to which IT are related to cognitive (intelligence) and personality (Big-Five personality traits, motivation) structures. A sample of 307 students completed the intelligence test (ICAR), the Ten-Item Personality Inventory and the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule; additionally, GPA was obtained for 49 students. Results demonstrate similar as well as distinctive correlations between the measurements in men and women. In particular, in both men and women, malleable intelligence beliefs do not depend on intelligence level, fluid or crystallized, but are largely related to personality characteristics: conscientiousness (in both men and women), openness to experience (in women), and intraception motivation (in men). Malleability of personality beliefs correlates negatively with crystallized intelligence (only in women). Mastery goal orientation in both men and women is related to openness; academic achievement is predicted by conscientiousness. The results are discussed from the perspective of the integrated intellectual and personality potential.

Keywords: implicit theories; intelligence; personality; Big Five; motivation; learning goals; self-assessed academic success

The influence of psychological traits, beliefs and taste responsiveness on implicit attitudes toward plant- and animal-based dishes among vegetarians, flexitarians and omnivores

The influence of psychological traits, beliefs and taste responsiveness on implicit attitudes toward plant- and animal-based dishes among vegetarians, flexitarians and omnivores. Danny Cliceri et al. Food Quality and Preference, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2018.03.020

Highlights
•    Implicitly measured attitudes toward plant- and animal-based dishes were studied.
•    Differences between vegetarians, flexitarians and omnivores were investigated.
•    Vegetarians and flexitarians implicitly associate positive emotions to meat-free dishes.
•    PROP responsiveness and sensitivity to disgust were lower in vegetarians.
•    Positive attitudes toward meat-free dishes related to health attitudes and empathy.
•    The segments did not differ in food involvement nor in rewarding value of food.

Summary (after political speech): The aim of this study was therefore to explore the associations among psychological and personality traits, attitudes, beliefs and taste responsiveness in affecting implicitly measured attitudes toward plant-based and animal based-dishes.

These attitudes were measured through three independent Implicit Association Tests (IATs), using images of culinary preparations of plant-based, meat-based and dairy-based dishes and positive/negative emotions. 125 subjects (39 omnivores, 55 flexitarians and 31 vegetarians) participated in each IAT. Questionnaires measuring psychological and personality traits, attitudes toward foods and beliefs about food animals were employed. Moreover, taste responsiveness was measured through the bitter intensity assessment of PROP. A Partial Least Square model was then adopted to study the individual variability in the implicit attitudes toward the plant-based and animal-based dishes in relation to psychological and personality traits, general food attitudes, beliefs on food animals and taste responsiveness measures.

Overall the implicit measures were found to be in line with declared eating habits, with Vegetarians and Flexitarians more inclined to implicitly associate positive emotions to meat-free dishes than Omnivores, and with Vegetarians showing a stronger association than Flexitarians. The results showed that positive attitudes toward plant-based dishes were positively related to the empathic sensitivity toward humans and animals, as well as to attitudes toward healthy and natural products, highlighting an important role of food consciousness in determining the eating habits. On the contrary, food involvement and attitude towards taste did not differ among the considered segments. Responsiveness to PROP and sensitivity to pathogen disgust were found to be lower in Vegetarians compared to Omnivores. The transition from plant-based diet to animal-based diet should therefore embrace multiple aspects, considering taste responsiveness, psychological traits and attitudes towards food.

Keywords: Vegetarian; Flexitarian; Empathy; Attitudes; Beliefs; PROP; Implicit association test

h/t: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf

Placebo analgesia induced prior to sleep reduced pain during sleep as well as subjective sleep disturbances, as evaluated retrospectively on the following morning

Placebo analgesia persists during sleep: An experimental study. Daniele Laverdure-Dupont et al. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnpbp.2018.03.027

Highlights
•    Placebo analgesia induced prior to sleep reduced pain during sleep as well as subjective sleep disturbances, as evaluated retrospectively on the following morning.
•    Placebo analgesia reduced EEG arousal responses to acute noxious heat stimuli administered during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.
•    Placebo analgesia induced prior to sleep increased EEG arousal responses to acute noxious heat stimuli administered during slow wave sleep (SWS).
•    Future research should explore the mechanisms underlying the differential placebo effects observed across sleep stages.

Abstract: Although placebo analgesia is a well-recognized phenomenon with important clinical implications, the possibility that placebo effects occur during sleep has received little attention. This experimental study examined whether responsiveness to acute heat pain stimuli applied during sleep could be reduced following a placebo conditioning procedure administered before sleep. Healthy individuals (n = 9) underwent polysomnographic recordings for one habituation night followed by one placebo analgesia night and one control night in counterbalanced order. Conditioning induced robust analgesia expectations before the placebo night. In the morning after the placebo night, participants reported less nocturnal pain, anxiety, and associated sleep disturbance (all p's < 0.05) compared to the control night. Furthermore, placebo induction produced a 10% reduction in brain arousals evoked by noxious stimuli during rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep (p = 0.03), consistent with our previous findings suggesting that analgesia expectations are reprocessed during REM sleep. In contrast, arousals increased by 14% during slow wave sleep (SWS) (p = 0.02). In the morning after the last recording night, placebo testing administered as a manipulation check confirmed that typical placebo analgesic responses were produced during waking (p's < 0.05). These results suggest that analgesia expectations developed before sleep reduced nocturnal pain perception and subjective sleep disturbances and activated brain processes that modulate incoming nociceptive signals differentially according to sleep stage. These results need to be replicated in future studies exploring how analgesia expectations may be reactivated during different sleep stages to modulate nociceptive responses.

h/t: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf

No evidence that more physically attractive young adult women have higher estradiol or progesterone

No evidence that more physically attractive young adult women have higher estradiol or progesterone. Benedict C. Jones et al. bioRxiv, https://doi.org/10.1101/136515

Abstract: Putative associations between sex hormones and attractive physical characteristics in women are central to many theories of human physical attractiveness and mate choice. Although such theories have become very influential, evidence that physically attractive and unattractive women have different hormonal profiles is equivocal. Consequently, we investigated hypothesized relationships between salivary estradiol and progesterone and two aspects of women's physical attractiveness that are commonly assumed to be correlated with levels of these hormones: facial attractiveness (N=249) and waist-to-hip ratio (N=247). Our analyses revealed no evidence that women with more attractive faces or lower (i.e., more attractive) waist-to-hip ratios had higher levels of estradiol or progesterone. These results do not support the influential hypothesis that between-women differences in physical attractiveness are related to estradiol and/or progesterone.

h/t: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf

Handgrip strength predicts measures of aggression & social dominance, perceived formidability, male-typical body morphology & movement, courtship display, physical attractiveness, & sexual behavior & reproductive fitness

Handgrip Strength as a Darwinian Fitness Indicator in Men. Andrew C. Gallupand Bernhard Fink. Frontiers in Psychology, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00439

Handgrip strength (HGS) is a robust measure of overall muscular strength and function, and has long been predictive of a multitude of health factors and physical outcomes for both men and women. The fact that HGS represents such a ubiquitous measure of health and vitality may reflect the significance of this trait during human evolution. This trait is also highly sexually dimorphic due to influences of androgenic hormones and fat-free body mass, suggesting that it has been further elaborated through sexual selection. Consistent with this view, research within evolutionary psychology and related fields has documented distinct relationships between HGS and measures of social and sexual behavior, especially in men. Here, we review studies across different societies and cultural contexts showing that male HGS predicts measures of aggression and social dominance, perceived formidability, male-typical body morphology and movement, courtship display, physical attractiveness, and sexual behavior and reproductive fitness. These findings underscore the value of including HGS as an independent measure within studies examining human sexual selection, and corroborate existing research suggesting that specific features of physical strength have and continue to be under positive directional selection in men.

h/t: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf

Incomplete physics and the finite representation of computers can induce false instabilities; eliminating instability can lead to computational overstabilization or false stability. Models on ultra-long timescales are dubiously stable. This is referred to as the “climate state.”

Christopher Essex and Anastasios A.Tsonis (2018) Model falsifiability and climate slow modes, Physica A, Volume 502, July 2018, Pages 554-562. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physa.2018.02.090

Highlights
• Climate models do not and cannot employ known physics fully. Thus, they are falsified, a priori.
• Incomplete physics and the finite representation of computers can induce false instabilities.
• Eliminating instability can lead to computational overstabilization or false stability.
• Models on ultra-long timescales are dubiously stable. This is referred to as the “climate state.” Is it real?
• Decadal variability is understandable in terms of a specific class of nonlinear dynamical systems.

Abstract: The most advanced climate models are actually modified meteorological models attempting to capture climate in meteorological terms. This seems a straightforward matter of raw computing power applied to large enough sources of current data. Some believe that models have succeeded in capturing climate in this manner. But have they? This paper outlines difficulties with this picture that derive from the finite representation of our computers, and the fundamental unavailability of future data instead. It suggests that alternative windows onto the multi-decadal timescales are necessary in order to overcome the issues raised for practical problems of prediction.

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Prof. Essex explains,

“Unlike the stable virtual ‘climates’ seen in computer simulations, corresponding real-world conditions aren’t stable at all. There are perpetual, natural, internal changes in play that take longer than human lifetimes to play out.”

No human will ever fully perceive this change. No one lives long enough.  But some astute people, in their later years, might just be able to make a little of it out.

Prof. Essex adds,

“There is an ultraslow, mysterious, unseen world out there, under our very noses, that we cannot perceive. It’s beyond our measurement capabilities, and beyond the capabilities of our best computers using our very best physical theories. It belongs to a class of problems that we cannot overwhelm with data, or crush with our biggest computers.”

Nevertheless, there is hope. As Professor Tsonis explains, our growing understanding of the nature of natural ocean modes  and how they are linked may open up a whole new field of research into ultra-long timescales taking us beyond the virtual stability of modified meteorological models:

“Ocean modes like the North Atlantic Oscillation and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, known natural internal dynamical features, affect weather patterns globally over years, decades and longer. They are deep structures that are coming to be understood on their own terms. We understand better than ever how they are linked, and we understand the mathematical structures in play in ways that we could not have only a few decades ago. We are on the verge of being able to predict what they will do next. If we succeed, a hitherto invisible world will open to us. We will see new wonders through new eyes.”

Differential relationship of jumping-to-conclusions and incorrigibility with delusion severity

Differential relationship of jumping-to-conclusions and incorrigibility with delusion severity. Christina Andreou, Ruth Veckenstedt, Thies Lüdtke, Vasilis P. Bozikas, Steffen Moritz. Psychiatry Research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2018.04.014

Highlights
•We investigated trait and state aspects of jumping-to-conclusions and incorrigibility
•The two reasoning biases showed differential associations with delusion severity
•Results suggest different roles of the two biases in delusion formation / maintenance

Abstract: Reasoning biases such as jumping-to-conclusions (JTC) and incorrigibility have been suggested to contribute to the generation and maintenance of delusions. However, it is still debated whether these biases represent stable traits of patients with delusions, or are related to state fluctuations in delusion severity. The present study aimed to elucidate this question by combining a cross-sectional with a longitudinal approach. JTC, incorrigibility and delusion severity were assessed in 79 patients with a history of delusions over a 6-month period. To allow for a differentiated look into effects of time vs. symptom changes, patients were divided into patients with (D+) and without (D-) current delusions at baseline. Significant improvement of delusions was noted in D+ at follow-up. JTC did not differ between the two patient groups either at baseline or over time. In contrast, incorrigibility was significantly higher in D+ than D- at baseline; this difference remained stable throughout the 6-month follow-up period. The two biases did not significantly co-vary over time. Our results suggest a dissociation between incorrigibility and JTC as regards their relation to current presence of delusions, and tentatively support theoretical accounts attributing different roles to the two biases in the generation (JTC) and maintenance (incorrigibility) of delusions.

Keywords: Reasoning biases, Cognitive biases, Jumping-to-conclusions, Belief flexibility, Bias against disconfirmatory evidence, Psychosis

h/t: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf

Niels Bohr suggested that willed actions come with slower movement execution than reactions, and therefore that a film’s hero is able to get the upper hand even though the villain normally draws first. This is due to independent systems for willed (the bad guy's) and reactive (the hero's) movements

Disarming the gunslinger effect: Reaction beats intention for cooperative actions. Lisa Weller, Wilfried Kunde, Roland Pfister. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13423-018-1462-5

Abstract: According to the famous physicist Niels Bohr, gunfights at high noon in Western movies not only captivate the cinema audience but also provide an accurate illustration of a psychophysical law. He suggested that willed actions come with slower movement execution than reactions, and therefore that a film’s hero is able to get the upper hand even though the villain normally draws first. A corresponding “gunslinger effect” has been substantiated by empirical studies. Because these studies used a markedly competitive setting, however, it is currently unclear whether the gunslinger effect indeed reflects structural differences between willed actions and reactive movements, or whether it is a by-product of the competitive setting. To obtain bullet-proof evidence for a true reactive advantage, we investigated willed and reactive movements during a cooperative interaction of two participants. A pronounced reactive advantage emerged, indicating that two independent systems indeed control willed and reactive movements.