A Framework for the Unification of the Behavioral Sciences Herbert
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Are Schizophrenics More Religious?
BEHAVIORAL AND BRAIN SCIENCES (2008) 31, 241–320 Printed in the United States of America doi:10.1017/S0140525X08004214 Psychosis and autism as diametrical disorders of the social brain Bernard Crespi Killam Research Professor, Department of Biosciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada [email protected] http://www.sfu.ca/biology/faculty/crespi/ Christopher Badcock Department of Sociology, London School of Economics, London WC2A 2AE, United Kingdom [email protected] http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/sociology/whoswho/badcock.htm Abstract: Autistic-spectrum conditions and psychotic-spectrum conditions (mainly schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression) represent two major suites of disorders of human cognition, affect, and behavior that involve altered development and function of the social brain. We describe evidence that a large set of phenotypic traits exhibit diametrically opposite phenotypes in autistic-spectrum versus psychotic-spectrum conditions, with a focus on schizophrenia. This suite of traits is inter-correlated, in that autism involves a general pattern of constrained overgrowth, whereas schizophrenia involves undergrowth. These disorders also exhibit diametric patterns for traits related to social brain development, including aspects of gaze, agency, social cognition, local versus global processing, language, and behavior. Social cognition is thus underdeveloped in autistic-spectrum conditions and hyper-developed on the psychotic spectrum. We propose and evaluate a novel hypothesis that may help to explain these diametric phenotypes: that the development of these two sets of conditions is mediated in part by alterations of genomic imprinting. Evidence regarding the genetic, physiological, neurological, and psychological underpinnings of psychotic-spectrum conditions supports the hypothesis that the etiologies of these conditions involve biases towards increased relative effects from imprinted genes with maternal expression, which engender a general pattern of undergrowth. -
Uncertainty and Hyperbolic Discounting
Uncertainty and Hyperbolic Discounting By PARTHA DASGUPTA AND ERIC MASKIN* Empirical studies in economics and behav- they have become more impatient than they ioral ecology suggest that, ceteris paribus, ani- were in January. mals and humans appear to place less weight on Both the O’Donoghue-Rabin and Strotz ex- the future than on the present, i.e., they act as amples accord with “hyperbolic discounting,”2 though they discount future payoffs. Further- which has attracted considerable interest among more (and more interestingly), they do so with economists because it appears to shed light on discount rates that increase as the time before important economic phenomena such as house- those payoffs are realized grows shorter.1 In hold saving behavior (see David Laibson, 1997; other words, subjects act as though they become B. Douglas Bernheim et al., 2001; Christopher less patient when payoffs are more imminent. Harris and Laibson, 2003). An anecdotal (human) example is offered by One might ask whether there is some reason Ted O’Donoghue and Matthew Rabin (1999): for such behavior. The point of view that we when offered the choice in February between a take is that, to a considerable extent, animal and painful seven-hour task (e.g., preparing a tax human behavior is shaped by preferences that return) on April 1 and a painful eight-hour task are the outcome of evolutionary forces. That is, on April 15, most of us, they suggest, will opt cravings, urges, or instincts—the operational for the earlier date. But as April 1 approaches, manifestations of preferences—induce the ani- we are apt to change our minds, if we can, and mal or human to make the right choice in the postpone the pain to April 15, even though it “average” situation that it, he, or she is likely to will then be greater. -
Principles of Behavioral Economics for Personal Development 30 Giugno 2018 Rodica Ianole-Calin
Tribunale Bologna 24.07.2007, n.7770 - ISSN 2239-7752 Direttore responsabile: Antonio Zama Principles of Behavioral Economics for Personal Development 30 Giugno 2018 Rodica Ianole-Calin Contributo selezionato da Filodiritto tra quelli pubblicati nei Proceedings “International Conference on Economics and Administration 2017” Per acquistare i Proceedings clicca qui: http://www.filodirittoeditore.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=78&product_id=143 Contribution selected by Filodiritto among those published in the Proceedings “International Conference on Economics and Administration 2017” To buy the Proceedings click here: http://www.filodirittoeditore.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=78&product_id=143 IANOLE-C?LIN Rodica [1], BRATU Anca [2] [1] Faculty of Business and Administration, University of Bucharest (ROMANIA) [2] Faculty of Business and Administration, University of Bucharest (ROMANIA) Emails: [email protected], [email protected] Abstract The paper aims to illustrate how becoming aware of our own behavioral patterns, by exposure to the experiments brought forward by behavioral economics, can trigger a significant transformation of our personal habits, in the direction of a better congruence with our true self and finally of better decision- making. The argumentation highlights three main focal points: the tensioned choice between maximizing and satisficing approaches, the inter-temporal conundrum between now and later, and the gap between planning and action. Introduction Understanding standard economic thinking – how a market works, how prices are formed, how economic agents interact – is without any doubt a first premise for achieving economic development. The following step, that of becoming acquainted with behavioral economic thinking, can further refine this development, but in a reverse order: creating initially a favorable space for personal development, that may gradually be led to wellbeing, also from a financial perspective. -
The Evolution of General Intelligence ⇑ Satoshi Kanazawa
Personality and Individual Differences 53 (2012) 90–93 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Personality and Individual Differences journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/paid The evolution of general intelligence ⇑ Satoshi Kanazawa Department of Management, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom article info abstract Article history: Among Richard Lynn’s numerous significant contributions to science is his cold winters theory of the evo- Available online 12 June 2011 lution of general intelligence. The cold winters of Eurasia presented novel adaptive problems for our ancestors to solve, such as obtaining food by hunting large animals and keeping warm by building cloth- Keywords: ing, shelter and fire, and they functioned as strong selection pressures for higher intelligence. Empirical Richard Lynn analyses support both Lynn’s cold winters theory and my evolutionary novelty theory of the evolution of Cold winters theory general intelligence. Mean annual temperature and the degree of evolutionary novelty in the environ- J. Philippe Rushton ment independently predict the average intelligence of the population. Both theories can also account Evolutionary novelty theory for the observed race difference in intelligence. Race differences in intelligence Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. How did human intelligence evolve? Why did humans attain ecological niches and confront novel adaptive problems, the size such high levels of general intelligence? And why are there notable of their brain relative to their body (encephalization quo- differences in average intelligence in different populations and tient = EQ), and thus intelligence, increase in the course of evolu- races in different geographical locations? tion. The average living mammals are defined to have EQ of 1.0. -
[NEW BOOK] Race and Sex Differences in Intelligence and Personality: a Tribute to Richard Lynn - Stormfront
[NEW BOOK] Race and Sex Differences in Intelligence and Personality: A Tribute to Richard Lynn - Stormfront Stormfront > General > Science, Technology and Race User Name Remember Me? [NEW BOOK] Race and Sex Differences in Intelligence and Personality: A Tribute to Richard Lynn Password Donate Register Blogs FAQ Community Calendar Today's Posts Search Science, Technology and Race Genetics, eugenics, racial science and related subjects. LinkBack Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes Yesterday, 04:03 PM #1 [NEW BOOK] Race and Sex Differences in Intelligence and Personality: A White Federalist Tribute to Richard Lynn Forum Member Join Date: Sep 2007 From the Ulster Institute comes this festschrift edited by Helmuth Nyborg, Posts: 500 Race and Sex Differences in Intelligence and Personality: A Tribute to Richard Lynn at Eighty: Quote: Originally Posted by Ulster Institute This collection of papers by eminent authors, first published in Personality and Individual Differences journal to mark the eightieth birthday of Richard Lynn, celebrates and contextualizes his lifetime contribution to knowledge in this controversial field of study. Authors include Gerhard Meisenberg. Heiner Rindermann and the late J. Phillippe Rushton. Also included are a preface by the editor and a conversation between Richard Lynn and Helmuth Nyborg. Reviewers' comments "In Richard Lynn's work we have the stuff Nobel prizes are made of." Helmuth Nyborg, University of Arhus, Denmark "In his long and brilliant career, Richard Lynn has made significant scientific contributions to many areas of intelligence research and differential psychology" Satoshi Kanazawa, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK "Richard Lynn's work to intellectual group differences is as Charles Darwin's was to biology." Donald Templer, Alliance International University (retired), California "Richard Lynn has considerably advanced studies on sex differences. -
The Evolutionary Psychological Perspective on War, Conquest, and Alien Rule*
THE EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON WAR, CONQUEST, AND ALIEN RULE* SATOSHI KANAZAWA INTERDISCIPLINARY INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE *Direct all correspondence to: Satoshi Kanazawa, Interdisciplinary Institute of Management, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, United Kingdom. Email: [email protected]. Word Count: 6,601 APRIL 2005 THE EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON WAR, CONQUEST, AND ALIEN RULE ABSTRACT The evolutionary psychological perspective on wars suggests that the ultimate cause of all intergroup conflict is the relative availability of reproductive women. Polygyny, which allows some men to monopolize all reproductive opportunities and exclude others, should increase the prevalence of civil wars, but not interstate wars, which did not exist in the ancestral environment. The analysis of the Correlates of War data supports both hypotheses derived from the evolutionary psychological perspective; polygyny increases civil wars but not interstate wars. The evolutionary psychological perspective implies that women should be far less resistant to alien rule than men, because they have the option of marrying into the conquering group; however, this sex difference should disappear when women are no longer reproductive. The analysis of the Eurobarometer data from 15 European Union nations strongly confirms this prediction. THE EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON WAR, CONQUEST, AND ALIEN RULE Evolutionary psychology (EP) has revolutionized many fields in the social sciences in the last couple of decades. Its influence extends, not only to the core fields of psychology and anthropology, but also to the neighboring fields of economics (Cosmides and Tooby 1994; Rogers 1994), sociology (Kanazawa 2001a), criminology (Daly and Wilson 1988), demography (Bock 1999; MacDonald 1999), history (Betzig 2002), and public policy (Browne 2002; Crawford and Salmon 2004). -
Will As Intertemporal Bargaining: Implications for Rationality
WILL AS INTERTEMPORAL BARGAINING: IMPLICATIONS FOR RATIONALITY GEORGE AINSLIEt &JOHN MONTEROSSOtt Rationality has been understood as conducting yourself according to reason rather than passion. In modern times this endeavor has become synonymous with maximizing your expected goods, with the value of expected but delayed goods dis- counted exponentially. However, behavioral research has found a robust tendency for delayed goods to be discounted hyperbolically, that is, for their value to be di- vided by their delay. This finding supplies a simple hypothesis about the origin of irrationality, but greatly complicates the problem of rationality, since it depicts a limited warfare relationship among interests within an individual. Recent re- search on the combining properties of hyperbolically discounted rewards supports the hypothesis that a person s will arisesfrom a prisoner's-dilemma-likerelationship among successive motivational states. This picoeconomic hypothesis provides a mechanism for both the strength and 'freedom" of the will, and predicts pathologies of overcontrol that make strength of will something very different from pure ration- ality. This approach offers insights into current puzzles about criminal responsi- bility and the disease model of addiction. INTRODUCTION Rationality is an ancient concept, one that Plato contrasted with passion to form a dichotomy of choice principles.' Through the ages rationality has meant the good way to make choices, the way that will maximize your satisfaction with the outcome. As such, it has been a norm rather than a description of actual behavior. However, since utility theory has postulated that people always maximize their ex- pected utility, rationality has acquired a descriptive implication: the rational is what anyone inevitably will do whenever she is aware of the true contingencies she faces. -
Neuroeconomics: How Neuroscience Can Inform Economics
mr05_Article 1 3/28/05 3:25 PM Page 9 Journal of Economic Literature Vol. XLIII (March 2005), pp. 9–64 Neuroeconomics: How Neuroscience Can Inform Economics ∗ COLIN CAMERER, GEORGE LOEWENSTEIN, and DRAZEN PRELEC Who knows what I want to do? Who knows what anyone wants to do? How can you be sure about something like that? Isn’t it all a question of brain chemistry, signals going back and forth, electrical energy in the cortex? How do you know whether something is really what you want to do or just some kind of nerve impulse in the brain. Some minor little activity takes place somewhere in this unimportant place in one of the brain hemispheres and suddenly I want to go to Montana or I don’t want to go to Montana. (White Noise, Don DeLillo) 1. Introduction such as finance, game theory, labor econom- ics, public finance, law, and macroeconomics In the last two decades, following almost a (see Colin Camerer and George Loewenstein century of separation, economics has begun 2004). Behavioral economics has mostly been to import insights from psychology. informed by a branch of psychology called “Behavioral economics” is now a prominent “behavioral decision research,” but other fixture on the intellectual landscape and has cognitive sciences are ripe for harvest. Some spawned applications to topics in economics, important insights will surely come from neu- roscience, either directly or because neuro- ∗ Camerer: California Institute of Technology. science will reshape what is believed about Loewenstein: Carnegie Mellon University. Prelec: psychology which in turn informs economics. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. -
Black Women, Racism, Sexism, & Classism in The
POST-TRUMP INTERSECTIONS & “POST-RACIAL” REFLECTIONS: BLACK WOMEN, RACISM, SEXISM, & CLASSISM IN THE U.S. By Jasmine Katosha Cooper A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the degree requirements for the degree of Sociology – Doctor of Philosophy 2017 ABSTRACT POST-TRUMP INTERSECTIONS & “POST-RACIAL” REFLECTIONS: BLACK WOMEN, RACISM, SEXISM, & CLASSISM IN THE U.S. By Jasmine Katosha Cooper This multi-article dissertation employs life history interviews and qualitative media content analysis to explore the continued oppression of and discrimination against Black women in the U.S., with specific foci of everyday experiences, news media, and popular music in the public sphere. Analysis suggests that the structured and historical relations of patriarchy and racism shape everyday life for many Black women, but affect media representations, and the interpretation of their actions in interpersonal and public spheres. Despite their long-term confrontation with subjugation, Black women, continue to employ strategies to identify, navigate, and resist such oppression. Each chapter in the project employs a different lens on these experiences. The first focuses on media representations, employing qualitative content analysis of online news articles surrounding the fate of Korryn Gaines and Rekia Boyd -- two Black women who died in encounters with police. Drawing on contributions by Neely (2015), Winfrey-Harris (2015), Harris-Perry (2011), and Hill Collins (2000), this article links media disregard of Black women to their victimization by police. The second article examines Beyoncé Knowles’ video album, Lemonade in light of enduring Black feminist intellectual and musical traditions. The discussion is informed by Angela Davis’ (1998), articulation of Black feminist underpinnings and working-class women’s consciousness in blues music. -
Intelligence and Substance Use
Review of General Psychology © 2010 American Psychological Association 2010, Vol. 14, No. 4, 382–396 1089-2680/10/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0021526 Intelligence and Substance Use Satoshi Kanazawa Josephine E. E. U. Hellberg London School of Economics and Political Science University College London Why do some individuals choose to drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, and use illegal drugs while others do not? The origin of individual preferences and values is one of the remaining theoretical questions in social and behavioral sciences. The Savanna-IQ Interaction Hypothesis suggests that more intelligent individuals may be more likely to acquire and espouse evolutionarily novel values than less intelligent individuals. Consumption of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs is evolutionarily novel, so the Savanna-IQ Interaction Hypothesis would predict that more intelligent individuals are more likely to consume these substances. Analyses of two large, nationally representative, and prospectively longitudinal data from the United Kingdom and the United States partly support the prediction. More intelligent children, both in the United Kingdom and the United States, are more likely to grow up to consume more alcohol. More intelligent American children are more likely to grow up to consume more tobacco, while more intelligent British children are more likely to grow up to consume more illegal drugs. Keywords: evolutionary psychology, Savanna-IQ Interaction Hypothesis, alcohol, tobacco, drugs Where do individuals’ values and preferences come from? Why the other -
Economic Theory and Experimental Economics*
ECONOMIC THEORY AND EXPERIMENTAL ECONOMICS* Larry Samuelson Department of Economics University of Wisconsin 1180 Observatory Drive Madison, WI 53706-1321 USA September 24, 2004 Contents 1 Introduction 1 2 An Example 2 3 A Theoretical Perspective 9 3.1 A Model . 9 3.2 Why Experiments? . 14 3.3 Why Theory? . 18 4 Combining theory and experiments 21 4.1 Using Experiments to Learn About Theory . 21 4.1.1 Testing Theory: Accuracy . 21 4.1.2 The Margin of Error: Precision . 27 4.2 Using Theory to Learn about Experiments . 30 4.2.1 External Validity . 30 4.2.2 Internal Validity . 35 5 The Search for Theory 40 5.1 Perceived Protocols . 41 5.2 Evolutionary Foundations . 47 6 Conclusion 52 7 Appendix: Proof of Proposition 1 54 *I thank Jim Andreoni, Jakob Goeree, Roger Gordon, John McMillan, Georg NÄoldeke and three referees for helpful comments. I thank the Ex- perimental Science Association for the invitation to give a talk at the 2003 Pittsburgh meetings that developed into this paper. I thank the National Science Foundation (SES-0241506) and Russell Sage Foundation (82-02-04) for ¯nancial support. Economic Theory and Experimental Economics Larry Samuelson 1 Introduction Game theory had its beginnings in economics as a separate topic of analysis, practiced by a cadre of specialists. It has since become commonplace. Every economist is acquainted with the basic ideas, often without notice, and there is free movement between the use of game theory and other techniques. This incorporation as a standard economic tool has helped shape the nature of game theory itself|the mix of questions has changed and more attention has been devoted to how game theoretic models are to be interpreted as capturing economic interactions. -
IQ and the Health of States Kanazawa*
IQHSBI and the Health of States SatoshiIQ and the Health of States Kanazawa* Department of Management, London School of Economics and Political Science; Department of Psychology, University College London; Department of Psychology, Birkbeck College, University of London ABSTRACT: Epidemiologists contend that income inequality reduces the health and life expectancy of the whole population, but this argument does not make sense within its own evolutionary framework. Recent evolutionary psychological theory suggests that the human brain, adapted to the ancestral environment, has difficulty comprehending and dealing with entities and situations that did not exist in the ancestral environment, and that general intelligence evolved as a domain-specific adaptation to solve evolutionarily novel problems. Since most dangers to health in the contemporary society are evolutionarily novel, it follows that more intelligent individuals are better able to recognize and deal with such dangers and live longer. Consistent with the theory, and replicating an earlier study of cross-national data, income inequality has no effect on the health and longevity of the population across the American states, when the racial composi- tion (percent black) is controlled, but the average intelligence of the population (state IQ) has a significant effect. The data presented here and in the earlier study challenge the conclusion that income inequality reduces the health of the population. INTRODUCTION damage health. Wilkinson’s conclusion is succinctly captured in the blurb on his In a series of articles and books, Richard book Mind the Gap, “Inequality kills. Peo- Wilkinson argues that economic inequal- ple die younger in countries with greater ity reduces the health of the population inequalities in income.” While Wilkinson’s and lowers its life expectancy (Marmot original observation on the negative asso- & Wilkinson, 1999; Wilkinson, 1992, ciation between income inequality and 2000).