By Gregg Zoroya
USA Today
Originally published October 31, 2014
War was the leading cause of death in the military nearly every year between 2004 and 2011 until suicides became the top means of dying for troops in 2012 and 2013, according to a bar chart published this week in a monthly Pentagon medical statistical analysis journal.
The entire article is here.
Monday, November 17, 2014
Is Social Psychology Biased Against Republicans?
By Maria Konnikova
The New Yorker
Originally published October 30, 2014
Here is an excerpt:
Social psychology, Haidt went on, had an obvious problem: a lack of political diversity that was every bit as dangerous as a lack of, say, racial or religious or gender diversity. It discouraged conservative students from joining the field, and it discouraged conservative members from pursuing certain lines of argument. It also introduced bias into research questions, methodology, and, ultimately, publications. The topics that social psychologists chose to study and how they chose to study them, he argued, suffered from homogeneity. The effect was limited, Haidt was quick to point out, to areas that concerned political ideology and politicized notions, like race, gender, stereotyping, and power and inequality. “It’s not like the whole field is undercut, but when it comes to research on controversial topics, the effect is most pronounced,” he later told me. (Haidt has now put his remarks in more formal terms, complete with data, in a paper forthcoming this winter in Behavioral and Brain Sciences.)
The entire article is here.
The New Yorker
Originally published October 30, 2014
Here is an excerpt:
Social psychology, Haidt went on, had an obvious problem: a lack of political diversity that was every bit as dangerous as a lack of, say, racial or religious or gender diversity. It discouraged conservative students from joining the field, and it discouraged conservative members from pursuing certain lines of argument. It also introduced bias into research questions, methodology, and, ultimately, publications. The topics that social psychologists chose to study and how they chose to study them, he argued, suffered from homogeneity. The effect was limited, Haidt was quick to point out, to areas that concerned political ideology and politicized notions, like race, gender, stereotyping, and power and inequality. “It’s not like the whole field is undercut, but when it comes to research on controversial topics, the effect is most pronounced,” he later told me. (Haidt has now put his remarks in more formal terms, complete with data, in a paper forthcoming this winter in Behavioral and Brain Sciences.)
The entire article is here.
Sunday, November 16, 2014
A Contemporary Death: Death with Dignity and Autonomy
By Peggy Battin
TEDMED 2014
Originally published October 29, 2014
Philosopher and bioethicist Peggy Battin tells us the moving story of how and why her husband chose to die. She addresses death, end of life issues, and individual choices in the process. She shares her emotional reactions to the process.
TEDMED 2014
Originally published October 29, 2014
Philosopher and bioethicist Peggy Battin tells us the moving story of how and why her husband chose to die. She addresses death, end of life issues, and individual choices in the process. She shares her emotional reactions to the process.
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Scientific faith: Belief in science increases in the face of stress and existential anxiety
Miguel Fariasa, Anna-Kaisa Newheiserb, Guy Kahanec, and Zoe de Toledo
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Volume 49, Issue 6, November 2013, Pages 1210–1213
Abstract
Growing evidence indicates that religious belief helps individuals to cope with stress and anxiety. But is this effect specific to supernatural beliefs, or is it a more general function of belief — including belief in science? We developed a measure of belief in science and conducted two experiments in which we manipulated stress and existential anxiety. In Experiment 1, we assessed rowers about to compete (high-stress condition) and rowers at a training session (low-stress condition). As predicted, rowers in the high-stress group reported greater belief in science. In Experiment 2, participants primed with mortality (vs. participants in a control condition) reported greater belief in science. In both experiments, belief in science was negatively correlated with religiosity. Thus, some secular individuals may use science as a form of “faith” that helps them to deal with stressful and anxiety-provoking situations.
(cut)
The suggested parallels between religious belief and belief in science may seem to be in tension with recent work emphasizing the intuitive character of religious belief. Tasks involving more analytic processing were shown to decrease religious belief (Gervais & Norenzayan, 2012), whereas the stimulation of a more intuitive mindset led to a greater belief in God (Shenhav, Rand, & Greene, 2012). Contrary to religion, scientific practice is defined by analytical thinking; rational enquiry and weighing of evidence are given precedence even when they conflict with intuition. But when it comes to believing, even if it is a belief in the scientific method as opposed to divine revelation, the underlying mechanism may be similar.
The entire article is here.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Volume 49, Issue 6, November 2013, Pages 1210–1213
Abstract
Growing evidence indicates that religious belief helps individuals to cope with stress and anxiety. But is this effect specific to supernatural beliefs, or is it a more general function of belief — including belief in science? We developed a measure of belief in science and conducted two experiments in which we manipulated stress and existential anxiety. In Experiment 1, we assessed rowers about to compete (high-stress condition) and rowers at a training session (low-stress condition). As predicted, rowers in the high-stress group reported greater belief in science. In Experiment 2, participants primed with mortality (vs. participants in a control condition) reported greater belief in science. In both experiments, belief in science was negatively correlated with religiosity. Thus, some secular individuals may use science as a form of “faith” that helps them to deal with stressful and anxiety-provoking situations.
(cut)
The suggested parallels between religious belief and belief in science may seem to be in tension with recent work emphasizing the intuitive character of religious belief. Tasks involving more analytic processing were shown to decrease religious belief (Gervais & Norenzayan, 2012), whereas the stimulation of a more intuitive mindset led to a greater belief in God (Shenhav, Rand, & Greene, 2012). Contrary to religion, scientific practice is defined by analytical thinking; rational enquiry and weighing of evidence are given precedence even when they conflict with intuition. But when it comes to believing, even if it is a belief in the scientific method as opposed to divine revelation, the underlying mechanism may be similar.
The entire article is here.
Friday, November 14, 2014
Empathy: A motivated account
Jamil Zaki
Department of Psychology, Stanford University
IN PRESS at Psychological Bulletin
ABSTRACT
Empathy features a tension between automaticity and context dependency. On the one hand, people often take on each other’s states reflexively and outside of awareness. On the other hand, empathy exhibits deep context dependence, shifting with characteristics of empathizers and situations. These two characteristics of empathy can be reconciled by acknowledging the key role of motivation in driving people to avoid or approach engagement with others’ emotions. In particular, at least three motives—suffering, material costs, and interference with competition—drive people to avoid empathy, and at least three motives—positive affect, affiliation, and social desirability—drive them to approach empathy. Would-be empathizers carry out these motives through regulatory strategies including situation selection, attentional modulation, and appraisal, which alter the course of empathic episodes. Interdisciplinary evidence highlights the motivated nature of empathy, and a motivated model holds wide-ranging implications for basic theory, models of psychiatric illness, and intervention efforts to maximize empathy.
The entire article is here.
Department of Psychology, Stanford University
IN PRESS at Psychological Bulletin
ABSTRACT
Empathy features a tension between automaticity and context dependency. On the one hand, people often take on each other’s states reflexively and outside of awareness. On the other hand, empathy exhibits deep context dependence, shifting with characteristics of empathizers and situations. These two characteristics of empathy can be reconciled by acknowledging the key role of motivation in driving people to avoid or approach engagement with others’ emotions. In particular, at least three motives—suffering, material costs, and interference with competition—drive people to avoid empathy, and at least three motives—positive affect, affiliation, and social desirability—drive them to approach empathy. Would-be empathizers carry out these motives through regulatory strategies including situation selection, attentional modulation, and appraisal, which alter the course of empathic episodes. Interdisciplinary evidence highlights the motivated nature of empathy, and a motivated model holds wide-ranging implications for basic theory, models of psychiatric illness, and intervention efforts to maximize empathy.
The entire article is here.
Compensation and punishment: ‘Justice’ depends on whether or not we’re a victim
New York University
Press Release
Originally released on October 28, 2014
We’re more likely to punish wrongdoing as a third party to a non-violent offense than when we’re victimized by it, according to a new study by New York University psychology researchers. The findings, which appear in the journal Nature Communications, may offer insights into how juries differ from plaintiffs in seeking to restore justice.
Their study, conducted in the laboratory of NYU Professor Elizabeth Phelps, also shows that victims, rather than seeking to punish an offender, instead seek to restore what they’ve lost.
“In our legal system, individuals are presented with the option to punish the transgressor or not, but such a narrow choice set may fail to capture alternative preferences for restoring justice,” observes Oriel FeldmanHall, the study’s lead author and a post-doctoral fellow in NYU’s Department of Psychology. “In this study we show that victims actually prefer other forms of justice restoration, such as compensation to the victim, rather than punishment of the transgressor.”
Thursday, November 13, 2014
The drunk utilitarian: Blood alcohol concentration predicts utilitarian responses in moral dilemmas
Aaron
A. Duke and Laurent Bègueb
Cognition
Volume 134, January 2015, Pages 121–127
Highlights
•
Greene’s dual-process theory of moral reasoning needs revision.
•
Blood alcohol concentration is positively correlated with utilitarianism.
•
Self-reported disinhibition is positively correlated with utilitarianism.
•
Decreased empathy predicts utilitarianism better than increased deliberation.
Abstract
The
hypothetical moral dilemma known as the trolley problem has become a
methodological cornerstone in the psychological study of moral reasoning and
yet, there remains considerable debate as to the meaning of utilitarian
responding in these scenarios. It is unclear whether utilitarian responding
results primarily from increased deliberative reasoning capacity or from
decreased aversion to harming others. In order to clarify this question, we conducted
two field studies to examine the effects of alcohol intoxication on utilitarian
responding. Alcohol holds promise in clarifying the above debate because it
impairs both social cognition (i.e., empathy) and higher-order executive
functioning. Hence, the direction of the association between alcohol and
utilitarian vs. non-utilitarian responding should inform the relative
importance of both deliberative and social processing systems in influencing
utilitarian preference. In two field studies with a combined sample of 103 men
and women recruited at two bars in Grenoble, France, participants were
presented with a moral dilemma assessing their willingness to sacrifice one
life to save five others. Participants’ blood alcohol concentrations were found
to positively correlate with utilitarian preferences (r = .31, p < .001)
suggesting a stronger role for impaired social cognition than intact
deliberative reasoning in predicting utilitarian responses in the trolley
dilemma. Implications for Greene’s dual-process model of moral reasoning are
discussed.
Equitable Access to Care — How the United States Ranks Internationally
Karen Davis, Ph.D., and Jeromie Ballreich, M.H.S.
N Engl J Med 2014; 371:1567-1570
October 23, 2014
DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp1406707
Here are two excerpts:
According to a 2013 Commonwealth Fund survey of adults in 11 high-income countries, the United States ranks last on measures of financial access to care as well as of availability of care on nights and weekends. Uninsured people in the United States are particularly likely to report encountering barriers to care.
N Engl J Med 2014; 371:1567-1570
October 23, 2014
DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp1406707
Here are two excerpts:
According to a 2013 Commonwealth Fund survey of adults in 11 high-income countries, the United States ranks last on measures of financial access to care as well as of availability of care on nights and weekends. Uninsured people in the United States are particularly likely to report encountering barriers to care.
(cut)
The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland stand out as leaders in ensuring equitable financial access to care. Switzerland, which provides coverage through nonprofit private insurance plans with deductibles, ensures that cost sharing is lower for lower-income individuals. The United Kingdom, Norway, and Sweden have public health care systems for the entire population with little or no patient cost sharing and allow a limited role for private insurance. France has a public insurance system, and Germany has a social insurance system with competing private “sickness funds.”
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
The Ethicist Who Crossed the Line
By Brad Wolverton
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Originally published October 24, 2014
She was everywhere, and seemingly everyone’s friend, a compassionate do-gooder who worked long hours with underprepared students while balancing several jobs, including directing a center on ethics.
On Wednesday the world learned something else about Jeanette M. Boxill: Her own ethics were malleable.
Most of the blame fell on Julius E. Nyang’oro, a former department chair at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his longtime assistant, Deborah Crowder, after they were identified as the chief architects of a widespread academic scandal there.
The entire story is here.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Originally published October 24, 2014
She was everywhere, and seemingly everyone’s friend, a compassionate do-gooder who worked long hours with underprepared students while balancing several jobs, including directing a center on ethics.
On Wednesday the world learned something else about Jeanette M. Boxill: Her own ethics were malleable.
Most of the blame fell on Julius E. Nyang’oro, a former department chair at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his longtime assistant, Deborah Crowder, after they were identified as the chief architects of a widespread academic scandal there.
The entire story is here.
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