By Cass R. Sunstein
Bloomberg View
Originally published March 30, 2016
A good nudge is like a GPS device: A small, low-cost intervention that tells you how to get where you want to go -- and if you don’t like what it says, you're free to ignore it. But when, exactly, will people do that? A new study sheds important light on that question, by showing the clear limits of nudging. Improbably, this research is also good news: It shows that when people feel strongly, it’s not easy to influence them to make choices that they won’t like.
The focus of this new research, as with much recent work on behavioral science, is on what people eat. Numerous studies suggest that if healthy foods are made more visible or convenient to find, more people will choose them. We tend to make purchasing decisions quickly and automatically; if certain foods or drinks -- snickers bars, apples, orange juice -- are easy to see and grab, consumption will jump.
The article is here.
Note: The podcast on nudge theory and how it applies to psychotherapy can be found here.
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
Divergent roles of autistic and alexithymic traits in utilitarian moral judgments in adults with autism
Indrajeet Patil, Jens Melsbach, Kristina Hennig-Fast & Giorgia Silani
Scientific Reports 6, Article number: 23637 (2016)
doi:10.1038/srep23637
Abstract
This study investigated hypothetical moral choices in adults with high-functioning autism and the role of empathy and alexithymia in such choices. We used a highly emotionally salient moral dilemma task to investigate autistics’ hypothetical moral evaluations about personally carrying out harmful utilitarian behaviours aimed at maximizing welfare. Results showed that they exhibited a normal pattern of moral judgments despite the deficits in social cognition and emotional processing. Further analyses revealed that this was due to mutually conflicting biases associated with autistic and alexithymic traits after accounting for shared variance: (a) autistic traits were associated with reduced utilitarian bias due to elevated personal distress of demanding social situations, while (b) alexithymic traits were associated with increased utilitarian bias on account of reduced empathic concern for the victim. Additionally, autistics relied on their non-verbal reasoning skills to rigidly abide by harm-norms. Thus, utilitarian moral judgments in autism were spared due to opposite influences of autistic and alexithymic traits and compensatory intellectual strategies. These findings demonstrate the importance of empathy and alexithymia in autistic moral cognition and have methodological implications for studying moral judgments in several other clinical populations.
The article is here.
Scientific Reports 6, Article number: 23637 (2016)
doi:10.1038/srep23637
Abstract
This study investigated hypothetical moral choices in adults with high-functioning autism and the role of empathy and alexithymia in such choices. We used a highly emotionally salient moral dilemma task to investigate autistics’ hypothetical moral evaluations about personally carrying out harmful utilitarian behaviours aimed at maximizing welfare. Results showed that they exhibited a normal pattern of moral judgments despite the deficits in social cognition and emotional processing. Further analyses revealed that this was due to mutually conflicting biases associated with autistic and alexithymic traits after accounting for shared variance: (a) autistic traits were associated with reduced utilitarian bias due to elevated personal distress of demanding social situations, while (b) alexithymic traits were associated with increased utilitarian bias on account of reduced empathic concern for the victim. Additionally, autistics relied on their non-verbal reasoning skills to rigidly abide by harm-norms. Thus, utilitarian moral judgments in autism were spared due to opposite influences of autistic and alexithymic traits and compensatory intellectual strategies. These findings demonstrate the importance of empathy and alexithymia in autistic moral cognition and have methodological implications for studying moral judgments in several other clinical populations.
The article is here.
Monday, April 18, 2016
The Benjamin Franklin Effect
David McRaney
You Are Not So Smart Blog: A Celebration of Self Delusion
October 5, 2011
The Misconception: You do nice things for the people you like and bad things to the people you hate.
The Truth: You grow to like people for whom you do nice things and hate people you harm.
(cut)
Sometimes you can’t find a logical, moral or socially acceptable explanation for your actions. Sometimes your behavior runs counter to the expectations of your culture, your social group, your family or even the person you believe yourself to be. In those moments you ask, “Why did I do that?” and if the answer damages your self-esteem, a justification is required. You feel like a bag of sand has ruptured in your head, and you want relief. You can see the proof in an MRI scan of someone presented with political opinions which conflict with their own. The brain scans of a person shown statements which oppose their political stance show the highest areas of the cortex, the portions responsible for providing rational thought, get less blood until another statement is presented which confirms their beliefs. Your brain literally begins to shut down when you feel your ideology is threatened. Try it yourself. Watch a pundit you hate for 15 minutes. Resist the urge to change the channel. Don’t complain to the person next to you. Don’t get online and rant. Try and let it go. You will find this is excruciatingly difficult.
The blog post is here.
Note: How do you perceive complex patients or those who do not respond well to psychotherapy?
You Are Not So Smart Blog: A Celebration of Self Delusion
October 5, 2011
The Misconception: You do nice things for the people you like and bad things to the people you hate.
The Truth: You grow to like people for whom you do nice things and hate people you harm.
(cut)
Sometimes you can’t find a logical, moral or socially acceptable explanation for your actions. Sometimes your behavior runs counter to the expectations of your culture, your social group, your family or even the person you believe yourself to be. In those moments you ask, “Why did I do that?” and if the answer damages your self-esteem, a justification is required. You feel like a bag of sand has ruptured in your head, and you want relief. You can see the proof in an MRI scan of someone presented with political opinions which conflict with their own. The brain scans of a person shown statements which oppose their political stance show the highest areas of the cortex, the portions responsible for providing rational thought, get less blood until another statement is presented which confirms their beliefs. Your brain literally begins to shut down when you feel your ideology is threatened. Try it yourself. Watch a pundit you hate for 15 minutes. Resist the urge to change the channel. Don’t complain to the person next to you. Don’t get online and rant. Try and let it go. You will find this is excruciatingly difficult.
The blog post is here.
Note: How do you perceive complex patients or those who do not respond well to psychotherapy?
Bathroom Bills, Bigotry, and Bioethics
Elizabeth Dietz
The Hastings Center Bioethics Forum blog
March 31, 2016
Here is an excerpt:
HB 2 should incite the worry, and the anger, of bioethicists on several fronts. It is unclear how transgender people could even comply with the letter of the law, let alone its spirit. When transgender men who are read as men – but whose birth certificates say “female”–- are compelled to use the women’s restroom, this creates precisely the “problem,”- i.e., the idea of men invading a women’s only space, that the law purports to protect against. The law’s defenders have invented an imaginary threat to shore up support for the legislation, insisting that women are endangered if transgender women, who are routinely misgendered as “men” in this rhetoric, are allowed to share these spaces. While a 2013 survey by the Williams Institute of UCLA School of Law found that “roughly 70% of trans people have reported being denied entrance, assaulted or harassed while trying to use a restroom,” there is no evidence of violence perpetrated by transgender people in restrooms.
The article is here.
The Hastings Center Bioethics Forum blog
March 31, 2016
Here is an excerpt:
HB 2 should incite the worry, and the anger, of bioethicists on several fronts. It is unclear how transgender people could even comply with the letter of the law, let alone its spirit. When transgender men who are read as men – but whose birth certificates say “female”–- are compelled to use the women’s restroom, this creates precisely the “problem,”- i.e., the idea of men invading a women’s only space, that the law purports to protect against. The law’s defenders have invented an imaginary threat to shore up support for the legislation, insisting that women are endangered if transgender women, who are routinely misgendered as “men” in this rhetoric, are allowed to share these spaces. While a 2013 survey by the Williams Institute of UCLA School of Law found that “roughly 70% of trans people have reported being denied entrance, assaulted or harassed while trying to use a restroom,” there is no evidence of violence perpetrated by transgender people in restrooms.
The article is here.
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Are Religion and Spirituality of Relevance in Psychotherapy?
By Jeffrey E. Barnett
Spirituality in Clinical Practice, Vol 3(1), Mar 2016, 5-9.
Abstract
Are religion and spirituality of relevance in psychotherapy? Reasons why they are are addressed and information is shared to illustrate their great importance in many clients’ lives and why they are relevant to the psychotherapy process. Recommendations regarding how psychotherapists advertise their services, informed consent, clinical competence, cultural competence, and boundaries and multiple relationships are provided so that psychotherapists may fulfill their ethical obligations to provide clients with the most relevant and efficacious treatment possible.
The article is here.
Here are two excerpts:
Scholars and clinicians in the mental health fields have long considered the relevance of religion and spirituality as issues to consider and address in mental health treatment. While many mental health professionals in general, and psychologists in particular, had exhibited significant resistance to, and lack of respect for, religion and spirituality and their role in the psychotherapy process over the years, in recent years there has been much greater acceptance. Much of this acceptance is based on research findings on the great value of religion and spirituality for so many individuals and how addressing them in psychotherapy can be so meaningful and impactful for so many clients. Thus, it is now safe to say that the evidence is in; religion and spirituality are important issues to consider and address in psychotherapy.
(cut)
For those of us who are not comfortable addressing our clients' religious and spiritual needs and issues in our psychotherapeutic work with them, referrals to appropriately trained colleagues is recommended. But, it is important to consider the viability of not addressing these issues at all with our clients as for so many individuals who seek out mental health treatment these are important and salient issues in their lives. Preparing ourselves to provide needed treatment services to those who are likely to seek our help is consistent with our ethical obligations as professionals. Failure to do so falls below minimally accepted ethics standards. So, in response to the question asked in the beginning of this commentary, the answer is most definitely yes, religion and spirituality are of relevance in psychotherapy, and as has been shared, they should be addressed in a thoughtful and respectful manner with each and every client we work with in psychotherapy.
Spirituality in Clinical Practice, Vol 3(1), Mar 2016, 5-9.
Abstract
Are religion and spirituality of relevance in psychotherapy? Reasons why they are are addressed and information is shared to illustrate their great importance in many clients’ lives and why they are relevant to the psychotherapy process. Recommendations regarding how psychotherapists advertise their services, informed consent, clinical competence, cultural competence, and boundaries and multiple relationships are provided so that psychotherapists may fulfill their ethical obligations to provide clients with the most relevant and efficacious treatment possible.
The article is here.
Here are two excerpts:
Scholars and clinicians in the mental health fields have long considered the relevance of religion and spirituality as issues to consider and address in mental health treatment. While many mental health professionals in general, and psychologists in particular, had exhibited significant resistance to, and lack of respect for, religion and spirituality and their role in the psychotherapy process over the years, in recent years there has been much greater acceptance. Much of this acceptance is based on research findings on the great value of religion and spirituality for so many individuals and how addressing them in psychotherapy can be so meaningful and impactful for so many clients. Thus, it is now safe to say that the evidence is in; religion and spirituality are important issues to consider and address in psychotherapy.
(cut)
For those of us who are not comfortable addressing our clients' religious and spiritual needs and issues in our psychotherapeutic work with them, referrals to appropriately trained colleagues is recommended. But, it is important to consider the viability of not addressing these issues at all with our clients as for so many individuals who seek out mental health treatment these are important and salient issues in their lives. Preparing ourselves to provide needed treatment services to those who are likely to seek our help is consistent with our ethical obligations as professionals. Failure to do so falls below minimally accepted ethics standards. So, in response to the question asked in the beginning of this commentary, the answer is most definitely yes, religion and spirituality are of relevance in psychotherapy, and as has been shared, they should be addressed in a thoughtful and respectful manner with each and every client we work with in psychotherapy.
Saturday, April 16, 2016
Legal and ethical aspects of organ donation after euthanasia in Belgium and the Netherlands
Jan Bollen, Rankie ten Hoopen, Dirk Ysebaert, Walther van Mook, & Ernst van Heurn
J Med Ethics doi:10.1136/medethics-2015-102898
Abstract
Organ donation after euthanasia has been performed more than 40 times in Belgium and the Netherlands together. Preliminary results of procedures that have been performed until now demonstrate that this leads to good medical results in the recipient of the organs. Several legal aspects could be changed to further facilitate the combination of organ donation and euthanasia. On the ethical side, several controversies remain, giving rise to an ongoing, but necessary and useful debate. Further experiences will clarify whether both procedures should be strictly separated and whether the dead donor rule should be strictly applied. Opinions still differ on whether the patient's physician should address the possibility of organ donation after euthanasia, which laws should be adapted and which preparatory acts should be performed. These and other procedural issues potentially conflict with the patient's request for organ donation or the circumstances in which euthanasia (without subsequent organ donation) traditionally occurs.
The article is here.
J Med Ethics doi:10.1136/medethics-2015-102898
Abstract
Organ donation after euthanasia has been performed more than 40 times in Belgium and the Netherlands together. Preliminary results of procedures that have been performed until now demonstrate that this leads to good medical results in the recipient of the organs. Several legal aspects could be changed to further facilitate the combination of organ donation and euthanasia. On the ethical side, several controversies remain, giving rise to an ongoing, but necessary and useful debate. Further experiences will clarify whether both procedures should be strictly separated and whether the dead donor rule should be strictly applied. Opinions still differ on whether the patient's physician should address the possibility of organ donation after euthanasia, which laws should be adapted and which preparatory acts should be performed. These and other procedural issues potentially conflict with the patient's request for organ donation or the circumstances in which euthanasia (without subsequent organ donation) traditionally occurs.
The article is here.
Friday, April 15, 2016
Brain stimulation in sport: is it fair?
By Nick Davis
The Conversation
Originally published March 16, 2016
If I tried to sell you a drink or a tablet, claiming it would make you run faster or improve your tennis serve, you would be suspicious. Taking a supplement to boost performance in sport feels like cheating, and it generally is.
However, new advances in neuroscience have pointed the way to performance enhancement by stimulating the activity of the brain. Mild electrical stimulation using electrodes placed on the head – called transcranial direct current stimulation, or tDCS, makes the brain more or less active, and may lead to long-lasting changes in brain processing.
The article is here.
The Conversation
Originally published March 16, 2016
If I tried to sell you a drink or a tablet, claiming it would make you run faster or improve your tennis serve, you would be suspicious. Taking a supplement to boost performance in sport feels like cheating, and it generally is.
However, new advances in neuroscience have pointed the way to performance enhancement by stimulating the activity of the brain. Mild electrical stimulation using electrodes placed on the head – called transcranial direct current stimulation, or tDCS, makes the brain more or less active, and may lead to long-lasting changes in brain processing.
The article is here.
An Experimental Autism Treatment Cost Me My Marriage
By John Elder Robison
The New York Times
Originally published March 16, 2016
Here is an excerpt:
Several T.M.S. devices have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of severe depression, and others are under study for different conditions. (It’s still in the experimental phase for autism.) The doctors wondered if changing activity in a particular part of the autistic brain could change the way we sense emotions. That sounded exciting. I hoped it would help me read people a little better.
They say, be careful what you wish for. The intervention succeeded beyond my wildest dreams — and it turned my life upside down. After one of my first T.M.S. sessions, in 2008, I thought nothing had happened. But when I got home and closed my eyes, I felt as if I were on a ship at sea. And there were dreams — so real they felt like hallucinations. It sounds like a fairy tale, but the next morning when I went to work, everything was different. Emotions came at me from all directions, so fast that I didn’t have a moment to process them.
The article is here.
The New York Times
Originally published March 16, 2016
Here is an excerpt:
Several T.M.S. devices have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of severe depression, and others are under study for different conditions. (It’s still in the experimental phase for autism.) The doctors wondered if changing activity in a particular part of the autistic brain could change the way we sense emotions. That sounded exciting. I hoped it would help me read people a little better.
They say, be careful what you wish for. The intervention succeeded beyond my wildest dreams — and it turned my life upside down. After one of my first T.M.S. sessions, in 2008, I thought nothing had happened. But when I got home and closed my eyes, I felt as if I were on a ship at sea. And there were dreams — so real they felt like hallucinations. It sounds like a fairy tale, but the next morning when I went to work, everything was different. Emotions came at me from all directions, so fast that I didn’t have a moment to process them.
The article is here.
Thursday, April 14, 2016
The Ethics of Doing Ethics
Sven Ove Hansson
Sci Eng Ethics
DOI 10.1007/s11948-016-9772-3
Abstract
Ethicists have investigated ethical problems in other disciplines, but there has not been much discussion of the ethics of their own activities. Research in ethics has many ethical problems in common with other areas of research, and it also has problems of its own. The researcher’s integrity is more precarious than in most other disciplines, and therefore even stronger procedural checks are needed to protect it. The promotion of some standpoints in ethical issues may be socially harmful, and even our decisions as to which issues we label as ‘‘ethical’’ may have unintended and potentially harmful social consequences. It can be argued that ethicists have an obligation to make positive contributions to society, but the practical implications of such an obligation are not easily identified. This article provides an overview of ethical issues that arise in research into ethics and in the application of such research. It ends with a list of ten practical proposals for how these issues should be dealt with.
The article is here.
Sci Eng Ethics
DOI 10.1007/s11948-016-9772-3
Abstract
Ethicists have investigated ethical problems in other disciplines, but there has not been much discussion of the ethics of their own activities. Research in ethics has many ethical problems in common with other areas of research, and it also has problems of its own. The researcher’s integrity is more precarious than in most other disciplines, and therefore even stronger procedural checks are needed to protect it. The promotion of some standpoints in ethical issues may be socially harmful, and even our decisions as to which issues we label as ‘‘ethical’’ may have unintended and potentially harmful social consequences. It can be argued that ethicists have an obligation to make positive contributions to society, but the practical implications of such an obligation are not easily identified. This article provides an overview of ethical issues that arise in research into ethics and in the application of such research. It ends with a list of ten practical proposals for how these issues should be dealt with.
The article is here.
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