Beyond Altruism: Identity-Construction as Moral Motive in Political Explanation

This article explores conceptual issues pertaining to the role of moral motivation in political explanation. Employing data drawn from long interview with political activists from across the spectrum of American politics, I criticize both rational actor models and so-called "dual" motivational theories, that focus on altruism as the primary moral motive in politics, in contrast to the narrow focus on a certain conception of self-interest. Against both of these approaches, I offer an identity-construction approach to moral motives in politics. This model focuses on the complex interweaving of self and moral motives, and in particular focuses on the concerns political activists have for what kind of person they are and what kind of life they are living. These types of concerns are both moral and self-regarding, and therefore defy the dichotomy between self- and other-regarding at the heart of both rational actor and "dual" motivation accounts of moral motives.     

Character Attacks and Their Effects on Perceptions of Male and Female Political Candidates

The study examined the perceptions of political candidates (male and female) who make negative statements about the personality and integrity of their political opponents. Male and female participants (Sex of Participant factor) indicated their impressions of a male or female political candidate (Sex of Candidate factor) who either attacked or did not attack the character of his/her opponent (Attack factor) in a political leadership debate. Participants who read a speech given by a candidate of their own gender tended to rate the candidate as having greater integrity when the candidate attacked his/her opponent than when he/she did not. When judging a candidate of the opposite gender, participants tended to rate the candidate who attacked his/her opponent as having less integrity than a candidate who did not attack his/her opponent. Results are discussed with regard to the impact that aggressive campaign tactics can have on voter perceptions, and how similarity between voters and candidates may affect perceptions of such tactics.     

珠心算过程的眼动和认知研究

本实验采用眼动技术和实验神经心理学的方法对珠心算的认知过程进行了实验研究。研究发现,在竖式运算时,接受过珠心算训练的儿童与没有接受过珠心算训练的儿童相比其眼动轨迹显著不同;神经心理实验的结果表明,训练组儿童在数学运算能力、数字记忆空间、注意力、大脑功能偏侧化等方面均与非训练组儿童有显著差别。     

ALTRUISM IN SUICIDE TERROR ORGANIZATIONS

In recent years, much has been learned about the strategic and organizational contexts of suicide attacks. However, motivations of the agents who commit them remain difficult to explain. In part this is because standard models of social learning as well as Durkheimian notions of sacrificial behavior are inadequate in the face of the actions of human bombers. In addition, the importance of organizational structures and practices in reinforcing commitment on the part of suicide recruits is an under-explored factor in many analyses. This essay examines the potential applicability of evolutionary models of altruism to the understanding of commitment to suicide on the part of terrorist organizational recruits. Three evolutionary models of sacrificial behavior in nonhuman species and many categories of human behavior are explored cross-organizationally: reciprocity, inclusive fitness theory, and induced altruism. Reciprocal altruism is unlikely to be a major motivator in suicide attacks because the costs exhibited by attackers are too high to be adequately compensated. However, the role of evolved self-deception in perceptions of personal death, and thus of rewards in the afterlife, is potentially illuminating. Inclusive fitness theory can help explain the motivations of attackers because rewards to kin often are offered by organizations to suicide recruits. However, suicide bombers also often act out of revenge for the loss of or injury to relatives, and inclusive fitness theory generally, as well as more specific theoretical models of retaliatory aggression, may not adequately account for the bombers' actions. Predictions from induced altruism theory appear to be well supported because suicide terror organizations tend to be tightly structured around practices intended to maintain and reinforce commitment though the manipulation of kinship-recognition cues.     

Individual differences in banknote processing: the role of altruism

We evaluated whether banknotes processing depended on altruism and attitude towards money. In Experiment 1, context effects were examined when participants named banknotes blocked by category or intermixed with pictures from semantic categories. Attitude towards money was assessed by questionnaires and the degree of altruism was evaluated with the dictator game task. In this task, participants received an amount of money and they had to decide whether to donate all, nothing or part of it. A facilitation effect was found in the banknote naming task and this effect increased as the amount of donations decreased. In Experiment 2, we examined whether less altruistic individuals might focus on the relevant information needed to process banknotes in a monetary Stroop task. Only more altruistic individuals showed Stroop effects. These results are interpreted as due to enhanced control while processing relevant information associated to banknotes in less altruistic individuals.     

Sharing genes fosters identity fusion and altruism

Researchers have shown that the more genes twins share, the more they care about one another. Here, we examine a psychological mediator of such genetic influences, “identity fusion” (a visceral sense of oneness with them). Results supported this hypothesis. Relative to dizygotic twins, monozygotic twins reported stronger fusion and elevated desire to have contact and share experiences with their twin (Study 1), to forgive and grant favors to their twin after being disappointed by him/her (Study 2), and willingness to make sacrifices for their twin (Study 3). Fusion with the twin mediated the impact of zygosity on these outcomes. These findings demonstrate that genetic relatedness fosters a powerful feeling of union with one’s twin that predicts sharing, tolerance, and self-sacrificial behavior toward him or her.     

社会抑制性与父母教养方式对幼儿利他行为的影响

采用实验室实验和问卷法相结合的方法,以92名3～5岁幼儿为被试,着重探讨了社会抑制性与父母教养方式对幼儿利他行为的影响。在实验室条件下的研究结果表明,幼儿气质中的重要维度—社会抑制性影响幼儿的利他行为。爱社交的幼儿利他行为多于害羞的幼儿。权威型父母教养方式的幼儿利他行为比溺爱型的多。社会抑制性、父母教养方式对幼儿的利他行为产生交互作用。     

Evolution of the Colored Eco-Genetic Relationship Map (CEGRM) for Assessing Social Functioning in Women in Hereditary Breast-Ovarian (HBOC) Families

The CEGRM was initially conceived as a simple, concise, visual representation of the social interaction domains of information, tangible services and emotional exchanges (Kenen, R., & Peters, J. (2001). J Genet Counsel, 10, 289–309). A blend of the genetic pedigree, genogram, and ecomap, the CEGRM was developed to facilitate contemporary genetic counseling goals. An exploratory pilot study of 20 subjects showed that it was feasible, comfortable and efficiently accomplished, and that the process was useful both for assessment and as an intervention with study participants (Peters, J. A., Kenen, R., Giusti, R., Loud, J., Weissman, N., & Greene, M. H. (2004). Am J Med Genet Part A, 130A, 258–264). Subsequently, we have extended the CEGRM to 150 women from hereditary breast/ovarian cancer (HBOC) families; three different investigators have successfully administered this tool. The preliminary findings from the exploratory study were confirmed in the larger sample. Engaging in the interactive, insight-promoting CEGRM process provides a novel tool for assessing the social context of genetic testing, and helping high-risk women better understand and integrate genetic information into their personal and family identities, health beliefs, and decisions.     

Populism and religion: On the politics of fear

Our societies of fear go along with an increase of populist movements in politics. This article explains the basics of populism and shows how easily it joins highly likely political friend‐enemy patterns. Anthropologically, we have to deal with parochial altruism undergirded by a static type of religion. A further step deals with the relationship between politics and fear by referring to terror management theory and its insight into the relationship between mortality and fear. The concluding part addresses ways out of fear and in what way a dynamic type of religion helps to avoid scapegoating and political enmity.     

Supporting the best charities is harder than it seems

Once upon a time, I attempted to create a web-based one-stop-shop for global poverty relief called the Maximin Project. Drawing on aspects of that experience, I show that although some existing ways of rating and recommending charities are significantly better than others, there remain certain challenges that need to be overcome. Specifically, I argue that the emerging Effective Altruism movement, with its emphasis on measurable effectiveness, runs the risk of neglecting a whole range of projects that are necessary for a well-rounded approach to human development. I briefly model an alternative virtue-based approach that calls on the personal insight of individual researchers and practitioners in addition to the more directly experimental approach of organizations like GiveWell.