Adolescent boys’ physical fighting and adult life outcomes: Examining the interplay with intelligence

Although it is well known that adolescent delinquent behavior is related to poor outcomes in adulthood, longitudinal research on specific acts of delinquency and their interplay with important individual characteristics in predicting future outcomes is scarce. We aimed to examine how physical fighting—one of the most common acts of violent delinquency among adolescent boys—is related to adult life success in several domains, and how intelligence influences these associations. The study used data from 1,083 boys that participated in the population-based longitudinal Young in Norway Study, following adolescents from 1992 to 2015, by combining self-reports at four time points with comprehensive information from registers. Results showed that adolescent boys’ physical fighting was associated with poor adult outcomes in the domains of employment, education, and criminal behavior. Associations remained significant even after controlling for conduct problems in general—which isolated the effects of fighting from other delinquent acts—as well as from a variety of other potential confounders. Detailed analyses on the interplay of physical fighting and intelligence showed that some parts of the associations between adolescent boys’ fighting and several adverse adult outcomes could be ascribed to lower intelligence among the fighters. Moreover, intelligence moderated the relationship between physical fighting and adult education. Adolescent fighting was not related to educational attainment among boys with high intelligence, whereas boys with lower intelligence experienced detrimental effects of adolescent fighting. The analyses show the importance of considering adolescent boys’ physical fighting as a potential risk factor for future social marginalization.     

An Ecological Intelligence Scale Intended for Adults

Abstract

Ecological intelligence (EI) refers to systemic thinking, ecophilosophy, holistic perspective, collective lifestyle and cultural commons. It is difficult to determine the exact nature of EI and its characteristics due to it being a complex concept. The aim of this study is to develop an EI scale intended for adults which is based on a holistic perspective, social intelligence and economy and try to specify the concept of ecological intelligence. The goodness-of-fit values were at an acceptable level. The results were Cronbach’s alpha: 0.824; KMO: 0.878; X²/df: 3.39; RMSEA: 0.077; SRMR: 0.0504; GFI, AGFI, NFI, NNFI, IFI, CFI?≥?0.90. These results showed that the scale is reliable, and has validity and strong theoretical background. There are 12 items within the scale.     

Untangling Intelligence,Psychopathy, Antisocial Personality Disorder,and Conduct Problems: A Meta‐analytic Review

Substantial research has investigated the association between intelligence and psychopathic traits. The findings to date have been inconsistent and have not always considered the multidimensional nature of psychopathic traits. Moreover, there has been a tendency to confuse psychopathy with other closely related, clinically significant disorders. The current study represents a meta‐analysis conducted to evaluate the direction and magnitude of the association of intelligence with global psychopathy, as well as its factors and facets, and related disorders (i.e. antisocial personality disorder, conduct disorder, and oppositional defiant disorder). Our analyses revealed a small, significant, negative relationship between intelligence and total psychopathy (r = ?.07, p = .001). Analysis of factors and facets found differential associations, including both significant positive (e.g. interpersonal facet) and negative (e.g. affective facet) associations, further affirming that psychopathy is a multidimensional construct. Additionally, intelligence was negatively associated with antisocial personality disorder (r = ?.13, p = .001) and conduct disorder (r = ?.13, p = .001) but positively with oppositional defiant disorder (r = .06, p = .001). There was significant heterogeneity across studies for most effects, but the results of moderator analyses were inconsistent. Finally, bias analyses did not find significant evidence for publication bias or outsized effects of outliers. © 2019 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Verbal and practical intelligence in general anxiety,obsessive compulsive and major depression disorders

IntroductionPrevious researches have shown that anxiety symptoms are negatively associated with measures of intelligence. However, recent findings indicate possible positive relationships between Generalized Anxiety Disorders (GAD) and intelligence. Also, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is associated with a moderate degree of underperformance on cognitive tests, including deficient processing. There are inconsistent results to present the relationship between Major Depression Disorder (MDD) and IQ. The present study has three main aims. The first aim of this study is to investigate the difference between IQ in individuals with GAD, OCD and major depressive disorder, and normal group. The second purpose is to perform a comparative study between the GAD, OCD and MDD groups on verbal and non-verbal intelligence. The third aim of this study is to examine the relationships between GAD, OCD and MDD as well as their underlying cognitive processes, including worry, rumination, and post-event processing, with verbal and non-verbal intelligence.ObjectiveThe present study is performed on four groups of participants including those with GAD, OCD, MDD and Healthy Volunteer (HV) group consisting of individuals without psychiatric disorders.MethodThe number of 50 healthy volunteers as the control group, 45 patients with GAD, 20 patients with OCD and 25 patients with MDD (n = 140) were selected as the case-referent groups. The present study was a cross-sectional type and the research was performed based on the causal-comparative method. Verbal and non-verbal intelligence was measured with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-3rd edition (WAIS-III). Rumination and post-event processing were measured by PSWQ, RRS-BR, and PEPQ, respectively.ResultsThe results indicate that Verbal Intelligence and Verbal Comprehension Index in GAD patients have significant differences in comparison to the OCD, MDD and control groups. While, the value of the Working Memory Index (WMI) in the normal group is higher than the value of the same index in the GAD, OCD and MDD groups. Also, the values of the Processing Speed Index (PSI) in normal and GAD groups are higher than the OCD and MDD groups. The worry, rumination, and post-event processing in patients with GAD are positively correlated with general and verbal intelligence. But, verbal and non-verbal intelligence had a negative correlation with worry, rumination and post-event processing in healthy volunteers.ConclusionInvestigation of the possible connections between intelligence and the cognitive processes underlying emotional disorders can provide therapeutic strategies for smart individuals who are at risk for GAD.     

MetrIntMeas a novel metric for measuring the intelligence of a swarm of cooperating agents

We propose a novel metric called MetrIntMeas (Metric for the Intelligence Measuring) for an accurate and robust measurement of the difficult problem-solving intelligence of a swarm system. The metric allows the classification if a swarm system belongs to the same class with the systems which have a specific reference intelligence value. For proving the efficiency of the proposed metric we realized a case study on a swarm system specialized in solving a NP-hard problem. As an application of the proposed metric, we present the measurement of the swarm systems’ evolution in intelligence. We gave a new definition to the intelligent evolving systems. The evolution of intelligent systems can be verified using the proposed MetrIntMeas metric.     

Hacking the Akashic Records: The Next Domain for Military Intelligence Operations?

Abstract

This paper outlines a hypothetical six-dimension doctrine for military intelligence-gathering in the Akashic domain. The Akashic records are described by esotericists and mystics as a permanent record of all thoughts, feelings, and actions, stored in a kind of cosmic memory bank outside of space and time. Psychics, clairvoyants, and other intuitives purport to read the records, suggesting that development of an operational strategy for accessing such information may be possible. Command oversight, however, would present significant moral challenges, as “hacking” into this information would be a personally intrusive invasion of privacy with serious repercussions for the operators and state sponsors.     

Friendship network mechanisms linking emotional intelligence and subjective well-being: Beyond a mediation model

ABSTRACT

This study examined whether the status (central or peripheral position) of individuals in a friendship network and the quality of a friendship network represent key mechanisms in determining how emotional intelligence is associated with subjective well-being. Using data collected from 217 Chinese senior undergraduates, we found that the interaction of the quality of a friendship network and a peripheral position in a friendship network mediated relations of emotional intelligence with subjective well-being. Although a central position in a friendship network did not interact with the quality of a friendship network, it did mediate the relations of emotional intelligence with subjective well-being on its own. The findings expand the growing body of research findings on the association between emotional intelligence and subjective well-being by investigating the role of friendship networks and highlight the importance of a network perspective in understanding the association.