Misguided Criticisms of Evolutionary Psychology #2: Evolutionary psychology provides an excuse for bad behavior – in particular, for the kinds of bad behavior that men specialize in. From #TheApeThatUnderstoodTheUniverseamazon.com/Ape-that-Under…
Misguided Criticisms of Evolutionary Psychology #3: Evolutionary psychology implies that certain undesirable phenomena – old-fashioned sex roles, xenophobia, war and aggression – are ultimately ineradicable. From #TheApeThatUnderstoodTheUniverseamazon.com/Ape-that-Under…
"There's no magic-bullet study that can single-handedly establish that a given trait is an adaptation – or that it's not. The best we can ever do is to look at the preponderance of evidence and see which way it points." #TheApeThatUnderstoodTheUniverseamazon.com/Ape-that-Under…
Misguided Criticisms of Evolutionary Psychology #8: Evolutionary psychologists argue that everything is an adaptation. They're guilty, in other words, of what’s sometimes called "panadaptationism." #TheApeThatUnderstoodTheUniverseamazon.com/Ape-that-Under…
Critics who rail against status quo bolstering, genetic determinism and just-so storytelling are like the crazy person in the bus shelter, fighting with a sparring partner who isn't really there: They've invented their own evolutionary psychology and are arguing loudly with that.
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THREAD: “Cognitive biases are growing and multiplying at an ever-increasing rate. Every psychologist and their uncle has come up with one. To give you a sense of the scale of the problem, this infographic summarizes 50 of the best-known cognitive biases.”
[Link at end.]
“It’s too much! The uncontrolled proliferation of cognitive biases has led to general confusion, a dangerous increase in infographics, and a scientific literature that might be described as ‘kind of a mess.’”
[Link at end of thread.]
Six fundamental beliefs that bias our view of the world:
1. My experience is a reasonable reference 2. I make correct assessments 3. I am good 4. My group is a reasonable reference 5. My group is good 6. People's attributes (not context) shape outcomes
THREAD: Boys Are Falling Behind: An ingenious study explores grading bias against boys
“Boys are increasingly falling behind girls at school. This disadvantage has important consequences.”
[Link at end.]
“[D]espite the commonly held belief that girls are discriminated against, teacher biases favor girls.”
“This favoritism, estimated as individual teacher effects, has long-term consequences: as measured by their national evaluations three years later, male students make less progress than their female counterparts.”
Thread: The Four Laws of Behavior Genetics [links at end]
The 1st Law of Behavior Genetics: All psychological traits are partially heritable.
The 2nd Law of Behavior Genetics: The effect of being raised in the same family is smaller than the effect of genes.
The 3rd Law of Behavior Genetics: A lot of the differences between people in psychological traits aren’t attributable to either genes or the family environment.