Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Time To Abandon Group Thinking In Economics, Sergio Da Silva

Sergio Da Silva

Group thinking is the notion that natural selection favors what is good for the group or the species, not for the individual. Most mainstream evolutionary biology rejects this idea and natural selection is viewed as working on the individual’s genes to promote their own survival and reproduction. Here I show through a couple of examples how group thinking also pervades economics. I argue that the reason for the mistake relies on the fact that economics fails to ground itself in the underlying knowledge provided by biology. Then I suggest how economics can aspire more than being applied logic and turn …

Preschoolers And The Endowment Effect, Sergio Da Silva, Bruno Moreira, Newton Da Costa Jr

Sergio Da Silva

We show that preschoolers exhibit the endowment effect as evidenced by experiments where children generally chose to keep their own toys rather than trading them for similar ones. Furthermore, we relate the emergence of this effect to children’s innate psychobiological traits—emotional state, gender, handedness, and digit ratio. The trials were conducted with 141 children across 6 kindergartens. We also found support that children, like adults, exhibit a preference for physical possession as opposed to ownership. As with adults, emotions also seem to matter, as children who were described as quiet and calm were more likely to present the endowment effect. …

The Mutual Gains From Trade Moderate The Parent-Offspring Conflict, Sergio Da Silva

Sergio Da Silva

This essay asserts that the mutual gains accruing from the exchange of goods between siblings can moderate the famous parent-offspring conflict, an issue of interest in evolutionary biology. The rationale combines basic concepts of economics and behavioral genetics, and fills in the gaps of standard economic theory by justifying why trade, ultimately a cooperative endeavor, is possible from egoistic utility maximizers.

Risk Seekers May Be Antisocial After All, Sergio Da Silva, Raul Matsushita, Luiza Ugarte, Mateus De Carvalho

Sergio Da Silva

Undergraduates were given a battery of psychological tests to gauge their degree of antisocial personality traits (psychopathy, Machiavellianism and nihilism). The students also responded to questionnaires to assess their attitudes toward risk and intertemporal choice. Biological attributes of the respondents were also collected. We found a correlation between psychopathic, Machiavellian and nihilistic traits in the sample, and also that risk seekers were antisocial. Additionally, we found, on average, that younger subjects presented higher levels of psychopathy; atheists were more Machiavellian; and atheists who were anxious tend to be nihilists. Moreover, boys born from younger mothers were more risk seeking than …

2d:4d Digit Ratio Predicts Delay Of Gratification In Preschoolers, Sergio Da Silva, Bruno Moreira, Newton Da Costa Jr

Sergio Da Silva

We replicate the Stanford marshmallow experiment with a sample of 141 preschoolers and find a correlation between lack of self-control and 2D:4D digit ratio. Children with low 2D:4D digit ratio are less likely to delay gratification. Low 2D:4D digit ratio may indicate high fetal testosterone. If this hypothesis is true, our finding means high fetal testosterone children are less likely to delay gratification.

Moral Conflict, Kristen Cole

Kristen Cole

No abstract provided.

Lmu Information Literacy Program Recognized As An Exemplary Program, Elisa Slater Acosta, Susan [Gardner] Archambault, Lindsey Mclean

Elisa Slater Acosta

Consequentialism And Its Demands: A Representative Study, Attila Tanyi, Martin Bruder

Attila Tanyi

An influential objection to act-consequentialism holds that the theory is unduly demanding. This paper is an attempt to approach this critique of act-consequentialism – the Overdemandingness Objection – from a different, so far undiscussed, angle. First, the paper argues that the most convincing form of the Objection claims that consequentialism is overdemanding because it requires us, with decisive force, to do things that, intuitively, we do not have decisive reason to perform. Second, in order to investigate the existence of the intuition, the paper reports empirical evidence of how people see the normative significance of consequentialist requirements.. In a scenario …

Revisiting Pragmatic Abilities In Autism Spectrum Disorder, Jessica De Villiers, Brooke Myers, Robert J. Stainton

Robert J. Stainton

In a 2007 paper, we argued that speakers with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) exhibit pragmatic abilities which are surprising given the usual understanding of communication in that group. That is, it is commonly reported that people diagnosed with an ASD have trouble with metaphor, irony, conversational implicature and other non-literal language. This is not a matter of trouble with knowledge and application of rules of grammar. The difficulties lie, rather, in successful communicative interaction. Though we did find pragmatic errors within literal talk, the transcribed conversations we studied showed many, many successes. A second paper reinforced our finding of a …

Teenage Marriage Among Hmong American Women, Pa Der Vang

Pa Der Vang, PhD, MSW, LICSW

Educating The Next Generation Of Cyberforensic Professionals, Mark Pollitt, Philip Craiger

J. Philip Craiger, Ph.D.

“Pure Delight And Professional Development”: The Reading Practices And Library Use Of An Active Poetry Community, Carey Toane, Paulette Rothbauer

Paulette Rothbauer

Tax Evasion, Human Capital, And Productivity-Induced Tax Rate Reduction, Max Gillman, Michal Kejak

Max Gillman

Model For Setting Priority Construction Project Objectives Aligned With Monetary Incentives, Ruben Ndihokubwayo, Gerrit Crafford, Fanie Buys

Dr Ruben Ndihokubwayo

A comprehensive model based on priority project objectives aligned with monetary incentives, and agreed upon by built environment stakeholders was developed. A web survey was adopted to send out a questionnaire to nationwide participants, including contractors, quantity surveyors, project managers, architects, and consulting engineers, requesting them to base their responses on a specific construction project in which they have been involved. The development of the model consists of the combination of results from inferential statistics analyses of 7-point Likert scale questions in three aspects, namely motivational factors (Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis), monetary incentives (T-test and ANOVA), and project objectives aligned with …

The Companies We Keep: From Legitimacy To Reputation In Retail Investment, Elisabeth Brooke Harrington

Brooke Harrington

Few studies have examined public response to unethical or illegal behavior by firms, despite some research on institutional investors, organized protest groups or shareholder activists. Although a robust research literature shows that corporations invest heavily in impression management the relevant audiences for these messages have generally been construed by scholars as other organizations, obscuring the micro-foundations of market activity. This paper will address the knowledge gap by drawing on evidence from a long term field study of retail investors. Based on their responses to firms’ misconduct before and after the corporate fraud scandals of the twentieth century, this paper will …

How Real Is Gentrification?, Michael Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

Some commentators argue that gentrification is turning many cities into a playground for the rich. This article rejects that view, pointing out that even relatively affluent cities are still poorer than the average suburb.

The Impact Of Cultural Validation On The College Experiences Of Southeast Asian American Students., Dina C. Maramba, Phd, Robert T. Palmer, Phd

Robert T. Palmer, PhD

The purpose of this study is to explore the critical role of culture on the success of Southeast Asian American (SEAA) college students. Specifically, we examined the saliency of cultural validation and how it shaped the educational trajectories of SEAAs. A national sample of 34 participants was analyzed across 5 public, 4-year colleges and universities. Findings suggest the need for (a) cultural knowledge, (b) cultural familiarity, (c) cultural expression, and (d) cultural advocacy. In addition, the low number of SEAA students on their respective campuses heavily influenced their college experience. Implications for research and practice are discussed.