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Category: Psychology

Antonio Damasio argues that without feelings, true intelligence cannot exist

Antonio Damasio argues that without feelings, true intelligence cannot exist

In a review of Antonio Damasio’s new book, Natural Intelligence and the Logic of Consciousness, David Eagleman writes: The part of the mind that Damasio says has been too long underappreciated is the feeling mind, built on interoception, which includes the continuous monitoring of respiration, temperature, heartbeat, blood circulation, blood chemistry, visceral musculature and other internal affairs. These three categories [the perceptual mind, the reflective/linguistic mind, and the feeling mind], he explains, have different biological foundations, different evolutionary ages and…

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Human experience cannot be captured in data

Human experience cannot be captured in data

Liam Spradlin writes: According to computism, the world, including humans, can be computed: the bits that everything is made of can be represented and manipulated as data. The Universe can be governed, essentially, by code. A tall modern building with a cloudy sky, cars parked in front, a person walking, and trees and grass in foreground. Datacenter AMS1 at the Science Park in Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2021. Photo by Anthony Deutsch/Reuters Tech leaders have made enormous claims about how computation can…

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Cognitive biases and emotional triggers make AI-generated images highly deceptive

Cognitive biases and emotional triggers make AI-generated images highly deceptive

PsyPost reports: Emotionally charged AI-generated images may encourage social media users to respond before they critically assess whether the images are real, according to a study published in Computers in Human Behavior. AI-generated images can now be produced quickly and cheaply, making it possible to create large amounts of realistic-looking material for social media. Some images are paired with emotional captions and distributed through networks of automated pages or content farms that seek attention, advertising revenue or user interaction. Images…

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The more we humanize AI, the more we will dehumanize each other

The more we humanize AI, the more we will dehumanize each other

David Brooks writes: As we learn to think more and more highly of the bots, I suspect we will learn to think less and less highly of our fellow humans. Over the past few years, Hye-young Kim and Ann L. McGill have been studying what happens when people attribute human traits to AI. As people do this, Kim and McGill have found, they are more likely to dehumanize their fellow humans. For example, they are more likely to approve of…

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Study outlines the five-stage pipeline Clavicular used to spread ‘diagnostic masculinity’ and looksmaxxing

Study outlines the five-stage pipeline Clavicular used to spread ‘diagnostic masculinity’ and looksmaxxing

PsyPost reports: A recent study explores how an extreme male self-improvement trend known as looksmaxxing moved from obscure internet forums into mainstream public awareness. The research suggests that this spread relies not just on social media algorithms, but on a coordinated system of controversy, short-form video clips, and mainstream media coverage. The findings were published in Journal. Media. Looksmaxxing revolves around the intense, systematic attempt to maximize a person’s physical attractiveness. Participants often scrutinize their own facial features, such as…

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Huge genetic study finds strong links between DNA and personality traits

Huge genetic study finds strong links between DNA and personality traits

John M Lund / Getty Images By Briar Wormington, QIMR Berghofer and Michelle K Lupton, QIMR Berghofer Personality is something we all share, but the different ways we think and feel also make us unique. Personality is relatively stable and influences nearly every aspect of human life, from academic performance and career choices to health behaviours and longevity. For example, someone who is responsible might avoid taking risks or alcohol and drug use. Our new study, published in Nature, has…

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Play is doing its work even if we’re not keeping score

Play is doing its work even if we’re not keeping score

Justin Neuman writes: Our kids were playing Settlers of Catan over the holidays. Or rather, they weren’t. They’d rearranged the strategy game’s hexagonal tiles into an archipelago of islands that no rulebook recognises, imagined ‘bridges’ built from wood, brick and stone, and invented a purpose for the game about network connectivity that had nothing to do with earning points. They were not playing Catan. They were playing in Catan, using its materials as components to make a world the designers…

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Biophilia: Monkeys sometimes have ‘pets’ like humans

Biophilia: Monkeys sometimes have ‘pets’ like humans

Popular Science reports: We humans love our pets, but we aren’t the only great apes who buddy up with other species. Researchers have documented multiple instances of primates forming bonds with different animals, but a recent study indicates these relationships may be even more common than expected. In a first-of-its-kind comprehensive review published in the journal Primates, anthropologists at the University of Oxford explored various instances of monkeys and apes carrying, grooming, playing, and sometimes actually adopting other creatures. The…

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Great apes were using touch to reassure and keep the peace six million years before humans evolved – new research

Great apes were using touch to reassure and keep the peace six million years before humans evolved – new research

Physical touch may be an important evolutionary tool to help manage social tension and keep the peace. Left: Jake Brooker/Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage Trust; Right: Zanna Clay/Lola ya Bonobo Sanctuary, CC BY-NC-ND By Jake Brooker, Utrecht University and Zanna Clay, Durham University During an eight-month-long research trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia, we studied consolation: the way bonobos and chimpanzees comfort each other after conflicts and distress. But early on, we kept noticing something that didn’t quite…

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For both consciousness and AI, attention is all you need

For both consciousness and AI, attention is all you need

Michael Graziano writes: The most energy-expensive organ in the body is the brain. The human brain, for example, coming in at about 2% of the body’s mass, uses 20% of the body’s energy. Neural tissue is so costly that evolution does not generally favor large brains. Otherwise, the entire animal kingdom would have evolved giant ones, instead of just a few species that have found a way to exploit that trait. To pack as much capacity in as small a…

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Experiments reveal the psychological cost of insulting political rhetoric

Experiments reveal the psychological cost of insulting political rhetoric

PsyPost reports: Politicians frequently use aggressive, blaming language to mobilize voters and attack opponents. Recent psychological experiments reveal that exposure to this specific style of communication causes people to feel their core values are under attack, regardless of their own political affiliation. The findings, published in Current Psychology, show that polarizing rhetoric can directly degrade a person’s willingness to grant freedom of speech to political rivals. Political communication has increasingly fractured into hostile territory over the last several years. Across…

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Advanced AI models suffer a near-total collapse on classic psychology test as cognitive demands increase

Advanced AI models suffer a near-total collapse on classic psychology test as cognitive demands increase

PsyPost reports: New research provides evidence that while advanced artificial intelligence models process language with remarkable skill, they struggle significantly with tasks requiring the kind of sustained focus and conflict resolution seen in human attention. The study, published in PNAS Nexus, indicates that as cognitive demands increase, these programs experience a complete collapse in their ability to override automatic responses. The findings suggest that artificial intelligence systems currently lack the fundamental executive control necessary for developing true artificial general intelligence….

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Trump’s anti-free speech rhetoric increases support for censorship among his voters

Trump’s anti-free speech rhetoric increases support for censorship among his voters

PsyPost reports: A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that when political leaders suddenly express support for censorship, their supporters tend to adopt those same views. The findings provide evidence that the statements of prominent politicians can easily sway public opinion on foundational democratic rights like freedom of speech. This highlights how political language can influence voters to abandon long-held values in favor of restricting the rights of opposing groups. President Donald Trump…

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Political anger fuels support for violence mainly when voters feel ignored by the system

Political anger fuels support for violence mainly when voters feel ignored by the system

PsyPost reports: A recent study published in Political Psychology suggests that how political anger influences a person’s support for violence depends heavily on whether they believe the political system actually listens to them. Researchers found that intense anger tends to fuel support for undemocratic practices only when people feel their voices do not matter to politicians. When people believe the government is responsive, this sense of political power acts as a buffer against endorsing political violence. Political discussions in the…

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New finding refines how scientists study animal happiness

New finding refines how scientists study animal happiness

Science News reports: For nearly a decade, Vincent Bombail has been tickling rats. It’s been a standard technique used in the study of animal happiness. But not all rats particularly enjoy the experience, data show. Female rats prefer gentler, more playful tickling than males, Bombail and his colleagues report April 15 in Biology Letters. The findings suggest that the same physical experience evokes a different emotional response in different individuals, potentially influencing the results of studies on animal happiness. “This…

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Using AI for just ten minutes might make you lazy and dumb, study shows

Using AI for just ten minutes might make you lazy and dumb, study shows

Wired reports: Using AI chatbots for even just for 10 minutes may have a shockingly negative impact on people’s ability to think and problem-solve, according to a new study from researchers at Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Oxford, and UCLA. Researchers tasked people with solving various problems, including simple fractions and reading comprehension, through an online platform that paid them for their work. They conducted three experiments, each involving several hundred people. Some participants were given access to an AI assistant capable…

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