Cynical beliefs about human nature and income: Longitudinal and cross-cultural analyses.

2016 ◽  
Vol 110 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Stavrova ◽  
Daniel Ehlebracht
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Cross Cultural

scholarly journals The Cynical Genius Illusion: Exploring and Debunking Lay Beliefs About Cynicism and Competence

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 254-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Stavrova ◽  
Daniel Ehlebracht
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Academic Competency ◽  
Sociocultural Environment ◽  
Lay Beliefs ◽  
Negative Appraisal ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Low Levels

Cynicism refers to a negative appraisal of human nature—a belief that self-interest is the ultimate motive guiding human behavior. We explored laypersons’ beliefs about cynicism and competence and to what extent these beliefs correspond to reality. Four studies showed that laypeople tend to believe in cynical individuals’ cognitive superiority. A further three studies based on the data of about 200,000 individuals from 30 countries debunked these lay beliefs as illusionary by revealing that cynical (vs. less cynical) individuals generally do worse on cognitive ability and academic competency tasks. Cross-cultural analyses showed that competent individuals held contingent attitudes and endorsed cynicism only if it was warranted in a given sociocultural environment. Less competent individuals embraced cynicism unconditionally, suggesting that—at low levels of competence—holding a cynical worldview might represent an adaptive default strategy to avoid the potential costs of falling prey to others’ cunning.

scholarly journals Tibetan Monastics Reflect on Science and Buddhism: (I) The Basic Human Nature and (II) Subatomic Particles

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jampa Gyaltsen ◽  
Lobsang Gyatso ◽  
Dawa Tsering Drongbu
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Subatomic Particles ◽  
Traditional Training ◽  
Science Initiative

One of the goals of the historic Emory-Tibet Science Initiative (ETSI) is to catalyze cross-cultural thinking among scientists and Buddhists. Over a decade into the project to elicit such thinking the project sponsored an essay competition among the monastics. Here we feature two of the winners reflecting on different aspects of western sciences and Buddhism, physics and Buddhism respectively, demonstrating how modern science is integrating with the monastics’ traditional training and culture. A key aspect of ETSI is also translation, and these essays, in that spirit were translated from Tibetan to English by one of the project translators.

Schopenhauer and Confucian Thinkers on Compassion

2020 ◽  
pp. 346-359
Author(s):  
Douglas L. Berger
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Special Interest ◽  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Song Dynasty ◽  
Chinese Thought ◽  
The Will ◽  
Moral Feeling ◽  
Cultural Dialogue

In his fascinating 1836 volume On the Will in Nature, Schopenhauer demonstrates a familiarity with scholarship on classical Chinese thought that is, at best, glancing. He takes special interest, however, in a remark rendered from the Song Dynasty Confucian thinker Zhu Xi to the effect that the “will of human beings” is at the ground of all things, which suggests to him a deep resonance with his own system. Though there is nothing of substance to be found in this suspected connection, Schopenhauer may have been better advised to delve into Zhu’s reformulation of ancient Confucian formulations of compassion for an opportunity at cross-cultural dialogue. This chapter demonstrates that, while Zhu Xi’s inspiration for his explication of compassion, namely Mencius, took a far more naturalistic view of this moral feeling, Zhu’s commentarial reformulation of Mencius’s thought, which makes compassion a metaphysical manifestation of the basic patterns of human nature, may have prompted Schopenhauer to deeper confidence in his own convictions about the “intelligible character.”

Attributing Human Uniqueness and Human Nature to Cultural Groups: Distinct Forms of Subtle Dehumanization

2009 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 789-805 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Bain ◽  
Joonha Park ◽  
Christopher Kwok ◽  
Nick Haslam
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Studies ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Implicit Method ◽  
Cultural Groups ◽  
Ethnic Chinese ◽  
Human Uniqueness ◽  
Cross Cultural Studies

Research on subtle dehumanization has focused on the attribution of human uniqueness to groups (infrahumanization), but has not examined another sense of humanness, human nature. Additionally, research has not extended far beyond Western cultures to examine the universality of these forms of dehumanization. Hence, the attribution of both forms of humanness was examined in three cross-cultural studies. Anglo-Australian and ethnic Chinese attributed values and traits (Study 1, N = 200) and emotions (Study 2, N = 151) to Australian and Chinese groups, and rated these characteristics on human uniqueness and human nature. Both studies found evidence of complementary attributions of humanness for Australians, who denied Chinese human nature but attributed them with greater human uniqueness. Chinese denied Australians human uniqueness, but their attributions of human nature varied for traits, values, and emotions. Study 3 ( N = 54) demonstrated similar forms of dehumanization using an implicit method. These results and their implications for dehumanization and prejudice suggest the need to broaden investigation and theory to encompass both forms of humanness, and examine the attribution of both lesser and greater humanness to outgroups.

The nature of humor in human nature: Cross-cultural commonalities

1996 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnold Kruger
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Cross Cultural

An Adaptationist Framework for Personality Science

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 1151-1174
Author(s):  
Aaron W. Lukaszewski ◽  
David M.G. Lewis ◽  
Patrick K. Durkee ◽  
Aaron N. Sell ◽  
Daniel Sznycer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
European Association ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Cultural Variations ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
Person Description ◽  
Emotional Adaptation ◽  
Theory Of Human Nature

The field of personality psychology aspires to construct an overarching theory of human nature and individual differences: one that specifies the psychological mechanisms that underpin both universal and variable aspects of thought, emotion, and behaviour. Here, we argue that the adaptationist toolkit of evolutionary psychology provides a powerful meta–theory for characterizing the psychological mechanisms that give rise to within–person, between–person, and cross–cultural variations. We first outline a mechanism–centred adaptationist framework for personality science, which makes a clear ontological distinction between (i) psychological mechanisms designed to generate behavioural decisions and (ii) heuristic trait concepts that function to perceive, describe, and influence others behaviour and reputation in everyday life. We illustrate the utility of the adaptationist framework by reporting three empirical studies. Each study supports the hypothesis that the anger programme—a putative emotional adaptation—is a behaviour–regulating mechanism whose outputs are described in the parlance of the person description factor called ‘Agreeableness’. We conclude that the most productive way forward is to build theory–based models of specific psychological mechanisms, including their culturally evolved design features, until they constitute a comprehensive depiction of human nature and its multifaceted variations. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology

scholarly journals What Can Cross-Cultural Correlations Teach Us about Human Nature?

Human Nature ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 410-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas V. Pollet ◽  
Joshua M. Tybur ◽  
Willem E. Frankenhuis ◽  
Ian J. Rickard
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Cross Cultural
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