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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Articles 1 - 6 of 6

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Well-Being On Planet Earth, Ed Diener, William Tov Dec 2009

Well-Being On Planet Earth, Ed Diener, William Tov

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The Gallup World Poll allows a look at how humanity is flourishing, based on the answers of survey respondents sampled from across the globe. Several conclusions are clear. First, how people are doing depends enormously on the society in which they live, and nations vary from doing very well to extremely poorly. In terms of subjective well-being, nations vary greatly, in both judgments of overall life and in positive and negative emotions. The best predictors of global life judgments were income and ownership of modern conveniences, whereas the best predictors of emotions were social factors such as the control of …


Deep Rationality: The Evolutionary Economics Of Decision Making, Douglas T. Kenrick, Vladas Griskevicius, Jill M. Sundie, Norman P. Li, Jessica Yexin Li, Steven L. Neuberg Oct 2009

Deep Rationality: The Evolutionary Economics Of Decision Making, Douglas T. Kenrick, Vladas Griskevicius, Jill M. Sundie, Norman P. Li, Jessica Yexin Li, Steven L. Neuberg

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

What is a “rational” decision? Economists traditionally viewed rationality as maximizing expected satisfaction. This view has been useful in modeling basic microeconomic concepts, but falls short in accounting for many everyday human decisions. It leaves unanswered why some things reliably make people more satisfied than others, and why people frequently act to make others happy at a cost to themselves. Drawing on an evolutionary perspective, we propose that people make decisions according to a set of principles that may not appear to make sense at the superficial level, but that demonstrate rationality at a deeper evolutionary level. By this, we …


Culture As Common Sense: Perceived Consensus Versus Personal Beliefs As Mechanisms Of Cultural Influence, Xi Zou, Kim-Pong Tam, Michael W. Morris, Sau-Lai Lee, Ivy Yee-Man Lau, Chi-Yue Chiu Oct 2009

Culture As Common Sense: Perceived Consensus Versus Personal Beliefs As Mechanisms Of Cultural Influence, Xi Zou, Kim-Pong Tam, Michael W. Morris, Sau-Lai Lee, Ivy Yee-Man Lau, Chi-Yue Chiu

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The authors propose that culture affects people through their perceptions of what is consensually believed. Whereas past research has examined whether cultural differences in social judgment are mediated by differences in individuals’ personal values and beliefs, this article investigates whether they are mediated by differences in individuals’ perceptions of the views of people around them. The authors propose that individuals who perceive that traditional views are culturally consensual (e.g., Chinese participants who believe that most of their fellows hold collectivistic values) will themselves behave and think in culturally typical ways. Four studies of previously well-established cultural differences found that cultural …


An Evolutionary Perspective On Humor: Sexual Selection Or Interest Indication?, Norman P. Li, Vladas Griskevicius, Kristina M. Durante, Peter K. Jonason, Derek J. Pasisz, Katherine Aumer Jul 2009

An Evolutionary Perspective On Humor: Sexual Selection Or Interest Indication?, Norman P. Li, Vladas Griskevicius, Kristina M. Durante, Peter K. Jonason, Derek J. Pasisz, Katherine Aumer

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Are people who are funny more attractive? Or does being attractive lead people to be seen as funnier? The answer may depend on the underlying evolutionary function of humor. While humor has been proposed to signal “good genes”, the authors propose that humor also functions to indicate interest in social relationships—in initiating new relationships and in monitoring existing ones. Consistent with this interest indicator model, across three studies both sexes were more likely to initiate humor and to respond more positively and consider the other person to be funny when initially attracted to that person. The findings support that humor …


Multiracial Identity Integration: Perceptions Of Conflict And Distance Among Multiracial Individuals, Chi-Ying Cheng, Fiona Lee Mar 2009

Multiracial Identity Integration: Perceptions Of Conflict And Distance Among Multiracial Individuals, Chi-Ying Cheng, Fiona Lee

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article examines how multiracial individuals negotiate their different and sometimes conflicting racial identities. Drawing from previous work on bicultural identity integration (see Benet-Martinez and Haritatos, 2005), we proposed a new construct, multiracial identity integration (MII), to measure individual differences in perceptions of compatibility between multiple racial identities. We found that MII is composed of two independent subscales: that describes whether different racial identities are perceived as disparate, and that describes whether different racial identities are perceived as in conflict. We also found that recalling positive multiracial experiences increased MII, while recalling negative multiracial experiences decreased MII. These findings have …


The “Booty Call”: A Compromise Between Men And Women's Ideal Mating Strategies, Peter K. Jonason, Norman P. Li, Margaret J. Cason Jan 2009

The “Booty Call”: A Compromise Between Men And Women's Ideal Mating Strategies, Peter K. Jonason, Norman P. Li, Margaret J. Cason

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Traditionally, research on romantic and sexual relationships has focused on 1-night stands and monogamous pairs. However, as the result of men and women pursuing their ideal relationship types, various compromise relationships may emerge. One such compromise is explored here: the ‘‘booty call.’’ The results of an act-nomination and frequency study of college students provided an initial definition and exploration of this type of relationship. Booty calls tend to utilize various communication mediums to facilitate sexual contact among friends who, for men, may represent low-investment, attractive sexual partners and, for women, may represent attractive test-mates. The relationship is discussed as a …