Age, gender, and score distributions of moral foundations:

Age, gender, and score distributions of moral foundations

(July 2026)
Michael Zakharin University of Edinburgh, Timothy C Bates University of Edinburgh


Abstract

Claims of generational differences in moral values have important implications for understanding societal change. Using the recently developed Moral Foundations Questionnaire (MFQ-2), we examined age and gender effects on moral foundations in large US (N = 835) and UK (N = 1,659) samples. Across both nations, binding foundations (proportionality, loyalty, authority and purity) showed consistent age-related increases. While these yearly increments were modest, they accumulated to substantial differences between youngest and oldest participants, with binding scores approximately 0.75 standard deviations higher in older adults. Among individualizing foundations, the preference for equality decreased with age, while harm/care remained stable. Gender differences emerged systematically: women scored higher on individualizing foundations, while men showed elevated scores on binding foundations. We also observed significant distributional effects, with care scores clustering near the scale maximum and purity scores near the minimum. These demographic patterns suggest important dynamics in how moral values may shift across generations and between genders, with implications for understanding social change.

Success:

Shane Parrish:

"A lot of success in life is just putting yourself in a position for good things to happen.

+ Be reliable
+ Avoid drama
+ Help other people win
+ Take care of your body
+ Take care of your mind
+ Live below your means
+ Treat your job as if it matters
+ Take care of your relationships

Simple but not easy."

What Elicits Disgust Across Societies? Evidence from the Ethnographic Record

What Elicits Disgust Across Societies? Evidence from the Ethnographic Record
Roza G. Kamiloğlu, Joshua M. Tybur, Daniel M. T. Fessler (July 2026)


Abstract

Disgust is widely viewed as universal, yet most existing research focuses on participants from educated, industrialised large-scale societies. We drew on the Human Relations Area Files to analyse ethnographic descriptions of disgust from 52 societies, which span all eight world regions and every major subsistence type. Grouping free-text descriptions of each disgust elicitor by semantic similarity, without pre-set categories, we identified thirteen recurring themes: bodily wastes and poor hygiene; death, corpses, and tabooed foods; animals; sexual norm violations; incest; political and trust violations; supernatural and ritual transgression; disrespect and harm; property and contract violations; marriage and family strife; hospitality breaches; task and infrastructure failure; and cowardice. The most frequently mentioned elicitors were also those documented in the widest range of societies. Three functional domains proposed by adaptationist perspectives—pathogen, sexual, and moral disgust—were each identifiable across societies, with moral disgust the most widely documented, followed by pathogen disgust and then sexual disgust. Results suggest widespread commonalities in what elicits disgust across societies. We discuss these findings with regard to plausible interactions between biologically evolved psychological mechanisms and cultural evolution

More Than General Intelligence: Cognitive Abilities and Class Structure

More Than General Intelligence: Cognitive Abilities and Class Structure

Tobias Edwards, M.S., Ph.D., Colin G DeYoung, Ph.D., July 2026

https://icajournal.scholasticahq.com/article/162975-more-than-general-intelligence-cognitive-abilities-and-class-structure

Abstract

Intelligence is multidimensional—individuals differ in their level of general intelligence (g) and specific abilities. g is known to shape aspects of socioeconomic status (SES); however, little is known about how specific abilities shape SES. We evaluated the role of specific abilities in two large, representative samples: the National Longitudinal Studies of Youth 1979 and 1997. Using ten tests from the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, we identified general intelligence and orthogonal variation in three specific abilities, which we labeled tech, speed, and math-verbal. Performance on specific abilities in youth (14–22 years old) predicted later-life education, income, and occupational status. These associations held even between siblings. In contrast to the common claim that specific abilities add little more explanatory power to g, we concluded that specific abilities have 30–57% of the importance of g. We also examined how specific abilities shape occupations. The average ability profiles across occupations generally followed stereotypes. Metal workers, mechanics, and engineers scored high in tech ability, while religious workers and lawyers scored low. Engineers, doctors, and computer scientists had a high level of math-verbal ability. We estimated the degree of occupational clustering—the multiple correlation of occupations with a cognitive ability. While the strongest clustering was on g, there was also substantial clustering on specific abilities. The most influential specific ability for occupations was tech ability, especially in men, where clustering on tech ability was around 80% as large as the clustering on g.

Der Unverbaute Blick / The Unobstructed View

Ganz heraussteigen, für ein paar Stunden lang, aus seiner gewohnten Sicht der Dinge.

In der Forschung ist das nicht unwesentlich, aber auch und insbesondere in der Aufnahme und im Schaffen von Kunst.

-----

To step completely outside one's usual way of seeing things for a few hours.

In research, this is by no means insignificant, but it is also—and especially—important in the appreciation and creation of art.

Bullshit:

Rolf Degen

@DegenRolf

·

Jul 4

Bullshit is more of a hindrance to discovering the truth than outright lies. Little is known about the consequences of Frankfurtian bullshit (i.e., communications with little to no regard for truth, evidence, or established knowledge). Bullshitting behavior may include rhetorical strategies designed to help people appear as if they know what they are talking about in order to impress, persuade, and influence others. Unlike deliberate disinformation, which requires effort to fabricate false claims, bullshit can be produced quickly and effortlessly, making it particularly well-suited to social media’s rapid pace and emphasis on continuous engagement. A potential consequence of Frankfurtian bullshit is a deleterious effect on what people perceive to be true. Three experiments test the insidious bullshit hypotheses (i.e., bullshitting is evaluated less negatively, but has more negative consequences, than lying) in light of an illusory truth effect (i.e., repeated, false statements are easier to mentally process, and subsequently perceived as more truthful, than new statements). Our investigation showed through the application of the illusory truth procedural paradigm that not only is it easier to dismiss lies compared to bullshit, but that bullshit is perceived as more truthful than lies— repeated exposure to bullshit increased its perceived truthfulness compared to repeated exposure to lies. Being exposed to bullshit will have more deleterious effects on judgment and decision making relative to lies. Given the effect size demonstrated in these studies, if bullshit can be a dramatically more harmful form of communication compared to lying, then we must strive to understand its impact on optimal judgment and decision making. In a world where truth-indifferent communication is pervasive and often goes unrecognized, these findings carry a sobering message: the communicators least concerned with truth may exert the greatest influence on what the rest of us come to believe.

The Golden Age:

Robin Hanson

@robinhanson

·

13h

Now is the golden age when the writings of low status clear thinkers is persuading LLMs. Before LLMs learn they are supposed to ignore such folk, like most high status humans have long learned.