Intuitive Entscheidungen / Intuitive Decisions:

Ap Dijksterhuis:

"Inuitive Entscheidungen - dies ist wichtig zu beachten - sind keine Bauchentscheidungen im engeren Sinn. In sie geht die gesamte bewusse und unbewusse kognitive und emotionale Vorerfahrung eines Menschen ein, die sich mit fortschreitendem Alter immer weiter kondensiert und deshalb immer schwerer zu >entpacken< ist, aber umso effektiver unser Denken und Handeln besimmt. Das berühmte Expertenwissen und die ebenso berühmte >Altersweisheit< sind von dieser Art."

-----

"Intuitive decisions—and this is important to bear in mind—are not merely gut decisions in the narrow sense. They draw upon the entirety of a person's conscious and unconscious cognitive and emotional experience. As we grow older, this experience becomes increasingly condensed, making it ever more difficult to 'unpack,' yet all the more effective in shaping our thinking and our actions. The well-known phenomenon of expert knowledge, as well as the equally well-known wisdom that comes with age, are of this nature."

Core Insights:

Mark Frauenfelder:

"No guru, no teacher, no book can answer the questions that matter most. Others can create conditions for insight: they can confuse you, challenge you, strip away your illusions. But the actual seeing must be your own. The danger is spending your life waiting for someone else to tell you who you are.

1. Identify a question you’ve been waiting for someone else to answer for you. What would it mean to stop waiting and decide for yourself?

2. Notice where you’re performing a version of yourself rather than being yourself. What would you do differently?

3. Think of a time you betrayed your own values to fit in or avoid conflict. What did it cost you? What would courage have looked like?

4. Pick a decision you've been postponing until you have "enough information." Ask yourself whether more information is actually coming, or whether you're stalling."

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.

Flow versus Gedanke / Flow versus Thought:

Wenn jemand nicht im Flow ist, dann nimmt das Denken Überhand.

-----

When someone is not in a state of flow, thinking begins to take over.

Why You Must Become a Creator - Consuming too much is destroying you

Why You Must Become a Creator

Consuming too much is destroying you

The Culturist

https://www.theculturist.io/p/why-you-must-become-a-creator

We are the most entertained people in history, but might we be the least creative?

Nowadays, it is frighteningly easy to spend the best part of a day consuming the creations of others: listening, streaming, scrolling. For most of us, the ratio of consumption to creation has never been more lopsided — and yet, the tools of creation are more accessible than ever.

Let us establish at the outset that consuming art is itself a worthy pursuit. But if this is all you do, what are you giving up?

G.K. Chesterton once wrote that a culture has become decadent when its people prefer to pay others to dance for them, rather than a whole room of people doing the dancing for themselves.

This matters because creation is not just a joyful addition to human life, but the defining feature of it. This is an argument made by several great writers, from Ruskin to Chesterton to Tolkien: that created beings are designed to create things themselves.

This article examines why — and importantly how — we must all pick up a pen or a brush, and bring into the world something of our own…

Dorothy L. Sayers, an Oxford contemporary of J.R.R. Tolkien (and honorary Inkling in my view), made this compelling argument in her book, The Mind of the Maker. In it, she argues why the desire to create is an integral part of the human experience.

"When we turn back to see what [the author of Genesis] says about the original upon which the ‘image’ of God was modeled, we find only the single assertion, ‘God created’. The characteristic common to God and man is apparently that: the desire and the ability to make things."

It is through the process of imaginative creation that a human being in some sense emulates the God of Genesis: creating something out of nothing.

"It is the artist who, more than other men, is able to create something out of nothing. A whole artistic work is immeasurably more than the sum of its parts." ...

Bejahung des Flows / Embracing Flow:

Ein bisschen auch den Flow sich erlauben, dass man die Zügel aus der Hand legen darf, ohne dass hierbei etwas Negatives, ja, dass hierbei sogar etwas Positives sich ergeben und entstehen wird.

-----

To grant oneself the freedom to enter a state of flow—to release one's grip on the reins, trusting that this will not lead to anything negative, but may instead give rise to something genuinely positive.

Flow und Analyse / Flow and Analysis:

Der Flow schließt Seiten von dieser Welt auf, die das rational-logisch-analytische Gespräch oder Selbstgespräch nicht oder kaum aufschließen kann.

-----

Flow opens up aspects of the world that rational, logical, and analytical conversation—or inner dialogue—cannot, or can scarcely, reveal.

Attractive Men:

Alexander / @Datepsych: "If you were to take a sample of highly attractive men and look at how many people they had sex with over a short period, for example the last 5 years, it would probably be higher than the general population.
Yet, the mode would probably be just one person.

Why? Because most are getting into relationships, staying in relationships and having sex with their partner.
We overestimate the prevalence of promiscuity and we also overestimate the prevalence of sexual activity in our peers.

I would be surprised if you took a sample of men on Tinder and compared them with a sample of married men if the married men were not more attractive. Their female partners would probably also be more attractive, too.

This seems to be the case when we compare the married population with the single population; married people and people in relationships tend to be more attractive on average.
In other words, Tinder is not populated by Chads.

I have friends here online who I speak to in incel communities who are often surprised I have only had sex with one person in the last ~5 years or so.
The idea being: "but why, you could have sex with more."

But this is really just the norm for men who are romantically successful. Most will be in relationships. Most will not stay single for long periods of time. When in relationships, most will restrict their sexual behavior to that one person.

This is much more normal behavior, statistically speaking, than the promiscuous "spreading your seed" caricature of male behavior.

And when you consider that women are much less inclined to promiscuity than men, despite most romantically successful men restricting themselves to one partner, this should also make you question any narratives claiming that all women are engaging in promiscuous behavior.

Most people, women even more, just want to have a single partner. They want to meet someone, fall in love and have a boyfriend or girlfriend.

Manosphere dating discourse seems to have a huge blind spot when it comes to acknowledging the extent to which men have a desire to pair bond and form relationships.
This is explained in evolutionary psychology, but for some reason the manosphere hasn't embraced this.

This is why, for example, the incel problem can't be solved by visiting sex workers. Why most incels don't even want to visit a sex worker.
And why men continue to form relationships at all, instead of just having transactional sex for cash.

We often phrase things colloquially as exclusion from the access to sex or mating.
However, it might actually be more accurate to describe the problem is exclusion from pair bonding, or exclusion from relationship formation.

The goal does not seem to be just sex, which all things considered can be purchased affordably.
Men seem to want sex in the context of a relationship, with a devoted partner, a partner who is exclusive to them, and who has genuine desire for them."

Dark Triad People Tend to Have Shitty Relationships:

Alexander / @Datepsych:

"The "Dark Triad" is selected for assortatively: people who score high in these traits are more likely to pick and form relationships with others who do as well.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.111…

Assortative mating for Dark Triad: Evidence of positive, initial, and active assortment

Hypotheses regarding positive versus negative assortment, initial assortment versus convergence, and...

The DT is often thought of something that benefits "short term" relationships - given that DT people seek casual sex.
But the assertive effect is even stronger for long-term relationships.
Why? Probably because your hook-ups become your LTRs.
sciencedirect.com

sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

Birds of feather flock together – Evidence for assortative mating for the Dark Triad traits

Dark Triad of personality (i.e., psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism) relate to increased...

Unsurprisingly, Dark Triad couples have lower relationship satisfaction.
sciencedirect.com

sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

Mutually attracted or repulsed? Actor–partner interdependence models of Dark Triad traits and relationship outcomes

Although the Dark Triad traits – narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy – have been studied i...

Although there is a subculture of "dark seduction" Pick-Up Artistry that tells young men to mimic the DT to get casual sex, the DT is legitimately a dysfunctional personality construct.
You probably also won't be able to fake being DT for very long.

As you'd expect, DT traits are strong predictors of abuse in relationships - physical, emotional, etc. All of it.
sciencedirect.com

sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

The dark triad and intimate partner violence

Psychological abuse within intimate partner violence (IPV) is poorly researched. We investigated the...

Dark Triad couples - lower marital satisfaction, higher divorce rates.
psycnet.apa.org

psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi…

APA PsycNet

DT predicts infidelity:
sciencedirect.com

sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

The Dark Triad of personality and infidelity intentions: The moderating role of relationship experience

Romantic relationship infidelity jeopardizes the romantic partner's mental health and the relationsh...

And the DT is heritable.
Unsurprising given that people assortatively select DT partners.
This is what gets passed on to their children."
sciencedirect.com

sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

A behavioral genetic investigation of the Dark Triad and the Big 5

This study reports the first behavioral genetic investigation of the three Dark Triad variables (nar..."