Study 4 hypothesized that weakening evidence for negative desires reduces intentionality judgments for negative side effects. Conversely, increasing evidence for positive desire should increase intentionality judgements for positive side effects. Two different modified versions of Knobe’s vignette were presented to participants and were asked the same yes or no intentionality and desire questions (dependent variables) as in Study 1. 89 people were presented with a regretful CEO who claimed it was unfortunate if the environment got harmed, but profits needed to increase. Inversely, 39 people were presented with a cheerful CEO who was excited about increasing profits just as much as aiding the environment. Compared to Study 1, negative intentions
dropped from 87% to 59%. Furthermore, negative desire ratings dropped from 3.55 to 2.14 as well. In opposition, positive intentions rose from 20% (Study 1) to 56%. As expected, desire ratings also rose from the original 1.50 to 3.67. Thus, the hypothesis was not rejected from this two part study. What’s more interesting is that the modified intentionality judgements converge around 50%. Furthermore, the study proves that inferred desire is a high indicator for intentionality judgments. But what if people were given more options they felt more accurately described the chairman’s intentions? Perhaps they feel he did not intentionally harm the environment, but did so or knowingly Study 5 and 6 investigate this claim.
Furthermore, the authors aim to unfold the scientific logic of their analysis of the effects of hidden biases so people will be “better able to achieve the alignment,” between their behavior and intentions (Banaji and Greenwald, 2013) preface
The Screwtape Letters is a book made up of letters sent from one demon named Screwtape to another demon named Wormwood. Wormwood is a tempter trying to coerce a human away from Christianity, and Screwtape, his uncle, is attempting to assist him in his work though letters of advice. The human Wormwood tries to tempt, called The Patient by Screwtape, does end up defeating Wormwood’s attempts to trick him and makes it to heaven. However, it was not an easy process, and it was filled with strife, and in some cases, failure. He converted, relapsed, then returned to Christianity, but his second conversion was very much different from his first. His second conversion marks a major turning point in the book, from the Patient being easily fooled, and
Sometimes the greatest test of a theory is its longevity. Over time, some theories will be disproved, some will be modified, and some will become the basis for a whole new group of theories. Leon Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance has stood up to challenge for over forty years, and is considered by many to be the single most important theory of social psychology. Though there have been modifications to the theory after many recreations and simulations of the original 1957 experiment, few have been able to really disqualify Festinger’s findings. It would be safe to say that many people don’t even have a full grasp of the incredible implications that Festinger’s research and experiments have towards the self-concept and behavior, myself not excluded. The actual definition of cognitive dissonance is almost too simple: an unpleasant feeling that arises from the contradiction of belief and action. Festinger, however, went on to find that dissonance would in fact change attitudes over time, helping people to justify their behavior when they know it is clearly wrong.
Since the beginning of mankind, it has been the need to attain a specific goal, which has driven humans to work hard. Without any ambition, humans would not be inspired to overcome adversities and challenge themselves to become increasingly adaptable. When one is motivated by certain factors in their environment, the probability of them being satisfied with the results of their deeds depends on the moral value of their inspiration. If the individual is aware of the fact that their deed is immoral, then no matter how dire their circumstances which forced them to perform the actions, they will not be content. The irony establishes itself in the fact that those characters who are motivated by a cause bigger than themselves, tend to be happier,
“In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.” (Eleanor Roosevelt). This is just one of the infinite examples of how human nature has been explored by so many different people. Each and every human is born with the capability of making their own choices. The decisions that they will make in the future will determine how evil they are viewed by others. Although one’s nature and nurture do affect their life, it is their own free will that determines whether or not they are evil.
Taylor, S. E., & Brown, J. D. (1994). Positive illusions and well-being revisited: Separating fact
Since we are biologically wired for negativity bias, we naturally react to situations instead of
Fiske, S. (1989). Examining the role of intent: Toward understanding its role in stereotyping and
“Just as emotions provide valuable information to the self, emotional expressions provide information to observers, which may influence their cognitions, attitudes, and behavior” (Van Kleef, Heerdink, and Van Den Berg, p. 2, 2014). A positive feature of attitudes is that they are subject to change over time. According to Van Kleef, Heerdink, and Van Den Berg (p. 2), “We define attitudes as temporary evaluations that are constructed based on a combination of stored representations of an attitude object and information that is currently at hand. This working definition explicitly allows for changes in attitudes over time while acknowledging that certain attitudes have a relatively stable basis in a person’s memory system” (2014). This conceptual definition of attitudes and attitude change is that though attitudes can change based on new information or a different emotional reaction, they can also stay the same or relatively similar to their primary state. Overall, the information that individuals perceive through emotions can influence their attitudes, which can then alter their attitudes towards certain
There are many different ways to interpret The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James. Many critics over the past century have voiced their opinions about the story. Each critical analysis of the story disagrees with the beliefs expressed in another. Robert B. Heilman is a critic who wrote in the mid-twentieth century. He interprets The Turn of the Screw to be a representation of the conflict between good and evil. Heilman's points are clear and obviously well thought out, but there are flaws in his argument that make his interpretation questionable.
In addition to drive-reduction, humans are motivated by incentives. Incentives are positive or negative stimuli which either attract or repel people. Incentives are learned results to actions. Good tasting food has notoriously been a positive incentive used
Hertwig, Ralph, and Gigerenzer, Gerd. The 'Conjunction Fallacy' Revisited: How Intelligent Inferences Look Like Reasoning Errors. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 12, 275-305.
Pronin, E., Lin, D. Y., & Ross, L. (2002). The bias blind spot: Perceptions of bias in self
Mcclelland, David C. "Toward a Theory of Motive Acquisition." American Psychologist 20.5 (1965): 321-33. Web.
Srull and Wyer (1979) found that causing individual participants to access certain trait characteristics by assigning them to perform cognitive tasks can affect how those individuals respond to stimuli in the future. For example, priming a participant with “hostility” or “kindness” can result in those participants’ positive or negative perceptions of an ambiguous personality that is later presented via a hypothetical vignette.