Philosophy and Science of Human Nature

Wisdom

we call him wise because of that small part of himself that rules in him (reason) and makes those declarations and has within it the knowledge of what is advantageous for each part and for the whole soul, which is the community of all three parts - Greek cardinal virtue 1

instrumental value

Instrumentally valuable- means to ends/ "for the sake of rewards"

Prototype heuristics

: the substitution of an average for a sum- illustrates the conditions under which System 2 prevents or reduces judgment biases

Alief

• Alief: to have a (representationally mediated) innate or habitual propensity to respond to some (apparent) stimulus in a particular way- ex glass floor over grand canyon still causes one to tremble • As a result of habits/propensities • Multi-part soul

Summum bonum

• Aristotle o The summum bonum (that for the sake of which other goods are pursued) • the ultimate importance, the singular and most ultimate end which human beings ought to pursue. The summum bonum is generally thought of as being an end in itself, and at the same time containing all other goods. - It is eudaimonia/flourishing/utter happiness- it is cultivated through reflection and habituation

the insistent homunculus

System 1 going against system 2

Higher and lower pleasure

"It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. If the fool, or the pig, are of a different opinion, it is because they only know their side of the question." (italics added) We may on occasion choose the "less valuable" "nearer good" - but "from infirmity of character" The "competent judge" never "knowingly and calmly" prefers the lower pleasure (79)

Berserk/berserking

"No restraint of any kind limits Achilles during his berserk state - no prudence, ethics, piety, personal gain, compassion, fatigue, or physical pain" (Shay, 88) "I lost all my mercy...I just couldn't get enough. I built up such hate, I couldn't do enough damage...for every one that I killed I felt better" (Veteran, quoted in Shay, 78) "I was a fing animal. When I look back at that stuff, I say, 'That was someone else that did that. Wasn't me. That wasn't me.' War changes you, changes you. Strips you of all your beliefs...Y'know, it's unbelievable what humans can do to each other" (Veteran, quoted in Shay, 83)

Negativity bias

"for most people, the elephant sees too many things as bad and not enough as good" -bad is stronger than good (responses to threats and unpleasantness are faster, stronger, and harder to inhibit than response to opportunities and pleasures" -ex: in marriage, it takes at least five good actions to make up for one destructive act -"the human mind reacts to bad things more quickly strongly and persistently than to equivalent good things -amygdala: fight or flight response

WEIRD People

- Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) societies. Researchers - often implicitly - assume that either there is little variation across human populations, or that these "standard subjects" are as representative of the species as any other population. - Not an accurate representation of population as a whole

"rights trump utilities"

- people have basic rights, which trump utilities

Mischel Marshmallow studies*

-Children placed in room with nice man who lets them play with toys. Then the man puts a plate with one marshmallow in front of them and says hes going to leave the room and if the child waits for him to come back he will give the child the plate with two marshmallows but if the child doesn't want to wait he can ring the bell and can eat one marshmallow. (smaller immediate reward vs bigger reward later) most children didn't wait

Good Samaritan study

-The good Samaritan parable • Batson and Darley study: had students read story of Good Samaritan and prepare a lecture o People who had to give lecture did not help man on side of the road (were in a rush) o Those who didn't have to give a lecture tended to person in need -people act in response to situational/environmental factors -milgram experiment- situational changes affect results of milgram experiment -YET people commit correspondence bias (think it is the person, not situation) -BUT...seems like compelling case against Aristotle but • big five personality traits are quite stable over time and correlate with other measures (openness, extraversion, neuroticism...)

Automatic/controlled processes*

-distinction between effortless intuition and deliberate reasoning • system 1 (fast, automatic, effortless) o don't cause interference when combined with other tasks o impressions • system 2 (slower, controlled, take effort) o disrupt eachother o judgments o doubt

Bystander's three options*

. The 3 options are between letting the 5 die, flipping the switch so that 1 dies, or flipping the switch so that he himself dies. This case reveals that killing the 1, even in the first case, is not usually ok. That is, if the bystander would not be willing to flip the switch onto himself and sacrifice his life for the 5, he cant flip the switch onto someone else and force them to sacrifice their life for the 5.

Inverted reputation story*

-if being just gave you an unjust reputation, would you still do it? - Take two people and to the one who in unjust, give him the greatest reputation for justice, and to the one who is just give him the greatest reputation for injustice. This just man doesn't want to be believed to be good but wants to be so. We take away his reputation because a reputation for justice would bring him honors and rewards. This will truly test his justice. In this circumstance, the just person will be beaten and tortured, and at the end will realized he doesn't want to be believed to be unjust but to actually be so -after you have reputation for justice, there is no point in

Passionate/companionate love

-passionate love- the love you fall into (like a drug) -companionate love- the affection we feel for those with whom our lives are deeply intertwined -passionate love does not turn into companionate love. Passionate love and companionate love are two separate processes and they have different time courses. End points are the same

Adaptation principle

-people's judgments about their present state are based on whether it is better or worse than the state to which they have become accustomed (paraplegic's level of happiness returns to normal)human beings don't just don't just habituate, we recalibrate. We create ourselves a world of targets, and each time we hit one we replace it with another. Because you cant change your natural and usual state of tranquility, the rightes you accumulate will just raise your expectations and leave you no better off than you were before- hedonic treadmill

Situationalist challenge

-tendency to help/perceive moral demands of situation is deep in character? Not in environment?? Results do not confirm this (dime makes a difference) Bargh priming studies (people holding warm cup of coffee interpret person as warm vs cold) -good Samaritan/dime study are examples

eudaimonia

...flourishing - eudaimonia - complete happiness •It is cultivated through reflection and habituation - What does eudaimonia involve? (1095) •Gratification (appetite)? No. •Honor (spirit)? No. •Reflection (reason)? Yes Why? (1098) •Because reason is "the special function of a human being" •So: "the human good" is "the activity of the soul in accord w -cultivation (virtues of thought and character)i -- flourishing or reflective (reasoning) happiness- a good pursued for its own sake. Reflection happiness because reason is the special function of a human being and so the human good is the activity of the soul in accord with the best and most complete (distinctly human) virtue. Cultivate through- virtues of thought which grow mostly from teaching and virtues of character which arise in us neither by nature nor against nature. Rather we are by nature able to acquire them, and we are completed through habit. We learn a craft by producing the same product that we must produce when we have learned it: we become builders by building, harpists by playing the harp. In the same way, we become just by doing just actions, temperate by doing temperate actions, brave by doing brave actions. These actions are the sources and causes both of the emergence and cause of virtues and their ruin. These sorts of states tend naturally to be ruined by excess and deficiency

Nursing home plant study

2 floors in a nursing home- 1 they get to choose the plants in their room and were responsible for them, and chose which night was movie night. Other floor, plants chose plants and watered them, the nurses decided movies night. One floor 1 they were happier, more active, and more alert, even 18 months later. They also had better health and half as many deaths

Deontology

Acting with the correct sort of motivation (right/duty) (kant) -moral worth of an act depends on it having been donefrom (and not merely in keeping with) duty-has to do with action

Inclination

Another kind of motivation for action. Aristotle gives it credit for being moral, Kant does not

Arlene (example) John (example)

Arlene (anxiety) • leaving house is anxiety-provoking • therapist teaches relaxation techniques • classical conditioning: used to associate feeling of being outside with anxiety, therapist changed it to be one of relaxation o ex: Pavlov's dog; unconditioned stimulus/response vs. conditioned stimulus/response -John (sleeping) • sleeps in mother's bed • if john sleeps in own bed, gets a sticker (reward system) • operant conditioning (positive reinforcement-will do more with positive reinforcement)- can work other way also o negative reinforcement- take something away (can be good or bad) o positive reinforcement- add something (can be good or bad)

Moral hypocrisy

Being moral to seem moral (goal: to appear moral, while avoiding the cost of being moral) requires self deception -instrumental moral value

belief

Belief: what your rational self knows to be true Grand Canyon skywalk -Belief is that you will not fall through, but alief still causes you to be nervous to walk out on glass floor -Charles and the slime: slime is in movie but moving towards the viewers- Charles screams. Belief- he knows it is just a movie and he is not in danger. Alief still makes him scared -Alief is the mismatch between belief and behavior. Belief is what someone knows to be true. So if there is a sterile bedpan, the belief is that it is okay to drink out of, however the alief is that it is not sanitary to drink from and the agent will hesitate before drinking. Another example is when someone handed Gendler money and she went to put it in her wallet while her belief was that she forgot her wallet in New Haven

enkratia (continence)/akrasia (incontinence)*

Continent act done • Because of rightness • Against inclination Incontinent act done • Despite its wrongness -With inclination

four characteristics of virtuous action*

First, he must know that he is doing virtuous actions. Second, he must decide on them, and decide on them for themselves, and third he must do them from a firm and unchanging state. 1- knowledge- I am going to be brave, 2- motivation- I am doing this to be brave (not a medal), 3- stability- not just a one time choice. In order to be in a firm and unchanging state, he must not feel pain but pleasure.

Descriptive

Descriptive: stating a fact (if you get hit by a car, you will die) Descriptive claim- we do care only about seeming (rather than about being just) (the appearance of being just)

duty

Duty and moral worth • an action must be done from duty in order to have moral worth (what you do) o 3 kinds of motivation to preform act • duty • inclination • self-interest o only pure cases of the first have moral worth- actions done not merely in keeping with moral duty, but from moral duty o four cases- does the action accord with duty? • No (lying, stealing) • Yes (but with what motive) From self interest, no immideate inclination (taxes, speeding tickets)-kant says no From inclination, in keeping with duty (preserve life when happy, act kindly from sympathy)-kant says no From duty, without inclination or self interest (preserve life when sad)- kant says yes • an action done from duty has its moral worth, not in the purpose that is to be attained by it, but in the maxim according to which the action is determined (what it is that you think) o maxim- subjective principle of volition (description under which action is done) o only by considering motive and not outcome can the action be expressive of the goodwill itself • duty is the necessity of an action done out of respect for the law o in order for an act to have been done from duty, it must have been done explicitly, out of respect for the moral law qua moral law o thus, the moral worth of an action does not lie in its effect -but what sort of law can be the thought of which must determine the will without reference to any expected effect, so that the will can be called absolutely good without qualification? • Cant be anything particular • It is the will's universal conformity of its actions to law as such • The categorical imperative • Never act expect in such a way that I can also will that my maxim should become a universal law • Kant: never act in a way that you couldn't will everyone else to act in the same way as well Four kinds of duties • Duties to self (refrain from suicide) • Duties to others (refrain from lying) • Perfect duties (always do) o Refrain from suicide/lying • Imperfect duties (sometimes do) o Cultivate some of your talents o Give money to some in need

Migratory birds case

Estimated amounts households were willing to pay were $80, $78, and $88 to save 2,000, 20,000, or 200,000- shows scope neglect

classical conditioning (including unconditioned stimulus/response and conditioned stimulus/ response)

Example: pavlov's dog- pair a neutral stimulus (bell) with an unconditioned stimulus (food) when you combine these two, you get a conditioned stimulus and the dog comes running for food when it hears the bell -unconditioned stimulus=food; unconditioned response=dog comes running; conditioned stimulus= bell; conditioned response= dog comes running - classical conditioning is concerned with stimuli that evoke responses. Certain stimuli in one's environment (noise, shock, light, food) elicit reflex responses. These are referred to as unconditioned stimuli because the ability of the stimuli to elicit responses is not learned. The responses that are evoked are referred to as unconditional responses because they too are unlearned- they are automatic in response to the stimuli. A neutral stimulus is a stimulus that does not elicit a reflex response. This stimulus is referred to as a conditioned stimulus because at first it doesn't elicit the response but through learning, it eventually elicits the response. The response to this is a conditioned response. Classical conditioning is the process whereby new stimuli gain the power to elicit respondent behavior.

Sunk costs

Exploiting sunk cost "During A, invest many resources in the (future) pursuit of the larger reward...the fact that we do not ignore sunk costs provides one way to get past the temptation during period B to choose the smaller" sooner reward (22-23) - exploit as precommitment (Nozick- see hyperbolic discounting) so that when smaller/sooner becomes option you ignore the temptation and remember the sunk cost

Justice as an "intermediate between best and worst"

Glaucon: the origin of justice is "the intermediate between best and worst" to do injustice comes naturally as good and to suffer injustice is bad. If one can get away with doing unjust things, then he has no reason to be just since he does not get caught. But since some people do unjust things and get away with it, the other people suffer from their actions. Therefore, people make an agreement to neither do injustice or to suffer from it, since the suffering is far worse than the goodness of doing it. -"The best is to do injustice without paying the penalty; the worst is to suffer it without being able to take revenge. Justice is a mean between these two extremes. People value it not as a good but because they are too weak to do injustice without impunity

Elephant and rider analogy*

Haidt: -People are not "drivers of cars" but "riders of elephants" • controlled (slow, reason, 1 percent, cool) and -automatic (fast, hot, 99 percent)aspects of the mind Self change is elephant training: -Change the elephant gradually • develop new habits, take 12 weeks to stick • use small but immediate rewards • try cognitive therapy, meditation, self hypnosis -Change the elephant's path • animals are "stimulus bound" people too. Choose your environment and associates carefully. -The split between controlled and automatic processes, Haidt uses the examples of the word association here, if you read words like bother or respect you act differently. These experiments show that most mental processes happen automatically, without the need for conscious attention or control. Controlled processing is limited- we can only consciously think about one thing at a time, but automatic processes run in parallel and can handle many tasks at once. The controlled system is an adviser, its the rider on the elephants back trying to help the elephant make better choices. The rider can see farther into the future and the rider can learn valuable information by talking to other riders or by reading maps, but the rider cannot order the elephant around against its will

"H = S + C + V"*

Happiness= set point + conditions + voluntary activities -extreme biological version says that h=s and that c and v don't matter Buddha and Epictetus described indifference to externals There are external conditions that matter- noise, commuting, lack of control for example, relationships - Conditions- noise, commuting, lack of control, shame, relationships. S is determined by genes. Conditions include facts about your life that you can't change (race, sex, age disability) as well as things that you can (wealth, marriage, location). Constant over time, at least during a period, things you are likely to adapt to. Voluntary activities are things that you choose to do- meditation, exercise, learning a new skill, or taking vacations)

George and the bioweapons

Has choice to accept or decline bio weapons job George needs to make money because his family is struggling. He cant find a job but then gets offered a job at a bio-weapons lab. If he doesn't take it someone more enthusiastic about bio-weapons will take it. The production of the bio-weapons is inevitable but George feels it would be immoral to work for them. - Utilitarian dilemma, they would say he should take the job.

Ring of Gyges story

He discovered that the ring gave him the power to become invisible by adjusting it. Gyges then arranged to be chosen as one of the messengers who reported to the king as to the status of the flocks. Arriving at the palace, Gyges used his new power of invisibility to seduce the queen, and with her help he murdered the king, and became king of Lydia himself. King Croesus, famous for his wealth, was Gyges' descendant. (If people would not get caught, they would behave unjustly.)

Stroop task

Illustrates the interaction of automatic and controlled processing- transmitting process may be automatic in the sense that, for word reading, a short automatic transmission occurs to a word that is attended. The word stimulus is then transmitted to higher states that would ultimately produce the wrong response in an incongruent Stroop trial (trial in which "RED" is in green and the subject says "green")- during Stroop training , the automatic word transmission would occur for a short time then shut down. The vectors from modules attending to the ink color could be transmitted to the response system. Early in each trial the motor system must be inhibited then after the automatic transmission of the word drops down, the motor output is allowed to respond with the transmission of the ink

Moral integrity

Intrinsic motivation to be moral - Batson questions if people want to be moral or just appear to be moral. Through the coin flip studies, Batson examines how people behave when they think they are not being observed, and what variables lead to increased honesty. Moral integrity is acting morally in the absence of incentives or sanctions in a desire to uphold one or another moral principle (intrinsic moral value)

Jim and the Indians*

Jim has choice to shoot one man, or else 20 will die. Jim stumbles upon 20 Indians about to be executed. Since he is a guest to the area, he has been offered the choice of killing one of them himself and then the rest of them will be freed. This sets up a dilemma for utilitarian morality - the different outcomes possible would demand that Jim should kill the one Indian. Any moral hesitancy he feels is just squimishness that he should get over - it would be selfish of him to indulge himself and protect himself from the unpleasant feelings that might come from personally killing the one man. But perhaps Jim's feelings that he shouldn't kill the one stem from a commitment to not killing, and utilitarianism doesn't take this into account. (this would be a negative happiness)

Greatest happiness principle

John Stuart Mill utilitarianism- "actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness... not the agent's own happiness but that of all concerned"- the motive has nothing to do with the morality of the action... he who saves another creature form drowning does what is morally right, whether his motive be duty or the hope of being paid for his trouble. The ultimate end for the sake of which all other things are desirable is an existence as rich as possible in enjoyments both in point of quantity and quality. As between his own happiness and that of others, utilitarianism requires him to be as strictly impartial as a disinterested spectator"

Julie & Mark story ("moral dumbfounding")

Julie and Mark are sister and brother and have sex. It strengthened relationship, used birth control, kept secret, consensual. When asked, people overwhelmingly said it was wrong but can not explain why (confabulation)

moderation

Moderation is due t the friendly and harmonious relations between the three parts, namely when the ruler and the ruled believe in common that the rational part should rule and don't engage in civil war against it- Greek cardinal virtue 3

Categorical imperative*

Never act except in such a way that I can also will that my maxim should become a universal law." You shouldn't do something unless its always ok for people to do what you are doing in circumstances like yours (?). This determines the moral worth of an action. It is the principle for determining the moral law. It determines what one's duty is in any situation.

normative

Normative: stating what you should/ought to do (you should abide by the speed limit) Normative claim: we should care only about seeming (rather than about being) just

Good will

Nothing "can be regarded as good without qualification, except a good will" (393) •In particular, not: ▪ Talents of the mind (intelligence, wit) ▪ Qualities of temperament (courage, perseverance) ▪ Gifts of fortune (power, riches, honor, health) ▪ Ancient virtues (moderation, self-control) •Each of these may magnify effectiveness, but does not determine valence •Each gains value only through good will A good will is good not because of what it effects or accomplishes...it is good in itself" •It would remain good even if it "wholly lack[ed] the power to accomplish its purpose" •"Even so" it would "like a jewel, still shine by its own light as something which has its full value in itself. Its usefulness or fruitlessness can neither augment nor diminish this value." (394)

Hyperbolic discounting

People (often) and lower animals (always) discount the prospect of future rewards in a curve that is more deeply bowed than a 'rational,' exponential curve. Over a range of delays from seconds to decades, there are pairs of alternative rewards such that subjects prefer the smaller, earlier reward over the larger, later alternative when delay to the smaller reward will be short, but prefer the larger, later reward when the smaller alternative will be more delayed, even though the time from the earlier to the later reward stays the same. The curves that fit the observed data best are hyperbolic, that is, show value as inversely proportional to delay." - Nozick- principles ties the decision to a whole class of actions of which the principle makes its part- exploits symbolic utility. Exploits sunk cost by investing resources in the future pursuit of the larger reward, the fact that we do not ignore sunk costs provides one way to get past the temptation during t=2 to choose the smaller Ainslie- People often and lower animals discount the prospect of future rewards in a curve that is more deeply bowed than a rational, exponential curve. Over a range of delays from seconds, to decades, there are pairs of alternative rewards such that subjects prefer the smaller, earlier reward over the larger, later reward alternative when delay to the smaller reward will be short, but prefer the larger, later reward when the smaller alternative will be more delayed, even though the tie time form the earlier to later reward to the later reward stays the same.

operant conditioning (including reinforcement, punishment and extinction) *

Positive reinforcement: giving something good to increase behavior Negative reinforcement: taking something bad away to increase behavior Positive punishment: adding something bad to decrease a behavior Negative punishment: takinga way something good to decrease a behavatior - Operant behaviors are response hat operated on the environment. Operant behaviors are strengthened or weakened as a function of the events that follow them. The process of learning operant behaviors is operant conditioning. Reinforcement, punishment, extinction, stimulus control and discrimination are the key principles of operant condition. Reinforcement is the presentation are removal of an event after a response that increases the likelihood or probability of the response. Punishment is the presentation or removal of an event after a response that decreases the likelihood or probability of the response. Extinction is no longer presenting a reinforcement even after a response that decreases the likelihood or probability of the previously reinforced response. Stimulus control and discrimination is reinforcing the response in the presence of one stimulus but not in the presence of another. This procedure increases the likelihood or probability of the response in the presence of the former stimulus and decreases the likelihood or probability of the response in the presence of the latter stimulus.

PTSD

Post traumatic stress disorder - Action- persistent mobilization of body and mind for lethal danger- potential for explosive violence, perception- loss of authority over mental function- particularly memory and trustworthy perception, social experience- persistent expectation of betrayal and exploitation, destruction of capacity of social trust

Utilitarianism

Producing the greatest good for the greatest number of people (good/happiness) (john stuart mill) -consequentialism (degree of moral rightness of an act is determined by degree of utility it produces)- has to do with consequences

Temperate/intemperate

Situations that lack the stability (3rd bullet) of virtue and vice are either "temperate" or "intemperance" Temperate: done knowing its rightness; done because of its rightness; done with inclination Intemperate:knowing its wrongness; because of wrongness; with inclination -no stable character necessary

virtues of thought vs. virtues of character*

Virtues of thought "grow mostly from teaching" Virtues of character "arise in us neither by nature nor against nature. Rather we are by nature able to acquire them, and we are completed through habit."

"things that are up to us" vs. "things that are not up to us"*

Some things are up to us and some things are not up to us. Our opinions are up to us, and our impulses, desires, aversions - in short, whatever is our own doing. Our bodies are not up to us, nor our possessions, our reputations, or our public offices, or, that is whatever is not our own doing. The things that are up to us are by nature free, unhindered and unimpeded. The things that are not up to us are naturally enslaved, hindered, not our own. If you think that things naturally enslaved are free or that things that are not your own are your own, you will be thwarted, miserable and upset, and will blame both gods and men. But if you think that only what is yours is yours, and that what is not your own is, just as it is, not your own, then no one will ever coerce you, no one will hinder you, you will blame no one, you will not accuse anyone, you will not do a single thing unwillingly, and no one will harm you, because you will not be harmed at all.

Milgram experiments *

Teacher, learner, experimenter. 65% were still obedient at XXX, 68% at Danger: severe shock, people only dropped off at intense shock (88%) "I think I would have stopped at..." (class survey re: Milgram)- 34% said they would stop at no shock or slight or moderate, in reality none did. 48% said they would stop at strong or very strong shock, in reality 0 did. Only 18% said they would stop were 100% really did, intense or greater

retraining the elephant"*

The 3 best ways of retraining the elephant is meditation, cognitive therapy, and Prozac- retraining the elephant can make you happier. Meditation reduces anxiety and increases contentment, as well as increases self-esteem, empathy, trust, and improves memory. Cognitive therapy trains clients to catch their thoughts, write them down, name the distortions (personalization, overgeneralizations, magnification, and arbitrary inference), and then find alternative and more accurate ways of thinking. Prozac is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, so there is more serotonin in the brain.

Asian disease case

US is prepared for the outbreak of an unusual Asian disease which is expected to kill 600 people, two alternative programs have been proposed- Program A- 200 will be saved, B- 1/3 probability that 600 will be saved, 2/3 that 0 will be saved- most favor A (risk aversion)- other version of questions- A- 400 die, B- 1/3 probability that 0 die, 2/3 probability that 600 die- now people chose B as risk averting

Dependent variable

Varies when you change the structure Ex: coin flip: putting coin in the room/asking participants to rate morality afterwards -dependent on structure of experiment/conditions and the independent variable that the experimenter changes

"things" vs. "judgments about things"

What upsets people are not things, but their judgments about the things. What is insulting is not the person who abuses you or hits you, but the judgment about them that they are insulting So when someone irritates you, be aware that what irritates you is your own belief

Dime and phone booth study

When people found a dime in the phone booth they were more likely to help someone in need and, early capacity for self-regulation (delay of gratification) is highly predictive of future competence, both social and cognitive Isen: Dime and Phone Booth Study -some people found new dime in machine • 88 percent helped woman help pick up papers -some found nothing • 4% help woman pick up papers

"eyes promote cooperation"

When people think they are being observed (even when they are alone) they engage in pro-social behavior. Example: eyes over milk increases money paid for milk more so than flowers/paid for coffee more often

confabulation

When the rider makes up justifications for the elephant (when humans give reasons for their actions when in reality the action was not logically planned. (instinct, not thought through) -fabricate reasons to explain behavior (split-brain

Linda the bankteller case

representativeness heuristics- respondents were shown the description of a woman named Linda and a list of 8 possible outcomes describing her present employment and activities. But conjunction fallacy- said it was more likely that Linda was a feminist bank teller than stereotypical bank teller by bigger margin in probability group that similarity group

Virtuous/vicious

a virtuous act is done • knowing its rightness • because of its rightness • from stable character • with inclination -a vicious act is done • knowing its wrongness • because of its wrongness • from stable character • with inclination

Precommittment mechanism

ariely) -a current choice to restrict future choices -having a pre determined punishment for procrastination -freezing credit card in ice -classroom expirament -restricting sooner smaller reward for greater, later reward

Ducking vs sacrificing

ducking: avoid harm and thereby allow it to fall on someone else. Sacrificing - avoid harm by bringing it on someone else (use another person as a shield).

justice

every part within him does its own works, whether its ruling or being ruled- in concerned with what is within man- puts himself in order, is his own friend, harmonizes the three parts of himself. He binds together those parts and then does he act, his just actions preserve the harmony. Actions that destroy the harmony are unjust.

heuristics

heuristics- "fast and frugal" tools for dealing with complexity in time-sensitive decision making -operate by means of attribute substitution • interest: target attribute • focus: heuristic attribute -using heuristics is rational • target and heruristic attributes generally coincide • heuristic takes less effort to process Sunstein's argument: -in non-moral cases, people often use heuristics -though useful, they may lead to errors -in particular, they lead to errors in these cases... -availability heuristic • frequency/likelihood- ease of recall of instances • often correct • can lead to error

Intrinsic Value

intrinsically valuable- "welcome for own sake" • joy/harmless pleasures

Affect heuristic

is a heuristic affect. If one's feelings towards an activity is positive, then people are more likely to judge the risks as low and the benefits high whereas if their feelings towards an activity is negative, they are more likely perceive the risks as high and benefits low.

Killing vs letting die

is it morally worse to kill 1 than to let 5 die?

Transplant case

kill one for organs for seven? probably not but why?

Affective priming

positive and negative affective reactions can be evoked with minimal stimulus input and virtually no cognitive processing. The present work tested this hypothesis by comparing the effects of affective and cognitive priming under extremely brief (suboptimal) and longer (optimal) exposure durations. At suboptimal exposures only affective primes produced significant shifts in Ss' judgments of novel stimuli. These results suggest that when affect is elicited outside of conscious awareness, it is diffuse and nonspecific, and its origin and address are not accessible. Having minimal cognitive participation, such gross and nonspecific affective reactions can therefore be diffused or displaced onto unrelated stimuli. At optimal exposures this pattern of results was reversed such that only cognitive primes produced significant shifts in judgments. Together, these results support the affective primacy hypothesis. -affective style is the average or typical level of happiness of a person- the everyday balance of power between a person's approach system and withdrawal system.. For affective priming you have to do something that will change your repertoire of available thoughts. You have to retrain the elephant

virtue as a mean (bravery, temperance, etc.)*

mean between deficiency and excess -ex: brave is mean between cowardly and reckless -friendly is the mean between hostile and ingratiating

Cloth monkey/wire monkey

monkeys cling to cloth mother monkey- "contact comfort" is a basic need that young mammals have for physical contact with their mother. In the absence of a real mother, young mammals will seek out whatever feels most like a mother. -4for 4 of the monkeys, milk was delivered only from a tube coming through the chest of the wire monkey, for the other 4 the cloth monkey. If milk was the cause of attachment, they should have clung to their respectives but almost all of them clung to the cloth monkey- "contact comfort" is a basic need- whatever feels most like a mother

Seeming just vs being just

ocrates: justice is both intrinsic and instrumentally valuable- want to be and seem just Glaucon- justice is instrumentally valuable only- only do it to seem just

Voluntary/involuntary action

patterns of behavior initially under conscious control become automatized. This gives us a tool for turning normative commitments into descriptive laws. Before crossing the street, I look both ways. When handed an item, I say "thank you". When encountering my open computer, I check facebook

Coin flip studies*

people rationalize in a way to credit themselves with acting morally/when people think they are being observed, even by themselves, they engage in prosocial behavior) -participants had the appearance of being moral (flipped coin) while avoiding consequences (90% of people assigned themselves the positive outcome, indicating that they didn't actually use the coin in a fair way) -- Subjects were told that there were two tasks, a positive consequences task and a neutral task. They were told to assign themselves to a task and then rate how moral their actions were on a 9-point scale. A vast majority of the time, subjects assigned themselves to pc and usually felt moderately moral.

Personal/impersonal cases*

personal cases are more emotional than impersonal cases, they activate different parts of the brain. Personal cases (combat ect) are what we evolved in, so the emotional responses for personal cases are high. people tend toward consequentialism when emotional response is low, and toward deontology when the emotional response is high. For example, we respond differently to pushing a fat man onto the tracks to save people from a trolley than we do to switching a lever to kill one person and save people from a trolley. This is because the fat man case is "up close and personal" and activates our emotions, while the switch is impersonal, and activates a more cognitive response.

Stockdale's use of Epictetus' doctrines

shot down from plane- "leaving world of technology and entering the world of epictetus" -a stoic always keeps two things- things that are up to us (in our power: opinions, aims, judgements, opintions); and things that are not up to us (beyond our power) -"look not for any greater harm than this: destroying the trusting, self-respecting, well-behaved man within you"-epictetus -physical injuries are minor in comparison to this -everyone equally fragile, "no virgins" - a Stoic always keeps separate files for things that are up to him and not up to him. Things that are not in his power are external and beyond his control, ultimate dooming him to fear and anxiety if he were to covet them. Things up to him, were his opinions, aims, aversions, grief, joy, judgments, attitude, own good, and own evil.

Cying baby case

should you smother your child if it starts crying while you are hiding with a group of people from enemy soldiers, in order to save your group? If you don't they'll find you and everyone will die, including the baby. This dilemma shows a conflict between emotional response and cognitive response.

Block/tower case

the same property (the total height of a set of blocks) is highly accessible in one display and not so in another. This observation is entirely unremarkable —it does not seem shocking that some attributes of a stimulus are automatically perceived while others must be computed or that the same attribute is perceived in one display of an object but must be computed in another." - tower has immediate impressions of the height of the tower, the flat one has immediate impression of the total area, not the height

courage

the spirited part of an individual- when it preserves through pains and pleasures the declarations of reason about what is to be feared and what isn't- carries out leaders orders- Greek cardinal virtue 2

Flow

the state of total immersion in a task is that challenging yet closely matched to ones abilities (being in the zone). Feels like effortless movement. Occurs during physical movement or during solitary creative activities. There is a clear challenge that fully engages your attention. You have the skills to meet the challgenge and you get immediate feedback about how you are doing at each step (progress principle).

Fundamental attribution error

the tendency to draw inferences about a person's unique and enduring dispositions from behaviors that can be [entirely] explained by the situations in which they occur" -good Samaritan/dime studies -circumstance, not character (Aristotle says character)

squeamishness

uneasy feelings about the outcomes utilitarian reasoning demands of you. It is selfish to indulge in appeasing squeamishness.

Representative heuristic

used when making judgments about the probability of an event under uncertainty. Define representativeness as "the degree to which [an event] (i) is similar in essential characteristics to its parent population and (ii) reflects the salient features of the process by which it is generated". When people rely on representativeness to make judgements, they are likely to judge wrongly because the fact that something is more representative does not make it more likely. This heuristic is used because it is accessible. The problem is that people overestimate its ability to accurately predict the likelihood of an event

menis

violations of honor or fairness lead to indignant rage (menis) - violations of honor/fairness lead to indignant rage- menis- moral injury is an essential part of combat trauma that leads to lifelong psychological injury, veterans can usually recover from horror, fear, and grief once they return to civilian life, so long as themis has not also been violated

Medium maximization

wanting to get a lot of frequent flyer miles (the medium), forgetting end goal of saving money -Condition 1- hard task- pistachio ice cream, easy take- chocolate ice cream- you act to get preferred ice cream. Condition 2- same ice creams but 1 also gets 100 points, 2 also gets 60 points. Now you act to get points, believe it has intrinsic value when it is merely instrumental. Great mistake to believe wrong value

Identifiable victim effect

we tend to help people more when they are individualized. Likewise, we are more likely to punish them. Seems like the concreteness of the individual makes the appropriate action toward them more important/more likely.

Themis

what is right - the embodiment of divine order, law, and custom. -betrayal of themis leads to menis (indignant rage) - Whats right- when a leader destroys the legitimacy of the army's moral order by betraying themis he inflicts manifold injuries on his men- Iliad is a story of this, Achilles in Vietnam, even linked to Milgram

Progress principle

when success seems increasingly probably and some final event confirms what you already had begun to expect, the feeling is more one of relief (pleasure of closure and release) "pleasure comes more from making progress toward goals than from achieving them- things won are done; joy's soul lies in the doing"

Attribute substitution

· A psychological process that occurs when an individual has to make a judgment (of a target attribute) that is computationally complex, and instead substitutes a more easily calculated heuristic attribute · Your interest is the target attribute, but your focus is the heuristic attribute · Target and heuristic attributes generally coincide; heuristics take less effort to process · Part of the automatic judgment system, rather than controlled process system · Explains why individuals can be unaware of their own biases, and why biases persist even when the subject is made aware of them · Note: some of this is from lecture but some is from a wikipedia definition, but the Wikipedia parts are in line with her lectures so I'd assume it's entirely legit

Moral heuristic*

· Cass Sunstein · Heuristics: "fast and frugal" tools for dealing with complexity in time-sensitive decision-making; heuristics take less effort to process - she gave us the example of phones and covers: you grab your phone on the basics of surface characteristics, which we generally believe will stay the same. You don't care about the superficial characteristic (the case), you care about your phone · Operate by means of attribute substitution (term defined later) · Sunstein gives examples of heuristics in moral cases: o Disgust Fart spray, banana peels, hypnotism o Moral dumbfounding/overgeneralization Consensual harm-free sibling incest o Moral framing "Asian disease case": lives saved/lives lost o Basically, they are reasons as to why something may seem immoral Example: disgust •Fart spray / banana peels / hypnotism Example: moral dumbfounding / overgeneralization •Consensual harm-free sibling incest Example: moral framing •"Asian disease case": lives saved / lives lost

Emissions trading

· Polluters given license to pollute N units · Licenses can be traded on the market · Result (arguably): less pollution at a lower cost · Target attribute: better · Heuristic attribute: worse

The experience machine

· Selection of Robert Nozick's Anarchy State and Utopia (1974) · Overall, the article addresses what matters for people other than their experiences · "Suppose there were an experience machine that would give you any experience you desired..." · "You can pick and choose from their large library ... of such experiences...selecting for... two years. After two years have passed, you will have 10 minutes or hours out of the tank to select the experiences of your next two years" · "While in the tank you won't know that you're there, you'll think it's all actually happening" · "Would you plug in? What else matters to us, other than hour our lives feel form the inside?" · What does matter to us in addition to our experiences? o 1. We want to do things, not just have the experience of doing them...it's only because first we want to do the actions that we want the experiences of doing them or thinking we've done them o 2. We want to be a certain way, a certain type of person. You're not doing anything while in the tank, what would this type of person be like?...plugging into the machine is a kind of suicide o 3. Plugging into an experience machine limits us to a man-made reality, to world no deeper or more important than that which people can construct. There is no actual contact with any deeper reality · We learn that something matters to us in addition to experience by imagining an experience in this machine and then realizing that we would not use it · Something matters in addition to one's experiences and what one is like o Do we want to make a difference in the world?

omelas

· Ursula LeGuin's narrative about a society in which the entire community has unbelievable joy but everyone else's happiness/flourishing occurs because of imposition of suffering on a single child · Example of a Utilitarian society · Tradeoff concerning moral matters and the greater good; this good of society is value over adherence to moral values such as fairness. The net equation is in favor of the group · Bernard Williams is in support of this sort of society o He'd say those who are unwilling to overlook the glaring inequality and find their source of happiness tainted are the source of their own displeasure · "Young people go home in tears after learning about the child but soon realize even if the child was released, it wouldn't get much good from its freedom...it's too degraded and imbecile to know any real joy...their tears [the young ones'] at the bitter injustice dry when they begin to perceive the terrible justice of reality, and to accept it" o The young people are "squeamish" - see defined term above

Betrayals

· You're offered a choice between Car A and Car B · A is equipped with Air Bag A o Scientific crash tests indicate that in Car A there's a 2% chance derivers in serious accidents will be killed by impact of crash · B is equipped with Air Bag B o 1% chance of death due to impact · However, Car B may kill drivers who would not have died if they were driving Car A instead. Specifically, some drivers of car B may die due to trauma caused by the force of the air bag deployment. Crash tests indicate there is an additional one chance in 10,000 (0.01%) that someone who is in a serious accident in Car B will be killed due to air bag trauma. · SIGNIFICANCE: A HEURISTIC IS AT WORK HERE. People are especially averse to risks of death that come from products (like airbags) designed to promote safety. People have been found to prefer a higher chance resulting from a crash than a malfunctioning of an airbag. This is because the less risky option carried a "betrayal risk". They chose the riskier car because a betrayal was not involved. Peoples' aversion to betrayal is so great that they will increase their own risks rather than subject themselves to a (small hazard) that comes from a device that is supposed to increase safety

Reason/spirit/appetite*

• plato: • 3 part horse metaphor: -Reason (logos) as a charioteer- calculation, knowledge, truth o Spirit (thumos) as a good noble horse- honor, recognition, esteem o Appetite (epithumos) as a bad, unwieldy horse- lust, hunger, thirst -human: reason; lion: honor; beast: appetite - Must be three parts because like something cannot move and stay still, nor can one whole soul. There must be some parts moving, some standing. Phaedrus- the horse that is on the right, or nobler, side is upright in frame and well jointed, with a high neck and regal nose, his coat is white, his eyes are black... is guided by verbal commands alone, the other horse is a crooked great jumble of limbs and doesn't listen to commands. The charioteer is reason, bad horse is appetite, and good horse is spirit. According to Plato, reason (logos) is calculation, knowledge, and truth. Spirit (thumos) is honor, recognition, and esteem and appetite (epithumos) is lust, hunger, and thirst. In the Republic, Beast is multicolored, with a ring of heads that grow and change at will, some gently some savage. The lion is largest, and then the human. The lion and beast are within the human,

System I/system ii*

• system 1 (fast, automatic, effortless) o don't cause interference when combined with other tasks o impressions • system 2 (slower, controlled, take effort) • system 1 (fast, automatic, effortless) o don't cause interference when combined with other tasks o impressions • system 2 (slower, controlled, take effort) o disrupt each other o judgments o doubt • "system 2 monitors the activities of system 1"- judgments and preferences made by system 1 must be monitored by the deliberate system 2 - System 1 is intuition/accessibility. It is fast, parallel, automatic, effortless, associative, slow-learning, and emotional. System 1 is also governed by habit and is difficult to control or modify. System 2 is reasoning/logic, it is slow, serial, controlled, effortful, rule-governed, flexible, and neutral. It is more consciously monitored and deliberately controlled. You can have many system 1 thoughts, but only one system 2 thoughts at a time. Highly accessibly S1 impressions control judgments and preferences unless modified or overridden by deliberate S2 operations