Daily Archives: August 14, 2021

In social psychology, the idea of the survival of the fittest is a theory that has many names: social Darwinism, and Competitive Jungle Belief(CJB), and others. It applies Darwins theories of natural selection in a social context in order to say that society as a whole is like a highly competitive jungle where only the fittest are competent and are, therefore, likely to survive. A new study published on Wednesday in PLoS One found that CJB is tied to characteristics such as a greater hostility towards other people, exploitative attitudes, and low self-esteem.

While it has been long recognized that the CJB acts as a mediator between individual characteristics and socio-political ideology, researchers in the Polish study have built a psychological profile of people who endorse the idea. In a sample of around 800 people, the study tested for how CJB related to five psychological variables including attachment styles, human values, moral judgments, and other personality traits.

Its results showed that social Darwinists have a relatively more dysfunctional quality of personal life because of their scores on the five variables. But this also has implications for society at large.

For instance, social Darwinists propensity to admire power, domination, and their determination to pursue goals at the expense of others, make conditions for an egalitarian society unfavorable. Moreover, a fearful attachment style could be connected with an inability to sympathize with others. In other words, social Darwinism belongs to the broader category of social beliefs, whose common denominator is a profoundly pessimistic and negativistic view of human nature and interpersonal relations, the study notes.

The study also found a link between greater scores on the Dark Triad of personality (greater antagonism, selfishness, and lesser communal characteristics like empathy) and CJB. Machiavellianism or emotional coldness and cynicism, was found to be the greatest predictor of CJB beliefs.

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Weve Completely Misunderstood Survival of the Fittest, Evolutionary Biologists Say

On a broader societal level, this means that social Darwinism tends to favor anti-egalitarian ideologies such as hierarchical relations, social dominance, and is a mediator between an aggressive personal disposition and approval of aggression in socio-political life. Previous studies have shown how social Darwinism can be linked to far-right authoritarianism and approval of political aggression. In other words, social Darwinism is a belief that acts as a bridge between personal negative psychological traits, and anti-egalitarian societal ideologies.

They especially reject human rights, care, help, and compassion as relevant criteria of moral judgments. As a matter of fact, they did not value any measured ethical code. If they do, it is some respect for authorities, the study observed.

The study carries important implications in understanding why the pandemic saw certain attitudes about the disposability of people prevail. The trajectory of the pandemic response and peoples attitudes have shown a prevailing belief that the coronavirus is a natural selector, where only the fittest survive, while the weak, the poor and marginalized die off, writes Vanessa Barker, a professor of sociology at the University of Stockholm.

Peoples refusal to cooperate while curbing the spread of the disease, and governments closing of borders to refugees and migrant workers are all symptomatic of social Darwinism at play. Only now, we know it is inherently rooted in negative personal attitudes towards other people. That an alarming number of people were in agreement with the idea of sacrificing elderly, disabled, and immunocompromised people in order to achieve herd immunity, speaks further to the tendency of individuals willingness to protect themselves at the expense of other people.

Indeed, researchers acknowledged that limitations of the study include not being able to factor the role of social processes in replicating or exacerbating such a negative view of the world. They hypothesize, for instance, that the pandemic may have caused an increase in such a worldview. During the Covid19 pandemic, a considerable increase in social negativism can be expected This may be a very good starting point for further research aimed at formulating a broader theory of negativistic thinking about the social world, the paper concludes.

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People Who Practice 'Survival of the Fittest' Are More Likely To Be Hostile, Shows Research - The Swaddle

The Arkansas Repertory Theater offers a zoo story, but its not Edward Albees zoo story.

Jennifer Vanderbeth rubs two young visitors to a research camp in East Africa with a former colleague, centered on a primatologist who believes the worldview of alpha men could be hit hard. It is the world premiere of the romantic comedy Priming.

The theater is performing a show at the Little Rock Zoos Sibitan Pavilion, as it conveys the message, When it comes to romance, human intriguing behavior is comparable only to the chimpanzees in the surrounding forest. .. Today, the first of three preview performances will take place, with a rainy day from Tuesday to Sunday to August 29th.

The film is directed by Ari Edelson, a playwright and novelist who often explores the stories of women in science, Edelson, and a Broadway producer in his previous career.

Ive known Will for years, says Edelson. He produced a show I directed Building the Wall [for New World Stages]..

He has been working on this piece for a while, during which time I know a writer who contacted me about doing some scripting work on this.

Im always very inspired when someone takes a scientific idea and gives it warmth and humanity, he adds. As a kid of scientists, I saw this and said,Oh, awesome, she did it.'

Vanderbeths script includes a discussion of nature and upbringing, Darwinism and evolution, and how they apply to human behavior and relationships, and whether they resemble the behavior of wild apes. It is.

Douglas Reese, his character, primatologist Desmond Hawks, said, Teaching requires lessons. He is a walking ego and an ego. He has all the bright and shining things. Achieved and learned. His books pop out of the airport kiosk shelves. Still he is a child in many ways he is accustomed to walking his way.

Plotpoint colludes to give him a big slap on his face. Who provides the slap? NS [other] Three of them take turns, he says.

Kate Gring plays Eve Goodwin. Eve Goodwin dates back a quarter of a century to two connections with the Hawks. We are friends, but 25 years ago we were alsothings, she explains.

She explains the professional relationships as they are passionate about the other side of the central issue, but whether the play is capable of changing and evolving relationships with people. Explore the problem.

The set, the director and the four actors in the play admit, but there is no jungle gym. And the play itself doesnt include the monkey business well, probably a little monkey business.

Theres a bit of smoothing, but its not hyper, explains Tally Gale, who plays Time magazine reporter Jenna Barash.

Theres an old flame, and maybe a new one, adds Joseph Scott Ford, who plays Dana Daforest, a young postdoc who came to help the Hawks. Hes familiar with theory, but he has an up-to-date view of implications, Ford explains.

In theaters, the reporter character is often a little device about whats going on, the window of the audience, says Gale. She made her own series of life choices. Shes probably trying to undermine these evolutionary theories. Shes weird and a super-achievement intended to be in Manhattan. , Not a concrete jungle. [actual] Dense forest.

The two young actors have an Arkansas background, but both headed to New York to pursue a career on the stage.

Ford is from Little Rock and graduated from Little Rock Christian Academy, but at least initially he had no goal of becoming a professional actor.

I saw the show as a rep, but didnt attend, he says. I was scared when I thought about playing. The injured high school athlete suddenly had the time and opportunity to introspect.

I saw the improvisation and thought,I can do it,' he recalls.

And Gale, who grew up in Russellville, admits that a performing arts scholarship from the North Little Rock-based Sia Foundation helped her launch her career. It was very helpful to me, she says. Shes paying it back shes been here to meet with Foundation founder Paul Leopros, who is looking for Sia graduates for boosters and funding efforts.

Edelson agrees that priming is similar to another Alby play, Virginia Woolf Afraid, both structurally and in several other ways. In fact, Gring says the actors were also discussing their similarities.

For example, both plays involve two couples, one older and one younger, struggling to find the meaning of love between day and night. Edelson calls it a real world bet.

Priming agrees with everything, but uses less brutal irony than Albys classics. Reese says its definitely a comedy. War of ideas with words as swords.

And as the rehearsal progresses, production is developing a more physical comedy aspect, Edelson says. It will be a very vibrant universe to enjoy this play.

Comedy and physicality make lofty ideas visceral, fun, and frothy. If this were a cocktail, it would definitely be carbon dioxide.

what: World premiere of a romantic comedy by Jennifer Vanderbeth of the Arkansas Repertory Theater.

when: From Tuesday to Sunday from 7 pm to August 29.

where: Cibitan Pavilion, Little Rock Zoo, 1 Zoo Drive, Little Rock

tickets: $ 45

information: (501) 378-0405 | TheRep.org

World premiere of Priming at the Arkansas Repertory Theater at Little Rock Zoo

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World premiere of Priming at the Arkansas Repertory Theater at Little Rock Zoo - Illinoisnewstoday.com

I'd put Cuomo up against McConnell any day for ruthlessness.But McConnell is all about Republican power and survival. Cuomo makes it about himself.

NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigns after accusations of sexual harassment

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has resigned after multiple women accused the Democrat of sexual harassment.

USA TODAY

A few years ago, before Donald Trump emerged, I proposed a story with the working title, "Is New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo too mean to bepresident?" The thinking among some Democrats was hell, yes, and among others it was hell, no. There was a depressing sense of Republicans as tough as nailsand Democrats as soft touches. This was, after all, the Obama era, and the Democratic president seemed haplessin the face of GOP obstruction. Maybe Cuomo was the antidote.

An editor put the kibosh on that idea (darn editors!), but I thought about it for years as Trump demolished a 2016 primary field of conventional Republicans, some of whom tried but never succeeded in being as nasty as he was, and edged past Hillary Clinton, a conventional Democrat and a woman to boot, on Election Day.

Joe Biden's presidential win last year put a cap on the mean era. Cuomo's resignation is the coda, and an ignominiousend to his family's dominance in New York politics.

TheCuomo dynasty arguably peaked early,with New York Gov. Mario Cuomo's 1984 keynote speech to the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco. It's considered one of the best speeches in American political history an eloquent yet bitingcritique of what he called then-President Ronald Reagan's social Darwinism.

"In many ways we are a shining city on a hill," Cuomo said, quoting Reagan. "But the hard truth is that not everyone is sharing in this city's splendor and glory."

Cuomo was 52,in his first term, and a national future awaited him. It seemed certain he wouldrun for president.

But he never did. He mulled the 1988 and 1992 races for so long and in such public view,he earned the nickname "Hamlet on the Hudson." His plane never got off the ground, literally, as he dithered in Albany about whether to compete in the New Hampshire primary. He ended his career as a three-term governor who could have seized the moment, but did not.

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That was a whimper. His son is going out with loud headlines after the release of an attorney general report that found evidence he had sexually harassed 11 women, and many accounts of his crueltyin the workplace, especially toward women. He resigned before he could be impeached, and could face charges.

Cuomo was the empathetic, authoritative voice of the COVID-19 pandemic in daily TV briefings at a time when Trump was saying the virus was nothing to worry about, suggesting we trya malaria drug or an injection ofdisinfectant, and demanding less testing so he could boast of lower case counts.

Cuomo's mistakes sending pandemicpatients to nursing homes and trying to cover up the death tollhave been exposed over the past few months. Still, he kept on writinga lucrative book called "Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic."

Andrew Cuomo resigns:He personifies abuse of power at the expense of the vulnerable.

In another irony, Cuomo hadbeen hailedfor beinga supporter of the #MeToo movement. In 2018, he called for the resignation of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman,accused of violent nonconsensual sex with women ("No one is above the law, including New Yorks top legal officer, the governor said) and before that had directed Schneiderman to investigate how Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vancehandled 2015 sexual abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein.

The retribution Cuomo sought against women who complained about his harassment, the resignations among those who helped him, his counterproductivelong-running feud with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, his shutdown of an ethics commission he himself had created to investigate corruption all make clear he runs a ruthless operation.

I'd put him up against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell any day.But McConnell is all about Republicanpolitical power and survival and gains. Cuomo makes it all about himself.

He might have been better off jumping into a presidential race. Like his father, he was mentioned many times. He might have been the idealnominee to take on Trump in 2016.

Breathtaking hypocrisy:Trump sycophants have no standing to demand that Cuomo resign

But most of America has moved past that moment, and past the Cuomos. The only one still prominent in public life is Chris, the CNN anchor who is now professionally scarred for having advised his brother on how to survive a scandal he ended up not surviving.

The logical choice for saving the family political dynasty, if anyone wants it to live on, would beoneor more of Andrew Cuomo's three daughterswith former wife Kerry Kennedy (daughter of Robert).

Women. They get the job done.

Jill Lawrence is the commentary editor of USA TODAY and author of"The Art of the Political Deal:How Congress Beat the Odds and Broke Through Gridlock."Follow her on Twitter:@JillDLawrence

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Andrew Cuomo resignation is the coda on a mean era Joe Biden ended by beating Donald Trump - USA TODAY

J.D. Vance, author of the best-seller memoir (and subsequent film with Glenn Close) Hillbilly Elegy, is now running for a Senate seat in Ohio. While campaigning, he made news a week ago by saying we ought to consider a policy whereby people who have children cast not only their own votes, but they also cast the votes of their children until they are 18 years old. His point is this would be a way to give the people with the most stake in the future for our country the most say in shaping that future. Vance is running as a Republican and, by the way, he is a convert to Catholicism.

As you might have guessed over the years, I myself am not a Republican. All the same, some of the points Vance is making about what our country does and (mostly) doesnt do to foster healthy families, are valid and deserve to be front and center in 2022 and 2024. I think perhaps he goes a bit over the top with ad hominem argument when he complains that too many liberal Democrats in office dont have any kids and, for this reason, their views on policy are suspect, or worse. Im not sure the demographics of our politicians in office support that general observation. Nonetheless, in terms of the liberal Democrat intellectual establishment, there may well be merit to his concerns. Professors and authors are not likely these days to have a large number of children, or any children at all. There is indeed a potential blind spot there that can obscure the views of the liberal elite. They also tend to be nonreligious, as everyone knows.

In relation to all this, the University of London scholar Eric Kaufman has shown in his now famous book, Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth? Demography and Politics in the 21st Century (London, 2010), that all societies that lean toward secularism, agnosticism and atheism have fertility rates that are below replacement level and often times seriously below replacement level. This is true for all the countries of Europe and Russia (and China by force), as well as Australia, Canada and the United States. Replacement level is an average of 2.1 births per woman during reproductive lifespan, this measurement is the so-called Total Fertility Rate (TFR). Here in New England, Vermont is, by many standards, the least religious state in the U.S. and Vermont also has the lowest Total Fertility Rate of any state in the U.S., tied with Rhode Island, coming in at 1.5 births as of 2019 (as per the CDC report available online). Kaufmans book shows a clear connection between countries, states and subgroups religious practices (or lack thereof) and their fertility rates.

When I was still teaching college students, I was constantly surprised at how almost none of them realized the complications that arise when fertility rates fall below replacement level. Europe is living through these complications right now. The TFR for the European Union is 1.5 with Italy and Spain coming in at only 1.3 births. This means that Italys and Spains fertility rate is almost 50% below replacement level. Without significant immigration, they will not be able to hold their economies and social programs together through the coming decades. Having a decreasing population may sound great at first blush, but living through it is something else. Whole towns and regions become depressed and die; the market for goods and services shrinks each year; children in some towns are completely absent; old people outnumber the young. A world without a healthy next generation is a very sad place.

No doubt about it, having children is very hard work and very expensive. As any parent who has done the job well will tell you, it is the hardest job there is. It is even harder in a society such as the U.S., which is highly individualistic, has almost no programs to encourage and assist middle-class families, and is a country in which the extended family system is not especially functional.

People who live entirely by secular values, who are nonreligious, have a lower fertility rate than those who are religious almost no matter what religion. In the U.S., atheists and agnostics have a TFR of 1.6 and 1.3, while Catholics and Evangelicals have 2.3, with Mormons having the highest, 3.4 (see the Washington Post, May 12, 2015).

Also, as Kaufman explains in detail in his book, the world population as a whole is becoming more religious and the demographic directions are clear. Even simplistic, vulgar Darwinism establishes the point: Whoever reproduces best wins out in the end its not just survival of the fittest after all. Worldwide, Christians have a TFR of 2.6 and Muslims have 2.9 meaning Islam is the worlds fastest growing religion at the moment, but both are growing. These two religions are followed by over 50% the worlds people today and by 2050 over 60% of the world will follow these religions and 15% will follow Hinduism only a little over 10% will be unaffiliated (as per Pew Research Center figures).

Those who would like to see the worlds (and Americas) population fall dramatically and quickly, are going to be disappointed. Thankfully, in no small degree due to the influence of religions, the U.S. and the world rate of population growth will not fall off a cliff. World population will be decreasing slowly and steadily, coming to a permanent plateau at 10-11 billion worldwide population in 2100 (as per the United Nations mid-level estimate). This is within current estimates of our planets carrying capacity, and continued improvement in human ecology is extremely likely during the next 80 years.

Vance makes the point that, of course, its possible to keep the U.S. population stable through immigration, but he also makes the point that it would be less stressful culturally to achieve population stability the old-fashioned way, through keeping our TFR at 2.1 births. However, to do this, it might well not be enough to count on religious motivation alone, since the U.S. is also experiencing tendencies toward religious non-affiliation and secularism in general. He argues (and he almost sounds like a Democrat here) that we need to think about serious, outside-the-box improvements in our state and federal policies that foster, encourage and support peoples willingness to have children. And to do so in ways that encourage stable marriage and responsible parenthood.

Today, around 40% of births in America are to unmarried women. In the European Union, its over 50% and in France, over 60%. My point is not prudish disapproval. My point is much more serious: The point is that children are paying a price for the breakdown of the family. For example, the worldwide suicide rate for people 15-29 years old is 7.4 per 100,000, but in the U.S., it is 14 per 100,000, almost double the world average. This is tragic.

Religion can help with many things. Helping to foster a healthy birth rate and healthy families are two of those things. Helping to prevent suicide is another (see Medill News Service, Northwestern University, July 5, 2017). Those who are in a rush to rid the world of religion need to reconsider that stance and its repercussions.

A culture without God and children is a dying culture no matter how affluent and how progressive it may be.

John Nassivera is a former professor who retains affiliation with Columbia Universitys Society of Fellows in the Humanities. He lives in Vermont and part time in Mexico.

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On Faith: JD Vance, families and us | Perspective | rutlandherald.com - Rutland Herald