Hacker News with Generative AI: Social Science

Revisting the Stanford Prison Experiment 50 years later (arstechnica.com)
In 1971, Stanford University psychologist Philip Zimbardo conducted a notorious experiment in which he randomly divided college students into two groups, guards and prisoners, and set them loose in a simulated prison environment for six days, documenting the guards' descent into brutality.

Psychology, Social Science, Experiments, Ethics

7 points by pseudolus 8 days ago | 0 comments

Bribery is largely subject to circumstance: study (elpais.com)
A year-long experiment was conducted at the self-service checkouts of a supermarket chain in Modena and Ferrara in Italy to test whether there was any link between corruption scandals and how honest consumers were with their shopping.

Ethics, Social Science, Italy, Consumer Behavior, Experiments

74 points by cainxinth 9 days ago | 138 comments

The Median Researcher Problem (lesswrong.com)
Claim: memeticity in a scientific field is mostly determined, not by the most competent researchers in the field, but instead by roughly-median researchers. We’ll call this the “median researcher problem”.

Science, Research, Social Science, Psychology, Academia

30 points by surprisetalk 12 days ago | 20 comments

The Obvious-Once-You-Think-About-It Reason Why Education Cuts Fertility (betonit.ai)
As education goes up, fertility goes down. This rule works within countries: High-education individuals have fewer kids than low-education individuals. This rule works across countries: High-education nations have fewer kids than low-education nations.

Education, Fertility, Demographics, Social Science

13 points by jger15 24 days ago | 20 comments

The Rise and Fall of IQ: The Cognitive Divide (onepercentrule.substack.com)
For most of the 20th century, IQ scores steadily climbed, a phenomenon so consistent it was named the “Flynn effect” after the psychologist James Flynn, who first documented it.

Intelligence, Psychology, Social Science

27 points by drcwpl 28 days ago | 63 comments

Philip Zimbardo, psychologist behind the 'Stanford Prison Experiment' dies at 91 (news.stanford.edu)
Philip G. Zimbardo, one of the world’s most renowned psychologists, died Oct. 14 in his home in San Francisco. He was 91.

Psychology, Stanford University, Obituary, Social Science

29 points by Jerry2 31 days ago | 16 comments

'Stanford Prison Experiment' Psychologist Zimbardo Dies at 91 – AP News (apnews.com)
Stanford psychologist behind the controversial “Stanford Prison Experiment” dies at 91

Psychology, Social Science, Stanford University, Research Ethics, News

10 points by Anon84 33 days ago | 1 comments

The illusion of moral decline (2023) (nature.com)
Anecdotal evidence indicates that people believe that morality is declining1,2.

Morality, Social Science, Psychology, Sociology

14 points by therabbithole 40 days ago | 10 comments

"Switzerland is as deeply polarized as the USA" (news.uzh.ch)
In many democracies, those on the left and right of the political divide are drifting further apart. Political discourse is increasingly spiteful and hostile. Silja Häusermann and Simon Bornschier from the Department of Political Science at UZH explain why this is the case and whether it poses a threat to democracy.

Politics, Polarization, Democracy, Social Science

15 points by sharpshadow 51 days ago | 16 comments

The Atlantic: Studies Show Short People Are Dumb, Poor, Criminals (theatlantic.com)
There are plenty of studies that claim it pays to be tall. A 2004 report found that each inch of height amounts to a salary increase of about $789 per year (controlling for gender, weight and age). Another concluded that taller people are flat out smarter. Indeed, no American president has been below average height since 1888.

Height, Social Science, Salary, Intelligence

5 points by popcalc 53 days ago | 0 comments

What the World Is Like: Who Knows It – and Why (1983) (chomsky.info)
You’ve written about the way that professional ideologists and the mandarins obfuscate reality. And you have spoken — in some places you call it a “Cartesian common sense” — of the commonsense capacities of people. Indeed, you place a significant emphasis on this common sense when you reveal the ideological aspects of arguments, especially in contemporary social science. What do you mean by common sense? What does it mean in a society like ours?

Philosophy, Ideology, Social Science, Common Sense, Noam Chomsky

8 points by yamrzou 54 days ago | 0 comments

Can Generative Multi-Agents Spontaneously Form a Society? (arxiv.org)
Generative agents have demonstrated impressive capabilities in specific tasks, but most of these frameworks focus on independent tasks and lack attention to social interactions.

Generative AI, Artificial Intelligence, Social Science, Research

48 points by geuds 65 days ago | 5 comments

New Data Shows Women Are More Negatively Stereotyped at Work Than Men (forbes.com)

Gender Bias, Workplace, Stereotypes, Social Science, Research

4 points by mooreds 79 days ago | 0 comments

Andrew Gelman: Is marriage associated with happiness for men or for women? (stat.columbia.edu)

Marriage, Happiness, Gender, Social Science, Statistics

52 points by paulpauper 80 days ago | 40 comments

Is marriage associated with happiness for men or for women? Or both? Or neither? (stat.columbia.edu)

Marriage, Gender, Happiness, Research, Social Science

8 points by goldfishgold 85 days ago | 5 comments

Changes in Need for Uniqueness From 2000 Until 2020 (online.ucpress.edu)