By Darold A. Treffert and Daniel D. Christensen Kim Peek possesses one of the most extraordinary memories ever recorded. Until we can explain his abilities, we cannot pretend to understand human cognition "When J. Langdon Down first described savant syndrome in 1887, coining its name and noting...

Jamais Cascio writes for The Atlantic on evolving human intelligence. "Pandemics. Global warming. Food shortages. No more fossil fuels. What are humans to do? The same thing the species has done before: evolve to meet the challenge. But this time we don’t have to rely on natural evolution to make...

By Sherry L. Beaumont Erikson’s (1968) supposition about the importance of mature identity for wisdom was examined by testing the hypothesis that informational identity processing is uniquely associated with wisdom and with related positive subjective experiences (mindfulness and savoring). Emerging...

By Ursula M. Staudinger and Judith Glück Abstract: Wisdom represents a fruitful topic for psychological investigations for at least two reasons. First, the study of wisdom emphasizes the search for the continued optimization and the further cultural evolution of the human condition. Second, it exemplifies...

By Anna Grandori A conspicuous ‘hole’ lies between the ‘rational-choice’ paradigm and the ‘behavioral decision-making’ paradigm. The ‘missing model’ is ‘heuristic’ (research-based) yet ‘rational’ (non-biasing): a set of methods for the logically sound discovery and design of economic actions, options...

By Sabine Niederer and José van Dijck Wikipedia is often considered as an example of 'collaborative knowledge'. Researchers have contested the value of Wikipedia content on various accounts. Some have disputed the ability of anonymous amateurs to produce quality information, while others have...

By D. Larriviere and M. A. Williams Abstract: Neuroenhancement (NE) refers to the use of prescription medications by healthy persons to boost their cognitive skills. This growing phenomenon represents a potential market not only for pharmaceutical manufacturers but also for physicians who might enter...

Moral Judgments Recruit Domain-General Valuation Mechanisms to Integrate Representations of Probability and Magnitude By Amitai Shenhav and Joshua D. Greene "Many important moral decisions, particularly at the policy level, require the evaluation of choices involving outcomes of variable magnitude...

By Timothy A. Judge, Remus Iliesb and Nikolaos Dimotakisb Abstract: This study tested a structural model explaining the effects of general mental ability on economic, physical, and subjective well-being. A model was proposed that linked general mental ability to well-being using education, unhealthy...

BY ANDREA SCARANTINO AND GUALTIERO PICCININI "According to the Veridicality Thesis, information requires truth. On this view, smoke carries information about there being a fire only if there is a fire, the proposition that the earth has two moons carries information about the earth having two moons...

by Igor Grossmann, Jinkyung Na, Michael E. W. Varnum, Denise C. Park, Shinobu Kitayama, and Richard E. Nisbett It is well documented that aging is associated with cognitive declines in many domains. Yet it is a common lay belief that some aspects of thinking improve into old age. Speci fi cally, older...

Elizabeth Tricomi, Antonio Rangel, Colin F. Camerer, John P. O’Doherty A popular hypothesis in the social sciences is that humans have social preferences to reduce inequality in outcome distributions because it has a negative impact on their experienced reward. Although there is a large body of behavioural...

Is wisdom a characteristic of a person or is it a skill that anyone could acquire? The idea of the wise person like Socrates or King Solomon has figured prominently in many cultures and suggests wisdom may be viewed as an individual trait. Even when wisdom is viewed as learnable, people often think that...