I think that if you were to probe a lot of people's religious opinions, they would not be as religious as the numbers would suggest.
Though as a psychologist I like to think that nothing human is foreign to me, I admit to having been repeatedly flabbergasted by the insouciance, and sometimes relish, with which our ancestors carried out and witnessed unspeakable cruelties.
The rules of friendship are tacit, unconscious; they are not rational. In business, though, you have to think rationally.
All of the violence that doesn't occur doesn't get reported on the news.
There has to be innate circuitry that does the learning, that creates the culture, that acquires the culture, and that responds to socialization.
Art works because it appeals to certain faculties of the mind. Music depends on details of the auditory system, painting and sculpture on the visual system. Poetry and literature depend on language.
Most wars are not fought over shortages of resources such as food and water, but rather over conquest, revenge, and ideology.
Personality and socialization aren't the same thing.
The stirrings of morality emerge early in childhood. Toddlers spontaneously offer toys and help to others and try to comfort people they see in distress.
Photography is a demanding action sport. The light can change so quickly. I often find myself sprinting so that I can catch the perfect light falling on a photogenic subject.
I teach classes 28 weeks of the year, but the rest of the time I do research and write books. While I'm writing a book, which I probably do two out of every three years, it's like having a second job. I squeeze in the hours when I can.
I think that a failure of statistical thinking is the major intellectual shortcoming of our universities, journalism and intellectual culture.
People know there is a difference between what you do and what you accept. There is a difference between me knowing that people swear, me hearing people swear and me swearing, and everyone accepting that this is something you can do as much as you like.
But in most cases even the possibility that the correlations reflect shared genes is taboo.
Parents provide their children with genes as well as an environment, so the fact that talkative parents have kids with good language skills could simply mean that and that the same genes that make parents talkative make children articulate.
I don't think aggression works like thirst or sleep. I think aggression is more elicited by particular situations. I think it can be mitigated.
Being smarter gives you a tailwind throughout life. People who are more intelligent earn more, live longer, get divorced less, are less likely to get addicted to alcohol and tobacco, and their children live longer.
Anything that makes it easier to imagine trading places with someone else increases your moral consideration for that other person.
The brain is not a bag of traits. It's startlingly complex. There are few or no single genes with a consistent effect on the mind.
The more you think about and interact with other people, the more you realize that it is untenable to privilege your interests over theirs.
