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Everyday Sadism: Throwing Light on the Dark Triad
The Dark Triad. It could well be a cast of villains in an epic tale of fantasy. All three of these dark powers are callous and exploitative, but each is also malignant in its own way. One is charming but remorseless. The second is known for its cynicism and deception. The third is grandiose and entitled, the ultimate egotist. You don’t want to cross this evil trio. But you may have no choice, since the Dark Triad is not a literary phantasm at all. This threatening title comes out of formal personality theory, and refers to three traits that, taken together, capture the worst of humanity.
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“Consult your physician immediately if . . .”
It’s difficult to turn on the TV today without seeing an advertisement for one drug or another. That’s not surprising, since drug makers spend billions of dollars each year to promote their treatments for depression, low testosterone, osteoporosis, incontinence, erectile dysfunction, and more. The ad spots are aimed not at physicians but at patients themselves. These ads are required to list the most serious side effects for the prescription drugs they promote, and some are indeed serious—nausea and bleeding and blindness and suicidal thoughts, even death. The warnings are so dire that they must scare some consumers away, yet drug marketers continue to flood the airways.
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The Two Faces of Attractiveness
Imagine that you’re an early human, trying to make your way in a perilous world. One very useful talent would be reading and reacting to the faces of other early humans—rapidly categorizing them into good and safe, on the one hand, or bad and threatening on the other. This skill would come in handy for everything from selecting mates to identifying friends and enemies. But how do we make these quick judgments? Well, the most obvious rule-of-thumb might be something like this: Is this face familiar or strange? Familiar faces are easy to process and categorize—as a brother or neighbor or member of the tribe.
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For Obesity, the Future Is Now
Obesity is largely a failure of self-control. I know it’s possible to quibble about calories and carbs and dietary fat, but fundamentally, obesity comes down to valuing fattening foods today, in this moment, more than we value a healthy future. We know, rationally, that we should forego the French fries and brownies for some greater payoff down the line, but the moment’s temptations make it hard to keep our eyes on that future reward. We do have the cognitive ability to project days or weeks or even years into the future, but we don’t do it when we’re making food choices in the here and now. What if we could trick ourselves into keeping our heads in the future?
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Calling a Bluff: Is It All In the Arms?
Annie Duke was on track for a promising career in psycholinguistics, when she abruptly abandoned the academic life for the high-stakes world of poker. That was two decades ago, and since then she has won a slew of honors, including the prestigious World Series of Poker “bracelet”—plus lots of cash. She is known among other poker players as the Duchess of Poker. In a recent Radiolab interview, Duke talked about how she weighs risk and certainty and doubt in deciding to hold or fold. It’s largely math, but not the straightforward odds of drawing to an inside straight. She computes odds and acceptable losses over long periods of time.
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Is the Music of the ’60s Really the Best Ever?
I had the good fortune to come of age during the richest musical epoch—well, ever. The Grateful Dead, the Beatles, Dylan, Janis Joplin, Zappa. I could go on and on. The ‘60s witnessed an unparalleled burst of musical creativity, ranging from the Cream to CCR to Hendrix and to Neil Young and Paul Simon and Joni Mitchell. There is simply no match—not before nor since—for this outpouring of enduring song. And what’s more, nobody really disputes this. Okay, okay. I wrote all those superlatives in part to provoke a reaction. There are people who dispute this claim, and indeed some are among my own friends and family.
