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political psychology (12)
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study critique (270)
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psychology (72)
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12 posts
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The Types Of Candidate You Find In The California Gubernatorial Race

Scott categorizes California's 60 gubernatorial candidates into humorous types rather than covering them individually, from generic top-tier politicians to increasingly bizarre fringe candidates with conspiracy theories, supernatural visions, and incomprehensible platforms.

acx
May 19, 2026 7,172 words 418 likes 337 comments Listen · 48 min Read Read Opened Opened

Against The Concept Of Telescopic Altruism

Scott argues against the concept of "telescopic altruism" - the claim that liberals care more about distant strangers than nearby people - showing that people who care about faraway causes also care about nearby ones, and that compassion is generally correlated across all distances rather than inversely related.

acx
Mar 31, 2026 1,562 words 463 likes 610 comments Listen · 11 min Read Read Opened Opened

In Search Of /r/petfree

Scott explores the psychology of people who hate pets by comparing their behavior with misophonia, suggesting that everyday annoyances can develop into all-consuming hatreds through rumination and intellectualization.

acx
May 14, 2025 1,323 words 345 likes 686 comments Listen · 9 min Read Read Opened Opened

Why I Am Not A Conflict Theorist

Scott examines and rejects conflict theory (the idea that political disagreements come from material self-interest), arguing instead that political positions are primarily driven by psychological needs and identity rather than material interests.

acx
Feb 26, 2025 4,535 words 486 likes 887 comments Listen · 27 min Read Read Opened Opened

ACX Endorses Harris, Oliver, Or Stein

Scott Alexander endorses Harris, Oliver, or Stein for the 2024 US presidential election, arguing against Trump's authoritarianism while acknowledging and countering arguments that Democrats may be more subtly authoritarian.

acx
Oct 30, 2024 4,045 words 559 likes 1,659 comments Listen · 25 min Read Read Opened Opened

Your Book Review: The Righteous Mind

The review critiques Haidt's 'The Righteous Mind', praising its contributions while highlighting flaws in its moral foundations theory and political predictions.

acx
Jul 15, 2022 12,330 words 127 likes 299 comments Listen · 75 min Read Read Opened Opened

Motivated Reasoning As Mis-applied Reinforcement Learning

Scott analyzes motivated reasoning as misapplied reinforcement learning, explaining how it might arise from the brain's mixture of reinforceable and non-reinforceable architectures.

acx
Feb 1, 2022 729 words 133 likes 333 comments Listen · 7 min Read Read Opened Opened

Value Differences As Differently Crystallized Metaphysical Heuristics

Scott proposes that value differences arise from people crystallizing heuristics at different levels, rather than from fundamental, incomprehensible differences in values.

ssc
Jul 24, 2018 5,789 words 0 likes 379 comments Listen · 44 min Read Read Opened Opened

SSC Survey Data On Models Of Political Conflict

Scott Alexander analyzes SSC survey data to explore the conflict vs. mistake theory distinction in political disagreements, finding that Marxists and the alt-right tend more towards conflict theory than other groups.

ssc
Jan 26, 2018 1,282 words 0 likes 238 comments Listen · 12 min Read Read Opened Opened

List Of The Passages I Highlighted In My Copy Of Jonathan Haidt’s “The Righteous Mind”

Scott Alexander shares and briefly comments on various insightful quotes from Jonathan Haidt's 'The Righteous Mind', covering topics like psychology, politics, and religion.

ssc
Jun 12, 2014 1,609 words 0 likes 166 comments Read Read Opened Opened

Links for March

A collection of interesting links covering various topics from government plots and scientific studies to religious news and technological developments.

ssc
Mar 18, 2013 997 words 0 likes 30 comments Listen · 21 min Read Read Opened Opened

Typical Mind and Politics

Scott explores how innate neurological differences in emotional responses might drive political disagreements, suggesting that people form intuitive reactions first and rationalize them later, making political debate extremely difficult.

lw
Jun 12, 2009 1,864 words 63 likes 133 comments Read Read Opened Opened
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