Why belief in free will is important: its pro-social and moral implications

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1. Why powerful people -- many of whom take a moral high ground -- don't practice what they preach
   The past year has been marked by a series of moral transgressions by powerful figures in political, business and celebrity circles. New research explores why powerful people -- many of whom take a moral high ground -- don't practice what they preach.
2. Why women are more religious. Part 2: It's not about risk at all
   I've been spending some time rooting around in the research that's been done on religious differences between men and women. The previous post ruled out the idea that women are simply less willing to take risks about getting to heaven. The evidence is pretty convincing on that score.But that doesn't rule out the possibility that it's something to do with risk. Religious people are more risk avers
3. Why women are more religious. Part 1: It ain't Pascal's Wager
   Here's a new analysis of the 2007 Pew Survey on the USA Religious landscape, confirming some very old news: women are more religious than men on virtually every measure. And here's a write up of it that's rather more surprising:Rodney Stark, a professor of sociology and comparative religion at the University of Washington, flips the question around: Why are men less religious? "Studies of bioch
4. Are these the most important discoveries in the history of psychology?
   From The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker:"The three laws of behavioural genetics may be the most important discoveries in the history of psychology. Yet most psychologists have not come to grips with them... It is not because the laws are abstruse: each can be stated in a sentence, without mathematical paraphernalia. Rather, it is because the laws run roughshod over the Blank Slate [the idea that ev
5. Why be good? Imitation and migration might explain it
   Just before Christmas, the American Humanist Association ran bus ads with the slogan 'Just be good for goodness sake'.Yeah right.From an evolutionary standpoint, pure selfless altruism - doing something that costs you but only benefits someone else - doesn't make sense. Altruism is usually explained by kinship, or because it enhances reputation, or because it avoids punishment. People are good be