Concealment -- Part of eloquence is to hide eloquence -- The concealed ornament -- Art or nature? -- In the garden -- Iki -- Those who cannot dissimulate cannot rule either -- True eloquence mocks eloquence -- Ready-mades.

The current study presents an integrative model examining the double-edged sword effect of unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) from the perspective of the actors. Drawing on the moral self-regulation perspective and psychological entitlement literature, we propose that employees who engage in UPB may experience an increase in moral deficits and psychological entitlement, resulting in increased organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and decreased work effort, respectively. We further propose that moral attentiveness strengthens the positive relationship between UPB and moral deficits but weakens (...) the positive relationship between UPB and psychological entitlement. Moreover, the strength of the indirect effects of employee UPB on OCB and work effort is also contingent upon employees’ moral attentiveness. The hypothesized moderated mediation model is supported by a multisource and time-lagged research design based on a sample of 256 supervisor–subordinate dyads. Key theoretical and practical implications and future research directions are discussed. (shrink)

Can the perception that one’s partner is investing effort generate a sense of commitment to a joint action? To test this, we developed a 2-player version of the classic snake game which became increasingly boring over the course of each round. This enabled us to operationalize commitment in terms of how long participants persisted before pressing a ‘finish’ button to conclude each round. Our results from three experiments reveal that participants persisted longer when they perceived what they believed to (...) be cues of their partner’s effortful contribution. Crucially, this effect was not observed when they knew their partner to be an algorithm, nor when it was their own effort that had been invested. These results support the hypothesis that the perception of a partner’s effort elicits a sense of commitment, leading to increased persistence in the face of a temptation to disengage. (shrink)

This study investigates the market reaction to corporate press releases announcing donations to the relief effort following the December, 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia. Based on a sample of 79 U.S. companies, results indicate a statistically significant positive 5-day cumulative abnormal return. While differences in the timing of the press releases do not appear to have influenced market reactions, the amount of the donations did. Overall, the results appear to support Godfrey’s (Academy of Management Review 30, 777–798; 2005) assertion (...) that philanthropic giving must be perceived as being a genuine manifestation of the firm’s underlying social responsiveness in order to increase firm value. (shrink)

According to the effort principle, those who expend much effort deserve to earn more than those who expend little. While accepted by some philosophers and popular outside academic philosophy, the effort principle, that rewards the industrious ants rather than the idle grasshoppers, has been criticized for being unfair and impractical. This paper develops a novel argument against this principle. It targets the claim, implied by advocates of the effort principle, that it can be derived from a (...) more fundamental desert principle, one that identifies moral responsibility, economic contribution, or compensation as the fundamental desert bases for income. We argue that the effort principle cannot be derived from any such principle. Thus, even if one endorses these principles, one need not accept the effort principle. Furthermore, we show how intuitions that seem to support the effort principle can be vindicated without it. We conclude by endorsing skepticism about the effort principle and by gesturing at an alternative possible role that the notion of effort can play in a theory of distributive justice. (shrink)

How do cognitive pressures shape the lexicons of natural languages? Here, we reframe George Kingsley Zipf's proposed “law of abbreviation” within a more general framework that relates it to cognitive pressures that affect speakers and listeners. In this new framework, speakers' drive to reduce effort (Zipf's proposal) is counteracted by the need for low‐frequency words to have word forms that are sufficiently distinctive to allow for accurate recognition by listeners. To support this framework, we replicate and extend recent work (...) using the prevalence of subword phonemic sequences (phonotactic probability) to measure speakers' production effort in place of Zipf's measure of length. Across languages and corpora, phonotactic probability is more strongly correlated with word frequency than word length. We also show this measure of ease of speech production (phonotactic probability) is strongly correlated with a measure of perceptual difficulty that indexes the degree of competition from alternative interpretations in word recognition. This is consistent with the claim that there must be trade‐offs between these two factors, and is inconsistent with a recent proposal that phonotactic probability facilitates both perception and production. To our knowledge, this is the first work to offer an explanation why long, phonotactically improbable word forms remain in the lexicons of natural languages. (shrink)

Previous research has shown that the perception that one’s partner is investing effort in a joint action can generate a sense of commitment, leading participants to persist longer despite increasing boredom. The current research extends this finding to human-robot interaction. We implemented a 2-player version of the classic snake game which became increasingly boring over the course of each round, and operationalized commitment in terms of how long participants persisted before pressing a ‘finish’ button to conclude each round. Participants (...) were informed that they would be linked via internet with their partner, a humanoid robot. Our results reveal that participants persisted longer when they perceived what they believed to be cues of their robot partner’s effortful contribution to the joint action. This provides evidence that the perception of a robot partner’s effort can elicit a sense of commitment to human-robot interaction. (shrink)

This article presents two studies that examine cause-related marketing (CRM) promotions that require consumers’ active participation. Requiring a follow-up behavior has very valuable implications for maximizing marketing expenditures and customer relationship management. Theories related to ethical behavior, like motivated reasoning and defensive denial, are used to explain when and why consumers respond negatively to these effort demands. The first study finds that consumers rationalize not participating in CRM by devaluing the sponsored cause. The second study identifies a tactic marketers (...) can utilize to neutralize consumers’ use of defensive denial. Allowing the consumer to choose the sponsored cause seems to effectively refocus their attention and increases consumers’ threshold for campaign requirements. Implications for nonprofits and marketing managers include a tendency for consumers to be more likely to perceive a firm as ethical and socially responsible when they are allowed to choose the specific cause that is supported. (shrink)

This paper will address scientific collaboration at the Zoophysiological Laboratory during the 1911–1945 directorship of Nobel Prize winner August Krogh. Using authorship information and acknowledgments from the laboratory’s publications, this paper maps the many researchers involved in the work. In total, 193 different people contributed to the work at the Zoophysiological Laboratory. The paper further analyzes what labor, materials, ideas, and knowledge were exchanged between the individuals in the laboratory. While science has become more collaborative throughout the twentieth century, this (...) paper underlines that collaboration was very much part of the research process in the early twentieth century. (shrink)

The economic potential of AI systems lies in augmenting human labour, creating hybrid intelligence where humans and AI complement each other. Central to this relationship is the integration of human mental effort, involving cognitive engagement and decision-making, contributing to interaction between humans and AI. If AI systems supplement instead of substitute individuals, the inquiry arises about how AI affect the quality of human work, particularly in terms of mental effort and engagement. A suitable concept to capture this impact (...) is meaningful work, perceived as valuable and significant to individual’s ideals or standards. Meaningfulness of work is critical in hybrid intelligence systems, addressing qualitative dimensions of human labour that AI cannot easily replicate. This paper presents an experimental study examining how AI system use affects perceived work meaningfulness, with mental effort as a key mediating variable. We conducted an experimental study with a writing task, for which we randomly assigned respondents to a group that used or did not use an AI-based text generator. After completing the task, 677 respondents evaluated the meaningfulness of the task and their contribution to the assignment. The findings reveal that while the deployment of AI systems showed no direct effect on task meaningfulness, mental effort emerges as a critical mediating variable in the relationship between AI support and perceived meaningfulness. This mediation effect represents the study’s primary contribution, demonstrating that the impact of AI on work meaningfulness operates indirectly through changes in cognitive engagement rather than through direct effects. (shrink)

Philosophical Investigations, EarlyView.

Socioeconomic gradients in health behavior are pervasive and well documented. Yet, there is little consensus on their causes. Behavioral ecological theory predicts that, if people of lower socioeconomic position (SEP) perceive greater personal extrinsic mortality risk than those of higher SEP, they should disinvest in their future health. We surveyed North American adults for reported effort in looking after health, perceived extrinsic and intrinsic mortality risks, and measures of SEP. We examined the relationships between these variables and found that (...) lower subjective SEP predicted lower reported health effort. Lower subjective SEP was also associated with higher perceived extrinsic mortality risk, which in turn predicted lower reported health effort. The effect of subjective SEP on reported health effort was completely mediated by perceived extrinsic mortality risk. Our findings indicate that perceived extrinsic mortality risk may be a key factor underlying SEP gradients in motivation to invest in future health. (shrink)

The philosophical consciousness, aiming to attain universal knowledge, not only contemplates the meaning and value of the laws prevalent in nature but also dedicates time to the realm of historical and cultural existence shaped by specific events. Many philosophers have been primarily concerned with exploring the laws governing the field of cultural and social existence, where humans humanize themselves as social beings. Ibn Khaldun, a distinguished thinker, has made significant contributions to the field of humanities, particularly in the philosophy and (...) science of history, approaching it with a perspective closely aligned with modern scientific understanding. Ibn Khaldun proposed original ideas on the methodologies of historical and social sciences, suggesting that laws similar to those in natural sciences can be discovered in history and social sciences. He delves into the merits of historiography, appreciates its various methods, and highlights historians' errors. Moreover, Ibn Khaldun, who presents an original metaphysics of history, initially endeavors to establish the fundamental principles that transform history into a scientific discipline encompassing social and political events. As one of the few thinkers to approach the realm of historical existence with philosophical interest, Ibn Khaldun adopts a rational and critical approach. Within this framework, he introduces a social and historical theory, referred to as "umran," to elucidate events within the domain of social and political existence. This article aims to shed light on Ibn Khaldun's unique perspective on the realm of historical and social existence and contribute to the ongoing discussions concerning this field. (shrink)

The bifocal stance theory (BST) of cultural evolution has prompted a wide-ranging discussion with broadly three aims: to apply the theory to novel contexts; to extend the conceptual framework; to offer critical feedback on various aspects of the theory. We first discuss BST's relevance to the diverse range of topics which emerged from the commentaries, followed by a consideration of how our framework can be supplemented by and compared to other theories. Lastly, the criticisms that were raised by a subset (...) of commentaries allow us to clarify parts of our theory. (shrink)

Self-control is generally regarded as a valuable capacity. However, the value of _directly resisting temptations_ (a central part of our commonsense notion of self-control) has recently come under attack. Directly resisting temptations – as opposed to avoiding them – has been claimed to have several drawbacks, such as being an inefficient way of dealing with temptations, not contributing to an agent’s well-being, or even causing harmful “mental fragmentation.” In fact, some claim that most or all of the values of self-control (...) can be achieved, not by struggling to directly resist temptations, but rather by steering clear of them. In this paper, we seek to push back against this trend. We argue that there are specific values attached to directly resisting temptations that cannot be secured by avoiding them. Drawing on recent psychological evidence, we suggest that a significant part of the value of ‘direct resistance’ is grounded in the fact that it involves _the exertion of effort_. Due to this feature, we contend, directly resisting temptations can both make our activities feel more meaningful and provide us with a valuable form of self-knowledge. (shrink)

Discusses nuances required to balance out the debate surrounding the moral and legal permissibility of using autonomous weapon systems in war fighting.

This was one of SCSS President Stephen M. Krason’s “Neither Left nor Right, but Catholic” columns in The Wanderer in 2021. In it, he explains the need to in an organized manner oppose the left and how, in a general way, it needs to be done. This article is reprinted with permission.

Prior to August Weismann’s 1889 germ-plasm theory, social reformers believed that humans could inherit the effects of a salubrious environment and, by passing environmentally-induced modifications to their offspring, achieve continuous progress. Weismann’s theory disrupted this logic and caused many to fear that they had little control over human development. As numerous historians have observed, this contributed to the birth of the eugenics movement. However, through an examination of the work of social scientists Lester Frank Ward, Richard T. Ely, Amos Griswold (...) Warner, James Mark Baldwin, Simon Nelson Patten, Alfred Kroeber, Walter Robinson Smith, and Luther Lee Bernard, I demonstrate that Weismann’s ideas also prompted scholars to create of theories of human progress in which the social environment had a central role and biological heredity had a diminished one. Furthermore, in creating a new theory of social progress based on a concept called “social heredity,” the thinkers surveyed in this article separated biological and social thought and asserted the independence of the American social sciences. I argue that this represents an important moment in the maturation of the human sciences, and I suggest that the germ-plasm theory of heredity deserves a larger place in histories of the development of the American social scientific disciplines. (shrink)

It is not yet clear which response behavior requires self-regulatory effort in the moral dilemma task. Previous research has proposed that utilitarian responses require cognitive control, but subsequent studies have found inconsistencies with the empirical predictions of that hypothesis. In this paper we treat participants’ sensitivity to utilitarian gradients as a measure of performance. We confronted participants (N = 82) with a set of five dilemmas evoking a gradient of mean utilitarian responses in a 4-point scale and collected data (...) on heart rate variability and on utilitarian responses. We found positive correlations between tonic and phasic HRV and sensitivity to the utilitarian gradient in the high tonic group, but not in the low tonic group. Moreover, the low tonic group misplaced a scenario with a selfish incentive at the high end of the gradient. Results suggest that performance is represented by sensitivity correlated with HRV and accompanied with a reasonable placement of individual scenarios within the gradient. (shrink)

It is generally thought that the better you are at performing a skill, the easier it is for you to perform it. Indeed, effortlessness is often seen as a defining characteristic of expertise. We question the idea that skill improvement invariably coincides with a reduction in the effort it takes to perform it. In place of the idea of effortless expertise, we argue for the view that one key characteristic of athletes, performing artists, and other highly skilled individuals who (...) defy the power law of practice, which states that improvement in skill, while increasing rapidly at first, eventually plateaus, is the ability to maintain a high level of effort in both practice and performance. To support our view, we present a model of attention and conscious motor control in action that helps explain both why automaticity can lead to an improvement plateau and how exerting effort can sometimes enable one to defy the power law of practice. (shrink)

The enhancement of athletic performance using procedures that increase physical ability, such as anabolic steroids, is a familiar phenomenon. Yet recent years have also witnessed the rise of direct interventions into the brain, referred to as “neuro-doping”, that promise to also enhance sports performance. This paper discusses one potential objection to neuro-doping, based on the contribution to athletic achievement, particularly within endurance sports, of effortfully overcoming inner challenges. After introducing the practice of neuro-doping, and the controversies surrounding it, I describe (...) two major mechanisms some have proposed to explain how it might produce its putative performance-enhancing effects. I then clarify the notion of effort, and its relationship to neuro-doping. I also briefly address common concerns about access and safety. My central argument invokes considerations of effort to maintain that we have at least a significant reason for prohibiting the use of neuro-doping in officially regulated endurance competitions – though only conditional upon a specific set of empirical assumptions. I consider three possible objections: that neuro-doping is no different from widely accepted enhancement methods, that it can make athletic competition fairer, and that a broader range of factors can compensate for a reduced scope for effort than I recognize. I ultimately conclude that these objections do not refute the argument from effort, while stressing nonetheless that this argument applies more clearly to hypothetical improved forms of neuro-doping than to existing ones, and is not meant to offer a final overall verdict on how neuro-doping should be regulated. (shrink)

Given its importance for understanding intentional agency, it is surprising, and somewhat concerning, that there is no general and satisfactory theory of the feeling of effort. To be satisfactory the theory must answer the question posed by Bermúdez in his recent paper: ‘What is the feeling of effort about?’ (2023). To be general, it must capture, in a unified framework, all subspecies of effort. In this paper I develop a unified representational theory of the feeling of (...) class='Hi'>effort, starting with the idea that the feeling of effort is the feeling of trying-against-resistance. I show that for all three sub-species of effort - effort of will, cognitive effort and muscular effort - the proximate force that is both necessary and sufficient for a trying to feel effortful is of a single, conative, kind. Thus, feelings of effort reveal the existence of both pro- and con- motives, and of conflict between the two. An effortful action is an action because it is motivated, but it is effortful because it is conatively controversial. (shrink)