Round-up: Why is the North of England poor?
The most interesting articles that came to our attention this week
Negativity Bias in Person Perception: Exploring the Reverse Side of the ‘What is Beautiful is Good’ Stereotype in Women. Tobias Kordsmeyer and colleagues test for negative halo effects in two samples, comprising photos of German and Brazilian women, respectively. They document strong such effects, whereby women deemed more attractive were rated as significantly less socially and intellectually competent.
The genetics of specific cognitive abilities. Francesca Procopio and colleagues carry out a meta-analysis of the heritability of specific cognitive abilities (reasoning, knowledge, processing speed etc.). Across estimates from 77 studies, they find that specific cognitive abilities are about 50% heritable (similar to g). Interestingly, they find that the variance in specific cognitive abilities that is independent of g has about the same heritability.