Self-esteem has become a household word. Teachers, parents, therapists, and others have focused efforts on boosting self-esteem, on the assumption that high self-esteem will cause many positive outcomes and benefits-an assumption that is critically evaluated in this review. Appraisal of the effects of self-esteem is complicated by several factors. Because many people with high self-esteem exaggerate their successes and good traits, we emphasize objective measures of outcomes. High self-esteem is also a heterogeneous category, encompassing people who frankly accept their good qualities along with narcissistic, defensive, and conceited individuals. The modest correlations between self-esteem and school performance do not indicate that high self-esteem leads to good performance. Instead, high self-esteem is partly the result of good school performance. Efforts to boost the self-esteem of pupils have not been shown to improve academic performance and may sometimes be counterproductive. Job performance in adults is sometimes related to self-esteem, although the correlations vary widely, and the direction of causality has not been established. Occupational success may boost self-esteem rather than the reverse. Alternatively, self-esteem may be helpful only in some job contexts. Laboratory studies have generally failed to find that self-esteem causes good task performance, with the important exception that high self-esteem facilitates persistence after failure. People high in self-esteem claim to be more likable and attractive, to have better relationships, and to make better impressions on others than people with low self-esteem, but objective measures disconfirm most of these beliefs. Narcissists are charming at first but tend to alienate others eventually. Self-esteem has not been shown to predict the quality or duration of relationships. High self-esteem makes people more willing to speak up in groups and to criticize the group's approach. Leadership does not stem directly from self-esteem, but self-esteem may have indirect effects. Relative to people with low self-esteem, those with high self-esteem show stronger in-group favoritism, which may increase prejudice and discrimination. Neither high nor low self-esteem is a direct cause of violence. Narcissism leads to increased aggression in retaliation for wounded pride. Low self-esteem may contribute to externalizing behavior and delinquency, although some studies have found that there are no effects or that the effect of self-esteem vanishes when other variables are controlled. The highest and lowest rates of cheating and bullying are found in different subcategories of high self-esteem. Self-esteem has a strong relation to happiness. Although the research has not clearly established causation, we are persuaded that high self-esteem does lead to greater happiness. Low self-esteem is more likely than high to lead to depression under some circumstances. Some studies support the buffer hypothesis, which is that high self-esteem mitigates the effects of stress, but other studies come to the opposite conclusion, indicating that the negative effects of low self-esteem are mainly felt in good times. Still others find that high self-esteem leads to happier outcomes regardless of stress or other circumstances. High self-esteem does not prevent children from smoking, drinking, taking drugs, or engaging in early sex. If anything, high self-esteem fosters experimentation, which may increase early sexual activity or drinking, but in general effects of self-esteem are negligible. One important exception is that high self-esteem reduces the chances of bulimia in females. Overall, the benefits of high self-esteem fall into two categories: enhanced initiative and pleasant feelings. We have not found evidence that boosting self-esteem (by therapeutic interventions or school programs) causes benefits. Our findings do not support continued widespread efforts to boost self-esteem in the hope that it will by itself foster improved outcomes. In view of the heterogeneity of high self-esteem, indiscriminate praise might just as easily promote narcissism, with its less desirable consequences. Instead, we recommend using praise to boost self-esteem as a reward for socially desirable behavior and self-improvement.

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Does High Self-Esteem Cause Better Performance, Interpersonal Success, Happiness, or Healthier Lifestyles?

One dimensional man

This is a review of Collected Works of John Tate. Parts I, II, edited by Barry Mazur and Jean-Pierre Serre. American Mathematical Society, Providence, Rhode Island, 2016. For several decades it has been clear to the friends and colleagues of John Tate that a “Collected Works” was merited. The award of the Abel Prize to Tate in 2010 added impetus, and finally, in Tate’s ninety-second year we have these two magnificent volumes, edited by Barry Mazur and Jean-Pierre Serre. Beyond Tate’s published articles, they include five unpublished articles and a selection of his letters, most accompanied by Tate’s comments, and a collection of photographs of Tate. For an overview of Tate’s work, the editors refer the reader to [4]. Before discussing the volumes, I describe some of Tate’s work. 1. Hecke L-series and Tate’s thesis Like many budding number theorists, Tate’s favorite theorem when young was Gauss’s law of quadratic reciprocity. When he arrived at Princeton as a graduate student in 1946, he was fortunate to find there the person, Emil Artin, who had discovered the most general reciprocity law, so solving Hilbert’s ninth problem. By 1920, the German school of algebraic number theorists (Hilbert, Weber, . . .) together with its brilliant student Takagi had succeeded in classifying the abelian extensions of a number field K: to each group I of ideal classes in K, there is attached an extension L of K (the class field of I); the group I determines the arithmetic of the extension L/K, and the Galois group of L/K is isomorphic to I. Artin’s contribution was to prove (in 1927) that there is a natural isomorphism from I to the Galois group of L/K. When the base field contains an appropriate root of 1, Artin’s isomorphism gives a reciprocity law, and all possible reciprocity laws arise this way. In the 1930s, Chevalley reworked abelian class field theory. In particular, he replaced “ideals” with his “idèles” which greatly clarified the relation between the local and global aspects of the theory. For his thesis, Artin suggested that Tate do the same for Hecke L-series. When Hecke proved that the abelian L-functions of number fields (generalizations of Dirichlet’s L-functions) have an analytic continuation throughout the plane with a functional equation of the expected type, he saw that his methods applied even to a new kind of L-function, now named after him. Once Tate had developed his harmonic analysis of local fields and of the idèle group, he was able prove analytic continuation and functional equations for all the relevant L-series without Hecke’s complicated theta-formulas. Received by the editors September 5, 2016. 2010 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary 01A75, 11-06, 14-06. c ©2017 American Mathematical Society

The collected works

Careful reading of the literature on the psychology of criminal conduct and of prior reviews of studies of treatment effects suggests that neither criminal sanctioning without provision of rehabilitative service nor servicing without reference to clinical principles of rehabilitation will succeed in reducing recidivism. What works, in our view, is the delivery of appropriate correctional service, and appropriate service reflects three psychological principles: (1) delivery of service to higher risk cases, (2) targeting of criminogenic needs, and (3) use of styles and modes of treatment (e.g., cognitive and behavioral) that are matched with client need and learning styles. These principles were applied to studies of juvenile and adult correctional treatment, which yielded 154 phi coefficients that summarized the magnitude and direction of the impact of treatment on recidivism. The effect of appropriate correctional service (mean phi = .30) was significantly (p <.05) greater than that of unspecified correctional service (.13), and both were more effective than inappropriate service (−.06) and non-service criminal sanctioning (−.07). Service was effective within juvenile and adult corrections, in studies published before and after 1980, in randomized and nonrandomized designs, and in diversionary, community, and residential programs (albeit, attenuated in residential settings). Clinical sensitivity and a psychologically informed perspective on crime may assist in the renewed service, research, and conceptual efforts that are strongly indicated by our review.

Does correctional treatment work? a clinically relevant and psychologically informed meta-analysis *

https://www.healio.com/psychiatry/journals/psycann/1976-12-6-12/{806b8887-c02e-40c8-a228-57f1cdb2bdba}/the-stress-of-life.pdf

The stress of life

Antisocial behaviors are complex polygenic phenotypes that are due to a multifactorial arrangement of genetic polymorphisms. Little empirical research, however, has been undertaken that examines gene × gene interactions in the etiology of conduct disorder and antisocial behavior. This study examined whether adolescent conduct disorder and adult antisocial behavior were related to the dopamine D2 receptor polymorphism (DRD2) and the dopamine D4 receptor polymorphism (DRD4). A sample of 872 male participants from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) completed self-report questionnaires that tapped adolescent conduct disorder and adult antisocial behavior. DNA was genotyped for DRD2 and DRD4. Multivariate regression analysis revealed that neither DRD2 nor DRD4 had significant independent effects on conduct disorder or antisocial behavior. However, DRD2 interacted with DRD4 to predict variation in adolescent conduct disorder and in adult antisocial behavior. The results suggest that a gene × gene interaction between DRD2 and DRD4 is associated with the development of conduct disorder and adult antisocial behavior in males.

/pdf/a-gene-gene-interaction-between-drd2-and-drd4-is-associated-nq4jper4m3.pdf

A gene × gene interaction between DRD2 and DRD4 is associated with conduct disorder and antisocial behavior in males

All chapters conclude with "Summary," "Suggested Readings," and "Exercises." I.THE NATURE OF CRIMINAL/ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR AND THE DISCIPLINE THAT STUDIES IT. 1.Introduction: The Nature of Criminal/Antisocial Behavior. Criminality as a Continuous Variable. The Nature of Crime and Criminality. The Moving Target versus the Stationary Core Concepts of Crime. The Three Dimensions of Criminality. Why the Crime Concept Is Broader Than the Core Offenses. The Concept of Delinquency and the Felony-Misdemeanor Distinction. The Pro/Antisocial Continuum and the Concept of Antisocial Behavior. 2.The Origins of Criminal Law and Options for Measuring Criminal Behavior. The Origins of Criminal Law. The "Ultimate Source" of Criminal Statutes. Categorizing and Measuring Criminal Behavior. 3.Crime over Time and Space. Problems Comparing Crime. Crime Rate Calculations. Centuries of Official Crime. Official Crime in North America. Victimization Data. Self-Reported Offending. "Crime" in Preliterate Societies. Closing Thoughts on Geographic Variations and Trends in Crime Rates. 4.Criminological Theorizing: Popular and Historic Underpinnings. Surveying People's Opinions on the Causes of Crime. A Brief History of Criminological Theory. II.CORRELATES OF CRIME. What Is a Correlate of Crime? Criteria Used in Assessing Correlates of Crime. Organization and Layout of the Evidence. What Chapters 5 through 9 Will Not Do. Variables to Be Covered in Each of the Correlates of Crime Chapters. 5.Demographic Correlates of Crime and Crime Victimization. Demographic Correlates of Crime. Demographics of Crime Victimization and Fear-of-Crime. 6.Ecological and Macroeconomic Correlates of Crime. The Nature of Ecological Variables. How Ecological Studies Are Conducted. Social Ecological Variables. Regional Economic Variables. Physical/Temporal Ecological Factors. Closing Comments on Ecological and Macroeconomic Correlates. 7.Family, School, Peer, Religion, and Work-Related Correlates of Crime. Family-Based Correlates. Family Traits. School-Related Variables. Peer Associations. Religiosity. Work-Related Factors. A Closing Note. 8.Behavioral and Cognitive Correlates of Crime. General Behavioral Correlates. Specific Behavioral Correlates. Academic Performance and Intelligence Correlates. Mental Disorder Correlates. Mental Illness Correlates. Attitudinal Correlates. Morality and Related Attitudinal Correlates. Underlying Behavioral Dimensions of Offending Behaviors. Some Closing Thoughts. 9.Biological Correlates of Crime. Perinatal Correlates. Health Factors. Morphological Factors. Physiological Correlates. Biochemical Correlates. Neurotransmitters. Miscellaneous Biological Factors. Closing Thoughts on Biological Correlates. III.THEORIES OF CRIMINAL/ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR. Theories, "Facts," and How They Are Related. Criteria for Judging the Value of a Scientific Theory. Organization of the Chapters Comprising Part III. 10.Cognitive and Early Child Development Environmental Theories. Moral Maturation Theory: Developing a Strong Moral Sense Can Inhibit Criminal Behavior. Control Theory: Inhibiting Crime through Social Bonding and Self-Control. Rational Choice Theory: A Reinvigorated Classical Criminology. Neutralization Theory: Allowing People to Make Excuses Causes Crime. General Remarks about Theories Covered in This Chapter. 11.Social Environmental and Subcultural Theories. Differential Association Theory: Learning Definitions Favorable to Law Violations Causes Crime. Social Learning Theory: Bringing Modeling and Skinnerian Learning Principles into Criminology. Strain Theory: Blocking Economic Opportunities Causes Crime. General Strain Theory: Stress and Strain of Many Sorts Causes Crime. Social Disorganization Theory: Disorganization in a Neighborhood Causes Crime. Labeling Theory: Stigmatizing People Causes Crime. Subculture of Violence Theory: Groups and Regions Differ in Their Use of Violence to Solve Interpersonal Conflicts. General Remarks about the Theories in This Chapter. 12.Macroenvironmental Theories. The Socialist Tradition in Criminology: Capitalism Causes Crime. Radical Criminology: Focusing on Economic Inequality. Critical Theory: Focusing on Political Power. Feminist Theory: Focusing on Gender Inequality. Power-Control Theory: Bringing Marxian Theory into the Family. General Remarks about Macrotheories. 13.Neurologically Specific Biosocial Theories. The Nature of Neurologically Specific Theories. The Evolution of the Human Brain and How It Controls Behavior. Suboptimal Arousal Theory: Crime Reflects a Search for Environmental Stimulation. Reward Dominance Theory: People Whose Brains Focus on Rewards Instead of Punishments Are More Crime-Prone. Seizuring Theory: Limbic Seizures Sometimes Cause Impulsive Offending. Frontal Lobe Theory: Dysfunctioning of the Frontal Lobes Causes Crime. Hemispheric Functioning Theory: Right Hemispheric Dominance or Hemispheric Dysfunctioning Causes Crime. Final Comments on Neurologically Specific Biosocial Theories. 14.Evolutionary Biosocial Theories. Evolution and Genes: The Modern Synthesis. Modern Evolutionary Theories in Criminology. Cheater (or Cad versus Dad) Theory: Criminals/Psychopaths Represent an Alternative Reproductive Strategy. r/K Theory: Criminals Are r-Strategists. Conditional Adaptation Theory: Sensing That Life Will Be Short and Difficult Leads to Antisocial Behavior. Alternative Adaptation Theory: Genes Make Criminals Emphasize Mating Effort over Parenting Effort. The Evolutionary Expropriative Theory: Victimful Crime Is an Evolved Tactic for Resource Procurement. General Remarks about Evolutionary Theories. 15.Synthesized Theories. Integrated Theory: Linking Strain, Control, and Social Learning Theories. The Social Development Model: Linking Control Theory and Social Learning Theory. The Two-Path Developmental Theory: Failure in Neurological Development of Language Skills Leads to Criminality. Evolutionary Neuroandrogenic Theory: Exposing the Brain to Male Hormones Causes Crime Due to Sexual Selection for Overtly Competitive Males. Final Comments on Synthesized Theories in Criminology. IV.SPECIFIC CRIMES. 16.Multiple Murder and Terrorism. What Is Multiple Murder? Law Enforcement's Response. Terrorism. The Causes of Terrorism. Law Enforcement Response and Government Policy. 17.White-Collar and Organized Crime. The Concept of White-Collar Crime. Corporate Crime. Organized Crime. 18.Sex Offenses and Offenders. Sex and U.S. Society. Rape and Rapists. Child Molesters. Other Paraphilias. Paraphilias as Courtship Disorders? Causes of Paraphiliac Behavior. Assessment and Treatment of Sex Offenders. Appendix: Crime, the Law, and the Criminal Justice System. The Legal Making of a Criminal. Basic Principles of U.S. and Canadian Criminal Law. An Excursion through the U.S. Criminal Justice System. An Excursion through the Canadian Criminal Justice System. The Four Traditions of Law. References. Index.

Criminology: A Global Perspective

In the past 20 years, several theories of criminal (and antisocial) behavior have been proposed from an evolutionary perspective, some of which specifically stipulate that people vary in their genetic dispositions toward criminality. It is these theories, herein called gene-based evolutionary theories, that are the focus of this article. Two categories of gene-based evolutionary theories are described. One category is crime specific, pertaining to the offenses of rape, spousal assault/murder, and child abuse neglect. The second category consists of two general theories of criminal and antisocial behavior: the cheater (or cad vs. dad) theory, and the r/K theory. In addition to assuming that genes contribute to variation in criminal (and antisocial) behavior, all five of these theories assume that natural selection has acted on human populations to open up reproductive niches for individuals and groups who victimize others. While the theories are still far too new to have been fully tested, we derive some of the most obvious hypotheses from each theory and explore the relevant empirical evidence. We show that while gene-based evolutionary theories open make predictions similar to strictly environmental theories, they also lead to unique hypotheses, several of which have at least some support.

Gene‐based evolutionary theories in criminology *

I. Overview of the Biosocial Approach 1. Introduction to Biosocial Criminology 2. Criminal Behavior from Heritability to Epigenetics 3. Molecular Genetics and Crime 4. The Ghost in the 5. Evolutionary Psychology and Crime II. Applications to Important Correlates of Crime 6. Gender and Crime: An Evolutionary Perspective 7. Race 8. Crazy by Design: A Biosocial Approach to the Age-Crime Curve 9. Substance Abuse and Crime: Biosocial Foundations 10. Testosterone and Violence among Young Men III. Serious Violent Criminals 11. Neuroscience and the Holy Grail: Genetics and Career Criminality 12. Psychopathy IV. A Biosocial 13. No Longer Taboo

Anthony Walsh

Papers

A gene × gene interaction between DRD2 and DRD4 is associated with conduct disorder and antisocial behavior in males

Criminology: A Global Perspective

Gene‐based evolutionary theories in criminology *

Biosocial Criminology: New Directions in Theory and Research

Biosocial Criminology: Introduction and Integration