Category: Human Behavior and Cognitive Science

QUESTIONS ON BRAIN AND BIG 5 ETC – FOR PSYCHOLOGY FOLK

—“Curt questions for clarity RE Testimonial: Epistemology video.”—

I’ve answered your questions but I think there is something else you’re trying to get at and I don’t see it yet.

1) —“Would you say that the Big 5 personality metric (OCEAN) is valid in a sense that it “consistently models reality” because it corresponds across 5 dimensions? (or 6 if you include IQ)

(in keeping with your description of zebras, familys etc in the video)”—

it’s valid in the sense that if you want to pick out a subset of demonstrated behaviors that can be tied back to brain regions and functions yes.

It is not the final word though. It’s just the best paradigm we have. And it works because people don’t need an understanding of the brain at a low level to make use of it in order to describe the behavior of people in life.

I use it to talk about biases in behavior. I think of the brain at the circuit level, and how it generates those biases in behavior.

Missing from Big 5:

(a) Sex: Male(longitudianl – over time) vs Female (lateral – in time)

(b) Population: Systematizing(analytic/many – longitudinal) vs Experiencing (empathy/1 – Lateral)

(c) Intelligence: Spatial (narrow – longitudinal) vs Verbal (wide – lateral)

Big 5:

(d) Openness (might just be intelligence, or novelty-seeking)

(e) Conscientiousness (frontal development)

(f) (In)Extroversion (might just be femaleness-femaleness)

(g) (Dis)Agreeableness (might just be maleness-femaleness)

(h) Neuroticism(worry)/Mindfulness (might just be famale-vs male) Might just be consientiousness.

2) —“I’m curious how the (5/6 categories) emerge (rather than say 3 or 9). And, for example, is there some implicit geometrical correspondence at play?”—

Well, in so far as the brain has a physical three-dimensional structure that somewhat determines the bias in its ‘calculations’, then yes, there is a geometric correspondence.

In so far as our ‘consciousness’ consists of generating a ‘sixth sense’ of space around us, and we know the geometry of that space (hexagonal from triangles) and we know why evolution gave us that (t’s the cheapest way to do it) yes that’ absolutely geometric. And that geometry its probably the most important insight after the discovery of the neuron. We know hat consciousness consists of now.

I am not sure what else you might mean by geometric correspondence.

As for the Big 5:

The psychological community focuses on statistical similarities in self-reported experiences across many many people in many cultures. Think of this as outside in-or top down.

The medical community focuses on brain functions or regions for obvious reasons – it’s a medical community. Think of this as the mechanical model of the brain. it operates by discovering the consequences of damage to an area of the nervous system.

I use the information-processing paradigm of the brain given the organization of the brain and it’s major ‘circuits’. It’s incredibly simple really.

(a) Male longitudinal spatial, vs female lateral experiential

(b) Male left-predatory bias, vs female right-prey bias

(c) male longitudiaal territorial allies in offense vs female lateral interpersonal allies in defense

(d) The development of the brain from back sense to front agency and therefore conscientiousness (or lack of it).

(e) The general quality of the brain structure itself (connectivity) and therefore intelligence (or lack of it).

(f) The rewards system that simply compels us to acquire anything of possible use by drawing our attention to it.

(g) The hormonal amplification of those developmental differences.

(h) resulting in a competition for attention; the capture of our attention by the above factors; attention generating new relations if novel, and reinforcing circuits if not; and our continuous, iterative reinforcement of whatever captures our attention.

3) —” Do you see this 5/6 dimension correlation as an implicit expression of natural law? “—

Natural law is just an extension of physics. The universe can’t remember, predict from those memories, or choose among those predictions. We can. So in order to maintain our defeat of entropy (stay alive) we must make sure our net result of cooperation is still advantageous rather than parasitic. It’s very simple. We can get into debt and credit with one another but the end result has to be positive. The universe can’t do that. It just has to take the first opportunity that comes along.

So yes, I see the brain as constantly calculating how to acquire and our ‘consciousness’ is just there so that we can imagine other people’s thoughts and decide whether it’s fruitful to negotiate and cooperate. Hence sleepwalkers etc can do all sorts of things just fine until they have to interact with someone.