Sublime

Richard Nisbett articulates the essence of the paradoxical Middle Way of language and thought in his book The Geography of Thought:

Intelligence is not only the ability to reason; it is also the ability to find relevant material in memory and to deploy attention when needed.

Racial-group behavior is a figment of the racist’s imagination. Individual behaviors can shape the success of individuals. But policies determine the success of groups.

No one knows about negative ability labels like members of stereotyped groups. For example, African Americans know about being stereotyped as lower in intelligence.

In psychology there are at least two biases that drive this pattern. One is confirmation bias:23 seeing what we expect to see. The other is desirability bias:24 seeing what we want to see. These biases don’t just prevent us from applying our intelligence. They can actually contort our intelligence into a weapon against the truth.

what has been demonstrated through a host of celebrated laboratory and field studies is that manipulations of the immediate social situation can overwhelm in importance the type of individual differences in personal traits or dispositions that people normally think of as being determinative of social behavior.

Consistent with what was found above, Externals reported themselves to be less likely to compete successfully with others, to more often be hurt by them, and to feel more helpless than did Internals. In contrast, Internals endorsed leadership, helping others, and being cooperative to a greater degree than Externals.