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Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence 2023We review and critically assess several issues arising from the potential -large-scale- implementation or deployment of Large Language Models (LLMs) in society. These...
We review and critically assess several issues arising from the potential -large-scale- implementation or deployment of Large Language Models (LLMs) in society. These include security, political, economic, cultural, and educational issues as well as issues concerning social biases, creativity, copyright, and freedom of speech. We argue, without a preconceived pessimism toward these tools, that they may bring about many benefits. However, we also call for a balance assessment of their downsides. While our work is only preliminary and certainly partial it nevertheless holds some value as one of the first exploratory attempts in the literature.
PubMed: 37396972
DOI: 10.3389/frai.2023.1130913 -
The American Journal of Medicine Jul 2016
Topics: Humans; Medicine; Pessimism
PubMed: 27320707
DOI: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2015.11.040 -
The Journal of Medical Humanities Mar 2022Tragedy is a founding theme in disability studies. Critical disability studies have, since their inception, argued that understandings of disability as tragedy obscure...
Tragedy is a founding theme in disability studies. Critical disability studies have, since their inception, argued that understandings of disability as tragedy obscure the political dimensions of disability and are a barrier facing disabled persons in society. In this paper, we propose an affirmative understanding of tragedy, employing the philosophical works of Nietzsche, Spinoza and Hasana Sharp. Tragedy is not, we argue, something to be opposed by disability politics; we can affirm life within it. To make our case, we look to an ongoing ethnography of two Canadian children's rehabilitation clinics. Looking to the clinical experience of Canadian boys and young men diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and those of their families, we show how this affirmative understanding of tragedy allows us to pursue the themes of disability politics within tragedy. Contrary to an optimism that would eschew tragedy at all costs or a pessimistic approach that declines to act in the face of tragic circumstance, we argue that a revised understanding of tragedy allows us to situate the occasionally-tragic clinical experience of disability in a philosophy of life. Both disability and tragedy point us to the shared entanglements that make life what it is.
Topics: Canada; Child; Disabled Persons; Humans; Male; Optimism; Pessimism; Philosophy
PubMed: 31984453
DOI: 10.1007/s10912-020-09612-y -
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Nov 2020Just as happy people see the proverbial glass as half-full, 'optimistic' or 'pessimistic' responses to ambiguity might also reflect affective states in animals.... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
Just as happy people see the proverbial glass as half-full, 'optimistic' or 'pessimistic' responses to ambiguity might also reflect affective states in animals. Judgement bias tests, designed to measure these responses, are an increasingly popular way of assessing animal affect and there is now a substantial, but heterogeneous, literature on their use across different species, affect manipulations, and study designs. By conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis of 459 effect sizes from 71 studies of non-pharmacological affect manipulations on 22 non-human species, we show that animals in relatively better conditions, assumed to generate more positive affect, show more 'optimistic' judgements of ambiguity than those in relatively worse conditions. Overall effects are small when considering responses to all cues, but become more pronounced when non-ambiguous training cues are excluded from analyses or when focusing only on the most divergent responses between treatment groups. Task type (go/no-go; go/go active choice), training cue reinforcement (reward-punishment; reward-null; reward-reward) and sex of animals emerge as potential moderators of effect sizes in judgement bias tests.
Topics: Animals; Behavior, Animal; Cognition; Cues; Judgment; Optimism; Pessimism
PubMed: 32682742
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.07.012 -
JACC. Heart Failure Feb 2017
Topics: Cost-Benefit Analysis; Heart Failure; Heart-Assist Devices; Humans; Pessimism
PubMed: 28089313
DOI: 10.1016/j.jchf.2016.11.003 -
Scientific Reports Jan 2018Animals that experience situations likely to induce negative emotions show changes in judgment associated with pessimism. Few studies have focused on whether animals...
Animals that experience situations likely to induce negative emotions show changes in judgment associated with pessimism. Few studies have focused on whether animals express stable differences in pessimism and whether these differences are related to personality traits. The first aim of this study was to explore if dairy calves are consistent over time in making judgments under ambiguous situations. Our second aim was to determine whether individual differences in judgment bias are related to conventional personality traits assessed using four standardized tests (Open field, Novel object, Human reactivity and Social motivation test). We subjected animals to two sessions of judgment bias and personality trait tests at 25 and 50 d of age. Individual differences in judgment bias were consistent over time with some animals persistently making more pessimistic choices compared to others. Two main dimensions of personality (Fearfulness and Sociability), obtained through principal component analysis, were also highly consistent over time. Pessimism was related to fearfulness, with more fearful calves making more pessimistic judgments. We conclude that dairy calves differ in the way they perceive and react to ambiguity and that this relates to individual differences in fearfulness.
Topics: Animals; Behavior, Animal; Cattle; Discrimination, Psychological; Fear; Female; Personality; Pessimism; Principal Component Analysis; Spatial Learning
PubMed: 29362460
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-17214-3 -
Journal of Clinical Medicine May 2022Insomnia is prevalent in up to 40% of breast cancer survivors. Few studies have examined pessimism and dietary factors as risk factors for insomnia among breast cancer...
Insomnia is prevalent in up to 40% of breast cancer survivors. Few studies have examined pessimism and dietary factors as risk factors for insomnia among breast cancer survivors. We leveraged a cohort of 2944 breast cancer survivors who enrolled in the Women’s Healthy Eating and Living study; these survivors provided dietary, insomnia, mental health, demographic, and lifestyle information at baseline and at 1- and 4-year follow-up assessments. Insomnia symptoms were assessed using the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI)-Insomnia Rating Scale, and pessimism was assessed using the Life Orientation Test Revised (LOT-R). Total calorie intake and acid-producing diets were assessed using 24 h dietary recalls. Multivariable-adjusted generalized estimating equation (GEE) models were used to test the independent and joint effects of psychological and dietary factors on insomnia. In the multivariable model, women in the third tertile of pessimism had greater odds (OR = 1.57 95% CI [1.37−1.79]) of insomnia when compared to women in the lowest tertile. Total calorie intake and acid-producing diets were each independently and significantly associated with insomnia symptoms. Further, pessimism and calorie intake/acid-producing diets were jointly associated with insomnia. For instance, women with pessimism scores in tertile 3 and total calorie intakes < median reported 2 times the odds (OR = 2.09; 95% CI [1.51−3.47]) of insomnia compared to women with pessimism score in tertile 1 and calorie intakes < median. Our results highlight the need for patient care regarding mental health, and recommendations of healthy dietary intakes for breast cancer survivors.
PubMed: 35628953
DOI: 10.3390/jcm11102828 -
International Journal of Environmental... Jun 2022Prior research has found the differential strength of optimism and pessimism in predicting physical health. However, whether similar findings would be obtained in...
Prior research has found the differential strength of optimism and pessimism in predicting physical health. However, whether similar findings would be obtained in predicting subjective well-being and the possible underlying mechanisms are still unclear. This study examined the relative strength of optimism and pessimism in predicting adolescent life satisfaction and depression, and further explored the possible mediating mechanisms from the perspective of emotion regulation. A sample of 2672 adolescents ( = 13.54 years, = 1.04; 55.60% boys) completed a survey assessing optimism and pessimism, the habitual use of reappraisal and acceptance strategies, life satisfaction, and depression. The results from dominance analysis revealed that the presence of optimism was more powerful than the absence of pessimism in predicting adolescent life satisfaction, while the absence of pessimism was more powerful than the presence of optimism in predicting adolescent depression. Moreover, mediation models showed that reappraisal and acceptance mediated both the link between optimism and life satisfaction and the link between pessimism and depression. These findings suggest possible avenues for intervening in different aspects of adolescent subjective well-being.
Topics: Adolescent; Female; Humans; Male; Optimism; Pessimism; Surveys and Questionnaires
PubMed: 35742324
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19127067 -
Health Psychology : Official Journal of... Sep 2022To test whether 2 conceptually overlapping constructs, dispositional optimism (generalized positive expectations) and optimistic bias (inaccurately low risk...
OBJECTIVE
To test whether 2 conceptually overlapping constructs, dispositional optimism (generalized positive expectations) and optimistic bias (inaccurately low risk perceptions), may have different implications for smoking treatment engagement.
METHOD
Predominantly Black, low-income Southern Community Cohort study smokers (n = 880) self-reported dispositional optimism and pessimism (Life Orientation Test-Revised subscales: 0 = neutral, 12 = high optimism/pessimism), comparative lung cancer risk (Low/Average/High), and information to calculate objective lung cancer risk (Low/Med/High). Perceived risk was categorized as accurate (perceived = objective), optimistically-biased (perceived < objective), or pessimistically-biased (perceived > objective). One-way ANOVAs tested associations between dispositional optimism/pessimism and perceived risk accuracy. Multivariable logistic regressions tested independent associations of optimism/pessimism and perceived risk accuracy with cessation motivation (Low/High), confidence (Low/High), and precision treatment attitudes (Favorable/Unfavorable), controlling for sociodemographics and nicotine dependence.
RESULTS
Mean dispositional optimism/pessimism scores were 8.41 ( = 2.59) and 5.65 ( = 3.02), respectively. Perceived lung cancer risk was 38% accurate, 27% optimistically-biased, and 35% pessimistically-biased. Accuracy was unrelated to dispositional optimism ((2, 641) = 1.23, = .29), though optimistically-biased (vs. pessimistically-biased) smokers had higher dispositional pessimism ((2, 628) = 3.17, = .043). Dispositional optimism was associated with higher confidence (Adjusted odds ratio [A] = 1.71, 95% CI [1.42, 2.06], < .001) and favorable precision treatment attitudes (A = 1.66, 95% CI [1.37, 2.01], < .001). Optimistically-biased (vs. accurate) risk perception was associated with lower motivation (A = .64, 95% CI [.42, .98], = .041) and less favorable precision treatment attitudes (A = .59, 95% CI [.38, .94], = .029).
CONCLUSIONS
Dispositional optimism and lung cancer risk perception accuracy were unrelated. Dispositional optimism was associated with favorable engagement-related outcomes and optimistically-biased risk perception with unfavorable outcomes, reinforcing the distinctiveness of these constructs and their implications for smoking treatment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Cohort Studies; Humans; Lung Neoplasms; Motivation; Optimism; Personality
PubMed: 35901400
DOI: 10.1037/hea0001184 -
The American Psychologist Dec 2018Dispositional optimism is the generalized, relatively stable tendency to expect good outcomes across important life domains. This article provides a representative... (Review)
Review
Dispositional optimism is the generalized, relatively stable tendency to expect good outcomes across important life domains. This article provides a representative review of 30 years of research on dispositional optimism and physical well-being. Assessment of optimism is described, along with data regarding its stability. A review of the research linking optimism and physical health is then presented. Included in the review are initial studies suggesting that optimism and physical well-being might be linked as well as more recent, larger scale epidemiological studies that make the point more emphatically. Also considered are potential pathways-behavioral, biological, and social-that might explain these associations. The article concludes with a brief look to the future, describing several issues and questions that still need to be answered. These questions include the relationship of optimism and pessimism to each other (and the implications of that relationship for physical well-being), the origins of optimism and pessimism, and interventions that might be implemented to reduce the negative impact of a pessimistic outlook. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Attitude to Health; Health; Health Behavior; Humans; Optimism; Personality
PubMed: 30525784
DOI: 10.1037/amp0000384