The 2016 year review

El Niño, migration, Zika and HIV consumed the world’s attention, however for most of us, Donald Trump’s election was a central discussion among the many
2016 top stories one can review also in  this video.

2016 has been the hottest year on and another year of challenges for the United Nations - the 2016 key moments review here.

Extended travel affects personality; becoming a different person when hitting the road

In some ways we are all the same - we all have the same human nature and we all share a common humanity. We all have human bodies and human minds; we all have human thoughts and human feelings. What makes us different seems to be the characteristics we think of as personality, many of the times sufficient enough to describe differences between people. 

PEDES is a research project launched by the Department of Personality Psychology and Psychological Assessment at the Friedrich Schiller University aimed at contributing to a better understanding of personality development in general. One of the fields of study has been the interplay between personality and international mobility experiences in young adulthood. 

The research focus has been on the basic personality traits (referred to as the Big Five traits) which include a broad variety of characteristics people use to describe themselves and others:

- Openness (characteristics such as openness to ideas, to actions, and to values)
- Conscientiousness (dutifulness, self-discipline, achievement striving)

- Extraversion (gregariousness, warmth, assertiveness),
- Agreeableness (altruism, trust, compliance),
- Neuroticism (anxiety, hostility, vulnerability to stress)

Authors argue that international mobility is a relevant life event for the personality development of young adults. Extended foreign travel takes people outside of their comfort zone, since travelers have to adapt to new people and new cultural practices and also implies to gain perspective on life, which made them less emotionally reactive to day-to-day changes. Overall, studies have confirmed the fundamental importance of personality characteristics with regard to mobility decisions.  

Girls; we can have it all! (want we can not is to do all ...)

More gender equality within the business sector and a reduction of the gender pay gap can only be sustainably realised if companies follow a comprehensive approach including corporate strategy, management, operational implementation by business units and HR work organisation and monitoring, said António Ramalho, CEO of Novo Banco last Thursday November 24, at Universidade Católica.

Key-note speaker at the conference "Liderança Feminina" (with an agenda aimed at inspiring the next generation of executives with experiences&advices from professionals with solid careers and leadership), António Ramalho made a review of the last 30 years, underlining that in Portugal, women represent more than half of the total population, graduate high school at a higher rate than men and hold domain in all areas of study except engineering and industry ... still, despite that, the country ranks poorly when it comes to corporate sector, as very few women hold top management positions in companies.

Diversity continues to be a much debated topic and, regarding gender, while there's a growing consensus that it is an imperative, the progress is painfully slow. Understanding and identifying how men’s involvement in gender equality issues, both in private and public spheres, is still a key question in the Portuguese contemporary society - and, as António Ramalho said, any father will be truly interested in this discussion as many changes are still required specially in traditional male domains. Amongst those many, responsability of corporations on talent retention and future thinking business strategies.

The conference was then followed by panels and by an interesting number of role-model testemonies from women in different sectors, with quite different and interesting experiences. If there is a summary for the common realms that were discussed, I would point to the inescapable fact that change only happens when one starts demanding that it does. This means that it, when it comes to gender diversity, change also depends on "each woman (own) decision".

And with that, if I may say (and share), we women (and mothers and fathers) need to accept that each of us is part of this! So, let's tell ourselfs and our daughter:

Yes, we can have it all. (what we can not is to do all.. and that's OK).

Can we build Artificial Intelligence without losing control over it?

Last Thursday October 27, I had the chance of listening to João Valente Cordeiro, Professor of Health Law and Ethics, Science and Technology, as key-note speaker at SAS FORUM Portugal 2016.  

"On the next day, no one died - Digital Revolution, Health and (i)mortality" was the title of his captivating speach, starting on the Pale Blue Dot (taken on Feb 1990 by Voyager 1), Professor Cordeiro led the audience on a trip about our past, our present and our (possible) future and on how the exact same incredible technology developments can impact, in a myriad of forms, both positively and negatively in humanity.

Far is the old discussion of "strong vs weak artificial intelligence" - just consider that as a minimum, an AI system must be able to reproduce (mimic) aspects of human intelligence (human cognitive functions) and you will find that is the current state-of-the-art; AI (agents) are now designed to perform specific tasks such as speech recognition, natural language processing, facial recognition, internet searches, driving a car, etc...  This "specific domain AI"  allows "machines" to outperform humans at whatever specific task one can imagine; playing chess, Jeopardy or GO are examples that allow us to foresee applications of current AI systems and from personal assistants (like SIRI), to solving equations or self-driving cars, AI is progressing rapidly, encompassing a wide range of capabilities, from Google search algorithms to IBM’s Watson features and to autonomous weapons.

Though most people involved in the field of artificial intelligence and cognitive computing are excited about these developments, many worry that without proper planning and reflection advanced AI could destroy humanity; and in more recent years philosophers and ethicists  - like Professor Cordeiro - have given a step forward on the sincere and open discussion about the worries of the long-term future of artificial intelligence as its represents fascinating controversies for humanity.

The threat of uncontrolled AI,  Sam Harris argues in a recently released TED Talk, is one of the most pressing issues of our time. Yet most people “seem unable to marshal an appropriate emotional response to the dangers that lie ahead.” Harris explains that one only needs to accept three basic assumptions to recognize the inevitability of superintelligent AI:

• Intelligence is a product of information processing in physical systems.
• We will continue to improve our intelligent machines.
• We do not stand on the peak of intelligence or anywhere near it.
• 
  

Positive and negative emotional attractors and Intentional Change Theory

Intentional change theory (ICT) explores the process by which individual change occurs and offers a new understanding on the role of positive and negative emotion in the process of intentional change. The positive emotional attractor (PEA) triggers constructive cognitive and physiological responses that enhance an individual's motivation, effort, optimism, flexibility, creative thinking, resilience and other adaptive behaviors. On the other hand, the negative emotional attractor (NEA) triggers another process by calling attention to current social and environmental stressors that may compromise an individual's effectiveness. 

The "PEA–NEA theory" brings together and integrates work on emotion and on the self with the advances in physiological measurement and neurological activity; using complexity theory, Boyatzis (2008) argues that these two states are strange attractors, each characterized by three dimensions: (1) positive versus negative emotional arousal, (2) hormonal arousal; and (3) neurological activation. 

In this video, Boyatzis explains the distinct psycho-physiological states of PEA and NEA and correspondet emotional, psychological, physiological, and neurological characteristics, summarized in the above table. 

In other words, PEA and NEA are self-regulating states and therefore, once a person is in either a PEA state or a NEA state, that person will remain in that state until a tipping point provokes a shift to the alternate state. And, since self-regulating systems are inherently homeostatic, unless the system is perfectly efficient (which is not the case for humans) deterioration will occur over time. 

Seems fair to assume that unless the PEA state is actively maintained over time, a person will eventually move toward the NEA even without noticing.  

Stress ... again and again

Again a post about stress - yes, because we all know stress has been made into a public health enemy. But hold on - this is something new... 

Here is a distinct perspective, from psychologist Kelly McGonigal; "the upside of stress"  with many arguments about why stress is good for us and what makes us good at stress. 

Watch this talk, filmed on June 2013 at TEDGlobal were Kelly shares and urges us to see stress as a positive, introducing a mechanism for stress reduction: reaching out to others.

Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work

The term psychopath has been around since the nineteenth-century, but was popularized by psychiatrist Hervey Cleckley back in 1941,  on the classic book "The Mask of Sanity: An Attempt to Clarify Some Issues About the So-Called Psychopathic Personality. For Dr. Cleckley, the "psychopathic personality" was defined by a "relatively high-functioning, aggressively narcissistic, extraverted persona concealing an antisocial and latent psychotic core". The term seems to have been first applied people that seemed "to possess no sense of ethics or of the rights of other people". 

Currently researchers use the term “psychopath” to refer to more serious disorders linked to genetic traits that produce dangerous individuals, while using the term “sociopath” to refer to less dangerous people who are seen more as products of their environment. Using PCL-R description psychopaths are people with a “callous unconcern for the feelings of others”, what we ussually would say "coldheartedness people”. 

There are psychopaths everywhere; they are driven, focused and ussually have little remorse in their quest for success. Researchers Paul Babiak and Robert Hare have long studied psychopaths and together studied how psychopaths operate in corporations.

Results were surprising: they found that it is exactly the modern, open, more flexible corporate world - in which high risks can equal high profits - that attracts psychopaths. Many times they enter as rising stars and corporate saviors, but all too soon they are abusing the trust of colleagues, manipulating supervisors, and leaving the workplace in shambles.

Snakes Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work is a compelling book, with a scientifically look at how psychopaths work in the corporate environment, what kind of companies attract them, how they negotiate the hiring process, and how they function day by day.