Serafinelli, Michel and Tabellini, Guido, Creativity Over Time and Space
(October 2017). CEPR Discussion Paper No. DP12365. Available at SSRN:
https://ssrn.com/abstract=3053893
Abstract: Creativity is often highly concentrated in time and space, and
across different domains. What explains the formation and decay of
clusters of creativity? In this paper we match data on thousands of
notable individuals born in Europe between the XIth and the XIXth
century with historical data on city institutions and population. After
documenting several stylized facts, we show that the formation of
creative clusters is not preceded by increases in city size. Instead,
the emergence of city institutions protecting economic and political
freedoms facilitates the attraction and production of creative talent.
Keywords: agglomeration, Gravity, Immigration, Innovation, Political
Institutions
Tuesday, January 2, 2018
Perfectionism Is Increasing Over Time: A Meta-Analysis of Birth Cohort Differences From 1989 to 2016
Curran, T., & Hill, A. P. (2017, December 28). Perfectionism Is Increasing Over Time: A Meta-Analysis of Birth Cohort Differences From 1989 to 2016. Psychological Bulletin, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/bul000013
From the 1980s onward, neoliberal governance in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom has emphasized competitive individualism and people have seemingly responded, in kind, by agitating to perfect themselves and their lifestyles. In this study, the authors examine whether cultural changes have coincided with an increase in multidimensional perfectionism in college students over the last 27 years. Their analyses are based on 164 samples and 41,641 American, Canadian, and British college students, who completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (Hewitt & Flett, 1991) between 1989 and 2016 (70.92% female, median age = 20.66). Cross-temporal meta-analysis revealed that levels of self-oriented perfectionism, socially prescribed perfectionism, and other-oriented perfectionism have linearly increased. These trends remained when controlling for gender and between-country differences in perfectionism scores. Overall, in order of magnitude of the observed increase, the findings indicate that recent generations of young people perceive that others are more demanding of them, are more demanding of others, and are more demanding of themselves.
Keywords: personality, culture, neoliberalism, psychopathology
From the 1980s onward, neoliberal governance in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom has emphasized competitive individualism and people have seemingly responded, in kind, by agitating to perfect themselves and their lifestyles. In this study, the authors examine whether cultural changes have coincided with an increase in multidimensional perfectionism in college students over the last 27 years. Their analyses are based on 164 samples and 41,641 American, Canadian, and British college students, who completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (Hewitt & Flett, 1991) between 1989 and 2016 (70.92% female, median age = 20.66). Cross-temporal meta-analysis revealed that levels of self-oriented perfectionism, socially prescribed perfectionism, and other-oriented perfectionism have linearly increased. These trends remained when controlling for gender and between-country differences in perfectionism scores. Overall, in order of magnitude of the observed increase, the findings indicate that recent generations of young people perceive that others are more demanding of them, are more demanding of others, and are more demanding of themselves.
Keywords: personality, culture, neoliberalism, psychopathology
Swearing generally resulted in poorer impressions being formed. Female timeline owners who did not swear were considered particularly attractive. Men perceived female timeline owners who swore as more physically attractive, but less task attractive
Westrop, Sophie, Emily Nordmann, Gillian Bruce, and Graham G Scott. 2018. “F*c*book: Swearing Impacts Impression Formation on Social Media”. PsyArXiv. January 2. psyarxiv.com/wvcs
Abstract: The language we use can influence the impressions others form of us. Swearing is a taboo linguistic category often used offline with striking and often gender-specific results. Swear words are employed in informal online contexts such as social networks but their impact in such domains is unclear. To investigate the effect of swearing in online impression formation we asked 276 participants to view Facebook timelines containing swearing or no swearing, and form impressions of the timeline owners on dimensions of attractiveness, professionalism, and credibility. All data and code is available at https://osf.io/acpgw/. Swearing generally resulted in poorer impressions being formed. Female timeline owners who did not swear were considered particularly attractive. Men perceived female timeline owners who swore as more physically attractive, but less task attractive. Results are discussed in relation to online impression formation and employability.
Abstract: The language we use can influence the impressions others form of us. Swearing is a taboo linguistic category often used offline with striking and often gender-specific results. Swear words are employed in informal online contexts such as social networks but their impact in such domains is unclear. To investigate the effect of swearing in online impression formation we asked 276 participants to view Facebook timelines containing swearing or no swearing, and form impressions of the timeline owners on dimensions of attractiveness, professionalism, and credibility. All data and code is available at https://osf.io/acpgw/. Swearing generally resulted in poorer impressions being formed. Female timeline owners who did not swear were considered particularly attractive. Men perceived female timeline owners who swore as more physically attractive, but less task attractive. Results are discussed in relation to online impression formation and employability.
Irrational choice behavior in human and nonhuman primates (macaques, capuchins)
Irrational choice behavior in human and nonhuman primates. Bonnie M. Perdue and Ella R. Brown. Animal Cognition, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10071-017-1156-9
Abstract: Choice behavior in humans has motivated a large body of research with a focus on whether decisions can be considered to be rational. In general, humans prefer having choice, as do a number of other species that have been tested, even though having increased choice does not necessarily yield a positive outcome. Humans have been found to choose an option more often only because the opportunity to select it was diminishing, an example of a deviation from economic rationality. Here we extend this paradigm to nonhuman primates in an effort to understand the mechanisms underlying this finding. In this study, we presented two groups of laboratory monkeys, capuchins (Cebus apella) and rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), as well as human subjects, with a computerized task in which subjects were presented with two differently colored icons. When the subject selected an icon, differing numbers of food pellets were dispensed (or points were assigned), making each icon correspond to a certain level of risk (one icon yielded 1 or 4 pellets/points and the other yielded 2 or 3). Initially, both options remained constantly available and we established choice preference scores for each subject. Then, we assessed preference patterns once the options were not continuously available. Specifically, choosing one icon would cause the other to shrink in size on the screen and eventually disappear if never selected. Selecting it would restore it to its full size. As predicted, humans shifted their risk preferences in the diminishing options phase, choosing to click on both icons more equally in order to keep both options available. At the group level, capuchin monkeys showed this pattern as well, but there was a great deal of individual variability in both capuchins and macaques. The present work suggests that there is some degree of continuity between human and nonhuman primates in the desire to have choice simply for the sake of having choice.
Abstract: Choice behavior in humans has motivated a large body of research with a focus on whether decisions can be considered to be rational. In general, humans prefer having choice, as do a number of other species that have been tested, even though having increased choice does not necessarily yield a positive outcome. Humans have been found to choose an option more often only because the opportunity to select it was diminishing, an example of a deviation from economic rationality. Here we extend this paradigm to nonhuman primates in an effort to understand the mechanisms underlying this finding. In this study, we presented two groups of laboratory monkeys, capuchins (Cebus apella) and rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), as well as human subjects, with a computerized task in which subjects were presented with two differently colored icons. When the subject selected an icon, differing numbers of food pellets were dispensed (or points were assigned), making each icon correspond to a certain level of risk (one icon yielded 1 or 4 pellets/points and the other yielded 2 or 3). Initially, both options remained constantly available and we established choice preference scores for each subject. Then, we assessed preference patterns once the options were not continuously available. Specifically, choosing one icon would cause the other to shrink in size on the screen and eventually disappear if never selected. Selecting it would restore it to its full size. As predicted, humans shifted their risk preferences in the diminishing options phase, choosing to click on both icons more equally in order to keep both options available. At the group level, capuchin monkeys showed this pattern as well, but there was a great deal of individual variability in both capuchins and macaques. The present work suggests that there is some degree of continuity between human and nonhuman primates in the desire to have choice simply for the sake of having choice.
The dead are intuited to survive death, whereas persistent vegetative state patients are intuited as more dead than the dead
Dead-Survivors, the Living Dead, and Concepts of Death. K. Mitch Hodge. Review of Philosophy and Psychology, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13164-017-0377-9
Abstract: The author introduces and critically analyzes two recent, curious findings and their accompanying explanations regarding how the folk intuits the capabilities of the dead and those in a persistent vegetative state (PVS). The dead are intuited to survive death, whereas PVS patients are intuited as more dead than the dead. Current explanations of these curious findings rely on how the folk is said to conceive of death and the dead: either as the annihilation of the person (via the secular conception of death), or that person’s continuation as a disembodied being (via folk dualism). The author argues that these two conceptions are incompatible and inconsistent with each other and the evidence. Contrariwise, the author argues that the folk intuition about dead-survivors and the living dead are more easily explained by appealing to cross-culturally established concepts: the folk biological concept of death the existential (metaphorical) concept of death, and the concept of social death.
Check also Using facial electromyography to detect preserved emotional processing in disorders of consciousness: A proof-of-principle study. Chris M.Fiacconi, Adrian M.Owen. Clinical Neurophysiology, Volume 127, Issue 9, September 2016, Pages 3000-3006. http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/10/despite-being-in-vegetative-state-some.html
Abstract: The author introduces and critically analyzes two recent, curious findings and their accompanying explanations regarding how the folk intuits the capabilities of the dead and those in a persistent vegetative state (PVS). The dead are intuited to survive death, whereas PVS patients are intuited as more dead than the dead. Current explanations of these curious findings rely on how the folk is said to conceive of death and the dead: either as the annihilation of the person (via the secular conception of death), or that person’s continuation as a disembodied being (via folk dualism). The author argues that these two conceptions are incompatible and inconsistent with each other and the evidence. Contrariwise, the author argues that the folk intuition about dead-survivors and the living dead are more easily explained by appealing to cross-culturally established concepts: the folk biological concept of death the existential (metaphorical) concept of death, and the concept of social death.
Check also Using facial electromyography to detect preserved emotional processing in disorders of consciousness: A proof-of-principle study. Chris M.Fiacconi, Adrian M.Owen. Clinical Neurophysiology, Volume 127, Issue 9, September 2016, Pages 3000-3006. http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/10/despite-being-in-vegetative-state-some.html
Twitter versus Facebook: Comparing incivility, impoliteness, and deliberative attributes
Twitter versus Facebook: Comparing incivility, impoliteness, and deliberative attributes. Mustafa Oz, Pei Zheng, Gina Masullo Chen. New Media & Society, December 31 2017, https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444817749516
Abstract: Using two quantitative methods, this study sought to understand whether user-generated posts would vary in frequency of incivility, impoliteness, and deliberative attributes on Twitter versus Facebook. A quantitative content analysis (N = 1458) revealed that posts responding to the White House’s tweets were significantly more uncivil and impolite and less deliberative than responses to White House Facebook posts. Also, comments on posts that concerned sensitive topics (such as same-sex marriage) were more uncivil, impolite, and deliberative than comments regarding less sensitive topics (such as technology). An experiment (N = 198) showed that people were more deliberative when responding to White House Facebook posts, compared with White House tweets, but no differences were found for incivility and impoliteness. Results suggest that both the varying affordances of the two platforms and the fact that the two sites may attract different types of people might explain these results.
Keywords: Impoliteness, incivility, public deliberation, social media
Abstract: Using two quantitative methods, this study sought to understand whether user-generated posts would vary in frequency of incivility, impoliteness, and deliberative attributes on Twitter versus Facebook. A quantitative content analysis (N = 1458) revealed that posts responding to the White House’s tweets were significantly more uncivil and impolite and less deliberative than responses to White House Facebook posts. Also, comments on posts that concerned sensitive topics (such as same-sex marriage) were more uncivil, impolite, and deliberative than comments regarding less sensitive topics (such as technology). An experiment (N = 198) showed that people were more deliberative when responding to White House Facebook posts, compared with White House tweets, but no differences were found for incivility and impoliteness. Results suggest that both the varying affordances of the two platforms and the fact that the two sites may attract different types of people might explain these results.
Keywords: Impoliteness, incivility, public deliberation, social media
Gender Differences in Emotion Explain Women’s Lower Immoral Intentions and Harsher Moral Condemnation
Gender Differences in Emotion Explain Women’s Lower Immoral Intentions and Harsher Moral Condemnation. Sarah J. Ward, Laura A. King. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, January 1, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167217744525
Abstract: Why do men view morally questionable behaviors as more permissible than women do? Five studies investigated emotional factors as explanations for gender differences in moral decision-making. In Study 1 (N = 324), gender differences in perceptions of moral wrongness were explained by guilt and shame proneness. Studies 2a and 2b (combined N = 562) demonstrated that instructions to adopt an unemotional perspective (vs. standard instructions) led women to have higher immoral intentions, no longer lower than men’s, as they were in the control group. Studies 3 and 4 (N = 834) showed that men expected immoral actions to result in higher positive and lower self-conscious moral emotions than women do. Study 4 (N = 424) showed that these emotional expectancies account for gender differences in immoral intentions. Study 5 (N = 450) showed that women—but not men—experience heightened self-conscious moral emotions and regret when recalling past transgressions done for personal gain.
Keywords: gender, morality, emotion, moral emotions
Abstract: Why do men view morally questionable behaviors as more permissible than women do? Five studies investigated emotional factors as explanations for gender differences in moral decision-making. In Study 1 (N = 324), gender differences in perceptions of moral wrongness were explained by guilt and shame proneness. Studies 2a and 2b (combined N = 562) demonstrated that instructions to adopt an unemotional perspective (vs. standard instructions) led women to have higher immoral intentions, no longer lower than men’s, as they were in the control group. Studies 3 and 4 (N = 834) showed that men expected immoral actions to result in higher positive and lower self-conscious moral emotions than women do. Study 4 (N = 424) showed that these emotional expectancies account for gender differences in immoral intentions. Study 5 (N = 450) showed that women—but not men—experience heightened self-conscious moral emotions and regret when recalling past transgressions done for personal gain.
Keywords: gender, morality, emotion, moral emotions
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