Despite participants’ unfamiliarity with the societies represented, the random sampling of each music excerpt, the very short duration, & the enormous diversity of this music, the ratings demonstrated accurate and cross-culturally reliable inferences about song functions on the basis of song forms alone

Form and Function in Human Song. Samuel A. Mehr et al. Current Biology, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.12.042

Highlights
•People in 60 countries listened to songs from 86 mostly small-scale societies
•They successfully inferred song functions on the basis of song form alone
•Listener ratings were guided by both contextual and musical features of the songs
•Human song therefore exhibits widespread form-function associations

Summary: Humans use music for a variety of social functions: we sing to accompany dance, to soothe babies, to heal illness, to communicate love, and so on. Across animal taxa, vocalization forms are shaped by their functions, including in humans. Here, we show that vocal music exhibits recurrent, distinct, and cross-culturally robust form-function relations that are detectable by listeners across the globe. In Experiment 1 , internet users (n = 750) in 60 countries listened to brief excerpts of songs, rating each song’s function on six dimensions (e.g., “used to soothe a baby”). Excerpts were drawn from a geographically stratified pseudorandom sample of dance songs, lullabies, healing songs, and love songs recorded in 86 mostly small-scale societies, including hunter-gatherers, pastoralists, and subsistence farmers. Experiment 1 and its analysis plan were pre-registered. Despite participants’ unfamiliarity with the societies represented, the random sampling of each excerpt, their very short duration (14 s), and the enormous diversity of this music, the ratings demonstrated accurate and cross-culturally reliable inferences about song functions on the basis of song forms alone. In Experiment 2 , internet users (n = 1,000) in the United States and India rated three contextual features (e.g., gender of singer) and seven musical features (e.g., melodic complexity) of each excerpt. The songs’ contextual features were predictive of Experiment 1 function ratings, but musical features and the songs’ actual functions explained unique variance in function ratings. These findings are consistent with the existence of universal links between form and function in vocal music.

Keywords: music, song, form, function, vocalization, culture, evolution, diversity, universality

The Rising Importance of Muscularity in the Thin Ideal Female Body

Thin Is In? Think Again: The Rising Importance of Muscularity in the Thin Ideal Female Body. Frances Bozsik et al. Sex Roles, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-017-0886-0

Abstract: Research has documented an increased emphasis on fitness in media targeting women. However, it is unclear whether this emphasis has resulted in increased muscularity in the perceived ideal female body shape. We sought to evaluate whether the ideal female figure has incorporated increased muscularity into the existing ideal body type that already emphasizes thinness. In Study 1, 78 female undergraduates evaluated images of U.S. beauty pageant winners over the past 15 years on dimensions of thinness, muscularity, and attractiveness. Results indicated that muscularity and thinness ratings of pageant winners significantly increased over time. In Study 2, 64 female undergraduates evaluated two different versions of the same image of a model: a Thin Muscular image and a Thin Only image in which the appearance of muscularity was removed through digital editing. When images were presented in pairs, results indicated that participants found the Thin Muscular image more attractive than the Thin Only image. These results suggest that the current perceived ideal female figure includes both extreme thinness and muscularity and that women prefer this muscular thin figure to a solely thin figure. These findings have implications for clinical treatments related to body image, compulsive exercise, and media literacy.

Will a household return a letter that has been incorrectly addressed? On average, we find that half of all letters were returned

The Misaddressed Letter Experiment. Gweneth Leigh & Andrew Leigh. Applied Economics Letters, https://doi.org/10.1080/13504851.2018.1430323

ABSTRACT: We design a new field experiment to test pro-social behaviour: will a household return a letter that has been incorrectly addressed? On average, we find that half of all letters were returned. Return rates do not vary significantly according to the gender, race or ethnicity of the fictitious addressee. However, return rates are higher in more affluent neighbourhoods.

KEYWORDS: Field experiments, discrimination, altruism

Back burners are desired prospective romantic/sexual partners that people communicate with to establish a future romantic or sexual relationship. Singles did not differ from those in committed romances in the number of back burners reported

Maintaining Relationship Alternatives Electronically: Positive Relationship Maintenance in Back Burner Relationships. Jayson L. Dibble, Narissra M. Punyanunt-Carter & Michelle Drouin. Communication Research Reports, https://doi.org/10.1080/08824096.2018.1425985

Abstract: Back burners are desired prospective romantic/sexual partners that people communicate with to establish a future romantic or sexual relationship. We surveyed 658 college students about the extent to which they reported using various positive relationship maintenance strategies (positivity, openness, assurances) during communication with their most important back burner. Consistent with previous research, singles did not differ from those in committed romances in the number of back burners reported; however, singles and casual daters utilized the positive maintenance strategies to a greater extent than did those in committed relationships. Men reported using more assurances than did women, but the sexes did not differ on the other strategies utilized. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Keywords: Back Burners, Casual Sexual Relationships, Communication Technology, Interpersonal Communication, Positive Relationship Maintenance Behaviors