Young infants expect an unfamiliar adult to comfort a crying baby: Evidence from a standard violation-of-expectation task and a novel infant-triggered-video task

Young infants expect an unfamiliar adult to comfort a crying baby: Evidence from a standard violation-of-expectation task and a novel infant-triggered-video task. Kyong-sunJin  et al. Cognitive Psychology, Volume 102, May 2018, Pages 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogpsych.2017.12.004

Highlights
•    We examined whether young infants would expect an adult to comfort a crying baby.
•    12- and 4-mo-olds showed this expectation in a standard violation-of-expectation task.
•    8-mo-olds showed this expectation in a new forced-choice infant-triggered-video task.
•    Expectations about comforting actions are already present early in life.
•    Our findings constrain theoretical accounts of early prosociality and morality.

Abstract: Do infants expect individuals to act prosocially toward others in need, at least in some contexts? Very few such expectations have been uncovered to date. In three experiments, we examined whether infants would expect an adult alone in a scene with a crying baby to attempt to comfort the baby. In the first two experiments, 12- and 4-month-olds were tested using the standard violation-of-expectation method. Infants saw videotaped events in which a woman was performing a household chore when a baby nearby began to cry; the woman either comforted (comfort event) or ignored (ignore event) the baby. Infants looked significantly longer at the ignore than at the comfort event, and this effect was eliminated if the baby laughed instead of cried. In the third experiment, 8-month-olds were tested using a novel forced-choice violation-of-expectation method, the infant-triggered-video method. Infants faced two computer monitors and were first shown that touching the monitors triggered events: One monitor presented the comfort event and the other monitor presented the ignore event. Infants then chose which event they wanted to watch again by touching the corresponding monitor. Infants significantly chose the ignore over the comfort event, and this effect was eliminated if the baby laughed. Thus, across ages and methods, infants provided converging evidence that they expected the adult to comfort the crying baby. These results indicate that expectations about individuals’ actions toward others in need are already present in the first year of life, and, as such, they constrain theoretical accounts of early prosociality and morality.

Exposure to predators does not lead to the evolution of larger brains in experimental populations of threespine stickleback

Samuk, K., Xue, J. and Rennision, D. J. (), Exposure to predators does not lead to the evolution of larger brains in experimental populations of threespine stickleback. Evolution. Accepted Author Manuscript. doi:10.1111/evo.13444

Abstract: Natural selection is often invoked to explain differences in brain size among vertebrates. However, the particular agents of selection that shape brain size variation remain obscure. Recent studies suggest that predators may select for larger brains because increased cognitive and sensory abilities allow prey to better elude predators. Yet, there is little direct evidence that exposure to predators causes the evolution of larger brains in prey species. We experimentally tested this prediction by exposing families of 1000–2000 F2 hybrid benthic-limnetic threespine stickleback to predators under naturalistic conditions, along with matched controls. After two generations of selection, we found that fish from the predator addition treatment had significantly smaller brains (specifically smaller telencephalons and optic lobes) than fish from the control treatment. After an additional generation of selection, we reared experimental fish in a common environment and found that this difference in brain size was maintained in the offspring of fish from the predator addition treatment. Our results provide direct experimental evidence that (a) predators can indeed drive the evolution of brain size – but not in the fashion commonly expected and (b) that the tools of experimental evolution can be used to the study the evolution of the vertebrate brain.

Causal effect of beliefs about skill on risky choices: Low (high) skill subjects are more (less) willing to take risks on gambles where the probabilities depend on relative skill

How do beliefs about skill affect risky decisions? Adrian Bruhin, Luís Santos-Pinto, David Staubli. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2018.01.016

Highlights
•    In this paper, we use a laboratory experiment to study the causal effect of beliefs about skill on risky choices.
•    The paper offers an innovative experimental test that is free of strategic confounds and based on revealed preference.
•    Low (high) skill subjects are more (less) willing to take risks on gambles where the probabilities depend on relative skill.
•    This suggests that the wrong people may engage in risky activities V such as entering competitive markets or career paths V while the right people may be crowded out.
•    Revealed beliefs are only moderately correlated with stated beliefs and so relying only on stated beliefs may be misleading.

Abstract: Beliefs about relative skill matter for risky decisions such as market entry, career choices, and financial investments. Yet in most laboratory experiments risk is exogenously given and beliefs about relative skill play no role. We use a laboratory experiment without strategy confounds to isolate the impact of beliefs about relative skill on risky choices. We find that low (high) skill individuals are more (less) willing to take risks on gambles where the probabilities depend on relative skill than on gambles with exogenously given probabilities. This happens because low (high) skill individuals overestimate (underestimate) their relative skill. Consequently, the wrong people may engage in risky activities where performance is based on relative skill while the right people may be crowded out.

Keywords: Individual risk taking behavior; Self-confidence; Laboratory experiment

Less married or commited people view watching pornography as infedility, compared to the uncommited. Likely reason is the contact with reality once we are in a commited relationship

Is Viewing Sexually Explicit Material Cheating on Your Partner? A Comparison Between the United States and Spain. Charles Negy et al. Archives of Sexual Behavior, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-017-1125-z

Abstract: This cross-sectional study examined whether university students from the U.S. (n = 392) and Spain (n = 200) considered the viewing of sexually explicit material (SEM) to be tantamount to committing infidelity. Participants’ ages ranged from 18 to 36 (U.S. sample) and 18 to 35 (Spain sample), respectively. At both universities, the study was made available to students via a computer program that allows recruitment and completion of the questionnaires online. It was found that the majority of U.S. and Spanish participants (73 and 77%, respectively) indicated that they did not consider viewing SEM as an act of infidelity. Also, overall, U.S. participants, those who were not currently in a relationship, and those who do not view SEM, were significantly more likely to believe that viewing SEM constituted infidelity compared to Spanish participants, those currently in a relationship, and those who view SEM. Finally, it was found that among U.S. and Spanish participants, intolerance of infidelity in general, negative attitudes toward SEM, and the proclivity for jealousy significantly correlated with believing that viewing SEM was tantamount to infidelity. For U.S. participants only, religiosity and (low) self-esteem also correlated with the belief that viewing SEM was infidelity. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Election turnout rates for women have even slightly exceeded turnout rates for men in recent elections due to the higher sense of civic duty of female citizens, which is due to higher level of conscientiousness than men

Why no gender gap in electoral participation? A civic duty explanation. Miguel Carreras. Electoral Studies, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2018.01.007

Abstract: Previous research in comparative political behavior has generated an interesting paradox. Female citizens are less likely to engage in a variety of political activities (e.g. contacting politicians and working for parties), and are less cognitively engaged with the political process (i.e. they have lower levels of political interest and political efficacy). However, for reasons that remain unclear, several cross-national surveys reveal that there is no gender gap in electoral participation. In a number of countries, such as the United States, turnout rates for women have even slightly exceeded turnout rates for men in recent elections. I argue that the main reason for this pattern is the higher sense of civic duty of female citizens. This theory is grounded in research in social psychology that demonstrates that women have a higher level of conscientiousness than men. I use data from the 2014 ISSP Citizenship module to test my theoretical expectations, and find strong support for the argument that civic duty mediates the relationship between sex and electoral participation.