At Least Bias Is Bipartisan: A Meta-Analytic Comparison of Partisan Bias in Liberals and Conservatives. Peter H. Ditto et al. Perspectives on Psychological Science, https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691617746796
Abstract: Both liberals and conservatives accuse their political opponents of partisan bias, but is there empirical evidence that one side of the political aisle is indeed more biased than the other? To address this question, we meta-analyzed the results of 51 experimental studies, involving over 18,000 participants, that examined one form of partisan bias—the tendency to evaluate otherwise identical information more favorably when it supports one’s political beliefs or allegiances than when it challenges those beliefs or allegiances. Two hypotheses based on previous literature were tested: an asymmetry hypothesis (predicting greater partisan bias in conservatives than in liberals) and a symmetry hypothesis (predicting equal levels of partisan bias in liberals and conservatives). Mean overall partisan bias was robust (r = .245), and there was strong support for the symmetry hypothesis: Liberals (r = .235) and conservatives (r = .255) showed no difference in mean levels of bias across studies. Moderator analyses reveal this pattern to be consistent across a number of different methodological variations and political topics. Implications of the current findings for the ongoing ideological symmetry debate and the role of partisan bias in scientific discourse and political conflict are discussed.
Keywords: bias, motivated reasoning, ideology, politics, meta-analysis
Thursday, May 31, 2018
Do Attitudes Toward Societal Structure Predict Beliefs About Free Will and Achievement? Evidence from the Indian Caste Syste
Srinivasan, Mahesh, Yarrow Dunham, Catherine Hicks, and David Barner 2018. “Do Attitudes Toward Societal Structure Predict Beliefs About Free Will and Achievement? Evidence from the Indian Caste System”. PsyArXiv. May 31. doi:10.17605/OSF.IO/43VDN
Abstract: Intuitive theories about the malleability of intellectual ability affect our motivation and achievement in life. But how are such theories shaped by the culture in which an individual is raised? We addressed this question by exploring how Indian children’s and adults’ attitudes toward the Hindu caste system – and its deterministic worldview – are related to differences in their intuitive theories. Strikingly, we found that, beginning at least in middle school and continuing into adulthood, individuals who placed more importance on caste were more likely to adopt deterministic intuitive theories. We also found a developmental change in the scope of this relationship, such that in children, caste attitudes were linked only to abstract beliefs about personal freedom, but that by adulthood, caste attitudes were also linked to beliefs about the potential achievement of members of different castes, personal intellectual ability, and personality attributes. These results are the first to directly relate the societal structure in which a person is raised to the specific intuitive theories they adopt.
Abstract: Intuitive theories about the malleability of intellectual ability affect our motivation and achievement in life. But how are such theories shaped by the culture in which an individual is raised? We addressed this question by exploring how Indian children’s and adults’ attitudes toward the Hindu caste system – and its deterministic worldview – are related to differences in their intuitive theories. Strikingly, we found that, beginning at least in middle school and continuing into adulthood, individuals who placed more importance on caste were more likely to adopt deterministic intuitive theories. We also found a developmental change in the scope of this relationship, such that in children, caste attitudes were linked only to abstract beliefs about personal freedom, but that by adulthood, caste attitudes were also linked to beliefs about the potential achievement of members of different castes, personal intellectual ability, and personality attributes. These results are the first to directly relate the societal structure in which a person is raised to the specific intuitive theories they adopt.
Wealth, Slave Ownership, and Fighting for the Confederacy: Modest increases of wealth among the poorest individuals affects their propensity to fight
Wealth, Slave Ownership, and Fighting for the Confederacy: An Empirical Study of the American Civil War. Andrew B. Hall, Connor Hu, Shiro Kuriwaki. February 10, 2018.
Abstract: How did personal wealth affect the likelihood southerners fought for the Confederate Army inthe American Civil War? We offer competing accounts for how we should expect individual wealth, in the form of land, and atrociously, in slaves, to a ect white men's decisions to join the Confederate Army. We assemble a dataset on roughly 3.9 million white citizens in Confederate states, and we show that slaveowners were more likely to ght in the Confederate Army than non-slaveowners. To see if these links are causal, we exploit a randomized land lottery in 19th-century Georgia. Households of lottery winners owned more slaves in 1850 and were more likely to have sons who fought in the Confederate Army than were households who did not win the lottery. Our results suggest that for wealthy southerners, the stakes associated with the conflict's threat to end the institution of slavery overrode the incentives to free-ride and to avoid paying the costs of war.
Abstract: How did personal wealth affect the likelihood southerners fought for the Confederate Army inthe American Civil War? We offer competing accounts for how we should expect individual wealth, in the form of land, and atrociously, in slaves, to a ect white men's decisions to join the Confederate Army. We assemble a dataset on roughly 3.9 million white citizens in Confederate states, and we show that slaveowners were more likely to ght in the Confederate Army than non-slaveowners. To see if these links are causal, we exploit a randomized land lottery in 19th-century Georgia. Households of lottery winners owned more slaves in 1850 and were more likely to have sons who fought in the Confederate Army than were households who did not win the lottery. Our results suggest that for wealthy southerners, the stakes associated with the conflict's threat to end the institution of slavery overrode the incentives to free-ride and to avoid paying the costs of war.
Arabian babblers (a bird) concealed 100% of copulations; did not prefer to copulate under shelters; concealed mating solicitations from adult conspecifics; and subordinates did not attack dominants who courted the female
Why conceal? Evidence for concealed sex by dominant Arabian babblers (Turdoides squamiceps). Yitzchak Ben Mocha, Roger Mundry, Simone Pika. Evolution and Human Behavior, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2018.05.009
Abstract: Striking uniformity exists in humans' preference to conceal sexual activity from conspecifics' view. Yet, little is known about the selective pressures acting upon its evolution. To investigate this question, we studied the cooperatively breeding Arabian babbler (Turdoides squamiceps), which has been suggested being the only other species where dominant individuals conceal sex regularly. We examined whether birds indeed conceal sex and tested different hypotheses, postulating that sex concealment functions to avoid predators, signal dominance status, or to avoid social interference. The results showed that birds concealed 100% of copulations; did not prefer to copulate under shelters; concealed mating solicitations from adult conspecifics; and that subordinates did not attack dominants who courted the female. We argue that none of the hypotheses tested explains our findings satisfactorily and postulate that dominants conceal sex to maintain cooperation with those helpers they prevent from mating. Empirical desiderata for testing this ‘Cooperation-Maintenance’ hypothesis are discussed.
Keywords: Arabian babbler; Concealed sex; Cooperatively breeding species; Human sexual behaviour; Tactical deception; Cooperation maintenance hypothesis
Abstract: Striking uniformity exists in humans' preference to conceal sexual activity from conspecifics' view. Yet, little is known about the selective pressures acting upon its evolution. To investigate this question, we studied the cooperatively breeding Arabian babbler (Turdoides squamiceps), which has been suggested being the only other species where dominant individuals conceal sex regularly. We examined whether birds indeed conceal sex and tested different hypotheses, postulating that sex concealment functions to avoid predators, signal dominance status, or to avoid social interference. The results showed that birds concealed 100% of copulations; did not prefer to copulate under shelters; concealed mating solicitations from adult conspecifics; and that subordinates did not attack dominants who courted the female. We argue that none of the hypotheses tested explains our findings satisfactorily and postulate that dominants conceal sex to maintain cooperation with those helpers they prevent from mating. Empirical desiderata for testing this ‘Cooperation-Maintenance’ hypothesis are discussed.
Keywords: Arabian babbler; Concealed sex; Cooperatively breeding species; Human sexual behaviour; Tactical deception; Cooperation maintenance hypothesis
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