Sample of 2364 apartment buildings in 48 US states: 60% of names contained nature words, 6% contained nature-analogous, and only 32% contained non-nature words

Home is where the nature is: A content analysis of apartment complexes. Rebecka Hahnel, Aaron Goetz. Human Behavior and Evolution Society 31st annual meeting. Boston 2019. http://tiny.cc/aa1w6y

Abstract: Natural selection resulted in human’s evolved preferences and motivations to seek landscapes that provide lush resources while avoiding life-threatening risks (Orians, 1980). These evolved preferences may influence several aspects of modernday society—including how we manipulate our urban environment. In our study, we explored the relationship between evolved landscape preferences and naming conventions of new constructions—specifically apartment complexes. We hypothesized there would be more nature words in apartment complex names than non-nature words. A content analysis of 2,364 names of apartment buildings was conducted utilizing a program that makes use of Google Maps to gather names from each of the 48 contiguous states of the United States of America. Each apartment name was rated as having nature words (e.g., river, arbor), nature-analogous words (e.g., summer, ranch), or non-nature words (e.g., 4th street, Washington). Sixty percent (n = 1428) of apartment buildings contained nature words, 6% (n = 158) contained nature-analogous, and only 32% (n =807) contained non-nature words (ꭕ2 (2, 2364) = 606.550, p < 0.001). Results supported our hypothesis that there are statistically more nature words than non-nature words in the names of apartment buildings. Our landscape preferences may affect how developers name our homesteads—exploiting our biophilia.

Building upon recent insights that morality evolves to secure fitness advantages of cooperation, we propose that conservation ethics is based in interest in cooperation between humans & non-humans

Value of species and the evolution of conservation ethics. Darragh Hare, Bernd Blossey, H. Kern Reeve. Human Behavior and Evolution Society 31st annual meeting. Boston 2019. http://tiny.cc/aa1w6y

Abstract: The theory of evolution by natural selection can help explain why people care about other species. Building upon recent insights that morality evolves to secure fitness advantages of cooperation, we propose that conservation ethics (moral beliefs, attitudes, intuitions and norms regarding other species) could be adaptations that support cooperation between humans and non-humans. We present eco-evolutionary cost–benefit models of conservation behaviors as interspecific cooperation (altruism towards members of other species). We find that an evolutionary rule identical in structure to Hamilton's rule (which explains altruistic behavior towards related conspecifics) can explain altruistic behavior towards members of other species. Natural selection will favor traits for selectively altering the success of members of other species (e.g. conserving them) in ways that maximize inclusive fitness return benefits. Conservation behaviors and the ethics that evolve to reinforce them will be sensitive to local ecological and socio-cultural conditions, so will assume different contours in different places. Difficulties accurately assessing costs and benefits provided by other species, time required to adapt to ecological and socio-cultural change and barriers to collective action could explain the apparent contradiction between the widespread existence of conservation ethics and patterns of biodiversity decline globally.
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsos.181038

Is altruistic punishment altruistic?

Is altruistic punishment altruistic? Ricardo Andrés Guzmán, Cristián Candia, Leda Cosmides, Carlos Rodriguez-Sickert. Human Behavior and Evolution Society 31st annual meeting. Boston 2019. http://tiny.cc/aa1w6y

Abstract: The aim of this investigation is to determine if altruistic punishment in social dilemmas is a robust phenomenon or an artifact of the standard experimental designs, as some authors have suggested (Carpenter and Matthews 2012; Pedersen, Kurzban, and McCullough 2013). To this end we have designed a variant of the public good game with peer punishment. In our public good game, a group of subjects is partitioned into subgroups that play a one-shot public good game. After the game finishes the subjects can punish free riders, even if they belong to other subgroups. Unlike standard social dilemma experiments, our experimental design allows to discriminate altruistic punishment (for the sake of the group) from self-interested punishment (for the sake of the individual who punishes). We hypothesize that the selfish and altruistic (if there is any) motivations will combine in the PG case (N=4) where no subgroups are created, so punishment in this case will be greater than selfish punishment with respect to the case in which experimental subjects participate in two simultaneous prisoner dilemma games. In addition, our experimental design eliminates several artifacts of standard experiments, such as demand characteristics and the preclusion of the bystander effect.

Sexual concordance, matching of self-reported sexual orientation & genital response when introduced to erotic stimuli (audio, visual, audiovisual, etc.), is very low for heterosexual cisgender women

The mystery of low sexual concordance among heterosexual cisgender females. Jesse E. Kavieff, Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford, Zach W. Sundin, Todd K. Shackelford. Human Behavior and Evolution Society 31st annual meeting. Boston 2019. http://tiny.cc/aa1w6y

Abstract: Sexual concordance (SC) refers to matching of self-reported sexual orientation (SO) and genital response when introduced to erotic stimuli (audio, visual, audiovisual, etc.). Men of all SO demonstrate high SC (i.e., near 100%) when exposed to erotic stimuli (Mustanski, Chivers, & Bailey, 2002; Chivers, 2005, 2017; Chivers et. al, 2004; Chivers & Bailey 2005;). Queer cisgender women and transgender women across the SO also match reported sexual orientation to genital response with high SC (Chivers, 2017; Chivers et. al, 2004, 2015; Lawrence et. al, 2005). Cisgender heterosexual Females (CHF), however, show relatively low SC in comparison to cisgender queer, transgender women and men. Furthermore, CHF show slight genital lubrication response to nonhuman mating videos (Chivers, & Bailey, 2005). Genital response and arousal in CHF is marked by vasocongestion in the clitoris and vagina, vaginal pulsation measured by vaginal photoplesmagraph, and by lubrication released from the Skene's and Bartholin's glands. Low SC in CHF is analyzed by both the preparation hypothesis (byproduct hypothesis) and the greater variability in sexual rewards among androphilic women hypothesis (adaptation hypothesis) (Sushinsky & Lalumiere, 2004; Chivers, 2017); more research is required to better understand female sexuality and perhaps discourage misdiagnoses of sexual dysfunction in CHF.

Check also A Life History Approach to the Female Sexual Orientation Spectrum: Evolution, Development, Causal Mechanisms, and Health. Severi Luoto, Indrikis Krams, Markus J. Rantala. Archives of Sexual Behavior, https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/09/feedback-loop-of-environmental.html

And Are Women Sexually Fluid? The Nature of Female Same-Sex Attraction and Its Evolutionary Origins. Menelaos Apostolou. Evolutionary Psychological Science, https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/11/are-women-sexually-fluid-nature-of.html

And The evolution of female same-sex attraction: The male choice hypothesis. Menelaos Apostolou et al. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 116, 1 October 2017, Pages 372-378, http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/08/the-evolution-of-female-same-sex.html

Biologically defined Alzheimer disease is more prevalent than clinically defined probable Alzheimer disease at any age and is 3 times more prevalent at age 85 for both men and women

Prevalence of Biologically vs Clinically Defined Alzheimer Spectrum Entities Using the National Institute on Aging–Alzheimer’s Association Research Framework. Clifford R. Jack Jr et al. JAMA Neurol. Published online July 15, 2019. doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2019.1971

Key Points
Question  How does the prevalence of 3 imaging biomarker–based definitions of the Alzheimer disease spectrum from the National Institute on Aging–Alzheimer’s Association research framework compare with clinically defined diagnostic entities commonly linked with Alzheimer disease?

Findings  Among a sample of 5213 individuals from Olmsted County, Minnesota, in this population-based cohort study, biologically defined Alzheimer disease is more prevalent than clinically diagnosed probable Alzheimer disease at any age and is 3 times more prevalent at age 85 years among both women and men.

Meaning  Most patients with biologically defined Alzheimer disease are not symptomatic, which creates potential confusion around the definition of Alzheimer disease.

Abstract
Importance  A National Institute on Aging–Alzheimer’s Association (NIA-AA) workgroup recently published a research framework in which Alzheimer disease is defined by neuropathologic or biomarker evidence of β-amyloid plaques and tau tangles and not by clinical symptoms.

Objectives  To estimate the sex- and age-specific prevalence of 3 imaging biomarker–based definitions of the Alzheimer disease spectrum from the NIA-AA research framework and to compare these entities with clinically defined diagnostic entities commonly linked with Alzheimer disease.

Design, Setting, and Participants  The Mayo Clinic Study of Aging (MCSA) is a population-based cohort study of cognitive aging in Olmsted County, Minnesota. The MCSA in-person participants (n = 4660) and passively ascertained (ie, through the medical record rather than in-person) individuals with dementia (n = 553) aged 60 to 89 years were included. Subsets underwent amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) (n = 1524) or both amyloid and tau PET (n = 576). Therefore, this study included 3 nested cohorts examined between November 29, 2004, and June 5, 2018. Data were analyzed between February 19, 2018, and March 26, 2019.

Main Outcomes and Measures  The sex- and age-specific prevalence of the following 3 biologically defined diagnostic entities was estimated: Alzheimer continuum (abnormal amyloid regardless of tau status), Alzheimer pathologic change (abnormal amyloid but normal tau), and Alzheimer disease (abnormal amyloid and tau). These were compared with the prevalence of 3 clinically defined diagnostic groups (mild cognitive impairment or dementia, dementia, and clinically defined probable Alzheimer disease).

Results  The median (interquartile range) age was 77 (72-83) years in the clinical cohort (n = 5213 participants), 77 (70-83) years in the amyloid PET cohort (n = 1524 participants), and 77 (69-83) years in the tau PET cohort (n = 576 participants). There were roughly equal numbers of women and men. The prevalence of all diagnostic entities (biological and clinical) increased rapidly with age, with the exception of Alzheimer pathologic change. The prevalence of biological Alzheimer disease was greater than clinically defined probable Alzheimer disease for women and men. Among women, these values were 10% (95% CI, 6%-14%) vs 1% (95% CI, 1%-1%) at age 70 years and 33% (95% CI, 25%-41%) vs 10% (95% CI, 9%-12%) at age 85 years (P < .001). Among men, these values were 9% (95% CI, 5%-12%) vs 1% (95% CI, 0%-1%) at age 70 years and 31% (95% CI, 24%-38%) vs 9% (95% CI, 8%-11%) at age 85 years (P < .001). The only notable difference by sex was a greater prevalence of the mild cognitive impairment or dementia clinical category among men than women.

Conclusions and Relevance  Results of this study suggest that biologically defined Alzheimer disease is more prevalent than clinically defined probable Alzheimer disease at any age and is 3 times more prevalent at age 85 years among both women and men. This difference is mostly driven by asymptomatic individuals with biological Alzheimer disease. These findings illustrate the magnitude of the consequences on public health that potentially exist by intervening with disease-specific treatments to prevent symptom onset.


Introduction

Since 1984, a diagnosis of probable Alzheimer disease has been based on clinical findings of a progressive amnestic multidomain cognitive impairment culminating in dementia after other potential causes were excluded.1-3 Neuropathologic identification of β-amyloid plaques and tau tangles has always been required for a definite diagnosis of Alzheimer disease. Numerous studies have identified discrepancies between the clinical syndrome and the neuropathologic diagnosis of Alzheimer disease.4 Many individuals who meet neuropathologic criteria either do not have symptoms or have symptoms that differ from the classic amnestic presentation. National Institute on Aging–Alzheimer’s Association (NIA-AA) committees in 2011 and the International Work Group addressed this conundrum by adding biomarkers to clinical criteria to improve the specificity of the clinical diagnosis.3,5-8 These modified clinical diagnostic criteria cast Alzheimer disease as a clinical biomarker entity, but the diagnosis was not divorced from clinical impairment.3,5-8 The NIA-AA 2011 preclinical Alzheimer disease recommendations were an exception,9 as were the 2012 NIA-AA neuropathologic guidelines, which separated the neuropathologic definition of Alzheimer disease from the clinical syndrome.10,11

Building on the work above, a workgroup commissioned by the NIA-AA recently published a research framework12 defining Alzheimer disease biologically throughout its entire course. Alzheimer disease was defined either by neuropathologic examination or, in living persons, by positron emission tomography (PET) or biofluid biomarkers of the 2 hallmark diagnostic proteinopathies, namely, β-amyloid plaques and tau neurofibrillary tangles. The NIA-AA research framework harmonized the in vivo with the previously established neuropathologic10,11 definition of Alzheimer disease.

Epidemiologic studies estimating the prevalence of Alzheimer disease have typically used the clinical criteria by McKhann et al1,3 to define the condition. The new NIA-AA research framework12 leads to the following question: what is the prevalence of Alzheimer disease defined biologically using biomarkers compared with the prevalence using conventional definitions based on clinical symptoms? To address this question in the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging (MCSA) population, we estimated the sex- and age-specific prevalence of 3 imaging biomarker–based definitions of the Alzheimer disease spectrum from the NIA-AA research framework and compared these estimates with the prevalence of clinically defined diagnostic entities commonly linked with Alzheimer disease. Although biomarkers are now commonly used in aging and dementia research, most cohorts deeply phenotyped by biomarkers are clinic based and not population based. However, the MCSA is a population-based sample (ie, a random sample from a defined geographic area) with deep biomarker phenotyping.


In Discussion:

A biological definition leads to an increase in the apparent prevalence of Alzheimer disease compared with a syndromal definition. This is not surprising; the same is true for any other disease (eg, cancer, diabetes, etc) in which tests can detect disease in both symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals. Even though there are no therapies proven to alter clinical outcomes, our data illustrate that a significant opportunity exists to influence public health by intervention in the preclinical phase of the disease if that proves to be efficacious.^56-58 As other late-life diseases become better controlled, there is an imperative to delay or prevent symptoms due to Alzheimer disease; otherwise, those gains in life expectancy will be transformed into longer life with dementia. Intervention to prevent symptom onset was explicitly identified as a major public health objective in the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease.³⁶

13,871 children aged 9 to 12: Weak relationships emerged between digital media use & subjective well-being; heavy users nonetheless are almost twice as likely to suffer from low levels of well-being

Does the use of digital media affect psychological well-being? An empirical test among children aged 9 to 12. Helena Bruggeman et al. Computers in Human Behavior, July 16 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.07.015

Highlights
•    A sample of 13,871 children aged 9 to 12 was collected.
•    Weak relationships emerged between digital media use and subjective well-being. Heavy users nonetheless are almost twice as likely to suffer from low levels of well-being.
•    Almost 20% of the children had a Facebook profile.
•    Online social network effects on well-being dissipated when taking into account offline relations.
•    Studies should investigate the long term effects of digital media use of young children.

Abstract: Does digital media use support or undermine psychological well-being? This question has not only elicited a lot of attention in the popular media, but it also has been investigated empirically in scientific literature. Much of these studies have been conducted in samples of adolescents and adults, reporting both positive and negative effects of digital media use on well-being, leading to at least four theoretical positions about this relationship. In each of these theories the relationship between digital media use and well-being is explained by people's social network. In the present study, we address the question whether digital media use is related to psychological well-being in a large sample (N = 13,871) of children aged 9–12 year. The results revealed rather weak linear relationships (r's < 0.10), but at the same time it has been shown that highest frequency users of digital media in terms of daily use had a relative risk of 2.0 and beyond to score lower on well-being. In the specific group of children who have a Facebook profile (N = 2,528, 18.2%), their offline social network was a much stronger predictor of well-being compared to their online social network. Based on these cross sectional results, it is concluded that heavy use of digital media by young children has an adverse impact on their psychological well-being, but that mild use of such media has very limited effects in this respect.

Rolf Deggen summarizing... Sex differences in personality are large if measured in combination. Successful replication of provocative finding.

Global Sex Differences in Personality: Replication with an Open Online Dataset. Tim Kaiser, Marco del Giudice, Tom Booth. Journal of Personality, July 2019. DOI: 10.1111/jopy.12500

Abstract
Objective: Sex differences in personality are a matter of continuing debate. In a study on the US standardization sample of Cattell’s 16PF (fifth edition), Del Giudice and colleagues (2012; PLoS ONE, 7, e29265) estimated global sex differences in personality with multigroup covariance and mean structure analysis (MG-CMSA). The study found a surprisingly large multivariate effect, D = 2.71. Here we replicated the original analysis with an open online dataset employing an equivalent version of the 16PF.

Method: We closely replicated the original MG-MCSA analysis on N = 21,567 US participants (63% females, age 16-90); for robustness, we also analyzed N = 31,637 participants across English-speaking countries (61% females, age 16-90).

Results: The size of global sex differences was D = 2.06 in the US and D = 2.10 across English-speaking countries. Parcel-allocation variability analysis showed that results were robust to changes in parceling (US: median D = 2.09, IQR [1.89, 2.37]; English-speaking countries: median D = 2.17, IQR [1.98, 2.47]).

Conclusions: Our results corroborate the original study (with a comparable if somewhat smaller effect size) and provide new information on the impact of parcel allocation. We discuss the implications of these and similar findings for the psychology of sex differences

Nighttime crime: Interaction of full moon light and street light

Kaplan, Jacob, The Effect of Moonlight on Outdoor Nighttime Crime (April 9, 2019). SSRN, http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3369228

Abstract: The use of outdoor lighting, particularly through street lights, is a common tool for policy makers attempting to reduce crime. Research on the effect of lights on crime, however, are limited as installing or improving street lighting may affect the community in ways beyond merely increasing outdoor lighting. Welsh and Farrington’s (2008) study suggested that improving street lighting may also improve informal social control in the area as it reflects improved street usage and investments in the community. This paper uses moonlight as a unique measure of outdoor ambient lighting that avoids the issue of community cohesion and examines the effect of lighting directly. The amount of actual moonlight a city receives each night is measured using the interaction between the percent of the moon illuminated and the proportion of the night without clouds. This interaction creates significant variation in moonlight between cities and across nights in the same city. Contrary to past research on lighting, this study finds that brighter nights, those with a full moon and no clouds, have significantly more crime than nights without any moonlight. These results suggest that there are heterogeneous effects of outdoor lighting by dosage and that more research on possible criminogenic effects of low dosages of outdoor lights are needed.

Keywords: CPTED, crime prevention, school crime

Perceived differences in moral values increased hurting & decreased helping behavior, and are strongly correlated to perceived differences in political ideology, for both liberals & conservatives

When moral identity harms: The impact of perceived differences in core values on helping and hurting. Sarah Gotowie. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 151, December 1 2019, 109489, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.06.032

Highlights
•    Moral identity does not unequivocally predict helping behavior.
•    Conservatism and liberalism do not predict willingness to harm.
•    Moral values are central to political values.

Abstract: This research investigates moral self-regulatory individual differences and perceived differences in core moral-political values as predictors of helping and hurting behavior in liberals and conservatives. Study 1 (N = 249) demonstrated that self-reported liberals and conservatives do not differ on moral disengagement, moral identity, or trait aggression. Study 2 (N = 149) used an online version of the Tangram Task paradigm and showed that perceived differences in moral values: i) predict increased hurting and decreased helping behavior, ii) interact with moral identity to strengthen the relationship between moral disengagement and hurting behavior, and iii) are strongly correlated to perceived differences in political ideology. These patterns were similar for both liberals and conservatives. These studies demonstrate that moral identity does not unequivocally predict helping behavior, conservatism and liberalism do not predict willingness to harm one another, and that moral values are central to political values. The findings are discussed in relation to ideological conflict hypothesis and moral self-regulation literature, along with applied implications.

Harlequin romance novels' covert art: As time progresses, the covers focus more on the couple (at the exclusion of other individuals), & portray stronger intimacy, given shifts in socio-cultural permissiveness

A temporal analysis of cover art on Harlequin romance novels. Maryanne L. Fisher, Tami M. Meredith. Human Behavior and Evolution Society 31st annual meeting. Boston 2019. http://tiny.cc/aa1w6y

Abstract: We present an analysis of Harlequin romance novel cover images that we used to determine women’s evolved mating behaviours, as well socio-cultural change in issues such as gender norms. We analyzed 500 covers from the 1950s until 2014. Our findings show that as time progresses, the covers focus more on the couple (at the exclusion of other individuals), and portray stronger intimacy as indicated by more reclining poses, more physical contact, more interaction, and increased direct eye gaze between the couple. We contend that although the covers have always addressed female mate preferences and interests due to the fact that the overwhelming majority of readers are women, the covers have become increasingly explicit in terms of sexuality and intimacy given shifts in socio-cultural permissiveness. Therefore, Harlequin romance novel covers represent an innovative way to examine evolutionary and sociocultural forces pertaining to women’s sexuality and mating interests

Those women who espoused anti-feminist values—that is, those high in hostile sexism—had faked significantly more orgasms over their lifetime

Beliefs About Gender Predict Faking Orgasm in Heterosexual Women. Emily A. Harris, Matthew J. Hornsey, Hannah F. Larsen, Fiona Kate Barlow. Archives of Sexual Behavior, July 15 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-019-01510-2

Abstract: The majority of women have faked an orgasm at least once in their lives. In the current study, we assessed how women’s worldviews about gender relate to their faking orgasm behavior. A survey of 462 heterosexual women from the UK (Mage=38.38 years) found that those who espoused anti-feminist values—that is, those high in hostile sexism—had faked significantly more orgasms over their lifetime. In contrast, those who espoused ostensibly positive but restrictive ideas of gender relations—that is, those high in benevolent sexism—had faked significantly fewer orgasms over their lifetime. Furthermore, the more that women believed female orgasm was necessary for men’s sexual gratification, the more likely they were to have faked an orgasm at least once in their lives compared to women who had never faked an orgasm. These effects were small to moderate and emerged after controlling for demographics, sexual history, ease of orgasm, and previously established psychological correlates of faking orgasm, including suspected partner infidelity and intrasexual competition.


Keywords: Faking orgasm Ideology Hostile sexism Benevolent sexism Gender



Check also Motivations for faking orgasm and orgasm consistency among young adult women. Michael D. Barnett et al. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 149, 15 October 2019, Pages 83-87. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2019/06/women-who-faked-orgasm-in-order-to.html