Rethinking criminal investigations. John E. Eck, D. Kim Rossmo. Criminology &Public Policy, July 31 2019. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12450
Research Summary: The clearance rates for murder and other serious crimes have declined significantly for almost 60 years despite significant technological improvements in police investigations. The reasons for this are not well understood. We argue here for rethinking why, what, and how police investigators operate so as to repurpose their work for reducing crime. These changes include improved thinking by detectives to reduce investigative errors, increased focus on patterns of crimes, and better use of detective expertise in crime prevention.
Policy Implications: First, police should work to reduce investigative failures by improving investigative thinking. Second, tinkering with the administrative practices of investigative units seems unlikely to produce significant results. Third, police agencies should engage detectives in crime prevention. Finally, police agencies should connect investigations to problem solving.
Bipartisan Alliance, a Society for the Study of the US Constitution, and of Human Nature, where Republicans and Democrats meet.
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
The 2015 Volkswagen emissions scandal: A natural experiment to provide evidence that collective reputation externalities matter for firms; it reduced the U.S. sales of the other German auto manufacturers
Firms and Collective Reputation: a Study of the Volkswagen Emissions Scandal. Ruediger Bachmann, Gabriel Ehrlich, Ying Fan, Dimitrije Ruzic. NBER Working Paper No. 26117, July 2019. https://www.nber.org/papers/w26117
Abstract: This paper uses the 2015 Volkswagen emissions scandal as a natural experiment to provide evidence that collective reputation externalities matter for firms. We find that the Volkswagen scandal reduced the U.S. sales of the other German auto manufacturers—BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Smart—by about 105,000 vehicles worth $5.2 billion. The decline was principally driven by an adverse reputation spillover, which was reinforced by consumer substitution away from diesel vehicles and was partially offset by substitution away from Volkswagen. These estimates come from a model of vehicle demand, the conclusions of which are also consistent with difference-in-differences estimates. We provide direct evidence on internet search behavior and consumer sentiment displayed on social media to support our interpretation that the estimates reflect a reputation spillover.
Abstract: This paper uses the 2015 Volkswagen emissions scandal as a natural experiment to provide evidence that collective reputation externalities matter for firms. We find that the Volkswagen scandal reduced the U.S. sales of the other German auto manufacturers—BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Smart—by about 105,000 vehicles worth $5.2 billion. The decline was principally driven by an adverse reputation spillover, which was reinforced by consumer substitution away from diesel vehicles and was partially offset by substitution away from Volkswagen. These estimates come from a model of vehicle demand, the conclusions of which are also consistent with difference-in-differences estimates. We provide direct evidence on internet search behavior and consumer sentiment displayed on social media to support our interpretation that the estimates reflect a reputation spillover.
Gossipers who punish social norm violators are evaluated positively
Gossipers who punish social norm violators are evaluated positively. Mark D. Cloud, Melinda M. Funk, Jaime M. Cloud. Human Behavior and Evolution Society 31st annual meeting. Boston 2019. http://tiny.cc/aa1w6y
Abstract: Studies have shown that about 65% of human conversation is occupied by gossip. Although gossipers often are scorned, Wilson et al. (2000) predicted and found that gossipers are evaluated positively if the gossip, in response to a social norm violation, is third-party punishing rather than self-serving. In this systematic replication, we expected to find similar results recruiting participants with a broader range of backgrounds. We also added a potential moderating variable – individual differences in tendency to gossip. Using TurkPrime across two experiments, we recruited 266 participants (M age = 40.17; 53% female). For both experiments, participants read different versions of a scenario involving a social-norm violation (e.g., cattle breaking a neighbor’s fence) in which a gossiper either responded in a group-serving or selfserving manner. Subsequently, participants rated their feelings toward the gossiper and completed a tendency to gossip questionnaire. We replicated the effects found by Wilson et al. (2000) in which group-serving gossipers were evaluated positively and self-serving gossipers were evaluated negatively and further found evidence for the interactive effects of tendency to gossip and participant age on those evaluations. These findings are consistent with the notion that gossip often serves as a form of third-party punishment.
Abstract: Studies have shown that about 65% of human conversation is occupied by gossip. Although gossipers often are scorned, Wilson et al. (2000) predicted and found that gossipers are evaluated positively if the gossip, in response to a social norm violation, is third-party punishing rather than self-serving. In this systematic replication, we expected to find similar results recruiting participants with a broader range of backgrounds. We also added a potential moderating variable – individual differences in tendency to gossip. Using TurkPrime across two experiments, we recruited 266 participants (M age = 40.17; 53% female). For both experiments, participants read different versions of a scenario involving a social-norm violation (e.g., cattle breaking a neighbor’s fence) in which a gossiper either responded in a group-serving or selfserving manner. Subsequently, participants rated their feelings toward the gossiper and completed a tendency to gossip questionnaire. We replicated the effects found by Wilson et al. (2000) in which group-serving gossipers were evaluated positively and self-serving gossipers were evaluated negatively and further found evidence for the interactive effects of tendency to gossip and participant age on those evaluations. These findings are consistent with the notion that gossip often serves as a form of third-party punishment.
Incidence & causes of human error as a source of adverse events associated with surgical care: 56.4% adverse events were due to human error, of which cognitive error accounted for 51%
Analysis of Human Performance Deficiencies Associated With Surgical Adverse Events. James W. Suliburk et al. JAMA Netw Open. 2019;2(7):e198067, July 31, 2019, doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.8067
Key Points
Question What are the incidence and causes of human error as a source of adverse events associated with surgical care?
Findings In a quality improvement study including 5365 operations, 188 adverse events were recorded. Of these, 106 adverse events (56.4%) were due to human error, of which cognitive error accounted for 99 of 192 human performance deficiencies (51.6%).
Meaning Current systems-based approaches to improve surgical safety should be supplemented with additional focus on cognitive errors associated with surgical care.
Abstract
Importance Potentially preventable adverse events remain a formidable cause of patient harm and health care expenditure despite advances in systems-based risk-reduction strategies.
Objective To analyze and describe the incidence of human performance deficiencies (HPDs) during the provision of surgical care to identify opportunities to enhance patient safety.
Design, Setting, and Participants This quality improvement study used a new taxonomy to inform the development and implementation of an HPD classifier tool to categorize HPDs into errors associated with cognitive, technical, and team dynamic functions. The HPD classifier tool was then used to concurrently analyze surgical adverse events in 3 adult hospital affiliates—a level I municipal trauma center, a quaternary care university hospital, and a US Veterans Administration hospital—from January 2, 2018, to June 30, 2018. Surgical trainees presented data describing all adverse events associated with surgical services at weekly hospital-based morbidity and mortality conferences. Adverse events and HPDs were classified in discussion with attending faculty and residents. Data were analyzed from July 9, 2018, to December 23, 2018.
Main Outcomes and Measures The incidence and primary and secondary causes of HPDs were classified using an HPD classifier tool.
Results A total of 188 adverse events were recorded, including 182 adverse events (96.8%) among 5365 patients who underwent surgical operations and 6 adverse events (3.2%) among patients undergoing nonoperative treatment. Among these 188 adverse events, 106 (56.4%) were associated with HPDs. Among these 106 HPD adverse events, a total of 192 HPDs (mean [SD], 1.8 [0.9] HPDs per HPD event) were identified. Human performance deficiencies were categorized as execution (98 HPDs [51.0%]), planning or problem solving (55 HPDs [28.6%]), communication (24 HPDs [12.5%]), teamwork (9 HPDs [4.7%]), and rules violation (6 HPDs [3.1%]). Human performance deficiencies most commonly presented as cognitive errors in execution of care or in case planning or problem solving (99 of 192 HPDs [51.6%]). In contrast, technical execution errors without other associated HPDs were observed in 20 of 192 HPDs (10.4%).
Conclusions and Relevance Human performance deficiencies were identified in more than half of adverse events, most commonly associated with cognitive error in the execution of care. These data provide a framework and impetus for new quality improvement initiatives incorporating cognitive training to mitigate human error in surgery.
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Key Points
Question What are the incidence and causes of human error as a source of adverse events associated with surgical care?
Findings In a quality improvement study including 5365 operations, 188 adverse events were recorded. Of these, 106 adverse events (56.4%) were due to human error, of which cognitive error accounted for 99 of 192 human performance deficiencies (51.6%).
Meaning Current systems-based approaches to improve surgical safety should be supplemented with additional focus on cognitive errors associated with surgical care.
Abstract
Importance Potentially preventable adverse events remain a formidable cause of patient harm and health care expenditure despite advances in systems-based risk-reduction strategies.
Objective To analyze and describe the incidence of human performance deficiencies (HPDs) during the provision of surgical care to identify opportunities to enhance patient safety.
Design, Setting, and Participants This quality improvement study used a new taxonomy to inform the development and implementation of an HPD classifier tool to categorize HPDs into errors associated with cognitive, technical, and team dynamic functions. The HPD classifier tool was then used to concurrently analyze surgical adverse events in 3 adult hospital affiliates—a level I municipal trauma center, a quaternary care university hospital, and a US Veterans Administration hospital—from January 2, 2018, to June 30, 2018. Surgical trainees presented data describing all adverse events associated with surgical services at weekly hospital-based morbidity and mortality conferences. Adverse events and HPDs were classified in discussion with attending faculty and residents. Data were analyzed from July 9, 2018, to December 23, 2018.
Main Outcomes and Measures The incidence and primary and secondary causes of HPDs were classified using an HPD classifier tool.
Results A total of 188 adverse events were recorded, including 182 adverse events (96.8%) among 5365 patients who underwent surgical operations and 6 adverse events (3.2%) among patients undergoing nonoperative treatment. Among these 188 adverse events, 106 (56.4%) were associated with HPDs. Among these 106 HPD adverse events, a total of 192 HPDs (mean [SD], 1.8 [0.9] HPDs per HPD event) were identified. Human performance deficiencies were categorized as execution (98 HPDs [51.0%]), planning or problem solving (55 HPDs [28.6%]), communication (24 HPDs [12.5%]), teamwork (9 HPDs [4.7%]), and rules violation (6 HPDs [3.1%]). Human performance deficiencies most commonly presented as cognitive errors in execution of care or in case planning or problem solving (99 of 192 HPDs [51.6%]). In contrast, technical execution errors without other associated HPDs were observed in 20 of 192 HPDs (10.4%).
Conclusions and Relevance Human performance deficiencies were identified in more than half of adverse events, most commonly associated with cognitive error in the execution of care. These data provide a framework and impetus for new quality improvement initiatives incorporating cognitive training to mitigate human error in surgery.
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Discussion
This study found that HPDs, or human error, were
identifiable in more than half of the complications occurring in major
cardiothoracic, vascular, abdominal transplant, surgical oncology, acute
care, or general surgical operations performed at 3 large institutions
in a major academic medical center. Given that we and others report a
current surgical adverse event rate of nearly 5%,12-15,17
our data suggest that more than 400 000 potentially preventable adverse
events associated with HPDs occur among the nearly 17 million inpatient
and ambulatory operative procedures performed in the United States
annually.20
Similarities between adverse event rates in our study
compared with previous studies suggest that human error remains a
significant unresolved cause of adverse events in health care delivery.4-9,13-18 Specifically, compared with our currently reported adverse event rate of 3%, prior studies conducted as early as 20007,15,17,21-30
reporting a preventable or human error event rate ranging from
approximately 3% to 4% support the need for interventions beyond current
systems-based strategies if we are to achieve Six Sigma safety levels.
In our current analysis, cognitive error (ie, HPD class
I.A.3 and class II.A-C) was the most common specific form of HPD,
classified in 99 (52%) of 192 HPDs. More specifically, cognitive error
was classified in 29 of 53 isolated HPD events (55%) and 70 of 139
clustered HPD events (50%). It is interesting that lack of recognition
was the most prevalent cognitive error and was classified in 19% of the
HPD subclassifications, potentially reflecting the paradox that the most
common dangers to patient safety are those that are initially
unrecognized. This paradox raises important challenges for cognitive
training.
Cognitive error was likewise the most common primary
cause of adverse events in clustered HPD events, being classified as
such in 31 of 53 clustered HPD events (58%). Cognitive error was a
potentially preventable primary cause of adverse events in 35% of
technical error HPD events. In comparison, technical errors occurring in
isolation were classified in only 10% of HPD events, and systems-based
(class I.A.1, class I.B, and class III), communications (class IV), or
teamwork (class V) HPDs; together represented only 26% of HPD events.
These findings suggest the dominant role of cognitive error as a root
cause of surgical adverse events, even those that would appear to be
technical rather than cognitive in nature.
Considering the relative frequency of HPD types found in
our study, the prevalence of cognitive error as the most frequent
isolated HPD associated with adverse events may reflect the potency of
cognitive error in being able to overwhelm other potential barriers to
adverse events, consistent with the Swiss cheese model of the
multifactorial causality of human error by Reason.31
In comparison, the frequency with which cognitive error was associated
with other HPDs (100 of 192 HPDs [52%]) may also reflect the snowballing
effect of HPDs, as suggested by Mold and Stein32 and Woolf et al.33
Two specific examples from our HPD analysis further
highlight the potentially unrecognized role that cognitive error can
also play in surgical adverse outcomes. In one case, we found that a
significant technical error in a surgeon’s performance of an operation
was likely precipitated by the initially unappreciated influence of the
surgeon’s distraction by an outside telephone call in the operating
room. The identification of distraction (ie, class II.B, lack of
attention) converts an otherwise challenging technical training goal
into an opportunity for behavioral training to reset following
intraoperative distractions.
In a second case, a stylus that was inadvertently
retained postoperatively was clearly visible but repeatedly unrecognized
by radiologists in their reports prior to the patient developing a
life-threatening adverse reaction. Standard event analyses would likely
ascribe this outcome to clinician inattention, but we were able to
further resolve this to confirmation bias (class I.A.3): the clinician
dismissed their own concerns because they were not validated in official
radiology reports. Like the first example, this HPD subanalysis would
allow a cognitive training opportunity to teach clinicians to avoid
losing their situational awareness to the convenience of alternative
data.
Systems-based approaches (eg, no telephone calls in the
operating room, catheter placement checklist) represent standard
remedies to these HPD scenarios. However, the effectiveness of these
strategies is becoming impaired by a growing checklist burnout syndrome.12,14,21-24,34 The option of cognitive training for health care practitioners as practiced in the aviation industry19 also fits with Swiss cheese model by Reason31 of multilayered human error safeguards.10,32,35,36 As noted by Gruen et al, “protocols alone are insufficient to consistently change behavior.”15
Choosy Gulf pipefish males ignore age but prefer active females with deeply keeled bodies (choose by body depth and display); ornamentation has no effect
Choosy Gulf pipefish males ignore age but prefer active females with deeply keeled bodies. Andrew P. Anderson, Adam G. Jones. Animal Behaviour, Volume 155, September 2019, Pages 37-44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2019.05.018
Highlights
• We investigated factors influencing male choice in S. scovelli.
• Males chose females based on body depth and display rather than ornamentation.
• Female ornamentation was correlated with female body size, fecundity and courtship.
• Female age did not affect mate choice, female fecundity, ornamentation or courtship.
• Faster growth in females had no impact on any of the tested traits.
Abstract: Within Syngnathidae (pipefish, seadragons and seahorses), male pregnancy often results in choosy males and competitive females. Females in these species often evolve secondary sexual traits and engage in courtship displays that make their ornaments more noticeable to males. Most syngnathids probably continue to grow larger throughout their lives, but we know little about the relationship between age and mating competition in these taxa. Here, we use the Gulf pipefish, Syngnathus scovelli, to investigate the roles of ornament size, courtship activity level, age and fecundity in female mating competition. We conducted male choice trials that allowed males to choose between similarly sized females of different ages. We also measured age and size at maturity. We found that females with larger ornaments were deeper bodied and engaged in longer courtship displays, yet males chose females based on body depth and display rather than ornamentation. This result suggests that ornamentation serves to help males assess female quality. Female age plays no role in male choice or in female ornamentation. Our finding that males care more about female phenotype than female age considerably simplifies the interpretation of mating patterns in natural populations of Gulf pipefish, which are characterized by considerable age structure.
Keywords: agemate choicesex-role reversalsyngnathid
Highlights
• We investigated factors influencing male choice in S. scovelli.
• Males chose females based on body depth and display rather than ornamentation.
• Female ornamentation was correlated with female body size, fecundity and courtship.
• Female age did not affect mate choice, female fecundity, ornamentation or courtship.
• Faster growth in females had no impact on any of the tested traits.
Abstract: Within Syngnathidae (pipefish, seadragons and seahorses), male pregnancy often results in choosy males and competitive females. Females in these species often evolve secondary sexual traits and engage in courtship displays that make their ornaments more noticeable to males. Most syngnathids probably continue to grow larger throughout their lives, but we know little about the relationship between age and mating competition in these taxa. Here, we use the Gulf pipefish, Syngnathus scovelli, to investigate the roles of ornament size, courtship activity level, age and fecundity in female mating competition. We conducted male choice trials that allowed males to choose between similarly sized females of different ages. We also measured age and size at maturity. We found that females with larger ornaments were deeper bodied and engaged in longer courtship displays, yet males chose females based on body depth and display rather than ornamentation. This result suggests that ornamentation serves to help males assess female quality. Female age plays no role in male choice or in female ornamentation. Our finding that males care more about female phenotype than female age considerably simplifies the interpretation of mating patterns in natural populations of Gulf pipefish, which are characterized by considerable age structure.
Keywords: agemate choicesex-role reversalsyngnathid
Personality similarity associated with formation and maintenance of male social bonds in macaques; males did not adapt their personality to their partners.
Personality homophily affects male social bonding in wild Assamese macaques, Macaca assamensis. Anja Ebenau et al. Animal Behaviour, Volume 155, September 2019, Pages 21-35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2019.05.020
Highlights
• Personality similarity associated with formation and maintenance of male social bonds.
• Dyadic bond strength increased with increased similarity in Gregariousness dimension.
• Gregariousness remained stable in migrating males that had to form new bonds.
• Males did not adapt their personality to their partners.
Abstract: Animal social bonds are defined as stable, equitable and strong affiliative and cooperative relationships similar to human friendships. Just as with human friendships, social bonds are thought to function as alliances that generate adaptive benefits via support in critical situations. In humans, similarity in many sociodemographic, behavioural and intrapersonal characteristics leads to trust and is predictive of friendships. Specifically, personality homophily (that is, the tendency of individuals to form social bonds with others who have a similar personality) may increase predictability and facilitate trust and reciprocity between partners with compatible behavioural tendencies. While evidence for social bonding in animals is accumulating, far less is known about its predictors. Here, personality homophily effects on the formation and maintenance of social bonds are shown in 24 wild male Assamese macaques at Phu Khieo Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand. Dyadic bond strength increased with increased similarity in the trait Gregariousness (i.e. frequent and diverse neighbours within 5 m and pronounced social tolerance, as shown by high rates of friendly approaches to and by others). To differentiate whether homophily indeed predicted bond formation or whether bonded males’ personalities became more similar over time, we tested the stability of the Gregariousness traits in a subset of immigrating males that had to form new bonds. Gregariousness in these males remained stable, suggesting that males do not adapt their personality to their partner. Our results support the idea of a shared evolutionary origin of homophily as a partner choice strategy in human and nonhuman animals. The main selective advantage of personality similarity in animal social bonds may result from a more reliable cooperation between individuals with similar cooperative behavioural tendencies.
Keywords: animal social bondAssamese macaqueshomophilyhuman friendshippartner choicepersonality
Highlights
• Personality similarity associated with formation and maintenance of male social bonds.
• Dyadic bond strength increased with increased similarity in Gregariousness dimension.
• Gregariousness remained stable in migrating males that had to form new bonds.
• Males did not adapt their personality to their partners.
Abstract: Animal social bonds are defined as stable, equitable and strong affiliative and cooperative relationships similar to human friendships. Just as with human friendships, social bonds are thought to function as alliances that generate adaptive benefits via support in critical situations. In humans, similarity in many sociodemographic, behavioural and intrapersonal characteristics leads to trust and is predictive of friendships. Specifically, personality homophily (that is, the tendency of individuals to form social bonds with others who have a similar personality) may increase predictability and facilitate trust and reciprocity between partners with compatible behavioural tendencies. While evidence for social bonding in animals is accumulating, far less is known about its predictors. Here, personality homophily effects on the formation and maintenance of social bonds are shown in 24 wild male Assamese macaques at Phu Khieo Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand. Dyadic bond strength increased with increased similarity in the trait Gregariousness (i.e. frequent and diverse neighbours within 5 m and pronounced social tolerance, as shown by high rates of friendly approaches to and by others). To differentiate whether homophily indeed predicted bond formation or whether bonded males’ personalities became more similar over time, we tested the stability of the Gregariousness traits in a subset of immigrating males that had to form new bonds. Gregariousness in these males remained stable, suggesting that males do not adapt their personality to their partner. Our results support the idea of a shared evolutionary origin of homophily as a partner choice strategy in human and nonhuman animals. The main selective advantage of personality similarity in animal social bonds may result from a more reliable cooperation between individuals with similar cooperative behavioural tendencies.
Keywords: animal social bondAssamese macaqueshomophilyhuman friendshippartner choicepersonality
Even though chili peppers can elicit aversive oral burn and pain, cues of foods containing chili recruit brain circuits underlying cue reactivity and craving for drug and natural rewards
Extreme spicy food cravers displayed increased brain activity in response to pictures of foods containing chili peppers: An fMRI study. Yizhou Zhou et al. Appetite, July 31 2019, 104379. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2019.104379
Abstract: In China, the rate of spicy food consumption is rising, and chili pepper is among the most popular spicy foods consumed nationwide. Therefore, investigation into spicy food craving is of public health interest and can also provide better insights into the mechanisms that underlie food cravings more generally. This exploratory study aimed to determine neural circuits underlying spicy food craving by comparing brain response to the cues of foods containing chili peppers in extreme cravers and non-cravers defined by scores on the Spicy Food Craving Questionnaire. A group of extreme cravers (n = 25) and a group of age- and sex-matched non-cravers (n = 26) participated in an fMRI event-related cue-reactivity paradigm, during which pictures of foods with visible chili peppers and pictures of foods with no chili peppers were presented. Results showed that extreme spicy food cravers exhibited increased activation in bilateral insula, left putamen, left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, right inferior parietal lobule, right lingual gyrus, bilateral cuneus, left precuneus, left fusiform gyrus, and right precentral gyrus compared to non-cravers when exposed to the cues of foods containing chili versus foods without chili. While we did not observe the differential activation of orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala of this contrast in extreme cravers compared to non-cravers. Changes in beta values within the right insula, left putamen, left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and left precuneus were positively associated with subjective spicy food craving during the scan among extreme cravers. In addition, changes in beta values within right inferior parietal lobule was significantly correlated with the frequency of spicy food intake among extreme cravers. These results align with prior work suggesting that the dorsal striatum, the anterior cingulate cortex and the insula underlie food craving.
Keywords: Spicy food cravingCue-reactivityfMRIInsulaStriatumAnterior cingulate cortex
Abstract: In China, the rate of spicy food consumption is rising, and chili pepper is among the most popular spicy foods consumed nationwide. Therefore, investigation into spicy food craving is of public health interest and can also provide better insights into the mechanisms that underlie food cravings more generally. This exploratory study aimed to determine neural circuits underlying spicy food craving by comparing brain response to the cues of foods containing chili peppers in extreme cravers and non-cravers defined by scores on the Spicy Food Craving Questionnaire. A group of extreme cravers (n = 25) and a group of age- and sex-matched non-cravers (n = 26) participated in an fMRI event-related cue-reactivity paradigm, during which pictures of foods with visible chili peppers and pictures of foods with no chili peppers were presented. Results showed that extreme spicy food cravers exhibited increased activation in bilateral insula, left putamen, left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, right inferior parietal lobule, right lingual gyrus, bilateral cuneus, left precuneus, left fusiform gyrus, and right precentral gyrus compared to non-cravers when exposed to the cues of foods containing chili versus foods without chili. While we did not observe the differential activation of orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala of this contrast in extreme cravers compared to non-cravers. Changes in beta values within the right insula, left putamen, left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and left precuneus were positively associated with subjective spicy food craving during the scan among extreme cravers. In addition, changes in beta values within right inferior parietal lobule was significantly correlated with the frequency of spicy food intake among extreme cravers. These results align with prior work suggesting that the dorsal striatum, the anterior cingulate cortex and the insula underlie food craving.
Keywords: Spicy food cravingCue-reactivityfMRIInsulaStriatumAnterior cingulate cortex
This speaks against the idea that worldview defense following mortality salience occurs because mortality salience produces higher physiological arousal
Effects of mortality salience on physiological arousal. Johannes Klackl and Eva Jonas. Front. Psychol., Jul 2019, doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01893
Abstract: Making the inevitability of mortality salient makes people more defensive about their self-esteem and worldviews. Theoretical arguments and empirical evidence point to a mediating role of arousal in this defensive process, but evidence from physiological measurement studies is scarce and inconclusive. The present study seeks to draw a comprehensive picture of how physiological arousal develops over time in the mortality salience paradigm, and whether contemplating one’s mortality actually elicits more physiological arousal than reflecting on a death-unrelated aversive control topic. In a between-subjects design, participants were asked two open questions about their mortality or about dental pain. Cardiac, respiratory, and electrodermal indicators of arousal were measured both as participants provided written answers to the questions, and during a series of resting intervals surrounding the questions. A Bayes factor analysis indicated support for the hypothesis that the mortality salience paradigm increases physiological arousal, both while answering the two open-ended questions and afterwards. Regarding the mortality salience versus dental pain comparison, the null hypothesis of no difference was supported for most analysis segments and signals. The results indicate that the arousal elicited by mortality salience is not different from that elicited by dental pain salience. This speaks against the idea that worldview defense following mortality salience occurs because mortality salience produces higher physiological arousal. Of course, this finding does not rule the importance of other forms of arousal (i.e., subjective arousal) for mortality salience effects.
Abstract: Making the inevitability of mortality salient makes people more defensive about their self-esteem and worldviews. Theoretical arguments and empirical evidence point to a mediating role of arousal in this defensive process, but evidence from physiological measurement studies is scarce and inconclusive. The present study seeks to draw a comprehensive picture of how physiological arousal develops over time in the mortality salience paradigm, and whether contemplating one’s mortality actually elicits more physiological arousal than reflecting on a death-unrelated aversive control topic. In a between-subjects design, participants were asked two open questions about their mortality or about dental pain. Cardiac, respiratory, and electrodermal indicators of arousal were measured both as participants provided written answers to the questions, and during a series of resting intervals surrounding the questions. A Bayes factor analysis indicated support for the hypothesis that the mortality salience paradigm increases physiological arousal, both while answering the two open-ended questions and afterwards. Regarding the mortality salience versus dental pain comparison, the null hypothesis of no difference was supported for most analysis segments and signals. The results indicate that the arousal elicited by mortality salience is not different from that elicited by dental pain salience. This speaks against the idea that worldview defense following mortality salience occurs because mortality salience produces higher physiological arousal. Of course, this finding does not rule the importance of other forms of arousal (i.e., subjective arousal) for mortality salience effects.
Assisted childbirth, due to high mortality, is ubiquitous; this feature likely played a critical role in shaping human sociality & may have been mediated by women’s ability to detect & respond to the hormonal status of other women
The role of oxytocin in social support during pregnancy. Citlally Contreras, Elizabeth Pillsworth. Human Behavior and Evolution Society 31st annual meeting. Boston 2019. http://tiny.cc/aa1w6y
Abstract: Childbirth poses an exceptionally high mortality risk for human females compared to non-human primates. Assisted childbirth is, therefore, a ubiquitous feature of human populations, with assistance most often provided by other women. We propose that this feature likely played a critical role in shaping human sociality and may have been mediated by women’s ability to detect and respond to the hormonal status of other women. To test this hypothesis, we designed a pilot study in which we measured oxytocin response in pregnant and non-pregnant women. Participants were nine pregnant women, six paired with a close female friend and three paired with a female stranger. Participants provided information about their reproductive histories, social networks, their relationships with their study partner, and their current pregnancy, and participated in a childbirth education class practicing birth positions and support. Oxytocin was measured in saliva, obtained from all participants at four times during the study. Results suggest that while both pregnant and non-pregnant women exhibited an increase in oxytocin levels, the greatest increase was observed among pregnant women participating with a close friend. These results will be discussed in conjunction with a survey study assessing the role of close female relationships on pregnancy, health, and experience.
Abstract: Childbirth poses an exceptionally high mortality risk for human females compared to non-human primates. Assisted childbirth is, therefore, a ubiquitous feature of human populations, with assistance most often provided by other women. We propose that this feature likely played a critical role in shaping human sociality and may have been mediated by women’s ability to detect and respond to the hormonal status of other women. To test this hypothesis, we designed a pilot study in which we measured oxytocin response in pregnant and non-pregnant women. Participants were nine pregnant women, six paired with a close female friend and three paired with a female stranger. Participants provided information about their reproductive histories, social networks, their relationships with their study partner, and their current pregnancy, and participated in a childbirth education class practicing birth positions and support. Oxytocin was measured in saliva, obtained from all participants at four times during the study. Results suggest that while both pregnant and non-pregnant women exhibited an increase in oxytocin levels, the greatest increase was observed among pregnant women participating with a close friend. These results will be discussed in conjunction with a survey study assessing the role of close female relationships on pregnancy, health, and experience.
Researchers have long theorized about the function of self‐esteem; could be a monitor of fundamental psychological need satisfaction
Self‐esteem as a monitor of fundamental psychological need satisfaction. Jennifer L. Howell, Nicholas Sosa, Hannah J. Osborn. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, July 30 2019. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12492
Abstract: Researchers have long theorized about the function of self‐esteem. Theories such as sociometer, terror management, and self‐determination have each received substantial empirical support, but all purport a different function of self‐esteem. Despite each theory's persuasiveness, they are sometimes at odds, and there remains no clear consensus regarding the function of self‐esteem. In the present paper, we propose the notion that self‐esteem monitors the meeting of multiple fundamental psychological needs, a theory we call the Need‐Satisfaction Framework of self‐esteem. We outline existing empirical support for our theory in the context of three well‐documented fundamental needs: belonging, self‐determination (i.e.,autonomy and competence), and meaning. Across all three needs, we review converging evidence supporting two hypotheses for self‐esteem's need‐monitoring function: (1) threats to needs lower self‐esteem and (2) high self‐esteem buffers defensive responses to need threats. We expand on established theoretical and empirical work in the domain of self‐esteem and also discuss testable future hypotheses.
Abstract: Researchers have long theorized about the function of self‐esteem. Theories such as sociometer, terror management, and self‐determination have each received substantial empirical support, but all purport a different function of self‐esteem. Despite each theory's persuasiveness, they are sometimes at odds, and there remains no clear consensus regarding the function of self‐esteem. In the present paper, we propose the notion that self‐esteem monitors the meeting of multiple fundamental psychological needs, a theory we call the Need‐Satisfaction Framework of self‐esteem. We outline existing empirical support for our theory in the context of three well‐documented fundamental needs: belonging, self‐determination (i.e.,autonomy and competence), and meaning. Across all three needs, we review converging evidence supporting two hypotheses for self‐esteem's need‐monitoring function: (1) threats to needs lower self‐esteem and (2) high self‐esteem buffers defensive responses to need threats. We expand on established theoretical and empirical work in the domain of self‐esteem and also discuss testable future hypotheses.
Free will as a process of generative self-construction, by which an iterative search process samples from experience in an adaptively exploratory fashion, allowing the agent to explore itself in the construction of alternative futures
Neurocognitive free will. Thomas T. Hills. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Volume 286, Issue 1908. July 31 2019. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.0510
Abstract: Free will is an apparent paradox because it requires a historical identity to escape its history in a self-guided fashion. Philosophers have itemized design features necessary for this escape, scaling from action to agency and vice versa. These can be organized into a coherent framework that neurocognitive capacities provide and that form a basis for neurocognitive free will. These capacities include (1) adaptive access to unpredictability, (2) tuning of this unpredictability in the service of hierarchical goal structures, (3) goal-directed deliberation via search over internal cognitive representations, and (4) a role for conscious construction of the self in the generation and choice of alternatives. This frames free will as a process of generative self-construction, by which an iterative search process samples from experience in an adaptively exploratory fashion, allowing the agent to explore itself in the construction of alternative futures. This provides an explanation of how effortful conscious control modulates adaptive access to unpredictability and resolves one of free will's key conceptual problems: how randomness is used in the service of the will. The implications provide a contemporary neurocognitive grounding to compatibilist and libertarian positions on free will, and demonstrate how neurocognitive understanding can contribute to this debate by presenting free will as an interaction between our freedom and our will.
1. Introduction
Free will can be defined as the ability to be free from one's past and yet to simultaneously act in accordance with one's will. This is an apparent paradox because it requires that free will be an ahistorical process governed by a historical identity. The goal of this article is to show that by grounding the design features of free will called for by philosophers in a contemporary understanding of neurocognitive capacities we can resolve this paradox and understand how free will could work in a neurocognitive system.
The design features of free will have been proposed by two primary philosophical camps: the compatibilists—who hold that free will is compatible with a deterministic universe—and the libertarians—who hold that free will is compatible with an indeterministic universe. The classical compatibilists (such as Hobbes, Locke, Leibniz, Mill and Hume) claim that an agent has free will if it could have done otherwise. The neo-compatibilists (such as Frankfurt, Watson and Bratman) claim that an agent has free will when lower-order desires are aligned with higher-order desires, sometimes called ‘wanting what you want’, which invokes a hierarchy of wants and volitions that some argue presupposes a wanting ‘self’. The libertarians (such as Descartes and Kant) claim that an agent has free will if this conscious self can rationally escape the causal certainties of determinism [1,2].
Discussions of free will have thus far failed to describe how these requirements could be met by a neurocognitive system. This has hampered progress on understanding how free will could work and enfeebled our understanding of ourselves at the same time. As a result, many have provocatively claimed that free will is an illusion because unconscious neural activity at least sometimes precedes or influences conscious activity [3–5]. If consciousness is bypassed in the decision-making process then the worry is ‘that the causal chain leading up to our actions bypasses the self’ [6], eliminating the kind of free will that many people want [7,8]. Indeed, many of these provocative claims point to unconscious ‘bottom-up’ control and use it to argue that a system has no conscious ‘top-down’ control (for a variety of arguments on both sides see [4,9–13]).
However, without an explanation of how a biological system could satisfy the design features of free will, we risk logical fallacies based on mistaking parts of the system for the whole. To overcome this, we first need to understand how free will could work as a set of neurocognitive processes. We can then assess free will in relation to an operationalized architecture that is grounded in biological reality—treating free will as a quantitative trait [14,15].
Before getting to the design features, it is useful to first define what I mean by conscious control as we will revisit this idea throughout. Conscious control processes are effortful, they focus attention in the face of interference, they experience information in a serial format (one thing at a time), they can generate solutions that are not hard-wired, and they operate over a constrained cognitive workspace—working memory—to which ‘we’ have access and can later report on as a component of conscious awareness [16–20]. When additional tasks are added to consciously effortful tasks performance suffers. Effortful processes sit in contrast to automatic processes, which are fast and parallel, and do not require conscious awareness. Effortful tasks can be made automatic through repetition (like reading and driving [21]) and when they become automatic they suffer less from the addition of a secondary task. Effortful and automatic processes are typically thought to sit at opposite ends of a continuum and the evidence provided below shows that they can influence one another.
The relationship between effortful processing (sometimes called executive processing) and conscious control is well documented (e.g. [16,18,22]). If we identify effortful consciousness with the self and this effortful self plays a role in satisfying the design features of free will discussed in further detail below, then what people mean by and want from free will are satisfied by our neurocognitive capacities.
The more controlling and invested the women were, the more they engaged in mate guarding overall as well as confronted rivals, publicized their relationship, escorted their partner, used covert tactics, monopolized, & were aggressive
Validity of the mate guarding scale in women. Alita J. Cousins, Lauren E. Beverage, Madeleine A. Fugere. Human Behavior and Evolution Society 31st annual meeting. Boston 2019. http://tiny.cc/aa1w6y
Abstract: Mate guarding encompasses a variety of tactics including keeping partners committed, eliminating competitors, and keeping partners from leaving the relationship (Buss, 2002). Few scales exist that assess mate guarding and of those scales, the psychometric properties are mostly unknown. The current study set out to assess the psychometric properties of the Mate Guarding Scale. Previous analyses showed that the Mate Guarding Scale has six subscales: confronting rivals, publicizing the relationship, escorting partner, covert tactics, monopolization, and aggression. We collected data online from 1069 women. Results show that women who reported more overall mate guarding towards their partner had in turn been mate guarded more by their partner, were more invested and controlling in their relationship, and felt their relationship had more costs. Results showed that the more controlling and invested the women were, the more they engaged in mate guarding overall as well as confronted rivals, publicized their relationship, escorted their partner, used covert tactics, monopolized, and were aggressive. Women who resisted mate guarding, measured with the Resistance Behavior scale, engaged in more mate guarding overall, confronted rivals, escorted their partner, used covert tactics, monopolized, and were aggressive. These analyses show that Mate Guarding Scale has high validity.
Abstract: Mate guarding encompasses a variety of tactics including keeping partners committed, eliminating competitors, and keeping partners from leaving the relationship (Buss, 2002). Few scales exist that assess mate guarding and of those scales, the psychometric properties are mostly unknown. The current study set out to assess the psychometric properties of the Mate Guarding Scale. Previous analyses showed that the Mate Guarding Scale has six subscales: confronting rivals, publicizing the relationship, escorting partner, covert tactics, monopolization, and aggression. We collected data online from 1069 women. Results show that women who reported more overall mate guarding towards their partner had in turn been mate guarded more by their partner, were more invested and controlling in their relationship, and felt their relationship had more costs. Results showed that the more controlling and invested the women were, the more they engaged in mate guarding overall as well as confronted rivals, publicized their relationship, escorted their partner, used covert tactics, monopolized, and were aggressive. Women who resisted mate guarding, measured with the Resistance Behavior scale, engaged in more mate guarding overall, confronted rivals, escorted their partner, used covert tactics, monopolized, and were aggressive. These analyses show that Mate Guarding Scale has high validity.