German middle-aged men having ≥2 children, higher frequency of solo-masturbation, perceived importance of sexuality, & higher sexual self-esteem were less likely to have low sexual desire

Meissner VH, Schroeter L, Köhn F-M, et al. Factors Associated with Low Sexual Desire in 45-Year-Old Men: Findings from the German Male Sex-Study. J Sex Med Volume 16, Issue 7, July 2019, Pages 981-991. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1743609519311622

Abstract

Introduction Although low sexual desire is 1 of the most common sexual dysfunctions in men, there is a lack of studies investigating associated factors in large, population-based samples of middle-aged men.

Aim To survey the prevalence of low sexual desire in a population-based sample of 45-year-old German men and to evaluate associations with a broad set of factors.

Methods Data were collected between April 2014–April 2016 within the German Male Sex-Study. Participants were asked to fill out questionnaires about 6 sociodemographic, 5 lifestyle, and 8 psychosocial factors, as well as 6 comorbidities and 4 factors of sexual behavior. Simple and multiple logistic regressions were used to assess potential explanatory factors.

Main Outcome Measures We found a notable prevalence of low sexual desire in middle-aged men and detected associations with various factors.

Results 12,646 men were included in the analysis, and prevalence of low sexual desire was 4.7%. In the multiple logistic regression with backward elimination, 8 of 29 factors were left in the final model. Men having ≥2 children, higher frequency of solo-masturbation, perceived importance of sexuality, and higher sexual self-esteem were less likely to have low sexual desire. Premature ejaculation, erectile dysfunction, and lower urinary tract symptoms were associated with low sexual desire.

Clinical Implications Low sexual desire is common in middle-aged men, and associating factors that can potentially be modified should be considered during assessment and treatment of sexual desire disorders.

Strengths & Limitations The strength of our study is the large, population-based sample of middle-aged men and the broad set of assessed factors. However, because of being part of a prostate cancer screening trial, a recruiting bias is arguable.

Conclusion Our study revealed that low sexual desire among 45-year-old men is a common sexual dysfunction, with a prevalence of nearly 5% and might be affected by various factors, including sociodemographic and lifestyle factors, as well as comorbidities and sexual behavior.

Key Words: Sexual Desire Sexual Dysfunction Sexual Behavior Lifestyle Comorbidity Representative Sample

Theories link threat with right-wing political beliefs; our findings show that political beliefs and perceptions of threat are linked, but that the relationship is nuanced

Brandt, Mark J., Felicity M. Turner-Zwinkels, Beste Karapirinler, Florian van Leeuwen, Michael Bender, Yvette van Osch, and Byron G. Adams. 2019. “The Association Between Threat and Politics Depends on the Type of Threat, the Political Domain, and the Country.” PsyArXiv. September 24. doi:10.31234/osf.io/e9uk7

Abstract: Theories link threat with right-wing political beliefs. We use the World Values Survey (72,836 participants) to test how different types of threat (economic, violence, and surveillance) are associated with different types of political beliefs (social, economic, and political identification) across 42 different countries. The association between threat and political beliefs depends on the type of threat, the type of political beliefs, and the country. Economic threats tended to be associated with more left-wing economic beliefs, violence threats tended to be associated with more general right-wing beliefs, and surveillance threats tended to be associated with more right-wing economic beliefs and more left-wing social beliefs. Additional analyses explored how 24 country characteristics might help explain variation in the threat-political beliefs association; however, these analyses identified few cross-country characteristics that consistently helped. Our findings show that political beliefs and perceptions of threat are linked, but that the relationship is nuanced.

There is no number sense as traditionally conceived; neural substrates of number sense are more widely distributed than common consensus says, complicating the neurobiological evidence linking number sense to numerical abilities

Challenging the neurobiological link between number sense and symbolic numerical abilities. Eric D. Wilkey. Daniel Ansari. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, September 23 2019. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.14225

Abstract: A significant body of research links individual differences in symbolic numerical abilities, such as arithmetic, to number sense, the neurobiological system used to approximate and manipulate quantities without language or symbols. However, recent findings from cognitive neuroscience challenge this influential theory. Our current review presents an overview of evidence for the number sense account of symbolic numerical abilities and then reviews recent studies that challenge this account, organized around the following four assertions. (1) There is no number sense as traditionally conceived. (2) Neural substrates of number sense are more widely distributed than common consensus asserts, complicating the neurobiological evidence linking number sense to numerical abilities. (3) The most common measures of number sense are confounded by other cognitive demands, which drive key correlations. (4) Number sense and symbolic number systems (Arabic digits, number words, and so on) rely on distinct neural mechanisms and follow independent developmental trajectories. The review follows each assertion with comments on future directions that may bring resolution to these issues.

How Stress Affects Performance and Competitiveness Across Gender

How Stress Affects Performance and Competitiveness Across Gender. Jana Cahlíková, Lubomír Cingl, Ian Levely. Management Science, Jul 16 2019. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2019.3400

Abstract: Because many key career events, such as examinations and interviews, involve competition and stress, gender differences in response to these factors could help to explain the labor market gender gap. In a laboratory experiment, we manipulate psychosocial stress using the Trier Social Stress Test and confirm that this is effective by measuring salivary cortisol level and heart rate. Subjects perform in a real-effort task under both tournament and piece-rate incentives, and we elicit willingness to compete. We find that women under heightened stress perform worse than women in the control group when compensated with tournament incentives, whereas there is no treatment difference under piece-rate incentives. For men, stress does not affect output under competition or under piece rate. The gender gap in willingness to compete is not affected by stress, but stress decreases competitiveness overall, which is related to performance for women. Our results could explain gender differences in performance under competition, with implications for hiring practices and incentive structures in firms.

Disagreeable men produce higher-quality ejaculates: A Preliminary but Methodologically Improved Investigation of the Relationships Between Major Personality Dimensions and Human Ejaculate Quality

A Preliminary but Methodologically Improved Investigation of the Relationships Between Major Personality Dimensions and Human Ejaculate Quality. Tara DeLecce et al. [in press, Personality and Individual Differences, September 2019]. toddkshackelford.com/downloads/Delecce-et-al-PAID.pdf

Abstract: Some research has reported relationships between personality dimensions and ejaculate quality, but this research has methodological limitations. In the current study, we investigated the relationships between six major personality dimensions and ejaculate quality in a design that offered several methodological improvements over previous research. Forty-fivefertile men provided two masturbatory ejaculates and completed a measure ofpersonality (HEXACO-60) assessing honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience. Agreeablenesswas the only personality dimension associated with ejaculate quality,aftercontrolling statistically for participant age, Body Mass Index, and abstinence duration, and this association was negative. However, once the covariates of BMI, age, and abstinence duration were included in a hierarchical regression (along with the six personality dimensions), agreeableness was no longer a statistically significant predictor of ejaculate quality, although the direction of the relationship remained negative. The current study adds to previous research documenting that psychological attributes—including major dimensions of personality—may be associated with ejaculate quality. We highlight limitations of the current research and identify directions for future study.

Keywords: personality; agreeableness; ejaculate quality; semenanalysis; HEXACO

Greta Thunberg's zeal, as the press summarized her speech at the UN Climate Summit, Sep 23, 2019 — updated Jan 2020

Greta Thunberg's character, as the press summarized her speech at the UN Climate Summit, Sep 23, 2019:

"How dare you. You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words."

"This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you."

"People are suffering. People are dying and dying ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is the money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth," she said Monday, as she fought back tears. "How dare you! For more than 30 years the science has been crystal clear."

"You are failing us but young people are starting to understand your betrayal."

“The eyes of all future generations are upon you and if you choose to fail us, I say we will never forgive you.”

At the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Jan 2020:

“Our house is still on fire. Your inaction is fueling the flames by the hour, and we are telling you to act as if you loved your children above all else.”

Greetings in wild chimpanzees: Signals of submission (the greetings are started by the low-position individual)

Social relationships and greetings in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): use of signal combinations. Eva Maria Luef, Simone Pika. Primates, September 24 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10329-019-00758-5

Abstract: Signals of submission, so-called ‘greetings’, represent an important tool for the regulation of social life in primates. In chimpanzees, vocalizations and gestures are commonly employed to communicate greetings, however, the topic of signal complexity (i.e., combinations of signals) during greeting instances has been neglected by research to date. Here, we investigate combinatorial possibilities in vocal greetings in a free-ranging group of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and study how greeter sex, rank relationship between an interacting pair, and strength of the social bond of a greeting dyad influence signal complexity. Results show that the social bond and the dominance distance between individuals engaged in a greeting bout are important determiners for vocal combinations. The findings indicate that greeting signals in chimpanzees, like other vocal signals of the species, can become subject to social influences.

Keywords: Chimpanzees Pan troglodytes Ngogo Greeting Pant-grunt Combinations Repetitions

While praise from a manager has no effect, criticism negatively impacts workers' job satisfaction & perception of the task's importance; when female managers give opinion, the negative effects double for both male & female workers

Do Workers Discriminate against Female Bosses? Martin Abel. IZA Discussion Papers No. 12611, September 2019. https://www.iza.org/publications/dp/12611/do-workers-discriminate-against-female-bosses

Abstract: I hire 2,700 workers for a transcription job, randomly assigning the gender of their (fictitious) manager and provision of performance feedback. While praise from a manager has no effect, criticism negatively impacts workers' job satisfaction and perception of the task's importance. When female managers, rather than male, deliver this feedback, the negative effects double in magnitude. Having a critical female manager does not affect effort provision but it does lower workers' interest in working for the firm in the future. These findings hold for both female and male workers. I show that results are consistent with gendered expectations of feedback among workers. By contrast, I find no evidence for the role of either attention discrimination or implicit gender bias.

Keywords: gender discrimination gig economy female leadership

Rolf Degen summarizing: Body and facial attractiveness were more important to men, whereas personality attractiveness was more important to women in real-life dating interactions

Sidari M, Lee A, Murphy S, Sherlock J, Barnaby D & Zietsch B (2019) Preferences for sexually dimorphic body characteristics revealed in a large sample of speed daters. Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming. https://dspace.stir.ac.uk/handle/1893/30130

Abstract: While hundreds of studies have investigated the indices that make up attractive body shapes, these studies were based on preferences measured in the lab using pictorial stimuli. Whether these preferences translate into real-time, face-to-face evaluations of potential partners is unclear. Here 539 (275 female) participants in 75 lab-based sessions had their body dimensions measured before engaging in round-robin speed dates. After each date they rated each other’s body, face, personality, and overall attractiveness, and noted whether they would go on a date with the partner. Women with smaller waists and lower waist-to-hip ratios were found most attractive, and men with broader shoulders and higher shoulder-to-waist (or hips) ratios were found most attractive. Taller individuals were preferred by both sexes. Our results show that body dimensions associated with greater health, fertility, and (in men) formidability influence face-to-face evaluations of attractiveness, consistent with a role of intersexual selection in shaping human bodies

While journalists may indeed be biased toward telling certain types of stories, audience judgements may be biased as well: Rival partisans thought media attention was unfair with their views

Biased Gatekeepers? Partisan Perceptions of Media Attention in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. Mallory R. Perryman. Journalism Studies, Mar 27 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2019.1598888

ABSTRACT: Deciding which stories to cover is an essential function of the press, and pundits and citizens commonly criticize journalists for these so-called “gatekeeping” choices. While journalists may indeed be biased toward telling certain types of stories, research on the hostile media perception (HMP) suggests that audience judgments about how journalists divvy up attention may be biased as well–shaped, at least in part, by partisan preferences. This study explores how partisanship impacted perceptions of media coverage among news consumers (N = 657) shortly before the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Results show that, across a variety of news stories involving the candidates, polling, and key election issues, rival partisans had diverging impressions of media attention that were not explained by differing news habits. A relative HMP pattern is evident when partisans evaluate how media allocate attention across news topics.

KEYWORDS: Audience perceptions, election news, gatekeeping, hostile media perception, partisanship, perceived bias, U.S. elections

Chimpanzees do not share, by themselves, the spoils with cooperators; the cooperators need to beg to get their reward

How chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) share the spoils with collaborators and bystanders. Maria John et al. PLOS One, September 23, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0222795

Abstract: Chimpanzees hunt cooperatively in the wild, but the factors influencing food sharing after the hunt are not well understood. In an experimental study, groups of three captive chimpanzees obtained a monopolizable food resource, either via two individuals cooperating (with the third as bystander) or via one individual acting alone alongside two bystanders. The individual that obtained the resource first retained most of the food but the other two individuals attempted to obtain food from the "captor" by begging. We found the main predictor of the overall amount of food obtained by bystanders was proximity to the food at the moment it was obtained by the captor. Whether or not an individual had cooperated to obtain the food had no effect. Interestingly, however, cooperators begged more from captors than did bystanders, suggesting that they were more motivated or had a greater expectation to obtain food. These results suggest that while chimpanzee captors in cooperative hunting may not reward cooperative participation directly, cooperators may influence sharing behavior through increased begging.