The affluent were more likely than others to tie economic outcomes to intelligence and hard work, and the top 1% were unique in emphasizing both choices and genes as causes of those traits

Ideology of Affluence: Rich Americans' Explanations for Inequality and Attitudes toward Redistribution. Elizabeth Suhay, Marko Klasnja, Gonzalo Rivero. The Journal of Politics, April 13, 2020. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdfplus/10.1086/709672

Abstract: As economic inequality increases, so does the importance of understanding affluent perspectives on the problem. We examine whether affluent Americans are more likely than others to hold individuals responsible for economic outcomes, and if such beliefs are associated with their attitudes toward redistribution. We conducted a novel survey that oversampled the top 5% of the U.S. income and wealth distributions. We elicited views about why some people achieve more success than others (intelligence, hard work, family wealth, luck) as well as why people vary in success-linked traits (their choices, environments, genes). Affluent Americans were more likely than others to tie economic outcomes to intelligence and hard work, and the top 1% were unique in emphasizing both choices and genes as causes of those traits. This individualization of economic outcomes was more strongly associated with economic conservatism among the affluent than others, suggesting it may justify their greater opposition to redistribution.

Keywords: economic inequality; wealthy people; causal attributions; genetic essentialism;
redistribution attitudes

Effects of COVID-19 home confinement on physical activity and eating behaviour Preliminary results of the ECLB-COVID19 international online-survey

Effects of COVID-19 home confinement on physical activity and eating behaviour Preliminary results of the ECLB-COVID19 international online-survey. Michael Brach et al. medRxiv, May 08 2020. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.04.20072447

Abstract
Background: Public health recommendations and governmental measures during the COVID-19 pandemic have enforced numerous restrictions on daily living including social distancing, isolation and home confinement. While these measures are imperative to abate the spreading of COVID-19, the impact of these restrictions on health behaviours and lifestyle at home is undefined. Therefore, an international online survey was launched in April 2020 in seven languages to elucidate the behavioral and lifestyle consequences of COVID-19 restrictions. This report presents the preliminary results from the first thousand responders on physical activity (PA) and nutrition behaviours.

Methods: Thirty-five research organisations from Europe, North-Africa, Western Asia and the Americas promoted the survey through their networks to the general society, in English, German, French, Arabic, Spanish, Portugese, and Slovenian languages. Questions were presented in a differential format with questions related to responses before and during confinement conditions.

Results: 1047 replies (54% women) from Asia (36%), Africa (40%), Europe (21%) and other (3%) were included into a general analysis. The COVID-19 home confinement had a negative effect on all intensities of PA (vigorous, moderate, walking and overall). Conversely, daily sitting time increased from 5 to 8 hours per day. Additionally, food consumption and meal patterns (the type of food, eating out of control, snacks between meals, number of meals) were more unhealthy during confinement with only alcohol binge drink decreasing significantly.

Conclusion: While isolation is a necessary measure to protect public health, our results indicate that it alters physical activity and eating behaviours in a direction that would compromise health. A more detailed analysis of survey data will allow for a segregation of these responses in different age groups, countries and other subgroups which will help develop bespoke interventions to mitigate the negative lifestyle behaviors manifest during the COVID-19 confinement.

Men less than women believe that they will be seriously affected by the coronavirus; men more than women agree that wearing a face covering is shameful, not cool, a sign of weakness, and a stigma

Capraro, Valerio, and Hélène Barcelo. 2020. “The Effect of Messaging and Gender on Intentions to Wear a Face Covering to Slow down COVID-19 Transmission.” PsyArXiv. May 11. doi:10.31234/osf.io/tg7vz

Abstract: Now that various countries are or will soon be moving towards relaxing shelter-in-place rules, it is important that people use a face covering, to avoid an exponential resurgence of the spreading of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Adherence to this measure will be made explicitly compulsory in many places. However, since it is impossible to control each and every person in a country, it is important to complement governmental laws with behavioral interventions devised to impact people’s behavior beyond the force of law. Here we report a pre-registered online experiment (N=2,459) using a heterogenous, although not representative, sample of people living in the USA, where we test the relative effect of messages highlighting that the coronavirus is a threat to “you” vs “your family” vs “your community” vs “your country” on self-reported intentions to wear a face covering. Results show that focusing on “your community” promotes intentions to wear a face covering relative to the baseline; the trend is the same when comparing “your community” to the other conditions, but not significant. We also conducted pre-registered analyses of gender differences on intentions to wear a face covering. We find that men less than women intend to wear a face covering, but this difference almost disappears in counties where wearing a face covering is mandatory. We also find that men less than women believe that they will be seriously affected by the coronavirus, and this partly mediates gender differences in intentions to wear a face covering (this is particularly ironic because official statistics actually show that men are affected by the COVID-19 more seriously than women). Finally, we also find gender differences in self-reported negative emotions felt when wearing a face covering. Men more than women agree that wearing a face covering is shameful, not cool, a sign of weakness, and a stigma; and these gender differences also mediate gender differences in intentions to wear a face covering.

Individuals with broader beliefs about trauma experienced more intense negative emotions; reported more event-related distress (e.g., intrusions, nightmares) several days following

Jones, Payton J., and Richard J. McNally. 2020. “Does Broadening One's Concept of Trauma Undermine Resilience?.” PsyArXiv. May 11. doi:10.31234/osf.io/5ureb

Abstract: The term 'trauma' seems to have expanded from a narrow usage (referring exclusively to extreme events such as rape and warfare) to a broad usage (encompassing almost any event that results in emotional distress). Today, individuals vary widely in the extent to which their personal 'trauma concept' is relatively narrow or broad. In this study, we explore whether this variation is important to individuals' actual experience when facing a stressful event (in this case, watching a disturbing film clip). Individuals with broader beliefs about trauma experienced more intense negative emotions and were more likely to report viewing the film clip as a personal trauma. Moreover, those who saw the film clip as a personal trauma reported more event-related distress (e.g., intrusions, nightmares) several days following. However, we find limited support for causality, with an experimental manipulation showing a significant effect on personal trauma concepts but mixed effects on other outcomes.

Clarifying the Structure and Nature of Left-wing Authoritarianism

Costello, Thomas H., Shauna Bowes, Sean T. Stevens, Irwin Waldman, and Scott O. Lilienfeld. 2020. “Clarifying the Structure and Nature of Left-wing Authoritarianism.” PsyArXiv. May 11. doi:10.31234/osf.io/3nprq

Abstract: Left-wing authoritarianism (LWA) is one of the more controversial and poorly understood major constructs in political psychology. In this series of studies, we investigate LWA’s nature, structure, correlates, and psychological implications. Beginning with a broad preliminary conceptualization of LWA, we use exploratory and empirical strategies of test construction across five community samples (N = 6,292) to iteratively construct a measure of LWA with promising content validity; refine our conceptualization based on the measure’s structural and nomological validity; and update the measure to reflect these changes. We conduct quantitative tests of LWA’s relations with a host of authoritarianism-related variables, based on a priori hypotheses derived in part from right-wing authoritarianism’s well-established nomological network, and use a behavioral paradigm to show that LWA and social dominance orientation (but not right-wing authoritarianism) predict aggression towards threatening ideological opponents over and above political ideology. We conclude that a shared psychological “core” underlies authoritarianism across the political left and right.

Reactions and gender differences to online pictures of covered sexual organs among heterosexual young adults—Studies based on behavior, eye movement and ERP

Reactions and gender differences to online pictures of covered sexual organs among heterosexual young adults—Studies based on behavior, eye movement and ERP. Lei Han et al. Computers in Human Behavior, May 11 2020, 106425, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106425

Highlights
• Sexual cognition of online sexual pictures.
• Employ eye-movement technology and ERPs to explore sexual cognition differences.
• Covered pictures can cause significant sexual arousal.
• Both naked and covered pictures can induce gender category-specific effect.

Abstract: To increase internet traffic, some online media try to attract attention by presenting pictures that cover the sexual organs of the body. However, compared with naked pictures, it remains unclear whether these covered pictures can evoke similar levels of sexual arousal in heterosexual young adults and category-specific patterns in men. To examine the above problems, this research divided female and male pictures into 4 types (fully dressed pictures, naked pictures, covered pictures and underwear-wearing pictures). Behavioral experiments, eye-movement technology and ERP measurements were employed to explore the different levels of sexual arousal between men and women in response to pictures of different sexes and types. The results revealed that the level of sexual arousal induced by covered pictures was significantly higher than that induced by naked pictures. There was no significant difference in the P300 amplitude of the parietal lobe between covered pictures and naked pictures, but in the frontal lobe, the P300 amplitude induced by covered pictures was significantly higher than that induced by naked pictures. The results indicated that unlike the process of sexual arousal induced by naked pictures, the process of sexual arousal induced by covered pictures not only included the processing of visual stimuli but also required the frontal lobe to actively construct to perceive pictures of covered sexual organs as naked pictures and thus induce sexual arousal. In addition, we also found that both covered pictures (as reflected in the levels of sexual arousal and the average amplitude of P300) and naked pictures (as reflected in the levels of sexual arousal, the number of fixations and the average amplitude of P300) can induce category specificity in heterosexual men. On the one hand, this research extends knowledge regarding sexual cognition and finds that covered pictures can also evoke category specificity in men; on the other hand, from the perspective of brain cognition, the difference in sexual cognitive processing between covered pictures and naked pictures is recognized.

Keywords: Sexual cognitionCategory specificityGender differenceEye movementERP