What Makes Single Life Attractive: More time for oneself, focusing on own goals and having no one dictating actions; plus men found the freedom to flirt around more important than women

What Makes Single Life Attractive: an Explorative Examination of the Advantages of Singlehood. Menelaos Apostolou & Chistoforos Christoforou. Evolutionary Psychological Science, Oct 1 2022. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40806-022-00340-1

Abstract: Many people do not have an intimate partner, one reason being that they prefer to be single. The current research aimed to address the question what makes single life appealing, that is, to identify the possible advantages of being single. More specifically, Study 1 employed open-ended questionnaires on a sample of 269 Greek-speaking participants, and identified 84 such advantages. By using quantitative research methods on a sample of 612 Greek-speaking participants, Study 2 classified these advantages into 10 broader categories. The “More time for myself,” followed by the “Focus on my goals,” and the “No one dictates my actions,” were rated as the most important. Men found the “Freedom to flirt around” more important than women, while women found the Focus on my goals and the “No tensions and fights” more important than men. In addition, younger participants rated the Focus on my goals as more important than older ones. Furthermore, low scorers in mating performance found the identified advantages more important than high scorers.

Is regulatory quality declining?

The Next Phase of Regulatory Reform. James Broughel. National Affairs, Summer 2022. https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/the-next-phase-of-regulatory-reform

Excerpts... Read the full article, please:

One example of such evidence-free regulation in recent years comes from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In 2021, HHS repealed a rule enacted by the Trump administration that would have required the agency to periodically review its regulations for their impact on small businesses. The measure was known as the SUNSET rule because it would attach sunset provisions, or expiration dates, to department rules. If the agency failed to conduct a review, the regulation expired.

Ironically, in proposing to rescind the SUNSET rule, HHS argued that it would be too time consuming and burdensome for the agency to review all of its regulations. Citing almost no academic work in support of its proposed repeal — a reflection of the anti-consequentialism that animates so much contemporary regulatory policy — the agency effectively asserted that assessing the real-world consequences of its existing rules was far less pressing an issue than addressing the perceived problems of the day (by, of course, issuing more regulations).

Through its actions, HHS has rejected the very notion of having to review its own rules and assess whether they work. In fact, the suggestion that agencies review their regulations is an almost inexplicably divisive issue in Washington today. "Retrospective review" has become a dirty term, while cost-benefit analysis has morphed into a tool to judge intentions rather than predict real-world consequences. The shift highlights how far the modern administrative state has drifted from the rational, evidence-based system envisioned by the law-and-economics movement just a few decades ago.

In today's administrative state, intellectual fads appear to be in the driver's seat, while science and economics are simply along for the ride. Despite pronouncements to the contrary, few intellectuals seem genuinely interested in "following the science": Too many have their careers, social status, and sense of personal identity wrapped up in perpetuating the status quo.

Smiling makes you look older, even when you wear a mask, due to eye wrinkling

Smiling makes you look older, even when you wear a mask: the effect of face masks on age perception. Tzvi Ganel & Melvyn A. Goodale. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications volume 7, Article number: 84. Sep 6 2022. https://cognitiveresearchjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s41235-022-00432-3

Abstract: The widespread use of face masks in the era of the Covid-19 pandemic has promoted research on their effect on the perception and recognition of faces. There is growing evidence that masks hinder the recognition of identity and expression, as well as the interpretation of speech from facial cues. It is less clear whether and in what manner masks affect the perception of age from facial cues. Recent research has emphasized the role of the upper region of the face, a part not covered by a mask, in the evaluation of age. For example, smile-related wrinkles in the region of the eyes make smiling faces appear older than neutral faces of the same individuals (the aging effect of smiling, AES). In two experiments, we tested the effect of face masks on age evaluations of neutral and smiling faces in a range of different age groups from 20 to 80 years. The results showed that smiling faces were perceived as older than neutral faces even when individuals were wearing a face mask—and there was no effect of masks on bias in age evaluations. Additional analyses showed reduced accuracy in age evaluations for smiling compared to neutral faces and for masked compared to unmasked faces. The results converge on previous studies emphasizing the importance of the upper region of the face in evaluations of age.

Significance statement: In this manuscript, we provide a comprehensive investigation of the effect of masks on different aspects of age evaluations. Within this context, we looked at the effect of masks on age evaluations of neutral and smiling faces. We found that wearing a face mask does not diminish the well-established effect of smiling on age perception: the fact that when people smile, they look older. In addition, we showed that contrary to previous suggestions, masks do not make people appear to be younger or older. The only difference in age evaluations between masked and unmasked faces was a moderate decrease in accuracy for age evaluations of masked faces. The findings confirm that the perception of age is driven largely by the upper part of the face and that the wrinkling of the eyes that occurs when people smile is responsible for the bias in age perception. These results provide timely insights on the effect of masks on face perception and on the processes that underlie the perception of facial age.

The ubiquity of resilience is one of the most consistent findings in the trauma literature

Myths of Trauma: Why Adversity Does Not Necessarily Make Us Sick. Joel Paris. Oxford Univ. Press, 2022. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/myths-of-trauma-9780197615768

- Focuses on the question of why some people fall ill while others show resilience in the face of adversity.

- Warns clinicians about the tendency to overdiagnose PTSD and overemphasize traumatic events in patients' life histories.

- Addresses the trend toward a "trauma focus" in therapy and offers an alternative, taking personality and life course into account.

The claim that a small number of repeat offenders are responsible for the majority of sexual assaults on college campuses reflects belief in a just & good status quo, and a preference for simple stories

What is the psychological appeal of the serial rapist model? Worldviews predicting endorsement. Ana P. Gantman, Elizabeth Levy Paluck. Behavioural Public Policy, September 30 2022. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/behavioural-public-policy/article/what-is-the-psychological-appeal-of-the-serial-rapist-model-worldviews-predicting-endorsement/732E0DC20E4742A09FEB013E5D466C96

Abstract: The serial rapist model claims that a small number of intentional, repeat offenders are responsible for the majority of sexual assaults on college campuses. The model has formed the dominant argument for some of the most popular forms of campus intervention programs and is cited by high profile advocates and policymakers. Despite enthusiasm for the serial rapist model, it is not empirically well-supported and is contradicted by recent robust data. In this article, we ask: why does the serial rapist model have such broad and enduring appeal? In two US-based samples, one convenience and one representative, we find that people's endorsement of the serial rapist model correlates with worldviews that cohere around ideas of a just and good status quo, and a preference for simple stories. Specifically, we find a positive relationship between endorsement of the serial rapist model and belief in a just world, system justification, social dominance orientation, need for closure and essentialism.