Young men and women’s implicit attitudes towards consensually nonmonogamous relationships. Ashley E. Thompson, Aaron J. Bagley & Elle A. Moore. Psychology & Sexuality, https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2018.1435560
ABSTRACT: Recent research has revealed some inconsistencies in the traditionally negative attitudes towards consensual nonmonogamy (CNM; sexually and/or emotionally nonexclusive romantic relationships), with some adults reporting fairly neutral attitudes. These inconsistencies may be related to the effects of socially desirable responding when adopting self-report (e.g. explicit) measures. Thus, the current study assessed young men and women’s implicit attitudes towards CNM (using the Implicit Association Test) in order to bypass issues associated with social desirability bias. The results from 204 college students (81 men, 123 women) revealed that, despite reporting neutral explicit attitudes towards CNM, young men and women demonstrated a strong automatic preference for monogamy (mean D score = 0.71; SD = 0.32). Furthermore, the relationship between explicit and implicit attitudes was clarified by assessing the extent to which participants were likely to engage in socially desirable responding. Implicit and explicit attitudes towards CNM were more closely related among those less likely to evidence social desirability bias as compared to those who were more likely to fall prey to this bias. These findings highlight the importance of assessing implicit attitudes and provide evidence of the strong social stigma surrounding CNM.
KEYWORDS: Consensual nonmonogamy, implicit attitudes, gender differences, social desirability
Thursday, February 8, 2018
Brave, health-conscious, and environmentally friendly: Positive impressions of insect consumers
Brave, health-conscious, and environmentally friendly: Positive impressions of insect food product consumers. Christina Hartmann et al. Food Quality and Preference, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2018.02.001
Highlights
• Insect food product consumers were seen as health-conscious, eco-friendly, and brave.
• Consumers of vegetarian alternatives were perceived as more moral but less tolerant.
• Insect and vegetarian menus were evaluated as healthier then the meat menu.
• Insect-based meat alternative was evaluated as healthy as a vegetarian alternative.
Abstract: Prior results suggest that people who follow a vegetarian diet or consume meat alternatives, such as insects, might be perceived negatively. In two experimental studies, both the shopping list method and a vignette approach were used to assess underlying impressions of these consumer groups. The aim of the first study was to explore how someone with insect-based or vegetarian burgers on their shopping list is perceived compared to someone purchasing beef burgers. Study participants (N = 598) were randomly assigned to one of three shopping list conditions and evaluated the owner of the list on 16 bipolar attributes (e.g., disciplined, health-conscious, popular). In the second study, a new set of participants (N = 617) was randomly assigned to one of three conditions. They read a short description about a hypothetical person who either chose a lunch menu with insect schnitzel, vegetarian schnitzel or pork schnitzel to elicit an evaluation of this person. The same personality attributes as in Study 1 were assessed. The results of both studies showed that consumers of insect and vegetarian products were perceived as more health-conscious, environmentally friendly, imaginative, brave, interesting, and knowledgeable than meat consumers. Notably, the vegetarian and insect alternatives were evaluated as healthier than the meat option. Given the relatively positive image of people who consume alternatives to traditional meat proteins identified in the present study, the social influence of people who visibly consume such products may be high.
Keywords: Insects; Vegetarian; Impressions; Shopping list; Vignette study; Alternative proteins; Personality
Highlights
• Insect food product consumers were seen as health-conscious, eco-friendly, and brave.
• Consumers of vegetarian alternatives were perceived as more moral but less tolerant.
• Insect and vegetarian menus were evaluated as healthier then the meat menu.
• Insect-based meat alternative was evaluated as healthy as a vegetarian alternative.
Abstract: Prior results suggest that people who follow a vegetarian diet or consume meat alternatives, such as insects, might be perceived negatively. In two experimental studies, both the shopping list method and a vignette approach were used to assess underlying impressions of these consumer groups. The aim of the first study was to explore how someone with insect-based or vegetarian burgers on their shopping list is perceived compared to someone purchasing beef burgers. Study participants (N = 598) were randomly assigned to one of three shopping list conditions and evaluated the owner of the list on 16 bipolar attributes (e.g., disciplined, health-conscious, popular). In the second study, a new set of participants (N = 617) was randomly assigned to one of three conditions. They read a short description about a hypothetical person who either chose a lunch menu with insect schnitzel, vegetarian schnitzel or pork schnitzel to elicit an evaluation of this person. The same personality attributes as in Study 1 were assessed. The results of both studies showed that consumers of insect and vegetarian products were perceived as more health-conscious, environmentally friendly, imaginative, brave, interesting, and knowledgeable than meat consumers. Notably, the vegetarian and insect alternatives were evaluated as healthier than the meat option. Given the relatively positive image of people who consume alternatives to traditional meat proteins identified in the present study, the social influence of people who visibly consume such products may be high.
Keywords: Insects; Vegetarian; Impressions; Shopping list; Vignette study; Alternative proteins; Personality
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
"The phylogenetic roots of human lethal violence" (2016), and comments on the paper
The phylogenetic roots of human lethal violence. José María Gómez et al. Nature volume 538, pages 233–237 (October 13 2016), https://www.nature.com/articles/nature19758
The psychological, sociological and evolutionary roots of conspecific violence in humans are still debated, despite attracting the attention of intellectuals for over two millennia. Here we propose a conceptual approach towards understanding these roots based on the assumption that aggression in mammals, including humans, has a significant phylogenetic component. By compiling sources of mortality from a comprehensive sample of mammals, we assessed the percentage of deaths due to conspecifics and, using phylogenetic comparative tools, predicted this value for humans. The proportion of human deaths phylogenetically predicted to be caused by interpersonal violence stood at 2%. This value was similar to the one phylogenetically inferred for the evolutionary ancestor of primates and apes, indicating that a certain level of lethal violence arises owing to our position within the phylogeny of mammals. It was also similar to the percentage seen in prehistoric bands and tribes, indicating that we were as lethally violent then as common mammalian evolutionary history would predict. However, the level of lethal violence has changed through human history and can be associated with changes in the socio-political organization of human populations. Our study provides a detailed phylogenetic and historical context against which to compare levels of lethal violence observed throughout our history.
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Comment on this paper: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/09/humans-are-unusually-violent-mammals-but-averagely-violent-primates/501935
Check also Genetic background of extreme violent behavior. J Tiihonen, M-R Rautiainen, H M Ollila, E Repo-Tiihonen, M Virkkunen, A Palotie, O Pietiläinen, K Kristiansson, M Joukamaa, H Lauerma, J Saarela, S Tyni, H Vartiainen, J Paananen, D Goldman & T Paunio. Molecular Psychiatry volume 20, pages 786–792 (2015). https://www.nature.com/articles/mp2014130
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Suricata suricatta, violence, violent, meerkat, puma
The psychological, sociological and evolutionary roots of conspecific violence in humans are still debated, despite attracting the attention of intellectuals for over two millennia. Here we propose a conceptual approach towards understanding these roots based on the assumption that aggression in mammals, including humans, has a significant phylogenetic component. By compiling sources of mortality from a comprehensive sample of mammals, we assessed the percentage of deaths due to conspecifics and, using phylogenetic comparative tools, predicted this value for humans. The proportion of human deaths phylogenetically predicted to be caused by interpersonal violence stood at 2%. This value was similar to the one phylogenetically inferred for the evolutionary ancestor of primates and apes, indicating that a certain level of lethal violence arises owing to our position within the phylogeny of mammals. It was also similar to the percentage seen in prehistoric bands and tribes, indicating that we were as lethally violent then as common mammalian evolutionary history would predict. However, the level of lethal violence has changed through human history and can be associated with changes in the socio-political organization of human populations. Our study provides a detailed phylogenetic and historical context against which to compare levels of lethal violence observed throughout our history.
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Comment on this paper: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/09/humans-are-unusually-violent-mammals-but-averagely-violent-primates/501935
Check also Genetic background of extreme violent behavior. J Tiihonen, M-R Rautiainen, H M Ollila, E Repo-Tiihonen, M Virkkunen, A Palotie, O Pietiläinen, K Kristiansson, M Joukamaa, H Lauerma, J Saarela, S Tyni, H Vartiainen, J Paananen, D Goldman & T Paunio. Molecular Psychiatry volume 20, pages 786–792 (2015). https://www.nature.com/articles/mp2014130
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Suricata suricatta, violence, violent, meerkat, puma
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