A brief lesson that includes the assumptions of self-interest and strategic considerations moves behavior toward traditional economic rationality in ultimatum game, dictator game, and prisoner's dilemma

The Rapid Evolution of Homo Economicus: Brief Exposure to Neoclassical Assumptions Increases Self-Interested Behavior. John Ifcher, Homa Zarghamee. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2018.04.012

Highlights
•    Laboratory experiment using within & across-subject design
•    Identify impact of econ lessons on behavior in games used to measure selfishness
•    Econ lessons include assumption of self-interest and strategic considerations
•    Behav moves toward self-interest in ultimatum & dictator games & prisoner's dilemma
•    No effect in public-goods games

Abstract: Economics students have been shown to exhibit more selfishness than other students. Because the literature identifies the impact of long-term exposure to economics instruction (e.g., taking a course), it cannot isolate the specific course content responsible; nor can selection, peer effects, or other confounds be properly controlled for. In a laboratory experiment, we use a within- and across-subject design to identify the impact of brief, randomly-assigned economics lessons on behavior in the ultimatum game (UG), dictator game (DG), prisoner's dilemma (PD), and public-goods game (PGG). We find that a brief lesson that includes the assumptions of self-interest and strategic considerations moves behavior toward traditional economic rationality in UG, PD, and DG. Despite entering the study with higher levels of selfishness than others, subjects with prior exposure to economics instruction have similar training effects. We show that the lesson reduces efficiency and increases inequity in the UG. The results demonstrate that even brief exposure to commonplace neoclassical economics assumptions measurably moves behavior toward self-interest.

Keywords: Economics instruction; Self-interest; Game theory; Laboratory experiment; Social preferences

Evidence of a Flynn Effect in Children's Human Figure Drawings (1902–1968)

Evidence of a Flynn Effect in Children's Human Figure Drawings (1902–1968). Jeremy E. C. Genovese. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1080/00221325.2018.1469113

ABSTRACT: The Flynn effect is the long-term trend for scores on tests of cognitive ability to increase across cohorts. Several samples of children's human figure drawings, published in 1902, 1926, 1963, and 1968, are examined for evidence of a Flynn effect. Results show that larger percentages of children draw more complete human figures over the course of the 20th century.

KEYWORDS: children's drawings, Draw-a-Person test, Flynn effect, history of Psychology

Stone-age strategies, space-age media & signaling in profile photos: Males emphasized social status, ambition & access to material resources, females physical appearance & youthfulness. Perception of masculinity was tied to display of resources & physical strength, femininity to physical appearance & flirtatious behavior

Stone-age strategies and space-age media: Sex differences in sexual signaling on Facebook. Igor Miklousic, Mia Karabegović, Lukrecija Puljić. Periodicum Biologorum,  Vol 119 No 4 (2017). DOI: https://doi.org/10.18054/pb.v119i4.5787

Abstract: Building on the proposition of the Sexual Strategies Theory that sex differences in mating strategies and intrasexual competition will be reflected in sexual signaling behavior towards possible mates, we sought to examine if such strategies would be observable on social networking sites.

For the purpose of the study, ten male and ten female public profile pictures were randomly selected from a large pool of users (N = 1386) who chose to participate in the study and subscribed to a Facebook page created in order to aggregate users with an interest in Evolutionary psychology. Selected profile photos were then included in an online evaluation protocol, filled out by 31 independent raters, resulting in a total of 620 ratings. The protocol addressed nine evolutionarily relevant partner choice characteristics; 1) physical strength or athleticism, (2) access to resources or material possessions, (3) ambition or industriousness, (4) social status, (5) intelligence, (6) features of physical appearance, (7) features accentuating youthfulness, (8) high activity level, and (9) flirtatious behavior.

Males more frequently emphasized cues of social status, ambition and access to material resources, whereas females tended to emphasize features of physical appearance and of youthfulness. Furthermore, the perception of masculinity was mostly tied to the display of resources and physical strength, as was femininity to physical appearance and flirtatious behavior.

The Sexual Strategies Theory predictions of mating display behaviors were confirmed in online settings, demonstrating the robustness of sex differences in mating-related behaviors.

Temptation & self-selection into an opportunistic environment on an individual’s likelihood of engaging in dishonest behavior: people who tempt themselves to cheat are more likely to cheat & in greater magnitude. Self-reported value of ethics predicts honest behavior only for subjects who consider their moral principles to be “very important” in their everyday lives

Temptation and Cheating Behavior: Experimental Evidence. Jennifer Pate. Journal of Economic Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2018.05.006

Highlights
•    This study features an experiment testing the impact of temptation and self-selection into an opportunistic environment on an individual’s likelihood of engaging in dishonest behavior.
•    The empirical evidence demonstrates that people who tempt themselves to cheat are more likely to cheat.
•    Further, people who self-select into the opportunistic setting cheat to a greater magnitude than individuals placed into the same opportunistic condition by random assignment.
•    There are no gender differences in self-selection into the opportunistic environment or in overall likelihood of cheating.
•    An individual’s self-reported value of ethics predicts honest behavior but only for subjects who consider their moral principles to be “very important” in their everyday lives.

Abstract: This article presents an experiment designed to test the impact of temptation and self-selection into an opportunistic environment on an individual’s likelihood of engaging in dishonest behavior. In doing so, this experiment is the first of its kind to isolate the relationship between temptation and cheating as its primary focus, to create a randomized control group for comparative purposes, and to be conducted without deceiving subjects. The evidence shows that people who tempt themselves to cheat are more likely to cheat. Further, people who self-select into the opportunistic setting cheat to a greater extent than individuals placed into the same opportunistic condition by random assignment. There are no gender differences in choice of environment or likelihood of cheating. An individual’s self-reported value of ethics predicts honest behavior but only for subjects who consider their moral principles to be “very important” in their everyday lives. The results have direct implications for any environment where individuals can self-select into an opportunistic setting.

Keywords: Temptation; cheating; dishonesty; opportunism

For men, psychopathy was a negative predictor, and narcissism a positive predictor of lifetime offspring; for women, psychopathy emerged as a negative predictor of lifetime offspring

Lifetime offspring and the Dark Triad. Gregory L. Carter, Minna Lyons, Gayle Brewer. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 132, 1 October 2018, Pages 79–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.05.017

Abstract: There is a paucity of literature investigating the extent to which human personality predicts lifetime (age-controlled) offspring. The present study contributes to this field in assessing whether the inter-related ‘dark’ personalities that have been linked to mating success (i.e., narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy: the ‘Dark Triad’) predict number of children. Analyses from an online sample (N = 314) revealed that for men, psychopathy was a negative predictor, and narcissism a positive predictor of lifetime offspring. For women, psychopathy emerged as a negative predictor of lifetime offspring. Results are discussed in respect of the importance of these traits to fitness-related outcomes, including reproduction, and the need to consider sex differences, as these traits may have a different function in men and women.

Keywords: Reproduction; Dark Triad; Narcissism; Machiavellianism; Psychopathy

Low (high) skill subjects are more (less) willing to take risks on gambles where the probabilities depend on relative skill. This suggests that the wrong people may engage in risky activities, such as entering competitive markets or career paths, while the right people may be crowded out

How do beliefs about skill affect risky decisions? Adrian Bruhin, Luís Santos-Pinto, David Staubli. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Volume 150, June 2018, Pages 350-371. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2018.01.016

Highlights
•    In this paper, we use a laboratory experiment to study the causal effect of beliefs about skill on risky choices.
•    The paper offers an innovative experimental test that is free of strategic confounds and based on revealed preference.
•    Low (high) skill subjects are more (less) willing to take risks on gambles where the probabilities depend on relative skill.
•    This suggests that the wrong people may engage in risky activities V such as entering competitive markets or career paths V while the right people may be crowded out.
•    Revealed beliefs are only moderately correlated with stated beliefs and so relying only on stated beliefs may be misleading.

Abstract: Beliefs about relative skill matter for risky decisions such as market entry, career choices, and financial investments. Yet in most laboratory experiments risk is exogenously given and beliefs about relative skill play no role. We use a laboratory experiment without strategy confounds to isolate the impact of beliefs about relative skill on risky choices. We find that low (high) skill individuals are more (less) willing to take risks on gambles where the probabilities depend on relative skill than on gambles with exogenously given probabilities. This happens because low (high) skill individuals overestimate (underestimate) their relative skill. Consequently, the wrong people may engage in risky activities where performance is based on relative skill while the right people may be crowded out.

We look at more information, pay more for information, look at different information when choosing for others; those who choose for others focus more on choice-alternatives, and when choosing for themselves focus more on choice-attributes

Choosing for others and its relation to information search, Yi Liu et al. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Volume 147, July 2018, Pages 65–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2018.05.005

Highlights
•    We show that people look at more information when choosing for others.
•    We show that people will pay more for information when choosing for others.
•    We show that people will look at different information when choosing for others.
•    People who choose for others focus more on choice-alternatives.
•    People who choose for themselves focus more on choice-attributes.

Abstract: When people make choices, they both identify their options and research the unique details that comprise their options. Respectively, these two search behaviors are called alternative- and attribute-search. The literature treats these separate information search behaviors as a trade-off: Choosing to examine extant alternatives (alternative-search) means suffering the costs of not analyzing the details of alternatives (attribute-search), and vice versa. Here, we found that in choices people make for others, they search for more alternatives and more attributes than in choices people make for themselves. Moreover, we found that when people face a trade-off between searching for alternatives and attributes, people choosing for others will favor alternatives, whereas people choosing for themselves will favor attributes. Thus, we found that the pursuit of information is different when people choose for others (vs. themselves), suggesting a novel pivot to a range of areas in decision making where the alternative-attribute trade-off is ubiquitous.

Keywords: Self-other decision making; Information search; Regulatory focus; Social distance

Knowing about others’ political views interferes with the ability to learn about their competency in unrelated tasks, leading to suboptimal information-seeking decisions and errors in judgement

Marks, Joseph and Copland, Eloise and Loh, Eleanor and Sunstein, Cass R. and Sharot, Tali, Epistemic Spillovers: Learning Others’ Political Views Reduces the Ability to Assess and Use Their Expertise in Nonpolitical Domains (April 13, 2018). http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3162009

Abstract: On political questions, many people are especially likely to consult and learn from those whose political views are similar to their own, thus creating a risk of echo chambers or information cocoons. Here, we test whether the tendency to prefer knowledge from the politically like-minded generalizes to domains that have nothing to do with politics, even when evidence indicates that person is less skilled in that domain than someone with dissimilar political views. Participants had multiple opportunities to learn about others’ (1) political opinions and (2) ability to categorize geometric shapes. They then decided to whom to turn for advice when solving an incentivized shape categorization task. We find that participants falsely concluded that politically like-minded others were better at categorizing shapes and thus chose to hear from them. Participants were also more influenced by politically like-minded others, even when they had good reason not to be. The results demonstrate that knowing about others’ political views interferes with the ability to learn about their competency in unrelated tasks, leading to suboptimal information-seeking decisions and errors in judgement. Our findings have implications for political polarization and social learning in the midst of political divisions.


Check also

When the tables are turned: The effects of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election on in-group favoritism and out-group hostility. Burak Oc, Celia Moore, Michael R. Bashshur. PLOS, May 24, 2018, https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/05/before-2016-election-republicans-showed.html

Smartphone-tracking data & precinct-level voting data show that politically-divided families shortened Thanksgiving dinners by 20-30 minutes following the 2016 election:

M. Keith Chen and Ryne Rohla. “Politics Gets Personal: Effects of Political Partisanship and Advertising on Family Ties.” 2017 (Under Review). https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/11/smartphone-tracking-data-precinct-level.html

Experiential or Material Purchases? Social Class Determines Purchase Happiness. Individuals of higher social class, whose abundant resources make it possible to focus on self-development and self-expression, were made happier by experiential over material purchase

Experiential or Material Purchases? Social Class Determines Purchase Happiness. Jacob C. Lee, Deborah L. Hall, Wendy Wood. Psychological Science, https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797617736386

Abstract: Which should people buy to make themselves happy: experiences or material goods? The answer depends in part on the level of resources already available in their lives. Across multiple studies using a range of methodologies, we found that individuals of higher social class, whose abundant resources make it possible to focus on self-development and self-expression, were made happier by experiential over material purchases. No such experiential advantage emerged for individuals of lower social class, whose lesser resources engender concern with resource management and wise use of limited finances. Instead, lower-class individuals were made happier from material purchases or were equally happy from experiential and material purchases.

Keywords: social class, happiness, experiential purchases, material purchases, socioeconomic status, open data, open materials, preregistered

Before the 2016 election, Republicans showed greater in-group favoritism than Democrats, who treated others equally, regardless of their political affiliation; after, Republicans no longer showed in-group favoritism, while Democrats showed out-group derogation

When the tables are turned: The effects of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election on in-group favoritism and out-group hostility. Burak Oc, Celia Moore, Michael R. Bashshur. PLOS, May 24, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197848

Abstract: The outcome of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election was a big surprise to many, as the majority of polls had predicted the opposite outcome. In this two-stage cross-sectional study, we focus on how Democrats and Republicans reacted to this electoral surprise and how these reactions might have influenced the way they allocated resources to each other in small groups. We find that, before the election, Republicans showed greater in-group favoritism than Democrats, who treated others equally, regardless of their political affiliation. We then show that Democrats experienced the election outcome as an ego shock and, in the week following the election, reported significantly higher levels of negative emotions and lower levels of self-esteem than Republicans. These reactions then predicted how individuals’ decided to allocate resources to others: after the election, Republicans no longer showed in-group favoritism, while Democrats showed out-group derogation. We find these decisions when the tables were turned can be partially explained by differences in participants’ state self-esteem.

Mercy Sex: How Much Is “Normal” Depends Upon The Country Where You Live

Mercy Sex: How Much Is “Normal” Depends Upon Where You Live. R. Pollycove, J. Simon. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, Volume 15, Issue 6, Supplement 2, June 2018, Pages S113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2018.03.052

Objective: Women engage in sexual relations despite the absence of personal sexual interest. Such sexual activity has been termed: duty sex, obligatory sex, mercy sex, etc. Medical treatments (testosterone [Intrinsa®; Libigel®], flibanserin [Addyi®], bremelanotide [RekyndaTM], lasofoxifene [Fablyn®)]) for hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD; DSM-IV-TR) have investigated thousands of women. Women enrolled in HSDD trials continue to have sexual relations with their partners despite their absence of desire. We have previously reported that the “normal” frequency of sexual activity (without interest), aka “mercy sex” in these trials (a worldwide convenience sample) is 2.57 times/28 days. (n 4483). Here we examine the differences in “mercy sex” frequency among 13 European countries  to assess the impact, if any, of geographical and cultural diversity.

Materials and Methods: We analyzed baseline sexual activity data from the Orchid Trial (511.77; NCT00491829), a 24 week, randomized, doubleblind, placebo controlled, trial of flibanserin in premenopausal European women with HSDD conducted between June 2007 and March 2009 at 86 clinical trial sites in 13 European countries. All subjects used contraception. The baseline frequency of sexual activity without interest, aka “mercy sex” in these trial participants was compared by country with the norms established above.

Results: The mean number of sexual events per 28 days in the Orchid trial was: AUS 2.66, BEL 2.57, CZE 4.19, DEU 1.72, ESP 3.80, FIN 2.42, FRA 2.31, GBR 1.76, HUN 1.78, ITA 1.12, NLD 2.42; NOR 2.28, SWE 2.32.

Conclusion: Monogamous, heterosexual couples engage in sexual activity 2.57 times/28 days (n 4483) even when the female partner has HSDD. Such “mercy sex” is remarkably consistent in frequency. In certain Orchid trial countries, the frequency of “mercy sex” was inconsistent with these “norms.” These outlier results, both greater than the “norm” CZE 4.19, and ESP 3.80 events/28d; and less than the “norm” DEU 1.72, GBR 1.76, HUN 1.78, ITA 1.12, suggest significant cultural and/or social differences between countries, and provide a rich opportunity for hypothesis development and testing as to why such differences exist?

Disclosure: Work supported by industry: yes, by Boehringer Ingelheim (no industry support in study design or execution). The presenter or any of the authors act as a consultant, employee (part time or full time) or shareholder of an industry.

Power motivates heightened sexual attraction to the opposite sex among heterosexual men and women

Power motivates heightened sexual attraction to the opposite sex among heterosexual men and women. Lijun Zheng, Jing Zhang, Yong Zheng. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1111/ajsp.12324

Abstract: Previous studies have demonstrated that power induces sexual overperception by activating mating motivation. This study examined the impact of power on sexual attraction to the opposite sex among heterosexual men and women. We manipulated power by instructing participants to recall an incident in their lives where they possessed power over someone else (high power) or someone else possessed power over them (low power). We controlled for individual variations in sex drive, sexual sensation seeking, and sociosexual orientation. We asked participants to record their sexual attraction to images of the opposite sex in swimsuits. Our results showed that high‐power individuals, both men and women, recorded significantly greater sexual attraction to the images than did low‐power individuals, demonstrating that power heightens sexual attraction to the opposite sex among heterosexual men and women. The findings highlight power's activation of the mating motivation and have implications for the effect of power on sexualized behaviors.

How banking regulation has grown out of all proportions: Basel regulatory framework have now more than two million words

How banking regulation has grown out of all proportions. Marie-José Kolly and Jürg Müller. The End of Banking, May 22 2018. https://www.endofbanking.org/2018/05/22/how-banking-regulation-has-grown-out-of-all-proportions

Over the last forty years, banking regulation has grown extensively. The framework developed by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision alone consists of two million words. What is actually stated in all these documents?

A bank fails, and politicians save it with taxpayers’ money. This story repeats itself all around the world, most recently in Russia and Italy. To prevent such costly bailouts, banking regulation has been devised and implemented for a long time. The documents of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision play a key role for national rules.

The Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) analyzed these regulatory documents in detail. Its data team included all 163 regulatory documents with final status as of 31st of July 2017 in their analysis (see «Methods» part at the end of this article). Major elements of this regulatory framework are Basel I (the first Basel capital accord, 1988), Basel II (2005), and Basel III (2010).

The most obvious development is the sheer growth of text over the years. Figure 1 shows, for the past 40 years, how much new text the Committee has published per year.

[...]

In the aftermath of the financial crisis, the Committee has published 2795 pages. This is more than half of the entire regulatory framework consisting of 5440 pages and 2 million words – the Basel framework has reached an epic dimension.

[...]

The Basel documents are not only thousands of pages long, they are also a hard read. An average sentence in the Basel documents consists of 25.7 words, often embedded into complex grammatical structures. In comparison, an average sentence of the British National Corpus, which is a collection of texts covering a broad range of modern British English, only consists of 21 words.

Already the second sentence of the very first document published by the Basel Committee on Banking supervision spans over 72 words.

[Full article in the link above]

The other hidden hand: Soviet and Cuban intelligence in Allende’s Chile. Dec 2017

The other hidden hand: Soviet and Cuban intelligence in Allende’s Chile. Kristian Gustafson & Christopher Andrew. Intelligence and National Security, Volume 33, 2018 - Issue 3, Pages 407-421, Dec 2017. https://doi.org/10.1080/02684527.2017.1407549

Abstract: The role of Soviet and Cuban covert activities in Allende’s Chile has not been given sufficient consideration. This paper outlines the significant actions that the KGB and the Cuban DGI undertook there, showing that both organizations played important roles in both operating directly against the CIA and by supporting local actors. The results of their efforts, however, may have been negative to Allende’s coalition by focusing on factional or ideological interests. A broad array of sources is brought together to shed light on this historical gap. The result is a new paradigm in which we can consider this dramatic period.

Jan 2018: Guidance on Uncertainty Analysis in Scientific Assessments. EFSA Scientific Committee

Guidance on Uncertainty Analysis in Scientific Assessments. EFSA Scientific Committee. Jan 24 2018, https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2018.5123

Abstract: Uncertainty analysis is the process of identifying limitations in scientific knowledge and evaluating their implications for scientific conclusions. It is therefore relevant in all EFSA's scientific assessments and also necessary, to ensure that the assessment conclusions provide reliable information for decision‐making. The form and extent of uncertainty analysis, and how the conclusions should be reported, vary widely depending on the nature and context of each assessment and the degree of uncertainty that is present. This document provides concise guidance on how to identify which options for uncertainty analysis are appropriate in each assessment, and how to apply them. It is accompanied by a separate, supporting opinion that explains the key concepts and principles behind this Guidance, and describes the methods in more detail.

Candidate attractiveness mitigates the negative electoral effects of involvement in scandal; of all type of scandals, we also find that attractiveness has the largest moderating role if the incumbent is embroiled in a sex scandal

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Do Attractive Politicians Get a ‘Break’ When They are Involved in Scandals? Daniel Stockemer, Rodrigo Praino. Political Behavior, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11109-018-9469-1

Abstract: In general, politicians involved in scandals of various natures are punished by voters. Good-looking politicians, on the contrary, are rewarded by voters. Almost fifty years of empirical research has shown that ill-informed voters will use the physical attractiveness of candidates, as well as readily-available information on scandal allegations involving candidates running for office, as a heuristic shortcut to determine their voting behaviour. This article represents the first attempt to link the existing literature on the electoral effects of scandals with the existing literature of the electoral impact of candidate attractiveness. Using data on U.S. House of Representatives elections between 1972 and 2012, we find that candidate attractiveness mitigates the negative electoral effects of involvement in scandal; this implies that attractive politicians do get a “break” when involved in scandals. Of all type of scandals, we also find that candidate attractiveness has the largest moderating role if the incumbent is embroiled in a sex scandal.

Psychopathy was linked to a city/urban preference; the Dark Triad preferred living conditions with opportunities for “exploitation”

Bright lights, big city: The Dark Triad traits and geographical preferences. Peter K. Jonason. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 132, 1 October 2018, Pages 66–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.05.024

Highlights
•    Examined living preferences and conditions associated with the Dark Triad.
•    Psychopathy, in particular, was linked to a city/urban preference.
•    The Dark Triad preferred living conditions with opportunities for “exploitation”.
•    Sex differences in featural preferences were mediated by the Dark Triad traits.

Abstract: There are many niches people can occupy and some people may fit better in certain niches than others as a function of their personality. Two simple questions were considered presently. Are people characterized by the Dark Triad traits also characterized by a bias towards living in the city and if so as they are, what features of the city-living draw them towards such geographical preferences? Study 1 (N = 753, students) assessed the correlations between population density and size and the Dark Triad traits. Study 2 (N = 270, MTurk) asked participant's where they lived and compared rates of the Dark Triad traits. Study 3 (N = 273, MTurk) assessed where people wish they lived based on location (e.g., city, suburbia) and features of that environment and related that to the Dark Triad traits. Across three studies, there was a tentative-yet-methodologically robust bias of those who are high in the Dark Triad traits—especially psychopathy—towards city life. In Study 3, sex differences in the features people want in where they live and how the Dark Triad traits correlated with the featural preferences were examined and suggested effects consistent with life history theory. Results are discussed using life history and selection-evocation-manipulation paradigms.

Keywords: Dark Triad; Psychopathy; Narcissism; Machiavellianism; Geography

Children of highly ambitious parents tend to enter competition even if their chances to win are low.; parents with higher income have less ambitions regarding their children’s success in the later professional life

Parents’ Ambitions and Children’s Competitiveness. Menusch Khadjavi, Andreas Nicklisch. Journal of Economic Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2018.05.004

Highlights
•    The ambition levels of parents concerning their children’s success in the later professional life correlate with children’s competitiveness.
•    Children of highly ambitious parents tend to enter competition even if their chances to win are low.
•    Parents with higher income have less ambitions regarding their children’s success in the later professional life.

Abstract: Individual competitiveness is a personality trait of high importance. While substantial differences between individuals have been documented, the sources of this heterogeneity are not well understood. To contribute to this issue we conduct an incentivized field study with pre-school children. We assess the children’s willingness to compete and relate the inclinations to ambitions and preferences of their parents. Parents’ ambitions concerning their children’s success in professional life predict their children’s competitiveness. In particular, children of highly ambitious parents tend to enter competition even if their chances to win are low. High ambitions are related to a relatively low socioeconomic background.

Keywords: Children; Competition; Field Experiment; Parents; Socialization; Intergenerational Transmission

Higher IQ in adolescence was associated with a number of healthier behaviours in middle age, but also with skipping meals, snacking between meals, drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes smoked

Intelligence in youth and health behaviours in middle age. Christina Wraw, Geoff Der, Catharine R. Gale, Ian J. Deary. Intelligence, Volume 69, July–August 2018, Pages 71–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2018.04.005

Highlights
•    Links between intelligence in youth and mid-life health behaviours were examined.
•    Higher IQ was associated with a range of healthier behaviours in mid-life.
•    There were non-linear associations between IQ and unhealthy behaviours.
•    There was essentially no attenuation after adjusting for childhood SES.
•    Statistical significance was largely maintained after adjusting for adult SES.

Abstract

Objective: We investigated the association between intelligence in youth and a range of health-related behaviours in middle age.

Method: Participants were the 5347 men and women who responded to the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY-79) 2012 survey. IQ was recorded with the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) when participants were aged 15 to 23 years of age. Self-reports on exercise (moderate activity, vigorous activity, and strength training), dietary, smoking, drinking, and oral health behaviours were recorded when participants were in middle age (mean age = 51.7 years). A series of regression analyses tested for an association between IQ in youth and the different health related behaviours in middle age, while adjusting for childhood socio-economic status (SES) and adult SES.

Results: Higher IQ in youth was significantly associated with the following behaviours that are beneficial to health: being more likely to be able to do moderate cardiovascular activity (Odds Ratio, 95% CI) (1.72, 1.35 to 2.20, p < .001) and strength training (1.61, 1.37 to 1.90, p < .001); being less likely to have had a sugary drink in the previous week (0.75, 0.71 to 0.80, p < .001); a lower likelihood of drinking alcohol heavily (0.67, 0.61 to 0.74, p < .001); being less likely to smoke (0.60, 0.56 to 0.65, p < .001); being more likely to floss (1.47, 1.35 to 1.59, p < .001); and being more likely to say they “often” read the nutritional information (1.20, 1.09 to 1.31, p < .001) and ingredients (1.24, 1.12 to 1.36, p < .001) on food packaging compared to always reading them. Higher IQ was also linked with dietary behaviours that may or may not be linked with poorer health outcomes (i.e. being more likely to have skipped a meal (1.10, 1.03 to 1.17, p = .005) and snacked between meals (1.37, 1.26 to 1.50, p < .001) in the previous week). An inverted u-shaped association was also found between IQ and the number of meals skipped per week. Higher IQ was also linked with behaviours that are known to be linked with poorer health (i.e. a higher likelihood of drinking alcohol compared to being abstinent from drinking alcohol (1.58, 1.47 to 1.69, p < .001)). A u-shaped association was found between IQ and the amount of alcohol consumed per week and an inverted u-shaped association was found between IQ and the number of cigarettes smoked a day. Across all outcomes, adjusting for childhood SES tended to attenuate the estimated effect size only slightly. Adjusting for adult SES led to more marked attenuation but statistical significance was maintained in most cases.

Conclusion: In the present study, a higher IQ in adolescence was associated with a number of healthier behaviours in middle age. In contrast to these results, a few associations were also identified between higher intelligence and behaviours that may or may not be linked with poor health (i.e. skipping meals and snacking between meals) and with behaviours that are known to be linked with poor health (i.e. drinking alcohol and the number of cigarettes smoked). To explore mechanisms of association, future studies could test for a range of health behaviours as potential mediators between IQ and morbidity or mortality in later life.

Rejecting Unwanted Romantic Advances Is More Difficult Than Suitors Realize

Rejecting Unwanted Romantic Advances Is More Difficult Than Suitors Realize. Vanessa K. Bohns, Lauren A. DeVincent. Social Psychological and Personality Science, https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550618769880

Abstract: In two preregistered studies, we find that initiators of unrequited romantic advances fail to appreciate the difficult position their targets occupy, both in terms of how uncomfortable it is for targets to reject an advance and how targets’ behavior is affected, professionally and otherwise, because of this discomfort. We find the same pattern of results in a survey of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduate students (N = 942) who recalled actual instances of unwanted or unrequited romantic pursuit (Study 1) and in an experiment in which participants (N = 385) were randomly assigned to the roles of “target” or “suitor” when reading a vignette involving an unwanted romantic advance made by a coworker (Study 2). Notably, women in our Study 1 sample of STEM graduate students were more than twice as likely to report having been in the position of target as men; thus, our findings have potential implications for the retention of women in STEM.

Keywords: egocentrism, interpersonal attraction, perspective taking, sexual harassment, STEM, workplace relations

There Is No Advantageous Inequity Aversion When One Is Not Responsible For The Unequal Allocation

Advantageous Inequity Aversion Does Not Always Exist: The Role of Determining Allocations Modulates Preferences for Advantageous Inequity. Ou Li, Fuming Xu4 and Lei Wang. Front. Psychol., May 23 2018, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00749

Abstract: Previous studies have shown that people would like to sacrifice benefits to themselves in order to avoid inequitable outcomes, not only when they receive less than others (disadvantageous inequity aversion) but also when they receive more (advantageous inequity aversion). This feature is captured by the theory of inequity aversion. The present study was inspired by what appears to be asymmetry in the research paradigm toward advantageous inequity aversion. Specifically, studies that supported the existence of advantageous inequity aversion always relied on the paradigm in which participants can determine allocations. Thus, it is interesting to know what would occur if participants could not determine allocations or simply passed judgment on predetermined allocations. To address this, a behavioral experiment (N = 118) and a skin conductance response (SCR) experiment (N = 29) were adopted to compare participants' preferences for advantageous inequity directly when allocations were determined and when allocations were predetermined in an allocating task. In the determined condition, participants could divide by themselves a sum of money between themselves and a matched person, whereas in the predetermined condition, they could simply indicate their satisfaction with an equivalent program-generated allocation. It was found that, compared with those in the determined condition, participants in the predetermined condition behaved as if they liked the advantageous inequity and equity to the same degree (Experiment One) and that the SCRs elicited by advantageous inequity had no differences from those elicited by equity, suggesting that participants did not feel negatively toward advantageous inequity in this situation (Experiment Two). The present study provided mutual corroboration (behavioral and electrophysiological data) to document that advantageous inequity aversion may differ as a function of the individual's role in determining allocations, and it would disappear if individual cannot determine allocations.

Meta-Analysis Suggests Choosy Females Get Sexy Sons More Than 'Good Genes'

Meta-Analysis Suggests Choosy Females Get Sexy Sons More Than 'Good Genes'. Zofia M. Prokop, Łukasz Michalczyk, Szymon M. Drobniak, Magdalena Herdegen, Jacek Radwan. Evolution, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2012.01654.x

Abstract: Female preferences for specific male phenotypes have been documented across a wide range of animal taxa, including numerous species where males contribute only gametes to offspring production. Yet, selective pressures maintaining such preferences are among the major unknowns of evolutionary biology. Theoretical studies suggest that preferences can evolve if they confer genetic benefits in terms of increased attractiveness of sons (“Fisherian” models) or overall fitness of offspring (“good genes” models). These two types of models predict, respectively, that male attractiveness is heritable and genetically correlated with fitness. In this meta‐analysis, we draw general conclusions from over two decades worth of empirical studies testing these predictions (90 studies on 55 species in total). We found evidence for heritability of male attractiveness. However, attractiveness showed no association with traits directly associated with fitness (life‐history traits). Interestingly, it did show a positive correlation with physiological traits, which include immunocompetence and condition. In conclusion, our results support “Fisherian” models of preference evolution, while providing equivocal evidence for “good genes.” We pinpoint research directions that should stimulate progress in our understanding of the evolution of female choice.

Do Patients With Parkinson’s Disease Exhibit Reduced Cheating Behavior When There Are Opportunities for Dishonest Gain? It seems they do because of impairment in reward anticipation

Do Patients With Parkinson’s Disease Exhibit Reduced Cheating Behavior? A Neuropsychological Study. Nobuhito Abe et al. Front. Neurol., May 24 2018, https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2018.00378

Abstract: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder characterized by loss of dopamine neurons. Since a seminal report was published in the early twentieth century, a growing body of literature has suggested that patients with PD display characteristic personality traits, such as cautiousness and inflexibility. Notably, PD patients have also been described as “honest,” indicating that they have a remarkable tendency to avoid behaving dishonestly. In this study, we predicted that PD patients show reduced cheating behavior in opportunities for dishonest gain due to dysfunction of the dopaminergic reward system. Thirty-two PD patients without dementia and 20 healthy controls (HC) completed an incentivized prediction task where participants were rewarded based on their self-reported accuracy, affording them the opportunity to behave dishonestly. Compared with HC, PD patients showed significantly lower accuracy in the prediction task. Furthermore, the mean accuracy of PD patients was virtually equivalent to the chance level. These results indicate that PD patients exhibit reduced cheating behavior when confronted with opportunities for dishonest gain.

China's social credit system has blocked people from taking 11.14 million flights and 4.25 million high-speed train trips

China's social credit system has blocked people from taking 11 million flights and 4 million train trips. Tara Francis Chan. May 21, 2018.
http://www.businessinsider.com/china-social-credit-system-blocked-people-taking-flights-train-trips-2018-5

China's social credit system has blocked people from taking 11.14 million flights and 4.25 million high-speed train trips.

The numbers, from the end of April, were included in a report by China's state-run news outlet Global Times  [http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1103262.shtml], but it is unclear what offenses those targeted in the travel ban have committed.

The social credit system is actually a collection of blacklists, of which there are more than a dozen at the national level. Each list is based on similar offenses — such as misbehavior on planes and trains, or failing to abide by a court judgment — and determines the punishments people face, from throttling internet speeds to blocking loans.

While it's not made clear which list has had so many plane and train trips blocked, a former official, Hou Yunchun, is quoted as saying the system needs to be improved so "discredited people become bankrupt."

 The blacklist Hou is referring to most likely involves debtors and was created by the Supreme People's Court in an attempt to make people comply with verdicts and repay their debts.

The court publishes the names and ID numbers of debtors on its website. They are banned from plane and high-speed train travel, and can't stay at four and five star hotels, send their children to expensive schools, book cheap hire cars, or make luxury purchases online.

Some provinces play a recorded message when someone tries to call a blacklisted debtor, informing the caller that the person they want to speak with has outstanding debts. And in May, a short cartoon with the photographs of debtors' faces began playing at movie theatres, on buses, and on public noticeboards with a voiceover that said: "Come, come, look at these [debtors]. It's a person who borrows money and doesn't pay it back."

The list of debtors launched in late 2013 with 31,259 names and within two weeks had been visited 180,000 times. By December 2017, 8.8 million debtors had been added to the list, preventing 8.7 million flights and 3.4 million high-speed train trips.

With nearly 2.5 million trips blocked in the past six months, either China has cracked down on existing debtors' plane travel or many more names have been added to the blacklist.

Full text with links at the e-address above.

Check also Creemers, Rogier, China's Social Credit System: An Evolving Practice of Control (May 9, 2018). https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/05/chinas-social-credit-system-evolving.html

Are Black Robots Like Black People? Examining How Negative Stigmas about Race Are Applied to Colored Robot

Are Black Robots Like Black People? Examining How Negative Stigmas about Race Are Applied to Colored Robots. Jeannice Louine et al. Sociological Inquiry, https://doi.org/10.1111/soin.12230

Abstract: Recent scholarly research has begun to examine human perceptions toward robots. Researchers have also demonstrated that humans make decisions about individuals based on skin color. However, scant research examines the perceptions that individuals have toward robots of certain colors or whether these perceptions, both negative and positive, are predicted by demographic and contextual factors of either humans or robots. Using data from 504 adults responding to robots in separate scenarios across two surveys, we explore whether robot color has an impact on the human's perception of that robot. Respondents were presented with pictures of black, yellow, and neutral‐colored robots and were asked to indicate their perceptions of the robots along a number of dimensions or were asked to indicate how they would react to the robot were they to encounter the robots in their daily activities. Findings suggest that (1) black robots were viewed as significantly stronger than yellow robots; (2) yellow robots were viewed as significantly more affable than black and neutral robots; and (3) respondents were more likely to move away from black robots (and less likely to stop when encountering black robots) than robots of other colors. Possible explanations and implications for these findings are also discussed.

Mate preferences on actual mating decisions, on tactics of mate attraction/retention, patterns of deception, causes of sexual regret, attraction to cues to sexual exploitability, attraction to cues to fertility, attraction to cues to resources and protection, derogation of competitors, causes of breakups, & patterns of remarriage

Mate preferences and their behavioral manifestations. David M. Buss and David P. Schmitt. Brunel University, Dept of Life Sciences Research Papers, http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/16165

Abstract: Evolved mate preferences define a central causal process in Darwin’s theory of sexual selection. Their powerful influence has been documented in all well-studied sexually reproducing species, and is central to Sexual Strategies Theory (SST) as applied to humans. This chapter takes stock of what is scientifically known about human mate preferences and their many behavioral manifestations. We discuss sex differences and sex similarities in the design features of human sexual psychology as they vary according to short-term and long-term mating temporal contexts. We review context-specific shifts in mating strategy depending on individual, social, and ecological qualities such as mate value, life history strategy, sex ratio, gender economic inequality, and cultural norms. For mate preferences to have evolved, they must be manifested in actual mating behavior in some individuals some of the time, such as those with high mate value in contexts where freedom of mate choice is permitted. We review the empirical evidence for the impact of mate preferences on actual mating decisions, as well as on tactics of mate attraction, tactics of mate retention, patterns of deception, causes of sexual regret, attraction to cues to sexual exploitability, attraction to cues to fertility, attraction to cues to resources and protection, derogation of competitors, causes of breakups, and patterns of remarriage. We conclude by articulating unresolved issues and offer a future agenda for the science of human mating. This agenda includes resolving key debates, such as competing evolutionary hypotheses about the functions of women’s short-term mating; how humans invent novel cultural technologies to better implement ancient sexual strategies; and how cultural evolution may be dramatically influencing our evolved mating psychology.

Keywords: Human mating;Sexual strategies;Mate preferences;Sex differences;Evolutionary

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Do women’s preferences translate into actual mating behavior? In one study of speed dating, women were more likely to actually select men who indicated that they had grown up in an affluent neighborhood (Hitch et al., 2010). Another study of 382 speed daters found that women were more likely than men to select dates who had higher levels of income and education (Asendorpf et al., 2011; see also Li & Meltzer, 2015). A study of mail-order brides from Colombia, the Philippines, and Russia found that women actively sought men with higher levels of status and ambition (Minervini & McAndrew, 2006). A study of 2,956 Israelis using a computer dating service found that women, far more than men, sought mates who owned their own cars, had good economic standing, and who placed a high level of importance on their careers (Bokek-Cohen et al., 2008). In the Kipisigis of Kenya, women and their parents preferentially select men who have large plots of land (Borgerhoff Mulder, 1990). And the men who women choose to marry, compared to same-aged men who do not marry, have consistently higher incomes (Buss, 2016).

Would women who acted on these long-term mate preferences, actually selecting men of high status and resources, have experienced greater reproductive success? There is evidence that women married to older, higher-status men have more and more surviving children (Nettle & Pollet, 2008). For instance, in a study of 1700s pre-industrial Finland, women married to wealthier men had more children and better child survival rates than women married to poorer men (Pettay et al., 2007). Fieder and Huber (2007) found marrying a man four years older was associated with maximum levels of fertility among women, which matches closely what women say is their ideal long-term mate (Buss, 1989; Kenrick & Keefe, 1992).

A cross-cultural study of the causes of divorce found that inadequate economic support, including inadequate food, housing, and clothing, was a sex-linked cause of marital dissolution (Betzig, 1989). In no society did a woman’s failure to provide economic resources constitute grounds for divorce. Women’s mate preferences for economic resources and social status in a long-term mate translate into actual mating behavior, from selective decisions in speed dating to real-life fertility outcomes to the causes of divorce. As with men’s preferences, women’s mate preferences matter in real-world mating markets.

Export sophistication is the only robust determinant of growth among standard growth determinants such as human capital, trade, financial development, and institutions. Our results suggest that other growth determinants may be important to the extent they help improve export sophistication.

Sharp Instrument: A Stab at Identifying the Causes of Economic Growth. Reda Cherif; Fuad Hasanov; Lichen Wang. IMF Working Paper No. 18/117, http://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2018/05/21/Sharp-Instrument-A-Stab-at-Identifying-the-Causes-of-Economic-Growth-45879

Summary: We shed new light on the determinants of growth by tackling the blunt and weak instrument problems in the empirical growth literature. As an instrument for each endogenous variable, we propose average values of the same variable in neighboring countries. This method has the advantage of producing variable-specific and time-varying—namely, “sharp”—and strong instruments. We find that export sophistication is the only robust determinant of growth among standard growth determinants such as human capital, trade, financial development, and institutions. Our results suggest that other growth determinants may be important to the extent they help improve export sophistication.

The American Dream and Support for the Social Safety Net: Housing wealth's conservatizing effect should be interpreted as a status quo preference, rather than opposition to redistributive social policies

Wong, Weihuang, The American Dream and Support for the Social Safety Net: Evidence from Experiment and Survey Data (May 4, 2018). MIT Political Science Department Research Paper No. 2018-12. https://ssrn.com/abstract=3173814

Abstract: I propose the status quo bias hypothesis, which predicts that housing wealth increases preference for status quo arrangements with respect to Social Security. I contrast the status quo bias hypothesis with the claim that housing wealth reduces support for social insurance, and test the hypothesis in two empirical studies. A survey experiment finds that homeowners informed about high historical home price appreciation (HPA) are about 8 percentage points more likely to prefer existing Social Security arrangements to privatized retirement accounts, compared to those informed about low historical HPA. Observational data from the 2000-2004 ANES panel show that homeowners who experience higher HPA are about 11 percentage points more likely to prefer status quo levels of spending on Social Security than those in the bottom HPA quartile. No significant HPA effects are observed among renters, and for other domains of social insurance among homeowners. The evidence suggests that housing wealth's conservatizing effect should be interpreted as a status quo preference, rather than opposition to redistributive social policies.

Keywords: housing wealth, social insurance, political behavior, Social Security

On The Evolution of The Sex Differences in Throwing: Throwing is a Male Adaptation in Humans, Origin is Fighting

On The Evolution of The Sex Differences in Throwing: Throwing is a Male Adaptation in Humans. Michael P. Lombardo, Robert O. Deaner. The Quarterly Review of Biology, Volume 93, Number 2, June 2018. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/698225

Abstract: The development of the ability to throw projectiles for distance, speed, and accuracy was a watershed event in human evolution. We hypothesize that throwing first arose in threat displays and during fighting and later was incorporated into hunting by members of the Homo lineage because nonhuman primates often throw projectiles during agonistic interactions and only rarely in attempts to subdue prey. Males, who threw more often than females in both combat and hunting, would have been under stronger selection than females to become proficient at the ability to throw, intercept, and dodge projectiles as throwing skills became critical to success in combat and hunting. Therefore, we predict that males, more than females, should display innate anatomical and behavioral traits associated with throwing. We use data from a variety of disciplines to discuss: the sex differences in throwing speed, distance, and accuracy; sex differences in the development of the throwing motion; inability of training or cultural influences to erase the sex differences in throwing; sex differences in the use of throwing in sports, combat, and hunting; and sex differences in anatomical traits associated with throwing that are partly responsible for male throwing superiority. These data contradict the view held by many commentators that socialization rather than innate sex differences in ability are primarily responsible for male throwing superiority. We suggest that throwing is a male adaptation.

Keywords: anatomy, combat, fighting, human evolution, hunting, throwing, sex differences

Understanding of the evolutionary role of fire in animals: there is evidence suggesting that different behaviors might provide a rich source of putative fire adaptations

Towards an understanding of the evolutionary role of fire in animals. Juli G. Pausas, Catherine L. Parr. Evolutionary Ecology, June 2018, Volume 32, Issue 2–3, pp 113–125. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10682-018-9927-6

Abstract: Wildfires underpin the dynamics and diversity of many ecosystems worldwide, and plants show a plethora of adaptive traits for persisting recurrent fires. Many fire-prone ecosystems also harbor a rich fauna; however, knowledge about adaptive traits to fire in animals remains poorly explored. We review existing literature and suggest that fire is an important evolutionary driver for animal diversity because (1) many animals are present in fire-prone landscapes and may have structural and phenotypic characters that contribute to adaptation to these open landscapes; and (2) in some cases, animals from fire-prone ecosystems may show specific fire adaptations. While there is limited evidence on morphological fire adaptations in animals, there is evidence suggesting that different behaviors might provide a rich source of putative fire adaptations; this is because, in contrast to plants, most animals are mobile, unitary organisms, have reduced survival when directly burnt by fire and can move away from the fire. We call for research on fire adaptations (morphological, behavioral, and physiological) in animals, and emphasize that in the animal kingdom many fire adaptations are likely to be behavioral. While it may be difficult to discern these adaptations from other animal behaviors, making this distinction is fundamental if we want to understand the role of fire in shaping biodiversity. Developing this understanding is critical to how we view and manage our ecosystems in the face of current global and fire regime changes.

The phrase “no homo” is a gendered one, primarily used by men to facilitate a particularly masculinized construction of positive emotional expression

No Homo: Gendered Dimensions of Homophobic Epithets Online. C. J. Pascoe, Sarah Diefendorf. Sex Roles, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-018-0926-4

Abstract: We examine a case of homophobic language online, specifically the deployment of the phrase “no homo,” shorthand for “I’m not a homosexual.” An analysis of 396 instances (comprising 1061 individual tweets) of the use of the phrase “no homo” on the social media platform Twitter suggests that the phrase is a gendered epithet that conveys cultural norms about masculinity. The first finding is that the phrase is used more often by male tweeters than by female tweeters. The second, as predicted by the literature on homophobia, is that the phrase is used in a negative emotional context to convey disapproval for men’s homosexuality or behavior that is not gender normative. The third finding is that the modal use of the phrase “no homo” is in a positive emotional context, accompanying expressions of men’s pleasure, desire, affection, attachment, and friendship. Our analysis suggests that the phrase “no homo” is a gendered one, primarily used by men to facilitate a particularly masculinized construction of positive emotional expression. Our research adds to and complicates findings on the relationship between homophobia and masculinity that suggests that homophobia is an organizing principal of masculinity in western cultures.

The Link Between Self-Dehumanization and Immoral Behavior

The Link Between Self-Dehumanization and Immoral Behavior. Maryam Kouchaki et al.
Psychological Science, https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797618760784

Abstract: People perceive morality to be distinctively human, with immorality representing a lack of full humanness. In eight experiments, we examined the link between immorality and self-dehumanization, testing both (a) the causal role of immoral behavior on self-dehumanization and (b) the causal role of self-dehumanization on immoral behavior. Studies 1a to 1d showed that people feel less human after behaving immorally and that these effects were not driven by having a negative experience but were unique to experiences of immorality (Study 1d). Studies 2a to 2c showed that self-dehumanization can lead to immoral and antisocial behavior. Study 3 highlighted how self-dehumanization can sometimes produce downward spirals of immorality, demonstrating initial unethical behavior leading to self-dehumanization, which in turn promotes continued dishonesty. These results demonstrate a clear relationship between self-dehumanization and unethical behavior, and they extend previous theorizing on dehumanization.

Keywords: morality, self-dehumanization, repeated dishonesty, open data, preregistered

Sex differences in navigation strategy and efficiency

Sex differences in navigation strategy and efficiency. Alexander P. Boone, Xinyi Gong, Mary Hegarty. Memory & Cognition, https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13421-018-0811-y

Abstract: Research on human navigation has indicated that males and females differ in self-reported navigation strategy as well as objective measures of navigation efficiency. In two experiments, we investigated sex differences in navigation strategy and efficiency using an objective measure of strategy, the dual-solution paradigm (DSP; Marchette, Bakker, & Shelton, 2011). Although navigation by shortcuts and learned routes were the primary strategies used in both experiments, as in previous research on the DSP, individuals also utilized route reversals and sometimes found the goal location as a result of wandering. Importantly, sex differences were found in measures of both route selection and navigation efficiency. In particular, males were more likely to take shortcuts and reached their goal location faster than females, while females were more likely to follow learned routes and wander. Self-report measures of strategy were only weakly correlated with objective measures of strategy, casting doubt on their usefulness. This research indicates that the sex difference in navigation efficiency is large, and only partially related to an individual’s navigation strategy as measured by the dual-solution paradigm.

From 2016, a way to detect psychopaths: Stable individual differences in moral behavior can be systematically observed in daily life, and that their stability is comparable to the stability of neutral language behavior

From 2016: Eavesdropping on Character, Assessing Everyday Moral Behaviors. Kathryn L. Bollich et al. J Res Pers. 2016 Apr; 61: 15–21. DOI 10.1016/j.jrp.2015.12.003

Abstract: Despite decades of interest in moral character, comparatively little is known about moral behavior in everyday life. This paper reports a novel method for assessing everyday moral behaviors using the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR)—a digital audio-recorder that intermittently samples snippets of ambient sounds from people's environments—and examines the stability of these moral behaviors. In three samples (combined N = 186), participants wore an EAR over one or two weekends. Audio files were coded for everyday moral behaviors (e.g., showing sympathy, gratitude) and morally-neutral comparison language behaviors (e.g., use of prepositions, articles). Results indicate that stable individual differences in moral behavior can be systematically observed in daily life, and that their stability is comparable to the stability of neutral language behaviors.

Keywords: moral character, moral behavior, Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR), temporal stability, personality, naturalistic observation, ambulatory assessment

Thirty years of sexual behaviour at a Canadian university: Romantic relationships, hooking up, and sexual choices... since at least 1990, the majority have been primarily monogamous

Thirty years of sexual behaviour at a Canadian university: Romantic relationships, hooking up, and sexual choices. Nancy S. Netting, Meredith K. Reynolds. The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, Volume 27 Issue 1, May 2018, pp. 55-68. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjhs.2017-0035

Abstract: Every 10 years from 1980 to 2010, students in a British Columbia university were surveyed about age of sexual initiation, number of partners, and degree of emotional intimacy within their partnerships. Between 1980 and 1990, the socially acceptable prerequisite for premarital sex appeared to shift from the promise of marriage to mutual love. This change was demonstrated by a fall in the virginity rate among unmarried females, and the rise of monogamous romantic relationships for males. From 1980 through 2010, men reported more sexual partners than did women, with a smaller, though rising, proportion of serious relationships. Since 1990, never-married students were classified into three sexual behavioural groups: monogamists (about 55%), abstainers (30%), and multi-partnered “experimenters” (20% of men throughout each decade, and 7.6% of women in 1990–2000, rising to 14.4% in 2010). Experimenters generally reported concurrent partners, most of them casual. Since 1980, most sexually active students have experienced both romantic relationships and casual sexual partnerships, yet since at least 1990, the majority have been primarily monogamous. This article traces the changes and continuities in romantic relationships, casual sex, and sexual behavioural groups over 30 years, concluding that contrary to the claims of popular media and some academics, casual sex (“hookup culture”) has not replaced romantic relationships as the most common form of student sexual behaviour.

KEY WORDS: Student sexual behaviour, romantic relationships, monogamy, hookup culture, casual sex, friends with benefits, sexual revolution, sexual scripts, emerging adulthood

Personality change among newlyweds: Declines in agreeableness for husbands and wives, declines in extraversion for husbands, declines in openness and neuroticism for wives, and increases in conscientiousness for husbands

Lavner, J. A., Weiss, B., Miller, J. D., & Karney, B. R. (2018). Personality change among newlyweds: Patterns, predictors, and associations with marital satisfaction over time. Developmental Psychology, 54(6), 1172-1185. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/dev0000491

Abstract: The early years of marriage are a time of significant personal and relational changes as partners adjust to their new roles, but the specific ways that spouses’ personalities may change in early marriage and how these changes are associated with spouses’ marital satisfaction trajectories have been overlooked. Using 3 waves of data collected over the first 18 months of marriage (N = 338 spouses, or 169 heterosexual newlywed marriages), we examined changes in spouses’ self-reported Big 5 personality traits over time and the association between initial levels and changes in personality and spouses’ concurrent marital satisfaction trajectories. Results indicated significant changes in personality over time, including declines in agreeableness for husbands and for wives, declines in extraversion for husbands, declines in openness and neuroticism for wives, and increases in conscientiousness for husbands. These results did not differ by spouses’ age, demographics, relationship length prior to marriage, cohabitation prior to marriage, initial marital satisfaction, or parenthood status. Initial levels of personality as well as changes in personality over time were associated with spouses’ marital satisfaction trajectories. Taken together, these findings indicate that newlywed spouses’ personalities undergo meaningful changes during the newlywed years and these changes are associated with changes in spouses’ marital satisfaction. Further research is needed to understand the processes underlying changes in personality early in marriage and to examine the mechanisms linking changes in personality and changes in marital satisfaction.

Per political party: Americans' Attitudes on Individual or Racially Inflected Genetic Inheritance

Americans' Attitudes on Individual or Racially Inflected Genetic Inheritance. Jennifer Hochschild, Maya Sen. On Reconsidering Race: Social Science Perspectives on Racial Categories in the Age of Genomics. Edited by Kazuko Suzuki, Edited by Diego A. von Vacano. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/reconsidering-race-9780190465285

From the Nov 2013 paper, about Importance of individual, and of racial or ethnic, genetic inheritance, by partisan affiliation:

Democrats and Republicans hold roughly similar views, while the category of Independents, Undecided, and “Other” differ systematically from both sets of partisans. With regard to racial or ethnic genetic inheritance (shaded columns), Independents are less likely than the other two groups to see racial inheritance in six of the eight characteristics. That includes the three items that are generally assumed to be heritable (eye color, sickle cell anemia, and cystic fibrosis), for which the Independents are arguably mistaken. But it also includes the more ambiguous category of intelligence.

With regard to individual genetic inheritance, Democrats and Republicans again resemble one another, while Independents differ. Setting aside homosexuality, Independents are again  The least likely to make genetic attributions to the three genetically-linked traits, but they are most likely to make genetic attributions to the three ambiguous traits of heart disease, intelligence, and aggressiveness. Again, reassuringly we see no variation in the very low proportions attributing the flu to either type of inheritance.

We need further research to explain the anomaly of the Independents, and how or why partisanship relates to other possible associations (for example, education, gender, and race with views about genetic determinism. But these results conform to the general finding in the academic literature that “pure” Independents and nonpartisans (the Undecided or Others) are less knowledgeable about current events and political and social facts (Keith et al. 1992). The surprising and intriguing result is the lack of difference between Republicans and Democrats in the degree to which they concur with the social constructivist view, either with regard to racial or ethnic inheritance or individual ancestral inheritance. If the GKAP survey represents Americans in general, the question of biological or social causation is not polarized in the public in the way that it is among knowledgeable experts.

This similarity is reinforced by the overall average likelihood of making genetic attributions. As we have found in every previous analysis, for all items in all groups, there are fewer attributions to racial or ethnic inheritance than to individual ancestral inheritance. But within that framework, Republicans and Democrats closely resemble one another in accepting both types of genetic causes, while Independents are less likely to accept either individual genetic inheritance or, especially, racial or ethnic genetic inheritance. That is not what we expected, and it warrants further study.

The surprise deepens when we look only at the five items that are not generally understood as heritable. For those items, Independents are the most likely to make genetic attributions, both for individual ancestral inheritance and for group-based inheritance – but Democrats are more likely than Republicans to do so, again for both types of inheritance. Even setting aside the three items that are arguably not socially constructed, Republicans are closer to being social constructivists than are Democrats. In light of the normative valences with which this chapter started, that finding needs further exploration.

The Anomalous Case of Homosexuality: We have noted several times that responses to the item, “being gay or lesbian,” differ from responses to the other three traits (heart disease, intelligence, and a tendency toward violence) for which genetic and environmental or choice-based explanations are more ambiguous. We turn finally to a direct consideration of this item. Hypothesis H5.5 posits that views on homosexuality are an exception to our overall expectation about the link between partisanship (or ideology) and social constructivism, and that is indeed the case. As table 5 shows, Democrats are much more likely than Independents or Republicans to attribute being gay or lesbian to “genes,” and slightly more likely to attribute being gay or lesbian to “race or ethnicity.” Indeed, Democrats’ relatively high agreement with “genes” for that item helps to explain the fact that overall they are less socially constructivist than Republicans.10 [10 It does not fully explain that surprising result, however, since Democrats are also just as likely or slightly more likely than Republicans to explain heart disease, intelligence, and aggression through genetic causes]

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