Gantman, Ana P., Sayeed Devraj-Kizuk, Peter Mende-Siedlecki, Jay J. Van Bavel, and Kyle E. Mathewson. 2019. “The Time-course of Moral Perception: An Electroencephalography Investigation.” PsyArXiv. August 26. doi:10.31234/osf.io/72dxa
Abstract: Humans are highly attuned to perceptual cues about their values. A growing body of evidence suggests that people selectively attend to moral stimuli. However, it is unknown whether morality is prioritized early in perception or much later in cognitive processing. We use a combination of behavioral methods and electroencephalography to investigate how early in perception moral words are prioritized relative to non-moral words. The behavioral data replicate previous research indicating that people are more likely to correctly identify moral than non-moral words in a modified lexical decision task. The electroencephalography data reveal that words are distinguished from non-words as early as 200 milliseconds after onset over frontal brain areas, and moral words are distinguished from non-moral words 100 milliseconds later over left-posterior cortex. Further analyses reveal that differences in brain activity to moral vs. non-moral words cannot be explained by differences in arousal associated with the words. These results suggest that moral content might be prioritized in conscious awareness after an initial perceptual encoding but before subsequent memory processing or action preparation. This work offers a more precise theoretical framework for understanding how morality impacts vision and behavior.
Monday, August 26, 2019
Gender Differences in Life Satisfaction Among Children and Adolescents: almost no differences
Gender Differences in Life Satisfaction Among Children and Adolescents: A Meta-analysis. Xinjie Chen et al. Journal of Happiness Studies, August 26 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10902-019-00169-9
Abstract: Gender differences in life satisfaction (LS) have been studied for a long time, and the first meta-analysis on this issue was conducted almost 40 years ago. Since then, the social status of females has changed considerably across different nations and cultures. The individual studies in this area continued to show inconsistent results concerning gender group differences in their respective perception of LS. In this study, 46 empirical studies from 1980 to 2017 (with a cumulated total N = 11,772) were meta-analyzed to examine potential gender differences in LS among children and adolescents, and to explore if some study features could be moderators that could account for the observed inconsistencies in the findings across studies. The findings revealed that LS remains invariant across gender groups, but with a slight difference in favor of male children and adolescents. Our results further suggested that four study features were shown to contribute to the variations of the reported gender difference in LS across individual studies: geographical region, population type, age, and domain specific LS measurements. Such different features across the individual studies could have led to the observed inconsistency of the findings. Understanding how gender differences in LS vary by these study features could allow us to consider more targeted support to increase LS of children and adolescents in different situations.
Keywords: Life satisfaction Cognitive well-being Children and adolescents Gender difference Meta-analysis
Abstract: Gender differences in life satisfaction (LS) have been studied for a long time, and the first meta-analysis on this issue was conducted almost 40 years ago. Since then, the social status of females has changed considerably across different nations and cultures. The individual studies in this area continued to show inconsistent results concerning gender group differences in their respective perception of LS. In this study, 46 empirical studies from 1980 to 2017 (with a cumulated total N = 11,772) were meta-analyzed to examine potential gender differences in LS among children and adolescents, and to explore if some study features could be moderators that could account for the observed inconsistencies in the findings across studies. The findings revealed that LS remains invariant across gender groups, but with a slight difference in favor of male children and adolescents. Our results further suggested that four study features were shown to contribute to the variations of the reported gender difference in LS across individual studies: geographical region, population type, age, and domain specific LS measurements. Such different features across the individual studies could have led to the observed inconsistency of the findings. Understanding how gender differences in LS vary by these study features could allow us to consider more targeted support to increase LS of children and adolescents in different situations.
Keywords: Life satisfaction Cognitive well-being Children and adolescents Gender difference Meta-analysis
Morningness–Eveningness and Sociosexuality from a Life History Perspective
Chapter 4: Morningness–Eveningness and Sociosexuality from a Life History Perspective. James Marvel-Coen, Coltan Scrivner & Dario Maestripieri. In: The SAGE Handbook of Personality and Individual Differences: Volume II: Origins of Personality and Individual Differences. Edited by: Virgil Zeigler-Hill & Todd K. Shackelford. May 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781526451200.n4
Basic Aspects of Morningness.Eveningness
Many human biological processes are regulated by circadian rhythms, sometimes referred to as "internal clocks". These circadian rhythms apply to hormone concentrations, brain activity, heart rate, and body temperature. In humans and many other animals, a "master clock" is attuned to a 24-hour cycle, and corresponds to sleep and wakefulness. The master clock in humans operates through the action of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the hypothalamus (Herzog et al., 1998). Although our circadian rhythms have been selected for based on a general pattern of light and dark, environmental factors can influence circadian rhythms, and rhythms can vary between people.
Morningness-eveningness -or chronotype- refers to the notion that individuals vary from one another in preferences for the timing of waking up and falling asleep, as well as for diurnal peaks in activity and performance, such that some individuals tend to be more active, both cognitively and physiologically, in the morning, whereas others tend to be more active in the evening (Randler et al., 2016). Variation in morningness-eveningness tends to occur along a continuum, and the individuals at the two extremes of this continuum are often denoted as morning-types and evening-types, or "early birds" and "night owls". Research has shown that approximately 40% of individuals are either morning- or evening-types, with the other 60% falling into a more neutral category (Adan et al., 2012). Propensities for being a morning- or an evening-type are significantly heritable (e.g., Hur, 2007; Hur et al., 1998; Vink et al., 2001) but age, sex, and environment are important as well.
Children are typically morning-oriented but evening orientation tends to increase in both males and females throughout adolescence (Randler, 2011; Roenneberg et al., 2004). Sex differences in morningness-eveninness also begin to appear in adolescence, with more males being represented in the evening type category than females (Randler, 2007). However, these sex differences disappear after women reach menopause, suggesting that that they may be functionally linked to reproduction and be regulated by reproductive physiology, at least in women (Adan et al., 2012). Early experience and environment can influence variation in morningness-eveningness. For example, individuals who spend their first few months of life in a short photoperiod (i.e., autumn and winter) tend to be morning-types, whereas those who spend their first few months in a long photoperiod (i.e., spring and summer) tend to be evening-types (Mongrain et al., 2006; Natale and Di Milia, 2011). Latitude has also been shown to have a strong effect on chronotype, with people at northern latitudes having significantly later midpoints of sleep (Natale et al., 2009). This effect is moderated by residency type, however, with larger towns being less affected by latitude (Borisenkov et al., 2012). Thus, it is probable that sunlight, and potentially artificial light as well, plays a role in the development and shaping of chronotype. However, this effect is not entirely clear, as evening-types tend to have been exposed to more sunlight post-birth, but less during life.
Basic Aspects of Morningness.Eveningness
Many human biological processes are regulated by circadian rhythms, sometimes referred to as "internal clocks". These circadian rhythms apply to hormone concentrations, brain activity, heart rate, and body temperature. In humans and many other animals, a "master clock" is attuned to a 24-hour cycle, and corresponds to sleep and wakefulness. The master clock in humans operates through the action of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the hypothalamus (Herzog et al., 1998). Although our circadian rhythms have been selected for based on a general pattern of light and dark, environmental factors can influence circadian rhythms, and rhythms can vary between people.
Morningness-eveningness -or chronotype- refers to the notion that individuals vary from one another in preferences for the timing of waking up and falling asleep, as well as for diurnal peaks in activity and performance, such that some individuals tend to be more active, both cognitively and physiologically, in the morning, whereas others tend to be more active in the evening (Randler et al., 2016). Variation in morningness-eveningness tends to occur along a continuum, and the individuals at the two extremes of this continuum are often denoted as morning-types and evening-types, or "early birds" and "night owls". Research has shown that approximately 40% of individuals are either morning- or evening-types, with the other 60% falling into a more neutral category (Adan et al., 2012). Propensities for being a morning- or an evening-type are significantly heritable (e.g., Hur, 2007; Hur et al., 1998; Vink et al., 2001) but age, sex, and environment are important as well.
Children are typically morning-oriented but evening orientation tends to increase in both males and females throughout adolescence (Randler, 2011; Roenneberg et al., 2004). Sex differences in morningness-eveninness also begin to appear in adolescence, with more males being represented in the evening type category than females (Randler, 2007). However, these sex differences disappear after women reach menopause, suggesting that that they may be functionally linked to reproduction and be regulated by reproductive physiology, at least in women (Adan et al., 2012). Early experience and environment can influence variation in morningness-eveningness. For example, individuals who spend their first few months of life in a short photoperiod (i.e., autumn and winter) tend to be morning-types, whereas those who spend their first few months in a long photoperiod (i.e., spring and summer) tend to be evening-types (Mongrain et al., 2006; Natale and Di Milia, 2011). Latitude has also been shown to have a strong effect on chronotype, with people at northern latitudes having significantly later midpoints of sleep (Natale et al., 2009). This effect is moderated by residency type, however, with larger towns being less affected by latitude (Borisenkov et al., 2012). Thus, it is probable that sunlight, and potentially artificial light as well, plays a role in the development and shaping of chronotype. However, this effect is not entirely clear, as evening-types tend to have been exposed to more sunlight post-birth, but less during life.
Associations of dairy product consumption with mortality in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)–Italy cohort
Associations of dairy product consumption with mortality in the European
Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)–Italy
cohort. Valeria Pala et al. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,
nqz183, August 21 2019, https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqz183
ABSTRACT
Background:The relation of dairy product consumption to health and mortality is controversial.
Objectives: We investigated associations of consumption of various dairy products with mortality in the Italian cohort of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)–Italy study.
Methods: Dairy product consumption was assessed by validated semiquantitative FFQs. Multivariable Cox models stratified by center, age, and sex and adjusted for confounders estimated associations of milk (total, full fat, and reduced fat), yogurt, cheese, butter, and dairy calcium consumption with mortality for cancer, cardiovascular disease, and all causes. Nonlinearity was tested by restricted cubic spline regression.
Results: After a median follow-up of 14.9 y, 2468 deaths were identified in 45,009 participants: 59% from cancer and 19% from cardiovascular disease. No significant association of consumption of any dairy product with mortality was found in the fully adjusted models. A 25% reduction in risk of all-cause mortality was found for milk intake from 160 to 120 g/d (HR: 0.75; 95% CI: 0.61, 0.91) but not for the highest (>200 g/d) category of intake (HR: 0.95; 95% CI: 0.84, 1.08) compared with nonconsumption. Associations of full-fat and reduced-fat milk consumption with all-cause and cause-specific mortality were similar to those for milk as a whole.
Conclusions: In this Italian cohort characterized by low to average milk consumption, we found no evidence of a dose–response association between milk consumption and mortality and also no association of consumption of other dairy products investigated with mortality.
Keywords: dairy product consumption, mortality, EPIC-Italy, cancer, cardiovascular disease
ABSTRACT
Background:The relation of dairy product consumption to health and mortality is controversial.
Objectives: We investigated associations of consumption of various dairy products with mortality in the Italian cohort of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)–Italy study.
Methods: Dairy product consumption was assessed by validated semiquantitative FFQs. Multivariable Cox models stratified by center, age, and sex and adjusted for confounders estimated associations of milk (total, full fat, and reduced fat), yogurt, cheese, butter, and dairy calcium consumption with mortality for cancer, cardiovascular disease, and all causes. Nonlinearity was tested by restricted cubic spline regression.
Results: After a median follow-up of 14.9 y, 2468 deaths were identified in 45,009 participants: 59% from cancer and 19% from cardiovascular disease. No significant association of consumption of any dairy product with mortality was found in the fully adjusted models. A 25% reduction in risk of all-cause mortality was found for milk intake from 160 to 120 g/d (HR: 0.75; 95% CI: 0.61, 0.91) but not for the highest (>200 g/d) category of intake (HR: 0.95; 95% CI: 0.84, 1.08) compared with nonconsumption. Associations of full-fat and reduced-fat milk consumption with all-cause and cause-specific mortality were similar to those for milk as a whole.
Conclusions: In this Italian cohort characterized by low to average milk consumption, we found no evidence of a dose–response association between milk consumption and mortality and also no association of consumption of other dairy products investigated with mortality.
Keywords: dairy product consumption, mortality, EPIC-Italy, cancer, cardiovascular disease
Cato review: That 'Vaping-Linked Lung Disease' Might Not Really Be Linked to Vaping
That 'Vaping-Linked Lung Disease' Might Not Really Be Linked to Vaping. Elizabeth Nolan Brown. Cato Roundup, Aug 23 2019. https://reason.com/2019/08/23/that-vaping-linked-lung-disease-might-not-really-be-linked-to-vaping/
There's a bit of panic brewing in the press over lung problems that could be linked to vape products. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) "reports more than 150 cases of possible vaping-linked lung disease," says The Hill. Others make even bolder claims.
"More than 100 vapers have contracted a severe lung disease," The Verge reports. "Vaping lung disease: CDC reports 153 cases," says USA Today. Ars Technica warns that "vaping-linked lung disease cases" have jumped "from 94 to 153 in 5 days."
But read closely, and it becomes apparent that nobody actually knows if vaping is causing this mystery disease or not. Nobody even knows if there is a disease, or how many people actually have it. That's what the CDC is at the beginning of investigating.
For now, all officials know is that states keep reporting people with cases of mysterious lung and chest problems. "Many states have alerted CDC to possible (not confirmed) cases and investigations into these cases are ongoing," says the CDC. Symptoms include shortness of breath, chest pain, and coughing—all common issues that can stem from a range of causes and ailments.
"The CDC and impacted states haven't identified a cause," notes The Verge. Nor has it actually verified suspected cases.
Those reporting the problems all say they have used vape products—albeit not what sort. Which leaves us with another possibility: that some particular faulty product or line of products is indeed causing trouble, but that this is not an issue with vaping at large.
We know that some patients in potential cases used THC-containing vape products, not nicotine-containing e-cigarettes. The Vapor Technology Association told The Hill that no nicotine e-cigarettes have been linked to the lung issues:
The fact that cases have spiked dramatically in the brief time since news of this "vaping lung disease" started spreading suggests we may have a different sort of contagion on our hands. Perhaps people who vape have been starting to freak out upon hearing the "lung disease" news and either suddenly noticed new symptoms (which also sound a lot like symptoms of a panic attack) or began interpreting ongoing symptoms in a new way.
Or maybe vaping is going to kill us! That's certainly possible. The point is that right now, anything is possible. And until we know more, it's irresponsible for folks to spread panic about products that have been helping many people leave more dangerous habits behind.
There's a bit of panic brewing in the press over lung problems that could be linked to vape products. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) "reports more than 150 cases of possible vaping-linked lung disease," says The Hill. Others make even bolder claims.
"More than 100 vapers have contracted a severe lung disease," The Verge reports. "Vaping lung disease: CDC reports 153 cases," says USA Today. Ars Technica warns that "vaping-linked lung disease cases" have jumped "from 94 to 153 in 5 days."
But read closely, and it becomes apparent that nobody actually knows if vaping is causing this mystery disease or not. Nobody even knows if there is a disease, or how many people actually have it. That's what the CDC is at the beginning of investigating.
For now, all officials know is that states keep reporting people with cases of mysterious lung and chest problems. "Many states have alerted CDC to possible (not confirmed) cases and investigations into these cases are ongoing," says the CDC. Symptoms include shortness of breath, chest pain, and coughing—all common issues that can stem from a range of causes and ailments.
"The CDC and impacted states haven't identified a cause," notes The Verge. Nor has it actually verified suspected cases.
Those reporting the problems all say they have used vape products—albeit not what sort. Which leaves us with another possibility: that some particular faulty product or line of products is indeed causing trouble, but that this is not an issue with vaping at large.
We know that some patients in potential cases used THC-containing vape products, not nicotine-containing e-cigarettes. The Vapor Technology Association told The Hill that no nicotine e-cigarettes have been linked to the lung issues:
The e-cigarette makers' trade group called for public health officials to "refrain from assigning unsubstantiated blame until the facts are known," and said traditional nicotine-containing e-cigarettes are being wrongly conflated with THC-containing products.In actuality, we don't know at all what folks with many of the suspected cases were smoking, nor what other habits they may have shared, such as any history of regular cigarette or marijuana smoking. We don't—and this is pretty damn crucial—even know if all of these patients suffer from the same affliction at all.
The fact that cases have spiked dramatically in the brief time since news of this "vaping lung disease" started spreading suggests we may have a different sort of contagion on our hands. Perhaps people who vape have been starting to freak out upon hearing the "lung disease" news and either suddenly noticed new symptoms (which also sound a lot like symptoms of a panic attack) or began interpreting ongoing symptoms in a new way.
Or maybe vaping is going to kill us! That's certainly possible. The point is that right now, anything is possible. And until we know more, it's irresponsible for folks to spread panic about products that have been helping many people leave more dangerous habits behind.
"Eating with familiar others has a powerful effect of increasing food intakes." Except when women eat in the company of men.
A systematic review and meta-analysis of the social facilitation of eating. Helen K Ruddock, Jeffrey M Brunstrom, Lenny R Vartanian, Suzanne Higgs. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, nqz155, August 21 2019, https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqz155
ABSTRACT
Background: Research suggests that people tend to eat more when eating with other people, compared with when they eat alone, and this is known as the social facilitation of eating. However, little is known about when and why this phenomenon occurs.
Objectives: This review aimed to quantify the evidence for social facilitation of eating and identify moderating factors and underlying mechanisms.
Methods: We systematically reviewed studies that used experimental and nonexperimental approaches to examine food intake/food choice as a function of the number of co-eaters. The following databases were searched during April 2019: PsychInfo, Embase, Medline, and Social Sciences Citation Index. Studies that used naturalistic techniques were narratively synthesized, and meta-analyses were conducted to synthesize results from experimental studies.
Results: We reviewed 42 studies. We found strong evidence that people select and eat more when eating with friends, compared with when they eat alone [Z = 5.32; P < 0.001; standardized mean difference (SMD) = 0.76; 95% CI: 0.48, 1.03]. The meta-analysis revealed no evidence for social facilitation across studies that had examined food intake when participants ate alone or with strangers/acquaintances (Z = 1.32; P = 0.19; SMD = 0.21, 95% CI: −0.10, 0.51). There was some evidence that the social facilitation of eating is moderated by gender, weight status, and food type. However, this evidence was limited by a lack of experimental research examining the moderating effect of these factors on the social facilitation of eating among friends. In 2 studies, there was evidence that the effect of the social context on eating may be partly mediated by longer meal durations and the perceived appropriateness of eating.
Conclusions: Findings suggest that eating with others increases food intake relative to eating alone, and this is moderated by the familiarity of co-eaters. The review identifies potential mechanisms for the social facilitation of eating and highlights the need for further research to establish mediating factors. Finally, we propose a new theoretical framework in which we suggest that the social facilitation of eating has evolved as an efficient evolutionary adaptation.
Keywords: social facilitation, social influences, food intake, food choice, meta-analysis
ABSTRACT
Background: Research suggests that people tend to eat more when eating with other people, compared with when they eat alone, and this is known as the social facilitation of eating. However, little is known about when and why this phenomenon occurs.
Objectives: This review aimed to quantify the evidence for social facilitation of eating and identify moderating factors and underlying mechanisms.
Methods: We systematically reviewed studies that used experimental and nonexperimental approaches to examine food intake/food choice as a function of the number of co-eaters. The following databases were searched during April 2019: PsychInfo, Embase, Medline, and Social Sciences Citation Index. Studies that used naturalistic techniques were narratively synthesized, and meta-analyses were conducted to synthesize results from experimental studies.
Results: We reviewed 42 studies. We found strong evidence that people select and eat more when eating with friends, compared with when they eat alone [Z = 5.32; P < 0.001; standardized mean difference (SMD) = 0.76; 95% CI: 0.48, 1.03]. The meta-analysis revealed no evidence for social facilitation across studies that had examined food intake when participants ate alone or with strangers/acquaintances (Z = 1.32; P = 0.19; SMD = 0.21, 95% CI: −0.10, 0.51). There was some evidence that the social facilitation of eating is moderated by gender, weight status, and food type. However, this evidence was limited by a lack of experimental research examining the moderating effect of these factors on the social facilitation of eating among friends. In 2 studies, there was evidence that the effect of the social context on eating may be partly mediated by longer meal durations and the perceived appropriateness of eating.
Conclusions: Findings suggest that eating with others increases food intake relative to eating alone, and this is moderated by the familiarity of co-eaters. The review identifies potential mechanisms for the social facilitation of eating and highlights the need for further research to establish mediating factors. Finally, we propose a new theoretical framework in which we suggest that the social facilitation of eating has evolved as an efficient evolutionary adaptation.
Keywords: social facilitation, social influences, food intake, food choice, meta-analysis
Study of telomere length in older persons: Little evidence for associations were found with parental lifespan, centenarian status of parents, cognitive function, grip strength, sarcopenia, or falls
Telomere length and aging-related outcomes in humans: A Mendelian randomization study in 261,000 older participants. Chia-Ling Kuo Luke C. Pilling George A. Kuchel Luigi Ferrucci David Melzer. Aging Cell, August 24 2019. https://doi.org/10.1111/acel.13017
Abstract: Inherited genetic variation influencing leukocyte telomere length provides a natural experiment for testing associations with health outcomes, more robust to confounding and reverse causation than observational studies. We tested associations between genetically determined telomere length and aging‐related health outcomes in a large European ancestry older cohort. Data were from n = 379,758 UK Biobank participants aged 40–70, followed up for mean of 7.5 years (n = 261,837 participants aged 60 and older by end of follow‐up). Thirteen variants strongly associated with longer telomere length in peripheral white blood cells were analyzed using Mendelian randomization methods with Egger plots to assess pleiotropy. Variants in TERC, TERT, NAF1, OBFC1, and RTEL1 were included, and estimates were per 250 base pairs increase in telomere length, approximately equivalent to the average change over a decade in the general white population. We highlighted associations with false discovery rate‐adjusted p‐values smaller than .05. Genetically determined longer telomere length was associated with lowered risk of coronary heart disease (CHD; OR = 0.95, 95% CI: 0.92–0.98) but raised risk of cancer (OR = 1.11, 95% CI: 1.06–1.16). Little evidence for associations were found with parental lifespan, centenarian status of parents, cognitive function, grip strength, sarcopenia, or falls. The results for those aged 60 and older were similar in younger or all participants. Genetically determined telomere length was associated with increased risk of cancer and reduced risk of CHD but little change in other age‐related health outcomes. Telomere lengthening may offer little gain in later‐life health status and face increasing cancer risks.
1 INTRODUCTION
Telomeres are end fragments of chromosomes consisting of thousands of repeats of the noncoding sequence TTAGGG. Telomeres function to protect chromosome ends against genomic instability. Telomeres shorten with each cell cycle and contribute to replicative senescence when reaching the Hayflick limit (Hayflick & Moorhead, 1961). Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein complex, which replenishes telomere loss during replication. Telomerase is active at early developmental stages but almost completely inactive in somatic tissues of adults (Collins and Mitchell, 2002). Telomerase activation may treat aging‐related diseases and prolong human lifespan (de Jesus & Blasco, 2013). Previous studies on adult or old mice have shown successes from improving physical function and lifespan without increasing incidence of cancer, but the translation from mice to humans is unknown (de Jesus & Blasco, 2013).
Telomere length is often approximated using leukocyte telomere length, which is easy to extract from blood and highly correlated with telomere length in other tissues (Daniali et al., (2013)). Measured telomere length has been associated with mortality and aging‐related outcomes in humans (Mather, Jorm, Parslow, & Christensen 2011; Sanders & Newman, 2013; Brown, Zhang, Mitchel, & Ailshire, 2018), including cancer (Zhang et al., 2017), cardiovascular disease (Haycock et al., 2014), cognitive function, physical performance such as grip strength, sarcopenia, and frailty (Lorenzi et al., 2018; Zhou et al., 2018), plus biomarkers of lung function, blood pressure, bone mineral density, cholesterol, interleukin 6, and C‐reactive protein. Observational associations cannot be consistently replicated likely due to study populations, measurement methods, and statistical modelling (Sanders & Newman, 2013). In addition, a number of factors may confound observational associations such as sex and race/ethnicity, paternal age at birth, smoking, psychological stress, and other psychosocial, environmental, and behavioral factors (Blackburn, Epel, & Lin, 2015; Starkweather et al., 2014).
Telomere length has a strong inherited genetic component in humans (heritability estimates ranging from 34% to 82% (Broer, Codd, & Nyholt 2013). Mendelian randomization (MR) is a powerful statistical method to evaluate the causal relationship between an exposure and an outcome, under certain assumptions (Davey Smith & Hemani, 2014). Analogous to randomized clinical trials, MR creates groups determined by genotypes, which are inherited at random and are independent of confounding factors. In theory, if the groups are associated with the outcome, the association is independent of confounders and is via the exposure, assuming no pleiotropy is present. MR studies are more robust than observational studies to confounding effects, measurement errors or bias, and reverse causation (i.e., free of downstream effects appearing to be causes).
By applying MR, we were able to study the effect of telomere length on aging, with robustness to confounding effects. To date, 16 inherited genetic variants from genome‐wide association studies (GWAS) have been shown to be strongly associated with human leukocyte telomere length using European‐descent population samples (Haycock et al., 2017). Many of these loci harbor telomerase and telomere‐protective protein genes, including TERC, TERT, NAF1, OBFC1, and RTEL1 (Codd et al., 2013; Haycock et al., 2017). These variants have been used to perform MR, but the focus was on diseases (Haycock et al., 2017; Zhan et al., 2015). Additionally, previous studies tend to be underpowered due to an insufficiently large sample size for a small percent of variance (2%–3%) explained by the genetic variants (Haycock et al., 2017). The small percent of variance affects the power but not validity of the causal inference, if the genetic variants meet the Mendelian randomization assumptions: (a) associated with telomere length, (b) independent of all confounders for the association between telomere length and the outcome, and (c) independent of the outcome conditional on telomere length and all the confounders (Haycock et al., 2017).
In this study, we investigated causal relationships between telomere length and aging‐related outcomes with the focus on common measures of human aging such as grip strength, frailty, and cognitive function. We analyzed European‐descent participants from UK Biobank, with a wealth of genetic and phenotypic data. This study was not designed to analyze every aging trait in UK Biobank. Instead, we selected traits to cover different aspects of aging, using inputs from senior investigators in the team. Cancer, coronary heart disease, hypertension, and pneumonia were selected as they were common in older adults, but we did not attempt to include every individual disease. Disease‐specific MR associations were reported elsewhere (Haycock et al., 2017). Our project is focused on aging traits and is not powered for diseases that require a longer time to accumulate sufficient cases.
Abstract: Inherited genetic variation influencing leukocyte telomere length provides a natural experiment for testing associations with health outcomes, more robust to confounding and reverse causation than observational studies. We tested associations between genetically determined telomere length and aging‐related health outcomes in a large European ancestry older cohort. Data were from n = 379,758 UK Biobank participants aged 40–70, followed up for mean of 7.5 years (n = 261,837 participants aged 60 and older by end of follow‐up). Thirteen variants strongly associated with longer telomere length in peripheral white blood cells were analyzed using Mendelian randomization methods with Egger plots to assess pleiotropy. Variants in TERC, TERT, NAF1, OBFC1, and RTEL1 were included, and estimates were per 250 base pairs increase in telomere length, approximately equivalent to the average change over a decade in the general white population. We highlighted associations with false discovery rate‐adjusted p‐values smaller than .05. Genetically determined longer telomere length was associated with lowered risk of coronary heart disease (CHD; OR = 0.95, 95% CI: 0.92–0.98) but raised risk of cancer (OR = 1.11, 95% CI: 1.06–1.16). Little evidence for associations were found with parental lifespan, centenarian status of parents, cognitive function, grip strength, sarcopenia, or falls. The results for those aged 60 and older were similar in younger or all participants. Genetically determined telomere length was associated with increased risk of cancer and reduced risk of CHD but little change in other age‐related health outcomes. Telomere lengthening may offer little gain in later‐life health status and face increasing cancer risks.
1 INTRODUCTION
Telomeres are end fragments of chromosomes consisting of thousands of repeats of the noncoding sequence TTAGGG. Telomeres function to protect chromosome ends against genomic instability. Telomeres shorten with each cell cycle and contribute to replicative senescence when reaching the Hayflick limit (Hayflick & Moorhead, 1961). Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein complex, which replenishes telomere loss during replication. Telomerase is active at early developmental stages but almost completely inactive in somatic tissues of adults (Collins and Mitchell, 2002). Telomerase activation may treat aging‐related diseases and prolong human lifespan (de Jesus & Blasco, 2013). Previous studies on adult or old mice have shown successes from improving physical function and lifespan without increasing incidence of cancer, but the translation from mice to humans is unknown (de Jesus & Blasco, 2013).
Telomere length is often approximated using leukocyte telomere length, which is easy to extract from blood and highly correlated with telomere length in other tissues (Daniali et al., (2013)). Measured telomere length has been associated with mortality and aging‐related outcomes in humans (Mather, Jorm, Parslow, & Christensen 2011; Sanders & Newman, 2013; Brown, Zhang, Mitchel, & Ailshire, 2018), including cancer (Zhang et al., 2017), cardiovascular disease (Haycock et al., 2014), cognitive function, physical performance such as grip strength, sarcopenia, and frailty (Lorenzi et al., 2018; Zhou et al., 2018), plus biomarkers of lung function, blood pressure, bone mineral density, cholesterol, interleukin 6, and C‐reactive protein. Observational associations cannot be consistently replicated likely due to study populations, measurement methods, and statistical modelling (Sanders & Newman, 2013). In addition, a number of factors may confound observational associations such as sex and race/ethnicity, paternal age at birth, smoking, psychological stress, and other psychosocial, environmental, and behavioral factors (Blackburn, Epel, & Lin, 2015; Starkweather et al., 2014).
Telomere length has a strong inherited genetic component in humans (heritability estimates ranging from 34% to 82% (Broer, Codd, & Nyholt 2013). Mendelian randomization (MR) is a powerful statistical method to evaluate the causal relationship between an exposure and an outcome, under certain assumptions (Davey Smith & Hemani, 2014). Analogous to randomized clinical trials, MR creates groups determined by genotypes, which are inherited at random and are independent of confounding factors. In theory, if the groups are associated with the outcome, the association is independent of confounders and is via the exposure, assuming no pleiotropy is present. MR studies are more robust than observational studies to confounding effects, measurement errors or bias, and reverse causation (i.e., free of downstream effects appearing to be causes).
By applying MR, we were able to study the effect of telomere length on aging, with robustness to confounding effects. To date, 16 inherited genetic variants from genome‐wide association studies (GWAS) have been shown to be strongly associated with human leukocyte telomere length using European‐descent population samples (Haycock et al., 2017). Many of these loci harbor telomerase and telomere‐protective protein genes, including TERC, TERT, NAF1, OBFC1, and RTEL1 (Codd et al., 2013; Haycock et al., 2017). These variants have been used to perform MR, but the focus was on diseases (Haycock et al., 2017; Zhan et al., 2015). Additionally, previous studies tend to be underpowered due to an insufficiently large sample size for a small percent of variance (2%–3%) explained by the genetic variants (Haycock et al., 2017). The small percent of variance affects the power but not validity of the causal inference, if the genetic variants meet the Mendelian randomization assumptions: (a) associated with telomere length, (b) independent of all confounders for the association between telomere length and the outcome, and (c) independent of the outcome conditional on telomere length and all the confounders (Haycock et al., 2017).
In this study, we investigated causal relationships between telomere length and aging‐related outcomes with the focus on common measures of human aging such as grip strength, frailty, and cognitive function. We analyzed European‐descent participants from UK Biobank, with a wealth of genetic and phenotypic data. This study was not designed to analyze every aging trait in UK Biobank. Instead, we selected traits to cover different aspects of aging, using inputs from senior investigators in the team. Cancer, coronary heart disease, hypertension, and pneumonia were selected as they were common in older adults, but we did not attempt to include every individual disease. Disease‐specific MR associations were reported elsewhere (Haycock et al., 2017). Our project is focused on aging traits and is not powered for diseases that require a longer time to accumulate sufficient cases.
Sunday, August 25, 2019
Gender differences in the behavioral and subjective effects of methamphetamine in healthy humans
Gender
differences in the behavioral and subjective effects of methamphetamine
in healthy humans. Leah M. Mayo et al. Psychopharmacology, August 2019,
Volume 236, Issue 8, pp 2413–2423.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00213-019-05276-2
Abstract
Rationale: Methamphetamine (MA) use is steadily increasing and thus constitutes a major public health concern. Women seem to be particularly vulnerable to developing MA use disorder, as they initiate use at a younger age and transition more quickly to problematic use. Initial drug responses may predict subsequent use, but little information exists on potential gender differences in the acute effects of MA prior to dependence.
Objective: We examined gender differences in the acute effects of MA on subjective mood and reward-related behavior in healthy, non-dependent humans.
Methods: Men (n = 44) and women (n = 29) completed 4 sessions in which they received placebo or MA under double-blind conditions twice each. During peak drug effect, participants completed the monetary incentive delay task to assess reaction times to cues signaling potential monetary losses or gains, in an effort to determine if MA would potentiate reward-motivated behavior. Cardiovascular and subjective drug effects were assessed throughout sessions.
Results: Overall, participants responded more quickly to cues predicting incentivized trials, particularly large-magnitude incentives, than to cues predicting no incentive. MA produced faster reaction times in women, but not in men. MA produced typical stimulant-like subjective and cardiovascular effects in all participants, but subjective ratings of vigor and (reduced) sedation were greater in women than in men.
Conclusions: Women appear to be more sensitive to the psychomotor-related behavioral and subjective effects of MA. These findings provide initial insight into gender differences in acute effects of MA that may contribute to gender differences in problematic MA use.
Keywords: Methamphetamine Monetary incentive delay Gender differences Sex differences Subjective effects Psychomotor activation
Abstract
Rationale: Methamphetamine (MA) use is steadily increasing and thus constitutes a major public health concern. Women seem to be particularly vulnerable to developing MA use disorder, as they initiate use at a younger age and transition more quickly to problematic use. Initial drug responses may predict subsequent use, but little information exists on potential gender differences in the acute effects of MA prior to dependence.
Objective: We examined gender differences in the acute effects of MA on subjective mood and reward-related behavior in healthy, non-dependent humans.
Methods: Men (n = 44) and women (n = 29) completed 4 sessions in which they received placebo or MA under double-blind conditions twice each. During peak drug effect, participants completed the monetary incentive delay task to assess reaction times to cues signaling potential monetary losses or gains, in an effort to determine if MA would potentiate reward-motivated behavior. Cardiovascular and subjective drug effects were assessed throughout sessions.
Results: Overall, participants responded more quickly to cues predicting incentivized trials, particularly large-magnitude incentives, than to cues predicting no incentive. MA produced faster reaction times in women, but not in men. MA produced typical stimulant-like subjective and cardiovascular effects in all participants, but subjective ratings of vigor and (reduced) sedation were greater in women than in men.
Conclusions: Women appear to be more sensitive to the psychomotor-related behavioral and subjective effects of MA. These findings provide initial insight into gender differences in acute effects of MA that may contribute to gender differences in problematic MA use.
Keywords: Methamphetamine Monetary incentive delay Gender differences Sex differences Subjective effects Psychomotor activation
From 2018... If all acts of love and pleasure are Her rituals, what about BDSM? Feminist culture wars in contemporary Paganism
From 2018... If all acts of love and pleasure are Her rituals, what about BDSM? Feminist culture wars in contemporary Paganism. Michelle Mueller. Theology & Sexuality, Volume 24, 2018, Issue 1, Jun 20 2017, http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13558358.2017.1339930
Abstract: Since the 1970s, some religious practitioners of the contemporary Pagan movement (a.k.a. Neo-Paganism) have embraced spiritual BDSM, or “sacred kink,” as a spiritual discipline relating to their tradition. The “sex wars,” debates around pornography, prostitution, and sadomasochism, have appeared in the history of Wicca and contemporary Paganism. Pagan feminists have brought theological questions to the same debates. They have focused on the Wiccan Rede (“harm none”) and the affirmation of pleasure in Doreen Valiente’s Charge of the Goddess that states that, “All acts of pleasure are [the Goddess’s] rituals.” While support for BDSM has become the dominant public perspective in twenty-first century Paganism, the movement’s late twentieth-century history includes instances of anguish as individuals wrestled with their personal sexual desire and their feminist principles.
Keywords: Sadomasochism, Pagan, witchcraft, Wicca, BDSM, alternative sexuality
Abstract: Since the 1970s, some religious practitioners of the contemporary Pagan movement (a.k.a. Neo-Paganism) have embraced spiritual BDSM, or “sacred kink,” as a spiritual discipline relating to their tradition. The “sex wars,” debates around pornography, prostitution, and sadomasochism, have appeared in the history of Wicca and contemporary Paganism. Pagan feminists have brought theological questions to the same debates. They have focused on the Wiccan Rede (“harm none”) and the affirmation of pleasure in Doreen Valiente’s Charge of the Goddess that states that, “All acts of pleasure are [the Goddess’s] rituals.” While support for BDSM has become the dominant public perspective in twenty-first century Paganism, the movement’s late twentieth-century history includes instances of anguish as individuals wrestled with their personal sexual desire and their feminist principles.
Keywords: Sadomasochism, Pagan, witchcraft, Wicca, BDSM, alternative sexuality
Appetite for destruction: Counterintuitive effects of attractive faces on people's food choices
Appetite for destruction: Counterintuitive effects of attractive faces on people's food choices. Tobias Otterbring. Psychology & Marketing, August 24 2019. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21257
Abstract: Faces in general and attractive faces, in particular, are frequently used in marketing, advertising, and packaging design. However, few studies have examined the effects of attractive faces on people's choice behavior. The present research examines whether attractive (vs. unattractive) faces increase individuals’ inclination to choose either healthy or unhealthy foods. In contrast to the beliefs held by most marketing professors, but consistent with visceral state theories, exposure to attractive (vs. unattractive) opposite‐sex faces increased choice likelihood of unhealthy foods. This effect was moderated by self‐view‐relevant attributes and exerted a particularly powerful influence on individuals who were single (vs. in a relationship) and individuals rating themselves as unattractive (vs. attractive). Furthermore, the effect was mediated by arousal, was stronger for men than for women, but did not generalize after exposure to attractive (vs. unattractive) same‐sex faces. As pictorial exposure is sufficient for the effect to occur, these findings have important implications for marketing, advertising, and public health.
Abstract: Faces in general and attractive faces, in particular, are frequently used in marketing, advertising, and packaging design. However, few studies have examined the effects of attractive faces on people's choice behavior. The present research examines whether attractive (vs. unattractive) faces increase individuals’ inclination to choose either healthy or unhealthy foods. In contrast to the beliefs held by most marketing professors, but consistent with visceral state theories, exposure to attractive (vs. unattractive) opposite‐sex faces increased choice likelihood of unhealthy foods. This effect was moderated by self‐view‐relevant attributes and exerted a particularly powerful influence on individuals who were single (vs. in a relationship) and individuals rating themselves as unattractive (vs. attractive). Furthermore, the effect was mediated by arousal, was stronger for men than for women, but did not generalize after exposure to attractive (vs. unattractive) same‐sex faces. As pictorial exposure is sufficient for the effect to occur, these findings have important implications for marketing, advertising, and public health.
Those with tattoos, especially visible ones, are more short-sighted in time preferences & more impulsive than the non-tattooed; almost nothing mitigates these results
Tat will tell: Tattoos and time preferences. Bradley J. Ruffle, Anne E. Wilson. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, August 24 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2019.08.001
Abstract: Survey and experimental evidence documents discrimination against tattooed individuals in the labor market and in commercial transactions. Thus, individuals’ decision to get tattooed may reflect short-sighted time preferences. We show that, according to numerous measures, those with tattoos, especially visible ones, are more short-sighted and impulsive than the non-tattooed. Almost nothing mitigates these results, neither the motive for the tattoo, the time contemplated before getting tattooed nor the time elapsed since the last tattoo. Even the expressed intention to get a(nother) tattoo predicts increased short-sightedness and helps establish the direction of causality between tattoos and short-sightedness.
Keywords: Experimental economicsTattooTime preferencesImpulsivity
Abstract: Survey and experimental evidence documents discrimination against tattooed individuals in the labor market and in commercial transactions. Thus, individuals’ decision to get tattooed may reflect short-sighted time preferences. We show that, according to numerous measures, those with tattoos, especially visible ones, are more short-sighted and impulsive than the non-tattooed. Almost nothing mitigates these results, neither the motive for the tattoo, the time contemplated before getting tattooed nor the time elapsed since the last tattoo. Even the expressed intention to get a(nother) tattoo predicts increased short-sightedness and helps establish the direction of causality between tattoos and short-sightedness.
Keywords: Experimental economicsTattooTime preferencesImpulsivity
Lifespans are becoming more equal, with octogenarians & nonagenarians accounting for most deaths; extrapolation of the trend indicates that most children born this millennium will reach 100.
Vaupel, James W., Francisco Villavicencio, and Marie-Pier B. Boucher. 2019. “Demographic Perspectives on the Rise of Longevity.” SocArXiv. August 25. doi:10.31235/osf.io/gdjtv
Abstract
Background: This article reviews findings about the rise of life expectancy, current levels of life expectancy in countries with high life expectancies, and possible future trends in life expectancy. Maximum lifespans and the equality of lifespans are also considered.
Methods: Demographic data on age-specific mortality are used to estimate life expectancy. Validated data on exceptional lifespans are used to study the maximum length of life. Findings of the most significant publications are critically summarized.
Results: In the countries doing best, life expectancy started to increase around 1840 at a pace of almost 2.5 years per decade. This trend has continued until the present. Contrary to classical evolutionary theories of senescence and contrary to the predictions of many experts, the frontier of survival is advancing to higher ages. Furthermore, lifespans are becoming more equal, with octogenarians and nonagenarians accounting for most deaths in countries with high life expectancy. Extrapolation of the trend indicates that most children born this millennium will celebrate their 100th birthdays. Considerable uncertainty, however, clouds forecasts of life expectancy and maximum lifespans: life expectancy and maximum lifespan might increase very little if at all or longevity might rise much faster than in the past.
Conclusions: Substantial progress has been made over the past three decades in deepening understanding of how long humans have lived and have long they might live. The social, economic, health, cultural and political consequences of further increases in longevity are so significant that the development of more powerful methods of forecasting is a priority.
Background: This article reviews findings about the rise of life expectancy, current levels of life expectancy in countries with high life expectancies, and possible future trends in life expectancy. Maximum lifespans and the equality of lifespans are also considered.
Methods: Demographic data on age-specific mortality are used to estimate life expectancy. Validated data on exceptional lifespans are used to study the maximum length of life. Findings of the most significant publications are critically summarized.
Results: In the countries doing best, life expectancy started to increase around 1840 at a pace of almost 2.5 years per decade. This trend has continued until the present. Contrary to classical evolutionary theories of senescence and contrary to the predictions of many experts, the frontier of survival is advancing to higher ages. Furthermore, lifespans are becoming more equal, with octogenarians and nonagenarians accounting for most deaths in countries with high life expectancy. Extrapolation of the trend indicates that most children born this millennium will celebrate their 100th birthdays. Considerable uncertainty, however, clouds forecasts of life expectancy and maximum lifespans: life expectancy and maximum lifespan might increase very little if at all or longevity might rise much faster than in the past.
Conclusions: Substantial progress has been made over the past three decades in deepening understanding of how long humans have lived and have long they might live. The social, economic, health, cultural and political consequences of further increases in longevity are so significant that the development of more powerful methods of forecasting is a priority.
Saturday, August 24, 2019
People who were bitten by a snake (either venomous or not) scored lower in fear of snakes; people could become fear immunized even against highly biologically prepared fearful stimuli
Coelho, Carlos M., Panrapee Suttiwan, and Andras N. Zsido. 2019. “Fear Inoculation Among Snake Experts.” PsyArXiv. August 24. doi:10.31234/osf.io/ph5ug
Abstract: Prepared phobias are often seen as acquired rapidly, generalize broadly and are resistant to extinction. Nonetheless provided opportunity for innocuous contact with certain kinds of stimuli people tend to show less fear when compared with others who never or rarely deal with the same stimuli. This study finds that people who were bitten by a snake (either venomous or not) scored lower in fear of snakes, as measured by the SNAQ-12, and SPQ surveys. These fearless people also have more experience with snakes than those who were not bitten. Results suggest that people could become immunized even against highly biologically prepared fearful stimuli, such as snakes, after a certain amount of previous benign exposure. We stress that lack of fear might bring people to become unworried and develop extreme risk of snakebite envenomation, which has recently (2017) been classified by the World Health Organization as a category A neglected tropical disease.
Abstract: Prepared phobias are often seen as acquired rapidly, generalize broadly and are resistant to extinction. Nonetheless provided opportunity for innocuous contact with certain kinds of stimuli people tend to show less fear when compared with others who never or rarely deal with the same stimuli. This study finds that people who were bitten by a snake (either venomous or not) scored lower in fear of snakes, as measured by the SNAQ-12, and SPQ surveys. These fearless people also have more experience with snakes than those who were not bitten. Results suggest that people could become immunized even against highly biologically prepared fearful stimuli, such as snakes, after a certain amount of previous benign exposure. We stress that lack of fear might bring people to become unworried and develop extreme risk of snakebite envenomation, which has recently (2017) been classified by the World Health Organization as a category A neglected tropical disease.
Sexual narcissism was positively associated with sexual functioning in both women and men; in the women's sample, sexual narcissism was related to a positive genital self-image
Sexual narcissism and its association with sexual and well-being outcomes. Verena Klein et al. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 152, 1 January 2020, 109557. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.109557
Abstract: Theories on narcissism are traditionally closely related to sexuality. Most research on the association between narcissism and sexual behavior, however, has focused on harmful/maladaptive outcomes. The aim of the present two studies was to examine the possible health-promoting influence of both global and sexual narcissism on sexual function and genital self-image. In Study 1, sexual narcissism was positively associated with sexual functioning in both women and men (N = 505, online-recruited German participants). In the women's sample, sexual narcissism was related to a positive genital self-image. The facet sexual skill was identified as the most important predictor for sexual function and positive genital self-image in both women and men. Study 2 replicated and extended this association in an online sample of US Americans (N = 588) by including quality of life measures. Underscoring the benign nature of the sexual skill facet, this subscale was associated with quality of life in both women and men. The idea of a possible beneficial influence of sexual narcissism on sexuality related outcomes is discussed.
Keywords: Sexual narcissismNarcissismGenital self-imageSexual functionSexual health
Sexual experience has no effect on male mating or reproductive success in house mice
Sexual experience has no effect on male mating or reproductive success in house mice. Kerstin E. Thonhauser, Alexandra Raffetzeder & Dustin J. Penn. Scientific Reports, August 21 2019, volume 9, 12145 (2019). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-48392-x
Abstract: The ability to learn from experience can improve Darwinian fitness, but few studies have tested whether sexual experience enhances reproductive success. We conducted a study with wild-derived house mice (Mus musculus musculus) in which we manipulated male sexual experience and allowed females to choose between (1) a sexually experienced versus a virgin male, (2) two sexually experienced males, or (3) two virgin males (n = 60 females and 120 males). This design allowed us to test whether females are more likely to mate multiply when they encounter more virgin males, which are known to be infanticidal. We recorded females’ preference and mating behaviours, and conducted genetic paternity analyses to determine male reproductive success. We found no evidence that sexual experience influenced male mating or reproductive success, and no evidence that the number of virgin males influenced female multiple mating. Females always copulated with both males and 58% of the litters were multiple-sired. Females’ initial attraction to a male correlated with their social preferences, but neither of these preference behaviours predicted male reproductive success – raising caveats for using mating preferences as surrogates for mate choice. Male reproductive success was predicted by mating order, but unexpectedly, males that copulated first sired fewer offspring.
Abstract: The ability to learn from experience can improve Darwinian fitness, but few studies have tested whether sexual experience enhances reproductive success. We conducted a study with wild-derived house mice (Mus musculus musculus) in which we manipulated male sexual experience and allowed females to choose between (1) a sexually experienced versus a virgin male, (2) two sexually experienced males, or (3) two virgin males (n = 60 females and 120 males). This design allowed us to test whether females are more likely to mate multiply when they encounter more virgin males, which are known to be infanticidal. We recorded females’ preference and mating behaviours, and conducted genetic paternity analyses to determine male reproductive success. We found no evidence that sexual experience influenced male mating or reproductive success, and no evidence that the number of virgin males influenced female multiple mating. Females always copulated with both males and 58% of the litters were multiple-sired. Females’ initial attraction to a male correlated with their social preferences, but neither of these preference behaviours predicted male reproductive success – raising caveats for using mating preferences as surrogates for mate choice. Male reproductive success was predicted by mating order, but unexpectedly, males that copulated first sired fewer offspring.
“Daddies,” “Cougars”, & Relationship and Sexual Well-Being among Older Adults & Young Lovers: Women partnered to older men had less sex and more issues related to sexual satisfaction
“Daddies,” “Cougars,” and Their Partners Past Midlife: Gender Attitudes and Relationship and Sexual Well-Being among Older Adults in Age-Heterogenous Partnerships. Tony Silva. Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World, August 19, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023119869452
Abstract: Discussion of “daddies” has exploded in popular discourse, yet there is little sociological research on age-heterogenous partnerships. This paper uses data from the 2013 Midlife in the United States survey and the 2015–2016 National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project to examine age-heterogenous partnerships at older ages (63 was the approximate average age of each sample). On most measures of life satisfaction and relationship well-being, individuals in age-heterogenous partnerships—regardless of age or gender—were not very different from their counterparts in age-homogenous relationships. Some differences did emerge, however, especially related to sexual well-being. Women partnered to older men had less sex and more issues related to sexual satisfaction than their counterparts in age-homogenous relationships. Latent class analyses suggest that these differences were driven by around 40 percent of younger women partnered to older men, a minority of whom were deeply dissatisfied. This research helps address the underrepresentation of sexuality research at older ages and the sociological research gap about age-heterogenous partnerships.
Keywords: sexuality, gender, age-heterogenous partnership, daddy, cougar
Abstract: Discussion of “daddies” has exploded in popular discourse, yet there is little sociological research on age-heterogenous partnerships. This paper uses data from the 2013 Midlife in the United States survey and the 2015–2016 National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project to examine age-heterogenous partnerships at older ages (63 was the approximate average age of each sample). On most measures of life satisfaction and relationship well-being, individuals in age-heterogenous partnerships—regardless of age or gender—were not very different from their counterparts in age-homogenous relationships. Some differences did emerge, however, especially related to sexual well-being. Women partnered to older men had less sex and more issues related to sexual satisfaction than their counterparts in age-homogenous relationships. Latent class analyses suggest that these differences were driven by around 40 percent of younger women partnered to older men, a minority of whom were deeply dissatisfied. This research helps address the underrepresentation of sexuality research at older ages and the sociological research gap about age-heterogenous partnerships.
Keywords: sexuality, gender, age-heterogenous partnership, daddy, cougar
Absolute and relative estimates of genetic and environmental variance in brain structure volumes
Absolute and relative estimates of genetic and environmental variance in brain structure volumes. Lachlan T. Strike et al. Brain Structure and Function, August 19 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00429-019-01931-8
Abstract: Comparing estimates of the amount of genetic and environmental variance for different brain structures may elucidate differences in the genetic architecture or developmental constraints of individual brain structures. However, most studies compare estimates of relative genetic (heritability) and environmental variance in brain structure, which do not reflect differences in absolute variance between brain regions. Here we used a population sample of young adult twins and singleton siblings of twins (n = 791; M = 23 years, Queensland Twin IMaging study) to estimate the absolute genetic and environmental variance, standardised by the phenotypic mean, in the size of cortical, subcortical, and ventricular brain structures. Mean-standardised genetic variance differed widely across structures [ 23.5-fold range 0.52% (hippocampus) to 12.28% (lateral ventricles) ], but the range of estimates within cortical, subcortical, or ventricular structures was more moderate (two to fivefold range). There was no association between mean-standardised and relative measures of genetic variance (i.e., heritability) in brain structure volumes. We found similar results in an independent sample (n = 1075, M = 29 years, Human Connectome Project). These findings open important new lines of enquiry: namely, understanding the bases of these variance patterns, and their implications regarding the genetic architecture, evolution, and development of the human brain.
Keywords: Volume Genetics Magnetic resonance imaging Twins
Abstract: Comparing estimates of the amount of genetic and environmental variance for different brain structures may elucidate differences in the genetic architecture or developmental constraints of individual brain structures. However, most studies compare estimates of relative genetic (heritability) and environmental variance in brain structure, which do not reflect differences in absolute variance between brain regions. Here we used a population sample of young adult twins and singleton siblings of twins (n = 791; M = 23 years, Queensland Twin IMaging study) to estimate the absolute genetic and environmental variance, standardised by the phenotypic mean, in the size of cortical, subcortical, and ventricular brain structures. Mean-standardised genetic variance differed widely across structures [ 23.5-fold range 0.52% (hippocampus) to 12.28% (lateral ventricles) ], but the range of estimates within cortical, subcortical, or ventricular structures was more moderate (two to fivefold range). There was no association between mean-standardised and relative measures of genetic variance (i.e., heritability) in brain structure volumes. We found similar results in an independent sample (n = 1075, M = 29 years, Human Connectome Project). These findings open important new lines of enquiry: namely, understanding the bases of these variance patterns, and their implications regarding the genetic architecture, evolution, and development of the human brain.
Keywords: Volume Genetics Magnetic resonance imaging Twins
Radical lifespan disparities exist in the animal kingdom: Revamping the Evolutionary Theories of Aging
Revamping the Evolutionary Theories of Aging. Adiv A. Johnsona, Maxim N. Shokhirev, Boris Shoshitaishvili. Ageing Research Reviews, August 23 2019, 100947. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arr.2019.100947
Highlights
• Extrinsic mortality is one of the most important drivers in the evolution of aging.
• Classical predictions expect higher extrinsic mortality to shorten evolved lifespan.
• The bulk of published data conform to the classical evolutionary theories of aging.
• Increased extrinsic mortality can sometimes select for longer evolved lifespans.
• Immortal animals that experience extrinsic mortality challenge classical theories.
• The aging response to extrinsic mortality involves multiple interacting factors.
Abstract: Radical lifespan disparities exist in the animal kingdom. While the ocean quahog can survive for half a millennium, the mayfly survives for less than 48 hours. The evolutionary theories of aging seek to explain why such stark longevity differences exist and why a deleterious process like aging evolved. The classical mutation accumulation, antagonistic pleiotropy, and disposable soma theories predict that increased extrinsic mortality should select for the evolution of shorter lifespans and vice versa. Most experimental and comparative field studies conform to this prediction. Indeed, animals with extreme longevity (e.g., Greenland shark, bowhead whale, giant tortoise, vestimentiferan tubeworms) typically experience minimal predation. However, data from guppies, nematodes, and computational models show that increased extrinsic mortality can sometimes lead to longer evolved lifespans. The existence of theoretically immortal animals that experience extrinsic mortality – like planarian flatworms, panther worms, and hydra – further challenges classical assumptions. Octopuses pose another puzzle by exhibiting short lifespans and an uncanny intelligence, the latter of which is often associated with longevity and reduced extrinsic mortality. The evolutionary response to extrinsic mortality is likely dependent on multiple interacting factors in the organism, population, and ecology, including food availability, population density, reproductive cost, age-mortality interactions, and the mortality source.
Keywords: evolution of agingmutation accumulationantagonistic pleiotropydisposable somalifespanextrinsic mortality
Highlights
• Extrinsic mortality is one of the most important drivers in the evolution of aging.
• Classical predictions expect higher extrinsic mortality to shorten evolved lifespan.
• The bulk of published data conform to the classical evolutionary theories of aging.
• Increased extrinsic mortality can sometimes select for longer evolved lifespans.
• Immortal animals that experience extrinsic mortality challenge classical theories.
• The aging response to extrinsic mortality involves multiple interacting factors.
Abstract: Radical lifespan disparities exist in the animal kingdom. While the ocean quahog can survive for half a millennium, the mayfly survives for less than 48 hours. The evolutionary theories of aging seek to explain why such stark longevity differences exist and why a deleterious process like aging evolved. The classical mutation accumulation, antagonistic pleiotropy, and disposable soma theories predict that increased extrinsic mortality should select for the evolution of shorter lifespans and vice versa. Most experimental and comparative field studies conform to this prediction. Indeed, animals with extreme longevity (e.g., Greenland shark, bowhead whale, giant tortoise, vestimentiferan tubeworms) typically experience minimal predation. However, data from guppies, nematodes, and computational models show that increased extrinsic mortality can sometimes lead to longer evolved lifespans. The existence of theoretically immortal animals that experience extrinsic mortality – like planarian flatworms, panther worms, and hydra – further challenges classical assumptions. Octopuses pose another puzzle by exhibiting short lifespans and an uncanny intelligence, the latter of which is often associated with longevity and reduced extrinsic mortality. The evolutionary response to extrinsic mortality is likely dependent on multiple interacting factors in the organism, population, and ecology, including food availability, population density, reproductive cost, age-mortality interactions, and the mortality source.
Keywords: evolution of agingmutation accumulationantagonistic pleiotropydisposable somalifespanextrinsic mortality
However, since radical people represent only 20% of the population and there was no effect for Facebook or blogs, the overall effect of the Internet was moderation, not polarization
Tatsuo Tanaka, 2019. "Does the Internet cause polarization? -Panel survey in Japan-," Keio-IES Discussion Paper Series 2019-015, Institute for Economics Studies, Keio University. https://ideas.repec.org/p/keo/dpaper/2019-015.html
Abstract: There is concern that the Internet causes ideological polarization through selective exposure and the echo chamber effect. This paper examines the effect of social media on polarization by applying a difference-in-difference approach to panel data of 50 thousand respondents in Japan. Japan is good case for this research because other factors affecting polarization like huge wealth gap and massive immigration are not serious issue, thus it offers quasi natural experimental situation to test the effect of the Internet. The results show that people who started using social media during the research period (targets) were no more polarized than people who did not (controls). There was a tendency for younger and politically moderate people to be less polarized. The only case in which the Internet increased polarization was for already radical people who started using Twitter. However, since radical people represent only 20% of the population and there was no effect for Facebook or blogs, the overall effect of the Internet was moderation, not polarization.
Check also... Explaining the Spread of Misinformation on Social Media: Evidence from the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. Pablo Barbera. Note prepared for the APSA Comparative Politics Newsletter, Fall 2018. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2019/06/ironically-it-may-not-be-much-trumpeted.html
And Testing popular news discourse on the “echo chamber” effect: Does political polarisation occur among those relying on social media as their primary politics news source? An Nguyen, Hong Tien Vu. First Monday, Volume 24, Number 6 - 3 June 2019.
https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2019/06/does-political-polarisation-occur-among.html
Abstract: There is concern that the Internet causes ideological polarization through selective exposure and the echo chamber effect. This paper examines the effect of social media on polarization by applying a difference-in-difference approach to panel data of 50 thousand respondents in Japan. Japan is good case for this research because other factors affecting polarization like huge wealth gap and massive immigration are not serious issue, thus it offers quasi natural experimental situation to test the effect of the Internet. The results show that people who started using social media during the research period (targets) were no more polarized than people who did not (controls). There was a tendency for younger and politically moderate people to be less polarized. The only case in which the Internet increased polarization was for already radical people who started using Twitter. However, since radical people represent only 20% of the population and there was no effect for Facebook or blogs, the overall effect of the Internet was moderation, not polarization.
Check also... Explaining the Spread of Misinformation on Social Media: Evidence from the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. Pablo Barbera. Note prepared for the APSA Comparative Politics Newsletter, Fall 2018. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2019/06/ironically-it-may-not-be-much-trumpeted.html
And Testing popular news discourse on the “echo chamber” effect: Does political polarisation occur among those relying on social media as their primary politics news source? An Nguyen, Hong Tien Vu. First Monday, Volume 24, Number 6 - 3 June 2019.
https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2019/06/does-political-polarisation-occur-among.html
Growing body of evidence suggests that inconsistent hand preference is indicative of an increased disposition to update one’s beliefs upon exposure to novel information; this seems wrong
M. L., Vilsmeier, J. K., Voracek, M., & Tran, U. S. (2019). No Evidence That Lateral Preferences Predict Individual Differences in the Tendency to Update Mental Representations: A Replication-Extension Study. Collabra: Psychology, 5(1), 38. DOI: http://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.227
Abstract: A growing body of evidence suggests that inconsistent hand preference is indicative of an increased disposition to update one’s beliefs upon exposure to novel information. This is attributed to a facilitated exchange of information between the two brain hemispheres among inconsistent handers, compared to consistent handers. Currently available studies provide only indirect evidence for such an effect, were mostly based on small sample sizes, and did not provide measures of effect size. Small sample size is a major factor contributing to low replicability of research findings and false-positive results. We thus attempted to replicate Experiment 1 of Westfall, Corser and Jasper (2014), which appears to be representative of research on degree of handedness and belief updating in terms of the employed methods. We utilized data from a sample more than 10 times the size (N = 1243) of the original study and contrasted the commonly applied median-split technique to classify inconsistent and consistent handers with an empirically grounded classification scheme. Following a replication-extension approach, besides handedness, footedness was also explored. Only one out of 12 chi-squared tests reached significance and supported the original hypothesis that inconsistent handers stay with, or switch more often from, the status quo than consistent handers, depending on the valence of novel information. A small-telescopes analysis suggested that the original study had too low analytic power to detect its reported effect reliably. These results cast doubt on the assumption that inconsistent and consistent-handers differ in the tendency to update mental representations. We discuss the use of the median-split technique in handedness research, available neuroscientific evidence on interhemispheric interaction and inconsistent handedness, and venues of future research.
Keywords: Handedness , Degree-of-handedness , Footedness , Status Quo Bias , Lateral Preference Classification
Friday, August 23, 2019
Credibility and Incredulity in Milgram’s Obedience Experiments: A Reanalysis of an Unpublished Test By Milgram’s assistant, Taketo Murata
Credibility and Incredulity in Milgram’s Obedience Experiments: A Reanalysis of an Unpublished Test. Gina Perry et al. Social Psychology Quarterly, August 22, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1177/0190272519861952
Abstract: This article analyzes variations in subject perceptions of pain in Milgram’s obedience experiments and their behavioral consequences. Based on an unpublished study by Milgram’s assistant, Taketo Murata, we report the relationship between the subjects’ belief that the learner was actually receiving painful electric shocks and their choice of shock level. This archival material indicates that in 18 of 23 variations of the experiment, the mean levels of shock for those who fully believed that they were inflicting pain were lower than for subjects who did not fully believe they were inflicting pain. These data suggest that the perception of pain inflated subject defiance and that subject skepticism inflated their obedience. This analysis revises our perception of the classical interpretation of the experiment and its putative relevance to the explanation of state atrocities, such as the Holocaust. It also raises the issue of dramaturgical credibility in experiments based on deception. The findings are discussed in the context of methodological questions about the reliability of Milgram’s questionnaire data and their broader theoretical relevance.
Keywords: dramaturgical credibility, experimental deception, methodological dilemmas in assessing obedience, obedience to authority, Stanley Milgram
Abstract: This article analyzes variations in subject perceptions of pain in Milgram’s obedience experiments and their behavioral consequences. Based on an unpublished study by Milgram’s assistant, Taketo Murata, we report the relationship between the subjects’ belief that the learner was actually receiving painful electric shocks and their choice of shock level. This archival material indicates that in 18 of 23 variations of the experiment, the mean levels of shock for those who fully believed that they were inflicting pain were lower than for subjects who did not fully believe they were inflicting pain. These data suggest that the perception of pain inflated subject defiance and that subject skepticism inflated their obedience. This analysis revises our perception of the classical interpretation of the experiment and its putative relevance to the explanation of state atrocities, such as the Holocaust. It also raises the issue of dramaturgical credibility in experiments based on deception. The findings are discussed in the context of methodological questions about the reliability of Milgram’s questionnaire data and their broader theoretical relevance.
Keywords: dramaturgical credibility, experimental deception, methodological dilemmas in assessing obedience, obedience to authority, Stanley Milgram
Both men and women found heroic targets to be more desirable than targets low in heroism, although the main effect of sex was stronger for women than men
Bhogal, Manpal S., and James E. Bartlett. 2019. “Further Support for the Role of Heroism in Human Mate Choice.” PsyArXiv. May 19. doi:10.31234/osf.io/2npfm
Abstract: Previous research has explored the role of prosociality in mate choice, predominantly focusing on the role of altruism. Although there is ample evidence to suggest altruism has evolved via mate choice, little research has unpacked prosociality by exploring the role of heroism in mate choice. Limited studies have been conducted in this area, and no studies have explored men’s desirability towards heroic targets. The aim of this study was to replicate and extend the limited research on the role of heroism in mate choice. Participants (n=276, 101 men and 175 women) rated several scenarios varying in heroism, whereby they were asked to rate how desirable targets were for a short-term and long-term relationship. The findings show that both men and women found heroic targets to be more desirable than targets low in heroism, although the main effect of sex was stronger for women than men. Furthermore, high heroic targets were rated as more desirable for long-term compared to short-term relationships, thus replicating and extending previous research. The findings add support to the adaptive role of heroism in human mate choice by exploring the role of heroism in both male and female mate choice. Data, materials, and the preregistered hypotheses/protocol are available on the Open Science Framework (osf.io/qbzw7/?view_only=e66411df988844cfa39e63c51ed33131)
Abstract: Previous research has explored the role of prosociality in mate choice, predominantly focusing on the role of altruism. Although there is ample evidence to suggest altruism has evolved via mate choice, little research has unpacked prosociality by exploring the role of heroism in mate choice. Limited studies have been conducted in this area, and no studies have explored men’s desirability towards heroic targets. The aim of this study was to replicate and extend the limited research on the role of heroism in mate choice. Participants (n=276, 101 men and 175 women) rated several scenarios varying in heroism, whereby they were asked to rate how desirable targets were for a short-term and long-term relationship. The findings show that both men and women found heroic targets to be more desirable than targets low in heroism, although the main effect of sex was stronger for women than men. Furthermore, high heroic targets were rated as more desirable for long-term compared to short-term relationships, thus replicating and extending previous research. The findings add support to the adaptive role of heroism in human mate choice by exploring the role of heroism in both male and female mate choice. Data, materials, and the preregistered hypotheses/protocol are available on the Open Science Framework (osf.io/qbzw7/?view_only=e66411df988844cfa39e63c51ed33131)
However, keeping pets, especially cats, and even more being injured by pets, were strongly negatively associated with many facets of quality of life
Friends with malefit. The effects of keeping dogs and cats, sustaining
animal-related injuries and Toxoplasma infection on health and quality
of life. Jaroslav Flegr, Marek Preiss. bioRxiv, August 21, 2019.
https://doi.org/10.1101/742734
Abstract: Many studies show that keeping cats and dogs has a positive impact on humans’ physical and mental health and quality of life. The existence of this “pet phenomenon” is now widely discussed because other studies performed recently have demonstrated a negative impact of owning pets or no impact at all. The main problem of many studies was the autoselection – participants were informed about the aims of the study during recruitment and later likely described their health and wellbeing according to their personal beliefs and wishes, not according to their real status. To avoid this source of bias, we did not mention pets during participant recruitment and hid the pet-related questions among many hundreds of questions in an 80-minute Internet questionnaire. Results of our study performed on a sample of on 10,858 subjects showed that liking cats and dogs has a weak positive association with quality of life. However, keeping pets, especially cats, and even more being injured by pets, were strongly negatively associated with many facets of quality of life. Our data also confirmed that infection by the cat parasite Toxoplasma had a very strong negative effect on quality of life, especially on mental health. However, the infection was not responsible for the observed negative effects of keeping pets, as these effects were much stronger in 1,527 Toxoplasma-free subjects than in the whole population. Any cross-sectional study cannot discriminate between a cause and an effect. However, because of the large and still growing popularity of keeping pets, the existence and nature of the reverse pet phenomenon deserve the outmost attention.
Abstract: Many studies show that keeping cats and dogs has a positive impact on humans’ physical and mental health and quality of life. The existence of this “pet phenomenon” is now widely discussed because other studies performed recently have demonstrated a negative impact of owning pets or no impact at all. The main problem of many studies was the autoselection – participants were informed about the aims of the study during recruitment and later likely described their health and wellbeing according to their personal beliefs and wishes, not according to their real status. To avoid this source of bias, we did not mention pets during participant recruitment and hid the pet-related questions among many hundreds of questions in an 80-minute Internet questionnaire. Results of our study performed on a sample of on 10,858 subjects showed that liking cats and dogs has a weak positive association with quality of life. However, keeping pets, especially cats, and even more being injured by pets, were strongly negatively associated with many facets of quality of life. Our data also confirmed that infection by the cat parasite Toxoplasma had a very strong negative effect on quality of life, especially on mental health. However, the infection was not responsible for the observed negative effects of keeping pets, as these effects were much stronger in 1,527 Toxoplasma-free subjects than in the whole population. Any cross-sectional study cannot discriminate between a cause and an effect. However, because of the large and still growing popularity of keeping pets, the existence and nature of the reverse pet phenomenon deserve the outmost attention.
Frequency of internet use was not associated with lower subjective well-being, although higher levels of direct (face-to-face plus phone) social contact predicted greater life satisfaction
A longitudinal study of the effects of internet use on subjective well-being. Dario Paez et al. Media Psychology, Aug 22 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2019.1624177
ABSTRACT: This study examined how internet use is related to subjective well-being, using longitudinal data from 19 nations with representative online samples stratified for age, gender, and region (N = 7122, 51.43% women, Mage= 45.26). Life satisfaction and anxiety served as indices of subjective well-being at time 1 (t1) and then six months later (t2). Frequency of internet use (hours online per day) at t1 correlated with lower life satisfaction, r = – .06, and more anxiety, r = .13 at t2. However, after imposing multivariate controls, frequency of internet use (t1) was no longer associated with lower subjective well-being (t2). Frequency of social contact by internet and use of internet for following rumors (t1) predicted higher anxiety (t2). Higher levels of direct (face-to-face plus phone) social contact (t1) predicted greater life satisfaction (t2). In multivariate analyses, all effect sizes were small. Society-level individualism-collectivism or indulgence-restraint did not show a direct effect on outcomes nor moderate individual-level associations. Results are discussed in the framework of the internet as a displacement of social contact versus a replacement of deficits in direct contact; and as a source of positive and negative information.
ABSTRACT: This study examined how internet use is related to subjective well-being, using longitudinal data from 19 nations with representative online samples stratified for age, gender, and region (N = 7122, 51.43% women, Mage= 45.26). Life satisfaction and anxiety served as indices of subjective well-being at time 1 (t1) and then six months later (t2). Frequency of internet use (hours online per day) at t1 correlated with lower life satisfaction, r = – .06, and more anxiety, r = .13 at t2. However, after imposing multivariate controls, frequency of internet use (t1) was no longer associated with lower subjective well-being (t2). Frequency of social contact by internet and use of internet for following rumors (t1) predicted higher anxiety (t2). Higher levels of direct (face-to-face plus phone) social contact (t1) predicted greater life satisfaction (t2). In multivariate analyses, all effect sizes were small. Society-level individualism-collectivism or indulgence-restraint did not show a direct effect on outcomes nor moderate individual-level associations. Results are discussed in the framework of the internet as a displacement of social contact versus a replacement of deficits in direct contact; and as a source of positive and negative information.
Autoerotic practices (mostly strangulation) can be fatal
Bunzel L, Koelzer SC, Zedler B, et al. Non-Natural Death Associated with Sexual Activity: Results of a 25-Year Medicolegal Postmortem Study. J Sex Med 2019; XX:XXX–XXX.. August 22 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2019.07.008
Abstract
Introduction: Non-natural deaths associated with sexual activity may occur either with or without the involvement of other persons.
Aim: The present study provides an overview of cases of non-natural death related to sexual activities as well as recommendations of how to handle these cases and to identify potentially dangerous pleasure-enhancing techniques.
Methods: This medicolegal, postmortem, retrospective, and prospective study is based on data of autopsies performed at the Institute of Legal Medicine at University Hospital, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany.
Main Outcome Measure: Identification of circumstances, sexual practices, and gender distribution of cases of non-natural death in this context.
Results: Between 1993 and 2017 (25 years), 16,437 medicolegal autopsies were performed, of which 74 cases (43 males, 31 females) of non-natural death were found to relate to sexual activities (0.45%). One female and 21 males had died in the course of autoerotic practices (group I, n = 22). Nine males and 14 females had performed sexual practices with mutual consent (group II, n = 23), and 13 males and 16 females without mutual consent (group III, n = 29). The average age in group I was 45.4 years; in group II, 40.6 years; and in group III, 39.2 years. Most of the deceased were found in their own apartments. Forms of stimulation included vaginal, anal, and oral intercourse; insertion of foreign bodies; use of chemical substances; and tools for respiratory depression/hypoxia. Three cases of death occurred during sexual activities involving bondage and discipline, sadism, and masochism (BDSM). Death due to strangulation was the main cause in group I, whereas intoxications were predominant in group II. Sharp force (eg, knife) was mainly responsible for death in group III. Anogenital injuries were documented in all groups in approximately equal percentages.
Clinical Implications: The cases presented show a high variety of circumstances in which non-natural death connected to sexual activity may occur.
Strengths & Limitations: This study presents a large postmortem collection of non-natural death cases with associated sexual activity. As the main limiting factor, it must be stated that mutual consent for a sexual practice or consumption of substances was presumed based on the information provided and a lack of evidence against this assumption.
Conclusion: In cases of death associated with sexual activity, medical staff should perform thorough unbiased examinations and documentations. Strangulation and the consumption of stimulants should be classified as life-threatening, pleasure-enhancing techniques. Patients and young people should be informed about these risks.
Key Words: Non-Natural Death Sexual Activity Autopsy Anogenital Injury Autoerotic BDSM Forensic Sexual Homicide
Abstract
Introduction: Non-natural deaths associated with sexual activity may occur either with or without the involvement of other persons.
Aim: The present study provides an overview of cases of non-natural death related to sexual activities as well as recommendations of how to handle these cases and to identify potentially dangerous pleasure-enhancing techniques.
Methods: This medicolegal, postmortem, retrospective, and prospective study is based on data of autopsies performed at the Institute of Legal Medicine at University Hospital, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany.
Main Outcome Measure: Identification of circumstances, sexual practices, and gender distribution of cases of non-natural death in this context.
Results: Between 1993 and 2017 (25 years), 16,437 medicolegal autopsies were performed, of which 74 cases (43 males, 31 females) of non-natural death were found to relate to sexual activities (0.45%). One female and 21 males had died in the course of autoerotic practices (group I, n = 22). Nine males and 14 females had performed sexual practices with mutual consent (group II, n = 23), and 13 males and 16 females without mutual consent (group III, n = 29). The average age in group I was 45.4 years; in group II, 40.6 years; and in group III, 39.2 years. Most of the deceased were found in their own apartments. Forms of stimulation included vaginal, anal, and oral intercourse; insertion of foreign bodies; use of chemical substances; and tools for respiratory depression/hypoxia. Three cases of death occurred during sexual activities involving bondage and discipline, sadism, and masochism (BDSM). Death due to strangulation was the main cause in group I, whereas intoxications were predominant in group II. Sharp force (eg, knife) was mainly responsible for death in group III. Anogenital injuries were documented in all groups in approximately equal percentages.
Clinical Implications: The cases presented show a high variety of circumstances in which non-natural death connected to sexual activity may occur.
Strengths & Limitations: This study presents a large postmortem collection of non-natural death cases with associated sexual activity. As the main limiting factor, it must be stated that mutual consent for a sexual practice or consumption of substances was presumed based on the information provided and a lack of evidence against this assumption.
Conclusion: In cases of death associated with sexual activity, medical staff should perform thorough unbiased examinations and documentations. Strangulation and the consumption of stimulants should be classified as life-threatening, pleasure-enhancing techniques. Patients and young people should be informed about these risks.
Key Words: Non-Natural Death Sexual Activity Autopsy Anogenital Injury Autoerotic BDSM Forensic Sexual Homicide
Thursday, August 22, 2019
The former residents of the German Democratic Republic exhibit a significantly less pronounced present bias when compared with former residents of the Federal Republic of Germany
Time preferences and political regimes: evidence from reunified Germany. Tim Friehe, Markus Pannenberg. Journal of Population Economics, February 11 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00148-019-00728-7
Abstract: We use the separation and later reunification of Germany after World War II to show that a political regime shapes time preferences of its residents. Using two identification strategies, we find that former residents of the German Democratic Republic exhibit a significantly less pronounced present bias when compared with former residents of the Federal Republic of Germany, whereas measures of patience are statistically indistinguishable. Interpreting the years spent under the regime as a proxy for treatment intensity yields consistent results. Moreover, we present evidence showing that present bias predicts choices in the domains of health, finance, and education, thereby illustrating lasting repercussions of a regime’s influence on time preferences.
Keywords: Time preferences Political regime Germany Natural experiment SOEP
Abstract: We use the separation and later reunification of Germany after World War II to show that a political regime shapes time preferences of its residents. Using two identification strategies, we find that former residents of the German Democratic Republic exhibit a significantly less pronounced present bias when compared with former residents of the Federal Republic of Germany, whereas measures of patience are statistically indistinguishable. Interpreting the years spent under the regime as a proxy for treatment intensity yields consistent results. Moreover, we present evidence showing that present bias predicts choices in the domains of health, finance, and education, thereby illustrating lasting repercussions of a regime’s influence on time preferences.
Keywords: Time preferences Political regime Germany Natural experiment SOEP
Increased cognitive behavior therapy change methods are positively associated with reliable improvement in symptoms; the quantity of nontherapy-related content shows a negative association
Quantifying the Association Between Psychotherapy Content and Clinical Outcomes Using Deep Learning. Michael P. Ewbank et al. JAMA Psychiatry, August 22, 2019. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.2664
Key Points
Question What aspects of psychotherapy content are significantly associated with clinical outcomes?
Findings In this quality improvement study, a deep learning model was trained to automatically categorize therapist utterances from approximately 90 000 hours of internet-enabled cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). Increased quantities of CBT change methods were positively associated with reliable improvement in patient symptoms, and the quantity of nontherapy-related content showed a negative association.
Meaning The findings support the key principles underlying CBT as a treatment and demonstrate that applying deep learning to large clinical data sets can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of psychotherapy.
Abstract
Importance Compared with the treatment of physical conditions, the quality of care of mental health disorders remains poor and the rate of improvement in treatment is slow, a primary reason being the lack of objective and systematic methods for measuring the delivery of psychotherapy.
Objective To use a deep learning model applied to a large-scale clinical data set of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) session transcripts to generate a quantifiable measure of treatment delivered and to determine the association between the quantity of each aspect of therapy delivered and clinical outcomes.
Design, Setting, and Participants All data were obtained from patients receiving internet-enabled CBT for the treatment of a mental health disorder between June 2012 and March 2018 in England. Cognitive behavioral therapy was delivered in a secure online therapy room via instant synchronous messaging. The initial sample comprised a total of 17 572 patients (90 934 therapy session transcripts). Patients self-referred or were referred by a primary health care worker directly to the service.
Exposures All patients received National Institute for Heath and Care Excellence–approved disorder-specific CBT treatment protocols delivered by a qualified CBT therapist.
Main Outcomes and Measures Clinical outcomes were measured in terms of reliable improvement in patient symptoms and treatment engagement. Reliable improvement was calculated based on 2 severity measures: Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9)21 and Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale (GAD-7),22 corresponding to depressive and anxiety symptoms respectively, completed by the patient at initial assessment and before every therapy session (see eMethods in the Supplement for details).
Results Treatment sessions from a total of 14 899 patients (10 882 women) aged between 18 and 94 years (median age, 34.8 years) were included in the final analysis. We trained a deep learning model to automatically categorize therapist utterances into 1 or more of 24 feature categories. The trained model was applied to our data set to obtain quantifiable measures of each feature of treatment delivered. A logistic regression revealed that increased quantities of a number of session features, including change methods (cognitive and behavioral techniques used in CBT), were associated with greater odds of reliable improvement in patient symptoms (odds ratio, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.06-1.17) and patient engagement (odds ratio, 1.20, 95% CI = 1.12-1.27). The quantity of nontherapy-related content was associated with reduced odds of symptom improvement (odds ratio, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.85-0.92) and patient engagement (odds ratio, 0.88, 95% CI, 0.84-0.92).
Conclusions and Relevance This work demonstrates an association between clinical outcomes in psychotherapy and the content of therapist utterances. These findings support the principle that CBT change methods help produce improvements in patients’ presenting symptoms. The application of deep learning to large clinical data sets can provide valuable insights into psychotherapy, informing the development of new treatments and helping standardize clinical practice.
Introduction
Compared with treatment of physical conditions, the quality of care of mental health disorders remains poor, and the rate of improvement in treatment is slow.1 Outcomes for many mental disorders have stagnated or even declined since the original treatments were developed.2,3 A primary reason for the gap in quality of care is the lack of systematic methods for measuring the delivery of psychotherapy.1 As with any evidence-based intervention, to be effective, treatment needs to be delivered as intended (also known as treatment integrity),4,5 which requires accurate measurement of treatment delivered.6 However, while it is relatively simple to monitor the delivery of most medical treatments (eg, the dosage of a prescribed drug), psychotherapeutic treatments are a series of private discussions between the patient and clinician. As such, monitoring the delivery of this type of treatment to the same extent as physical medicine would require infrastructure and resources beyond the scope of most health care systems.
The National Institute for Heath and Care Excellence and the American Psychological Association recommend cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as a treatment for most common mental health problems such as depression and anxiety-related disorders. Cognitive behavioral therapy refers to a class of psychotherapeutic interventions informed by the principle that mental disorders are maintained by cognitive and behavioral phenomena and that modifying these maintaining factors helps produce enduring improvements in patients’ presenting symptoms.7,8 Despite its widespread use, the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) program in England includes no objective measure of treatment integrity for CBT, and it has been proposed that only 3.5% of psychotherapy randomized clinical trials use adequate treatment integrity procedures.9
Understanding how CBT works is of particular interest given that the relative effects of different psychotherapeutic interventions appear similar.10 Thus, whether treatments work through specific factors (eg, CBT change methods) or factors common to most psychotherapies (eg, therapeutic alliance) remains a core issue in the field.11,12 Studies commonly use observational coding methods (eg, ratings/transcription of recorded therapeutic conversations) to investigate the association between treatment delivered and outcomes.5 Owing to the resource-intensive nature of this method, studies typically focus on a small number of therapeutic components in a relatively small sample of patients. As with many randomized clinical trials, the results of such interventions are difficult to transfer to real-world psychotherapy13 and require sample sizes larger than typically used.14 To determine the most effective components of CBT and whether CBT works via the mechanisms proposed by the approach,15 quantifiable measures of treatment delivered need to be obtained in a natural clinical context and be gathered from a sufficiently large enough sample to draw meaningful conclusions.
Here, we used a large-scale data set containing session transcripts from more than 14 000 patients receiving internet-enabled CBT (IECBT) (approximately 90 000 hours of therapy). In IECBT, a patient communicates with a qualified CBT therapist using a real-time text-based message system. Internet-enabled CBT has been shown to be clinically effective for the treatment of depression16 and is currently deployed within IAPT. Using a deep learning approach, we developed a model to automatically categorize therapist utterances according to the role that they play in therapy, generating a quantifiable measure of treatment delivered. We then investigated the association between the quantity of each aspect of therapy delivered and clinical outcomes.
Key Points
Question What aspects of psychotherapy content are significantly associated with clinical outcomes?
Findings In this quality improvement study, a deep learning model was trained to automatically categorize therapist utterances from approximately 90 000 hours of internet-enabled cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). Increased quantities of CBT change methods were positively associated with reliable improvement in patient symptoms, and the quantity of nontherapy-related content showed a negative association.
Meaning The findings support the key principles underlying CBT as a treatment and demonstrate that applying deep learning to large clinical data sets can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of psychotherapy.
Abstract
Importance Compared with the treatment of physical conditions, the quality of care of mental health disorders remains poor and the rate of improvement in treatment is slow, a primary reason being the lack of objective and systematic methods for measuring the delivery of psychotherapy.
Objective To use a deep learning model applied to a large-scale clinical data set of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) session transcripts to generate a quantifiable measure of treatment delivered and to determine the association between the quantity of each aspect of therapy delivered and clinical outcomes.
Design, Setting, and Participants All data were obtained from patients receiving internet-enabled CBT for the treatment of a mental health disorder between June 2012 and March 2018 in England. Cognitive behavioral therapy was delivered in a secure online therapy room via instant synchronous messaging. The initial sample comprised a total of 17 572 patients (90 934 therapy session transcripts). Patients self-referred or were referred by a primary health care worker directly to the service.
Exposures All patients received National Institute for Heath and Care Excellence–approved disorder-specific CBT treatment protocols delivered by a qualified CBT therapist.
Main Outcomes and Measures Clinical outcomes were measured in terms of reliable improvement in patient symptoms and treatment engagement. Reliable improvement was calculated based on 2 severity measures: Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9)21 and Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale (GAD-7),22 corresponding to depressive and anxiety symptoms respectively, completed by the patient at initial assessment and before every therapy session (see eMethods in the Supplement for details).
Results Treatment sessions from a total of 14 899 patients (10 882 women) aged between 18 and 94 years (median age, 34.8 years) were included in the final analysis. We trained a deep learning model to automatically categorize therapist utterances into 1 or more of 24 feature categories. The trained model was applied to our data set to obtain quantifiable measures of each feature of treatment delivered. A logistic regression revealed that increased quantities of a number of session features, including change methods (cognitive and behavioral techniques used in CBT), were associated with greater odds of reliable improvement in patient symptoms (odds ratio, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.06-1.17) and patient engagement (odds ratio, 1.20, 95% CI = 1.12-1.27). The quantity of nontherapy-related content was associated with reduced odds of symptom improvement (odds ratio, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.85-0.92) and patient engagement (odds ratio, 0.88, 95% CI, 0.84-0.92).
Conclusions and Relevance This work demonstrates an association between clinical outcomes in psychotherapy and the content of therapist utterances. These findings support the principle that CBT change methods help produce improvements in patients’ presenting symptoms. The application of deep learning to large clinical data sets can provide valuable insights into psychotherapy, informing the development of new treatments and helping standardize clinical practice.
Introduction
Compared with treatment of physical conditions, the quality of care of mental health disorders remains poor, and the rate of improvement in treatment is slow.1 Outcomes for many mental disorders have stagnated or even declined since the original treatments were developed.2,3 A primary reason for the gap in quality of care is the lack of systematic methods for measuring the delivery of psychotherapy.1 As with any evidence-based intervention, to be effective, treatment needs to be delivered as intended (also known as treatment integrity),4,5 which requires accurate measurement of treatment delivered.6 However, while it is relatively simple to monitor the delivery of most medical treatments (eg, the dosage of a prescribed drug), psychotherapeutic treatments are a series of private discussions between the patient and clinician. As such, monitoring the delivery of this type of treatment to the same extent as physical medicine would require infrastructure and resources beyond the scope of most health care systems.
The National Institute for Heath and Care Excellence and the American Psychological Association recommend cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as a treatment for most common mental health problems such as depression and anxiety-related disorders. Cognitive behavioral therapy refers to a class of psychotherapeutic interventions informed by the principle that mental disorders are maintained by cognitive and behavioral phenomena and that modifying these maintaining factors helps produce enduring improvements in patients’ presenting symptoms.7,8 Despite its widespread use, the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) program in England includes no objective measure of treatment integrity for CBT, and it has been proposed that only 3.5% of psychotherapy randomized clinical trials use adequate treatment integrity procedures.9
Understanding how CBT works is of particular interest given that the relative effects of different psychotherapeutic interventions appear similar.10 Thus, whether treatments work through specific factors (eg, CBT change methods) or factors common to most psychotherapies (eg, therapeutic alliance) remains a core issue in the field.11,12 Studies commonly use observational coding methods (eg, ratings/transcription of recorded therapeutic conversations) to investigate the association between treatment delivered and outcomes.5 Owing to the resource-intensive nature of this method, studies typically focus on a small number of therapeutic components in a relatively small sample of patients. As with many randomized clinical trials, the results of such interventions are difficult to transfer to real-world psychotherapy13 and require sample sizes larger than typically used.14 To determine the most effective components of CBT and whether CBT works via the mechanisms proposed by the approach,15 quantifiable measures of treatment delivered need to be obtained in a natural clinical context and be gathered from a sufficiently large enough sample to draw meaningful conclusions.
Here, we used a large-scale data set containing session transcripts from more than 14 000 patients receiving internet-enabled CBT (IECBT) (approximately 90 000 hours of therapy). In IECBT, a patient communicates with a qualified CBT therapist using a real-time text-based message system. Internet-enabled CBT has been shown to be clinically effective for the treatment of depression16 and is currently deployed within IAPT. Using a deep learning approach, we developed a model to automatically categorize therapist utterances according to the role that they play in therapy, generating a quantifiable measure of treatment delivered. We then investigated the association between the quantity of each aspect of therapy delivered and clinical outcomes.
We were surprised by the null correlation between income & math anxiety; we had hypothesized a negative correlation, as status is an important positive predictor of math performance in students
The Nature of Math Anxiety in Adults: Prevalence and Correlates. Sara Ann Hart, Colleen Marie Ganley. Journal of Numerical Cognition, Vol 5, No 2 (2019). https://doi.org/10.5964/jnc.v5i2.195
Abstract: It is important to understand the nature of math anxiety in the general adult population, as the importance of math skills does not end when one leaves school. To this end, we present a well-powered, preregistered study of English-speaking U.S. adults describing the nature of math anxiety in this population. 1000 participants were recruited online. Math anxiety was approximately normally distributed, with the mean between “some” and “moderate”. Math anxiety was significantly negatively correlated with probability knowledge and math fluency, and significantly positively correlated with general anxiety and test anxiety. Women reported higher math anxiety than did men. Participants who had completed graduate school or had a STEM career had significantly lower levels of math anxiety than did those with less education, or non-STEM careers. Thus, we see evidence for math anxiety in U.S. adults and that it correlates with factors also reported in previous studies using younger and student populations.
Keywords: individual differences; math anxiety; affect; adult development; mathematical ability
Evolutionary dynamics underlying the existence of suffering & enjoyment: For organisms with more intense conscious experiences, the balance of enjoyment & suffering may lean more toward suffering
Does suffering dominate enjoyment in the animal kingdom? An update to welfare biology. Zach Groff, Yew-Kwang Ng. Biology & Philosophy, August 2019, 34:40. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10539-019-9692-0
Abstract: Ng (Biol Philos 10(3):255–285, 1995, https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00852469) models the evolutionary dynamics underlying the existence of suffering and enjoyment and concludes that there is likely to be more suffering than enjoyment in nature. In this paper, we find an error in Ng’s model that, when fixed, negates the original conclusion. Instead, the model offers only ambiguity as to whether suffering or enjoyment predominates in nature. We illustrate the dynamics around suffering and enjoyment with the most plausible parameters. In our illustration, we find surprising results: the rate of failure to reproduce can improve or worsen average welfare depending on other characteristics of a species. Our illustration suggests that for organisms with more intense conscious experiences, the balance of enjoyment and suffering may lean more toward suffering. We offer some suggestions for empirical study of wild animal welfare. We conclude by noting that recent writings on wild animal welfare should be revised based on this correction to have a somewhat less pessimistic view of nature.
Keywords: Animal welfare Animal suffering Welfare biology Effective altruism Evolutionary biology
---
Introduction
In 1995, following the idea that scientists and economists should treat animal welfare as important in its own right, Ng proposed the study of welfare biology, with three basic questions: Which animals are capable of welfare? Is their welfare positive or negative? How can we increase their welfare? In particular, Ng argued that science should examine not only the welfare of animals currently used by humans but also, and perhaps more importantly, the wellbeing of animals living in the wild. Ng’s argument relates to the predation problem in moral philosophy, or the issue of whether animal rights requires humans to save prey from predators. Origi‑ nally proposed as a reduction ad absurdum of animal rights, the predation problem has prompted a number of responses from moral philosophers ranging from prin‑ ciples of non‑intervention to denials of feasibility to acceptance of an obligation to help only in dire cases (Clark 1979). Still others do not find available responses to the predation problem convincing, which motivates Ebert and Machan (2012) to promote a “libertarian‑ish theory of animal rights.” On any view that is not strictly non‑interventionist, an understanding of wild‑animal wellbeing is useful. Further‑ more, such an understanding is interesting in itself and may yield insights relevant to other problems, so Ng (1995) investigates the balance of suffering and enjoyment in nature.
The question of natural suffering extends beyond the predation problem to dis‑ ease, starvation, and daily stress. In recent years, a number of prominent thinkers in and beyond economics have weighed in on the possibility of stewarding nature to promote animal wellbeing. Economist, political theorist, and popular blogger Tyler Cowen argues for “modest steps to limit or check the predatory activity of carni‑ vores relative to their victims,” including not protecting or reintroducing predators in natural areas (2003). Oxford philosopher Jeff McMahan argues—in The New York Times, no less—that people of good will should hope for the gradual extinction of predatory species (2010). Even Matthews of the popular news site Vox asks philoso‑ pher Peter Singer in a 2015 interview whether humans should intervene in nature and what questions those researching wild animal welfare should be asking (Mat‑ thews 2015).
Several organizations now work on and research wild‑animal welfare, including the Wild Animal Welfare Committee, Wild Animal Initiative, and Animal Ethics. The first of these groups aims to apply the ideal of “guardianship” developed by the Farm Animal Welfare Committee to conservation and environmental manage‑ ment programs that, to date, have largely focused on species’ continuation rather than individual animals’ welfare (Wild Animal Welfare Committee 2019). The latter two groups are associated with what is known as the “effective altruism” movement, a group of philanthropists, advocates, and researchers who in their words aim to do good as effectively as possible. Many in the effective altruism movement believe that animals’ interests should matter equally to those of humans and see little differ‑ ence between actively hurting someone and failing to help someone in need, all else equal. For these reasons, it is a natural concern for the effective altruism movement that there may be a large number of wild animals suffering in ways that may be able to be at least partially alleviated. All three organizations are fairly young, suggesting that interest in the topic is growing among nonprofits.
Outside of philanthropy, academic biologists and environmental policymakers also deal regularly with questions explicitly or implicitly tied to wild‑animal welfare on a routine basis. Though environmental policies are more commonly designed to preserve species rather than to protect animals, compassion for animals often does motivate policies, and so policies’ effects on individual animals are well worth considering.
Research into what Ng (1995) terms “welfare biology” is therefore a high‑priority, highly neglected field. To date, virtually all research into human impacts on nature focuses narrowly on the conservation of species and ecosystem dynamics. Most theories in environmental ethics assign instrumental or even intrinsic value to natural processes, but few locate value within individual wild animals. Ng’s paper proposed a new angle to study animals in nature and humans’ effects on them. Ng (1995) discusses a number of critical topics in welfare biology. Ng addresses questions of which animals experience emotional states, which states they experi‑ ence, and how humans can improve wild animal wellbeing. Ng notes that suffering and enjoyment likely serve evolutionary purposes.
In this paper, we make a correction to Ng’s (1995) proposition that total suffer‑ ing in nature outweighs total enjoyment. In fact, as we show, total enjoyment may exceed total suffering or vice versa, depending on a specific evolutionary detail for which we have little information. We propose a revised version of the Buddhist Premise that suffering predominates in nature. Under the revised proposition, there is little reason to conclude one way or another whether suffering or enjoyment is more common. After presenting the revised Buddhist premise, we note an interest‑ ing tradeoff between the number of animals who suffer and the degree of those animals’ suffering. We illustrate these dynamics based on plausible assumptions from psychology. Finally, we offer some guidance for how other researchers in this area can make progress and how recent research should be updated based on this revision of the Buddhist premise.
The revised Buddhist premise
An important question regarding animal welfare is whether, on average, animals enjoy positive net welfare. This is the second of three basic questions Ng (1995) raises; the other two questions are the ‘which’ question (which organisms are capable of welfare) and the ‘how’ question (how to increase their welfare).
This first question is crucial. For example, if the answer is that animals on the whole enjoy negative (net) welfare, many people may find it more imperative for us humans to try to increase their welfare to a non‑negative level. In some extreme cases, some authors regard animal suffering (negative net welfare) as justifying the destruction of animal habitats (Tomasik 2016). Ng hopes for future improvement of animals’ welfare after significant scientific, economic, and ethical advances on the part of humans (Ng 1995, 2016b).
Ng (1995) argues that animals suffer from negative net welfare on the whole. Ng uses both a general argument and an ‘economics of evolution’. The general argu‑ ment is based on the observation that most animal species have large clutch sizes and a presumption (related to the economics of evolution) that individual animals not able to survive until mating probably suffer from negative net welfare.
The economics of evolution led Ng to propose the following:
Proposition (Buddhist Premise) Under the assumptions of concave and symmetrical functions relating costs to enjoyment and suffering, evolutionary economizing results in the excess of total suffering over total enjoyment.
This premise, it turns out, does not hold. Ng’s conditions have to be strengthened to make the proposition valid. The revised Buddhist premise we wish to propose is remarkable and has the same remarkable implications should the updated conditions hold, but whether the new conditions hold is a matter of further research and does not evoke any obvious intuition. Instead, we propose the following, corrected version of the Buddhist Premise: Revised Proposition (Buddhist Premise) Under the assumption of symmetrical functions relating costs to enjoyment and suffering, evolutionary economizing results in the excess of total suffering over total enjoyment if the square of each function is concave.
...
Abstract: Ng (Biol Philos 10(3):255–285, 1995, https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00852469) models the evolutionary dynamics underlying the existence of suffering and enjoyment and concludes that there is likely to be more suffering than enjoyment in nature. In this paper, we find an error in Ng’s model that, when fixed, negates the original conclusion. Instead, the model offers only ambiguity as to whether suffering or enjoyment predominates in nature. We illustrate the dynamics around suffering and enjoyment with the most plausible parameters. In our illustration, we find surprising results: the rate of failure to reproduce can improve or worsen average welfare depending on other characteristics of a species. Our illustration suggests that for organisms with more intense conscious experiences, the balance of enjoyment and suffering may lean more toward suffering. We offer some suggestions for empirical study of wild animal welfare. We conclude by noting that recent writings on wild animal welfare should be revised based on this correction to have a somewhat less pessimistic view of nature.
Keywords: Animal welfare Animal suffering Welfare biology Effective altruism Evolutionary biology
---
Introduction
In 1995, following the idea that scientists and economists should treat animal welfare as important in its own right, Ng proposed the study of welfare biology, with three basic questions: Which animals are capable of welfare? Is their welfare positive or negative? How can we increase their welfare? In particular, Ng argued that science should examine not only the welfare of animals currently used by humans but also, and perhaps more importantly, the wellbeing of animals living in the wild. Ng’s argument relates to the predation problem in moral philosophy, or the issue of whether animal rights requires humans to save prey from predators. Origi‑ nally proposed as a reduction ad absurdum of animal rights, the predation problem has prompted a number of responses from moral philosophers ranging from prin‑ ciples of non‑intervention to denials of feasibility to acceptance of an obligation to help only in dire cases (Clark 1979). Still others do not find available responses to the predation problem convincing, which motivates Ebert and Machan (2012) to promote a “libertarian‑ish theory of animal rights.” On any view that is not strictly non‑interventionist, an understanding of wild‑animal wellbeing is useful. Further‑ more, such an understanding is interesting in itself and may yield insights relevant to other problems, so Ng (1995) investigates the balance of suffering and enjoyment in nature.
The question of natural suffering extends beyond the predation problem to dis‑ ease, starvation, and daily stress. In recent years, a number of prominent thinkers in and beyond economics have weighed in on the possibility of stewarding nature to promote animal wellbeing. Economist, political theorist, and popular blogger Tyler Cowen argues for “modest steps to limit or check the predatory activity of carni‑ vores relative to their victims,” including not protecting or reintroducing predators in natural areas (2003). Oxford philosopher Jeff McMahan argues—in The New York Times, no less—that people of good will should hope for the gradual extinction of predatory species (2010). Even Matthews of the popular news site Vox asks philoso‑ pher Peter Singer in a 2015 interview whether humans should intervene in nature and what questions those researching wild animal welfare should be asking (Mat‑ thews 2015).
Several organizations now work on and research wild‑animal welfare, including the Wild Animal Welfare Committee, Wild Animal Initiative, and Animal Ethics. The first of these groups aims to apply the ideal of “guardianship” developed by the Farm Animal Welfare Committee to conservation and environmental manage‑ ment programs that, to date, have largely focused on species’ continuation rather than individual animals’ welfare (Wild Animal Welfare Committee 2019). The latter two groups are associated with what is known as the “effective altruism” movement, a group of philanthropists, advocates, and researchers who in their words aim to do good as effectively as possible. Many in the effective altruism movement believe that animals’ interests should matter equally to those of humans and see little differ‑ ence between actively hurting someone and failing to help someone in need, all else equal. For these reasons, it is a natural concern for the effective altruism movement that there may be a large number of wild animals suffering in ways that may be able to be at least partially alleviated. All three organizations are fairly young, suggesting that interest in the topic is growing among nonprofits.
Outside of philanthropy, academic biologists and environmental policymakers also deal regularly with questions explicitly or implicitly tied to wild‑animal welfare on a routine basis. Though environmental policies are more commonly designed to preserve species rather than to protect animals, compassion for animals often does motivate policies, and so policies’ effects on individual animals are well worth considering.
Research into what Ng (1995) terms “welfare biology” is therefore a high‑priority, highly neglected field. To date, virtually all research into human impacts on nature focuses narrowly on the conservation of species and ecosystem dynamics. Most theories in environmental ethics assign instrumental or even intrinsic value to natural processes, but few locate value within individual wild animals. Ng’s paper proposed a new angle to study animals in nature and humans’ effects on them. Ng (1995) discusses a number of critical topics in welfare biology. Ng addresses questions of which animals experience emotional states, which states they experi‑ ence, and how humans can improve wild animal wellbeing. Ng notes that suffering and enjoyment likely serve evolutionary purposes.
In this paper, we make a correction to Ng’s (1995) proposition that total suffer‑ ing in nature outweighs total enjoyment. In fact, as we show, total enjoyment may exceed total suffering or vice versa, depending on a specific evolutionary detail for which we have little information. We propose a revised version of the Buddhist Premise that suffering predominates in nature. Under the revised proposition, there is little reason to conclude one way or another whether suffering or enjoyment is more common. After presenting the revised Buddhist premise, we note an interest‑ ing tradeoff between the number of animals who suffer and the degree of those animals’ suffering. We illustrate these dynamics based on plausible assumptions from psychology. Finally, we offer some guidance for how other researchers in this area can make progress and how recent research should be updated based on this revision of the Buddhist premise.
The revised Buddhist premise
An important question regarding animal welfare is whether, on average, animals enjoy positive net welfare. This is the second of three basic questions Ng (1995) raises; the other two questions are the ‘which’ question (which organisms are capable of welfare) and the ‘how’ question (how to increase their welfare).
This first question is crucial. For example, if the answer is that animals on the whole enjoy negative (net) welfare, many people may find it more imperative for us humans to try to increase their welfare to a non‑negative level. In some extreme cases, some authors regard animal suffering (negative net welfare) as justifying the destruction of animal habitats (Tomasik 2016). Ng hopes for future improvement of animals’ welfare after significant scientific, economic, and ethical advances on the part of humans (Ng 1995, 2016b).
Ng (1995) argues that animals suffer from negative net welfare on the whole. Ng uses both a general argument and an ‘economics of evolution’. The general argu‑ ment is based on the observation that most animal species have large clutch sizes and a presumption (related to the economics of evolution) that individual animals not able to survive until mating probably suffer from negative net welfare.
The economics of evolution led Ng to propose the following:
Proposition (Buddhist Premise) Under the assumptions of concave and symmetrical functions relating costs to enjoyment and suffering, evolutionary economizing results in the excess of total suffering over total enjoyment.
This premise, it turns out, does not hold. Ng’s conditions have to be strengthened to make the proposition valid. The revised Buddhist premise we wish to propose is remarkable and has the same remarkable implications should the updated conditions hold, but whether the new conditions hold is a matter of further research and does not evoke any obvious intuition. Instead, we propose the following, corrected version of the Buddhist Premise: Revised Proposition (Buddhist Premise) Under the assumption of symmetrical functions relating costs to enjoyment and suffering, evolutionary economizing results in the excess of total suffering over total enjoyment if the square of each function is concave.
...
Later-born children fare worse; a possible reason is being an unwanted/unplanned child, which is associated with negative life cycle outcomes as it implies a disruption in parental plans for optimal human capital investment
Birth order and unwanted fertility. Wanchuan Lin, Juan Pantano, Shuqiao Sun. Journal of Population Economics, August 22 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00148-019-00747-4
Abstract: An extensive literature documents the effects of birth order on various individual outcomes, with later-born children faring worse than their siblings. However, the potential mechanisms behind these effects remain poorly understood. This paper leverages US data on pregnancy intention to study the role of unwanted fertility in the observed birth order patterns. We document that children higher in the birth order are much more likely to be unwanted, in the sense that they were conceived at a time when the family was not planning to have additional children. Being an unwanted child is associated with negative life cycle outcomes as it implies a disruption in parental plans for optimal human capital investment. We show that the increasing prevalence of unwantedness across birth order explains a substantial part of the documented birth order effects in education and employment. Consistent with this mechanism, we document no birth order effects in families who have more control over their own fertility.
Keywords: Birth order Unwanted births Fertility intentions
Abstract: An extensive literature documents the effects of birth order on various individual outcomes, with later-born children faring worse than their siblings. However, the potential mechanisms behind these effects remain poorly understood. This paper leverages US data on pregnancy intention to study the role of unwanted fertility in the observed birth order patterns. We document that children higher in the birth order are much more likely to be unwanted, in the sense that they were conceived at a time when the family was not planning to have additional children. Being an unwanted child is associated with negative life cycle outcomes as it implies a disruption in parental plans for optimal human capital investment. We show that the increasing prevalence of unwantedness across birth order explains a substantial part of the documented birth order effects in education and employment. Consistent with this mechanism, we document no birth order effects in families who have more control over their own fertility.
Keywords: Birth order Unwanted births Fertility intentions
Retirement has a positive effect on physical health, reduced likelihood of hospitalizations, especially for low socioeconomic status; effects are driven by reduced pain & reduced health limitations in conducting daily activities
Health effects of retirement: evidence from survey and register data. Maja Weemes Grøtting, Otto Sevaldson Lillebø. Journal of Population Economics, July 26 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00148-019-00742-9
Abstract: Using a local randomized experiment that arises from the statutory retirement age in Norway, we study the effect of retirement on health across gender and socioeconomic status. We apply data from administrative registers covering the entire population and from survey data of a random sample to investigate the effects of retirement on acute hospital admissions, mortality, and a composite physical health score. Our results show that retirement has a positive effect on physical health, especially for individuals with low socioeconomic status. We find no effects of retirement on acute hospitalizations or mortality in general. However, our results suggest that retirement leads to reduced likelihood of hospitalizations for individuals with low socioeconomic status. Finally, we show that the positive health effects are driven by reduced pain and reduced health limitations in conducting daily activities. Our findings highlight heterogeneity in the health effects across socioeconomic status and across subjective and objective measures of health.
Keywords: Retirement Health Socioeconomic status Gender Regression discontinuity design
Abstract: Using a local randomized experiment that arises from the statutory retirement age in Norway, we study the effect of retirement on health across gender and socioeconomic status. We apply data from administrative registers covering the entire population and from survey data of a random sample to investigate the effects of retirement on acute hospital admissions, mortality, and a composite physical health score. Our results show that retirement has a positive effect on physical health, especially for individuals with low socioeconomic status. We find no effects of retirement on acute hospitalizations or mortality in general. However, our results suggest that retirement leads to reduced likelihood of hospitalizations for individuals with low socioeconomic status. Finally, we show that the positive health effects are driven by reduced pain and reduced health limitations in conducting daily activities. Our findings highlight heterogeneity in the health effects across socioeconomic status and across subjective and objective measures of health.
Keywords: Retirement Health Socioeconomic status Gender Regression discontinuity design
Beauty and employment in China: Having better educational credentials reduces appearance discrimination among men but not among women; the beauty premium is larger for vacancies with higher remuneration
Beauty and job accessibility: new evidence from a field experiment. Weiguang Deng, Dayang Li, Dong Zhou. Journal of Population Economics, August 7 2019.https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00148-019-00744-7
Abstract: This study uses a field experiment to resolve the difficulties of quantifying personal appearance and identify a direct causal relationship between appearance and employment in China. The experiment reveals that taste-based pure appearance discrimination exists at the pre-interview stage. There are significant gender-specific heterogeneous effects of education on appearance discrimination: having better educational credentials reduces appearance discrimination among men but not among women. Moreover, attributes of the labor market, companies, and vacancies matter. Beauty premiums are larger in big cities with higher concentrations of women and in male-focused research positions. Similarly, the beauty premium is larger for vacancies with higher remuneration.
Keywords: Appearance discrimination Beauty premium Pre-interview stage Field experiment
Check also Natural Tendency towards Beauty in Humans: Evidence from Binocular Rivalry. Ce Mo et al. PLOS March 1, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0150147
Abstract: This study uses a field experiment to resolve the difficulties of quantifying personal appearance and identify a direct causal relationship between appearance and employment in China. The experiment reveals that taste-based pure appearance discrimination exists at the pre-interview stage. There are significant gender-specific heterogeneous effects of education on appearance discrimination: having better educational credentials reduces appearance discrimination among men but not among women. Moreover, attributes of the labor market, companies, and vacancies matter. Beauty premiums are larger in big cities with higher concentrations of women and in male-focused research positions. Similarly, the beauty premium is larger for vacancies with higher remuneration.
Keywords: Appearance discrimination Beauty premium Pre-interview stage Field experiment
Check also Natural Tendency towards Beauty in Humans: Evidence from Binocular Rivalry. Ce Mo et al. PLOS March 1, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0150147
Abstract: Although human preference for beauty is common and compelling in daily life, it remains unknown whether such preference is essentially subserved by social cognitive demands or natural tendency towards beauty encoded in the human mind intrinsically. Here we demonstrate experimentally that humans automatically exhibit preference for visual and moral beauty without explicit cognitive efforts. Using a binocular rivalry paradigm, we identified enhanced gender-independent perceptual dominance for physically attractive persons, and the results suggested universal preference for visual beauty based on perceivable forms. Moreover, we also identified perceptual dominance enhancement for characters associated with virtuous descriptions after controlling for facial attractiveness and vigilance-related attention effects, which suggested a similar implicit preference for moral beauty conveyed in prosocial behaviours. Our findings show that behavioural preference for beauty is driven by an inherent natural tendency towards beauty in humans rather than explicit social cognitive processes.
Aggressiveness decreases whereas creativity, life satisfaction, and individualism increase as one moves closer to either the North or South Pole
Latitudinal Psychology: An Ecological Perspective on Creativity, Aggression, Happiness, and Beyond. Evert Van de Vliert, Paul A. M. Van Lange. Perspectives on Psychological Science, August 21, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691619858067
Abstract: Are there systematic trends around the world in levels of creativity, aggressiveness, life satisfaction, individualism, trust, and suicidality? This article suggests a new field, latitudinal psychology, that delineates differences in such culturally shared features along northern and southern rather than eastern and western locations. In addition to geographical, ecological, and other explanations, we offer three metric foundations of latitudinal variations: replicability (latitudinal gradient repeatability across hemispheres), reversibility (north-south gradient reversal near the equator), and gradient strength (degree of replicability and reversibility). We show that aggressiveness decreases whereas creativity, life satisfaction, and individualism increase as one moves closer to either the North or South Pole. We also discuss the replicability, reversibility, and gradient strength of (a) temperatures and rainfall as remote predictors and (b) pathogen prevalence, national wealth, population density, and income inequality as more proximate predictors of latitudinal gradients in human functioning. Preliminary analyses suggest that cultural and psychological diversity often need to be partially understood in terms of latitudinal variations in integrated exposure to climate-induced demands and wealth-based resources. We conclude with broader implications, emphasizing the importance of north-south replications in samples that are not from Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) societies.
Keywords: latitudinal psychology, northern location, southern location, CLASH, climatoeconomic theory, pathogen prevalence, WEIRD psychology
Abstract: Are there systematic trends around the world in levels of creativity, aggressiveness, life satisfaction, individualism, trust, and suicidality? This article suggests a new field, latitudinal psychology, that delineates differences in such culturally shared features along northern and southern rather than eastern and western locations. In addition to geographical, ecological, and other explanations, we offer three metric foundations of latitudinal variations: replicability (latitudinal gradient repeatability across hemispheres), reversibility (north-south gradient reversal near the equator), and gradient strength (degree of replicability and reversibility). We show that aggressiveness decreases whereas creativity, life satisfaction, and individualism increase as one moves closer to either the North or South Pole. We also discuss the replicability, reversibility, and gradient strength of (a) temperatures and rainfall as remote predictors and (b) pathogen prevalence, national wealth, population density, and income inequality as more proximate predictors of latitudinal gradients in human functioning. Preliminary analyses suggest that cultural and psychological diversity often need to be partially understood in terms of latitudinal variations in integrated exposure to climate-induced demands and wealth-based resources. We conclude with broader implications, emphasizing the importance of north-south replications in samples that are not from Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) societies.
Keywords: latitudinal psychology, northern location, southern location, CLASH, climatoeconomic theory, pathogen prevalence, WEIRD psychology
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Testosterone & cortisol may not be the villains that popular media portrays them to be, & instead are associated with better response inhibition & less risky decision-making, respectively
Three-month cumulative exposure to testosterone and cortisol predicts distinct effects on response inhibition and risky decision-making in adolescents. Grant S.Shields, Susannah L. Ivory, Eva H. Telzer. Psychoneuroendocrinology, August 20 2019, 104412. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.104412
Highlights
• We examined relations between hair hormones, response inhibition, and risky decision-making
• Hair testosterone selectively predicted better response inhibition
• Hair cortisol selectively predicted less risky decision-making
• These associations held when controlling for the other hormone
Abstract: Prior studies have established that cortisol and testosterone play a role in impulsive behavior, but little is known about how cumulative exposure to these hormones over a recent period influences cognitive processes that help to regulate impulsive behavior. We addressed this gap in the present study by examining how hair concentrations of testosterone and cortisol related to response inhibition and risky decision-making in adolescents. Adolescents provided 3 cm of hair cut as close as possible to the scalp from a posterior vertex position—indexing three months of hair growth—and completed two behavioral tasks, one that measures response inhibition and the second that measures risky decision-making. We found that greater three-month cumulative exposure to testosterone predicted better response inhibition but was unassociated with risky decision-making, whereas greater three-month cumulative exposure to cortisol predicted less risky decision-making but was unassociated with response inhibition. These results suggest that testosterone and cortisol may be associated with unique cognitive processes underpinning impulsive behavior, providing further evidence for their roles in contributing to complex impulsive behaviors in adolescence.
Check also Paternal biobehavioral influence on the family: Preliminary data from the D.A.D.I.O. Project. Nikki J Clauss, Erin Harrington, Jennifer Byrd-Craven. Human Behavior and Evolution Society 31st annual meeting. Boston 2019. http://tiny.cc/aa1w6y
Highlights
• We examined relations between hair hormones, response inhibition, and risky decision-making
• Hair testosterone selectively predicted better response inhibition
• Hair cortisol selectively predicted less risky decision-making
• These associations held when controlling for the other hormone
Abstract: Prior studies have established that cortisol and testosterone play a role in impulsive behavior, but little is known about how cumulative exposure to these hormones over a recent period influences cognitive processes that help to regulate impulsive behavior. We addressed this gap in the present study by examining how hair concentrations of testosterone and cortisol related to response inhibition and risky decision-making in adolescents. Adolescents provided 3 cm of hair cut as close as possible to the scalp from a posterior vertex position—indexing three months of hair growth—and completed two behavioral tasks, one that measures response inhibition and the second that measures risky decision-making. We found that greater three-month cumulative exposure to testosterone predicted better response inhibition but was unassociated with risky decision-making, whereas greater three-month cumulative exposure to cortisol predicted less risky decision-making but was unassociated with response inhibition. These results suggest that testosterone and cortisol may be associated with unique cognitive processes underpinning impulsive behavior, providing further evidence for their roles in contributing to complex impulsive behaviors in adolescence.
Check also Paternal biobehavioral influence on the family: Preliminary data from the D.A.D.I.O. Project. Nikki J Clauss, Erin Harrington, Jennifer Byrd-Craven. Human Behavior and Evolution Society 31st annual meeting. Boston 2019. http://tiny.cc/aa1w6y
Voters in a real-world political campaign are most susceptible to forming false memories for fake news that aligns with their beliefs, in particular if they have low cognitive ability
False Memories for Fake News During Ireland’s Abortion Referendum. Gillian Murphy et al. Psychological Science, August 21, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619864887
Abstract: The current study examined false memories in the week preceding the 2018 Irish abortion referendum. Participants (N = 3,140) viewed six news stories concerning campaign events—two fabricated and four authentic. Almost half of the sample reported a false memory for at least one fabricated event, with more than one third of participants reporting a specific memory of the event. “Yes” voters (those in favor of legalizing abortion) were more likely than “no” voters to “remember” a fabricated scandal regarding the campaign to vote “no,” and “no” voters were more likely than “yes” voters to “remember” a fabricated scandal regarding the campaign to vote “yes.” This difference was particularly strong for voters of low cognitive ability. A subsequent warning about possible misinformation slightly reduced rates of false memories but did not eliminate these effects. This study suggests that voters in a real-world political campaign are most susceptible to forming false memories for fake news that aligns with their beliefs, in particular if they have low cognitive ability.
Keywords: false memory, politics, fake news, misinformation, bias, open data, open materials
Abstract: The current study examined false memories in the week preceding the 2018 Irish abortion referendum. Participants (N = 3,140) viewed six news stories concerning campaign events—two fabricated and four authentic. Almost half of the sample reported a false memory for at least one fabricated event, with more than one third of participants reporting a specific memory of the event. “Yes” voters (those in favor of legalizing abortion) were more likely than “no” voters to “remember” a fabricated scandal regarding the campaign to vote “no,” and “no” voters were more likely than “yes” voters to “remember” a fabricated scandal regarding the campaign to vote “yes.” This difference was particularly strong for voters of low cognitive ability. A subsequent warning about possible misinformation slightly reduced rates of false memories but did not eliminate these effects. This study suggests that voters in a real-world political campaign are most susceptible to forming false memories for fake news that aligns with their beliefs, in particular if they have low cognitive ability.
Keywords: false memory, politics, fake news, misinformation, bias, open data, open materials
Overweight participants craved a greater variety of high-caloric high palatable foods than normal‐weight participants at both eating events and random non‐eating moments
Food craving in daily life: comparison of overweight and normal‐weight participants with ecological momentary assessment. A. Roefs B. Boh G. Spanakis C. Nederkoorn L. H. J. M. Lemmens A. Jansen. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, August 20 2019. https://doi.org/10.1111/jhn.12693
Abstract
Background: The present study examined food cravings in daily life by comparing overweight and normal‐weight participants right before eating events and at non‐eating moments. It was hypothesised that overweight participants would have (i) more frequent, (ii) stronger and (iii) a greater variety of high‐caloric palatable food cravings, and also would (iv) consume more high‐caloric palatable foods, than normal‐weight participants.
Methods: Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) was used to assess food craving strength and frequency, variety of specific food cravings, and food intake. Fifty‐seven overweight and 43 normal‐weight adult participants were assessed at eating events and at an average of eight random non‐eating moments per day for 2 weeks. Foods were categorised as: high‐caloric high palatable foods (HCHP), fruits and salads, staple food dishes and sandwiches, and soups and yoghurts.
Conclusions: The results highlight the importance for obesity interventions (i) to specifically target high‐caloric palatable food cravings that are experienced during the day and are not tied to eating moments and (ii) to aim for a reduction in the variety of high‐caloric palatable food cravings. It might be fruitful to deliver treatment aimed at reducing cravings via mobile devices because this allows for easy individual tailoring and timing of interventions.
Introduction
People eat not only to satisfy homeostatic hunger, but also to satisfy cravings and hedonic hunger 1, 2. Food cravings are common 3, and people often crave foods that are high in calories and low in nutritional value 4, 5. High‐caloric food intake has been associated with weight gain and obesity 6. Furthermore, sensitivity to the rewarding properties 7 and the reinforcing value 8 of palatable foods is stronger for people with a higher body mass index (BMI) than for those with a lower BMI. The present study aimed to investigate food cravings and intake of overweight (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2) and normal‐weight (18.5 kg/m2 ≤ BMI < 25 kg/m2) people in daily life by means of ecological momentary assessment (EMA).
Previous research on food craving, mainly relying on retrospective self‐report (questionnaire) assessment, has found that overweight people have more frequent specific food cravings, mainly for high‐caloric foods, compared to normal‐weight people 4, 9-11. In addition, a meta‐analysis has shown that craving and food‐cue reactivity are significant predictors of eating behaviour and body weight 12, as well as of a reduction of perceived self‐regulatory success in dieting 13. Accordingly, an increased food craving appears to be an important aspect of obesity. However, retrospective self‐report assessment is subject to memory recall biases: more recent and more emotionally salient memories are disproportionately often recalled 14, 15. Investigating food cravings as they occur in daily life using EMA could lead to more ecologically valid insights.
During EMA, participants receive prompts on a mobile device (e.g. smartphone) several times a day to answer questions, for example regarding mood, social circumstances and food cravings, and/or are instructed to answer questions on their phone in predefined situations (e.g. when about to eat something). EMA has the advantage that data are obtained in the moment and in daily life (ecological validity) and are not affected by retrospective memory or response bias 14. Another advantage is that participants provide multiple assessments of the included variables, allowing researchers to analyse how the variables develop over time within a participant. Thus, ‘EMA aims to minimize recall bias, maximize ecological validity and allow study of microprocesses that influence behavior in real‐world contexts’ 15. EMA conducted via an electronic device may be especially suitable to assess food cravings because of the relatively short duration of such cravings 16.
EMA studies on food craving have increasingly been published in recent years. It was found that food cravings for sweet and salty snacks increased over the day, with a reduced coherence with hunger 17. In addition, a study focusing on snacks found that most reported snacks were high‐caloric (86%) and that craving intensity was positively associated with snack consumption 18. Studies focusing on dieters found that 17% 5 to 50% 19 of daily life food cravings resulted in dietary lapses. Interestingly, the strength and the frequency of food cravings were not related to dietary restraint 5, although dieters were more likely to give in to food temptations if the craving to eat was stronger 19. With regard to body weight, it was unexpectedly found that a group of people with obesity reported fewer unresisted food cravings compared to a lean group. However, within the obese group, the fraction of unresisted food craving was positively associated with BMI 20. Because that study employed only event‐related sampling (i.e. self‐initiated measurement at eating occasions), this may be a result of BMI‐related under‐reporting.
Another aspect of food craving relates to the variety of craved foods. Although previous research has linked food intake variety to obesity 21-23, not much is known about food craving variety. Sensory‐specific satiety has been suggested to explain the link between intake variety and obesity 24, 25: satiety occurs separately for each of the sensory characteristics of different kinds of foods. Accordingly, when a large variety of foods is consumed, it will take longer for satiety to set in, which may lead to increased intake 26. In general, food cravings and the subsequent intake of these craved foods are highly positively associated 4, 11, 27, 28, with one possibility being that food craving variety is also related to obesity.
Taken together, the present study investigates how food craving frequency, strength and variety, as well as food intake, are related to weight status. The study addresses the following hypotheses: overweight participants (i) report more frequent and (ii) stronger food cravings for high‐caloric palatable foods, (iii) they crave a greater variety of high‐caloric palatable foods and (iv) they consume more high‐caloric palatable foods compared to normal‐weight participants. In addition, the association between specific food cravings and food intake is investigated. Food craving frequency, strength and variety are investigated and compared separately for eating events (i.e. that were about to occur) and non‐eating moments. There are no specific a priori hypotheses about differences between eating events and non‐eating moments in terms of food craving frequency, strength or variety.
Abstract
Background: The present study examined food cravings in daily life by comparing overweight and normal‐weight participants right before eating events and at non‐eating moments. It was hypothesised that overweight participants would have (i) more frequent, (ii) stronger and (iii) a greater variety of high‐caloric palatable food cravings, and also would (iv) consume more high‐caloric palatable foods, than normal‐weight participants.
Methods: Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) was used to assess food craving strength and frequency, variety of specific food cravings, and food intake. Fifty‐seven overweight and 43 normal‐weight adult participants were assessed at eating events and at an average of eight random non‐eating moments per day for 2 weeks. Foods were categorised as: high‐caloric high palatable foods (HCHP), fruits and salads, staple food dishes and sandwiches, and soups and yoghurts.
Results: Overweight participants reported more frequent HCHP food cravings specifically at non‐eating moments than did normal‐weight participants. Normal‐weight participants reported more food cravings for staple foods, specifically at eating events. Moreover, overweight participants craved a greater variety of HCHP foods than normal‐weight participants at both eating events and random non‐eating moments. No other significant between‐group differences were found.
Conclusions: The results highlight the importance for obesity interventions (i) to specifically target high‐caloric palatable food cravings that are experienced during the day and are not tied to eating moments and (ii) to aim for a reduction in the variety of high‐caloric palatable food cravings. It might be fruitful to deliver treatment aimed at reducing cravings via mobile devices because this allows for easy individual tailoring and timing of interventions.
Introduction
People eat not only to satisfy homeostatic hunger, but also to satisfy cravings and hedonic hunger 1, 2. Food cravings are common 3, and people often crave foods that are high in calories and low in nutritional value 4, 5. High‐caloric food intake has been associated with weight gain and obesity 6. Furthermore, sensitivity to the rewarding properties 7 and the reinforcing value 8 of palatable foods is stronger for people with a higher body mass index (BMI) than for those with a lower BMI. The present study aimed to investigate food cravings and intake of overweight (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2) and normal‐weight (18.5 kg/m2 ≤ BMI < 25 kg/m2) people in daily life by means of ecological momentary assessment (EMA).
Previous research on food craving, mainly relying on retrospective self‐report (questionnaire) assessment, has found that overweight people have more frequent specific food cravings, mainly for high‐caloric foods, compared to normal‐weight people 4, 9-11. In addition, a meta‐analysis has shown that craving and food‐cue reactivity are significant predictors of eating behaviour and body weight 12, as well as of a reduction of perceived self‐regulatory success in dieting 13. Accordingly, an increased food craving appears to be an important aspect of obesity. However, retrospective self‐report assessment is subject to memory recall biases: more recent and more emotionally salient memories are disproportionately often recalled 14, 15. Investigating food cravings as they occur in daily life using EMA could lead to more ecologically valid insights.
During EMA, participants receive prompts on a mobile device (e.g. smartphone) several times a day to answer questions, for example regarding mood, social circumstances and food cravings, and/or are instructed to answer questions on their phone in predefined situations (e.g. when about to eat something). EMA has the advantage that data are obtained in the moment and in daily life (ecological validity) and are not affected by retrospective memory or response bias 14. Another advantage is that participants provide multiple assessments of the included variables, allowing researchers to analyse how the variables develop over time within a participant. Thus, ‘EMA aims to minimize recall bias, maximize ecological validity and allow study of microprocesses that influence behavior in real‐world contexts’ 15. EMA conducted via an electronic device may be especially suitable to assess food cravings because of the relatively short duration of such cravings 16.
EMA studies on food craving have increasingly been published in recent years. It was found that food cravings for sweet and salty snacks increased over the day, with a reduced coherence with hunger 17. In addition, a study focusing on snacks found that most reported snacks were high‐caloric (86%) and that craving intensity was positively associated with snack consumption 18. Studies focusing on dieters found that 17% 5 to 50% 19 of daily life food cravings resulted in dietary lapses. Interestingly, the strength and the frequency of food cravings were not related to dietary restraint 5, although dieters were more likely to give in to food temptations if the craving to eat was stronger 19. With regard to body weight, it was unexpectedly found that a group of people with obesity reported fewer unresisted food cravings compared to a lean group. However, within the obese group, the fraction of unresisted food craving was positively associated with BMI 20. Because that study employed only event‐related sampling (i.e. self‐initiated measurement at eating occasions), this may be a result of BMI‐related under‐reporting.
Another aspect of food craving relates to the variety of craved foods. Although previous research has linked food intake variety to obesity 21-23, not much is known about food craving variety. Sensory‐specific satiety has been suggested to explain the link between intake variety and obesity 24, 25: satiety occurs separately for each of the sensory characteristics of different kinds of foods. Accordingly, when a large variety of foods is consumed, it will take longer for satiety to set in, which may lead to increased intake 26. In general, food cravings and the subsequent intake of these craved foods are highly positively associated 4, 11, 27, 28, with one possibility being that food craving variety is also related to obesity.
Taken together, the present study investigates how food craving frequency, strength and variety, as well as food intake, are related to weight status. The study addresses the following hypotheses: overweight participants (i) report more frequent and (ii) stronger food cravings for high‐caloric palatable foods, (iii) they crave a greater variety of high‐caloric palatable foods and (iv) they consume more high‐caloric palatable foods compared to normal‐weight participants. In addition, the association between specific food cravings and food intake is investigated. Food craving frequency, strength and variety are investigated and compared separately for eating events (i.e. that were about to occur) and non‐eating moments. There are no specific a priori hypotheses about differences between eating events and non‐eating moments in terms of food craving frequency, strength or variety.
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