From 2017... Who Wants To Live Forever? Explaining the Cross-Cultural Recurrence of Reincarnation Beliefs

Who Wants To Live Forever? Explaining the Cross-Cultural Recurrence of Reincarnation Beliefs. Claire White. Journal of Cognition and Culture, vol 17, issue 5, pp 419–436. Nov 2017. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685373-12340016

Abstract: Around 30% of world cultures endorse reincarnation and 20% of contemporary Americans think that reincarnation is plausible. This paper addresses the question of why belief in reincarnation is so pervasive across geographically disparate contexts. While social scientists have provided compelling explanations of the particularistic aspects of reincarnation, less is known about the psychological foundations of such beliefs. In this paper, I review research in the cognitive science of religion to propose that selected panhuman cognitive tendencies contribute to the cross-cultural success of basic ideas in reincarnation. Together, this research suggests that extraordinary convictions, including those associated with postmortem survival, are underpinned by some of the same processes that govern mundane social cognition.

Keywords: Reincarnation, Cognitive Science of Religion, Social cognition, the afterlife.

Check also, from 2018... Contemporary Post-mortem Survival Narratives are popular & convincing, in part, because they meet default cognitive assumptions about what human survival would look like if it were possible:

How to Know You’ve Survived Death: A Cognitive Account of the Popularity of Contemporary Post-mortem Survival Narratives. Claire White, Michael Kinsella, Jesse Bering. Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, Volume 30, Issue 3, Pages 279–299. Jul 24 2018. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2021/03/contemporary-post-mortem-survival.html

59 societies: In individualistic societies, passion predicts a larger gain & explains more variance in achievement; in contrast, in collectivistic societies, parental support predicts achievement over & above passion

Passion matters but not equally everywhere: Predicting achievement from interest, enjoyment, and efficacy in 59 societies. Xingyu Li, Miaozhe Han, Geoffrey L. Cohen, and  Hazel Rose Markus. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, March 16, 2021 118 (11) e2016964118; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2016964118

Significance: In three large-scale datasets representing adolescents from 59 societies across the globe, we find evidence of a systematic cultural variation in the relationship between passion and achievement. In individualistic societies, passion better predicts achievement and explains more variance in achievement outcomes. In collectivistic societies, passion still positively predicts achievement, but it is a much less powerful predictor. There, parents’ support predicts achievement as much as passion. One implication of these findings is that if admission officers, recruiters, and managers rely on only one model of motivation, a Western independent one, they may risk passing over and mismanaging talented students and employees who increasingly come from sociocultural contexts where a more interdependent model of motivation is common and effective.

Abstract: How to identify the students and employees most likely to achieve is a challenge in every field. American academic and lay theories alike highlight the importance of passion for strong achievement. Based on a Western independent model of motivation, passionate individuals—those who have a strong interest, demonstrate deep enjoyment, and express confidence in what they are doing—are considered future achievers. Those with less passion are thought to have less potential and are often passed over for admission or employment. As academic institutions and corporations in the increasingly multicultural world seek to acquire talent from across the globe, can they assume that passion is an equally strong predictor of achievement across cultural contexts? We address this question with three representative samples totaling 1.2 million students in 59 societies and provide empirical evidence of a systematic, cross-cultural variation in the importance of passion in predicting achievement. In individualistic societies where independent models of motivation are prevalent, relative to collectivistic societies where interdependent models of motivation are more common, passion predicts a larger gain (0.32 vs. 0.21 SD) and explains more variance in achievement (37% vs. 16%). In contrast, in collectivistic societies, parental support predicts achievement over and above passion. These findings suggest that in addition to passion, achievement may be fueled by striving to realize connectedness and meet family expectations. Findings highlight the risk of overweighting passion in admission and employment decisions and the need to understand and develop measures for the multiple sources and forms of motivation that support achievement.

Being male and having higher arousal in response to erotic stimuli, however, was associated with a greater willingness to engage in coercive sex

Sex, sexual arousal, and sexual decision making: An evolutionary perspective. Courtney L. Crosby, David M. Buss, Lawrence K. Cormack, Cindy M. Meston. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 177, July 2021, 110826., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.110826

Abstract: Sexual arousal is conceptualized as a motivational system that prioritizes mating and minimizes the perceived risks associated with sex. Previous studies show that when sexually aroused, individuals are more likely to endorse engaging in risky sexual behaviors. A majority of these studies examine a restricted number of sexual behaviors or do not test evolutionarily-relevant sex differences. Due to gender asymmetries in the minimum obligatory costs of parental investment, the costs of injudicious sexual decisions tend to be greater for women. As such, men and women may respond in disparate ways when sexually aroused. We extend previous research by investigating the effect of experimentally manipulated sexual arousal on sexual decision-making in men and women (N = 140). We found no significant difference between individuals exposed to neutral or erotic stimuli on the willingness to engage in experimental or coercive sex. Being male and having higher arousal in response to erotic stimuli, however, was associated with a greater willingness to engage in coercive sex. Results suggest that individual differences in sexual arousal following exposure to erotic stimuli may be critical for understanding sexual strategies, particularly those pertaining to sexual coercion.

Keywords: Sexual arousalSexual decision makingSexual coercionSexual behaviorEvolutionary theory

Project Debater, an autonomous debating system that can engage in a competitive debate with humans

An autonomous debating system. Noam Slonim et al. Nature volume 591, pp379–384, Mar 17 2021. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03215-w

Abstract: Artificial intelligence (AI) is defined as the ability of machines to perform tasks that are usually associated with intelligent beings. Argument and debate are fundamental capabilities of human intelligence, essential for a wide range of human activities, and common to all human societies. The development of computational argumentation technologies is therefore an important emerging discipline in AI research1. Here we present Project Debater, an autonomous debating system that can engage in a competitive debate with humans. We provide a complete description of the system’s architecture, a thorough and systematic evaluation of its operation across a wide range of debate topics, and a detailed account of the system’s performance in its public debut against three expert human debaters. We also highlight the fundamental differences between debating with humans as opposed to challenging humans in game competitions, the latter being the focus of classical ‘grand challenges’ pursued by the AI research community over the past few decades. We suggest that such challenges lie in the ‘comfort zone’ of AI, whereas debating with humans lies in a different territory, in which humans still prevail, and for which novel paradigms are required to make substantial progress.

Popular version: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00539-5

Discussion

Research in AI and in natural language processing is often focused on so called ‘narrow AI’, consisting of narrowly defined tasks. The preference for such tasks has several reasons. They require less resources to pursue; typically have clear evaluation metrics; and are amenable to end-to-end solutions such as those stemming from the rapid progress in the study of deep learning techniques37. Conversely, ‘composite AI’ tasks—namely, tasks associated with broader human cognitive activities, which require the simultaneous application of multiple skills—are less frequently tackled by the AI community. Here, we break down such a composite task into a collection of tangible narrow tasks and develop corresponding solutions for each. Our results demonstrate that a system that properly orchestrates such an arsenal of components can meaningfully engage in a complex human activity, one which we presume is not readily amenable to a single end-to-end solution. Since the 1950s AI has advanced in leaps and bounds, thanks, in part, to the ‘grand challenges’, in which AI technologies performed tasks of growing complexity. Often, this was in the context of competing against humans in games which were thought to require intuitive or analytic skills that are particular to humans. Examples range from chequers38, backgammon39, and chess40, to Watson winning in Jeopardy!41 and Alpha Zero winning at Go and shogi42. We argue that all these games lie within the ‘comfort zone’ of AI, whereas many real-world problems are inherently more ambiguous and fundamentally different, in several ways. First, in games there is a clear definition of a winner, facilitating the use of reinforcement learning techniques39,42. Second, individual game moves are clearly defined, and the value of such moves can often be quantified objectively (for example, see ref. 43), enabling the use of game-solving techniques. Third, while playing a game an AI system may come up with any tactic to ensure winning, even if the associated moves could not be easily interpreted by humans. Finally, for many AI grand challenges, such as Watson41 and Alpha Star44, massive amounts of relevant structured data (for example, in the form of complete games played by humans) was available and imperative for the development of the system. These four characteristics do not hold in competitive debate, which requires an advanced form of using human language, one with much room for subjectivity and interpretation. Correspondingly, often there is no clear winner. Moreover, even if we had a computationally efficient ‘oracle’ to determine the winner of a debate, the sheer complexity of a debate—such as the amount of information required to encode the ‘board state’ or to enumerate all possible ‘moves’—prohibits the use of contemporary game-solving techniques. In addition, it seems implausible to win a debate using a strategy that humans can fail to follow, especially if it is the human audience which determines the winner. And finally, structured debate data are not available at the scale required for training an AI system. Thus, the challenge taken by Project Debater seems to reside outside the AI comfort zone, in a territory where humans still prevail, and where many questions are yet to be answered.

What Does Women’s Facial Attractiveness Signal? Implications for an Evolutionary Perspective on Appearance Enhancement

What Does Women’s Facial Attractiveness Signal? Implications for an Evolutionary Perspective on Appearance Enhancement. Benedict C. Jones, Alex L. Jones, Victor Shiramizu & Claire Anderson. Archives of Sexual Behavior, Mar 17 2021. https://rd.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-021-01955-4

Abstract: In their Target Article, Davis and Arnocky (2020) suggest that evolutionary theories of mate preferences can contribute to our understanding of why appearance-enhancement behaviors are seemingly ubiquitous. We support their argument that an interdisciplinary approach, in which evolutionary and other perspectives are fully integrated, will give us a more complete understanding of appearance-enhancement behaviors. We also agree that evolutionary theories of mate preferences have the potential to provide new insights into why such behaviors are so common. Here, we use the literature on women’s facial attractiveness to highlight an important limitation of this argument: uncertainty about precisely what is signalled by physical attractiveness.

Check also Marcinkowska, Urszula M., Benedict C. Jones, and Anthony J. Lee. 2021. “Self-rated Attractiveness Predicts Preferences for Sexually Dimorphic Facial Characteristics: Evidence from a Culturally Diverse Sample.” PsyArXiv. March 10. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2021/03/self-rated-attractiveness-predicts.html

Our results suggest that compressing a neural circuit through the "genomic bottleneck" serves as a regularizer, enabling evolution to select simple circuits that can be readily adapted to important real-world tasks

Encoding innate ability through a genomic bottleneck. Alexei Koulakov, Sergey Shuvaev, Anthony Zador. bioRxiv Mar 16 2021. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.03.16.435261

Abstract: Animals are born with extensive innate behavioral capabilities, which arise from neural circuits encoded in the genome. However, the information capacity of the genome is orders of magnitude smaller than that needed to specify the connectivity of an arbitrary brain circuit, indicating that the rules encoding circuit formation must fit through a "genomic bottleneck" as they pass from one generation to the next. Here we formulate the problem of innate behavioral capacity in the context of artificial neural networks in terms of lossy compression of the weight matrix. We find that several standard network architectures can be compressed by several orders of magnitude, yielding pre-training performance that can approach that of the fully-trained network. Interestingly, for complex but not for simple test problems, the genomic bottleneck algorithm also captures essential features of the circuit, leading to enhanced transfer learning to novel data sets. Our results suggest that compressing a neural circuit through the genomic bottleneck serves as a regularizer, enabling evolution to select simple circuits that can be readily adapted to important real-world tasks. The genomic bottleneck also suggests how innate priors can complement conventional approaches to learning in designing algorithms for artificial intelligence.

Our findings challenge the role of social media in the creation of like-minded discussion; instead, we should look to the role of individual attributes, such as personality traits

The Role of Personality in Political Talk and Like-Minded Discussion. Shelley Boulianne, Karolina Koc-Michalska. The International Journal of Press/Politics, March 17, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161221994096

Abstract: Political discussion is a key mechanism for the development of reasoned opinions and political knowledge, but online political discussion has been characterized as uncivil, intolerant, and/or ideologically homogeneous, which is detrimental to this development. In this paper, we examine the role of personality in various forms of political talk—online and offline—as well as like-minded discussion. Based on a 2017 survey conducted in the United Kingdom, United States, and France, we find that people who are open-minded and extraverted are more likely to engage in political talk but less likely to engage in like-minded discussion. Individuals who are older, less educated, introverted, and conscientious are more likely to find themselves in like-minded discussions, both online and on social media. Like-minded discussion is rare; personality, rather than ideology, predicts whether people engage in this form of political talk in online and offline modes. Our findings challenge the role of social media in the creation of like-minded discussion. Instead, we should look to the role of individual attributes, such as personality traits, which create a disposition that motivates the use of social media (and offline networks) to cultivate like-minded discussion.

Keywords: Big Five personality traits, political discussion, political talk, like-minded discussion, echo chamber

Discussion

This paper examines how personality affects the filtering process related to political discussion. Personality impacts the propensity to discuss politics, use social media, and engage in like-minded discussion on social media. Several steps are required to understand like-minded discussion on social media: (1) consider the biases in who talks politics (81.57 percent of our pooled sample, as per Table 2), (2) consider the filtering of social media adoption (76.82 percent of our pooled sample), (3) consider the subset of people who talk politics on social media (43.99 percent of our pooled sample of social media users), and (4) consider the few people who engage in like-minded discussion (9.41 percent of a pooled sample of social media talkers). Approximately one in ten respondents engages in like-minded discussion; this incidence rate is consistent for offline and online forms. So we ask, what is the role of personality throughout this filtering process? This question is answered with our annotation of Figure 2.

[Figure 2. Summary of findings about personality and political discussion.]

Note. Diagonal-dashed arrows are filtering arrows and straight arrows depict causal effects among key variables in the analysis. O = openness, C = conscientious, Ex = extraversion, A = agreeable, Es = emotional stability.

Openness impacts whether an individual talks politics online and offline and whether they use social media. The filtering process has three stages. In the first stage, people who are open-minded are more likely to talk politics (any mode). In the second stage, people who are open-minded adopt social media use. In the third stage, people who are open-minded are less likely to engage in like-minded discussion. The coefficient did not reach statistical significance at the p < .05 level. Openness has a stronger and more consistent impact than ideology. The existing literature (Table 1) features ten tests of the relationship between openness and political discussion. Of these, four tests for openness on political discussion are significant, which suggests a relationship but hardly offers conclusive results (Table 1). These other studies from the existing literature do not consider the mode of discussion and few consider personality and like-minded discussion. Yet, we offer consistent findings about the importance of openness using our pooled cross-national sample.

We find that extraversion is also important. As mentioned, the existing research features ten tests of the relationship between extraversion and political discussion of which five are significant (Table 1). Extraversion has mixed support related to political discussion in general; extraversion influences talk on social media, but not offline. However, extraversion is a strong and consistent predictor of like-minded discussion on social media and offline. In terms of understanding like-minded discussion on social media, extraversion seems to be the strongest and most consistent personality trait. We replicate this finding in the country-specific results.

Existing research (Table 1) suggests that agreeableness is important (four of ten tests are significant), yet the findings are not consistently positive or negative but rather highly divergent. In our study, agreeableness matters for social media adoption but does not offer direct effects on the likelihood of talking politics. However, as mentioned, assessing agreeableness poses challenges because this trait is strongly correlated with conscientiousness and extraversion (see prior literature review and Supplementary Information file). Correlation issues with these personality traits may pose a challenge when trying to determine their independent effects. We included all traits in our models to reflect existing research (Table 1).

Our paper distinguishes between offline discussion and online discussion through social media. Openness predicts both modes of discussion, suggesting the two modes might be combined into a single, hybrid discussion measure (Chadwick 2013). However, combining these modes would blur some important findings about social media and the role of personality in filtering social media-based discussion. In particular, extraversion and conscientiousness predict social media use, then social media-based discussion, then like-minded discussion on social media. The effects of these personality traits might disappear if the modes are combined into a single measure of political discussion as these measures do not have the same predictive value in relation to offline discussion (general). Also, age and political ideology predict online but not offline forms of discussion. Combining these modes would hide these ideological and age differences in patterns of participation. Age is a consistent predictor of online political discussion (Brundidge 2010; Evans and Ulbig 2012; Huber et al. 2019; Kim and Baek 2018; Stromer-Galley 2002). Finally, females are more likely to participate in offline political talk, but less likely to talk on social media (also see: Evans and Ulbig 2012; Huber et al. 2019; Stromer-Galley 2002). These gender differences would be missed in a combined measure of political discussion. All of these differences have implications with respect to the quality and representativeness of online discussion. We still have more research to do on this topic, given the low explained variance in our models as well as those models summarized in Table 1.

Like-minded discussion may have both positive and negative impacts. Mondak (2010: 115) explains that “conversations with like-minded others may offer reassurance and support, but such conversations do nothing to broaden the person's perspectives.” Discussions with people of differing viewpoints are expected to increase political tolerance (Nir 2017) and perhaps decrease attitude polarization (Grönlund et al. 2015; Mutz 2006). Personality shapes the propensity to engage in homogeneous discussion networks (Hibbing et al. 2011; Kim et al. 2013; Mondak et al. 2010). We have contributed to scholarship by testing the role of personality in an online discussion. Our findings suggest that like-minded discussion networks cannot be solely attributed to social media use. An individual's personality affects whether they use social media (Correa et al. 2010; Jenkins-Guarnieri et al. 2012; Ryan and Xenos 2011) and how they use social media. People who are introverted, close-minded, and conscientious will use social media to form discussion networks where their ideas will not be challenged. Indeed, when it comes to like-minded discussion, we find that personality matters more than political ideology.

As a final note, our data are limited to self-reports about political discussion—an issue that this field of research has addressed (Wojcieszak and Mutz 2009). We do not know if people truly abstain from political discussion, nor do we have an independently verified approach to measure the frequency of political discussion. Social media trace data would help to validate the estimates about frequency. However, social media data are limited for assessing like-minded discussion, as it is difficult to determine whether two discussion partners agree or disagree with each other's social media posts. For example, on Twitter, there is a “like” button but no “dislike” button. Facebook offers more nuances, albeit the “like” button is still the most popular response and does not suggest agreement so much as acknowledgment. Ideology is sometimes used as a proxy for this disagreement, but even ideological leanings are difficult to decipher in relation to the discussion of complex policy issues, such as immigration or the economy. Surveys are a valuable tool to supplement social media trace data as people can be asked about their agreement or disagreement with the topic. Future research should consider using a mixed-methods approach with a record of political discussion (such as social media trace data) as well as a survey of personality traits, policy positions, and reports about (dis)agreement. Our survey is an important contribution to the field, which has examined self-reports of offline discussion based on surveys or online discussion using social media trace data. We bridge these two modes but come to similar conclusions. Like-minded discussion is rare; personality, rather than ideology, predicts whether people engage in this form of political talk in online and offline modes.

Prior to proposing our research hypothesis and questions, we presented the findings of existing research. Research to date is based largely on American samples, yet international scholars have used the same theoretical claims for tests based on non-U.S. samples. Existing scholarship has not addressed whether we should expect cross-national differences in the relationship between personality and political discussion. As such, we proposed a research question, rather than a hypothesis. We find consistency in the importance of extraversion predicting like-minded discussion. Extraverts are less likely to engage in like-minded discussion. We replicate existing research about cross-national differences in political talk (Nir 2012; Vaccari and Valeriani 2018), but we offer new evidence about the importance of personality and perhaps culture in political discussion.

Hippocampal volume has been associated with impaired & expert navigation, but large pre-registered studies found no such correlation in healthy adults; network models offer greater explanatory power for flexibility & individual differences

Hippocampal volume and navigational ability: The map(ping) is not to scale. Steven M. Weisberg, Arne D. Ekstrom. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, March 17 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.03.012

Rolf Degen's take: The way things are, we will probably never learn whether taxi drivers really have a larger hippocampus, as shaky science findings once seemed to show

Highlights

• Hippocampal volume has been associated with impaired and expert navigation.

• Large pre-registered studies found no such correlation in healthy adults.

• Theoretical mechanisms supporting structure-behavior associations are tenuous.

• Navigation is a complex cognitive function, involving multiple brain networks.

• Network models offer greater explanatory power for flexibility and individual differences.

Abstract: A critical question regards the neural basis of complex cognitive skill acquisition. One extensively studied skill is navigation, with evidence suggesting that humans vary widely in navigation abilities. Yet, data supporting the neural underpinning of these individual differences are mixed. Some evidence suggests robust structure-behavior relations between hippocampal volume and navigation ability, whereas other experiments show no such correlation. We focus on several possibilities for these discrepancies: 1) volumetric hippocampal changes are relevant only at the extreme ranges of navigational abilities; 2) hippocampal volume correlates across individuals but only for specific measures of navigation skill; 3) hippocampal volume itself does not correlate with navigation skill acquisition; connectivity patterns are more relevant. To explore this third possibility, we present a model emphasizing functional connectivity changes, particularly to extra-hippocampal structures. This class of models arises from the premise that navigation is dynamic and that good navigators flexibly solve spatial challenges. These models pave the way for research on other skills and provide more precise predictions for the neural basis of skill acquisition.

Keywords: Hippocampusspatial navigationMRIfunctional connectivitybrain volume

Potential ‘super-spreaders’ –people with many social interactions, extraverts–, the people most likely to widely spread COVID-19, are the most willing to take a free test, despite the increased probability of being quarantined

Testing for COVID-19: willful ignorance or selfless behavior? Linda Thunstroem et al. Behavioural Public Policy , Volume 5, Issue 2, April 2021, pp 135-152. https://doi.org/10.1017/bpp.2020.15

Rolf Degen's take: Potential "super-spreaders," who would suffer the most from being quarantined, are nevertheless those who would most willingly submit to free COVID-19 testing

Abstract: Widespread testing is key to controlling the spread of COVID-19. But should we worry about self-selection bias in the testing? The recent literature on willful ignorance says we should – people often avoid health information. In the context of COVID-19, such willful ignorance can bias testing data. Furthermore, willful ignorance often arises when selfish wants conflict with social benefits, which might be particularly likely for potential ‘super-spreaders’ – people with many social interactions – given people who test positive are urged to self-isolate for two weeks. We design a survey in which participants (n = 897) choose whether to take a costless COVID-19 test. We find that 70% would take a test. Surprisingly, the people most likely to widely spread COVID-19 – the extraverts, others who meet more people in their daily lives and younger people – are the most willing to take a test. People's ability to financially or emotionally sustain self-isolation does not matter to their decision. We conclude that people are selfless in their decision to test for COVID-19. Our results are encouraging – they imply that COVID-19 testing may succeed in targeting those who generate the largest social benefits from self-isolation if infected, which strengthens the case for widespread testing.

Discussion

Widespread testing is one of the most important actions that US governments at any level can undertake to help slow down the spread of COVID-19. Given budget and testing supply constraints, it is likely that random, but voluntary, testing will be the most effective policy. We design a survey to examine the risks from self-selection into taking a COVID-19 test.

Overall, we observe that around 70% of people would agree to a costless COVID-19 test. We find that people who are more worried about their own health due to COVID-19 are more likely to test, as are young healthy people, relative to older healthy people. Ability to afford self-isolation for 14 days does not seem to affect the decision to test. Furthermore, people who worry more about their health, and people with health insurance or health coverage through Medicare or Medicaid, are more likely to take the test, as are people identifying as Democrats compared to Republicans.

Contrary to our expectation, we also find that potential ‘super-spreaders’ are more likely than other individuals to agree to a costless COVID-19. It could be that extroverts are more willing than expected to take a COVID-19 test because their private cost of doing so is unusually low due to the broadly implemented social distancing at the time of data collection for this study. If extroverts are already relatively isolated (i.e., due to a stay-at-home order and mandated closures by the state governor of public spaces, such as gyms, restaurants and bars), the personal cost of testing might be low. Furthermore, extroverts might be more likely to get infected if they socialize more, which could be a ‘selfish’ motivation to get tested. However, we control for the current level of compliance with social distancing, which should address both of these private motivations for increased probability of testing, and we find that people who comply more are less motivated to take the test. We also control for their worry about own health due to COVID-19. Even so, the positive effect on willingness to test from being an extrovert persists. We therefore conclude that the positive effect of being an extrovert on willingness to test for COVID-19 is likely due to social health benefits weighing more heavily in their decision than their private costs from potential self-isolation for 14 days, should the test come back positive. The importance of the prosocial motive in determining COVID-19 testing is consistent with the results of the study by Jordan et al. (2020), who find that prosocial messages are more effective than self-interested messages in promoting behavior that prevent the spread of COVID-19 (e.g., hand washing, hand shaking, hugging).

Our results suggest that the risks of adverse selection (in terms of failing to target the people most likely to spread the virus) in testing for COVID-19 might be fairly low. This underscores the value of widespread testing, even if it cannot be truly random, and the importance of making such testing available nationwide in the USA as soon as possible.

An important shortcoming of our analysis is that it builds on hypothetical survey data. It is well documented that survey answers may be affected by a ‘hypothetical bias’, meaning that people answer one way in a survey and behave in a different way when faced with real, incentivized decisions. This risk pertains to our study as well, and the hypothetical bias might be particularly pronounced if the choice to test for COVID-19 is regarded as prosocial. Several studies suggest that a hypothetical bias is particularly likely when measuring prosocial behavior – people often exaggerate the extent to which they engage in such behavior (e.g., Murphy et al., 2005; Vossler et al., 2012; Jacquemet et al., 2013). Furthermore, it is possible that personal costs to the testing decision are less salient in a hypothetical context. Once testing is more widespread in the USA, it will be important to examine who actually chooses to get tested, and the extent to which they deviate from the general population. That said, hypothetical and incentivized behavior generally correlate, such that an analysis like ours can provide important insights into the potential pitfalls of voluntary testing, prior to the actual testing. This is useful information to have on hand when designing an efficient and cost-effective testing strategy.

Facet-level personality development in the transition to adolescence: Girls increase their conscientiousness, boys' stay relatively constant; agreeableness and introversion increase for both boys & girls

Brandes, C. M., Kushner, S. C., Herzhoff, K., & Tackett, J. L. (2020). Facet-level personality development in the transition to adolescence: Maturity, disruption, and gender differences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Mar 2021. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000367

Abstract: The transition to adolescence is marked by enormous change in social, biological, and personality development. Although accumulating evidence has offered insight into the nature of higher-order personality trait development during this period, much less is known about the development of lower-order personality traits, or “facets.” The current study used a cohort-sequential longitudinal design to examine domain- and facet-level trajectories for mother-reported personality traits during the early adolescent transition. Personality trait domains and facets were assessed with the Inventory of Child Individual Differences–Short Form (Deal, Halverson, Martin, Victor, & Baker, 2007). Participants were 440 children followed at 4 annual timepoints from middle childhood (Mage = 9.97, SD = 0.81) to early adolescence (Mage = 13.11, SD = 0.84). Results of latent growth curve models showed substantial facet-level personality stability in this period, as well as small to moderate linear change in 13 of 15 facets. Gender differences in change were evident for 9 facets. Overall patterns suggested consistent increases in agreeableness facets with null to small gender differences. Neuroticism and openness to experience facet change was heterogeneous within each domain, but patterns were similar for boys and girls. Extraversion primarily decreased, though the magnitude and direction of change differed between facets and genders. Conscientiousness increased across all facets, but only among girls. These findings overall demonstrate a high degree of developmental consistency in facets within each domain as well as some notable differences. Further, this study contributes to a small and somewhat mixed evidence base for current theories of adolescent personality development.

Self-rated Attractiveness Predicts Preferences for Sexually Dimorphic Facial Characteristics: Evidence from a Culturally Diverse Sample

Marcinkowska, Urszula M., Benedict C. Jones, and Anthony J. Lee. 2021. “Self-rated Attractiveness Predicts Preferences for Sexually Dimorphic Facial Characteristics: Evidence from a Culturally Diverse Sample.” PsyArXiv. March 10. doi:10.31234/osf.io/r6jub

Abstract: Individuals who are more attractive are thought to show a greater preference for facial sexual dimorphism, potentially because individuals who perceive themselves as more physically attractive believe they will be better able to attract and/or retain sexually dimorphic partners. Evidence for this link is mixed, however, and recent research suggests the association between self-rated attractiveness and preferences for facial sexual dimorphism may not generalise to non-Western cultures. Here, we assess whether self-rated attractiveness and health predict facial sexual dimorphism preferences in a large and culturally diverse sample of 6907 women and 2851 men from 41 countries. We also investigated whether ecological factors, such as country health/development and inequality, might moderate this association. Our analyses found that men and women who rated themselves as more physically attractive reported stronger preferences for exaggerated sex-typical characteristics in other sex faces. This finding suggests that associations between self-rated attractiveness and preferences for sexually dimorphic facial characteristics generalise to a culturally diverse sample and exist independently of country-level factors. We also found that country health/development moderated the effect of men’s self-rated attractiveness on femininity preferences, such that men from countries with high health/development showed a positive association between self-rated attractiveness and femininity preference, while men from countries with low health/development, showed exactly opposite trend.

Empathic accuracy was beneficial (for well-being & ill-being) or not harmful (for marital satisfaction) at low socio-economic levels; was not beneficial (well- & ill-being), or was harmful for mat. satisf. for high levels

Empathy in context: Socioeconomic status as a moderator of the link between empathic accuracy and well-being in married couples. Emily F. Hittner, Claudia M. Haase. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, March 11, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407521990750

Abstract: The present laboratory-based study investigated socioeconomic status (SES) as a moderator of the association between empathic accuracy and well-being among married couples from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. Empathic accuracy was measured using a performance-based measure of empathic accuracy for one’s spouse’s negative emotions during a marital conflict conversation. Aspects of well-being included well-being (i.e., positive affect, life satisfaction), ill-being (i.e., negative affect, anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms), and marital satisfaction. SES was measured using a composite score of income and education. Findings showed that SES moderated associations between empathic accuracy and well-being. Empathic accuracy was beneficial (for well-being and ill-being) or not harmful (for marital satisfaction) at low levels of SES. In contrast, empathic accuracy was not beneficial (for well-being and ill-being) or harmful (for marital satisfaction) at high levels of SES. Results were robust (controlled for age, gender, and race). Findings are discussed in light of interdependence vs. independence in low- vs. high-SES contexts and highlight the importance of socioeconomic context in determining whether empathic accuracy benefits well-being or not.

Keywords: Empathic accuracy, marriage, socioeconomic status, well-being

 

Vulnerable narcissism higher in Germany than Japan, related to self-construal; grandiose narcissism not equivalent across cultures; culturally incongruent forms of narcissism show more mental health problems

Narcissism in independent and interdependent cultures. Emanuel Jauk et al. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 177, July 2021, 110716. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.110716

Highlights

• Studied narcissism in independent (Germany) and interdependent (Japan) cultures

• Vulnerable narcissism higher in Germany than Japan, related to self-construal

• Grandiose narcissism not equivalent across cultures

• Culturally incongruent forms of narcissism show more mental health problems.

Abstract: Narcissism can manifest in a grandiose form – admiration-seeking, exhibitionism, and dominance – or a vulnerable form – anxiety, withdrawal, and hypersensitivity. While grandiose narcissism is conceptually in line with an independent self-construal, as prevalent in Western countries, the vulnerable form can be assumed to relate more to an interdependent self-construal, as prevalent in Eastern countries. We studied both forms of narcissism in Germany and Japan (Ns = 258, 280), which differ fundamentally in their independent and interdependent self-construal, yet are similar regarding global developmental standards. We tested whether (1) mean differences in both narcissism forms would conform to the predominant self-construal, (2) self-construal would explain variance in narcissism beyond broad personality traits, and (3) there would be stronger mental health tradeoffs for culturally incongruent forms of narcissism. Our results largely confirm these expectations for vulnerable narcissism, which is (1) more prevalent in Japan than Germany, (2) related to self-construal beyond broad traits, and, (3) more strongly related to mental health problems in Germany than Japan. For grandiose narcissism, data analyses indicated that construct equivalence can only be assumed for the entitlement factor, and internal structure and nomological networks differ substantially between cultural contexts.

Keywords: Grandiose narcissismVulnerable narcissismIndependent self-construalInterdependent self-construalCross-cultural research

4. Discussion

We investigated grandiose and vulnerable narcissism across Germany and Japan, two countries differing in independent and interdependent self-construal. We tested whether (1) grandiose narcissism would be higher in Germany, whereas vulnerable narcissism would be higher in Japan, and that (2) these differences would relate to self-construal beyond broad FFM traits. Finally, (3) we tested two competing hypotheses regarding the relations between narcissism and psychological maladjustment across independent and interdependent cultures.

4.1. Vulnerable narcissism has a similar structure, yet different implications across cultures

Results largely confirmed our expectations for vulnerable narcissism, which was (1) higher in Japan than Germany, (2) related to interdependent self-construal beyond FFM traits (albeit also related to independent self-construal) and (3) related more strongly to interpersonal problems in Germany than Japan, which is in line with the cultural incongruency hypothesis on personality and mental health (Curhan et al., 2014). This latter result suggests that, while vulnerable narcissism goes along with interpersonal problems in both cultures, the burden for individuals high on vulnerable narcissism might be higher in a cultural context valuing individualism and assertiveness. The MCNS as a measure of vulnerable narcissism displayed metric invariance, which means that indicators loaded equally on a latent factor (however, intercepts differed). Nomological network structure within the FFM was similar for the central dimensions of neuroticism and disagreeableness (Miller et al., 2016) as well as introversion (Jauk et al., 2017).

4.2. Grandiose narcissism has different structures across cultures, but entitlement might be similar

For grandiose narcissism, the measure used in this study (NPI-13) was not invariant at a general factor level (similar to previous research; Żemojtel-Piotrowska et al., 2019), so we conducted analyses for lower-order factors. Here, the entitlement/exploitativeness-factor displayed metric invariance, the others did not. Though this result is at odds with a recent study by Żemojtel-Piotrowska and colleagues, who observed invariance for the other two factors (leadership/authority and grandiose exhibitionism; Żemojtel-Piotrowska et al., 2019), it fits conceptually with structural models of narcissism placing entitlement – an aspect of antagonism – at the core of the construct (Krizan & Herlache, 2018; Weiss et al., 2019).

Contrary to our expectations, the entitlement aspect of narcissism was (1) higher in Japan than Germany (even more when controlling for FFM traits) and (2) controlling for self-construal did not alter this difference. While different post-hoc explanations for this finding could be conceived, when considered together with FFM differences observed here, it most likely reflects a reference group effect (see Limitations). Grandiose exhibitionism, the more (though not exclusively) agentic-extraverted aspect of grandiose narcissism was, in line with our expectations, lower in Japan (note, however, that this aspect likely assesses different constructs between cultures). This latter aspect, which is arguably most culturally incongruent with the Japanese culture, (3) was related to intrapersonal maladjustment in Japan, but not in Germany, further confirming the cultural incongruency hypothesis (Curhan et al., 2014). This shows that, while more agentic narcissism is largely associated with good mental health (less symptoms) in Western samples (e.g., Kaufman et al., 2018), this allegedly “happy face” (Rose, 2002) imposes a burden on the individual in cultures which value modesty and relatedness.

4.3. Limitations

An important methodological limitation of this study is that we relied on self-reports within the investigated cultures, in which cross-cultural differences might be obscured by reference group effects (Heine et al., 2002). This was likely the case for (part of) the self-construal scale, which showed an expected difference only for interdependent but not independent self-construal (despite experts' general agreement on independent orientation being very untypical for Japan; ibid.). Also, the scale displays limited reliability for its length. Regarding narcissism, while most of the effects observed here were in line with theoretical predictions, making reference group effects unlikely in these cases, the higher entitlement score in Japan might reflect such an effect, as do differences in FFM traits (see Supplement S1): as in previous research, Japanese participants rated themselves lower on agreeableness and conscientiousness than Germans, which might rather be indicative of high within-culture comparison standards than actual between-culture effects (Schmitt et al., 2007).

Another potential limitation could be seen in non-invariance of the grandiose narcissism measure/imperfect invariance of the vulnerable narcissism measure and entitlement scale. However, we wish to emphasize that we consider the finding that the complex psychological phenomenon of grandiose narcissism – rooted in Western thinking – varies across fundamentally different cultures an important insight rather than a “lack of invariance”. Nonetheless, when interpreting the findings presented here, it must be taken into account that vulnerable narcissism and entitlement do only partially reflect the same latent constructs across cultures, and leadership/authority and grandiose exhibitionism likely reflect different constructs and must be interpreted at the level of observed test scores (with varying meanings).

Facial attractiveness in women was negatively correlated with age at menopause and positively correlated to current fecundity

Żelaźniewicz A, Nowak-Kornicka J, Zbyrowska K, Pawłowski B (2021) Predicted reproductive longevity and women’s facial attractiveness. PLoS ONE 16(3): e0248344. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248344

Abstract: Physical attractiveness has been shown to reflect women’s current fecundity level, allowing a man to choose a potentially more fertile partner in mate choice context. However, women vary not only in terms of fecundity level at reproductive age but also in reproductive longevity, both influencing a couple’s long-term reproductive success. Thus, men should choose their potential partner not only based on cues of current fecundity but also on cues of reproductive longevity, and both may be reflected in women’s appearance. In this study, we investigated if a woman’s facial attractiveness at reproductive age reflects anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) level, a hormone predictor of age at menopause, similarly as it reflects current fecundity level, estimated with estradiol level (E2). Face photographs of 183 healthy women (Mage = 28.49, SDage = 2.38), recruited between 2nd - 4th day of the menstrual cycle, were assessed by men in terms of attractiveness. Women’s health status was evaluated based on C-reactive protein level and biochemical blood test. Serum AMH and E2 were measured. The results showed that facial attractiveness was negatively correlated with AMH level, a hormone indicator of expected age at menopause, and positively with E2, indicator of current fecundity level, also when controlled for potential covariates (testosterone, BMI, age). This might result from biological trade-off between high fecundity and the length of reproductive lifespan in women and greater adaptive importance of high fecundity at reproductive age compared to the length of reproductive lifespan.

Discussion

In contrast to the research hypothesis, the result of this study showed that facial attractiveness of women at reproductive age is negatively related with AMH level. Simultaneously, we found a positive correlation between face attractiveness and estradiol level, a hormone predictor of current fecundity [2], which was also shown in previous studies [6, 40; but see also for negative results 41]. Facial attractiveness was also negatively related with BMI what has been also shown in the previous studies [42,43].

Our results contradict the results obtained by Bovet et al. [16], showing a positive correlation between face attractiveness and predicted length of reproductive lifespan, estimated based on maternal age at menopause. Although, the most recent data on secular trends in age at menopause in Europe are scarce and difficult to compare, there seem to be no major difference between European countries, including Poland and France [44,45], that could explain the contradictory results of the studies. This difference in the study outcomes may be explained by different methods to estimate expected age at menopause employed in the two studies. Although, there is a positive association between mother’s and daughter’s age at menopause, existing estimates of the heritability of menopause age have a wide range [21,22,46]. Also, reported mother’s age at menopause may not be accurate due to the potential risk of recall bias [47]. Furthermore, previous research showed that AMH level is a better predictor of a woman’s TTM, compared to mother’s age at menopause [48,49], due to several reasons. AMH level is influenced by environmental factors that are also related with menopausal age, such as smoking or diet [50,51]. Also, a mother’s age at menopause is determined by genetic factors, that are shared by a mother and a daughter, and by environmental factors acting only on a mother, but not on a daughter [49]. While, a daughter’s age of menopause is influenced both by genetic and environmental factors, with genetic component reflecting not only maternal but also paternal genetic contribution [46,52]. Therefore, whilst information from mother’s age at menopause only reflects the maternal half of genetic influence, AMH level may reflect the sum total of genetic and environmental influences [50], and thus correlates more strongly with actual age at menopause [49]. Additionally, maternal age at menopause may only predict a daughter’s at menopause, whereas women’s fertility decline earlier, what reduce the chance of a successful pregnancy a few years before menopause. The age of the onset of a period of subfertility and infertility that precede menopause differs among women as well [46], and this should be indicated by AMH level (marker of diminishing ovarian reserve) but not by maternal age at menopause.

The results of the study also showed a negative correlation between AMH and E2 levels, what is in line with previous research [53,54]. Experiments in vitro showed that E2 down-regulates AMH expression in primary cultures of human granulosa cells (what in vivo may facilitate reduction of ovarian reserve), and when estradiol concentration reaches a certain threshold, it is capable of completely inhibiting AMH expression through ERβ receptors [55]. This, together with the results of our study, may suggest an existing trade-off between current fecundity, length of reproductive lifespan and a woman’s capability to invest in morphological cues of both. Life-history theory predicts that evolution of fitness-related traits and functions is constrained by the existence of trade-offs between them. Trade-offs are ubiquitous in nature, their existence is explained in the context of resource limitations [56], and may be observed not only between different traits and functions (e.g. immunity and fertility), but also within one function, e.g. different components of reproductive effort. Possibly, there is also a trade-off between high fecundity at reproductive age (the likelihood of fertilization within the cycles at reproductive age) and the length of reproductive lifespan (allowing for reproductive profits in a long-term perspective).

The existence of such trade-off may be confirmed by research showing that older age at menopause is related with using hormonal contraception for longer than a year [57,58; but see for contradictory results: 59,60] and occurrence of irregular cycles before age of 25 [58], which are often anovulatory [61]. Also, some research show that the number of children correlates negatively with AMH level in young women, what may suggest that more fertile women have shorter TTM [62,63]. On the other hand, some research show a positive correlation between AMH level and number of children [64] and that childlessness is linked with younger age at menopause [57,65,66]. However, this correlations may be caused by other variable (e.g. genetic factors or some disease), that causes both low fertility and earlier ovarian failure [66], and thus do not exclude the possible existence of the trade-off between high fecundity at reproductive age and length of reproductive lifespan.

Furthermore, sexual selection may act more strongly on male preferences toward cues of high fecundity at the reproductive age compared to cues of long reproductive lifespan. This presumption might explain the observed finding of a negative relationship between attractiveness and AMH and a simultaneous positive correlation between attractiveness and E2. Firstly, although humans often live in long-term pairbonds, remarriage is common after spousal death and/or divorce, resulting in serial monogamy [67]. Thus, as adult mortality was higher and the expected lifespan was shorter in our evolutionary past [68], men would profit more from mating with highly fecund women compared to mating with women with longer reproductive lifespan. Furthermore, many women (also in traditional societies) give last birth long before the time of menopause, not fully profiting from the length of their reproductive lifespan [69]. Pregnancy in older age is related to a higher risk of pregnancy complications, miscarriage [70], and maternal death [71], what might contribute to an earlier cessation of reproduction [69]. Also, many environmental and life-style factors may impact age at menopause [51,72], influencing the relationship between morphological cues of long reproductive lifespan at younger age and the actual age at menopause. Thus choosing a potential partner based on the cues of current fecundity may bring a greater fitness pay-off, compared to choosing a partner with a potentially long reproductive lifespan.

Finally, some limitations of our study need to be addressed. Both AMH and E2 levels were assessed only at the between-subjects level, based on a single measurement. Although AMH level has been shown to vary across menstrual cycle [73], the extent of variation is small and sampling on any day of the menstrual cycle is expected to adequately reflect ovarian reserve [74]. However, E2 level predicts most reliably a woman’s fecundity if based on repeated sampling across menstrual cycle [75]. Thus, it would be worth to verify the results of our study with repeated AMH and E2 measurements, using longitudinal, rather than cross-sectional design, to assess the relationship between these hormones and a woman’s facial attractiveness.

This is the first study investigating the relationship between AMH level and facial attractiveness in women. The results showed that women perceived as more attractive are characterized by lower AMH, hormonal predictor of age at menopause, and higher E2 levels, hormonal indicator of current fecundity. This might result from biological trade-off between high fecundity and the length of reproductive lifespan in women and greater adaptive importance of high fecundity during reproductive age compared to the length of reproductive lifespan.