Draft -- Teodoro León's "Las mentiras deliberadas de Podemos", militant views and political combativeness

Draft review of "Las mentiras deliberadas de Podemos" [1], published El País newspaper (EP), Oct 22 2017. First paragraph of [1]:

"En un estudio reciente de psicología cognitiva, Briony Swire-Thompson (Western Australia University) planteó a dos millares de ciudadanos estadounidenses un par de afirmaciones sobre una creencia absurda: ‘Las vacunas provocan autismo’ y ‘Donald Trump afirma que las vacunas provocan autismo’. Los partidarios de Donald Trump asumían la afirmación con una convicción plena cuando llevaba el nombre de su ídolo político. Al hacerles comprender su inconsistencia, rectificaban, pero unas semanas después, tras volver a plantearles la cuestión, de nuevo creían ciegamente en las palabras de Trump. El estudio de Swire-Thompson documenta, como concluye Yudhijit Bhattacharjee en National Geographic, “la ineficacia de la información”. Y esto es lo que inquieta ante mentiras como la campaña de Podemos sobre el Procés. No que mientan con un descaro equivalente al de Trump sobre las vacunas, sino que hay cinco millones de almas dispuestos a creer aquello que enarbolen Iglesias y sus pretorianos.!

Some comments:

1  There were not 2000 people in the study [2] (by Briony Swire and three other authors, although the writer in EP writes Briony Swire-Thompson and mentions her only), there were 247 left out of the analysis for their not having political label or not doing the tasks well.

2  Of the resulting 1776, about two thirds, 1015, were democrats and about a third, 535, republicans. It would be more representative to have something close to what really happened in the election.

3  To compound more the sample's low quality, of those 535 Republicans, only 323 are Trump supporters. There are also 99 democrats who supported Trump. So, to summarize, of about 2000 people they tell us were part of the study, 422 are Trump supporters and 1127 are Trump non-supporters (non-supporters are more than 2.5 times the supporters).

4  Also, people of more age are more skeptical and have better detectors of misinformation [3], but these older people were excluded to an unknown rate because the subjects were recruited via Amazon's Mechanical Turk, which excludes access to lots of people above 55 that do not handle computers well enough.

5  Those people were not presented only, as it is suggested, with a couple of absurd quotes, but a total of eight statements, four misinformation quotes attributed to Trump (I didn't very what he said and what not), and four true statements attributed to him (again, I didn't verify those).

Also, the article [1] plainly says that the ones with problems were the Trump supporters. But non-supporters do the same, see 8.1 below.

6  I dare to say that all the misinformation quotes were debatable and could be supported to some degree (the Trump supporters were not idiots, and were relatively rational), and all statements deemed as true could be debated too (the non-supporters were not idiots nor robots, but relatively rational too).

7  The author of the Spanish piece of reporting editorial writing is in a deep state of shock with the guys he "studies," which are Podemos and the "souls" that support the party, making use of sentences like "The lies said on purpose by" ("Las mentiras deliberadas de"), "it crosses the red lines" ("cruza todas las líneas"), "they made it up" ("se inventa"), "they blatantly lie with a cheekiness like that of Trump" ("que mientan con un descaro equivalente al de Trump"), "in this case it is amazing the scale and cold pragmatism" ("sorprende en este caso [...] la escala y el pragmatismo frío"), "they crossed all the red lines" ("Han cruzado todas las líneas rojas"), cadres of the group are praetorians ("pretorianos"), etc.

All this "lingua florentis" (pardon the bad declination) is not printed with bad purposes... Both his side and Podemos' side are well-intentioned (a small part in each side is completely cynical and devoted only to their stomachs, but we cannot know who they are   :-)   ).

8  The real lessons of what we know and of the article [1] and the paper [2] are, IMHO, these:

8.1  most Republican supporters in the sample believed all or most the statements attributed to Trump, AND (I am sure that to great surprise of the EP newspaper's readers and editors) most democrats and other non-supporters in the study believed not a single one or almost none when attributed to Trump (to varying degrees, of course, depending on the question) [2].

Applied to the writer in EP, he is doing the same that his enemies do. All with a good aim.

Making a caricature of themselves, the author and editors of EP behave as the infamous Trump and his supporters, unknown to them that they are like the other half of paper [2], real believers in a cause, regardless of reason and reasons.


8.2  this Spanish newspaper and the contributor's hit piece is one more proof of this characterization: most newspapers are, more than not, strongly politicized and partial, IMHO; the contributors are mostly sincere but write to earn a living and exaggerate statements to make themselves more acceptable to readers and editors, guaranteeing their continued publishing or enhancing their reputation (most of the reputation is of use only in our own circles, but some is of use to build among the enemy the image of a formidable fighter); and readers select what supports their views, held before finding articles in support of those views [4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9].

8.3  IMHO, this piece of propaganda is created and published by the panic author and editors feel believing that propaganda (that of the enemy, since one do not do such things :-) ) works [10, 11, 12, 13]. The author and the editors believe that they need to balance the statements made by the enemy, even at the cost of publishing very weak propaganda themselves.

8.4  in the end, all this doesn't work... We first have sentiments/feelings, and then read mostly those things that confirm our feelings. So Trump or Clinton supporters use most of the time finding excuses in the data to attack and counter-attack the others, but they cannot change opinion  [4, 14] unless enough time passes and enough discrediting information appears.


9  Final considerations to make sense of the discussion about truth, post-truth, untruth, etc.:

9.1  We all use misleading statements all the time (not to speak of lottery vendors, who promise to win the prize if one buys their tickets)

9.2  But we are not monsters, it is supposed that those hearing or reading us will have enough brains to separate banter, exaggeration, excessively condensed information, etc., from slightly false statements by accidental reasons, a little more than slightly-false statements, those that are mostly false but were not intented to be so, and those blantant lies made public on purpose to denigrate others or to attack positions.

So, when one say "vaccines cause autism," he is not saying "if one duplicates doses, there are twice autism patients," but that autism incidence increases somewhat, to a not well determined degree. When one says "vaccines do not cause harm," one is not saying that there are not health problems (and even deaths) due to vaccination, but that the harm is 1  unintentional and 2  very, very small relative to the enormous amounts of vaccines deployed.

My last line is to ask for calm and moderation. We all say things that are not right, and most of the time our intention is good or at least neutral. Let's not take things in the worst possible light.

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Notes

[1]  Teodoro León: Las mentiras deliberadas de Podemos. El País, Oct 22 2017. https://elpais.com/elpais/2017/10/21/opinion/1508608410_870485.html

[2]  Processing political misinformation: comprehending the Trump phenomenon. Briony Swire, Adam J. Berinsky, Stephan Lewandowsky, Ullrich K. H. Ecker. Royal Society Open Science, published on-line March 01 2017. DOI: 10.1098/rsos.160802, http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/4/3/160802

[3]  Competing cues: Older adults rely on knowledge in the face of fluency. By Brashier, Nadia M.; Umanath, Sharda; Cabeza, Roberto; Marsh, Elizabeth J. Psychology and Aging, Vol 32(4), Jun 2017, 331-337. http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/07/competing-cues-older-adults-rely-on.html

[4]  Stanley, M. L., Dougherty, A. M., Yang, B. W., Henne, P., & De Brigard, F. (2017). Reasons Probably Won’t Change Your Mind: The Role of Reasons in Revising Moral Decisions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/09/reasons-probably-wont-change-your-mind.html

[5]  Science Denial Across the Political Divide -- Liberals and Conservatives Are Similarly Motivated to Deny Attitude-Inconsistent Science. Anthony N. Washburn, Linda J. Skitka. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 10.1177/1948550617731500. http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/09/liberals-and-conservatives-are.html

[6]  Biased Policy Professionals. Sheheryar Banuri, Stefan Dercon, and Varun Gauri. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 8113. http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/08/biased-policy-professionals-world-bank.html

[7]  Dispelling the Myth: Training in Education or Neuroscience Decreases but Does Not Eliminate Beliefs in Neuromyths. Kelly Macdonald et al. Frontiers in Psychology, Aug 10 2017. http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/08/training-in-education-or-neuroscience.html

[8]  Individuals with greater science literacy and education have more polarized beliefs on controversial science topics. Caitlin Drummond and Baruch Fischhoff. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 114 no. 36, pp 9587–9592, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1704882114, http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/09/individuals-with-greater-science.html

[9]  Expert ability can actually impair the accuracy of expert perception when judging others' performance: Adaptation and fallibility in experts' judgments of novice performers. By Larson, J. S., & Billeter, D. M. (2017). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 43(2), 271–288. http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/06/expert-ability-can-actually-impair.html

[10]  Public Perceptions of Partisan Selective Exposure. Perryman, Mallory R. The University of Wisconsin - Madison, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2017. 10607943. http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/10/citizens-believe-others-especially.html

[11]  The Myth of Partisan Selective Exposure: A Portrait of the Online Political News Audience. Jacob L. Nelson, and James G. Webster. Social Media + Society, http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/09/the-myth-of-partisan-selective-exposure.html

[12]  Echo Chamber? What Echo Chamber? Reviewing the Evidence. Axel Bruns. Future of Journalism 2017 Conference. http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/09/echo-chamber-what-echo-chamber.html

[13]  Fake news and post-truth pronouncements in general and in early human development. Victor Grech. Early Human Development, http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/09/fake-news-and-post-truth-pronouncements.html

[14]  Consumption of fake news is a consequence, not a cause of their readers’ voting preferences
Kahan, Dan M., Misinformation and Identity-Protective Cognition (October 2, 2017). Social Science Research Network, http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/10/consumption-of-fake-news-is-consequence.html

While cannabis users appear to demonstrate enhanced creativity, these effects are an artifact of their heightened openness levels

Inspired by Mary Jane? Mechanisms underlying enhanced creativity in cannabis users. Emily M. LaFrance, Carrie Cuttler. Consciousness and Cognition, Volume 56, November 2017, Pages 68–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2017.10.009

Highlights
•    Sober cannabis users showed enhanced self-reported creativity to non-users.
•    Sober cannabis users demonstrated superior convergent thinking ability to non-users.
•    Cannabis users were more extraverted, open to experience and less conscientious.
•    Differences in openness to experience explained cannabis users’ enhanced creativity.

Abstract: Previous research suggests cannabis may enhance some aspects of creativity, although the results remain somewhat equivocal. Moreover, it is unclear whether differences in cannabis users’ personalities may account for any potentially beneficial effects of cannabis on creativity. This study was designed to examine whether sober cannabis users demonstrate superior self-reported and objective creativity test performance relative to non-users, and to determine whether any of the Big 5 personality domains underlie these effects. A sample of sober cannabis users (n = 412) and non-users (n = 309) completed measures of cannabis consumption, personality, self-reported and objective creativity. Relative to non-users, sober cannabis users self-reported higher creativity, and performed significantly better on a measure of convergent thinking. Controlling for cannabis users’ higher levels of openness to experience abolished these effects. Therefore, while cannabis users appear to demonstrate enhanced creativity, these effects are an artifact of their heightened levels of openness to experience.

Keywords: Cannabis; Creativity; Divergent thinking; Convergent thinking; Openness to experience; Big 5 personality

Those who monitored their heart rate using a wearable tracker had lower belief in free will

Wearables and User Interface Design: Impacts on Belief in Free Will. D. A. Baker. In: International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction HCI 2017 – Posters' Extended Abstracts pp 210-217, Conference paper. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-58750-9_30

Abstract: This research investigates the social implications of sensor driven self-quantification technologies designed to direct user behaviors. These self-sensoring prescriptive applications (SSPA’s), often referred to as “wearables,” have a strong presence in healthcare as a means to monitor and improve health, modify behavior, and reduce medical costs. However, the commercial sector is quickly adopting SSPA’s to monitor and/or modify consumer behaviors as well [1, 2, 3]. Interestingly, the direct impact biosensor data have on user decision making, attitude formation, and behavior has not been well researched. SSPA’s offer an opportunity for users to monitor the “self” in terms of quantitative, objective, biological terms that may be beyond the user’s control. Research suggests some states of the body (e.g. chronic pain, hunger) can affect underlying beliefs in free will (BFW), finding that the less control a person has over those physical states, the weaker their BFW [4]. It is not known, however, whether reminders about physical states of the body, such as heart rate monitors used during exercise, may also serve to reduce BFW. This is an important gap in knowledge when considering that reduced BFW can have numerous negative impacts on individual behavior [5, 6, 7]. This preliminary work examined the impact of such technologies on underlying BFW. Participants who monitored their heart rate during a short walk using a wearable heart rate and activity tracker had lower BFW than participants who merely look at the device’s various tracking features and participants in the control condition.

Women enjoy talking more than men, enjoyment mediated by life history strategy

Individual differences in talking enjoyment: The roles of life history strategy and mate value. Shelia M. Kennison et al. Cogent Psychology, http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23311908.2017.1395310

Abstract: The present research explored the possibility that individual differences in talking enjoyment may play a role in human reproduction, such as mate advertising in humans. Prior research on talking has tended to focus on sex differences in the amount of talking. We present a new self-report measure to assess individual differences in talking enjoyment and explore its relationships with self-perceived mate value and life history strategy, which we measured using Figueredo et al.’s (2006) Mini-K. In Study 1, we assessed talking enjoyment with an 11-item talking enjoyment questionnaire (TEQ) and found that a) women’s average talking enjoyment and Mini-K ratings were significantly higher than men’s; b) talking enjoyment was predicted by life history strategy as measured by and self-rated mate value; and c) the relationship between sex and talking enjoyment was mediated by life history strategy. In Study 2, we replicated the results of Study 1 with a revised 8-item talking enjoyment questionnaire after confirming its test-retest reliability. The results provide new insights into individual differences in talking enjoyment. Directions for future research on the relationship talking behavior and mate selection in humans are discussed.

Keywords: talking, life history strategy, mate value, sex differences

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We also explored the possibility that individual differences in talking behavior would be related to individuals’ life history strategy, which has been used to describe differences in individuals’ reproductive behaviors. Life history strategy is a core concept within life history theory (MacArthur & Wilson, 1967) in which different species or different individuals within species  can be described as having a fast life history (i.e., r type), having shorter lives, shorter periods of development, higher numbers of offspring with higher mortality rates, and usually devoting time and resources into current versus future reproductive activities or a slow life history (i.e., K type), having longer lives, longer periods of development, seeking long-term versus short-term mates, and producing fewer, but potentially more robust offspring.

Descriptions of the life history strategy in humans have noted that individuals vary in terms of environmental stability and resources (Chisholm, 1993; Roff, 2002; Trivers, 1972), resulting in some individuals having a faster life history (i.e., less stability and fewer resources) and others having a slower life history (i.e., more stability and more resources). Figueredo, Vásquez, Brumbach, and Schneider (2004) suggest that people with a slower life history strategy delay mating and invest effort, time, and resources into social mobility, which improves the odds of long-term survival for both the individual and their future children. We reasoned that individuals with longer life history strategies may enjoy talking more because talking may promote the formation of social bonds both in and outside of the family (Bluck & Alea, 2009).

[...]

Other research has found that there is a relationship between life history strategy and self-perceived mate value (Dillon, Adair, Wang, & Johnson, 2013). Dillon et al. (2013) recruited heterosexual, monogamous couples and assessed their life history strategies. Each individual in the couple provided ratings of their own and their partner’s mate value using both the mate value inventory (Fisher, Cox, Bennett & Gavric, 2008) and a task that involving rating physical attractiveness. The results showed that individuals with slower life history strategy rated themselves and their partners higher in mate value than others. Attractiveness ratings were also higher for individuals with a slower life history strategy.

[...]

Our results from both studies are consistent with Figueredo et al.’s (2004) proposal that those with a slower life history strategy invest in activities related to social mobility, which would typically involve talking as a means of forming new social relationships. Talking to others is likely to be an important way for individuals not only to meet a greater number of potential mates, but also be a way to gain social status. Taken together the two findings support suggestions from prior research that language may be used in mate advertising (Redhead & Dunbar, 2013; Gersick & Kurzban, 2014; Miller, 1997, 1998; 1999). The results are also compatible with Rosenberg and Tunney (2008)’s view that what people say, specifically the choice of vocabulary, may reflect the intelligence of the speaker and function as a fitness cue, which can be used for mate selection.

We do not believe that the present results should be interpreted as indicating that people are always consciously aware that their talking behavior functions to advertise their value as a prospective mate. In some cases, individuals may purposely engage in overt demonstrations of mate advertising (i.e., flirting); however, it may be the case that the general tendency to be talkative serves the individuals’ reproductive activities without awareness on the part of the individual.

Check also:  Gossip as an Intrasexual Competition Strategy: Sex Differences in Gossip Frequency, Content, and Attitudes. Adam C. Davis. Evolutionary Psychological Science, http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/10/gossip-as-intrasexual-competition.html

And: What Shall We Talk about in Farsi? Content of Everyday Conversations in Iran. Mahdi Dahmardeh, R. I. M. Dunbar. Human Nature, http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/08/content-of-everyday-conversations-in.html. Pay attention to the table there.

Study on a Christian Chinese sample: sense of self-worth, well-being and locus of control

Study on a Christian Chinese sample: sense of self-worth, well-being and locus of control. Fei Wu, Qin Gong & Yanqing Dai.  Mental Health, Religion & Culture, Volume 20, 2017 - Issue 3, Pages 239-245. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2017.1338680

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to explore Chinese Christians’ sense of self-worth, well-being, locus of control and the correlations between these variables. One hundred and two Chinese Christians with a range of 18–40 years old were surveyed by the Scale of Self-worth, Chinese version of General Well-Being Scale and internal–external Locus of Control Scale. A control group of 134 Chinese non-Christians participated in the same survey. Christians scored lower on locus of control and higher on self-worth than the non-Christians. No significant general well-being difference was between the Christian and non-Christian samples. The correlations were significant between locus of control and self-worth/general well-being (negative) and between self-worth and general well-being (positive). Results suggest that Christians experience better self-worth and tend to be internals on locus of control.

KEYWORDS: Christians, Locus of Control, sense of self-worth, general well-being

In a realistic scenario, when women see an attractive potential partner, time slows. Opposite for men.

Time slows down whenever you are around for women but not for men. Margarida Rosa Pinho. Thesis, University of the Minho. Jul 2017. https://repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt/handle/1822/46685

Astract: What happens when we unexpectedly see an attractive potential partner? Previous studies in laboratorial settings suggest that the visualization of attractive and unattractive photographs influences time. The major aim of this research is to study time perception and attraction in a realistic social scenario, by investigating if changes in subjective time measured during a speed dating are associated with attraction. In the event, the duration of the dates was variable and participants had to estimate the time that passed. Among other measures, participants also rated the potential partners in terms of their physical attractiveness before and after the dates and reported if they would like to exchange contact with them. Results showed that, in a real speed dating situation, when there is a perception of the partner as being physically more attractive, women tend to overestimate the duration of that meeting, whereas men tend to underestimate its duration. Such changes may reflect evolutionary adaptations which make the human cognitive system more responsive in situations related to reproductive fitness.

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More specifically, our results showed that the more females rated a potential partner as
physically attractive, the longer they perceived the duration of the date. That goes along with
the popular idea that “time slows down whenever you are around” (Swift, 2010). This may be
due to a bigger allocation of women’s cognitive resources to process more information of the
meeting (Loftus, Schooler, Boone, & Kline, 1987) and of the potential partner they are
interested in. More specifically, even though physical attractiveness is important in a potential partner, for women there are other characteristics that have a higher value, such as good economic perspectives (Buss & Barnes, 1986; Bech-Sørensen & Pollet, 2016). Therefore, searching for cues of positive traits in a potential mate requires the use of cognitive resources. Besides that, research has shown that when women perceived the partner as attractive, they tend to be more motivated to make a good impression on the partner and pay more attention to the things they say that might influence this impression (Dong & Wyer, 2014). According to Ornstein’s storage size model (1969), when people store more information in memory, they tend to perceive the duration of that interval of time as being longer. Furthermore, women may consider the experience with a partner who they consider physically attractive as positive in an emotional view. This result is also consistent with that study of Kellaris and Kent (1992) in which time did seems to slow downs when participants were exposed to positively balanced music, compared to participants exposed to negatively balanced music. The authors suggested that when people receive positive emotional information they tend to pay more cognitive resources to listening to music. Therefore, they tend to perceive the received stimulus information as bigger and remember the event as being longer (Ornstein, 1969). Besides that, a study conducted by Zhang, Zhang, Yu, Liu and Luo (2017) showed a reliable sex differences in temporal distortion with an emotional stimulus. Women, compared to men, tended to overestimated the durations presented in lexico-semantic level using emotional words.

However, for men, our results showed that time does not seems to slow down whenever someone attractive is around. In fact, the more males rated a female participant as physically attractive, the shorter they perceived the duration of the speed date. This seems to be consistent with the idea that “time flies when you are having fun”. Research has shown that men’s preferences for potential mates are based mostly in physical attractiveness (Todd, Penke, Fasolo, & Lenton, 2007). Therefore, when they have a meeting with a potential partner that they perceive as being physically attractive, they do not need to spend much cognitive resources searching for other cues, feeling automatically motivate to be with her. Consequently, they will tend to estimate the time that passed as being shorter. This result also suggests that time perception in males during the dates may be affected by motivation because, according to previous literature, positive approach motivation causes the perception of time to be shorter (Gable & Poole, 2012). Besides that, the subjective perception of the passage of time seems to be an important component to evaluate the experience of boredom (Danckert & Allman, 2005). So, when males are interested and motivated in the date with a physical attractive potential partner, they tend to estimate the date duration as shorter and, on the other hand, this time underestimation reinforces the perception of an interesting date (Sackett, Meyvis, Nelson, Converse, & Sackett, 2010). Underestimate the duration of the date may prolong approach-motivated behaviour (Gable & Poole, 2012) and this increases the probability of a successful mating. On time, Einstein said “Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute”.

According to Trivers (1972) theory, the relative parental investment of the sexes in their offspring is the key variable controlling the operation of sexual selection. A sexual intercourse that for a male is a reduced investment, for a female can produce a 9-month investment. For a female, this investment requires more choosiness in the partner choice. Besides that, prior research showed that females tend to be more selective (Kurzban & Weeden, 2005) and more discriminating (Todd, Penke, Fasolo, & Lenton, 2007) than males. Therefore, it is expected that females allocate more attention to capture a greater number of characteristics of the potential partner in addition to physical attractiveness, such as intelligence, earning prospect and other signs suggesting he could be good partner in the future. This process seems to imply an exhaustive evaluation in the first meeting which required spending a lot of cognitive resources. On the other hand, men are attracted for less characteristics of the partner compared to females (Luo & Zhang, 2009). So, males do not waste so much energy and resources in cognitive processing of information and focus more energy in having fun with the partners they perceived as being more attractive. Such changes may reflect evolutionary adaptations which make the human cognitive system more responsive in situations related to reproductive fitness. Williams (2012) suggested that sex differences in timing might be due to the effects of circulating estrogen in adult females versus testosterone in adult males. Besides that, gonadal hormones had been found to influence sexual motivation (Wallen, 2001). In men, testosterone increases interest in a woman, engagement in self-presentation, smiling and making eye contact. (Meij, Almela, Buunk, Fawcett & Salvador, 2011). Meij, Almela, Buunk, Fawcett and Salvador (2011) suggested that during encounters with the opposite sex, testosterone may promote the display of affiliative behaviours that increase a man’s mating prospects and during social contact with a potential partner testosterone is linked to the initiation of courtship behaviours. On the other hand, in women estradiol seems to be a significant positive predictor of sexual desire (Roney & Simmons, 2013).

Statistically inaccurate and morally unfair judgements via base rate intrusion

Statistically inaccurate and morally unfair judgements via base rate intrusion. Jack Cao, Max Kleiman-Weiner & Mahzarin R. Banaji. Nature Human Behaviour 1, 738–742 (2017). doi:10.1038/s41562-017-0218-y

Abstract: From a statistical standpoint, judgements about an individual are more accurate if base rates about the individual’s social group are taken into account1,2,3,4. But from a moral standpoint, using these base rates is considered unfair and can even be illegal5,6,7,8,9. Thus, the imperative to be statistically accurate is directly at odds with the imperative to be morally fair. This conflict was resolved by creating tasks in which Bayesian rationality and moral fairness were aligned, thereby allowing social judgements to be both accurate and fair. Despite this alignment, we show that social judgements were inaccurate and unfair. Instead of appropriately setting aside social group differences, participants erroneously relied on them when making judgements about specific individuals. This bias—which we call base rate intrusion—was robust, generalized across various social groups (gender, race, nationality and age), and differed from analogous non-social judgements. Results also demonstrate how social judgements can be corrected to achieve both statistical accuracy and moral fairness. Overall, these data (total N = 5,138) highlight the pernicious effects of social base rates: under conditions that closely approximate those of everyday life10,11,12, these base rates can undermine the rationality and fairness of human judgements.

Foreign-Looking Native-Accented People: More Competent When First Seen Rather Than Heard

Foreign-Looking Native-Accented People: More Competent When First Seen Rather Than Heard. Karolina Hansen, Tamara Rakić and Melanie Steffens. Social Psychological and Personality Science, https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550617732389

Abstract: Psychological research has neglected people whose accent does not match their appearance. Most research on person perception has focused on appearance, overlooking accents that are equally important social cues. If accents were studied, it was often done in isolation (i.e., detached from appearance). We examine how varying accent and appearance information about people affects evaluations. We show that evaluations of expectancy-violating people shift in the direction of the added information. When a job candidate looked foreign, but later spoke with a native accent, his evaluations rose and he was evaluated best of all candidates (Experiment 1a). However, the sequence in which information was presented mattered: When heard first and then seen, his evaluations dropped (Experiment 1b). Findings demonstrate the importance of studying the combination and sequence of different types of information in impression formation. They also allow predicting reactions to ethnically mixed people, who are increasingly present in modern societies.

Sexual objectification decreases women’s experiential consumption (but not material consumption)

Sexual objectification decreases women’s experiential consumption (but not material consumption). Fei Teng, Xue Wang & Ye Yang. Social Influence, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15534510.2017.1378126

Abstract: The current investigation examined our prediction that sexual objectification decreases women’s experiential consumption but not material consumption. Three experiments provided converging support for this prediction. In particular, female participants reported lower tendency to engage in experiential consumption after recalling a past experience of objectification (Studies 1 and 3) and chose a material product over an experiential one after receiving objectifying comments (Study 2). Furthermore, Study 3 found that sexual objectification reduced purchase inclination of experiential products, and this effect did not emerge for material products. These findings contribute to the literature on sexual objectification by showing the impact of sexual objectification on women’s economic decisions and behaviors.

Keywords: Sexual objectification, experiential consumption, consumer behavior

Origin of the RNA world: The fate of nucleobases in warm little ponds

Origin of the RNA world: The fate of nucleobases in warm little ponds. Ben Pearce et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Published online before print October 2, 2017, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1710339114

Significance: There are currently two competing hypotheses for the site at which an RNA world emerged: hydrothermal vents in the deep ocean and warm little ponds. Because the former lacks wet and dry cycles, which are well known to promote polymerization (in this case, of nucleotides into RNA), we construct a comprehensive model for the origin of RNA in the latter sites. Our model advances the story and timeline of the RNA world by constraining the source of biomolecules, the environmental conditions, the timescales of reaction, and the emergence of first RNA polymers.

Abstract: Before the origin of simple cellular life, the building blocks of RNA (nucleotides) had to form and polymerize in favorable environments on early Earth. At this time, meteorites and interplanetary dust particles delivered organics such as nucleobases (the characteristic molecules of nucleotides) to warm little ponds whose wet-dry cycles promoted rapid polymerization. We build a comprehensive numerical model for the evolution of nucleobases in warm little ponds leading to the emergence of the first nucleotides and RNA. We couple Earth's early evolution with complex prebiotic chemistry in these environments. We find that RNA polymers must have emerged very quickly after the deposition of meteorites (less than a few years). Their constituent nucleobases were primarily meteoritic in origin and not from interplanetary dust particles. Ponds appeared as continents rose out of the early global ocean, but this increasing availability of "targets" for meteorites was offset by declining meteorite bombardment rates. Moreover, the rapid losses of nucleobases to pond seepage during wet periods, and to UV photodissociation during dry periods, mean that the synthesis of nucleotides and their polymerization into RNA occurred in just one to a few wet-dry cycles. Under these conditions, RNA polymers likely appeared before 4.17 billion years ago.

Motor cortex and volitional control: Ability to suppress undesired movement

Motor cortex — to act or not to act? Christian Laut Ebbesen & Michael Brecht. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 694–705 (2017), doi:10.1038/nrn.2017.119

Abstract: The motor cortex is a large frontal structure in the cerebral cortex of eutherian mammals. A vast array of evidence implicates the motor cortex in the volitional control of motor output, but how does the motor cortex exert this 'control'? Historically, ideas regarding motor cortex function have been shaped by the discovery of cortical 'motor maps' — that is, ordered representations of stimulation-evoked movements in anaesthetized animals. Volitional control, however, entails the initiation of movements and the ability to suppress undesired movements. In this article, we highlight classic and recent findings that emphasize that motor cortex neurons have a role in both processes.

My commentary: Most of the interest in the motor cortex is about movement initiation, forgetting the important issue of control (when to stop, at which distance, etc.). This paper reviews both functions (start and stop).

The highest-earning women's wages are penalized by obesity as much as five times that of the lowest earners

On the Distributional and Evolutionary Nature of the Obesity Wage Penalty. Christian Brown, P. Wesley Routon. Economics & Human Biology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2017.10.001

Highlights
•    We examine the obesity wage penalty across the wage distribution and career.
•    Quantile and fixed-effect quantile regression control for unobserved heterogeneity.
•    We find an increasingly severe penalty across the wages distribution for women.
•    The obesity wage penalty has grown over time and may slow wage growth.

Abstract: The economics literature supports a link between labor market measures, such as earnings, and health conditions, such as obesity. There is reason to believe the effects of obesity on wages may vary for high- and low-earning individuals and that obesity wage effects may evolve over a lifecycle or from generation to generation. Drawing on data from two longitudinal surveys, we estimate quantile and fixed effect quantile regressions, among others, to further examine the obesity wage effect. Results suggest an increasingly severe penalty across the wage distribution for females. Specifically, the highest-earning women may be penalized as much as five times that of the lowest earners. Results for males suggest that penalties may be present at select wage levels, while prior research has generally found no male obesity penalty. We also provide evidence that the obesity penalty has increased across generations and limited evidence that it may slow earnings growth over one’s lifetime.

JEL: I10; I14; J31
Keywords: Obesity; earnings; wage penalty; longitudinal quantile regression; NLSY79; NLSY97

My commentary: What we imagine is the life of the obese persons? We intuitively believe that getting up in the morning is more slow, that with age the knees will suffer more due to the excessive weight of the body above them, and in some way productivity diminishes.

For those earning less, which are not penalized, the more physical nature of work needs a greater BMI than those of higher earnings.

"Alternatively, individuals with higher BMI may be self-selecting into lower wages by reducing their involvement in the labor market. This is possible if individuals with higher BMIs expect to work less, work for fewer years, or experience attendant health conditions that will limit their ability to work and their employee lifecycle. Further, if higher BMI individuals expect to face discrimination, this may reduce job search time and desire to seek out training, education, and promotion opportunities.

Conversely, obesity penalties are found for the higher key quantiles of the distribution generally associated with more sedentary and competitive forms of work. If BMI is not an important determinant of low wages, and is a major determinant of higher wages, this may suggest that discrimination occurs in the labor market. In an asymmetrical information context, employers discriminate against obese individuals by paying them less or denying opportunities [...] because obesity is seen as an observable proxy for unobservable negative characteristics. It could be that employers are expecting an increased likelihood of healthcare costs and are preemptively selecting obese employees out of employment opportunities which would result in an increasing lifetime earnings profile."

“Naked Bonobo” demolishes myth of sexy, egalitarian bonobos

Faux-nobo: “Naked Bonobo” demolishes myth of sexy, egalitarian bonobos. Edward Clint • Oct 9, 2017. https://www.skepticink.com/incredulous/2017/10/09/bonobo-myth-demolished

Just a selection of a very interesting post reviewing Lynn Saxon's book:

"
That said, bonobo society is far from peaceful and bonobos are far from gentle.

    Kano (1992) found a majority of one group’s individuals had “abnormalities” of the limbs, digits, ears, eyeballs, genitalia, and other parts. 28 counts of total loss of a finger or toe, 96 counts of partial loss. Only one of the 22 adult males had intact fingers and toes. 32 counts of ear lacerations which almost always result from fighting. (p. 117-8)
    At Apenheul Zoo in the Netherlands, five female bonobos attacked a male and were seen gnawing on his toes; the flesh could be seen between their teeth as they chewed away.  (p. 119)
    At least two zookeepers have lost parts of digits (p. 119)
    While releasing bonobos back into the wild after rehabilitation at a sanctuary, three trackers were attacked and mutilated. They lost noses, bits of fingers and one lost an ear. One of the men spent a month in the hospital and two required a year of reconstructive facial surgery. (p. 122)
    Overall, male-male aggression rates are similar in chimpanzees and bonobos (p. 126)

Female aggression toward infants and other females

    The alpha female at Twycross Zoo took the infant of the lowest ranking female, even though she was still nursing her own infant. After weeks of rough treatment at the alpha’s hands, she lost interest and the infant had to be removed for human rearing as it showed signs of “weakness and dehydration”.  (p. 120-121)
    There are at least 8 cases of infant abduction or victim of aggressive behavior at the Plankendael and Stuttgart zoos; the mothers of the stolen infants behaved nervously and showed signs of distress. While trying to get their infants back, some of the females would present for genito-genital rubbing. (p. 121)

Is there anything sexier than bartering a sex act for your baby’s life?

    In one Lomako group, aggression between females was about 7 times higher when two or more oestrous females were in the party than when there was only one. (p. 124)

I thought that females were keeping the peace with sex, not causing fights over sex?

Next, are bonobos egalitarian? That is, are various goods and resources (food, sex, social support) more evenly distributed among individuals? Chimpanzees are thought to have the opposite arrangement, a more rigid rank system that greatly privileges the chimp elites. Saxon writes that bonobos are probably somewhat more egalitarian than chimpanzees, but much less so than is commonly supposed. Sometimes, it is not clear that there is a difference at all.

    A female-biased sex ratio is taken to be evidence of male intrasexual competition. Competition is a physiologically taxing and risky enterprise that leads to early death for many males. The problem here is that, overall, the sex ratio of chimpanzees and bonobos is very similar.
    Both females and males had higher mating rates when they were aggressors compared to when they were targets of aggression.  (p. 124)
    Bonobo society, including its females, rewards rank and aggression:
        Females strongly prefer high ranking males. When in oestrus, this preference intensifies.
        High ranking males are more aggressive, and actively block other males from access to fertile females.
    Ranking female “wingmoms” aid their sons (but not daughters) in bullying and picking fights to advance their status. (p. 115)
    Feeding is highly segmented by rank. Low ranking individuals may be charged or attacked if attempting to line-jump.
    Female bonobos disperse to other groups around adolescence. When accepted in their new group, they solicit sex acts from higher ranking males at food sites. This behavior, and their total libido, drops substantially as they gain rank. In order words, they’re forced to barter sex for food. Not because they’re eager for sexual contact. When they don’t have to, they don’t. Few consider coerced prostitution a sign of gender equality.

...

4. Should humans envy bonobos?

Perhaps the most important idea in this book is that the “great” parts of the faux-nobo lifestyle wannabes want us to emulate, properly understood, become disturbing if not nightmares outright:

“Sexy” bonobos have the most frequent sex as sub-adults and sexual contact between juveniles, infants, and adults is quite common and normal.

“Tension-reducing” sex among bonobos is most often not about fun. It is not about enthusiastic consent, but coercion on threat of aggression. Like humans, we know that bonobos have preferred sexual partners. But the social friction most likely occurs between two individuals who are not close or friendly. Bonobos are therefore required to offer sexual contact to individuals they do not like. Faced with an agitated, aggressive male you do not care for, how do you women feel about offering copulation to calm him? And men, how do you feel about offering a penis to rub or your rump for the same? This is the bonobo way.

The overwhelming majority of sexual actions involving genitals do not involve ejaculation or (so far as can be told) orgasm in bonobos. This includes masturbation and intercourse.
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