Schadenfreude and re-construal of an objectively undeserved misfortune as a ‘deserved’ misfortune

“It wasn’t your fault, but …...”: Schadenfreude about an undeserved misfortune. Mariëtte Berndsen, rMarika Tiggemann, and Samantha Chapman. Motivation and Emotion, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11031-017-9639-1

Abstract: Although it is well-established that an objectively deserved misfortune promotes schadenfreude about the misfortune, there is a small body of research suggesting that an undeserved misfortune can also enhance schadenfreude. The aim of the present study was to investigate the processes that underlie schadenfreude about an undeserved misfortune. Participants (N = 61) were asked to respond to a scenario in which a person was responsible or not responsible for a negative action. In the responsible condition, two independent routes to schadenfreude were observed: deservingness of the misfortune (traditional route) and resentment towards the target. More importantly, results showed that when the target of the misfortune was not responsible for the negative action, the relationship between schadenfreude and resentment towards the target was mediated by the re-construal of an objectively undeserved misfortune as a ‘deserved’ misfortune. The study further found that expressing schadenfreude about another’s misfortune makes one feel better about oneself without affecting moral emotions. The findings expand our understanding of schadenfreude about undeserved negative outcomes.

Machine learning of neural representations of suicide and emotion concepts identifies suicidal youth

Machine learning of neural representations of suicide and emotion concepts identifies suicidal youth. Marcel Adam Just, Lisa Pan, Vladimir L. Cherkassky, Dana L. McMakin, Christine Cha, Matthew K. Nock & David Brent. Nature Human Behaviour (2017), doi:10.1038/s41562-017-0234-y

Abstract: The clinical assessment of suicidal risk would be substantially complemented by a biologically based measure that assesses alterations in the neural representations of concepts related to death and life in people who engage in suicidal ideation. This study used machine-learning algorithms (Gaussian Naive Bayes) to identify such individuals (17 suicidal ideators versus 17 controls) with high (91%) accuracy, based on their altered functional magnetic resonance imaging neural signatures of death-related and life-related concepts. The most discriminating concepts were ‘death’, ‘cruelty’, ‘trouble’, ‘carefree’, ‘good’ and ‘praise’. A similar classification accurately (94%) discriminated nine suicidal ideators who had made a suicide attempt from eight who had not. Moreover, a major facet of the concept alterations was the evoked emotion, whose neural signature served as an alternative basis for accurate (85%) group classification. This study establishes a biological, neurocognitive basis for altered concept representations in participants with suicidal ideation, which enables highly accurate group membership classification.

Opening a prostitution zone decreases registered sexual abuse and rape by about 30−40 pct in the first 2 years

Street Prostitution Zones and Crime. Paul Bisschop, Stephen Kastoryano, and Bas van der Klaauw. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 2017, 9(4): 28–63. https://doi.org/10.1257/pol.20150299

Abstract: This  paper  studies  the  effects  of  legal  street  prostitution  zones  on  registered  and  perceived  crime.  We  exploit  a  unique  setting  in  the  Netherlands where these tippelzones were opened in nine cities under different regulation systems. Our difference-in-difference analysis of 25 Dutch cities between 1994–2011 shows that opening a tippelzone decreases registered sexual abuse and rape by about 30−40 percent in the first two years. For cities which enforced licensing in tippel-zones, we also find reductions in drug-related crime and long-term effects on sexual assaults. Effects on perceived drug nuisance depend on the regulation system and the proximity of respondents to the tippelzone.

JEL J16, J47, K42

Ethnic diversity, out-group contacts and social trust in a high-trust society

Ethnic diversity, out-group contacts and social trust in a high-trust society. Karl Loxbo. Acta Sociologica, https://doi.org/10.1177/0001699317721615

Abstract: Although ethnic diversity is widely believed to undermine social trust, several scholars have argued that this outcome ultimately depends on the extent of high-quality contacts between diverse groups as well as the extent of equality in society. This article scrutinises these different hypotheses by exploring the association between ethnic diversity and social trust among Swedish schoolchildren. Building on data from Sweden, where legacies of equality would be expected to provide unique opportunities for building trust among diverse groups, the contribution of the article to the literature is twofold. First, it was found that contextual diversity is only weakly related to adolescents’ trust. Furthermore, while interactions revealed that a higher socio-economic level in a classroom reinforces, rather than cushions, the adverse effect, it is concluded that contextual measures obscure the micro-level dynamic underlying the association between diversity and trust in classrooms. Second, when accounting for compositional effects, and the distinction between in-group and out-group contact, the findings strongly supported the conflict hypothesis, while rejecting the contact hypothesis. The principal finding is that ethnic diversity in a classroom undermines social trust among native-born adolescents, whereas the effect is the exact opposite for minorities. In addition, social trust is only promoted if adolescents interact with members of their ethnic in-group. Because these disconcerting results were found in the high-trust context of Sweden, it is suggested that similar findings are likely in less favourable settings. The article concludes by arguing that the high levels of social trust in traditionally homogenous, but increasingly segregated, countries such as Sweden may conceal the fact that individuals primarily include others who are similar to themselves in their ‘imagined communities’.

Power as an emotional liability: Implications for perceived authenticity and trust after a transgression

Power as an emotional liability: Implications for perceived authenticity and trust after a transgression. Peter Kim et al.. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 146(10), 1379-1401. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xge0000292

Abstract: People may express a variety of emotions after committing a transgression. Through 6 empirical studies and a meta-analysis, we investigate how the perceived authenticity of such emotional displays and resulting levels of trust are shaped by the transgressor’s power. Past findings suggest that individuals with power tend to be more authentic because they have more freedom to act on the basis of their own personal inclinations. Yet, our findings reveal that (a) a transgressor’s display of emotion is perceived to be less authentic when that party’s power is high rather than low; (b) this perception of emotional authenticity, in turn, directly influences (and mediates) the level of trust in that party; and (c) perceivers ultimately exert less effort when asked to make a case for leniency toward high rather than low-power transgressors. This tendency to discount the emotional authenticity of the powerful was found to arise from power increasing the transgressor’s perceived level of emotional control and strategic motivation, rather than a host of alternative mechanisms. These results were also found across different types of emotions (sadness, anger, fear, happiness, and neutral), expressive modalities, operationalizations of the transgression, and participant populations. Altogether, our findings demonstrate that besides the wealth of benefits power can afford, it also comes with a notable downside. The findings, furthermore, extend past research on perceived emotional authenticity, which has focused on how and when specific emotions are expressed, by revealing how this perception can depend on considerations that have nothing to do with the expression itself.

High status males invest more than high status females in lower status same-sex collaborators

High status males invest more than high status females in lower status same-sex collaborators. Henry Markovits et al. PLoS One, September 2017, http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0185408

Abstract: Studies on human cooperation using economic games rarely include ecologically relevant factors. In studies on non-human primates however, both status and sex typically influence patterns of cooperation. Across primate species, high status individuals are more likely to cooperate, though this depends on the species-specific social structure of each sex. Based on human social structure, we predict that higher status males who interact more in hierarchical groups than females, will invest more than high status females in valued same-sex peers after successful cooperation. Across three studies, 187 male and 188 female participants cooperated with a (fictitious) same-sex partner who varied in competence. Participants then divided a reward between themselves and their partner. High status was induced in three different ways in each study, social influence, leadership and power. No overall sex difference in reward sharing was observed. Consistent with the hypothesis however, across all three studies, high status males invested more than high status females in cooperative partners, suggesting that high status males intuitively evaluate sharing rewards with same-sex partners as more beneficial.

How Incidental Confidence Influences Self-Interested Behaviors: A Double-Edged Sword

How Incidental Confidence Influences Self-Interested Behaviors: A Double-Edged Sword. Claire Tsai & Jia Lin Xie. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bdm.2032

Abstract: The present research investigates how incidental confidence influences self-interested behaviors. It is well established that being in a psychological state of lower confidence causes people to experience psychological aversion that they are motivated to reduce. We study the transfer effect of confidence; people strive to compensate for lower confidence in one domain by obtaining higher status in other unrelated domains. Prior research has linked money with status and suggested that money can increase confidence. Building on this research, we proposed and showed in four experiments that lower incidental confidence increased self-interested behaviors that brought financial gains. Drawing on research on competitive altruism, we also predicted and found that when altruism, rather than money, was seen as the primary source of status, the effect of incidental confidence reversed such that lower incidental confidence decreased self-interested behaviors. Data ruled out alternative explanations and provided consistent evidence for the proposed compensatory mechanism. We also discussed theoretical and practical implications of the present research.

Cool, Callous, and in Control: Superior Inhibitory Control in Frequent Players of Video Games with Violent Content

Cool, Callous, and in Control: Superior Inhibitory Control in Frequent Players of Video Games with Violent Content. Laura Stockdale et al.  Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, nsx115, https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsx115

Abstract: Research on the effects of media violence exposure has shown robust associations among violent media exposure, increased aggressive behavior, and decreased empathy. Preliminary research indicates that frequent players of violent video games may have differences in emotional and cognitive processes compared to infrequent or non-players, yet research examining the amount and content of game play and the relation of these factors with affective and cognitive outcomes is limited. The present study measured neural correlates of response inhibition in the context of implicit attention to emotion, and how these factors are related to empathic responding in frequent and infrequent players of video games with graphically violent content. Participants completed a self-report measure of empathy as well as an affective stop-signal task that measured implicit attention to emotion and response inhibition during electroencephalography (EEG). Frequent players had lower levels of empathy as well as a reduction in brain activity as indicated by P100 and N200/P300 event related potentials (ERPs). Reduced P100 amplitude evoked by happy facial expressions was observed in frequent players compared to infrequent players, and this effect was moderated by empathy, such that low levels of empathy further reduced P100 amplitudes for happy facial expressions for frequent players compared to infrequent players. Compared to infrequent players, frequent players had reduced N200/P300 amplitude during response inhibition, indicating less neural resources were recruited to inhibit behavior. Results from the present study illustrate that chronic exposure to violent video games modulates empathy and related neural correlates associated with affect and cognition.

Keywords: graphic violent video game play, empathy, response inhibition, facial expression processing, stop-signal task, ERPs

Disentangling the Sources of Mimicry: Social Relations Analyses of the Link Between Mimicry and Liking

Disentangling the Sources of Mimicry: Social Relations Analyses of the Link Between Mimicry and Liking. Maike Salazar Kämpf et al. Psychological Science, https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797617727121

Abstract: Mimicry is an important interpersonal behavior for initiating and maintaining relationships. By observing the same participants (N = 139) in multiple dyadic interactions (618 data points) in a round-robin design, we disentangled the extent to which mimicry is due to (a) the mimicker’s general tendency to mimic (imitativity), (b) the mimickee’s general tendency to evoke mimicry (imitatability), and (c) the unique dyadic relationship between the mimicker and the mimickee. We explored how these mimicry components affected liking and metaperceptions of liking (i.e., metaliking). Employing social relations models, we found substantial interindividual differences in imitativity, which predicted popularity. However, we found only small interindividual differences in imitatability. We found support for our proposition that mimicry is a substantially dyadic construct explained mostly by the unique relationship between two people. Finally, we explored the link between dyadic mimicry and liking, and we found that a person’s initial liking of his or her interaction partner led to mimicry, which in turn increased the partner’s liking of the mimicker.

People who experience a potentially hazardous near-miss but escape without apparent damage feel more optimistic & take less protective action

Near-miss events, risk messages, and decision making. Robin L. Dillon, and Catherine H. Tinsley. Environment Systems and Decisions, March 2016, Volume 36, Issue 1, pp 34–44, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10669-015-9578-x

Abstract: Decades of research have sought to understand how disaster preparedness decisions are made. We believe one understudied factor is the impact of near-miss events. A near-miss occurs when an event (such as a hurricane or terrorist attack) has some non-trivial probability of ending in disaster (loss of life, property damage), but the negative outcome is avoided largely by chance (e.g., at the last minute, the storm dissipates or the bomb fails to detonate). In the first of two experiments, we study reactions to a hurricane threat when participants are told about prior near-miss events. We find that people with information about a prior near-miss event that has no negative consequences are less likely to take protective measures than those with either no information or information about a prior near-miss event that has salient negative information. Similar results have been shown in prior research, but we seek to understand people’s reasoning for the different reactions. We examine the role of an individual’s risk propensity and general level of optimism as possible explanatory variables for the “near-miss” effect. We find risk propensity to be stable across conditions, whereas general optimism is influenced by the type of prior near-miss information, so that optimism mediates how near-miss information impacts protective decisions. People who experience a potentially hazardous near-miss but escape without obvious cues of damage will feel more optimistic and take less protective action. In the second study, we test messages about the hazard’s risk and examine the impact of these messages to offset the influence of near-misses. We end by discussing the implications of near-misses for risk communication.

Losing loss aversion -- Current evidence does not support that losses, on balance, tend to be any more impactful than gains

Gal, David and Rucker, Derek, The Loss of Loss Aversion: Will It Loom Larger Than Its Gain? (September 30, 2017). Journal of Consumer Psychology, Forthcoming. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3049660

Abstract: Loss aversion, the principle that losses loom larger than gains, is among the most widely accepted ideas in the social sciences. The first part of this article introduces and discusses the construct of loss aversion. The second part of this article reviews evidence in support of loss aversion. The upshot of this review is that current evidence does not support that losses, on balance, tend to be any more impactful than gains. The third part of this article aims to address the question of why acceptance of loss aversion as a general principle remains pervasive and persistent among social scientists, including consumer psychologists, despite evidence to the contrary. This analysis aims to connect the persistence of a belief in loss aversion to more general ideas about belief acceptance and persistence in science. The final part of the article discusses how a more contextualized perspective of the relative impact of losses versus gains can open new areas of inquiry that are squarely in the domain of consumer psychology.

Keywords: Loss Aversion, Sociology of Science
JEL Classification: A14, M31, D03, D81, D01, G02

Higher support for redistribution by individuals with high income & lower demand for redistribution by those with low income

Sabatini, Fabio and Ventura, Marco and Yamamura, Eiji and Zamparelli, Luca (2017): Fairness and the unselfish demand for redistribution by taxpayers and welfare recipients. Ludwig-Maximilians Universitaet Muenchen, https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/82081/

Also: Fairness and the Unselfish Demand for Redistribution by Taxpayers and Welfare Recipients. Fabio Sabatini et al. Southern Economic Journal, December 12 2019. https://doi.org/10.1002/soej.12416

Abstract: We illustrate how the desire to live in a fair society that rewards individual effort and hard work triggers an unselfish though rational demand for redistribution. This leads the well off to prefer higher taxes and the poor to reject extreme progressivity. We then provide evidence of these behaviors using a nationally representative survey from Italy. Our empirical analysis confirms that a stronger aversion to unfair distributive outcomes is associated with a higher support for redistribution by individuals with high income and to a lower demand for redistribution by those with low income.

Keywords: fairness, income distribution, inequalities, taxation, Welfare, redistribution, free-riding, civic capital, social capital

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In this paper, we studied the interplay between sensitivity to fairness and the individual demand for redistribution. First, we theoretically illustrated how the desire to live in a fair society where people’s income depends on merit instead of luck can trigger an unselfish support for redistribution. An increase in the aversion to unfairness can lead the affluent to demand more redistribution even if they will bear its cost without sharing its benefits, and the poor to desire less redistribution thereby renouncing to the advantages related to higher social spending.

We then found evidence of this behavior in a representative sample of Italian taxpayers. The empirical analysis confirmed that an increase in the aversion to unfair allocations is associated with opposing attitudes towards redistribution depending on income. The size of the marginal effects is economically relevant and overcomes that of income. Of course we do not intend to establish any normative presumption equating fairness with support for big governments and high welfare spending. Rather, we show that beliefs about fairness can interact with income in determining the individual preferences for redistribution in ways that were not previously theorized and tested in the literature.

Even if we controlled for the bias of the estimates using the procedure proposed by Wooldridge (2002), we lack a clear identification mechanism standing from external information. This suggests caution in the interpretation of the coefficients. Nonetheless, the empirical evidence was shown to be fully compatible with our theoretical reasoning and also revealed interesting insights concerning, for example, the size of the influence exerted by the selfish and unselfish motives for desiring redistribution. These results have relevant policy implications, as the share of people declaring support for redistribution has been found to be a strong predictor of welfare spending and of the size of government (Alesina and Angeletos, 2005; Guiso et al. 2006).

Reminders of death would lead participants to inflate the size of self-representational objects

McCabe, S., Vail, K. E. and Arndt, J. (2017), The impact of death awareness on sizes of self-representational objects. Br. J. Soc. Psychol.. doi:10.1111/bjso.12227

Abstract: People seem to have a tendency to increase the relative size of self-representational objects. Prior research suggests that motivational factors may fuel that tendency, so the present research built from terror management theory to examine whether existential motivations – engendered by concerns about death – may have similar implications for self-relevant size biases. Specifically, across two studies (total N = 288), we hypothesized that reminders of death would lead participants to inflate the size of self-representational objects. Both studies suggested that relative to reminders of pain, mortality salience led participants to construct larger clay sculptures of themselves (vs. others; Study 1) and a larger ostensible video game avatar for the self (vs. others; Study 2).

Mothers Spend More on Daughters While Fathers Spend More on Sons

Do Mothers Spend More on Daughters While Fathers Spend More on Sons? Lambrianos Nikiforidis, Kristina M. Durante, Joseph P. Redden and Vladas Griskevicius. Journal of Consumer Psychology, https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3050165

Abstract

Do parents favor some children over others? The overwhelming majority of parents state that they treat their children equally, but parents rarely track their spending on each child. We investigate in four studies whether mothers and fathers favor specific children depending on the biological sex of the child. Evidence from the field, laboratory, and community (online panel) showed that parents exhibit systematic biases when forced to choose between spending on sons and daughters. Mothers consistently favored daughters, whereas fathers consistently favored sons. For example, parents were more likely to choose a real prize and give a real U.S. Treasury bond to the child of the same sex as themselves. These parenting biases were found in two different cultures and appear to be driven by parents identifying more strongly with children of the same sex as the parent.

Layperson Abstract

Research Finds Women Spend More Money on Daughters and Men Spend More on Sons

Parents spend more money on a child of the same sex as themselves. From estate planning and savings bonds to back-to-school supplies and cash allowances, women spend more on daughters and men spend more on sons. New research from the State University of New York, Oneonta, Rutgers Business School, and the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management finds that consumers favor investment in children who are the same sex as themselves because parents identify more strongly with children of the same sex.

This research, forthcoming in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, provides some of the first evidence that the biological sex of a child leads to a systematic bias with parents allocating more resources to the child who is the same sex as they are. Nikiforidis and colleagues became interested in this research because prior research had produced mixed results, with some research suggesting that parents spend more on boys and other research finding that girls receive more investment, particularly when a mother has a greater say in household spending. For the current study, the researchers focused their prediction on the idea that parents might systematically (if unwittingly) invest more in the child of the same sex because they more closely identify with that child.

This is consistent with the idea that people tend to spend money on things that align with their identity, and gift giving to one’s children can be a way for parents to bolster their sense of identity and live vicariously through their children. Because parents likely identify more with a child of the same sex, Nikiforidis and colleagues proposed that parents should exhibit a sex-matching bias when investing across their children.

“Although the idea that parents might play favorites is not new—we’ve all heard adages such as “like father, like son” or “daddy’s girl”—most parents strongly deny favoring one child over the other,” says Lambrianos Nikiforidis, an assistant professor of marketing at the State University of New York, Oneonta. “Even though parents say they do not have a favorite, they also admit they do not actively track investment in each child, which leaves room for bias.”

In one study, researchers had parents in the US and India who had children of each gender living at home make a decision about which of their children (son or daughter) would receive a treasury bond. Mothers were more likely to choose their daughter to receive the bond and fathers were more likely to choose the son because they identified more strongly with the child that was the same sex as themselves. These same effects emerged when parents were deciding which child would receive more in their will, and when selecting which child would participate in a drawing to win back-to-school supplies, with 76% of women choosing the girl and 87% of men choosing the boy as the recipient of the back-to-school prize pack.

The current findings have far-reaching implications. “For example, when men control the family’s financial decisions, then sons may chronically receive more resources than daughters. By contrast, if women are the primary shoppers, this can result in subtle but consistent favoritism for daughters,” says Nikiforidis. In single parent or same-sex parent households, the ramifications of this bias can be even stronger, given that there is no opposite-direction bias from the other parent to even things out.

Although the research focused on parents, it was also found that non-parents favored investing in a same-sex child. This suggests that the sex-matching bias leads to a general favoritism of same-sex people when investing resources. If more men are in positions of corporate and political power, this can translate to greater investment in programs and policies that favor men, and have implications in settings such as work, organizations, schools, charities, and more.

Oral tradition: Storytelling as specialized skill that people develop a comparative advantage in due to productivity declines with other skills

Information transmission and the oral tradition: Evidence of a late-life service niche for Tsimane Amerindians. Eric Schniter, Nathaniel T. Wilcox, Bret A. Beheim, Hillard S. Kaplan, Michael Gurven. Evolution and Human Behavior, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2017.10.006

From the introduction: In this paper, we investigate story learning and storytelling among Tsimane foragerhorticulturalists.After identifying 54 story-knowledgeable adults using the Skills Survey (Schniter et al., 2015), we surveyed them about their knowledge, telling and sourcing of 120 traditional Tsimane stories. We evaluate whether age patterns in reported knowledge and storytelling are consistent with predictions derived from ECT [Embodied Capital Theory] concerning the timing of skill maturation. We test whether storytelling is a common skill enabled by ability with other common skills, or whether storytelling is a specialized skill that people develop a comparative advantage in due to productivity declines with other skills. We also assess whether storytelling propensity is sensitive to the size and composition of potential audiences, consistent with a fitness-enhancing strategy. Finally, we evaluate whether reports of whom stories were learned from support a model of vertical, oblique, or horizontal oral tradition transmission.

Keywords: Oral tradition; Information transmission; Storytelling; Expertise; Development; Life history theory

My commentary: Which is to say, intellectuals, artists, the professoriat have low productivity in normal skills needed to sustain their own life and of their offspring and they live of their sorcery with words...