Putting numbers to our happiness

Bryson, A. and MacKerron, G. (2017), Are You Happy While You Work?. Econ J, 127: 106–125. doi:10.1111/ecoj.12269

Abstract: Using a new data source permitting individuals to record their well-being via a smartphone, we explore within-person variance in individuals’ well-being measured momentarily at random points in time. We find paid work is ranked lower than any of the other 39 activities individuals can report engaging in, with the exception of being sick in bed. Precisely how unhappy one is while working varies significantly with where you work; whether you are combining work with other activities; whether you are alone or with others; and the time of day or night you are working.

Inequity aversion is observed in common marmosets

Inequity aversion is observed in common marmosets but not in marmoset models of autism induced by prenatal exposure to valproic acid. Miyuki Yasue et al. Behavioural Brain Research, Volume 343, 2 May 2018, Pages 36–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2018.01.013

Highlights
•    Male and female marmosets show inequity aversion.
•    Valproic acid-induced ASD animals did not respond negatively to inequity.
•    Marmoset models of ASD cared less about others’ reward conditions than controls.

Abstract: Humans and various nonhuman primates respond negatively to inequity not in their favor (i.e., inequity aversion), when inequity between two individuals is introduced. Common marmosets, a highly prosocial species, further discriminated between human actors who reciprocated in social exchanges, and those who did not. Conversely, marmoset models of autism, induced via prenatal exposure to valproic acid (VPA marmosets), did not discriminate. Interestingly, previous studies of inequity aversion in marmosets have produced negative results, or were limited to males. Recent studies suggest that inequity aversion is highly influenced by the tasks employed. Here we show inequity aversion in both male and female marmosets using a novel task which required a relatively long duration of response. Marmosets were required to hold a spoon for 2 s to receive a reward. Marmosets successfully performed the task when they observed an unfamiliar conspecific partner obtaining the same reward (equity test). However, when they witnessed the partner receiving a more attractive reward for equal effort (inequity test), unexposed marmosets, which were not exposed to either valproic acid or saline during the fetal period refused to respond. This inequity aversion was not observed in unexposed marmosets when the partner was absent. In contrast, marmosets with fetal exposure to valproic acid (VPA marmosets) successfully executed the task irrespective of their partners’ reward conditions. As prenatal exposure to valproic acid is a well-known procedure to induce autism spectrum disorder (ASD)-like behaviors in rodents, we propose that VPA marmosets failed to show inequity aversion due to weak social motivation or interest towards others.

Keywords: Animal model; Autistic spectrum disorder (ASD); Monkey; Inequity aversion; Prosocial behaviors; Valtroic acid (VPA); Marmosets

Genetic and Environmental Influences on Self-Control: Assessing Self-Control with the ASEBA Self-Control Scale

Genetic and Environmental Influences on Self-Control: Assessing Self-Control with the ASEBA Self-Control Scale. Yayouk E. Willems et al. Behavior Genetics, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10519-018-9887-1

Abstract: This study used a theoretically-derived set of items of the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment to develop the Achenbach Self-Control Scale (ASCS) for 7–16 year olds. Using a large dataset of over 20,000 children, who are enrolled in the Netherlands Twin Register, we demonstrated the psychometric properties of the ASCS for parent-, self- and teacher-report by examining internal and criterion validity, and inter-rater and test–retest reliability. We found associations between the ASCS and measures of well-being, educational achievement, and substance use. Next, we applied the classical twin design to estimate the genetic and environmental contributions to self-control. Genetic influences accounted for 64–75% of the variance in self-control based on parent- and teacher-report (age 7–12), and for 47–49% of the variance in self-control based on self-report (age 12–16), with the remaining variance accounted by non-shared environmental influences. In conclusion, we developed a validated and accessible self-control scale, and show that genetic influences explain a majority of the individual differences in self-control across youth aged 7–16 years.

In this case, the APA attempted to “sell” itself as a solution to the perceived violent video game problem

Selling violent video game solutions: A look inside the APA's internal notes leading to the creation of the APA's 2005 resolution on violence in video games and interactive media. Allen Copenhaver, Christopher J. Ferguson. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, Volume 57, March–April 2018, Pages 77–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2018.01.004

Abstract: For decades politicians, parent groups, researchers, media outlets, professionals in various fields, and laymen have debated the effects playing violent video games have on children and adolescents. In academia, there also exists a divide as to whether violent video games cause children and adolescents to be aggressive, violent, and even engage in criminal behavior. Given inconsistencies in the data, it may be important to understand the ways and the reasons why professional organizations take a stance on the violent video game effects debate which may reflect greater expressed certitude than data can support. This piece focuses on the American Psychological Association's internal communications leading to the creation of their 2005 Resolution on Violence in Video Games and Interactive Media. These communications reveal that in this case, the APA attempted to “sell” itself as a solution to the perceived violent video game problem. The actions leading to the 2005 resolution are then compared to the actions of the APA's 2013–2015 Task Force on Violent Media. The implications and problems associated with the APA's actions regarding violent video games are addressed and discussed below.

Keywords: Violent video games and aggression; Violent media; Media & crime; Media & politics; Task forces

Big Five Traits and Inclusive Generalized Prejudice

Crawford, Jarret,and Mark J Brandt 2018. “Big Five Traits and Inclusive Generalized Prejudice”. PsyArXiv. February 5. psyarxiv.com/6vqwk

Abstract: Existing meta-analytic evidence finds that low levels of Openness and Agreeableness correlate with generalized prejudice. However, previous studies relied on restricted operationalizations of generalized prejudice that only assessed prejudice toward disadvantaged, low-status groups. Across four samples (total N = 7,543), we tested the associations between Big Five traits and generalized prejudice using an inclusive operationalization of generalized prejudice. A meta-analysis of these findings indicates that Openness was only very weakly related to inclusive generalized prejudice, r = -.03, 95%CI [-.07, -.001], whereas low Agreeableness was reliably associated with inclusive generalized prejudice (r = -.23, 95%CI [-.31, -.16]). We additionally found that perceived target ideology moderated relationships between Openness and Conscientiousness and prejudice, and that perceived target status moderated relationships between Agreeableness and Extraversion and prejudice. These results provide new and more nuanced insights into the relationship between personality and prejudice.

Is regulation to blame for the decline in American entrepreneurship?

Nathan Goldschlag, Alex Tabarrok; Is regulation to blame for the decline in American entrepreneurship?, Economic Policy, Volume 33, Issue 93, 1 January 2018, Pages 5–44, https://doi.org/10.1093/epolic/eix019

SUMMARY: Mounting evidence suggests that economic dynamism and entrepreneurial activity are declining in the United States. Over the past 30 years, the annual number of new business startups and the pace of job reallocation have declined significantly. We ask whether this decline in dynamism can be explained by federal regulation. We combine measures of dynamism with RegData, a novel dataset leveraging the text of the Code of Federal Regulations to create annual measures of the total quantity of regulation by industry. We find that rising federal regulation cannot explain secular trends in economic dynamism.

We contend that video game playing behavior, particularly insofar as it occurs within the home, alters the routine activities of individuals in such a way as to decrease the number of criminal opportunities present within a society

Cocooned from Crime: The Relationship Between Video Games and Crime. Kevin McCaffree, K. Ryan Proctor. Society, February 2018, Volume 55, Issue 1, pp 41–52. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-017-0211-0

Abstract: The majority of research on the relationship between video game playing behavior and crime has been conducted by psychologists, has focused only on violent videogames, and suffers from two major shortcomings. First, psychologists have adopted correlational or experimental methodologies that do not in fact assess the empirical relationship between video game playing behavior and crime. Instead, they examine the relationship between video game playing behavior and aggression, and then infer research findings have social implications related to crime. Second, when making such inferences, these studies presume that meso and macro level phenomena are nothing more than the aggregated consequences of micro level events. Recent studies, however, have raised questions surrounding these two components of psychological research, as they have identified negative relationships between video game playing behavior and crime at county and national levels. In this study, we propose that these seemingly contradictory results can be explained using routine activities theory (Cohen and Felson 1979). We contend that video game playing behavior, particularly insofar as it occurs within the home, alters the routine activities of individuals in such a way as to decrease the number of criminal opportunities present within a society. We provide an initial test of this hypothesis using UCR, CPS, and Census data. As predicted by routine activities theory, we find that rates of video game playing behavior in the home are negatively associated with both violent and property crime.

Evidence for Sex Ratio Adjustment in Humans

It’s a Boy! Evidence for Sex Ratio Adjustment in Humans. Kristen J. Navara. Chapter in Choosing Sexes pp 13-31. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-71271-0_2

Abstract: Since the beginning of human existence, there has been a keen interest in the factors that influence whether a boy or girl is produced and the development of practices or methods to control it. While the overall natal ratio of boys to girls produced by humans hovers at a stable 1.06 boys for every girl, there is now evidence that these sex ratios vary substantially among populations, in response to severe life events, in conjunction with the position and timing of intercourse, and even with ambient temperature. In this chapter, I compile the evidence implicating many of these factors as modulators of offspring sex ratios in humans and discuss how these influences may interact to determine whether a boy or a girl is produced.

The extraverted and individuals high on agreeablemenss are less likely to have negative affective evaluations of the opposing party

It’s Personal: The Big Five Personality Traits and Negative Partisan Affect in Polarized U.S. Politics. Steven W. Webster. American Behavioral Scientist, http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0002764218756925?journalCode=absb

Abstract: One of the most important developments within the American electorate in recent years has been the rise of affective polarization. Whether this is due to notions of group-based conflict or ideological disagreement, Americans increasingly dislike the opposing political party and its supporters. I contribute to this growing literature on affective polarization by showing how differences in individuals’ Big Five personality traits are predictive of both whether an individual dislikes the opposing party and the degree to which they express this hostility. Modeling negative affect toward the opposing party as a two-stage process, I find that Extraverted individuals are less likely to have negative affective evaluations of the opposing party. Additionally, conditional on disliking the opposing party, my results indicate that higher levels of Agreeableness lowers the degree to which individuals dislike the out-party. Moreover, these relationships are substantively stronger than common sociodemographic predictors such as age, race, and educational attainment.

Keywords: personality, negative partisanship, affective polarization

The Relationship Between Sexualized Appearance and Perceptions of Women’s Competence and Electability

The Relationship Between Sexualized Appearance and Perceptions of Women’s Competence and Electability. Julia K. Smith et al. Sex Roles, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-018-0898-4

Abstract: Women do not have a uniform or standardized “suit” to wear in the workplace so they must make daily decisions about what to wear. Some propose that women should dress in a sexualized way to gain power and influence, but sexy attire is related to lower perceptions of competence for women in leadership positions. We explored the effect of revealing or conservative attire on perceptions of women’s leadership competence. We also used eye-tracker technology to determine whether looking at sexualized body parts (i.e., breasts, hemline) was related to lower perceptions of leadership competence and electability. A female candidate for a student senate presidency at a U.S. university wearing revealing clothing was perceived by 191 college students as less honest and trustworthy, electable, and competent than one wearing conservative clothing. Sexualized body parts were looked at longer when the candidate was wearing revealing clothing compared to conservative clothing. Furthermore, mediation analyses indicated that the revealing clothing led participants to gaze at sexualized body parts, which, in turn, led to perceiving the candidate as less honest/trustworthy, which lowered their evaluations of her competence and electability. These findings suggest that viewing a woman in a sexy outfit can lead others to stare more at her body and make negative evaluations of her personal attributes. This finding has implications for the choices women make in workplace and leadership contexts.

Unsocial subjects vs social ones: No significant differences in self-esteem, social comparisons, emotional regulation, self-harm, suicidal ideations, quality of relations with others, anxiety sensitivity, social anhedonia or depression

Does it matter when we want to Be alone? Exploring developmental timing effects in the implications of unsociability. Robert J. Coplan, Laura L. Ooi, Danielle Baldwin. New Ideas in Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2018.01.001

Highlights
•    Unsociability refers to a non-fearful preference for solitude.
•    We discuss various approaches to conceptualizing and measuring this construct.
•    A theoretical model of developmental timing effects for unsociability is proposed.
•    Links between unsociability and well-being may vary across development.

Abstract: Unsociability is a characteristic that refers to individual differences in the non-fearful preference for solitude. There is continued debate pertaining to the potential costs and benefits of solitude for our well-being. In this essay, we consider various approaches to the conceptualization and measurement of unsociability, and explore its implications for socio-emotional functioning. Further, we propose a somewhat speculative theoretical model of developmental timing effects for unsociability, which postulates non-linear variations in the implications of a heightened preference for solitude from early childhood to emerging adulthood. After considering the existing empirical support for this model, we outline remaining topics of concerns and suggest the most pressing directions for future research.

Keywords: Unsociability; Solitude; Social withdrawal; Preference for solitude; Developmental timing

---My question is: why then there is such apprehension in parents with child's unsociabilty? I trust the parents more than the researchers, something is not being captured in these samples we are studying.

Disclosure: I am quite unsocial.

Young infants expect an unfamiliar adult to comfort a crying baby: Evidence from a standard violation-of-expectation task and a novel infant-triggered-video task

Young infants expect an unfamiliar adult to comfort a crying baby: Evidence from a standard violation-of-expectation task and a novel infant-triggered-video task. Kyong-sunJin  et al. Cognitive Psychology, Volume 102, May 2018, Pages 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogpsych.2017.12.004

Highlights
•    We examined whether young infants would expect an adult to comfort a crying baby.
•    12- and 4-mo-olds showed this expectation in a standard violation-of-expectation task.
•    8-mo-olds showed this expectation in a new forced-choice infant-triggered-video task.
•    Expectations about comforting actions are already present early in life.
•    Our findings constrain theoretical accounts of early prosociality and morality.

Abstract: Do infants expect individuals to act prosocially toward others in need, at least in some contexts? Very few such expectations have been uncovered to date. In three experiments, we examined whether infants would expect an adult alone in a scene with a crying baby to attempt to comfort the baby. In the first two experiments, 12- and 4-month-olds were tested using the standard violation-of-expectation method. Infants saw videotaped events in which a woman was performing a household chore when a baby nearby began to cry; the woman either comforted (comfort event) or ignored (ignore event) the baby. Infants looked significantly longer at the ignore than at the comfort event, and this effect was eliminated if the baby laughed instead of cried. In the third experiment, 8-month-olds were tested using a novel forced-choice violation-of-expectation method, the infant-triggered-video method. Infants faced two computer monitors and were first shown that touching the monitors triggered events: One monitor presented the comfort event and the other monitor presented the ignore event. Infants then chose which event they wanted to watch again by touching the corresponding monitor. Infants significantly chose the ignore over the comfort event, and this effect was eliminated if the baby laughed. Thus, across ages and methods, infants provided converging evidence that they expected the adult to comfort the crying baby. These results indicate that expectations about individuals’ actions toward others in need are already present in the first year of life, and, as such, they constrain theoretical accounts of early prosociality and morality.

Exposure to predators does not lead to the evolution of larger brains in experimental populations of threespine stickleback

Samuk, K., Xue, J. and Rennision, D. J. (), Exposure to predators does not lead to the evolution of larger brains in experimental populations of threespine stickleback. Evolution. Accepted Author Manuscript. doi:10.1111/evo.13444

Abstract: Natural selection is often invoked to explain differences in brain size among vertebrates. However, the particular agents of selection that shape brain size variation remain obscure. Recent studies suggest that predators may select for larger brains because increased cognitive and sensory abilities allow prey to better elude predators. Yet, there is little direct evidence that exposure to predators causes the evolution of larger brains in prey species. We experimentally tested this prediction by exposing families of 1000–2000 F2 hybrid benthic-limnetic threespine stickleback to predators under naturalistic conditions, along with matched controls. After two generations of selection, we found that fish from the predator addition treatment had significantly smaller brains (specifically smaller telencephalons and optic lobes) than fish from the control treatment. After an additional generation of selection, we reared experimental fish in a common environment and found that this difference in brain size was maintained in the offspring of fish from the predator addition treatment. Our results provide direct experimental evidence that (a) predators can indeed drive the evolution of brain size – but not in the fashion commonly expected and (b) that the tools of experimental evolution can be used to the study the evolution of the vertebrate brain.

Causal effect of beliefs about skill on risky choices: Low (high) skill subjects are more (less) willing to take risks on gambles where the probabilities depend on relative skill

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

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

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

Keywords: Individual risk taking behavior; Self-confidence; Laboratory experiment

Less married or commited people view watching pornography as infedility, compared to the uncommited. Likely reason is the contact with reality once we are in a commited relationship

Is Viewing Sexually Explicit Material Cheating on Your Partner? A Comparison Between the United States and Spain. Charles Negy et al. Archives of Sexual Behavior, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-017-1125-z

Abstract: This cross-sectional study examined whether university students from the U.S. (n = 392) and Spain (n = 200) considered the viewing of sexually explicit material (SEM) to be tantamount to committing infidelity. Participants’ ages ranged from 18 to 36 (U.S. sample) and 18 to 35 (Spain sample), respectively. At both universities, the study was made available to students via a computer program that allows recruitment and completion of the questionnaires online. It was found that the majority of U.S. and Spanish participants (73 and 77%, respectively) indicated that they did not consider viewing SEM as an act of infidelity. Also, overall, U.S. participants, those who were not currently in a relationship, and those who do not view SEM, were significantly more likely to believe that viewing SEM constituted infidelity compared to Spanish participants, those currently in a relationship, and those who view SEM. Finally, it was found that among U.S. and Spanish participants, intolerance of infidelity in general, negative attitudes toward SEM, and the proclivity for jealousy significantly correlated with believing that viewing SEM was tantamount to infidelity. For U.S. participants only, religiosity and (low) self-esteem also correlated with the belief that viewing SEM was infidelity. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Election turnout rates for women have even slightly exceeded turnout rates for men in recent elections due to the higher sense of civic duty of female citizens, which is due to higher level of conscientiousness than men

Why no gender gap in electoral participation? A civic duty explanation. Miguel Carreras. Electoral Studies, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2018.01.007

Abstract: Previous research in comparative political behavior has generated an interesting paradox. Female citizens are less likely to engage in a variety of political activities (e.g. contacting politicians and working for parties), and are less cognitively engaged with the political process (i.e. they have lower levels of political interest and political efficacy). However, for reasons that remain unclear, several cross-national surveys reveal that there is no gender gap in electoral participation. In a number of countries, such as the United States, turnout rates for women have even slightly exceeded turnout rates for men in recent elections. I argue that the main reason for this pattern is the higher sense of civic duty of female citizens. This theory is grounded in research in social psychology that demonstrates that women have a higher level of conscientiousness than men. I use data from the 2014 ISSP Citizenship module to test my theoretical expectations, and find strong support for the argument that civic duty mediates the relationship between sex and electoral participation.

Physical beauty, social mobility, and optimistic dispositions

Things are looking up: Physical beauty, social mobility, and optimistic dispositions. R. Urbatsch. Social Science Research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2018.01.006

Abstract: Physical attractiveness tends to inspire friendlier reactions and more positive evaluations from others, so that the beautiful are likelier to succeed across many kinds of endeavors. Does this history of success lead to a more optimistic, hopeful attitude? Evidence from the 2016 General Social Survey and the 1972 National Election Study suggests that it often does: those whom interviewers rate as better-looking tend to report higher expectations that life will turn out well for them, and show signs of greater upward social mobility. Since optimism is itself an important contributor to success in many social endeavors, these findings suggest an understudied mechanism by which beauty leads to better life outcomes, as well as a means by which social interactions may shape personal dispositions.

Keywords: Attractiveness; Optimism; Hope; Status

Due to the innate need for preservation of a positive self-image, it is likely that teaching people about biases they hold, may cause a boomerang effect in cases where being associated with a specific bias implies negative social connotations

The boomerang effect of psychological interventions. Aharon Levy & Yossi Maaravi. Social Influence, Volume 13, 2018 - Issue 1, Pages 39-51. https://doi.org/10.1080/15534510.2017.1421571

Abstract: Research has found that teaching people about psychological biases can help counteract biased behavior. On the other hand, due to the innate need for preservation of a positive self-image, it is likely that teaching people about biases they hold, may cause a boomerang effect in cases where being associated with a specific bias implies negative social connotations. In the three studies below we examine situations in which psychological bias implies negatively associated behavior, and show that teaching people about bias in those contexts can be counterproductive.

Keywords: Psychological bias, bias awareness, chauvinism, voting, bias reduction

Consensual Nonmonogamy: Psychological Well-Being and Relationship Quality Correlates

Consensual Nonmonogamy: Psychological Well-Being and Relationship Quality Correlates. Alicia N. Rubel & Anthony F. Bogaert. The Journal of Sex Research, Volume 52, 2015 - Issue 9, Pages 961-982. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2014.942722

Abstract: Consensually nonmonogamous relationships are those in which all partners explicitly agree that each partner may have romantic or sexual relationships with others (Conley, Ziegler, Moors, Matsick, & Valentine, 2013 Conley, T. D., Ziegler, A., Moors, A. C., Matsick, J. L., & Valentine, B. (2013). In this article, research examining the associations between consensual nonmonogamy, psychological well-being, and relationship quality is reviewed. Specifically, three types of consensual nonmonogamy are examined: swinging, open relationships (including sexually open marriage and gay open relationships), and polyamory. Swinging refers to when a couple practices extradyadic sex with members of another couple; open relationships are relationships in which partners agree that they can have extradyadic sex; and polyamory is the practice of, belief in, or willingness to engage in consensual nonmonogamy, typically in long-term and/or loving relationships. General trends in the research reviewed suggest that consensual nonmonogamists have similar psychological well-being and relationship quality as monogamists. Methodological challenges in research on consensual nonmonogamy and directions for future research are discussed.

Internet pornography use is motivated by hedonic and self-focused sexual motivations, and is likely to lead to increases in hedonic sexual motivation both in solitary and in social sexual encounters

Grubbs, Joshua, Abby Braden, Shane W Kraus, Joshua Wilt, and Paul Wright 2017. “Pornography and Pleasure-seeking: Toward a Hedonic Reinforcement Model”. PsyArXiv. December 5. psyarxiv.com/jevb7

Abstract: Internet pornography use is a common recreational activity in developed nations, with substantial majorities of people from numerous countries reporting exposure to or consistent use this media. Despite this ubiquity, the majority of research on internet pornography use has been relegated to topical or specialty journals, with little attention psychological science at a broader level. This work seeks to consolidate this body of research into a novel theoretical framework that conceptualizes internet pornography use in terms that are relevant to the psychological sciences more broadly. This framework has been termed the Hedonic Reinforcement Model of pornography consumption. In support of this model, a review of research is conducted, demonstrating that internet pornography use may be seen as being influenced by and an influencer of human sexual motivation. In the first step of the present model, the present work contends that IPU is motivated by hedonic and self-focused sexual motivations, most often being a solitary, pleasure-seeking pursuit. Second, this model contends that IPU uniquely rewards hedonic motivations, due to its accessibility, novelty, and customizable nature. Finally, the present model contends that IPU is likely to lead to increases in hedonic sexual motivation both in solitary and in social sexual encounters.

Dictator game: Aversion to taking is strong, and dictators are willing to sacrifice 31% of endowment to avoid taking

Taking Aversion. Oleg Korenoka, Edward L. Millnera, Laura Razzolinib. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2018.01.021

Highlights
•    New experiment to measure whether dictators prefer a giving game to a taking game with identical payoff possibilities.
•    Most dictators prefer the giving game
•    Aversion to taking is strong: dictators are willing to sacrifice 31% of endowment to avoid taking.
•    Consistent with Levitt and List's model of social preferences: moral cost of taking exceeds the moral cost of not giving.

Abstract: We determine whether the moral cost of taking exceeds the moral cost of not giving. We design and conduct an experiment to determine whether a dictator prefers a giving game over a taking game when the payoff possibilities are identical and to measure the strength of the preference. We find that aversion to taking is prevalent and strong. Over 85% of the dictators in our experiment choose to play a giving game over a taking game when the payoff possibilities are identical and, on average, dictators are willing to sacrifice over 31% of their endowment to avoid taking.

Keywords: Taking; Dictator Game; Impure Altruism; Equivalent Variation

Women were especially sensitive to laughter’s affiliative value, reporting greater disinterest in affiliating with targets laughing deliberately

Spontaneous Laughter as an Auditory Analog to Affiliative Intent. Mitch Brown, Donald F. Sacco, Steven G. Young. Evolutionary Psychological Science, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40806-017-0135-3

Abstract: Spontaneous laughter may serve as an auditory cue to affiliative intent within social contexts, whereas volitional laughter may connote deceptive, or non-affiliative, social communication. It would thus be advantageous to distinguish between affiliative and deceptive laughter to identify and prefer conspecifics genuinely interested in affiliating, particularly those whose current affiliative needs are unmet. Furthermore, women’s greater capability to discriminate between emotional cues should implicate them as being especially favorable toward spontaneous laughter. Because social exclusion heightens interest in affiliation, social exclusion should heighten favorability toward those communicating spontaneous laughter, which should be especially augmented among women. The current research examined both trait and state factors that might be moderate responses to spontaneous and volitional laughter. We experimentally activated affiliative motives and tasked men and women with indicating their preferences for spontaneous and volitional laughs. Although activation of affiliative needs did not alter preferences for laughter, participants ultimately preferred spontaneous laughs over volitional. Women were especially sensitive to laughter’s affiliative value, reporting greater disinterest in affiliating with targets emitting volitional laughs, a finding consistent with research indicating women’s heightened sensitivity toward affiliative cues and sensitivity to potentially exploitive conspecifics due to sexual dimorphism.

The origins of infants’ fairness concerns and links to prosocial behavior

The origins of infants’ fairness concerns and links to prosocial behavior. Jessica A. Sommerville, Elizabeth A. Enright. Current Opinion in Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2018.01.005

Highlights
•    Infants possess a rudimentary sense of distributive fairness.
•    Infants expect resources to be distributed equally to recipients.
•    Infants evaluate individuals based on their adherence to fairness norms.
•    Sharing experience may drive the developmental acquisition of fairness norms.
•    Later, variability in the nature of infants’ sharing predicts fairness concerns.
•    Limitations exist in infants’ fairness concerns: they do not punish unfair agents.

Abstract: Concerns about fairness are central to mature moral judgments. We review research regarding the origins of a sensitivity to distributive fairness, and how it relates to early sharing. Infants’ sensitivity to fairness appears to be commensurate with that of school-age children: infants notice violations to fairness norms and evaluate individuals based on their fair or unfair behavior. However, it may differ in other ways: there is no evidence that infants punish unfair individuals. Sharing behavior plays a role in both the developmental emergence of, and subsequent individual differences in, infants’ fairness concerns. These results motivate novel questions, such whether infants can entertain other models of fairness, whether infants’ socio-moral concerns hang together, and the relationship early fairness sensitivities and later fair behavior.

How Fleeting Is Fame? Collective Memory for Popular Music

Spivack, Stephen, Nathaniel H Spilka, and Pascal Wallisch 2018. “How Fleeting Is Fame? Collective Memory for Popular Music”. PsyArXiv. February 1. psyarxiv.com/tdfyc

Abstract: In this paper, we investigated the collective memory for popular music. To assess how well number-one hits are recognized over time, we randomly selected top songs from the last 76 years and presented them to a large sample of mostly millennial participants. In response to hearing each selection, participants were prompted to indicate whether they recognized each song. We found three distinct phases in collective memory: a steep linear drop-off in recognition for the music from this millennium, a stable plateau from the 1960s to the 1990s, and a further but more gradual drop-off for music from the 1940s and 1950s. More than half of recognition variability between songs can be accounted for by exposure as measured by Spotify play counts. We conclude that in the musical realm, fame is fleeting - but perhaps not as fleeting as previously suggested.

Languages with many speakers tend to be structurally simple while small communities sometimes develop languages with great structural complexity. The opposite pattern is observed for non-structural properties of language such as vocabulary size

Simpler grammar, larger vocabulary: How population size affects language. Florencia Reali, Nick Chater, Morten H. Christiansen. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.2586

Abstract: Languages with many speakers tend to be structurally simple while small communities sometimes develop languages with great structural complexity. Paradoxically, the opposite pattern appears to be observed for non-structural properties of language such as vocabulary size. These apparently opposite patterns pose a challenge for theories of language change and evolution. We use computational simulations to show that this inverse pattern can depend on a single factor: ease of diffusion through the population. A population of interacting agents was arranged on a network, passing linguistic conventions to one another along network links. Agents can invent new conventions, or replicate conventions that they have previously generated themselves or learned from other agents. Linguistic conventions are either Easy or Hard to diffuse, depending on how many times an agent needs to encounter a convention to learn it. In large groups, only linguistic conventions that are easy to learn, such as words, tend to proliferate, whereas small groups where everyone talks to everyone else allow for more complex conventions, like grammatical regularities, to be maintained. Our simulations thus suggest that language, and possibly other aspects of culture, may become simpler at the structural level as our world becomes increasingly interconnected.

Warm and touching tears: tearful individuals are perceived as warmer because we assume they feel moved and touched

Warm and touching tears: tearful individuals are perceived as warmer because we assume they feel moved and touched. Janis H. Zickfeld & Thomas W. Schubert. Cognition and Emotion, https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2018.1430556

ABSTRACT: Recent work investigated the inter-individual functions of emotional tears in depth. In one study (Van de Ven, N., Meijs, M. H. J., & Vingerhoets, A. (2017). What emotional tears convey: Tearful individuals are seen as warmer, but also as less competent. British Journal of Social Psychology, 56(1), 146–160. Https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12162) tearful individuals were rated as warmer, and participants expressed more intentions to approach and help such individuals. Simultaneously, tearful individuals were rated as less competent, and participants expressed less intention to work with the depicted targets. While tearful individuals were perceived as sadder, perceived sadness mediated only the effect on competence, but not on warmth. We argue that tearful individuals might be perceived as warm because they are perceived as feeling moved and touched. We ran a pre-registered extended replication of Van de Ven et al. Results replicate the warmth and helping findings, but not the competence and work effects. The increase in warmth ratings was completely mediated by perceiving feeling moved and touched. Possible functions of feeling moved and touched with regard to emotional tears are discussed.

KEYWORDS: Tears, feeling moved, stereotype content model, kama muta

Do the Right Thing: Experimental evidence that preferences for moral behavior, rather than equity or efficiency per se, drive human prosociality

Do the Right Thing: Experimental evidence that preferences for moral behavior, rather than equity or efficiency per se, drive human prosociality. Valerio Capraro, David G. Rand. Judgment and Decision Making, Vol. 13, No. 1, January 2018, pp. 99-111. http://journal.sjdm.org/17/171107/jdm171107.html

Abstract: Decades of experimental research show that some people forgo personal gains to benefit others in unilateral anonymous interactions. To explain these results, behavioral economists typically assume that people have social preferences for minimizing inequality and/or maximizing efficiency (social welfare). Here we present data that cannot be explained by these standard social preference models. We use a “Trade-Off Game” (TOG), where players unilaterally choose between an equitable option and an efficient option. We show that simply changing the labelling of the options to describe the equitable versus efficient option as morally right completely reverses the correlation between behavior in the TOG and play in a separate Dictator Game (DG) or Prisoner’s Dilemma (PD): people who take the action framed as moral in the TOG, be it equitable or efficient, are much more prosocial in the DG and PD. Rather than preferences for equity and/or efficiency per se, our results suggest that prosociality in games such as the DG and PD are driven by a generalized morality preference that motivates people to do what they think is morally right.

Keywords: prosociality, morality, equity, efficiency

Higher status people derogate ideological opponents less (i.e., evaluate them more charitably); greater rhetoric handling prowess (RHP: feeling more confident and less intimidated while arguing) mediates the effect

Aiden P. Gregg, Nikhila Mahadevan, and Constantine Sedikides (2018). Taking the High Ground: The Impact of Social Status on the Derogation of Ideological Opponents. Social Cognition: Vol. 36, Special Issue: The Status of Status: Vistas from Social Cognition, pp. 43-77. https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.2018.36.1.43

Abstract: People tend to derogate their ideological opponents. But how does social status affect this tendency? We tested a prediction derived from hierometer theory that people with higher status would derogate ideological opponents less (i.e., evaluate them more charitably). We further predicted that greater rhetoric handling prowess (RHP: feeling more confident and less intimidated while arguing) would mediate the effect. Study 1 established a link between higher status and lesser opponent derogation correlationally. Study 2 did so experimentally. Using a scale to assess RHP developed and validated in Study 3, Study 4 established that RHP statistically mediated the correlational link between status and derogation. In Study 5, experimentally manipulating status affected RHP as predicted. However, in Study 6, experimentally manipulating RHP did not affect opponent derogation as predicted. Thus, our findings were substantially, but not entirely, consistent with our theoretically derived predictions. Implications for hierometer theory, and related theoretical approaches, are considered.

KEYWORDS: derogation, status, social status, rhetoric, hierometer theory

For the poor, thoughts about cost and money are triggered by mundane circumstances, they are difficult to suppress, they change mental associations, and they interfere with other experiences

Anuj K. Shah, Jiaying Zhao, Sendhil Mullainathan, and Eldar Shafir (2018). Money in the Mental Lives of the Poor. Social Cognition: Vol. 36, Special Issue: The Status of Status: Vistas from Social Cognition, pp. 4-19. https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.2018.36.1.4

Abstract: Recent research has studied how resource scarcity draws attention and creates cognitive load. As a result, scarcity improves some dimensions of cognitive function, while worsening others. Still, there remains a fundamental question: how does scarcity influence the content of cognition? In this article, we find that poor individuals (i.e., those facing monetary scarcity) see many everyday experiences through a different lens. Specifically, thoughts about cost and money are triggered by mundane circumstances, they are difficult to suppress, they change mental associations, and they interfere with other experiences. We suggest that the poor see an economic dimension to many everyday experiences that to others may not appear economic at all.

KEYWORDS: scarcity, money, spontaneous thoughts, financial concerns, attention

Androstadienone, a Chemosignal Found in Human Sweat, Increases Individualistic Behavior and Decreases Cooperative Responses in Men

Androstadienone, a Chemosignal Found in Human Sweat, Increases Individualistic Behavior and Decreases Cooperative Responses in Men. A Banner, I Frumin, S G Shamay-Tsoory. Chemical Senses, bjy002, https://doi.org/10.1093/chemse/bjy002

Abstract: A growing body of evidence suggests that humans can communicate socially relevant information, such as aggression, dominance and readiness for competition, through chemosensory signals. Androstadienone (androsta-4,16,-dien-3-one), a testosterone-derived compound found in men's axillary sweat, is a main candidate for a human pheromone that may convey such information. The current study aimed to investigate whether androstadienone serves as a chemosignaling threat cue to men, thus triggering avoidance behavior during competitive interaction with another man. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject study design, 30 healthy, normosmic, heterosexual male participants completed the Social Orientation Paradigm (SOP), a monetary game played against a fictitious partner that allows three types of responses to be measured in the context of provocation: an aggressive response, an individualistic withdrawal response, and a cooperative response. Participants completed the SOP task twice, once under exposure to androstadienone and once under exposure to a control solution. The results indicate that androstadienone increased individualistic responses while it decreased cooperative responses. These findings support the role of androstadienone as a threatening signal of dominance that elicits behavioral avoidance and social withdrawal tendencies, possibly as a submissive response.

The echo chamber is overstated: the moderating effect of political interest and diverse media

The echo chamber is overstated: the moderating effect of political interest and diverse media. Elizabeth Dubois & Grant Blank. Information, Communication & Society, https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2018.1428656

ABSTRACT: In a high-choice media environment, there are fears that individuals will select media and content that reinforce their existing beliefs and lead to segregation based on interest and/or partisanship. This could lead to partisan echo chambers among those who are politically interested and could contribute to a growing gap in knowledge between those who are politically interested and those who are not. However, the high-choice environment also allows individuals, including those who are politically interested, to consume a wide variety of media, which could lead them to more diverse content and perspectives. This study examines the relationship between political interest as well as media diversity and being caught in an echo chamber (measured by five different variables). Using a nationally representative survey of adult internet users in the United Kingdom (N = 2000), we find that those who are interested in politics and those with diverse media diets tend to avoid echo chambers. This work challenges the impact of echo chambers and tempers fears of partisan segregation since only a small segment of the population are likely to find themselves in an echo chamber. We argue that single media studies and studies which use narrow definitions and measurements of being in an echo chamber are flawed because they do not test the theory in the realistic context of a multiple media environment.

KEYWORDS: Echo chamber, high-choice media environment, political interest, media diversity, survey

Check also: Polarized Mass or Polarized Few? Assessing the Parallel Rise of Survey Nonresponse and Measures of Polarization. Amnon Cavari and Guy Freedman. The Journal of Politics, https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/03/polarized-mass-or-polarized-few.html

There is a small positive relation between service quality and percentage of a bill tipped; service quality was a stronger predictor of percentage of the bill tipped than food quality, frequency of patronage, and dining party size

Banks, G. C., Woznyj, H. M., Kepes, S., Batchelor, J. H. and McDaniel, M. A. (), A meta-analytic review of tipping compensation practices: An agency theory perspective. Personnel Psychology. Accepted Author Manuscript. doi:10.1111/peps.12261

Tipping represents a form of compensation valued at over $50 billion a year in the U.S. alone. Tipping can be used as an incentive mechanism to reduce a principal-agent problem. An agency problem occurs when the interests of a principal and agent are misaligned and it is challenging for the principal to monitor or control the activities of the agent. However, past research has been limited in the investigation of the extent to which tipping is effective at addressing this problem. Following an examination of 74 independent studies with 12,271 individuals, meta-analytic results indicate that there is a small, positive relation between service quality and percentage of a bill tipped (rho =.15 without outliers). Yet, in support of the idea behind tipping, relative weights analyses illustrate that service quality was a stronger predictor of percentage of the bill tipped than food quality, frequency of patronage, and dining party size. Evidence also suggests that racial minority servers tend to be tipped less than White servers (Cohen's d = .17), and females tend to be tipped more than males (Cohen's d = .15). Still, given the magnitude of the effect, one might question if tipping is an effective compensation practice to reduce the principal-agent problem. We discuss theoretical and practical implications for future research.

Only Bad for Believers? Religion, Pornography Use, and Sexual Satisfaction Among American Men

Only Bad for Believers? Religion, Pornography Use, and Sexual Satisfaction Among American Men. Perry, Samuel L., Whitehead, Andrew L. The Journal of Sex Research, https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2017.1423017

Abstract: Research has often demonstrated a negative association between pornography use and various intrapersonal and relationship outcomes, particularly for men. Several recent studies, however, have suggested that the negative association between pornography use and these indicators is stronger among more religious Americans, suggesting that moral incongruence (engaging in an activity that violates one’s sacred values) and the attendant shame or cognitive dissonance, rather than pornography use per se, may be the primary factor at work. The current study tested and extended this theory by examining how religion potentially moderates the link between pornography use and sexual satisfaction in a national random sample of American adults (N = 1,501). Analyses demonstrated that while pornography use was negatively associated with sexual satisfaction for American men (not women), among men who rarely attended religious services or held a low opinion of the Bible this negative association essentially disappeared. Conversely, the negative association between frequency of pornography consumption and sexual satisfaction was more pronounced for men with stronger ties to conventional religion. These findings suggest that the connection between pornography use and sexual satisfaction, especially for men, depends largely on what viewing pornography means to consumers and their moral community and less so on the practice itself.

Offspring sex ratio: Coital rates and other potential causal mechanisms

Offspring sex ratio: Coital rates and other potential causal mechanisms. William H.James, VictorGrech. Early Human Development, Volume 116, January 2018, Pages 24-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2017.10.006

Highlights
•    Sex ratios at birth (SRB) are elevated by increased coital rates.
•    Maternal stress induces male foetal losses.
•    Periconceptual parental hormone concentrations may influence SRB.
•    Understanding SRB influences may help understand causes of diseases with unusual SRB.
•    E.g.: testicular cancer, hepatitis B, Toxoplasma gondii and, perhaps, prostatic cancer

Abstract: In recent years, scientists have begun to pay serious attention to the hypothesis that human parental coital rates around the time of conception causally influences the sexes of subsequent births. In this paper, the grounds of the argument are outlined. The point is important because, if the hypothesis were credible, it can potentially explain one of the best established (and otherwise unexplained) epidemiological features of sex ratio at birth – its rises during and just after World Wars 1 and 2 insofar as increased coital rates increase the ratio. Moreover, the greater the understanding of the variations of sex ratio at birth, the greater will be the understanding of the causes of those selected diseases associated with unusual sex ratios at birth (testicular cancer, hepatitis B, Toxoplasma gondii, and, perhaps, prostatic cancer).

Our primary result is that collective bargaining rights lead to about a 27% increase in complaints of officer misconduct for the typical sheriff’s office

Dharmapala, Dhammika and McAdams, Richard H. and Rappaport, John, The Effect of Collective Bargaining Rights on Law Enforcement: Evidence from Florida (December 31, 2017). University of Chicago Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper No. 831; U of Chicago, Public Law Working Paper No. 655. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3095217

Abstract: Growing controversy surrounds the impact of labor unions on law enforcement behavior. Critics allege that unions impede organizational reform and insulate officers from discipline for misconduct. The only evidence of these effects, however, is anecdotal. We exploit a quasi-experiment in Florida to estimate the effects of collective bargaining rights on law enforcement misconduct and other outcomes of public concern. In 2003, the Florida Supreme Court’s Williams decision extended to county deputy sheriffs collective bargaining rights that municipal police officers had possessed for decades. We construct a comprehensive panel dataset of Florida law enforcement agencies starting in 1997, and employ a difference-in-difference approach that compares sheriffs’ offices and police departments before and after Williams. Our primary result is that collective bargaining rights lead to about a 27% increase in complaints of officer misconduct for the typical sheriff’s office. This result is robust to the inclusion of a variety of controls. The time pattern of the estimated effect, along with an analysis using agency-specific trends, suggests that it is not attributable to preexisting trends. The estimated effect of Williams is not robustly significant for other potential outcomes of interest, however, including the racial and gender composition of agencies and training and educational requirements.

Keywords: Collective bargaining rights; police unions; police misconduct; law enforcement

The effects of social priming, the voodoo theory of social psychology, manifested themselves only when the experiments weren't double blinded, exposing a self-fulfilling prophecy

The Role of Experimenter Belief in Social Priming. Thandiwe S. E. Gilder, Erin A. Heerey. Psychological Science, https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797617737128

Abstract: Research suggests that stimuli that prime social concepts can fundamentally alter people’s behavior. However, most researchers who conduct priming studies fail to explicitly report double-blind procedures. Because experimenter expectations may influence participant behavior, we asked whether a short pre-experiment interaction between participants and experimenters would contribute to priming effects when experimenters were not blind to participant condition. An initial double-blind experiment failed to demonstrate the expected effects of a social prime on executive cognition. To determine whether double-blind procedures caused this result, we independently manipulated participants’ exposure to a prime and experimenters’ belief about which prime participants received. Across four experiments, we found that experimenter belief, rather than prime condition, altered participant behavior. Experimenter belief also altered participants’ perceptions of their experimenter, suggesting that differences in experimenter behavior across conditions caused the effect. Findings reinforce double-blind designs as experimental best practice and suggest that people’s prior beliefs have important consequences for shaping behavior with an interaction partner.

Keywords: social power, priming, experimenter effects, open data, preregistered

h/t: Rolf Degen https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/958243341338054657

Participants reported feeling younger than they actually were and wanting to be younger than their chronological age

Subjective Age and Its Correlates Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults. Shiri Shinan-Altman, Perla Werner. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development, https://doi.org/10.1177/0091415017752941

Abstract: The present study evaluates discrepancies in subjective age as reported by middle-age persons (aged 44–64 years) in comparison to older adults (aged 65 years and older), using a multidimensional definition of the concept. A convenience sample of 126 middle-aged and 126 older adults completed subjective age measures (felt age, desired age, and perceived old age), attitudes toward older adults, knowledge about aging, and sociodemographic questionnaires. Overall, participants reported feeling younger than they actually were and wanting to be younger than their chronological age. Perceived mean for old age was about 69 years. Discrepancies in felt age and desired age were significantly larger for the older group compared to the middle-aged group. Regarding perceived old age, compared to the younger group, older adults reported that old age begins at an older age. Findings suggest that middle-aged and older adults’ perceptions regarding themselves and regarding old age in general are independent and need, therefore, separate research and practical attention.

Keywords: subjective age, older adults, middle aged

Men’s and Women’s Youngest and Oldest Considered and Actual Sex Partners

Antfolk, Jan, 2018. “Men’s and Women’s Youngest and Oldest Considered and Actual Sex Partners”. PsyArXiv. January 29. doi:10.1177/1474704917690401

Abstract: Whereas women prefer slightly older sexual partners, men—regardless of their age—have a preference for women in their twenties. Earlier research has suggested that this difference between the sexes’ age preferences is resolved according to women’s preferences. Earlier research has not, however, sufficiently considered that the age-range of considered partners might change over the life span. Here, we investigated the age limits (youngest and oldest) of considered and actual sex partners in a population-based sample of 2,655 adults (aged 18-50 years). Over the investigated age span, women reported a narrower age-range than men and women tended to prefer slightly older men. We also show that men’s age-range widens as they get older: While they continue to consider sex with young women, men also consider sex with women their own age or older. Contrary to earlier suggestions, men’s sexual activity thus reflects also their own age-range, although their potential interest in younger women is not likely converted into sexual activity. Compared to homosexual men, bisexual and heterosexual men were more unlikely to convert young preferences into actual behavior, supporting female-choice theory.

Participants liked targets less, were less romantically interested in targets, and rated targets as less attractive after discovering political dissimilarity with them

Mallinas, Stephanie, Jarret Crawford, and Shana Cole 2018. “Political Opposites Do Not Attract: The Effects of Ideological Dissimilarity on Impression Formation”. PsyArXiv. January 29. psyarxiv.com/p3j8v

Abstract: Past research shows that people like others who are similar to themselves, and that political partisans tend to dislike those with opposing viewpoints. Two studies examined how initial person impressions changed after discovering that the target held similar or dissimilar political beliefs. Using potential mates as targets, we found that participants liked targets less, were less romantically interested in targets, and rated targets as less attractive after discovering political dissimilarity with them. Further, they became more uncomfortable with targets after discovering ideological dissimilarity. Theoretical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

In women, pleasure prioritization & sexual agency are associated with lower odds of performing undesired sexual acts to please a partner—and sexual agency is associated with lower odds of succumbing to verbal pressure for intercourse

“Bad Girls” Say No and “Good Girls” Say Yes: Sexual Subjectivity and Participation in Undesired Sex During Heterosexual College Hookups. Heather Hensman Kettrey. Sexuality & Culture, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12119-018-9498-2

Abstract: Young people’s sexuality is often discursively constructed within the confines of a masculine/feminine binary that minimizes young women’s sexual subjectivity (i.e., desire, pleasure, and agency) while taking young men’s subjectivity for granted. Accordingly, young women who acknowledge themselves as sexual subjects are constructed as “bad girls” who incite males’ purportedly uncontrollable desire and, thus, invite undesired sexual attention. However, there is reason to hypothesize that young women who view themselves as sexual subjects may be less likely than other women to engage in undesired sexual activity (i.e., sex that their partners desire, but they do not desire for themselves). In this study, I used data from the Online College Social Life Survey (N = 7255) to explore relationships between two measures of sexual subjectivity (i.e., pleasure prioritization and sexual agency) and college women’s participation in undesired sexual activity during hookups (i.e., performance of undesired sexual acts to please a partner and succumbing to verbal pressure for intercourse). Logistic regression analyses suggest that pleasure prioritization and sexual agency are associated with lower odds of performing undesired sexual acts to please a partner—and sexual agency is associated with lower odds of succumbing to verbal pressure for intercourse. These findings point to the importance of sexuality education that includes discussions of women’s sexual subjectivity.

Consciousness of the Future as a Matrix of Maybe: Pragmatic Prospection and the Simulation of Alternative Possibilities

Baumeister, Roy, Heather M Maranges, and Hallgeir Sjåstad 2018. “Consciousness of the Future as a Matrix of Maybe: Pragmatic Prospection and the Simulation of Alternative Possibilities.”. PsyArXiv. January 29. psyarxiv.com/a3r7h

Abstract: Thinking about the future highlights the constructive nature of consciousness, as opposed to merely representing what is there — because the future is not yet available to be seen. We elaborate this point to emphasize how consciousness deals in alternative possibilities, and indeed preconscious interpretation confers meaning by recognizing these alternatives. Crucially, the goal of prospection is less to predict what is sure to happen than to prepare for action in situations defined by sets of incompatible alternative options, each of which might or might not come true. We review multiple lines of evidence indicating that people conceptualize the future as just such a matrix of maybe. Thus, people think of the future as highly changeable. Most prospective thinking involves planning, which is designed to bring about one outcome rather than alternatives. Optimism may often reflect an initial, automatic response that is soon followed by conscious appreciation of obstacles and other factors that can produce less desired, alternative outcomes. People moralize the future more than the past, presumably to promote the more desirable outcomes. Anticipated emotion helps people evaluate future possible outcomes. People specifically anticipate the matrix of maybe and sometimes seek to preserve multiplicity of options. We integrate these patterns of findings with a pragmatic theory of prospection: Thinking of the future as a multi-maybe matrix is useful for guiding action.

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Recent laboratory work provides further evidence that it takes the power of conscious human thought to project the future as a matrix of maybe. Redshaw and Suddendorf (2016) provided dramatic evidence that human children far surpass adult nonhuman apes on this. Their apparatus was a tube shaped like an inverted Y. Thus, a ball or grape was dropped into the top and could come out either opening at the bottom. Either the participant caught it or it was gone. One could guess by holding one’s hand under either of the openings, thereby succeeding about half the time — or one could use both hands to cover both openings, thereby succeeding 100% of the time. Two-year-old human children failed to solve this, but three-year-olds and older children all soon achieved the perfect solution and caught the ball on every subsequent trial. In contrast, chimpanzees and orangutans never solved it. In fact, a couple of them stumbled by accident on the correct solution, happening to use both hands and catching the treat — but they failed to learn even from this success and on the next trial went back to one-hand guessing. Thus, success at this task required adjusting one’s behavior to the fact that two different outcomes are possible, and this was apparently beyond the mental powers of the smartest nonhuman primates, whereas human children could all figure it out. Human children could understand the future as multiple different maybes, but grownup apes apparently cannot think that way.