What's in a blush? Physiological blushing reveals narcissistic children's social‐evaluative concerns. Eddie Brummelman, Milica Nikolic, Susan M. Bögels. Psychophysiology, https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.13201
Abstract: Physiological responses can reveal emotional states that individuals are unwilling to admit to others. Here, we studied what blushing reveals about the emotional states of narcissistic children. Narcissistic children (i.e., those high on the personality trait of narcissism) have a pervasive sense of grandiosity. We theorized that narcissistic children are so invested in their sense of grandiosity that even modest praise can make them feel depreciated. Because narcissistic children may not admit this feeling to others, we measured their physiological blushing: an involuntary reddening of the face that occurs when individuals anticipate being depreciated. Unlike other emotional expressions, blushing cannot be faked. Children (N = 105, ages 7–12) completed the Childhood Narcissism Scale and were then invited to sing a song on stage. They were randomly assigned to receive inflated praise (e.g., “You sang incredibly well!”), modest praise (“You sang well!”), or no praise for their performance. Blushing was recorded using photoplethysmography and temperature sensing. Afterward, children were asked how much they thought they had blushed. As predicted, narcissistic children—unlike nonnarcissistic children—blushed when they received modest praise, not when they received inflated praise. Specifically, they showed increased blood volume pulse (i.e., fast changes in blood volume with each heartbeat). Strikingly, when asked, narcissistic children denied blushing, perhaps to hide their vulnerabilities. Thus, blushing revealed social‐evaluative concerns that narcissistic children wished to keep private.
Monday, June 11, 2018
Cycle of Violence: Although we were able to replicate her original results, the link between childhood physical abuse and violence in adulthood failed to survive our robustness checks. Childhood neglect is the most robust predictor of adult violence
Revisiting a Criminological Classic: The Cycle of Violence. Wesley Myers et al. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, https://doi.org/10.1177/1043986218770003
Abstract: There is a growing “replication crisis” in the social and behavioral sciences, where original research across a wide array of substantive areas has failed to replicate when conducted by others. This problem highlights the importance of carefully revisiting original research—particularly studies that have exerted a significant influence over the field. Accordingly, in the present study, we subject Widom’s classic work, “The Cycle of Violence,” to a rigorous empirical reproduction and extension. We subjected her original data to alternative analytic techniques and to different measurement strategies and model specifications. Our results indicated that although we were able to replicate her original results, the link between childhood physical abuse and violence in adulthood failed to survive the robustness checks we conducted. Instead, childhood neglect emerged as the most robust predictor of adult violence.
Keywords: cycle of violence, replication, child abuse, neglect
Abstract: There is a growing “replication crisis” in the social and behavioral sciences, where original research across a wide array of substantive areas has failed to replicate when conducted by others. This problem highlights the importance of carefully revisiting original research—particularly studies that have exerted a significant influence over the field. Accordingly, in the present study, we subject Widom’s classic work, “The Cycle of Violence,” to a rigorous empirical reproduction and extension. We subjected her original data to alternative analytic techniques and to different measurement strategies and model specifications. Our results indicated that although we were able to replicate her original results, the link between childhood physical abuse and violence in adulthood failed to survive the robustness checks we conducted. Instead, childhood neglect emerged as the most robust predictor of adult violence.
Keywords: cycle of violence, replication, child abuse, neglect
What, if any, the hidden costs of overcoming the temptation to cheat are? As stakes rise, participants resist the temptation to cheat but they are giving less to charity. Donors who indicated that they felt more moral gave less in high stakes condition
High stakes: A little more cheating, a lot less charity. Zoe Rahwan et al. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2018.04.021
Highlights
• We explore what, if any, the hidden costs of overcoming the temptation to cheat are.
• As stakes rise, participants resist the temptation to cheat but they are giving less to charity.
• Donors who indicated that they felt more moral gave less in high stakes condition.
• Participants who cheated the most were most likely to report feeling less moral at a one-day follow-up, but they thought they were less prone to feeling immoral if they cheated.
Abstract: We explore the downstream consequences of cheating–and resisting the temptation to cheat–at high stakes on pro-social behaviour and self-perceptions. In a large online sample, we replicate the seminal finding that cheating rates are largely insensitive to stake size, even at a 500-fold increase. We present two new findings. First, resisting the temptation to cheat at high stakes led to negative moral spill-over, triggering a moral license: participants who resisted cheating in the high stakes condition subsequently donated a smaller fraction of their earnings to charity. Second, participants who cheated maximally mispredicted their perceived morality: although such participants thought they were less prone to feeling immoral if they cheated, they ended up feeling more immoral a day after the cheating task than immediately afterwards. We discuss the theoretical implications of our findings on moral balancing and self-deception, and the practical relevance for organisational design.
Keywords: Cheating; Incentives; Moral licensing; Moral self-perceptions; Pro-social behaviour
---
Moral Licensing: When Doing Good Frees You to Do Bad. Timothy Taylor conversableeconomist.blogspot.com/2018/08/moral-licensing-when-doing-good-frees.html >>> h/t: R R
Highlights
• We explore what, if any, the hidden costs of overcoming the temptation to cheat are.
• As stakes rise, participants resist the temptation to cheat but they are giving less to charity.
• Donors who indicated that they felt more moral gave less in high stakes condition.
• Participants who cheated the most were most likely to report feeling less moral at a one-day follow-up, but they thought they were less prone to feeling immoral if they cheated.
Abstract: We explore the downstream consequences of cheating–and resisting the temptation to cheat–at high stakes on pro-social behaviour and self-perceptions. In a large online sample, we replicate the seminal finding that cheating rates are largely insensitive to stake size, even at a 500-fold increase. We present two new findings. First, resisting the temptation to cheat at high stakes led to negative moral spill-over, triggering a moral license: participants who resisted cheating in the high stakes condition subsequently donated a smaller fraction of their earnings to charity. Second, participants who cheated maximally mispredicted their perceived morality: although such participants thought they were less prone to feeling immoral if they cheated, they ended up feeling more immoral a day after the cheating task than immediately afterwards. We discuss the theoretical implications of our findings on moral balancing and self-deception, and the practical relevance for organisational design.
Keywords: Cheating; Incentives; Moral licensing; Moral self-perceptions; Pro-social behaviour
---
Moral Licensing: When Doing Good Frees You to Do Bad. Timothy Taylor conversableeconomist.blogspot.com/2018/08/moral-licensing-when-doing-good-frees.html >>> h/t: R R
While 4-year olds provided help when it did not cost them, their inclination to do so was significantly diminished when it incurred a personal cost
The cost of helping: An exploration of compassionate responding in children. Mitchell Green, James N. Kirby, Mark Nielsen. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1111/bjdp.12252
Abstract: Children engage in prosocial behaviour from an early age. Whether children will reliably provide compassionate help to a suffering individual is unclear. To investigate this, 73 4‐years‐olds were presented with three novel tasks in which they and a puppet had opportunity to win stickers by completing respective versions of the same tasks. In all cases, the puppets were unable to complete their tasks. The puppets ‘reacted’ by being either upset or not upset. While children provided help when it did not cost them, their inclination to do so was significantly diminished when it incurred a personal cost.
Abstract: Children engage in prosocial behaviour from an early age. Whether children will reliably provide compassionate help to a suffering individual is unclear. To investigate this, 73 4‐years‐olds were presented with three novel tasks in which they and a puppet had opportunity to win stickers by completing respective versions of the same tasks. In all cases, the puppets were unable to complete their tasks. The puppets ‘reacted’ by being either upset or not upset. While children provided help when it did not cost them, their inclination to do so was significantly diminished when it incurred a personal cost.
Sunday, June 10, 2018
Temporarily Loading Visual Attention Induces Prolonged Inattentional Anosmia
Forster, S, and CJ Spence. 2018. “‘What Smell?’ Temporarily Loading Visual Attention Induces Prolonged Inattentional Anosmia.” Psychological Science, https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/pubs:844930
Abstract: Humans have a highly sensitive sense of smell capable of detecting a range of important biological signals. Yet, anecdotal evidence suggests that we commonly fail to notice supra-threshold environmental olfactory stimuli. The determinants of olfactory awareness are, as yet, unknown. Here, we adapted the ‘inattentional blindness’ paradigm, to test whether olfactory awareness is dependent on attention. Across three experiments, participants performed a visual search task with either a high or low perceptual load (a well-established attentional manipulation) while exposed to an ambient coffee aroma. Consistent with our hypothesis, task load modulated olfactory awareness: 42.5% fewer participants in the high (vs. low) load condition reported noticing the coffee aroma. Our final experiment demonstrates that, due to the unique characteristics of olfactory habituation, the consequences of inattentional anosmia can persist even once attention becomes available. These findings establish the phenomenon of inattentional anosmia, and have applied implications for predicting when people may miss potentially important olfactory information.
Abstract: Humans have a highly sensitive sense of smell capable of detecting a range of important biological signals. Yet, anecdotal evidence suggests that we commonly fail to notice supra-threshold environmental olfactory stimuli. The determinants of olfactory awareness are, as yet, unknown. Here, we adapted the ‘inattentional blindness’ paradigm, to test whether olfactory awareness is dependent on attention. Across three experiments, participants performed a visual search task with either a high or low perceptual load (a well-established attentional manipulation) while exposed to an ambient coffee aroma. Consistent with our hypothesis, task load modulated olfactory awareness: 42.5% fewer participants in the high (vs. low) load condition reported noticing the coffee aroma. Our final experiment demonstrates that, due to the unique characteristics of olfactory habituation, the consequences of inattentional anosmia can persist even once attention becomes available. These findings establish the phenomenon of inattentional anosmia, and have applied implications for predicting when people may miss potentially important olfactory information.
Saturday, June 9, 2018
Chimpanzees are highly motivated to copy the behaviour of subordinate demonstrators and innovators; but behaviours seeded by dominant individuals were not transmitted as faithfully
Factors shaping social learning in chimpanzees. Stuart K. Watson. A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/12781
Abstract: Culture is an important means by which both human and non-human animals transmit useful behaviours between individuals and generations. Amongst animals, chimpanzees live particularly varied cultural lives. However, the processes and factors that influence whether chimpanzees will be motivated to copy an observed behaviour are poorly understood. In this thesis, I explore various factors and their influence on social learning decisions in chimpanzees. In turn, the chapters examine the influence of (i) rank-bias towards copying dominant individuals, (ii) majority and contextual influences and finally (iii) individual differences in proclivity for social learning. In my first experiment, I found evidence that chimpanzees are highly motivated to copy the behaviour of subordinate demonstrators and innovators in an open - diffusion puzzle - box paradigm. In contrast, behaviours seeded by dominant individuals were not transmitted as faithfully. This finding has important implications for our understanding of the emergence of novel traditions. In my second experiment, I found that some chimpanzees are highly motivated to relinquish an existing behaviour to adopt an equally rewarding alternative if it is consistently demonstrated by just one or two individuals within a group context, but not in a dyadic context. This contrasts with prior studies which argue that chimpanzees are highly conservativ e and may hint at a hitherto unrecognised process by which conformity-like behaviour might occur. Finally, I performed a novel type of ‘meta’ analysis on 16 social learning studies carried out at our research site to determine whether individuals demonstra ted consistency in their social learning behaviour across experimental contexts. Strong evidence for individual differences in social information use was found, with females more likely to use social information than males. No effect of age, research exper ience or rearing history was found. This presents a promising new method of studying individual differences in behaviour using the accumulated findings of previous work at a study site.
Abstract: Culture is an important means by which both human and non-human animals transmit useful behaviours between individuals and generations. Amongst animals, chimpanzees live particularly varied cultural lives. However, the processes and factors that influence whether chimpanzees will be motivated to copy an observed behaviour are poorly understood. In this thesis, I explore various factors and their influence on social learning decisions in chimpanzees. In turn, the chapters examine the influence of (i) rank-bias towards copying dominant individuals, (ii) majority and contextual influences and finally (iii) individual differences in proclivity for social learning. In my first experiment, I found evidence that chimpanzees are highly motivated to copy the behaviour of subordinate demonstrators and innovators in an open - diffusion puzzle - box paradigm. In contrast, behaviours seeded by dominant individuals were not transmitted as faithfully. This finding has important implications for our understanding of the emergence of novel traditions. In my second experiment, I found that some chimpanzees are highly motivated to relinquish an existing behaviour to adopt an equally rewarding alternative if it is consistently demonstrated by just one or two individuals within a group context, but not in a dyadic context. This contrasts with prior studies which argue that chimpanzees are highly conservativ e and may hint at a hitherto unrecognised process by which conformity-like behaviour might occur. Finally, I performed a novel type of ‘meta’ analysis on 16 social learning studies carried out at our research site to determine whether individuals demonstra ted consistency in their social learning behaviour across experimental contexts. Strong evidence for individual differences in social information use was found, with females more likely to use social information than males. No effect of age, research exper ience or rearing history was found. This presents a promising new method of studying individual differences in behaviour using the accumulated findings of previous work at a study site.
No evidence that mate choice in humans is dependent on the major histocompatibility complex (MHC)
No evidence that mate choice in humans is dependent on the MHC. Mircea Cretu Stancu, Wigard Kloosterman, Sara L Pulit. bioRxiv, doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/339028
Abstract: A long-standing hypothesis in biology proposes that various species select mates with a major histocompatibility complex (MHC) composition divergent from their own, so as to improve immune response in offspring. However, human and animal studies investigating this mate selection hypothesis have returned inconsistent results. Here, we analyze 239 mate-pairs of Dutch ancestry, all with whole-genome sequence data collected by the Genome of the Netherlands project, to investigate whether mate selection in humans is MHC dependent. We find no evidence for MHC-mediated mate selection in this sample (with an average MHC genetic similarity in mate pairs (Qc) = 0.829; permutation-based p = 0.703). Limiting the analysis to only common variation or considering the extended MHC region does not change our findings (Qc = 0.671, p = 0.513; and Qc = 0.844, p = 0.696, respectively). We demonstrate that the MHC in mate-pairs is no more genetically dissimilar (on average) than a pair of two randomly selected individuals, and conclude that there is no evidence to suggest that mate choice is influenced by genetic variation in the MHC.
Abstract: A long-standing hypothesis in biology proposes that various species select mates with a major histocompatibility complex (MHC) composition divergent from their own, so as to improve immune response in offspring. However, human and animal studies investigating this mate selection hypothesis have returned inconsistent results. Here, we analyze 239 mate-pairs of Dutch ancestry, all with whole-genome sequence data collected by the Genome of the Netherlands project, to investigate whether mate selection in humans is MHC dependent. We find no evidence for MHC-mediated mate selection in this sample (with an average MHC genetic similarity in mate pairs (Qc) = 0.829; permutation-based p = 0.703). Limiting the analysis to only common variation or considering the extended MHC region does not change our findings (Qc = 0.671, p = 0.513; and Qc = 0.844, p = 0.696, respectively). We demonstrate that the MHC in mate-pairs is no more genetically dissimilar (on average) than a pair of two randomly selected individuals, and conclude that there is no evidence to suggest that mate choice is influenced by genetic variation in the MHC.
Depleted feelings were correlated with being young, female, politically non-extreme, less well educated, having pain/illness, & with finding life less meaningful, & with multitasking and hurrying. They increased across the day & droppped after meal times, attesting to the value of food & sleep
Self-Control “In the Wild”: Experience Sampling Study of Trait and State Self-Regulation. Roy F. Baumeister, Bradley R.E. Wright, David Carreon. Self & Identity, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325405317_Self-Control_in_the_Wild_in_press
Abstract: An experience sampling study with a large community sample (N=3,327) furnished data on trait and state self-control in everyday life. State measures were self-reports of ego-depleting events (restraining self, effortful decisions, and pushing self to do unwanted tasks) and feelings of depletion (emotional overreactions, difficulty making up mind, less mental energy). People with high trait self-control reported fewer such feelings and events than others. Poor sleep quality and interpersonal conflict were strong predictors of depleted feelings, and indeed the combination of very poor sleep and high interpersonal conflict led to a dramatic spike in reports of extremely depleted feelings. Depleted feelings were positively correlated with being young, female, politically non-extreme, and less well educated, and with finding life less meaningful, as well as with multitasking and hurrying. They increased across the day despite drops after meal times, thus attesting to the value of food and sleep. Pain and illness also raised them. Among other implications, the data suggest a composite picture of the daily life of someone with low trait self-control: frequently rushing and hurrying, not thinking about what they are doing, and just responding automatically to the current situation, as well as suffering aftereffects of interpersonal conflict and poor quality sleep.
KEYWORDS: self-control, self-regulation, ego depletion, interpersonal conflict, sleep
Abstract: An experience sampling study with a large community sample (N=3,327) furnished data on trait and state self-control in everyday life. State measures were self-reports of ego-depleting events (restraining self, effortful decisions, and pushing self to do unwanted tasks) and feelings of depletion (emotional overreactions, difficulty making up mind, less mental energy). People with high trait self-control reported fewer such feelings and events than others. Poor sleep quality and interpersonal conflict were strong predictors of depleted feelings, and indeed the combination of very poor sleep and high interpersonal conflict led to a dramatic spike in reports of extremely depleted feelings. Depleted feelings were positively correlated with being young, female, politically non-extreme, and less well educated, and with finding life less meaningful, as well as with multitasking and hurrying. They increased across the day despite drops after meal times, thus attesting to the value of food and sleep. Pain and illness also raised them. Among other implications, the data suggest a composite picture of the daily life of someone with low trait self-control: frequently rushing and hurrying, not thinking about what they are doing, and just responding automatically to the current situation, as well as suffering aftereffects of interpersonal conflict and poor quality sleep.
KEYWORDS: self-control, self-regulation, ego depletion, interpersonal conflict, sleep
We present multiple lines of direct and indirect evidence showing that both an increased prenatal androgen load and increased adult androgen activity are involved in suicide completion
The androgen model of suicide completion. Bernd Lenz et al. Progress in Neurobiology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pneurobio.2018.06.003
Highlights
• Hitherto, no objective markers, either alone or in combination, can reliably predict who will complete a suicide.
• Organizational and activational androgen effects are implicated in the transition from suicidal ideation to suicide completion.
• Prenatal androgen-induced neurodevelopmental aspects contribute to the risk for suicide completion later in life.
• Modifiable maternal behavioral traits during pregnancy influence the offspring’s prenatal androgen load and may increase the risk for suicide completion later in life.
• The novel ideation-to-completion framework in suicide research and the androgen model of suicide completion provide the basis for the development of predictive and preventive strategies in the future.
Abstract
Suicide is a devastating public health issue that imposes severe psychological, social, and economic burdens not only for the individuals but also for their relatives, friends, clinicians, and the general public. Among the different suicidal behaviors, suicide completion is the worst and the most relevant outcome. The knowledge of biological etiopathological mechanisms involved in suicide completion is limited. Hitherto, no objective markers, either alone or in combination, can reliably predict who will complete a suicide. However, such parameters are strongly needed to establish and optimize prediction and prevention.
We introduce here a novel ideation-to-completion framework in suicide research and discuss the problems of studies aiming at identifying and validating clinically useful markers. The male gender is a specific risk factor for suicide, which suggests that androgen effects are implicated in the transition from suicidal ideation to suicide completion. We present multiple lines of direct and indirect evidence showing that both an increased prenatal androgen load (with subsequent permanent neuroadaptations) and increased adult androgen activity are involved in suicide completion. We also review data arguing that modifiable maternal behavioral traits during pregnancy contribute to the offspring’s prenatal androgen load and increase the risk for suicide completion later in life.
We conclude that in utero androgen exposure and adult androgen levels facilitate suicide completion in an additive manner. The androgen model of suicide completion provides the basis for the development of novel predictive and preventive strategies in the future.
Abbreviations: AAS, anabolic-androgenic steroids; BDNF, brain derived neurotrophic factor; BMI, body mass index; CSF, cerebrospinal fluid; DHEA, dehydroepiandrosterone; DSM, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; HPA, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal; HPG, hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal; HR, hazard ratio; ICD, International Classification of Diseases; NGFI-A, nerve growth factor-induced protein A; OR, odds ratio; PMDD, premenstrual dysphoric disorder; PMS, premenstrual syndrome; PTSD, posttraumatic stress disorder; SD, standard deviation; WHO, World Health Organization; YMRS, Young Mania Rating Scale; 2D:4D ratio, second-to-fourth-finger length ratio; 5HTTPR, 5-hydroxytryptamine transporter
Keywords: Prenatal androgen exposure; 2D:4D; suicide; suicidal ideation; suicide attempt; suicide completion; sex hormones; testosterone; androgens; brain organization; ideation-to-completion framework in suicide research
Highlights
• Hitherto, no objective markers, either alone or in combination, can reliably predict who will complete a suicide.
• Organizational and activational androgen effects are implicated in the transition from suicidal ideation to suicide completion.
• Prenatal androgen-induced neurodevelopmental aspects contribute to the risk for suicide completion later in life.
• Modifiable maternal behavioral traits during pregnancy influence the offspring’s prenatal androgen load and may increase the risk for suicide completion later in life.
• The novel ideation-to-completion framework in suicide research and the androgen model of suicide completion provide the basis for the development of predictive and preventive strategies in the future.
Abstract
Suicide is a devastating public health issue that imposes severe psychological, social, and economic burdens not only for the individuals but also for their relatives, friends, clinicians, and the general public. Among the different suicidal behaviors, suicide completion is the worst and the most relevant outcome. The knowledge of biological etiopathological mechanisms involved in suicide completion is limited. Hitherto, no objective markers, either alone or in combination, can reliably predict who will complete a suicide. However, such parameters are strongly needed to establish and optimize prediction and prevention.
We introduce here a novel ideation-to-completion framework in suicide research and discuss the problems of studies aiming at identifying and validating clinically useful markers. The male gender is a specific risk factor for suicide, which suggests that androgen effects are implicated in the transition from suicidal ideation to suicide completion. We present multiple lines of direct and indirect evidence showing that both an increased prenatal androgen load (with subsequent permanent neuroadaptations) and increased adult androgen activity are involved in suicide completion. We also review data arguing that modifiable maternal behavioral traits during pregnancy contribute to the offspring’s prenatal androgen load and increase the risk for suicide completion later in life.
We conclude that in utero androgen exposure and adult androgen levels facilitate suicide completion in an additive manner. The androgen model of suicide completion provides the basis for the development of novel predictive and preventive strategies in the future.
Abbreviations: AAS, anabolic-androgenic steroids; BDNF, brain derived neurotrophic factor; BMI, body mass index; CSF, cerebrospinal fluid; DHEA, dehydroepiandrosterone; DSM, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; HPA, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal; HPG, hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal; HR, hazard ratio; ICD, International Classification of Diseases; NGFI-A, nerve growth factor-induced protein A; OR, odds ratio; PMDD, premenstrual dysphoric disorder; PMS, premenstrual syndrome; PTSD, posttraumatic stress disorder; SD, standard deviation; WHO, World Health Organization; YMRS, Young Mania Rating Scale; 2D:4D ratio, second-to-fourth-finger length ratio; 5HTTPR, 5-hydroxytryptamine transporter
Keywords: Prenatal androgen exposure; 2D:4D; suicide; suicidal ideation; suicide attempt; suicide completion; sex hormones; testosterone; androgens; brain organization; ideation-to-completion framework in suicide research
Friday, June 8, 2018
The Politics and the Demographics of Veganism: Prevalence of female gender, leftist political inclinations and atheism within the vegan community
The Politics and the Demographics of Veganism: Notes for a Critical Analysis. Dario Martinelli, Aušra Berkmanienė. International Journal for the Semiotics of Law, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11196-018-9543-3
Abstract: The present essay aims to offer some reflections concerning the cultural and political aspects of veganism, on the basis of the available surveys and statistics, plus some more gathered by the authors—with the tools of different methodologies, including the semiotic one. After an introduction to veganism as phenomenon and movement, with general reflections and also a number of specific data, the essay proceeds to focus on the more political aspects, with an emphasis on some of the most intriguing and multifaceted data, such as the prevalence of female gender, leftist political inclinations and atheism within the vegan community. While the first connection has already been widely discussed (and to our mind, proved) since the times of Adams (The sexual politics of meat: a feminist-vegetarian critical theory, Continuum, New York, 1990), much less has been said (particularly at academic level) about the significance leftist ideologies and atheism within veganism. Moreover, within the domain of semiotics, this topic is entirely unexplored.
Abstract: The present essay aims to offer some reflections concerning the cultural and political aspects of veganism, on the basis of the available surveys and statistics, plus some more gathered by the authors—with the tools of different methodologies, including the semiotic one. After an introduction to veganism as phenomenon and movement, with general reflections and also a number of specific data, the essay proceeds to focus on the more political aspects, with an emphasis on some of the most intriguing and multifaceted data, such as the prevalence of female gender, leftist political inclinations and atheism within the vegan community. While the first connection has already been widely discussed (and to our mind, proved) since the times of Adams (The sexual politics of meat: a feminist-vegetarian critical theory, Continuum, New York, 1990), much less has been said (particularly at academic level) about the significance leftist ideologies and atheism within veganism. Moreover, within the domain of semiotics, this topic is entirely unexplored.
Do men with more masculine voices have better immunocompetence?
Do men with more masculine voices have better immunocompetence? Steven Arnocky et al. Evolution and Human Behavior, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2018.06.003
Abstract: The human voice is often considered to be a secondary sexual characteristic that signals underlying information about the immunocompetence of the speaker (i.e. the immunocompetence handicap hypothesis; ICHH). However, no studies have yet shown a relationship between vocal characteristics and biomarkers of immune function or self-reported health. In a sample of 108 men, we examined correlations between masculine vocal characteristics [i.e. relatively low fundamental frequency (F0), low F0 variability (F0-SD), low formant position (Pf), and high vocal tract length (VTL)] in relation to salivary immunoglobulin-A (sIgA; a marker of mucosal immunity), testosterone (T), and well-validated measures of self-reported health status. Results showed that sIgA correlated with masculinized F0, Pf, and VTL. Self-report health correlated with masculinized Pf and VTL. Anticipated future health correlated negatively with F0-SD and sick role propensity (less interference of illness in daily life) correlated positively with VTL. Perceived susceptibility to infection correlated with more feminized F0 and F0-SD. Our results demonstrated a small but consistent relationship between men's vocal characteristics and one putative indicator of mucosal immunity along with self-identified health status. We suggest that more research is warranted to determine whether the masculinity of men's voices may serve as an indicator of their phenotypic quality.
Abstract: The human voice is often considered to be a secondary sexual characteristic that signals underlying information about the immunocompetence of the speaker (i.e. the immunocompetence handicap hypothesis; ICHH). However, no studies have yet shown a relationship between vocal characteristics and biomarkers of immune function or self-reported health. In a sample of 108 men, we examined correlations between masculine vocal characteristics [i.e. relatively low fundamental frequency (F0), low F0 variability (F0-SD), low formant position (Pf), and high vocal tract length (VTL)] in relation to salivary immunoglobulin-A (sIgA; a marker of mucosal immunity), testosterone (T), and well-validated measures of self-reported health status. Results showed that sIgA correlated with masculinized F0, Pf, and VTL. Self-report health correlated with masculinized Pf and VTL. Anticipated future health correlated negatively with F0-SD and sick role propensity (less interference of illness in daily life) correlated positively with VTL. Perceived susceptibility to infection correlated with more feminized F0 and F0-SD. Our results demonstrated a small but consistent relationship between men's vocal characteristics and one putative indicator of mucosal immunity along with self-identified health status. We suggest that more research is warranted to determine whether the masculinity of men's voices may serve as an indicator of their phenotypic quality.
Why are background telephone conversations distracting? Because of the tendency to predict the unheard part of the conversation
Marsh, J. E., Ljung, R., Jahncke, H., MacCutcheon, D., Pausch, F., Ball, L. J., & Vachon, F. (2018). Why are background telephone conversations distracting? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 24(2), 222-235. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xap0000170
Abstract: Telephone conversation is ubiquitous within the office setting. Overhearing a telephone conversation—whereby only one of the two speakers is heard—is subjectively more annoying and objectively more distracting than overhearing a full conversation. The present study sought to determine whether this “halfalogue” effect is attributable to unexpected offsets and onsets within the background speech (acoustic unexpectedness) or to the tendency to predict the unheard part of the conversation (semantic [un]predictability), and whether these effects can be shielded against through top-down cognitive control. In Experiment 1, participants performed an office-related task in quiet or in the presence of halfalogue and dialogue background speech. Irrelevant speech was either meaningful or meaningless speech. The halfalogue effect was only present for the meaningful speech condition. Experiment 2 addressed whether higher task-engagement could shield against the halfalogue effect by manipulating the font of the to-be-read material. Although the halfalogue effect was found with an easy-to-read font (fluent text), the use of a difficult-to-read font (disfluent text) eliminated the effect. The halfalogue effect is thus attributable to the semantic (un)predictability, not the acoustic unexpectedness, of background telephone conversation and can be prevented by simple means such as increasing the level of engagement required by the focal task.
Abstract: Telephone conversation is ubiquitous within the office setting. Overhearing a telephone conversation—whereby only one of the two speakers is heard—is subjectively more annoying and objectively more distracting than overhearing a full conversation. The present study sought to determine whether this “halfalogue” effect is attributable to unexpected offsets and onsets within the background speech (acoustic unexpectedness) or to the tendency to predict the unheard part of the conversation (semantic [un]predictability), and whether these effects can be shielded against through top-down cognitive control. In Experiment 1, participants performed an office-related task in quiet or in the presence of halfalogue and dialogue background speech. Irrelevant speech was either meaningful or meaningless speech. The halfalogue effect was only present for the meaningful speech condition. Experiment 2 addressed whether higher task-engagement could shield against the halfalogue effect by manipulating the font of the to-be-read material. Although the halfalogue effect was found with an easy-to-read font (fluent text), the use of a difficult-to-read font (disfluent text) eliminated the effect. The halfalogue effect is thus attributable to the semantic (un)predictability, not the acoustic unexpectedness, of background telephone conversation and can be prevented by simple means such as increasing the level of engagement required by the focal task.
Football & Fathers: Higher pregame testosterone levels made more likely to report that referees were biased against their children’s teams, & pre- to postgame testosterone elevation was predicted by watching sons compete rather than daughters as well as perceptions of unfair officiating
Steroid HormonViewe Reactivity in Fathers Watching Their Children Compete. Louis Calistro Alvarado, Martin N. Muller, Melissa A. Eaton, Melissa Emery Thompson. Human Nature, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12110-018-9318-2
Abstract: This study examines steroid production in fathers watching their children compete, extending previous research of vicarious success or failure on men’s hormone levels. Salivary testosterone and cortisol levels were measured in 18 fathers watching their children play in a soccer tournament. Participants completed a survey about the game and provided demographic information. Fathers with higher pregame testosterone levels were more likely to report that referees were biased against their children’s teams, and pre- to postgame testosterone elevation was predicted by watching sons compete rather than daughters as well as perceptions of unfair officiating. Pregame cortisol was not associated with pregame testosterone or with perceived officiating bias, but cortisol did fluctuate synergistically with testosterone during spectator competition. Although fathers showed no consistent testosterone change in response to winning or losing, pregame testosterone may mediate steroid hormone reactivity to other aspects of their children’s competition.
Abstract: This study examines steroid production in fathers watching their children compete, extending previous research of vicarious success or failure on men’s hormone levels. Salivary testosterone and cortisol levels were measured in 18 fathers watching their children play in a soccer tournament. Participants completed a survey about the game and provided demographic information. Fathers with higher pregame testosterone levels were more likely to report that referees were biased against their children’s teams, and pre- to postgame testosterone elevation was predicted by watching sons compete rather than daughters as well as perceptions of unfair officiating. Pregame cortisol was not associated with pregame testosterone or with perceived officiating bias, but cortisol did fluctuate synergistically with testosterone during spectator competition. Although fathers showed no consistent testosterone change in response to winning or losing, pregame testosterone may mediate steroid hormone reactivity to other aspects of their children’s competition.
Lessons from Pinocchio: Cues to Deception May Be Highly Exaggerated // Lie To Me, Ekman, etc.
Luke, Timothy J., 2018. “Lessons from Pinocchio: Cues to Deception May Be Highly Exaggerated”. Open Science Framework. June 7. doi:10.17605/OSF.IO/XT8FQ
Abstract: Deception researchers widely acknowledge that cues to deception - observable behaviors that may differ between truthful and deceptive messages - tend to be weak. Nevertheless, several deception cues have been reported with unusually large effect sizes, and some researchers have advocated the use of such cues as tools for detecting deceit and assessing credibility in practical contexts. Examining data from a deception cue meta-analysis and using a series of Monte Carlo simulations, I demonstrate that (1) many estimated effect sizes of deception cues may be greatly inflated by publication bias and low power and (2) composite measures of deception cues designed to improve classification accuracy may exaggerate the detectability of deception. Indeed, contrary to the optimistic view that some cues may be useful for catching lies, the extant deception literature could have been obtained even if all studied cues have true effects of zero. I warn against the hazards of faith in potentially illusory cues to deception and offer some recommendations for improving the state of the science of deception.
From Rolf Degen's https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1004978190815723521, with interesting link inside.
Abstract: Deception researchers widely acknowledge that cues to deception - observable behaviors that may differ between truthful and deceptive messages - tend to be weak. Nevertheless, several deception cues have been reported with unusually large effect sizes, and some researchers have advocated the use of such cues as tools for detecting deceit and assessing credibility in practical contexts. Examining data from a deception cue meta-analysis and using a series of Monte Carlo simulations, I demonstrate that (1) many estimated effect sizes of deception cues may be greatly inflated by publication bias and low power and (2) composite measures of deception cues designed to improve classification accuracy may exaggerate the detectability of deception. Indeed, contrary to the optimistic view that some cues may be useful for catching lies, the extant deception literature could have been obtained even if all studied cues have true effects of zero. I warn against the hazards of faith in potentially illusory cues to deception and offer some recommendations for improving the state of the science of deception.
From Rolf Degen's https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1004978190815723521, with interesting link inside.
Thursday, June 7, 2018
Influence of Relationship Length and Sex on Multidimensional Romantic Jealousy
Bhogal, Manpal S., 2018. “A Research Note on the Influence of Relationship Length and Sex on Multidimensional Romantic Jealousy”. PsyArXiv. June 7. doi:10.17605/OSF.IO/6EQ84
Abstract: Much research has been conducted exploring the determinants of romantic jealousy. However, little research has focused on whether romantic jealousy is influenced by how long one has been in a romantic relationship. In turn, little research has focused on whether self-rated attractiveness, and perceived attractiveness of one’s partner predicts romantic jealousy. This study extends past research on jealousy in romantic relationships, investigating the impact of sex, relationship duration and both perceived self and partner's attractiveness on jealousy through an online questionnaire (N=321). Novel findings were that women were more behaviourally jealous than males and short-term relationships have higher jealousy levels than long-term relationships. This study does not replicate the limited literature exploring the role of relationship length in multidimensional jealousy.
Abstract: Much research has been conducted exploring the determinants of romantic jealousy. However, little research has focused on whether romantic jealousy is influenced by how long one has been in a romantic relationship. In turn, little research has focused on whether self-rated attractiveness, and perceived attractiveness of one’s partner predicts romantic jealousy. This study extends past research on jealousy in romantic relationships, investigating the impact of sex, relationship duration and both perceived self and partner's attractiveness on jealousy through an online questionnaire (N=321). Novel findings were that women were more behaviourally jealous than males and short-term relationships have higher jealousy levels than long-term relationships. This study does not replicate the limited literature exploring the role of relationship length in multidimensional jealousy.
Social play as a springboard for adult social competence in human and non-human primates
Not just for fun! Social play as a springboard for adult social competence in human and non-human primates. Elisabetta Palagi. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00265-018-2506-6
Abstract: Play is one of the most difficult behaviors to quantify and for this reason, its study has had a very rocky history. Social play is ephemeral, difficult to distinguish from the other so-called serious behaviors, not so frequent (especially in sexually mature subjects), fast, and complex to describe. Due to its multifaceted nature, it has often been considered as a wastebasket category that has included all kinds of the behaviors not showing any immediate, obvious goal. Yet, play is widespread across the whole primate order and can have a strong impact on the development of cognitive, psychological, and social skills of many species, including humans. Unlike functional behaviors that are specifically and economically performed to reduce uncertainty and to increase the opportunity to gain resources, play seems to introduce and increase uncertainty, creating new challenges for the animals. For this reason, social play has been hypothesized to be the engine of behavioral innovation in ontogeny. From the first mild and gentle interactions with the mother to the most sophisticated play fighting sessions and acrobatic action sequences with peers, play represents for juveniles (and not only for them!) a window onto the social and physical environment. In this review, I focus on social play and its relation to adult social competence. By playing, juveniles acquire competence to manage interactions with conspecifics, enlarge their social networks, and test their physical power and motor skills (i.e., long-term benefits). At the same time, I propose the view that play—due to its plastic and versatile nature—can be used in an opportunistic way, as a joker behavior, throughout life to strategically obtain short-term or immediate benefits. I put forward the hypothesis that, during ontogeny, the joker function of play can be modulated according to the differing inter-individual relationships present in the diverse societies, characterizing the primate order.
Abstract: Play is one of the most difficult behaviors to quantify and for this reason, its study has had a very rocky history. Social play is ephemeral, difficult to distinguish from the other so-called serious behaviors, not so frequent (especially in sexually mature subjects), fast, and complex to describe. Due to its multifaceted nature, it has often been considered as a wastebasket category that has included all kinds of the behaviors not showing any immediate, obvious goal. Yet, play is widespread across the whole primate order and can have a strong impact on the development of cognitive, psychological, and social skills of many species, including humans. Unlike functional behaviors that are specifically and economically performed to reduce uncertainty and to increase the opportunity to gain resources, play seems to introduce and increase uncertainty, creating new challenges for the animals. For this reason, social play has been hypothesized to be the engine of behavioral innovation in ontogeny. From the first mild and gentle interactions with the mother to the most sophisticated play fighting sessions and acrobatic action sequences with peers, play represents for juveniles (and not only for them!) a window onto the social and physical environment. In this review, I focus on social play and its relation to adult social competence. By playing, juveniles acquire competence to manage interactions with conspecifics, enlarge their social networks, and test their physical power and motor skills (i.e., long-term benefits). At the same time, I propose the view that play—due to its plastic and versatile nature—can be used in an opportunistic way, as a joker behavior, throughout life to strategically obtain short-term or immediate benefits. I put forward the hypothesis that, during ontogeny, the joker function of play can be modulated according to the differing inter-individual relationships present in the diverse societies, characterizing the primate order.
Infants exhibited both an initial reluctance to touch and minimized subsequent physical contact with plants compared to other object types; further, they treated all plants as potentially dangerous, whether or not they possessed sharp-looking thorn
Every rose has its thorn: Infants' responses to pointed shapes in naturalistic contexts. Aleksandra Włodarczyk. Evolution and Human Behavior, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2018.06.001
Abstract: Plants produce dangerous chemical and physical defenses that have shaped the physiology and behavior of the herbivorous predators that feed on them. Here we explore the impact that these plant defenses may have had on humans by testing infants' responses to plants with and without sharp-looking thorns. To do this, we presented 8- to 18-month-olds with plants and control stimuli and measured their initial reaching behavior and subsequent object exploration behavior. Half of the stimuli had sharp-looking thorns or pointed parts while the other half did not. We found that infants exhibited both an initial reluctance to touch and minimized subsequent physical contact with plants compared to other object types. Further, infants treated all plants as potentially dangerous, whether or not they possessed sharp-looking thorns. These results reveal novel dimensions of a behavioral avoidance strategy in infancy that would mitigate potential harm from plants.
Keywords: Threat; Behavioral avoidance; Infancy; Cognitive development
Abstract: Plants produce dangerous chemical and physical defenses that have shaped the physiology and behavior of the herbivorous predators that feed on them. Here we explore the impact that these plant defenses may have had on humans by testing infants' responses to plants with and without sharp-looking thorns. To do this, we presented 8- to 18-month-olds with plants and control stimuli and measured their initial reaching behavior and subsequent object exploration behavior. Half of the stimuli had sharp-looking thorns or pointed parts while the other half did not. We found that infants exhibited both an initial reluctance to touch and minimized subsequent physical contact with plants compared to other object types. Further, infants treated all plants as potentially dangerous, whether or not they possessed sharp-looking thorns. These results reveal novel dimensions of a behavioral avoidance strategy in infancy that would mitigate potential harm from plants.
Keywords: Threat; Behavioral avoidance; Infancy; Cognitive development
Wednesday, June 6, 2018
We compare sharing when endowments are obtained by luck, effort, or lying; endowments obtained through lying are treated as if they were “hard-earned.” this directly supports that lying involves psychological costs.
No gain without pain: The psychological costs of dishonesty. Isabel Thielmann, Benjamin E. Hilbig. Journal of Economic Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2018.06.001
Highlights
• Evidence on the psychological costs of dishonesty is restricted to indirect tests.
• We present a more direct test of the costs of lying using the dictator game.
• We compare sharing when endowments are obtained by luck, effort, or lying.
• Endowments obtained through lying are treated as if they were “hard-earned”
• This directly supports that lying involves psychological costs.
Abstract: Psychological accounts of dishonesty propose that lying incurs subjective costs due to threating individuals’ moral self-image. However, evidence is restricted to indirect tests of such costs, thus limiting strong conclusions about corresponding theories. We present a more direct test of the costs of lying. Specifically, if lying is psychologically costly, individuals should feel entitled to gains they obtained through dishonesty – similar to those they actually earned through getting lucky or even investing effort. Correspondingly, in three experiments, we compared individuals’ willingness to share in the dictator game, with varying mechanisms generating the to-be-shared endowment: getting lucky, exerting (cognitive) effort, and lying. We consistently found that individuals were at least as unwilling to share an endowment obtained through dishonesty as an endowment obtained through individual effort or true luck. This suggests that individuals perceived gains obtained through dishonesty as “hard-earned”, thus directly supporting the theory that lying involves psychological costs.
Keywords: dishonest behavior; cheating; psychological costs; dictator game; coin-tossing task; die-rolling paradigm
Highlights
• Evidence on the psychological costs of dishonesty is restricted to indirect tests.
• We present a more direct test of the costs of lying using the dictator game.
• We compare sharing when endowments are obtained by luck, effort, or lying.
• Endowments obtained through lying are treated as if they were “hard-earned”
• This directly supports that lying involves psychological costs.
Abstract: Psychological accounts of dishonesty propose that lying incurs subjective costs due to threating individuals’ moral self-image. However, evidence is restricted to indirect tests of such costs, thus limiting strong conclusions about corresponding theories. We present a more direct test of the costs of lying. Specifically, if lying is psychologically costly, individuals should feel entitled to gains they obtained through dishonesty – similar to those they actually earned through getting lucky or even investing effort. Correspondingly, in three experiments, we compared individuals’ willingness to share in the dictator game, with varying mechanisms generating the to-be-shared endowment: getting lucky, exerting (cognitive) effort, and lying. We consistently found that individuals were at least as unwilling to share an endowment obtained through dishonesty as an endowment obtained through individual effort or true luck. This suggests that individuals perceived gains obtained through dishonesty as “hard-earned”, thus directly supporting the theory that lying involves psychological costs.
Keywords: dishonest behavior; cheating; psychological costs; dictator game; coin-tossing task; die-rolling paradigm
Response trajectories to major life stressors and potential trauma are resilience, recovery, chronic stress, and delayed response. Both trait and state factors are associated with trajectory, so individuals on maladaptive trajectories may be identifiable prospectively or soon following stress exposure
Trajectories of resilience and dysfunction following potential trauma: A review and statistical evaluation. Isaac R. Galatzer-Levy, Sandy H. Huang, George A. Bonanno. Clinical Psychology Review, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2018.05.008
Highlights
• A review of n=54 studies demonstrates that resilience is the modal response to major life stressors and potential trauma.
• Across events, individuals cluster into common trajectories of stress response at relatively stable rates including resilience, recovery, chronic stress, and delayed response. The stability of these patterns across events, degree of stress exposure, and populations indicates that they may represent phenotypic human stress responses.
• Despite the stability of trajectories, there is evidence that both trait and state factors are associated with trajectory membership, indicating that individuals on maladaptive trajectories may be identifiable either prospectively or soon following stress exposure, and that trajectory membership may be malleable by interventions that target state-level predictors of risk.
• Trajectory models provide a robust methodology to identify and study clinically relevant responses to stress and potential trauma, and to identify characteristics, predictors, and their potential treatment targets.
Abstract: Given the rapid proliferation of trajectory-based approaches to study clinical consequences to stress and potentially traumatic events (PTEs), there is a need to evaluate emerging findings. This review examined convergence/divergences across 54 studies in the nature and prevalence of response trajectories, and determined potential sources of bias to improve future research. Of the 67 cases that emerged from the 54 studies, the most consistently observed trajectories following PTEs were resilience (observed in: n = 63 cases), recovery (n = 49), chronic (n = 47), and delayed onset (n = 22). The resilience trajectory was the modal response across studies (average of 65.7% across populations, 95% CI [0.616, 0.698]), followed in prevalence by recovery (20.8% [0.162, 0.258]), chronicity (10.6%, [0.086, 0.127]), and delayed onset (8.9% [0.053, 0.133]). Sources of heterogeneity in estimates primarily resulted from substantive population differences rather than bias, which was observed when prospective data is lacking. Overall, prototypical trajectories have been identified across independent studies in relatively consistent proportions, with resilience being the modal response to adversity. Thus, trajectory models robustly identify clinically relevant patterns of response to potential trauma, and are important for studying determinants, consequences, and modifiers of course following potential trauma.
Keywords: Aversive event; Depression; Heterogeneity; Latent growth mixture modeling; PTSD; Stress; Trajectory
Highlights
• A review of n=54 studies demonstrates that resilience is the modal response to major life stressors and potential trauma.
• Across events, individuals cluster into common trajectories of stress response at relatively stable rates including resilience, recovery, chronic stress, and delayed response. The stability of these patterns across events, degree of stress exposure, and populations indicates that they may represent phenotypic human stress responses.
• Despite the stability of trajectories, there is evidence that both trait and state factors are associated with trajectory membership, indicating that individuals on maladaptive trajectories may be identifiable either prospectively or soon following stress exposure, and that trajectory membership may be malleable by interventions that target state-level predictors of risk.
• Trajectory models provide a robust methodology to identify and study clinically relevant responses to stress and potential trauma, and to identify characteristics, predictors, and their potential treatment targets.
Abstract: Given the rapid proliferation of trajectory-based approaches to study clinical consequences to stress and potentially traumatic events (PTEs), there is a need to evaluate emerging findings. This review examined convergence/divergences across 54 studies in the nature and prevalence of response trajectories, and determined potential sources of bias to improve future research. Of the 67 cases that emerged from the 54 studies, the most consistently observed trajectories following PTEs were resilience (observed in: n = 63 cases), recovery (n = 49), chronic (n = 47), and delayed onset (n = 22). The resilience trajectory was the modal response across studies (average of 65.7% across populations, 95% CI [0.616, 0.698]), followed in prevalence by recovery (20.8% [0.162, 0.258]), chronicity (10.6%, [0.086, 0.127]), and delayed onset (8.9% [0.053, 0.133]). Sources of heterogeneity in estimates primarily resulted from substantive population differences rather than bias, which was observed when prospective data is lacking. Overall, prototypical trajectories have been identified across independent studies in relatively consistent proportions, with resilience being the modal response to adversity. Thus, trajectory models robustly identify clinically relevant patterns of response to potential trauma, and are important for studying determinants, consequences, and modifiers of course following potential trauma.
Keywords: Aversive event; Depression; Heterogeneity; Latent growth mixture modeling; PTSD; Stress; Trajectory
Dimensions of Subjective Age Identity Across the Lifespan
Lindner, Nicole M.,and Brian A Nosek 2018. “Dimensions of Subjective Age Identity Across the Lifespan”. PsyArXiv. June 6. doi:10.17605/OSF.IO/M2Y5R
Abstract: We examined how felt age and desired age differed from chronological age across the age span. With each passing Earth year, felt and desired age do grow older, it just takes longer for the year to go by. Past age 25 or so, subjective aging appears to occur on Mars, where one Earth decade equals only 5.3 Martian years. In some sense, our minds age more slowly than our bodies do.
Abstract: We examined how felt age and desired age differed from chronological age across the age span. With each passing Earth year, felt and desired age do grow older, it just takes longer for the year to go by. Past age 25 or so, subjective aging appears to occur on Mars, where one Earth decade equals only 5.3 Martian years. In some sense, our minds age more slowly than our bodies do.
Examined cortical gyrification associations with psychopathy in a sample of 716 incarcerated individuals; psychopathy was negatively associated with gyrification in the midcingulate cortex and superior parietal cortex
Abnormal cortical gyrification in criminal psychopathy. Tara A. Miskovich et al. NeuroImage: Clinical, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2018.06.007
Highlights
• We examined cortical gyrification associations with psychopathy in a sample of 716 incarcerated individuals.
• Psychopathy was negatively associated with gyrification in the midcingulate cortex and superior parietal cortex.
• Factor 1 scores were associated with reduced gyrification in the midcingulate cortex, but increased gyrification in bilateral occipital cortex.
• These results may represent a vulnerability for psychopathy, which may help further elucidate the etiology of this disorder.
Abstract
Background: Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by interpersonal and emotional abnormalities (e.g., lack of empathy and guilt) and antisocial behavior. Psychopathy has been associated with a number of structural brain abnormalities, most notably in orbital frontal and anterior/medial temporal regions, that may underlie psychopathic individuals' problematic behaviors. Past research evaluating cortical structure in psychopathy has considered thickness and volume, but to date no study has investigated differences in cortical gyrification, a measure of cortical complexity thought to reflect early neurodevelopmental cortical connectivity.
Methods: We measured the local gyrification index (LGI) in a sample of 716 adult male inmates and performed a whole brain analysis assessing the relationship between LGI and total and factor scores on the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R).
Results: PCL-R scores were negatively associated with LGI measures within the right hemisphere in the midcingulate cortex (MCC) and adjacent regions of the superior frontal gyrus as well as lateral superior parietal cortex. Additionally, PCL-R Factor 1 scores (interpersonal/affective traits) predicted less LGI within the right MCC and adjacent dorsomedial frontal cortex and greater LGI in bilateral occipital cortex. Scores on PCL-R Factor 2, indicating impulsivity and antisocial behaviors, did not predict LGI in any regions.
Conclusions: These findings suggest that psychopathy, particularly the interpersonal and affective traits, are associated with specific structural abnormalities that form during neurodevelopment and these abnormalities may underlie aberrant brain functioning in regions important in emotional processing and cognitive control.
Keywords: Psychopathy; Cortical folding; Local gyrification
Highlights
• We examined cortical gyrification associations with psychopathy in a sample of 716 incarcerated individuals.
• Psychopathy was negatively associated with gyrification in the midcingulate cortex and superior parietal cortex.
• Factor 1 scores were associated with reduced gyrification in the midcingulate cortex, but increased gyrification in bilateral occipital cortex.
• These results may represent a vulnerability for psychopathy, which may help further elucidate the etiology of this disorder.
Abstract
Background: Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by interpersonal and emotional abnormalities (e.g., lack of empathy and guilt) and antisocial behavior. Psychopathy has been associated with a number of structural brain abnormalities, most notably in orbital frontal and anterior/medial temporal regions, that may underlie psychopathic individuals' problematic behaviors. Past research evaluating cortical structure in psychopathy has considered thickness and volume, but to date no study has investigated differences in cortical gyrification, a measure of cortical complexity thought to reflect early neurodevelopmental cortical connectivity.
Methods: We measured the local gyrification index (LGI) in a sample of 716 adult male inmates and performed a whole brain analysis assessing the relationship between LGI and total and factor scores on the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R).
Results: PCL-R scores were negatively associated with LGI measures within the right hemisphere in the midcingulate cortex (MCC) and adjacent regions of the superior frontal gyrus as well as lateral superior parietal cortex. Additionally, PCL-R Factor 1 scores (interpersonal/affective traits) predicted less LGI within the right MCC and adjacent dorsomedial frontal cortex and greater LGI in bilateral occipital cortex. Scores on PCL-R Factor 2, indicating impulsivity and antisocial behaviors, did not predict LGI in any regions.
Conclusions: These findings suggest that psychopathy, particularly the interpersonal and affective traits, are associated with specific structural abnormalities that form during neurodevelopment and these abnormalities may underlie aberrant brain functioning in regions important in emotional processing and cognitive control.
Keywords: Psychopathy; Cortical folding; Local gyrification
Experts' features enable them to perform better than novices on complex tasks; features include superior long-term and working memory and quicker, better decisions; heritable variation in traits such as motivation and cognition can affect expertise
Animal expertise: mechanisms, ecology and evolution. Reuven Dukas. Animal Behaviour, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2018.05.010
Highlights
• Experts' features enable them to perform better than novices on complex tasks.
• Features include superior long-term and working memory and quicker, better decisions.
• Expertise can affect animal ecology and evolution but data are mostly on humans.
• Heritable variation in traits such as motivation and cognition can affect expertise.
• We need long-term studies on animal expertise and its ecology and evolution.
Abstract: Expertise consists of the features that allow individuals with extensive experience on a given complex task to show superior performance on that task compared to novices. While expertise has been investigated mostly in humans, it is highly relevant for other species as well because it can have strong effects on fitness. Moreover, studying expertise in nonhumans can help us understand human expertise. Several features that distinguish experts within their domain of expertise from novices include (1) greater long-term memory, (2) larger capacity of working memory, (3) better ability to focus attention on the most relevant concurrent tasks, (4) superior ability to anticipate, perceive and comprehend the relevant elements in one's surroundings, (5) quicker and better decisions, and (6) faster and more coordinated motor movements. The development of expertise follows a characteristic pattern of gradual improvement in performance over extended periods devoted to practising a given complex task. Heritable variation in a few traits can affect the rate of expertise acquisition and its peak levels. These traits include motivation to practise, perseverance, basic cognitive abilities such as attention span, working memory capacity, learning rates and memory retention, and various physiological, anatomical and morphological features. Key environmental factors influencing expertise development are parental and social settings, which may encourage investment in the extended practice necessary for achieving superior performance on complex tasks. Future work on the evolutionary biology of expertise should focus on the yet unknown neurobiological mechanisms that underlie it, heritable variation in the traits that enable expertise and their genetic basis, further quantifications of expertise acquisition in natural settings, the fitness consequences of the traits that facilitate top expert performance, and the ecological and evolutionary consequences of expertise.
Keywords: cognition; evolution; expertise; heritability; learning; life history
Highlights
• Experts' features enable them to perform better than novices on complex tasks.
• Features include superior long-term and working memory and quicker, better decisions.
• Expertise can affect animal ecology and evolution but data are mostly on humans.
• Heritable variation in traits such as motivation and cognition can affect expertise.
• We need long-term studies on animal expertise and its ecology and evolution.
Abstract: Expertise consists of the features that allow individuals with extensive experience on a given complex task to show superior performance on that task compared to novices. While expertise has been investigated mostly in humans, it is highly relevant for other species as well because it can have strong effects on fitness. Moreover, studying expertise in nonhumans can help us understand human expertise. Several features that distinguish experts within their domain of expertise from novices include (1) greater long-term memory, (2) larger capacity of working memory, (3) better ability to focus attention on the most relevant concurrent tasks, (4) superior ability to anticipate, perceive and comprehend the relevant elements in one's surroundings, (5) quicker and better decisions, and (6) faster and more coordinated motor movements. The development of expertise follows a characteristic pattern of gradual improvement in performance over extended periods devoted to practising a given complex task. Heritable variation in a few traits can affect the rate of expertise acquisition and its peak levels. These traits include motivation to practise, perseverance, basic cognitive abilities such as attention span, working memory capacity, learning rates and memory retention, and various physiological, anatomical and morphological features. Key environmental factors influencing expertise development are parental and social settings, which may encourage investment in the extended practice necessary for achieving superior performance on complex tasks. Future work on the evolutionary biology of expertise should focus on the yet unknown neurobiological mechanisms that underlie it, heritable variation in the traits that enable expertise and their genetic basis, further quantifications of expertise acquisition in natural settings, the fitness consequences of the traits that facilitate top expert performance, and the ecological and evolutionary consequences of expertise.
Keywords: cognition; evolution; expertise; heritability; learning; life history
Has evolution shaped us to fall in love, not just in judging our partners, but in becoming more lovable ourselves? Female sexual desire in courtship & newlywed phases decreases later, making men entering into a long-term commitment based on false assumptions about the amount of sex involved
The Mask of Love and Sexual Gullibility. Roy F. Baumeister, Jessica A. Maxwell, Geoffrey P. Thomas. sydneysymposium.unsw.edu.au/2018/chapters/BaumeisterSSSP2018.pdf
Abstract: Many people describe the time of being newly in love as one of life’s peak experiences. Years later, many are dismayed by the choices they made during love, and many people divorce after thinking they were to be married for life. How did they make such a grievous mistake? Traditional theory assumes that lovers are biased in judgments about their partners. This largely speculative essay suggests that evolution has shaped people to fall in love, not just in judging their partners, but in becoming more lovable themselves. Recent data indicate that female sexual desire during courtship and newlywed phases is often followed by a loss of sexual desire that undermines both spouses’ marital satisfaction. Men may therefore be gullible in terms of entering into a long-term commitment based on false assumptions about the amount of sex involved. This may serve as a useful model for the hypothesis that people become more lovable when in love.
Abstract: Many people describe the time of being newly in love as one of life’s peak experiences. Years later, many are dismayed by the choices they made during love, and many people divorce after thinking they were to be married for life. How did they make such a grievous mistake? Traditional theory assumes that lovers are biased in judgments about their partners. This largely speculative essay suggests that evolution has shaped people to fall in love, not just in judging their partners, but in becoming more lovable themselves. Recent data indicate that female sexual desire during courtship and newlywed phases is often followed by a loss of sexual desire that undermines both spouses’ marital satisfaction. Men may therefore be gullible in terms of entering into a long-term commitment based on false assumptions about the amount of sex involved. This may serve as a useful model for the hypothesis that people become more lovable when in love.
On The Role of Affect in Gullibility: Can Positive Mood Increase, and Negative Mood Reduce Credulity?
On The Role of Affect in Gullibility: Can Positive Mood Increase, and Negative Mood Reduce Credulity? Joseph P. Forgas. sydneysymposium.unsw.edu.au/2018/chapters/ForgasSSSP2018.pdf
Abstract: The uncritical acceptance of false or misleading beliefs is often influenced by sub-conscious affective reactions. This chapter will describe some of the psychological mechanisms responsible for the biasing effects of affect and mood on gullibility and skepticism. A series of experimental studies will be presented showing that mild affective states can influence perceptions of truth, the likelihood to believe misleading information, the tendency to trust interpersonal messages, the detection of deception, and the tendency to see meaning in random or meaningless information. In addition to the influence of mild, temporary moods on gullibility, more enduring and stable affective reactions can also produce gullibility. The theoretical significance of these studies will be discussed, and the practical implications of affectively induced gullibility will be considered.
Abstract: The uncritical acceptance of false or misleading beliefs is often influenced by sub-conscious affective reactions. This chapter will describe some of the psychological mechanisms responsible for the biasing effects of affect and mood on gullibility and skepticism. A series of experimental studies will be presented showing that mild affective states can influence perceptions of truth, the likelihood to believe misleading information, the tendency to trust interpersonal messages, the detection of deception, and the tendency to see meaning in random or meaningless information. In addition to the influence of mild, temporary moods on gullibility, more enduring and stable affective reactions can also produce gullibility. The theoretical significance of these studies will be discussed, and the practical implications of affectively induced gullibility will be considered.
Large-prize winners experience sustained increases in overall life satisfaction that persist for over a decade and show no evidence of dissipating with time; effects on happiness and mental health are much smaller
Long-run Effects of Lottery Wealth on Psychological Well-being. Erik Lindqvist, Robert Östling, David Cesarini. NBER Working Paper No. 24667, http://www.nber.org/papers/w24667
Abstract: We surveyed a large sample of Swedish lottery players about their psychological well-being and analyzed the data following pre-registered procedures. Relative to matched controls, large-prize winners experience sustained increases in overall life satisfaction that persist for over a decade and show no evidence of dissipating with time. The estimated treatment effects on happiness and mental health are significantly smaller, suggesting that wealth has greater long-run effects on evaluative measures of well-being than on affective ones. Follow-up analyses of domain-specific aspects of life satisfaction clearly implicate financial life satisfaction as an important mediator for the long-run increase in overall life satisfaction.
Abstract: We surveyed a large sample of Swedish lottery players about their psychological well-being and analyzed the data following pre-registered procedures. Relative to matched controls, large-prize winners experience sustained increases in overall life satisfaction that persist for over a decade and show no evidence of dissipating with time. The estimated treatment effects on happiness and mental health are significantly smaller, suggesting that wealth has greater long-run effects on evaluative measures of well-being than on affective ones. Follow-up analyses of domain-specific aspects of life satisfaction clearly implicate financial life satisfaction as an important mediator for the long-run increase in overall life satisfaction.
Tuesday, June 5, 2018
Scientists, like all other men whose experiences have been limited to one pursuit, ... sometimes need to be restrained. Men of high scientific attainments are prone, in their love for technique, to lose sight of broad principles outside of their domain of thought
Statement by Pennsylvania Gov Samuel W Pennypacker, 1905. https://junkscience.com/2018/05/on-the-need-to-restrain-scientists/
I return herewith, without my approval Senate Bill No. 35, entitled “An Act for the prevention of idiocy.”
This bill has what may be called with propriety an attractive title. If idiocy could be prevented by an act of assembly, we may be quite sure that such an act would have long been passed and approved in this state, and that such laws would have been enacted in all civilized countries.
The subject of the act is not the prevention of idiocy, but it is to provide that in every institution in the state, entrusted with the care of idiots and imbecile children, a neurologist, a surgeon, and physician shall be authorized to perform an operation upon the inmates “for the prevention of procreation.”
What is the nature of the operation is not described but it is such an operation as they shall decide to be “safest and most effective.” It is plain that the safest and most effective preventing procreation would be to cut the heads off the inmates, and such authority is given by the bill to this staff of scientific experts. It is not probable that they would resort to this means for the prevention of procreation, but it is probable that they would endeavor to destroy some part of the human organism.
Scientists, like all other men whose experiences have been limited to one pursuit, and whose minds have been developed in a particular direction, sometimes need to be restrained. Men of high scientific attainments are prone, in their love for technique, to lose sight of broad principles outside of their domain of thought.
A surgeon may possible be so eager to advance in skill as to be forgetful of the danger to his patient. Anatomists may be willing to gather information by the infliction of pain and suffering upon helpless creatures, although a higher standard of conduct would teach them that it is far better for humanity to bear its own ills than to escape them by knowledge only secured through cruelty to other creatures.
This bill, whatever good might possibly result from it if its provisions should become a law, violates the principles of ethics.
These feeble-minded and imbecile children have been entrusted to the institutions by their parents or guardians for the purpose of training and instruction. It is proposed to experiment upon them, not for their instruction, but in order to help society in the future. It is to be done without their consent, which they cannot give, and without the consent of their parents or guardians, who are responsible for their welfare. It would be in contravention of the laws which have been enacted for the establishment of these institutions. These laws have in contemplation the training and the instruction of the children.
This bill assumes that they cannot be so instructed and trained. Moreover, the course it is proposed to pursue would have a tendency to prevent such training and instruction. Everyone knows, whether he be a scientist or an ordinary observer, that to destroy virility is to lessen the capacity, the energy and the spirit which lead to effort. The bill is, furthermore, illogical in its thought.
Idiocy will not be prevented by the prevention of procreation among these inmates. This mental condition is due to causes many of which are entirely beyond our knowledge. It existed long before there were ever such inmates of such institutions.
If this plan is to be adopted, to make it effective it should be carried into operation in the world at large, and not in institutions where the inmates are watched by nurses, kept separate, and have all the care which is likely to rendered procreation there very rare, if not altogether impossible.
In one of these institutions, I am reliably informed, there have only been three births in ten years. A great objection is that the bill would encourage experimentation upon living animals, and would be the beginning of experimentation upon living human beings, leading logically to results which can be readily forecasted.
The chief physician, in charge at Elwyn, has candidly told us, in an article recently published upon “Heredity,” that “Studies in heredity tend to emphasize the wisdom of those ancient peoples who taught that the healthful development of the individual and the elimination of the weakling was the truest patriotism — springing from an abiding sense of the fulfillment of a duty to the state.”
To permit such an operation would be to inflict cruelty upon a helpless class in the community which the state has undertaken to protect. However skillfully performed, it would at times lead to peritonitis, blood poisoning, lockjaw and death.
For these reasons the bill is not approved.
SAML. W. PENNYPACKER
Governor of Pennsylvania
1905
Source: Henry H. Laughlin’s ‘Eugenical sterilization in the United States’ (Chicago: Psychopathic Laboratory of the Municipal Court of Chicago, 1922), on page 3
I return herewith, without my approval Senate Bill No. 35, entitled “An Act for the prevention of idiocy.”
This bill has what may be called with propriety an attractive title. If idiocy could be prevented by an act of assembly, we may be quite sure that such an act would have long been passed and approved in this state, and that such laws would have been enacted in all civilized countries.
The subject of the act is not the prevention of idiocy, but it is to provide that in every institution in the state, entrusted with the care of idiots and imbecile children, a neurologist, a surgeon, and physician shall be authorized to perform an operation upon the inmates “for the prevention of procreation.”
What is the nature of the operation is not described but it is such an operation as they shall decide to be “safest and most effective.” It is plain that the safest and most effective preventing procreation would be to cut the heads off the inmates, and such authority is given by the bill to this staff of scientific experts. It is not probable that they would resort to this means for the prevention of procreation, but it is probable that they would endeavor to destroy some part of the human organism.
Scientists, like all other men whose experiences have been limited to one pursuit, and whose minds have been developed in a particular direction, sometimes need to be restrained. Men of high scientific attainments are prone, in their love for technique, to lose sight of broad principles outside of their domain of thought.
A surgeon may possible be so eager to advance in skill as to be forgetful of the danger to his patient. Anatomists may be willing to gather information by the infliction of pain and suffering upon helpless creatures, although a higher standard of conduct would teach them that it is far better for humanity to bear its own ills than to escape them by knowledge only secured through cruelty to other creatures.
This bill, whatever good might possibly result from it if its provisions should become a law, violates the principles of ethics.
These feeble-minded and imbecile children have been entrusted to the institutions by their parents or guardians for the purpose of training and instruction. It is proposed to experiment upon them, not for their instruction, but in order to help society in the future. It is to be done without their consent, which they cannot give, and without the consent of their parents or guardians, who are responsible for their welfare. It would be in contravention of the laws which have been enacted for the establishment of these institutions. These laws have in contemplation the training and the instruction of the children.
This bill assumes that they cannot be so instructed and trained. Moreover, the course it is proposed to pursue would have a tendency to prevent such training and instruction. Everyone knows, whether he be a scientist or an ordinary observer, that to destroy virility is to lessen the capacity, the energy and the spirit which lead to effort. The bill is, furthermore, illogical in its thought.
Idiocy will not be prevented by the prevention of procreation among these inmates. This mental condition is due to causes many of which are entirely beyond our knowledge. It existed long before there were ever such inmates of such institutions.
If this plan is to be adopted, to make it effective it should be carried into operation in the world at large, and not in institutions where the inmates are watched by nurses, kept separate, and have all the care which is likely to rendered procreation there very rare, if not altogether impossible.
In one of these institutions, I am reliably informed, there have only been three births in ten years. A great objection is that the bill would encourage experimentation upon living animals, and would be the beginning of experimentation upon living human beings, leading logically to results which can be readily forecasted.
The chief physician, in charge at Elwyn, has candidly told us, in an article recently published upon “Heredity,” that “Studies in heredity tend to emphasize the wisdom of those ancient peoples who taught that the healthful development of the individual and the elimination of the weakling was the truest patriotism — springing from an abiding sense of the fulfillment of a duty to the state.”
To permit such an operation would be to inflict cruelty upon a helpless class in the community which the state has undertaken to protect. However skillfully performed, it would at times lead to peritonitis, blood poisoning, lockjaw and death.
For these reasons the bill is not approved.
SAML. W. PENNYPACKER
Governor of Pennsylvania
1905
Source: Henry H. Laughlin’s ‘Eugenical sterilization in the United States’ (Chicago: Psychopathic Laboratory of the Municipal Court of Chicago, 1922), on page 3
The Changing Public's Perception of Self-Driving Cars: Results are compared to an equivalent survey from 2014 and the public is less positive about self-driving cars today
The Changing Public's Perception of Self-Driving Cars. Ed Richardson, Philip Davies. May 2018, DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.34641.02402
Description: Self-driving cars are now being tested on roads in the UK and the public’s perception will become a crucial part of determining the role that self-driving cars have in the future. This paper contains survey results of the public and concludes that most people think self-driving cars will reduce the number of accidents on motorways but only a small percentage of people would be interested in owning one. The results are compared to an equivalent survey from 2014 and the data shows that the public is less positive about self-driving cars today.
Check also The Ugly Truth About Ourselves and Our Robot Creations: The Problem of Bias and Social Inequity. Ayanna Howard and Jason Borenstein. Science and Engineering Ethics, https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/09/the-ugly-truth-about-ourselves-and-our.html
And Psychological roadblocks to the adoption of self-driving vehicles. Azim Shariff, Jean-François Bonnefon & Iyad Rahwan. Nature Human Behaviour (2017), https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/09/psychological-roadblocks-to-adoption-of.html
Description: Self-driving cars are now being tested on roads in the UK and the public’s perception will become a crucial part of determining the role that self-driving cars have in the future. This paper contains survey results of the public and concludes that most people think self-driving cars will reduce the number of accidents on motorways but only a small percentage of people would be interested in owning one. The results are compared to an equivalent survey from 2014 and the data shows that the public is less positive about self-driving cars today.
Check also The Ugly Truth About Ourselves and Our Robot Creations: The Problem of Bias and Social Inequity. Ayanna Howard and Jason Borenstein. Science and Engineering Ethics, https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/09/the-ugly-truth-about-ourselves-and-our.html
And Psychological roadblocks to the adoption of self-driving vehicles. Azim Shariff, Jean-François Bonnefon & Iyad Rahwan. Nature Human Behaviour (2017), https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/09/psychological-roadblocks-to-adoption-of.html
Bitches, Fishes, and Monsters: Prison Slang and Nonhuman Animal Terminology
Bitches, Fishes, and Monsters: Prison Slang and Nonhuman Animal Terminology. Joshua B. Hill and Julie Banks. Society & Animals, DOI: 10.1163/15685306-12341516
Abstract: The adult prison population in the U.S. is one of the most important, marginalized, yet misunderstood groups within the country. Not only is the population larger than those of other industrialized nations, but the prisons themselves also tend to be more punitive in nature. While there have been many proposed reasons for this, ranging from differences in the “American Character” to the increasing severity of mandatory sentencing guidelines, explanations of the American prisoner setting remain thin. One area that has relevance to this topic but in which there has been little research is the language used to describe prisoners. This language is replete with images of nonhuman animals. Examples and explanations of this phenomenon are provided through the inspection of the lexicons and argots (“prison slang”) for animal themes, and implications regarding implicit power relationships and the effects on both prisoners and nonhuman animals stemming from this language are explored.
Keywords: corrections; lexicography; animals; discourse analysis
Abstract: The adult prison population in the U.S. is one of the most important, marginalized, yet misunderstood groups within the country. Not only is the population larger than those of other industrialized nations, but the prisons themselves also tend to be more punitive in nature. While there have been many proposed reasons for this, ranging from differences in the “American Character” to the increasing severity of mandatory sentencing guidelines, explanations of the American prisoner setting remain thin. One area that has relevance to this topic but in which there has been little research is the language used to describe prisoners. This language is replete with images of nonhuman animals. Examples and explanations of this phenomenon are provided through the inspection of the lexicons and argots (“prison slang”) for animal themes, and implications regarding implicit power relationships and the effects on both prisoners and nonhuman animals stemming from this language are explored.
Keywords: corrections; lexicography; animals; discourse analysis
Allocating under the influence: Effects of alcohol intoxication and social identification on in-group favoritism
Zhou, J., Heim, D., Monk, R., Levy, A., & Pollard, P. (2018). Allocating under the influence: Effects of alcohol intoxication and social identification on in-group favoritism. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 26(3), 268-277. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pha0000186
Abstract: The “social lubrication” function of alcohol during interpersonal interactions is well documented. However, less is known about the effects of alcohol consumption on group-level behavior. Empirical findings from social psychological literature suggest that individuals tend to favor those who are considered as members of their own social group. Not yet evaluated is how alcohol intoxication interacts with this group-level bias. Therefore, the current study examined experimentally the effects of intoxication on group bias. Ninety-four individuals (Mage = 20.18, SD = 2.36, 55 women, 39 men) were randomly assigned to consume an alcoholic (n = 48) or a placebo (n = 46) drink before completing manipulated allocation matrices, a task which measured the distribution of hypothetical monetary awards based on social groups. Results point to an interaction between drink condition and social group identification, whereby identification was significantly associated with in-group favoritism among intoxicated individuals only. Following alcohol consumption, participants with higher identification with their social group were more likely to demonstrate allocation strategies that favored their own group members. However, nonsignificant effects were observed for those in the placebo condition. The findings highlight how alcohol intoxication may facilitate group bias that results from social group identification.
Abstract: The “social lubrication” function of alcohol during interpersonal interactions is well documented. However, less is known about the effects of alcohol consumption on group-level behavior. Empirical findings from social psychological literature suggest that individuals tend to favor those who are considered as members of their own social group. Not yet evaluated is how alcohol intoxication interacts with this group-level bias. Therefore, the current study examined experimentally the effects of intoxication on group bias. Ninety-four individuals (Mage = 20.18, SD = 2.36, 55 women, 39 men) were randomly assigned to consume an alcoholic (n = 48) or a placebo (n = 46) drink before completing manipulated allocation matrices, a task which measured the distribution of hypothetical monetary awards based on social groups. Results point to an interaction between drink condition and social group identification, whereby identification was significantly associated with in-group favoritism among intoxicated individuals only. Following alcohol consumption, participants with higher identification with their social group were more likely to demonstrate allocation strategies that favored their own group members. However, nonsignificant effects were observed for those in the placebo condition. The findings highlight how alcohol intoxication may facilitate group bias that results from social group identification.
Morality can be influenced by motivational states; authors measured moral disapproval under fasting and satiation and found that hunger reduces moral disapproval of ethical violations
The effect of hunger and satiety in the judgment of ethical violations. Carmelo M. Vicario et al. Brain and Cognition, Volume 125, August 2018, Pages 32–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2018.05.003
Highlights
• Morality can be influenced by motivational states.
• Whether appetite can affect morality is unknown.
• We measured moral disapproval under fasting and satiation.
• Hunger reduces moral disapproval of ethical violations.
Abstract: Human history is studded with instances where instinctive motivations take precedence over ethical choices. Nevertheless, the evidence of any linking between motivational states and morality has never been systematically explored. Here we addressed this topic by testing a possible linking between appetite and moral judgment. We compared moral disapproval ratings (MDR) for stories of ethical violations in participants under fasting and after having eaten a snack. Our results show that subjective hunger, measured via self-reported rating, reduces MDR for ethical violations. Moreover, the higher the disgust sensitivity the higher the MDR for ethical violations. This study adds new insights to research on physiological processes influencing morality by showing that appetite affects moral disapproval of ethical violations.
Keywords: Fasting; Snack; Appetite; Disgust sensitivity; Moral disapproval; Ethical violation
Highlights
• Morality can be influenced by motivational states.
• Whether appetite can affect morality is unknown.
• We measured moral disapproval under fasting and satiation.
• Hunger reduces moral disapproval of ethical violations.
Abstract: Human history is studded with instances where instinctive motivations take precedence over ethical choices. Nevertheless, the evidence of any linking between motivational states and morality has never been systematically explored. Here we addressed this topic by testing a possible linking between appetite and moral judgment. We compared moral disapproval ratings (MDR) for stories of ethical violations in participants under fasting and after having eaten a snack. Our results show that subjective hunger, measured via self-reported rating, reduces MDR for ethical violations. Moreover, the higher the disgust sensitivity the higher the MDR for ethical violations. This study adds new insights to research on physiological processes influencing morality by showing that appetite affects moral disapproval of ethical violations.
Keywords: Fasting; Snack; Appetite; Disgust sensitivity; Moral disapproval; Ethical violation
More evidence that less is better: Sub-optimal choice in dogs
More evidence that less is better: Sub-optimal choice in dogs. Rebecca J. Chase, David N. George. Learning & Behavior, https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13420-018-0326-1
Abstract: The less-is-better effect is a preference for the lesser of two alternatives sometimes observed when they are evaluated separately. For example, a dinner service of 24 intact pieces might be judged to be more valuable than a 40-piece dinner service containing nine broken pieces. Pattison and Zentall (Animal Cognition, 17: 1019-1022, 2014) reported similar sub-optimal choice behavior in dogs using a simultaneous choice procedure. Given a choice between a single high-value food item (cheese) or an equivalent high-value item plus a lower-value food item (carrot), their dogs chose the individual item. In a subsequent test, the dogs preferred two high-value items to a single high-value item, suggesting that avoidance of multiple items did not cause the sub-optimal choice behavior. In two experiments, we replicated Pattison and Zentall’s procedure while including additional controls. In Experiment 1, habituation of neophobia for multiple items was controlled for by intermixing the two types of test trial within a single experimental session. In Experiment 2, we controlled for avoidance of heterogeneous rewards by including test trials in which a choice was offered between the combination of items and a single low-value item. In both experiments we observed sub-optimal choice behavior which could not be explained by either of these putative mechanisms. Our results, as well as those of Pattison and Zentall, are consistent with the suggestion that dogs’ assessment of the total value of multiple items is based, at least partly, on their average quality.
Abstract: The less-is-better effect is a preference for the lesser of two alternatives sometimes observed when they are evaluated separately. For example, a dinner service of 24 intact pieces might be judged to be more valuable than a 40-piece dinner service containing nine broken pieces. Pattison and Zentall (Animal Cognition, 17: 1019-1022, 2014) reported similar sub-optimal choice behavior in dogs using a simultaneous choice procedure. Given a choice between a single high-value food item (cheese) or an equivalent high-value item plus a lower-value food item (carrot), their dogs chose the individual item. In a subsequent test, the dogs preferred two high-value items to a single high-value item, suggesting that avoidance of multiple items did not cause the sub-optimal choice behavior. In two experiments, we replicated Pattison and Zentall’s procedure while including additional controls. In Experiment 1, habituation of neophobia for multiple items was controlled for by intermixing the two types of test trial within a single experimental session. In Experiment 2, we controlled for avoidance of heterogeneous rewards by including test trials in which a choice was offered between the combination of items and a single low-value item. In both experiments we observed sub-optimal choice behavior which could not be explained by either of these putative mechanisms. Our results, as well as those of Pattison and Zentall, are consistent with the suggestion that dogs’ assessment of the total value of multiple items is based, at least partly, on their average quality.
Monday, June 4, 2018
The positivity effect: a negativity bias in youth fades with age; neural degradation and cognitive impairment cannot account for the effect; and cognitive load reduces it
The positivity effect: a negativity bias in youth fades with age. Laura L Carstensen, Marguerite De Liema. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, Volume 19, February 2018, Pages 7-12, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.07.009
Highlights
• Neural degradation and cognitive impairment cannot account for the positivity effect.
• Cognitive load reduces the positivity effect.
• Constraints on time horizons produce the positivity effect in young people.
• Selective attention to positive information may hold both advantageous and detrimental consequences for older adults.
Abstract: Relative to younger adults, older adults attend to and remember positive information more than negative information. This shift from a negativity bias in younger age to a preference for positive information in later life is termed the ‘positivity effect.’ Based on nearly two decades of research and recent evidence from neuroscience, we argue that the effect reflects age-related changes in motivation that direct behavior and cognitive processing rather than neural or cognitive decline. Understanding the positivity effect, including conditions that reduce and enhance it, can inform effective public health and educational messages directed at older people.
Highlights
• Neural degradation and cognitive impairment cannot account for the positivity effect.
• Cognitive load reduces the positivity effect.
• Constraints on time horizons produce the positivity effect in young people.
• Selective attention to positive information may hold both advantageous and detrimental consequences for older adults.
Abstract: Relative to younger adults, older adults attend to and remember positive information more than negative information. This shift from a negativity bias in younger age to a preference for positive information in later life is termed the ‘positivity effect.’ Based on nearly two decades of research and recent evidence from neuroscience, we argue that the effect reflects age-related changes in motivation that direct behavior and cognitive processing rather than neural or cognitive decline. Understanding the positivity effect, including conditions that reduce and enhance it, can inform effective public health and educational messages directed at older people.
Individuals felt on average 15% to 16% younger relative to their chronological age; those feeling older have higher mortality risk
Subjective Age and Mortality in Three Longitudinal Samples. Stephan, Yannick; Sutin, Angelina; Terracciano, Antonio. Psychosomatic Medicine: June 1, 2018 - doi: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000613
Objective: Subjective age has been implicated in a range of health outcomes. The present study extends existing research by providing new data on the relation between subjective age and mortality in three large national samples.
Methods: Participants (total N > 17,000) were drawn from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS, 2008-2014), the Midlife in the United State Survey (MIDUS, 1995-2014), and the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS, 2011-2014). Subjective age, demographic factors, disease burden, functional limitations, depressive symptoms, and physical inactivity were assessed at baseline and mortality data were tracked for up to 20 years. Cognition was also included as a covariate in the HRS and the NHATS.
Results: Individuals felt on average 15% to 16% younger relative to their chronological age. Feeling approximately 8, 11, and 13 years older in the MIDUS, HRS, and NHATS, was related to an 18%, 29% and 25% higher risk of mortality, respectively. This pattern was confirmed by a meta-analysis of the three samples (HR = 1.24; 95%CI = 1.17-1.31, p<.001). Multivariate analyses showed that disease burden, physical inactivity, functional limitations, and cognitive problems, but not depressive symptoms, accounted for the associations between subjective age and mortality.
Conclusions: The present study provides robust evidence for an association between an older subjective age and a higher risk of mortality across adulthood. These findings support the role of subjective age as a biopsychosocial marker of aging.
Objective: Subjective age has been implicated in a range of health outcomes. The present study extends existing research by providing new data on the relation between subjective age and mortality in three large national samples.
Methods: Participants (total N > 17,000) were drawn from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS, 2008-2014), the Midlife in the United State Survey (MIDUS, 1995-2014), and the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS, 2011-2014). Subjective age, demographic factors, disease burden, functional limitations, depressive symptoms, and physical inactivity were assessed at baseline and mortality data were tracked for up to 20 years. Cognition was also included as a covariate in the HRS and the NHATS.
Results: Individuals felt on average 15% to 16% younger relative to their chronological age. Feeling approximately 8, 11, and 13 years older in the MIDUS, HRS, and NHATS, was related to an 18%, 29% and 25% higher risk of mortality, respectively. This pattern was confirmed by a meta-analysis of the three samples (HR = 1.24; 95%CI = 1.17-1.31, p<.001). Multivariate analyses showed that disease burden, physical inactivity, functional limitations, and cognitive problems, but not depressive symptoms, accounted for the associations between subjective age and mortality.
Conclusions: The present study provides robust evidence for an association between an older subjective age and a higher risk of mortality across adulthood. These findings support the role of subjective age as a biopsychosocial marker of aging.
Consumption, contact and copulation: how pathogens have shaped human psychological adaptations
Consumption, contact and copulation: how pathogens have shaped human psychological adaptations. Debra Lieberman, Joseph Billingsley, Carlton Patrick. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, July 19 2018, Volume 373, issue 1751. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0203
Abstract: Disgust is an emotion intimately linked to pathogen avoidance. Building on prior work, we suggest disgust is an output of programmes that evolved to address three separate adaptive problems: what to eat, what to touch and with whom to have sex. We briefly discuss the architecture of these programmes, specifying their perceptual inputs and the contextual factors that enable them to generate adaptive and flexible behaviour. We propose that our sense of disgust is the result of these programmes and occurs when information-processing circuitries assess low expected values of consumption, low expected values of contact or low expected sexual values. This conception of disgust differs from prior models in that it dissects pathogen-related selection pressures into adaptive problems related to consumption and contact rather than assuming just one pathogen disgust system, and it excludes moral disgust from the domain of disgust proper. Instead, we illustrate how low expected values of consumption and contact as well as low expected sexual values can be used by our moral psychology to provide multiple causal links between disgust and morality.
Check also Why do people vary in disgust? Joshua M. Tybur, Çağla Çınar, Annika K. Karinen, Paola Perone. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, July 19 2018. Volume 373, issue 1751, https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/06/explanations-for-variability.html
Also Magical Contagion Effects in Consumer Contexts: It may be both negative (fly in your plate) or positive (a celebrity's dress)
The Effect of Germ Movement on the Construal of Mental States in Germs: The Moderating Role of Contamination Fear. John H. Riskind, Dylan K. Richards. Cognitive Therapy and Research, February 2018, Volume 42, Issue 1, pp 36–47. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/01/the-effect-of-germ-movement-on.html
Abstract: Disgust is an emotion intimately linked to pathogen avoidance. Building on prior work, we suggest disgust is an output of programmes that evolved to address three separate adaptive problems: what to eat, what to touch and with whom to have sex. We briefly discuss the architecture of these programmes, specifying their perceptual inputs and the contextual factors that enable them to generate adaptive and flexible behaviour. We propose that our sense of disgust is the result of these programmes and occurs when information-processing circuitries assess low expected values of consumption, low expected values of contact or low expected sexual values. This conception of disgust differs from prior models in that it dissects pathogen-related selection pressures into adaptive problems related to consumption and contact rather than assuming just one pathogen disgust system, and it excludes moral disgust from the domain of disgust proper. Instead, we illustrate how low expected values of consumption and contact as well as low expected sexual values can be used by our moral psychology to provide multiple causal links between disgust and morality.
Check also Why do people vary in disgust? Joshua M. Tybur, Çağla Çınar, Annika K. Karinen, Paola Perone. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, July 19 2018. Volume 373, issue 1751, https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/06/explanations-for-variability.html
Also Magical Contagion Effects in Consumer Contexts: It may be both negative (fly in your plate) or positive (a celebrity's dress)
Catching (Up with) Magical Contagion: A Review of Contagion Effects in Consumer Contexts. Julie Y. Huang, Joshua M. Ackerman and George E. Newman. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 2017, vol. 2, issue 4, 430 - 443. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/04/magical-contagion-effects-in-consumer.htmlKollareth, D., & Russell, J. A. (2018). Even unpleasant reminders that you are an animal need not disgust you. Emotion, 18(2), 304-312. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/03/we-tested-hypothesis-that-we-humans.html
The Effect of Germ Movement on the Construal of Mental States in Germs: The Moderating Role of Contamination Fear. John H. Riskind, Dylan K. Richards. Cognitive Therapy and Research, February 2018, Volume 42, Issue 1, pp 36–47. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/01/the-effect-of-germ-movement-on.html
Explanations for variability experiencing disgust (like parental modelling, with offspring calibrating their pathogen avoidance based on their parents' reactions; or that individuals calibrate their disgust sensitivity to the parasite stress of their) are not good.
Why do people vary in disgust? Joshua M. Tybur, Çağla Çınar, Annika K. Karinen, Paola Perone. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, July 19 2018. Volume 373, issue 1751, DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0204
Abstract: People vary in the degree to which they experience disgust toward—and, consequently, avoid—cues to pathogens. Prodigious work has measured this variation and observed that it relates to, among other things, personality, psychopathological tendencies, and moral and political sentiments. Less work has sought to generate hypotheses aimed at explaining why this variation exists in the first place, and even less work has evaluated how well data support these hypotheses. In this paper, we present and review the evidence supporting three such proposals. First, researchers have suggested that variability reflects a general tendency to experience anxiety or emotional distress. Second, researchers have suggested that variability arises from parental modelling, with offspring calibrating their pathogen avoidance based on their parents' reactions to pathogen cues. Third, researchers have suggested that individuals calibrate their disgust sensitivity to the parasite stress of the ecology in which they develop. We conclude that none of these hypotheses is supported by existing data, and we propose directions for future research aimed at better understanding this variation.
Abstract: People vary in the degree to which they experience disgust toward—and, consequently, avoid—cues to pathogens. Prodigious work has measured this variation and observed that it relates to, among other things, personality, psychopathological tendencies, and moral and political sentiments. Less work has sought to generate hypotheses aimed at explaining why this variation exists in the first place, and even less work has evaluated how well data support these hypotheses. In this paper, we present and review the evidence supporting three such proposals. First, researchers have suggested that variability reflects a general tendency to experience anxiety or emotional distress. Second, researchers have suggested that variability arises from parental modelling, with offspring calibrating their pathogen avoidance based on their parents' reactions to pathogen cues. Third, researchers have suggested that individuals calibrate their disgust sensitivity to the parasite stress of the ecology in which they develop. We conclude that none of these hypotheses is supported by existing data, and we propose directions for future research aimed at better understanding this variation.
Vanilla extract becomes more expensive than silver; synthetic flavour from petroleum, coal tar is spurned in favor of non-synthetic options
Crop uncertainty drives vanilla price back to record level. Emiko Terazono, The Financial Times, March 25, 2018
Foodmakers turn to alternatives as flavour extract becomes more expensive than silverhttps://www.ft.com/content/1c810c2a-286f-11e8-b27e-cc62a39d57a0
Ice cream and cake makers hoping for cheaper vanilla will be disappointed as uncertainty about this year’s crop in the world’s top grower Madagascar has driven the price of the spice back to record levels.
Vanilla prices soared to its record $600 a kilogramme last year after a cyclone hit the tropical island off the south-east coast of Africa, sending buyers scrambling to secure supplies of the flavouring extract.
Prices eased off below $550/kg at the end of last year on hopes of a good crop in 2018, but are now back at $600 amid uncertainty over crop levels.
The flowering period of the vanilla orchid, which produces vanilla beans, has ended and the pods are now growing.
“We won’t know the production [levels] until June,” said Mélanie Legris at Eurovanille, the French trading company.
Vanilla is the second most expensive spice after saffron and at current levels is more expensive than silver, which is trading just above $530/kg. Madagascar supplies 75 to 80 per cent of the world vanilla bean market, and other producers including Indonesia and India do not grow enough to make up for sudden fluctuations in Madagascan vanilla pod production.
The squeeze on vanilla beans has also pushed up the price of by-products of the beans.
The price of “spent” vanilla specks — ground vanilla made from used beans that are then dried, ground and sterilised — has jumped from about $40 a kilogramme to $150, said traders.
In most cases, the spent specks are used as a “visual enhancement” said Naushad Lalani at Sentrex Ingredients, a US maker of essences and food flavouring ingredients.
Using spent beans allows foodmakers to list vanilla beans as an ingredient and put a picture of a vanilla pod or flower on the packaging, although the actual flavour may come from a non-vanilla bean source.
Some artisanal ice cream makers were forced to stop producing vanilla ice cream last year as they could not get hold of affordable vanilla bean supplies, while others raised prices or switched to vanilla flavouring made from other sources.
Vanilla is one of the world’s most popular flavours, but only about 1 per cent of the extracts used in food and cosmetics come from real pods. Vanillin, the flavour molecule found in vanilla beans, is also extracted from petroleum, coal tar and wood as well as natural food sources such as rice bran and clove oil.
Demand for artificial vanilla flavouring is rising. There has been “a positive shift in demand for our bio-based sustainable vanillin product”, said Tone Horvei Bredal at Borregaard, the Norwegian group that makes vanillin from wood.
Vanilla pod prices were on the rise before the cyclone hit Madagascar, as leading foodmakers such as Unilever and Nestlé pledged to use natural ingredients in their products, spurning synthetic flavourings.
But the rising price of vanilla beans is forcing users away to natural alternatives. Demand destruction is a concern, Mr Lalani said. “People have migrated to natural alternatives. Will they ever come back to pure vanilla?”
Foodmakers turn to alternatives as flavour extract becomes more expensive than silverhttps://www.ft.com/content/1c810c2a-286f-11e8-b27e-cc62a39d57a0
Ice cream and cake makers hoping for cheaper vanilla will be disappointed as uncertainty about this year’s crop in the world’s top grower Madagascar has driven the price of the spice back to record levels.
Vanilla prices soared to its record $600 a kilogramme last year after a cyclone hit the tropical island off the south-east coast of Africa, sending buyers scrambling to secure supplies of the flavouring extract.
Prices eased off below $550/kg at the end of last year on hopes of a good crop in 2018, but are now back at $600 amid uncertainty over crop levels.
The flowering period of the vanilla orchid, which produces vanilla beans, has ended and the pods are now growing.
“We won’t know the production [levels] until June,” said Mélanie Legris at Eurovanille, the French trading company.
Vanilla is the second most expensive spice after saffron and at current levels is more expensive than silver, which is trading just above $530/kg. Madagascar supplies 75 to 80 per cent of the world vanilla bean market, and other producers including Indonesia and India do not grow enough to make up for sudden fluctuations in Madagascan vanilla pod production.
The squeeze on vanilla beans has also pushed up the price of by-products of the beans.
The price of “spent” vanilla specks — ground vanilla made from used beans that are then dried, ground and sterilised — has jumped from about $40 a kilogramme to $150, said traders.
In most cases, the spent specks are used as a “visual enhancement” said Naushad Lalani at Sentrex Ingredients, a US maker of essences and food flavouring ingredients.
Using spent beans allows foodmakers to list vanilla beans as an ingredient and put a picture of a vanilla pod or flower on the packaging, although the actual flavour may come from a non-vanilla bean source.
Some artisanal ice cream makers were forced to stop producing vanilla ice cream last year as they could not get hold of affordable vanilla bean supplies, while others raised prices or switched to vanilla flavouring made from other sources.
Vanilla is one of the world’s most popular flavours, but only about 1 per cent of the extracts used in food and cosmetics come from real pods. Vanillin, the flavour molecule found in vanilla beans, is also extracted from petroleum, coal tar and wood as well as natural food sources such as rice bran and clove oil.
Demand for artificial vanilla flavouring is rising. There has been “a positive shift in demand for our bio-based sustainable vanillin product”, said Tone Horvei Bredal at Borregaard, the Norwegian group that makes vanillin from wood.
Vanilla pod prices were on the rise before the cyclone hit Madagascar, as leading foodmakers such as Unilever and Nestlé pledged to use natural ingredients in their products, spurning synthetic flavourings.
But the rising price of vanilla beans is forcing users away to natural alternatives. Demand destruction is a concern, Mr Lalani said. “People have migrated to natural alternatives. Will they ever come back to pure vanilla?”
Sunday, June 3, 2018
Evidence based on over 10 years of experience sampling: Emotional experience improves with age; best time is over 70 years old
Carstensen, L. L., Turan, B., Scheibe, S., Ram, N., Ersner-Hershfield, H., Samanez-Larkin, G. R., . . . Nesselroade, J. R. (2011). Emotional experience improves with age: Evidence based on over 10 years of experience sampling. Psychology and Aging, 26(1), 21-33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0021285
Abstract: Recent evidence suggests that emotional well-being improves from early adulthood to old age. This study used experience-sampling to examine the developmental course of emotional experience in a representative sample of adults spanning early to very late adulthood. Participants (N = 184, Wave 1; N = 191, Wave 2; N = 178, Wave 3) reported their emotional states at five randomly selected times each day for a one week period. Using a measurement burst design, the one-week sampling procedure was repeated five and then ten years later. Cross-sectional and growth curve analyses indicate that aging is associated with more positive overall emotional well-being, with greater emotional stability and with more complexity (as evidenced by greater co-occurrence of positive and negative emotions). These findings remained robust after accounting for other variables that may be related to emotional experience (personality, verbal fluency, physical health, and demographic variables). Finally, emotional experience predicted mortality; controlling for age, sex, and ethnicity, individuals who experienced relatively more positive than negative emotions in everyday life were more likely to have survived over a 13 year period. Findings are discussed in the theoretical context of socioemotional selectivity theory.
Abstract: Recent evidence suggests that emotional well-being improves from early adulthood to old age. This study used experience-sampling to examine the developmental course of emotional experience in a representative sample of adults spanning early to very late adulthood. Participants (N = 184, Wave 1; N = 191, Wave 2; N = 178, Wave 3) reported their emotional states at five randomly selected times each day for a one week period. Using a measurement burst design, the one-week sampling procedure was repeated five and then ten years later. Cross-sectional and growth curve analyses indicate that aging is associated with more positive overall emotional well-being, with greater emotional stability and with more complexity (as evidenced by greater co-occurrence of positive and negative emotions). These findings remained robust after accounting for other variables that may be related to emotional experience (personality, verbal fluency, physical health, and demographic variables). Finally, emotional experience predicted mortality; controlling for age, sex, and ethnicity, individuals who experienced relatively more positive than negative emotions in everyday life were more likely to have survived over a 13 year period. Findings are discussed in the theoretical context of socioemotional selectivity theory.
What Do We Measure When We Measure Affective Partisanship?
What Do We Measure When We Measure Affective Partisanship? James Druckman and Matthew Levendusky. Norwestern University WP-18-12, https://www.ipr.northwestern.edu/publications/papers/2018/wp-18-12.html
Abstract: Affective polarization—the tendency of Democrats and Republicans to dislike and distrust one another—has become an important phenomenon in American politics. Yet despite scholarly attention to this topic, two important measurement lacunae remain. First, what items—of the many previously employed—should be used to measure this concept? Second, these items all ask respondents about the parties. When individuals answer them, do they think of voters, elites, or both? The researchers demonstrate that most of the previously used items tap affective polarization, with the exception being the popular social distance measures. Second, they show that when answering questions about the other party, individuals think about elites more than voters, and express more animus when the questions focus on elites. This suggests that increased affective polarization reflects, to some extent, growing animus towards politicians more than ordinary voters. They conclude by discussing the consequences for both measuring this concept and understanding its ramifications.
Abstract: Affective polarization—the tendency of Democrats and Republicans to dislike and distrust one another—has become an important phenomenon in American politics. Yet despite scholarly attention to this topic, two important measurement lacunae remain. First, what items—of the many previously employed—should be used to measure this concept? Second, these items all ask respondents about the parties. When individuals answer them, do they think of voters, elites, or both? The researchers demonstrate that most of the previously used items tap affective polarization, with the exception being the popular social distance measures. Second, they show that when answering questions about the other party, individuals think about elites more than voters, and express more animus when the questions focus on elites. This suggests that increased affective polarization reflects, to some extent, growing animus towards politicians more than ordinary voters. They conclude by discussing the consequences for both measuring this concept and understanding its ramifications.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
