Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Belief in God: Why People Believe, and Why They Don’t

Belief in God: Why People Believe, and Why They Don’t. Brett Mercier, Stephanie R. Kramer, Azim F. Shariff. Current Directions in Psychological Science, https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721418754491

Abstract: Belief in a god or gods is a central feature in the lives of billions of people and a topic of perennial interest within psychology. However, research over the past half decade has achieved a new level of understanding regarding both the ultimate and proximate causes of belief in God. Ultimate causes—the evolutionary influences on a trait—shed light on the adaptive value of belief in God and the reasons why a tendency toward this belief exists in humans. Proximate causes—the immediate influences on the expression of a trait—explain variation and changes in belief. We review this research and discuss remaining barriers to a fuller understanding of belief in God.

Keywords: belief, God, evolution, religion

Bullshit-receptivity (perceived meaningfulness of bullshit sentences) & profoundness-receptivity (perceived meaningfulness of genuinely profound sentences) are negatively/positively linked to prosocial behavior

Bullshit-sensitivity predicts prosocial behavior. Arvid Erlandsson et al. PLOS, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0201474

Abstract: Bullshit-sensitivity is the ability to distinguish pseudo-profound bullshit sentences (e.g. “Your movement transforms universal observations”) from genuinely profound sentences (e.g. “The person who never made a mistake never tried something new”). Although bullshit-sensitivity has been linked to other individual difference measures, it has not yet been shown to predict any actual behavior. We therefore conducted a survey study with over a thousand participants from a general sample of the Swedish population and assessed participants’ bullshit-receptivity (i.e. their perceived meaningfulness of seven bullshit sentences) and profoundness-receptivity (i.e. their perceived meaningfulness of seven genuinely profound sentences), and used these variables to predict two types of prosocial behavior (self-reported donations and a decision to volunteer for charity). Despite bullshit-receptivity and profoundness-receptivity being positively correlated with each other, logistic regression analyses showed that profoundness-receptivity had a positive association whereas bullshit-receptivity had a negative association with both types of prosocial behavior. These relations held up for the most part when controlling for potentially intermediating factors such as cognitive ability, time spent completing the survey, sex, age, level of education, and religiosity. The results suggest that people who are better at distinguishing the pseudo-profound from the actually profound are more prosocial.


How an individual interprets a relationship social comparison have implications for the self and one’s relationship; we studied the effects on relationship satisfaction & commitment, satisfaction with life, & happiness for both dating & married individuals

Rolf Degen summarizing: People compare their romantic relationships to those of others in ways that make their own look better. https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1024514641668567040

Relationship social comparisons in dating and marital relationships: Adding relationship social comparison interpretations. Marian M. Morry & Tamara A. Sucharyna. The Journal of Social Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2018.1498826

ABSTRACT: How an individual interprets a relationship social comparison may have important implications for the self and one’s relationship. We asked whether these interpretations significantly mediated the relation between the manipulated social comparison direction and relationship satisfaction, relationship commitment, satisfaction with life, and happiness for both dating (Studies 1 and 2) and married (Study 2) individuals. Participants were randomly assigned to make an upward or downward comparison to a friend’s romantic relationship and completed measures of their interpretations, relationship quality, satisfaction with life, and happiness. For both dating and married individuals, there were indirect effects of manipulated social comparison direction through the interpretations for all dependent variables. Although there were some differences in mediation for married and dating individuals, the effect sizes were not significantly different.

KEYWORDS: Cognitions, relationship quality, relationship type, social comparisons


Tuesday, July 31, 2018

1 in 4 people preferred the perceptual concept of dark over the perceptual concept of light; these people scored higher in neuroticism, experienced greater depressive feelings in daily life; dark preferences shared relationship with generalised anxiety symptoms

Hello darkness my old friend: preferences for darkness vary by neuroticism and co-occur with negative affect. Michelle R. Persich, Jessica L. Bair, Becker Steinemann, Stephanie Nelson, Adam K. Fetterman & Michael D. Robinson. Cognition and Emotion, https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2018.1504746

ABSTRACT: Metaphors frequently link negative affect with darkness and associations of this type have been established in several experimental paradigms. Given the ubiquity and strength of these associations, people who prefer dark to light may be more prone to negative emotional experiences and symptoms. A five study investigation (total N = 605) couches these ideas in a new theoretical framework and then examines them. Across studies, 1 in 4 people preferred the perceptual concept of dark over the perceptual concept of light. These dark-preferring people scored higher in neuroticism (Studies 1 and 2) and experienced greater depressive feelings in daily life (Study 3). Moreover, dark preferences shared a robust relationship with depressive symptoms (Study 4) as well as generalised anxiety symptoms (Study 5). The results provide novel insights into negative affectivity and extend conceptual metaphor theory in a way that is capable of making individual difference predictions.

KEYWORDS: Neuroticism, negative affect, conceptual metaphor, darkness, preferences

Pettiness, or intentional attentiveness to trivial details of resource exchanges harms communal-sharing relationships by making (even objectively generous) exchanges feel transactional

Kim, T., Zhang, T., & Norton, M. I. (2018). Pettiness in social exchange. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xge0000463

Abstract: We identify and document a novel construct—pettiness, or intentional attentiveness to trivial details—and examine its (negative) implications in interpersonal relationships and social exchange. Seven studies show that pettiness manifests across different types of resources (both money and time), across cultures with differing tolerance for ambiguity in relationships (the United States, Switzerland, Germany, and Austria), and is distinct from related constructs such as generosity, conscientiousness, fastidious, and counternormativity. Indeed, people dislike petty exchanges even when the (petty) amount given is more generous (e.g., a gift card for $5.15 rather than $5), suggesting that pettiness may in some instances serve as a stronger relationship signal than are actual benefits exchanged. Attentiveness to trivial details of resource exchanges harms communal-sharing relationships by making (even objectively generous) exchanges feel transactional. When exchanging resources, people should be wary of both how much they exchange and the manner in which they exchange it.

In both sexes, hormone levels play an important role by increasing the sensitivity towards the sexual signals emitted by the potential partners & determining the expression of sexual signals that allows the potential partner or intra-sexual competitor to identify the reproductive status

Sexual Incentive and Choice. Armando Ferreira-Nuño et al. Current Sexual Health Reports, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11930-018-0158-1

Abstract
Purpose of the Review: In the present manuscript, we review the most important sexual cues in rodents and mammals that influence mate choice. Sexual cues lead to the approach and selection of a partner.

Recent Findings: In both sexes, hormone levels play an important role by increasing the sensitivity towards the sexual signals emitted by the potential partners and determining the expression of sexual signals that allows the potential partner or intra-sexual competitor to identify the reproductive status. Similarly, sexual cues emitted by both sexes can modify the hormonal status of the potential partner or intra-sexual competitors, so that they can be better skilled reproductively for sexual competition.

Summary: Future research should analyze the impact of the use of hormonal contraceptives, since it has been shown that they alter the sexual signals emitted and could influence the selection of partners in humans. In addition, this review will be important for anyone using a rodent model to understand sexual motivation.

Did China think Donald Trump was bluffing on trade? How Beijing got it wrong

Did China think Donald Trump was bluffing on trade? How Beijing got it wrong. Wendy Wu Kristin Huang. South China Morning Post, Jul 31, 2018
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2157028/did-china-think-donald-trump-was-bluffing-trade-how

With China and the United States at the centre of the biggest international trade dispute in decades, the South China Morning Post takes an in-depth look at the changing relationship between Beijing and Washington. In the second of a two-part series, Wendy Wu and Kristin Huang explain how China was caught off guard by US President Donald Trump’s aggressive trade action and explores whether Beijing is to blame for the conflict

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China’s ruling Communist Party’s tightened control over think tanks and a crackdown on extravagance could be having an impact on how the leadership handles foreign affairs – and weakening Beijing’s understanding of US politics under President Donald Trump.

Sources and analysts say that Beijing appears to have been caught off guard by Trump’s protectionist trade blitz, and that it underestimated rising anti-China sentiment among the US elite.

Even last month when US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross visited Beijing, some in the capital were still hoping Washington could be persuaded not to go ahead with its threat to slap punitive tariffs on Chinese goods.

But the US was not convinced, imposing 25 per cent duties on US$34 billion of Chinese products from July 6 – prompting Beijing to do the same. Washington now plans to apply 10 per cent tariffs on another US$200 billion of Chinese goods, and Trump has said he is ready to put duties on every import from China.

“They [the Chinese leadership and researchers] didn’t realise how bad the sentiment here is getting. They thought Trump was just bluffing, and they still think like that,” according to a former US policy adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“They say this is about the midterm elections and things will change after that. They are totally wrong and they totally misread the situation. I feel partly this is because they have become more insulated, and partly because nobody dares to tell Beijing that they are wrong.”


VICTIM OF ITS OWN POLICY?

Sources and observers told the South China Morning Post that the problem is policies introduced by Beijing – driven by a need to consolidate the party’s power – that have discouraged policy advisers from having in-depth discussions with their US counterparts that would help them to understand the latest thinking in Washington, or from speaking their minds.

That has left Beijing without a comprehensive strategy to deal with the Trump administration, at least on the trade front, at a time of heightened tension and rivalry.

Six years ago, as President Xi Jinping’s major crackdown on corruption began, Beijing introduced a series of rules to curb overspending, including limits on government officials, academics and policy advisers travelling abroad.

Since then, many officials have had to hand in their personal passports and instead use special government duty passports when travelling – and in most cases they are barred from staying overseas for more than a week.

The policy has made it harder to get approval for overseas trips, according to a telecoms professor from a university in central China, who did not want to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. He said he had to go through an extra checking process – from both the university and government agencies – before he could go to Honolulu for an international conference this year.

“Any teachers with PhD degrees or mid-level school leaders have to hand in their passports and other travel documents like the Exit-Entry Permit for Travelling to and from Hong Kong and Macau,” the professor said, adding that they were expected to use government duty passports.

The impact of the policy has also been noticed in the United States. A researcher with a US think tank said he and his colleagues welcomed discussions with their Chinese counterparts, but it was difficult because Beijing only allowed them to make brief visits.

“It’s getting difficult to have the Chinese [government advisers] to stay here for long. They are all on very short-term visas,” the researcher said. “They told us it is Beijing’s policy.”

Chinese advisers had been stymied by that policy, he said.

“This is bad. If they can only come and stay here for less than a week, it’s hard for them to really do the fact-finding and understand the changing sentiment in DC and New York. I think this is partly why the Chinese are not reading the situation here correctly,” the researcher said.

At the same time, Beijing is tightening ideological control in all aspects of life, including on university campuses, and demanding that the party line be strictly adhered to. Any unauthorised discussion of government policies can result in a reprimand for “improper discussion of a party directive”.

That has left Chinese advisers and Western diplomats worried about whether their suggestions will be filtered before they reach top-level officials, to ensure they are politically correct.

A former US official who frequently travels to China said Chinese advisers and officials who had previously been outspoken had become extremely tight-lipped, even in unofficial and private talks.

“It’s more difficult to know what they are thinking as they are just repeating the government and party rhetoric,” the former official said. “This will lead to a higher risk of wrong decisions, even fatal mistakes.”

An overreliance on traditional back-door channels is compounding the situation. According to the former US policy adviser, Beijing relies too much on the Wall Street and political elite, including Henry Paulson and Henry Kissinger, to understand US politics – people who do not have any influence over Trump.

“Trump doesn’t listen to them or talk to them. I think the Chinese leadership underestimated the situation,” the former adviser said.

Early on, Beijing had looked to Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner – the US president’s daughter and son-in-law, who are White House advisers – to build closer ties with Washington. But that approach was short-lived amid concern that relying on connections with Trump’s family could hurt China’s image, and with Kushner facing controversy over Russia’s involvement in the 2016 US presidential election.


LAST-MINUTE PLANS

With a trade war now under way, the finance ministry is stepping up research and policy consultation on US issues. Last week it set up an alliance of 20 think tanks to do just that, with one of its tasks to “conduct fundamental research, policy studies and prospective studies”.

Researchers involved in the alliance said China’s existing research on US affairs did not go deep enough, and it had left Beijing ill-prepared for the trade tussle.

Trump has said repeatedly, even before he came to power, that he would take a tough line on China – for example, naming Beijing as a currency manipulator.

But in Beijing, plans to handle Trump’s threats were often made at the last minute, according to a source in frequent contact with senior Chinese officials.

The source gave the example of China failing to analyse further measures to keep trade relations on track after the two sides agreed to a 100-day plan to improve economic ties in April last year, when Xi met Trump at the president’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

As trade tensions worsened, Beijing sent Vice-Premier Liu He to Washington in February and again in March, offering to buy more US products. But the list of products was prepared in a very “hasty manner”, according to the source.

“This sort of thing should have been done much earlier, as part of a comprehensive strategy, not just something that was drawn up overnight, days ahead of an important visit,” the source said.

Added to that, the State Council’s Development Research Centre, a liberal government think tank, has been left out of trade policy discussions by the party’s inner circle, according to the source.

Policy advice is vetted and submitted to the top leadership by the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission but “we have no idea how much of it has been passed to them”, the source said.

In April, a prominent Chinese economist who had been in the US on an academic trip, told an audience at Tsinghua University of how differently the spiralling trade conflict was being seen in America compared with China.

At that stage, think tanks and policymaking agencies in Washington had nearly completed plans for trade actions to be taken against Beijing and had reached consensus “not on whether there would be trade friction with China, but on the need to observe how China would respond”, according to a transcript of the economist’s speech.

“But from what was being said in domestic media, and public comments by Chinese officials before we left Beijing [for the US trip], it seemed that China was unprepared for the trade friction to come. The prevailing sentiment was that bilateral ties were manageable and on a normal track,” the economist said.


NOT ENOUGH DATA

A big problem for China in handling the trade dispute with the US is that it lacks data and detailed scenario analyses, observers say.

One example is a study from May looking at the impact of US tariffs on China’s GDP growth. It was carried out by two researchers with the National Development and Reform Commission but based on US statistics. It is unclear whether the data was adjusted to reflect Beijing’s view of bilateral trade, but it concluded that GDP growth would be dragged down by about 0.2 percentage points – the same estimate reached in another government-backed study that looked specifically at the effect of 25 per cent tariffs on US$50 billion of products.

A former Chinese trade official said the estimates lacked detail and failed to take into account structural differences and changes in the supply chain.

That compares to the approach in Washington – its Section 301 investigation into China’s trade practices was accompanied by more than 3,000 footnotes and supported by data analysis and case studies, according to a Beijing think tank researcher.

“Although a lot of US-focused research has been done in China, we don’t have the depth and the detailed analysis. A lot of it is just superficial,” said the researcher, whose think tank is part of the new finance ministry alliance.

“We’re hoping our research and policy suggestions will reach the key decision makers through this new alliance,” the researcher added.

Wang Huiyao, founder and president of the Centre for China and Globalisation, another alliance member, said Beijing urgently needed research and data to give it a better understanding of the overall picture.
“Other than bilateral diplomatic ties, China must do more research on China-US trade numbers, on US laws and US industries,” Wang said.

Motivation could also be part of the problem, with some Chinese academics still driven by grants and fame, according to a government think tank researcher who focuses on US studies.

“China has sent scholars and researchers to the US for decades, yet they end up chasing personal gain because they are under pressure to publish papers in certain journals as soon as possible – or they’re busy applying for government-funded projects,” said the researcher, from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

“There are really very few Chinese who are out there in the field doing deep research on US culture, society and on politics.”

Emotional Function During Aging, Chapter 20 Of The Wiley Handbook on the Aging Mind and Brain

Emotional Function During Aging. Kuan‐Hua Chen, Steven Anderson.
Chapter 20, The Wiley Handbook on the Aging Mind and Brain. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118772034.ch20

Summary: This chapter reviews the literature on age‐related change in discrete emotions, current models and theories of emotional aging. It introduces an integrated perspective of aging and emotion (IPAE), intended to provide a comprehensive view of how aging may differentially affect the generation and regulation of discrete emotions. The chapter focuses on normal aging, although the boundary between normal and pathological brain aging can be vague, and many of the principles have implications for aging associated with the numerous psychiatric and neurological conditions that impact emotion. It also focuses on general trends in emotional functioning associated with aging, but also considers important individual differences. It is notable that age‐related increases in the complexity of emotional experience occurs across both positive and negative emotion domains. The chapter elaborates current theories and models proposed to explain these age‐related patterns in the generation and regulation of emotion.

Localization of an epileptic orgasmic feeling to the right amygdala, using intracranial electrodes

Localization of an epileptic orgasmic feeling to the right amygdala, using intracranial electrodes. Laurence Chatona et al. Cortex, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2018.07.013

Abstract: The limbic system has well-known functions in the regulation of human emotions and behaviour in general and sexual behaviour in particular. However, it is not clear which components of the limbic system are involved in orgasmic feelings. Although orgasmic aura can be elicited by direct electrical stimulation of the right mesial temporal lobe, the location of spontaneous and isolated orgasmic auras have not yet been reported in the literature. Here, we report on the first case of spontaneous orgasmic aura associated with a discharge in the right amygdala, following an investigation with depth electrodes in a woman with temporal lobe epilepsy. Her ictal orgasmic feeling reportedly felt the same as her physiological orgasms. This case sheds light on the amygdala’s key role in human sexual function.

Mapping sweetness preference across the lifespan for culturally different societies: unlike most western societies, Hadza and Tsimane’ show no decline in sweet preference with age; may be related to high energy expenditure

Mapping sweetness preference across the lifespan for culturally different societies. Robert Pellegrino et al. Journal of Environmental Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2018.07.012

Highlights
•    Both Hadza and Tsimane’ societies liked sweetness more than the Polish society, with Hadza having the highest preference for sweets.
•    Unlike most western societies, Hadza and Tsimane’ show no decline in sweet preference with age.
•    Sweet taste preferences may be related to high energy expenditure that is maintained throughout the lifetime of some non-western societies or highly sweet foods (e.g. honey) as the main energy replenishment source.

Abstract: The preference of sweetened foods can be influenced by a variety of biological, psychological, sociological, and environmental factors. In this study, we focused on differences across three distinct societies: 1) a modern society (i.e., Polish people, n=199), 2) forager-horticulturalists from Amazon/Bolivia (Tsimane', n=138), and 3) traditional hunter-gatherers from Tanzania (Hadza, n=81). To measure sweet preference, participants were asked to drink three cups containing slightly acidic solutions (pH = 2.79) varying in sucrose concentration (w/v; 0%, 25%, 67%). Only 6% of the Polish participants chose the sweetest cup as their favorite, while this cup was chosen by 76% of the Hadza and 53% of the Tsimane’ participants. Further, age was a inversely related to sweet preference for Polish participants; however, age did not predict preferences for both Tsimane’ and Hadza tribes. We discuss our findings in the context of environmental and cultural differences between the participating populations.

Brain training, mindset, grit, deliberate practice, and the bilingual advantage are premised on the idea that environmental factors are the overwhelming determinants of success in real-world pursuits; none of them help significatively

Moreau, David, Brooke N. Macnamara, and Zach Hambrick. 2018. “Overstating the Role of Environmental Factors in Success: A Cautionary Note.” PsyArXiv. July 30. doi:10.31234/osf.io/sv9pz

Abstract: Several currently popular areas of research—brain training, mindset, grit, deliberate practice, and the bilingual advantage—are premised on the idea that environmental factors are the overwhelming determinants of success in real-world pursuits. Here, we describe the major claims from each of these areas of research, before discussing evidence for these claims, with a particular focus on meta-analyses. We then suggest that overemphasizing the malleability of abilities and other traits can have negative consequences for individuals, science, and society. We conclude with a call for balanced appraisals of the available evidence concerning this issue, to reflect current scientific discrepancies, and thereby enable informed individual decisions and collective policies.

Monday, July 30, 2018

Grieving Orca Carries Dead Calf for More Than 3 Days

Grieving Orca Carries Dead Calf for More Than 3 Days: ‘She’s Just Not Letting Go.’ Mihir Zaveri. The New York Times, Jul 27 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/27/science/grieving-orca-dead-calf.html

Her dead calf resting on her nose, an orca has swum in mourning for more than three days in the Pacific Northwest.

The calf died Tuesday morning, half an hour after it was born off the coast of Victoria, British Columbia, to a 20-year-old whale called J35. It was the first calf known to have been born to the local population, known as the Southern Resident killer whales, since 2015.

“I think she’s just grieving, unwilling at this point to let the calf go, like, ‘Why, why, why?’” said Ken Balcomb, founder and chief scientist for the San Juan Island-based Center for Whale Research, who has tracked the population for more than 40 years.

Southern Resident killer whales, which consist of three different pods, generally stay near British Columbia and Washington State, though some swim north to Alaska and south to California. Researchers fear the decline of the population, which has been besieged by a shrinking gene pool, dwindling food supply and environmental degradation.

Orcas have been shown to have complex social circles, use vocal communication, and exhibit emotions like grief. The whales do sometimes carry the bodies of their dead calves on the water’s surface — another whale was seen doing so in the Pacific Northwest for a few hours in 2010.

But J35’s sad journey, which began near Victoria and has taken her some 150 miles around the San Juan Islands and Vancouver, has continued for an unusually long time, researchers said. It has become a devastating symbol, and an uncannily pointed one, for the whales’ plight.

“We know it happens, but this one is kind of on tour almost, like she’s just not letting go,” Mr. Balcomb said.

J35 was spotted again Friday morning near the southern end of the San Juan Islands, he said. She has largely been balancing the dead calf on her nose.

“Sometimes she bites the flipper and pulls it up,” he said. “The calf sinks because it doesn’t have enough of a blubber layer, and it goes down. She dives down and picks it back up and brings it to the surface.”

Mr. Balcomb’s team first started monitoring the area’s orca population in 1976. They numbered about 70 at the time, after approximately 50 were removed from the wild to become attractions in marine parks.

About 20 years later, after federal protections were implemented, the number of whales in the population peaked at around 100. Then it started to decline again, and today, there are about 75 left.

Given that number, there should be about nine babies born each year, Mr. Balcomb said. Instead, no calves had been born since 2015.

“Once they stop reproducing, they may still swim around here for 50 more years, but there will be no babies,” he said. “Functionally, they will be extinct.”

The population decline, and the lack of new baby whales, has largely been attributed to their primary prey, the King salmon, or Chinook, dying off.

Jan Ohlberger, a research scientist at the University of Washington’s School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, said that the orcas prefer the larger Chinook salmon that are richer in energy, but that they have steadily declined over the last several decades.

He said it could be because of overfishing or climate. “We don’t really know,” he said. “There’s a lot of hypothesizing about that.”

Conservationists have said the whale population has also declined because of inbreeding, noise pollution from ship traffic, and municipal and industrial waste and other chemicals being spilled into the water.

There are more potential threats on the horizon. A recent agreement to expand the Trans Mountain Pipeline, which carries oil from Alberta to British Columbia, would multiply tanker traffic through the orcas’ habitat and expose them to more noise and potential spills. Construction on that pipeline is expected to begin in August.

In May, Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington convened the Southern Resident Orca Task Force, a group of state, tribal, provincial and federal officials, to help protect the region’s orcas.

“The loss of a newborn orca calf from our endangered southern resident killer whale population underscores what’s at stake as we work to protect these iconic, beautiful animals from vanishing completely,” Mr. Inslee tweeted this week.

Mr. Balcomb, who sits on the governor’s task force, said J35’s plight has become a rallying point for the efforts to protect the whales.

“Everybody is devastated,” he said. “This is very, very dramatic, saddening, disheartening.”

Follow Mihir Zaveri on Twitter: @MihirZaveri.

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Check also Prolonged transport and cannibalism of mummified infant remains by a Tonkean macaque mother. Arianna De Marco, Roberto Cozzolino, and Bernard Thierry. Primates, https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/09/prolonged-transport-and-cannibalism-of.html

Why are you cheating on Tinder? Between 18-25% of Tinder users is in a committed relationship while on Tinder; non-single Tinder users are more likely to report casual sexual behavior; personality differences were found between non-single users & other groups

Why are you cheating on Tinder? Exploring users’ motives and (dark) personality traits. Elisabeth Timmermans, Elien De Caluwé, Cassandra Alexopoulos. Computers in Human Behavior, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.07.040

Highlights
•    Between 18-25% of Tinder users is in a committed relationship while on Tinder
•    Non-single vs. single Tinder users differ significantly on nine Tinder motives
•    Non-single Tinder users are more likely to report casual sexual behavior
•    Personality differences were found between non-single users and other groups
•    Non-single users’ personality was significantly related to their Tinder motives

Abstract: We present an exploratory study examining why people in a relationship use Tinder and whether they score higher on certain (dark) personality traits compared to single users and non-users in a committed relationship. Our results indicate that non-single Tinder users differ significantly on nine Tinder motives from single Tinder users. Moreover, non-single Tinder users generally report a higher number of romantic relationships, French kisses, one night stands, and casual sexual relationships with other Tinder users compared to single Tinder users. In terms of (dark) personality traits, non-single Tinder users score significantly lower on Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, and significantly higher on Neuroticism and Psychopathy compared to non-users in a committed relationship. For non-single Tinder users, lower scores on Agreeableness and Neuroticism and higher scores on Psychopathy and Machiavellianism are significantly correlated with the sexual Tinder motive. Additionally, Narcissism and Machiavellianism were positively associated with using Tinder for an ego-boost. Non-single users who reported to have had offline encounters with other Tinder users reported higher scores on Extraversion and Openness to Experience compared to non-single users who never had an offline encounter.

Red-fronted lemurs (Eulemur rufifrons) anoint their perianal-genital areas & tails with chewed millipedes, likely to self-medicate against gastrointestinal parasite infections by Oxyuridae nematodes, providing both prophylactic & therapeutic effects

Potential self-medication using millipede secretions in red-fronted lemurs: combining anointment and ingestion for a joint action against gastrointestinal parasites? Louise R. Peckre et al. Primates, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10329-018-0674-7

Abstract: Self-anointing, referring to the behaviour of rubbing a material object or foreign substance over different parts of the body, has been observed in several vertebrate species, including primates. Several functions, such as detoxifying a rich food source, social communication and protection against ectoparasites, have been proposed to explain this behaviour. Here, we report observations of six wild red-fronted lemurs (Eulemur rufifrons) of both sexes and different age classes anointing their perianal-genital areas and tails with chewed millipedes. Several individuals also ingested millipedes after prolonged chewing. In light of the features of the observed interactions with millipedes, and the nature and potential metabolic pathways of the released chemicals, we suggest a potential self-medicative function. Specifically, we propose that anointing combined with the ingestion of millipedes’ benzoquinone secretions by red-fronted lemurs may act in a complementary fashion against gastrointestinal parasite infections, and more specifically Oxyuridae nematodes, providing both prophylactic and therapeutic effects.

Sunday, July 29, 2018

I am violent because I don't feel sexy: Violent individuals of both sexes are the ones that report significantly lower levels of mate value, and other undesirable traits

Poster 49. I am violent because I don't feel sexy .Ana Maria Fernandez, Jose Muñoz-Reyes, Oriana Figueroa, Paula Pavez, Maryanne Fisher. Human Behavior and Evolution Society, 30th Annual Meeting, July 2018. http://www.hbes.com/conference/hbes2018/

Abstract: According to the mating literature, people who are attractive enjoy high status among their peers, and are often selected and pursued by the opposite sex as romantic partners. High mate value is characterized by increased delivery of benefits, in comparison to low mate value. The struggle of unattractive individuals is different, and it has been documented that low mate value tends to underlie the delivery of costs and more conflict within reproductive relationships. We evaluated the mate value of 132 heterosexual couples, and compared the sample according to a clinical as well as a paper and pencil assessment of partner violence. The results are consistent with the literature, showing that violent individuals of both sexes are the ones that report significantly lower levels of mate value, and other undesirable traits. We discuss that high mate value brings about more benefit delivery than relationship costs, while the reverse is true of low mate value.

Alcohol, Generosity and Empathy: There was a negative association between generosity & reported alcohol consumption, & no significant association between empathy & alcohol consumption

Alcohol, Generosity and Empathy. David Fielding, Stephen Knowles, Kirsten Robertson. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2018.07.005

Highlights
•    A Dictator Game experiment was conducted to measure subjects‟ level of generosity.
•    Subject empathy was measured using the Empathy Quotient Scale.
•    There was a negative association between generosity and reported alcohol consumption.
•    There was no significant association between empathy and reported alcohol consumption.

ABSTRACT: Existing studies suggest that chronic alcohol dependency (or recovery from alcohol dependency) is associated with lower levels of empathy and generosity. We present results from a charitable donation experiment that was designed to test for associations with moderate variation in the level of alcohol consumption rather than with the incidence of chronic dependency. We find that higher levels of alcohol consumption (and also higher levels of alcohol expenditure) are associated with significantly less generosity. However, there is no significant association between alcohol consumption / expenditure and empathy (as measured by the Interpersonal Reactivity Index) or between alcohol consumption / expenditure and materialism (as measured by the Material Values Scale). This suggests that the relationship between alcohol expenditure and generosity may be mediated through some other channel.

Rolf Degen summarizing: For singles, the ideal partner should combine the right mix of similarity and superiority in personality, but when push comes to shove, they settle for less

Similar to and/or Better than Oneself? Singles' Ideal Partner Personality Descriptions. Jie Liu et al. European Journal of Personality, https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2159

Abstract: Using the HEXACO Model of Personality, we explored two kinds of ideal partner preferences regarding personality traits, namely, to what extent people prefer partners similar to themselves (similarity preference) and to what extent people prefer partners with more desirable trait levels than themselves (aspirational assortative preference). We conducted five studies (overall N > 900) across four countries (China, Denmark, Germany, and the USA), looking at both HEXACO factors and facets, using both self‐report questionnaires and real‐life data (personal profiles from a dating website), and comprising both student and more heterogeneous samples. The results provided support for both kinds of ideal partner preferences, with important differences across traits. Specifically, similarity preference was supported by all studies concerning all HEXACO traits, and aspirational assortative preference was supported by all four self‐report studies (though not the dating website study) concerning all HEXACO traits except for Openness to Experience. Concerning differences in preferences among the HEXACO traits, similarity preference was particularly pronounced for Honesty–Humility and Openness to Experience, moderate for Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, and less pronounced for Emotionality and Extraversion. Aspirational assortative preference, by contrast, was particularly pronounced for Emotionality, Extraversion, and Agreeableness, moderate for Honesty–Humility, and inconsistent for Conscientiousness.

Awe has traditionally been considered a religious or spiritual emotion; but the disposition to experience awe predicts a more accurate understanding of how science works, rejection of creationism, & rejection of unwarranted teleological explanations more broadly

Awe as a Scientific Emotion. Sara Gottlieb, Dacher Keltner, Tania Lombrozo. Cognitive Science, https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12648

Abstract: Awe has traditionally been considered a religious or spiritual emotion, yet scientists often report that awe motivates them to answer questions about the natural world, and to do so in naturalistic terms. Indeed, awe may be closely related to scientific discovery and theoretical advance. Awe is typically triggered by something vast (either literally or metaphorically) and initiates processes of accommodation, in which existing mental schemas are revised to make sense of the awe‐inspiring stimuli. This process of accommodation is essential for the kind of belief revision that characterizes scientific reasoning and theory change. Across six studies, we find that the tendency to experience awe is positively associated with scientific thinking, and that this association is not shared by other positive emotions. Specifically, we show that the disposition to experience awe predicts a more accurate understanding of how science works, rejection of creationism, and rejection of unwarranted teleological explanations more broadly.

We study gender differences in altruistic behaviour and in expected altruism; women are significantly more altruistic than men; & both women and men expect women to be more altruistic than men

Gender differences in altruism on Mechanical Turk: Expectations and actual behaviour. Pablo Brañas-Garza, Valerio Capraro, Ericka Rascón-Ramírez. Economics Letters, Volume 170, September 2018, Pages 19-23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2018.05.022

Highlights
•    We study gender differences in altruistic behaviour. We also study gender differences in expected altruism.
•    We use a sample of Amazon Mechanical Turk crowdworkers living in the US (simple ¿ 4,000 workers).
•    We show that women are significantly more altruistic than men. We also show that both women and men expect women to be more altruistic than men.

Abstract: Whether or not there are gender differences in altruistic behaviour in Dictator Game experiments has attracted considerable attention in recent years. Earlier studies found women to be more altruistic than men. However, this conclusion has been challenged by more recent accounts, which have argued that gender differences in altruistic behaviour may be a peculiarity of student samples and may not extend to other groups. Here we study gender differences in altruisticbehaviour and, additionally, in expectations of altruistic behaviour, in a sample of Amazon Mechanical Turk crowdworkers living in the US. In Study 1, we report a mega-analysis of more than 3, 500 observations and we show that women are significantly more altruistic than men. In Study 2, we show that both women and men expect women to be more altruistic than men.

Check also Morality Is for Choosing Sides. Peter DeScioli, Robert Kurzban. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/07/morality-is-for-choosing-sides-not-for.html

And Theories of human altruism: a systematic review. Svetlana Feigin, Glynn Owens and Felicity Goodyear-Smith. Annals of Neuroscience and Psychology, 2014. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/04/theories-of-human-altruism-future.html

Saturday, July 28, 2018

NYT Very Surprised That "A Fear of Lawsuits Really Does Seem to Result in Extra Medical Tests"

Defensive Medicine: Evidence from Military Immunity. Michael D. Frakes, Jonathan Gruber. NBER Working Paper No. 24846, July 2018. http://www.nber.org/papers/w24846

Abstract: We estimate the extent of defensive medicine by physicians, embracing the no-liability counterfactual made possible by the structure of liability rules in the Military Heath System. Active-duty patients seeking treatment from military facilities cannot sue for harms resulting from negligent care, while protections are provided to dependents treated at military facilities and to all patients—active-duty or not—that receive care from civilian facilities. Drawing on this variation and exploiting exogenous shocks to care location choices stemming from base-hospital closures, we find suggestive evidence that liability immunity reduces inpatient spending by 5% with no measurable negative effect on patient outcomes.

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A Fear of Lawsuits Really Does Seem to Result in Extra Medical Tests. By Margot Sanger-Katz
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/23/upshot/malpractice-lawsuits-medical-costs.html
Doctors are known for complaining about how the malpractice system adds costs. But it has been hard to prove, until now.
The New York Times, July 23, 2018

Back in 2010, Tom Price, then a congressman, said he knew the chief reason health care cost so much: “Defensive medicine” was costing the United States $650 billion per year — about 26 percent of every dollar spent.

The widely dismissed estimate from Dr. Price, an orthopedic surgeon who went on to become President Trump’s health and human services secretary before resigning last fall, was memorable for its magnitude.

But American doctors often rail against the country’s medical malpractice system, which they say forces them to order unnecessary tests and procedures to protect themselves if a patient sues them. Some prominent health economists, including those at the Congressional Budget Office, have tended to play down such costs, arguing that medical practice is not too warped by fear of lawsuits. But the question has proved difficult to study, since patients nearly everywhere can sue. Without a control group, it’s hard to know how differently doctors might act if they were less worried about liability.

Researchers from Duke and M.I.T. have found a pocket of America that is different, and they now offer what is perhaps the most precise estimate of how much defensive medicine matters, at least for care in the hospital. They found that the possibility of a lawsuit increased the intensity of health care that patients received in the hospital by about 5 percent — and that those patients who got the extra care were no better off.

“There is defensive medicine,” said Jonathan Gruber, a health economist at M.I.T. and an author of the paper, which was published in draft form Monday by the National Bureau of Economic Research.  “But that defensive medicine is not explaining a large share of what’s driving U.S. health care costs.”

Mr. Gruber and Michael D. Frakes, a Duke economist and lawyer, looked at the health care system for active-duty members of the military. Under longstanding law, such patients get access to a government health care system but are barred from suing government doctors and hospitals for malpractice. Their family members can also use the military hospitals, but they can sue for malpractice if they wish.

Their study looked at what happened to the hospital care that military members received when a base closing forced them to use their benefits in civilian hospitals, where it was possible to sue. Spending on their health care increased, particularly on extra diagnostic tests.

They also found that, even within the military hospitals, family members who could sue tended to get more tests than those who could not.

Previous research has primarily looked at the effects of smaller legal reforms, like state caps on the awards that malpractice victims can collect in court. Those studies showed some declines in medical spending related to the policies. But they tended to be small, and yearly variation in medical spending made it difficult to be sure how much of the difference was  because of the legal change.

“They did a nice job of finding a population of patients who are being treated by doctors who didn’t have any liability,” said Mark McClellan, the director of the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy. Dr. McClellan was a top health official in the George W. Bush administration, which pushed for national liability caps.

The paper’s focus on the hospital allowed the researchers to have a lot of precision in their measurements. But it means they didn’t capture all the places where defensive medicine might occur. It’s possible, for example, that liability concerns cause treatment to rise by more than 5 percent for emergency room patients who go home the same day — or not at all in a typical office visit.

Mr. Frakes and Mr. Gruber examined a large number of quality indicators to determine whether the doctors who practiced less intense medicine on their military patients were somehow cutting corners.  Each measure differed, and there were some places where harm couldn’t be ruled out, but they found no place where the quality of care in the military hospital appeared to clearly be worse.  That finding suggests that, when doctors do extra treatment or testing to avoid liability, they are not necessarily taking extra steps that make their patients any healthier.

“It suggests that physicians change their behavior in response to liability considerations, but they don’t do it in a very calibrated way,” said Michelle Mello, a professor of law and health policy at Stanford, who has studied medical malpractice. “They tend to make a lot of changes that don’t result in better patient care.”

In the federal government and in states, there are frequent proposals to limit medical liability, but there have been no serious efforts to eliminate medical malpractice rights altogether. Mr. Gruber said the paper’s estimates were best viewed as a kind of ceiling for the effects of more realistic reforms.

Any law that limits the cases where patients can sue, or the amount of money they can collect, is likely to lower medical use  in the hospital by less than the 5 percent they measured in their study.

Amitabh Chandra, a health economist at Harvard, said the best policies needed to lower the burden on physicians while still generating “social value.” He said that continued research on the relationship between malpractice pressure and health care quality was important as different approaches were tested.

The most popular state action has been to impose caps on monetary damages. In the paper, the authors suggest different types of changes to malpractice policy, including one in which doctors would be shielded from liability if they adhered to common standards of care. Ms. Mello suggested studying a system in which administrative courts, instead of juries, determined liability and damages.

Other possible approaches haven’t been tried, like a system used for childhood vaccines, in which patients are paid if they are harmed by medical care, regardless of fault.

“Policymakers have only experimented with a limited set of types of reforms to date,” Mr. Frakes said. “We haven’t experimented a lot with more structural reforms to the system.”

Margot Sanger-Katz is a domestic correspondent and writes about health care for The Upshot. She was previously a reporter at National Journal and The Concord Monitor and an editor at Legal Affairs and the Yale Alumni Magazine. @sangerkatz • Facebook

A version of this article appears in print on July 24, 2018, on Page B4 of the New York edition with the headline: Doctors’ Fear of Lawsuits May Hit Patients in the Wallet, Study Hints

Cognitive neuroscience of person identification: Comparing the processes by which people are identified through face & voice, find that face recognition accuracy suffers little or no cost with increases in set size; voice recognition accuracy declines markedly beyond a handful of possibilities

The cognitive neuroscience of person identification. Irving Biederman et al. Neuropsychologia, Volume 116, Part B, 31 July 2018, Pages 205-214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.01.036

Highlights
•    The processes by which people are identified through face and voice are compared.
•    Face recognition accuracy suffers little or no cost with increases in set size.
•    Voice recognition accuracy declines markedly beyond a handful of possibilities.
•    The deficit in congenital phonagnosia need not be perceptual.
•    Face and voice recognition abilities are uncorrelated.

Abstract: We compare and contrast five differences between person identification by voice and face. 1. There is little or no cost when a familiar face is to be recognized from an unrestricted set of possible faces, even at Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) rates, but the accuracy of familiar voice recognition declines precipitously when the set of possible speakers is increased from one to a mere handful. 2. Whereas deficits in face recognition are typically perceptual in origin, those with normal perception of voices can manifest severe deficits in their identification. 3. Congenital prosopagnosics (CPros) and congenital phonagnosics (CPhon) are generally unable to imagine familiar faces and voices, respectively. Only in CPros, however, is this deficit a manifestation of a general inability to form visual images of any kind. CPhons report no deficit in imaging non-voice sounds. 4. The prevalence of CPhons of 3.2% is somewhat higher than the reported prevalence of approximately 2.0% for CPros in the population. There is evidence that CPhon represents a distinct condition statistically and not just normal variation. 5. Face and voice recognition proficiency are uncorrelated rather than reflecting limitations of a general capacity for person individuation.

Keywords: Voice recognition, Phonagnosia, Face recognition, Prosopagnosia, Face imagination, Voice imagination

Trigger warnings may inadvertently undermine some aspects of emotional resilience: They increase peoples' perceived emotional vulnerability to trauma, the belief that trauma survivors are vulnerable, & increase anxiety to written material perceived as harmful

Trigger warning: Empirical evidence ahead. Benjamin W.Bellet, Payton J.Jones, Richard J. McNally. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbtep.2018.07.002

Highlights
•    Trigger warnings increase peoples' perceived emotional vulnerability to trauma.
•    Trigger warnings increase peoples' belief that trauma survivors are vulnerable.
•    Trigger warnings increase anxiety to written material perceived as harmful.

Abstract

Background and objectives: Trigger warnings notify people of the distress that written, audiovisual, or other material may evoke, and were initially used to provide for the needs of those with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Since their inception, trigger warnings have become more widely applied throughout contemporary culture, sparking intense controversy in academia and beyond. Some argue that they empower vulnerable individuals by allowing them to psychologically prepare for or avoid disturbing content, whereas others argue that such warnings undermine resilience to stress and increase vulnerability to psychopathology while constraining academic freedom. The objective of our experiment was to investigate the psychological effects of issuing trigger warnings.

Methods: We randomly assigned online participants to receive (n = 133) or not receive (n = 137) trigger warnings prior to reading literary passages that varied in potentially disturbing content.

Results: Participants in the trigger warning group believed themselves and people in general to be more emotionally vulnerable if they were to experience trauma. Participants receiving warnings reported greater anxiety in response to reading potentially distressing passages, but only if they believed that words can cause harm. Warnings did not affect participants' implicit self-identification as vulnerable, or subsequent anxiety response to less distressing content.

Limitations: The sample included only non-traumatized participants; the observed effects may differ for a traumatized population.

Conclusions: Trigger warnings may inadvertently undermine some aspects of emotional resilience. Further research is needed on the generalizability of our findings, especially to collegiate populations and to those with trauma histories.

When comparing ideal partner preferences, continually-coupled individuals rated Warmth/Trustworthiness and Vitality lower than newly-coupled individuals: Coupled individuals adjust their ideal mate preferences according to their actual partner

Coupled individuals adjust their ideal mate preferences according to their actual partner. Radka Kučerová, Zsófia Csajbók, Jan Havlíček. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 135, 1 December 2018, Pages 248-257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.07.019

Abstract: It has been suggested that coupled individuals tend to adjust their ideal partner preferences according to their actual partner. In Study 1, we developed a mate preference trait-list and found a four-factor structure (Physical attractiveness, Status/Resources, Vitality, and Warmth/Trustworthiness), which we confirmed in Study 2. In Study 3, we compared ideal and actual partner preferences in continually-coupled and newly-coupled individuals. Ideal partner preferences were recorded in continually-coupled participants while in the relationship and in single participants before they established a relationship. Results showed that discrepancy between ideal and actual partner evaluations was lower in continually-coupled than in newly-coupled individuals when computing Manhattan distance between them. When comparing ideal partner preferences, continually-coupled individuals rated Warmth/Trustworthiness and Vitality lower than newly-coupled individuals. No difference between continually-coupled and newly-coupled individuals was found in their actual partner evaluations. Our results indicate that relationship status significantly affects ideal partner preferences.

Against the widespread belief that modern-day loneliness is inevitable, negative, and universal, loneliness is relatively recent invention, dating from around 1800 that needs to be understood firstly as an “emotion cluster” composed of a variety of affective states

This “Modern Epidemic”: Loneliness as an Emotion Cluster and a Neglected Subject in the History of Emotions. Fay Bound Alberti. Emotion Review, https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073918768876

Abstract: Loneliness is one of the most neglected aspects of emotion history, despite claims that the 21st century is the loneliest ever. This article argues against the widespread belief that modern-day loneliness is inevitable, negative, and universal. Looking at its language and etymology, it suggests that loneliness needs to be understood firstly as an “emotion cluster” composed of a variety of affective states, and secondly as a relatively recent invention, dating from around 1800. Loneliness can be positive, and as much a part of the body as the mind. Using a longue durée approach, I argue that we cannot understand loneliness as a “modern epidemic” without considering its history, its meanings, its practice, and its links with the body.

Keywords: emotion, history, loneliness, longue durée

Friday, July 27, 2018

Malicious poisonings: Agent choice was found to differ between experts & non-experts (depending on whether the event was a threat or a genuine contamination incident); attacks by poison experts were found to be no more deadly than attacks perpetrated by non-experts

Poisoning expertise and outcomes in malicious contamination incidents. Sarah Kilbane. Journal of Criminal Psychology, https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/JCP-02-2018-0008?journalCode=jcp

Abstract:

Purpose: It is often assumed that poisoners and product tamperers are likely to share an interest in or knowledge of poisonous substances. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether perpetrators with existing poison knowledge will choose different contaminating agents than non-experts, as well as whether there is a link between poison expertise and outcomes in malicious contamination cases. Based on their expertise, it is expected that those perpetrators with some form of existing poison knowledge would select more concerning and difficult to obtain agents, and that attacks committed by experts would result in more harm than attacks by non-experts.

Design/methodology/approach: A content analysis was conducted on qualitative descriptions of malicious contamination events, with relevant behavioural variables identified as being present or absent for each individual case. Differences between experts and non-experts in agent choice and incident outcome were then explored using descriptive statistics, contingency tables and Mann-Whitney U tests.

Findings: Agent choice was found to differ between experts and non-experts, with different agents chosen depending on whether the event was a threat or a genuine contamination incident. However, attacks by poison experts were found to be no more deadly than attacks perpetrated by non-experts.

Originality/value: This research provides the first known analysis comparing agent choice and outcomes in malicious contamination incidents as a factor of perpetrator knowledge. Investigative applications are discussed.

Keywords: Expertise, CBRN, Threat, Malicious contamination, Poisoning, Product tampering

Rolf Degen summarizing: Neuroscientists failed to pinpoint the brain correlate of boredom, arguably because many people find their own thoughts so entertaining that they are not easily bored

Finding Consistency in Boredom by Appreciating its Instability. Caitlin Mills, Kalina Christoff. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2018.07.001

Abstract: Boredom has recently piqued cognitive neuroscientific interest, but remains a challenge to scientific investigation in this field. We propose that to advance this research, we should (i) seek greater consistency of operationalization and measurement across studies and participants; and (ii) appreciate the temporal instability of boredom and its ensuing dynamics.


Abstract: Boredom has recently piqued cognitive neuroscientific interest, but remains a challenge to scientific investigation in this field. We propose that to advance this research, we should (i) seek greater consistency of operationalization and measurement across studies and participants; and (ii) appreciate the temporal instability of boredom and its ensuing dynamics.