Risk Factors Related to Cognitive Distortions Toward Women and Moral Disengagement: A Study on Sex Offenders. Giulio D’Urso, Irene Petruccelli, Simona Grilli, Ugo Pace. Sexuality & Culture, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12119-018-9572-9
Abstract: Violence against women is a heterogeneous phenomenon worldwide. In order to better understand this phenomenon, it is also necessary to study the offenders against women. Therefore, the present study investigates, in the light of risk factors, the individual and social characteristics (related to adolescence), the moral disengagement strategies and cognitive distortions of 120 sex offenders detained in Italian jails. We administered the semi-structured interview for data collection regarding family, social and medical histories and the manner in which the deviant act was carried out, the Moral Disengagement Scale, and the Vindictive Rape Attitude Questionnaire to investigate the presence of cognitive distortions toward women. Results show important risk factors in the genesis of moral disengagement strategies in the offenders: the use of substances and being institutionalized in their past. In addition, through a multiple regression model, we noticed how education levels represent a negative predictor of cognitive distortions towards women and the attribution of blame to a positive predictor. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Keywords: Sex offenders Moral disengagement Cognitive distortions Risk factors Substance abuse Institutionalization Adolescence
Wednesday, October 10, 2018
Relationships and Infidelity in Pornography: An Analysis of Pornography Streaming Websites
Relationships and Infidelity in Pornography: An Analysis of Pornography Streaming Websites. Kyler R. Rasmussen, Daniel Millar, Jeremy Trenchuk. Sexuality & Culture, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12119-018-9574-7
Abstract: Research suggests that pornography has the potential to inform sexual and romantic scripts, but no studies have examined the relational content within modern mainstream pornography. In this article, we present a content analysis of 190 sexually explicit online video clips from mainstream pornography streaming websites, coding for the relationship between participants (if any) and whether the video portrayed acts of infidelity. We also contrasted those clips with a comparison sample of 77 YouTube videos. We found that depictions of on-screen committed relationships were relatively rare in pornography (7.9% of videos) compared to YouTube (18.2%), but that infidelity was relatively common (25.3% vs. 2.6%), with pornography more likely to depict women as engaging in infidelity than men. Relational content was more likely to be included in a pornographic clip when the video portrayed a fictional narrative. These findings are consistent with past research connecting pornography consumption with open and liberal sexuality.
Keywords: Casual sex Content analysis Infidelity Pornography
Abstract: Research suggests that pornography has the potential to inform sexual and romantic scripts, but no studies have examined the relational content within modern mainstream pornography. In this article, we present a content analysis of 190 sexually explicit online video clips from mainstream pornography streaming websites, coding for the relationship between participants (if any) and whether the video portrayed acts of infidelity. We also contrasted those clips with a comparison sample of 77 YouTube videos. We found that depictions of on-screen committed relationships were relatively rare in pornography (7.9% of videos) compared to YouTube (18.2%), but that infidelity was relatively common (25.3% vs. 2.6%), with pornography more likely to depict women as engaging in infidelity than men. Relational content was more likely to be included in a pornographic clip when the video portrayed a fictional narrative. These findings are consistent with past research connecting pornography consumption with open and liberal sexuality.
Keywords: Casual sex Content analysis Infidelity Pornography
Studies with the strongest research designs indicate that psychotherapy may be considerably less effective than we tend to believe; in fact, different psychotherapies may be equally ineffective
Insight Into Insight in Psychotherapy. Per Høglend. American Journal of Psychiatry, https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2018.18050634
There have been more than 5,000 randomized controlled trials of psychotherapy. Most meta-analyses conclude that psychotherapy is effective for a range of disorders, and different modalities of therapy are equally effective. However, studies with the strongest research designs indicate that psychotherapy may be considerably less effective than we tend to believe (1). In fact, different psychotherapies may be equally ineffective. Too many patients fail to respond or continue to experience residual symptoms after treatment termination. All treatments for mental disorders have a wide margin for improvement.
Mental health professionals still believe that psychotherapy can be improved by theoretical discussion, logic, and expert opinion (2). This may be one of the reasons for the existence of several hundred “brand name” psychotherapies. However, in order to improve clinical theories, treatment interventions, and training, we need to identify how psychotherapy works—the mechanisms of change underlying the treatment effects (3). It is only with the specification of mediators of change, whether psychological (3) or biological (4), that the field will move forward. Many mechanisms may have an impact in the complex process of psychotherapy, but insight is regarded as one of the most important mechanisms of change, not only in dynamic psychotherapy (5) but also, increasingly, in cognitive behavioral therapy (6) and experiential psychotherapy (7).
In this regard, the study reported in this issue of the Journal by Jennissen and colleagues (8) is timely. This is the first meta-analysis of studies with data on the insight-outcome correlation. The meta-analysis is generally well done, with all of the elements that one would want to see—checks for heterogeneity, study quality, weighting, risk of publication bias. The authors screened more than 12,000 abstracts, assessed 261 full-text papers, and ended up with 22 studies (with 23 effect sizes). Their definition of insight is broad, but it is mainstream and reasonably accurate. They define it as “patients’ understanding of associations between past and present experiences, typical relationship patterns, and the relation between interpersonal challenges, emotional experience, and psychological symptoms.” The eligibility criteria used are sensible. [...]
[...]
Jennissen et al. report a consistent pattern of associations between insight and outcome across disorders and therapy types. There was a significant moderate relationship (r=0.31) between insight and treatment outcome. The study was not powered to detect moderators of the insight-outcomes associations. Overall, the findings constitute preliminary support for the importance of insight in different forms of psychotherapy.
Jennissen and colleagues’ choice to include many different diagnoses and different treatments in their meta-analysis may reflect current developments in our field. Given the shared brain circuitry, genes found across disorders, medications used across disorders, and the reality of considerable comorbidity, there is growing recognition that only a few domains of dysfunction may extend across the many DSM diagnostic categories. Caspi et al. (9) have argued that psychopathology could be explained with one general psychopathology dimension. The Research Domain Criteria initiative of the National Institute of Mental Health focuses on only a few domains of dysfunction, social processes being one of them. Transdiagnostic approaches and unified trans-theoretical treatment protocols may improve future research.
Jennissen and colleagues’ meta-analysis estimated a moderate association between insight and psychotherapy outcome across diagnostic categories and different schools of psychotherapy. Its magnitude is comparable to effect sizes of established treatment factors, such as therapeutic alliance. A large number of studies have documented a moderate but consistent relationship between therapeutic alliance and outcome, across different treatments and diagnoses (10). Brain changes, too, mainly in the prefrontal cortex, cingulate gyrus, and amygdala, are associated with symptom improvement across different diagnoses and treatments (11). However, an association with outcome is necessary but not sufficient. Just like insight and alliance, brain changes may be a consequence of symptom change or a proxy for some other therapeutic change processes. Further longitudinal research with study designs that include most or all steps in mediation research is necessary to establish insight, or alliance, or brain changes as mechanisms for treatment outcome. In our own research into the effect of insight on the outcome of psychotherapy, my colleagues and I found that use of a specific technique in dynamic psychotherapy (transference work) increased gain of insight during therapy substantially, with a subsequent improvement in outcome (12).
[full text and references in link above]
---
8 Jennissen S, Huber J, Ehrenthal JC, et al.: Association between insight and outcome of psychotherapy: systematic review and meta-analysis. Am J Psychiatry 2018;175:961–969
There have been more than 5,000 randomized controlled trials of psychotherapy. Most meta-analyses conclude that psychotherapy is effective for a range of disorders, and different modalities of therapy are equally effective. However, studies with the strongest research designs indicate that psychotherapy may be considerably less effective than we tend to believe (1). In fact, different psychotherapies may be equally ineffective. Too many patients fail to respond or continue to experience residual symptoms after treatment termination. All treatments for mental disorders have a wide margin for improvement.
Mental health professionals still believe that psychotherapy can be improved by theoretical discussion, logic, and expert opinion (2). This may be one of the reasons for the existence of several hundred “brand name” psychotherapies. However, in order to improve clinical theories, treatment interventions, and training, we need to identify how psychotherapy works—the mechanisms of change underlying the treatment effects (3). It is only with the specification of mediators of change, whether psychological (3) or biological (4), that the field will move forward. Many mechanisms may have an impact in the complex process of psychotherapy, but insight is regarded as one of the most important mechanisms of change, not only in dynamic psychotherapy (5) but also, increasingly, in cognitive behavioral therapy (6) and experiential psychotherapy (7).
In this regard, the study reported in this issue of the Journal by Jennissen and colleagues (8) is timely. This is the first meta-analysis of studies with data on the insight-outcome correlation. The meta-analysis is generally well done, with all of the elements that one would want to see—checks for heterogeneity, study quality, weighting, risk of publication bias. The authors screened more than 12,000 abstracts, assessed 261 full-text papers, and ended up with 22 studies (with 23 effect sizes). Their definition of insight is broad, but it is mainstream and reasonably accurate. They define it as “patients’ understanding of associations between past and present experiences, typical relationship patterns, and the relation between interpersonal challenges, emotional experience, and psychological symptoms.” The eligibility criteria used are sensible. [...]
[...]
Jennissen et al. report a consistent pattern of associations between insight and outcome across disorders and therapy types. There was a significant moderate relationship (r=0.31) between insight and treatment outcome. The study was not powered to detect moderators of the insight-outcomes associations. Overall, the findings constitute preliminary support for the importance of insight in different forms of psychotherapy.
Jennissen and colleagues’ choice to include many different diagnoses and different treatments in their meta-analysis may reflect current developments in our field. Given the shared brain circuitry, genes found across disorders, medications used across disorders, and the reality of considerable comorbidity, there is growing recognition that only a few domains of dysfunction may extend across the many DSM diagnostic categories. Caspi et al. (9) have argued that psychopathology could be explained with one general psychopathology dimension. The Research Domain Criteria initiative of the National Institute of Mental Health focuses on only a few domains of dysfunction, social processes being one of them. Transdiagnostic approaches and unified trans-theoretical treatment protocols may improve future research.
Jennissen and colleagues’ meta-analysis estimated a moderate association between insight and psychotherapy outcome across diagnostic categories and different schools of psychotherapy. Its magnitude is comparable to effect sizes of established treatment factors, such as therapeutic alliance. A large number of studies have documented a moderate but consistent relationship between therapeutic alliance and outcome, across different treatments and diagnoses (10). Brain changes, too, mainly in the prefrontal cortex, cingulate gyrus, and amygdala, are associated with symptom improvement across different diagnoses and treatments (11). However, an association with outcome is necessary but not sufficient. Just like insight and alliance, brain changes may be a consequence of symptom change or a proxy for some other therapeutic change processes. Further longitudinal research with study designs that include most or all steps in mediation research is necessary to establish insight, or alliance, or brain changes as mechanisms for treatment outcome. In our own research into the effect of insight on the outcome of psychotherapy, my colleagues and I found that use of a specific technique in dynamic psychotherapy (transference work) increased gain of insight during therapy substantially, with a subsequent improvement in outcome (12).
[full text and references in link above]
---
8 Jennissen S, Huber J, Ehrenthal JC, et al.: Association between insight and outcome of psychotherapy: systematic review and meta-analysis. Am J Psychiatry 2018;175:961–969
Domesticated Foxes Developing Laughter To Please Us
Domesticated Foxes Laugh with You (and Without You). Lee Alan Dugatkin. Psychology Today, Oct 2018, https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/the-prince-evolution/201810/domesticated-foxes-laugh-you-and-without-you
Excerpts:
[...]
This part of the story begins in the 1980s when Lyudmila heard some of the domesticated foxes vocalizing in an odd new way, making a high-pitched “haaaaaw, haaaaaw, haw, haw, haw” sound when people approached them. Lyudmila thought it sounded like they were laughing and called it the “ha ha” vocalization. But neither Lyudmila nor the other researchers in the fox study had knowledge of how to study vocalizations, so not much came of the new sounds. Then, in 2005, Lyudmila got a phone call from Svetlana Gogoleva.
[...]
[...] What she found was that the “ha ha” sounds mimicked the sound of human laughter very closely. Closer than any other nonhuman vocalization. When she looked at a spectrogram that allowed her to visualize the domesticated fox “ha ha” sound, and a spectrogram of human laughter, she was hard pressed to tell the difference. The similarity was astonishing. Almost eerie. Of course, the domesticated foxes make their “ha ha” sound regardless of what we might consider funny. But that doesn’t change the fact that the domestication experiment has now produced foxes that not only act and look like a lapdog, but will give you a “ha ha” when you need a laugh, as well as when you do not.
Gogoleva and Lyudmila hypothesize that the tame foxes make the “ha ha” sound to attract human attention and prolong interaction with people. Somehow, they propose, the tame foxes have become adept at pleasing us by the sound of our own laughter. How, they don’t know, but a more pleasant way for one species to bond with another is hard to imagine.
Check also Smiles as Multipurpose Social Signals. Jared Martin et al. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/09/origin-of-smile-in-animals-could-be.html and references therein.
Excerpts:
[...]
This part of the story begins in the 1980s when Lyudmila heard some of the domesticated foxes vocalizing in an odd new way, making a high-pitched “haaaaaw, haaaaaw, haw, haw, haw” sound when people approached them. Lyudmila thought it sounded like they were laughing and called it the “ha ha” vocalization. But neither Lyudmila nor the other researchers in the fox study had knowledge of how to study vocalizations, so not much came of the new sounds. Then, in 2005, Lyudmila got a phone call from Svetlana Gogoleva.
[...]
[...] What she found was that the “ha ha” sounds mimicked the sound of human laughter very closely. Closer than any other nonhuman vocalization. When she looked at a spectrogram that allowed her to visualize the domesticated fox “ha ha” sound, and a spectrogram of human laughter, she was hard pressed to tell the difference. The similarity was astonishing. Almost eerie. Of course, the domesticated foxes make their “ha ha” sound regardless of what we might consider funny. But that doesn’t change the fact that the domestication experiment has now produced foxes that not only act and look like a lapdog, but will give you a “ha ha” when you need a laugh, as well as when you do not.
Gogoleva and Lyudmila hypothesize that the tame foxes make the “ha ha” sound to attract human attention and prolong interaction with people. Somehow, they propose, the tame foxes have become adept at pleasing us by the sound of our own laughter. How, they don’t know, but a more pleasant way for one species to bond with another is hard to imagine.
Check also Smiles as Multipurpose Social Signals. Jared Martin et al. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/09/origin-of-smile-in-animals-could-be.html and references therein.
Tuesday, October 9, 2018
Emotional toll that psychotherapy may impose on mental health professionals: A protective role of quality of life was not observed for clinical supervision or personal therapy
Laverdière, O., Kealy, D., Ogrodniczuk, J. S., Chamberland, S., & Descôteaux, J. (2018). Psychotherapists’ professional quality of life. Traumatology, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/trm0000177
Abstract: Psychotherapists’ daily activities entail working closely with individuals presenting with psychological distress and suffering from various mental disorders. This work relies upon relational and emotional capacities that are drawn upon during therapy sessions. Increasingly, researchers and clinicians have directed their attention toward examining the emotional toll that psychotherapy may impose on mental health professionals and the impact of such work on their professional quality of life. However, to date, psychotherapists in general practice have not been the focus of inquiry, which is the objective of the current study. To this end, 240 psychotherapists were surveyed, completing questionnaires relating to their working conditions, professional quality of life, and dispositional empathy. Results indicated significant negative associations between dimensions of professional quality of life and various work characteristics, such as workload, conducting only long-term psychotherapies or only with individuals, working in institutional settings, and working with trauma victims. A protective role was not observed for clinical supervision or personal therapy, but dispositional empathy was positively associated to dimensions of professional quality of life. Findings are discussed in relation to professional activities and self-care practices.
Abstract: Psychotherapists’ daily activities entail working closely with individuals presenting with psychological distress and suffering from various mental disorders. This work relies upon relational and emotional capacities that are drawn upon during therapy sessions. Increasingly, researchers and clinicians have directed their attention toward examining the emotional toll that psychotherapy may impose on mental health professionals and the impact of such work on their professional quality of life. However, to date, psychotherapists in general practice have not been the focus of inquiry, which is the objective of the current study. To this end, 240 psychotherapists were surveyed, completing questionnaires relating to their working conditions, professional quality of life, and dispositional empathy. Results indicated significant negative associations between dimensions of professional quality of life and various work characteristics, such as workload, conducting only long-term psychotherapies or only with individuals, working in institutional settings, and working with trauma victims. A protective role was not observed for clinical supervision or personal therapy, but dispositional empathy was positively associated to dimensions of professional quality of life. Findings are discussed in relation to professional activities and self-care practices.
We Slow as We Age, but May Not Need to Slow Too Much
We Slow as We Age, but May Not Need to Slow Too Much. Gretchen Reynolds. The New York Times, Oct. 3, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/03/well/move/running-age-declines-slower.html
Although declines in running and other activities are unavoidable, they may be less steep than many of us fear.
Most of us who are older competitive runners are not able to race at anywhere near the same speed as we did when we were 30.
But we can perhaps aim to slow down at the same pace as Bernard Lagat, Ed Whitlock and other greats of masters running, according to a timely new analysis by two professors from Yale University.
The new analysis, which refines famous past research by one of the scientists, finds that, although declines in running performance with age are ineluctable, they may be less steep than many of us fear.
And, perhaps most important, the new research updates a popular formula and calculator that runners past the age of 40 can use to determine how fast we can expect to slow down and provides us with reasonable, age-appropriate finishing-time targets for ourselves.
Scientists do not know precisely why, from a physiological standpoint, we are less able to maintain our old, swifter pace as we reach middle age.
There is evidence from past studies that even in lifelong athletes, hearts become a bit less efficient over time at pumping blood and delivering oxygen and muscles a bit less adept at creating sustained power.
Changes deep within our cells, particularly in the energy-producing mitochondria, are thought to contribute to these age-related performance declines, as are simpler explanations such as creeping weight gain and a drop-off in hard training.
But the upshot is that, after a certain point, we cannot keep up with the kids or with our own previous bests.
Professor Ray Fair, an economist at Yale who mainly analyzes and predicts election outcomes, is familiar with this tribulation, since, now in his mid-70s, he is also an experienced masters marathon runner whose times have been slowing year by year.
About a decade ago, he began to wonder whether his rate of performance decline was typical and, being a predictive statistical modeler, decided to find out.
He turned first to information about world records for runners by age group. These times represent what is possible by the best runners in the world as they age.
And cumulatively, he found, the records proved that champion runners slow like the rest of us.
But there was a pattern to the slowing, Dr. Fair realized. As he reported in a 2007 study, the masters world record times rose in a linear fashion, with some hiccups, until about age 70, when they begin to soar at a much higher rate.
Using statistical modeling based on this pattern, Dr. Fair developed a formula that could predict how fast other, less-exceptional runners might expect to run as they grew older. He incorporated this formula into an influential calculator that he made available free on his website. (The calculator also predicts age-related performance declines in swimming and chess, using the same statistical techniques.)
The calculator soon became popular with runners, for whom it provided age-adjusted viable goal times, allowing them to swap despondency about their current plodding for gratification if they had managed to remain at or near their “regression line,” as Dr. Fair termed the age-adjusted predicted finishes.
But recently, Dr. Fair began to question whether his statistical model provided the best estimates of people’s likely race times and, for the new analysis, which was published in print this month in The Review of Economics and Statistics, he approached a Yale colleague, Edward Kaplan.
Dr. Kaplan is an expert in a complex type of statistical analysis known as extreme value theory, which focuses on exceptional deviations from the norm.
By definition, world records are exceptional deviations from the norm.
Together, Dr. Fair and Dr. Kaplan reanalyzed data about world masters running records through 2016 for the 5K, 10K, half marathon and marathon events, up to age 95.
They used only men’s records, since the number of older female participants has been small, Dr. Fair says, making current women’s records statistically suspect.
They then ran the numbers, using several different models, and found that, over all, age-adjusted finishing times are slightly slower now than in the 2007 version, rising about 1 percent a year.
But runners seem to be maintaining that rate of decline longer, until they are about age 80, when slowness drastically intensifies.
But even for 90-year-olds, the decline is limited, Dr. Fair points out.
Nonagenarians can expect to be “about twice as slow as they were in their prime,” he says, “which I think is encouraging.”
Interestingly, the new study’s extreme-value analysis also suggests that older runners have not yet become as fast as they could be.
The complicated calculations indicate that current world records for older runners theoretically could drop by as much as 8 percent in the future, Dr. Kaplan says, providing all of us new benchmarks for our own aging performance.
Dr. Fair has now introduced an updated version of his calculator, incorporating the new models.
To use it, visit his endearingly austere website at fairmodel.econ.yale.edu/aging and click on the link entitled “All other running (2018 updated age factors).”
There, enter your best time for whichever event interests you and the age at which you set that time. If you were younger than 40, use age 40 anyway, since the calculator assumes you will not have slowed much before reaching that age, Dr. Fair says.
You then will see your predicted times for your chosen event at every age through 95.
These figures presume that you have continued to train and maintain high fitness over the years, which many of us have not.
They also assume that recreational runners age and slow at the same rate as world-class runners, which has not been proven experimentally.
But even with these limitations, Dr. Fair says, the predictions give us something to shoot for.
“Aim for your regression line,” he says.
A version of this article appears in print on Oct. 9, 2018, on Page D4 of the New York edition with the headline: Slowing as We Grow Older
Although declines in running and other activities are unavoidable, they may be less steep than many of us fear.
Most of us who are older competitive runners are not able to race at anywhere near the same speed as we did when we were 30.
But we can perhaps aim to slow down at the same pace as Bernard Lagat, Ed Whitlock and other greats of masters running, according to a timely new analysis by two professors from Yale University.
The new analysis, which refines famous past research by one of the scientists, finds that, although declines in running performance with age are ineluctable, they may be less steep than many of us fear.
And, perhaps most important, the new research updates a popular formula and calculator that runners past the age of 40 can use to determine how fast we can expect to slow down and provides us with reasonable, age-appropriate finishing-time targets for ourselves.
Scientists do not know precisely why, from a physiological standpoint, we are less able to maintain our old, swifter pace as we reach middle age.
There is evidence from past studies that even in lifelong athletes, hearts become a bit less efficient over time at pumping blood and delivering oxygen and muscles a bit less adept at creating sustained power.
Changes deep within our cells, particularly in the energy-producing mitochondria, are thought to contribute to these age-related performance declines, as are simpler explanations such as creeping weight gain and a drop-off in hard training.
But the upshot is that, after a certain point, we cannot keep up with the kids or with our own previous bests.
Professor Ray Fair, an economist at Yale who mainly analyzes and predicts election outcomes, is familiar with this tribulation, since, now in his mid-70s, he is also an experienced masters marathon runner whose times have been slowing year by year.
About a decade ago, he began to wonder whether his rate of performance decline was typical and, being a predictive statistical modeler, decided to find out.
He turned first to information about world records for runners by age group. These times represent what is possible by the best runners in the world as they age.
And cumulatively, he found, the records proved that champion runners slow like the rest of us.
But there was a pattern to the slowing, Dr. Fair realized. As he reported in a 2007 study, the masters world record times rose in a linear fashion, with some hiccups, until about age 70, when they begin to soar at a much higher rate.
Using statistical modeling based on this pattern, Dr. Fair developed a formula that could predict how fast other, less-exceptional runners might expect to run as they grew older. He incorporated this formula into an influential calculator that he made available free on his website. (The calculator also predicts age-related performance declines in swimming and chess, using the same statistical techniques.)
The calculator soon became popular with runners, for whom it provided age-adjusted viable goal times, allowing them to swap despondency about their current plodding for gratification if they had managed to remain at or near their “regression line,” as Dr. Fair termed the age-adjusted predicted finishes.
But recently, Dr. Fair began to question whether his statistical model provided the best estimates of people’s likely race times and, for the new analysis, which was published in print this month in The Review of Economics and Statistics, he approached a Yale colleague, Edward Kaplan.
Dr. Kaplan is an expert in a complex type of statistical analysis known as extreme value theory, which focuses on exceptional deviations from the norm.
By definition, world records are exceptional deviations from the norm.
Together, Dr. Fair and Dr. Kaplan reanalyzed data about world masters running records through 2016 for the 5K, 10K, half marathon and marathon events, up to age 95.
They used only men’s records, since the number of older female participants has been small, Dr. Fair says, making current women’s records statistically suspect.
They then ran the numbers, using several different models, and found that, over all, age-adjusted finishing times are slightly slower now than in the 2007 version, rising about 1 percent a year.
But runners seem to be maintaining that rate of decline longer, until they are about age 80, when slowness drastically intensifies.
But even for 90-year-olds, the decline is limited, Dr. Fair points out.
Nonagenarians can expect to be “about twice as slow as they were in their prime,” he says, “which I think is encouraging.”
Interestingly, the new study’s extreme-value analysis also suggests that older runners have not yet become as fast as they could be.
The complicated calculations indicate that current world records for older runners theoretically could drop by as much as 8 percent in the future, Dr. Kaplan says, providing all of us new benchmarks for our own aging performance.
Dr. Fair has now introduced an updated version of his calculator, incorporating the new models.
To use it, visit his endearingly austere website at fairmodel.econ.yale.edu/aging and click on the link entitled “All other running (2018 updated age factors).”
There, enter your best time for whichever event interests you and the age at which you set that time. If you were younger than 40, use age 40 anyway, since the calculator assumes you will not have slowed much before reaching that age, Dr. Fair says.
You then will see your predicted times for your chosen event at every age through 95.
These figures presume that you have continued to train and maintain high fitness over the years, which many of us have not.
They also assume that recreational runners age and slow at the same rate as world-class runners, which has not been proven experimentally.
But even with these limitations, Dr. Fair says, the predictions give us something to shoot for.
“Aim for your regression line,” he says.
A version of this article appears in print on Oct. 9, 2018, on Page D4 of the New York edition with the headline: Slowing as We Grow Older
Sexual Arousal Patterns of Identical Twins with Discordant Sexual Orientations
Sexual Arousal Patterns of Identical Twins with Discordant Sexual Orientations. Tuesday M. Watts, Luke Holmes, Jamie Raines, Sheina Orbell & Gerulf Rieger. Scientific Reports, volume 8, Article number: 14970 (2018). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-33188-2
Abstract: Genetically identical twins can differ in their self-reported sexual orientations. However, whether the twins’ subjective reports reflect valid differences in their sexual orientations is unknown. Measures of sexual orientation, which are free of the limitations of self-report, include genital arousal and pupil dilation while viewing sexual stimuli depicting men or women. We examined these responses in 6 male twin pairs and 9 female twin pairs who reported discordant sexual orientations. Across measures, heterosexual male twins responded more strongly to women than to men. Their homosexual co-twins showed an opposite pattern. Heterosexual female twins responded equally to both sexes, whereas their homosexual co-twins responded somewhat more to women than men. These differences within pairs were similar to differences between unrelated heterosexual and homosexual males and females. Our study provides physiological evidence confirming twins’ discordant sexual orientations, thereby supporting the importance of the non-shared environment for the development of sexual orientation and sexual arousal.
Abstract: Genetically identical twins can differ in their self-reported sexual orientations. However, whether the twins’ subjective reports reflect valid differences in their sexual orientations is unknown. Measures of sexual orientation, which are free of the limitations of self-report, include genital arousal and pupil dilation while viewing sexual stimuli depicting men or women. We examined these responses in 6 male twin pairs and 9 female twin pairs who reported discordant sexual orientations. Across measures, heterosexual male twins responded more strongly to women than to men. Their homosexual co-twins showed an opposite pattern. Heterosexual female twins responded equally to both sexes, whereas their homosexual co-twins responded somewhat more to women than men. These differences within pairs were similar to differences between unrelated heterosexual and homosexual males and females. Our study provides physiological evidence confirming twins’ discordant sexual orientations, thereby supporting the importance of the non-shared environment for the development of sexual orientation and sexual arousal.
Research from diverse subdisciplines of psychology sheds light on Schadenfreude; novel tripartite taxonomy of Schadenfreude: Aggression, rivalry, and justice; the process of dehumanization may lie at the core of Schadenfreude
Schadenfreude deconstructed and reconstructed: A tripartite motivational model. Shensheng Wang, Scott O. Lilienfeld, Philippe Rochat. New Ideas in Psychology, Volume 52, January 2019, Pages 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2018.09.002
Highlights
• Research from diverse subdisciplines of psychology sheds light on Schadenfreude.
• We propose a novel tripartite taxonomy of Schadenfreude: Aggression, rivalry, and justice.
• The process of dehumanization may lie at the core of Schadenfreude.
Abstract: Schadenfreude is the distinctive pleasure people derive from others' misfortune. Research over the past three decades points to the multifaceted nature of Schadenfreude rooted in humans’ concerns for social justice, self-evaluation, and social identity. Less is known, however, regarding how the differing facets of Schadenfreude are interrelated and take shape in response to these concerns. To address these questions, we review extant theories in social psychology and draw upon evidence from developmental, personality, and clinical research literature to propose a novel, tripartite, taxonomy of Schadenfreude embedded in a motivational model. Our model posits that Schadenfreude comprises three separable but interrelated subforms (aggression, rivalry, and justice), which display different developmental trajectories and personality correlates. This model further posits that dehumanization plays a central role in both eliciting Schadenfreude and integrating its various facets. In closing, we point to fruitful directions for future research motivated by this novel account of Schadenfreude.
Highlights
• Research from diverse subdisciplines of psychology sheds light on Schadenfreude.
• We propose a novel tripartite taxonomy of Schadenfreude: Aggression, rivalry, and justice.
• The process of dehumanization may lie at the core of Schadenfreude.
Abstract: Schadenfreude is the distinctive pleasure people derive from others' misfortune. Research over the past three decades points to the multifaceted nature of Schadenfreude rooted in humans’ concerns for social justice, self-evaluation, and social identity. Less is known, however, regarding how the differing facets of Schadenfreude are interrelated and take shape in response to these concerns. To address these questions, we review extant theories in social psychology and draw upon evidence from developmental, personality, and clinical research literature to propose a novel, tripartite, taxonomy of Schadenfreude embedded in a motivational model. Our model posits that Schadenfreude comprises three separable but interrelated subforms (aggression, rivalry, and justice), which display different developmental trajectories and personality correlates. This model further posits that dehumanization plays a central role in both eliciting Schadenfreude and integrating its various facets. In closing, we point to fruitful directions for future research motivated by this novel account of Schadenfreude.
Preference for realistic art predicts support for Brexit
Preference for realistic art predicts support for Brexit. Noah Carl, Lindsay Richards, Anthony Heath. The British Journal of Sociology, https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12489
Abstract: Following the UK’s EU referendum in June 2016, there has been considerable interest from scholars in understanding the characteristics that differentiate Leave supporters from Remain supporters. Since Leave supporters score higher on conscientiousness but lower on neuroticism and openness, and given their general proclivity toward conservatism, we hypothesized that preference for realistic art would predict support for Brexit. Data on a large nationally representative sample of the British population were obtained, and preference for realistic art was measured using a four‐item binary choice test. Controlling for a range of personal characteristics, we found that respondents who preferred all four realistic paintings were 15–20 percentage points more likely to support Leave than those who preferred zero or one realistic paintings. This effect was comparable to the difference in support between those with a degree and those with no education, and was robust to controlling for the respondent’s party identity.
Abstract: Following the UK’s EU referendum in June 2016, there has been considerable interest from scholars in understanding the characteristics that differentiate Leave supporters from Remain supporters. Since Leave supporters score higher on conscientiousness but lower on neuroticism and openness, and given their general proclivity toward conservatism, we hypothesized that preference for realistic art would predict support for Brexit. Data on a large nationally representative sample of the British population were obtained, and preference for realistic art was measured using a four‐item binary choice test. Controlling for a range of personal characteristics, we found that respondents who preferred all four realistic paintings were 15–20 percentage points more likely to support Leave than those who preferred zero or one realistic paintings. This effect was comparable to the difference in support between those with a degree and those with no education, and was robust to controlling for the respondent’s party identity.
Face proportions: Facial attractiveness increases with the enlargement of the uncovered eye surface as well as the reduction in nose and lip size
Impact of face proportions on face attractiveness. Mateusz Przylipiak et al. J Cosmet Dermatol. 2018;1–6. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jocd.12783
Summary
Background: Proportions of face components appear to play a role in facial attractiveness.
Aims: The aim of the study was to establish the best proportions of face components in relation to whole face shape for facial attractiveness.
Methods: Only one face component (eye, nose, or lips) of a model in a series of photographs was altered using a computer program. Alterations consisted of size reduction or augmentation by 5% or 10%. Each photograph depicted a particular face component altered to either 90%, 95%, 100%, 105%, or 110% of its original size. Collages of photographs were shown to 167 individuals (male and female) for a fixed period of 7 seconds. Their task was to indicate the most attractive photograph
of a model in a presented collage.
Results: In total, 48.1% of individuals preferred enhanced eyes both in males and females. We found that the preferred mean eye size in women was statistically significantly higher than that in men. In total, 64.8% of respondents preferred reduced nose proportions in women (27.5% found a reduction to 90% of the original size more attractive while 37.3% preferred a reduction to 95%). It was demonstrated that the preferred mean nose size was statistically significantly lower in females in comparison with males. Respondents expressed a greater preference for nose reduction in women in comparison with men. 38.4% of respondents (in regard to both male and female mouth) preferred reduced mouth. 40.7% of respondents preferred reduced mouth in the female model.
Conclusions: Our work delivers statistically significant evidence that facial attractiveness increases together with the enlargement of the uncovered eye surface as well as the reduction in nose and lip size. Data were obtained using modern collective intelligence methods of validation.
KEYWORDS: attractiveness, eyes, face, mouth, nose, proportions
Summary
Background: Proportions of face components appear to play a role in facial attractiveness.
Aims: The aim of the study was to establish the best proportions of face components in relation to whole face shape for facial attractiveness.
Methods: Only one face component (eye, nose, or lips) of a model in a series of photographs was altered using a computer program. Alterations consisted of size reduction or augmentation by 5% or 10%. Each photograph depicted a particular face component altered to either 90%, 95%, 100%, 105%, or 110% of its original size. Collages of photographs were shown to 167 individuals (male and female) for a fixed period of 7 seconds. Their task was to indicate the most attractive photograph
of a model in a presented collage.
Results: In total, 48.1% of individuals preferred enhanced eyes both in males and females. We found that the preferred mean eye size in women was statistically significantly higher than that in men. In total, 64.8% of respondents preferred reduced nose proportions in women (27.5% found a reduction to 90% of the original size more attractive while 37.3% preferred a reduction to 95%). It was demonstrated that the preferred mean nose size was statistically significantly lower in females in comparison with males. Respondents expressed a greater preference for nose reduction in women in comparison with men. 38.4% of respondents (in regard to both male and female mouth) preferred reduced mouth. 40.7% of respondents preferred reduced mouth in the female model.
Conclusions: Our work delivers statistically significant evidence that facial attractiveness increases together with the enlargement of the uncovered eye surface as well as the reduction in nose and lip size. Data were obtained using modern collective intelligence methods of validation.
KEYWORDS: attractiveness, eyes, face, mouth, nose, proportions
Individuals who indicated poor mating performance experienced more negative emotions (sadness, loneliness), fewer positive emotions (happiness, excitement), & were less satisfied with their lives
The emotional cost of poor mating performance. Menelaos Apostolou, Marios Shialos, Polyxeni Georgiadou. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 138, 1 February 2019, Pages 188-192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.10.003
Highlights
• People who experienced poor mating performance experienced more negative emotions.
• People who experienced good mating performance experienced more positive emotions.
• Mating performance had a moderate to strong effect on emotions and wellbeing.
• About one in two participants faced difficulties in intimate relationships.
Abstract: Recent studies indicated that a considerable proportion of adult individuals experience poor mating performance: They face considerable difficulties in attracting and retaining mates. Using an evolutionary theoretical framework, we hypothesized that poor mating performance would be associated with more negative and fewer positive emotions as well as low life satisfaction. Evidence from an online sample of 735 participants provided strong support for this hypothesis. In particular, we found that individuals who indicated poor mating performance, experienced more negative emotions such as sadness and loneliness, and fewer positive emotions such as happiness and excitement, and they were less satisfied with their lives. On the other hand, those who indicated a good performance in mating, experienced more positive emotions and fewer negative emotions, and they were more satisfied with their lives. As indicated by the effect sizes, mating performance had a moderate to strong effect on positive and negative emotions and wellbeing. Also, consistent with the results of previous research, we found that about one in two participants faced difficulties in either starting or keeping an intimate relationship.
Highlights
• People who experienced poor mating performance experienced more negative emotions.
• People who experienced good mating performance experienced more positive emotions.
• Mating performance had a moderate to strong effect on emotions and wellbeing.
• About one in two participants faced difficulties in intimate relationships.
Abstract: Recent studies indicated that a considerable proportion of adult individuals experience poor mating performance: They face considerable difficulties in attracting and retaining mates. Using an evolutionary theoretical framework, we hypothesized that poor mating performance would be associated with more negative and fewer positive emotions as well as low life satisfaction. Evidence from an online sample of 735 participants provided strong support for this hypothesis. In particular, we found that individuals who indicated poor mating performance, experienced more negative emotions such as sadness and loneliness, and fewer positive emotions such as happiness and excitement, and they were less satisfied with their lives. On the other hand, those who indicated a good performance in mating, experienced more positive emotions and fewer negative emotions, and they were more satisfied with their lives. As indicated by the effect sizes, mating performance had a moderate to strong effect on positive and negative emotions and wellbeing. Also, consistent with the results of previous research, we found that about one in two participants faced difficulties in either starting or keeping an intimate relationship.
Monday, October 8, 2018
Evolution of property and possession: Some non-human primates show respect for property
Rethinking the evolution of property and possession: A review and methodological proposition. Lucy Tibble, Susana Carvalho. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21748
Abstract: Property is a key feature of modern human society; however, identifying the origin of this multifaceted behavior poses a formidable challenge. Here, we explore the methodologies for researching the origin of property. We discuss how an interdisciplinary approach can shed light on how our human ancestors shifted behaviorally from possessing an object to having exclusive property control over it. Possession occurs when social group members only respect an individual's claim to have exclusive access to an object when the individual has physical control over the object. Property occurs when an individual can claim exclusive access to an object, without challenge, regardless of whether the object is in their physical control or not. Researchers across different disciplines have asked what, if anything, distinguishes human property behavior from the behavior of other animals? Further, when and how did this behavior evolve in our lineage? Due to the considerable methodological challenges posed by researching this topic, few studies have been able to directly address these questions. In this review, we explore the challenges involved in defining property and possession and suggest a two‐step approach to interdisciplinary definitions. Next, we evaluate four core approaches to the study of property behavior: evolutionary game theory, ethology, comparative cognition, and developmental psychology. Finally, we propose an empirical study, using an ethological approach to test the presence of property and possessive behavior in a natural setting, using our closest living relative, the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). Overall, we argue that this field of research is at a turning point, where the novel integration of various methods may provide an explanation to the origin of property.
Abstract: Property is a key feature of modern human society; however, identifying the origin of this multifaceted behavior poses a formidable challenge. Here, we explore the methodologies for researching the origin of property. We discuss how an interdisciplinary approach can shed light on how our human ancestors shifted behaviorally from possessing an object to having exclusive property control over it. Possession occurs when social group members only respect an individual's claim to have exclusive access to an object when the individual has physical control over the object. Property occurs when an individual can claim exclusive access to an object, without challenge, regardless of whether the object is in their physical control or not. Researchers across different disciplines have asked what, if anything, distinguishes human property behavior from the behavior of other animals? Further, when and how did this behavior evolve in our lineage? Due to the considerable methodological challenges posed by researching this topic, few studies have been able to directly address these questions. In this review, we explore the challenges involved in defining property and possession and suggest a two‐step approach to interdisciplinary definitions. Next, we evaluate four core approaches to the study of property behavior: evolutionary game theory, ethology, comparative cognition, and developmental psychology. Finally, we propose an empirical study, using an ethological approach to test the presence of property and possessive behavior in a natural setting, using our closest living relative, the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). Overall, we argue that this field of research is at a turning point, where the novel integration of various methods may provide an explanation to the origin of property.
Already known, but not discussed: Wind power reduces emissions while causing climatic impacts such as warmer temperatures, effect strongest at night when temperatures increase with height; wind's warming can exceed avoided warming from reduced emissions for a century
Climatic Impacts of Wind Power. Lee M. Miller, David W. Keith. Joule, October 04, 2018, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2018.09.009
Highlights
• Wind power reduces emissions while causing climatic impacts such as warmer temperatures
• Warming effect strongest at night when temperatures increase with height
• Nighttime warming effect observed at 28 operational US wind farms
• Wind's warming can exceed avoided warming from reduced emissions for a century
Summary: We find that generating today's US electricity demand (0.5 TW e) with wind power would warm Continental US surface temperatures by 0.24°C. Warming arises, in part, from turbines redistributing heat by mixing the boundary layer. Modeled diurnal and seasonal temperature differences are roughly consistent with recent observations of warming at wind farms, reflecting a coherent mechanistic understanding for how wind turbines alter climate. The warming effect is: small compared with projections of 21st century warming, approximately equivalent to the reduced warming achieved by decarbonizing global electricity generation, and large compared with the reduced warming achieved by decarbonizing US electricity with wind. For the same generation rate, the climatic impacts from solar photovoltaic systems are about ten times smaller than wind systems. Wind's overall environmental impacts are surely less than fossil energy. Yet, as the energy system is decarbonized, decisions between wind and solar should be informed by estimates of their climate impacts.
Highlights
• Wind power reduces emissions while causing climatic impacts such as warmer temperatures
• Warming effect strongest at night when temperatures increase with height
• Nighttime warming effect observed at 28 operational US wind farms
• Wind's warming can exceed avoided warming from reduced emissions for a century
Summary: We find that generating today's US electricity demand (0.5 TW e) with wind power would warm Continental US surface temperatures by 0.24°C. Warming arises, in part, from turbines redistributing heat by mixing the boundary layer. Modeled diurnal and seasonal temperature differences are roughly consistent with recent observations of warming at wind farms, reflecting a coherent mechanistic understanding for how wind turbines alter climate. The warming effect is: small compared with projections of 21st century warming, approximately equivalent to the reduced warming achieved by decarbonizing global electricity generation, and large compared with the reduced warming achieved by decarbonizing US electricity with wind. For the same generation rate, the climatic impacts from solar photovoltaic systems are about ten times smaller than wind systems. Wind's overall environmental impacts are surely less than fossil energy. Yet, as the energy system is decarbonized, decisions between wind and solar should be informed by estimates of their climate impacts.
Child Care Tax Credits: substantial pass-thru, over half of every dollar is passed through to care providers in the form of higher prices and wages
Give Credit Where?: The Incidence of Child Care Tax Credits. Luke P. Rodgers. Journal of Urban Economics, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2018.10.002
Abstract: The cost of child care can affect a family’s employment, location, and commuting decisions. Child care tax credits are intended to relieve the financial burden of child care for working families, yet the benefit incidence may fall on child care providers if they increase prices in response to credit generosity. Using policy-induced variation in the Child and Dependent Care Credit, this paper presents evidence of substantial pass-through: over half of every dollar is passed through to providers in the form of higher prices and wages. Increased non-refundable credit generosity may have the unintended effect of making child care less affordable for low-income families, a result with distributional and spatial implications due to income sorting of families within an urban area.
Abstract: The cost of child care can affect a family’s employment, location, and commuting decisions. Child care tax credits are intended to relieve the financial burden of child care for working families, yet the benefit incidence may fall on child care providers if they increase prices in response to credit generosity. Using policy-induced variation in the Child and Dependent Care Credit, this paper presents evidence of substantial pass-through: over half of every dollar is passed through to providers in the form of higher prices and wages. Increased non-refundable credit generosity may have the unintended effect of making child care less affordable for low-income families, a result with distributional and spatial implications due to income sorting of families within an urban area.
The One Percent in New Zealand more strongly legitimize the political & economic systems in society, express lower support for redistributive taxation; & report higher life satisfaction, self-esteem & belongingness compared to everyone else
The Political Attitudes and Subjective Wellbeing of the One Percent. Nikhil K. Sengupta, Chris G. Sibley. Journal of Happiness Studies, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10902-018-0038-4
Abstract: In capitalist societies, individuals who occupy the highest positions in the economic hierarchy feature prominently in the political discourse under the moniker of the One Percent. However, little is known about how the psychology of One Percent might differ from that of the average person. Using a large, nationally representative sample in New Zealand (N = 14,650), we aimed to fill this gap examining the political attitudes and subjective wellbeing of the top one percent of the income distribution. We found that, compared to general public, the One Percent in New Zealand more strongly legitimize the political and economic systems in society, and express lower support for redistributive taxation. They also report higher life satisfaction, self-esteem and belongingness compared to everyone else. Thus, the One Percent benefit not only economically and politically from the current system, but also psychologically. Moreover, their political beliefs serve to bolster the inequality from which they benefit.
Keywords: Inequality One Percent Political attitudes Subjective wellbeing
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“We are the 99%”—the rallying cry of the Occupy Wall Street movement—was a call for society to unite against the disproportionate power of a small group of economic elites: The One Percent (Occupy Wall Street 2011). This moniker of the One Percent has now entered the lexicon and become a prominent feature of the political discourse on inequality in Western democracies (e.g., The Equality Trust 2017; Carroll and Kertscher 2016). The people to whom this label is applied are argued to be using their influence to bend policy to their own ends, subverting the democratic process (e.g., Stilgitz 2011).
However, these arguments are currently being made in the absence of data about the how the political psychology of individuals that constitute this group might differ from that of the average person. We know very little about how the One Percent view the political and economic systems under which they live, or how they feel about redistributive policies designed to reduce inequality. These are important gaps because claims about how the One Percent exercise their power depend upon claims about their political attitudes as a group (see Gilens 2005). We aim to fill these gaps by comparing the political attitudes of the One Percent in New Zealand to the general population, using a large, representative sample (N = 14,650; see Table 1 for a comparison between New Zealand’s One Percent and the One Percent in other major economies).
Abstract: In capitalist societies, individuals who occupy the highest positions in the economic hierarchy feature prominently in the political discourse under the moniker of the One Percent. However, little is known about how the psychology of One Percent might differ from that of the average person. Using a large, nationally representative sample in New Zealand (N = 14,650), we aimed to fill this gap examining the political attitudes and subjective wellbeing of the top one percent of the income distribution. We found that, compared to general public, the One Percent in New Zealand more strongly legitimize the political and economic systems in society, and express lower support for redistributive taxation. They also report higher life satisfaction, self-esteem and belongingness compared to everyone else. Thus, the One Percent benefit not only economically and politically from the current system, but also psychologically. Moreover, their political beliefs serve to bolster the inequality from which they benefit.
Keywords: Inequality One Percent Political attitudes Subjective wellbeing
---
“We are the 99%”—the rallying cry of the Occupy Wall Street movement—was a call for society to unite against the disproportionate power of a small group of economic elites: The One Percent (Occupy Wall Street 2011). This moniker of the One Percent has now entered the lexicon and become a prominent feature of the political discourse on inequality in Western democracies (e.g., The Equality Trust 2017; Carroll and Kertscher 2016). The people to whom this label is applied are argued to be using their influence to bend policy to their own ends, subverting the democratic process (e.g., Stilgitz 2011).
However, these arguments are currently being made in the absence of data about the how the political psychology of individuals that constitute this group might differ from that of the average person. We know very little about how the One Percent view the political and economic systems under which they live, or how they feel about redistributive policies designed to reduce inequality. These are important gaps because claims about how the One Percent exercise their power depend upon claims about their political attitudes as a group (see Gilens 2005). We aim to fill these gaps by comparing the political attitudes of the One Percent in New Zealand to the general population, using a large, representative sample (N = 14,650; see Table 1 for a comparison between New Zealand’s One Percent and the One Percent in other major economies).
How cohabitation, marriage, separation, and divorce influence BMI: The benefits of marriage or cohabitation do not necessarily include a healthier BMI
Mata, J., Richter, D., Schneider, T., & Hertwig, R. (2018). How cohabitation, marriage, separation, and divorce influence BMI: A prospective panel study. Health Psychology, 37(10), 948-958. dx.doi.org/10.1037/hea0000654
Objective: This study examines how changes in cohabitation or marital status affect Body Mass Index (BMI) over time in a large representative sample.
Method: Participants were 20,950 individuals (50% female; 19 to 100 years), representative of the German population, who provided 81,926 observations over 16 years. Face-to-face interviews were used to obtain demographic data, including cohabitation and marital status, height, body weight, and weight-relevant behaviors (exercise, healthy eating, and smoking). Control variables included age, notable changes in status (life events such as having children or change in employment status), perceived stress, and subjective health.
Results: Cohabitation led to significant weight gain in men and women—after four years or longer, about twice the gain associated with marriage (controlling for weight-related behaviors, age, children, employment, stress, and health). BMI after separation was largely comparable to BMI before starting cohabitation; women lost some weight in the first year, men gained some weight after four or more years of separation. Divorce generally predicted weight gain. Changes in exercise, healthy eating, and smoking did not attenuate the effect of changes in relationship status on BMI.
Conclusions: This is among the first longitudinal studies to directly compare the effects of key changes in relationship status on BMI. The findings extend and qualify previous results by showing that the benefits of marriage or cohabitation do not necessarily include a healthier BMI. They also suggest that relationship transitions—particularly moving in with a partner and divorce—may be important time windows for weight gain prevention.
Objective: This study examines how changes in cohabitation or marital status affect Body Mass Index (BMI) over time in a large representative sample.
Method: Participants were 20,950 individuals (50% female; 19 to 100 years), representative of the German population, who provided 81,926 observations over 16 years. Face-to-face interviews were used to obtain demographic data, including cohabitation and marital status, height, body weight, and weight-relevant behaviors (exercise, healthy eating, and smoking). Control variables included age, notable changes in status (life events such as having children or change in employment status), perceived stress, and subjective health.
Results: Cohabitation led to significant weight gain in men and women—after four years or longer, about twice the gain associated with marriage (controlling for weight-related behaviors, age, children, employment, stress, and health). BMI after separation was largely comparable to BMI before starting cohabitation; women lost some weight in the first year, men gained some weight after four or more years of separation. Divorce generally predicted weight gain. Changes in exercise, healthy eating, and smoking did not attenuate the effect of changes in relationship status on BMI.
Conclusions: This is among the first longitudinal studies to directly compare the effects of key changes in relationship status on BMI. The findings extend and qualify previous results by showing that the benefits of marriage or cohabitation do not necessarily include a healthier BMI. They also suggest that relationship transitions—particularly moving in with a partner and divorce—may be important time windows for weight gain prevention.
A Reanalysis of Creativity & Religiosity: Creativity & religiosity have a negative relationship in terms of people's attitudes & values toward creativity as well as their perceptions of environment for creativity
Creativity and Religiosity: A Reanalysis with Regional Predictors. Selcuk Acar, Mark A. Runco & Uzeyir Ogurlu. Creativity Research Journal, Volume 30, 2018 - Issue 3, Pages 316-321, https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2018.1488349
Abstract: Building on previous research showing a negative relationship between conservatism and creativity, the present investigation focused specifically on religiosity in the context of the United States. Because of the association between conservatism and religiosity, creativity might have a negative association with religiosity, too. To this end, individuallevel and regional data were matched by linking responses to psychometric measures such as Attitudes and Values toward Creativity to regional data such as church attendance. These analyses controlled other regional variables including education, diversity, and socio-economic status. Two-level analyses with individual data at Level 1 and county data at Level 2 indicated that people from more religious locations held less positive attitudes and values toward creativity and rated their environment as less creative. On the other hand, creative personality, ideational behavior and creative achievement were not significantly related to religiosity. Those analyses provided evidence that creativity and religiosity have a negative relationship in terms of people's attitudes and values toward creativity as well as their perceptions of environment for creativity. Findings were discussed in terms of types of religiosity and other socio-cultural variables.
Abstract: Building on previous research showing a negative relationship between conservatism and creativity, the present investigation focused specifically on religiosity in the context of the United States. Because of the association between conservatism and religiosity, creativity might have a negative association with religiosity, too. To this end, individuallevel and regional data were matched by linking responses to psychometric measures such as Attitudes and Values toward Creativity to regional data such as church attendance. These analyses controlled other regional variables including education, diversity, and socio-economic status. Two-level analyses with individual data at Level 1 and county data at Level 2 indicated that people from more religious locations held less positive attitudes and values toward creativity and rated their environment as less creative. On the other hand, creative personality, ideational behavior and creative achievement were not significantly related to religiosity. Those analyses provided evidence that creativity and religiosity have a negative relationship in terms of people's attitudes and values toward creativity as well as their perceptions of environment for creativity. Findings were discussed in terms of types of religiosity and other socio-cultural variables.
Does Religion Hinder Creativity? A National Level Study on the Roles of Religiosity and Different Denominations
Does Religion Hinder Creativity? A National Level Study on the Roles of Religiosity and Different Denominations. Zhen Liu et al. Front. Psychol., Oct 8 2018, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01912
Creativity plays an irreplaceable role in economic and technological development. It seems that religion has a negative association with creativity. If it is true, how can we interpret the rapid development of human society with religious believers comprising 81% of global population? Based on the datasets of the World Values Survey and the Global Creativity Index, this study examined the effects of different religions/denominations on national creativity, and the moderation effect of gross domestic product per capita (GDPpc) in 87 countries. The results showed that: (1) religiosity was negatively associated with creativity at national level; (2) Proportions of Protestant and Catholic adherents in a country were both positively associated with national creativity, while proportion of Islam adherents was negatively associated with national creativity; (3) GDPpc moderated the relationships of creativity with overall religiosity, proportion of Protestant adherents, and proportion of Catholic adherents. In countries with high GDPpc, national religiosity and proportion of Islam could negatively predict national creativity, and proportion of Protestants could positively predict national creativity; in countries with low GDPpc, these relationships became insignificant. These findings suggest that national religiosity hinders creativity to a certain extent. However, some denominations (i.e., Protestant and Catholic) may exert positive influences on creativity due to their religious traditions and values. The religion–creativity relationship at national level only emerges in affluent countries.
Creativity plays an irreplaceable role in economic and technological development. It seems that religion has a negative association with creativity. If it is true, how can we interpret the rapid development of human society with religious believers comprising 81% of global population? Based on the datasets of the World Values Survey and the Global Creativity Index, this study examined the effects of different religions/denominations on national creativity, and the moderation effect of gross domestic product per capita (GDPpc) in 87 countries. The results showed that: (1) religiosity was negatively associated with creativity at national level; (2) Proportions of Protestant and Catholic adherents in a country were both positively associated with national creativity, while proportion of Islam adherents was negatively associated with national creativity; (3) GDPpc moderated the relationships of creativity with overall religiosity, proportion of Protestant adherents, and proportion of Catholic adherents. In countries with high GDPpc, national religiosity and proportion of Islam could negatively predict national creativity, and proportion of Protestants could positively predict national creativity; in countries with low GDPpc, these relationships became insignificant. These findings suggest that national religiosity hinders creativity to a certain extent. However, some denominations (i.e., Protestant and Catholic) may exert positive influences on creativity due to their religious traditions and values. The religion–creativity relationship at national level only emerges in affluent countries.
On the Necessity of Consciousness for Sophisticated Human Action
On the Necessity of Consciousness for Sophisticated Human Action. Roy F. Baumeister et al. Front. Psychol., October 8 2018, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01925
Abstract: In this essay, we aim to counter and qualify the epiphenomenalist challenge proposed in this special issue on the grounds of empirical and theoretical arguments. The current body of scientific knowledge strongly indicates that conscious thought is a necessary condition for many human behaviors, and therefore, consciousness qualifies as a cause of those behaviors. We review illustrative experimental evidence for the causal power of conscious thought while also acknowledging its natural limitations. We argue that it is implausible that the metabolic costs inherent to conscious processes would have evolved in humans without any adaptive benefits. Moreover, we discuss the relevance of conscious thought to the issue of freedom. Many accounts hold conscious thought as necessary and conducive to naturalistic conceptions of personal freedom. Apart from these theories, we show that the conscious perception of freedom and the belief in free will provide sources of interesting findings, beneficial behavioral effects, and new avenues for research. We close by proposing our own challenge via outlining the gaps that have yet to be filled to establish hard evidence of an epiphenomenal model of consciousness. To be sure, we appreciate the epiphenomenalist challenge as it promotes critical thinking and inspires rigorous research. However, we see no merit in downplaying the causal significance of consciousness a priori. Instead, we believe it more worthwhile to focus on the complex interplay between conscious and other causal processes.
Abstract: In this essay, we aim to counter and qualify the epiphenomenalist challenge proposed in this special issue on the grounds of empirical and theoretical arguments. The current body of scientific knowledge strongly indicates that conscious thought is a necessary condition for many human behaviors, and therefore, consciousness qualifies as a cause of those behaviors. We review illustrative experimental evidence for the causal power of conscious thought while also acknowledging its natural limitations. We argue that it is implausible that the metabolic costs inherent to conscious processes would have evolved in humans without any adaptive benefits. Moreover, we discuss the relevance of conscious thought to the issue of freedom. Many accounts hold conscious thought as necessary and conducive to naturalistic conceptions of personal freedom. Apart from these theories, we show that the conscious perception of freedom and the belief in free will provide sources of interesting findings, beneficial behavioral effects, and new avenues for research. We close by proposing our own challenge via outlining the gaps that have yet to be filled to establish hard evidence of an epiphenomenal model of consciousness. To be sure, we appreciate the epiphenomenalist challenge as it promotes critical thinking and inspires rigorous research. However, we see no merit in downplaying the causal significance of consciousness a priori. Instead, we believe it more worthwhile to focus on the complex interplay between conscious and other causal processes.
Sunday, October 7, 2018
Significant social change often comes from the unleashing of hidden preferences; it also comes from the construction of novel preferences
Sunstein, Cass R., Unleashed (August 22, 2017). http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3025749
Abstract: Significant social change often comes from the unleashing of hidden preferences; it also comes from the construction of novel preferences. Under the pressure of social norms, people sometimes falsify their preferences. They do not feel free to say or do as they wish. Once norms are weakened or revised, through private efforts or law, it becomes possible to discover preexisting preferences. Because those preferences existed but were concealed, large-scale movements are both possible and exceedingly difficult to predict; they are often startling. But revisions of norms can also construct rather than uncover preferences. Once norms are altered, again through private efforts or law, people come to hold preferences that they did not hold before. Nothing has been unleashed. These points bear on the rise and fall (and rise again, and fall again) of discrimination on the basis of sex and race (and also religion and ethnicity). They also help illuminate the dynamics of social cascades and the effects of social norms on diverse practices and developments, including smoking, drinking, police brutality, protest activity, veganism, drug use, crime, white nationalism, “ethnification,” considerateness, and the public expression of religious beliefs.
Abstract: Significant social change often comes from the unleashing of hidden preferences; it also comes from the construction of novel preferences. Under the pressure of social norms, people sometimes falsify their preferences. They do not feel free to say or do as they wish. Once norms are weakened or revised, through private efforts or law, it becomes possible to discover preexisting preferences. Because those preferences existed but were concealed, large-scale movements are both possible and exceedingly difficult to predict; they are often startling. But revisions of norms can also construct rather than uncover preferences. Once norms are altered, again through private efforts or law, people come to hold preferences that they did not hold before. Nothing has been unleashed. These points bear on the rise and fall (and rise again, and fall again) of discrimination on the basis of sex and race (and also religion and ethnicity). They also help illuminate the dynamics of social cascades and the effects of social norms on diverse practices and developments, including smoking, drinking, police brutality, protest activity, veganism, drug use, crime, white nationalism, “ethnification,” considerateness, and the public expression of religious beliefs.
Re “Masturbation: Scientific Evidence and Islam’s View”: Evidence to support a negative relationship between masturbation & health was not scrutinized, & evidente to support or a non-negative relationship was largely ignored
Response to “Masturbation: Scientific Evidence and Islam’s View”. David Speed, Ryan T. Cragun. Journal of Religion and Health, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10943-018-0627-x
In a recent article entitled, “Masturbation: Scientific Evidence and Islam’s View”, the author Hoseini (2017) set out to discuss the harmful effects of masturbation and how it was prohibited within Islam. Generally, Hoseini’s arguments appeared to have started with a conclusion rather than arriving at one based on all of the available data. Overall, Hoseini’s argumentation suffered from three recurring issues: (1) Masturbation was inexplicably portrayed as deviant; (2) Evidence to support a negative relationship between masturbation and health was not scrutinized; (3) Evidence to support a non-negative relationship between masturbation and health was largely ignored. Each of these points will be addressed in turn.
In a recent article entitled, “Masturbation: Scientific Evidence and Islam’s View”, the author Hoseini (2017) set out to discuss the harmful effects of masturbation and how it was prohibited within Islam. Generally, Hoseini’s arguments appeared to have started with a conclusion rather than arriving at one based on all of the available data. Overall, Hoseini’s argumentation suffered from three recurring issues: (1) Masturbation was inexplicably portrayed as deviant; (2) Evidence to support a negative relationship between masturbation and health was not scrutinized; (3) Evidence to support a non-negative relationship between masturbation and health was largely ignored. Each of these points will be addressed in turn.
Sex differences in adolescent physical aggression: Evidence from sixty‐three low‐and middle‐income countries: Sex differences in physical aggression decrease as societal gender inequality increased
Sex differences in adolescent physical aggression: Evidence from sixty‐three low‐and middle‐income countries. Amy Nivette, Alex Sutherland, Manuel Eisner, Joseph Murray. Aggressive Behavior, https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21799
Abstract: A great deal of research shows that adolescent and adult males are more likely to engage in physical aggression and violence than females are. However, few studies have examined cross‐cultural variation in sex differences, particularly among low‐ and middle‐income countries [LMICs]. Based on social role and sexual selection theories, we derived two hypotheses regarding possible variations in sex differences across societal contexts: 1) sex differences increase with societal gender polarization (social role theory) and 2) sex differences are exacerbated in societies where socio‐economic opportunities are scarce, unequal, or insecure (prediction derived from sexual selection theory). The current study examined the prevalence of and variation in sex differences in physical aggression, as measured by frequent fighting, among 247,909 adolescents in 63 low‐ and middle‐income countries. The results show that, overall, males were over twice as likely (OR = 2.68; 95% CI = 2.60–2.76) to report frequent fighting in the past 12 months than females. However, sex differences vary significantly across LMICs, wherein countries with higher female prevalence rates have smaller sex differences in frequent fighting. Contrary to expectations derived from social role theory, sex differences in physical aggression decrease as societal gender inequality increased. In regards to sexual selection theory, we find no evidence that sex differences in frequent fighting varies according to societal rule of law or income inequality.
Abstract: A great deal of research shows that adolescent and adult males are more likely to engage in physical aggression and violence than females are. However, few studies have examined cross‐cultural variation in sex differences, particularly among low‐ and middle‐income countries [LMICs]. Based on social role and sexual selection theories, we derived two hypotheses regarding possible variations in sex differences across societal contexts: 1) sex differences increase with societal gender polarization (social role theory) and 2) sex differences are exacerbated in societies where socio‐economic opportunities are scarce, unequal, or insecure (prediction derived from sexual selection theory). The current study examined the prevalence of and variation in sex differences in physical aggression, as measured by frequent fighting, among 247,909 adolescents in 63 low‐ and middle‐income countries. The results show that, overall, males were over twice as likely (OR = 2.68; 95% CI = 2.60–2.76) to report frequent fighting in the past 12 months than females. However, sex differences vary significantly across LMICs, wherein countries with higher female prevalence rates have smaller sex differences in frequent fighting. Contrary to expectations derived from social role theory, sex differences in physical aggression decrease as societal gender inequality increased. In regards to sexual selection theory, we find no evidence that sex differences in frequent fighting varies according to societal rule of law or income inequality.
How people psychologically manage violations to the belief that the world is fair and just: people generally believe in karmic retribution
Just world violations prompt beliefs in karmic retribution. Jack McDonald. Thesis for M.S., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. http://hdl.handle.net/2142/101488
Abstract: How likely are people to think that someone who perpetrates a crime against another person will experience an adverse event in response? In other words, how much do people believe in karmic retribution? Across three studies, we examined this question in the present research. Participants were randomly assigned to read about a sexual crime that varied in its level of severity (e.g., a man whistles suggestively at a woman vs. a man takes an up-skirt photo of a woman). People who read about more severe crimes thought that a negative event would be more likely to happen to the offender of the crime. Importantly, people thought negative events were more likely to affect offenders of severe crimes even when the event was entirely unrelated to the crime (e.g., getting hit by a car after assaulting a woman), and even if a person did not intentionally create the adverse event (e.g., getting cancer). Dispositional belief in a just world did not consistently moderate the effect of crime severity on the likelihood of negative events. These findings provide novel evidence for the question of how people psychologically manage violations to the belief that the world is fair and just, and provide empirical support that people generally believe in karmic retribution.
Abstract: How likely are people to think that someone who perpetrates a crime against another person will experience an adverse event in response? In other words, how much do people believe in karmic retribution? Across three studies, we examined this question in the present research. Participants were randomly assigned to read about a sexual crime that varied in its level of severity (e.g., a man whistles suggestively at a woman vs. a man takes an up-skirt photo of a woman). People who read about more severe crimes thought that a negative event would be more likely to happen to the offender of the crime. Importantly, people thought negative events were more likely to affect offenders of severe crimes even when the event was entirely unrelated to the crime (e.g., getting hit by a car after assaulting a woman), and even if a person did not intentionally create the adverse event (e.g., getting cancer). Dispositional belief in a just world did not consistently moderate the effect of crime severity on the likelihood of negative events. These findings provide novel evidence for the question of how people psychologically manage violations to the belief that the world is fair and just, and provide empirical support that people generally believe in karmic retribution.
Are Tinder & Dating Apps Changing Dating & Mating? More than 80% of unpartnered heterosexual adults have not gone on any dates or met any new people in the past 12 months; being unpartnered is more stable that thought
Are Tinder and Dating Apps Changing Dating and Mating in the USA? Michael Rosenfeld. Families and Technology, National Symposium on Family Issues book series, volume 9, pp 103-117. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-95540-7_6
Abstract: I use in-depth interviews and a new national survey to examine how people use phone dating apps (such as Tinder and Grindr), how often they use them, and why. Gay men are the most active users of the phone dating apps. Unpartnered heterosexual adults do not use phone dating apps very often and meet few new partners through apps. According to the survey data, more than 80% of unpartnered heterosexual adults have not gone on any dates or met any new people in the past 12 months, which suggests that being unpartnered is a more stable status for heterosexual adults than previously thought.
Abstract: I use in-depth interviews and a new national survey to examine how people use phone dating apps (such as Tinder and Grindr), how often they use them, and why. Gay men are the most active users of the phone dating apps. Unpartnered heterosexual adults do not use phone dating apps very often and meet few new partners through apps. According to the survey data, more than 80% of unpartnered heterosexual adults have not gone on any dates or met any new people in the past 12 months, which suggests that being unpartnered is a more stable status for heterosexual adults than previously thought.
The evolutionary dynamics of adaptive virginity, sex‐allocation, & altruistic helping in haplodiploids: when mating is costly (e.g., when mating increases predation risk), virginity be an adaptive reproductive strategy
The evolutionary dynamics of adaptive virginity, sex‐allocation, and altruistic helping in haplodiploid animals. Petri Rautiala, Heikki Helanterä, Mikael Puurtinen. Evolution, https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.13399
Abstract: In haplodiploids, females can produce sons from unfertilized eggs without mating. However, virgin reproduction is usually considered to be a result of a failure to mate, rather than an adaptation. Here, we build an analytical model for evolution of virgin reproduction, sex‐allocation, and altruistic female helping in haplodiploid taxa. We show that when mating is costly (e.g., when mating increases predation risk), virginity can evolve as an adaptive female reproductive strategy. Furthermore, adaptive virginity results in strongly divergent sex‐ratios in mated and virgin queen nests (“split sex ratios”), which promotes the evolution of altruistic helping by daughters in mated queen nests. However, when helpers evolve to be efficient and increase nest production significantly, virgin reproduction is selected against. Our results suggest that adaptive virginity could have been an important stepping stone on the pathway to eusociality in haplodiploids. We further show that virginity can be an adaptive reproductive strategy also in primitively social haplodiploids if workers bias the sex ratio toward females. By remaining virgin, queens are free to produce sons, the more valuable sex in a female‐biased population. Our work brings a new dimension to the studies linking reproductive strategies with social evolution.
Abstract: In haplodiploids, females can produce sons from unfertilized eggs without mating. However, virgin reproduction is usually considered to be a result of a failure to mate, rather than an adaptation. Here, we build an analytical model for evolution of virgin reproduction, sex‐allocation, and altruistic female helping in haplodiploid taxa. We show that when mating is costly (e.g., when mating increases predation risk), virginity can evolve as an adaptive female reproductive strategy. Furthermore, adaptive virginity results in strongly divergent sex‐ratios in mated and virgin queen nests (“split sex ratios”), which promotes the evolution of altruistic helping by daughters in mated queen nests. However, when helpers evolve to be efficient and increase nest production significantly, virgin reproduction is selected against. Our results suggest that adaptive virginity could have been an important stepping stone on the pathway to eusociality in haplodiploids. We further show that virginity can be an adaptive reproductive strategy also in primitively social haplodiploids if workers bias the sex ratio toward females. By remaining virgin, queens are free to produce sons, the more valuable sex in a female‐biased population. Our work brings a new dimension to the studies linking reproductive strategies with social evolution.
The categorical model of classification in the V edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is problematic; a proposed solution is an empirically based dimensional organization of psychopathology, HiTOP
Personality in a Hierarchical Model of Psychopathology. Thomas A. Widiger et al. Association for Psychological Science, https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702618797105
Abstract: The categorical model of classification in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is sorely problematic. A proposed solution is emerging in the form of a quantitative nosology, an empirically based dimensional organization of psychopathology. More specifically, a team of investigators has proposed the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP). The purpose of this article is to discuss the potential role, importance, and implications of personality within the HiTOP dimensional model of psychopathology. Suggested herein is that personality provides a foundational base for the HiTOP dimensional model of psychopathology. Implications concern the potential value of the early assessment of and screening for personality as well as the development of protocols for the treatment of personality trait domains, which may in turn contribute to substantial improvements in quality of life as well as mental and physical health.
Keywords: personality, psychopathology, personality disorder, health, dimensional
Abstract: The categorical model of classification in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is sorely problematic. A proposed solution is emerging in the form of a quantitative nosology, an empirically based dimensional organization of psychopathology. More specifically, a team of investigators has proposed the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP). The purpose of this article is to discuss the potential role, importance, and implications of personality within the HiTOP dimensional model of psychopathology. Suggested herein is that personality provides a foundational base for the HiTOP dimensional model of psychopathology. Implications concern the potential value of the early assessment of and screening for personality as well as the development of protocols for the treatment of personality trait domains, which may in turn contribute to substantial improvements in quality of life as well as mental and physical health.
Keywords: personality, psychopathology, personality disorder, health, dimensional
Chitwan Valley Family Study, Nepal, confirms: Aging adults with more highly educated children experience better health and higher survival; possible mechanisms are older adults' better health behaviors, & their greater support in later life
Offspring education and parental mortality: Evidence from South Asia. Emily Smith-Greenaway, Sarah Brauner-Otto, William Axinn. Social Science Research, Volume 76, November 2018, Pages 157-168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2018.07.001
Abstract: Decades of research show that education not only confers individual health benefits, but it also spills over to advantage subsequent generations. More recently, research has confirmed that the intergenerational health benefits of education can also flow upward: aging adults with more highly educated children experience better health and higher survival. Research has documented this finding in high-income settings, and also in select low- and middle-income contexts, raising questions about how having an adult child who attended relatively low levels of education can benefit aging parents' well-being. In this study, we use multilevel, long-term panel data on a cohort of older adults from the Chitwan Valley Family Study in rural Nepal to establish whether the association between offspring education and parents' survival is observable in this extremely poor, agrarian context. Extending past studies, we then leverage additional data on older adults to examine the association between offspring education and two theorized mechanisms: older adults' better health behaviors and their greater support in later life.
Abstract: Decades of research show that education not only confers individual health benefits, but it also spills over to advantage subsequent generations. More recently, research has confirmed that the intergenerational health benefits of education can also flow upward: aging adults with more highly educated children experience better health and higher survival. Research has documented this finding in high-income settings, and also in select low- and middle-income contexts, raising questions about how having an adult child who attended relatively low levels of education can benefit aging parents' well-being. In this study, we use multilevel, long-term panel data on a cohort of older adults from the Chitwan Valley Family Study in rural Nepal to establish whether the association between offspring education and parents' survival is observable in this extremely poor, agrarian context. Extending past studies, we then leverage additional data on older adults to examine the association between offspring education and two theorized mechanisms: older adults' better health behaviors and their greater support in later life.
Black-white differences in happiness, 1972–2014
Black-white differences in happiness, 1972–2014. John Iceland, Sarah Ludwig-Dehm. Social Science Research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2018.10.004
Abstract: This paper examines the extent to which the black-white gap in happiness—an important indicator of subjective well-being—has narrowed over the 1972 to 2014 period. Analyzing data from the General Social Survey, we find that that the difference in levels of happiness between whites and blacks is substantial, but declined over time. Results from a decomposition analysis shed new light on the sources of change. We find that observable differences in characteristics of whites and blacks explain a significant and growing proportion of the happiness gap. The two most important characteristics are income and marital status, as both are strongly associated with race and happiness, and the proportion of the difference in the gap that they explain has generally increased over time. Overall, the declining gap in happiness is consistent with the moderate narrowing of substantial racial disparities in other realms, such as life expectancy, residential segregation, and neighborhood conditions, suggesting small steps toward equality in some realms, even as high levels of inequality persist in others.
Abstract: This paper examines the extent to which the black-white gap in happiness—an important indicator of subjective well-being—has narrowed over the 1972 to 2014 period. Analyzing data from the General Social Survey, we find that that the difference in levels of happiness between whites and blacks is substantial, but declined over time. Results from a decomposition analysis shed new light on the sources of change. We find that observable differences in characteristics of whites and blacks explain a significant and growing proportion of the happiness gap. The two most important characteristics are income and marital status, as both are strongly associated with race and happiness, and the proportion of the difference in the gap that they explain has generally increased over time. Overall, the declining gap in happiness is consistent with the moderate narrowing of substantial racial disparities in other realms, such as life expectancy, residential segregation, and neighborhood conditions, suggesting small steps toward equality in some realms, even as high levels of inequality persist in others.
Saturday, October 6, 2018
Internalised White Ideal, Skin Tone Surveillance, and Hair Surveillance Predict Skin and Hair Dissatisfaction and Skin Bleaching among African American and Indian Women
Internalised White Ideal, Skin Tone Surveillance, and Hair Surveillance Predict Skin and Hair Dissatisfaction and Skin Bleaching among African American and Indian Women. Kathryn Harper, Becky L. Choma. Sex Roles, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-018-0966-9
Abstract: Women of Colour are subject to unique pressures regarding their appearance due to racialised beauty standards and the pre-eminence of White features (e.g., skin tone and hair texture). Through associated self-objectification, Women of Colour can face negative outcomes, including negative thoughts and feelings about body features, and can engage in potentially dangerous behaviours like skin bleaching. The present research investigated the connection between internalisation of White beauty standards and Women of Colour’s dissatisfaction with their skin and hair as well as their use of cosmetic products to attempt to meet White beauty ideals. Participants were 149 African American women from the United States and 168 Indian women living in India. Results reveal that internalisation of White beauty ideals predicted skin tone and hair texture dissatisfaction as well as skin bleaching. Results also suggest that these associations are indirectly mediated by surveillance of skin tone and hair texture. Findings are discussed in relation to self-objectification theory and representations of racialised beauty standards. These findings suggest that in order to reduce the negative effects of internalisation of White ideals on Women of Colour, White standards of beauty ought to be targeted and dismantled. Broadening of beauty standards and increasing positive media representations of Women of Colour may also be important.
Abstract: Women of Colour are subject to unique pressures regarding their appearance due to racialised beauty standards and the pre-eminence of White features (e.g., skin tone and hair texture). Through associated self-objectification, Women of Colour can face negative outcomes, including negative thoughts and feelings about body features, and can engage in potentially dangerous behaviours like skin bleaching. The present research investigated the connection between internalisation of White beauty standards and Women of Colour’s dissatisfaction with their skin and hair as well as their use of cosmetic products to attempt to meet White beauty ideals. Participants were 149 African American women from the United States and 168 Indian women living in India. Results reveal that internalisation of White beauty ideals predicted skin tone and hair texture dissatisfaction as well as skin bleaching. Results also suggest that these associations are indirectly mediated by surveillance of skin tone and hair texture. Findings are discussed in relation to self-objectification theory and representations of racialised beauty standards. These findings suggest that in order to reduce the negative effects of internalisation of White ideals on Women of Colour, White standards of beauty ought to be targeted and dismantled. Broadening of beauty standards and increasing positive media representations of Women of Colour may also be important.
How Does Traditional Masculinity Relate to Men and Women’s Problematic Pornography Viewing?
How Does Traditional Masculinity Relate to Men and Women’s Problematic Pornography Viewing? Nicholas C. Borgogna et al. Sex Roles, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-018-0967-8
Abstract: Problematic pornography viewing (PPV) is a growing concern. Based on a masculine gender role strain framework, individuals endorsing traditional masculinity ideology (TMI) may be especially drawn to pornography. However, relatively few studies have explored how TMI is related to PPV. Furthermore, no known studies have explored how these connections differ in men and women. To address these gaps, we conducted a large survey of 310 men and 469 women in the United States assessing multiple PPV and TMI dimensions. A bifactor structural equation model was used to regress PPV domains onto global and specific TMI factors. Invariance testing further examined the moderating effects of participants’ gender in the model. Results indicated that global TMI was unrelated to men’s PPV. However, men’s dominance ideologies predicted greater functional problems and excessive pornography use. Men’s restrictive emotionality and heterosexist ideologies predicted control difficulties with pornography use and using pornography to escape negative emotions. Additionally, men’s avoidance of femininity ideology predicted excessive pornography use and control difficulties. For women, only global TMI was associated with functional problems. Invariance testing suggested the observed gender differences were not due to underlying discrepancies in the measurement of TMI or PPV. Clinical interventions for PPV that incorporate gender role themes are recommended.
Abstract: Problematic pornography viewing (PPV) is a growing concern. Based on a masculine gender role strain framework, individuals endorsing traditional masculinity ideology (TMI) may be especially drawn to pornography. However, relatively few studies have explored how TMI is related to PPV. Furthermore, no known studies have explored how these connections differ in men and women. To address these gaps, we conducted a large survey of 310 men and 469 women in the United States assessing multiple PPV and TMI dimensions. A bifactor structural equation model was used to regress PPV domains onto global and specific TMI factors. Invariance testing further examined the moderating effects of participants’ gender in the model. Results indicated that global TMI was unrelated to men’s PPV. However, men’s dominance ideologies predicted greater functional problems and excessive pornography use. Men’s restrictive emotionality and heterosexist ideologies predicted control difficulties with pornography use and using pornography to escape negative emotions. Additionally, men’s avoidance of femininity ideology predicted excessive pornography use and control difficulties. For women, only global TMI was associated with functional problems. Invariance testing suggested the observed gender differences were not due to underlying discrepancies in the measurement of TMI or PPV. Clinical interventions for PPV that incorporate gender role themes are recommended.
The ecological and evolutionary significance of Neanderthal healthcare: Care for the ill & injured is likely to have a long evolutionary history & to have been highly effective in improving health & reducing mortality risks
Living to fight another day: The ecological and evolutionary significance of Neanderthal healthcare. Penny Spikins et al. Quaternary Science Reviews,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.08.011
Highlights
• In the Neanderthal ecological niche mortality risks from injuries were typically high.
• Neanderthal record of care practices is biased towards severe cases.
• Healthcare appears to have been generally low cost and effective in reducing mortality.
Abstract: Evidence of care for the ill and injured amongst Neanderthals, inferred through skeletal evidence for survival from severe illness and injury, is widely accepted. However, healthcare practices have been viewed primarily as an example of complex cultural behaviour, often discussed alongside symbolism or mortuary practices. Here we argue that care for the ill and injured is likely to have a long evolutionary history and to have been highly effective in improving health and reducing mortality risks. Healthcare provisioning can thus be understood alongside other collaborative ‘risk pooling’ strategies such as collaborative hunting, food sharing and collaborative parenting. For Neanderthals in particular the selective advantages of healthcare provisioning would have been elevated by a variety of ecological conditions which increased the risk of injury as well their particular behavioural adaptations which affected the benefits of promoting survival from injury and illness. We argue that healthcare provisioning was not only a more significant evolutionary adaptation than has previously been acknowledged, but moreover may also have been essential to Neanderthal occupation at the limits of the North Temperate Zone.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.08.011
Highlights
• In the Neanderthal ecological niche mortality risks from injuries were typically high.
• Neanderthal record of care practices is biased towards severe cases.
• Healthcare appears to have been generally low cost and effective in reducing mortality.
Abstract: Evidence of care for the ill and injured amongst Neanderthals, inferred through skeletal evidence for survival from severe illness and injury, is widely accepted. However, healthcare practices have been viewed primarily as an example of complex cultural behaviour, often discussed alongside symbolism or mortuary practices. Here we argue that care for the ill and injured is likely to have a long evolutionary history and to have been highly effective in improving health and reducing mortality risks. Healthcare provisioning can thus be understood alongside other collaborative ‘risk pooling’ strategies such as collaborative hunting, food sharing and collaborative parenting. For Neanderthals in particular the selective advantages of healthcare provisioning would have been elevated by a variety of ecological conditions which increased the risk of injury as well their particular behavioural adaptations which affected the benefits of promoting survival from injury and illness. We argue that healthcare provisioning was not only a more significant evolutionary adaptation than has previously been acknowledged, but moreover may also have been essential to Neanderthal occupation at the limits of the North Temperate Zone.
Friday, October 5, 2018
Women are more upset by cyber aggression than men; women experience online posts derogating their physical appearance more often than men, while men experience online posts derogating their status more often than women
Wyckoff, J. P., Buss, D. M., & Markman, A. B. (2018). Sex differences in victimization and consequences of cyber aggression: An evolutionary perspective. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ebs0000150
Abstract: Cyber aggression is a pervasive problem, yet evolutionary psychologists have been slow to address this area of research. We utilize an evolutionary perspective to provide a theoretical framework to address research that has found that women are more vulnerable to negative effects of cyber aggression. Studies of intrasexual competition suggest that men and women adopt different strategies to derogate competitors that target fitness-relevant characteristics. We explore the possibility that cyber aggression follows the same principles and propose that sex differences in cyber aggression are more nuanced than previous research suggests. Study 1 replicates the finding of previous research that women are more upset by cyber aggression than men. Study 2 provides qualitative insight into sex differences in content of cyber aggression, demonstrating that women experience online posts derogating their physical appearance more often than men, while men experience online posts derogating their status more often than women. The discussion focuses on future directions for the application of evolutionary psychology to cyber aggression.
Abstract: Cyber aggression is a pervasive problem, yet evolutionary psychologists have been slow to address this area of research. We utilize an evolutionary perspective to provide a theoretical framework to address research that has found that women are more vulnerable to negative effects of cyber aggression. Studies of intrasexual competition suggest that men and women adopt different strategies to derogate competitors that target fitness-relevant characteristics. We explore the possibility that cyber aggression follows the same principles and propose that sex differences in cyber aggression are more nuanced than previous research suggests. Study 1 replicates the finding of previous research that women are more upset by cyber aggression than men. Study 2 provides qualitative insight into sex differences in content of cyber aggression, demonstrating that women experience online posts derogating their physical appearance more often than men, while men experience online posts derogating their status more often than women. The discussion focuses on future directions for the application of evolutionary psychology to cyber aggression.
Thursday, October 4, 2018
Privileged students shouldn’t be allowed to speak in class at all and should just listen and learn in silence; they would benefit from experiential reparations (sitting on the floor, wearing chains, or intentionally being spoken over
The Grievance Studies Scandal: Five Academics Respond. Quillete, October 1, 2018.https://quillette.com/2018/10/01/the-grievance-studies-scandal-five-academics-respond/
Excerpts:
The flagship feminist philosophy journal, Hypatia, accepted a paper (not yet published online) arguing that social justice advocates should be allowed to make fun of others, but no one should be permitted to make fun of them. The same journal invited resubmission of a paper arguing that “privileged students shouldn’t be allowed to speak in class at all and should just listen and learn in silence,” and that they would benefit from “experiential reparations” that include “sitting on the floor, wearing chains, or intentionally being spoken over.” The reviewers complained that this hoax paper took an overly compassionate stance toward the “privileged” students who would be subjected to this humiliation, and recommended that they be subjected to harsher treatment. Is asking people of a certain race to sit on the floor in chains better than asking them to wear a yellow star? What exactly is this leading to?
Now, three academics have submitted twenty spoof manuscripts to journals chosen for respectability in their various disciplines. Seven papers were accepted before the experiment stopped; more are surviving peer review. This new raid on screamingly barmy pseudo-scholarship is the Alan Sokal Opening, weaponised. Like dedicated traceurs in a Parkour-fest, the trio scrambled over the terrain of what they call Grievance Studies. And they dropped fire-crackers. One published paper proposed that dog parks are “rape-condoning spaces.” Another, entitled “Our Struggle is My Struggle: Solidarity Feminism as an Intersectional Reply to Neoliberal and Choice Feminism” reworked, and substantially altered, part of Mein Kampf. The most shocking, (not published, its status is “revise and resubmit”) is a “Feminist Approach to Pedagogy.” It proposes “experiential reparations” as a corrective for privileged students. These include sitting on the floor, wearing chains, or being purposely spoken over. Reviewers have commented that the authors risk exploiting underprivileged students by burdening them with an expectation to teach about privilege.
When I grew up something like the following order of badness prevailed: murder (the worst), followed by serious physical violence, cheating and lying, nasty shouting, nasty speaking and at the milder end, nasty thinking. This has changed. There is evidence that many scholars favour punitive thought-reform.
The dog-park hoax paper, honoured by the journal as exemplary scholarship, contains gems like this: “Dog parks are microcosms where hegemonic masculinist norms governing queering behavior and compulsory heterosexuality can be observed in a cross-species environment.” It looks like a case of reviewers asleep at the wheel.
Occasionally, however, unintentional absurdities of feminist thinking have crept into much better philosophical journals than Hypatia. A good example is an article from the Australasian Journal of Philosophy in which a feminist describes a “phallic drama” involving two statements, p and ~p (the negation of p):
There is really only one actor, p, and ~p is merely its receptacle. In the representation of the Venn diagram, p penetrates a passive, undifferentiated universal other which is specified as a lack, which offers no resistance, and whose behavior it controls completely.
Rolf Degen summarizing: A high sex ratio (scarcity of women compared to men) leads to higher marriage rates, fewer divorces, greater fertility, women choosing higher quality mates & being happier in their marriages
Does Mate Scarcity Affect Marital Choice and Family Formation? The Evidence for New and Classic Formulations of Sex Ratio Theory. Emily A. Stone. Marriage and Family Review, https://doi.org/10.1080/01494929.2018.1501789
Abstract: Guttentag and Secord pioneered research on the social consequences of imbalances in the numbers of men and women—the sex ratio. Since then, sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists, and even biologists have investigated its effects on marriage and reproduction. I review the three prevailing theories to explain why sex ratio should affect marriage and reproduction, along with the evidence that it does. I also review the growing evidence that sex ratio imbalances are associated with mate choice. Sex ratio reveals contradictory relationships with mate preferences and actual partner choice, however, raising a conundrum for future research. Overall, there is strong experimental and correlational support for the patterns of marriage and reproduction associated with sex ratio. What emerges is the necessity for future research to distinguish among the perspectives to explain why.
Keywords: fertility, marriage, mate choice, sex ratio
Abstract: Guttentag and Secord pioneered research on the social consequences of imbalances in the numbers of men and women—the sex ratio. Since then, sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists, and even biologists have investigated its effects on marriage and reproduction. I review the three prevailing theories to explain why sex ratio should affect marriage and reproduction, along with the evidence that it does. I also review the growing evidence that sex ratio imbalances are associated with mate choice. Sex ratio reveals contradictory relationships with mate preferences and actual partner choice, however, raising a conundrum for future research. Overall, there is strong experimental and correlational support for the patterns of marriage and reproduction associated with sex ratio. What emerges is the necessity for future research to distinguish among the perspectives to explain why.
Keywords: fertility, marriage, mate choice, sex ratio
Optimized technologies emerge through the selective retention of small improvements across generations without requiring explicit understanding of how these technologies work; we don't spontaneously create multidimensional causal theories but instead mainly produce simplistic models
Derex, Maxime, Jean-François Bonnefon, Robert Boyd, and Alex Mesoudi. 2018. “Causal Understanding Is Not Necessary for the Improvement of Culturally Evolving Technology.” PsyArXiv. September 3. doi:10.31234/osf.io/nm5sh
Abstract: Highly-optimized tools are common in traditional populations. Bows and arrows, dogsleds, clothing, houses, and kayaks are just a few examples of the complex, exquisitely designed tools that humans produced and used to colonize new, demanding environments. Because there is much evidence that humans’ cognitive abilities are unparalleled, many believe that such technologies resulted from our superior causal reasoning abilities. However, others have stressed that the high dimensionality of human technologies make them very hard to understand causally. Instead, they argue that optimized technologies emerge through the selective retention of small improvements across generations without requiring explicit understanding of how these technologies work. Here, we find experimental support for the latter view by showing that a physical artifact becomes progressively optimized across generations of social learners in the absence of explicit causal understanding. We find that participants do not spontaneously create multidimensional causal theories but instead mainly produce simplistic models related to a specifically salient dimension. Finally, we show that the transmission of these simplistic theories constrain exploration in subsequent generations of learners and has negative downstream effects on their understanding. These results indicate that highly optimized technologies do not necessarily result from evolved reasoning abilities but instead can emerge from the blind accumulation of many small improvements made across generations linked by cultural transmission, and demand a focus on the cultural dynamics underlying technological change as well as individual cognition.
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Of the 56 participants who received a theory... 15 received an inertia-related theory, 17 received an energy-related theory, 6 received a full theory and 18 received diverse, irrelevant theories
...inherited theories strongly affected participant's understanding of the wheel system. Participants who did not inherit any theory (“Configurations” treatment) scored similarly (and better than chance) on questions about inertia and questions about energy (Fig. 3I). In comparison, participants who inherited an inertia- or energy- related theory showed skewed understanding patterns. Inheriting an inertia-related theory increased their understanding of inertia, but decreased their understanding of energy; symmetrically, inheriting an energy-related theory increased their understanding of energy, but decreased their understanding about inertia. One explanation for this pattern is that inheriting a unidimensional theory makes individuals focus on the effect of one parameter while blinding them to the effects of others. However, participants’ understanding may also result from different exploration patterns. For instance, participants who received an inertia-related theory mainly produced balanced wheels (Fig. 3F), which could have prevented them from observing the effect of varying the position of the wheel’s center of mass.
...These results suggest that the understanding patterns observed in participants who received unidimensional theories is likely the result of the canalizing effect of theory transmission on exploration. Note that in the present case, this canalizing effect is performance-neutral: with our 2-dimensional problem, better understanding of one dimension and worse understanding of one dimension simply compensate each other. For a many-dimensional problem, though, better understanding of one dimension is unlikely to compensate for worse understanding of all the others.
Abstract: Highly-optimized tools are common in traditional populations. Bows and arrows, dogsleds, clothing, houses, and kayaks are just a few examples of the complex, exquisitely designed tools that humans produced and used to colonize new, demanding environments. Because there is much evidence that humans’ cognitive abilities are unparalleled, many believe that such technologies resulted from our superior causal reasoning abilities. However, others have stressed that the high dimensionality of human technologies make them very hard to understand causally. Instead, they argue that optimized technologies emerge through the selective retention of small improvements across generations without requiring explicit understanding of how these technologies work. Here, we find experimental support for the latter view by showing that a physical artifact becomes progressively optimized across generations of social learners in the absence of explicit causal understanding. We find that participants do not spontaneously create multidimensional causal theories but instead mainly produce simplistic models related to a specifically salient dimension. Finally, we show that the transmission of these simplistic theories constrain exploration in subsequent generations of learners and has negative downstream effects on their understanding. These results indicate that highly optimized technologies do not necessarily result from evolved reasoning abilities but instead can emerge from the blind accumulation of many small improvements made across generations linked by cultural transmission, and demand a focus on the cultural dynamics underlying technological change as well as individual cognition.
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Of the 56 participants who received a theory... 15 received an inertia-related theory, 17 received an energy-related theory, 6 received a full theory and 18 received diverse, irrelevant theories
...inherited theories strongly affected participant's understanding of the wheel system. Participants who did not inherit any theory (“Configurations” treatment) scored similarly (and better than chance) on questions about inertia and questions about energy (Fig. 3I). In comparison, participants who inherited an inertia- or energy- related theory showed skewed understanding patterns. Inheriting an inertia-related theory increased their understanding of inertia, but decreased their understanding of energy; symmetrically, inheriting an energy-related theory increased their understanding of energy, but decreased their understanding about inertia. One explanation for this pattern is that inheriting a unidimensional theory makes individuals focus on the effect of one parameter while blinding them to the effects of others. However, participants’ understanding may also result from different exploration patterns. For instance, participants who received an inertia-related theory mainly produced balanced wheels (Fig. 3F), which could have prevented them from observing the effect of varying the position of the wheel’s center of mass.
...These results suggest that the understanding patterns observed in participants who received unidimensional theories is likely the result of the canalizing effect of theory transmission on exploration. Note that in the present case, this canalizing effect is performance-neutral: with our 2-dimensional problem, better understanding of one dimension and worse understanding of one dimension simply compensate each other. For a many-dimensional problem, though, better understanding of one dimension is unlikely to compensate for worse understanding of all the others.
Experimental research suggests that high power and leadership result in the experience of more positive and less negative emotions; we don't find relation with power and subjective well-being or job satisfaction
Small and negligible? Evidence on the Relation Between Individuals’ Power in the Job Situation and their Satisfaction with Life and Job. Herbert Bless & Nadia Granato. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1080/01973533.2018.1510779
Abstract: Experimental research suggests that high power and leadership result in the experience of more positive and less negative emotions. Extending these findings of experimental manipulations, we investigated relations between power and subjective well-being in a representative national survey. Defining power as the capability to administer resources or punishments, we inferred power from the number of people whom respondents supervise in their job. The results reflect a very small relation between this operationalization and individuals’ life and job satisfaction. The results suggest that prior experimental findings on the relation between power and satisfaction judgments cannot be applied directly to job situations.
Abstract: Experimental research suggests that high power and leadership result in the experience of more positive and less negative emotions. Extending these findings of experimental manipulations, we investigated relations between power and subjective well-being in a representative national survey. Defining power as the capability to administer resources or punishments, we inferred power from the number of people whom respondents supervise in their job. The results reflect a very small relation between this operationalization and individuals’ life and job satisfaction. The results suggest that prior experimental findings on the relation between power and satisfaction judgments cannot be applied directly to job situations.
Working in occupations with higher percentages of male workers is associated with higher levels of unpleasantness and lower levels of meaningfulness at work for women
Men and Women at Work: Occupational Gender Composition and Affective Well-Being in the United States. Yue Qian, Wen Fan. Journal of Happiness Studies, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10902-018-0039-3
Abstract: Most adults spend almost half their waking hours at work. How people feel during work can have far-reaching consequences for their quality of life. This study traces male and female workers’ affective experiences at work to the gender composition of their occupations. To do this, we draw on nationally representative time diary data on affective experiences at work from the 2010, 2012, and 2013 well-being modules of the American Time Use Surveys, as well as data on occupational gender composition from the Current Population Surveys. Our analytic sample contains 5216 activity records of working at main jobs from 4486 non-self-employed workers. We find significant gender differences in the relationship between occupational gender composition and affective well-being: Working in occupations with higher percentages of male workers is associated with higher levels of unpleasantness and lower levels of meaningfulness at work for women but these associations are not significant for men. We discuss the implications of our findings for gender inequality in work-related well-being and for the stalled progress towards gender integration in occupations.
Keywords: Affective well-being Gender Occupational gender segregation Time use Quality of life United States
Abstract: Most adults spend almost half their waking hours at work. How people feel during work can have far-reaching consequences for their quality of life. This study traces male and female workers’ affective experiences at work to the gender composition of their occupations. To do this, we draw on nationally representative time diary data on affective experiences at work from the 2010, 2012, and 2013 well-being modules of the American Time Use Surveys, as well as data on occupational gender composition from the Current Population Surveys. Our analytic sample contains 5216 activity records of working at main jobs from 4486 non-self-employed workers. We find significant gender differences in the relationship between occupational gender composition and affective well-being: Working in occupations with higher percentages of male workers is associated with higher levels of unpleasantness and lower levels of meaningfulness at work for women but these associations are not significant for men. We discuss the implications of our findings for gender inequality in work-related well-being and for the stalled progress towards gender integration in occupations.
Keywords: Affective well-being Gender Occupational gender segregation Time use Quality of life United States
Before recovering traumatic memories, 10% had attempted/thought about suicide; after, 67%; before, 7% had been hospitalized; after, 37%; before, 3% had engaged in self-mutilation, after, 27%; many remembered being abused in satanic rituals
Invasion of the Mind Snatchers: A Nation Full of Traumatic Memories. Elizabeth F. Loftus, Jennifer Teitcher. Clinical Psychological Science, https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702618797107
Abstract: The new national survey by Patihis and Pendergrast (this issue) suggests that millions of people may have recovered traumatic memories that they spent large parts of their lives not thinking about. We wondered whether they are better off and suggest that more than a few may be worse off rather than better. Given this risk of therapy, should therapists be warning patients of the potential risks before conducting therapy? The answer is not clear as warning about risks can be risky itself. Overall, we propose that with so many people living with “recovered” memories, future research now needs to address whether they are indeed better off and which methods would help achieve that goal.
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Before recovering traumatic memories, 10% had attempted/thought about suicide; after, 67%; before, 7% had been hospitalized; after, 37%; before, 3% had engaged in self-mutilation, after, 27%; many remembered being abused in satanic rituals, although corroboration was lacking; sizable numbers lost their jobs, lost children custody & were estranged from their extended families
Abstract: The new national survey by Patihis and Pendergrast (this issue) suggests that millions of people may have recovered traumatic memories that they spent large parts of their lives not thinking about. We wondered whether they are better off and suggest that more than a few may be worse off rather than better. Given this risk of therapy, should therapists be warning patients of the potential risks before conducting therapy? The answer is not clear as warning about risks can be risky itself. Overall, we propose that with so many people living with “recovered” memories, future research now needs to address whether they are indeed better off and which methods would help achieve that goal.
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Before recovering traumatic memories, 10% had attempted/thought about suicide; after, 67%; before, 7% had been hospitalized; after, 37%; before, 3% had engaged in self-mutilation, after, 27%; many remembered being abused in satanic rituals, although corroboration was lacking; sizable numbers lost their jobs, lost children custody & were estranged from their extended families
Strugglers who gave advice, compared with those who received it, were more motivated to save money, control their tempers, lose weight, and seek employment; people erroneously predicted the opposite, expecting themselves & others to be less motivated
Dear Abby: Should I Give Advice or Receive It? Lauren Eskreis-Winkler, Ayelet Fishbach, Angela L. Duckworth. Psychological Science, https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797618795472
Abstract: Typically, individuals struggling with goal achievement seek advice. However, in the present investigation (N = 2,274), struggling individuals were more motivated by giving advice than receiving it. In a randomized, controlled, double-blind field experiment, middle-school students who gave motivational advice to younger students spent more time on homework over the following month than students who received motivational advice from expert teachers (Experiment 1). This phenomenon was replicated across self-regulatory domains: Strugglers who gave advice, compared with those who received expert advice, were more motivated to save money, control their tempers, lose weight, and seek employment (Experiments 2 and 3). Nevertheless, across domains, people erroneously predicted the opposite, expecting themselves and others to be less motivated by giving advice than receiving it (Experiments 2 and 3). Why are people blind to the motivational power of giving? Giving advice motivated givers by raising their confidence—a reality that predictors fail to anticipate (Experiment 4).
Keywords: giving, advice, motivation, goal achievement, misprediction, open data, open materials, preregistered
Abstract: Typically, individuals struggling with goal achievement seek advice. However, in the present investigation (N = 2,274), struggling individuals were more motivated by giving advice than receiving it. In a randomized, controlled, double-blind field experiment, middle-school students who gave motivational advice to younger students spent more time on homework over the following month than students who received motivational advice from expert teachers (Experiment 1). This phenomenon was replicated across self-regulatory domains: Strugglers who gave advice, compared with those who received expert advice, were more motivated to save money, control their tempers, lose weight, and seek employment (Experiments 2 and 3). Nevertheless, across domains, people erroneously predicted the opposite, expecting themselves and others to be less motivated by giving advice than receiving it (Experiments 2 and 3). Why are people blind to the motivational power of giving? Giving advice motivated givers by raising their confidence—a reality that predictors fail to anticipate (Experiment 4).
Keywords: giving, advice, motivation, goal achievement, misprediction, open data, open materials, preregistered
The language of liberal & conservative extremists was more negative & angry in its emotional tone than that of moderates; contrary to previous research, liberal extremists’ language was more negative than that of conservative ones
Frimer, Jeremy A., Mark J. Brandt, Zachary J. Melton, and Matt Motyl. 2018. “Extremists on the Left and Right Use Angry, Negative Language.” OSF Preprints. October 3. doi:10.31219/osf.io/ufd2s
Abstract: We propose that political extremists use more negative language than moderates. Previous research found that conservatives report feeling happier than liberals and yet liberals “display greater happiness” in their language than do conservatives. However, some of the previous studies relied on questionable measures of political orientation and affective language; and no studies have examined whether political orientation and affective language are non-linearly related. Revisiting the same contexts (Twitter, U.S. Congress), and adding three new ones (political organizations, news media, crowdsourced Americans), we found that the language of liberal and conservative extremists’ was more negative and angry in its emotional tone than that of moderates. Contrary to previous research, we found that liberal extremists’ language was more negative than that of conservative extremists. Additional analyses supported the explanation that extremists feel threatened by the activities of political rivals, and their angry, negative language represents efforts to communicate as much to others.
Extremists on the Left and Right Use Angry, Negative Language
Abstract: We propose that political extremists use more negative language than moderates. Previous research found that conservatives report feeling happier than liberals and yet liberals “display greater happiness” in their language than do conservatives. However, some of the previous studies relied on questionable measures of political orientation and affective language; and no studies have examined whether political orientation and affective language are non-linearly related. Revisiting the same contexts (Twitter, U.S. Congress), and adding three new ones (political organizations, news media, crowdsourced Americans), we found that the language of liberal and conservative extremists’ was more negative and angry in its emotional tone than that of moderates. Contrary to previous research, we found that liberal extremists’ language was more negative than that of conservative extremists. Additional analyses supported the explanation that extremists feel threatened by the activities of political rivals, and their angry, negative language represents efforts to communicate as much to others.
Extremists on the Left and Right Use Angry, Negative Language
Scholarly culture: How books in adolescence enhance adult literacy, numeracy and technology skills in 31 societies
Scholarly culture: How books in adolescence enhance adult literacy, numeracy and technology skills in 31 societies. Joanna Sikora, M. D. R. Evans, Jonathan Kelley. Social Science Research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2018.10.003
Abstract: A growing body of evidence supports the contention of scholarly culture theory that immersing children in book-oriented environments benefits their later educational achievement, attainment and occupational standing. These findings have been interpreted as suggesting that book-oriented socialization, indicated by home library size, equips youth with life-long tastes, skills and knowledge. However, to date, this has not been directly assessed. Here, we document advantageous effects of scholarly culture for adult literacy, adult numeracy, and adult technological problem solving. Growing up with home libraries boosts adult skills in these areas beyond the benefits accrued from parental education or own educational or occupational attainment. The effects are loglinear, with greatest returns to the growth in smaller libraries. Our evidence comes from regressions with balanced repeated replicate weights estimated on data from 31 societies which participated in the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) between 2011 and 2015.
Abstract: A growing body of evidence supports the contention of scholarly culture theory that immersing children in book-oriented environments benefits their later educational achievement, attainment and occupational standing. These findings have been interpreted as suggesting that book-oriented socialization, indicated by home library size, equips youth with life-long tastes, skills and knowledge. However, to date, this has not been directly assessed. Here, we document advantageous effects of scholarly culture for adult literacy, adult numeracy, and adult technological problem solving. Growing up with home libraries boosts adult skills in these areas beyond the benefits accrued from parental education or own educational or occupational attainment. The effects are loglinear, with greatest returns to the growth in smaller libraries. Our evidence comes from regressions with balanced repeated replicate weights estimated on data from 31 societies which participated in the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) between 2011 and 2015.
Women: Falling in love is associated with immune system gene regulation; the changes are independent of changes in physical illness or sexual contact, & are consistent with facilitation of sexual reproduction
Falling in Love is Associated with Immune System Gene Regulation. Damian R. Murray et al. Psychoneuroendocrinology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.09.043
Highlights
• Falling in love is associated with up-regulation of Type I interferon response genes.
• Falling in love is associated with a reciprocal down-regulation of α-defensin-related transcripts.
• These changes are independent of changes in physical illness or sexual contact.
• Changes are consistent with selective up-regulation of innate immune responses to viral infections.
• Changes also consistent with dendritic cell facilitation of sexual reproduction.
Abstract: Although falling in love is one of the most important and psychologically potent events in human life, the somatic implications of new romantic love remain poorly understood. Psychological, immunological, and reproductive perspectives offer competing predictions of the specific transcriptional regulatory shifts that might accompany the experience of falling in love. To characterize the impact of romantic love on human genome function, we conducted genome-wide transcriptome profiling of 115 circulating immune cell samples collected from 47 young women over the course of a 2-year longitudinal study. Analyses revealed a selective alteration in immune cell gene regulation characterized by up-regulation of Type I interferon response genes associated with CD1C+/BDCA-1+ dendritic cells (DCs) and CLEC4C+/BDCA-2+ DCs, and a reciprocal down-regulation of α-defensin-related transcripts associated with neutrophil granulocytes. These effects emerged above and beyond the effects of changes in illness, perceived social isolation, and sexual contact. These findings are consistent with a selective up-regulation of innate immune responses to viral infections (e.g., Type I interferons and DC) and with DC facilitation of sexual reproduction, and provide insight into the immunoregulatory correlates of one of the keystone experiences in human life.
Highlights
• Falling in love is associated with up-regulation of Type I interferon response genes.
• Falling in love is associated with a reciprocal down-regulation of α-defensin-related transcripts.
• These changes are independent of changes in physical illness or sexual contact.
• Changes are consistent with selective up-regulation of innate immune responses to viral infections.
• Changes also consistent with dendritic cell facilitation of sexual reproduction.
Abstract: Although falling in love is one of the most important and psychologically potent events in human life, the somatic implications of new romantic love remain poorly understood. Psychological, immunological, and reproductive perspectives offer competing predictions of the specific transcriptional regulatory shifts that might accompany the experience of falling in love. To characterize the impact of romantic love on human genome function, we conducted genome-wide transcriptome profiling of 115 circulating immune cell samples collected from 47 young women over the course of a 2-year longitudinal study. Analyses revealed a selective alteration in immune cell gene regulation characterized by up-regulation of Type I interferon response genes associated with CD1C+/BDCA-1+ dendritic cells (DCs) and CLEC4C+/BDCA-2+ DCs, and a reciprocal down-regulation of α-defensin-related transcripts associated with neutrophil granulocytes. These effects emerged above and beyond the effects of changes in illness, perceived social isolation, and sexual contact. These findings are consistent with a selective up-regulation of innate immune responses to viral infections (e.g., Type I interferons and DC) and with DC facilitation of sexual reproduction, and provide insight into the immunoregulatory correlates of one of the keystone experiences in human life.
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Repeated experiences of rejection result in decreases in ideal standards & self-perceived mate value & increases in ideal flexibility, but there is no increased acceptance
Charlot, Nicolyn, Rhonda N. Balzarini, and Lorne Campbell. 2018. “The Influence of Romantic Rejection on Change in Ideal Standards, Ideal Flexibility, and Self-perceived Mate Value.” PsyArXiv. October 3. doi:10.31234/osf.io/yhvdu
Abstract: Research has shown that ideal romantic standards predict future partner characteristics and influence existing relationships, but how standards develop and change among single individuals has yet to be explored. Using the Ideal Standards Model, the present study sought to determine whether repeated experiences of romantic rejection and acceptance over time influence ideal standards, ideal flexibility, and self-perceived mate value (N = 208). Per expectations, results suggest repeated experiences of rejection result in decreases in ideal standards and self-perceived mate value and increases in ideal flexibility, though no effects emerged for acceptance. Given the predictive nature of ideal standards and the influence rejection has on such, findings from this study contribute to a greater understanding of relationship formation processes.
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Consistent with hypotheses, increased experiences of rejection predicted decreases in self-perceived mate value and ideal standards, and increases in ideal flexibility over time (H5, H7, H8). This is the first study to empirically support Simpson and colleagues’ (2001) idea that repeated experiences of rejection cause a decline in ideal standards and increases in ideal flexibility. Further, the finding that rejection is associated with lower self-perceived mate value over time is consistent with prior literature showing that rejection decreases self-esteem and self-perceived mate value (Kavanagh et al., 2010; Pass et al., 2010; Ruan & Zhang, 2012; Zhang et al., 2015), but the present study is the first to demonstrate this effect longitudinally. Combined, these findings suggest that repeated experiences of rejection predict changes not only in individuals’ perceptions of themselves, but also what they desire in a romantic partner. This may occur because multiple experiences of rejection repeatedly signal the disinterest of individuals advanced upon, which could cause participants to reevaluate their own worth as potential mates, as well as their standards for the types of people with whom they are likely to enter a relationship. Decreasing standards and increasing flexibility is likely advantageous, as doing so widens the dating pool and leads to an increased chance of experiencing acceptance.
Experiences of acceptance did not predict changes in ideal standards (H6), ideal flexibility, or self-perceived mate value. Although Simpson and colleagues (2001) suggested repeated experiences of acceptance would increase standards, prior literature has demonstrated that acceptance has mixed effects on mate expectations (e.g., Kavanagh et al., 2014; Zhang et al., 2014). Sociometer theory suggests that people should be more attuned to rejection than acceptance (Leary & Baumeister, 2000; Leary & Downs, 1995), as ignoring rejection is costlier than ignoring acceptance, which may further account for these findings. Acceptance may primarily function as a reaffirmation of the status quo, rather than a reason to increase standards. However, the type of person accepting the advance may be influential – repeated experiences of acceptance from potential partners of relatively high mate value may cause an increase in ideal standards and self-perceived mate value, and a decrease in ideal flexibility, while acceptances from similar or lower mate value individuals may not cause changes in these constructs.
Contrary to hypotheses, self-perceived mate value did not moderate rejection’s impact on change in ideal standards, ideal flexibility, or self-perceived mate value (H9, H10, H11). One explanation for the null findings is that high self-perceived mate value is an effective buffer against singular experiences of rejection, but not repeated experiences, as documented in this study. Indeed, sociometer theory suggests that people with high self-esteem should be less attuned to experiences of rejection than those with low self-esteem, but repeated instances of rejection should increasingly trigger the sociometer, thus decreasing self-esteem. Given the close association between self-esteem and self-perceived mate value (Brase & Guy, 2004; Kirkpatrick & Ellis, 2001), this is likely true for self-perceived mate value as well. As the present study examined multiple instances of rejection, any buffering effects initially high self-perceived mate value had may not have been evident after six months of acceptance and rejection experiences. Future research should examine self-perceived mate value as a moderator of both singular and multiple experiences of rejection to explore this notion further.
Gender did not influence many outcomes when included in the primary analyses, although results did indicate that men reported higher numbers of overall, accepted, and rejected advances than women, which is consistent with prior research which shows men tend to initiate more dates and exhibit more direct dating behaviors than women (Eaton & Rose, 2011). Interestingly, gender was a significant moderator in a three-way interaction with initial self-perceived mate value and rejection, such that the ideal standards of women with initially low self-perceived mate value were more impacted by high levels of rejection than women with initially high levels of self-perceived mate value, and men with initially low self-perceived mate value. This finding suggests that the ideal standards of women with low self-perceived mate value are particularly sensitive to experiences of rejection. However, this result should be interpreted cautiously, given that the sample size of this study is lower than ideal for properly detecting a three-way interaction (Heo & Leon, 2010).
Implications
The current study has several theoretical implications. First, the results provide support for certain aspects of the ISM, as ideal standards positively correlated with self-perceived mate value, and ideal flexibility negatively correlated with ideal standards and self-perceived mate value. Additionally, this is the first study to empirically support the notion that repeated experiences of rejection over time decrease ideal standards and self-perceived mate value and increase ideal flexibility. However, the ISM posits that repeated experiences of acceptance will cause the opposite effect from rejection, but the present study did not demonstrate any effects of romantic acceptance. Future researchers using the ISM should take into consideration the relative importance of rejection over acceptance and examine the mechanisms behind this effect. Further, the ISM predicts that ideal flexibility should change more than ideal standards, but support for this prediction was not found in the current study. Furthermore, this study has implications for literature on the mating sociometer, as self-perceived mate value does not appear to moderate the influence of rejection on the aforementioned constructs. However, as mentioned previously, this may be due the present study’s focus on repeated versus singular rejection experiences, so self-perceived mate value’s role as a moderator should be explored further.
The present findings also have implications for relationship initiation and relationship satisfaction. Two longitudinal studies (Campbell et al., 2016; Gerlach et al., 2017) have demonstrated that ideal partner preferences of single individuals are predictive of characteristics of future partners. These findings, combined with the present study’s findings that experiences of rejection impact ideal standards, as well as ideal flexibility and self-perceived mate value, suggests that experiences of rejection while single may influence partner selection. Although future research is needed, these findings suggest that individuals who experience high levels of rejection may lower their ideal standards and enter relationships with partners of lower mate quality than initially desired. Therefore, individuals who change their ideal standards in response to rejection may end up with lower-quality mates than those who do not experience high levels of rejection. Reducing one’s standards and preferences may impact relationship quality, as people who enter relationships with partners who match their new, lower standards may experience less relationship satisfaction than those who enter relationships with partners who match their initial, unadjusted standards.
Limitations and Future Directions
While the present study contributes many novel findings to relationship literature, it does have several notable limitations. First, due to the longitudinal nature of the study, high attrition impacted the quality of data. Specifically, many participants did not complete every monthly survey, so the true number of accepted and rejected advances is unknown. It is possible that some people who were categorized as never having made an advance did make advances but did not fill out surveys for those months. Additionally, while the initial sample included 208 participants, only 95 were used in analyses involving the impact of rejection on change in ideal standards, flexibility, and self-perceived mate value, which is lower than desired. The remaining 113 participants either did not respond to the monthly surveys or did not report making any advances during the monthly surveys. The generalizability of the study is also limited, as the sample is predominantly white, and the sexual orientation of participants is unknown.
Second, the present study’s focus was on experiences of accepted and rejected advances, but it did not account for advances made towards the participants, which may also predict change in standards, flexibility, and self-perceived mate value. Participants who are routinely approached likely have higher ideals and self-perceived mate value, and lower flexibility than those who are never or less frequently approached. The present study also did not account for who participants were approaching. Rejection from a long-time crush may be much more impactful than rejection from a stranger at a bar, or, rejection from an extremely high-quality potential mate may have less of an effect on an individual than rejection from someone of similar or lower mate quality. Additionally, the present research did not inquire about the type of relationship being sought by participants; it is possible that those seeking casual relationships would be less impacted by rejection than those desiring more serious commitments. Further, explicit definitions of accepted and rejected advances were not included in the study, so participants may have had different interpretations of what counted as an accepted or rejected advance, which may have influenced their reports. Ultimately, the present study provides a broad perspective on how acceptance and rejection impact change in ideal standards, ideal flexibility, and self-perceived mate value, but it does not explore the nuances of the context in which each experience of rejection or acceptance occurs, which would be useful and informative in increasing the understanding of the associations between these constructs.
Abstract: Research has shown that ideal romantic standards predict future partner characteristics and influence existing relationships, but how standards develop and change among single individuals has yet to be explored. Using the Ideal Standards Model, the present study sought to determine whether repeated experiences of romantic rejection and acceptance over time influence ideal standards, ideal flexibility, and self-perceived mate value (N = 208). Per expectations, results suggest repeated experiences of rejection result in decreases in ideal standards and self-perceived mate value and increases in ideal flexibility, though no effects emerged for acceptance. Given the predictive nature of ideal standards and the influence rejection has on such, findings from this study contribute to a greater understanding of relationship formation processes.
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Consistent with hypotheses, increased experiences of rejection predicted decreases in self-perceived mate value and ideal standards, and increases in ideal flexibility over time (H5, H7, H8). This is the first study to empirically support Simpson and colleagues’ (2001) idea that repeated experiences of rejection cause a decline in ideal standards and increases in ideal flexibility. Further, the finding that rejection is associated with lower self-perceived mate value over time is consistent with prior literature showing that rejection decreases self-esteem and self-perceived mate value (Kavanagh et al., 2010; Pass et al., 2010; Ruan & Zhang, 2012; Zhang et al., 2015), but the present study is the first to demonstrate this effect longitudinally. Combined, these findings suggest that repeated experiences of rejection predict changes not only in individuals’ perceptions of themselves, but also what they desire in a romantic partner. This may occur because multiple experiences of rejection repeatedly signal the disinterest of individuals advanced upon, which could cause participants to reevaluate their own worth as potential mates, as well as their standards for the types of people with whom they are likely to enter a relationship. Decreasing standards and increasing flexibility is likely advantageous, as doing so widens the dating pool and leads to an increased chance of experiencing acceptance.
Experiences of acceptance did not predict changes in ideal standards (H6), ideal flexibility, or self-perceived mate value. Although Simpson and colleagues (2001) suggested repeated experiences of acceptance would increase standards, prior literature has demonstrated that acceptance has mixed effects on mate expectations (e.g., Kavanagh et al., 2014; Zhang et al., 2014). Sociometer theory suggests that people should be more attuned to rejection than acceptance (Leary & Baumeister, 2000; Leary & Downs, 1995), as ignoring rejection is costlier than ignoring acceptance, which may further account for these findings. Acceptance may primarily function as a reaffirmation of the status quo, rather than a reason to increase standards. However, the type of person accepting the advance may be influential – repeated experiences of acceptance from potential partners of relatively high mate value may cause an increase in ideal standards and self-perceived mate value, and a decrease in ideal flexibility, while acceptances from similar or lower mate value individuals may not cause changes in these constructs.
Contrary to hypotheses, self-perceived mate value did not moderate rejection’s impact on change in ideal standards, ideal flexibility, or self-perceived mate value (H9, H10, H11). One explanation for the null findings is that high self-perceived mate value is an effective buffer against singular experiences of rejection, but not repeated experiences, as documented in this study. Indeed, sociometer theory suggests that people with high self-esteem should be less attuned to experiences of rejection than those with low self-esteem, but repeated instances of rejection should increasingly trigger the sociometer, thus decreasing self-esteem. Given the close association between self-esteem and self-perceived mate value (Brase & Guy, 2004; Kirkpatrick & Ellis, 2001), this is likely true for self-perceived mate value as well. As the present study examined multiple instances of rejection, any buffering effects initially high self-perceived mate value had may not have been evident after six months of acceptance and rejection experiences. Future research should examine self-perceived mate value as a moderator of both singular and multiple experiences of rejection to explore this notion further.
Gender did not influence many outcomes when included in the primary analyses, although results did indicate that men reported higher numbers of overall, accepted, and rejected advances than women, which is consistent with prior research which shows men tend to initiate more dates and exhibit more direct dating behaviors than women (Eaton & Rose, 2011). Interestingly, gender was a significant moderator in a three-way interaction with initial self-perceived mate value and rejection, such that the ideal standards of women with initially low self-perceived mate value were more impacted by high levels of rejection than women with initially high levels of self-perceived mate value, and men with initially low self-perceived mate value. This finding suggests that the ideal standards of women with low self-perceived mate value are particularly sensitive to experiences of rejection. However, this result should be interpreted cautiously, given that the sample size of this study is lower than ideal for properly detecting a three-way interaction (Heo & Leon, 2010).
Implications
The current study has several theoretical implications. First, the results provide support for certain aspects of the ISM, as ideal standards positively correlated with self-perceived mate value, and ideal flexibility negatively correlated with ideal standards and self-perceived mate value. Additionally, this is the first study to empirically support the notion that repeated experiences of rejection over time decrease ideal standards and self-perceived mate value and increase ideal flexibility. However, the ISM posits that repeated experiences of acceptance will cause the opposite effect from rejection, but the present study did not demonstrate any effects of romantic acceptance. Future researchers using the ISM should take into consideration the relative importance of rejection over acceptance and examine the mechanisms behind this effect. Further, the ISM predicts that ideal flexibility should change more than ideal standards, but support for this prediction was not found in the current study. Furthermore, this study has implications for literature on the mating sociometer, as self-perceived mate value does not appear to moderate the influence of rejection on the aforementioned constructs. However, as mentioned previously, this may be due the present study’s focus on repeated versus singular rejection experiences, so self-perceived mate value’s role as a moderator should be explored further.
The present findings also have implications for relationship initiation and relationship satisfaction. Two longitudinal studies (Campbell et al., 2016; Gerlach et al., 2017) have demonstrated that ideal partner preferences of single individuals are predictive of characteristics of future partners. These findings, combined with the present study’s findings that experiences of rejection impact ideal standards, as well as ideal flexibility and self-perceived mate value, suggests that experiences of rejection while single may influence partner selection. Although future research is needed, these findings suggest that individuals who experience high levels of rejection may lower their ideal standards and enter relationships with partners of lower mate quality than initially desired. Therefore, individuals who change their ideal standards in response to rejection may end up with lower-quality mates than those who do not experience high levels of rejection. Reducing one’s standards and preferences may impact relationship quality, as people who enter relationships with partners who match their new, lower standards may experience less relationship satisfaction than those who enter relationships with partners who match their initial, unadjusted standards.
Limitations and Future Directions
While the present study contributes many novel findings to relationship literature, it does have several notable limitations. First, due to the longitudinal nature of the study, high attrition impacted the quality of data. Specifically, many participants did not complete every monthly survey, so the true number of accepted and rejected advances is unknown. It is possible that some people who were categorized as never having made an advance did make advances but did not fill out surveys for those months. Additionally, while the initial sample included 208 participants, only 95 were used in analyses involving the impact of rejection on change in ideal standards, flexibility, and self-perceived mate value, which is lower than desired. The remaining 113 participants either did not respond to the monthly surveys or did not report making any advances during the monthly surveys. The generalizability of the study is also limited, as the sample is predominantly white, and the sexual orientation of participants is unknown.
Second, the present study’s focus was on experiences of accepted and rejected advances, but it did not account for advances made towards the participants, which may also predict change in standards, flexibility, and self-perceived mate value. Participants who are routinely approached likely have higher ideals and self-perceived mate value, and lower flexibility than those who are never or less frequently approached. The present study also did not account for who participants were approaching. Rejection from a long-time crush may be much more impactful than rejection from a stranger at a bar, or, rejection from an extremely high-quality potential mate may have less of an effect on an individual than rejection from someone of similar or lower mate quality. Additionally, the present research did not inquire about the type of relationship being sought by participants; it is possible that those seeking casual relationships would be less impacted by rejection than those desiring more serious commitments. Further, explicit definitions of accepted and rejected advances were not included in the study, so participants may have had different interpretations of what counted as an accepted or rejected advance, which may have influenced their reports. Ultimately, the present study provides a broad perspective on how acceptance and rejection impact change in ideal standards, ideal flexibility, and self-perceived mate value, but it does not explore the nuances of the context in which each experience of rejection or acceptance occurs, which would be useful and informative in increasing the understanding of the associations between these constructs.
The price levels of goods and services consumed by households are 25 to 28 percent higher in Sub-Saharan Africa than in other low- and middle-income countries, relative to their income levels
Is living in African cities expensive? Shohei Nakamura et al. Applied Economics Letters, https://doi.org/10.1080/13504851.2018.1527441
ABSTRACT: Although several studies have examined why overall price levels are higher in richer countries, little is known about whether there is a similar relationship at the urban and city level across countries. This paper compares the price levels of cities in Sub-Saharan Africa with those of other regions by analyzing price information collected for the purpose of calculating official purchasing power parities. The approach of the paper is to readjust the calculated price levels from national to urban levels, using known price-level ratios between those areas. The results indicate that African cities are relatively more expensive, despite having lower income levels. The price levels of goods and services consumed by households are 25 to 28 percent higher in Sub-Saharan Africa than in other low- and middle-income countries, relative to their income levels. Such high costs of living could constrain livelihood of low-income urban residents, as well as the development of Africa’s urban economies.
KEYWORDS: Purchasing power parity, price level, urbanization, International Comparison Program, Sub-Saharan Africa
JEL: E31, O47, R32
ABSTRACT: Although several studies have examined why overall price levels are higher in richer countries, little is known about whether there is a similar relationship at the urban and city level across countries. This paper compares the price levels of cities in Sub-Saharan Africa with those of other regions by analyzing price information collected for the purpose of calculating official purchasing power parities. The approach of the paper is to readjust the calculated price levels from national to urban levels, using known price-level ratios between those areas. The results indicate that African cities are relatively more expensive, despite having lower income levels. The price levels of goods and services consumed by households are 25 to 28 percent higher in Sub-Saharan Africa than in other low- and middle-income countries, relative to their income levels. Such high costs of living could constrain livelihood of low-income urban residents, as well as the development of Africa’s urban economies.
KEYWORDS: Purchasing power parity, price level, urbanization, International Comparison Program, Sub-Saharan Africa
JEL: E31, O47, R32
Robust evidence that public firms invest more overall, particularly in R&D, & dedicate more of their investment to R&D following IPO, & reduce upon going private
Feldman, Naomi, Laura Kawano, Elena Patel, Nirupama Rao, Michael Stevens, and Jesse Edgerton (2018). “The Long and Short of It: Do Public and Private Firms Invest Differently?,” Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2018-068. Washington: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, https://doi.org/10.17016/FEDS.2018.068
Abstract: Using data from U.S. corporate tax returns, which provide a sample representative of the universe of U.S. corporations, we investigate the differential investment propensities of public and private firms. Re-weighting the data to generate observationally comparable sets of public and private firms, we find robust evidence that public firms invest more overall, particularly in R&D. Exploiting within-firm variation in public status, we find that firms dedicate more of their investment to R&D following IPO, and reduce these investments upon going private. Our findings suggest that public stock markets facilitate greater investment, on average, particularly in risky, uncollateralized investments.
JEL Codes: G31, G34.
Keywords: Investment, public firms, corporate governance
Abstract: Using data from U.S. corporate tax returns, which provide a sample representative of the universe of U.S. corporations, we investigate the differential investment propensities of public and private firms. Re-weighting the data to generate observationally comparable sets of public and private firms, we find robust evidence that public firms invest more overall, particularly in R&D. Exploiting within-firm variation in public status, we find that firms dedicate more of their investment to R&D following IPO, and reduce these investments upon going private. Our findings suggest that public stock markets facilitate greater investment, on average, particularly in risky, uncollateralized investments.
JEL Codes: G31, G34.
Keywords: Investment, public firms, corporate governance
2016 Presidential Election: Self-ratings of personality showed weak associations with political preferences, appraisal of candidates’ personality robustly associated; appraisals stronger predictor than demographics, political party, racial attitudes
Personality and political preferences: The 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. Jo Ann A. Abe. Journal of Research in Personality, Volume 77, December 2018, Pages 70-82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2018.09.001
Highlights
• Self-ratings of personality showed weak associations with political preferences.
• Appraisal of candidates’ personality robustly associated with political preferences.
• Appraisals stronger predictor than demographics, political party, racial attitudes.
• Appraisals related to linguistic markers of liberal, conservative, populist values.
Abstract: This study examined whether personality variables would account for political preferences during the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election using a demographically diverse sample of participants (N = 897). Study A revealed participants’ ratings of their own personality and emotions were weakly associated with political preferences, but their ratings of candidates’ personality showed robust associations, and were far more predictive of voting intention than all of the demographic variables, political affiliation, and racial attitudes combined. In Study B, linguistic analysis of narratives revealed words reflective of liberal values were correlated with positive evaluations of Clinton’s personality, whereas words reflective of conservative values and “populist” sentiment were correlated with positive evaluations of Trump’s personality, suggesting appraisals of candidates may be associated with values.
Highlights
• Self-ratings of personality showed weak associations with political preferences.
• Appraisal of candidates’ personality robustly associated with political preferences.
• Appraisals stronger predictor than demographics, political party, racial attitudes.
• Appraisals related to linguistic markers of liberal, conservative, populist values.
Abstract: This study examined whether personality variables would account for political preferences during the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election using a demographically diverse sample of participants (N = 897). Study A revealed participants’ ratings of their own personality and emotions were weakly associated with political preferences, but their ratings of candidates’ personality showed robust associations, and were far more predictive of voting intention than all of the demographic variables, political affiliation, and racial attitudes combined. In Study B, linguistic analysis of narratives revealed words reflective of liberal values were correlated with positive evaluations of Clinton’s personality, whereas words reflective of conservative values and “populist” sentiment were correlated with positive evaluations of Trump’s personality, suggesting appraisals of candidates may be associated with values.
In steady heterosexual relationships men masturbate more than women because of gender differences in sex drive
In steady heterosexual relationships men masturbate more than women because of gender differences in sex drive. Wim Waterink. Submitted to New Voices in Psychology, http://www.gerontoseksuoloog.nl/Artikelen/Sex%20drive,%20masturbation%20and%20partnered%20sex.pdf
Abstract: In general, men and women differ with regard to the frequency of masturbation. Masturbation is more common among men than women. Masturbation is also more common among men than women in relationships. In a relationship this not always an appreciated fact. Relationship dissatisfaction can arise when a woman considers masturbation of her partner a substitute for partnered sex. This study investigated the suggestion that gender differences in the frequency of masturbation exists due to a gender difference in sex drive and that therefore masturbation of men engaged in a relationship is not a substitute for partnered sex. The research sample consisted of 554 Dutch participants of which were 355 women (mean age 42.02 years with a range of 20 to 72 years) and 199 men (mean age 44.62 years with a range of 22 to 76 years). All participants were engaged in a steady heterosexual relationship. In general it was found that a higher sex drive was associated with more masturbation and more partnered sex. More specific, women reported a masturbation frequency of about once per two weeks, that significantly differed from men. Men reported a masturbation frequency of about twice per week. Regarding reported frequency of partnered sex, no significant gender difference was found. Both, women and men, reported a frequency of about three times per two weeks. With regard to masturbation, a mediation analysis controlled for age with sex drive as a mediator, showed that sex drive significantly mediated, although not completely, the relationship between gender and the reported frequency of masturbation. The same mediation analysis was performed regarding the reported frequency of partnered sex. For partnered sex, sex drive also had significant mediation effect, but as a suppressor. It is concluded that in steady heterosexual relationships, the gender difference in sex drive is responsible for the fact that men masturbate more than wo men. Men masturbate more, because it is an easier outlet of sex drive than initiating partnered sex. Most important, for women in steady heterosexual relationships, as compared to men in steady heterosexual relationships, sex drive seems to be a less essential factor for partnered sex .
Keywords: gender differences; heterosexual relationship; masturbation; mediation analysis; partnered sex; sex drive
Abstract: In general, men and women differ with regard to the frequency of masturbation. Masturbation is more common among men than women. Masturbation is also more common among men than women in relationships. In a relationship this not always an appreciated fact. Relationship dissatisfaction can arise when a woman considers masturbation of her partner a substitute for partnered sex. This study investigated the suggestion that gender differences in the frequency of masturbation exists due to a gender difference in sex drive and that therefore masturbation of men engaged in a relationship is not a substitute for partnered sex. The research sample consisted of 554 Dutch participants of which were 355 women (mean age 42.02 years with a range of 20 to 72 years) and 199 men (mean age 44.62 years with a range of 22 to 76 years). All participants were engaged in a steady heterosexual relationship. In general it was found that a higher sex drive was associated with more masturbation and more partnered sex. More specific, women reported a masturbation frequency of about once per two weeks, that significantly differed from men. Men reported a masturbation frequency of about twice per week. Regarding reported frequency of partnered sex, no significant gender difference was found. Both, women and men, reported a frequency of about three times per two weeks. With regard to masturbation, a mediation analysis controlled for age with sex drive as a mediator, showed that sex drive significantly mediated, although not completely, the relationship between gender and the reported frequency of masturbation. The same mediation analysis was performed regarding the reported frequency of partnered sex. For partnered sex, sex drive also had significant mediation effect, but as a suppressor. It is concluded that in steady heterosexual relationships, the gender difference in sex drive is responsible for the fact that men masturbate more than wo men. Men masturbate more, because it is an easier outlet of sex drive than initiating partnered sex. Most important, for women in steady heterosexual relationships, as compared to men in steady heterosexual relationships, sex drive seems to be a less essential factor for partnered sex .
Keywords: gender differences; heterosexual relationship; masturbation; mediation analysis; partnered sex; sex drive
Current evolutionary adaptiveness of anxiety: Extreme phenotypes of anxiety predict increased fertility across multiple generations
Current evolutionary adaptiveness of anxiety: Extreme phenotypes of anxiety predict increased fertility across multiple generations. Nicholas C. Jacobson, Michael J. Roche. Journal of Psychiatric Research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2018.10.002
Abstract
Objective: Although recent research has begun to examine the impact of elevated anxiety on evolutionary fitness, no prior research has examined anxiety across a continuum. Such research is important as the effect of traits across a continuum on fertility hold important implications for the levels and distribution of the traits in later generations.
Method: In a three-generational sample (N = 2657) the linear and quadratic relationship between anxiety and the number of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren 15 years later was examined.
Results: The findings suggested that anxiety had a positive quadratic relationship with the number of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren 15 years later. These relationships were not significantly moderated by sex. Moreover, most of the variance between anxiety and the number of great-grandchildren was explained by anxiety's influence on the number of children and grandchildren, as opposed to anxiety having an independent direct impact on the number of great-grandchildren.
Conclusion: These findings suggest that extreme values from the mean anxiety are associated with increased evolutionary fitness within the modern environment.
Abstract
Objective: Although recent research has begun to examine the impact of elevated anxiety on evolutionary fitness, no prior research has examined anxiety across a continuum. Such research is important as the effect of traits across a continuum on fertility hold important implications for the levels and distribution of the traits in later generations.
Method: In a three-generational sample (N = 2657) the linear and quadratic relationship between anxiety and the number of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren 15 years later was examined.
Results: The findings suggested that anxiety had a positive quadratic relationship with the number of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren 15 years later. These relationships were not significantly moderated by sex. Moreover, most of the variance between anxiety and the number of great-grandchildren was explained by anxiety's influence on the number of children and grandchildren, as opposed to anxiety having an independent direct impact on the number of great-grandchildren.
Conclusion: These findings suggest that extreme values from the mean anxiety are associated with increased evolutionary fitness within the modern environment.
Influence of small gifts on the outcome of business negotiations: small gifts matter, but tend to be counterproductive when purchasing and sales agents meet for the first time
Hidden Persuaders: Do Small Gifts Lubricate Business Negotiations? Michel André Maréchal, Christian Thöni. Management Science, https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2018.3113
Abstract: Gift-giving customs are ubiquitous in social, political, and business life. Legal regulation and industry guidelines for gifts are often based on the assumption that large gifts potentially influence behavior and create conflicts of interest, but small gifts do not. However, scientific evidence on the impact of small gifts on business relationships is scarce. We conducted a natural field experiment in collaboration with sales agents of a multinational consumer products company to study the influence of small gifts on the outcome of business negotiations. We find that small gifts matter. On average, sales representatives generate more than twice as much revenue when they distribute a small gift at the onset of their negotiations. However, we also find that small gifts tend to be counterproductive when purchasing and sales agents meet for the first time, suggesting that the nature of the business relationship crucially affects the profitability of gifts.
Abstract: Gift-giving customs are ubiquitous in social, political, and business life. Legal regulation and industry guidelines for gifts are often based on the assumption that large gifts potentially influence behavior and create conflicts of interest, but small gifts do not. However, scientific evidence on the impact of small gifts on business relationships is scarce. We conducted a natural field experiment in collaboration with sales agents of a multinational consumer products company to study the influence of small gifts on the outcome of business negotiations. We find that small gifts matter. On average, sales representatives generate more than twice as much revenue when they distribute a small gift at the onset of their negotiations. However, we also find that small gifts tend to be counterproductive when purchasing and sales agents meet for the first time, suggesting that the nature of the business relationship crucially affects the profitability of gifts.
Correlational but Not Causal Relationship Between Music Skill and Cognitive Ability
Sala, Giovanni, and Fernand Gobet. 2018. “Elvis Has Left the Building: Correlational but Not Causal Relationship Between Music Skill and Cognitive Ability.” PsyArXiv. September 8. doi:10.31234/osf.io/auzr
Abstract: Music training is commonly thought to have a positive impact on overall cognitive skills and academic achievement. This belief relies on the idea that engaging in an intellectually demanding activity helps to foster overall cognitive function. In this brief review, we show that, while music skill positively correlates with cognitive ability, music training does not enhance non-music cognitive skills or academic achievement. Interestingly, no significant effect on cognitive outcomes is observed even when music training leads to changes in the participants’ functional neural patterns. Crucially, the conclusion that music skills acquired by training do not generalize to non-music skills has been reached by several independent research groups via different methodologies. Such converging evidence suggests that the outcomes are highly reliable. The results have major implications. First, implementing music-training programs with the purpose of boosting individuals’ academic achievement or domain-general cognitive skills is not recommendable. Second, neural patterns induced by music training probably denote improvements in music-specific skills rather than overall cognitive function. Third, Thorndike and Woodworth’s (1901) common elements theory and theories based on chunking find further support. To date, far transfer remains a chimera.
Abstract: Music training is commonly thought to have a positive impact on overall cognitive skills and academic achievement. This belief relies on the idea that engaging in an intellectually demanding activity helps to foster overall cognitive function. In this brief review, we show that, while music skill positively correlates with cognitive ability, music training does not enhance non-music cognitive skills or academic achievement. Interestingly, no significant effect on cognitive outcomes is observed even when music training leads to changes in the participants’ functional neural patterns. Crucially, the conclusion that music skills acquired by training do not generalize to non-music skills has been reached by several independent research groups via different methodologies. Such converging evidence suggests that the outcomes are highly reliable. The results have major implications. First, implementing music-training programs with the purpose of boosting individuals’ academic achievement or domain-general cognitive skills is not recommendable. Second, neural patterns induced by music training probably denote improvements in music-specific skills rather than overall cognitive function. Third, Thorndike and Woodworth’s (1901) common elements theory and theories based on chunking find further support. To date, far transfer remains a chimera.
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