Going the distance, going for speed: Honest signaling and the benefits of exercising with an opposite-sex partner. Michael D. Baker et al. Evolution and Human Behavior,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2018.10.004
When people are aware that potential mates are observing their performances, they may alter their behavior (consciously or unconsciously) in order to make themselves appear more desirable to these individuals. This is consistent with previous research showing that matingrelated display strategies may be situationally sensitive, such that people will only engage in these displays when they believe that their performance will be viewed by a desirable functionally-relevant target (Baker & Maner, 2008, 2009).
In general, the current research demonstrates the utility of applying an evolutionary perspective to generate and test specific predictions regarding how human performance varies depending upon both fundamental social motives and social context. A more general social psychological theory such as social facilitation theory would generate a prediction that performance would be similarly enhanced in the presence of any partner, regardless of individual differences in relationship status or mating motives. However, our results demonstrate that performance in the presence of another individual varies depending on the sex of the individuals in the situation as well as the motives of the actor. We argue that this finding is best interpreted as being a product of human mating strategies. More specifically, the pattern of observed results is consistent with predictions generated by costly signaling theory and the fundamental social motives perspective. Improvements in performance were observed only in the presence of a potential mate and only when the actor possessed personal characteristics associated with greater levels of motivation to seek a mate. Accounting for individual differences in fundamental social motives and functionally relevant social factors can lead to the generation of novel hypotheses about how these factors interact to impact performance. Although the current research focused on exercise performance, it is reasonable to speculate that fundamental social motives and social context might interact to influence performance of a range of different behaviors in functionally relevant ways.
The findings of the current work demonstrate how social context can affect performance in a manner consistent with a sexual display strategy. By tailoring one’s behaviors to the preferences of potential mates, these behaviors can serve as advertisements of desirable qualities, allowing people to market themselves as desirable romantic or sexual prospects. In order to better understand why people behave the way that they do in any given situation, it is helpful to take into account the opportunities afforded by the social context as well as the fundamental social goals that the actor is motivated to pursue. This work demonstrates that conceptualizing public behaviors as serving a social display function can lead to an improved understanding of the impact of social context on performance.
Monday, October 29, 2018
Endogenous Emotion Generation Abilities Support Adaptive Emotion Regulation & More Happiness
Engen, Haakon, Philipp Kanske, and Tania Singer. 2018. “Endogenous Emotion Generation Abilities Support Adaptive Emotion Management.” PsyArXiv. October 28. doi:10.31234/osf.io/4yxkv
Abstract: Emotions are frequently thought of as reactions to events in the world. However, many of our emotional experiences are of our own making, coming from thoughts and memories. These different origins mean that these endogenous emotions are more controllable than exogenous emotions, making plausible a role of endogenous emotion in self-regulation and mental health. We tested this idea in a representative sample of 277 individuals (163 female, 20-55 years) who partook in an experiment measuring individual differences in endogenous emotion generation ability and a questionnaire battery measuring individual differences in trait affect and emotional self-regulation style. Two hypotheses for how endogenous emotion generation can facilitate mental health were tested: By buffering negative stressors with self-generated positive emotion enabling use of emotion-focused regulation techniques, or by allowing effective simulation of the emotional consequences of future events, facilitating active and instrumental coping. Support for both hypotheses was found. Consistent with buffering, positive emotion generation ability mediated the relationship between emotion-focused regulation and trait affect, while the ability to generate emotions regardless of valence, was found to mediate the relationship between active and instrumental regulation and trait affect, supporting a simulation account. This suggests role of emotion generation in emotion regulation, a finding of both theoretical and practical implication for mental health interventions.
Abstract: Emotions are frequently thought of as reactions to events in the world. However, many of our emotional experiences are of our own making, coming from thoughts and memories. These different origins mean that these endogenous emotions are more controllable than exogenous emotions, making plausible a role of endogenous emotion in self-regulation and mental health. We tested this idea in a representative sample of 277 individuals (163 female, 20-55 years) who partook in an experiment measuring individual differences in endogenous emotion generation ability and a questionnaire battery measuring individual differences in trait affect and emotional self-regulation style. Two hypotheses for how endogenous emotion generation can facilitate mental health were tested: By buffering negative stressors with self-generated positive emotion enabling use of emotion-focused regulation techniques, or by allowing effective simulation of the emotional consequences of future events, facilitating active and instrumental coping. Support for both hypotheses was found. Consistent with buffering, positive emotion generation ability mediated the relationship between emotion-focused regulation and trait affect, while the ability to generate emotions regardless of valence, was found to mediate the relationship between active and instrumental regulation and trait affect, supporting a simulation account. This suggests role of emotion generation in emotion regulation, a finding of both theoretical and practical implication for mental health interventions.
Sunday, October 28, 2018
Imprisonments in hospitals in at least 30 other countries, including Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, China & Thailand, Lithuania & Bulgaria, & others in Latin America & the Middle East
AP Investigation: Hospital patients held hostage for cash. MARIA CHENG. AP, October 25, 2018. https://apnews.com/daf47512c8f74e869b722782299b4a0e
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Kenyatta National Hospital is east Africa’s biggest medical institution, home to more than a dozen donor-funded projects with international partners — a “Center of Excellence,” says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The hospital’s website proudly proclaims its motto — “We Listen ... We Care” — along with photos of smiling doctors, a vaccination campaign and staffers holding aloft a gold trophy at an awards ceremony.
But there are no pictures of Robert Wanyonyi, shot and paralyzed in a robbery more than a year ago. Kenyatta will not allow him to leave the hospital because he cannot pay his bill of nearly 4 million Kenyan shillings ($39,570). He is trapped in his fourth-floor bed, unable to go to India, where he believes doctors might help him.
At Kenyatta National Hospital and at an astonishing number of other hospitals around the world, if you don’t pay up, you don’t go home.
The hospitals often illegally detain patients long after they should be medically discharged, using armed guards, locked doors and even chains to hold those who have not settled their accounts. Mothers and babies are sometimes separated. Even death does not guarantee release: Kenyan hospitals and morgues are holding hundreds of bodies until families can pay their loved ones’ bills, government officials say.
Dozens of doctors, nurses, health experts, patients and administrators told The Associated Press of imprisonments in hospitals in at least 30 other countries, including Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, China and Thailand, Lithuania and Bulgaria, and others in Latin America and the Middle East.
The AP investigation built on a report last year by the British think-tank Chatham House; its experts found more than 60 press reports of patient detention in 14 countries in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
“What’s striking about this issue is that the more we look for this, the more we find it,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, who was not involved in the British research. “It’s probably hundreds of thousands if not millions of people that this affects worldwide. It is not something that is only happening in a small number of countries, but the problem is that nobody is looking at this and it is way off the public health radar.”
Some examples:
—In the Philippines, Annalyn Manalo was held at Mount Carmel Diocesan General Hospital in Lucena City for 1½ months starting last December following treatment for heart problems. Administrators refused initially to allow her family to pay in installments — and the cost of each extra day in detention was added to the bill.
“We were treated like criminals,” said Manalo’s husband, Sigfredo. “The security guards would come and check on us all the time.”
—In Congo’s second city of Lubumbashi, the AP visited more than 20 hospitals and clinics and found that all but one routinely detained patients who failed to pay, even though the practice is illegal there.
—In Bangalore, India, Emmanuel Malagi was detained in a private hospital for three months after he was treated for a spinal tumor, according to his brother, Christanand. Prevented from seeing him, his family scrambled unsuccessfully to pay his nearly 1.4 lakh rupees ($19,281) bill — and when he died, the hospital demanded another 10 lakh ($13,771) to release the body.
—In Malaysia, a medical student from the Netherlands on a diving trip got the bends. He couldn’t afford his decompression treatment; the hospital locked him in a room for four days, with no food or drink, until he was able to get the money, according to Saskia Mostert, a Dutch academic who has researched hospital detentions.
—In Bolivia, a government ombudsman reported that 49 patients were detained in hospitals or clinics in the last two years because they couldn’t pay, despite a law that prohibits the practice.
During several August visits to Kenyatta National Hospital, The Associated Press witnessed armed guards in military fatigues standing watch over patients, and saw where detainees slept on bedsheets on the floor in cordoned-off rooms. Guards prevented one worried father from seeing his detained toddler. All despite a court ruling years ago that found the detentions were illegal.
Health experts decry hospital imprisonment as a human rights violation. Yet the United Nations, U.S. and international health agencies, donors and charities all have remained silent while pumping billions of dollars into these countries to support splintered health systems or to fight outbreaks of diseases including AIDS and malaria.
“It’s the dirty underbelly of global health that nobody wants to talk about,” said Sophie Harman, a health academic at Queen Mary University of London.
“People know patients are being held prisoner, but they probably think they have bigger battles in public health to fight, so they just have to let this go.”
[...]
Where patients are imprisoned, hospitals acknowledge it is not necessarily profitable. But many say it often leads at least to partial payment and serves as a deterrent.
Unlike many hospitals in developed countries, African hospitals don’t always provide food, clothing or bedding for patients, so holding onto them does not necessarily incur a significant cost. Detained patients typically rely on relatives to bring them food while those without obliging family members resort to begging for help from staff or other patients.
Dr. Festus Njuguna, a pediatric oncologist at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, about 300 kilometers northwest of Nairobi, said the institution regularly holds children with cancer who have finished their treatment, but whose parents cannot pay. The children are typically left on the wards for weeks and months at a time, long after their treatment has ended.
“It’s not a very good feeling for the doctors and nurses who have treated these patients, to see them kept like this,” Njuguna said.
Still, some officials openly defend the practice.
“We can’t just let people leave if they don’t pay,” said Leedy Nyembo-Mugalu administrator of Congo’s Katuba Reference Hospital. He said holding patients wasn’t an issue of human rights, but simply a way to conduct business: “No one ever comes back to pay their bill a month or two later.”
At many Kenyan hospitals, including Kenyatta, officials armed with rifles patrol the hallways and guard the hospital’s gates. Patients must show hospital guards a discharge form to prove they’re allowed to leave and even visitors must sometimes surrender their identification cards before seeing patients.
[...]
“This is something that hospital authorities have been trying to keep under wraps,” said George Morara, vice chairperson of the country’s national commission on human rights. He said the number of Kenyans imprisoned in hospitals is “disturbingly high” and that the practice is “ubiquitous in public and private hospitals.”
He said patients have been held at Kenyatta for up to two years, and it was reasonable to suspect that hundreds of patients could be detained there at any time.
Kenya’s ministry of health and Kenyatta canceled several scheduled interviews with the AP and declined to respond to repeated requests for comment.
[...]
Although the court instructed the government to produce guidelines on how hospitals should waive fees for patients unable to pay, Opondo said the proposed fixes have not gone far enough. A program that provides free maternity care is only available at a select number of private hospitals and does not include post-delivery care.
Earlier this month, Kenya’s High Court ruled again that imprisoning patients “is not one of the acceptable avenues (for hospitals) to recover debt.” The case involved a man detained at Nairobi Women’s Hospital since June 25; the judge ordered his immediate release despite the outstanding bill. Kenyan politicians also will soon debate a proposed amendment to the country’s health law that will explicitly make patient detentions illegal.
The latest amendment was submitted by MP Jared Okelo, a member of Parliament who described the imprisonment of mothers as “rampant.”
Omuya is still scarred by her detention at Pumwani. She says she developed chronic pneumonia after being held in the damp, cold conditions there and has not been able to work full-time since.
Neither Omuya nor Oliele have been paid the damages awarded to them by the court: Omuya was to receive 1,500,000 shillings ($14,842) from the hospital while Oliele was to receive 500,000 shillings ($4,948).
[...]
___
Desmond Tiro in Nairobi and Paola Flores in La Paz, Bolivia contributed to this report.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Kenyatta National Hospital is east Africa’s biggest medical institution, home to more than a dozen donor-funded projects with international partners — a “Center of Excellence,” says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The hospital’s website proudly proclaims its motto — “We Listen ... We Care” — along with photos of smiling doctors, a vaccination campaign and staffers holding aloft a gold trophy at an awards ceremony.
But there are no pictures of Robert Wanyonyi, shot and paralyzed in a robbery more than a year ago. Kenyatta will not allow him to leave the hospital because he cannot pay his bill of nearly 4 million Kenyan shillings ($39,570). He is trapped in his fourth-floor bed, unable to go to India, where he believes doctors might help him.
At Kenyatta National Hospital and at an astonishing number of other hospitals around the world, if you don’t pay up, you don’t go home.
The hospitals often illegally detain patients long after they should be medically discharged, using armed guards, locked doors and even chains to hold those who have not settled their accounts. Mothers and babies are sometimes separated. Even death does not guarantee release: Kenyan hospitals and morgues are holding hundreds of bodies until families can pay their loved ones’ bills, government officials say.
Dozens of doctors, nurses, health experts, patients and administrators told The Associated Press of imprisonments in hospitals in at least 30 other countries, including Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, China and Thailand, Lithuania and Bulgaria, and others in Latin America and the Middle East.
The AP investigation built on a report last year by the British think-tank Chatham House; its experts found more than 60 press reports of patient detention in 14 countries in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
“What’s striking about this issue is that the more we look for this, the more we find it,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, who was not involved in the British research. “It’s probably hundreds of thousands if not millions of people that this affects worldwide. It is not something that is only happening in a small number of countries, but the problem is that nobody is looking at this and it is way off the public health radar.”
Some examples:
—In the Philippines, Annalyn Manalo was held at Mount Carmel Diocesan General Hospital in Lucena City for 1½ months starting last December following treatment for heart problems. Administrators refused initially to allow her family to pay in installments — and the cost of each extra day in detention was added to the bill.
“We were treated like criminals,” said Manalo’s husband, Sigfredo. “The security guards would come and check on us all the time.”
—In Congo’s second city of Lubumbashi, the AP visited more than 20 hospitals and clinics and found that all but one routinely detained patients who failed to pay, even though the practice is illegal there.
—In Bangalore, India, Emmanuel Malagi was detained in a private hospital for three months after he was treated for a spinal tumor, according to his brother, Christanand. Prevented from seeing him, his family scrambled unsuccessfully to pay his nearly 1.4 lakh rupees ($19,281) bill — and when he died, the hospital demanded another 10 lakh ($13,771) to release the body.
—In Malaysia, a medical student from the Netherlands on a diving trip got the bends. He couldn’t afford his decompression treatment; the hospital locked him in a room for four days, with no food or drink, until he was able to get the money, according to Saskia Mostert, a Dutch academic who has researched hospital detentions.
—In Bolivia, a government ombudsman reported that 49 patients were detained in hospitals or clinics in the last two years because they couldn’t pay, despite a law that prohibits the practice.
During several August visits to Kenyatta National Hospital, The Associated Press witnessed armed guards in military fatigues standing watch over patients, and saw where detainees slept on bedsheets on the floor in cordoned-off rooms. Guards prevented one worried father from seeing his detained toddler. All despite a court ruling years ago that found the detentions were illegal.
Health experts decry hospital imprisonment as a human rights violation. Yet the United Nations, U.S. and international health agencies, donors and charities all have remained silent while pumping billions of dollars into these countries to support splintered health systems or to fight outbreaks of diseases including AIDS and malaria.
“It’s the dirty underbelly of global health that nobody wants to talk about,” said Sophie Harman, a health academic at Queen Mary University of London.
“People know patients are being held prisoner, but they probably think they have bigger battles in public health to fight, so they just have to let this go.”
[...]
Where patients are imprisoned, hospitals acknowledge it is not necessarily profitable. But many say it often leads at least to partial payment and serves as a deterrent.
Unlike many hospitals in developed countries, African hospitals don’t always provide food, clothing or bedding for patients, so holding onto them does not necessarily incur a significant cost. Detained patients typically rely on relatives to bring them food while those without obliging family members resort to begging for help from staff or other patients.
Dr. Festus Njuguna, a pediatric oncologist at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, about 300 kilometers northwest of Nairobi, said the institution regularly holds children with cancer who have finished their treatment, but whose parents cannot pay. The children are typically left on the wards for weeks and months at a time, long after their treatment has ended.
“It’s not a very good feeling for the doctors and nurses who have treated these patients, to see them kept like this,” Njuguna said.
Still, some officials openly defend the practice.
“We can’t just let people leave if they don’t pay,” said Leedy Nyembo-Mugalu administrator of Congo’s Katuba Reference Hospital. He said holding patients wasn’t an issue of human rights, but simply a way to conduct business: “No one ever comes back to pay their bill a month or two later.”
At many Kenyan hospitals, including Kenyatta, officials armed with rifles patrol the hallways and guard the hospital’s gates. Patients must show hospital guards a discharge form to prove they’re allowed to leave and even visitors must sometimes surrender their identification cards before seeing patients.
[...]
“This is something that hospital authorities have been trying to keep under wraps,” said George Morara, vice chairperson of the country’s national commission on human rights. He said the number of Kenyans imprisoned in hospitals is “disturbingly high” and that the practice is “ubiquitous in public and private hospitals.”
He said patients have been held at Kenyatta for up to two years, and it was reasonable to suspect that hundreds of patients could be detained there at any time.
Kenya’s ministry of health and Kenyatta canceled several scheduled interviews with the AP and declined to respond to repeated requests for comment.
[...]
Although the court instructed the government to produce guidelines on how hospitals should waive fees for patients unable to pay, Opondo said the proposed fixes have not gone far enough. A program that provides free maternity care is only available at a select number of private hospitals and does not include post-delivery care.
Earlier this month, Kenya’s High Court ruled again that imprisoning patients “is not one of the acceptable avenues (for hospitals) to recover debt.” The case involved a man detained at Nairobi Women’s Hospital since June 25; the judge ordered his immediate release despite the outstanding bill. Kenyan politicians also will soon debate a proposed amendment to the country’s health law that will explicitly make patient detentions illegal.
The latest amendment was submitted by MP Jared Okelo, a member of Parliament who described the imprisonment of mothers as “rampant.”
Omuya is still scarred by her detention at Pumwani. She says she developed chronic pneumonia after being held in the damp, cold conditions there and has not been able to work full-time since.
Neither Omuya nor Oliele have been paid the damages awarded to them by the court: Omuya was to receive 1,500,000 shillings ($14,842) from the hospital while Oliele was to receive 500,000 shillings ($4,948).
[...]
___
Desmond Tiro in Nairobi and Paola Flores in La Paz, Bolivia contributed to this report.
Paraventricular thalamic neurons represent multiple salient features of sensory stimuli, like reward, aversiveness, novelty, & surprise; the nucleus thus provides context-dependent salience encoding
Dynamic salience processing in paraventricular thalamus gates associative learning. Yingjie Zhu, Gregory Nachtrab, Piper C. Keyes, William E. Allen, Liqun Luo, Xiaoke Chen. Science , Vol. 362, Issue 6413, pp. 423-429. DOI: 10.1126/science.aat0481
Abstract: The salience of behaviorally relevant stimuli is dynamic and influenced by internal state and external environment. Monitoring such changes is critical for effective learning and flexible behavior, but the neuronal substrate for tracking the dynamics of stimulus salience is obscure. We found that neurons in the paraventricular thalamus (PVT) are robustly activated by a variety of behaviorally relevant events, including novel (“unfamiliar”) stimuli, reinforcing stimuli and their predicting cues, as well as omission of the expected reward. PVT responses are scaled with stimulus intensity and modulated by changes in homeostatic state or behavioral context. Inhibition of the PVT responses suppresses appetitive or aversive associative learning and reward extinction. Our findings demonstrate that the PVT gates associative learning by providing a dynamic representation of stimulus salience.
---
A close view of the paraventricular thalamus
The paraventricular thalamus is a relay station connecting brainstem and hypothalamic signals that represent internal states with the limbic forebrain that performs associative functions in emotional contexts. Zhu et al. found that paraventricular thalamic neurons represent multiple salient features of sensory stimuli, including reward, aversiveness, novelty, and surprise. The nucleus thus provides context-dependent salience encoding. The thalamus gates sensory information and contributes to the sleep-wake cycle through its interactions with the cerebral cortex. Ren et al. recorded from neurons in the paraventricular thalamus and observed that both population and single-neuron activity were tightly coupled with wakefulness.
Abstract: The salience of behaviorally relevant stimuli is dynamic and influenced by internal state and external environment. Monitoring such changes is critical for effective learning and flexible behavior, but the neuronal substrate for tracking the dynamics of stimulus salience is obscure. We found that neurons in the paraventricular thalamus (PVT) are robustly activated by a variety of behaviorally relevant events, including novel (“unfamiliar”) stimuli, reinforcing stimuli and their predicting cues, as well as omission of the expected reward. PVT responses are scaled with stimulus intensity and modulated by changes in homeostatic state or behavioral context. Inhibition of the PVT responses suppresses appetitive or aversive associative learning and reward extinction. Our findings demonstrate that the PVT gates associative learning by providing a dynamic representation of stimulus salience.
---
A close view of the paraventricular thalamus
The paraventricular thalamus is a relay station connecting brainstem and hypothalamic signals that represent internal states with the limbic forebrain that performs associative functions in emotional contexts. Zhu et al. found that paraventricular thalamic neurons represent multiple salient features of sensory stimuli, including reward, aversiveness, novelty, and surprise. The nucleus thus provides context-dependent salience encoding. The thalamus gates sensory information and contributes to the sleep-wake cycle through its interactions with the cerebral cortex. Ren et al. recorded from neurons in the paraventricular thalamus and observed that both population and single-neuron activity were tightly coupled with wakefulness.
Stereotypes about wealthy people’s personality are accurate albeit somewhat exaggerated; wealthy people can be characterized as stable, flexible, & agentic individuals who are focused more on themselves than on others
Leckelt, Marius, David Richter, Carsten Schröder, Albrecht C. P. Küfner, Markus M. Grabka, and Mitja Back. 2018. “The Rich Are Different: Unraveling the Perceived and Self-reported Personality Profiles of High Net-worth Individuals.” PsyArXiv. October 28. doi:10.1111/bjop.12360
Abstract: Beyond money and possessions, how are the rich different from the general population? Drawing on a unique sample of high net-worth individuals from Germany (≥1 million Euro in financial assets; N = 130), nationally representative data (N = 22,981), and an additional online panel (N = 690), we provide the first direct investigation of the stereotypically-perceived and self-reported personality profiles of high net-worth individuals. Investigating the broad personality traits of the Big Five and the more specific traits of narcissism and locus of control, we find that stereotypes about wealthy people’s personality are accurate albeit somewhat exaggerated and that wealthy people can be characterized as stable, flexible, and agentic individuals who are focused more on themselves than on others.
Abstract: Beyond money and possessions, how are the rich different from the general population? Drawing on a unique sample of high net-worth individuals from Germany (≥1 million Euro in financial assets; N = 130), nationally representative data (N = 22,981), and an additional online panel (N = 690), we provide the first direct investigation of the stereotypically-perceived and self-reported personality profiles of high net-worth individuals. Investigating the broad personality traits of the Big Five and the more specific traits of narcissism and locus of control, we find that stereotypes about wealthy people’s personality are accurate albeit somewhat exaggerated and that wealthy people can be characterized as stable, flexible, and agentic individuals who are focused more on themselves than on others.
Researchers at Brown U found that alcohol hijacks a conserved memory pathway in the brain and changes which versions of genes are made, forming the cravings that fuel addiction
Alcohol Activates Scabrous-Notch to Influence Associated Memories. Emily Petruccelli et al. Neuron, October 25, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2018.10.005
Highlights
• Alcohol cue preference requires Scabrous-Notch interaction in mushroom body neurons
• Alcohol activates Notch and Su(H) target gene expression in the adult brain
• Dopamine 2 receptor splicing and targeting by Su(H) are altered by alcohol exposure
• Alcohol cue preference affects mushroom body gene expression and splicing
Summary: Drugs of abuse, like alcohol, modulate gene expression in reward circuits and consequently alter behavior. However, the in vivo cellular mechanisms through which alcohol induces lasting transcriptional changes are unclear. We show that Drosophila Notch/Su(H) signaling and the secreted fibrinogen-related protein Scabrous in mushroom body (MB) memory circuitry are important for the enduring preference of cues associated with alcohol’s rewarding properties. Alcohol exposure affects Notch responsivity in the adult MB and alters Su(H) targeting at the dopamine-2-like receptor ( Dop2R). Alcohol cue training also caused lasting changes to the MB nuclear transcriptome, including changes in the alternative splicing of Dop2R and newly implicated transcripts like Stat92E. Together, our data suggest that alcohol-induced activation of the highly conserved Notch pathway and accompanying transcriptional responses in memory circuitry contribute to addiction. Ultimately, this provides mechanistic insight into the etiology and pathophysiology of alcohol use disorder.
Press release: http://news.brown.edu/articles/2018/10/alcohol
Highlights
• Alcohol cue preference requires Scabrous-Notch interaction in mushroom body neurons
• Alcohol activates Notch and Su(H) target gene expression in the adult brain
• Dopamine 2 receptor splicing and targeting by Su(H) are altered by alcohol exposure
• Alcohol cue preference affects mushroom body gene expression and splicing
Summary: Drugs of abuse, like alcohol, modulate gene expression in reward circuits and consequently alter behavior. However, the in vivo cellular mechanisms through which alcohol induces lasting transcriptional changes are unclear. We show that Drosophila Notch/Su(H) signaling and the secreted fibrinogen-related protein Scabrous in mushroom body (MB) memory circuitry are important for the enduring preference of cues associated with alcohol’s rewarding properties. Alcohol exposure affects Notch responsivity in the adult MB and alters Su(H) targeting at the dopamine-2-like receptor ( Dop2R). Alcohol cue training also caused lasting changes to the MB nuclear transcriptome, including changes in the alternative splicing of Dop2R and newly implicated transcripts like Stat92E. Together, our data suggest that alcohol-induced activation of the highly conserved Notch pathway and accompanying transcriptional responses in memory circuitry contribute to addiction. Ultimately, this provides mechanistic insight into the etiology and pathophysiology of alcohol use disorder.
Press release: http://news.brown.edu/articles/2018/10/alcohol
Literature said property crimes have more instrumental motives, require planning, & hence are particularly sensitive to permanent changes in cost & benefits, but violent crime declines in U.S. cities on days in which the local pollen count is unusually high
Chalfin, Aaron and Danagoulian, Shooshan and Deza, Monica, More Sneezing, Less Crime? Seasonal Allergies, Transitory Costs and the Market for Offenses (August 18, 2018). http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3234415
Abstract: The neoclassical economic model of crime envisions crime as a gamble undertaken by a rational individual who is weighing the costs and benefits of offending at the margin. A large literature estimates the sensitivity of crime to policy inputs that shift the cost of offending such as police and prisons. In this paper, we point out that participants in the market for offenses also respond to transitory changes in situational factors and that these are in constant flux. We consider the responsiveness of crime to a pervasive and common health shock which we argue shifts costs and benefits for offenders and victims: seasonal allergies. Leveraging daily variation in city-specific pollen counts, we present novel evidence that violent crime declines in U.S. cities on days in which the local pollen count is unusually high and that these effects are driven by residential violence. While past literature suggests that property crimes have more instrumental motives, require planning, and hence are particularly sensitive to permanent changes in the cost and benefits of crime, we find evidence that violence may be especially sensitive to situational factors.
Abstract: The neoclassical economic model of crime envisions crime as a gamble undertaken by a rational individual who is weighing the costs and benefits of offending at the margin. A large literature estimates the sensitivity of crime to policy inputs that shift the cost of offending such as police and prisons. In this paper, we point out that participants in the market for offenses also respond to transitory changes in situational factors and that these are in constant flux. We consider the responsiveness of crime to a pervasive and common health shock which we argue shifts costs and benefits for offenders and victims: seasonal allergies. Leveraging daily variation in city-specific pollen counts, we present novel evidence that violent crime declines in U.S. cities on days in which the local pollen count is unusually high and that these effects are driven by residential violence. While past literature suggests that property crimes have more instrumental motives, require planning, and hence are particularly sensitive to permanent changes in the cost and benefits of crime, we find evidence that violence may be especially sensitive to situational factors.
Saturday, October 27, 2018
Despite philosophical & conventional wisdom dating back to the ancients, researchers have only recently begun to uncover evidence that extreme standing on “normal” or “desirable” personality traits might be maladaptive
Extreme Personalities at Work and in Life. Nathan T. Carter, Joshua D. Miller, Thomas A. Widiger. Current Directions in Psychological Science, https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721418793134
Abstract: Contemporary personality taxonomies cast personality traits as ranging from the maladaptive (e.g., low conscientiousness) to adaptive (e.g., high conscientiousness) levels. Despite philosophical and conventional wisdom dating back to the ancients, researchers have only recently begun to uncover evidence that extreme standing on “normal” or “desirable” personality traits might be maladaptive. Here, we present an emerging perspective on why and how extreme standing on “desirable” trait continua translates into maladaptive behavior and undesirable outcomes at work and in life. An overview of the literature on the topic is presented for each trait within the five-factor model. We suggest two reasons for the lack of clarity in the empirical literature: (a) problems with statistical tests resulting from measurement error and (b) lack of breadth in the conceptualization and measurement of personality traits. We suggest that a solution to this problem is to extend trait continua to reflect maladaptive levels at both ends. We close by pointing out that a major implication of this emerging perspective indicates that many more people possess optimal personality-trait levels than previously thought and that future research needs to examine whether the question is consistent with evolutionary and neurophysiological accounts of personality science.
Keywords: personality, curvilinearity, inverted U, nonlinearity, personality disorders
Abstract: Contemporary personality taxonomies cast personality traits as ranging from the maladaptive (e.g., low conscientiousness) to adaptive (e.g., high conscientiousness) levels. Despite philosophical and conventional wisdom dating back to the ancients, researchers have only recently begun to uncover evidence that extreme standing on “normal” or “desirable” personality traits might be maladaptive. Here, we present an emerging perspective on why and how extreme standing on “desirable” trait continua translates into maladaptive behavior and undesirable outcomes at work and in life. An overview of the literature on the topic is presented for each trait within the five-factor model. We suggest two reasons for the lack of clarity in the empirical literature: (a) problems with statistical tests resulting from measurement error and (b) lack of breadth in the conceptualization and measurement of personality traits. We suggest that a solution to this problem is to extend trait continua to reflect maladaptive levels at both ends. We close by pointing out that a major implication of this emerging perspective indicates that many more people possess optimal personality-trait levels than previously thought and that future research needs to examine whether the question is consistent with evolutionary and neurophysiological accounts of personality science.
Keywords: personality, curvilinearity, inverted U, nonlinearity, personality disorders
27% of participants have kept a financial secret from their partner; and both marital & life satisfaction were lower for participants who have experienced financial infidelity than in those who have not
Jeanfreau, M., Noguchi, K., Mong, M. D., & Stadthagen, H. (2018). Financial Infidelity in Couple Relationships. Journal of Financial Therapy, 9(1) 2. https://doi.org/10.4148/1944-9771.1159
Four hundred and fourteen participants answered questions regarding financial habits within the context of the couple relationship.The Big Five Personality Inventory and a Martial and Life Satisfaction Scale were used to determine the incidence and factors associated with financial infidelity. Results indicated that 27% of participants have kept a financial secret from their partner. Furthermore, both marital and life satisfaction were lower for participants who have experienced financial infidelity than in those who have not. Finally, conscientiousness, a factor from the Big Five Personality Inventory, showed a significant difference, suggesting that more organized individuals were less likely to keep financial secrets. Clinical implications are also discussed.
Four hundred and fourteen participants answered questions regarding financial habits within the context of the couple relationship.The Big Five Personality Inventory and a Martial and Life Satisfaction Scale were used to determine the incidence and factors associated with financial infidelity. Results indicated that 27% of participants have kept a financial secret from their partner. Furthermore, both marital and life satisfaction were lower for participants who have experienced financial infidelity than in those who have not. Finally, conscientiousness, a factor from the Big Five Personality Inventory, showed a significant difference, suggesting that more organized individuals were less likely to keep financial secrets. Clinical implications are also discussed.
Friday, October 26, 2018
Bacon's ideas are central in the culture of growth; his epistemology derives from his jurisprudence &, hence, reflects common-law culture, which can help explain the coincidence of early political & economic development in England
Toward understanding 17th century English culture: A structural topic model of Francis Bacon's ideas. PeterGrajzl, Peter Murrell. Journal of Comparative Economics, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jce.2018.10.004
Highlights
• Bacon's ideas are central in the culture of growth of early modern England.
• We study Bacon's thought using machine-learning tools for analysis of text-as-data.
• Bacon communicated strategically and did not emphasize some ideas later viewed as Baconian.
• Bacon's epistemology derives from his jurisprudence and, hence, reflects common-law culture.
• Features and origins of Bacon's ideas help interpret England's early development.
Abstract: We use machine-learning methods to study the features and origins of the ideas of Francis Bacon, a key figure who provided the intellectual roots of a cultural paradigm that spurred modern economic development. Bacon's works are the data in an estimation of a structural topic model, a recently developed methodology for analysis of text corpora. The estimates uncover sixteen topics prominent in Bacon's opus. Two are key elements of the ideas usually associated with Bacon—inductive epistemology and fact-seeking. The utilitarian promise of science and the centralized organization of the scientific quest, embraced by Bacon's followers, were not emphasized by him. Using strategic communication, Bacon facilitated reception of his scientific methodology, targeted influential groups, and finessed powerful opponents. We provide the first quantitative evidence that the genesis of Bacon's epistemology lies in his experience in the common-law. Combining our findings with accepted arguments in the existing literature, we suggest that the effects of common-law culture can help explain the coincidence of early political and economic development in England.
Highlights
• Bacon's ideas are central in the culture of growth of early modern England.
• We study Bacon's thought using machine-learning tools for analysis of text-as-data.
• Bacon communicated strategically and did not emphasize some ideas later viewed as Baconian.
• Bacon's epistemology derives from his jurisprudence and, hence, reflects common-law culture.
• Features and origins of Bacon's ideas help interpret England's early development.
Abstract: We use machine-learning methods to study the features and origins of the ideas of Francis Bacon, a key figure who provided the intellectual roots of a cultural paradigm that spurred modern economic development. Bacon's works are the data in an estimation of a structural topic model, a recently developed methodology for analysis of text corpora. The estimates uncover sixteen topics prominent in Bacon's opus. Two are key elements of the ideas usually associated with Bacon—inductive epistemology and fact-seeking. The utilitarian promise of science and the centralized organization of the scientific quest, embraced by Bacon's followers, were not emphasized by him. Using strategic communication, Bacon facilitated reception of his scientific methodology, targeted influential groups, and finessed powerful opponents. We provide the first quantitative evidence that the genesis of Bacon's epistemology lies in his experience in the common-law. Combining our findings with accepted arguments in the existing literature, we suggest that the effects of common-law culture can help explain the coincidence of early political and economic development in England.
Adult participants who chewed gum while studying a 9‐min lesson on a mental mathematics strategy outperformed a nonchewing condition on a subsequent problem‐solving test, whereas also reporting higher levels of postlesson alertness
Chewing gum while studying: Effects on alertness and test performance. Paul Ginns, Theresa Kim, Eleni Zervos. Applied Cognitive Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3467
Summary: Recent research has demonstrated chewing gum can enhance various cognitive processes associated with learning, but most studies have used cognitive functioning tasks (e.g., selective attention and working memory) as outcomes. Across two experiments, we investigated effects of chewing gum on self‐reports of alertness and test performance following study of realistic educational materials. In Experiment 1 (n = 40), adult participants who chewed gum while studying a 20‐min physiology lesson outperformed a nonchewing condition on subsequent terminology and comprehension tests, but did not report higher levels of postlesson alertness as hypothesised. In Experiment 2 (n = 39), adult participants who chewed gum while studying a 9‐min lesson on a mental mathematics strategy outperformed a nonchewing condition on a subsequent problem‐solving test, whereas also reporting higher levels of postlesson alertness. The results provide initial support for chewing gum while studying realistic educational materials across a range of topics and study durations.
Summary: Recent research has demonstrated chewing gum can enhance various cognitive processes associated with learning, but most studies have used cognitive functioning tasks (e.g., selective attention and working memory) as outcomes. Across two experiments, we investigated effects of chewing gum on self‐reports of alertness and test performance following study of realistic educational materials. In Experiment 1 (n = 40), adult participants who chewed gum while studying a 20‐min physiology lesson outperformed a nonchewing condition on subsequent terminology and comprehension tests, but did not report higher levels of postlesson alertness as hypothesised. In Experiment 2 (n = 39), adult participants who chewed gum while studying a 9‐min lesson on a mental mathematics strategy outperformed a nonchewing condition on a subsequent problem‐solving test, whereas also reporting higher levels of postlesson alertness. The results provide initial support for chewing gum while studying realistic educational materials across a range of topics and study durations.
The intense selection of chickens for production traits (egg laying) is thought to cause undesirable side effects & changes in behavior due to trade-offs from energy expenditure; contrary to expectations, productive hens show increased cognitive skills
More Than Eggs – Relationship Between Productivity and Learning in Laying Hens. Anissa Dudde, E. Tobias Krause, Lindsay R. Matthews & Lars Schrader. Front. Psychol., October 26 2018, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02000
Abstract: The intense selection of chickens for production traits, such as egg laying, is thought to cause undesirable side effects and changes in behavior. Trade-offs resulting from energy expenditure in productivity may influence other traits: in order to sustain energetic costs for high egg production, energy expenditure may be redirected away from specific behavioral traits. For example, such energetic trade-offs may change the hens’ cognitive abilities. Therefore, we hypothesized highly productive laying hens to show reduced learning performance in comparison to moderate productive lines. We examined the learning ability of four chicken lines that differed in laying performance (200 versus 300 eggs/year) and phylogenetic origin (brown/white layer; respectively, within performance). In total 61 hens were tested in semi-automated Skinner boxes in a three-phase learning paradigm (initial learning, reversal learning, extinction). To measure the hens’ learning performance within each phase, we compared the number of active decisions needed to fulfill a learning criteria (80% correct choices for learning, 70% no responses at extinction) using linear models. Differences between the proportions of hens per line that reached criterion on each phase of the learning tasks were analyzed by using a Kaplan–Meier (KM) survival analysis. A greater proportion of high productive hens achieved the learning criteria on each phase compared to less productive hens (Chi23 = 8.25, p = 0.041). Furthermore, high productive hens accomplished the learning criteria after fewer active decisions in the initial phase (p = 0.012) and in extinction (p = 0.004) compared to the less selected lines. Phylogenetic origin was associated with differences in learning in extinction. Our results contradict our hypothesis and indicate that the selection for productivity traits has led to changes in learning behavior and the high productive laying hens possessed a better learning strategy compared to moderate productive hens in a feeding-rewarding context. This better performance may be a response to constraints resulting from high selection as it may enable these hens to efficiently acquire additional energy resources. Underlying mechanisms for this may be directly related to differences in neuronal structure or indirectly to foraging strategies and changes in personality traits such as fearfulness and sociality.
Abstract: The intense selection of chickens for production traits, such as egg laying, is thought to cause undesirable side effects and changes in behavior. Trade-offs resulting from energy expenditure in productivity may influence other traits: in order to sustain energetic costs for high egg production, energy expenditure may be redirected away from specific behavioral traits. For example, such energetic trade-offs may change the hens’ cognitive abilities. Therefore, we hypothesized highly productive laying hens to show reduced learning performance in comparison to moderate productive lines. We examined the learning ability of four chicken lines that differed in laying performance (200 versus 300 eggs/year) and phylogenetic origin (brown/white layer; respectively, within performance). In total 61 hens were tested in semi-automated Skinner boxes in a three-phase learning paradigm (initial learning, reversal learning, extinction). To measure the hens’ learning performance within each phase, we compared the number of active decisions needed to fulfill a learning criteria (80% correct choices for learning, 70% no responses at extinction) using linear models. Differences between the proportions of hens per line that reached criterion on each phase of the learning tasks were analyzed by using a Kaplan–Meier (KM) survival analysis. A greater proportion of high productive hens achieved the learning criteria on each phase compared to less productive hens (Chi23 = 8.25, p = 0.041). Furthermore, high productive hens accomplished the learning criteria after fewer active decisions in the initial phase (p = 0.012) and in extinction (p = 0.004) compared to the less selected lines. Phylogenetic origin was associated with differences in learning in extinction. Our results contradict our hypothesis and indicate that the selection for productivity traits has led to changes in learning behavior and the high productive laying hens possessed a better learning strategy compared to moderate productive hens in a feeding-rewarding context. This better performance may be a response to constraints resulting from high selection as it may enable these hens to efficiently acquire additional energy resources. Underlying mechanisms for this may be directly related to differences in neuronal structure or indirectly to foraging strategies and changes in personality traits such as fearfulness and sociality.
Thursday, October 25, 2018
Rolf Degen summarizing: Across cultures, women agreed about which male faces signalled a penchant for sexual unfaithfulness, but actual hit rate was low, indicating that potential cheaters evolved to hide their true nature
Impressions of sexual unfaithfulness and their accuracy show a degree of universality. Clare A. M. Sutherland et al. PLOS One, https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0205716
Abstract: Forming accurate impressions of others’ trustworthiness is a critical social skill, with faithfulness representing a key aspect of trust in sexual relationships. Interestingly, there is evidence for a small degree of accuracy in facial impressions of sexual unfaithfulness. Theoretical accounts suggest that these impressions may function to help with partner selection, and may be universal. If so, impressions should be similar for perceivers from different cultures and accuracy should not be limited to own-race faces. We tested these predictions by asking Caucasian and Asian women to judge the likelihood of unfaithfulness from the faces of Caucasian males whose past sexual history was known. In two studies we found high cross-cultural agreement in these impressions, consistent with universality in the impressions themselves. In Study 1, we found an other-race effect in impression accuracy, with significantly less accurate cross-race impressions by Asian women than own-race impressions by Caucasian women. Asian women showed no accuracy. Interestingly, in Study 2, Asian women who had grown up in the West showed small but significant accuracy in their impressions, with no other-race effect. Results are consistent with a degree of universality in the accuracy of this important aspect of social perception, provided that perceivers have experience with the faces being assessed.
Abstract: Forming accurate impressions of others’ trustworthiness is a critical social skill, with faithfulness representing a key aspect of trust in sexual relationships. Interestingly, there is evidence for a small degree of accuracy in facial impressions of sexual unfaithfulness. Theoretical accounts suggest that these impressions may function to help with partner selection, and may be universal. If so, impressions should be similar for perceivers from different cultures and accuracy should not be limited to own-race faces. We tested these predictions by asking Caucasian and Asian women to judge the likelihood of unfaithfulness from the faces of Caucasian males whose past sexual history was known. In two studies we found high cross-cultural agreement in these impressions, consistent with universality in the impressions themselves. In Study 1, we found an other-race effect in impression accuracy, with significantly less accurate cross-race impressions by Asian women than own-race impressions by Caucasian women. Asian women showed no accuracy. Interestingly, in Study 2, Asian women who had grown up in the West showed small but significant accuracy in their impressions, with no other-race effect. Results are consistent with a degree of universality in the accuracy of this important aspect of social perception, provided that perceivers have experience with the faces being assessed.
Ignorance of History and Perceptions of Racism: Another Look at the Marley Hypothesis
Ignorance of History and Perceptions of Racism: Another Look at the Marley Hypothesis. Jason E. Strickhouser, Ethan Zell, Kara E. Harris. Social Psychological and Personality Science, https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550618808863
Abstract: Why do White Americans perceive less racism than Black Americans? Two provocative studies on the Marley hypothesis suggest that White Americans are more ignorant of historical instances of racism than Black Americans and that ignorance of history mediates racial differences in perceptions of racism. We conducted two replications of the Marley hypothesis in a different institutional and regional context than prior studies. In contrast with prior findings, the difference between White and Black Americans knowledge of historical racism was not significant in either of our replications and was dramatically smaller than that obtained in prior studies. Thus, the present research failed to replicate the mediation effect found in prior studies. We discuss potential explanations for these discrepant findings (e.g., differences in institution and region) and call for additional research examining whether the Marley hypothesis is moderated by cultural contexts.
Keywords: social perception, racism, minority groups, intergroup relations, replication
Abstract: Why do White Americans perceive less racism than Black Americans? Two provocative studies on the Marley hypothesis suggest that White Americans are more ignorant of historical instances of racism than Black Americans and that ignorance of history mediates racial differences in perceptions of racism. We conducted two replications of the Marley hypothesis in a different institutional and regional context than prior studies. In contrast with prior findings, the difference between White and Black Americans knowledge of historical racism was not significant in either of our replications and was dramatically smaller than that obtained in prior studies. Thus, the present research failed to replicate the mediation effect found in prior studies. We discuss potential explanations for these discrepant findings (e.g., differences in institution and region) and call for additional research examining whether the Marley hypothesis is moderated by cultural contexts.
Keywords: social perception, racism, minority groups, intergroup relations, replication
The activity of midbrain dopamine neurons & mesolimbic dopamine levels are consistently modulated by anticipated future reward more strongly & consistently than effort, even after weighting reward & effort on behavior equally
What Is the Relationship between Dopamine and Effort? Mark E.Walton and Sebastien Bouret. Trends in Neurosciences, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2018.10.001
Highlights
* Compared to reward, effort remains poorly understood, both at the behavioral and neurophysiological levels.
* Dopamine has been proposed as central to effort-related decision making, but its role is not clearly defined.
* In fact, the activity of midbrain dopamine neurons and mesolimbic dopamine levels are consistently modulated by anticipated future reward more strongly and consistently than effort, even when the weight of reward and effort on behavior are equated.
* These signals may promote decisions to act based on the potential gain from a future reward.
Abstract: The trade-off between reward and effort is at the heart of most behavioral theories, from ecology to economics. Compared to reward, however, effort remains poorly understood, both at the behavioral and neurophysiological levels. This is important because unwillingness to overcome effort to gain reward is a common feature of many neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders. A recent surge in interest in the neurobiological basis of effort has led to seemingly conflicting results regarding the role of dopamine. We argue here that, upon closer examination, there is actually striking consensus across studies: dopamine primarily codes for future reward but is less sensitive to anticipated effort cost. This strong association between dopamine and the incentive effects of rewards places dopamine in a key position to promote reward-directed action.
Highlights
* Compared to reward, effort remains poorly understood, both at the behavioral and neurophysiological levels.
* Dopamine has been proposed as central to effort-related decision making, but its role is not clearly defined.
* In fact, the activity of midbrain dopamine neurons and mesolimbic dopamine levels are consistently modulated by anticipated future reward more strongly and consistently than effort, even when the weight of reward and effort on behavior are equated.
* These signals may promote decisions to act based on the potential gain from a future reward.
Abstract: The trade-off between reward and effort is at the heart of most behavioral theories, from ecology to economics. Compared to reward, however, effort remains poorly understood, both at the behavioral and neurophysiological levels. This is important because unwillingness to overcome effort to gain reward is a common feature of many neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders. A recent surge in interest in the neurobiological basis of effort has led to seemingly conflicting results regarding the role of dopamine. We argue here that, upon closer examination, there is actually striking consensus across studies: dopamine primarily codes for future reward but is less sensitive to anticipated effort cost. This strong association between dopamine and the incentive effects of rewards places dopamine in a key position to promote reward-directed action.
Competition- & mate-related cues & interactions rapidly increase testosterone; these increases map onto ongoing and future competitive and mate-seeking behaviours; testosterone administration rapidly modulates neural processing & behaviour
Human social neuroendocrinology: Review of the rapid effects of testosterone. Shawn N.Geniole, Justin M.Carré. Hormones and Behavior, Volume 104, August 2018, Pages 192-205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2018.06.001
Highlights
• We review human social neuroendocrinology studies involving testosterone.
• Competition- and mate-related cues and interactions rapidly increase testosterone.
• These increases map onto ongoing and future competitive and mate-seeking behaviours.
• Testosterone administration rapidly modulates neural processing and behaviour.
• We propose a new, integrative model: the Fitness Model of Testosterone Dynamics.
Abstract: It is well documented that testosterone concentrations change rapidly within reproductively relevant contexts (e.g., competition, mate-seeking). It has been argued that such rapid changes in testosterone may serve to adaptively fine-tune ongoing and/or future social behaviour according to one's social environment. In this paper, we review human correlational and experimental evidence suggesting that testosterone fluctuates rapidly in response to competition and mate-seeking cues, and that such acute changes may serve to modulate ongoing and/or future social behaviours (e.g., risk-taking, competitiveness, mate-seeking, and aggression). Some methodological details, which limit interpretation of some of this human work, are also discussed. We conclude with a new integrative model of testosterone secretion and behaviour, the Fitness Model of Testosterone Dynamics. Although we focus primarily on human aggression in this review, we also highlight research on risk-taking, competitiveness, and mate-seeking behaviour.
Highlights
• We review human social neuroendocrinology studies involving testosterone.
• Competition- and mate-related cues and interactions rapidly increase testosterone.
• These increases map onto ongoing and future competitive and mate-seeking behaviours.
• Testosterone administration rapidly modulates neural processing and behaviour.
• We propose a new, integrative model: the Fitness Model of Testosterone Dynamics.
Abstract: It is well documented that testosterone concentrations change rapidly within reproductively relevant contexts (e.g., competition, mate-seeking). It has been argued that such rapid changes in testosterone may serve to adaptively fine-tune ongoing and/or future social behaviour according to one's social environment. In this paper, we review human correlational and experimental evidence suggesting that testosterone fluctuates rapidly in response to competition and mate-seeking cues, and that such acute changes may serve to modulate ongoing and/or future social behaviours (e.g., risk-taking, competitiveness, mate-seeking, and aggression). Some methodological details, which limit interpretation of some of this human work, are also discussed. We conclude with a new integrative model of testosterone secretion and behaviour, the Fitness Model of Testosterone Dynamics. Although we focus primarily on human aggression in this review, we also highlight research on risk-taking, competitiveness, and mate-seeking behaviour.
The Moral Machine gathered 40 million decisions in ten languages from millions of people in 233 countries: Differences correlate with modern institutions and deep cultural traits
The Moral Machine experiment. Edmond Awad, Sohan Dsouza, Richard Kim, Jonathan Schulz, Joseph Henrich, Azim Shariff, Jean-François Bonnefon & Iyad Rahwan. Nature (2018), https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0637-6
Abstract: With the rapid development of artificial intelligence have come concerns about how machines will make moral decisions, and the major challenge of quantifying societal expectations about the ethical principles that should guide machine behaviour. To address this challenge, we deployed the Moral Machine, an online experimental platform designed to explore the moral dilemmas faced by autonomous vehicles. This platform gathered 40 million decisions in ten languages from millions of people in 233 countries and territories. Here we describe the results of this experiment. First, we summarize global moral preferences. Second, we document individual variations in preferences, based on respondents’ demographics. Third, we report cross-cultural ethical variation, and uncover three major clusters of countries. Fourth, we show that these differences correlate with modern institutions and deep cultural traits. We discuss how these preferences can contribute to developing global, socially acceptable principles for machine ethics. All data used in this article are publicly available.
Abstract: With the rapid development of artificial intelligence have come concerns about how machines will make moral decisions, and the major challenge of quantifying societal expectations about the ethical principles that should guide machine behaviour. To address this challenge, we deployed the Moral Machine, an online experimental platform designed to explore the moral dilemmas faced by autonomous vehicles. This platform gathered 40 million decisions in ten languages from millions of people in 233 countries and territories. Here we describe the results of this experiment. First, we summarize global moral preferences. Second, we document individual variations in preferences, based on respondents’ demographics. Third, we report cross-cultural ethical variation, and uncover three major clusters of countries. Fourth, we show that these differences correlate with modern institutions and deep cultural traits. We discuss how these preferences can contribute to developing global, socially acceptable principles for machine ethics. All data used in this article are publicly available.
Sex & the city. Are financial decisions driven by emotions? Our findings suggest that agents incorrectly attribute their good mood to positive economic perspectives rather than positive emotions
Sex & the city. Are financial decisions driven by emotions? Giampaolo Gabbi, Giovanna Zanotti. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbef.2018.10.005
Abstract: Although the role of irrationality in trading choices has been extensively discussed in the literature, individual incidental emotions have been neglected. We investigated emotional explanatory factors and trading choices in a sample of non-professional agents who managed a virtual financial positions pretending to be traders. Using a series of daily surveys over a five-week period as well as introductive inventory surveys, we constructed measures of core affect and emotions and correlated these with subjects’ financial choices. Our purpose is to test if the decision to buy or sell financial assets is affected by the emotional state of individuals, considering also gender clusters. A focus is on incidental emotions, detecting how positive emotions due to sexual activity may alter financial trading choices. Our findings suggest that agents incorrectly attribute their good mood to positive economic perspectives rather than positive emotions.
Abstract: Although the role of irrationality in trading choices has been extensively discussed in the literature, individual incidental emotions have been neglected. We investigated emotional explanatory factors and trading choices in a sample of non-professional agents who managed a virtual financial positions pretending to be traders. Using a series of daily surveys over a five-week period as well as introductive inventory surveys, we constructed measures of core affect and emotions and correlated these with subjects’ financial choices. Our purpose is to test if the decision to buy or sell financial assets is affected by the emotional state of individuals, considering also gender clusters. A focus is on incidental emotions, detecting how positive emotions due to sexual activity may alter financial trading choices. Our findings suggest that agents incorrectly attribute their good mood to positive economic perspectives rather than positive emotions.
Rodents' ultrasonic vocalizations are actively produced by both sexes during sexual interactions, contrary to earlier assumptions; male-typical and female-typical vocal behaviors can be identified
Vocal Signals of Sexual Motivation in Male and Female Rodents. Marcela Fernández-Vargas. Current Sexual Health Reports, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11930-018-0179-9
Abstract
Purpose of the Review: Rodents produce ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) under different social contexts, including courtship and reproduction. The present review aims to summarize the behavioral, bioacoustical, and physiological evidence that USV are reliable signals of sexual motivation in both male and female rodents.
Recent Findings: USV are actively produced by both sexes during sexual interactions, contrary to earlier assumptions. Male-typical and female-typical vocal behaviors can be identified. Calling rates and acoustic parameters, such as call duration, frequency, and energy, can be modulated rapidly over time by motivational state and sexual context. USV produced in response to sexual context could be regulated by the brain on a moment-to-moment basis through non-classical mechanisms of steroid action. Finally, I provide some practical considerations for the acoustic and statistical analyses of these vocal signals.
Summary: USV can be used as signals of sexual motivation in both sexes to study brain and hormonal mechanisms underlying sexual behavior or sexual differentiation.
Keywords: Ultrasonic vocalizations Sexual behavior Sexual motivation Sex steroids Bioacoustics Communication Nongenomic steroid action Rodents House mouse Rats Golden hamsters Syrian hamsters
Abstract
Purpose of the Review: Rodents produce ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) under different social contexts, including courtship and reproduction. The present review aims to summarize the behavioral, bioacoustical, and physiological evidence that USV are reliable signals of sexual motivation in both male and female rodents.
Recent Findings: USV are actively produced by both sexes during sexual interactions, contrary to earlier assumptions. Male-typical and female-typical vocal behaviors can be identified. Calling rates and acoustic parameters, such as call duration, frequency, and energy, can be modulated rapidly over time by motivational state and sexual context. USV produced in response to sexual context could be regulated by the brain on a moment-to-moment basis through non-classical mechanisms of steroid action. Finally, I provide some practical considerations for the acoustic and statistical analyses of these vocal signals.
Summary: USV can be used as signals of sexual motivation in both sexes to study brain and hormonal mechanisms underlying sexual behavior or sexual differentiation.
Keywords: Ultrasonic vocalizations Sexual behavior Sexual motivation Sex steroids Bioacoustics Communication Nongenomic steroid action Rodents House mouse Rats Golden hamsters Syrian hamsters
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
Despite their limited optical resolution, Drosophila melanogaster’s neuronal architecture has the capability to extract & encode a rich feature set that allows flies to re-identify individual conspecifics with surprising accuracy
Schneider J, Murali N, Taylor GW, Levine JD (2018) Can Drosophila melanogaster tell who’s who? PLoS ONE 13(10): e0205043. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0205043
Abstract: Drosophila melanogaster are known to live in a social but cryptic world of touch and odours, but the extent to which they can perceive and integrate static visual information is a hotly debated topic. Some researchers fixate on the limited resolution of D. melanogaster’s optics, others on their seemingly identical appearance; yet there is evidence of individual recognition and surprising visual learning in flies. Here, we apply machine learning and show that individual D. melanogaster are visually distinct. We also use the striking similarity of Drosophila’s visual system to current convolutional neural networks to theoretically investigate D. melanogaster’s capacity for visual understanding. We find that, despite their limited optical resolution, D. melanogaster’s neuronal architecture has the capability to extract and encode a rich feature set that allows flies to re-identify individual conspecifics with surprising accuracy. These experiments provide a proof of principle that Drosophila inhabit a much more complex visual world than previously appreciated.
Abstract: Drosophila melanogaster are known to live in a social but cryptic world of touch and odours, but the extent to which they can perceive and integrate static visual information is a hotly debated topic. Some researchers fixate on the limited resolution of D. melanogaster’s optics, others on their seemingly identical appearance; yet there is evidence of individual recognition and surprising visual learning in flies. Here, we apply machine learning and show that individual D. melanogaster are visually distinct. We also use the striking similarity of Drosophila’s visual system to current convolutional neural networks to theoretically investigate D. melanogaster’s capacity for visual understanding. We find that, despite their limited optical resolution, D. melanogaster’s neuronal architecture has the capability to extract and encode a rich feature set that allows flies to re-identify individual conspecifics with surprising accuracy. These experiments provide a proof of principle that Drosophila inhabit a much more complex visual world than previously appreciated.
Voters appear to be sorting on non-political neighborhood attributes that covary with partisan preferences rather than explicitly seeking politically congruent neighbors; location must have some influence on political preference, rather than the other way around
Does residential sorting explain geographic polarization? Gregory J. Martin & Steven W. Webster. Political Science Research and Methods, https://doi.org/10.1017/psrm.2018.44
Abstract: Political preferences in the United States are highly correlated with population density, at national, state, and metropolitan-area scales. Using new data from voter registration records, we assess the extent to which this pattern can be explained by geographic mobility. We find that the revealed preferences of voters who move from one residence to another correlate with partisan affiliation, though voters appear to be sorting on non-political neighborhood attributes that covary with partisan preferences rather than explicitly seeking politically congruent neighbors. But, critically, we demonstrate through a simulation study that the estimated partisan bias in moving choices is on the order of five times too small to sustain the current geographic polarization of preferences. We conclude that location must have some influence on political preference, rather than the other way around, and provide evidence in support of this theory.
Abstract: Political preferences in the United States are highly correlated with population density, at national, state, and metropolitan-area scales. Using new data from voter registration records, we assess the extent to which this pattern can be explained by geographic mobility. We find that the revealed preferences of voters who move from one residence to another correlate with partisan affiliation, though voters appear to be sorting on non-political neighborhood attributes that covary with partisan preferences rather than explicitly seeking politically congruent neighbors. But, critically, we demonstrate through a simulation study that the estimated partisan bias in moving choices is on the order of five times too small to sustain the current geographic polarization of preferences. We conclude that location must have some influence on political preference, rather than the other way around, and provide evidence in support of this theory.
Jackdaws delayed longest in entering their nest-box after encountering a stimulus that should not move independently, suggesting they recognized the movement as unexpected
Wild jackdaws are wary of objects that violate expectations of animacy. Alison L. Greggor, Guillam E. McIvor, Nicola S. Clayton, Alex Thornton. Royal Society Open Science, DOI: 10.1098/rsos.181070
Abstract: Nature is composed of self-propelled, animate agents and inanimate objects. Laboratory studies have shown that human infants and a few species discriminate between animate and inanimate objects. This ability is assumed to have evolved to support social cognition and filial imprinting, but its ecological role for wild animals has never been examined. An alternative, functional explanation is that discriminating stimuli based on their potential for animacy helps animals distinguish between harmless and threatening stimuli. Using remote-controlled experimental stimulus presentations, we tested if wild jackdaws (Corvus monedula) respond fearfully to stimuli that violate expectations for movement. Breeding pairs (N = 27) were presented at their nests with moving and non-moving models of ecologically relevant stimuli (birds, snakes and sticks) that differed in threat level and propensity for independent motion. Jackdaws were startled by movement regardless of stimulus type and produced more alarm calls when faced with animate objects. However, they delayed longest in entering their nest-box after encountering a stimulus that should not move independently, suggesting they recognized the movement as unexpected. How jackdaws develop expectations about object movement is not clear, but our results suggest that discriminating between animate and inanimate stimuli may trigger information gathering about potential threats.
Abstract: Nature is composed of self-propelled, animate agents and inanimate objects. Laboratory studies have shown that human infants and a few species discriminate between animate and inanimate objects. This ability is assumed to have evolved to support social cognition and filial imprinting, but its ecological role for wild animals has never been examined. An alternative, functional explanation is that discriminating stimuli based on their potential for animacy helps animals distinguish between harmless and threatening stimuli. Using remote-controlled experimental stimulus presentations, we tested if wild jackdaws (Corvus monedula) respond fearfully to stimuli that violate expectations for movement. Breeding pairs (N = 27) were presented at their nests with moving and non-moving models of ecologically relevant stimuli (birds, snakes and sticks) that differed in threat level and propensity for independent motion. Jackdaws were startled by movement regardless of stimulus type and produced more alarm calls when faced with animate objects. However, they delayed longest in entering their nest-box after encountering a stimulus that should not move independently, suggesting they recognized the movement as unexpected. How jackdaws develop expectations about object movement is not clear, but our results suggest that discriminating between animate and inanimate stimuli may trigger information gathering about potential threats.
Canada: Secularized women are found to have lower fertility rates compared with the actively religious; the strictly seculars, a proxy identifier for the atheists, have the lowest fertility & the highest likelihood of remaining childless
Religiosity, Secularity and Fertility in Canada. Maryam Dilmaghani. European Journal of Population, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10680-018-9487-z
Abstract: Using several cycles of the Canadian General Social Survey covering cohorts born from the early 1900s onwards, this paper examines how religiosity and secularity associate with fertility in Canada. The analysis shows that among multiple dimensions of religiosity, religious attendance is the strongest predictor of higher fertility in the country. For the latest cycle conducted in 2011, three mutually exclusive groups of secularized women are compared with the actively religious in their fertility behaviour and intentions. All these secularized women are found to have lower fertility rates compared with the actively religious. Among them, the strictly seculars, a proxy identifier for the atheists, have the lowest fertility and the highest likelihood of remaining childless. Various implications are discussed.
Keywords: Fertility, Religiosity, Secularity, Canada
Abstract: Using several cycles of the Canadian General Social Survey covering cohorts born from the early 1900s onwards, this paper examines how religiosity and secularity associate with fertility in Canada. The analysis shows that among multiple dimensions of religiosity, religious attendance is the strongest predictor of higher fertility in the country. For the latest cycle conducted in 2011, three mutually exclusive groups of secularized women are compared with the actively religious in their fertility behaviour and intentions. All these secularized women are found to have lower fertility rates compared with the actively religious. Among them, the strictly seculars, a proxy identifier for the atheists, have the lowest fertility and the highest likelihood of remaining childless. Various implications are discussed.
Keywords: Fertility, Religiosity, Secularity, Canada
The experience of a childhood trauma increases a person’s ability to take the perspective of another and to understand their mental and emotional states, & this impact is long-standing
Elevated empathy in adults following childhood trauma. David M. Greenberg et al. PLOS One, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0203886
Abstract: Traumatic events increase the risk of depression, but there is also evidence that adversity can lead to posttraumatic growth, including increased compassion and prosocial behavior. To date there is no empirical research pinpointing childhood trauma to an increase in trait empathy in adulthood. Although somewhat counter-intuitive, this might be predicted if trauma not only increases fear of future threat but also renders the individual more sensitive to suffering in others. We explored this possible link using multiple studies, self-report measures, and non-clinical samples. Results across samples and measures showed that, on average, adults who reported experiencing a traumatic event in childhood had elevated empathy levels compared to adults who did not experience a traumatic event. Further, the severity of the trauma correlated positively with various components of empathy. These findings suggest that the experience of a childhood trauma increases a person’s ability to take the perspective of another and to understand their mental and emotional states, and that this impact is long-standing. Future research needs to test if this is seen on performance measures, and how these findings extend to clinical populations.
Abstract: Traumatic events increase the risk of depression, but there is also evidence that adversity can lead to posttraumatic growth, including increased compassion and prosocial behavior. To date there is no empirical research pinpointing childhood trauma to an increase in trait empathy in adulthood. Although somewhat counter-intuitive, this might be predicted if trauma not only increases fear of future threat but also renders the individual more sensitive to suffering in others. We explored this possible link using multiple studies, self-report measures, and non-clinical samples. Results across samples and measures showed that, on average, adults who reported experiencing a traumatic event in childhood had elevated empathy levels compared to adults who did not experience a traumatic event. Further, the severity of the trauma correlated positively with various components of empathy. These findings suggest that the experience of a childhood trauma increases a person’s ability to take the perspective of another and to understand their mental and emotional states, and that this impact is long-standing. Future research needs to test if this is seen on performance measures, and how these findings extend to clinical populations.
Abstinence from social media increased time spent engaged in browsing the Internet, working, childcare, and cooking/cleaning; time in social media was negatively associated with quality of day
Where does the time go? An experimental test of what social media displaces and displaced activities’ associations with affective well-being and quality of day. Jeffrey A Hall, Rebecca M Johnson, Elaina M Ross .New Media & Society, https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444818804775
Abstract: Drawing from media displacement theory, this article explores which activities are displaced when individuals spend time on social media. Community and undergraduate participants (N = 135) were randomly assigned to five conditions: no change in social media use, or abstinence from social media for 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, or 4 weeks. Participants completed a daily diary measuring how they spent time each day, affective well-being, and quality of day for 28 days. The results indicate that abstinence from social media increased time spent engaged in seven activities, primarily browsing the Internet, working, childcare, and cooking/cleaning. In addition, associations among psychosocial outcomes and the displaced activities were examined. Time spent working, sleeping, and cooking/cleaning were negatively associated with affective well-being and quality of day. On days participants used social media, minutes of use were negatively associated with quality of day. The results suggest that social media primarily displaces unpleasant or neutral activities.
Keywords: Diary study, media displacement, social media use, time, well-being
Abstract: Drawing from media displacement theory, this article explores which activities are displaced when individuals spend time on social media. Community and undergraduate participants (N = 135) were randomly assigned to five conditions: no change in social media use, or abstinence from social media for 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, or 4 weeks. Participants completed a daily diary measuring how they spent time each day, affective well-being, and quality of day for 28 days. The results indicate that abstinence from social media increased time spent engaged in seven activities, primarily browsing the Internet, working, childcare, and cooking/cleaning. In addition, associations among psychosocial outcomes and the displaced activities were examined. Time spent working, sleeping, and cooking/cleaning were negatively associated with affective well-being and quality of day. On days participants used social media, minutes of use were negatively associated with quality of day. The results suggest that social media primarily displaces unpleasant or neutral activities.
Keywords: Diary study, media displacement, social media use, time, well-being
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
Local Competition Amplifies the Corrosive Effects of Inequality: Inequality is at its most damaging when it arises between close competitors
Local Competition Amplifies the Corrosive Effects of Inequality. D. B. Krupp, Thomas R. Cook. Psychological Science, https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797617748419
Abstract: Inequality is widely believed to incite conflict, but the evidence is inconsistent. We argue that the spatial scale of competition—the extent to which individuals compete locally, with their interaction partners, or globally, with the entire population—can help settle the question. We built a mathematical model of the evolution of conflict under inequality and tested its predictions in an experimental game with 1,205 participants. We found that inequality increases conflict, destroys wealth, and engenders risk taking. Crucially, these effects are amplified by local competition. Thus, inequality is at its most damaging when it arises between close competitors. Indeed, at the extremes, the combined effects of inequality and the scale of competition are very large. More broadly, our findings suggest that disagreements in the literature may be the result of a mismatch between the scale at which inequality is measured and the scale at which conflict occurs.
Keywords: inequality, scale of competition, conflict, relative deprivation, tragedy of the commons, risk taking, open data, open materials, preregistered
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Mainstream media, same author: https://aeon.co/ideas/kill-the-competition-why-siblings-fight-but-colleagues-cooperate (h/t alert reader)
Abstract: Inequality is widely believed to incite conflict, but the evidence is inconsistent. We argue that the spatial scale of competition—the extent to which individuals compete locally, with their interaction partners, or globally, with the entire population—can help settle the question. We built a mathematical model of the evolution of conflict under inequality and tested its predictions in an experimental game with 1,205 participants. We found that inequality increases conflict, destroys wealth, and engenders risk taking. Crucially, these effects are amplified by local competition. Thus, inequality is at its most damaging when it arises between close competitors. Indeed, at the extremes, the combined effects of inequality and the scale of competition are very large. More broadly, our findings suggest that disagreements in the literature may be the result of a mismatch between the scale at which inequality is measured and the scale at which conflict occurs.
Keywords: inequality, scale of competition, conflict, relative deprivation, tragedy of the commons, risk taking, open data, open materials, preregistered
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Mainstream media, same author: https://aeon.co/ideas/kill-the-competition-why-siblings-fight-but-colleagues-cooperate (h/t alert reader)
Academic gains of students enrolled in public schools compared to students of private BIP-creativity elementary schools (that aim to promote the development of talent, intelligence & personality): no differences at the end of fourth grade
Who is ahead at the end of elementary school? Student achievement gains in private BIP-Creativity schools and public schools. Frank Lipowsky et al. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, October 2018, Volume 21, Issue 5, pp 897–927. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11618-018-0807-1
Abstract: The number of students enrolled in private schools has been growing continuously in the past years, especially in elementary schools. There is a variety of reasons for this development. Among other expectations, parents anticipate a superior education for their children and hope for bigger academic success. However, empirical results on the effectiveness of private schools are inconsistent and ambiguous, partly because many studies used cross-sectional data. Longitudinal studies investigating the development of elementary school students are especially lacking.
The present study compares academic achievement gains of students enrolled in public schools to students who learned in the so-called BIP-creativity elementary schools. BIP schools are private schools that aim to promote the development of the talent, intelligence and personality of their students. This study investigates the development of students in mathematics, reading and orthography over a 4-years period.
As the group of BIP-students is selected in terms of their socio-economic background, analyses were run in two ways. First, multilevel analyses controlling for student and class characteristics were performed. Second, a Propensity Score Matching based on school enrollment data was used in order to select a comparable group of students from public schools. Each BIP-student was matched to a student from the public schools that had a comparable socio-economic background and similar cognitive characteristics. Neither multilevel analyses nor mean comparisons of the matched samples could reveal any differences between the two groups of students in the three domains of academic achievement at the end of fourth grade.
Keywords: BIP-creativity schools Elementary school Private school Public school Propensity Score Matching
Abstract: The number of students enrolled in private schools has been growing continuously in the past years, especially in elementary schools. There is a variety of reasons for this development. Among other expectations, parents anticipate a superior education for their children and hope for bigger academic success. However, empirical results on the effectiveness of private schools are inconsistent and ambiguous, partly because many studies used cross-sectional data. Longitudinal studies investigating the development of elementary school students are especially lacking.
The present study compares academic achievement gains of students enrolled in public schools to students who learned in the so-called BIP-creativity elementary schools. BIP schools are private schools that aim to promote the development of the talent, intelligence and personality of their students. This study investigates the development of students in mathematics, reading and orthography over a 4-years period.
As the group of BIP-students is selected in terms of their socio-economic background, analyses were run in two ways. First, multilevel analyses controlling for student and class characteristics were performed. Second, a Propensity Score Matching based on school enrollment data was used in order to select a comparable group of students from public schools. Each BIP-student was matched to a student from the public schools that had a comparable socio-economic background and similar cognitive characteristics. Neither multilevel analyses nor mean comparisons of the matched samples could reveal any differences between the two groups of students in the three domains of academic achievement at the end of fourth grade.
Keywords: BIP-creativity schools Elementary school Private school Public school Propensity Score Matching
The Heritability of Self-control: Meta-analysis based on a sample size of >100.000 individuals, published between 1996 and 2018, reveal that heritability is around 60%
Willems, Yayouk, Nicky Boesen, Jian-Bin Li, Meike Bartels, and Catrin Finkenauer. 2018. “The Heritability of Self-control: A Meta-analysis.” PsyArXiv. October 17. doi:10.31234/osf.io/eaz3d
Abstract: Self-control is the ability to control one’s impulses when faced with challenges or temptations, and is robustly associated with physiological and psychological well-being. Twin studies show that self-control is heritable, but estimates range between 0% and 90%, making it difficult to draw firm conclusions. The aim of this study was to perform a meta-analysis to provide a quantitative overview of the heritability of self-control. A systematic search resulted in 31 included studies, based on a sample size of >100.000 individuals, published between 1996 and 2018. Our results revealed an overall monozygotic twin correlation of .58, and an overall dizygotic twin correlation of .28, resulting in a heritability estimate of 60%. The heritability of self-control did not vary across gender or age. The heritability did differ across informants, with stronger heritability estimates based on parent report versus self-report or observations. This finding provides evidence that when aiming to understand individual differences in self-control, one should take genetic factors into account. Recommendations for future research are discussed.
Abstract: Self-control is the ability to control one’s impulses when faced with challenges or temptations, and is robustly associated with physiological and psychological well-being. Twin studies show that self-control is heritable, but estimates range between 0% and 90%, making it difficult to draw firm conclusions. The aim of this study was to perform a meta-analysis to provide a quantitative overview of the heritability of self-control. A systematic search resulted in 31 included studies, based on a sample size of >100.000 individuals, published between 1996 and 2018. Our results revealed an overall monozygotic twin correlation of .58, and an overall dizygotic twin correlation of .28, resulting in a heritability estimate of 60%. The heritability of self-control did not vary across gender or age. The heritability did differ across informants, with stronger heritability estimates based on parent report versus self-report or observations. This finding provides evidence that when aiming to understand individual differences in self-control, one should take genetic factors into account. Recommendations for future research are discussed.
Vegetarians reported lower self-esteem, lower psychological adjustment, less meaning in life, & more negative moods than semi-vegetarians & omnivores; also reported more negative social experiences than omnivores & semi-vegetarians
Relationships between Vegetarian Dietary Habits and Daily Well-Being. John B. Nezlek, Catherine A. Forestell & David B. Newman. Ecology of Food and Nutrition, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03670244.2018.1536657
ABSTRACT: The goal of the present study was to examine differences in the daily experiences of vegetarians and non-vegetarians. At the end of each day for two weeks, a convenience sample of American undergraduates described how they felt and how they thought about themselves that day, and they described the events that occurred to them that day. Multilevel modeling analyses (days nested within persons) found that vegetarians (individuals who avoided all meat and fish, n = 24) reported lower self-esteem, lower psychological adjustment, less meaning in life, and more negative moods than semi-vegetarians (individuals who ate some meat and/or fish, n = 56) and omnivores (individuals who did not restrict their intake of meat or fish, n = 323). Vegetarians also reported more negative social experiences than omnivores and semi-vegetarians. Although women were more likely than men to identify as vegetarians and semi-vegetarians, controlling for participant gender did not change the results of the analyses. The differences we found are consistent with other research that suggests that vegetarians are less psychologically well-adjusted than non-vegetarians. The implications of the present results for understanding relationships between dietary habits and well-being are discussed.
KEYWORDS: Daily diary, vegetarianism, well-being
ABSTRACT: The goal of the present study was to examine differences in the daily experiences of vegetarians and non-vegetarians. At the end of each day for two weeks, a convenience sample of American undergraduates described how they felt and how they thought about themselves that day, and they described the events that occurred to them that day. Multilevel modeling analyses (days nested within persons) found that vegetarians (individuals who avoided all meat and fish, n = 24) reported lower self-esteem, lower psychological adjustment, less meaning in life, and more negative moods than semi-vegetarians (individuals who ate some meat and/or fish, n = 56) and omnivores (individuals who did not restrict their intake of meat or fish, n = 323). Vegetarians also reported more negative social experiences than omnivores and semi-vegetarians. Although women were more likely than men to identify as vegetarians and semi-vegetarians, controlling for participant gender did not change the results of the analyses. The differences we found are consistent with other research that suggests that vegetarians are less psychologically well-adjusted than non-vegetarians. The implications of the present results for understanding relationships between dietary habits and well-being are discussed.
KEYWORDS: Daily diary, vegetarianism, well-being
The five stages in coping with dying & bereavement does not measure up to the standards of a sound theory in contemporary thinking, can actually do damage when misapplied or applied too rigidly, & should be set aside
The ‘five stages’ in coping with dying and bereavement: strengths, weaknesses and some alternatives. Charles A. Corr. Mortality, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13576275.2018.1527826
ABSTRACT: This article offers a reflective analysis of one well-known psychological theory, the so-called ‘five stages’ in coping with dying and coping with bereavement. Despite widespread acceptance among the general public and continued presence in some forms of professional education, it is argued that the ‘five stages’ model is less attractive than it initially appears. Significant criticisms of the theory are set forth here, as well as notable strengths of its underlying foundations. Lessons to learn about this theory are offered in terms of both coping with dying and coping with bereavement. In addition, examples of alternative theories from the literature are presented in both spheres. The conclusion is that although the five stages model is important as a classical theory with constructive historical implications, it does not measure up to the standards of a sound theory in contemporary thinking, can actually do damage when misapplied to individuals or applied too rigidly, and should be set aside as an unreliable guide to both education and practice.
KEYWORDS: Five stages, Kübler-Ross, coping, dying, bereavement
---
Carl Jung (1954, p. 7) once offered the following comment:
Theories in psychology are the very devil. It is true that we need certain points of view for their orienting and heuristic value; but they should always be regarded as mere auxiliary concepts that can be laid aside at any time.
[...]
In her book, On Death and Dying (1969), Elisabeth Kübler-Ross reported that a series of interviews with adults who had a terminal illness had led her to formulate a theoretical model of five psychosocial stages (see Table 1). She interpreted these stages as ‘defense mechanisms’ that ‘will last for different periods of time and will replace each other or exist at times side by side’ (p. 138). The possibility of stages existing simultaneously or ‘side by side’ was not well developed, perhaps because the very word ‘stage’ suggests linearity and perhaps also because there was some ambiguity in the way individuals were portrayed in this model. Were the stages descriptive or prescriptive? Was it that individuals might, may, will or must move through the five stages?
There can be no doubt that Kübler-Ross’s five stages appealed to many who read about or heard of this model. Her work helped to bring the situation of dying persons and issues involved in coping with dying to public and professional attention. She drew attention to the human aspects of living with dying and her model identified common patterns of familiar psychosocial reactions to difficult situations.
There are, however, major difficulties in accepting the five stage model as it was originally presented. Early research by others (e.g. Metzger, 1980; Schulz & Aderman, 1974) did not support this model. In addition, since its initial appearance in 1969, there has been no independent confirmation of its validity or reliability, and Kübler-Ross advanced no further evidence on its behalf before her death in August 2004. On the contrary, many clinicians who work with the dying found this model to be inadequate, superficial, and misleading (e.g. Pattison, 1977; Shneidman, 1980/1995; Weisman, 1977).
[Table 1.]
Responding to past and present losses
Anticipating and responding to losses yet to come Described as a stage ‘almost void of feelings’ Source: Based on Kübler-Ross (1969). Widespread acclaim in the popular arena contrasts with sharp criticism from scholars (e.g. Klass, 1982; Klass & Hutch, 1986), and there is no evidence that this model is employed in contemporary hospice programmes that have caring for the dying as their primary focus. One detailed and authoritative evaluation of this stage-based model by a well-known psychologist raised the following points: (1) the existence of these stages as such as not been demonstrated; (2) no evidence has been presented that people actually do move from stage 1 through stage 3; (3) the limitations of the method have not been acknowledge; (4) the line is blurred between description and prescription; (5) the totality of the person’slifeis neglected in favour of the supposed stages of dying; and (6) the resources, pressures and characteristics of the immediate environment, which can make a tremendous difference, are not taken into account (Kastenbaum, 2012). In addition, Weisman (1972) pointed out that ‘denial’ and ‘acceptance’ arethemselves complex and not as simple as they first appea r(and, one might add that ‘depression’ must mean something more akin to ‘sadness’ than to ‘clinical depression’ unless we think that this stage in coping with dying reflects a major psychiatric disorder).
Apart from the implication that there are only five ways to cope with dying, a primary criticism of this model is that there is no reason to think that these particular five ways are linked together as stages in a larger process (Corr, 1993, 2011). In fact, Kübler-Ross herself argued for fluidity, give-and-take, the possibility of experiencing two of these responses simultaneously, and an ability to jump around from one stage to another. This is more realistic and closer to what Shneidman (1973,p.7)calleda‘hive of affect’,i.e.abusy, buzzing, active set of feelings, attitudes and other reactions to which a person can return from time to time, or again and again, now expressing one posture, now another, sometimes simultaneously, sometimes repeatedly, sometimes with long intervals in between. If so, the language of ‘stages’, with its associated implications of linear progression/regression, is not really appropriate for a cluster of disconnected coping strategies. Numerous vignettes in On Death and Dying that describe different individuals experiencing different reactions and responses to life-threatening illness do not support claims that any one of these individuals has or will move through all five of the ‘stages’. This stage theory is attractive because it seems to describe a relatively simple, straight-lined, predictable course of behaviour, one culminating in a clear end –but that does not mean the fivestage model is a sound theory.
Unfortunately, some enthusiasts have misused this model by objectifying dying persons as a ‘case of anger’ or a ‘case of depression’; others have told ill persons that they have already been angry and should now ‘move on’ to bargaining or depression; and still others have become frustrated by those whom they view as ‘stuck’ in the dying process. Kübler-Ross could have modified her theory after its initial presentation. She might not have contented herself with simply repeating its main elements in her many presentations and other publications. And she might have addressed criticisms or misuses of the fivestage model. But she did none of these things. As she left it, the five-stage model stands on nothing more than one author’s clinical impressions from 50-year-old interviews. Unfortunately, the result (contrary to Jung’s advice) is that employing this model all too often tends to force those who are coping with dying into a pre-established framework that suppresses their individuality. Thus, Rosenthal (1973, p. 39), as he was coping with his own dying, wrote, ‘Being invisible I invite only generalizations’.
ABSTRACT: This article offers a reflective analysis of one well-known psychological theory, the so-called ‘five stages’ in coping with dying and coping with bereavement. Despite widespread acceptance among the general public and continued presence in some forms of professional education, it is argued that the ‘five stages’ model is less attractive than it initially appears. Significant criticisms of the theory are set forth here, as well as notable strengths of its underlying foundations. Lessons to learn about this theory are offered in terms of both coping with dying and coping with bereavement. In addition, examples of alternative theories from the literature are presented in both spheres. The conclusion is that although the five stages model is important as a classical theory with constructive historical implications, it does not measure up to the standards of a sound theory in contemporary thinking, can actually do damage when misapplied to individuals or applied too rigidly, and should be set aside as an unreliable guide to both education and practice.
KEYWORDS: Five stages, Kübler-Ross, coping, dying, bereavement
---
Carl Jung (1954, p. 7) once offered the following comment:
Theories in psychology are the very devil. It is true that we need certain points of view for their orienting and heuristic value; but they should always be regarded as mere auxiliary concepts that can be laid aside at any time.
[...]
In her book, On Death and Dying (1969), Elisabeth Kübler-Ross reported that a series of interviews with adults who had a terminal illness had led her to formulate a theoretical model of five psychosocial stages (see Table 1). She interpreted these stages as ‘defense mechanisms’ that ‘will last for different periods of time and will replace each other or exist at times side by side’ (p. 138). The possibility of stages existing simultaneously or ‘side by side’ was not well developed, perhaps because the very word ‘stage’ suggests linearity and perhaps also because there was some ambiguity in the way individuals were portrayed in this model. Were the stages descriptive or prescriptive? Was it that individuals might, may, will or must move through the five stages?
There can be no doubt that Kübler-Ross’s five stages appealed to many who read about or heard of this model. Her work helped to bring the situation of dying persons and issues involved in coping with dying to public and professional attention. She drew attention to the human aspects of living with dying and her model identified common patterns of familiar psychosocial reactions to difficult situations.
There are, however, major difficulties in accepting the five stage model as it was originally presented. Early research by others (e.g. Metzger, 1980; Schulz & Aderman, 1974) did not support this model. In addition, since its initial appearance in 1969, there has been no independent confirmation of its validity or reliability, and Kübler-Ross advanced no further evidence on its behalf before her death in August 2004. On the contrary, many clinicians who work with the dying found this model to be inadequate, superficial, and misleading (e.g. Pattison, 1977; Shneidman, 1980/1995; Weisman, 1977).
[Table 1.]
Responding to past and present losses
Anticipating and responding to losses yet to come Described as a stage ‘almost void of feelings’ Source: Based on Kübler-Ross (1969). Widespread acclaim in the popular arena contrasts with sharp criticism from scholars (e.g. Klass, 1982; Klass & Hutch, 1986), and there is no evidence that this model is employed in contemporary hospice programmes that have caring for the dying as their primary focus. One detailed and authoritative evaluation of this stage-based model by a well-known psychologist raised the following points: (1) the existence of these stages as such as not been demonstrated; (2) no evidence has been presented that people actually do move from stage 1 through stage 3; (3) the limitations of the method have not been acknowledge; (4) the line is blurred between description and prescription; (5) the totality of the person’slifeis neglected in favour of the supposed stages of dying; and (6) the resources, pressures and characteristics of the immediate environment, which can make a tremendous difference, are not taken into account (Kastenbaum, 2012). In addition, Weisman (1972) pointed out that ‘denial’ and ‘acceptance’ arethemselves complex and not as simple as they first appea r(and, one might add that ‘depression’ must mean something more akin to ‘sadness’ than to ‘clinical depression’ unless we think that this stage in coping with dying reflects a major psychiatric disorder).
Apart from the implication that there are only five ways to cope with dying, a primary criticism of this model is that there is no reason to think that these particular five ways are linked together as stages in a larger process (Corr, 1993, 2011). In fact, Kübler-Ross herself argued for fluidity, give-and-take, the possibility of experiencing two of these responses simultaneously, and an ability to jump around from one stage to another. This is more realistic and closer to what Shneidman (1973,p.7)calleda‘hive of affect’,i.e.abusy, buzzing, active set of feelings, attitudes and other reactions to which a person can return from time to time, or again and again, now expressing one posture, now another, sometimes simultaneously, sometimes repeatedly, sometimes with long intervals in between. If so, the language of ‘stages’, with its associated implications of linear progression/regression, is not really appropriate for a cluster of disconnected coping strategies. Numerous vignettes in On Death and Dying that describe different individuals experiencing different reactions and responses to life-threatening illness do not support claims that any one of these individuals has or will move through all five of the ‘stages’. This stage theory is attractive because it seems to describe a relatively simple, straight-lined, predictable course of behaviour, one culminating in a clear end –but that does not mean the fivestage model is a sound theory.
Unfortunately, some enthusiasts have misused this model by objectifying dying persons as a ‘case of anger’ or a ‘case of depression’; others have told ill persons that they have already been angry and should now ‘move on’ to bargaining or depression; and still others have become frustrated by those whom they view as ‘stuck’ in the dying process. Kübler-Ross could have modified her theory after its initial presentation. She might not have contented herself with simply repeating its main elements in her many presentations and other publications. And she might have addressed criticisms or misuses of the fivestage model. But she did none of these things. As she left it, the five-stage model stands on nothing more than one author’s clinical impressions from 50-year-old interviews. Unfortunately, the result (contrary to Jung’s advice) is that employing this model all too often tends to force those who are coping with dying into a pre-established framework that suppresses their individuality. Thus, Rosenthal (1973, p. 39), as he was coping with his own dying, wrote, ‘Being invisible I invite only generalizations’.
Longevity might increase together with numbers of cortical neurons through their impact on three main factors: delay of sexual maturity, which postpones the onset of aging; lengthening of
Longevity and sexual maturity vary across species with number of cortical neurons, and humans are no exception. Suzana Herculano‐Houzel. Journal of Comparative Neurology, https://doi.org/10.1002/cne.24564
Abstract: Maximal longevity of endotherms has long been considered to increase with decreasing specific metabolic rate, and thus with increasing body mass. Using a dataset of over 700 species, here I show that maximal longevity, age at sexual maturity and post‐maturity longevity across bird and mammalian species instead correlate primarily, and universally, with the number of cortical brain neurons. Correlations with metabolic rate and body mass are entirely explained by clade‐specific relationships between these variables and numbers of cortical neurons across species. Importantly, humans reach sexual maturity and subsequently live just as long as expected for their number of cortical neurons, which eliminates the basis for earlier theories of protracted childhood and prolonged post‐menopause longevity as derived human characteristics. Longevity might increase together with numbers of cortical neurons through their impact on three main factors: delay of sexual maturity, which postpones the onset of aging; lengthening of the period of viable physiological integration and adaptation, which increases post‐maturity longevity; and improved cognitive capabilities that benefit survival of the self and of longer‐lived progeny, and are conducive to prolonged learning and cultural transmission through increased generational overlap. Importantly, the findings indicate that theories of aging and neurodegenerative diseases should take absolute time lived besides relative “age” into consideration.
Abstract: Maximal longevity of endotherms has long been considered to increase with decreasing specific metabolic rate, and thus with increasing body mass. Using a dataset of over 700 species, here I show that maximal longevity, age at sexual maturity and post‐maturity longevity across bird and mammalian species instead correlate primarily, and universally, with the number of cortical brain neurons. Correlations with metabolic rate and body mass are entirely explained by clade‐specific relationships between these variables and numbers of cortical neurons across species. Importantly, humans reach sexual maturity and subsequently live just as long as expected for their number of cortical neurons, which eliminates the basis for earlier theories of protracted childhood and prolonged post‐menopause longevity as derived human characteristics. Longevity might increase together with numbers of cortical neurons through their impact on three main factors: delay of sexual maturity, which postpones the onset of aging; lengthening of the period of viable physiological integration and adaptation, which increases post‐maturity longevity; and improved cognitive capabilities that benefit survival of the self and of longer‐lived progeny, and are conducive to prolonged learning and cultural transmission through increased generational overlap. Importantly, the findings indicate that theories of aging and neurodegenerative diseases should take absolute time lived besides relative “age” into consideration.
Early humans, rather than being "killer apes” in the Pleistocene and early Holocene, lived as relatively peaceful hunter-gathers for some 15,000 generations, from the emergence of modern Homo sapiens up until the invention of agriculture
Hunter-Gatherers and Human Evolution: New Light on Old Debates. Richard B. Lee. Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 47:513-531 (Volume publication date October 2018), https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-anthro-102116-041448
Abstract: One of the most persistent debates in anthropology and related disciplines has been over the relative weight of aggression and competition versus nonaggression and cooperation as drivers of human behavioral evolution. The literature on hunting and gathering societies—past and present—has played a prominent role in these debates. This review compares recent literature from both sides of the argument and evaluates how accurately various authors use or misuse the ethnographic and archaeological research on hunters and gatherers. Whereas some theories provide a very poor fit with the hunter-gatherer evidence, others build their arguments around a much fuller range of the available data. The latter make a convincing case for models of human evolution that place at their center cooperative breeding and child-rearing, as well as management of conflict, flexible land tenure, and balanced gender relations.
Keywords: hunter-gatherers, behavioral ecology, human evolution, violence, gender, child-rearing
Abstract: One of the most persistent debates in anthropology and related disciplines has been over the relative weight of aggression and competition versus nonaggression and cooperation as drivers of human behavioral evolution. The literature on hunting and gathering societies—past and present—has played a prominent role in these debates. This review compares recent literature from both sides of the argument and evaluates how accurately various authors use or misuse the ethnographic and archaeological research on hunters and gatherers. Whereas some theories provide a very poor fit with the hunter-gatherer evidence, others build their arguments around a much fuller range of the available data. The latter make a convincing case for models of human evolution that place at their center cooperative breeding and child-rearing, as well as management of conflict, flexible land tenure, and balanced gender relations.
Keywords: hunter-gatherers, behavioral ecology, human evolution, violence, gender, child-rearing
Monday, October 22, 2018
Ventral pallidum encodes relative reward value earlier and more robustly than nucleus accumbens, challenging the existing model of information flow in the ventral basal ganglia
Ventral pallidum encodes relative reward value earlier and more robustly than nucleus accumbens. David Ottenheimer, Jocelyn M. Richard & Patricia H. Janak. Nature Communications, volume 9, Article number: 4350 (2018). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-06849-z
Abstract: The ventral striatopallidal system, a basal ganglia network thought to convert limbic information into behavioral action, includes the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and the ventral pallidum (VP), typically described as a major output of NAc. Here, to investigate how reward-related information is transformed across this circuit, we measure the activity of neurons in NAc and VP when rats receive two highly palatable but differentially preferred rewards, allowing us to track the reward-specific information contained within the neural activity of each region. In VP, we find a prominent preference-related signal that flexibly reports the relative value of reward outcomes across multiple conditions. This reward-specific firing in VP is present in a greater proportion of the population and arises sooner following reward delivery than in NAc. Our findings establish VP as a preeminent value signaler and challenge the existing model of information flow in the ventral basal ganglia.
Abstract: The ventral striatopallidal system, a basal ganglia network thought to convert limbic information into behavioral action, includes the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and the ventral pallidum (VP), typically described as a major output of NAc. Here, to investigate how reward-related information is transformed across this circuit, we measure the activity of neurons in NAc and VP when rats receive two highly palatable but differentially preferred rewards, allowing us to track the reward-specific information contained within the neural activity of each region. In VP, we find a prominent preference-related signal that flexibly reports the relative value of reward outcomes across multiple conditions. This reward-specific firing in VP is present in a greater proportion of the population and arises sooner following reward delivery than in NAc. Our findings establish VP as a preeminent value signaler and challenge the existing model of information flow in the ventral basal ganglia.
Personality-trait profiles were predicted reliably from a subset of the body-shape features; extraversion & conscientiousness were predicted with the highest consensus, followed by openness traits
First Impressions of Personality Traits From Body Shapes. Ying Hu, Connor J. Parde, Matthew Q. Hill, Naureen Mahmood, Alice J. O’Toole. Psychological Science, https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797618799300
Abstract: People infer the personalities of others from their facial appearance. Whether they do so from body shapes is less studied. We explored personality inferences made from body shapes. Participants rated personality traits for male and female bodies generated with a three-dimensional body model. Multivariate spaces created from these ratings indicated that people evaluate bodies on valence and agency in ways that directly contrast positive and negative traits from the Big Five domains. Body-trait stereotypes based on the trait ratings revealed a myriad of diverse body shapes that typify individual traits. Personality-trait profiles were predicted reliably from a subset of the body-shape features used to specify the three-dimensional bodies. Body features related to extraversion and conscientiousness were predicted with the highest consensus, followed by openness traits. This study provides the first comprehensive look at the range, diversity, and reliability of personality inferences that people make from body shapes.
Keywords: Big Five personality domains, first impressions, human body perception, correspondence analysis, open data
Abstract: People infer the personalities of others from their facial appearance. Whether they do so from body shapes is less studied. We explored personality inferences made from body shapes. Participants rated personality traits for male and female bodies generated with a three-dimensional body model. Multivariate spaces created from these ratings indicated that people evaluate bodies on valence and agency in ways that directly contrast positive and negative traits from the Big Five domains. Body-trait stereotypes based on the trait ratings revealed a myriad of diverse body shapes that typify individual traits. Personality-trait profiles were predicted reliably from a subset of the body-shape features used to specify the three-dimensional bodies. Body features related to extraversion and conscientiousness were predicted with the highest consensus, followed by openness traits. This study provides the first comprehensive look at the range, diversity, and reliability of personality inferences that people make from body shapes.
Keywords: Big Five personality domains, first impressions, human body perception, correspondence analysis, open data
Effects of paracetamol on empathy-like behavior in Sprague Dawley rats: It reduced empathy-like behavior, with rats helping less drowning conspecifics
Acetaminophen (paracetamol) affects empathy-like behavior in rats: Dose-response relationship. Sevim Kandis et al. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pbb.2018.10.004
Highlights
• Single high dose and repeated low and high doses of acetaminophen lead to a reduction of oxytocin and vasopressin release in the prefrontal cortex and amygdalae; in addition to reduce empathy-like behavior.
• Oxytocin and vasopressin reduction in the prefrontal cortex and amygdalae is negatively correlated with empathy-like behavior.
Abstract: Empathy is the ability to recognize, process and respond to another's emotional state and empathic functions have been linked with a multitude of cognitive and affective processes. Impaired empathy has been linked to aggression and criminal behavior in society. Acetaminophen (paracetamol) is among the most common nonprescription (over the counter) analgesics in the world and has been already linked to reducing empathic behavior in humans. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of acetaminophen on empathy-like behavior in Sprague Dawley rats, and we further explored the underlying mechanisms by analyzing empathy related neurohormones, e.g. oxytocin and vasopressin, in association with acetaminophen exposure in rats. Empathic behavior was assessed 30 min following acetaminophen administration (100, 200, and 400 mg/kg). The impact of single and repeated acetaminophen administrations on empathy-like behavior and anxiety level were evaluated separately. Empathy-like behavior was reduced with a single high dose of acetaminophen. Subsequent low dose administration of acetaminophen also reduced empathy-like behavior. In this study we also showed that acetaminophen decreased oxytocin and vasopressin levels in the prefrontal cortex and amygdalae. We found a negative correlation between delay in door opening time and measured prefrontal cortex oxytocin levels; we adjudged the latency in door opening time as enhanced empathic behavior which seemingly suggested the existence of a mechanism between empathy-like behavior and the prefrontal oxytocin. We observed that both a single high dose or repeated low dose administrations of acetaminophen reduced empathy-like behavior in correlation with a decrease in oxytocin and vasopressin levels in the prefrontal cortex and amygdala. Further research is needed to investigate the role of acetaminophen on the other empathic brain pathways.
Highlights
• Single high dose and repeated low and high doses of acetaminophen lead to a reduction of oxytocin and vasopressin release in the prefrontal cortex and amygdalae; in addition to reduce empathy-like behavior.
• Oxytocin and vasopressin reduction in the prefrontal cortex and amygdalae is negatively correlated with empathy-like behavior.
Abstract: Empathy is the ability to recognize, process and respond to another's emotional state and empathic functions have been linked with a multitude of cognitive and affective processes. Impaired empathy has been linked to aggression and criminal behavior in society. Acetaminophen (paracetamol) is among the most common nonprescription (over the counter) analgesics in the world and has been already linked to reducing empathic behavior in humans. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of acetaminophen on empathy-like behavior in Sprague Dawley rats, and we further explored the underlying mechanisms by analyzing empathy related neurohormones, e.g. oxytocin and vasopressin, in association with acetaminophen exposure in rats. Empathic behavior was assessed 30 min following acetaminophen administration (100, 200, and 400 mg/kg). The impact of single and repeated acetaminophen administrations on empathy-like behavior and anxiety level were evaluated separately. Empathy-like behavior was reduced with a single high dose of acetaminophen. Subsequent low dose administration of acetaminophen also reduced empathy-like behavior. In this study we also showed that acetaminophen decreased oxytocin and vasopressin levels in the prefrontal cortex and amygdalae. We found a negative correlation between delay in door opening time and measured prefrontal cortex oxytocin levels; we adjudged the latency in door opening time as enhanced empathic behavior which seemingly suggested the existence of a mechanism between empathy-like behavior and the prefrontal oxytocin. We observed that both a single high dose or repeated low dose administrations of acetaminophen reduced empathy-like behavior in correlation with a decrease in oxytocin and vasopressin levels in the prefrontal cortex and amygdala. Further research is needed to investigate the role of acetaminophen on the other empathic brain pathways.
Cichocka et al. (2016) report evidence that conservatism (specifically social conservatism) is associated with noun preference. This study replicates the finding.
Crawford, Jarret. 2018. “Examining the Effects of Political Orientation on Noun Preference: A Replication of Cichocka Et Al. (2016).” PsyArXiv. October 22. doi:10.31234/osf.io/m5paz
Abstract: In three studies, Cichocka et al. (2016) report evidence that conservatism (specifically social conservatism) is associated with noun preference, and that this relationship is mediated by needs for structure and order. We conducted a conceptual replication of Study 1 and found that whereas we could replicate the relationship between social conservatism and noun preference, personal need for structure did not mediate this relationship, as PNS was not associated with noun preference. Our observed effect size for the relationship between social conservatism and noun preference is quite similar to those reported in Cichocka et al. (2016). However, at least based on the present replication, the mechanism behind this relationship is unclear.
Abstract: In three studies, Cichocka et al. (2016) report evidence that conservatism (specifically social conservatism) is associated with noun preference, and that this relationship is mediated by needs for structure and order. We conducted a conceptual replication of Study 1 and found that whereas we could replicate the relationship between social conservatism and noun preference, personal need for structure did not mediate this relationship, as PNS was not associated with noun preference. Our observed effect size for the relationship between social conservatism and noun preference is quite similar to those reported in Cichocka et al. (2016). However, at least based on the present replication, the mechanism behind this relationship is unclear.
Our results suggest that childhood trauma in humans is associated with changes in cortical fields that are implicated in the perception or processing of the abuse
Psychobiological Consequences of Child Maltreatment. Christine Heim. The Biology of Early Life Stress. In Child Maltreatment Solutions Network book series (CMSN), pp 15-30. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-72589-5_2
Abstract: Adversity in early life, such as childhood abuse, neglect, and loss, is a well-established major risk factor for developing a range of psychiatric and medical disorders later in life. Biological embedding of maltreatment during development is thought to underlie this long-term increased risk. Our results suggest that childhood trauma in humans is associated with sensitization of the stress response, glucocorticoid resistance, decreased oxytocin activity, inflammation, reduced hippocampal volume, and changes in cortical fields that are implicated in the perception or processing of the abuse. The consequences of childhood trauma are moderated by genetic factors and mediated by epigenetic changes in genes relevant for stress regulation. Understanding longitudinal trajectories of biological embedding, and their moderation by gene–environment interaction, is critical to enable us to design novel interventions that directly reverse these processes and to derive biomarkers that identify children who are at risk to develop disorders or are susceptible to a specific intervention.
Keywords: HPA axis Amygdala Biological embedding Child maltreatment Hippocampus Stress response
Abstract: Adversity in early life, such as childhood abuse, neglect, and loss, is a well-established major risk factor for developing a range of psychiatric and medical disorders later in life. Biological embedding of maltreatment during development is thought to underlie this long-term increased risk. Our results suggest that childhood trauma in humans is associated with sensitization of the stress response, glucocorticoid resistance, decreased oxytocin activity, inflammation, reduced hippocampal volume, and changes in cortical fields that are implicated in the perception or processing of the abuse. The consequences of childhood trauma are moderated by genetic factors and mediated by epigenetic changes in genes relevant for stress regulation. Understanding longitudinal trajectories of biological embedding, and their moderation by gene–environment interaction, is critical to enable us to design novel interventions that directly reverse these processes and to derive biomarkers that identify children who are at risk to develop disorders or are susceptible to a specific intervention.
Keywords: HPA axis Amygdala Biological embedding Child maltreatment Hippocampus Stress response
Century of Decline in General Intelligence? Testing Predictions from the Genetic Selection and Neurotoxin Hypotheses authors found that this last did not significantly predict variance of g factor
What Caused over a Century of Decline in General Intelligence? Testing Predictions from the Genetic Selection and Neurotoxin Hypotheses. Michael A. Woodley of Menie et al. Evolutionary Psychological Science, September 2018, Volume 4, Issue 3, pp 272–284. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40806-017-0131-7
Abstract: Several converging lines of evidence indicate that general intelligence (g) has declined in Western populations. The causes of these declines are debated. Here, two hypotheses are tested: (1) selection acting against genetic variants that promote g causes the decline and (2) the presence of neurotoxic pollution in the environment causes the decline. A linear mixed model was devised to test (1) and (2), in which the secular decline in a “heritable g” (g.h) chronometric factor (comprised of convergent indicators of simple reaction time, working memory, utilization frequencies of high difficulty and also social-intelligence-indicating vocabulary items and per capita macro-innovation rates) was predicted using a neurotoxin chronometric factor (comprised of convergent secular trends among measures of lead, mercury and dioxin + furan pollution, in addition to alcohol consumption) and a polygenic score chronometric factor (comprised of polygenic score means for genetic variants predictive of g, sourced from US and Icelandic age-stratified cohorts). Bivariate correlations revealed that (other than time) only the polygenic score factor was significantly associated with declining g.h (r = .393, p < .05 vs. .033, ns for the neurotoxin factor). Using a hierarchical linear mixed model approach incorporating 25 year lags between the predictors and g.h, time period, operationalized categorically as fifths of a century, accounted for the majority of the variance in the decline in g.h (partial η2 = .584, p < .05). Net of time period and neurotoxins, changing levels of polygenic scores also significantly predicted variance in the decline in g.h (partial η2 = .253, p < .05); however, changing levels of neurotoxins did not significantly predict variance in g.h net of time (partial η2 = .027 ns). Within-period analysis indicates that the independent significant positive effect of the polygenic score factor on g.h was restricted to the third fifth of a century period (β = .202, p < .05).
Keywords: Directional selection Dysgenics General intelligence Neurotoxins Polygenic scores
Abstract: Several converging lines of evidence indicate that general intelligence (g) has declined in Western populations. The causes of these declines are debated. Here, two hypotheses are tested: (1) selection acting against genetic variants that promote g causes the decline and (2) the presence of neurotoxic pollution in the environment causes the decline. A linear mixed model was devised to test (1) and (2), in which the secular decline in a “heritable g” (g.h) chronometric factor (comprised of convergent indicators of simple reaction time, working memory, utilization frequencies of high difficulty and also social-intelligence-indicating vocabulary items and per capita macro-innovation rates) was predicted using a neurotoxin chronometric factor (comprised of convergent secular trends among measures of lead, mercury and dioxin + furan pollution, in addition to alcohol consumption) and a polygenic score chronometric factor (comprised of polygenic score means for genetic variants predictive of g, sourced from US and Icelandic age-stratified cohorts). Bivariate correlations revealed that (other than time) only the polygenic score factor was significantly associated with declining g.h (r = .393, p < .05 vs. .033, ns for the neurotoxin factor). Using a hierarchical linear mixed model approach incorporating 25 year lags between the predictors and g.h, time period, operationalized categorically as fifths of a century, accounted for the majority of the variance in the decline in g.h (partial η2 = .584, p < .05). Net of time period and neurotoxins, changing levels of polygenic scores also significantly predicted variance in the decline in g.h (partial η2 = .253, p < .05); however, changing levels of neurotoxins did not significantly predict variance in g.h net of time (partial η2 = .027 ns). Within-period analysis indicates that the independent significant positive effect of the polygenic score factor on g.h was restricted to the third fifth of a century period (β = .202, p < .05).
Keywords: Directional selection Dysgenics General intelligence Neurotoxins Polygenic scores
Studies confirmed the existence of a social norm that one cannot simultaneously support two competing groups or teams
You Can’t Root for Both Teams!: Convergent Evidence for the Unidirectionality of Group Loyalty. Daniel J. Kruger et al. Evolutionary Psychological Science, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40806-018-0178-0
Abstract: Four studies tested the existence of a social norm that one cannot simultaneously support two competing groups or teams. Our evolved coalitional psychology should be sensitive to individuals expressing mixed loyalties between rivals, as they represent substantial threats for defection. Study 1 manipulated confederate attire and demonstrated that public displays of mixed loyalty provoked more attention and reactions than displays of consistent loyalty (n = 1327). Informants (n = 31) in the same population interviewed for study 2 agreed with the norm and cited the norm violation as the cause of reactions. Study 3 provided a more systematic and comprehensive assessment of affective and cognitive reactions to mixed and matching loyalty displays with an on-line survey of participants (n = 325) in the respective states of the rival universities. Study 4 examined naturalistic reactions (n = 318) to social media advertisements suggesting mixed loyalty to the two rival teams featured in the first three studies. These diverse methodologies provided convergent confirmatory evidence for the proposed social norm.
Keywords: Teams Intergroup perception Evolutionary psychology Loyalty Observational methods
Abstract: Four studies tested the existence of a social norm that one cannot simultaneously support two competing groups or teams. Our evolved coalitional psychology should be sensitive to individuals expressing mixed loyalties between rivals, as they represent substantial threats for defection. Study 1 manipulated confederate attire and demonstrated that public displays of mixed loyalty provoked more attention and reactions than displays of consistent loyalty (n = 1327). Informants (n = 31) in the same population interviewed for study 2 agreed with the norm and cited the norm violation as the cause of reactions. Study 3 provided a more systematic and comprehensive assessment of affective and cognitive reactions to mixed and matching loyalty displays with an on-line survey of participants (n = 325) in the respective states of the rival universities. Study 4 examined naturalistic reactions (n = 318) to social media advertisements suggesting mixed loyalty to the two rival teams featured in the first three studies. These diverse methodologies provided convergent confirmatory evidence for the proposed social norm.
Keywords: Teams Intergroup perception Evolutionary psychology Loyalty Observational methods
Examining Cross‐Cultural Differences in Academic Faking in 41 Nations: Faking was positively related to the cultural dimensions of gender egalitarianism, humane orientation, and in‐group collectivism
Examining Cross‐Cultural Differences in Academic Faking in 41 Nations. Clemens B. Fell, Cornelius J. König. Applied Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.12178
Abstract: This study examines cross‐cultural differences in students’ academic faking (indicated by claiming to have impossible knowledge about mathematical concepts) by relating data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to the comprehensive cultural framework of the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) project. Data of N = 233,428 students from 41 countries showed a substantial amount of variance in academic faking between cultures. Students’ academic faking was positively related to the cultural dimensions of gender egalitarianism, humane orientation, and in‐group collectivism. Additionally, the similarity between female and male students’ academic faking was slightly greater in more gender‐egalitarian cultures than in less gender‐egalitarian cultures. Thus, educational stakeholders (e.g., teachers, principals, and policy makers) should be made aware of cross‐cultural differences in academic faking because faking gives fakers an unfair advantage.
Abstract: This study examines cross‐cultural differences in students’ academic faking (indicated by claiming to have impossible knowledge about mathematical concepts) by relating data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to the comprehensive cultural framework of the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) project. Data of N = 233,428 students from 41 countries showed a substantial amount of variance in academic faking between cultures. Students’ academic faking was positively related to the cultural dimensions of gender egalitarianism, humane orientation, and in‐group collectivism. Additionally, the similarity between female and male students’ academic faking was slightly greater in more gender‐egalitarian cultures than in less gender‐egalitarian cultures. Thus, educational stakeholders (e.g., teachers, principals, and policy makers) should be made aware of cross‐cultural differences in academic faking because faking gives fakers an unfair advantage.
Sunday, October 21, 2018
Our findings challenge the notion of pervasive biases towards female‐biased infection immunity and the role of testosterone in driving these differences
Sexual dimorphism in immunity across animals: a meta‐analysis. Clint D. Kelly et al. Ecology Letters. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13164
Abstract: In animals, sex differences in immunity are proposed to shape variation in infection prevalence and intensity among individuals in a population, with females typically expected to exhibit superior immunity due to life‐history trade‐offs. We performed a systematic meta‐analysis to investigate the magnitude and direction of sex differences in immunity and to identify factors that shape sex‐biased immunocompetence. In addition to considering taxonomic and methodological effects as moderators, we assessed age‐related effects, which are predicted to occur if sex differences in immunity are due to sex‐specific resource allocation trade‐offs with reproduction. In a meta‐analysis of 584 effects from 124 studies, we found that females exhibit a significantly stronger immune response than do males, but the effect size is relatively small, and became non‐significant after controlling for phylogeny. Female‐biased immunity was more pronounced in adult than immature animals. More recently published studies did not report significantly smaller effect sizes. Among taxonomic and methodological subsets of the data, some of the largest effect sizes were in insects, further supporting previous suggestions that testosterone is not the only potential driver of sex differences in immunity. Our findings challenge the notion of pervasive biases towards female‐biased immunity and the role of testosterone in driving these differences.
Abstract: In animals, sex differences in immunity are proposed to shape variation in infection prevalence and intensity among individuals in a population, with females typically expected to exhibit superior immunity due to life‐history trade‐offs. We performed a systematic meta‐analysis to investigate the magnitude and direction of sex differences in immunity and to identify factors that shape sex‐biased immunocompetence. In addition to considering taxonomic and methodological effects as moderators, we assessed age‐related effects, which are predicted to occur if sex differences in immunity are due to sex‐specific resource allocation trade‐offs with reproduction. In a meta‐analysis of 584 effects from 124 studies, we found that females exhibit a significantly stronger immune response than do males, but the effect size is relatively small, and became non‐significant after controlling for phylogeny. Female‐biased immunity was more pronounced in adult than immature animals. More recently published studies did not report significantly smaller effect sizes. Among taxonomic and methodological subsets of the data, some of the largest effect sizes were in insects, further supporting previous suggestions that testosterone is not the only potential driver of sex differences in immunity. Our findings challenge the notion of pervasive biases towards female‐biased immunity and the role of testosterone in driving these differences.
Children -but not chimpanzees- exhibit ‘over-imitation’, i.e. they show a propensity for faithfully copying demonstrated actions, even when these actions are irrelevant for achieving a demonstrated outcome
The social side of imitation in human evolution and development: Shared intentionality and imitation games in chimpanzees and 6-month old infants. Gabriela-Alina Sauciuc, Tomas Persson, Elainie Alenkaer Madsen. Proceedings of the 13h SEWCOG Conference 2017, Uppsala. http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1156189/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Imitation is generally acknowledged as a key mechanism of social learning, foundational to the emergence of human culture. By enabling quick and high-fidelity copying of others’ actions, imitation mediates the cross-generational transfer of knowledge and skills (e.g. Nielsen, 2009). Besides this ‘learning’ (or ‘cognitive’) function, imitation accomplishes also important social-communicative functions, by facilitating social interaction and promoting prosociality (e.g. Duffy & Chartrand 2015; Eckerman, Davis, & Didow, 1989; Užgiris, Benson et al., 1989). The social function of imitation is understudied in the field of comparative psychology, or even claimed to be absent in nonhuman primates. This claim, however, is grounded on how nonhuman apes (henceforth ‘apes’) perform in imitation learning experiments compared to human children. More specifically, chimpanzees exhibit lower levels of joint attention and gaze at the experimenter’s face (Carpenter & Tomasello, 1995). Moreover, children -but not chimpanzees- exhibit ‘over-imitation’, i.e. they show a propensity for faithfully copying demonstrated actions, even when these actions are irrelevant for achieving a demonstrated outcome. Such differences, it has been argued, derive from the fact that, in imitation contexts, children are motivated by a need to belong, to engage socially and to promote shared experiences (Carpenter & Call 2009; Nielsen 2009). In turn, these differences in social motivation are taken to account for the profound differences that exist between human and nonhuman primate cultures (Over & Carpenter 2012).Based on evidence from social, developmental and comparative psychology, we have recently proposed a broader definition of the social-communicative function of imitation (Persson, Sauciuc, & Madsen, 2017), that encompasses reactive and non-intentional phenomena (e.g. nonconscious mimicry, imitation-induced prosociality), as well as proactive and arguably intentional phenomena, such as social conformism or the communicative imitation documented in preverbal toddlers (e.g. Eckerman, Davis, & Didow, 1989; Eckerman & Stein, 1990). All these phenomena have been documented in nonhuman primates: nonconscious mimicry in the form of postural congruence (Jazrawi, 2000), facial mimicry (Scopa & Palagi, 2016), interactional synchrony (Yu and Tomonaga, 2016) and contagious yawning (Madsen, Persson, et al., 2013), imitation-induced prosociality expressed by increased levels of attention, proximity and object exchange after exposure to being imitated (e.g. Paukner, Suomi et al., 2009), social conformism in the form of a preference for a group-adopted procedure even when it went against a prefered or more efficient one (Hopper, Schapiro, et al., 2011), and communicative imitation in the form of familiar-action imitation used to engage or maintain interaction (Persson, Sauciuc, & Madsen, 2017).
In this presentation, we address the presence of shared intentionality in imitative contexts with evidence from four experimental studies that our team has conducted with 6-month old infants (Sauciuc, Madsen, et al., in prep), as well as with enculturated (Sauciuc, Persson, & Madsen, in prep) and non-enculturated (Madsen, Sauciuc, & Persson, in prep a, b) chimpanzees of various ages (infants, juveniles, adults). Common to all these studies is that the participants have been exposed to an imitation condition in which the experimenter imitated all their actions, as well as to a number of control conditions that varied in agreement with the specific aims of each study. In Sauciuc, Madsen et al. (in prep), to establish if 6-month old infants discriminate being imitated from contingent responding, and to examine likely mechanisms that mediate this process, infants interacted with an experimenter who (i) imitated all infant’s action ipsilaterally; (ii) imitated all infant’s actions contralaterally; (iii) imitated with a still-face, i.e. imitated bodily but not facial actions; or (iv) responded with the infant’s actions contingently but with different actions. In Madsen, Sauciuc, & Persson (in prep a), to track the ontogenetic course of imitation recognition in chimpanzees, we replicated Haun and Call’s (2008) study on imitation recognition in adult apes and exposed infant and juvenile chimpanzees to four types of interaction in which the experimenter either (i) imitated all chimpanzee’s actions; (ii) responded to the chimpanzee’s actions with temporally contingent but different actions; (iii) produced actions that were not related to the chimpanzee’s actions; (iv) sat still. In Sauciuc, Persson, & Madsen (in prep) four additional control conditions were administered in order to ascertain that behavioural indicators of shared intentionality (e.g. imitation games, laughter) could not be attributed to alternative factors known to increase playfulness in chimpanzees, including non-play species-specific behaviours, species-specific play forms (chase) or facial expressions that accompany play. Finally, in Madsen, Sauciuc, & Persson (in prep b), chimpanzees were exposed to bouts of (i) imitation, (ii) non-imitative play and (iii) no action in order to investigate the effects of imitation and non-imitative play on subsequent intentional imitation of non-instrumental actions and nonconscious mimicry (such as contagious yawning). To examine the presence of shared intentionality in the studied populations, we focused on the presence of testing behaviours and imitation games, as well as on the presence of smiling and laughter during such responses.
Imitation is generally acknowledged as a key mechanism of social learning, foundational to the emergence of human culture. By enabling quick and high-fidelity copying of others’ actions, imitation mediates the cross-generational transfer of knowledge and skills (e.g. Nielsen, 2009). Besides this ‘learning’ (or ‘cognitive’) function, imitation accomplishes also important social-communicative functions, by facilitating social interaction and promoting prosociality (e.g. Duffy & Chartrand 2015; Eckerman, Davis, & Didow, 1989; Užgiris, Benson et al., 1989). The social function of imitation is understudied in the field of comparative psychology, or even claimed to be absent in nonhuman primates. This claim, however, is grounded on how nonhuman apes (henceforth ‘apes’) perform in imitation learning experiments compared to human children. More specifically, chimpanzees exhibit lower levels of joint attention and gaze at the experimenter’s face (Carpenter & Tomasello, 1995). Moreover, children -but not chimpanzees- exhibit ‘over-imitation’, i.e. they show a propensity for faithfully copying demonstrated actions, even when these actions are irrelevant for achieving a demonstrated outcome. Such differences, it has been argued, derive from the fact that, in imitation contexts, children are motivated by a need to belong, to engage socially and to promote shared experiences (Carpenter & Call 2009; Nielsen 2009). In turn, these differences in social motivation are taken to account for the profound differences that exist between human and nonhuman primate cultures (Over & Carpenter 2012).Based on evidence from social, developmental and comparative psychology, we have recently proposed a broader definition of the social-communicative function of imitation (Persson, Sauciuc, & Madsen, 2017), that encompasses reactive and non-intentional phenomena (e.g. nonconscious mimicry, imitation-induced prosociality), as well as proactive and arguably intentional phenomena, such as social conformism or the communicative imitation documented in preverbal toddlers (e.g. Eckerman, Davis, & Didow, 1989; Eckerman & Stein, 1990). All these phenomena have been documented in nonhuman primates: nonconscious mimicry in the form of postural congruence (Jazrawi, 2000), facial mimicry (Scopa & Palagi, 2016), interactional synchrony (Yu and Tomonaga, 2016) and contagious yawning (Madsen, Persson, et al., 2013), imitation-induced prosociality expressed by increased levels of attention, proximity and object exchange after exposure to being imitated (e.g. Paukner, Suomi et al., 2009), social conformism in the form of a preference for a group-adopted procedure even when it went against a prefered or more efficient one (Hopper, Schapiro, et al., 2011), and communicative imitation in the form of familiar-action imitation used to engage or maintain interaction (Persson, Sauciuc, & Madsen, 2017).
In this presentation, we address the presence of shared intentionality in imitative contexts with evidence from four experimental studies that our team has conducted with 6-month old infants (Sauciuc, Madsen, et al., in prep), as well as with enculturated (Sauciuc, Persson, & Madsen, in prep) and non-enculturated (Madsen, Sauciuc, & Persson, in prep a, b) chimpanzees of various ages (infants, juveniles, adults). Common to all these studies is that the participants have been exposed to an imitation condition in which the experimenter imitated all their actions, as well as to a number of control conditions that varied in agreement with the specific aims of each study. In Sauciuc, Madsen et al. (in prep), to establish if 6-month old infants discriminate being imitated from contingent responding, and to examine likely mechanisms that mediate this process, infants interacted with an experimenter who (i) imitated all infant’s action ipsilaterally; (ii) imitated all infant’s actions contralaterally; (iii) imitated with a still-face, i.e. imitated bodily but not facial actions; or (iv) responded with the infant’s actions contingently but with different actions. In Madsen, Sauciuc, & Persson (in prep a), to track the ontogenetic course of imitation recognition in chimpanzees, we replicated Haun and Call’s (2008) study on imitation recognition in adult apes and exposed infant and juvenile chimpanzees to four types of interaction in which the experimenter either (i) imitated all chimpanzee’s actions; (ii) responded to the chimpanzee’s actions with temporally contingent but different actions; (iii) produced actions that were not related to the chimpanzee’s actions; (iv) sat still. In Sauciuc, Persson, & Madsen (in prep) four additional control conditions were administered in order to ascertain that behavioural indicators of shared intentionality (e.g. imitation games, laughter) could not be attributed to alternative factors known to increase playfulness in chimpanzees, including non-play species-specific behaviours, species-specific play forms (chase) or facial expressions that accompany play. Finally, in Madsen, Sauciuc, & Persson (in prep b), chimpanzees were exposed to bouts of (i) imitation, (ii) non-imitative play and (iii) no action in order to investigate the effects of imitation and non-imitative play on subsequent intentional imitation of non-instrumental actions and nonconscious mimicry (such as contagious yawning). To examine the presence of shared intentionality in the studied populations, we focused on the presence of testing behaviours and imitation games, as well as on the presence of smiling and laughter during such responses.
Users use flattering interaction information such as “Likes” for social comparison; downward comparison elicits positive & upward comparison negative emotional affect; likability of the other more strongly predicted decisions to give a “Like” than comparison outcome
“Likes” as social rewards: Their role in online social comparison and decisions to like other People's selfies. Astrid M. Rosenthal-von der Pütten et al. Computers in Human Behavior, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.10.017
Highlights
• SNS users use flattering interaction information such as “Likes” for social comparison.
• Downward comparison elicits positive and upward comparison negative emotional affect.
• The likability of the other more strongly predicted decisions to give a “Like” than comparison outcome.
Abstract: It has been argued that reported negative effects of social networking site use on well-being and depression might be due to the vast opportunities for unflattering social comparison on Facebook. Social media websites offer Likes, a numeric representation of social acceptance, as a form of “online social currency,” which can be seen as a secondary reinforcer that drives people's tendency to compare with others. Against this background, we present an experimental study (n = 118) in which participants saw and evaluated their own selfies and selfies of other people with and without Likes. Moreover, they saw two selfies with the respective number of Likes in direct (favorable or unfavorable) comparison, and indicated their emotional state and whether they would like the other person's selfie. Results demonstrate that Likes are used for comparisons with the expected affective outcome. Like decisions, however, were rather based on judgments of likability, admiration and positive feelings after comparison rather than the comparison outcome.
Highlights
• SNS users use flattering interaction information such as “Likes” for social comparison.
• Downward comparison elicits positive and upward comparison negative emotional affect.
• The likability of the other more strongly predicted decisions to give a “Like” than comparison outcome.
Abstract: It has been argued that reported negative effects of social networking site use on well-being and depression might be due to the vast opportunities for unflattering social comparison on Facebook. Social media websites offer Likes, a numeric representation of social acceptance, as a form of “online social currency,” which can be seen as a secondary reinforcer that drives people's tendency to compare with others. Against this background, we present an experimental study (n = 118) in which participants saw and evaluated their own selfies and selfies of other people with and without Likes. Moreover, they saw two selfies with the respective number of Likes in direct (favorable or unfavorable) comparison, and indicated their emotional state and whether they would like the other person's selfie. Results demonstrate that Likes are used for comparisons with the expected affective outcome. Like decisions, however, were rather based on judgments of likability, admiration and positive feelings after comparison rather than the comparison outcome.
Saturday, October 20, 2018
About the modifications that the neurocognitive system undergoes when mastering mathematical knowledge
What Expertise Can Tell About Mathematical Learning and Cognition. Francesco Sella, Roi Cohen Kadosh. Mind, Brain, and Education, https://doi.org/10.1111/mbe.12179
ABSTRACT: The investigation of mathematical expertise can shape numerical and mathematical cognition theories by providing insights about the modifications that the neurocognitive system undergoes when mastering mathematical knowledge. In particular, both qualitative and quantitative methods should be combined within a developmental perspective to identify those promoting factors that lead some individuals to focus their interests on mathematics and possibly become experts in the field. The behavioral and neural differences in math experts constitute valuable information to study the limits of the mastering of mathematical knowledge, which ultimately represents a powerful form of formal human reasoning.
ABSTRACT: The investigation of mathematical expertise can shape numerical and mathematical cognition theories by providing insights about the modifications that the neurocognitive system undergoes when mastering mathematical knowledge. In particular, both qualitative and quantitative methods should be combined within a developmental perspective to identify those promoting factors that lead some individuals to focus their interests on mathematics and possibly become experts in the field. The behavioral and neural differences in math experts constitute valuable information to study the limits of the mastering of mathematical knowledge, which ultimately represents a powerful form of formal human reasoning.
Icelanders bought 47% fewer books in 2017 than they did in 2010, a very sharp decrease in a matter of only six years
Can the language of the Vikings fight off the invasion of English? Ragnar Jonasson. The Guardian, Oct 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/oct/17/viking-language-invasion-english-iceland-icelandic
Icelandic has retained its literary vigour since the Sagas, but TV and tourism are a growing threat
There are other warning signs. Icelanders have always been very proud of their literary heritage, boasting that we write and read a lot of books. However, Icelanders bought 47% fewer books in 2017 than they did in 2010, a very sharp decrease in a matter of only six years. In a recent poll in Iceland, 13.5% of those who responded had not read a single book in 2017, compared to 7% in 2010.
Iceland has a wonderful tradition of giving books as Christmas presents, with people reading into the night on Christmas Eve. However, even this may be under threat: in 2005, an Icelander received an average of 1.4 books as gifts at Christmas; this number is now 1.1, with 42% of Icelanders not receiving a single book for Christmas according to the most recent poll.
Icelandic has retained its literary vigour since the Sagas, but TV and tourism are a growing threat
There are other warning signs. Icelanders have always been very proud of their literary heritage, boasting that we write and read a lot of books. However, Icelanders bought 47% fewer books in 2017 than they did in 2010, a very sharp decrease in a matter of only six years. In a recent poll in Iceland, 13.5% of those who responded had not read a single book in 2017, compared to 7% in 2010.
Iceland has a wonderful tradition of giving books as Christmas presents, with people reading into the night on Christmas Eve. However, even this may be under threat: in 2005, an Icelander received an average of 1.4 books as gifts at Christmas; this number is now 1.1, with 42% of Icelanders not receiving a single book for Christmas according to the most recent poll.
Bodies and BDSM: Redefining Sex Through Kinky Erotics
Bodies and BDSM: Redefining Sex Through Kinky Erotics. Daniel Cardoso. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, July 2018Volume 15, Issue 7, Pages 931–932. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2018.02.014 |
Abstract: When Foucault1 famously separated the production of knowledge and the construction of sexuality between an Oriental ars erotica and a Western scientia sexualis, he intended to demonstrate the situatedness and contingency of our social categories around sexual practices, which later research showed to be not just a theoretical exercise, but a fundamental addition to reframing how the history of Europe is written.2 The same bodily acts were seen as an art form to be passed from master to disciple (eg, Kamasutra3) in the East, but an object of study and categorization in the West (eg, Psychopathia Sexualis4).
Abstract: When Foucault1 famously separated the production of knowledge and the construction of sexuality between an Oriental ars erotica and a Western scientia sexualis, he intended to demonstrate the situatedness and contingency of our social categories around sexual practices, which later research showed to be not just a theoretical exercise, but a fundamental addition to reframing how the history of Europe is written.2 The same bodily acts were seen as an art form to be passed from master to disciple (eg, Kamasutra3) in the East, but an object of study and categorization in the West (eg, Psychopathia Sexualis4).
Friday, October 19, 2018
Gender & age information emerged significantly earlier than identity information, followed by a late signature of familiarity; gender & identity representations were enhanced for familiar faces early during processing
How face perception unfolds over time. Katharina Dobs, Leyla Isik, Dimitrios Pantazis, Nancy Kanwisher. bioaRxiv, https://doi.org/10.1101/442194
Abstract: Within a fraction of a second of viewing a face, we have already determined its gender, age and identity. A full understanding of this remarkable feat will require a characterization of the computational steps it entails, along with the representations extracted at each. Here we used magnetencephalography to ask which properties of a face are extracted when, and how early in processing these computations are affected by face familiarity. Subjects viewed images of familiar and unfamiliar faces varying orthogonally in gender and age. Using representational similarity analysis, we found that gender and age information emerged significantly earlier than identity information, followed by a late signature of familiarity. Importantly, gender and identity representations were enhanced for familiar faces early during processing. These findings start to reveal the sequence of processing steps entailed in face perception in humans, and suggest that early stages of face processing are tuned to familiar face features.
Check also First gender, then attractiveness: Indications of gender-specific attractiveness processing via ERP onsets. Claus-Christian Carbon e al. Neuroscience Letters, https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/09/first-detect-gender-then-attractiveness.html
Abstract: Within a fraction of a second of viewing a face, we have already determined its gender, age and identity. A full understanding of this remarkable feat will require a characterization of the computational steps it entails, along with the representations extracted at each. Here we used magnetencephalography to ask which properties of a face are extracted when, and how early in processing these computations are affected by face familiarity. Subjects viewed images of familiar and unfamiliar faces varying orthogonally in gender and age. Using representational similarity analysis, we found that gender and age information emerged significantly earlier than identity information, followed by a late signature of familiarity. Importantly, gender and identity representations were enhanced for familiar faces early during processing. These findings start to reveal the sequence of processing steps entailed in face perception in humans, and suggest that early stages of face processing are tuned to familiar face features.
Check also First gender, then attractiveness: Indications of gender-specific attractiveness processing via ERP onsets. Claus-Christian Carbon e al. Neuroscience Letters, https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/09/first-detect-gender-then-attractiveness.html
Association between Social Class, Greed, and Unethical Behaviour: A Replication Study
Clerke, A. S., Brown, M., Forchuk, C., & Campbell, L. (2018). Association between Social Class, Greed, and Unethical Behaviour: A Replication Study. Collabra: Psychology, 4(1), 35. DOI: http://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.166
Abstract: Recent research has focused on the potential negative consequences of belonging to the upper class. The present study attempted to directly replicate previous research examining whether upper-class individuals had more positive attitudes toward greed than lower-class individuals, and whether these attitudes mediated the negative association between social class and unethical behaviour. The current research includes two studies with 317 and 320 participants, from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and Prolific Academic, respectively. We used the same measures and procedures of the original research. The resulting dataset, and analytic code, are hosted on the Open Science Framework (Clerke et al., 2017). Collectively these datasets provide access to data from over 600 participants pertaining to social class, ethical behaviour, and sociodemographic information, such as obtained education and religious and political orientation. As in the original, we found a significant positive correlation between SES and greed in one of two studies, however the size of the effect was smaller. Contrary to the original, we did not find a significant association between SES and the propensity to lie in a hypothetical salary negotiation.
Keywords: social class , unethical behaviour , attitudes towards greed , replication , MTurk , Prolific Academic
Abstract: Recent research has focused on the potential negative consequences of belonging to the upper class. The present study attempted to directly replicate previous research examining whether upper-class individuals had more positive attitudes toward greed than lower-class individuals, and whether these attitudes mediated the negative association between social class and unethical behaviour. The current research includes two studies with 317 and 320 participants, from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and Prolific Academic, respectively. We used the same measures and procedures of the original research. The resulting dataset, and analytic code, are hosted on the Open Science Framework (Clerke et al., 2017). Collectively these datasets provide access to data from over 600 participants pertaining to social class, ethical behaviour, and sociodemographic information, such as obtained education and religious and political orientation. As in the original, we found a significant positive correlation between SES and greed in one of two studies, however the size of the effect was smaller. Contrary to the original, we did not find a significant association between SES and the propensity to lie in a hypothetical salary negotiation.
Keywords: social class , unethical behaviour , attitudes towards greed , replication , MTurk , Prolific Academic
Relationship of gender differences in preferences to economic development and gender equality
Relationship of gender differences in preferences to economic development and gender equality. Armin Falk, Johannes Hermle. Science, Vol. 362, Issue 6412, eaas9899. Oct 19 2018. DOI: 10.1126/science.aas9899
Abstract: What contributes to gender-associated differences in preferences such as the willingness to take risks, patience, altruism, positive and negative reciprocity, and trust? Falk and Hermle studied 80,000 individuals in 76 countries who participated in a Global Preference Survey and compared the data with country-level variables such as gross domestic product and indices of gender inequality. They observed that the more that women have equal opportunities, the more they differ from men in their preferences.
Abstract: What contributes to gender-associated differences in preferences such as the willingness to take risks, patience, altruism, positive and negative reciprocity, and trust? Falk and Hermle studied 80,000 individuals in 76 countries who participated in a Global Preference Survey and compared the data with country-level variables such as gross domestic product and indices of gender inequality. They observed that the more that women have equal opportunities, the more they differ from men in their preferences.
Thursday, October 18, 2018
High-SES undergraduates were more likely than peers to use marijuana, choose varied drugs, consume alcohol frequently, & use alcohol and substances to cope with stress; but race & marriage were stronger predictors
Martin, Chris C. 2018. “Socioeconomic Status Predicts Substance Use and Alcohol Consumption in U.S. Undergraduates.” PsyArXiv. October 18. doi:10.31234/osf.io/t9jf8
Abstract: In health sociology, the prevailing consensus is that socioeconomic status lowers illness risk. This model neglects the fact that unhealthful consumption patterns may covary with affluence. The current study examines consumption of drugs and alcohol among affluent U.S. college students. I hypothesized that undergraduate students from high-SES households would have high rates and levels of drug and alcohol consumption. Using data from 18,611 18- to 24-year-old undergraduates across 23 public and private institutions, I found that high-SES undergraduates were more likely than peers to use marijuana, choose varied drugs, consume alcohol frequently, and use alcohol and substances to cope with stress. The first three results were robust after controlling for gender, race, residence type, and relationship status. Marital status and race were stronger predictors than SES—Asians and married students were the least likely to use alcohol and drugs.
Abstract: In health sociology, the prevailing consensus is that socioeconomic status lowers illness risk. This model neglects the fact that unhealthful consumption patterns may covary with affluence. The current study examines consumption of drugs and alcohol among affluent U.S. college students. I hypothesized that undergraduate students from high-SES households would have high rates and levels of drug and alcohol consumption. Using data from 18,611 18- to 24-year-old undergraduates across 23 public and private institutions, I found that high-SES undergraduates were more likely than peers to use marijuana, choose varied drugs, consume alcohol frequently, and use alcohol and substances to cope with stress. The first three results were robust after controlling for gender, race, residence type, and relationship status. Marital status and race were stronger predictors than SES—Asians and married students were the least likely to use alcohol and drugs.
Pairing abstract art pieces with randomly generated pseudo-profound titles enhanced the perception of profoundness in those art pieces; being under a verbal working memory load enhanced the perception of profoundness of abstract art separately
Bullshit Makes the Art Grow Profounder: Evidence for False Meaning Transfer Across Domains. Martin Harry Turpin. MA Thesis, Waterloo Univ., Ontario. https://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/bitstream/handle/10012/13746/Turpin_Martin.pdf
Abstract: The purpose of this thesis was to explore the decision making underlying the perception of meaning in abstract art. In particular, I explore if features adjacent to the content of the art itself predominantly drive the perception of depth and meaning in abstract art, especially by drawing a connection between the modes of communication present in the art world “International Art English” and the concept of Pseudo-Profound Bullshit. Across three studies, 500 participants completed tasks that assessed the degree to which Pseudo-Profound Bullshit can enhance the perceived profoundness of abstract art and examined mechanisms that underlie this enhancement. It was found that pairing abstract art pieces with randomly generated pseudo-profound titles enhanced the perception of profoundness in those art pieces (Exp 1), that being under a verbal working memory load enhanced the perception of profoundness of abstract art separately (Exp 2), but did not interact with the presence of a title, nor did it independently affect bullshit receptivity generally (Exp 3). This ultimately contributes to our understanding of the cognition of art, and decision making, especially as it relates to an application of models of cognitive miserliness to the evaluation of abstract art.
Abstract: The purpose of this thesis was to explore the decision making underlying the perception of meaning in abstract art. In particular, I explore if features adjacent to the content of the art itself predominantly drive the perception of depth and meaning in abstract art, especially by drawing a connection between the modes of communication present in the art world “International Art English” and the concept of Pseudo-Profound Bullshit. Across three studies, 500 participants completed tasks that assessed the degree to which Pseudo-Profound Bullshit can enhance the perceived profoundness of abstract art and examined mechanisms that underlie this enhancement. It was found that pairing abstract art pieces with randomly generated pseudo-profound titles enhanced the perception of profoundness in those art pieces (Exp 1), that being under a verbal working memory load enhanced the perception of profoundness of abstract art separately (Exp 2), but did not interact with the presence of a title, nor did it independently affect bullshit receptivity generally (Exp 3). This ultimately contributes to our understanding of the cognition of art, and decision making, especially as it relates to an application of models of cognitive miserliness to the evaluation of abstract art.
Restaurants receive lower online customer ratings when they eliminate tipping, & decline more when tipping is replaced with service-charges than when it is replaced with service-inclusive-pricing
A within-restaurant analysis of changes in customer satisfaction following the introduction of service inclusive pricing or automatic service charges. Michael Lynn, Zachary W.Brewster. International Journal of Hospitality Management, Volume 70, March 2018, Pages 9-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2017.11.001
Highlights
• Restaurants receive lower online customer ratings when they eliminate tipping.
• Customer ratings decline more when tipping is replaced with service-charges.
• Customer ratings decline more when tipping is replaced at less expensive restaurants.
• These findings provide a strong argument for the retention of tipping.
Abstract: Many U.S. restaurants have recently adopted no-tipping policies or are considering doing so. This study examines the effects of such moves away from tipping on restaurant’s online customer ratings. The results indicate that (i) restaurants receive lower online customer ratings when they eliminate tipping, (ii) online customer ratings decline more when tipping is replaced with service-charges than when it is replaced with service-inclusive-pricing, and (iii) less expensive restaurants experience greater declines in online customer ratings when replacing tipping with either alternative than do more expensive restaurants. These findings provide a strong argument for the retention of tipping, especially among lower- and mid-tier restaurants.
Highlights
• Restaurants receive lower online customer ratings when they eliminate tipping.
• Customer ratings decline more when tipping is replaced with service-charges.
• Customer ratings decline more when tipping is replaced at less expensive restaurants.
• These findings provide a strong argument for the retention of tipping.
Abstract: Many U.S. restaurants have recently adopted no-tipping policies or are considering doing so. This study examines the effects of such moves away from tipping on restaurant’s online customer ratings. The results indicate that (i) restaurants receive lower online customer ratings when they eliminate tipping, (ii) online customer ratings decline more when tipping is replaced with service-charges than when it is replaced with service-inclusive-pricing, and (iii) less expensive restaurants experience greater declines in online customer ratings when replacing tipping with either alternative than do more expensive restaurants. These findings provide a strong argument for the retention of tipping, especially among lower- and mid-tier restaurants.
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
Alleviating Global Poverty: Labor Mobility, Direct Assistance, and Economic Growth
Alleviating Global Poverty: Labor Mobility, Direct Assistance, and Economic Growth. Lant Pritchett. Center for Global Development Working Paper 479, March 2018. https://www.cgdev.org/sites/default/files/alleviating-global-poverty-labor-mobility-direct-assistance-and-economic-growth.pdf
Abstract: Decades of programmatic experimentation by development NGOs combined with the latest empirical techniques for estimating program impact have shown that a well-designed, well-implemented, multi-faceted intervention can in fact have an apparently sustained impact on the incomes of the poor (Banerjee et al 2015). The magnitude of the income gains of the “best you can do” via direct interventions to raise the income of the poor in situ is about 40 times smaller than the income gain from allowing people from those same poor countries to work in a high productivity country like the USA. Simply allowing more labor mobility holds vastly more promise for reducing poverty than anything else on the development agenda. That said, the magnitude of the gains from large growth accelerations (and losses from large decelerations) are also many-fold larger than the potential gains from directed individual interventions and the poverty reduction gains from large, extended periods of rapid growth are larger than from targeted interventions and also hold promise (and have delivered) for reducing global poverty.
Abstract: Decades of programmatic experimentation by development NGOs combined with the latest empirical techniques for estimating program impact have shown that a well-designed, well-implemented, multi-faceted intervention can in fact have an apparently sustained impact on the incomes of the poor (Banerjee et al 2015). The magnitude of the income gains of the “best you can do” via direct interventions to raise the income of the poor in situ is about 40 times smaller than the income gain from allowing people from those same poor countries to work in a high productivity country like the USA. Simply allowing more labor mobility holds vastly more promise for reducing poverty than anything else on the development agenda. That said, the magnitude of the gains from large growth accelerations (and losses from large decelerations) are also many-fold larger than the potential gains from directed individual interventions and the poverty reduction gains from large, extended periods of rapid growth are larger than from targeted interventions and also hold promise (and have delivered) for reducing global poverty.
Pursuing Sex with an Ex: Does It Hinder Breakup Recovery? It seems it doesn't.
Pursuing Sex with an Ex: Does It Hinder Breakup Recovery? Stephanie S. Spielmann, Samantha Joel, Emily A. Impett. Archives of Sexual Behavior, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-018-1268-6
Abstract: The present research used longitudinal methods to test whether pursuing sex with an ex-partner hinders breakup recovery. Participants completed a month-long daily diary immediately following a breakup, as well as a two-month follow-up (Study 1). Daily analyses revealed positive associations between trying to have sex with an ex-partner and emotional attachment to the ex-partner, but not other aspects of breakup recovery, such as distress, intrusive thoughts, or negative affect. Longitudinal changes from day to day, and over 2 months, revealed that pursuing sex with an ex was not a predictor of breakup recovery over time. To address the limitation that Study 1 only assessed attempted sexual pursuits, Study 2 explored associations between pursuit of, and actual engagement in, sexual activities with ex-partners. Results revealed that most sexual pursuits were successful, and success rates were not associated with breakup recovery. Findings challenge common beliefs about potential harm of pursuing sex with an ex.
Keywords: Breakups Ex-partners Sex Longitudinal methods
Abstract: The present research used longitudinal methods to test whether pursuing sex with an ex-partner hinders breakup recovery. Participants completed a month-long daily diary immediately following a breakup, as well as a two-month follow-up (Study 1). Daily analyses revealed positive associations between trying to have sex with an ex-partner and emotional attachment to the ex-partner, but not other aspects of breakup recovery, such as distress, intrusive thoughts, or negative affect. Longitudinal changes from day to day, and over 2 months, revealed that pursuing sex with an ex was not a predictor of breakup recovery over time. To address the limitation that Study 1 only assessed attempted sexual pursuits, Study 2 explored associations between pursuit of, and actual engagement in, sexual activities with ex-partners. Results revealed that most sexual pursuits were successful, and success rates were not associated with breakup recovery. Findings challenge common beliefs about potential harm of pursuing sex with an ex.
Keywords: Breakups Ex-partners Sex Longitudinal methods
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