The smartphone is the closest device to us, above classmates, colleagues, flatmates; trust & preoccupation mediate the relationship between closeness to the smartphone & stress and coping

Smartphones as digital companions: Characterizing the relationship between users and their phones. Astrid Carolus et al. New Media & Society, https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444818817074

Abstract: Based on the idea of computers constituting social agents and referring to core characteristics of human–human relationships, this study introduces the concept of a digital companionship between smartphone users and their devices. Constituting characteristics (closeness, trust, preoccupation) and outcomes (stress, coping with stress) of social relationships were adapted to yield a model of human–smartphone relationships for empirical testing. A cross-national sample of participants (n = 1156) completed an online study, which included self-report measures as well as a newly developed instrument (Positioning Others and Devices [POD]) assessing the closeness to technical devices and social actors. Results showed the smartphone to be the closest device. Furthermore, structural equation modeling lent support for the theoretical model indicating that trust and preoccupation mediate the relationship between closeness to the smartphone and stress and coping. Findings support the concept of companionship as a fruitful approach to explain smartphone-related behaviors.

Keywords: Digital companion, human–smartphone relationship, mobile devices, relationship, smartphone

Previous research has established a left cheek bias in photos uploaded to social media; it seems that really left cheek poses garner more likes

Left cheek poses garner more likes: the effect of pose orientation on Instagram engagement. Annukka K. Lindell. Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition, https://doi.org/10.1080/1357650X.2018.1556278

ABSTRACT: In social media’s attention economy “likes” are currency; photos showing faces attract more “likes.” Previous research has established a left cheek bias in photos uploaded to social media, but whether left cheek poses induce more engagement than right cheek poses remains to be determined. The present study thus examined whether pose orientation influences the number of “likes” and comments garnered by photos uploaded to Instagram. The top 20 single-user Instagram accounts were identified, and the most recent 10 left and 10 right cheek images were selected, resulting in a total of 400 images. The number of “likes” and comments were tallied for each image, netting over 1 billion “likes” and 14 million comments for analysis. Results confirmed that pose orientation influences audience engagement: left cheek poses garner >10% more “likes” than right cheek poses. Gender did not influence “likes”. Comments were not affected by either pose orientation or gender, likely reflecting the different levels of effort and motivations involved in “liking” vs. commenting on an image. These data indicate that a seemingly inconsequential turn of the head profoundly impacts audience engagement: left cheek poses gained >330,000 more “likes”, offering clear implications for marketers and others in the social media economy.

KEYWORDS: Left, right, emotion, photo, portrait, social media, Instagram

Individuals high in religious fundamentalism engage more in monitoring for conflict between outcomes of their actions and standards of correct behavior; also, may share some characteristics with OCD patients: more negative affect, uncertainty, anxiety, & distress

Religious fundamentalism is associated with hyperactive performance monitoring: ERP evidence from correct and erroneous responses. Magdalena Senderecka et al. Biological Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2018.12.007

Highlights
•    Religious fundamentalism correlates with response-related brain activity.
•    High religious fundamentalists show increased ERN, Pe, and CRN amplitudes.
•    Religious fundamentalism does not correlate with behavioral performance.
•    Fundamentalism is associated with increased activity of the brain’s defensive system.
•    High religious fundamentalists may share some characteristics with OCD patients.

Abstract: The aim of the current study was to examine whether action monitoring is associated with religious fundamentalism. Participants performed a stop-signal task that required response inhibition to a simple auditory tone. The level of their religious fundamentalism was measured on a scale. Analysis with mixed-effects linear models revealed significantly larger error-related negativity, correct-related negativity, and post-error positivity components in individuals scoring higher on religious fundamentalism, pointing to their increased engagement in response monitoring. However, it was not accompanied by improved behavioral performance. The electrophysiological results of our study suggest that individuals high in religious fundamentalism engage more in monitoring for conflict between outcomes of their actions and standards of correct behavior. Our findings also point to a possible association between a fundamentalist mindset and higher levels of negative affect, uncertainty, anxiety, and distress, as measured by response-related brain activity.

Personal medicine affected health in the second half of the twentieth century than in the preceding 150 years; medical care productivity decreases over time: spending increased faster than life expectancy, although the ratio stabilized in the past two decades

Two Hundred Years of Health and Medical Care: The Importance of Medical Care for Life Expectancy Gains. Maryaline Catillon, David Cutler, Thomas Getzen. NBER Working Paper No. 25330, Dec 2018. https://www.nber.org/papers/w25330

Using two hundred years of national and Massachusetts data on medical care and health, we examine how central medical care is to life expectancy gains. While common theories about medical care cost growth stress growing demand, our analysis highlights the importance of supply side factors, including the major public investments in research, workforce training and hospital construction that fueled a surge in spending over the 1955-1975 span. There is a stronger case that personal medicine affected health in the second half of the twentieth century than in the preceding 150 years. Finally, we consider whether medical care productivity decreases over time, and find that spending increased faster than life expectancy, although the ratio stabilized in the past two decades.

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Vulgata: Two hundred years of health and medical care Maryaline Catillon, David M. Cutler, Thomas E. Getzen. Feb 09 2019. https://voxeu.org/article/two-hundred-years-health-and-medical-care

The Simon Abundance Index, A New Way to Measure Availability of Resources: People as the “ultimate resource,” making other resources more plentiful

The Simon Abundance Index: A New Way to Measure Availability of Resources. Gale L. Pooley and Marian L. Tupy. Cato Policy Analysis No. 857, Dec 4, 2018. https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/simon-abundance-index-new-way-measure-availability-resources

Are we running out of resources? That’s been a hotly debated question since the publication of Paul Ehrlich’s The Population Bomb in 1968. The Stanford University biologist warned that population growth would result in the exhaustion of resources and a global catastrophe. University of Maryland economist Julian Simon, in contrast, argued that humans would innovate their way out of resource shortages. He believed that people were the “ultimate resource” that would make other resources more plentiful.

[...] Using the latest price data for 50 foundational commodities covering energy, food, materials, and metals, we propose a new way of measuring resource availability based on four concepts.

First, the time-price of commodities allows us to measure the cost of resources in terms of human labor. We find that, in terms of global average hourly income, commodity prices fell by 64.7 percent between 1980 and 2017. Second, the price elasticity of population (PEP) allows us to measure sensitivity of resource availability to population growth. We find that the time-price of commodities declined by 0.934 percent for every 1 percent increase in the world’s population over the same time period. Third, we develop the Simon Abundance Framework, which uses the PEP values to distinguish between different degrees of resource abundance, from decreasing abundance at one end to superabundance at the other end. Considering that the time-price of commodities decreased at a faster proportional rate than population increased, we find that humanity is experiencing superabundance. Fourth, we create the Simon Abundance Index, which uses the timeprice of commodities and change in global population to estimate overall resource abundance. We find that the planet’s resources became 379.6 percent more abundant between 1980 and 2017.

On the basis of our analysis of the relationship between resource availability and population growth, we forecast that the time-price of commodities could fall by a further 29 percent over the next 37 years. Much will depend on policies and institutions that nations pursue. For the time-price of commodities to decline and resource abundance to increase, it is necessary for market incentives and the price mechanism to endure. When prices of commodities temporarily increase, people have an incentive to use resources more efficiently, increase their supply, and develop cheaper substitutes.