Honesty in 355 cities, 40 countries: In virtually all countries citizens were more likely to return wallets that contained more money

Civic honesty around the globe. Alain Cohn et al. Science Jun 20 2019:eaau8712. DOI: 10.1126/science.aau8712

Abstract: Civic honesty is essential to social capital and economic development, but is often in conflict with material self-interest. We examine the trade-off between honesty and self-interest using field experiments in 355 cities spanning 40 countries around the globe. We turned in over 17,000 lost wallets with varying amounts of money at public and private institutions, and measured whether recipients contacted the owner to return the wallets. In virtually all countries citizens were more likely to return wallets that contained more money. Both non-experts and professional economists were unable to predict this result. Additional data suggest our main findings can be explained by a combination of altruistic concerns and an aversion to viewing oneself as a thief, which increase with the material benefits of dishonesty.

The role of character, hunting ability, and reciprocity in Hadza campmate selection: It seems that social selection for character traits was not a powerful driving force in the evolution of human cooperation

Partner choice in human evolution: The role of character, hunting ability, and reciprocity in Hadza campmate selection. Kristopher M. Smith, Coren L. Apicella. Human Behavior and Evolution Society 31st annual meeting. Boston 2019. http://tiny.cc/aa1w6y

Abstract: The ability to choose the partners we interact with is thought to have been an important driver in the evolution of human social behavior, and in particular, for our propensity to cooperate. But evidence for this claim comes largely from Western populations. Here, we investigate qualities associated with being a preferred partner (i.e. campmate) in Hadza hunter-gatherers of northern Tanzania. Ninety-two Hadza participants from 12 camps ranked their current campmates on character traits (i.e. hard work, generosity, and honesty), hunting ability in men, and their preference for them as future campmates. We found positive but weak associations between rankings on character traits and being a preferred campmate. However, there was suggestive evidence that being perceived as a better hunter was a more important criterion than any character traits for being a preferred campmate in men. And we found little evidence to suggest that partner preferences were reciprocated among campmates. Finally, we found little evidence to suggest that being a preferred campmate is associated with greater reproductive success, which suggests there is little benefit to being a valued partner. Together, these findings suggest that social selection for character traits was not a powerful driving force in the evolution of human cooperation.

https://osf.io/8sxmw/x

Foodie Calls, Or When Women Date Men for a Free Meal (Rather Than a Relationship): 23–33% of women surveyed had engaged in a foodie call; related to the the dark triad traits

Foodie Calls: When Women Date Men for a Free Meal (Rather Than a Relationship). Brian Collisson, Jennifer L. Howell, Trista Harig. Social Psychological and Personality Science, June 20, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550619856308

Abstract: A foodie call occurs when a person, despite a lack of romantic attraction to a suitor, chooses to go on a date to receive a free meal. The present study examines predictors of a deceptive form of the foodie call in the context of male–female dates: when a woman purposefully misrepresents her romantic interest in a man to dine at his expense. In two studies, we surveyed women regarding their foodie call behavior, dark triad personality traits, traditional gender role beliefs, and online dating history. We found 23–33% of women surveyed had engaged in a foodie call. In Study 1, dark triad and traditional gender role beliefs significantly predicted previous foodie call behavior and its perceived acceptability. Study 2 employed fuller measures and suggested again that dark triad traits predicted foodie calls and their perceived acceptability.

Keywords: dating, food, dark triad, Machiavellianism, gender roles

The vast majority of our participants were honest, even when under time-pressure, our data question that people´s automatic response is to cheat and aligns with the idea that people have a strong preference for honest behavior

Verschuere, Bruno, Ine van der Cruyssen, Jonathan D'hondt, and Ewout Meijer. 2019. “Does Honesty Require Time? Two Preregistered Replications of Experiment 2 of Shalvi, Eldar, and Bereby-meyer (2012).” OSF Preprints. June 20. doi:10.31219/osf.io/qbk6z

Abstract: Shalvi, Eldar, and Bereby-Meyer (2012) found across two studies (each N = 72) that time-pressure increased cheating. These findings suggest that dishonesty comes naturally, while honesty requires overcoming the initial tendency to cheat. In a replication attempt of their Experiment 2, time-pressure did not increase cheating (N = 428, rpb = 0.05, BF01 = 16.67). The use of mass testing was, however, a deviation from the original procedure. In a second replication, with small groups of participants, time pressure also did not increase cheating (N = 319, rpb = 0.03, BF01 = 10.14). These findings indicate that the original study may have overestimated the true effect of time pressure on cheating. Given that the vast majority of our participants were honest, even when under time-pressure, our data question that people´s automatic response is to cheat and aligns with the idea that people have a strong preference for honest behavior.

6-18 year old Tsimané children: Few gender differences were found in mobility or spatial ability, although males pointed more accurately to challenging (high sinuosity) routes; girls were more harm avoidant & took more direct routes

Spatial cognition, navigation, and mobility among children in a forager-horticulturalist population, the Tsimané of Bolivia. Helen Elizabeth Davis, Elizabeth Cashdan. Human Behavior and Evolution Society 31st annual meeting. Boston 2019. http://tiny.cc/aa1w6y

Abstract: In many societies, males range farther than females, and this greater environmental experience may foster better spatial ability. Females are also reported to be more harm-avoidant, which may reduce spatial exploration. We evaluated these relationships among 6-18 year old Tsimané children, who live in a forager-horticulturalist society where both girls and boys have few constraints on spatial exploration compared to children in Western societies. Mobility was assessed through GPS tracking and interview, spatial ability through pointing accuracy, perspective-taking and mental rotation, and harm avoidance through interview. Few gender differences were found in mobility or spatial ability, although males pointed more accurately to challenging (high sinuosity) routes. Tsimané girls were more harm avoidant beginning in adolescence, and harm-avoidant adolescents took more direct routes. Greater regional travel and winding daily tracks were predictive of better navigation, but mental rotation scores was more strongly correlated with schooling.

Heterosexual men: In dynamic stimuli depicting two non-preferred targets engaged in sexual intercourse, greater homonegativity predicted less sustained attention toward targets in the receptive role, but not in the insertive role

The impact of homonegativity on gynephilic men's visual attention toward non-preferred sexual targets. Dan Tassone, Samantha J. Dawson, Meredith L. Chivers. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 149, 15 October 2019, Pages 261-272. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.05.062

Abstract: Consistent with men's gender-specific patterns of sexual arousal, men tend to look longer at their preferred gender when viewing mixed-sex sexual stimuli. But gynephilic men do attend to males featured in sexual stimuli, and individual differences in negative affect may explain some variability in their sustained attention toward male targets. We explored the influence of homonegativity and affective reactions on visual attention toward sexual stimuli and subsequent feelings of sexual attraction. We sampled gynephilic men in two eye-tracking studies (Study 1: n = 49, Study 2: n = 38) that included measures of universalizing homonegativity, minoritizing homonegativity, and disgust to predict sustained visual attention and reported sexual attraction toward non-preferred targets in still-image and dynamic-video sexual stimuli. Greater feelings of universalizing homonegativity predicted less sustained attention toward solo non-preferred sexual targets. In dynamic stimuli depicting two non-preferred targets engaged in sexual intercourse, greater universalizing homonegativity predicted less sustained attention toward targets in the receptive role, but not in the insertive role. Greater feelings of universalizing homonegativity also predicted lower reported feelings of sexual attraction toward non-preferred targets. Results suggest that gynephilic men's attention and sexual attraction toward male sexual targets is influenced by homonegative attitudes and the target's sexual role.

Does your partner's personality affect your health? Those high in conscientiousness are good for your quality of life; no other partner effects of the Big Five were found

Does your partner's personality affect your health? Actor and partner effects of the Big Five personality traits. Lynn Williams et al. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 149, 15 October 2019, Pages 231-234. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.06.004

Abstract: The Big Five personality traits are powerful predictors of health and longevity. However, few studies have addressed partner effects of personality on health, whereby the personalities of people close to us affect our health. The current study examined the partner effects of Big Five traits on health behaviours, mood, and quality of life in romantic couples. Here, 182 romantic couples (N = 364 participants; Mage = 35.7 years) completed self-report measures of the Big Five (TIPI), health behaviours (GPHB), mood (DASS-21) and quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF). Data were analysed using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model and showed significant partner effects of conscientiousness on quality of life. No other partner effects of the Big Five were found. These findings suggest that there are specific, focussed associations between health and a romantic partner's personality.

The predictive effects of fear of being single on physical attractiveness and less selective partner selection strategies

The predictive effects of fear of being single on physical attractiveness and less selective partner selection strategies. Stephanie S. Spielmann et al. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, June 19, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407519856701

Abstract: Fear of being single (FOBS) tends to predict settling for less when seeking a romantic partner. The present research sought to examine whether this is due, at least in part, to lower physical attractiveness among those who fear being single. In a photo-rating study (Study 1, N = 122) and a speed-dating study (Study 2, N = 171), participants completed the FOBS Scale, rated perceptions of their own physical attractiveness, and were then rated on physical attractiveness by a team of raters. In Studies 1 and 2, FOBS was not significantly associated with judge-rated physical attractiveness as a bivariate association or in hierarchical regressions accounting for anxious and avoidant attachments, gender, and smiling. There were mixed findings in both studies regarding the association between FOBS and self-rated physical attractiveness in bivariate versus multivariate analyses. However, the tendency of those with stronger FOBS to be less selective during speed dating was not explained by either their judge-rated or their self-rated physical attractiveness.

Keywords: Fear of being single, physical attractiveness, selectivity, speed dating

Retracted Papers Die Hard, see the Diederik Stapel case and the Enduring Influence of Flawed Science: Stapel’s papers are still cited in a favorable way within and outside the psychological literature

Moris Fernandez, Luis, and Miguel A. Vadillo. 2019. “Retracted Papers Die Hard: Diederik Stapel and the Enduring Influence of Flawed Science.” PsyArXiv. June 19. doi:10.31234/osf.io/cszpy

Abstract: Self-correction is a defining feature of science. However, science’s ability to correct itself is far from optimal as shown, for instance, by the persistent influence of papers that have been retracted due to faulty methods or research misconduct. In this study, we track citations to the retracted work of Diederik Stapel. These citations provide a powerful indicative of the enduring influence of flawed science, as the (admittedly fabricated) data reported in these retracted papers provide no evidence for or against any hypothesis and this case of fraud was widely known due to the extensive media coverage of the scandal. Our data show that Stapel’s papers are still cited in a favorable way within and without the psychological literature. To ameliorate this problem, we propose that papers should be screened during the review process to monitor citations to retracted papers.

We say we see a lot of news reports about “Politics”, “Science” and “International,” but the categories “Tragedies and Weird news”’ and “Sport” are by far the most visited

The News We Like Are Not the News We Visit: News Categories Popularity in Usage Data. Zied Ben Houidi et al. Vol 13 No 01 (2019): Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Conference on Web and Social Media, 2019-07-06. https://www.aaai.org/ojs/index.php/ICWSM/article/view/3212

Abstract: Most of our knowledge about online news consumption comes from survey-based news market reports, partial usage data from a single editor, or what people publicly share on social networks. This paper complements these sources by presenting the first holistic study of visits across online news outlets that a population uses to read news. We monitor the entire network traffic generated by Internet users in four locations in Italy. Together these users generated 80 million visits to 5.4 million news articles in about one year and a half. This unique view allows us to evaluate how usage data complements existing data sources. We find for instance that only 16% of news visits in our datasets came from online social networks. In addition, the popularity of news categories when considering all visits is quite different from the one when considering only news discovered on social media, or visits to a single major news outlet. Interestingly, a substantial mismatch emerges between self-reported news-category preferences (as measured by Reuters Institute in the same year and same country) and their actual popularity in terms of visits in our datasets. In particular, unlike self-reported preferences expressed by users in surveys that put “Politics”, “Science” and “International” as the most appreciated categories, “Tragedies and Weird news”’ and “Sport” are by far the most visited. We discuss two possible causes of this mismatch and conjecture that the most plausible reason is the disassociation that may occur between individuals’ cognitive values and their cue-triggered attraction.

Rolf Degen summarizing: Ironically, it may not be the much-trumpeted echo chambers, but exposure to cross-cutting views that increases the spread of misinformation on social media

Explaining the Spread of Misinformation on Social Media: Evidence fromthe 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. Pablo Barbera. Note prepared for the APSA Comparative Politics Newsletter, Fall 2018. http://pablobarbera.com/static/barbera-CP-note.pdf

Abstract: Over the past few years, concerns about the negative societal consequences of the spreadof misinformation have become widespread. While false news and propaganda are far from being a new phenomenon, the emergence and popularization of social networking platforms appear to have increased the prevalence of false news stories and the speed at which they become viral. False rumors and news stories that were spread on social media have been mentioned as one of the reasons for the recent rise of populist candidates in the U.S. and Europe and as fuel inciting violence against ethnic minorities in countries such as Sri Lanka and Myanmar (see e.g. Taub and Fisher, 2018). The same new technology tools that allowed the pro-democracy groups during the Arab Spring to coordinate and start a revolution are now seemingly giving a platform to conspiracy theorists and extremist actors seeking to manipulate the political agenda in their own financial or political interest. However, we still know relatively little about the extent to which false news are indeed widespread on social media and the extent to which they have a causal effect on individual attitude change or offline violence. This short note offers an overview of the existing empirical evidence regarding the prevalence of misinformation on social media sites and different individual- and contextual-level factors that may explain its diffusion.

Men looking at women: The contrapposto pose was perceived as more attractive than the standing pose

Waist-to-Hip Ratio as Supernormal Stimuli: Effect of Contrapposto Pose and Viewing Angle. Farid Pazhoohi. Archives of Sexual Behavior, June 18 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-019-01486-z

Abstract: In women, the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) is an indicator of attractiveness, health, youthfulness, and reproductive potential. In the current study, we hypothesized that viewing angle and body postures influence the attractiveness of these forms based on the view dependency of WHR stimuli (vdWHR). Using eye tracking, we quantified the number of fixations and dwell time on 3D images of a female avatar in two different poses (standing and contrapposto) from eight viewing angles incrementing in 45 degrees of rotation. A total of 68 heterosexual individuals (25 men and 43 women) participated in the study. Results showed that the contrapposto pose was perceived as more attractive than the standing pose and that lower vdWHR sides of the stimuli attracted more first fixation, total fixations, and dwell time. Overall, the results supported that WHR is view-dependent and vdWHRs lower than optimal WHRs are supernormal stimuli that may generate peak shifts in responding. Results are discussed in terms of the attractiveness of women’s movements (gaits and dance) and augmented artistic presentations.