We are all saints and sinners: Some of our actions benefit other people, while other actions harm people. How do people balance moral rights against moral wrongs when evaluating others’ actions?

Johnson, Samuel G. B., and Jaye Ahn. 2019. “Principles of Karmic Accounting: How Our Intuitive Moral Sense Balances Rights and Wrongs.” PsyArXiv. September 10. doi:10.31234/osf.io/xetwg

Abstract: We are all saints and sinners: Some of our actions benefit other people, while other actions harm people. How do people balance moral rights against moral wrongs when evaluating others’ actions? Across 9 studies, we contrast the predictions of three conceptions of intuitive morality—outcome- based (utilitarian), act-based (deontologist), and person-based (virtue ethics) approaches. Although good acts can partly offset bad acts—consistent with utilitarianism—they do so incompletely and in a manner relatively insensitive to magnitude, but sensitive to temporal order and the match between who is helped and harmed. Inferences about personal moral character best predicted blame judgments, explaining variance across items and across participants. However, there was modest evidence for both deontological and utilitarian processes too. These findings contribute to conversations about moral psychology and person perception, and may have policy implications.

Under low budget conditions, Eastern & Western participants differed in their mate dollar allocation for almost every trait (culture influences prioritization); but the same priorities were given for traits needed for reproductive success

Mate preference priorities in the East and West: A cross‐cultural test of the mate preference priority model. Andrew G. Thomas et al. Journal of Personality, September 8 2019. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12514

Abstract
Objective: Mate choice involves trading‐off several preferences. Research on this process tends to examine mate preference prioritization in homogenous samples using a small number of traits and thus provide little insight into whether prioritization patterns reflect a universal human nature. This study examined whether prioritization patterns, and their accompanying sex differences, are consistent across Eastern and Western cultures.

Method: In the largest test of the mate preference priority model to date, we asked an international sample of participants (N = 2,477) to design an ideal long‐term partner by allocating mate dollars to eight traits using three budgets. Unlike previous versions of the task, we included traits known to vary in importance by culture (e.g., religiosity and chastity).s

Results: Under low budget conditions, Eastern and Western participants differed in their mate dollar allocation for almost every trait (average d = 0.42), indicating that culture influences prioritization. Despite these differences, traits fundamental for the reproductive success of each sex in the ancestral environment were prioritized by both Eastern and Western participants.

Conclusion: The tendency to prioritize reproductively fundamental traits is present in both Eastern and Western cultures. The psychological mechanisms responsible for this process produce similar prioritization patterns despite cross‐cultural variation.

We compare how much food others are eating as compared to our portions, what types of foods they eat, dimensions related to eating such as body weight & shape & other dimensions like social status

C. Peter Herman, Janet Polivy, Patricia Pliner, Lenny R. Vartanian. Social Influences on Eating pp 147-162, September 6 2019. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-28817-4_9

Abstract: A large literature shows that people compare themselves to others on a wide variety of dimensions; this is called social comparison. Such comparisons to other people can provide useful guides for our behavior, and they may also have emotional consequences, affecting our self-esteem and happiness. We compare ourselves to others with respect to our food consumption as well as other behaviors related to eating. For example, we compare how much food others are eating as compared to our portions, what types of foods others eat, dimensions related to eating such as body weight and shape and even dimensions not directly related to eating such as social status. Such food-related social comparisons can affect not only our eating but our emotions and other behaviors as well. We want to “look good,” act appropriately, and be treated fairly, relative to others, and social comparisons around food and eating are important contributors to this.

Keywords: Social comparison Emotional response Amount of food Food choices Appropriate foods

We are poor at distinguishing knowledge that is in our heads from knowledge that resides in the community (KC); we overestimate how much we know or understand merely by participating in a KC

Individual Representation in a Community of Knowledge. Nathaniel Rabb, Philip M. Fernbach, Steven A. Sloman. Volume 23, Issue 10, October 2019, Pages 891-902. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2019.07.011

Highlights
.  The knowledge that supports many of our beliefs and attitudes resides not in our own heads, but in a community of knowledge constituted by other people, artifacts, and information repositories (e.g., libraries or the Internet).
.  Individuals are poor at distinguishing knowledge that is in their heads from knowledge that resides in the community. This leads them to overestimate how much they know or understand merely by participating in a community of knowledge.
.  This failure of differentiation has implications for public discourse. Extreme views about science and politics have been found to covary with knowledge overestimation.
.  Modeling individual cognition under collective knowledge is an emerging challenge for cognitive science.

Abstract: An individual’s knowledge is collective in at least two senses: it often comes from other people’s testimony, and its deployment in reasoning and action requires accuracy underwritten by other people’s knowledge. What must one know to participate in a collective knowledge system? Here, we marshal evidence that individuals retain detailed causal information for a few domains and coarse causal models embedding markers indicating that these details are available elsewhere (others’ heads or the physical world) for most domains. This framework yields further questions about metacognition, source credibility, and individual computation that are theoretically and practically important. Belief polarization depends on the web of epistemic dependence and is greatest for those who know the least, plausibly due to extreme conflation of others’ knowledge with one’s own.

Keywords: collective cognitionknowledge representation

When outdated norms are used, the Flynn Effect inflates IQs and potentially biases intellectual disability diagnosis; a Flynn Effect was found for IQs ≥ 130, and a negative effect for IQs ≤ 70

The Flynn effect for fluid IQ may not generalize to all ages or ability levels: A population-based study of 10,000 US adolescents. Jonathan M. Platt et al. Intelligence, Volume 77, November–December 2019, 101385. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2019.101385

Highlights
•    When outdated norms are used, the Flynn Effect inflates IQs and potentially biases intellectual disability diagnosis
•    In a large US-representative adolescent sample, a Flynn Effect was found for IQs ≥ 130, and a negative effect for IQs ≤ 70
•    IQ changes also differed substantially by age group
•    A negative Flynn Effect for those with low intellectual ability suggests widening disparities in cognitive ability
•    Findings challenge the practice of generalizing IQ trends based on data from non-representative samples

Abstract: Generational changes in IQ (the Flynn Effect) have been extensively researched and debated. Within the US, gains of 3 points per decade have been accepted as consistent across age and ability level, suggesting that tests with outdated norms yield spuriously high IQs. However, findings are generally based on small samples, have not been validated across ability levels, and conflict with reverse effects recently identified in Scandinavia and other countries. Using a well-validated measure of fluid intelligence, we investigated the Flynn Effect by comparing scores normed in 1989 and 2003, among a representative sample of American adolescents ages 13–18 (n = 10,073). Additionally, we examined Flynn Effect variation by age, sex, ability level, parental age, and SES. Adjusted mean IQ differences per decade were calculated using generalized linear models. Overall the Flynn Effect was not significant; however, effects varied substantially by age and ability level. IQs increased 2.3 points at age 13 (95% CI = 2.0, 2.7), but decreased 1.6 points at age 18 (95% CI = −2.1, −1.2). IQs decreased 4.9 points for those with IQ ≤ 70 (95% CI = −4.9, −4.8), but increased 3.5 points among those with IQ ≥ 130 (95% CI = 3.4, 3.6). The Flynn Effect was not meaningfully related to other background variables. Using the largest sample of US adolescent IQs to date, we demonstrate significant heterogeneity in fluid IQ changes over time. Reverse Flynn Effects at age 18 are consistent with previous data, and those with lower ability levels are exhibiting worsening IQ over time. Findings by age and ability level challenge generalizing IQ trends throughout the general population.

Genetic and Environmental Influences on Different Forms of Bullying Perpetration, Bullying Victimization, and Their Co-occurrence: Genes play a large role

Genetic and Environmental Influences on Different Forms of Bullying Perpetration, Bullying Victimization, and Their Co-occurrence. Sabine A. M. Veldkamp et al. Behavior Genetics, September 10 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10519-019-09968-5

Abstract: Bullying comes in different forms, yet most previous genetically-sensitive studies have not distinguished between them. Given the serious consequences and the high prevalence of bullying, it is remarkable that the aetiology of bullying and its different forms has been under-researched. We present the first study to investigate the genetic architecture of bullying perpetration, bullying victimization, and their co-occurrence for verbal, physical and relational bullying. Primary-school teachers rated 8215 twin children on bullying perpetration and bullying victimization. For each form of bullying, we investigated, through genetic structural equation modelling, the genetic and environmental influences on being a bully, a victim or both. 34% of the children were involved as bully, victim, or both. The correlation between being a bully and being a victim varied from 0.59 (relational) to 0.85 (physical). Heritability was ~ 70% for perpetration and ~ 65% for victimization, similar in girls and boys, yet both were somewhat lower for the relational form. Shared environmental influences were modest and more pronounced among girls. The correlation between being a bully and being a victim was explained mostly by genetic factors for verbal (~ 71%) and especially physical (~ 77%) and mostly by environmental factors for relational perpetration and victimization (~ 60%). Genes play a large role in explaining which children are at high risk of being a victim, bully, or both. For victimization this suggests an evocative gene-environment correlation: some children are at risk of being exposed to bullying, partly due to genetically influenced traits. So, genetic influences make some children more vulnerable to become a bully, victim or both.

Keywords: Bullying Victimization Bully-victims Twins Heritability School

Moderate drinkers seem to higher earnings than constant abstainers, & both constant abstainers and former drinkers are less likely to be employed than moderate drinkers; at least for short-run estimations

Adolescent Alcohol Consumption and Labor Market Outcomes. Laura Tikkanen. Jyväskylä University, School of Business and Economics. Master’s Thesis 2019. https://jyx.jyu.fi/bitstream/handle/123456789/64108/URN%3ANBN%3Afi%3Ajyu-201905222710.pdf?sequence=1

Abstract: Misuse of alcohol at young age has been linked to several problems in adult-hood. In this study, it isexamined if alcohol consumption has a negative effect on the earnings and employment of adolescence. Earlier literature shows that risky and heavy alcohol consumption tends to result both in poor labor market outcomes and reduced health.However, the results also indicate that moderate alcohol consumption is oftenassociated with the most favorable labor market outcomes, such as the highest earnings. In this study, data are drawn fromthe Health 2000 -studyconducted by the National Institute for Health and Welfare. The final estimation sample consists of 1171 individuals aged 18-29. These individuals are divided into four categories based on their drinking habits; heavy drinkers, moderate drinkers, former drinkers and constant abstainers. The differences between the categories arecom-pared using OLS-regression method. The results indicate that moderate drinkers seem to higher earnings than constant abstainers. Furthermore, both constant abstainers and former drinkers are less likely to be employed than moderate drinkers. Since the data set covers a period of only one year, the results can only be used for short-run estimations. The participants of the study were also relatively young which makes it difficult to estimate the true impact of alcohol consumption on their earnings and employment later in life. Therefore, the conclusion of the study is that further research on long-term labor market outcomes is needed.

Key Words:alcohol  consumption,  alcohol,  labor  market  outcomes,  earnings,  employment, adolescents, OLSregression

Personality traits of low conscientiousness and low emotional stability are associated with reduced healthy life expectancy of individuals and population

Personality, disability‐free life years, and life expectancy: Individual‐participant meta‐analysis of 131,195 individuals from 10 cohort studies. Markus Jokela et al. Journal of Personality, September 8 2019. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12513

Abstract
Objective: We examined how personality traits of the Five Factor Model were related to years of healthy life years lost (mortality and disability) for individuals and the population.

Method: Participants were 131,195 individuals from 10 cohort studies from Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States (n=43,935 from 7 cohort studies for the longitudinal analysis of disability, assessed using scales of Activities of Daily Living, ADL).

Results: Lower conscientiousness was associated with higher mortality and disability risk, but only when conscientiousness was below its median level. If the excess risk associated with low conscientiousness had been absent, population life expectancy would have been 1.3 years longer and disability‐free life 1.0 years longer. Lower emotional stability was related to shorter life expectancy, but only among those in the lowest 15% of the distribution, and disability throughout the distribution: if the excess risk associated with low emotional stability had been absent, population life expectancy would have been 0.4 years longer and disability‐free life 2.4 years longer.

Conclusions: Personality traits of low conscientiousness and low emotional stability are associated with reduced healthy life expectancy of individuals and population.

Incels and the stories they tell: A narrative analysis of Incels’ shared stories on Reddit

Incels and the stories they tell: A narrative analysis of Incels’ shared stories on Reddit. Thea Høiland. Master’s thesis in Sociology, Department of Sociology and Human Geography, Oslo U. May 27 2019. https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/69841/1/Masteroppgave-arbeidsversjon---Ferdig-versjon.pdf

Abstract:
After the separation of pro- and anti-feminist groups in the USA in the 1970s, we saw a growth in more overtly anti-feminist politics throughout the 198’s and 1990s. In 2010s, a more hateful culture emerged, largely due to the possibility for anonymity on the Internet. This is The manosphere, a now transnational, conglomeration of forums, blogs and websites which center around the concept of The Red Pill, a philosophy meant to awaken men to feminism’s misandry and brainwashing. This thesis is about a specific group found in The manosphere, a group of men who view themselves as unable to find a partner or have sex despite desiring to. They are known as Incels or involuntary celibate. I wish to describe and understand this online culture and community by looking at the shared stories they tell through a narrative analysis. Incels are new phenomenon, and my thesis is the first academic study to cover the present constellation of Incels.The research question is as follows: What are the main narratives that emerge in the shared stories told amongst Incels on /r/Braincels? I focus on co-tellership and shared meanings through these supporting research questions: How are the characters from the Incel-word represented? What are the Incel community norms and rights associated with the narrative interactions? Whose interests does the stories serve? I use mediated narrative analysis to analyze the shared stories on three levels: at level one, I look at the shared story through character portrayal. At level two, I look at the sharing and interaction in the shared story. This means discussing the relational work and interactions amongst tellers. I also look the positioning of Incels to hegemonic masculinity, are they distancing or aligning themselves with hegemonic masculinity? At level three, I look at the shared meanings, that being the main narratives and whose interests the stories serve. 

The five main narratives that emerged through my data are as follows: 1) the narrative of sex is what decides a man’s worth 2),  the narrative of “looks are everything; personality is nothing”, 3) The narrative of women being subordinate to men, 4) The narrative of anti-feminism and 5)The narrative of loneliness.Throughout my analysis, I look at the constellation of Incels’ hybrid masculinity in light of hegemonic and hybrid masculinity theories. I find that Incels position hegemonic masculinity as superior to both Incels and women. Women are presented as subordinate to men, and feminine traits are positioned as subordinate to masculine traits. Incels place themselves in another masculine identity than hegemonic masculinity by contrasting themselves to the stereotypical masculine ideal, Chad. In addition, Incels distance themselves through talking about their failures and expresing emotions. This is not accepted when performing hegemonic masculinity.Lastly, I find that /r/Braincels functions as a channel for venting frustration for themen who consider themselves Incels, and who consider our modern day society unfair and cruel to (what they categorize as) ugly men. At the same time, they show concerning categorizations of gender and misogyny. They present themselves as victims, and women as the enemy.

Rolf Degen summarizing: Individuals with a higher degree of pro-environmental attitudes were more prone to moral licensing, offsetting previous good environmental deeds with subsequent bad ones

A behavioral rebound effect. Zack Dorner. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, September 4 2019, 102257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2019.102257

Abstract; Pro-environmental behaviors are an important avenue for mitigating environmental impacts. Technological improvements are also a vital tool for reducing environmental damage from consumption. However, their benefits are partially offset by the direct rebound effect, whereby a consumer rationally responds to an increase in resource use efficiency by consuming more. This paper investigates whether technological improvement might also reduce behaviorally motivated mitigation of environmental damage. A behavioral rebound effect operates through two channels. First, pro-environmental effort is reduced after a decrease in marginal environmental damage. Second, moral licensing reduces pro-environmental effort further when technological change is endogenous. I develop a novel real effort laboratory experiment to identify these behaviors. I find a positive behavioral rebound effect. I also find evidence consistent with moral licensing, which is strongest among subjects with a higher degree of pro-environmental attitudes and beliefs. Subjects’ baseline level of pro-environmental effort is driven by beliefs about social norms.

Check also Academic air travel has a limited influence on professional success. Seth Wynes et al. Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 226, 20 July 2019, Pages 959-967. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2019/06/we-found-no-significant-difference.html

And The Behavior of Ethicists.  Eric Schwitzgebel and Joshua Rust. In A Companion to Experimental Philosophy, edited by Justin Sytsma and Wesley Buckwalter. Aug 2017. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/08/the-behavior-of-ethicists-ch-15-of.html

Persons with Disabilities: Association of Internet Use with Wellbeing, Mental Health and Health Behaviours

The Association of Internet Use with Wellbeing, Mental Health and Health Behaviours of Persons with Disabilities. Mariusz Duplaga and Katarzyna Szulc. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(18), 3252, September 4 2019. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16183252

Abstract
Introduction: There is strong evidence that people with disabilities suffer from a significant digital divide. However, there are reports indicating that Internet use may result in many benefits for those with disabilities. The aim of the study was to assess the impact that the use of the Internet has on the wellbeing and health behaviours of persons with disabilities.

Methods: An analysis was carried out using the dataset obtained from Social Diagnosis, a panel study undertaken on a nationally representative sample. The records of persons with disabilities were retrieved from the dataset which was established in 2015. An analysis of the association between Internet use and the wellbeing, mental health and health behaviours of the respondents was undertaken. The variables reflecting the self-assessment of their own life and experience of loneliness were treated as being indicators of their wellbeing and the prevalence of suicidal thoughts or making use of psychological help as indicators of mental health. The health behaviours analysed in the study included smoking, excessive consumption of alcohol and undertaking physical activity. For all these variables, multivariate logistic regression models were developed. The effect of Internet use was adjusted for sociodemographic variables and the degree of disability. An analysis was performed after applying post-stratification weights available from the Social Diagnosis study.

Results: The weighted study group consisted of 2529 people having a mean age of 59.33 ± 16.89 years. The group included 20.71% (N = 524) respondents with a mild, 41.58% (N = 1052) with a moderate, and 26.54% (N = 671) with a severe disability. The proportion of Internet users was 37.07% (N = 937). In all the regression models, Internet use had a significant impact on the dependent variables. After adjustment for sociodemographic variables and the degree of disability, the Internet users more frequently assessed their lives as happy (odds ratio, 95% confidence interval: 1.86, 1.47–2.37) and less frequently experienced loneliness (0.63, 0.49–0.81) or suicidal thoughts (0.47, 0.35–0.65). In addition, they needed psychological help less frequently (0.50, 0.35–0.72). Interestingly, Internet users undertook some form of physical activity or sport more often (2.41, 1.87–3.13) and fewer smoked cigarettes (0.70, 0.54–0.91) or consumed alcohol excessively (0.32, 0.19–0.56).

Conclusions: The use of the Internet by people with disabilities was associated with improved wellbeing, better mental health and more beneficial health behaviours. These findings support the development of intensive actions to reduce the digital divide for the population of people with disabilities.

Keywords: disability; digital divide; Internet use; wellbeing; mental health; health behaviours

While intuitively and theoretically sound, the empirical support for acute stress-reducing effects of immersion in natural environments is tentative due to small sample sizes and methodological weaknesses in the studies

Effects of Public Green Space on Acute Psychophysiological Stress Response: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Evidence. Lærke Mygind et al. Environment and Behavior, September 9, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916519873376

Abstract: Contact with nature is widely considered to ameliorate psychological stress, but the empirical support for a causal link is limited. We conducted a systematic review to synthesize and critically assess the evidence. Six electronic databases were searched. Twenty-six studies evaluated the difference between the effect of natural environments and that of a suitable control on the acute psychophysiological stress response. Eighteen studies were rated as being of moderate quality, four studies of low quality, and four studies of high quality. Meta-analyses indicated that seated relaxation (g = .5, p = .06) and walking (g = .3, p = .02) in natural environments enhanced heart rate variability more than the same activities in control conditions. Cortisol concentration measures were inconsistent. While intuitively and theoretically sound, the empirical support for acute stress-reducing effects of immersion in natural environments is tentative due to small sample sizes and methodological weaknesses in the studies. We provide guidelines for future research.

Keywords: biomarker, green exercise, mental health, relaxation, restorative environments, social ecology/human ecology

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 Strengths and Limitations of This Review 
A notable weakness in these meta-analyses is related to small sample sizes in the included studies and that at least two of the meta-analyses were at risk of being influenced by small-study effects, indicated by asymmetric funnel plots. Small-study effects, which can encompass publication bias where small studies are more frequently published when they report treatment effects, distort the estimated pooled effect sizes, rendering them a less accurate representation of the “true” effect sizes. Although the number of studies included in the funnel plots was small and indications of publication bias were tentative, we recommend that researchers as well as journals publish null findings and results that counter hypotheses. 

As described in the “Method” section, the review was nested within a larger review with a broader set of inclusion criteria. While the comprehensiveness of the literature search might have elicited a high retrieval rate by covering diverse fields of research and search terms, the approach would be immensely time-consuming to reproduce. Furthermore, the search strategy was based on the assumption that a broad, thematic search relating to health, well-being, and psychological stress would include studies utilizing psycho-physiological outcomes. As such, the dependent variables were not pre-defined or included in the search strategy. While this could be speculated to result in the omission of relevant papers, the retrieval rate within the specific field of this review was higher than previously seen (Bowler et al., 2010; Haluza et al., 2014; Twohig-Bennett & Jones, 2018). In comparison to the most recent review by Twohig-Bennett and Jones (2018), we retrieved nine studies not included in their review (Aspinall et al., 2015; Brown et al., 2014; Dettweiler et al., 2017; Gidlow, Randall, Gillman, Smith, & Jones, 2016; Hohashi & Kobayashi, 2013; W. Kim et al., 2009; Lee et al., 2009; Matsuura et al., 2011; Park et al., 2008), while we missed five studies included in theirs (Grazuleviciene et al., 2016; Jia et al., 2016; Song et al., 2013; Song, Ikei, Igarashi, et al., 2015; Tsunetsugu et al., 2013). To acknowledge the contributions made by these five additional studies, we performed post hoc quality assessments and included study characteristics and quality in Supplementary Material C. The studies generally reported positive findings but did not alter the overall conclusions of our review. The studies were rated as being of low-to-moderate quality and shared the limitations observed in the body of evidence discussed above. 

No one in the author group was proficient in Asian languages, and some studies that could potentially have been relevant were excluded from this review (e.g., Joung et al., 2015; Park et al., 2014; Song, Lee, Ikei, et al., 2015). In addition, studies exploring the effects of contact with nature through, for example, gardening, views through windows, or virtual nature were not included in this review.

Conclusion 
While intuitively and theoretically sound, the empirical support for a stress-reducing impact of natural environments is tentative. The majority of the studies reported positive effects, but small-study effects might bias the body of evidence. Where possible, random-effect meta-analyses were performed to calculate pooled effect sizes. Meta-analyses indicated that seated relaxation (g= .5, p= .06) and walking (g = .3, p= .02) in natural environments enhanced vagally mediated HRV more than the same activi-ties in control conditions. Cortisol concentration measures were inconsistent. Future research would benefit from including larger sample sizes, increased population diversity (in terms of sociodemographic factors, medical conditions and diagnoses, age, and sex), blinding of outcome assessors (for group or condition assignment) and participants (for research question and aims), and thorough descriptions of natural and control environments and conditions, as well as participant recruitment and inclusion criteria. Further attention to quantitative assessment and control for potential confounding factors, such as temperature and physical activity, as well as inconsistent baseline levels, is warranted. Last, we recommend that researchers preregister trials to enhance transparency and accountability in the research field.

Students in the active classroom learn more, but they feel like they learn less in part by the increased cognitive effort required during active learning; those perceptions could promote inferior (passive) pedagogical methods

Measuring actual learning versus feeling of learning in response to being actively engaged in the classroom. Louis Deslauriers, Logan S. McCarty, Kelly Miller, Kristina Callaghan, and Greg Kestin. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, September 4, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1821936116

Significance: Despite active learning being recognized as a superior method of instruction in the classroom, a major recent survey found that most college STEM instructors still choose traditional teaching methods. This article addresses the long-standing question of why students and faculty remain resistant to active learning. Comparing passive lectures with active learning using a randomized experimental approach and identical course materials, we find that students in the active classroom learn more, but they feel like they learn less. We show that this negative correlation is caused in part by the increased cognitive effort required during active learning. Faculty who adopt active learning are encouraged to intervene and address this misperception, and we describe a successful example of such an intervention.

Abstract: We compared students’ self-reported perception of learning with their actual learning under controlled conditions in large-enrollment introductory college physics courses taught using 1) active instruction (following best practices in the discipline) and 2) passive instruction (lectures by experienced and highly rated instructors). Both groups received identical class content and handouts, students were randomly assigned, and the instructor made no effort to persuade students of the benefit of either method. Students in active classrooms learned more (as would be expected based on prior research), but their perception of learning, while positive, was lower than that of their peers in passive environments. This suggests that attempts to evaluate instruction based on students’ perceptions of learning could inadvertently promote inferior (passive) pedagogical methods. For instance, a superstar lecturer could create such a positive feeling of learning that students would choose those lectures over active learning. Most importantly, these results suggest that when students experience the increased cognitive effort associated with active learning, they initially take that effort to signify poorer learning. That disconnect may have a detrimental effect on students’ motivation, engagement, and ability to self-regulate their own learning. Although students can, on their own, discover the increased value of being actively engaged during a semester-long course, their learning may be impaired during the initial part of the course. We discuss strategies that instructors can use, early in the semester, to improve students’ response to being actively engaged in the classroom.

Keywords: scientific teachingundergraduate educationevidence-based teachingconstructivism

Women’s Sexual Satisfaction, Communication, and Reasons for (No Longer) Faking Orgasm: Findings from a U.S. Probability Sample

Women’s Sexual Satisfaction, Communication, and Reasons for (No Longer) Faking Orgasm: Findings from a U.S. Probability Sample. Debby Herbenick et al. Archives of Sexual Behavior, September 9 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-019-01493-0

Abstract: We aimed to assess, among a U.S. probability sample of adult women: (1) the prevalence of, and reasons given for, faking and no longer faking orgasm, (2) women’s histories of sexual non-communication and reasons for non-communication, (3) associations between sexual non-communication and sexual satisfaction and faking orgasm, (4) associations between specific sexual communication and recent sexual satisfaction, and (5) associations between specific sexual communication and faking orgasm. Respondents were 1008 adult women ages 18–94 from the GfK KnowledgePanel (a nationally representative probability sample of non-institutionalized and English-speaking adults), who completed a confidential Internet-based survey. Although 58.8% of female respondents reported having ever faked/pretended orgasm, 67.3% of those who had ever faked orgasm no longer did. Women who continued to fake orgasms were more likely to indicate embarrassment talking about sex with their partner in explicit ways and were less likely to agree that they and their partner are able to talk specifically about what makes sex more pleasurable for them. More than half (55.4%) of women reported they had wanted to communicate with a partner regarding sex but decided not to; the most common reasons were not wanting to hurt a partner’s feelings (42.4%), not feeling comfortable going into detail (40.2%), and embarrassment (37.7%). Greater self-reported sexual satisfaction was associated with more comfortable sexual communication. Study findings and implications for professionals are discussed in the context of adult sexual development and learning. This includes growing more comfortable talking with a partner about sexual preferences and sexual pleasure.

Keywords: Female pleasure Sexual communication Sexual satisfaction Probability sample Faking orgasm

Social Misfit or Normal Development? Students Who Do Not Date have good social skills and low depression, same suicidal ideations

Social Misfit or Normal Development? Students Who Do Not Date. Brooke Douglas, Pamela Orpinas. Journal of School Health, September 4 2019. https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.12818

ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Prior research identified 4 distinct dating trajectories from 6th to 12th grade: Low, Increasing, High Middle School, and Frequent. The purpose of this study was to examine whether 10th graders in the Low dating group differed on emotional, interpersonal, and adaptive skills from youth in the other trajectories.

METHODS: The sample consisted of 594 10th graders. We compared the 4 dating groups using teacher ratings (social skills, leadership, depression) and student self‐reports (positive relationships with friends, at home, and at school; depression, suicidal ideation). To compare scores by dating trajectory, we used chi‐square test and analysis of variance.

RESULTS: Students in the Low dating group had significantly higher teacher ratings of social skills and leadership, and lower ratings of depression compared to the other groups. Self‐reports of positive relationships did not differ by dating groups. Self‐reported depression was significantly lower in the Low dating group, but suicidal ideations did not differ.

CONCLUSION: Adolescents who were not in a romantic relationship had good social skills and low depression, and fared better or equal to peers who dated. These results refute the notion that non‐daters are maladjusted. Health promotion interventions in schools should include non‐dating as one option of healthy development.

Based on a large number of studies with US participants & small sample sizes, the dominant view in social psychology holds that high-status actors behave less prosocial & more unethical; not reproducible

Social Status, Altruistic Giving and Reciprocity: Results of a Quasi-Experiment with Subjects from the USA. Andreas Tutić, Ulf Liebe. Zeitschrift für Soziologie, Volume 48, Issue 3, Aug 7 2019, https://doi.org/10.1515/zfsoz-2019-0014

Abstract: In empirical social research, there is mixed evidence regarding the interplay of social status and prosocial behavior. Based on a large number of studies with subjects from the USA and small sample sizes, the dominant view in social psychology holds that high-status actors behave less prosocial and more unethical than low-status actors. Sociological studies with subjects from Europe support the opposite conclusion. In our study, 1003 subjects from the USA played three types of dictator games, which tap three different forms of prosocial behavior, i. e. altruistic giving and direct as well as indirect reciprocity. We consistently find that high-status actors make higher donations in dictator games than low-status actors. At the same our findings indicate that high-status actors tend towards direct reciprocity whereas low-status actors tend towards indirect reciprocity.

Keywords: Dictator Games; Exchange Relationships; Communal Relationships; Interaction Effect

15 years of data on all felony sex offenders sentenced in a single state: Male sex offenders are more likely to be sentenced to prison, and given longer terms, than females, regardless of crime severity and the victim being a minor

The Gender Gap in Sex Offender Punishment. Ryan T. Shields, Joshua C. Cochran. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, May 31 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10940-019-09416-x

Abstract
Objectives: This paper tests theoretical arguments that suggest court actors hold gendered views of sex offenders that result in a gender gap in sex offender punishment, where women who commit sexual offenses are treated more leniently than their male counterparts.

Methods: We test this argument with precision matching analyses using 15 years of data on all felony sex offenders sentenced in a single state.

Results: Results indicate that gender disparities in sex offender sentencing exist and are pervasive across sex offense types. Specifically, male sex offenders are more likely to be sentenced to prison, and given longer terms, than female sex offenders. Findings are similar across sex offense severity and whether the offense involved a minor victim.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that female sex offenders are treated more leniently than their matched male counterparts, even in instances of more serious sex offenses and those involving minor victims. Findings support theoretical arguments that contend that court decision-making is influenced by legally-irrelevant characteristics and raise questions about the source of gendered views of sex offenders and their effects on punishment approaches. Findings also raise questions about the virtue of get-tough sentencing policies that provide leeway for such dramatic variation across different groups of people.

Keywords: Gender Punishment Sentencing Sex offender

Check also Douglass, Melanie Dawn, D'Aguanno, Sofia and Jones, Sophie (2019) Women as Active Agents: Female Perpetrators of Sexual Harassment and Domestic Abuse. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences. (In Press). https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2019/09/a-small-but-not-insignificant.html

From 2018... To Control or Be Controlled: Predicting Types of Offending in a Corporate Environment Using Control-Balance Theory

To Control or Be Controlled: Predicting Types of Offending in a Corporate Environment Using Control-Balance Theory. Donald E. Hunt, Volkan Topalli. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, September 2019, Volume 35, Issue 3, pp 435–464. August 24 2018. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10940-018-9390-0

Abstract
Introduction: This study seeks to determine the extent to which Tittle’s control balance (CB) theory (CBT: 1995) accurately predicts different types of deviance within a corporate setting (in this case, a financial services corporation). CB theory contends that deviance is the result of a control imbalance between the amount of control a person exerts and the amount to which they are subject. Control deficits result in repressive deviance (including most types of predatory crime). Control surpluses result in autonomous deviance (including many types of white collar offending).

Method: We exploit a unique dataset consisting of the internal investigations of fraud conducted by a large United States-based financial services company to explore these concepts in the corporate sales environment.

Results: Consistent with the theory, we find that a control surplus predicts certain autonomous deviance while a control deficit explained some repressive forms of criminality. Results also indicate that a control imbalance is incremental in nature and not simply a balanced/non-balanced condition. Further discussion revolves around implications, limitations, and future research.

Keywords: Control-balance theory Corporate deviance White collar crime

Jonathan Haidt proposed innate, universally observable moral intuitions (moral foundations); care and fairness are primarily due to genetic influences (73 and 51pct)

The Study of Personality Architecture and Dynamics (SPeADy): A Longitudinal and Extended Twin Family Study. Christian Kandler, Angelika Penner, Julia Richter & Alexandra Zapko-Willmes. Twin Research and Human Genetics, September 9 2019. https://doi.org/10.1017/thg.2019.62

Abstract: The Study of Personality Architecture and Dynamics (SPeADy) is a German research project that aims to investigate the sources of interindividual differences in intraindividual personality development. The main focus lies in the dynamic interplay between more stable core characteristics and more environmentally malleable surface characteristics, as well as between personality and life experiences over time. SPeADy includes a twin family study encompassing data from 1962 individuals (age: 14–94) of 682 families, including 570 complete twin pairs (plus 1 triplet set), 327 parents, 236 spouses and 145 children of twins. Data collection started in 2016 and data from the first wave are currently obtainable as open source. Available data comprise a broad range of personality variables, such as personality trait constructs, motives, interests, values, moral foundations, religiosity and self-related concepts. For the currently ongoing second wave of data collection, we added retrospective reports on major life events. Special features of this genetically informative study are the extended twin family data and its longitudinal design. Three assessment waves in 2 years’ intervals are planned until 2022. In this article, we briefly describe the design and contents of the SPeADy twin family study as well as some recent findings, future plans and open science issues.

Echo chambers and polarisation in the German federal election 2017: Our findings suggest that there is no echo chamber in political communication on Facebook in Germany

Echo chambers and polarisation in the German federal election 2017. Wolf J. Schünemann, Stefan Steiger, Fritz Kliche. Panel "Political Organisations and the Digital", ECPR General Conference, August 2018, Hamburg. https://ecpr.eu/Filestore/PaperProposal/2df1d48e-c319-456f-89ef-4ad9d5256546.pdf

Abstract: This paper examines the phenomenon of polarisation and radicalisation and in particular tests the echo chamber hypothesis for explaining these prominently discussed features of current political communication. To investigate these phenomena, we draw on a sample of 1.3 million posts and comments from public Facebook profiles of German political parties. The data was collected during the federal election campaign in 2017 and therefore a phase of heightened political debate. In order to identify potential echo chambers we built on selective exposure theory and therefore focused on practices of information sharing on respective profiles. Specifically, we investigated the sharing of links (URLs) and tried to identify, whether users of different party pages were referring to different (more reassuring) sources. Focusing on polarisation we employed different corpus linguistic tools such as topic modelling, cluster and keyword analysis in order to identify differences in respective discourses. While being tentative, our findings suggest that there is no echo chamber in political communication on Facebook in Germany. Instead of distinct sets of different sources, we found that all parties refer to more or less the same leading media outlets. We found only few sources that could be clearly identified as being partisan.With regard to polarisation, we found that there is a clear distinction regarding the tonality of discourse on the different profiles. Uncivil language featured very prominently on the profile of the new German right-wing populist party (AfD).

Americans: Whereas collective memories showed positivity biases, there was a negativity bias in collective future thought, or decline in Americans’ representations of their nation across time, regardless of political orientation

How we have fallen: implicit trajectories in collective temporal thought. Jeremy K. Yamashiro & Henry L. Roediger III. Memory, Volume 27, 2019 - Issue 8, Pages 1158-1166. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2019.1635161

ABSTRACT: Memory may play a critical role in the ability to imagine events in the future. While most work on this relation has concerned episodic memory and simulated episodic events in the future, the current study examines how collective memories relate to imagination for the collective future. Two thousand American participants provided events for (1) America’s origins, (2) normative events that all Americans should remember, and (3) events in America’s future. Each event was rated for emotional valence. Whereas collective memories – particularly origin events – showed pronounced positivity biases, there was a negativity bias in collective future thought, indicating an implicit trajectory of decline in Americans’ representations of their nation across time. Imagination for the social future may not be simulated based on the template of collective memories, but may rather relate to the past in a way that is mediated by cultural narrative schemata.

KEYWORDS: Collective memory, collective future thought, national narratives, collective temporal thought, sociocultural psychology

Implicit trajectories in collective temporal thought

Self-enhancement, righteous anger, and moral grandiosity

Self-enhancement, righteous anger, and moral grandiosity. Jeffrey D. Green, Constantine Sedikides, Daryl R. Van Tongeren, Anna M. C. Behler & Jessica M. Barber. Self and Identity, Volume 18, 2019 - Issue 2, Pages 201-216. https://doi.org/10.1080/15298868.2017.1419504

Abstract: Do people self-enhance by dwelling in righteous anger in an effort to preserve their self-views as pillars of morality? We addressed this question in two experiments. Participants read a story about an injustice (experiencing righteous anger) or grocery shopping (experiencing neutral emotion), indicated their interest in reading injustice-relevant or happiness-relevant newspaper articles, and rated themselves on moral and agentic traits. Participants who experienced righteous anger (vs. neutral emotion) maintained their anger (i.e., exhibited stronger interest in reading injustice- than happiness-relevant articles) and rated themselves more positively on moral, but not on agentic, traits. Furthermore, anger maintenance mediated the effect of righteous anger on moral grandiosity. The findings illustrate tactical self-enhancement: the instrumental use of one’s negative emotions for self-enhancement purposes.

Keywords: Self-enhancement, anger, moral grandiosity, self-views, emotion regulation

The impact of social status on the derogation of ideological opponents: Support for prediction derived from hierometer theory that people with higher status would derogate ideological opponents less (evaluate them more charitably)

Gregg, A. P., Mahadevan, N., & Sedikides, C. (in press). Taking the high ground: The impact of social status on the derogation of ideological opponents. Social Cognition. https://pure.roehampton.ac.uk/portal/files/805606/Gregg_Mahadevan_Sedikides_in_press_Social_Cognition_002_.pdf

Abstract: People tend to derogate their ideological opponents. But how does social status affect this tendency? We tested a prediction derived from hierometer theory that people with higher status would derogate ideological opponents less (i.e., evaluate them more charitably). We further predicted that greater rhetoric handling prowess (RHP:feeling more confident and less intimidated while arguing) would mediate the effect. Study 1 established a link between higher status and lesser opponent derogation correlationally. Study 2 did so experimentally. Using a scale to assess RHP developed and validated in Study 3, Study 4 established that RHP statistically mediated the correlational link between status and derogation. In Study5, experimentally manipulating status affected RHP as predicted. However, in Study 6, experimentally manipulating RHP did not affect opponent derogation as predicted. Thus, our findings were substantially, but not entirely, consistent with our theoretically-derived predictions. Implications for hierometer theory, and related theoretical approaches, are considered.

Keywords: derogation, status, social status, rhetoric, hierometer theory

Infectious Disease Prevalence, Not Race Exposure, Predicts Both Implicit and Explicit Racial Prejudice Across the US

Infectious Disease Prevalence, Not Race Exposure, Predicts Both Implicit and Explicit Racial Prejudice Across the United States. Brian A. O’Shea et al. Social Psychological and Personality Science, July 15, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550619862319

Abstract: What factors increase racial prejudice? Across the United States, increased exposure to Black Americans has been hypothesized to increase White Americans’ prejudicial attitudes toward Black Americans. Here we test an alternative explanation: People living in regions with higher infectious disease rates have a greater tendency to avoid out-groups because such avoidance reduces their perceived likelihood of contracting illnesses. Consistent with this parasite-stress hypothesis, we show that both White and Black individuals (N > 77,000) living in U.S. states in which disease rates are higher display increased implicit (automatic) and explicit (conscious) racial prejudice. These results survived the inclusion of several individual- and state-level controls previously used to explain variability in prejudice. Furthermore, showing disease-related primes to White individuals with strong germ aversion increased their explicit, but not implicit, anti-Black/pro-White prejudice. Domestic out-groups, not just foreigners, may therefore experience increased overt forms of prejudice when disease rates are high.

Keywords: parasite-stress theory, behavioral immune system, implicit association test, racial prejudice, Bayesian racism

Healthy personality, that of a fully functioning person: Around 30pct is additive genetic; the rest is non-shared environmental effects; shared environment has almost null effect

Bleidorn, W., Hopwood, C. J., Ackerman, R. A., Witt, E. A., Kandler, C., Riemann, R., . . . Donnellan, M. B. (2019). The healthy personality from a basic trait perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000231

Abstract: What basic personality traits characterize the psychologically healthy individual? The purpose of this article was to address this question by generating an expert-consensus model of the healthy person in the context of the 30 facets (and 5 domains) of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1992) system of traits. In a first set of studies, we found that the healthy personality can be described, with a high level of agreement, in terms of the 30 facets of the NEO-PI-R. High levels of openness to feelings, positive emotions, and straightforwardness, together with low levels on facets of neuroticism, were particularly indicative of healthy personality functioning. The expert-generated healthy personality profile was negatively correlated with profiles of pathological personality functioning and positively correlated with normative personality functioning. In a second set of studies, we matched the NEO-PI-R profiles of over 3,000 individuals from 7 different samples with the expert-generated healthy prototype to yield a healthy personality index. This index was characterized by good retest reliability and cross-rater agreement, high rank-order stability, and substantial heritability. Individuals with high scores on the healthy personality index were psychologically well-adjusted, had high self-esteem, good self-regulatory skills, an optimistic outlook on the world, and a clear and stable self-view. These individuals were low in aggression and meanness, unlikely to exploit others, and were relatively immune to stress and self-sufficient. We discuss the results in the light of their implications for both research and theory on healthy personality functioning.

Different languages, similar encoding efficiency: Comparable information rates across the human communicative niche

Different languages, similar encoding efficiency: Comparable information rates across the human communicative niche. Christophe Coupé, Yoon Oh, Dan Dediu & François Pellegrino. Science Advances, Sep 4 2019, Vol. 5, no. 9, eaaw2594. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw2594

Abstract: Language is universal, but it has few indisputably universal characteristics, with cross-linguistic variation being the norm. For example, languages differ greatly in the number of syllables they allow, resulting in large variation in the Shannon information per syllable. Nevertheless, all natural languages allow their speakers to efficiently encode and transmit information. We show here, using quantitative methods on a large cross-linguistic corpus of 17 languages, that the coupling between language-level (information per syllable) and speaker-level (speech rate) properties results in languages encoding similar information rates (~39 bits/s) despite wide differences in each property individually: Languages are more similar in information rates than in Shannon information or speech rate. These findings highlight the intimate feedback loops between languages’ structural properties and their speakers’ neurocognition and biology under communicative pressures. Thus, language is the product of a multiscale communicative niche construction process at the intersection of biology, environment, and culture.

Mood differed as a function of exposure to various built and natural environments; positive mood was higher for pedestrians and for bicyclists; errand trips were associated with more negative mood

How transport modes, the built and natural environments, and activities are associated with mood: A GPS smartphone app study. Trevin E. Glasgow et al. Journal of Environmental Psychology, September 5 2019, 101345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2019.101345

Highlights
•  Experience sampling methodology used a phone app to measure mood during travel.
•  Mood differed as a function of exposure to various built and natural environments.
•  Positive mood was higher for pedestrians and for bicyclists.
•  Interpersonal conversation during trips was associated with more positive mood.
•  Errand trips were associated with more negative mood compared to other trips.

Abstract: Transportation-related mood studies relying on retrospective surveys incur recall bias, given the transient state of mood. Additionally, previous research in this domain has been limited to a single time-point measurement of mood, making it impossible to evaluate within-person variation. This study applied experience sampling methodology (ESM) to explore how mood during travel relates to transport mode, activities, and the built and natural environments. A smartphone application was employed to overcome the limitations of prior studies in this domain. Participants tracked their trips for at least one week and completed mood surveys after each trip. After accounting for within-person variation, active travel correlated with more positive mood than motorized travel, and mood was more positive when individuals talked to others during their trips. However, mood was more negative when completing errand trips as compared to other types of trips. Mood was lower when individuals travelled through places with a higher Walk Score®, but higher when individuals travelled through natural environments. All participants felt less safe when bicycling. This field study was one of the first to consider within-person differences in mood during travel as a function of various environmental and transportation characteristics. The research demonstrated how information on mood could be used to promote sustainable transportation (e.g., walking, bicycling), as well as how urban transportation infrastructure could be designed to enhance mental well-being.

Keywords: affectemotionsatisfactionwalkabilitytravel-based multitaskingtravel behavioractivity space

Multiple meta-analyses on key mental disorders yield a picture of limited benefits for psycho- & pharmacotherapy; the overall impression is that a dead end has been reached

Leichsenring F, Steinert C, Ioannidis JPA (2019). Toward a paradigm shift in treatment and research of mental disorders. Psychological Medicine 1–7, August 7 2019. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291719002265

Overall, while a certain proportion of patients (who cannot be identified in advance) does benefit from available treatments, most patients do not remit and at least half of the patients do not respond to the available treatments (Cuijpers et al., 2014; Leucht, 2014; Liet al., 2017; Springer et al., 2018). Thus, results for the efficacy of psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy are sobering, indicating only a small incremental gain over TAU or placebo and limited rates for remission and response. As noted above, this (limited) incremental gain needs to be balanced against the efforts, costs, and side effects associated with psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy. The situation is aggravated by the numerous concerns mentioned above (e.g. biases, inflated effect sizes, low rates of replication, lack of long-term studies, stagnating or decreasing effect sizes) raising serious doubts about the available evidence.

Each mental disorder raises its own host of issues. However, recent evidence across multiple meta-analyses on key mental disorders provides an overarching picture of limited benefits for both psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy. Some differences for specific disorders are not strong enough to weaken the overall impression that a dead end has been reached in the treatment of mental disorders.

Female mice housed with castrated males have higher stress levels, & actively avoid such housing partners when provided with a refuge; seem to actively avoid males with low levels of testosterone

Female mice seek refuge from castrated males, but not intact or vasectomized males, mitigating a socially-induced glucocorticoid response. Teagan J. Gale, Michael G. Garratt, Robert C. Brooks. Physiology & Behavior, September 7 2019, 112678. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2019.112678

Highlights
•  Female mice housed with castrated males have higher stress levels.
•  Female mice housed with castrated males actively avoid their housing partner when provided with a refuge.
•  We suggest that females actively avoid males with low levels of testosterone, and that their surrounding social partners can affect their physiology.

Abstract: Sexual conflict may be manifested during social interactions, shaping the costs of reproduction in sexually reproducing species. This conflict, and the physical necessity of intromission, can intensify the already costly nature of reproduction for female mammals. To identify and partition the costs that males inflict on females during mating and reproduction, we paired female mice with either other females or castrated, vasectomised, or intact (sham-vasectomised) males, thus manipulating exposure to social mating behavior and costs arising from fertilization. We also provided females with refuges where males could not enter, to test whether females show avoidance or attraction to males of different gonadal status expected to exhibit different levels of social behavior. We found that females paired with vasectomised and castrated males spent the most time in their refuge. Females housed with castrated males also had increased glucocorticoid levels, an effect that was mitigated when females could retreat from these males to a refuge. This suggests that females actively refuge from castrated males, and that housing with such males is sufficient to generate an increased glucocorticoid response. Our results show that females choose to refuge from males depending on the partner’s gonadal status, choices that are linked to social induced stress responses but not exposure to male mating behaviour.

Keywords: RefugeStressCosts of reproductionCastration

Most people aim to be about as morally good as their peers—not especially better, not especially worse; we notice the typical behavior of our peers, then calibrate toward so-so

Aiming for Moral Mediocrity. Eric Schwitzgebel. Res Philosophica, Volume 96, Issue 3, July 2019, Pages 347-368. DOI: 10.11612/resphil.1806

Abstract: Most people aim to be about as morally good as their peers—not especially better, not especially worse. We do not aim to be good, or non-bad, or to act permissibly rather than impermissibly, by fixed moral standards. Rather, we notice the typical behavior of our peers, then calibrate toward so-so. This is a somewhat bad way to be, but it’s not a terribly bad way to be. We are somewhat morally criticizable for having low moral ambitions. Typical arguments defending the moral acceptability of low moral ambitions—the So-What-If-I’m-Not-a-Saint Excuse, the Fairness Objection, the Happy Coincidence Defense, and the claim that you’re already in The-Most-You-Can-Do Sweet Spot—do not survive critical scrutiny.


Part One: The Empirical Thesis

2. Following the Moral Crowd.

Robert B. Cialdini and colloborators went to Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park (Cialdini, Demaine, Sagarin, Barrett, Rhoads, and Winter 2006).  The park had been losing about a ton of petrified wood per month, mostly stolen in small amounts by casual visitors.  Cialdini and collaborators posted four different signs intended to discourage theft, rotating their placement at the heads of different paths.  Two signs were explicit injunctions: (A.) “Please don’t remove petrified wood from the park” (with a picture of a visitor stealing wood, crossed by a red circle and bar) and (B.) “Please leave petrified wood in the park” (with a picture of a visitor admiring and photographing a piece of wood).  Two signs were descriptive: (C.) “Many past visitors have removed the petrified wood from the park, changing the state of the Petrified Forest” (with pictures of three visitors taking wood) and (D.) “The vast majority of past visitors have left the petrified wood in the park, preserving the natural state of the Petrified Forest” (with pictures of three visitors admiring and photographing the petrified wood).  Cialdini and collaborators then noted how much wood the visitors took from the paths headed by the different signs.  Rates of theft were lowest (1.7%) when visitors were explicitly enjoined not to take wood (Condition A).  Rates of theft were highest (8.0%) when visitors were told that many past visitors have removed wood (Condition C).  Being told that many visitors have removed wood might even have increased the rates of theft, which were estimated normally to be 1-4% of visitors (Roggenbuck, Widner, and Stratton 1997).

Part Two: The Normative Thesis

7. The Moral Mediocrity of Being Morally Mediocre.

My normative thesis is that it’s morally mediocre to aim to be morally mediocre.  Or to phrase it in a less tautologous-sounding way: It’s somewhat bad but also somewhat good to try to calibrate yourself so that you behave in ways that are overall morally similar to your peers.

“Mediocre” has a negative connotation in ordinary English.  Not only does it mean somewhere in the ballpark of average or ordinary, but (in contrast with the less loaded word “average”) “mediocre” also implies that the thing in question is somewhat bad.  And yet, the mediocre is not horrible, and being mediocre is compatible with having some redeeming features – with being in some respects good.  Mediocre coffee is good enough for me, most of the time.  Mediocre students mostly pass their classes and get their degrees.  Aiming for moral mediocrity is like aiming to be a moral B-minus student or a donut shop moral drip blend.

The simplest opposing views are that it’s perfectly fine to aim to be about as morally good as your peers and that it is horrible to aim to be about as morally good (or rather, as morally bad) as your peers.

I won’t criticize the latter view at length.  I don’t think many of us regard our peers as morally horrible.  Some people might think that most of humanity is morally horrible, apart from their valued in-group of friends or coreligionists – but then they probably treat that in-group as the peers toward whose behavior they morally calibrate.  Others might think that even their peers, perhaps especially their peers, are morally horrible, on the grounds that there’s something morally horrible about our shared lifestyle, such as its luxuriousness in the face of global poverty.  I will not address such views here.  Still others might just be ordinary curmudgeons who see the worst in people.  This too, is difficult to address directly.  Let me note that people do often lend a helping hand to strangers for no obvious benefit; treat their fellows kindly; share, sacrifice, and maintain deep friendships; and take principled stands against injustice.  Following the moral crowd can be good: When others act with kindness and integrity, that inspires us to do the same.  Attempting to compensate for having acted badly can also be good; the memory of guilt can motivate improvement.  We’re not horrible, only mediocre!

Against the view that it’s perfectly fine to aim to behave about as morally well as your peers, I offer first, your peers.  (I’m assuming that your peers are typically middle- to upper-class members of a mainstream Anglophone culture.  If your peers are Nazi death camp guards or saints in Heaven, the normative assessment might be different.)  They fail to reply to your important emails.  They shirk their duties and neglect their promises.  They are rude and grumpy for no good reason.  They have annoying dogs, loud parties, bad driving habits, and an unjustified sense of entitlement.  They make you wait then concoct some glib excuse.  They form obnoxious opinions on too little information and then vote for horrible things.  More seriously, perhaps, our peers participate in and support institutions and practices that casually ruin people’s lives by denying them reasonable and necessary health care, by cruelly guarding unearned privilege, and by perpetuating exploitative systems.  In all of these small and sometimes large ways, our peers behave badly, and we really ought to try to be better than that.

Second, we are, all of us, shot through with bigotry and bias – bias based on race, sex, disability, beauty, age, class, political opinion, profession, prestige, nationality, and cultural background.  We are not all biased in all respects; but we are all significantly biased in some respects.  The range of biases based on disability in particular is difficult to avoid, since disability is so various and often experienced as saliently annoying to witness or deal with (Corrigan 2014).  Bias toward the conventionally physically beautiful, in matters on which physical beauty ought to have no bearing, is also pervasive and substantial, across a wide range of social measures (Langlois, Kalakanis, Rubenstein, Larson, Hallam, and Smoot 2000).  We ought to aim for better.

Third, even if we aren’t morally horrible for living middle-class lifestyles, history might not judge us so kindly.  Our typical lifestyles harm the environment, by which we collectively contribute to the probable death and immiseration of many millions of future people.  Arguably, also, most of us ought to give much more to charitable causes, local or global, in time or in money, than we do, given our relative privilege and luxury.  And most of us eat meat – which most U.S. ethicists think is morally bad.  We purchase consumer goods from companies we know or ought to know engage in bad practices.  It’s contentious how bad all this is, and my overall argument does not depend essentially on any of the ideas in this paragraph, but if this perspective is even close to correct, every normal middle-class person in our society is morally criticizable for a wide range of actions every day.  (Peter Singer [1972, 1975/2009] is probably the best-known philosophical advocate of this variety of highly morally demanding view.)

It is not, therefore, perfectly fine to aim to be morally mediocre.  I will now consider four lines of reasoning by which you might hope to wiggle out of this somewhat negative conclusion.



8. The So-What-If-I’m-Not-a-Saint Excuse.

People sometimes respond to my moral mediocrity thesis by acknowledging that, yes, they aren’t aiming for sainthood – but that’s not so bad.  Sainthood is such a high standard!  Ordinary people can’t really be blamed for falling short of that.  Philosopher advocates of the So-What-If-I’m-Not-a-Saint Excuse sometimes appeal to Susan Wolf’s (1982) classic argument that it’s reasonable not to want to be morally perfect, with all the sacrifices that moral perfection seems to require.

I’m inclined to agree with Wolf that morality is highly demanding and that when the demands of morality conflict with other deeply held values it’s often reasonable to act immorally (see also Slote 1983; Williams 1985; Foot 2002; Dorsey 2016).  But to use the possibly excessive demands of sainthood as an excuse for being a mediocre member of a blameworthy crowd is to pitch a false dichotomy, as if the only choice were between mediocrity and huge self-sacrifice.  Moral improvement needn’t require crushing yourself.  Most of us could improve quite a bit with no devastating effect on our personalities or life projects.  We could be somewhat more generous with our time, and less grumpy.  We could give more to charity, tweak our lifestyles to better protect the environment, and be a little more reliable in executing our responsibilities.  We could be better neighbors and sons- or daughters-in-law.  We could more vividly speak against injustice.  Of course we could.  None of these things require sainthood or huge sacrifice; and moral improvement doesn’t require that you do all of them.  We could aim for an imperfect-but-excellent A or A-minus, even if we give up on A+.  Among us walk morally admirable non-saints who achieve peer-relative moral excellence without leading bland or miserable lives.  You probably know a few; be more like them.  It is easy to think of ways in which we could act morally better.  We simply prefer not to do these things.

You can self-consciously and reasonably choose moral mediocrity, just like you can self-consciously and reasonably choose to buy mediocre coffee (if the excellent coffee is too expensive) and just like you can self-consciously and reasonably choose to be a mediocre student (“hey, Cs get degrees, I’ve got other priorities!”).  My suggestion is only this: If this speaks to your condition, acknowledge that fact and accept that you are thereby somewhat morally blameworthy.

Males are born slightly in excess of females & many factors have been shown to influence the sex ratio at birth; 9 months after Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day & Valentine's Day there are more males

The effects of Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentine's Day on the sex ratio at birth in the United States, 2003–2015. Lorna Zammit, Victor Grech. Early Human Development, September 7 2019, 104867. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2019.104867

Abstract
Introduction: Males are born slightly in excess of females and many factors have been shown to influence M/F, the sex ratio at birth. Seasonality has also been shown to impinge on M/F. This study was carried out in order to ascertain whether Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and Valentine's Day had any influence on M/F in the United States population, nine months later.
Methods: Births by ethnicity, region and sex were obtained from the website of the Centres for Disease Control. Analyses were applied to seasonally adjusted time series and non-seasonally adjusted series. A seasonally adjusted indirect result was calculated for the sex ratio.
Results: This paper studied 53,105,069 live births for 2003–2015 (27,178,968 males, 25,926,101 females). M/F rises exceeding 90th and 95th percentiles were strongest for the seasonally adjusted series for all births in regions: South (CENS-R3), West (CENS-R4) and the time series All-regions_All-race. When comparing unadjusted and seasonally adjusted series, a similar pattern was observed in the regions Northeast and Midwest for American Indian or Alaska Native and Asian or Pacific Islander. A similar pattern was observed for the region Midwest for the ethnic group White.
Discussion: M/F rose above the 90th percentile in all the series and occasionally above the 95th percentile. Increased periconceptual coital rates increases M/F and this study thus lends further credence to the hypothesis that coital rates around the time of conception causally influences the sex ratio of subsequent births nine months later, possibly due to a hormonal mechanism.

Keywords: Sex ratioInfant, newbornBirth rate/*trendsSeasonality

Functional and Structural Brain Correlates of Socioeconomic Status

Functional and Structural Brain Correlates of Socioeconomic Status. Zachary A Yaple, Rongjun Yu. Cerebral Cortex, bhz080, May 2 2019. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhz080

Abstract: Socioeconomic status (SES) is a multidimensional construct that includes not only measures of material wealth, but also education, social prestige, and neighborhood quality. Socioeconomic correlates between wealth and cognitive functions have been well established in behavioral studies. However, functional and structural brain correlates of SES remain unclear. Here, we sought to uncover the most likely neural regions to be affected by low SES, specifically associated with age. Using effect size–seed-based d Mapping, we compiled studies that examined individuals with low SES and performed functional magnetic resonance imaging and voxel-based morphometry meta-analyses. The results revealed that as from early to late age, individuals exposed to low SES are less likely to have sustained executive network activity yet a greater likelihood to enhanced activity within reward-related regions. A similar activity was shown for gray matter volume across early to older age. These findings provide the first quantitative integration of neuroimaging results pertaining to the neural basis of SES. Hypoactivation of the executive network and hyperactivation of the reward network in low SES individuals may support the scarcity hypothesis and animal models of the effects of early adversity.

Keywords: Socioeconomic status, Seed-based d mapping, VBM, fMRI

In Sweden: No support for the idea that framing the affirmative action scenario as adding minority women compared to framing it as rejecting majority men would reduce feelings of resentment

Sinclair, Samantha, and Rickard Carlsson. 2019. “Reactions to Affirmative Action Policies in Hiring: Effects of Framing and Beneficiary Gender.” PsyArXiv. September 6. doi:10.31234/osf.io/34tnv

Abstract: Affirmative action policies aim to reduce gaps between social groups, yet they are often perceived negatively. The present research examined reactions to an organization’s preferential treatment policy based on gender, focusing on whether positive versus negative framing of the scenario and gender of the beneficiary matter for these reactions. The results of two preregistered experiments conducted in Sweden (N = 556) did not provide support for the hypothesis that framing the affirmative action scenario as adding minority women compared to framing it as rejecting majority men would produce more favorable perceptions and reduced feelings of resentment. Moreover, we found no support for the hypothesis that the effects of framing would be weaker in the case of male beneficiaries compared to female beneficiaries. However, we found clear support for the hypothesis that the policy was perceived more favorably when the beneficiary was female rather than male. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Claims about the health dangers of red meat are not only improbable in the light of our evolutionary history, they are far from being supported by robust scientific evidence

Should dietary guidelines recommend low red meat intake? Frédéric Leroy & Nathan Cofnas. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, Sep 5 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2019.1657063 

Abstract: Mainstream dietary recommendations now commonly advise people to minimize the intake of red meat for health and environmental reasons. Most recently, a major report issued by the EAT-Lancet Commission recommended a planetary reference diet mostly based on plants and with no or very low (14 g/d) consumption of red meat. We argue that claims about the health dangers of red meat are not only improbable in the light of our evolutionary history, they are far from being supported by robust scientific evidence.

Keywords: red meat, health, vegetarianism, veganism, dietary guidelines, disease

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6. Conclusions

Although meat has been a central component of the diet of our lineage for millions of years, some nutrition authorities—who often have close connections to animal rights activists or other forms of ideological vegetarianism, such as Seventh-Day Adventism (Banta et al., 2018)—are promoting the view that meat causes a host of health problems and has no redeeming value. We contend that a large part of the case against meat is based on cherry-picked evidence and low-quality observational studies. The bald claim that red meat is an “unhealthy food” (Willett et al., 2019) is wildly unsupported.

Based on misrepresentations of the state of the science, some organizations are attempting to influence policy makers to take action to reduce meat consumption. Simplification of complex science increases persuasive power but may also serve ideological purposes and lead to scientistic approaches. According to Mayes and Thompson (2015), manifestations of nutritional scientism in the context of biopolitics can have various ethical implications for “individual responsibility and freedom, concerning iatrogenic harm, and for well-being”. Well-meaning yet overemphasized and premature recommendations may eventually cause more damage than benefit, not only physiologically but also by unjustifiably holding individuals accountable for their health outcomes. We believe that a large reduction in meat consumption, such as has been advocated by the EAT-Lancet Commission (Willett et al., 2019), could produce serious harm. Meat has long been, and continues to be, a primary source of high-quality nutrition. The theory that it can be replaced with legumes and supplements is mere speculation. While diets high in meat have proved successful over the long history of our species, the benefits of vegetarian diets are far from being established, and its dangers have been largely ignored by those who have endorsed it prematurely on the basis of questionable evidence.

Check also Ben-Dor, Miki (2019) "How carnivorous are we? The implication for protein consumption," Journal of Evolution and Health: Vol. 3: Iss. 1, Article 10. https://doi.org/10.15310/2334-3591.1096 https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2019/03/although-we-are-undoubtedly-omnivores.html

From 2017... The Imaginary Intrasexual Competition: Advertisements Featuring Provocative Female Models Trigger Women to Engage in Indirect Aggression, as with real-life sexual rivals

From 2017... The Imaginary Intrasexual Competition: Advertisements Featuring Provocative Female Models Trigger Women to Engage in Indirect Aggression. Sylvie Borau, Jean-François Bonnefon. Journal of Business Ethics, June 2019, Volume 157, Issue 1, pp 45–63, July 20 2017. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-017-3643-y

Abstract: Recent research suggests that women react to idealized female models in advertising as they would react to real-life sexual rivals. Across four studies, we investigate the negative consequences of this imaginary competition on consumers’ mate-guarding jealousy, indirect aggression, and drive for thinness. A meta-analysis of studies 1–3 shows that women exposed to an idealized model report more mate-guarding jealousy and show increased indirect aggression (i.e., derogation and social exclusion), but do not report a higher desire for thinness. Study 4 replicates these findings and reveals that the main driver of aggression is the sexually provocative attitude of the model (a signal of a flirting behavior and of sexual availability), rather than her thin body size. The ethical implications of these findings for advertising are discussed in light of recent concerns about female bullying, online, and in the workplace.

Keywords: Advertising models Derogation Intrasexual competition Mate-guarding jealousy Provocative attitude Slut-shaming