Here Comes the Bride. And the Bride. And the Bride. Mass Weddings Boom in Lebanon. Ben Hubbard. The New York Times, Sept. 15, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/15/world/middleeast/lebanon-weddings.html
BKERKE, Lebanon — Classical music swelled as the bride stepped from a white sedan onto a red carpet, took the arm of her tuxedoed groom and walked down the aisle, both grinning as their relatives cheered nearby.
The next bride did the same. And the next. And the next. And the next.
Once the couples — 34 that day — reached their seats, the patriarch of the Maronite Church, dressed in crimson robes and gripping a scepter topped with a golden cross, led Mass and declared the whole lot husbands and wives.
It was Lebanon’s fourth mass wedding in three weeks, representing a social phenomenon that has been growing here and across the Middle East.
In a region where marriage remains highly valued but economic pressures and costly celebrations have priced many couples out, powerful benefactors have stepped in, sponsoring large-scale ceremonies to make sure that young people get hitched.
[Image Nineteen couples gathered at a resort in Jiyeh, Lebanon, last month for a mass wedding organized by Oasis of Hope, a group linked to a Shiite political party.CreditDalia Khamissy for The New York Times]
Politics, faith and Lebanon’s complicated demographics play a role too, in this country with 18 officially recognized sects.
Political parties sponsor weddings for young members to reinforce their loyalty, and gratitude. Religious and ethnic minorities — which means everyone in splintered Lebanon — consider marriage and procreation essential to their long-term survival. And armed groups encourage their fighters to marry so that their children can become the fighters of the future.
A few weeks before the Maronite nuptials, Hezbollah, the Shiite militant group and political party, oversaw a similar enormous wedding for 31 couples. That was tiny compared with a mass wedding in Lebanon earlier this year that brought together 196 couples and was sponsored by the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas.
But the nearby Gaza Strip — where an Egyptian-Israeli blockade keeps people poor and locked in — beats them all, often because of competition between foreign sponsors eager to win friends by expediting marriages.
In 2015, the United Arab Emirates sponsored a mass wedding there for 200 couples. Two months later, Turkey seriously upped the ante, bankrolling a ceremony for 2,000 couples that was attended by officials from Hamas, the militant group that rules the territory.
[Image Part of the Maronite ceremony in Bkerke. Most couples join mass weddings for financial reasons, because they cannot afford their own celebrations.CreditDalia Khamissy for The New York Times]
Mass weddings hold a lot of appeal for couples who cannot afford their own celebrations, or want to spend their money on other things, like building homes or starting businesses.
“They take care of everything, God bless them,” said Roni Abu Zeid, 35, who got married in the Maronite mass wedding, which was held in Bkerke, a town near the Mediterranean coast, north of Beirut. It is the headquarters of the Maronite Church.
Mr. Zeid is a soldier, and with his salary it was difficult to save the $20,000 he needed to outfit a home and host his own wedding party. So he gladly joined the mass wedding.
“If we got married elsewhere, we would have suffered,” he said.
His wedding was sponsored by the Maronite League, a nonprofit group associated with the church. Maronites are the largest of the Christian groups that make up about 36 percent of Lebanon’s population.
Fadi Gerges, an official with the league, said it was natural for minorities to encourage their youths to procreate in a country where demographics affect power.
“When any ethnic group feels they are in danger, they pull together,” he said. “When they see the numbers going up on the other side, they think maybe they can place a pebble to prevent a landslide.”
This year’s mass wedding was the group’s 10th in 11 years, bringing the number of couples it has married to 274. So far, those unions have resulted in only three divorces and more than 100 children.
Image
After dinner in Jiyeh, the families took photos of a large, tiered cake.CreditDalia Khamissy for The New York Times
To be part of the league’s group ceremony, couples must apply. At least one of the couple must be a Maronite, and the groom must have a house and a job.
Accepted couples get a free suit for the groom, a dress for the bride, invitations, flowers, photos, $2,000 in cash and a blessing from the patriarch — a big bonus for the devout.
During the ceremony, the couples came forward one by one to say their “I dos” while their families clapped and ululated from the audience. A camera on a crane shot footage for a television broadcast while a drone zoomed about filming the proceedings.
The league once provided refreshments, but unfortunate jostling between families for drinks and snacks put an end to that, Mr. Gerges said.
[Image Oasis of Hope, a group that sponsored the wedding in Jiyeh, also helped the couples set up homes, giving them furniture and appliances.CreditDalia Khamissy for The New York Times]
The league gives couples marital support as needed while encouraging procreation. This year, it will outfit a nursery for the first 10 couples to give birth. Other religious and political groups provide different perks.
The same week as the wedding in Bkerke, 19 couples gathered at a resort in Jiyeh, a beachfront town south of Beirut, for another mass wedding organized by Oasis of Hope, a volunteer group linked to the Amal Movement, a Shiite political party.
Tables adorned with white cloths, candles and appetizers filled the lawn and surrounded the swimming pool, rare luxuries for the mostly poor families who came to see their young people wed.
Fatima Qabalan, an organizer, said the group had married about 300 couples in 12 mass weddings over the years. It not only provided them with a fancy celebration they could not otherwise afford, but helped them set up homes, giving them furniture and appliances.
[Image Ghassan Mohsen taking a photograph of his new wife, Huda Mallah, by the sea in Jiyeh.CreditDalia Khamissy for The New York Times]
The group gave precedence to the children of party members who had been wounded or killed in Lebanon’s wars, but also to the poor, to help their marriages get off the ground.
“If we didn’t help them start and set up their home, they would be going into debt and heading for failure,” Ms. Qabalan said.
While waiters in starched shirts distributed trays of grilled meat and piles of rice and fish, party officials gave speeches and a prominent journalist took to the microphone to remind the couples of the importance of childbearing to the “resistance,” or the struggle against Israel.
A dance troupe stormed in, banging drums, chanting and waving flaming batons and giant red hearts. Then the couples proceeded through the crowd, the grooms in black suits and ties, and the brides in white dresses with attached hair veils. Their relatives snapped photos as they passed.
Ali Ala’ideen, a groom whose hair was slicked back like Elvis’s, said that he and his new wife could not afford a honeymoon, but that he was grateful to be married.
“If it wasn’t a group wedding,” he said, “we wouldn’t have been able.”
After dinner, the families took photos of a large, tiered cake. Fireworks boomed over the Mediterranean, there was a bit of dancing, and the couples left to start their lives together.
One groom, Abdullah Dbouk, said his wife had caught his eye when he was hospitalized for appendicitis and saw her working as a nurse. Once he was out, he tracked down her family.
“As soon as I could walk, I went to see them,” he said.
The couple visited and chatted on Facebook for months before getting engaged, but lacked the money for a big wedding party. So they asked officials from the Amal Movement if they could join the mass wedding.
“It was fate,” said the bride, Nour Awarkeh, 20.
“Thank God for the appendicitis!” said the 26-year-old groom.
Follow Ben Hubbard on Twitter: @NYTBen
Hwaida Saad contributed reporting.
A version of this article appears in print on Sept. 15, 2019, Section A, Page 8 of the New York edition with the headline: Here Come the Brides. (This Time, 34 of Them.).
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Diners paying with cash received either $1 or $6 of change over the correct amount; in 128 out of 192 tables, the diners did not return the excessive change; women returned the extra change much more often than men
The cost of being honest: Excessive change at the restaurant. Chp 4.2 in Dishonesty in Behavioral Economics - Perspectives in Behavioral Economics and the Economics of Behavior, 2019, Pages 267-288. Ofer H. Azar, Shira Yosef, Michael Bar-Eli. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-815857-9.00015-7
Abstract: In a field experiment conducted in an Israeli restaurant, diners paying with cash received either 10 or 40 Shekels (about €2 or €8) of change over the correct amount. In 128 out of 192 tables, the diners did not return the excessive change. Women returned the extra change much more often than men, especially among repeated customers. Interestingly, a table with a woman and a man resembles a male table and not a female table. Repeated customers returned the excessive change much more often than one-time customers. Tables with two diners were not significantly more likely to return the excessive change than tables with one diner. We hypothesized that customers will return more often 10 extra Shekels than 40, but found a strong pattern in the opposite direction. This implies that in some situations the psychological cost of dishonest behavior increases more rapidly than the amounts involved.
Abstract: In a field experiment conducted in an Israeli restaurant, diners paying with cash received either 10 or 40 Shekels (about €2 or €8) of change over the correct amount. In 128 out of 192 tables, the diners did not return the excessive change. Women returned the extra change much more often than men, especially among repeated customers. Interestingly, a table with a woman and a man resembles a male table and not a female table. Repeated customers returned the excessive change much more often than one-time customers. Tables with two diners were not significantly more likely to return the excessive change than tables with one diner. We hypothesized that customers will return more often 10 extra Shekels than 40, but found a strong pattern in the opposite direction. This implies that in some situations the psychological cost of dishonest behavior increases more rapidly than the amounts involved.
People dislike telling lies; Business and Economics (B&E) students are significantly less lie averse than others; female B&E students tell the truth least often, whereas female students from other majors do so most often
Do economists lie more? Chp 3.1 in Perspectives in Behavioral Economics and the Economics of Behavior, 2019, Pages 143-162. Raúl López-Pérez, Eli Spiegelman. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-815857-9.00003-0
Abstract: Experimental evidence suggests that some people dislike telling lies, and tell the truth even at a cost. We also use experiments, to study the sociodemographic covariates of such lie aversion. We find political ideology and religiosity to be without predictive value; however, subjects’ major is predictive: Business and Economics (B&E) subjects are significantly less lie averse than other majors. This is true even after controlling for subjects’ beliefs about the overall rate of deception, which predict behavior very well. Although B&E subjects expect most others to lie in our decision problem, the effect of the field of study remains. Regarding gender, females and males are equally likely to be lie-averse. In a more disaggregated analysis, however, we also observe that female B&E students tell the truth least often, whereas female students from other majors do so most often. These differences between female students, not observed for the males, seem in fact to drive the larger part of the differences between B&E and the other students.
Abstract: Experimental evidence suggests that some people dislike telling lies, and tell the truth even at a cost. We also use experiments, to study the sociodemographic covariates of such lie aversion. We find political ideology and religiosity to be without predictive value; however, subjects’ major is predictive: Business and Economics (B&E) subjects are significantly less lie averse than other majors. This is true even after controlling for subjects’ beliefs about the overall rate of deception, which predict behavior very well. Although B&E subjects expect most others to lie in our decision problem, the effect of the field of study remains. Regarding gender, females and males are equally likely to be lie-averse. In a more disaggregated analysis, however, we also observe that female B&E students tell the truth least often, whereas female students from other majors do so most often. These differences between female students, not observed for the males, seem in fact to drive the larger part of the differences between B&E and the other students.
Reward, pleasure, threat, fear, and disgust are emotional labels that we often use with confidence, as if we knew the identity of their corresponding psychological processes
A Liking Versus Wanting Perspective on Emotion and the Brain. Kent C Berridge. Chp 12 of The Oxford Handbook of Positive Emotion and Psychopathology, June Gruber (Ed.). 2019
Abstract: Reward, pleasure, threat, fear, and disgust are emotional labels that we often use with confidence, as if we knew the identity of their corresponding psychological processes. Those psychological processes of emotion are quite real and deeply grounded in brain systems shared by humans with many animals. But, the identity of fundamental psychological components within emotion are sometimes mistaken because only the final products are experienced, losing the identity of important psychological components that arise en route. Some of those components can have counterintuitive psychological features. For example, the experience of pleasant rewards actually contains distinct psychological processes of “liking” (hedonic impact) and “wanting” (incentive salience). Experience of fear-evoking threats hides distinct psychological components of passive reaction and an actively coping form of fearful salience. Perhaps most counterintuitively, the component of “fear” salience in threat shares a hidden psychological and neural relationship to that of “wanting” for rewards. These psychological components have implications both for ordinary emotions and for pathological disorders ranging from addiction to paranoia. Affective neuroscience studies in this way can produce surprises and insights into the psychological structure of emotions.
Keywords: emotion, affect, brain studies, wanting, liking, subjective feelings, emotional reactions
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
We model the increase of U.S. adult obesity since the 1990s as a legacy of increased consumption of excess sugars among children of the 1970s and 1980s
U.S. obesity as delayed effect of excess sugar. R. Alexander Bentley, Damian J. Ruck, Hillary N.Fouts. Economics & Human Biology, September 17 2019, 100818, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2019.100818
Highlights
• While many population health studies have invoked sugar as a major causal factor in the obesity epidemic, few have explicitly explored the temporal delay between increased sugar consumption and rising obesity rates.
• We model the increase of U.S. adult obesity since the 1990s as a legacy of increased consumption of excess sugars among children of the 1970s and 1980s.
• The model captures the generational time lag through a stochastic process of superfluous sugar calories increasing obesity rates over the lifespan of each birthyear cohort.
• Driven by annual USDA sugar consumption figures, the two-parameter model replicates three aspects of the data: Delayed timing and magnitude of the national rise in obesity since 1970.
• Profile of obesity rates by age group for a recent year.
• Change in obesity rates by age group among pre-adults.
• Our results indicate that past U.S. sugar consumption is at least sufficient to explain adult obesity change in the past 30 years.
Abstract: In the last century, U.S. diets were transformed, including the addition of sugars to industrially-processed foods. While excess sugar has often been implicated in the dramatic increase in U.S. adult obesity over the past 30 years, an unexplained question is why the increase in obesity took place many years after the increases in U.S. sugar consumption. To address this, here we explain adult obesity increase as the cumulative effect of increased sugar calories consumed over time. In our model, which uses annual data on U.S. sugar consumption as the input variable, each age cohort inherits the obesity rate in the previous year plus a simple function of the mean excess sugar consumed in the current year. This simple model replicates three aspects of the data: (a) the delayed timing and magnitude of the increase in average U.S. adult obesity (from about 15% in 1970 to almost 40% by 2015); (b) the increase of obesity rates by age group (reaching 47% obesity by age 50) for the year 2015 in a well-documented U.S. state; and (c) the pre-adult increase of obesity rates by several percent from 1988 to the mid-2000s, and subsequent modest decline in obesity rates among younger children since the mid-2000s. Under this model, the sharp rise in adult obesity after 1990 reflects the delayed effects of added sugar calories consumed among children of the 1970s and 1980s.
Keywords: ObesitySugarHigh-fructose corn syrupSocioeconomic status
Highlights
• While many population health studies have invoked sugar as a major causal factor in the obesity epidemic, few have explicitly explored the temporal delay between increased sugar consumption and rising obesity rates.
• We model the increase of U.S. adult obesity since the 1990s as a legacy of increased consumption of excess sugars among children of the 1970s and 1980s.
• The model captures the generational time lag through a stochastic process of superfluous sugar calories increasing obesity rates over the lifespan of each birthyear cohort.
• Driven by annual USDA sugar consumption figures, the two-parameter model replicates three aspects of the data: Delayed timing and magnitude of the national rise in obesity since 1970.
• Profile of obesity rates by age group for a recent year.
• Change in obesity rates by age group among pre-adults.
• Our results indicate that past U.S. sugar consumption is at least sufficient to explain adult obesity change in the past 30 years.
Abstract: In the last century, U.S. diets were transformed, including the addition of sugars to industrially-processed foods. While excess sugar has often been implicated in the dramatic increase in U.S. adult obesity over the past 30 years, an unexplained question is why the increase in obesity took place many years after the increases in U.S. sugar consumption. To address this, here we explain adult obesity increase as the cumulative effect of increased sugar calories consumed over time. In our model, which uses annual data on U.S. sugar consumption as the input variable, each age cohort inherits the obesity rate in the previous year plus a simple function of the mean excess sugar consumed in the current year. This simple model replicates three aspects of the data: (a) the delayed timing and magnitude of the increase in average U.S. adult obesity (from about 15% in 1970 to almost 40% by 2015); (b) the increase of obesity rates by age group (reaching 47% obesity by age 50) for the year 2015 in a well-documented U.S. state; and (c) the pre-adult increase of obesity rates by several percent from 1988 to the mid-2000s, and subsequent modest decline in obesity rates among younger children since the mid-2000s. Under this model, the sharp rise in adult obesity after 1990 reflects the delayed effects of added sugar calories consumed among children of the 1970s and 1980s.
Keywords: ObesitySugarHigh-fructose corn syrupSocioeconomic status
Incidental processes shape discussion networks much more powerfully than purposive ones: We tend to report discussants with whom we share other relationships/characteristics, rather than expertise or political similarity
The Incidental Pundit: Who Talks Politics with Whom, and Why? William Minozzi et al. American Journal of Political Science, September 16 2019. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12469
Abstract: Informal discussion plays a crucial role in democracy, yet much of its value depends on diversity. We describe two models of political discussion. The purposive model holds that people typically select discussants who are knowledgeable and politically similar to them. The incidental model suggests that people talk politics for mostly idiosyncratic reasons, as by‐products of nonpolitical social processes. To adjudicate between these accounts, we draw on a unique, multisite, panel data set of whole networks, with information about many social relationships, attitudes, and demographics. This evidence permits a stronger foundation for inferences than more common egocentric methods. We find that incidental processes shape discussion networks much more powerfully than purposive ones. Respondents tended to report discussants with whom they share other relationships and characteristics, rather than based on expertise or political similarity, suggesting that stimulating discussion outside of echo chambers may be easier than previously thought.
Abstract: Informal discussion plays a crucial role in democracy, yet much of its value depends on diversity. We describe two models of political discussion. The purposive model holds that people typically select discussants who are knowledgeable and politically similar to them. The incidental model suggests that people talk politics for mostly idiosyncratic reasons, as by‐products of nonpolitical social processes. To adjudicate between these accounts, we draw on a unique, multisite, panel data set of whole networks, with information about many social relationships, attitudes, and demographics. This evidence permits a stronger foundation for inferences than more common egocentric methods. We find that incidental processes shape discussion networks much more powerfully than purposive ones. Respondents tended to report discussants with whom they share other relationships and characteristics, rather than based on expertise or political similarity, suggesting that stimulating discussion outside of echo chambers may be easier than previously thought.
Attractive women augment their physical appeal via high heels; those heels may be a subtle indicator of dyadic sexual desire, & preferences for heels are stronger at times in the lifespan when mating competition is relatively intense
Using Sexual Selection Theories to Examine Contextual Variation in Heterosexual Women’s Orientation Toward High Heels. Christopher Watkins, Amanda Leitch. Archives of Sexual Behavior, September 16 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-019-01539-3
Abstract: High heels are symbols of female sexuality and are “costly signals” if the risks of wearing them are offset by improving women’s attractiveness to men. From a functionalist perspective, the costs versus benefits of wearing heels may vary according to personal and contextual factors, such as her effectiveness at competing for mates, or at times when such motives are stronger. Here, we examined potential differences between women (self-rated attractiveness, dyadic versus solitary sexual desire, women’s age, competitive attitudes toward other women) and contextual variation (priming mating and competitive motives) in their responses to high heels. Study 1 (N = 79) and Study 2 (N = 273) revealed that self-rated attractiveness was positively related to orientation toward heeled shoes. When examining responses to two very attractive shoes (one higher heel, one lower heel) in Study 2, dyadic sexual desire, but not solitary sexual desire or intrasexual competitiveness, predicted their inclination to buy the higher-heeled shoe. In Study 3 (N = 142), young women chose high heels when primed with free choice of a designer shoe (95% CI [53.02 mm, 67.37 mm]) and preferred a heel 22 mm (0.87”) higher than older women (Study 4, N = 247). Contrary to predictions, priming mating or competitive motives did not alter women’s preference toward a higher heel (Studies 3 and 4). Our studies suggest that attractive women augment their physical appeal via heels. High heels may be a subtle indicator of dyadic sexual desire, and preferences for heels are stronger at times in the lifespan when mating competition is relatively intense.
Keywords: Sartorial appearance Fashion Footwear Sex drive Sexual selection
Abstract: High heels are symbols of female sexuality and are “costly signals” if the risks of wearing them are offset by improving women’s attractiveness to men. From a functionalist perspective, the costs versus benefits of wearing heels may vary according to personal and contextual factors, such as her effectiveness at competing for mates, or at times when such motives are stronger. Here, we examined potential differences between women (self-rated attractiveness, dyadic versus solitary sexual desire, women’s age, competitive attitudes toward other women) and contextual variation (priming mating and competitive motives) in their responses to high heels. Study 1 (N = 79) and Study 2 (N = 273) revealed that self-rated attractiveness was positively related to orientation toward heeled shoes. When examining responses to two very attractive shoes (one higher heel, one lower heel) in Study 2, dyadic sexual desire, but not solitary sexual desire or intrasexual competitiveness, predicted their inclination to buy the higher-heeled shoe. In Study 3 (N = 142), young women chose high heels when primed with free choice of a designer shoe (95% CI [53.02 mm, 67.37 mm]) and preferred a heel 22 mm (0.87”) higher than older women (Study 4, N = 247). Contrary to predictions, priming mating or competitive motives did not alter women’s preference toward a higher heel (Studies 3 and 4). Our studies suggest that attractive women augment their physical appeal via heels. High heels may be a subtle indicator of dyadic sexual desire, and preferences for heels are stronger at times in the lifespan when mating competition is relatively intense.
Keywords: Sartorial appearance Fashion Footwear Sex drive Sexual selection
A brief natural history of the orgasm
A brief natural history of the orgasm. Thierry Lodé. Frontiers in Life Science, Volume 13, 2019 - Issue 1, Pages 34-44. Sep 12 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/21553769.2019.1664642
Abstract: Why the sexual climax, in humans, results in a pleasurable experience remains an important biological question. Analysis of evolutionary traits in numerous Vertebrates suggests that orgasm evolved through three phylogenetic stages during the transition from external to internal fertilization and viviparity. First, orgasm is directly dependent on ejaculation in males and the expulsion of fluids from the ovarian and urethral glands (Skene’s) in females. I propose that sexual orgasm could come from the primitive reflex of discharging gametes to ensure reproduction. Thus, the understanding of orgasm should not be reduced to a penis- or a clitoris-centred paradigm. Secondly, orgasm has evolved to stimulate sexual activity because the evolutionary transition from external fertilization to internal fertilization has been accompanied in numerous species with a lessening in reproductive rates. Because sexual activity encourages reproduction, it can be argued that orgasm has evolved to increase sexual activity, particularly in viviparous species with low reproductive rates. Third, internal fertilization in the genital tract of females weakens the visibility of the putative success of fertilization. Female sexual fluids and proteins can bias fertilization in favour of preferred males. Because orgasm could promote a better choice of partner, I argue that female orgasm may have evolved as a post-copulatory selection tactic by which females can increase their control of mates.
KEYWORDS: Orgasm, ovarian fluids, mate choice, post-copulatory selection, sexual conflict, unrelated males
Introduction
Why the sexual climax, in humans, leads to the experience of pleasure remains an important biological question. While the male cannot transfer gametes without experiencing an orgasm, in the human species, the female orgasm seems completely decoupled from reproduction (Cabanac 1971 Cabanac M. 1971. Physiological role of pleasure. Science. 173:1103–1107. doi: 10.1126/science.173.4002.1103; Hrdy 1996 Hrdy SB. 1996. The evolution of female orgasms: logic please but no atavism. Anim Behav. 52:851–852. doi:10.1006/anbe.1996.0230; Wallen and Lloyd 2008 Wallen K, Lloyd E. 2008. Clitoral variability compared with penile variability supports non-adaptation of female orgasm. Evol Dev. 10:1e2.). Although orgasm could result from the point that individuals with an orgasm are more successful, Wheatley and Puts (2015 Wheatley JR, Puts DA. 2015. Evolutionary science of female orgasm. In: The evolution of sexuality, 123–148. Springer) argued that there is actually little evidence to suggest that female orgasm can promote a better reproduction. If orgasm had a selective role, then it is difficult to understand why females show such variability in their ability to reach a climax. Analysing the evolutionary history of the sexual climax from its phylogenetic origin, we can draw some new conclusions that can shed light on the function of orgasm.
Indeed, orgasm could only be regarded as a direct selective trait if individuals with this evolutionary trait have the best reproduction. Associated with ejaculation in males, orgasm is characterized by changes in blood pressure, increased heart rate, rhythmic respiratory pattern, involuntary body movements and, in females, by spontaneous colour changes of the labia minora which engorge to twice their size, and by vaginal and anal spasms (Masters and Johnson 1966 Masters WH, Johnson VE. 1966. Human sexual response. Boston: Little Brown. ; Berman et al. 1999 Berman JR, Berman L, Goldstein I. 1999. Female sexual dysfunction, incidence, pathophysiology, evaluation, and treatment options. Urology. 54:385–391. doi: 10.1016/S0090-4295(99)00230-7). The orgasm is directed by the autonomic nervous system and the spinal cord but activates numerous cortical zones through the vagus nerves mediation (Komisaruk et al. 2004 Komisaruk BR, Whipple B, Crawford A, Grimes S, Liu WC, Kalnin A, Mosier C. 2004. Brain activation during vaginocervical self-stimulation and orgasm in women with complete spinal cord injury: fMRI evidence of mediation by the vagus nerves. Brain Res. 1024:77–88. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2004.07.029).
Although the definition of orgasm is rather uncertain, Bancroft (2005 Bancroft J. 2005. The endocrinology of sexual arousal. J End. 186:411–427. doi: 10.1677/joe.1.06233) described it as ‘a state motivated toward the experience of sexual pleasure’. In males, it is associated with ejaculation and rhythmic muscle contractions of the perineal muscles, in females, with clitoral retraction, rhythmic muscle contractions of the perineum and vagina. Orgasm also releases some neuropeptides, dopamine, oxytocin and prolactin, which cause a deep sense of well-being. Here, orgasm is defined as the culmination of sexual arousal activating the reward circuit. The increase in dopamine, oxytocin and prolactin concentration can, therefore, be considered as a signal of sexual arousal. All mammals have the physiological capacity for orgasm (Fox and Fox 1971 Fox CA, Fox BA. 1971. A comparative study of coital physiology, with special reference to the sexual climax. J Rep Fert. 24:319–336. doi: 10.1530/jrf.0.0240319) and numerous vertebrates are known to experience orgasm-like states such as primates i.e. bonobo, chimpanzee, gorilla, orangutan, proboscis monkey, macaques (Chevalier-Skolnikoff 1974 Chevalier-Skolnikoff S. 1974. Male–female, female–female, and male–male sexual behavior in the stumptail monkey, with special attention to the female orgasm. Archiv Sex Behav. 3:95. doi:101007/BF01540994; Allen and Lemon 1981 Allen ML, Lemon WB. 1981. Orgasm in female primates. Am J Primatol. 1:15–34. doi: 10.1002/ajp.1350010104; Troisi and Carosi 1998 Troisi A, Carosi M. 1998. Female orgasm rate increases with male dominance in Japanese macaques. Anim Behav. 56:1261–1266. doi:101006/anbe19980898; Murai 2006 Murai T. 2006. Mating behaviors of the proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus). Am J Primatol. 68:832–837. PMID: 16847976. doi: 10.1002/ajp.20266; de Waal 2011 de Waal F. 2011. Le singe en nous, Fayard/Pluriel, Paris. ; Grueter and Stoinski 2016 Grueter CC, Stoinski TS. 2016. Homosexual behavior in female mountain gorillas: reflection of dominance, affiliation, reconciliation or arousal? PLoS ONE. 11(5):e0154185. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0154185), carnivores and rodents (Adler 1969 Adler NT. 1969. The effect of males’ copulatory behaviour on successful pregnancy of the female rat. J Comp Phys. 69:613; Heeb and Yahr 1996 Heeb MM, Yahr P. 1996. . c-Fos immunoreactivity in the sexually dimorphic area of the hypothalamus and related brain regions of male gerbils after exposure to sex-related stimuli or performance of specific sexual behaviors. Neuroscience. 72:1049–1071 doi: 10.1016/0306-4522(95)00602-8; Coolen et al. 1997 Coolen LM, Olivier B, Peters HJ, Veening JG. 1997. Demonstration of ejaculation-induced neural activity in the male rat brain using 5-HT1A agonist 8-OH-DPAT. Physiol Behav. 62:881–891. doi: 10.1016/S0031-9384(97)00258-8; Kollack-Walker and Newman 1997 Kollack-Walker S, Newman SW. 1997. Mating-induced expression of c-fos in the male Syrian hamster brain: role of experience, pheromones, and ejaculations. J Neurobiol. 1997(32):481–501.doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-4695(199705)32:5<481::AID-NEU4>3.0.CO;2-1; Tenk et al. 2009 Tenk CM, Wilson H, Zhang Q, Pitchers KK, Coolen LM. 2009. Sexual reward in male rats: effects of sexual experience on conditioned place preferences associated with ejaculation and intromissions. Horm Behav. 55:93–97. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2008.08.012; Pavlicev and Wagner 2016 Pavlicev M, Wagner G. 2016. The evolutionary origin of female orgasm. J Exp Zool B Mol Dev Evol. 326B:326–337. doi:101002/jezb22690, birds and reptiles (Cabanac 1971 Cabanac M. 1971. Physiological role of pleasure. Science. 173:1103–1107. doi: 10.1126/science.173.4002.1103; Winterbottom et al. 1999 Winterbottom M, Burke T, Birkhead TR. 1999. A stimulatory phalloid organ in a weaver bird. Nature. 399:28. doi: 10.1038/19884; Ball and Balthazart 2011 Ball GF, Balthazart J. 2011. Sexual arousal, is it for mammals only? Horm Behav. 59:645–655. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2010.11.001) and fishes (Petersson and Jarvi 2001 Petersson E, Jarvi T. 2001. ‘False orgasm’ in female brown trout: trick or treat? Anim Behav. 61:497–501. doi: 10.1006/anbe.2000.1585). It has even been demonstrated that ejaculation provoked by the activation of Crz-expressing neurons is rewarding to male flies (Zer-Krispil et al. 2018 Zer-Krispil S, Zak H, Shao L, Ben-Shaanan S, Tordjman L, Bentzur A, Shmueli A, Shohat-Ophir G. 2018. Ejaculation induced by the activation of Crz neurons is rewarding to Drosophila males. Curr Biol. 28:1445–1452.e3. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.03.039). Thus, orgasm seems a critical component of reproductive process for many species (Balcombe 2009 Balcombe J. 2009. Animal pleasure and its moral significance. App Anim Behav Sci. 118:212. doi:101016/japplanim200902012).
There are two main theories that provide an explanation for the manifestation of orgasm. It has been firstly hypothesized that orgasm would favour the persistence of bonds to ensure the best care for the offspring (Alcock 1987 Alcock J. 1987. Ardent adaptation. Nat Hist. 96:4. ) or serve as a secondary reinforcement linking sexual behaviours and partner affiliation (Prause 2011 Prause N. 2011. The human female orgasm: critical evaluations of proposed psychological sequelae. Sex Relat Ther. 26:315–328. doi: 10.1080/14681994.2011.651452; Fleischman 2016 Fleischman DS. 2016. An evolutionary behaviorist perspective on orgasm. Socioaffect Neurosci Psychol. 6:32130. doi:103402/snpv632130). However, in many species, the male provides virtually no care to the young, which reduces the interest in this hypothesis. Moreover, the strengthening of the couple’s bonds is clearly refuted by the Coolidge effect (Brown 1974 Brown RE. 1974. Sexual arousal, the Coolidge effect and dominance in the rat Rattus norvegicus. Anim Behav. 22:634–637. doi:101016/S0003–34727480009–6), which leads many males, and to a lesser extent some females (Lester and Gorzalka 1988 Lester GL, Gorzalka BB. 1988. Effect of novel and familiar mating partners on the duration of sexual receptivity in the female hamster. Behav Neural Biol. 49:398–405. doi:101016/s0163–10478890418–9), to increase sexual activity by adopting a greater diversity of partners. In monkeys, females that mated with high-ranking males showed the highest frequency of orgasms (Zumpe and Michael 1968 Zumpe D, Michael RP. 1968. The clutching reaction and orgasm in the female rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta). J End. 40:117. doi: 10.1677/joe.0.0400117; Chevalier-Skolnikoff 1974 Chevalier-Skolnikoff S. 1974. Male–female, female–female, and male–male sexual behavior in the stumptail monkey, with special attention to the female orgasm. Archiv Sex Behav. 3:95. doi:101007/BF01540994), suggesting a role in partner preference. Finally, among the hypotheses tending to interpret orgasm as a reproductive enhancing effect, it has been assumed that female orgasm would have evolved for the selection of a partner, thus enhancing the chance of the best fertilization (Thornhill et al. 1995 Thornhill R, Gangestad SX, Comer R. 1995. Human female orgasm and mate fluctuating asymmetry. Anim Behav. 50:1601–1615. doi:101016/0003–34729580014–X). Thus, Fox et al. (1970 Fox CA, Wolff HS, Baker JA. 1970. Measurement of intra-vaginal and intra-uterine pressures during human coitus by radio-telemetry. J Rep Fert. 22:243–251. doi:101530/jrf00220243) hypothesized that the orgasmic spasms cause contractions that may endorse sperm retention in the female genital tract, thus increasing the probability of fertilization. Fertilization of male gametes is stimulated by rhythmic contractions of the striated muscles during orgasm. The allegation that female orgasms may increase conception and progeny remains controversial (Zietsch and Santtila 2013 Zietsch BP, Santtila P. 2013. No direct relationship between human female orgasm rate and number of offspring. Anim Behav. 86:253–255; Wheatley and Puts 2015 Wheatley JR, Puts DA. 2015. Evolutionary science of female orgasm. In: The evolution of sexuality, 123–148. Springer) since female orgasms do not appear to have an active role in sperm transport during coitus (Levin 2011 Levin RJ. 2011. Can the controversy about the putative role of the human female orgasm in sperm transport be settled with our current physiological knowledge of coitus? J Sex Med. 8:1566–1578. doi: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2010.02162.x). Nonetheless, cervical excitations produce contractions of the oviduct and fallopian tubes (Komisaruk et al. 2004 Komisaruk BR, Whipple B, Crawford A, Grimes S, Liu WC, Kalnin A, Mosier C. 2004. Brain activation during vaginocervical self-stimulation and orgasm in women with complete spinal cord injury: fMRI evidence of mediation by the vagus nerves. Brain Res. 1024:77–88. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2004.07.029), probably via prostaglandins and are essential for sperm transport and fertilization (Adler 1969 Adler NT. 1969. The effect of males’ copulatory behaviour on successful pregnancy of the female rat. J Comp Phys. 69:613. ; Adler and Zoloth 1970 Adler NT, Zoloth SR. 1970. Copulatory behaviour can inhibit pregnancy in female rats? Science. 168:1480–1482. doi: 10.1126/science.168.3938.1480Wildt et al. 1998 Wildt L, Kissler S, Licht P, Becker B. 1998. Sperm transport in the human female genital tract and its modulation by oxytocin as assessed by hysterosalpingoscintigraphy, hysterotonography, electrohysterography and Doppler sonography. Hum Reprod Update. 4:655–666. doi: 10.1093/humupd/4.5.655
The second theory claims that female orgasm has no selective role and must be understood as a simple by-product of ontogenesis since the embryonic development of the male penis and female clitoris remains very comparable (Symons 1979 Symons D. 1979. The evolution of human sexuality. Oxford: Oxford University Press; Gould 1987 Gould SJ. 1987. Freudian slip. Nat Hist. 96:14–21; Wallen and Lloyd 2008 Wallen K, Lloyd E. 2008. Clitoral variability compared with penile variability supports non-adaptation of female orgasm. Evol Dev. 10:1e2).
Abstract: Why the sexual climax, in humans, results in a pleasurable experience remains an important biological question. Analysis of evolutionary traits in numerous Vertebrates suggests that orgasm evolved through three phylogenetic stages during the transition from external to internal fertilization and viviparity. First, orgasm is directly dependent on ejaculation in males and the expulsion of fluids from the ovarian and urethral glands (Skene’s) in females. I propose that sexual orgasm could come from the primitive reflex of discharging gametes to ensure reproduction. Thus, the understanding of orgasm should not be reduced to a penis- or a clitoris-centred paradigm. Secondly, orgasm has evolved to stimulate sexual activity because the evolutionary transition from external fertilization to internal fertilization has been accompanied in numerous species with a lessening in reproductive rates. Because sexual activity encourages reproduction, it can be argued that orgasm has evolved to increase sexual activity, particularly in viviparous species with low reproductive rates. Third, internal fertilization in the genital tract of females weakens the visibility of the putative success of fertilization. Female sexual fluids and proteins can bias fertilization in favour of preferred males. Because orgasm could promote a better choice of partner, I argue that female orgasm may have evolved as a post-copulatory selection tactic by which females can increase their control of mates.
KEYWORDS: Orgasm, ovarian fluids, mate choice, post-copulatory selection, sexual conflict, unrelated males
Introduction
Why the sexual climax, in humans, leads to the experience of pleasure remains an important biological question. While the male cannot transfer gametes without experiencing an orgasm, in the human species, the female orgasm seems completely decoupled from reproduction (Cabanac 1971 Cabanac M. 1971. Physiological role of pleasure. Science. 173:1103–1107. doi: 10.1126/science.173.4002.1103; Hrdy 1996 Hrdy SB. 1996. The evolution of female orgasms: logic please but no atavism. Anim Behav. 52:851–852. doi:10.1006/anbe.1996.0230; Wallen and Lloyd 2008 Wallen K, Lloyd E. 2008. Clitoral variability compared with penile variability supports non-adaptation of female orgasm. Evol Dev. 10:1e2.). Although orgasm could result from the point that individuals with an orgasm are more successful, Wheatley and Puts (2015 Wheatley JR, Puts DA. 2015. Evolutionary science of female orgasm. In: The evolution of sexuality, 123–148. Springer) argued that there is actually little evidence to suggest that female orgasm can promote a better reproduction. If orgasm had a selective role, then it is difficult to understand why females show such variability in their ability to reach a climax. Analysing the evolutionary history of the sexual climax from its phylogenetic origin, we can draw some new conclusions that can shed light on the function of orgasm.
Indeed, orgasm could only be regarded as a direct selective trait if individuals with this evolutionary trait have the best reproduction. Associated with ejaculation in males, orgasm is characterized by changes in blood pressure, increased heart rate, rhythmic respiratory pattern, involuntary body movements and, in females, by spontaneous colour changes of the labia minora which engorge to twice their size, and by vaginal and anal spasms (Masters and Johnson 1966 Masters WH, Johnson VE. 1966. Human sexual response. Boston: Little Brown. ; Berman et al. 1999 Berman JR, Berman L, Goldstein I. 1999. Female sexual dysfunction, incidence, pathophysiology, evaluation, and treatment options. Urology. 54:385–391. doi: 10.1016/S0090-4295(99)00230-7). The orgasm is directed by the autonomic nervous system and the spinal cord but activates numerous cortical zones through the vagus nerves mediation (Komisaruk et al. 2004 Komisaruk BR, Whipple B, Crawford A, Grimes S, Liu WC, Kalnin A, Mosier C. 2004. Brain activation during vaginocervical self-stimulation and orgasm in women with complete spinal cord injury: fMRI evidence of mediation by the vagus nerves. Brain Res. 1024:77–88. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2004.07.029).
Although the definition of orgasm is rather uncertain, Bancroft (2005 Bancroft J. 2005. The endocrinology of sexual arousal. J End. 186:411–427. doi: 10.1677/joe.1.06233) described it as ‘a state motivated toward the experience of sexual pleasure’. In males, it is associated with ejaculation and rhythmic muscle contractions of the perineal muscles, in females, with clitoral retraction, rhythmic muscle contractions of the perineum and vagina. Orgasm also releases some neuropeptides, dopamine, oxytocin and prolactin, which cause a deep sense of well-being. Here, orgasm is defined as the culmination of sexual arousal activating the reward circuit. The increase in dopamine, oxytocin and prolactin concentration can, therefore, be considered as a signal of sexual arousal. All mammals have the physiological capacity for orgasm (Fox and Fox 1971 Fox CA, Fox BA. 1971. A comparative study of coital physiology, with special reference to the sexual climax. J Rep Fert. 24:319–336. doi: 10.1530/jrf.0.0240319) and numerous vertebrates are known to experience orgasm-like states such as primates i.e. bonobo, chimpanzee, gorilla, orangutan, proboscis monkey, macaques (Chevalier-Skolnikoff 1974 Chevalier-Skolnikoff S. 1974. Male–female, female–female, and male–male sexual behavior in the stumptail monkey, with special attention to the female orgasm. Archiv Sex Behav. 3:95. doi:101007/BF01540994; Allen and Lemon 1981 Allen ML, Lemon WB. 1981. Orgasm in female primates. Am J Primatol. 1:15–34. doi: 10.1002/ajp.1350010104; Troisi and Carosi 1998 Troisi A, Carosi M. 1998. Female orgasm rate increases with male dominance in Japanese macaques. Anim Behav. 56:1261–1266. doi:101006/anbe19980898; Murai 2006 Murai T. 2006. Mating behaviors of the proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus). Am J Primatol. 68:832–837. PMID: 16847976. doi: 10.1002/ajp.20266; de Waal 2011 de Waal F. 2011. Le singe en nous, Fayard/Pluriel, Paris. ; Grueter and Stoinski 2016 Grueter CC, Stoinski TS. 2016. Homosexual behavior in female mountain gorillas: reflection of dominance, affiliation, reconciliation or arousal? PLoS ONE. 11(5):e0154185. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0154185), carnivores and rodents (Adler 1969 Adler NT. 1969. The effect of males’ copulatory behaviour on successful pregnancy of the female rat. J Comp Phys. 69:613; Heeb and Yahr 1996 Heeb MM, Yahr P. 1996. . c-Fos immunoreactivity in the sexually dimorphic area of the hypothalamus and related brain regions of male gerbils after exposure to sex-related stimuli or performance of specific sexual behaviors. Neuroscience. 72:1049–1071 doi: 10.1016/0306-4522(95)00602-8; Coolen et al. 1997 Coolen LM, Olivier B, Peters HJ, Veening JG. 1997. Demonstration of ejaculation-induced neural activity in the male rat brain using 5-HT1A agonist 8-OH-DPAT. Physiol Behav. 62:881–891. doi: 10.1016/S0031-9384(97)00258-8; Kollack-Walker and Newman 1997 Kollack-Walker S, Newman SW. 1997. Mating-induced expression of c-fos in the male Syrian hamster brain: role of experience, pheromones, and ejaculations. J Neurobiol. 1997(32):481–501.doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-4695(199705)32:5<481::AID-NEU4>3.0.CO;2-1; Tenk et al. 2009 Tenk CM, Wilson H, Zhang Q, Pitchers KK, Coolen LM. 2009. Sexual reward in male rats: effects of sexual experience on conditioned place preferences associated with ejaculation and intromissions. Horm Behav. 55:93–97. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2008.08.012; Pavlicev and Wagner 2016 Pavlicev M, Wagner G. 2016. The evolutionary origin of female orgasm. J Exp Zool B Mol Dev Evol. 326B:326–337. doi:101002/jezb22690, birds and reptiles (Cabanac 1971 Cabanac M. 1971. Physiological role of pleasure. Science. 173:1103–1107. doi: 10.1126/science.173.4002.1103; Winterbottom et al. 1999 Winterbottom M, Burke T, Birkhead TR. 1999. A stimulatory phalloid organ in a weaver bird. Nature. 399:28. doi: 10.1038/19884; Ball and Balthazart 2011 Ball GF, Balthazart J. 2011. Sexual arousal, is it for mammals only? Horm Behav. 59:645–655. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2010.11.001) and fishes (Petersson and Jarvi 2001 Petersson E, Jarvi T. 2001. ‘False orgasm’ in female brown trout: trick or treat? Anim Behav. 61:497–501. doi: 10.1006/anbe.2000.1585). It has even been demonstrated that ejaculation provoked by the activation of Crz-expressing neurons is rewarding to male flies (Zer-Krispil et al. 2018 Zer-Krispil S, Zak H, Shao L, Ben-Shaanan S, Tordjman L, Bentzur A, Shmueli A, Shohat-Ophir G. 2018. Ejaculation induced by the activation of Crz neurons is rewarding to Drosophila males. Curr Biol. 28:1445–1452.e3. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.03.039). Thus, orgasm seems a critical component of reproductive process for many species (Balcombe 2009 Balcombe J. 2009. Animal pleasure and its moral significance. App Anim Behav Sci. 118:212. doi:101016/japplanim200902012).
There are two main theories that provide an explanation for the manifestation of orgasm. It has been firstly hypothesized that orgasm would favour the persistence of bonds to ensure the best care for the offspring (Alcock 1987 Alcock J. 1987. Ardent adaptation. Nat Hist. 96:4. ) or serve as a secondary reinforcement linking sexual behaviours and partner affiliation (Prause 2011 Prause N. 2011. The human female orgasm: critical evaluations of proposed psychological sequelae. Sex Relat Ther. 26:315–328. doi: 10.1080/14681994.2011.651452; Fleischman 2016 Fleischman DS. 2016. An evolutionary behaviorist perspective on orgasm. Socioaffect Neurosci Psychol. 6:32130. doi:103402/snpv632130). However, in many species, the male provides virtually no care to the young, which reduces the interest in this hypothesis. Moreover, the strengthening of the couple’s bonds is clearly refuted by the Coolidge effect (Brown 1974 Brown RE. 1974. Sexual arousal, the Coolidge effect and dominance in the rat Rattus norvegicus. Anim Behav. 22:634–637. doi:101016/S0003–34727480009–6), which leads many males, and to a lesser extent some females (Lester and Gorzalka 1988 Lester GL, Gorzalka BB. 1988. Effect of novel and familiar mating partners on the duration of sexual receptivity in the female hamster. Behav Neural Biol. 49:398–405. doi:101016/s0163–10478890418–9), to increase sexual activity by adopting a greater diversity of partners. In monkeys, females that mated with high-ranking males showed the highest frequency of orgasms (Zumpe and Michael 1968 Zumpe D, Michael RP. 1968. The clutching reaction and orgasm in the female rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta). J End. 40:117. doi: 10.1677/joe.0.0400117; Chevalier-Skolnikoff 1974 Chevalier-Skolnikoff S. 1974. Male–female, female–female, and male–male sexual behavior in the stumptail monkey, with special attention to the female orgasm. Archiv Sex Behav. 3:95. doi:101007/BF01540994), suggesting a role in partner preference. Finally, among the hypotheses tending to interpret orgasm as a reproductive enhancing effect, it has been assumed that female orgasm would have evolved for the selection of a partner, thus enhancing the chance of the best fertilization (Thornhill et al. 1995 Thornhill R, Gangestad SX, Comer R. 1995. Human female orgasm and mate fluctuating asymmetry. Anim Behav. 50:1601–1615. doi:101016/0003–34729580014–X). Thus, Fox et al. (1970 Fox CA, Wolff HS, Baker JA. 1970. Measurement of intra-vaginal and intra-uterine pressures during human coitus by radio-telemetry. J Rep Fert. 22:243–251. doi:101530/jrf00220243) hypothesized that the orgasmic spasms cause contractions that may endorse sperm retention in the female genital tract, thus increasing the probability of fertilization. Fertilization of male gametes is stimulated by rhythmic contractions of the striated muscles during orgasm. The allegation that female orgasms may increase conception and progeny remains controversial (Zietsch and Santtila 2013 Zietsch BP, Santtila P. 2013. No direct relationship between human female orgasm rate and number of offspring. Anim Behav. 86:253–255; Wheatley and Puts 2015 Wheatley JR, Puts DA. 2015. Evolutionary science of female orgasm. In: The evolution of sexuality, 123–148. Springer) since female orgasms do not appear to have an active role in sperm transport during coitus (Levin 2011 Levin RJ. 2011. Can the controversy about the putative role of the human female orgasm in sperm transport be settled with our current physiological knowledge of coitus? J Sex Med. 8:1566–1578. doi: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2010.02162.x). Nonetheless, cervical excitations produce contractions of the oviduct and fallopian tubes (Komisaruk et al. 2004 Komisaruk BR, Whipple B, Crawford A, Grimes S, Liu WC, Kalnin A, Mosier C. 2004. Brain activation during vaginocervical self-stimulation and orgasm in women with complete spinal cord injury: fMRI evidence of mediation by the vagus nerves. Brain Res. 1024:77–88. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2004.07.029), probably via prostaglandins and are essential for sperm transport and fertilization (Adler 1969 Adler NT. 1969. The effect of males’ copulatory behaviour on successful pregnancy of the female rat. J Comp Phys. 69:613. ; Adler and Zoloth 1970 Adler NT, Zoloth SR. 1970. Copulatory behaviour can inhibit pregnancy in female rats? Science. 168:1480–1482. doi: 10.1126/science.168.3938.1480Wildt et al. 1998 Wildt L, Kissler S, Licht P, Becker B. 1998. Sperm transport in the human female genital tract and its modulation by oxytocin as assessed by hysterosalpingoscintigraphy, hysterotonography, electrohysterography and Doppler sonography. Hum Reprod Update. 4:655–666. doi: 10.1093/humupd/4.5.655
The second theory claims that female orgasm has no selective role and must be understood as a simple by-product of ontogenesis since the embryonic development of the male penis and female clitoris remains very comparable (Symons 1979 Symons D. 1979. The evolution of human sexuality. Oxford: Oxford University Press; Gould 1987 Gould SJ. 1987. Freudian slip. Nat Hist. 96:14–21; Wallen and Lloyd 2008 Wallen K, Lloyd E. 2008. Clitoral variability compared with penile variability supports non-adaptation of female orgasm. Evol Dev. 10:1e2).
Paradoxically, the published literature on the psychological consequences of lottery wins has found almost no evidence that winners become happier; we found otherwise
Lottery Wins and Satisfaction: Overturning Brickman in Modern Longitudinal Data on Germany. Andrew J. Oswald, Rainer Winkelmann. The Economics of Happiness pp 57-84, September 14 2019. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-15835-4_3
Abstract: Paradoxically, the published literature on the psychological consequences of lottery wins has found almost no evidence that winners become happier. This famous puzzle was originally documented by the psychologist Philip Brickman and colleagues. Using new German panel data, we offer results that are more in accord with common sense and economic theory. We have been particularly influenced by the pioneering work of Richard Easterlin: in this paper we explicitly consider the idea of ‘domain’ satisfaction levels. First, our estimates show that lottery wins raise people’s satisfaction with their overall income. Second, lottery wins’ increase people’s satisfaction with life. The effects documented here are, as might be expected, especially pronounced for big wins. One of the advantages of our data set is that it allows access to a greater number of large winners than has typically been possible in the published literature.
Abstract: Paradoxically, the published literature on the psychological consequences of lottery wins has found almost no evidence that winners become happier. This famous puzzle was originally documented by the psychologist Philip Brickman and colleagues. Using new German panel data, we offer results that are more in accord with common sense and economic theory. We have been particularly influenced by the pioneering work of Richard Easterlin: in this paper we explicitly consider the idea of ‘domain’ satisfaction levels. First, our estimates show that lottery wins raise people’s satisfaction with their overall income. Second, lottery wins’ increase people’s satisfaction with life. The effects documented here are, as might be expected, especially pronounced for big wins. One of the advantages of our data set is that it allows access to a greater number of large winners than has typically been possible in the published literature.
Monday, September 16, 2019
Optimal ultra-short copulation duration in a sexually cannibalistic spider in which females want to be half-virgin
Optimal ultra-short copulation duration in a sexually cannibalistic
spider. Braulio A. Assis, Matthias W. Foellmer. Behavioral Ecology and
Sociobiology, September 2019, 73:117. August 3 2019.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00265-019-2733-5
Abstract: Sexual conflict has been shown to shape many behaviors in the reproductive context, such as the duration of copulation, across a broad taxonomic range. In spiders, copulation duration is one of the most variable reproductive traits, ranging from seconds to hours. Some species in the araneid genus Argiope exhibit very short copulations of a few seconds per pedipalp insertion. This has been hypothesized to be the result of cannibalistic females imposing selection on males to escape the attack by reducing insertion duration to a minimum. However, copulation duration is positively correlated with the number of sperm transferred and fertilization success in many species. Thus, given the tradeoff between sperm transfer and the risk of being cannibalized, males may optimize the duration of copulation to maximize lifetime reproductive success. Here we test whether males in the orb-weaver Argiope aurantia, which exhibits the shortest copulation in any spider and rivals the honey bee for shortest copulation reported for any arthropod with internal genital coupling, are optimizing the insertion duration of the first pedipalp to maximize the number of sperm transferred and eggs fertilized. We analyzed total sperm transferred to the female, and male fertilization success as a function of the first insertion’s duration, using data collected in previous staged-mating experiments and determined optimal copulations of 3–4 s, which is close to the averages of the source populations. Thus, we present evidence for sexual cannibalism as a driver of the extremely short copulations in A. aurantia.
Significance statement: Females and males often conflict over mating frequency. In spiders, both sexes have paired reproductive organs and can remain half virgin if only one of the two possible copulations are completed. In the orb-weaver Argiope aurantia, males place mating plugs and females almost always immediately attack males in copula, probably to prevent them from achieving both copulations and to be able to upgrade to a second mate. We find an optimal duration of 3–4 s for males to terminate copulation, which reduces the risk of being killed, while at the same time maximizing sperm transfer and fertilization success because copulation duration is positively related to the number of sperm transferred and allows males to achieve the second copulation. The optimal duration detected here is very close to average copulation durations in nature. Hence, we document the adaptive value of the shortest copulation known for any spider.
Keywords: Sexual cannibalism Copulation duration Sexual conflict Araneae Sexual size dimorphism Mating plug
Abstract: Sexual conflict has been shown to shape many behaviors in the reproductive context, such as the duration of copulation, across a broad taxonomic range. In spiders, copulation duration is one of the most variable reproductive traits, ranging from seconds to hours. Some species in the araneid genus Argiope exhibit very short copulations of a few seconds per pedipalp insertion. This has been hypothesized to be the result of cannibalistic females imposing selection on males to escape the attack by reducing insertion duration to a minimum. However, copulation duration is positively correlated with the number of sperm transferred and fertilization success in many species. Thus, given the tradeoff between sperm transfer and the risk of being cannibalized, males may optimize the duration of copulation to maximize lifetime reproductive success. Here we test whether males in the orb-weaver Argiope aurantia, which exhibits the shortest copulation in any spider and rivals the honey bee for shortest copulation reported for any arthropod with internal genital coupling, are optimizing the insertion duration of the first pedipalp to maximize the number of sperm transferred and eggs fertilized. We analyzed total sperm transferred to the female, and male fertilization success as a function of the first insertion’s duration, using data collected in previous staged-mating experiments and determined optimal copulations of 3–4 s, which is close to the averages of the source populations. Thus, we present evidence for sexual cannibalism as a driver of the extremely short copulations in A. aurantia.
Significance statement: Females and males often conflict over mating frequency. In spiders, both sexes have paired reproductive organs and can remain half virgin if only one of the two possible copulations are completed. In the orb-weaver Argiope aurantia, males place mating plugs and females almost always immediately attack males in copula, probably to prevent them from achieving both copulations and to be able to upgrade to a second mate. We find an optimal duration of 3–4 s for males to terminate copulation, which reduces the risk of being killed, while at the same time maximizing sperm transfer and fertilization success because copulation duration is positively related to the number of sperm transferred and allows males to achieve the second copulation. The optimal duration detected here is very close to average copulation durations in nature. Hence, we document the adaptive value of the shortest copulation known for any spider.
Keywords: Sexual cannibalism Copulation duration Sexual conflict Araneae Sexual size dimorphism Mating plug
Once considered a uniquely human memory phenomenon, the creation of false memories in lower animals can be seen; & evidence of “implanted” misinformation has also been obtained
False memory in nonhuman animals. Paula M. Millin and David C. Riccio. Learning & Memory, 2019. 26: 1-6. http://www.learnmem.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/lm.050054.119
Abstract: This paper examines recent evidence from behavioral and neuroscience research with nonhuman animals that suggests the intriguing possibility that they, like their human counterparts, are vulnerable to creating false memories. Once considered a uniquely human memory phenomenon, the creation of false memories in lower animals can be seen especially readily in studies involving memory for source, or contextual attributes. Furthermore, evidence of “implanted” misinformation has also been obtained. Here, we review that research and consider its relevance to our empirical understanding of false memories, as well as speculate about its potential clinical implications for trauma memory.
Abstract: This paper examines recent evidence from behavioral and neuroscience research with nonhuman animals that suggests the intriguing possibility that they, like their human counterparts, are vulnerable to creating false memories. Once considered a uniquely human memory phenomenon, the creation of false memories in lower animals can be seen especially readily in studies involving memory for source, or contextual attributes. Furthermore, evidence of “implanted” misinformation has also been obtained. Here, we review that research and consider its relevance to our empirical understanding of false memories, as well as speculate about its potential clinical implications for trauma memory.
Antisocial behaviour was consistently rated as less genetically influenced than prosocial behaviour; asymmetry may stem from people’s motivating desire to hold wrongdoers responsible for their actions
Asymmetrical genetic attributions for prosocial versus antisocial behaviour. Matthew S. Lebowitz, Kathryn Tabb & Paul S. Appelbaum. Nature Human Behaviour, volume 3, pages 940–949 (2019), July 29 2019. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-019-0651-1
Abstract: Genetic explanations of human behaviour are increasingly common. While genetic attributions for behaviour are often considered relevant for assessing blameworthiness, it has not yet been established whether judgements about blameworthiness can themselves impact genetic attributions. Across six studies, participants read about individuals engaging in prosocial or antisocial behaviour, and rated the extent to which they believed that genetics played a role in causing the behaviour. Antisocial behaviour was consistently rated as less genetically influenced than prosocial behaviour. This was true regardless of whether genetic explanations were explicitly provided or refuted. Mediation analyses suggested that this asymmetry may stem from people’s motivating desire to hold wrongdoers responsible for their actions. These findings suggest that those who seek to study or make use of genetic explanations’ influence on evaluations of, for example, antisocial behaviour should consider whether such explanations are accepted in the first place, given the possibility of motivated causal reasoning.
Abstract: Genetic explanations of human behaviour are increasingly common. While genetic attributions for behaviour are often considered relevant for assessing blameworthiness, it has not yet been established whether judgements about blameworthiness can themselves impact genetic attributions. Across six studies, participants read about individuals engaging in prosocial or antisocial behaviour, and rated the extent to which they believed that genetics played a role in causing the behaviour. Antisocial behaviour was consistently rated as less genetically influenced than prosocial behaviour. This was true regardless of whether genetic explanations were explicitly provided or refuted. Mediation analyses suggested that this asymmetry may stem from people’s motivating desire to hold wrongdoers responsible for their actions. These findings suggest that those who seek to study or make use of genetic explanations’ influence on evaluations of, for example, antisocial behaviour should consider whether such explanations are accepted in the first place, given the possibility of motivated causal reasoning.
“It’s All in Your Head”—A counterproductive way to interact with patients
“It’s All in Your Head”—Medicine’s Silent Epidemic. Matthew J. Burke. JAMA Neurol., online September 16, 2019. doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2019.3043
Full text, references, in DOI above. Excerpts:
It’s all in your head” is a phrase sometimes said by physicians to patients presenting with symptoms unexplained by medical disease. As a neurologist specializing in neuropsychiatry, nothing bothers me more than overhearing medical colleagues proclaim this one-liner at the bedside or snicker about these patients during rounds. Unbeknownst to them, I also hear my patients’ version of being on the other end of this phrase and find myself constantly trying to repair the damage that these words can cause. Whether physicians like to admit it or not, medically unexplained symptoms encompass a vast terrain of clinical practice. In neurology, these symptoms fall under functional neurological disorder, but every specialty has their own variants and favored terminologies (eg, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia). The inadequate management of this segment of medicine represents a silent epidemic that is slowly eroding patient-physician relationships, perpetuating unnecessary disability, and straining health care resources.
The irony of “it’s all in your head” is that although this phrase is often used inappropriately and dismissively, it is technically correct. The problem does indeed lie within the head. More specifically, it lies within the brain and its complex networks that we are just beginning to understand. Over the past 10 years, neuroimaging research studies have consistently identified brain abnormalities in patients with medically unexplained symptoms—yes, biologically based changes in the activity and connections of brain regions, such as the amygdala, prefrontal cortex, temporal-parietal junction, and other structures.1 These brain circuit abnormalities provide physiological explanations for once mysterious links between regions implicated in emotional processing and the generation of “physical” symptoms (eg, pain, fatigue, weakness). Jean-Martin Charcot, MD, a famous 19th century French neurologist and early pioneer of this field, reportedly insisted that a “functional lesion” would be found when microscopes were sufficiently powerful.2 Well, our microscopes are getting better, and we are now starting to see evidence of the predicted functional or software disruptions in the brain. We still do not fully understand what causes these software problems; however, recent research suggests a multifactorial etiology, including genetic predisposition, environmental risk factors (eg, childhood adverse events), and psychological stressors.3
Despite the growing scientific literature, there has been minimal shift in physician attitudes toward these patients. Physicians seem quite comfortable with the idea of structural brain lesions causing psychological symptoms, such as a frontal lobe stroke causing depression or a temporal lobe tumor causing delusions. However, the reverse causality of psychological factors (borne of the same substrates—neurotransmitters, neurons, and synaptic connections) leading to neurological or systemic symptoms is often hastily dismissed and remains highly stigmatized. Thus, many physicians either simply ignore these kinds of symptoms or wrongfully assume that patients are malingering.
Based on such attitudes, a typical physician-patient interaction may proceed as follows: (1) the physician provides a rundown of normal investigations, (2) the patient is told they have no known medical diagnoses, (3) a brief awkward exchange occurs, and (4) little further explanation, guidance, resources, or facilitation of an appropriate referral process is given. Even if the infamous phrase is not explicitly stated, this sequence leaves the patient to infer for themselves that it must be all in their head. Unfortunately, they do not perceive this as, “I have a real dysfunction of networks in my brain,” but instead understandably conclude that, “they think I’m crazy” or “faking it.”4 Sometimes, patients may hear the distant utterance of, “Maybe you should see a psychiatrist,” as they exit the office door, but in this context, such advice is rarely productive.
Many of these patients can be so offended by this encounter that they quickly seek multiple second opinions and subsequent rounds of pricey and unnecessary investigations. Depending on the jurisdiction and medical record system, the original physician may be completely unaware of these additional rounds of care. Mounting negative and invalidating clinical interactions can become a source of distress and cause medical trauma. At this point, patients often either fall through the cracks or stumble on a fringe medical specialist or alternative medicine practitioner who may offer the “physical” diagnosis they’ve been yearning for. This could include a growing list of unsubstantiated metabolic deficiencies, infectious disorders, or autoimmune hypersensitivities. Anecdotally, the most common current example seems to be the diagnosis of chronic Lyme disease by unvalidated assays.5 Let me be clear that many of these practitioners are well intentioned and can offer holistic approaches that medicine could learn a lot from. However, there appears to be a subset that take advantage of these patients’ desire for a “physical” diagnosis […].
For the patient, receiving such a concrete, “organic” diagnosis often quells mounting anxiety, which in itself could be partially therapeutic. However, now wedded to their given diagnosis with no knowledge of their actual software problem, patients do not see a need to address underlying factors that may be contributing to their disorder nor do they receive the multidisciplinary care that they may so badly need. The saddest part of this epidemic is that if addressed early, these symptoms may be reversible; however, with delays to proper diagnosis and management, prognosis worsens considerably.6
So how can we prevent or interrupt this concerning trend? Often, the first step to addressing a problem in medicine is providing data to prove that the problem exists. This is where the challenge begins and what makes this a silent epidemic. The magnitude of this crisis is difficult to demonstrate because these patients largely elude the billing codes used for case ascertainment in large population-based studies. This is because of a combination of gaps in current billing and diagnostic codes (country specific) and because of the fact that codes are not being used appropriately by many physicians. The latter may happen for multiple reasons, […].
Despite a few isolated efforts to estimate prevalence7 and health care costs,8 the evidence base needed to sway research granting organizations, government policy makers, and health care and insurance systems has been largely elusive. I am optimistic that it is only a matter of time until the scope of this crisis is fully appreciated. I see firsthand the high patient volumes and health care resource utilization that currently escape record keeping. I raise these concerns to my colleagues, who wholeheartedly agree, but the conversation ends there and the silence continues. I am hopeful […].
To address the epidemic itself, we desperately need more clinicians and researchers dedicated to interrogating the complex interfaces of mind, brain, and health. […]. To prevent the cycles described previously, physicians need to be incentivized to take the time necessary to optimize the initial patient encounter. This includes delivering and explaining the diagnosis in a transparent and supportive context,9 providing patient-friendly resources (eg, https://www.neurosymptoms.org/), and referring appropriately for interdisciplinary management (eg, physical therapy, occupational therapy, psychotherapy). New educational and training initiatives across medical and allied health professions will be critical for enabling a successful transition.
Full text, references, in DOI above. Excerpts:
It’s all in your head” is a phrase sometimes said by physicians to patients presenting with symptoms unexplained by medical disease. As a neurologist specializing in neuropsychiatry, nothing bothers me more than overhearing medical colleagues proclaim this one-liner at the bedside or snicker about these patients during rounds. Unbeknownst to them, I also hear my patients’ version of being on the other end of this phrase and find myself constantly trying to repair the damage that these words can cause. Whether physicians like to admit it or not, medically unexplained symptoms encompass a vast terrain of clinical practice. In neurology, these symptoms fall under functional neurological disorder, but every specialty has their own variants and favored terminologies (eg, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia). The inadequate management of this segment of medicine represents a silent epidemic that is slowly eroding patient-physician relationships, perpetuating unnecessary disability, and straining health care resources.
The irony of “it’s all in your head” is that although this phrase is often used inappropriately and dismissively, it is technically correct. The problem does indeed lie within the head. More specifically, it lies within the brain and its complex networks that we are just beginning to understand. Over the past 10 years, neuroimaging research studies have consistently identified brain abnormalities in patients with medically unexplained symptoms—yes, biologically based changes in the activity and connections of brain regions, such as the amygdala, prefrontal cortex, temporal-parietal junction, and other structures.1 These brain circuit abnormalities provide physiological explanations for once mysterious links between regions implicated in emotional processing and the generation of “physical” symptoms (eg, pain, fatigue, weakness). Jean-Martin Charcot, MD, a famous 19th century French neurologist and early pioneer of this field, reportedly insisted that a “functional lesion” would be found when microscopes were sufficiently powerful.2 Well, our microscopes are getting better, and we are now starting to see evidence of the predicted functional or software disruptions in the brain. We still do not fully understand what causes these software problems; however, recent research suggests a multifactorial etiology, including genetic predisposition, environmental risk factors (eg, childhood adverse events), and psychological stressors.3
Despite the growing scientific literature, there has been minimal shift in physician attitudes toward these patients. Physicians seem quite comfortable with the idea of structural brain lesions causing psychological symptoms, such as a frontal lobe stroke causing depression or a temporal lobe tumor causing delusions. However, the reverse causality of psychological factors (borne of the same substrates—neurotransmitters, neurons, and synaptic connections) leading to neurological or systemic symptoms is often hastily dismissed and remains highly stigmatized. Thus, many physicians either simply ignore these kinds of symptoms or wrongfully assume that patients are malingering.
Based on such attitudes, a typical physician-patient interaction may proceed as follows: (1) the physician provides a rundown of normal investigations, (2) the patient is told they have no known medical diagnoses, (3) a brief awkward exchange occurs, and (4) little further explanation, guidance, resources, or facilitation of an appropriate referral process is given. Even if the infamous phrase is not explicitly stated, this sequence leaves the patient to infer for themselves that it must be all in their head. Unfortunately, they do not perceive this as, “I have a real dysfunction of networks in my brain,” but instead understandably conclude that, “they think I’m crazy” or “faking it.”4 Sometimes, patients may hear the distant utterance of, “Maybe you should see a psychiatrist,” as they exit the office door, but in this context, such advice is rarely productive.
Many of these patients can be so offended by this encounter that they quickly seek multiple second opinions and subsequent rounds of pricey and unnecessary investigations. Depending on the jurisdiction and medical record system, the original physician may be completely unaware of these additional rounds of care. Mounting negative and invalidating clinical interactions can become a source of distress and cause medical trauma. At this point, patients often either fall through the cracks or stumble on a fringe medical specialist or alternative medicine practitioner who may offer the “physical” diagnosis they’ve been yearning for. This could include a growing list of unsubstantiated metabolic deficiencies, infectious disorders, or autoimmune hypersensitivities. Anecdotally, the most common current example seems to be the diagnosis of chronic Lyme disease by unvalidated assays.5 Let me be clear that many of these practitioners are well intentioned and can offer holistic approaches that medicine could learn a lot from. However, there appears to be a subset that take advantage of these patients’ desire for a “physical” diagnosis […].
For the patient, receiving such a concrete, “organic” diagnosis often quells mounting anxiety, which in itself could be partially therapeutic. However, now wedded to their given diagnosis with no knowledge of their actual software problem, patients do not see a need to address underlying factors that may be contributing to their disorder nor do they receive the multidisciplinary care that they may so badly need. The saddest part of this epidemic is that if addressed early, these symptoms may be reversible; however, with delays to proper diagnosis and management, prognosis worsens considerably.6
So how can we prevent or interrupt this concerning trend? Often, the first step to addressing a problem in medicine is providing data to prove that the problem exists. This is where the challenge begins and what makes this a silent epidemic. The magnitude of this crisis is difficult to demonstrate because these patients largely elude the billing codes used for case ascertainment in large population-based studies. This is because of a combination of gaps in current billing and diagnostic codes (country specific) and because of the fact that codes are not being used appropriately by many physicians. The latter may happen for multiple reasons, […].
Despite a few isolated efforts to estimate prevalence7 and health care costs,8 the evidence base needed to sway research granting organizations, government policy makers, and health care and insurance systems has been largely elusive. I am optimistic that it is only a matter of time until the scope of this crisis is fully appreciated. I see firsthand the high patient volumes and health care resource utilization that currently escape record keeping. I raise these concerns to my colleagues, who wholeheartedly agree, but the conversation ends there and the silence continues. I am hopeful […].
To address the epidemic itself, we desperately need more clinicians and researchers dedicated to interrogating the complex interfaces of mind, brain, and health. […]. To prevent the cycles described previously, physicians need to be incentivized to take the time necessary to optimize the initial patient encounter. This includes delivering and explaining the diagnosis in a transparent and supportive context,9 providing patient-friendly resources (eg, https://www.neurosymptoms.org/), and referring appropriately for interdisciplinary management (eg, physical therapy, occupational therapy, psychotherapy). New educational and training initiatives across medical and allied health professions will be critical for enabling a successful transition.
Sexting Images: Men who assumed that the pictures were distributed non-consensually spent more time looking at the body of the depicted person
(Don’t) Look at Me! How the Assumed Consensual or Non-Consensual Distribution Affects Perception and Evaluation of Sexting Images. Arne Dekker et al. J. Clin. Med. 2019, 8(5), 706; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm8050706
Abstract: The non-consensual sharing of an intimate image is a serious breach of a person’s right to privacy and can lead to severe psychosocial consequences. However, little research has been conducted on the reasons for consuming intimate pictures that have been shared non-consensually. This study aims to investigate how the supposed consensual or non-consensual distribution of sexting images affects the perception and evaluation of these images. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The same intimate images were shown to all participants. However, one group assumed that the photos were shared voluntarily, whereas the other group were told that the photos were distributed non-consensually. While the participants completed several tasks such as rating the sexual attractiveness of the depicted person, their eye-movements were being tracked. The results from this study show that viewing behavior and the evaluation of sexting images are influenced by the supposed way of distribution. In line with objectification theory men who assumed that the pictures were distributed non-consensually spent more time looking at the body of the depicted person. This so-called ‘objectifying gaze’ was also more pronounced in participants with higher tendencies to accept myths about sexual aggression or general tendencies to objectify others. In conclusion, these results suggest that prevention campaigns promoting ‘sexting abstinence’ and thus attributing responsibility for non-consensual distribution of such images to the depicted persons are insufficient. Rather, it is necessary to emphasize the illegitimacy of the non-consensual distribution of sexting images, especially among male consumers of the material.
Keywords: eye tracking; non-consensual image sharing; intimate images; objectification; objectifying gaze; rape myth acceptance; sexting
Abstract: The non-consensual sharing of an intimate image is a serious breach of a person’s right to privacy and can lead to severe psychosocial consequences. However, little research has been conducted on the reasons for consuming intimate pictures that have been shared non-consensually. This study aims to investigate how the supposed consensual or non-consensual distribution of sexting images affects the perception and evaluation of these images. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The same intimate images were shown to all participants. However, one group assumed that the photos were shared voluntarily, whereas the other group were told that the photos were distributed non-consensually. While the participants completed several tasks such as rating the sexual attractiveness of the depicted person, their eye-movements were being tracked. The results from this study show that viewing behavior and the evaluation of sexting images are influenced by the supposed way of distribution. In line with objectification theory men who assumed that the pictures were distributed non-consensually spent more time looking at the body of the depicted person. This so-called ‘objectifying gaze’ was also more pronounced in participants with higher tendencies to accept myths about sexual aggression or general tendencies to objectify others. In conclusion, these results suggest that prevention campaigns promoting ‘sexting abstinence’ and thus attributing responsibility for non-consensual distribution of such images to the depicted persons are insufficient. Rather, it is necessary to emphasize the illegitimacy of the non-consensual distribution of sexting images, especially among male consumers of the material.
Keywords: eye tracking; non-consensual image sharing; intimate images; objectification; objectifying gaze; rape myth acceptance; sexting
From 2017... Low rates of pornography consumption have no impact on sexual satisfaction and adverse effects initiate only after consumption reaches a certain frequency
From 2017... Is the Relationship Between Pornography Consumption Frequency and Lower Sexual Satisfaction Curvilinear? Results From England and Germany. Paul J. Wright, Nicola J. Steffen & Chyng Sun. The Journal of Sex Research, Volume 56, 2019 - Issue 1, Pages 9-15, Jul 28 2017. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2017.1347912
Abstract: Several studies using different methods have found that pornography consumption is associated with lower sexual satisfaction. The language used by media-effects scholars in discussions of this association implies an expectation that lowered satisfaction is primarily due to frequent—but not infrequent—consumption. Actual analyses, however, have assumed linearity. Linear analyses presuppose that for each increase in the frequency of pornography consumption there is a correspondingly equivalent decrease in sexual satisfaction. The present brief report explored the possibility that the association is curvilinear. Survey data from two studies of heterosexual adults, one conducted in England and the other in Germany, were employed. Results were parallel in each country and were not moderated by gender. Quadratic analysis indicated a curvilinear relationship, in the form of a predominantly negative, concave downward curve. Simple slope analyses suggested that when the frequency of consumption reaches once a month, sexual satisfaction begins to decrease, and that the magnitude of the decrease becomes larger with each increase in the frequency of consumption. The observational nature of the data employed precludes any causal inferences. However, if an effects perspective was adopted, these results would suggest that low rates of pornography consumption have no impact on sexual satisfaction and that adverse effects initiate only after consumption reaches a certain frequency.
Abstract: Several studies using different methods have found that pornography consumption is associated with lower sexual satisfaction. The language used by media-effects scholars in discussions of this association implies an expectation that lowered satisfaction is primarily due to frequent—but not infrequent—consumption. Actual analyses, however, have assumed linearity. Linear analyses presuppose that for each increase in the frequency of pornography consumption there is a correspondingly equivalent decrease in sexual satisfaction. The present brief report explored the possibility that the association is curvilinear. Survey data from two studies of heterosexual adults, one conducted in England and the other in Germany, were employed. Results were parallel in each country and were not moderated by gender. Quadratic analysis indicated a curvilinear relationship, in the form of a predominantly negative, concave downward curve. Simple slope analyses suggested that when the frequency of consumption reaches once a month, sexual satisfaction begins to decrease, and that the magnitude of the decrease becomes larger with each increase in the frequency of consumption. The observational nature of the data employed precludes any causal inferences. However, if an effects perspective was adopted, these results would suggest that low rates of pornography consumption have no impact on sexual satisfaction and that adverse effects initiate only after consumption reaches a certain frequency.
Unifying the detrimental and beneficial effects of social network site use on self-esteem: a systematic literature review
Unifying the detrimental and beneficial effects of social network site use on self-esteem: a systematic literature review. Hannes-Vincent Krause, Katharina Baum, Annika Baumann & Hanna Krasnova. Media Psychology, Aug 27 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2019.1656646
Full Article Figures & data References Citations in the link above
ABSTRACT: Previous research offers equivocal results regarding the effect of social networking site use on individuals’ self-esteem. We conduct a systematic literature review to examine the existing literature and develop a theoretical framework in order to classify the results. The framework proposes that self-esteem is affected by three distinct processes that incorporate self-evaluative information: social comparison processes, social feedback processing, and self-reflective processes. Due to particularities of the social networking site environment, the accessibility and quality of self-evaluative information is altered, which leads to online-specific effects on users’ self-esteem. Results of the reviewed studies suggest that when a social networking site is used to compare oneself with others, it mostly results in decreases in users’ self-esteem. On the other hand, receiving positive social feedback from others or using these platforms to reflect on one’s own self is mainly associated with benefits for users’ self-esteem. Nevertheless, inter-individual differences and the specific activities performed by users on these platforms should be considered when predicting individual effects.
Introduction
Social networking sites (SNSs) have become a central part of today’s life. As of April 2019, Facebook, the most popular SNS, had 2.3 billion users worldwide, while Instagram and Twitter count 1.0 and 0.3 billion users, respectively (Statista, 2019 Statista. (2019, May 28). Most popular social networks worldwide as of April 2019, ranked by number of active users (in millions). Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/). SNSs allow members to interact with others in a virtual field through messages and shared identity information (Chen, Fan, Liu, Zhou, & Xie, 2016 Chen, W., Fan, C.-Y., Liu, Q.-X., Zhou, Z.-K., & Xie, X.-C. (2016). Passive social network site use and subjective well-being: A moderated mediation model. Computers in Human Behavior, 64, 507–514. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2016.04.038 ). Motivated by the popularity of these platforms worldwide, the effects of SNS use on users’ well-being have been researched (e.g., Burke & Kraut, 2016 Burke, M., & Kraut, R. E. (2016). The relationship between Facebook use and well-being depends on communication type and tie strength. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 21(4), 265–281. doi:10.1111/jcc4.12162 ; Kross et al., 2013 Kross, E., Verduyn, P., Demiralp, E., Park, J., Lee, D. S., Lin, N., … Ybarra, O. (2013). Facebook use predicts declines in subjective well-being in young adults. PloS One, 8(8), e69841. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0069841 ; Valkenburg, Peter, & Schouten, 2006 Valkenburg, P. M., Peter, J., & Schouten, A. P. (2006). Friend networking sites and their relationship to adolescents’ well-being and social self-esteem. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 9(5), 584–590. doi:10.1089/cpb.2006.9.584 ) and reviewed (e.g., Huang, 2017 Huang, C. (2017). Time spent on social network sites and psychological well-being: A meta-analysis. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 20(6), 346–354. doi:10.1089/cyber.2016.0758 ) extensively.
Within this literature, self-esteem, as an important predictor of well-being (Diener & Diener, 1995 Diener, E., & Diener, M. (1995). Cross-cultural correlates of life satisfaction and self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68(4), 653–663. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.68.4.653 ), has been a topic of interest either on its own (e.g., Gonzales & Hancock, 2011 Gonzales, A. L., & Hancock, J. T. (2011). Mirror, mirror on my Facebook wall: Effects of exposure to Facebook on self-esteem. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14(1–2), 79–83. doi:10.1089/cyber.2009.0411 ; Vogel, Rose, Roberts, & Eckles, 2014 Vogel, E. A., Rose, J. P., Roberts, L. R., & Eckles, K. (2014). Social comparison, social media, and self-esteem. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 3(4), 206–222. doi:10.1037/ppm0000047) or as a mediator in the relationship between SNS use and well-being (Chen et al., 2016 Chen, W., Fan, C.-Y., Liu, Q.-X., Zhou, Z.-K., & Xie, X.-C. (2016). Passive social network site use and subjective well-being: A moderated mediation model. Computers in Human Behavior, 64, 507–514. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2016.04.038 ). Defined as an individual’s subjective value judgment of the self (Rosenberg, 1965 Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.), self-esteem has important implications for various life outcomes, such as health (e.g., Sowislo & Orth, 2013 Sowislo, J. F., & Orth, U. (2013). Does low self-esteem predict depression and anxiety? A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 139(1), 213–240. doi:10.1037/a0028931 ), relationship satisfaction (Shackelford, 2001 Shackelford, T. K. (2001). Self-esteem in marriage. Personality and Individual Differences, 30(3), 371–390. doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(00)00023-4 ), and job performance (Judge & Bono, 2001 Judge, T. A., & Bono, J. E. (2001). Relationship of core self-evaluations traits–self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, locus of control, and emotional stability–with job satisfaction and job performance: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(1), 80–92. ). Dynamic in nature, self-esteem can be seen as a barometer of individual successes and failures, as well as acceptance and rejection by others (Baldwin & Sinclair, 1996 Baldwin, M. W., & Sinclair, L. (1996). Self-esteem and “If … Then” contingencies of interpersonal acceptance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71(6), 1130–1141. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.71.6.1130 ). We denote this dynamic tracking and evaluation process by the term “self-esteem updating”. Information about the self, collected both through interactions with the social environment and introspection, serve as a basis for self-esteem updating. This self-evaluative information, processed through individual self-esteem updating, therefore defines the level of a person’s self-esteem.
As communication and interaction with other individuals via SNSs play an ever-growing role in peoples’ day-to-day lives, the question arises whether these dynamics lead to particular outcomes of self-esteem updating. Indeed, existing empirical research suggests that SNS use is associated with alterations in self-esteem. For example, some studies report a positive association between SNS use and self-esteem (e.g., Gonzales & Hancock, 2011 Gonzales, A. L., & Hancock, J. T. (2011). Mirror, mirror on my Facebook wall: Effects of exposure to Facebook on self-esteem. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14(1–2), 79–83. doi:10.1089/cyber.2009.0411 ; Valkenburg et al., 2006 Valkenburg, P. M., Peter, J., & Schouten, A. P. (2006). Friend networking sites and their relationship to adolescents’ well-being and social self-esteem. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 9(5), 584–590. doi:10.1089/cpb.2006.9.584 ), while others find negative (e.g., Vogel et al., 2014 Vogel, E. A., Rose, J. P., Roberts, L. R., & Eckles, K. (2014). Social comparison, social media, and self-esteem. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 3(4), 206–222. doi:10.1037/ppm0000047) or insignificant (Muench, Hayes, Kuerbis, & Shao, 2015 Muench, F., Hayes, M., Kuerbis, A., & Shao, S. (2015). The independent relationship between trouble controlling Facebook use, time spent on the site and distress. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 4(3), 163–169. doi:10.1556/2006.4.2015.013 ) relationships. This ambiguous pattern of results resembles extant research in the area of SNS use and general well-being. Some authors in this field suggest to distinguish different SNS activities (for an overview see Huang, 2017 Huang, C. (2017). Time spent on social network sites and psychological well-being: A meta-analysis. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 20(6), 346–354. doi:10.1089/cyber.2016.0758 ), such as social connection promoting vs. non-promoting activities (Clark, Algoe, & Green, 2018 Clark, J. L., Algoe, S. B., & Green, M. C. (2018). Social network sites and well-being: the role of social connection. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 27(1), 32–37. doi:10.1177/0963721417730833 ) or active and passive use patterns (e.g., Verduyn, Ybarra, Résibois, Jonides, & Kross, 2017 Verduyn, P., Ybarra, O., Résibois, M., Jonides, J., & Kross, E. (2017). Do social network sites enhance or undermine subjective well-being? A critical review. Social Issues and Policy Review, 11(1), 274–302. doi:10.1111/sipr.2017.11.issue-1 ) to analyze the beneficial or harmful effects of SNS use on well-being. However, it remains to be seen if these approaches can be transferred to the concept of self-esteem. Scientific results in the field of SNS use and self-esteem still remain scattered and ambiguous (Liu & Baumeister, 2016 Liu, D., & Baumeister, R. F. (2016). Social networking online and personality of self-worth: A meta-analysis. Journal of Research in Personality, 64, 79–89. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2016.06.024 ), and so far no theory has been established that integrates both social and internal processes to explain these diverging findings.
To close this research gap, we conduct a systematic literature review to make sense of the growing body of research in this area (e.g., Levy & Ellis, 2006 Levy, Y., & Ellis, T. (2006). A systems approach to conduct an effective literature review in support of information systems research. Informing Science, 9, 181–212. doi:10.28945/479; Webster & Watson, 2002 Webster, J., & Watson, R. T. (2002). Analyzing the past to prepare for the future: Writing a literature review. MIS Quarterly, 26(2), xiii–xxiii. ). In doing so, we contribute to the existing literature as follows: first, by reviewing the most common self-esteem theories, we propose that self-esteem updating is mainly driven by three processes: (1) social comparison, (2) social feedback processing, and (3) self-reflection. These three processes incorporate self-evaluative information gathered from an individual’s social environment or by introspection based on information about the self. Based on our framework, we can explain the equivocal results, unifying the positive and negative findings. Moreover, we are able to depict knowledge gaps and give recommendations for future research. Second, we contribute to the growing body of research which studies the implications of information technology use for individuals’ well-being (e.g., Burke & Kraut, 2016 Burke, M., & Kraut, R. E. (2016). The relationship between Facebook use and well-being depends on communication type and tie strength. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 21(4), 265–281. doi:10.1111/jcc4.12162 ; Krasnova, Widjaja, Buxmann, Wenninger, & Benbasat, 2015 Krasnova, H., Widjaja, T., Buxmann, P., Wenninger, H., & Benbasat, I. (2015). Research note—why following friends can hurt you: An exploratory investigation of the effects of envy on social networking sites among college-age users. Information Systems Research, 26(3), 585–605. doi:10.1287/isre.2015.0588 ; Kross et al., 2013 Kross, E., Verduyn, P., Demiralp, E., Park, J., Lee, D. S., Lin, N., … Ybarra, O. (2013). Facebook use predicts declines in subjective well-being in young adults. PloS One, 8(8), e69841. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0069841 ). Specifically, we discuss the role of SNSs as a source of self-evaluative information, driving the association between their use and self-esteem. Third, and on a more global level, our review is in line with the initiative of an Internet-based information and communication technologies (ICT)-enabled “Bright Society” that aims at protecting society from potential risks of technology use (Fedorowicz et al., 2015 Fedorowicz, J., Agarwal, R., Lee, G., Lee, J. K., Watson, R., & Zhang, P. (2015). The AIS grand vision project: What, why, and how. Presented at the Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), Puerto Rico. ; Lee, 2015 Lee, J. K. (2015). Guest editorial: research framework for AIS grand vision of the bright ICT initiative. MIS Quarterly, 39(2), iii–xii. ). Indeed, while the use of SNSs has been increasingly associated with “dark sides” (Lee, 2016 Lee, J. K. (2016). Invited Commentary—Reflections on ICT-enabled Bright Society Research. Information Systems Research, 27(1), 1–5. doi:10.1287/isre.2016.0627), our study provides evidence that certain types of SNS use are beneficial for users’ self-esteem and should therefore be encouraged.
The paper is structured as follows: first, we provide an overview of theories of self-esteem and derive our theory-driven framework on self-esteem updating. In the next step, we discuss SNSs’ potential meaning as a source of self-evaluative information by explaining how their functionalities can determine both the quality and the access to self-evaluative information relevant for self-esteem. This helps us to frame self-esteem updating in the SNS environment in relation to existing SNS functionalities. Based on this, we propose the directionality of the effect of each process on self-esteem updating in the SNS environment. Consequently, we aim to test our propositions based on findings collected through a literature review on the topic of self-esteem and SNS use. After explaining the applied methodology, we continue with the presentation of the results of our review. We show that all three processes have been investigated to a varying extent by research: while processes related to (1) social comparison mainly result in adverse effects on self-esteem, (2) social feedback processing, and (3) self-reflective processes have the potential to increase the self-esteem of an individual. However, there is evidence that personality traits moderate the effect between SNS use and self-esteem, which might explain prevalent contradictory findings. Based on these insights, we discuss our results in the final chapter and provide concluding remarks.
Background and theoretical framework
In this section, we first define the concept of self-esteem and present our general theory-driven framework on self-esteem updating. We then link our framework with existing functionalities on SNSs to highlight the particularities prevalent in the online context, which affect the processes of our framework.
Self-esteem
Dynamic in nature, the concept of self-esteem refers to a subjective value judgment about one’s self (Baldwin & Sinclair, 1996 Baldwin, M. W., & Sinclair, L. (1996). Self-esteem and “If … Then” contingencies of interpersonal acceptance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71(6), 1130–1141. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.71.6.1130 ; Rosenberg, 1965 Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.). While low self-esteem has been linked to a number of risks for mental health (e.g., Sowislo & Orth, 2013 Sowislo, J. F., & Orth, U. (2013). Does low self-esteem predict depression and anxiety? A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 139(1), 213–240. doi:10.1037/a0028931 ), high self-esteem has been shown to have a protective role, helping people to cope with potential risks, such as negative feedback, setbacks, or other sorts of failures (Dumont & Provost, 1999 Dumont, M., & Provost, M. A. (1999). Resilience in adolescents: Protective role of social support, coping strategies, self-esteem, and social activities on experience of stress and depression. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 28(3), 343–363. doi:10.1023/A:1021637011732 ). Due to the importance of self-esteem as a resource to cope with day-to-day challenges, people have the basic need to maintain and enhance their self-esteem. This need can be fulfilled through continuous processing of information from their social environment (Greenberg, Pyszczynski, & Solomon, 1986 Greenberg, J., Pyszczynski, T., & Solomon, S. (1986). The causes and consequences of a need for self-esteem: A terror management theory. In R. F. Baumeister (Ed.), Public self and private self (pp. 189–212). New York, NY: Springer-Verlag.). Referred to as self-esteem updating, the formation of self-esteem can therefore be seen as an ongoing dynamic process. Information that is used for this process is called self-evaluative information (e.g., Wayment & Taylor, 1995 Wayment, H. A., & Taylor, S. E. (1995). Self-evaluation processes: Motives, information use, and self-esteem. Journal of Personality, 63(4), 729–757. doi:10.1111/jopy.1995.63.issue-4 ).
Several theories describe how and which kind of self-evaluative information is processed and ultimately influences individual self-esteem (e.g., Bem, 1967 Bem, D. J. (1967). Self-perception: An alternative interpretation of cognitive dissonance phenomena. Psychological Review, 74(3), 183–200. doi:10.1037/h0024835 ; Festinger, 1954 Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7(2), 117–140. doi:10.1177/001872675400700202 ; Leary, 1999 Leary, M. R. (1999). Making sense of self-esteem. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8(1), 32–35. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.00008 ). In order to systematically understand the process of self-esteem updating, we review the most common self-esteem theories to our knowledge and group them according to the overall type of self-evaluative information they incorporate (for an overview see Appendix A). By doing so, we are able to identify three routes that individuals might follow when processing information relevant to their self-esteem. Figure 1 illustrates our proposed model of self-esteem updating. It reflects three key processes that take place in the course of self-esteem updating: (1) social comparison processes, (2) social feedback processing, and (3) self-reflective processes.
Figure 1. Proposed model of self-esteem updating.
The first identified process refers to (1) social comparisons. This process is based on comparisons of information related to the self and information provided by other individuals. Social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954 Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7(2), 117–140. doi:10.1177/001872675400700202 ) proposes that people have an ongoing basic need to evaluate themselves in relation to others in order to get an appropriate assessment of their abilities and qualities. However, individuals do not compare themselves to anybody in their social surroundings. Social comparisons mainly take place if the target of social comparison is not too different from the self and the object of social comparison is of relevance to the subject (Festinger, 1954 Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7(2), 117–140. doi:10.1177/001872675400700202 ). Depending on their directionality, social comparison processes could lead to different outcomes in terms of self-esteem. For example, diminished self-esteem can be observed when individuals compare themselves to others who are better off (upward comparison). At the same time, comparing oneself to others who have lower skills or qualifications (downward comparison) is often associated with an increase in self-esteem (e.g., Morse & Gergen, 1970 Morse, S., & Gergen, K. J. (1970). Social comparison, self-consistency, and the concept of self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 16(1), 148–156. doi:10.1037/h0029862 ; Thornton & Moore, 1993 Thornton, B., & Moore, S. (1993). Physical attractiveness contrast effect: Implications for self-esteem and evaluations of the social self. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 19(4), 474–480. doi:10.1177/0146167293194012 ).
The second process that determines self-esteem is (2) social feedback processing. This process incorporates self-evaluative information that stems from direct interaction with other individuals and may signal either social acceptance or rejection. Individuals highly thrive for reactions from their social environment in order to appropriately estimate the degree to which they are accepted and liked by others which can be seen as one way to satisfy individuals’ need of social belonging (Baumeister & Leary, 1995 Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117(3), 497–529. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.117.3.497 ). Sociometer Theory (Leary, 1999 Leary, M. R. (1999). Making sense of self-esteem. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8(1), 32–35. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.00008 ) suggests that self-esteem is a barometer reflecting the social acceptance and the social rejection by others. Indeed, receiving negative feedback or any sign of social rejection from others can be seen as a massive threat to self-esteem and has been linked to several negative outcomes to individuals’ well-being, such as negative affect, anxiety, and depression (Baumeister & Leary, 1995 Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117(3), 497–529. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.117.3.497 ; Leary, 1990 Leary, M. R. (1990). Responses to social exclusion: Social anxiety, jealousy, loneliness, depression, and low self-esteem. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 9(2), 221–229. doi:10.1521/jscp.1990.9.2.221 ). On the other hand, receiving positive feedback or any sign of social acceptance benefits the evaluation of the self (Leary, 1999 Leary, M. R. (1999). Making sense of self-esteem. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8(1), 32–35. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.00008 ).
The third identified process that influences self-esteem is (3) self-reflection. While interaction with the social environment is a critical determinant of individual self-esteem; self-esteem can also be derived from more internal aspects. Several theories aim at explaining how the reflection on these facets of the self may influence individual processes of self-esteem updating. For example, the reflection on past behavior (self-perception theory, Bem, 1967 Bem, D. J. (1967). Self-perception: An alternative interpretation of cognitive dissonance phenomena. Psychological Review, 74(3), 183–200. doi:10.1037/h0024835 ), personal standards (control theory of self-regulation, Carver & Scheier, 1981 Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. F. (1981). The self-attention-induced feedback loop and social facilitation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 17(6), 545–568. doi:10.1016/0022-1031(81)90039-1 ), images of how people would like to see themselves (self-discrepancy theory, Higgins, 1987 Higgins, E. T. (1987). Self-discrepancy: a theory relating self and affect. Psychological Review, 94(3), 319. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.94.3.319 ), important values, or other positive aspects of the self (self-affirmation theory, Steele, 1988 Steele, C. M. (1988). The psychology of self-affirmation: Sustaining the integrity of the self. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 21, pp.261–302). New York, NY: Academic Press.) can serve as a basis for self-evaluation and therefore impact individual self-esteem. Research in the field of self-affirmation (Steele, 1988 Steele, C. M. (1988). The psychology of self-affirmation: Sustaining the integrity of the self. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 21, pp.261–302). New York, NY: Academic Press.) has shown that when people think about positive facets of their selves they can experience boosts in self-esteem (Koole, Smeets, Van Knippenberg, & Dijksterhuis, 1999 Koole, S. L., Smeets, K., Van Knippenberg, A., & Dijksterhuis, A. (1999). The cessation of rumination through self-affirmation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(1), 111–125. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.77.1.111 ). Activities with such self-affirming qualities in the offline context are, for instance, writing about one’s most important values or reading self-affirming messages (McQueen & Klein, 2006 McQueen, A., & Klein, W. M. P. (2006). Experimental manipulations of self-affirmation: A systematic review. Self and Identity, 5(4), 289–354. doi:10.1080/15298860600805325). Importantly, (3) self-reflective processes are not solely based on information about the self in isolation, but can also incorporate information about the self, gained in the course of interaction with others. In this context, it is important to distinguish (3) self-reflective processes from (2) social feedback processing, as described above. While instances of interpersonal interaction can be reflected on multiple times within the process of self-reflection, processing of social feedback focuses on a single episode of social interaction (e.g., getting complimented by an acquaintance).
Taken together, (1) social comparison, (2) social feedback processing, and (3) self-reflection incorporate self-evaluative information, and therefore influence self-esteem updating in everyday-life.
Our framework on self-esteem updating is grounded in a general perspective in the offline environment. However, as the three processes mainly take place in interactions between individuals, we assume that they also take place in the context of SNSs. Indeed, SNSs are largely based on social interactions, which justify the application of our framework in the online context. Since the SNS environment exhibits specific particularities, certain dynamics of communication and interaction on these platforms and the thus resulting self-evaluative information might uniquely contribute to the three processes of self-esteem updating. In the following section, we will exemplify this assumption in greater detail.
Self-evaluative information in the SNS environment
Due to its dynamic character, individual self-esteem is the result of a constant integration of self-evaluative information as part of three basic processes described above. SNSs can be seen as a rich source of such self-evaluative information. Indeed, SNS platforms allow users to easily share personal information and updates, get in contact with others, and interact with them. As a result, users are motivated to disclose a large amount of personal information, and, in turn, are constantly exposed to an abundance of information about others on the network. Against this background, we presume that the same processes of self-esteem updating mentioned above take place in the context of SNSs. Figure 2 illustrates the presumed operation of the three self-evaluative processes in the context of SNSs.
Figure 2. Processes of self-esteem updating in the context of SNSs.
For example, the information provided by other users in the SNS environment (e.g., in the form of photos, status updates, and profile descriptions) can be used for (1) social comparison processes. Users can compare relevant aspects of their selves with the information provided by others and can thus draw conclusions about their own positioning (Krasnova et al., 2015 Krasnova, H., Widjaja, T., Buxmann, P., Wenninger, H., & Benbasat, I. (2015). Research note—why following friends can hurt you: An exploratory investigation of the effects of envy on social networking sites among college-age users. Information Systems Research, 26(3), 585–605. doi:10.1287/isre.2015.0588 ). Users further have the opportunity to interact with each other (e.g., in the form of conversations, giving and receiving likes, and commenting on each other’s content). Information stemming from these interactions may be perceived as signals of social acceptance or rejection, thereby initiating (2) social feedback processing (Wenninger, Krasnova, & Buxmann, 2019 Wenninger, H., Krasnova, H., & Buxmann, P. (2019). Understanding the role of social networking sites in the subjective well-being of users: a diary study. European Journal of Information Systems, 28(2), 126–148. doi:10.1080/0960085X.2018.1496883). Finally, by disclosing a myriad of information about their selves on the platforms (e.g., by providing detailed profile descriptions and sharing meaningful moments of their lives in the form of photos, videos, and status updates), (3) self-reflective processes are likely to be activated. Specifically, by reflecting on their self-provided information or on former interactions with others on a SNS, users can draw conclusions about how to see and evaluate themselves (Gonzales & Hancock, 2011 Gonzales, A. L., & Hancock, J. T. (2011). Mirror, mirror on my Facebook wall: Effects of exposure to Facebook on self-esteem. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14(1–2), 79–83. doi:10.1089/cyber.2009.0411 ).
As an exemplary illustration of these processes, imagine an SNS user who is very active in sports. On the one hand, processing information provided by others (e.g., a picture of an acquaintance showing her winning a marathon) could lead this user to the following (1) social comparison process outcome: “I am less athletic than my acquaintance”. On the other hand, when this user gets immediate feedback in form of likes after posting her workout picture, a possible outcome of (2) social feedback processing could be “Others value that I am active”. Further, browsing her own profile that incorporates photos of her own marathon experience, the same user might conclude: “I think that I am very athletic”; this would be an outcome of a (3) self-reflective process. While self-esteem might decrease in the first case, it potentially increases in the latter two.
Importantly, while social encounters may contribute to changes in individual self-esteem online and offline, we propose that there are specific particularities of the SNS environment. These particularities are reflected in the quality and accessibility of self-evaluative information, and may therefore uniquely affect the three processes of self-esteem updating and their final outcome. Table 1 gives an overview of the particularities of self-evaluative information in the SNSs environment, lists respective enabling SNS features, and empirical evidence.
Table 1. Particularities of self-evaluative information on SNSs.
CSVDisplay Table
Specifically, the main particularities of self-evaluative information incorporated in (1) social comparison processes are the following: While social comparisons frequently happen in the offline domain as well, users of SNSs have a comparably larger and more accessible pool of subjects to compare with (Smith, 2014 Smith, A. (2014, February 3). What people like and dislike about Facebook. Retrieved from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/02/03/what-people-like-dislike-about-facebook/). Users can access comparison triggering information easily with information on others’ news, status updates, photos, and links always within reach. Furthermore, SNS algorithms selectively present personalized content to users that raise the frequency of seeing information in subjectively relevant comparison domains (Bucher, 2012 Bucher, T. (2012). Want to be on the top? Algorithmic power and the threat of invisibility on Facebook. New Media & Society, 14(7), 1164–1180. doi:10.1177/1461444812440159 ). This increases the likelihood of comparisons with others (Tesser, 1988 Tesser, A. (1988). Toward a self-evaluation maintenance model of social behaviorIn Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 21, pp. 181–227). New York, NY: Academic Press. Retrieved from http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0065260108602270). In addition, comparisons in the SNS environment are mostly upward (Vogel et al., 2014 Vogel, E. A., Rose, J. P., Roberts, L. R., & Eckles, K. (2014). Social comparison, social media, and self-esteem. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 3(4), 206–222. doi:10.1037/ppm0000047). This can be explained by users presenting enhanced versions of themselves, facilitated through asynchronous communication, content selection, and content editing on SNSs (Ellison, Heino, & Gibbs, 2006 Ellison, N., Heino, R., & Gibbs, J. (2006). Managing impressions online: Self-presentation processes in the online dating environment. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(2), 415–441. doi:10.1111/jcmc.2006.11.issue-2 ; Toma, Hancock, & Ellison, 2008 Toma, C. L., Hancock, J. T., & Ellison, N. B. (2008). Separating fact from fiction: An examination of deceptive self-presentation in online dating profiles. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34(8), 1023–1036. doi:10.1177/0146167208320061 ). As users mostly use SNS passively (Verduyn et al., 2015 Verduyn, P., Lee, D. S., Park, J., Shablack, H., Orvell, A., Bayer, J., … Kross, E. (2015). Passive Facebook usage undermines affective well-being: Experimental and longitudinal evidence. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 144(2), 480–488. doi:10.1037/xge0000057 ), the risk of engaging in social comparison is especially high. Other users’ profile pages on SNSs enable passive browsing through large amounts of stored data, thereby yielding frequent grounds for social comparisons. In consideration of these particularities of self-evaluative information on SNSs, we propose that the outcome of (1) social comparison processes on users’ self-esteem is mainly negative.
With regards to (2) social feedback processing, both the tonality and frequency of social feedback on SNSs may cause particular outcomes of users’ self-esteem: Similar to most offline social interactions, feedback from others and the tone of general interactions is mostly positive11. Although negative feedback in forms of cyberbullying, hate speech or gossiping is a phenomenon that is present on SNSs (e.g., Smith et al., 2008 Smith, P. K., Mahdavi, J., Carvalho, M., Fisher, S., Russell, S., & Tippett, N. (2008). Cyberbullying: its nature and impact in secondary school pupils. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49(4), 376–385. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2007.01846.x ), research suggests that it is rare compared to feedback with positive tonality (Lenhart et al., 2011 Lenhart, A., Madden, M., Smith, A., Purcell, K., Zickuhr, K., & Rainie, L. (2011). Teens, Kindness and Cruelty on Social Network Sites: How American Teens Navigate the New World of” Digital Citizenship”. Pew Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved from http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Teens-and-socialmedia.aspx).
(Barasch & Berger, 2014 Barasch, A., & Berger, J. (2014). Broadcasting and narrowcasting: How audience size affects what people share. Journal of Marketing Research, 51(3), 286–299. doi:10.1509/jmr.13.0238 ; Oh, Ozkaya, & LaRose, 2014 Oh, H. J., Ozkaya, E., & LaRose, R. (2014). How does online social networking enhance life satisfaction? The relationships among online supportive interaction, affect, perceived social support, sense of community, and life satisfaction. Computers in Human Behavior, 30, 69–78. ). However, low effort functionalities such as the “Like-Button” encourage users to feedback on each other not only more easily and frequently but also in a reciprocal way (Burke, Marlow, & Lento, 2010 Burke, M., Marlow, C., & Lento, T. (2010). Social network activity and social well-being. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1909–1912). Atlanta, GA, USA. ; Wenninger et al., 2019 Wenninger, H., Krasnova, H., & Buxmann, P. (2019). Understanding the role of social networking sites in the subjective well-being of users: a diary study. European Journal of Information Systems, 28(2), 126–148. doi:10.1080/0960085X.2018.1496883). Additionally, SNSs inherent feedback promoting features such as birthday wishes or friendship reminders prompt users to signal their social appreciation to others. Given these peculiarities, we suggest that (2) social feedback processing mainly leads to positive effects on users’ self-esteem.
Processes of (3) self-reflection in the SNS environment are mainly characterized in terms of two aspects that uniquely contribute to self-esteem. Firstly, self-provided information on SNSs is mainly positive, as SNSs allow their users to carefully select and edit the information disclosed on their own profiles and remove unflattering content shared by others (Ellison et al., 2006 Ellison, N., Heino, R., & Gibbs, J. (2006). Managing impressions online: Self-presentation processes in the online dating environment. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(2), 415–441. doi:10.1111/jcmc.2006.11.issue-2 ; Hum et al., 2011 Hum, N. J., Chamberlin, P. E., Hambright, B. L., Portwood, A. C., Schat, A. C., & Bevan, J. L. (2011). A picture is worth a thousand words: A content analysis of Facebook profile photographs. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(5), 1828–1833. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2011.04.003 ). Secondly, the availability of information used for self-reflective processes is facilitated as it is saved and stored permanently on SNSs. Therefore, users can easily reflect upon both self-presentational information in the form of their presented self-image, as well as their interaction with others. SNS functionalities that enable browsing one’s own profile site and revisiting former interactions with and reactions from others thus foster (3) self-reflective processes by making people aware of positive facets of their self and their relationships (Nabi, Prestin, & So, 2013 Nabi, R. L., Prestin, A., & So, J. (2013). Facebook friends with (Health) benefits? Exploring social network site use and perceptions of social support, stress, and well-being. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 16(10), 721–727. doi:10.1089/cyber.2012.0521 ). Hence, we assume that due to these enabling features of SNSs, (3) self-reflective processes mainly lead to increases in users’ self-esteem.
Taken together, we assume that the above-mentioned functionalities of SNSs determine the accessibility and quality of available self-evaluative information, which thus results in detrimental effects for self-esteem in case of (1) social comparison processes and in more favorable self-esteem outcomes in cases of (2) social feedback processing, and (3) self-reflective processes. In order to support these propositions and to summarize existing literature, we conducted a systematic literature review in the area of SNS use and self-esteem. We present details of our applied methodology and its results in the following section.
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ABSTRACT: Previous research offers equivocal results regarding the effect of social networking site use on individuals’ self-esteem. We conduct a systematic literature review to examine the existing literature and develop a theoretical framework in order to classify the results. The framework proposes that self-esteem is affected by three distinct processes that incorporate self-evaluative information: social comparison processes, social feedback processing, and self-reflective processes. Due to particularities of the social networking site environment, the accessibility and quality of self-evaluative information is altered, which leads to online-specific effects on users’ self-esteem. Results of the reviewed studies suggest that when a social networking site is used to compare oneself with others, it mostly results in decreases in users’ self-esteem. On the other hand, receiving positive social feedback from others or using these platforms to reflect on one’s own self is mainly associated with benefits for users’ self-esteem. Nevertheless, inter-individual differences and the specific activities performed by users on these platforms should be considered when predicting individual effects.
Introduction
Social networking sites (SNSs) have become a central part of today’s life. As of April 2019, Facebook, the most popular SNS, had 2.3 billion users worldwide, while Instagram and Twitter count 1.0 and 0.3 billion users, respectively (Statista, 2019 Statista. (2019, May 28). Most popular social networks worldwide as of April 2019, ranked by number of active users (in millions). Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/). SNSs allow members to interact with others in a virtual field through messages and shared identity information (Chen, Fan, Liu, Zhou, & Xie, 2016 Chen, W., Fan, C.-Y., Liu, Q.-X., Zhou, Z.-K., & Xie, X.-C. (2016). Passive social network site use and subjective well-being: A moderated mediation model. Computers in Human Behavior, 64, 507–514. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2016.04.038 ). Motivated by the popularity of these platforms worldwide, the effects of SNS use on users’ well-being have been researched (e.g., Burke & Kraut, 2016 Burke, M., & Kraut, R. E. (2016). The relationship between Facebook use and well-being depends on communication type and tie strength. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 21(4), 265–281. doi:10.1111/jcc4.12162 ; Kross et al., 2013 Kross, E., Verduyn, P., Demiralp, E., Park, J., Lee, D. S., Lin, N., … Ybarra, O. (2013). Facebook use predicts declines in subjective well-being in young adults. PloS One, 8(8), e69841. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0069841 ; Valkenburg, Peter, & Schouten, 2006 Valkenburg, P. M., Peter, J., & Schouten, A. P. (2006). Friend networking sites and their relationship to adolescents’ well-being and social self-esteem. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 9(5), 584–590. doi:10.1089/cpb.2006.9.584 ) and reviewed (e.g., Huang, 2017 Huang, C. (2017). Time spent on social network sites and psychological well-being: A meta-analysis. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 20(6), 346–354. doi:10.1089/cyber.2016.0758 ) extensively.
Within this literature, self-esteem, as an important predictor of well-being (Diener & Diener, 1995 Diener, E., & Diener, M. (1995). Cross-cultural correlates of life satisfaction and self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68(4), 653–663. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.68.4.653 ), has been a topic of interest either on its own (e.g., Gonzales & Hancock, 2011 Gonzales, A. L., & Hancock, J. T. (2011). Mirror, mirror on my Facebook wall: Effects of exposure to Facebook on self-esteem. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14(1–2), 79–83. doi:10.1089/cyber.2009.0411 ; Vogel, Rose, Roberts, & Eckles, 2014 Vogel, E. A., Rose, J. P., Roberts, L. R., & Eckles, K. (2014). Social comparison, social media, and self-esteem. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 3(4), 206–222. doi:10.1037/ppm0000047) or as a mediator in the relationship between SNS use and well-being (Chen et al., 2016 Chen, W., Fan, C.-Y., Liu, Q.-X., Zhou, Z.-K., & Xie, X.-C. (2016). Passive social network site use and subjective well-being: A moderated mediation model. Computers in Human Behavior, 64, 507–514. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2016.04.038 ). Defined as an individual’s subjective value judgment of the self (Rosenberg, 1965 Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.), self-esteem has important implications for various life outcomes, such as health (e.g., Sowislo & Orth, 2013 Sowislo, J. F., & Orth, U. (2013). Does low self-esteem predict depression and anxiety? A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 139(1), 213–240. doi:10.1037/a0028931 ), relationship satisfaction (Shackelford, 2001 Shackelford, T. K. (2001). Self-esteem in marriage. Personality and Individual Differences, 30(3), 371–390. doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(00)00023-4 ), and job performance (Judge & Bono, 2001 Judge, T. A., & Bono, J. E. (2001). Relationship of core self-evaluations traits–self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, locus of control, and emotional stability–with job satisfaction and job performance: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(1), 80–92. ). Dynamic in nature, self-esteem can be seen as a barometer of individual successes and failures, as well as acceptance and rejection by others (Baldwin & Sinclair, 1996 Baldwin, M. W., & Sinclair, L. (1996). Self-esteem and “If … Then” contingencies of interpersonal acceptance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71(6), 1130–1141. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.71.6.1130 ). We denote this dynamic tracking and evaluation process by the term “self-esteem updating”. Information about the self, collected both through interactions with the social environment and introspection, serve as a basis for self-esteem updating. This self-evaluative information, processed through individual self-esteem updating, therefore defines the level of a person’s self-esteem.
As communication and interaction with other individuals via SNSs play an ever-growing role in peoples’ day-to-day lives, the question arises whether these dynamics lead to particular outcomes of self-esteem updating. Indeed, existing empirical research suggests that SNS use is associated with alterations in self-esteem. For example, some studies report a positive association between SNS use and self-esteem (e.g., Gonzales & Hancock, 2011 Gonzales, A. L., & Hancock, J. T. (2011). Mirror, mirror on my Facebook wall: Effects of exposure to Facebook on self-esteem. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14(1–2), 79–83. doi:10.1089/cyber.2009.0411 ; Valkenburg et al., 2006 Valkenburg, P. M., Peter, J., & Schouten, A. P. (2006). Friend networking sites and their relationship to adolescents’ well-being and social self-esteem. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 9(5), 584–590. doi:10.1089/cpb.2006.9.584 ), while others find negative (e.g., Vogel et al., 2014 Vogel, E. A., Rose, J. P., Roberts, L. R., & Eckles, K. (2014). Social comparison, social media, and self-esteem. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 3(4), 206–222. doi:10.1037/ppm0000047) or insignificant (Muench, Hayes, Kuerbis, & Shao, 2015 Muench, F., Hayes, M., Kuerbis, A., & Shao, S. (2015). The independent relationship between trouble controlling Facebook use, time spent on the site and distress. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 4(3), 163–169. doi:10.1556/2006.4.2015.013 ) relationships. This ambiguous pattern of results resembles extant research in the area of SNS use and general well-being. Some authors in this field suggest to distinguish different SNS activities (for an overview see Huang, 2017 Huang, C. (2017). Time spent on social network sites and psychological well-being: A meta-analysis. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 20(6), 346–354. doi:10.1089/cyber.2016.0758 ), such as social connection promoting vs. non-promoting activities (Clark, Algoe, & Green, 2018 Clark, J. L., Algoe, S. B., & Green, M. C. (2018). Social network sites and well-being: the role of social connection. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 27(1), 32–37. doi:10.1177/0963721417730833 ) or active and passive use patterns (e.g., Verduyn, Ybarra, Résibois, Jonides, & Kross, 2017 Verduyn, P., Ybarra, O., Résibois, M., Jonides, J., & Kross, E. (2017). Do social network sites enhance or undermine subjective well-being? A critical review. Social Issues and Policy Review, 11(1), 274–302. doi:10.1111/sipr.2017.11.issue-1 ) to analyze the beneficial or harmful effects of SNS use on well-being. However, it remains to be seen if these approaches can be transferred to the concept of self-esteem. Scientific results in the field of SNS use and self-esteem still remain scattered and ambiguous (Liu & Baumeister, 2016 Liu, D., & Baumeister, R. F. (2016). Social networking online and personality of self-worth: A meta-analysis. Journal of Research in Personality, 64, 79–89. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2016.06.024 ), and so far no theory has been established that integrates both social and internal processes to explain these diverging findings.
To close this research gap, we conduct a systematic literature review to make sense of the growing body of research in this area (e.g., Levy & Ellis, 2006 Levy, Y., & Ellis, T. (2006). A systems approach to conduct an effective literature review in support of information systems research. Informing Science, 9, 181–212. doi:10.28945/479; Webster & Watson, 2002 Webster, J., & Watson, R. T. (2002). Analyzing the past to prepare for the future: Writing a literature review. MIS Quarterly, 26(2), xiii–xxiii. ). In doing so, we contribute to the existing literature as follows: first, by reviewing the most common self-esteem theories, we propose that self-esteem updating is mainly driven by three processes: (1) social comparison, (2) social feedback processing, and (3) self-reflection. These three processes incorporate self-evaluative information gathered from an individual’s social environment or by introspection based on information about the self. Based on our framework, we can explain the equivocal results, unifying the positive and negative findings. Moreover, we are able to depict knowledge gaps and give recommendations for future research. Second, we contribute to the growing body of research which studies the implications of information technology use for individuals’ well-being (e.g., Burke & Kraut, 2016 Burke, M., & Kraut, R. E. (2016). The relationship between Facebook use and well-being depends on communication type and tie strength. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 21(4), 265–281. doi:10.1111/jcc4.12162 ; Krasnova, Widjaja, Buxmann, Wenninger, & Benbasat, 2015 Krasnova, H., Widjaja, T., Buxmann, P., Wenninger, H., & Benbasat, I. (2015). Research note—why following friends can hurt you: An exploratory investigation of the effects of envy on social networking sites among college-age users. Information Systems Research, 26(3), 585–605. doi:10.1287/isre.2015.0588 ; Kross et al., 2013 Kross, E., Verduyn, P., Demiralp, E., Park, J., Lee, D. S., Lin, N., … Ybarra, O. (2013). Facebook use predicts declines in subjective well-being in young adults. PloS One, 8(8), e69841. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0069841 ). Specifically, we discuss the role of SNSs as a source of self-evaluative information, driving the association between their use and self-esteem. Third, and on a more global level, our review is in line with the initiative of an Internet-based information and communication technologies (ICT)-enabled “Bright Society” that aims at protecting society from potential risks of technology use (Fedorowicz et al., 2015 Fedorowicz, J., Agarwal, R., Lee, G., Lee, J. K., Watson, R., & Zhang, P. (2015). The AIS grand vision project: What, why, and how. Presented at the Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), Puerto Rico. ; Lee, 2015 Lee, J. K. (2015). Guest editorial: research framework for AIS grand vision of the bright ICT initiative. MIS Quarterly, 39(2), iii–xii. ). Indeed, while the use of SNSs has been increasingly associated with “dark sides” (Lee, 2016 Lee, J. K. (2016). Invited Commentary—Reflections on ICT-enabled Bright Society Research. Information Systems Research, 27(1), 1–5. doi:10.1287/isre.2016.0627), our study provides evidence that certain types of SNS use are beneficial for users’ self-esteem and should therefore be encouraged.
The paper is structured as follows: first, we provide an overview of theories of self-esteem and derive our theory-driven framework on self-esteem updating. In the next step, we discuss SNSs’ potential meaning as a source of self-evaluative information by explaining how their functionalities can determine both the quality and the access to self-evaluative information relevant for self-esteem. This helps us to frame self-esteem updating in the SNS environment in relation to existing SNS functionalities. Based on this, we propose the directionality of the effect of each process on self-esteem updating in the SNS environment. Consequently, we aim to test our propositions based on findings collected through a literature review on the topic of self-esteem and SNS use. After explaining the applied methodology, we continue with the presentation of the results of our review. We show that all three processes have been investigated to a varying extent by research: while processes related to (1) social comparison mainly result in adverse effects on self-esteem, (2) social feedback processing, and (3) self-reflective processes have the potential to increase the self-esteem of an individual. However, there is evidence that personality traits moderate the effect between SNS use and self-esteem, which might explain prevalent contradictory findings. Based on these insights, we discuss our results in the final chapter and provide concluding remarks.
Background and theoretical framework
In this section, we first define the concept of self-esteem and present our general theory-driven framework on self-esteem updating. We then link our framework with existing functionalities on SNSs to highlight the particularities prevalent in the online context, which affect the processes of our framework.
Self-esteem
Dynamic in nature, the concept of self-esteem refers to a subjective value judgment about one’s self (Baldwin & Sinclair, 1996 Baldwin, M. W., & Sinclair, L. (1996). Self-esteem and “If … Then” contingencies of interpersonal acceptance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71(6), 1130–1141. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.71.6.1130 ; Rosenberg, 1965 Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.). While low self-esteem has been linked to a number of risks for mental health (e.g., Sowislo & Orth, 2013 Sowislo, J. F., & Orth, U. (2013). Does low self-esteem predict depression and anxiety? A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 139(1), 213–240. doi:10.1037/a0028931 ), high self-esteem has been shown to have a protective role, helping people to cope with potential risks, such as negative feedback, setbacks, or other sorts of failures (Dumont & Provost, 1999 Dumont, M., & Provost, M. A. (1999). Resilience in adolescents: Protective role of social support, coping strategies, self-esteem, and social activities on experience of stress and depression. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 28(3), 343–363. doi:10.1023/A:1021637011732 ). Due to the importance of self-esteem as a resource to cope with day-to-day challenges, people have the basic need to maintain and enhance their self-esteem. This need can be fulfilled through continuous processing of information from their social environment (Greenberg, Pyszczynski, & Solomon, 1986 Greenberg, J., Pyszczynski, T., & Solomon, S. (1986). The causes and consequences of a need for self-esteem: A terror management theory. In R. F. Baumeister (Ed.), Public self and private self (pp. 189–212). New York, NY: Springer-Verlag.). Referred to as self-esteem updating, the formation of self-esteem can therefore be seen as an ongoing dynamic process. Information that is used for this process is called self-evaluative information (e.g., Wayment & Taylor, 1995 Wayment, H. A., & Taylor, S. E. (1995). Self-evaluation processes: Motives, information use, and self-esteem. Journal of Personality, 63(4), 729–757. doi:10.1111/jopy.1995.63.issue-4 ).
Several theories describe how and which kind of self-evaluative information is processed and ultimately influences individual self-esteem (e.g., Bem, 1967 Bem, D. J. (1967). Self-perception: An alternative interpretation of cognitive dissonance phenomena. Psychological Review, 74(3), 183–200. doi:10.1037/h0024835 ; Festinger, 1954 Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7(2), 117–140. doi:10.1177/001872675400700202 ; Leary, 1999 Leary, M. R. (1999). Making sense of self-esteem. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8(1), 32–35. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.00008 ). In order to systematically understand the process of self-esteem updating, we review the most common self-esteem theories to our knowledge and group them according to the overall type of self-evaluative information they incorporate (for an overview see Appendix A). By doing so, we are able to identify three routes that individuals might follow when processing information relevant to their self-esteem. Figure 1 illustrates our proposed model of self-esteem updating. It reflects three key processes that take place in the course of self-esteem updating: (1) social comparison processes, (2) social feedback processing, and (3) self-reflective processes.
Figure 1. Proposed model of self-esteem updating.
The first identified process refers to (1) social comparisons. This process is based on comparisons of information related to the self and information provided by other individuals. Social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954 Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7(2), 117–140. doi:10.1177/001872675400700202 ) proposes that people have an ongoing basic need to evaluate themselves in relation to others in order to get an appropriate assessment of their abilities and qualities. However, individuals do not compare themselves to anybody in their social surroundings. Social comparisons mainly take place if the target of social comparison is not too different from the self and the object of social comparison is of relevance to the subject (Festinger, 1954 Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7(2), 117–140. doi:10.1177/001872675400700202 ). Depending on their directionality, social comparison processes could lead to different outcomes in terms of self-esteem. For example, diminished self-esteem can be observed when individuals compare themselves to others who are better off (upward comparison). At the same time, comparing oneself to others who have lower skills or qualifications (downward comparison) is often associated with an increase in self-esteem (e.g., Morse & Gergen, 1970 Morse, S., & Gergen, K. J. (1970). Social comparison, self-consistency, and the concept of self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 16(1), 148–156. doi:10.1037/h0029862 ; Thornton & Moore, 1993 Thornton, B., & Moore, S. (1993). Physical attractiveness contrast effect: Implications for self-esteem and evaluations of the social self. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 19(4), 474–480. doi:10.1177/0146167293194012 ).
The second process that determines self-esteem is (2) social feedback processing. This process incorporates self-evaluative information that stems from direct interaction with other individuals and may signal either social acceptance or rejection. Individuals highly thrive for reactions from their social environment in order to appropriately estimate the degree to which they are accepted and liked by others which can be seen as one way to satisfy individuals’ need of social belonging (Baumeister & Leary, 1995 Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117(3), 497–529. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.117.3.497 ). Sociometer Theory (Leary, 1999 Leary, M. R. (1999). Making sense of self-esteem. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8(1), 32–35. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.00008 ) suggests that self-esteem is a barometer reflecting the social acceptance and the social rejection by others. Indeed, receiving negative feedback or any sign of social rejection from others can be seen as a massive threat to self-esteem and has been linked to several negative outcomes to individuals’ well-being, such as negative affect, anxiety, and depression (Baumeister & Leary, 1995 Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117(3), 497–529. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.117.3.497 ; Leary, 1990 Leary, M. R. (1990). Responses to social exclusion: Social anxiety, jealousy, loneliness, depression, and low self-esteem. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 9(2), 221–229. doi:10.1521/jscp.1990.9.2.221 ). On the other hand, receiving positive feedback or any sign of social acceptance benefits the evaluation of the self (Leary, 1999 Leary, M. R. (1999). Making sense of self-esteem. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8(1), 32–35. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.00008 ).
The third identified process that influences self-esteem is (3) self-reflection. While interaction with the social environment is a critical determinant of individual self-esteem; self-esteem can also be derived from more internal aspects. Several theories aim at explaining how the reflection on these facets of the self may influence individual processes of self-esteem updating. For example, the reflection on past behavior (self-perception theory, Bem, 1967 Bem, D. J. (1967). Self-perception: An alternative interpretation of cognitive dissonance phenomena. Psychological Review, 74(3), 183–200. doi:10.1037/h0024835 ), personal standards (control theory of self-regulation, Carver & Scheier, 1981 Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. F. (1981). The self-attention-induced feedback loop and social facilitation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 17(6), 545–568. doi:10.1016/0022-1031(81)90039-1 ), images of how people would like to see themselves (self-discrepancy theory, Higgins, 1987 Higgins, E. T. (1987). Self-discrepancy: a theory relating self and affect. Psychological Review, 94(3), 319. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.94.3.319 ), important values, or other positive aspects of the self (self-affirmation theory, Steele, 1988 Steele, C. M. (1988). The psychology of self-affirmation: Sustaining the integrity of the self. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 21, pp.261–302). New York, NY: Academic Press.) can serve as a basis for self-evaluation and therefore impact individual self-esteem. Research in the field of self-affirmation (Steele, 1988 Steele, C. M. (1988). The psychology of self-affirmation: Sustaining the integrity of the self. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 21, pp.261–302). New York, NY: Academic Press.) has shown that when people think about positive facets of their selves they can experience boosts in self-esteem (Koole, Smeets, Van Knippenberg, & Dijksterhuis, 1999 Koole, S. L., Smeets, K., Van Knippenberg, A., & Dijksterhuis, A. (1999). The cessation of rumination through self-affirmation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(1), 111–125. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.77.1.111 ). Activities with such self-affirming qualities in the offline context are, for instance, writing about one’s most important values or reading self-affirming messages (McQueen & Klein, 2006 McQueen, A., & Klein, W. M. P. (2006). Experimental manipulations of self-affirmation: A systematic review. Self and Identity, 5(4), 289–354. doi:10.1080/15298860600805325). Importantly, (3) self-reflective processes are not solely based on information about the self in isolation, but can also incorporate information about the self, gained in the course of interaction with others. In this context, it is important to distinguish (3) self-reflective processes from (2) social feedback processing, as described above. While instances of interpersonal interaction can be reflected on multiple times within the process of self-reflection, processing of social feedback focuses on a single episode of social interaction (e.g., getting complimented by an acquaintance).
Taken together, (1) social comparison, (2) social feedback processing, and (3) self-reflection incorporate self-evaluative information, and therefore influence self-esteem updating in everyday-life.
Our framework on self-esteem updating is grounded in a general perspective in the offline environment. However, as the three processes mainly take place in interactions between individuals, we assume that they also take place in the context of SNSs. Indeed, SNSs are largely based on social interactions, which justify the application of our framework in the online context. Since the SNS environment exhibits specific particularities, certain dynamics of communication and interaction on these platforms and the thus resulting self-evaluative information might uniquely contribute to the three processes of self-esteem updating. In the following section, we will exemplify this assumption in greater detail.
Self-evaluative information in the SNS environment
Due to its dynamic character, individual self-esteem is the result of a constant integration of self-evaluative information as part of three basic processes described above. SNSs can be seen as a rich source of such self-evaluative information. Indeed, SNS platforms allow users to easily share personal information and updates, get in contact with others, and interact with them. As a result, users are motivated to disclose a large amount of personal information, and, in turn, are constantly exposed to an abundance of information about others on the network. Against this background, we presume that the same processes of self-esteem updating mentioned above take place in the context of SNSs. Figure 2 illustrates the presumed operation of the three self-evaluative processes in the context of SNSs.
Figure 2. Processes of self-esteem updating in the context of SNSs.
For example, the information provided by other users in the SNS environment (e.g., in the form of photos, status updates, and profile descriptions) can be used for (1) social comparison processes. Users can compare relevant aspects of their selves with the information provided by others and can thus draw conclusions about their own positioning (Krasnova et al., 2015 Krasnova, H., Widjaja, T., Buxmann, P., Wenninger, H., & Benbasat, I. (2015). Research note—why following friends can hurt you: An exploratory investigation of the effects of envy on social networking sites among college-age users. Information Systems Research, 26(3), 585–605. doi:10.1287/isre.2015.0588 ). Users further have the opportunity to interact with each other (e.g., in the form of conversations, giving and receiving likes, and commenting on each other’s content). Information stemming from these interactions may be perceived as signals of social acceptance or rejection, thereby initiating (2) social feedback processing (Wenninger, Krasnova, & Buxmann, 2019 Wenninger, H., Krasnova, H., & Buxmann, P. (2019). Understanding the role of social networking sites in the subjective well-being of users: a diary study. European Journal of Information Systems, 28(2), 126–148. doi:10.1080/0960085X.2018.1496883). Finally, by disclosing a myriad of information about their selves on the platforms (e.g., by providing detailed profile descriptions and sharing meaningful moments of their lives in the form of photos, videos, and status updates), (3) self-reflective processes are likely to be activated. Specifically, by reflecting on their self-provided information or on former interactions with others on a SNS, users can draw conclusions about how to see and evaluate themselves (Gonzales & Hancock, 2011 Gonzales, A. L., & Hancock, J. T. (2011). Mirror, mirror on my Facebook wall: Effects of exposure to Facebook on self-esteem. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14(1–2), 79–83. doi:10.1089/cyber.2009.0411 ).
As an exemplary illustration of these processes, imagine an SNS user who is very active in sports. On the one hand, processing information provided by others (e.g., a picture of an acquaintance showing her winning a marathon) could lead this user to the following (1) social comparison process outcome: “I am less athletic than my acquaintance”. On the other hand, when this user gets immediate feedback in form of likes after posting her workout picture, a possible outcome of (2) social feedback processing could be “Others value that I am active”. Further, browsing her own profile that incorporates photos of her own marathon experience, the same user might conclude: “I think that I am very athletic”; this would be an outcome of a (3) self-reflective process. While self-esteem might decrease in the first case, it potentially increases in the latter two.
Importantly, while social encounters may contribute to changes in individual self-esteem online and offline, we propose that there are specific particularities of the SNS environment. These particularities are reflected in the quality and accessibility of self-evaluative information, and may therefore uniquely affect the three processes of self-esteem updating and their final outcome. Table 1 gives an overview of the particularities of self-evaluative information in the SNSs environment, lists respective enabling SNS features, and empirical evidence.
Table 1. Particularities of self-evaluative information on SNSs.
CSVDisplay Table
Specifically, the main particularities of self-evaluative information incorporated in (1) social comparison processes are the following: While social comparisons frequently happen in the offline domain as well, users of SNSs have a comparably larger and more accessible pool of subjects to compare with (Smith, 2014 Smith, A. (2014, February 3). What people like and dislike about Facebook. Retrieved from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/02/03/what-people-like-dislike-about-facebook/). Users can access comparison triggering information easily with information on others’ news, status updates, photos, and links always within reach. Furthermore, SNS algorithms selectively present personalized content to users that raise the frequency of seeing information in subjectively relevant comparison domains (Bucher, 2012 Bucher, T. (2012). Want to be on the top? Algorithmic power and the threat of invisibility on Facebook. New Media & Society, 14(7), 1164–1180. doi:10.1177/1461444812440159 ). This increases the likelihood of comparisons with others (Tesser, 1988 Tesser, A. (1988). Toward a self-evaluation maintenance model of social behaviorIn Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 21, pp. 181–227). New York, NY: Academic Press. Retrieved from http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0065260108602270). In addition, comparisons in the SNS environment are mostly upward (Vogel et al., 2014 Vogel, E. A., Rose, J. P., Roberts, L. R., & Eckles, K. (2014). Social comparison, social media, and self-esteem. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 3(4), 206–222. doi:10.1037/ppm0000047). This can be explained by users presenting enhanced versions of themselves, facilitated through asynchronous communication, content selection, and content editing on SNSs (Ellison, Heino, & Gibbs, 2006 Ellison, N., Heino, R., & Gibbs, J. (2006). Managing impressions online: Self-presentation processes in the online dating environment. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(2), 415–441. doi:10.1111/jcmc.2006.11.issue-2 ; Toma, Hancock, & Ellison, 2008 Toma, C. L., Hancock, J. T., & Ellison, N. B. (2008). Separating fact from fiction: An examination of deceptive self-presentation in online dating profiles. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34(8), 1023–1036. doi:10.1177/0146167208320061 ). As users mostly use SNS passively (Verduyn et al., 2015 Verduyn, P., Lee, D. S., Park, J., Shablack, H., Orvell, A., Bayer, J., … Kross, E. (2015). Passive Facebook usage undermines affective well-being: Experimental and longitudinal evidence. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 144(2), 480–488. doi:10.1037/xge0000057 ), the risk of engaging in social comparison is especially high. Other users’ profile pages on SNSs enable passive browsing through large amounts of stored data, thereby yielding frequent grounds for social comparisons. In consideration of these particularities of self-evaluative information on SNSs, we propose that the outcome of (1) social comparison processes on users’ self-esteem is mainly negative.
With regards to (2) social feedback processing, both the tonality and frequency of social feedback on SNSs may cause particular outcomes of users’ self-esteem: Similar to most offline social interactions, feedback from others and the tone of general interactions is mostly positive11. Although negative feedback in forms of cyberbullying, hate speech or gossiping is a phenomenon that is present on SNSs (e.g., Smith et al., 2008 Smith, P. K., Mahdavi, J., Carvalho, M., Fisher, S., Russell, S., & Tippett, N. (2008). Cyberbullying: its nature and impact in secondary school pupils. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49(4), 376–385. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2007.01846.x ), research suggests that it is rare compared to feedback with positive tonality (Lenhart et al., 2011 Lenhart, A., Madden, M., Smith, A., Purcell, K., Zickuhr, K., & Rainie, L. (2011). Teens, Kindness and Cruelty on Social Network Sites: How American Teens Navigate the New World of” Digital Citizenship”. Pew Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved from http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Teens-and-socialmedia.aspx).
(Barasch & Berger, 2014 Barasch, A., & Berger, J. (2014). Broadcasting and narrowcasting: How audience size affects what people share. Journal of Marketing Research, 51(3), 286–299. doi:10.1509/jmr.13.0238 ; Oh, Ozkaya, & LaRose, 2014 Oh, H. J., Ozkaya, E., & LaRose, R. (2014). How does online social networking enhance life satisfaction? The relationships among online supportive interaction, affect, perceived social support, sense of community, and life satisfaction. Computers in Human Behavior, 30, 69–78. ). However, low effort functionalities such as the “Like-Button” encourage users to feedback on each other not only more easily and frequently but also in a reciprocal way (Burke, Marlow, & Lento, 2010 Burke, M., Marlow, C., & Lento, T. (2010). Social network activity and social well-being. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1909–1912). Atlanta, GA, USA. ; Wenninger et al., 2019 Wenninger, H., Krasnova, H., & Buxmann, P. (2019). Understanding the role of social networking sites in the subjective well-being of users: a diary study. European Journal of Information Systems, 28(2), 126–148. doi:10.1080/0960085X.2018.1496883). Additionally, SNSs inherent feedback promoting features such as birthday wishes or friendship reminders prompt users to signal their social appreciation to others. Given these peculiarities, we suggest that (2) social feedback processing mainly leads to positive effects on users’ self-esteem.
Processes of (3) self-reflection in the SNS environment are mainly characterized in terms of two aspects that uniquely contribute to self-esteem. Firstly, self-provided information on SNSs is mainly positive, as SNSs allow their users to carefully select and edit the information disclosed on their own profiles and remove unflattering content shared by others (Ellison et al., 2006 Ellison, N., Heino, R., & Gibbs, J. (2006). Managing impressions online: Self-presentation processes in the online dating environment. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(2), 415–441. doi:10.1111/jcmc.2006.11.issue-2 ; Hum et al., 2011 Hum, N. J., Chamberlin, P. E., Hambright, B. L., Portwood, A. C., Schat, A. C., & Bevan, J. L. (2011). A picture is worth a thousand words: A content analysis of Facebook profile photographs. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(5), 1828–1833. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2011.04.003 ). Secondly, the availability of information used for self-reflective processes is facilitated as it is saved and stored permanently on SNSs. Therefore, users can easily reflect upon both self-presentational information in the form of their presented self-image, as well as their interaction with others. SNS functionalities that enable browsing one’s own profile site and revisiting former interactions with and reactions from others thus foster (3) self-reflective processes by making people aware of positive facets of their self and their relationships (Nabi, Prestin, & So, 2013 Nabi, R. L., Prestin, A., & So, J. (2013). Facebook friends with (Health) benefits? Exploring social network site use and perceptions of social support, stress, and well-being. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 16(10), 721–727. doi:10.1089/cyber.2012.0521 ). Hence, we assume that due to these enabling features of SNSs, (3) self-reflective processes mainly lead to increases in users’ self-esteem.
Taken together, we assume that the above-mentioned functionalities of SNSs determine the accessibility and quality of available self-evaluative information, which thus results in detrimental effects for self-esteem in case of (1) social comparison processes and in more favorable self-esteem outcomes in cases of (2) social feedback processing, and (3) self-reflective processes. In order to support these propositions and to summarize existing literature, we conducted a systematic literature review in the area of SNS use and self-esteem. We present details of our applied methodology and its results in the following section.
Found readiness potentials before arbitrary decisions, but—critically—not before deliberate ones, supporting interpretation of readiness potentials as byproducts of accumulation of random fluctuations in arbitrary decisions
Neural precursors of deliberate and arbitrary decisions in the study of voluntary action. U. Maoz, G. Yaffe, C. Koch, L. Mudrik. bioRxiv, July 15, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1101/097626
Abstract: The readiness potential (RP)—a key ERP correlate of upcoming action—is known to precede subjects’ reports of their decision to move. Some view this as evidence against a causal role for consciousness in human decision-making and thus against free-will. Yet those studies focused on arbitrary decisions—purposeless, unreasoned, and without consequences. It remains unknown to what degree the RP generalizes to deliberate, more ecological decisions. We directly compared deliberate and arbitrary decision-making during a $1000-donation task to non-profit organizations. While we found the expected RPs for arbitrary decisions, they were strikingly absent for deliberate ones. Our results and drift-diffusion model are congruent with the RP representing accumulation of noisy, random fluctuations that drive arbitrary—but not deliberate—decisions. They further point to different neural mechanisms underlying deliberate and arbitrary decisions, challenging the generalizability of studies that argue for no causal role for consciousness in decision-making to real-life decisions.
Significance Statement: The extent of human free will has been debated for millennia. Previous studies demonstrated that neural precursors of action—especially the readiness potential—precede subjects’ reports of deciding to move. Some viewed this as evidence against free-will. However, these experiments focused on arbitrary decisions—e.g., randomly raising the left or right hand. We directly compared deliberate (actual $1000 donations to NPOs) and arbitrary decisions, and found readiness potentials before arbitrary decisions, but—critically—not before deliberate decisions. This supports the interpretation of readiness potentials as byproducts of accumulation of random fluctuations in arbitrary but not deliberate decisions and points to different neural mechanisms underlying deliberate and arbitrary choice. Hence, it challenges the generalizability of previous results from arbitrary to deliberate decisions.
Abstract: The readiness potential (RP)—a key ERP correlate of upcoming action—is known to precede subjects’ reports of their decision to move. Some view this as evidence against a causal role for consciousness in human decision-making and thus against free-will. Yet those studies focused on arbitrary decisions—purposeless, unreasoned, and without consequences. It remains unknown to what degree the RP generalizes to deliberate, more ecological decisions. We directly compared deliberate and arbitrary decision-making during a $1000-donation task to non-profit organizations. While we found the expected RPs for arbitrary decisions, they were strikingly absent for deliberate ones. Our results and drift-diffusion model are congruent with the RP representing accumulation of noisy, random fluctuations that drive arbitrary—but not deliberate—decisions. They further point to different neural mechanisms underlying deliberate and arbitrary decisions, challenging the generalizability of studies that argue for no causal role for consciousness in decision-making to real-life decisions.
Significance Statement: The extent of human free will has been debated for millennia. Previous studies demonstrated that neural precursors of action—especially the readiness potential—precede subjects’ reports of deciding to move. Some viewed this as evidence against free-will. However, these experiments focused on arbitrary decisions—e.g., randomly raising the left or right hand. We directly compared deliberate (actual $1000 donations to NPOs) and arbitrary decisions, and found readiness potentials before arbitrary decisions, but—critically—not before deliberate decisions. This supports the interpretation of readiness potentials as byproducts of accumulation of random fluctuations in arbitrary but not deliberate decisions and points to different neural mechanisms underlying deliberate and arbitrary choice. Hence, it challenges the generalizability of previous results from arbitrary to deliberate decisions.
Conservative and Republican women and men are thus less likely to report more severe forms of Sexual Harassment and Assault, which may explain differences in beliefs on these issues
Political Differences in American Reports of Sexual Harassment and Assault. Rupa Jose, James H. Fowler, Anita Raj. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, March 22, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260519835003
Abstract: Political ideology has been linked to beliefs regarding sexual harassment and assault (SH&A). Using data from the January 2018 Stop Street Sexual Harassment online poll (N = 2,009), this study examined associations of political identity and political ideology with self-reported experiences of being the victim of SH&A. SH&A experiences were coded into four mutually exclusive groups: none, non-physically aggressive harassment, physically aggressive harassment, or sexual assault. Sex-stratified logistic regression models assessed associations of interest, adjusting for participant demographics. Among women, more conservative political ideology was negatively associated with reports of sexual assault, odds ratio (OR) = 0.85, 95% confidence interval (CI) = [0.74, 0.98]. Among males, more conservative political ideology was negatively associated with reports of physically aggressive sexual harassment (OR = 0.85, 95% CI = [0.73, 0.98]), and greater Republican affiliation was negatively associated with reports of sexual assault (OR = 0.82, 95% CI = [0.68, 0.99]). Conservative and Republican women and men are thus less likely to report more severe forms of SH&A, which may explain differences in beliefs on these issues. Research is needed to determine if political differences are due to reporting biases or differential vulnerabilities.
Keywords: political party, political orientation, gender, sexual harassment, sexual violence
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Discussion
Our results indicate that Republicans and conservatives are generally less likely to report having experienced more severe forms of sexual harassment, but more likely to report non-physically aggressive forms of harassment compared with persons with different political identities or ideologies, adjusting for relevant controls. These findings parallel poll data on reported sexual harassment by political party, where Republicans are less likely to endorse general sexual harassment compared with Democrats or Independents (Graf, 2018; Quinnipiac University, 2017). However, distinct from poll data, our results showed that political identity and ideology had differential relationships with sexual harassment or assault depending on the type experienced (i.e., non-physically aggressive harassment, physically aggressive harassment, and sexual assault) and respondent gender. Results indicated that Republicans were more likely to report non-physically aggressive harassment if female and less likely to report physically aggressive harassment if male; all Republicans irrespective of gender were less likely to report sexual assault (vs. Democrats or Independents). Conservatives were likewise less likely to report sexual assault if female and less likely to report physically aggressive harassment if male (vs. liberals or moderates). To determine the political driver of harassment or assault reporting, both political identity and ideology were included in the same model. Political ideology explained the reduced reporting of female sexual assault and male physically aggressive harassment, and political identity explained the reduced reporting of male sexual assault.
Our findings suggest that political identity and ideology, though related, are not the same. Political identity in fact had a unique effect on female nonphysically aggressive harassment and male sexual assault. In addition, with the exception of female non-physically aggressive harassment, Republican identity and politically conservative ideals were associated with a decreased chance of reporting sexual harassment and or assault. A few explanations exist as to why this might be the case. One possibility is that there may be bias in reports of experiences of harassment or assault due to the social desirability of fitting in with the perceived social views of fellow partisans (Streb, Burrell, Frederick, & Genovese, 2008). The desire to conform, be obedient, loyal, follow with tradition, and have ties to people who hold similar beliefs is more characteristic of political conservatives than liberals (Jost, van der Linden, Panagopoulos, & Hardin, 2018). This deep-set “tribe” mentality could result in conservatives or Republicans underreporting sexual violence, as acknowledgment could be disruptive to their world views and relationships. A second possibility is that political membership and ideology differences may translate to differences in awareness of more ubiquitous forms of sexual harassment (e.g., derogatory name calling) and or differences in reporting acceptance or stigma. Polling data suggest that Democrats are more willing to enforce punitive policies toward perpetrators of sexual harassment, advocate for female victims, and reflect on their own behavior toward women following recent stories about sexual harassment when compared to Republicans (Dann, 2017; Graf, 2018; Kurtzleben, 2017). To the extent that these attitudes reflect that of the larger political base, Democrats may be more comfortable in their reporting of sexual victimization compared to Republicans due to feelings of perceived group support. A third possibility is that liberals and Democrats are in fact more vulnerable to sexual harassment and assault. In a meta-analytic review, political conservatism was found to be negatively associated with openness to experience and tolerance for uncertainty but positively associated with a need for order, structure, and closure (Jost, Glaser, Kruglanski, & Sulloway, 2003). Risk perception research also finds that conservatives and Republicans are less risk-accepting than liberals and Democrats (Kam & Simas, 2010). This suggests that the environments that liberals and conservatives navigate day-to-day, and how they do so, can be different in their risk for unwanted sexual advances and contact. More research is needed to understand how political identity and political ideology influence how men and women behave socially and perceive member disclosure of sexual harassment and or assault.
Responses in the aftermath of sexual harassment or assault also indicate political differences, with Republicans less likely to change their route or routine compared with non-Republicans (irrespective of gender). Republican men also are more likely to stop a hobby or group activity but less likely to end a relationship or seek medical help compared with non-Republican men. These differences suggest that Republicans, especially Republican men, are less likely to make changes to their everyday lives or personal lives in the aftermath of abuse. In fact, except for their tendency to withdraw from extracurricular obligations, Republican men appear to carry on with “life as usual.” The lack of reported change for victimized Republican men may be a consequence of the type or reduced severity of victimization experienced, biased reporting due to self-enhancement tendencies (Wojcik, Hovasapian, Graham, Motyl, & Ditto, 2015), the types of responses assessed, or true differences in preferred behavioral practices following sexual harassment or assault. Future research is needed to better ascertain the robustness and causal mechanisms underlying these findings. Also, in light of the modern political landscape, these results suggest that more effort should be made by current leaders to include men and women, Republicans and Democrats, and liberals and conservatives in discussions about sexual harassment and violence legislation. Hearing from those at a heightened risk for sexual victimization can result in more effective and inclusive solutions to the national problem of sexual
harassment and assault (Paxton, Kunovich, & Hughes, 2007). Consistent with prior studies, we found that females, persons with a disability, and ethnic minorities (Hispanics) are more likely to report physically aggressive harassment and or sexual assault than their respective counterparts (Graf, 2018; Kearl, 2014, 2018; Martin et al., 2006; Rospenda et al., 2009). Age was found to have a curvilinear effect on female reports of sexual assault and male reports of physically aggressive harassment such that reporting increased into middle age and then declined. Non-linear age trends in tolerance for sexual harassment have been reported with young women being less tolerant than older women of sexual harassment (Ford & Donis, 1996). Age effects in reported sexual victimization may be linked to age-related differences in tolerance for sexual harassment.
Limitations exist due to the structure and specificity of our data. The cross-sectional nature of our data prohibited us from examining how political differences influenced reports of harassment or assault over time and vice versa. Political identity and ideology are not fixed attributes and can change in response to experiences of sexual victimization. Longitudinal data are required to determine the casual pathway between political identity or ideology and sexual harassment or assault. We also did not have any information regarding the severity or frequency of the reported harassment or assault. Our categorization of sexual harassment into harassment (not physically aggressive), physically aggressive harassment, and sexual assault nevertheless does provide meaningful groupings for analyses; an improvement to standard practices and a means to promote definitional clarity and loosely approximate severity. For behavioral reactions or responses assessed in relation to a “sexually harassing or abusive experience,” details regarding the incident itself remain unknown (e.g., harassment/abuse type and recency). We were thus unable to examine differences in reactions by harassment type and or generational effects. All data were self-report and therefore subject to participant reporting bias or memory inaccuracies. Data collection also occurred at two time points 4 days apart and did not include a lifetime exposure to violence measure. It is recommended that surveys on sexual harassment and assault be administered at a single time point and inquire about personal trauma history to improve methodological rigor and better adjust for differences in reporting and reactions to sexual victimization.
Sexual harassment and assault have become a core issue in contemporary society. Fueled by the 2017 #MeToo social media campaign, public discourse surrounding issues of harassment and assault are increasingly common and political. Based on our findings, we note that party differences do in fact arise when considering reporting and responses to sexual harassment and or assault. On average, Republicans and conservatives are less likely to endorse harassment or assault, especially sexual assault, and also less likely to change their behavior, apart from relinquishing hobbies, activities, or group participation, compared with their respective counterparts. These differences are expected to affect bipartisan support for anti-harassment legislation; necessitating the need for future research on sexual harassment to include participant political information. Research efforts should also aim to explore how and why these differences arise as there are no obvious explanations for the noted discrepancy in victimization. Understanding the gap between political groups regarding sexual harassment experiences and responses may help promote a dialogue on the issue and foster national consensus that sexual harassment and assault is not to be tolerated.
Abstract: Political ideology has been linked to beliefs regarding sexual harassment and assault (SH&A). Using data from the January 2018 Stop Street Sexual Harassment online poll (N = 2,009), this study examined associations of political identity and political ideology with self-reported experiences of being the victim of SH&A. SH&A experiences were coded into four mutually exclusive groups: none, non-physically aggressive harassment, physically aggressive harassment, or sexual assault. Sex-stratified logistic regression models assessed associations of interest, adjusting for participant demographics. Among women, more conservative political ideology was negatively associated with reports of sexual assault, odds ratio (OR) = 0.85, 95% confidence interval (CI) = [0.74, 0.98]. Among males, more conservative political ideology was negatively associated with reports of physically aggressive sexual harassment (OR = 0.85, 95% CI = [0.73, 0.98]), and greater Republican affiliation was negatively associated with reports of sexual assault (OR = 0.82, 95% CI = [0.68, 0.99]). Conservative and Republican women and men are thus less likely to report more severe forms of SH&A, which may explain differences in beliefs on these issues. Research is needed to determine if political differences are due to reporting biases or differential vulnerabilities.
Keywords: political party, political orientation, gender, sexual harassment, sexual violence
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Discussion
Our results indicate that Republicans and conservatives are generally less likely to report having experienced more severe forms of sexual harassment, but more likely to report non-physically aggressive forms of harassment compared with persons with different political identities or ideologies, adjusting for relevant controls. These findings parallel poll data on reported sexual harassment by political party, where Republicans are less likely to endorse general sexual harassment compared with Democrats or Independents (Graf, 2018; Quinnipiac University, 2017). However, distinct from poll data, our results showed that political identity and ideology had differential relationships with sexual harassment or assault depending on the type experienced (i.e., non-physically aggressive harassment, physically aggressive harassment, and sexual assault) and respondent gender. Results indicated that Republicans were more likely to report non-physically aggressive harassment if female and less likely to report physically aggressive harassment if male; all Republicans irrespective of gender were less likely to report sexual assault (vs. Democrats or Independents). Conservatives were likewise less likely to report sexual assault if female and less likely to report physically aggressive harassment if male (vs. liberals or moderates). To determine the political driver of harassment or assault reporting, both political identity and ideology were included in the same model. Political ideology explained the reduced reporting of female sexual assault and male physically aggressive harassment, and political identity explained the reduced reporting of male sexual assault.
Our findings suggest that political identity and ideology, though related, are not the same. Political identity in fact had a unique effect on female nonphysically aggressive harassment and male sexual assault. In addition, with the exception of female non-physically aggressive harassment, Republican identity and politically conservative ideals were associated with a decreased chance of reporting sexual harassment and or assault. A few explanations exist as to why this might be the case. One possibility is that there may be bias in reports of experiences of harassment or assault due to the social desirability of fitting in with the perceived social views of fellow partisans (Streb, Burrell, Frederick, & Genovese, 2008). The desire to conform, be obedient, loyal, follow with tradition, and have ties to people who hold similar beliefs is more characteristic of political conservatives than liberals (Jost, van der Linden, Panagopoulos, & Hardin, 2018). This deep-set “tribe” mentality could result in conservatives or Republicans underreporting sexual violence, as acknowledgment could be disruptive to their world views and relationships. A second possibility is that political membership and ideology differences may translate to differences in awareness of more ubiquitous forms of sexual harassment (e.g., derogatory name calling) and or differences in reporting acceptance or stigma. Polling data suggest that Democrats are more willing to enforce punitive policies toward perpetrators of sexual harassment, advocate for female victims, and reflect on their own behavior toward women following recent stories about sexual harassment when compared to Republicans (Dann, 2017; Graf, 2018; Kurtzleben, 2017). To the extent that these attitudes reflect that of the larger political base, Democrats may be more comfortable in their reporting of sexual victimization compared to Republicans due to feelings of perceived group support. A third possibility is that liberals and Democrats are in fact more vulnerable to sexual harassment and assault. In a meta-analytic review, political conservatism was found to be negatively associated with openness to experience and tolerance for uncertainty but positively associated with a need for order, structure, and closure (Jost, Glaser, Kruglanski, & Sulloway, 2003). Risk perception research also finds that conservatives and Republicans are less risk-accepting than liberals and Democrats (Kam & Simas, 2010). This suggests that the environments that liberals and conservatives navigate day-to-day, and how they do so, can be different in their risk for unwanted sexual advances and contact. More research is needed to understand how political identity and political ideology influence how men and women behave socially and perceive member disclosure of sexual harassment and or assault.
Responses in the aftermath of sexual harassment or assault also indicate political differences, with Republicans less likely to change their route or routine compared with non-Republicans (irrespective of gender). Republican men also are more likely to stop a hobby or group activity but less likely to end a relationship or seek medical help compared with non-Republican men. These differences suggest that Republicans, especially Republican men, are less likely to make changes to their everyday lives or personal lives in the aftermath of abuse. In fact, except for their tendency to withdraw from extracurricular obligations, Republican men appear to carry on with “life as usual.” The lack of reported change for victimized Republican men may be a consequence of the type or reduced severity of victimization experienced, biased reporting due to self-enhancement tendencies (Wojcik, Hovasapian, Graham, Motyl, & Ditto, 2015), the types of responses assessed, or true differences in preferred behavioral practices following sexual harassment or assault. Future research is needed to better ascertain the robustness and causal mechanisms underlying these findings. Also, in light of the modern political landscape, these results suggest that more effort should be made by current leaders to include men and women, Republicans and Democrats, and liberals and conservatives in discussions about sexual harassment and violence legislation. Hearing from those at a heightened risk for sexual victimization can result in more effective and inclusive solutions to the national problem of sexual
harassment and assault (Paxton, Kunovich, & Hughes, 2007). Consistent with prior studies, we found that females, persons with a disability, and ethnic minorities (Hispanics) are more likely to report physically aggressive harassment and or sexual assault than their respective counterparts (Graf, 2018; Kearl, 2014, 2018; Martin et al., 2006; Rospenda et al., 2009). Age was found to have a curvilinear effect on female reports of sexual assault and male reports of physically aggressive harassment such that reporting increased into middle age and then declined. Non-linear age trends in tolerance for sexual harassment have been reported with young women being less tolerant than older women of sexual harassment (Ford & Donis, 1996). Age effects in reported sexual victimization may be linked to age-related differences in tolerance for sexual harassment.
Limitations exist due to the structure and specificity of our data. The cross-sectional nature of our data prohibited us from examining how political differences influenced reports of harassment or assault over time and vice versa. Political identity and ideology are not fixed attributes and can change in response to experiences of sexual victimization. Longitudinal data are required to determine the casual pathway between political identity or ideology and sexual harassment or assault. We also did not have any information regarding the severity or frequency of the reported harassment or assault. Our categorization of sexual harassment into harassment (not physically aggressive), physically aggressive harassment, and sexual assault nevertheless does provide meaningful groupings for analyses; an improvement to standard practices and a means to promote definitional clarity and loosely approximate severity. For behavioral reactions or responses assessed in relation to a “sexually harassing or abusive experience,” details regarding the incident itself remain unknown (e.g., harassment/abuse type and recency). We were thus unable to examine differences in reactions by harassment type and or generational effects. All data were self-report and therefore subject to participant reporting bias or memory inaccuracies. Data collection also occurred at two time points 4 days apart and did not include a lifetime exposure to violence measure. It is recommended that surveys on sexual harassment and assault be administered at a single time point and inquire about personal trauma history to improve methodological rigor and better adjust for differences in reporting and reactions to sexual victimization.
Sexual harassment and assault have become a core issue in contemporary society. Fueled by the 2017 #MeToo social media campaign, public discourse surrounding issues of harassment and assault are increasingly common and political. Based on our findings, we note that party differences do in fact arise when considering reporting and responses to sexual harassment and or assault. On average, Republicans and conservatives are less likely to endorse harassment or assault, especially sexual assault, and also less likely to change their behavior, apart from relinquishing hobbies, activities, or group participation, compared with their respective counterparts. These differences are expected to affect bipartisan support for anti-harassment legislation; necessitating the need for future research on sexual harassment to include participant political information. Research efforts should also aim to explore how and why these differences arise as there are no obvious explanations for the noted discrepancy in victimization. Understanding the gap between political groups regarding sexual harassment experiences and responses may help promote a dialogue on the issue and foster national consensus that sexual harassment and assault is not to be tolerated.
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