From 2019: Synaptic and brain-expressed gene sets relate to the shared genetic risk across five psychiatric disorders

Synaptic and brain-expressed gene sets relate to the shared genetic risk across five psychiatric disorders. Anke R. Hammerschlag, Christiaan A. de Leeuw, Christel M. Middeldorp and Tinca J. C. Polderman. Psychological Medicine, July 22 2019. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291719001776

Abstract
Background Mounting evidence shows genetic overlap between multiple psychiatric disorders. However, the biological underpinnings of shared risk for psychiatric disorders are not yet fully uncovered. The identification of underlying biological mechanisms is crucial for the progress in the treatment of these disorders.

Methods We applied gene-set analysis including 7372 gene sets, and 53 tissue-type specific gene-expression profiles to identify sets of genes that are involved in the etiology of multiple psychiatric disorders. We included genome-wide meta-association data of the five psychiatric disorders schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, autism spectrum disorder, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. The total dataset contained 159 219 cases and 262 481 controls.

Results We identified 19 gene sets that were significantly associated with the five psychiatric disorders combined, of which we excluded five sets because their associations were likely driven by schizophrenia only. Conditional analyses showed independent effects of several gene sets that in particular relate to the synapse. In addition, we found independent effects of gene expression levels in the cerebellum and frontal cortex.

Conclusions We obtained novel evidence for shared biological mechanisms that act across psychiatric disorders and we showed that several gene sets that have been related to individual disorders play a role in a broader range of psychiatric disorders.

Discussion

The current gene-set analyses revealed various new sets of genes – in particular related to the synapse and neuronal functions – and gene-expression profiles of multiple brain tissues that play a role in shared genetic risk across five psychiatric disorders. The most strongly associated gene set was the highly-brain-expressed genes, which has previously been related to ASD (Pinto et al., 2014). However, as this gene set contains over 5000 genes with many different functions, this observation particularly confirms the polygenic nature of psychiatric disorders and its association with brain processes. This finding is in concordance with our tissue-type analysis, which showed the importance of gene expression of brain tissues for psychiatric disorders. Gene expression profiles of the cerebellum showed the strongest association, which confirms studies reporting cerebellar dysfunction in various psychiatric disorders (Phillips et al., 2015). Our finding of an additional effect of expression profiles of the frontal cortex is supported by observations that dysfunction of this region and related networks underlie cognitive and behavioral disturbances in psychiatric disorders (Fornito et al., 2015).

In addition, we identified multiple gene sets related to the synapse, which aligns with synaptic functions of several identified genes for multiple individual psychiatric disorders (Schizophrenia Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, 2014; Wray et al., 2018; Demontis et al., 2019; Grove et al., 2019; Stahl et al., 2019). Three of these gene sets point to a specific role of calcium channels, a well-established mechanism related to SCZ (Ripke et al., 2013; Schizophrenia Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, 2014; Pardinas et al., 2018) and suggested for BP and MDD as well (Cross-Disorder Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, 2013b; Wray et al., 2018). A common role across additional disorders is further supported by a cross-disorder genome-wide meta-analysis reporting genes related to the functioning of these channels (Schork et al., 2019). We also replicated a cross-disorder role for the postsynapse, although our findings do not support the previously reported role of histone and immune pathways (The Network and Pathway Analysis Subgroup of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, 2015). The target genes of MIR137, a microRNA that is one of the best replicated genetic risk factors for SCZ (Cross-Disorder Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, 2013b; Ripke et al., 2013; Pardinas et al., 2018), have not been implicated yet in other disorders and we now show that alterations in this network of genes are likely also involved in other psychiatric disorders. Multiple studies have reported the involvement of MIR137 in synaptic function, by regulating synaptogenesis, synapse maturation and synaptic transmission (Strazisar et al., 2014; Verma et al., 2015; He et al., 2018). Furthermore, our results suggest a shared role for FMRP targets which have previously been related to SCZ and ASD based on CNVs (Pinto et al., 2014; Szatkiewicz et al., 2014), de novo mutations (Iossifov et al., 2012; Fromer et al., 2014), rare variants (Purcell et al., 2014), and common variants (Schizophrenia Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, 2014; Jansen et al., 2017; Pardinas et al., 2018). FMRP is an RNA-binding protein involved in the regulation of translation. The binding transcripts code mainly for postsynaptic proteins (Darnell et al., 2011), and loss of FMRP results in widespread deficits in synaptic plasticity (Darnell and Klann, 2013). Taken together, all identified gene sets converge to an important contribution of communication between neurons, which is supported by the implication of a more common role of altered cortical connectivity in psychiatric disorders (Fornito et al., 2015).

Of note, the biological annotations of gene sets comprise a complex and challenging process, e.g., due to the multiple functions of many genes and incomplete knowledge. The construction of gene sets is in general based on different approaches such as shared cellular mechanism, co-expression patterns, protein-protein interaction, or co-localization. Hence, sets of genes may be based upon different inclusion criteria, creating an overlap between gene sets, as also illustrated by the current study. Clearly, it is important to recognize the impact of particular annotations on gene-set analysis results and their biological interpretation.

To address this issue of confounding and redundancy in gene sets, we applied conditional analyses. This provided insight in how different gene-set associations relate to each other, and whether identified functions may not be biologically relevant to the disorders but rather induced by confounding factors (de Leeuw et al., 2018). Brain-specific gene expression could be such a general confounder for our identified synaptic and neuronal gene sets, but the conditional analyses demonstrated that most of their associated signals were independent of brain expression levels. The conditional analyses between the identified gene sets revealed that part of these gene-set associations is not independent, which might be induced by a more extensive underlying function. Nevertheless, several independent associations suggest that multiple synaptic mechanisms are contributing risk factors for psychiatric disorders. These mechanisms may serve as starting points for future functional studies to disentangle their relation to psychiatric disorders, and potentially provide a first resource for the identification of drug targets and for drug repositioning (Breen et al., 2016).

Our cross-disorder gene-set and gene-property analyses are built on a meta-analysis of the gene-based associations with the individual disorders, therefore possible opposite effects of genetic variants are not taken into account. To explore if genetic variants are related to multiple disorders but with opposite effects, we performed an SNP-based meta-analysis of the five disorders and conducted a gene-set and gene-property analysis based on those results. In this analysis, genetic variants with opposite effects across disorders are cancelled out. Although these results showed strong correlations with the original analysis, we detected differences in association strength that point to partial differences in direction of SNP effects between the disorders for most identified gene sets. Interestingly, the effects on calcium channel activity are unidirectional across disorders. The outcome of different effects across disorders is supported by the recent finding that the highly correlated disorders SCZ and BD are differentiated by several genetic loci with opposite directions of effects (Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, 2018). It has indeed been shown that in addition to genetic variants with effects on a general dimension of cross-disorder liability, specific variants uniquely differentiate between psychiatric disorders (Grotzinger et al., 2019). Furthermore, the general cross-disorder liability could reflect biological mechanisms that are related to specific overlapping symptoms, e.g. sleep disturbances, depressive symptoms and cognitive problems. This hypothesis is supported by the finding that polygenic components underlie multiple symptom dimensions of SCZ and BD (Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, 2018). Exploring the biological mechanisms that may drive specific symptoms across disorders is therefore required to further advance our understanding of the complexity of the genetic overlap. Moreover, the identification of these mechanisms may help to develop individual-centered therapy driven by symptoms instead of general disorders. Moving the focus from dichotomies to the level of the individual is required to advance precision medicine (Senn, 2018).

We note that the associations of our identified gene sets were to a large extent driven by SCZ. This is in line with previous studies that reported multiple gene sets associated with SCZ (Ripke et al., 2013; Schizophrenia Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, 2014; Pardinas et al., 2018). Yet, hardly any gene sets have been detected for other psychiatric disorders despite the recent successes in identifying many genetic loci for multiple disorders that resulted from the fast increase in sample sizes that approach, or even exceed, the sample sizes of SCZ studies. This suggests that less successful findings for disorders such as MDD are unlikely a result of less statistical power. One possible explanation is that the identified gene sets of the current study have a true stronger effect on SCZ. One could also speculate that that SCZ has a different genetic architecture, or is less genetically heterogeneous compared to other disorders, but future studies are needed to address these issues.

In conclusion, the current study provides novel evidence for shared biological mechanisms that act across psychiatric disorders based on gene-set and gene-property analyses. We showed that several gene sets that previously only had been associated with individual disorders also play a role in a broader range of psychiatric disorders, supporting the view of a common pathogenesis across disorders. This indicates that the genetic overlap between disorders is not randomly distributed, but can be explained by specific biological mechanisms. The strongest evidence in our results was for the involvement of synaptic functions, and gene expression profiles of the cerebellum and frontal cortex. The genetic data collection of additional psychiatric disorders is rapidly increasing and will make it possible to extend our analyses to other disorders in the near future. Understanding the shared biological mechanisms between psychiatric disorders may provide a hint towards a general vulnerability for multiple psychiatric disorders, and could result in potential treatment for a broad spectrum of psychiatric disorders.

Crocodile tears: Pretenders are seen as significantly more manipulative, less reliable, less warm, less competent; are less welcomed as friends, colleagues, neighbors, & babysitter

The damaging effects of perceived crocodile tears for an individual’s image. Inge van Roeyen, Madelon Riem, Marko Toncic and Ad Vingerhoets. Front. Psychol. Jan 2020. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00172

Abstract: Emotional tears are uniquely human and play an essential role in the communication of distress in adults. Several studies have shown that individuals are more willing to offer emotional support and help a person in tears. Preliminary evidence suggests that this greater willingness to provide support is mediated via perceived warmth and helplessness. Moreover, tearful individuals are regarded as more reliable and honest. In the current study, we examined whether people can reliably distinguish genuine and fake crying, and what the further consequences for the evaluation of the crier are. A total of 202 participants (73 men, 129 women) were exposed to brief movie clips of genuine and fake crying adults and were asked to evaluate the criers. Results show that women were slightly better at identifying fake and genuine crying. How the crying was perceived subsequently seemed to have a strong influence on the further evaluation of the "crier." Criers regarded as pretenders were perceived as significantly more manipulative, less reliable, less warm, and less competent. Further, the respondents felt less connected with the perceived pretenders, who were less welcomed as friends, colleagues, neighbors, and babysitter. They were also qualified as significantly less fit for "reliable" professions (judge, teacher, police officer, scientist, and physician). In contrast, the ratings of their fitness for "unreliable" professions (banker, CEO, journalist, real estate salesman, and politician) yielded a significant difference in only one video clip (and contrary to expectations). Our findings thus indicate that the subjective labeling of crying as fake is associated with a significantly less positive perception of the "crying" person, regardless of whether the crying is actually fake or genuine. Crocodile tears thus seem to be associated with a severe risk of a damaging effect for a crier's image.

Keywords: Crying, Tears, Genuine, image, Perception

Men's odds of marriage are decreased by working in predominantly female occupations; working in a predominately female occupation increases the odds that men have never married by ages 30 & 40

Occupational Sex Composition and Marriage: The Romantic Cost of Gender‐Atypical Jobs. Elizabeth Aura McClintock. Journal of Marriage and Family, January 22 2020. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12657

Abstract: The author considers the mechanisms by which occupational sex composition (the proportion of women and men in an occupation) might be associated with romantic transitions in the United States. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 to 2014, the author estimates the odds of marriage during a period of 35 years as a function of occupational and personal characteristics. Men's odds of marriage are decreased by working in predominately female occupations (75%–100% female) when compared with working in predominately male occupations (0%–25% female) or integrated (26%–74% female) occupations. Also, working in a predominately female occupation increases the odds that men have never married by ages 30 and 40. Women's odds of marriage are unrelated to occupational sex composition. Although the author focuses on marriage, the results are robust to including cohabitation as a competing risk. The author uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health 1994 to 2008 to replicate these findings in a more recent cohort with additional control variables. The romantic penalty for men's occupational gender atypicality demonstrates the continued devaluation of female activities and attributes and the resulting rigidity of expectations for men's gendered behavior, which may reinforce occupational segregation.

The “mystical stance” – the capacity to become immersed in the religious experience, to enter into trance states, arose as one of several mechanisms we developed to bond our relatively large social groups

Dunbar, RIM. 2019. “Religion, the Social Brain and the Mystical Stance.” Archive for Psychology of Religion. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:259dc012-8806-4ca6-92f2-2eaf1ff6c002

Abstract: This paper explores the implications of the social brain and the endorphin-based bonding mechanism that underpins it for the evolution of religion. I argue that religion evolved as one of the behavioural mechanisms designed to facilitate community bonding when humans first evolved the larger social groups of ~150 that now characterise our species. This is not a matter of facilitating cooperation, but of engineering social cohesion – a very different problem. Analysis of the size of C19th utopian communities suggests that a religious basis both allowed larger groups to form and greatly enhanced their longevity. I suggest that religion evolved in two stages: an early immersive form with no formal structure based on trance-dancing (a form still evident in the rituals and practices of many hunter-gatherers) and a later form which had more formal structures and gave rise to our modern doctrinal religions. I argue that the modern doctrinal religions did not replace ancestral immersive religions but rather that the doctrinal component was overlain on the ancient immersive form, thereby giving rise to the mystical stance that underlies all world religions. I suggest that it is this mystical stance that causes the constant upwelling of cults and sects within world religions.

Key words: community bonding, endorphins, trance, immersive religion


Conclusions

In this article, I have proposed an alternative view of the evolution of religion that combines the social brain hypothesis with the neurobiology of social bonding. I argue that the predominant focus on the cognitive and formal ritual aspects of religion overlooks what may, in fact, be by far the most important aspect of religion and the reason why people believe and behave religiously. This is the emotional “raw feels” component that arises from engaging in religious rituals. This phenomenon is what I refer to as the “mystical stance” – the capacity to become immersed in the religious experience, to enter into trance states. This arose, I suggest, as one of several mechanisms that humans developed to bond their relatively large social groups. I suggest that the doctrinal aspects of the modern world religions have simply been grafted onto this ancient substrate, and that this may explain some peculiar features of modern doctrinal religions such as their constant tendency to fragment into sects and cults. Doctrinal (or world) religions as we know them seem to date only from the Neolithic, even though the cognitive capacities that are necessary for modern religions (mentalising and language) long predate this. They seem to have arisen as a mechanism for bonding large numbers of people living in relatively cramped conditions. Although Neanderthals and other archaic humans may well have had both religion and language, the cognitive evidence unequivocally suggests that these would have been less sophisticated than those found in modern humans. This implies that religion as we know it (but still in its immersive, adoctrinal form) only arose with the appearance of modern humans around 200,000 years ago.

Gore on climate: This is Thermopylae. This is Agincourt. This is Dunkirk. This is the Battle of the Bulge. This is 9/11

Al Gore compares climate crisis to historic events like 9/11. Sam Meredith. CNBC, Jan 23 2020. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/22/wef-2020-al-gore-compares-climate-emergency-to-historic-events.html

Delivering closing remarks at a World Economic Forum panel session on Wednesday, Gore spoke passionately about the climate emergency.

At one stage, the co-founder of Generation Investment Management compared the scale of the crisis to a number of infamous historic events.

It is “way worse” than many realize and intensifying “way faster” than people appreciate, Gore said.

“This is Thermopylae. This is Agincourt. This is Dunkirk. This is the Battle of the Bulge. This is 9/11,” he added.

Gore’s comments follow the the hottest year on record for the world’s oceans, the second-hottest year for global average temperatures, and wildfires from the U.S. to the Amazon to Australia.


Check also The climate crisis is not just about the environment, but about human rights, justice, & political will; colonial, racist, & patriarchal systems of oppression have created & fueled it; they must be dismantled:

Why We Strike Again. Greta Thunberg, Luisa Neubauer, Angela Valenzuela. Project Syndicate, Nov 29, 2019. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2019/12/the-climate-crisis-is-not-just-about.html

A surprising fact about the 2016 election is that Trump received fewer votes from whites with the highest levels of racial resentment than Romney did in 2012

Who Put Trump in the White House? Explaining the Contribution of Voting Blocs to Trump’s Victory. Justin Grimmer, William Marble. ecember 12, 2019. https://williammarble.co/docs/vb.pdf

Abstract: A surprising fact about the 2016 election is that Trump received fewer votes from whites with the highest levels of racial resentment than Romney did in 2012. This fact is surprising given studies that emphasize “activation” of racial conservatism in 2016—the increased relationship between vote choice and racial attitudes among voters. But this relationship provides almost no information about how many votes candidates receive from individuals with particular attitudes. To understand how many votes a voting bloc contributes to a candidate’s total, we must also consider a bloc’s size and its turnout rate. Taking these into account, we find that Trump’s most significant gains came from whites with moderate attitudes about race and immigration. Trump’s vote totals improved the most among swing voters: low-socioeconomic status whites who are political moderates. Our analysis demonstrates that focusing only on vote choice is insufficient to explain sources of candidate support in the electorate.


4 Conclusion
In this paper we demonstrate that the common practice of regressing vote choice on individual characteristics is largely uninformative about where a candidate support lies in the electorate. This is because vote choice is only one component of the contribution of voting blocs to a
candidate’s vote total. We must also know how prevalent a group is in the electorate and the turnout rate of the group to know how much a group contributes to a candidate’s vote total. Taking these three components into account, we first show that even though racial and ethnic attitudes were activated in 2016, they did not contribute a distinctive number of votes to Trump. We show that Trump’s net vote total among whites with the highest levels of racial resentment was smaller than Romney’s. Further, we find that Trump’s relative support grew more among white moderates on immigration than among white conservatives on immigration, and that Trump received an almost identical share of votes from former Obama voters as Romney. Rather than these explanations, we show that Trump received an increase in relative support among low-SES whites who are independents and political moderates. We find Trump gained support among whites who are disabled and retired, but we see only limited evidence that Trump gained support among whites who reside in depressed economic contexts. Our analyses cannot answer causal questions about the optimal campaign strategy for a candidate, nor does it provide conclusive evidence about who campaigns should target to win elections. Yet, our results do show that Trump improved over Romney among voters who are regularly identified as “swing” voters (Hill, 2017). These voters casted more votes for Trump in 2016 than they did Romney in 2012, and this group of voters supported Clinton at much lower rates than they supported Obama. Despite concerns about ideological polarization, increased partisan acrimony, and low engagement among independents, these findings imply that white swing voters comprise an important voting bloc for presidential campaigns and are likely to remain so in future elections. Of course, as the electorate becomes less white, other racial groups are likely to comprise this crucial group of swing voters (Barreto and Segura, 2014; Fraga, 2018). Our results also show that analyses that focus on activation of attitudes overstate the importance of racial and immigration conservatives to Trump’s victory. For example, Sides, Tesler and Vavreck (2019) argue white racial and immigration conservatives who switched from Obama to Trump were pivotal to Trump’s victory in close states. Their evidence, how
ever, is based on regressions of vote switching on racial and ethnic attitudes among white voters in close states and not an explicit calculation of votes. To do the vote calculation, we replicate our analysis on immigration attitudes subsetting to respondents who voted for Obama in the prior election.15 We find that among former Obama voters, Trump improved his relative support most among moderates on the immigration scale, despite clear evidence from the vote choice term that immigration was activated in 2016 among former Obama voters. However, there are very few people who reported voting for Obama in the previous election with very conservative immigration attitudes. Thus, our main findings about immigration—the Trump benefited from gains among moderate—are replicated even among former Obama voters. Of course, in close elections small groups of voters can swing the outcome. However, there are many such groups of potentially pivotal voters. Our results show that explanations that focus on activation alone miss the largest changes in the electorate. Methodologically, our paper demonstrates that if the goal is to explain election results, studying only the correlation between attitudes and vote choice among those who turn out to vote is insufficient to know where a candidate receives votes. And worse, focusing only on vote choice can produce misleading or outright incorrect estimates of where a candidate receives support. The implications of this are far reaching for how social scientists explain the results of elections and how they use experiments to make recommendations for campaign strategy. If the goal of the activation literature is understanding why a candidate won an election, then much of the current practice of how elections are analyzed needs to be expanded to also include measures of turnout and composition. Further, the activation literature’s focus on vote choice and attitudes does not eliminate the need to consider turnout rates or changes in composition. In fact, regressions of vote choice on attitudes could still be deeply biased by differential turnout across attitude levels or changes in composition of attitudes in the electorate. For example, by focusing only on vote choice of those who turnout, there is a clear selection issue: only those individuals who vote can report a vote choice. As a result, even in studies focused on activation, differential turnout could create an impression of attitude
activation when actually the differences across elections are due solely to differential changes in turnout (Nyhan, Skovron and Titiunik, 2017; Knox, Lowe and Mummolo, 2019). Our results also have implications for experimental analyses of campaign strategies. For example, experimentalists regularly run interventions focused on vote choice and use the results to assess the efficacy of particular campaign strategies. But our analysis shows that it is also essential to consider the share of the electorate who could receive the treatment, how the treatment affects turnout, and the vote choice among those treated. Without including this information, experimental analyses could provide misleading estimates on how a strategy could affect a candidate’s vote total. Our simple statistics and quantities of interest provide the relevant quantities for understanding where a candidate’s support increases in the electorate.

Across primate species, immature females demonstrate greater interest in infants than males do, likely because practice with infant care increases a mother's chance of keeping her baby alive

Sex Differences in Primate Social Relationships During Development. Joyce F. Benenson. In The Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology and Behavioral Endocrinology. Edited by Lisa L. M. Welling and Todd K. Shackelford. May 2019. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190649739.013.3

Abstract: The chapter focuses on the social development of immature primates across several species in the Cercopithecidae and Hominidae families, in particular rhesus macaques, the great apes, and humans. The chapter provides an overview of critical factors that characterize the rearing environments of immature females and males, including social structure, residence patterns, and dominance relations. Regardless of rearing environment, consistent sex differences in immatures occur in relationships with mothers, adult males, same-sex peers, and infants. Additionally, sex differences regularly are found in rates of development, quests for dominance, frequency of social play, and rate and intensity of direct aggression across species.

Keywords: Sex differences, primates, social relationships, development, social behavior, dominance, aggression, social play

Religious attendance as factors in wellbeing and social engagement

Religiosity and religious attendance as factors in wellbeing and social engagement. R.I.M. Dunbar. Religion, Brain & Behavior, Jan 22 2020. https://doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2020.1712618

ABSTRACT: There is accumulating evidence that being an active member of a social community predicts health, wellbeing and even survival. I use data from an online survey to determine whether religious behavior has the same effect. The results suggest that religiosity and attendance at religious services most strongly affect engagement with the local community and through that the numbers of friends someone has, as well as the level of trust in the local community and bondedness with friends and family. However, they seem to have little direct impact on happiness or life satisfaction. Frequency of attendance at religious services (but not private prayer) is associated with a larger sympathy group and a greater sense of bonding to congregation members. I suggest that regular attendees may feel they can count on the emotional support of congregation members more readily than they can conventional friends and family because they interact with them more often.

KEYWORDS: Wellbeing, happiness, trust, support clique, religiosity, emotional support

Discussion

This study yields two main findings. First, in contrast to the context of feasting, religiosity and religious attendance form a close knit functional unit that is somewhat separated off from other aspects of people’s psychological and sociological domains, with few direct effects on these two aspects of their behavior. Second, attendance at religious functions (but not religiosity indices or private prayer to quite the same extent) positively influences both the size of the sympathy group and the sense of engagement in the local community (by which is meant the wider community, not just the congregation), as well as bondedness to other members of the congregation.
Note that engagement with the wider community increases roughly linearly with frequency of attendance, but sympathy group size seems to involve more of a phase transition that suddenly rises to a new level once attendance reaches a certain level (at least once a week). Conventionally, people list only 3–7 individuals in their support clique—a finding that has been reported consistently across studies (Sutcliffe et al., 2012). We see much the same pattern among those who attend religious functions only intermittently (once a month or less): in Figure 2(a), these average a very consistent 7. Those who attend religious services at least once a week, however, list around 20 individuals, or three times as many as the societal norm. It could be that those who attend services frequently are over-enthusiastic in rating their relationships with other people. However, an alternative explanation may be that seeing and interacting with a large number of people at a daily or weekly service creates the sense of bonding intensity normally associated with support cliques. Weekly interaction is the frequency required for creating and maintaining the intense bonds found among best friends (the inner core of ∼5 most intimate friends and family that form the support clique) (Sutcliffe et al., 2012). It may be no accident that the Abrahamic religions, at least, enjoin their members to attend a weekly service.
This sense of belonging or bondedness may well be compounded by the belief that shared interests and beliefs (Dunbar, 2018) and the charitable demands of most religions will make fellow congregation members (but not strangers, and perhaps not even less religious friends) more willing to provide the kinds of intense, time-costly emotional support that one would normally expect only from a member of one’s support clique. In effect, being a member of a congregation that meets regularly may create a large support clique that one can rely on. People who were more assiduous in their attendance at religious services also felt more engaged with the wider community within which they lived (many of whom they will not know personally). This second finding suggests that actively religious people may indeed be genuinely more willing to invest time and effort into the welfare of other people (i.e., behave altruistically for the greater good of the community).
In retrospect, it would have been desirable to have included questions on both the size of the subject’s congregation and how long subjects had been a member. It may be that the size of the congregation directly affected how many people were listed in the support clique and sympathy group for the reasons suggested above. A more important complication is that there is a potential confound between frequency of attendance at services and how long someone has been attending a particular place of worship: it may be that the effects attributed to attendance in these analyses are in fact due to length of association with a particular congregation (and hence familiarity with its members). Future studies should consider these variables.
Contrary to some previous studies (Francis, Ziebertz, & Lewis, 2003; Mookerjee & Beron, 2005), the survey found less evidence that religious people, or those who attended religious functions more often, were consistently happier, or more satisfied with their lives. This suggests that any beneficial effects of an actively religious life come not through elevated feelings of happiness and contentment, but through the communal moral, social, and perhaps financial support provided by the congregation and the sense of belonging that a close-knit congregation creates. Historically, congregations have usually been the main source of financial support for parishioners who have fallen on hard times. Examples include both the Poor Roll in English and Scottish parishes that, for over two centuries until the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, provided poor relief for the destitute with funds raised by charitable donations from the congregation, as well as the Islamic tradition that charity to beggars may be not refused on a Friday.
The results strongly suggest that it is active participation in the religious services that is important, rather than merely a sense of being religious. Religiosity certainly plays a role, as does engaging in private religious activities like prayer, but Figure 1 rather strongly suggests that there is a causal sequence running from private prayer to religiosity to regular attendance, which in turn creates a greater commitment to being engaged with the wider community. From this, there is a small residual effect the leads to larger sympathy and support groups. This suggests that it is the active participation in communal rituals, not the belief state or predisposition to believe, that is instrumental in creating these psycho-social effects and benefits. It may be that the particular beliefs of a religion serve a different function—such as persuading people to keep turning up to the regular religious services (Dunbar, 2013) or to maintain an appropriate degree of moral rectitude (the supernatural punishment hypothesis: Johnson, 2005).

How to get along with your tc

From absolutecarrot blog, no date, Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/search/absolutecarrot, accessed Jan 23 2020:

How to get along with your tc
These are my notes I found in a folder from a while back, I hope they help :^)

Also keep in mind that these are my personal notes that I have found work for me, so they may not work for everyone, and feel free to add anything you think is useful

⦁        Always try to be happy
⦁        Don’t overthink
⦁        Be funny
⦁        Don’t be clingy (but be excited to see them, there’s a difference)
⦁        Smile a lot, laugh at their jokes
⦁        Compliment them
⦁        Listen to them, remember the small things
⦁        Act mature, don’t act childish/stupid
⦁        Be relaxed, don’t be jumpy
⦁        Be confident
⦁        Don’t talk about trauma
⦁        Talk to them as much as you can, it doesn’t matter what you say, as long as you say something
⦁        Seem interested, ask how their day/weekend was
⦁        Stand out, be quirky, be someone they remember
⦁        Tease them (nicknames, inside jokes, ect.)
⦁        Take care of yourself (shower, workout, dress nice, be presentable)
⦁        Maybe accidentally get caught staring a couple times ;)
⦁        Eye contact
⦁        Try not to get jealous, they have a lot of students so they can’t give all their attention to you 24/7, but that doesn’t mean they don’t like you
⦁        I know I said this already but inside jokes are always fun and something they remember
⦁        Light physical contact (high five, fist bump, an accidental brush, ect.)

Contrary to previous findings, higher psychopathic traits were not associated with higher liking ratings for bitter stimuli, but instead associated with higher disgust ratings

Exploring the Relationship Between Psychopathy and Taste Perception. Mehmet K. Mahmut & Breanna Banzer, Chemosensory Perception, Jan 23 2020. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12078-020-09278-9

Abstract
Introduction  Higher psychopathic traits have been consistently associated with poorer olfactory abilities; however, only one study as reported by Sagioglou and Greitemeyer (Appetite 96:299-308, 2016) has explored whether psychopathy is linked to taste perception. Using self-report measures, Sagioglou and Greitemeyer (2016) found higher psychopathic traits were associated with higher liking ratings for bitter stimuli. The aim of the current study was to determine whether direct assessment of taste perception was linked with psychopathic traits.

Methods Seventy-eight participants (41 females) rated four tastants (i.e. bitter, sweet, salty and sour), at four concentrations. For each of the 16 stimuli, participants rated how much they liked, how disgusting and how intense they perceived each tastant.

Results  Contrary to previous findings, higher psychopathic traits were not associated with higher liking ratings for bitter stimuli, but instead associated with higher disgust ratings of bitter stimuli. Moreover, higher psychopathic traits were associated with higher taste intensity ratings, suggesting psychopathy may be associated with increased taste sensitivity.

Conclusions  Higher degrees of psychopathic traits are associated with higher disgust ratings of bitter stimuli.

Implications  The findings suggest that the chemical senses may be another confirmatory method for differentiating those with low and high psychopathic traits.

Check also Common, nonsexual masochistic preferences (enjoying the burn of spicy food, disgusting jokes, pounding heart, painful massage) are positively associated with antisocial personality traits:

Common, nonsexual masochistic preferences are positively associated with antisocial personality traits. Christina Sagioglou, Tobias Greitemeyer. Journal of Personality, November 16 2019. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2019/11/common-nonsexual-masochistic.html

Congruence with the president, in terms of party and ideology, matters the most for those with extreme political views, and is deeply linked to their self-reported higher happiness than that of those with moderate political views

Presidential congruence and happiness: the role of extreme political views. Jeremy Jackson. Applied Economics Letters, May 12 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504851.2019.1616061

ABSTRACT: Previous literature has demonstrated that individuals in the US report greater happiness when the president is of the same party that the individual identifies with. It has likewise been demonstrated that individuals with more extreme political views, be they liberal or conservative, report higher happiness than those with moderate political views. This article demonstrates that the relationship between these two dimensions and happiness is not separable. In fact, congruence with the president, in terms of party and ideology, matters the most for those with extreme political views. This is demonstrated by estimation of the interaction effect between political extremism and measures of presidential congruence.

KEYWORDS: Well-being, happiness, partisanship, ideology, politics
JEL CLASSIFICATION: D70, I31

Undergraduate freshmen’s self, parent, and peer ratings of Conscientiousness significantly predicted GPA at graduation; the other four five-factor personality domains did not correlate with undergraduate GPA

Prospective prediction of academic performance in college using self- and informant-rated personality traits. Morgan N. McCredie, John E.Kurtz. Journal of Research in Personality, Volume 85, April 2020, 103911. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2019.103911

Highlights
•    Undergraduate freshmen’s self, parent, and peer ratings of Conscientiousness significantly predicted GPA at graduation.
•    Only peer ratings of Conscientiousness were significant when self, parent, and peer ratings were examined simultaneously.
•    The other four five-factor personality domains did not correlate with undergraduate GPA for any of the three raters.

Abstract: Five-factor personality ratings were provided by undergraduate freshmen, their parents, and their college peers as predictors of cumulative GPA upon graduation. Conscientiousness ratings were significant predictors of GPA by all three raters; peer ratings of Conscientiousness were the only significant predictor of GPA when self-, parent-, and peer-ratings of Conscientiousness were examined simultaneously. College major was a moderator of this relationship, with self- and parent-ratings of Conscientiousness correlating more strongly with GPA among Social Science majors and parent-ratings of Conscientiousness correlating less strongly with GPA among Science majors. These findings replicate existing research regarding the validity of informant ratings as predictors of behavioral outcomes such as academic performance, while emphasizing the importance of including multiple informants from various life contexts.

Moderating uncivil comments leads to lower task accuracy, & to more emotional exhaustion & lower task satisfaction; emotional exhaustion leads to lower comment moderation accuracy

The downsides of digital labor: Exploring the toll incivility takes on online comment moderators. Martin J.Riedl, Gina Masullo Chen, Kelsey N. Whipple. Computers in Human Behavior, January 22 2020, 106262. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106262

Highlights
•    Comment moderation, due to incivility, is a task prone to emotional exhaustion.
•    Moderating uncivil comments leads to lower task accuracy.
•    It also leads to more emotional exhaustion and lower task satisfaction.
•    Mediation effect of emotional exhaustion leads to lower comment moderation accuracy.
•    No effect of moderating uncivil comments on flow, an immersive (work) experience.

Abstract: This study sought to understand the effects of moderating uncivil online comments on the people who do this task. Results from an experiment (N = 747) show that moderating only uncivil comments made moderators less accurate at that task, more emotionally exhausted, and more dissatisfied with the task, relative to moderating only civil comments or a mix of civil and uncivil comments. In addition, results show evidence of a mediation effect. Specifically, moderating all uncivil comments made people more emotionally exhausted, and this exhaustion in turn led people to be less accurate in picking which comments to reject or accept for publication on a news site comment thread. However, moderating comments had no effect on perceptions of flow, an immersive experience, conceptually borne out of the field of positive psychology. Results suggest breaking up strenuous online labor tasks, such as comment moderation, and alternating comment moderation with other types of work to reduce the deleterious effects of the task.

Keywords: Content moderation, Online incivility, Flow theory, Online news comments, Emotional exhaustion, Comment moderation

From 2008: Is it a boy or a girl? The father’s family might provide a clue

From 2008: Trends in Population Sex Ratios May be Explained by Changes in the Frequencies of Polymorphic Alleles of a Sex Ratio Gene. Corry Gellatly. Evolutionary Biology volume 36, pages190–200, December 10 2008. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11692-008-9046-3

Abstract: A test for heritability of the sex ratio in human genealogical data is reported here, with the finding that there is significant heritability of the parental sex ratio by male, but not female offspring. A population genetic model was used to examine the hypothesis that this is the result of an autosomal gene with polymorphic alleles, which affects the sex ratio of offspring through the male reproductive system. The model simulations show that an equilibrium sex ratio may be maintained by frequency dependent selection acting on the heritable variation provided by the gene. It is also shown that increased mortality of pre-reproductive males causes an increase in male births in following generations, which explains why increases in the sex ratio have been seen after wars, also why higher infant and juvenile mortality of males may be the cause of the male-bias typically seen in the human primary sex ratio. It is concluded that various trends seen in population sex ratios are the result of changes in the relative frequencies of the polymorphic alleles of the proposed gene. It is argued that this occurs by common inheritance and that parental resource expenditure per sex of offspring is not a factor in the heritability of sex ratio variation.

Popular writing: Is it a boy or a girl? The father’s family might provide a clue. Robyn Horsager-Boehrer. The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, June 25, 2019. https://utswmed.org/medblog/it-boy-or-girl-fathers-family-might-provide-clue/

Researchers in England set out to determine whether this is true. They downloaded family trees from the Genealogy Forum, then eliminated data they felt weren’t accurate – for instance, people reported as having more than two parents or a discrepancy in an individual's sex. This left researchers with 927 family trees that had at least three generations and included over half a million individuals dating back to 1600.

Their findings were telling. In the computer models, when researchers removed men from the population data before they had a chance to start families, there was an increase in the number of male babies born in the next generation. The researchers also found that the sex ratio for families followed the father's side, not the mother's side. For example, if a man had more brothers, his own children were more likely to be male; if he had more sisters, he was more likely to have daughters. This was not found to be the case for women.

According to this study, the explanation might be due to a gene that controls the balance of X- and Y-carrying sperm. Men carrying a gene that leads to their sperm having more Y chromosomes have more sons. During times of war and large casualties of male soldiers, those families are more likely to have more surviving sons. And when those men have children, they, like their fathers, might be more likely to have baby boys. This could account for the temporary increase in the sex ratio for that time period.

Optimal Subjective Age Bias: Feeling Younger by a Set Amount, but No More, Is Beneficial for Life Satisfaction

Blöchl, Maria, Steffen Nestler, and David Weiss. 2020. “An Optimal Margin of Subjective Age Bias: Feeling Younger by a Set Amount, but No More, Is Beneficial for Life Satisfaction.” PsyArXiv. January 22. doi:10.31234/osf.io/pfxqh

Abstract: The majority of adults feels considerably younger than their chronological age. Numerous studies suggest that maintaining a youthful subjective age promotes successful ageing, but the extent to which feeling younger promotes life satisfaction is not well understood. Here, we use polynomial regression models and response surface methodology to accurately model and test the relationships between subjective age, chronological age, and life satisfaction in in a large sample spanning adulthood (N = 7,356; 36 – 89 years). We find that people who feel younger by a certain amount, but not more (or less), are most satisfied with their life. In addition, our findings suggest that the optimal discrepancy between subjective and chronological age increases across adulthood. These findings support an optimal margin perspective of the subjective age bias and highlight that beyond a certain point, distancing oneself from one’s own age may be psychologically harmful.

The past is regularly the only thing that can determine present social realities such as commitments, entitlements, & obligations; episodic memory may have developed only once humans were able to represent the social effects of events

Witnessing, Remembering, and Testifying: Why the Past Is Special for Human Beings. Johannes B. Mahr, Gergely Csibra. Perspectives on Psychological Science, January 21, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691619879167

Abstract: The past is undeniably special for human beings. To a large extent, both individuals and collectives define themselves through history. Moreover, humans seem to have a special way of cognitively representing the past: episodic memory. As opposed to other ways of representing knowledge, remembering the past in episodic memory brings with it the ability to become a witness. Episodic memory allows us to determine what of our knowledge about the past comes from our own experience and thereby what parts of the past we can give testimony about. In this article, we aim to give an account of the special status of the past by asking why humans have developed the ability to give testimony about it. We argue that the past is special for human beings because it is regularly, and often principally, the only thing that can determine present social realities such as commitments, entitlements, and obligations. Because the social effects of the past often do not leave physical traces behind, remembering the past and the ability to bear testimony it brings is necessary for coordinating social realities with other individuals.

Keywords: episodic memory, testimony, commitments

Inferences of Parenting Ability from Bodily Cues: High-fat female targets were perceived to have more positive & less negative parenting abilities; breast size did not influence perceptions of female parenting ability

Dad and Mom Bods? Inferences of Parenting Ability from Bodily Cues. Donald F. Sacco, Kaitlyn Holifield, Kelsey Drea, Mitch Brown & Alicia Macchione. Evolutionary Psychological Science, Jan 22 2020. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40806-020-00229-x

Abstract: Though much research has explored how facial and bodily features connote heritable fitness, particularly in the context of short-term mating, such cues similarly may influence perceptions of potential parenting ability. The current study explored how body fat variation and breast size in female targets and body fat and muscularity variation in male targets influence men’s and women’s perceptions of targets’ positive (e.g., nurturance) and negative (e.g., hostility) parenting capacities. Participants viewed 4 female targets orthogonally manipulated along dimensions of adiposity (high vs. low) and breast size (small vs. large), and 4 male targets orthogonally manipulated along similar adiposity dimensions and muscularity (small vs. large) before indicating targets’ inferred parenting ability. High-fat female targets were perceived to have more positive and less negative parenting abilities relative to low-fat female targets, an effect that was most pronounced among women; breast size did not influence perceptions of female parenting ability. For male targets, high fat and small muscles were perceived as more indicative of positive parenting abilities and less indicative toward negative abilities; the low body fat/high muscle male target was perceived to have especially negative parenting abilities. These results suggest body cues often associated with good genes and short-term mating success also systematically influence perceptions of parenting ability.

Declines in Religiosity Predict Increases in Violent Crime—but Not Among Countries With Relatively High Average IQ

Declines in Religiosity Predict Increases in Violent Crime—but Not Among Countries With Relatively High Average IQ. Cory J. Clark et al. Psychological Science, January 21, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619897915

Abstract: Many scholars have argued that religion reduces violent behavior within human social groups. Here, we tested whether intelligence moderates this relationship. We hypothesized that religion would have greater utility for regulating violent behavior among societies with relatively lower average IQs than among societies with relatively more cognitively gifted citizens. Two studies supported this hypothesis. Study 1, a longitudinal analysis from 1945 to 2010 (with up to 176 countries and 1,046 observations), demonstrated that declines in religiosity were associated with increases in homicide rates—but only in countries with relatively low average IQs. Study 2, a multiverse analysis (171 models) using modern data (97–195 countries) and various controls, consistently confirmed that lower rates of religiosity were more strongly associated with higher homicide rates in countries with lower average IQ. These findings raise questions about how secularization might differentially affect groups of different mean cognitive ability.

Keywords: IQ, intelligence, self-control, religion, religiosity, crime, violence, open data, open materials, preregistered

Not replicable: Self-objectified women might themselves contribute to the maintenance of the patriarchal status quo, for instance, by participating less in collective action

Two Preregistered Direct Replications of “Objects Don’t Object: Evidence That Self-Objectification Disrupts Women’s Social Activism”. Matthias De Wilde et al. Psychological Science, January 21, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619896273

Abstract: Self-objectification has been claimed to induce numerous detrimental consequences for women at the individual level (e.g., sexual dysfunction, depression, eating disorders). Additionally, at the collective level, it has been proposed that self-objectified women might themselves contribute to the maintenance of the patriarchal status quo, for instance, by participating less in collective action. In 2013, Calogero found a negative link between self-objectification and collective action, which was mediated by the adoption of gender-specific system justification. Here, we report two preregistered direct replications (PDRs) of Calogero’s original study. We conducted these PDRs after three failures to replicate the positive relation between self-objectification and gender-specific system-justification belief in correlational studies. Results of the two PDRs, in which we used a Bayesian approach, supported the null hypothesis. This work has important theoretical implications because it challenges the role attributed to self-objectified women in the maintenance of patriarchy.

Keywords: self-objectification, system justification, reproducibility, mini meta-analysis, open data, open materials, preregistered

Forgetfulness contributes to the maintenance of a positive and coherent self-image (“Guardian”), the facilitation of efficient cognitive function ("Librarian"), & the development of a creative and flexible worldview (“Inventor”)

The Many Faces of Forgetting: Toward a Constructive View of Forgetting in Everyday Life. Jonathan M.Fawcett, Justin C.Hulbert. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, January 21 2020.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jarmac.2019.11.002

Abstract: Forgetting is often considered a fundamental cognitive failure, reflecting the undesirable and potentially embarrassing inability to retrieve a sought-after experience or fact. For this reason, forgetfulness has been argued to form the basis of many problems associated with our memory system. We highlight instead how forgetfulness serves many purposes within our everyday experience, giving rise to some of our best characteristics. Drawing from cognitive, neuroscientific, and applied research, we contextualize our findings in terms of their contributions along three important (if not entirely independent) roles supported by forgetting, namely (a) the maintenance of a positive and coherent self-image (“Guardian”), (b) the facilitation of efficient cognitive function (“Librarian”), and (c) the development of a creative and flexible worldview (“Inventor”). Together, these roles depict an expanded understanding of how forgetting provides memory with many of its cardinal virtues.
The Many Faces of Forgetting: Toward a Constructive View of Forgetting in Everyday Life. Jonathan M.Fawcett, Justin C.Hulbert. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, January 21 2020.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jarmac.2019.11.002

UK: Wind farms paid up to £3 million per day to not produce electricity last week, between 25 pct & 80 pct more than the firms, which own giant wind farms in Scotland, would have received had they been producing electricity

Wind farms paid up to £3 million per day to switch off turbines. Edward Malnick. The Telegraph, January 19 2020. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/01/19/wind-farms-paid-3-million-per-day-switch-turbines

Wind farms were paid up to £3 million per day to switch off their turbines and not produce electricity last week, The Telegraph can disclose.

Excerpts:

Energy firms were handed more than £12 million in compensation following a fault with a major power line carrying electricity to England from turbines in Scotland.

The payouts, which will ultimately be added onto consumer bills,were between 25 per cent and 80 per cent more than the firms, which own giant wind farms in Scotland, would have received had they been producing electricity, according to an analysis of official figures.

The payments have prompted questions in Parliament, as one charity warned that consumers were having to fund the consequences of an “excessive” number of onshore wind farms, which can overwhelm the electricity grid.

In December an analysis by the Renewable Energy Foundation, a charity that monitors energy use, revealed that the operators of 86 wind farms in Britain were handed more than £136 million in so-called “constraint payments” last year – a new record.

REF has warned that consumers are left to foot the bill for wind farm operators having to reduce their output as a result of an “excessive” number of turbines in Scotland leaving the electricity grid unable to cope on occasions such as when there are strong winds.

The Western Link, a 530-mile high-voltage cable  running from the west coast of Scotland to the north coast of Wales, was built to help overcome the problem by providing more capacity to transport green energy from onshore wind farms in Scotland, to England and Wales.

But the line, which became fully operational in 2018, has been dogged by difficulties.

In the latest incident, it “tripped” on Jan 10, prompting a spike in the number of wind farms being asked to shut down temporarily because they were producing more energy than could be transported to consumers’ homes.

On the following day  – last Saturday – 50 wind farms were asked to stop producing electricity, and given a total of £2.5 million in compensation to do so. Last Wednesday, the figure was as high as £3.3 million, which was paid out to £3.3 million wind farms by National Grid’s Electricity System Operator (ESO) arm. 

The Puritans of the Left are nostalgic of the Prohibition era: The Atlantic wishes that "we treated booze more like we treat cigarettes"

America’s Favorite Poison... Whatever happened to the anti-alcohol movement? Olga Khazan. The Atlantic, January 14, 2020. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/01/why-there-no-anti-alcohol-movement/604876/

Excerpts:

Americans would be justified in treating alcohol with the same wariness they have toward other drugs. Beyond how it tastes and feels, there’s very little good to say about the health impacts of booze. The idea that a glass or two of red wine a day is healthy is now considered dubious. At best, slight heart-health benefits are associated with moderate drinking, and most health experts say you shouldn’t start drinking for the health benefits if you don’t drink already. As one major study recently put it, “Our results show that the safest level of drinking is none.”

Alcohol’s byproducts wreak havoc on the cells, raising the risk of liver disease, heart failure, dementia, seven types of cancer, and fetal alcohol syndrome. Just this month, researchers reported that the number of alcohol-related deaths in the United States more than doubled in two decades, going up to 73,000 in 2017. As the journalist Stephanie Mencimer wrote in a 2018 Mother Jones article, alcohol-related breast cancer kills more than twice as many American women as drunk drivers do.

During World War II, the brewing industry recast beer as a “moderate beverage” that was good for soldiers’ morale. One United States Brewers’ Foundation ad from 1944 depicts a soldier writing home to his sweetheart and dreaming of enjoying a glass of beer in his backyard hammock. “By the end of the war, the wine industry, the distilled-spirits industry, and the brewing industry had really defined themselves as part of the American fabric of life,” says Lisa Jacobson, a history professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

In later decades, beer companies created the Alcoholic Beverage Medical Research Foundation, now called the Foundation for Alcohol Research, which proceeded to give research grants to scientists, some of whom found health benefits to drinking. More recently, the National Institutes of Health shut down a study on the effects of alcohol after The New York Times reported that it was funded by alcohol companies. (George Koob, the director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, told the Times that the foundation through which the funds were channeled is a type of “firewall” that prevents interference from donors.)

Regardless of how much Americans love to drink, the country could be safer and healthier if we treated booze more like we treat cigarettes. The lack of serious discussion about raising alcohol prices or limiting its sale speaks to all the ground Americans have ceded to the “good guys” who have fun. And judging by the health statistics, we’re amusing ourselves to death.

Do all mammals dream?

Do all mammals dream? Paul R. Manger, Jerome M. Siegel. Journal of Comparative Neurology, January 20 2020. https://doi.org/10.1002/cne.24860

Abstract: The presence of dreams in human sleep, especially in REM sleep, and the detection of physiologically similar states in mammals has led many to ponder whether animals experience similar sleep mentation. Recent advances in our understanding of the anatomical and physiological correlates of sleep stages, and thus dreaming, allow a better understanding of the possibility of dream mentation in non‐human mammals. Here we explore the potential for dream mentation, in both non‐REM and REM sleep across mammals. If we take a hard‐stance, that dream mentation only occurs during REM sleep, we conclude that it is unlikely that monotremes, cetaceans, and otariid seals while at sea, have the potential to experience dream mentation. Atypical REM sleep in other species, such as African elephants and Arabian oryx, may alter their potential to experience REM dream mentation. Alternatively, evidence that dream mentation occurs during both non‐REM and REM sleep, indicates that all mammals have the potential to experience dream mentation. This non‐REM dream mentation may be different in the species where non‐REM is atypical, such as during unihemispheric sleep in aquatic mammals (cetaceans, sirens and Otariid seals). In both scenarios, the cetaceans are the least likely mammalian group to experience vivid dream mentation due to the morphophysiological independence of their cerebral hemispheres. The application of techniques revealing dream mentation in humans to other mammals, specifically those that exhibit unusual sleep states, may lead to advances in our understanding of the neural underpinnings of dreams and conscious experiences.

Flynn: Nine PISA countries study suggests that there is evidence of substantial decrease in students competencies and literacy in Language (writing) and Math beyond possible economical, and national factors

The Reversal of the Flynn Effect and Its Reflection in the Educational Arena: Data Comparison and Possible Directions for Future Research and Action. Leehu Zysberg. Roczniki Pedagogiczne, Vol 11(47) No 3 (2019). https://ojs.tnkul.pl/index.php/rped/article/view/9586

Abstract: For years indicators of cognitive abilities and academic competencies suggested that humans’ ability to effective cope with their environment is improving (dubbed the Flynn effect). Recent evidence suggests that this trend may be turning. This study explores data obtained from the Program for International Student Assessment for an intentional sample of 9 countries over the last 6 years and suggests that indeed there is evidence of substantial decrease in students competencies and literacy in Language (writing) and Math beyond possible economical, and national factors. The relevance of the results to education and its potential implications are discussed.

Keywords: student competencies, academic skills, Flynn effect, PISA, education

DISCUSSION

Leaders, educators and researchers in the field of education have addressed
the evidence from both intelligence research and its educational derivative—
academic literacies—suggesting we may be approaching a crisis:
can our abilities be lagging behind what’s required for effectively adapting
to an increasingly complex and challenging world? (Waldrop, 2016; Zysberg,
2018).
In this paper, data from the PISA tests, for an intentional sample of 9
OECD countries representing various types of developed countries, indicates
that at the very least, the growth trend suggested by the Flynn effect is not
taking place in the PISA results in general and especially so in the chosen
sample, which did not include developing countries, the decrease (with one
exception) was quite dramatic in both Math and Language literacies.
How can we account for such results and how alarming are they after all?
The most popular voices suggest that this is merely a symptom of a much
broader process: Popular voices suggest that the rise of the so called ‘smart
technology’ and its availability, cultural changes especially regarding the
value of learning and knowledge, the deteriorating quality of education systems
and teachers, and even nutrition and health issues that plague younger
generations compared to their parents (Vyas, 2019). Most authors tend to attribute
the phenomenon to environmental factors: Changes in life style (e.g.:
a more sedentary life style), nutrition (e.g. consuming more industrial
foods), even different games played in childhood (e.g.: action shooter computer
games) were mentioned as possible factors (Dockrill, 2018).
An additional line of this discussion focuses on state level systems, such as
the allocation of resources to education: General government spending on education
and even more specifically, spending on education per student associates
with student achievement (OECD, 2015). While economic factors
have been consistently associated with academic performance in most education
systems (Bakker, Denessen, & Brus-Laeven, 2007), it is interesting to
note that some of the larger decreases in PISA scores were observed in robust
economies (e.g.: S. Korea, the USA). However this line of evidence may still
suggest that social and cultural priorities regarding education may play an important
role here.
Last but not least is looking at the results from a methodological point of
view and what we know of the measurement of human competencies: Longitudinal
measurement of human potentials and performance often show a bias
called regression toward the mean (Rocconi & Ethington, 2009). This may
mean that countries that were either very high or very low on PISA grades
may show decline (for high scores) and ‘improvement’ (for low scores) just
as an artifact of repeated measurements. While this is a compelling option,
we did see similar trends also in countries that are more or less around the
OECD’s mean score (e.g.: USA, Poland).
Do we need to prepare for the end of our civilization as we know it due to
the erosion of basic human competencies? Are we indeed drowning ourselves
in technology and information that we can use less and less effectively?
While it may still be too early to reliably tell (Stillman, 2019), it is becoming
clearer that we face a dramatic change in how human competencies
and literacies express themselves and how we use them. Of existing possible
explanations the ones that stress the roles of culture and effective resource
investment in the competencies and literacy of future generations (Coburn
& Penuel, 2016) is the most likely in light of the nature of the data.
Study Limitations and Directions for future thought
Though the results reflect worldwide trends emerging from various empirical
sources, the data chosen here emphasizes education related settings
and is limited in scope and the level of analysis applied to it. The attempt to
control potential intervening factors through the choice of intentional sample
can only be partially effective, and the patterns should be read with care.
That being said, should future evidence corroborate our interim proposals
and conclusions, policy makers and educators will have to team up to prevent
a dangerous downslide. We live in a world that will require more and
more of our ability to make sense of data and information and make effective
decisions. So far we seem to fail miserably (e.g.: Lockie, 2017; Zysberg,
2018), showing a growing tendency to avoid complex information in decisions,
fail to differentiate bogus facts, facts and opinions, and find it more
and more difficult to represent our perceptions and insights in an effective
manner. Will saving the human race from itself be the next task at hand for
educators? Only the future can tell.


Check also Another nation in which the Flynn effect (IQ in Romania was increasing with approximately 3 IQ points/decade) seems to reverse: The continuous positive outlook is in question as modern generations show signs of IQ “fatigue”

Time and generational changes in cognitive performance in Romania. George Gunnesch-Luca, Dragoș Iliescu. Intelligence, Intelligence, Volume 79, March–April 2020, 101430. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2020/01/another-nation-in-which-flynn-effect-iq.html

A recent review implies that people judge their own true selves, or their authentic and fundamental nature, to be no better than that of others, which conflicts with self-enhancement perspectives

A Perspective-Dependent View on the True Self. Yiyue Zhang. MSc Thesis, College of Arts and Sciences, Ohio University, Dec 2019. https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=ohiou1572777883003345&disposition=inline

Abstract: A recent review implies that people judge their own true selves, or their authentic and fundamental nature, to be no better than that of others (Strohminger, Knobe, & Newman, 2017), which conflicts with self-enhancement perspectives that assume that people tend to view their characteristics and life prospects more favorably than those of others (Sedikides & Alicke, 2012). However, this assumption has not yet been directly assessed. The current five studies explored whether self-enhancement operates in comparative true-self judgments of trait and morally-relevant behaviors. Study 1 to 3 showed that people rated positive and moral traits to be more characteristic of their true selves (vs. an average person’s and a close friend’s true selves). The pattern reversed for negative traits. Using hypothetical and actual moral behaviors, Study 4 and 5 indicated that although moral decisions were generally more characteristic of own versus others’ true-selves, people considered immoral decisions to be more characteristic of other people’s true selves than of their own. Together, the findings demonstrate that true self judgments are subject to self-enhancing tendencies, and therefore, is perspective-dependent.

General Discussion
The goal of this paper was to investigate whether people self-enhance in true self comparisons. The true self refers to a person’s true nature or his or her authentic identity. It assumes the existence of an underlying component of a person’s identity that defines them as an individual (Christy et al., 2019). Specifically, essentialists believe that individuals possess an innate personal essence (i.e. a true self) that explains their shared similarities in psychological and behavioral resemblances across cultural and individual differences. Stemming from this essentialist perspective that individuals have immutable and inherent essences (i.e. true selves), researchers argue that true self evaluations tend to be “perspective-independent,” in which people believe that every individual is morally good deep down (Strohminger et al., 2019). So far, prior research seems to support this conclusion. For example, studies have demonstrated that people tend to attribute their own as well as others’ moral, rather than immoral, behaviors to the true self (Jongman-Sereno & Leary, 2016; Newman et al., 2014).However, my findings that self-enhancement influences people’s true-self judgments and comparisons contrast with this commonly held notion, and suggest that the true-self assessment is perspective-dependent. Specifically, in the first two studies, I addressed the question of whether true self comparisons are subject to self-enhancing tendencies at the general personality trait level. By asking the participants to compare their true selves with those of their average peer’s and their close friend’s, I obtained strong evidence of comparative self-enhancement in which participants rated positive traits more characteristic of their own true selves than those of others’; negative traits were considered as more characteristic of others’, with the exception of their close friend’s, true selves rather than of their own true selves. Moreover, I replicated previous findings (e.g., Jongman-Sereno & Leary, 2016; Newman et al., 2014) that positive attributes are more likely to be viewed as expressions of the true self.In the third study, I extended my previous findings to morality-related personality traits. Morality, arguably, is considered as the constitutional feature of the true self (Strohminger et al., 2017). Thus, by showing that people view moral traits as more reflective of their own true selves rather than those of average peers’, I, again, found compelling evidence of self-enhancement in true-self comparative judgments. Study 3, in addition, incorporated judgments regarding the selfand the potential self. I found that the potential self is viewed more morally than the true self, suggesting that assessing the true self isnot completely basedon personal fantasies or future self-projections (Bargh et al., 2002; Rogers, 1961) but requires a certain level of self-knowledge (Jongman-Sereno & Leary, 2018). I also found that people believe that their true selves are more moral than their actual selves, replicating previous findings that the true self is perceived distinctly from the self (Christy et al., 2019; Strohminger et al., 2017), and moral goodness is the core of the true self (De Freitas et al., 2018; Newman et al., 2014). In the last two studies, I tested my previous findings in a moral behavioral context. Specifically, Study 4 used hypothetical moral dilemmas, and Study 5 employed actual behaviors that participants have committed in the past. In both studies, I found that people view immoral behaviors as more characteristics of others’ true selves than of their own. Moreover, moral behaviors are considered as more reflective of participants’ own true selves rather than of others’ true selves (Study 5). The lack of significant difference in immoral behavioral comparisons in Study 4 might be due to the perceptions of hypothetical scenarios being unrealistic. These two studies together demonstrated that comparative self-enhancement functions in the true-self judgments regarding moral information processing. Self-Enhancement in the True SelfThe value of authenticity, or being true to oneself, has been studied in many intellectual traditions. For instance, the modern concept of “self” derives arguably, from the emerging notion in the seventeenth century that people have natural rights (Taylor,1989), which, in turn, provide one basis for the belief in being true, or untrue, to one’s nature. From a philosophical stance, authenticity or the true self implies an underlying true nature, or psychological essence, within individuals that makes them who they truly are (Kierkegaard, 1954; Rogers, 1961). It seems clear, though, that people believe they have a true self, or at least endorse true self beliefs, when queried in psychological experiments (e.g. Christy et al., 2019). Recent research suggests that true self beliefs reflect “psychological essentialism,” which,as the name implies, is an aspect of self that remains invariant through surface changes (Christy et al., 2019). Some of the most interesting applications of the true-self construct in empirical research has been to show that people believe that their true selves are morally superior to their actual behavior (e.g., Newman et al., 2015). Research findings suggest that when people fall short of their behavioral ideals, they believe that there is a superior essence within that reflects their true selves more accurately.

Thus, the question pursued in the five studies described in this article can be interpreted as whether all essences, or true selves, are considered equal. If people believe in an essence that characterizes all human species, then there is little reason to expect one person’s essence to be better than that of another. Accordingly, by contrast, the extensive literature on self-enhancement in general, and comparative bias in particular, provides ample reason to question whether true-self judgments are immune from the ubiquitous self-serving tendencies that are reflected in many trait and behavior judgments (Alicke & Sedikides, 2011).The present studies call into question the strongest claim that has been made for true selves, namely, that people evaluate them just as favorably regardless of whether they belong to themselves or others. The findings from those five studies suggest the opposite –the true self assessments are subject to self-enhancement, in which people view their own true selves more favorably. Here I list two potential reasons that account for these findings.First, individuals might be more motivated to enhance their true selves because the true self is the core and the essential aspect of the self. From a self-enhancement perspective, the belief in a true self allows individuals to claim an arguably more favorable self that exists within their surface self, especially when their actual self is less socially desirable. The tendency to see oneself in a flattering fashion is stronger in the domains that are more relevant to a person’s self-image (Pedregon et al., 2012). Thus, by construing the true self to their own advantages, individuals are able to express a skewed, often a more positive, representation of their core identity that tells who they really are.

Moreover, self-enhancement in the true self tendsto be easier to achieve because of the hidden nature of the true self. Past research has shown that self-enhancement is facilitated when the judgment dimensions are more abstract as opposed to objective or concrete (Sedikides & Strube, 1997). Researchers have pointed out that understanding the true self is extremely subjective becausethe true-self judgments and comparisons are outside the boundaries of objective measurement tests (Strohminger et al., 2017).Thus, the invisibility of the true-self judgments might promote the chances of self-enhancement, because the possibility for invalidation is low (Alicke & Govorun, 2005; Alicke & Sedikides, 2009).The findings in this article not only suggest a perspective-dependent viewon the true-self judgments, but also challenge the common notion of an unbiased processing of authenticity. Kernis and Goldman (2006) argued that authenticity reflects the relative absence of self-serving bias or interpretive distortions, such as defensiveness and self‐aggrandizement, in the processing of self‐relevant information. Accordingly, individuals should objectively accept one’s strengths and weaknesses. Increasing literature, however, questions this assumption. For example, Jongman-Sereno and Leary (2016) demonstrated that positive events are judged to be more authentic than negative ones. Similarly, Christy and colleagues (2016, 2017) have shown that thinking about one's past moral behaviors increased participants' ratings of self-knowledge (as measured by the Self-Awareness Subscale of Kernis & Goldman’s, 2006, the Authenticity Inventory), whereas contemplating one's past immoral behaviors decreased these ratings. By showing that this positivity bias extends to self-other comparisons, those five studies provide strong support for the argument that authenticity isa biased construct.True Self vs. Other SelvesThe true self, by its nature, presumably differs from the actual self. This distinction is implied in previous research that asks participants to compare their actual behavior with that of their true or authentic selves (Jongman-Sereno & Leary, 2016). To myknowledge, however, direct comparisons of true and actual selves have not yet been effected, although Christy et al. (2019) have found that participants view true selves as more essential than actual selves. The findings of Study 3 directly confirmed theelevation of the true self over the actual self, thereby supporting investigators’ assumption that true selves are evaluated more favorably than actual selves (e.g., Strohminger et al., 2017).Most individuals have a vested interest in believing that there is a better self within than the one that is outwardly manifested. Even the moral peopleamong us have presumably, on occasion, done things they regretted, or failed to live up to their expectations. Both theory (Strohminger et al., 2017)and the empirical results of Study 3suggest that the true self is perceived as an improvement to the actual self. Although participants’ precise interpretation of this comparison standard will require further research, Christy et al. (2019) have made important strides in suggesting that people construe the true self as an enduring and essential aspect of identity. In comparing their actual selves to their true ones, therefore, participants may be thinking of a core essence that is better in most respects to its surface appearances.

In Study 3, I was interested in exploring whether another self construction—the potential self—would be even more favorably evaluated than the true self. Because potential selves point to a hypothetical future, they provide considerable latitude for construction. In essence, people are free to fantasize, and self-enhance, at will about how events will unfold in the future, with no immediate chance of invalidation. Consistent with this reasoning, I found that the potential self was evaluated more favorably than any other comparison standard.

Limits and Future Directions

Although I demonstrated that self-enhancing tendency still operates in the true self comparative judgment, it is still unclear what the underlying mechanisms are. In other words, are individuals believe that their true selves, by nature, are fundamentally more positive than others’true selves? Or is it that individuals are motivated to aggrandize their true selves? From a motivational stance, self-enhancement concerns more with the latter, as it implies that people are constantly seeking positive self-regard that is sometimes mismatched with the objective reality (Alicke & Sedikides, 2011). That is, individuals are aware of their personal strengths and weaknesses to some extent, but actively construe illusionary positive identities. This is consistent with the notion that self-knowledge is required to experience subjective authenticity (Kernis & Goldman, 2006; Jongman-Sereno & Leary, 2018). Therefore, the distortedly favorable views of one’s true self can be viewed as a result of a process of exaggerating strengths and overlooking shortcomings. From an essentialist perspective, however, the true self, as the essence of one’s identity, is shown to be immutable and inherent (Christy et al., 2019).

Thus, it is also reasonable to argue that the enhanced true self comes from the belief that people think their true selves are innately better than those of others.In addition to investigating whether people are enhancing their true selves by believing their true selves are superior or by actively viewing their true selves more favorably, researchers should conduct studies that examine the effect of self-enhancement on perceived or subjectivelyexperienced authenticity. Research has shown that positive affect, such as feeling competent, prosocial, and self-compassionate, increases the subjective feelings of being authentic (Lenton, Bruder, Slabu, & Sedikides, 2013; Sedikides et al., 2018; Zhang et al., 2019). Nonetheless, to my knowledge, there is no research that directly explores whether induced self-enhancement increases authenticity judgments. It is possible that self-enhancement improves the accessibility of positive self-views that potentially lead to enhanced feelings of authenticity.Resolving the role of self-enhancement in true and authentic self judgments will require further research, but I close by speculating that essential selves, and true or authentic selves, may be distinct constructs. Previous findings clearly establish that humans believe that their nature tends toward the good, and the findings here show that people believe that “my good is better than yours.” Asking people to evaluate their “true” or “authentic” abilities, or goodness, or to compare their true characteristicto others’, seems destined to prime self-enhancement concerns. Further research will hopefully help to clarify the nature of true and authentic selves, both in terms of their precise interpretation by individuals, and their implications for social judgment and behavior.