In the context of romantic attraction, beautification can increase assertiveness in women

In the context of romantic attraction, beautification can increase assertiveness in women. Khandis R. Blake, Robert Brooks, Lindsie C. Arthur, Thomas F. Denson. PLOS, March 10, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0229162

Abstract: Can beautification empower women to act assertively? Some women report that beautification is an agentic and assertive act, whereas others find beautification to be oppressive and disempowering. To disentangle these effects, in the context of romantic attraction we conducted the first experimental tests of beautification—on psychological and behavioral assertiveness. Experiment 1 (N = 145) utilized a between-subjects design in which women used their own clothing, make-up, and accessories to adjust their appearance as they normally would for a “hot date” (beautification condition) or a casual day at home with friends (control condition). We measured implicit, explicit, and behavioral assertiveness, as well as positive affect and sexual motivation. Experiment 2 (N = 40) sought to conceptually replicate Experiment 1 using a within-subject design and different measures of assertiveness. Women completed measures of explicit assertiveness and assertive behavioral intentions in three domains, in whatever clothing they were wearing that day then again after extensively beautifying their appearance. In Experiment 1, we found that women demonstrated higher psychological assertiveness after beautifying their appearance, and that high sexual motivation mediated the effect of beautification on assertive behavior. All effects were independent of positive affect. Experiment 2 partially replicated Experiment 1. These experiments provide novel insight into the effects of women’s appearance-enhancing behaviors on assertiveness by providing evidence that beautification may positively affect assertiveness in women under some circumstances.

Discussion

Using a within-subjects design, we found that beautification increased explicit assertiveness to the extent that beautification increased women’s sexual motivation. For assertive consumer behavioral intentions, findings were mixed. Beautification had a direct effect on increasing willingness to endorse public consumer assertiveness, but the effect did not reach conventional levels of statistical significance. Beautification also elevated endorsement of private consumer assertiveness, but the effect was moderated by trait self-objectification. The more women tended to self-objectify, the more they reported willingness to engage in private consumer assertiveness after beautification. This effect was also moderated by sexual motivation, showing the same pattern. We found no effect of beautification, self-objectification, or sexual motivation on consumer assertiveness unrelated to appearance.

General discussion

Research derived from objectification theory has emphasized the negative consequences of beautification and related practices, highlighting that they harm women and are derived from a cultural context that disempowers them [1,5–7,24]. An alternative perspective, derived from sociometer theory, holds that beautification can benefit women by raising their self-esteem in important domains [8,11,12]. We added clarity to this research area by experimentally manipulating beautification through within- and between-subject designs, and subsequently measuring multiple indicators of assertiveness, as well as positive mood, sexual motivation, and self-objectification. Our results suggest that beautification can increase assertiveness in women, but that the effect may be domain-specific. These findings shed light on a key tension in female psychology by challenging the notion that beautification and related appearance-enhancing phenomena are necessarily disempowering.
Many of our effects were dependent on beautification increasing sexual motivation, with beautification elevating assertiveness only when it also elevated sexual motivation. This finding is consistent with previous research [30], and suggests that the effect of beautification on assertiveness depends upon the degree to which beautification increases the subjective feeling of sexual attractiveness. By including measures of behavioral assertiveness (Experiment 1) and assertive behavioral intentions in three domains (Experiment 2), we intended to distinguish whether beautification-induced assertiveness was domain-specific or domain-general. Unfortunately, results were inconclusive: We did not find a significant effect for beautification in our appearance-unrelated consumer assertiveness vignette, however, we did find that beautification increased assertive behavior in the mock job interview in Experiment 1 (to the extent that it also increased sexual motivation). Future work teasing out these effects would help to clarify the conditions under which beautification can increase assertiveness, and whether that increase is specific to the appearance domain, or whether effects might transfer to unrelated domains.
Beautification interacted with sexual motivation to increase explicit assertiveness in women, regardless of trait self-objectification. Surprisingly, trait self-objectification was positively associated with a beautification-induced willingness to act assertively in one of our vignettes. This finding is supportive of parallel work showing that self-objectification and its antecedents can raise women’s self-esteem in particular contexts [11,12]. Though these effects warrant replication, they suggest that conceiving of self-objectification as an entirely deleterious phenomenon may mischaracterize its psychological effects. The degree to which self-objectification may translate into enhanced female empowerment in some conditions is perplexing, yet it is also a worthwhile topic for future research.

Implications for understanding self-objectification

These results provide further insight into understanding women’s motivation for appearance- modifying behaviors, including self-objectification and self-sexualization. Many of these phenomena are motivated by desires to elevate attractiveness to new or existing romantic partners [38,39]. However, our findings suggest that women may also engage in these behaviors to increase assertiveness as well as mood. Thus, a desire for feeling empowered may partially account for women’s beautification practices and consumption of appearance-enhancing products. This conception offers a unique perspective on why women are more beauty-focused when the economy declines (the lipstick effect; [40]). Beautification may provide an affordable way to elevate the subjective experience of empowerment in ecological conditions that often constrain agentic action [41].
The negative effects of self-objectification—including usurping women’s attentional and cognitive resources and increasing the likelihood of mental health problems—usually result from intermediary processes, such as elevated body shame and body surveillance [3]. Our findings raise the possibility that beautification may not always elicit these intermediary processes, and our work suggests that beautification can elicit sexual motivation as well. A defining difference between whether beautification and related phenomena empower or disempower women, then, may depend upon which intermediary processes are elicited. For example, if beautification elicits appearance anxiety or body shame, it may reduce assertiveness; If beautification elicits sexual motivation or high self-esteem, it may heighten assertiveness. Future investigation into the intermediary processes induced by appearance-relevant behaviors on positive and negative psychological outcomes would be a welcome contribution to future work.
Contextual effects—such as the person a beautified woman believes is judging her [42]—are also likely to be important. We focused on beautification in one situation only, and it is unclear whether mandatory beautification in other contexts (e.g., stipulated by an employer for an important meeting) would show similar effects. Women often become targets of backlash when they act assertively, especially in domains that are stereotype-inconsistent [43], and attractive women may be especially likely to be targeted. Women who engage in beautification and appearance-enhancing phenomena can also become targets of aggression by others, men and women like [33,44–47]. Thus, although increases in beautification may engender benefits to women, in certain contexts it may also engender costs. The contexts under which women may express assertiveness and beautify without suffering backlash effects, or the contexts under which women experience beautification as especially disempowering are important future research topics.

The paradox of sexualized beautification and female agency

Although the current work provides evidence for a conditional effects of beautification on female assertiveness, our findings appear to be inconsistent with work showing that men and women perceive that women in attractive, revealing clothing lack agency [33,48,49]. Why is it that people perceive that women in such clothing lack agency, whereas the women themselves may potentially feel and behave in a more assertive manner? Compelling evidence demonstrates that people derogate those who act counter to the status quo [50]. Perceptions that women who engage in beautification lack agency may thus function to penalize women who threaten notions of demure and passive femininity through asserting sexual power [43,51]. Perceiving that these women lack agency may also support male dominance by discrediting the agency that some women demonstrate via beautification.
Equating beautification or self- sexualization with low agency may also reflect the cultural suppression of female sexuality, an ever-present albeit culturally variable phenomenon that sanctions women’s sexual self-expression more heavily than men’s. Although the drivers of the cultural suppression of female sexuality remain controversial [52–54], evidence supports the idea that competition between women can encourage them to suppress the sexuality and attractiveness-enhancing efforts of other women. Derogating such women as cultural dupes, who misunderstand female agency and how they are perceived by others, may thus function to reduce the occurrence of competition amongst women by elevating anxiety in potential competitors. Ultimately, such a process may function to diminish the threat of another woman’s physical and sexual attractiveness.
Perceptions that sexualized women lack agency may also function to motivate sexual approach in men. Evidence suggests that some men find cues of sexual vulnerability and low agency in women to be alluring [55]. From a functional perspective, perceiving low agency in such women may be attractive to men because it reduces the threat of rejection, female infidelity, and paternity uncertainty associated with female sexual agency. It is also plausible that low agency women are perceived as less likely to rebuff sexual advances and easier to monopolize [30]. For these reasons, men’s perceptions of low agency in women may be a cognitive bias that engenders sexual approach, akin to the robust bias men show to over-estimating women’s sexual intent [56,57]. Future work investigating these notions would provide valuable insight into the constancy of patriarchal culture over time and provide. Research could also clarify the paradoxical nature of men’s views of women’s agency, and women’s view of their own agency.

Limitations and future directions

We aimed to provide a rigorous test of the effects of beautification on assertiveness by employing explicit, implicit, and behavioral indicators of assertiveness, ecologically valid designs, and by testing the importance of theoretically relevant mechanisms and confounds (i.e., sexual motivation, positive affect). That being said, our findings are limited in several ways. Although patterns of variation in Experiment 2 were generally consistent with Experiment 1, two effects from Experiment 2 did not reach conventional levels of statistical significance. Likewise, in Experiment 2, we failed to replicate the direct effect of beautification on explicit assertiveness, finding instead that the effect was dependent on beautification eliciting sexual motivation. This latter finding highlights the importance of sexual motivation to the beautification–assertiveness link, but it weakens our ability to draw conclusions about the overall relationship between the two phenomena. Likewise, whether assertiveness effects are domain-general, or specific to appearance-relevant domains only, was unresolved by the current work. Based on sociometer theory, we speculate that beautification-induced assertiveness may be strongest in appearance-related domains, and weaker, albeit present in other domains.
A further limitation is that the instructions in the beautification condition were multi-faceted. The instructions informed women to dress for a night out where they might meet someone they were romantically interested in, a hot date, and a party. We emphasized “hot date” in the verbal instructions most frequently both before and during the experimental sessions, and parties are locations where young people commonly meet romantic partners. We did so because the aim of our study was to focus on beautification in the context of romantic relationships, and attractiveness in the domain of romantic relationships is a domain where women are especially likely to derive self-esteem [8,11]. The multi-faceted nature of these instructions; however, may have introduced unnecessary noise in our experimental manipulation, weakening our ability to detect effects.
Another limitation is that design differences between Experiments 1 and 2 may account for some variability in our findings. Experiment 1 occurred in the laboratory, meaning that participants were seen by the experimenter after they changed their clothing and makeup. In contrast, Experiment 2 occurred online, and participants completed the experimental session in their home. We utilized this design difference so participants in Experiment 2 had the choice of their entire wardrobe and all of their own beauty products at their disposal. Unfortunately, this distinction between public and private may have weakened findings in Experiment 2. It is possible that the element of being seen in public after one enhances their sexual appearance strengthens the effect of beautification on female assertiveness, resulting in stronger effects in public versus private settings. Such an interpretation would account for weaker effects in Experiment 2 compared to Experiment 1.
A final limitation is that we only controlled for one individual difference in our analyses. Although trait self-objectification was highly relevant, many other individual differences affect women’s willingness to beautify, self-objectify, and self-sexualize. For example, recent work indicates that ideological components related to higher order personal values are especially relevant [58]. Testing whether findings reported here are sensitive to these differences, and the individual differences predictive of beautification, would strengthen our conclusions.

Weather and suicide: Association between meteorological variables and suicidal behavior—a systematic qualitative review article

Weather and suicide: Association between meteorological variables and suicidal behavior—a systematic qualitative review article. Charlotte Pervilhac M.Sc.-Psych., Kyrill Schoilew, Hansjörg Znoj & Thomas J. Müller. Der Nervenarzt vol 91, pages 227–232(2020). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00115-019-00795-x

Abstract
Background: The effects of current and expected future climate change on mental health outcomes are of increasing concern. In this context, the importance of meteorological factors on suicidal behavior is receiving growing attention in research.

Objective: Systematic review article with qualitative synthesis of the currently available literature, looking at the association between meteorological variables and attempted and completed suicide.

Material and methods: Criteria-based, systematic literature search according to the PRISMA criteria. Peer-reviewed original research studies were included without time limits.

Results and conclusion: A total of 99 studies were included and grouped according to the research analysis based on daily, weekly, monthly and annual data. The majority of the studies reported a statistical association with at least one meteorological variable. The most consistent positive correlation was shown between temperature and suicidal behavior. However, the results are not conclusive and in part contradictory. The reported studies differed distinctively in terms of study design. Meteorological parameters may be associated with suicidal behavior. Future research in this area is needed to provide further clarity. Despite existing knowledge gaps, the current findings may have implications for suicide prevention plans.

Among high-ability female students, being assigned a female professor leads to substantial increases in the probability of working in a STEM occupation & the probability of receiving a STEM master’s degree

The Effects of Professor Gender on the Post-Graduation Outcomes of Female Students. Hani Mansour, Daniel I. Rees, Bryson M. Rintala, Nathan N. Wozny. NBER Working Paper No. 26822, March 2020. https://www.nber.org/papers/w26822

Abstract: Although women earn approximately 50 percent of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) bachelor’s degrees, more than 70 percent of scientists and engineers are men. We explore a potential determinant of this STEM gender gap using newly collected data on the career trajectories of United States Air Force Academy students. Specifically, we examine the effects of being assigned female math and science professors on occupation choice and postgraduate education. We find that, among high-ability female students, being assigned a female professor leads to substantial increases in the probability of working in a STEM occupation and the probability of receiving a STEM master’s degree.

Males generally have a higher level of body appreciation than females

Meta-analysis of gender differences in body appreciation. Jinbo He et al. Body Image, Volume 33, June 2020, Pages 90-100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.02.011

Highlights
•    Males had higher levels of body appreciation than females.
•    Gender differences in body appreciation could be moderated by survey method.
•    Gender differences in body appreciation could be moderated by type of samples.
•    Gender differences in body appreciation could be moderated by age.

Abstract: There are a number of studies that have conducted comparisons of body appreciation between males and females. However, findings are largely inconsistent, making it unclear whether there are actual gender differences in body appreciation. With a meta-analytic approach, the current study quantitatively reviewed and synthesized previous findings, published up to May 2019, on gender differences in body appreciation. After searching and screening potential studies in four databases (i.e., PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global), we identified 40 relevant articles published from 2008 to 2019. A random-effects model reveals an overall estimate of gender difference in body appreciation of d = 0.27 (95 % CI: 0.21, 0.33; p <  .001); that is, males generally have a higher level of body appreciation than females, with a small effect size. Survey method, type of sample (cohorts), and age were identified as significant moderators that have contributed to the variability in previous findings. Future research and interventions in body appreciation may consider gender differences in their designs.

Blind at First Sight: On a first date, distinctive accuracy tends to be paired with lower romantic interest

Blind at First Sight: The Role of Distinctively Accurate and Positive First Impressions in Romantic Interest. Lauren Gazzard Kerr1, Hasagani Tissera, M. Joy McClure, John E. Lydon, Mitja D. Back, & Lauren J. Humani. https://osf.io/zyvj9/

Abstract: Viewing others with distinctive accuracy – the degree to which personality impressions corresponds with targets’ unique characteristics – often predict positive interpersonal experiences, including liking and relationship satisfaction. Does this hold in the context of first dates, or might distinctive accuracy have negative links with romantic interest in such evaluative settings? We examined this with two speed-dating samples (N1 = 172, Ndyad = 2407; N2 = 397, Ndyad = 1849). Not surprisingly, positive impressions of potential dating partners were strongly associated with greater romantic interest. In contrast, distinctively accurate impressions were associated with significantly less romantic interest. This association was even stronger for potential partners whose personalities were less romantically appealing, specifically, those lower in extraversion. In sum, on a first date, distinctive accuracy tends to be paired with lower romantic interest. The potential implications of distinctive accuracy for romantic interest and of interest for distinctive accuracy are discussed.

Keywords: Distinctive accuracy, positivity, first impressions, speed dating, attraction,

Contrary to widespread worries, health misinformation gains little traction on Facebook, and sex does not sell

Berriche, Manon, and Sacha Altay. 2019. “Internet Users Engage More with Phatic Posts Than with Health Misinformation on Facebook.” PsyArXiv. December 5. doi:10.31234/osf.io/nj2sr

Abstract: Social media like Facebook are harshly criticized for the propagation of health misinformation. Yet, little research has provided in-depth analysis of real-world data to measure the extent to which Internet users engage with it. This article examines 6.5 million interactions generated by 500 posts on an emblematic case of online health misinformation: the Facebook page Santé + Mag, which generates five times more interactions than the combination of the five best-established French media outlets.
Based on the literature on cultural evolution, we tested whether the presence of cognitive factors of attraction, that tap into evolved cognitive preferences, such as information related to sexuality, social relations, threat, disgust or negative emotions, could explain the success of Santé + Mag’s posts. Drawing from media studies findings, we hypothesized that their popularity could be driven by Internet users’ desire to interact with their friends and family by sharing phatic posts (i.e. statements with no practical information fulfilling a social function such as “hello” or “sister, I love you”).
We found that phatic posts were the strongest predictor of interactions, followed by posts with a positive emotional valence. While 50% of the posts were related to social relations, only 28% consisted of health misinformation. Despite its cognitive appeal, health misinformation was a negative predictor of interactions. Sexual contents negatively predicted interactions and other factors of attraction such as disgust, threat or negative emotions did not predict interactions. 
These results strengthen the idea that Facebook is first and foremost a social network used by people to foster their social relations, not to spread online misinformation. We encourage researchers working on misinformation to conduct finer-grained analysis of online contents and to adopt interdisciplinary approach to study the phatic dimension of communication, together with positive contents, to better understand the cultural evolution dynamics of social media.

Aphantasia is associated with scientific & mathematical occupations; hyperphantasia with ‘creative’ professions; those with aphantasia report an elevated rate of difficulty with face recognition & autobiographical memory

Zeman, Adam, Fraser Milton, Sergio Della Sala, Michaela Dewar, Timothy Frayling, James Gaddum, Andrew Hattersley, et al. 2020. “Phantasia - the Psychological Significance of Lifelong Visual Imagery Vividness Extremes.” PsyArXiv. March 9. doi:10.31234/osf.io/sfn9w

Abstract: Visual imagery typically enables us to see absent items in the mind’s eye. It plays a role in memory, day-dreaming and creativity. Since coining the terms aphantasia and hyperphantasia to describe the absence and abundance of visual imagery, we have been contacted by many thousands of people with extreme imagery abilities. Questionnaire data from 2000 participants with aphantasia and 200 with hyperphantasia indicate that aphantasia is associated with scientific and mathematical occupations, whereas hyperphantasia is associated with ‘creative’ professions. Participants with aphantasia report an elevated rate of difficulty with face recognition and autobiographical memory, whereas participants with hyperphantasia report an elevated rate of synaesthesia. Around half those with aphantasia describe an absence of wakeful imagery in all sense modalities, while a majority dream visually. Aphantasia appears to run within families more often than would be expected by chance. Aphantasia and hyperphantasia appear to be widespread but neglected features of human experience with informative psychological associations.

Abortion attitudes have become less complex and more polarized over time, a trend largely driven by the pro-abortion camp

Abortion Complexity Scores from 1972 to 2018: A Cross-Sectional Time-Series Analysis Using Data from the General Social Survey. Kristen N. Jozkowski, Brandon L. Crawford & Malachi Willis. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, March 9 2020. https://rd.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13178-020-00439-9

Abstract
Introduction: According to data from the General Social Survey (GSS), abortion attitudes have remained relatively stable since 1972. Despite this apparent stability, some researchers argue abortion opinions have become increasingly polarized, particularly among certain subgroups. Others argue people’s attitudes toward abortion are complex and nuanced; that is, people may feel conflicted or ambivalent about abortion in certain contexts. To better understand this issue, we examined complexity and polarization in people’s attitudes toward abortion using GSS data from 1972 until 2018 (n = 44,302).

Methods: The GSS includes six items assessing whether it should be possible for “a pregnant woman to obtain a legal abortion” under specific circumstances. Using these items, we created an aggregate complexity measure. Negative binomial, Poisson, and logistic regression models were tested to assess potential changes in complexity and polarization over time among demographic subgroups.

Results: Findings indicate changes in complexity across political party affiliations, religious identity, and age groups. However, any significant differences among these demographic subgroups are lost once polarized scores are removed. That is, changes in complexity are driven largely by more people supporting access to abortion in all or no situations; among those who remain conflicted, there has been little change in complexity.

Discussion: These findings provide a more nuanced assessment of trends in abortion attitudes. Given the saliency of this issue, we recommend researchers consider alternative mechanisms to assess abortion attitudes.

Policy Implication: These nuanced assessments of abortion attitudes should be considered when determining the congruence between abortion legislation and public opinion.

Cognitive ability was related to more affective prejudice towards relatively conservative groups; people with higher levels of cognitive ability were more in favor of freedom of speech for all groups

De keersmaecker, Jonas, Dries H. Bostyn, Alain Van Hiel, and Arne Roets. 2020. “Disliked but Free to Speak: Cognitive Ability Is Related to Supporting Freedom of Speech for Groups Across the Ideological Spectrum.” PsyArXiv. March 9. doi:10.31234/osf.io/b7kty

Abstract: Freedom of speech for all citizens is often considered as a cornerstone of democratic societies. In three studies, we examined the relationship between cognitive ability and support for freedom of speech for a variety of social groups across the ideological spectrum (N1 varies between 1373 and 18719, N2 = 298, N3 = 395). Corroborating our theoretical expectations, although cognitive ability was related to more affective prejudice towards relatively conservative groups, and less affective prejudice towards relatively liberal groups (Study 2), people with higher levels of cognitive ability were more in favor of freedom of speech for all target groups (Study 1 – 3). The relationship between cognitive ability and freedom of speech support was mediated by intellectual humility (pre-registered Study 3). These results indicate that, cognitive ability contributes to support for the democratic right of freedom of speech for all social-ideological groups.

Consistent with Petry & others' work, nonmonetary outcomes are discounted more steeply than monetary outcomes; people who steeply discount monetary outcomes steeply discount nonmonetary outcomes as well

Delay discounting of different outcomes: Review and theory. Amy L. Odum et al. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, March 8 2020. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeab.589

Abstract: Steep delay discounting is characterized by a preference for small immediate outcomes relative to larger delayed outcomes and is predictive of drug abuse, risky sexual behaviors, and other maladaptive behaviors. Nancy M. Petry was a pioneer in delay discounting research who demonstrated that people discount delayed monetary gains less steeply than they discount substances with abuse liability. Subsequent research found steep discounting for not only drugs, but other nonmonetary outcomes such as food, sex, and health. In this systematic review, we evaluate the hypotheses proposed to explain differences in discounting as a function of the type of outcome and explore the trait‐ and state‐like nature of delay discounting. We found overwhelming evidence for the state‐like quality of delay discounting: Consistent with Petry and others' work, nonmonetary outcomes are discounted more steeply than monetary outcomes. We propose two hypotheses that together may account for this effect: Decreasing Future Preference and Decreasing Future Worth. We also found clear evidence that delay discounting has trait‐like qualities: People who steeply discount monetary outcomes steeply discount nonmonetary outcomes as well. The implication is that changing delay discounting for one outcome could change discounting for other outcomes.

Canada: Rank mobility increases as the percentage of mothers with a high school diploma increases; weaker evidence that mobility increases with the percentage of mothers with a university degree

Parental Education Mitigates the Rising Transmission of Income between Generations. Marie Connolly, Catherine Haeck, and Jean-William P. Laliberte. NBER, February 19, 2020. http://conference.nber.org/conf_papers/f129700.pdf

Abstract: This article provides evidence on the causal relationship between maternal education andthe intergenerational transmission of income. Using a novel linkage between intergenerational income tax data and Census data for individuals born between 1963 and 1985 and their parents, we show that rank mobility has decreased over time, and that this decline was sharpest for children of mothers without a high school diploma. Using variation in compulsory schooling laws, we show that rank mobility increases as the percentage of mothers with a high school diploma increases. We find weaker evidence that mobility increases with the percentage of mothers with a university degree.

JEL codes: J62, D63
Keywords: social mobility, intergenerational income transmission, income inequality, educa-tion, Canada

People have been accused of being excessively pessimistic about SARS-CoV-2's future consequences; but a large survey shows that the majority of respondents was actually overly optimistic

Raude, Jocelyn, Marion Debin, Cécile Souty, Caroline Guerrisi, Clement Turbelin, Alessandra Falchi, Isabelle Bonmarin, et al. 2020. “Are People Excessively Pessimistic About the Risk of Coronavirus Infection?.” PsyArXiv. March 8. doi:10.31234/osf.io/364qj

Abstract: The recent emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 in China has raised the spectre of a novel, potentially catastrophic pandemic in both scientific and lay communities throughout the world. In this particular context, people have been accused of being excessively pessimistic regarding the future consequences of this emerging health threat. However, consistent with previous research in social psychology, a large survey conducted in Europe in the early stage of the COVID-19 epidemic shows that the majority of respondents was actually overly optimistic about the risk of infection.

Links between spanking & delinquency, depression, & alcohol use are explained by moderate-to-large degrees of genetic covariation, & small-to-moderate degrees of nonshared environmental covariation

Barbaro, Nicole. 2020. “The Effects of Spanking on Psychosocial Outcomes: Revisiting Genetic and Environmental Covariation.” PsyArXiv. March 8. doi:10.31234/osf.io/zhgme

Abstract: A large body of work has investigated the associations between spanking and a wide range of psychosocial outcomes across development. A comparatively smaller subset of this literature, on a narrower range of psychosocial outcomes, has employed genetically-informative research designs capable of estimating the degree to which observed phenotypic effects are explained by genetic and environmental covariation. The current research analyzed data from the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (CNLSY; Study 1) and conducted simulation models using input parameters from the existing literature (Study 2) to provide a summative evaluation of the psychosocial effects of spanking with regard to genetic and nonshared environmental covariation. Results of Study 1 replicated previous work showing that associations between spanking and outcomes such as delinquency, depression, and alcohol use were explained by moderate-to-large degrees of genetic covariation, and small-to-moderate degrees of nonshared environmental covariation. Estimates from the simulations of Study 2 suggest that, generally, genetic covariation could account for a substantial amount of the observed phenotypic effect between spanking and the psychosocial outcome of interest (≈ 60%-80%), with the remainder likely attributable to nonshared environmental covariation (≈ 0%-40%). Collectively the results of the current research indicate that continued work on the developmental effects of spanking is best served by genetically-informative research designs on a broader range of outcomes than what is currently available.

Are Humans Constantly but Subconsciously Smelling Themselves?

Perl, Ofer, Eva Mishor, Aharon Ravia, Inbal Ravreby, and Noam Sobel. 2020. “Are Humans Constantly but Subconsciously Smelling Themselves?” PsyArXiv. March 8. doi:10.1098/rstb.2019.0372

Abstract: All primates, including humans, engage in self-face-touching at very high frequency. The functional purpose or antecedents of this behaviour remain unclear. In this hybrid review we put forth the hypothesis that self-face-touching subserves self-smelling. We first review data implying that humans touch their own face at very high frequency. We then detail evidence from the one study that implicated an olfactory origin for this behaviour: This evidence consists of significantly increased nasal inhalation concurrent with self-face-touching, and predictable increases or decreases in self-face-touching as a function of subliminal odourant tainting. Although we speculate that self-smelling through self-face-touching is largely an unconscious act, we note that in addition, humans also consciously smell themselves at high frequency. To verify this added statement, we administered an online self-report questionnaire. Upon being asked, ~94% of ~400 respondents acknowledged engaging in smelling themselves. Paradoxically, we observe that although this very prevalent behaviour of self-smelling is of concern to individuals, especially to parents of children overtly exhibiting self-smelling, the behaviour has nearly no traction in the medical or psychological literature. We suggest psychological and cultural explanations for this paradox, and end in suggesting that human self-smelling become a formal topic of investigation in the study of human social olfaction.

Swedish data: Those gamers who spend more time engaging in their favorite pastime become less interested in sociopolitical issues and less prosocial than non-gamers from year to year

Gaming alone: Videogaming and sociopolitical attitudes. Pavel Bacovsky.  New Media & Society, March 7, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444820910418

Abstract: What sustains prosocial attitudes and political engagement in the era of online connectivity? Scholars disagree on whether frequent consumers of virtual entertainment disconnect from sociopolitical life. Using the Swedish Political Socialization Panel dataset and partial-pool time series methodology, I investigate the relationship between playing videogames and adolescents’ political and social attitudes over time. I find that those gamers who spend more time engaging in their favorite pastime become less interested in sociopolitical issues and less prosocial than non-gamers from year to year. My findings tell a cautionary tale about the adverse effects of extensive gaming on the development of democratic attitudes among adolescents.

Keywords: Adolescents, political interest, prosocial attitudes, videogaming

Free bathrooms in Starbucks: Cellphone location data allows to know of a 7.3% decline in store attendance; remaining customers spent 4.1% less time in Starbucks relative to nearby coffee shops

Gurun, Umit and Nickerson, Jordan and Solomon, David H., The Perils of Private Provision of Public Goods (January 31, 2020). SSRN: http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3531171

Abstract: In May 2018, in response to protests, Starbucks changed its policies nationwide to allow anybody to sit in their stores and use the bathroom without making a purchase. Using a large panel of anonymized cellphone location data, we estimate that the policy led to a 7.3% decline in store attendance at Starbucks locations relative to other nearby coffee shops and restaurants. This decline cannot be calculated from Starbucks’ public disclosures, which lack the comparison group of other coffee shops. The decline in visits is around 84% larger for stores located near homeless shelters. The policy also affected the intensive margin of demand: remaining customers spent 4.1% less time in Starbucks relative to nearby coffee shops after the policy enactment. Wealthier customers reduced their visits more, but black and white customers were equally deterred. The policy led to fewer citations for public urination near Starbucks locations, but had no effect on other similar public order crimes. These results show the difficulties of companies attempting to provide public goods, as potential customers are crowded out by non-paying members of the public.

Keywords: Public Good, Socially Responsible Investment, ESG investment, Homeless, Starbucks, Location data
JEL Classification: A11, A13, C55, D02, D22, D61, D62, D63, D64, H23, G30, L21, I15, G34

Aversion towards simple broken patterns predicts moral judgment

Aversion towards simple broken patterns predicts moral judgment. Anton Gollwitzer et al. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 160, 1 July 2020, 109810. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.109810

Abstract: To what extent can simple, domain-general factors inform moral judgment? Here we examine whether a basic cognitive-affective factor predicts moral judgment. Given that most moral transgressions break the assumed pattern of behavior in society, we propose that people's domain-general aversion towards broken patterns – their negative affect in response to the distortion of repeated forms or models – may predict heightened moral sensitivity. In Study 1, participants’ nonsocial pattern deviancy aversion (e.g., aversion towards broken patterns of geometric shapes) predicted greater moral condemnation of harm and purity violations. This link was stronger for intuitive thinkers, suggesting that this link occurs via an intuitive rather than analytical pathway. Extending these results, in Study 2, pattern deviancy aversion predicted greater punishment of harm and purity violations. Finally, in Study 3, in line with pattern deviancy aversion predicting moral condemnation because moral violations break the pattern of behavior in society, pattern deviancy aversion predicted context-dependent morality. Participants higher in pattern deviancy aversion exhibited a greater shift towards tolerating moral violations when these violations were described as the pattern of behavior in an alternate society. Collectively, these results suggest that something as basic as people's aversion towards broken patterns is linked to moral judgment.

Keywords: Pattern deviancy aversionMoralityPunishmentMoral judgmentBroken patterns

Polarization is increasing not only among political parties adherents, also intraparty polarization between ideologically extreme and ideologically moderate partisans is on the rise

Intraparty Polarization in American Politics. Eric Groenendyk, Michael W. Sances, and Kirill Zhirkov. The Journal of Politics, Aug 27 2019. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/708780. Free https://kirillzhirkovme.files.wordpress.com/2019/09/groenendyk_intraparty_polarization.pdf

Abstract: We know that elite polarization and mass sorting have led to an explosion of hostility
between parties, but how do Republicans and Democrats feel toward their own respective parties? Have these trends led to more cohesion or more division within parties? Using the American National Election Studies (ANES) time series, we first show that intraparty polarization between ideologically extreme and ideologically moderate partisans is on the rise. Second, we demonstrate that this division within parties has important implications for how we think about affective polarization between parties. Specifically, the distribution of relative affect between parties has not become bimodal, but merely dispersed. Thus, while the mean partisan has become affectively polarized, the modal partisan has not. These results suggest polarization and sorting may be increasing the viability of third party candidates and making realignment more likely.

Keywords: Polarization, Party Coalitions, Realignment, Ideology

After Aesop's fable, the “sour-grape effect”: A systematic tendency to downplay the value of unattainable goals and rewards

Greener grass or sour grapes? How people value future goals after initial failure. Hallgeir Sjåstad, Roy F. Baumeister. Michael Ent. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Volume 88, May 2020, 103965. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2020.103965

Abstract: Across six experiments (N = 1304), people dealt with failure by dismissing the value of future goals. Participants were randomly assigned to receive good or poor feedback on a practice trial of a cognitive test (Studies 1–3, 5–6) or their academic performance (Study 4). Those who received poor (vs. good) feedback predicted that they would feel less happy about a future top performance. However, when all participants received a top score on the actual test they became equally happy, regardless of initial feedback. That is, initial failure made people underestimate how good it would feel to succeed in the future. Inspired by Aesop's fable of the fox and the grapes, we term this phenomenon the “sour-grape effect”: A systematic tendency to downplay the value of unattainable goals and rewards. Mediation analyses suggest that the low happiness predictions were a self-protective maneuver, indicated by apparent denial of the personal and future relevance of their performance. Moderation analysis showed that people high in achievement motivation constituted the main exception, as they predicted (correctly) that a big improvement would bring them joy. In a final and high-powered experiment, the effect generalized from predicted happiness to predicted pride and gratitude. Crucially, the sour-grape effect was found repeatedly across two different countries (USA and Norway) and multiple settings (lab, field, online), including two pre-registered replications. In line with the principle of “adaptive preferences” from philosophy and cognitive dissonance theory from psychology, the results suggest that what people want is restricted by what they can get.

Keywords: GoalsHappinessCognitive dissonanceSour grapesAffective forecasting

Local sleep and wakefulness & insomnia disorder:Wake-like activations (‘islands of wakefulness’) can occur during both major sleep stages (NREM & REM)

Local sleep and wakefulness—the concept and its potential for the understanding and treatment of insomnia disorder. Lina Stålesen Ramfjord, Elisabeth Hertenstein, Kristoffer Fehér, Christian Mikutta, Carlotta Louisa Schneider, Christoph Nissen & Jonathan Gabriel Maier. Somnologie, March 6 2020. https://rd.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11818-020-00245-w

Abstract: In ancient mythology, sleep was often regarded as an inactive state, close to death. Research in the past century has, however, demonstrated that the brain is highly active and oscillates through well-defined stages during sleep. Yet it is only over the past decade that accumulating evidence has shown that sleep and wake processes can occur simultaneously, localized in distinct areas of the brain. The aim of this article is to review relevant aspects of the shift from global to local concepts of sleep–wake regulation and to further translate this perspective to the clinical problem of insomnia. Animal and human studies show that local wake-like activations (‘islands of wakefulness’) can occur during both major sleep stages, i.e. non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Preliminary evidence suggests that higher levels of local wake-like activity, not captured in standard polysomnographic recordings, might underlie the perception of disrupted sleep or even wakefulness during polysomnographic epochs of sleep in patients with chronic insomnia. To further decipher the neural mechanisms, advanced techniques of high-density electroencephalography (hdEEG) and non-invasive brain stimulation techniques can be applied. Furthermore translating the concept of local sleep and wakefulness to the prevalent health problem of chronic insomnia might help to reduce the current mismatch between subjective sleep–wake perception and standard recordings, and might inform the development of new treatments.

Substantial mobility in & out of poverty: 41 pct of those in poverty in 2007 were out of poverty in the following year; however, many of those who are poor spend multiple years in poverty or escape poverty only to fall back into it

Presence and Persistence of Poverty in U.S. Tax Data. Jeff Larrimore, Jacob Mortenson, David Splinter. Feb 2020. http://www.davidsplinter.com/LMS_PersistencePoverty_2020.pdf

Abstract: This paper presents new estimates of the level and persistence of poverty among U.S. households since the Great Recession. We build new annual household data files using U.S. income tax filings between 2007 and 2018. These data, which are constructed for the population of U.S. residents, allow us to track individuals over time and measure how tax policies affect poverty trends. Using an after-tax household income measure, we estimate that over 4 in 10 people spent at least one year in poverty between 2007 and 2018. Those that experienced at least one year of poverty spent an average of one-fourth of the 12-year period in poverty. There is substantial mobility in and out of poverty. For example, 41 percent of those in poverty in 2007 were out of poverty in the following year. However, many of those who are poor spend multiple years in poverty or escape poverty only to fall back into it. Of those who were in poverty in 2007, one-third are in poverty for at least half of the years through 2018. We also document substantial heterogeneity in these trends by age: younger individuals experience higher rates of poverty but less persistence; older individuals experience lower rates of poverty but more persistence.

New Frontiers in Irritability Research—From Cradle to Grave and Bench to Bedside

New Frontiers in Irritability Research—From Cradle to Grave and Bench to Bedside. Neir Eshel, Ellen Leibenluft. JAMA Psychiatry. 2020;77(3):227-228, December 4, 2019. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.3686

We all know what it’s like to be irritable. Our partners walk on eggshells around us. The slightest trigger sets us off. If there’s a punching bag nearby, it had better watch out. Irritability, defined as a low threshold for experiencing frustration or anger, is common. In the right context, irritability can be adaptive, motivating us to overcome barriers or dominate our environment. When prolonged or disproportionate, however, irritability can be counterproductive, causing us to waste our energy on maladaptive behavior.

In recent years, there has been an increase in research on irritability in childhood, with an emerging literature on its neurobiology, genetics, and epidemiology.1 There is even a new diagnosis focused on this symptom, disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD). However, there is a dearth of irritability research in adults. This is regrettable, because irritability is an important clinical symptom in multiple mental illnesses throughout the life span. From depression to posttraumatic stress disorder, dementia to premenstrual dysphoric disorder, traumatic brain injury to borderline personality disorder, irritability is associated with extensive burdens on individuals, their families, and the general public.

In this Viewpoint we suggest that studying the brain basis for irritability across development and disorder could have substantial clinical benefits. Furthermore, we propose that irritability, like addiction or anxiety, is an evolutionarily conserved focus ready for translational neuroscience.

Diagnosis and Treatment Across the Life Span

Despite its clinical toll, there are few evidence-based treatments for irritability. The only US Food and Drug Administration–approved medications for irritability are risperidone and aripiprazole, which are approved only in the context of autism and are associated with adverse effects that limit their utility. Stimulants, serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and variants of cognitive behavioral therapy and parent management training show promise for different populations, but overall there is a shortage of options, leading many health care professionals to try off-label drug cocktails with unclear efficacy. This situation results in part from our primitive understanding of the phenomenology and brain mechanisms of irritability throughout the life span.

An emerging body of work focuses on measuring irritability in children and adolescents, determining comorbid disorders, and tracking related functional impairment.¹ Multiple studies, for example, report that chronically irritable youth are at elevated risk for suicidality, depression, and anxiety in adulthood.^2,3 But what are the clinical characteristics and longitudinal course of irritability in adults? Irritability diminishes from toddlerhood through school age, but does it continue to decrease monotonically with age into adulthood? What about the end of life? Irritability and aggression are common in patients with neurodegenerative disorders, but are these symptoms similar to those in a child with DMDD? There has been limited systematic study of irritability in adulthood, and studies that mention irritability in adulthood operationalize the construct in different ways. One study counted 21 definitions and 11 measures of irritability in the psychiatric literature, all of which overlapped with anger and aggression.⁴ This lack of clarity diminishes our ability to identify biomarkers or track treatment success. Even studies that use childhood irritability to predict adult impairment do not typically measure irritability in adults, thereby obscuring the natural history of irritability as a symptom.⁵ For the field to progress, it will be crucial to establish standard definitions and measurements spanning childhood through adulthood.

Beyond phenomenology, we need to identify brain signatures associated with the emergence, recurrence, and remission of irritability across the life span and during treatment. Irritability is a prototypical transdiagnostic symptom, but it remains unclear to what extent its brain mechanisms overlap across disorders. For example, in children, data suggest that the brain mechanisms mediating irritability in DMDD, anxiety disorders, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder are similar but differ from those mediating irritability in childhood bipolar disorder.^1,6 The frequency of irritable outbursts appears to diminish in step with the maturity of prefrontal regions during childhood.¹ Could degeneration in the same structures predict reemergence of irritable outbursts in patients with dementia? Could developmental differences in these regions increase the likelihood of irritability when individuals are sleep deprived or intoxicated later in adolescence or adulthood? Only through fine-grained neuroscientific studies can we disentangle what is unique to the symptom (ie, irritability) and to the disorder (eg, bipolar disorder vs DMDD vs dementia), and develop treatments tailored to an individual’s brain pathology.

 

Translational Neuroscience and Irritability

In addition to their clinical relevance, neuroscientific studies of irritability can address fundamental questions about brain dysfunction and recovery. Over the past 2 decades, studies have revealed the circuits underlying reward processing, and in particular prediction error, the mismatch between expected and actual reward.⁷ The neuroscience of aggression has also advanced through the discovery of cells in the amygdala and hypothalamus that form a final common pathway for aggressive behavior.⁸ Irritability and the concept of frustrative nonreward can tie these 2 fields together.

Frustrative nonreward is the behavioral and emotional state that occurs in response to a negative prediction error, ie, the failure to receive an expected reward. In the classic study by Azrin et al,⁹ pigeons were trained to peck a key for food reward. After pigeons learned the task, the experimenters removed the reward; then when the pigeons pecked, nothing happened. For the next several minutes, there were 2 changes in the pigeons’ behavior. First, they pecked the key at a higher rate. Second, they became unusually aggressive, damaging the cage and attacking another pigeon nearby. In other words, a negative prediction error led to a state of frustration, which then induced increased motor activity and aggression. Such responses to frustration have been replicated in many species, including chimpanzees, cockerels, salmon, and human children and adults.¹⁰ Frustrative nonreward therefore provides an evolutionarily conserved behavioral association between prediction error and aggression. Apart from studies in children,^1,6 however, little has been done to probe the neural circuits of frustrative nonreward or of irritability, which can be defined as a low threshold for experiencing frustrative nonreward.

We know, for example, that negative prediction errors cause phasic decreases in dopamine neuron firing, which help mediate learning by reducing the valuation of a stimulus. Does this dip in dopamine level also increase the likelihood of aggression and if so how? The same optogenetic techniques that have demonstrated a causal role for dopamine prediction errors in reward learning could be used to test their role in aggressive behavior. Likewise, multiple nodes in the reward circuit encode the value of environmental stimuli. Could these values modulate the propensity for aggression? Environments of plenty, for instance, may protect against aggressive outbursts, because if there is always more reward available, the missing out factor may not be salient. Conversely, scarcity could make individuals more likely to be aggressive, because if there are few rewards to be had, achieving dominance may be necessary for survival.

Exploring the bidirectional associations between the reward processing and aggression circuits would help us understand state changes in the brain and how environmental context determines our behavior. At the same time, understanding these circuits will lay the groundwork for mechanism-based treatments for irritability.

 

Conclusions

The neuroscience of irritability is in its infancy and research has focused almost exclusively on children. We now have an opportunity to expand this field to adults, across disorders, and to animal models for more precise mechanistic studies. Through better measurement, careful experimental design, input from theorists and computational psychiatrists, and coordinated efforts across experts in multiple disorders, we can guide the field to maturity.

Reduction of Facebook use longitudinally increased life satisfaction, enhanced the level of physical activity, & reduced depressive symptoms and smoking behavior

Less Facebook use – More well-being and a healthier lifestyle? An experimental intervention study. Julia Brailovskaia et al. Computers in Human Behavior, March 6 2020, 106332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106332

Highlights
• Experimental reduction of Facebook use longitudinally increased life satisfaction.
• Reduction of Facebook use longitudinally enhanced the level of physical activity.
• Reduction of Facebook use longitudinally reduced depressive symptoms and smoking behavior.
• Less time spent on Facebook leads to more well-being and a healthier lifestyle.

Abstract: Use of the social platform Facebook belongs to daily life, but may impair subjective well-being. The present experimental study investigated the potential beneficial impact of reduction of daily Facebook use. Participants were Facebook users from Germany. While the experimental group (N = 140; Mage(SDage) = 24.15 (5.06)) reduced its Facebook use for 20 min daily for two weeks, the control group (N = 146; Mage(SDage) = 25.39 (6.69)) used Facebook as usual. Variables of Facebook use, life satisfaction, depressive symptoms, physical activity and smoking behavior were assessed via online surveys at five measurement time points (pre-measurement, day 0 = T1; between-measurement, day 7 = T2; post-measurement, day 15 = T3; follow-up 1, one month after post-measurement = T4; follow-up 2, three months after post-measurement = T5). The intervention reduced active and passive Facebook use, Facebook use intensity, and the level of Facebook Addiction Disorder. Life satisfaction significantly increased, and depressive symptoms significantly decreased. Moreover, frequency of physical activity such as jogging or cycling significantly increased, and number of daily smoked cigarettes decreased. Effects remained stable during follow-up (three months). Thus, less time spent on Facebook leads to more well-being and a healthier lifestyle.

Both women and men, after learning the worker’s gender, upwardly distorted & inflated their quantitative feedback and expressed more positive comments to women, but not men

Zayas, Vivian, and Lily Jampol. 2020. “Gendered White Lies: Women Are Given Inflated Performance Feedback Compared to Men.” PsyArXiv. March 5. doi:10.31234/osf.io/yq24b

Abstract: Are underperforming women given less truthful, but kinder performance feedback (“white lies”) compared to equally underperforming men? We test this hypothesis by using a “benchmark” of truthful (objective) evaluation of performance and then either manipulate (Study 1) or measure (Study 2) the extent to which the feedback given to women is upwardly distorted. In Study 1, participants were asked to guess the gender of an underperforming employee who had been given more or less truthful feedback. Participants overwhelmingly assumed that employees who had been told “white lies” were women. In Study 2, in a naturalistic feedback paradigm, participants first provided a quantitative evaluation of work in the absence of any gender information. After learning the worker’s gender, participants upwardly distorted their quantitative feedback and expressed more positive comments to women, but not men. The findings suggest that women may not receive the same quality of feedback as men.

Dramatic depictions of torture increase public support for the practice; the majority of popular films—including films aimed toward children—have at least one torture scene

Wait, There’s Torture in Zootopia? Examining the Prevalence of Torture in Popular Movies. Casey Delehanty and Erin M. Kearns. Perspectives on Politics, March 3 2020. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592719005012

Abstract: Roughly half of the U.S. public thinks that torture can be acceptable in counterterrorism. According to recent research, dramatic depictions of torture increase public support for the practice. Yet we do not know how frequently—and in what context—torture is depicted across popular media. What messages about the acceptability and effectiveness of torture do Americans receive when they watch popular films? To address this question, we coded each incident of torture in the twenty top-grossing films each year from 2008 to 2017 to analyze how torture is portrayed in terms of its frequency, efficacy, and social acceptability. Results show that the majority of popular films—including films aimed toward children—have at least one torture scene. Across films, the messages sent about torture are fairly consistent. As expected, movies tend to depict torture as effective. Further, how movies portray torture is also a function of who is perpetrating it. Specifically, protagonists are more likely to torture for instrumental reasons or in response to threats and are more likely to do so effectively. In contrast, antagonists are more likely to use torture as punishment and to torture women. The frequency and nature of torture’s depiction in popular films may help explain why many in the public support torture in counterterrorism.

Independently of sex and familiarity, rats reduce their usage of the preferred lever when it causes harm to a conspecific, displaying an individually varying degree of harm aversion

Harm to Others Acts as a Negative Reinforcer in Rats. Julen Hernandez-Lallement et al. Current Biology, March 5 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.01.017

Highlights
• Independently of sex and familiarity, rats avoid actions harming a conspecific
• Prior experience with footshocks increases harm aversion
• Rats show large individual variability in harm aversion
• Anterior cingulate cortex deactivation abolishes harm aversion

Summary: Empathy, the ability to share another individual’s emotional state and/or experience, has been suggested to be a source of prosocial motivation by attributing negative value to actions that harm others. The neural underpinnings and evolution of such harm aversion remain poorly understood. Here, we characterize an animal model of harm aversion in which a rat can choose between two levers providing equal amounts of food but one additionally delivering a footshock to a neighboring rat. We find that independently of sex and familiarity, rats reduce their usage of the preferred lever when it causes harm to a conspecific, displaying an individually varying degree of harm aversion. Prior experience with pain increases this effect. In additional experiments, we show that rats reduce the usage of the harm-inducing lever when it delivers twice, but not thrice, the number of pellets than the no-harm lever, setting boundaries on the magnitude of harm aversion. Finally, we show that pharmacological deactivation of the anterior cingulate cortex, a region we have shown to be essential for emotional contagion, reduces harm aversion while leaving behavioral flexibility unaffected. This model of harm aversion might help shed light onto the neural basis of psychiatric disorders characterized by reduced harm aversion, including psychopathy and conduct disorders with reduced empathy, and provides an assay for the development of pharmacological treatments of such disorders.

Keywords: altruismcostly helpingantisocialrodentother-regardingsocialvicariousmirror neuronsex differencepersonal distress

Intellectual humility, the admission that one’s beliefs may be fallible, robustly curbed affective polarization, the resentment over one's political opponents being jerks

Bowes, Shauna, Madeline C. Blanchard, Thomas H. Costello, Alan I. Abramowitz, and scott lilienfeld. 2020. “Intellectual Humility and Between-party Animus: Implications for Affective Polarization in Two Community Samples.” PsyArXiv. March 5. doi:10.31234/osf.io/qn25s

Abstract: The extent to which individual differences in personality traits and cognitive styles diminish affective polarization (AP) is largely unknown. We address this gap by examining how one poorly understood but recently researched individual difference variable, namely, intellectual humility (IH), may buffer against AP. We examined the associations between domain-general and domain-specific measures of IH, on the one hand, and AP, on the other, in two community samples. Measures of IH were robustly negatively associated with AP and political polarization. Moreover, IH significantly incremented measures of allied constructs, including general humility, in the statistical prediction of AP. There was little evidence to suggest that IH buffers the relationships between strong political belief and AP. Future research is needed to clarify whether and if IH is sufficient to protect against AP in the presence of ideological extremity.

Measures of intellectual humility were robustly negatively associated with affective & political polarization

Birth Order and Sibling Sex Ratio in Androphilic Males and Gynephilic Females Diagnosed With Gender Dysphoria from Iran

Khorashad BS, Zucker KJ, Talaei A. Birth Order and Sibling Sex Ratio in Androphilic Males and Gynephilic Females Diagnosed With Gender Dysphoria from Iran. J Sex Med 2020;XX:XXX–XXX. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2020.02.004

Abstract
Background: This study investigated the effect of older brothers on sexual orientation in male adults diagnosed with gender dysphoria and the effect of older sisters on sexual orientation in female adults diagnosed with gender dysphoria from Iran.

Aim: To assess for the presence of a fraternal birth order effect in transgender androphilic males and a sororal birth order effect in transgender gynephilic females.

Methods: The subjects were 92 transgender males and 107 transgender females (all of whom met the DSM-5 criteria for gender dysphoria), together with 72 male and 78 female clinical controls. All the transgender males were androphilic, all the transgender females were gynephilic (preferentially attracted to members of their own biological sex), and all of the clinical controls were heterosexual (none were transgender or had a diagnosis of gender dysphoria).

Outcomes: In relation to the probands, we analyzed the sibship composition of our groups with regard to birth order and sibling sex ratio (brothers to sisters).

Results: The results for the transgender males confirmed the findings of 2 recent meta-analyses that older brothers increase the odds of androphilia in later-born males. The results for the transgender females did not clearly confirm one previous finding that older sisters increase the odds of gynephilia in later-born females—a finding obtained in a relatively large study that included gynephilic cisgender girls as well as girls diagnosed with gender dysphoria who will probably be predominantly gynephilic.

Clinical Implications: The fraternal (later-born) birth order effect that we found for the transgender androphilic males, similar to that found in gay men, suggests a common underlying causal mechanism.

Strengths and Limitations: Our study on Iranian patients diagnosed with gender dysphoria provides further generalizability for the study of birth order and sibling sex ratio that has, more often than not, been restricted to Western samples of adults diagnosed with gender dysphoria. It would be important to study these variables in Iranian gay men and lesbian women (without gender dysphoria) to further examine evidence for cross-cultural similarities when compared to Western samples.

Conclusions: In contrast to the well-established fraternal birth order effect for males, the possible sororal birth order effect for females needs to be examined with additional samples.

Key Words: Male AndrophiliaHomosexualityTransgenderBirth OrderSexual OrientationGender DysphoriaFemale Gynephilia

Evaluating photos of applicants for a position of software developer gave highest competence to smiling faces, then to faces with a neutral expression, the worst rating was associated with a thinking pose

How to pose for a professional photo: The effect of three facial expressions on perception of competence of a software developer. Petra Filkuková  Magne Jørgensen. Australian Journal of Psychology, March 3 2020. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajpy.12285

Abstract
Objective: Prospective employers can nowadays easily access applicants' photos via Internet, for instance on for instance on professional and social networks or previous employers' websites. In our study, we investigated whether a facial expression in a picture affects evaluation of one's competence for a position where facial qualities are not crucial, namely a position of a software developer.

Method: In Study 1, both “models” and participants were employed in IT companies. The experiment followed a 3 x 3 x 2 design, with facial expression (smile, neutral, and thinking) and evaluator's experience in hiring as between‐subjects factors and gender of the model as a within‐subjects factor.

Study 2 was a survey among software specialists where we investigated their awareness of the impact of applicants' face on the evaluation of his/her competence.

Results: When the models smiled, they were perceived as more competent than when they had a neutral expression. When models adopted a thinking pose, they were evaluated as the least competent. Fifty‐five percent of the sample was previously involved in hiring employees; the amount of hiring experience had no impact on this effect. Women were perceived as less competent than men and an interaction analysis revealed that this effect was driven by participants without prior experience in hiring. In Study 2, software specialists assigned a significant role in hiring decisions to the applicant's competent physical appearance, only 10% of participants thought that employers were hardly ever affected by the applicant's face.

Conclusion: Facial expression in a photo affects perceived competence of applicants for a position of a software developer regardless of evaluators prior hiring experience for this type of job.

What is already known about this topic:
Prospective employers are frequently exposed to applicants' pictures, as the majority of companies use social media for recruiting and/or screening job applicants.
People can make judgments on the basis of a photo after only 0.1‐second exposure and these correlate highly with judgments made in the absence of time constraints
Smile is the most studied facial expression. Smiling has been associated with submission, warmth and happiness, findings on the relationship between smiling and perceived intelligence are mixed.

What is new:
Software specialists evaluating photos of applicants for a position of a software developer ascribed highest competence to smiling faces, followed by faces with a neutral expression, the worst competence rating was associated with a thinking pose.
Female applicants were perceived as less competent than male applicants and this effect was driven by evaluators without prior experience in hiring.
Software specialists are aware that their hiring decisions are affected by applicants'facial attributes.

Mobile-based dating applications users were significantly different from non-users on rates of negative drinking behaviors, drug use, sexual compulsivity, sexual deception, stalking, consensual & non-consensual explicit photo /message sharing

Tinder Tales: An Exploratory Study of Online Dating Users and Their Most Interesting Stories
Ashley K. Fansher & Sara Eckinger. Deviant Behavior, Mar 4 2020. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2020.1734170

ABSTRACT: The present study examines the differences between users and non-users of mobile-based dating applications, along with individual user experiences. To better understand the typical online dating application consumer, this research utilized quantitative analyses to compare traditional college-age users versus non-users on behavioral and attitudinal measures. Qualitative coding took place to analyze open-ended survey responses from participants regarding personal experiences. Those who use mobile-based dating applications were significantly different from non-users on all variables examined, including rates of negative drinking behaviors, drug use, sexual compulsivity, sexual deception, and negative sexual behaviors. The review of qualitative responses revealed users experiencing a wide range of negative behaviors including stalking, consensual and non-consensual explicit photo sharing, consensual and non-consensual message sharing, and deception. This article provides a framework for the identification of potential risks of using online dating applications and highlights prevention programming that will enhance the awareness of problematic online dating behaviors.

Quality parties: The marks of men's marginal class positions are written on their bodies, flagging an automatic reject at the door; intuitive calculations to get in include "How many beautiful girls can I get to offset how I look?"

Very Important People - Status and Beauty in the Global Party Circuit. Ashley Mears. Princeton University Press, May 2020. https://www.amazon.com/Very-Important-People-Status-Circuit-ebook/dp/B0824B49LS/

Comments by Tyler Cowen, Mar 2020. https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/03/very-important-people.html:

Excerpts about "the Miami club where renting an ordinary table for the night costs 2k, with some spending up to 250k":

Any club, whether in a New York City basement or on a Saint-Tropez beach, is always shaped by a clear hierarchy. Fashion models signal the "A-list," but girls are only half of the business model. There are a few different categories of men that every club owner wants inside, and there is a much larger category of men they aim to keep out.

Bridge and tunnel, goons, and ghetto. These are men whose money can't compensate for their perceived status inadequacies. The marks of their marginal class positions are written on their bodies, flagging an automatic reject at the door.

A clever man can try to use models as leverage to gain entry and discounts at clubs. A man surrounded by models will not have to spend as much on bottles. I interviewed clients who talked explicitly about girls as bargaining chips they could use at the door.

The older, uglier men may have to pay 2k to rent a table for the evening, whereas "decent-looking guys with three or four models" will be let in for free with no required minimum. And:

Men familiar with the scene make these calculations even if they have money to spend: How many beautiful girls can I get to offset how I look? How many beautiful girls will it take to offset the men with me? How much money am I willing to spend for the night in the absence of quality girls?

Girls determine hierarchies of clubs, the quality of people inside, and how much money is spent.

I revisit a second critical insight of Veblen's on the role of women in communicating men's status.  In this world, girls function as a form of capital. Their beauty generates enormous symbolic and economic resources for the men in their presence, but that capital is worth far more to men than to the girls who embody it.

A Preindustrial Sea‐Level Rise Hotspot Along the Atlantic Coast of America: We found evidence in Nova Scotia, Maine, & Connecticut for rapid sea‐level rise in the 18th century, which was almost as rapid as the 20th century sea‐level rise

A Preindustrial Sea‐Level Rise Hotspot Along the Atlantic Coast of North America. W. R. Gehrels et al. Geophysical Research Letters, February 13 2020. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL085814

Abstract: The Atlantic coast of North America north of Cape Hatteras has been proposed as a “hotspot” of late 20th century sea‐level rise. Here we test, using salt‐marsh proxy sea‐level records, if this coast experienced enhanced sea‐level rise over earlier multidecadal‐centennial periods. While we find in agreement with previous studies that 20th century rates of sea‐level change were higher compared to rates during preceding centuries, rates of 18th century sea‐level rise were only slightly lower, suggesting that the “hotspot” is a reoccurring feature for at least three centuries. Proxy sea‐level records from North America (Iceland) are negatively (positively) correlated with centennial changes in the North Atlantic Oscillation. They are consistent with sea‐level “fingerprints” of Arctic ice melt, and we therefore hypothesize that sea‐level fluctuations are related to changes in Arctic land‐ice mass. Predictions of future sea‐level rise should take into account these long‐term fluctuating rates of natural sea‐level change.

Plain Language Summary: Measurements of sea‐level change have shown that during the 20th century sea‐level rise along the Atlantic coast of North America between Cape Hatteras and Nova Scotia has been faster than the global average. We investigated whether this anomaly also occurred earlier by reconstructing historical sea‐level changes from salt‐marsh sediments and microscopic salt‐marsh fossils (foraminifera). We found evidence in three locations (Nova Scotia, Maine, and Connecticut) for rapid sea‐level rise in the 18th century, which was almost as rapid as the 20th century sea‐level rise. Using additional sea‐level reconstructions from across the North Atlantic, we propose an explanation for the periods of enhanced sea‐level rise. We hypothesize that they occur during distinct phases of the North Atlantic Oscillation and during periods of enhanced ice melt in the Arctic. The fluctuations are a reoccurring feature and should be considered in planning for future sea‐level rise and coastal hazards.

3 Historical Sea‐Level Changes

The resulting three sea‐level reconstructions, plus previously published records from New Jersey (Kemp et al., 2013) and North Carolina (Kemp et al., 2011), are shown in Figure 1. To place the records in a larger‐scale geographical context, a recent record from Viðarhólmi, Iceland, is also shown (Gehrels et al., 2006; Saher et al., 2015). The record from Nova Scotia (Chezzetcook) spans a full millennium and is arguably the best‐dated sea‐level reconstruction over this time interval from any coastline in the world (70 dated levels, Table S1). The Maine and Connecticut sea‐level records span the last ~300 and ~450 yr, respectively, and help to constrain the spatial and temporal extent of recent sea‐level signals observed in Nova Scotia. The most recent part of each record is compared to nearby tide‐gauge observations obtained from the Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL) (Holgate et al., 2013) (Figures 1a and S7). In all cases, 20th century sea‐level trends from our proxy reconstructions agree with those from nearby tide‐gauge records in the common periods of overlap (Figure S8) demonstrating that the reconstructions accurately capture recent multidecadal‐to‐centennial sea‐level changes along these coastlines. We also compared the sea‐level reconstructions to sea‐level index points obtained from the base of the Holocene lithostratigraphic sections (Donnelly et al., 2004; Gehrels, 1999; Gehrels et al., 2005) to assess possible compaction in the sequences. If there were significant compaction in our records, we would expect the points from the basal sections, which are all located directly on a hard substrate, to plot higher than the reconstructions. However, they are in good agreement (Figure 1a), so we conclude that compaction has little impact on our sea‐level records. Partly due to spatially variable crustal motion rates controlled by GIA, the long‐term sea‐level trends differ between the sites (Piecuch et al., 2018). We adjusted the sea‐level records for GIA by removing the linear late Holocene trend for the common period between 4000 cal yr BP and 1900 CE (Engelhart & Horton, 2012), which in Nova Scotia is 1.7 mm/yr (Gehrels et al., 2005), in Maine is 0.7 mm/yr (Gehrels, 1999; Gehrels et al., 2002), and in Connecticut is 1.0 mm/yr (Donnelly et al., 2004). For the North Carolina sea‐level reconstruction, which is based on two nearby sites in Sand Point and Tump Point, we used GIA corrections of 1.0 and 0.9 mm/yr, respectively (Kemp et al., 2011). The New Jersey and Viðarhólmi records were corrected for a GIA contribution of 1.4 and 1 mm/yr, respectively (Gehrels et al., 2006; Kemp et al., 2013).
The rates of the GIA‐corrected sea‐level (GCSL) reconstructions from all sites are shown in Figure 2 and are marked by two distinct features. The first feature is the 19th to 20th century GCSL acceleration, which is visible in all five North American records as well as the record from Iceland, although their exact timing and amplitude may differ between sites. This feature is also present in other salt‐marsh‐based sea‐level reconstructions from the Atlantic coast of North America (Kopp et al., 2016). The second feature is a previously unreported, multidecadal‐centennial GCSL fluctuation along the North American Atlantic coast, with maximum rates of rise occurring in the middle‐to‐late 18th century, and lower or negative rates thereafter. The timing appears to differ slightly from record to record, most likely due to dating uncertainties. Based on the 1,000 Monte Carlo ensemble members at each site, we determine for five sites best estimates for the timing of maximum rates of change, over the period 1550 to 1850, as follows: 1735 (North Carolina), 1745 (New Jersey), 1752 (Maine), 1762 (Nova Scotia), and 1783 (Connecticut). Moreover, between 85% (Nova Scotia) and 98% (New Jersey) of ensemble members show greater‐than‐zero rates averaged over the 18th century. These numbers suggest significant, larger‐than‐usual (with respect to longer‐term GIA) rates of change peaking in the middle‐to‐late 18th century. The GCSL fluctuation is more pronounced in Maine and Connecticut, compared to Nova Scotia and North Carolina. In Connecticut, GCSL rates were close to zero before ~1700 and increased to values of ~2.4 ± 2.4 mm/yr (± indicates twice the standard error) towards the end of the 18th century. High preindustrial GCSL rates are similarly visible in the Maine record (~3.2 ± 3.2 mm/yr), although the record only starts in the mid‐18th century. The New Jersey record includes the late 18th century period of enhanced sea‐level rise but overall shows greater variability than all other records. In Nova Scotia and North Carolina, rates during this period were also enhanced compared to long‐term background rates of change, but they did not exceed values of ~0.5 ± 1.0 mm/yr. It is important to note that spatial variations in the amplitudes of multidecadal sea‐level variations along this coastline are also observed in tide‐gauge records over the 20th century (Sallenger et al., 2012). Interestingly, relatively high preindustrial GCSL rates are also seen in the Viðarhólmi data from Iceland. The records from North America and Iceland are out of phase: rates of change in Iceland are anomalously low around 1700 CE and high around 1800 CE, suggesting that peak rates of preindustrial GCSL rise occurred in North America ~60–80 yr earlier than in Iceland. Possible reasons for this are considered below.

[Figure 2 Sea‐level changes from proxy records along the North American Atlantic (blue) and Icelandic (red) coast. Shown are the nonlinear trends calculated by a Gaussian Process Regression including their 1 and 2 sigma uncertainties (dark and light blue/red bands, respectively) for the six salt‐marsh reconstructions corrected for site‐specific GIA effects. The black dotted line marks a rate of 0 mm/yr in each panel.]

While the high 18th century rates of sea‐level rise are a consistent feature in our records across sites, patterns become more complex in earlier periods. For example, the New Jersey and North Carolina records are very similar, but in North Carolina sea‐level variability was more muted prior to the 18th century (a finding that is robust against different choices of the Gaussian process priors). These differences between records might be explained by different driving mechanisms or could reflect issues with the salt‐marsh reconstructions (e.g., dating resolution or quality of transfer functions). These remain open questions.
The multidecadal to centennial sea‐level fluctuations found in our records are not seen in previously published reconstructions. There are several possible explanations for this. First, some of the recently published sea‐level records from the Atlantic coast of North America (Kemp et al., 2011, 2014) are from south of Cape Hatteras and outside of the main hotspot region of the MAB identified by Sallenger et al. (2012) from tide‐gauge records over the period 1950–2009. Second, the proxy records that are from that region, i.e. New York City (Kemp et al., 2017) and eastern Connecticut (Kemp et al., 2015), lack high‐resolution data in the 18th and 19th centuries; we suggest that more detailed investigations here could reveal the same sea‐level fluctuations.

5 Conclusions

We provide evidence, based on proxy sea‐level reconstructions derived from salt‐marsh sediments from the Atlantic coast of North America, for a preindustrial sea‐level rise “hotspot” during the 18th century. The rate of sea‐level rise during this period was only slightly smaller than during the latter half of the 20th‐century. Indeed, the region where the most pronounced sea‐level rise during this preindustrial period is recorded (Nova Scotia to Cape Hatteras) is similar to the area where, during the last half century or so, tide‐gauge observations suggest a recent “hotspot” of accelerated sea level rise. We propose that the magnitude (~±5–10 cm) and duration (~50–100 yr) of this preindustrial sea‐level rise event along eastern North America, along with its out‐of‐phase relationship to sea‐level fluctuations in Iceland and coincidence with centennial variations in the NAO, favor an explanation in terms of mass changes of Arctic land ice, although we acknowledge that uncertainties are large and other processes (e.g., involving an ocean contribution) cannot be entirely excluded. Examination of sea‐level output from coupled climate‐model experiments, geometries (“fingerprints”) of sea‐level change resulting from land‐ice melt, and paleoclimate proxy records of Arctic temperature all support the hypothesis that centennial variations in the retreat and advance of Arctic glaciers render important contributions to the sea‐level long‐term variability seen in the salt‐marsh records. Our findings suggest that enhanced rates of sea‐level rise along eastern North America are not necessarily symptomatic of anthropogenic forcing, as was argued in past work (Sallenger et al., 2012), but might arise from other forcing mechanisms in the coupled climate system. Our results also suggest that these multidecadal‐centennial periods of low or high sea level might dampen or amplify any future sea‐level signal that is generated by greenhouse‐gas forcing, and should be taken into account in projections of future coastal vulnerability and risk.

Abstinence from Masturbation and Hypersexuality: Despite the lack of evidence for negative health effects of masturbation, abstinence is frequently recommended as a strategy to improve one’s sexual self-regulation

Abstinence from Masturbation and Hypersexuality. Felix Zimmer & Roland Imhoff. Archives of Sexual Behavior, Mar 4 2020. https://rd.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-019-01623-8

Abstract: Despite the lack of evidence for negative health effects of masturbation, abstinence from masturbation is frequently recommended as a strategy to improve one’s sexual self-regulation. We adopted a framework of perceived problems with pornography to collect first hints about whether abstinence from masturbation stems from a psychological and behavioral “addiction” or conflicting attitudes. In an online questionnaire survey recruited via a non-thematic Reddit thread (n = 1063), most participants reported that they had tried to be abstinent from masturbation. As visible from zero-order correlations and multiple linear regression, motivation for abstinence was mostly associated with attitudinal correlates, specifically the perception of masturbation as unhealthy. While there were associations with hypersexuality, no significant correlation with behavioral markers such as maximum number of orgasms was found. Higher abstinence motivation was related to a higher perceived impact of masturbation, conservatism, and religiosity and to lower trust in science. We argue that research on abstinence from masturbation can enrich the understanding of whether and how average frequencies of healthy behavior are pathologized.

Discussion

This explorative study aimed to evaluate the associations of motivation for abstinence from masturbation. On the level of zero-order correlations and multiple linear regression, support for both hypothesized pathways, physiological and psychological dysregulation, and conflicting attitudes, was found. Yet, evidence for a pathway of conflicting attitudes was richer in quantity and quality.
For the pathway of physiological and psychological dysregulation, which can be conceptualized as a “masturbation addiction,” only the subscales of the HBI were associated with abstinence motivation. The HBI subscale Consequence as well as Dyscontrol showed positive associations to abstinence motivation, yet only Dyscontrol showed variance explanation within the regression model. Since abstinence from masturbation is an endeavor of controlling sexual behavior, the connection to feelings of dyscontrol regarding sexual activity is unsurprising. For the HBI subscale Coping, there was no zero-order correlation, but a significant negative relationship with the regression criterion was found. This implies that higher ratings on items such as “I use sex to forget about the worries of daily life” have been accompanied by less motivation to abstain. A possible explanation is that a functional role of masturbation, e.g., as a coping mechanism, for relaxation, etc., is a motivational counterpart to efforts to abstain. Other variables assigned to this pathway, the mean masturbation frequency before reduction, maximum number of orgasms, and onsets of masturbation and pornography consumption, showed no significant zero-order correlation or variance explanation in the regression. Descriptively, the all-time maximum number of orgasms was even lower in men with high abstinence motivation and vice versa, r(845) = − 0.11, p = .001 (without Bonferroni correction). Although it cannot be taken as a proof of the null, it speaks toward a low relevance of behavioral variables in the phenomenon of abstinence motivation.
The other pathway explains abstinence motivation by conflicting attitudes, specifically higher perceived impact, lower trust in science, higher conservatism, religiosity, and belief in a negative health impact. In zero-order correlations, all of these associations except for one subscale of perceived impact could be confirmed in the hypothesized direction. In the regression model, only social impact and perception of masturbation as unhealthy achieved significant variance explanation while exhibiting the largest predictor weights. Interestingly, the associations with the two facets of the perceived impact, health and social, pointed in different directions. Contrary to expectation, perceived impact of masturbation on health-related variables (e.g., cancer or acne) showed no zero-order correlation and even tended toward a negative predictor weight in the regression (β = − .07, p = .066). These results suggest that seeing a possibility to improve social life, rather than to avoid illnesses, might promote abstinence motivation. Summarizing the evidence from both pathways, abstinence motivation was mostly associated with attitudinal correlates, specifically the perception of masturbation as unhealthy.
Due to ongoing debates about pornography-induced sexual dysfunctions, we considered them as potential correlates of abstinence motivation. Of the five candidates, only men suffering from decreased genital sensitivity showed a higher abstinence motivation. Rather than viewing masturbation as problematic, one suggested line of interpretation is a reduced incentive to masturbate.

Limitations and Future Research

The main limitation of this study is the exploratory nature and the loose attachment to a theoretical framework. Specifically, the usage of the pathway model on another level of analysis, namely motivation for abstinence instead of the originally applied problem awareness, and post hoc assignment of the variables to the two paths, shall be discussed. To seamlessly transfer the model, one needs to assume an obvious theoretical step from problem awareness to abstinence motivation. Yet, there are other plausible pathways leading to abstinence motivation. For example, it can also be part of an effort to change sexual outlet toward more penile–vaginal intercourse. The interpretation of the association with decreased genital sensitivity also applied the possibility of abstinence motivation without the view of masturbation behavior as problematic. Therefore, it remains debatable whether the pathway model is suitable for abstinence motivation. Secondly, the assignment of the studied variables to the pathways of dysregulation and conflicting attitudes is not unambiguous for all variables. Take the HBI item “I do things sexually that are against my values and beliefs” for example. In this study, it was assigned to the pathway of dysregulation for its function as a marker of hypersexuality. However, it fits in perfectly with the pathway of attitudinal correlates, since an arbitrary amount of sexual activity, determined solely by moral standards, can justify a high score for the item.
The majority of participants of this study presumably were visitors or subscribers of the subreddit “r/everymanshouldknow.” Although limiting analyses to this subsample were performed in an attempt to reduce sampling bias (see Methods section), it remains questionable whether conclusions can be extrapolated to an intended population of male adults. On a theoretical note, sampling bias might be introduced by correlates of the apparent affinity toward a manliness theme such as more conservative sexual attitudes and behavior. Empirically, the average HBI sum score of 41.91 (SD = 15.16) showed a significant deviation from a previous “healthy” sample (M = 34.2, SD = 14.5, n = 147, Reid et al., 2011, t(1187) = 5.80, p < .001) indicating a relatively increased prevalence of hypersexuality within this sample. Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that associations with masturbation abstinence differ in the general population. Another important limitation is the cross-sectional nature of the study and the associated limitations regarding causal inferences. For example, since the HBI is a self-administered tool and open to subjective interpretation (e.g., “My sexual behavior controls my life”), the causal direction of an association between an HBI score and abstinence motivation remains unclear. According to the pathway of conflicting attitudes, pathologization of average frequencies of behavior might also lead to notions of excessive behavior and high HBI scores.
The scope for study design improvements is particularly evident in the variables covered. Asking about current abstinence from masturbation and the view of one’s own masturbation as problematic should be included in future research. This would also facilitate comparison to existing research on Internet pornography. Furthermore, abstinence motivation might not be a criterion of preference. Within this study, 36.3% of the participants reported no motivation on a scale from 0 to 100, which due to the need for transformation can be considered a high limitation of variance. Assuming a normal distribution of the underlying construct, an item with higher difficulty, e.g., Do you consider reducing your frequency of masturbation?” may resolve this issue. 64.2% of participants in this study indicated that they have tried to be abstinent from masturbation at least once. Although we could not find a comparative figure, we regard it as unexpectedly high and possibly subject to scrutiny. Regarding sexual dysfunction, our questionnaire design prevented us from differentiating the indication of no sexual dysfunctions and otherwise missing values, e.g., lacking willingness of specification.
Although these limitations represent notable reservations, we would like to emphasize that the focus of this study is to encourage further efforts to design and eventually test hypotheses. It has already been demonstrated that inclusion of masturbation can be fruitful for understanding correlates of pornography consumption. For example, solo masturbation might actually explain the negative association of pornography viewing and relationship quality (Perry, 2019). Understanding the constituents of both abstinence from pornography and abstinence from masturbation might eventually be a basis for reducing pathologization of average and healthy frequencies of sexual behavior.